Chapter 49: Six-Person Team, High Spirits

"Xia Duo!"

Xia Duo had just pushed through between two people when he felt his sleeve being tugged. Looking back, it was actually Sami, whom he had been looking for. "Sami, let's not talk now. I need to go over there."

"Xia Duo, I have something to discuss with you."

"About the joint operation later?"

"Yeah." Seeing that Xia Duo looked a bit anxious, Sami quickly said, "And Dewan, we all want to team up with you."

"I agree. Let's get in touch again at the Military Camp. I have urgent business right now."

After saying this, Xia Duo squeezed his way toward Dien again.

"Dien! Dien!"

Xia Duo lowered his voice to call out. With the Apprentices in the hall all networking and discussing among themselves, Xia Duo did not attract any attention, and Dien happened to hear Xia Duo's voice.

He hurriedly left the few Ordinary Apprentices around him and leaned toward Xia Duo, also lowering his voice to say, "Xia Duo, I've found a few decent Apprentices to act with us when the time comes."

"Why didn't you unite everyone?!" There was clear dissatisfaction in Xia Duo's voice. When clearing out scattered Orcs, more people was not necessarily better.

At the very least, Xia Duo had no intention of finding too many Ordinary Apprentices who couldn't cast 【Sending】; wouldn't he just become a babysitter then!

Xia Duo's words first made Dien freeze, then he nodded in complete agreement. "That's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

Xia Duo was left completely speechless. Looking at the person before him, he felt a bit dazed. Dien was only seventeen or eighteen years old now; on Earth, he would only count as a minor.

For a long time, in the Mage Tower, Xia Duo had grown accustomed to considering the people around him as adults, but in fact, the vast majority of Apprentices were only seventeen or eighteen.

Even though the environment of Netheril was different from Earth, mental growth still required a certain amount of time.

"Dien, listen to me. We are going into the forest to clear out Orcs. More people means safety, but have you thought about whether you can find Orcs if everyone is bunched together?"

"This—I suppose so!" Dien said uncertainly.

"Then tell me, is it easier to find them by spreading out, or by bunching together?"

Dien said affirmatively, "Of course it's easier to find them by spreading out."

"That's it then. Since we have to spread out anyway, what's the point of you organizing so many squads to unite? Only by uniting a small number of teams can you conveniently support one another."

Dien was silent after hearing this. Those who could enter the Mage Tower were not stupid; he was just too afraid of the Orcs and instinctively wanted to drag more people along to act together.

In reality, how could that be possible!

Actually, there was one more thing Xia Duo didn't say: the attitude from above was that Apprentices were no longer needed to participate in frontal combat. So, when clearing out scattered Orcs, how could they tolerate so many people bunching up and slacking off?

Otherwise, how much effect could such a clearing operation have?

After agreeing on the time and place to meet at the Military Camp, Xia Duo told Dien to hurry up and dismiss the extra people; he only needed to pick two reliable Apprentices.

This way, Xia Duo, Sami, and Dewan could each lead one person. Whether it was conducting a dragnet search or providing nearby support, they wouldn't be caught in a scramble.

Xia Duo never had the idea of uniting more people. He knew his own limits; he didn't seek to perform great feats, only to pass through this safely.

Having wasted a bit of time with Dien, there were more and more people in the hall. With the crowd surging, Xia Duo roughly counted them; there were about two hundred.

Most of them were Ordinary Apprentices, with only a few dozen Official Apprentices.

The few blonde Apprentices Xia Duo saw in the crowd were not Xiao Nier. There should be more Apprentices in the Mage Tower than this; he just didn't know what arrangements those people had.

Soon, all the Apprentices notified by the Tower Spirit had arrived. The Official Mage standing at the entrance seemed to have received a prompt, and immediately cast 【Ghost Sound】, spreading his voice throughout the entire hall—

"Fellow Apprentices, I believe you all know the purpose of this gathering—the Orcs have come. The decennial Orc Tide makes everyone in the Savile Territory miserable, but do you know that if it weren't for the Great Arcanist Iolum organizing a territory-wide beast-slaughtering war ninety years ago, which cleared out a large number of Orcs, the Orc Tide would still be occurring every five years, or even sooner."

Listening to the Mage's narration, the Apprentices' thoughts seemed to return to that grand beast-slaughtering war ninety years ago, wishing they could personally return to the past and join it.

Xia Duo seemed to have the same thought, but he quickly realized something was wrong. He hurriedly lowered his head slightly, his eyes revealing a sense of clarity, and he secretly muttered, "That was close!"

Fortunately, he wasn't a native, otherwise, he might have also had his blood boil with passion.

However, this kind of spell shouldn't be a malicious one; otherwise, with so many Apprentices, especially Official Apprentices, it would be hard to guarantee that some wouldn't harbor resentment later and leave behind hidden dangers.

This reminded Xia Duo of a time when Mu Yan had performed a Kara-Tur style song. The onlookers were almost all attracted by the illusion created by the song, as if they had seen the scenery of Kara-Tur.

And those people were mostly Adventurers with firm minds who lived life on the edge of a blade.

No one caused trouble that time either, only people jeering and demanding that Mu Yan perform another one.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo felt a bit more relaxed.

Raising his head slightly, his peripheral vision caught the male Mage with foot-long hair. Finally, his gaze stopped on a necklace pendant on his chest; a blue-white star seemed to be shimmering.

Observing this strange blue-white star pendant carefully, Xia Duo felt it looked familiar. Thinking about it, he seemed to have seen similar ornaments on some Apprentices before.

Observing it carefully now could even make one feel a sense of inner peace, and it seemed as if countless inspirations were surging in his heart, yet it always felt as if there were a layer of frosted glass in between.

Making it impossible to see clearly what it was.

This feeling was truly addictive. Fortunately, Xia Duo knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world; everything had actually been priced in the dark long ago.

Xia Duo resisted the urge to investigate and shifted his gaze elsewhere. Fortunately, he had roughly determined that the fanaticism in the hall now was not due to any evil, mind-controlling spell.

Otherwise, staying in an evil Mage Tower, even if he weren't affected for a moment, he would find it hard to escape other misfortunes later.

And at this moment, the Official Mage continued—

"Now the Orcs are attacking again, and the Territory needs your strength. This time is different from the past; an Archmage from the Arcane Union has personally come to the Savile Territory to provide support. This time, we will surely deal a heavy blow to the Orcs! From now on, the Savile Territory will no longer have a decennial Orc Tide!"

"You will work with the Territory soldiers to clear out the small number of remaining Orcs after the main force is killed or routed! May the Goddess's radiance protect you, and may the Arcane be with us!"

"May the Arcane be with us!" the Apprentices in the hall shouted in unison.

Xia Duo also shouted at the top of his lungs. Not needing to fight the Orcs head-on—this could be considered officially confirmed. Xia Duo was very happy, as this would greatly increase his chances of survival.