Chapter 555: Government-Funded Travel, New Clues

The subsequent matches were indeed as Xia Duo had anticipated; the Elf side's tactics were basically consistent: starting with defense, then actively trading pieces to simplify the board, all while interspersed with spell duels to render the Netheril side's piece attacks ineffective as much as possible.

This series of maneuvers made the Netheril players extremely uncomfortable, giving them a feeling of being unable to exert their strength, and Xia Duo, watching from the spectator stands, also felt very restless.

But regardless, Xia Duo did indeed acknowledge that today's matches were much more exciting than yesterday's (on the Main Plane). It was still a battle until dusk before the ten matches of the day concluded.

In the end, out of the 6 matches Netheril participated in, they only won 3; of the remaining two, there was 1 loss and 2 draws. Furthermore, combined with yesterday's matches, five people from Netheril have already achieved double wins in the 【Arcane Maze】 event, totaling 5 points.

Basically, the victory is already certain; even if they lose all of tomorrow's matches, it will not change this result.

But the problem is, a simple victory does not have much significance; the key is the score, as the point gap represents substantial interests.

Last night, when Xia Duo was in the 【Annihilation Plane】, he learned that in past Snow Melting Competitions, Netheril and Yierlan had always had interest-based wagers, and now that Keman has joined, it concerns the long-term trade agreements between the three nations.

Although Archmage Greta did not disclose the specific wagering plan, it is very clear that the larger the point gap, the more interests it represents!

For policy-related things like trade agreements, even a tiny adjustment, when implemented into concrete interests, will be an astronomical figure.

……

Returning to Giles Tower, Archmage Greta came knocking to invite Xia Duo to head to the 【Annihilation Plane】 again to train the Netheril players.

"Lord Xia Duo, is there any way to break the Elf side's piece-trading strategy?"

"No, and there is no need." Although Xia Duo very much wanted to go to the 【Annihilation Plane】 to use the ten-fold time flow rate there to do some private work, he also knew that five days of time was not enough for those players' chess skills to reach a qualitative breakthrough.

"The Elves' chess skill is not as good as ours; the three matches we didn't win today were mainly because the opponent used spells to influence the pieces' attacks. As long as this point is eliminated, it will be very easy to win!"

Xia Duo spoke very bluntly and did not deliberately emphasize the role of chess skill just because Archmage Greta invited him to train them in chess; 【Arcane Maze】 is not a pure board game.

As long as the player is strong enough, even if they don't know how to play chess at all, it is impossible for them to lose.

Because, when strong to a certain degree, it is equivalent to every time the opponent wants to capture a piece, that move will be ineffective; if the opponent cannot capture a piece, then how could they possibly lose?

In reality, the Elf players are of course not that strong, especially in situations where the pieces have the first-attack advantage.

"Archmage Greta, rather than spending five days on chess skills that are unlikely to undergo a qualitative change, it is better to train them in techniques for dealing with Elf spell offense and defense. With the first-attack advantage of the pieces, doing this can maximize their chess skill advantage."

"Lord Xia Duo, what you say makes a lot of sense. However, whether it is chess skill training or spell offense and defense technique training, both must be carried out!"

Archmage Greta revealed an "I want it all" expression and began to urge Xia Duo, "If there is nothing else, hurry and come with me. Any bit of time we waste here will be calculated ten-fold over there!"

Fine!

Since the Archmage has said so, what else can Xia Duo do! Of course, he followed along; anyway, he had never said that chess skill could solve everything, and if they lost, it couldn't be blamed on him.

In fact, because of this 【Arcane Maze】 plan of Xia Duo's, Netheril has already won, and now it is just a question of winning by a large or small margin.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo had no psychological burden at all; he would just treat it as a government-funded trip. With ten-fold time acceleration, he could not only do some private work but also incidentally watch the Arcanists' spell training.

Consequently, Xia Duo subconsciously quickened his pace.

Greta, walking in front, sensed the situation behind her, was stunned for a moment, but then, as if she had figured something out, also quickened her pace.

……

At the same time, far away in the east, Keman.

Perhaps because spring in the Elf Court came too early, this small, dilapidated-looking village was already surrounded by flowers and green grass, and Faluo and other High Mages conducted the 【Omniscient Rite】 amidst the flowers and grass.

For this ritual, Faluo did not invite other Elves to observe; there were only members of the organization, though of course, a few Elders living in the Elf Court came to take a look out of curiosity.

After the ritual, Faluo and his organization members did not leave; they just lay on the lush, fluffy grass, soothing the intense discomfort after detaching from the omniscient state while exchanging information obtained from the ritual with other spellcasters.

Listening to the other organization members' clearly off-topic small talk, Faluo did not have much intention to rebuke them; this was just their way of relaxing, but now that the sky had darkened, Faluo also wanted to know everything about the Oracle's revelation as soon as possible.

"Everyone, regarding the Oracle's revelation, do you have any new discoveries? What kind of change will actually happen to the former site of the Alabaster Tower?"

"Archmage Faluo, I am very sorry, what I saw is still the same as last time, a radiance like looking directly at the sun; although there are wisps of shadows wandering on its surface, I truly cannot understand what kind of change this is."

"Me too!"

Then several other High Mages who participated in the ritual spoke up; what they saw was almost exactly the same as what they saw in the last ritual, and Faluo sighed silently in his heart.

Perhaps this is the limitation of the 【Omniscience Ritual】; this kind of near-prophetic ability can only be realized once for the same spellcaster. Thinking of this, Faluo could not help but sit up from the grass and cast his gaze not far away at the Yierlan High Mage, Yiruian, who was still lying down.

Yiruian did not participate in the last ritual; this 【Omniscient Rite】 was his first time participating, perhaps he might have some new discoveries?

"Yiruian, what about you? Do you have any new discoveries?"

"What I saw is about the same as yours, it's just—" Yiruian suddenly hesitated.

Hearing there was a new discovery, Faluo could barely sit still; how could he tolerate Yiruian's hesitation? "Just what? Speak quickly! Even if it's an illusion, say it out and let everyone discuss it."

"Since that's the case, then I will say it; if you make a misjudgment because of this, don't blame me!" Yiruian joined the organization purely for the Ancient Magic Secret Scroll provided by Faluo.

He did not want to get involved in any trouble because of this, even for this participation in the 【Omniscient Rite】, it was only because Faluo brought out visible benefits that could move him that he participated.

"I won't blame you. Even the main gods haven't been able to see the future clearly, so how can we talk about accurate prediction? It's just one more clue, speak quickly!" Faluo immediately gave his guarantee.

Several other High Mages also sat up from the grass, looking as if they had taken an interest in what Yiruian had seen.