Badge in Azure

There was only one, huge hall. There were no walls or paths anywhere. In the vast tract of land and the night sky, the temple looked rather lonesome.

The scene before Saleen, however, was peculiar. The hall seemed to be stacked in layers and there seemed to be no end. There was still space behind the hall and beyond that space, there was another temple.

Saleen’s Elemental Eye was unable to see through it all. He was able to only see three layers of space, and everything turned blurry after that.

The huge teleportation portal beneath his feet was so massive that it would quickly and completely drain all power of faith that Saleen brought with him.

Saleen came to the shocking realization that if he had brought insufficient power of faith, he would not be able to activate the one beneath him and leave.

Myers’ designs were truly interconnected. But I bet she never anticipated someone having massive amounts of power of faith, even after she had been dead for more than ten thousand years.

The traitor that the Goddess of Myers had reignited her divine fire and kept large numbers of believers with her, supplying her with powerful power of faith. Saleen had collected all of the power and what was left in the Ring of Gifts was enough to activate the teleportation portal.

If Saleen was devoid of such an amount of power of faith, the only way he would be able to leave was to truly become a believer of the goddess.

Nice trick indeed!

Saleen saw through the Goddess of Myers’ trap right away, but he was hardly concerned. The power of faith stores in his Ring of Gifts was massive, and it was enough for him to activate the portal beneath him.

The only thing he needed to find out was what was left in the temple.

The temple’s layout was apparently reserved for a true believer. There were mages who believed in the goddess. She differed from the Lord of Glory was that the Lord of Glory was incredibly xenophobic.

If one embraced the faith of the Lord of Glory, they would only be allowed to use divine arts. The Goddess of Myers, on the other hand, was a polytheistic god and her doctrines were loose.

In the past, there were many races who believed in the nature faith, such as demons, elves, dwarfs, and halflings.

Saleen took a deep breath and thought that there was probably something capable of converting one’s faith inside the temple.

He cautiously cast Quickcloud, which was far more convenient than Wind Travel, given how the spell was able to be cast from the ground, and how it was able to automatically circumvent obstacles.

The temple was about four to five miles away, which meant that Saleen’s Elemental Eye was able to see it clearly. The starlight in the sky was dazzling, but there was no moon, so the land still looked very dark.

Saleen arrived beneath the steps of the temple and found the building incredibly majestic. The pillars were tall—120 meters—and the gates were open, enabling one to see the altar within. The only difference was that there was a statue on that altar.

A statue of the Goddess of Myers!

Saleen calmed himself and slowed as he walked the steps, looking at the statue of from outside the gates.

The doctrine of the nature faith was such that adherents did not erect statues. Images of the Goddess of Myers were always depicted in murals, on the same level as humans, magic beasts, and gods.

Saleen had only seen the goddess’ statue once, and it was created by Ismail. He was a believer of a god of the underworld, but he was able to convert to her faith while retaining his faith in the god of the underworld. It was the most shocking thing that Saleen had ever witnessed.

The Goddess of Myers’ doctrines were far more terrifying than that of the Lord of Glory.

The statue at the altar looked down on Saleen without making a sound, and he felt an immense pressure on his shoulders. It was not emanating from the statue; the entire temple bore down on Saleen.

Saleen wanted to worship the goddess, but a lingering grievance inside him prevented him from doing so.

Myers, you were once the most powerful mage among humans. Why did you choose to become a god? Why did you let the powers of the entire Myers Mainland fall? Now, even the Lord of Glory can enslave humans on this piece of land!

When the mainland becomes the Lord of Glory’s farm, it will be turned into his kingdom, and sooner or later, the mainland will be reduced to an interdimensional space. Dimensional spaces will lock up the plane. The sun, the moon and the stars will no longer be seen, and this beautiful mainland will be reduced to a wasteland.

Yes, that process will take tens of millions, even over a hundred million years to complete. I will be nowhere to be found by then. But can I just simply sit by and do nothing?

The feelings of frustration within Saleen reached a critical point and was about to burst, but only a single syllable was uttered, “Heh…”

The syllable was infused with the Thundering Sound that Saleen had been training in, reverberating througho the entire hall. The pressure within the hall disappeared. Saleen looked straight into the eyes of the statue of the goddess. “Sorry, I can’t believe in you!”

Saleen walked towards the altar. He still wore the Ring of Gifts on his finger. He stopped in front of the goddess’ statue and took a good look.

The statue’s size resembled a human, instead of being made imposingly tall. It was actually a little bit shorter than Saleen.

Saleen smirked. Well, well, well, if it isn’t Nailisi standing right in front of me. He took out a small piece of chlorite and siphoned some power of faith from the Ring of Gifts into it. He then put the piece of chlorite onto the statue’s open palm.

The power of faith was quickly absorbed by the statue at the speed of a person drinking a small cup of water.

And then, the goddess came alive…

“Believer, what is your wish?” The statue opened its mouth and spoke.

Saleen knew that it was merely a shadow left behind by the goddess using divine arts. The shadow acted according to the spell’s arrangements after offering the power of faith. He knew enough about divine arts to be able to deduce that much, instead of simply thinking that the goddess knew about his existence.

Powers of divine arts had their limits. Gaine was a level 18 astrologer and was once at the same level as the Goddess of Myers. Even he had not been able to predict small details about Saleen before he met the mage.

“I want everything.” Saleen answered in ancient Myers language.

“Then you… will pay a hefty price.” The statue of the goddess was not alive. It was a puppet imbued with the power of life. It was an incredibly complex divine spell. The statue was even capable of combat to a certain extent.

“People need to pay a price equivalent to what they wish to attain.” Saleen’s answer was a pure maxim of the mages.

The statue was confused. The hall was capable of suppressing any professional below level 12, but Saleen’s lightning rules were capable of counteracting all manner of rules.

The temple’s powers were formed using Principle of Crystal Coffin, in accordance to the goddess’ plans. Even the most powerful being on the mainland would worship the statue and submit to it if they entered.

However, Saleen did not do so. Thundering Sound continued to reverberate in his mind. While it caused considerable pain, it kept him very awake. The goddess’ might was incapable of affecting his judgment.

“Believer, accept my blessing.” The statue said as two beams of green holy light shot from its eyes, converting power of faith into divine power.

The statue looked even more confused after shooting the holy light. “Believer, there’s something left for you…”

Saleen pressed the Ring of Gifts onto the statue. Green holy light surged into the ring, purifying the power within the ring and turning it into unbelievably pure divine power.

The statue quickly petrified, devoid of any vitality to speak any longer. Saleen then sighed. “Stop talking. I’m very disappointed in you!”

The statue stared at Saleen with a dazed look, no longer able to hear what he said. Saleen stored the statue inside the Starline Ring, as he still had a use for her. The ability to shoot divine power enabled it to become a combat puppet. That’s just so…

Saleen had no words to describe what he felt. His thought probably existed only among ancient humans. The statue was carved out of wood that he did not know. It was incredibly light, but its durability was on par with the things that the fish digested.

Saleen was elated to bag the statue. It was capable of wielding divine powers and casting divine spells, which was exactly what he needed to establish the nature faith. It would be a lot easier for him to play god with it at his disposal.

He passed through the hall and came to the second temple, which looked empty. Saleen searched around for a bit and found many pieces of divine power gems. The gems were not high level. They were inferior to the divine crystals that Ismail was able to coalesce.

However, they were what Saleen really needed. The inside of his Ring of Gifts was raging with divine power, but it was only a matter of time before the ring was depleted.

The knights corps that Don was building did not yield enough power of faith for his own use. Furthermore, Saleen had uses for the people, which prevented him from having them around to supply him with power.

The amount of divine power gems offered to the goddess by her believers was staggering. He put them in his Ring of Gifts and converted them into divine power.

The temple was interesting, as it finally showed that the Goddess of Myers had some desires and plans.

It was difficult to resurrect without devout believers. The temple could be opened and would eventually have something to do with the knights corps that Don was building. The appearance of over 2000 believers threw a wrench into the goddess’ plans.

However, the temples were interconnected. If he took apart the one that came before, he would not be able to enter the space behind.

He passed through one hall after another, bagging only the divine power gems. He continued to visit the halls until he reached the 22nd, where he finally found something he wanted.

There was a shenhe sitting on the altar of the 22nd temple.

Essence of water element sat on the impeccably green gourd. Saleen was very excited. The two shenhe that he had gotten before were not powerful enough.

The one in his hand contained essence of water element so pure that it looked as if it was an elemental spirit. The shenhe was made specifically for water mages. The entrance of the temple was easy to enter only for water mages.

Saleen bagged the shenhe carefully. It would bethe key to his advancement to level 13! Water elemental rules were the most basic manifestation of what was contained within it.

Saleen was satisfied. While he was unable to attain assassin equipment and materials, he had acquired what was most suitable for him. That was more of a bargain than ruining his enemy’s plans.

Even if Agares died right before his eyes, it would prove less meaningful than advancing to the next level tomorrow.

Furthermore, there were still two more halls, and it was anyone’s guess what powerful equipment he would find in them.