Chapter 623: Braun, Key Profession

"Gray-White Spiral Tower!"

Those belonging to the Seven Towers, including Princess Xiya, cast unfriendly gazes toward an inconspicuous spot in the conference hall. At this moment, as the external representative for the Seven Towers, Princess Xiya immediately issued a challenge:

"Lord Braun, is this your own intention?"

If it were an ordinary Mage Tower suing the Seven Towers, let alone whether they had the guts, any Seven Towers Great Arcanist could have dismissed it directly at the Council of Great Arcanists.

But the Gray-White Spiral Tower was a Mage Tower (Spellcaster group) that possessed a Great Arcanist, so it could not be dismissed directly; at the very least, a plausible explanation had to be provided.

The Arcane Union is, in essence, a union of various Mage Towers, but only those possessing a Great Arcanist have basic speaking rights within the Arcane Union.

Otherwise, one would be like the Tower of Time, only able to passively obey all resolutions.

However, this time, Princess Xiya did not want to explain; instead, she sought out Braun himself at the first opportunity. Regardless of the purpose for which the Gray-White Spiral Tower made such a decision, it could not bypass Braun himself in the end.

The expression on Braun's face seemed somewhat shocked, yet his reply exceeded everyone's expectations: "Your Highness, I was unaware of this matter beforehand; it must have been a misoperation by those below!"

He was backing down just like that?

Princess Xiya was somewhat unable to understand what Braun meant, but Braun's next words made her feel as if she had been played—

"However, I personally also feel that the Seven Towers have monopolized Plane Crystals for long enough. Isn't the spirit of Magic openness and exchange? I think we could register the method of obtaining Plane Crystals as an Arcane Union patent, allowing everyone to profit from it!"

"No need!"

Princess Xiya looked around the room and suddenly felt that this topic might have been jointly discussed by everyone outside the Seven Towers, so she said coldly:

"If you want to know how to stably obtain Plane Crystals, I can tell you right now! Destroying a Sub-plane provides a chance to obtain them, and it is even possible with a Semi-plane!"

The so-called "Plane Crystal" is, in essence, the wreckage left after a plane is destroyed. In fact, many legends of the past were not entirely fictitious; one can indeed obtain Plane Crystals by destroying planes.

But the method here is not the key; the key lies in the Plane Scholars that the Seven Towers have been continuously cultivating for hundreds of years. Without them, Plane Exploration would truly just be a matter of luck, and it would be impossible to discover many Sub-planes that could be used for destruction.

Other Mage Towers might also cultivate Plane Scholars or Astral Mages, but none value them as much as the Seven Towers. Besides the reason of Plane Crystals, another very important reason is that the Seven Towers, to a certain extent, represent the Seventon Council and represent Netheril; the Seven Towers generally have the ideal of expanding territory.

At most, the current leaders of the Seven Towers have different levels of focus in this regard, but there is no doubt that without some commonality, even if the Seven Towers originated from the initial Seven Towns of Netheril, it would be impossible to form an alliance of interests spanning hundreds of years.

Princess Xiya did not care about telling others the method of obtaining Plane Crystals; after all, this was not really a secret. As long as someone truly dared to try and continuously destroy planes based on the legends, they would always discover something.

But knowing the method of acquisition is one thing, and being able to possess stable Plane Crystals is another matter entirely.

Without sufficiently excellent Plane Scholars and without enough Plane Crystals, one cannot search for Sub-planes with high efficiency and high frequency. And without Sub-planes, where would the Plane Crystals come from!

This vicious cycle cannot be broken by simply picking up a few scattered Plane Crystals in the Main Plane; even the Seven Towers have paid a huge price for this.

Princess Xiya's words caused all the Great Arcanists outside the Seven Towers in the conference hall to feel a shock in their hearts. They truly had not expected the method of obtaining Plane Crystals to be so simple.

However, they soon realized that the biggest gap between their own houses and the Seven Towers in the field of Plane Exploration was not the Plane Crystals, but the key profession of Plane Scholar.

Thus, the Great Arcanists could not help but calculate how to cultivate their own Plane Scholars. If it were just some basic Knowledge, the Arcane Union would have it, but wanting to make them truly play a role in the process of Plane Exploration was not an easy task.

Most people did not suspect that Princess Xiya was lying; for one, there was no precedent, and for another, such a lie was not difficult to verify. Yet, a very small number of people still felt that there was a secret hidden within.

However, as the largest Spellcaster group in Netheril, the Seven Towers Group had fifteen Great Arcanists on the surface, with the Seven Towers alone accounting for eight. With things said to this extent, even Braun was unwilling to push back hard on this issue.

In fact, at this moment, he already somewhat believed Princess Xiya's words in his heart, and at the same time, he felt some regret for stepping forward this time, but he regretted even more his relaxed control over the Gray-White Spiral Tower.

He had not been lying when he said earlier that he was unaware. Logically speaking, for a sensitive topic like "Gray-White Spiral Tower suing the Seven Towers," the Arcane Union would have confirmed it again with him, the actual person in charge of the Gray-White Spiral Tower, but he had not received any relevant information.

Was it an oversight by the Arcane Union? Or had someone "replied" for him?

And his remarks just now—although they were indeed his true inner thoughts, Braun always felt that something was not right. It could have been discussed privately, yet it had to be brought up at the meeting; these were not his true thoughts!

Realizing this, there was a bit more scrutiny in Braun's gaze as he looked at the others. Who exactly was deliberately inciting the conflict between him and the Seven Towers?

"Alright, the topic regarding the Gray-White Spiral Tower suing the Seven Towers ends here. Now, let us begin the next topic—"

However, before Kangjienio could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Princess Xiya: "My deepest apologies, Master Kangjienio, I still have a few words to say!"

Kangjienio, having been interrupted, was not the least bit angry. In fact, his job was more like that of a moderator rather than some superior leader, and he was happy to watch these juniors bicker; as long as they did not start fighting, in his eyes, it all counted as building relationships.

Kangjienio stroked his thick, completely white beard and looked at Xiya with a smile: "Your Highness, please speak!"

"Giles Tower has just recently obtained a Plane Crystal. Those who have a need for it can contact me after the meeting!"

After finishing, Princess Xiya swept her gaze around the conference hall before finally looking at Kangjienio and smiling slightly: "Master, I am finished; please continue!"

Kangjienio took the lead in continuing:

"The next topic: regarding Illefarn inviting Netherese Mages to travel to Ailintar for Magic exchange. The Seventon Council has entrusted this matter to the Arcane Union. If you have any views or opinions, you may all bring them forward."

There was no question of whether this was feasible or not; the Seventon Council had already agreed to it. If others did not agree, at most, it would just be the Seven Towers sending people.

The reason it was brought to the Arcane Union was that this was not a difficult task, but a benefit. Illefarn and Netheril had just established diplomatic relations, and this exchange could almost be called the highest-level formal exchange activity between humans and Elves in hundreds of years.

All Great Arcanists had the thought of sending people to participate; on this point, even the Seven Towers had to consider the thoughts of others.

What they were competing for was merely the number of spots.