“Yes, sir!”
Gargamel bowed and acknowledged the order. He was about to step out of the room to relay the instructions, but Greem stopped him.
“I have already heard Mary speak about everything that has happened in the clan recently. You…have done well. You lived up to my expectations!”
“It is only my duty! It is not worthy of my lord’s praise.” An unconcealable smile appeared on Gargamel’s old and sinister face when he heard Greem’s praise.
“This time, I also got my hands on some valuable items from the other world. These will be your rewards then!”
Greem took out three strange vials of purple potions from his storage ring and put them in Gargamel’s hands.
“Three potions. One of them is a bloodline re-creation potion, while the other two are bloodline purification potions. You might be advanced First Grade now, but you’re still a long way from peak First Grade. With this bloodline re-creation potion, you can obtain the bloodline of the Giant Black Mamba. I believe they are also venomous and of the poison attribute, which makes for a decent match with your adept affinities.”
“More importantly, once you turn into a bloodline adept, your lifespan should be extended to some degree. Once you use the two bloodline purification potions, it should be enough for you to advance to Second Grade!”
Greem continued to ramble on and warn Gargamel about many other things he needed to be cautious about while using the potion. However, Gargamel was completely stunned now as if he had just been blasted with a bolt of lightning. He could only laugh foolishly while holding the three potions in his arms.
No one might know about his situation, but Gargamel clearly knew that he only had eleven years of life left!
Ever since he became Greem’s majordomo in Zhentarim, he had been working day and night for the sake of the Crimson Clan and had almost abandoned his own practice as a potions master. He did not have excellent talent. Becoming a First Grade adept was already the fortune of his lifetime. As such, he had never hoped to advance to Second Grade.
The reason he still worked so hard for Greem and for the Crimson Clan wasn’t for his own benefit, but for the sake of his family. He hoped that Greem would treat Eva and his daughter Emelia well on account of his loyal service.
Yet now, close to the end of his life, a massive gift had crashed down onto his head from the skies above. Not only would he be able to continue living, but he would also be able to enjoy an even better, healthier life. It…it was incredible news that had shattered his mental state, leaving him reeling and dizzy with disbelief. He had no idea if what was happening in front of him was real or simply a dream.
Greem shook his head unamusedly when he saw Gargamel bite the back of his hand and jump up from the pain.
“I guess I’ll go relay the orders! I see Gargamel’s gone mad.”
Gargamel immediately snapped back to reality when he heard Mary speak. He hugged the three potions tightly, almost as if he was hugging the most important thing in his life.
“I’ll go…I’ll go. I’ll go now.”
He rushed out of the room.
When the door finally closed again, Mary turned and smiled at Greem.
“Seems like you got quite a haul from your trip to the other world. You even prepared a present for that silly adept. What about mine?” Mary flashed her incisors while she spoke, as if she would bite down on Greem if he said he had no presents.
Mary was a Third Grade vampire adept now. Even Greem would suffer a heavy loss to his spirits if she got to sink her fangs into him.
“Don’t…we can talk with our actions. No need to use our mouths! You just want presents, don’t you? I have them…I do.”
Greem hastily took out some tightly sealed clay jars from his storage ring and passed them to Mary.
Mary grabbed the jars and looked at them. The mud seals on the jars were carved full of mysterious runes, while the pots themselves, though of seemingly crude handiwork, had a pretty, otherworldly aesthetic. The clay jars were handmade by someone. Due to the haste in making them, their shapes were uneven, and much of the color had faded from their patterns.
Mary shook the jars. It was obvious that there was some sort of viscous liquid inside. Her ruby eyes couldn’t help but light up. She pierced the mud seal with her sharp finger and dabbed a little of red substance for a taste. She almost screamed from delight.
“Third Grade; this is refined blood from a Third Grade creature! Are you sure you want to give me all this?” Mary was so excited that her eyes gleamed.
Greem nodded his head.
If it wasn’t for Mary, he wouldn’t have needed to spend so much effort to draw a bunch of Third Grade Gold Knights into a trap. That earthshaking battle had caused Greem, Tess, and Italil to become severely injured.
However, the holy knights had ended up in a far worse position!
First, they were struck by the magic traps that the witches had hidden beneath the swamp. Then, while they were confused by the traps, the three adepts had worked together to take them down, one by one. Under their ferocious and reckless attacks, the seven Third Grade Gold Knights were killed in the Poison Swamps.
The blood of the Gold Knights was extracted, refined, and sealed in these jars. It was all done by Witch Tess. Greem then took away the holy light souls, leaving the witches only with their tattered corpses.
There were people among the Deceit Witches who excelled at creating voodoo beasts and zombie golems. This number of high-quality holy knight corpses was enough for them to create a terrifying squad of voodoo beasts.
With the protection of such voodoo beasts, they would be more confident in their safety.
Their chances of survival in Henvic would be reasonably good as long as they didn’t run into the two Fourth Grade Holy Knights!
As for whether and how they would be rescued? That was the concern of the Deceit Witches, and Greem couldn’t be bothered. Greem had immediately said his farewells with Witch Italil upon returning to the World of Adepts.
Greem quickly explained everything that had happened to Mary and Alice in a few sentences.
Mary immediately and happily went to look for another room to enjoy her snack, leaving Greem and Alice alone.
Once they were the only two people left, Greem laughed maliciously and patted his own thighs. Alice rolled her eyes at him unamusedly, before blushing and sitting onto his lap.
Greem embraced Alice and put her face into her silky long hair, taking in the light fragrance of her body. He then let out a long sigh, steeped in exhaustion and fatigue.
Over the past five years, Greem had been running around the other world and had never gotten proper time to rest and sleep. He had been on alert or fighting with people for every moment in his life. He hadn’t even dared to fall asleep while trapped in the volcano. He had instead replaced sleep with meditation.
There had been constant fighting and unending injuries. Even though most of Greem’s wounds had healed, the accumulated fatigue had been etched deep in his Spirit and soul.
Moreover, once he returned home, he had to engage in a battle against a Fourth Grade adept without the time to stop and rest.
Even a person forged of metal could not endure such arduous strain!
As such, after burying his face in Alice’s hair and semi-consciously muttering something to her, Greem fell into sweet, sweet sleep.
He fell into an exceedingly deep slumber, and an exceedingly sweet one at that; it was almost as if he had returned to his mother’s womb. It was calm, quiet, peaceful, and without worry.
Chapter 1018 - Fourth Grade Force
Chapter 1018 Fourth Grade Force
The war between the two clans concluded after half a year.
One side was a large clan led by a Fourth Grade adept, while the other was a quickly rising clan. Yet, the result of the war was entirely beyond everyone’s expectations. It was the Crimson Clan that had managed to defend against the Fabres Clan’s repeated assaults, finally
obtaining the ultimate victory outside of Pinecone City in a battle between the most powerful adepts of their corresponding sides.
The Crimson Clan didn’t currently have a Fourth Grade adept. However, the combination of the Third Grade adept and the Fourth Grade magical machine golem dragon was already as mighty as an ordinary Fourth Grade adept.
Moreover, many experienced adepts estimated that the legendary fire adept and founder of the Crimson Clan had a very high chance of advancing to Fourth Grade. It was undoubtedly incredible information with tremendous implications!
Fourth Grade.
For most planar worlds, this was already the highest limit of power that the plane could contain. Any further increase in power would cause the individual to be restrained and rejected by the planar world. In the end, anyone with excessive power would have no choice but to head to the realms beyond to look for a new place of shelter.
Thus, Fourth Grades were the uncontested emperors within a plane and the so-called ‘deities’ in the eyes of mortals!
When you were only a Third Grade adept, you would have to work hard and labor tirelessly day and night just to create an organization that belonged to yourself. However, once you advanced to Fourth Grade, you no longer needed to put in any effort or hard work. Plenty of adept organizations and forces would throw themselves at your feet, crying and begging to become your subordinates.
It was the difference between Third Grade and Fourth Grade!
However, this one step between Third Grade and Fourth Grade was an exceptionally difficult step to take.
The unique adept cultivation system in the World of Adepts allowed anyone to join an adept tower to study as long as they had an adept talent. However, depending on the extent of their talent, over eighty percent of adept apprentices were kept outside the threshold of an adept.
Advancing to become an adept was sixty percent talent and forty percent luck!
Once an apprentice advanced to become an adept, they would instantly transform from a chicken into a phoenix. They would suddenly rise to a position of power and rule above all else, becoming one of the true masters of the World of Adepts. However, this was only relative to the kingdom of mortal humans. Amongst the adepts, First Grade adepts were still cannon fodder and individuals to be exploited.
Adepts with ambition would fight and struggle at the lowest level of the various adept clans, organizations, and forces, scheming and clashing with each other over small amounts of resources.
The competition and risk of elimination in the World of Adepts were even more intense, more savage, and carried more profound implications than the schemes and plots between human nobles!
The fall of a single adept could result in the collapse of an entire noble family! The rise of an individual adept could mean the creation of a glorious human kingdom!
The constant fluctuations of power in human kingdoms and the change in dynasties might seem like a natural result of the development of history. However, at its core, these changes in history were no more than an extension of the changing power dynamics among the adepts.
Before the Crimson Clan rose to power, there were seven adept clans and organizations of various sizes in the Ailovis region, along with a hundred noble territories. Five human kingdoms also had legacies lasting for several hundreds of years.
These various noble territories and the five human kingdoms all belonged to different adept clans and organizations. These were the places that the adept forces scoured for resources and new blood.
However, with the conclusion of the war between the Crimson Clan and the Fabres Clan, the human kingdoms and noble territories of Ailovis experienced a thorough rearrangement and reforging. Countless noble families that had picked the wrong side during the war were toppled and purged, replaced by lower nobles who had stood unquestioningly by the Crimson Clan’s side, taking over stretch after stretch of vast and fertile land.
There were no longer any other adept clans or organizations throughout Ailovis. There was only one voice now; that of the rising sun known as the Crimson Clan. Under such a situation, all the noble territories in Ailovis were like shattered bones and minced meat. They were gathered together by a powerful will and started to be rearranged, concentrated, and strengthened.
With Fire Throne and Pinecone City at the center, the shape of a vast human kingdom slowly started to form.
…………
No actual conflicts happened at the borders.
Faced with the fresh elites of the various large clans, the higher-ups of the Crimson Clan managed to retain a cool head despite their victory. They did not attempt to challenge the current order of Zhentarim.
A large group of the main adept forces of the Fabres Clan managed to escape Ailovis thanks to the interference of these foreign forces. However, sixty percent of their lower-level forces had still been abandoned on the battlefield. Some of them were exterminated by the Crimson Clan, while the others were selectively captured and imprisoned.
The Frost Giant army might have been incomparably ferocious while on the offense, but when they were on the run, their massive size and slow speed made them the main targets for the Crimson Clan. Nearly forty percent of the Frost Giants died in their attempt to flee. The rest of them had no choice but to surrender under the lead of the two Frost Giant Mages. They were kept in a valley and put under the strict surveillance of the Crimson Clan.
Meanwhile, the modified beast army had incredible speed and was able to escape quickly. Unfortunately, they were not familiar with the local geography. Without the guidance of the Fabres adepts, they thrashed about the vast territories of Ailovis like lost flies, unsure of where to escape.
Once the Crimson Clan cut off all their paths to the outside world, they became birds in a cage. There was nowhere to run.
The Crimson Clan had initially intended to make some of the modified beasts submit so that they could conduct research on them. Unfortunately, these beasts lacked the complete intelligence and consciousness that the Frost Giants possessed. The combat orders etched deep in their souls made them only obey the commands of certain adepts. There was no way of making them submit at all.
A Mothership carrying an army of magical machines caught up and thoroughly exterminated every last one of them in a remote plain in the wild.
The unique pack of gargoyles had protected the Fabres Clan’s flying wooden ship and escorted it out of the Ailovis region. The Crimson Clan had attempted to intercept the gargoyles and take them during this process, but they were foiled by the Third Grade adepts of the Fabres Clan.
This unprecedented defeat lasted for five consecutive days and affected the entirety of Ailovis.
For a moment, Ailovis was turned into a massive ruin of war. Ravaged cities, castles, and villas could be seen everywhere, along with oddly shaped corpses, rising smoke, and defiled lands.
After exterminating or capturing all Fabres soldiers that remained in the region, the Crimson Clan spent another two weeks cleaning up the modified beasts and voodoo beasts that had escaped into more remote villages and rural areas.
It wasn’t until the thirteenth day of the ninth month that the fighting in Ailovis finally stopped.
This war between the Fabres Clan and the Crimson Clan ended with the total victory of the Crimson Clan!
However, the price of victory had also been crushing!
Due to the reckless fighting and destruction unleashed by both parties during the war, over seven resource sites had been destroyed, along with a dozen human cities, several hundred castles and villas, and several tens of thousands of tons of food. According to incomplete counts after the war, over 210,000 civilians had died during the war as well.
A difference in perspective would cause one to perceive the war with a different attitude.
If you were an ordinary civilian, this war would only bring about endless pain and agonizing memories to you and your family. However, if you were a Crimson adept that survived the war, you could now party to your deli
ght.
That was because they had won the war!
Even though the Crimson Clan had suffered colossal losses during this war, the tangible and intangible benefits of obtaining victory were immeasurable.
Disregarding everything else, just the Zhentarim Association’s acknowledgment of the Crimson Clan’s rule was invaluable!
From now on, Ailovis would become the Crimson Clans private asset. Every resource, territory, civilian, woods, and ore reserve found within these lands belonged to the Crimson Clan. It was rare, even for the central region.
There were a total of thirty-one areas of human activity of various sizes in Zhentarim. These thirty-one areas were categorized as individual regions. Each region had a border of sorts that separated them.
Hundreds and thousands of powerful adept clans and organizations lived upon this vast land. They were spread across these thirty-one regions, competing and fighting, all while co-existing with each other.
Despite the number of clans and organizations, only Fourth Grade forces could claim an entire region for themselves.
These so-called Fourth Grade forces referred to an organization that possessed a Fourth Grade adept!
That was the most crucial prerequisite for a clan or organization laying claim to a region of their own. A force that had not been acknowledged by others would not be able to maintain a long and stable rule, even if they managed to drive away all competitors with sheer force.
The Crimson Clan was the best example.
Before this war, they had no Fourth Grade adept. They had only owned a Fourth Grade war machine that had not yet been pressure-tested in a live adept war. As such, the clan’s ruling position was not acknowledged by the people of Zhentarim. It wasn’t strange that an adept war like this had broken out.
Now that the Zhentarim Association had recognized the Crimson Clan’s rule over the entirety of Ailovis, it was an indirect acknowledgment of the Crimson Clan’s status as a Fourth Grade force.
The weight of such status was earth shaking in the Central Region!
It was important to note that there were no more than fourteen Fourth Grades throughout Zhentarim. Moreover, no new Fourth Grade had appeared in Zhentarim for several centuries now.
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