Chapter 828: Conscription Order, Little Fanboy

Giles Tower.

Just after stepping out of the Teleportation Room, Xia Duo heard someone nearby whispering about a "Conscription Order"; when he looked toward the sound, the voices immediately vanished.

Niya was long accustomed to this situation; she nudged Xia Duo's arm and said softly, "Don't mind them, let's go to Archmage Greta first!"

"Alright!"

Xia Duo responded, then walked with Niya toward Greta's office; as he walked, he kept calculating in his mind that only three days had passed, and the news had already leaked out.

Pre-war mobilization had begun; it seemed the specific date for the joint operation was not far off.

Humans were different from Elves; matters decided today might be completed by tomorrow, with extremely high efficiency, especially when the executors were Mages, leaving no room for waste.

……

Soon, the two arrived at Archmage Greta's public office in Giles Tower; upon entering, besides Greta herself, there were several others who appeared to be Spellcasters.

Among them was, surprisingly, Beilaila, an acquaintance of Xia Duo and Niya.

Seeing Xia Duo and Niya arrive, a flash of excitement crossed Beilaila's eyes, but before she could say anything, Archmage Greta had already called out:

"Niya, Xia Duo, you've come just in time. The first training session is still short two people, and that will be you. Training early gives you more time to familiarize yourselves and master new skills, so you'll have greater certainty in the future!"

Xia Duo and Niya exchanged a glance; although they were somewhat puzzled, since they were already there, they had little resistance to Greta's arrangement and nodded slightly to agree.

Afterward, Greta immediately stood up and walked outside, calling for Xia Duo and the others, "I will take you to the training grounds. You are very likely to become companions in the future, so get to know each other on the way!"

Greta walked quickly, but she always kept her figure in sight for the eight people behind her, and this was the time for Xia Duo and the others to get acquainted.

Beilaila already knew Xia Duo and Niya; now that Greta had walked away, she immediately leaned in, "I heard you returned to Nan Jing, and I was worried you wouldn't make it in time; I was just about to contact you!"

Afterward, Beilaila briefly introduced the current situation.

In short, just yesterday, Giles Tower issued a Conscription Order internally, summoning Spellcasters of Intermediate Rank and above to participate in a Plane War.

Giles Tower used "Plane War" to describe this joint operation mission, and the other side of the war had also been announced—a small group of Elf invaders!

Because Beilaila had used the Advanced Laboratory of Giles Tower many times, it was hard for her to avoid this conscription, so she simply responded to the call in advance.

Besides Beilaila, the others were either attracted by the high mission rewards or had reasons they had to respond.

And besides the Spellcasters directly under Giles Tower like Beilaila, among the 6 people in this first training session, there were also two Pioneers with close ties to Giles Tower who had received the news early and rushed over!

"Mage Xia Duo, my name is Wensen. Your 'Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory' gave me great help. Now that I finally have the chance to meet you, I, I—"

Just as Beilaila finished introducing them, one of the Pioneers ran to Xia Duo's side impatiently; fortunately, he still knew the taboos among Spellcasters and did not get too close.

He looked at Xia Duo with an excited face, almost unable to speak.

Xia Duo didn't know when he had acquired such a little fanboy, but looking at the Cloud Qi on this Wensen, it was clearly more abundant than the other Pioneer, obviously someone of status as well.

However, at this moment, in Xia Duo's vision, strands of the other party's Cloud Qi were shifting toward him—Faith transfer? Or some other reason?

Although he had some doubts in his heart, the look in Xia Duo's eyes as he watched the other party became much kinder; regardless of what that Cloud Qi transfer represented, at least for Xia Duo, the result was not bad.

"Lord Wensen, don't be excited, speak slowly."

Wensen breathed rapidly for a few moments, finally managing to squeeze out a sentence, "Mage Xia Duo, you are younger and even more outstanding than my uncle said!"

"Your uncle is?"

"My uncle is the Senior Arcanist Kelisi. He said he met you during an investigation mission once and even fought alongside you!"

Kelisi?

Xia Duo immediately thought of the time in the middle of the year when he was returning to Nan Jing by boat from Seventon; on the way, he encountered the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce collecting Murloc slime, but unexpectedly discovered that specially treated mindless Murlocs had developed Wisdom.

The Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce was wealthy and powerful; besides calling for reinforcements from their own chamber, they also hired an investigation team from the Arcane Union Headquarters in Seventon to look into the matter, and the leader of that investigation team was Kelisi.

At that time, Kelisi had indeed mentioned that he had a nephew developing new land on the Kangqi Plain, and it was precisely for this nephew that he kept taking on missions to earn money to support his nephew's development.

At the time, Xia Duo had inwardly scoffed at the true relationship between this uncle and nephew, but after that, he never met Kelisi again and didn't take it to heart, until now, meeting the "nephew" in question, Wensen.

Xia Duo unobtrusively sized up Wensen's appearance and compared it with his memory of Kelisi; come to think of it, there really was a slight resemblance!

Of course, a normal uncle and nephew would have some resemblance; it would be abnormal if they looked nothing alike!

Although he was curious, Xia Duo was not foolish enough to ask his inner doubts directly; that would be too offensive, and the fanboy might turn into a mortal enemy.

However, how exactly did this Wensen become his fanboy?

A mere "Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory" wouldn't be enough to make someone like this; the best example was right next to them—

The other Pioneer, named "Gelanasi," only gave Xia Duo a reserved and polite greeting and also mentioned the "Pioneer Handbook," but after that, there were no further words.

This was the normal state of social interaction among Spellcasters.

And this made Wensen's behavior seem all the more unusual.

Xia Duo kept his doubts to himself, while on the surface, he conversed with him cordially.

……

It wasn't until everyone followed Archmage Greta's figure to a spacious Portal that Xia Duo finally understood Wensen's previous behavior.

This guy was, in some ways, very similar to Niya; he had been raised in a Mage Tower by his lord father until he came of age, and becoming a Pioneer was his first time away from his family.

A teenager, not yet an adult in Xia Duo's eyes, going off to play at development—the results were predictable.

If not for Xia Duo's "Development Guide," Wensen would have long ago given up on development and gone home to prepare to inherit his territory; of course, the sense of frustration endured during that process would likely have been immense.

And with the "Development Guide," Wensen had managed to maintain the territory, which brought him a sense of satisfaction and achievement he had never received before, hence why he admired Xia Duo so immensely.

Furthermore, Xia Duo's book "Principles" had somehow also been acquired by Wensen, and Wensen admired this book even more, even treating it as his primary study textbook!

"Mage Xia Duo, you don't know, my father has been asking me recently why I suddenly became so smart, but I won't tell him I have Mage Xia Duo's book 'Principles'!"

"Is that so!"

"That's right!"

"……"