Chapter 3443: The Legacy of the Illuminati

————Currently rushing~~

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The nameless valley that Xia Duo had originally chosen at random had already been named 【Victory Valley】, signifying the Northland Alliance's decisive victory over the Illuminati, and this place was indeed a key location for the final battle.

Xia Duo had previously revived the Earth Element Elder right here, and at this moment, when his projection arrived here once again, the valley, which had originally been sparsely vegetated, had changed its appearance.

Barracks had been built in the most spacious area in the center, and hundreds of Elite Mages summoned from various countries of the Alliance were resting here temporarily to cope with the raid operation against the Illuminati's ultimate ritual site that could break out at any time.

As for the surrounding areas near the mountains, including the low hills on three sides of the valley, Alliance mages had set up a large number of summoning magic arrays. When Xia Duo arrived, he saw sturdy earth elementals manifesting one after another from the summoning arrays.

Then, they walked out of the arrays and sank directly into the earth within the designated areas nearby. It seemed that this was the only way to find all the cracks beneath the Ailan region within a short two-day period and conduct further inspections.

"Xia Duo, my friend, I've finally seen you."

Talafu, who had been waiting here for a long time, opened his arms to Xia Duo. Xia Duo also greeted him with a face full of enthusiasm. The two hugged tightly before separating.

This was the way Calimshans greeted friends; Elves also had such etiquette. Xia Duo had incarnated as an Elf many times in the Projection Plane and could still accept this way of greeting.

But kissing on the cheek was completely unnecessary. Although this was also how Calimshans greeted their best friends, Xia Duo had clearly expressed that he could not accept it the first time he encountered such a situation.

Etiquette, of course, only has meaning if both parties can accept it, and the same goes for friends. Talafu did quite well in this regard, and Xia Duo also acknowledged this friend.

After the greetings, Xia Duo immediately asked about the situation here. Although he had just learned about it through Sending, seeing it on the ground gave him more feelings about the situation. He asked Talafu:

"Are there really Underdark passages beneath Ailan?"

"There certainly are. Multiple cracks with Underdark radiation have already been discovered. When I came over this time, I specifically borrowed a Magic Artifact for detecting Underdark radiation from a Dwarf friend. Wuta has taken it down below just now."

Among the Southern Four Kingdoms, except for Zhamu Dasi, which was relatively isolated, the relationships between the other three countries were very complex. There had been honeymoon periods, as well as periods of hatred, hostility, and even war. It was not strange for a Calimshan to have a few Elf or Dwarf friends.

Especially now that Calimshan and Sannata both intended to recuperate, the relationship between the two countries had become increasingly harmonious.

At the moment, the biggest destabilizing factors in the south were Zhamu Dasi and Kaitemier. The two countries were still in a state of war even now, and they were currently fighting. The cause was that the Kaitemier Prince died due to a conspiracy by Zhamu Dasi while visiting Calimshan.

Xia Duo could be considered to have personally experienced this matter. If not for him, perhaps Calimshan would have become the scapegoat for that murder case. It was also because of this that he "brushed" his reputation to the max in the Mairide Family, and Calimshan, as a country, also owed him a great favor.

Otherwise, this time, even if the North and South were simultaneously threatened by the Illuminati, it would have been impossible for Calimshan to send an Element Lord so easily and so promptly.

……

"Was the summoning magic array here set up by Wuta? Why does it look like it has an Elven Magic style?"

"It was an idea provided by Wuta, and then it was set up after being perfected by your Alliance mages."

Speaking of this, Talafu seemed to have suddenly thought of something and hurriedly said: "I have also used your Alliance's Computing Power Pool before, but the actual effect, to be honest, was not as good as the rumors outside. At least that's how it felt when I used it myself."

"But this time, I have also witnessed the true effect of the Computing Power Pool with my own eyes. It is truly unexpected. Wuta only provided an idea and a Bloodline Spell circle, and your Alliance's mages perfected it in a short time."

"I am wondering, can your Alliance's Computing Power Pool truly be opened to Spellcasters outside of our Alliance?"

In Xia Duo's view, this idea was not excessive. The Computing Power Pool itself could be considered a type of commercial activity; who it was used for didn't matter, right? But the problem was that Talafu had used the Computing Power Pool before, and the effect he described himself was not good.

The reason was actually very simple: the main body of the Computing Power Pool was still Alliance mages, and it was even divided into three sub-networks—Elven Magic, Netheril Magic, and Dwarf Magic—due to the different magic systems.

Originally, it was very difficult for the three sub-networks to utilize each other. It was only after Xia Duo invented the Translation Device that the three sub-networks were thoroughly connected and shared at the level of computing resources, rather than just being in the same larger-scale Mind Network.

Now that Talafu wanted the Computing Power Pool to be opened to Spellcasters outside the Alliance—which was essentially opening it to Calimshan Scholars—this was, in essence, a hope that the Alliance Computing Power Pool would support Calimshan's Bloodline Magic.

This matter had both advantages and disadvantages for the Alliance.

The benefits were very obvious. First, it could make money. The Computing Power Pool already had plenty of profit while providing subsidies to Alliance mages. Opening it to Calimshan Scholars would certainly mean no subsidies, and the profit margin would only be greater.

Secondly, it could obtain the essence of Bloodline Magic. Currently, the Translation Device of the Alliance Computing Power Pool had the best translation effects for Netheril Magic and Elven Magic; after all, these were the two magic systems Xia Duo was proficient in simultaneously.

The translation effect for Dwarf Magic was very limited, but fortunately, there were not a few Dwarf mages. Even if they used a local area network, they had bonuses, although they had fewer benefits compared to mages of the other two magic systems.

For Calimshan, the Alliance certainly could not build a dedicated network for them alone, or even if they really did so, it would require Calimshan to pay a price no less than that of joining the network.

Joining the network meant using a Translation Device to connect the sub-network where Calimshan Scholars were located to the Main Network of the Computing Power Pool, with the prerequisite that Calimshan provide enough Bloodline Magic data.

This was actually not a bad thing. In the field of Bloodline Magic, Calimshan was already in an absolute leading position, so even providing data would not have a major impact on them.

Instead, the value of the Computing Power Pool was even greater.

This also brought us to the disadvantage for the Alliance in opening the Computing Power Pool to Calimshan, which was precisely because of the Computing Power Pool's immense value to the development of magic.

In terms of the situation in the Main Plane, the Northland Alliance and Calimshan were actually in a competitive relationship. For what purpose would the Northland Alliance go to cultivate a powerful competitor?

Although the overall strength of the Northland Alliance was indeed greater than any one of the Southern Four Kingdoms, this was the Alliance as a whole. For the specific member states of the Alliance, the comprehensive strength of any one country was not as good as any one of the Southern Four Kingdoms.

So, back to the same question: for what purpose would the Alliance go to cultivate a powerful competitor like Calimshan?