Badge in Azure

Saleen began allocating mages to this campaign army. As the sixth camp was accompanied by two grade-8 sorcerers, Saleen did not assign any grand mages. This time around, Saleen had specially deployed Kredian. Saleen also asked Kredian to lead some low grade mages who were left behind by Lex. The Phoenix people had attacked Lex’s city, so these mages had no reason to not join the campaign.

At the same time, the army was allocated with death mages. With death mages present, the army would possess more skeletal warhorses.

Accompanying the army was a squad of scouts formed by the Caucasus people. Other than that, Saleen deployed one-thousand barbarians. These barbarians were fitted with genuine heavy armor. When necessary these barbarians could function as magic heavy infantrymen too.

After sending off the campaign army, Saleen was still extremely busy. Civilians kept streaming into Metatrin City. People who could travel all the way there would not be old or sick. Saleen’s city was bustling with energy, but he had to keep crafting equipment for his armies, he did not have much spare time.

Aini was also going to set off, he had promised Saleen he would handle the affairs of the new city. The development and defense of the city was going to be handled by Aini. Saleen did not thank him, Saleen only gave him a set of materials used for building a magical tower.

By leaving Metatrin City to handle those matters, Aini’s magic training would be affected. To a grade-6 mage, the best option would be to build a magical tower. Before reaching grade-7, a grade-6 mage would never come out.

Eleanor, however, was not in a hurry to practice magic. An elf’s life was protracted, they did not need to be anxious like the humans. Eleanor patiently helped Saleen design equipment, building and improving the equipment.

The materials amassed by Saleen for the past year or so were depleted at the speed of running water.

The armor given to the Metatrin Mercenary Group was slowly being refreshed, while Saleen’s ten main camps were given newly designed equipment.

At the moment, Saleen possessed superior feed for the warhorses, but he could not acquire any pedigree warhorses. He tried to improve the equipment used by the infantrymen.

Eleanor was giving Saleen more and more surprises.The first was the flying puppet, this equipment was called the elf dragon back on the elvish plane. Once created, it looked totally unlike the image on the drawing, it resembled a live creature. On the back of the flying puppet were four grooves which allowed people to sit on it. Located at the rear of these grooves was an object which resembled a storage box.

The flying puppet resembled a shrunken dragon, but it had a slender build. To travel on such a flying puppet required special armor.

Saleen named this equipment the Wings of an Elf. The production speed of the Wings of an Elf was pretty slow, but Saleen was surprised that this equipment, which was used by flying cavalrymen, was so strong.

The original shape of an alchemical elvish crossbow was similar to that of the human pedal-operated crossbow, its arm was gentler and its firing speed was very high though. If a magic array was included its power could rival that of a human heavy crossbow. A human heavy crossbow could only be fired once every minute and arrows could only be loaded by turning the gears slowly.

The sample produced by Eleanor had totally subverted the knowledge Saleen had of crossbows.

It had a rectangular case, its width was around one foot while its length was slightly longer than a yard. Other than the magic patterns on it there was one groove directly above the case.

Eleanor took out a wooden cylinder whose diameter was the same as a gold coin, its lower portion had a T-shaped structure. This T-shaped structure could fit nicely into the groove above the elvish alchemical crossbow.

The cylinder was put in, then it slid back. After being fixed in position, a soft noise was given off from the lower portion of the rectangular case.

Ka ka…

Two handles popped up, one at the front and one at the back. The handle at the rear was tilted at a certain angle, it was very comfortable gripping it. Eleanor’s finger pressed on the front handle once, causing the crossbow arms on both sides of the case to open, revealing a chord.

At this point in time, a complete alchemical crossbow appeared before Saleen’s eyes.

Saleen knew that this alchemical crossbow was not so simple, otherwise Eleanor would not only have produced one sample after working on it for so many days. Eleanor raised the alchemical crossbow, clutching the front handle and pulling it back. The chord of the alchemical crossbow opened up, and stuck onto the trigger behind.

At that moment, the magic array at the center of the crossbow arm lit up as the handle slid back to its original position.

A soft sound came from the quiver, as an arrow fell into the groove. If Saleen was not using magic to listen, he would not have heard any sounds being produced from it.

The process was not over yet. The power of magic was used to wind the crossbow and load it with arrows. The cylinder atop the case emitted a ray of ramrod red light. This red light was only as thick as a normal bow chord. Observing it with the Elemental Eye, Saleen realized that this red light did not contain any offensive power.

Eleanor laughed, then she turned around and raised the case to eye level, firing it at a piece of rock in the distance.

Saleen clearly noticed that Eleanor was not aiming at all, but that red light had landed on the rock. The rock was at least one-hundred yards away, then the arrow was launched from the crossbow silently, accurately striking the rock.

The stainless steel arrowhead penetrated the rock. Even though it did not penetrate it deeply, it was sufficient to attest to the strength of the elvish alchemical crossbow.

Saleen had deduced the principle quickly. This elvish alchemical crossbow did not require the user to take aim, the red light only needed to land on a target. Once the user triggered the crossbow, the arrow would land at the target position.

There was zero deviation!

“The elves had actually created such a potent weapon, if every human was equipped with one, then everyone would be a powerful archer. The shooting speed is way too high!”

Saleen saw that Eleanor had pulled the front handle once again, as the chord reopened and hung on the trigger. An arrow from the quiver then fell into the groove. In a window of less than two seconds, a second arrow was fired. It still struck the spot where the red light had landed.

A shooting frequency of two seconds was already the firing speed of a master archer!

Eleanor seemed as though she could guess Saleen’s thoughts, she smiled gently and said, “This was designed by the marquis. I gave the drawing of the elvish alchemical crossbow to him, and he improved it. In the end, he said that the cost of production was too high and it was not suitable for mass production. As a result, in this world, only I know the production method of this weapon.”

“The marquis… Eleanor’s previous lover is so mighty, even an alchemy genius might not be able to conjure such a weapon. This weapon’s cost of usage is indeed too high, that miniature magic array at the front of the alchemical crossbow has to use at least a level-4 magic nucleus. The miniaturization of a magic array is all along very challenging. If Eleanor didn’t use the divinecherry wood, this portion would have consumed quite a substantial amount of mithril.”

The price of mithril needed no introduction. During miniaturization, rhenium gold, Ice Island Rock, and other materials needed to be added in. These materials were not only costly, they were also rare. Even if the marquis could afford to consume so many magic nuclei, he would not be able to gather so many precious materials unless he was like Saleen who had a demon hauling up sunken ships for him to collect divinecherry wood.

“The marquis said that the best combination is to let the Wings of an Elf pair up with the elvish alchemical crossbow, which will allow a soldier to shoot from the sky. Since you have a large quantity of divinecherry wood and can afford to consume intermediate level magic nuclei, I figured that you might like such an equipment.” Eleanor looked at Saleen, her gaze filled with serenity. That moment was totally unlike the previous times when she mentioned the marquis.

Saleen yearned to ask Eleanor if she missed the marquis. Such a question was stupid, so Saleen held back his urge to.

“What is that?” Saleen changed the topic, pointing to an object placed beside the wall. He thought that it was the magic cannon he had hauled up from the seabed.

“The magic stone cannon. The firing method is different from the original and the depletion by the magic inside is slightly lower, but the range and accuracy are pretty good. The cannons have to be specially made.”

“How do I take aim with it?”

“Aiming will require a lot of practice. The magic stone cannon is like a bow. During launch, luck plays a huge role. This weapon will do fine though, the area of effect is accurate down to about ten yards.”

“Ker…” Saleen could not help but cough, a ten yard area was already highly precise. Usually, when a magic trebuchet fired magic stone cannons in bulk, the blanket-type attack also would not be so accurate. In an area spanning ten yards, the user could swiftly adjust their aim after the first cannon and allow the second cannon to strike a gigantic target such as the enemy’s trebuchets.

“Without a doubt, this item was designed by the marquis too,” Saleen experienced an unexplainable feeling. “This marquis is like a shadow, constantly reminding me the difference between a genius and a commoner.”

“Sir, do you still want to preview the equipment?” Eleanor’s smile became increasingly vibrant, she thought that Saleen’s look was pretty amusing. This smile was not sarcastic. In Eleanor’s heart, Saleen was not her superior, Saleen was a human whom she could get close to. Humans, were hard to get close to.

“Of course, these things will be produced in bulk. Only by doing so can we…” Saleen did not continue, he was reciting a quote of Raphael’s. Only by moving forward constantly could one survive in this era, all the way to destruction.

The original quote was in the ancient Myers language, which made the quote more exquisite and melancholic. Mages rarely spouted such words. Raphael had only said such a paradoxical phrase after running into setbacks frequently. Despite knowing that destruction would come, one still had to trudge forward.

Eleanor did not know about the goddess’ contract, she only sensed that Saleen was experiencing a very intense sense of urgency. She did not probe, helping him silently was sufficient already.

War chariots, armor, bows, large crossbows, magic stone cannons, flying puppets, sound transmission magic devices, large arrow chariots which were powered by wind magic, tracked battering rams, retractable ladders, puppets beasts who pulled chariots, flame-spitting metal war chariots…

The marquis had invented a number of things. If he had the chance to craft all these items, Saleen felt that the marquis could have even toppled the Tanggulasi Empire.

“Even the gods would be jealous of such a person, no wonder he got struck by lightning. It is too unkind of me to harbor such thoughts. The marquis’ lover is now my follower, and she had disclosed so many secrets…”

Saleen allowed his thoughts to run wild, as though his brain was split into two. One part of it was thinking about the marquis, while the other was managing the equipment data, so that Saleen could prepare the necessary materials and instruct the alchemy factories to speed up production.

“Eleanor doesn’t understand why I am in such a hurry. A thousand years might seem long, but the Holy See has spent an even longer time and it still couldn’t spread the Lord of Glory’s religion throughout the mainland. I have to give it my all!”