Chapter 552: Not of My Race, Total Victory

Next, Xia Duo did not start a new game with Niya; it was nearly time, and the Mages of the Seven Towers had already begun teleporting into the venue. By the time Elkamon stood in the center of the Arena, there were no longer any chess game projections within the field.

"Huh, why didn't Master Iolum come today?"

No matter where they were, a Great Arcanist could always attract the most attention. Sure enough, Xia Duo immediately noticed that the person in the second-seat today was slightly different from before.

Iolum was missing, and there was one more Gold Elf.

What was going on?

Xia Duo was just about to ask Niya if she knew the situation, but he happened to meet her puzzled gaze, so he said, "Is that new Gold Elf in the second-seat from Illefarn?"

He had just noticed that the seat originally arranged for that Gold Elf was next to the other elves, but he hadn't expected that Gold Elf to sit directly as far away as possible from the high mages of Yierlan and Cormanthor.

This was obviously a sign of discord.

"It should be." Niya nodded, but said, "I didn't expect Illefarn to send a high mage here at the last minute. Do you think Illefarn will also participate in the next Snow Melting Competition?"

Who knows?

However, in his heart, Xia Duo hoped that the Snow Melting Competition could develop into an international event similar to the Olympics on Earth, making peaceful development the mainstream rather than estrangement and strife.

After all, no one could guarantee they wouldn't die on the battlefield; except for those very few natural war-mongers, most sentient beings probably yearned for peace!

Of course, true peace still relied on one's own strength and had to be won through struggle; peace gained through compromise was ultimately not long-lasting.

But regardless, the Snow Melting Competition did indeed have the potential to resolve international disputes and reshape the international order; it just depended on how those people above developed it.

"I hope Illefarn can join in the next Snow Melting Competition."

"Hm? Why do you say that?" Niya's view of the Snow Melting Competition was still that of the past bilateral exchange matches; Cormanthor's participation only made her see arrogance and coercion.

At the Lord's Conference at the beginning of the year, Niya was personally present, and she strongly resented Cormanthor's bullying behavior.

Xia Duo did not explain from the perspective of international vision or an exchange platform, but said, "Illefarn is clearly pro-Netheril, at least that's what they've shown. Wouldn't their joining help Netheril counter the alliance between Yierlan and Cormanthor?"

"That's true!" Recalling the situation of the previous matches, Niya nodded, "Netheril does need a new ally, a more reliable ally than Yierlan!"

Xia Duo did not speak. Even now, many Netherese Mages still believed that Yierlan was Netheril's mentor, blood brother, and international ally.

But in fact, the two countries had neither firm common interests nor a very stubborn and powerful common enemy, so it was difficult for the two countries to maintain long-term closeness.

Especially since Netheril was gradually becoming stronger.

Sayings like "those not of my race must have a different heart" were not unique to Xia Duo's hometown. Compared to the differences between humans of different skin colors and cultures, how much true friendship could there really be between humans and elves, who naturally possessed lifespans of hundreds of years?

"The match has started!"

"Oh, right!"

……

The 【Arcane Maze】 still adopted the round-robin challenge mode just like the 【Spell Duel】. The final score was based on double wins, meaning the number of contestants who won both the challenge and the defense matches.

It was difficult for players to resist the first-move advantage of the pieces, not to mention the opponent's interference. For several matches in a row, things basically proceeded according to the normal flow of the chess game.

Not a single player was able to change the outcome of the captures!

Because the rules of 【Arcane Maze】 had long been announced, no one felt surprised by this. Instead, it was the Netherese side that kept using various tactics, which immediately ignited the atmosphere in the venue.

For Xia Duo, if he were asked to summarize the tactics, he couldn't do it himself. All tactics were integrated into one; summarized, it was actually just two words—chess skill.

The training Xia Duo had previously given to Stuart, Angelin, and the others did not involve magic; it was purely chess games, letting them grow through the matches.

This was much faster than the improvement speed of pure novices fumbling on their own.

And the results were also displayed on the competition field.

Ten matches, played from morning until dusk; among them, the four matches involving Netheril were all won without exception.

Even in the last match, the Yierlan mage had some stroke of luck and managed to invalidate one of the Netherese Arcanist's captures, but this was only a small step in the overall game and did not allow them to turn defeat into victory.

And in Xia Duo's view, the spell-combat abilities of all contestants were about the same. At this point, the level of chess skill became the deciding factor. Clearly, the Netherese players were a cut above.

……

In the evening, after Xia Duo and Niya finished dinner and returned to Giles Tower, before he could even organize the situation of the spell combat performed by the players during the day, Archmage Greta had already come knocking.

"Lord Xia Duo, there is a matter I need to trouble you with."

"Please speak!"

"The elf contestants have already left Seventon. Her Highness the Princess suspects they want to use some kind of time difference to conduct temporary training, so she asked me to come and find you to train our people as well."

"Time difference?" Xia Duo was somewhat puzzled.

Archmage Greta did not explain too much, "Lord Xia Duo, follow me and you will know."

Helpless, Xia Duo had no choice but to follow, but as he walked, he kept thinking about what kind of time difference it could be. He could think of the Projection Plane, but the problem was that multiple people entering the Projection Plane at the same time might not arrive at the same time; differences of tens, hundreds, or thousands of years were possible.

Not to mention, there was also the possibility of being projected as different creatures, landing in different places; there were too many uncertain factors.

There was indeed a so-called "Time Stop" spell in that game on Earth, but that was merely accelerating oneself to the extreme, making it look as if the outside world had been stopped.

Moreover, in this world of Reality and magic, he had never heard of any Time Stop spell.

Soon, the two stepped into a place Xia Duo had never been before, but just looking at the layout here, Xia Duo felt a sense of familiarity—the Plane Exploration Layer of the Tower of Time!

Could it be that Giles Tower had solved the problem of landing points for multiple simultaneous projections?

Or was it that they were going to a Sub-plane where the flow of time was different from the Main Plane?

Xia Duo suddenly became somewhat expectant. No matter which situation it was, it meant that he himself might very well possess it in the future.

After all, new technology could be introduced and researched; if there was one Sub-plane with a different time flow, there could be more.

……

In the end, what awaited Xia Duo was not a large ball of light for Astral Projection, but a Portal flickering with intense Magic Aura.

"There really is a Sub-plane with a different time flow!"

Too late to marvel, Xia Duo stepped into the Portal under the urging of Archmage Greta.