Chapter 2986: Protatis

————It will be a bit late~~

————

After the New Covenant was signed, one of the long-term tasks of the Arcane Union was to promote the sharing of monitoring data regarding teleportation signals among Mage Towers in various regions, thereby establishing a territory-wide monitoring system for teleportation.

However, many Mages like to run around and do not wish for their whereabouts to be under constant surveillance, so this work has actually tended to fizzle out by now.

Like Xia Duo and Huo En this time, those who hold real power can easily sneak into almost every Mage Tower registered with the Union, but the reality is that not all Mage Tower Controllers can obtain such real power.

It could even be said that the vast majority cannot possibly possess such real power.

Under these circumstances, how many Mage Tower Controllers are willing to share their own data! Doing so is essentially ceding a portion of power to the Arcane Union to form a situation beneficial to the public.

It is just a pity that what is beneficial to the public is not necessarily beneficial to the individual.

This is likely the contradiction between individual interests and collective interests.

Right now, the Delake Territory that Xia Duo and Huo En have arrived at has not even deployed Warning Magic at the territory borders, so asking them to share teleportation signal monitoring data is actually somewhat redundant.

As for passive detection, perhaps there is, perhaps there isn't, but Xia Shao treats it as if there isn't; he has done his best to simulate an abnormal environment, and if he were still discovered like this, there would truly be no way around it.

The Mage Tower of Luo Ke Territory is likely not as good as the Tower of Time, so Xia Shao stopped about one kilometer away from the Mage Tower.

It is not that he cannot monitor further, and he could extend his Perception in a specific direction if necessary, but that is not the norm; the norm is at most about one kilometer.

Xia Shao guesses that it should be that the first-generation Lord of Luo Ke Territory, in order to prevent assassins, established a True Sight Barrier capable of covering the core area of the territory on the basis of several True Sight Gemstones, only the descendants were incompetent and failed to maintain it properly.

This kind of territory is a typical case of living off past glory; the lord might not even be able to achieve the status of an Archmage, and this situation is actually very rare in the Inner Land where there is only zero-sum competition.

How much of the actual effect remains is also hard to say.

However, Xia Shao has no need to take risks; it is very obvious that the original True Sight Barrier has already failed, and the remaining Gemstones can only cover an extremely small area, so he can just go around it, there is no need to be stubborn and force his way through.

"Stop!"

"Is that so? Why didn't I notice?"

Upon stopping like this, Ruier asked again: "Going around again?"

There is nothing much to say about Luo Ke Territory in the last dozen years or so; like the previous Delake Territory, it has declined, but the ancestral foundation may not have been completely squandered.

Xia Shao revealed the Starlight Gloves on his right hand and grabbed that Arcane Crystal in his hand; compared to ordinary Scrying Spells, the War Spell 【Wide-Area Detection】 is clearly more effective.

"What's wrong? Did you find something?" Ruier asked.

"There is a True Sight Gemstone hanging on the bridge ahead."

Ruier did not doubt that Xia Shao was lying to him, he was just somewhat surprised by Xia Shao's insight, and at the same time very puzzled—even he hadn't noticed it, so how exactly did Xia Shao discover it!

Xia Shao did not want to delve into this topic, because he himself had almost failed to notice it, and it was only with the help of his Personal Space that he discovered the anomaly on the bridge.

It basically follows the rule that the higher the Spell Circle, the larger the monitoring range; if it reached the 10th Ring, perhaps Mages dozens of miles away might perceive it through the Magic Net, not to mention specialized Mage Towers.

There was one hidden above the bridge deck before him, and Xia Shao also discovered two True Sight Gemstones on a belt surrounding Lakeling City, one of which was already damaged, while the other was still intact, but it had not been utilized by the Lord of Luo Ke Territory.

It was right at the final step, and Ruier still hesitated for a moment, but under the urging of Xia Shao's gaze, he still handed over that mysterious dragon blood sample; it was a small drop of red blood sealed within an Arcane Crystal.

Before a stone bridge near the town, Xia Shao suddenly called for a stop. Ruier was somewhat confused, but since the leader of this operation was Xia Shao, he still stopped quickly.

"No, we might be reaching the monitoring range of the Luo Ke Territory Mage Tower ahead, let's do it here!"

However, this kind of method clearly could not have been created by the contemporary Lord of Luo Ke Territory; it must have been created by the first or the first few generations of lords.

"Give me the blood sample!"

So much so that the True Sight Barrier capable of covering a large area is gone, leaving only individual True Sight Gemstones covering an extremely small area, and their function is limited to making the Invisibility and disguise effects of those entering the Gemstone's range of effect fail.

……

Flight is only a 3rd Circle Spell; even for the Tower of Time, the monitoring range is only about one kilometer around it, and the monitoring range for Teleportation Spells is even larger.

If it weren't for the fact that the True Sight Gemstone ahead happened to be blocking their flight path, Xia Shao wouldn't even have mentioned it to Ruier.

"Fine, this bit is enough for Positioning."

"Just a small trick, not worth mentioning."

Judging from the quantity, I am afraid this is not all that the tower possesses; after all, Xia Shao is not unaware of how much blood is collected for comprehensive testing, and even after deducting what is consumed in the testing process, it is more than just this.

Since then, there has been little news from Luo Ke Territory, and it was not until the sudden appearance of a mysterious dragon that it once again attracted the attention of the tower.

Or perhaps build more Magic Facilities for monitoring, but that is not the tradition of Netheril; the tradition of Netheril is for the Mage Tower to integrate everything.

Xia Duo is not sure if this is the influence after the arrival of that mysterious dragon, or if the Lord of Delake was always a straw bag with high aspirations but low ability, but in the information about Luo Ke Territory that Ruier gave him, it was indeed mentioned—

Next, the two changed from Ruier leading the way to Xia Shao leading the way; after all, the town was already close at hand, and Xia Shao estimated the monitoring distance of the Mage Tower in Lakeling City for Flight Spells and stopped.

After concealing their figures and entering Luo Ke Territory, Xia Shao and Ruier headed straight for Lakeling City in the center of the territory.

The first-generation lord of Luo Ke Territory was not an Archmage, and the era of their activity was far earlier than Delake, but as the saying goes, who knows what the ancestors left behind.

The Lord of Luo Ke Territory borrowed money seventeen years ago to rent an advanced Laboratory from the Arcane Union to attempt to advance to Arcanist, but the result was a failure.

Next, Xia Shao granted Ruier partial Permission Level for the War Spell, then gave the other party a look, "You're up."

As for that mysterious dragon, Xia Shao has not relaxed his vigilance since entering Luo Ke Territory, but until now, he has not discovered any Active Detection spells.

"Let's go around."

Although Delake Territory could not even gather a handful of high-level Mages back then, it still had a Mage Tower of the highest standard of Netheril; this is the advantage of having a good ancestor.

Of course, before the formal Scrying and tracking, Xia Shao first activated the 【Wide-Area Prohibition】 but limited its effect to a tiny area, so that once the target's location was determined, he could restrict the other party immediately.

"Mm."