Chapter 1841: Excessive Response, Covenant Crown

Xia Duo ultimately did not go to Ougesi's invitation; at noon the next day, Ougesi visited in person again, which felt a bit like the "three visits to the thatched cottage."

It was just that Xia Duo was not Zhuge Liang, and the two sides could be said to have hit it off immediately; today there was no need to waste any more breath, signing the contract was all that was left.

Cloudtop Tower.

Under Ougesi's introduction, Xia Duo formally met the other ten members of the Evereska Council of Elders, including Katunidede, the one responsible for diplomatic affairs whom Ougesi had mentioned several times the previous night.

Of course, there was also Elder Saijisi, whom Xia Duo actually valued more; the construction task for the current Evereska Mythallar was under the charge of Saijisi.

Besides these two he had heard of, Xia Duo also became familiar with the other members of the Council of Elders, though among these eleven high mages, several were clearly wearing disguises and even went only by code names.

For instance, the elder responsible for intelligence was referred to only by the code name 【Fear Eye】 in Ougesi's introduction, and another elder who worked with Ougesi to handle war and combat matters was called 【Tiequan Lusi】.

"Mage Asuosi, please confirm the contents of the covenant once more; if there are no problems, we can begin the covenant ritual."

The speaker was Saijisi from the Council of Elders, who was in charge of Mythallar construction. Xia Duo took the gold-threaded Fuwu paper filled with the covenant's contents from his hand and checked it carefully, confirming there were no discrepancies from what Ougesi had introduced yesterday.

In reality, Xia Duo would also participate in the ritual spellcasting process, and as long as the other party wasn't stupid, they wouldn't make any blunders on such an issue.

After handing the Fuwu paper back, Xia Duo nodded earnestly and said with deep meaning, "From now on, we are companions!"

"Welcome, new companion!"

Relying on the fact that he was the first to make contact with Xia Duo, Ougesi immediately and enthusiastically took Xia Duo's hand and led him to the ritual site prepared in advance.

It was right on the second floor of Cloudtop Tower—counting from the top down, this floor was an open space, with only a few pillars surrounding it supporting the Cloud Crown Palace above.

Xia Duo had not yet seen this style of design in the Evereska of the Main Plane; perhaps it was because of the passage of time and changing styles, or perhaps it was simply the difference between the Projection Plane and the Main Plane.

Looking around from this floor, it was almost level with the peaks of the distant mountains, but in reality, Xia Duo knew that given the height of Cloudtop Tower, even adding the height of the plateau where Evereska was located, it probably couldn't compare to the surrounding mountains.

Yet in the open field of vision, there was indeed such an illusion; it was hard to say whether it was the effect of the architecture or the effect of magic.

After standing firm on the pre-made magic array base, Xia Duo was first led by Ougesi to familiarize himself with the spellcasting flow, and soon after, the formal spellcasting began.

He guessed that the other party might also be testing him through this method.

If he were not a true high mage, but an ordinary spellcaster imitating a high mage's Domain through items, he would have been exposed by now.

But Xia Duo would not be.

Although he himself was not a high mage, this Xilin avatar was miraculous enough to allow him to become a true high mage—of course, limited to being under this avatar.

If he returned to the Main Plane, Xia Duo was not sure if using the Xilin avatar would have the same effect; if it did, then this trip to the Projection Plane would be a huge profit.

As the spellcasting began, the Magic Net around Cloudtop Tower was rapidly gathered, with the center being the second floor where Xia Duo was located.

A large amount of Magic Net Strings converged, even triggering elemental anomalies; in the second-floor space and even in the area surrounding the entire Cloudtop Tower, a large number of mysterious, flickering, and unpredictable Fuwu visible to the naked eye appeared.

That was the leakage of redundant data generated when the Magic Net responded efficiently and automatically, or rather, the Magic Net was too enthusiastic, to the point that it did a lot of useless work.

To be honest, Xia Duo had never seen such a scene while in the Main Plane, but such redundant data would not cause any adverse effects on their ritual spell.

Instead, it would perform automatic error correction when they might make a mistake; this was no longer a simple "Heaven and Man Unity," it was practically "substituting my heart for the heart of Heaven."

This trip to the Projection Plane, setting aside the several planned goals, was that Xia Duo's greatest gain was experiencing the spellcasting environment of an Elven high mage from a first-person perspective, as well as the Magic Net redundant response phenomenon at the scene of this ritual spell.

This greatly changed Xia Duo's judgment on the upper limit of Elven mages' spellcasting capabilities.

Of course, if the Xilin avatar remained effective in the Main Plane, it could even be said to be far more important than those planned goals.

The Projection Plane was not unique; clues like the Nether Scroll and the Dragon Madness Secret Scroll were confirmed and could be sought out next time; they could always be found.

The Floating City Mythallar was also merely a matter of time.

But a spell like the Xilin avatar, specially customized for an individual, was not necessarily so; if missed this time, he might never encounter it again.

……

On the second floor of Cloudtop Tower, as the spellcasting process continued to advance, the mysterious Fuwu flickering in the space had become substantial, almost like the manifestation of the constantly vibrating Magic Net Strings themselves.

If one could explain a little redundancy with the special nature of high mage spellcasting, such a large amount of redundancy actually exceeded the elements required by the ritual spell itself, which was very difficult to explain with any special nature.

There was only one possibility—

It was deliberately designed by Ougesi and the other elves, perhaps just to announce to the outside world that Evereska had gained another high mage's support.

Otherwise, a simple covenant ritual would not require such a grand scene.

Xia Duo could already imagine the various discussions within Evereska at this moment; Cloudtop Tower was almost the tallest building in Evereska, and it was actually built on a low hill on the plateau.

It could be said that as long as one was a resident of Evereska, one could see Cloudtop Tower just by looking up; as for the current ritual anomaly, it was like being forcibly stuffed into the eyes of the elves in the city—it was impossible not to notice.

"Sigh—actually, I was hoping to be a bit more low-key!"

The ritual proceeded very smoothly without any twists and turns, and there was no talk of the anticipated enemy attack; it was just a simple covenant ritual, and there was no need for eleven high mages to cast spells simultaneously.

Including Xia Duo, all participants had absolute control over the ritual process; if an enemy were to attack, the substantial manifestation of Magic Net Strings around them would be the biggest surprise left for the enemy.

The ritual was completed, and the power of the spell condensed into a crown that rested on Xia Duo's head; this was both a symbol of status and power, a blessing of strength, and a constraint of responsibility.

Xia Duo could choose to make the crown appear or disappear, and he undoubtedly chose to hide it; although other elders might sit on equal footing with the Crown Kings of other Elven Kingdoms in the future, at least for now, they were not high-profile enough to wear the crown on their heads all day long.

In the future, as ranks were distinguished among the elders, the Covenant Crown would not be a constant state, but would become a ceremonial decoration for important occasions.