Badge in Azure

Saleen shook Jalin off and had no intentions of bringing Hogina with him either. However, he had different reasons for doing so. Hogina was very important to him. The young alchemist was ill-suited for adventures and her level was still too low.

Saleen wrote a letter to Lex right after he returned to Metatrin City, telling her to do whatever it took to hold Jalin back for three months. He then took the Winged Skull and Nicholas on his journey.

Saleen did not bring many with him, and Sika stayed behind in Metatrin City. For safety reasons, Saleen flew above the sea in his Magical Element Tower.

There was a limit to how far mages were able to fly, but the Magical Element Tower was powered by magic power furnaces, which meant range was not a problem. As they had precise coordinates, Saleen was able to take the tower at its maximum speed all the way north.

The tower’s magic power furnaces were turned to their full power and the speed achieved exceeded 200 miles per hour. Saleen knew the specifications of his tower well, knowing that he would not need to put up any magic defenses even if they were to run into powerful magic beasts. At the very least, there would not be any magic beast of such levels of power appearing on Myers Mainland for the next three for five years.

The terrain of the Oceanic Ice Block was not parallel with that of Myers Mainland and there were few points of entry available. Saleen flew along the route he had opened up earlier. The trip took over a week and they rested twice along the way before reaching the outskirts of the icy place, turning to fly east instead.

While the tower was capable of moving underwater, its speed was considerably reduced.

Saleen unleashed elemental creatures from within the Magical Element Tower to help him keep the tower in control, but he was unable to make time to train.

Level nine was not the peak. After Saleen saw what Theisio was capable of, he knew that if he were to not advance further soon, his chances of surviving whatever was to come later would be very slim. The way the pope was looking at him was how one looked at a dead man.

When Saleen was on bad terms with Fycro, the shrewd holy master was simply using him. Theisio, on other hand, sent chills down Saleen’s spine just thinking about him. He even doubted if his family badge would have been able to take out the Origin Stone of Darkness.

Saleen was only able to enter the Oceanic Ice Block by tracking a single-horned white whale on his first trip here. Gaine had provided Saleen with a set of better coordinates when he left, negating the need to navigate through the twisty undersea tunnels and enabling him to reach the outskirts of the Imperial City of the Abyss right away.

Saleen knew that time was short. As such, he left Nicholas behind and gave him a dimension stone, tasking the fallen holy master to collect as many magic beast bone remains as possible outside the imperial city. Most of the remains were corroded by seawater, enough to turn to dust with just a single touch. Any materials that were able to survive would have been ideal materials even to mages of ancient times.

Saleen put the Magical Element Tower away and leapt through two city walls with the Winged Skull. No elemental creatures would do him harm due to having the badge the grandmaster gave him. Saleen headed straight for the astrology tower after entering the city.

The badge he had gotten from the grandmaster would not do him much good inside the city. Even so, Saleen was reluctant to take out the Magical Element Tower. It was crafted by the grandmaster. While he had dismantled all traps found within, but Saleen knew that the old mage’s senses had no connection with those magic arrays. The grandmaster would have known about his presence as soon as the Magical Element Tower shows up within the city.

Based on how the grandmaster acted, he would have probably been taken away if he found Saleen in the city.

Theisio, who was a level ten professional, had put immense stress on Saleen, making him think of ways to advance as soon as possible. The Lord of Glory was a level 15 being and the grandmaster was at level 16. Worse still, the old mage had had reached level 17.

Beyond level 12, the difference in levels would be very different with how the levels were differentiated in the current Myers Mainland. Saleen had experienced the Divine Baby’s power first hand. She had a frail body, yet her attacks were irresistibly powerful due solely because she had mastered rules.

Saleen now knew that there were no traps at the front of the astrology tower. That was because that place was in Gaine’s control. Gaine did not care about the rear, and that made it very dangerous. The grandmaster had wanted to test his abilities back, and the grandmaster seemed to not have paid any heed to whether he would have ended up dead or not.

Saleen was able to tell from that fact alone that the ghosts at the Cemetery of Heroes were not actually united in thought.

All that was going through Saleen’s mind as he took the Winged Skull to approach the astrology tower from the front.

However, a beam of starlight burst through the floor and encased both Saleen and the Winged Skull before they were able to get near, sending them both directly into the tower. The move had been pulled so quickly that Saleen was unable to sense anything. The Winged Skull was able to sense it, but they were unable to react in time regardless.

“Saleen, we meet again. So you want to be a level ten astrologer now?”

Gaine appeared before Saleen. If Saleen did not know that the old astrologer was actually possessing the body, anyone who saw him would have thought that they were seeing a living person.

“Not yet, but I ran into some trouble and if I did not come ask you for help, I probably wouldn’t be able to return next time.” Saleen looked around and got himself a chair to sit on. The Winged Skull was not kicked out this time, and they remained standing behind Saleen.

“Not bad, you’ve already advanced to level four despite not having left for long.” Gaine’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Saleen with a smile, like he had found a rare gem.

Saleen was shocked deep down to find that the Star Gathering Needle was capable of checking one’s levels. However, he paid no heed to astrology and had always thought that his powers at astrology was only level two. It was not a good thing to not know that one had advanced. Did Gaine do something to my body or whatever?

Saleen were having all those thoughts in his head yet nothing was seen on his expression.

“I don’t see very grave dangers in your fate, Saleen. But, fate is never immutable. Tell me, what kind of help would you need of me?”

“I want to learn how to create figures.” Saleen looked at Gaine, who smiled. “You’ll get to learn it when you advance to level ten.”

“I need to learn it now and I need two that can be used for research. Two figures of considerable levels.” Saleen knew things about astrologers. Before the astrologers craft their figures, they had samples gifted from their teachers from research purposes.

“I don’t recall having such a clause in our agreement.” Gaine looked rather troubled. “I remember mages say something rather pretentious, something about equivalent exchange?”

“We shall drop the pretenses then. Tell me, what would you want in return?” Saleen knew that there was no way Gaine would agree to do work for him for free, even though the reward might actually prove worthless to Gaine.

“You need to know that you’ve yet to fulfill some promises, Saleen.”

“You can talk to me about that when I’m dead,” Saleen retorted angrily. Has this old fart gone nuts? If I’m unable to make it through this and end up getting killed by Theisio, he would probably not be able to get another to help him find the Star Gathering Needle.

No grave dangers in my fate? Looking back, I’ve been able to survive to this day due to miracle after miracle happening to me. If it had been someone else, they would’ve died many times over.

“Well, there is no need to get angry. What you’ve requested would definitely need to be decent equipment. I can get you anything at level 12 or 13, but I think nothing below level 15 would be of much use in your case. You’d come back to me soon enough if I were to be cheap.”

Saleen suppressed his anger when he heard that and asked slowly, “what level of figures would you be able to give me then?”

Gaine extended his hand. “The Star Gathering Needle that I gave you?”

Saleen took out the level 12 Star Gathering Needle. Gaine put it away and took out a longer one and handed it to Saleen, saying, “This is a level 16 needle with ample power of the stars in it. It’s easy to craft figures, as you’d simply need good materials and methods of putting power of the stars within them. To achieve perfect results with that, you’d need the help of a Star Gathering Needle.”

“Could the figure hold a human soul? The last time I went back, I ran into an enemy…” Saleen placed the figure that he had taken from Van Gogh in front of Gaine.

Gaine looked. “A figure that was controlled using divine arts is actually one that has the power of souls put into it. Adherents wouldn’t be able to even activate the figures otherwise. But Saleen, don’t you think doing so would be bad? The soul within a figure would be unable to feel pain, but they would be unable to feel joy as well. They wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t enjoy anything.”

Gaine’s words had a lot of thought in it. He had been living for too long. Such continuation of life was akin to the most brutal of tortures. He thought that Saleen was intending to use figures as weapons of war, and wanted to do so using souls of common folk.

Gaine had no compassion for common folk. He was simply feeling sorry for himself.

“I’d need it done one way or another. Our fates are still linked for the time being, no?” Saleen was in no mood for small talk with Gaine. A person like him that had been living for too long would always be one with mental problems. Admittedly, Saleen would never be able to bear such pain. Him, living all alone in the astrology tower, for tens, even hundreds of thousands of years.

“It is ,indeed. Don’t you want to make something for your subordinate?” Gaine pointed at the Winged Skull standing behind him.

“I would like to if it’s free.”

“Forget about it then. You really are a cheapskate.” Gaine liked talking to Saleen like that. He had been getting bored in the tower. Even though an astrologer was able to craft all manners of weird things just like a mage, even those imbued with life, they had no ways of getting rid of the loneliness.

At such moments, Gaine felt deep hatred for the ghosts in the Cemetery of Heroes. He hated them for having company, yet none of his own peers were able to survive.

Such was the price of freedom, and now, he no longer felt free. Gaine had no way of leaving the astrology tower, just like the ghosts were trapped in their graves.

Saleen did not mind listening to Gaine yap away. Gaine had been stuck there for too long and just wanted to have someone to talk to, and that alone was a reward of some kind.

Gaine took out two figures the size of a human hand and gave them to Saleen. “This is what my teacher gave me all those years ago. They have been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years. You can have them, as they simply remind me of how sad I am now, keeping them around. Advance another level in astrology and you’ll be able to look into the figures and learn how to craft them. Of course, I can also do it how you mages do it, stuffing the memory in your brain, but that would be harmful to you.”

“What about the way to infuse souls?” Saleen took the figures.

“Saleen, those two figures were of a level that was very rare throughout the mainland all those years ago. You’ll be able to learn everything from them.”

“Gaine, I have tens of thousands of souls in my hands and they’re about to die. I don’t have time to waste!”