Almost as if he was racing for every second, Greem breezed through the welcome ceremony and vanished from the room in a blast of fire.
In the World of Adepts, even within the same clan, there were no intimate relationships between individuals. Everything depended on material benefit!
It was the ability of the Crimson Clan to give them the benefits and knowledge they needed, as well as its ability to guide their rapid growth that caused so many ambitious adepts to submit themselves to Greem willingly. Meryl was Greem's student and might have some personal feelings invested in the Crimson Clan. However, it was mostly knowledge and benefits that prompted the other clan adepts to join.
That was why conversations between adepts tended to be so cold and straightforward!
Knowledge crystal?
A light of confusion flickered in Billis' eyes. He weighed the crystal in his hands and threw it into his lotus-shaped mouth before swallowing it in a single gulp.
Hm? It was the poison knowledge and related magical knowledge that that Poison Hag Endor had organized.
He had tried to buy this stuff from her many times and had been rejected time and again. Why had she so generously handed everything over this time?
Still, he quickly cast this trace of doubt aside.
With this poison magic in hand, Billis had a new direction with the creation and breeding of his insects. In the future, the massive swarm that he commanded would probably be most aptly named Calamity Beetles.
Billis quickly strode out of Greem's room as he fantasized about the future.
All of his past resentment about being abandoned vanished in an instant upon obtaining this knowledge crystal that was well worth hundreds of thousands of magical crystals. His only thought was on the methods to collect the necessary poison resources and the search for suitable ritual items.
Snowlotus' room was on the seventh floor of the tower.
Billis only found out about what had happened to the clan during this period after finding and talking to her.
The flying ship had been destroyed, Endor had died in combat, and Alice had successfully advanced to Second Grade.
All of these events frightened Billis to the very core when he heard about them.
For some reason, he felt as if him being surrounded by the enemy alone wasn't that unacceptable anymore. The two First Grade adepts shivered in fear when they thought of the terror of the Fourth Grade powerhouses, even as they were within the absolute safety of Shadow Island.
Billis successfully obtained his clan reward from Icelady Snowlotus.
A knowledge crystal containing portions of the otherworldly knowledge that the clan had obtained from the forest elves.
Twenty thousand magical crystals.
Fifteen elven slaves (First Grade profession owners).
Three magical equipment (First Grade).
Thousand-Year-Old Treeheart.
……
……
These rewards added up to a total of a dozen, but the ones that Billis most prioritized were the first five. His present self, after the wild carnage and evolution in Faen, had increased in power to the peak of First Grade.
He should start thinking about the matter of advancing to Second Grade in three to five years after he returned to the World of Adepts!
Billis immediately collected some of the smaller rewards from Snowlotus, but he would have to claim things like the slaves, the equipment, and the treeheart from the tower's public depository.
After bidding Snowlotus farewell, he made his way to the third floor.
In all seriousness, this was a market that the tower had specially set up to store the slaves and equipment that the witches or their clans had obtained as loot.
Compared to the silence of the other floors, this place was lively beyond Billis' imagination.
Inside were crowds of people brushing past each other, clothes and species of all sorts, dazzling products, goods, as well as a myriad of plaques and shops.
The black-robed Billis froze at the entrance to the floor. His green eyes swept across everything in an instant, and for a moment, he had no idea where to go.
Chapter 714 Slave Marke
t
Maybe it was the influence of Billis' conspicuous black garb.
A handsome and dark-skinned youth ran up to Billis and bowed as he said, "Lord Adept, where is it that you wish to go? Bill is willing to serve you!"
Billis looked at the youth with his green eyes and asked in the oddly accented Faen tongue, "How did you know I am an adept?"
It wasn't odd that he was suspicious. There were many other people like him in the lively market, cloaking themselves in thick robes or traveler's hoods and not revealing even an inch of their skin as they snuck about.
The fact that a weak native youth could identify him as an adept under such circumstances was clearly beyond Billis' expectations.
The native youth was momentarily shocked before bowing and explaining with a weird look on his face, "My Lord, we mortals who have been permitted entry into the tower are all required to wear this."
Billis followed the youth's eyes and found an odd brooch pinned to the collar of the boy's shirt. Billis lifted his eyes and looked around to see that everyone was wearing a similar brooch on their chest.
When he closed his eyes, he could vaguely sense the weak magical flux radiating from the brooches.
So that's how it is!
This security measure laid down for foreign mortals was probably something only the adepts were excused from. That was why…
"I want to go to the Pale Witches' slave market. Bring me there!"
"Please, my lord!"
As the owners of the tower, the Pale Witches' slave market was located at the most prominent location of the third floor. The area took up was also half of the entire floor.
All the slaves caught by the witches were imprisoned here, awaiting the day the portal was opened to be sent back to the World of Adepts. However, considering the 'ticket' that passing through the planar door required, not all slaves would be brought back.
Of the four hundred elves that the Dark Witches had abducted from Garan, there were many seniors and children. In fact, these elves formed a large percentage of the population. Regardless of their strength, the base price for passing through the planar portal was a hundred magical crystals.
Yet an ordinary elf could not sell more than two or three dozen magical crystals when sold at the market price in the World of Adepts. Meanwhile, the costs of elves with unique talents or those who were fighters were easily several times that of ordinary elves.
As such, no one would be willing to spend that kind of money to transport a bunch of loss-generating goods back to the World of Adepts unless necessary!
The Crimson Clan had also managed to abduct a total of six hundred forest elves over their six months in Garan. If they were to bring all the elves back to the World of Adepts, not only would they not be able to compensate for the travel fare, they would even suffer losses.
That was why ordinary elves and sick or disabled elven fighters would be eliminated and sold to Faen natives through the Pale Witches' slave market. Only specially selected exceptional goods were worth the investment to bring back.
As a reward from his clan, Billis could choose fifteen elves from the group as part of his personal collection. Whether he decided to auction them or use them as experiment material, all the profits belonged to the adept themselves.
It was Greem's generosity that made the clan adepts so willing to bear enormous risk to fight with him in a different world.
Billis walked into the shop opened by the Pale Witches, and the first things he saw were the old wooden cages placed in a row along the stone wall. Some people were standing in the wooden cages, while others were sitting or even lying down, but all of them were otherworldly slaves.
The wooden cages weren't big. They were only ten square meters large, but every one of them was packed to the brim with slaves
of different species, races, and genders. Among them were highland dwarves who excelled at mining and smelting, kobolds who were proficient at digging and tunneling, ogre magi with two heads and who stood at five meters tall, flametail lions with bright yellow fires on their tails…
Of course, there were plenty of forest elves abducted from Garan as well!
A group of young and passionate teenagers surrounded Billis upon seeing him enter. They spoke in their non-fluent adept's tongue and diligently served this mysterious adept hiding under this black robe.
The native youth that led Billis here had been awkwardly shoved aside.
Now that they were here, there wasn't much he could say.
"I'm here to claim the rewards of my clan. This is the claim number!" Billis took out a bronze plate and tossed it about in his hand.
"This is the plate of the Crimson Clan. Their prisoners are being kept in wooden cages twenty-five to forty-one in Area One. Luna, bring him there!" The old witch clasping and slowly reading a book behind the wooden table only raised an eye to glance at Billis before returning to her own business.
A young teenage girl immediately stood forth and did as she was told.
Area One was located at the center of this enormous market. It was clear that an unusually large number of slavers and merchant representatives had assembled here, for the sounds of their arguing and haggling was deafening and intense. If it weren't for fighting being forbidden in the market, some of the more passionate fellows would not have been able to hold back.
One had to admit that war was the best shortcut to getting rich!
Opportunities for obtaining unique products from Garan were few and far between for the nobles of the Faen Continent. Though large fleets of slaver ships always snuck to Garan on an annual basis, the storms of the sea, the raids of the seafolk, and the existence of the elven patrols made it challenging to abduct any elves. The number of kidnapped elves was so small that they could be counted with both hands.
Meanwhile, the debaucherous and extravagant manners of the human nobles made them excessively obsessed with the exotic and beautiful forest elves. That was why the price of forest elves, be they male or female, was always exorbitantly expensive on Faen Continent!
The price of a powerful intermediate First Grade ogre might not even compare to that of a beautiful apprentice-level elf.
When the young girl brought Billis to a row of wooden cages, the bug adept saw the emblem of the Crimson Clan upon the thick and old pillar of the pens– a giant flaming hand.
The cage interiors were packed full of forest elves whose eyes burned with fury.
Not a single weakling or senior was among them. All of them were young elves with excellent figures and pretty faces. Without exception, a magical circular brand had been placed on both of their shoulders, cutting them off from all elementium power. The effect of Weakness further compounded the fatigue of the elves. They were no longer as light and agile as they used to be when scaling the hundred-meter trees of Fantasy Forest.
Billis' arrival also drew the attention of the merchants gathered near the cages.
The more clever ones of the lot quickly moved away when they saw Billis' odd garb, giving way to the best spots in front of the wooden cages.
Billis walked around the Crimson Clan's cages and realized that he couldn't find too many ordinary elves inside.
There were six hundred First Grade elven combatants. That was quite the loss for the elven kingdom!
He didn't see any Second Grade elves.
Of course, this was only natural.
An elf as valuable as a Second Grade couldn't possibly be imprisoned in such a crude and harsh environment. They had to be concentrated at a higher-class facility. There were agile and tattooed war dancers among these First Grade elves, along with flexible and fast elven archers.
Those who had special abilities–such as elven casters, druids, or beastmasters–were specially selected and enclosed together in a neighboring cage.
In all honesty, if it weren't for the fact that he wouldn't be able to bring the entirety of his insect army back to the World of Adepts, Billis would probably have chosen to stay on Garan and slowly devour all of the forest elves, bit by bit.
As a bug adept, his individual strength was still too lacking; he didn't have too many powerful spells he could use. His swarm and insect soldiers were the deciding factor in almost all of his battles. That allowed him to overwhelm opponents stronger than himself, forcefully wearing away powerful creatures that were far superior to him. However, his insects were not beneficial to his personal strength.
As such, Billis had to find a balance between the improvement of his swarm and the enhancement of his abilities.
His grandest and wildest dream was to own a resource-rich material plane of his own and to transform all the creatures within into his swarm, hoarding all of the resources for himself.
When that happened, he would be the master of the swarm and the one who reigned over tens of thousands of planes. He would be the great bug adept revered by all adepts!
Sadly, he had been taught a cruel lesson of reality after experiencing multiple planar wars. It was no more than a fantasy for him to achieve this dream as a mere First Grade. That was why, for the sake of his future development, he had given up on the hundred thousand-strong insect army he had so painfully raised in Garan. Billis instead chose to bring part of the elites back with him to the World of Adepts.
At this moment, what fifteen elves he should pick became a question he needed to ponder.
Ordinary elven fighters could only be used to hatch swarm insects; only elves who also possessed elementium powers could be used to raise insect soldiers. As such, Billis paid most of his attention to the elven casters and the druids.
Just as he was brooding with indecision, a crass head slaver found the courage to move to his side.
"My Lord, were you willing to give your elf claims to us? We are willing to purchase them at a high price. Moreover," The slaver head lowered his voice and said, "we can get you things that you might be interested in."
"Things I might be interested in?" Billis snickered with his hoarse voice and said, "What things could you mortals possibly have that could satisfy me, hmph."
"My lord, this is a list of our inventory at this time. Why don't you give it a look?"
The head slaver carefully took out an ancient parchment and opened it in front of Billis.
Billis glanced at the piece of parchment, and his bug's face beneath the hood's shadow couldn't help but betray a trace of shock.
Hm? Why would they have this?
Chapter 715 Treasure Hunting in Another World
Nightmare Flower was an extremely rare magical plant.
The bright red color of its petals and stalk often caused ignorant individuals to transplant it into their homes or gardens unknowingly. They would never have dreamt that they had invited a deadly flower of assassination into their home.
The Nightmare Flower could slowly absorb the Spirit of nearby lifeforms, inflicting mental fatigue upon the victims. If the victim were only an ordinary person, they would experience tremendous weariness as well as nightmare after nightmare. That was why the flower was known as the Nightmare Flower.
As the absorption of Spirit was a prolonged process implemented through a Spirit forcefield, most people wouldn't even notice that it was the culprit. Consequently, those who lusted after the beauty of the Nightmare Flower and transplanted it into their gardens would always die of inexplicable mental failure.
Of course, such a low-level magical plant couldn't possibly be of any harm to adepts. After all, their sensitive Spirits allowed them to sense the strange forcefield generated by the Nightmare Flower easily.
According to Billis' understanding, Nightmare Flowers that had been feeding on human Spirits for ten years could be used to brew a special Keenthought Potion. This Keenthought Potion was a Second Grade potion even in the World of Adepts. It could continuously r
eplenish an adept's Spirit for half an hour.
The difficulty of his advancement would definitely become much lower if he could consume a Keenthought Potion during his attempt.
That was why Billis paused for a moment when he suddenly saw the 'Flower of Misfortune' listed on the inventory. He couldn't help but extend his insect claw to pinch the parchment and demanded with a soft voice, "What does this Flower of Misfortune look like? Describe it to me."
The crass-looking slaver head immediately leaned over at the first sign of a prospective venture. He didn't care about Billis' non-human hand and started to describe the appearance, age, and look of the flower in great detail.
Billis immediately fell into deep thought after hearing the slaver's description.
In all honesty, he hadn't had too much hope when he asked the question. After all, this was the Faen Plane, not the World of Adepts. The names of the flowers might be similar, but there was a possibility that they were two completely different plants.
However, judging by the person's descriptions, Billis had absolute certainty that the Flowers of Misfortune growing in the Faen Plane were the rare Nightmare Flowers found in the World of Adepts.
Of course, the Faen Plane also had plenty of casters and had thus discovered the unique characteristics of this magical plant. That said, the alchemy system of Faen was not as developed as the World of Adepts. They did not have any effective methods of extracting the spirit within the Flower of Misfortune.
That was why the Nightmare Flowers that could easily sell for six thousand magical crystals per plant were only considered an auxiliary alchemical material here. Their base price was approximately two to three hundred magical crystals.
Perhaps it was the scarcity of the plant combined with the different name that prevented it from being discovered by the Pale Witches. Otherwise, Billis would never have experienced such a fortunate event.
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 445