Chapter 984: Zhenisi Ruins

Leaving their residence, Xia Duo and Niya walked side by side; although today was the New Year Festival, there was not much of a festive atmosphere to be seen within Giles Tower.

It was not until the two of them walked out of Giles Tower that the waves of cheers outside seemed to remind him that he had not remembered the date wrong—it was indeed today, without a doubt!

However, the more fanatical the atmosphere became, the calmer Xia Duo felt inside. He called out to Niya, and then the two of them smiled at each other and walked together toward the Council.

The location of the festival was at the Arcane Plaza, and the Arcane Plaza happened to be situated between the Seventon Council and the Arcane Union.

As participants in the festival ceremonies, they could not move about as freely as ordinary spectators; they needed to gather at the Council before the ceremony, at which point they would appear one by one according to the rehearsed order.

Of course, compared to Xia Duo, Niya was much more relaxed. She only needed to participate in the first stage of the conferment ceremony, after which she could move about freely; at that point, even if she returned directly to Nan Jing, it was estimated that no one would care.

……

Walking along the way, the closer they got to the Seventon Council, the noisier the sounds Xia Duo heard became. During this time, there were occasional bursts of rhythmic shouting and cheering, as if someone were performing some wonderful program on the plaza at this moment.

And just as the two of them arrived near the building complex where the Council was located, Niya suddenly nudged the back of Xia Duo's hand and said in surprise, "Xia Duo, look!"

Following Niya's gaze, Xia Duo saw the embassy district on the west side of the Council, or more accurately, the Cormanthor Embassy within it.

At this moment, the two of them were not far from there, only about a hundred meters away. At such a distance, although it was impossible to grasp the specific state of the Magic Net over there, it was very difficult to ignore some larger disturbances—

The Cormanthor Embassy was shrouded in an invisible field, as if for protection, or perhaps as a show of force!

Although this distance was not far, it was not close either. Without casting Scrying, it was difficult to see anything. When Xia Duo came to the Council to handle the regularization of his status as a lord before, he had never seen such a scene.

For a moment, he could not figure out what had happened over there, but this kind of matter did not require him to worry about it, so he pulled Niya and left quickly.

"Don't worry about them, let's hurry and meet up with the others! I don't even know if your teacher has arrived yet!"

……

Naturally, the Princess could not appear so quickly. Not only her, but even the other Great Arcanists had not shown their faces either. Greta, however, had already arrived.

Along with her were dozens of Advanced Rank Mages from the Seven Towers. Xia Duo had had some interactions with them when he was at the Green Field Plane. At this moment, these dozens of people were waiting in this large room called the Hall of Wisdom.

Seeing Xia Duo arrive, Greta seemed to have a feeling of relief. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Xia Duo asked the question he was most concerned about:

"Madam, how much longer until the festival begins?"

The festival would, of course, last all day, but the ceremony had a specific time. However, even at this moment, Greta could not give a specific answer:

"Everything follows the arrangements of Her Highness the Princess. Everyone here is an Elite of the Seven Towers. You all chat here for a while first; I will go outside and take a look!"

Saying this, she was actually about to leave. With so many people present, it was naturally inconvenient for Xia Duo to continue questioning her, so he took Niya to a corner of the hall.

There were bookshelves, tables, and chairs here. Not long after Xia Duo and Niya sat down, an Advanced Rank Mage came uninvited, "Mage Xia Duo, Savile Mage, sorry to disturb you both!"

"It's no problem, we are all in a Public Zone, how could there be any disturbance?" Xia Duo said very casually.

This Luodite was not only an Advanced Rank Mage of Jilan Tower but also a Pioneer, though he had not been able to regularize his status in advance. Xia Duo had not only interacted with him at the Green Field Plane but had also had contact with him earlier at a symposium.

However, Xia Duo's impression of him was average. On the contrary, Luodite highly admired the *Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory*. A while ago, during the rehearsal in the Semi-plane, this guy often came over to discuss issues regarding territory governance.

But now, it was clearly not the best time to discuss any territory governance issues, and he did not know what this guy wanted with him!

"Mage Luodite, is there something you need from me?"

"A small matter. I heard from a subordinate's report that Mage Xia Duo seems interested in the Mage Tower Ruins of Zhenisi?"

"That Relic Hunter at Pu Lan Jie Jiao is your person?" Xia Duo immediately thought of the Magic Mark he had left the day before yesterday.

"No, Mage Xia Duo has misunderstood. I wouldn't dare to meddle in Pulan Street; it is the Relic Hunter that Mage Xia Duo wanted to see who is my person!"

Although Luodite had quite a background, when compared, he admitted he was inferior to this Mage Xia Duo before him. Not to mention anything else, just the friendly attitude of Archmage Greta earlier was something he found difficult to obtain.

Therefore, he did not want Xia Duo to have any misunderstandings about him at all, so he continued to explain:

"My father has been supporting relic exploration in recent years, wanting to reproduce the stories of the past Nether Scrolls. After I came of age, my father handed a team of Relic Hunters over to me.

"Not long ago, they just returned from Zhenisi. There were some things among them that were very difficult to identify through my own channels, so I threw them over to Pulan Street to look for possible knowledgeable people."

So that means, even if I hadn't left a Magic Mark, you would still have come looking for me? Xia Duo was truly full of complaints in his heart at this moment.

Fishing like this, aren't you afraid of having your rod dragged away!

But thinking about it, it seems like that's exactly what's happening now. Xia Duo did indeed plan to thoroughly investigate the connection behind that transparent frame after the festival. He did not expect this connection to be delivered to his doorstep automatically.

"Mage Luodite, you are quite skilled at this line of business!"

"Hehe, I learned it from my father too."

Having explained the ins and outs, Luodite then stated his true purpose: "Ordinary people have limited abilities and ultimately cannot explore all the ruins. Mage Xia Duo, I would like to invite you to explore together!"

Seeming to feel that a single sentence was not enough to move Xia Duo, Luodite added: "Zhenisi was the earliest storage place for the Nether Scrolls, only later, after the Underground Passage connecting to the Dwarf Kingdom port city of Asikeer was built, were they moved elsewhere.

"There were originally a large number of Spellcasters gathered there. Although their ultimate achievements were not high, that was more due to the limitations of Elven Magic; their own talents, even if placed today, are still extremely outstanding.

"If they hadn't been born in the past, perhaps the list of Great Arcanists today would have a few more names. Of course, if they hadn't been born in the past, there might not be the Netheril Magic System of today.

"During that period, those pioneers left behind a large number of ruins near Zhenisi. Although most were experimental products in the process of creating the Netheril Magic System, they also possess quite high value!"