Chapter 315: Urgency and Conspiracy

Early the next morning, Xia Duo stood outside the pier at Savile Port, watching the "Lucky Owen" slowly sail away from the port, and behind it, two other cargo ships of similar size were also casting off their mooring lines.

Of these two ships, one was loaded with the new residents Niya had allocated to Xia Duo, and the other was carrying the river workers Niya had conscripted to dig the river channel from Daxia Territory to the Mythallar Ruins.

This was the "Elemental Channel" mentioned by that Arcanist from the Hand of Secrecy, which would greatly alleviate the Magic Net riots in the Mythallar area.

The Tower of Time was constantly in a state of resisting the external Magic Net riots, so alleviating the riots meant saving energy for the Tower of Time; Niya had ultimately decided to dig this channel.

Watching the "Lucky Owen" gradually move into the distance, Xia Duo contacted Laidun on the ship while it was still within the range of the Sending spell, giving one final instruction:

"Proceed according to the plan!"

Seeing Laidun wave from the bow of the ship, he turned and left, and recalling the instructions Niya had given when she left yesterday, a faint sense of urgency rose in Xia Duo's heart.

It was not just because people from the Eagle Chamber of Commerce had arrived; more importantly, the Tower of Time was in a weakened state, and he did not know when the enemy might swarm them all at once.

Niya had left this time to go to Seventon to gather information and seek potential outside help; she had given many instructions before she left, specific and detailed, covering everything from the Territory to the Tower of Time.

But it was precisely because of this that Xia Duo had a bad premonition.

……

Returning to the Tower of Time, Xia Duo first went around to check the work status of everyone, including the Apprentices, and only after confirming that all repair work was proceeding normally did he feel slightly relieved.

However, what surprised him was that the Arcane Garden had already been tidied up; according to his original estimate, this task would have taken at least a week.

He had not expected it to be finished so quickly; it seemed that the supervision and motivation work done by Dien, Sami, and the others had been quite effective!

Production activities could begin next, but Xia Duo's Permission Level within the Tower of Time was not yet high enough to command the Tower Spirit to activate the relevant functions within the Arcane Garden.

This part would have to be left for now, with only basic maintenance being performed.

As for other aspects, although he could not personally perform the repairs on the Tower of Time yet, he had been cramming books on Psionic Creation knowledge over the past few days, and he understood the Principles relatively well.

Generally speaking, it involved repairing the Magic Array and then establishing a permanent coexistence link with the Magic Net String.

The former only required skill, resources, and patience, while the latter required at least an Intermediate Mage.

Including the guest-like peripheral members, the Tower of Time had only a dozen or so Intermediate Mages, and the repair schedule had already been planned out for several months.

During this period, any slight impact would require a delay.

……

Here, just as Xia Duo returned to his room and before he could even sit down, someone came looking for him; the visitor was the Tower of Time's personnel Supervisor—the Intermediate Mage Depake.

When Xia Duo had first officially joined the Tower of Time and had his Permission Level promoted, it had been handled by Mage Depake, and before Lord Epps had given final confirmation, Mage Depake had lent him a Magic Book, which had benefited him greatly.

Since then, the two had exchanged words several times and were considered quite familiar with each other.

Just a moment ago, when Xia Duo was inspecting the repair work of the Tower of Time, the two had met; Xia Duo did not know what the other party wanted with him, so after a few pleasantries, he went straight to the point:

"Mage Depake, you came to find me suddenly; is there some urgent matter?"

"It is like this: news has come from the Material Department that there is a shortage of repair materials. Did the Tower Master leave any message before she left?"

"This—"

Looking at Depake's serious expression, Xia Duo also felt a headache; Niya had said many things, but she had not mentioned a single word about a material shortage.

Of course, this might have been related to her saying she would be back in two or three days before she left.

"Mage Depake, how much longer can the Tower of Time's materials last?"

Hearing this, Depake roughly understood something, and after a moment of thought, he replied: "Other materials are fine; they are still sufficient for a short time, but the Topaz and Peridot can only last less than two days. If these two materials are missing, much of the subsequent repair work cannot be carried out."

Topaz, Peridot?

Xia Duo had done little research on Magic Items, but he knew very well that all Gemstones were manifestations of elements and energy; ordinary people might make them into jewelry to show off their temperament, but the ones who truly needed them the most were Mages.

And in the vast majority of cases, they were used as consumables.

Only those true treasures would be used as energy cores for Magic Items and reused repeatedly.

And the two types of Gemstones Depake mentioned, although used only as consumables, must not be cheap if they were needed to repair a Mage Tower.

Xia Duo did not ask about the price of the Gemstones, but instead asked: "Are there any substitute materials?"

"Yes!" Depake nodded first, but then shook his head, his tone filled with regret, "But using Arcane Crystals to replace them is simply too uneconomical!"

"……"

Could they only be replaced with Arcane Crystals? Xia Duo was speechless, but he could not think of a better solution; after all, he was not Niya, and the Permission Level he possessed was very limited, so he could only stall:

"You can go ask Saier Town Mayor to see if there are any in the Territory warehouse, and wait until Niya returns; she said she would be back in two or three days."

"That is all we can do for now."

Depake left with some disappointment, and Xia Duo finally had a moment of peace.

……

Meanwhile, in the East District of Savile Town, at the station of the Eagle Chamber of Commerce.

Aquilain sat in the seat of honor, with two maids kneading his shoulders neither too hard nor too soft; looking at the man dressed as an Adventurer who was respectfully narrating below, Aquilain felt nothing but disdain in his heart.

A small character who was not even willing to reveal the identity of the person behind him—what qualifications did he have to talk about cooperation with him? He had listened for a long time and there was no substantial content.

He said the two sides were targeting Savile Territory together, but what did that have to do with him!

He had only come for the Mythallar Ruins, and even if he had accepted the mission to investigate the murder of Asaer halfway through, it was just a mission; the current attitude of Huo Ke Territory toward Savile Territory was one of wait-and-see, not conflict.

"Lord Aquilain, what Savile Territory relies on is nothing more than that Tower of Time left behind by the Great Arcanist Savil, but the Tower of Time was never completed until Great Arcanist Savil was lost in an Other Plane."

"My master has received definite news that the Tower of Time was never fully constructed, and this sudden teleportation has caused it severe damage; this is our best opportunity. Isn't Lord Huo Ke about to become a Great Arcanist? Perhaps he needs—"

"Enough!" Aquilain suddenly interrupted the other party's words.

Hearing the other party mention the secrets of his own lord, his eyes finally turned from impatience to vigilance; how could such strictly sealed news have leaked out? How many more people knew?

Aquilain's first reaction was to silence them, but then he thought that the other party was just a small character, and the person behind him was the one who needed more vigilance.

"Go back and tell your master: if you want to talk about cooperation, come yourself! Get out!"

Seeing this, the man dressed as an Adventurer said no more, bowed respectfully again, and then turned to leave.

And after he left, Aquilain dismissed the two maids, took out a palm-sized Crystal Ball and placed it on the table beside him, then performed Spellcasting.

Immediately after, a blurry Projection image appeared above the Crystal Ball.