Badge in Azure

Only four people could go through the teleportation portal in one go. The next teleportation could only begin after the elements between the dimensions had stabilized, which would take about three minutes. Sika and the rest were already armed and wearing masks. The soldiers waited outside of the portal anxiously.

Daniel could tell it was Sika’s voice, but still dared not let down his guard. He took a step back and prepared to strike if necessary.

Sika was amused, but chose not to scare Daniel anyway. She walked out of the portal and told Daniel, “I am Sika, where are my people? Why don’t I see them?” Sika was pushing up the mask on her armor as she spoke.

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Sika’s face. Sika did not look like she had been taken hostage. He pointed at the door and said, “Your people are all outside.”

Sika nodded and walked out of the door, only to see hundreds of Caucasus people. There was a team of wolf riders that were guarding the door, never taking their eyes off it. Once Sika stepped out, all the Caucasus people cheered.

Su walked out of the door with Sika. More than ten sturdy-looking men walked towards Sika and were screaming crazily at the same time. His hand instinctively reached towards the half-sword on his waist.

Jola grabbed Su, meaning that he should not do anything. By then, Sika was already a distance away while being surrounded by the Caucasus people.

“Sika!” Jola called out.

From far away, Sika turned her head back and said, “I am going to South Court. Help me tell Saleen that I will be back tonight!” With that, Sika jumped onto a magic wolf and rode off with the other Caucasus people and vanished with a turn.

Su was stunned. Sika rode off like a hero and it was breathtaking. Jola tapped his shoulder and said, “Don’t look anymore. Sika is the leader of the Caucasus people.”

“Alright.” Su relaxed. He looked in the direction where the troops had disappeared to, not exactly sure what he was thinking.

On the other hand, Eleanor was captured by the sights and sounds of Metatrin City. Although the designs of the buildings on both sides of the streets were not as exquisite as those in the elf dimension, there were no other human cities that could match their magnificence. The style of this city was simple yet very new.

This young city was immersed in a sea of green and Eleanor was pleased. The ancient trees were tall and strong and full of life. Some of these trees might already be a few thousand years old. Eleanor saw a treehouse just behind a short parapet.

What a beautiful treehouse! It was built with materials from a dead ancient tree, and yet there were fresh leaves and the beginnings of new branches growing from the ancient tree’s dried branches. This was how the elves would have decorated. Although the magic patterns on the treehouse were not elvish magic, they still caught Eleanor’s attention.

This city was full of elf like elements!

The elf dimension had been through its fair share of battles and gradually, the elves learned to build their cities within the forests and made do with whatever resources they could find to build their homes. Elves were vain by nature. Every item they used would not be repeated again, just like this building before her eyes.

A distance away stood a troop of soldiers. There were about four-hundred of them, fully armed. They were nicely split into two battalions. It was the autumn season and the soldiers stood there braving the chilly wind, not saying a word nor changing their stances.

About six-hundred yards in another direction were another two battalions of soldiers. These soldiers were clad in heavy armor and stood solemnly. Eleanor could sense that more than a thousand soldiers surrounded the houses behind her and more than ten mages were hidden in the near vicinity as well.

“These are Lex’s men,” Jola whispered in Eleanor’s ear.

Eleanor nodded. This city did not look too bad, but there was an unknown source a distance away that was releasing a thick aura of death.

The next people to appear out of the teleportation portal were Lex’s swordmasters. They were still wearing their spirit snake armors and were extremely tensed. Once they saw Daniel, they pushed up their masks and began to keep their weapons.

The third batch of people that appeared from the portal were another four swordmasters, followed by two swordmasters and two black metal grand swordmasters. After that, Lex’s mages appeared followed by the four demons and finally Lex, Saleen, Bain and Nailisi appeared in the last batch.

The four demons took a look at the city and were satisfied. From buildings to roads, this city looked firm and sturdy. There were even underground facilities. Nailisi even squatted down and tried to scratch the ground with her nails. It was painful and the white stone pavement only produced a faint line.

A few people clad in black armor suddenly appeared beside the teleportation portal that was just beyond the purgatory desert. They walked towards the portal, but before they could get close enough, the gigantic portal suddenly looked like it was being twisted and squeezed.

These warriors in black armor panicked and turned back to escape, but it was too late. The portal exploded and everything within a mile from it turned to ashes. The black flames shimmered for less than three seconds, but it was enough to make the entire teleportation area disappear.

For safety reasons, Lex was in the last batch to be teleported back to Metatrin City. Before departing, she left behind destructive magic equipment so that the entire magic array would self-destruct after they had been teleported back.

The resources required for this self-destruction took up more than ten grade-8 magic nuclei and more than one-hundred middle-grade magic nuclei. Its power was equivalent to a few sorcerers casting grade-8 magic at the same time. It creating a destructive elemental explosion.

The warriors only managed to escape to a few hundred yards away before the explosion melted their armors and turned their bodies into ashes. Elemental annihilation occurred continuously, which twisted the dimension so that no one would have a clue as to what had happened there, much less find out the exact coordinates of the teleportation portal in Metatrin City.

There were no survivors. Only when Lex appeared on the battlefield would the supreme court realize that she had escaped from the purgatory desert. They were already late by a few months.

Once they reached Metatrin City, Saleen and Lex bade each other a temporary farewell. Saleen led his people back to his temple while Lex led her mages back to her city hall.

Although Lex could build a palace since she possessed the status of a Duke, out of respect for the fact that the city was Saleen’s, she only built a duke mansion two miles north of the temple.

Saleen only smiled when he heard that the Caucasus people had brought Sika to South Court. Sika was now an earth priestess, so amongst all the existing Caucasus priests, no one else possessed a similar level of influence compared to her. This extended even to the elders in the city. From now on, they would also have to obey Sika’s orders.

From now on, Sika would become the leader of the Caucasus.

Having left for about a year, Metatrin City seemed to have become more prosperous. Saleen walked on the streets and headed east while being surrounded by soldiers. He saw many merchants with their horse carts gathered near the town hall, most likely to complete some documents.

What Saleen did not know yet was that the Tanggulasi empire has already occupied the majority of Loulan’s land, blocking off Sikeqinyans’ trade route. Now, the trading activities in the north were only limited within the Kingdom of Qin, which was a bit depressing. Metatrin City, Lianyun City, and Alchemy City have all became very important commercial ports in the east for Qin goods arriving from the sea.

Since the construction of Metatrin City’s port had been completed, commercial ships from Cloudflow would travel north and reach these three ports of Qin every day.

This northern city was bound to prosper.

The ports of Metatrin City would be frozen when winter came though. Nevertheless, merchants would always find a way to get more gold. Not before long, some caravans began to park themselves permanently in between Phoenix and Metatrin.

The goods sold on Metatrin City’s side were simple and included ores, wood, magic nuclei, and beast parts.

Lex’s army had already drawn up many maps and the land within one-thousand miles have already been tested. The mages drew up an area and tested the new location for building a city.

Anyone with intelligence would be able to guess that Lex, as a Duke, was going to build a duchy in the north. A large number of slaves, mostly prisoners-of-war from the Eastern Sea allied army, had been bought for this purpose. Everything was done in the open without any opposition from Holy Rock City.

The prisoners-of-war could not possibly be fed for doing nothing, yet they could not be released either. An invasion on such a large scale was not something Qin would let go so easily. Selling them to Lex was a good way of solving King Safilos’ problem.

Many merchants had bought the land here, contributing to the high speed at which Metatrin City was prospering. Saleen even felt a bit foreign. If not for the fact that the lands in the east of the town hall was forbidden and not for sale, he might not have recognized this city at all.

On the east side of the town hall, a group of death troops welcomed Saleen’s return. Leading them was Diyabannersa. Daniel did not trust Banchajanna while Judikaka belonged to Aini rightfully, so Diyabannersa became the leader of the death troops. Now that Saleen has returned, the power would be transferred back to him.

Diyabannersa was getting impatient until he finally saw Saleen. He became spirited and rushed up towards Saleen, taking Eleanor and the rest by so much surprise that they almost attacked him.

“You! You!” Although Diyabannersa had changed his form, he was still two yards tall. He looked down at Saleen in disbelief. Saleen had only been away for less than a year and he had already advanced to grade-6!

“What about me? Diyabannersa, are you alright?” Saleen asked with a smile.

“My Lord, I am fine.” Diyabannersa was certain that he was right. This fellow who tricked him has really advanced. If that was the case, then there was almost no hope of leaving Saleen anymore.

Eleanor finally felt at ease after seeing the powerful spirit of the dead bow his head to Saleen as a form of greeting. Su was taken aback. Diyabannersa was much stronger than him and might even be stronger than Jola. He had now seen much more of the world and had developed a deeper understanding of it. He had originally thought that as a silver grand swordmaster, he would be the strongest aide beside Saleen. Now, it seemed that Saleen was much more powerful than he thought.

Further east was a troop of Caucasus soldiers waiting to welcome Saleen. The armors they were clad in were all magic armors. These were the most elite soldiers that Sika had left behind for Saleen. These Caucasus people lived in the temple and could be considered Saleen’s most trusted subordinates.

Upon seeing the Caucasus people Saleen waved his hand and said, “All of you need not follow. Go to south court. Sika… wants to see you.”

“Yes!” The Caucasus soldiers replied loudly. Two leaders stayed behind while the rest rode south on their magic wolves.

“My Lord! You are back!”

The temple was already within sight. Another group of people stepped forward in welcome and the one leading them was Gurney. This small and weak pirate had actually become a high-level swordmaster. He led about one-hundred soldiers with ten or so mages behind. The mages were from Sregl Island.