Badge in Azure

Every day, someone would be assigned to clean the square. As Saleen stood on the temple’s podium overlooking the five-hundred soldiers who were assembled on the square below. He sighed, “It is still too little!”

When Saleen scanned the faces of the soldiers, he spotted the familiar Conan. Conan was in command of two-hundred barbarians. He was standing silently next to a skeletal warhorse, looking up at Saleen.

It was not true that the barbarians were not orderly. It was just that they had been oppressed for far too long, hence they never got the opportunity to establish their own civilization. After invading each other’s land, the empires on the mainland had grown sick of this exhaustion. Eventually, they maintained a balance that lasted for almost one-thousand years. The barbarians never benefited from this balance.

The barbarians did not have their own country or their own home. Besides the ancient teachings which were passed down by mouth, they had no other knowledge. They did not possess a systematic language.

Conan was clad in armor which was twice as thick compared to other peoples, Saleen had crafted it solely for him. This set of armor had utilized material from the gold coin turtle, it was abnormally sturdy. Conan’s armor was fitted with a skirt, which could withstand attacks from an infantryman effectively. Gigantic weapons were suspended on both sides of Conan’s personal skeletal warhorse, an axe which was about two meters long and a massive triangular metal shield.

The Soul Flame in the warhorse’s orbitals was flickering steadily, such a burden was not taxing to a spirit. The warhorse was very earnest. After being summoned by the three kings, it had been assigned to the mage who was currently standing on the platform. Even though the skeletal warhorse’s intelligence was not high, it could clearly feel that this mage could easily slaughter it and prevent it from escaping back to the death dimension.

All the death creatures summoned by the three kings had this feeling. This caused them to tremble with fear when faced with that mage and they did not dare go against him.

Half of Saleen’s left hand had recovered, but he continued wearing the magic glove. Saleen habitually stretched the fingers on his left hand and he could feel that the Power of Life had begun recovering. It enabled him to cast the goddess’ divine spells.

With this hand, Saleen would be able to cause real lethality to a spirit. That was why Saleen had peace of mind allowing the creatures summoned by the three kings to fight for him. A spirit would submit to a powerful person. To these creatures, Saleen possessed the power to determine their life and death. Naturally, they would not betray him.

There were two six-meter long magic chariots with an extravagant appearance. Saleen had already used magic to conceal the vibrant and conspicuous exterior. From their materials, these two chariots were still very blinding. The enemy could spot them easily on the battlefield.

Kredian and Daniel stood on both sides of the chariots, each of them was accompanied by four grade-3 mages. When a spirit was summoned on the Myers mainland, it still needed to eat. A spirit’s food was energy absorbed from the death dimension. Without Daniel around for a long time, the death warhorses would be weakened.

Alternatively, a contractual space could be provided for them. Since there were more than five-hundred skeletal warhorses, Saleen would not be willing to employ so many Green Spirits. Saleen did not actually obtain many Green Spirits from the Chaotic Swamp. A huge portion of them had been given to the the winged skeleton.

“Gurney!” Saleen called out.

“Here!” Gurney was clad in armor as he stood out among the soldiers.

“There is a war down south, you will be in charge. If you run into County Queen Lex, let Daniel handle the liaison. Phoenix isn’t very peaceful. If you are harassed, how will you settle it?”

“Don’t fight with them. Reach Phoenix’s southwest border as early as possible.”

“Very good, it’s good that you remember. If there are any accidents and you do not meet County Queen Lex’s team, you have to get back by the end of May.”

“Understood.” Gurney pressed his palm against the sabre, as he replied boisterously. At this moment, he felt that life was meaningful. Being a pirate was not impressive at all. Pirates had to hide in various places to avoid capture, they were also afraid of running into the Alchemy City’s warships while at sea. Now that Gurney was following Saleen, he had the opportunity to lead a five-hundred man army.

“Daniel and Kredian, take care.” Saleen did not give much instructions to these two mages. Thereafter, he raised his hand and released a patch of green light. This green light diffused into the body of every soldier.

An unpopular level-1 spell, the Water-Based Brightness spell. It was not very effective as treatment, it was used to increase one’s physical qualities. Saleen decided to learn this spell because it only depleted a minute amount of magic chords.

The soldiers felt their minds becoming very sober all of a sudden, and their strength had also been boosted. Their stares at Saleen became gradually fervent.

Saleen knew that his forte did not lie in giving speeches, however he had learnt this technique by taking a leaf out of the Holy See’s book. Whenever the Holy See assembled its believers, it would distribute holy water frequently.

Holy water was only temporarily beneficial to a person’s body. In the long term, it paled in comparison to water magic. Saleen had used water magic to bid farewell to his soldiers, but there was not much difference in the intention.

There was no choice. Saleen did not have the ability to give an emotional and motivational speech in front of so many people. That being said, language was not necessarily needed to encourage someone. Saleen had used a simple level-1 spell. Casting it neatly had naturally caused the soldiers to be in awe of him.

In fact, even the mages from the Sregl Island were very astounded. Saleen had casted a level-1 spell. Even though this spell did not consume a lot of magic chords, Saleen had to cast it on five-hundred people in one go. Furthermore, he still had to avoid the skeletal warhorses. He would have had to prepare a large number of spells in his hand in order to achieve that!

Even Kredian knew that he would not be able to do it. Casting a spell on dozens of people at the same time was his limit. Saleen could utilize his magic calmly in the face of five-hundred men. Saleen was virtually superior to a sorcerer already.

As the team left the square, Saleen watched his first ever self-established army leave. H exhaled tiredly. Sika held onto him at the side, but Saleen simply smiled and said, “Its fine, I am just a little exhausted.”

One Brightness Spell could only be casted on twelve people at once. Since Saleen’s target was five-hundred people, he would have to accumulate more than forty of this level-1 spell. Even though the Brightness Spell would not explode, this process was also a rigorous test for Saleen’s mental strength.

At this moment, Saleen kind of admired the priests from the Holy See. Those old guys had been doing this for a long time.

“Master, let’s go back,” Nailisi urged from behind, she was not interested in bidding farewell. Saleen’s people were all present, so she was not willing to stay behind in the temple alone.

Jola was indifferent since he was already used to the practices in the Cloudflow’s palace. This time around, Saleen was already considered to be swift and decisive. There was not even the slightest delay.

Saleen glanced at the people standing behind him. There were more than ten mages from Sregl Island. Jola, the four magic beast swordsmen, Sika’s two personal guards, and a fully equipped twenty-man team were also there.

Sika’s personal guards were two Caucasus youths. These two people were clad in Caucasus armor and followed Sika everywhere she went. This caused Saleen to be slightly displeased. It was because the Caucasus people were worried for the safety of their priest, so Saleen could not refuse this gesture either. These two Caucasus warriors might not have cultivated the Sword Aura, but their offensive power was almost equivalent to that of the four magic beast swordsmen already.

“I am going to take a walk outside. All of you can go do your own stuff.”

“I am going as well,” Sika and Nailisi responded uniformly.

“Mm, okay.” Saleen did not refuse. With two people by his side, he also felt safer. The two bodyguards behind Sika followed closely too, causing Saleen to feel helpless. Fortunately, these two people would not follow Sika at night. Otherwise, Saleen would not even have the chance to be intimate with Sika.

Saleen traveled on foot towards the east. He did not rely on any spell. In an hour, this entourage arrived at the port. Along the journey, Saleen had been observing the progress of the city’s development. The skeletons obviously could not carry out intricate work. They were just building the foundation and repairing the roads, but there were not many houses. The roadside was lined with huge trees which were originally part of the forest.

When Saleen went past Aini’s residence, he noticed that the door was left agape, but there was no one inside. The whole city was barren, a mystery as to when it would bustle with activity.

At the harbor, the patrolling soldiers bowed when they spotted Saleen. Other than these soldiers, the only ones left were the puppets who were removing the snow and a magic disciple.

Saleen took a look at his surroundings. He suddenly pointed to an empty plot of land, and said, “I want to build a shop on this site, specializing in selling items unique to us only.”

“Unique? Master, are you thinking of abandoning Aini and Irene?” With her astute senses, Nailisi detected a strange smell. Saleen never broke his promises. The only items unique to him were the ones which were hunted from the Frozen Sea. In the future, the hunting ground would be available to Aini and Irene too. Saleen would only charge them a toll.

“How is that possible? Nailisi, a person must be trustworthy. In order to maximize profits, I cannot let the two of them sell those items. Right now, I am thinking whether there are any features of this city which will attract businessmen from the mainland. The deep sea magic beasts are clearly the best option.”

“Master, what if they do not agree?”

“Do not agree? Then they would have to own more ships than me. Once all the forces from the Sregl Island arrive, do you think they would be able to make money without me?”

Nailisi’s rolled her eyes, then said, “But Master, Aini is your friend. By doing so…”

“Aini is my friend, so the only trouble remaining is Irene. Nailisi, have you been looking her up recently?”

Nailisi shook her head. Ever since the incident on the ship, she had lost all interest in Irene. She realized that this woman could not influence Saleen at all.

“Mm, this city shall be called Metatrin City, but what about the company? Let’s save the trouble, it shall be called Metatrin Company. All the items obtained from the Frozen Sea will be put on sale through the Metatrin Company. This location is the best in the vicinity of the harbor. Even if other people want to compete, they will not win.”

After finishing his sentence, Saleen looked up to the towering white rock mountain on the left, as he thought to himself, “If this place is built according to my methods, there will be a number of spies. That magic cannon should be protected. Truman cannot be relied on to defend it, but I can’t possibly station a grand mage there all year round. All these troublesome issues are really vexing. Who can complete them for me, and give me peace of mind? Lex’s people cannot possibly do it. No matter how close I am to Lex, her subordinates are still outsiders at the end of the day.”

Saleen’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed. Snow started falling from the skies once again. The severe winter had passed, however. Currently, the snow was much finer, it no longer appeared in huge chunks.

“Sir, look!” A soldier pointed to the frozen layer. A person was staggering atop it, it seemed like he would slip and fall anytime. Saleen was jubilant, it seemed like his city was still very attractive after all. The city had just been built, yet there were so many people coming already. This man’s agenda was unknown though.

Saleen nodded. And immediately, five soldiers went down the harbor, approaching that man atop the frozen layer.