Chapter 2849: The Dilemma of the Seven Cities

The teleportation of Yongle City from the Blue Crystal Plane back to the Main Plane naturally caused quite a stir; almost the instant Yongle City appeared in the skies above the Nan Jing, the Northland Alliance detected a large-scale Supermagic Event occurring within the borders of Netheril.

However, upon discovering that the Supermagic Event had occurred in the Nan Jing of Netheril, the discoverer did not report it immediately. After all, alerts for Supermagic Events came from the Nan Jing every few days, as was the case for many regions within the five major nations.

Currently, the Northland Alliance is discussing revisions to the Magic Restriction Treaty, so as long as these Supermagic Events do not occur in sensitive areas, the discoverers generally only record them without reporting them.

It was not until Yongle City teleported to the skies above the Langas Plain in the far west of Netheril that the Northland Alliance's monitor for that day's Supermagic Events sensed something was wrong, because just a bit further past the Langas Plain lay the now extremely sensitive Grey Peak Mountains.

The region where that Giant Mithril Mine is located!

Consequently, there was a flurry of activity in the monitoring room, and the discoverer immediately reported to their superior.

……

Meanwhile, in Seventon, inside a private Reception Room of the Arcane Union, after Xia Duo sent Yongle City to the skies above the Langas Plain, he received an invitation from Badijiaer, as expected—

"I happen to be at the Arcane Union on some business; does Councilor Xia Duo have time to meet?"

Xia Duo certainly did not believe it was such a coincidence that Badijiaer had come to the Arcane Union; otherwise, he had already met several councilors here, and he had never seen Badijiaer take the initiative to propose a meeting.

Langasier certainly did not think that Xia Duo had introduced the naming of the Floating City to him without any intention; almost instantly, he understood Xia Duo's intention, and thus he secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Just like the first Floating City, "Changan," which took its name from "long-term stability and peace," Yongle naturally had its own meaning, derived from the sentiment: "May the nation be forever peaceful, and the people forever enjoy happiness and tranquility."

"The Council has already reached a consensus. Regarding the newly discovered Mithril Mine, provided there is no conflict, Netheril will strive for it if it can; if it cannot be contested, at least a guaranteed share must be secured. There is no need to clash with the Elves while we are in a period of high-speed development. Regardless of the current outcome, there will always be a time for reckoning in the future."

"So that's how it is!"

But when Badijiaer heard these words, he did not appear relaxed; instead, he frowned and revealed a bitter smile, "The current Seventon Council is no longer like the past; the Council can no longer fully dominate. If the Council is willing not to contest it, others may not necessarily be willing. Especially those people from the Tianshui Three Planes; having just returned from the Sub-plane, they are in urgent need of various accumulations. This newly discovered ownerless Mithril Mine is simply like a pie falling from the sky; how could they easily give it up?"

In fact, explaining the meaning of the Floating City's name to Badijiaer was also a way of indicating his own attitude toward Netheril and the situation in the Northland—he wanted long-term stability and peace, and he wanted happiness and tranquility; he did not want turmoil to arise.

Regarding this, Langasier's subsequent reply explained this issue, "The Council has indeed already talked to them. They demand that the Council either compensate for the resources previously owed to the Tianshui Three Planes or support them in obtaining a larger share from the newly discovered Mithril Mine. No matter how they choose, they will not be at a loss."

After all, the Floating City had already been moved near the Grey Peak Mountains; if one still thought about hiding it at this time, wouldn't that be treating everyone like a fool!

"A wise move!" Xia Duo exclaimed.

If new Floating Cities are built in the future, perhaps they will be named "Taiping," "Yongan," "Kaiyuan," or "Jianwu." Of course, it is also possible they will take other names; there is no certainty yet.

Upon receiving Xia Duo's affirmative answer, Badijiaer breathed a slight sigh of relief, but the shock in his heart did not subside at all; instead, it became even more intense.

Ever since the main body of the first Floating City was returned to the Strait Mountains, the Council had been trying to build a second Floating City. To this day, they had only built a prototype; it could fool people if taken out, but it could not deceive themselves.

"Was the Magic Net disturbance that just occurred in the Nan Jing and the Langas Plain your new Floating City?"

Xia Duo had previously only heard from his teacher Iolum about the conflict between the councilors of the Tianshui Three Planes and the Council, and Iolum, as an outsider, had not said much about the details.

Just before meeting Zhenna, he had met several councilors from the Tianshui Three Planes who intended to align with him. From those councilors, he had indeed heard some not-so-good news, but those councilors had said before leaving that they were confident they could persuade the other councilors of the Tianshui Three Planes.

"Has the Council already talked to them?" Xia Duo asked.

"Could it be that Councilor Xia Duo has some ideas about the Mithril Mine discovered in the Grey Peak Mountains?"

However, Xia Duo did not refuse Badijiaer's invitation, but instead stated the location of his Reception Room. A moment later, Badijiaer walked in from outside with a hint of gravity on his face.

"Of course I have ideas, but I will certainly obey the Council's resolution. Sending Yongle City there is merely to deal with the unexpected. If there are no surprises, Yongle City will not leave the Nether Territory."

Xia Duo stood up to welcome him. After the two sat down, neither side spoke first for a moment. Finally, Langasier could not help but ask first:

"Even for the Great Arcanists hidden behind the scenes, we have provided treatment consistent with their status as much as possible. Now, the compensation they are demanding is entirely based on the potential income they would have had if they had stood at the forefront from the very beginning and operated everything independently. They are demanding assets comparable to local Great Arcanists. Does Councilor Xia Duo think the Council should agree to such a demand?"

Now that he heard more details from Badijiaer, the person involved, he could not help but be surprised by the greed of those councilors from the Tianshui Three Planes.

Then what was Badijiaer worried about now?

After finishing, Xia Duo also introduced the name of Yongle City to Langasier.

He could not figure out how Xia Duo could have built a new Floating City so quickly; the only explanation was that he had already started planning and building it a long time ago, or even while building the first Floating City.

However, this was only Langasier's one-sided account. Perhaps there were other hidden circumstances that Langasier found inconvenient to mention. As an outsider, Xia Duo did not know the full picture and found it difficult to judge who was right and who was wrong.

"Yes, does Speaker Langasier have any advice?" Xia Duo admitted this very frankly; he was not prepared to hide anything regarding this.

After finishing, Langasier, as if worried that Xia Duo did not understand the inside story, added a few extra words of explanation, "In the past, the Tianshui Three Planes belonged to the Council. We did not skimp on the resources that should have been invested. We did not owe the ordinary people in those Sub-planes anything; we even treated them better than those in the homeland.

"I didn't expect Councilor Xia Duo to have built another Floating City in such a short time; this efficiency truly makes the Council feel ashamed!" Langasier said with quite a bit of emotion.

However, his visit to see Xia Duo this time was not to discuss the efficiency of building Floating Cities, but to directly ask about Xia Duo's purpose in sending the Floating City to the Langas Plain: