Chapter 1498: Suggestions, 1.0RC

The original manual for the Ascension Ritual provided by the Elves is basically something every Great Arcanist in Netheril has a copy of, including Xia Duo; he had received a copy from Zhenna a long time ago.

From this perspective, Huo En must certainly know about some of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce's actions, so inferring that Zhenna has designs on the commercial domain is not difficult; thus, his current intention to meddle in the commercial domain is clearly him actively looking for trouble.

At first glance, the logic does hold; as one of the major chambers of commerce in Netheril, the actions of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce should fall within the scope of Huo En's attention.

The only explanation is probably that Huo En did not know Zhenna was a Great Arcanist, and before making that decision, he did not think the commercial domain was "occupied," so he just chose it at random.

Because there was no competition, there was no need to notify anyone.

Xia Duo told Zhenna his guess, but to his surprise, Zhenna still shook her head, "How could he not know? The cooperation between the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce and Jilan Tower hasn't been going on for just a day or two, and we have even accepted quite a few private commissions from Huo En. If he didn't know my identity, given the consistently overbearing style of the Seven Towers, how could he have tolerated the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce developing to its current level! Furthermore—"

Zhenna did not say the rest, but Xia Duo had already guessed it; the Princess and Master Bailun both knew her identity, and as they all belonged to the Seven Towers, perhaps they had long since shared intelligence with Huo En.

It was just that Zhenna could not bring herself to voice such an obvious suspicion of her own ally in front of another ally.

"Sigh—"

This time it was Xia Duo's turn to shake his head, "President Zhenna, I think it is necessary for you to have a frank talk with Huo En now. Even if he really has designs on the commercial domain, the commercial domain is so vast that he cannot occupy it all by himself; perhaps you could even become allies."

After Xia Duo finished speaking, Zhenna's expression was uncertain. At this moment, Xia Duo added, "After you have talked with Huo En, if you still need me to contact Crown King Kaiersaike for you, I will do so, but for now, I hope you can seriously consider my suggestion."

Based on Xia Duo's understanding of the Seven Towers, even if the Ascension Order domain Huo En chose really conflicted with Zhenna's, Huo En would most likely prioritize the big picture and compromise.

Of course, some exchange of interests would be inevitable.

"I understand. Thank you for the reminder; I will consider it seriously."

Afterward, the two did not talk about serious matters anymore, just chatting idly about this and that for a while before Xia Duo politely declined Zhenna's dinner invitation and left directly.

Of course, this had nothing to do with what he had said earlier about going back to find Iolum.

After leaving the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce, Xia Duo continued to conceal his presence and wandered around the Old City District for a while before returning to the Arcane Union.

In the following days, he put the matter of Zhenna to the back of his mind and devoted himself entirely to the design and discussion of the new plan for the Independent Arcane Fire Device.

It wasn't until this afternoon that Xia Duo had just finished inspecting the laboratory where the Daiwei String project team was located and was preparing to see Iolum to inform him that the new plan might need to be redesigned again.

Just at this moment, Zhenna's Sending arrived—"I have already talked with Huo En; there was indeed a misunderstanding. In addition, I must still trouble Lord Xia Duo with contacting Crown King Kaiersaike; we will discuss the details when we meet."

The meeting time was set for tonight; Xia Duo considered it and ultimately agreed.

Arcane Union, Laboratory No. 03.

In the central experimental area, Luowei and the others were busily building the experimental machine for the Independent Arcane Fire Device, while in the open space to the side, Buluode and Iolum were discussing something with their heads bowed.

Seeing Xia Duo enter, Buluode immediately asked, "What's the situation over there? Don't tell me there's another breakthrough?"

"Congratulations, you guessed right. I have just confirmed it; there has indeed been a new breakthrough over there. The original projection process was too crude, but after continuous improvements during this period, the new Daiwei String material has more than doubled in stability compared to the past!"

After finishing, Xia Duo looked at Iolum again, "Teacher, you must make a decision. The project team over there might have another breakthrough within half a year; are we going to have to redesign it again when that happens?"

"And what is your opinion?" Iolum did not respond directly but instead asked Xia Duo.

"My opinion is to consider the breakthrough in materials in advance and lock in certain properties of the Daiwei String, using this as a baseline version to first create an Independent Arcane Fire Device that can be put into practical use before doing anything else! Otherwise, having to redesign and verify new plans every time there is new progress or a new breakthrough is too sluggish."

In fact, Xia Duo had mentioned this issue to Iolum before; he even had some opinions when Iolum proposed integrating the Arcane Energy Field generation mechanism into the new plan a few days ago, but considering that if it wasn't applied, it would still take time to work on later, he did not explicitly object.

As far as Xia Duo personally was concerned, he still hoped to get the Independent Arcane Fire Device out first; anything else, whether it be applications or more high-end versions, could be put off for later.

After all, Netheril was not currently at the point where it would be immediately destroyed without super weapons of war.

Yet a practical Independent Arcane Fire Device could bring Xia Duo immeasurable Arcane Crystals, and if used to expand his Personal Space, he might truly be able to expand it into an independent Plane!

With such a comparison, Xia Duo knew very well which way he should lean!

"I think Xia Duo makes sense. Such a complex project shouldn't have been researched only by us from the start. The Daiwei String material part is relatively simple and easy to produce results, but the overall direction cannot be changed at will, otherwise, we might not be able to produce a truly practical device by next year or the year after!"

At this time, Buluode also spoke up to support Xia Duo, his stance being quite clear.

Iolum looked at Luowei and the others who were busy nearby and sighed softly, "Then let's do that. Let's use the current materials as a baseline and set the new plan as the 【Spherical Radial Configuration Independent Arcane Fire Device 1.0】 version. Let's get the 1.0 version device done first, then talk about the rest!"

Hearing this, Xia Duo couldn't help but feel a bit gratified; the "1.0" naming convention had originally come from him, but Iolum had not liked this way of naming things.

Adopting this new naming convention now might also be out of consideration for his feelings.

Additionally, strictly speaking, this new plan should actually be called version 2.3.15.

The device configuration had gone from the initial cross-sectional configuration to the current Spherical Radial Configuration, and under the Spherical Radial Configuration, it had also undergone at least dozens of improvements, among which there were at least three major improvements that could be called version iterations!

As for the "1.0 version" that Iolum spoke of, it was roughly the "2.3" official version, or rather—an Independent Arcane Fire Device that could be put into practical use based on existing materials.