Chapter 3453: Rebuilding Elan

————Currently rushing~~

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Xia Duo hurriedly walked toward that corner. The moment he passed it, the view suddenly opened up. Ahead, visible to the naked eye, was a massive spherical space. Below, there were several relatively flat patches of ground, while countless sharp spikes hung from above.

Of course, those were not spikes, but stalactites and folds squeezed out by the rock layers. Originally, there should have been some on the ground below as well, but they had likely been cleared away.

The light he had just seen came from a platform below. Although the light emitted from there was not particularly bright, within this limited space, it illuminated almost the entire area.

Without a doubt, that was the location of the Illuminati's ultimate ritual!

Xia Duo did not take any further action but quietly retreated. The reason he was so certain was that he sensed a powerful fluctuation of Time Force coming from below that space.

Previously, during his research into Time Force, although he had failed to find the true source of Time Force and could not reproduce this special power, perhaps because he had also consumed quite a bit of Time Force, he had unexpectedly gained the ability to perceive it.

But it was limited to perception; he could not do anything more. He felt that if he were given unlimited Time Force to experiment with, perhaps through constant use, he could gain a faint Time bloodline, much like Mages who study Elemental Energy for years gain a faint elemental bloodline.

It was also because he had personally experienced the fact of going from having no perception of Time Force at the beginning to later developing a faint perception that Xia Duo even suspected that the reason Dafuni had such an extraordinary ability might be due to her long-term use of Time Force.

However, all of this had a process of starting from zero, so where did the initial Time Force come from?

If Dafuni truly gained Time Force-related abilities through long-term use of Time Force, that would mean Time Force might be obtainable through conventional Spells.

But there was another possibility: that Dafuni brought a Time Force source with her from the beginning, such as a time-related bloodline, or an Artifact of the Time Domain, which could continuously generate Time Force.

Regardless of which it was, Xia Duo would conduct an in-depth investigation after the war. But for now, having witnessed the scene in the Underdark space suspected to be the Illuminati's ritual, Xia Duo indeed felt the fluctuation of Time Force.

A fluctuation of Time Force with such a strong presence, even if it were not the location of the Illuminati's ultimate ritual, must be a key part of the ritual.

So Xia Duo did not alert them but quietly retreated. He had Wuta stay there temporarily to monitor, while also not stopping the search for other suspicious locations.

As for himself, he immediately returned to the Surface. Because Talafu was acting as the translator for Xia Duo and Wuta, he also understood the situation below immediately. Seeing Xia Duo come up, he asked at once:

"Is it time to start the counterattack?"

"Yes, but not here." Xia Duo glanced toward the southeast and said with implication.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side, in Yongle City.

Xia Duo once again requested operational authorization from the representatives of various countries through the Alliance Command Network.

As for information synchronization, it had already been completed during Xia Duo's time "underground." The various countries had synchronized all the details of their actions regarding the Time Signal Sources handled within their borders to the Command Network, but they still had not loosened their stance on the authorization allowing Alliance Mages to enter their borders for operations.

In fact, Xia Duo did not necessarily need to obtain authorization from various countries to start the counterattack. The counterattack he was about to carry out was not in the reality of the Main Plane, but on the level of the Time Line.

The authorization was not for the upcoming operation, but for post-war protection; it was a form of anchoring possibility—the possibility that he would definitely obtain authorization from various countries, thereby avoiding accountability after the war.

So he had to get it now!

"Everyone, we don't have much time left. Right now, when various countries are dealing with the Time Signal Sources within their own borders, if they could handle them completely and properly, then that would be fine, and I wouldn't even bring up such a request.

"But the reality is that even with the support of War Spells, and even with what you all call 'giving it your all,' the Time Signal Sources within the borders of various countries have not been handled properly.

"In this situation, is there really any need to hesitate about allowing Alliance Mages to handle the dangers there that you cannot deal with for the time being?"

Xia Duo was very puzzled. What exactly were these people thinking? There were some problems they clearly couldn't solve themselves, yet they wouldn't let others help them solve them. If it were just a general problem, Xia Duo wouldn't bother, and would just let it be.

But these problems happened to concern everyone's interests, and now they were being held hostage by the narrow-mindedness of a few high-level officials. This also made Xia Duo have even stronger thoughts about perfecting the Alliance system.

"Consultant Xia Duo, the impact of a few individual Time Signal Sources not being handled well shouldn't be that great on the final result, right?"

"You might not believe me if I say whether it's great or not. Why not ask for the opinion of the Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory?"

As he spoke, Xia Duo directly pulled Bangdi from the Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory into this small "meeting room" sub-network, and then repeated the question from the Alliance representative just now. As a result, Bangdi immediately expressed opposition, just as Xia Duo had expected:

"Our war with the Illuminati is essentially a struggle for the right to define the past. Every single Time Signal Source Point represents a decisive battle for the right of definition. Losing one means the scales of victory tilt a little toward the Illuminati. Whenever possible, not a single one should be lost."

"See? It's not just me saying this! If you don't even believe the conclusion of the Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory, then what else can you believe?"

After finishing, Xia Duo gave an ultimatum without any politeness, "I'll give you twenty minutes. If you still can't produce the authorization, then I will act unilaterally. You should understand that I am capable of doing so. Any unnecessary misunderstandings caused at that time will be the sole responsibility of you Plenipotentiary Representatives!"

Xia Duo did not care what these representatives thought. In any case, after the war, he would inevitably gain prestige and a right to speak far exceeding what he had now, while some of these Plenipotentiary Representatives were destined to be rotated out.

Moreover, everything he did was in accordance with the Alliance order and occupied the moral high ground. In reality, he didn't need to care about the thoughts of these representatives at all. The main reason he insisted on obtaining authorization was that he didn't want to leave any stain of procedural non-compliance.

But at the same time, Xia Duo was also very clear about the thoughts of these Alliance representatives. On one hand, it was indeed difficult to convince their home countries, or rather, they themselves were not confident in convincing their home countries, but at the same time, nine out of ten of these representatives likely agreed with giving the authorization in their hearts.

They were just afraid of taking responsibility. Now that he was forcing them, providing a step down, it was naturally not difficult for these representatives to accept.

After the war, if everything went smoothly, then of course it would be because of their decisive decision-making.