Badge in Azure

Chapter 360: Sika’s Return (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“I’m tired, I’m going to sleep too.” Saleen stood up and walked down the stairs. Irene quietly pulled on Nailisi’s sleeve, she understood and stayed behind. Aini had to go back and manage his men as well. He had felt the hunt this time was too hurried and staying another day would allow him to give instructions to those from his family.

“That Sika…” Irene gave Nailisi with a questioning look.

“A Cascausus, what are you worried about?”

“She is joining the hunt, why doesn’t she need to sign that damn contract?”

“Because the ship belongs to her partly.” Nailisi’s reply left Irene deflated, “Sister Irene, why does it matter? The more women Saleen has, the less angry Viscountess Lex would be, right?” Nailisi’s smile was innocent, yet her words were evil. “You might not know, but Master is also a magic pharmacist. He has his ways to deal with many women at once.”

“That, isn’t that good for Saleen, is it?” Irene was not a match for the demon. She could not help but blush, the words from her mouth did not make any sense.

“Beside mages that have died in combat, how many mages have you heard of that lived below the age of one-hundred?” Nailisi laughed meaningfully as she took up a glass of strong liquor and downed it. The drink that the humans had brewed was good indeed, it tasted like the magma berry found in the demon dimension. It not only quenched her thirst, but was uplifting too.

Saleen had no idea that Nailisi was promoting him, he returned to the temple but did not sleep. He was preparing things to set off tomorrow. Sika had returned, so he had no choice but to feed more people. Saleen walked to the basement of the temple alone. There was a small teleportation portal there that could send him within the vast space.

Only with such unique land conditions could one be created in such an enclosed space. The location of a temple was profound and under the temple was an entire piece of rock.

This space was dug within the rock and to dig out such a safe space, Saleen had wasted a lot of energy.

At the center of the space was an entire flat surface of the rock, a teleportation array would be drawn there in the future. All around this space, there were a large number of stone holes that were carved out to store resources. These holes were empty now. Saleen took out a dimension stone and emptied all the materials used to build a magic tower out. He placed them all within these holes.

Saleen had forty of such dimension stones and they could be placed within his Ring of Gifts. The space that they held was several hundred times greater than the Ring of Gifts. Emptying out the dimension stone, Saleen immediately left from the teleportation array and destroyed it after he was done. These materials used to build forty magic towers were the foundation of his city. It was a pity that with each passing day he did not receive any news from the mages from Sregl Island. He could not start building the magic towers yet.

Destroying the teleportation array was to keep these resources safe. Even if a mage was to reach the top of the space, they would not be able to find the general coordinate to restore the teleportation array.

When he was done Saleen was relieved and he returned to his room.

With the winged skeleton controlling the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat, Saleen did not need too many mages for help. He was only bringing along Jola, Sika, Irene, Aini, Nailisi and another five low-grade mages. Saleen’s original plan was to make a trip to the Oceanic Ice Block himself, getting the precise sea route. When Sika had returned, his target was to get the prey too besides the magic nuclei.

There were far more creatures in the sea than could be eaten. With the dimension stone, Saleen could store as many as they caught. The only trouble was that the prey in the sea could be terrifying predators too. He had no choice but to bring a death king with him.

Banchajanna. Saleen’s heart chanted silently, in front of him was a magic array. Banchajanna’s shadow flickered and appeared within the magic array.

“It is so late, Saleen. You aren’t sleeping and have called me here, is it to humiliate me?” Even though Banchajanna was completely under Saleen’s control, he still had his own consciousness. To be controlled by such a low-grade mage left him with an unspeakable rage.

“I am but a passing visitor in your long life, Banchajanna. If you wish to continue living, do not challenge my patience. Even though changing you into a puppet completely will lower your combat abilities, I will not stand your continued provocations.” Saleen’s voice was calm but Banchajanna stopped his venting. He knew Saleen well enough, this young mage would not put out empty threats. Once he spoke, it was the last time.

“What do you want me to do?” Banchajanna had no choice but to submit. Saleen’s life was too short for him, there was not a point for him to continue fighting. Such forced contracts would naturally be annulled when Saleen was dead. Whether Saleen’s death would harm his soul flames was dependent on Saleen’s mood. In other words, if Saleen wanted to take Banchajanna down to hell with him when he died, there was nothing Banchajanna could do about it.

“Turn into a winged skeleton,” Saleen said to Banchajanna. Even though his room was large, he did not like to lift his head to speak to the giant Banchajanna.

Banchajanna turned into a winged skeleton and sat in front of Saleen.

“I wish to go out to sea to hunt, I will bring you along. There are too many people in the city, and soon our rations will run out.”

“Such things are in your control.” Banchajanna’s voice was deep as it echoed about the spacious room.

“I am going to the Oceanic Ice Block, it is not accessible by normal ships and I need to take the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat. The hunting mission will be left to you. Take this.” Saleen took out four dimension stones and handed them to Banchajanna.

“Dimension stones!” Banchajanna recognized them. They were too hard to create and their ingredients were not just expensive, the conditions needed to create them were incredibly strict and the success rate was incredibly low. The greatest property of a dimension stone was not as a spatial equipment, though it did make it much easier to create spatial equipment. The dimension stone’s greatest property was that it could be used to set up a giant magic array. If there was enough dimension stones, Saleen could make the entire city one big magic array. Even if the gods were to descend, they would not be able to do anything against such a defense.

“It is good that you recognize them, do not lose them. When we reach to the Oceanic Ice Block. Once we encounter any prey, you will go out to hunt. Use the dimension stones to store the prey. Once they are full, I will give you more dimension stones until the hunt is over.”

“This hunt, it is very dangerous, isn’t it?” Banchajanna started thinking, he could hear the warning within Saleen’s voice.

“We might meet some grade-9 magic beasts, are you confident in killing them?”

“Unless it is an evolved lightning dragon. If you do not mind how beaten up the prey would be, I can take on a grade-9 magic beast alone.” Banchajanna answered seriously.

“Very good. Unless the situation is dire, the alchemical boat will not be there to assist you. You must be prepared.”

“Is that all?” Banchajanna did not feel the rules were too strict, so long as Saleen did not mind how beaten up the prey would be. He did not think it was too dangerous. Even though a grade-9 magic beast was strong, magic beasts did not have any equipment. His scepter and the six pieces of weapons were specially created by Shanglan, defeating these magic beasts went without saying.

“That’s all, I will need to process my weapon tonight, stay here as sentry.”

Banchajanna stood up despondently and walked towards the door. Saleen did not care if he was ready to submit or not, as long as he could be controlled. He knew that going against Saleen would not lead to anything good. This mage had a determined heart and even if he destroyed him, he would not mind losing a helper.

Saleen extinguished the magic lights and released the water flame and started processing his weapon. Saleen was prepared for the worst with this expedition after past experiences. The alchemical boat could hold quite a few people and arranging for one-hundred swordsmen should not be a problem. Saleen only brought mages along with him such that if the alchemical boat was to be destroyed, he could escape easily.

With Banchajanna around, flying away with a few mages would be easy. With his Quickcloud spell now, he could bring two people along with him too. Sika and Nailisi could be by his side fighting. Although the Oceanic Ice Block was tens of thousands of miles away, there were many places along the way to land. This would reduce the danger even more.

If they could not return on the water, Saleen had already made plans to return by air. The Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat could descend into the sea and letting the winged skeleton control it, Saleen would not lose it. Saleen wanted to prepare alchemy crossbows that were of a higher grade to give out to the lower grade mages, letting them protect themselves too.

The weakest thing about a mage was that he did not have many magic chords, he would not be able to fight in combat for long.

In the garden south of the temple, the Cascausus people had already settled down. A woodhouse made from carving out a few giant trees at the center of all the buildings, was where the Cascausus elders were staying.

The Cascausus people were simple but they were not pedantic, if so they would have disappeared as a tribe just like the barbarians. In the tall woodhouse, the elders sat in a circle around Sika, listening to the arrangements that she had made.

“I have said it before, I feel there is danger of us being wiped out. Just because we are here doesn’t mean we are safe.” Sika said a little worryingly. “Even though Mage Saleen can be trusted, what if he were to die? We wouldn’t be able to find another protector like him again. I will choose three of the best children to stay behind and impart the powers of the priest to them. As for the other talented kids, they will stop being warriors. I will let Saleen train them to be mages.”

“Priestess, if that is the case, our tribe will not be able to develop,” two elders said even more worryingly.

“I have a responsibility to ensure more Cascausus people survive. You all should know that magic lineage is the same as the priest lineage, true magic technique is rare in this world. Saleen is one of those who owns such techniques. A Cascausus that has learnt magic is still a Cascausus person. If we are not able to get over this period, we will be like other powerful tribes in the past, completely destroyed,”Sika said seriously. She was only regurgitating what she had read from the priest lineage within the bone necklace. There was an incredible amount of prophecy-like information. Together with the information she got from following Saleen all these years, Sika was inclined to believe such prophecies.