Badge in Azure

Saleen decided to cross the Red River to Cloudflow-controlled territory.

A level 11 divine spell had plunged the combat capacities of everyone around Saleen to rock bottom. Saleen had no intentions of acting on impulse and running into the other two head inquisitors.

But Saleen did not know that the head inquisitors were at the south of the Red River, negotiating with the Cloudflow people.

Nailisi put her 12 Notes of First Purgatory away and dispatched two supreme demons to look for the Crystal Skull that Saleen’s family badge had thrown. However, the group was unable to find the godly item even after searching for hours.

Saleen dared not stay any longer. He saw no other option but to head south and make for the south of Titan.

The Titan Duchy consisted mostly of mountains, with the flatlands concentrated in the west. The Red River was peculiar. The source of the river was less than 200 miles from the sea, but it flowed eastward into the center of the mountains, before splitting into two streams.

One flowed to Separation Sea, making it an inland river, and the other flowed to Cloudflow, cutting through the nation and flowing into the sea.

The river that Saleen was about to cross was the inland river flowing to Separation Sea. The one that flowed towards Cloudflow was known as the Red River, also known as the Chishui River.

There were not any golden-armored knights harassing them along the way, which eased Saleen quite a bit. While everyone else sustained injuries that were quite severe, Saleen himself was simply worn out and had not sustained any serious damage.

Nailisi’s forms were all in top fighting shape, so there was no worry of attacks from magic beasts.

Saleen had also crudely infused with some power of faith into Eleanor’s Seven Nights longbow, which enabled it to use skills. Mages were reluctant to use the power of faith like that, but for elves, such power was purer than the power of life.

The power of faith of adherents was, after all, essence coalesced by giving their lives.

The terrain gradually turned flat. Nailisi summoned even more demons and had them serve as escorts. Eleanor kept to the skies and monitored everything below.

Saleen chose a valley and had everyone take a break.

“We’ll stay here to recuperate for half a month before moving forward. We’ll stop going by foot; we’ll head straight for our destination through the river instead.

“Through the river?” Don was the only one who did not get what Saleen meant.

“Indeed. The river is rather deep, about 20 meters deep. Traveling along its depths will be easier than going on land. I’ll craft equipment for the coming two weeks, allowing everyone to move underwater.”

A river with a depth of 20 meters was definitely not shallow. The Holy See had quite a number of bird-type magic beasts, which made it easy for them to monitor their territories. Saleen’s party would be easily discovered if they made their journey by foot, which would lead them to clash with powerful ones from the Tribunal.

It would be fine if they were still in Qin territory, but the place they were in was filled with people from the Holy See. If they were to sustain damage, it would make escape very difficult.

Saleen also needed the break to buy some time for repairing his Figure of Fate.

His fight with the great head inquisitor had only lasted a couple of minutes, but it exhausted all of Saleen’s tricks. If it had not been for the Figure of Fate, Saleen would have died.

Dark prophecy spells were not divine arts in a conventional sense. Such spells were capable of ignoring most defensive equipment and hit the intended target. Saleen’s Figure of Fate was crafted personally by Gaine. The materials used for its crafting exceeded the ones used for crafting the Starline Armament.

Saleen distributed large numbers of alchemy crossbows to the demons. The crossbows were all medium-sized, and humans were only able to use them by mounting them on chariots. However, it was man-portable in the hands of the demons.

The purple-gold solutions that Saleen carried with him were given to the demons to apply on their own. Bolts with the solution applied would enable them to penetrate most armor and magical equipment. The weapons were just as lethal to holy masters’ equipment.

The demons set up defenses all over the valley, while Saleen had the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers build a stone house in the middle.

Saleen summoned his Figure of Fate. The figure sat before Saleen, identical to him in almost every way. The figure was naked, and there were harrowing injuries all over it, which split it into eight parts.

If it had not been for the remaining power of the stars holding the pieces together, the Figure of Fate would be mere fragments.

Saleen took out his level 19 Star Gathering Needle and began sewing up the damaged parts of the figure. The gashes were pitch black, a sign of lingering powers of the dark prophecy spell.

The black energy was gradually absorbed, destroyed, and dissipated as the needle was put to work.

Saleen rested for an hour. The potent powers of the dark prophecy spell had Saleen on high alert. If any of the black energies latched onto him, his resulting injuries would be more severe than those of his people.

If he had to resort to using magical means to dispel the dark prophecy spell instead of the Star Gathering Needle, it was anyone’s guess how long it would take. The difference in level could only be bridged by using equipment.

Saleen’s current level of mental powers had been expanded more than ten times, yet it would take him a week to repair the Figure of Fate. He had no means of using greater constellation powers.

If it had not been for the fact that the needle was of sufficient level, as well as the fact that the level 19 needle had an eerie trait of being able to use certain power of rules, there would be little Saleen could do.

Of course, he could go to Gaine to get the Figure of Fate repaired. However, the time used for making a trip to the Imperial City of the Abyss and back would far exceed the time required using the level 19 Star Gathering Needle.

The valley was quiet for six days. No enemies approached them. Saleen took to the skies every day to scan with his Elemental Eye. If anything peculiar was found within a hundred miles radius, he would have to move immediately.

Saleen inquired about his followers. Both Sul and Jola required continued healing. Nicholas had also gotten very worn out having to dispel the damage of the dark prophecy spell for both of them with his lesser prophecy spell every day.

It was fortunate that he had taken the opportunity to absorb the souls of the 12 adjudicators, which prevented the power of his Scepter of the Fallen from plummeting.

Sika was still in her best condition; it was her weapon that was tainted, but she suffered no damage. The magic beast soul in her weapon had taken the beating in her place. Furthermore, a magic beast soul had special properties that made them different from normal souls.

The curse properties of the dark prophecy spell were unable to be used on the magic beast soul. However, the soul was encased by a tainted weapon, preventing it from providing more power to Sika.

Don suffered external injuries, which were gradually healed using Saleen’s magic liquid. Nicholas refused to heal him, as Don’s injuries would leave no permanent damage.

Jola and Sul, on the other hand, required thorough healing without cutting down their lifespan, which proved to be very tricky.

Saleen could not sit idly by. Jola and Sul needed at least another eight days to heal. He took the time to craft needed equipment.

Saleen took out a 15 meter-long thunder dragon hide. The thunder dragon hide was a complete piece. All Saleen needed to do was simply to craft several spaces within, enabling him and his people to stay within.

He used the hide to wrap a bone structure. Saleen had looked into the complete bone structure of the thunder dragons, so it proved to be an easy feat. The ones that he had studied had claws, so Saleen added claws outside the hide, enabling the equipment to move by crawling.

All of that proved to be the simplest tasks at hand. The only notable thing he created was the starlines etched on the thunder dragon hide.

The addition of starlines enabled the giant snake-like equipment to be difficult to detect using divine arts.

Saleen needed to craft quite a number of equipment. The semi-godly item left behind by the dark double, the square shield, was made into a shield suitable for Nailisi. The shield was adjustable in size. Needless to say, its defensive properties were formidable.

High-frequency level nine magic attacks were unable to scratch or dent the shield.

There were quite a lot of issues to look into. Saleen found that it was difficult to use the elemental badges within area-of-effect territories. His Starline Bangle, on the other hand, was unaffected.

The levels of the elemental badges were rather low, but they proved essential. As long as the elemental creatures were still around, the magic powers available to Saleen would grow by several times.

For instance, a large scale Icicle spell. Saleen was able to freeze and produce more than 3000 icicles with the help of the elemental creatures, enabling him to attack in tens of rounds.

His Thunder Dragon Blaster was entirely unaffected, and territorial skills were not able to seal his Eye of Lightning. Saleen knew that if he were able to craft a sufficient number of Thunder Dragon Blasters and put them in his Starline Bangle, his combat capacity would increase over a dozen times.

However, the windpipe of a thunder dragon was required for crafting a Thunder Dragon Blaster. A thunder dragon only had one windpipe, and it was unthinkable for Saleen to kill the one sleeping within his necklace.

His level was too low. Saleen knew that appraisal sounded rather ridiculous, as there were not that many mages at the pinnacle of level nine all over the mainland.

While there were quite a number of mages who were forcefully advanced to level nine, less than one percent of them were capable of fighting him on an equal footing.

However, if Saleen did advance to level ten, he would only be able to rely on his Figure of Fate to fight prophecy spells. He had no other way of resisting such attacks.

Saleen felt the frustration brought by level difference once again. He had anticipated having quite a bit of time after advancing to level nine to add to his knowledge. From the looks of things, however, he needed to think of ways to advance.

There was no way he would be able to continue making copies of the Thunder Dragon Blaster. Lightning magic patterns seemed to be a good choice for dealing with high-level holy masters. Nailisi did not use Lightning Protection, yet her lifespan was unharmed by the dark prophecy spell.

While the bloodline of the luoluokaluo was formidable, there was also the fact that Nailisi’s own constitution had been altered by the skill: Lightning Protection.

Saleen felt that he lacked attack powers, so he called for Eleanor. “I intend to bestow you with a skill to heighten your archery skills, but it might slow down your advancement.”

Eleanor asked in a puzzled manner, “Saleen, you’ve always wanted to advance as fast as me, but why…”

“My hands are forced. You’re the only one who is versed in ranged attacks, and your skills… are difficult to pull off in an area-of-effect territory. Hand me your bow.”

Eleanor handed her Seven Nights to Saleen without hesitation. He took it and caressed it. While the longbow reached the level of a godly item, it lacked a spirit, which made it exhausting to use.

“Eleanor, do you wish to… follow me forever?” Saleen asked.

Eleanor blushed for a bit, even though she knew Saleen did not mean it that way.

“My liege, I would follow you till my life ends.”

“No, what I mean is that after my death, you are to continue following my children and protect them.” Saleen’s face turned solemn.