Badge in Azure

Saleen determined to train there, and he was able to tell that there was a limit to how long the temple was able to maintain its peculiar time tricks. Looking from the outside, the passage of time was probably over a thousand times faster.

As soon as the temple’s passage was opened, the plants within the passage immediately matured, reaching a terrifying level eight. That alone was a statement of how quickly time passed, and that was within the passage.

Time within the hall was too precious to waste. They would never have another chance like that.

Saleen began to meditate as soon as he sat down, casting away anything within his mind that was unrelated to the matter at hand.

Sika waved and had the others come into the hall. She sat right behind Saleen and began nurturing his magic beast soul.

There were four halls, so the Goddess of Myers apparently wanted to give ample space to the ones who would help her resurrect, enabling them to develop the powers of their subordinates.

Such divine skills capable of adjusting the rate of flow of time were not exempt from the plane’s rules. All four halls had their lifespan. Once the divine spell began to operate, there would be no stopping it until the halls crumbled.

Saleen’s meditation was incredibly fast. After casting out unnecessary thoughts, he took out his family badge and put it before him, looking at it for a bit. If he trained in the rules of lightning, he would acquire a more complete form of magic patterns, chants and lightning runes.

However, his roots lay within elemental magic, and he deemed it unwise to overstretch himself.

Saleen began recalling his life for the past 20 or so years, beginning from when he learned his first spell and the birth of his magic chords.

Saleen dedicated his entire being into learning magic and slept little. He did not go to see Sika even when he had to eat and relieve himself. If his powers were not able to break into level ten, he would have to let Sika protect him in the future, and that did not sit well with him.

I should be the one protecting Sika!

Time passed. Saleen’s magic chords continued to grow, without making any sound, giving him no trouble.

Saleen polished, calculated and rearranged every single rule he had ever touched, making them into his unique powers. His magic chords grew bit by bit according to the rules that he had developed.

Pure water elemental magic chords began to change colors. Saleen began to achieve balance of the six elements within his body. The magic chords continued to modify his body. A level ten sorcerer’s body was akin to a grand swordmaster.

Only Nailisi did not enter the other halls. She had long been able to advance to level ten; she was simply waiting for Saleen. She took her golden dragon form, coiled up outside the hall that Saleen went into, and slept.

Golden flames were breathed through her nostrils after sleeping for an untold number of years. The golden dragon’s body gradually turned perfect.

The abilities of Luoluokaluo were envied by demons. Demons of their bloodline did not need to train much, as they were capable of advancing by using the powers they had devoured.

A hundred years passed and Saleen extended a finger while in a dazed state, writing magic runes in the air. Behind him, an icicle — or rather, an ice spike — appeared.

The ice spike was coalesced from pure water element and covered with lightning magic patterns. The appearance of lightning magic patterns made the ice spike free of impurities. The ice spike was thin and about a meter long. Lightning magic patterns were inside the ice spike in many layers.

The ice spike gradually landed on the altar and Saleen sensed that he was able to gain control of flying attacks of icicles again. The feeling was surreal and definitely not one a level nine sorcerer would be able to understand.

His magic chords seemed non-existent. The ice spike frozen through magic seemed to be an extension of his body, and the way he was able to control it completely changed.

He understood why he felt so intensely helpless when he first saw Joey. The difference between level nine and ten was like heaven and earth, like common folk and an official mage.

Saleen summoned an ancient figure, which proceeded to bend down to move the ice spike on the ground. It was only able to move it after mustering its strength several times and wobbled around for a bit.

Tears appeared on its arms. If it had not been for having constellation power to keep it in one piece, that ancient figure would have lost its arm.

The ice spike was less than a meter in length, but it was incredibly heavy. The ancient figures did not even have problems moving gold the size and volume of their bodies, and gold was one of the top ten heaviest metals found in Myers Mainland.

Saleen turned around and looked. Sika was still steeped in her training. The altar was only about a hundred meters in length and width, and they were several meters away from each other. Saleen did not interrupt Nailisi. He put the ancient figure away and unleashed Vinny, the leader of the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers.

Vinny bent over to pick up the ice spike, looking strained as it did so.

Despite being in its core form, it was still a level ten elemental creature. Its strength was not that different from its giant form, which was over a hundred meters tall.

Saleen put Vinny away and let the ice spike stay where it was, not bothering with it. He wanted to find out how long the ice spike would last.

An ice spike of such mass would be able to kill most of its enemy targets just by its weight alone.

Vinny was capable of lifting a magic cannon weighing tens of thousands of pounds and do combat with it. The weight of the ice spike would easily knock down castle walls simply by ramming it.

It was an ice spike that Saleen had coalesced using a complete form of magic. It was incapable of being cast instantly and was something that he had only developed moments ago. Preparation of the spell would be comparable to a complete large scale spell.

Saleen used about 30 minutes. There was no way he could create something so perfect in battle, as no enemy would give him 30 minutes to get spells prepared.

The Ice Spike spell was far more powerful than the Icicle. If Saleen was able to conjure thousands of ice spikes in an instant, he could rain them down to destroy anything within sight, including very sturdy buildings like magic towers.

Saleen observed his surroundings with his Elemental Eye. The construction materials the hall were beginning to show signs of decay. Key points in the materials as well as the carving illusions on the walls began to chip.

Time to re-craft my gear then! Saleen knew that the hall would not last for much longer. He did not know how much time had passed, but in such an environment, materials used to maintain the divine spell’s operation would decay at a frightening rate.

Saleen stood up and the robe of his Starline Armament expanded. He took out the magic array schematics that he had acquired in a temple for the first time. The schematics had a map on one side and 24 magic arrays on the other.

Saleen was unable to figure out the secrets of that magic arrays when he was at level nine. Even Joey, who was at level ten, was unable to tell anything.

But now that he had learned astrology and h adadvanced to level ten, Saleen finally understood what the 24 magic arrays were.

The schematics flew and coiled around the Starline Robe, merging with it. Saleen’s Water Flame surrounded his body, crafting the magic array image into the Starline Robe.

He no longer had to write any scrolls in the future. 24 star charts appeared on his Starline Robe and within the charts, 24 huge magic arrays. The magic arrays were capable of storing all types of magic beneath level 18. It was a powerful piece of equipment left behind by the Goddess of Myers.

Saleen would have to be at least level 13 to be able to use the equipment originally. He had used skills of astrologists to put the magic arrays into 24 star charts, sewing them up using the Star Gathering Needle and then crafting them using Water Flame.

Saleen spent another ten years crafting the Starline Robe. The ground of the hall began to crack and potholes were everywhere. When Saleen was about to finish, he heard 24 thunder dragons awakening within his necklace. The thunder dragons howled and unleashed powerful electricity.

The electrical currents flowed along the necklace and coursed through his body. Saleen laughed heartily. While he was unable to learn Nailisi’s Lightning Protection, he became able to use identical effects of the skill. It would make it extremely difficult for curse-type divine spells to ambush him.

So long as he was able to sense it, he would be able to cast lightning at will, breaking divine spell attacks in an instant.

Saleen took a deep breath and felt the call of the thunder dragons within the necklace. All 24 thunder dragons’ rate of evolution had been fast enough.

The passage of time within the necklace was faster than the outside world, after spending over a hundred years in the hall, the thunder dragons finally evolved from level eight to level nine, enabling them to survive outside of water.

Saleen was even able to feel short wings sprouting, which was a sign that they were about to advance to level ten.

It was unfortunate that they were limited by inherent restraints. If the thunder dragons were unable to devour higher level people, there would be no way for them to advance to level ten.

Unless… there is enough time for them to remain alive for the next 30 to 50 thousand years, enabling them naturally evolve to level ten. Magic beasts knew nothing about training. They simply grew using the power of their bloodlines.

A level nine thunder dragon, while capable of flight, was not exceptional at it. But Saleen had no intentions of summoning the thunder dragons. He only needed them to provide him with power.

With the help of 24 level nine thunder dragons, he would be able to make his family badge restore faster. Even if it was merely twice as fast, it would still earn him another means of keeping himself alive.

“Saleen…” Sika called him gently from behind. Saleen turned around only to see Sika rushing at him with his staff, bringing it down on his head.

Saleen had no way to evade the attack, not even if he had looked into how Jalin developed her movement skills.

Sika was unable to advance even after a hundred years, but when the staff was brought down on his head, although it was little more than a sparring session to test their abilities, Saleen nonetheless felt death was within an inch.

Sika did not advance, but her powers grew, and grew by a lot.

Saleen subconsciously mobilized the ice spike on the ground and blocked Sika’s staff. Saleen felt dizzy and the blood in his body almost froze. The staff and the ice spike clashed and a loud rumble was heard.

The resulting rumble was so loud and even the pillars at the top of the temple shook.

The sound exceeded the concept of common rumbles. Even a level ten mage like Saleen was rendered dizzy by it.

The ice spike split into six pieces and fell onto the ground. Six holes burst on the altar, and Sika was disarmed, and the staff fell onto the ground.

Sika’s hands turned numb and unable to move. She looked at Saleen with an astonished look. She had been extremely confident of her own power. She thought that after spending so much time training, it would be sufficient for her to take on a level ten professional.

She did not anticipate Saleen being able to knock her weapon out of her hands with just an ice spike.

What was more eerie was that the six pieces of the ice spike wiggled on the ground, merging with the other pieces. It seemed as if the ice spike had a spirit within, making it seem like it was capable of self-repair so long as the spirit within remained intact.