Chapter 960: Pride, The Two-Instrument Ceremony

After the Archmage left, Xia Duo and Niya met up with Wensen and the others. After a brief catch-up, Xia Duo took the initiative to bring up the anomalies of this festival:

"Wasn't it said before that the New Year Festival was just the Commendation Ceremony? Why have the Pioneers become the protagonists now?"

In fact, setting aside the potential "conspiracy" element, Xia Duo was both a participant in the previous Green Field Plane War and a Pioneer; even any other Pioneer was the same as him, so the changes to the festival had no real impact on him.

But for those participants who were not Pioneers, it was different.

After working hard to participate in the Plane War, and then the Arcanists painstakingly helping to repair the Magic Net, they had expected a grand Commendation Ceremony, but now they were told that they were not the protagonists.

How could anyone feel good about that!

Take Beilaila, for instance. Hearing Xia Duo bring this up, she showed her intense dissatisfaction without any concealment:

"I really don't know how the Seven Towers arranged this! I already notified my father and asked him to come watch the ceremony! Now, looking at the schedule, the Commendation Ceremony is just a formality. When I go back, won't my father laugh at me!"

"Uh—"

With that said, Aisisi didn't even dare to open his mouth, and even Xia Duo didn't know how to respond. His original intention was to ask Beilaila to see if she knew the inside story or if there was any news circulating.

But somehow, he had touched a sensitive nerve of Beilaila's.

Xia Duo remembered Beilaila once saying that her coming to Giles Tower to study was considered running away from home, and she usually avoided her family, so why did she suddenly invite her parents to watch the ceremony?

As expected!

At this moment, Niya, having received a hint from Xia Duo, hurriedly changed the subject and asked: "Do you all know the specific schedule of the festival?"

Just a moment ago, Wohuaide only introduced a general schedule, and many details were not explained, only saying that there would be specialized personnel to lead the rehearsal.

After Niya finished asking, her gaze swept over everyone, and this time Aisisi finally seized the opportunity to speak; he really didn't want to hear Beilaila complain about the Seven Towers anymore.

It wasn't that he had deep feelings for the Seven Towers, but this topic was somewhat sensitive, so he hurriedly followed Niya's lead and replied:

"Yes, and we have already rehearsed once. We are just waiting for everyone to arrive to rehearse again, and then we can go back! You just arrived, so someone should come to find you shortly to take you for a rehearsal."

"What's the situation with those three days?" Xia Duo suddenly interjected.

"I know!"

Wensen shouted loudly. Seeing everyone looking at him, he subconsciously shrank his head, though he didn't forget to answer Xia Duo's question:

"Pioneers have to stay here for a few more days, while others only need to rehearse collectively once before they can leave."

"Is that so?!"

Xia Duo and Niya exchanged a glance. Archmage Wohuaide hadn't mentioned this just now, and it was unclear if he had forgotten or what.

But since the other Pioneers already knew, there shouldn't be any problem.

……

Afterward, Xia Duo and the others engaged in further discussion about this New Year Festival.

Before long, two low-rank Mages wearing the Giles Tower emblem came to Xia Duo's side and asked if they would accept the rehearsal guidance.

Xia Duo naturally chose to accept. After saying a word to Wensen, Beilaila, and the others, he and Niya followed the two receptionists and left.

The so-called rehearsal was actually just the receptionists taking the participants through the full festival schedule and being responsible for answering some less sensitive questions.

Of course, they certainly wouldn't know the answers to questions that were too sensitive.

Xia Duo didn't deliberately ask any strange questions to make things difficult for these receptionists, but he asked every single thing that needed to be asked without omission.

……

From the entry route and positioning to how to return a salute during the Commendation Ceremony, these receptionists provided standard answers for everything.

If the rehearsal was exactly the same as the official festival, then the Commendation Ceremony was truly just a formality. Although there were only Xia Duo and Niya in this rehearsal, the receptionists would also tell them about the movements of other participants.

Except for Xia Duo himself, whose achievements would be introduced, others would have at most only their names mentioned, and those below the rank of High Mage wouldn't even have their names mentioned.

This, of course, included those Pioneers.

The subsequent Pioneer Commendation Ceremony was completely different; almost every Pioneer would have their achievements introduced. Among them, the ten who had already been officially confirmed, including Xia Duo, would even have their Territory development results displayed—which were actually pre-prepared Magic Images.

During the rehearsal, Xia Duo didn't see these Magic Images; the receptionist only mentioned that the images would be displayed at a certain time and for a certain duration.

As for the content, these receptionists didn't know.

After the Commendation Ceremony came the real festival. This part had no rehearsal, nor was there anything to rehearse; it was just the revelry of a normal festival, where one could do whatever one wanted.

A normal festival generally consisted of ceremonies, performances, and revelry. Ceremonies were organized by officials, performances could be officially invited or spontaneously organized by the public, and revelry was for everyone together.

Of course, these three components of the festival were not carried out in order; rather, the ceremony was the lead, and performances and revelry could be arranged randomly.

For example, the Sun Rising Ceremony in the Midsummer Festival was in the morning, there would be a Prayer Ceremony at noon, and an Sleep Ceremony in the evening.

Between the three ceremonies was the time for performances and revelry.

As for this New Year Festival, the reason why many people thought it wasn't a New Year Festival, besides the initial notification that it was a Commendation Ceremony, was the important reason that there were no New Year-related ceremonies.

This point was very important; if there were no ceremonies, the festival would become groundless and dispensable.

Clearly, the so-called New Year Festival was a facade; the real purpose lay in the commendations and awards, at least on the surface.

And among the commendations and awards, there was a focus, and this time it was clearly focused on commending the Pioneers.

The two ceremonies were arranged very tightly, with no performances or revelry interspersed in between; they were arranged one after another.

Therefore, for Xia Duo, it could basically be understood that once the Commendation Ceremony ended, this so-called festival would be over.

……

The rehearsal only took about an hour. After all, it was a rehearsal; the key was the details of the process, not the specific time.

It was never good to waste a Spellcaster's time.

After the rehearsal ended, Xia Duo and Niya found a temporary building, brewed some tea, and each busied themselves with their own affairs. Niya continued to study research materials related to Magic Web Background Fluctuation, while Xia Duo observed this Semi-plane.

At the same time, the two chatted idly.

"We've already gone through the process once. What changes do you think there will be in the Pioneer Commendation Ceremony?"

"How am I supposed to guess that? Staying a few more days definitely means there will be changes. We'll know when the time comes. Anyway, since we're already here, guessing is useless."

"……"