Badge in Azure

Saleen examined the transformations within the tower and felt satisfied. He had truly come to feel that he had already advanced to level ten.

He had just now felt that his power being enhanced and his number magic chords growing, making him more than ten times more powerful than he had once been. Yet, at the moment, he found that what had truly changed was his mental powers.

Mental powers were, in their origin, a manifestation of one’s soul force. One was incapable of channeling power from the soul until one reached level ten, unless some secret method was used. And, when the latter was done, the damage to the soul was almost irreversible.

The changes to the mental powers were more than simple enhancement in terms of magnitude, as his control became considerably more refined as well.

The entire space around him, which stretched 360 meters in all dimensions, was not a huge one; however, it was filled with parts from the mechanical core of the Sky City. The intricacies of those metal parts rivaled that of level 18 elementite, and, previously, Saleen had simply let the mechanical core itself run everything.

As Saleen gained a hold of what was happening in there using his mental powers, he found that his faculty of control was no longer something that level nine sorcerers could even imagine.

It was the true manifestation of strength. Magic chords were necessary, but if they were not used in conjunction with mental powers, all magic spells cast would be crude and utterly incapable of working at their best.

Lex sensed that Saleen was different, as well. He put her down and extended his left hand. That ring that he had gotten in an exchange with Arbola still looked battered, as he had not repaired it.

It was not that he was incapable of fixing it; rather, he had been concerned that, if he were to do so, his mental powers would grow exponentially again, and things would exceed his control.

Saleen was confident that he could now restore the ring to its original state using Six Element’s Heavy Water, 12-dimensional metal, and a bit of Genesis Stock Solution. He was only concerned about whether he would have been able to keep the ring under control if he were to repair it.

Saleen was able to sense, by then, that the ring was not only severely damaged, but had something sealed within it as well. That thing was probably the root of the reason that the ring was able to enhance mental powers. There was a possibility that that thing in it would end up possessing his body if the seal failed to hold.

Saleen was unable to help, but asked Lex about everything he was thinking.

Lex listened to Saleen’s suspicions and said, “Saleen, the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake is not something that’s fun to hold on to. Among the few pieces of equipment that Arbola had on hand, this ring was the best one—for mages, that is. If you’re concerned that some powerful weapon spirit is sealed within and you’ll be unable to keep it contained, then I can tell you that the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake will eventually come to life.”

“The mark will come to life?”

“Indeed. There are not nine, but 13 Six-winged Flying Snakes that are smarter than humans sealed within. I’m not sure about their levels, but I can tell you that even ancient humans would have needed to be on guard against them. Do you really think that a race of beings of such power would have simply been willing to serve the Grukos as guardian creatures? The snakes that were kept at Golden Plains are all now suppressed by the mark. If the snakes within it were to escape, it would be the end of the Grukos.”

Saleen nodded in agreement. If he had been sealed by some level-one creatures and forced into slave labor for thousands of years, he would probably do the same thing the minute he was freed.

Lex continued: “The ring is more than it seems. Arbola didn’t know that for very long, and only my father understood more. He told me something about the ring and then had Master Joey wipe that part of his memories. Naley: when you’re done repairing the ring, only I can tell you what it’s truly used for. But I don’t want to get my memories wiped like that.”

Saleen was aghast. Emperor Chanake had actually had Joey wipe part of his memories. It sounded very surreal; spells for erasing memories were harmful to people.

However, Emperor Chanake seemed to have told his daughter the secrets because he had foreseen his destiny, and knew that he probably would not have made it to old age.

If he had ended up dead before his time, then the secret might have been lost. There were many skills in their world that allowed people to peer into souls, after all. The emperor had actually entrusted something that important to his beloved daughter…

Saleen was at a loss of words. He recalled what Emperor Chanake had looked like, and he seemed to have been more approachable than Safilos. Or, rather, he had never thought about how brutal Lex’s father had once been.

“I’m staying here for three days at most before making a move. I’m afraid I won’t be able to fix the ring in time,” Saleen said doubtfully.

“Three days are more than enough. Stay here with me for three days, and we’ll get this done together,” Lex proposed, taking the initiative.

Saleen had lost all the lustful desire that he had previously had and took off the ring immediately. He conjured the Water Flame with a size of several meters and wrapped the ring in it.

That was the common flaw of mages. Due to their vastly expanded lifespan, they tended to put certain things off to attend to at a later date, and spent almost all of their time on magic.

This ring which was capable of expanding mental powers was one of the reasons that Saleen had become exponentially more powerful. If he were to operate without the ring, he would lose almost 80 percent of his current powers.

His control over the Puppet Constellation and the Magical Element Tower both required powerful mental powers. Without those two pieces of equipment, Saleen would be little more than a common level-ten sorcerer.

The battered parts of the ring were dissolved bit by bit as he washed them with the Six Element’s Heavy Water, and were then melted by the Water Flame. With the exception of the Water Flame, the resulting matter was reduced to a pile of metal dust that fell to the ground. The amount remained considerable.

Those incredibly hard materials had been little more than the ring’s disguise.

The gem embedded on the ring had melted off as well. The liquid mixture that he had concocted from the Six Element’s Heavy Water had a bit of Genesis Stock Solution in it. The ring began to repair itself according to its original rules.

To put it precisely, the ring turned into something plain and unassuming.

He used the 12-dimensional metal to patch up the damaged parts, and it ultimately took three days for the ring to return to its original state. Lex continued to use the God’s Ring to contain the continuously leaking energy, compressing it back into the ring. The seal within it remained tight with the help of the God’s Ring.

Only the massive powers afforded by the God’s Ring were capable of something like that. Despite currently being more powerful than Lex, Saleen had no way of pulling such a thing off on his own.

The ring was restored to its original form; or, rather, it transformed into a new piece of equipment: a ring that looked somewhat thicker than ordinary ones.

The old-looking ring was divided into two layers that were closely linked to each other. The outer layer was of dark silver metal, and the inner one was black. 16 runes were etched on it.

The 16 runes were extremely simple signs—so much so that Saleen was unable to figure out what they meant.

He was only able to tell that the 16 runes were repeating, with eight runes on each of the two layers. The black metal of the inner layer could spin; the two sets of eight runes thus had interchangeable combinations, making a total of 64 pairs.

In other words, the small ring had 64 spaces in it, all of which were, for the moment, only capable of storing mental powers. This was more difficult than storing matter, and Saleen knew that he had made the right choice. From then on out, the ring would be able to expand his mental powers 64 times over.

Furthermore, the combinations of the eight runes made for 64 powerful rules.

The rules were so powerful that their scope was beyond Saleen’s imagination. It was no wonder that Lex had asked him for the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake in exchange for it. The value of the ring far exceeded that of the mark!

What surprised Saleen most was the material of the ring continually shifted, being reinforced and enhanced by the powers contained within it. While the enhancement process was progressively slowing down, Saleen still felt that it would be something comparable to the Star Gathering Needle in quality before long, making it nigh-indestructible.

“Lex—so Arbola has absolutely no knowledge of this thing’s secrets, then?” Saleen asked again, unable to help himself. The ring’s power was beyond his comprehension. He felt like a three-year-old holding an extremely heavy battleax that belonged to giants.

Furthermore, the ring apparently had yet to be restored to its truest level of power, as this was forbidden by the rules of Myers Mainland itself.

“I’m the only one among the Grukos who knows. As the ring has fallen into your hands, I have no intentions of spreading the secret to the family. From here on out, the ring belongs to the Metatrin.” Lex composed herself before continuing: “Alright, pick that dust up and forge a broken ring again. Don’t let any outsiders know about this.”

Saleen then realized that, if he were to “lose” his old ring at the same time as this new one appeared on his finger, Arbola might find out, and things would take a turn for the worse for him. The ring’s secrets had belonged to the Grukos, after all.

Lex had cared little about the Grukos ever since she married him. She had come to see herself as a member of the Metatrin family instead. Consequently, the longer the secret could be kept under wraps, the better.

They nonetheless needed to play nice with Arbola, after all. Saleen recalled those young mages in Golden Plains, and how the exceptional stock among them had come to adopt their own agenda.

He picked up the metal dust on the floor immediately threw it into the Water Flame, adding a gemstone and forging an accessory identical to the original one.

This ring was still capable of enhancing mental powers, as Saleen had added white crystals and divine crystals to it. It would have been peculiar if were just a decorative accessory instead.

Saleen sighed as he put the ring he had forged on his finger. The replica that he had crafted would have been astonishing even if it only enhanced mental powers three times over. However, when compared to the ring that had yet to completely restored, the replica was garbage.

“Lex, tell me, then—what’s the story being the ring?” Saleen was no longer in any hurry to get to the Separation Sea. The fighting outside the tower had gotten increasingly fierce in those three days. The Holy See had suffered huge losses and had mobilized powerful holy masters immediately, who lead the charge toward the city’s walls.

Daliang City would never fall, as it was backed by the magic net. The attacks were simply retaliation. Both the Heaven Knights and the demon army suffered casualties. Things were still in a deadlock, and Theisio was still keeping his hand to himself.

Saleen was amassing his powers before making a move, and Theisio was doing the same. He intended to launch his strongest assault only once he entered the Cemetery of the Giant. The true fighting would only happen then.

The casualties that they were suffering at the moment were little more than warm-ups.

“That ring came from a powerful Crystal Wall system, which was said to have broken through the limit of level 24 and crumbled. Some said that it was from somewhere beyond our universe, and that it had leaped to another place, with no way of returning,” Lex elaborated slowly, while Saleen listened attentively.

He did not think that any of her words were false. He felt that what Lex said was, surely, completely true.