Chapter 3440: A New Chapter

————It will be later~~

————

Soon, after Iolum, Xia Duo received a reply from Badijiaer. In addition to promising to help coordinate the transaction with the Hand of Secrecy, he also provided two Earth Elemental Essences directly, just like Iolum.

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

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

Although Badijiaer did not explicitly state that 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 took the initiative to send a signal of reconciliation, Xia Duo also had his guesses; it was nothing more than him having gained a firmer grip on Giles Tower, no longer fearing that Niya would compete 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 heavy; his relationship with the Seven Towers as a whole had always been stable and improving, yet his relationship with Giles Tower had been dragging him down.

Perhaps the Controllers of the other six towers had also put quite a bit of pressure on Sikumu!

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

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

After all, before the Princess's Ascension to Godhood, she had clearly 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 succession qualifications, but Niya's qualification flaws were even greater.

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

For a long time, it had also been Sikumu who was actively targeting him and Niya, such as revoking Niya's Advanced Rank reading Permission Level at 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 also been tolerating Sikumu's targeting; after all, the other party had indeed not touched his bottom line in any way.

Everything Sikumu did was within the scope of his Permission Level as a Controller of Giles Tower and a Councilor of Sevinton. One could not just start a fight with the other party simply because they were always singing a different tune, could they?

Xia Duo allowed the existence of dissenters or 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 actively reconciling, Xia Duo was happy to accept it. After all, being able to tolerate opponents did not mean refusing for opponents to change their stance.

Being able to make an opponent change their stance could itself be counted as a kind of battle achievement. Such achievements were definitely the more the better, provided, of course, that the other party changed willingly (changes under pressure of the situation also count), rather than being changed directly 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 to Summon Earth Elemental comes from the gift of the Lady of Mystery. At present, 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 that needs to be reminded to Lord Xia Duo is that 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 existence time of the summoned Elemental Creatures is limited. It is just that Earth Elementals below the Elder rank cannot refuse the summoning, but Elemental Elders who possess Wisdom are already able to refuse the summoning.

"Therefore, if you want to summon an Earth Elemental Elder, it is best to prepare enough Five-Colored Gems in advance, otherwise, the probability of not succeeding in the summoning is high."

Immediately after, Master Oulinsi provided all the details of the Summon Earth Elemental Spell directly in the Sending. 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 is a general term), were also not a problem; even Arcane Crystals might 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 earth in a short time, and communication was also a problem.

Searching is different from fighting; it requires 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 Spells, whether the other party would accept such a method of communication was one thing, and even if they accepted it, mind Spells were not omnipotent; cross-species and cross-language understanding always required time.

Therefore, Xia Duo was more inclined to obtain an Earth Elemental Elder that had already been domesticated from Calimshan to serve as a commander, directing other Earth Elementals to conduct the detection.

But could such a summoned Earth Elemental Elder accept its 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 and they were free; 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 intelligent 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 intelligent beings, especially those intelligent beings over whom Xia Duo had no constraints, if they pretended to cooperate but actually caused trouble in secret, that would simply be a huge trouble, and it might not even be discovered 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 fail to consider this kind of risk.

……

After expressing his gratitude to Oulinsi and the Hand of Secrecy in the Sending, Xia Duo put the summoning Spell provided by the other party as the very last consideration.

Next was to wait for news from the south.

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