Badge in Azure

Chapter 363: Long Voyage (Part 1)

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

Just as dawn broke, Saleen put down what he was doing and went into a deep meditation. When he opened his eyes again, Nailisi was already beside him.

“Master, everything is prepared.”

“Okay, go to the port. Banchajanna?” Saleen called on Banchajanna who had turned into a winged skeleton. He released a cleaning spell for himself and stretched his limbs before walking out of the temple.

Five low-grade mages were waiting outside, Saleen did not see Truman, Nailisi whispered to him softly, “I have commanded Truman to defend the White Rock Mountain.”

Saleen furrowed his brows as he thought, if an enemy were to attack now the north, west, and south all had some form of city wall or fortresses. On the other hand, the coast towards the Oceanic Ice Block was not defended. Even though the pier was higher than the sea, it could not be used to defend.

Nailisi had made the right choice leaving the magic cannon behind. Once an enemy tried to attack from the ice, a single shot would blast apart the ice. It would prevent any enemy from invading from the sea.

It was better to be prepared. Even though none of the combat fleet from the Holy See could reach there, the ones from the Cloudflow Empire could. The combat vessel from Alchemy City had already been attacked, it was better for him to be careful.

Aini and Irene were waiting on the coast, Aini was dressed in a grey magic robe which did not seem too fanciful. Irene on the other hand was in a gleaming armor, it was filled with hollowed out magic patterns. If there were not a large number of magic arrays drawn in the armor, it would not be able to defend even from a wooden spear.

“Just us?” Irene asked in shock as she saw Saleen bringing with him five low-grade mages.

“And Sika.” Saleen’s reply was incredibly simple but it left Irene’s speechless. Going to hunt in the Oceanic Ice Block, manpower was as important as a tough ship. There were a large number of low-grade magic beasts and to haul them up with a net it needed at least one-hundred swordsmen to turn the gears together. Saleen’s team was too small, it might be able to deal with single magic beasts but could not deal with millions of them. Irene did not know what Saleen was thinking.

After around half an hour, Sika rushed over from the south.

“I’m sorry, I woke up late.” Sika had a look of ungratefulness on her that left Irene incredibly resentful. It was a cold day and the wind was like knives cutting into their faces, leaving their skin raw. She had the nerve to oversleep and made everyone wait for her. After listening to Nailisi’s words, Irene knew Saleen treated Sika incredibly well and did not want to offend anyone. She could only hold it in.

“Everyone is here, let’s go.” Saleen did not say much as he brought Banchajanna along and walked straight towards the sea.

Thick ice layers covered the entire sea with snow on top of them too. Everywhere Banchajanna passed, the snow immediately disappeared making a path. Saleen looked left to the White Rock Mountains, on the sharp peak hid a black hole.

The magic cannon was already set up. If it shot right there now, he had no idea if Banchajanna would be able to defend against it. The magic cannon was too dangerous and besides a mage that he trusted, he would not let any outsiders near it.

Ten people and a winged skeleton walked towards the vast sea. Saleen did not give any of them a Windspeed spell, instead, he used his legs to measure the width of the ice layer step by step. At the same time, he used his senses to check how deep the ice layer was.

Within two miles of the coast, the ice layer was five to six meters deep. As they got further away from the coast, the ice got thicker. Many places were deeper than ten meters. This was an unusual sight. Sea water was salty and compared to fresh water, it was harder to freeze. It should not be able to form such thick ice.

He was not sure what caused this unusual phenomenon but Saleen was already relieved. With such thick ice, only a mage could slowly push his way through. It would be almost impossible for one to attack from beneath using normal soldiers.

On the crescent-shaped island, there was already a giant stone pillar erected that formed a screen. Saleen brought them to rest at the island and found the entrance that led underground. He then gave everyone a water shield. Under the protection of the water shield, everyone followed the secret tunnel into the ship warehouse under the island.

In the dark sea, the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat floated silently, giving off a weak light. This was the magic light that the winged skeleton had released intentionally, it allowed Saleen and the rest to recognize the coordinates. Saleen waved as he brought everyone underneath the alchemical boat to the teleportation portal.

“Soldier, let us in,” Saleen called for the winged skeleton in his heart.

A magic light flashed past as all of them were transported within the alchemical boat simultaneously. Irene finally understood why Saleen was in need of magic nuclei after seeing this ship. The various signs pointed that Saleen possessed a great number of magic techniques, they could be used to create various types of magic equipment for battle.

This ship was the perfect example. Irene estimated that to let this ship sail atop the Oceanic Ice Block, the number of magic nuclei needed would not be any less than the big ship of hers.

She had no idea that the alchemical boat had a spirit pool. If it was not cruising at a rapid pace, it would not use up too much energy.

Entering the interior of the alchemical boat, even Aini was a little shocked. This ship was much tougher than he had imagined. A Pan’s Turtle did not usually have such a huge body and one that could grow to this size would have been incredibly hard to kill. Using such a huge turtle shell to create a complete ship was essentially a miracle.

The ship had gone through another round of modifications and with the continuous processing from the winged skeleton, the spirit pool had become smaller. The ship’s body was split into three parts. The middle was the cabin to rest in and the front was the control cabin. The back was used to store items and the energy cabin. After the structure had been simplified, the space had become bigger and the number of people Saleen had brought with him was too little. The ship seemed empty.

Irene’s eyes were sharp as she saw a giant crystal at the front of the control cabin. Besides the spirit pool in front of it, there was a new magic compass. The magic compass seemed incredibly familiar.

Saleen laughed as he said to Irene, “I found your sunken ship, the magic compass there…”

Irene shook her head and realized that the twenty percent of profits that Saleen had given her was indeed too much. This was because even without her sea map, Saleen could also slowly calculate the secret sea route using the magic compass. Even though that would waste a lot of time, Saleen could do it alone without her help.

“Since you found it, why not follow the laws of that country? These things are yours now.” Irene’s feelings were complicated. Could Saleen have feelings for her, was that why he had interacted with her?

In actuality, Saleen’s thoughts were simple; he could not throw all his wealth into this expedition. If he wanted to open up the sea route to the Oceanic Ice Block in the future, he needed someone to invest. He could sit and take sixty percent of the profits, but that was an incredibly large sum.

If everything was done by him, he had to take all the risk himself. Hearing Irene’s description, there were many riches in the Oceanic Ice Block. He could not take everything by himself. If he had sufficient power in the future, he could invest more and still get the greatest share. No matter Irene or Aini, they could not own that many ships, much less a fleet.

“Soldier, let the five of them familiarize with the controls, you can take a rest.” Saleen ordered the winged skeleton. He brought the five low-grade mages to control the alchemical boat. With them around, if an intense battle was to break out, the winged skeleton could control the magic array and spirit pool better.

“Banchajanna, you shall wait here.” Saleen pointed to the two magic arrays that were at the entrance of the ship.

The rest followed Saleen to the cabin at the middle of the ship, Saleen found his room. This room was to the left of the ship and took up half the space, the other room was prepared for Lex.

The right of the cabin had three floors, they were prepared for the mages and the swordsmen. That left only two. At the bottom was a hall that was over thirty square meters while the top was the bedroom.

The second floor only had four rooms. Besides Saleen’s room, there were ones that were prepared for his followers. Seeing that there were only a few rooms, Jola started getting excited as he thought, “It looks like I can stay with some pretty lady.”

There were other rooms on the ships, but Saleen had gathered everyone close to prepare for the worst. Seeing Jola’s excited look, Saleen said, “Jola, you will room with Aini.

“Gu…” Jola let out a weird noise as he felt a bitter tug on his heart. He had been arranged to room with the death mage, “The death mage has some weird habits! I am a grand swordmaster, do I need to become the plaything of the death mage?” He looked at Aini. Aini smiled at him and there was an air of awkwardness.

“Irene, Sika, choose your rooms. Nailisi, follow me.” Saleen brought Nailisi to his room.

The entire center portion of the alchemical boat was nine meters long, it was eight meters wide on both the left and right sides. Saleen’s cabin was only nine meters but according to the standard of a ship that could go underwater, it was pretty big. The left side of the cabin only had two floors. The supports were tall and under the intricate design, it seemed even more spacious.

There was a small bed in the room and Saleen said to Nailisi, “You can take the bed.”

Nailisi laughed, “Has master finally changed his mind?”

Saleen immediately said, “I need to continue practicing my Water Flame Alchemy spell.” With that, he sat on the ground and took out the unfinished weapon as he released the water flame and started processing.

Nailisi stared in shock, was this not more boring than being in the city? In the city, she had a big enough room. In here? She would need to live in this room for a few months! Nailisi almost banged her head against the wall.

“Aini.” Jola followed Aini into the room, his heart filled with trepidation.

“What is it?” Aini stared at Jola, almost as if he was smiling. Even though Jola could easily kill him with a single strike, Aini still looked at Jola as if he was looking at a prey.

“There seems to be only one bed.” Jola looked at the small bed, he felt as if his virginity was about to be lost.

“You can stay in the opposite cabin.” Aini took off his shoes. He had not had much rest last night because he had mainly been arranging his swordsmen and mages. Spring next year, the city would have finished construction. By then, Saleen would send people to the north to start searching for quarries. The north had not been developed and there would be numerous mountains waiting to be mined. As long as they found a steady mine deposit, this port city would immediately become prosperous.

He had no idea that Saleen had already sent the spirits to find two mining points that were closer. He was only waiting for Lex’s manpower and resources to arrive. His judgement was incredibly accurate, Saleen was not only looking to build a defensive city there.