Chapter 1396: Small Perks, Isolation

The Seven Towers or other organized mages didn't mind much; after all, the blueprints for the Demon-Slaying Amulet were no secret. Xia Duo had simply extracted the spells within and turned them into Learning Scrolls to give to Wild Mages.

And for those Wild Mages, as long as they personally made a trip to Azure Manor and chatted with Aiwa for a bit, they could obtain a Learning Scroll—this was undoubtedly a pie falling from the sky.

But until the very moment Xia Duo returned to Nan Jing, Aiwa had not contacted him, which indicated that the Wild Mages of Seventon were either unwilling to join the Tower of Time or did not meet the criteria at all.

Regardless of which it was, it was not good news for Xia Duo.

"No pearls left in the wild!"

This was Xia Duo's last thought before teleporting.

……

Tower of Time.

As soon as Xia Duo returned, Niya received a notification from the Tower Spirit. With almost no hesitation, she immediately teleported in front of Xia Duo, saying with a look of resentment:

"So you know how to come back! I thought you were going to settle down in Seventon from now on!"

"How could that be!"

Xia Duo stepped forward and pulled the still-angry Niya into his arms, whispering in her ear, "Master Iolum's mission was simply too important. I rushed back the moment I finished part of the work."

Just as he was about to continue with some soft words, Niya suddenly summoned the Tower Spirit to prepare for teleportation. Xia Duo was stunned for a moment, but he did not resist, following the teleportation into the study on the top floor of the Tower of Time.

……

After the teleportation, Niya had already broken free from Xia Duo's embrace, and her face no longer seemed to show any anger. She pointed to the image in the Projection Window next to them and said to Xia Duo:

"That investigator Tuofu is too restless. As soon as she arrived in Savile Territory, she frequently made contact with members of the Tower of Time. Several days have passed, and she is still doing this; I don't know what she really wants to do."

At this moment, Xia Duo was in no mood to flirt with Niya. He had already noticed that the real-time image displayed in the Projection Window was not Daxia Territory or any other beautiful scenery.

Instead, it was an alley near the Central Plaza in Savile Town, close to the Trade District, where a female Elf was walking and chatting happily with a human Mage.

Judging by their route, they were likely heading to the Trade District.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo couldn't help but frown. It had only been a few days and they were already chatting happily; since when could an Elf be so friendly toward humans?

Just as he was about to ask Niya for more information, the female Elf in the projection, Tuofu, suddenly turned her head, looked straight into the void above, revealed a faint smile, and then continued walking forward.

From Xia Duo's perspective, Tuofu's gaze had almost overlapped with his own. Although he knew that it was almost impossible for the other party to detect the person observing behind the Scrying spell cast through the Mage Tower, her meaningful look and that final smile still made him feel very uncomfortable.

It was like being flaunted at by an outsider on one's own turf; how could one remain calm!

"Have the Tower of Time members not been recalled?"

As soon as Xia Duo asked this, he knew his thinking had been shallow. Sure enough, Niya immediately replied:

"I thought about recalling the Tower of Time members, but with the Midsummer Festival approaching, there are many outsiders in the territory, including important figures from large merchant guilds. Recalling the Tower of Time members suddenly might lead them to misjudge the purpose of the Tower of Time. Besides, if I recall the Tower of Time members from outside, there is no guarantee that Tuofu won't use that as an excuse to enter the Tower of Time."

The Tower of Time could not refuse an Elf Noble who was currently still an important partner; Niya had been quite troubled by this over the past few days.

"How many Tower of Time members are still in Savile Town?" Xia Duo asked again.

"I didn't let those who returned go back. Additionally, I adjusted the Portal permissions to prevent anyone unaware from going there temporarily. There are twelve people currently at the Savile Town target: two permanent staff, two who went there for Military Camp missions, and the remaining eight are back to visit their families and won't return until after the Midsummer Festival."

"Among those who returned, have any of them been in contact with Tuofu?"

"Yes, I have temporarily arranged a training class for them and isolated them from the others, waiting for you to return and inspect them."

"You did very well!"

Xia Duo couldn't help but praise her. Before knowing Tuofu's purpose, isolating those who had been in contact with her was a wise move.

As for whether the Tower of Time members who had contact with Tuofu leaked any secrets, Xia Duo didn't actually care much; true secrets are only safest when kept in one's own mind.

Strictly speaking, any secret that can be known by a second person is not a secret.

This, of course, also includes the Mythallar.

At worst, they would just have a big fight with the Elves. Peace, stability, and even respect have never been obtained through showing favor or unilateral protests and deterrence.

Xia Duo did indeed hope to avoid conflict with the Elves as much as possible when his side was weak, but if conflict were unavoidable, he would not hesitate to join the battle and stake almost all his trump cards, as well as his bottom line.

……

After getting the locations of those Tower of Time members who had contact with Tuofu from Niya, Xia Duo prepared to first learn about the purpose of Tuofu's visit from them indirectly.

The smuggling cooperation regarding high-grade spices was already progressing steadily; Tuofu shouldn't have appeared here, yet she did, and her behavior was abnormal—all of which indicated that the purpose of her trip was by no means simple.

Xia Duo even felt it was possible that the other party had discovered the existence of the New Natural Philosophy, but if that were the case, it shouldn't be Tuofu coming to Savile Territory, but rather an Elf main deity, or at least a High Priest.

There were no traces of Faith on Tuofu; Xia Duo was very clear about this. He had confirmed this during his last interaction with her, otherwise he really wouldn't have dared to have any deeper cooperation with her.

If the New Natural Philosophy were to be dragged into this, wouldn't it be walking right into a trap?

"What exactly do you want to do?"

Xia Duo muttered to himself, then had the Tower Spirit teleport him outside Room 065 on the Public Level.

Pushing open the door, the four people in the room looked over almost simultaneously and bowed in unison to greet him—

"Good afternoon, Xia Duo."

"Good afternoon, President." *3

The one who addressed Xia Duo directly by name was Kelin, who could be considered an old acquaintance of Xia Duo and was also among the first batch of New Mages after the Tower of Time's transformation, only slightly later than Jibusen and the others.

Those who addressed Xia Duo as "President" were the three New Mages among the New Apprentices.

Although Kelin was also a New Mage and one of the first batch after the Tower of Time's transformation, he had entered the Tower of Time earlier than Xia Duo, so naturally he didn't count as a New Apprentice.

His ranking in the Progress Society, and even his feelings toward the Progress Society, were not as strong as those of the New Apprentices; a hint of this could be seen in how he addressed Xia Duo.

Admittedly, Xia Duo allowed Tower of Time members to address him directly by name, but those who truly did so were the early members of the Progress Society who were closer to him, such as Dien and Sami; most others still affectionately called him President, or respectfully called him "My Lord."

However, Xia Duo didn't care much about the issue of titles; as long as there was no overly exaggerated disparagement or praise, they could call him whatever they liked.