Chapter 360: Knowledge and Time

Xia Duo has been hiding in the forest for nearly ten days. During this time, his body has mostly recovered; at the very least, he is able to move freely without the aid of spells.

This is, of course, not due to the unripe Fan Ge Tree Fruit he picked initially, but rather a large amount of meat; only meat can provide enough energy for the body to recover.

Naturally, the inferior Holy Water he usually produces has also played a certain role!

Previously, after discovering those two Orcs killing each other, the forest began to fall into chaos. From time to time, beasts fleeing in panic would bolt toward the north, which made Xia Duo increasingly feel that the Orc Tide was likely coming soon.

The forest is so vast and empty that the beasts could run anywhere, yet the fact that they are running north and that Xia Duo can perceive a distinct difference in their numbers is enough to show that the changes in the south are quite extensive.

In other words, the scale of this Orc Tide might be much larger than Xia Duo imagined! Xia Duo only experienced some of the aftermath of the Orc Tide in Savile Territory, but from the records of the Tower of Time, he knows that on the front lines, Savile Territory paid a heavy price to buy time for the Lord of Epps Territory, forcibly dragging the Orcs into a meat grinder.

Of course, the Orcs suffered even more; their home was stolen, and their main force on the front was almost completely annihilated. The remainder, under the pursuit of Savile Territory, could only scatter, hiding here and there, and could no longer coalesce.

In this Orc Tide within the Projection Plane, he will witness the true scene of an Orc Tide, and how the "ancients" of Netheril resisted this crisis that was akin to a natural disaster! Recently, the animals in the forest have become increasingly restless. He personally saw a forest wolf with matted fur collapse under a large tree, and then it never stood up again.

This sense of unease also infected Xia Duo somewhat. He decided to return to the human world—not the town he left earlier, of course; Xia Duo has no intention of staying on the front lines of the battlefield to play with the Orcs.

In his eyes, everything in the Projection Plane is not real. As long as he wishes, he can withdraw at any time, and once he returns to the Main Plane, this Projection Plane might dissolve into the Astral Plane in just a few seconds.

He is very clear about his goals in the Projection Plane: one is Knowledge, and the other is time.

Although this time is only relative—no matter how long he stays in the Projection Plane, once he leaves, it will be returned to his original body without a single minute lost—but—

This method of using future time in the present is exactly what suits him! Looking at it from the time of the Main Plane, he became an Intermediate Mage in just one year. If he experiences the Projection Plane a few more times, he could even successfully advance to an Advanced Arcanist within one year (of the Main Plane).

This will be a tremendous improvement for his current situation!

No matter how good the power of the Tower of Time is, it is still an external force. Although Xia Duo does not reject external forces, no amount of external force is as satisfying as mastering power himself!

And in this projection, he might not gain much Knowledge, because he has come to the distant past of Netheril. In this period, perhaps not even the Nether Scroll has been discovered, unless he runs to the Elves, but why would the Elves necessarily treat him well?

Furthermore, Elven Magic is ultimately different from his current Netheril Magic System. With no lack of advanced Knowledge for the time being, he has no need to be overly ambitious or try to master everything.

Only time is a guaranteed profit.

That is why he is so protective of his life, from quickly moving away from humans before, to staying away from the battlefield now. In any case, the history of this Projection Plane will evolve naturally without him; it is not a situation where the Main Plane will be destroyed if he does not intervene.

Why should he worry about a group of virtual existences!...

Leaving the forest, to the north is a vast plain. The small town he left earlier was already the southernmost point, located on the east bank of a river flowing from south to north.

And to its north, Netherese villages and towns spread along the riverbanks all the way to the northern coast; there are villages and farmland on both sides of the river.

Xia Duo flew in the sky. Since the ground did not curve, he could almost see the end of his field of vision at a glance. The hazy mountain ranges seemed to have lost their color, becoming extremely pale, merging with the sky.

That is the area even further north of the northern Narrow Sea!

If his eyesight were good enough and he flew high enough, perhaps he could see the end of the world at a glance.

Concealing his figure and circling far around the small town he had left, Xia Duo flew straight north. There are enough villages in the north for him to stay temporarily. He believes that in the face of such a crisis of an Orc Tide, which is akin to a natural disaster, no one should have the heart to track him down.

Passing through several villages in succession, Xia Duo stopped at one that looked relatively peaceful. Flying in the sky earlier, he discovered that the Netherese seemed to have realized the Orc Tide was coming, as squads of soldiers were moving south from time to time.

A great battle might be about to break out, but none of this has anything to do with him. He has already found a suitable small wooden hut on the edge of a field.

The original owner is nowhere to be found, which is perfect for him to stay for a while. There are a few fruit trees near the wooden hut, one of which is an apple tree, and this apple tree is also one of the reasons Xia Duo chose this place.

He feels a sense of kinship whenever he sees an apple tree now; it is truly because he is accustomed to sitting under an apple tree in the Arcane Garden of the Tower of Time to think about problems, which makes him feel as if Newton has possessed him.

Thinking itself is a painful process; why add to this pain with poor treatment? As long as conditions permit, Xia Duo has never mistreated himself. After setting up a Magic Alarm for vigilance and sitting down under the apple tree, he treated this Projection Plane, located who knows where in the Astral Plane, as his Spell Laboratory.

According to the advancement plan he had already mapped out, he would take it one step at a time. Fortunately, he usually keeps important items like books and notes in his Personal Space; otherwise, he would only be able to conduct spell research this time.

Aside from being able to level up, it is not of much help for advancement.

While doing Focus Training, Xia Duo took out "Deep Weave" and began to flip through it, occasionally tugging at the Magic Net to try and verify things. This book is quite profound and is purely a theoretical book describing the essence of the Magic Net.

When he felt a bit restless, he would use Arcane Geometry to analyze the Principles of the spells. This theory, which leans more toward practice, is closely related to the essence of the Magic Net. Combining the two made it easier for Xia Duo to build a grand framework and understand the entire Magic System with fewer obstacles.

Focus Training lies in the mind and in consciousness; distraction is one of its forms. Thus, while researching Magic, Xia Duo was also considering some trivial matters—

For example, how to make full use of time in the Projection Plane, what spells his own spell library is still missing (such as "Create Food"), and when to return, etc.

I wonder if everyone has played WoW? In it, Mages can create spring water, drinks, bread, feasts, and so on; it's very powerful~~

If I could add a summoned residence, I feel like I could just find a place to nest and stay there until the end of time~~

Envious.

(End of chapter)