Badge in Azure Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Devil’s Horn (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Daniel did not mind that the two mages had looked down on him in the beginning. With Lex’s help, he had completed the summoning of the nine bone puppets, and these puppets had evolved into the nine kings. So, his power was now already equivalent to that of a grade-4 mage.
It could even be said that in a one-on-one battle, neither Andrew nor Keegan would be a match for him.
Death mages had better stamina than elemental mages in terms of offensive abilities because death flames were not depleted so easily. Furthermore, death mages could also cast scrolls and had many bone puppets under their command.
Low-grade bone puppets did not require any magic arrays nor the power of the dead from the death dimension. Such puppets were similar to swordsmen in terms of offensive ability, and as long as the death mage possessed enough bones, they would be able to create their own army.
The power of a death mage would have been extremely terrifying if their low-grade bone puppets had a longer duration of effect.
“Magic ship? What is it like?” Lex knew a little about the empire’s navy, and the ships in the navy paled in comparison to those found in Alchemy Port. These two grade-4 mages were full of admiration for that magic ship. Could the magic ship have been similar to the giant ships found in the Cloudflow Navy?
“When you see it you will know. That ship isn’t even a ship anymore. If the empire possessed dozens of similar ships, then they would already have no problem attacking Cloudflow.” Andrew and Keegan were Qin mages, and they had gone a little out of line in citing this example. There were Cloudflow mages in the other seats, and when they heard this example, they simply snorted in response.
“That magic ship… won’t the owners be afraid that other people will learn of its secrets?” Lex was worried as she felt that Andrew was not boasting at all. Mages only stated facts as they were. They did not need to lie.
“The magic ship doesn’t participate in missions like these. Foreign mages like us will never get the chance to board the ship.”
“That ship must be one of a kind. Even if the Cloudflow people got their hands on its drawings, they might not be able to replicate it,” Saleen announced just loud enough for the Cloudflow mages to hear. The Cloudflow mages must have agreed with what Saleen had said, seeing as they did not give any response.
The Cloudflow people had already honed their shipbuilding technology to perfection. Alchemy City might have been able to create better ships, but they did not have the means to mass produce those ships. If Alchemy City wanted to build a fleet like Cloudflow’s, they would have to exhaust ten times more resources than Cloudflow. Alchemy City had only been able to gain such a firm foothold in southeast Qin by relying on its numerous magic stone artillery.
No navies could get close to Alchemy Port no matter how powerful they were. Magic stone artillery were positioned on manmade hills situated on both sides of Alchemy Port. No matter how many ships came, they would all be sunken nonetheless.
“Of course. Even the gods might not be able to finish constructing that ship,” Keegan continued. Fortunately, there were no devout followers from the Tanggulasi Empire on the ship, or else a battle would have erupted there and then.
Saleen finally realized why people always said that the Qin people were arrogant. Indeed, judging by the way Andrew and Keegan spoke, they regarded the Qin Empire as the central point of the mainland. There were many people who did not believe in the gods, but only the Qin people would dismiss the gods in such a straightforward manner.
Even though this ship was traveling against the wind, its speed was still quicker than the ship which Saleen had taken on the river. Using his icy sight, Saleen felt that the ship was traveling at more than fifty miles an hour. This meant that the person steering the ship possessed good skills and had a deep understanding of the wind element, and this person had to at least be a low-grade mage.
Alchemy City was truly extravagant. Even the positions of the chief officer and main sailors were fulfilled by mages. Even so, this was also a potent method for training, similar to how Lex allocated mages for daily chores.
Saleen leaned back in the chair and sat facing Lex. Then, the two of them started playing a magic game. Saleen cast a normal Icicle spell at his lowest speed, causing Andrew, who was next to Saleen, to become petrified. Lex waited for the Icicle spell to be fully released before dispersing the magic. Had she been slightly slower, the icicle would have penetrated her body.
At least, that was what Andrew saw from his perspective. Following that, Lex employed the same method and casted a small fireball. Saleen waited for the fireball to leave Lex before dispersing it. The two of them were used to this game since they had played it all the time when they were in the hell of god’s punishment. The game might have seemed perilous, but in reality, the two of them could already control this game perfectly.
Furthermore, the defensive abilities of their magic robes could easily resist level-1 magic. However, to Andrew and Keegan, Saleen and Lex seemed to be toying with their very lives.
Saleen and Lex did not bother to cast any magic shields. They simply took turns casting spells. This caused the onlookers to be filled with terror.
Daniel knew that Lex was a grade-6 mage, so it was no surprise that she was capable of dispersing magic. However, he was astonished that Saleen, a grade-4 mage, could actually disperse a level-1 spell cast by another person!
The mages around Saleen and Lex were mesmerized by their actions, and at one point in time, the cabin fell silent.
Out of the sixty mages participating in the mission, only half were grade-3 mages, while the rest had already reached grade-4. Needless to say, those grade-3 mages could not disperse magic. Even so, all the grade-4 mages were in truth questioning themselves, wondering if they could disperse magic like what Saleen was doing.
Saleen and Lex sat opposite each other, so the distance between the two was only slightly more than one meter. At such a distance, magic attacks did not even need to travel far to be able to reach their target.
Lex and Saleen had harbored the same intentions when they decided to play the game. As expected, the two mages in the same group as them were immensely impressed as their expressions were that of respect. The fact that Saleen and Lex were able to achieve this meant that their magic control abilities were almost at their peak already. Even if they had rehearsed the game beforehand, a slight mistake would still result in death.
In the cabin below, the sorcerer and two grade-6 mages from Alchemy City had found out about this scene. In their cabin, they had magic images of the second story. In addition to protecting the mages who were executing the mission, these three people also had to ensure that no one was creating trouble on the ship.
“Sir Juno, look at these two mages!”
The grade-7 sorcerer had been meditating, but now he was staring at the magic image. After looking at the images for a moment, he ordered, “Check their backgrounds.”
“Okay.” One of the grade-6 mage immediately took out a book. This book contained information on all of the mages on the ship. After flipping a few pages, he finally found the information.
“Sir, the woman’s surname is Grukos. Could she be the viscountess of the empire?”
“I am afraid so, but what is she doing in Alchemy City?”
“Training purposes. After Emperor Chanake died, the Bitter Water Prefecture has been surrounded by the prince’s men, so there hasn’t been much progress.”
“Does she need money?”
“No, the Bitter Water Prefecture is very wealthy. Although it is not as rich as Alchemy City, it is still able to support the lives of more than one hundred mages.”
“Who are the people beside her?”
“Saleen Metatrin, a citizen of Bitter Water County, but from Sikeqinya. He is a grade-4 mage. Daniel Kan, from Tanggulasi…”
“From Tanggulasi?”
“He is a grade-3 death mage.”
“Oh.” Just now, a burst of murderous vibes had exploded out of that sorcerer when he had heard that Daniel was from Tanggulasi. The people of the Elemental Hand should not have made the mistake of allowing people from Tanggulasi to get on the ship, especially during this period of uncertainty. However, since the person was a death mage, it was perfectly understandable. Currently, the Tanggulasi Empire was sparing no effort in capturing all the death mages they could find. Even the pope was offering huge rewards for them.
“Sir Juno, will they cause problems for us?”
“No, I will be able to handle that woman. Furthermore, she belongs to the Grukos family. They still have to rely on us to defend the southeastern part of the empire. She shouldn’t have any special plans. Once we get back, inform the people of the Elemental Hand.”
However, the sorcerer called Juno could never have been more wrong. The concealment ability of Lex’s magic robe was too strong. Now that the multiple colors had disappeared and the tiago’s hair had been added, no one would be able to identify Lex’s grade unless Lex revealed it willingly. If Lex really wanted to create trouble, she could easily sink this ship.
“For this mission…”
“Don’t let her execute the dangerous tasks. After all, she is of royal blood, and if anything goes wrong, there will be trouble.” The sorcerer closed his eyes, but he did not continue meditating. Rather, he was thinking. When I was grade-5, could I have done that?
No problems had ever surfaced in such hunting missions in the past, but this did not mean that there would be no problems in the future. After all, the hunting was conducted at sea, and moreover, the magic beast in question was grade-6. If special equipment was not available, the grade-7 sorcerer also would not dare proclaim that he would be able to kill the finless whale.
Lex and Saleen still did not know that their insignificant actions had caused them to receive the safer tasks. Besides wanting to maximize their time by training, Lex and Saleen had also wanted to take charge within the small group.
There had to be someone calling the shots in this five-man group. The rest of the mages did not want to lose out to Lex and Saleen, so they stopped talking as well. Some of them even took out blank scrolls and started filling them up.
A situation like that would only occur within the region of Alchemy City. In other cities, mages would always choose to fill out their scrolls in a safe location.
Saleen secretly observed his surroundings. He discovered that only two mages were meditating. These two mages surely possessed high-level guidelines on meditation, for that was why they were not afraid of being disturbed. Mages who were able to practice in Alchemy City were definitely not weaklings. Be that as it may, out of these sixty mages including Saleen and Lex, only four mages possessed perfect guidelines for meditation.
No wonder the only warning which Saleen’s teacher had given him had been regarding the meditation process. If Saleen had imparted his guidelines for meditation without any discernment, Jason would employ the most extreme of methods to get them back.
But why was this the case in the Bitter Water Prefecture too? Did Lex not want to bring glory and honor to magic?
Good guidelines for meditation would allow a mage to boost their mental power slowly alongside obvious signs of growth. Even if Saleen had not had help from his clan badge, his mental power would not have been any weaker than that of other mages of the same grade. The Bitter Water Prefecture provided various magic knowledge and cheap materials, yet was not willing to impart guidelines on meditation.
Everyone on the ship was training. Even the swordsmen were honing their sword auras. When night had fallen, the ship crew then delivered food to everyone. As Devil’s Horn was still one thousand miles away, the ship would require one more day and one more night to reach it, yet not a single cabin with beds had been prepared. No matter how comfortable a chair was, a person would grow tired of sitting eventually. Saleen stood up and walked up front.
Looking out of the window, the ocean seemed to be boundless. Saleen felt an unparalleled freedom in his heart. This feeling was not even attainable in alchemy tower. The moon rose above the surface of the sea, causing the waves to glisten with a silver glow.
Would genuine freedom be attainable only if one lived in a ship on the ocean? For the first time in his life, Saleen felt a strong desire. Sailing on the ocean, without any restraints whatsoever. This dream seemed so near, yet so far in reality.
If one lived on the ocean, he would have to provide for the sailors, fight magic beasts and pirates, and come across navies from other countries. If a storm occurred, the ship would also be shredded into pieces no matter how sturdy it was.