Chapter 844: 100 Advanced Rank, Time Confirmed

It was not until near noon that the team of Xia Duo and the others was fully assembled; naturally, during this period, they also attempted to contact the High Mages they knew.

Although they could not form a team, there would inevitably be coordination between multiple High Mages during the mission, so greeting them in advance would make dealing with them more convenient in the future.

At noon, for once, Xia Duo did not prepare his own lunch, but instead enjoyed the on-site lunch prepared by the camp together with his team members.

It was not sumptuous, but the atmosphere was lively, and it could be considered the team's first time breaking in together.

However, just after lunch, Archmage Fusitemu, who had not appeared for several days, appeared once again, and he brought news that was somewhat unexpected, yet within reason—

"High Mages, follow me; the others will have other arrangements later!"

……

Arriving once again at the jungle clearing where they first trained, at this moment, the ground here had already been paved with a layer of smooth stone slabs.

And not far away, there was another team of black-robed Mages who were clearing and leveling more of the open space.

Xia Duo stomped his foot on the stone slab with a little force, and the slab immediately shattered into several pieces with a 'Crack!'; it looked like thin stone slabs shaped by Magic.

It seems the Seven Towers' preparations are somewhat insufficient!

Just then, Niya suddenly touched the back of his hand with her hand and whispered, "There are nearly one hundred High Mages here in total!"

Hm?

Xia Duo hadn't noticed this just now; hearing Niya's reminder, he turned his head to look around a few times. Indeed, the number was not small, but Niya still said it was off; what he saw was 105 people!

Although he had long known that the Seven Towers had a deep foundation, he was still somewhat shocked when he saw so many High Mages standing here in the flesh.

The Tower of Time only had three High Mages in total, and although they were all Arcanists, the Seven Towers had transferred over 100 of them just like that.

There might even be many Arcanists among them!

"The development of the Tower of Time really has a long way to go!"

At the same time, Xia Duo also realized that if he wanted to overtake on a bend, the popularization of Magic Education must be pushed forward unswervingly.

Taking his own example, it takes about seven or eight years, nearly ten years, to cultivate an Arcanist (counting the time in the Projection Plane and various convenient conditions).

If one only relies on geniuses who come to the door and inefficient master-apprentice teaching, how many years would it take to cultivate 100 High Mages!

It must be cultivated in an academic way, and it must be mandatory for all eligible subjects to receive Magic Education!

Under these circumstances, population became a very critical resource. For a moment, Xia Duo's thoughts had drifted far away, pondering how to obtain more population for development.

Of course, while thinking, he was also listening to Fusitemu explain the key points of Joint Casting. Although he had heard him explain it before, listening to it again still provided different understandings and gains.

It is just a pity that Fusitemu might truly be busy; this time, let alone two days, he only spoke for a while before letting someone take his place. It was not Tena, but it was also a rather rigid and mechanical Battle Mage.

……

On the other side, Wensen and the others were taken to an open space by the river west of the Portal. Several hundred people gathered here, and likewise, a Battle Mage began to teach them according to the contents of the training manual.

Such days continued until ten days later.

This day, Xia Duo and the other High Mages were conducting multi-person joint drills in groups. Fusitemu, who had not appeared for a long time, appeared again, "Stop! Go back now, take your team members to conduct final coordination practice; the operation begins in three days!"

Hearing this time, the group of High Mages breathed a sigh of relief. Having been here for so long without hearing a single detail about the operation, anyone would feel uneasy.

Although they still didn't know now, it was confirmed that the operation was in three days; in three days, everything would be revealed.

However, while breathing a sigh of relief, everyone also truly felt the tense atmosphere before the arrival of war. There was no discussion, no complaining, and even words rarely appeared.

Everyone dared not delay, immediately returning to the camp to find their team members and beginning to find a place to train.

……

After nearly a month of continuous efforts by the construction Mages, the current camp area was already several times larger than when Xia Duo first arrived.

Although most of it was just removing trees, leveling the land, and laying stone slabs, it was much better than the situation before where there were still trees near the temporary residence.

Xia Duo took the team and found a random clearing within the range of the camp's Warning Magic, then asked about the progress of Wensen and the others over the last ten days:

"How is your respective coordination? Have you practiced the Spells in the Resonance Spellbook?"

"The coordination is passable; the last few times of Joint Casting have not had any errors. Except for those two 9th Circle equivalent Spells, the other Spells in the Spellbook have all been practiced."

Perhaps because they arrived and trained first, Wensen and another Pioneer, Gelanasi, had effectively become deputy captains under Niya and Xia Duo.

For the past period, the training plan for their ten people had also always been made by Wensen.

It was just that Niya had been busy memorizing, familiarizing herself with, and practicing the operation steps of the 9th Circle equivalent Spells in the Spellbook these past few days, while Xia Duo had been busy with the Ascending Ring work for 【Mage Armor】, and neither had paid attention to the training plans of the others.

At this time, hearing that their training had already been quite effective, Xia Duo couldn't help but glance at Niya, feeling a bit worried inside. Regarding the Joint Casting experience for those 8th Circle equivalent Spells, perhaps Niya had already fallen behind these Intermediate Mages.

However, thinking that the other High Mages had not had much time to familiarize themselves with the operation steps of those 8th Circle equivalent Spells over these ten days, and that Niya still had him, Xia Duo felt much more at ease.

"Practice everything once first; I'll see the effect before saying anything!"

Xia Duo took out the Spellbook and signaled for Niya to join in the Joint Casting together. Once the others were also ready, he immediately issued the command:

"Protection-2-1"

Xia Duo first triggered the Guidance link of this Spell, and then, just like counting off, the others followed in sequence.

Soon, the Spell was successfully triggered, but Xia Duo noticed that Niya had lagged behind.

This was like being preempted by others when counting off. If it were just counting off, it wouldn't affect the actual statistical result, but this was Joint Casting.

If Niya's performance was unstable, it might disrupt the operations that needed to be synchronized later, which would lead to Spellcasting errors.

Even if Joint Casting through the Resonance Spellbook resulted in lighter consequences for Spell failure, in battle, even the slightest error could lead to tragedy.

In the subsequent practice, although Niya did not truly make a mistake, that state of unstable performance lasted until the end.

"Let's pause the practice for now. I have a Spell that can strengthen the tacit understanding of our coordination, but this Spell belongs to a Mind Spell; you decide for yourselves whether to accept it!"