Badge in Azure

Chapter 904: Greed (Part 1)

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

The Grandmaster’s alchemy technique looked simple as Saleen was able to understand every action and every alchemy principle, but the materials he used were things that Saleen would never be able to get his hands on.

Without those materials, one would never be able to refine equipment of the same grade. In other words, the Grandmaster was not hiding any of his techniques from Saleen, but the latter would still not be able to replicate what the former did.

Saleen knew that the Grandmaster was doing that on purpose, but the former pretended to be unaware. The difference in their grades was too huge. For the Grandmaster to pass on his knowledge to Saleen, or to make sure that Saleen would not be able to learn a single thing, both were equally simple to Grandmaster.

The bone of a silverline golden spearfish was refined into a seven yard long lance. The tip of the gray lance was narrow, and the groove was covered with magic patterns that were formed naturally. Behind the tip were three sections and each of them contained two of the silverline golden spearfish’s eyes. The six eyes formed two circles and there was a power about them that made people nervous.

It was as if those eyes were staring and were planning an attack by the silverline golden spearfish any time.

Grandmaster threw the long lance to Nailisi and said, “I have infused the dragonshard of a crystal dragon for you. This dragonshard harnesses powerful mental strength and will allow you to wield this long lance without being hurt.”

“Grandmaster, please give this weapon a name.” Nailisi tried to gain his favor.

The Grandmaster might have been highly intelligent, but no one had tried to bootlick him for tens of thousands of years. Nailisi made him feel good about himself.

“I shall call it Gray Memory. The power of these six Eyes of Rules is made up of the memories of all its attacks when it was still alive. You will be able to pick up many techniques.”

“Many thanks, Grandmaster.”

The Grandmaster picked up the Sword of Rules and took a glance at it before saying, “This is a weapon of the Grand Duke. Hmm, I will perform a seal for you. You will be able to utilize its power as your grade increases, and not necessarily have to wait until you are grade-16.”

With that, hundreds of runes flew out of the Grandmaster’s hands and fused into the Sword of Rules.

When Grandmaster handed the Sword of Rules to Nailisi, he threw the three-sided skeletal shield to one side. Then, with a wave of his hand, a gigantic skeleton flew over from a distance. It was the skeleton of a white bear king that was more than 60 yards tall. Grandmaster took off its skull and refined it into a circular shield for Nailisi. Behind the shield was a miniature magic array. The Grandmaster said, “As a warrior, the circular shield, blade shield, and giant shield are all important. Since we are making magic equipment, they should all be merged into one.”

When Nailisi took the circular shield, her mental strength activated the magic array and the shield turned into a giant shield before turning into a blade shield next.

Saleen did not manage to learn anything despite observing from the side. There was no point learning his techniques since he did not possess the Grandmaster’s materials.

That time around, Nailisi did not ask the Grandmaster to name the weapon. She could tell that he was only patronizing her. As an imp, there was no way Nailisi would let him go so easily. She spat out the Dragon Crystal Needle and said, “Grandmaster, is there any way you can modify this weapon so that it can fly back on its own after being thrown out?”

As the Grandmaster looked at the Dragon Crystal Needle, he frowned, and it was not just because of the demon’s greed. Even in the past, Dragon Crystal Needles were not easily obtained. After all, dragons fought for the humans, so it was not appropriate for humans to dig up their dragonshards. All of the Grandmaster’s dragonshards were obtained from the graveyard. Many of the giant dragons that died were buried there. Giant dragons did not possess souls like humans, so there was no way they could protect their own remains.

Without any constraints, the Grandmaster managed to dig up some dragonshards.

“The one you possess will not do.” For his pride, Grandmaster had no choice but to take out a gigantic piece of dragonshard. With a casual wave of his hands, a golden flame began to burn, and he placed the dragonshard in it so that it would be molded into a needle. The interior of the needle was carved with his own unique magic patterns.

“If your mental strength is powerful enough, you will be able to make it fly back.” As he handed the Dragon Crystal Needle to Nailisi and was about to say something to Saleen, Nailisi had already transformed into her human form.

“Grandmaster, don’t you think my human form needs a longbow and a quiver of arrows?”

“Sin D’hull!” The Grandmaster shouted angrily. A faint figure floated from the tombstones far away. The Grandmaster roared, “This creature needs a longbow and arrows. Take them out!”

Sin D’hull was dressed like an archer. He grumbled beneath his breath, as if he was cursing the Grandmaster. That was something that was decided by Aragorn. There was no point even if he continued to keep it for himself. He had no choice but to take out a longbow and a quiver of arrows from the grave.

The Grandmaster had barely taken over the longbow and arrows before Nailisi had already snatched them over and put them in her bracelet.

“Grandmaster, my human form is trained in both magic and combat, look...”

Without a word, the Grandmaster opened a slit in the dimension and grabbed a full magic robe, magic staff, and six magic books before throwing them at Nailisi.

The magic robe and magic staff were incredible but what truly stunned Saleen were the six magic books.

He had seen the Bronze magic book, Silver magic book, and Golden magic books before. The other three books were a Crystal magic book, a Jade magic book, and an Element magic book. Those three books were only used by mages from grade-10 to grade-18. Grandmasters were at least grade-16 or most grade-18, therefore he did not possess any equipment beyond that grade.

Saleen felt a little emotional. With the six magic books, he would be able to train his magic right from the beginning and all the way to grade-18. It would be as if he was being guided by his teacher.

“Grandmaster...” In the blink of an eye, Nailisi had already transformed into the form of the three-faced bone demon. “Look, my spirit-form is simply too weak. You are trained in death magic too!”

“Take this!” Grandmaster threw a death magic book and a black crystal at Nailisi angrily.

“How generous of you, Grandmaster...” With that, Nailisi had already transformed into her devil form. In her hands was a broken long lance, a shield that was torn and tattered, and armor that had yet to be repaired. She did seem to be in a rather pathetic state.

Uproarious laughter rang out from the tombstones once again. That time around, Aragorn did not step it. Nailisi was not hiding any of her demon traits. Grandmaster wished he could kill the demon on the spot and refine her soul. Nailisi and Saleen were bonded with their souls. The Grandmaster could not afford to kill her, or he would be going against the Astrologer’s Contract and his fortune would take a turn for the worse, so much so that he might end up with nothing.

That was the most powerful part of the Astrologer’s Contract. In fact, it was not just a contract between Aragorn and Saleen, but with the four most powerful leaders in the graveyard. As the executioner of the contract, if the Grandmaster refused to carry out his obligations, everyone’s fortune would turn bad and there was no way the other three leaders would let him off easily.

After the Grandmaster had provided Nailisi with a giant lance, shield, and a suit of devil flying armor, he was just about to speak to Saleen about magic equipment when Nailisi transformed back into her imp form and said, “Grandmaster, I am of Luoluokaluo bloodline. I already possess the Power of a Giant Dragon, but I am still unable to transform into a giant dragon. Take a look...”

The laughter in the graveyard could not stop. If the Grandmaster was not in his soul form, he would have vomited blood. How could he possibly have known what bloodline this imp was from? Demons had too many bloodlines and in the past, Luoluokaluo was not any more outstanding than others.

In order for Luoluokaluo to possess the complete Power of a giant dragon, they would need to devour a giant dragon of high grade. It was not as if Grandmaster did not possess the remains of high-grade giant dragons but of those that still contained flesh and blood, he only had one left. He could not bear to give it up, but he had no choice.

Saleen did not dare to look at the expression on the Grandmaster’s face. Nailisi was brilliant at extorting the items from Grandmaster bit by bit and had already obtained many more items than winged skeleton.

As she wished, Nailisi managed to obtain the remains of a giant dragon. It was a giant golden dragon whose corpse would not decompose for millions of years. Devouring it would allow Nailisi to fuse it with her original abilities and transform into a giant dragon in battle. The only issue was that the giant dragon that she transformed into would still be limited by her grade.

The bonus was that no matter how low the golden giant dragon’s grade might be, its dragon’s might would still be a powerful suppressive force on the battlefield. If the enemy mage was not careful and Nailisi unleashed the dragon’s might at a crucial moment, the entire army could be completely wiped out.

“Grandmaster!” Nailisi has only just opened her mouth and the laughter in the graveyard began once again.

“Speak.”

“This equipment of mine needs repairing.” That was when Nailisi finally took out her Twelve Notes of Purgatory. If she continued to repair it bit by bit, who knew how long it would take.

“You!” This was the first time the Grandmaster was so infuriated with a low-level demon. The equipment that Nailisi had taken out was not of a high level but it would require a lot of materials in order to repair it completely.

“This will be my last equipment,” Nailisi finally said

“Fine! Fine! Demon, you live up to your bloodline’s name. What a greedy creature. One day, you will pay for your greed.” The Grandmaster merely cursed at her before taking out a large amount of materials and throwing them into the Twelve Notes of Purgatory.

The process took out up six hours of the Grandmaster’s time. It was not difficult but there were two things that he needed to take note of. Firstly, he wanted to try to use only the materials that were of lowest value and secondly, he wanted the maximize the powers of the Twelve Notes of Purgatory.

Complicated calculations and some magic techniques were involved. As Saleen observed how the Grandmaster went about repairing the Twelve Notes of Purgatory, he finally managed to learn something. The speed of the Grandmaster’s calculation was only about five times faster than Saleen. Saleen tried to learn and also use memory magic to record down the steps that the Grandmaster took in the process of reparation.

Such memories might not help Saleen’s learning by much. Many magic techniques could not be learned through memory magic anyway. What Saleen sought was the consistency of alchemy. He might not understand everything, but at least he could pick up one-fifth of the technique.