Badge in Azure

“Saleen, this is not like you!” Lex spoke in a satirical tone, but it sounded like jealousy too.

Saleen blushed as his intention was too obvious. Lex and him were blunt and frank to each other, but he did not know what to say.

“You still have time to consider this, we will first go to the third temple. There shouldn’t be any danger there. Then, we will send the coordinates back here so that the mages can proceed with calculations. The shortest time to get the results would be at least three months. To go to the main temple, I have prepared for many materials and equipment. You take a look and give further thought about who to bring to help.”

“Help? What does it mean?” Saleen did not understand as there was no defence magic array in the temple. No matter which kind of magic array, it would stop functioning after tens of thousands of years time.

“You don’t know? Back then, the dark sky devil that was being chased after by the four empires disappeared in the Purgatory Desert. Even if the dark sky devil did not live, he would have left behind something dangerous. You should understand black magic, if it was not completely rooted out, the devil would not disappear,”

“You don’t think that I have someone around me that can deal with the dark sky devil, did you? Even the three Kings can’t do that.”

“The three Kings?” Saleen simply explained the origins of the three Kings and Lex thought before she spoke, “The three Kings definitely wouldn’t be able to fight against the dark sky devil, but the scariest thing about dark sky devil was not magic but its combat power. Try to imagine, it has a power a hundred times what Sika has. That with the creepiness of Nailisi, accompanied with black magic. A monster with such combination is incredible. The original dark sky devil definitely died, but we might run into its descendants.”

Descendants? That’s not that scary. The descendants of a walking dragon and a dark giant dragon are a few hundred times weaker in capability. “But, Lex, what is there in the main temple. You definitely knew. You have to tell me now. I wouldn’t let the others take the risk otherwise.” Saleen suddenly calmed down and he continued, “These people that follow me shouldn’t devote everything unconditionally. I am a mage, I have to give them just treatment.”

“Not much. The Goddess of Myers has four trees; the Tree of Life, the Tree of Element, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Taboo. In the main temple, there are seeds of these four trees.”

Saleen was suddenly at a loss for words. The four godly trees possessed supreme godly power. He had gotten a piece of leaf from the Tree of Life and the godly power in him almost never die out. No matter how severe the expense was, as long as he did not die, his left hand would resume its original form eventually.

It was only a piece of leaf. If it was a fruit, consuming it might make him immortal.

If he had the Tree of Element, he would be the strongest mage. At least no matter what forbidden curse he used, it would not cause any pressure to him.

As for the Tree of Knowledge, that would provide him infinite wisdom to see through all the secret in this world. If he had the Tree of Knowledge, he only needed a level one magic to break all the higher level magic.

If he were to own a Tree of Taboo, he could break the balance of the current dimension and give birth to a new God. To become God? This was unimaginable.

“The four trees, haven’t they dried up?” Saleen’s voice was hoarse. No matter how well his mentality was, he could not remain unshaken with such news.

In the history of the Myers Mainland, although Myers was not the demiurge, she was the first God that was born in the current dimension. She owned the four godly trees and every one of them symbolized an avatar of the Goddess.

“How do you think the Purgatory Desert came about? The Lord of Light wanted to take advantage of the Myers Mainland, so he landed regardless of the prohibition of dimension rules. That time, the four trees burnt and formed the Purgatory Desert. The Lord of Light nearly passed away and he had never dared to land at this dimension again and only sent his believers to preach.”

That news was even more shocking. Saleen did not ask how Lex found out about all this as the history of Grukos family went way back to the Second Dynasty. Passing down secrets was a normal practice in such an age-old family.

Saleen tried to make himself calm and asked, “Lex, even if it’s true that there are seeds for the four godly trees, how many years do these seeds take to grow into a godly tree?”

“Not too long, ten to twenty thousand years at most.” Saleen relaxed as Lex continued to say, “But I have ways to grow them within a few years time.”

Saleen smiled bitterly while he said, “You told me all this but, I cannot not go.”

“Why so? Leave our friendship aside, I dared not provoke your teacher. If you were to plan not to go, I will find help from the others. Of course, don’t you want the four godly trees?” Lex wore a cunning expression that was rarely seen. She was certain even that the Tree of Element alone would make it impossible for Saleen to reject the invitation.

“I have another question. The seeds of the four trees, besides you, who else knows?”

“No one else. When my father passed away, I got the information from the Ring of God. If I were to die, the person who inherits the ring would receive the news.”

“I wouldn’t ask if I knew.” Saleen replied sadly. The secret was only heard by him and there was nothing good about it, not even something to be boastful about.

“Saleen, you grew timid!” Lex sighed. She realized that Saleen had lost his drive.

“I have no choice, there are more people following me now. I have to be responsible to them.”

“You are not like from Sikeqinya.” Lex suddenly understood Saleen’s meaning and she changed into an affectionate tone when she teased Saleen. She once had the same transformation so she understood what Saleen meant.

“Alright, forget about that. As there are no other people around, share your plan.” Saleen knew that he had no choice but to go as Lex told the secret to him and if he were to not go, he would have too much trouble.

“Going to the main temple requires more than twenty people. There must be damage, you have to be mentally prepared.” Lex sounded cold, but Saleen understood. Such adventure relied on luck sometimes. Having sufficient power did not mean you would be fine. Maybe during ancient times, humankind could ignore God but now, the Purgatory Desert was enough to stop many strong people.

“Saleen, the danger was originally huge. Now that you have a ready-made magic chariot, it’s safer. The skeleton warhorses won’t be able to enter Purgatory Desert as the Goddess left behind her scent and that would burn the spirit of the skeleton warhorses straightaway. If we were to get a mechanical soul to pull the cart, we could save a lot of time in the desert.”

“Mechanical soul? You go and ask the three Kings yourself, what kind of a monster it is. We can’t control them.”

“There is no spirit of the dead that can’t be control. Once they make one and we bring it under control. I will then send all the grand mages to calculate the safest contract formula to hold it captive forcefully.”

Lex was definitely letting her imagination run wild, but the summon skill was developed like that at the very beginning. Capture a creature by force and calculate its weakness using a magic formula, then the mage would design a contract tailored to that particular creature. Later on, the magic contract branched out to uncountable versions. Most of the creatures shared similar contract formulas, so no one used the stupid way anymore.

Not everyone could take such measure. They had to at least be like Lex and own a large number of mages to be able to.

“Alright, regarding the mechanical soul, that will be it. I will bring Sika, Nailisi and Jola. The rest of the people will be yours.” Saleen made a choice quickly.

People around him; Sika and Nailisi were the most trustable ones and Jola’s sword aura was the strongest. Although he was not on the same channel, his combat power was undeniable. If Sika and Nailisi did not use their special power, they would not be able to win against Jola. They might not even be able to pull one trick before him.

From that viewpoint, Jola might not be able to win against Nailisi and Sika. To kill enemies together, Jola would definitely overtake the two women by Saleen’s side. When Nailisi killed ten of the enemies, Jola might already kill fifty or above. Jola also was a swordmaster. When he was supported with magic, the effects would be far more efficient compared to Nailisi and Sika who did not know any sword aura.

Saleen made such choices because he did not want to bring the mages from Sregl Island. The danger that the mages faced was far bigger in the adventure after all. There were many mages around Lex, so he would just let her fork them out.

Lex smiled and comforted Saleen, “When I returned this time, teacher had prepared me sufficient magic liquid. If the person was not dead, I could at least let the injured person shower with magic liquid.”

Saleen showed a hint of warmth. There was still a daily limit for how much magic liquid a grade-8 sorcerer could make. Lex’s teacher prepared so much magic liquid and that would require a lot of his time. It would even affect his practice.

“I will bring two grade-5 mages, four grade-4 mages, and two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters. The rest of the people will be high level swordsmen. Also, there will be a cook.” Lex smiled.

“A cook?”

“The one I picked up from Holy Rock City in West Town. The strong man that competed with Sika.

“Ha!” Saleen recalled, the honest guy.

After picking suitable candidates, Lex and Saleen continued to discuss about equipment. Before Lex returned, she prepared large amounts of equipment. She knew that Saleen had mastered the water flame alchemy skill, so Lex remade a new plan to have Saleen make magic armor for the swordsmen that were following them.

Then, Saleen and Lex started to measure the coordinates of the temple and started to build transportation portals at the temple and its surrounding. The transportation portal in the temple was very small and could be built first. The transportation portal might not be able to transport a living human or creature, but items would be much easier. Saleen then told Nailisi and Sika about what Lex said. He did not mention anything about the secret of the four godly trees to Jola, but he told Jola that it was an adventure that was definitely worth the risk.

Saleen had no choice. He did not want to lie to Jola, but he could not tell him the truth. The less people to know Lex’s secret the better.