Chapter 440: Teleportation Mark, Agronomist-in-training

"If this continues, it will inevitably lead to the downward diffusion of knowledge, which is dangerous." To Xia Duo's formal inquiry, Leonard also provided his own formal response.

However, changing the subject, he added, "But this will also expand the base of spellcasters, which is beneficial to the current situation facing Netheril. As for a more specific analysis of the pros and cons, I am not adept in this area."

That is enough!

Intermediate Mages are naturally entitled to establish their own independent Research Labs. Xia Duo did not waste words on this, merely mentioning that he could help provide guidance to the Progress Society when he had time.

To this end, Xia Duo provided "Arcane Geometry" from the primary to advanced levels. This was, of course, not just the price for Leonard's guidance of the Progress Society, but also a cultivation of those with potential.

In his view, books that lean more toward theory like "Arcane Geometry" should be fully open; only specific technologies require secrecy. Of course, registering a Spell Patent might be more appropriate.

However, given the general environment, Xia Duo could only take it one step at a time.

As for why it was Leonard and not other Intermediate Mages, this actually had to do with potential. Of course, the fact that Leonard himself was a student of the Lord of Epps Territory was also a very important reason.

Although the other Intermediate Mages were not exactly decrepit, they ultimately could not compare to a young man like Leonard; their potential was truly limited. Planning for them to become Advanced Technicians in the future was Xia Duo's design for them.

During the transformation period of the Tower of Time (production methods), Xia Duo tried his best not to disturb them. If they could actively embrace the transformation, then in the further deepening of the transformation (talent cultivation), Xia Duo would also grant them certain preferential treatment.

Perhaps a few Arcanists might actually emerge!

Leaving Leonard's residence, Xia Duo discussed these various decisions with Aiboke. Whether as the only Arcanist in the Tower of Time besides Niya, or as an elder to Niya—and naturally to him as well—Aiboke had the right to know.

Afterward, Xia Duo flew back to the Territory.

……

It was rare to be able to fly a few more times before mastering 【Long-distance Teleportation】, and Xia Duo was still quite happy.

Returning to the Territory and giving a few instructions to Laidun, he immediately entered "seclusion mode." He was not prepared to come out again until he had mastered 【Long-distance Teleportation】.

With 【Short-range Teleportation】 as a foundation, plus the reference of several Spellbooks, Xia Duo was quite adept at researching 【Long-distance Teleportation】.

The 【Spell】 from the 4th Circle to the 5th Circle is not just a breakthrough in teleportation distance, but also a breakthrough in positioning methods. Currently, the 【Long-distance Teleportation】 Xia Duo was researching could also be called 【Fixed-point Teleportation】.

It was not that there were no materials on other methods like Fuzzy Teleportation, Random Teleportation, or Precise Teleportation, but 【Fixed-point Teleportation】 was the most accurate and the simplest to operate, almost never resulting in accidents, making it the top choice for beginners.

And to perform Fixed-point Teleportation, one needs to leave a 【Teleportation Mark】 at the target location in advance, similar to the 0 Ring 【Arcane Mark】, but this 【Teleportation Mark】 is a 5th Circle Spell.

According to the Spellbook, this spell is actually the casting of a Teleportation spell in advance, thereby forming a "Reverse-Teleportation" effect. Thereafter, as long as the spellcaster does not exceed the limit of the teleportation distance, they can return to the location of the mark at any time.

This spell can likewise be blocked by 【Dimensional Anchor】 and 【Forbidden Restriction】.

There is another type of fixed-point teleportation, but that requires extremely precise positioning, and compared to this method of performing a "Reverse-Teleportation" beforehand, the risk is still higher.

Xia Duo did not consider the difficulty of the spell, because for him, as long as it was not completely incomprehensible like a heavenly book, he could eventually learn and master it. He mainly considered safety and accuracy.

It would be a tragedy if a teleportation ended up inside a rock or lava.

At the same time, this spell involves the long-term retention of a mark, which is related to 【Magic Permanence】. In fact, 【Magic Permanence】 is not a specific spell, but a design theory for specific spells.

It makes the elements of a spell cycle repeatedly, preventing the spell from being dissolved by the Magic Net's tendency to autonomously restore itself, allowing the spell effect to exist permanently.

However, Xia Duo did not believe that any spell could truly exist permanently. Even a Mythallar has a day when it naturally collapses and disintegrates, let alone just a spell!

But long-term retention has certainly been verified by a host of Mages, and the verified time is indeed very long.

Additionally, the complexity of casting "Permanence-Magic" far exceeds that of a normal one-time spell. After all, it involves element cycling; even if the plan is researched in advance, the actual casting is quite complex.

In fact, it is easy to understand from another perspective: "Permanence-Magic" is equivalent to casting a spell countless times. If the casting difficulty were very low, then what would be the point of normal spells?

……

When a researcher is fully immersed in their research, time flies by, and in a blink, more than ten days had passed.

After more than ten days of research and organization, Xia Duo sorted out the preliminary elements and structural design of the 【Teleportation Mark】. In this version, there were over five hundred elements, divided into more than ten Element Units.

Among them, the largest cycle unit contained over two hundred elements.

Even the 5th Circle 【Mage Armor】 does not require two hundred elements; this 【Teleportation Mark】, also of the 5th Circle, can be described as extremely complex.

Moreover, casting difficulty and the number of elements are not directly proportional; rather, as the number of elements increases, the casting difficulty grows almost exponentially. Just think about the difficulty of multitasking with two, three, or four tasks at once.

When casting, the spellcaster must precisely control the operation of every single element. Merely failing the spell is already the best outcome; in serious cases, it results in immediate death on the spot.

This is determined by the essence of spellcasting. If a substitute spellcasting tool appears in the future, allowing tools to cast spells instead of humans, then perhaps even Mage Apprentices could freely control 9th Circle Magic.

Of course, correspondingly, the emergence of such revolutionary technology would also erase the power gap between individuals. Perhaps that is the era when magical civilization truly reaches its peak.

The current Xia Duo could not think that far ahead, so he could only bitterly attempt to cast this super-complex spell himself.

……

This was only the preliminary plan and was not yet fully perfected. Xia Duo perfected it, familiarized himself with it, and practiced it all at the same time. Excluding the time for eating, sleeping, and Focus Training, all other time was fully utilized by him.

During this period, Laidun hardly disturbed him with matters of the Territory, except for the matter of Yatewude coming to Daxia Territory to select Druid Apprentices.

It was unclear what Yatewude was thinking; having lost his Holy Power, he was still thinking about cultivating Druids. For this reason, Xia Duo specifically "came out of seclusion" to have a detailed talk with him.

In the end, he gave him three spots: two Netherese children and one Langasi child.

Because Yatewude had refused to go to Cormanthyr to worship the Elf main god, and was subsequently banished and lost his Holy Power, this matter left Xia Duo with doubts. Although the game data from before his transmigration said that Druids do not need to believe in gods, in the real world, it was unknown what relationship actually existed between Druids and the Elf main god.

Therefore, he was relatively cautious in his choices in this regard.

These three children were less like Druid Apprentices and more like "Agronomists-in-training." Although Yatewude had lost his Holy Power, his knowledge and insight remained. In the field of plants, he was still a bona fide expert.

It was because Xia Duo saw this point that he had kept him in the Territory all along.