Chapter 3418: Descendants Enjoy the Shade

————It will be a bit late~~

————

If Xia Duo had initially intended to use force to conduct a thorough investigation, he abandoned that initial idea after gaining a sufficient understanding of Beilunuo.

It was not that the power of Beilunuo had frightened him; in reality, Beilunuo was not all that powerful, and the hundreds of thousands of Spellcasters were more of a hollow facade.

It was just like the difference between the hundreds of thousands of troops of a military power on Earth and the hundreds of thousands of troops of a small country in the Dark Continent; they were two completely different things.

Beilunuo had abandoned traditional Elf Magic, but their new Magic system had yet to fully mature; otherwise, it would be impossible for hundreds of thousands of Spellcasters to have only six High Mages.

Furthermore, the Northland Alliance did not just have an advantage in the number of High Mages, but also had the advantage of more perfected War Spells and war experience.

For a non-native underwater race that had struggled bitterly in the deep sea for tens of thousands of years, being able to survive was already a stroke of luck; wanting to catch up in every aspect to distant kin who had developed comfortably on land for the same tens of thousands of years was not realistic.

(War on the Surface could also be considered comfortable compared to the underwater environment that Sea Elves could not fully adapt to.)

Therefore, if he really wanted to exert pressure, Xia Duo was confident he could defeat Beilunuo, not to mention that Beilunuo had a very fatal weakness, which was their Water Elemental Domain Barrier.

While adult Sea Elves could certainly live underwater, most Beilunuo Elves lived in the Water Elemental Domain for long periods, so whether they could still adapt to the deep-sea environment was a question.

Not to mention that infants and young children absolutely could not withstand the deep-sea environment; once there was a problem with the Water Elemental Domain Barrier, they would undoubtedly die.

In the final analysis, Sea Elves were not a native underwater race, but a new race created after ancient Elves underwent magical modification; although they had gradually become "native" after tens of thousands of years of evolution.

But in the end, they still had not evolved to the level of a truly native underwater race.

After all, Xia Duo had never heard of any native underwater race that could not use the underwater environment during infancy; Sea Elves were likely the only one.

Out of consideration for the new Northland order after the war, Xia Duo decided to have an open and honest talk with the other side; whether they could reach an agreement was another matter, but if they did not even talk, that would be too arrogant and arbitrary.

If Beilunuo were worthless and had no influence on the new Northland order after the war, then in the current emergency, being a bit arrogant or arbitrary would be nothing; there was even the concept of "emergency avoidance" in law!

But Beilunuo was not worthless; on the contrary, they were quite valuable, so that was a different matter entirely.

Of course, even with the idea of having an open and honest talk, Xia Duo was still prepared for Beilunuo to lean completely toward the Illuminati.

……

Emerging from the Airport, Xia Duo saw living Sea Elves with his own eyes for the first time; they almost completely retained the form of Land Elves, the only differences being breathing slits like knife wounds on both sides of their necks, and transparent, web-like membranes between their fingers.

Of course, this was only what Xia Duo observed with the naked eye; for an Elf who originally lived on land to become physically adapted to the ocean, it could never be as simple as just the breathing slits on the sides of the neck and the transparent membranes between the fingers.

The physique of Sea Elves was also generally stronger and taller than that of Land Elves; there were sixteen Sea Elf guards receiving Xia Duo's party, and on the way to Guangyao Tower, one could also see Sea Elves moving through the city.

Yet, not a single one was under two meters tall, nor could one see any particularly thin individuals.

However, thinking about it, it was quite reasonable; if their bodies were not strong enough, how could they adapt to the deep-sea environment after reaching adulthood?

It was not to say that once they had the Water Elemental Domain, they would never need to go out into the normal deep-sea environment; except for infants and young children, other Sea Elves would leave the Water Elemental Domain at least once, which was the so-called adulthood trial.

All Sea Elves who could not use the deep-sea environment died, and those who remained were the ones who could adapt; thus, after tens of thousands of years of evolution, basically every Sea Elf could adapt to the deep-sea environment after reaching adulthood.

……

"Ms. Meila, are the weapons in the hands of these Sea Elf guards what you call Water-Travel Magic Artifacts?"

The Water Elemental Domain was similar to the Mythallar of Land Elves, but it was not adept at restricting Spellcasting, and might even lack it entirely; at least, Xia Duo's private Sending to Meila did not encounter any obstruction or warning.

The weapons he mentioned were the tridents held by the Sea Elf guards; these Sea Elves did not need to move their arms like swimming when they moved, nor did they "fly" naturally through Element Harmonization spells like Xia Duo and the other Mages.

Actually, within the Water Elemental Domain, Sea Elves could "fly" naturally, but the movement method used by these Sea Elf guards was not that.

The tridents in their hands would continuously emit a peculiar force of vibration, causing an undercurrent surging forward to appear around the holder.

In reality, it was these undercurrents that were pushing the Sea Elf guards to move forward rapidly, somewhat similar to how Land Mages would create wind to blow sails and push ships forward when sailing.

Could this be the so-called "Tide Power"?

But to Xia Duo, those trident weapons, besides being able to emit a force of vibration, did not seem to have anything special about them; at least, they were not the Magic Artifacts he had initially thought they were.

"Those are indeed Water-Travel Magic Artifacts blessed by the Tide Queen. In the past, we also tried to trade for these special Magic Artifacts from them, but they never agreed."

Meila's answer made Xia Duo even more confused, so he asked again: "The Tide Queen's blessing? Is it a type of Magic?"

"It should be! Our understanding of Beilunuo is actually quite limited, but what is certain is that the tridents used by these guards are all manufactured in Xinnaliya. We did not attach any Water-Travel Spells to those tridents when we manufactured them."

"Those tridents were manufactured by you?"

"Yes, at the end of the trident handles, there are even markings left by Xinnaliya craftsmen representing the manufacturer's identity; I am very certain of this. Moreover, Beilunuo does not master smelting technology; the metal objects they use basically all come from the land."

"I see!"

Although Meila answered as best she could, she could not explain what the Tide Queen's blessing was; as for Tide Power, it had already been explained on the way here—it was a special power that could only be obtained through a ritual.

Only by obtaining Tide Power was one qualified to become the Queen.

Tide Power had many uses; besides the Water Elemental Domain Barrier and the trident-shaped Water-Travel Magic Artifacts he had already seen, it could also be used for combat.

Tide Power was related to water; in places with water, it was almost the natural master, and even if one could perform Water Element Harmonization, one could not avoid the damage caused by the environment itself.

Tide Queen was not just a simple title, but had concrete, practical significance.