Chapter 2945: Different Ways of Longevity

In the past, it was difficult for Netherese Mages to come into contact with Demon Descendants, and coupled with the severe crackdown on Demon Descendants by various Elf nations, Netheril's attitude toward Demon Descendants was more of an indifferent, bystander mentality.

But now, seeing that Demon Descendants might spread to Netheril, and that they are becoming more rampant in various Elf nations, Netherese Mages are certainly vigilant on one hand, but on the other, they cannot help but think of this as a rare opportunity for contact.

Transforming into a Demon Descendant does indeed have various drawbacks, but there are at least two visible benefits: one is powerful spell resistance, and the other is longevity.

Especially the latter; the life extension effect is something that almost none of the life extension methods currently mastered by Netheril can achieve, and those that can generally have drawbacks that the vast majority of people cannot accept.

For example, a Longevity Ritual that Xia Duo once witnessed at the Arcane Temple beneath Seventon was essentially the transformation of a living person into an Undead; doing so could indeed grant a near-eternal lifespan.

But the price is the loss of normal human emotions, maintaining only the state of the final moment before death; if that final moment was one of erupting hatred, then after the ritual, one would inherit that same hatred.

The state frozen before death can be maintained for a very, very long time, but it is not eternal; even true Undead cannot be eternal, let alone those actively transformed by a Spellcaster, as there is still a certain difference from actual Undead.

Over time, consciousness becomes chaotic and hazy, eventually becoming uncontrollable.

In Xia Duo's understanding, this way of achieving longevity is actually somewhat similar to the consciousness uploading to the cloud imagined on Earth; that process actually has a consciousness interruption node, and what is uploaded to the cloud is just an existence similar to a copy, not the original self, more like an intelligent AI.

Of course, because sentient beings in the Magic world possess a Soul, the Soul does not perish when transformed into other forms, and in reality, a certain degree of self can still be maintained; otherwise, if even the self could not be maintained, that would be equivalent to the death of the original body.

Is the temptation to control one councilor, or even multiple councilors, really something a Mage can resist?

And among the councilors, the New Covenant hasn't been signed for long! All parties have only established preliminary mutual trust; wanting extremely high unilateral trust requires time to verify.

Unless a large amount of human body data is collected, a more effective universal version cannot be researched. Or, complete the Bloodline Sequencing project to unlock the mystery of human bloodlines from the root; that way, one wouldn't even need the 【Longevity Technique】, as there would be more efficient life extension methods.

Some people, however, are not certain; they might only be able to extend their lifespan by ten years or so.

Therefore, even if Xia Shao were to publicly sell life extension slots now, I am afraid not many people would come to him for life extension; instead, it is Iolum who has accumulated such reputation over the past few hundred years—how could Xia Shao easily catch up in a short time?

It can be said that the 【Longevity Technique】 is the closest thing to a universal life extension method; as long as one is human, they can use it, it is just that it lacks massive data support, making it impossible to maximize the life extension effect for everyone.

This is a Ritual Spell that can extend one's own life or the life of others; the Principles are very different from the Longevity Technique, as it achieves the purpose of disguised life extension by solidifying one's own state.

The most critical point is that Xia Shao and Crown King Akaola have no conflict of interest; that point is very important!

Therefore, if a Netherese Mage wants to live longer, they must either once and for all change their life form in a way similar to transforming into an Undead, switching to one with a longer natural lifespan, such as an Elemental Creature.

If the effect is diminishing, then that is actually equivalent to immortality.

But regardless, transforming into an Undead is not something most people can accept; the life extension method that most people can accept is direct life extension, preferably without any too obvious changes in essence.

Or, they must constantly search for various different types of Life Extension Spells, switching to another once one becomes ineffective, until all types of life extension methods have been exhausted and all have diminishing effects to the point of being useless.

And Xia Shao will not deliberately mention this point, otherwise he is very worried that if he mentions today that transforming into a Demon Descendant can extend life, tomorrow eight or nine councilors will have turned into Demon Descendants—wouldn't that be outrageous!

At present, neither condition is met, so as of now, the case with the best effect using the 【Longevity Technique】 is Iolum himself; Kangjienio has other life extension methods, but they cannot be popularized.

It is just that life extension requires extremely high unilateral trust from one party toward the other; Crown King Akaola was dying and had no other choice, so he tried his luck, and since it was a trade between two countries, there was a certain guarantee.

It is just that transforming into a Demon Descendant for life extension is considered an important secret in the Elf World; Netheril has had almost no contact with Demon Descendants, and much of the intelligence comes from sharing by the Elf World.

Otherwise, if one were to tamper with things during the life extension, how painful that would be!

Actually, if Xia Shao's interaction time with other councilors were longer, surely some councilors would come to him; after all, he had previously extended the life of Crown King Akaola, so extending the life of humans would be even more of a given.

But from a long-term perspective, it is foreseeable that humans will become long-lived species similar to Elves in the future; currently, the Mage sees two methods: one is to extend the life of every individual through the 【Longevity Technique】; over time, it will always produce a certain hereditary effect, or even if it doesn't, it doesn't matter—as long as the spell is still effective and allows every individual to extend their life, that is equivalent to the race becoming a long-lived species.

Of course, besides the two relatively reliable life extension methods that Xia Shao believes in, there are a large number of other life extension methods in Netheril; take the Tower of Time, for example: before Saville went missing, he left behind a Life Extension Spell that could extend life by about seventeen years, but the restriction is that the Spellcaster needs to possess at least Archmage-level Spellcasting ability.

The other is naturally to find a more fundamental life extension method through the Bloodline Sequencing project; once successful, that would be life extension at the bloodline level, which could be passed down from generation to generation, and combined with Life Extension Spells, achieving immortality might not be impossible.

Another is the 【Longevity Technique】 created by Iolum and used by Xia Shao to extend the life of Crown King Akaola; the actual effect on individuals varies from person to person—some people have very good effects after using it, potentially extending their lifespan by a few hundred years at once.

In other words, this spell is used repeatedly by the Mage, but the effect will diminish in turn; this is also a drawback, or rather a shortcoming, that exists in any Life Extension Spell currently known to Xia Shao!

Between transforming into a Demon Descendant and transforming into an Undead, there is at least a species difference; the former is a living creature both before and after transformation, while the latter must experience life and death before and after transformation.

One must know that among the current councilors, many are actively seeking life extension methods; if you ask how Xia Shao knows this, it was of course revealed by Iolum.