Chapter 2201: A New Situation in Netheril

"Lord Xia Duo is truly optimistic! But it is indeed true; since you already possess a Floating Fortress, you are certainly much more composed when facing the Seven Towers than those of us who do not yet have one!"

"Heh!"

Xia Duo did not respond directly to this question. He knew that Weide's subtle complaints also contained a fair amount of probing—probing his attitude toward others possessing Floating Cities.

Regarding this, he had actually already prepared to provide Mythallars to the Great Arcanists of Netheril back when he was in Evereska; not just the physical objects, but even the technology was not off the table for discussion.

After all, the Seven Towers already had them; if others did not, it would very likely lead to an imbalance of power between the two sides, resulting in situations Xia Duo did not want to see.

Of course, this was merely one possibility.

The overall power of the Seven Towers was greater than the sum of all power outside the Seven Towers, but from the past to the present, the Seven Towers had always maintained the current balance of power, and it might not be any different after acquiring Floating Cities.

Because this world does not have only one isolated Netheril; the situation in the Northland and even the Main Plane is such that a single move affects the whole, and in the foreseeable future, the Seven Towers still cannot do without the support of others.

This is also one of the reasons why Xia Duo is optimistic. No matter how cleverly the Ascension Order is designed, it is only a current hypothesis or allocation for the future. Reality will not follow the designer's arrangements to do exactly as they wish.

Outside of Netheril, there is a world even broader than this. Once the hypothesis of the Ascension Order touches upon the interests of the outside world, would the outside world just sit by and watch all this happen, handing the future over to a few people in the Seven Towers?

Under these circumstances, regardless of whether there is a chance to complete the Ascension Order, it is always necessary to unite all forces that can be united to jointly resist the pressure from the outside world.

Another reason is the interior of the Seven Towers. The Seven Towers is not a specific person, but an interest group composed of countless people; there are at least seven major factions visible to the naked eye.

In the future envisioned by the Ascension Order, the positions of the superiors are eternal, unchanging, and limited. Even if one could agree with this vision, who would occupy the specific seats is still a problem!

Even if the path ahead is currently a blank slate, it is impossible to let the current superiors take whatever they want on a first-come, first-served basis. How could such an allocation involving eternal interests be settled so easily?

Xia Duo did not doubt for a moment that there were also a large number of opponents to the Ascension Order within the Seven Towers.

When it comes down to it, the so-called "Ascension Order" now is merely a bit of wind spread privately by a few current Controllers of the Seven Towers; it has not even been publicly discussed.

And the worries of Xia Duo, Weide, and others are merely worries about such a possibility. "If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand"—there is nothing wrong with this saying, but if one worries excessively, to the point of affecting normal decision-making, then it is very unnecessary.

The reason he prepared to open up Mythallars to other Great Arcanists was merely to deal with the status quo that "the Seven Towers already has them," rather than to use this to oppose the Ascension Order—a thing that does not exist in reality.

Of course, in this process, it could indeed play a certain role in curbing the formation of the Ascension Order!

Until he left the Tower of Wisdom, Xia Duo did not mention any topic related to Mythallars again. He did not really like Weide as a person; if letting the other party suffer a while longer could bring him joy, then he would do it.

Furthermore, things that can be obtained easily will not be cherished too much. How could a strategic facility like a Mythallar be easily obtained by Weide and his ilk!

The main purpose of his trip was just to confirm Weide's attitude toward the Ascension Order and the recent situation of the Seven Towers. Now that he knew, he naturally had to leave. Other things could be discussed in detail at another time and on another occasion.

Besides Weide, Magna's attitude was the same as before, but the root of his opposition to the Ascension Order did not stem from concerns about the development of arcane civilization, but from a Commoner's dissatisfaction with the Elite controlling everything.

Therefore, Xia Duo did not actually trust Magna as much as he trusted Weide, because whether Magna admitted it or not, he had already effectively become the very Elite he claimed to despise.

If one cannot objectively recognize reality, one cannot make objective and rational judgments.

Simply put, Xia Duo suspected that Magna's opposition was purely emotional; once such emotions faded or were "recharged" by the Seven Towers, his opposition would not be firm.

To put it more severely, Xia Duo believed that the reason Magna opposed the Ascension Order was simply because the ones dominating the order were the Seven Towers, not himself.

Seeing Magena again, the other party still appeared sufficiently "simple" and "straightforward," almost no different from their last meeting.

And regarding the key technology for Floating Cities that Xia Duo mentioned the Seven Towers had already acquired, Magena even bluntly stated that it could be traded, and he also wanted to obtain a copy.

Not from Xia Duo, and not from the Seven Towers, but from Yinaole.

This left Xia Duo almost speechless on the spot. What made Magena think that if the Seven Towers could obtain the key technology for Floating Cities from Yinaole, he could likewise obtain it from Yinaole?

Was it by betraying the coalition of Xia Duo and others? Or by threatening them with opposition?

Perhaps he would use some embellishments, but Xia Duo felt that the most real thought in the other party's heart might just be that.

Of course, Xia Duo would not pass judgment in a vacuum based solely on feelings. For now, Magena was still roughly trustworthy, just not as much as Weide.

As for Kelifu, Xia Duo's situation with him was the reverse of his situation with Weide: he trusted Kelifu personally very much, but he did not have as much faith in Kelifu's ability to persist in opposing the Ascension Order.

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The reason is that what Kelifu opposed was not the Ascension Order itself, but merely the possibility that mortal ascension might interfere with the Mortal Plane and lead to bad consequences.

In other words, as long as the Seven Towers could make certain promises regarding their behavior after ascension, Kelifu would turn from opposition to support on the spot.

To some extent, Xia Duo and Kelifu were opposing the same thing; the difference was that Kelifu believed the Seven Towers' promises, while Xia Duo did not.

Even if they swore an oath in the presence of the Lord of Radiance, there were too many ways to bypass it.

Not to mention that the Ascension Order itself was a very bad ideological orientation for arcane civilization; it was absolutely impossible for Xia Duo to let it appear in the world!

Of course, if he were only asking for Kelifu's attitude, Xia Duo would not have needed to make the trip in person; he had long since determined Kelifu's stance. His visit to Kelifu's Territory this time was mainly to inquire about the results of the investigation he had asked the other party to conduct last time.

Regarding the Illuminati and the Elan Kingdom.

If he could get the results he wanted, then the Northland Alliance would return to its previous state of thirteen member states.

However, Xia Duo was not very optimistic about this, because judging from the fact that he had not received a reply from Kelifu recently, either the investigation had no results yet, or the results might not be what he had imagined.