Badge in Azure

The heart fragment of the God of puppets. Before he had gone to the Imperial City of the Abyss, Saleen might have desired it at all costs. If his Puppet World territory absorbed it, its strength would become unparalleled. It might have even surpassed his Water Element territory for a bit.

However, Jason told Saleen that only his own creation would be perfect. For a mage, the importance of a territory was self-evident. The level of perfection of a territory would determine the level of understanding of the rules that a mage possessed after advancing to level 13.

The God of puppets was definitely not above level 15. Although the energy contained within the heart fragment made Saleen’s heart waver, Saleen’s magic power furnace could transform any magic chords, crystals, and even elemental creatures placed inside it into pure energy.

The value of a large magic power furnace was about the same as the fragment. Within half a year, Metatrin City’s alchemic factory would be able to produce another magic power furnace. As long as there were sufficient materials, Saleen would not ever lack methods and equipment for sources of energy.

The Grandmaster felt that magic power furnaces were not rare, and gave Saleen everything he needed to produce a magic power furnace. The methodology behind it, the various models available, the different sizes and levels, had all been included.

The materials were scarce, so Saleen would not be able to produce all of the different types of magic furnaces. The item was originally given to low level professionals in the ancient times.

The strong ones then were able to tear apart dimension pathways with their bare hands. How would they possibly have any need for such items?

“This Glenn person, do you think he can be trusted?” Saleen asked Nailisi.

Nailisi shook her head. The level 10 mage was far too moderate and restrained. That type of person would not take anything to heart, and the world revolved around them alone.

“He covets my islands at the periphery of the Frozen Sea. Now that I have placed battleships to keep watch, it will be difficult for him to take them. However, once I am at war with Grand Duke Iron Blood, it will be easy for his people to take all the mineral veins. Thus, Nailisi, dispatch someone to go around Lianyun City and say that I would like to meet with Grand Duke Iron Blood. The location cannot be somewhere that is controlled by either party and will be left to him to choose.”

“Master, who should we dispatch?”

“It cannot be you, of course. Grand Duke Iron Blood may not necessarily be willing to cooperate with me. The person who goes will inevitably face danger.”

“Then let the water puppet go.”

“Sure.” Saleen gradually began to allow Nailisi to make some decisions. He could not always use Nailisi as a bodyguard. There would eventually be a day where Nailisi would have to be independent. Now Nailisi would frequently act on her own accord; it had also been one of her requests.

He needed to let Nailisi have a sense of responsibility and not simply just loyalty towards him.

Children eventually grew up. With Nailisi’s personality, when she left his side, she would face trouble sooner or later.

The Winged Skull had received Saleen’s message and rushed back to Metatrin City. On Ceylon City’s side, the battle affairs were basically finished. Thus, there was no need for the Winged Skull to continue to stay to help. Viscount Gugger had also returned to Ceylon City and was gathering talent to bolster his forces. Of course, Saleen was the one forking out the money.

Gugger’s capabilities were ordinary, and he was not good at securing personal gain. Otherwise, he would not have been at Ceylon City for so many years and would not have bribed the imperial city’s council of elders. However, he was good at preserving the achievements of his predecessors. As long as Saleen built up Ceylon City properly and gave Gugger manpower and funding, Gugger would be able to protect the territory.

In Saleen’s view, a person like Gugger was hard to come by. Gugger would deploy the manpower that he sent to Ceylon City properly, and nobody would feel that they had been treated unfairly. Gugger could even take good care of a large majority of the inhabitants. Gugger possessed the style of the ancient aristocrats.

The Winged Skull returned, but the Genga was not as quick. The Winged Skill returned to Metatrin City via teleportation portal, but the mechanical soul controlling the ancient battleships had to return by sea. However, the ancient battleship did not need to return directly to Metatrin harbor. Saleen requested for it to stand by along the channel that led towards the Frozen Sea.

Near the Frozen Sea, there were thousands of kilometers of water and countless small islands. When Saleen was not around, Jason created many battleships to maintain control of the islands among them which had mineral veins. There were more than 600 of Metatrin City’s battleships around the Frozen Sea, all operated by demons.

Although it could not be compared to the Cloudflow Navy, it surpassed the navies of a few other empires. All of Metatrin’s battleships were equipped with magic cannons, miniature magic patterns, and demonic spirits to act as enchanters.

A level 10 person would not be afraid of the battleships. However, for those below level 10, it would be difficult for them to flaunt their power, not to mention dealing with the numerous demons and the large variety of powerful equipment from Metatrin City.

The Devil’s Horn knew that Metatrin City had a powerful navy stationed on the Frozen Sea’s periphery, so they did not dare to invade rashly. They dispatched Glenn to gain a clear understanding of Saleen’s ins and outs.

Saleen deployed his troops. He had decided to lay out a trap. When the Devil’s Horn’s flying battleships appeared, they would immediately be sunk. Saleen was not clear on precisely how profound the might of the Devil’s Horn was. However, based on Glenn’s attitude, it should not be greater than Grand Duke Iron Blood.

After 3 days, Saleen’s arrangements were put in order. Only then did he call for Glenn to discuss trade.

Glenn wanted ore for 600 vessels. The Devil’s Horn did not own 600 vessels, so they used 100,000 cubic meters as a base volume to calculate the value of the trade.

Saleen mentioned that the deposit was little. Glenn did not mind and took more than 60 pieces of the God of puppets’ heart. It was half of all of the fragments. The other half would be paid when they had obtained Saleen’s ore.

Like before, Saleen was unwilling, saying that since he was responsible for the safety of the goods during passage from the northern waters to Metatrin City, he would need to mobilize his battleships at a huge cost. What he said was not wrong. Metatrin City’s battleships were all powered by magic power and used magic power furnaces. Although the level of consumption was 90 percent less than a single mechanical battleship, every time a battleship was sent out to sea, thousands of gold coins would have to be spent.

Glenn was helpless and could only retrieve hundreds of magic chords to pay for Saleen’s protection fee.

Saleen assembled his battleships. A total of 10 vessels escorted the merchant vessel towards the periphery of the Frozen Sea.

Glenn personally advanced forward, but Saleen did not follow. He arranged for Jola to bring Eleanor, as well as two of Sreeger Island’s level 10 mages, to escort them.

The two level 10 mages were dressed in white robes. He did not know what methods Jason had used so that even Saleen was unable to tell what levels the two mages were. He thought that they were low level mages. The two were concealed amongst the grand mages in the following boat.

Saleen arranged all of the matters. He said his farewells to his teacher and Sika and went north of Metatrin City alone to the northernmost point of the mainland.There was a temple there.

The water puppet returned with a message. Grand Duke Iron Blood had politely declined Saleen’s invitation. He had said that he did not have any plans to continue attacking Qin. If the two parties wanted to work together, it could only be considered after at least one year had passed.

Saleen was surprised. However, Grand Duke Iron Blood had not completely rejected him, which was good news.

There were still two more temples to the north of Metatrin City. One of the temples was in the sea and Saleen was not anxious to look for it. However, the other was on land. Although there were no cities in the northern wilderness, there were many unknown professionals who were cultivating there.

Saleen was anxious to excavate the temple. He planned to strip off his Puppet World territory and Elemental Creatures’ territory to manufacture two pieces of equipment. Once the Puppet World territory was stripped off, even if it was added into the God of puppets’ heart fragments, it still would no longer be as convenient to use.

Saleen drove the Magical Element Tower alone, flying from Metatrin City to the temple in the north. The magic patterns of the Magical Element Tower recovered quickly and its flight speed reach over 150 kilometers. Saleen did not waste the elemental creatures; he only used magic chords to fuel the tower, placing the magic chords into the magic power furnace.

In over a day, Saleen arrived at the area where the temple was located. It was a small plain. It covered the primitive forest. After Saleen’s Magical Element Tower descended close to the temple’s coordinates, he used the magic compass to search for it.

Fortunately the pathway where the temple was located was directly north about 15 kilometers away. Saleen put away the Magical Element Tower and headed directly to the position of the coordinates.

In the northern forest, the leaves fell from the trees once winter arrived. Only a small proportion of magical plants still had thin needles amidst the snow. Saleen found that the location was already completely covered with snow. It was the northernmost part of the continent. It was freezing cold, and its winters began two or three months earlier than Metatrin City.

Saleen placed the Magical Element Tower to suppress the spatial pathway. Then, he released his territory and pushed all of the nearby snow to outside the magical tower, forming a castle of ice and snow.

The puppets were stationed within the castle. Saleen entered the spatial pathway alone. Technically, he did not go alone, as there were 3,600 demonic spirits within the Magical Element Tower who could help him in battle. The water puppet Rossen could also operate the Magical Element Tower when he was away.

Not long after Saleen entered the spatial pathway, a small band of explorers appeared outside of the castle. The small group was comprised of six people. The leader was a warrior who was dressed in a flamboyant leather armor. The other five people were two mages, one archer, one Caucasus person, and one assassin.

The leading warrior was young. Of the five people that he led, the oldest was a 30-year-old level 7 sorcerer. When the small group approached the castle, they were not spotted by the puppets. The Puppet World was not being presided over by Saleen. If the puppets were not attacked, they would not take any action towards the explorers.

“Hm? Why is there a castle here?” The assassin held a magic compass in his hand. He was a magic assassin, an assassin who had changed from being a magic apprentice. Because they had had no prospects in their study of magic, there were many who changed to other professions. They could also use low level equipment, such as a magic compass.

“Haha! All of you, look. There are puppets in the castle, but there are no signs of human activity. Brothers, we have found a ruin. We have struck gold!” The warrior guffawed, as if the castle of ice and snow left behind by Saleen had already indisputably become his.