Chapter 885: Mindset Shift, Soul Mutation

Once the thought of leaving arose, it was difficult to extinguish. After Xia Duo shared his thoughts with Niya, she expressed her understanding and added:

"Then let's go back now!"

"No!"

Although Xia Duo very much wanted Niya to return with him, after consideration, he still refused. "I will go back first; it would be best for you to wait until you have seen the Princess before making a decision!"

Just a few days ago, while in the Green Field Plane, the unique image of the Princess, shrouded in flame-like Cloud Qi, had remained in Xia Duo's mind.

It was hard not to draw strange associations from this. Combining it with some previous guesses, perhaps the Princess really was collecting Faith Power and it had already undergone a certain qualitative change.

Before the Green Field Plane, the last time Xia Duo had seen the Princess was last year, but at that time he could not observe Cloud Qi, so he did not know if the Princess possessed such flame-like Cloud Qi back then.

But regardless, the Princess was likely attempting the feat of a mortal's Ascension to Godhood. If this were true, then this matter certainly could not be decided and executed by her alone.

In other words, the Princess likely represented the collective will of all the Great Arcanists of Netheril, or at least their collective will in a certain aspect.

This was definitely a solid "golden thigh" to cling to, at least until others turned against her.

Therefore, whether from the perspective of what was beneficial to Niya or from a purely utilitarian standpoint, Xia Duo also hoped that Niya could maintain a relatively good relationship with the Princess.

As for the future, there was also Niya's great-grandfather, and even her great-grandfather's teacher, Iolum.

Of course, it was also possible that Xia Duo himself, at the appropriate time, would successfully become a Great Arcanist, becoming his own and Niya's "golden thigh."

By then, people like the Princess, Saville, and Iolum—if they couldn't be "golden thighs," they could at least be allies!

Xia Duo had never liked fighting alone; if he could band together, he would do so decisively, and if he couldn't, he would find opportunities to cultivate allies himself.

The principle that there is strength in numbers held true even in this world of Magic.

……

Xia Duo's refusal left Niya somewhat stunned. She recalled what the two had said on the road back from Gustav Tower to Giles Tower just moments ago—to take their teacher's academic arrangements seriously!

Thinking of this, Niya's originally restless heart gradually calmed down. She raised her head to look directly into Xia Duo's gentle and firm gaze, felt a warmth in her heart, and then said:

"I will contact my teacher later. I have already completed the basic courses and selected my future research direction. My teacher shouldn't keep me at Giles Tower forever. After I see my teacher, we will go back together by tomorrow at the latest."

"I see—"

Xia Duo thought about it carefully and finally agreed. Moreover, he realized that he had been placing too much importance on this inspection by the Seven Cities Council.

In fact, looking at it from another angle, even if he didn't pass the inspection this time, it wouldn't be a big deal. He was already a Pioneer; at worst, he would just follow the normal pioneering process.

When the day came that his Territory was self-sufficient, he would go to the Seven Cities Council to apply for full status. Would the Seven Cities Council really reject a Senior Arcanist?

He had full confidence that he would become a Senior Arcanist before that day, and if everything went smoothly, becoming a Great Arcanist might not be impossible!

Having figured this out, Xia Duo suddenly felt much more relaxed, and even the worry about a potential real war in the near future, which he had speculated about earlier, had diminished significantly.

Sure enough, in the early stages of the development of a magical civilization, the power of an individual could always serve as a significant trump card.

……

Following this, neither of them mentioned returning to the Territory immediately. After returning to Niya's private residence at Giles Tower, Niya went to contact the Princess, while Xia Duo contacted Poluokan of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce.

Although he no longer had excessive worries about the future, Xia Duo still decided not to hold the exchange meeting. Having just returned from the Green Field Plane, he had already attracted quite a bit of attention; it was best to keep a low profile now to avoid giving people an excuse.

However, he really should ask the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce about the sales of their Communication Magic Tools, so he could adjust production capacity after returning to the Tower of Time.

As soon as Xia Duo sent the message, Poluokan's reply came quickly, and there was a hint of excitement in his tone:

"Lord Xia Duo, we were just talking about you! The All-Knowing Observer, the All-Powerful Commander—in just these past two days, your name has not only spread throughout Seventon, but your reputation has even reached Asikeer, Ailintar, Taiweimansa, and Kemansuoer!"

"……"

Hearing the content of the message, Xia Duo was happy at first, but then a chill ran down his back. This was too exaggerated. Unable to spare the time to reply to Poluokan, Xia Duo observed his own Cloud Qi again.

Previously, in the Green Field Plane, he had seen the Princess's flame-like Cloud Qi, which was comparable to the sun under his Cloud Qi Vision, making it difficult for him to look directly at it, so he had temporarily disabled his Cloud Qi Vision.

And to prevent the Princess from suddenly appearing before him, Xia Duo had not enabled his Cloud Qi Vision since then, even after returning to the Main Plane.

Now, because of Poluokan's message, Xia Duo enabled his Cloud Qi Vision again; it was just like Magic Vision in a focused state, enabled with a single thought.

"Hiss—"

As soon as Xia Duo observed his own Cloud Qi, he gasped. The light-like, mist-like, ethereal Cloud Qi, which had originally been just wisps and strands wrapped around his body, now—

had turned into irregular flocculent shapes, moving irregularly around his body.

Although it did not compare to the Princess's sunlight-like flame Cloud Qi, it had already more than doubled compared to before he went to the Green Field Plane!

"Niya, I'm going back to the bedroom to meditate!"

After telling Niya, Xia Duo hurried into her bedroom, brewed himself a cup of "Bonu Original Leaf," and then lay on the bed, relaxing his body while his consciousness entered a state of extreme focus.

Almost instantly, he perceived the location of his Soul. Its form was exactly the same as his physical body, but the difference was that the entire Soul was evenly emitting wisps of radiance, illuminating a small space around it.

However, compared to before, there was a very obvious difference here now—

The radiance emitted by the Soul had become stronger, and correspondingly, the space illuminated around the Soul had also become larger!

Additionally, when Xia Duo's "existence" returned to his Soul, he felt a strange pain!

He had already learned when exploring his Soul before that the faint radiance emitted "from" the Soul did not originate from the Soul itself, but was a radiance triggered by some unknown force colliding with the Soul.

Xia Duo could not see this unknown force from the perspective of the Soul, but he guessed that it might be the Cloud Qi visible to the naked eye.

Now it seemed that this unknown force was indeed very likely to be Cloud Qi.