Badge in Azure

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

Su was shocked to discover that in this picture, all the people in the cabin were depicted on it as transparent human figures. Other than the over fifty people on board this ship, there were also hundreds of spirits of the dead at work. The spirit pool at the bow of the ship was still gathering energy and slowly producing bloodstone and bone fish.

At the head portion of the pan turtle shell, there were four underground passages that could suck in water currents before ejecting them out from both sides of the leg portions providing forward momentum. This power required minimal elemental vibrations and could not be detected easily. If it was deep underwater, the water surface would not be able to detect this large-scale magic machine.

“Soldier, this is even better than the type of boat in the Viscount’s drawing!” Saleen understood the purpose of this type of construction and was impressed.

“This was what I found from my earliest memories. It is alchemy from the machine dimension,” the winged skeleton replied.

“Machine dimension?”

“Yes, it is a very small dimension without any Gods. There are countless different types of creatures and the ones who ruled the dimension are alchemy machines. It is pretty interesting.”

Saleen was not surprised to know that alchemy machines could develop self-awareness. In order to become a powerful being, one would need a sufficiently huge dimension and not to be suppressed by any Gods, or else one would just be like living the life of a puppet.

A small dimension and a lack of resources meant that alchemy machines were unable to evolve. The entire evolution for such creatures usually required millions of years. A small step of evolution would require millions of years and a proper evolution usually required more than billions of years. Unfortunately, the lifespan of such a small dimension was usually not long.

In other words, without the optimal conditions, those alchemy machines would never be able to evolve into entities like humans.

All the servants on board the alchemical boat were spirits of the dead. Saleen did not know how long Nailisi made the winged skeleton work as a coolie. The winged skeleton created many spirits of the dead with intelligence and could interact with humans. They did not possess the aura of a different dimension and their abilities were not restricted by the dimensional rules.

“Master, are we traveling on the surface of the sea or underwater?” The winged skeleton asked again. If they traveled underwater, their speed would be around sixty miles an hour; if they traveled on the sea surface the pan’s turtle alchemical boat could travel more than one-hundred miles an hour. This was equivalent to the fastest speed at which small alchemical boats could travel.

“On the surface, of course. There is no more danger right?”

“There is no more danger, but after the Eastern Sea Allied Armies have been defeated hundreds of small ships that managed to escape might still be lingering around.” The winged skeleton referred to them as small ships in comparison to combat vessels, but it was still about the same size as the pan’s turtle alchemical boat.

“That’s strange, why don’t they return?” Su roughly knew what happened. Regarding the Eastern Sea Allied Armies’ invasion of Qin, he has heard of many stories from those in Saleen’s company. The Eastern Sea Allied Armies tried to attack Qin, but were defeated three times in a row by the armies deployed by Safilos. All the main combat vessels were destroyed and the army of one million men suffered crushing defeat. Hundreds of thousands of men were captured as prisoners-of-war and were sold as slaves. Su could not comprehend why the remaining soldiers did not flee back to where they came from.

“The Eastern Sea was too wide and their ships were too small. They could not go back.” Saleen knew the reason why. The seas along Qin’s coastlines were rather peaceful, but as you went further the chances of storms and even cyclones occurring became more and more frequent. A small ship that was only a few tens of yards long would have no problem fighting battles or catching fish in the shallow seas, but returning home would be impossible.

Su’s face turned red. He suddenly remembered that this was the Mainland dimension where the seas were far and wide. The subcontinent plane did not have such big seas. On the subcontinent plane, combat vessels of a hundred-yards long were already the maximum because there was no need to build them any bigger. Normal combat vessels were only around fifty yards.

“My Lord, this…,” Cuisi hesitated for a while before saying, “Let’s not waste time on these bandits. Let’s hide ourselves.”

“Oh? This is unlike you.” Saleen was surprised by Cuisi’s suggestion.

“Returning back to the city is priority. Even if we caught the Eastern Sea bandits, they would just be sold as slaves. I am afraid that there might be ships from Alchemy City nearby.”

“Alchemy City?” Saleen thought about it. Indeed, their current location was a few thousand miles away from Alchemy City, but on the sea such a distance merely meant a journey of two to three days. The combat vessels of Alchemy City could stay out at sea for three months on their expeditions. It was entirely possible that they were patrolling this area to guard against any small pockets of Eastern Sea bandits.

Saleen did not wish to encounter any Alchemy City combat vessels. Although he was not afraid of them, he did not wish for anyone to find out about the pan’s turtle alchemical boat. If they battled against anyone from Alchemy City, the secret about this ship’s abilities would be out in the open.”

“Soldier, where do you say we should go?”

“If it were me, I will head straight to the east then turn north when I am one-thousand miles away from the coastline. Not a lot of time will be wasted. When I came, the pockets of small ships from Eastern Sea Allied Armies did not dare to venture further than three-hundred to five-hundred miles away from the coastline. The men from Alchemy City are only patrolling the south to stop them from escaping.”

“Humph, I bet they want to urge them towards Metatrin City. Soldier, we will not worry about Alchemy City for the time-being. Since the deep seas are safe, we will go in that direction.”

The winged skeleton commanded the jade skeletons to change their directions. All of a sudden, Saleen felt uneasy and said, “Soldier, how long has it been since the battle at Lianyun City ended?”

“About half a year.”

“There is no way Alchemy City has not managed to capture these small ships yet. If these small ships wanted to survive. Not only would they have to fish, they would also have to go to shore to rob. The Qin inhabitants of the small towns along the coastline are all resilient and strong. It will be difficult for these small ships to survive. Alchemy City must be planning…”

“Master, there is no way their small ships can sail through the big sea and bring them home.”

“Nothing is impossible!” Something seemed to have dawned on Saleen and he continued, “If it was me who wanted to find out the sea route from the Island Nations of the Eastern Sea to Myers Mainland, I will first suppress whatever remaining forces they have before creating an opportunity.”

“I understand,” Cuisi laughed.

“I understand too.” Although Su was still very young, he had learned a lot about strategies.

“Allow the Eastern Sea people to steal a big ship and tail behind them as they try to return home. Just like that, the sea route will be uncovered. No wonder in the battle at Lianyun City, Alchemy City sent out so few combat vessels!” At this point, Saleen suddenly felt defeated. At present, he did not have the abilities to go against Alchemy City. Even if he had figured out Alchemy City’s plan, there was nothing much he could do about it.

“Master!”

“My Lord…”

“Master, you…”

“Forget it. No matter how good Eastern Sea is, I cannot conquer it at the moment.” Although this was what he said, Saleen has not entirely resigned to his fate.

“Master, there may be a way.” The winged skeleton could see that Saleen was still not quite able to accept it so he thought of an idea.

“What way can there be, except this ship…”

“Two-thousand miles east from here, I have hidden a small boat that can also go underwater. I can deploy a group of spirits of the dead to operate that ship and track them under the sea.”

“Forget it, let’s not care about Alchemy City for now. If that boat were to be sunk by Alchemy City and they manage to retrieve it, they would be able to dismantle it for research. Before long Alchemy City would also be able to build similar combat vessels then we will lose the only advantage we have over them.”

“Master, is Alchemy City really so powerful?”

“Yes, you might be a silver grand swordmaster, but even golden grand swordmasters are as good as dead if they travel to Alchemy City.”

“Master, why not… why not allow me to follow?” Cuisi suggested to Saleen. Now that he had advanced into a supreme demon, staying underwater for a long period of time to tail a ship would not be a problem.

“This issue with Alchemy City must have involved at least ten sorcerers. If you are caught…” Saleen did not feel he needed to elaborate further. Cuisi was a demon. If he was caught by the mages of Alchemy City he would be dissected immediately, but they would also do everything they could to ensure Cuisi did not die.

Cuisi said no more. Once he heard that there were more than ten sorcerers, he did not feel that he would be so lucky to escape from them.

Alchemy City was daunting because there were too many powerful mages. Even someone like Cuisi, who had just advanced into supreme demon, did not dare to provoke them.

Su did not have any solutions either. If he was a golden grand swordmaster, he could still operate a small ship, but not as a silver grand swordmaster.

Tailing an Alchemy City combat vessel was like playing with fire. One would get burned if one was not careful.

“Let’s just go. We will discuss this again in future. When Alchemy City wants to invade the Islands of the Eastern Nations in future, they will surely set up supply points along the way. If we can find these supply points, we will be able to follow them. Once the interactions between Eastern Sea and Metatrin City increased, it will be hard to keep this sea route a secret.”

There was one thing that Saleen did not say. He did not believe that there were no Sregl Island spies in Alchemy City. It was entirely possible for Alchemy City to keep their plans a secret, but only from Holy Rock City and not from their own people.

“Master, I will deploy some spirits of the dead to find these supply points. Their lifespans are short, but they should be able to record down the coordinates.”

“What do you mean?”

“Alchemy City wants to provide the Eastern Sea prisoners-of-war a big ship, but they will surely not provide sufficient supplies for them to return home. The Eastern Sea men must secretly sail to the secret supply points that only they know of, which should be hidden on the islands within five-thousand miles. As long as they did not enter the secret channel my spirits of the dead should not be discovered by anyone.”

The winged skeleton was rather vague, but Saleen understood.

“I guess this is the only way. Soldier, let’s head home!” Saleen let go of the temptation and regained his calmness. The winged skeleton nodded in agreement. Around the pan’s turtle alchemical boat were twelve death sharks that swam away and no longer followed the alchemical boat.

Both flanks of the pan’s turtle alchemical boat were propped up by bony wings that were made up of twelve pairs of white bones. The speed at which the alchemical boat was traveling immediately increased to one-hundred and twenty miles an hour.

Saleen’s decision helped him escape from yet another trouble. One day later, a lot more Alchemy City combat vessels came in this direction and tens of sorcerers monitored the entire area within one-thousand miles. The remnants of the Eastern Sea Allied Armies had no other way out but to gather more than eighty small ships and captured a one-hundred and fifty yard long armed merchant vessel.

These bandits killed all the crews onboard and threw them into the sea.

More than a hundred Alchemy City combat vessels waited patiently in all directions. This armed merchant vessel headed south first, which was where Saleen and company had stopped at. Then it headed east and eventually went down into the deep sea. If Saleen was still there he would not have been able to resist the temptation and would have decided to follow this armed merchant vessel underwater.