Badge in Azure

Originally, Saleen planned to deal with the Phoenix’s nobles slowly. After hearing this piece of news, he knew that he was wrong. The empire was bent on conquering Phoenix as it kept sending more troops for the invasion. Since Phoenix had not been at war for such a long time, it had no way of resisting this siege.

Qin’s techniques might contain many malpractices, but in the face of absolute raw power, Phoenix would also be helpless.

People were dispatched to send this swordsman back to Saleen’s followers’ camp. Saleen had lost all mood to wander in the city already. He had a rough gauge of how the city would be developed. The city might only be in its initial stages at the moment, but once more workers arrived and there were sufficient mages. The city walls and various structures could be swiftly constructed. The skeletons were mainly used for paving roads and building the underground amenities.

For a city of such scale, the drainage system alone was already a colossal project. After several months of almost endless work, the few thousand skeletons then managed to complete the underground pipelines. Next, mages had to be present in order to position magic arrays at the critical areas so that the city would be secure. These underground spaces could possibly be dominated by magic beasts otherwise.

The swordsman who escaped was a wake-up call for Saleen. Even though the Sregl Island swordsmen were elites, they did not have actual combat experience. The two mages died a wrongful death.

Although the five hundred people deployed by Saleen were adequately equipped, they would still be in grave danger when faced with an army with a huge number of troops. Saleen had instructed them never to hassle the enemy, but there was always a lingering worry that they would be stuck in unfavorable terrain.

At this point in time, Saleen could only hope that luck was in his favor. “The five-hundred men were all riding on skeletal warhorses, hopefully they won’t get into a head-on conflict with the enemy. As long as they weren’t trapped, they could escape. Furthermore, Daniel and Kredian have the magic chariots. As long as the enemy didn’t have more than two sorcerers, the enemy would be concerned. For the time being, the land forces will have to depend on Lex,” Saleen thought to himself. At this moment, he instructed the temple soldiers to look for Aini. Saleen was going to assemble the three kings and order them to refine a warship.

Actually, Saleen did not want to let the three kings work anymore. Previously, that warship refined by them could only be operated by a spirit, and far too many materials were consumed. The current situation was unfavorable to Saleen. If a passage could not be opened on the ocean, his city would basically become lifeless.

Saleen came to the fourth story of the temple where there was a gigantic room. He took at the dragon skeleton and placed it on the floor, awaiting the arrival of the kings.

The dragon skeleton had been cleaned, so there were no scars on those black colored bones. In the empty orbitals located on the dragon’s gigantic skull, there was zilch spirituality. Only a pair of several meter long horns served to indicate that the dragon was so ferocious and majestic when it was alive.

The dragon’s skeletal wings were complete, there was even a membrane which had not gotten eroded for the past tens of thousands of years. Thousands of weapons could be produced if such a massive dragon skeleton was used in weapon refinement. That being said, Saleen did not have so many swordmasters to wield the weapons, so he decided to use the whole skeleton.

If this warship was successfully crafted, its speed would rival that of the warship from the Devil’s Horn. That warship which could fly over water would be weaker than Saleen’s dragon skeleton warship. Once the dragon skeleton warship was built, Saleen would have no fear crashing it into any other ships out there.

The structure of a dragon bone was very sturdy. The moment it was disassembled to manufacture equipment, it would lose many of its mystical properties.

The three kings arrived hastily. Their injuries had not recovered, yet Saleen had forced them to summon more skeletons, causing them to be annoyed. In an upset tone, Diyabannersa asked, “What is it again? We are already trying our best in the construction of the city.”

“I know. Take a look at this.” Saleen pointed to the dragon skeleton lying in the middle of the room, then said, “I am going to use this to produce the skeletal frame of a warship, and eventually produce a ship which can fly over water.”

As Judikaka stared at the dragon skeleton, he shook his head repeatedly.

“Saleen, you are too delusional. Even if we have recovered, we will not be able to do it.”

“You have to accomplish it even if you can’t. Also, use whatever premium materials you have. As for your losses, I will compensate you using the Green Spirits.”

Back in the Chaotic Swamp, Saleen had discovered an almost fully extracted mineral vein. In the end, he found some Green Spirit rocks. The Green Spirit was an abnormally precious item to a spirit. The three kings had been clamoring for it, but they knew Saleen would not give it away. Right from the start, they never followed Saleen willingly.

Upon hearing this, Aini realized why Saleen had summoned him. After all, Judikaka belonged to Aini, Saleen would not be able to command him.

Aini was in awe of Saleen. It was extremely rare to find a person who could talk to the three kings in this manner. Never mind that Saleen was forcing them to refine a warship, they were even forced to come up with the materials themselves. Although the Green Spirit was the remuneration, this was still a forced transaction. If the three kings were not under Saleen’s thumb, they would never have stomached this.

After Saleen’s words, Diyabannersa exploded with rage. Even before he could launch his attack, Judikaka had grabbed onto him. Saleen was no softie. If Diyabannersa really attacked, Saleen would immediately mete out the punishment. He might even erase Diyabannersa’s Soul Flame.

Saleen was not nervous either. If Diyabannersa really hit him, Saleen could disintegrate his soul even before getting struck by him.

“Listen up, none of you have a say in this matter. Stay here and making a drawing. In three days’ time, I want to see a perfect drawing. Judikaka, since you are Aini’s subordinate, are you willing to lend a hand in this matter?”

“Of course I am. We stand to gain the Green Spirit, we will not lose out,” Judikaka lied through his teeth. Judikaka hated Saleen to the core. Since Aini and Saleen were on the same team, there was no use lamenting to Aini. Aini would have also forced him to help Saleen make the ship.

Judikaka now regretted helping Saleen produce the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat, revealing his skills to Saleen. Back then, he only wanted to cheat Saleen of a turtle shell. He had implicated his brothers now.

Putting on a straight face, Saleen left the room with Aini.

Aini cackled, then said to Saleen, “I never knew this side of you.”

“I am also a mage. Those three fellows still took me as a fool, I must make them suffer. Aini, do you know about the Mechanical Soul?”

“Mechanical Soul? Are you planning to install the Mechanical Soul aboard the warship? You should forget about it. A soul is vastly different from any other creature. Death mages can hardly control them, not to mention the three kings. Once such things spread across the mainland, they will be even more terrifying than the black magicians.”

“Then forget it.” Saleen was planning to ask the three kings to make the Mechanical Soul act as the source of power for the warship. After hearing Aini’s explanation, he dismissed that notion immediately. When Daniel first discovered the appearance of the Mechanical Soul, he was utterly terrified.

If a power was uncontrollable, one should never try to own it no matter strong they were.

In the room on the fourth story of the temple, Diyabannersa was bursting with fury.

“Judikaka, let me go and kill that damned fellow!”

“You will die before him.” Judikaka and Banchajanna pressed down on Diyabannersa. After that trip to the Frozen Sea, Banchajanna had become more normal. He realized that even though Saleen was abominable, Saleen would never allow him to be disadvantaged. Each time, he would receive some form of compensation from Saleen. That mage must have been abiding by some principle.

Even though Banchajanna was frequently in a state of contradiction and chaos, he was not dumb. He knew that if he tried to attack Saleen, Saleen could kill him anytime. Other mages might not possess this ability, but Saleen’s left hand was appalling. Even a spirit at a king’s grade could detect that strength which sent chills down the spine.

The damned Power of Life, which could coincidentally restrain a spirit.

Gradually, Diyabannersa calmed down, then he sat on the ground. When his bones slammed the ground, a thunderous noise was given off.

“Forget it. Diyabannersa, Master has left us many materials. In the past, they weren’t precious. We can use them to deceive Saleen,” Judikaka consoled Diyabannersa. He was really afraid that Diyabannersa might erupt anytime and anger Saleen.

Over time, Saleen had begun taking on the shadow of Shanglan. Judikaka was abnormally fearful of this young mage. He was afraid that if Saleen was riled, Saleen would not kill him. He feared that Saleen would instead employ other torture methods.

“Judikaka, I cannot tolerate this.”

“He is only human. Even if he advances to a grade-9 sorcerer, he will only live for about one-thousand years. Whereas we can live for tens of thousands of years.” Banchajanna used Saleen’s words to persuade Diyabannersa.

Diyabannersa laughed bitterly, then said, “Okay, I know my priorities. Don’t let me see him for the next three days though. Otherwise, I am willing to pay with my life if it means teaching him a lesson.”

If Judikaka was not a spirit, he would have rolled his eyes when he heard Diyabannersa’s words. Knowing your priorities?

Fortunately, Saleen did not come to harass the three kings for the next three days. After putting in much thought, the three kings made three drawings. When they met Shanglan, the Myers mainland was still in its second dynasty, where magic was rife. Even though they were no elemental mages, they had profound comprehension of magic.

To refine such a massive warship, it was impossible to rely solely on the death magic by the three kings. There had to be a magic dock and gigantic magic arrays for assistance. Of course, Saleen would not contribute these materials. The three of them took out the materials from their private collection.

Judikaka was right. Back then, the three kings were Shanglan’s servants fighters. Many materials which Shanglan could not use were thrown to them for storage. And when Shanglan disappeared abruptly, these items became theirs. At that point in time, humans on the Myers mainland could traverse the planes. It was not difficult obtaining some strange materials. These materials were not considered to be precious in the past.

At the moment, many of these things had gone extinct on the Myers mainland. To Saleen, these items were of the best quality, and they could not be purchased with gold coins.

Take for example the thundercloud wood. Even the deck of the second dynasty warship was lined with it. If the Qin Empire of today had the thundercloud wood, they would have surely dissected it to produce high grade equipment, because humans could no longer access the gigantic plane. Even if humans managed to locate the coordinates and go back, the giants might have reneged, unwilling to help the frail humans anymore.

A giant might not have magical abilities, but it was immune to any spell below level-8. Even so, level-9 magic would not cause much damage to it. At this moment, only less than one-hundred experts on the Myers mainland could defeat a giant. And out of these one-hundred people, not even one was willing to serve the dynasties.