The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

He said this with great pride, but suddenly felt something was wrong, as if he was proud of losing slowly.

At the same time, Du Feiya just stared at him without saying a word, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

So he quickly added, bringing out more powerful evidence to prove that his chess skills were indeed improving:

"In the first ten games against the dragon, I only won one game, and to be honest, that win was largely due to luck."

"But from the eleventh to the twentieth inning, there were still ten innings, but I won two. This can't be said to be a blind cat catching a dead mouse."

Du Feiya then nodded, her expression much relieved.

"So," Li Yin continued confidently, "As long as I keep going like this, my progress will become more and more obvious."

"In the end, although I can't say that I can definitely win against the giant dragon named Shaka, I can at least make it feel bored."

"Besides," he finally brought out another powerful argument to completely dispel Du Feiya's uneasiness, "Didn't you hear what it said before it left?"

"It keeps us waiting for its next call."

"If it completely loses interest in us, how can there be a next time?"

Du Feiya nodded again, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, and her confidence increased greatly.

She stood up, stretched her limbs, relaxed her body, then looked at Li Yin with a smile and asked, "So, what should we do now?"

Attracted by her bright smile, Li Yin couldn't help but smile as well.

"What else can we do? Of course, we should patiently wait for the next summons from Lord Dragon." He replied jokingly.

Then, he thought about it seriously, but found that there was really nothing else to do, so he raised his head and asked in an inquiring tone: "How about we take a walk around here first?"

Du Feiya agreed, and the two began to walk around aimlessly.

As he walked, Li Yin felt something was wrong.

The reason why he had such a lazy attitude now was because he originally felt good about staying in this lost ruin and becoming a chess friend of the dragon.

But Du Feiya is different from him. She is not carefree and has nothing. She should really want to return to her city, her family, and especially to be with her father whom she talks about with so much pride, right?

She asked me what to do, which should have been asking for my opinion, but I responded to her so perfunctorily.

Chapter 188: The Unique Magic Book

He turned his head and secretly looked at Du Feiya, but saw that she looked relaxed and did not show any anxiety or unhappiness.

Is she deliberately hiding herself to take care of his feelings and not make him worry?

Thinking of this, Li Yin felt even more ashamed.

So, should we think of a way to escape?

However, Li Yin frowned slightly. He could understand Du Feiya's anxiety, but even if he ignored his subjective will, considering the current actual situation, running away was not a wise choice. Compared with this, waiting for the dragon to fulfill its promise and release them was a more reliable method.

He hesitated for a while and decided to test Du Feiya's thoughts first.

"What are you thinking about now?" He thought for a moment and asked Du Feiya with a smile.

"Me?" Du Feiya was a little surprised, as if she was surprised by the question.

When Li Yin asked this question, she was walking briskly, swinging her hands, strolling casually, and her eyes were always glancing at the deep and calm lake in the distance.

Before Li Yin asked this question, her mind was blank.

This question made her realize that

“I didn’t think about anything,” she said.

And that was what really surprised her.

"It's strange," she paused, then smiled, "I've never experienced anything like this before."

"Don't worry about anything. I was originally worried about you playing chess with the dragon, but now I don't even have to worry about this one thing."

"The body is just like the head, it's relaxed." As she said this, she stretched her body again, a casual smile appearing on her snow-white face.

"That's right," Li Yin was slightly stunned, then immediately agreed, "Since we entered the maze, it's rare to have such a peaceful moment."

Du Feiya was suddenly stunned. She fell silent and did not respond for a while.

"What's wrong?" Li Yin waited for a while, noticed that her expression was different, and asked nervously.

"I was thinking," Du Feiya was silent for a while, as if organizing his words, "not just in the maze..."

"Even in Nevre, I have rarely had such carefree moments since I was a child."

"You don't have to worry about people around you plotting against you or trying to kill you. You don't have to worry about waking up one day and finding your entire family in calamity..."

"So," she spread her hands and smiled at Li Yin, "I'm so free now that I don't know what to do."

Well... Li Yin stroked his forehead with his hand, feeling a little embarrassed. It turned out that he was overthinking, Du Feiya had never thought about going back.

It turned out that the reason why she was so relaxed was because she was really relaxed, instead of just trying to care about her own feelings and putting on a forced smile.

"Hey, Li Yin," Du Feiya suddenly raised her eyebrows and asked, "Your world on earth should be very different."

"Why do you think so?" Li Yin was slightly stunned and frowned.

"Because, our book says, says..." She paused for a moment, as if embarrassed, "It says that the creatures on earth are 'weak lambs, bloodless cowards, born to be... to be dominated by us dark elves'."

"I think, if that's the case, you don't have as many intrigues, killings and disputes as we do."

"War also exists in the earthly world." Li Yin smiled slightly and answered seriously.

He thought for a moment, then added rigorously: "As for living beings... among us humans, there are also some insidious, cunning, cruel and brutal people."

Du Feiya's eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted slightly, seeming quite surprised.

"Conspiracy, calculation, killing, oppression... all these things also linger among our people and are our lingering chronic diseases..." The more he spoke, the more the smile on his lips faded.

He had been away from the world above ground for too long, and the cruelty of the underground world made him yearn for his hometown so much that he softened it in his memories, ignored some of its dark sides, and only remembered its beautiful appearance.

At this moment, under Du Feiya's innocent and expectant gaze, he couldn't help but recall it.

Why? He was puzzled.

Perhaps some things are easy to use to comfort yourself, but deceiving others, especially such simple and innocent people, is a bit cruel... He sighed deeply.

"However," he paused, and then continued, "Overall, life in the aboveground world is indeed much more relaxed than in the underground world."

"In short," he smiled and looked at Du Feiya, "if you have the opportunity to go to the upper world someday in the future, you must be careful and don't blindly believe that we are all harmless sheep, otherwise you might be sold out and still be counting money for others."

"'You're still counting money for others after being sold?'" Du Feiya was a little surprised by this wonderful statement. She couldn't help but smile, but soon came to her senses and a trace of vigilance flashed across her eyes - the race that could create such an idiom might not be a good person.

But... in the blink of an eye, her expression could not help but dim again. Li Yin just said - if she had the chance to go to the upper world. Du Feiya knew that she would always have the chance to go to the upper world, but... it was not her who needed to be careful, but the residents of the upper world. Because the dark elves would organize an expedition to the upper world every few decades, and such an expedition would consist purely of killing and war. They would kill all the surface elves they saw, and as for other intelligent races, they would either be killed, or those who were not killed would be taken back to the underground world as slaves.

As a young noble, participating in this kind of "hunting" is an inevitable part of her future growth experience.

Thinking of this, Du Feiya's mood became heavy.

She raised her head and looked at the high rock dome above her head and the empty plains around her. For a moment, she just felt that it would be great if she could stay here forever and never go out again. She wouldn't have to worry about being killed by others, nor would she be forced to hurt others.

………………

A few days later……

Li Yin and Du Feiya have been waiting for the dragon's next summons, but the dragon has never appeared again.

They first went to the "snack room" with trepidation, but the passage blocked by rocks did not reopen. Then they were bored and wandered in the wilderness until they were tired, so they went to visit the ruins of the dark elf city.

Finally, they found the giant dragon Shaka in the largest and most magnificent palace in the city. It was sleeping soundly on a pile of gold, silver and jewelry, which was in line with their stereotype of a giant dragon...

They did not disturb the dragon - and judging from the dragon's drooling mouth and the sound way it was sleeping, Li Yin doubted whether he could really disturb it. In short, they retreated carefully.

Logically speaking, this seems to be a good time to escape. Find some shovels and pickaxes from the city to dig the blocked passage again. However, after Li Yin and Du Feiya discussed it, they found that Du Feiya's real thoughts actually coincided with his. Du Feiya also believed that when the dragon's credibility seemed to be guaranteed and there was obviously "hope" to go out, it would be extremely unwise to impatiently seek to escape in order to save a little time and skip the waiting process. Doing so might anger the dragon and cause the situation to slide into an irreversible abyss.

In addition, another reason why neither of them told the other was that they both found that they were not so eager to leave here, so this little bit of waiting was not at all unacceptable.

"This dragon is a very powerful spellcaster," Du Feiya analyzed in detail. "Even though it seems to be sleeping soundly now, it may have set up a magic alarm at some critical location."

"If we run away rashly, it is very likely to trigger the alarm and wake it up."

Li Yin nodded, expressing his deep agreement.

"By the way," Li Yin suddenly responded to Du Feiya through telepathy, "Speaking of magic, how many spells do you still remember now?"

Du Feiya's serious, calm and composed face suddenly became quite depressed - although she was sure that she was not in danger for the time being, the loss of the power she originally controlled still made the female magician feel quite uncomfortable.

"There are not many left," she said. "The dragon took away my magic book, so I can't replenish the magic I used. What's left now are all the magic I didn't use before. There are seven left. They are all low-level..."

"And each time you use it, you have less" - she didn't say this because she knew that Li Yin was also a mage, so he would naturally know such common sense.

"Teach me." Li Yin said openly. The two sides had a close relationship to begin with, and after spending so many days together, there was even less estrangement between them, so he was not shy about it, and did not beat around the bush.

Du Feiya was quite surprised.

She didn't expect that Li Yin's desire to learn or interest in magic was so strong that he still didn't forget to study at this time.

Of course there is no problem in teaching him, but learning at this time... isn't it a useless effort?

Du Feiya could analyze the only spell models in her mind and teach them to him, but the problem was that they had no spell books to record what they had learned. In other words, such learning was a one-time thing, and even if Li Yin learned the magic, he could only use it once, and then the model would disappear, and he would need to memorize it again - but at this time, he could not find a spell book for him to browse and read.

"Your concerns are reasonable." Du Feiya's complex psychological activities flashed into Li Yin's mind through telepathy, but unexpectedly he smiled very casually.

"But you forgot one thing—"

"There are two of us."

"I understand--" Before Li Yin could continue explaining, Du Feiya came to her senses. She looked up suddenly, her bright violet eyes sparkling with surprise.

"We can become each other's magic book!"

Li Yin nodded with a smile.

"This way, you won't have to worry about using less magic each time."

"That's right," Du Feiya's voice was quite excited. "Even if my spell dissipates after use, as long as it still exists in your spiritual space, I can regain this spell through you, just as naturally as using a spell book."

They did as they said, and next, the two of them immediately started learning magic.

Du Feiya still has a total of seven spells, all of which are low-level spells of the first to second ring. However, coincidentally, according to Li Yin's description, he was only a second-ring wizard when he was in the surface world. Therefore, these spells are just within his learnable range and are not difficult to study.

Among these seven spells, there are two that Li Yin has learned before. One of these two spells is the first-level magic "Magic Missile" of the Evocation Department. The caster creates several force field missiles made of magic energy at the fingertips. Since these missiles will automatically lock onto the enemy after being launched without the need to aim, it is very convenient for mages who focus on spell research and have no time for shooting training. Therefore, it is a popular spell that many mages are happy to learn when they are just starting out, and it is also one of the most commonly used spells by low-level mages when facing the enemy in battle.

Another spell is the invisible servant of the first-level conjuration system. In comparison, this spell seems a bit lackluster in such a cruel and dangerous environment as the Dark Hell. It is not a spell used for combat, but an "experience-oriented" spell that the caster must have at home and on the road. Casting this spell will summon an invisible force without mind or form. This force is like a servant and will complete some simple tasks according to the caster's command, such as taking a book from the bookshelf, cleaning up the laboratory table full of debris, or feeding a bowl of soup to the mouth of the wizard who is obsessed with research and forgets to eat and sleep... and so on. The disadvantage of this spell is that the invisible servant summoned is very weak, so it is not competent for combat functions and can only do some miscellaneous work.

Since Li Yin had already fully understood the basic principles of these two spells and had rich practical experience, he did not need to study them. He just briefly reviewed them, picked up some unfamiliar magical knowledge, and then compared them with the spell model shared by Du Feiya through telepathy, just like memorizing magic from a magic book, and began to construct his own spells.

This process was very fast, even faster than when he prepared magic through a spell book. Because the spell model is constructed by spiritual power and exists directly in the spiritual world of a person. Li Yin's mind link directly connected him to Du Feiya's spiritual world, and Du Feiya opened the door of her spiritual world to him without any hesitation, generously and selflessly showing her spell model in the most intuitive way for him to observe. The efficiency of mind transmission is far higher than that of text and paper, and the direct transmission of spell models instead of translation through text and diagrams makes the quality of the information transmitted completely different from that of spell books. The final result is that Li Yin's efficiency in learning to prepare magic by observing Du Feiya's spiritual world is far higher than that of normal learning through spell books.

Chapter 189: Restoring Magic

If Li Yin had to describe this method of preparing magic in a way, it was not like memory magic, but more like the "initiation and transmission of power" in an adventure novel, where a young man with an adventure directly received the "initiation and transmission of power" from a legendary figure in the moment of danger.

In less than ten minutes, he had completed the preparation of the first magic, "Magic Missile". The speed was so fast that it even surpassed the "Ritual Casting".

The so-called ritual casting refers to some special magic that can be cast directly in the form of a ritual when needed without prior preparation. Compared with normal casting, which only requires a few spells and a few simple hand gestures, ritual casting takes much longer to perform the "ritual", often more than ten minutes, and cannot be interrupted. Although the casting time is too long and therefore not convenient for intense encounters and battles, the role of ritual casting is undoubtedly significant. It greatly saves the caster's memory space, allowing the caster to flexibly use more spells to deal with more complex situations.

If there is a disadvantage of ritual casting, it is that not all magic can be cast through "ritual". At least the spell "Magic Missile" cannot be cast. But now, with the cooperation of Du Feiya, Li Yin has realized the "ritual casting" of almost all magic in disguise.

And this is the case when he and Du Feiya have just mastered this method. Li Yin believes that with time, after their continuous practice and becoming more familiar with this special method, their speed in preparing magic will be greatly improved!

It didn't take long for Li Yin to complete the preparations for the second known magic, the invisible servant.

Du Feiya was filled with excitement. It was obvious that she also realized the great value of this special way of preparing magic. The two looked at each other with their bright eyes, and their minds raced. In an instant, everything became clear, and each of them showed an excited smile on their faces.

Next, there were spells that Li Yin had not yet mastered, some of which he had never even heard of before. The latter was represented by the secondary spider form, which allowed the caster to transform into a mutant spider of the same size as himself, and gain all the abilities of a real spider - but why would he turn into a spider? Climb on the ceiling, or spin silk? Li Yin fell into deep thought.

In addition, other spells include: Disguise, which can change one's appearance at will, not only the body, but also clothing and jewelry. However, the change cannot be too large, the size of the body cannot be too different, and the body type must be similar. For example, as a human, Li Yin can use this spell to transform into an orc or elf, but he cannot turn himself into a pig. If he had mastered this spell when he first encountered the dark elves, he might have been able to avoid being captured by turning into one of them...

Secondary Swiftness Burst, in a very short time, greatly stimulates your potential, moves at an incredible speed, and compared to the swift movement of yourself, the world around you slows down as if time has stopped. The most commendable thing about this spell is that it does not require chanting, gestures, or even casting time, it can be cast as soon as you think about it. This second-level transformation spell greatly improves the caster's ability to deal with danger, but the disadvantage is also obvious - because of excessive potential excavation, after the spell ends, the caster will fall into a dizziness of several seconds - if nothing unexpected happens, these few seconds are enough for the enemy who has just fallen into "time stop" to catch up with you and kill you without any resistance. So please use it carefully according to the situation, in case it just prolongs the time of your death unnecessarily.

Compared with this, Li Yin prefers another spell that also enhances mobility, Leap. As the name suggests, it can greatly enhance the caster's jumping ability. Conservatively estimated, just mastering it is enough to increase the increase by more than three times. Combined with Li Yin's own extraordinary jumping ability after the ghoul transformation, it complements both escaping and jumping attacks...

Finally, Li Yin looked at another strange spell and fell into deep thought.

Shining the sharp blade, the weapon burst into dazzling light, like a bright sun. There was nothing wrong with the spell itself, but he could hardly imagine that such a spell would appear in the spellbook of Dufiya, a dark elf living underground.

Could it be that her desire for light has become so strong? Li Yin couldn't help but wonder in his heart.

"That's not the case." Sensing Li Yin's inner thoughts, Du Feiya couldn't help but reply shyly.

"This is the spell my father created."

"Because the dark elves, as well as other underground creatures, mainly live in a lightless or dimly lit environment, our eyes are very sensitive to light."