Chapter 1664: Original Site, A Reminder

This point alone at least doubled the construction (material) cost of this Mage Tower, and if one were to factor in the waste of materials from monolithic casting, the cost would be even higher.

But fortunately, time itself is also a resource, and a very important non-renewable one at that, whereas Mithril can be bought with Gold Coin.

The construction method Xia Duo is using now can save him a massive amount of time; in his view, trading Gold Coin for time could not be more worthwhile.

At the same time, for Xia Duo, who has already mastered 【Element Extraction】, the cost of High-Grade Mithril cannot be calculated by simply doubling the standard market price, but must be converted into the cost of Standard Mithril.

Calculated this way, the material cost is not too exaggerated; at least for now, it is within his acceptable range.

……

After the Mithril Component casting was completed, it was time for the step of linking to the Magic Net.

Magic Item that do not need to link to the Magic Net certainly exist, but their construction is complex, requiring Mithril Component to act entirely as energy circulation channels, and they are inefficient, only ensuring that the function exists without guaranteeing that the function is usable.

The elevator function of the Tower of Time only reaches the level of linking to the first layer of the Magic Net at most; if even the first layer is not linked, the cost might truly be unimaginable.

To prevent being stripped from the Magic Net by enemies, Xia Duo's line of thinking is completely different from Saville's; in his view, Saville's approach is still a bit too passive, as he adopts the method of controlling the Magic Net environment within a large area through a Mythallar.

This fundamentally prevents the Magic Net from being interfered with by outsiders.

Therefore, except for the main body of the Floating City, he did indeed design an elevator scheme for the sake of being more secure, but the Auxiliary Mage Tower has none at all.

A direct connection to the Magic Net is simpler, and the cost will also be lower.

The so-called "auxiliary" means that its absence does not affect the main functions; if a crisis truly arrives that even the main body of the Floating City can hardly avoid, relying solely on the Auxiliary Mage Tower would not turn the tide at all.

Then it might as well be simpler!

……

Before the Floating City Mythallar was established, Xia Duo placed the work of linking to the Magic Net on the Main Plane; after all, he really did not want to build an extra adapter device for a mere Auxiliary Mage Tower.

Since it was going to be used on the Main Plane anyway, it was better to build it on the Main Plane.

As for large-scale magic activities and the like, there are still a few days left until the effective date of the Magic Restriction Treaty, and Xia Duo believes that besides him, others will certainly rush to get some action in before the treaty takes effect.

If they don't do it now, it will be uncomfortable after the treaty takes effect.

It is just unclear what the Cormanthor Priest responsible for monitoring large-scale magic activities in the Northland will think after discovering this situation—whether they will be glad that Netheril was restricted in time, or regret that they could not make the treaty appear and take effect earlier.

Regardless of what the Elf thinks, Xia Duo is particularly annoyed right now; once the Floating City is completed, he must pay a friendly visit to Cormanthor.

……

Savile Territory.

The Adventurer Chali had just completed a quest to clear out Goblins and was heading to town laughing and talking with a few companions; it was already getting late, and if they went too late, there would be no seats left.

Just as they were about to reach the stone bridge west of town, Chali was careless and tripped over a stone under his feet, stumbling and nearly falling.

It was at this very moment that he heard the surprised and excited voices of his companions, "Look! The Mage Tower has appeared again!"

By the time Chali stood up straight, the companions around him had already run ahead; Chali hurriedly chased after them, and by this time he had also noticed that a taller spire had appeared in the location where the Tower of Time originally stood.

In the afterglow of the sunset, one could vaguely distinguish the color of the tower body, which was similar to the sky; Chali let out a shriek of "Wait for me," and then suddenly quickened his pace.

At the same time, like those companions of Chali, there were quite a few others who happened to witness the Auxiliary Mage Tower appearing out of thin air, and the Mage Tower did not just appear for an instant, but remained there once it appeared.

Consequently, the idle people in town began to gather toward the Central Plaza, and a few bold ones even wanted to sneak through the Mage Path at the northwest corner of the plaza to take a close look at the appearance of the new Mage Tower.

However, the Mage Path was already filled with guards at this time, and before those bold ones could get close, they had already been warned to stay away.

The Villa District to the north, however, had no roads blocked to the area where the Mage Tower was located, and indeed many Merchants, officials, and their families living in the Villa District came to watch.

Under these circumstances, Xia Duo was not in a hurry to link the Auxiliary Mage Tower to the Magic Net, but was chatting with Aoruipusi, who had also arrived upon hearing the news.

One human and one Elf, they easily got onto the topic of spice smuggling, and Aoruipusi felt deeply about this:

"Cormanthor is still too slow at the grassroots level, but it is also difficult for us to expand the scale of our smuggling; any larger and it might arouse the vigilance of the Upper Family."

"No matter, just maintain the current scale; I believe Lord Collins will also understand."

"Lord Xia Duo—"

Aoruipusi hesitated for a moment, but finally asked that question, "Is that Lady Xifu really the one from the Moon Crown Family?"

"No."

Realizing that Aoruipusi had already sensed something, Xia Duo decided to reveal some information to the other party; thinking this, he immediately cast a Soundproof Barrier and then said:

"The identity of that Lady Xifu has both truth and falsehood, but she is indeed not the one from the Moon Crown Family. You can just treat her as a very powerful secret existence; do not pry too much. As for her name, I will not tell you either, lest it alarm her."

Hearing that Xia Duo could not even say the name, Aoruipusi was shocked in his heart and roughly guessed the identity of that Lady Xifu.

"I understand; such an existence is indeed not something I can pry into."

"Regarding the name 'Xifu', it is best to mention it less in the future, if you do not want to be detected by the Moon Crown Family."

Considering the instability of the cooperation with Xierdalanna, Xia Duo also suggested, "While utilizing the channels provided by the other party, try to develop new sales channels that are unknown to them."

"But isn't she—" speaking to this point, Aoruipusi deliberately lowered his voice, "Isn't she a High Mage? With such an existence, how could I possibly hide it from her?"

"Of course you cannot hide it from her if she is determined to investigate; it is just an extra layer of Insurance. In fact, as long as she reveals our identities, Cormanthor will take the initiative to investigate; she does not need to investigate personally at all."

Having said this much, Aoruipusi understood more or less that Lady "Xifu" was probably at odds with the Cormanthor Crown King, but her relationship with Lord Xia Duo was not as good as he had imagined.

There is never anything wrong with being a little more cautious in all things.

"Then I will not disturb Lord Xia Duo."

After speaking, Aoruipusi gave a slight bow and did not stay at the scene; he could see that Lord Xia Duo was preparing to perform Enchanting on this unfinished Mage Tower, and it was very inappropriate for him to stay here, so he left directly.