Badge in Azure

The equipment possessed by Saleen’s Metatrin mercenary group was all handed down by his main battalions. The mercenaries, led by Aini, marched towards the border of Laiyin Duchy. The equipment possessed by the soldiers in the city was mostly more ineffective than it looked. Fortunately, the Holy See would not be able to organize another expedition within the next few months. They would be able to reach the north by the time winter came otherwise.

It would be a nightmare for armies to travel through the areas controlled by the Metatrin Kingdom in winter.

Saleen did not move the ten-thousand Bitter Water Prefecture soldiers in western town. He had already established contact with Lex and both had agreed to cooperate and split the land north of Phoenix. It was for this reason that she left behind those soldiers. If Saleen marched into Phoenix on his own, it might stir up some unhappiness within the Qin noble families. There would be no such problems if he cooperated with Lex.

Saleen had more than enough soldiers in the north already so Lex only needed to provide legitimacy to his actions.

Once the battle started in Phoenix, these ten-thousand soldiers would be deployed as reinforcements.

Saleen finally understood the difficulty of refining large scale equipment after giving it a try. The items that Saleen wanted to refine were too difficult even for Lex’s mages. He had no choice but to gather all the grand mages to refine the high-level items while the low-level mages and apprentices would refine the low-level items.

Fortunately, the equipment designed by Eleanor was all very structured and would be much more efficient if the components were manufactured separately. Saleen was running out of resources.

He could not afford to use all his thundercloud wood and divinecherry wood on elvish alchemy crossbows and the wings of an elf. Other equipment required these two types of wood as well. Saleen had no choice but to send the winged skeleton and Nailisi to the ocean to bring back more sunken ships.

Saleen could not afford to investigate the calculation of the collection point of sunken ships’ routes that was brought up previously. He did not dare to leave Metatrin for the time-being so he could only bear with it.

It was extremely difficult. Saleen’s only thought was that this was all extremely difficult.

In the past, if he were on the brink of death, it was only his own personal issue. Now, there were more than one-hundred trusted aides around him and another one-hundred more noble families that had pledged their allegiance to him. That included the subordinates and followers under these people. Saleen had thousands under him. All of their futures depended on him.

Being needed was a good feeling, but it could also be a burden at times. Nevertheless, Saleen had to push on. There was no way back. In the past he could flee if he felt that he had no chances of winning. Now, he would not be able to desert Metatrin city, the city was named after him.

Sika had also been very busy and had rarely been to the temple. She stayed at South Court most of the time to train the Caucasus soldiers. Mages from Sregl Island and Bitter Water Prefecture were all busy making equipment at the alchemy factories.

In contrast, there was peace and normality amongst the residents of the city. The fighting competitions carried on as usual at the fighting arena every day. The people of Metatrin City had become used to watching the matches and there would be one or two lucky winners every few days. Although no one had yet to win the top prize of one-hundred gold coins, the residents were still very interested and invested in the fighting matches.

On that day, Saleen left the alchemy factory and was taking a break at the pier with Eleanor. When they reached the pier, they saw that it was prospering as there were hundreds of ships of all sizes and wagons were traveling back and forth on the metal tracks. Gigantic puppets were being guided by apprentices to transport boxes that weighed a few thousand pounds. They made sounds that sounded like gold coins being rubbed against each other.

Saleen raised his head and saw the lone white rock mountain on the left. He said to Eleanor, “Let’s go there and take a look.”

Saleen had no need for teleportation portals. Instead, he used the Quickcloud spell and brought Eleanor and himself to the top of the mountain. The soldiers recognized this skill of Saleen’s as he was the only one on Mainland that could use this type of flying spell.

“My Lord!” Truman, the mage that was guarding the mountaintop, saw Saleen flying over and quickly prepared himself to welcome him.

Saleen flew into the rock cave in the white rock mountain and dispersed the fog. He stood and observed his surroundings. This rock cave was not small and was cut into a hexagon with a diameter of more than twenty yards.

There were six forts, each pointing towards an opening. Only the fort that was facing the pier was equipped with a mini magic cannon.

“Eh?” Saleen’s gaze fell onto Truman again and asked, “You have advanced into a grand mage?”

“Yes, my Lord,” Truman replied in a neutral tone. He was older than Saleen and was only a grade-3 mage when he first arrived from Sregl Island.

It was rather easy for the grade-4 and grade-5 mages under Saleen to advance. They had already accumulated a lot of experiences on Sregl Island so once they managed to train under Saleen and in an environment that was rich with elements like in the temple. All these accumulations were brought out and almost all the grand mages advanced.

Truman, this grade-3 mage, guarded this fort every day and never had the chance to enter the temple. Saleen deployed him here because Truman was only a grade-3 mage and would have a long way to go before becoming a grand mage.

Saleen was not looking down on Truman. Not a single one of the low-level mages that followed Saleen in the temple had advanced into a grand mage after all.

As for Truman, Saleen only made sure that a low-level magic nucleus was delivered to him every day. With such minimal support, he actually managed to advance into a grand mage!

“Truman, who is your teacher?” Saleen thought that Truman’s inheritance must have come from some sorcerer on Sregl Island.

“I don’t have a teacher,” Truman answered with some difficulty. There was a tinge of sorrow in his eyes. There were too many mages on Sregl Island and one must sometimes have luck in order to gain the favour of sorcerers. Truman was not particularly lucky so many opportunities had passed him by.

“Truman, although I am only a grade-6 mage… are you willing to be my student?” What Saleen said was unexpected. Although Truman was two grades away from Saleen, they were both still considered grand mages and were of similar status. Based on capabilities alone, there would be no issues for Truman to become Saleen’s follower. There had been no precedent of someone like Truman becoming Saleen’s student though. A grand mage taking in another grand mage as his student might be considered by others as an act of arrogance.

Truman stood there with an expression that was difficult to read. He was born on Sregl Island to a swordmaster. This swordmaster was the follower of a grand mage and so Truman naturally became an apprentice of the grand mage. After that, he never received proper training and only followed the grand mage to help out in some magic experiments. He had read many books, but never received any personal guidance.

“I am willing,” Truman raised his head and there was enthusiasm in his eyes.

“In that case, let Eleanor, the grand mage, be our witness. Truman, do you know that my teacher is Jason Statham? From now on, you will be one of the disciples. Eleanor…Eleanor?” Saleen called out twice before noticing that Eleanor was staring at the magic cannon so intently that she did not hear his calls. To an elf like her, this was something very rare.

Saleen had no choice but to cast a Cleaning spell. As the elements vibrated, Eleanor regained consciousness immediately. She adjusted herself and almost cast a defense spell instantaneously. She finally woke up and realized that Saleen was calling her.

“This is a magic cannon?” Eleanor pointed at the mini cannon on the fort.

“Yes, it’s from the second dynasty.”

“I want to touch it…”

“Go ahead,” Saleen was helpless. He recalled that he felt the same way when he first saw the magic cannon.

Eleanor’s finger caressed the magic cannon gently. Saleen could see that there was life aura flowing from Eleanor’s hand and onto the magic cannon. There were ancient patterns on the surface of the cannon that concealed mysterious rules. Eleanor was observing and learning.

After half an hour, Eleanor finally stopped and was panting heavily.

“Master, congratulations,” Eleanor said to Saleen after she had finished panting. She had heard Saleen’s conversation with Truman earlier on, but she could not be interrupted then as she was in the midst of observing the magic cannon.

Saleen was pleased that Truman had managed to advance into a grand mage and possessed a solid foundation of knowledge; all without the guidance of any teachers. His teacher’s legacy could now be passed on to one more person.

Except for a chair on which Truman sat most of the time, there was nothing else in this cave. He would normally spend his time on this chair, training and waiting.

The ceremony for mages to take in students was not as complicated as swordsmen’s, but there were certain aspects that could not be neglected. Truman was already a grand mage, but he still followed traditions and knelt and bowed in front of Saleen.

Saleen recalled what Jason said to him in the past and repeated those words slowly, “Truman, there is only one person taking over this legacy. Teacher Jason has no other students. I hope that, one day, you will become the strongest mage and surpass me.”

With that, Saleen took out his own crystal white ring, passed it to Truman and said, “This was given to me by teacher. Back then, I thought it was just a normal crystal white ring. In fact, it is an object that has been passed down for thousands of years. It is a white crystal that has been refined by mages of grade-10 and above. It can help you to recover your mental strength quickly.”

Truman took the crystal white ring and put it on his finger. Saleen continued, “In the beginning, I had offended an Earl from Sikeqinya. That Earl was a grand swordmaster. I had no choice but to flee. Before I left, teacher gave this ring to me. At that time, I was still a grade-1 mage.”

“Teacher?”

“Hmm, it’s nothing much. I’m just lamenting. Truman, from today onwards, train with me in the temple.” Saleen looked at the cave where the fort was. This place was lonely. The winds blew from all four sides into this empty cave. By standing guard here alone, one’s will and determination would be tested to the limits.

Such loneliness was unbearable. This might be a form of training to a mage, but since Truman was already his student, Saleen wanted to provide him a better training environment.

Truman raised his head. He had regained its composure and said, “Teacher, I prefer to stay here.”