Badge in Azure

Chapter 107: Joey’s Tricks (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

For many people, in order to survive, they would stoop to underhand means. Saleen had once approved of such ways as well. However, in the present, he would not use some methods no matter what they obtained.

“Let me hear them.” Saleen sat up, realizing his whole body was weak. This stone platform had a strange power. It could control everything about him. Aside from opening his mouth to speak now, he could not do anything, even with his left hand.

“Lex had me save you, so the first rule is that if you survive, you will need to follow her for three years and listen to her instructions.”

“That is fair. What about the second one?”

“This is the first time I am saving someone who has taken magic chord medicine. I have no idea what your future holds. When you become a Grade 5 mage, come back and let me take a look.”

“You mean you want to analyze the results of the experiment? That is fair too. I will return.”

“The last request… I haven’t thought of it yet.”

Saleen looked at Joey’s green eyes and said, “Master, I am very grateful; however, my terms of exchange will not involve anybody by my side.”

“That will be good.” Joey was not frustrated as he said, “Let’s begin then.”

Without giving Saleen a chance to protest, the six magic arrays on the stone platform were activated at the same time. The elemental energy seemed to be substantial as it threw Saleen into midair. Joey pressed his hand onto Saleen’s forehead, and an unexplainable energy flowed into his body.

This energy easily controlled every part of Saleen’s body. The torrent of elements shot into the air and entered Saleen’s body, repeatedly washing it.

Saleen already understood that a human’s body was made up of the six basic elements. The elements that were shot out from Joey’s magic array washed away the other five elements in his body, leaving only the water element behind.

This process was nearly painless, but it left Saleen shocked. If he was left with only water elements, did not that leave him with an elemental life? Having listened to Nailisi recount the story in the demon magic book, Saleen knew that elemental lives existed. Pure elemental beings had powers similar to those of a god. However, he doubted that Joey had the powers to transform him into such an oddity. If he only had water elements in him, was he still human?

The secretive powers that Joey had sent into Saleen’s body were beginning to change. Water elements were replacing the other five elements that Saleen had lost, and were modelling after the qualities of those elements. Saleen’s clothes and magic equipment floated into the air, circling around the platform.

Saleen felt some resistance from Joey. How many magic chords did it take to completely change someone? The torrent of elements from the magic arrays would not stop, but Joey’s powers were finite.

Joey was slightly shocked as well. He had imagined this transformation to be something simple, but Saleen’s left hand seemed to be absorbing water elements at an absurd rate, almost as if it were a black hole. He needed to control the balance and prevent Saleen from transforming into a body of pure water elements.

That would break the laws of the world, and Joey did not know what would happen from that. His long green hair began to fly around, the torrent of elements from the stone platform splitting into half and flowing into his body. Elemental energy was transformed by him before being sent into Saleen’s body, controlling the balance within Saleen’s left hand.

Saleen did not lose control of his focus. He voluntarily helped Joey with the elemental transformation process. If he had relied solely on himself, he would not even have been able to transform a finger after a century of work. Joey was acting as a guide for Saleen to follow. Now that Saleen’s body had the guidance of Joey, it underwent a three hundred and sixty degree change.

Water elements flowed in, replacing the other five elements and slowly changing his body’s properties. Saleen’s bones, muscles, organs, and nerves. They were all transformed.

Finally, Saleen felt a crashing sensation as a miracle appeared before him, just like the day his magic chords had been formed. He saw the inside of his body, the blue magic chords appearing like the branches of a plant. The pure water elements were washing them, making them even purer.

Magic chords formed through medicine were naturally weirdly shaped. After this transformation, their size had not reduced, but they had become more brightly lit and vibrant. The branches of the magic chords had gradually balanced. They had used to be able to influence the vibrations of the other five elements, but now they had changed completely.

Saleen could feel the surrounding water elements. It was different from before, and he could only use the magic chords within him to activate magic. This was something that only a grand mage could do.

If Saleen had been at the peak of a Grade 3 mage, he would have definitely been promoted to Grade 4 now. It was a pity that his magic chords only grew through his own training. Joey could only clear the impurities within his magic chords, and he could not help him grow them. The improvement of magic knowledge could not replace everything.

The transformation of the water elements became faster. Even though Joey was surprised that Saleen was helping him, he did not slow down. The entire room was filled with the torrent of elements. Without the darkness screen, the entire wooden tower would have collapsed.

Saleen gathered his energy to feel the transformation of the elements. The different changes of the water elements were locked into his memories, unable to be erased. If he had not understood the theory behind this beforehand, Saleen would only have gained more time in his life. Now, he had a better understanding of the various forms of the water element.

Bam!

Saleen fell heavily onto the stone platform. He did not even realize that his transformation was complete.

Joey saw Saleen’s dazed look and did not disturb him. He knew that Saleen had grasped too many things, and if he interrupted him now, he might lose this opportunity. A mage’s understanding was something that was very precious.

Saleen sat up in a flash, an ice bomb in his hand. The ice bomb instantly evaporated, and still in ball form, it was shot forward. Just as this evaporated ice ball left Saleen’s hand, it exploded, forming a fireball.

Saleen was shocked. He could not control this fireball. He had not expected his first try to be a success. If he destroyed anything, Joey would definitely want him to pay.

Joey waved his hands and the fireball disappeared from the air. The temperature did not rise at all.

“Not bad. You have the wisdom of a grand mage and you understand the secrets of a sorcerer. Your teacher is impressive.” Joey gave a rare compliment.

He was a little surprised. A Grade 2 mage had actually been able to understand the workings of elemental transformation during his healing process. With a gift like this, becoming a sorcerer was a given. For him to have reached such a standard, Saleen’s teacher must be an impressive mage.

For a mage without any lineage, even if they had slowed down this process by ten thousand times, the mage would not have been able to grasp anything within such a short span of time. Saleen’s foundational knowledge was both immense and strong. That was how he had been able to seize this momentary opportunity.

Too many mages spent the rest of their lifes at Grade 3 because they did not have the right person guiding them.

Joey had no idea that Jason had not given Saleen much guidance. However, Saleen had treated Jason like a god, remembering every single one of his words. This had helped guide him in the right direction. On the path to learning magic, Saleen had almost never strayed.

Every time he grasped something, Saleen would recall Jason’s views towards that type of knowledge and refine it. This attitude was something that other disciples did not possess. If Jason had been a normal mage, Saleen might never have gotten a chance to promote in his entire life. Luckily, Jason might have only been Grade 5, but he possessed an unimaginably powerful lineage.

All humans held biased opinions towards things. Many people had not understood the views of their teachers and had tried to achieve breakthroughs on their own. Saleen had not done that from the start, as he trusted Jason too much.

Seeing Joey casually dissipate his fireball, Saleen was a little embarrassed. He put on his shirt and came down from the stone platform. His left hand was a little strange. Joey must have known something by now, but this was not a big deal. Compared to his life, secrets did not matter. With Joey’s status, he could not force him to do anything either. Saleen comforted himself.

Joey was certainly interested in Saleen’s left hand, but just as Saleen had thought, he did not dare force anything upon him. Anyway, Saleen would come looking for him after he was promoted to Grade 5. If Saleen did not come back then, Joey would have reason to forcefully take him back and experiment on him.

A Grade 5 mage’s power was nothing in Joey’s eyes.

This transformation had been a losing deal for Joey. Saleen’s left hand had absorbed more than ten times the amount of energy he had expected. Saleen did not dare mention anything either as he stood in front of Joey, not knowing what to say.

Joey was perplexed as well, but just then Lex returned to the laboratory, having changed into her equipment.

She was wearing another set of colorful mage robes on her. It was made of thin material that seemed to dance in the wind. Even though it was colorful, the colors were muted and did not have any elegant feel to them. The collar and sleeves had foreign magic symbols on them, giving the entire magic robe a sense of balance, and the elements were unusually stable.

Saleen was immediately attracted to this set of magic robes.

A normal magic robe would increase the strength of magic abilities while stabilizing the elements. This set, however, strived only for complete balance. These colors represented the six types of elements.

Wearing a magic robe like this, one would not need to worry about the elements in their body losing balance, and did not need to worry about an enemy’s control magic. This was similar to demon equipment. If an enemy was not much stronger than a person, then they would not be able to influence the person’s magic in any way.

Saleen had not been able to cast any magic within the darkness screen due to the large difference in grade between him and Joey. If he had not possessed some elemental energy within his left hand to move a Grade 0 spell around, he would not have been able to use the badge to escape. Moreover, Joey had possessed no plans to kill him. Otherwise, even if he had managed to escape, he would have been helpless.

“How does it feel?” Joey asked Lex.

“It’s… extraordinary.” Lex was even more shocked than Saleen. She had never imagined that a set of magic robes would allow her body to be so stable within the elemental space. This stability would allow for no mistakes in her magic.

If the magic would not miss, it did not matter how strong it was. For magic, accuracy was everything. In any case, Joey had given her a ring that could amplify the strengths of magic as well. Lex did not try it out, but she could feel that this ring could enhance her abilities by up to ten percent.

This amount might have seemed small, but if it did not require any magic nuclei or the inlaying of gemstones, it was scary enough on its own. Moreover, this ring itself was a spatial equipment, the best that Lex owned.

Stable!

The magic props that Joey created possessed only one unique point, and that was their unusual stability. They would not cause any fluctuations under any conditions. Lex knew what that meant. Joey might have already broken the limits of his grade and was already at Grade 10.

“Lex, do you like my gift?” Joey asked with a laugh. He had prepared these few items after spending over a decade creating them. Many materials required patience to process. For example, this magic robe had made use of silk from silkworms that he had reared himself, consuming the leaves from the trees outside.

Even if others possessed similar processing techniques, they did not have such materials with them. Those who did have such materials did not have his skills.