Chapter 1997: Advising Students, Changes in the War Situation

Xia Duo's most basic expectation for his students—or rather, for the Mages of the Tower of Time—is that they become Arcanists. Since Xiaolei even struggles with this, one can imagine Xia Duo's disappointment.

Now that Xiaolei has come to remind Jieyi, in a sense, it is because the current Jieyi and the former Xiaolei share certain commonalities: both possess immense curiosity toward the unknown.

At the same time, for various reasons, both have had the opportunity to study some novel things.

Xiaolei's curiosity might be spontaneous, but Xia Duo gave Jieyi the opportunity, and is currently fast-tracking his training to become an engineer.

From the perspective of the current era, what Xia Duo is doing is undoubtedly a great boost for Jieyi, but in Xia Duo's own view, this more or less carries the suspicion of forcing growth by pulling on the seedlings.

Therefore, Xia Duo attaches special importance to this first student—who is also his only student at present. While he needs a fast-tracked engineer for practical needs, he also sincerely hopes that Jieyi can go further in the broader field of Magic.

Fortunately, the students of this era have a much higher floor for diligence than the students of Xia Duo's hometown era. So far, Xia Duo has not seen a single example in the Tower of Time of someone who has the conditions to learn but is unwilling to do so.

(From his own perspective, Xiaolei is also very studious; it is just that in Xia Duo's view, he has gone down the wrong path.)

It really is "so sensible that it makes one's heart ache"!

Clearly, Jieyi is also a sensible child. Regarding Xia Duo's reminder, although he cannot yet foresee it, he still chooses to believe and is willing to put in more effort for it.

"Teacher, I will take it seriously!"

"Finish the remaining test papers first. Once I finish grading these, I will give you new ones."

"Mm."

Jieyi nodded heavily, then quickly ran back to his small desk and began to bury his head in the work.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo once again thought of his classmates back home. Even he himself, when he was in school, would avoid such a sea of test questions like the plague, rather than being genuinely happy to do them like the Jieyi before him.

Xia Duo can now say that if time could flow backward and he could return to his school days, he would definitely study hard and treat every test paper seriously.

But what about the children who grew up in that era of material abundance and open knowledge? How many of them can clearly recognize the preciousness of life and knowledge!

Despite such pain points, Xia Duo has still not wavered in his plan to popularize Magic. Problems of development must be solved through development; being conservative will not work.

……

Returning to the Central Control Zone, Xia Duo first used the War Spell 【Wide-Area Detection】 to penetrate the Ether Mist and capture the scene of the battlefield in Siluwende.

Yierlan's offensive was fierce; their self-powered War Spells were like a hot knife through butter, continuously breaking through the layers of defense lines set up by the Siluwende side.

But just as Xia Duo had expected, Siluwende was not without the power to resist; at the very least, they could hold out until the Floating City made its appearance.

For instance, right now, the Siluwende side had organized a large number of Spellcasters to begin a Spell Duel on the southern plains of Adofeier Fortress.

Even separated by a Plane, Xia Duo could feel the intensity of that great battle. The vast Magic Net of the Main Plane appeared so frail amidst the clash of so many top-tier Spellcasters from the Main Plane.

The ocean of energy surging from the south, like an aurora, clashed against the hastily organized yet exceptionally tenacious resistance from the north.

The Magic Net was torn apart one moment and repaired the next. This interfered with Xia Duo's observation to a great extent; even War Spells are not omnipotent, let alone when separated by a Plane.

However, Xia Duo judged that there would be at least one more period of relatively intense resistance before the Siluwende side would use their true trump card—that is, Adofeier Fortress.

Yet, this fortress could just as likely be a trump card for the Yierlan side.

It is just that right now, although the Yierlan side's offensive momentum has been interrupted, they still hold the great initiative overall. As long as they remain steady, victory is only a matter of time.

Therefore, they will likely not be the first to utilize the unverified fortress Permission Level. If that is the case, the Archaeological Society where Mage Yan Xing is located will likely lose out on a large share of the credit.

But if the Yierlan side uses the fortress Permission Level and is countered by the Siluwende side, then Mage Yan Xing will likely suffer greatly even if she survives.

As for Xia Duo, although he cannot see the specific situation on the battlefield clearly now, as long as he keeps an eye on the dynamics of Adofeier Fortress, he will not miss the key opportunity to enter.

It is nothing more than a difference in the name of whose side he is "saving."

……

Just like that, while monitoring the battlefield, Xia Duo also had the spare time to grade Jieyi's test papers and adjust the Knowledge Star Chart specifically for Jieyi based on the specific problems reflected in the papers, in order to arrange the content of the next set of test papers.

And in the Main Plane, in Siluwende.

The Spell Duel on the southern plains of Adofeier Fortress was far more intense and resolute than what Xia Duo had seen.

On a ritual altar standing steadily like a reef amidst the turbulent Magic Net, a Gold Elf Mage with a resolute expression but clearly showing signs of fatigue looked back with infinite longing at the homeland behind him whose fate was uncertain, and resolutely released all of his power.

The next moment, a beam of strange light shot from the altar straight into the sky, piercing into the clouds that had become exceptionally chaotic and filled with Element Turbulence due to the instability of the Magic Net.

Or rather, the clouds at this moment were no longer just simple clouds, but an alternative battlefield that held the will of all the participating Spellcasters from both sides of the war.

Looking at the light-formed Elf vaguely visible within that beam of strange light, every Spellcaster at the altar was moved, especially those Spellcasters who had not yet achieved the rank of High Mage; in the current situation, they could not even perform a voluntary sacrifice.

They could only watch helplessly as a commander, elder, or comrade-in-arms—whom they might not even have spoken to on ordinary days—voluntarily offered themselves. For Elves who belong to the same organization and share the same Faith, this feeling was incomparably painful.

But the effect achieved by a High Mage's voluntary sacrifice was very significant. Almost the moment that light-formed Elf reached the clouds, the Magic Net in that area immediately began to reconstruct.

It was not just a matter of combing through it, but of completely seizing control of that area of the Magic Net for the Siluwende side.

Such a sacrifice was meaningful, yet also meaningless. Yierlan's offensive was as endless as surging waves; the light from that High Mage's sacrifice only illuminated the clouds for a moment before it dimmed.

In the struggle for control over the Magic Net, the scales of victory tilted back toward Yierlan.

On another ritual altar, a rugged-looking Gold Elf Mage unbuckled the long sword at his waist, threw it aside, and said to his companion with a smile:

"It's my turn. Tell Xi Ma for me that I've liked her since 300 years ago. If it weren't for the short-lived Bu Lai Wei Ke saving me, I would definitely have competed with him to the end! What a pity, how I wish I could go back 300 years!"

After speaking, this Gold Elf Mage also transformed into a beam of strange light and shot straight into the sky.

……

Meanwhile, in a hidden place.

The high-level members of the 【Aikerilikesi Contract】 fell into silence after receiving the battle report from the front. Feelings of anger and suppression continued to accumulate, until finally, an Elf could not help but explode:

"Kelusi, how much longer do we have to wait? Our sacrifices have already been enough. Do you really want to exhaust the last drop of blood of the organization!"

These words were too blunt, yet they were also the inner thoughts of many high-level members of the organization present. But Kelusi remained unmoved, only saying calmly:

"The location of the Yierlan Spellcasters has not yet been pinpointed. Even if we act now, we cannot hurt them; we will only enrage them and invite an even stronger offensive."

"Then you all wait; I am going to support the front line!"

Perhaps unable to bear seeing the sacrifice of his comrades, or perhaps because his long time in a high position had not consumed his last bit of blood-courage, that high-level member stood up and left the venue after speaking.

After him, two other high-level representatives also left in anger.

The remaining high-level members were all silent, but there were also those who were not. A gray-haired Gold Elf suddenly stood up and spoke his mind to the many juniors beside him:

"Sigh, this old man still has a last bit of strength; perhaps it should be offered on the battlefield!"

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately triggered a commotion—

"Leader Sepeitiya, you cannot! We still need you to guide our path forward!"

"That's right, without you as our leader, what would it matter even if we achieved final victory!"

There were Elves who opposed this, and naturally there were Elves who were overjoyed; Kelusi was undoubtedly one of them, though at this moment he, like the other high-ranking members, was doing his utmost to dissuade Sepeitiya.

Consequently, Sepeitiya suddenly sat back down, "Since you all disagree, then I can only continue to live on for a while longer. If you need me to make a sacrifice, tell me at any time!"

"..."

This scene left not only Kelusi somewhat stunned, but even the high-ranking members who were familiar with and understood Sepeitiya were somewhat puzzled; however, upon catching a glimpse of the astonishment Kelusi could not hide, they seemed to think of something.

And so, everyone looked at one another, and the atmosphere in the conference room became even more bizarre.