Chapter 810: The Only Reality, Siluwende

In Netheril, Astral Projection is considered a relatively mature technique, and Xia Duo has yet to hear of anyone whose soul projection has been trapped within a Projection Plane.

The greatest characteristic of a projection is that it is not restricted by the Projection Plane; as long as one wishes to leave, one can certainly leave.

Only a very small number of spells can harm the soul itself through a projection; more often, it is the consciousness and the mind that suffer damage.

Of course, even in cases where the mind or consciousness is injured, it is extremely rare.

But at this moment, "looking" at the dense Magic Net Strings on the surface of his soul, Xia Duo still couldn't help but feel nervous—can this really be unaffected?

After perceiving his soul, this was his first time performing an Astral Projection; his previous projections were all before he had perceived his soul, so he knew very little about the details of leaving a Projection Plane.

He only knew that after the thought of leaving arose, his consciousness began to peel away from the Projection Plane; as for how exactly it peeled away, or where the soul projection was located, he had no awareness at that time.

After thinking about it, Xia Duo felt that the very act of being in the Projection Plane interfered with his true perception; this Drow body appeared incomparably real to him at this moment, and he couldn't see any signs of it being a virtual world at all.

Therefore, the Magic Net Strings wrapped around his soul, and even the soul itself, might not be the true appearance he perceived; only by seeing the truth could he make a more accurate judgment.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo simply overlapped his Personal Space with the surrounding space; the Personal Space can store items from the Projection Plane, and only when he leaves the Astral Plane will there be an opportunity to manifest them.

If they are not manifested, once he leaves the Astral Plane, those items that were visible while in the Projection Plane will immediately dissipate.

What Xia Duo utilized was the contrast between the false reality of being in the Projection Plane and the absolute reality possessed by the Personal Space itself.

Overlapping the Personal Space with the portion of the Projection Plane he was currently in was equivalent to him being in both the Projection Plane and the Personal Space at the same time.

The false cannot be true, and the true cannot be false.

With the added true perspective of being in his Personal Space, Xia Duo immediately discovered the illusory nature of his current body, and at the same time, his soul was not true either; it was likewise virtual.

Only a single point of dim light flickered secretly in the depths of the virtual soul; this was the only reality within the virtual body.

A Silver Thread extended upward from the point of light, and Xia Duo knew that was the link leading to his true body in the Main Plane.

Having reached this step, Xia Duo immediately understood why soul projections were incomparably safe; there was only one point of reality in the entire virtual body, but how would people in the Projection Plane know that?

Attacking this point is almost impossible, just as it is for a character in a painting to attack something outside the painting.

Only the consciousness and the mind, existences that can be impacted by information alone, are capable of being injured; soul projections are perfectly safe.

Compared to a soul projection protected by a virtual body and a virtual soul, perhaps that Silver Thread linking the true body to the projection is the most vulnerable to attack.

But likewise, if one is not a real person with real mass, it is almost impossible to harm the Silver Thread.

The mass of the Projection Plane is simply too small; it is merely a projection of one of the countless possibilities of the real plane within the Astral Plane, and in essence, it is a wisp of peculiar spirit.

If Xia Duo hadn't projected into it and used the perspective of a projection to perceive it, this Projection Plane would have been "diluted" almost instantly by the vast sea of spirit that is the Astral Plane.

Understanding this, Xia Duo felt much more relaxed; as long as he is not hit by consciousness or mind-type spells, he is almost unconstrained in the Projection Plane.

……

Detaching his Personal Space from the Projection Plane, Xia Duo took out a map to start looking for his next destination; his current location was roughly on the border of Illefarn, and further east were Siluwende and Yierlan.

As for Netheril, Xia Duo had been told while training in the Underdark that Yierlan had only just been established, and there were likely only some scattered human settlements in Netheril.

According to Xia Duo's understanding of the history of Yierlan and Netheril, there was still nearly a thousand years until the establishment of Netheril, and the 【Nether Scroll】 was even more out of the question—heaven knows which corner it's hidden in!

Thinking of this, Xia Duo suddenly felt that this Projection Plane was somewhat of a waste; other than being able to find Elves to practice with, it had no other use.

Of course, even if a complete set of 【Nether Scroll】 were placed in front of Xia Duo now, other than looking at them here himself, he could not bring them to the Main Plane at all.

His current Personal Space is not enough to support him in manifesting items at will.

"But it's good just to look! Sigh—"

Xia Duo suddenly realized he had forgotten one thing when he was in the Main Plane, and that was to inquire about the specific location where the 【Nether Scroll】 was discovered.

However, with the existence of the Projection Plane, the location of the 【Nether Scroll】 might not necessarily be discoverable.

Putting himself in their shoes, if he found some Ancient Spell Secret Scroll in the Main Plane, he certainly wouldn't easily tell others where he found it; otherwise, for something like Knowledge, it wouldn't take much effort to find it in the Projection Plane.

No wonder, other than things with great fame like the Nether Scroll, he had never heard of anyone discovering any Ancient Spell Secret Scroll in ruins; perhaps it was to prevent them from being copied from the Projection Plane.

"Let's go to Siluwende first!"

Xia Duo quickly made his decision.

……

Siluwende, similar to the future Cormanthor Kingdom, was dominated by Gold Elves; the difference was that because Cormanthor was formed by the merger of multiple kingdoms, there were a large number of Moon Elves and Wood Elves within the country.

But Siluwende was almost entirely Gold Elves; compared to Cormanthor, Siluwende was the true fanatical practitioner of the Aryvandaar 【Great Elven Empire Ideology】.

If one ignores strength, Siluwende was almost a carbon copy of Aryvandaar.

Xia Duo did not know much about Siluwende in the Main Plane; he only knew that it was a Gold Elf kingdom, had once gone to war with Yierlan, and later became a vassal state of Yierlan.

In the Main Plane, Siluwende's presence was not strong.

However, during his training in the Underdark, Xia Duo learned the fact that Siluwende was warlike and powerful, and other than the difference in strength, it was almost identical to the Aryvandaar he knew.

It's no wonder it was beaten down by Yierlan later, but the Yierlan of the Projection Plane had only just been established and certainly did not possess the strength to defeat Siluwende.

But Siluwende was the best choice for Xia Duo to practice with Elves.

In the Main Plane, Xia Duo was about to face a mission against suspected Cormanthor Elf opponents; if Siluwende was the first-generation successor of Aryvandaar, then Cormanthor was the second-generation successor.

Practice with the Siluwende Elves first, and once he was skilled, when he fought the Cormanthor Elves, it would probably be like a father beating his son!