Badge in Azure

Ancient warriors that were controlled by Eternal Control Shards were the most powerful, as they were several times stronger than figures and Iron Blood warriors. However, any damage they happened to suffer was completely irreparable.

If the damages were severe enough, the ancient warriors were as good as dead. The figures, on the other hand, could be repaired as long as their souls were intact, which would then allow Saleen to return the damaged ones to full combat capacity by using his Star Gathering Needle.

This was similar to the difference between scrolls and magic books. While scrolls were cheap, they could only be used once, whereas magic books could be used repeatedly. As for high level magic books, they were so powerful that they were basically indestructible!

“Sir, thank you,” Saleen thanked Gaine solemnly.

The fact that he used the word “sir” was a special honor, as it was only one rank below the rank and title of “teacher.” The reason why Saleen used this term was to make Gaine understand that Saleen could never become a pure astrologer, as well as to show Saleen’s respect for Gaine.

“Since you’ll still be here for another month, it’s best that you learn some astrology while you’re you’re here. At least go and learn about the meanings of the star charts. Otherwise, you won’t be of much help to me,” Gaine said, while showing no emotion.

Gaine was calm, as he was able to tell from Saleen’s fate that the young man’s achievement could be higher than his, as long as the young man was capable of reaching his current age.

The crossing of two fates happened right inside the Imperial City of the Abyss. If Gaine were to acquire his freedom in the future, he planned to immediately break through the crystal wall and head to the higher worlds. He thought… If Saleen reached level 18, he would still need at least tens of thousands of years, even if his fate is a very good one, right?

Saleen was able to sense Gaine’s intentions, and he felt it all to be a pity as well. After all, Gaine was the most powerful person he had ever seen. Yet, even someone who was so powerful could be trapped within a figure and held within the astrology tower.

“It’s okay, Saleen. There’s nothing to be sad about.” Gaine paused, then continued, “You should be feeling rather irritated after spending nine months talking to me. But, we had a deal that you’d be here for ten months and I’d craft you a magic staff during the last month. You need to advance the defense spell that you’re most versed in to level ten. It’s imperative that you store three level ten defense spells within the staff.”

“Indeed,” Saleen agreed.

He then sat down, beginning to plan how to upgrade his Water Shield.

His temperament was one the common one among pure mages. They were able to put everything aside to make way for their training.

He might have obtained the Figure of Fate, but that was reserved for keeping him alive if he was to run into the strongest of enemies. As such, he had only relied on the level seven Water Shield for his defense in most other cases.

The level seven Water Shield was capable of defending himself against level nine magic due to its having a sliver of power of rules, and thus far, Saleen had been content with it. However, from the looks of things at the moment, it was now far from adequate.

But, since he had the Thunder Dragon Blaster, it made sense that his enemy would have similar equipment as well, and if he was to run into enemies that possessed such powerful equipment, he would certainly be in grave danger.

Gaine finished crafting a magic staff for Saleen as he was still deep in thought about advancing his spells. There was no magic staff within the Starline Armament, as even the original Devil Armament did not have one.

Saleen had many magic staffs, all of which were given to him by Joey. From Saleen’s perspective, the staffs were but scrolls, which were capable of repeated use and as such, but were hardly precious.

The magic staff that Gaine crafted for Saleen was much more heavy. The staff was one head taller than Saleen, and it was crafted from a material that was shining with silver starlight throughout.

Gaine had only used astrological arts to conceal the starlight when he was about to finish crafting it, thus making it look a dull green. The tip of the staff was hollow, and it had six holes in it.

Something of unknown translucent material that was shining with thin blue light was embedded at the center. It looked like water or some sort of gel, like the liquids that belonged to some kind of magic beast.

Saleen went into his training state and paid no heed to Gaine, not even listening to a word that the old man was saying. Gaine felt rather bored and went to look at the Winged Skull, who had been silent for the past nine months.

“What’s your name?” Gaine asked.

“Bing,” he replied.

“What weapon are you using?” Gaine asked.

The Winged Skull took out his battleaxe and flail. Gaine took a look at them, but felt rather indifferent about them. Although the weapons had good thoughts put into their crafting processes and their materials were decent, they were not really powerful.

“Hand it over. I’ll craft two things for you that will last you a lifetime,” Gaine said, while still feeling bored. Still, he had to admit that the Winged Skull had made a pretty good choice, given that Saleen was unavailable for the moment.

“My lifetime will be a very long one.” The Winged Skull was telling the truth. As a king of spirits, he would be able to live tens of thousands of years.

“How about this?” Gaine asked as took out a huge scythe.

The scythe was almost entirely black, with only its blade having a tinge of dark silver on it. The silver flames that were used for disguise within the Winged Skull’s eyes were snuffed out the very moment the scythe was presented, thus exposing the human-like pupils in his sockets.

“That belonged to a god of the underworld!” the Winged Skull gasped and exclaimed.

“Indeed. When I was young, I happened to slay a god of the underworld, then took his weapon. As this isn’t something an ordinary human can use, I never give it away,” Gaine explained.

“This is not an equal exchange.” The Winged Skull hesitated.

Attributes aside, the axe’s quality of material was far inferior to the scythe’s. Also, a god of the underworld’s weapon usually disappeared when they perished, yet the huge scythe had survived. Thus, it would probably be very difficult to find an item comparable to it’s value, regardless of which plane one went to.

“You’re not a mage, and there are still 20 days or so for you left here. So, just stay and chat,” Gaine said.

“Alright.” The Winged Skull finally took the Reaper Scythe.

The huge scythe was considerably longer than his axe. The Winged Skull acted as if his soul flames were touched directly by the light of a god as soon as he picked the scythe up. It was so painful that he had to let go if it right away.

Gaine laughed and said, “Oh, you hasty pile of bones! You won’t even be able to even take hold of this thing if I don’t do something about it.”

The Winged Skull knew he was being played, but he was unable to do anything about it. The difference in power between him and Gaine was simply too great, greater than one between an ant and a dragon!

Gaine, of course, had no intentions of toying with the Winged Skull, as he knew that the Winged Skull was immensely loyal to Saleen. Hence, it was important to craft a weapon for him in order to keep Saleen alive so that the mage was able to continue searching for a Star Gathering Needle for him.

Gaine took the huge axe that belonged to the Winged Skull in his hand and studied it for a bit. He then melted the axe with starlight and extracted the refined rules, which were then thrown into the Reaper Scythe.

Complex and compact death magic patterns suddenly appeared on the scythe, while two huge, eye-shaped magic arrays appeared at the top of the scythe. That was where the Winged Skull had been storing death magic!

Gaine did not tell the Winged Skull that the Reaper Scythe actually contained a god and its kingdom, as the Reaper Scythe was something that a god of the underworld materialized using his will. Once the god perished, the weapon would dissipate as well.

The gods of the underworld were not actually as powerful as most gods were, but their numbers were massive and they were almost immune to death. As such, killing a level 15 god of the underworld was more difficult than killing other gods at level 16.

As Gaine and the Winged Skull chatted, he found the Winged Skull to not be as boring as he had first thought. Besides, there were no other living beings to talk to him, as Gaine had been alone in the astrology tower for a long time.

A month passed quickly before Saleen finally awakened, feeling that his body had become incredibly weak. After all, a level nine mage still had to eat, and Saleen felt that he was near death after not eating and drinking for a month.

He gulped down two bottles of magic liquid and gave a bitter smile. Such needs were being taken care of when he was in his temple back home. Mistakes like this would never have happened when he trained there!

However, this experience proved to be a good thing, as Saleen had found that his fear about going hungry had all but disappeared. This had been a psychological fear that Saleen had never gotten over, even after becoming a mage.

He had been hungry too often when he was young, which had prompted him to stock large amounts of food within his space equipment all of the time, even to this day. At the moment, Saleen even felt the feeling of hunger to be a familiar, heartwarming one instead of one that was terrifying.

“Saleen, you can go now. Put the matter of the grandmaster trying to do you harm aside for the moment,” Gaine said.

“Indeed, sir. Even if I were to reach the height where the grandmaster is now, I would still spare him once,” Saleen replied.

“Oh? And why is that?” Gaine asked.

“When one wants to gain something, they must pay a price equal to what they yearn for. While the grandmaster wanted to do me harm, he nonetheless helped me a lot,” Saleen replied.

Gaine was silent for a moment before he said, “I understand. You’re a mage. Leave now. You can come back when you’ve advanced to level ten, then I’ll help you advance to become a level ten astrologer. You will then be able to enter and leave the palace of the city as you please.”

“Thank you.” Saleen thanked him again.

Gaine had refrained from advancing Saleen to level ten out of respect for his choice. If the level of his proficiency at astrology was to exceed that of his proficiency at magic, it would have affected his advancement greatly, so much so that Saleen might have switched to train in astrology and given up learning magic altogether.

“Also, there is no need for you to hunt in the city, as those figures will be able to take care of your troubles. Everything in the Imperial City of the Abyss is cursed by fate,” Gaine reminded Saleen.

“I know. I will leave at once,” Saleen assured him.

“Good,” Gaine said as he unleashed a burst of starlight from his hand, which enveloped Saleen and the Winged Skull within it.

He then tore the space before him with his bare hands, while chucking Saleen and the Winged Skull into it. Soon after Saleen the Winged Skull were thrown through the space portal, the pair arrived right outside the city.

Saleen chuckled bitterly. Gaine had acted too quickly.

Saleen had intended to actually wander around the city for a bit to see if there were any new angels of fear or the like to be found, as he was wanting to take care of them using his Thunder Dragon Blaster. The War Drum of Fear was also a piece of handy equipment. At the very least, it proved exceptionally useful against common troops, as that drum allowed him to take on an army numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

When he beat the drum, the enemy was forced to send out the absolute strongest warriors to fight him. The battle would have otherwise ended up with him coming out on top, without a doubt.

As Saleen thought about this, he had to admit inwardly… But, then again, Gaine has a point. What I need now is to arm my armies with something like a mid level magic nucleus. However, now that he had things like magic power furnaces in his possession, Saleen’s need for a high level magic nucleus was no longer as strong as it had been before.

“Bing, a month has already passed here. I guess Nicholas must be exhausted by now,” Saleen said.

“That old guy…” The Winged Skull stopped before he said anything further, while he wondered… Why have I started to sound like Nailisi?

“My liege! My liege!” Saleen and the Winged Skull suddenly heard Nicholas’ call.

Saleen scanned the place with his Elemental Eye and found Nicholas wearing a distraught look, while keeping guard over a huge magic beast’s remains and using divine arts to unleash sound waves.

Nicholas was probably about 80 miles away from there, and it was clear that there was new scars on his face. It looked like he had fought a battle, and a very perilous one at that!