Badge in Azure

The Grand Duke of Pompeii did a lot of calculations, but he never thought that would be his downfall.

The Imperial Bank of Qin was under the Grukos royalty’s control. It had a good reputation and most nobles were willing to store their money there. However, most of the Grand Duke’s people were up to no good and had most of their wealth converted into either magic nuclei or gold, which were stored in their own homes.

While Emperor Chanake never sent anyone to the Grand Duke’s turf to search for any evidence, but he was able to speculate that over half of the wealth in Pompeii City did not pass through the Imperial Bank.

As such, the emperor resorted to using three marquises to cut off the Grand Duke’s relations with the southwestern nobles.

Saleen finished patrolling the camp outside of the city and found the soldiers reliable. There were also ample mages, so it would not be a problem to hold such a small city down.

An hour passed and the cannons that Saleen set up attacked. Thick energy beams razed the earl’s residence in seconds.

The cannons were manned by demons. They were very large even compared to the demons, who were over five meters tall. The demons have been following Saleen long enough to find Myers Mainland to be amusing and gradually lost the will to return to the demon plane.

It was the goal of the demons to join the temple guard instead.

It was a pity, however, that once they joined the temple guard, they would not be able to see battles. Saleen’s kingdom was still rather and safe for the most part. While they were practically stepping over their enemies this time, the demons were very happy.

The magic cannons fired a second time at little more than rubble.

The residence was completely destroyed. While it did not look as bad as the time the Magical Element Tower deployed thousands of demon spirits and everything was reduced to ash, things looked bad enough that nothing was worth restoring.

Saleen waited outside the city. The earl brought his army and left the city on his own about half a day later. Saleen was apparently playing him for a fool with emptying the city. The earl knew to leave without making any demands, bringing his people with him

“I’ll be back sooner or later!” The earl said to his most trusted with tears in his eyes, before having his entourage move east. The southwestern army did not surround the city. They instead stood on the west side of the city. The earl left, looking composed, unfettered, and sorrowful…

However, the mages behind the earl turned to look at the city, looking reluctant. They did not miss the city; they missed the person who was about to take it—Saleen.

They all knew that Saleen had countless mages serving him and even low-level ones would get the chance to be appreciated, which meant the chance to become privileged.

It was said that Master Saleen’s student had originally been a low-level mage, and he had grown to become a level nine sorcerer within just a few years of following Saleen.

The mages, however, had consciences. The earl had kept them around for years and they had no intention of betraying him. When they were done returning the favor to the earl, some of the mages would definitely flock to Saleen’s camp.

Saleen’s Kingdom of Metatrin had become akin to Alchemy City. At the very least, mages perceived it to be so.

It was far more difficult to join Metatrin City than to join Alchemy City. However, once a mage became a part of Metatrin City, their living conditions were far better than Alchemy City.

Most of the money that the mages made in Alchemy City were taken away one way or another. Any diligent mage working in Metatrin City would be able to save a lot.

Even if they left the city for a while, they would not worry about becoming destitute. The savings were magic nuclei.

If someone was unable to join Metatrin City, Lonestar City was a decent alternative. Lonestar City was the capital for death mages, but elemental mages had considerable status in the city.

The city lord, Earl Aini, gave periodical lectures and exchanges to the mages, making the city conducive for learning magic.

There was also the Principality of Bitterwater, which belonged to Countess Lex. The countess was Saleen’s wife and the place looked decent, which perhaps was due to Saleen’s support.

If the mages did not have favors to repay to the earl, they would not even want to talk ill of Saleen, let alone actually fight him. Saleen gradually built considerable influence among the mages.

Other than Metatrin City’s combat capacity, it also broke Alchemy City’s monopoly of magic nucleus resources. Metatrin City’s mages became capable of crafting magic power furnaces, which enabled them to craft all manners of puppets.

The contraptions enabled easier access into the Oceanic Ice Block, which allowed the mages to hunt for more magic sea beasts. Magic nucleus supplies no longer bothered Saleen anymore.

A mage’s training did not require magic nuclei. However, every single mage was racing against time. If they made it through the next level before their lives ended, their lifespan would be extended considerably.

As such, mages saw magic nuclei as necessities, as they enabled them to shorten their training, enabling them to put more time into studying the intricacies and secrets of magic.

Saleen gained control of magic nuclei and broke Alchemy City’s pricing system on such a precious resource. It angered Alchemy City ,and given how previous negotiations between two parties yielded no results, it was only a matter of time before they clashed.

It was why Saleen said that he held no enmity against Grand Duke of Pompeii, but just that the Grand Duke was unlucky enough to be made a tool by Saleen.

With the city’s army withdrawn and the gates opened, Saleen commanded his army to take the city. Tens of thousands of citizens within were hardly frightened and Saleen did not go overboard.

He simply had his troops post announcements saying that the Kingdom of Metatrin would be taking the city, and everyone needed to leave.

It was, without a doubt, a lie. Saleen planned to have the southwestern nobles take the city, provoking the Grand Duke of Pompeii to attack him, and then he would head straight for Pompeii City.

Saleen had an edge. All he needed was a reason to attack the Grand Duke.

He did not scatter the residents after taking the city, but built a new wall on the ruins of the earl’s residence instead. Saleen forbade anyone from getting close.

Territorial powers were cast, encasing the entire city. Saleen took control of the Puppet World Realm’s powers and had them build a new residence.

The residence would be the command center from there on out. The coordinates that Saleen was looking for were right under it. He would not waste the magic cannons to attack a group of buildings with no tactical value.

It would only be convenient for him to build magic constructions after razing them. He did not use the Magical Element Tower to avoid any risk involved, but he had something constructed on top of the portal.

A tall metal structure was built right on top of it. Having become a level ten mage, Saleen absorbed metals within the earth element in the ground for construction. He had Water Flame Alchemy, which enabled even common metals to be put to great use after being tempered.

It was a huge tower, and the base consisted only of stones. Saleen was incapable of absorbing the metals of the core of the earth, and the metals he was able to craft consisted only of the top part of the tower.

A thick pillar of copper stood at the center, surrounded by fearsome-looking metallic machinery. There were rooms surrounding the pillar on top of one another. The rooms provided shelter for the demonic spirits.

There were considerable amounts of mages among the southwestern nobles’ ranks, but Saleen had no intentions of wasting them at a place like that.

When the construction was finished, the building could be seen from miles away. Saleen raised the height of the wall and installed magic cannons at the top. The definition of a level ten professional was quite different in Saleen’s case as he gathered even stronger territorial powers.

The Puppet World Realm worked like a level ten magic spell when used, and he was able to maintain it for over an hour. Furthermore, the territorial powers did not cost magic chords. He was able to maintain the powers for over 500 hours.

It was all thanks to the ring from Arbola, which manifested its true worth by then. The longer a mage was able to maintain their territorial powers, the greater their combat capacity.

The ring was capable of enhancing Saleen’s mental powers by 12 times, and his mental powers were considerably stronger than mages of his level, so much so that it seemed to be something of an entirely different level altogether.

Conventional level ten mages, even having mastered territorial powers, were capable of maintaining them for little more than 10 minutes. It was considered an amazing feat for mages of higher strength, when backed by magic pharmaceuticals, to enhance their mental powers by twice their original amount.

Saleen, as someone who was able to maintain his powers for over 500 hours, was able to use territorial powers in battle without affecting his spell-casting.

The entire city was encased by the territory, but it common folk would not notice. Saleen’s Puppet World was capable of manifesting in tangible forms and the puppets appeared humanoid.

There were beast-like puppets, as well as puppets that looked like buildings, trees, vehicle,s and so on.

The citizens would only feel that there seemed to be more strangers around than it used to be and buildings that had not been there originally.

That was only because Saleen did not bother to control the citizens’ thoughts. They would not notice the changes in their surroundings if he had done so.

The city was six miles long and Saleen raised the city wall to 60 meters, which was divided into two floors. It gave conventional armies an edge in defense and a considerable number of magic cannons were installed on top of the wall.

Many metal towers were erected as well. The city did not have a large population, but it was by no means small. Saleen could not construct a magic net using territorial powers all on his own. He was able to construct a little more than a framework.

There were people from the Kingdom of Metatrin to help the southwestern nobles construct a city that was easily defensible but difficult to take down.

Saleen said that he was there to invade the city and actually did it. Setting up a base in other people’s territory was a sure way of inciting them to attack.

The Grand Duke of Pompeii did not have any other choice. Saleen, on the other hand, looked into the temple beneath while the Grand Duke was busy amassing his forces.

The Magical Element Tower was deployed, but only used for contacting Metatrin City. A small magic power furnace was set up to allow a magic net to be constructed.

Mages were required, as the construction of magic nets required a considerable number of magic patterns to be crafted. Saleen set up the framework of the net, and the rest was assigned to the mages from the alchemy factories.

Everything was set up, and all they had to do was wait for the Grand Duke to make his move. Saleen returned to the House of the Lord, opening a portal using divine powers in the Ring of Gifts, standing below the tall metal tower.