Badge in Azure

“You are a mage, Saleen!” the great grandmaster’s words had Saleen laughing.

“You are a mage yourself, yet you threatened my bonded creatures all the same. Tell me, what should I be thinking then? You have fifteen days regardless. After 15 days, you would need to see me off, as per the contract, no matter what I do.”

Saleen’s will was adamant. He had not the slightest intention to submit to the powerful souls. No matter what kind of attitude he took, it would not have mattered if they intended to kill him.

“Saleen, what do you want?” It was Aragorn the great general who spoke.

“Not a contract like this at least,” Saleen threw the contract back to Aragorn.

“If you want to conquer the entire mainland, you need to rely on your own powers. It is impossible for us to help you,” Aragorn replied with an equally adamant attitude.

“I know. You all would not follow me as a king, and I have no intentions of having you at my side. It is, after all, unrealistic for a mage to think such matters.”

“There is always a price when trades are involved,” Aragorn no longer treated Saleen as some small-time mage and had instead begun taking him seriously.

“I’m a mage, just as the great grandmaster put it. As such, I know of the principle of equivalent exchange. I need to get ample returns for what I pay. The Imperial City of the Abyss is tens of thousands of miles away from the mainland, so I cannot just lock down the place easily. I can ensure nobody will ever show up again in the one-thousand years I’m still alive. one-thousand years out there means ten-thousand years for you.”

“You are correct. So, the things you provide, they are of higher value then,” Aragorn answered.

“No, the things you provided me with are very precious too. I wish for equivalent exchange, not being put under your control and having me do this and that for you people. I have my own life, and you all will definitely never be a priority of mine.”

“Interesting way of putting it.”

“It sounds interesting because the contract is fulfilled. You would just find it laughable otherwise.”

“Alright, the astrology tower is considered your interest then,” Aragorn said and took out a key, handing it to Saleen before continuing, “This is the key to the astrology tower in the imperial city. Take this key with you when you head for the tower, and your safety will be guaranteed. That is the interest of our trade this time. Are you satisfied with it?”

“Of course I am,” Saleen took the key and put it inside the Devil Ring.

“What do you need us to do for you to return?”

“My goal is to crush the Holy See and resurrect the Goddess of Myers. Tell me your goals. If they are in conflict with mine, it is a given that I will never return.”

“The Goddess of Myers? You mean her?” Aragorn waved and conjured an illusion. A cute-looking girl was seen running through a forest in the illusion. She was chasing a dragon who had its wings cut off.

While the girl was somewhat different from the goddess in terms of image and disposition, Saleen was still able to tell that the girl that Aragorn had shown him, was none other than the goddess herself. In her maiden stage, the goddess had a regal air about her. She was barehanded and there were no shoes on her feet, however, sharp rocks were quickly reduced to dust as the goddess stepped on them.

The one attempting escape from her was a black dragon. Without its wings, it had no choice but to run on its strong legs. The dragon was in shambles and would not even dare to look behind. Its huge body cut out a wide path among the trees. One tall, majestic tree toppled after another as the dragon made its way past.

“That is her,” Saleen only believed what the souls had told him at that moment. “She was indeed a human, but how did she become a god?”

“There is no turning back for people who have deified. If you want her to be resurrected, go for it by all means. We will go kill her afterward.”

“Why though? Weren’t you familiar with each other?”

“This plane would definitely weaken if there was to be even one god here. You told us that humanity’s powers have dropped below grade-10 now, and we dare say that it has everything to do with her. Do you really wish for humanity’s powers to continue to weaken, to be taken over by gods, robbed of everything, and turned into a mere interdimensional space?”

“You hear that I want to resurrect her. Why are you not stopping me then?”

“It’s because there is still hope. If we can send her off to other planes instead of killing her, that would be acceptable enough to us.”

Saleen had doubts in his mind but chose not to voice them. These ancient humans were in dire need of things or equipment with divine powers. A living god would have been able to do them even more good.

“Regardless, since these people have no intentions of stopping me from resurrecting The Goddess, then I will just go fulfill my contract with her. That will be a good deal then. Whatever they intend to do to her later, that is not my problem. That was what happened more than one-thousand years ago at least. If I resurrect her within the next millennium, that one millennium out there in the mainland will equal ten millennia here.

There is no telling if these souls will still be here after ten-thousand years too.

“So, what exactly do you people want?” Saleen had to know, why did the souls need divine-powered equipment? “If they hated the gods so much, why did they yearn for their powers so much?”

“We are people who have lost their own fate. If we were to gain a new life, we need the bodies of humans. Our souls have continued to grow in our Hero’s Graves, and now we can no longer enter the bodies of normal humans. Even the bodies of your ancient warriors would bust as soon as we got into them. While gods are unable to create life, their powers would bestow new vitality to our bones. We will then only need a bit of time to revive our bones, then we will be able to cast off the shackles of the Hero’s Graves and leave this place.”

“What happens after that?”

“We would no longer need your help, as we would have ways to resurrect ourselves then. You already told us that the power of this plane has severely weakened. If we were to leave the city, we would do great damage to the plane, even causing it to collapse. Then we ourselves would end up dead again. As such, we would just make for another plane, never to return again, unless this plane regains its former level of power.”

“You can’t stay on this plane?”

“There is a limit to how much power a plane can take within it. According to what you said, the highest level a creature can reach currently in this plane is grade-10. The most powerful among us are already a grade-18 professional. If we leave the Imperial City of the Abyss, it would be like a dragon trying to fit themselves into a wine bottle. The dragon would be constricted to death, and the bottle blown from the internal stress.”

Aragorn’s metaphor was a vivid one. Saleen had learned a thing or two about plane rules before. The rules, when coupled with what Aragorn mentioned, made it very clear as to why not even the double of the Lord of Glory was able to make it onto the Myers Mainland, and why it had resorted to using the power of believers to spread the faith.

“Looks like we are not in conflict then,” Saleen pondered.

“Indeed.”

“But didn’t you say that if the Goddess of Myers is to be resurrected, you will kill her or take her away?”

“Hahaha, if She wants to resurrect herself, she will at least need to regain her powers to grade-13. By then, the primary plane will at least be able to tolerate grade-14 professionals. We are all souls from the primary plane, and the power at grade-14 is not limited at all. As such, she will only be able to start resurrecting at grade-13.”

“Understood. To you people, that is something for the future, and you have a lot of time on your hands. Well then, we can get back to business. If I bring the stuff, what do I get in return?”

“If you are able to get the relics of the great astrologer, what you will get will be equal to what you are willing to give. The reason I gave you the key was to ensure that you stay alive, instead of getting killed by some random accidents or some other such thing. If that happens, we will be stuck here forever.”

Seeing Saleen’s expression being a troubled one, Aragorn continued, “Of course, to fulfill your goal of destroying the state worship a god, you will need the equal amount of power to do so. We will provide you with grade-7 to grade-12 equipment for you to do so, in bulk.”

“What about the Ancient?”

“It is impossible for us to provide you with a fleet, unless…”

“Unless?”

“Unless you get your hands on true godly items for us. One that was personally crafted by the gods. Only then will the item be of use to us.”

“Wouldn’t these divine trees do?”

“These divine trees are dead. While their material is excellent, the amount of divine power we can derive from them is, however, limited. I wouldn’t have made an exchange with you if they things were not pure enough.”

“Nicely said, pity about my grade-18 material though,” Saleen said out of genuine exasperation. Elementite was a grade-16 material. If he was to advance them, he would have needed to do it hands on. The great grandmaster was only capable of crafting elementite of such a level. If Saleen wanted the Magical Element Tower to become the most powerful equipment ever seen, there was no way he could have done so by having others do so for him.

“So, are you willing to sign the second contract?” Aragorn asked in glee.

“No, the contract requires amendments. You are not allowed to harm me, but I would be allowed to attack you,” Saleen’s words shocked the souls at the cemetery, but none got angry about it. Even if Saleen was to attack them, none of them would have cared. All of them were once some of the most powerful people ever seen on their respective planes. Saleen was but a grade-8 mage. That would have made him an above-average soldier back then at most. No one among them would have been bothered by Saleen, as they were all true professionals of the ancient times.

“Saleen, if the contract is not fair enough, the effects would then be unstable. Our levels would have simply broken the contract,” the great grandmaster was not able to help but chip in. Saleen’s responses and calculations piqued the interests of even a great grandmaster like him. According to the rules set in the contract, they were not in a position to do Saleen harm, and thus there was no point in getting angry about it.

Someone that old wouldn’t bother sulking over something like that, it seemed. If Saleen was able to live long enough, then the contract would be voided sooner or later. If Saleen happened to die early, they would not need to get angry at a dead man. A human at such a level as Saleen would have only turned into a spirit when he died. His soul would not be able to remain completely intact.

“Then the contract shall be restricted only to the primary plane,” Aragorn did fret over Saleen’s insolence. His requests were nothing if they were able to resurrect. What they wanted was indeed somewhat difficult to obtain. Yet what Saleen wanted, as only a grade-8 mage, was near-impossible. Enhancing Saleen’s powers had always been part of the plan of the heroic spirits.

“Alright, that settles it then,” Saleen took the Astrologer’s Contract, wiped the words on it clean, and began writing his own contract on the paper.