For the prepared, the danger would be an opportunity. It would be a chance to shatter the norm and surpass the enemy. However, for the unprepared, danger would only be danger. It would only push one into a perilous situation where both retreat and advance were untenable choices.
The reason Greem had come here in the first place was because of Alice’s attitude about the meeting.
He faintly understood something when he recalled the vague hints Alice had given him before he embarked on this journey.
Greem lifted his head and met Freed’s gaze. He nodded solemnly.
“Lord Freed, I am willing to participate in this tournament!”
“Good, very good.” Adept Freed nodded in satisfaction and turned to give orders. “Laurent, you have heard Greem’s reply. Go and make the necessary arrangements now!”
“Yes, my lord!” Laurent glanced at Greem with a complicated expression on his face. He then turned and left.
“Very well. Stay here and rest in Kerslin Castle in the meantime. The Association will make a public announcement to notify all adept clans and organizations of this tournament. They will be invited to send representatives to participate in this event. The competition is estimated to start in three months. This way, even the adept clans in the most rural of regions will have the opportunity to attend!”
Chairman Freed continued explaining a series of other matters before finally waving his hand and allowing Greem to leave.
Once Greem’s silhouette had vanished from the room, Chairman Freed stroked his beard and smiled silently.
Lights flickered in the room, and the profiles of two adepts, one male and one female, appeared.
“How is it? You two have seen Greem as well now. What do you think about him?” Freed asked, not surprised by their appearance at all.
“His bodily attributes are strange. They are a little too high.” The male adept that just appeared had a skinny build. He was also an elderly adept, but though he looked old, he also seemed to be vigorous and full of energy. It was Vice-Chairman Adept Mirva.
The female adept was Fourth Grade Adept Kerala, current clan leader of the Dener Clan. Scarface Adept Gallow, who would be participating in the tournament, was a member of her clan.
“Apart from his bodily attributes, I also observed some issues with his soul flux. It seems as if something strange is mixed with his soul,” Adept Kerala said coldly.
Chairman Freed and Vice-Chairman Mirva thought for a moment and couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
Indeed, there was a trace of something unusual and utterly inhuman inside the kid’s soul. It was truly very mysterious.
“It doesn’t matter how strange his soul is, as long as it doesn’t affect the tournament. Don’t forget that it is only thirty years until that time again. If we do not find a scapegoat in time, one of us here will be the ones to get it!” Adept Freed gritted his teeth and squeezed out these cold words from his mouth.
The other two adepts frowned but nodded silently.
Chapter 1029 - The Competition
Greem had nothing else to do, so he silently took up residence in Kerslin Castle.
The injury to his right hand wasn’t too severe, and it had mostly healed after three days.
At any rate, going through and organizing the vast amounts of information and data he had stolen from the Association’s database was going to take up much of his time. Fortunately, he had the Chip as an assistant. The Chip ran the statistics while he browsed through the data in greater detail. Even so, it still took him more than two weeks to finish dealing with all the information.
Fundamental magical knowledge and experiment results took up more than eighty-seven percent of the stolen data. The rest of the data included the structure of the Association, the list of members in each division, the annual resource allocation, and detailed information on five lesser planes.
Greem couldn’t possibly grasp the entirety of the Association’s operations through this information. However, looking from a limited perspective and gaining a partial understanding of the Association was even more significant.
Both the Winds of Freedom and the lesser planes that served as adept training bases left a deep impression on Greem.
According to the data, the Association would secretly select a group of elite First and Second Grade adepts to venture to a lesser plane known as Underdeep. They would tame a hybrid dragon known as the Grayshadow Dragon there.
With the Grayshadow Dragon as their companion contracted beast, these adepts’ Physiques would improve rapidly. The Grayshadows could also increase the might of their innate powers by borrowing from the human adept’s powerful Spirit. As such, a Second Grade Grayshadow dragon fighting alongside a Second Grade adept could display power equal to the average Third Grade adept.
As the hidden trump card of the Association, this troop of flying dragon adepts already numbered over a hundred. The ordinary members were mostly First Grade elite adepts accompanied by First Grade Grayshadow dragons, with combat prowess matching that of a Second Grade adept. The captains and leaders were Second Grade elite adepts accompanied by Second Grade Grayshadow dragons, who were as powerful as Third Grade adepts.
This adept troop might only number a hundred, but they could unleash devastating power in battle equal to three or four hundred adepts of the same grade. Such a powerful army was kept hidden from the rest of the world because they remained stationed in various lesser planes of the Association.
If the Fabres Clan had been able to unleash an elite army of such scale and power during the last war, the Crimson Clan would have been reduced to dust, even with the protection of the Fourth Grade magical golem dragon.
After all, there was only one Fourth Grade magical golem dragon. It could only protect and guard over a minimal area. Should an elite army with such flexible tactics and incredible prowess break through a clan’s frontline, it would be over. Even Third Grade adepts would not have any chance of retaliating, let alone the low and intermediate-grade adepts who lacked sufficient means of saving themselves.
Apart from the flying dragon adept army, the Zhentarim Association had also secretly created multiple other trump cards, such as the Shadow Army and a voodoo beast army. Naturally, the targets of these armies were not the weak and disunited adept clans of Zhentarim, but the three major forces that held malicious intent towards Zhentarim.
Why was it that the three major adept forces had never extended their reach to the central region in the past tens of thousands of years? The weak and scattered clans of Zhentarim could not defend against the forceful invasion of any one of the three adept forces.
It was because the Fourth Grade adepts of the central region had joined hands and established the loose, yet united, Association. They had managed to assemble the power of fourteen Fourth Grade adepts, gather the scattered resources of the hundreds and thousands of local Zhentarim forces, and secretly construct several incredibly powerful elite adept armies.
Command of these armies rested in Chairman Freed’s hands. However, the remaining thirteen Fourth Grade adepts would have the authority to command this army if at least three of them joined hands.
In all honesty, Greem had always held some slight disdain in his heart for the Zhentarim Association before he saw all these hidden cards. He had believed them to be a bunch of frogs stuck in a well, capable only of fighting over power and influence, with no ambitions to speak of. He believed them to have lost the ferocious and adventurous spirit that all adepts should possess.
However, upon silently reading about these unknown trump cards of the Association, Greem couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.
Somewhere along the road, Greem had gotten faintly arrogant.
He had looked down upon his Third Grade opponents and regarded the Fourth Grade adepts with disdain. He felt like he could walk through the Central Region uncontested with his current power. Even if he were to cause tremendous trouble, he would have no worries. He could simply rely on the wea
lth and power of the Crimson Clan, retreat to the clan territories, and defend there.
But now…
For the first time, upon seeing the Association’s trump cards and thinking about the Crimson Clan’s own accumulation, Greem felt the terror and power of a major adept organization!
What upset him, even more, was the fact that the powerful Zhentarim Association could not be considered an actual major organization in the World of Adepts. Compared to the Silver Union, the Northern Witches, and the Adept’s Association, the Zhentarim Association was just a minor local organization of no repute and might. They could not even be compared to the former three.
To better prepare for the upcoming tournament, Greem also started browsing for information on his three opponents in the database.
[Gallow. Male. Belongs to the Dener Clan. Third Grade bloodline adept. Bloodline source is said to be a certain terrifying Fallen Emperor. Excels at melee combat. No lethal weaknesses on his body.
Bodily Attributes: Strength 39 | Physique 34 | Agility 17 | Spirit 21
Magical Equipment: Third Grade longsword. Name unknown. Effect unknown.
[Dante. Male. Belongs to the Annemdor Academy. Third Grade elementium adept.
Proficient at communicating with spirits and can command spirits to do battle.
Bodily Attributes: Strength 13 | Physique 21 | Agility 11 | Spirit 39 Magical Equipment: Wraith Staff (Third Grade), Necklace of Death (Third Grade), Rituals of the Dark Arts (Third Grade).
[Sanazar. Female. Belongs to the Sarubo Clan. Third Grade bloodline adept.
Bloodline source is the powerful Flying Venom Dragon, a poison hybrid dragon.
Bodily Attributes: Strength 25 (33) | Physique 39 (39) | Agility 22 (26) | Spirit 32 (37) Note: Attributes in brackets refer to attributes after transformation.
Magical Equipment: Tempest Heart (Third Grade), Bramblethorn Armor (Third Grade).
[Greem. Male. Belongs to the Crimson Clan. Third Grade elementium adept (fire specialization).
Capable of manipulating and using fire magic.
Bodily Attributes: Strength 20 | Physique 22 | Agility 12 | Spirit 39 Magical Equipment: Fire Throne five-set piece (Second Grade magical equipment individually, Third Grade as a set), unknown magical ring (Fourth Grade?).]
Greem couldn’t help but feel a subtle fear when he read the Association data that the Chip had projected into his mind.
He had always believed himself to be reasonably powerful. At the very least, he thought himself to be uncontested amongst the Third Grade adepts of Zhentarim, standing an entire shoulder above the rest of the competition.
However, after looking through everyone’s information, Greem was shocked to find that his base power could only rank third among the four adepts. If they were to set aside all magical equipment, he would probably be the weakest of the four.
Greem couldn’t help but feel his head spin when he looked at the terrifying bodily attributes of Gallow, the man known as the Scarface Adept. How many seconds would his defensive magic last if he ran into such a machine of violence in a small tournament arena?
Fortunately, Greem also had many secret hidden trump cards of his own.
From start to finish, Greem was not a warrior adept that liked to charge at the frontlines and fight with his bare hands. In all of his previous battles, he preferred to have his magical golem stand in the front while he stayed in the back. He would unleash the tremendous firepower of an elementium adept, showering the enemy with a wild bombardment of fire and flames.
Moreover, Greem now had the elementium magical machine when it came down to a contest of brute force, and Remi the Spirit of Pestilence and his plague creatures when it came down to a game of numbers. When it came down to sheer firepower, Greem himself was a fire adept, best known as the most lethal force on the battlefield. With all these conditions piled together, his enemies would not even be able to stand on their feet if they weren’t powerful enough.
After thoroughly researching the Scarface Adept, Greem turned his attention to Dante, the Medium.
Greem was a little fearful of this alternative elementium adept.
It was said that this Adept Dante had wholly turned himself into a spiritual being for the sake of strengthening his combat power. In doing so, he could avoid over ninety-percent of physical damage while fighting.
His combat style was similar to Greem’s, only that his minions consisted of powerful spirits. These undead creatures feared neither sword nor blade. They were immune to physical attacks, and all possessed strange and unimaginable abilities.
If Greem were to fight with Dante, it would be a ground shattering battle of flying wraiths and dancing flames!
It was exciting to just think about it.
Meanwhile, Sanazar was an old acquaintance of Greem’s.
Back when Greem and Sanazar were on good terms, Greem had no means of obtaining any information on her due to the massive difference between their status and power.
Sanazar constantly hid in her cloud of purple mist. Greem didn’t even know what she looked like, despite having known her for so long. What he knew about her wasn’t even as detailed as the investigation of the Association.
Flying Venom Dragon.
It was a powerful magical creature that was incredibly difficult to deal with!
They had the robust body and magical resistance of the dragons, while their every attack contained terrifying poison. Moreover, when these dragons flew into a rage and engaged in a brutal fight, they were still a force to be reckoned with.
Greem still had a clear impression of Sanazar from back when she fought with the Third Grade dragon knight. If he were to fight with Sanazar, blocking her rapid and vicious assault would be the key to victory!
Moreover, there was no way that Sanazar had not improved and grown stronger over the years.
Should Greem take the Association’s information for granted, Sanazar would be able to instantly turn the table by unleashing an ability outside the data.
As such, the information stolen from the Association could only serve as a base reference for Greem’s preparation. He could not trust it fully and still needed to prepare more strategies and tactics to prevent an upset.
Moreover, this information could hardly be considered classified.
If he could get his hands on it, his opponents would naturally be able to do the same.
Information about himself was probably being very carefully analyzed by his opponents as well. If they were to sharpen their strategies against him, the situation would not look so good.
Chapter 1030 - Conspiracy and Unease
Kerslin Castle. The lowest level of a well-guarded arcane hall.
A massive ball of light a hundred meters in diameter floated in the center of the hall, maintaining a tight connection to the thousands of mysterious arrays around it through countless beautiful silver light ribbons.
The light ribbons were not pure energy streams. If anyone were fortunate enough to be able to capture a strip of the light and magnify it tens of thousands of times, they would find that the so-called light ribbons were actually a stream consisting of innumerable tiny and interconnected runes.
Every tiny spark was a miniature runic light array.
There were thousands of these light ribbons, each of them shining with countless tiny sparks. These ribbons were entangled and connected, forming an even larger and more complex system of runic light arrays.
A pair of strange and indifferent eyes silently observed the operation of the entire runic array system from within the ball of light. The frail and lean body of an old, bald adept floated behind the ball of light.
While the entire array system ran in a perfect and self-consistent manner, a beam of radiant light penetrated the countless stone walls surrounding it. The light passed by the hundreds and thousands of defensive arrays and pierced into the head of the sleeping old man within.
“Yuri, wake up. Hurry up and wake up.”
The voice wa
s unusually loud, sending shockwaves through the air and causing the light ribbons to tremble and distort. However, all of this disturbance vanished as the pair of indifferent eyes glared at the light ribbons. They returned to normal without any disruption to the operation of the arrays.
Finally, roused by the booming voice, the old and lean adept slowly opened his eyes.
“Dammit! Which bastard is it that has come to disturb my sleep this time? Don’t you know…er, Lord Freed, it’s you?”
The old adept was still somewhat drowsy from having just woken up. He grumbled aloud while connecting with the mental consciousness that had reached out to him. His ‘weak’ Spirit made slight contact with the consciousness, and he instantly recognized the owner of that unique mental flux. Thus, he hastily stopped himself and put on a smile instead.
“Yuri, you promised me that the animated Kerslin would be entirely under our control. What happened with the transgressive act of conferring authority without approval from two days ago? Why did it suddenly go out of control?”
“So, that’s what you’re here for?” Yuri was a Third Grade adept and a mean character who could shake the skies and move the earth with a single stomp of his leg. However, in front of a furious Fourth Grade adept who had come to demand an explanation, he could only bow his head and hurriedly explain. “This was a small mistake I made when setting up the rules on conferring authority.”
“What mistake?” The booming voice pursued, his tone full of dissatisfaction.
“When I confirmed the rules for Kerslin’s operation, it was established that all Third Grade adepts of the Association would have Second Class authority.”
“I know. This rule was unanimously agreed upon by all Fourth Grade adepts. Is there a problem with that rule? That kid is not an Association member at the moment!”
“The problem is that Kerslin sensed the aura of a ‘compatriot’ on him. That was why Kerslin considered him an ally, and the authority conference system was triggered!”
“A compatriot? You mean to say…that the kid also has some sort of animated lifeform on his person?”
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