Chapter 1366: Policy Adjustment, Spellcasting Limits

"Come, if you win, take up the Sword of Ruling, and you shall be the next Cormanthor Crown King. But you must also remember, the responsibility you bear concerns all the subjects of Cormanthor!"

"And if I win, I will not vent my anger on any Cormanthor subject; instead, I will strive to improve the living conditions and social status of all subjects."

"Over these years, in order to promote Five Races Equality and Prosperity, I have indeed ignored many voices from the grassroots. Now it is time to change. I swear, Cormanthor will surely become a model for Five Races Equality and Prosperity!"

Just as Yilisier Mianwang finished speaking, before Hande could react, the Cormanthor Elves in the plaza were already cheering like a mountain-toppling sea—

"The King will surely win!"

"The King will surely win!"

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo frowned, secretly thinking it was not good. It was not that he was worried the two elves wouldn't fight, but that the attitude of the Cormanthor Crown King seemed to have changed.

Five Races Equality and Prosperity clearly did not match what they had done before, but now that the Northland Alliance had been established, Five Races Equality and Prosperity seemed to have become an unavoidable "political correctness."

After all, within the Northland Alliance, there were those like Illefarn who were extremely opposed to Great Elf Supremacy, those like Yierlan who were wavering, and even more like Shaerwen and Aifuruisi who firmly supported equality among the five races.

More importantly, the Northland Alliance did not consist only of elves; there were also non-elven races such as Dwarves and humans.

If Cormanthor continued to insist on the past concept of Golden Elf Supremacy and Great Elf Supremacy, in the long run, it would very likely be isolated by the other countries of the Northland Alliance.

Xia Duo had originally thought that even if Cormanthor wanted to seek change, it would be impossible to complete it in a short time.

After all, the original attitude and policies of Yilisier Mianwang, and even the supporters built upon that foundation, all needed time to adjust slowly.

Overly radical reforms would only lead to chaos and internal friction, which was hard for Cormanthor, who intended to compete for the leadership of the Northland Alliance, to accept.

But now, Yilisier Mianwang had publicly said such things. Even if he had made up the excuse on the spot, it would inevitably trigger dissatisfaction in the supporter camp once it reached back home, and at the same time, it would cause the rise of groups and forces within Cormanthor that supported the equality of the five races.

Especially those Moon Elf high mages; they might have been suppressed by the prevailing trend in the past, but now that the Crown King himself had overturned that trend, wouldn't that give them an excuse to turn the tables!

Xia Duo could almost imagine the thoughts of those Moon Elf high mages within Cormanthor after hearing this news.

Even if they didn't think for themselves, they should think of their families; were they really willing to be forever inferior to the Gold Elves?

It was just that all of this was still Xia Duo's speculation. The fact that the Cormanthor Crown King could say words supporting Five Races Equality and Prosperity in public meant he had likely already arranged everything domestically to ensure that no chaos or internal friction would occur before daring to say so.

After all, the ruling Wisdom of Kaifumu Yilisheer over the past thousand years was not to be underestimated.

Thinking this way, Xia Duo cast his gaze toward Badijiaer and Iolum on the platform. Iolum was old and wise, and for the time being, nothing unusual could be seen, but Badijiaer was frowning almost undisguisedly.

Clearly, the other party's thoughts were the same as his, believing that the shift in Cormanthor's attitude was not very favorable for Netheril.

Although the subtext of Five Races Equality and Prosperity also included the equality of races other than elves, a Cormanthor that was gradually bridging social divisions and moving toward ideological unity did not conform to the interests of Netheril.

According to Xia Duo's thinking, Cormanthor should have consistently adhered to the concept of Golden Elf Supremacy and Great Elf Supremacy, and then be excluded or even suppressed by the countries of the Northland Alliance; that would best serve the interests of its neighbor, Netheril.

Although in the short term, the pressure on Netheril would increase significantly, from a long-term perspective, a Cormanthor that was gradually losing friends and allies would become increasingly declining, posing less of a threat!

This was somewhat similar to the relationship between Xia Duo's hometown and another great power on Earth.

The more arrogant and overbearing the other great power was, the greater the pressure on Xia Duo's hometown, but in the long run, that great power would also lose all popular support in its arrogance and overbearingness, eventually handing over global leadership.

Now that the Northland Alliance had been established, the Kingly Way was clearly more suitable for the development of various countries than the Hegemonic Way.

Following the Kingly Way, even if one declined, there was still hope for revival. But following the Hegemonic Way, as long as one's power declined slightly and the hegemony collapsed, it would immediately be a situation of wolves devouring a tiger.

In the history of Xia Duo's hometown, those who followed the Hegemonic Way never ended well, while those who followed the Kingly Way often achieved a restoration. (Specifically, there are examples of Qin-Han, Chu-Han, and Liuxiu; from a higher perspective, the fact that Chinese civilization has always existed and continued can also be seen as the eternal existence of the Kingly Way.)

No matter how unwilling Xia Duo was, he could not change the reality that Cormanthor had already changed; he could only be more cautious in his future dealings with the other party.

And after the Cormanthor Crown King finished his performance, that Hande Yisita's expression changed several times in succession, but he still returned to his initial firmness, only with a little less resentment than at the very beginning.

"Yilisier Mianwang, let us fight!"

Hearing this, Yilisier's expression remained unchanged. He first bowed to the other kings and leaders on Shuguang Taidi, "Please rest for a moment, everyone. After we finish our fight, we will hold the celebration for the establishment of the Northland Alliance."

Saying this, he walked to one side of Shuguang Taidi first, resting one hand on the ancient-looking stone longsword at his waist, waiting quietly.

In this situation, both sides were willing, and others had no reason to interfere; after all, public dueling was one of the traditions of the elves.

When Iolum walked down from Shuguang Taidi and returned to the side of Xia Duo and the others, the two on the platform had already begun their first round of probing exchanges.

Several streaks of dark blue light appeared between the two elves. The battle between high mages had already exceeded the tangible energy collisions or orderly attacks and defenses of ordinary mages, turning instead into an invisible struggle for control over the surrounding Magic Net.

Xia Duo had just become a Great Arcanist not long ago, and happening upon the battle between two elven high mages, he stared at the two on the platform almost without blinking, not letting go of any of their operations, even the most minute ones.

Based on Xia Duo's experience with high mages in the Projection Plane—which was not many, but definitely not few—Yilisier clearly had the upper hand in combat techniques, and even had the spare capacity to constrain the scope of the battle between the two to Shuguang Taidi.

Of course, at this stage, the two elves were still in a probing exchange; whether Yilisier could maintain his current advantage until the end was still an unknown.

However, Xia Duo felt that it shouldn't be a big problem. Yilisier's strength exceeded his expectations; in terms of technique alone, the other party had almost reached the limit that a Spellcaster could achieve.

Whatever was possible, the other party could almost do it, and it was done with perfect ease, without any unfamiliarity, and just right.

"It's good to have a long life!"