Chapter 820: Three Captures, Three Releases, and a Transaction

Since it is known that the other party can track Teleportation, using it to relocate no longer holds much meaning; it is merely trading space for time.

Eventually, when the time comes that there is no strength left to cast spells, that will be Xia Duo's final end.

Right now, the other party seems to be tracking him with a game-like mentality; thinking from their perspective, if Xia Duo were trying to toy with someone, it would certainly be quite boring if the tracking pattern remained the same throughout.

And boredom would lead to an earlier conclusion.

Xia Duo can roughly guess that the Gold Elf Mage tracking him is very likely a High Mage, and he certainly does not wish to be caught by the other party too early.

What fate he would face then is unknown, but it would certainly not be very pleasant.

Therefore, dragging it out for one more day is one more day!

So, Xia Duo must find some new tricks for the other party to avoid them losing interest.

Of course, if he has guessed wrong, it is merely switching to a potentially more effective way of running; it cannot be considered compromising, as this is entirely a normal survival strategy.

……

After the teleportation ended once more, Xia Duo did not continue to teleport, but instead took flight directly; compared to the massive impact of Teleportation on the Magic Net, the impact of Flight is significantly smaller.

It is so small that Xia Duo does not even need to actively clear his tracks, as they are automatically submerged in the Magic Web Background Fluctuation.

And as manifested in Magic Vision, Teleportation leaves behind obvious and relatively long-lasting Magic Aura residues, but Flight leaves very little, and it dissipates quickly.

The lower the circle of a Spell, the smaller the impact on the Magic Net, and the shorter the duration of the subsequent traces.

If it weren't for the fact that 1st Circle or 2nd Circle Levitation could not carry his body at all, perhaps using a 1st Circle Spell would be even more untraceable.

Since he chose 3rd Circle Flight, Xia Duo must also do it to the best of his ability.

Paired with the "Streamlined Force Shield" modified from the 1st Circle 【Mage Armor】 to provide assistance for flight, Xia Duo flies smoothly and fluidly; not only is it less strenuous than using Flight alone, but it also has almost no movement.

……

Just like this, Xia Duo flew all the way until he passed an Elf city, and just as he was preparing to land to inquire about his location.

The familiar figure on the ground, which had almost been etched into his mind, caused his flight speed to come to a sudden halt.

The other party looked at him with a smile; Xia Duo cursed internally, yet under the other party's gaze, he had no choice but to descend from the sky and stand before them.

Although the other party's demeanor appeared very friendly, one is a Gold Elf and the other is a Drow; it is no exaggeration to call them natural enemies. This situation makes Xia Duo feel that he will likely have to return to the Main Plane early this trip.

It is just that the Gold Elf Mage did not attack immediately, but instead looked Xia Duo up and down, then looked toward the west and said pointedly: "It seems you have stirred up quite a bit of trouble!"

Hmm? What kind of act is this?

Xia Duo's mind was full of question marks, and just then, the Gold Elf Mage said again: "I'll give you one more chance, run!"

Regardless of whether it was true or false, Xia Duo treated it as real and Teleported away directly.

……

This time, the location of the teleportation was by the side of a wide river; seeing this river, Xia Duo immediately realized roughly where he was.

This is south of the Weidun Forest where the Underground Passage is located, and the river in front of him connects Eaerlann and Siluwende!

No matter where he is on this river at the moment, as long as he keeps going west, it is the territory of Eaerlann; surely that Gold Elf Mage, suspected to be a High Mage, would not chase him all the way to Eaerlann!

Of course, to prevent the other party from intercepting him before he entered Eaerlann, Xia Duo decisively jumped into the water.

Previously, while in the Underdark, he discovered that his bloodline had also been projected over, only because of the Projection, he temporarily only possessed the power to control the Water Element.

It is similar to the level of two or three Bloodline Awakenings of his main body in the Main Plane.

However, this was already enough for him to Huashanshuiliu and use it to escape.

Perhaps his Bloodline Ability could allow him to evade the search of that Gold Elf Mage, who knows.

……

The river flowed from east to west with a surging current; Xia Duo Huashanshuiliu, and with the help of the river's own speed, his movement was incomparably swift.

Just like this, Xia Duo kept flowing and flowing, until he thought he had already entered the territory of Eaerlann and that the Gold Elf Mage had already given up the search.

The stream of water he had transformed into, along with the surrounding river water, suddenly rose from the river into the sky; seeing such a scene, how could Xia Duo not know that he had been found again.

So he had no choice but to change his form and turn back into his Drow body.

Immediately following, the scene around him changed once more, arriving at an unfamiliar woodland, and that Gold Elf Mage was standing not far in front of him.

Xia Duo was truly a bit desperate now; the other party's several instances of toying with him made it almost impossible for him to muster the heart to resist, and he finally understood the gap between himself and a High Mage.

If an Elf High Mage is like this, then those Great Arcanists of Netheril who possess equal status to Elf High Mages must surely be no different.

In this instant, he once again ignited an extreme desire to become a Great Arcanist.

Of course, he also understood that becoming a Great Arcanist might merely be a threshold for possessing such power; only by possessing Knowledge and more cutting-edge technology is the key to mastering power.

The lower limit of a Great Arcanist's own power might be very high, but only with Knowledge and technology can the upper limit be raised infinitely.

"I didn't expect you, a Drow, to actually possess a special bloodline; if I hadn't placed a mark on you when we first met, I almost would have let you run away!"

The Gold Elf Mage's expression of 'you should be proud' made Xia Duo want to vomit blood; if he had known, he wouldn't have wandered around using Flight earlier, and perhaps just finding a pond to hide in would have exhausted the other party's patience.

However, Xia Duo could not guarantee that what the other party said at this moment was necessarily the truth; perhaps it was just another means of toying with him!

This is truly depressing!

Sure enough, being weak is being unreasonable!

Xia Duo said nothing and just stared coldly at the other party; things had reached this point, and since the worst outcome was just leaving this Projection Plane early, what did he have to fear!

"Little one, don't be unconvinced. I know you have a High Mage behind you, but you must remember, this is the Surface, this is Siluwende, not the Underdark."

Subsequently, this Gold Elf Mage stopped speaking, but Xia Duo sensed that the Magic Mark Maluxisi had left on him earlier had been triggered; the other party seemed to be making contact with Maluxisi through this Magic Mark.

Fortunately, he had not acted on impulse and destroyed this Magic Mark earlier; perhaps it couldn't have been destroyed at all.

With this brief window, Xia Duo carefully checked his entire body and finally discovered an extremely faint, pale gold mark on his right elbow.

If it weren't for the fact that the Drow's skin is naturally black, providing a strong contrast, it would have been very difficult to discover.

The most critical thing is that the magic fluctuation of this mark is weak, and its Magic Aura is hidden within the aura naturally possessed by the creature itself, making it very difficult to detect.

This also made Xia Duo confirm once again that Maluxisi's Magic Mark was very likely intentionally shown to him, and it was also intentionally made to feel as if it could be broken.

In reality, it was likely impossible to find a way to start.

Sigh—

I truly don't know if this is deep love, or deep obsession!