Badge in Azure

Chapter 709: Vertical Alliance, Trend (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Sika, stop!” Eleanor could not help herself and shouted. Sika quickly released her hands. Eleanor frowned and was rubbing her elbows while saying, “You are so strong. I wonder how Saleen survives all this.”

Sika grinned and said, “Saleen is already used to it.”

After messing around with each other for a while, Eleanor’s facial expression was back to normal and she no longer felt so awkward. Her face turned red earlier because when she thought about how the medicine should be used, she could not stop her mind from wandering to Saleen. She was not as cheerful and carefree as Sika.

It was only a matter of time before these things must be said so Eleanor began to explain to Sika patiently.

The materials used to create this elvish potion were not expensive on the elf dimension, but, since the number of seeds that Eleanor had brought along was limited, she had to grow some more seeds on Myers Mainland in order to gather sufficient quantity.

The expenses involved were high. Eleanor calculated for Sika that in order to produce enough potion so that an offspring was guaranteed, approximately six-hundred-thousand gold coins would need to be spent.

“Giving birth is so expensive!” Sika could not help but grumble when she heard the figures.

“What other choices do we have? Sika, these materials must be used. If I could return to the elf dimension, I could have been able to buy all the necessary resources for about ten-thousand gold coins.”

“I know… who knows what Saleen is thinking. He is having a difficult time now and Lex has just taken away many items. I’m afraid…”

“You’re afraid that Saleen is not willing to spend that much?”

“No, I’m afraid of disrupting Saleen’s plan.”

“Silly girl. This is the biggest plan of all. If you wait for him to advance to sorcerer, even six-hundred-thousand gold coins may not be enough to solve this problem.”

“Oh? Eleanor, let’s get started then!”

“Start on what?”

“Plant the herbs. Who knows when will Saleen advance into a sorcerer? If we don’t hurry up, we will have to pay a fortune!” Sika was still extremely sensitive to gold coins. Some things just could not be forgotten. In her youth she and Saleen went to great lengths just to earn enough money for the village to survive through winter.

Eleanor did not respond. Sika laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, engrossed in the past that she and Saleen shared together.

Outside of the temple, it was late and four teams of Caucasus warriors were patrolling. The snow white magic wolves hung their heads as they tried to sniff out any danger. These Caucasus warriors were wearing the elf armor that Eleanor had created for the temple army.

At the door on the side of the temple, a few spirits of the dead were leaning against the pillar aimlessly. The soul flames in their eyes flickered. Nightbirds were circling in the night sky as they peered below at the port. No one was allowed to hunt these low-level magic beasts within Metatrin for they were the eyes of the Caucasus people.

There were cargo ships loading and unloading at the pier. Saleen had never stopped his ore business. There were more than five-thousand miles of land north of Metatrin City and two-thousand miles away from there were quite a few mining sites. All of them had been monopolized by Saleen as all the ores that had been dug out were transported to Metatrin City before being sold to the south from this port.

On the city walls of Metatrin City there were soldiers that patrolled tirelessly and there was a spirit of the dead every few hundred yards that was staring out into the wilderness.

The north and south of the city were in complete darkness. There were very few shops in these two areas. The south of the city belonged to the Caucaus people and was also the place where Saleen’s alchemy factories were located. The north of the city was populated by many noble families.

Most of the residents in the west of the city were made up of commoners and merchants. Although it was already late in the night, the match at the fighting arena had just ended and quite a number of people would have supper outside first before heading home. The lights were still on in many shops.

Slowly but surely, Metatrin City was displaying strong signs of life. The people there had already treated this city as their home. If their offspring were to be born there, then this dimension would welcome its first batch of true Metatrins.

The night passed very quickly. When dawn broke, Sika woke up and took the list of ingredients that Eleanor had prescribed for her. In order to produce the elvish potion, she would need to plant herbs and also purchase a lot of resources that could be obtained on the Myers Mainland.

The resources on the list were worth six-hundred-thousand gold coins. Sika was at a loss. She did not approach Saleen directly. Instead, she returned back to South Court and tried to think of a solution on her own.

Saleen had woken up early too. He cast aside his curiosity and left for the palace immediately. He sent someone to bring Aini and the other Dukes, as well as Lex.

Today, they would discuss the military cooperation between the two armies. Lex possessed many military gadgets that were owned only by the royal swordsmen battalion. Since Ojarvis was willing to give Saleen the diagrams, there was nothing else that Lex would have to hide.

In order for the military equipment to be made in such a way that both parties would be able to utilize it, the majority of the logistics would have to be integrated so that there would be fewer problems in future when both parties went into battle together.

As such, not only would the four Dukes not be able to utilize the Grukos royal family’s information for their main forces’ equipment, they would also have to share logistics. Qin’s best logistical equipment was the spatial box.

The spatial box could only contain objects of similar sizes. For example, a spatial box of two cubic yards would contain a space of also two square yards. The amazing thing about the spatial box was that the size of an object of irregular shape would be calculated by the area that its mass occupied. For example, a normal box could only contain two sets of crossbows that have already been opened. On the other hand, the spatial box would be able to contain a number of crossbows such that the total area their mass occupied reached the maximum space limited of the box.

All of Saleen’s spatial boxes were bought as it was too difficult to create them himself. Now that Lex was willing to share this technique, Saleen’s logistics would have an easier time in future.

There were too few purple-gold sea urchin skins as Saleen only managed to gather a total of eighteen-thousand and six-hundred. It was not possible to equip his entire army with these skins so Saleen only gave them to his mages and elite troops.

Lex also possessed excellent equipment used for offense. Even if Qin did not have war puppets, their equipment still surpassed Tanggulasi Empire’s. Mages would never lack the ability to create. In comparison, holy priests lacked this ability because their powers were borrowed. Without any indication from the Gods, holy priests would never study an object on their own for that would be blasphemous.

Mages on both sides shared the new diagrams that they had been studying with eachother. Except for the elvish equipment, Saleen had shared everything else he knew. Everyone spent the entire day discussing the issue of integrating their equipment.

At the end of the day, in order to integrate equipment, both sides had to share similar military regimes.

Lex did not possess a navy so Saleen would continue to study and create naval equipment on his own. Saleen lacked knights and warhorses, both of which Lex would provide.

Both sides decided to set up the six major military groups comprising of main battalion, auxiliary battalion, magic regiment, assault regiment, field operations battalion and logistics battalion. Of these six types of military groups, the integration of both parties’ equipment must be at least ninety percent.

Lex was envious after seeing the purple-gold sea urchins. Unfortunately, Saleen did not have a lot of them. It would be difficult to find himself in the same exact situation again like when when an earthquake occurred underwater at the habitat of the purple-gold sea urchins. Lex only requested for five-hundred sea urchin skins to equip her mages that were below grade-5.

Grade-5 mages could just about use spatial equipment, but the space that they could open was smaller than what the purple-gold sea urchin skin could contain. Grade-4 mages were unable to use spatial equipment at all and for the low-level mages, they would basically be like swordsmen carrying a huge bag on their horse.

Saleen was pleased with what Lex brought him. There were more than five-thousand spatial boxes. These were not created by Lex, but were given to her by Emperor Chanake. Lex had more than enough for her own army so she gave Saleen a batch first and once Saleen had the diagram, he would be able to create it on his own too.

After seeing Saleen’s magic cannon sample, Lex immediately decided to scrap the idea of using mini catapults. Instead, she would replace them with magic cannons to become the standard equipment in the army.

This item was just too convenient. It was a metal cylinder that was half a yard in diameter and more than three yards long. Magic cannons only weighed around one-thousand pounds each, but were negligible when stored in a spatial box. This was also one of the biggest advantages of using spatial boxes.

The value of items like the magic cannon rose tremendously once their shapes and weights could be ignored.

Another reason was that the magic cannons had been redesigned using elvish spells. The magic cannons on the Myers Mainland basically weighed close to ten-thousand pounds and were difficult to transport around. This was the reason why most still chose to use catapults even though their accuracy was much lower.

The number of techniques that Lex had provided Saleen with was quite significant, such as armor-break arrows. These arrows were made from pure metal and could break open heavy armor. These arrows could be made by high-level craftsmen without the need for mages.

Although armor-breaking arrows were more expensive than alchemy arrows, they did not require mages. Craftsmen alone would be able to manufacture these arrows on a large scale, so they would still be useful for major expeditions in future.

When Saleen mentioned the demon army to Lex, the she did not immediately agree to include it. She was cautious because the target of the Holy See’s main forces was Qin. If the demon army appeared, it would strike fear in the other two Empires.

The demon army would join in the battle only when all parties were already in the midst of it.

Saleen did not press the matter either. Demon city would only be completed at the end of the year. After that, the number of demons that could be summoned was also limited. These demons would need to be trained and also be deployed to guard over the mines. They would not be able to form an army on such short notice.

At the end of a busy day, both parties finally confirmed all the equipment. The logistics of the six military groups had also been integrated. Finally, Lex gave Saleen the map of a city and wanted his help to rebuild Huoxing City.

Lex would provide the finances while Saleen would be in charge of the city’s defense and security while it was being rebuilt. After the new Huoxing City had been built, both sides would deploy armies there to guard over the midline of Phoenix and govern over the lands in the north.