Badge in Azure

“You’ve gotten yourself a ship or something?” Gaine asked, surprised.

“Hell, of course. I’m no death mage. How else am I supposed to get many usable souls in my hands?”

Gaine was able to guess the source of Saleen’s souls right away, as the method of putting warriors to sleep had been very common in ancient times. If the level nine warriors were not sealed and preserved, there would be a lot of side effects to deal with when they were traversing planes.

“Alright. How many years have the warriors been around? If we don’t get to it soon, their souls will probably dissipate soon.” Gaine mumbled to himself and made a rough calculations, finding what Saleen said to be within reason. The warriors sealed with the Ancient were of only level nine. Their bodies would rot after having been around for so long.

If the seals of the ship were not done well, their souls would not have been able to stay around for long.

If the souls were able to be infused within figures, yet not be like how Gaine was at the moment, their souls would dissipate naturally in about another millennium. According to customs of Myers Mainland and even older legends, the souls would revive sooner or later.

That would be better than to stay between life and death like he was at the moment. With those thoughts in his mind, Gaine tore an opening in the space and took out a wooden box.

The box was three feet long, one foot wide, and half a foot thick, looking like a military space box used for storing arrows.

“This is a dimension box. Rare stuff even all those years ago. The box is filled with starline cloth and it’s necessary for crafting figures. You can craft the cloth on your own, and these here are essences. Use some on each of the figure’s head and you’ll be able to store souls. Stay here and chat with me for a month and within the month, I will craft figures for you without rest, how does that sound?”

Saleen extended his hand and put the box away in his Devil Ring. He smiled at Gaine. “Alright, I’ll stay here with you for a month.”

“I mean a month outside,” Gaine added shrewdly.

Saleen was rendered speechless. The passage of time within the astrology tower was different from that outside. According to the grandmaster, the fastest passage of time was over a hundred time faster than it was outside. A month outside, wouldn’t that mean I’d have to spend years here?

Gaine seemed to pick up Saleen’s worries. “I don’t have what it takes to speed up the passage of time here. Time flows ten times faster than it is outside. Stay here for ten months and I’ll advance your astrology proficiency to level ten.”

Gaine continued, seeing Saleen’s reluctant looks, “this is the condition for the exchange. We’ll null our deal before if you find it disagreeable.”

Gaine added after a short pause, “I don’t have too much to give you here. I was able to walk around during my earlier days and then…I became incapable of leaving the tower altogether. As such, it’s imperative that you advance to level ten. You can search around for something you need in the city. If you’re unable to reach level ten as an astrologer, there are many magic arrays, star charts, and elemental creatures out to kill you here.”

Saleen nodded. “Have it your way then. I wouldn’t be able to leave easily anyway.”

Saleen calculated. He spent less than ten days getting there and he would have spent 20 days at most to and fro. If he were to stay in the city for a month, he would have still have 40 days to spare. Furthermore, the astrology tower would be able to serve as a good place for researching magic.

“It’s good you understand,” Gaine said. He took out starline cloth from his space equipment and began crafting figures for Saleen. Saleen needed a lot but astrologers were not tailors. Gaine released his level 18 Star Gathering Needle, which flew in the air and cut up pieces of cloth, sewing the figures at the same time.

Gaine looked like he was having an easy time. Saleen asked, “Are there thunder dragon bones in the imperial city?”

“Thunder dragons? Probably yes. But they’re probably in the palace. What do you need those bones for?”

“To craft a special equipment.”

“If what you need is below level 16, feel free to try your luck at the general’s residence. If you need anything of level 16 and above, you might as well give up. Even though those things might have been bones, you still won’t be able to touch them.”

“Understood. Level 15 would be adequate,” Saleen answered. He was being prompted by what Theisio did. He initially had no intentions of crafting any other equipment, but the family badge needed half a year to charge after being used once, and it was very costly.

He recalled Jalin’s masks, which were capable of dying in her stead, and she had more than one. Saleen was reminded yet again the importance of good gear.

A mage should not rely too much on their equipment, but it was important to not have nothing by their side. If Jalin was not armed with that mysterious mask of hers, she would have been killed by instant death spells. He deemed it necessary to get himself similar equipment.

Gaine asked hastily when he saw Saleen get up, “You’re not going there now, are you?”

“Of course, I’m very busy,” Saleen answered without hesitation.

“Alright, alright, I have level 15 thunder dragon bones with me. Just stay put here and let me tell you about the knowledge of astrologers.”

“I need to craft equipment now. Just talk. I’ll be able to listen to everything.” Saleen did not budge. That old fart just told me that he had nothing. Now that he sees that I’m about to leave, he actually tells me that he has level 15 thunder dragon bones with him.

Saleen should not have blamed Gaine. Astrologers had formidable flight capabilities but, like mages, they feared lightning. As such, Gaine got himself thunder dragon bones to craft flying equipment for his student to prevent them from being killed by lightning, but his student was unlucky enough to have been killed before Gaine was able to craft anything.

The bones were of no use to Gaine. He was a level 18 astrologer and while he still had to be wary of lightning, the possibility of being struck and killed by a stray bolt was zero.

A level 15 thunder dragon was like a god. It was a pity that there were too few thunder dragons reared by humans, and it was difficult to keep them around. The thunder dragon that Gaine was able to get his hands on was exchanged with level 17 equipment.

Astrologers, like mages, valued lineages. Gaine was investing a lot to get the dragon for his student.

Equipment of similar levels would have different effects when different materials were used. The level 17 equipment that Gaine had gotten his hands on to exchange for the thunder dragon, was forged painstakingly after going to great lengths to kill a level 17 god.

While it sounded easy, there were not many gods level 16 and above. Worse still, all of them had been very powerful. Gaine had not been level 18 back then and he needed help from several people to hunt and kill a level 17 god. There was not much to be distributed among them. Gods were as precious to humans as chlorite was to the current Myers Mainland.

Saleen had gotten his hands on the thunder dragon bone remains. The dragon was over 40 meters long and only a place like the astrology tower, where space could be expanded to ridiculous extents, would have been able to house such a huge creature.

Gaine did not argue with Saleen over that. He was not like the grandmaster. If his student had not needed it, he would not have batted an eye at the bones in the first place.

Saleen dismantled the bones of the thunder dragon skillfully. The bones were, surprisingly, flowing with electricity. But Saleen did not need to use his own skills; the pair of gloves that the grandmaster gave him were enough to protect him from any of the bones’ harmful effects.

A level 15 thunder dragon was equal to a lesser god, or maybe still somewhat stronger, as not even gods were completely immune to lightning. Lightning was still very capable of doing damage to the gods.

Saleen’s research said that a level eight thunder dragon would have been able to cast lightning by vibrating their muscles. The pile of level 15 thunder dragon bones, from a creature that had been dead for tens of thousands of years still sparkled with electricity. That was the power of rules. If the dragon had had believers, it would have been able to create a godly kingdom of its own. Its body was of the shape of one such kingdom.

It was a complete set of thunder dragon bones. Saleen carefully took out its huge magic nucleus. That magic nucleus was probably the most mystical one that Saleen had ever laid eyes on. It had a color resembling midnight. Electricity of all sorts of colors shimmered within the core.

Saleen thought for a bit and decided to cut it despite his reluctance. It was level 15 material and he had no way of being able to do anything on his own. He had to ask for help from Gaine.

Gaine never stopped talking throughout the process, imparting Saleen with astrological knowledge while still having enough focus to craft figures and demonstrate skills to Saleen. Saleen handed the magic nucleus to Gaine, who used his needle to cut 24 pieces of equal sizes for Saleen. The core part was nicely preserved and Saleen put it away. He would have put that thing to good use in the future.

A thunder dragon began growing claws when they exceeded level ten. They had strong, thick legs, but they did not resemble the giant dragons much. The body of a thunder dragon looked too much like a snake with horns on them.

Saleen inspected and selected the materials among the pile of bones carefully.

Saleen was also getting familiar to the magic patterns on the bones of the level 15 thunder dragon while he was looking for suitable materials. The lightning magic patterns was over a thousand times more complex than that of a level ten one, but the rules imbued within did not differ all that much.

Saleen only managed to put all those magic patterns on the bones to memory after studying them for three months. For a mage who had formidable mental powers and means of expanding said mental powers over ten times, the speed spoke volumes of the immense complexity of the patterns.

Gaine imparted quite a lot of astrological knowledge to Saleen within those three months. Saleen had no idea that his proficiency at astrology was gradually advancing. Gaine was modifying Saleen’s body at the expense of his own life force, and Saleen knew nothing.

At the same time, Gaine’s speed at crafting the figures exceeded Saleen’s expectations. The level of intricacy and refinement of the figures made them look hardly any different from real people, and Gaine was able to make three within a minute.

That was actually hardly surprising. Gaine was a level 18 astrologer and all the figures that Saleen needed were for housing level nine warriors. The figures would have been enough to ensure the safety of the ancient warriors’ souls, when crafted at level ten strength. It was completely pointless to make the figures too powerful, as it would have made it difficult for the souls of the ancient souls to control the figures.

Saleen was elated to see one figure after another being thrown inside his Devil Ring. The figures were equal to the puppets crafted by mages. When infused with souls of the ancient warriors, their expenditure of constellation power would be minimal. At the very least, he no longer had to worry about Grand Duke Iron Blood. No matter how strong Grand Duke Iron Blood and Imposa became, there was no way they could control a ship full of warriors.

Then there was Theisio. He would have no choice but to run if the ancient figures were to gang up on him, right?

Saleen had no idea that ancient astrologers would not have crafted so many low level figures. They were unable to control so many at the same time, and they would not have killed elite soldiers and used the soldiers’ souls in such ways.