The passage of time slowed down significantly. Every minute felt as long as a day. Such suffering actually lasted for 24 hours. Only when the sky darkened again did Saleen restore control in his body.
Argh…
Saleen felt as if his vocal cords were not his; the pain did not disappear completely. He struggled, loosened his hand first, and then threw off that scary badge.
Demonic tool! Demonic tool?
Saleen was roaring within. This damn badge must be a demonic tool; he felt like he was being swallowed just now, and digested along with his soul.
What was a demonic tool? During the first dynasty 30,000 years ago, human beings were still a powerful species. They could arbitrarily tear into space, pass through planes, and capture demons for rearing. The demons that could not be tamed were made into magic props. The magic props made using powerful demons were called demonic tools. Despite the fact that it had initially been game play, mankind had since fallen and lost its tyrannical power after only 10,000 years.
These types of magic props instantly became valuable. As they could not continue to pass through planes to capture demons, these magic props, which could also enslaved the demons' souls, were collected by powerful magicians. Until the fourth dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, with the exception of the powerful Grade 9 magicians, no one else could enslave the demons' souls in the demonic tools.
Demonic tool became a scary term. Magicians below Grade 7 would have no means to resist the power of the demonic tool. These defiant demons would not sign contracts with humans even if all they had left were their souls. Eating up each person it came across was a unique characteristic of the demonic tool.
Wrong! If this thing was a demonic tool, he probably would have lost his body. Saleen touched his hands and legs, still full of flesh and blood; they were real.
Saleen finally restored his wit in the midst of the scare, and quickly discovered he was losing his mind. If this were a demonic tool, even his master would not be able to survive it, let alone he, an apprentice, be revived after losing his resistance.
What could it be if not a demonic tool? Saleen used his hands to push himself to sit upright and checked his body's condition. Besides feeling very weak, everything was fine. Even the pathetic amount of magical element in his body were a little more than before.
Hmm...
There really was a little more, despite the fact that the additional magical element was still pathetically small. However, for people like Saleen who cherished every tiny increase in element level, he would be aware of it even if the increase was one tenth of the element unit. The increase in mental power was even more obvious. Saleen's mental power was originally already strong. Jason had said that his mental power was enough for use, even if he became a qualified magician.
Now, Saleen's mental power had become even more pure and even more unified. There were even signs of a breakthrough.
Saleen ignored the weakness in his body and quickly climbed under his bed to retrieve the badge he threw. There was nothing in the dark lightning-shaped mark anymore and that faint blue tinge had disappeared. Saleen stroked the badge but did not dare to release Detection Magic.
That was such a painful experience earlier. Even though he was tortured during his childhood, he was still not able to bear such pain. Change was much harder to bear after one had gotten used to things. His threshold had been reduced, as he felt comfortable in the recent years.
Should he show it to his Master? No. If his master were to get messed up by the badge like he had been, that would be…
Saleen actually laughed out loud when he pictured Jason lying on the wooden floor, feeling weak, and enduring all the negative effects. Forget it. He should examine it slowly. As long as he did not use magic with this item, it should be fine.
Saleen experienced three failures in the next month. Magic medicine worth 3,000 gold coins had been exhausted, and became a pile of waste. This was a big blow to him because the output did not correspond to the mental power he had been so proud of. It had been very difficult to control the use of the materials for the magic medicine.
What was he to do about his inadequate mental power? Saleen remembered his family badge. He retrieved the badge from the box, and stroked it gently in his palm. Fight it out! No matter the pain, it would be worth it if it could increase his mental power.
This time around, Saleen paid more attention to the details. He thought he would experiment and try to see the specific conditions of the badge lead it to generate such effects.
He placed the badge on the wooden floor and released Detection Magic from three meters away. A hazy magical light enveloped the badge which had previously been shrouded in darkness. There was still a short pause, but it was quickly drawn into the deep lightning-shaped mark.
In the end? Nothing happened!
Saleen moved the badge a little closer to two meters away and repeated his experiment. There was still no response. In the end, he decisively found a set of gloves and continued with the experiment.
In the end, Saleen concluded that the badge was safe as long as there was no contact with bare skin. It seemed like there would be no issue if he carried it around with him. Saleen finally felt reassured. Otherwise, this thing would have to be kept away in the box.
Saleen began to train arduously. From Tuesday to Thursday, he would use the special power of the badge to abuse himself, then endure the torture for 24 hours. His mental power improved significantly. Three months later, Saleen had a breakthrough in mental power.
From initially having only the elements to release 5 consecutive Grade 0 spells, he could now painstakingly control his mental power to release 7 Grade 0 spells. His magical element, which had been slow to increase, was originally at a Grade 3 apprenticeship level, but if Saleen was sparing in its use, he would be able to display the ability of a Grade 4 apprentice.
The change to his body was obvious. Saleen still looked thin and weak, but his energy became better, and his tolerance of various negative effects became higher. Most importantly, the loss of control over his body after usage of the badge had reduced to six hours.
Saleen no longer had to struggle to endure the six hours. Apart from the fact that his body could not move, he could use these six hours to think, to recall the books he had read, and to revise his magic knowledge.
After surviving the most challenging period, Saleen had become more confident. He did not realize it himself, but his temperamental had undergone fundamental changes. He no longer had the weak responses such as nervousness, indecisiveness, or fearfulness. He smiled more, and they were smiles from the heart.
Saleen decided to continue to train this way. He believed that as long as he persevered, he would have a body that was immune to all negative conditions of magic.
The only thing left unchanged was Saleen's dedication to gold coins. He used the rest of his time to continue to produce the Magic Medicine, and sold it to Decca. He had again accumulated more than 3,000 gold coins in these three months. It was a pity that it could not be any faster. It was already too much for Decca. The local spending power in Ceylon City was limited. After he had taken the position as the bandit gang chief, he only had the youth bandits with him and they could not undertake big cases.
Excess supplies of medicine needed to be accumulated in order to be sold to foreign bandits. Decca did not have much cash flow on hand. He would not dare to owe Saleen money. He also did not have the influence to make the foreign bandits to pay deposits.
Saleen knew that these 3,000 gold coins may not be able to manufacture the Magic String Medicine. He grew anxious over the gold coins as the days passed. It was the weekend again and he needed to enter the city to help Jason make purchases, and at the same time bring back the previous week's orders.
It had been bad weather this weekend. The wind had reduced, but the cold rain did not stop. The rust-colored clouds hung over the harbor of Ceylon City.
Two brightly-dressed swordsmen were hiding under the eaves, as they looked into the distance. They did not have armor, only daggers hanging at their waists. There were leaf-shaped badges embroidered at both their chests. This badge symbolized that they had worked for the Lord, and had a close relationship with him.
The stature of the two swordsmen were very similar - broad shoulders and slender waists, big and tall.
"Chief, would that kid not come?" the red-haired swordsman asked worriedly as he looked at the rain, which had gradually become heavier.
"No, Chris. It has been three years. He would appear at this time every week, regardless of the weather."
The blonde-haired swordsman pressed his dagger and looked at the stone pavement under the eaves patiently. The rain blown in by the wind could not get close to his body. Chris, the red-haired swordsman, could only shrink inwards. He thought to himself: When will I be like chief and succeed in drawing the aura of the sword?
The stone pavement, which had not been repaired for many years, began to flood. The raindrops pounded down like a curtain, splashed, and formed a layer of mist on the ground. There were not many people out in such weather. It was almost autumn, and Ceylon City was becoming colder.
The eyes of the blonde-haired swordsman were like a torch, piercing through the curtain of rain to look at the end of the road. A skinny youth walked by unhurriedly. Not holding an umbrella, he was wearing a funny long robe and carrying a huge leather sack on his back. The rain fell and bounced off his body. Even the boots on his feet were still clean and dry, untouched by the rain.
As the youth slowly walked closer, his face became clearer. His hair and eyes were chestnut in color, and had a slightly high nose ridge. His eye sockets were deep-set, and he looked like he was of Southern aristocratic descent. His eyebrows were stretched, as though he did not mind this dreadful weather. There was a tiny leather bag hanging at his slender fingers.
This was the standard leather bag for gold coins; a bag could keep 50 pieces of gold coins. The youth had hooked it on his fingers, rocking it with his pace. Security at the harbor was not very good. If not for the rain, the bandits might have been eying him.
"Magician Saleen!" the blonde-haired swordsman called out warmly, as he waved to the youth.
Saleen tilted the corners of his mouth, pretending not to hear it and continued to walk in the rain. His name was Saleen, but not some magician. He was just a Grade 3 apprentice.
The swordsman felt a little embarrassed. He could not have possibly called Saleen apprentice. Such a greeting was indeed disrespectful. The Viscount had wanted him to be polite as possible. It was indeed tough.
"Master Metatrin!" the blonde-haired swordsman raised his voice. The other party had already gone past him, and he could only see his back view now.
"Saleen, Saleen!" the blond-haired swordsman could only chase up as he saw the youth's figure become further. Chris followed helplessly, and ran in the rain. The rain instantly soaked his striking clothing, such that only the insides of the tightly tied boots remained dry. Such freezing rain! Chris shuddered in chills.