Badge in Azure

Picasso stood behind Saleen automatically, keeping his distance. Saleen would not sign any contract with him in front of Fycro. The contracts would be settled after they left.

“Fycro, now can you tell me, why are you so anxious about building such a powerful army?”

Fycro and Saleen had different goals. He already had millions of believers following him and he had no intention of building his power base on Myers Mainland. From what Saleen was able to tell, Fycro had definitely found a suitable interdimensional space to develop his plans, and it was an interdimensional space that was growing.

For a human whose goal was to become a god, such interdimensional spaces would have sufficed.

Such interdimensional spaces had no history and therefore posed next to no trouble. Unless he provoked others first, no other gods would learn of the existence of such a place. Fycro must have been taking his own time developing. There was no rush about anything.

“The powers across Myers Mainland are rising. I take it that you’re aware of that?”

Saleen nodded. Any powerful being who had reached level-9 was aware. If it had not been for the explosive growth in power throughout the entire mainland, there would not have been so many powerful beings popping up. It was a result of Myers Mainland having spent thousands of years stocking up on power.

“When a true level-13 powerful being emerges, that will be the time when the barrier between Myers Mainland and the other planes is shattered. Back in the day, humans opened up pathways connecting a lot of planes and none of them disappeared. When said barriers get broken, residual sizeable powers from those planes flowed into Myers Mainland. Things turned out to be disastrous. Saleen, while I indeed intend to become a god, I’m also aware that becoming a god would do harm to Myers Mainland. As such, I chose to go to other planes. But before I leave, I don’t want to see my home get destroyed while I sit by and do nothing.”

Saleen wanted very much to laugh as Fycro talked, but he was unable to bring himself to do it.

In the eyes of mages, holy masters were people devoid of any sense of humanity. What Fycro said made it feel like he was a packaged Lord of Glory, appearing very holy and very noble.

Fycro was known to be the being closest to the gods, the brightest star in the sky, within the Holy See. Was he just acting all along?

Could Fycro really be so compassionate?

Why would a guy about to become a god care about things like his home?

Saleen was unable to laugh because he did not hear any change in Fycro’s heartrate. Not even a single ripple came from the energies in Fycro’s body.

If he had been any common man, that would have been little more than pretense. However, in the case of a level-11 professional, that meant that Fycro was extremely determined.

“If this turns out to be true, I’ll be rather moved.”

“A catastrophe is about to hit Myers Mainland.” True divine colors began to show in Fycro’s face as he spoke. “Saleen, I don’t know about other things, but I do know that one place is connected to the abomination plane. Even the normal ones among the abominations would only be slightly less powerful than demons. The puppets of the gods back in the day had formidable bodies, indomitable souls, and brutal temperaments. Powerful abominations would have fought in ways more terrifying than mages. Have you seen level-9 locusts? That would be how they would behave…”

“Are you telling the truth?”

“You’re welcome to see it with me. There are already low-level abominations getting into Myers Mainland. When the pathways linking the planes are fully opened, I shall stand guard there with my millions of bug angels. If I survive, I’ll advance to level-12 and divine fire will light within me, making me a pseudo-god!”

“What if you end up dead?”

“Then the ones who have followed me shall become your believers!” Fycro said in a brimming manner.

“But if you end up dead, then what could I possibly do?” Saleen was not buying it.

“Luck. I shall be there with you and get some of your luck. If I survive, my level will see a spike. There is no way around it. Myers Mainland is running out of time.”

“Who else knows about this?” Saleen believed Fycro. It was a trust that had nothing to do with Fycro’s perception. Saleen had gauged Fycro using astrology and found what Fycro said to be true.

“Theisio.”

“Theisio!” Saleen frowned. Theisio knew about all of that and yet he did not say anything.

“There is one more who may or may not know about it.”

“Who?”

“The head warden.”

Saleen was silent.

Fycro continued, “If you were to side with me, we would stand a chance of defeating the head warden. If we were each to fight him on our own, we would definitely end up killed.”

Seeing Saleen’s smile, Fycro elaborated, “I know you have the lightning badge and you have equipment capable of shooting lightning icicles. None of those would pose any threat to the head warden. His power now leans toward Black Dungeon. The head warden is the most powerful person within the Holy See’s ranks. Why would Theisio have chosen to take you on despite having acquired the three godly items? Consolidating the entire Holy See should have been his top priority.”

“What about the oracles?”

“Hehe…” Fycro smirked coldly and said, “Those two traitors. I have severed their possibility of advancement.

Fycro did not get into the details. The very reason he had enticed Sharjah to join the Oracle Corps was so he could acquire the Ring of Many Gods.

He would have exchanged another godly item with said ring. Then the oracles would not have been able to break through level-12 using the ring’s power.

Fycro did not bother with those two fools at all.

If he were in their shoes, he would have killed Sharjah without hesitation and taken the Ring of Many Gods by force, not allowing others to rob him of it.

“What I mean is, between the oracles and the head warden, who would be the stronger one?”

“If the head warden is not going to leave Black Dungeon, then the two oracles would be walking to their graves. But if he were to leave, the oracles could still run,” Fycro answered.

Saleen shuddered, feeling lucky that he had not asked for trouble with the Tribunal at Black Dungeon. He would never have expected the head warden to be someone that powerful. Saleen felt confident about taking on the two level-12 oracles, but he needed to be at Metatrin City with the help of his teacher to do so.

If he faced those two level-12 oracles alone, that would be about the time his luck ran out.

“There are 12 dark angels at the head warden’s disposal, Saleen. The very reason why I stayed hidden this long was that I didn’t want the head warden coming after me personally. Those 12 dark angels are the most powerful arsenal the Tribunal has at its disposal. The head warden’s godly item is called the Halo of Hell. It is capable of resurrecting the dark angels.”

“What are the dark angels like in terms of levels?”

“They have no levels. The stronger the head warden is, the stronger the dark angels are. If the head warden is weak, then the dark angels are weak as well.”

“What would he do if he knew what you’ve just told me?”

While Fycro had already come to his conclusions about the question, he thought about it for a bit nonetheless. Then he said, “He would capture the abominations and feed them to the Halo of Hell. The Halo of Hell can do more than summon dark angels. It can summon all manner of evil beings.”

“So you’re saying that if the head warden knew about this, that he would capture the abominations and we would be in his way?”

“No. He would simply let the abominations run free. It’s easier to capture them like that. The greater the abominations’ kill count is, the stronger they become. The head warden would probably become a level-12 professional by then.”

“Looks like I have to agree to your proposal then. You’re very persuasive indeed, Fycro.”

While Saleen was not as noble as Fycro, he couldn’t simply let Myers Mainland be overrun by abominations. He was the king of a nation and his wife has a principality to run.

The total population of both countries amounted to tens of millions. It would take years to move them all to safe interdimensional spaces.

While the 12 Notes of First Purgatory was capable of transporting a massive number of people at once, those people would have to live in different places nonetheless. Sending them to interdimensional spaces would require massive manpower to facilitate a migration of such an enormous scale.

Even if he were to be able to move all of his population to safety in one shot, Saleen would be able to return to Myers Mainland after that. If the goddess were to be resurrected, the Nature Faith needed to develop on Myers Mainland. Saleen had no other options.

“Good then. But it won’t do with just me going about persuading others. You’ll have to do the same as well.”

“Lex wanted to fight the Holy See.”

“No. Persuade Grand Duke Iron Blood instead. The man will not let such a chance slip by. Just tell him that abominations are capable of believing in gods, and if they were to be left alone, the Holy See would get incredibly powerful.”

“But the one he wants to go against is Alchemy City.”

“The Elemental Hand… I’ll talk to them,” Fycro’s expression was rather grim when he said this. The power of Alchemy City was not as simple as Saleen had once seen it.

“That probably won’t do. I came back from overseas this time and Alchemy City had laid a brutal trap for me, intending to kill me. I’d hit them as hard as they hit me. Before I get back what I deserve, I’m not going to fight alongside Alchemy City.”

“Saleen…” Fycro frowned.

Saleen shook his head adamantly, prompting Fycro to think.

“Are you sure you could crush Alchemy City then?”

“I’m not.”

“Well then, I won’t be going to Alchemy City, but you’ll have to hand over the abyssal soul to me right away!” Fycro said adamantly. He was rather worried about not having support from Alchemy City.

“No problem. So the bug angels…”

“I’ll give you all the schematics. Make another 100 thousand sets of the armor for me. I’ll hand over the secret schematics of the core controls and all data required right away!”

“Deal. I’ll head home right away. Another thing, about the division of territorial power, are you testing me or do you really want the Laiyin Duchy?”

“I truly want the place because Laiyin holds the portal connecting the abomination plane.”

“You can have Laiyin then. But promise me this, so long as you live, your people shall never step past Beast Jungle!”

“You have my word!”

“I’ll contact the pope immediately and have his holy masters leave Laiyin.”

The exchange between both parties was unusually quick. It was as if it had been rehearsed beforehand.

“Alright, I’ll contact you in December. We shall meet at Laiyin.” Fycro did not say more to Saleen and took out all the contracts instead, signing each of them with him. Fycro then handed over all the schematics that he had prepared to Saleen.

“Get to Metatrin City once in September. I’ll hand over 500 thousand sets of Bug Angel Armor to you in advance.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Well then, I shall head over at the start of September.” Fycro waved as he finished, letting his knight send the guests off. Picasso followed behind Saleen and left without saying a word.

“Master, you should have stayed out of this,” Nailisi said, walking up to Saleen’s side.

“Why not? Are you saying we should just let the abominations overrun Myers Mainland and kill everyone?”

Nailisi intended to say that, but seeing that Saleen was in a grim mood, she changed her tone. Instead, she said, “What I mean is that we should have asked for more. Look at Fycro, he’s f*cking loaded, man.”