Greem shook his head, which still felt dizzy, then he got up and opened his door. To his surprise, he found three people standing outside.
Apprentice Leader Anksorus, Apprentice Ellen, and Apprentice Fenrir.
The position of Apprentice Leader was personally assigned by Great Master Anderson, and Anksorus was the current Apprentice Leader. Therefore his status was supreme amongst all the Apprentice Adepts. Most of the time, he would perform Apprentice management duties on behalf of the Great Master, managing all the Apprentice Adepts inside the Tower. Also, as he possessed the strength of an intermediate Apprentice, thus all lesser Apprentices had to obey his orders. If someone antagonized him, he could easily play put that person on a path to death, and they would never know that they had been set up.
As for the other two men, Ellen and Fenrir, they were just beginner Apprentice Adepts, just like Greem, but both of them were good at butt kissing, and they had followed Anksorus day in and day out, licking his boots. Hence they were considered the trusted followers of the Apprentice Leader.
So wherever Anksorus appeared, these two flatterers would always be there. The relationship between them was similar to the symbiotic behavior between the Killer Trees and the Bloodsucking Rattans. Two flatterers needed help from Anksorus. Only then would they have the privilege to choose safer daily tasks. Meanwhile, Anksorus would need these two Apprentices’ help in order to hold back those idealists who desired his position.
Greem had an unsociable and eccentric character, and thus he rarely made contact with others. Therefore, the relationship between him and this group was not good, but not bad either. That’s why he felt really surprised when he found out these guys standing outside his room.
Apprentice Leader Anksorus was a young man in his mid-twenties. He had a hawk nose, a pair of thick brows, and sharp eyes. Although his facial features didn’t make him look fierce, it still gave an imposing air to anyone who stared at him. The moment when the wooden door opened up, Anksorus flashing glance immediately fell on Greem’s face, indistinctly making Greem feel as if his skin had been burned.
Greem felt a small shock in his heart.
He knew that this was an anomaly that only happened when one’s Spirit energy overflowed, and was a signal that this guy’s overall power had reached to a very high level.
Among all the Apprentices of the Tower, there was actually very strict divisions which were based on the power of the Apprentice.
Those who had only mastered one or two Magic spells, and possessed a Spirit level of 10 or less were all beginner Apprentice Adapts, considered to be the lowest ranked among the Apprentice Adepts in this tower. As for those who had mastered three to four Magic spells, and had a Spirit level of 11 to 15 were classified as intermediate Apprentices, and they were considered to be fairly strong power. Finally, those who mastered five or more Magic spells, and had a Spirit level of over 16 were the elite of the Tower: the Advanced Apprentice Adepts.
Once an Apprentice’s Spirit level reached 20, then he had gained the qualification to become a Pseudo Adept, and the Great Master Adept would give him a special treatment, preparing himself for the ceremony which would mark them becoming an official Adept.
One must note that, currently, there were no real Pseudo Adepts in this Swamp Tower!
As for this Anksorus, although it was unknown how many Magic spells he had mastered, but, with the help from some unique Magic items, sometimes he was able to unleash a power which not weaker than that of an Advanced Apprentice. Within the Tower, there were only three people who had reached the level of Advanced Apprentice: Hawkeye, Evil Bugs, and Madwoman.
Of course, these were not their real names, but nicknames.
Hawkeye was Clutha, a frightening guy from the West Coast. In order to strengthen his own power, he actually replaced one of his eyes with a hawk’s eye. This gave him some bizarre abilities.
Evil Bugs was Actaeon. He was even more bizarre than Hawkeye. He went as far as raise a swarm of horrifying bugs with his own blood and flesh. When fighting with him, a single careless mistake in battle would end with being eaten by thousands of bugs!
As for the last one, Madwoman, she had an immense thirst for violence. Using a huge steel sword, which was taller than your average human, she was undefeated among all the Apprentices. She was so violent and terrifying in battle that no one dared to challenge her.
The three of them had either mastered some Magic spells with tremendous power or possessed some bizarre and unique abilities. No matter what, they had long ditched the status of ordinary Apprentices and all become candidate who had the potential to break through and attained the status of Pseudo Adept.
Thus, when facing with the flaming glance from such a powerful Apprentice Adept, Greem’s spirit was clearly not enough to support him, and his mind was suppressed by the person in front of him.
“Greem, something happened in the Tower last night! Do you know anything about it?” Apprentice Leader Anksorus was still staring coldly at Greem without saying anything. It was Ellen who was doing all the talking.
“What? Something happened? Was someone killed in a Magical experiment?” Obviously, Greem had no idea what was going on.
“There were no issues with any magical experiments. Someone was murdered right inside his room!” Finding that Greem’s puzzled eyes and shocked expression didn’t seem fake, Anksorus spoke slowly, but his eyes were still focused on Greem’s face, making sure he missed nothing of Greem’s expression.
“Murdered?” Greem was startled, but he immediately became freaked out and said, “Who died?!?”
Although from time to time Apprentice Adepts died in accidents in this Swamp Tower, most deaths happened while on dangerous missions or from accidents in bizarre Magical experiments. Not once had an Apprentice Adept been murdered by someone before. After all, every single Apprentice Adept was a precious treasure for Great Master Adept Anderson, so he would never allow his Apprentices to murder each other.
Once something like this discovered by him, those who violated his will would definitely be severely punished.
“Muret.”
Greem frowned.
He knew this Muret. That guy was just an ordinary Apprentice who had only mastered one magic spell… that was all he knew. The only other thing he could remember was that this guy had a face full of freckles, and was younger than him.
“So why are you guys here…?”
“We need to check your room. This is not out of spite against you, as we are checking every apprentice’s room.” Anksorus said with a cold manner.
“That’s right, we have to check everyone’s rooms. Move aside quickly, or we will tell the Great Master that you are to blame for this murder… Do you think you will live long if that happens?” No doubt Fenrir was the biggest nuisance here, spitting out threats against Greem.
Greem felt anger well up in his heart, but he gritted his teeth and slowly pressed it down.
They were checking everyone’s rooms?
Would you have the guts to check Hawkeye’s room? How about Evil Bug’s room? Or maybe Madwoman’s room. You guys would turn around and walk away if Madwoman was standing in front of you!
Though his heart was full of rage, Greem simply frowned. He hesitated for a short moment before finally moving aside and letting them enter his room.
Chapter 7
His room was small and cramped, being, at most, around twenty square meters. Just by standing at the door, one could see everything inside.
There was a bed and a simple old wooden writing table. A few books were messily placed on top of it, one of which was lying open, a few strange and mysterious symbols could be seen on the exposed pages. An old chair was also in sight. The paint on it had been worn away, revealing the original dark color of the wood beneath.
A wooden rack was sitting on one side of the room and there was a row of glass jars resting on top of it. Inside these jars were some weird half-cultivated plants and bizarre demon organs.
An iron edged wooden box was sitting in the corner of the room. There was a trash can sitting right next to it.
Other than these, there was practically no other furniture in the room.
A derisive look could be seen in Ellen and Fenrir’s eyes.
Although they were also Apprentice Adept, both of them were living lives that were hundreds of times better than Greem. Not only did they have big, soft, and comfy beds in their rooms, but the luxurious decorations in their rooms was similar to that of human nobility in this world.
Maybe it was because they wanted to show off their authority, but both Apprentice Adepts rushed into the room and began to rummage through his meager belongings.
The mattress on the wooden bed was thrown to the ground, the books on the table were flipped about in a messy way, and an ink bottle was overturned, staining all the opened books with a large amount of ink. The iron edged wooden box was opened up and all the clothes in it were dug out and thrown on the ground.
Apprentice Leader Anksorus merely stood at the door and watched as his men wrecked Greem’s room. He impassively looked on and did nothing to stop them.
Greem stood beside Anksorus. In his sleeves, his fists were repeatedly clenching and releasing. At the same time, his eyes were filled with a cold fury.
After wrecking his room, Anksorus’s two lap dogs finally finished ‘searching’.
Under the triumphant and snide glances of the two men, Greem coldly shut the door.
He hurried over to the overturned wooden box. After briefly searching through the pile of messy clothes, Greem finally couldn’t hold himself and cursed in a low voice.
Python Rattans, Rat Grass, Black Lotus Flower, Wild Steel Flower, Grave Moss…
After risking his life and going on so many inspection trips, the Magic materials he had arduously harvested from the Magic Swamp were all missing. It was obvious that Apprentice Leader Anksorus’s two henchmen had picked them up while ‘searching for proof’ just now.
Although he intended to rush out and confront them, when he thought of Anksorus’s insidious and gloomy expression, a tremor immediately went up Greem’s spine.
Clearly, these guys were using the excuse of investigating Muret’s death to loot all the normal Apprentices resources. And because of Anksorus’s Apprentice Leader status, no one dared to confront them to their faces. Of course, these three bastards wouldn’t be so stupid as to provoke one of the powerful people in this tower, they were only brave enough to pick on someone weaker, like Greem.
Soon, they were knocking on the wooden door next to Greem’s.
Mary’s ‘encounter’ was no secret to these few guys. Since she hadn’t shown herself for a long time, they were taking this as an opportunity to see her current status. Apprentice Leader Anksorus also wanted to know if she was still alive or not.
But right when Ellen was getting so annoyed that no one was answering the door that he was about to break down the door, the door actually opened up from the inside.
A young girl wearing in red cotton dress stood in front of them.
“So it’s Apprentice Leader Anksorus! I haven’t had the time to thank you for arranging my last task!” The delicate voice of the young girl could easily melt anyone’s heart, but that was nothing compared to the effect of her mesmerizing beauty.
She had slender limbs and well-defined curves, and her skin was as fair as flawless jade. Her facial feature was delicate and perfect, and her tiny red lips were covered with a smile. But the most attracting part of her was her pair of bright blood red eyes. They were like two pure crystal clear rubies mounted on her extraordinary face, making her as enchanting as a fairy.
Also, she was wearing a bright red dress that completely exhibited her lovely body and exposed a large portion of her fair skin, dazzling anyone who saw her.
In this gloomy Swamp Tower, the majority of the Apprentice Adepts wore unified gray Apprentice robes and black cloaks, causing dark tones to become the main theme of this place. By bumping into a young girl with such a splendid and glaring bright appearance, these guys immediately stunned, immediately becoming tongue-tied at her charming beauty.
Not only that, but after witnessing the magnificent beauty of the girl in front of them, an inexplicable lust began to surge the lower half of the three men, burning violently and bringing their more carnal hunger to life.
Anksorus proved why he had been specifically chosen by the Great Master Adept himself, as his self-control was far stronger than the other two men. While Ellen and Fenrir were seized by a sudden lust and showing horny faces, being ready to surrender their souls to this girl, Anksorus was able to pull himself out from this ‘charm’ instantly.
“Who are you? Quickly tell me your name, or else…” Anksorus’s expression was changing rapidly, he took two steps back and hastily placed both hands in his waist pockets.
Although the Tower was a big place, all the Apprentice Adepts were pretty familiar with each other. After all, there was only about forty to fifty people here, and they had all been living together for years, so it would be quite strange for them not to know each other.
Even someone like Greem, who was known for being unsociable and eccentric, had a couple of ‘friends’ who he would communicate with, not to mention Anksorus, who was the Apprentice Leader that had to liaise with every Apprentice each week.
It would be modest to say that, with both eyes closed, Anksorus could list out all the basic living situation and status of every single Apprentice Adept, from level one to level three, of the Adept Tower.
But wait… she did come out from Mary’s room….
Mary, a girl who came from a remote province. The largest impression she had made on Anksorus was very stubborn. But if judging by her looks, Mary, who came from a family of nobles, was, in fact, a rare beauty amongst all the female Apprentice Adepts.
Too bad she was ignorant of her status in the tower, as she simply ignored the countless invitations Anksorus sent, requesting her to join him in his bed on nights when he was lonely. Therefore, during an occasion when Adept Anderson urgently needed a subject to experiment on, and thus had turned to Anksorus for an Apprentice Adept… he had passionately recommended Mary for the ‘position’.
Could it be…
Thoughts were flashing through Anksorus’s mind, and he quickly thought of that stubborn little beauty, who was cowardly and weak in any situation that mattered, yet had stood him up countless times. When comparing that girl to the vibrantly dressed girl who had an imposing manner in front of him, his jaw dropped and he let out a shocked cry.
“You… you’re Mary!”
As if hearing the name ‘Mary’ caused the girl in the red dress to feel pain, her sweet and charming face suddenly twisted ferociously, causing her small cherry mouth to seem to tear open from the corners of her lips to her ears, turning her once small mouth into a gaping maw which stretched from ear to ear. With a sudden movement, the girl leaped forward, quickly biting down on Anksorus’s bare neck.
With a single bite, nearly half of Anksorus’s neck was removed, exposing his bloody flesh and broken trachea. His blood instantly shot out, like a water fountain, and soon the floor, the wall, and the body of the girl were all stained with blood.
Anksorus fell back and slammed up against the cold hard wall behind him. He slowly sliding down the wall and ended up sitting on the floor, trembling nonstop. Meanwhile, he pulled a magical item, which was shaped like a scorpion, out from his waist pocket, and triggered it, causing it to shoot out a flaming red beam toward the girl in red dress. The beam went straight through her chest.
This flaming beam was a very powerful Fire Magic, so the intense heat of the beam instantly burned an egg-sized hole through the girl’s body. The scorching beam didn’t stop after passing through her body, and it even left a hole on the corridor wall behind her.
After using it, Anksorus threw away the magical item. Next, with both hands trembling, he pulled a small, fist-sized bottle
containing green liquid from his waist pocket, he then pulled off the bottle’s cap and poured the liquid onto the huge wound on his neck.
Anksorus had a pretty strong vitality, so even though he had suffered such a deadly injury, he didn’t die immediately. Instead, his half-broken neck suddenly showed signs of rotting, and the exposing flesh rapidly dehydrated. At the same time, the blood spurting from his wound slowed down and eventually came to a complete stop.
Partially zombified body.
After learning about organic structures, anatomy, and necromancy, an Apprentice Adept would be able to use Magic and implant a thing called a ‘Zombie Sack’ within his body. With that, once the Apprentice suffered a severe injury, the Zombie Sack would be triggered and make part of his body zombified, preventing him from dying due to the injury.
But it was just a temporary measure. Once the instant threat of death had passed, a new threat approached, as he would now have to find a way to get rid of the violent negative energy in his body.
But when faced with the choice of life and death, most Apprentice Adepts choose to save their lives, not matter the cost. As for the dangerous negative energy, that was something they could worry about at a later date.
However, in next second a shadow was cast over his body.
With one hand caressing his nearly broken neck and the other holding a small bottle up above his gaping wound, Anksorus was unable to do anything in response except turn his head to see what was happened, and what he saw was the girl in the red dress’s huge bloody mouth full of sharp teeth. Her red dress was being stained purple by some liquid leaking from the hole in her chest…
Purple colored blood?!
Was she still human?
This was the last thought that ever went through Anksorus’s mind.
The girl, once again, leapt forward, placing her body on top of his and latching her gaping maw onto his wounded neck. The sound of her sucking out his blood was loud and clear.
As the girl was busy with her work she was ignoring the other two Apprentice Adepts at her side. Both men had taken out the crude magical items they owned and readied them in their hands, but when facing with such a bloody and horrifying scene, neither of them could gather enough courage to trigger the magical items in their hands.
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