Chapter 3369: Stalemate

————Something came up today, so I'm rushing to finish this overnight.

————

Although both are called "Wide-Area," the effective range of a 【Wide-Area Prohibition】 is only a spherical region with a radius of about one hundred New Li around the Floating City.

If it were a standard-level 【Forbidden Spell】, the actual effective range would likely only be a spherical region with a radius of about 50 meters; the area of effect can be shaped otherwise, it does not necessarily have to be a sphere.

The reason 【Wide-Area Prohibition】 is called "Wide-Area" is not by comparing it to the scale of a Plane, but by comparing it to the standard version of this Spell; compared to a radius of 50 meters, a radius of 100 New Li increases the coverage area by 8 billion times.

If this cannot be called "Wide-Area," then what else could be called "Wide-Area"?

However, in order to avoid protection loopholes appearing in the Floating City, the coverage of 【Wide-Area Prohibition】 cannot be reshaped, which is to say the maximum effective distance is 100 New Li.

And right now, the straight-line distance from Yongle City to the Surface is just about one hundred New Li.

If Yongle City happened to be directly above Tanzan Peak at this moment, then Xia Duo might agree to Kandela's request, but right now, the position of Yongle City is above the original site of Evereska.

Moreover, due to the previous surprise attack, the various nations have developed suspicions regarding Evereska's neutral status, and more than one nation, including Netheril, has demanded that Xia Duo return Evereska to its original location.

Of course, the root of all that is because Evereska is not strong enough; if it were strong enough, it could even treat the Northland Alliance, which has built its Headquarters on its territory, as a puppet.

Regarding the issue of Evereska's temporary docking position, Xia Shao and Badijiaer have communicated privately more than once; from the perspective of the Seven Towers or even the Nether Region, it is of course more advantageous to occupy more Evereska Mythallar Permission.

There is only one purpose for doing this: to take advantage of the process of modifying the Floating City to reclaim as much City Mythallar Permission as possible, or at the very least, to separate the portion of permission that the various nations have forcibly demanded.

Previously, the Alliance had an important operation on the Langas Plain, and Dumu was worried that the operation would not go smoothly, so he requested Xia Shao's help to look after it, because at that time, Yongle City happened to be wandering above the Langas Plain to provide support nearby for the Grey Peak Mountains.

Kandela knows that too many expectations from the Evereska Council of Elders are pinned on him; even if the situation is more unfavorable to him, he actually hopes to have more opportunities to perform.

If he were allowed to leave with Yongle City, would the next step be running around everywhere, and would the step after that be wanting to control the Alliance Headquarters? This kind of matter is very sensitive.

It would be to ask the various nations to open up remote strike permissions within their borders, so that Alliance field personnel active within the borders of various nations could call for War Spell support at any time.

……

The issue of the temporary docking site for Evereska is merely a concrete manifestation of the conflict of concepts and divergence of paths between the two sides; if there were no conflicts or divergences, then naturally this problem would not exist.

Or, the various nations could organize their own War Mages to provide support.

Of course, the current Northland Alliance is not Xia Shao's personal fiefdom; regardless of whether it is him or Evereska, it is impossible to truly ignore the opinions of other nations, so in the end, Yongle City still carried Evereska and stopped above the original site of Evereska.

Even if it were to catch members of the Moonshadow Family more conveniently and quickly now, the various nations of the Alliance would likely not agree to let him take Yongle City to the north!

The Moonshadow Family can attract the Darkness Society to expose themselves, so the operation to capture them is very critical; if there were no high degree of certainty, Xia Shao would certainly not use a tactical plan that had never been verified before in such an important operation.

Unless one day the differences between the two sides become so great that even cooperation cannot suppress them, then the two sides will completely part ways, or even become mutually hostile.

If the various nations of the Alliance are willing to support Xia Shao and use his tactical plan in more operations, then the subsequent confrontation between the Alliance and the Darkness Society will definitely be able to achieve much.

But for the moment, Xia Shao still doesn't need to worry about "defying" the Seven Towers on individual issues; even if there are more differences in the future, as long as he holds the moral high ground, he doesn't need to worry about the Seven Towers at all.

In the Elf World, regardless of the past, present, or even the future, Mythallar Permission is equivalent to the sovereignty of a country; why the various Elf nations want to build a Unified Mythallar is actually to reunite the scattered sovereignty.

However, regarding remote support from War Spells, now that Kandela has personally practiced and verified it, he has a new idea, though he does not know if the various nations are willing to agree.

Xia Shao considers himself to be on the side of justice; right now, Evereska is in a weak position and its sovereignty has been infringed upon, so he chooses to help Evereska.

Kandela, who was refused support for prohibition-type spells, did not feel too much disappointment; although such a result was more unfavorable to him, deep down he actually felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

The position of Executive is not so easy to hold; if one ignores the big picture, one loses the moral high ground. To look after the big picture is to fulfill Xia Shao; if the entire Nether Region were to be asked who has more of a big-picture view and who cares more about collective interests, it would undoubtedly be Xia Shao.

If everything has support from the rear, then where is his own value reflected? Could any Elite Mage carrying a Guidance Artifact achieve the same effect?

As long as the representatives of the various nations do not bring it up, Xia Shao himself will certainly not bring it up proactively.

It was the Evereska side that stood firm against pressure from all sides, and even after Xia Duo had clearly informed them of the possibility of encountering an Illuminati attack, they still insisted on asking Xia Shao to keep Evereska by Yongle City's side.

If that is not possible, then sooner or later the two sides will move toward opposition.

Whatever "joint government" or "cooperative win-win" may be, in the face of short-term, visible interests, everything is hollow; it is just that in this matter, Xia Shao has sufficient say (Yongle City's home-field advantage + authorization from the Evereska side), and in the end, the two could only part on unhappy terms.

The front line, Tanzan Peak.

And not to act as a tool mage in the rear used to trigger the Guidance Artifact.

Xia Shao really had no reason to refuse such a convenient matter; the aftermath proved the effect was excellent, otherwise there would not have been this instance of letting Kandela head to Tanzan Peak with a Guidance Artifact.

At present, the various nations of the Alliance only occupy a portion of the permission; once they occupy too much, Evereska might still hang on to the name of a sovereign state, but in reality, it would have been reduced to a puppet controlled by the various nations.

In the future, if Evereska becomes strong and even develops the idea of using the Alliance as a puppet tool, then he will also stand on the side of the Alliance without the slightest hesitation.

The Seven Towers could certainly learn from Xia Shao, but human selfishness is not so easy to overcome; if the Seven Towers could truly be selfless, then Xia Shao would naturally be willing to work for them.

Of course, his disagreement with Badijiaer on this matter does not affect his cooperation with the Seven Towers in other areas; it is just a matter of treating each case on its own merits.

It is a symbol of the centralization of a country and a system.

But by comparison, Xia Shao's plan is more cost-effective; in fact, Kandela is not the first Alliance Mage to use Yongle City's remote support; the Alliance field personnel under Dumu were.

If Evereska were to break away from the influence of Yongle City now, the various nations would likely not allow them to carry out Floating City modifications at all, but would immediately use the excuse of helping with repairs to continue encroaching on Evereska Mythallar Permission.