Before they could thoroughly escape this desolate battlefield, a horrifying screech that frightened their souls came from the skies above the woods. Multiple gigantic shadows swooped above the canopy, letting out terrifying screeches to let the world know of their arrival.
A feeling of dread surfaced in the hearts of the already frightened witcher-knights. Quickly, all of them whipped their colts, crashing through the woods, trying futilely to use their speed to outrun the terrifying black shadows. Their will to battle and their spirits had been broken. They didn't even have any intention to stop and test the enemy's' strength. They were only thinking of how to leave this land of nightmares as fast as possible using the speed of the magic colts!
But the ominous creatures above them hadn't appeared for long, when a group of terrible magical creatures appeared in the woods in front of them. Based on their appearances, it seemed their races included almost all of the powerful beings that could be found in Greenland Forest. They were all of difference races and species, but they had one common characteristic- their ghostly green eyes……
Greem stood on the entrance of the valley, looking distantly in the direction the witcher-knights ran.
He could also see the silhouette of the winged dragon knights flying above the skies of the woods. The situation below was obstructed by the sea of trees and was unknown to him, but now that even the winged dragon knights had been sent out, why wouldn't the other voodoo beasts be as well?
It seems that even though Adept Keoghan had rejected Greem's request for help, he still made some arrangements of his own behind the scenes. Now that Greem and the other two had managed to defeat the enemy in one blow, he could only come out from the shadows and finish the rest.
Mary and Acteon, who were fighting two spellbreaker knights and trying to obtain spoils of wars of their own, were having a tough battle. Regardless of which battle Greem tried to join, he would be shouted at angrily and firmly rejected.
There was no choice. If any spellbreaker knight was blasted by Greem and the Fire Lord's combined force, he would be left without even a corpse. This was what made Mary and Acteon so very angry!
Otherwise, if all fourteen spellbreaker knights had been perfectly captured without being harmed, they would have been the perfect materials for these two to increase their power!
Thus, the only four spellbreaker knights left on the battlefield were spoils of war that they coveted. If any outsider tried to close in, they would attack them with their fiercest means.
From this, it could be seen how imposing these two people who were eager to improve their bloodlines were!
After looking about the battlefield and ensuring that his battle was over, Greem groaned and reversed his Flame Fiend Transformation.
As the red hot magma fell from his skin, and the molten rocks slowly solidified, Greem let out a pained groan.
He had constantly been on the frontline of battle today, so the number of attacks he had to endure was also the most numerous. The elemental golems might not have physical senses and wouldn't be exhausted, but he did, and he would.
During the Flame Fiend Transformation, most of the damage would be healed by the magma that he took in, but the pain he felt would still be clearly imprinted in his memories. After transforming into a Flame Fiend, his Physique was greatly improved, and so most of the damage would be mitigated by his powerful regenerative ability, reducing the amount of pain he felt.
But now that he had reversed the transformation, his Physique was quickly decreasing, and the bodily pain that had been suppressed instantly came back to him, causing even Greem, who claimed to be calm and tenacious, to groan in pain uncontrollably.
However, pain wasn’t the only thing that the battle brought him. Greem could vaguely feel that his Spirit had improved by a decent amount. And the source of the increase in power was very clearly the planar laws.
Even though he was an adept from a different plane, he had analyzed the plane's laws. For every enemy he killed, he was able to obtain plane feedback from the planar consciousness. This was an indescribably unique feeling, like a peculiar form of energy he had never felt before.
The source of the great increase in his Spirit was precisely this mysterious and amazing plane feedback!
As an invader from another plane, he was most certainly hated and marked as a hostile force by the planar consciousness. Yet when placed in this mysterious world governed by the planar laws, he could still obtain the reward he deserved from those laws. As long as his actions fulfilled the basic requirements of the planar laws, then even the master of the plane-the planar consciousness itself- could not stop him.
When a undeveloped and immature planar consciousness used the strength of the plane to form a perfect and self-contained plane world, the dense layers of planar laws would often limit the planar consciousness itself!
Greem had killed the citizens of its plane, but it could only obey the planar laws and give Greem the rewards he earned for killing. What an absolutely ridiculous thing!
But in a material plane where a planar consciousness had been born, this was a normal occurrence!
The hazy planar consciousness might be able to push the world towards a certain direction, through those that could feel its will, but it could not topple or change the planar laws it had personally created.
Moreover, this was a small-sized plane of knights. Even the planar consciousness itself wasn't too bright and aware. To form a clear and coherent thought, and then send that message to its citizens, was a task that was impossible for an undeveloped planar consciousness.
Even the planar consciousness of the far larger and much more mature World of Adepts could not do something like this, much less this small-sized plane!
Thus Greem and the adepts boldly attacked this knight's plane, never concerned about ‘it’ informing the plane's powerful beings through dreams and sending them to intercept the adepts.
It wasn't that ‘it’ didn't want to, it was that ‘it’ could not do that!
A newly born planar consciousness was like a baby still growing in the womb. It might be able to reflexively act against things that pose a danger to it, without anything resembling an adult thought process, it could not form a proper response.
Thus, even though the most powerful beings of the plane had mastered part of the planar laws, and felt the existence of the planar consciousness, they could not construct a stable and clear mental link with the consciousness. They may be able to feel the unease and anger of the planar consciousness, but they would have a hard time finding out the target of those feelings.
At times like this, exceptional prophets became invaluable!
In all large material planes, top-class prophets would always be a valuable and strategic asset that was deeply valued by large organizations.
Sadly, in this plane where the witcher-knights dutifully carried out their tasks, it was hard to have such a prophet that could see into the plane's future. Of course, this was only because Greem was poorly informed. If it wasn't for the Sixth Grade Great Adept on their side, the location of their adepts' base would probably have been exposed to the most powerful beings on this plane!
Although the Sixth Grade Adept was always cooped up within the base, his existence was extremely crucial for this forward base!
It was hard for Greem to have a clear picture of all these things.
Right now he was immersed in his own mental world, checking out the bodily data the chip had gathered.
"Greem, First Grade human Elementium Adept. Body has been elementalized. Flame Mastery. Strength: 1.5; Agility: 0.8; Physique: 1.4; Spirit: 1.3.。 "
Er, he had only been to this other plane for fifteen days, and his Strength had increased by 0.1, his Physique increased by 0.2, and his Spirit increased by 0.4.
This kind of terrifying improvement was rare for him ever since he became an adept.
Now, even if he diligently meditated everyday, the increase in his Spirit was often decimals with thr
ee to four zeroes before the number. If it wasn't for the aid of his chip, he would have thought he wasn't improving!
Without exceptional talent or a massive amount of rare resources, most adepts could only rely on the slow grind every day to raise their Spirit.
It was natural that people like Anderson and Keoghan had advanced for several hundreds of years, yet were still First Grade Adepts. Going along this normal route would make it almost impossible for one to advance to a Second Grade Adept. The main reason for this was probably the slow increase in Spirit.
Greem had the help of the chip. The efficiency of his deep meditations were several times those of others. Yet even he could not stand the crawling speed at which his Spirit increased. If it was any other person, they would probably have fallen into despair at the lack of a path forward!
At this moment, Greem was instead able to understand Adept Anderson's feelings. If he hadn't been driven mad by the slow grind day-by-day, he probably would not have resorted to such extreme choices or means.
Perhaps he had already gone completely mad as he planned the blood ritual!
Chapter 186
The adepts' base became even busier after the victory.
The winged dragon knights beat their wide fleshy wings, rising and landing all about the camp, sending the witcher-knights to and fro. These exceptional spoils of war were sent into Adept Keoghan's lab the moment they reached the base, and what was waiting for them was a terrifying nightmare they had never experienced in their lives.
Greem saw the native teenager amidst the people bustling about with work. He was now an important assistant for Adept Keoghan, helping him do some auxiliary tasks in the modification and construction of voodoo beasts.
Keoghan passed the work of checking the inventory for fresh ‘materials’ to the teenager, and walked over when he saw Greem return.
"You did well this time! Lord Sarubo mentioned your name just now. It seems the Lord has been paying attention to you!" Keoghan couldn't help but pat Greem on the shoulder and praise him.
It was obvious that Adept Keoghan felt respect and admiration for Lord Sarubo from the bottom of his heart.
But once he thought of the fact that nothing in the adepts' base could escape the vast yet fine mental senses of Lord Sarubo, Greem felt a shiver go down his spine. But he could only respond kindly to Keoghan's act of intimacy. He even chose to ignore the bloody handprint left on his shoulder.
"Why's that little fellow still alive?" Greem asked curiously.
When he passed the teenager to Keoghan, Greem had thought he would come back to find his body attached to another voodoo beast!
"Our plan here is to rule this plane, so local puppets are a must. He has an exceptional talent. As long as we perform some slight modifications, he could easily become one of the best spellcasters from this plane. When the time comes, it's easier if he represents us instead of having us do everything." A wicked grin appeared on Keoghan's cold face.
"How are the resources in this plane? How large of a benefit can we get?"
"From the current analysis, the assets with the most strategic value are the white-starred alocasias, the fire-dragon herbs, the royal-blood herbs, the seasoul stars, the spacestones and the breeding flowers."
"There are spacestones and breeding flowers in this plane?" An expression of disbelief appeared on Greem's face.
All material planes developed from tiny little pseudo-planes, and the time taken for such development often required several hundreds of thousands of years. Thus, in the course of its long development, the inside of a plane had a high possibility of containing spacestones that drifted from the depths of the galaxy.
This spacestone was one of the main materials used in constructing long-range teleportation arrays.
Even in the resource-rich World of Adepts, these were a strategic resource strictly controlled by high grade adepts. A normal adept clan would not have access to it.
The breeding flower, on the other hand, was also an interesting thing.
It's a rare plant, but also a unique herb.
Using the breeding flower as the main ingredient, the alchemist adepts can brew a mysterious potion that allowed powerful adepts to give birth. It's important to note that in the development history of the adepts, it was extremely difficult for adepts above the Second Grade to have an offspring.
On one hand you have a high grade adept, and on the other you have a normal human. The chance of having a normal offspring was astronomical. If both parties were high grade adepts, the chances become even lower.
After all, adepts were a group of individuals that constantly changed, modified and mutated their body in the process of advancing, almost as much as magical creatures. Moreover, a great deal of the mutations were natural, random mutations. Don't look at how most high grade adepts still retained a human appearance. If you were to take a detailed look at their bodily essence and source, you would realise they were quite different from humans.
Some high grade adepts' mutations were even more thorough, to even have mutated their soul's essence into something completely unrecognizable. If a high grade adept got together with a similar partner, their chance of giving birth to a normal human baby was almost zero.
Frankly speaking, their chance of giving birth to a magical creature was higher than giving birth to a human child!
Thus, why was it that the adept clans placed so much importance on the continuation and legacy of family bloodlines, such that they encouraged the low grade adepts to quickly leave behind some bloodlines and offspring for the clan? This was the main reason!
If a talented adept appeared among the descendants of a large clan, he wouldn't even need to expend the effort to find beauties. His family would automatically find all sorts of attractive women, even all sorts of races for him to pick from.
This was both a boon for the adept as well as a means for the clan to continue their bloodline!
Therefore, any means or medicine that could aid the chances of conceiving became a rare resource that was in great demand by high grade adepts. The breeding flower was one such amazing plant, that allowed the superior genes of both the father and mother to perfectly merge and give rise to a baby with amazing and powerful talent.
As for whether the baby was still a human, no one really cared!
The discovery of breeding flowers in this insignificant knights' plane was undoubtedly going to bring about immense benefit for the Sarubo clan. And as the clan grew, they, as the batch of adepts who led the excavation of the new plane, would also be greatly rewarded.
The veteran adepts might not care about such rewards, but for newly advanced adepts such as Greem, who had no wealth at all, this meant that he would not need to run about outside to gather resources for a hundred years.
In a situation where he was not pressured to find resources to advance, Greem had at least two hundred years of leisure time to slowly accumulate knowledge and research the direction of his future development.
After exchanging a few more words with Keoghan, Greem returned to the row of stone houses, decided on a random house, shut the door, and went to rest. At the battle in the valley this time, he had participated fully and functioned as the core of the strategy- all the way from the start of the baiting, to the counterattack, to the final battle.
And accordingly, his Spirit was drained and badly ‘bruised’. These losses would not recover by themselves. He could only rely on a long rest to fix them!
At least there would not be any threats around the adepts' base after exterminating those witcher-knights. There would be a period of peace! As for when the next batch of enemies would arrive; that was out of Greem's control.
Understanding this, Greem let go of all his concerns, summoned the Lightning Giant to protect him, and fell into a deep sleep on the stone bed.
While he was sleeping, Mary had returned to the base, bringing with her two withered spellbreaker knight corpses. Even though such spoils of war didn't have much value to
them, Keoghan still gladly received them.
After all, as compared to Acteon, Mary had brought something back. Acteon hadn't even left a withered corpse behind. However, he did have a group of odd black beetles the size of a washing basin. There were about twenty-one or twenty-two of them. It looked like they were his newest gains.
Adept Keoghan was a veteran adept that had advanced for three centuries after all. He was able to swiftly determine that these were a group of carcass beetles, based solely on their unique appearance. Even though these were only young beetles, they still had terrifying power.
Carcass beetles could be considered a kind of horrifying magical creature that lived in groups.
They had tough shells that didn't lose to Body Refining Adepts. They could fly, tunnel, and use their sharp teeth or claws to attack their enemies. Adult carcass beetles even boasted superior magic resistance, such that even spell attacks below 100 points of damage couldn't scratch their bodies.
With all of these advantages together, a swarm of carcass beetles were not an enemy an adept wanted to make.
The scorpions he used to feed with flesh and Spirit previously were too inferior, and couldn't be used in important battles, or fights between adepts. But now that the carcass beetles had appeared, it meant that Acteon had managed to raise his evil bug swarm to a level that matched him as an adept.
When all these carcass beetles matured, then Acteon would become a terrifying individual- even amongst the First Grade Adepts!
Mary gritted her teeth and left after walking to and fro where Greem was resting for a bit.
An entire army of witcher-knights had died in the woods. If she didn't seal the news quickly, the entire Duran province might be alerted. Therefore, Mary hurried back to Blue Hillock City in order to use her influence there to nip all kinds of troublesome news in the bud before they could spread.
Acteon, who had a similar burden, didn't stay in the base for long, and quickly left for the woods. He needed to set up bug traps on all the key entrances to the mountain to avoid any news from getting outside.
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