Chapter 478: Smart Electronic Paper, Seeing Mountains Not as Mountains

Looking around, the fifty Golden Pages seemed to be completely open for Xia Duo to view, and in fact, that was indeed the case; the only limitation was that one could only pick up one Golden Page at a time.

Moreover, in Magic Vision, the density of the Magic Net Strings throughout the Secret Chamber was far beyond the normal environment, and they were interconnected; one could only wonder how many unknown spells were hidden there.

Just from what Xia Duo could discover, there was—a restriction on Spellcasting, preventing any spells from being released.

Additionally, the Dimensional Bag was also restricted, which caused Xia Duo's idea of bringing out that chair to fall through; as for his Personal Space, Xia Duo did not dare to attempt it.

Thinking about it, one would know that after experiencing the theft of a complete set of 【Nether Scroll】, how could the remaining set not have strict precautions? Xia Duo felt that as long as he took anything out from his Personal Space, a Great Arcanist would likely jump out immediately.

Theoretically, Xia Duo had the chance to put a Golden Page into his Personal Space, but his own departure would be a problem.

"Sigh—"

Xia Duo looked at these Golden Pages that he could only look at but not touch, feeling exceptionally irritated, "I wonder if there are 【Nether Scroll】 in the Projection Plane? If I could bring them back from the Projection Plane, that would be great too!"

……

Time was limited, so Xia Duo cast aside distracting thoughts and, following the order, picked up the first Golden Page of the first set and began to read formally; he had already known the essentials of reading.

Maintaining Focus, the silver characters on the Golden Page began to change rapidly, forming passages of text with actual meaning; this type of text gave Xia Duo a vague sense of familiarity.

Although he did not recognize such text, somehow, holding the Golden Page, he could fully understand its meaning.

Of course, beyond the text, there were more direct and fundamental expressions, which were the demonstrations of the author's creative intent through the different changes of the Magic Net Strings.

No matter what kind of text, what kind of language, or what kind of magic system, in the final analysis, they were all a way of expression built upon the essence. And using the Magic Strings to demonstrate magic, for someone like Xia Duo who already had a certain foundation, was even easier to accept than linguistic expression.

The 【Nether Scroll】 were divided into five sets, among which the first set mainly discussed the essence of magic, including the essence of the Magic Net, the Spellcasting Root, spell Principles, and so on.

The first page Xia Duo read systematically introduced the author's series of experiences regarding the cognition, understanding, verification, and even transformation of the essence of the Magic Net.

It even involved some magic systems that were completely different from the Netheril Magic System, and by analyzing the similarities and differences of these magic systems, it analyzed the essence of the Magic Net from the side.

What surprised Xia Duo the most was that this Golden Page would speed up or slow down its "playback" speed according to his level of understanding; yes, he had already regarded the 【Nether Scroll】 as an intelligent player.

The Golden Page was very thin and soft, but also very tough, and the tactile feel was quite good; coupled with the silver characters drifting on its surface, it looked exactly like the electronic paper that was still in the Laboratory stage on Earth, possessing a strong science-fiction feel.

Just this one page, Xia Duo read for a long time without seeing an end; it seemed that as long as he wanted to read, there would always be content appearing!

If that were really the case, then when would he finish reading these fifty Golden Pages! Perhaps he wouldn't even finish them in his lifetime!

Thinking of this, one couldn't help but feel a bit dejected, "My life has a limit, but knowledge has no limit; to pursue the limitless with the limited is perilous!", isn't this exactly what that refers to!

Looking at the many Golden Pages within reach, Xia Duo had never longed for immortality as much as he did now; compared to the pursuit of the unknown, which required great Courage and great perseverance, such accessible Knowledge was a tangible temptation.

Clearly, a grand feast was laid out before him, yet he couldn't finish it; this kind of longing and this kind of frustration were things Xia Duo had already experienced.

……

Time passed bit by bit, seemingly inconspicuous, yet endless; three days passed very quickly.

When Xia Duo received the notification from the Tower Spirit to return the Nether Scroll to its original position, he was still a bit dazed; it had already been three days? How could time pass so quickly? It couldn't be tricking him, right?

Xia Duo felt that he had only just entered not long ago, and it was already over? If this was three days, why was he not hungry, not thirsty, and not tired at all?

"Level 2 member of the Arcane Union, Pioneer Xia Duo, please return the Nether Scroll to its original position, otherwise the next application will be prohibited," the Tower Spirit reminded again.

An arm cannot twist a thigh; Xia Duo followed the Indication and placed the Nether Scroll back in its original position, a flash of reluctance in his eyes, and immediately after, his vision blurred, and he had already appeared in the Library, standing at the entrance of the Secret Chamber.

Just at this moment, a fatigue originating from his body and mind arrived unexpectedly; Xia Duo instantly understood something—the Secret Chamber must have provided him with some kind of support to ensure he could stay inside for a full three days.

The best choice now was actually to return to the Tower of Time immediately, but to avoid mistakes caused by fatigued Spellcasting, Xia Duo decided to rest at the Arcane Union for a day.

……

The next day, when Xia Duo woke up, he suddenly had a feeling of "seeing mountains not as mountains"; this was not an illusion, but rather that he could truly see the Magic Net without entering a state of Focus.

This was obviously not something Xia Duo achieved himself; according to his estimation, it must be that the Subconscious had to be integrated to a certain degree to achieve this.

So-called Focus was actually the condensation of will, or the unification of the Subconscious and the Conscious Mind; Focus Training was more about training stability rather than integrating the Subconscious and Conscious Mind.

Only the Meditation Method that Xia Duo brought back from the Projection Plane involved integrating consciousness blocks; the native Netheril side did not have such training methods, at least not any that Xia Duo knew of.

"Could this be an incidental benefit of reading the 【Nether Scroll】?"

If nothing unexpected happened, it should be.

Being able to see the Magic Net at will did not have any negative impact on Xia Duo; it was as if he were in a state of Focus at all times, but yet it was not a state of Focus.

Xia Duo had a deep personal understanding of this point; in this state, he only saw the Magic Net and could not truly cast spells; Tricks were fine, but slightly more complex spells still required being cast in a state of Focus.

Of course, if one did not care about orderly spells and only hoped to obtain the Magic Effect fed back by the Magic Net after plucking the Magic Net Strings, then that could be done at will.

But at the same time, he also realized that his level of Focus should have also improved; through traditional Netheril Focus Training, it was easy to judge which stage he was at and how much longer it would be until he could perceive his Soul!

The third stage of Focus Training was passed without any obstacles, and the fourth stage was also completed very quickly; it was so smooth that it was almost unbelievable—Xia Duo had actually jumped directly from the third stage to the sixth stage.

According to the records of the Tower of Time, as long as one could complete the ninth stage of Focus Training, perceiving the Soul would be a matter of course; in other words, this reading of the 【Nether Scroll】 had allowed Xia Duo's progress in perceiving the Soul to increase by one-third all at once.

If he could read it one more time, perhaps he would be able to advance in a few days.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo longed for the 【Nether Scroll】 even more.

It was just that he didn't know if there were any in the Projection Plane!

And there was the issue of the expansion of his Personal Space; if the space could not be expanded, even if he found 【Nether Scroll】 in the Projection Plane, he wouldn't be able to bring them back!

Thinking left and right, Xia Duo had no heart to meditate here anymore.

Going home directly!