Dana painstakingly propped herself up with her arms and took a look at her surroundings. She then gazed at Greem: "As long as you kill Tula and completely cure me, I swear by the name of the Earth Mother to forever serve you!"
Dana's words shocked the dying old spider. But before it could even muster the last vestiges of its strength to fight back, a black staff stabbed into its head. The impact squashed the last traces of life from the spider.
Even though the old spider was much more powerful than Dana, from a theoretical standpoint, Greem decided to recruit the Medusa after he gave it some thought. That was because he didn't have the confidence to completely manipulate a magical creature leader at the peak of elite-class and keep it under his thumb. After all, he had to undergo his second phase transformation just to possess the power to engage Tula in a fight. The disproportionate difference in Spirit also compromised any manipulation spells and contracts he could establish.
As opposed to recruiting a ticking time bomb, it was much better to take in a loyal Medusa.
The dust settled, and the battle was won. Greem sent the Decayer and Unguja to sweep the Spider Cave while he stayed behind to help the Medusa solve the problem festering within her body.
If it were any other adept, even those specialists who were well-versed in the arts of dissection and magical creature biology, they would not perform as well as Greem in this situation. With his scanning ability, Greem had the most perfect and unobstructed view of everything happening in Dana's body.
Now that the Medusa had deactivated her life forcefield, Greem's elementium sight was as powerful as an x-ray machine. He had managed a detailed scan of her body with a single glimpse. He then successfully found a parasite the size of a palm in her abdomen.
It was a strange creature that resembled both a spider and a scorpion!
Its head was pinned deep below Dana's ribs, while its four pairs of sharp limbs gripped her spine. Its tail had stabbed into the spine and seemed to be slowly absorbing Dana's bone marrow.
Dana's current exhaustion had evidently been caused by this parasite absorbing most of her strength.
Such a complicated scenario and such a strange parasite; any other adept would have been hard-pressed to get rid of this pest without harming the Medusa's origin powers.
However, this was not a problem for Greem and his powerful eyes. He had Dana lie on the ground as he took out a dozen surgical tools from his pouch. All of them had various purposes and shapes. He then cut open the Medusa's abdomen.
The surgical scalpel nimbly danced about Greem's slender fingers. It was almost as if surgery had become an art in and of itself.
Greem opened Dana's chest and exposed the unique biological composition of a Medusa to his eyes. Thick crimson body tissue existed beneath the tough ribs. A thin but tough membrane covered those muscles. Dana's three-lobed heart was beating beneath all that, slow yet powerful.
A dark red insect with a hard shell crouched on her spine. Seven or eight tiny vessels extended from its body and connected with the Medusa's organs.
The strange insect reared its semi-translucent head that had yet to harden and let out a weak but determined screech at Greem. It was almost as if it could sense the outside threat. Its attempts to absorb Dana's power became even more hurried and rushed!
Greem smiled coldly.
Anyone else might not have known how to deal with a strange creature like this one. They could easily hurt the Medusa as they killed this parasite. However, Greem was different. He had the best surgical guidance right in his brain.
The chip directly scanned all the contact points between the insect and the Medusa. It then projected every single one of them onto Greem's retina.
Seventeen contact points!
Eight of those were blood vessels, five were conduits of some kind, one was its head capsule, two were its body nodes, and the last one was its stinger.
Greem had to remove all these things from Dana's body in the shortest amount of time to prevent the insect from dealing more damage to her. And to do all this, Greem only needed a single instant!
Greem tossed the surgical scalpel aside. A strand of fire that resembled a blade burned at the tips of all ten of his slender fingers. He then rapidly sliced across the body of the insect like a delicate and careful pianist. His black eyes also shone as two tiny heat rays shot out from within.
The perfect coordination of his hands and eyes allowed him to sever the seventeen contacts points in a single second. Even the insect's four pairs of limbs had been cleanly cut off by Greem.
Greem felt the impulse to research a strange creature like this, and therefore spared its life. He carefully extracted it from Dana's body then threw it into a jar after sealing it with magic. Greem then cautiously took out the severed limbs and stinger and stashed them somewhere safe.
Chapter 424 Bountiful Spoils
How significant were the benefits of robbing a magical creature lord?
Greem didn't want to answer this question, because he was practically having a stroke from laughing.
Tula had excavated many independent caves in the deepest parts of its spider cave. Assorted valuable metal ores and precious resources were split up in hidden caches within these small caves.
It was Tula's hundreds of years of toiling collection. The value of all the resources added together was enough to shock Greem!
Of course, the magical creatures lacked a detailed and perfected system of refining metals. That meant that most of the stuff they collected were natural metal crystals and magical gemstones of the highest quality.
Greem also discovered large amounts of natural Magic Iron in Tula's warehouse. This metal was one of the fundamental materials that adepts used to make magic alloy. Apart from Magic Iron, Greem also found thorium, mithril, khorium, wrought gold, eternium, shadow stones, opals, unrefined emeralds, topaz, and many other magical gemstones.
Naturally, Tula also had an entire warehouse of magical stones.
Magical stones were similar to magical crystals; they were a product of arcane energies. However, magical stones were of inferior quality. Magical stones formed when rocks in nature absorbed excessive amounts of elementium. That was why magical stones shattered into pebbles and rock pieces once the magical energy within was extracted from them. Magical crystals, on the other hand, were crystals formed from concentrated elementium that was subjected to immense pressure. The amount of magical energy that a single magical crystal could store was far higher than that of a magical stone.
In conclusion, magical stones had a more stable structure, but they absorbed and retained less magical energy. They also left behind impurities. Magical crystals were less stable, but they contained far more magical power and left nothing behind when consumed.
That was why high-grade runic and magical arrays required magical crystals as a power source. Magical stones were only suited for use in inferior products. The exchange rate between the two types of resource was ten to one.
The magical creatures of Black Forest could not extract and refine the stones into magical crystals. That was why they mostly stockpiled magical stones that they had dug out themselves. Greem performed a basic calculation; Tula had amassed about seven to eight hundred thousand magical stones. Converted to magical crystals, this amounted to seventy to eighty thousand crystals.
Even though it didn't completely negate the cost of the war, it was still a great relief to the tower's finances.
Moreover, Greem wasn't the only search party. If the other two parties were able to reap similar rewards, they might be able to make up for their losses. In fact, they might even have a little extra!
However, of all the discoveries, there was one that excited Greem the most. A rare bottle of the Blood of Ley Lines.
This substance was extremely beneficial for earth-attribute bloodline adepts. It could, at the very least, fetch thirty thousand magical crystals if put on the market.
Furthermore, there were also large amounts of asso
ciated resources in metal ores. For example, there were the shadow crystals, smoky quartz, dark jade, elementium earth. There were even flora resources unique to the Black Forest, such as Thousand Year Tree Hearts, Giant Tree Roots, magic vine seeds, sunflowers…
Greem had also found a small laboratory as he was searching through this extensive list of resources. All sorts of strange samples were inside. These were things like spiderified creature specimens and unformed fetuses. After a detailed search, Greem even found a knowledge crystal in a hidden box inside the lab. Its contents seemed to be Tula's centuries of thoughts on its biological experimentations. Tula had also imparted some knowledge about the soul to the crystal.
The magical creatures might not have had a comprehensive and excellent legacy system as the adepts did. However, a magical creature with any ambition at all would research its own. That said, most of their research was isolated and hidden away from the eyes of others. There was almost no exchange of knowledge between them.
Every magical creature would have to start from scratch if they wanted to embark on a topic of research. There was no readily available body of information or techniques they could draw inspiration from.
Consequently, the results of the magical creatures' research were always fragmented and superficial. Even though they could sometimes be inspired and genuinely insightful, most of it was merely too shallow due to the lack of understanding and technique. The research hardly even delved deep enough to reveal the hidden secrets of the world!
One could tell what Tula's passion was just by looking at the sheer number of mutated spiders and spiderified creatures. The old spider loved breeding and modifying its own descendants. However, the descendants it had changed were all weak in combat. It meant that Tula wasn't all that talented and well-versed in the arts of biological modifications.
Still, Greem wasn't a picky person.
He pressed the crystal against his forehead. In less than five seconds, he had perfectly copied the massive amount of data stored within. Then, under the chip's careful filtering and selection, seventy-eight percent of the mistakes and irrelevant information were excluded. The rest was then carefully sorted and saved.
Greem didn't dare touch the parts about utilizing spider eggs and powerful beings to birth spiderified creatures. However, there was plenty of exploration into the soul in Tula's research. This knowledge had great significance for Greem.
In truth, Greem had been trying to purchase knowledge related to the soul for a long time. However, he still hasn't managed to obtain any news of a seller. It seemed that all the large adept organizations were furiously trying to get ahead on research about the soul. Everything related to this area of study, including the progress made in the area, had been sealed and was on lockdown.
Ordinary adepts had no means of obtaining related information, let alone conduct valuable and relevant experiments.
That was why Greem had nearly no information about the soul in the chip's data library. Tula's research was mostly superficial and often mistaken, but it still had immeasurable significance in guiding Greem's own analysis!
In particular, Greem loved the two or three minor soul spells stored inside the knowledge crystal; Greem was barely able to suppress his excitement. If it weren't for the timing and location, he would already be trying to get firsthand information about these spells.
After all, only new knowledge and spells could interest an adept. These were the most significant factors that drove their improvement!.
There was far too much wealth in the spider cave. Just Greem and Unguja alone couldn't possibly take away much of the treasure. That was why Greem left Unguja to keep watch over the place while he brought Dana back to the tower on the manticore. He then had Am lead a group of disciples and a few manticores to the cave to perform the heavy lifting.
The most powerful creatures in the area were already dead. There was no real need to be concerned for their safety. Thus, Greem left matters out of his hands once he passed the coordinates of the spider cave to the apprentices. He then holed up in his tower to slowly investigate the contents of the knowledge crystal.
Dana the Medusa, as one of the severely wounded casualties, remained in the tower to regain her strength.
Of course, Meryl and Gargamel also returned soon.
There were upsets and difficulties along the way, but they also brought back abundant lists of resources and rare items.
Much like Tula, the other magical creature leaders had secretly stashed plenty of resources in their private storerooms and warehouses. The two parties couldn't bring too many of the stores along with them, so they only picked the rarest of them all to bring back. The rest of the stuff had to be slowly moved back to the tower over the course of the next few days.
The more common resources were all left to Gargamel's discretion. They were to be stored in the warehouse as fundamental resources for the tower's day-to-day use. The more valuable and precious resources were also left to Gargamel to deal with after Greem got to pick from them. The most expensive and rarest of them all, Greem kept in his private quarters.
Greem had left the Demon Hound's and the Medusa's dens untouched and left it for them to deal with themselves. This gesture was to strengthen their loyalties to him. Most of the housekeeping was centered around the dens of Tula, the Giant Berserk Gelada, the bird demon, and the snake fiend.
While the bird demon and snake fiend had also surrendered to Greem and pledged themselves to his cause, they were too weak. Therefore, Greem didn't see the need to provide them with better treatment. They had no choice but to suck it up and offer all their property to Greem. They were only allowed to keep some resources for themselves and their tribe members.
The transportation took several weeks. When the Silver Union adepts hurriedly arrived with the construction team, they weren't sure if they had reached the right place. Plaguewood, no, the pile of rocks was too lively.
Plaguewood had utterly vanished, replaced by a three-kilometer-wide field of rocks. Black dirt mixed with pebbles and rocks, as well as broken branches from fallen trees. These were the last signs of Plaguewood.
At the moment, a massive hole had been dug out in the center of the enormous pile of boulders. A new tunnel had also been dug out. Other than the manticores, who were carting things to and fro, there were also plenty of low-level magical creatures working at the entrance of the cave.
They were the most hardworking laborers, continuously carrying stuff off of the manticore's back and grunting as they heaved them underground.
A flock of bird demons took to the skies when the 'outsiders' suddenly appeared. They held crude throwing spears in their hands as they formed a perimeter. Seven or eight snake fiends with male human torsos and snake tails slithered across the ground and surrounded the outsiders. They held long and gleaming spears in their hands.
The silver-robed adepts had arrived here on a sort of floating disc unique to the Silver Union. The platform couldn't fly as high as a floating ship, but it was agiler and more suited for short distance flying of sixty kilometers or less.
"Could the adept's tower have fallen to the magical creatures? Has this place turned into a monster's playground?” A silver-robed adept couldn't help but exclaim.
"No. I'm afraid it's quite the opposite!" Adept Eugene was the one to speak, "Look at the cave entrance."
The esoteric adepts turned to look, and indeed, they found two apprentices standing there. They weren't the slaves or prisoners of these magical creatures. Instead, they seemed to be the overseers of the place, arrogantly commanding the magical creatures.
Kodar quickly called the bird demons and snake fiends back when he saw the silver robes on Eugene and the others. He personally rushed ahead to greet the adepts.
"May I ask if you are the respected adepts from the Devinni Trading Company?"
"That is right. We are indeed from the Devinni Trading Company."
"That couldn't be better news. My teacher has been awaiting yo
ur arrival in the tower. Please come with me!"
The adepts looked at each other in suspicion before silently following Kodar into the tunnel filled with the smell of fire and sulfur.
Chapter 425 Construction Works
The two parties met again in the tower.
It had only been ten days, and yet it was almost as if this brand new tower had just experienced a hundred years of history. The scars of war remained on the tower's walls and the Magma Hall that it resided in.
The last time they had seen this place, it had still been draped in pitch-black darkness. There had only been illuminating rocks, nightlight crystals, phosphorescent moss, lichens, and fungi that glowed with dim lights.
This time, what they saw was a Magma Hall that continually shone with a crimson light.
All the stone pillars, dirt, and materials that had been immersed in the sea of lava and couldn't withstand it had been vaporized and washed away. Only the volcanic rock that could withstand the heat remained.
That was why the geography looked so much different compared to last time. It was barely recognizable.
In particular, the stone walls of the Magma Hall were incredibly striking. They were red below and black on top. The difference in the structures of the wall was pronounced. All the visiting adepts could sense the trials and difficulties that the tower had endured over the past few days.
The three Silver Union adepts couldn't help but fall silent when they saw the tower's damaged walls and the severely compromised foundations. They knew very well what this meant. The fact that Greem could sit here talking to them at leisure meant that the magical creatures had lost.
Those invading magical creatures were either hiding in some corner, licking their wounds, or starting to plot their next attacks. Still, either way, this 'small-time adept' from the Sarubo Clan had won the first move in obtaining dominance over this stretch of the Black Forest.
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