Little Helen's eyes suddenly shone brightly during Alice's moment of confusion and doubt. The fairy excitedly flew up and down.
"His force seemed to have been developing fairly well the last time we went to Fire Throne. Maybe…"
Alice thought for a moment before shaking her head and saying, "They've just found a decent small-sized plane on their end. The local forces there are pretty tough to deal with as well. The enemies aren't much weaker than the Faen Plane of the Pale Witches. I fear they would have difficulty sparing any manpower on their end at this moment. Moreover, this is an internal matter of the Northern Witches. He is an outsider."
"Hmph! What outsider," Little Helen pouted in disdain, "Last time he asked you to go and support his cause, he treated you as if you were his subordinate. If he dares not help you in your moment of difficulty now, I will scold him to death."
Alice pretty face turned into a frown. She reprimanded the fairy unhappily, "Helen; I won't allow you to do anything unnecessary! The reason I could become the Witch of Fate was all his help. That is why I am obligated to help him. The trip to Faen this time is far too dangerous. I don't want his clan that is only just starting to shape up to disappear just like that. That's why…"
Alice had just completed a large-scale divination. She had greatly exhausted her Spirit and stamina. Alice felt dizzy and nauseous just from trying to argue with Helen, and her eyes went black as she collapsed to the ground.
That frightened Helen half to death. She waved her tiny magic wand and cast Levitate on Alice before using the wind powers to move the girl out of the astrology platform.
Greem only heard news of this at a slightly later time.
He had to first teleport from Lance to the Goblin Plane, then teleport from the Goblin Plane to Fire Throne before finally making his way to the Witch of Fate.
Even he, a Second Grade adept, felt his head ache after so many teleportations. He couldn't walk straight by the time he reached the Tower of Fate.
He hurriedly arrived at her room and saw the unconscious Alice lying on a bed.
All seven witches of the Witches of Fate were gathered here, including Berserk Witch Sofia and Icelady Snowlotus. Their expressions were solemn and severe, and they seemed slightly upset at Greem's appearance.
Greem walked forward and bent to scan Alice's body. The Chip's scans revealed that she was deficient in blood energy, her Spirit was in a state of severe withering, and the light spectrum that represented her life magnetic field was incredibly dull. He couldn't help but ask in shock, "What's happened to Alice?"
"What else could happen? It's because she conducted too many divination ceremonies and lost too much life energy. That's how this…" The palm-sized Helen placed her hands on her waist as if she was fuming with anger.
Snowlotus grabbed the fairy before she could finish her sentence. The ice witch lightly touched the fairy on the head with a finger before turning and coldly speaking to Greem, "Since you, sir, have already seen the tower owner, would you please go home!"
Greem fell silent. It was only now that he lifted his head and took a look at the witches in the room.
"I might not be a member of the Witches of Fate, but I have an unbreakable relationship with Alice. Thus, I hope you people had best not hide anything from me!"
Snowlotus was slightly stunned. Even she was speechless for a second. Instead, it was Helen that broke free of Snowlotus' grip with a quick teleport. She appeared before Greem once again and floated toward his face. The fairy stared into his eyes and asked, "Do you mean what you say? You would be willing to save Alice if she was in danger?"
"Of course!" Greem spoke with utter certainty, "Alice's problems are my problems! I will involve myself in all of her matters!"
"Good."
Helen's expression turned into one of joy. She was just about to spill the beans when a crisp and cold voice interrupted her.
"Helen, you've acted out of turn!" No one knew when, but Alice had already woken up. She sat up with much difficulty and scolded Helen angrily. "This is the matter of us witches, why did you summon him here?"
Greem took a look around him and vaguely understood something.
He decided to sit by the bedside and grab Alice's white and somewhat thin right hand in his own.
"Alice, do you now know my feelings for you? If you doubt the authenticity of my feelings, you can verify it with your divination spells."
Before he could even finish his sentence, seven radiant beams of divination simultaneously fell upon him.
"Seventy percent truth and thirty percent non-truths."
"The non-truths don't seem like lies, however."
"Hmph, just as expected. Not a hundred percent truthful."
"Men are all like this."
"Eh, this is pretty good in comparison to most men."
"Guess we will trust him this one time."
"He got lucky this time!"
These people.
Greem's body instantly froze. His forehead immediately filled with plenty of black lines.
It was clear that Alice was dealing with some doubts concerning him right now, but it was so difficult to make any confessions with so many 'ducks' around them.
While Greem was unsure of what to do next, the blushing Alice had already embarrassedly started chasing away the witches.
For some reason, after tossing their divination spells at Greem, they no longer looked upon him with the same sense of estrangement and distance. They laughed amongst themselves as they left the room.
Once they were the only two left in the room, along with sneaky little Helen, Greem brought Alice into his embrace. He pressed his face against her smooth and silky white hair, taking in the faint scent of her body.
Alice might look slender and tall, but it was obvious her body was far too frail. Greem could tell that she was too skinny when he had her in his arms. The girl even seemed bony to the touch.
Alice was like a shy little lamb right now. She leaned her head upon Greem's shoulder and trembled slightly. It was hard for her to organize her words.
Greem laughed out loud and pulled Alice deeper into his chest. He didn't care for her slight gasp and instead lifted his head and smiled at Helen.
"Well, I've dealt with your master! Now, you can tell me the matter as it is."
"Ayayaye. Bad man, terrible man. As expected, all they think of is doing bad things."
Helen covered her eyes with both hands as she flew around Greem and Alice like a headless fly. It wasn't until she peeked through her fingers and saw Greem waiting for her that she carefully leaned toward his ear. She then told him everything about Alice's advancement and the matter of Faen.
"You can already advance?" Greem was first happy to hear this, but then couldn't help but grumble, "Alice, what's with you this time? This isn't like you! There's no point to hiding anything. You should have told me this matter earlier. Then, everyone can gather together to discuss. We can surely come up with a plan."
Alice pulled out her small hands and tried her best to catch Greem's large hands, which were taking the opportunity to roam and do evil everywhere. Still very much embarrassed but happy, she pouted and said, "It's only because I'm worried that you've only just entered Lance. The situation still isn't clear yet. It's very easy for your efforts to be completely wasted if you have to withdraw your forces prematurely! Moreover, this operation is an internal matter of the Northern Witches. Outsiders are not allowed to participate."
Greem smiled, "I'm not an outsider; I'm your lover and partner! No one can oppose my participation if I do so under this identity, can they?"
The Northern Witches' lands might be composed mainly of witches, but every branch had male adepts as well. These male adepts held awkward positions among the Northern Witches. They were either the lovers of certain witches or the subordinates of others. Almost all male adepts were at the periphery of the system of authority.
Greem, on the other hand, was still a Second Grade adept in the end. Moreover, he was t
he clan head of the newly established Crimson Clan. It was possible for him to put himself beneath the witches like the other male adepts and participate in this otherworld invasion as a subordinate force. While very much possible, it would deal tremendous damage to Greem's reputation.
However, Greem didn't care about that!
He was a classic pragmatist. He didn't care as much about his reputation as some male adepts with too much machismo. He accepted this condition with almost no difficulty.
Still, a proper excuse to participate in the war wasn't enough. Greem also needed sufficient power to protect his people and to engage in the battle. As such, the choice of participants was also an important decision.
The Tower of Fate had to send everyone to war. Even with Alice the tower owner included, it was still no more than eight witches. Moreover, they were all First Grade.
Greem's side could probably only afford to spare Greem (Second Grade Fire Adept), Mary (Second Grade Vampire), Zacha (Second Grade Thunder Dragonborn), Goblin Shredder (Second Grade Magical Machine, piloted by First Grade Tigule), Deserra (First Grade Wind Adept), Billis (First Grade Bug Adept), Endor (First Grade Poison Witch), Dana (First Grade Medusa), Unguja (First Grade Demonhound), three Blood Knights (Pseudo-Second Grade Vampires) and Vanlier (First Grade Vampire).
As for the remaining adepts, Gargamel and Eva were responsible for guarding Fire Throne and would be assisted by Charon the manticore.
The Goblin Plane would be left under Meryl's authority.
The matters on Lance, on the other hand, would have to be left to Gazlowe, the Third Grade brain monster. He had to use the metal fortress to defend what lands they currently held.
The greatest fear of going to a different world was being surrounded by the native forces and forced into a war of attrition.
Even an extremely powerful adept could be forcibly ground to death by a bunch of ant-like natives in this manner. Thus, after selecting a group of powerful underlings, Greem went about on a mission to put together an elite force of soldiers.
Apart from the one hundred magical machines he would bring over, Greem also intended to expand his elementium golem army to act as more cannon fodder.
Most of the battles these days relied on the endless army of magical machines. However, without Gazlowe and the logistics soldier factory that was the metal fortress, Greem would have to think of his own method to produce countless disposable soldiers.
As such, Greem could only place his hopes on his elementium golems, Billis' bug army, and Mary's vampire squad.
Chapter 611
Greem returned to the metal fortress once more after deciding on an initial list of combatants.
The newly captured frost dragon had already been sent to Fire Throne. She would be sold away via special means once the time was ripe. The name of the Crimson Clan had been founded after the clan establishment banquet last time. They had left a deep and lasting impression in the minds of many adept clans.
Snorlax was now using his private social circle and trying to spread the name of his own brand using the high-quality dragons that Fire Throne could occasionally provide. It made plenty of adepts who went home empty-handed extremely excited. They would visit Fire Throne every day, constantly looking out for specific news of the next dragon.
Some of the wealthier adept clans even provided Snorlax with the gender, attribute, and all sorts of data for the dragon they needed. They claimed, very boldly, that they would be willing to accept any price as long as the Crimson Clan could provide them with a dragon that suited their specifications.
Snorlax was an extremely smart goblin as well. He decisively put on display a dragon scale taken off of Frost Dragon Aruntini's body at the goblin shop he had opened at the hall on the first floor of Fire Throne. This way, visiting adepts would only need to examine the milky-white dragon scale to be able to figure out the bloodline purity and innate attributes of the frost dragon.
For a moment, word of a new dragon in Fire Throne spread everywhere.
Many high-grade adepts sent their own representatives to hurry to Fire Throne and negotiate the purchase of this frost dragon with Gargamel and Snorlax. For a short time, the Crimson Clan based at Fire Throne was at the center of attention, presiding above even the five great clans of Zhentarim. They had become the most popular and well-received, newly established clan of Zhentarim.
Yet, behind this popularity, all of the Crimson adepts had vanished one after another. They had started a new wave of seclusion.
They were about to step on a journey to a new plane in three month's time. There was far, far, far too much preparation to be done before then.
Firstly, they needed to finish the newest batch of miniaturized magic energy furnaces as soon as possible.
Not only did the Tigule's Goblin Shredder require the furnace as its energy source, but some of the larger construction machines also demanded the use of the magic energy furnaces. Greem needed first to ensure the safety of the clan adepts before they made it into Faen.
Secondly, Greem had been busy with planar invasions ever since he advanced to Second Grade. He had unknowingly let up on his fundamentals– the research and crafting of elementium golems.
Now that they were about to enter a mature mid-sized plane governed by a host of deities, high-quality elementium golems were an irreplaceable support force. Greem needed to use this last period of free time to convert all the high-grade elementium crystals he had been accumulating into suitable and indispensable elementium golems.
That was the fastest way to increase his personal power!
Furthermore, apart from these usual tricks of his, Greem also worked out the Spirit of Pestilence and the Stitch Ghost Golem. They gave him two new ways to deal with enemies.
However, these two alchemical creations had independent soul consciousness. Greem needed to cultivate and train them for a long time if he wanted them to unleash their full potential. As such, these two beings could only act as Greem's assistants for the moment. He couldn't use them as the main fighting force.
On the other hand, three of the talent-stealing bugs being bred in Fire Throne's secret room had entered maturity. They would soon be able to undergo the second phase of the bloodline experiment.
Greem's heart raced when the prospect of being able to steal the bloodline talent of a mighty race perfectly crossed his mind.
Ever since he had advanced to Second Grade, the daily meditations had been incredibly ineffective at raising his Spirit. In the end, the original owner of this body of his was no more than an ordinary human apprentice adept. The body's potential was minimal.
Greem had relied on his tenacity and the Chip's help to rapidly climb to his current grade. However, the increase of his Spirit had suddenly slowed down tremendously at this stage. It even showed signs of completely stagnating. Without the use of special means, Second Grade might be the limit of this body.
Greem had to do something about his soul origin or bloodline source if he wanted to improve further.
However, soul experiments and bloodline research of this nature were always hazardous and risky. Any mistake could lead to devastating and irrecoverable consequences. So many Second Grade adepts turned themselves into monsters and abominations precisely because of a slight error in the process of modifying themselves.
Moreover, when such mistakes involved the soul origin and bloodline source, it was virtually impossible to undo the damage. The more that was changed, the further the soul and bloodline would deviate from an ordinary human until the adept finally turned himself into a strange monster that no one could recognize.
The main reason the Second Grade dragons the Crimson Clan provided were so popular was because the dragons were ubiquitously known for their robust Physique and bloodline powers. Being able to uncover the secrets within the dragon's bloodline was equivalent to excavating a new bloodline development path for any high-grade adept.
Disregarding the dragon's bloodline legacy, just the immense lifespan
and great elementium talents of the dragons alone were things that the human adepts were extremely envious of. If they were able to turn themselves into dragon bloodline adepts, they would be undefeated amongst adepts of the same grade.
Moreover, the longer they were able to live, the more time they would have to improve themselves and advance. The powerful elementium strength from the dragons' bloodline would also make it a breeze to destroy adepts of the same grade.
Bloodline adepts emphasized their bloodline powers, elementium adepts prioritized their elementium skills, and body-refining adepts focused on their physical strength.
That was why living dragons became the most sought-after bloodline creature in the World of Adepts!
Though Titans, Phoenixes, Hydras, and Behemoths were all bloodline creatures that were even more powerful than the dragons, they were few in number, hard to find, and extremely difficult to capture. Moving one step backward, it was only natural that the dragons became so sought-after by all high-grade adepts.
…………
The World of Adepts.
Land of the Northern Witches, Werning.
As the location of the Witch Council, Werning was a neutral territory that existed independent of the various witch branches. In particular, during these past years, the witch branches had set up the entrances to all the shared lesser planes at Werning, making the place livelier than ever before.
Today was the day the Pale Witches were opening up their plane. A large group of individuals had gathered upon the road to Werning at the break of dawn.
Those ordinary merchant groups had already retreated to both sides of the road upon seeing the forces of the witches arrive. Coachmen, slaves, guards, and all manner of small fry crouched on the ground. Their heads were lowered, and none dared even look up to sneak a peek at the witches. Only merchant group leaders with titles could stand before the witches and bow to welcome their arrival.
A group of black carriages that was extremely well-covered rolled past their respectful gazes. The handsome horses pulling the carriages all whinnied and pressed forward with all their strength. It seemed as if they were having a tough time.
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