Chapter 1042 - 863: Elderlands (2)

He did not move immediately; instead, he instinctively lowered his center of gravity, his Spiritual Power rapidly spreading out like a fine web, his right hand forming a loose hold. Several strands of dark golden sand noiselessly slipped from his sleeve, floating at his fingertips, ready for command.

The battle-hardened habits from countless confrontations wouldn’t slacken due to teleportation dizziness; in any unfamiliar environment, the first few seconds after landing are often the most perilous.

The light in the dense forest was very dim, the layered canopy overhead fragmented the daylight into shards, leaving only a few specks of mottled pale golden light to fall upon the thick layer of humus.

The air was saturated with the rich aroma of vegetation and the scent of moist soil, along with a faint, elusive sweetness akin to honey mixed with caramel.

The surrounding trees towered several dozen meters high, their trunks so gigantic that it would take more than ten people to wrap their arms around them. The bark appeared a dark, iron-gray, with the surface covered in irregular cracks, within which a faint glimmer of fluorescence could be seen slowly circulating.

The concentration of free Energy here far surpassed that of ordinary planes; even while standing still, one could feel the heavy pressure of the Energy in the air.

Only after Duke quickly confirmed that there was no immediate threat around did he slowly straighten up, withdrawing the dark golden sand grains hovering between his fingers back into his sleeve.

The information Vera shared in the briefing was now surfacing in his mind one after the other.

Elderlands was once a top-tier Plane, a world on the same level as the Nightmare Plane, where Level 9 Life had emerged.

Even though its civilization had perished countless eras ago, and its Plane Will had long since vanished, this remnant still retained the fundamental backdrop of a top-tier Plane.

And this essence was imprinted in every life dwelling on this land.

The native species here possessed exceedingly long natural lifespans; an ordinary indigenous being without any Extraordinary Power could live up to five hundred years.

It’s not that their Constitution is particularly special; rather, it’s because the Rules of the plane itself are structured in this manner.

Even more significant was that this Plane once had an extremely powerful World Tree.

During the lengthy existence of the World Tree, its roots permeated the entire plane’s energy network, infusing the aura of Life Rules into every inch of soil, every breath of air, and every drop of water.

Even though the World Tree itself had disappeared without a trace, this life force infused into the underlying Rules of the plane hadn’t completely dissipated.

Duke recalled Vera’s tone, tinged with an uncommon sense of awe when she spoke of this.

She mentioned that for an ordinary human, five hundred years is an unimaginable span of time. The lifetime of an average indigenous farmer, from birth to death, could exceed the entire career of some Level 3 Mages in the Wizard Plane.

During this extended lifespan, the extent of experience and knowledge they accumulate would be daunting to even contemplate.

Moreover, the proportion of life possessing extraordinary talents on this plane is remarkably high.

No less than five or six out of ten ordinary indigenous beings possess varying degrees of extraordinary talent, meaning that even a random passerby encountered in the street might possess the potential to become an Extraordinary.

The prevalence of such talents not only exceeds the current norms of the Wizard Plane, but it also nearly obliterates any strict boundary between ordinary people and Extraordinary beings here.

Their cultivation practices focus on the physical body, yet they can also manipulate various energies for combat, which differs drastically from the spell systems of the Wizard Plane but are not to be underestimated in terms of potency.

This trait belongs to Elderlands as a High Plane and its formerly top-tier Plane nature, which is precisely why the Wizard Plane is striving arduously to ascend.

Should the Wizard Plane succeed in ascending to a High Plane, the rule ceiling of the entire Plane would rise, and the proportion of wizard talent emerging among ordinary people would also greatly increase, ushering in a significant enhancement of the entire civilization’s foundation.

The dominant race of Elderlands was once a humanoid race known as the Aurem People.

They were much taller than humans from the Wizard Plane, averaging about twice the height of ordinary humans.

The physical body of the Aurem People was exceptionally powerful, and even without cultivating any power systems, an adult Aurem possessed a physique comparable to Level 1 bloodline creatures.

Additionally, they could effortlessly manipulate various energies, with a combat style focusing on close-quarter explosions, complemented by energy augmentation, allowing them to secure absolute advantages in battles of the same rank.

Of course, the civilization of the Aurem had completely vanished with the death of the Plane Will, and now in Elderlands, no pure-blooded Aurem remains, yet their bloodline persists broadly in mixed forms within the present indigenous races.

Nowadays, Elderlands is home to a plethora of indigenous life, they have cities, nations, tribes, their own language, script, religion, and societal structures, no different from any native civilizations of other planes.

The only difference is that their Plane has lost the Plane Will, capping the ceiling of their civilization’s development.

This world no longer harbors any existence beyond Level 6.

And this very fact is the fundamental reason the Wizard Plane can exert control over this shared Plane.

The Wizard Council has reached some sort of cooperative agreement with the indigenous people here, permitting young elites from the Wizard Plane to explore, cultivate, and gather resources in Elderlands, provided they do not commit large-scale massacres of indigenous civilians or directly obliterate existing indigenous cities or nations. These are among the rules in the Path of Divine Revelation.

Nominatively, this is collaboration, yet everyone knows that such cooperation was signed under the shadow of the gun barrel.

Because these stipulations actually have little binding force, Duke and others participating in the Path of Divine Revelation, although prohibited from slaughtering civilians, would be on different grounds if forced into self-defense due to certain reasons.

The right to interpret ultimately rests with the Wizards; these regulations are merely exceedingly fragile.

However, the indigenous do not dare to excessively defy and can only strive to secure some benefits within the framework of the agreement while turning a blind eye to the wilderness and ruins designated as open exploration areas.

Conversely, for Duke, this complex relationship between planes provides a relatively predictable framework for action.

As long as he avoids the indigenous core cities and sacred sites, operating within the wilderness and ruins will not provoke large-scale conflict.

His goal is to quickly locate the key to the next layer while maximizing the collection of resources within this land full of opportunities.

Duke did not act immediately; he crouched on the thick branches of an iron-gray ancient tree, observing his surroundings, pondering internally.

Since stepping into Elderlands, he had been repeatedly simulating in his mind what the five-layer regions of the Path of Divine Revelation actually represented.

Alfred had told him something concise on Watch Island: the five-layer regions, gradually delving deeper, keys unlock doors. Yet he offered no explanation of the form these five layers take.

Duke originally imagined a gigantic inverted tower or nested plane layers, but Vera’s shared intelligence had led him to dismiss such assumptions.

Although Elderlands is merely a remnant of a Plane, it nonetheless has the foundation of a former top-tier Plane. Despite numerous folded regions within its spatial structure, the overall framework remains relatively intact, not fragmented into five disconnected small spaces.

A more reasonable conjecture is that the five-layer regions are five exploration circles arbitrarily delineated by the Wizard Council, deepening incrementally from the outside inward. Each layer is an extremely vast region, possibly larger in area than some small continents within the Wizard Plane.

Layers are separated by natural or artificial barriers, and the so-called key is the sole credential to traverse these barriers.

If that’s the case, the method of acquiring keys is unlikely to be stashed in some fixed treasure chest waiting to be discovered.

Elderlands is inhabited by countless indigenous beings with cities, nations, their own societal structure, it’s impossible for them to be utterly oblivious to the Wizard Council placing keys right at their doorstep.