Badge in Azure

Saleen was frustrated, and both Nicholas and Jola were not able to do anything to ease such frustration. They were by no means stupid and knew that the ancient warriors could be controlled using alchemy. It was only natural for them to be able to figure out what Saleen was worried about.

Jola was a proud genius, yet he dared not claim to be able to go against ancient warriors in the tens of thousands. Those warriors would have simply made a beehive out of him. He would not have even been able to stand against hundreds, let alone tens of thousands.

Nicholas’ thoughts were projected even further. If Grand Duke Iron Blood gained the power to control all ancient warriors, the Holy See would not qualify as a threat anymore. The matters that plagued his mind would be further and further away from him. Things were not looking bad for him in that regard.

The problem however, was that Grand Duke Iron Blood would never ally with them. If he were to pick Metatrin City as his first target, things would take a turn for the worse for all of them. Given enough time, his lord might have been able to put more ancient warriors under his control, but the speed at which such a goal would be achieved would definitely never be as fast as using alchemy. That was a matter of time. Would Grand Duke Iron Blood march into the inner mainland after attacking Lianyun City, or move north along the shoreline to attack Metatrin City?

Cloudflow was known for their naval forces, and as such, the chances of them moving north to attack Metatrin City would be bigger still.

Saleen’s eyes sparkled, and ideas popped up in his mind in the thousands, all of which had to do with how to deal with the crisis right in front of them. Judging from the time Imposa had arrived in Cloudflow, the grand duke had probably been able to put a good number of ancient warriors under his command. The only problem at the moment was if Cloudflow had mastery over techniques regarding the magic power furnace.

Manufacture of large scale equipment and puppets would be comparatively easy with the use of a magic power furnace. In the setting of a war, mastery of such technologies would become a determining factor. Control of ancient warriors would have still been something minor in comparison, as the spread of the magic power furnace knowledge would have made the powers in his hands woefully inadequate.

Saleen had, of course, never thought that he would be able to call himself king of the world, just because he had the elemental badges at his disposal. If that had been the case, Alchemy City would have dominated the entire mainland a long time ago. Conquest of lands still required the might of regular armies, and mages were just something very useful to aid such a cause. A normal sorcerer existed in the ratio of about one in ten-thousand and required decades to foster. If they ended up dead, that would mean the work spent over decades was in vain. Nurturing yet another one would take decades again.

While sorcerers who advanced at frightening speeds like him did exist, they were nurtured by literally piling huge sums of money on them. “How many magic nuclei have I spent throughout my journey?” That was not something even the brains of mages would be able to work out. Regardless, the cost of a normal mage advancing to grade-9 would have been about one-tenth, or less, that what Saleen spent. Such ways of nurturing mages would never become a trend. “How about we go straight up to the grand duke’s side and launch an ambush?”

“My liege, I think that is doable,” Jola said to Saleen.

“What is doable?”

“My liege, I see you look like you want to kill someone, and someone would be none other than the grand duke. Grand Duke Iron Blood is in his prime now, so he has definitely never considered matters about heirs yet. With him dead, his family would be rendered in a panic, and that means one thorn would be plucked out of your side.”

“Is that how Cloudflow would do things?”

“Of course it is. I know Grand Duke Iron Blood. His sons are all still young. They all have their own supporters behind them. Once he is dead, these supporters will go for each other’s throats, just to keep their own interests intact.” Jola knew Cloudflow people well, and he was not making anything up.

“No certainty of pulling that just yet. We will focus on saving Cuisi for now.” Saleen calmed hearing Jola’s words. “What is my topmost priority now? To rescue the demons. The grand duke certainly wants to attack Lianyun City first. I best not do anything until then. There is still Holy Rock City standing between us. If Lianyun City remains intact, relations between Holy Rock City and Alchemy City will never sour. With Alchemy City letting the Cloudflow people pass now, I will see how Safilos handles all that, when Lianyun City actually falls.”

Saleen had no intentions of letting Grand Duke Iron Blood turn into a walking disaster, but he deemed it unnecessary to kill the grand duke yet. The key laid within the Ancient, which was still in the grand duke’s hands, and Imposa as well.

Having thought that out, Saleen no longer hesitated, and said to Nicholas, “Look for Cuisi’s location again. Just keep using the Descension spell. I will compensate whatever you lose.”

Nicholas had little option but to nod. He took out more than two dozen bodies of dead ironbone rats, then summoned souls from his blood soul tower and sent them inside the rats’ bodies. The rats reanimated and bowed before Nicholas, awaiting his orders. Nicholas spoke that strange language again to them, before they went on their way.

“My liege. It is best to kill the grand duke under such circumstances.” seeing that Nicholas went back to looking senile again, Jola began advising Saleen.

“Hard to do. I heard that Cloudflow people have doubles. The one on the island might not even be Grand Duke Iron Blood himself.” Saleen calmed completely by then. “How could it be possible that the grand duke is willing to put his life on the line, pass through the lockdown at Alchemy City, and come to attack Lianyun City personally? I didn’t encounter any large fleets at sea, and the grand duke might not even have his own armies figured out yet. Alchemy City will be on guard against Cloudflow as well. If I go on to kill the grand duke now and it turns out to be a double, that would really be a loss. The grand duke would simply go attack my city first then, and that would contradict my own plans. Fighting wars isn’t something that can be accomplished in a year or two. The very reason the Tanggulasi Empire is getting so anxious is because they lack food now.”

Saleen was irked thinking how he had been stocking food, buying it at high prices over the past year. He would not have found himself in a corner like that if he had all of Phoenix. What made it all worse was that Alchemy City was threatening him and wanted control over the trade of magic nuclei. “Alright, I’m not selling any now. All magic nuclei go to being tools of war, and all food is produced and consumed on our own.

Saleen was feeling furious, and yet Jola was still yapping away.

“My liege, we have to at least kill a few professionals before we leave, we would look bad if we don’t. Taking your women was just a pretense, what the grand duke was doing was trying to provoke you. If you won’t teach him a lesson, the nobles…”

“It’s just women then. Take as many as you want from the island with you then,” Saleen said without paying any heed. The very reason the grand duke provoked him was hoping to fight him at sea, and then have the northern waters of Lianyun City be calmed.

“I’m on guard against Cloudflow, and the Cloudflow people are just as worried about their own power after all.”

Saleen had yet to think of any benefit of duking it out at sea. If he had been able to think it out, he would have had no fear clashing with the grand duke. His own Dragon Skeleton Combat Vessel was as unique as it could have gotten. It was a ship capable of going on land and jumping onto the Ancient. It was some secret the world had yet to know.

Saleen did some tests on the Ancient. Even with all magic furnaces at full power, the gigantic ship still would not be as fast as the Dragon Skeleton Combat Vessel.

There was a palace in the middle of the island, and there were a few people drinking there. On the long Cloudflow table, the dishes placed on the intricate chinaware had all gone cold. The four people sitting around the table were still drinking away.

The leader was someone who was taller sitting down than most people standing up. He had a red beard and was well-built, with well-defined muscles all over his body. He was wearing the silk robes of Cloudflow and wore a tall hat on his head.

The middle-aged man could not have been described to be handsome in any sense of the world, but he had an imposing aura. His purple eyes looked sharp, so sharp that it seemed that his gaze was something capable of piercing someone’s soul. The issues with his looks were all compensated by his impressive aura. Few would have noticed that his face was severely pockmarked.

Sitting opposite the pockmarked face was someone who looked even more peculiar. The man’s face was made almost entirely out of metal, with only his chin being that of a human, with a short goatee. The man did not sit on a chair. The entire lower half of his body was fitted with alchemic machinery. Six legs, and an appendage like a scorpion’s tail.

The man was a sorcerer who hailed from Alchemy City, Imposa. He looked even more frightening than the last time Saleen saw him. There were less and less human parts on him. Other than metals, he was covered with parts made of magic beast bones. One of Imposa’s eyes was also replaced with a clear blue crystal. The remaining human eye looked dead, and the eyeball even stopped moving altogether.

There were two others drinking to their sides. One was dressed in a black magic robe and was a grade-9 sorcerer like Imposa. The grade-9 sorcerer had gray hair and looked old. It was apparent that he had only become a sorcerer in old age, and his aged looks stuck.

The other one was dressed in snow-like white. His hair was tied up and he wore a jade awl. There was a short sword on his side.

He was apparently the youngest of the four, and the one who appeared most normal. While he looked plain, he had an air of grace about him. There were four pupils in each of his eyes. Diplocoria was rare enough a thing, and a person who had four pupils on each eyeball was practically unheard of.

He extended his hand and put out a white china cup, which was filled by a miniature puppet standing about half a yard tall on the table. He wore a ring on his left hand. The ring was etched with a gem, which was covered with complex and intricate magic patterns.

Judging from how the other three treated him, it seemed that he too was a grade-9 professional, and one who used a sword. That meant that he was a golden grand swordmaster.

One table, two grade-9 sorcerers, two golden grand swordmasters. The gathering was a display of power in itself.

“Sir grand duke.” the golden grand swordmaster took up his cup and gestured, “Have you not decided yet?”

The one he was addressing was obviously the tall man with a pockmarked face. Grand Duke Iron Blood, a fitting name for someone with such an imposing stature indeed.

“Not yet,” the grand duke gulped down the wine in his cup. “Metatrin City is a tough one for the moment. I’m not sure if the four woman I’ve taken would have gotten that Saleen angry enough to come ask for a fight. If he made for Lonestar City instead, we will have to attack Lianyun City for the moment.”

The aged sorcerer added, “Grand duke, could we still not take Metatrin City even with Master Imposa here?”

The grand duke shook his head solemnly and answered, “Thirty-six magic towers, Thirty-six of them!”

Grand Duke Iron Blood crunched the numbers. No expression was visible on the metallic face of Imposa, yet his seemingly dead eye moved. He simply threw the cup into his mouth and swallowed it, before continuing, “Grand duke, if you fancy, I will just go attack Metatrin city with the Iron Blood warriors!”