Badge in Azure

Chapter 1341: Gift (Part 2)

Saleen took his family badge back and peered inside. There was no trace of elemental poisons in the endless barrages of lightning within. The potent poisons ended up being broken down by the lightning. It was a pity that Ojarvis's soul would not have been able to withstand the power of lightning, as he would not have needed to die otherwise. However, Saleen was still able to find the problem with the elemental poison—it was unable to steer the direction of Ojarvis's life. Ojarvis had some peculiar secret arts that allowed his soul to suffer pain and being continuously corroded by the elemental poison, yet continue to live.

Conventional calculations said that Ojarvis would have only had six days of life left. From the way Saleen saw it, Ojarvis would have been able to live at least a month. He was very impressed by Ojarvis's resilient will to survive. Would I be able to persist through it all if I were to be in his shoes?

"Hold on for a bit, your majesty," Saleen said as he took out starline cloth and began to craft a Figure of Fate right before Ojarvis. He had insufficient skills as an astrologer and the Figure of Fate he crafted would not have been able to save Ojarvis's life. However, it could have spared him the inhuman pain for that very last month of his life. All of Ojarvis's pain shall be borne by the Figure of Fate.

Ojarvis saw Saleen cast starlight and took out a Star-Gathering Needle. He smiled as Saleen began to craft the figure and said, "Saleen, I've heard that one needs to pay the price equivalent to what one intends to get. If I hadn't planned on giving the magic cube to you, would you have crafted this thing for me?"

Saleen focused all of his attention completely and did not distract himself by answering the emperor's question. However, he was still stunned again by Ojarvis's prophetic powers. It was due to Ojarvis knowing that what he was trying to do, and the emperor saw some visions from the future. Mystical power of rules operated in his bloodshot eyes. Saleen was unable to tell what those were. They resembled some of the secret arts that he learned, yet there were not something of the same rules that he learned.

"Saleen, the ability is gained by offering one's life. Even if I'm not poisoned by the elemental poison, I wouldn't be able to live for long anyway. Don't go about learning this secret art. I don't want my sister to become a widow."

Lex looked rather sad. Ojarvis had learned those forbidden secret arts on his own, and there was nothing she could have done to stop him. If it had not been for Ojarvis learning such arts, the others might not have come for his life. Those secret arts were terrifying. While the price of using such abilities was death, Ojarvis's eyes allowed him to see truths that no prophecy spells would have been capable of, before he eventually died.

While there were countless possibilities to Saleen's future, that was only because his fate and that of Goddess of Myers were entwined, making them inseparable for the time being. There were thousands of possibilities of said goddess's fate as well.

Regardless, if she was not resurrected within the next millennium, Saleen would have died all the same. Crafting the Figure of Fates had its cost, especially to the likes of Saleen, who only had 200 to 300 years left to live. Using such a skill would have taken about ten years of life off of them. Worse still, that was only because his level of astrology was still too low. If he were to use high-level skills, it would have been completely normal for him to lose even 1,000 years of life. Gaine had only been able to craft a powerful Figure of Fate for Saleen because his life was near limitless.

Saleen did not want to owe Ojarvis too much. He would have had his ways of merging the magic cube to his city once he had gotten his hands on it. He would have been able to spend more time training instead of warring, once he came to possess the magic cube's powers. The Floating City would have awed countless forces found throughout the mainland. There were few who would have been able to defeat him once he was in the air with the city. If it had not been for the contract with the goddess demanding him to get to the ground, he could have spent his days in leisure on Myers Mainland, as no one would have been able to threaten him. Unless the Floating City was thousands of miles wide, essentially making it a Sky City in size, and it became entirely possible to amass believers on it, there was no way he could have been able to resurrect the goddess in the Floating City, which only measured 36 square miles.

That was why Saleen did not mind paying ten years of life at all. He would have done so even for his followers. He had to do something for His Majesty Ojarvis, Lex's brother, and also the one who gave the magic cube to him, before his conscience would have been able to rest well. The Figure of Fate was infused within Ojarvis's body, and he sat up right away. He laughed and blood spurted from his nose and his mouth, yet he felt no pain at all.

Lex then glared at Saleen before stopping the bleeding using magic. She then asked her brother, "How are you feeling?""

"It's the work of the Figure of Fate of the astrologers. Saleen is of insufficient level, and so he can't save my life, but he at least spare me of the pain before I eventually die." Saleen did not need to explain anything, as Ojarvis knew what Saleen was doing. "Speaking of which, Saleen. We're family, so why are you addressing me as your majesty? You could just call me by my name," Ojarvis said to Saleen.

Saleen was speechless. While his fondness for Ojarvis was due to Lex, he had always taken Ojarvis as the emperor of the Qin Empire and Lex's predecessor, nothing more.

"If you want the magic cube, it wouldn't do by just being Lex's husband. You still need to be my friend, at least." Those words from Ojarvis were not pointed at all yet Saleen continued to be speechless. If that person before Saleen had not been sickly since young, he could have been a great, capable emperor in the history of the Qin Empire. Ojarvis's wit was the most low-profile of all smart people that Saleen knew, yet at the same time, the most charismatic. Even if Lex had not been the connection linking both of them, Saleen would not have had any ill thoughts about Ojarvis all the same. Ojarvis was using his frailty well. One would not have had much thoughts about someone who was about to die after all.

"Ojarvis…"

"Lex calls me Oddie,"Ojarvis smiled and said.

"Let's just stick with Ojarvis. I would be able to appear as a deadpan mage only by using such formal names." Saleen finally stopped feeling awkward and began to joke with Ojarvis.

"See, Lex? I told you that Saleen is fun." Ojarvis's tone turned and he said, "All right, I don't have much time. Let's get back to family reunion after we're done with the case of the magic cube."

Lex stood there and was unable to continue. Ojarvis was about to die and he had no problems doing a countdown to his death, yet Lex was unable to do the same. Despite being a mage and knowing that death was a must, she was still his older sister. She was unable to accept that fact sentimentally.

"The magic cube's interior is larger than it seems from its exterior. From the outside, the cube has 2,592 windows, but in actuality, the cube has 36,000 spaces within," Ojarvis illustrated.

"Ojarvis, how about we tell the mage to come in?" Saleen cut Ojarvis off and asked a question.

"No need for that. You've gotten Isenberg in your pocket and his father would support you. The remaining four of them see the old man as their leader as well. The only concern you'd have in this case would be the old man's replacement. You'd need a powerful light elemental mage to take that old man's place."

"Would a level-12 Angel of Brightness suffice?" Saleen asked.

"Of course."

"In that case, I have level-2 Angel of Brightness, Midnight Fang, Blue Ice Maiden, Vermillion Knight, Tempest Dragonmight, and Elemental Stone Statue Soldier," Saleen listed in one go. That was the last thing he acquired from the Imperial City of the Abyss. The only weakness to those elemental creatures was that they did not have souls.

"Looks like the magic cube is something made specifically for you then. I take it that you have more low-level elemental creatures, no?"

Saleen nodded. He had stored many in his elemental badges and the leaders of the first batches that he took with him had gotten to level 11. However, Saleen would have never wanted to have those elemental creatures do battle again. The greatest use of those creatures to him was to provide him with elemental powers, enabling him to cast magic spells in any environment. Anti-magic territories were utterly useless against Saleen, as the elemental badges could have provided him with energy continuously, until all of those elemental creatures exhausted their lives.

"Well then, Saleen, if you were to fill all the rooms with elemental creatures, then you would have been able to barely get the magic cube operational. However, since most of the elemental creatures had no souls, the best way to enable the magic cube to work at its best would be to use mages. I'm not a professional myself, but as the de facto master of the magic cube, there is one thing that I'd need to remind you of. If you're using elemental creatures without souls to run the magic cube, the weapon spirit would be able to devour those creatures, and you'd have a hard time subjugating it."

"No problem with that. I'd just wait for the weapon spirit of the Floating City to eat up the one in the magic cube, before I put the elemental creatures to work."

Ojarvis stopped reminding Saleen of anything, seeing how the mage understood the key points of the magic cube's operation. He then continued, "Most of the magic cube's construction materials were acquired from other planes. The ancestors of the Grukos fought wars in many planes as well, but they were not all that renowned. The wealth they have accumulated was nonetheless very real. I'd be able to give some of them to you, Saleen."

Saleen asked, "And the price?"

"Get my sister to conceive a son. Don't let the throne fall into the hands of those people from Golden Plains."

Lex blushed, but she did not interrupt Ojarvis.

Ojarvis then smiled and said, "Uncle wished for me to take control of the empire not because I made a good puppet, but because my bloodline is pure. It is quite a pity that even now when I'm near death, I still haven't managed to get myself a queen. That was rather disappointing for him. It is fortunate that gender did not matter in the bloodline of the Grukos. Her son would be able to inherit the most powerful secret arts of the clan all the same."

Aren't your secret arts powerful enough already? You could see visions of the future, man. Even ancient gods would have found that difficult to pull off. Such were Saleen's thoughts.

"Saleen, this is important. Promise me this before I give you something. If Lex were to not have an heir, then the Qin Empire would be doomed. I won't be able to protect her once I'm dead. You're about to die yourself, and they'd make her marry someone else, until she gives birth to an emperor they're happy with." Ojarvis elaborated in a calm tone, but Saleen's brows almost stood up nonetheless.