Chapter 721: Hope, Coating

After the trip to Rodney Territory concluded, Xia Duo could be considered to have set aside some worries; once the ships from Rodney Territory arrived to take away the residents from the east, this matter would be completely resolved.

Returning to his residence, Xia Duo opened his planning notebook, casually crossed out the line "Trip to Rodney Territory," flipped to the back, stared at it for a while, and only then closed the notebook and went to bed to rest in peace.

By the time he woke up again, it was already late at night. Xia Duo walked inside the Tower of Time; the surroundings were completely quiet, no longer resembling the scene from before where apprentices would be running around even in the middle of the night.

The apprentices of the Tower of Time now were truly apprentices in the real sense; their various courses were packed almost solid from morning to night, leaving them not a shred of room to catch their breath.

Becoming an Official Mage in three years was the bottom line Xia Duo gave them, and also the bottom line for their future lives. Once they failed to complete their studies successfully, they would immediately shoulder a debt that was not small even for an Official Mage.

In such a situation, how could they not study with their lives on the line!

Of course, a more important factor was actually hope—having a stable hope to strive for, rather than the past where one could only rely on luck or financial resources to become an Official Mage.

Through the Tower Spirit's projection, watching the apprentices sleeping soundly one by one, Xia Duo also seemed to see hope—the hope nurtured by Magic civilization.

Soon, Xia Duo arrived at the Public Level. Just as he stepped out of the Elevator, a flash of light appeared beside him, and the delicate, pretty person he had just parted with during the day appeared once more.

It was already late at night, yet Niya seemed to still be full of energy. She took the initiative to lean closer to Xia Duo and said with a hint of surprise, "You're awake!"

"Mm."

Xia Duo nodded slightly and continued walking toward his destination. Niya followed without even asking. After walking only a few steps, he noticed Niya couldn't help but yawn, yet she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand.

Consequently, Xia Duo stopped his footsteps and looked at Niya, staring until she turned her head away, before saying with a tone of reproach, "Why haven't you rested yet!"

Niya lowered her head and said in a low voice, "I contacted Teacher earlier."

"Hm?"

"Teacher said you did very well, and then checked my study tasks, I—"

The voice behind became smaller and smaller, to the point that even with Xia Duo's hearing, he couldn't hear it. However, he could guess the gist: it was nothing more than the tasks not being finished, and her staying up late at night.

To tell the truth, Xia Duo really envied Niya for having a teacher to arrange her study plan and urge her on from time to time.

But envy was just envy; fortunately, as long as Niya's study plan didn't involve the secrets of Giles Tower, she shared it with him, so Xia Duo didn't care whether he had such a teacher or not.

Of course, if he really had one, Xia Duo wouldn't refuse either.

Seeing that Niya didn't seem to want to leave, Xia Duo stepped forward, hugged her gently, and said softly, "I'm going to town to find Bulutuo; it's nothing urgent. You don't need to follow me, go back and rest!"

"Oh."

Having received Niya's affirmative answer, Xia Duo let her go. He watched her teleport away from the Public Level before he continued toward the Teleportation Room.

Confirming it wasn't an illusion, Xia Duo discovered that after this incident, Niya was much more attached to him, which made him feel both happy and somewhat resistant.

All sorts of emotions, too many to list.

Arriving at Savile Town, Xia Duo headed straight for Bulutuo's smithy in the South District. At such a late hour, ordinary people would have long been asleep, but Bulutuo was no ordinary person; he was a Dwarf who loved alcohol.

Basically, he drank until he slept, and woke up to drink again. For Bulutuo, there was no practical distinction between day and night.

If he was asleep, it was night; if he was awake, it was day.

In fact, for the current Xia Duo, day and night were merely extensions of past habits. Possessing Darkvision himself, he could completely treat night as day, or simply not distinguish between them.

When Xia Duo came knocking, Bulutuo also seemed to have just woken up. Muttering in an unintelligible Dwarf dialect, he stood in the corner outside the house and prepared to unzip his pants.

Xia Duo didn't want to see what would happen next, so he hurriedly shouted, "Bulutuo!"

The Dwarf gave a start and instantly sobered up. At the same time, a familiar black hammer flew from inside the house, smashing through the wall and into Bulutuo's hand.

When Bulutuo saw clearly that the person who arrived was Xia Duo, he immediately turned and walked back into the house without looking back.

"Uncle Bulutuo, I have something to ask for your help with!"

Xia Duo hurriedly stepped forward to intercept Bulutuo, while taking out the distilled spirits he had prepared in advance and forcibly stuffing them into the other's hands.

By this time, Xia Duo had already squeezed into the house with Bulutuo.

Casually throwing the hammer aside, Bulutuo habitually prepared to open the wine bottle. Turning his head, he happened to see the hole just smashed into the wall by the hammer, and couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly, saying unpleasantly:

"I knew that coming to find me so late meant nothing good!"

After speaking, he took a big gulp, exhaled the smell of alcohol, looked at Xia Duo, and asked, "What exactly is the matter?"

"Hehe!"

Xia Duo took a few more bottles of distilled spirits from his Personal Space and placed them on the anvil to the side, "I haven't thanked you for the Dragon Skin Boots last time yet!"

Currently, the Dragon Skin Boots were worn on Xia Duo's feet, comfortable and well-fitting. As the saying goes, "When wearing boots, don't forget the shoemaker." As such an upright young man, how could Xia Duo forget Bulutuo!

"Don't thank me, I took a share too! Tell me what it is this time! You Mages are just full of trouble!"

Thus, Xia Duo spoke directly, "I would like to ask Uncle Bulutuo to help me look and see if you can find a type of paint that can exist stably on an Adamantine surface for a long time. The color should preferably be silver-white or light gray."

"Adamantine? Paint?"

Bulutuo looked Xia Duo up and down, finally letting his gaze fall on Xia Duo's waist, and made a clicking sound, "This is my first time seeing an Adamantine Spellbook!"

"Is there one or not!"

"There is! But—"

"But what?"

"But it's not here with me!"

Xia Duo couldn't help but want to roll his eyes; wasn't this the same as saying nothing! "Then, where can I find that kind of paint? Don't tell me I have to go to the Danzuo Kingdom to find it!"

"Haha! Rest assured, if nothing goes wrong, you have it yourself!"

"Me? Myself?" Xia Duo clearly didn't quite believe it, but he also wanted to hear Bulutuo's explanation.

Bulutuo gulped down a few more mouthfuls of wine, let out a long breath, and then continued, "I heard a Drow Assassin came from the north a while ago?"

"How do you know?" Xia Duo asked subconsciously.

However, he quickly realized that the Drow Assassin had caused such a big scene with the Elf body art; even if only Elves were present at the time, some rumors would always leak out.

"Yes, a Drow Assassin did indeed appear!"

"Then he should have been dealt with by you all already. In my impression, Drow Assassins don't have the habit of only striking once."

"He has indeed been dealt with; it was Aiboke who caught him."

There was nothing to hide about this matter, and at the same time, Xia Duo had also roughly guessed what Buloutuo meant by the paint being on himself.