Badge in Azure

Chapter 1487: Agares' Shadow (Part 1)

The Dragon God was baffled. Saleen's answer was indeed an unexpected one. His dragon might did not seem to be able to destroy that human mage's resolve.

It seemed that the main plane was about to see a storm brewing.

"State your reasons." The Dragon God did not continue to cast dragon might. The place below the platform was all silent. The dragons wanted to know what made the human mage so daring.

"Humans and dragons fought alongside each other and shared a glorious past." Saleen spoke slowly. His voice was imbued with Thundering Sound skills, which sounded very bewitching.

"Powerful humans disappeared after that and the main plane was closed. The strongest among us are but at level nine for thousands of years. I'm not certain why the dragon plane was able to evade the curse-like fate. But it seems that our shared enemy—the gods—was not rendered extinct."

The Dragon God paused for half a second and Saleen continued to speak, seeing the expression of the Dragon God unchanged. "The dragon scale magic shield was something I saw in the notes. When the mages all those years ago wrote about such powerful defensive equipment, they did not state how to create it. I'm sure all of you know that human mages back then, had been capable of creating such shields. But you're saying that humans are creating such equipment without your consent? Humans back then did not even write anything about how to make them, which is I'm here asking you, Dragon God. It turned out to be a joke after all."

"But still, I hope to get my hands on such a piece of equipment nonetheless, because my enemy is a god, and one who is more powerful than me," Saleen elaborated calmly.

The Dragon God frowned. While it was known to be a Dragon God, but it did not possess a divine persona. When Myers Mainland was cursed back then, the dragon plane was actually unable to escape being cursed as well. However, the one being cursed in the dragon plane was the Dragon God.

The four existing Dragon Gods were unable to leave their palaces. Once they left, the rules of the Dragon Gods would have dissipated and the dragon plane would have soon fallen into disarray.

"That god is only a level 15 god, but he has been conquering many divine kingdoms. I've just snuffed out his Holy See on Myers Mainland, and I've also imprisoned the saint among his believers. That god would come looking trouble with me sooner or later, and I'd need to live if I were to fight the gods."

"Your speech sounded lame," the Dragon God said all of the sudden.

Grand Duke Iron Blood intended to say something, before the Dragon God waved and said, "No matter. I shall help you in your war against the gods. I'd only require you to write an oath. From here on out, you shall absolutely never use any dragon equipment against dragons. If you agree, I shall bestow you with two dragon scale magic shields."

"Five," Saleen added.

Saleen quickly explained, seeing that the Dragon God was about to get angry, "I have two wives and two children, and they are all targets of that god. Furthermore, their levels are worthy of receiving such a precious gift from you."

The Dragon God then laughed and said, "Mage Saleen, then I'd need another set of remains of that dragon, and one of equivalent level."

Saleen thought to himself that dragons were still a race that was easy to talk to. He felt himself fortunate to have come, and he saw the Dragon God and the dragons watching a performance. A race that knew to entertain themselves with plays and songs was definitely not a race that was hard to talk to.

It was a fair trade. The Dragon God wanted another set of remains of ancient dragons, and it was obvious that it intended to give it to the other three Dragon Gods. If there were to only be three sets, then someone would have gotten left out.

Saleen planned all of that before he came. He then said, "Dragon God, I'd be rather troubled at your request for another set of ancient dragon remains. That is because I did not actually find a true dragon graveyard. Most of the bones had already been eroded and I did not have another of equivalent level."

"How about ten of one level lower then?" The Dragon God was getting anxious. It needed those things to restore its powers and lift the curse.

However, Saleen did not use that against the Dragon God, which was a rare thing to happen. Dragons fought alongside humans in the past, and they did not turn against the humans when the humans failed.

The Dragon God observed Saleen's reaction, which proved rather satisfactory. Dragons would have had a hard time using the five sets of dragon scale magic shields. In the hands of humans however, it would have been a lot easier.

The height of humans was only about two meters tall and two pieces of dragon scales would have sufficed, for making a dragon scale magic shield. Furthermore, that was actually over-engineering things. A single piece of dragon scale could have been used to make several such shields, if one were to be cheap.

As for the case of taking scales from living dragons, that was not a tricky problem as well. There were also dragons who violated the laws laid by the Dragon Gods and were imprisoned. So long as they were willing to offer their scales, the Dragon God could have provided them with a shorter term. Many dragons would have been willing to trade.

However, the principle of equivalent exchange stated that the Dragon God needed to discuss with the other Dragon Gods, before they were able to solve the problem.

"Well then, Rorschach, what do you want?"

"I'd like to sign a Dragon Knight contract with a third dragon," the grand duke answered.

"You're being too greedy, Rorschach." The Dragon God shook its head, but it did not refuse the grand duke's request. The grand duke had two dragons, one versed in physical attacks while the other at magic attacks. He would have definitely wanted the third one to be versed at curse attacks.

That meant the third dragon would have been that of a special breed—witch dragons.

With the help from those three dragons, the grand duke's bloodline would have been imbued with the traits of all three dragons, when he advanced to level 16. By then, the grand duke would have gained immunity from elemental magic attacks, curse attacks and physical attacks.

Of course, that referred to those who were of lower level than he was. But then again, that alone would have been powerful enough. Even enemies of higher levels than he was would have suffered considerable drop in effectiveness when attacking him. Furthermore, all three dragons would have shared lifespan, enabling the grand duke to live for hundreds of thousands of years, even if he were to not advance.

Saleen knew that it was not his speech that convinced the Dragon God; it was the remains of ancient dragons he had with him that sealed the deal. Only creatures of levels of Dragon Gods would have benefited from rules contained within those remains.

If Saleen were to be able to absorb the rules within, he would not have bothered showing up at the dragon plane.

Saleen was already a level 14 mage. One more level and he would have been able to absorb rule powers from all manner of powerful items, mimicking them or even possess them right away. However, even if he were to advance to level 16, he still would not have been able to possess the rule powers of dragons.

Rules specifically accumulated only for dragons were contained within those bones, and only dragons of similar levels would have been able to absorb them.

What Saleen offered was a set of level 17 dragon remains, and Dragon Gods were creatures that were at least at level 17.

However, that Dragon God had been cursed. It was unknown how many curses of dying gods it had taken to prevent the Dragon Gods from leaving their palaces. Hatred was the most formidable to be had in the world.

Saleen was then arranged to stay behind in the Dragon God's palace. Dragon Gods were only be to traverse the four palaces among them through magic arrays, and were unable to take even a single step outside of Dragon City.

The Dragon God returned shortly, bringing five sets of dragon scale magic shields for Saleen.

The Dragon God was feeling very good. The dragon remains that Saleen brought came from ancient times. While they were only of level 17, but their bloodlines had been very pure. There were many rules coalesced in the remains that the Dragon Gods had yet to master.

As such, the five dragon scale magic shields were of considerably higher levels than they would have usually been.

Dragons were capable of taking advantage of others, yet there was a limit to how far they would have gone to do so. Taking small advantages was but an act to mess around with races of lower levels, which they found fun. They were many races that had been duped by the dragons, with them thinking that they were able to bribe the dragons, as well as thinking the dragons to be greedy and stupid.

The dragons themselves however, knew well that in order to gain what they wanted, they would have had to pay the equivalent price.

Both Saleen and Lex took one of the five sets for themselves. Both of them tested the dragon scale magic shields for a bit, finding that so long as life-threatening attacks were detected, tiny dragon scales would have taken flight to stop it, regardless of the direction the attacks came from.

The dragon scales that flew out to stop the attacks, would have then dissipated the force of the attacks onto every single scale on the shield.

Saleen was able to confirmed that a piece of magic equipment he had seen in the past was related to the dragon scale magic shield. He took one look and committed it to memory. Such defenses were very essential to Saleen.

I sure as hell don't think there'd be any attacks capable of penetrating the Water Shield, barging through the dragon scale magic shield, and still able to kill the Figure of Fate.

The grand duke acquired a witch dragon just as he asked, becoming a Dragon Knight who possessed three dragons.

Due to the witch dragon needing the Dragon God's help to advance, reaching corresponding levels before it could have been taken away, the grand duke had to stay several days more at Dragon City. He was feeling bored, so he talked to Saleen about taking Cloudflow.

Lex, however, said to the grand duke, "It'd be best to leave Cloudflow behind, just like how Saleen left the imperial city of the Tanggulasi Empire. You and I would have to fight otherwise."

The grand duke was puzzled and Lex continued, "The entire state of Myers Mainland is changing, which has a lot to do with the emperors of the respective empires. If you were to become emperor of Cloudflow, then our conflict would have nothing to do with personal grudges. Even if we were to be the best of friends, I'd have to amass an army to attack you."

Saleen then added, "She is right, duke. The very reason I'm reluctant to put my lands under Lex's name is due specifically to not wanting to break this last bit of balance. The emperors of all four empires are still alive after all."

Grand Duke Iron Blood frowned and said, "Your kingdom is near invincible on the mainland, and even I wouldn't be able to fight your armies at present. Truth to be told, unless Lex decides to forsake the throne, it'd be impossible for me to attack Qin. Isn't this the balance you're talking about?"

"Tell me, duke. Do you think the Dragon God intends to conquer Myers Mainland?"

The grand duke was dumbfounded. He then pondered for quite a while before saying, "I think the Dragon God would want to do. It wouldn't have needed to back a puny human and an insignificant worm like me back then!"

Saleen was amused by the grand duke, who was evidently someone with a good attitude, knowing when to be self-depreciative, as well to weigh pros and cons. Regardless if Saleen were to end up being friends or enemies with such a person, he would not have grown bored at least. At the very least, the grand duke would not have stooped to the level of using Saleen's family against Saleen.

Arbola might have looked high and mighty, but she was actually despicable. Golden Plains had been subdued by the contract for too long. Her mind had been twisted.

"We'll keep things as it is then, duke. The longer the better. If you think you're not getting a good deal out of this, how about a spirit dragon from me then?"

"That's nice!" The grand duke did not see the need to hold back. But then he saw Saleen's expression and resorted to asking, "What would you need then?"

"If the dragons were to invade Myers Mainland, I'd need you at my side."

The grand duke then laughed and said, "Relax, I'm still human after all."