Chapter 230
Chapter 230: Saleen’s Follower (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Daniel’s face was that of excruciating pain as he felt that all of his bones were on the verge of breaking after Sika had given him a pat. However, what made him most astonished was that the winged skeleton behind him seemed to be afraid of Sika, actually retreating half a step.
Daniel grew morose. He had thought that all of the benefits on this island would belong to him, because he was the only one who was versed in death magic out of this group of five. Saleen and Lex looked wealthy, so they would not snatch these items from him.
In the end, Sika, that warrior from Caucasus, had bafflingly said that she wanted to study the ghost fog monsters, and Daniel did not dare to refuse. Those monsters in the ghost fog were very valuable, but Daniel was less powerful than Sika, and he also did not want to offend Saleen.
“I know a little about death magic. Indeed, there are terrifying creatures in the ghost fog, but Daniel should be able to handle them. Earlier on when I took a look around, I found that there are no humans nor magic beasts within a ten mile radius. More accurately, even grass does not grow there. Daniel, you look overjoyed. Tell me, what benefits does the ghost fog bring you?”
Daniel sulked and said, “The benefits are tremendous. You surely know about them.”
“It can absorbed by the death flames, right?” Lex was considered to possess profound knowledge. Whenever Saleen did not know something, she was always able to supplement related information. The two of them had different perspectives on their studies and there was a large difference between their family backgrounds, yet they were mutually helpful.
“It takes time,” Daniel replied in a perturbed manner. He had once dreamed of discovering an island which had been abandoned by a death mage, and now that he finally discovered one, he actually could not stay. Without Saleen and Lex, he would starve on this island.
Daniel did not wield spatial equipment and had not brought food along. If Lex and Saleen were bent on leaving, it would be impossible for Daniel to stay. Fishing in the ocean? Many fish in the sea would view him as prey.
Saleen laughed, then he made a face at Lex. Then, with his back facing Daniel, he said, “Daniel, go and take a look. Perhaps there is a magic tower on the depths of this island. If that’s the case, we’ll be able to save a lot of effort since we won’t need to build a laboratory.”
Daniel agreed in a depressed manner and then left with his winged skeleton. The island might have been vast, but it was not difficult to conduct a search given a mage’s speed. Furthermore, Daniel had the winged skeleton, and the winged skeleton was basically an additional pair of flying eyes.
“Saleen, do you have something to tell me after dismissing Daniel?”
“Lex, you have think of a way to control Daniel. The Bitter Water Prefecture doesn’t have any death mages. With Daniel around, your plan would have a massive symbolic meaning to it.”
“I know, but Daniel doesn’t make me feel assured. Isn’t your friend Aini learning death magic right now?” Lex replied. Lex wanted to recruit death mages for Bitter Water Prefecture, because that would be equivalent to announcing that she was putting up direct resistance to the Holy See and would not back down. That, in turn, would attract more mages to the Bitter Water Prefecture.
“Aini? He… might make you feel even more uncomfortable,” Saleen said bluntly. In the past, Saleen had interacted with Aini at Aini’s lowest point solely for the purpose of taking advantage of him. Aini was an arrogant person, so he would never be friends with Saleen ever again. Later on, Saleen had met Aini’s parents and had left a good impression on them. However, he did not have any confidence in persuading Aini to work for Lex.
“He thought of harming me in the past, so no matter what, I will never favor him again,” Lex said flatly.
“Leave him to me. I will make sure he is completely tamed and will work for you.”
“Hm? Are you confident?” Lex was in slight disbelief. Death mages were the toughest people of all to deal with, and Daniel might have seemed honest, but one could never be sure of his true intentions.
“Just a little. Let’s wait until he obtains some benefits on this island.” Seeing that Lex was frowning, Saleen continued, “Lex, you are a viscountess. No, you are a county queen right now. Sooner or later, you will rule over an enormous amount of land, and there will be many mages as your subordinates. You can’t handle everything personally. As for myself? I require more time to study magic and won’t be able to slaughter enemies on the battlefield. Look at Daniel. He is so much more useful. Help him produce more bone puppets in the future and position them as the charging forces in front of the swordsman’s camp. By then, even heavy crossbows will be helpless in that situation.”
“What if he harbors intentions of harming me again?” Lex asked straightforwardly.
“He won’t have the chance anymore,” Saleen answered confidently.
“Mm, then I will leave it to you.” Lex did not continue arguing. Since Saleen was confident, she would let him give it a shot. Indeed, Daniel was a magic genius, but which of her subordinates was not? No matter how hard Daniel tried, he would never get the opportunity to surpass Lex in this lifetime. As long as Lex could settle the issue regarding the hell of god’s punishment, she would be able to become a Grade 9 sorcerer before turning fifty years old.
Daniel returned shortly and appeared a bit excited. Then, he said, “About twenty miles ahead, there is an abandoned magic tower. But oddly enough, it only has six stories.”
“There’s nothing strange about it. This place is separated from the mainland, so it would be challenging to transport materials to and fro. If the mage was not threatened by enemies, he would not have had to build a magic tower.”
As Lex spoke, she signalled for Daniel to lead the way.
There were no roads on this island, but there were no obstructing plants either. Thus, for these five people, the twenty mile journey would only take half an hour. The magic tower stood on an empty podium, and the podium seemed to be a flattened hill, being about two meters taller than the rest of the ground.
Saleen and Lex had been amazed by Raphael’s magic tower, so they were indifferent to this one. On the other hand, Daniel was very agitated. He bowed respectfully towards the magic tower and was mumbling to himself.
Saleen felt that it was odd and asked, “Daniel, what are you saying?”
“I am thanking the master who has left this magic tower behind. You know, if I train in this tower, my death flames will no longer need replenishing from magic nuclei anymore.”
“Oh? Then I would save a lot.” Saleen laughed. He was now on the same pedestal as Sika and the others already.
The magic tower left behind by the death mage was taller than the usual magic tower, as every story had a height of seven meters. A six story magic tower was already taller than most castles. This black magic tower had been constructed from steel rocks, and a magical bonding agent had been used at the parts where the rocks met. From the architecture, this magic tower had come from the Fourth Dynasty, so it was not ancient. No magic arrays were positioned around the magic tower, and all of them were concealed beneath the podium.
Saleen’s icy sight could clearly observe what types of deathly forces were present. The magic array which was under Saleen’s feet was used to control the entire island by concealing it, and the magic array did not require magic nuclei. This method was similar to Raphael’s, but was not as extravagant.
Death mages were usually modest and did not have any opulent desires. Once they entered the magic tower, the first story was a massive space, but there were no decorations. Besides a stone table, the only other objects remaining were the residual magic patterns on the wall.
“This place is pretty good. Saleen, go up and take a look with Daniel. If there is nothing else, I will build an alchemy laboratory here in order to build a boat as soon as possible.”
“Okay, be careful.” Saleen gave an instruction and asked Nailisi to stay behind. He then brought Sika and Daniel up to the second story.
The second story was also barren. It seemed like Daniel had been right about death mages preferring not to leave anything behind. Furthermore, death mages could accurately predict the ends of their lives, so they would make all of the arrangements beforehand. As the three of them made their way up to the third, fourth, and fifth stories, Saleen could not help but sigh at the stinginess of this death mage.
You are already dead. Can’t you just leave something behind for future generations?
This magic tower was slightly different from a normal magic tower all the way up until the sixth story, where Saleen saw a window. The flooring on this story was made of white rocks, and a magic array had been put together on the surface of the rocks. Daniel pounced onto the magic array and started sobbing, portraying a miserable and pathetic scene.
“What’s wrong?”
“This is a planer magic array! Saleen, I am going to be rich. Correction, we are going to be rich!” When Daniel saw Saleen’s smile, he hastily changed his words.
“Don’t you know how to build a planer magic array? Is the grade of this one different?” Saleen could not identify the differences between this planer magic array and the one which Daniel had drawn in the past.
“The materials, materials! Saleen, this rock over here isn’t natural, it’s manmade, and at least a whole piece of black crystal is required to produce so many bone rocks!”
“Uh, black crystal? You mean this?” Saleen took out a shard of black crystal. He had a complete piece in his possession. This shard was simply a byproduct from when Nailisi had been segmenting some gems.
“My goodness, Saleen, you actually have a black crystal!” Daniel stared at the shard obsessively. Death mages did not adore many gems, but the black crystal was definitely one of the superior gems.
“Originally, it was a complete piece. But I gave it to my friend, and this is the remaining shard.” Saleen did not put away the black crystal shard. He simply kept grinning and staring at Daniel. Daniel stared at the black crystal for a long while, then he clenched his teeth and said, “Saleen, what do you want?”
Daniel’s eyes were going to be red. Death mages had their strengths, but they also had their weaknesses. It was challenging for them to produce magic books, and there were no suitable magic staffs either. Furthermore, they even faced difficulties in producing scrolls. Because there were too few materials which were able to store death magic, the black crystal was one of the best materials available.
This piece of black crystal was not large. It was simply a shard just like Saleen had said. However, it was already large enough to be mosaicked into smaller pieces of magic equipment. If this shard was further segmented in a conservative manner, it could still store at least three death spells.
“I don’t want anything. Let’s just… sign a contract then. A magic contract.” At this point, Saleen then put away the black crystal while Daniel anxiously rubbed his hands together.
Saleen was not anxious at all. He had not been able to find a vendor selling black crystals in Alchemy City, but it did not mean that the city did not have any black crystals at all. Alchemy City most likely had death mages as well, but when they came across such gems, they would give them to their own people first. Even if Daniel had been wealthy, he would not have been able to purchase such a gem, let alone that he was broke.
“Saleen… I will do anything you say!” Daniel said through clenched teeth. In addition to being able to store magic, the black crystal would also be immensely helpful to his training. Furthermore, Daniel possessed death flames which were of higher quality, so normal crystals had almost zero effect on them.
“Daniel, please don’t put it that way. I am not trying to force you to do anything. If you don’t like it, then we will not sign a magic contract. Instead, I can sell this black crystal to you at market price.”
“I…” Daniel was speechless since he was broke. This piece of black crystal was far too valuable to a death mage. He wanted to buy this piece, but he did not know when he would be able to gather that sum of money. Whenever it was, it would surely be a long time later.
“If you are undecided for now, I have a friend who practices death magic too. When I meet him, I can’t say for sure that I will not give the remaining pieces to him.” As Saleen spoke, he was already preparing to descend down the six story magic tower. Daniel tried extending his hand, but saw that Sika was giving a deathly glare to him. Daniel shivered and did not dare to stop Saleen. He simply called out to him.
“Saleen, I am willing to sign the contract!”