Badge in Azure

The materials that Saleen listed were enough to build a new Daliang City altogether. Furthermore, it would have been an all-magic city. The materials used for drawing magic arrays themselves were more than what could have been measured using gold.

The main materials for constructing cities were stones and wood, but Daliang City’s construct apparently used more metals. There was simply no way Alchemy City would have been able to produce so many of the required metals.

Holy Rock City would have been able to gather ample materials from warehouses all over the place, but that too was not something that could have been accomplished within a day or two.

The two emissaries frowned as they looked at Saleen. He smiled and said, “I know there are quite a lot of materials listed here, and even an empire wouldn’t have been able to gather so many in such a short span of time. But, then again, feel free to write an evidence of debt. I believe what is beneath Daliang City will be worth your while.

The two emissaries had no problems comprehending all that. The fossilized gods that rushed outside were themselves precious materials. The Holy See would rather let scores of their own die instead of giving up the place.

Holy See or not, if I have control of what’s going on down there, who’s to say that I wouldn’t have done the same?

The two sorcerers acknowledged his points, which meant that Saleen had them convinced.

“Get another contract scroll written. We have the authority to call the shots,” the two emissaries said to Saleen at the same time.

As emissaries, they were given a certain measure of power before coming to Daliang City to sign contracts with the city. While Saleen’s demands were somewhat scary, they were still deemed acceptable.

Lex’s insistence had been for such conditions. When Saleen went to draft another contract, he began discussing with the two emissaries meticulously, looking at what kind of materials they were able to procure.

The discussion went on for several hours. Furthermore, there were some things that the two emissaries were truly unable to be certain of, requiring them to contact Alchemy City or Holy Rock City through the use of magic arrays.

The first batch of materials delivered to Daliang City was used to construct a large scale teleportation portal.

The portal was constructed east of the city, a mile away from the wall. Everyone had the schematics of the large-scale teleportation portal, but its construction was something that had not been seen for the past several thousands of years.

Saleen needed such a portal since Alchemy City would have sent large numbers of sorcerers through when there was a need for it. He had also promised to use resources from all three parties to first complete the construction of the magic net to protect the safety of the sorcerers.

Not only would their combat capacity not be diminished within the magic net, their powers would have been brought to their peak.

Saleen did not hide his intentions of nurturing enchanters. In Alchemy City’s perspective, while enchanters were powerful auxiliary forces, they were not as versatile as mages.

There were mages all over Alchemy City. If it had not been for such an environment, they would not have had considered constructing a magic net.

The city’s huge number of magic towers were capable of providing mages with support. The cost of maintaining the net was hefty, but it was built so that even common folk would have been able to cast spells. There were simply nothing for mages to gain from it.

Even Saleen himself did not like magic nets much. That was because if humans grew to rely on magic nets, there would probably slack in cultivating their magic chords.

There was a huge difference between enchanters and mages. An enchanter would have been useless outside a magic net. There was no use for them other than the chants they memorized.

However, only those who had truly cultivated their own magic chords would have understood that it was ultimately futile to rely on external apparatus. A mage was utterly incapable of bettering their physical constitution without magic chords and unable to attain long life.

What is a lifespan? It’s time. Only people who have lived long enough would have been able to learn more. If mages were only capable of living to 100, there would have been no more level nine powerful ones emerging in the future.

But, their current predicament said that they would have only been able to defend themselves against enemy attacks by constructing a magic net.

When the signing of the contract was finished, the people of Alchemy City attempted to talk with Saleen, hoping to acquire the manufacturing schematics of the magic power furnace.

Saleen refused tactfully. But, he offered it on one condition, which was the large-scale magic amplifier.

If Alchemy City was able to provide a set of large-scale magic amplifiers, Saleen would provide three types of manufacturing schematics of the magic power furnace.

The emissaries were incapable of deciding on that matter since the large-scale magic amplifier was simply too precious. The device would have enabled the city to become the strongest of strongholds to be found in the world, amplifying a mage’s combat capacity by more than three times.

The problem was that the large-scale magic amplifier was something that humanity was no longer capable of crafting, even for Jason who had mastered Water Flame Alchemy. The price that Saleen set was simply too high for Alchemy City to bear.

However, the mages of Alchemy City were not disappointed. The extreme demand simply meant that the matter at hand was still negotiable.

After the large-scale teleportation portal was constructed, all materials required by Saleen were delivered to Daliang City one after another without pause.

Nailisi had moved all 600,000 elite Lex troops away and replaced them with mercenaries. The cost of the mercenaries was borne by Alchemy City and Holy Rock City.

The internal parts of Daliang City were quickly modified. With the exception of the core palace, every other place had been remodeled into complex forts. The construction of the magic net was faster than Saleen had anticipated.

The alchemy factories in Metatrin City were capable of churning out magic power furnaces quickly. Their production speed was only hindered by lack of materials, which was solved quickly. Production was virtually limitless.

The magic power furnaces were delivered to Daliang City en masse.

Some of the furnaces were retained by Metatrin City. According to the scrapping ratio, when crafting magic equipment, Metatrin City was able to retain at least a quarter of the produced magic power furnaces.

The magic power furnaces were to be installed in warships and large-scale puppets.

Alchemy City did not bother arguing over such matters. Alchemists would hold a certain portion of materials back while crafting equipment for others. Plus, they were doing it at a higher amount than Metatrin City.

The very reason Metatrin City was able to retain so many magic power furnaces for their own use was because Jason, a level ten mage, was in charge. He also had level ten Water Flame Alchemy. And, there were hardly scrapped ones produced when crafting low-level magic power furnaces.

Saleen handed the schematics of the metal towers to Alchemy City. The factories within Alchemy City quickly produced large amounts of metal components, which were delivered to Daliang City to be used for building large numbers of metal towers.

The bottom part of the metal towers were used for installing magic power furnaces. In order to construct a magic net enveloping Daliang City, Saleen needed over 2,000 magic power furnaces.

Such a cost would have taken at least years to cover if he were to only rely on Metatrin City. If he wanted the process to be sped up, he would have needed to take the Ancient warship apart.

Lex’s palace was the first to be installed with the magic net. Demon spirits, trained in secret by Nailisi, replaced the last batch of elite troops she sent away. The demon spirits’ combat capacity was inferior than that of demons, but their mental powers were just as strong.

There were about 3,600 demon spirits. All of them were to stay in the royal palace and become enchanters.

There were two camps appearing at the east of the city: one from Alchemy City, and the other from Holy Rock City.

No one had been able to develop space equipment capable of carrying living beings other than Nailisi. The two camps were filled with hastily recruited troops. It was fortunate that there was no need for them to venture outside of the city to do battle. As such, there were not that many of them recruited.

Nailisi recruited mercenaries in batches and brought them to Daliang City using the purgatory of purification. The mercenaries all looked dazed when emerging from the purgatory of purification, having no recollection of what happened. They simply took it to be a side effect of the spell, which enabled troops to be delivered to Daliang City in droves.

There were more and more powerful ones from Alchemy City and Holy Rock City settling down in the two camps. The main gate of the eastside of the city was modified as well, becoming the core of the magic net at the east.

The army outside the city grew increasingly large. It seemed that a showdown was inevitable.

Saleen took the opportunity to sneak the Magical Element Tower back to Metatrin City. He had no way of restoring its flight capabilities on his own and needed his teacher’s help.

Other than metal tower and magic cannons, huge amounts of heavy alchemy crossbows were also found on the eastern city wall of Daliang City. Those were backups from Holy Rock City. The range of the alchemy crossbows surprised Saleen: five miles.

Of course, it was impossible for the heavy crossbows to maintain the accuracy of their smaller cousins at such a range. However, the heavy alchemy crossbows provided by Holy Rock City were truly professional works.

Other than being able to shoot alchemy bolts of over 13 feet long, those crossbows were capable of shooting hundreds of smaller bolts at the same time.

The experience had broadened Saleen’s vista. The list he made basically came from data gathered and some information fed to him by Lex. Some war equipment thought to have existed only in legends now appeared right before his eyes, such as large-scale metal cannons firing magic fire shells.

The metal cannons were set up within the main camp in the city and had a range of over a dozen miles. They were firing true magic fire shells, which made them look like large Fireball spells.

Casualties among the Tribunal forces reached 600,000 within half a month. The numbers continued to climb. Dead troops were buried where they fell. New recruits were mobilized to fight the fossilized gods.

The endless replenishment meant that the Tribunal needed to pay over 50 lives just to get one fossilized god killed. That was only achievable with the help of large number of holy masters. If it had not been for all types of equipment being constantly resupplied, the two head inquisitors would not have lasted long.

Mages from Alchemy City and Holy Rock City waited in anticipation within the royal palace. The magic power furnaces beneath the hundreds of metal towers in the palace were activated.

The sky suddenly lit up. Since it was evening, the light made everyone within over a hundred miles feel as if the sun had risen high in the air from the horizon. It was as if time had rewound.

The magic light disappeared right away as hundreds of mystical streams of magic energies connected with one another. Even the sky thousands of miles above the royal palace was covered by the formless magic net.

The mages were elated to find that they were once again able to sense the elements in the air and manipulate them at will. Many could not have helped but cast their specialty spells. The royal palace was filled with the light of magic again.

The mages, who were usually known for their restraint, cheered. They had felt very repressed in an environment like Daliang City.

The disappearance of the elemental powers they were so used to manipulating every day rendered them feeling insecure. All of mages were excited and elated to find their powers restored.

The magic net quickly dissipated since it was but an experiment. If it had not been for the state of war they were in, there was no way anyone would have simply agreed to having hundreds of magic power furnaces run at the same time.

The news was quickly delivered back to Holy Rock City and Alchemy City. Within half an hour, both places deployed their truly powerful forces, level ten mages, to Daliang City.