Chapter 1845: Deconstructing Difficult Problems, Political Considerations

In the days that followed.

Evereska and the Five Kingdoms were in the midst of heated negotiations; although the various nations had almost tacitly accepted the reality that Evereska was about to become independent, they were still unwilling to easily give up the benefits they could potentially obtain.

As for Xia Duo, he had been following Saijisi around for the past few days, surveying the geography within the city of Evereska. Of course, the primary purpose, which Xia Duo only learned later, was to trace the history of the modifications made to the Old Mythallar.

During this period, there was naturally no lack of probing, which required coordination with Ougesi. His city defense troops would, whenever Xia Duo and Saijisi had a need, stir up spellcasting conflicts within the city under various pretexts.

Sometimes it was to capture a wanted criminal from a neighboring country who had been lurking for a long time, or sometimes it was to purge certain rebels within Evereska.

Although the purpose of these actions was almost self-evident in the eyes of many observant Elves, as long as Evereska had not officially cleared the Old Mythallar for a single day, those Elves who held old Permission Levels or still harbored illusions about certain realities could only choose to watch silently.

As for the design of the New Mythallar, Xia Duo had not forgotten it, but the negotiations between Evereska and the Five Kingdoms' envoys were not going smoothly, and he and Saijisi only discussed it during their spare time.

But in reality, this project had already been established quietly, with the research site set in the Wild Vine Valley to the southwest of Evereska, and the members mainly consisting of Ougesi's followers and clansmen.

A total of 124 Elite Mages, led by six senior Mages, were carrying out some preliminary verification work for the New Mythallar; they were just waiting for Xia Duo and Saijisi to complete the source-tracing mission regarding the Old Mythallar before they could transfer over there to start full-time work.

This afternoon.

Xia Duo and Saijisi had just finished surveying an important offset Node of the Old Mythallar and sat down on a bench along the street on their way back.

Although it was just past three in the afternoon, Evereska, surrounded by mountains, already had a sense of twilight dimness on its streets, especially when the tips of the distant peaks were still hung with bright light, making this contrast even more obvious.

"Asuosi, you mentioned earlier that we could dismantle Sub-Node 3 first, and this node would automatically disintegrate. Could you elaborate on that?"

"Of course."

Xia Duo waved his hand to create a structural map of Evereska in front of him, in which he also marked the twelve main nodes and thirty-six offset nodes that had already been surveyed with flickering light points.

The offset node they had just surveyed was among them; Xia Duo marked it separately with a highlight, then reached out and drew a slightly curved but nearly straight line on the city structural map, a line that connected four main nodes and six offset nodes.

After doing this, he explained to Saijisi while pointing at the map: "Look at this Sub-Node 3; it has actually become the root of these ten nodes. It's not just the offset node from earlier; once Sub-Node 3 is safely dismantled, these ten nodes on this line will present almost no difficulty."

"No, you are thinking too simply. There are still four main nodes among these ten nodes; how could they disappear just because Sub-Node 3 disappears?"

Although Saijisi did not deny that the offset node from earlier could be quickly removed by dismantling Sub-Node 3, there were still main nodes on the line Xia Duo had drawn. Those were the foundations of the Old Mythallar; how could they be dismantled so easily!

"Asuosi, look, this Main Node 6 alone is in a synchronized state with another Main Node 12, and Main Node 12 is actually related to Sub-Node 3. If you move Sub-Node 3, both Main Node 12 and Main Node 6 will simultaneously produce anomalies. How do you explain that?"

As he spoke, Saijisi also learned from Xia Duo and drew a line on the structural map projection, but the line he drew happened to intersect with the line Xia Duo had drawn, and the intersection point was exactly Main Node 6.

The other end of the line he drew was Main Node 12, with several offset nodes in between, some of which had already been surveyed, and some of which had not.

Xia Duo had long anticipated the question raised by Saijisi. He drew four or five lines in succession on the structural map projection; the first one included Main Node 12, and the others, after several turns, eventually returned to Sub-Node 3.

"Saijisi, look, is it clear now? As long as the main nodes on these four lines are dismantled simultaneously, the rest will not be a problem."

Saijisi stared blankly at the four highlighted line segments in the projection and calculated silently for a while, but still did not fully agree with Xia Duo's plan:

"But there are still more than ten offset nodes on these four lines! If you want to dismantle the main nodes on these four lines simultaneously, these ten-plus offset nodes will definitely not be able to be dismantled properly."

"There is no other way. The Old Mythallar of Evereska has passed through the hands of countless Spellcasters and spanned thousands of years. The Permission Levels are already intricate and complex; pulling one hair affects the whole body. I think you shouldn't harbor any delusions about dismantling everything properly."

In Xia Duo's view, the resources required to dismantle the Old Mythallar were no less than those used to build a New Mythallar, and perhaps even much more, especially if the Evereska Council of Elders wanted to dismantle it properly.

According to Xia Duo's own idea, it would be best to temporarily relocate the residents first, then "demolish" it as a whole, and finally repair the Magic Net, so that a New Mythallar could be built in a brand-new, relatively clean Magic Net environment.

That would be easy and simple; there would be no need for all the complex survey work like now. Just get it done.

"Sigh—"

Saijisi looked at Xia Duo with a complex expression, hesitated for a moment, and finally insisted: "If possible, we must still find a way to dismantle it properly."

"If that's the case, then it's going to be troublesome!"

Xia Duo was not surprised by Saijisi's choice. In fact, whether the Old Mythallar could be handled properly also concerned the hearts of the local residents of Evereska, or rather, it concerned the governing legitimacy of the Council of Elders.

If it were overthrown entirely by violence, why would others necessarily support the Council of Elders? Why not let the Northland nations send a few representatives to carry out a concentrated demolition and rebuild a more modern, neutral sanctuary?

Although in reality this was certainly impossible, for the sake of long-term stability, the Council of Elders still had to fully consider the thoughts (interests) of the local residents.

But public sentiment was public sentiment, and the current state of the Old Mythallar was the current state. Xia Duo wiped away all the lines in the city structural map projection, then started pointing and drawing again, saying to Saijisi:

"Although there are still some nodes that haven't been surveyed, judging from the parts already surveyed, almost all main nodes are closely related to other main nodes. There must be some trade-offs."

"I understand, but let's leave this problem for Mandatis and the others to rack their brains over!"

Saijisi took a deep breath, stood up from the bench, and reached out a hand toward Xia Duo, "Let's go, let's go survey the next node!"