Chapter 2905: Action Begins, Ansai Mountains

The efficiency of the Northland Alliance was much higher than Xia Duo had anticipated; on that very day, Mages in the action group's Spirit Thought Network began discussing the necessity of establishing a standing Mage corps.

Such discussions largely diluted the restlessness of waiting aimlessly for the Demon Descendant signals, and among the discussions of the various senior and high-level Mages, they were also more inclined to favor the establishment of a standing Mage corps.

Upon learning of this situation, Xia Duo roughly understood that this proposal would likely have no suspense, because these Mages from various countries were to a large extent also high-level officials of their respective countries, or at least a group with considerable say.

Their approval also reflected the attitude of the upper echelons of the various Elf countries; just like Badijiaer, for something where the benefits could be clearly seen, what reason was there to oppose it?

In the end, it was nothing more than a dispute over the candidate for commander, which was different from Netheril; because the Seven Towers held executive power in Netheril, if such a rapid response team were established, the commander would in all likelihood be someone from the Seven Towers.

But the Northland Alliance had no executive power, nor could any single party occupy absolute dominance; as for who the commander would eventually be, Xia Duo privately speculated that it might be someone sent by the Five Kingdoms in rotation.

This was also a result that could be accepted by all parties.

Outside of the Spirit Thought Network, the Northland Alliance also revealed the news of establishing a standing Mage corps, but unlike the Grey Peak Mountains Resource Management Committee, establishing a standing Mage corps or establishing a Public Computing Resource Pool was still just a rumor and not the final result.

But even so, it still caused frequent heated discussions within the city of Evereska, and even within Xia Duo's Yunfeng Manor, workers would chat about this topic during their breaks.

But regardless of the rumors outside, for those in the know, it could not cover up the Demon Descendant conspiracy revealed behind the Time Line Fluctuation Signal.

It was just that three or four days had passed, and the Time Line Fluctuation Signal had only appeared in the first two days, rarely appearing afterward; this was the fundamental reason why the temporarily assembled action personnel, including Xia Duo, were restless.

Because they did not know how much longer they would have to wait, there was simply no definite answer.

Even if the discussion about the standing Mage corps temporarily diluted this restlessness, as long as this standing Mage corps was not officially established, there would always come a time when this group of people, including Xia Duo, would lose their patience and disperse.

So when would that be?

……

This morning, Xia Duo was distracted, using his main body at the Tower of Time to trial-produce a Netheril-Elven Magic System Translation Device, when unexpectedly, in the action group's Spirit Thought Network over in Evereska, two intelligence officers sent a message that was the last thing Xia Duo wanted to hear—

"The monitoring center has detected Time Line Fluctuation Signals again, but there is not just one; there are two!"

If there were only one signal at a time, even if it appeared multiple times, it could always be identified one by one and then determined whether to take action; but if there were more than one signal detected at the same time, then the trouble would be huge!

The most obvious problem was, once two signals exceeding 6 minutes appeared, which one should Xia Duo's action team go to handle first?

Or was it that from this moment on, the probing of the Demon Descendants had already succeeded, and from now on, every signal had to be checked?

This was a psychological battle between the Northland Alliance and the Demon Descendants; perhaps the signals discovered now were still probes, or perhaps they were actual actions. If it were the latter, waiting until 6 minutes had passed to start dealing with it would clearly be too late.

At the very least, Xia Duo could not rush to another location to resolve another ritual after finishing one.

"What do the representatives say? Are we to investigate them one by one? Or wait for 6 minutes?"

It was not just Xia Duo; most of the Mages in the action group had already begun to question the intelligence officers, and after inquiring, Xia Duo even sent a message directly to the intelligence officers' superior, Dumu, to ask for the opinion of the Alliance high-level officials.

Only less than two minutes later, Dumu and the intelligence officers sent messages one after another—

"The higher-ups have decided to investigate one by one. Please prepare for action. The monitoring center is currently locating the two newly discovered signals and has already dispatched investigators in the general direction. Once the exact location is determined and it is confirmed that a ritual is taking place, please go immediately to stop it."

After receiving such news, the Spirit Thought Network suddenly fell silent, and what followed was a short yet long wait.

The "short" was that the time was indeed very short, certainly not needing six minutes; it was estimated that it would only take three or four minutes to accurately locate them. The "long" was the psychological state of waiting; no one knew whether taking this step would successfully dismantle the Demon Descendant conspiracy or allow the Demon Descendants to complete their probe.

But regardless, the Alliance high-level officials had chosen to rather let the Demon Descendants probe the existence of the Time Line Fluctuation Signal monitoring technology than to risk waiting, thereby giving the Demon Descendants a chance to complete the ritual.

Any sign that might allow the ritual to be completed had to be nipped in the bud; this was also the original purpose of the establishment of the Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory.

Currently, the Alliance held a certain degree of initiative; unless the Demon Descendants improved their technology or abandoned the ritual, the ritual could not succeed.

And even if they improved their technology, the Alliance was also researching and progressing; it just depended on who was more brilliant.

……

In the process of waiting, the two intelligence officers were also constantly synchronizing the positioning results from the monitoring center and the field investigation situation from the Demon-born Intelligence Office—

"One of the two signal sources is in the northwest direction, and one is in the southwest direction. The one in the northwest can be roughly determined to be in the Ansai Mountains between Yierlan and Shaerwen, and the one in the southwest might be on the southern border of Shaerwen."

When a Time Line Fluctuation Signal first appears, only a general range can be determined; as the duration increases, the positioning accuracy becomes more precise.

Xia Duo temporarily abandoned all activities of his main body and transferred all his consciousness to his avatar in Evereska, settling his heart to wait patiently.

Of course, the other members of the action group also gathered around Xia Duo at this moment, and everyone waited quietly in a Secret Ritual Chamber within the Alliance Headquarters, ready to depart at any time.

……

Just like that, time passed bit by bit, and the locations of the two signal sources gradually became smaller and smaller in range from the initial northwest and southwest directions.

Soon, the location of the signal in the northwest direction was determined first—

"The signal in the northwest direction is actually at the Demon Descendant base discovered previously! Although it was confirmed that it had been destroyed before, the Alliance still set up secret monitoring outposts nearby. Now, the location of this signal in the northwest is finally determined by combining the reports from the secret outposts and the positioning from the monitoring center."

Only a little over a minute had passed, and the location of the first signal had already been determined; it had to be said that there was some luck involved, but now that luck had arrived, would one push it away?

"The outpost in the Ansai Mountains reported that just a short while ago, a group of mysterious people wearing black robes appeared outside that Demon Descendant base, and after that, some abnormal light fluctuations were transmitted from the direction of that base."