Badge in Azure

“Let me inform them.” Lex wrote a letter and took out a flying puppet to deliver it to the others. Luckily, they had been leaving site markers along the way, so the flying puppet would still be able to fly back without getting lost. Lex released the flying puppet after changing its magic nucleus to a higher grade, then said to Saleen, “I will ask them to wait. Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Saleen nodded in agreement. He thought to himself, “If I can have this dimension all to myself, is there still a need to return to Metatrin City?”

Of course, Saleen did not intend to take his own sweet time to climb up the mountain. Sika and Bain were different from normal warriors too. After resting for four hours, everyone continued to push forward. Just like that, the four of them flew for two months before finally reaching the top of the mountain.

Once they reached the mountain top, everyone besides Sika was so tired they felt like their bodies would break apart. Sika had an easy time because she used the monster bones’ strength, but for the others, the journey had taken its toll on their mental capacity.

The mountain top was as they imagined. A gigantic temple was in the center and there was a moderate-sized plaza in front of it. In the center of the plaza was a huge stone tablet.

After a short rest, Saleen and the others came to the stone tablet. The words inscribed on the tablet were in the ancient Myers language. As Saleen read the words, his heart was filled with waves of emotions.

The words on the tablet described how the mountain came to be. Saleen’s guess was right, this was the Mountain Without End indeed. What he did not know was that the mountain was transported over from the giant dimension and not created by the Goddess.

The history of the mountain was related to the first dynasty of the Myers Mainland.

During the first dynasty, humans were formidable. Even so, the Goddess of Myers was still the only god of the mainland and had many disciples. When the first dynasty had waged war against the gods, they retaliated, but it was ultimately ineffective because the humans at that time were extremely powerful and had many allies.

In the end, the gods came up with a plan and killed one of the gods that dwelled in the skies of Myers Mainland; the Sun God.

The Sun God was the subordinate of the Goddess of Myers. Although it was a false god, it was still extremely important. After the Sun God had been killed, the Myers Mainland instantaneously sunk into the depths of darkness. Even if a replacement sun could be found, without a God to control it, it would not be able to enter the orbit quickly enough before it left the Myers Mainland again.

That was when the Goddess of Myers intercepted. She used her spell to secure a sun into the orbit and allowed it to rotate freely. This staved off a potential disaster on the Myers Mainland. Although it was of little difference to those with power, the ordinary human would have died without the sun.

In those times, Gods could still enter the Myers Mainland dimension freely, so the incident with the Sun God was bound to happen. The Goddess of Myers decided to use her godly powers to seal up the Myers Mainland dimension. Other than humans, even the God’s powers would not be able to infiltrate the dimension. One of the consequence of this was that the Goddess of Myers would no longer be able to leave.

The Emperor of the first dynasty was extremely grateful for the Goddess’ help. He decided to collect countless rare and special items and creatures from every dimension and offered them to the Goddess as a show of gratitude.

The Mountain Without End was what the humans transported over from the giant dimension.

Saleen once tried to imagine what the humans were like at the peak of their powers, and how much strength they possessed. He would never have imagined that they could even move the stars. Although the Mountain Without End was huge, it was nothing compared to that.

Based on the astrologer’s ancient classics, the sun was an enormous ball of fire, bigger than even the Myers Mainland. The temperature on the sun was so high that it could melt many types of metal directly, including rhenium gold. It was hard to believe that the sun hanging up in the skies of Myers Mainland was actually transported from another galaxy by humans.

No wonder the humans dared to attack the Gods at that time! That was not arrogance. If Saleen had that kind of power, he would probably have developed the same kind of wild ambitions.

The Goddess of Myers already foresaw her fall, so she used these offerings from various dimensions to fill up this dimension of hers to create a burial site for herself.

The conditions attached to taking away the seeds of the divine tree was simple. As long as one signed a contract on the stone tablet, opened up all the Goddess’ temples on the mainland, and convert one-hundred-thousand disciples; one would be able to inherit all the fortunes that the Goddess had left behind including the seeds of the divine tree.

There was a deadline to this contract. The conditions must be fulfilled within one-thousand years, or else the soul of the person who had signed the contract would be locked up within the stone tablet for eternity. Regardless if the seeds of the divine tree had already started to grow, they would disappear and return back to the temple.

Obviously, at the time when the Goddess created this stone tablet, humans still led very long lives. Now, amongst the Myers Mainland population, only grade-9 mages could live past one-thousand years.

Saleen hesitated. Opening up all the temples should not be difficult because the Goddess would surely have left behind coordinates. The difficult part was converting one-hundred-thousand disciples.

Without miracles, what are the chances of converting people?

Saleen did not believe for a second that the contract was fake. It would be the most terrible punishment if one’s soul was to be locked up forever.

After reading the words on the stone tablet, Lex was hesitant and Saleen did not dare to write down his own name either. Indeed, he was only a grade-5 mage with a lot of enemies. He had Sregl island behind him as well as Lex’s support though. He might not need to fear the Holy See. If he wait it out for another two years or so and wait for Sregl island to start anew and mages to head towards Metatrin City, all his troubles would be resolved. With thirty-six magical towers for defence, Saleen could not imagine how anyone could successfully attack Metatrin City.

If there was enough time for the sorcerers of Metatrin City to enter the six elements’ space, he would have a group of grade-9 sorcerers to back him up. As for himself, it would not be difficult for him to become a sorcerer. After his advancement, the six elements’ space would also help him to become a grade-9 sorcerer in no time.

Saleen’s family background was already very distinguished. Was there still a need to take this risk?

If he wanted to convert one-hundred-thousand disciples, he would have go against the Holy See head-on. There would be no turning back. The people of Metatrin City alone would not be enough. The Goddess would never want false disciples. Only genuine disciples would fulfil the contract’s condition.

“Saleen, what is written on it?” Sika’s literacy skills were worse than Saleen’s. When she saw the same expression on the faces of Saleen and Lex, she knew that he had encountered trouble.

Saleen explained the conditions of the contract to Sika patiently. There were twenty-four temples spread around the entire mainland. To use these temples as the foundation to spread the faith, the mainland would first need to be unified. If one were to venture into the Tanggulasi Kingdom to try to spread the Goddess’ faith, the Holy See would somehow be able to kill your pastors on the grounds of peace.

There would be peace if there were no disciples of other faiths. That was the Holy See’s way of thinking.

“Saleen, do you have any other way?” Sika asked directly.

Saleen blanked out for a moment before thinking it through carefully. “Would the Holy See let me go even if I did not accept the Goddess’ contract? I do possess natural godly power after all and now I have a mythical beast by my side. The Holy See will definitely leave no stones unturned to come after me. Even if I can hide in Metatrin City temporarily, do I want to live the rest of my life in hiding?”

Sika’s question hit the nail on the head. Saleen had always thought that he already had an answer to such a scenario. At this moment when he was really confronted by it, he realized that he was still unsure.

“No matter what, I will be with you all the way. Now you should ask if Lex dares to put her name down,” Sika looked at Lex with the intention to provoke. If Lex did not dare to sign the contract, then she would lose the right to the seeds of the divine tree.

“Princess, please don’t!” Bain gave Sika a stare furiously.

“Why not?” Lex asked coolly. She had yet to take her eyes off the stone tablet. The words inscribed on it were daunting. Not only did they contain the events that happened during the war with the kingdoms of God, they also described many things that took place during the first dynasty.

Bain was at a loss for words. The Grukos clan had never lacked geniuses, and Lex was one of the best. If she continued her training, she would become one of the strongest on the mainland even without the seeds of the divine tree.

There was no way the mainland could be unified by one person, no matter how strong that person was. To destroy all kingdoms in order to start new worlds and restore the Goddess’ faith, all this would be much more difficult than achieving grade-10.

If they did not accomplish all this within one-thousand years, Lex’s soul would never be able to escape. Lex came from the Grukos royal family. She should not take the risk. There was no need to.

Lex smiled and said, “Breaking this stone tablet would take the strength of a grade-18 mage. In comparison, it would be much easier to build a unified dynasty.”

Bain did not lack strength, but there was nothing he could do to sway Lex’s determination. Lex continued, “My father’s biggest wish was to unify the mainland. He wanted to replace the rotten rules that restricted the people’s way of thinking with the laws of Qin. In comparison, my wish is a much smaller one. Since father is no longer around, I am willing to fulfil his great ambition on his behalf.”

Lex’s voice grew louder as she spoke until finally, she released an icicle to prick her finger and used the fresh blood to write her name on the stone tablet.

“Humph!” Sika made a sound in contempt. She used her boomerang to cut her finger and left her name on the tablet too. She turned to Bain, who was rubbing his hands, and said, “There are four seeds. If you don’t put down your name…”

What Sika meant to say was clear. If Bain was unwilling to put his name on the stone tablet and sign the contract with the Goddess, the seeds of the divine tree would be divided amongst the three of them.

Bain looked at Sika with fury. Even so, he still took out a dagger to cut his finger. He put down his name beside Sika’s. “Your turn, Saleen.” Bain’s voice was cold. He had not expected things to turn out like this after reaching the mountain top.

Saleen did not stop Sika. He quietly cut his finger and was the last to put his name down. He was well aware of Sika’s character. As for himself, he had really left himself with no other way. Even if he were to do it for Sika, he would also have to accomplish the Goddess’ wishes now. As for the reason behind the Goddess’ doings, it was simple. She wanted to be revived.