Chapter 1053

He was not worried about Luodite deceiving him; in any case, he did not need to enter the ruins in person. However, the thoughts of Luodite's father were truly strange—since he wanted to make a great discovery, he was unwilling to explore the ruins left behind by a Netherese Mage.

Who knew if the ancient Netherese Mage had left behind any good things?

Perhaps there were even things similar to a Nether Scroll hidden away and not yet made public!

After understanding some of the basic situation regarding the ruins, Xia Duo did not press for more, but instead brought up the specific time for the exploration:

"Mage Luodite, when are you planning to arrange the exploration operation? If it is convenient, I hope it can be as soon as possible."

Although he did not need to enter the ruins himself, the process of exploration would also consume time, especially given that the interior of this ruin was extremely complex and large in area.

It would not be strange at all to say it might take ten days or half a month to explore.

But Xia Duo also had his own affairs to attend to and could not devote his time entirely to the ruin exploration, so he hoped to proceed as quickly as possible.

If he felt it was too time-consuming and the gains did not match the effort, he would have to withdraw early.

"Lord Xia Duo, please rest assured. If it goes quickly, we can start in three days; at the latest, it will begin before the end of this month!" Luodite replied.

"That is good!"

Since the general time had been agreed upon, Xia Duo prepared to end this meeting. "I am planning to go to the Library. Does Mage Luodite have any other business?"

Luodite understood immediately and stood up at once, saying, "Then I will not disturb Lord Xia Duo any further. See you in Nan Jing then!"

"Mm."

……

After Luodite left, Xia Duo continued toward the Library. His Permission Level as a 5th-Level Member allowed him to "scan" a portion of the collection, though even as a 5th-Level Member, reading books was not free.

Fortunately, what Xia Duo was doing was a one-off deal; having read it this time, he would not need to read it again next time.

Approaching dusk.

Xia Duo walked out of the Arcane Union, crossed the Arcane Plaza, and entered the Old City District from beside the Seven Cities Council. The two had arrived in Seventon after lunch.

After arriving, Niya had gone to the Nether Palace, but she had not come out even now. Xia Duo could not help but feel a bit worried, so he prepared to pay a visit to the Princess's avatar.

However, just as he reached the plaza in front of the Nether Palace, a message from Niya arrived—

"I have left the Nether Palace. I have something to tell you. Where are you?"

Xia Duo immediately looked toward the direction of the Nether Palace, and sure enough, a familiar figure was walking slowly out of the main entrance; it was Niya.

The Nether Palace did not forbid flying or teleporting, but that was in the past. Now that the Princess had achieved Ascension to Godhood and the Nether Palace had been converted into a Temple, one still needed to be somewhat cautious.

Xia Duo sent a Sending to Niya while walking quickly toward her.

……

Old City District, on some nameless path.

Xia Duo and Niya walked side by side. An invisible Soundproof Barrier shrouded their figures, and Xia Duo, still uneasy, added another layer of Avoidance of Detection before asking Niya:

"What did you want to tell me? By the way, did you see the Princess? What did she say to you, and is it related to what you wanted to tell me?"

"……"

Niya gently nudged Xia Duo with her arm and said with a hint of reproach, "You asked so many questions at once, how am I supposed to answer! Let me first say that I saw the Teacher!"

Niya tilted her head as if carefully recalling the scene of meeting her teacher, then said, "The Teacher looked exactly the same as in the past, only with an added layer of indescribable majesty. Every time I looked directly at her, I felt a bit flustered!"

Xia Duo nodded slightly. It seemed that the divine avatar was not quite the same as the main body during Ascension to Godhood; it seemed one could look directly at it, though it was also possible that the Princess was already able to control that characteristic of being impossible to look at directly.

"Then what did the Princess say?"

"The Teacher mainly spoke of three things. One is what we already knew: the future territory and industries of the Nether Family will all be managed by the Seven Towers, though the Teacher gifted one of the islands to me."

"What else?"

"There is also something related to the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce. The Teacher asked me to assist the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce in promoting a type of New Coin, saying that in the future, all of Netheril will use this New Coin."

As she spoke, Niya took three coins—gold, silver, and copper—out of her Dimensional Bag to show Xia Duo. Xia Duo did not even need to look to know that this was definitely the same as the coins President Zhenna had displayed at the time.

However, he still took the three coins from Niya's hand and then returned six to her.

"You have them too?!" Niya stopped in surprise and turned to look at Xia Duo. "Did that President Zhenna give them to you?"

"Mm."

Xia Duo nodded. "Considering that the Tower of Time needs to increase its procurement of Magic materials, I agreed. Besides, the Savile Territory doesn't mint its own coins, so whose we use doesn't matter!"

Niya did not continue to probe, but continued to talk about the situation of meeting her teacher. "Besides gifting the island and promoting the New Coin, the Teacher kept asking me about my recent research on Magic Web Background Fluctuation and gave me a lot of guidance. I have a very strong premonition that perhaps after meeting today, there will be a very long time before I can see the Teacher again."

"If you can't see her, then so be it. The Princess has now achieved Ascension to Godhood, and there is ultimately a boundary between us. If you want to see the Teacher often in the future, then work hard to become an existence on par with her!"

Such a serious topic made the atmosphere between the two become somewhat heavy. Xia Duo took the initiative to reach out and hold Niya's hand, attempting to ease the atmosphere:

"By the way, didn't you just send a message saying you had something to tell me? What is it?"

Feeling the temperature on her palm, Niya's face also heated up instantly. However, the two were ultimately still outside, and there were other pedestrians on the road; Niya was not yet accustomed to such hand-holding.

She held Xia Duo's hand in return, then quickly pulled her palm away, simultaneously quickening her pace, though she never got more than half a step ahead of Xia Duo.

Once Xia Duo increased his speed and walked side by side with her again, she answered Xia Duo's question in a low voice:

"Actually, it's not a big deal. It's about the Shouwang Dao that the Teacher gave me. The Teacher asked me to complete the handover as soon as possible; otherwise, once her avatar returns to the Heavenly Realm, the handover might become unclear."

"Mm?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo keenly sensed that the Princess seemed to be reminding him that the time her avatar could stay in the Mortal Plane would not be long, and perhaps she would be leaving in the near future.

Was this the restriction after achieving Ascension to Godhood?

For a moment, many thoughts crossed Xia Duo's mind, and he did not even pay attention to what Niya said next, until the two arrived at the port on the west side of Seventon, and he was jolted back to reality.

It turned out that Niya had just said they were going to Shouwang Dao tomorrow, and they were here to rent a boat!

"Why take a boat? Didn't you just say Shouwang Dao is near Harbor Port? Can't we teleport to Harbor Port and then go to Shouwang Dao?"

"It's rare to be out, I want to see the ocean. Let's take a boat this time!"