Chapter 496: Illusionist, Elven Court

The current situation is that the Elves are clearly bullying humans for their lack of artistic foundation; all the Great Arcanists can see this clearly, but they are helpless.

Human aesthetics have been deeply influenced by the Elves for hundreds of years, and even the Great Arcanists appreciate Elven art; is it even possible to win against the Elves in this?

A silent, oppressive atmosphere permeated this secret council chamber. It wouldn't be a big deal to be inferior to the Elves in art; after all, Netherese Mages value practicality—if the Elves have something good, one just uses it.

But the problem is that the Snow Melting Competition involves many interests, and even many potential crises. Not to mention losing an entire event, even losing a single match is unacceptable.

"Does anyone remember that little thing we let go years ago?" a Great Arcanist suddenly said.

"What little thing?"

"That Gnome slave who was proficient in illusion!"

Once mentioned, several Great Arcanists immediately thought of the Gnome slave they had deliberately let go.

Many Gnomes live within the Nether Territory, and the Netherese also need these creatures of Wisdom to develop mines; they are far better than any Orc slaves with their decent Wisdom!

It's just that these Gnomes learned Elven Magic from somewhere. Although it was difficult to develop under the deliberate suppression of the Netherese Mages, under the pressure of life and death, they focused on illusion magic to hide themselves and their tribe.

The illusions of some Gnome illusionists even made the Great Arcanists marvel.

The Gnome slave deliberately released by several Great Arcanists was a highly skilled illusionist, and most importantly, he had quite a reputation among the Gnome population. Letting him go was to make him gather the Gnomes, thereby saving the Netherese Mages the trouble of searching everywhere.

As long as they kept an eye on that Gnome illusionist, once the number he gathered became large, they would arrange a sweep, capture some, release some, and continue capturing once they gathered again.

Using this method, to this day, more than half of the wild Gnomes within the Nether Territory have been captured and used as slaves.

Although Gnome illusions are not as artistic as those of the Elves, when it comes to fitting in with Nature or being whimsical, they are definitely superior, having been honed in life and death.

That Great Arcanist wanted to have the Gnomes represent humans to compete against the Elves.

Gnomes are not considered enemies of the Netherese, but the Netherese are enemies of the Gnomes. Making Gnomes fight for their enemies—one has to say, this is a brain-opening idea.

But the pragmatic Great Arcanists quickly accepted this suggestion. Anyway, it is difficult to win relying on human Mages, so it is better to try with Gnomes.

"Princess, the Spell Duel requires the assistance of the Elven Mages under your command for training, and the Arcane Maze was proposed by you, so you shall be responsible for both of these events. We will go handle those Gnomes."

Princess Xiya nodded, "That is fine, but the Arcane Maze was not proposed by me, but by a Pioneer."

"A Pioneer? Is it Xia Duo, the author of the Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory and the lord of the Daxia Pioneering Territory?"

"Yes, that is him."

"Not bad."

There was no further discussion after that; after all, it is already quite good for a Great Arcanist to remember a name.

Soon, the seven Great Arcanists dispersed, and at this time, there was less than a month left until the Snow Melting Competition.

And in the far east of the Nether Territory, within the borders of Keman, deep in the Akaola Forest.

An area covered by a mysterious Jieti, although ravaged by the flames of war, still stubbornly survived and was striving to recover. It looked like a small village, but this was the Elven Court, and also the place where many Elven Elders spent their retirement.

In the past, this place had also experienced glory; hundreds of High Mages, clerics, and Nobles stood up here, issuing a declaration to resist the imperial rule of Aryvandaar.

Of course, thousands of years have passed, and the glory here is long gone. Today, it has become a retirement place. The Elders are magnanimous and loving, and can still exert their last bit of residual heat in the war against the Drow; this is also an important reason why the Crown King of Keman tolerates its continued existence.

However, today, the Elven Court welcomed many young High Mages. Although their actual age is not small among Elves, compared to the various Elven Elders, they are still the younger generation, without a doubt.

The Elven Court prohibits Teleportation Spells. Faluo and his party walked from outside the Jieti to the village inside, and the organization members had already arranged the ritual site here in advance.

A massive mysterious Magic Array, Spellcasting Nodes cast from Mithril, countless Gemstones of various colors embedded between the nodes, and various mysterious symbols looming in the air.

In the distance, several Elven Elders watched this with smiles. Their connection to the mortal world had long been severed, and the reason they lingered in the mortal world was merely to provide the last bit of help to the younger generation.

Faluo respected these Elven Elders from the bottom of his heart. He bowed from afar, then let the organization members who were not participating in the ritual entertain the Elven Mages who had come to watch the ritual.

He himself carefully checked the entire Magic Array. This was no small matter; if something went wrong, even if he were lucky enough to keep his life, the Oracle of the main god would not be easy to complete, and it would not be so easy to organize another Omniscient Rite next time.

Fortunately, everything was fine. Faluo straightened his gorgeous Mage Robe and stood in the center of the Magic Array, on the Spellcasting Node cast from Mithril. Seeing that Faluo had started, the other twelve High Mages also stood on their respective Spellcasting Nodes in turn.

With Faluo as the center, there was a Spellcasting Node at each of the three equally divided corners around him, and each Spellcasting Node had three auxiliary Spellcasting Nodes.

It was equivalent to a 1-3-9 distribution.

When the thirteen High Mages, including Faluo, were all prepared, the ritual officially began.

First, Faluo chanted the starting incantation to activate the Magic Array accompanying the Omniscient Rite. Afterward, the incantation changed abruptly, and the other twelve Spellcasters also began to chant.

Although each only chanted the preset incantation, when coordinated, the thirteen voices intertwined to form a complete incantation.

Of course, the rite was by no means just about the incantation; even the incantation was secondary. The foundation lay in the control of the Magic Net; the incantation only served an auxiliary role, allowing the thirteen Spellcasters to coordinate in unison.

The more people participating in a ritual, the harder it is to coordinate; of course, from another perspective, the greater the power.

With the start of the Omniscient Rite, the wind began to blow around the Elven Court, and even the sky seemed to darken. Various mysterious phenomena that were difficult to understand constantly appeared around the Magic Array.

The watching Elven Mages moved away from the Magic Array one after another, but none left. Since they had come, they certainly had some psychological preparation.

Before long, light rain began to fall from the sky. Faluo and the others had no Protection, letting the raindrops hit their faces, but the rhythm of the incantation was not chaotic at all, and it even faintly resonated with the surrounding wind and rain.

It wasn't until more than half an hour had passed that the wind stopped and the rain ceased. A rainbow hung from the top of an oak tree not far away, and Faluo's side had reached the most critical moment.

Everything before could be understood as the spellcasting process; after this, there were results that he and the other twelve participants needed to bear together.

Omniscience is not necessarily a good thing. Without the capacity to bear it, perhaps one's head would be burst by the massive amount of information in an instant. Faluo's method was to use a Spell to link the minds of the thirteen High Mages together, construct a simple mental model, and incorporate, organize, and draw conclusions from all the information.

In addition, the mental model could not be complex; if it were too complex, the processing speed would slow down, and if it slowed down, accidents would occur.

Finally, except for Faluo, the incantations of the other Spellcasters stopped. When Faluo finished the final concluding incantation, the Magic Array erupted with a burst of intense light.

This included both the Magic Aura invisible to the naked eye and the blinding visible light, causing the surrounding Elven Mages to squint, and some even simply closed their eyes to sense the changes in the Magic Net at the Magic Array.