Chapter 3390: Mutual Concessions, Adhering to Tradition

————It will be later~~

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From this perspective, the degree of control over the microscopic Magic Net String determines a Mage's true limit; of course, such a limit can be achieved through one's own efforts or through external objects.

If one could use some means to completely control the Magic Net within a certain area, it would not be an exaggeration to call them the God of Magic within that area; Arcanists were likely born from this expectation.

However, even an Arcanist's Private Magic Web cannot fully control the Magic Net Strings within a natural environment, but by using their own Magic Web to perform operations such as Suppression, repulsion, and Resonance coordination on the Magic Net in the natural environment, they can indirectly achieve more efficient control over the Magic Net Strings.

Right now, although Xia Duo has fallen into a disadvantage, he has not yet deployed his Private Magic Web (his avatar also possesses Arcane Fire, which can be deployed as a Private Magic Web), so he still has a complete opportunity to turn the situation around.

Just like playing Go, temporary gains and losses count for nothing; only by playing to the end can one know who wins and who loses.

However, Xia Duo was intentionally falling into a disadvantage to provoke Dafuni's competitive spirit, in order to achieve the goal of stalling for time, so he did not deploy his Arcane Fire, but instead acted as if he refused to admit defeat, insisting on reclaiming victory exactly where he had failed.

This actually violates the general strategic principles of a Spell Duel, where the contest is for the overall control of the Magic Net within an area, rather than local gains and losses.

If one can trade the failure of a small area for an overall advantage, that is obviously more favorable, and one can then use that momentum to crush an opponent who occupies a local advantage.

Xia Duo already has a reputation in the Northland for being skilled at Spell Duels; from any angle, he should not be fixated on local gains and losses, but there is one exception: losing one's head.

When emotions overwhelm reason, one naturally does whatever feels satisfying, disregarding gains, losses, and consequences, even if one knows it is the wrong choice, still walking down that path to the end.

What Xia Duo is performing now is someone who cannot accept that they are inferior to an enemy in their most skilled field; of course, he also knows when to stop, and after a simple attempt yielded no results, he decisively deployed his Arcane Fire.

After all, this is the means that his current identity—Arcanist—is most skilled at and most should use.

Deploying Arcane Fire has both advantages and disadvantages, but at this moment, the advantages completely outweigh the disadvantages; it is a one-on-one duel, and the game of maintaining and destroying Arcane Fire is already included within it.

No Arcanist would mind deploying Arcane Fire in such a situation, because they already occupy the greatest advantage; if one does not even dare to do this, then there would be no Spell Duel at all, and one should just run away instead.

Just as Xia Duo guessed, Dafuni immediately began trying to destroy his Private Magic Web, and because the Arcanist's Private Magic Web itself is also crafted using the natural Magic Net, under Xia Duo's control, it is actually unlikely for Dafuni to directly destroy the Arcane Fire or the Private Magic Web; the so-called destruction is more about destroying the structure of the Private Magic Web itself.

An Arcanist's Private Magic Web is far inferior in volume to the naturally existing Magic Net and is actually just crude magic; in order to allow the Arcanist to control this Micro Magic Net, it must necessarily have some additional structures for control compared to the natural Magic Net.

This is the biggest and most difficult difference to hide between an Arcanist's Private Magic Web and the natural Magic Net.

Of course, an Arcanist is not stupid enough to expose their greatest weakness to an enemy; in fact, the essence of Arcane Fire is still to draw energy to create Arcane Energy, and deploying it as a Magic Web is just incidental.

Since it is not the primary purpose, it naturally will not seek to be completely identical to the natural Magic Net; if it were to be completely identical, then wouldn't just anyone be able to use it?

This is obviously impossible.

No Arcanist could accept that the Private Magic Web they worked so hard to build could be used by others at will, so any Arcanist's Private Magic Web is a reconstructed Magic Net.

The more advanced the technology, the more one can ensure consistency with the external Magic Net while maintaining one's own control, because the external Magic Net is the most universal under the current Plane state.

But if the technology is insufficient, then priority is given to ensuring one's own control; in this situation, it may lead to certain Spells being naturally restricted and unable to be cast through the Private Magic Web.

Looking only at its external performance, Xia Duo's Magic Web is almost indistinguishable from the normal external Magic Net, and even when it exists simultaneously with the external Magic Net, it is more concealed and secure.

However, he still actively revealed flaws, even allowing Dafuni to destroy his Magic Web; in any case, he was already prepared to sacrifice this avatar, so he did not need to care about how his avatar's Arcane Fire fared.

Instead, it was the fact that the secret of the Arcane Fire was learned by Dafuni during this process that concerned Xia Duo more; even if the avatar's Arcane Fire is not exactly the same as the main body's, the essence is both the creation of Arcane Energy, which is even the essence of the Mythallar.

Therefore, despite retreating step by step, Xia Duo still guarded his bottom line tightly; no matter what, the secret of Arcane Energy conversion must not be known by Dafuni, as for the Magic Net characteristics, that was secondary.

After all, Magic Net characteristics are related to the Plane Root; if one wants to know about different Magic Nets, one can just change the Plane. If the Magic Net characteristics are known by Dafuni, it is merely adding a new Plane Magic Net sample for the opponent.

And similar samples are not exactly common in the Northland, but at least with Dafuni's previous status as a Crown King's Consultant, she should not be lacking in them.

For Xia Duo, changing a characteristic for a Private Magic Web is no harder than creating a new Arcane Fire.

……

Just like this, Xia Duo continued to fail in his duel with Dafuni, which also caused his degree of control over the surrounding Magic Net to become lower and lower, but he always kept two red lines in his heart—

One is not to expose the essence of the Arcane Fire, and the other is to continue stalling until Kandela and the others return to Evereska.

In the current situation, although it is very unfavorable for Xia Duo and he might be completely defeated at any moment, the first red line is still firmly guarded, and the second one is almost there too!

"Quick, quick, quick!"

Xia Duo kept urging Kandela and the others in his heart; watching them rush out one by one from the passage opened when they entered the mountain stronghold, Xia Duo's nerves tightened even more.

In fact, he had already prepared the Annihilation Light and could launch a strike at any time, but if he were to strike now, Kandela and the others would not be able to escape and would be affected by the energy released from the disintegration of such a massive substance as Tanzan Peak.

The Annihilation Light can annihilate energy, and it is precisely because it can annihilate energy that Xia Duo intended to use it to erase Tanzan Peak, but it is not a true "reality eraser" after all.

Whether it is disintegrating the material structure or annihilating the energy form, it requires a process; even with higher power, it is impossible—at least Xia Duo cannot achieve it here—to have no excess energy leakage at all.