Badge in Azure

Chapter 1312: Which level of the Abyss? (Part 2)

Saleen returned, and his followers were all there. The Sreeger Island mages felt very relieved as well. Everyone knew how powerful Saleen's followers were. When Saleen was not around and Jason was the only one holding the fort, everyone felt the strain.

They needed a huge amount of manpower to launch an attack to protect Metatrin City after all.

Jason smiled and had Saleen sit beside him. He took notice of Rafel, who had a pair of wings, following Saleen and did not ask.

"The reason I had you come home is to borrow Nailisi's power. The abyssal creatures can't threaten the city, but the people of the city dare not go outside. There is nothing we can do about it right now. Our current level of powers do not allow us to attack the abyss."

Saleen stopped feeling tense as soon as Jason opened his mouth. Jason actually had plans for attacking the abyss.

Saleen had been considered insane for wanting to create a god, but his teacher was not that far behind him in terms of madness. His teacher actually wanted to attack the abyss despite their current conditions.

"Teacher, what level was the abyss that opened the portal?"

There was a reason why Saleen asked in that way. It was said that there were 18 levels to the abyss. The deeper the level, the stronger the abyssal creatures. Furthermore, every single level was considered a plane. While it was easy to traverse the levels, the cost of doing so was hefty.

Similarly, the abyssal creatures would suffer suppression if they ventured into abyss of other levels, and recovery was difficult.

There was a mage who immediately activated the magic array on the table, showing a sample of abyssal creature that they had captured. Saleen looked at the sample and frowned. He was unable to tell anything from it.

Saleen had browsed all kinds of galleries, and his private collection was immensely varied, especially Gaine's place. Saleen saw many images of creatures from ancient times. He was very clear what kind of creatures every single level of the 18 levels of the abyss held.

However, the creatures before his eyes only seemed to resemble the ones found in the abyss. Their listed attributes were hardly different from the abyssal creatures they resembled, but Saleen did not find any that matched the ones he knew completely.

Wait, they aren't from the abyss?

"Teacher, I don't know any of these creatures!"

Jason only felt it was peculiar when he heard Saleen had no idea what they were. He held such knowledge with little regard, and his knowledge of abyssal creatures were hardly comprehensive, so he had Saleen come home to take charge and find specific ways to attack them, instead of simply defending against them.

"It's alright, Saleen. There are many professionals in Metatrin City now, and there are many mercenaries as well. I have given the mission, and I'm buying the abyssal creatures as alchemical materials. Over a thousand of them are killed every day. The fissure is not big and not many creatures are emerging from it. They can't pose a threat to Metatrin City for the time being."

Jason's relaxed tone calmed Saleen, and he smiled in response. With Jason buying abyssal creatures, the mercenaries and adventurers were capable of earning quite a bit from hunting the creatures.

Regardless of how high the price they bought the creatures for, when they were made into equipment and then sold back to the adventures, they were actually the ones earning more.

While the abyssal creatures were ferocious, their bodies were very good alchemical materials. The reason why Saleen rushed back was to capture some for himself to research.

Furthermore, there was also a very enticing quality about the abyssal creatures to mages. When compared to other creatures, they were relatively easy to tame.

Saleen was not versed in summoning, but his mental powers allowed him to sign many contracts. He could do so and not affect his own powers. Every mage had a limited number of equipment and bonded creatures that they could carry.

For instance, a mage could wear three ring-type pieces of equipment on their left hand, and when that number was exceeded, they would not be able to bring out the best of the equipment they carried. On their right hand, they could only wear two ring-type pieces of equipment.

Saleen's Starline Bangle was very pricey because despite being a single bangle, it had 12 equipment slots, enabling Saleen to use far more equipment powers than other mages.

In ancient times, the abyssal creatures were a term referring to ferocity and danger, as well as great wealth.

The power of the abyssal plane was suppressed, but there were huge number of professionals at Metatrin City and their powers saw considerable enhancement. Some groups of mercenaries had less than 100 members, but there were several sorcerers in their midst. The rise of power throughout Myers Mainland benefited mages the most.

Saleen asked for loyalty before anything else when he took mages in. Despite very good terms offered, there were some who were reluctant to give up their freedom and would rather become adventurers.

They were found in any time and age. It was fortunate that surviving in Metatrin City was easy. As mages, there were countless nobles and private armed forces willing to hire them.

"This may not be the abyss that we know of. Great changes are taking place in Myers Mainland, and I think the same thing is happening to other planes as well," Saleen said as he took out his memory crystal, embedding it into the magic array, showing the half-deads in Alchemy City to all present.

The mages sounded envious when they saw the half-deads. Some even almost drooled.

But the skeletal dragon quickly showed up. Saleen paused at its image and elaborated about his own findings and any relevant details about the skeletal dragon's powers, making the mages shudder.

Saleen continued to play the images recorded in the memory crystal. The skeletal dragon lowered its head and toppled a magic tower, pouring cold water on their earlier fervor. Even if it showed up at Metatrin City, it would probably be near-impossible to subjugate.

The lousiest of magic towers was still unusually sturdy. If Sika gave her best shot, she could probably make a crack on a magic tower.

The skeletal dragon was able to bring down an entire tower simply by ramming it with its head. No mages had been able to escape. Such a fearsome force would be defendable by city walls of the likes of Metatrin City. No magic tower below level nine could even think about taking the skeletal dragon on.

"Calamity of planes." Jason's voice was low.

The mages were silent. There had been legends about doomsday on Sreeger Island, but no mage bought the tale. Mages believed only in their own power and would not consider prophecies of any kind.

However, what they saw were undeniable facts. Saleen began to elaborate on the troubles that came after powers across Myers Mainland were raised.

He used the skeletal dragon as an example. It had already broken through the limit permitted by rules of the plane. That was not to say that Myers Mainland's rules were no longer useful, but that rules had began to change.

Everyone who was present there was at least a level nine sorcerer, and despite being level nine sorcerers, they had hope of advancing to level ten.

"What do you plan on doing, Your Highness?" a mage trainer asked.

"Not much. Expand and grow your own powers. If a calamity happens on the mainland, we'll send the subjects away. We shall stay behind to face the unknown danger. It is an opportunity. Anyone who stays behind and lives will see their powers grow considerably together with the plane. The ones who run will get nothing. Everyone here is a mage, and I take it that everyone understands that if you gets something, then you must pay the equivalent price."

"Indeed, Lord Saleen. If you get something, then you must pay the equivalent price!" several mages from Sreeger Island agreed. The support came from the bottom of their hearts, and they no longer addressed Saleen as 'Your Highness', but 'Lord'. That meant that the mages had acknowledged Saleen to be their leader.

Jason was the leader of the Sreeger Island mages. Saleen was Jason's student, but when Jason relinquished his right, Saleen could not automatically assume control of everything in Sreeger Island. The wealth of the interdimensional space belonged also to the Sreeger Island mages.

Saleen was finally acknowledged by the mages, and he felt rather complicated about it. He did not say anything fancy and had simply stressed a truth acknowledged by all mages.

"Well then, Teacher, I have something that would require the help of everyone here. We shall seal the abyssal portal once we get that done. Mass migration can commence with the subjects of the Kingdom of Metatrin, because in the coming months, Myers Mainland will see mass invasions." Saleen converted some things he knew into images, then projected them using magic.

"The abomination plane!" Jason never spread what Saleen knew to anyone, so when Saleen spoke of invasions from the abomination pane, all of the mages tensed up.

Abominations were not demons and were difficult to subjugate. Furthermore, they were of little use, and they were very destructive, hundreds to a thousand times more so than demons. Like humans, demons possessed complex capacity for emotions. Even when they came to Myers Mainland, they would not wreak havoc just for the sake of wrecking havoc.

The abominations from hell, on the other hand, were little more than machines of destruction.

"What do you need done? The mages are busy crafting armor," Jason looked at his student. Saleen had matured considerably, and there were no flightiness in his expressions, unlike when he was young where he often wore a look suggesting impending crisis. Saleen was very calm. Nothing could stand in his way to advancement.

"Teacher, I ran into something troublesome and I couldn't address it at the moment." Saleen invoked the images in the memory crystal, showing himself fighting the monstrous weapon spirit.

Only him and his teacher were able to make out what happened in the battle, everyone else was blinded by the flashes of lightning, seeing only flashes in the mist and Saleen eventually emerging from it.

An inherent weapon spirit!

Jason was deeply astonished. The weapon spirit carried a part of the giants' will, which enabled it to be so powerful. Things would have gone well if Saleen had been able to subjugate it. However, the weapon spirit was split into three parts at present, every single part suffering intense pain.

If he released that weapon spirit, Saleen would consider himself lucky if it was still in a good enough mood to not just eat him right away. Helping him fight would be totally out of the question.

"Teacher, it devoured the weapon spirit of my Lightning Constellation. I wonder if I would be able to replace the one lost with one part of it." Saleen made an inquiry that sounded rather dumb.

Jason wanted to say no, but quickly realized that if he simply said no, he would have failed as a mage. What had never been attempted before did not mean that no one else would be able to do it.

Furthermore, the lineage that he had acquired had touched the areas of another crystal wall system altogether, so something could probably be done about it.