Chapter 1171: Balance, Request

But regardless, seeing the Tower of Wisdom and seeing Weide punished still made Xia Duo feel quite satisfied, while at the same time, he realized just how troublesome a Great Arcanist opponent could be.

Unless there is an absolute reason to make the other party provoke public anger and then be attacked by all, they are almost untouchable; one can only impose some painless, superficial punishment, making it difficult to truly hurt them.

Of course, relatively speaking, once he himself becomes a Great Arcanist, he too will be untouchable.

This situation made Xia Duo think again of the "Big Five" on Earth; with nuclear weapons in hand, the world is mine.

It is fortunate that a Great Arcanist does not have absolute suppression capabilities over those below them; otherwise, they might be even more rogue than the Big Five.

After all, the permanent members of the Council on Earth are collective organizations composed of many people, and they consider all aspects when making decisions.

Even if some actions seem irrational at times, they are actually the most favorable courses of action for the ruling class after repeated weighing.

Yet every Great Arcanist is an independent individual; while their thoughts and actions are certainly constrained by the external environment, if they truly have a sudden whim to do something, the shift in their perspective might happen in a single thought.

Mages and Arcanists are merely the result of Knowledge and Wisdom; reason plays a significant role in them, but to think that Mages and Arcanists are absolutely rational people would be a huge mistake.

As long as one is human, there will be emotions and feelings; wouldn't absolute rationality just make one a robot? Reason also needs the nourishment of sensibility.

Conversely, sensibility also needs the guidance of reason; if emotions were to flood and overflow, and one's words and actions were entirely driven by mood, being as fickle as a child, that would be too dangerous.

Xia Duo has not had contact with every Great Arcanist, but based on the Great Arcanists he has encountered so far, these people balance reason and sensibility very well, being neither extreme nor mediocre.

"Perhaps that is why Netheril has the relatively stable 'Fifteen Permanent Members' structure today!"

……

After the meeting ended, the Great Arcanists teleported away just as they had arrived, leaving only the new and old presidents of the Arcane Union and Xia Duo in the venue.

"After the Snow Melting Competition, I will send someone to the Tower of Time to take Aquilain away. This matter with Duolaisen ends here. As for Weide, he will not trouble you either."

Seeming to think of something, Iolum smiled and said:

"The news of the Tower of Wisdom being punished will be announced soon. The exchange price of the Exchange Vouchers issued by the Tower of Wisdom will likely drop slightly. If you want to make a small profit, you can try to collect some."

Huh?

Does this count as insider trading?

Xia Duo immediately became interested; although he could not force the Tower of Wisdom into bankruptcy through a run, cutting a piece of meat from this incident was only right and proper.

After all, it is not yet certain whether the 200,000 Gold Coins in compensation demanded by the Seventon Council will be issued to the Savile Territory.

Even if it is issued, the operating costs of the Seventon Council must be deducted first, and it must be shared with the Rodney Territory. Even if it is received, it will be incorporated into the Savile Territory's treasury, not Xia Duo's own.

But now, bottom-fishing the Tower of Wisdom's Exchange Vouchers might really earn him some pocket money.

However, Xia Duo thought again: although this practice would indeed lower the credibility of the Tower of Wisdom's Exchange Vouchers in future commercial activities, it would not have a major impact.

Strictly speaking, this is not cutting the meat of the Tower of Wisdom, but cutting the meat of those Merchants.

In his view, this kind of thing is quite damaging to one's character. He did not know if this was Iolum testing him or truly intending to guide a student on how to make money; in any case, Xia Duo chose not to follow.

"Teacher Iolum, not long ago the Tower of Time signed a procurement agreement with the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce with an annual turnover of over one million. This small profit from Exchange Vouchers is really not worth my time. Furthermore, the prosperity of commerce is beneficial to the development of Magic. A practice like knowing insider information to bottom-fish and harvest will only dampen the enthusiasm of Merchants, which is unfavorable in the long run. I will not do it."

"Oh, then I thought wrong." No abnormality could be seen on Iolum's face.

But Xia Duo felt that Iolum seemed very satisfied with his answer. However, neither of them delved too deeply into this topic, and Xia Duo soon took his leave.

Before leaving, however, Iolum asked Xia Duo to help keep an eye out for methods to reduce the frequency of Elemental Transmutation in Mithril, or for alternative materials to Mithril with a lower frequency of Elemental Transmutation.

"This matter is very important to you and me, and even to all of Netheril. I have also asked the Seven Towers to help keep an eye out. If you discover anything, you can contact me at any time."

New technology? New material? Very important?

Such a description immediately made Xia Duo think of the Independent Arcane Fire Device and the 【Mythallar】 that might not even have a name yet, so he tentatively asked:

"I wonder what magnitude of Arcane Energy flux the new technology or new material you need, Teacher Iolum, needs to withstand?"

Under normal circumstances, even the foreign trade Mithril currently obtained by the Arcane Union is sufficient to carry the core energy circuits of most Magic Items, though they cannot be made very small.

But since Iolum specifically mentioned new technology and new materials, the requirements must be higher than Mithril. The so-called reducing the frequency of Elemental Transmutation is actually to reduce energy resistance.

Xia Duo asking about the magnitude of Arcane Energy flux was asking about Iolum's requirements for "resistivity."

This kind of inquiry was perfectly normal, and Iolum did not feel there was anything wrong with Xia Duo asking this question, and he directly provided a figure:

"At least a million times that of current Standard Mithril."

The so-called Standard Mithril refers to the conventional Mithril obtained in the largest quantities through foreign trade from the Dwarves and Elves.

If the Arcane Energy flux needs to be a million times that of Standard Mithril, Xia Duo could not think of anything else besides things like the Independent Arcane Fire Device that need to exist for a long time and require the circulation of large amounts of energy.

Although he had already reached a conclusion in his heart, Xia Duo did not immediately take out the Weave String Materialization experimental records he had already prepared.

Taking out the experimental records at this time would make the targeting too obvious, and taking them out so easily would not show the importance of his own plan.

Besides Daiwei's Weave String Materialization plan, there was also the Miscellaneous Crystal substitute for Mithril plan brought out from the Inosen Mage Tower.

The results of both might meet Iolum's requirements, but the materials themselves were extremely difficult to preserve. Xia Duo also needed to consider further before he could produce a seemingly more perfect plan.

"Teacher Iolum, I have noted your requirements. I will keep an eye on it, and I already have some ideas. After the Snow Melting Competition, I will study it and come back to report."

"Already have ideas?"

Iolum was quite interested in this, but he did not mean for Xia Duo to say it now. After all, there was still a long way to go from idea to practice!

He had new ideas every day, but the vast majority were proven unfeasible, and the few that were feasible had final results that were very unsatisfactory. In his view, Xia Duo's ideas were more like some inspiration that had just sprouted, still a distance away from even being an idea!

"It's good that you have ideas. Go back and study well; I look forward to your good news!"