Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Having said that, Greem's body exploded into a cluster of flames and reappeared on the broad chest of the metal monster.

  His large hand blazed with a golden flame and reached inside the chest of the monster to extracted a strange brain from within it. This brain had a dozen fleshy tentacles beneath it and was the size of a human head.

  Gazlowe had once been as big as a hill. Now, it wasn't much bigger than a human's brain. Greem's Blazing Light from earlier had pierced through the upper left side of its brain, burning away nearly one-third of what was left in the first place.

  Greem flicked at the tentacles dangling beneath the broken brain. They seemed utterly limp and void of any life. After all, no one would be able to live any longer if a third of their brain had been burned away!

  "Master, is it still alive? Why can't I feel the presence of any life force? Could it have been beaten to death by you already?" Bug Adept Billis also turned into a cluster of black mist and flew onto the metal monster. He reformed himself beside Greem.

  "Dead? Well, isn't that good." The smile on Greem's face became even wider, "Well, if that's the case, then I guess I'll just burn the rest as well!"

  The fire on Greem's hand immediately started blazing after he said that.

  "Not dead… not dead. I'm not dead."

  Small Brain Gazlowe had wanted to play dead. However, he now had no choice but to dispel his pretense and regain his aura of life.

  The miniaturized Gazlowe seemed to understand that its strength was insufficient to deal with this leader of the adepts. Thus, he quietly stayed in Greem's hands, enduring the burning of the red flames.

  "Tell me! How did you survive that massive explosion!" Greem stared at the little fellow in his hands and asked in a calm tone.

  Even though his tone was calm and peaceful, Gazlowe felt a real threat of death in it.

  "I… I… seem to possess the ability to regenerate from even a drop of blood!"

  Chapter 551 Strange Brain

  Regeneration from a drop of blood was undoubtedly an exaggerated description.

  Strange brain Gazlowe's current abilities were somewhat similar to Bug Adept Billis'. Even if most of his brain was destroyed, the remaining bits would be able to regenerate.

  Unfortunately, Gazlowe's size corresponded with his abilities.

  He had barely managed to grow from scraps of the brain to a functional one that was capable of thought when he found himself in that situation of severe energy and nutritional deprivation. His current size only allowed him to manipulated some metal substances and mechanical constructs that had been polluted by magical energies.

  He could no longer use the mental powers that he had previously mastered due to the severe decrease in his Spirit!

  Moreover, one-third of his newly grown brain had just been burned to ashes by his old opponent– Greem. It was difficult for Gazlowe to maintain complete consciousness. Otherwise, he would never have tried something as crude as playing dead in front of a Second Grade fire adept!

  For some reason, the memories and emotions that belonged to Gazlowe had faded substantially after being reduced to his current size. Even though the brain itself retained all of Gazlowe's memories, they were only memories. The newly grown brain possessed a dominant consciousness and position that was distinct from Gazlowe's.

  Otherwise, he would never have appealed to his old enemy just because he was afraid of death.

  Greem ignored the show of friendliness and subordination. Scarlet light flashed in his eyes as a series of fire runes were pieced together to form a strange spell. The runes entered into the body of the brain.

  A sharp glare emerged in Greem's eyes as he coldly commanded, "Let down your mental defenses!"

  The fist-sized brain paused for a moment. His gray brain matter couldn't help but start trembling.

  He knew too clearly what Greem intended to do.

  Soul Brand!

  It was a soul brand that was etched directly upon the soul. The brain's soul would no longer be able to hide any secrets from Greem the moment the brand was engraved upon it. As long as Greem wished for it, he would be able to see the current state of the brain's soul, as well as the thoughts that were running through the brain.

  Greem would be able to sense any hostile thoughts or intentions that arose in the mind of the brain. When that happened, he only needed to send the thought of 'suicide' to the brain, and its soul instincts would drive the mind to execute his order without error.

  If he were still that lowly and humble goblin, Gazlowe would probably bend the knee and surrender; he couldn't have resisted after all. But now, he was, at the very least, a powerful Third Grade monster. How could he…

  Before the brain could think of a perfect strategy, Greem closed his palms. His five blazing crimson fingers instantly sunk into it. The gray brain matter was torched and roasted black by the flames, and pungent fumes rose from the brain.

  The brain felt Greem dripping with cold killing intent.

  Greem would probably exterminate him in the next second if he couldn't assure Greem of his loyalty and obedience.

  Allowing a monster like him to escape was not a wise decision. He could reform into that terrifying giant brain if he had ten to fifteen days to recover. When that happened, all metallic substances on the Goblin Plane would become his body. All magical machines would become his slaves. Who could stop him from once again gaining control of this world when that happened?

  If Greem didn't want his newly obtained lesser plane snatched from his hands, then he had to either turn the brain into one of his own or one of the dead.

  The brain ultimately recognized the situation he was in when threatened with death. He dejectedly let down of all his mental defenses.

  In all honesty, as a Second Grade fire adept, leaving his soul brand in the soul of a Third Grade monster was an arduous task for Greem as well.

  The brain was in agony throughout the process, while Greem was teetering on the brink of exhaustion the whole time.

  It took a total of fifteen minutes for the two of them to complete the soul branding. The weakened Third Grade brain had also become Greem's soul slave.

  Greem let out a grunt once he completed the soul brand. He immediately threw the brain away while falling to the ground, clasping his head between his hands. He had no choice. The soul information transmitted from the Third Grade brain at the moment the contract was completed had flooded his relatively frail mental consciousness.

  [Beep. Detecting strange soul connection. Requestion instructions from host. Maintain connection?]

  "No… cut it off first!"

  A short moment later, Greem temporarily managed to cut off his soul connection to the brain with the Chip's help. He finally broke free from the vast sea of soul information.

  Greem stood up with Billis' help. He wiped away the black blood streaking down his nostril and returned to normal.

  As expected of a Third Grade brain, he was a Third Grade monster after all. The memories and information in his mind were so large and numerous that it was hard even to count. If Greem had attempted to absorb all that information with no regard to their significance, his brain might have exploded.

  However, with the help of the Chip, Greem didn't need to care about anything that had to do with the brain. He let the Chip silently arrange and sort all the information that had been sent through the soul contract in that brief instant. He only needed to browse through the data once the Chip was done sorting it.

  Now that Greem had the soul contract, the brain would not be able to escape his control, even if he was one grade higher than himself. That meant that the brain had ironically turned into the most trustworthy and reliable member of all of his subordinates!

  "What do you need to recover?" Greem impatiently asked the brain that had returned to his side once he got onto his feet.

  The brain did not have a body, or any other organ for that matter. However, it was able to freely hover in the sky due to its powerful men
tal powers.

  The brain was now like a tame cat. It sat upon Greem's left shoulder and started communicating with him using telepathy.

  Large amounts of energy and nutritional solution!

  The brain had no digestive organs. It could only rely on its brain matter to slowly absorb liquid nutritional substances and magic energy. It had been able to rapidly swell to its massive size back in the past due to the space furnace serving as its energy source.

  Now that the super space-furnace had been destroyed, it had lost a stable source of energy. Thus, it had to rely on Greem finding a new source of energy for itself.

  Greem didn't say anything else. He pointed toward the sky, and the brain was immediately invigorated.

  A massive flying ship currently floated above the pit at the construction site. It was the existence of this ship that allowed the goblins to transport so many construction machines and resources into this purified area. The vessel was also responsible for carrying the useful waste that they had dug of the pit, allowing the goblins to sort and filter the debris at another site.

  This flying ship instantly became the most delicious cake in the brain's eye now that Greem had given his permission.

  The brain waved its tentacles and quickly cast a few mental powers on itself.

  Masquerade!

  Invisibility!

  Haste!

  The fist-sized brain turned into a flash of lightning under the accumulated effects of all those mental skills. It instantly flew into the sky, found a crack in the ship, and entered it.

  The first fifteen minutes was incredibly peaceful, so much so that one might even nod off.

  However, fifteen minutes later, the flying ship broke out into a riot.

  The many goblins inside the ship started to escape in a panic. They got onto various flying vessels and started leaving the ship.

  That was only because the brain didn't dare to devour their sweet flesh without Greem's permission. Otherwise, none of these goblin technicians would have been able to leave the flying ship alive.

  Once the goblins had all been driven away, the flying ship started to contort slightly, creaking and grinding as it did so. The other goblins were terrified by what had happened in the ship and didn't notice this happening. However, Greem could detect all this happening due to the Chip's detailed spiritual scans.

  It was apparent that the brain wasn't satisfied with its new ride upon taking control of the space furnace within the ship. It started using its magical energy to change the structure and appearance of the ship slightly.

  It was important to note that the flying ships had always been one of the old goblin Gazlowe's proudest works. The structure of its hull and the aerodynamic design had been one of the few things that the old goblin had taken great pride in. No goblin in the Empire could suggest any improvement or change to these designs, even a dozen years since the invention of the ship.

  However, the brain that had grown through Gazlowe's memories instantly discovered plenty of illogical and unscientific parts to the ship's design, despite only just gaining control of it. That was more than enough to demonstrate how much more powerful the brain was compared to the Gazlowe of the past!

  The modified flying ship made an elegant arc through the air and rapidly descended into the pit, hovering twenty meters above the ground.

  Slowly, the flying ship no longer waved in the air as it had in the past. Controlled by the brain's magic energy, it stopped right in the middle of the sky without any slight movements. It was almost as if it had been fixed to space with nails.

  Greem's mental consciousness silently communicated with the brain hiding in the flying ship. A short while later, a small opening appeared in the bottom of the ship. A powerful energy storm blasted out, sucking in all the dirt and oddly-shaped debris on the ground like a tornado.

  A visible layer of the dirt had been removed from the pit.

  At the same time, windows opened on the side of the massive ship, ejecting all the useless stuff, while keeping the useful and filtered materials within its hull.

  This efficiency was much higher than the continued and simultaneous efforts of a hundred construction machines.

  Greem had personally witnessed the efficacy of the flying ship under the brain's control and was greatly pleased. After a few words of instruction to the brain, Greem hurried away from the dig site and rushed back to where the teleportation device was.

  He couldn't help it. It seemed something had happened in the World of Adepts that demanded his attention!

  Chapter 552 Rose Manor

  There was a large manor situated fifteen kilometers to the west suburbs of Sturkö City.

  Night had just taken over the sky.

  Rose Manor was already brightly lit and filled with guests.

  The manor's front plaza with a fountain was filled with noble's carriages from the surrounding cities. Several well-dressed noble ladies in expensive fur emerged from the carriages, delicately stepping upon the ground before proudly walking into the manor under the accompaniment of equally well-dressed gentlemen.

  Several rows of servants in formal dress stood straight before the manor. They held still politely as they awaited the arrival of the guests, occasionally loudly announcing the long string of titles that each guest possessed.

  Leicester Vik stood silently on the open balcony of the manor's third floor. He held a glass of Pinedew Wine in his hands, cradling the glass and allowing the crimson liquid to swirl inside to release its sweet, alluring, and bloody fragrance.

  This particular type of truffle wine had been personally distilled by the famous Master Ritfink of the Vik Family. The sweetest virgin's heart blood and pine dew harvested from the edge of the Great Silent Forest had been used to make the wine, along with a dozen types of jasmine and rose pollen.

  Pinedew wine distilled in this manner was the utmost extravagant luxury for a vampire family. That was why it was not something that an ordinary vampire could afford. Only a top-tier vampire like Leicester could enjoy it as if it was a daily commodity.

  Leicester was extraordinarily tall, handsome, and he looked to be only about thirty years old.

  He had a pronounced nose and sunken eyes. His eyes were red, but his pupils were golden. A headful of long, dark, and curly brown hair rested upon his shoulders. The lines on his face were sharp and firm. His mustache was fine and extremely well-maintained, while his exposed skin was a pristine alabaster envied by all nobles.

  He wore a tailored black dress suit, the material of which was smooth, elegant, and pleasant to the touch. One look and anyone could tell it cost a fortune. A metal chain also hung outside the inner pocket of his suit. It seemed there was a pocketwatch within.

  While he emotionlessly assessed the gathering of guests below him, a clear voice rang out from behind.

  "Count Leicester, the guests are all here. They are waiting on you."

  The one who had approached Leicester was the host of the Rose Manor– Viscount Entia, who had been stationed here by the Vik family.

  As an ancient vampire family, the Viks had split the vampires within the family into five classes, according to ancestral etiquette. These five classes were the Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. Duke represented Fourth Grade, Marquis represented Third Grade, Count represented Second, Viscount represented First, and Baron represented pseudo-adepts.

  Any vampire who was pseudo-adept and below would not be recorded into the Vik's family tree. Not even their name would remain after they died.

  The evolutionary traits of the vampires destined them to go down a different path of cultivation compared to ordinary adepts. Pursuing the blood of powerful individuals was an instinct of theirs, as well as the only way they could strengthen themselves.

  The blood of ordinary individuals could only sustain them. Only by sucking the blood of powerful lifeforms could they grow in power. That was why they were also one of the rare few adept groups who held the most contact with the ordinary people o
f their territories.

  All large manors within the hereditary lands of the Viks would occasionally hold large-scale parties of debauchery. The nobles of nearby cities were often invited to such banquets and feasts. In particular, these were the best opportunities for noble ladies to get close to their rulers.

  The ordinary and ignorant common folk might harbor great fears of vampires, believing them to be monsters that feasted on human blood and demons that spread death wherever they went. However, the local nobles in the Vik territory didn't think so.

  They had no choice but to offer their talents and abilities to these gentle and elegant adepts, as they lived within the lands of vampires.

  Naturally, after spending a long time with the vampires, they realized they weren't as terrifying as the peasants often claimed them to be.

  The vampires were just like them. They needed to eat and drink. They had a life of their own. They required plenty of servants to serve them.

  Moreover, the vampires had a unique trait– their eternal youth. Just turning into a blood slave, or even a lowly vampire spawn, would delay aging and make a young man or woman grow even more handsome and pretty, let alone turning into an actual vampire.

  If vampires were demons, then they were demons who spread beauty and eternal youth wherever they went!

  Demons of this nature would become alluring and attractive figures once one learned to get over the disgust and fear of blood.

  All the vain noble ladies fantasizing about eternal youth fell in love with these debaucherous banquets. If a lady were fortunate enough to be looked upon by a member of the Vik family during the feast, and was bitten just once because of that, she would instantly become the envy of all noble ladies in the surrounding cities.

  She might turn into a blood slave that had to obey all orders given to her because of this, but who would fuss over such a small detail? What was the loss of a little freedom if one could get their hands on youth and status?

  That was why nearly all nobles with any influence within a hundred kilometer radius immediately hurried to the Rose Manor upon hearing the arrival of the new rising star of the Vik family– Leicester.