Chapter 370: Flesh-and-Blood Carpet

Because there is no Spell Laboratory here, Xia Duo has to spend more time on specific experiments than he would at the Tower of Time.

However, in the Projection Plane, he has gained an effect nearly equivalent to Time Acceleration, so this bit of waste actually counts for nothing. Since he knows full well that everything in the Projection Plane, apart from experience and Knowledge, is merely an external object, he has never left since arriving here.

Closing the book *Arcane Principles* in his hands, Xia Duo feels a sense of wonder in his heart about how the person who first created Arcane Energy ever thought of it; he, of course, knows that the current Netheril Magic System comes from the 【Nether Scroll】.

But wanting to research a magic system suitable for humans from the 【Nether Scroll】 and create Arcane Energy is no easy task! The era this Projection Plane is currently in is the true early Netheril period; even magic was obtained from the Elves, which is why Xia Duo has no interest in interacting with the Mages here.

The systems are different and the references are limited; he has not yet reached the point where he needs to draw inferences about other cases!

"If only I could enter a Projection Plane from the era when the Nether Scroll was discovered!" Xia Duo cannot help but let his thoughts wander.

In that era, the Nether Scroll could be viewed at will; there was no need for the cumbersome procedures and various thresholds of the current Main Plane. It is very difficult to see a Nether Scroll in reality, but in a Projection Plane, perhaps one could even possess it directly.

Moreover, Xia Duo also thought of his Personal Space; if he could bring the Nether Scroll back, he would be willing to "shrink" his Personal Space by half again.

Of course, comparing the gap between the 【Blade of Veto】 and the 【Nether Scroll】, Xia Duo feels that with a Personal Space of the current size, even if he were given the chance to take the Nether Scroll, he might not necessarily be able to bring it back.

Putting away the book in his hand, Xia Duo prepares to make himself a good meal, but just as he stands up, he sees wisps of light filtering through the cracks in the straw-woven window.

This light is very bright, yet not dazzling; instead, it has a sense of gentle comfort.

"This is no ordinary light!"

Almost subconsciously, Xia Duo extracts a 3rd-ring 【Mage Armor】 from the Magic Net and then rushes out of the house. Once outside, the light is even more brilliant.

He sees that somewhere not too far to the south, more than a dozen dazzling pillars of light connect the sky and the earth; what he saw just now from the wooden house was merely a tiny wisp of that endless radiance.

"A major event, absolutely!"

With Xia Duo's current abilities, even if he were to upgrade 【Light】 to the 3rd-ring level, he would be as dim as a firefly in front of those pillars of light.

He quickly judges that something has happened in the south, and it is very likely related to the Orc Tide; of course, there is also the matter of the pillars of light themselves.

If he were in the Main Plane, Xia Duo would want to run as far away as possible right now—rashly watching the show might get him crushed by it—but now, he really wants to go and see.

In the Main Plane, he needs to be mindful of his own safety, but in the Projection Plane, where he can withdraw at any time, he is much more relaxed.

Learning magic does indeed allow Xia Duo to reap joy from the process of studying and researching, but his initial idea was merely to let himself live better, more comfortably, and more freely! Even now, if he were kept locked in one place, even with endless magic Knowledge for company, he would not be able to stand it.

These past few days, he has been willing to stay in this wooden house because there is nothing outside that interests him, and most importantly, as long as he is willing, he can walk out at any time.

……

Buffing himself with the 【Flight】 state, Xia Duo flies rapidly toward the south.

The closer he gets to the pillars of light, the more Xia Duo can feel the powerful force coming from there; he feels that this force is something even that mysterious Bishop who performed the Secret Flame Baptism and restored youth to Aiboke, whom he saw at the Arcane Competition, could not compare to.

Let alone anyone else.

Looking at those thirteen pillars of light connecting the sky and the earth, although Xia Duo has never seen a Great Arcanist, he imagines it must be just like this! A moment later, Xia Duo is already within 500 meters of the pillars of light; within this range, it is almost as bright as day, and if he reached out, every fine detail would be visible.

He has already seen a mottled blood-red "carpet" extending from the pillars of light toward the southwest, and in the distance, there seems to be another small patch of weaker light moving.

Xia Duo does not hesitate and moves a little closer; because the pillars of light, while brilliant, are not dazzling, he can look directly at them from such a close distance.

Moving a little closer, Xia Duo can already see blurred human figures within those pillars of light that look almost substantial.

There is a figure in every pillar of light, and those figures are also composed of light; it is only because of the different brightness of the details in each place that Xia Duo is able to distinguish them.

In fact, from the first moment he saw these pillars of light, Xia Duo had already made a judgment; this light is extremely similar to the holy radiance that Bishop Anbulier once displayed, but upon closer inspection, there are differences.

If the holy radiance displayed by Bishop Anbulier represents order and justice, then the Holy Light here represents righteousness and benevolence; by comparison, Xia Duo prefers the former.

Of course, this is not to say that Xia Duo does not like righteousness and benevolence; he believes in them and likes them, but whether in the Projection Plane or the Main Plane, talking about righteousness and benevolence is somewhat of a luxury.

Or rather, Xia Duo is more realistic.

Xia Duo cannot research the pillars of light themselves, but it is not difficult to understand them from the side; he soon discovers that people are coming from the southwest, and in that direction—

"It should be the town where this body in the projection was previously located!"

Xia Duo quietly hides his figure and flies past this group of people; vaguely, he seems to hear the sound of low sobbing and the chanting of Proverbs.

Passing by, Xia Duo does not stop to listen carefully; he still has to chase after the small patch of radiance moving in the south.

Following the mottled flesh-and-blood "carpet" on the ground, Xia Duo flies toward the southwest; the further south he goes, the denser the "carpet" becomes, with occasional scattered Orcs lying in two halves on either side of the "carpet."

Xia Duo stops to briefly examine these Orc corpses; weak holy radiance still lingers on the cross-sections. After looking at a few, Xia Duo stops lingering.

He flies south at top speed, even refreshing a 【Flight】 along the way.

It is not until he approaches the Southern Forest that Xia Duo catches up to that patch of radiance; only then does he discover that within that patch of radiance are actually hundreds of human Warriors clad in Holy Light armor.

They are chasing Orcs all the way south; the flesh-and-blood "carpet" seems to disappear here, and all that remains are Orc corpses lying helter-skelter, also severed in two.

Xia Duo sees with his own eyes a human Warrior swing his sword, and a Holy Light Blade flies out from the blade, directly slicing the Orc blocking the way into two halves, while the Holy Light Blade that flew out, after disintegrating into light, returns to these Warriors.

Then they swing their swords again, and it returns again, cycling in this manner.

Xia Duo watches with extreme envy; if he possessed these subordinates, then the so-called Territory development would simply be too easy!

However, thinking about it, it also feels unrealistic; the state of these Warriors might be related to those thirteen pillars of light. Xia Duo did not expect to be able to see such a situation in the Projection Plane.

Of course, they might exist in the Main Plane as well, but he has not yet come into contact with them.

(End of chapter)