Badge in Azure

Chapter 1342: Pain (Part 1)

Lex said, "Saleen, it is true. If I were to become empress, this is a duty that I must shoulder."

Ojarvis then smiled and said, "Well, Saleen, better work on it and don't get separated from Lex all that often."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Saleen answered without putting any thought into it. If chatting with Ojarvis was to be considered as a battle, then Ojarvis would have been considered having level-11 skills, as he kept rendering Saleen almost speechless.

"The key to the magic cube lies with its manufacturing schematics. The magic cube that I have is entirely different from the one shown in the schematics, as many changes have been made. I'm unable to calculate much of anything but I've drawn quite a lot of schematics. Those are things that I've done with my life, Saleen…"

Saleen understood that Ojarvis had to bear the pain from with his body while he observed the future, in order to tell of the magic cube's secrets. That was something that he had long planned, so as to let the magic cube's powers be brought out to its greatest extent in Saleen's hands.

"I will not disappoint you," Saleen said with a solemn tone. He was wondering what was Ojarvis's eventual goal for doing all of that, and if the emperor was only doing all of that for Lex's sake.

"I'm doing all of that because I don't want to die, Saleen. I saw a vision of a god being resurrected, and that was done because of you. If you are able to even resurrect a god, maybe someday you'd resurrect me as well. I've been living in pain for my whole life, and that doesn't quite sit well with me."

Saleen sweated cold sweat. So Ojarvis can actually read my thoughts then? Boy, spending time around someone like that sure is one hell of a pain.

"I don't need you to sign a contract with me, Saleen. I'm only handing everything to you. I know you'd help me, right?" Ojarvis asked with a smile.

"Yes, I'd do that indeed," Saleen answered in a deadpan manner.

The greater the amount of help he had gotten from Ojarvis, the greater the possibility things would have turned out like this. Ojarvis had actually entrusted the magic cube to Saleen because he wanted to live. As a person who knew that he did not have long to live since the time he came to know what was going on around him, such a life was indeed incredibly cruel. As such, Ojarvis was determined to cling to life more than anyone else. "I'd hand my life bead to Lex. You'd find my mark of life on it. Even if I were to die, I'd remain behind and there'd always be a sliver of my soul within. That was something that father prepared for me, and I shall hand it to Lex. When you come to possess the ability to do it one day, resurrect me. I'd really want to know what a beautiful life would have been like…"

"I will, if I'm able to live that long myself," Saleen answered.

Ojarvis pressed something at his side. A magic box opened at the side of the bed, with thick stacks of schematics in it. "Here are the schematics of the magic cube. Many mages have them, but these are the original. There are notes from tens of master mages on them."

Saleen waved and the thick stacks flew and opened before him. Saleen took a look and knew that there was no way he would have been able to memorize the whole using magic. He resorted to using starline cloth and began copying the schematics manually. Saleen did not like using skills of astrologers much, but that was an exception. There were hundreds of magic papers that consisted of the entirety of the schematics and every single one of them was packed with data. Some of the data was even written inside magic arrays. Three-dimensional magic arrays could have stored practically limitless amount of information. If Saleen were to rely solely on his own memory, he would not have been able to quickly memorize everything, even if his mental powers were even more powerful than they already were. Saleen took out a Star-Gathering Needle and four star figures. The four star figures were final gifts from Gaine. If Saleen were to truly be willing to practice astrology and reach level 18, he would have been able to truly control the four star figures and make them powerful combat weapons. At present, those figures would have only advanced alongside Saleen's level at astrology. If he wanted to make the star figures more powerful, there was no other way to do it but to dedicate himself to astrology. That was the final joke from Gaine. If Saleen gave in to the enticement, then Gaine would have ended up raising a powerful astrologer. If Saleen truly decided not to advance his studies in astrology further, then he would have only been able to keep the four treasures around and not be able to use them. It was fortunate that Gaine had no intentions of forcing Saleen into doing anything. The four star figures were of at least level-ten powers at present, and they were also capable of storing limitless constellation power.

Saleen jabbed his Star-Gathering Needle into the four star figures, pouring constellation power into them and activating them. Saleen took out starline cloths and distributed them to the figures, then gave his orders, "Copy all of these magic schematics. Leave no details behind."

"Yes, master," the four star figures answered.

Nailisi pouted. The four star figures were of no threat ,and Saleen would not have developed any emotions for them. Starlight shone on the star figures' eyes. They took the starline cloths and began to copy the magic schematics one by one onto the starline cloths. The copying skills of astrologers made the mages envious. However, constellation power was very hard to come by and not every astrologer was willing to use them like that. One star chart after another recorded what were on the stacks of magic schematics, copying all of the information regarding the magic cube perfectly. Saleen was using said skills himself and drew all of the schematics of the magic cube at the underground city.

He fused Water Flame Alchemy into his astrology, turning the schematics into something like magic equipment. By doing so, the magic schematics could have been stored indefinitely and would have never faded. Furthermore, without constellation power fused with Water Flame to activate them, no other people would have been able to learn of the schematics' secret.

Ojarvis's eyes shone with curiosity as he watched Saleen at work. It was the first time he had shown an expression like that. Due to the pain that seeped deep into his soul before, he was only able to show a calm expression.

After Saleen finished copying the schematics, he put the original schematics back into the magic box, and Ojarvis shut it. He then asked, "So that was astrology that you were using earlier?"

"Not entirely."

"Constellation power sure is beautiful. If I were to resurrect, I won't be a mage, and instead I would try my best to become an astrologer. Being able to see fate feels like fun," Ojarvis said sincerely. To him, trading whatever life he had left at the end of his life in order to gain the power to see the future became the only joy in his life.

"All right then, if I were to be able to resurrect you, I'd impart the skills of astrology to you," Saleen said.

"If that is the case, then add a constellation brand at the depth of my soul. I know that you're a level-ten astrologer and you are definitely capable of doing that," Ojarvis smiled and said.

Saleen lifted his finger and starlight ebbed at his fingertip, emanating mesmerizing light. That bit of starlight was the strongest power that he was able to gather on his own. He relied on that finger to use the Crystal Finger as well. Saleen felt it to be rather funny. That one finger of his had killed quite a number of powerful ones, had then ended up being one used to save people. A ring of white Water Flame appeared on the finger to temper the starlight. That was a thought that somehow just came to Saleen. The starlight became denser and showed more layers of colors after being tempered by the Water Flame. Every single color represented a constellation rule. Saleen was unable to master those rules, but they were nonetheless enough to make a constellation brand. Saleen pointed his finger at Ojarvis's forehead. A shallow wound was shown on Ojarvis's head and blood was seen. Saleen was frightened, but quickly realized that it was Ojarvis's skin being too weak to even be touched by Saleen.

Just how did someone like this manage to live this long? Saleen coalesced magic liquid in an instant on his hand and he cast magic pharmaceuticals as well, mixing them together and applying them on Ojarvis' wound, stopping the bleeding.

"I've heard that powerful souls could have been created in weak bodies. I hope that I'd have a strong body in my next life, and that my soul would be just as strong," Ojarvis quipped and then thanked Saleen. The remaining elemental poison in Ojarvis' body was unable to prevent the constellation power from seeping into his soul. That was the power of rules eclipsing that of the elemental poison. A huge star chart was formed deep within Ojarvis's soul. That was something that Saleen had seen at the top of the astrology tower once. No one would have known about that star chart as well. Saleen was the only one who had seen that starry sky after Gaine left that plane. That constellation mark was absolutely secretive. Even if there were to be other astrologers showing up on Myers Mainland, none of them would have been able to tell what Ojarvis would have looked like in his next life from that branding.

Lex extended her senses for a bit and through the God's Ring, she was able to see the sliver of soul in Ojarvis's life bead. That sliver of soul had a peculiar image on it, which was a star chart. Lex was not an astrologer and so she was only able to see a blurred image. Not even the God's Ring allowed her to see what the star chart looked like originally.

"All right, tell the mages to come in." Ojarvis coughed and covered his mouth with his hand. Some bit of blood was seen on his hand. "Man, this is so annoying. Without the pain present, I almost thought I had recovered." Ojarvis slowly rested his head on the pillow and resumed his reclining posture. His body was unable to handle even the slightest of sudden and intense movements at all. That was something that the oracle of the Heretic God would have never expected. If Ojarvis had not been poisoned, his life would have probably been even shorter instead. The terrifying thing about elemental poison was that it would have killed the poisoned one in six days. Within the six days, unless the poisoned person was decapitated or had their heart torn out, they would not have been able to die at all, as they had to suffer the pain from the elemental poison throughout. People would have usually done crazy things when they were in pain. The oracle of the Heretic God would have been right to think so, if the one being poisoned had been some other person. However, the likes of Ojarvis did not care about pain or negative status at all, which was exactly like Saleen. The pain was something they had to go through every day, and that was how they lived their lives.

At the very extreme end of pain lies joy. That was an idiom of the mages, and believers of gods would have never been able to understand the line. To believers, the greatest joy was to enter divine kingdoms and be blessed with eternal life by their gods after all.