God’s Left Hand (Part 1)

"Your honor, enemies have been discovered." The soldier in Qin armor had a worried look on his face as he reported to Baron Cook. He was the baron’s personal guard. Like Sijia, he had been specially selected for the baron by the emperor.

"How many are there?" Baron Cook’s eyes were a little bloodshot as he had only slept for two hours.

"No fewer than fifty thousand." There was a quiver in the soldier’s voice. He had been even more fearful when he had seen the scarecrows on top of the tower, compared to now.

"Black puppets… what do they look like?" Baron Cook forced himself to stay calm. Black puppets were not really powerful, but when their numbers were large, only the heavily armored mercenaries of the Qin Empire could be their match.

"They are scarecrows."

Phew…

Baron Cook and the soldier heaved a sigh of relief at the same time. They were thinking that they were lucky it was not the legendary stone statue. Black puppets made from scarecrows could be killed by a regular soldier, but there were too many of them. There were only six hundred soldiers in the castle, but their enemies had more than fifty thousand black puppets.

"How many alchemy arrowheads have the mages made?"

"A hundred and ten thousand pieces…" the soldier replied, not convinced of this figure himself. In only a night, the two pathetically graded mages had been able to make a hundred and ten thousand alchemy arrows.

"So many!" Delight appeared on Baron Cook’s face. If there were sufficient alchemy arrowheads, the large number of black puppets would no longer be an issue.

"Your honor…"

"What?"

"They also exhausted six Grade 5 magic nuclei, and need you to write them off."

Baron Cook was dumbfounded, and then relieved. A low-level mage would never be able to create that many alchemy arrowheads no matter what. The consumption of the high grade magic nuclei had been necessary. The six magic nuclei had cost about thirty thousand gold coins. One hundred and ten thousand arrows, when divided out, had cost only a few silver coins each.

"Your honor…" the soldier called out nervously.

"What else?"

"And… it looks like they have damaged the equipment in the laboratory."

Baron Cook clenched his fist. Damage to the equipment of the mage master? The baron said with composure, "Do not tell anyone about this matter. I will take care of it. Where are the mages?"

"The two mages are dead tired and are resting."

"Have the weapons been distributed?"

"All done."

"Let Sijia direct the battle. You guys will coordinate with her. I will be with Flamenco. Do not worry about my safety."

The soldier hesitated for a moment, heeded the order, and left. The nine soldiers that Sijia were leading were the swordsmen who were usually in charge of Baron Cook’s safety. However, he was more familiar with Flamenco who was a senior swordmaster and at least a Grade 5 professional. Compared to himself, these people were mightier, and the baron should safer being with these mercenaries.

Saleen was not tired at all. Manufacturing low-grade magic medicine did not exhaust his magic chords, it only depleted his mental power. He was energized, and so naturally the recovery speed was faster. Once night had fallen, it had been Aini who had been unable to withstand it. If the materials for the Magic Flame Medicine had not been used up, Saleen had planned to continue.

He was now naked and soaking in the big wooden bathtub. He appeared to be reclining back with his eyes closed. Nailisi laid at the edge of the barrel bored, and was using her fingers to fiddle with the flower petals in the water.

Saleen had not needed to take a bath. He had Grade 0 magic – Cleansing Magic. However, he loved to practice in the water. When he was in the water, be it the speed of completing magic or the recovery speed of his magic chords, things were much faster.

Take the mutated water shield, for example. He was already able to cast it instantly in the water. Within two-sixtieths of a second, he could complete three stages: preparation, completion, and deployment of the spell. If he left the water, the deployment speed of this spell would be slowed by more than one hundred times.

Currently, there were twenty water shields stuck onto Saleen. These water shields had been compressed by him until they were very small, smaller than the size of a palm. This did not reduce the ratio of the consumption of his magic chords. In reality, Saleen was only left with a low level of magic chords at this point in time, and the maximum he could deploy was three Grade 1 spells.

Saleen was practicing the movement of water shields. He discovered that the defensive capabilities of the water shield were strongest at the core and weakest at its surroundings. However, such a scenario did not exist for the mutated water shields; the defensive capabilities of the water shield with air bubbles were the same at any spot.

The only flaw of the water shield was that it was not a holistic protection spell. Even if it were a mutated water shield, its size was only half a meter in radius.

Saleen also discovered that if he compressed the water shields, their defensive capabilities would double. He had compressed them to smaller than the size of his palm now, and their defensive ability had increased tenfold.

However, the smaller the magic shield, the bigger the openings. Saleen hoped to perfect this mutated spell, so he needed a hundred percent control of the water shield. It was just like what he was doing now, using his mental power to control the nonstop movement of the water shields.

Saleen’s mental power was strong, but it was very taxing to control the movement of the magic shields. Upon formation, each magic shield had a fixed coordinate. Even if the movement was only an inch, movement was not an easy feat. The coordinate was generally a certain point on the mage or a point on another object.

Elemental energy was centered on this point for the spell to be completed. Any movement required the constant movement of the magic coordinate at the same time, and this was unusually taxing.

Saleen had not created them out of nowhere. He had known that it was possible, because mage masters handled their low-grade spells in this way while sorcerers were able to control their mid-grade spells freely. Although what he had done was ahead of his time, he had not done the impossible.

Phew…

Saleen’s head emerged from the surface of the water and saw Nailisi’s face.

"Nailisi, what are you doing?"

"I’m watching you taking a bath." Nailisi used her finger to draw circles in the water, forming ripples. The flower petals were sinking and floating with her movement.

"I am practicing." Saleen stared at Nailisi.

"I know, but magic is not this way…" With her body still hidden, Nailisi stretched out her arm and used her finger to poke at the water shields beside Saleen’s body. Her long black hair drooped down, spreading out in the water softly like smoke.

Saleen twitched his mouth. He now knew that Nailisi was still unable to deploy any demonic magic. He was not keen to hear an outsider’s view; a mage had their pride, or as some said, arrogance.

"I remember…"

Saleen was suddenly alert, having heard this sentence from Nailisi. Although Nailisi was a little underaged imp, she had nonetheless met powerful human beings tens of thousands of years ago. She would definitely know some secrets.

"What do you remember?" Saleen was so worked up that he nearly stood up. Human beings tens of thousands of years ago had been able to transcend planes. Such power actually exceeded that of a Grade 9 mage.

"I remember that the magic that human beings deployed was full of energy, as though it were alive. I saw it with my own eyes then. A pair of hands pulled the air and tore into a space, stuffing more than ten supreme demons into it. All the elements were maneuvered by those hands. It was trust, as well as devotion," Nailisi recited this as though she were a poet, with a glimmer of awe in her eyes.

Saleen listened patiently, and felt it in his heart. It was impossible to get such a valuable recollection anywhere else anymore.

"That demonic hunter, even with a twitch of his eyebrow or a blink of his eyes, could make the surrounding elements oscillate together." Nailisi’s voice was getting softer and softer as she remained immersed in the memory she was capturing.

Elemental resonance?

That was not correct. Elemental resonance was not reversible. But going by what Nailisi had described, the movement of the elements back then could be changed at anytime. Such control was something even a sorcerer could not do.

Could Nailisi be luring him into committing wrongdoings?

That was not possible. Nailisi could not be lying. She could not even get rid of her nightmares from back then on her own.

Magic resonance that had life? Saleen remembered the mysterious leaf in the Ring of Gifts. That piece of leaf had a type of vitality hidden inside it. He made a decision in that moment, as he could no longer suppress the thought of experimenting with it. The second mantra of the Ring of Gifts slowly flowed in his heart, and Saleen began to recite it aloud.

Gift of Life. This was the half spell that the Goddess of Nature had created. The green ray on the blessing ring lit up again but faded away quickly. Saleen had been able to feel the motion of the elements, but could not complete this half spell.

Would help from divinity be needed? Saleen suspected that this spell was combined with divinity. If this was so, he would never complete it. This was because with the fall of the Goddess, he would probably need to pray to the Lord of Glory?

Even if he were to pray, he would probably not receive any response, for he had killed the oracle from the Holy See, the ascetic, and the zealots.

Saleen had no ill intentions towards the people of the Holy See. He was, after all, the one who had started the fight. The holy master had not taken any initiative to attack him. After he had heard Aini’s story, he realized that he had taken the Holy See too lightly. He had no delusions of receiving redemption, and could only try to run as far as he could so that the people of the Holy See would have no chance of catching him. Saleen did not give up hope. He retrieved that piece of leaf with hidden vitality from the Ring of Gifts. This piece of leaf was withered and yellowish, and was far from appealing in terms of looks. Saleen held the leaf in his palm and recited the Gift of Life mantra again. This time, a green light shone in Saleen’s palm. A mysterious energy emanated from the leaf and formed a green ball of light which infiltrated the water shield specified by Saleen.

Saleen immediately felt that this water shield had formed a mysterious relationship with him. He attempted to use his mental power to nudge this water shield. The bubble-like water shield left Saleen’s body, flew up, and was moving in the air according to Saleen’s will in an increasingly complicated path.

Saleen was thrilled. If the water shield could be controlled like this, his own security would be much higher. He could not wait and deployed the second Gift of Life. The second water shield left his body and flew upwards.

Nailisi grabbed the second water shield immediately and put it into her mouth to bite it. Saleen was furious. Without waiting for him to say anything, Nailisi spit out the water shield which was still a whole bubble.

"Master, it can’t be broken. You have succeeded," Nailisi said tactfully, as though she had not tried to eat this magic shield filled with life just a moment ago.

Saleen was disheartened. This little imp was getting more cunning.

Shaking his head, Saleen wanted to continue deploying the Gift of Life. The remaining eighteen water shields broke one after another. He then recalled that he had been in the water for an hour. The water shields could remain in the water for a long time but the maximum was one hour. What surprised him was that the two water shields with life had not disappeared and were still dancing actively in front of him.