Chapter 1962: Legend Among Legends

Hearing such a question, Iolum could not help but smile, "Actually, it is very simple. Even if I don't say it now, you should know in a few days—"

"The Princess's state after her Ascension to Godhood has stabilized, and the Seven Towers are preparing a new Ascension Ritual!"

"A new Ascension Ritual?"

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Xia Duo's mind, and multiple clues connected in an instant. He asked subconsciously, "Is Master Eriwen going to ascend?"

"I told you that you would know. I hadn't even said it yet, and you guessed it yourself!"

"As expected!"

The first and only time Xia Duo met Master Eriwen was introduced by President Zhenna of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce. Of course, compared to the matter of Ascension, the fact that Zhenna was a descendant of Master Eriwen was not worth mentioning.

That meeting left a deep impression on Xia Duo; first was Master Eriwen's appearance, which was no different from an Elf, and then the other party's undisguised love for this land of Netheril.

In that Master Eriwen, Xia Duo saw a trait that Iolum, Kangjienio, and many Netherese Mages all possessed—

The trait of Faith.

This Faith did not mean pinning one's hopes on others or other gods, but a firm belief in one's own ability to solve all problems and the willingness to pay the price for it.

Such a person is a legend in themselves, and Master Eriwen is a legend among legends—

A Half-Elf who grew up in Elf society but eventually returned to the human world; he first studied Elven Magic, then also practiced as a Druid, and attempted to create a new profession similar to a Druid for humans, even going so far as to forsake the Elf main god, for which he suffered Divine Punishment.

Later, he turned to the Netheril Magic System, but because he had come into contact with the Deep Weave early on, he could not become an Arcanist, and finally reached the end of the Magic Net as an ordinary Mage, achieving the rank of Great Arcanist.

During that meeting, because of the Agricultural Book, Master Eriwen once asked Xia Duo if he had any intention to ascend in the agricultural Domain. Xia Duo said at the time—"No."

But Master Eriwen had the intention to ascend in the agricultural Domain. Aside from some experiences in his early years, the most direct reason was the abnormal climate of the last two years.

After that meeting, Xia Duo had not seen Master Eriwen again, but he received news from Niya that the Seven Towers were brewing a grand plan that might completely resolve the hidden danger of the abnormal climate.

This news was obtained by Niya from Greta. Although Greta was now far from the core of Giles Tower because she was a former subordinate of the Princess, many of her connections had not been completely severed.

After all, the Princess had ascended, and she could still manifest an avatar, rather than being dead.

And Niya had another identity as the Princess's student. Greta should not deceive Niya on such a matter that appeared to have no conflict of interest with Nan Jing; the credibility of her words was extremely high.

Combining this with the fact that Iolum just mentioned the Seven Towers were preparing a new Ascension Ritual, with the clues connected, Xia Duo immediately filled in some of the remaining details—

At the very beginning, it must have been Master Eriwen seeing that the abnormal climate could not be solved for a long time, and even the cause could not be determined, while the people on Netherese land were weakening day by day, that he decided to ascend in the agricultural Domain.

If he succeeded in his Ascension, perhaps the next step would be to develop high-yield crops for cold weather. As for solving the source of the abnormal climate, that was not very realistic.

After all, for the Seven Towers to reach this step, they had likely asked for the Princess's opinion. If it were something a god could solve, the Princess should have already solved it.

Of course, if the Lord of Radiance were involved, he should have the ability to solve this difficult problem, but the Lord of Radiance had never interfered much in the Mortal Plane. If one wanted his help, it would be better to just create another god!

The birth of a new god would inevitably attract attention from many parties. If it were just Master Eriwen's personal behavior, even the Seven Towers might have some other thoughts.

After all, the paths to Ascension are limited. If you take one, others have one less. Not to mention those who also regarded the agricultural Domain as their own backup path for Ascension, they would view Master Eriwen as a mortal enemy.

But if it were organized by the Seven Towers, it would be different.

The Seven Towers occupy the orthodoxy of Netheril. Outside, whoever makes trouble is an enemy of Netheril; inside, whoever makes trouble is a rebel.

Of course, Xia Duo was more willing to believe that before the Ascension, or rather after preparing for the Ascension, the Seven Towers, including Master Eriwen, would conduct interest exchanges with all parties.

Not only must they occupy the moral high ground, but they must also take care of human relationships.

In fact, this is the truly rational approach; otherwise, it would fall into an endless cycle of chaos—you hit me today, I hit you tomorrow, with no end in sight.

……

"Is the time set?" Xia Duo asked again.

"Of course it's not set!"

Iolum shook his head, his face also somewhat gloomy, as if this question had some other secrets, but he would not hide it from Xia Duo:

"The Princess's successful Ascension caused a great shock to the Elf World. The Elves, including those in Ilfaren, probably will not tolerate humans having one more new god."

"The Seven Towers' intention is to take advantage of the time when all parties are either tied up by various unexpected events or have their attention attracted by Siluwende, to find a moment that will receive the least attention to complete the ritual."

"Of course, before this, the Seven Towers will discuss with the Spellcasters in the country who intend to ascend to work out an Ascension Order that can also be used in the future."

"Ascension Order?" Xia Duo was surprised, and a bad premonition suddenly arose in his heart.

"Yes."

Although he said "order," Iolum's expression was not very good, "Great Arcanists have already reached the end of the Magic Net. To go further, besides Ascension, there is nothing else for the time being."

"But in my opinion, this path will only get narrower as you walk it, and it cannot accommodate any latecomers! Although I can understand and support the Seven Towers' current approach, the future may not necessarily be so."

"I seriously suspect that this is where the Elves truly harbor malicious intent! They want to completely cut off the future path of Netheril in the field of Magic!"

So I am not the only one with such thoughts?

Xia Duo fell silent instantly. Isn't the so-called "Ascension Order," when developed to the extreme, what is called a "Pantheon"! And once it becomes a Pantheon, the upward progress channels for all latecomers will be completely blocked.

How many new gods can a mere Pantheon accommodate? And how many Mages does a thriving Magic system need?

Xia Duo had been telling himself that the potential of Magic is infinite. Even if it cannot reach the God Realm now, it will definitely be able to in the future. Moreover, for this kind of universal system, as long as one god-level being is born, countless god-level beings will emerge one after another.

This is not his wishful thinking, but in his view, Magic studies all things in the universe, and it is inherently a great path to heaven with no upper limit.

But perhaps it is precisely because of this universality and generality of Magic that some Mages are dissatisfied. They do not want others to be on par with them; they would rather be the only ones above all living beings!

The "Ascension Order" made Xia Duo see some bad signs, but for the moment, he had no good way to deal with this situation, only strengthening his belief in the necessity of the Progress Society's existence.

Some Mages, their path is wrong; the more Knowledge they have, the more reactionary they become!