Chapter 862: All Links, The Absolute Hub

The situation is more pressing than the people; as long as everyone does not want to abandon the mission, they can only consider Xia Duo's plan. As for other plans, perhaps they exist, perhaps they do not, but people are always prone to inertia.

Xia Duo has already proposed a relatively feasible plan, so they will naturally prioritize thinking about the feasibility of this plan, rather than exerting effort to think of other plans that must simultaneously be superior to Xia Duo's.

If time were more relaxed, perhaps some would truly consider it, but in a situation where Elves could strike again at any moment and trigger serious consequences, independent thinking by individuals has already become a luxury.

"Mage Xia Duo, we can agree, but you must guarantee that you will not pry into our privacy!"

A final show of stubbornness? Xia Duo smiled slightly and said solemnly: "I guarantee it!"

To tell the truth, he is not interested in everyone's privacy, especially in this situation, and he would certainly not actively pry. It is just that Mind Link inevitably receives some passively transmitted Subconscious Information; this is not Xia Duo intentionally prying.

With Xia Duo's guarantee, those who were stubborn until the end also had a way to back down; it seems that this way they could convince themselves to accept the Mind Link!

……

Following this, Xia Duo once again cast a spell to link everyone's minds. This time, with the pressure of the situation of a great enemy being imminent, the previous psychological preparation, and the benefit of the Mind Link for completing the mission enticing them from the front.

The first time, over twenty people joined the link simultaneously; the effect was significantly better than before.

"Those who have already joined the link, go back and replace the person in your team to come over and join the link!"

At this moment, Xia Duo had already kicked the Intermediate Mages from his own team who had previously joined the link out, but adding so many people at once meant too much conscious information flooded in.

This information, which could be traced back continuously, surged like a tide, impacting his mind and even making his thinking somewhat sluggish.

He could indeed filter out the chaotic Subconscious Information outside of active conscious information, but that would be similar to a Mind Spell version of a radio communication channel.

Merely solving the communication problem would not effectively resolve the Elves, nor would it demonstrate Xia Duo's role as the leader of the Mind Link.

Only by first acquiring broader battlefield information and then analyzing it could a relatively effective strategy for dealing with the enemy be formed, and only then could a more effective collaborative combat effect be achieved.

Xia Duo positioned himself as the absolute hub of this battle, with everyone else being the extensions of his hub, responsible for specific information gathering, on-site combat, or other tasks.

……

Soon, people were constantly leaving and arriving. When the number of people stabilized, Xia Duo cast the spell again to link everyone.

Just like that, after three castings, except for a very small number of stubborn individuals who could never join the link, the vast majority—nearly a hundred High Mages—had joined the link.

"Everyone, only the six of you remain. If you cannot join the Mind Link, I will not be able to pay attention to you in time. If you are ambushed by Elves, we might not be able to provide support in time!"

These words, half-persuasion and half-coercion, caused the expressions of these few to change drastically. At this moment, they were the only ones left who had failed to join the Mind Link.

Everyone else had already grouped together and no longer even needed to speak verbally, as they could communicate freely within the Mind Link.

This made the six of them appear even more isolated and helpless. One of them had their expression change several times, and finally said:

"Mage Xia Duo, please try one more time. I guarantee that this time it will definitely work!"

Xia Duo nodded. At this time, he already had the momentum on his side. Although he did not lack these last few people, as the de facto leader, he still gave them one last chance.

He cast the spell calmly, and this time, the last six stubborn individuals finally successfully joined the link.

In fact, if possible, all of this should have been completed before leaving the camp, but at that time his words carried little weight, and before truly seeing the Elves, anything said was empty.

In most cases, the optimal choice is often not the first choice, and sometimes it cannot even become the final choice. As it is now, it is already quite good.

……

——Keen, I just said you might give up the mission; I didn't expect you to actually accept it!

Keen did not transmit any active conscious information, but instead watched all of this with a very cold attitude. Seeing this, Xia Duo found it amusing; since they had already joined the link, why put on such a posture?

——Mage Keen, as long as you concentrate your attention slightly and think in your mind, you can communicate with others.

——Is that so?

Just for a moment, and then there was no sound again.

However, Xia Duo did not pay too much attention to the individual that was Keen. Time was tight, and he immediately began issuing instructions.

In the formal command, he did not use the subconscious influence to issue instructions in the form of inspiration or intuition as he did with the forced Joint Casting earlier, but issued them in the form of active conscious information—

"Everyone, return to your respective teams first and wait for further instructions."

Afterwards, Xia Duo left first, but his teleportation target was not the location where Niya was, but the camp.

……

At this moment, Xia Duo's consciousness was already filled with all kinds of information, whether active or passive, and so on.

He now urgently needed a safe place to set himself down, so he could fully devote himself to the role of the Mind Link hub.

In the Green Field Plane at this time, if there was still a place that was relatively safe, it might be the camp. Xia Duo was not worried that returning to the camp would be seen as abandoning the mission.

The higher-ups were certainly monitoring the situation of each team, and as long as they were monitoring, they would know that he and Qiaoyisi were different.

In fact, Xia Duo was discovered during the process of returning to the camp; not only the four Great Arcanists of the Seven Towers, but even that High Mage Jielinisi of Cormanthor had noticed.

Seeing several people return to the camp one after another, except for Fuluosite who returned after triggering a spell and left immediately, Qiaoyisi had truly abandoned the mission.

And now Xia Duo had returned, still looking like he did not want to leave. Badijiaer, who had always been pro-war, had a clearly displeased expression:

"Your Highness, the one who just returned is Xia Duo, the creator of the 【Arcane Maze】, right? What do you think he wants to do?"

"I don't know either. Among those people are a few remarkable little fellows. Even for me, it is very difficult to hear what they are saying without alerting them. However, it looks like they seem to have reached a consensus on joining forces."

Princess Xiya actually already had some guesses in her heart, but considering many factors, she ultimately did not say them, only vaguely mentioning everyone's joint situation.

On the other side, Great Arcanist Huo En also spoke up. Although he stood on Badijiaer's side regarding the Green Field Plane War, they were usually at odds:

"Badijiaer, I told you long ago that we should have sent someone to command the whole process, but you wouldn't listen. Talan Sen Tu Si had the potential to advance to Advanced Arcanist, but now he has died in an ambush that could have been avoided. See how you explain this to Lander!"

"As long as there is war, people will definitely die. Did they not know this was a war before they came? What is there to explain!"

Badijiaer said coldly.