Badge in Azure

Chapter 190: A Shocking City (Part 1)

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

"The pope? Alright, I'll ask him," Saleen said as he glanced at the black deacon's deformed face. That blast had really done a number on him. With that, Saleen signalled for Daniel to kill him.

To get even a small amount of information from the people of the supreme court was an uphill battle. Saleen had no time for that. Reports of Cloudflow people searching for traces of the giant dragon to the west side of the mountain had been resurfacing.

The only thing Saleen regretted about casting the spell was that the divine powers had completely destroyed the Book of the Fallen. The book described the meaning of life as well as ways to imprison one's soul in great detail. From this aspect alone, a person could say that the Book of the Fallen and black magic were pretty similar.

As for the goddess' redemption, it must have been a secret that had been kept hidden by the sacred Holy See. Meet with the pope? Saleen was not stupid. He was not going to confront the person who had managed to kill the emperor of the Qin Empire.

The two fully constructed puppets that were standing behind Saleen stepped forward and grabbed the black deacon by his shoulders. Lex suddenly released a Cryonic spell and sealed the black deacon's mouth completely shut. Now, even if he wanted to say anything that could be remotely helpful to Lex and Saleen, he would be unable to do so.

"It's too late for regrets," Lex sneered in the black deacon's direction. He had no chance to plead for mercy. Lex did not want to be merciful anyway. She did not need him to gain access to the Holy See's secrets. She would have plenty of opportunities in the future to do so.

Seeing that Lex had already started getting physical, Nailisi, not wanting to miss out on the action, walked towards the black deacon and stripped his fingers and wrists of any equipment that could potentially help him escape. Sika followed suit and took off all of his clothing as well as a metallic band around his neck.

At that moment, the black deacon felt a sense of dread. He was a very important figure. He had thought that he could at least negotiate with his captors into let him go. He had not thought that they would kill him after just one question. He did not even have the chance to plead for mercy.

Of course there was no hesitation on the part of his captors. Saleen and Lex had no intentions of forcing any information out of him at all.

Seeing that the black deacon no longer posed a threat to him, Daniel walked to the opposite side of the black deacon and started chanting. Death magic generally required more time for its spells, and this occasion was no exception. The death flames, whose powers had already been weakened as a result of Saleen's divine spell, emerged from his body and entered the black deacon's forehead.

Saleen and Lex watched from the side nervously. Daniel tried to be as careful as possible so that he would do a clean job. In a few minutes, a ray of white light began shooting out from the black deacon's nostrils. Daniel opened his mouth in response and out spewed a ball of green fire that completely enveloped the surging light. The white light was very weak, and had no attack power. The green fire that Daniel had unleashed was the heart of his death flames. If it was overwhelmed by the black deacon's light, he would lose the ability to use the death flames forever.

As the blinding white light continued glowing, a low, angry roar was heard. It was not loud, but it was enough to strike fear in the hearts of everyone present. Even the two puppets that were holding onto the black deacon's shoulders felt the power of the roar. For a moment, they were unable to control the strength of their hands, and they accidentally crushed black deacon's shoulder blades.

Daniel's face was nothing short of solemn as he used his primordial powers to slowly strip the black deacon of his divinity. This divinity was what made him a believer. It was an honor bestowed by the Lord of Glory upon his followers. What he was doing now was not only equivalent to slapping god in the face, but also a blatant sign of contempt for god. He was no longer just a heretic. In the Holy See's eyes, he was even worse than that.

There was no turning back for Daniel.

The black deacon's body was convulsing violently by now. The two puppets, in an effort to contain the black deacon, exerted even more pressure on him using their hands. Instantly, the sounds of bones snapping and muscles collapsing could be heard. His pained expression was unusually disturbing, but it made it even harder to look away from his face.

The green flame burned for almost an hour. The seemingly insignificant bit of divinity was like oxygen to Daniel's death flames, boosting his primordial powers. The death flames burned more steadily than before and had already expanded by about thirty to forty percent.

Stealing divine powers like this was not a occurrence which happened once in a blue moon. Divine powers were often either borrowed or absorbed by humans. However, this was done only with god's approval. Not only had Daniel not sought that approval, but he had also become the first blasphemer according to the Holy See's code.

With a sickening crack, the black deacon's body stiffened before relaxing completely. The two puppets, seeing that their captive was already dead, released their gigantic metallic palms from his shoulders and stood up. Daniel did not stop there though. He released a black ball of fire and cremated the black deacon's body.

If the black deacon died - which he did - whatever divinity that Daniel had extracted from him would dissipate along with him and find its way back to its rightful owner, the Lord of Glory. His soul would also be sent to heaven. As of now, his divinity had been imprisoned and refined, causing his human form to die as well.

"How did I do?" Daniel asked after he had finished cleaning up the dead body. Lex replied, "You did not do a sloppy job, so well done."

"So can I go now?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, Daniel." Saleen laughed before continuing, "Lex is the viscountess of Bitter Water Prefecture. Didn't you come to the Qin Empire to look for someone who could help you? Don't break your back trying to find that person. Stay, and you can potentially become one of the most valued mages in Bitter Water Prefecture. In fact, I can help you achieve that."

"You?" Daniel asked incredulously. He had done what he was asked to and had no intention to stay. However, he was curious and wanted to know what Lex would do to him if he decided to leave.

"Of course! I'm the most important mage in all of Bitter Water Prefecture. Don't forget, I'm also Lex's partner. If you stay, you'll be the first necromancer of the empire. Your future will be very bright here. Lord Lex will not be biased against you. You've killed the black deacon with your bare hands. I can't think of any better way to show loyalty to a person," Saleen rambled.

"But… I have nothing left to offer…" Daniel replied in a defeated tone. The winged skeleton had taken him years to procure, and yet in just a few seconds, Saleen's divine powers had driven it back to the death dimension.

"We are making our way to Alchemy City. There might be some advanced summoning arrays there. If your death flames can be restored to their original state, you will be able to use the summoning arrays to summon the winged skeleton back. In fact, you could summon even more powerful creatures from the death dimension," Saleen said.

Technically, it was also possible to directly summon creatures from the death dimension using the death flames. However, results were not guaranteed. An advanced summoning array would be needed in addition to the death flames in order to bring the winged skeleton back.

"What do I need to do?" Daniel asked. He did not feel like he had anything to offer. The Qin Empire was known for its potent magic. In fact, it had even been nicknamed the Empire of Magic. He was only a grade- mage - a pretty unimportant figure.

"We could spar for now, or practice our spells together. We have lots of time to think about the things we can do together. Right now, we need to finish cleaning up the area so we can leave. There are still people from the Cloudflow Empire roaming the western side of the mountains. I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm just laying out the facts," Saleen said as he laughed. He did not even need to lift a finger. The fully constructed puppets were doing the menial work of cleaning up the black deacon's remains for him.

Daniel was making good progress for a grade-3 mage. When he finally became a senior mage or even a sorcerer, he would have a bright future at Bitter Water Prefecture. The only reason why Lex was so cold to him was because she was scared that he would reveal Saleen's secret. Saleen did not want any unnecessary deaths to happen on his watch. Thus, he had immediately promised Daniel a position back at Bitter Water Prefecture without Lex's approval to avoid any conflict.

Lex did not object, which was a good thing. The fact that Saleen had recruited Daniel to assist her surprised Lex. Looks like Saleen's willing to help me build up Bitter Water Prefecture, Lex thought happily.

Six fully constructed puppets cleared up the mess that had been made during the battle within a short period of time. However, as a result, one of them lost its mobility. Saleen realized that the fully constructed puppets still needed to expend energy from their magic nuclei, albeit less since they no longer needed to be controlled by Saleen's or Lex's mental power. Saleen smiled as he realized that he would no longer need to bear the heartache of using up grade-8 magic nuclei. Just grade-6 magic nuclei on their own would be sufficien for actual battle.

Left with very little time to sit there and study the fully constructed puppets, Nailisi and Lex quickly put them away before the group of five left Guogan Village. Just as they were about to put their step forward, a mage emerged from the western side of the village. He walked into the village, stopped, and started looking around, his brows furrowed tightly in thought.

He had managed to sniff out a follower of the Holy See and was deep in thought, wondering if the giant dragon's disappearance had anything to do with them. However, since he was alone, he did not dare stay any longer and decided to bolt. In doing so, he lost the chance to sniff out Saleen and his friends.

Everyone's injuries had more or less healed, with the exception of Sika, who was looking unusually frail. She was even unable to carry heavy weaponry anymore. Nailisi carried Sika on her back as the five of them walked towards the east, quickening their footsteps in order to avoid being spotted.

The journey across the mountains only took about five days thanks to Lex's Windspeed spell. They arrived at a vast plain which was not very far away from Alchemy City. Being near Alchemy City also meant that they were no longer near any aristocratic cities in the Qin Empire.

Alchemy City's territory spanned all the way from the ocean to the area where they were currently standing, plus roughly four hundred miles more. Unlike the Phoenix Duchy, there were no obvious obstacles that blocked access from the Qin country to the northern regions of the city. However, the mountains located in the western and southern regions cut off any possible connections to the Cloudflow Empire. Hence, under normal circumstances, the people who were willing to step onto the territory were most likely Qins.

Like all cities, the people of Alchemy City had their own set of laws to follow. All foreigners would have to follow them, regardless of their rank.

Instead of noblemen, it was mages who enforced the laws here in Alchemy City.

It was the first time any of them had been to Alchemy City. Although technically, they were not in the city, just within its geographical boundaries. They still had a few hundred miles to go. However, even with that distance, Saleen was already able to experience the uniqueness of the city. It had many green pastures, fields, villages, and farmers. However, the crops that they planted were herbs. He was not able to find any food crops planted in this soil. The most astonishing part of the place were the farmers. They were not real farmers. They were actually mage apprentices. Even then, they did not do manual labor. Instead, they were enlisting the help of puppets to do menial tasks for them.

Normally, puppets used up the energy of their magic nuclei very quickly. This was because they needed to fight and execute a series of complicated moves during battle. These puppets, however, only needed enough strength to walk in a straight line.

Saleen even spotted an archmage controlling a flying puppet from the ground. The flying puppet was spraying what seemed to be some sort of magic potion from the sky. Those chemicals are probably insecticide, Saleen thought.

Even the waterwheels used for irrigation had been enchanted. Saleen was able to deduce this based on the many intricate magic patterns engraved on them. These patterns had been pieced together to form a simple magic array. In addition to the puppets, Saleen also saw magic beasts plowing the land, effectively taking over the role of water buffalo. This would never happen in the southern parts of the Qin Empire, where the farmers there often used water buffalo to ensure that the land was arable.

Daniel was very excited, yet overwhelmed at the same time. Back in Tanggulasi, he had hardly ever spotted any mages or mage apprentices. In fact, he had not been able to spot any mages ever since the empire had been established. The first mage he had ever made contact with was his mentor. It was a pity that his teacher had left after tutoring him for a short period of time.

The second time he had landed his eyes on a mage was when he had taken a ferry for the first time to the Cloudflow Empire to do business there.

Daniel was not the only one who was feeling all sorts of emotions. Saleen was shocked as well. They had passed by dozens of villages, and all of them had at least one magic tower each. If his eyes had not failed him, they had passed by approximately ten magic towers. Even if each tower only had six storys, they were packed very closely together. Even the towers located in the imperial city of the Qin Empire were spaced further apart.

If even villages have magic towers, what will the situation be like over in Alchemy City? Saleen thought. He knew the others were thinking the same question as well.