Chapter 693: Defiance, Probing

After Lord Rodney left, the Tower of Time immediately sprang into action; the first batch of grain was allocated by the afternoon, ready to be shipped as soon as the transaction was completed.

At the same time, the Arcane Garden began a production increase plan, a highly energy-intensive endeavor that was rarely initiated under normal circumstances.

Taking this opportunity, Xia Duo proposed that Daxia Territory also required more grain support to absorb a larger population.

After obtaining Niya's consent, Xia Duo immediately contacted Beilaila, managing to finalize the transport of the residents just before the Sevonton Chamber of Commerce fleet departed.

As for the Sevonton Council, it was necessary to temporarily divert a batch of residents who had already been gathered and were scheduled to be transported by Beilaila's fleet in mid-September; they could simply be gathered again later.

It was merely a minor adjustment to the plan and not a major issue; Xia Duo had originally entrusted many affairs there to Beilaila and Niya, and now that Niya had returned to the Territory, it would be fine even with just Beilaila.

After finishing some trivial matters, Xia Duo returned to Linshui Village for a look, then continued with the Spellbook design he had not yet completed.

On the other side, Lord Rodney, Aozikaer, who had left the Tower of Time, did not look particularly relaxed at this moment, nor did he look particularly dejected.

It was as if what had just happened inside the Tower of Time had absolutely nothing to do with him.

However, since the matter had already begun, it had to be seen through to the end; seemingly thinking of something, Aozikaer's expression suddenly turned gloomy.

With a teleportation, he returned to the New Expansion Land in the east, concealed his figure, and found Archmage Niuman, who was inspecting the area.

Niuman was very surprised by the Lord's sudden return, and what surprised him even more was the Lord's current attire, which was no different from that of an ordinary Adventurer.

"My Lord, didn't you return to Rodney Territory? What is this—"

"There are still some things I forgot to tell you. Do not tell anyone else that I came to the south; act as if I was never here. Furthermore, from now on, no matter what news you hear about me or Rodney Territory, do not pay it any mind. In half a month, immediately take Xiuyi to Jilan Tower."

As he spoke, Aozikaer took out an envelope radiating a Magic Aura and placed it into Niuman's hands. "Inside this is the location of the real Xiuyi, along with some of my other arrangements. Open it in half a month. If everything goes smoothly, perhaps there will be results in less than half a month."

"My Lord—"

Clutching the envelope, Niuman looked at the Lord, who seemed to have a sense of finality, and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly happened? Could it be—"

Just as Niuman was about to voice his conjecture, Aozikaer immediately interrupted him, "Silence! Do not speak that name here!"

Was this an admission? Niuman felt a shock in his heart, and in an instant, the envelope in his hand felt several times heavier. He couldn't help but let out a wail in his heart: "My Lord, how could you dare?!"

Seemingly seeing Niuman's hesitation, Aozikaer felt some dissatisfaction, but still comforted him kindly, "Rest assured, since I dare to make this decision, I am certainly confident. You only need to do as I say."

"Yes."

Although he did not quite agree with the Lord's approach, Niuman disliked that person's style even more.

Perhaps that was exactly why the Lord had sought him out!

Thinking of this, Niuman couldn't help but give rise to some forbidden thoughts, and from this, he experienced a strange sense of pleasure.

But he quickly cut these thoughts off; after all, no one could guarantee whether that person would detect his thoughts because of it.

When it came to understanding the mind, thoughts, and even the Soul, there was almost no one in Netheril who surpassed that person.

After speaking a few sentences, Lord Rodney quickly departed, just as he had arrived: secretly and in a hurry.

Time flew by, and three days passed. Today, Xia Duo was in Niya's Spell Laboratory conducting the final test for his Spellbook design.

The previous new Permission System had undergone numerous tests, exhausting almost all of Xia Duo's mental energy, and had finally achieved complete success.

To some extent, Xia Duo even felt that the existing Spellbook configuration was no longer worthy of the new Permission System he had designed.

However, he did not yet have enough accumulation in the other structures of the Spellbook to allow him to innovate, so for the time being, he could only continue to use them.

Today's experiment was very important; it was an integrated test of the Spellbook's entire system, which could almost be considered the pre-fabrication phase of the Spellbook.

Once the test results passed, Xia Duo would immediately begin the actual manufacturing of the Spellbook; at that point, it would be purely a consumption of physical strength and resources.

If no mistakes occurred during the production process, Xia Duo would be able to possess his own Spellbook in at most half a month.

He had been looking forward to such an alternative Spellcasting tool for a long time.

However, Niya's sudden contact forced him to temporarily interrupt the experiment at hand. With a trace of irritation, Xia Duo opened the Laboratory, just in time to meet Niya's anxious gaze.

Xia Duo took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation in his heart, and asked:

"What happened? Why are you in such a rush?"

"Lord Rodney is problematic!"

Niya first angrily delivered a conclusion, then explained the sequence of events, "It has already been three days, and the people from Rodney Territory still haven't come. I had Warren go to their camp in the east to inquire, but he couldn't get any response. The person in charge there is an Archmage, so Warren had no choice but to return first."

"Lord Rodney said at the time that buying grain was for those residents in the east, right?"

"Yes! But they are refusing to talk; what kind of situation is this?"

Niya's words caused Xia Duo to fall into deep thought. The irritation from his interrupted experiment instantly vanished. As Niya said, if the eastern camp knew nothing about Lord Rodney's actions, it would be too abnormal.

And if they did know, yet still refused to talk, what were their intentions?

And then there was Lord Rodney, who visited suddenly, seemingly wanting to ease relations, yet did not inform his subordinates. If Niya hadn't sent someone to check, they might still not know even now!

For a moment, Xia Duo even doubted whether the person who came before was actually Lord Rodney.

"Xia Duo, do you think we should contact Lord Rodney and ask him what he means?"

Niya looked at Xia Duo expectantly, as if she would immediately take action with just one word of approval from him.

"Better not!" Xia Duo considered it, and in the end, chose not to support it.

Hearing Xia Duo's answer, Niya's expression immediately slumped, "Why are you like this too!"

Who else? Aiboke?

In matters of business, Xia Duo was unwilling to accommodate Niya. In this situation, it was clearly more in the interest of Savile Territory and the Tower of Time to do nothing.

Regardless of whether the other party had a conspiracy, the worst-case scenario was simply returning to the previous state.

Being so impatient to make contact might instead cause them to fall into the other party's trap!

Xia Duo told Niya his thoughts, but Niya was still somewhat unwilling, "Are we just going to wait now?"

The existence of Rodney Territory's camp in the east had always been an unstable factor for Savile Territory. Niya had been suffering from a headache over this for a long time, and now that it was on the verge of being resolved, a sudden change had occurred; how could she be willing to let it go?

"I will ask Aoruipusi to send an Elf to infiltrate and investigate. If, as Lord Rodney said before, their grain supply shouldn't last much longer, an investigation will reveal whether Lord Rodney was lying!"

Only after Xia Duo said this did Niya slightly calm her mindset and her emotions. She looked at Xia Duo apologetically, "Sorry, I interrupted your experiment."

"I'm fine."

As he spoke, Xia Duo contacted Aoruipusi right in front of Niya, asking him to send an Elf to check on that pioneer camp.

Afterwards, having calmed down, Niya returned to the lord's Study on the top floor to complete the academic tasks assigned by her teacher, while Xia Duo entered the Laboratory to continue the testing experiment that had been interrupted earlier.