Badge in Azure

Chapter 207: Starting the Hunt (Part 2)

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

Saleen's mood brightened all of a sudden since Lex's idea would not leave any traces. Every mage who came to Alchemy City made many odd requests, and they were also quite fussy about items which they wished to purchase. No matter how odd Saleen's purchase was, it would be regarded as normal in Alchemy City. When Saleen's teacher had first given Saleen that ring, it had looked a lot like a piece of equipment within a larger set. At that point in time, Saleen's grade had been too low, so he would not have been able to utilize the rest of the equipment.

Despite having left his teacher such a long time ago, Saleen had never seen any other white crystal equipment up until now, which showed just how precious these items were. Even though the face of the ring was very small, people had still been willing to spend tens of thousands of gold coins on it.

"Lex, why did not you tell me earlier!"

Lex smiled bitterly. "I didn't know that Alchemy City would be like this before I arrived. At that time, I still thought…"

Saleen knew that he could not blame Lex for not having suggested that idea earlier, as he had simply been too obsessed earlier on. Now that he had straightened his thoughts and a few ideas had popped into his head, Saleen was more confident that he would be able to locate his teacher.

Hogina and the Elemental Hand did not belong to the same faction. Alchemy City was mainly split into three groups: the alchemy tower, the Elemental Hand, and the three islands.

This meant that the mages in each of these three groups worked on a specific function. The Elemental Hand was in charge of Alchemy City's security, the alchemy tower was in charge of business, and the three islands controlled the resources. In addition to acquiring equipment which was related to the white crystal ring, Saleen would also need to take on more missions from the three islands. If Jason really was on one of these three islands, then he would be able to find out about Saleen's presence as long as he paid attention to their happenings.

Of course, there was not much hope in doing these inferior missions. Only by accepting the superior missions would Saleen's name be placed on the watch list of the three islands. If Saleen had the opportunity to execute missions which would require the boarding of the magic ship, then his teacher would definitely be made aware of him.

This would take time though. All new mages in Alchemy City could only accept inferior missions like this one at first. Without any hunting experience, a person was essentially walking to their own doom if they took on any high grade missions.

Saleen was feeling happier now, but he did not go and view the magic battles. Saleen and Lex continued their magic game in the room. Without any strangers around, they tried dispersing level-3 spells instead.

Under a situation whereby both of them cooperated with one another, Lex had a higher probability of dispersing Saleen's magic successfully. Hence, Saleen had no choice but to bless himself with two layers of magic shields in case of any mistakes.

Lex cast three Phoenix spells consecutively. The fire elements morphed into the shape of a phoenix in midair and attacked Saleen. Even though all mages wanted to advance their Fireball spells to the level of a mage master, the Phoenix spell was still highly regarded by low-grade mages. This was because the Phoenix spell's ability to lock onto its target was very powerful.

Mages did not need to use much mental power to be able to aim the Phoenix spell at their enemies. In comparison, the Fireball spell was more profound, and it even affected the advancement of some mages to grade-4.

Saleen kept using his level-2 icicles to disperse the level-3 phoenixes. However, Lex released the phoenixes continuously. In the end, Saleen's actions were a tad slower, and the last phoenix managed to dodge the icicle before pouncing onto Saleen. Lex was petrified. The magic had already come into contact with his body, so there was no use dispersing the magic now.

Peng! A boom sounded. A gigantic bubble expanded on the surface of Saleen's body. The bubble then burst and the phoenix disappeared into midair, but Saleen was flung away by the impact.

"Saleen!" At the same time, Lex chanted the Windspeed spell and managed to travel the span of the room in just a single step. Then, she clung onto Saleen, who was about to crash into the wall. Lex had become a little competitive, as the power of the phoenix had already exceeded the limits of level-3. Originally, Lex had wanted to stop the moment Saleen made a misstep, but both parties were practicing in the room and the room was only dozens of meters wide. Level-3 magic was able to strike the target within mere frames. Furthermore, Saleen's water shield had suddenly exploded and struck the phoenix earlier than expected.

Saleen had not expected the phoenix to explode. The impact from that explosion had been too strong, causing Saleen to feel like a sledgehammer had struck all of his bones. If Lex had not caught him in time, his head would have been busted open even if he had used the Windspeed spell to lower the speed of the crash.

"What are you doing?" Lex asked furiously. Saleen's water shield had expanded without any warning, and its speed had even been comparable to that of some attack spells. If there was a bit of carelessness or a slight mistake during an experiment like this, Saleen risked getting seriously injured.

Saleen's body was in pain, but he felt comfortable in Lex's embrace. Saleen had many things he wished to say, but he did not do so. Hence, all those words became an intermittent murmuring.

Then, Lex realized what was going on. Her reaction was that of anger and amusement. She threw Saleen onto the bed, glared at him, and said, "Do you take me for your mother in behaving like this?"

Saleen was slammed onto the bed but did not howl in pain. He simply chuckled, "Don't take advantage of me. My mother died early."

"Hmph!" Lex might have enjoyed high status, but her skin was thicker than Saleen's. However, Saleen's words had touched a raw nerve in her heart, and Lex recalled that the both of them had lost their mothers at a young age. Thus, Lex stopped sulking and sat on the bed. Then, she asked, "How did you manage to do that just now? My spell, with the power of level-4 magic, was actually on par with your water shield. Did both spells nullify each other?"

As Lex asked that question, she blessed Saleen with the Chunlin spell. A green mist entered Saleen's body, making him feel much better. Saleen pondered, then said, "It can't be considered nullification, or else the explosion would not have occurred. Every defense spell has its weak points and strong points. I simply used the strongest part to negate your attack and disperse the impact across the shield. If that phoenix had not been released by you, I would have been able to control the situation."

"You don't have to try so hard. We still have time." Lex could not help but berate Saleen for his actions. It had been an entirely new magic experiment, and this experiment had taken place in an uncontrolled setting.

"I am not desperate. I have had this notion since one year ago." Lex understood what Saleen meant. A year ago, the two of them had still been in the plane of the hell of god's punishment.

"Can you still move about?"

"Yes, let's do it again!" Saleen rested for a short while before sitting upright and casting his water shield again. Saleen was determined to master this technique as it would be crucial in helping him surpass the other mages. Through his understanding of the arrangement of the water elements, Saleen had managed to increase the defensive abilities of his level-2 transformed magic into those of level-4. If he could make the water shield respond faster, then he was confident that he would be able to promote the water shield to the next level.

The Fireball spell was precious because it could scale with grade. At level-2, the lethality of the Fireball spell was inferior to that of the ice arrow. The freezing effect from the ice arrow exceeded that of certain level-2 control spells, but the ice arrow could not evolve. Even if a person was a sorcerer, they could only utilize some techniques to make the ice arrow more powerful. Even so, fundamentally, the ice arrow would not change.

When the water shield advanced to level-3 magic, its defensive abilities would be level-5, so it would be more useful than ice plate armor. Even though ice plate armor was powerful, its depletion of magic chords was that of a standard level-4 spell. That was the reason why Saleen had continued to focus on the water shield after becoming a mage master.

Currently, Saleen could consecutively cast ninety-six level-2 spells or twenty-four level-4 spells. That was four times the difference in the depletion of the magic chords. Hence, Saleen hoped to increase the efficiency of the water shield instead of familiarizing himself with ice plate armor.

Ice plate armor was the perfect spell. Before one's magic chords ran out, the destroyed portions on the ice plate armor could be regenerated. The only problem was the rate of depletion. It was a very taxing activity for an average grade-4 mage to try to sustain an ice plate armor.

Saleen had a very keen sense of danger. He possessed many blank scrolls which had been taken from Raphael's magic tower. These scrolls would run out one day, and he would not be able to replenish the stock again.

The only items he could count on were his own magic chords. Now, Saleen only needed to rest for half an hour without any meditation to fully recover his magic chords. This was due to the dragonshard, but Saleen knew that since he was grade-4 now, his rate of recovery had also naturally become quicker. Once Saleen became a sorcerer, the dragonshard would be completely depleted whenever he needed to recharge his magic chords, and he would need to wait for a long time before being able to use the dragonshard again.

If this went on for a long period of time, the dragonshard would also reach the end of its lifespan eventually. Since Saleen was still at a low grade, he tried his best to use low grade magic nuclei to restore his magic chords. Saleen's powerful mental power enabled him to employ a large quantity of scrolls, and he continuously used his clan badge to help train his own mental power.

In truth, Saleen did not know why he was so desperate. In fact, if it had not been for the Holy See, Saleen could not have cared less about Earl Sufonso anymore. Only when Saleen had reached Alchemy City had he understood that he was no longer that begging youth whose sole aim was to fill his own stomach. He was a mage, and he wanted to be like Raphael who had fathomed the secrets of this world.

People changed all the time. Sometimes, when people grew up, they gradually abandoned their ambitions. On the other hand, others came to have even greater ambitions.

Saleen and Lex practiced magic in the room. Since Saleen asked that they increase the intensity of their training, the movements they made became increasingly louder as well. The people from Alchemy City acted like they could not hear anything. However, Nailisi and Sika, who were outside practicing for the battle, grew very worried as they were afraid that Saleen might have been in danger.

The people who were most curious of all were Andrew and Keegan. These two Qin mages were very hardworking and had managed to become mage masters before they were forty years old. Thus, they had faced far less difficulty than others in the process of advancing to sorcerers. They could not figure out what Saleen and Lex were practicing, hearing the loud and abrupt explosions coming from Saleen's room. Even the Mute Enchantment had been destroyed by their magic training.

During the time spent with Lex practicing magic, Saleen never felt that things were unbearable. Lex did not have any airs of royalty about her, and her actions and behaviors were solely those of a mage. Saleen loved this feeling. He even thought about not joining the hunt if he would be able to stay in the castle and practice like this the entire time. Saleen even considered abandoning his dream of obtaining a ship.

Despite that, Saleen still needed to go since he had not found out anything about his teacher even after arriving at Alchemy City. After the two days of rest, Juno and the two grade-6 mages appeared before everybody.

Juno did not waste his time on unnecessary conversation. He simply glanced around and said a terse phrase - set off.

At that moment, the contract between Alchemy City and the mages took effect. Juno was responsible for everyone's safety at sea. Rules were abound. Killing finless whales was considered a safe mission, but out of all the low grade missions, it was the most challenging one. Furthermore, there were dozens of newcomers this time around. For Lex's safety, Juno did not travel with the newcomers. Instead, he allocated them into the other three ships.

Hopefully, this mission would go smoothly. If the hunting group met with a storm, then the hunters would become the hunted. The large numbers of sea magic beasts represented wealth. A massive and perilous wealth.