Chapter 1194: Coexistence of Cooperation and Competition, Arrival at Leisen Territory

Of course, Netheril does not only have many historical issues left over with Cormanthor; the same exists between it, Yierlan, and Danzo.

Take, for example, the widely known "Tri-Nation Mithral Agreement," whose true terms few people actually know.

This time, there has been some improvement; the communique from the Seventon Council did not mention the specific content of the revised agreement, but it did emphasize one thing, which is—

From now on, Netheril has mastered Mithril Refining Technology and will provide it for a fee to any territory in need.

This means, as understood by the average lord, that as long as a Mithril Mine is discovered in their territory, they can refine and use it themselves.

Even a lord like Xia Duo, who knows the truth behind the "Tri-Nation Mithral Agreement," can also openly use this technology.

However, restrictions still exist.

When Xia Duo visited Kangjienio at the beginning of the year, he was told that Netheril had long since mastered Mithril Refining Technology, but High-Grade Mithril was still monopolized by Yierlan.

Even the Dwarf, due to flaws in their refining methods, are unable to refine high-purity Mithril truly suitable for high-end Magic Items.

Now, even if the Mithril Refining Technology is made public, it does not mean that Netheril has completely broken free regarding Mithril; if one wants High-Grade Mithril, one still has to purchase it from Yierlan.

Or more accurately, purchase it from the Moonhorn Family!

That is the family where Yinuosen's mother is from, and it is also highly likely to be the prestigious Yierlan family that caused Yinuosen's sad downfall and the near-loss of the Conductive Crystal!

……

Judging from what Badijiaer said at the Snow Melting Competition and the communique now issued by the Seventon Council, perhaps under the pressure of the Drow, there indeed exists a field of sincere cooperation within the Northland Alliance, but at the same time—

Competition, confrontation, and even hostility will not disappear because of this; on the contrary, it is highly likely that they will intensify while maintaining cooperation in relevant fields.

This could not help but make Xia Duo think of the international situation in his hometown; while the major powers certainly have very close cooperation in many fields, from a macro perspective, the competition never ends.

To a certain extent, cooperation even takes on a competitive nature; at that point, cooperation is no longer just cooperation itself, but a substantive competition to expand discourse power and influence.

Xia Duo has a premonition that perhaps the situation in the Northland will evolve to the point of involving the gods as well.

No, in fact, the new Drow god has already entered the fray, just waiting for the Princess, the Elf main god, and even the Lord of Radiance to join in as well.

This issue is extremely sensitive; even at the moment before stepping onto the Teleportation Array, Xia Duo was still constantly calculating in his mind.

……

There are many variables in the future, and Xia Duo never believes that he can completely see through the historical trajectory of a real world by relying on the fragmented information from before his transmigration.

Even if he removes himself as a super variable, he still cannot do it!

To a certain extent, Xia Duo is also very confused; it is precisely because he knows too much, thinks too much, and worries too much that in his short-to-medium-term plans, he always strives for perfection in every aspect, simply not wanting to leave any flaws.

Of course, in the long run, Xia Duo is quite optimistic; after all, in this world, even immortality is highly likely to be real, and he himself is also highly likely to be able to obtain it, so what is there not to be optimistic about?

At worst, he can just start over!

Immortality is never a sin; the mindset that cannot master immortality is!

……

As the Teleportation Array activated, Xia Duo quickly collected his emotions and cleared his mind; after a burst of misty white light, he had arrived at his destination—

Leisen Territory!

And his current location is exactly the Mage Tower of the Lord of Leisen!

Just arriving here, before even walking out of the Teleportation Room, Xia Duo immediately felt the unique faith culture of Leisen—

The Teleportation Room was filled everywhere with Sun Emblems, especially the dome above, which was a glowing sun constructed by a Spell.

Before coming, Xia Duo had naturally learned about some basic conditions of Leisen Territory.

The current lord, Telemen, was originally a student of the Great Arcanist Kelifu, but later lost his Spellcasting ability due to a laboratory accident; however, his son continued to apprentice under Kelifu, becoming the latter's student.

And Kelifu, before learning Magic, was already a Priest of the Lord of Radiance; after becoming a Great Arcanist, he still did not change his faith.

As for how true this faith is, Xia Duo has no way of knowing, but at least this atmosphere of faith has been passed down.

Even a long time ago, on the way to Seventon by boat, Xia Duo had heard people mention that the Lord of Radiance had once performed a Divine Miracle in Leisen Territory.

But later, he learned that the talk of a Divine Miracle was purely a rumor; in reality, combining the time the "miracle" appeared with the time of the Leisen lord's laboratory accident, that so-called miracle was most likely Kelifu treating his own student.

But unfortunately, the Leisen lord has still not been able to recover his Spellcasting ability to this day.

And this also caused Xia Duo to have some doubts about this visit.

He wants to obtain a method to demote a Spellcaster, thereby allowing Mages above level 10 to go back and re-advance as an Arcanist, simply because there is no obvious bottleneck from Arcanist to Great Arcanist; as long as one lives long enough and is willing to learn, one will definitely succeed.

From Legendary Mage to Great Arcanist, there is also no major bottleneck, but for an ordinary Mage to become a Legendary Mage, it requires more than just the accumulation and Application of Knowledge; it requires a bit of luck.

Xia Duo has not yet learned how an Archmage advances to Legendary, but one can glimpse the difficulty from the information of the fifteen public Great Arcanists of Netheril.

Among these fifteen Great Arcanists, only Kelifu and Magena advanced from Legendary Mage; Kangjienio might also be, but the other twelve Great Arcanists all achieved it naturally from Arcanist.

A ratio of one to four; in fact, there are clearly more than fifteen Great Arcanists in Netheril; just counting those Xia Duo knows are clearly still alive, there are Kaousi and Zhenna.

It is unknown how many others are hidden.

But for Legendary Mages, those with clear records are also few and far between; currently, the only ones known to be alive are probably Kelifu and Magena!

Who knows how many Archmages clearly had the potential to become Great Arcanists, but because they gave up advancing as an Arcanist too early at level 10, they ended up with lifelong regrets.

In Xia Duo's vision, if demotion can be realized, then almost any Mage who missed advancing as an Arcanist can go back and try to advance again.

Coupled with various Life Extension Spells, Great Arcanist would no longer be the patent of a few geniuses, but something that most people have a concrete, not-low chance of achieving!

Similar to graduate students on Earth, although it is impossible for everyone to be one, everyone indeed has a not-low chance of achieving it.

Basically, as long as a person has a clear goal and strong execution ability, not to mention eight or nine times out of ten, at least there is a greater than fifty percent chance of becoming a graduate student.

Applied to the magic world, this kind of universal upward channel is the strongest driving force for the continuous development of magic civilization!

The only problem now is that this demotion phenomenon of the Leisen lord is suspected to be irreversible.

If a method for improvement cannot be found, then he can only think of other ways!