Badge in Azure

Lex was no longer surprised by how quickly Saleen was improving. It was just a small and meaningless experiment, but the people around Saleen thought differently.

Nailisi only came to a simple conclusion, which was that, since Lex’s God’s Ring could be used in many more ways, she could afford to care less about Lex’s safety without making Saleen upset. In any case, the woman was ridiculously powerful. She possessed a Godly Item that was so immensely powerful, so she no longer required much protection. Even Divine Punishment failed to kill her. Now that Lex was a grade-9 sorcerer, even grade-10 opponents would have difficulty dealing with her.

On the other hand, Nicholas was fearful of Lex’s ability, which could encroach on enemies without being detected. Although she was still a grade-9 sorcerer, she already possessed a powerful spell that could be cast in a short distance. Saleen’s Crystal Finger was not an exception. Many spells possessed an effective range of one to two yards, and the damage it could cause was almost a hundred times more powerful than spells that were casted a hundred yards away. Mages were really more powerful than Holy Masters, especially in terms of attack. Holy Masters would always cast spells slower than mages. Nicholas decided that he must be extremely cautious in the future when he encountered sorcerers of high grades.

Cuisi had never been fond of Lex, but since she was married to Saleen, that meant that they were one entity. To a demon, a spousal relationship could not be separated. That was why Cuisi merely smiled without thinking too much about it.

Truman was affected the most. He only saw Lex appearing in front of Saleen out of nowhere. He never managed to detect Lex at all. Was it possible for a mage to become so powerful? It was much more terrifying than assassins’ abilities.

Saleen introduced Gugger to Lex in the command cabin. Gugger hurriedly bowed to Lex since she was a member of the royal family of the Qin Empire and possessed the right to inherit the power of royalty. She was also the ruler of a powerful prefecture herself, so her status was not one that Saleen could compare himself with.

It was no wonder that Gugger would think the way he did. The four Empires had been founded for a thousand years, and besides, he was very familiar with Saleen’s background. Gugger felt extremely honored to be able to meet Lex.

Naturally, Lex did not care much about Gugger. She was a sorcerer and was one of the most powerful people in the world. Even if Gugger was the Emperor, she would not care much about him.

Status and ranks were as such. When one looked up to someone, that person would rarely notice their existence.

The command cabin on the dragon skeleton combat vessel had been revamped. There was a gigantic table at the back and the magic map was placed on top of it. The magic compass was right in front, and there were two seats for people to sit and observe what was going on in front of the combat vessel.

The magic map was opened, and Lex immediately focused on the regions from the northern sea to Ironwall City.

There were floating blocks of ice in the sea north of Sikeqinya most of the time. It was usually risky for ordinary merchant ships and fishing vessels to go out into the sea. If the merchant ships and fishing vessels were to be fitted with metal armor, the manufacturing cost would increase drastically. That was why Sikeqinya never prospered in maritime trading, unlike the Cloudflow Empire, which had ports all over the shores over tens of thousands of miles.

There were only three ports on the shores of the northern seas of Sikeqinya, and one of them faced directly against Ironwall City. This port was also used for military purposes, and the royal fleet of Sikeqinya was also docked there.

There was a total of 120 ships in the fleet, and the majority of them were small ships. Only 18 of them were big combat vessels, but they were also a few centuries old.

“The level of security of the royal port is still quite high.” Lex pointed at the location and said, “These military vessels are basically being used for smuggling. Members of the Sikeqinya royal family rely on these combat vessels to travel to the Tanggulasi Empire to carry out illegal transactions. There are magic stone artilleries around the port, but I’m guessing that they won’t have enough apprentices to operate them, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lex moved on from the port. She shifted her finger 300 miles away and said, “There is a medium-scale city here. We can station our troops there for rest. The city is three-miles wide with a magic tower and less than 2,000 soldiers.”

“What a terrible defense. Why didn’t the Cloudflow forces go over sooner?” Saleen shook his head when he saw the line of defense on the map, which was full of loopholes.

“That’s because tens of thousands of mercenary soldiers have been stationed all around, so the Cloudflow forces did not dare to go onshore. If they were to be delayed there for more than half a month, they would be attacked by almost a million mercenary soldiers,” Lex explained.

“Are there many mages in this area?”

“Forget the mages. Within an area of 500 miles long and 200 miles wide, there are a total of nine cities of various scales. Other than in Luogu City, there are no other magic towers. Mages below grade-6 will not be able to handle our metal flying machines. There are another 60 or so castles amongst the villages. There will be some private armies of noble families, but each castle should not have more than 200 soldiers. Their purpose is probably to fight magic beasts to stop them from damaging their lands rather than fighting wars.”

Magic beasts damaging lands? Saleen could not understand it momentarily. It seemed too incredible.

Lex chuckled and did not explain further, but Saleen understood shortly after that. Something like that was entirely possible. There were too many mages in Qin, all the magic beasts that roamed around the cities or villages would be captured by the mages and turned into materials for their training. That was why Qin never had the problem of magic beasts destroying villages, much less the cities.

Every city of a certain scale would have magic towers. If magic beasts dared to get too close, it would be equivalent to giving themselves up to be made into equipment. As for Sikeqinya, the mercenary soldiers were tasked to kill magic beasts while the private soldiers of noble families were responsible for their safety. If the mercenary soldiers were able to hunt down magic beasts, they would be able to exchange them for rewards.

That was why the mercenary soldiers were in no hurry to hunt down all the magic beasts. If the noble families were not offering any rewards, the mercenary soldiers would rather bypass the magic beasts. It was only when the magic beasts became pests that the mercenary soldiers would take up the missions to exterminate the magic beasts.

After staying in Qin for so long, Saleen had already forgotten what things were like in Sikeqinya. Quite a number of small mercenary companies had to rely on such means to survive, while most of those that worked as guards of companies of traveling merchants would be able to travel around the Empires.

“So, the only problem is Ironwall City?” Saleen saw Lex magnifying the picture of Ironwall City. All preparations would be made once she had checked everything through.

“Yes, Ironwall City is 506 miles away. Tomorrow evening, you will depart with the sorcerers that I have brought along. All of you will attack the magic tower of Ironwall City. Once the magic tower is under our control, I will launch an attack to occupy the port. Then, the metal flying machines will head to Ironwall City from the ancient combat vessel to…”

“Alright!” Saleen interrupted Lex. There would not be any juncture that would be particularly important. When Lex attacked the port, it would attract quite a number of mercenary soldiers to provide reinforcement. As for his own battle, he would not need anyone else. 100,000 demons and 600 metal flying machines was all they would need to destroy Ironwall City.

Deploying mercenary soldiers was slower than deploying normal armies. By the time the mercenary soldiers were able to react, Ironwall City would already be finished.

As Saleen left the command cabin, he sighed and wished that the people of Ironwall City would have enough time to flee for their lives. For some strange reason, Nailisi had dragged Gugger away and arranged a cabin for him to stay in.

When night came, Lex went to Saleen’s cabin. The two of them had not spent much time with each other, yet there was no desire for each other at that moment.

Lex laid down beside Saleen. Both of them were looking at the ceiling and were unable to fall asleep.

“Lex, how many people are there in Ironwall City?” Saleen finally asked. He still could not bear to carry out his task.

“The information we received in the past was erroneous. There is a 120,000-strong army stationed there, while the number of remaining auxiliary soldiers is unknown. There are two grade-8 mercenary companies in the city, and each of them possesses the strength of 10,000. As for the commoners., there should at least be 1.6 million of them.”

“That many?”

“That is what is recorded in the town hall. Sikeqinyans moved in and out very frequently. It was the central of the northern region, where the capital stopped people from entering for no good reason. All the wealthy people within a thousand miles would gather there. A population of 1.6 million people is already considered to be very little. I predict that there must be at least two million people who have set up their homes in the city

“Let me attack for three hours before the metal flying machines come in.” Saleen’s tone was a little forceful and Lex kept quiet.

How many people could be rescued within three hours? Besides, once Saleen’s elemental magic tower appeared, the city gates would probably be locked up. Would the general of Ironwall City allow the commoners to flee?

Nevertheless, Lex agreed to Saleen’s request. They would give Ironwall City three hours is to give them a chance to either evacuate the commoners or to surrender. If they chose not to surrender, millions of pounds of magic fire shells would be hurled upon every corner of the city. With the magic tower under their control, it would not be able to help to put out the fire. That was exactly how her own palace in Daliang City was destroyed.

If it had not been for that attack, Lex would not have come up with that solution either.

The war between countries was crueler than Saleen imagined. When Qin was building up its empire, countless cities were also destroyed!

“Lex, a life like this is so boring. Why do so many people still desire to become Emperors?” Saleen asked a silly question.

“Humans are the greediest creatures. Look at the demons. Although they might kill each other, once their stomachs have been filled, they will not think too much on it. Even the devils merely want to build up their cities and protect their territories. I have no idea why anyone would want to become Emperor. Perhaps you should ask your Dukes and Duchesses?” Lex replied lazily. She did not wish to delve into that topic.

There was nothing much to delve into. Ambition was a term that became popular only recently, but it was completely appropriate in describing human motivation.

“Perhaps everything will change once we exterminate all the Gods,” Saleen said casually. He thought of the hatred that the ancient humans bore against the Gods. He finally began to understand what that hatred was all about when he recalled the Holy War that the Holy See had started.

When the Gods had yet to appear, humans were too lazy to record their deeds, even though they had already invented words. When the Gods came to humans, that was when the latter began to gather their power and fought against other dimensions. It was also at that time that power became something of utmost importance.