Chapter 2956: Even Against a Thousand Men, I Shall Go Forward

Inside the temporary Xiu Xi Shi on the fourth floor of the Friendship Tower.

Xia Duo had what could be called a heart-to-heart exchange with Prince Fusi regarding issues such as comprehensive testing and how to handle Demon Descendants afterward; there was absolutely no need to conceal anything when it came to matters involving stances and principles.

Otherwise, if the other party misjudged the situation, should one blame oneself for not making things clear? Or blame others for not being able to fathom one's thoughts?

As for whether stating one's stance and principles clearly would push others to the opposite side, one could only say there was no need to worry about that at all; if a person could not even uphold their own stance and principles, what else could they do?

Since one has upheld their own stance and principles, why worry about enemies?

A sage from my hometown once said, "If upon self-reflection I find myself upright, I shall go forward even against a thousand men." Here, "upright" does not mean retreating, but rather being righteous; that is to say, if self-reflection deems one's cause just, I will press forward courageously even if a thousand people oppose me.

Xia Duo deeply agreed with this.

Therefore, while he certainly hoped to have more friends and allies, he did not wish to cater to or associate with allies who were never meant to walk the same path by distorting his own stance.

The saying "those with different Daos cannot make plans together" refers precisely to this.

After chatting with Fusi for a while, Xia Duo also understood the attitude of the Akaola Kingdom. Aside from worrying about being implicated in the turmoil caused by the comprehensive testing, they were not extremely hostile toward Demon Descendants themselves, and to a certain extent, even harbored some sympathy.

This was not hard to understand. For thousands of years, Akaola had remained in a corner; even if there had been acts of persecuting Demon Descendants in the past, they had been closed off from the world for a millennium, and many things had likely faded from memory.

Without the constant stimulation from other Northland countries regarding sensitivity toward Demon Descendants, and most importantly—Akaola was now half a vassal of Netheril, so following closely in Netheril's footsteps was an inevitable choice.

And Xia Duo now represented Netheril before Prince Fusi; expressing his stance to Xia Duo was the same as expressing it to Netheril.

After discussing the topic of comprehensive testing, Xia Duo could not help but mention the construction of the Akaola sub-network for the Public Computing Resource Pool. Prince Fusi had also been prepared for this aspect and replied immediately:

"Another purpose of my visit this time is to collect the relevant data manuals from the Alliance Psionic Network Research Center. My father has entrusted the task of assembling the sub-network in our country to me. If things go smoothly, it should be initially completed by May."

Akaola had a relatively small population, only slightly more than Evereska. If it weren't for the fact that the manufacturing of the Connectors, Gateways, and Transfer Devices required for networking took time, it might have been completed before May.

Now, Prince Fusi once again demonstrated Akaola's highly supportive attitude toward the Public Computing Power Pool. Xia Duo was very satisfied with this and told Fusi:

"Before May, the Alliance Main Network will be completed. Once the Akaola sub-network is built, we can conduct grid-connection tests first so that if any problems are discovered, they can be resolved in advance."

Xia Duo did not need to say much about the benefits of entering normal operation ahead of schedule; Fusi could figure it out himself, and he expressed his gratitude to Xia Duo once again.

Soon, ten minutes had passed. Xia Duo and Fusi had said just about everything that needed to be said; the rest was nothing more than some idle chatter about this and that, which was not particularly interesting.

"Let's go, to the ceremony site. Don't keep others waiting too long."

The opening ceremony for Akaola's fine handmade goods did not differ much from traditional opening ceremonies, except for the addition of some unique characteristics from various countries.

According to the procedure, the shop owner first introduced the origin, business scope, and superior qualities of the shop to the onlookers, and then invited some respected Elders to offer a few words of congratulation, which was considered mostly complete.

Here, Xia Duo acted in the role of a respected Elder. To avoid stealing the spotlight, he simply said a few words according to the speech Aoruipusi had prepared for him in advance.

Afterward, it was time for the "Flourishing Flowers Welcoming Guests" segment, a must-have for traditional opening ceremonies. Ordinary shops would give away various prepared fresh flowers to passersby, while higher-end ones would prepare the flowers on the spot.

They would invite a few Mages skilled in growth Spells to use pre-prepared seeds to urge the flowers to bloom on the spot. Inviting a Druid was absolutely out of the question, as that would instead lower the shop's class.

Generally speaking, one would rather prepare the flowers in advance than invite a Druid to urge them to bloom on the spot.

Xia Duo felt quite disdainful of such prejudice, but for the time being, this kind of prejudice was not something he, an outsider, could reverse; it required self-awakening within the Elves.

After "Flourishing Flowers Welcoming Guests," it was time for discount promotions. With the preceding welcoming segment, even if customers didn't buy anything, most would not refuse to go in and take a look.

It was just that there were really quite a lot of people watching the excitement at this opening. If they hadn't borrowed a team of city guards from Laruian in advance, it might have triggered a riot.

After the ceremony, Xia Duo returned to the Alliance Headquarters, while Fusi stayed at the shop for the time being. Xia Duo didn't bother with that and returned to his own territory—the Psionic Network Research Center—and went straight to where the Gateway was located.

Currently, four or five Elf Mages were observing and recording the status of the Gateway. Seeing Xia Duo arrive, they saluted immediately and reported:

"Consultant Xia Duo, the Main Network is completely normal!"

Xia Duo nodded, swept his gaze quickly across the hall, and then asked the Elf in front of him: "How many Nodes are online now?"

The Nodes here did not refer to the users of the Spirit Thought Network, but to the Gateway Nodes. For the sake of network security, the new architecture Xia Duo designed used one hundred users as a basic unit.

That is to say, one hundred Mages formed a Spirit Thought Network of the smallest scale and connected to other networks through at least one Gateway Magic Tool.

There was at most one Gateway between the Alliance Main Network and each national Sub-network, and there were no direct Gateway connections between the various national Sub-networks.

The reason for asking how many Nodes were online was, to a certain extent, also asking how many users the Main Network had, only with more emphasis on the Gateway level.

"Four are already online. The Alliance can only reach this level internally. The rest requires cooperation from the Evereska side. I will send someone over to urge them later, and I believe we will see results very soon."

It was difficult for just four Nodes to support the parallel connection of multiple large Sub-networks, but the existence of Nodes also required the support of users; it was impossible for one user to use one Node, which was unrealistic.

Therefore, it was necessary to use the local users of Evereska as the cornerstone of the Main Network. As the location of the Alliance Headquarters, Evereska should also bear such an obligation.

By doing this, the benefit to the Alliance was naturally having a solid Main Network foundation, sufficient to support the parallel connection of other national Sub-networks, while Evereska did not need to consider the construction costs of the Public Computing Power Pool and could instead share in the dividends after the Computing Power Pool began operation.

It was practically sitting back and collecting money.

"Hurry and go urge them. Don't forget, our goal is to have the Main Network built by the end of the month. After that, debugging will take time. If there are no accidents, a Sub-network will be connected by early May. Pick up the pace!"

"Yes, I will go urge them right away."

This Mage was also an impatient one. Hearing Xia Duo's words, they didn't consider letting others go urge them, but went personally. Xia Duo watched the other party leave, thought for a moment, and sent a message to Elder Laruian, also with the intention of urging.

After finishing these things, Xia Duo began to inspect the activated and online Gateway Magic Tools in the hall one by one.