Badge in Azure

Sika did not object. If it had not been for Saleen needing her around, she would not have wanted to leave her children behind. Both of her children were growing fast, at least twice as fast as common children. They were already capable of learning some skills.

Everyone within the temple was a teacher to the two children, yet they only had one mother.

Saleen left Sika behind and he dared not bring Daniel and the others along with him either. He brought only Nailisi, Eleanor, Jola, and Nicholas on that trip. While Eleanor had yet to advance to level-10, her Seven Nights would have a formidable offensive capacity once its powers were restored.

Furthermore, Eleanor’s flight speed was getting faster. If she had the Wings of An Elf with her, she was even capable of reaching over 300 miles per hour in flight.

The Winged Skull had to return to the outer regions of the Oceanic Ice Block. That place was apparently as safe as it had once been. The number of magic beasts there had seen an explosive spike. If Alchemy City were to hunt magic beasts there, they would gain huge amounts of magic nuclei. As such, Saleen had to be on guard.

Saleen even had Aini help the Winged Skull out at the outer regions of the Oceanic Ice Block. Aini only needed a few years to advance. If he was lucky, he would get another shot at advancing by the end of the year.

Death mages were commonly seen advancing during battles, the complete opposite of elemental mages. In the latter’s case, even if they were to learn something from battle, they would have to return and research their findings carefully before being able to advance.

That was the very reason Saleen had arranged for Aini to get to the outer regions of the Oceanic Ice Block—to increase Aini’s speed of advancement. Aini’s two ways of summoning spirits would be of great help to the Winged Skull as well.

Saleen would have to build a spirit army sooner or later, as taking on the Holy See would end in massive casualties among conventional troops, and Saleen hated to see that.

While he might have been brutal enough to raze the entirety of Ironwall City, he was reluctant to see even one of his own troops die.

He had illustrated his worries about Sreeger Island to his teacher, yet Jason was hardly fazed. He simply smiled and said to Saleen, “Do what you need to. If the need arises, I’ll take back Sreeger Island.”

Saleen was not irked seeing his teacher so relaxed. He then took his people and left Metatrin City, heading straight for the Chaotic Swamp.

Phoenix was totally under Saleen’s control by then. He headed straight for Deep Forest Town, entering the Chaotic Swamp through the Beast Jungle. The jungle had expanded several times over, but that was due to Eleanor sending people to plant all manner of magic fauna.

The jungle posed next to no danger to Saleen. The long, narrow forest became a barrier to the west side of Phoenix. Towering trees were everywhere in the jungle and the number of magic beasts found within had seen a spike as well.

Saleen did not fly over it. Instead, he chose to pass through it, listening to Eleanor talk about the magic plants.

Eleanor was a royal elf and she had traversed planes to Myers Mainland. The equipment she had with her was nearly destroyed, yet she kept many high-level elvish plant seeds within her body. Those seeds were nurtured using royal blood, making it possible for them to stay intact for over ten thousand years.

Eleanor had been reluctant to have them planted until she had changed her surname to Metatrin.

From then on out, Myers Mainland had been her home. It was only then that she took out all of the seeds, planted, and nurtured them. She nurtured even more magic seeds at the southern garden of Metatrin City before spreading the seeds in various locations throughout the rest of the mainland.

Magic plants were extremely resilient, yet without nurturing from elves, it was difficult for them to bear fruit. Those plants only had a chance of bearing fruit after living for thousands or even tens of thousands of years in the wild.

As such, Eleanor had no worries about the plants being taken away. Furthermore, few would have known much about those plants. Even sorcerers would have known next to nothing about them.

The elf plane and Myers Mainland had been separated for too long. Any knowledge pertaining to the elf plane was basically lost.

Saleen listened to Eleanor’s introduction and felt interested in the layout of the beast Jungle. According to Eleanor, if 10,000 elves were stationed there, it would make the place into an impenetrable line of defense. All magic plants were capable of serving as an elf’s weapon after all.

It was a pity that Eleanor had no means of summoning elves to do battle. It was difficult for the elf plane and Myers Mainland to form a connection. They would probably need to wait for Myers Mainland to continue advancing before being able to connect both planes again.

Of course, it was still possible to summon one or two elves, as planes were never completely separated from one another.

Saleen did not care about summoning elves. He was only concerned about being able to craft equipment using those plants.

Eleanor felt rather reluctant in that regard and said, “Saleen, the plants are living beings as well. It would be a waste making equipment out of them. It would be nice having them here as a barrier nonetheless.”

Saleen smiled and did not insist.

Elemental creatures were living beings as well, yet he had no qualms about chucking them into magic power furnaces. But since Eleanor did not like the idea of using her plants in such a way, he saw no reason to insist on it.

He had plenty of thundercloud wood at his disposal. The ancient humans had cut down a good number in the giant plane in ancient times after all.

Eleanor was right as well. The Beast Jungle formed a natural barrier. After the magic plants grew, some groups of adventurers found it difficult to survive there. Even the Deep Forest Town looked rather dilapidated as a result.

If it had not been for Saleen keeping the town alive, the place would have been deserted altogether.

Nailisi pointed at a river up ahead as they passing out of the Beast Jungle and said, “Master, do you remember this place?”

Saleen nodded. There was no way he could have forgotten. That was where he’d passed when he ran all those years ago. The river was filled with bloodsucking bugs that were also venomous. It was Nailisi who had carried him when he ran. The presence of an imp repelled the bugs.

Saleen would not have been able to cross the river otherwise, as he had been incapable of flying back then.

He’d run into a hill cyclops and had almost died at the hands of that brainless creature. Coming back to the jungle now, the only danger in the Chaotic Swamp was Fycro.

“Someone’s here,” Saleen said, bringing Nailisi and the others across the river. He cast a vortex, collecting some venomous bugs within.

Mages usually collected these bugs for alchemical purposes and Saleen was no exception. He was already capable of crafting magic equipment using metals, and etching magic arrays required a lot of poisons.

Over 100 black-robed high priests appeared from the distance. The high priests were all being led by one person that Saleen knew.

“Picasso, is that you?”

Saleen looked at the high priest. While he was actually excited, memories flooded into his mind nonetheless. When he’d first met Picasso, he was but a level-6 holy master Now, Picasso had reached level-9. Furthermore, it was apparent that he had betrayed the Pivotal Council and joined the Oracle Corps.

“Lord Saleen, I’ve come to receive you,” Picasso said, smiling. He looked just as dashing as ever. Both of them had been very different in terms of powers. At present, even though Saleen had practically walked up to him, Picasso seemed to have felt nothing at all.

Saleen nodded and Picasso took out a huge carriage, inviting Saleen onboard. Two unicorns were pulling the carriage.

Fycro had even been able to nurture unicorns, so something was definitely up with him. Saleen thought about it for a bit and boarded the carriage. Eleanor and Nailisi followed suit, but Nicholas and Jola refused to get onboard.

Nicholas summoned two nightmares from his Scepter of the Fallen. Both he and Jola rode on a nightmare respectively and followed the carriage at its flanks.

Picasso did not mind at all. He took the reins of the carriage and brought Saleen deep into the Chaotic Swamp to meet Fycro.

Picasso handed the reins of the carriage to his subordinates after traveling for a dozen miles before getting inside the carriage.

“There are things that I need to tell you in here, Lord Saleen,” Picasso said. He was composed, appearing neither subservient nor condescending.

“Speak.” Saleen had a deep impression of that holy master, as Picasso had once let him go. While Saleen had his own tricks, it was also clear that Picasso had not intended to kill Saleen back then.

“Lord Fycro said this…” Picasso explained seriously. “Laiyin cannot have people of the Nature Faith in it. Conflict will result sooner or later. If we were to divide the Pivotal Council, Lord Fycro needs control over this route. Please do not take the regions north of Kroraina. We shall draw the line at the center of Kroraina, and the rest shall be handed to the Principality of Bitterwater.”

“The price?” Saleen did not say whether he agreed to it or not. Instead, he asked what was it that Fycro was willing to pay to seal such a deal.

“Lord Fycro’s people shall never cross that line. As long as the adherents of Nature Faith keep their hands to themselves, Lord Fycro’s men shall not attack as well.”

Saleen shrugged. A promise made by word of mouth alone in such matters would have amounted to nothing. He would have been foolish if he were to agree to that.

“We could forge an alliance. The Goddess of Myers is not someone stingy after all,” Picasso smiled and said.

“Myers is not, but I am,” Saleen answered seriously. The so-called will of the goddess was in his control after all. One word of his would have been as good as a decree to the Nature Faith.

“What do you plan to do then, Lord Saleen?” Picasso seemed to have known that Saleen would refuse, and so he continued asking without being flustered.

Saleen took out a magic map and drew a circle, saying, “This is where Fycro has control. The rest shall be mine.”

Picasso took one look at the map and felt troubled. Saleen had generously given half of Sikeqinya to Fycro, yet that took Laiyin and Kroraina away. That half of Sikeqinya would be of little use to Fycro.

Saleen smiled and, seeing Picasso getting speechless, said, “Picasso, Fycro sent you because you’re one of my acquaintances. Regardless of how irksome your words might be, I wouldn’t have made a move against you, and the incoming negotiations will not affect you. Right, I understand. Fycro is being sincere indeed. He’s only testing me with you. What we discuss here may not actually be something concerning the problem.”

Picasso’s face twitched as he listened to Saleen’s very forthcoming words, yet he was unable to do anything.

“Thank you, Lord Saleen. I was being rather offensive before and I was lucky that you did not mind.” Picasso lowered his head and apologized to Saleen.

“Picasso, how about you come over to the Nature Faith then?” Saleen blurted out all of a sudden.

He pondered that for a bit and said, “To tell you the truth, Lord Saleen, Lord Fycro told me before I came that you’d try to buy me over. What made you do so, if I may ask?”

“First of all, it is because you are capable. Second, you’re not of blind faith. Third, it is my gesture of gratitude for letting me go all those years ago and my way of sparing you as well.” Saleen looked at Picasso with an amused expression.

“I shall report it to Lord Fycro. If he is willing to let me go, I shall swear allegiance to you, your highness.” Picasso changed the way he addressed Saleen and Saleen knew why he did so. Picasso would have never joined the Nature Faith, but he could still work under Saleen’s name. This person’s faith was anything but pure.

Picasso then added after seeing Saleen go silent, “Your highness, forgive me. I’ve had enough of religions. If I were to believe in some gods again, I’d fall in a matter of days.”