Chapter 679: Searching for Information, Bai E Si

Xia Duo is not a lord who likes to let his subordinates die, although if it were truly necessary, he would indeed do it; but in the current situation, it does not yet amount to throwing their lives away.

Besides, even if they really died, it is not as if there is no way to resurrect them; it is just a matter of the cost.

Apart from the magic he learned about in the 【Projection Plane: Arcane Empire】 that can resurrect, Xia Duo has also heard that in Seventon on the Main Plane, in the Temple District of the Old City District—or more accurately, the Tomb District—one can find a mysterious Death Priest there.

Through him, one can purchase resurrection services; even the dead can be brought back, but this kind of resurrection service seems to have a rather high threshold and is not sold just for money; there is some kind of hidden condition involved.

In any case, the cases of resurrection of the dead that Xia Duo has heard of so far are only a few, countable on one's fingers.

Of course, in the current situation, there is no need for resurrection at all; one only needs to find a way to undo the petrification, so Xia Duo is not too worried.

……

The troll cave under this large tree is only two or three meters deep, and the location where the Jiabasi stone statue lies extends only another three or four meters diagonally downward.

Not long after Ximeng's men went down, shouts came up, and the other soldiers above immediately used ropes to lower a wooden frame from the cave entrance.

Soon, the two soldiers who had gone down, along with the Jiabasi stone statue, were pulled up by the collective effort of everyone, and it was only then that Xia Duo truly saw with his own eyes Jiabasi after being completely petrified.

If Boke's pain stemmed from the junction of flesh and petrification, then the completely petrified Jiabasi should not be able to feel any pain.

It is even a question of whether he has any sensation at all.

Boke just said he could feel the petrified area being tapped, but Xia Duo feels this is very likely psychological; even if he could really feel it, could a petrified brain still have sensations?

Regarding this question, Xia Duo does not want to try it himself; he will only ask Jiabasi after he recovers.

After the stone statue was laid flat, Xia Duo observed it carefully from nearby again, but he did not find any signs of life; it looked like a real stone statue, and one could even see traces of fine details like hair being broken off.

With his current abilities, he fears he is powerless to solve it himself, and worried that reckless attempts might actually get the person killed, Xia Duo did not try to handle it himself.

After thinking for a moment, he instructed Ximeng: "Send someone to move Jiabasi back to the Military Camp first. I am going back to the Tower of Time. Also, leave someone here to guard it; don't let anyone go down."

Currently, the Territory's development front has approached this area; although he has already had the Development Department clear the area around the cave, once the development front crosses here, with people coming and going, it is inevitable that someone might enter the cave due to accidents or curiosity.

Having two unlucky fellows petrified is already enough; Xia Duo does not want anyone else to be petrified.

Upon hearing the order, Ximeng responded and immediately took action, while Xia Duo flew back to the Tower of Time.

……

Tower of Time, Library, inside the Advanced Rank partition.

Xia Duo occasionally passed through the Protection Jieti and picked up precious books from the shelves, but he usually just flipped through each book roughly a few times before putting it back.

"I clearly remember seeing it right here! How is it gone?!"

In the Advanced Rank partition, there are not many books, and Xia Duo can see at a glance if any are missing, but after searching a circle, he truly did not find any information related to the Petrification Spell.

"Did I really remember it wrong?" Xia Duo could not help but feel suspicious.

Searching like this is not a solution, so he simply sat down and seriously recalled the content he saw at the time; the first thing he can be sure of is that he did indeed see records of petrification, he just wasn't sure where he saw them.

Perhaps it was the Tower of Time, perhaps it was the Arcane Union, or perhaps it was Giles Tower; Xia Duo has read books in all three places, but only at the Tower of Time, due to Permission Level issues, has he read the most.

Of course, the academy library collection in the 【Projection Plane: Arcane Empire】 is even richer, and there are almost no Permission Level restrictions, but Xia Duo has been organizing the materials he copied back from there in his spare time recently, and he remembers very clearly that there was no Petrification Spell.

And the most critical point is that Xia Duo is very certain he saw it at the Tower of Time; perhaps because he had no restrictions in the library, his memory of which partition he saw it in is a bit blurry.

"Ah—I thought of it! I knew it, if it were spell data, how could I not remember it!"

Xia Duo immediately changed partitions and came to the Apprentice Partition; after checking only a few books, he found the relevant information in a Mage biography, which told of an experience of an Archmage named "Bai E Si"—

Bai E Si encountered an ambush by a petrifying lizard while passing through an Underground Passage to Danzo; his right hand was accidentally petrified, and later, with the help of a certain Radiant Priest (whose name was not recorded), the petrified part was restored.

Of course, in this biography, this recovery process is not the point; the point is—that Archmage Bai E Si used this to invent a spell specifically for undoing petrification.

It is just that there is no record of this spell in the biography, but this also gave Xia Duo a hint; perhaps Bishop Anbulier can undo petrification, and there is no need to go to all the trouble of running to Seventon.

And after he observes the process of Bishop Anbulier undoing petrification, perhaps he can also create his own spell to undo petrification!

By the same token, reversing this process would be the Petrification Spell.

For a moment, Xia Duo became somewhat excited; although functional Transmutation spells like petrification and undoing petrification are not his main research objects, knowing versus not knowing, and mastering versus not mastering, are two completely different things.

Just like this time, if he himself knew how to undo petrification, he wouldn't need to be so troublesome, searching for information and having to find someone to help later!

……

Putting the book "Biography of Archmage Bai E Si" back on the shelf, Xia Duo did not rush to find Bishop Anbulier; compared to the father and son Jiabasi who were relatively safe lying in the Military Camp, he was more concerned about the situation of the Elf refugees.

If this is not handled well, it could very likely lead to a big mess.

Thinking the time was about right, he contacted Niya to ask how the discussions were going on her side, but he did not expect Niya to tell him the problem had already been solved.

If Niya's voice had not been a bit low and disappointed, Xia Duo would have really thought things were progressing very smoothly, so he hurriedly asked: "How was it solved?"

"I listened to your suggestion and found Auripus Silverleaf; he agreed very readily, and not long after, the External Affairs Mage at the supply camp sent word that the Elves were no longer causing trouble!"

"How did Auripus do it?" Xia Duo asked again.

"He just had that Aobolaien go over for a moment, and then the matter was solved, but I had previously sent Aiboke there too! Could it be that humans really have no deterrent power in the eyes of Elves?"

Xia Duo was silent; it is not that there is no deterrent power, but that "the law does not punish the masses"; with so many Elves gathered there, huddling together, one can imagine how emboldened they would be.

Fortunately, they were not allowed into Savile Town, otherwise, a big mess really would have broken out.

"I understand; let's use the Silver Leaf Family for now; I believe that in the future, the Elves will definitely behave themselves on human territory!"

"I hope so!"

……