Chapter 2046: Lobbying and Refusal

Although the Lord of Radiance might become a solid backing for the Main Plane, or rather, for Netheril, Xia Duo still harbored great vigilance toward the Illuminati.

After sending off the Divine Envoy Taide, Xia Duo was not prepared to meet with representatives of other nations again; he simply told Bulundesi about the warning Pasetiya had just given, asking him to notify the Northland Alliance to send people here to guard the Holy Seal.

Of course, the Holy Seal itself possessed powerful strength and might even be able to contact Pasetiya directly, but for the sake of insurance, mortals were left to guard it.

The time would not be long; as long as no accidents occurred in the coming half-year, the abyss-related hidden danger here could be considered thoroughly resolved.

……

Returning to the Floating City, just as Xia Duo was thinking that he could finally go home, he unexpectedly received another meeting invitation from Badijiaer, and Xia Duo could not help but sigh:

"There really is never a moment of rest!"

He sent the Access Key for the Floating City's Teleportation Array to Badijiaer, and before long, Xia Duo met the other party at Hengchun Square.

Upon meeting, Badijiaer opened his heart and spoke of the current dilemma of the Seven Towers: "The war in Siluwende ended too abruptly; the Seven Towers is not yet fully prepared regarding Master Eriwen's Ascension Ritual."

"Previously, the situation in Siluwende was tense, and the focus of all nations was on the war, so they did not pay much attention to Netheril's actions, but with the end of the war, it is inevitable that the nations will notice Netheril again."

"Then, what is Your Excellency Badijiaer's meaning—"

In fact, Xia Duo had already guessed Badijiaer's intention, but there was still a significant difference between him saying it himself and Badijiaer saying it.

And Badijiaer could see that Xia Duo had guessed his intention, but wasn't the reason he came here precisely to say it in person? Otherwise, why bother coming over himself!

So he stopped beating around the bush and put forward his request:

"At present, although the various nations have not raised objections, Ascension is, after all, a relatively sensitive event. Once the ritual begins, no one can predict what the attitude of the nations will be, so I would like to ask Lord Xia Duo to publicly support Master Eriwen's Ascension."

Xia Duo had previously supported Eriwen's Ascension, but that support leaned more toward "not opposing"; now, if he were to support it publicly, the account could not be settled as it was before.

Additionally, publicly supporting Master Eriwen's Ascension also meant that the Seven Towers was prepared to make the Ascension Plan public, letting the outside world and even the Netherese people know the inside story.

Is this really good?

Xia Duo told Badijiaer his doubts, and to this, his explanation was—

"With the precedent of the Princess, it is not difficult for the public to accept a mortal's Ascension; on the contrary, they will be more willing to support it. Additionally, making the Ascension public is also to avoid future competition for Ascension exceeding boundaries and causing unnecessary losses."

Badijiaer's answer was almost instantaneous; clearly, this was not a spur-of-the-moment idea, but rather something he had considered quite carefully before coming. If nothing went wrong, it should have already been discussed and passed within the Seven Towers.

Xia Duo considered it carefully and believed that making the inside story of Ascension public would indeed help orderly competition within Netheril, but this would also more easily form a so-called "Ascension Order"—which was the "embryonic form of a Pantheon."

For the Spellcasters currently in power, this might be a good thing, but for the future of Netheril and even the entire Main Plane, it might not necessarily be a good thing.

Once a Pantheon was formed, it would almost certainly inhibit the development of magical civilization.

Because this is a "mutated" god, not a "god-level existence" naturally produced within the civilization.

Although Xia Duo was now also a vested interest holder, and as long as he wanted to, he could completely occupy a "divine position" with great potential in advance, his ideal was not to become a god, but to explore the limits of Nature and the limits of civilization.

Becoming a god might become an intermediate step in the process of realizing his ideal, but in unsuitable circumstances, he would not create obvious difficulties for a greater goal just to achieve this intermediate step.

This is exactly the case right now; the Great Arcanists of Netheril, led by the Seven Towers, might have already reached a subjective consensus on building an "Ascension Order." Xia Duo did not directly or publicly express opposition due to his own development needs, but if they wanted him to support it, he could only say he could not do it.

Furthermore, he tried to persuade Badijiaer: "Making the inside story of Ascension public may be suspected of blasphemy. If the gods are angered by this, I fear it is not something a mere Netheril can withstand."

This was also a very realistic problem, but Xia Duo pessimistically believed that since Badijiaer could openly discuss the issue of making Ascension public with him, he had likely already considered this problem long ago.

He might even have obtained some definite, favorable guarantees for making Ascension public through the Princess, the pioneer of Ascension.

Such speculation made Xia Duo feel even more dissatisfied with the current and future environment of Netheril, and this also strengthened his determination to carry out a "civilizational possession."

Sure enough, regarding Xia Duo's tentative persuasion, Badijiaer gave an almost immediate, rather ambiguous yet meaningful answer: "The gods will not be angered by such trivial matters!"

Thus, Xia Duo could only throw out Iolum as a shield: "For me personally, I support Master Eriwen's Ascension, but I must consider my teacher's status. Public support truly violates the principle of neutrality. Please, Your Excellency, do not mention this matter again."

Xia Duo knew very well that if not for the Floating City, even if he were Iolum's student, the other party would likely not have come to his door in person to ask him to publicly support the Ascension (Eriwen's Ascension, after various games, was already considered an embodiment of the Ascension Order).

But who told the Floating City to perform so brilliantly recently! Xia Duo even wondered if Bulundesi had reported his summoning of the Divine Envoy, and then the Divine Envoy summoning another Divine Envoy.

Perhaps the Seven Towers still had the idea of letting him summon a Divine Envoy and then using the Lord of Radiance as an endorsement!

It was not that Xia Duo was overthinking; politicians' hearts are all black. Badijiaer, who had now replaced the Princess as the person in charge of the Seven Towers, was clearly no longer the Badijiaer that Xia Duo knew during the Snow Melting Competition.

……

Xia Duo's refusal was very crisp, leaving many of the words Badijiaer had prepared stuck in his throat, though such a result was barely within his expectations.

"Since Lord Xia Duo wishes to practice Master Iolum's principle of neutrality, then let the talk of publicly supporting the Ascension end here! But if other nations take action against Netheril, I hope Lord Xia Duo will not hesitate to lend a hand."

"That can be done."

Xia Duo did not refuse this time, but for things like support, whether it exists is not the key; whether it is timely is the key.

In fact, Xia Duo very much hoped that the Northland Alliance would come up with some treaty to restrict Ascension, but at the moment, the various Elf nations might still be thinking of watching another Ascension Ritual to determine the feasibility of mortal Ascension.

If it is determined to be feasible, there will likely not be any institutional restrictive actions afterward, unless it is a situation where only Netheril or one side has an advantage.