Chapter 1947: Bulundesi's Visit

Netheril, Southern Border, Tower of Time.

Xia Duo, who had originally thought he could stay in the Blue Crystal Plane until the Floating City was completed, still had to temporarily leave the Blue Crystal Plane that day and return to the Tower of Time.

Just a moment ago, Depake triggered the Magic Mark he had left in the Tower of Time, indicating that an incident had occurred at the Tower of Time that the other party found difficult to handle.

Although Depake's judgment was unlikely to be wrong, Xia Duo was still somewhat annoyed; these past few days, Niya had already expressed her dissatisfaction multiple times because he had kept his avatar state.

What was he staying in the Blue Crystal Plane for? Wasn't it to finish the Floating City as quickly as possible and then return to his true body!

And now, he had been delayed again!

Why did he say "again"?

Because a few days ago, the Seven Towers notified Xia Duo that the recruitment of new residents was nearly complete; this was the population the Seven Towers had promised after he cooperated with Xierdalanna to raid the Demon-born Secret Base, totaling as many as fifty thousand.

Xia Duo attached great importance to this and immediately left the Blue Crystal Plane to go to Seventon to set up a Portal leading directly to the Code Plaza.

Speaking of which, this could be considered a special case; ordinary people could not establish a new Portal in Seventon, and in fact, the Portal he established that time needed to be dismantled on the spot after use.

……

After emerging from the Blue Crystal Plane, Xia Duo contacted Depake while pondering what urgent matter had caused the other party to call him out, wondering if something had gone wrong with the Portal.

But he immediately dismissed this speculation; the core material he used to build the Portal was the David String, and its stability had long been verified when he transported tens of thousands of people from the Grey Eagle Tribe previously.

Or perhaps, the Seven Towers had sent over the Nether Scroll discovered from Prince Saier?

Thinking of this, Xia Duo felt it was unrealistic; those Nether Scrolls were currently being used as key evidence in the negotiations between Netheril and Cormanthor.

If the evidence was no longer needed, it would either mean the negotiations had completely broken down, or that the negotiations were progressing very smoothly, and the advantage was leaning toward Netheril's side.

But clearly, neither of these possibilities seemed very realistic to Xia Duo.

"What on earth is going on?"

As for why he didn't guess it was something that happened internally, it was actually quite simple: whether it was Daxia Territory or the Tower of Time, after multiple institutional adjustments, the powers and responsibilities in all aspects had long been clearly defined.

Everyone acted according to the rules, and there would simply be no matters that required Xia Duo to personally step in to handle.

The only weak point was actually the Savile Territory, but Saville himself was staying in the new Mage Tower in Savile Town; if something really happened there that even Saville couldn't solve, then looking for Xia Duo would be useless.

Soon, Depake's Sending arrived, saying only one sentence—"Bulundesi is here again!"

"Bulundesi is here again?"

The one who came to notify Xia Duo that the new resident recruitment was nearly complete before was also Bulundesi; if it was him again this time, Xia Duo's first reaction was the Nether Scroll.

But this shouldn't be!

Could it be that the negotiations between the Seven Towers and Cormanthor had broken down?

Xia Duo didn't dare to think in the direction of the negotiations going smoothly for a moment, so he hurriedly asked Depake, "Did he say what it was about?"

"Councilor Bulundesi is being mysterious and won't reveal it to me, but judging by his appearance, it should be good news."

When Depake sent the message again, Xia Duo had already checked Bulundesi's location through the Tower Spirit; he was not far from him, also on the Public Level.

It was just that Depake's reply still made him somewhat incredulous; if it was good news, wouldn't that mean the negotiations were going very smoothly?

For a moment, Xia Duo couldn't think of any other reason for Bulundesi to look for him, and thinking this, he couldn't help but feel a bit expectant.

……

Tower of Time, Public Level, inside the Reception Room.

Xia Duo walked in from outside with a hearty laugh, "Councilor Bulundesi, Depake told me you brought another piece of good news?"

"Disturbing Lord Xia Duo again, yes, this time I have brought another piece of good news."

"Is it related to the Nether Scroll, or is it related to your negotiations with Cormanthor?"

"Both!"

In front of Xia Duo, Bulundesi naturally didn't need to hide anything anymore; he immediately placed an inconspicuous box he had been carrying at his feet onto the tea table at his side, and with a wave of his hand, he opened it, revealing a set of Nether Scrolls neatly arranged inside.

"This is the set of Nether Scrolls that the Seven Towers previously promised would be kept by Lord Xia Duo; if there are no accidents later, a portion should be sent over as well."

"Are the negotiations really that smooth? It hasn't been long!" Xia Duo couldn't help but ask in confusion.

"I don't know if they are smooth or not, I didn't participate in the negotiations, but clearly, Prince Saier is much more important in the eyes of the Cormanthor Elves than we expected!"

"Do you know why?" Xia Duo actually had a vague guess, but he still wanted to get a more official explanation from Bulundesi.

It was just that such secret matters, even if the Seven Towers knew, might not necessarily be revealed to Bulundesi, and even if Bulundesi knew, he might not necessarily tell him.

Xia Duo ultimately only gained disappointment; Bulundesi replied very officially that he didn't know either.

Of course, for Xia Duo, knowing that the negotiations were relatively smooth was enough.

Perhaps Prince Saier really was related to some secret, or perhaps Cormanthor wanted to quickly deal with some external hidden dangers so they could invest more power into competing for the newly discovered Ancient Fortress in Sluwen.

Regardless of which situation it was, the impact was actually not significant; when Xia Duo pulled the Floating City to the Main Plane, did Cormanthor really intend to have a real war with him on the territory of Sluwen?

Clearly, this was impossible; even Yierlan and Ilfarun, which were closest to Sluwen, were unlikely to deploy strategic forces equipped with War Magic Artifacts just for an Ancient Fortress where it wasn't yet clear what was inside; if they lost their strategic forces and fell from their status as one of the five great powers, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Xia Duo believed that the Seven Towers might be interested in getting involved, but they would definitely not invest key strategic forces.

However, there was one point he was very curious about: what exactly did the Seven Towers rely on to contend with the Elves' War Magic Artifacts?

Xia Duo, who knew the details of War Magic Artifacts, knew deeply that under the leadership of a High Mage, or even under their personal direction, War Magic Artifacts were far more terrifying than described in some texts.

Xia Duo guessed that it was either using the numerical advantage of Great Arcanists (with hidden ones) to carry out a "base-swapping" style of deterrence, or the Seven Towers had also developed some unconventional War Magic Artifacts.

The latter was actually not as difficult as imagined; if the Elves could do it, humans could do it too; in fact, one set in the Nether Scrolls was specifically about the manufacture of Artifacts.

Of course, the "Artifacts" here needed to be in quotation marks, because these were not weapons or equipment used by the gods, but rather special Psionic Creations with effects far exceeding ordinary Magic Items, which in essence should still be in the category of "mortal objects."

Iolum once mentioned that when he was developing War Spells, he also referenced parts of the content from the "Artifact Manufacture" set of the Nether Scrolls.