Chapter 390: Invaders from the east (Part 2)Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Back when Saleen killed Fredrick, he did not have the time to investigate into the Shenfeng Country. He did not expect the island states in the east to be so impatient, as they had already descended upon the Myers mainland. One of the smaller fleets had arrived at his city base due to a storm. It seemed like they would create problems for Saleen.
As Saleen’s Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat cruised along the periphery of the Frozen Sea leisurely, the map of the sea was being drawn up. Saleen was not anxious at all. In the current season, no s.h.i.+ps would appear at the city base. He had sufficient time to conduct a thorough research into this one-thousand mile area at the periphery of the Frozen Sea.
More than six months had pa.s.sed, and those ferocious magic beasts nearby seemed to have disappeared. Saleen felt tempted to return to the original location of the dragon’s skeleton to find out what was going on.
At this moment, there was peace onboard the alchemical boat. After Irene received that warning, she no longer behaved abnormally. Banchajanna was fully subdued by Saleen. Saleen gave every order meticulously and in an extremely detailed manner. Banchajanna had been doing his tasks faithfully, he did not make any mistakes.
Nailisi also did not create trouble for Saleen, she had been busy learning swordsmans.h.i.+p from Jola. By now, she could wield her dagger deftly, even Jola was shocked by her receptivity. Without training the Sword Aura, Nailisi could execute many incredible moves, she could also release very strong explosive power.
Other than not being able to release an isolated form of the Sword Aura, Nailisi’s offensive ability was no different from that of a grand swordmaster.
Sika was stuck to Saleen all day long. While Saleen practiced his magic, she would study the magic beast bones. When Saleen rested, she would also take a break. Even though the both of them lived in their separate cabins, everyone else was self-aware and did not bother them.
The people who received the most benefits were the five low grade mages. By operating the magic array on the alchemical boat every day, these mages learned a lot. They even began having faint signs of a breakthrough. Each of these mages from Sregl Island had a solid foundation as they trained like Saleen. They would make their foundation extremely stable first. The moment they went through some special training, they would begin to show signs of advancement.
For the past months, Banchajanna had only been deployed five times. One time was to kill a bunch of red krill, while the other four times were to slaughter dozens of unique magic beasts whose grades were below grade-7.
When Saleen suggested the idea of returning to take a look, no one objected. The winged skeleton would release the bone spirits to conduct long-range reconnaissance. Once there was any anomaly discovered, he would pilot the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat faraway to safety. Flee when in defeat. That was the most useful thing the winged skeleton learned from Saleen. He already knew that this master would not risk his life with the enemy. As long as there was no harm to their interests, Saleen would even encourage him to avoid the enemy and not get into some meaningless battle.
The Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat stayed close to the water surface while traveling at thirty miles an hour. After about fifteen hours of travel, it had begun nearing the location of the dragon’s remains.
Judging from the images transmitted by the bone spirits, it was just a region of mess right now, the seabed was totally unrecognizable anymore. As the battlefield of the magic beasts had a radius of dozens of miles, Saleen did not get close. He simply sent Banchajanna to conduct a check.
Helplessly, Banchajanna went out through the bow, he resumed his original form, and swam towards the seabed.
The originally smooth seabed seemed like it had been bombarded multiple times by a forbidden spell. Crystallized stones, formed by high temperatures or high pressure, were strewn everywhere. Banchajanna was astonished when he saw that. In a pleasant surprise, Banchajanna discovered that a huge amount of death power had been ama.s.sed in this area. There were some powerful souls which had not dispersed yet.
If he absorbed this power into his body and digested it, he would be able to achieve a breakthrough from his limit and reach the pinnacle of grade-9. Once Saleen’s contract became ineffective, he would be able to advance to grade-10 on the plane of the Myers mainland.
At this point in time, Banchajanna got very agitated. He charged towards the seabed, wanting to absorb all this Power of the Dead immediately.
Woo…
In the depths of Banchajanna’s soul, an intense pain appeared. At the same time, Banchajanna was awoken. He had defied Saleen’s order. Saleen had instructed him to investigate the situation, not to advance his grade. Even though Banchajanna was outraged, he did not dare act recklessly. He had realized that Saleen was in total control of him, there was no way to resist at all.
At this point in time, Banchajanna no longer had the mood for any investigation. After a simple search in the vicinity, he found there were no more living creatures, so he immediately returned to the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat.
“Its safe outside,” Banchajanna reported to Saleen lethargically.
“Master, the Air of the Dead is very strong here….There are also undispersed spirits! Master, if I stay here for some time, I will be able to advance to grade-8!” the winged skeleton squealed in exhilaration.
“How long will that be?”
“Master, I will need at most half a month. I will be able to utilize the alchemical boat to store the power of these spirits and their souls, then I will bring it back to digest slowly. Master, please stay behind, the level of the Spirit Pool aboard is also too low. If I get to grade-8, I can refine the alchemical boat again. I can also produce a few spirits as helpers. That way, the mages...o...b..ard will only need to man the offensive magic array in the future!”
Fearing that Saleen would not agree to it, the winged skeleton quickly explained the benefits.
“In that case… we shall stay. Heh, don’t let Banchajanna get anything. These gains are yours.”
“Master, I cannot absorb too much of it. The Air of the Dead is dwindling day by day. Let Aini absorb some too. His death creatures are having a hard time growing, the depletion is enormous.”
Secretly, Saleen frowned. It was not that he was unwilling. If Aini were to leave the s.h.i.+p, he would have to bear the water pressure at a depth of two-thousand meters. If Aini died, then Saleen would not even have a friend in any of the four big families anymore.
With an expression of worry, Saleen called for Aini and explained his concerns to him. Aini also hesitated. In order to survive at a depth of two-thousand meters, Aini would have to release his death magic with all his might so that he would not be crushed by the pressure. He would not be able to behave like Banchajanna.
He very much wanted to absorb the power from inside the s.h.i.+p. That might affect the winged skeleton, and Aini might even have the ability to control the alchemical boat. Aini and Saleen might be bosom friends, but it did not mean that he could use Saleen’s summoned creature as a training medium.
“Never mind, I will accompany you.” In the end, Saleen still decided to take the risk. Saleen would be near the alchemical boat. If there was any danger, he could simply run for safety. Similar to Nailisi, Saleen did not care about the water pressure. He could swim freely in water, his only weakness was Aini.
Aini was very grateful. Without any further ado, he stood shoulder to shoulder beside Saleen at the teleportation portal. Saleen then blessed him with a Water s.h.i.+eld, enveloping his body in a colossal bubble.
After these two people were teleported out into the water, the immense water pressure caused the Water s.h.i.+eld to shrink to a quarter of its original size. The Water s.h.i.+eld was almost sticking to Aini’s skin already. On the other hand, Saleen felt some burden on his heart, but there was no more feeling of peril.
“Two-thousand meters is still easy,” Saleen thought to himself. He might not know what his limit was, and he did not want to experiment with it. Once an intolerable situation occurred, it would be too late for Saleen to cast his magic. The deeper the water, the more perilous it got. When one entered into a depth of above ten-thousand meters, they would meet with things which were not depicted on the magic beast ill.u.s.trations. These magic beasts had existed since the ancient times. Unless one had the power of ancient humans, they would be doomed.
The Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat floated slowly in the middle of the battlefield, as it began absorbing the Air of the Dead vigorously. Even though Banchajanna was green with envy, he did not dare s.n.a.t.c.h any. He had intense hatred for Saleen, but could not do anything to Saleen.
Saleen did not give a hoot about Banchajanna’s hatred towards him. No matter how well he treated Banchajanna at the moment, Banchajanna would also kill him mercilessly once Banchajanna regained freedom. That was why Saleen did not even give Banchajanna a chance to boost his abilities. If the winged skeleton got to grade-9, Saleen would no longer need to be afraid of the three kings even if they managed to break free from the contract’s restraint.
It was precisely this reason that Saleen never thought of boosting the powers of the three kings, even though they were Saleen’s lifeline at the moment.
As Aini was under the protection of Saleen’s spell, he felt that the water pressure was manageable. He began summoning his Floral Death Creature and the flesh spirit. The ma.s.sive Floral Death Creature was already over fifteen meters tall. The moment it was released by Aini, it immediately stabbed its network of roots into the crystallized seabed, absorbing the surrounding Power of the Dead in a frantic manner.
In the vicinity, there were countless other damaged souls of various sizes. Aini did not allow his death creatures to absorb them. Instead, he allowed them to be plundered by the alchemical boat. Aini was already full of grat.i.tude that Saleen was helping him. If he continued vying for food with the winged skeleton, then he was going too overboard.
Obviously, the speed of absorption by the Floral Death Creature was slower than that of the alchemical boat. When the alchemical boat was being refined, Judikaka had already thought of bringing it back to the death dimension, so he concealed a large number of death magic arrays aboard the s.h.i.+p. These magic arrays were used to absorb energy in order to further refine this s.h.i.+p.
When the winged skeleton advanced to grade-7, he had begun erasing Judikaka’s soul imprint gradually, completely taking the s.h.i.+p as his own. Consequently, the alchemical boat became like a black hole, it almost became a vortex of death energy.
Banchajanna observed these events, his hatred grew increasingly intense. He knew that if the winged skeleton continued advancing, the winged skeleton would become a genuine high grade spirit. Onboard this alchemical boat, Banchajanna would not be able to deal with him anymore when that day came. With help from the winged skeleton, the skills of the three brothers would have almost zero effect on Saleen. It would be impossible to use death magic to a.s.sa.s.sinate Saleen
Saleen’s cautiousness brought fury and despair to Banchajanna.
The winged skeleton was not really scheming. He just wanted to improve his abilities and protect Saleen. Once Saleen became a sorcerer, he would then have a chance to advance to grade-9 and eventually become an immortal spirit.
Under an intense nourishment from the Power of the Dead, the alchemical boat began undergoing a ma.s.sive transformation. A huge portion of the outer sh.e.l.ls of the alchemical boat was hollow, with the magic nucleuses of the pan’s turtle stored in them. At this point in time, these magic nuclei were broken down by the winged skeleton into pure energy, and then they were fused with the turtle sh.e.l.l. As a result, the outer sh.e.l.l of the alchemical boat became dark green in color and it became tougher too. Many new magic runes were also added to the magic arrays located on the exterior of the hull. The four propulsion water holes turned into a honeycomb-like structure. Next, the rudder which extended from the stern was now retracted, as it underwent refinement internally.
With the honeycomb-like structured water holes, there was no longer a need for a rudder to be able to control the direction of the s.h.i.+p. The original alchemical machine was melted into a batch of high temperature liquid, as it began transforming into a new Spirit Pool. This Spirit Pool was much smaller than the one found at the bow. All the powerful souls which were absorbed from the outside were stored in it by the winged skeleton.
With these powerful souls, the alchemical boat would still be able to produce new bone spirits endlessly even if the coordinates in the death dimension were lost. As the winged skeleton executed this process patiently, he felt a sense of unparalleled satisfaction. At this moment, he had completely forgotten about Daniel. He was no longer in pain over what had happened in the past.