Chapter 1017: Cormanthor Mystery, The Second Stage of the Trial

Up to this point, Xia Duo remains within the trial; he believes he has not made any major mistakes, and everything is proceeding steadfastly according to his expectations.

Of course, this is still just a trial after all; behind it, certain reactions were either pre-set, or High Mages are controlling it in real-time. It certainly cannot perfectly simulate reality and must be simplified quite a bit.

But looking at it from another angle, this also means that Xia Duo's approach has left the High Mages who are presiding over the ritual and witnessing the trial quite satisfied—at least not to the extent of opposing it and terminating the trial.

……

After a few turns, Xia Duo has gradually figured out the patterns of the trial, but changes have followed closely behind.

"King, the Coronal of the northwestern Laisi Kingdom has sent a Sending again, questioning whether we are determined to expand, and demanding that we immediately withdraw from the neutral zone that serves as a buffer between the two countries."

Withdraw or not withdraw?

Xia Duo is thoughtful; this so-called northwestern Laisi Kingdom must be the reflection of the Akaola Kingdom in this Projection Plane.

Originally, this vast area was called the Listar Forest, but after Uweilun was destroyed, the forest was divided into two pieces. The smaller one is the Akaola Kingdom, while the larger one is distributed with Jielunsita and other various forces that are now to be merged.

However, the name "Listar Forest" here was inherited by the smaller piece of forest.

And when it comes to history, Akaola was established hundreds of years earlier than Jielunsita; besides the Elf Court, it also seems that the Akaola Kingdom can better represent this Listar Forest.

Because of this, Akaola is very resistant to the unification of the Listar Forest; at least they believe that if it is to be unified, it should be unified by them, rather than belonging to a newly fabricated Cormanthor.

From this, Xia Duo understands that his trial has likely reached the second stage.

Since Coronal Osons prophesied that the future Coronal of Cormanthor would unify the entire Elf World, then for an Elf who wants to pass the trial, the Listar Forest should just be a small appetizer.

If one cannot even unify the Listar Forest, how can one talk about unifying the entire Elf World?

Xia Duo does not know how the Coronal of Cormanthor in the Main Plane passed the trial, but it is obvious that nearly a thousand years have passed, and Akaola still exists.

Not to mention, there is also Illefarn to the west, separated by Netheril and Yierlan; this ancient kingdom that survived the Crown War, although also a Gold Elf kingdom, has always held great hatred for Aryvandaar, which harmed them.

And the Cormanthor of the Main Plane is undoubtedly dominated by Gold Elves, and is even more of a hiding place for many remnants of Aryvandaar.

In fact, there are not a few such hiding places; after all, Aryvandaar at its peak almost unified the entire Elf World.

Even Illefarn, which survived the Crown War, was in a state where its high-end power had been slaughtered and its lower classes enslaved at that time.

It was just that later, the leaders of Aryvandaar were too ambitious and began to secretly purge the High Mages who threatened the Empire's rule; after the matter was exposed, they received the backlash of almost all the High Mages.

This is also the origin of the last Crown War.

The Main Plane actually has another Elf nation closer to Aryvandaar than Cormanthor, and that is Sluwen, but this nation had already been effectively defeated by Yierlan and became a vassal of the latter long before Cormanthor was established.

Illefarn did not show much hostility toward Sluwen; on one hand, Sluwen basically no longer possessed any threat, and on the other hand, Cormanthor was too high-profile.

From this perspective, the Coronal of Cormanthor in the Main Plane not only failed to complete the unification of the Listar Forest but also buried hidden dangers for the division of different ethnic groups within the Elves.

With the trial at this point, Xia Duo really cannot figure out how the Coronal of Cormanthor in the Main Plane—Kaifumu Yilisheer—actually passed the trial!

Unifying the Listar Forest is beneficial to Cormanthor; if it could really be done, it would not be left undone. Now there are only two possibilities: either the trial in the Projection Plane is different from the Main Plane, or the gap between the trial and reality is too large.

Even if it can be unified in the trial, it may not necessarily be achievable in reality.

But the Cormanthor of the Main Plane has a tendency to follow the old path of Aryvandaar, "Great Elf Imperialism," and does not advocate harmony among all races; this is obviously very different from the trial Xia Duo is currently experiencing.

In the Projection Plane, although Aryvandaar has been disintegrated for thousands of years and the Elves' impression of Aryvandaar has improved a lot, it is not yet to the point of forgetting history.

Especially for High Mages, they certainly do not want to live in such an empire.

Therefore, even if the superiors in the Listar Forest are mostly Gold Elves and perhaps there is a bias toward Gold Elves, no one would suggest anything like "restoring the glory of Aryvandaar."

To use a phrase from Earth, this is called "politically incorrect."

Then, what exactly happened in the thousand years after the establishment of Cormanthor in the Main Plane to make it so different?

The only explanation is probably that the content of the God Sword trial in the Main Plane and the Projection Plane is different!

This might also explain why, before Xia Duo, Kaifumu Yilisheer of the Projection Plane failed and died.

……

Returning to the trial itself, if the first stage was to examine whether the trial-taker possessed basic governing ability, then the second stage has reached the trial of unifying the Listar Forest.

Direct conquest is the fastest way, and he can win, but it is not the best way. Not to mention being judged as a failure directly, it would at least leave the High Mages with a warlike impression of being bellicose.

He does not know how many trials are left behind; what if this is the final straw that breaks the camel's back!

Moreover, doing so is not the way of a king, and in fact, it does not accord with Xia Duo's own heart.

In his hometown, there is an old saying: "The way of a king lies in educating all under heaven." Xia Duo strongly agrees with this; he detests unjust wars.

Therefore, for the second stage of the trial, he wants to adopt a more kingly approach, which is also a case that has actually succeeded in his hometown.

After carefully calculating, Xia Duo issued the latest orders—

"The expansion in the northwest direction is temporarily halted, but there is no need to withdraw from the land already occupied by us;

"Secondly, entrust the Magic Academy to prepare a communication and teleportation plan between the Taier Kingdom and the Laisi Kingdom;

"Thirdly, led by the trade Consultant, organize a delegation of domestic Merchants to visit the Laisi Kingdom to investigate, focusing on recording their relatively scarce supplies;

"Fourthly, order the second theater of the Shoudu to step up the creation of works about major resolutions of the Elf Court in history, especially the highlight moment of the Akaola representative at the meeting when the nations of the Listar Forest fought against the Drow 600 years ago;

"Finally, contact the Elder of the Elf Court for me, and ask him to invite the foreign affairs Consultant of the Laisi Coronal to visit Taier in the name of the Elf Court."

……

After issuing a series of orders, Xia Duo paused to think for a moment before ending the turn.

Subsequently, the scene changed, and a new turn began.