Badge in Azure

The formation of the army could not be delayed, but Saleen could not stay behind either. He had to go to Holy Rock City. Saleen had already made a promise to Joey, and now that he had hopes of becoming a sorcerer, he would be in hot water if he still did not go.

Everything there had to be left to Lex. The defense of Metatrin City would be left to Jola while the formation of a new army would be left to Daniel. This sort of delegation was related to Daniel’s profession too. In the event that a war erupted a death mage would have an endless supply of resources. Deploying Daniel onto the battlefield would not affect his training.

Daniel was born in the Tanggulasi Empire, he would not be attached to Qin. He would not have any psychological barriers when attacking Phoenix either. Even if Daniel was sent to invade the Tanggulasi Empire, would be very exhilarated, Qin would be no problem.

After enduring for five days and delegating all the tasks Saleen came to the port to look for the winged skeleton when he felt that Fycro might not be surveilling him anymore.

At the moment, there were no humans aboard the pan’s turtle alchemical boat, everyone onboard were spirits. The scent of death was so thick in the alchemy ship. If Saleen was not the winged skeleton’s owner he might have already died from all that poison a short while after boarding the ship.

Setting the coordinates on the map, Saleen instructed the winged skeleton to travel to a small port in eastern Qin to lay low and await his news. Fortunately, the winged skeleton was a spirit, so he would not get bored no matter how long he waited. Only by fixing a position could Saleen use a sound transmission magic array to communicate with the winged skeleton.

Saleen left the port and went to the southern garden where he told Sika of his itinerary. Sika did not insist on following Saleen, she only warned Saleen not to hook up with the female mage. She herself also had to stay behind to manage the newly joined Caucasus people. More than fifty-thousand Caucasus people were depending on Saleen, most of them were young and strong. Other than the trusted guards Sika had selected, most of the people were living in the southern part of the city. They did not enter the center of Metatrin City.

The Caucasus region had fully crumbled as Loulan was in battle. There was an estimated fifty-thousand more Caucasus people who would arrive. Sika really could not leave.

This time around, Saleen neither brought along Sika nor Nailisi to Holy Rock City. Su might be powerful, but Saleen’s coordination with him was poor. Saleen brought along Cuisi because of that. Cuisi’s abilities were definitely mightier than Nailisi. Cuisi had entered the central temple and signed the goddess’ contract, so their lives were intertwined.

Saleen threw the sleeping Tourmaline at Sika, “This thing cannot be brought along, who knows when it will begin growing rapidly. Someone needs to be there to give it guidance.”

Narnia had been assigned to Saleen. Saleen was going to learn the customs and knowledge about the fourth dynasty from her.

Another person traveling with Saleen was Aini.

Aini’s body had grown faster than Saleen’s, he was already a tall and masculine youth. After getting rid of his illness, he had recuperated well. He did not look like a death mage at all. He had unusual close combat abilities, Aini could be considered a freak among mages.

This trip to Holy Rock City was to be done in Aini’s name, Saleen was basically planning to fetch Aini’s parents. Of the four big families, he was only assured of Aini’s Clyde family. He did not even bid farewell to Irene before leaving. In the days when Saleen was not in Metatrin, the Clyde family had given him much assistance. The assistance was a form of investment. At the same time it showed that the Clyde family had great foresight.

When Saleen was in need the Clyde family would rather lose money and help Saleen build his city. Saleen still hoped that Aini’s parents would come to Metatrin, otherwise Aini would never have peace of mind. The moment Safilos started eyeing the Clyde family his parents living in Holy Rock City would be in danger.

The winged skeleton set off from the port stealthily. He went to the eastern sea to wait for Saleen’s news, while Saleen’s team set off from the west exit of Metatrin, advancing towards Phoenix Duchy.

This time around, they could not travel in the magic war chariot. The chariot’s capability was unquestionable, but it had too high a consumption. Not only did it deplete magic nuclei, it also required constant repair. If it was brought to Holy Rock City and it caught the attention of the powerful figures there, should Saleen hand it over or not?

The straight line distance from Metatrin City to Phoenix measured more than one-thousand miles. About two-hundred miles west there was a newly built city which had not taken shape yet. Passing through the mountains from this location before veering southwest, they would be able to reach Phoenix Duchy after walking about two-thousand miles.

The size of Saleen’s team was not small. In order to be inconspicuous this team was in fact packaged as a light merchant convoy.

Traveling with Saleen was another team from the Rolande family with a total of ten large chariots. This time around, the Rolande family was transporting a batch of level-4 magic nuclei and hundreds of sets of armor. Since Metatrin City possessed premium steel ores the Rolande family had crafted equipment in Metatrin before selling it to Qin.

The merchant convoy Aini represented had twenty large chariots. He was bringing live magic beasts to Qin, there was a total of eighty magic wolves. These magic wolves were specially selected by the Caucasus people, they were all the unwanted ones. These wolves were between three to five years old, so they still could be tamed by a mage.

Northern magic wolves were extremely ferocious, but after getting tamed they would be more useful than the guard dogs in an army camp. They could defend, patrol, rescue, and cooperate with soldiers to invade small fortresses.

Qin had many mages, so these magic beasts who could be tamed could be sold for a good price. The profit margin from selling these magic beasts was much higher than that of selling magic nuclei. At the same time Aini had brought along a batch of low level magic equipment which had been produced directly in Metatrin City. It was going to be sold with the armor made by the Rolande family.

With merchant convoys from these two families everyone would be able to pass through Phoenix Duchy and travel along the route of Guderian City. The roads on the journey were well-paved, so their speed would not be affected.

The Rolande family seemed to be dominated by women, the person leading the merchant convoy was a lady over thirty years old. She was still beautiful despite her age. She also brought along a girl who was about fifteen or sixteen years old who was the direct descendant of the Rolande family. With just a glance Su secretly told Saleen that this girl already possessed the power of a Zun Grand Swordmaster.

The protection team for the Rolande family consisted of two-hundred men. If the drivers and servants were included there were actually more than five-hundred people. It was clear that the servants also possessed offensive power, Saleen only pretended not to notice it. The people from the Rolande family did not recognize Saleen, they regarded Aini as the leader. After acknowledging Aini’s presence everyone began the journey.

Aini did not behave conspicuously. Before leaving he had sealed all the skeletal warhorses into the Green Spirit. Unless there was a need to flee it would be best not to employ those warhorses.

Aini’s merchant convoy only had fifty guards and twenty servants. With the drivers, there were only a little more than a hundred people. Saleen had led a one-hundred man mercenary group. Aini had discussed this matter with Saleen beforehand. This mercenary group had been secretly assembled, no one knew that it belonged to Aini.

If this merchant convoy with almost a thousand people sold inferior merchandise they would surely make a loss in this journey which spanned more than ten-thousand miles.

Saleen knew that a grade-5 mage in the Rolande family had brought along a large quantity of magic nuclei to sell, they would surely make a fortune. The price of magic nuclei in Metatrin City was extremely depressed and there was a large supply of it. When sold to Qin, the price of a level-4 magic nucleus would jump tenfold.

This was an intentional move by Saleen, the level-4 magic nucleus had become a trademark of Metatrin City. Since the price of magic nuclei in the city was cheap it would definitely attract a horde of mages to come forth.

Saleen was currently riding in Lex’s chariot. The convoy’s speed was not slow. Roads had been paved from Metatrin to Phoenix. Each day, the convoy would journey twice. Each journey lasted for four hours and they traveled at a speed of twenty miles an hour. Only a large business family had the capability to achieve such a feat. When the convoy reached Phoenix it could further increase its speed.

Saleen did not pay attention to the details of the Rolande family’s convoy. During the journey he was busy learning from Narnia. Whenever there was free time he would observe the sights and sounds in his surroundings.

It was onerous developing this road. More than a year had passed and many villages and towns had sprouted along this two-thousand mile route. In order to avoid war the Phoenix people had shifted north, thus forming a sizeable presence there.

When the convoy neared the borders of Phoenix, they increased speed and halted at a small town in northern most Phoenix. This small town only consisted of about one-hundred households, there was not even a noble around to manage them. When the colossal convoy entered it almost flooded this isolated city situated at the border.

There were many empty houses in this town, some of which were in ruins. Without security officials and soldiers Saleen and company decided to take over a street.

Before they could rest the Rolande family had sent a swordsman over. This swordsman came before Aini, then said respectfully, “Sir Aini, Master invites you to go over.”

The four big families had been infighting in Qin, however they had come to a common understanding in Metatrin City. They did not have any more clashes in the area of commercial interests. Aini glanced at Saleen and Saleen nodded his head. Bringing along the people around him, Saleen and Aini went to the Rolande family’s camp.

As many of the walls in the houses had collapsed the Rolande family was like Saleen, they were looking for barren land to set up camp unwilling to live in those houses.