Chapter 288: Upgrade Program

She could not wait a single moment; since the Mage Tower was unharmed, why would her father suddenly die? Even if she might encounter danger, she could no longer care about that.

"Master, the Tower of Time is damaged and cannot guide teleportation."

The Tower Spirit's feedback made Niya's heart sink once again. "What exactly happened over there? How could my father..."

"..." The Tower Spirit stuttered at first, then replied: "Elf Advanced Rank Mages attacked. Mage Aipusi, Mage Aipusi, Mage Aipusi—"

When it reached the end, the Tower Spirit began to stutter again, making Niya's anger flare up. Fortunately, the communication between the Tower Spirit and the Tower Master was not limited to words; there was a deeper level of information exchange.

After receiving the subconscious signal from Niya wanting to obtain more detailed information, the Tower Spirit immediately transmitted a series of perceived images—

From the Mage Tower descending and imprisoning the Elf Mages, to the Mythallar suddenly mutating and an Advanced Rank Mage descending, to the Advanced Rank Mage probing multiple times to no avail, and at the cost of the Mythallar's destruction, charging into the Mage Tower, taking away the Star Dew Scepter, and finally, that one finger.

Seeing the end, Niya let out a cry of surprise. "Father isn't dead?!"

The Tower Spirit did not respond, but Niya had already concluded that her father was not dead. She truly could not accept the reality of her father's death. Rubbing her cheeks, Niya tried hard to put on a relaxed appearance.

Although the Mage Tower was currently damaged and her father was injured, the enemy had already disappeared; everything would be alright!

"By the way, where is Uncle Aiboke?"

Only then did she remember Aiboke, who had teleported over in advance. The information the Tower Spirit had just transmitted did not mention Aiboke, and doubt welled up in Niya's heart.

As the thought arose in her mind, the Tower Spirit immediately replied, "Master, Mage Aiboke was affected by the destruction of the Mythallar and is currently in a comatose state!"

Subsequently, the Tower Spirit transmitted an image: Aiboke's Mage Robe was torn, and he was lying not far from the Tower of Time, right in a chaotic area of the Magic Net. However, those randomly generated Magic Effects would dissipate on their own after touching Aiboke's body.

"It's Uncle Aiboke!"

Niya knew that Aiboke had already advanced to an Arcanist. Arcane Fire could passively smooth out the Magic Net, but when an Arcanist was unconscious, it was hard to predict how much of an effect it could still have.

Perhaps it could be immune to 0 Ring and 1st Circle Spells, but more Advanced Rank spells—

"Tower Spirit, is there any way for me to return to the Tower of Time immediately?"

It was not just because of Aiboke; Niya wanted to confirm her father's condition even more. Although he appeared unharmed for now, the sudden activation of the inheritance program still cast a shadow over Niya's heart.

"Master, no!"

But the Tower Spirit also provided two alternative options—

One was to have the Mages currently in the Tower of Time repair the relevant Magic Array to restore the guided teleportation function.

The other was to initiate the upgrade program. This was the reverse operation of the downgrade program. Doing so could immediately restore the relevant functions, but the damage to the Mage Tower itself would not be repaired, and doing this would instead make it impossible to downgrade again before repairs.

The Mage Tower's low-energy state used a large number of low-rank Magic Arrays to replace Advanced Rank Magic Arrays; after upgrading, intact Advanced Rank Magic Arrays would replace the damaged low-rank Magic Arrays.

The Tower of Time's highest energy state was 11th Ring, which meant it had 11 sets of backup Magic Arrays (the rank of a Mage Tower's Magic Array is high, which has nothing to do with actual combat power; even in a low-energy state, it can maintain 11th Ring combat power).

Of course, considering that some Magic Arrays involve various energy states simultaneously, the actual number of backup Magic Arrays cannot reach 11 sets.

Now Niya was facing two choices: one was to wait for the Mages in the Mage Tower to repair it, and the other was to risk the inability to downgrade and upgrade to obtain full functionality.

If she did this, once she encountered an enemy capable of isolating the Magic Net again, she would be unable to use the lowered energy state to maintain combat power, and the Mage Tower would be no different from a stone tower.

"Execute the upgrade program!" Niya had almost no hesitation.

The current Mage Tower was already damaged, and key functions were lost; it was hard to say if it could continue to be downgraded. Rather than sitting and waiting for repairs, it was better to upgrade first to obtain full functionality.

As for enemies capable of isolating the Magic Net, Niya could not look that far ahead; she had to take care of the immediate situation first. With the teleportation function lost, not only could people outside not get in, but people inside could not get out.

"Master, upgrade program in progress, please wait—"

The higher the energy level of a Mage Tower, the higher the efficiency. Upgrading and downgrading were also related to this; the higher the energy level, the faster the upgrade and downgrade speed.

Currently, the Tower of Time was in a 6th Ring state, so in reality, only the Magic Arrays in the 6th Ring state had suffered damage, and this damage might involve Magic Arrays in lower energy states.

But the upgrade would bypass these damaged Magic Arrays and replace them with fewer Advanced Rank Magic Arrays, which was why it could obtain full functionality. Conversely, after the upgrade, because the relevant Magic Arrays were already damaged, it would be impossible to downgrade.

While waiting, Niya paced back and forth between the pillars, occasionally praying toward the main hall inside.

The cheers from the celebration outside continued, occasionally impacting the Temple, but Niya seemed to hear no sound at all, focused solely on the completion of the upgrade!

However, since she had to leave later, the aftermath of the celebration also had to be handled well. Currently, Uncle Aiboke and her Phantom were still being maintained by her; once she left, the Phantom would dissipate.

There had to be an explanation.

Otherwise, if the Mage Tower disappeared first and then the acting lord disappeared—the lord himself had never appeared—who knew what kind of chaos would happen later!

The excuse of a secret experiment could fool ordinary people, but it could not fool the members of the Tower of Time.

As Niya paced, she searched for an excuse. A moment later, the Tower Spirit transmitted information: "Upgrade complete, currently in 7th Ring state, function restoration progress 87%, can guide teleportation."

Sigh—

Since it had already begun, she was not afraid to see it through to the end. Niya calmly ordered: "Continue the upgrade!"

However, she did not have to wait for all functions to be restored before teleporting. She could no longer wait. After giving a few instructions to Bishop Anbulier, who was presiding with her, Niya controlled the two Phantoms to enter the Temple and let them dissipate.

"Tower Spirit, guide teleportation!"

On the other side, inside the Tower of Time.

Xia Duo was checking around his residence. Just now, the Magic Net had suddenly become chaotic, accompanied by a brief and intense earthquake. Although it returned to normal quickly, he could no longer calm his mind.

Previously, he had guessed that there might be enemies attacking the Mage Tower. Although the Tower Spirit had issued a warning and the Spell Laboratory had been deactivated, there had been no major impact in the end.

But now, the sudden chaos of the Magic Net was very abnormal; at the very least, Xia Duo had never encountered such a thing before.

Not to mention inside the Mage Tower, even in the normal outside world, he had never seen such an abnormal state of the Magic Net. He felt that something must have happened outside!

Or perhaps, the Mage Tower had already fallen into a disadvantage and was about to be breached by the enemy?

Xia Duo was shocked, suddenly having a bad premonition. He hurriedly put everything he could pack into his Personal Space and cast a Protective Spell on himself.

Then, while probing the Tower Spirit, which had remained unresponsive since the warning was issued, he patiently waited for a possible chance to escape.