Chapter 994: An Unusual Calm, Two New Types of Divine Magic

Originally, Xia Duo had wanted to discuss matters regarding the Mage Tower ruins from the Zhenisi Age of Discovery with Luodite after the celebration, but now he could only temporarily give up on it; he reckoned Luodite was in no mood to engage in any ruins exploration at the moment.

As for the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce, Xia Duo did not go over there again either, though fortunately, before the celebration, he had already sent over the batch of Communication Magic Tools he had brought this time.

As for the subsequent negotiations regarding the new raw material supply contract, they could be moved to Savile Town; the manager Saituosi of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce in Savile Territory might not have enough Permission Level, but it would just mean a few more layers of transit.

Under the current circumstances, Xia Duo did not hope for anything more.

……

Due to the numerous territories in the northern Core Area of Netheril, to avoid complications, Xia Duo and Niya could only use the Nether River as a guide, teleporting along the river.

After several such transfers, they finally returned to Nan Jing and the Tower of Time at dusk, just as the setting sun was about to disappear.

Such speed, relative to ordinary people, could certainly be considered lightning-fast, but for an Archmage or a Senior Arcanist, or even a Great Arcanist, it appeared quite slow.

Moreover, most of the teleportation along this journey was performed by Xia Duo; if it had been entirely led by Niya, it might have been even later.

Nowadays, Xia Duo has mastered Teleportation Spells up to the 7th Circle, but even so, it could not allow him to teleport from Seventon to Nan Jing in one go.

He speculated that the reason Netherese Mages used the 8th Circle—a node without iconic spells—as the watershed between High Mages and Archmages was perhaps because there was some kind of qualitative leap between 8th-circle spells and 7th-circle ones.

Perhaps it manifested in the efficiency of teleportation, or perhaps something else.

By studying the consumption of spells of various circles when detached from external Magic Net power supply and casting purely with his own Arcane Energy, Xia Duo speculated that the energy level increase between 8th-circle and 7th-circle spells was only between 2 to 4 times.

In reality, the difference between 7th and 6th circles was also between 2 to 4 times; looking solely at the energy level gap, no qualitative leap appeared.

Of course, it might just be a normal change following quantitative accumulation, only called a qualitative change because it reached a certain artificially set boundary.

But regardless, Xia Duo's desire to become a Senior Arcanist had not diminished; on the contrary, it had become more urgent.

After all, in the current situation, becoming a Senior Arcanist was not just an improvement in individual power, but a massive elevation in political status within Netheril and the Seven Towers.

Moreover, compared to the former, it was the latter—the elevation of political status—that could allow Xia Duo to obtain higher defensive power in the turmoil that might arise next.

……

The day after the celebration, no news came from Seventon, although there is an old proverb that says no news is the best news.

But Xia Duo felt a faint sense of unease in his heart; such a situation felt more like the final calm before a storm.

He tried to contact Beilaila and learned that Beilaila had also left Seventon on the day of the celebration, returning to Xibodeng Territory with her father.

As for what had happened in Seventon over these two days, Beilaila knew nothing.

Xia Duo thought it over and finally realized that the number of people he could contact in Seventon was pitifully small; only Greta and Poluokan could be considered to have some friendship.

The former was because of Niya, while the latter shared common interests.

Others might be reachable, but after all, their acquaintance was shallow, making it difficult for Xia Duo to ask certain questions, and the other party might not necessarily tell him.

"It seems I can only contact Poluokan!"

In fact, from the moment they returned to the Tower of Time, Niya had tried to contact Greta multiple times, but after just half a day, there was absolutely no news from Greta.

It was unknown whether she was too busy to reply or if something had happened that prevented her from replying; it was precisely this unknown that made people especially worried.

After sending the message that was both a greeting and an inquiry, Poluokan replied quickly, but his reply left Xia Duo greatly disappointed—

"Everything in Seventon is calm; there is no abnormality!"

Afterwards, Xia Duo did not ask anything else; since the other party had said there was no abnormality, if he were to ask repeatedly, wouldn't he be saying that he himself had an abnormality?

……

Just like that, Xia Duo and Niya waited at the Tower of Time until the third day, when there was finally news from Seventon—not anything else, but the monthly journal sent by the Arcane Union.

Actually, calculating the time, it was already mid-January, and the Arcane Union's monthly journal should have arrived, but at such a time node, it seemed to carry much significance.

And in fact, that was the case; this time, apart from the routine announcement of the Arcane Union opening the Access Key for the Teleportation Array, the journal only contained matters related to the Princess's divinity.

The usual daily news about Seventon, about Netheril, and even about the surrounding countries was completely absent this time.

Therefore, the content of this monthly journal appeared exceptionally sparse, and Xia Duo almost instantly accepted all the information transmitted by the Tower Spirit.

There were roughly two points that required attention—

First, the Arcane Union announced to the outside world that the Imperial Princess Xiya had successfully ascended to godhood, becoming the great God of Exploration and Protection, and would protect all Netherese citizens.

This was very strange; generally, news involving the whole country like this should be conveyed to various places by Envoys sent by the Seven Cities Council.

And it would not be strange for the Seven Cities Council to use an Archmage as a messenger; it would not necessarily be much later than the Arcane Union's monthly journal.

Looking at this point alone, Xia Duo speculated that there might be a problem with the Council; of course, it was also possible that he was overthinking it, and he would rather be overthinking it.

The second key point of this monthly journal was to notify all territories that those who perceived new Holy Power after the Princess's ascension could go to Seventon to receive more professional training as Exploration Priests and Protection Priests.

This was also very strange; Priests could indeed join the Arcane Union, but the Arcane Union did not have the Permission Level to issue such an order, or rather, even a notification was not allowed.

From this point of view, it was possible that not only was there a problem with the Seven Cities Council, but there might also be a problem with the Arcane Union!

In addition, the monthly journal also included introductions to some Divine Magic of the two new types of priests, among which the Exploration Priest's 【Regional Detection】 and the Protection Priest's 【Immunity to Fatal Damage】 made Xia Duo pay a little attention.

The former could detect resources and threats in a large area, while the latter, in layman's terms, was life-saving; as long as one received this Divine Magic, before the magic expired, one would not die even if one suffered severe injuries.

It was quite practical, but compared to these two types of Divine Magic, Xia Duo was more concerned about what exactly had happened in Seventon!

However, one could not think of anything useful through empty speculation, so Xia Duo prepared to first count the number of new priests appearing in the territory, and then use this topic to inquire about the situation from the Arcane Union.

Regardless of whether he would eventually send people to Seventon for training, at least having a count on his side was never wrong.