Chapter 267: Passing the Buck

This spell is a 3rd Circle Spell; even if Xia Duo didn't touch other spells, the number of times he could practice it daily was very limited. Accumulating enough flight experience would likely take quite some time! "What a chicken rib!" Xia Duo sighed, yet he continued to experiment with it as if it were truly delightful.

Regardless, this was a Flight Spell; being able to fly, even if it was a monkey-version, had its value.

After a few attempts, Xia Duo mastered the technique for flying in a straight line, but turning still required more practice. As for more flamboyant maneuvers, those couldn't be mastered in a short time.

Piloting the Flying Chair, he felt as if he had returned to the time when he had just learned to drive, always wanting to take it out for a spin whenever he had the chance.

However, he could not cast Magic at will; he had to maintain a certain level of autonomous spellcasting ability at all times. As for stored spells, those were for emergencies, and Xia Duo wouldn't even touch them unless necessary.

He would only replace some spells based on the actual situation.

For instance, the 【Flying Chair】; this spell required a significant amount of time for autonomous casting, and in a critical moment, that time might be the difference between life and death, so it had to be stored in the Magic Net for instant casting at any time.

This time, Xia Duo stayed in the wild for quite a while, finally using the 【Blade of Veto】 to wipe away the Magic Aura of the Spell Residue before heading toward the West Gate of the town.

……

During these past few days, although he had been researching flight Magic, he had not forgotten the negotiations with those cooperative merchant guilds; introducing population to the Territory was also no small matter.

He hadn't thought of it before, but now Xia Duo simply let it go completely. He let those merchant guilds scour for people as much as possible, regardless of race, as long as they were obedient and could work; he would provide food and housing, they just needed to come.

While walking back, Xia Duo was still fantasizing about how many people he could bring back next time; it would be great if he could get a few hundred or a few thousand.

Returning to the Mage Tower, the Tower Spirit notified him—the Mentor was summoning him! "Coming!"

Xia Duo's heart jumped, but then it calmed down. The future seemed uncertain, but he was full of confidence in his own judgment.

Arriving at the lord's Study, the light here today was the same as usual, bright but not glaring. Xia Duo saw Niya sitting behind the desk at a glance.

Her complexion was pale, but her eyes were very bright, and her hair was tucked behind her ears, making her look quite spirited. It seemed that three days had passed, and she had recovered quite a bit.

"Mentor!" Xia Duo saluted.

"Mm, sit." Niya's clear voice came, not as hoarse and weak as it was three days ago, but there was still a sense of deep-seated frailty, "Uncle Aiboke stopped you; I was unaware of it."

Uh—

Xia Duo did not respond, but instead said: "Mentor, I have a very important matter to discuss."

"Oh?" Niya's body swayed slightly, as if adjusting her sitting posture, and her tone carried a hint of curiosity, "What matter? Is it something you were prepared to say three days ago?"

Xia Duo stepped forward a few paces and took out several items he had prepared in advance from his Dimensional Bag—the two Account Books he had swiped from Lao Nier, the secret map within the account books, and the Great Xia Ling Map traced by Lord Aipusi's spellcasting.

He placed them one by one on Niya's desk, especially the two maps, on which Xia Duo had already outlined the similar areas with faint strokes.

Looking at Niya's puzzled gaze, Xia Duo said calmly: "Mentor, I have discovered an Elf Ruins in the Daxia Territory!"

"Mm, and?" Niya's attitude was very indifferent. An Elf Ruins was not enough to move her; there were no shortage of Elf Ruins within the borders of Netheril, but those with real value were few and far between.

Since it was called a ruin, it naturally meant it was either abandoned or destroyed, and its value was limited. If the value were very high, the Elves there would not have disappeared.

If that was all Xia Duo had to say, then she would be disappointed.

"Mentor, this ruin is inside a Mythallar." Xia Duo pointed to the point on the map representing the Mythallar and added, "The Mythallar is still running to this day!"

When saying "Mythallar," Xia Duo used Elvish, because this word did not have a good corresponding term in the Netherese language.

Although the Projection Plane of Sukanweisa City did not have a Mythallar, there was a military fortress in both the east and west directions, and the Mythallar there could cover Sukanweisa City.

It could be said that the entire border of Maiyelita was under the coverage of a Mythallar.

When Xia Duo was learning Elvish, the thing that left the deepest impression on him was the "Mythallar." Any Elf would mention a Mythallar with awe and longing.

"Mythallar?" Niya murmured. The expression on her face was finally no longer indifferent, and after repeating it a few times, Niya suddenly stood up from her chair.

"You wait here for a moment!"

After saying this, she disappeared, but immediately appeared again, grabbed the two maps on the desk, and disappeared again.

This scene left Xia Duo stunned. Wasn't she uninterested? Why such a big reaction? But then he thought of another problem: if the Tower of Time wasn't interested, what should he do? All his previous considerations were about passing the buck, and he hadn't considered the possibility of the Tower of Time not accepting it.

If the Tower of Time really didn't take the buck, he would be in a real bind. The appearance of an Elf Ruins in his Territory was a good thing, but he was too weak; he feared he wouldn't have the fortune to enjoy it!

Xia Duo hadn't forgotten the Elf Mage at the edge of the Green Pearl Forest. So much time had passed, and it seemed there was no movement, but who knew if they would pop up again when the Mythallar was exposed!

However, looking at how urgent Niya was when she left just now, this buck should have been successfully passed.

Xia Duo, who had secretly breathed a sigh of relief, found a place to sit down and began to read carefully the copied book, "From Entry to Mastery of 【Levitation】".

……

On the other side, in the Reception Room outside a Research Lab in the Tower of Time, Niya kept urging the Tower Spirit, "Tower Spirit, notify my father; I have an urgent matter to find him!"

Although the succession procedure of the Tower of Time had reached the final step, as long as Lord Aipusi was alive, Niya was only the successor, not the master.

But as the successor with Permission Level second only to Lord Aipusi, she could interrupt the Mage Tower master's research in an emergency.

"Successor Niya, the master has instructed not to disturb him unless there is an urgent matter." The Tower Spirit had repeated this sentence many times.

"I have an urgent matter now!" Niya repeated.

"……" The Tower Spirit was silent.

Niya was furious. If the Tower Spirit didn't have a physical form, she would have been ready to drag it out and give it a beating, "Tower Spirit, notify my father; I have an urgent matter to find him."

"Successor Niya, pre-set conditions triggered, master has been notified, please wait!"

"……" This time it was Niya's turn to be silent.

Inside the Research Lab, Lord Aipusi was leaning against a bookshelf with his brows tightly locked, flipping through a palm-thick Magic Book. Above the book, various transformations and combinations of the Magic Net String were constantly being demonstrated.

Just then, the Tower Spirit's voice suddenly sounded, "Master, Successor Niya triggered a notification."

Then, Niya's voice appeared in the room, the very same sentence repeated over and over, "Tower Spirit, notify my father; I have an urgent matter to find him."

(End of chapter)