Badge in Azure

“The wardens didn’t participate in the previous battle, they had retreated. The number of casualties in Metatrin City would be very high otherwise.” Nicholas revealed the flaw in Metatrin City’s defense honestly. “The metal battlements are indeed mighty, but the firing speed is too low. If a huge group of fearless death warriors launch an offensive with some dark holy masters hidden within, the soldiers at the city entrance will die trying to block the hole.”

“The offensive power of a soldiers is too low, the only way is to use equipment to compensate for it. There is no other choice.” Saleen smiled and replied, “I still obtained the final victory.”

“Sir, Nicholas is right.” Even though Isabella was a new follower, she could not help but remind Saleen.

“Heh heh, this reasoning is correct now, but if the city had magical towers, the defensive method at the city entrance would be entirely different.” Nicholas turned around and said to Isabella. Isabella was stunned and became speechless.

“Not every city can be built like how Metatrin City was built, such as the broken-edged barrier.” Nicholas did not prepare a drawing. Instead, he simply cast a divine spell, releasing a three-dimensional holograph atop the table.

“This is the Holy See’s Mengjia Puppet Beast.” Nicholas pointed to the holograph on the table, then said, “The Mengjia Puppet Beast is twenty-five yards long and eight yards tall, it can leap twenty-yards high. Under the control of a holy master, it can possibly leap over a thirty yard tall city wall. The Mengjia Puppet Beast can spit clouds, it can conceal more than a hundred soldiers on its body.”

Nicholas did not conceal any information, he showcased the large and intermediate equipment used by the Holy See to invade cities. Saleen then realized that his city would indeed suffer devastating losses if it was not for the rushed deployment of the Holy See’s army which resulted in them not bringing along suitable sieging equipment.

Of course, Nicholas was not doing this to insult Saleen. Of the dozen of appliances he displayed, all of them had a manufacturing method. The memory spell of a grade-9 holy master was not any weaker than that of a mage. In the past, Nicholas never bothered about the Holy See’s campaigns, otherwise he would have stored more information in his memory.

“If Eleanor’s equipment is guaranteed to reach every occupied city and a defense network is built in accordance with Metatrin City’s method, then the cities’ safety can be ensured.” After Nicholas exhibited all these holographs, he concluded his presentation. He meant to say that Eleanor’s equipment had too high a consumption and Saleen might not be able to afford it. Instead, the city should build some defense facilities to counter the Holy See’s equipment, or redesign the drawings of some cities.

Metatrin City was sufficiently safe, but Saleen wanted to expand his territory. Other cities could not possibly emulate the way Metatrin City was developed.

Once again, Saleen discovered that he was sufficiently lucky. During a campaign, the most troublesome thing was to run into the enemy’s experts abruptly. A Golden Grand Swordmaster, or even a Silver Grand Swordmaster, could possibly make a cavity in the city walls and allow their soldiers to breach the defenses. Saleen now possessed the fluids found in purplish-gold sea urchins, he could make normal metals possess the penetrative ability of a purplish-gold thorn.

This would pose a real threat to an expert. If a Golden Grand Swordmaster was surrounded by a few hundred alchemical crossbows and all the arrows were refined with purplish-gold thorns, the Golden Grand Swordmaster would be killed.

Even though Saleen could not make every arrow possess this effect, such arrows were just around for deterrence. As long as the experts above grade-8 did not dare to rush up the city walls personally, the offensive party would have to use a colossal army to complete the battle.

Eleanor’s suggestions were accepted, they were added into the contents which Saleen had been pondering about for the past few months. Nicholas’ suggestions were also adopted. Research and development into targeted defensive machines were initiated.

The original six main camps in Metatrin City had now ballooned to ten. The first camp was currently following Lex to war, so Saleen was left with five camps. Saleen had lost a few thousand people in the war, so he had to recruit new soldiers in order to expand to nine camps.

Eleanor told Saleen not to fill up the entire composition. She told Saleen to keep the sixth camp at full composition, while half of the soldiers from the remaining four camps would be taken out and assigned to the seventh to tenth camp.

These eight camps would be slowly filled up and all of them would have a mixed composition.

The specifics of the functional divisions within the armies did not need to be clearly stated. Eleanor had already split the composition of the armies into the smallest team of five men and she clearly detailed the roles of each person. After Saleen reviewed it, he was no longer worried about it. He then delegated this task to Eleanor.

Saleen felt a moment of compassion when he captured Eleanor, that wss why he did not kill this elf. Now, he was reaping the rewards of it.

After a week, Saleen had rectified the military equipment, then he instructed the nobles to prepare to recruit soldiers by themselves. Within three years, Metatrin City must be expanded.

The nobles were very exhilarated that Saleen had allowed them to expand their armies. Even though they did not have the ability to expand the size of the army now, Saleen had spoken, which meant that they could expand their lands in the future.

Thereafter, Eleanor began imparting elvish magic to Saleen. Even though Saleen was not sure what made Eleanor change her mind, he was jubilant that he could learn this skill which was already extinct from Myers mainland.

The moment he started learning, Saleen realized that Eleanor was teaching him because of his left hand. God’s left hand possessed the Power of Life, allowing one to achieve twice the effect by doing half the work. If a normal person were to learn it, they would have to consume a lot of time. They would accomplish less than a normal elf.

That meant that only Saleen, out of the few hundred mages and disciples in Metatrin City, could learn elvish magic. Eleanor was not worried about teaching others because other people would actually waste their lives if they learned it.

Other than imparting skills to Saleen and Nailisi, Eleanor also started helping Saleen rearrange the temple. The building materials of the temple were rocks so they were cold. After Eleanor’s new design, the interior of the temple had largely changed. A huge amount of wood had been used in the renovation of the temple’s interior as well as the plants which were produced by elvish magic.

These plants contained magical abilities, they could ascertain the identities of the people who entered the temple. They possessed offensive and defensive abilities. Their largest function was to purify the space and beautify the scenery.

This was more uplifting as compared to the frosty magic patterns. Besides the mages, there was also a number of Caucasus warriors and Sregl Island swordsmen in the temple. The environment was extremely important to these people.

Originally, the square outside the temple was barren. Even though some towering trees from the prehistoric forest were preserved. The decoration simply consisted of a few designs which were left behind in accordance with the magic lines.

Eleanor also stimulated the growth of some plants and vines, greening the surroundings of the square. The living environment immediately became different. The moods of the patrolling soldiers were no longer tensed and their fatigue level dropped significantly.

At the four corners of the temple Eleanor had planted four types of seeds. She then requested a huge quantity of magic nucleus shards from Saleen. After using the machines in the laboratory to grind these shards into powder, she concocted a huge amount of magic medicine. This magic medicine had been fused with magic liquid. Watering the four seeds with this mixture, four gigantic ancient trees sprouted rapidly.

These four ancient trees were one-hundred yards tall, their heights had exceeded that of the temple. The temple had six stories. With each story measuring twelve yards in height it was the tallest structure in the city. At the moment, the temple was surrounded by four ancient trees, as branches covered the top of the temple. Many more branches hung from the crowns, like banyans, surrounding the temple.

Saleen stared at the ancient trees which could grow dozens of yards a day, a little bedazzled. He turned to ask Eleanor, “Are these the legendary ancient war trees?”

“Of course not, your city is sturdy enough and the ancient war tree is not so significant. These are ancient elvish trees, they contains souls and can raise the vitality of all greenery in the city. As a result… it can help you monitor all the happenings within the city. It is only a matter of time before many agents are attracted to Metatrin, they are prepared for these people. Look…”

Through the window, Eleanor pointed to the crowns of the ancient trees, then said, “You can build a few treehouses there where mages can live in them. These treehouses will not be very different from a magical tower. The plants in the city are like the eyes of a mage, no one can escape detection by the ancient elvish trees.”

Saleen thought to himself, “This is really good. A magical tower also has this function, but agents who infiltrate the city will surely be guarded against the surveillance by magical towers. They will not pay attention to the plants which proliferate the city.”

“Is it like this in the elvish plane too?”

“No, only…only a person of my status can grow the ancient elvish trees. These four ancient trees will not produce seeds, their lifespan is forty-eight-thousand years. A human city will not live for so long. Even if I’m dead, the ancient trees will still be around, so don’t worry.” Eleanor could not help but look depressed.

“Eleanor, I will not think so far into the future! After doing so many things, does it mean you are planning to leave?” Saleen asked with concern.

“Of course not!” Eleanor smiled, and for the first time, she said joyously, “I plan to regard this as my home. If you launch a campaign, I might not tag along, but I don’t plan to leave Metatrin City anymore. I have to decorate it more nicely to make it more comfortable for living. My room will be organized according to an elf’s habits, you mustn’t let anyone enter.”

“Then you shall live on the fifth story, I will develop a space for you there. Only our own people can enter this level.” For some reason, after hearing Eleanor’s words, Saleen felt very serene and warm. “My city finally makes people feel safe, they are willing to live here.”

“Okay, you must make good of your promise.” Eleanor smiled, she felt as if a heavy load had been released from her heart, her breathing also became much smoother.

“Of course.” Saleen agreed. Outside, Nailisi was calling, “Master, Sister Sika is here.”

“Got it, I will come right away,” Saleen answered awkwardly.

Eleanor pouted and laughed, then said, “Go on, Sika is a good lady.”

Saleen got up and dusted his robe, then responded. Eleanor’s words seemed as if an elderly person was talking to a youth. She was indeed an elderly compared to him as an elf’s life was long. She was a royalty, even if she did not undergo training, she could still live much longer than a demon.