Badge in Azure

The eye of lightning did not possess any offensive ability at the moment, but it was similar to Nailisi’s lightning guardian, they could both decode many spells. Saleen’s eye of lightning did not carry out passive decoding like Nailisi’s skill. If Saleen cultivated it successfully, it could execute long range decoding. This was the strongest aspect of the eye of lightning.

Despite not having any offensive power, it would also render the enemy’s mages useless.

When Saleen was still at grade-5, the eye of lightning would cause temporary blindness after usage. Saleen himself was also looking forward to find out the outcome after advancing the eye of lightning’s level.

With regards to being unable to use the power of lightning for offense, Saleen was still bothered by it. He had already grasped the magic patterns found on the surface of the lightning dragons, but he could not release electric currents like the lightning dragons.

When a grade-6 mage practiced special magic, they would seek refuge in their own magical tower to avoid getting ambushed. Everyone knew about this principle, so they stood guard beside Saleen, waiting for him to wake up.

No one knew what spell Saleen had invented, but this spell appeared very exquisite. Golden light would be launched from the eyes, but were there spells which were released from the eyes? It seemed like some wurms could use their eyes to shoot fossilizing rays, but these rays had a gray hue. Saleen’s eyes shot out golden beams.

Saleen had realized what happened. He had converted the magic patterns on a lightning dragon’s body into a magic symbol. This magic symbol was invented by him, but it was not complete yet. In order to expound this magic symbol, other magic symbols were needed to supplement it. When Saleen got promoted, he had only refined the training guidelines, there were still many details yet to be ironed out.

Even so, the power contained in Saleen’s magic symbol at the moment was still hundreds of time mightier than before.

Saleen gradually retracted the golden light shot out from his eyes and the magic symbol also disappeared into thin air. By the time this round of research was completed, the sun had risen. Lex’s men were making fire to prepare breakfast.

The moment the sun rose those pesky magic beasts had also retreated. The demons and Black Metal Grand Swordmasters who kept watch overnight seized this opportunity to rest, as the team was going to begin its journey at noon. Lex’s camp and barracks were constructed beforehand, there was a large amount of metal materials. The main components could only be moved by a puppet or grand swordmaster and these things had to be connected together.

For each journey or time setting up camp, they had to expend at least half an hour. Such a barrack had been specially prepared by Lex for this expedition. Had she used a normal barrack it would have been destroyed by the magic beasts already.

Saleen was not tired. After advancing, his mental strength had increased exponentially. Saleen was sure that his mental strength would undergo qualitative changes once he became a sorcerer. By then a mage could then come into contact with knowledge about the soul. When Saleen exited his barracks he noticed that Lex was building a type of puppet he had never seen before.

This puppet was four meters tall. Its materials were simple, but it had a complicated structure. The body of the puppet was an exterior shell made from countless metal strands woven together. The material of the metal strands was average, it was made by fusing copper with some light metals. It was definitely weaker than steel strands. The problem was that copper was more expensive than steel, but it was much easier to refine than steel.

The four yard tall puppet had four arms and at the end of each arm was a rarely seen palm and four fingers with a weapon affixed onto them. This weapon was a knife wheel, usually only seen inside the illustrated handbook.

The knife wheel had a triangular shape and when it was spun furiously it would turn into a razor sharp circular weapon. This object was designed to be used by a puppet. It was not only heavy, the user could also injure themselves easily. The lower body of the puppet had the structure of a horse, there were four legs and a tail.

Ever since Saleen advanced to a grade-6 mage, his thoughts had become more agile while his observation ability had been strengthened dozens of times over. At one glance, he could decipher the function of this puppet.

While running at high speed those four arms could wield four knife wheels. This weapon was the best when one was surrounded. This puppet could attack in all four directions. By defending the sides it could thus lessen the pressure a mage would face.

“Why?” Saleen inquired. The survivability of such a puppet was not strong, but it consumed many magic nuclei. It was less valuable than a fully constructed puppet. It must be noted that a Silver Grand Swordmaster could not even destroy a fully constructed puppet and it could still recover from its injuries. This four-armed puppet with a horse body could basically be sliced into two by a grand swordmaster, not to mention the difficulty involved in controlling it.

Lex did not stop working either, she continued assembling a second puppet. At the same time, she told Saleen, “Saleen, our harvests are huge this time around, we cannot be stingy. If only I had brought along more puppets, then…” Lex got a little depressed at that thought. The loss of two grade-5 mages had caused her to be heartbroken.

She could do nothing, it was impossible to revive the dead. When she returned, besides placating the families of those two grand mages, she also had to seek suitable successors and spend huge sums of money to groom them.

This was the method members of the Grukos imperial family used to retain mages. This did not apply only to the mages, Lex’s swordsmen were also treated in the same manner. Bain’s daughter was already more than ten years old and was learning magic in the Bitter Water Prefecture at the moment. Bain was not a noble, he did not have lands to groom a mage. His daughter’s future would have to depend on Lex.

Lex was very generous. Lex had given that Green Dragon Magic Nucleus, which Saleen gave to her previously, to Bain’s daughter. Even though the Green Dragon was of a low grade and could not produce a dragonshard, its magic nucleus would not be fully depleted easily either. At least before Bain’s daughter became a sorcerer, the supply of magic nuclei would not be a problem for her anymore.

Saleen felt a little awkward when he heard that. He was not present at that point in time, so he did not have any solutions either. Since those two grade-5 mages were not willing to bring along any swordsmen, it was more unlikely for them to bring along a demon up the mountain. In Saleen’s team, only Jola had a good relationship with Lex’s mages. Saleen had instructed Jola and Su to protect Eleanor, so Jola would not disobey Saleen’s order to protect Lex’s mages.

When those two mages prepared to ascend the mountain, their fates were already sealed.

“I still have thirty-six skeletal warhorses,” Saleen told Lex. He was reminding Lex that they had left for more than six months now. Of the skeletal warhorses Saleen brought along he was now left with one Green Spirit worth of reserves only. Saleen was not a death mage. The moment a skeletal warhorse was taken out, their Soul Flame would be depleted, causing them to weaken over time.

If an elemental mage controlled a spirit it would be extremely exhausting for them. It was akin to a magic disciple casting a level-1 spell. An elemental mage could only help a spirit maintain a small portion of their abilities. If Daniel commanded these skeletal warhorses, the warhorses could not only run faster, they could still aid the rider in battle.

From the Purgatory Desert to Metatrin City the distance was estimated to be about twenty to thirty thousand miles. With only thirty-six skeletal warhorses it would be impossible for them to last until they reached the city.

“We only have to exit the desert, Metatrin City will have built a teleportation portal by now. We will use it to get back,” Lex proclaimed confidently.

The elements in the Purgatory Desert were not stable. It did not mean that a teleportation portal could not be established there, but it would be very dangerous as the portal could collapse anytime. Even if there were precise coordinates transmission errors might occur.

“The…” Metatrin City had been building a teleportation portal a long time ago. At that point in time Saleen had too little manpower and insufficient materials, so he could not develop it successfully. Lex had led a huge influx of mages to Metatrin City though. Since Saleen had left for almost a year, it would be strange if Metatrin City still had not completed the teleportation portal.

Lex smiled beautifully displaying a mischievous demeanor in that rare moment.

“Saleen, will you also contribute something to this teleportation portal?”

“That goes without saying.” Saleen replied casually. Lex had contributed most of the materials for building Metatrin City’s teleportation portal. Once it was constructed, it could not be demolished. It would be a permanent logo of Metatrin City in the future.

The operation of a teleportation portal was extremely taxing on magic nuclei. For distances above twenty-thousand miles, high level magic nuclei had to be used. If it was not for the substantial loot from the goddess’ temple, Saleen could never bear to use the teleportation portal after it got built.

“I have twenty-one men on my side while you have eleven. That means there is a total of thirty-two people. This teleportation portal can only transport four people at any one time, it is already very economical for it to use six level-8 magic nuclei each time. How many of the sixty-four level-8 magic nuclei do you intend to contribute?”

Saleen laughed bitterly, then said, “I will provide all of it, okay?”

“That’s more like it.” Lex burst out in laughter. Previously, when Lex’s teacher tried to save her, he constructed a planar teleportation portal. That attempt almost consumed her entire warehouse of magic nuclei. This round of rewards had finally shored up her reserves. “That damned Safilos has dominated the national treasury. I didn’t listen to Father in the past, it was a mistake to take away the palace’s inventory.”

Saleen did not care about these magic nuclei, as he knew that Lex was a little displeased with him being so calculative. That could not be helped though. Saleen had a group of people to take care of, so he could not be too generous. This time around, with the exception of the seeds of the divine trees, Saleen had obtained three-fifth of the loot from the goddess’ temple while Lex took two-fifths. It was all thanks to Lex that they could be teleported back this time round. Lex should not have to contribute any magic nuclei because of that.

Lex was not having it easy either. She had assembled more than twenty puppets and released the remaining war puppets. With her ensemble of puppets and Saleen’s fully constructed puppets, they could basically breakout of the magic beasts’ siege already. This operation required the depletion of huge quantities of magic nuclei. Lex currently possessed three swordsman’s camps. Two were in the Bitter Water Prefecture while one was in Metatrin City. These three camps were all elites and they consumed a substantial quantity of magic nuclei every day because they had been allocated with a huge number of mage platoons.

“Lex, don’t worry too much, the Frozen Sea has many intermediate grade magic beasts. They are easier to deal with as compared to the ones on land. I will provide the army’s magic nuclei, you can help me train a batch of warriors like yours. Metatrin City will be sufficient with a fifty-thousand man army.”

Since Lex had ten-thousand elites in Metatrin City, Saleen meant to say that he wanted Lex to train another fifty-thousand elite soldiers.

These fifty-thousand elites were only the beginning, if Saleen and Lex wanted to dominate the world, fifty-thousand soldiers would not be adequate. Myers mainland was simply too large, the four big empires had territory which spanned for more than ten-thousand miles. Due to the tense situation, almost ten-thousand miniature fortresses had been constructed in Qin alone. These miniature fortresses contained two-hundred soldiers each. Even if Saleen had fifty-thousand men, he would not even be able to make a noticeable impact.