Chapter 1504: The Proposal of Restricting Magic, the Attitude of Allies

Thus, Xia Duo asked with some hesitation: "Teacher, aren't you being a bit too sensitive? If the Elves wanted to restrict us, why not do it before the project began, instead of choosing to do so when it is nearly finished?"

It was not that he did not trust Iolum, but rather, based on rational thought, the Independent Arcane Fire Device was now basically ready for practical use.

What it lacked were mostly just some stability tests, as well as optimization of details during production, installation, debugging, and practical application.

Isn't it too late for the Elves to propose restrictions now?

"I also hope the Elves' proposal has nothing to do with us, but unfortunately, I just performed a shallow divination, and the results show that the Elves' proposal has a strong connection to our project, and the impact will be significant."

"How could this be? Did the Elves discover something?" Buluode asked, puzzled.

"I would like to know that too! The only thing worth being glad about now is that the proposal from Cormanthor did not pass at the Northland Alliance meeting, but—"

Iolum sighed deeply and continued: "Just this morning, I learned from Badijiaer that Illefarn has already sent a hint of interest in the proposal through the Netheril embassy in Ailintar. Do you know what this means?"

"Illefarn and Cormanthor have joined forces?" Buluode asked.

"Not quite that far, but on this issue, they clearly have common interests. Not just them, but Yierlan and Danzo have also shown interest in this proposal, especially Yierlan, who expressed support at the time."

"This—"

It was not just Buluode; even Xia Duo fell silent. This was the collective suppression of rising powers by established nations, which would not be shaken just because both sides were currently allies.

Giving a hint in advance was already decent enough.

The Elven Magic System is relatively mature, with various advanced technologies mostly preserved in old papers and ruins, but the Netheril Magic System is relatively immature and needs constant improvement.

Even if inspiration and references for various advanced technologies were found in Elven Magic, one would still have to rely on a large number of experiments to fully convert them.

If large-scale magic activities were restricted, wouldn't the future be "dim"?

Of course, what Xia Duo cared about even more was the Elves' definition of large-scale magic activities and how to determine whether such activities existed, which would require extremely sophisticated detection methods.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo hurriedly asked Iolum: "Teacher, what do the Elves mainly refer to by large-scale magic activities? Did Badijiaer mention how the Elves judge whether this exists?"

"It mainly refers to magic activities involving the tenth layer of the Magic Net. Cormanthor claims that such magic activities will cause irreversible damage to the Magic Net. We all know that the Magic Net has a tendency to recover on its own, but it is very difficult to refute this statement from Cormanthor, because the traces of magic activities involving the tenth layer of the Magic Net take longer to recover."

"Teacher, there's more!" At this point, Buluode suddenly interjected, "They didn't consider at all that Arcanists can also actively comb and repair the Magic Net."

"Yes, why would they actively consider us? Even if they did, they would only consider our shortcomings and how to restrict us!"

Iolum sighed again and continued to explain to Xia Duo: "As for how the Elves judge whether large-scale magic activities exist, heh, they proposed two plans—"

"One is to install monitoring towers in areas with frequent magic activities, and the other is for Main God Priests of the Elves who have mastered special Divine Magic to make a preliminary judgment, after which the Northland Alliance would send a joint investigation team to verify it."

After finishing, Iolum added: "Human nations don't need to worry about not having human inspectors; as long as they are Druids, they can go to the Cormanthor Zhu Shen Dian to receive a Baptism of Divine Magic, thereby mastering that special Divine Magic."

"What a Cormanthor!"

For a moment, Xia Duo could not judge whether Cormanthor had really discovered clues about the Independent Arcane Fire Device project, or if they were just looking for trouble for Netheril because they had nothing to do after the underground war ended.

The monitoring tower plan was absolutely impossible to agree to. In normal times, they might just be monitoring towers, but at critical moments, they could very well be Spell Guidance coordinates or special components for Ritual Spells.

This was simply burying an enemy's mine in one's heart in advance.

As for the Priest inspectors, opposition was actually useless; since Cormanthor had put forward this proposal, they had likely already prepared the inspectors.

The only difference was whether subsequent investigations would be conducted openly in the name of the Northland Alliance or secretly in the name of Cormanthor.

Xia Duo never expected that as soon as the underground war ended, Cormanthor would be so disgusting!

"What is the attitude of the Seven Towers regarding this matter?"

"The attitude within the Seven Towers is not consistent, but the voices of opposition are still in the majority. If this matter is not handled well, it is not impossible for it to lead to the disintegration of Netheril!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo fell silent again. Instead, Buluode, who was still a bit confused, asked strangely: "This matter is clearly disadvantageous to us, so how can the Seven Towers not be unanimously opposed?"

"It is disadvantageous to us, but it may not be disadvantageous to the Seven Towers!" Xia Duo said pointedly.

The Seven Towers are wealthy and powerful; even with these restrictions, they could completely move large-scale magic activities to an Other Plane, but others do not have this ability.

Not to mention whether one can find a Sub-plane suitable for large-scale magic activities, the additional research costs brought about by the differences between different planes alone are not something ordinary organizations can afford.

Would one dare to move the results from an Other Plane directly to the Main Plane without verification?

For example, the Independent Arcane Fire Device; if it were the 【True Independent Arcane Fire】 that takes another route, perhaps it could be done, but the current 【Arcane Fire Imitation Scheme】, which is just a larger Magic Item, requires consideration of the differences between different planes.

Once the proposal to restrict large-scale magic activities becomes a resolution, perhaps some Mage Tower organizations will abandon the Northland, or even abandon the Main Plane.

Or they might just be willing to bear higher costs and not leave, making up for it with benefits from other places.

But no matter what, this is a bad thing that couldn't be worse. Even if the Seven Towers eventually become the final winner in Netheril, they will inevitably suffer a loss of strength.

Perhaps this is the reason why opinions within the Seven Towers cannot be consistent!

In Iolum's Study, the three of them discussed for a long time, and in the end, they could only conclude with three sighs.

The next day, good news came from the Seven Towers: Illefarn sent a Main God Priest to demonstrate that special Monitoring Divine Art, though in reality, it was to assist Netheril in research on Shield Monitoring.

The news was indeed good news, but from another perspective, it precisely proved Illefarn's attitude toward this matter!

It was only because they still needed Netheril as an ally that they had to make a gesture.