Badge in Azure

Chapter 61: God’s Left Hand (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Nailisi’s eyes were staring straight at the leaf in Saleen’s hand without concealing her greed. That was something really great! If she ate it, would she evolve?

Saleen was also staring at the leaf in his hand. What was this thing? Could it have been a legendary leaf from the Tree of Life?

The Goddess of Nature had possessed four trees: the Tree of Life, the Tree of Elements, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Taboo. The descriptions of them were seen in many magic notes. Mages had not concealed their envy of these four trees. It was a pity that after the fall of Goddess of Nature, these four trees had withered too.

Possession of the Tree of Life would give one eternal life. Possession of the Tree of Elements would allow one to master powerful magic. Possession of the Tree of Knowledge would allow one to grasp this world’s past and future. And lastly, possession of the Tree of Taboo would allow one to become a deity.

“Master.” Nailisi subconsciously licked her lips. As her tongue had been stuck out far enough, its tip had touched her nose.

“What do you want to do?” Saleen warily held onto the leaf in his hand tightly, fearing that Nailisi would swallow it into her stomach. If it were eaten by Nailisi, it would be futile to even cut open her stomach. The digestive powers of a demon were scarier than any acid created by mages.

It was said that the saliva of some supreme demons could even corrode mithril.

“Master, you can try to heal your hand!” Nailisi suppressed the desire in her heart and said something insincerely.

It suddenly dawned upon Saleen that since this leaf was so precious, its vitality would be exhausted sooner or later. It would not be a long term solution to use it to improve his magic; he might as well use it to heal his hand.

He stretched out his left hand. His left hand was withered like a dead branch in the winter, and he could not even curl his fingers.

If this hand did not heal soon, it would be meaningless even if he advanced. Newly learned spells required two hands to sustain their mantra. Otherwise, he would not be able to master them efficiently, not to mention practice them.

At this thought, Saleen placed the yellowish leaf in his left palm and deployed the half-spell Gift of Life. A soft green light diffused from within the leaf and enveloped Saleen’s left hand.

Saleen felt a pain in his palm and was thrilled. If he had felt pain, it meant that he was beginning to regain sensation. He observed it carefully and was shocked to see the yellowish leaf shatter without any sound, leaving behind only webbed leaf veins. The shattered leaf turned into a glorious green light and completely seeped into the center of his hand. The remaining leaf veins started to move and dove into his hand.

Saleen hurriedly used his right hand to try and grasp them, but the silky veins had led the stalk into the palm of his left hand in the blink of an eye.

Saleen stared at his left hand blankly. His left hand was no longer like a lifeless creature. It had turned green in color, and its structure was transparent. The muscles had firmed up again and were no longer disgustingly shrivelled. After the leaf veins had entered his palm, they had continued to penetrate into the bones of his palm. It was not painful this time around, but was rather itchy instead.

The leaf veins penetrated his bones and then continued to spread to the middle section of his arm before stopping. The green debris in the muscles of his left hand began to absorb his bones, seeping through them before slowly fading away. They were no longer transparent, having turned a pure white instead.

Saleen noticed that his palm was now soft like a baby’s and grew suspicious. Although his palm was not transparent anymore, Saleen was able to feel the leaf veins continuously changing the bone structure of his hand.

A trap?

This ring of his had been won from Baron Minghui and had not been a necessity. He had only discovered the secret of the ring when that ascetic had shot at it and revealed the truth behind the Ring of Gifts.

Even after giving it careful thought, Saleen had absolutely no idea what his relationship with the Ring of Gifts was. Everything that had happened had been accidental, but why would this leaf penetrate his body?

If this was a leaf from the Tree of Life, would there be any awful side effects since it had now merged with his body?

Nailisi saw the leaf enter Saleen’s body, and the voice in her heart came up again – Eat master up, and not only will you receive freedom, but you will also acquire great power…

Time gradually passed. The leaf vein finally stopped changing his bone structure and the feeling of itchiness disappeared. Saleen gently curled his left hand, feeling for the changes that the piece of leaf had brought.

It did not feel too bad. His left hand and left arm felt as though they were connected by blood veins, and had not been transformed into something else by the leaf veins. Saleen’s fingers and wrist were rotating and curling in a nimble manner with no discomfort. It was just that deep in his bone marrow, Saleen could feel that familiar sense of vitality.

There were no similarities between this vitality and elemental energy, for it was even more complicated and difficult to replicate.

If elemental energy could be described as a singular thing, then this vitality could be described as extremely complicated. It was as though all the elemental powers had been merged together, completely removing the repulsion between elemental energies.

Saleen thought blankly, was this hand still his?

He searched for the books and notes that he had previously read, hoping to find an answer.

The number of books that Saleen had previously used memory magic to read was numerous. He had not been able to digest them completely, and could only use the time he had when practicing with the mysterious badge to revise the contents he had memorized. Just like now, when he wanted to search for knowledge related to something, he could only recall things book by book and was unable to instantly bring to mind the answers he sought.

This was the limitation of reading magic. A person could only memorize things by rote and could not immediately make the knowledge their own.

After thinking for a long time, Saleen still could not find the answer. He had only discovered similar contents. During the time of the Goddess, the swordsmen who believed in the Goddess could, through prayers, use divinity to transform their bodies and make their bodies divine. If a mage did that, they would be able to deploy divinity.

The differences between mages and priests back then had not been great. The powers that human beings could make use of were plentiful, for instance, enslaving demons, spirits of the dead, and even some sacred magic beasts. Therefore, such a method had not been common and had only used by those who were not gifted and needed to resort to trickery.

These people had been called the warriors of god, Holy Magus. However, their transformations were gradual, and their entire bodies needed to transform. But Saleen’s transformation was only in his left hand, and he did not believe in any gods.

Saleen calmed down, retrieved the glove at the rim of the tub, and put it on. Even if this really were a god’s left hand, with the fall of Goddess, it could only be used by him. There was no point in worrying about it too much. He might as well think about his current situation instead.

“Master? Look!”

Nailisi used her long, slender finger to fiddle with the two water shields in front of her. Saleen then noticed that the two water shields which had been deployed with the Gift of Life had not disappeared. After such a long period of time, they were still floating in the air.

Saleen deployed perception to check the structure of these two magic shields. He was astonished to discover that these two magic shields seemed newly deployed and showed not even the slightest signs of crumbling.

If these two water shields continued to exist, it would be a good thing for Saleen. That was equivalent to him saving two deployments of Grade 1 magic with his magic chords. Even if he exhausted his magic chords, he would still have the two water shields around to ensure his safety.

Despite these two water shields being very tiny, their power had exceeded that of the normal ones by ten times. By controlling them with mental power, these two water shields could be manipulated freely, as though they were a part of Saleen’s body. Saleen extended his left hand and let the water shields land on his hand. The water shields passed through the glove, went directly into Saleen’s left hand, and disappeared.

Saleen was not surprised. The water shields still existed. His mental power felt them. Now as long as he had the thought, these two water shields would fly out from his hand.

“Nailisi, keep this matter a secret!” Saleen used a forceful tone.

“Master, can I not tell Sika either?” Nailisi gave him a shocked look.

Saleen suddenly remembered that Nailisi only knew ancient Myers language and his instructions had been redundant. However, Nailisi’s inquiry had obviously been to sow discord. He gave a snort and said, “Sika is a warrior and would not understand these matters. If you were to tell her, what use would it be?”

Whenever Sika was concerned, Saleen felt trust. Such a trust was not because Sika had once risked her life to rescue him, but he was unsure how to describe the feeling. In any case, Saleen knew that while Nailisi would harm him, Sika would not.

Nailisi snickered, pleased with herself. She stood up and brought Saleen his clothes. Master had seen through her once again, but it was alright. As long as she stayed by her master’s side long enough, it was a matter of time before she would drive the others away, and Master would only have her left. Then, if she were to think of escaping, her master would feel heartache.

Saleen was not even dressed properly and the person at the door had been waiting impatiently. He called out softly, “Mage Saleen?”

Saleen’s bath time had taken too long. Aini had already woken up, and Saleen had still not completed his bath. Were the little mage and his maid…

The soldier at the doorstep was imagining the vivid scene within the room, but did not dare peep into the gap of the door. If it was really so, the strength of this little mage was admirable! If not for Lord Baron having chased him numerous times, he would not have dared to call out to him. He would be digging his own grave if he disturbed the mage master’s enjoyment.

“What is the matter?”

Saleen put on his mage robe. Nailisi helped him tie his belt in a gentle manner as though she were his maid.

“Lord Baron would like you to go see him.”

The soldier at the door heaved a sigh of relief. As Saleen was not angered, he reckoned the deed had been done.

“Coming.”

Saleen tidied his clothes, and Nailisi said, “Master, your hair is a little messy. Let me comb it for you.”

“No need. Just wait in the room,” Saleen used his fingers to haphazardly tidy his hair, pushed open the door, and walked out. Nailisi sat down helplessly and wondered why she was unable to speak more languages.

Baron Cook was pacing around the study room restlessly. He had now put on his armor, which was stained with filthy blood. The attack of the black mage had begun. Those scarecrows were harder to deal with than expected. During crucial moments, Baron Cook had climbed up the city wall and participated in the battle himself.

What worried the baron was that these scarecrows were much more powerful than he had imagined. When their long swords had stabbed them, it felt the same as stabbing real bodies which bled. The movement of these scarecrows was stiff, but their strength was not weaker than that of regular soldiers. If not for the alchemy arrowheads that Aini had constructed, the castle would have already been invaded.

However, the headless riders of the enemy had not struck back back. They were relying only on these black puppets who had already caused the defending troops of the castle to suffer great losses.

“Mage Saleen!”

Seeing that Saleen had walked into the study room, Baron Cook quickly walked up to him and said worriedly, “Many of the soldiers have been poisoned. Could you make them some restorative water?”