Chapter 3439: Alliance in the Old Land

————Currently rushing~~

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Xia Duo received another reply from Badijiaer. Besides promising to help coordinate the trade with the Hand of Secrecy, he also provided two Earth Elemental Essences, just as Iolum had done.

Furthermore, he specifically mentioned that one of these two Earth Elemental Essences came from Jilan Tower, while the other came from the private collection of Giles Tower.

Xia Duo understood Badijiaer's subtext; it was nothing more than Giles Tower intending to ease relations with him and Niya.

Although Badijiaer did not explicitly state it was Sikumu's intention, it was clear that if Sikumu had not agreed, this Elemental Essence would likely not have been sent in the name of Giles Tower.

As for why Sikumu was taking the initiative to send a signal of reconciliation, Xia Duo had his guesses; it was simply that his control over Giles Tower had increased, and he was no longer afraid of Niya competing with him for the right of succession.

Additionally, it might also be related to the fact that Xia Duo's own voice within the Alliance was becoming increasingly influential. His relationship with the Seven Towers as a whole had always been stable and improving, yet his relationship with Giles Tower had been the one dragging him down.

It was likely that the Controllers of the other six towers had also put quite a bit of pressure on Sikumu!

Thinking this way, regarding the reconciliation Sikumu had initiated as hinted by Badijiaer, Xia Duo also gave a relatively positive response: "Thank Huo En and Sikumu for me; I will treat them to a drink after the war ends!"

In truth, he and Niya had never thought about competing for the succession of Giles Tower from the very beginning. Although Niya did have the legal standing to compete as the Princess's student, she also knew that even if she succeeded in the competition, it would be difficult for her to gain support from within Giles Tower.

After all, before the Princess's Ascension to Godhood, she had already explicitly designated Sikumu as the successor. It was just that at the time, Sikumu had not yet become a Great Arcanist, so there were some flaws in his eligibility for succession, but Niya's eligibility had even more flaws.

Therefore, at that time, Xia Duo and Niya's first reaction to the Princess's Ascension to Godhood was to quickly pack up and return to their home in Nan Jing, not getting involved in the internal succession issues of Giles Tower, so as to avoid being used as a tool by others.

For a long time, it had been Sikumu who was actively targeting him and Niya, such as revoking Niya's Advanced Rank reading permissions in Giles Tower, or targeting the topics Xia Duo submitted during Council meetings, and so on.

All along, because his relationship with the Seven Towers, especially Jilan Tower, was quite good, Xia Duo had been tolerating Sikumu's targeting; after all, the other party had not truly touched his bottom line.

Everything Sikumu did was within the scope of his authority as a Controller of Giles Tower and a Councilor of Sevinton. One could not just start a fight with someone simply because they were always at odds with oneself, right?

Xia Duo allowed for the existence of dissenters and even opponents. As long as they did not violate laws and regulations and did not touch moral red lines, they could make as much trouble as they wanted. The existence of these dissenters and opponents could, on the contrary, highlight his own correctness.

So now that Sikumu was taking the initiative to reconcile, Xia Duo was happy to accept it. After all, being able to tolerate opponents did not mean refusing to let opponents change their stance.

Being able to make an opponent change their stance could itself be counted as a kind of achievement. Such achievements were definitely the more the better, provided, of course, that the other party was willing to change (changes under the pressure of the situation also counted), rather than being directly changed by force.

……

The small episode of Sikumu's reconciliation did not change the urgency of the war situation itself. After Badijiaer, Master Oulinsi of the Hand of Secrecy also sent a message:

"The Hand of Secrecy's spell for Summon Earth Elemental comes from the gift of the Lady of Mysteries. Currently, we have already turned this Divine Magic into an Arcane version. If Lord Xia Duo has a need, we can provide the Arcane version of the Summon Earth Elemental spell.

"But one point needs to be reminded to Lord Xia Duo: this spell can only summon a Projection of an Elemental Creature, and it also requires providing corresponding Elemental Energy to shape a temporary body for them. The essence of those Elemental Creatures remains in the Elemental Plane and cannot be summoned over.

"Therefore, the summoned Elemental Creatures have a limited existence time. It is just that Earth Elementals below the Elder rank cannot refuse the summoning, but Elemental Elders with Wisdom are already able to refuse the summoning.

"Thus, if you want to summon an Earth Elemental Elder, it is best to prepare enough Five-Colored Gems in advance, otherwise, there is a high probability that the summoning will not be successful."

Immediately following this, Master Oulinsi provided all the detailed elements of the Summon Earth Elemental spell directly in the message. After reading it, Xia Duo felt slightly disappointed.

The spell itself was good, and Five-Colored Gems, which were Elemental Gems with various attributes (five being a general term), were not a problem either; in fact, Arcane Crystals might even be more attractive to Elemental Elders to respond.

The problem lay in the response of the Elemental Elders. Xia Duo was not sure if he could persuade the other party to help him search the land in a short time, and communication was also a problem.

Searching was different from fighting; it required many specific details. If there had never been any communication before, it would be impossible to explain clearly in a few words. Even with the help of mind-affecting spells, whether the other party would accept such a method of communication was one thing, and even if they did, mind-affecting spells were not omnipotent; cross-species and cross-language understanding always required time.

Therefore, Xia Duo was more inclined to obtain an already domesticated Earth Elemental Elder from Calimshan to act as a commander to direct other Earth Elementals in conducting the detection.

But could such a summoned Earth Elemental Elder accept their own kind being enslaved?

The summoning spell provided by Oulinsi had very limited binding power over Elder-rank Elemental Creatures. The most obvious point was that the summoned Elemental Creatures could give up responding at any time without paying any price.

The essence of those Elemental Creatures was still in their respective Elemental Planes; they were free, and any action they took could be understood. On the contrary, the Elemental Creatures from Calimshan had their essence in the Main Plane; even if they died, they could not escape.

This was undoubtedly unfair to sentient beings, but for the user, mastering the essence of the Elemental Creatures allowed for better use of them.

……

After comprehensive consideration, Xia Duo decided not to summon an Earth Elemental Elder directly. After all, he was currently holding four Earth Elemental Essences in his hand. Since he could not determine the other party's attitude, he simply would not use it, so as to avoid the other party causing trouble.

For sentient beings, especially those sentient beings over whom Xia Duo had no control, if they pretended to cooperate but actually caused trouble in secret, that would be a huge headache, and it might even be impossible to discover until after the war.

Of course, if that were really the case, there might not be an "after the war," as the Illuminati would have won directly.

Xia Duo could not afford not to consider such a risk.

……

After expressing his gratitude to Oulinsi and the Hand of Secrecy in the message, Xia Duo placed the summoning spell provided by the other party as a last-resort consideration.

Next was to wait for news from the south.

And in the process of waiting, Xia Duo also began to try to use the four Earth Elemental Essences on hand to revive an Earth Elemental Elder, doing the preparatory work in advance, just waiting for the good news from the south to arrive so he could immediately put it to work.