Badge in Azure

Everyone around Saleen was able to tell that it was only an illusion. Saleen did not even bother breaking it with Thundering Sound. The Magical Element Tower stopped and the huge metal gears on top of the tower began to spin rhythmically, forming a magic net.

“Truman, there are quite a few magic beasts. Use them to practice magic,” Saleen’s Elemental Eye swept his surroundings and found a thousand magic beasts.

“Will do, Sir.” Truman leapt out of the tower with the Elemental Envoy. Jola followed suit as a precaution, as Truman was only level nine. Fighting in such deep waters mean that he had to divide quite a lot of his powers to resist the immense pressure.

Their location exceeded the depth of most oceans: ten miles. If a common person were submerged at such depths, they would be crushed.

Truman was different from Saleen in that he did not have a body of water element. He cast a protection spell as soon as he entered the lake: Water Element Shield.

It was derived from the Water Shield and behaved like a formless energy shield. It formed a humanoid protective layer around Truman’s body.

Its defense paled in comparison to Saleen’s Water Shield, but was decidedly more convenient and quicker to cast. While it excelled in resisting pressure, it was lacking in defense against bladed weapons.

Saleen did not find any powerful beings there, but having so many magic beasts gathering meant that there was definitely something off with the place. He let Truman fight with the intention of training his student.

Truman took out the Golden Magic Book as soon as he left the magic tower. The book was able to store 18 spells from level seven to level nine. Six spells of every level could be stored within. The six spells corresponded to the six major elements.

Truman was not Saleen and had no problem casting magic of any type, so the Golden Magic Book served him better than it did Saleen.

The 18 spells were listed in order. Blobs of magic light lit up in Truman’s hand, shining light into the dark deep under the Separation Sea.

Saleen watched his student fight. Truman spared no time wasting his energy, casting all 18 spells to take care of the first hundred coming at him. Saleen was able to tell that Truman did not set targets for every spell, which enabled him to conserve a great deal of mental powers.

Only one magic beast managed to evade the attacks, but it was quickly hit by a spell from a magic staff that Truman took out. It was the first time Truman locked onto a target using mental powers.

The level nine beast was a ten-meter-long flatfish, with a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Truman fought how a musician played: smooth and elegant.

Saleen sighed as he saw how his student fought. Circumstances where enemies were not powerful was an opportunity to solve problems using one’s own powers exclusively.

Saleen only fought like that when there were many powerful enemies around. Magic chords were the base for ensuring survival, but if they were not trained adequately and the user relied only on equipment, it was the beginning of trouble in training.

Saleen knew it very well, as he fought in such a manner for a period of time: never using his own magic chords when he had equipment to spare.

It was not a good habit. Saleen smile bitterly. He had been too extravagant and his student took after him. Unless Truman became capable of going onto adventures himself and acquired massive wealth, it would only hinder his growth.

Saleen’s might not have been old, but it was only a facade, as he trained for over a hundred years in a temple. Truman’s true chronological age was far younger than his. The maturity that came with the passage of time was something that no training could replace.

“Truman is fighting well, master. He hasn’t used scrolls yet,” Nailisi said.

Saleen figured that she made sense. He had prepared huge amounts of consumable gear for all of his followers in the trip to Separation Sea. Truman had at least two thousand of the scrolls with him and had used none of them. That meant that Truman was quite tight-fisted.

Scrolls were not magic books and using scrolls was akin to burning money. Magic books could be replenished after the spells were used, enabling them to serve far longer than magic staves.

Truman took care of the wave of the most ferocious magic beasts using the Golden Magic Book. He then took out the Silver Magic Book and cast 18 spells, killing another wave, before beginning to use his own magic to fight.

Jola simply held onto his sword and watched, ready to jump in if anything happened.

Truman’s battles were boring. He calculated well, but nothing about it was spectacular to watch. Jola found Saleen’s battles amusing, as there was little repetition, since his liege always had new ideas. Saleen did not want to be a researcher mage. His talent was shown only fully in battle.

“Eleanor, what do you think about Truman?” Saleen asked.

“Hmm…” Eleanor pondered for a bit. “You fight differently from Jason as well.”

Saleen’s doubts were cleared after hearing Eleanor’s words. It was good that Truman was not like him, just like how he shared few similarities with Jason. If Truman behaved exactly like him, there would be little prospect in his student’s future.

No two people shared the same fate. Magic lineages always continued to be enriched. It was fortunate that he was able to pick up the Water Flame Alchemy from his teacher. When he advanced, Truman would be able to learn more from him.

The following battles served as testaments of how stingy Truman was. After he was done using the spells in the magic books, Truman began to use Icicles, which cost very little, to continue fighting.

Truman was most versed in fire and earth magic, but water magic was more effective at the bottom of the lake.

Truman’s water magic was considerable, as it was the area that Saleen lectured the most about, and Saleen liked using Icicle as an example.

The most powerful water magic in Truman’s arsenal was the Ice Lance. An Ice Lance could be converted into a Fire Dragon, which could then be converted to Glitter, and finally into Mark of Darkness.

It was invented by Truman, and not even Saleen was capable of it.

As for Icicle, despite not being able to use lightning magic, there were lightning magic patterns on Truman’s Icicles, which excelled in breaking energy shields. Mages loathed learning through mimicking, but it was the most time-conserving thing to do in battle.

After Truman acquired a mental power ring, he became more daring in preparing hundreds of Icicles in one go. The number of magic beasts ganging up on him was only several thousand.

Most of them were still far away and the Icicles would be able to take care of over a hundred magic beasts in one go.

Water magic beasts lacked in defense compared to land beasts, but the ones with exceptionally high defense rating, like the pan turtle, would be difficult to kill using Icicles.

“Shall we call it a day, my liege?” Daniel felt his hands getting itchy after seeing the bodies of magic beasts piling up. He had been able to advance to level nine with Saleen’s help, but it would be more difficult for him to advance from then on out. His talent lacked in comparison to Aini, as the latter would definitely be able to advance to level ten. Daniel kept feeling that he was at the end of his magic training, so he gradually got interested in being part of daily menial affairs.

“Gosh, you’re so dumb.” Nailisi berated. Daniel looked at Nailisi, vexed. She continued, “Master is using the tower to hide all of our powers. The magic tower looks no different from a piece of rock. He let Truman fight so that we can lure the bigger, more powerful thing to come out and fight. If we all fought, are you going to find the thing if it just curled and hid somewhere?”

Daniel kept his head low, so Nailisi stopped tearing into him. “You had your chance in battles, and don’t keep thinking that you can’t advance.”

Daniel trembled at her words but quickly regained his composure. He feared and resented Nailisi at the same time.

He had no idea why a creature like her could be so important to Saleen, but he did not dare do anything to change the status quo. Nailisi’s powers were getting stronger and when she took human form, the pressure he felt from her was greater than from anyone else.

He valued Nailisi’s words more than anyone else. So she’s saying that I could still advance?

Saleen smiled. “Daniel, you’ve been following me for quite a while and did a lot for Metatrin City. I’ll think of ways to get you to level ten even if it costs me a fortune. But after level ten, it’d be up to you.”

Daniel was filled with both joy and sorrow at Saleen’s words. He was sad that he had wasted a lot of time and opportunities before getting Saleen to say that, but he was happy that Saleen did not just give him up.

Saleen instead continued to nurture him without any regard to cost. Advancing a death mage to level ten was far more difficult than elemental mages. They needed far more.

A death mage’s lifespan grew considerably after getting to level ten. Outsiders could not help with further advancement, and it was more than enough for Saleen to help him get to level ten!

“Alright, the star of the show is about to appear,” Saleen raised his hand and gestured for everyone to shut up and shape up as he watched the changes at the bottom of the lake.

Bodies of dead magic beasts piled like mountains. While Truman’s battles were boring and brutal, it enabled him to conserve magic chords. Furthermore, it was very effective.

His Icicle was able to easily take care of magic beasts above level four and below level six when aided by the Elemental Envoy. The magic beasts were low levels. Most of them fought with only physical fortitude, which was incapable of resisting magic attacks.

It was the first time Saleen saw the Elemental Envoy in battle. He never thought that magic amplifiers would be so powerful, and its performances far exceeded his expectations.

A level one Icicle killed level four magic beasts, eh? It was theoretically possible, and the Elemental Envoy turned theoretical into reality.

The Icicles were ten times the size of the usual ones and their power was several times more. Their speed in the water even exceeded their speed traveling in air.

A huge crevice gradually appeared in the dark bottom of the lake. Thick water element aura gushed from the crevice.