Badge in Azure

Saleen shouted to halt Nailisi after seeing her about to chase after it. “Nailisi, get back here!”

Nailisi backed off reluctantly. Saleen added, “We’re probably somewhere near Dragon Island, and we don’t have what it takes to get on that island. We have to leave soon, or we’ll have to fight them.”

Saleen had no time to tangle with the people of Dragon Island. His goal was simple: tear down all temples left behind by the Goddess of Myers in the shortest time possible.

They did not have much time to spare, as he was not the only one with a Ring of Gifts. If Agares was able to get his hands on one of the rings, others would as well. If they wasted more time there, Agares would have enough time to excavate all three temples located within Cloudflow.

While the goddess’ power of faith was hard to come by, that did not mean that Agares had no way of getting his hands on some.

Saleen conjured some mist and enveloped everyone in it, heading north right after he was done. The mainland was probably several thousands of miles away. He only had one rough destination this time: the Cloudflow Empire.

Agares had set Saleen up before, and he deemed it necessary to settle the score. He planned to take out all of the temples in Cloudflow in order to do so. If he ran into Agares again, he would not hesitate to take lethal measures.

Saleen cranked Quickcloud to the extreme, reaching a terrifying speed of 300 miles per hour. He needed to use Water Shield, or someone would be injured if they ran into anything.

They zipped past islands, and Saleen looked back, finding a place to settle down after seeing no one was chasing after them. He took out the Magical Element Tower and contacted Metatrin City.

Saleen transported the three sets of equipment from the temple and some materials stored inside dimension stones back to his own temple to have his teacher help analyze them. He had been spending his time running around, robbing him of any time to perform detailed analysis.

The Magical Element Tower stopped on a small island. A storm hit suddenly, and tall waves engulfed the entire island, but it did not bother Saleen and the others.

Saleen contacted Daliang City next after contacting Metatrin City, speaking directly to Lex.

Things at Daliang City did not turn more severe. The Holy See suffered massive casualties and had not been able to field more troops. The addition of their allies from Cloudflow did not boost the Holy See’s income.

The Holy See had no choice but to continue with how things were. They were only able to take about 30 percent of any broken fossilized gods. The rest were carted away by Daliang City’s forces.

The Cloudflow people seemed to not care. They raised their forces at a very slow pace, putting no pressure on Daliang City.

It was Sikeqinya, where everyone had pulled out, that had gotten messy. The battle at Ceylon City was completely hopeless. Emperor Danny called upon the nobles for reinforcements, but many of the nobles refused to comply.

There were even two level nine mercenary groups in Sikeqinyan territory that refused the emperor’s orders. Things felt rather tempting to some. There were two grand dukes in Sikeqinya recruiting troops in secret to expand their powers by signing mercenary contracts.

It was forbidden. If Danny had not lost Ironwall City and had forces to spare, he would launch assaults at them. However, no mercenary in the empire bothered with the emperor’s orders, which made it seem like Danny had just lost an arm.

Saleen and Lex discussed for a bit and found the battle at Daliang City considerably expanded. While casualties on both sides remained small, as it was mostly the fossilized gods dying, there were too many wounded soldiers to take care of. Holy masters and mages spent most of their focus and energy healing, and no one was able to launch a large scale assault.

Both sides seemed to have reached an agreement without meeting, choosing not to add more troops to the fray. The empire would be empty if more troops were added.

The Tanggulasi Empire was comparatively poor, as most of their wealth had accumulated in the Holy See. If Holy Rock City called upon the nobles of the north, they would have to pay a hefty price.

Saleen was relieved to find that both Daliang City and Ceylon City were safe. Even the Royal Harbor was not being threatened. It was the first time Saleen saw things so peaceful since he had established his own kingdom.

The only problem that lingered in his thoughts was Grand Duke Iron Blood’s expansion plans. He had expanded Lianyun City several times and began to attack nearby cities. The armies north of Qin focused their attention on several large cities.

Grand Duke Iron Blood did not touch any of the places. He simply took back the cities that had been part of Lianyun City’s territories and renovated them. It was like he was trying to build a duchy and had no intention of further expansion.

Saleen deduced that the Grand Duke did not have the means to attack Guderian City. The city could call upon Guya City. The Kingdom of Metatrin had actually reached an agreement with Guderian City’s troops.

The city was importing many magic cannons and equipment from Metatrin City in secret. Furthermore, Guderian City had frightening stockpiles of food, so there was no need for the Grand Duke to take out the city.

Saleen laid out the magic map and gestured. “We’ll head here next.” The place he was pointing to was a mountain range west of Cloudflow. There were few ports on the west. There were two coastal cities, and they were both small ports, which made it impossible for them to hold warships.

There were many mountains, and the ranges were messy. The one that Saleen pointed to was mediocre in height but had very complex terrain. The spot that Saleen pointed to was the furthest away from them. If Agares returned to the mainland and intended to open the other temples, it would definitely be the last that he would find.

Saleen knew that it was impossible for him to take down every single temple. But Agares was an assassin, and there were no powerful mages around him. Even though he was level ten, he did not have enough power to take down the temples and bag everything. Agares did not even have means to destroy the portals.

The reason why Saleen chose that particular temple was so that he could take the complete pieces of gear within. It would be a laughable irony to Saleen if that particular temple happened to be one prepared for assassins. He would tear the whole thing apart and leave Agares to wallow in agony.

The storm stayed for quite a long time, and Saleen let his tower take flight, not waiting for the storm to pass. He headed straight for the Cloudflow Empire, flying at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Common mages only flew below 1,000 meters to prevent them from running into any danger.

There was nothing in Saleen’s way throughout the journey. The red dragon had returned to deliver the message, but no one chased after Saleen and his people.

The ocean was vast, and no one knew where Saleen chose to head to. They were on the outskirts of the Dragon Island, thousands of miles away from the island. It was simply impossible for them to catch up to Saleen’s Magical Element Tower.

It was safer to fly using the tower. Its method of flight changed after Jason upgraded it, enabling it to fly horizontally like a boat, the tip of the tower facing forward. The durability of level 18 elementite meant that if it crashed into a mountain, it would carve a hole through it.

Furthermore, the flight of the tower was powered by magic power furnaces, giving it extremely stable output and preventing it from being affected by environmental factors.

Saleen and his people were over 10,000 miles away from the seventh temple. Saleen was flying the tower at over 100 miles per hour, and it did not even require people to man it.

Eleanor took the brief period to ask Saleen about magic, mainly lightning rules. They talked for three days straight, and she felt she had learned a lot from the conversations. Eleanor asked one final question, “Saleen, when you assaulted the head inquisitor, I was able to understand how you did Crystal Finger, and I knew I would never be able to learn it. But the speed at which you moved…”

Eleanor remembered the battle particularly well. The third head inquisitor died after being ambushed by Saleen, who had increased his speed ten times. Saleen’s limit was about 300 miles per hour, and ten times would mean that he was moving at over 3,000 miles per hour.

It was unimaginable. The water elemental armor that Saleen wore was thoroughly melted, which spoke volumes about the skill’s power.

“It was a spell derived from water element fused with rules of earth magic. It isn’t something you’d be able to learn, Eleanor, unless you’re made of water element.” Saleen answered her question with a smile.

He had always been dissatisfied with his inherent water elemental body, but ever since he looked into Jalin’s earth magic, he had been mimicking the movement ability using water magic. He changed the magic chant and fused it into a high level water magic. The final product was an immensely powerful movement ability, which he dubbed Comet Flash.

While Comet Flash was not truly unique magic, as it was a rehash of sorts, its potential lay in the fact that it was not completed. Once it was completed, the skill would surpass level 12 skills, and it came with a bonus of being upgradable.

More importantly, the skill incorporated rules that Saleen was familiar with, which included lightning rules. When the skill was thoroughly completed, Saleen could encase himself with thick water elemental armor. His form would probably resemble a water elemental creature, his body serving as the elemental core, controlling the huge elemental armor from within.

Outside of the elemental armor, he could even incorporate water elemental hard ice, enabling Saleen’s flight to surpass common mages’, which would enable him to fly outside the mainland, shooting for the stars.

According to Saleen’s calculations, if he completed every single spell at his disposal, he would turn into a comet, flying at a speed unattainable by any other living being. His body’s durability would allow him to tear through any energy shield.

The flight was fueled by the power of the stars instead of conventional earth elemental energies. Saleen could sustain his flight using the gravitational power of stars, even if he left the mainland and headed for the vacuum above. It would take Saleen less than an hour to reach any part of the mainland.

It was no longer simply a movement spell. If Saleen had his magic projection use Comet Flash, he could launch a combined attack, and the speed the Comet landed at could result in the destruction of a small city.

The mage who created flight using earth magic was a genius, and Saleen was standing on the shoulders of the genius when he created an even more eerie and powerful spell.

Seeing how Eleanor was disappointed at the answer, Saleen smiled. “But I can teach you Jalin’s movement skills. I only have one request.”

“Shoot away!” Eleanor answered gleefully.

“Before I am certain I can deal with Arbola, you can only learn the spell. Never let Jalin know about this.”