Badge in Azure Chapter 251

Chapter 251: Sregl Island (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the front of Sregl Island was a stone wall, over three hundred meters high and as smooth as a mirror. The stone wall had been directly carved out of the entire mountain, and was vertical to the sea at the shore. Waves were hitting the stone wall, making loud, crashing sounds.
There was a magic tower every half a mile, and they varied in height. Of course, the entire island was not merely a mountain, and some parts of the stone wall had been filled-in with rocks. Saleen saw clearly with his icy sight that liquid copper had been added to those rocks.
At the center was a gate about eighty meters high, behind which was the dug-out port.
A conical mountain over a thousand meters high was standing at the center of the island. Saleen felt the vibration of the fire elements even at a distance. The center of this island was a volcano.
Mages were the only type of people who would dare to live on a volcanic island.
It was different from the ghost fog island whose mountain was also dark black, in that lives were thriving on this one.
Gaia said to Saleen, “The outside of the mountain of Sregl Island is the work of mages over a hundred years. They piled on volcanic ash and rock, and then cast Fossilization spells. At most, there were over a thousand mages on this island casting the spell non-stop.”
Only the warship they were on approached the gate, and the other two sailed around the island in opposite directions. Saleen’s boat sailed through the huge gate and into the harbor. The gate was one hundred meters wide, enough for two ships to sail through side by side. As Saleen passed through the gate that was dozens of meters thick, he sensed obvious elemental vibrations.
A large number of magic arrays had been cast onto both sides of the gate. It was different from Holy Rock City in that elemental vibrations were active above and below the gate. Access through this huge gate could be left unsupervised.
Saleen looked at the magic patterns on both sides of the mountain in awe. How great was the strength of mages! With this layout, attacking Sregl Island would only be possible from the skies.
How many humans were able to fly? Flying puppets were easy to produce, but they might not be able to fly over the mountains that were over three hundred meters tall. Not to mention that because of those crowded magic towers, almost every angle of attack was in the attack range of one of the magic towers.
Grade-6 mages had a fairly far attack range, and some of them were even able to attack from as far as five to six hundred meters away. If a mage was in a magic tower, that distance would become indiscernable.
Despite Sregl Island having such complex terrain, Gaia was still worried. It seemed that the problem had not come from Cloudflow, but rather, from the inside of Alchemy City.
The warship stopped at the pier, which was rather small and had five ships docked there. Gaia did not communicate with the upper platform on the port using a magic sound array. He merely lit the magic lamp on the warship and communicated using light signals. Those several-meter long metal spikes around the port were withdrawn, and the warship approached the dock slowly. Gaia smiled at Saleen. “Don’t worry, Sregl Island is still ours.”
Rolling castles stood on the land, but they were in the style of the late Second Dynasty, being tall, complicately decorated, and having beautiful patterns. This type of castle with its big windows was mainly for living in comfort, and its defensive powers were weaker than those of the Fourth Dynasty. However, during the Second Dynasty, mankind had still been in power, thus people had paid less attention to aspects like defensive capabilities.
Gaia led the way through the castle complex, followed by Saleen and the others. Saleen felt like he had walked into a small town at inland Qin. There were not many stone buildings. The roads had been paved according to the original layout of the mountain, and the houses had been built up using brick and wood.
To Saleen’s surprise, there were many ordinary people living here.
Gaia walked side by side with Saleen and guided him. “Sregl Island is different from the other two islands. We do not hire swordsmen from Alchemy City. Instead, we train them ourselves. All of our grain, fish, vegetables, and meat are produced here on this island because of the great distance from the mainland. It usually takes ten days for a round-trip to the mainland, so we have many ordinary people here responsible for our plantations.”
“The volcano does not seem very stable, does it?” Saleen pointed at the central mountain and asked.
“It erupts once every one hundred years. Mages channel the volcano every day, so its eruption will not be serious. This volcano is also used as the source of power for our magic arrays.”
“What?” Saleen thought he had heard wrong.
“It’s not too strange. A magic nucleus stores the power of the elements, which is also stored inside of a volcano. Using this power is troublesome, but it is cheap.” Gaia smiled proudly. The most valuable thing on this island was its central volcanic magic array.
However, the Sregl volcano was unique in that it was far too stable. Not another volcano like it could be found on land.
“What about my ship?” Saleen thought about his pirate ship that had followed behind the warship. They would surely notice the pan’s turtle alchemical boat if it went through the gate. Saleen blushed. He needed to keep the boat a secret because he had not gotten permission from Lex to tell the others.
“That type of ship is not allowed to enter Sregl island. It will anchor at a distance. Don’t worry. There are only over a hundred people onboard. If they need food and fresh water, those supplies will be sent over from the island.”
Saleen felt relieved hearing this. He did not want Gaia to misunderstand.
A team of swordsmen followed them. The leader of the team was not Morpheus, but a senior swordmaster. That swordsmen team followed them until they walked through the small town. A straight road was ahead of them, leading to the center of the island.
On both sides of the road were dense woods. Apparently, Gaia and the others did not have a habit of travelling by vehicle. Instead, they began to walk towards the volcano.
After walking a few miles, they arrived at the foot of the volcano. Only mages resided here, and all the buildings had been constructed according to the needs of the mages.
Saleen saw hundreds of magic towers here, but most of them were sealed shut. Their owners had probably passed away. Most of the magic towers were seven stories tall, and Saleen only saw a few with six stories. Gaia explained to Saleen, “At grade-6, most mages choose not to build a magic tower, but to travel to the mainland and savor the meaning of life. When they come back, they have enough power to advance to a sorcerer.”
“Where is my teacher?”
“He is in the south. I’ll take you there.” Gaia reminded Tritiny and Baifan of something, and they left separately. Saleen and others followed Gaia and walked on the footpath. After walking for a few hundred meters, they reached an open plot of land.
To all four sides of the area were forests, and three magic towers stood there, not even a hundred meters apart from one another as they formed a triangle.
“Gaia, is that you? Who are those people coming with you?”
A gentle voice came from the furthest magic tower. When the sound came to Saleen, it was like a soft whispering at his ear.
Saleen had already grown accustomed to this. That was an eight story magic tower and the comprehension of the wind elements by a grade-8 mage would surely be far superior to Saleen’s.
“It is Jason’s student,” Gaia replied and that man did not speak again. Gaia led them to the closest magic tower, which had seven stories. Saleen was not surprised. His teacher must have felt confident when he was about to advance to a sorcerer. Building the tower in advance would save him time later on.
Saleen stood in front of the tower. It had six sides and every floor was six meters tall, entirely build from steel rock without adding any other type of stone. His teacher was surely rich. This volcano island did not produce steel rock. All of it must have been bought from the mainland.
A very familiar voice came to Saleen from the seventh floor.
“Saleen, is that you? Come up here and let me see what you’ve become.”
This voice was also mild, but had a firmer strength contained within it. Saleen’s lips wavered, but he did not laugh. Tears dripped from his eyes uncontrollably.
He did not know why he was crying at a time when he should have been happy. He had found his teacher, who beyond what he could have imagined, had advanced to a sorcerer. The group of mages of his teacher was both powerful and orthodox, which was evident from Gaia’s attitude towards him.
Saleen felt his heart trembling, and it could not be stopped even if he controlled his blood flow as much as possible. He knelt down and greeted his teacher according to the conventional etiquette.
“Teacher… ” Saleen sobbed.
I made magic chord medicine behind my teacher’s back, killed the son of Earl Sufonso, and left teacher to bear the pressure. He did not blame me. Instead, he challenged the mage in the magic tower at Yaoyang City because of me.
All this time, I have owed him too much.
“Come up, Saleen. You have grown up and should not act like a child.” The gate of the magic tower opened automatically when Jason finished his words.
Saleen wiped his tears, stood up, and said to those standing behind him, “You wait here. Lex…”
Lex smiled and said, “Just go. I’ll wait too.”
Saleen thought for a moment, then said to Nailisi, “Come with me.”
“Yes, Master.” Nailisi’s eyes had narrowed into lines. I am the only one close to my master.
Jason’s magic tower had a teleportation portal on the first floor, and it had no sandwich-type floors. Saleen and Nailisi stood on the teleportation portal, and were on the seventh floor after a flash of magic light. The cost of a teleportation portal within a magic tower was low because the entire tower was a world which belonged to the mage.
Saleen stepped out of the teleportation portal and saw his teacher, who he had missed so much. Jason looked younger, as though he were in his early thirties. He had black hair, black eyes, and a black magic robe. The magic staff Saleen had used to see him with was not there, but the silver ring was still on his finger.
Upon seeing Saleen, Jason raised his eyebrows and said in surprise, “Saleen, you are a grand mage!”
“Teacher!” Saleen ignored his surprised expression, threw himself into Jason’s arms, and sobbed again.
Jason patted Saleen on the shoulder and said in a gentle voice, “Saleen, I told you to come alone. Who is this girl? Is she your wife? It’s not good for a mage to get married at such a young age. Have you forgotten my instructions?”
Saleen laughed. Teacher has always been like this, generous and gentle towards me. This attitude of his has never changed ever since he acknowledged me as his student. I was too ignorant to understand this back then, which in turn led to secrets between me and him. I will never do that again!