A fruitless search

Number One Floating City, although not even as large as Floating City Number Nine Floating City, was the first Floating City to take off for the Alliance, and therefore of great significance to the Alliance.

Therefore, the Alliance Council is located above Floating City No. 1, and Nathaniel, the chief of the Elementalists, is also currently there.

However, Nathanael looked quite haggard compared to when Fran first saw Chief, as Elemental School appeared rather tired.

It wasn't physical exhaustion—this Legendary is still in his prime—but rather a mental one. He'd been dealing with a lot of important matters lately, even impacting the entire the Alliance, leaving him little room to be in good spirits.

At this moment, he pressed the documents on the table, thinking that these proposals had not been passed in the Council. He saw no problems with them, but there were always a few Fourth Order Mage jumped out to oppose them.

Then, during the vote, few mages voted in favor, causing the final proposal to stall again, which left Nathanael exhausted.

He couldn't even solve the problem himself, so he could only talk to other monks in private and seek their opinions.

Such political exchanges are quite tedious. Having witnessed the Number Three Floating City Incident, Nathanael, who was extremely anxious, strongly disagreed with the mages' decision to carefully review the terms first.

In his view, this meeting should make decisions quickly to provide sufficient preparation for the subsequent war on the Lohan Archipelago.

He even planned to formally issue a resolution authorizing the start of war to the Command Council today.

However, the Command Council had a different opinion. They thought that it would be good if the proposal could be completed within a month. Now it seems that the Command Council was right.

Even though he had used his position Chief of the Elemental School and his political resources in the Council to force through many clauses, there was still no progress on the final clause regarding war.

He wanted to urge them on, to know what these monks were thinking, but this was the answer he received.

"Chief, you don't need to rush. No one has any major objections to your proposal; they just need some time."

The reason for needing time is, of course, to allow each School of thought to make decisions in advance, deciding which High-Order Mage to send to participate in the war and which High-Order Mage to guard important assets.

These matters are very important. Of course, the most important thing is that the Council cannot actually decide the whereabouts of High-Order Mage; it can only be decided by the School to which they belong.

This is also the drawback of this School being independent within the Alliance, even though the Alliance Council is indeed the body that makes the final decisions.

However, the Council cannot mobilize the Alliance's top leadership at all, because it is composed of top leadership and is merely a deliberative body.

All the execution details and personnel arrangements are generally discussed within the School. After the internal communication and arrangements within the School are completed, it will then be the responsibility of the Alliance Council.

Nathanael didn't actually intend to make any special arrangements within the School. He simply waved his hand and sent those he summoned directly to the Battlefield. With his prestige, this was indeed feasible.

Other School didn't work; they actually held a special meeting to discuss the next steps.

Once Council makes a final decision, there is no time left for them to communicate, so naturally the final proposal will not be passed in Council.

This is the dilemma Nathanael faces; it's all a matter of time. His outward communication is merely an attempt to expedite this process.

"Chief, the Chief of the Necromancy School declined your invitation. She said they are in a meeting..."

Nathanael sighed and could only continue:

"Then let's cancel this meeting... We don't have anything else planned for this afternoon, right?"

"That's all, Chief."

Nathanael nodded, then asked directly.

"Did you find ' Philly,' the one I asked you to find?"

After the Number Three Floating City Incident, besides the Council's incredibly slow response, the only thing that infuriated Nathanael was the matter of ' Philly '.

Nathanael later deployed a large number of Investigator to investigate this suddenly appearing genius mage, but they found no clues in the Number Three Floating City. He even brought in a Third Order Mage from the Astrology School, hoping to find ' Philly ' through prophecy.

It was just a coincidence that the third-tier Astrology School Third Order Mage they found was the same mage that Harbos had used to find Fran.

There's no way around it; recently, apart from a few who absolutely have to attend meetings, the other high-ranking members of the Astrology School have all been locked up in a dark room.

In order to maintain the normal operation of the Astrology School, only a few Third Order Mage have time to do other things.

Upon hearing the answer to the prophecy after the prophecy was made, the Third Order Mage nearly banged his head against a pillar on the spot.

"She is not a member of the Elemental School, yet she is a member of the Elemental School."

Upon hearing this prophecy, the Third Order Mage almost immediately declared that there must be a problem with his connection to the stars, and that the answer he had received last time was similar.

Nathanael found this rather strange, but he couldn't come up with anything about this bizarre prophecy.

Because this is a very broad term, encompassing both members of the Elemental School Elemental School those who are not, it could even include the entire Flame School.

There are even some apprentices who transferred from the Elemental School and were promoted, who can be considered both members and non-members of the Elemental School Elemental School.

After all, fundamentally, once an apprentice joins the Elemental School, that apprentice should be a lifelong apprentice of the Elemental School. However, the actual situation is somewhat complicated, so few mages will pursue this.

He certainly couldn't possibly have identified Fran and Harbos's lineage based on just that one sentence.

Moreover, judging from the monk's somewhat distraught expression, who knows if this prophecy is correct?

So, after his predictions proved ineffective, he resorted to some clumsy methods, having Investigator and assistants follow up on the matter, but...

"The result wasn't good, Chief. Although I roughly know that ' Philly ' escaped in an airship, the events at Number Three Floating City have made it impossible to find a lot of information, including ' Philly's' login details."

"Furthermore, other Investigator thoroughly examined the airship flights that night and the following morning, but after searching all destinations and intermediate stops, they found no clues."

No clues? Is that even possible?

"Chief, that's quite possible. As long as there's a Fourth Order Profession Holder nearby, it's actually quite easy for them to sneak in..."

This is an ironclad rule in the extraordinary world: if Profession's Order is high enough, it's possible that you won't find any clues at all, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Although in most cases it is unlikely that there would be Profession of such a high Order.

"Alright, let the Investigator continue their search."

Nathanael sighed deeply, then leaned back in his chair. If this matter were to truly come to a conclusion, it would probably require the intervention of the High-Order Mage of the Astrology School.

This condition is clearly not met now.

"Alright, is there anything else lately? I'm quite busy these days, so it's best to resolve anything now."

Nathanael was asking about things outside the itinerary, which could be complaints from mages of the Elemental School, or something happening within the School itself.

These are all minor matters, so there's no need to plan the schedule in advance. The assistant only needs to consult Nathanael to get things done.

"Yes, Chief, this is a message from Aolain."

"Aolain? Oh, that Third Order Mage who won the Master of Elements Award. I remember Arthur telling me that when Aolain turned two hundred, we'd bring him into the Alliance Council..."

Nathanael's expression softened somewhat, perhaps because the mention of a young genius within the School who could potentially become School pillar made him happy.

"He said that the spot for the Frost Elemental Cannon Project that you assigned to him has now become available, and he wants you to arrange a new mage for him."

"Didn't he say he'd reserved a spot for him in this project? That he has a good candidate in mind?"

Nathanael asked with some curiosity, explaining that this was a cutting-edge project within the Elemental School, and that he had just given orders to use it in the upcoming war.

Due to Nathanael's favoritism and consideration of the researcher's abilities, the project leader ultimately assigned Aolain to be responsible for some of the more important aspects of the project.

The last time he contacted Nathanael, he specifically asked Nathanael for an extra position, saying there was a researcher he thought was promising.

"They refused."

"How could you turn down such a great project? If it were done well, even if you couldn't win the Master of Elements Award, winning smaller awards would be a piece of cake."

Nathanael said, somewhat puzzled.

He remembered that when Aolain spoke with him, he said that the researcher didn't have any achievements in the Elemental School, so it might not be easy for him to get a spot there, and he wanted to ask him for a spot directly.

"Chief, you're mistaken. That researcher may not have received an award from the Elemental School, but it seems he does have one from the Law School."

The assistant pulled out the Profile. Aolain knew that respect was required for the Chief such a School, and it wasn't something that could be done casually with a word. So he simply sent over a file on Fran, saying that this was the researcher who had refused.

The assistant, upon seeing the Amber Law Award's record, recognized the person and his lips twitched slightly.

"The Law School? Has Aolain gone mad? Inviting mages from other School to participate in such an important project? Isn't that just messing things up? It's a good thing he refused."

Nathanael made a couple of complaints, and his assistant placed the documents directly in front of Nathanael. After seeing the contents, Nathanael suddenly realized what was going on.

"So it was her. I knew Aolain was crazy for inviting researchers from other School in."

Nathanael naturally recognized the name Fran, and when Fran's name appeared, Nathanael even took the time to speak with Harbos.

Of course, the matter eventually came to nothing. Harbos didn't really trust Nathanael, and Nathanael couldn't give any substantial promises. However, Nathanael did study the name Fran.

"What?! She actually went directly to the Territory Mage Working Group of the Law School. I knew it! That explains why the Law School is so far ahead of us."

Nathanael was initially taken aback by the discrepancy when he heard Aolain and Arthur's reports, but now he realizes that such a difference is quite normal if they were the original authors of the Paper.

"However, she seems to fit the characteristics of Elemental School Elemental School, but not entirely."

A glint of light flashed in Nathanael's eyes, but it quickly disappeared, because according to the Profile, this was not a good point of suspicion.

"She rejected Aolain, so she should still be in White Dragon Port. If she is, I think I can see her in a month."

He'll definitely have to make a trip to White Dragon Port then; there are too many things he needs to decide.