Badge in Azure

Chapter 141: The First Story (Part 2)

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

Nailisi carefully observed the space in the green bracelet and discovered that its size was many times larger than that of Aini's bracelet. The only thing lacking was that the texture of the tremolite was not sturdy enough, and even if it underwent magic reinforcement, it may never be as solid as Aini's bracelet. Furthermore, Aini's bracelet contained a Grade 8 defense spell. Nailisi could not deploy that spell now, but it did not mean that she would not be able to do so in the future.

The following tasks were simple. The four of them split the materials, followed by the alchemical products.

Most of the materials could also be found on the Myers Mainland and were split into four portions. Saleen took three portions, while Lex took one. When it came to the alchemical products, Saleen said, "Lex, take all of the swordsmen equipment."

Saleen was not doing this out of generosity. Since the Qin Empire and the Holy See were at war with each other, the alchemical swordsmen equipment would have a significant effect on the battlefield. In small scale battles, just one or two high-level weapons could decide the outcome of a battle. Saleen also had a deep grudge against the Holy See, so the more enemies the Qin Empire could kill, the more assured Saleen would feel.

Lex was even more blunt. Once she returned, she would establish a massive army in the Bitter Water Prefecture. Lex did not lack the money to feed her soldiers, she lacked high quality weapons. Firstly, there was the time constraint. A stainless steel sword required six months to be produced, from the mining process all the way to the production line. In addition, alchemical weapons needed to be managed in alchemy arrays and polished by mage disciples in order to become high quality weapons.

The second concern was manpower. A sorcerer only required two to three days' time to produce one alchemical weapon. But sorcerers were uncommon and they could not be confined to simply producing weapons for swordsmen. This job would be left to the low-level mages or mage disciples. The Bitter Water Prefecture had a large population of low-level mages and mage disciples, but the number was still insufficient for the large scale production of alchemical weapons.

In addition to the swordsmen equipment, there was many a great deal of mage equipment as well. But Saleen unintentionally saw other types of equipment such as equipment for archers and assassins as well. There was also equipment for ancient professions, such as astrologers and wizards.

Sika's eyes lit up. She pointed to a necklace and called out, "Sa, Saleen!"

"You want this?" Saleen picked up a necklace. This necklace had been produced entirely from the bones of magic beasts. Each segment was rectangular and white, and faint totem symbols could be seen on it.

"Yes," Sika replied in only one word.

Lex laughed. She had no use for this necklace. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people in Bitter Water Prefecture, there was not a single wizard or priest. These professions existed in very small numbers and were only in a small number of places on the mainland. As the Holy See's activities spread across the region, these professions were also gradually going extinct.

Saleen passed the necklace to Sika. The necklace looked a little ghastly and creepy, but once it was placed around Sika's neck, it began to give out a hint of vitality. It suited Sika's masculine face and looked natural on her.

"What is that?" Saleen had a perceptive and cold gaze, and he had seen the changes to the necklace. The bone necklace had only just been put on by Sika, and it had already made a faint connection with Sika as though the necklace was alive and was calling out to her.

"This is a heirloom from a warrior priest. It's been a long time since an item like this has appeared." Sika caressed the bone necklace, unable to control the emotions of her heart.

Saleen and Lex laughed and continued splitting the loot. This Grade 10 mage had not even treated the gods with respect. Naturally, they would not have cared about the heirloom of a warrior priest either. Lex's main concern was to get items which would be useful for the war, while Saleen just wanted Sika to be happy. As for the value of the necklace, he had not thought about it yet.

"I want these blank scrolls, while those mage sets will go to you. What do you think?" Saleen said, pointing to a stack of blank scrolls.

"Alright." Lex had wanted those scrolls too. Those blank scrolls were premium items as they could store magic in them for long periods of time. However, the mage sets were of greater importance to her. Her army would have a large number of combat mages, and with these mage sets which contained unique attributes, the combat power of the army would grow by numerous times.

Saleen immediately stored these hundreds of blank scrolls into the Ring of Gifts. Saleen did not have an official identity, so it was crucial for him to increase his own combat power. These scrolls could only be used once, but their value was not any lower than that of the mage sets. Scrolls which could store Grade 7 or above magic were scarce because there were not many high-level magic beasts to begin with and these beasts were difficult to kill.

If Saleen had gotten the mage sets, at best, he would have only been able to sell them off and receive gold coins in return. But it would be impossible for him to use the gold coins to purchase those exceptional scrolls. Furthermore, the four largest businesses in the Qin Empire would not be able to produce so many scrolls for Saleen.

"Then these shall belong to you." Lex pointed to the hundreds of pieces of equipment meant for archers and assassins. Lex had these people of these professions working under her, but those pieces of equipment were either easily produced or there was a low demand for them. Hence, those pieces of equipment could be considered some form of compensation for Saleen.

Nailisi did not wait for Saleen's response and began gathering that equipment.

"Let's go up and take a look." Saleen shook his head silently. Nailisi was a caring contract creature and it was not a bad thing. The way she ate might have been a little appalling, but at least she was not wasteful. Anyway, the items on this floor could not have been the most precious things here. Those on the higher floors would be the main attraction. If they could find the notes left behind by the Grade 10 mage, then none of the items in this magical tower would be as valuable as those.

This floor was an entirely independent space. If they wanted to go up to the second story, they would need to use the mezzanine. Lex and Saleen came before the mezzanine, and Saleen said, "Bless me with ice plate armor."

Lex pursed her lips and started laughing. Saleen finally had a bit of a temper. It had to have been his ego, as he did not want Lex to be walking in front anymore. She raised her hands and blessed Saleen with ice plate armor while Saleen cast a water shield. Out of magic that was Grade 6 or below, these two spells were the strongest solo defense spells despite the fact that they were only Grade 4.

Saleen cast the Fluorescence spell and went up the stairs. Nailisi was the last to leave the first floor. She was behaving a little sneakily, so she must have found something else. When Nailisi saw that no one had noticed her actions, she silently followed behind Sika. The four of them had a distance of two meters between one another as they ascended the stairs.

Saleen was feeling perturbed as he did not know whether the second story also had a similar magic array as the first, so he decided to take out his clan badge and held it in his hand. At the same time, he cast two miniature water shields on his left hand.

The two water shields enlarged a little, each of them becoming the size of two fists, and they energetically encircled Saleen. The water elements had transformed Saleen's body, helped him advance and transforming the two water shields. More specifically, these water shields absorbed a little more than one-third of Saleen's energy. Additionally, the way the elements flowed within the water shields had silently changed. They were now extremely similar to the energy wall that Saleen had broken.

The staircase was narrow and circled upwards. The Fluorescence spell gave off a green glow, and this green glow shined on the walls to both sides, making them look a little eerie. In such a narrow environment, if there was a trap like the torrent of elements, no one would be able to escape. They would only be able to rely on the defenses of the magic shields.

Each story was about twelve meters tall, but the length of the staircase was a little weird. Saleen walked about two hundred meters before reaching the second story. The setup of the second story was identical to the first, minus the horrifying magic array.

Saleen was relieved, but he did not dispel his defenses. With the clan badge still clutched in his hand, he pushed on the door.

On the second story was another hall. In the center of the hall, there were dozens of gigantic crystal test tubes. These test tubes were placed on a large metal rack. They were sealed, and in them were liquids of various colors. Saleen entered the hall and came before the gigantic crystal test tubes, beginning to look into them.

The test tube in front of Saleen was filled with red translucent liquid, and in the liquid was a specimen of a magic beast. This magic beast was not too big. Its eyes were closed and it had a long tail. The beast had a disproportionate brain that had fine scales on it. Its front legs were slender while its hind legs were thick and muscular. This beast looked a great deal like a dragon shown inside of biology books.

When Lex and the others entered the second story and saw all of these test tubes in front of them, Lex and Saleen finally understood that those magic beasts outside had indeed been transformed by mages.

As Saleen inspected each test tube, he saw dozens of creatures that he had never seen before. These creatures resembled some very powerful magic beasts, but had glaring differences.

The owner of this magic tower had indeed been perverted, actually having nurtured so many rare magic beasts. There was a high possibility that there were magic arrays that could grow naturally in the skulls of these beasts.

Lex cast her gaze upon their surroundings. There was a shelf against the wall which contained a copious amount of books. Lex could not contain her excitement and walked over, taking one book and opening it.

The book was written in Myers language, using ink made from dragon's blood. This premium ink could preserve words for thousands of years.

Saleen walked over as well and randomly selected a book. The book he picked was filled with pictures. These pictures contained the anatomy of various magic beasts, and there were many magic formulae written beside the pictures.

Saleen grew excited. These pieces of information contained instructions on how to create magic beasts with special abilities. If these books were brought back, they would definitely send shockwaves through the Myers Mainland.

The Grade 4 magic beasts which had attacked the camp in the past must have been transformed too, otherwise they would not have been able to spit fireballs and cast magic shields. Even if those beasts could not control their actions, their reproductive value alone would already be astounding.

Saleen could still remember the egg-sized magic nuclei in those magic beasts. The magic nuclei contained immense energy. In addition, the behemoth in the forest had possessed six magic nuclei each the size of pumpkins, and even the ones in dragons were not comparable to them.

The magic beasts in captivity had magic nuclei as well, but they were all too small and the beasts had lost their combat power. The magic nuclei provided by Lex back in the Bitter Water Prefecture to be used for training were exactly like that. They were small in size, cheap, low in energy, and were not suitable for combat. Those inferior magic nuclei were highly unstable and could not power magic arrays.

But how would they split these books? Saleen desired this information, and Lex had a pressing need for them too. Behind her was the Qin Empire. The empire could provide sufficient financial backing and materials for the large scale cultivation of such magic beasts.

If this shelf had been flooded with magic nuclei or gold coins, Saleen would not have been in such a dilemma. But all of these books contained so much knowledge, and a mage could not resist the temptation of knowledge.