Chapter 494: Correct Response Strategy

With the matter of the Zhigaochengcheng having come up, the original discussion could no longer continue. The representatives of the Seven Towers left one after another, unable to wait to go and see the Zhigaochengcheng; only Princess Xiya remained until the end. Seeing how impatient those Great Arcanists were, Princess Xiya could not help but reveal a wry smile. Of course, she could also understand their feelings; when she herself first learned of the Zhigaochengcheng, she had been just as eager.

It was just unclear when the next meeting would be. The Snow Melting Competition seemed to be nearly two months away, but compared to such a major event, time was already right before their eyes.

For a moment, Princess Xiya felt some regret for speaking of the Zhigaochengcheng. It was not because she wanted to keep it secret, but rather that she should have found a better time.

……

Daxia Territory, Linshui Village.

On this day, Xia Duo, who had just enjoyed a few days of leisure, suddenly received a prompt from the Tower Spirit. At first, he thought it was the discovery of a new Projection Plane or Sub-plane, or perhaps the task he had issued regarding the limit testing of the Communication Magic Tool had ended.

But he did not expect it to be a forwarded message from Niya, and Niya's message was also forwarded, coming from her teacher, Princess Xiya. The gist was to solicit opinions from spellcasters belonging to Giles Tower, needing an Arcane Competition proposal that could embody the competitiveness of human Mages.

Upon receiving this message, Xia Duo immediately knew there were variables in this year's Arcane Competition. But thinking about it, that made sense; with the addition of Keman, a three-way melee, how could there not be variables? "An Arcane Competition that can embody the competitiveness of human Mages?"

Xia Duo could not help but start thinking. He wondered if a competitive eating contest would count, though with the elves' self-important and arrogant demeanor, they would certainly be unwilling to perform gluttonous gorging in public, especially for humans.

Based on Xia Duo's two experiences projecting as an elf, any elf who performed such a thing would basically suffer social death in the Elf World; a long lifespan would only bring about longer-lasting jokes.

Even with Magic, one could eat very elegantly, but one could not escape the title of "big eater." No matter how chaotic or messy elves were in private, they would not tolerate any stain on themselves in public.

If a competitive eating contest were truly held, perhaps there might not even be any elf contestants. In a sense, participating itself would be a stain.

Of course, on the other hand, Netherese Mages might not necessarily be able to perform these things in public either, but compared to elves, the level of acceptance among humans should be higher.

To stand on the point of the Arcane Competition while also embodying the competitiveness of human Mages—in the end, it was still a lack of hard power, wanting to take crooked paths.

However, Xia Duo actually agreed with this. Whether it was a black cat or a white cat, a cat that could catch mice was a good cat. Since Netheril needed a victory in the Arcane Competition, then playing some tricks was only right and proper.

This was not even called "playing tricks," but should be called a "correct response strategy."

Since Keman had forcibly joined the original two-nation competition, turning the previously relatively peaceful Arcane Competition into a three-way melee, the act itself was not honorable either.

Between nations, there was not much morality to speak of, let alone when the races were different. Everything was based on interests, whether short-term or long-term.

Xia Duo had seen too much of this on Earth, but he had not yet thought of a new project for the Arcane Competition that the Princess wanted. A lack of magical strength was similar to a lack of technological strength on Earth.

But here, Magic was often linked to the individual; the approach on Earth of relying on human will to transcend technology was very difficult to make work here.

Furthermore, once technology reached a certain level, it could ignore human will. Magic was the same, and the threshold was even lower.

Netheril might possess some deterrent power at the high end, but in a conventional Arcane Competition, it actually did not have an advantage. Perhaps a short lifespan and rapid iteration were the greatest advantages humans had compared to elves.

After considering it for a while, Xia Duo gave up. He did not want to rack his brains over such a thing; that feeling of wanting to think of something but failing to, of seeking but not finding, was the most uncomfortable.

Ultimately, one had to consider the differences between humans and elves; only differentiated competition could yield some advantages.

Perhaps if he stopped thinking about it, inspiration would come automatically.

In the following days, Xia Duo truly did not deliberately think about the Arcane Competition, focusing only on his own plans—meditating in the morning, practicing some simple spells in the afternoon, and waiting for the results from the Tower of Time.

Whether it was the results of the Plane Exploration Array or the results of the testing task.

……

In such fulfilling and leisurely days, time passed bit by bit, and soon it was the end of March.

The warm, humid air currents from the south seemed to arrive earlier than in previous years. Although there was still a full month until the Melting Snow Month, Xia Duo saw signs of snow melting in Linshui Village.

The frozen land was also thawing, and everything seemed to be developing in a good direction. The residents of Daxia Territory had already begun to get busy, no longer limited to work within Linshui Village.

Taking advantage of the fact that the forest had not yet awakened, Xia Duo ordered an increase in logging efforts, and even had people burn the trimmed thin branches on the land that was to be leveled next, artificially accelerating the thawing process of the land.

As for the new project for the Arcane Competition, it was still being solicited. Through his exchanges with Niya, Xia Duo learned that the Mages in Seventon had proposed quite a few laughable plans.

Among them was the competitive eating contest Xia Duo had once thought of. Of course, such a plan was definitely shot down immediately. Not to mention taking such a plan to compete with elves, even the Great Arcanists themselves could not bring themselves to say it.

Besides this, there were things like weightlifting, high jump, long jump, and the like. The element of Magic was too scarce, and they were more inclined toward performance rather than competition.

For this reason, the Keman Ambassador, upon learning of this news, even mocked them, saying that the Netherese were barbarians who only knew how to play with muscles, and that they should go compete with the Langasi in eating and weightlifting.

Having put the Netherese and the Langasi—the "true barbarians" in the eyes of the Netherese—together, the Netherese Mages were naturally furious, and the Seven Towers strictly limited it to an Arcane Competition.

This further increased the difficulty of designing a new project.

So, in what field could the Netherese actually surpass the elves? Through constant understanding with Niya, Xia Duo learned of the latest situation in Seventon, which naturally included the various bizarre ideas of the Netherese Mages, and thus, an idea gradually took shape in Xia Duo's mind.

However, the details needed to be adjusted in combination with the actual situation of the magic world. Xia Duo was confident that if his plan were adopted, the probability of Netheril winning would increase significantly.

(End of chapter)