Badge in Azure
Chapter 83: The Value of Magic Disciples Part 2

Saleen did not press any further. In his heart, however, he was thinking that if a battle really were to break out in Loulan, it would not concern him too much. On the other hand, if Bitter Water Prefecture were to be in trouble, he could not just walk away.

Hopefully things will turn out fine. Saleen gave a silent prayer, being so concerned with peace for the first time.

Passing the gardens, they reached a row of buildings made entirely out of granite. There was a menacing air to this place. In front of the door were pillars with two fully armed soldiers standing nearby. Seeing Narnia and Saleen, the two soldiers bowed.

"Mage, you’re here."

The soldiers on duty clearly recognized Narnia, giving a smile to Saleen at the same time. Saleen took notice of the soldiers’ equipment and realized they were not that different from that of Baron Cook’s elite soldiers. They were high-grade swordsmen at best and had not reached the level of a swordmaster. These two soldiers, however, were clearly more confident and succinct. When they bowed, there was only respect in their eyes and no spite.

The elite of the Qin Empire were not to be belittled and if thirty to fifty of them were to surround any Grade 1 mage, the mage would be annihilated. Even a Grade 2 mage had to be careful if the soldiers donned armor with magic abilities. In comparison, the private soldiers belonging to the wealthy of Sikeqinya were nothing much and were not as powerful as the mercenaries from a large mercenary regiment.

It had been said that Viscountess Lex owned up to ten thousand elites. Once she received authority over the surrounding cities, if war broke out, it would not be a problem to recruit hundreds of thousands of reinforcements. With the mages and disciples from Bitter Water Prefecture, this city would not be in much danger. At this thought, Saleen was relieved. He was overthinking things. If any armies had been able to advance their way over here, the entire Qin Empire would have already been in peril.

That was impossible. There were already millions of soldiers under the control of the Holy Rock City that were scattered around the various states. Including the private soldiers from the wealthy, the Qin Empire was as sturdy as steel.

Narnia led Saleen through the large door. There was a corridor inside, and the two of them took the stairs to the second floor. A young mage came out to greet them. He had short blond hair and a single line of magic symbols on his white mage robes.

"Sis, you’re here." The young mage was slightly older than Saleen, but was barely twenty.

"This is Mage Saleen. This is my brother, Kendrick."

"Mage Saleen, many thanks to you." Kendrick heaved a sigh of relief.

"No need to stand by ceremony.I’m good friends with Narnia." Saleen replied with a smile.

Kendrick brought them both into his room. It was a strange room with a bronze railing in the center that surrounded a ten square meter hole in the center of the room. At the bottom of the hole was another floor with a bigger room and a dozen alchemy tables lined up neatly. Hundreds of magic disciples were busy processing some metal plates.

Saleen recognized those metal plates as the ingredients for armor. The disciples were processing the armor with the alchemy machines on the alchemy tables, the green scales burning under the light of the magic flames and showing beautiful patterns.

At the other end was a rectangular alchemy table with more disciples attending to the tendons of a magic beast.

The tendons of a magic beast had many uses, the most common of which was the production of bows. A normal wild beast’s tendon took a long time to process and stitch before it could be made into a bow. A bow’s quality was considered decent if it could be used for three years. On the other hand, the tendon of a magic beast was much tougher and could withstand more stress. It did not cause problems with fatigue or fracturing and would not become brittle due to a lack of moisture.

The magic disciples were hacking the tendons of the magic beast into thin pieces, using it to string together pieces of armor.

Besides the armor of ancient knights, the armor of most warriors needed to be strung together from many pieces of armor using various kinds of ropes. Inferior armor was strung together by hemp rope that had been soaked in glue water. Even thought these were resistant to friction, they could not withstand much stress and were quick to fall apart when faced with the sword aura.

Superior armor would use hair, metal strings, or rubber to form a tougher rope to string the armor together. Using a magic beast’s tendons was considered one of the most expensive options.

In the other corner, Saleen saw a magic disciple affixing magic onto an ancient cotton robe.

The Qin Empire was wealthy and even commoners could afford to wear cotton and silk. Only slaves who had lost their freedom were unable to enjoy this privilege. However, ancient cotton was reserved solely for the wealthy and the army. This material was heavy in the hand. It was brightly colored and was suitable as formal attire. The ancient cotton robes that the magic disciples were handling had already been stitched with silk and processed with magic, and they were now doing a second processing.

There were labs on the second floor of the room but they were much smaller and lacked the complicated alchemy machinery found below.

Over twenty magic disciples saw Saleen and Narnia walk in and hurriedly bowed. These disciples had sultry looks on their faces. There was a complete set of machinery on the laboratory table, including crystal tubes, beakers, stands, and crucibles. In comparison to the machinery, this was a more traditional alchemy setup.

On the other side of the circular room was Kendrick’s room. In his room was yet another alchemy table.

"Kendrick, is this armor meant for the generals?" Saleen looked at the enormous alchemy lab and could not help but gasp in disbelief.

"No, the viscountess’ swordsmen’s camp has ten thousand people and every one of them has two of such armor and several back up accessories. The armor meant for the generals is not something a small mage like me could be responsible for."

Twenty thousand armors of such quality!

Saleen could not be bothered to calculate it. In any case, it was a large sum of money. Even though this was the power of the viscountess, with the forces of such an elite army, could the emperor let his guard down? One needed to know that without a prince, a viscountess would be able to ascend the throne and become the empress.

Viscountess Lex definitely was not inspecting the troops. She was preparing for war.

"Ken, you called me here in such a rush. What’s the trouble?" Narnia finally spoke.

Kendrick took a glance at Saleen before saying, "There are still more than two thousand belts lacking for the armor. They are nearly finished, but we do not have enough restorative water. The mages aren’t around, and I alone…"

Saleen laughed and said, "No worries. How much restorative water do you need?"

Creating restorative water had now become too easy for Saleen, and with the growth of his magic chords after becoming a Grade 2 mage, Saleen could create forty-eight portions of restorative water in succession. Each portion consisted of two thousand grams of restorative water. Such an amount was enough to shower in, much less drink.

"We need a lot. With the three of us creating it consecutively, it might take up to a day."

"So much?" Saleen thought hard. Narnia was a Grade 3 mage and even though she was far from advancing another grade, creating restorative water was not too technically difficult. The amount of restorative water she could create was comparable to his.

"We have no choice. These belts have been corroded by magic. They need to be continuously washed with restorative water, and soaking them is futile. If we are not quick enough, these belts will be useless."

Saleen was not familiar with alchemy but he knew that these belts were magic equipment. The patterns etched onto them must have contained some magical properties too.

"No problem. Prepare the container." Saleen did not want to shock the others and decided to use this opportunity as practice. If he were to produce it at his maximum capability together with Narnia, they would not even need a day to produce a sufficient amount.

Metal flasks were brought in one by one. They were not small and had shallow holes on their bases. Magic patterns covered the entire body of the metal flasks.

Saleen calculated the standard amount that a mage of his level could create, released twelve consecutive Restorative Water spells, and stopped. This had been equivalent to a normal Grade 2 mage creating twenty-four portions of restorative water in succession.

Narnia was hard at work as well, creating ninety over portions of restorative water in succession. Kendrick was overjoyed. His sister and this Grade 2 mage were creating much more restorative water than he had expected. He was confident of finishing this task now.

He quickly retrieved magic nuclei and placed them into the hands of Saleen and Narnia to restore their magic chords. Saleen had only used up a quarter of his magic chords but he did not refuse Kendrick’s good intentions. The money would come from the viscountess anyway.

One by one, the metal flasks were carried out and placed within the alchemy machines. They were fixed in a slanted position and the restorative water flowed rapidly through the crystal tubes. It split into ten different currents, washing the belts that had been placed into a glass bowl.

The belts had initially been black. After a good wash, they revealed their true greenish brown color and the magic patterns that had been etched onto them. The restorative water was collected at the other end of the glass bowl, black in color and unable to be reused.

Saleen quickly restored his magic chords and was getting bored. He had expected it to be a complicated job but it had turned out to be the casting of a few Grade 1 spells. Looking out of the window, the magic disciples were busy processing the clean magic belts.

Every disciple was young but serious, almost as if they found nothing shameful in doing such menial tasks. Those who could work the alchemy machines were at least Grade 6 magic disciples. All of them were barely twenty years old and becoming a mage was only a matter of time.

Saleen sighed. The number of mages in Sikeqinya was not considered little, yet there were definitely fewer magic disciples there. Magic disciples might have been useless on the battlefield, but considering all of these menial tasks in front of Saleen, mages could not be bothered to do them and could only rely on magic disciples to complete these things.

Possessing a large number of magic disciples allowed for the creation of a large amount of magic armor. Once the basic alchemy procedures were completed, mages would only need to activate a magic array to transfer the magic powers and the entire magic armor would be ready to go.

Even the lowest grade magic armor would still be able to defend against a swordmaster’s sword aura. Some could even protect against low-grade magic such as Acid Sputtering, Icicle, and a Grade 1 Fireball spell.

Putting ten thousand of these armors onto swordsmen would certainly produce a barrage of metal. Those mercenaries with weak structures already had problems defending against swordmasters, much less the private soldiers of the wealthy.

Saleen finally understood why the Qin Empire had been named the magic empire. Even though the situation in Bitter Water Prefecture was unique, the wealthy in the empire, with the permission of the emperor, could hire large numbers of magic disciples to do such tasks.

Out of one hundred magic disciples, one would be able to successfully become a mage. Every disciple in this alchemy factory possessed this potential, as they were the elite of all magic disciples.

Perhaps only with such means could the viscountess attract numerous elite disciples to stay in Bitter Water Prefecture. Everyone had a chance, and for the magic disciples, how attractive was that? Back then, if such a place had existed in Ceylon City, Saleen would have sold his body to be able to work for the viscountess.

The work was training, and every ingredient expended was on account of the viscountess. Something like this had never been seen in any other part of the mainland.

A sacrifice like this from Viscountess Lex would be worth it. Given ten more years, she would have many more mages, grand mages and sorcerers.

That was because she understood the value of magic disciples.