Chapter 978: Qi Gazing

Just when Xia Duo thought the atmosphere on the square was gradually reaching a stalemate and Xigelaier was about to clash with Greta, the Magic Net collapsed rapidly, centered on a point in an open space in the middle of the square.

The Magic Net Strings automatically wove into a special structure, and then, accompanied by a sharp oscillation of the Magic Net within this small area, a familiar figure appeared.

Wearing a purple cloak and holding a silver Scepter, it was none other than the Princess herself.

Once the Princess arrived, any conflict would vanish into thin air; Xigelaier and Greta acted as if the confrontation from just a moment ago had never happened.

Greta bowed to the Princess to ask if the rehearsal was beginning, while Xigelaier blended into the crowd, completely composed, acting in accordance with the rehearsal flow.

"Begin!"

Following the Princess's command, the Pioneer Commendation Ceremony for the New Year Festival was rehearsed once again.

The process was identical to yesterday's; Xia Duo was still lined up at the end, and today, just like yesterday, he cautiously kept an eye on every move the Princess made.

As the rehearsal began, the Princess quickly unfolded her Arcane Fire, and a small patch of Micro Magic Net gradually expanded, silently covering a small area of the normal Magic Net.

With this action, Xia Duo immediately had a premonition about the Princess's next move, "Could it be the same as yesterday?"

In fact, he hadn't understood what the Princess did yesterday, and now that she was doing it again today, Xia Duo couldn't help but smile bitterly; it seemed the festival had indeed already begun.

Soon, centered on the Princess, the Magic Web Background Fluctuation began to change; this change was extremely subtle, perhaps it could be called the "Change of Change."

After this abnormal influence gradually spread, Xia Duo's inner feelings became increasingly complex; on one hand, he worried that the reduction in Cloud Qi would cause him irreparable damage, although this possibility was extremely low, it did not mean it was non-existent.

On the other hand, he was also very curious about the true function of this special Magic of the Princess; he wanted to know what the true purpose of this Magic was—could it really just be to reduce the Pioneers' Cloud Qi?

And what was the significance of that Cloud Qi reduction?

Thinking this way, Xia Duo's curiosity gradually overcame his worry and fear; he felt like activating his Cloud Qi Vision to see exactly how this special Magic reduced the Cloud Qi!

If he could discover some clues from it, it might also play an irreplaceable and important role in his future development and utilization of Cloud Qi.

Xia Duo had always been a man of action, doing things as soon as he decided, but this did not mean he would act recklessly; the experience of being unable to look directly at things in the Green Field Plane still made him feel lingering fear to this day.

This time, the Princess was very likely manipulating Cloud Qi directly, which might produce even more blinding visual effects, so he had to be prepared.

At this moment, a memory fragment from Earth surfaced in his mind again; it had been mentioned before that Cloud Qi Vision was somewhat similar to the Qi Gazing from Earth, and now Xia Duo was going to use the Qi Gazing Secret Method from the legends of his homeland.

Before transmigrating, although he was a Programmer, he was also an internet writer who knew many miscellaneous things, so he had naturally learned about things like Qi Gazing.

Of course, he had never believed in any Qi Gazing secret arts himself; he still preferred Mr. Science.

In his view, this so-called Qi Gazing Secret Method was nothing more than the gazer squinting to look at things, causing light to diffract when entering the pupils (due to eyelashes and eyelid edges).

Thus, it seemed as if one saw some mysterious, illusory patterns, which were actually just diffracted light randomly projected onto the retina.

However, in this Magic world, Xia Duo had seen Cloud Qi—not necessarily the "Qi" of Earth's Qi Gazing, but using this Qi Gazing Secret Method to assist him was not a bad idea.

Even if it could only have a slight psychological effect, it was still good; in fact, in this Magic world, the role of consciousness was far more important than he had previously thought!

Especially after experiencing the process of "Recite this Proverb, and you shall ascend to the Kingdom of Radiance" in the Outer Planes, he was even more certain of this point.

After silently reciting the Twenty-Four Character Proverb in his heart, Xia Duo lowered his head slightly, closed his eyes, and then activated his Cloud Qi Vision.

"Thankfully, the worst-case scenario did not happen!"

What Xia Duo feared most was that even with his eyes closed, activating Cloud Qi Vision would cause his eyes to be stung by the intense light flames radiating from the Princess.

It was fine for now; although he could still feel a slight brightness through his eyelids, this could also be normal light, and at least for the moment, everything was under control.

Subsequently, he buried his head a little lower, relaxing his eyelids to keep them in a natural, limp state—neither fully open nor fully closed.

In just an instant, Xia Duo realized that his estimation of the external Cloud Qi environment was still insufficient, even though his eyes were only opened to a tiny slit.

This slit was so narrow that Xia Duo couldn't even see the ground beneath his feet, yet through such a slit, a patch of bright light mist still surged in!

At the same time, he clearly perceived that the true source of this light mist Cloud Qi was in the center of the square not far in front of him—it was the Princess!

This light mist was merely a Projection of the light flames on the Princess after being filtered, and he wasn't even looking directly at her, yet even so, this level of Cloud Qi was comparable to the Cloud Qi state of an Advanced Rank Mage under normal Cloud Qi Vision.

Xia Duo had never squinted to look at Cloud Qi before, nor did he know how much this filtering could filter out, but compared to his fleeting glimpse in the Green Field Plane, he felt that the Princess's current Cloud Qi might have already exceeded her previous light flame state.

As for what state it was, Xia Duo didn't know; in any case, he didn't dare to look, but the existence of such a strong interference source made it very difficult for him to observe the Cloud Qi state of himself and others.

This was like looking at stars during the day; you could certainly see them, as stars wouldn't grow legs and run away during the day, but with the sun present, it was certainly not as easy as it was at night.

"This really is a headache!"

Moreover, there was another point: Xia Duo couldn't keep his head down and his eyes squinted forever; this was not only disrespectful to the Princess, but also disrespectful to the Pioneers being commended and disrespectful to the ceremony.

This made it even harder!

Thus, the moment that tested Xia Duo's acting skills the most since his transmigration had arrived; he first deactivated his Cloud Qi Vision, then followed the specific deeds of the Pioneers being commended in the center of the square to make corresponding expressions and actions.

It was slightly exaggerated, but still within the scope of his identity and persona, and he interspersed the squinting activation of his Cloud Qi Vision between these expressions and actions.

Hearing the story of a Pioneer who galloped for several miles to rescue villagers surrounded by Gnolls and finally succeeded, Xia Duo nodded slightly; each nod was an opportunity for observation.

Hearing of a Pioneer who organized development but did not follow the "Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory," and although there were some results, Xia Duo still frowned; each frown was an opportunity for observation.

And so on.

Because the observations were intermittent, by the time the rehearsal reached the end and it was his turn, Xia Duo still hadn't discovered any clues from his Cloud Qi Vision.

But that didn't matter; after the rehearsal ended, he could repeatedly trace his memory, integrate all the observation results, and conduct an overall analysis.

Just like that, with a hint of excitement at being about to discover the Princess's secret, Xia Duo walked out of the queue, came to the center of the square, and accepted the commendation.

Of course, it was only a rehearsal.