Chapter 940: Infinite Derivation, Abruptly Cut Off

Inside the Mythallar of Maihete Lake.

Bailun was flying in front, while Xia Duo followed behind; the two appeared to be searching for the source of the strange water plants with great purpose, but as they flew, Xia Duo realized something was wrong.

Master Bailun went forward, then backward, then upward, then downward; if there truly were a clear target, could that target be moving?

With doubts in his heart, Xia Duo could not help but hesitate in his movements; after the two changed direction once more, he finally could not help but ask Master Bailun:

"Master, are you tracking the kind of water plants that Consultant Saide mentioned?"

"Yes, and no!"

Hearing Xia Duo's question, Bailun simply slowed his speed and said while flying: "Just now, in the process of trying to dispel the Mythallar, I discovered a special connection between these water plants and the Mythallar!"

"A special connection?" Xia Duo did not quite understand; the Mythallar was full of water, and the water plants grew in the water—what could be special about that?

"Think about it, how many murlocs are here? And how many murlocs are outside?" Bailun asked in return.

The murlocs here were, of course, endless at a glance, and since Xia Duo had not cast a Scrying spell within the Mythallar, how could he know the number of murlocs within the water world of the Mythallar? He only knew there were many.

As for the outside—

"Eh—"

Xia Duo suddenly realized; he had previously calculated that at least a dozen murlocs appeared every second in the outside world, so even if there were a Time Acceleration effect within the Mythallar, it must provide enough food.

It was equivalent to the Mythallar automatically replenishing all the food needed for over a dozen murlocs to grow to adulthood every second.

A normal murloc takes about 12 years to reach adulthood; in this rather special Mythallar environment, the time might be less, but the food demand remained very high.

And he had already seen scenes in the Mythallar where murlocs did nothing but eat, drink, and mate; although the only thing these murlocs ate was water plants, they did indeed need to eat, rather than growing by drinking the wind and sipping the dew.

On this point, Xia Duo was very certain.

But—

The Mythallar here was set up with Maihete Lake as its core and could not escape the environmental constraints of Maihete Lake; such a large food demand could not be supplied by Maihete Lake alone.

Xia Duo had previously guessed that they might be special water plants modified by a Druid; before he and Bailun entered the Mythallar, hadn't Consultant Saide of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce already confirmed that the growth ability of these water plants had been enhanced!

But now that Bailun had brought up the relationship between the water plants and the Mythallar again, and even used the word "special" to describe it, then the relationship between these water plants and the Mythallar should not be a normal relationship between an organism and its environment!

At this time, Xia Duo had already thought that the growth of the water plants also required energy; relying solely on the solar energy obtained from that small area of Maihete Lake at the normal time flow of the outside world was obviously not enough.

The only explanation was that it came from the Mythallar.

Then, could the special connection Master Bailun spoke of refer to a more direct energy supply relationship between the two?

Thus, Xia Duo stated his judgment, and after hearing it, Master Bailun nodded slightly and announced the answer:

"There is indeed such a relationship, but that is not all. It should be said that the existence of these water plants is rooted in the essence of the Mythallar; as long as the Mythallar exists, these water plants will derive infinitely!"

Regarding such metaphysical conceptual existences involving existence and essence, Xia Duo was never as capable of perfectly adapting as the native Mages of Netheril.

After all, the concepts from before his transmigration were always influencing him, though as he explored deeper into the field of Magic, he would naturally become more and more able to accept them.

And now, listening to the meaning in Master Bailun's words, could these water plants derive out of thin air?

Xia Duo hurriedly asked: "Master, are you saying that even if we clear all the water plants in the Mythallar, as long as we don't destroy the Mythallar, these water plants will still regenerate?"

"No, as long as we don't destroy the Mythallar, these water plants cannot be completely cleared; the faster we clear them, the faster the water plants will propagate! Of course, if one could truly clear all the water plants here, it would be equivalent to the Mythallar lacking a part of its essence, which is equivalent to destroying the Mythallar!"

This kind of answer was much easier for Xia Duo to understand; so these water plants were not created out of nothing, but were expressed in the form of normal propagation.

Then—

"What about the strange water plants Consultant Saide mentioned?" Xia Duo then said, "Didn't the Master say he wanted to find the source of those strange water plants?"

"Young man, you must have patience!"

Master Bailun casually teased, then continued: "Those water plants that possess independent, active attack tendencies without combining with murlocs do not differ in essence from the water plants we see now.

"But the changes within them can allow us to understand the essence of this kind of water plant more quickly; this is of course what we need, and aren't we looking for it right now?"

Just as he was about to continue saying something, Bailun's expression suddenly changed, and he sent a Sending to Xia Duo: "Found it! Follow me closely!"

As soon as Xia Duo saw Master Bailun's solemn expression, he guessed that what they had found was likely not just the strange water plants, but the source of how normal water plants turned into strange ones.

Of course, so-called normal water plants were only relative to the strange water plants mentioned by Consultant Saide; in reality, there were no normal water plants in Maihete Lake.

Normal water plants—who would parasitize living beings, and even be able to weakly increase individual Wisdom, or even form collective Wisdom?

He had previously guessed that these water plants might be some kind of neural-cable-like device, and now he was even more certain of this guess.

Being able to connect with the Mythallar meant that there might be some control terminal, and the implications revealed in this were enough to stir the imagination.

Following Master Bailun through more twists and turns, it looked as if they were about to approach something, or some existence, that might point to the truth.

Suddenly, Master Bailun stopped directly; Xia Duo, who was deep in thought, did not react in time and almost bumped into him, but fortunately, he stopped in time and did not make a fool of himself.

"Master, what's wrong?"

"The situation has changed somewhat; I will send you out of the Mythallar first!"

"..."

Xia Duo was stunned for a moment; what kind of situation was this? But this time, Master Bailun clearly did not intend to explain anything, nor did he give Xia Duo a chance to refuse, directly casting a spell to teleport Xia Duo into a patch of green light.

At the same time, the Master's final words reached his ears: "Fly in any direction; that is the direction from which we entered!"

At this moment, Xia Duo's mood could only be described as having seventy thousand alpacas stampeding through it; this feeling of being abruptly cut off was truly too unpleasant.

He could already guess that Master Bailun must have discovered something extraordinary and did not want him to see it; perhaps it was out of good intentions, perhaps out of greed, but it was regrettable nonetheless.

After a sigh, Xia Duo also noticed the peculiarity of the surrounding environment; this was an area that was completely weightless, like outer space.

Looking around, there was only a patch of hazy green radiance, and nothing else.

Following Master Bailun's earlier hint, Xia Duo randomly chose a direction and flew off into the clouds.