Chapter 2047: Arcane Faction, Returning to the Territory

After Badijiaer left, Xia Duo pondered for a long time, and in the end, he had to admit that from the day the Ascension Ritual appeared, the Ascension Order had perhaps inevitably begun to form.

It was merely a matter of time.

Even if the Arcane Faction within Netheril held the upper hand, it would be difficult to change the fact that forces outside of Netheril were conducting ascension research.

Once an arms race begins, it is difficult to end; the only difference is whether the content of the competition is ascension, Floating Cities, or something else.

As he thought about it, Xia Duo's mindset gradually became peaceful; it was just competition, after all—why assume that a god-level existence could not be born from the pure arcane domain!

Give him time, and without any so-called Ascension Ritual, he could also become a god-level existence.

However, considering reality, Xia Duo still contacted Iolum to tell him about the Seven Towers' plan to disclose the inside story of the ascension, yet Iolum did not express any surprise at this:

"I had a premonition of this before; I didn't expect them to make such a decision in the end. By the way, Xia Duo, did Badijiaer mention when they would disclose it?"

"Not yet. It should still just be an idea for now; at the very least, there won't be any action before Master Eriwen's Ascension Ritual begins."

"I thought as much; I was being too sensitive. You were right to refuse this matter; although the Seven Towers have their own considerations, their considerations are not necessarily all correct, nor are they necessarily beneficial to Netheril."

Iolum's words reminded Xia Duo of the scene when the two last met, where they had discussed the inhibitory effect of the Ascension Order on the development of civilization and had unanimously expressed their concern about the trend of the Ascension Order gradually forming.

"Then, is Teacher preparing to do something?" Xia Duo asked.

Then there was a sudden silence on the other end, and it was a long while before a message came through, in which Iolum's tone was slightly hesitant, as if he had not yet made up his mind:

"I am considering whether to disclose the Mythallar in advance."

Disclose the Mythallar in advance?

Xia Duo's spirit was instantly jolted, and he quickly calculated the gains and losses in his mind; the Mythallar would have to be disclosed sooner or later, or rather, when his Floating City appeared in the eyes of the world, the countdown to the disclosure of the Mythallar had already begun.

Initially, the timing for disclosure that he and Iolum had agreed upon was after the completion of the second-generation Mythallar, but plans often could not keep up with changes; first, Xia Duo had brought out the Floating City early to limit the Demon Descendants from changing reality.

Afterwards, the Seven Towers wanted to initiate a new Ascension Ritual to cope with the climate anomaly, which in turn triggered the early germination and rapid formation of the Ascension Order.

Disclosing the Mythallar might boost the morale of the Netherese Arcane Faction, letting all Netherese Mages see the potential of the pure arcane domain; today it could be the Mythallar, and tomorrow it might not be impossible for a new god to emerge.

But this would not only have positive effects; setting aside external influences, even within Netheril, would the addition of a Mythallar necessarily hinder the formation trend of the Ascension Order?

It might even make it form faster for them!

Without the Mythallar, Xia Duo still had the confidence to stand against the "whole world" with the Floating City; once those who intended to construct the Ascension Order obtained the Mythallar and then created mobile war spell fortresses following the template of the Floating City.

Then, even if Xia Duo and Iolum were tied together, they might not be the opponents of the Ascension Faction.

This would simply be handing a ready-made trump card to the enemy!

Thus, Xia Duo immediately expressed his firm opposition to disclosing the Mythallar in advance, "Teacher, this must not be done!

"If the Seven Towers also opposed the Ascension Order, disclosing it in advance would be fine, but the current attitude of the Seven Towers is ambiguous; disclosing the Mythallar in advance might instead cause them to firm up their idea of constructing the Ascension Order."

What Xia Duo said was another fact: as the actual rulers of Netheril, constructing the Ascension Order was beneficial to the Seven Towers, but it was not something they absolutely had to do.

After all, there were too many uncertain factors in ascension; if they could make a normal breakthrough within the arcane domain, they might still insist on following the arcane path.

But the appearance of the Mythallar would greatly weaken the discourse power of top individual powerhouses; although Xia Duo did not know what the Seven Towers' true trump card for countering the Elven War Magic Artifacts was, he speculated that it was likely similar to the Elven War Magic Artifacts.

Although it seemed like a victory of equipment, in essence, it still relied on top-tier Spellcasters.

But war spells designed based on the Mythallar were different; it could be said that even if Xia Duo were only a low-level Mage, as long as he obtained the Control Permission Level, he could manipulate the 【Annihilation Light】 to burn "Gemstones" everywhere.

The difference between operation by a top-tier Spellcaster and operation by an Apprentice lay mostly in some details, such as precision, but these could all be solved through technical means later on.

As long as "human-machine interaction" and internal "software optimization" were done well, letting an Apprentice make judgments and operations that surpassed top-tier Spellcasters was not a fantasy, but a practically feasible thing.

It could be said that the appearance of the Mythallar would even change the form of future wars; top-tier Spellcasters would no longer possess a decisive role—superior technology and equipment would!

That is to say, once the Mythallar was disclosed, the Seven Towers' originally extremely stable ruling position would begin to shake, and then only two paths would be placed before the Seven Towers—

One is to maintain the status quo and let the Seventon Council become the true power organ of Netheril, but the Seven Towers' discourse power within it would decline rapidly in an unstoppable trend; the more 【Mythallar-War Spells】 there were outside, the lower its discourse power would be.

The other is to re-stabilize their ruling position through other channels; besides the Mythallar, the existence of a "god" could also greatly change the balance between forces. The Seven Towers had a pioneer of ascension like the Princess; they had already taken the first step in the "god" arms race. As long as they were decisive enough, this advantage would be enough for them to grasp an even greater advantage.

Putting himself in their shoes, if Xia Duo were the Seven Towers, he probably would not be willing to decline just like that. Ascension indeed had many uncertain factors, but compared to losing their ruling position, it was not that hard to accept.

Regarding Xia Duo's opposition, Iolum neither expressed affirmation nor opposition, only saying that he would continue to consider it, which made Xia Duo unable to help but feel a bit anxious:

"Teacher, the Seven Towers' past performance was passable, but as rulers, they are constantly under huge temptation. What we need to do is not give them the opportunity, but to eliminate this possibility as much as possible. What do you think, Teacher?"

"Let me think about it some more!"

Such an answer naturally could not satisfy Xia Duo, but he also knew that Iolum and the Seven Towers had a good relationship; to some extent, he was now "sowing discord between relatives"!

But the Mythallar was of great importance, and Xia Duo could not help but try to persuade him a few more times, only Iolum did not reply, which gave Xia Duo a bad premonition.

Next, it was time to return to the Territory.

Originally, when returning to the Territory, Xia Duo should have been in a lighthearted mood, but because Iolum was preparing to disclose the Mythallar in advance, it made this originally relaxed return journey feel a bit heavy.