Age of Adepts c1-1513
Page 591
The constant running and fighting, the spiritual backlash from having his fire clone destroyed, and the energy he had exhausted in the battle of Hakans; all of these factors added together had worn Greem down. He immediately laid down on the bed once the safe house was completed and fell into a deep, deep sleep.
Indeed, sleep was the best way to relieve exhaustion and mental pressure for humans!
After a long, sweet rest where all his mental fatigue faded away, Greem finally woke up. He sat up in confusion, yawned, stretched, and shook his head before finally coming to.
“Chip, how long have I been sleeping for?”
[40 hours, 37 minutes, 52 seconds.]
“Er…that was long!” Greem rubbed his starving stomach and said with a bitter smile, “No wonder I’m so hungry.”
In truth, the Physique of a Third Grade adept should allow him to not feel starvation after a month of going without food. The only reason Greem felt hunger was due to the excessive exhaustion of his energy.
The Flame Fiend’s Heart that he had modified and transplanted into himself when he was First Grade was a Second Grade magical organ at the very best. The energy output and power enhancement it brought to Greem while he was weak was undoubtedly immense. In fact, Greem’s ability to transform into a Flame Fiend only manifested through the Flame Fiend’s Heart by guiding out the demonic aura within it.
Now that he had advanced to Third Grade, the fire spells that he used and cast were easily four to five hundred points in power. The Second Grade Flame Fiend’s Heart could no longer sustain such energy levels. The power enhancement of the Flame Fiend’s Transformation was also much less significant than before.
Against a Third Grade enemy, the Transformation that had helped him prevail against so many opponents had become an awkwardly useless magical ability. It was not as flexible as the Body of Flames, nor as agile.
It was precisely the ‘incapability’ of the Flame Fiend’s Heart that caused Greem’s combat prowess to be lacking. He was no longer capable of dominating the entire battlefield with an overwhelming presence as he always had before.
If he didn’t need to fight, his body’s need for fire energy would remain low, and the energy output of the Flame Fiend’s Heart was still somewhat sufficient. However, in an intense fight, the fire energy from the Flame Fiend’s Heart became lacking, requiring Greem to exhaust much of his Spirit to absorb and gather the wandering magical energy in the air.
It was the main reason why Greem’s fire energy reserves had plummeted so quickly!
Where did energy come from? Naturally, it came from high-energy food!
That was why, much like Blade Princess Katherine, Greem chose to feast as a means to replenish his energy.
However, while Katherine only got so much from some First Grade Earth Maulers, Greem took out Third Grade fire dragon meat from his pouch. He roasted it in a simple fashion and immediately started feasting.
The energy difference between the two was incomparable!
After devouring five kilograms of fire dragon meat and feeling the warm sensation in his stomach, Greem let out a belch of satisfaction. His mind was now as clear as it had ever been.
After some proper sleep and a decent meal, it was time to inspect his rewards from the fight at Hakans.
The Fourth Grade Sodden’s Holy Ring was undoubtedly a high-grade magical item that was far beyond Greem’s power level. With the ring, Greem possessed the overwhelming ability to crush other ordinary Third Grades, despite only being a beginner Third Grade adept himself.
To avoid exposing its power too early, Greem cast Concealment on it to make it less ostentatious.
After playing with the holy ring for the better part of the day, Greem finally placed it back onto his right little finger and turned to examine the other items.
The next second, the Spirit of Pestilence that had merged with his soul climbed out of the air. It then ran around in front of him like a delicate doll.
Third Grade.
Greem wasn’t the only one that had profited from the battle of Hakans. The Spirit of Pestilence had also advanced to Third Grade. Moreover, this advancement had allowed its state of existence to undergo some strange changes.
At First Grade, this Soul Equipment had existed entirely in the form of a magical tome.
At Second Grade, it transformed into a wooden doll whose body was carved full of strange runes.
Now, at Third Grade, it had become increasingly closer to an actual lifeform. At the very least, the Spirit now looked just like a strange boy with dark green skin and ghostly green eyes. It stood one meter tall, naked, and without a sexual organ between its legs.
Its every action appeared somewhat dull and slow, without the grace of an actual lifeform. However, when ‘he’ started running around Greem gleefully, Greem had a fleeting, wrong impression that he had a ‘son.’
“Master, I want a name, too.”
While Greem was smiling and thinking about the situation, a childish voice rang in his ear. The Spirit’s request couldn’t help but strike him with a strong impression.
“Name? Why do you want a name?” Greem asked with a smile on his face.
“Because Master has a name, Alice has a name, and Mary also has a name. That’s why…I want a name too!” It was obvious that this was the first time that the Spirit of Pestilence had initiated interaction with another individual. It stuttered a little at first, but its speech quickly became fluent and natural.
Greem noticed something. The Spirit of Pestilence had a mental connection with himself, and they could understand each other’s thoughts in an instant. There was no need for it to use speech– this ‘clumsy’ and ‘ancient’ means of communication.
Yet, it had still insisted on communicating in this fashion. Moreover, it was using Zambezian, the language of the Zambez Empire. The Spirit of Pestilence had access to Greem’s massive knowledge reserves through the fact that it was assimilated with Greem’s soul.
Though its own talents and attributes restricted it from casting fire spells, the magical knowledge organized and assembled by the Chip was shared with the Spirit.
Greem let out a long sigh.
After putting in so much effort and exhausting such a tremendous amount of resources, he had finally raised the level of this soul-bound entity to Third Grade. From now on, it would no longer be an awkwardly unhelpful existence, but a powerful Third Grade assistant that could genuinely aid him.
However, wasn’t one meter a little too short? Also, what other abilities did it have?
Seemingly picking up on Greem’s questions, the Spirit of Pestilence opened up its mind and revealed its secrets to Greem.
[Target Creature: Spirit of Pestilence (Temporary Name)
Target Species: Magical Contracted Spirit
Target Grade: Third Grade
Target Bodily Attributes: Strength 3 | Physique 8 | Agility 5 | Spirit 31
Target Magical Attribute: Poison
Target Innate Abilities: Poison Halo, Plague Spores, Soul Toxin, Plague Modification
……
……]
All sorts of abilities with strange names and effects filled the list of skills projected by the Chip. These were the basic abilities that the Spirit of Pestilence now possessed. They would continue to increase in power as it grew stronger.
Greem looked at the Spirit’s attributes and couldn’t help but fall into thought.
It was evident that the Spirit of Pestilence was a unique contracted creature that could only unleash its real strength while under the protection of someone else. Its Strength, Physique, and Agility were on the lower side and were barely comparable to First Grade adepts who had just advanced.
Most of its power was concentrated on Spirit alone.
The only question now was, how did it fight? That was probably something that it would slowly figure out and correct through a long journey of combat.
“From now on, your name will be Remi!”
The
green boy cheered in joy upon hearing Greem’s words. He leaped about before running over to play with the big guy (the elementium magical machine).
Meanwhile, Greem hesitated for a moment before taking out the strange soul-gathering crystal at his waist. He lifted it to his eyes.
“Chip, scan and examine the crystal!”
[Beep. Scan starting.]
As his Spirit drained away, blinding blue light shone out of Greem’s black eyes and onto the soul-gathering crystal. Thousands of sharp shrieks rang out faintly from the crystal; the noise was so loud that it made Greem’s head hurt momentarily.
Fifteen minutes later, the Chip’s scans finally came to an end as a new examination report appeared before Greem.
[Scan Target: Soul-Gathering Crystal
Target Classification: High-Level Energy Amalgamation
Target Number: A total of 175 higher energy units detected. The total energy level is at 7963 Pato. There is 1 Third Grade unit with an energy level of 4214 Pato, accounting for 51.92% of the total energy. There are 18 Second Grade units with an energy level of 2946 Pato, accounting for 36% of the total energy. There are 156 First Grade units with an energy level of 803 Pato, accounting for 12% of the total energy.
[Upon deep scan and analysis, such high-level, pure faith energy can be absorbed and assimilated to increase host’s Spirit.
[Host has to purify Spirit energy regularly after absorbing said faith energy. Otherwise, unpredictable Spirit mutations may occur. Resources required for Spirit energy purification ceremony are as follows: ……]
Greem eyes lit up upon seeing the information projected by the Chip. His interest had been piqued!
Chapter 961 - Sudden Enemy
Ever since stepping upon the path of an adept, the difficulty of advancement had constantly tortured Greem.
Before becoming an adept, the lack of the necessary means to obtain resources meant that all apprentice adepts had to rely on what little fell through the fingers of the adepts to empower themselves.
After becoming an adept, meditation techniques were no longer as effective in improving their power. Most of the time, the adepts had to emerge from their laboratories to develop themselves more quickly and efficiently. They would have to travel through barbaric wastelands, ancient ruins, and hazardous places, risking their lives to obtain the resources they needed.
Perhaps staying within the safe sanctuary that was their adept’s tower might have allowed them to survive until the moment their lifespan came to its end. However, the slow increase in their primary attribute would be like a noose around their necks, slowly tightening day by day and year by year.
If they couldn’t advance to the next grade before their lifespan ended, then what awaited them was a withering body, exhausted Spirit, and a rotting soul. Compared to an ordinary person, this process toward their death would last for a dozen years until their soul had dispersed entirely.
This process of awaiting death was so long and terrifying that most adepts that approached the end of their lifespans often became more evil, madder, and more hysterical in their actions.
Time might be plentiful for adepts, but it was still like a terrifying Grim Reaper that would punctually visit you. This Grim Reaper would use the world’s dullest, slowest blade to slowly sever your connection to this world until eternal darkness finally arrived.
That was why scheming to obtain resources and finding ways to increase one’s primary attribute became the one constant theme of every adept’s life!
The path of the elementium adept that Greem had chosen was a difficult path with Spirit as its primary attribute. Every additional increase in his base Spirit was significant to him. That was because every point of the base attribute would become ten times, even a hundred times, more significant when paired with proper magical spells and powerful magical equipment. It made him noticeably more powerful in combat.
It was not hard to imagine how significant base Spirit points were to Greem!
Now, the Chip’s data told him that there was a method to rapidly increase his Spirit that did not require year after year of meditation. How large of an impact was this to Greem?
Greem had the Chip conduct a deep scan of the crystal at least three more times. Each time, he got the same result. It was only then that he completely believed the Chip’s report.
Meanwhile, he paid no heed to the side-effects that the Chip mentioned at the end of the report.
Greem wasn’t arrogant or reckless; he simply knew how difficult it was to increase his Spirit.
Year after year of meditation with a still unchanging Spirit attribute. Breaking into perilous ruins to find suitable resources, serving large clans and organizations for decades on end to obtain some resources that they had monopolized…
Compared to all these, a bit of spiritual backlash and side-effect was nothing at all!
Any adept in Greem’s position would choose to strengthen their Spirit without any hesitation. That small side-effect was a matter to consider after his Spirit had been increased!
After all, greater power meant more influence and more resources. Would one be worried about a lack of means to deal with an insignificant side-effect like this one?
Of course, the pure holy light stored within the soul-gathering crystal still needed to be purged of the remaining soul shards before it could be used. The soul shards of the holy knights were like impurities mixed within the light of faith. If they were not purged ahead of time and were absorbed by Greem into his consciousness, it would cause fearsome consequences.
There were many adepts in the World of Adepts who researched evil spells that absorbed other’s Spirit for their own benefit. However, these spells all required the user to face the terrible calamity that was a spiritual backlash.
Much like a shirt sewn from numerous threads of varying colors and materials, it might look perfect and new on the outside, but any slight pressure would cause it to fall apart instantly.
That was why these adepts invented some unique spells or special magical equipment to suppress the backlash deep in their soul. The consequence of doing so was their constant need to manage their mental state. If their minds were severely wounded, there was a possibility for the split personalities hidden within them to take over control of their bodies.
However, the plan that the Chip had provided Greem with was distinctly different. In fact, it was even somewhat unbelievable.
According to Chip’s scans and analysis, the holy light that Greem had collected was utterly different from the souls of the dead that other adepts collect. They were more similar to unowned and ‘free’ power of faith. Moreover, they could wear away at all outside energy and external consciousness.
If such holy light were stored away as is, the remaining soul pieces of the holy knights contained within would be able to continue existing for a long time with the holy light as the medium. That was clearly not beneficial to Greem’s intentions of absorbing the light.
The Chip suggested that Greem split off a portion of his mental consciousness and place it into the soul-gathering crystal, where it would fight with the souls for control over the holy light. If the holy light within the crystal had consolidated firmly, then Greem would undoubtedly be committing suicide in doing so.
However, the light within the crystal was in a state of disharmony. The souls of all the holy knights were tattered and incomplete. They were only capable of attaching themselves to the light in an instinctual fashion, howling day and night over their tragic future fates.
This situation was undoubtedly suited for Greem to pick them apart, one by one.
Greem’s split-off soul only needed to defeat them one after another. He could then rob them of their holy light and gradually become stronger. Once the split soul had devoured all the other souls and gathered the holy light together, it could then choose to disintegrate. The enhanced split soul would become nutrition to be assimilated by the holy light.
In doing so, Greem would not experi
ence any side-effects when assimilating the holy light to improve his Spirit!
Meanwhile, the issue of purity in absorbing external spirit energy was a different problem entirely. At any rate, with his influence and wealth, hosting a spirit purification ceremony every so often would not be too much of a burden on the clan’s financial circumstances.
However, it was difficult to split off a portion of his soul in such a crude and rural place. He would have to return to the World of Adepts and use the alchemy labs of the tower to do so.
While Greem held the crystal in his hand and planning his future operations, a slight movement came from within the depths of his soul. He was drawn away by a strange scene far away from here.
It was a forest path located fifteen kilometers east of where Greem had hidden himself.
A transparent apprentice-level wind spirit hovered in the air, slowly patrolling on a specific path. Just then, three silhouettes of varying sizes appeared on the road in the distance.
They were all wrapped in thick black traveler cloaks. Even their faces were obscured by the hoods, making it impossible to discern their identities or professions. However, given from their vague outlines, it was two women and a man. The trail they were taking was strange.
The wind spirit that Greem had left there as his eyes and ears immediately and subtly lowered its height. It landed on the canopy and silently gathered a light wind before blowing it at these three individuals.
Just as the breeze was about to reach them, the smallest person of the three–the one trailing at the rear–suddenly lifted her head. Her pair of bright and blinding eyes glared coldly at the wind spirit.
A light flickered as the wind spirit in the distance lost its soul connection to Greem.
Supposedly, these wind spirits that Greem had scattered were remotely controlled by the Chip. Their daily patrol paths and scouting duties were left to it. If there were no emergencies, the Chip typically filtered out irrelevant information on its own.
However, now that the Chip was projecting a scene from a wind spirit in Greem’s mind, it meant that the situation had exceeded the threshold of a typical crisis. It required intervention and action on Greem’s part.