Chapter 2082: A Brilliant Scheme, A Pessimistic Future

Just as Xia Duo was feeling suspicious and uncertain in his heart, preparing to ask Badijiaer about the reason, the white-gold flames enveloping Master Eriwen suddenly surged upward, and in the blink of an eye, Master Eriwen's figure had completely vanished.

In his place was only a massive, continuously burning white-gold flame!

The next moment, it felt as if something had struck Xia Duo's heart violently, followed by an endless wave of sorrow rushing in all at once.

Looking at Master Eriwen, whose figure had already been erased within the white-gold flames ahead, the bad premonition in Xia Duo's heart climbed to its peak.

But before he could make any move, a beam of light suddenly descended from the sky above the Arcane Plaza, accompanied by the faint chanting of hymns. Within those white-gold flames, a light-formed human figure, resembling the Saint Form of a high-level Mage, with a serene expression, closed eyes, and hands crossed over their shoulders, slowly ascended along the beam of light descending from the heavens.

At this moment, the ordinary people watching in the plaza could no longer suppress the sorrow in their hearts and began to wail loudly; for a time, an atmosphere of infinite grief permeated the plaza.

Xia Duo could not help but look at Badijiaer, and seeing the other party's serious expression and furrowed brows, he knew that this was likely not within the Seven Towers' expectations.

If it were the Princess ascending to godhood, there would already be ripples of Holy Power emanating across the Arcane Plaza by now, with the first batch of naturally inspired Priests appearing, rather than the deathly stillness present now.

And the sight of Master Eriwen's soul ascending along the beam of light was also very easy to associate with "going to Heaven"; perhaps that was indeed the case.

Xia Duo sighed in his heart once more; could this be Master Eriwen's final end?

However, although this result was not what he wanted to see, from the perspective of the Ascension Order, it was not necessarily a bad thing.

If the Ascension Ritual could succeed every single time, it would inevitably trigger a series of imitations. Rather than waiting for an arcane path that might not be opened in the future, occupying a divine position now would likely become a rational consideration for many people.

After all, if one does not occupy it oneself, it is possible for others to take it first!

Yet, the complex psychology of regret mixed with relief that Xia Duo felt did not last long before it was shattered by the sudden scene before his eyes.

As Master Eriwen rose higher and higher in the beam of light until he disappeared, a person Xia Duo knew and had a decent relationship with appeared out of thin air within the beam of light and announced to all the spectators below:

"Master Bernumesis created vitality for the people of Netheril; my Lord, moved by his sincerity, has specifically received him into the Shenguo for eternal life!"

The person in the beam of light was Archmage Greta, whom Xia Duo had not seen for a long time, one of the Princess's followers when she was in the Mortal Plane, and now she had become the Princess's most steadfast believer. What she represented was naturally that pioneer of mortal ascension—

Princess Xiya, or rather, the God of Exploration and Protection, Xia Aidasi!

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo could hardly suppress his ashen complexion. Regardless of whether Master Eriwen's failed ascension this time was because of the Princess or had nothing to do with her, this act would inevitably lead to one result—

From now on, no matter who wants to ascend to godhood, they cannot bypass the Princess, or rather, they cannot bypass the Seven Towers!

If Eriwen's failure was related to the Princess, then those who want to ascend later must first pay respects to the Princess's "dock," or do they also want to experience a failure?

If Eriwen's failure was unrelated to the Princess, then the so-called eternal life in the Shenguo could still serve as a final guarantee for a failed ascension, and it would still be difficult to bypass the Princess.

But as for the truth of the matter, no one could be certain, so the most correct course of action based on rational consideration was undoubtedly to "surrender" to the Princess!

"What a brilliant scheme!"

Xia Duo had only met the Princess a few times and did not know her well, mostly hearing about her from Niya, but Niya had not spent much time with the Princess either.

As the saying goes, the human heart is hard to fathom; is the heart and intent of a god so easy to guess?

At this moment, besides anger, all that remained in Xia Duo's heart was confusion and even despair. An Ascension Order led and controlled by the Princess personally was clearly more suffocating than one led by the Seven Towers.

The Princess was once a steadfast practitioner of the arcane path; now that she has become a god for only a few years, she is already on the verge of living into the very image she once least wanted to see!

For a time, Xia Duo's mind was in chaos. Regardless of whether the Princess herself had changed, the situation before him would lead to a prospect extremely unfavorable to the opening of the arcane path and the development of magical civilization.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have come to Saivendun in the first place!"

Xia Duo wanted to return to Nan Jing immediately and then load up all his subjects to wander the world, but when his mood calmed down slightly, he felt ashamed of his childish thought just now.

At present, his Floating City had become an object of close attention for various countries in the Northland. As long as he was in the Main Plane, it would be difficult to escape the attention of various countries, so where could he go by wandering?

As for other Planes, the Ether Plane was indeed nearly infinitely vast, but creatures of the normal material world could not reproduce normally within the Ether Plane. The Shadow Plane was the same, and its area was even smaller, belonging to another dimension of the Material Plane.

Leaving the base of Netheril where one could huddle together for warmth, with only a Floating City, one would ultimately be unable to escape the fate of becoming meat under someone else's knife.

"Plane Exploration! Population! And time!"

There was no need to think quietly in the long night; when truly at such a nodal moment where future uncertainty had suddenly increased, Xia Duo was calmer than at any other time.

Consistent with his previous judgment, he still needed a Habitable Plane that could serve as a final retreat, and population was the foundation of civilization's development. As for time, he now needed to race against time.

Resource accumulation, population growth, and most importantly, the growth of the Mages of the Tower of Time, all required time!

Xia Duo discovered that the plan he had previously formulated was still somewhat conservative. If he did not become aggressive in the current situation, he might not have the chance to be aggressive in the future!

He speculated that as long as two more cases of mortal ascension succeeded, the Ascension Order might become unstoppable. By then, perhaps some clever pioneers would have begun preparing for "Mian Fa," and that would be the nightmare of civilization.

From this perspective, the final golden period of racing against time had already arrived!

……

After Greta announced the Oracle, she disappeared along with the receding beam of light. Finally, Badijiaer concluded the event. Xia Duo did not see anything unusual on his face; there was still a sense of sorrow and regret.

It was as if he had not thought about the impact of this incident on the Ascension Order at all, as he comforted the public as usual, received foreign envoys as usual, and announced the end of the conference as usual.

But the more ordinary it was, the more uneasy it made Xia Duo feel. After the crowd dispersed and he returned to the Arcane Union, he subconsciously walked to the door of the Reception Room where he had met Kelifu and the others before the "Seed Promotion Conference."

Looking at the tightly closed door, Xia Duo smiled self-deprecatingly, then prepared to bid farewell to Yinaole before returning to Nan Jing.