If Greem were to steal parts of a dragon devourer's bloodline talents, his relation to all dragons would be forever locked at the level of a blood feud!
When that happened, all dragons would not stop until he was utterly exterminated, wherever he went.
The dragons were a dominant galactic species that could compare to the powerful adepts. Could there possibly be a good ending for Greem if he attracted their ire?
It was precisely due to such concerns that Greem could only look on and allow the Sourcestealer in his hands to go unused.
After the last dozen years of experimentation and cultivation, Greem had bred the unique talent-stealing insect to its third generation. According to these few years of bloodline experiments, Greem discovered that most lifeforms could only endure having no more than 15% of their bloodline power genetics altered.
If one were to discuss this in terms of the lifeform Grades that the adepts were so used to using, it meant that the degree of every bloodline change could not exceed two sub-grades.
A beginner Second Grade adept could only, at the very most, rob part of the talent of an advanced Second Grade lifeform. If they exceeded this limit, the body of the person receiving the talents would break down due to their inability to endure the demands of the bloodline powers, causing a complete collapse in their genetic chain.
Such wounds would directly affect the receiver's soul origin. There would be no saving them!
It was only at this point that Greem realized why the dragons had to have such robust Physiques. Without such tough Physiques, their bodies probably wouldn't be able to be hosts to such immense bloodline powers!
Sourcestealers. It had been three or four years since Greem managed to cultivate them. Apart from using them to transfer the talents of some lifeforms during his bloodline experiments for the necessary data, the remaining Sourcestealers were still kept alive on the highest floor of Fire Throne.
Greem didn't dare to easily use the Sourcestealers on himself, for the modification of bloodline talents might be easy, but it was near impossible to backtrack once you realized you had gone down the wrong path!
His current talent might not be considered exceptional, but the Flame Fiend's body with flame specialization had given Greem terrific combat lethality and battlefield domination abilities. If he accidentally 'contaminated' his bloodline and failed to get his ideal result, he would not be able to do anything.
Of course, apart from himself, Greem could also use the Sourcestealer on his many subordinates to gather some experience for his own future bloodline talent transfers.
However, after some consideration, Greem could not find the most suited underling he needed for this experiment.
People with suitable conditions weren't at the proper loyalty levels, yet those who were utterly loyal had great responsibilities and didn't have the time to participate in his bloodline experiments. Meanwhile, those who were too weak were not deserving of having a hard to breed Sourcestealer used on them.
The Crimson Clan of the present had plenty of troubles. Almost every single clan adept had a problematic mission weighing on their shoulders. If he were to cause one or two adepts residing in core positions of the clan to collapse due to his bloodline experiments, then the clan's operations would stall and even regress.
That was something that Greem would not want to see happen!
Chapter 744 Origin Contrac
t
The Boots of Ash had been completed. What came next was naturally the magical armband– the Emblem of Fire.
He had already prepared the fire dragon's blood and the highest-quality fire agate used for creating the Emblem of Fire, but Greem still lacked half of the required Flameloathe Iron. Such rare and high-grade resources always had low yields. Moreover, Greem didn't know too many high-grade alchemists, making it hard for him to gather sufficient amounts of the metal on short notice.
When Greem was about to delay this project for a few years in search of the metal, Alice reached him with invigorating news.
The Flameloathe Iron had been located!
Greem hurried to the Tower of Fate as fast as possible upon receiving news of this. Waiting there for him was a frowning Alice.
"Is there something odd about the news?"
"There's nothing wrong with the information. I can confirm that the opponent does have a tremendous amount of Fireloathe Iron, enough for you to create your magical equipment…"
"Then what are you hesitating for?"
"The problem is, I wasn't the one who found them. They were the ones who found me!"
Greem's expression immediately turned solemn upon hearing this.
If Alice herself had divined this information, Greem would not be worried at all. But since the opponent was the one that had actively sought her out, it meant at least two things.
One, the opponent had definitely come prepared and clearly understood what Greem badly needed at the moment.
Two, the opponent's target was Greem, and they didn't seem to need to hide this fact.
"Where is she?"
"In the hall on the fifth floor!"
Seven minutes later, Greem met that mysterious Northern witch in a magical hall.
It was a middle-aged witch who looked utterly ordinary. She wasn't too old, but the sinister look between her brows was so dense that it couldn't be shaken away. One could feel fear in their hearts just by looking into her eyes.
[Beep. Detecting high-energy magical forcefield. Cannot penetrate. Cannot scan.]
The brief notification from the Chip in Greem's mind caused him to pause for a moment.
It wasn't as if he hadn't made contact with high-grade adepts, but even that Third Grade Dark Witch had not been able to conceal her aura to such an impenetrable degree. Add into the equation the faint fear that he felt when he got close, and Greem's heart trembled. He started to suspect that she might be a Fourth Grade witch.
A Fourth Grade witch. Even in the crowded and talent-filled Northern Lands, such powerful adepts were few and far between. To think that she would come to seek him. It couldn't help but make Greem slightly nervous.
"You are Greem?" As if she sensed Greem's nervousness, the middle-aged witch asked.
"Yes!"
"Second Grade fire adept?"
Greem hesitated for a moment and answered the question once more.
"I have a mission here that I need someone to accomplish for me. The reward for the mission will be fifteen kilograms of Flameloathe Iron. Will you accept?" The middle-aged witch immediately got to her purpose here.
"A mission?" Greem licked his lips lightly. Fifteen kilograms of Flameloathe Iron would be more than enough for his creation of the Emblem of Fire, "May I know what my lady needs me to do?"
"Molten Core! I need a Molten Core that is at least of Second Grade!"
Greem gulped and a strange expression betraying a trace of I knew it was going to be something like that appeared on his young and handsome face.
Molten cores could typically only be found in the bodies of higher fire creatures. It was like their heart and was a core organ where all the fire essence gathered within the body of a fire creature. It was hard to find a lord-level fire creature in the World of Adepts. As such, one would have to go into another world to obtain a molten core.
A molten core of at least Second Grade meant that Greem would have to kill a Fire Lord of Second Grade or above. The difficulty of this mission made his scalp buzz at the very thought of it.
"You don't need to worry about where to find a fire creature like that. I have the planar coordinate of a Second Grade Fire Lord right here. Kill it and retrieve the molten core for me!" The middle-aged witch coldly said. She then raised her hand and tossed a glowing red orb at Greem.
Greem raised his hand and lifted the orb with his powers before using a layer of flame to keep it in front of him.
[Beep. Detecting strange spiritual flux. Detecting planar coordinates of other worlds within. Initial estimates suggest
them to be world coordinates of the Fire Elementium Plane. Requesting instructions from host. Connect?]
Greem hesitated for a moment before releasing the barriers on his Spirit.
The red orb of light instantly merged with Greem's mind. Greem closed his eyes and lowered his face to conceal the constantly flashing blue lights in the depth of his eyes. He quickly managed to extract the world coordinates hidden within the spiritual signals.
At the same time, a strange scene imprinted with Spirit started to appear in Greem's mind.
It was an odd world entirely composed of fire.
The sky was burning. The earth was burning.
Even the mountains, rivers, streams, rocks, grass, and other objects in this world were slowly burning.
A giant humanoid formed from a blaze of flames stood silently in the center of this world of fire. It was approximately ten meters in height and was held together by golden-yellow flames all across its body. Several ornate magic bands radiating dense magical auras were embedded around its limbs, waist, and neck.
It was the binding of these magic bands that allowed the strange golden-yellow flames to only flow within its semi-translucent body of flames without spilling to the outside.
Moreover, Greem could vaguely see the glowing crimson heart of fire through that might body– the molten core.
The Chip was still hard at work.
Apart from an unknown planar coordinate of the fire elementium world, the Chip also managed to extract a trace of the Fire Lord's origin aura from the Spirit imprint. With this aura, Greem no longer needed to worry about mistakenly recognizing another Fire Lord as this one!
Second Grade. A Second Grade Fire Lord indeed.
"My lady, you mean," Greem carefully thought over his tone, "You mean to have me go to the Fire Elementium plane, assassinate this Fire Lord, and then bring his molten core back to you?"
Greem could only use the term 'assassinate' to describe this mission.
It couldn't be helped. The four great elementium planes were wondrous worlds of great depth after all. Naturally, all beings that lived within the Fire Elementium Plane were fire elementium creatures. Moreover, they lived in groups. A Second Grade Fire Lord in the Fire Elementium Plane would possess a massive territory of several hundreds of kilometers at the very minimum. The fire elementium army subservient to him would not number below a hundred thousand.
Disregarding whether Greem could even defeat the Fire Lord in single combat, he alone would probably be exterminated into dust by the Fire Lord's army.
That was why Greem intentionally used the term assassinate. He couldn't imagine any other way to exterminate a Fire Lord with such power and such a massive army.
It was at this moment that Greem vaguely understood the opponent's intentions in coming here.
The fact that she wanted the molten core was only a front. Her true purpose was to murder that Second Grade Fire Lord.
She might be much, much more powerful than the Fire Lord, but even she couldn't do anything to a Fire Lord hiding in the Fire Elementium Plane. There was no special reason for it. The unique characteristics of the Fire Elementium Plane made it such that any outsiders could visit it, but they would find it extremely difficult to survive there.
There was no breathable air there, nor water, food, or roads. The only things that existed there were perpetually burning flames. Non-fire creatures would have no choice but to continually maintain their magical defenses and endure the corrosion coming from the entire world.
Moreover, there was only fire elementium there. Adepts of other attributes would not be able to sustain themselves even if they were able to survive. That was why it made sense for the witch to look for a fire adept specifically.
At least a fire adept would be able to retaliate to some extent when they reached there and wouldn't have all their magic power worn away by the environment. As for whether he could defeat the Fire Lord, that was Greem's problem to deal with!
"You…have agreed?" The middle-aged witch asked coldly.
Greem hesitated for a moment. Before he could even turn to look at Alice, her mental message rang in his mind.
"Agree to her conditions! I can guarantee that there is no trap behind it!"
It was only now that Greem felt certain and nodded his head in agreement.
Alice, who was listening to the conversation from a corner of the hall frowned slightly. An expression of confusion appeared on her face.
As if concerned that Greem would change his mind, the middle-aged witch took out a magical contract and threw it at him.
"You can read the contract. Sign it if you agree to the conditions!"
Greem swept across the parchment with his eyes and instantly read its contents and understood them perfectly. The contents were just as the witch had promised. There were no lies or traps in them.
Greem fell silent for a moment and slowly said, "If you believe in me, why don't you give me the Flameloathe Iron first. I have more confidence in completing the mission this way!"
"That is no problem!" The middle-aged witch tossed out a wooden earring as if she wasn't concerned that Greem would go against his word at all. Inside the jewelry was the fifteen kilograms of Flameloathe Iron that Greem so urgently needed.
Given how generous the witch was being, Greem naturally had no reason to drag his feet. He concentrated a trace of Spirit at the tip of his finger and slowly pressed it on the signature spot on the magical contract. As a brand of fire slowly appeared on it, the yellow light that represented the establishment of the contract instantly entered Greem and the witch's body.
Such an origin contract had a relatively high binding ability on the adepts. If adepts dared to go against an origin contract, they would have to endure the backlash, henceforth causing their soul origin to stagnate. If a Fourth Grade witch formed this contract, the magical effects would even last for one or two hundred years.
That meant that Greem's powers would never improve so long as he had yet to complete the contract!
That was something that most adepts would never want to try to experience.
Chapter 745 Difficult Decision
"Why did you agree to her conditions? Do you not find so many things odd about this matter?"
Alice impatiently rushed to Greem once the middle-aged witch had left and asked.
Greem was momentarily stunned.
"Was…was it not you who had me agree?"
"When did I tell you to do that? I've been telling you not to sign the contract, and you kept saying you were confident."
Both of them were talking on their own, and they suddenly fell silent in the middle of their argument.
"I think I might know which branch this witch came from!" Alice spat out resentfully, gritting her teeth as she did so.
"The Deceit Witches." Greem's mind was very fast as well. He quickly found the core of the problem after reviewing the various abilities of the different witch branches in his mind.
"Only they have such abilities to trick us into accepting the contract. It seemed the person earlier had simultaneously taken on the guise of both of our mental frequencies and tricked both of us!"
To even be able to disguise her mental frequency; for the first time, Greem felt fear toward these Deceit Witches.
It was important to note that one's mental flux and frequency was like his 'identity document.' It was unique and difficult to replicate. There were many occasions where the eyes and the ears could trick a person, but mental flux and frequency alone could not be used for trickery.
It was something that was practically public knowledge to adepts!
That was why adepts often recognized each other based on their individual mental fluctuations, rather than the more easily cheated physical senses.
Yet now, even mental flux and frequencies were no longer reliable tools to lean on!
That damned witch. She had actually disguised her mental flux and simultaneously conversed and misguided both Alice and Greem in front
of their very faces, successfully baiting Greem into signing that damned magical contract.
Since the witch herself had been in disguise, there were no guarantees that the damned contract itself wasn't without its deceptions.
Concern flashed across Greem's young and handsome face, "Then…this contract…"
Alice's brow furrowed, "Helen, hurry and prepare the astrology ceremony. I'll need to use it immediately!"
The magic fairy who had been quietly sitting on her shoulder immediately acknowledged the instruction and flew out of the room.
Half a day later, the results of Alice's divination came back.
Indeed, there were some serious problems with the contract!
Firstly, it was important to establish that the Second Grade Fire Lord did indeed exist. There was no doubting this fact. Otherwise, the magical contract would not have been able to be established in the first place. Secondly, the planar coordinates of the fire elementium plane honestly pointed toward the location of this Fire Lord. There were no deceptions in that regard.
However, the one thing that the middle-aged witch neglected to tell Greem was the fact that this Second Grade Fire Lord wasn't any ordinary rural lord. Instead, he was a newly advanced Fire Lord who was looked well upon by the great Fire King Groms.
Fire King Groms might not be that important of a character in the Fire Elementium Plane, but he was still a wicked individual whose lifeform grade went up as high as the Fifth Grade. Of course, apart from his own terrifying abilities, Groms also had a massive fire elementium army underneath him that numbered three million.
That was the truly terrifying aspect of Fire King Groms!
Of course, the majority of these three million soldiers were still fire elementium that had yet to advance to even First Grade. However, one couldn't look down upon these low-grade fire elementium that even beginner apprentices could easily dispatch. Once gathered together, they were still a terrifying force that could eliminate everything in their path.
The Fire Lord that the Witch of Deceit had cheated Greem into assassinating was one of the most trusted Second Grade Fire Lord subordinates of this Fire King Groms.
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