Badge in Azure

Saleen had witnessed the zombies summoned by Aini. The offensive power of a green-bronze zombie was huge, it would not lose out to a swordmaster. “Could this golden zombie be a zombie king?”

Logically, these things should be given to the winged skeleton, but Saleen already planned to give Judikaka’s Soul Flame to the winged skeleton. After swallowing the Soul Flame, it would be sufficient for the winged skeleton to evolve. The winged skeleton would not be restricted by Saleen, he could attain the proficiency of a grade-9 spirit.

Since the winged skeleton had adequate space for evolution, it would not be too useful giving a golden zombie to him. What about Nailisi? Devouring this golden zombie, she might gain the sixth ability. The problem was, Nailisi’s fifth ability was surely related to spirits and if her abilities were duplicates Saleen would be utterly disappointed.

“How about using it for myself? My technique of crafting puppets is not as good as Lex though. The material of this golden zombie is extremely good, I might not come across something like it again. What if it got ruined?”

“Saleen, give me this item.” Sika suddenly opened her mouth.

“Eh? You are a Caucasus priestess, what do you need it for?” Saleen was puzzled. The Caucasus people advocated nature, it was really odd for a priest to carry a zombie with them.

“An Earth Priestess can control more than three fighting spirits, I only have one at the moment.”

“You said it was already dead. Do things that are fully dead still possess a fighting spirit?”

“You do not understand, I will not be able to explain it clearly. This zombie is useful to me.” In a rare moment, a look of desire appeared in Sika’s eyes.

Saleen nodded and said, “As long as it is not dangerous.”

“Of course it wouldn’t be dangerous, unless this zombie is stronger than all the Caucasus priests of the past,” Sika proclaimed confidently. Sika could cultivate skeletons who had lost their souls but still had a tinge of their fighting spirit and she could do so swiftly. Sika only wanted this zombie because of its sturdy body, she wanted to spar with it.

Sika’s cudgel was too sharp, no Caucasus warrior could practice with Sika. Sika felt that the skeleton of this golden zombie was even sturdier than the one she had obtained from Raphael’s magical tower.

“Should we give her new armor? If the Holy See’s people see her like this, they will go crazy,” Saleen reminded Sika.

“No need, the armor has been fused with the zombie, I do not care about the opinions of the Holy See. If it wasn’t for them, the Caucasus people would still be living in their original homeland. Look at the current situation, at least one-hunddred-thousand of them have escaped to your city.”

Saleen nodded in response, he would not feel reluctant fulfilling Sika’s demands. He could not find anything amongst the remaining items which were suitable for Nailisi, so he felt slightly guilty. Saleen had agreed to give her a share, but now, it seemed like most of the loots would go to the winged skeleton.

The body of the lightning dragon had been dissected. Saleen was experienced, he skinned the lightning dragon and removed its muscles. The muscles of this lightning dragon were different, they contained three-dimensional magic patterns inside. If the muscles were made into bow chords, there was a chance they could release the power of lightning while in Nailisi’s hands.

This power did not need to be very mighty, it only needed to destroy magic. By crafting such a bow for Nailisi, she would become a mage killer in the future already.

After dissecting the lightning dragon’s body, Saleen fed the rest of its body to the tiny lightning dragons, with the exception of the skin and muscles.

After completing all these tasks, Saleen did not leave. He began training in the underground warehouse. The flesh in his left hand had disappeared, only a set of bones remained. The water puppet attacked with all its might and killed Banchajanna, but it caused Saleen’s body to be on the verge of breakdown. If the water puppet was ruined, Saleen could only rebuild it. Without Joey’s skills the finished water puppet would not be as strong.

The most important thing was that Saleen’s badge could not be used for battle after that attack. This badge was indeed powerful, but after each usage, it required between six months to a year to recharge its energy. After withstanding the attack from the lightning dragon, the internal space of the badge seemed to have increased. It was more difficult to fill it up now.

The interior of the badge was barren. Saleen had lost his mightiest abilities, so he had to be under protection at all times. He decided to train in the most obscure location within the city.

While Saleen was training, Daniel was extremely busy.

Guya and the rest of the people wanted to meet Saleen, but Daniel could only refuse. Since Saleen was injured, he had to recuperate. Fortunately, Narnia lent a helping hand. Her magic might not be sufficiently powerful, but her ability to resolve matters was better than Daniel.

The two people took turns managing affairs like distributing disability pensions, remunerating the mercenaries who had participated in the battle, and rewarding the sixteen nobles. There was a huge number of corpses outside the city, if they were not removed a plague would ensue.

Without thinking, Aini could deduce the feature of the expeditionary army. Saleen had told him that those soldiers would not be able to live for more than one year. A divine spell which consumed life was harmful in extreme amounts, it would bring about intense negative effects. If the bodies were not incinerated, each one of them would be highly poisonous.

After removing all the bodies, the battlefield still had to be tidied. The city had won the battle this time around, so the magic stone cannons outside the city had to be retrieved. By getting the mages to refine the cannons, Saleen could save a lot of money on manufacturing new ones. The tens of thousands of alchemical arrows outside the city also could save money. The arrowheads of those arrows were crafted from the thorns of red krill.

These things were aplenty in the Frozen Sea, but Saleen could not afford using them as disposable items. Saleen would face many battles in the future, he could not be prodigal.

After this battle all the alchemical crossbows and magic trebuchets required repair. The equipment of the warriors was greatly damaged. A significant reason as to why Saleen’s soldiers could duel with the high morale expeditionary army and only sustained a casualty ratio of one to three, was because of the they equipment used.

Saleen’s six camps were fitted with finely crafted armor. Even though the commanders were the only ones wearing authentic magic armor, the armor plates donned by the normal soldiers were also produced by mages.

These armor pieces were extremely tough. Their magic defense was not high, but their physical defense was very high. The most important aspect of this armor piece was its ability to resist penetration. Armor pieces which had been magically reinforced were made up of at least three interlaced layers. Feather arrows could not pierce through them at all, they also defended against powerful crossbows very well.

In a war between two armies, which weapon was the most fatal? It was not a gigantic poleaxe, it was a spear, or the triangular sword.

These two long and thin weapons possessed powerful penetrative abilities. No matter how thick one’s armor was, they would still face the risk of being stabbed when struck by these two weapons.

Many warriors who participated in the battle faced the possibility of being crippled, so Daniel ordered the mages to render treatment to all injured personnel. Unlike divine spells, magic could not resurrect the dead, but it could still repair damage to the limbs. Before the war, Saleen had prepared huge amounts of magic medicine. At this moment the medicine came into play.

Besides Saleen’s six camps, the other soldiers in the city included the private soldiers serving the nobles, Caucasus people, barbarians, mercenaries, and the slaves from the eastern sea. Originally, there were around ten-thousand slaves, but after the war, this number dwindled to around three-thousand. The number of fatalities suffered by the slaves was the worst because their equipment was inferior.

These over three-thousand slaves had fought until the very end, each of them had killed at least one enemy. Around three-hundred of them killed more than three enemies. If it was not for these slaves, Saleen would have lost even more soldiers.

The slaves who killed more than three enemies would regain their freedom and they could join Metatrin City’s army. Donning only normal armor, these over three-hundred people could kill more than three expeditionary troops, this meant that their fundamental ability was good. Daniel transferred these people into the army. One of the slaves who killed the most enemies even became a brigade commander.

A brigade commander led two-hundred men and had a monthly salary of five gold coins. Saleen was paying for all the expenses incurred by the army. Within a year, if there were no wars, a brigade commander could amass sixty gold coins. This was purely remuneration and if there were battles they could still receive rewards.

The battles at the city entrance were recorded using magic, no one could falsify the records. As the mercenaries were more valiant, they were also absorbed into the regular army.

Settling all these matters, the fortune Saleen had painstakingly accumulated was almost gone. Fortunately, the city still contained huge amounts of reserve rations, while the islands at sea were stocked with substantial livestock.

As for the shortage of gold coins, Daniel had an idea. By selling the magic nuclei which had been saved for the battle and refining all the broken armor and equipment left behind by the enemy, the city could still earn a sum of money. The Holy See had abandoned more than eighty-thousand bodies and each body carried at least three weapons. That meant that there were over two-hundred-thousand pieces of weapons.

Hundreds of low grade mages and disciples calculated for three days before finally determining the outcome of the battle. This time around, Saleen had sold all the collected loot from the war, fetching about one-million gold coins. Saleen had spent more than four-million gold coins in this war.

An invasion which lasted less than two days had caused Saleen to lose more than four-million gold coins. The cruelty of war was not just confined to the deaths of humans, it also entailed meaningless consumption of resources.

This four-million figure did not include the magic scrolls Saleen had contributed. If they were included into the calculations, everyone would be deeply astounded.

Saleen had reaped the body of a grade-10 lightning dragon and the three kings’ materials and equipment. To Saleen himself, he did not make a loss. One spirit pool made from chlorite alone would allow Saleen to earn a fortune. The harvest from the three kings was an accident. Saleen had a figure in his heart, in the future, wars could not be fought in this manner.

If the offensive party could not achieve victory the losses would be greater. Saleen could not keep fighting in Metatrin City, his army had to go out and fight thousands of miles away. By then, if he did not have the best army and equipment, his losses would dwarf the current figures.

Because of this logic, Saleen was even more determined to establish a demonic army. A demonic army did not require any pensions.

After Saleen’s body recovered a little he met with the sixteen nobles who had received rewards. He then returned to the underground space in order to undergo three months of nonstop training. In three months’ time, his left hand would at least recover slightly.

Magic training required the coordination of hand gestures. Now that Saleen was left with one hand, he could not learn any new spells. To Saleen who had just been promoted to grade-6 not long ago, this was a huge problem.

In the practice of new spells, hand gestures and mantras could not be absent.

Saleen was frustrated, but Archbishop Nicholas was even more vexed. The army that he led, containing more than ten-thousand troops, suddenly ran into serious problems.