Chapter 973: Friend or Foe, Astral Teleportation

A great person from my hometown once said that the primary problem of revolution is to figure out who is the enemy and who is the friend.

Clarifying the boundary between friend and foe helps to define subsequent strategies and principles; the same matter is handled differently for a friend than for an enemy.

Many things Xia Duo intends to do in the future, or even things he has already begun doing now, require the support of a large number of allies and wings.

To have as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible is naturally also the teaching of a great person.

……

After finishing all the reception activities, Xia Duo ate something and continued to study the semi-plane; considering that the Princess might arrive at any time, he was not as absorbed as before, remaining in a state similar to when he was organizing data.

This semi-plane was clearly man-made, revealing craftsmanship everywhere, a point Xia Duo could easily discover without much research.

Of course, craftsmanship is not a bad thing; rather, it is a sign of mature technology.

Xia Duo is not an artist, so he naturally does not care about craftsmanship; he cares more about this mature technology (spell) for creating semi-planes.

It is just a pity that his research into the Plane Domain is not yet deep enough to glimpse the method of its creation from the semi-plane itself.

Research into this semi-plane could only go as far as the plane structure and Element Affinity before it became difficult to delve deeper.

In layman's terms, Xia Duo is currently only staying at the level of observation and superficial analysis, still a considerable distance away from practical application.

Additionally, Xia Duo also gained a lot from the low-threshold Cross-Plane Teleportation spell used by Archmage Wohuade, who had sent him and Niya to this semi-plane earlier.

Especially after a trip to an exotic realm last night, he suddenly found inspiration; the portal used by Archmage Wohuaide was not the most common Teleportation spell using the Ether Plane as a medium.

Instead, it was a teleportation conducted with the Astral Plane as an intermediary.

The essence of a Teleportation spell is to completely overlap two planes to achieve the effect of crossing space, which is actually consistent with the Principles of Dimensional Bag and Personal Space for storing items.

It is just that the scope of Application is different.

Planes, including the Main Plane and sub-planes, all exist within the Ether Interlayer, and the Ether Interlayer can be seen as the Plane Barrier of the Ether Plane. (In reality, there is no Plane Barrier; it is just a description, a definition, similar to the edge of an atmosphere or the edge of the Universe, but there is no edge in the strict sense.)

Therefore, the Ether Plane is undoubtedly the Other Plane most closely connected to the Main Plane, and it is also the Other Plane most commonly utilized by Teleportation spells.

Of course, Xia Duo knows that the Shadow Plane is the one most closely connected to the Main Plane, because the Shadow Plane is the shadow of the Main Plane.

Perhaps keeping shadow assassins has become an unspoken secret among Netherese Mages, leading to very little information about the Shadow Plane being circulated.

As for Teleportation spells utilizing the Shadow Plane, he has never seen one.

……

The Astral Plane is undoubtedly also connected to the Main Plane, and even to other sub-planes, but how exactly it connects is not something even the mainstream Netheril Magic world can necessarily explain clearly, let alone Xia Duo.

Otherwise, the currently popular Plane Exploration might be concentrated on the Astral Plane or Projection Plane, rather than on sub-planes.

Of course, there may be factors here involving the Reality of sub-planes versus the virtual nature of Projection Planes, but regardless, the Astral Plane is ultimately more unfamiliar to Xia Duo.

As for a spell utilizing the Astral Plane for teleportation, this is the first time he has seen one; he only knew such spells existed before, but had never seen one.

Xia Duo is not lacking in Teleportation spells, but the significance of this spell is not just teleportation; it has opened a door for him to the essence of the Astral Plane.

A Plane Scholar usually refers to an Arcanist who studies the Plane Domain and can play a boosting role in the exploration of sub-planes.

An Astral Mage is the one who mainly studies the Astral Plane, or a Priest who is a part-time Mage.

In Xia Duo's view, the Astral Plane is also a Plane, just a relatively special one, and it is also within the scope of study for a Plane Scholar.

But no matter how special the Astral Plane is, can it be more special than the Outer Planes where the Kingdom of Radiance is located?

Perhaps they each have different special aspects, but they are all part of the essence of the world, even if one is not a Plane Scholar or an Arcanist, even if one is just an ordinary person from Earth who has transmigrated.

Xia Duo would still be very interested in these.

On Earth, although scientists only huddled in a small corner like Earth, their research into the entire Universe was very deep, and it could even be said that they had touched upon its essence.

Although much of the content remained at the level of theory and conjecture, this momentum, method, and prospect of development are worth borrowing by this magic world.

Therefore, Xia Duo was particularly excited to learn about this Teleportation spell that uses the Astral Plane as a medium.

Archmage Wohuaide did not do any covering up when casting the spell, and even carried a hint of showing off; Xia Duo cannot say he saw all the details of the Spellcasting, but at least he saw seven or eight out of ten.

For Xia Duo, who possesses the ability of Memory Retrospection, seeing clearly is equivalent to remembering; given time, it is not impossible to Huanyuan it, or even make a breakthrough.

It can be said that before this New Year Festival even began, Xia Duo had already gained a full harvest, including gains in long-term vision and perspective (knowledge of the Outer Planes, new Teleportation spells involving the Astral Plane, information on semi-planes), as well as visible and tangible gains in the near term (official Pioneer status, Celestial Wheat, Belief Power, and potential new Soul abilities).

And as for what gains will come next, Xia Duo is looking forward to them.

……

—"Pioneers, please gather at the square!"

It is Archmage Greta!

Hearing the familiar voice, Xia Duo immediately put down what he was doing and walked out of his temporary residence.

Outside the residence was the square, though only the edge; Xia Duo was actually quite late when he came out, because most Pioneers were already waiting on the square.

Only a few High Mages or Archmages were still resting in their temporary residences, and upon hearing the notification, they also walked out one by one.

By the time Xia Duo walked to the center of the square, more than a dozen Pioneers had already gathered around him; Xia Duo just took a glance and had a rough idea in his mind.

These should be the ones who actively approached him; for so-called factions and so-called allies, the most important thing is to take a stand. Others may not necessarily be enemies, but they are clearly not allies, at least not yet.

Xia Duo did not say much, just nodded slightly to Archmage Greta in greeting, then found a spacious place to stand and waited quietly for the Princess to arrive.

……

In fact, the Princess arrived even earlier than Xia Duo had anticipated; before the Pioneers on the square had fully gathered, a heroic woman wearing a purple cloak and holding a Scepter appeared before everyone.

Almost without warning, catching people off guard.

Of course, for Xia Duo, this was undoubtedly another classic case involving semi-plane teleportation, worthy of repeated study.