Badge in Azure

Despite having ventured twice into the Imperial City of the Abyss, Saleen was actually still quite young. But, not that he had his own kingdom, Saleen had a that showed his high status, and it could be seen upon looking at him that he was a man who was responsible of the fates of many.

The sorcerers needed to consider Saleen’s words seriously. Ever since Lex had arrived and quickly regained command, the sorcerers had quickly realized that the she was not some soft pushover.

At the moment, Saleen had laid out the truth right before them. If they wanted to be part of the ruins’ excavation, they would require Saleen’s permission first.

It seemed that even Lex’s authority wouldn’t have been of any use in this case, as Saleen clearly felt that the ruins belonged to him. After all, he was the one who had discovered them.

In this case, there was simply no point for the sorcerers to try to take a stand against Saleen. The catastrophe that Saleen had engineered was too terrifying. While there had been no exact word on just how terrifying the casualties in the battlefield were, they could see from the images that had been sent by the flying puppets that there were no survivors within a 120-mile radius.

The enemy did not even dare to venture inside the area, so none of their bodies were found. The ground had shaken and folded several times over, causing all of their side’s dead bodies to be buried within the rocks and dirt.

Saleen had created a catastrophe of such a fearsome magnitude, that all the might and confidence that the sorcerers had before was rendered utterly useless and completely disappeared when they had to face him. Some of them were even reduced to states of complete panic.

Moreover, they were could not even participate in the excavation if they refused to sign a contract with Saleen. The signing of the contract was basically them saying that whatever happened from now on no longer had anything to do with Golden Plains.

“I won’t be signing any contracts today!” Jalin was the first to open her mouth to respond to Saleen, and she took a very hard stand in doing so.

“I don’t need you to sign anything, Jalin. As you are a friend, you’re welcome to enter the ruins first, but then again, the ruins belong to the kingdom. So, unlike them, you won’t get anything out of doing so,” Saleen said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Jalin’s face behind her mask was boiling with rage upon hearing his patronizing words, but she managed to hold her anger in nonetheless. She was still capable of fighting to a certain extent, as she was armed with many pieces of weaponry and equipment and still had some tricks up her sleeve.

But, she was still nothing compared to Saleen, especially in her current state and location. After all, that place was Saleen’s and Lex’s territory.

Furthermore, she was content that Saleen was even going to allow her inside. No one knew what would happen after she gained entrance, after all, and she just might get something out of it in the end if she played her cards right!

Jalin had ventured inside several ruins with Arbola, finding many materials and pieces of useful equipment in the most obscure places. It was for this reason that Jalin felt confident in her chances at finding something. Besides, Jalin did not believe that Saleen would be able to keep his eye on everything to where she would be unable to grab anything at all!

While Jalin and Saleen were conversing, the 12 sorcerers from Golden Plains discussed the matter among themselves in quiet murmurs. However, Saleen was still able to hear them, despite the low volume of their voices.

They were all talking about what they planned to do. Arbola had made it very clear when she ordered them to protect Daliang City that they had no other tasks besides that and there was no need for them to return to Golden Plains in the future.

If it had not been for Jalin’s insistence, they probably would never have even found themselves in such a predicament. Even though the sorcerers were very adept in commanding armies, they were unable to help, especially after seeing the rather messy state of affairs in the city’s defensive systems.

After discussing all of their options for a bit, they came to a unanimous decision. Since Saleen had no conflicts with Golden Plains and there didn’t seem to be any reason that he would have any in the future, and Arbola was backing Lex, who was married to Saleen, it did not seem that signing the contracts could be seen as an act of treason. This was especially the case because Arbola had never ordered for them to return to Great Plains in the first place anyway.

So, the 12 level nine sorcerers signed contracts with Saleen, but did so in a rather reluctant manner after being troubled over the matter for quite some time. Saleen felt very pleased with himself.

While those 12 were not his followers, they could still have been made palace sorcerers of the Kingdom of Metatrin nonetheless. So, now that he had taken care of these 12, their students and followers all worked for him as well now!

It was no secret that Saleen did not lack manpower in Metatrin City, but he sure did lack manpower in Ceylon CIty. Hence, once the defense of Daliang City was finished being laid, Saleen knew that he would need to send those people to Ceylon to help Nailisi with the defenses there.

As she watched the contracts being signed, Jalin started to feel that she had made a mistake, and she wondered… Why did I even bother to stand up to Saleen? After all, it’s all turning out like this…

She then shook her head and thought… D*mn it! If I can’t stay composed, advancing to level ten will be nothing but a pipe dream!

Regardless, Saleen had no need for her to sign any contracts. Instead, he had decided to allow her to enter the ruins as his friend. That decision had served to split her from the 12 sorcerers right away, robbing her of their’ support and the safety in numbers position that she had held just moments before.

If Saleen would have forced her to sign a contract, even one that forbade her to act on her own, that would have earned her the sympathies of those sorcerers. As such, things had gone exactly as Saleen had intended, isolating her entirely with just a few of his tricks.

That move that Saleen pulled was quite brilliant, as the outcome would not have been much different, even if the sorcerers had refused to sign the contract. In that scenario, the sorcerers would have been barred from entering the ruins, but Jalin would still have been allowed inside.

That would have then earned her the ire of those sorcerers, rendering her incapable of ever asking them for help or assistance in the future. At that moment, Jalin recalled her teacher’s evaluation of Saleen.

Her teacher had described him as being a genius in magic, who was fit to become an emperor. This was an incredibly flattering evaluation, as there were few sorcerers who were willing to become emperors, much less those who were capable of doing so. This was because the position of emperor would have taken too much of a sorcerer’s energies, thus robbing them of their time that could otherwise be used to conduct magical research.

Suddenly, Jalin finally understood what Saleen was doing. Saleen knew the rules of the world like the back of his hand, and he was prepared to change in accordance to the changing times, thus breaking these rules altogether. As she thought of this, she wondered… If Saleen can do this, who is to say that an emperor can’t be a mage in the future?

Her teacher had also said that Saleen had not truly reached his potential yet. Once that day came, Lex would instantly become a nobody.

At that moment, Saleen didn’t care about what Jalin thought about anything. Moreover, they had little time to spare, as the people from the Tribunal would be arriving at their door within two days.

While it was impossible for them to enter Daliang City right away and do anything, there were nonetheless things that they could be doing now. For instance, they could start figuring out the water supply.

Before, the water reserves within Daliang City would last the near-million population for over two weeks. But, the city’s water supplies had now been completely cut off. This meant that the city had no way of getting water from its underground sources anymore. And, since there were no rivers nearby, unless something changed, everyone would die of thirst in only half a month.

“Lex, take the Winged Skull, Jola, and 200 ancient figures to fetch water from the Separation Sea. Bring as much as you can. The Winged Skull will lay a teleportation portal at the bottom of the lake. If there’s a need to do so, we’ll just take drinking water from the Separation Sea right away. Hurry! You must come back within a day!” Saleen instructed Lex.

“What about you?” Lex asked.

She had wanted to enter the underground ruins first, but she knew that she could not refuse Saleen’s request. After all, the city was filled with her own army, and there was no way that they could rely on the mages in the city without water.

The water that the mages created was different from normal water, and only their restorative water could be drunk like normal water without causing harm. While it was entirely possible to extract freshwater from the Separation Sea using portals, it was incredibly costly to do so.

The diameter of the portal used and the volume of the item transported were all factored into said cost, which explained why it was so high. Water extracted in such a manner would have been extremely precious. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that doing so would have been safe, as the enemy could simply destroy the portal if they found it.

There was a possibility of adding poison to the other end of the teleportation portal. As such, the portal could then only serve as a backup for emergencies.

Regardless, Lex had to follow what Saleen said in order to save the lives of all of the people in the city. So, she left Daliang City.

As she went, she had the God’s Ring and was protected by the golden grand swordmaster, as well as 200 ancient figures. As such, the broken forces of the allied army were unable to pose any threat to her at all.

There was no use for anyone else to go to the Separation Sea, as only Lex’s God’s Ring had the capacity of storing an entire world within it, and it just so happened that it was the exact that was required to carry enough water for a million people!

“Masters, there is something I need your help with,” Saleen said as he took out the map of Daliang City.

He then pointed at a specific spot on the map and said, “I want to install a certain number of magic cannons at the walls in order to defend against any large scale equipment being set up there. But, as you can see, if the cannons were to be fired all at once, the results would be very unpredictable. So, the cannons…”

The sorcerers knew where he was going with the conversation, so they all nodded before he even finished his sentence. There was no need for Saleen to make himself any cleared, as everyone already knew what he meant.

Doing something like what they were about to attempt required precise calculations, and in order to calculate how the cannons should be placed and the frequency they should be fired to avoid triggering Elemental Resonance, was no easy task.

The power of the cannons would have been far less effective in such an environment,so near the walls, but since they were powered by magic nucleus, it meant that they would have been able to cause more damage than elemental mages alone.

If Elemental Resonance were to happen once again, it would result in a catastrophe. Then, no one could guarantee that Daliang City would survive. Even if they were to survive such a catastrophe, no one knew if the giant statues below the city would rise yet again.

At the thought of all of this, everyone began to wonder… If the city is raised to a height of several miles, then what would happen to the people in the city?

“Eleanor, Nicholas, Sul, you take care of the children,” Saleen said to his three followers.

Nicholas and the other two said nothing, only nodded. Everyone wanted to enter the ruins, but they had only two days, which meant that they would not be able to find much within that short of a time period.

As such, Saleen was simply going there to look around. As such, he could not have taken everyone with him, especially his children!

“Alright, Jalin. Take a six-hour break. When the masters are done with their calculations, we’ll go take a look down there,” Saleen said.

“Where should I stay?” Jalin asked, returning to her original gentle tone.

“Stay here, if you’re willing. Pick any of the 16 floors you wish. No one will come to bother you,” Saleen answered with a smile.

The tower was something that even he was unable to completely control. As such, he knew that it was impossible for Jalin to be able to learn any of its secrets.

“Thank you, Saleen. I haven’t had a nice place to stay for quite some time. I’ll go and rest now,” Jalin said before she left the 24th floor.

She then walked down along the stairs, while regaining her composure. As she walked, she thought… Saleen can’t offend the teacher, after all. And… There will be plenty of opportunities to have him submit to me, as long as I remain by his side.

Seeing how Jalin walked down the stairs, twisting about, Sika pouted and said, “Her figure looks like that of a log.”

Sika was strong and had a loud voice, so she would have been able to speak loud enough for Jalin to hear her, even if Jalin was outside the city. Jalin had a nice body and looked nothing like a log, but when she was compared to the likes of Sika, even Lex’s figure appeared to be somewhat lacking.

As Jalin walked, she looked uncommonly displeased. She was simply showing the truest reaction of a woman. She was angry at Sika, but she held it in and kept walking, quickly disappearing from everyone’s sight.

At the moment, the sorcerers felt rather awkward and were unable to do anything but lower their heads and study the data on the schematics. Saleen greeted everyone and pulled Sika away, then gestured for Eleanor and the others to leave as well.

The children were still sleeping when they returned to the 17th floor. That was the core of the entire tower, and no one was allowed to enter it without Saleen’s permission. For this reason, Jalin had to take the spiral staircases outside, instead of going through certain parts of the tower using magic arrays.