Badge in Azure

Saleen smiled and said, “Nicholas, please go on.”

“I would like to become your follower,” Nicholas replied through gritted teeth. He was already a grade-9 sorcerer and even though he had fallen, his abilities had not been reduced. He felt a little embarrassed to follow a grade-6 mage. Fortunately, he was already quite old and had learned to be thick-skinned so Saleen would not be able to see his embarrassment.

Saleen moved his left hand and looked at Nicholas. Nicholas’ expression was one of peacefulness.

“Why?”

“The current bond between us only restricts me from hurting you. If I become your follower, I will not be able to hurt your subordinates either. I just think that one must be decisive.”

“Alright.” Saleen did not say more. He took out a blank scroll and began to write.

The two of them signed the second bond in silence before Saleen finally smiled and said, “Nicholas, it must not have been easy for you to make this decision.”

Nicholas replied, “By following you, I will have a chance to shine one day. I don’t have any other choice.”

“You will not regret it. Originally, I had wanted to just keep you by my side and hope that you would not give me trouble. Now, Nicholas, you may still have the chance to attain freedom one day. Give your soul bead to me.”

Nicholas handed over the soul bead to Saleen and Saleen looked at it. He took out a piece of tourmaline and placed it with the soul bead and began to refine it in front of Nicholas.

The water flame appeared and Saleen melted the tourmaline before putting the soul bead within it. He then released a bit of life strength and infused it into the soul bead. Green holy prose began to appear on the tourmaline one by one along with magic words and magic patterns.

Nicholas was engrossed. Even he was not able to refine items like this.

His soul bead had been refined into a bigger bead. This bead was green in color and there were twenty-four holes in it. Nicholas would still be able to absorb energy through these twenty-four holes, but because of the bond. No one else would be able to control the soul bead. The bead had been combined with the tourmaline entirely. Destroying the tourmaline was equivalent to destroying the soul bead as well.

Other than Saleen, no one else, including Fycro, would be able to control this soul bead.

By making use of a simple principle of material, Saleen managed to block off every way to utilize this bead. The holy prose on the bead was the divine spell of the Goddess of Nature. If Fycro were to change his religion and followed the Goddess of Myers instead, it would be easy for him to regain control over the soul bead again based on his abilities.

The problem was, would Fycro change his religion?

Sometimes, mages might not necessarily need to use their own strength to make full use of the principles of a particular dimension. As long as one was still on the Myers Mainland, its principle would override the principles of other dimensions, including those set by the Gods.

“Lord Saleen…”

“Hmm, from now on, your powers are no longer restricted by Fycro. He will not be able to hurt you as long as you don’t go looking for trouble from him. I will not allow you to face an oracle head-on either,” Saleen did not hold back his words in his own temple. Although his temple seemed to be built in a typical and boring manner, it was equipped with what a magic tower should possess.

When a mage was in a magic tower, his own safety would be guaranteed. Fycro would not be able to do anything at least within the small region of principle of the magic tower.

Before, when Fycro secretly approached Saleen, it was at the port. If it was at the temple, Fycro would not have been able to control Saleen without being detected.

“Nicholas, I would not have wished to control you either. The source of your power comes from the soul bead. I do not wish for you to suddenly turn into a normal person while you are carrying out a task for me,” Saleen was careful and clear with his words.

Nicholas held the soul bead in his hand. An electric current ran through the inside of the tourmaline. The current was a weak one and flowed within the magic patterns before fading off. The soul bead was hidden within these electric currents.

Nicholas knew that even divine spells would be destroyed by the electric currents. There was once a mage who used arrows made from tourmaline to shoot at an armor that had been boosted with divine spell and it was quite effective. Tourmaline was rare and it was difficult to mine it. Not many people knew about this effect it had. There were many ways a mage could destroy divine spells and this particular way was just not well-known.

This did not mean that tourmaline was not valuable. The price of a tourmaline was worth more than most gemstones. The most common use for a tourmaline was in healing spells. A human’s heart would stop beating after suffering from serious injuries. By activating the electric current within the tourmaline and infusing it into the body, the heart would be started again.

This method would allow middle-grade mages to revive people who had died very recently, just like holy priests.

“Lord Saleen, I’m afraid Fycro’s powers have surpassed that of a grade-9 Professional,” Nicholas reminded Saleen.

“Don’t be afraid. At most he will destroy this object, but he will not be able to use it to control you. If worse comes to worst, as long as I don’t leave this temple, there is nothing he can do to me. If he dares to look for trouble in my temple, you have seen how I managed to kill the gold grand swordmaster,” Saleen replied steadily.

Although Nicholas was still worried, he was also somewhat more reassured. Even Fycro would have a little trouble killing that gold grand swordmaster, but Saleen managed to do so in a split second using only one method. This method was extremely powerful, but Nicholas knew that there must be some limitations to it.

What Saleen said was not boasting. If Fycro entered the temple, his movements would be heavily restricted and Saleen would have an easier time taking aim at the target.

Someone like Fycro would never risk his life.

What Saleen did not tell Nicholas was that if the Sregl Island mages arrived and managed to build a magic tower, Fycro would not be able to move around freely in Metatrin City at all.

It was not as if Saleen was trying to kill Fycro. Dealing with Fycro was Joey’s task. Joey took the Seal of Divine Power purely to deal with Fycro. Saleen was only trying to ensure his own safety.

After so many close shaves, Saleen no longer feared death, but this only made him increase the rigor of his preparations.

“Lord Saleen… thank you.” Nicholas knew that it would still take some time before he gained Saleen’s trust. Nevertheless, Saleen has given him a chance. As long as Saleen continued to lead Nicholas, the trust between them would surely develop over time.

Saleen had no intentions of going into this topic. In any case, Nicholas has chosen to follow him and now, Saleen had a grade-9 Professional by his side. The effects of this was significant. Nicholas would be more useful than the two grade-9 mages. The latter could only help Saleen to look after western town, but Nicholas could be deployed to any location.

“Nicholas, since the bond has been signed, you shall stay here. I will give you some men as your subordinates. For now, you will not be given any tasks. Just follow me everyday and we will continue to converse. There is still more to the Holy See that I wish to know. What kind of subordinates do you wish to have? The spirits of the dead and demons that I have are more useful than humans.”

“My Lord, do you have normal demons?”

“Yes, why?”

“Give me twelve of them. I will let them devour the souls of the red Bishop so that they will become abominable demons. They will become the enemies of the Holy See for eternity and I will be more comfortable to use them.”

Nicholas looked at Saleen expectantly. Demons possessed the ability to devour souls. If he succeeded, he would be able to use fallen divine spells on the demons. They would serve as another level of insurance against Fycro or even Theisio. It would be impossible for them to try and kill him instantaneously. These twelve demons would serve as his scapegoats first.

Nicholas might have signed a bond with Saleen that put him in severe disadvantage but the one he feared the most was still Pope Theisio. Saleen needed Nicholas’ abilities, but Theisio only wanted his powerful soul.

“For this, you will have to ask her,” Saleen pointed at Nailisi. Nailisi had woken up not long ago. It had been less than ten days and she had yet to fully develop the fifth ability. She was still feeling fatigued. Once she heard Saleen’s command, Nailisi smiled and said, “Nicholas, rest assured. I will definitely help you.”

“Master is so generous to give me another chance to take advantage of this man.” Nailisi thought

“Nice to meet you,” Nicholas’ beard shook. Nailisi made him feel a discomfort that came about from facing terrifying creatures.

“Nice to meet you as well. I am Nailisi. From now on, we are on the same side,” Nailisi blinked and was already thinking about what she stood to gain from this old man.

“Alright, Aini and the rest need to see me. Nicholas, you can come along.” Saleen put on his glove and led Sika out of the room. There was a meeting room on the second level of the temple that was big enough for Saleen to meet the noble families.

The number of attendees in the meeting room had increased. After the battle, Saleen declared many others to be Barons. These men had performed meritorious deeds during the battle that helped to reduce Saleen’s losses drastically. Saleen was extremely grateful.

Once Saleen arrived, everyone stood up and bowed. Aini was no exception. Saleen smiled and sat down before looking around the entire room and said, “Let me introduce someone; this is Nicholas. He was originally the red Grand Bishop of the Holy See, but he is on our side now.”

The noble families were in uproar.

The Qin and Tanggulasi Empires had fought for thousands of years and many holy priests had changed sides. Never had someone of the level of a red Grand Bishop changed sides. Saleen was ruthless!

This was equivalent to giving the Lord of Glory a slap to the face. The entire Holy See would be put to shame.

These noble families had no love for the Holy See and would even be willing to go to the battlefield themselves to kill a few Tanggulasis. What Saleen had done was outrageous and would focus the Holy See’s attention on them. Would the newly built Metatrin City be able to handle such a tough test?

“Looks like everyone has little faith in me,” Saleen’s tone was calm, but with a tinge sarcasm and gloom.

“I will follow you to death,” Aini slammed the table emotionally.

After hearing what Aini said, Guya, Renee, and Irene also clapped their hands and said, “You are the King and we are your Dukes. We will obey your orders. Even if we were to fight against Qin Empire, we will follow you.”