Badge in Azure

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

Jola suddenly became stern and said to Sharman, "You must apologize for what you said!"

Sharman also realized her mistake. Instead of throwing a temper tantrum like a child, she stood up straight, bowed her head, and said, "I am sorry, Master Jola. I should cherish my honor. As a member of Metatrin City, I should not have said what I said."

"I'm glad you realize that. I'm not here just to teach you swordsmanship; I am also here to help you establish your status and authority in the army. If you don't see the importance in guarding the city, how do you expect the soldiers give their lives for it?" Jola continued to reprimand Sharman.

"From now on, I will not make the same mistake." Sharman swallowed her pride and replied. She had no choice. Saleen had given the order that if Jola was displeased with her, she would never be able to lead the temple corp.

"When the fourth dynasty collapsed, Qin was the first to build up its kingdom. It had the most land and the least people. Even if it clashed with the other three Empires, Qin always came out on top. Qin territories were the richest on the entire Mainland. Do you know why?"

"Qin has the best mages!"

"Wrong. It's because Qin was the first to release its slaves and give its citizens more space to live. The soldiers that came from a commoner's background began to develop a sense of pride and honor."

"Commoners?" Sharman, who came from a rich noble family, did not quite understand. Although she had always maintained a respectful attitude towards commoners on the surface, that was only because of how she was taught to behave. She did not genuinely think that the commoners and her were equals. Noble families would always be the ones to lead the country.

"Sharman, one can learn magic or swordsmanship as early as six years old. If we compare two children with equal talent, by the time the child that learns swordsmanship reaches the level of a high-level swordmaster, the child that learns magic will most likely only be at grade-2 or grade-3. It is easy to develop soldiers and talent will not play a part in their development. How many people can a mage kill? Once a mage dies, it is hard to replace them. Therefore, the most crucial factor in determining Qin's fate is its military system that was ahead of its time."

"Master Jola, are you telling me all this because I said something wrong?" Sharman was very sharp. She could sense that there was something that Jola needed to talk to her about.

"Hmm, I do have something to tell you. I want to help you increase your power as soon as possible."

"Increase my power? Master Jola, I'm still young." Sharman pouted.

Jola pointed his finger at a wooden stake beside him. The wooden stakes surrounded the field in order to speed up the process of building up defences.

Sharman's eyes were wide open. She was shocked to see some golden sword aura being emitted from Jola's finger. The top half of the wooden stake immediately turned into dust that was finer than the fine flour of Cloudflow.

"You have advanced!" Sharman's voice trembled slightly. It was the first time she had seen someone advancing to golden grand swordmaster from silver grand swordmaster. As a warrior herself, she was terribly excited.

"This is not counted as advancing. I only managed to grasp a bit of the power of golden sword aura, thereby paving the way for advancement. From now on, silver grand swordmasters will not be a match for me." Jola replied proudly.

Sharman was stunned by Jola's abilities. Although silver grand swordmasters were more powerful than her, they were still within reach. On the other hand, the number of golden grand swordmasters on the Mainland was even fewer than grade-9 sorcerers.

"Sharman, my advancement is not normal. I'm sure you know that learning swordsmanship has nothing to do with talent, but no matter what, even an ordinary person would be able to train up the sword aura within their body in a short time and become a swordsman. As long as one is willing to work hard, becoming a high-level swordmaster is not a problem. I'm slightly more talented so I became a silver grand swordmaster very early on and my understanding of sword aura was deeper than most people. I know that by right, I still need another ten years' of hard work before I can advance into a golden grand swordmaster."

Sharman listened intently. Jola claimed that he was less than thirty years old and he had no reason to lie. In another ten years, he would still be less than forty years old. One must be extremely talented to become a golden grand swordmaster by forty years old.

"Recently, I began to detect signs of a breakthrough for no reason. You should know that I have been spending most of my time training and I have very little time for myself to deepen my understanding of swordsmanship."

"That is impossible!" Sharman thought this was strange too. If one did not need to work hard in order to become a golden grand swordmaster, then the entire world would be full of strong opponents everywhere.

"The fact is as such. I think as long as I have the opportunity, I will be able to advance immediately once I gain a new realization."

"Opportunity?"

"Yes, opportunity. Learning swordsmanship is the same as learning magic, where much knowledge must be gained from daily life. By teaching you swordsmanship and military command, I have been detached from an ordinary lifestyle for too long!" Jola was frustrated.

That was when Sharman realized that the armor that Jola wore was carved with exquisite and beautiful patterns. People of the palace swordsmen battalion wore it only during parades.

"Master Jola, you are planning to give up high-level equipment in order to train on your own based on your own strength?" There was a hint of respect in Sharman's tone. Jola was a hooligan who had recently been beaten up by others for teasing female Caucasus warriors. She could not believe that within such a short time, he had readjusted his mindset to direct his focus onto swordsmanship.

"No. Like I said, realization must come from life. After I had my first woman, I advanced into a silver grand swordmaster very soon. I think in order to advance into a golden grand swordmaster successfully, I need the love of even more women."

"Master Jola, why don't you just go and die?" All the admiration in Sharman's eyes vanished. If not for the fact she might hurt her own foot, she would have kicked Jola.

"What do you know? You are just a little kid. I am going to bring you back to the temple. We will not be overseeing the soldiers' daily training for a month."

"What do you think you are doing?!" Sharman hugged herself and looked at Jola with fear.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Jola mocked. His hands were on his head as he looked helplessly at Sharman.

"Master Jola, what you need is women, but I am still young and the person I like is Brother Saleen!" Sharman shouted so loud that even the soldiers from far away looked over. Jola stretched out his finger that had crushed the wooden stake and waved it in front of Sharman dangerously.

"If you dare to spout such nonsense again, what you just said may very well happen. After all, I was not afraid of snatching away the princess of the Cloudflow Empire. So, don't think you can manipulate me like how you manipulate others!"

Sharman's face turned pale. She had heard of what Jola had done in the past. Back then, she merely thought that this man had nothing better to do; now, she realized how daring Jola could be.

Even though Jola was very handsome, Sharman had no wish to fall for him. Her first time must be given to a man that she loved. This man must not be Jola because he was too much of a flirt. He was also too powerful for her to control.

"Master Jola, I will listen to you." Sharman was resigned to her fate as she stood still on the spot.

"That's the way. Go back to the temple with me. I want to see if you can become a silver grand swordmaster in a month's time."

"A month?!" Sharman's eyes became wide again. It was Jola that they were talking about, but the focus had been shifted onto her. She was on a whole new level of shock.

"Hmm, one month. You have no idea how any people in the temple corp have advanced in the past six months. Almost all of them are now swordmasters. I don't understand the reason behind this trend, but one thing is for sure, their advancement has nothing to do with talent."

While Jola was considering using Sharman as part of his experiment to test his hypothesis, Sika was eating her meal quietly in the temple, under the supervision of more than ten Caucasus warriors.

By right, Sika should be feeling down because she was not allowed to spar with warriors and work out her body, but she was in a good mood at that moment.

That was because she had advanced. Although she was not a Nature Priestess, she had definitely advanced in terms of her combat techniques. The magic beast bone that the winged skeleton had given to her was integrated into her weapon. The magic beast soul had been instantly awakened, giving Sika the power that she had always desired. What made her happiest was that the magic beast soul was of the purest sort that did not possess any berserk powers.

What kind of a bone was it that the moment the war soul within it was awakened, Sika's power increased by tens of times. That was pure power. If Sika was to fight against the giant dragon again, she would not be badly beaten up. Instead, she would be able to go toe to toe with the giant dragon.

It was extremely difficult for an Earth Shaman to advance into a Nature Priestess because Sika started off as a Combat Shaman, so it was more difficult to advance when compared to a Beast Soul Priestess. Once the magic beast in the bone was awakened, there were no longer any obstructions to Sika's path towards advancement though.

The war soul in the corpse of the magic beast obtained from Rafael's magic tower was also completely under control. Since then, Sika had been able to unleash all of her combat abilities, unlike in the past when she was limited by her equipment.

Two magic beast souls could no longer satisfy Sika. She could control a third magic beast soul by then. The third magic beast soul was in the midst of being awakened and was currently kept in Sika's bone necklace.

After the three war souls had been subdued, the children in her womb would be able to control three powerful magic beast souls at birth. They would be able to pick up any techniques of a Priest very quickly.

It was because of that that Sika sat quietly every day in order to develop the magic beast soul.

The Caucasus warriors were concerned for Sika and her children so more than ten warriors of the level of zun grand swordmaster were deployed every day to keep her company. It was because of Sika's advancement that Jola was allowed to leave the temple.

The threat from Alchemy City was insignificant in comparison. If anyone was to be attacked by her close-ranged attack, no magic shields would be able to withstand it. Perhaps a golden grand swordmaster might be able to resist for a while, but a grade-9 sorcerer's physique could not be compared.

Once when the third magic beast woke up, only then would Sika own the ability of ranged attacks. Within the bone necklace was the legacy of an ancient Shaman. The Shaman was only considered to be a middle-level professional long ago, but in their time, the shaman would be almost invincible.