Chapter 2466: Re-prophecy

Although Xia Duo could comfort himself with the thought that "the momentum is on my side," and the momentum of reality was indeed on his side, he still felt somewhat caught in a dilemma until things were truly accomplished.

Therefore, upon sensing that there might be variables in the matter, he immediately decided to increase his stake, attempting to nip the variables in the bud ahead of time.

Inside the Laboratory.

With a mix of complex emotions including apprehension, awe, and excitement, Xia Duo took out the Altar of Time Anchoring; this time, the incident had occurred too abruptly, leaving him no time to use a more secure method to handle it.

If he could, he would actually prefer not to over-rely on divination spells, but now, he had no choice but to use them.

Following the procedure, Xia Duo anchored the present and projected his perception in sequence, locking onto the future vision of the present he wished to see within a timeline that was constantly expanding and surging like a spring, collapsing infinite possibilities into concrete images—

Judging from the decorations and emblems on the surrounding walls, it seemed to be the Seven Cities Council, but it was a venue completely different from the one in reality, more similar to the current Council of Great Arcanists.

Inside the conference hall with its towering dome, the circular main seat in the center was extremely eye-catching; out of forty-eight seats, only two were empty, and on the periphery, the area was clearly divided into multiple fan-shaped sections.

Judging from the formal attire, the front row was likely representatives of senior Spellcasters, while the thicker sections were representatives of lords; counting them, there were nearly 250 lord representatives.

This was significantly more than the current number of Netheril Lords; seeing this scene, Xia Duo was immediately shocked. Could this be the Seven Cities Council after the revision of the Seville Covenant?

Among them, he saw himself, sitting securely in one of the forty-eight seats in the circular main seat in the center of the conference hall, wearing his signature Crimson Shelter Robe, with the Pioneer Scepter quietly hovering on his left side, though his features were somewhat blurred.

It was not just him; the faces of everyone seen in this divination were somewhat blurred, as if all of this still held great uncertainty, but being able to see this scene at least indicated that all of this was possible.

Furthermore, this scene was not a static image, but composed of multiple discontinuous segments; from the actions of the figures in the scene, it could be seen that they were negotiating a certain issue, with both the main seat and the periphery participating in the discussion.

And there were frequent disputes during the discussion, but they were all resolved by everyone voting; judging from the results of multiple votes, there were fewer than four hundred people in the venue, yet the divided factions were exceptionally chaotic, as if everyone had their own unique stance, making decisions based solely on the situation and their interests.

If one were to ask who in this scene Xia Duo paid the most attention to, besides himself, it was Yinaole; although the features were blurred and the clothing had few distinguishing characteristics, he could still tell from some of the other's subtle gestures and movements that the person was Yinaole.

In the venue, only Yinaole was sitting with his back to the Seville Covenant emblem, as if that were the main seat, and the facts were indeed so; every time a major dispute arose on the floor, it was Yinaole who stepped in to stop it and initiated a vote.

Isn't this just the textbook behavior of a Speaker or Chairman!

And judging from his seniority, Yinaole indeed possessed the qualifications to serve as Speaker; coupled with his prestige and ability, it was entirely possible for Yinaole to be the first Speaker after the revision of the Seville Covenant.

After all, the Speaker is actually, to a large extent, just a moderator, or more seriously, an arbitrator; in reality, he does not possess much privilege beyond others, and because he needs to maintain neutrality, it is even harder for him to express his own thoughts on some interest-related issues.

In other words, there are countless people supervising whoever sits in this seat; it is actually a thankless job!

Just by looking at this scene, Xia Duo saw many clues, such as the actual number of Great Arcanists in Netheril, which was neither 19, nor 19+26, but more.

Although there were only forty-eight seats in the image, in fact, some people were unwilling to participate in politics; not to mention the two who were absent, just from those Xia Duo knew, at least four Great Arcanists did not appear in the image.

Kangjienio, Bailun, Zhenna, Saville; there were only two absences in the image, indicating that at least two Great Arcanists had given up their seats on the Seven Cities Council.

Additionally, this was a future image; under his cultivation, Niya was already a Senior Arcanist, and he hadn't had time to tutor Niya since returning from the Red Heart Alliance, but as long as he could spare a moment, it would be no problem for Niya to become a Great Arcanist.

That would be one more.

Considering the necessity of having a certain amount of potential power, Xia Duo speculated that the actual number of Great Arcanists in Netheril should possibly be close to one hundred; after all, the Seven Towers had only exposed three Habitable Planes, and if there were more, it would be hard to say.

Of course, there couldn't be too many Habitable Planes, or rather, the Seven Towers couldn't be hiding too many Great Arcanists, otherwise, even a small portion of the power that leaked out would be enough to change reality (power expansion).

Therefore, Xia Duo speculated that the total number of Great Arcanists in Netheril was unlikely to exceed one hundred by much; it was probably around one hundred.

And judging from the faction choices revealed by the voting in the image, the Seven Towers were indeed not of one mind, and those extra lords and Great Arcanists were also not of one mind; many of them stood on the side of the Seven Towers in multiple votes.

Perhaps this was the variable that this divination was warning about!

Xia Duo did not know exactly what Yinaole had prepared for today's meeting, but he understood the general direction; it had been discussed long ago, basically using the Seville Covenant to pressure the Seven Towers.

The Seven Towers could not oppose the Seville Covenant themselves and would certainly try to break through from other directions, but all problems would eventually come back to the people in those few planes.

If the people in those few planes rebelled, wouldn't his and Yinaole's sincere efforts be in vain? Therefore, when thinking of variables, Xia Duo immediately thought of two points: one was Puman, and the other was the collective opinion of those three Other Planes rebelling.

In reality, it was indeed possible for Puman to rebel, because his family, friends, and even all his social connections were in the Tianshui Plane, and the Tianshui Plane was now in the hands of the Seven Towers, making it too easy to be threatened.

It was just that under normal circumstances, the Seven Towers wouldn't necessarily do anything too outrageous, but this was hard to say; after all, once several planes were connected, a decline in the strength of the Seven Towers was inevitable, and the resulting drop in prestige and reduction in power were also inevitable.

In order to maintain the power in their hands, no one knew what the Seven Towers might do; fortunately, the Seven Towers were not decided by any single individual, but by collective decision-making, so the possibility of making a rational choice was greater.

But a threat doesn't necessarily require actually doing something; it is enough to make the person being threatened believe that you are capable of doing it. Therefore, the probability of Puman rebelling existed and was relatively high.

As for the collective opinion of those three Other Planes rebelling, the possibility was not zero, but compared to Puman rebelling, it was much smaller.

From Puman's description, which had been verified by Yinaole, it was known that the Tianshui Plane had already developed to its limit under current conditions, and the people inside could not possibly be willing to continue being confined in a small box.

It would be one thing if ordinary people had no choice, but those Spellcasters clearly had a choice; it was impossible for them to follow the Seven Towers wholeheartedly, at least on the issue of whether to return to the Main Plane, there was an essential contradiction between the two sides.