Chapter 1675: Three Matters: The Existential Crisis

Xia Duo shook his head inwardly, put away the Scroll Case, and said to Bulundesi, "I am already aware, and I have received the Scroll. Please express my gratitude to the Seventon Council on my behalf."

"Yes."

Bulundesi acknowledged this and continued to the second matter, "This time, I am also under orders to explain to Lord Xia Duo regarding the appeal of the Supermagic Record."

This matter?

Xia Duo's heart stirred, and he hurriedly asked, "Is this also being handled by the Seven Towers? What is the result of my appeal?"

It was inconvenient to link to the Northland Alliance Mythallar inside the Tower of Time, and furthermore, "going online" to check in front of Bulundesi would be somewhat impolite.

However, this question was one of the purposes of Bulundesi's trip, so there was no need for Xia Duo to check it himself; Bulundesi provided the explanation:

"Lord Xia Duo, regarding the execution and handling of the Magic Restriction Treaty within Netheril, most of it has been handed over to the Arcane Union following the allocation of supermagic quotas.

"I have come this time under the name of President Iolum to explain to Lord Xia Duo regarding the appeal of the supermagic record in the South Jing on the day the treaty took effect.

"Because the location of the supermagic event monitored by the Northland Alliance was near Wolf God Mountain, according to the relevant clauses of the treaty, this event should be attributed to Lord Xia Duo.

"But because it is located on the border, and given that Lord Xia Duo has filed an appeal, both the Northland Alliance and the Seventon Council attach great importance to it.

"After the Midsummer Festival, the Alliance will send an investigation team to look into this matter, and at that time, Lord Xia Duo will need to be present to cooperate."

Having explained such a long string of bureaucratic jargon, Xia Duo could not help but frown; as for the Northland Alliance sending an investigation team after the Midsummer Festival, that was somewhat beyond his expectations.

He then asked, "Does my teacher have any special instructions regarding this matter?"

After asking, Xia Duo felt it might have been a wasted question; if Iolum wanted to instruct him on something, he would have contacted him directly, and there was no need to have an outsider convey it. This seemed more like a routine formality.

Yet, as he said this, Bulundesi seemed to have truly thought of something, smiled in a somewhat inexplicable way, and then replied:

"The President indeed has no special instructions, but Lord Xia Duo need not worry too much about this matter. According to what I have learned, the Northland Alliance is already in an uproar, and whether an investigation team can even be sent remains an unknown!"

"Why? Are there many people appealing?" Xia Duo immediately thought of how he had previously considered disguising his identity to enter other countries to trigger large-scale magic activities.

Perhaps someone had already done so!

"Yes."

A gloating smile appeared on Bulundesi's face, "It is said that in the past few days, the large-scale magic activities monitored by the Alliance have become increasingly frequent, and because of this, the number of people appealing has also grown.

"If an investigation team were truly sent for every appeal, the speed at which they could be dispatched would never keep up with the speed at which appeal cases appear.

"If this matter is not handled well, the Magic Restriction Treaty might exist in name only. Of course, if the treaty were abolished, it would be very beneficial for us in Netheril."

Xia Duo listened, lost in thought, "I understand. Let's move on to the last matter!"

"Compared to the first two, the last matter should be considered a private affair, though for me, it remains official business."

Having said this, Bulundesi stood up again, faced Xia Duo directly, and said solemnly, "Lord Huo En asked me to convey his greetings to you and to inquire when you will send a representative to participate in the Bloodline Sequencing Project."

Huo En is asking when I will send someone?

Xia Duo thought to himself that it really was a private affair, but what he did not expect was that Huo En would take the initiative to ask when he would send people. Was Jilan Tower not at all worried about outsiders grasping the many details of the Bloodline Sequencing Project?

Or was there some ulterior motive, wanting to use those people to probe the Tower of Time, or even his own situation?

Or perhaps the Bloodline Sequencing Project had hit a bottleneck, and they were desperate to find new inspiration or direction from the people sent by the Tower of Time, or even to deepen cooperation to seek advanced technology for the Clone Technique series?

Numerous speculations flashed through Xia Duo's mind. Regardless of what Jilan Tower was thinking, on the surface, it was at least reasonable and well-founded.

As for deepening cooperation, he would not consider that for the time being. If the other party could truly learn something from the personnel sent out by the Tower of Time, then that would be to their credit.

As for whether he was worried about Jilan Tower using those people to probe the Tower of Time or his own situation, Xia Duo indicated he was not.

Up to this point, everything he had done could be called upright and open; he did not advocate for or engage in any conspiracies, and it was inevitable that outsiders would learn about him and what he was doing.

It was merely a matter of time.

But for Xia Duo, what he cared about most was not the question of time, but the question of timing. As long as the timing was appropriate, it did not matter whether it was early or late.

Now was not the best time to show his hand.

Thinking this, Xia Duo had already made his decision, and subsequently told Bulundesi, "After the Midsummer Festival, I will send someone to Jilan Tower, and please convey my greetings to Lord Huo En on my behalf."

Sending people was certainly necessary. At this point in time, it was merely a matter of taking some extra Insurance, but even if everything in the Tower of Time were exposed to the eyes of Jilan Tower, it was not actually a serious matter.

After all, everything he had done did not exceed the normal behavior of a Netheril Lord, let alone anything taboo.

Rather than worrying about the Seven Towers, Xia Duo was actually more worried about the Elf. The Elf had enough civilizational foundation to foresee the possibility of the rise of human civilization, and enough ability to suppress or even destroy everything before human civilization could rise.

And among the various future scenarios in Xia Duo's imagination, the most terrifying and hardest to resist was the descent of the King-Slaying Star. When he was extending the life of the Akaola Crown King in Akaola, he accidentally learned that the King-Slaying Star was actually a real star!

And the Elf nation that possessed the 【Dragon Madness Secret Scroll】 likely had the ability to summon the King-Slaying Star down for a collision between heaven and earth. Such a terrifying natural disaster was far beyond the ability of human power to resist.

Once triggered, perhaps the entire Main Plane would be destroyed because of it.

Even with a Floating City, at most one could only flee to an Other Plane; who knew, perhaps the Magic Net would be in such turmoil that even the Floating City would not be able to escape!

Xia Duo was unwilling to give up the beautiful landscapes of the Main Plane, not to mention that even if he were willing to give up, where could he go?

The only Sub-plane the Tower of Time had discovered so far was the 【Blue Crystal Plane】, which was not suitable for human survival. Even if it could be transformed, a mere Blue Crystal Plane was simply too small, with limited potential for development.

Fortunately, the problem had not yet reached that point. Compared to the vast Main Plane, the Northland was merely a corner.

Whether it was the Southern Four Kingdoms or the Puppet Kingdom further to the east, they all possessed strength not inferior to, or even far exceeding, the nations of the Northland.

Once they saw the vastness beyond the Northland, perhaps the nations of the Northland Alliance would truly unite.