Chapter 544: Siboden, Not Losing to the Master

After the banquet, it was not yet late. After Xia Duo, Beilaila, and the others left the Old City District, they went together to a Mage Tower in the New City District.

Unlike the underground Temple of the Magic Goddess, which had a well-known reputation, a newly opened Arcane Association could not yet put everyone at ease, even with Beilaila's guarantee.

After arranging the rooms, the first thing everyone did was check for safety, looking for any Restriction Spells, Scrying spells, and the like, before continuing the exchange meeting.

After a round of inspections, Beilaila's expression was somewhat poor. "If you can't trust me, surely you can trust the Xiboden Family?"

"Xiboden?"

Xia Duo felt the name sounded familiar, but before he needed to ask, someone else had already asked for him: "Beilaila, are you from the Xiboden Family? That Xiboden Family that legend says monopolizes half of the trade with the Dwarf in the Inner Land?"

"It is indeed the Xiboden Family, but it's not as exaggerated as the legends say. It's just that my family is quite skilled at shipbuilding, and most of the ships sailing to Asikeer were built by my family, which is how that reputation spread."

Although she said this, everyone still felt Beilaila was being too modest.

Speaking of ships, Xia Duo also remembered; wasn't his "Lucky Owen" bought in the Xibodeng Territory? It was just that too much time had passed, and he hadn't handled it personally, so he had somewhat forgotten.

"This Arcane Association is my family's property, so everyone can rest assured." Bringing up her family name left Beilaila feeling somewhat frustrated; had she known, she wouldn't have chosen this place.

Once her father found out, he might just drag her back to inherit the Territory. Seventon was so lively and interesting; she didn't want to be bound to a territory so early.

Sighing silently in her heart, Beilaila soon cast those vexing matters to the back of her mind, looking forward to the gains from the exchange meeting.

"It's finally my turn!"

Whether it was deliberate arrangement or just luck, both Xia Duo and Niya were scheduled toward the end. If he really wanted to be a rogue, he could run away now, though of course, once he ran, his reputation would be ruined.

It was unlikely anyone from the Seven Towers would be willing to accept him into an exchange meeting again.

"The content I wish to present is 'The Application and Expansion of Pre-Spellcasting Techniques in Spellcasting Practice—Taking the New Teleportation Spell 【Teleportation Mark】 as an Example.' I welcome everyone's criticism and corrections."

Xia Duo treated this presentation like a graduation project; he had even prepared a thesis, and his delivery was extremely fluent.

Moreover, compared to other Netherese Mages, his thesis structure was more rigorous, his arguments and evidence were sufficient and clear, and his word choice was very precise, rarely leaving any sense of ambiguity.

His introduction went from simple to profound, step by step, and by the time Xia Duo finished speaking, not a single person had raised a question.

*Ahem*—

"Everyone, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I will not hide anything I can answer, and even if I cannot answer, discussing it together would be good!"

Silence, still silence. Xia Duo could see that everyone was thinking, but they couldn't just keep thinking forever. In the Q&A sessions after the previous mages' presentations, it wasn't that all questions were truly exhausted, but rather that some questions required further research before they could be posed.

The problem now was that Xia Duo had explained it too clearly, to the point where these Advanced Rank Mages couldn't think of any meaningful questions on this topic for the moment.

After a long while, an Advanced Rank Mage closed their notebook and looked at Xia Duo with a very strange expression: "Mage Xia Duo, are you truly just an Advanced Rank Mage, and not a Great Arcanist in disguise?"

"..."

At Archmage Sandro's banquet just now, the guests included spellcasters from outside the Seven Towers as well. The disguised identities of several Great Arcanists were no secret; someone would always recognize them, and after a bit of exchange, they would realize there were even more, immediately becoming terrified.

And now, at the exchange meeting, because Xia Duo's research was so detailed and clear, some people actually suspected he was a Great Arcanist in disguise.

Xia Duo was also speechless at this. Wasn't this standard procedure? How did it become the work of a disguised Great Arcanist?

Of course, he didn't dare say that directly; it would be too provocative. "I am not a Great Arcanist, though some time ago, I did just advance to become an Arcanist."

"An Arcanist?!" Many people showed envious expressions; not everyone had the opportunity to become an Arcanist.

Not to mention the personal academic requirements, there was also the environment for advancement. If one didn't have a Mage Tower at home, applying for an Advanced Laboratory at the Seven Towers was no easy task; it required paying a great price.

Even if one succeeded in applying, once the advancement failed, how many people had the courage to try again!

"Even as an Arcanist, Xia Duo, you are not comparable to ordinary Arcanists!" The one speaking was Beilaila, the person in the room closest to being an Arcanist; if she were willing, she could have attempted advancement in her family's Mage Tower long ago.

Furthermore, her father, the Lord of Siboden, was a Senior Arcanist, yet she had never seen him explain a problem so meticulously and with such clear layers.

"I have often heard that Master Iolum is very skilled at teaching students, even having taught two Great Arcanists, but I think if Mage Xia Duo becomes a Great Arcanist in the future, at least in terms of teaching students, you will not lose to Master Iolum."

Xia Duo didn't even dare to respond to this. If this were to spread, it would be too provocative. Although he could use it to gain a large amount of "Belief Power," he didn't want this kind of benefit at all.

He didn't know what kind of personality Iolum had; if he were a bit petty, it would likely lead to a mountain of trouble.

"I dare not compare myself to Master Iolum; it would be best not to say such things in the future!" As he spoke, Xia Duo's expression became serious. "Everyone is just hearing this method of argumentation for the first time and finds it novel; in fact, you can all do it!"

"Really?!"

"Of course!" Xia Duo wasn't lying. In fact, for a thesis, the most important thing is the argumentation. There is a logic problem involved here; Netherese Mages might be aware of the existence of logic, but they haven't studied it as deeply as people from Earth.

After all, compared to Magic, a discipline like logic, which brings neither power nor authority, and doesn't even make life more comfortable, simply cannot develop.

Yet logic is omnipresent; mages use it almost every moment. Without logic, a person cannot even be called a person.

Xia Duo simply introduced the syllogism and gave a few classic examples, and the group of mages was stunned. When they applied the syllogism to their own presentation content, sure enough, the areas where their thinking was not rigorous immediately became apparent.

Everyone looked at Xia Duo with positive emotions, while Xia Duo was thinking that he had finally bluffed his way through.

It would be troublesome if the reputation that "Xia Duo does not lose to Iolum" were to spread. At least for now, he couldn't bear such a reputation. Although he really wanted to harvest a wave of "Belief Power," he didn't want to do it through this method.

The man had already taught two Great Arcanists; that was an established fact. And what achievements did he have?

He could only slowly harvest some "Belief Power" through the *Daxia Territory Standard Development Guide* and the 【Arcane Maze】. However, Xia Duo didn't place much importance on bloodlines now; if he could awaken, that was best, but if not, it didn't matter.

Besides, even if he awakened again, could he awaken all the way to the heavens (becoming a god)?

On the contrary, through Magic, one could step by step approach the gods. Especially today, Xia Duo had witnessed a so-called Longevity Ritual with his own eyes. That Archmage Sandro claimed to have already attained eternal life, which was truly enviable.

With eternal life, what could one not obtain?

As for whether one could truly obtain eternal life through a so-called Longevity Ritual, Xia Duo was somewhat skeptical, but looking at the reaction of that Great Arcanist Lander, it didn't seem to be a lie.

It was just that whether this "non-human eternal life" had any hidden dangers was a very critical question.