Badge in Azure

Chapter 1281: The Goddess' Gratitude (Part 2)

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

After Myers Mainland connected to its neighboring planes, they would probably be all kinds of wars. Saleen already had thoughts about conquering the East Sea nations.

However, with the Stormy Sea standing in the way, there was no way for his fleet to carry huge amounts of space equipment to resupply, and it would require a huge number of mages to be assigned to the ships.

Saleen had been searching for purple-gold sea urchin, but he still was unable to acquire 100,000 of them. It was impossible for all armies to carry such equipment. The location of the temple was thus very, very strategic and convenient.

So how do I allow a place 20,000 meters underwater to deliver supplies to the surface constantly?

"Master!" Nailisi reminded Saleen that they reached their destination.

They passed through a courtyard full of weeds, and a four-story palace was right before them. Saleen was unable to fathom the materials the palace was made from even when he got up close. He only knew that building a palace with such materials was a huge waste.

The materials were far better than thundercloud wood. A piece of floorboard alone would serve as a magic shield and would be a waste when given to a level nine warrior.

Saleen saw a piece of cover screen when he walked up the stairs, which was a magic equipment. Saleen was barely able to keep himself from taking the cover screen for himself.

What a huge waste indeed. There was a drawing on the cover screen and a magic array was hidden in the drawing, which would allow the cover screen to form a barrier than was more powerful than level ten earth magic.

Twenty-four women were illustrated on the cover screen. All of them dressed plainly. The only common thing about them all was that they each wore a Ring of Gifts.

The oracles of the goddess then?

There was something like a living room behind the huge cover screen, and it looked very different from the palace's layout. The inside of the palace looked like common residence.

Saleen had Nailisi shift into her human form instead of taking the cover screen. She held the Sword of Rules just in case. They entered from the side doors, passing through the living room.

There was a courtyard and a four-floored building. Saleen thought for a bit and headed straight for the building.

It was not a palace. Saleen found the study room and a garden behind it. The garden faced a huge window. There was a plant below it, keeping the room smelling fresh.

The fragrance from the plant repelled bugs from the room, and the books on the shelves looked clean, without even a speck of dust on them.

The ordinary, unassuming layout seemed designed by a little girl, without any hint of the regality of level 18 professionals.

Saleen walked behind the study table and sat. There was a letter on the table, sealed by a magic lock. The paper used to make the envelope was incredibly common. It was not that difficult for Saleen to put a magic lock on a table like that. What was difficult was maintaining the lock for over 10,000 years.

Saleen's finger swiped at the magic lock and infused his mental powers. His magic amplifier was unleashed as well, and his Ring of Cosmos was mobilized.

Saleen's mental powers raged as they were sucked dry by the magic lock, so much so that a piece of divine crystal that Saleen prepared in advance was reduced to dust.

Saleen slumped onto the table. Nailisi was frightened and went up to him. He stopped her, looking dead tired. "Hold on. I'm just drained."

The advantage of training his mental powers all year long with his family badge became apparent. If any other mage had their mental powers completely drained, it would harm their bodies.

However, not only was Saleen's body able to recover quickly, there was few aftereffects. All of that enabled his combat capacity to be kept at tip-top condition, while not affecting his training.

After seeing Nailisi look so worried, Saleen said, "just a small test. The more mental powers I send inside, the greater the benefits I'll get. The contents of the letter differ according to the level of the one opening it. It was a method employed by mages, and it seemed that Myers did not forget her roots after all."

Nailisi scoffed but said nothing. She did not want to offend the goddess on what was technically the goddess' turf. The more temples Nailisi visited, the more apparent the fact that Myers was not someone to be trifled with.

There was no point in poking fun at the goddess. It would be far more satisfying to resurrect her and then kill her with one thrust from her spear.

Saleen regained some mental powers and took out a divine crystal to restore half of his mental powers. Then, he opened the envelope.

There was a magic paper within, and he was very careful with it, refraining from remembering the magic patterns on the paper, using the crudest way—his eyes—to try to read and memorize everything instead.

That magic pattern had been able to preserve the paper for such a long time and maintain its attributes, making the magic pattern extremely precious. The higher a mage's level was, the higher their requirements of such magic equipment became.

However, high level materials did not come easily. Such methods of modifying common materials were commonly used by powerful professionals.

If the paper were used to make scrolls, they would remain intact for tens of thousands of years.

The words were written in Ancient Myers Language, making it easy for Saleen to read. The very first line was "Revered Sir Mage…"

The magic lock was very intricate. The way the envelope was opened determined the contents written on the paper. Saleen's mental powers had been reinforced and, when forcefully unleashed, had reached extremely high levels.

The magic lock was incapable of telling that Saleen was just a level ten sorcerer and thought he was beyond level 13.

But there was no mistaking the profession. The way that Saleen used his mental powers was how mages did.

The contents opened with an idiom that Saleen was familiar with: one shall pay for what one desires with an equal price.

Sir Mage, being able to get here means that you've put in a lot of effort. As a former mage, I admire your resilience. Your efforts shall be rewarded.

A map was drawn below the paragraph, which showed the small interdimensional space, including some =buildings underground. Everything in the space was drawn on the map. There was a list of items below the map.

Saleen looked and found it to be a huge warehouse. Everything in it was meant for mages. The grandmaster was stingy in comparison. The materials tailored for mages stunned Saleen for quite a bit.

He would not be able to acquire all of that if he was of insufficient level. If he were an assassin, it would display another map instead and there would be a set of coordinates written there. The interdimensional space was prepared for mages.

The Goddess of Myers did not play tricks. Her method was one that mages had been using for tens of thousands of years. Saleen knew that very well.

The warehouse beneath the palace consisted of independent spaces opened by the goddess. There were no suits of armor or weapons, only magic nuclei, crystals, scrolls, pharmaceuticals, gems, and many other rare materials.

The goddess probably only needed to plunder one plane to acquire everything. In comparison, Saleen would probably not be able to amass that much wealth even if he spent 100 years.

Saleen was in desperate need of the materials in his upcoming war with the abomination plane.

"Master, are we going to take the place apart this time?" Nailisi asked.

"Do you have to ask? Of course we're not taking it apart. We'll keep this place and use it as a fortress." Saleen gestured for Nailisi to head to the goddess' warehouse with him to move its contents. At the moment, Nailisi's space equipment was far larger than Saleen's.

The 12 Notes of First Purgatory had space to spare. While there would be problems if they carried living beings, it was ideal for carrying cargo.

There were 24 huge warehouses in the interdimensional space's underground locations. Saleen speculated that every single warehouse would probably be larger than his own dimension stones.

He had other uses for the dimension stones and had begun to use them sparingly. He let Nailisi move the materials in a frenzy, to prevent the materials from being carted away by others.

His magic power furnaces could make do with magic nuclei from level four red krill, but the ones that he distributed to his mages to be used in battle needed to be different levels.

Saleen rummaged through the magic nucleus warehouse and eventually found two different things.

One was magic nuclei capable of storing divine power, which probably originated from the bodies of magic beasts from divine kingdoms. The other was what Saleen had looked forward to—lightning magic nuclei.

There were more than 600 crates of them and every crate had a capacity of eight cubic meters. Saleen put all of the crates of lightning magic nuclei into his Starline Ring, feeling rather satisfied.

The number of lightning magic nuclei was the smallest in the magic nucleus warehouse. It seemed that even the goddess was not able to hunt too many magic beasts with lightning type powers.

The lightning magic nuclei would enable him to forcefully use the Thunder Dragon Blaster should the need arise. A broken Thunder Dragon Blaster could be repaired.

Most importantly, Saleen could begin to research lightning type magic arrays. Such arrays were incapable of being powered by magic power furnaces; they needed lightning magic nuclei embedded in them.

The goddess had been generous. Saleen's army could be far larger, and he would still be able to maintain the upkeep.

There were then more than 10,000 mages working at Metatrin City, and Saleen needed to maintain upkeep for at least half of them.

While the mages were all capable of creating value themselves, most of their products were required in battlefields, and they were not allowed to be sold or traded for necessities of the mages. Saleen needed to use his own stores to provide help for the mages.

The mages did not require payment, but working for Saleen meant that they would require magic nuclei for their daily training. Their training would be slowed if there was a shortage of magic nuclei, and that would be something that no one would tolerate.

Even the mages who did not need maintenance from Saleen were unwilling to leave Metatrin City. The prices of magic nuclei that Saleen sold to them at were about one-fifth of the cost in Alchemy City.

All of them had enough of Alchemy City ripping them off, so even though Saleen was able to earn a small profit, the mages still had no intention to leave Metatrin City. All of them signed magic contracts with Saleen.

There was no need to worry about becoming jobless as a mage in Metatrin City. Saleen had too many schematics with him, so much so that despite having over 10,000 mages working on them, it still looked rather inadequate.

It was especially so in times like that. Benefits acquired by the mages were raised by over 30 percent. Saleen's alchemy factories were online all day long, producing hundreds of suits of armor every day.

"Master, we're rich!" Nailisi's comment was straightforward, but Saleen was unable to think of any other way to say it.

He was indeed rich. The amount of wealth was left by the Goddess of Myers as gestures of gratitude for Saleen.

Saleen felt rather reluctant to kill the goddess. Could we actually consider not killing Myers? The goddess is so generous and friendly!

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

Let Myers go. It was a weird thought that never occurred to Saleen before. He quickly suppressed it. If the Goddess of Myers had been friendly and amicable, where the hell did all these magic nuclei came from then?

And oh, dragon crystals. Are there any dragons who would willingly give up their dragon crystals? And their flesh and scales?

They were all victims of the Goddess of Myers. Hell, what is going on with me? Am I under the influence of the goddess' divine arts.

Heh, you chose to become a god, Myers, and that was probably the reason why the powers all over Myers Mainland fell. That alone would easily maintain my thoughts about you.

Saleen came to a conclusion—he would kill the Goddess of Myers as soon as she was resurrected.

It was the terms of his contract that compelled him to resurrect the goddess and killing her would prevent Myers Mainland from becoming good-for-nothing land again.

If the powers of the plane dwindled further, it would eventually be reduced to an interdimensional space, becoming as huge as the one he was standing on at that very moment.

If the goddess had not protected the interdimensional space with her divine powers, that place would crumble, or perhaps be absorbed by other planes. Either way, it would disappear.

It was possible for Saleen to move his entire family away and live in the interdimensional space that Raphael found. However, trillions all over Myers Mainland would perish.

Mages were not kind people, but they clung to one principle—balance. Mages could raid a plane, but they would ensure the plane's continued survival. Only the gods would obliterate an entire plane.

Planes that were wrecked by powerful humans the most were divine kingdoms of the gods. Humans never destroyed any single common plane in history.

The propagation of humans could only continue by having more and more planes around. Humans were different from gods. Gods inherently possessed very long lives, while humans needed to continue procreating in order to survive as a species.

Jason did not teach Saleen that many things, but the elder mage made him a pure mage. Saleen was incapable of dooming an entire plane, so he did not like the Goddess of Myers much.

Mages and gods were destined to become mortal enemies.

Saleen made Nailisi summon demons and had them tear the hall apart after they picked the storage left behind by Myers clean. Saleen tore the palace apart The lightning puppets intricately dismantled the thin pillars under Saleen's careful control, leaving them unharmed

Saleen intended to keep every single material as it was. Buildings would make a good living space for himself when assembled on the Floating City. As for other surrounding buildings, he had the demons tear them down quickly.

The place would serve well as a warehouse, and he would be able to build an alchemy factory there. The interdimensional space was unusually sturdy and, best of all, connected to Myers Mainland, making it both convenient and safe.

Saleen cleaned up all of the plants in the interdimensional space. Most of the fauna was herbs. After Saleen was done collecting the seeds, he had no intentions of letting the plants survive. All of the seeds would be moved to Raphael's interdimensional space to enrich the resources there.

Saleen intended to make an underwater alchemy factory out of the small interdimensional space. Elements would always balance and cost for conducting magical experiments would be low.

Nailisi brought a lot of seeds with her. She wanted to plant some demon plane plants on the interdimensional space. The place had a yellow sun, making it suitable for demon plane fauna to grow there.

Saleen and Nailisi prepared to leave after settling their business there.

The trip's reward had been surprising. No one got in their way or messed up their plans. There were no trials, just pure gifting. Even the cuttlefish was chased away with just one shout.

However, Saleen had no idea that the original guard had not actually been a cuttlefish, but a level 16 magic beast. The power across Myers Mainland had gotten too weak, so it had entered an isolated space to hibernate, leaving behind the cuttlefish to guard the place in its stead.

While the cuttlefish was very capable in combat, it had no guts. The cuttlefish was deceptively smart. It had no intention of guarding the place for the goddess after seeing Saleen and Nailisi around. Nailisi behaved in a hostile way, and her weapon was clouded in a terrifying aura. The cuttlefish knew that if it fought, one thrust from that monster would kill it.

After making such judgments, that cuttlefish threw its pride away and ran.

It was imperative for it to remain alive, as its lifespan would reach tens of thousands of years. If it were lucky, its life force would be double. Guarding the goddess' treasure had been the job of its predecessor, and it had nothing to do with it.

There was nothing in the hole worth protecting since the goddess was already dead.

While the cuttlefish was smart, it had little grasp of the meaning and value of the wealth left for humans. It had no way of leaving the sea, so all of its knowledge was limited to that of the sea.

It was due to the goddess' miscalculations that Saleen was able to obtain the wealth within. She had intended for the beast to guard the space. However, the magic beast was tempted by its prey and was left stranded outside with no way of returning.

It was that beast's natural instinct to hunt outside the portal. The goddess did not let the beast take up faith in her, so she had no way of controlling that magic beast's instincts.

If the magic beast took up faith in the goddess, but was unable to suppress its instinctual urges, it would fall and kill all humans who tried to get close.

Saleen happily brought 24 huge warehouses-worth of wealth and left the narrow interdimensional space, floating up to the surface and entering the Floating City. He had been delayed for less than ten days, so Saleen's plan could still go on without a hitch.

The huge cuttlefish at the ocean floor appeared again. It thought f that it would be better to return to the magic array and rest upon it. The magic array had huge benefits, as it kept it from feeling hungry even if it did not go out hunting.

There was no need for it to toil and absorb elemental powers, as the magic array would enable it to slowly advance. It did not matter what the human took away, so long as the magic array remained intact.

The cuttlefish laid on the magic array feeling satisfied, but it had no idea that due to its negligence, the goddess' plans had all gone to waste.

If there were a battle fought there, the portal behind the magic array would react differently, changing the looks of the interdimensional space that Saleen saw.

Saleen returned to the Floating City and copied all of the mage skill books that he had acquired from that interdimensional space, teleporting them back to Metatrin City to his teacher. He then mobilized all of his subordinates in Metatrin City to the Floating City, preparing to launch an assault on Alchemy City.

Saleen drafted schematics again on the Floating City, preparing to design armor that were more suitable for the star figures.

The star figures would have an easier time piloting the armor and creation of the armors would be quicker. While Saleen had lost the level 19 Star Gathering Needle, he had been using the needle's power to fill the Lightning Constellation.

Gaine left four level 18 Star Gathering Needles for him. There was massive stocks of low level needles in the astrology tower. The residual power in them would enable Saleen to create an army of figures.

It would be difficult for him to advance his astrology further, but with a little bit of research, his skills would be adequate to enable him to craft common warriors of level nine.

The Bug Angel Armor was not suitable for human use, or more precisely, not suitable for use for humans below level nine. One needed to reach level nine, where one's constitution no longer had anything to do with common humans, before the value of the armor shined.

However, it mattered little to him. He obtained methods of crafting Tainted Blood Armor from the records left behind by the goddess. His human army would be able to fortify their defenses better with such powerful armor.

The attributes of the Tainted Blood Armor allowed for healing. Its crimson color had come from being stained by warriors' blood. A warrior's chances of death was lowered to the minimum while wearing the armor.

Unless the warrior were killed, a mage would be able to keep them from dying, regardless of how grave their injuries might be.

The crafting of the Tainted Blood Armor was made top-secret. Jason had his most trusted mages from Sreeger Island enter Raphael's tower, crafting the cores of the armor inside the alchemy room left behind by Raphael.

While such methods of crafting were considerably slower, it would prevent that the secrets of the Tainted Blood Armor from being leaked. The alchemy factories of Metatrin City tested the loyalty of every single mage and signed contracts with them, but there was still no guarantee that said secrets would be kept well.

The Bug Angel Armor might have been formidable, but they were ill-suited for humans, so there was no need for such measures of extreme secrecy.

Tainted Blood Armor was different. The armor would boost their wearers' combat capacity to the maximum and was the best for ensuring survivability, so only elites were allowed to wear them even in ancient times.

Jason took care of things at Metatrin City, as Sika was transported to the Floating City. The upcoming battle was against Alchemy City, so Saleen needed to fight alongside Grand Duke Iron Blood.

From Saleen's perspective, such treaties had meaning when battles occurred. Only when both parties fought alongside each other would they treasure the alliance that they painstakingly forged.

If the Grand Duke had been a mage, the alliance would be difficult to maintain. However given how the Grand Duke was a warrior, what they sought was destined to be different.

Even the Grand Duke had a high regard of the alliance. The invitation for Saleen to fight alongside him against Alchemy City was to first increase their chances of success and more importantly, to forge a bit of true friendship with Saleen.

Grand Duke Iron Blood had no intention of attacking Saleen's territory after taking out Alchemy City. Most of the mages would side with Saleen while a handful would side with Imposa.

The Grand Duke had made his calculations, finding that he would need Saleen's service a lot in the future, and Saleen had his own king of a powerful demon army, so the mage would have little need of him.

Maintaining the treaty would benefit him further and there was no catch. He would only be able to be free of Saleen when he could keep high level dragons, but there was no telling how high Saleen's level would become by then.

It was unthinkable for him to make Saleen his ultimate enemy, so the Grand Duke needed to maintain a certain measure of goodwill.

When Saleen's Floating City came from the seas and wanted to lean on his palace, the Grand Duke surprisingly allowed such a request. Doing so would need him to disable half of his defenses. If Saleen took the opportunity to attack him, he would suffer great losses.