Chapter 3221: Close Contact

With a new direction for the investigation, Xia Duo was immediately stumped by this first step; Semi-planes are no easier to discover than complete Planes, even though they might be closer to the "void" of the Main Plane.

Not to mention, Semi-planes are usually smaller in volume and easier to hide. Starting an investigation from the direction of Semi-planes is indeed a path, but in practice, it is no easier than directly catching the leader of the Illuminati.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo felt it would be better to wait until tomorrow to communicate with Yierlan to see if he could obtain some new intelligence before making a decision.

……

Ailan, Temporary Camp of the investigation team.

Xia Duo, whose consciousness had returned to his avatar, opened the tent. An assistant under Kulas immediately came up to him and asked, "Does Councilor Xia Duo have any instructions?"

"Where are Kulas and my teacher?"

"They seem to have gone to the scene; the Elves are there too."

"I see. You go back to your work."

After speaking, Xia Duo directly performed Positioning on Iolum. Such an undisguised action undoubtedly triggered Iolum's personal Protection mechanism, but upon discovering it was Xia Duo, Iolum still opened a backdoor for him.

"He came just right. I intend to probe the blue flames in the deep pit; you come help me stand guard."

There was one more thing he did not say in public: the probes during the day were all done by the Elves. It was not that he distrusted the Elves, but that he wanted to probe it himself.

……

But Iolum did not intend to end the investigation.

It was just that Iolum rarely revealed his identity as a Priest in front of outsiders, or rather, Iolum did not actually consider himself a Priest of the Goddess; he just happened to perceive the Holy Power of the Goddess, and he did not refuse it, nothing more.

Iolum spoke lightly, but Xia Duo did not feel relaxed at all. The Goddess of Magic would not protect those who courted death, and Divine Grace was not a get-out-of-jail-free card; otherwise, to avoid death, countless Mages would have already knelt at the feet of the Goddess of Magic.

After speaking, Iolum raised a hand, revealing a cluster of blue-white, water-like radiance. At that very moment, the blue flames at the edge of the deep pit nearby seemed to sense something and suddenly experienced some unexpected undulations.

The situation inside the deep pit was currently unclear, and that blue flame had never been seen in any past classics, scrolls, documents, or even private notes.

Not to mention, what Iolum was displaying at this moment—as his hand glowing with blue-white radiance waved slowly, the blue flames at the edge of the deep pit also undulated rhythmically!

Of course, even if it were another Priest of the Goddess of Magic coming here, they might not necessarily do better than Iolum; of this, Xia Duo was very certain.

Feilifa's heart was far more shocked than he appeared. During the day, he had let his subordinates conduct many types of probes on the blue flames in the deep pit, but unless they used matter or Spells to directly contact those flames, no other means could affect the existence of those flames.

The reality, however, was that those who believed in the Goddess of Magic were only a minority in Netheril; the vast majority of Mages still followed the crowd and believed in the Lord of Radiance.

Of course, in the past, the faith in the Lady of Mysteries had also been popular, but in the last hundred years, as Netheril trended toward conservatism, the faith in the Goddess of Magic, which encouraged innovation and sharing, had gradually withered. (After the New Covenant was signed, the atmosphere changed, and it was possible for the faith in the Goddess to become popular again.)

How could those Spellcasters present who accompanied Iolum to investigate near the deep pit not be constantly paying attention to the anomalies of the deep pit!

"There is a certain amount of risk, but you don't need to worry too much; I still have the Divine Grace of the Lady of Mysteries for protection!"

This point alone was enough to show that Iolum had an understanding of those blue flames that far exceeded others!

Xia Duo could not help but exclaim, but unlike Feilifa and the other Elves who knew nothing of the means Iolum was displaying, he knew that Iolum's method of "controlling" the blue flames in the deep pit was through Holy Power.

"Teacher!"

After all, the experiments during the day had already proven that those blue flames could swallow almost everything; being near the deep pit, one could not be too cautious.

"Isn't that too risky?"

At this moment, the blue-white radiance on Iolum's hand was the manifestation of the Holy Power of the Lady of Mysteries, similar to the Holy Light manifested by the Holy Power of the Lord of Radiance; this was also a symbol of his identity as a Priest.

Soon, Xia Duo found Iolum's party to the southwest of the deep pit at the destruction site. Besides Iolum, there were Kulas, Feilifa, and two Observers from Illefarn and Cormanthyr.

From this perspective, Iolum being able to obtain a large amount of Divine Grace from the Goddess was indeed not empty talk, but because he had consistently insisted on cultivating new Mages for so many years and had repeatedly innovated.

But as the saying goes, if Divine Grace meant immunity to death, then countless people would have already believed in the Goddess of Magic.

"No, that is different." Iolum shook his head and said slowly, "I have read your records; they were just routine probes, and you couldn't even probe the essence of those blue flames."

"I want to have close contact with those blue flames."

Xia Duo greeted them from afar. Seeing this, Iolum immediately stopped his movements. After Xia Duo approached, he immediately called out to him:

"It is not too late, but things always need someone to do them, and I have a relatively good understanding of the risks involved in what I am about to do. Rest assured, I have lived for so long not to joke with my own life today!"

But in the eyes of outsiders, the means he was displaying at the moment were considered some kind of special Spell.

It was just that he was not sure how much Iolum knew about the blue flames in the deep pit. Right now, he wished he could end the investigation immediately and then have a thorough exchange with Iolum.

"If the matter is impossible, you must withdraw in time."

"Lord Iolum, may I ask what this is—" Feilifa immediately asked with concern.

Xia Duo was worried that Iolum would encounter an accident by rashly making contact, so he could not help but advise again: "Teacher, you can wait a little longer. I already have certain guesses about the existence of those blue flames, and others must as well. It won't be too late to make contact after the situation is clearer."

And Xia Duo, after seeing Iolum "controlling" the blue flames in the deep pit, no longer tried to persuade the other party to give up the close contact, but only reminded him at the end:

"Teacher, didn't the inspection records I gave you contain the results of the daytime probes?"

Fortunately, he had circled this area several times during the day, so he was very familiar with it. With a general direction, he could roughly guess where Iolum was.

"Then how does Teacher want to do it?"

However, the Magic Net situation at the attack site was chaotic. Even with Iolum's cooperation, Xia Duo only roughly determined a direction and could not lock onto it precisely.