680 Delegating Armies and Powers Part 1 (1/2)

Saleen knew that he had to do something in order to convince Isabella. Both of the abilities he possessed that could achieve this objective were lethal. Saleen did not have full control over crystal finger and the clan badge, but once he used either of these two abilities his opponent was as good as dead.

Isabella replied cautiously, ”My Lord, you are already such a powerful mage. Needless to say, one can reach the end of life without even a glance of the top. It is the same for swordsmanship. Training with the sword aura will place both swordsmen and mages on the same path of progressing without an end in sight. Sorcerers and grand swordmasters are the ultimate entities in this world. One will not be able to reach the top on those two paths at the same time even if there were limitations of the rules. The only possibility is if this person is a genius.”

”Are you saying that only very few people will be able to pick up this ability?”

”Fewer than those who can become Caucasus priestess'.” Isabella knew that she had to be accurate in whatever she said. The chances of a person becoming the most powerful in both magic and swordsmanship was less than one in one-million.

Saleen pondered for a while before saying to Isabella, ”It may not be realistic for all swordsmen to become mages, but it may be possible for all mages to possess a bit of swordsmen's abilities. When a mage possesses a bit of sword aura, his physique will improve drastically. The problem for most mages now is that they cannot even ride fast on their horses. I will not expect mages to become grand swordmasters, but they should at least improve their physiques. Will you be able to do that?”

”It is worth a try. There is nothing to lose anyway. The mages that do not wish to waste their time can choose not to learn. In my opinion, many of them will not even be able to advance to grand mages and will never amount to much in magic. For this group of people, if they can pick up sword aura, their fighting abilities will definitely improve.”

”That is easy for you to say. Many of those that are working for me all belong to Lex. I don't have the right to decide their future,” Saleen said.

”Then I have no other ideas. I cannot make any judgments on such things. One will know the results if they have learned from me for a period of time.”

”Don't you have something like magic books?”

Isabella was shocked at first, but regained her composure quickly. Saleen had asked her if there were any techniques that had been recorded down so that it was easier for people to follow and learn. Indeed, there were such methods that were similar to magic books. Their importance to swordsmen far surpassed that of magic books to mages.

Since she was a mage, personally passing on this technique to others would do nothing to help her own training. Saleen was direct in asking for it because he was thinking like a mage.

Saleen had promised earlier that he would help her become a grade-9 sorcerer within ten years. Although Isabella did not believe him entirely, she should still be dedicating all her time and effort to training magic by following Saleen every day instead of training up magic swordsmen.

Her life would be prolonged if she advanced into a sorcerer. If she advanced to grade-9 within the next ten years, she would still have another one-thousand or more years to live. That was more valuable than any books.

There was a proverb amongst mages; one must be willing to pay an equal price for what one desires.

Compared to the attractiveness of becoming a grade-9 sorcerer, the passing down of the magic swordsmen technique no longer seemed important. If this was a deal, she would have gotten the better end of it.

After seeing Saleen's temple, Isabella knew that Saleen did not intend to gain anything from her. Such a huge building that was similar to a magic tower was not something she would be able to afford even if she robbed for an entire lifetime. She took out a book from her spatial ring. The materials of this book were rather strange. Saleen could tell from his elemental eyes that this ancient book was made from paper and not from animal skin or other materials of better qualities.

These papers harnessed different types of energies, many of them still unknown to Saleen. These energies co-existed harmoniously and protected the book well. Its cover was still new even though it looked like it should be older than ten-thousand years.

Saleen was not interested in learning swordsmanship. He was pleasantly surprised by the rules harnessed by the cover of this book. Without his elemental eyes, he would not have discovered something so minute and would have lost this great opportunity.

With the book in his hands, Saleen tried his best to calm himself down and said to Isabella, ”Ask Nailisi to find you a room. Have a good rest and we will talk more tomorrow.”

Isabella thought that Saleen wanted to read through the book on his own first and maybe pick up some swordsmanship techniques. She never expected that the covers of the book concealed such an important secret.

Saleen did not even bother opening up the book. Once Isabella left, Saleen immediately studied the rules on the covers.

Rules were an area that a grade-6 mage would not be able to touch on. Saleen had experienced the loosening of bonds before. The rules in this book were presented in a way that balanced energies, but there were also traces to be observed in Saleen's eyes.

The power harnessed by these rules was not great, but could last for a long time and protect the book from decaying.

Saleen did not dream of grasping this rule, but he could observe the way it functioned and hopefully gain a deeper understanding of the world through it.

Mages existed in order to understand the truth of the world.

This was a motto acknowledged by all mages. Saleen had seen the magic notes of Rafael and Joey before and knew that when a mage was about to advance to grade-10, he would begin to understand some simple rules.