Badge in Azure

Saleen said, “I will take down these cities, then you will be in charge of guarding them for one year. If you encounter any difficulties that you cannot overcome, Metatrin City will send reinforcements.”

“No problem!” Dennis was overjoyed. Although the terms of employment with Saleen were a little troublesome this time around, he was aware of the situation revolving around Phoenix. Holy Rock City would not be able to interfere within the next year. Saleen had only tasked him with guard the cities for a year. If their services were to be extended the prices could be negotiated again.

The price that Saleen was offering was more than reasonable. Even if some battles broke out the Purple Smoke mercenary group would not be on the losing end. After all, they had already accepted two-thousand suits of high-level armor. The armor were worth forty-thousand gold coins and if no major battles broke out in the three Phoenix cities, it was almost as if they took the armor for free.

This was when Saleen understood just how powerful the Purple Smoke mercenary group was. By right, this grade-8 mercenary group should only be allowed to have ten-thousand men, but in actual fact just their main forces alone consisted of twenty-thousand men and were already controlling three cities. This time around, Dennis was leading a regiment of elite forces and four regiments of secondary troops.

This grade-8 mercenary group could definitely satisfy Saleen’s requirements of controlling the three cities he wanted.

Saleen has yet to take over Huoxing City and Yaoxing City, but he would expect someone to attack these cities after his departure so Lex would have an easier time afterwards. With a grade-8 mercenary group guarding over the cities he would not need to worry about bandits stirring up any troubles between Metatrin City and Cexing City. Mercenaries loved to kill bandits too because they could fetch one gold coin per head.

The grade-8 mercenary group was highly credible. There were Sikeqinyan banks in every country on the mainland. For mercenary groups of this level, they would have a deposit of at least one-million gold coins in their bank account. If they failed their mission their employers could collect the agreed compensation through any bank.

Saleen could feel a weight lifted off his shoulders. In two years’ time, Sregl Island’s strength should be on par with Metatrin City. By then, the city would no longer require Lex’s Bitter Water armies. In other words, Lex’s elite forces could be better used for conquering other lands instead of being stuck with guarding a city.

It was about time Saleen constructed a powerful army of his own. He was extremely unhappy with Qin’s military system so he had been thinking about how to go about building an army.

Right now, the biggest problem was auxiliary soldiers. One knight would require at least two auxiliary soldiers to serve him. Under normal circumstances seven or eight auxiliary soldiers were considered an acceptable number. Even though Lex’s swordsmen camp consisted of about ten-thousand men, they would actually need to recruit a lot more men to fill these auxiliary roles if a real battle was to break out.

If Saleen wanted to advance into a sorcerer, how would he have the time to bother with these matters? Amongst his subordinates; Jola was good at handling internal affairs, Daniel could lead eight-hundred soldiers at the most, and Sika’s Caucasus people should be utilized for guarding cities instead of fighting at the frontline. Su had potential and his family had been training him as a general since he was a child. He was still young and would require more training. As of now, Saleen did not have anyone suitable.

The only advantage he had over others was the sheer number of mages on Sregl Island. In the future, no matter how many armies he recruited, he would not need to worry about a lack of mages to accompany each army.

The newly-recruited Sharman was still young and her ability to lead was at the same level as Su. She would not be able to conquer the entire mainland on Saleen’s behalf. Saleen needed a real general who would be able to command all his armies.

After conversing with Dennis for a few days, Saleen gained a lot of information. He now knew that it was impossible to recruit mercenaries. Mercenaries would never acknowledge noble families. They were polite to him only because he was a mage. It would be too difficult trying to convert mercenaries into proper armies.

Loyalty would be a big issue as well. It was not possible for Saleen to sign bonds with everyone. There was a limit to the number of bonds a mage could issue and it was related to the mage’s mental strength.

Even a sorcerer could only have two-hundred followers at one go in a lifetime. Any more than that and the effects of the bonds would weaken. If the mage was someone like Joey, then signing bonds with even one-thousand followers was possible though. By the time one reached the same level of Joey, there would be no use for bonds anymore.

After gaining a simple understanding of the mainland’s situation, Saleen gradually stopped conversing with Dennis. The company traveled one-hundred miles a day and after a month they finally arrived at Holy Rock City.

Mercenaries were not allowed to enter the city so only Dennis and about ten of his men entered. The rest would set up camp at a town in the north. Saleen and his men split up from the mercenaries after their identities had been checked at Northtown and headed straight to Holy Rock City.

Although this was the second time Saleen was in Holy Rock City, he was still in awe. The previous time he was here, Emperor Chanake rang the magic clock for Lex and Saleen was fortunate to benefit from that. This time around Holy Rock City was quiet. The towering city walls, ferocious drawings, and the ever-present magic arrays had all seemed to combine together and transformed into a mythical beast that lay prowling on high ground and was looking down at everyone else.

Su was the one who was most taken aback. There were countless majestic cities that had been built on the subcontinental plane to defend against the Asmodians. Every different clan would put in effort together to build these cities and even the small palaces in villages were extremely sturdy. Compared to Holy Rock City, the cities on the subcontinental plane were like shacks.

Grand swordmasters could use their senses to explore and detect, but Su did not dare to do so. He was a silver grand swordmaster and his mental strength was comparable to a sorcerer. The power that had been infused into the city walls was definitely not a result of any sorcerer’s spells. They were the result of countless brave souls that participated in the terrible war from a thousand years ago.

The battle of Holy Rock City had persisted for many years, but the city walls remained intact. The traces of battle from those years had been repaired as much as possible, but those that have been infused into the city were still very fresh even after one-thousand years.

Metatrin City was unique too, but it was not as big as Holy Rock City. Without a magic tower in the former it was difficult to measure the differences anyway.

Metatrin City would become similar to Holy Rock City only if it had also withstood thousands of years of history and had been a part of countless battles.

Even if Qin were to be left with only Holy Rock City as its only city, it would still be able to continue existing as a country. Such was the gravity of history and status of Holy Rock City, something that Metatrin City had yet to achieve.

Seeing how the city walls were joined together with parts of a mountain area. Su could imagine that a normal swordsman would need to be well-equipped in order to climb the walls and not be scared off by the threatening aura released by the city. Such a city was problematic for mages too. With a combination of anti-magic fields, spells of grade-7 mages and below would be useless.

Mages’ mental strengths would also be affected severely. The best solution was to depend on armies like Lex’s. They would be armed with equipment like spirit snake armor and attack the city walls by mounting ladders on them.

“My Lord…”

“What are you afraid of? It’s not like the city can move on its own.” Saleen knew what Su was thinking. Qin was so powerful that there was no way Metatrin City would be able to conquer it.

Saleen’s plan was to wait until he had accumulated enough wealth, then he would go to oceanic ice block to gather the necessary resources to build a floating city. With a floating city one-thousand yards in the air, they could attack from above and conquer Holy Rock City.

Su was a little embarrassed even as he smiled. While Holy Rock City was firm and sturdy, it could not move.

Holy Rock City had war puppets that could render an enemy’s large-scale attacking equipment useless, but Lex had metal titans that could easily destroy these war puppets.

There were soldiers deployed at the city gates for inspection, but Saleen and company passed through without any issues. Narnia was heading to the Viscount’s mansion while Aini was going to the Clyde Clan’s mansion. Su and Cuisi looked at Saleen, not knowing where they should be going.

As the three of them continued walking, Saleen recounted to them what it was like the previous time he met with Joey. After some time, he said, “Su, Cuisi, the person that I am meeting is rather eccentric. No matter he says or does, do not do anything.”

“Why?” Su could not help but ask.

“Because even if he attacked Metatrin City on his own, all of us will not be his match.”

“A grade-9 sorcerer!” Su gasped.

“If a grade-9 sorcerer attacked Metatrin City, I would definitely be able to kill him there. Su, this person has no ill intentions towards me. So please bear with it, no matter what happens.”

A mage’s memory would never fade. Saleen eventually found the small alley and walked in. At the end of the ally was the familiar ancient wooden door. Saleen knocked on it.

The door was opened by a child of twelve or thirteen years of age. The child looked at Saleen and smiled, “You are finally here. Follow me.” He did not acknowledge the presence of the other two people that Saleen had brought along. Su and Cuisi hesitated before following Saleen into the courtyard.

As they passed through the courtyard and arrived at the wooden building, Saleen was taken aback. The two mysterious big trees were no longer there. He could remember very clearly how he wanted to cut down a tree branch and make a magic staff for himself. He estimated that the two ancient trees would be able to create thousands of magic staffs. At that time, Joey only helped Lex to create one, while Saleen received nothing.

Now, the two trees were gone and in their place were wisterias. They were growing all over a huge rock. No! That was nephrite and not any ordinary rock.

Damn it, such a huge piece of nephrite being used as a stand for wisterias to grow all over.

“Saleen? Please come in,” Joey’s voice rang. Saleen felt uncomfortable, but had no choice but to enter the wooden building. Su and Cuisi followed behind him.

The interior design of the wooden building had remained simple like how it was in the past, but only a mage like Saleen could tell how precious and valuable each item was. Joey was not boasting, but it just so happened that the items he fancied were all extremely rare.

Joey was seated on the floor. In front of him was a structure made up of metal spell. It was three yards wide and six yards tall. The entire structure was built with very small and miniature parts, but without any joints. It looked even more complicated than the one Saleen saw at Faerun’s. The Figaro Magic Formula definitely did not require more than one-million metallic materials.

Joey turned his head and gave Saleen a glance. Nothing had changed about his look. His hair was still long and green and his face was handsome and pale. He was wearing a rainbow-colored magic robe.

“Not bad, you have become a grade-6 mage already and you even have a silver grand swordmaster as a follower. Oh, this is a demon and his level is close to becoming a supreme demon.”

Joey only needed one glance to see through Cuisi’s disguise and Cuisi began to sweat nervously. To be able to see through the ultimate shapeshifting skill one would not only have to be above a grade-9 mage but also possess equipment of the level of godly items. The ultimate shapeshifting skill of Luoluokaluo could not even be seen through by the devil.

Joey seemed to be in a good mood and said to Cuisi, “Don’t be scared. If I wanted to find a test subject, it will have to be a high-level supreme demon.”