Chapter 1404: Internal Problems, Mutual Deferral

"Before today, the Tower of Time already had nearly a thousand Apprentices, and now it must recruit another 200; this undoubtedly puts enormous pressure on the internal space of the Tower of Time."

What Niya considers first is the problem of the Tower of Time's normal operation; the designer of the Tower of Time probably never imagined that the current Tower of Time would have so many people!

Regarding this, Xia Duo expresses complete understanding; in fact, the many times the Tower of Time adjusted its internal regulations previously were largely because there were too many people.

The space problem Niya mentioned is not even the biggest problem; if they squeeze, the Tower of Time could still fit several hundred more people!

The biggest problem should be the energy problem!

The Element Pool of the Tower of Time was likely not designed with a scenario of so many people using it in mind, and it is very difficult to renovate and expand it later.

It involves every aspect, especially the Tower Spirit.

The Tower Spirit is closely linked to the state of the Tower of Time; making small changes to internal auxiliary facilities is fine, but once it involves the most core Element Pool, it will inevitably affect the state of the Tower Spirit.

Currently, Xia Duo does not have the technology to create a Tower Spirit, and Saville did not pass down any data either; this means that if the Tower Spirit dies, the Tower of Time will have to go from "fully automatic" to "fully manual" mode.

That would greatly drain Niya's energy.

Besides the energy problem, there is actually the maintenance problem; it is not that there is no money for maintenance, but that the Tower of Time is running out of people who can perform maintenance work.

After the transformation and restructuring, every member of the Tower of Time has their own primary job, and maintenance work counts as extra overtime; in the past, when there were few people, Aiboke could handle the maintenance alone.

But now that there are many people, almost every Official Mage has been assigned maintenance work, which greatly affects their primary work, especially for the Academic Affairs Office, which is now almost full-time Apprentice mentors.

Furthermore, personal time is also affected; working a few extra shifts for a short time is nothing, but if it is long-term overtime, even with a salary, it will still make people dissatisfied.

Xia Duo himself detests overtime, so how could he force the members of the Tower of Time to work overtime!

Even for Magic Technicians, Xia Duo has given them sufficient time for study and rest, rather than using them as slave labor.

The reason why the shortage of maintenance personnel is not the biggest problem is mainly because the first batch of New Apprentices has gradually grown into Official Mages; as long as they continue to cultivate them, they will always be able to find enough qualified maintenance personnel.

It just takes a little time.

Along with the problem Niya mentioned to him the day before yesterday about the low number of Arcanists, as well as the problem Xia Duo himself discovered about the lack of Senior Magic Technicians, all can be attributed to the problem of time.

Hiring from outside is relatively difficult; it is better to cultivate them yourself.

The current stage can be said to be the most difficult stage for the Tower of Time; the relevant personnel gap is serious, and they can only rely on time to slowly get through it.

Only the energy problem is something that cannot be overcome by relying on time.

Unless they wait for the Mythallar, but that time is completely uncertain; the Tower of Time might not be able to hold on and face energy bankruptcy this year.

Outside is flourishing, but inside, crises are hidden.

In the Temple Garden, Xia Duo and Niya sit opposite each other; thinking of some of the problems the Tower of Time is currently facing, both are somewhat silent.

First of all, recruitment cannot be stopped, but the more they recruit, the greater the various pressures the Tower of Time faces; except for money, there are problems everywhere else.

"Niya, I think we might be able to build another Mage Tower!"

"That's possible; you are already a Great Arcanist now, you indeed need a Mage Tower that belongs entirely to yourself!" Niya agrees without hesitation.

However, Xia Duo is not very happy, because—

The resources required to build a Mage Tower are simply too many!

If it were an ordinary Mage Tower like the Watchtower, Xia Duo and Niya could barely scrape it together, but such a Mage Tower is almost useless to the current Xia Duo.

To build one, it must at least be on the same level as the Tower of Time!

The expenses involved would be astronomical, yet Xia Duo is currently unwilling to reveal the fact that he has become a Great Arcanist, making it difficult to obtain aid from the Arcane Union or the Seven Cities Council.

If it were built entirely on his own financial resources, the cost would start at at least tens of millions of Gold Coins.

"Money, money, money! Where can I get money!"

Although Xia Duo cannot afford the full cost of a Tower of Time-level Mage Tower right now, there is no problem with getting a start; just like the Tower of Time, it was not completed in Saville's hands initially.

It was only fully completed in the hands of Niya's father, Lord Epps.

Xia Duo can also choose to build it in stages, as long as he builds it enough to divert some of the New Apprentices first; besides, the Watchtower might also be able to divert a batch of Official Mages.

He calculated a few times in his heart, and then said to Niya: "Then let's start building! But it might not be possible to start construction in the short term, after all, I haven't finished the design yet. As for now—"

Xia Duo takes out more than a dozen Standard Arcane Crystals from his Dimensional Bag and places them on the table in front of them, "I remember there are still dozens of Arcane Crystals in the Tower of Time's material warehouse, and I have some here too; let's use the Arcane Crystals to tide us over for now. When I get to Seventon, I will send more Arcane Crystals back."

Thus, Xia Duo has another reason to keep close to the progress of the Iolum experiment; yes, he has decided to fleece the wool from the subsequent experiments.

Anyway, if the experiment fails and he doesn't scoop it up, it will dissipate; scooping it up is profit.

Iolum only collected it a few times and saved up more than 100,000 Arcane Crystals; Xia Duo doesn't need much, just a few thousand would allow the Tower of Time to solve many problems.

However, this method is also treating the symptoms but not the root cause; what the Tower of Time really lacks is not energy, but infrastructure that matches the current number of people, which manifests as a short-term energy shortage today.

By tomorrow, it might be that the Spell Laboratory has stopped working because it could not be maintained in time.

Under the premise that the Tower of Time itself is already difficult to renovate, building new magic buildings is almost the only choice.

Looking at the glowing blue Arcane Crystals on the table, Niya does not accept them, but reaches out to push them back to Xia Duo, and says:

"You are away from home, and you are not as safe as I am staying in the Tower of Time; you should take these! When the Tower of Time's reserves are not enough, I will ask you for them."

Niya knows very well that for an Arcanist, Arcane Energy is almost like life itself; as long as there is Arcane Energy, an Arcanist will never lack Spells.

Almost every Arcanist will desperately accumulate Arcane Energy, but this is not something the Arcanist can decide for themselves; the natural upper limit of Arcane Fire power is right there, and even if they don't use any themselves, they can't save much.

However, Xia Duo also does not accept Niya's refusal; the Arcane Crystals he took out now are indeed his entire stock, but when he returns to Seventon, he can first take some as spares from the Iolum Laboratory.

The box of more than 100,000 Arcane Crystals that Iolum gave him before was only used in a very small part during the debugging process when renovating the laboratory, and the rest is still left in the laboratory.

Taking some as spares is an expedient measure, and it does not violate Xia Duo's principles.

"Don't worry, I still have some here; you take these first."

As he speaks, Xia Duo pushes the Arcane Crystals on the table over and urges Niya to put them away, but Niya still refuses; Xia Duo has no choice but to pick up five from the table, and only then does Niya give up.

Five Arcane Crystals are approximately equal to five Ring Spells; there should be no problem using them for an emergency in Seventon.