Chapter 1167: Accepting Mediation, The Meeting Begins

This news is truly shocking!

Lord Duolaisen Huo Ke has suddenly become a Great Arcanist!

Well, it is not exactly sudden; a few years ago, Lord Huo Ke was already publicly recognized as the person closest to being a Great Arcanist, so isn't it normal for him to become one on the spot?

But the problem is—

There is an Arcanist in Huo Ke Territory named "Akuilaien Huo Ke" who is being locked up by Xia Duo in the Tower of Time!

At the mere thought of this, Xia Duo felt his scalp tingle; he remembered that it was also during the Snow Melting Competition a year ago that Lord Huo Ke had asked to meet him at the Arcane Union.

The main content of their discussion was about Akuilaien; at the time, Lord Huo Ke mentioned that Akuilaien had been induced by a mysterious organization to commit acts offending the Tower of Time, and that the mysterious organization had also repeatedly targeted Savile Territory.

Huo Ke Territory, Savile Territory, and the Tower of Time should be allies!

At the time, Xia Duo brushed it off by saying the matter required investigation, and until today, a year later, Akuilaien had not been released.

According to his initial plan, he was prepared to lock that Akuilaien up for ten years, or at least until his danger was eliminated.

Releasing an Arcanist with hostility made Xia Duo feel truly uneasy; keeping Akuilaien in his hands not only removed an enemy with clear hostility but could also slightly restrain Lord Huo Ke.

But now, the situation has suddenly undergone a major change: Lord Huo Ke has become a Great Arcanist!

At this point, even with the Seven Towers and Iolum supporting him, Xia Duo had fallen into an absolute disadvantage in terms of influence alone.

This is not something that can be ignored just because Lord Huo Ke might be an Elf spy; the influence of a Great Arcanist is far higher than that of a Senior Arcanist!

Not to mention his personal strength; although Xia Duo does not fear Huo Ke, defeating him, or even killing him, is almost impossible.

In other words, if Lord Huo Ke were to bring up the release of Akuilaien again, Xia Duo would have almost no way to refuse, unless he himself became a Great Arcanist right now.

But this is obviously not realistic.

Counting on Iolum to forcefully back him is also not realistic; although this nominal teacher is about to officially become the president of the Arcane Union, this position is more like that of a mediator—if he were obviously unfair, wouldn't he lose his very foundation?

If he cannot even achieve basic fairness, how would others be willing to support him? It would be better to form his own small circle and network.

In fact, Xia Duo knew very well that Iolum being able to tell him this news in advance was already very decent of him; he really shouldn't expect too much.

"What are your thoughts?" Iolum asked.

"Netheril has gained another Great Arcanist, and our overall strength has increased; I am sincerely happy."

Actually, if not for the Akuilaien matter, Xia Duo would indeed be quite happy, but now these words sounded somewhat insincere no matter how he said them.

"Slippery!"

Iolum glanced at Kangjienio, exchanged a look, and then said to Xia Duo: "I know there is some misunderstanding between you and Lord Huo Ke. Master Aien is willing to mediate for you; you only need to release that Akuilaien. What do you think?"

"Many thanks for the care of Master Kangjienio; I am willing to accept your mediation."

Xia Duo considered it for a moment and ultimately did not refuse; in fact, the matter was not up to him to refuse.

In Netheril, a Great Arcanist is almost an existence that can do as they please, with almost no restrictions; one could even say that even defecting directly to the Elves is their freedom.

If there were other Great Arcanists to provide a check and balance, it would be fine, but if not, it would be too troublesome.

Even if Xia Duo himself is not afraid, are Savile Territory and Daxia Territory not afraid? Of course, if things were to really develop to that point, Huo Ke Territory would not be able to escape either.

Actually, it is unlikely to develop to that extent; once someone targets ordinary people on a large scale, the Seven Cities Council will intervene.

But the degree of this "large scale" is very much open to interpretation.

What Xia Duo needs most is a stable development environment; whether for himself or for the budding Magic civilization, there is really no need to gamble on other people's methods now.

Being able to mediate can be considered settling a matter of concern.

Afterwards, Xia Duo sat behind Iolum under his arrangement.

Soon, people arrived one after another in this circular Huanxingdating with a high dome; of course, these people, like Xia Duo, were all here to observe.

Besides Councilors of the Union like Bulundesi and Olong, there were also Senior Arcanists who had the Permission Level to come and observe on their own, or anyone brought by someone else.

Theoretically, Xia Duo could also have brought Niya, or even Jibusen and Halun, but doing so would be too foolish.

Although he could not tell the specific level of these attending Mages, from their clothing, demeanor, and ornaments, one could roughly judge that they were at least Advanced Rank.

These people sat on the chairs near the walls on the periphery of the Huanxingdating, while in the center of the hall was a huge round table, surrounded by fifteen seats evenly, corresponding to the fifteen Great Arcanists currently publicly known in Netheril, also signifying that everyone is equal.

In the center of the round table was a pool of flowing blue radiance, within which mysterious symbols appeared from time to time; Xia Duo guessed this might be something like a projector, or simply a decoration.

As the seats on the periphery of the hall were gradually filled, the Great Arcanists also entered one by one.

Compared to observers like Xia Duo who all walked in from the outside, the Great Arcanists, almost every single one of them, entered via teleportation.

Until Kangjienio announced the start of the meeting, Xia Duo did not see any Great Arcanist arrive on foot.

Moreover, those fifteen seats in the middle were not all filled.

Those who arrived, besides the outgoing Kangjienio and Iolum, were the seven Great Arcanists of the Seven Towers, as well as Braun of the Gray-White Spiral Tower and Weide of the Tower of Wisdom.

Of course, there was also Lord Huo Ke; when this guy arrived, it caused a burst of whispers among the observers on the periphery, but the Great Arcanists in the middle said nothing, so the observers had even less to say.

A total of only twelve Great Arcanists came, with three seats empty, but since Kangjienio had already announced the start of the meeting, presumably they were not coming.

Judging only from public information, the Great Arcanists who did not come were Bailun, Buluode, and Kennapu.

As for Kaousi and Zhenna, the former had just appeared a while ago but was clearly dead according to official public information, while the latter had never been made public.

If all these people were present, perhaps two more seats would need to be added.

Just as Xia Duo was wondering why Bailun, Buluode, and Kennapu did not come on such an important occasion, Kangjienio had already begun to announce the first topic of the day—