Chapter 480: Paper-making, An Accident

【Square Force Field】, or perhaps it could be called 【Xia Duo's Square Force Field】, it really doesn't matter; this is just a force field spell Xia Duo temporarily modified, and it's even debatable whether it will be used again after today.

This spell has no other purpose either; it just acts as something similar to a hydraulic press, pressing vertically downward in front of Xia Duo until it presses out a deep pit one meter square.

This force field spell, reaching up to 4th-rank, ends here.

The next to appear is still a newly modified temporary spell; of course, this spell is only 3rd-rank, called 【Slow-Release Matrix Furnace】 by Xia Duo, which slowly releases the energy of a normal 【Fireball】 to achieve the goal of vitrifying the surface layer of the pit.

For Xia Duo, this does not have much difficulty; it is merely adjusting some Element Units.

Creating new spells is actually similar to "technological inventions" on Earth; if one does not consider practicality and safety, any Spellcaster can create new spells at will.

The biggest difference between spells and technological inventions is that if the theoretical foundation is not solid when inventing and creating new spells, it is very easy to get oneself killed, so there is almost no stage for "amateur scientists" in the field of Magic.

Anyone capable of creating new spells, to a certain extent, shows that he possesses the potential to become an Arcanist.

Xia Duo does not feel proud of this; he is just standing on the shoulders of his predecessors. Only with a ready-made system like Netheril Magic, which is conceptually close to the science of his hometown, could he accept, learn, research, and even continuously progress so quickly.

After a while, with two 【Slow-Release Matrix Furnace】 spells used, a deep pit with a vitrified surface was completed.

Afterward, Xia Duo injected a Water Source into it, and finally poured all the wood chips from his dimensional bag into it; up to this step, the preparatory work for paper-making was considered complete.

……

Next, Xia Duo cast the 【Crushing Force Field】 from the series of paper-making spells recorded from the Projection Plane, crushing the wood chips again until this one-meter-square deep pit was filled with fine brown wood pulp.

"Magic changes life!"

Ordinary people have the methods of ordinary people, and Spellcasters have the methods of Spellcasters; if there were no spells, Xia Duo might have to go through a very complicated process to obtain such wood pulp.

And in the paper-making process of the Arcane Empire, there is also an acid washing process, but this is Xia Duo's first attempt, and he feels that he can start shaping now.

For the first trial production, he can first try shaping with this level of wood pulp; anyway, it won't use much, and if it doesn't work, he can still proceed with the acid washing process.

Shaping also has a specialized spell, called 【Shaping and Drying】; similar to 【Crushing Force Field】, it is very descriptive. The spell Xia Duo cast did not undergo any modifications and was completely copied from the prototype of the Arcane Empire's paper-making technique.

Soon, a fist-sized ball of wood pulp was detached from the deep pit under the influence of the spell, and then it quickly unfolded; a huge brown "curtain" appeared in front of Xia Duo.

Immediately after, the "curtain" began to oscillate rhythmically. During this oscillation process, an invisible heat field began to appear. In just a few seconds, Xia Duo discovered that this "curtain" had dried, becoming a huge piece of artificial paper. (Distinct from semi-natural things like Parchment)

The color of the paper after drying became slightly lighter, a bit like the brown kraft paper on Earth; if the requirements for the paper are not that high, it actually does not affect actual use.

Xia Duo rubbed the newly born artificial paper with his fingers, feeling an indescribable sense of satisfaction in his heart.

Next is cutting; there is also a specialized spell for this, but it can be cut normally with a knife; there is no need to be that extravagant.

Just as Xia Duo was full of ambition, thinking about his "Daxia Paper" sweeping across all of Netheril, he suddenly heard an old voice from behind him, "A nice spell!"

Hearing this voice, Xia Duo felt terrible; someone had reached behind him without him noticing at all. Was he too relaxed, or was the person who came too powerful?

However, this was not the time to dwell on this question. Xia Duo did not consider anything else and almost subconsciously triggered one of his five 【Teleportation Mark】s, instantly leaving the spot.

The location of this 【Teleportation Mark】 was in a forest about 20 li west of Linshui Village. When Xia Duo placed the 【Teleportation Mark】, he did not deliberately search; he just found an empty space and threw the camouflaged Mithril Block containing the 【Teleportation Mark】 here.

The other four 【Teleportation Mark】s were also done this way; basically, he would fly for a distance and then just throw down the camouflaged Mithril Block and be done with it.

Even he himself couldn't remember where he threw them, so the enemy would have no way to find them.

This counts as one of Xia Duo's retreat paths; it is faster than calling the Tower Spirit to guide a teleportation and more stable than extracting a Teleportation spell stored in the Magic Net. Even subconsciously, Xia Duo treats this escape method as his first choice.

And just as Xia Duo teleported to the location of the 【Teleportation Mark】, the 【Delayed Teleportation】 cast on him immediately sensed that someone was teleporting into the area within 30 meters of him.

Without a second thought, he immediately delayed it.

Immediately after, Xia Duo called the Tower Spirit to guide a teleportation, without any hesitation.

Just after Xia Duo left, an old man wearing a deep red Mage Robe similar in color to Xia Duo's and holding a Scepter appeared here. However, by this time, Xia Duo had already left. The old man only picked up some of the brown paper Xia Duo had dropped in his hurried departure, as well as a Mithril Block camouflaged to look like a stone.

The old man first looked at the paper, then looked at the Mithril Block, and shook his head while looking toward the east, his meaning unclear.

……

And on this side, Xia Duo, who had just returned to the Tower of Time, was still somewhat shaken. After his mood calmed down slightly, he seriously considered the situation that had just occurred.

Although his reaction just now was a bit excessive, judging from what happened afterward, the other party was at least an Advanced Rank Mage; otherwise, they could not teleport, and they even chased him by teleporting.

An existence who was at least an Advanced Rank Mage snuck up behind him; what did they want to do?

Xia Duo still remembered that the other party only said "A nice spell" at the time, so how long had they been watching? But if one were to think the other party had no malicious intent just from this, that would be too wishful thinking.

Who exactly was the other party?

The only one Xia Duo knew who might have a conflict with him was probably Huo Ke Territory; of course, it could also be because he obtained the Princess's 【Silver Ring Badge】 and other Pioneers had opinions, but this possibility was too small.

Thinking it over, only the possibility of Huo Ke Territory was the greatest.

But if it were someone from Huo Ke Territory, it wouldn't be impossible for the other party to restrain him as soon as they arrived; did they need to warn him first?

Was it to Stun him and then negotiate, or some other idea?

For a moment, Xia Duo imagined a lot.