Badge in Azure
Badge in Azure - Chapter 86: Bitter Water Army Part 1

Saleen did not take Viscountess Lex’s words to heart. The Qin Empire was strict but they were generous with mages. In the capital, it was hard for mages to meet with any danger.

Moreover, Bitter Water Prefecture was not close to any borders, and even if they met with any bandits on the way to the capital, they would be mere small fry. Any who saw the viscountess’ army would have fled a long time ago, and a mage would not be necessary.

However, Viscountess Lex seemed to be taking this very seriously. She sent people to measure the body sizes of Saleen and Sika and carefully asked for the needs of Sika and Nailisi. Hence, Saleen did not stand by ceremony. If a war truly was about to break out, for the sake of self-defense, he could not do nothing either. Since Bitter Water Prefecture had plenty of money, he might as well help himself.

Saleen received a new set of magic robes. The white robes had patterns fashioned out of green magic silk, and a belt that was suitable for battle and hidden out of view. There were no signs of stitching throughout the entire robe and Saleen knew that this robe must have been created using alchemy. It might not have been high-grade enough for him, but it had definitely taken a lot of time to make. Splurging like this might not have been entirely bad. A magic robe was meant to stabilize the elements in the space surrounding a mage, and wearing this magic robe could prevent him from needing a magic wand.

The belt that had been fashioned out of the horns of a magic beast had an empty space carved into it to inlay magic nuclei, forming six beautiful patterns.

Aside from the robe, his shoes were alchemy equipment as well. The soles of the shoes had a layer of magic beast’s armor and the shirt inside had been made of fine cotton put together with magic powder.

This magic robe was incredibly useful and Saleen stored the magic robes that his teacher had given him into the Ring of Gifts. He could not bear to wear them any longer and changed into his new robes.

Aside from the magic robes, Viscountess Lex had given them all an inventory so they could obtain some scrolls. These scrolls were not free, but they were incredibly cheap. A Grade 3 magic scroll cost only fifty gold coins. On the market, they could fetch up to two hundred.

Even if a person did not use them, selling them away would net a profit. However, Saleen was quite certain that no one would be willing to sell them away. Saleen thought for a while before spending a thousand gold coins to purchase twenty Grade 3 scrolls.

He was a Grade 2 mage and the use of a magic scroll could only extend one grade further. He would not be able to use any magic scrolls above Grade 3. Because he had a vague understanding of Figaro’s formula, Saleen only chose Water Magic spell scrolls, and they were the few that he had been practicing with.

Usually, learning magic that was above one’s grade was not advisable as it could wipe out a person’s magic chords with just one cast. Saleen had twice the number of magic chords than other mages of his grade and possessed much greater focus too. It would take him less than half of the usual time to master Grade 3 magic.

Before coming to the viscountess’ residence, Saleen had a few near-death experiences. He knew fully that even though magic was not only used for battle, a mage who did not know how to fight would die much too early. Hence, he had put more effort into studying, and whenever he was presented with an opportunity, he would improve his focus using his badge. Now with Nailisi sharing his burden, using his badge, Saleen only needed half an hour to return to his original state.

By now, Saleen already possessed a basic understanding of three Grade 3 spells: Ice Blade, Swamp Illusion, and Acid Rain.

Out of these three spells, one was a burst attacking spell, another was a control spell, and the last was a sustained attacking spell.

Ice Blade spell was a very powerful single object spell as demonstrated by the sorcerer. This Grade 3 spell was purely meant for attacking single objects and was much sharper than a Wind Blade spell. Swamp Illusion was a sinister control spell. It could create a three-dimensional space and control the objects within this space. The targets would feel as though they were drowning in water element, and would perceive it as high-grade magic.

Despite having a short duration, this magic was still powerful low-grade magic.

Acid Rain was not anything out of the ordinary but it had many uses on the battlefield like causing large scale destruction to the enemy’s armor. Saleen chose this magic because he could not harm himself with it. Moreover, during combat in narrow spaces, acid rain would not disappear from a loss of focus. It could last for a long time, sometimes up to an hour.

If Acid Rain was cast in an entirely enclosed space and gathered and combined with Swamp Illusion, it would be a hundred times more powerful than the Swamp spell.

Saleen was not bothered by the limits of a particular spell. He had not had many choices to begin with. Before becoming a grand mage, he could only learn less than a hundred Water Magic spells. The spells with a wide range of uses barely amounted to twenty.

The twenty magic scrolls that Saleen had chosen were all one of these three spells. Using Figaro’s formula, Saleen knew vaguely that even if the magic was cast using these scrolls, they would still be controllable. Moreover, the magic from the scrolls could allow the user to more clearly understand the workings of these spells, allowing them to master these spells even more quickly.

Which was to say, with enough money, one could buy a large number of scrolls to continuously cast and understand them. This would allow one to master the spells in the fastest time possible.

Hence, Saleen had not chosen magic scrolls of various types, despite the fact that they would have allowed him to have a thrill and try out spells that were not water based.

Twenty scrolls would not be of much help in his study of these three spells but Saleen believed that the practice of any spell happened through the accumulation of experience. Even if there was only a one in a thousand chance of accomplishing something, he would not let it go.

Saleen was grateful that Sika’s weapons had been fully replaced.

Her main weapon had been upgraded by Faerun and there was not much to say about that. Her secondary weapon was a boomerang, a common short-ranged weapon among the Cascausus people. Not only could she throw it out to injure enemies, but she could also use it for close combat fighting.

In reality, the swallowtail-shaped boomerang was even harder to defend against than the dagger of an assassin. Even in close combat she could cast it out and control it with ease. Her boomerang had also been made from the bones of magic beasts and was comparable in its capabilities to her cudgel.

Viscountess Lex had fashioned an entirely new boomerang based on Sika’s requests. It had been made with materials from Saleen and effort from Viscountess Lex. This new boomerang was the exact size and weight as her last one but it had been fashioned out of the combination of seven different rare metals.

Receiving her new weapon, Sika could not put it down. The first time she played with it, she nearly took down an entire wall. It also gave the mages in the courtyard some renewed confidence. This weapon of the Cascausus warrior was evidently magic equipment, but it did not have any special properties aside from being unusually sharp. A low-grade magic shield would have trouble shielding against it as well.

The most expensive item was Sika’s armor. Even though her old armor had been made out of high-quality leather, the downside was that it did not have any real magic to it and in the face of any heavy weapons, it would not provide much defense. Viscountess Lex had processed the leather and added magic to it, and now it could not only defend against magic attacks, but also had properties that made it resistant to physical attacks.

Saleen saw the solidifying magic on the armor and immediately gave Viscountess Lex a check for ten thousand gold coins.

Solidifying magic was fairly harmful to a mage and the damage done to their magic chords could take up to two years to recover. Viscountess Lex did not reject Saleen’s gold coins. The clearer he drew the line with her, the happier she was.

Someone who could not be bought over with money would either be an enemy or friend. Even though she was the viscountess of the empire, not many people were willing to stay loyal to her. However, she liked her own mage community greatly. These mages had pure hearts and had not yet been tainted by the realities of the world.

Nailisi begrudgingly changed into her clothes and shoes, no longer showing off her skin. The set of clothes had not been cheap, yet Saleen had not paid any money for them. Nailisi was contractually bound to Saleen, but now many things that she had accepted had nothing to do with him.

This set of clothes included a long fur coat. The snow-white fur wrapped snugly around Nailisi’s neck and accentuated the color of her face, making her look less wild. The small pair of shoes had been made precisely with the standards of an assassin, and walking in them made her incredibly silent.

Nailisi changed into the expensive set of clothes but did not put on any appearances, continuing to sit on the platform and look at the snow.

Without Faerun, Saleen was not in the mood to do anything aside from studying and religiously practicing new magic. Even though Grade 3 magic was more powerful, for Saleen, Grade 2 magic was still the most useful.

Since advancing to a higher grade, Saleen had always been travelling and was not yet entirely familiar with Grade 2 magic. Seeing the performance by the Grade 8 sorcerer, Saleen knew that these low-grade spells would still be useful in the future.

A Grade 8 sorcerer could cast twelve Grade 8 spells. After using them, their magic abilities would be the same as a magic disciple’s. Hence, even for high-grade mages, high-grade magic was not necessarily used in combat all the time. Mastering every spell was the key to survival.

For example, there was the time that Saleen had faced the headless riders. Eight people had been helping him, but he had still depleted his magic chords by the end of the battle. If another headless rider had appeared then, the outcome would have been disastrous. Besides Nailisi, all five mercenaries had been killed by then, and both Sika and Aini had not been able to fight.

Without Faerun, the mages met more often in the courtyard, and aside from training they would discuss each other’s experiences with magic. Saleen had a stronger foundation than these few mages but had much less hands-on experience than them. After discussing it with them, he realized that he had underestimated these mages.

The nine of them began discussing excitedly in Faerun’s laboratory. Gone were the days where everyone had been quiet and strict.

In addition to the topic of their conversations, their research on magic regarded being hands-on too. With the equipment in the lab, they did not actually need to battle. Instead, they just needed to cast the spells so they could use the magic props to analyze them.

Saleen noticed a male mage by the name of Hu An the most prominently. He was around twenty years old, one of the oldest people there, and already a Grade 3 mage. Hu An was evidently stronger than Narnia and it would take him no more than two or three years to advance to a grand mage.

Of course, this was if Hu An received continuous guidance from Faerun.

Saleen had noticed Hu An because of his leadership abilities. Without Faerun around, the team had naturally taken to having him as the leader during all of the magic experiments and training sessions. Saleen had seen many magic notes and within them were many paragraphs on the techniques of combat and cooperation between mages. Hu An was evidently very familiar with them. The nine of them split into three groups and under his guidance, they managed to come up with many astounding forms of cooperation training.

"Saleen, your Icicle spell was released too early. Narnia is only a Grade 2 mage and is a little slow at controlling the Phoenix spell. You need to make use of the impact of your Icicle spell and give her more time to prepare." Hu An did not go easy with his criticism. Saleen laughed and did not disagree.

The nine of them formed a circle with nine dummies in the middle, representing each of them individually. If the dummies were destroyed, the strategy had failed and was disqualified. Saleen was paired with two female mages. Earlier on, Narnia’s dummy had been destroyed by an enemy’s fireball.