Badge in Azure

“I’ve already seen the trajectory of fate. These sacrifices are all worth it.” Sika had recovered her physical strength, but she was still exhausted mentally. After catching her breath, she said, “in a year, the children will be able to read, and then you will have to take them along with you to teach them, starting with magic words.”

“Absolutely. I have also seen the trajectory of fate, and neither of them will meet any danger for at least 30 to 50 years.”

“Mm, I saw the words on the dice of fate. The elder boy shall be named Austin, and the younger girl shall be named Flodi.” When Sika spoke the two names, she felt as if something was being taken away and a large amount of sweat flowed from her pores. Saleen held her hand, not knowing what to say.

Sika had a greater loss with the skill. A person who could peer into fate would always be afflicted with some type of curse. Hence, astrologers would seldom get to the point of the matter and instead would use analogies to allude to the trajectory of fate that they had seen, but Sika had read the words on the dice of fate aloud.

Saleen softly called out for the Caucasus warriors, who were standing outside. As they walked in, Saleen handed the children to them. “Sika and I are going to the top floor. Look after them for a moment, all of you.” As the children saw their parents leaving, they flailed but didn’t cry.

Saleen took Sika to the top floor of the temple on the rooftop, where his Magical Element Tower was parked. Only after they entered the tower did Saleen allow Sika to stand within the 17th floor’s magic array. It was a balancing magic array. Its only purpose was to allow space and energy to stay in a practically stationary state. When performing alchemy, mages often chose that type of magic array to prevent any danger from surfacing.

Sika stood up straight as Saleen retrieved the level 16 Star Gathering Needle. Until now, he had used the power in the Star Gathering Needle to create ancient figures, but now he wanted to demonstrate some astrology skills to Sika.

Dazzling starlight flew out of the Star Gathering Needle and sank beam by beam into Sika’s body. Saleen began to chant: “the long rivers of fate, please cleanse my lover’s soul. The constellations of all planes, please protect my lover’s body, so that she will not suffer the punishment of any of the fates…”

Saleen chanted the Constellation Wishing spell, a chant that every astrologer knew. He cut out more than half of his power of life, which followed the power of the constellations and sank into Sika’s body. The powers of life and of the constellations entangled and merged with Sika’s life. The damage caused by Sika revealing the true intentions of fate was healed.

Saleen was overjoyed. There were now only about 200 years left in his lifespan, but it was enough. Advancing to level 11 could be accomplished within 100 years. If he was unable to advance by then, with so many enemies across the whole continent, he could be killed at any time. Others would still be capable of improvement, even if he did not improve.

It was the equivalent of Saleen not leaving himself any way out. His thoughts had a level of clarity that he had never experienced before. His level of comprehension toward fate had also deepened greatly.

All external objects were illusory. The singular thing that all living creatures pursued was life itself. That was what he understood after giving up his life.

The principle had been written down many times in the notes of mages. Perhaps even a level 1 mage would know about it, but knowing it did not equate to understanding it. Saleen was able to understand the true implications of the sentence. Only people who had made sacrifices in life would understand it. For those who had not sacrificed, it would merely be a sentence found in a book.

With this thread of understanding, Saleen was able to comprehend what his teacher had said in greater detail. Any other messy territorial powers were of no use. Only by fumbling his way through the lightning territory would he have any chance of progressing and becoming a level 11 mage.

And as for advancing to level 13, he could not use territorial power that had been looted from others. He could only rely on the territory that he painstakingly cultivated to be promoted to the rank of rules. At level 13, one would truly begin to touch on rules.

Before, Saleen’s comprehension of the rules had made him like a small fish in the big pond. To obtain anything, humans had to pay a price at the same level. Saleen had never agreed more with the statement than he did now. If not for the two children or Sika, how would he have ever understood the principle so quickly.

“Saleen, you should first go and settle Alchemy City’s matter. I’m probably about to break through the level 9 boundary.” Sika’s words excited Saleen. Sika had had a tough time with no way to advance, but now the one who benefited was not just Saleen. After Sika gave up almost all of her life, she had finally comprehended the priests’ principles regarding sacrifice as well.

After advancing to level 10, she would be a true nature priest. It would be the same, even without the three war souls. Originally, if she had wanted to advance, it was inevitable that she would have to lose at least one of the three war souls. It was to allow her to understand the principles of sacrifice and the source of the priests’ power, but now it was no longer necessary. Sika used the ancients’ witchcraft. In the blink of an eye, she understood her own fate.

Saleen saw that Sika was about to break through, so he returned to the temple and searched for Jola. Although Jola was not very reliable, out of all the people by Saleen’s side, Jola was most suitable for handling things. In the beginning, when Jola had been a mage of the Cloudflow court, he had a special ability that allowed him to lead people who had a level similar to his—Jola still had the means to slowly tame them.

Such leadership was innate. It required a person to have experienced complicated life experiences. Only then could such a skill be perfected. Of all the people by Saleen’s side, there were many who were innocent and simple. Only Jola had had rough experiences.

Once he found Jola, Saleen questioned him about what was going on with the people who had come from Alchemy City. They had arrived a week ago in a fleet of vessels to purchase metals, but the amount they wanted to purchase was extremely large. Jola had not made any agreement with them yet, using the excuse that both Saleen and the steward were absent.

Sika had been present, and given what she and Saleen had discussed in the past, she knew that it was inevitable for them to fall out with Alchemy City and that, in the end, they would likely be placed in a life or death situation. If Alchemy City required metal, there was no way she would be willing to sell it to them.

Aside from what Saleen had, all metallic ores were in the firm grasp of the Qin imperial family. The Grukos family’s control over metallic ores was extremely strict. After losing control in the northern area, the Qin mages had destroyed many mines. The destruction of the mines had been so thorough that even after three years, the people of the Tanggulasi kingdom had not been able to restart any excavations.

There were also metallic ores within the borders of Phoenix, but not very much. Furthermore, during initial trades, Saleen had agreed to sell all of the Phoenix metallic ores to the Grukos family. His mining facilities even farther north had enormous yields.

Jola had flatly rejected the trade of metal. Alchemy City’s people were not surprised or put off and wanted to wait for Saleen to return. The mages from Alchemy City had claimed to be from Devil’s Horn. They were not necessarily be from the same group as the Elemental hand. Jola had believed them, but still refused to agree to a trade.

The mages from Alchemy City were patient. They purchased many goods, such as lumber, and most of the vessels had returned to Alchemy City with their cargo, leaving behind a large merchant vessel to wait for Saleen.

Having seen the people hanging around and not leaving, Sika was not worried that the mages would cause any troubles. The leader of the mages from Devil’s Horn was a newly minted level 10 mage, but the others were all level 8 sorcerers.

Having dispatched a level 10 mage trainer indicated that they placed importance on this matter, and not having brought along a level 9 sorcerer represented that they did not intend to resistant. It was all for show. In Metatrin, even if the people who had come were all level 10 mages, they still needed to have sufficient numbers to to gain an advantage.

Jola gave Saleen an introduction on the proceedings of the situation. Saleen thought deeply. “Give me the list of goods they need.”

Jola readily retrieved a thick book with the list of items and handed it to Saleen, who tossed the list into the air and released his territory. With a sweep of the territory’s power, he memorized all of the items accurately and in detail.

Saleen analyzed the list and shared his conclusion. “From the looks of it, Devil’s Horn wants to create a large magic battleship!”

But that was confusing: Devil’s Horn originally controlled the seas and were more capable than the Elemental Hand, and they possessed a magic battleship that could fly at a low altitude. Creating more battleships did not make sense.

“Master, why don’t you go and have a chat with the mage?”

“Why?”

“Because he said that what he will be offering is not gold coins, nor magic chords. Perhaps it will be a material that you need?”

“Haha, no wonder they’ve stayed behind and to pester us. They have actually brought something that is sufficient to tempt me.” Saleen laughed heartily. “I will go and look, but… let’s wait a little while. Wake them after midnight.”

If the proposal had arisen in the past, Saleen might have rejected this trade, because it would have likely created a negative impact on him in the future. The current Saleen, however, understood that every decision nhad immeasurable possibilities.

People could never refuse to eat due to a fear of choking to death.

Besides, even if the mages from Devil’s Horn were unable to buy metal from him, they could always purchase them from other places, such as the Tanggulasi kingdom. The Cloudflow people might sell metal to them. Agares might even sell the entire kingdom as long as they paid a sufficiently high price.

Saleen was not anxious. He wanted to deliberately delay it for a few hours, waiting until past midnight when everyone was asleep before he going to disturb the mages from Devil’s Horn.

Nailisi had also been called over. Along with Jola, the two of them sat with Saleen. After instructing those below to prepare a meal, Saleen felt he might as well hold a small banquet in the temple and allow the ones who had been following him for a relatively long time to come and eat.

Saleen looked at the two long tables and his dozens of trusted subordinates, and couldn’t help but sigh. His fate was enough for people to envy. From a little beggar who had owned nothing to the king and a level 10 mage, he had received the favor of fate.