Chapter 2612: Soul Fragment

Regarding the question about the Eastern World, it was actually the last question Xia Duo could ask. Just after the Ancient Winged Elf finished saying they did not know, the Arcane Crystal stuck to the other's forehead slowly drifted toward Xia Duo, glowing with dazzling magic and a soul.

"Everything you want to know is in this Soul Fragment. You should have a way to decipher it, right? If you don't, then I can't help you either."

After saying this last sentence, the Ancient Winged Elf, still in Saint Form, suddenly underwent Ascension, turning into a cluster of shifting light. It merged with the Secret Land Mythallar, then used the Secret Land Mythallar as a springboard to completely fuse into another vast yet dilapidated existence.

Only at this moment did Xia Duo confirm that what the Ancient Winged Elf had said earlier about "not much time left" was true. In this state of Ascension, let alone an old fellow preserved by an ancient seal for countless years, even a contemporary High Mage would not survive doing this.

However, Xia Duo could also see that the Ancient Winged Elf had completely transformed their physical body into a Saint Form, which was the only reason they could be preserved for so long. Yet, because they had lost their physical body, it was inevitable that they could not remain in the Material Plane for long.

In reality, it might be even more troublesome; he guessed that the other's soul might have already reached its limit. Even without self-sacrifice, it would have eventually dissipated rapidly.

It was better to sacrifice oneself to give future generations one more chance at life.

Although he had confirmed that this Ancient Winged Elf had sacrificed themselves to delay the collapse of the Dragon Madness Mythallar, Xia Duo still held twelve points of vigilance regarding the Soul Fragment left behind.

Who knew if some kind of possession spell was hidden inside!

Even if the other had truly sacrificed themselves, it did not conflict with the other's desire to pass more information to Xia Duo, or even to use their own consciousness to overwrite Xia Duo's consciousness.

Human nature is complex, and Elves are no exception.

Xia Duo carefully used a Secret Box to store the Soul Fragment that the Ancient Winged Elf had sealed within the Arcane Crystal. Although there might be some hidden dangers inside, it was also highly likely to contain a glimmer of hope for the Main Plane.

It must be treated with caution.

Having been to so many Projection Planes, Xia Duo's expectations of collecting the Dragon Madness Mythallar through Projection Planes had become very low. Unless he could find the Sky City of the Ancient Winged Elves and collect it all at once, collecting it in scattered pieces might mean he would never finish.

But now it was different. If a complete Dragon Madness Secret Scroll truly existed within this Soul Fragment, then not only would he not need to search for the ancient Sky City, but he would also not need to rack his brains to collect the scattered pieces of the Secret Scroll in the Projection Planes.

Gazing at the empty palace before him, Xia Duo could not help but heave a long sigh. The Ancient Winged Elf had appeared and disappeared, leaving behind not a trace except for the Soul Fragment he had already stored away. This was the great power of time!

At this moment, the thoughts in his heart regarding longevity and even immortality became incomparably intense. If he truly could not achieve that, at least he must leave enough of his own traces in this world!

……

On this Arctic exploration, more than half of Xia Duo's main goals had been completed. The remaining half was to attempt to control the Dragon Madness Mythallar of the Main Plane through this fortress—or more accurately, through the Mythallar of this Folded Space Midi.

Because the Ancient Winged Elf had disappeared, the entity-level Mythallar Permission they represented had also vanished. In other words, the only master of Feres Fortress at this moment was Xia Duo.

This point was absolutely certain to him, as he had already mastered the Secret Land Mythallar!

Without the threat of other permission holders, Xia Duo directly attempted to use the method recorded in the Dragon Madness Secret Scroll to obtain Mythallar Permission. Although this method had its own mysteries, the Ancient Winged Elf used for the awakening had already dissolved. If he could still summon a soul out of it, Xia Duo would have to write a big "Respect" for it!

The process of obtaining permission was very smooth, but it was only a Primary management permission. He could retrieve the status of the Mythallar but could not make modifications. Clearly, the true control permission should be in the part of the Secret Scroll he had not yet collected.

Xia Duo attempted to retrieve the current status information of the Dragon Madness Mythallar. As expected, it could be described as "too horrible to look at." Most of the Mythallar's functions had lost connection, and it was unknown whether it had collapsed or if the connection had been blocked by something. In any case, it was not a good thing.

Besides this, Xia Duo also obtained a relatively macro-level framework of the Mythallar, but he had already known some of the information from the Dragon Madness Secret Scroll.

It could be said that if not for the Soul Fragment left by that Ancient Winged Elf, the harvest of this Arctic exploration would have been quite limited. The most valuable thing might only be one: this Feres Fortress itself!

……

Determining that there would be no new progress on the Dragon Madness Mythallar for the time being, Xia Duo began to search this Midi space, which was the interior of Feres Fortress.

At the same time, he let the Secret Land Mythallar, which had already fully recovered, fall silent again, keeping only a few core functions in an active state. After all, he had not obtained the blueprint for the Secret Land Mythallar, and a full recovery would greatly damage the survival time of the Secret Land Mythallar.

What he hoped for most now was to find the blueprint of the Secret Land Mythallar in the fortress. That way, he could at least maintain it simply. Otherwise, if the most critical Control Center broke down before the Dragon Madness Mythallar was repaired, that would be too tragic!

But after searching for a few rounds, Xia Duo did not find any objects related to the Secret Land Mythallar. He could only pin his hopes on the complete Dragon Madness Secret Scroll now.

Of course, the premise was that the Ancient Winged Elf's Soul Fragment truly contained the complete Dragon Madness Secret Scroll. If it did not, then he would have to continue exploring the Projection Planes.

Even if it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, he had to collect the Dragon Madness Secret Scroll!

……

Next, Xia Duo left his avatar in Feres Fortress to analyze the Mythallar, so that in case he could not find relevant materials, he could study and maintain or repair it himself. He had to keep a tight grip on both preparations!

As for his main body, he took the Secret Box containing the Ancient Winged Elf's Soul Fragment out of his Personal Space with the help of consciousness return. Opening the Secret Box, the Arcane Crystal sealing the Soul Fragment shone brilliantly.

Xia Duo examined it for a moment, then began to test it according to a fixed procedure. Only after confirming that it was just a tiny Soul Fragment did he begin the next step of in-depth inspection.

The first thing he checked was the technique used to seal the Soul Fragment. Since there was only one sample, he had to use a non-contact inspection method.

In this regard, Xia Duo had long been experienced. After all, he hadn't spent all those years in the Red Heart Alliance Projection Plane for nothing; he had truly undergone complete magic literacy training.

"Passive Magic Net background disturbance monitoring. It's a pity that time is tight and there's no time to build more precise instruments. I can only test it by hand, but it should be roughly enough."

While testing, Xia Duo used the assistance of his smart brain to perform synchronous analysis. Soon, he determined that the Ancient Winged Elf's sealing technique was not more brilliant than the sealing spells of the current era, but it had its own characteristics, focusing more on the "preservation" of the soul rather than "imprisonment."

One could only say that each had its own strengths!

At the same time, he also felt regret for the development of "future" Elves. Countless years had passed, and the level of magic had not only failed to advance by leaps and bounds but had actually regressed significantly.

Not to mention anything else, just those 412 High Mages who repaired the Dragon Madness Mythallar were something the current Northland Alliance could only look up to!

"Sigh!"