Badge in Azure

Jason said that he would definitely be able to advance to level 11 after crafting the magic amplifier. It was this surety and a sense of confidence that inspired Saleen.

His teacher was truly a rare genius in the world of mages, the sort that was born once in 10,000 years. Jason was not yet even 50 years old, and he was already able to advance to level 11. It would have been an extraordinary feat, even in ancient times.

The lifespan of common ancient humans had been probably reached up to 1,000 years. As such, it had not been unusual for them to advance to level 11. However, being able to get to level 11 when one was not even 50 years old yet was astonishing nonetheless.

“Get ready, Saleen. Didn’t you say that Theisio had subjugated a level-12 oracle? That means that the Holy See has been able to acquire greater help from their god. If I don’t break into level 11 soon, you won’t be able to keep this city of yours for long.”

Saleen grumbled deep down but agreed with his teacher nonetheless. He was lucky to have survived being thrown into a divine kingdom by Theisio. If he were to be thrown right before the Lord of Glory himself, not even his Magical Element Tower could keep him in one piece.

“After advancing to level 11, I’ll be able to use the magic amplifier to craft permanent flying magic patterns for the Magical Element Tower, which I could etch inside the tower itself. This will prevent any situation that could keep you from controlling the tower, and, effectively, ensure that this won’t happen again,” Jason elaborated to Saleen.

They got to scheduling soon enough. Both of them went to the 17th floor of the magic tower and began to get the materials ready to craft their magic amplifiers.

They were both still in the tower when, a month later, urgent news came from Daliang City.

The Heaven Knights corps of the Holy See had not attacked Nature City; they were relocated to the frontlines at Daliang City instead. The Heaven Knights were all capable of flight, and that proved troublesome.

The city had completely lost its height advantage. While Daliang City had been able to win in the infighting between its forces and Alchemy City’s, they had suffered quite a bit of casualties nonetheless.

It was fortunate that Alchemy City would never allied with the Holy See, as they would have lost all control of their Cemetery of the Giant.

The Holy See’s forces were launching repeated assaults on the city at that point of time, straining its ability to cope.

However, as long as Saleen stayed within the tower, no one was able to order around Nailisi. Without Nailisi in command, the powers of Demon City could not mobilize, as those demons only followed her orders.

Nailisi herself was also in the Magical Element Tower. She had molded her human form in rather strange ways and needed to get used to it.

She was not only training on her own; she had asked Jola, Eleanor, and two other level-10 sorcerers from Sreeger Island to help her develop all manner of skills. That meant that it would be a while before she left the tower.

The troops that they could gather from the Principality of Bitterwater were inadequate. Among those at Saleen’s disposal, only Demon City had ample forces, enabling hundreds of thousands of demons to be mobilized at any time.

The combat capacity of those demons was higher than elite soldiers in the conventional sense.

Mobilizing Sreeger Island mages in Metatrin City would require Jason’s approval as well. Hence, Lex was unable to acquire any forces from Metatrin City’s side.

Daniel knew his priorities well and wrote a letter to Aini in Lonestar City, borrowing hundreds of death mages, and sent an army of spirits as reinforcements to Daliang City.

Saleen and Jason had entered the most critical stage of their crafting in the Magical Element Tower.

Once Jason successfully made a magic amplifier, the level-12 oracle would no longer be a threat. When Jason made it all the way to level 12, he would be able to kill level-13 pseudogods.

Saleen had a family, and, if he had not had someone like his teacher taking care of things back home, he would not have dared to go all over the place. If what he did outside resulted in his enemies kicking down his door, his strength would have been pointless.

A ring with a diameter of a meter hovered before both Saleen and Jason. The ring looked like Saleen’s necklace, which was divided into 24 segments representing the four states of the six major elements.

Bronze colors appeared on the metal ring, and there was crimson writing on each segment, without a single magic pattern. There were layers of shadow in rings within the ring itself, making the whole thing look like a metal disk.

Saleen felt the ring had expanded his powers 24-fold. That figure meant that, when Saleen cast a level-nine spell, it would be more powerful than level-10 ones. A level-10 spell would equal the power of 12 level-nine ones stacked together.

With rule factors taken out of the equation, this formula would remain constant in all situations.

Of course, this did not mean that 12 level-nine sorcerers attacking at the same time was equivalent to the power produced with this device. The root concepts were different. After all, the 12 sorcers would not be able to synchronized perfectly as they attacked.

Saleen felt disbelief. The schematics of the magic amplifier seemed to be something one would have little chance of building successfully; but Jason had been able to successfully build not just one, but two at the same time, one of which he entrusted to Saleen for the time being.

“Alright, Saleen, that’s it.” Saleen saw fires jumping within the ring one meter in diameter that was Jason’s magic amplifier. It was the weapon spirit of the magic amplifier, a fire-type element spirit.

Jason had finally subjugated something that he had been suppressing for a long time. In his advancement, he had left behind bangs and flashes.

“Teacher, if I find a water-type element spirit, I’ll be able to give the amplifier back to you,” Saleen said as he came to realize something.

“It works like this. These two rings are called Elemental Orders. They’re originally of one set, which consists of six rings and requires us to gather six element spirits. But the magic that I trained in is too specialized, and only calls for two types to act as weapon spirits. Equipment like this isn’t always better the more complicated it is.

“Well, then, teacher—you’ve seen my necklace. Do you think I’ll be able to craft a lightning amplifier?”

“Theoretically, yes. You can try if you’re not afraid of damaging the necklace. I’ll help you craft it in due time.”

“But, water-type element spirits—”

“They’re hard to find. I can do it with a water-type element spirit, as well.”

“How about gods…?” Saleen was speechless at his teacher’s level of confidence, and had difficulty understanding it. It seemed that Jason dared to imagine and to try anything and everything, and, furthermore, that he succeeding again and again.

Well, never mind. It’ll be quite a while before he advances to level 12, anyway. I’ll still have plenty of time to catch a water-type element spirit; I’ll probably be able to get one by then.

He had a suitable bait in his hand, after all—a divine persona of a water-element god—and he only needed to know where such beings were.

His magic amplifier could already magnify the power of his spells 24 times over, despite not having a weapon spirit in it. He wondered how powerful his teacher’s amplifier would be.

Saleen had been feeling troubled. Theisio had the help of an oracle, and it made him feel powerless. But things had turned out for the better, as his teacher had grown more powerful all of a sudden, and both Theisio and the oracle would not be able to threaten Metatrin City.

However, other than his teacher, there were probably also some among the veteran level-10 professionals who had advanced to level 11, such as Joey and Fycro.

Saleen was particularly concerned about Fycro. He had never expected him to hand the Seal of Divine Power to Theisio. There must have been some kind of trade involved.

Saleen did not feel all that afraid at the moment. Once Sika advanced to level ten, their powers combined would prove more or less capable of taking on Theisio’s set of three godly items.

If his family badge was available by then, one of the three godly items would definitely be broken. At the very least, he could take out one of their attributes.

According to the records, the godly items were at their most powerful when all three were used in conjunction. Losing just one had severely affected the Holy See’s efforts to propagate itself during the past millennium. It served as a testament to how important it was for all three of them to be together.

After Saleen came to possess the magic amplifier, there was no need for him to break out his family badge all the time as his solution for everything. Thus, he could reserve its powers specifically for breaking the synchronization among the three godly items.

With such secure measures at his disposal, it was no surprise that Saleen no longer feared running into Theisio.

Jason’s magic amplifier flew to his hand and transformed into a ring small enough to fit onto his finger. Saleen’s magic amplifier did not contain a weapon spirit and, as such, was incapable of such a transformation, which meant that he had to use a slot on the Starline Bangle to house it.

Saleen only opened the Magical Element Tower when both of them had finished crafting their magic amplifiers. Daniel had been waiting for quite a while outside of it.

Daniel came up to Saleen as soon as he walked out of the tower and said, “My liege, the situation is dire in Daliang City. I’ve asked Duke Aini to send death mages as reinforcements, but, for the past two months, we have suffered severe casualties, and the spirits and the death mages are unable to hold on any longer. Another batch has gone to take their place, and more than 500 thousand spirits have been lost.”

“What about Demon City?”

“Nailisi is also training in the tower, and, without her orders, we couldn’t mobilize anyone from Demon City.”

“Nailisi is training!?” Saleen sensed that something was off. That imp had always been very lazy. Her bloodline was such that she simply needed to consume powerful beings to gain all manner of mystical powers. Training was hardly necessary in her case.

Daniel dared not speak to ill of Nailisi. The way that she went about things communicated that she placed her interests before those of everyone else. If she were a follower instead of a bonded creature, she would have come under attack from everyone else around her a long time ago.

However, the fact remained that Nailisi was a bonded creature. Even if she had armies that only she was able to command, it wasn’t out-of-bounds.

Everything she owned belonged to Saleen, after all.

“Let her train. Relay my orders. Mobilize 200 thousand demons and an army to Daliang City. By the way, tell Sul and Jola to come see me.”

“My liege, Jola is training with Nailisi.”

“Umm… Tell them all to get over here,” Saleen added. He did not know what to think of Nailisi’s lack of diligence. If she were not so steeped in her training, she would not have neglected to reinforce Daliang City. Lex had probably heard all this as well but was unwilling to have someone practically beg Nailisi to come out.

She was a sovereign, after all. Lex would never have asked her people go out and look for the imp, who also happened to be Saleen’s bonded creature.

Nailisi was rather reluctant, but, after she was yanked outside, he threw her a ring, saying, “Dragon Crystal Needles.”

A beaming smile appeared on her face immediately. She had yearned for such equipment for a long time. She did not have magic chords and was unable to shoot the needles in the way that mages cast magic spells. But this would no longer be a problem, as the needles, once shot out, could be recalled to her ring.

It would have been dificult for Saleen to craft such a piece of equipment for anyone else; but his and Nailisi’s sould were connected, and he thus had an uncanny understanding of the frequencies of her Nailisi’s mental power, in the same way that he understood his own.

As a result, that piece of equipment was far more intricate than Eleanor’s quiver, and more practical as well.