Chapter 2120: Arrival at Ailintar

Of course, Xia Duo did not think that Shaerwen could be bullied; in fact, he had never felt that any small Elf nation could be bullied at will, not only out of personal morality, but also due to realistic considerations.

Even the universally acknowledged declining and weak Akaola had been able to resist Kemansuoer's ambition to unify the Listar Forest for nearly a thousand years just by closing its doors to the outside world.

Thinking about it, it was not that simple.

Then there were the small nations alliances of the past and present; he had indeed mentioned it in passing at Evereska, but if those small nations did not have a bit of substance, even if many more came, it would be difficult for them to have a say against the great powers.

In this world of Reality and Magic, even small nations cannot be underestimated, especially the Elf "nouveau riche" whose family foundations are so deep that they wouldn't be exhausted even after thousands of years; who knows what kind of ultimate weapons they might still have hidden away.

……

During the late-night outing, the enthusiasm of Xia Duo and Niya had clearly diminished significantly; with these super-sized trees before them, Taiweimansa was actually quite uninteresting.

After all, they were not true Elves, and it was difficult for them to participate in the Elves' nighttime entertainment.

Niya was mainly taking another detailed look at the places she had found interesting during their previous rough tour, while Xia Duo focused his attention more on the oak clusters that supported this city.

But unfortunately, until they finished their tour and returned to the Floating City, and even until the Floating City set off again, he had not discovered any signs of awakening in those Grandfather Oaks, nor did the absurd thing he had fantasized about—a treefolk unable to bear the loneliness and seeking him out for a chat—occur.

……

For the third stop, Xia Duo and Niya had originally planned to head directly south to Calimshan, but Niya, feeling somewhat disappointed after seeing Taiweimansa, changed her mind at the last minute and wanted to visit Ailintar first.

This temporary change in the travel route did not alter the essence of the trip, and Xia Duo would certainly not refuse; in fact, when he was in Taiweimansa, he had already received invitations from Yierlan and even from Dan Zuo, who was far away in the Underdark.

It was just that it was somewhat inconvenient for the Floating City to travel to the Underdark, so he could only politely decline the invitation from Dan Zuo's side; now that Niya intended to visit Ailintar again, he would just accept the invitation from Yierlan's side.

Traveling from Taiweimansa to Ailintar, due to Yierlan's restrictions on the airspace (this concept had not yet appeared, but they had already refused Xia Duo's activities outside the vicinity of Taiweimansa), he needed to first raise the Floating City to an extremely high altitude, and then head to Yierlan.

The so-called "extremely high altitude" was merely Xia Duo's own definition, at least 1000 New Li above the ground; in reality, this altitude was still far from reaching the Plane Barrier.

And once the Plane Barrier is touched, one cannot continue to fly upward; of course, the barrier here is not a concrete obstacle, but a concept in space—upon reaching a certain limit, a phenomenon similar to "the ends of the earth" appears.

No matter how much power you have, even at full throttle, you cannot ascend even a fraction; in fact, Xia Duo had experienced this phenomenon long ago in the Arcane Garden of the Tower of Time, though he hadn't had the chance to do so in the Main Plane yet.

1000 New Li is not a short distance, and Xia Duo did not want to accelerate the Floating City to too high a speed, as this is dangerous; if some bad guy were to summon a meteorite in the direction he was moving, he might not even be able to react in time.

Therefore, he always controlled the maximum actual flight speed of the Floating City as much as possible, ensuring that he could deal with any sudden, unexpected events.

If it were low-altitude flight, there would be ground scenery to look at, so it wouldn't be boring, but purely ascending is too dull; teleportation could be used instead.

When they were about a hundred New Li away from Taiweimansa, he began to drive the Floating City to teleport upward until it reached the extremely high altitude.

But in reality, the actual effective range of the Taiweimansa Mythallar likely did not reach an altitude of over one hundred New Li; there might be some hidden Perception Fields projected to such a height or higher, but that was limited to perception.

The functions of the Mythallar itself are difficult to radiate to such heights.

Xia Duo was not really doing nothing in Taiweimansa, just focusing on accompanying Niya shopping; he had also consciously investigated the state of the Taiweimansa Mythallar.

Although he was not sure if that Mythallar used those nearly one hundred Grandfather Oaks as core Nodes, it was certain that the Mythallar was not a Node-less Mythallar.

As long as it is not a Node-less Mythallar, the range of effect will not be too exaggerated, and a Node-less Mythallar can actually load very few functions.

A Node-less Mythallar with complex and powerful functions like the Dragon Madness Mythallar that could cover the entire Plane is almost unique.

In fact, Xia Duo highly doubted whether the Dragon Madness Mythallar was even a Node-less Mythallar, but it was a pity that the Dragon Madness Secret Scrolls had not yet been collected; the ones he had found were still lacking, otherwise this question could have been answered in the scrolls.

……

The trip to Yierlan, although an unexpected journey decided on the spur of the moment, was still something Xia Duo had anticipated, especially after experiencing two trips to the capitals of Elven Kingdoms; he had almost no high expectations for the upcoming trip to Ailintar.

First, there would certainly be an informal meeting, and then it would be accompanying Niya shopping. The former would mostly be inescapable from the topic of Demon Descendants, and as for the latter, he had been to Ailintar before, so he had less anticipation.

Just like that, about two days later, the Floating City flew from the border of Yierlan to the sky above Ailintar; of course, during this period, Xia Duo contacted the Seven Towers to synchronize relevant information, not to mention that many matters within the Tower of Time were also arranged accordingly.

For example, reviewing the applicants for the second batch of Inheritance Rituals, arranging for Saixili to increase Mithril procurement, and so on.

……

In the Public Zone of the Floating City, at Hengchun Square, Niya looked at the full view of the city visible to the naked eye below and couldn't help but exclaim:

"So this is Ailintar! It feels completely different from watching a Magic Image; it's somewhat similar to that feeling of Kemansuoer, but it appears more grand and solemn."

Niya did not mention Taiweimansa; in fact, the reputation of Taiweimansa was built on the point of being a "city on trees," and as for the city itself, if Xia Duo were to be blunt, it might not be as good as most Elf cities.

Of course, it was even less comparable to Kemansuoer or Ailintar.

"This is the Aryvandaar style; in fact, this is not the most representative one. Taier'annuo, the capital of Siluwende, is the city closest to the Aryvandaar style."

"Oh my, if I had known, I would have gone there first two days ago; it wouldn't have been much of a detour anyway," Niya said with quite a bit of regret.

Xia Duo smiled and comforted her: "There is nothing in this world that always goes exactly as one wishes. If you want to see it, after we leave Ailintar, we will take a detour to go see it."