Badge in Azure

Chapter 273: Electric Stone (Part 2)

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

It was true that a contract creature needed to listen to everything its master said, however, there had also been mages who had been killed by their contract creatures. They either had no intelligence or were too intelligent, and having rich emotions could cause huge trouble. A mage would usually only take in one contract creature as it required a lot of focus to nurture them.

Saleen had never created any sealing type of equipment to conceal Nailisi so as to live together with her. Nailisi was highly intelligent and if he treated her like any other contract creature it would lead her to be distant towards him.

It was a pity that Saleen did not have time to interact with the winged skeleton now. He had a guilty conscience and wanted to leave the lightning dragon’s nest as soon as possible.

He used his fastest speed to return to the Pan’s Turtle alchemical boat and with the help of the six grade-3 mages Saleen quickly steered the ship away from the lightning dragon’s nest. This time they steered north for over an hour before they came to a river intersecting with the sea. The alchemical boat swam upwards with the river flow, only stopping when it reached a riverbank.

The lightning dragon could not chase after them in such shallow water.

When the lightning dragon returned and realised its eggs were gone it would definitely become angry and look for them nearby. Saleen was not sure if the alchemical boat could withstand a beating from the lightning dragon now. While escaping Saleen already had some ideas on how to deal with the lightning dragon. Since it could not leave water, he could make use of the river’s flow.

It was a pity that he was so anxious, if there was a grade-8 mage with him right now Saleen would have a perfect way of dealing with the lightning dragon. His plan now was not very safe. Without any sorcerers it would be a little hard to control the lightning dragon.

Letting the mages from Sregl Island return to report their safety, Saleen and Nailisi stayed on the alchemical boat. They could not continue their work underwater now with the lightning dragon there. Saleen did not want to take any risks in the water or even near the coast.

The lightning dragon was known as a grade-8 creature probably because of its weakness; it could not go ashore. Many people did not have to worry about it. For a normal person, a lightning dragon was much less scary than a magic wolf.

Saleen waited for all the mages to leave before he took out the tourmaline and the lightning dragon’s eggs. It was not that he did not want to share them, but these low-grade mages had no use for something of such high-grade. Only a sorcerer like his teacher could help him use them. Saleen was only worried that these eggs were incubating too quickly.

The hatching of magic beasts’ eggs had no definite rules to it. Some magic beasts’ eggs could mature within three to five months while some would take decades. Since Sregl Island had been sealed, it would take at least three years for anyone to come.

If the eggs showed any signs of hatching before then, Saleen could only keep them for himself.

Nailisi looked pitifully at Saleen. She raised one finger to point at the lightning dragon’s eggs.

“You only want one?” Saleen was a little shocked. Nailisi did not usually eat anything, but when she came across something she liked, she could eat more than Sika. These lightning dragon eggs should be beneficial to her, so how could she only want one?

A nest of lightning dragon eggs had forty-four eggs. Saleen planned to reserve thirty-six of them to give them to the mages that defended the magic towers. Of course Lex would have two of the remaining ones and there would be six left. If the mages from Sregl Island did not arrive in time, Saleen could keep all of them and give them out however he liked.

Nailisi nodded, only needing one lightning dragon egg. If she absorbed it completely she would definitely gain a new ability.

Saleen laughed. Nailisi was rarely this generous. He knew that the fact that Nailisi did not take the eggs by herself proved that their benefits were greater than others she had eaten in the past. A demon’s attitude was entirely different from a human’s.

“Three, I think three is enough for you. I will keep three as well, but then I need to give out the rest.” Saleen pointed at the lightning dragon’s eggs on the tourmaline.

Nailisi smiled gleefully as she grabbed three eggs and threw them into her mouth.

“Master, I need to take a rest. Unless you want me dead, do not call me.” Nailisi’s words left Saleen unable to do anything. A demon’s attitude could be full of deceit, but it could also be unbearably direct. Demons were known to be intelligent creatures by humans because they were just as complex as them.

Humans would grade creatures that looked similar to them as more intelligent. For example; most people would think that monkeys were intelligent animals only because they looked similar in appearance to humans. In fact, they were not even as clever as some crows.

Demons were simple, at least that was how Nailisi saw it. After swallowing the eggs she immediately left Saleen’s side and she went to rest in the cabin herself, sealing the door shut behind her.

While she was ingesting the essence of the giant dragon’s heart, Nailisi still did not have the ability to absorb the powers voluntarily. She had wasted a lot of energy, but she did not feel it was anything. If she could find another Tiago in the future, she would continue swallowing and absorbing it. So long as she solidified this type of energy on her body there was still a chance.

Nailisi laid on the bed, slowly returning to her special form.

A pair of silver horns emerged from her head and her body grew slightly longer and obviously thinner. Removing her clothes, her skin became a nephrite color. Smooth and shiny, the faint green magic patterns became clearer as the lightning dragon eggs that she had swallowed were rapidly breaking down.

It was not as painful for Nailisi this time. The perfect absorption method allowed her to enjoy it as her happiest experience since she had followed Saleen. The magic patterns on the lightning dragon’s eggs were incorporated into Nailisi’s body and began to be assimilated. The magic patterns on her body became more complicated; her tail, fingernails, and her horns gained a thin thread of gold to them.

Her absorption did not leave her satisfied and she suddenly felt incredibly hungry. Such absorption required a large amount of energy. Nailisi took out the food that she had prepared from her bracelet and began to eat it.

Saleen kept the lightning dragon eggs with the tourmaline. He did not need to use any tricks to preserve them, but he needed to research the tourmaline.

Tourmaline was not commonly seen on the Myers Mainland and some might even classify it as rare. However, there were so many replacements for this gemstone that its price had always been low.

Saleen had not placed great significance to this gemstone in the past but now that he knew the link between tourmaline and lightning he had to place it in high regard.

He placed the giant gemstone in front of himself and used his current cutter technique to shave away the outer layer of stone around the tourmaline. Slowly it started to reveal its true form. Saleen cut with much patience this time to ensure he did not waste anything as even this outer layer of stone was valuable. Whenever he cut, he kept a standard depth to it.

The black outer layer was stripped away and the tourmaline saw light. This was not the first time Saleen had seen tourmaline, but this time the tourmaline within was of incredible quality.

The green gemstone was almost half a meter in diameter. Saleen cut open the original stone and saw a flash of blue electricity going across the tourmaline. In the past when he had seen equipment shops selling tourmaline they were small, but the tourmaline in front of him now was enormous. It had to contain some electrical current naturally.

At this point, Saleen did not dare continue. Even though the original stone had been cut up into four pieces by him, only this piece had tourmaline in it. The other three were made up of the original stone.

This original stone had its uses too, especially the parts closer to the gemstone. They could even be considered impure tourmaline. Saleen was afraid if he continued cutting that the tourmaline would get even smaller and would no longer be able to contain the powers of electricity. Keeping the tourmaline, Saleen found a piece of original stone that was purer and he started thinking.

“How should I use this original stone? There are three more giant original stones, if I was to cut them all up, they would be able to create quite a bit of healing equipment. If I give them to Lex’s army and give some to the mages in my city, they should almost be enough,” he thought.

These original stones could not be that simple. The tourmaline was enveloped within it and the electric power was absorbed and released at a speed even Saleen could not detect. This was the gemstone’s ability to absorb. Saleen had not realized the tourmaline was there because the original stone around it had blocked his senses.

The tourmaline mined on the mainland had never been such a sight to behold before. The original stone that could block out senses could be very useful.

Saleen only had a vague feeling as to what this stone could do. He had not thought much about it yet.

The purer the stone, the closer its effect was to tourmaline. Saleen used an experiment to test his theory. He cut out a piece of original stone one foot wide and started drawing a magic array on it.

Most magic arrays were drawn unless they were being used on high-grade equipment. Only then would mages use an eternal solidifying method to process the magic array.

No matter how good the material used for the magic array it could not be used for too long. For experimenting, Saleen only needed it to last for a few days.

Saleen had drawn an energy gathering magic array, leaving a place at the top to inlay a magic nucleus. He then started drawing magic patterns on the magic array. He drew the two magic patterns that he had experimented on the witcher spider with onto the original stone.

After doing all this he inlaid six grade-4 magic nuclei on the magic array. It started revolving and provided energy to the magic patterns. The two layers of magic patterns came alive immediately as a blue electric current started flowing between the magic patterns.

As expected, the original stone of the tourmaline could stabilize the usage of the electric current. The six grade-4 magic nuclei dimmed quickly, but not as fast as the other time. When he had experimented on the witcher spider the first time the magic nuclei were wiped clean instantly. At least it lasted for more than ten seconds this time.

Saleen finally saw hope for his training. If he could use the real tourmaline to process such magic patterns, the usage of the magic nuclei would become acceptable. If it was still unacceptable, he still had the dragonshard from the Tiago he could use.

Saleen would grasp the energy of electricity without hesitation, even if he had to use up the dragonshard.