Badge in Azure

Chapter 1369: Evolution of the Magic Tower (Part 2)

Saleen managed to pass through the magic net undetected when a voice penetrating the clouds reached his ears.

“Saleen, you’re here.”

It was Jason’s voice.

Saleen looked down and saw that magic tower on the mountain. Then something unexpected happened: Those ten floors transformed into twelve.

The reason Saleen was able to notice this was that there had been no changes to the top of the magic tower. That is to say, the tower was raised from below.

Saleen then turned his eyes down along the length of the tower and saw the two floors at the bottommost part, which were grown out from the mountain.

They had an organic form and looked very natural, like plants.

Since Saleen’s thought processes were about 1000 times stronger now, he instantly realized that the entire mountain was actually one whole piece of equipment with the magic tower hidden inside.

“I’m here, teacher,” Saleen replied and sped up, lowering the clouds and putting away the Lightning Constellation as he approached the tall mountain.

There were steps surrounding the mountain, which were no longer things that could have stopped Saleen. The magic array at the doorstep of Raphael’s tower was gone. The magic tower’s main door was wide open as low-level mages sauntered in and out without a trace of tension on their faces.

Saleen dropped from the sky and took Rafel to the front of the tower. No one was guarding it, and the low-level mage walking out did not recognize Saleen but seemed startled nonetheless.

“Saleen, get up here!” Jason’s voice was heard at an opportune moment; otherwise, that low-level mage would have immediately sounded the alarm.

That mage had only recalled, after hearing Jason’s voice, that the young mage who wore a peculiar robe was none other than the King of Metatrin City, master of the interdimensional space.

Saleen saw that low-level mage take out two scrolls, one for the attack and one to sound the magic alarm, when the mage spotted him. He was very satisfied with the mage’s reaction.

While things looked loose and nonchalant, in truth, every mage there knew that the enemy could show up anytime.

Saleen took out a magic notebook and tossed it to that mage before walking into the tower. The mage took the notebook and saw that it was filled with information on water magic—the field they were most versed in.

Overjoyed, he ran back to the tower, locked himself in the room and began reading.

Saleen didn’t know his action would have nurtured a powerful mage in the future. He simply noticed that the mage’s magic chords looked peculiar. While they were not unique like his, they were unbalanced.

The development of water magic chords seemed to be a little too much, and he found that his experiences would have helped that mage take fewer detours in his studies.

Saleen marched up to the 12th floor where he found Sika playing with his children. Jason was at the center of the tower, researching a magic array.

The 12th floor, which measured 300 square meters, confirmed Saleen’s speculation that Raphael had already set up an ample number of tricks when he built the tower all those years ago.

“So you’ve advanced then, Saleen.” Jason looked pleased.

Saleen stared at his teacher and said with a deadpan face, “You’ve advanced too, teacher.”

As anticipated, Jason advanced to level-12 before Saleen did. To Saleen, his teacher was like a mountain peak that he would never be able to reach.

Regardless of how envy-inducing Saleen’s adventures were, his speed at advancement still paled to that of his teacher, who simply trained as he was supposed to.

“Well, come over here and take a look at this magic array,” Jason waved to him, just like old times in Ceylon City.

Saleen glimpsed at Sika, who waved at him, smiling exasperatedly. She came to the interdimensional space to acquire some of the place’s power from the ground, never expecting to get trapped there.

She couldn’t even send one word back to Myers Mainland. She was very apologetic about that. Saleen must have put his life on the line to come to the interdimensional space.

Saleen walked to the edge of the magic array, took a chair and sat down, observing the magic array before him patiently.

That magic array was a three-dimensional one. Saleen saw the tight arrangements of the elemental points. Many were broken, causing energy to leak outside.

Raphael wouldn’t have been so bad drawing a magic array, no?

Elemental points were unavoidable flaws in magic arrays. Countless mages attempted to draw magic arrays without them and all had failed without exception.

Magic arrays with the fewest elemental points had six, and concealing them right behind where magic nuclei were to be embedded was the best measure elemental mages were capable of pulling to address the issue.

There was a time when hexagram arrays were popular, primarily because it was easy for them to conceal the flaws of elemental points.

Raphael was by no means a perfect mage, so there was no way he would have avoided making mistakes. However, that bundle of mistakes before Saleen at that moment was utterly ridiculous. Saleen only discovered the subtleties behind the so-called mistakes after observing them closely with his Elemental Eye.

Those elemental points themselves were all minute magic arrays. Their only function was to link magic powers, executing elemental resonances.

That was to say that the complex magic array was but a part of a huge magic array. All magic arrays contacted each other using the elemental points, making the points themselves more than just weaknesses.

Raphael, you’re one hell of a genius. It was not that no one had thought of such ideas before, as Saleen himself had made similar experiments. But the only successful example he knew was the one right in front of him.

“Alright, Saleen, I think you understand what you’ve seen.”

“Not all of it,” Saleen answered truthfully. He could only tell that the magic array was some all-new compound magic array that would have only worked when many magic arrays were in synch with each other. Having so many elemental points meant it would have collapsed anytime.

“Saleen, Raphael had built a magic platform. The entire mountain itself is a magic array. It was buried in the mountain. When I came here and manned the magic array, one floor was grown out of the magic tower. When I advanced, another floor emerged.”

“Are you working on the magic tower, teacher?”

“No, this is a piece of equipment that I need to be at level-13, at least, before I can even hope to work on it. It’s an inherent ability of the magic tower. Did you know that this mountain is some kind of unknown mass of energy capable of providing the magic tower with limitless power? Those who try to attack the jungle are going on a wild goose chase. I’m only able to master one-ten-thousandth of the magic tower’s power, and I already am able to sleep easy.”

“One-ten-thousandth?” Saleen saw Jason point in the air and bring up a magic image showing the edge of the jungle and the armies trying to attack it.

“Probably less than even that. The magic tower is borrowing not only the power of the mountain, as it would run out someday, but the power of the entire interdimensional space. Raphael found the core of the entire interdimensional space using calculations, which were right here. He then laid down the mountain and built the magic tower on top of it. When the interdimensional space had grown completely, you would have been able to put the entire interdimensional space under the tower’s protection simply by manning the tower itself.”

Saleen was truly startled by then. Protecting the entire interdimensional space meant that the tower could attack anywhere within the interdimensional space.

Saleen thought of his Floating City. With an assimilated magic cube and an offensive range of over 100 kilometers, it was already an extremely powerful piece of equipment. Yet Raphael’s tower, which he was sitting on, had the capacity to control the entire interdimensional space.

“Teacher, help me find Fycro. I have to kill him. His powers will grow too quickly unless I stop him.”

Smiling, Jason said, “Saleen, if you were to simply put all your efforts into your training, Fycro wouldn’t be able to keep up with you. At the very least, your equipment...”

“No, teacher. The real reason I need to do this is that he’s threatening my kids. I have to kill him. All his believers need to die in this interdimensional space. It would be good for the place to have more broken souls. I’m told that would hasten the interdimensional space’s growth rate.”

Saleen wanted power more than anything else at the moment. If he were to possess the Lightning Moon and incorporate it into his Lightning Constellation, his Floating City would surpass Raphael’s magic tower. By then, it would be possible for him to defeat anyone.

Jason no longer held Saleen back. From Jason’s perspective, Fycro’s existence was keeping Saleen on his toes. He would have grown faster with an enemy like that around. As for the threat of Fycro, Jason considered that a concern.

Jason’s pride was bone-deep. He absolutely would have never feared the growth of his enemies. He would have only done what he should be doing according to plan. If an enemy grew stronger, he needed to get stronger too.

Jason, however, saw no reason to stop Saleen, as his student was developing an intense killing instinct for his children’s sake. If someone threatened Saleen to the point where he ended up dying, Jason would have personally cut that person to pieces.

To him, Saleen was like his own child, and the hope for his lineage to live on.

“Alright, but Fycro is not on the interdimensional space himself or at least I haven’t found him yet. Saleen, taking on Fycro won’t be easy. If you want to kill him, you need to get better prepared. Your Crystal Finger might not do the job.” Jason agreed to Saleen’s request, and he saw fit to point out the problems.

The only skills Saleen confirmed to be able to kill with a single hit were his family badge and the Crystal Finger. The family badge needed targeting, making it easy for the enemy to be alerted.

Someone like Fycro would have carried formidable equipment, and the family badge might not have been able to get a lock on. The Crystal Finger was the only true lethal move.

When gods or believers of gods were hit by a skill that Raphael created, their souls would have been snuffed out too. That was the best skill for assassinating Fycro.

There was still one problem, however. What godly item was Fycro wielding? And by extension, would the Crystal Finger be effective against that item?

“I have some other ideas, teacher,” Saleen said and made the concealed magic amplifier behind him visible. Jason’s eyes lit up when he saw it.

He noticed that the way Saleen had concealed his magic amplifier was different from his. Saleen still had to grasp the main point of the secret arts. If he succeeded in doing this, he would be able to conceal the magic amplifier in his own body instead.