Badge in Azure

The more Saleen was into his research, the more he came to value Hogina. Hogina’s schematics showed her formidable understanding of elemental conversion. Saleen probably did not even have such a strong foundation when he was at level six.

The equipment looked like an improved version of magic stone cannons, but the cannons were projectile-based equipment, with their damage potential entirely reliant on the power of the physical shots, and the force behind the shots being fired was far from being qualified as attacks.

Hogina’s equipment, however, fired icicles with huge impact and came with targeting abilities. Furthermore, its targeting abilities resembled those used in divine spells. While it was easy for targets to escape, its level requirements had been made far looser.

For instance, Saleen now had a strong soul, which enabled him to target level nine beings, but his ability to target level ten ones was far inferior to Nailisi’s Grey Memory. Nailisi’s Grey Memory could easily lock onto level ten professionals, even the level 13 Divine Baby, when all six of the weapon’s eyes were opened.

The equipment also had glaring weaknesses. First of all, it was expensive to craft. While Saleen was able to provide better materials, he would not be able to arm his armies with it, unless some far cheaper substitute materials were found.

Next, the weapon needed a half an hour to cool down after being used once. Even when done, the magic arrays within the six miniaturized barrels required frequent maintenance and redrawing. The drawing of magic arrays within such tiny barrels required mages of at least level six grand mage.

Finally, the targeting method. A crystal was embedded between the six miniaturized barrels, which was used for targeting by being linked to another crystal glass film. The glass film indicated if the target was locked onto. A mage would be able to save a lot of mental power using such equipment, but common folk would almost never be able to lock onto the intended target.

If the level of the target was too high, the targeting system would look faulty. At the very least, Saleen had many ways to undo such magic targeting methods.

The strength of the equipment lay within its incredible damage potential. It might have been only a level six piece of magic equipment, but its attacks easily packed damage potential of level eight magic. When Saleen was at level six, the highest damage he was able to do was level seven, yet Hogina’s equipment allowed her attacks to be two levels higher than she was. It could be said that Hogina was one of the geniuses in the history of alchemy for being able to design such a piece of equipment.

The cost for firing the icicles were small, and most of it lay with having to continuously repair the equipment and redraw the magic arrays used. It also required the user to be at least a grand mage. Furthermore, a level six one.

Saleen had ways to make the equipment usable by common folk, but its cost of manufacture would skyrocket. Saleen’s stock of materials would enable him to only manufacture them in a limited production manner.

But they were still quite a distance away from Golden Plains, so Saleen took multiple materials out of his Devil Ring and began crafting a new piece of equipment.

Hogina put the schematics away and watched seriously from the sides. While there was no way she could use Water Flame like Saleen did, she would still be able to learn some tricks and techniques of sorcerers, which would come in handy in the future.

Saleen took out seven horns of a single-horned white whale and threw them into the Water Flame. The Water Flame controlled the materials, tempering and compressing them. Six were turned into thin barrels with elvish magic patterns carved within. Floating magic arrays could be drawn on those magic patterns, which would facilitate easy repair while making them more resistant to wear and tear. The horn in the middle turned into the hundreds of complex components drawn on the schematics, linking the six miniaturized barrels together.

Hogina had used too many types of materials, and Saleen used only one. It was not to say that he was better at material use; it was just that he was too rich at the moment not to. The single-horned white whales were something that not even Alchemy City mages would be able to hunt. Saleen, on the other hand, went straight to the Imperial City of the Abyss, where such horns were found everywhere in the city.

The barrels created from the six whale horns made it a breeze for firing level six magic, as they were able to withstand even the strain of level ten spells. The essence of said whales lay not within their magic nuclei, but in their horns.

Hogina was unable to understand without an Elemental Eye. It was incredibly difficult for Saleen to compress such huge horns into essentially a tube over a meter long.

She grew more impressed seeing Saleen skillfully crafting elvish magic patterns. There were few elvish magic spells left behind in all of Myers Mainland, and there was not a single mage other than Saleen capable of crafting such magic patterns.

She then saw something that surprised her even more. Saleen took out a piece of chlorite and ice island rock and attached them to the seventh horn. The rocks served as targeting devices. Hogina was only using amethyst, but Saleen used gems that were considered rather precious even during ancient times instead.

It would be more than just a waste if the piece of equipment ended up only being capable of casting level six spells; it would be a glaring example of profligacy.

The tiny components that held the six barrels together were split apart within the Water Flame and recombined, melding the chained magic patterns that Hogina designed together. This process itself would cost more time than all the alchemical steps before combined.

Saleen finally began to add his own design into it. Hogina’s design was the limit of that comprehensible by a grand mage. While the equipment was capable of attacks comparable to level eight magic, it was still too complex in terms of use of elemental powers. Crafting magic patterns within the insides of alchemical materials was something that sorcerers would do instead.

The Water Flame used super low temperatures to alter the structure of the materials, resulting in stability over a hundred times than what was crafted using high temperatures. It was due to such reasons that Water Flame Alchemy earned Hogina’s envy. If she was able to learn the technique, her crafted products would last tens of times longer than they would otherwise.

When the equipment finally came to be, there was a hole seen from behind. The six miniaturized barrels were arranged around that hole. Saleen stuck his hand into the hole, which enabled him to firmly hold the handle within. The equipment seemed to be an extension of his arm, melding perfectly with Saleen’s body.

The white equipment was filled with pale green magic patterns. The six barrels that circled Saleen’s arms had magic arrays at their ends, enabling magic nuclei to be embedded independently of each other. The ones used were level 12 magic nuclei, which Saleen had the most of in his stock.

Saleen pulled down the mask of his Devil Armament. Golden lightning runes shot from his eyes. He used the Eye of Lightning to craft magic arrays on the crystal pans of the mask, which were linked to the set of gems used for targeting on the equipment he currently had with him.

Hogina’s design was too perfect, as it enabled mages to use the piece of equipment at a negligible cost in terms of powers.

It was a pity that such a piece of equipment was unable to be mass produced. If Saleen was to use seven whale horns to make one, he would be able to arm 14 sorcerers with such equipment. It was quite a pity that he was only able to make one for his own use. Even if the damage potential was indeed great, it still proved rather costly.

“Master, try it out for a bit.” The Winged Skull took control of the spirit false dragon and flew close to a rocky mountain. Saleen fired an icicle from a barrel. There were hollowed rocky substances on the shell of the icicle, clouding it in mist and emanating high temperatures, looking as if it was about to combust at any moment.

Hogina needed to fire six shots to keep the damage potential consistent. Saleen was capable of making a hole of over two meters in diameter at the mountain quite a distance away by shooting only one icicle. The hole was tens of meters deep.

Saleen was dumbfounded himself. This is a level nine spell! He had expected to be able to cast a level nine spell just by changing the magic patterns and arrays. Furthermore, it did not cost his magic chords at all.

What was even better was that a three-dimensional image appeared on the crystal pane on his Devil Mask when he was about to attack, depicting the location he aimed at. When the image was locked in place by a circle, he cast the spell and hit the target without him even using mental powers to keep his shot controlled.

Saleen knew well that it was not feasible when dealing with level nine professionals., but his enemies were not always humans. There were also level nine creatures with very limited intelligence, and the equipment would work very well against them.

He went to check on the magic nucleus and found only a tiny bit of energy was expended. If the shot was powered by a level nine magic nucleus, it would probably cost him only half of its reserves, which meant that the energy expenditure was halved.

Saleen checked the internal parts of the equipment, finding the floating magic arrays gone. The attack was too fast. A floating magic array that was not backed by high level materials disappeared with a single use. Even when used with elvish magic patterns and a level 12 magic nucleus, about three minutes were still required to restore the magic array.

A restoration period of three minutes seemed like a fair improvement, as it was a lot faster than the half hour required by Hogina’s.

“Saleen, you’re an alchemical genius!” Hogina praised from the bottom of her heart.

Saleen smiled. “Hogina, it’s you who is the genius. I was only mimicking your thought. Furthermore, mine is even more expensive. If a level nine magic nucleus was used instead, it would be emptied with just two attacks.”

Hogina clicked her tongue. A level nine magic nucleus embedded on a miniaturized magic array and can only be used twice? What a waste indeed! That is a standard size magic nucleus we’re talking about after all!

“The strength of this thing is very apparent, having a range of probably over ten miles. Even true level nine magic spells hardly have attacks of such a range.” Saleen was very excited at the moment. If only this thing had no weakness. Oh well, the world of magic is about balance after all.

The equipment would be capable of attacking something over ten miles away, but it would be almost impossible to lock onto an enemy. It performed best when attacking fixed targets. With something like this, Saleen no longer needed to fear the likes of catapults when defending his cities. He had practically became a mobile magic cannon.

However, if he were to deal with Cloudflow warships, the thing in his hand would pale compared to magic cannons. Saleen put his newly crafted equipment away with a sigh, still thinking of ways of improving it.

“Saleen, how about you name the equipment.”

Saleen answered nonchalantly, “Hogina’s Gun it is then.”

Hogina felt very happy. Saleen had modified it and made it even more complete, yet it was still her who had painstakingly designed it. With Saleen naming the equipment after her, anyone who used the weapon in future would remember that on that very plane, there had been a powerful alchemist named Hogina.