Chapter 1080: Let Me Enjoy It Alone, Personally Arriving

Xia Duo was naturally not without countermeasures, but he did not have ten-tenths certainty either.

From the Mind Link, he learned of a little hidden thought of Luodite, which was exactly what the agreed-upon information analysis and on-site command covered.

And at the very beginning, when Luodite invited him, he had already sensed that besides the factor of the Mind Link, Luodite had likely also taken a fancy to his identity as an Arcanist.

An Arcanist meant extensive knowledge, profound spellcasting attainments, and more importantly—the high fault tolerance brought by Arcane Fire when facing complex ruin environments.

Of course, Xia Duo did not ultimately agree to participate in the exploration in person, participating only in the form of the Mind Link, but the news of him later becoming a Senior Arcanist was not exactly a secret, so Luodite would naturally develop more reliance because of it.

Then, did his agreed-upon duties include the part about solving puzzles within the ruins?

Without much hesitation, Xia Duo made the decision that best fit his intentions, "I can try, but you must know that a Senior Arcanist's response, or rather, guidance, for the current complex situation is impossible to provide without a price!"

"Then Lord Xia Duo, what do you need?"

"I want this ruin itself, of course, after your exploration is finished."

"This ruin itself?!"

Regarding such a simple request, Luodite felt very surprised; he asked again with some disbelief: "Lord Xia Duo, are you sure you only need this ruin itself?"

"Of course, I am very sure. The state in which this ruin exists is very interesting; I have decided to study it."

In fact, Xia Duo did not need to make such a request; no one would stop him from going over after the exploration ended, and even if he abandoned this operation and went over right now, Luodite would not have much of an opinion.

After all, they themselves had no way to further crack the protection systems and the fusion state of the Element Pool in those unknown areas.

The reason for making that request was actually to have Luodite and the others keep the secret of this ruin for him.

With so many Spellcasters in Netheril, Xia Duo was certainly not the only one who chose the Plane Domain as his main research direction. If the news of the ruin leaked out, it might not affect Xia Duo staying here to research it together.

But with more people, it was inevitable that things beyond his expectations would happen, such as someone being clumsy and pushing the ruin's currently unstable state, causing the ruin to collapse completely.

Or perhaps, someone with an identity and background not inferior to Xia Duo would come along and want to lead the research here, or even banish Xia Duo, and then there would be nowhere to reason with.

And now that there was an opportunity to enjoy the ruin alone, Xia Duo would certainly not miss it.

"If you agree to this request, then I will give it a try."

"I agree!" Luodite said first.

He did not have much interest in the ruin itself, or rather, he was not yet qualified to be interested. In fact, he had long prepared to make the situation here public after the exploration ended.

Now that Lord Xia Duo wanted it, it didn't matter if it wasn't made public; it was just earning a few less Gold Coins, but what he gained was the practical experience of a Senior Arcanist's spell-breaking, as well as possible treasures in the unknown areas within the ruins.

Although these treasures had to be shared with others, it was better than having nothing, especially since he had already paid a high price for this exploration operation, he was even less willing to miss a possible opportunity.

Afterwards, the other four also expressed that they would keep the secret here until Xia Duo felt it was no longer necessary.

"Since that's the case, then you all prepare, set up Protection first, and then wait for me to come over!"

"Ah—Lord Xia Duo, are you coming over in person?"

Perhaps Luodite had wanted Xia Duo to participate in person before, but now hearing the news that Xia Duo was coming, for some reason, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

Could it be that he wanted to—

Some obscure little thoughts were subconsciously transmitted by Luodite into the Mind Link, although they were not obvious, and not even enough for the others in the Mind Link to notice.

But for Xia Duo, it was almost no different from saying it to his face—

Could it be that he wanted to kill them to silence them?

Detecting this information, Xia Duo's face immediately turned dark. Was his great reputation really so untrustworthy?

He also knew that perhaps it was the condition of wanting to enjoy the ruin alone that made Luodite overthink, but he truly did not harbor any malicious intentions.

Killing or disguising it as an accident might be very simple for the current Xia Duo, but once a thing is done, it leaves traces. Perhaps he could clean it up very thoroughly and deceive the vast majority of investigations.

But there was still Prophecy, this very unreasonable method; who knew if it would be prophesied?

Furthermore, many things in this world do not necessarily require conclusive evidence; in many situations, free conviction is enough.

Like Luodite, if he died in the ruins or was lost in another Plane and could never return, would Lord Collins give up on causing trouble for Xia Duo because there was no evidence?

Putting himself in their shoes, if it were Xia Duo himself, in such a matter, even a shred of suspicion would be enough for him to take action.

Even if the survivor was innocent, he might still vent his anger on the other party.

This is truly human nature!

This is also why, even though Xia Duo could have viewed the exploration of Luodite and the others with a more detached attitude, he always intervened at critical moments.

Whether it was preparing the Stabilization Amulet for them before, or coming to the ruins in person this time, there was actually the thought of avoiding Luodite and the others from getting themselves killed.

Of course, Xia Duo could not act as their free nanny entirely; in this process, he would also put forward requests beneficial to himself.

Whether it was money, favors, or some confidentiality obligation.

As a Senior Arcanist, he would never let himself suffer a loss, and no one could make him suffer a loss.

Having already offended a Great Arcanist, Xia Duo actually did not care much about the hostility of a Senior Arcanist, but not caring did not mean he had to make another enemy for himself.

He was not a masochist, so why bother!

In the Mind Link, he briefly described the current fragile balanced fusion state of the warehouse area and the Element Pool, emphasizing the difficulty and danger of cracking it.

It could be considered as putting Luodite's mind at ease, and afterwards, Xia Duo gave Luodite another chance to go back on his word—

"I am adjusting the Teleportation Array. If you want to give up, you can say so before I teleport."

In fact, even if Luodite and the others went back on their word, Xia Duo would still go to the ruins. To study the state of the ruins, there must be Spellcasting actions.

But these Spellcasting elements were all closely related to the Plane Domain. By using Luodite and the others to cast spells through the Mind Link, all the details in this process would be known to them.

Xia Duo and Luodite's agreement did not include these!

Even if they were willing to pay extra, Xia Duo himself was not willing!