Badge in Azure

Saleen looked at Gaine’s work without saying anything. He learned that when the powers of professionals reached their pinnacle, the difference between the professionals was no longer distinct.

Gaine was incapable of using Water Flame Alchemy, yet he was able to use Saleen’s methods to control equipment at will during the crafting process.

128,000 stars were refined, each one little more than a hundred meters long. All of the stars had complex and intricate star charts on them. The star charts resonated with each other and created star charts of greater areas.

Gaine then said, “When you reach level-13, that would more or less be the time that you become able to take that Lightning Moon. After you’re done taking it, you’d be able to unravel the first seal at level-14. Before you get to that stage, you won’t be able to use the power of the Lightning Moon.”

Saleen nodded furiously. It was a very satisfying result. He had no idea if the giant would have been resurrected by the time he got to level-13.

According to conventional logic, there was no way that could have happened. A giant’s resurrection would have taken over a million years to achieve, and that was said without considering the time difference caused by altering the flow of time.

The disappearance of the First Dynasty happened less than 100 thousand years ago.

But then again, there was no doubt that the layout of the interiors of the cemetery of the giant would have been anything but simple. There was practically a sea of fossilized gods supplying life force to the dead giant within the cemetery. The resurrection of the giant would have been definitely done at a highly accelerated rate.

Saleen was able to wait. There was no need to use the Lightning Constellation in his battles with others after all. The Lightning Constellation was little more than a piece of auxiliary equipment for comprehending and developing lightning skills after all.

“Saleen, the way of lightning was something that less than a hundred mastered since ancient times. There were only three among the gods who walked that path. I would not stop as you’ve already made up your mind. You have your own teacher and he would have his own reasons. But, commit this star chart that I give you to memory. It marks the location of a dead god of thunder all those years ago, and only astrologers knew of that fact.”

Gaine said and forcefully opened a path into Saleen’s soul. That was the first time he did something like that ever since he came to know Saleen.

“Do not ever try this before you reach level-13. That god of thunder’s power had been at the top among the gods. While his level was but 16, even level-17 or 18 would have been reluctant to fight him. That god of thunder was killed by humans who wielded the power of lightning as well. Judging on that human’s temperament, there was no way he would have took that god of thunder’s divine persona. He wouldn’t have even wanted something like that.”

Gaine paused before speaking about the man. “That guy’s named Shanglan. Any news you have of me, pay close attention. The path you walk would be a difficult one, and having someone to guide you would save you tens of thousands of years in training.”

Saleen wanted to ask something, but Gaine quickly interrupted, “If he is still alive, never tell him that I have brought this up. If he is dead, then pay utmost respect to whatever he left behind.”

Saleen swallowed his words. He wondered what would have a mage that earned an astrologer’s respect been truly like.

“Alright, Saleen. I’ve given you anything I should be giving you. I’m taking this Star Gathering Needle. The astrology tower is yours. Don’t take it outside the Imperial City of the Abyss just yet. Leave it here and I’ll construct a teleportation star chart for you. You would be able to connect the portal with the Magical Element Tower. I’ll leave you to figure out the problem with fuel consumption yourself. I’d need a massive amount of energy to break through this crystal wall system, and I might end up dead during transit…”

Gaine did not continue and Saleen did not try to stop him. When one reached the level of Gaine, one would have rather ended up dead, than to not try to reach a crystal wall system of higher level. There was nothing left for him in that crystal wall system he was currently in after all.

“This is the key controlling the astrology tower. Promise me this, unless you’ve yourself a student suitable to become an astrologer, never give this astrology tower to anyone. If you should feel that your life has near its end, this place shall be where you rest for good,” Gaine felt rather sad as he said all that, yet he disappeared before Saleen at a speed that Saleen was never able to anticipate nonetheless.

Gaine’s departure was a very, very sudden one, yet Saleen was nonetheless able to tell that Gaine had been very patient for talking to him about so much. When a soul was trapped in a figure and was unable to leave, such pain surpassed any kind of imprisonment.

Even the expression of the general, who was in the Cemetery of Heroes, changed drastically. All of the powerful heroes watched the top of the astrology tower. A stream of stars appeared and then vanished.

“How is Gaine able to leave!?”

“It’s impossible!!”

“General, did something happen?”

“General…”

The general waved and said solemnly, “He is freed, and that is not a bad thing for us. We need Saleen’s help if we want to leave this place. Furthermore, none of us want to return to Myers Mainland. If we want to make it to another plane, we’ll need to be more prepared. Let Saleen help us. I’ll speak to him personally when he’s here next time. Grandmaster, you shall stay out of this when he shows up the next time.”

The grandmaster knew that he had made the wrong move before. But then again, no one would have expected a puny, rank-and-file-soldier-level mage to have gotten so lucky. Yet he had been able to help Gaine escape.

That was something that not even the heroes would have been able to pull off, even if they worked together.

“Saleen, if you need me, feel free to come and see me. We’ll talk for a bit,” the general shouted to the air around him. His voice coalesced into slivers of green threads, flying towards the astrology tower, incapable of getting in.

The general was exasperated and put the threads way. He cast a sword soul instead.

Unlike sword spirits, sword souls did not possess thought and were incredibly pure, enabling them to deliver complex messages without changing into a form of life. The sword soul was in itself, a great gift he could give to Saleen.

A sword soul created by a level 18 hero would have never been lower than level 13.

Saleen was holding the key to the astrology tower and figuring out how to control the place when the sword soul flew by. Saleen opened the window and let the sword soul in.

While his level at astrology was just level ten, but Saleen was able to control the tower’s defense completely with the key in his hand. The sword soul was utterly incapable of harming him within the tower itself.

“Interesting.” Saleen allowed the sword soul to fall into his hand. The sword soul was very tame, behaving well as it delivered the message to Saleen telepathically.

The sword soul then became something with no master, bouncing about on Saleen’s hand.

“Bing!” Saleen called. The Winged Skull, who had been waiting for days outside, walked into the room. Saleen handed the sword soul to the Winged Skull and said, “While the Reaper Scythe is powerful, it lacks a spirit. Merge this with your weapon.”

The Winged Skull nodded and took out their huge Reaper Scythe, merging the sword soul within.

The Reaper Scythe chirped happily. While the sound was piercing, it did no damage to anyone.

Sika then walked inside and asked, “What happened, Saleen?”

“The general had sent word, asking me to see him when I have the time. Hehe, it seems that the grandmaster hasn’t suffered any punishment. Those bunch is really looking down on me.”

“Just leave them be then. The way I see it, none of them would be leaving that place.”

“Of course. Gaine was somewhat stronger than the general and he was trapped in a figure all the same. It’s about time those hero gravestones expire. Those heroes would immediately die as soon as they leave the place. Leave them be. We’ll head back to Myers Mainland!”

“Where is Gaine?”

“Gone, and we’ll probably never see him again,” Saleen said rather regretfully. If he had been willing to take Gaine as his teacher, then the astrologer would have been willing to stay in that plane for a little while longer.

However, Saleen already had his own teacher, and there was no way he could have cast what Jason had done for him aside. If it had not been for Jason back then, he would have long starved to death.

Magic or astrology. It was a no-brainer for Saleen. The way he saw it, he’d never had a choice.

“Let’s go. Follow me and go take a look at the astrologer’s teleportation portal,” Saleen said as stars circled about him. He brought both Sika and the Winged Skull to the center of the astrology tower, to the nebula at the top floor.

Saleen was rather baffled when he got there. The nebula was almost entirely gone. Only the center remained shining brilliantly. The starry sky formed a huge star chart, which worked identically in terms of spatial theories with magic teleportation portals.

That thing was very easy to maneuver, but teleporting from it would have required a large number of constellations or magic powers.

Unless Saleen was willing to dump all of his elemental creatures into it, there was no way he could activate the portal.

It was not about distance, as not even teleportation between planes would have had such a high cost. It was because the Imperial City of the Abyss was too special, shrouded by some kind of unnamed energy.

They were not in Myers Mainland. They were blocked by something similar to crystal walls. They would have had no choice but to rely on their legs to get outside.

It was no wonder that Gaine had told him to figure that part out himself. However, that star chart teleportation portal seemed to have another way of initiating space jumps. That space jump was capable of breaking something as hard as crystal walls. Such was the value of the teleportation portal.

“Never mind…” Saleen was speechless. The grandmaster had almost emptied the energies of the nebula to get himself through the crystal wall system. He deemed it wise to not attempt such methods of transit that would have required such a huge amount of fuel.

“So we head back now, master?”

“No, we’ll have a look around and see what Gaine left us.” Saleen was thinking that it was fortunate that he had not brought Nailisi. She would have begun to raid the place like a rat in a granary.

Saleen was likewise not in a hurry. He brought the two of them to begin searching the third floor. That search ended up robbing Saleen’s interests in further explorations and adventures. The wealth within the tower was like Gaine had described—more than enough to let him unify the entire mainland.

Figure soldiers, weapons, equipment, just about anything he could have imagined.

There were no magic nuclei around, yet there were all manner energy stones all over the place. Magic nuclei suited mages better, but Saleen possessed magic power furnaces. There was hardly any difference between the energy stones and magic nuclei to Saleen.

Other than that, astrologers loved collecting meteorites, and the amount was so massive that Saleen found it unacceptable. All manner of meteorites literally piled into mountains in some rooms.

Those meteorites were labeled in Ancient Myers language and their information was detailed. Other than labels made by astrologers, there were also labels made by mages and warriors among the materials. All of them were determined by their use along the lines of professions.

The astrology tower had just about everything but gold coins.

Furthermore, there was actually gold on the lower floors. However, none of the gold had been refined. The wrought gold-stock solution, heavy water, and terrifying metallic poisons could have been refined from them.