Chapter 1503: Pausing Experiments, Elves Stirring Up Trouble

This morning, just as Xia Duo arrived at the laboratory, Luowei and the others were conducting equipment checks; Buluode and Iolum were both absent.

Xia Duo did not find this strange. Ever since the Drow retreated after the underground war, the trivial matters of the Arcane Union had increased, and Iolum had become busy.

Fortunately, the project had long been on the right track, and it was mostly about verification. The most time-consuming part was actually the construction process of the device; the rest, such as discussions and improvements, only accounted for a small portion. Iolum being absent occasionally did not affect the project's progress.

As for Buluode, after the Seven Cities Council issued the Pioneer Order, a large number of Pioneers flooded into the Kangqi Plain in addition to the newly opened areas on the borders of the territory. Worried that his designated territory would be snatched up by others, Buluode would return from time to time to show his face and look after it.

Xia Duo could understand this well. After all, in the past nearly half a year, it was impossible for him to stay in the Arcane Union all the time; he also left frequently.

Besides the monthly return to the Tower of Time to accompany Niya and inspect the territory as promised, the Watchtower also required his regular maintenance.

Sometimes being away for a day or two, or two or three days, was a common occurrence, as long as he did not miss the discussion meetings here.

……

Soon, Luowei and the others finished their checks. As usual, Xia Duo prepared to ask if Iolum and Buluode were coming over; if they were not, he would start the experiment directly.

With the project's progress to date, the demand for a Great Arcanist during the experimental phase was mostly for cleaning up the aftermath. Collecting Arcane Energy could be done by Luowei and the others; after all, the device's power was limited, and it was impossible to collect it without restriction.

If Iolum and Buluode did not come, at most the lifespan of this Semi-plane, which overlapped with the experimental area, would be halved; it was nothing.

After all, this thing was originally prepared as a consumable, and it could be created by a Spell; the actual cost was probably just a matter of having the Great Arcanist work a few more hours of overtime.

After Xia Duo sent the Sending, Buluode's reaction was normal, saying to wait a moment as he would be there immediately; after all, the device's construction cycle was long, and it would be a pity to miss one.

But Iolum's reaction was somewhat strange. He did not say whether he was coming or not, but directly told Xia Duo to pause the experiment, which had never happened before.

"Teacher, what exactly is going on? Why can't we continue the experiment?"

"This matter is a bit complicated. I will explain it to you when I return."

Afterwards, Xia Duo asked a few more questions, but Iolum did not respond, appearing to be busy.

……

Before long, Buluode arrived at the laboratory. Seeing that Iolum was not there, he asked Xia Duo: "Is the teacher not coming again?"

"Yes, but it's not just that the teacher isn't coming; I'm afraid our experiment this time will also have to be paused for a while."

"The experiment is paused? What's wrong? What happened? Did something go wrong with the device?" Buluode asked in surprise.

Looking at the faces of Luowei and the others, they also showed expressions of surprise. They had just checked the device and there was clearly no problem at all; why cancel today's experiment?

Regarding this, Xia Duo told everyone the result of his recent contact with Iolum, and everyone expressed that they could not understand.

But regardless, since Iolum had specifically instructed this, Xia Duo and the others could only temporarily accept this reality and wait for Iolum to return for an explanation.

Waiting a little longer was nothing; after all, the most time-consuming part of the project was the device's construction process.

Here, Xia Duo and Buluode stayed in the laboratory to discuss subsequent improvement details while waiting for Iolum to arrive, occasionally exchanging guesses about this accident.

Luowei and the others left temporarily; in other laboratories, there were at least six more devices waiting for them to complete, so they could not drag all their time here.

……

Soon it was noon, but Iolum still had not appeared. Both Xia Duo and Buluode had a consistent guess about this matter—

Perhaps the problem lay with the Seven Towers!

Iolum not appearing for such a long time, according to past experience, basically meant the Seven Towers were calling him for a meeting; otherwise, what else could hold him up for so long?

But what else could there be at the Seven Towers?

Throughout lunch, Xia Duo and Buluode were discussing this matter, and the direction of the discussion was varied; they simply could not find a clue.

In the afternoon, work continued. While fully immersed, they temporarily forgot about this, until they received a notification from Iolum—"Come to my Study for a moment!"

Xia Duo and Buluode looked at each other and almost simultaneously chose to teleport directly; at this time, who cared about etiquette.

……

Iolum's Study.

When Xia Duo and Buluode arrived, Iolum was fiddling with the 【Fate Trajectory】 ornament on the bookshelf against the inner wall, which was composed of a large amount of Mithril filaments and resembled intertwined clock balance springs.

Of course, that was not just an ornament; after injecting the Magic Goddess's Mysteries Holy Power, it could reveal the trajectory of the future to a certain extent.

Xia Duo also had one in his hand, which Iolum had given him before, but Xia Duo did not have the Mysteries Holy Power, so this thing was truly just an ornament in his hands, occasionally taken out to play with.

Seeing Iolum casting a Spell, Xia Duo and Buluode did not disturb him, but stood aside and watched silently.

I do not know how much time passed, but Iolum finally ended the ritual, turned around with a trace of fatigue, and beckoned to Xia Duo and Buluode, "Sit down first, let me sort out my thoughts."

After speaking, he sat down on the chair behind the desk on his own, picked up the Mithril Pen at hand, but did not write anything; instead, he let the pen body hover, making irregular circular movements around his fingertips.

Fortunately, this process did not last long. Xia Duo sat down and took out his notebook to read, and had only looked at two pages when he heard Iolum's voice:

"You have probably already guessed that I went to the Seven Towers this morning, but the suspension of the experiment has nothing to do with the Seven Towers directly. The cause of this matter is that Keman proposed limiting large-scale magic activities at the Northland Alliance meeting and named Netheril. I feel that the Elf suddenly saying this might have sensed something."

Xia Duo looked up and happened to see Iolum looking at him: "When you contacted me this morning, Badijiaer was talking to me about this. Even if you hadn't contacted me, I would have notified you to pause the experiment."

Just as Xia Duo was about to ask a question, Buluode spoke first:

"That makes no sense! How could the Elf know what we are doing? Furthermore, even if they knew, so what? Are we supposed to automatically accept it just because they say to limit it?"

"Buluode, don't be impatient. Of course, this matter cannot be left to the Elf to decide."

As he spoke, Iolum looked at Xia Duo again, "What are your thoughts on this?"

Xia Duo was about to ask about some details of the Elf's proposal process, trying to find its possible relationship with the experiment, but suddenly realized that what Iolum had just said to Buluode was already clearly implying that the Elf's proposal was related to the experiment.