Chapter 652: Demotion + Longevity = Infinite Leveling

Xia Duo stayed in the Territory for a day. Although he had gained quite a bit more from his research into the Fielder Spellbook, he still had not made a decision regarding whether to level up.

Under the current conditions, it was indeed difficult for him to make such a decision that would very likely affect his entire life.

However, Xia Duo's hesitation was not entirely passive; as a transmigrator, he had never lacked the thinking and vision to transcend.

The best time to create Arcane Fire is at the 5th Spellcasting Level, woven by grasping the Magic Net Strings of the first five layers. This has been personally verified by a large number of Spellcasters in Netheril. With Xia Duo's current understanding, he was not confident in overturning this.

But is it truly impossible to reverse it after leveling up?

Xia Duo believed it was possible. It was not just from the game data from Earth that he knew of spells like 【Energy Absorption】 and 【Energy Weakening】; in this world of Reality Magic, there were also cases where Spellcasting Levels had decreased, or even been lost entirely, due to mistakes in spell experiments.

Extending this slightly, isn't that just a type of demotion spell?

This is equivalent to depriving a Mage of their perception of the Magic Net and lowering the Spellcaster's Spellcasting Level. If one could precisely demote themselves to the 5th Spellcasting Level, couldn't they then recreate Arcane Fire?

As for the subsequent re-leveling, one could just follow the standard procedure. Unless one's memory was also stripped away simultaneously, it would be truly easy to level up again.

If such a spell truly existed, Xia Duo speculated that it should be a combat spell, temporarily lowering an enemy's Spellcasting Level. Even if it could be recovered or dispelled, it would not be an instantaneous matter, and in that instant, life and death could very well be decided.

At the same time, if such a spell truly existed, it should also be a spell that ignores Protection. If one still needed to break the target's Protection before using it, it would really be better to use a direct damage spell.

If he could master this spell, it would be like mastering a Regret Pill. The combat effect would be secondary; the key is that it could serve as a strategic spell, providing convenience for Arcanists who have lost their Arcane Fire to recreate it.

Even an Archmage who missed the level 10 stage could go back and try to see if they could create their own Arcane Fire.

If such a spell were paired with a Life Extension Spell, the base number of Arcanists would be greatly expanded. By the same logic, the number of people who could eventually become Great Arcanists would also be greatly increased.

……

Xia Duo decided that after the Dragon Disaster, or rather, after the Drow threat was lifted, he would visit a former Mage who had lost their entire Spellcasting Level due to a spell experiment error, who was also a mainland lord with quite a legendary reputation.

Among all the recorded cases of decreased Spellcasting Levels, this was the only one whose identity Xia Duo could confirm.

Other cases were usually described as "a Mage from a certain Mage Tower," and the conclusion was usually "later became depressed, no further news" or "later recovered, no further news."

One could determine the information about the Mage Tower they were in, but the specific name and identity were often hidden; after all, this was not something glorious.

Of course, Xia Duo also guessed that the recorder might have just heard it from someone and then casually noted it down, without ever thinking about confirming information like identity or name.

If one really wanted to inquire, it should be possible to find out, but going to a strange Mage Tower to ask about a Mage's privacy was somewhat inappropriate. It would be better to go directly to visit that legendary lord.

At the very least, that person did not shy away from talking about that experimental accident; instead, they often brought it up to warn others. This was the reason why Xia Duo could know such specific information.

And the first time Xia Duo heard of that Lord Leisen, it was actually not because of his spell experiment accident, but because of the name of a Divine Miracle.

It is rumored that the Lord of Radiance once performed a Divine Miracle in Leisen Territory. This news actually reached Savile Territory, which shows the extent of its influence. However, Xia Duo was very cautious about matters related to gods and did not inquire too much.

It was not until later, when he heard rumors about Lord Leisen again, that he connected these two pieces of news and knew they were about the same place.

……

If the trip to Leisen Territory went smoothly and he could learn some details of Lord Leisen's spell experiments, then Xia Duo would choose to level up; if it did not go smoothly, then Xia Duo would still postpone leveling up.

He would wait until he had researched a demotion spell himself, or heard relevant details from other demotion cases.

His goal during the Dragon Disaster was to complete the cracking of the Fielder Spellbook as soon as possible, and at the same time, design and manufacture his own spellbook. As for the general direction of research into the 【Plane】, it would not be too late to start that after becoming a Senior Arcanist.

If one were to use experience from Earth as an analogy, then—

In Xia Duo's view, before becoming an Arcanist, one is at most a high school student; becoming an Advanced Arcanist is like getting into college; and only a Senior Arcanist can be considered a graduate student, needing to choose a specific direction to conduct research.

……

Returning to Savile Territory, Aoruipusi from the Silver Leaf Family had not yet sent word, but the Town Hall was surrounded again. However, this time it was not Elves, but those human Merchants.

Most of them had fled from Konnifila City, but there were also some Merchants who were originally in Savile Territory mixed in, surrounding the entrance of the Town Hall, and the scene was quite lively.

When Xia Duo arrived, he happened to see this scene. Recalling the situations he had accidentally heard while searching for Drow radiation traces in the Trade District the night before last, he immediately felt a surge of anger.

These Merchants had seen a fleet coming from the north during the day the day before yesterday, and by the evening, they had started to collude, wanting to unite to pressure Savile Territory to let the fleet prioritize taking them back to the north.

If he hadn't known they were colluding beforehand, Xia Duo had originally planned to set aside some spots for these human Merchants. After all, setting aside those guards, stewards, porters, and other miscellaneous personnel, there really weren't many of them.

Once the ringleaders were sent away, the remaining people would be easy to arrange.

But now that these people had colluded and created such a big commotion, although in reality, it had intensified the Elves' desire to buy "boat tickets," Xia Duo would not be the least bit grateful to them.

Instead, he felt that this was just a bunch of mobsters.

Wouldn't it be better to raise their demands normally? They had to pull this stunt. Although even if they had raised their demands normally, Xia Duo could not have agreed to send all of them onto the ship, but this was the rule, this was order.

Even for Xia Duo himself, he would respect and abide by any order he created. (A manifestation of order is law, and law is actually a tool to maintain the interests of the ruling class.)

……

Xia Duo descended from the sky and summoned a gust of wind to blow toward the crowd surrounding the entrance of the Town Hall. At the same time, his gaze searched the crowd continuously. When he discovered his target, he immediately used the psychic spell 【Command】 on them.

The failure of using a psychic spell on a Drow the day before yesterday did not happen again with this human Merchant. Even without the 【Stun】 prerequisite, a simple 【Command】 took effect very quickly.

That human Merchant realized he was under spell control, his face turned pale instantly, and his eyes rolled around, seemingly wanting to find a way to escape.

But no matter what he thought in his heart, his body still involuntarily walked out of the crowd under Xia Duo's command, arriving at the entrance of the Town Hall, in front of Xia Duo.