Chapter 284
"Beep. Detecting intrusion of unknown forcefield. Host's Spiritual senses are rapidly weakening."
"Beep. Detecting dangerous high-energy magical lifeform closing in. Recommending the host keep distance from said lifeform."
"Beep. Detecting foreign mental-suppression-causing intimidation effects on the host. Requesting instructions from host. Counter-attack?"
"Beep. Detecting… "
"……"
Liana's death threat rang in his ear, and the chip in his mind continued to beep ceaselessly. Repeated alarm bells went off in his head, almost driving him insane.
However, it was precisely the danger and urgency of the situation that caused Greem's Spirit to become even sharper and more focused.
Greem was surprised at what he was seeing. His elementium sight provided him feedback based on the enemy's hostility. The entire Mushroom Cottage was painted a bright red, as every single possible minion of the witch was glowing crimson. However, only the old witch's crooked and short body was reflected in his vision as… a huge yellow spot!
Red represented hostility. The deeper the color, the greater the hostility of the enemy. Green represented friendliness, while yellow was neutrality. Yellow meant that the opponent didn't have any strong opinions towards him.
How was this possible!
The old witch was literally placing him at the brink of death. It seemed like she was able to kill him the very next second. How was it possible that she was neutral towards him?
As Greem was still stuck hesitating, the yellow spot quickly started to turn red.
It seemed Greem's hesitation had angered her and cause her to slowly become more and more hostile towards him!
No. No. This old witch's goal isn't as simple at this. She wasn't too keen or eager on killing him, even after discovering that Alice had signed a slave contract with him. She was still neutral. It was only when he started hesitating that she actually contemplated killing him...
Greem's mind rapidly turned as he scoured his heart for every single tradition and secret of the Witches of Despair that he knew of.
Greem asked probingly, "Will Lady Liana let me go if I willingly let go of this contract?"
The old witch might have the odd ability to force the magical contract to materialize, but there was no way she had any way to change the contents of the contract.
After all, magical contracts were fundamental rules protected by the planar laws. It was only when the two parties involved in the contract willingly gave up on the contract that it could be dispelled. Even a Great Adept had no means of bypassing the planar laws to modify or get rid of the contents of a contract.
Greem had merely expressed his intent to give up on the contract and he could already see Liana turning into a bright red spot under his hostility vision.
"Very good! Very good!" The old witch's voice suddenly became gentle, "You can let go of the contract now. Once the contract disappears, the girl stays, and you can leave with the Dead Soul's Water!"
If it wasn't for the chip's amazing hostility sensor, Greem might actually have been tricked by her facade. The old witch might have expressed approval, and even squeezed out an ugly smile, but Greem knew the truth. He could feel the shivers running down his spine as he gained a perfect understanding of her true feelings.
Now that he knew what she was looking for, Greem immediately acted without hesitation.
"Uelr Ar!" Greem made a grabbing motion with his left hand as he shouted. The Scroll of Voodoo silently appeared in his hand. The thick grimoire instantly opened, and its tough kraft paper pages rapidly flipped over and over. Soon the book stopped on a certain page.
Scarlet light glowed on the book. One by one, each and every rune, symbol, line, and image on the page started to glow. The shape of a boiling fireball rapidly appeared above the page. Crimson radiance gathered about and filled the shape. The silhouette slowly turned into a real fireball. A fearsome, one meter in diameter fireball.
Greem guided it with his Spirit, the Explosive Fireball instantly locking onto the old witch and her sinister smile. It whistled as it was launched across the air.
There was less than five meters between the two. The fireball was fast and furious. It had appeared before the ugly witch almost the very instant it was fired.
At the same time, Greem waved his left hand and pushed Alice towards the door of the Mushroom Cottage. He whispered silently and quickly, "You leave first. I'll follow after you as soon as I can. Hurry… "
Alice was completely stunned and confused by what was happening.She turned around to look in a daze as she ran towards the door.
All of these actions might have seemed extremely complicated and lengthy, but it lasted no more than two or three seconds for everyone involved.
The adepts were known for their Spirit. The speed of their thought processes were much faster than the average person. The extreme detail their Spiritual senses could go into allowed them to think and move extremely quickly. While the ordinary person might still be stuck in thought, an adept would already have gone through seven or eight lines of thought and would already be putting those thoughts into action.
Greem continued to monitor the old witch's reaction through the chip's sensors.
There was a powerful forcefield around the witch. There was no way the chip could see through the forcefield and observe anything about her intent. However, when the witch was using every bit of her Spiritual strength to suppress and beat down Greem's Spiritual senses, the chip was able to use the minor and subtle changes in the Spirits and elementium around them to do a quick, basic analysis on her intent.
An ability that afforded Greem such detail might not be very useful in an actual battle.
With how powerful the Second Grade Liana was, Greem couldn't possibly endure a single Second Grade spell. Even if he was able to analyze the enemy's intent, would it matter? He still wouldn't be able to block or dodge the attacks.
The difference in their strength remained!
Combat techniques and experience only mattered in a battle between equals. A battle with someone above his Grade? That was an act of pure suicide!
Greem's use of the chip to monitor Liana's hostility wasn't for the purpose of winning the fight. It was to verify his theory on the witch's actions!
As expected, when Greem 'courageously' attacked Liana, the hostility coming from her quickly dissipated. And when Greem tried his best to 'protect' Alice and let her leave, all of the remaining hostility disappeared. The yellow color was even starting to shift towards a light green, indicative of friendliness.
Bingo. He made the right gamble!
Greem was rejuvenated by the sight of this. He immediately turned and ran without hesitation.
Now that the stage had been set, it was up to the old witch on how to conclude the act!
A short moment later, Greem and Alice were bound by the terrifying black python and brought back to the witch.
To Greem's shock and horror, the fearsome black python was also a Second Grade magical creature. Moreover, it seemed to be Liana's magical pet. It shook and its tail, and its black and scaled snake's tail extended up to a dozen meters. It easily bound Greem, who had lost all his spellcasting ability, and dragged him back along with Alice.
The Explosive Fireball that Greem fired from his Scroll of Voodoo was swallowed by the black python in a single bite. The fireball exploded, and the only thing that happened was some slight black smoke came out of its nostrils.
It had swallowed and devoured an explosive fireball and had not sustained a single injury. Greem was utterly terrified. His confidence that came from killing a Second Grade knight on the knight's plane was instantly shattered into a million pieces.
Dammit! Why was there such a massive difference between Second Grades from the World of Adepts, and the Second Grades of other planes!?
"Not bad! Kehkehkeh… " A frightening smile appeared on the old witch's face, "To raise a hand against a S
econd Grade adept for a little brat. No wonder this little brat was so willing to be your slave! Not bad. Not bad. Not bad at all… "
Confused expressions appeared on Greem's and Alice's faces. They were completely dazzled by what was happening.
However, only one was truly confused. The other one was just putting up an act!
The old witch Liana looked at the two people staring at her in confusion and leapt off the wooden bench with difficulty. She walked to the wooden table. She held a long staff in one hand, and lifted the black robe dragging against the ground with the other. She narrowed her eyes as she assessed the two, before nodding in satisfaction.
"I know both of you are extremely confused. Still, this old hag doesn't have that much time to explain to either of you. Hey. Kid. Your little maid will need to stay here at my place for up to ten days. You can come and fetch her ten days later! I'll properly educate her on how to become a true witch in this time! And you… can leave."
Witch Liana waved the staff in her hand and Greem felt light flash before his eyes.
He found himself standing alone at the entrance of the swamp the very next second.
With a black pot in his arms!
Greem raised his head. The mist was getting heavier. It was hard to see through the Swamp of Darkness anymore. A complex and indescribable feeling was betrayed in his eyes.
A short moment later, he shook his head and left.
…………
Seven days later.
Guriad Arena.
As a specialized arena for esoteric duels, Guriad Arena was famous throughout the outer circle. Many esoteric adepts loved to come here and settle their disagreements with a good duel.
Today, the Byron Clan from the Zhentarim Dagon area and the Gerto Clan from the north of the Silver Union's territory were using a golem duel to fight over possession of the right to stay in the Castle in the Sky.
If the Gerto Clan won, the Byron Clan would lose their last outpost in the Castle in the Sky. They would no longer have any ability to purchase resources from the very center of the Silver Union. If the Byron Clan won, the Gerto Clan would have to pay massive compensations as the challenging party.
It was said that the amount of resources at stake was enough to bankrupt a small clan!
That was why this particular golem duel had drawn the attention of numerous shop owners and adepts stationed in the city.
Some of them wanted to personally witness the fall of the Byron Clan, while others only wanted to collect some data on the battling golems. The fight hadn't start yet, but already the seats were sold out.
Chapter 285
A circular amphitheater, an oval stage for combat, an impenetrable energy barrier, and an arena full of passionate spectators…
Guriad Arena. In terms of design and architecture, it wasn't much different from Greem's past life memories of the Colosseum.
When Greem finally entered the arena alongside the Byron adepts the whole arena went silent. The adepts and apprentices remained quiet in their seats, assessing Greem and the Byron adepts with odd and doubtful gazes.
Some adepts who were familiar with each other couldn't help but start murmuring when they saw Greem. Greem could only see their mouths move, but not a single sound came out of their throats. It was obvious that they were communicating using magic.
"No need to get nervous! The Byron Clan will help you deflect any kind of variable or interference that might come from the outside. You just do your best to beat the opponent." Adept Nunnally ground her teeth as she sent a voice transmission to Greem, "Remember, you must win!"
Even though she knew that this would probably put more pressure on Greem, the path to retreat was already shut off for the Byron Clan. Thus, after giving Greem a wicked and mean 'encouragement', Nunnally sat down and waited for the outcome in silence.
Angus let out an awkward laugh. He looked at Greem with an expression that suggested at the complexity and difficulty of the situation, but he didn't say anything more.
The stage where combat took place was around five hundred meters in diameter. The floor had also been magically hardened. The entire place could endure the chaos and damage caused by a fight between two magical golems. There were about two hundred seats in the spectator stands. All of them were already filled. There were about forty to fifty adepts amongst them, while the rest of them were elite apprentices from various clans.
A commotion started up just as Greem was calmly observing the place.
"Here they come! It's here… "
"Quick, look! That thing is here again… "
"We get to see the Golem Knight in action again …"
"……"
The noisy voices of chattering adepts and apprentices filled the arena as they talked about the Golem Knight.
Greem stopped looking around and turned to see the opponent he was about to face. A tall and powerful metallic golem entered the arena, following behind a group of adepts. The group hadn't even gotten close, yet already Greem could hear the heavy footsteps of the metallic golem and the unique sound of its grinding joints.
There were seven adepts in all, both male and female.
All of them were wearing an emblem with a roaring bear's head on their chest. These were the Gerto Clan adepts.
The one walking at the very front was a bald and muscular man wearing a thick and heavy bronze armor. As a Second Grade adept himself, he was the clan leader of the Gerto Clan. His eyes clashed with Adept Nunnally the moment he walked into the arena. A deep-seated hatred was carved into his gaze.
Greem couldn't help but have suspicions when he saw this happening. There were probably some other tensions and conflicts between the two clans other than the bet with the golem challenge. At this point, there was no longer any room to back out. Thus, Greem gave up on mulling over unnecessary thoughts and shifted his attention to his opponent– the golem master and his Golem Knight.
Greem's eyes swept across the seven adepts and quickly identified the golem master.
Of course, this wasn't because the golem master was any different from the other adepts. He had already seen a portrait of this golem master in the information the Byron Clan provided him with.
This was a short, crafty old man with wrinkles over all his face and a white goatee below his chin. Greem could sense his aura. He didn't seem to be much more powerful than Greem himself. His Spirit probably didn't even exceed ten points. Otherwise there was no way Greem would be able to detect the strength of his aura.
Greem had finally gotten a basic understanding of First Grade adepts after all this time.
One could be considered an adept once they successfully formed their adept core and were able to sense the strength of the planar laws. Under normal circumstances, a newly advanced adept would have no more than one point of Spirit. The basic condition for becoming a Second Grade adept was raising that one point to twenty-one points.
Thus, the greatest amount of Spirit that a First Grade adept could have was twenty points!
A First Grade adept at their very peak would have twenty points of Spirit, while a newly advanced adept would only have one point of Spirit. Although true combat ability wasn't defined purely by the amount of Spirit, the difference between an adept at their peak and a rookie adept was still extremely obvious.
First Grade adepts would often treat the first ten points of Spirit as a threshold for a certain standard. Adepts that passed this threshold of ten points were called elite adepts. Those who never crossed this threshold would almost always remain as rookies and amateurs.
The Adept Anderson that died at the Greem’s hands, on the other hand, had advanced for three hundred years already. Yet he still hadn't manage to break the threshold of ten points. These fellows that had no potential for improvement could only be known as veteran adepts, even to their graves. They had no qualification to call themselves 'elites'.
In truth, nearly sixty percent of all First Grade adepts on the Continent were unable to cross this th
reshold in their entire lifespan.
The Gerto golem master before him, Rouneau, had already exhausted most of his life force, yet his Spirit remained on the level of any other adept. It was clear that he had no chance of breaking through to Second Grade.
This was one of the awkward truths that esoteric adepts had to face.
They spent too much time searching for the best formulas, scouring for their ideal rare metals, ceaselessly improving and modifying their golem arrays, and trying their best to forge the ultimate golem… every single one of these tasks were enough to grind away at the years of an esoteric adept. All of these tasks added together would quickly exhaust the entire lifespan of an esoteric adept's brilliant and amazing life!
Thus, in general, there were very few Third and Fourth Grade adepts amongst the esoteric adepts, and even fewer Great Adepts above Fifth Grade.
Even most of the high-grade adepts that the Silver Union had right now didn't advance to their level through their own efforts. It was mostly because they made immense contributions in their research that they were able to get the Union to invest heavily in them. Most of them were high-grade adepts that had risen to their level through the accumulation of an uncountable number of resources.
These people were known as the Chosen Ones among the esoteric adepts!
This was a source of hope for those who were untalented and unfavored. If they knew they had no hope for advancement, they could throw themselves into their research as esoteric adepts. If they ever came up with an innovative branch of knowledge, or a new line of thought, they could possibly be noticed by the Silver Union Senate, and be selected as a Chosen One.
Sadly, Golem Master Rouneau was not someone with immense potential either. He had not been selected as a Chosen One. This was why his power was almost equal to Greem's, despite his seniority. He even seemed to be slightly weaker than Greem.
However, the fight today was a fight between golems, not a fight between their masters. Greem took a quick look at Rouneau and shifted his gaze to the Golem Knight behind him.
This was a metallic golem that had the appearance of a human knight. Platinum-colored armor, a full helm, and a massive sword and shield on its back. Its movements might not have been as agile and smooth as humans, but they were far more organic than your regular golem.
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 186