Soon, they were back at the adept’s tower.
The other adepts quickly bid farewell to Greem once they entered the tower. They hurried away to give their report to Lord Martin. Greem immediately returned to his room as well.
Naturally, the resources that Martin had promised would be delivered to his hands without any mistake after this.
There was no adept who would risk damaging their reputation for such small change.
Greem immediately went to the alchemy lab upon reaching his room. He took out the magical box in which he had stored the galaxy wanderer’s arm.
All sorts of magical arrays had been carved on top of the box, sealing and isolating the flow of most magical power. It ensured that the power contained within the magical materials would not be lost due to the flow of time. However, to ensure the condition of the arm, Greem felt like it was better to decipher the secret behind the parasitic organ as soon as possible.
Greem carefully placed the arm on a smooth, black marble platform.
He then adjusted the intensity of the illuminating stones before using the Chip to conduct a deep scan to figure out the secrets of this unusual organ.
Blue light flickered deep in Greem’s black eyes as lights of the entire spectrum shone at surprising frequency. The galaxy wanderer’s arms slowly turned translucent under these lights, revealing the flesh, tendons, and bones beneath.
Greem pressed the arm with his fingers. The skin was rough and tough, as if there was a special protective layer on the surface. A small orange flame sizzled and appeared at the tip of his finger. The skin that was burned by the fire remained the same violet color without any sign of burning or withering.
Greem let out a soft exclamation of surprise. The fire elementium gathered in the small flame became even more intense.
The orange flame quickly turned crimson, and the energy intensity rose from 70 points to 200 points.
Unfortunately, the skin still appeared utterly unchanged.
Greem didn’t give up. Even more fire elementium continued to gather at his fingertip.
The small flame slowly concentrated, becoming smaller than before. However, the intensity of the energy within had quickly risen from 200 points to 300 points. The color of the fire was also starting to turn white.
It was only now that the galaxy wanderer’s skin started to change somewhat. A small black burn-mark appeared where the fire was burning.
Greem couldn’t help but nod his head and let out a soft sight at this point.
No wonder the adepts had so much trouble when they were fighting against these wanderers.
The wanderers might seem so ill-equipped that they were practically naked, but their bodies alone were already comparable to an excellent Second Grade enchanted armor.
With magic resistance of this level, the elementium magic of those Second Grade adepts would barely inflict any damage. Only the powerful physical attacks of body-refining adepts and bloodline adepts could pose a certain degree of threat to these wanderers.
Of course, the magic-resistant skin of these galaxy wanderers was probably terribly inferior compared to all the other galaxy creatures out there. How were they supposed to wander through the galaxy and all its magical tides if they didn’t have at least such magic resistance!
After completing his examination of the skin, Greem used a silver scalpel enchanted with Sharpness, Armor Piercing, and Harden to slice open the skin. He started to examine the flesh and tendons within.
As expected, even though these ‘galaxies’ resembled apes from the material planes, the fundamental substance of their bodies was radically different from your ordinary creature.
Their flesh was hard and rough, with large individual particles that were visible to the naked eye. If it wasn’t because he was dissecting the wanderer’s arm right now, Greem might have thought that these were pieces of black charcoal and junk.
The operation scalpel let out an ear-grinding screeching sound when it tried to cut through these pieces of ‘flesh.’ It was almost as if it was trying to cut apart rock. No, that wasn’t right. With how sharp this scalpel was, even slicing metal and rock wouldn’t be this difficult.
It fully demonstrated that the fundamental substance that made up the bodies of these galaxy wanderers likely originated somewhere deep in space.
The wanderers would devour anything they found. Even metal ores remaining from a disintegrating plane could be a delicious meal for them. They would absorb most of the essence of these ores, converting them into this nightmarish, flesh-like substance.
Given the nature of their flesh, the galaxy wanderer’s probably also had shockingly high resistance to physical attacks!
As expected, there were no weaklings among the races that survived in the depths of space.
With how potent the galaxy wanderers were, an adept of the same grade probably had less than a forty percent chance of beating them in a battle.
After examining the skin, the tendons, and the bones, Greem sliced apart the layers of flesh with much difficulty, finally revealing the parasitic organ that sat at the wrist of the arm.
Having lost the protection of the flesh and the magic-resistant skin, the internal construction of the parasitic organ was fully displayed before Greem’s mind.
It should be some sort of strange organ that the galaxy wanderers had evolved after adapting to the outer space environment. It was a strange mass of fibrous tissue, layers of flesh wrapped around a light-blue crystal fixing it in place.
The fearsome light blades that the galaxy wanderers were capable of unleashing came from these cerulean crystals.
The light-blue crystal wasn’t an energy organ. Instead, it was an unusual construction of flesh that seemed to magnify Spirit.
Greem carefully severed the dozens of tendons attached to the surface of the crystal before extracting it from the arm with the scalpel.
“Chip, what is this?”
Lights of a thousand different colors shone out of Greem’s eyes and landed on the blue crystals. They scanned for several minutes before finally fading away.
[Beep. Discovering unknown focusing crystal. Crystal toughness: 310 points. Magnification magnitude: 1.72x. State of focused energy: Unknown. Attribute of focused energy: No attributes. Attached elemental effects: None.]
A focusing crystal? Magnification magnitude?
Could these crystals have the ability to magnify the intensity of spells?
With questions in his mind, Greem gripped the blue crystal in his hand and started to pour fire energy into it.
Once the gathered fire elementium exceeded a certain threshold, a soft crackle rang out, and a small flame was lit.
Greem looked at the small fire flickering on the surface of the blue crystal, his mind full of questions and doubts.
The data projected by the Chip was unambiguous. The fire energy in the flame was the exact same as the energy he had projected into the crystal. There was no magnification effect at all.
Could the Chip’s scans have been incorrect?
A thought appeared in his Greem’s mind as he pondered the mystery. He couldn’t help but slowly pour in a bit of his Spirit into the crystal at the same time as he poured in fire energy.
A loud explosion rang out. The small flame suddenly swelled into a magical fireball the size of a human head, almost as if gasoline had been poured onto a bonfire. The fireball hovered before Greem, slowly spinning around as it burned.
Chapter 1079 - Exchange
Chapter 1079 Exchange
The focusing crystal magnified Spirit.
It was a little unexpected, but this discovery surprised Greem pleasantly.
The upper limit for his Spirit had been increased to 49 points with his advancement to Fourth Grade. He wouldn’t need to be concerned about his Spirit being stuck at a threshold for the next thousand years.
Correspondingly, the speed at which his Spirit increased was tremendously slow now!
Even with the Chip’s aid
, the past few years of diligent meditation had not increased his Spirit by even 0.1 points. For the foreseeable future, Greem would remain stuck at the level of a beginner Fourth Grade. He would require at least two to three hundred years before he could advance to the next minor grade.
It was now that he truly understood why some of the Fourth Grade adepts of Zhentarim were still tragically stuck at the beginner level. They had either exhausted all of their potential, or their meditation now had absolutely no effect. Otherwise, there was no reason why they would allow such a state of stagnation to persist for such a long time!
Given the slow improvement of Spirit, wouldn’t the ability to magnify the effects of Spirit with the aid of a tool be an alternative method of becoming more powerful?
After realizing this, Greem immediately started to delve into research on this focusing crystal.
Firstly, the crystal was not a product of nature. It was a biological crystal that naturally formed in the bodies of those galaxy wanderers after their tens of thousands of years of evolution in space. That meant every focusing crystal could only be harvested from the bodies of galaxy wanderers. They were not a resource that could be discovered elsewhere.
Secondly, every single crystal had its own magnification frequency and spectrum.
In other words, the focusing crystal that Greem had obtained had its upper limit of magnification.
It was obtained from the body of a beginner Third Grade galaxy wanderer. As such, beginner Third Grade Spirit was the upper limit of what it could magnify. If Greem were to pour his Fourth Grade Spirit into this crystal, it would instantly shatter once the Spirit exceeded the crystal’s capacity. Of course, it would be no problem if Greem limited his Spirit to the level of a Third Grade and below.
As such, if Greem wanted to obtain a focusing crystal that could be of practical use to himself, he would have to devise methods to hunt down Fourth Grade galaxy wanderers. Moreover, the higher the grade of the galaxy wanderer, the better.
That was a challenging task!
Ever since he discovered the purpose and limits of the focusing crystal, Greem’s mood had been taken on a rollercoaster ride. Up and down, down and up, without stop. First unrestrained joy, then disappointment, then a trace of unwillingness to just give up without trying.
Could this focusing crystal only be used by Third Grade adepts?
Refusing to let this opportunity slip past, Greem immediately gave the Chip an order.
“Chip, search for ways and methods to strengthen this crystal. Furthermore, search if other adepts have discovered this special application of the focusing crystal.”
[Beep. Mission has been constructed. Searching database.
[Beep. The Spirit magnification effect of focusing crystals has been recorded in adept tomes since a long time ago. However, according to the records, adepts are unable to utilize this ability directly.]
“Why?”
[The focusing crystals are a type of biological crystal. They have been attuned to the host’s Spirit frequency and band wave during the process of their formation. Other creatures are unable to utilize the crystals even if they obtain them.]
“You mean to say that the reason I succeeded in using the crystals is because of you tuning my Spirit frequency and band wave to match the crystal?”
[Yes!]
Greem couldn’t help fall silent in thought.
No wonder the adepts paid more attention to keeping the galaxy wanderers’ skin intact while they were looting their corpses, as opposed to these focusing crystals. After all, not every adept could do what Greem could do. Not every adept could freely adjust and change the frequency of their Spirit with the help of a chip.
If that was the case, he might have a chance of obtaining one or two focusing crystals from the more powerful adepts that he could put to use, especially if he put out the word that he was collecting them.
He might not be able to kill those Fourth Grade galaxy wanderers, but it didn’t mean that the Great Adepts couldn’t do it.
At any rate, the focusing crystals were useless in their hands.
Surely, they would be more than happy to trade it for some more practical resources. However, spreading the news like that was very likely to draw unnecessary trouble towards himself.
The Great Adepts weren’t fools either. If they discovered Greem was in a rush to collect focusing crystals, they could easily deduce that he had a way of utilizing them. When that happened, there would be trouble if the Great Adepts came knocking on his door!
Greem hesitated for a moment at this thought. He then tried to contact Adept Martin.
A short moment later, a magical message arrived.
“Greem, your share of the seeds has been prepared. I will have people send it to you shortly.”
“No worries, Martin. You can have my share. However, I would like for you to help me put out a purchase request.”
“What for?”
“One of those light blue crystals inside the galaxy wanderers, from the body of a Fourth Grade galaxy wanderer. The higher the quality, the better!”
“Oh, you must have noticed the unusual effect of that crystal! Let me tell you, Greem, that thing can only be used by the galaxy wanderers. We adepts don’t have any use for it at all. Collecting these crystals is just gonna be a waste of resources for you.”
“Do me a favor! I have a feeling there’s some sort of secret contained inside them. I want a higher-grade crystal for an experiment.”
“Well, I can certainly get you one. That said, even though they aren’t suitable for adept use, you’re still asking for a Fourth Grade item. You will have to pay a hefty price for it. Moreover, the Great Adepts are probably the only ones who will have a Fourth Grade crystal. They won’t even take a look in your direction if you are trying to purchase with magical crystals. Here in Camp Exodar, most items above Fourth Grade are traded on a barter system. You will probably have trouble obtaining a Fourth Grade crystal if you can’t offer them something they are interested in!”
He needed a Fourth Grade item, and something even Great Adepts would be interested in!
Greem thought for a moment before finally speaking again.
“I have a perfectly preserved body of an otherworldly Fourth Grade holy knight with me.”
“The body of a Fourth Grade knight? That’s not worth much, at least in the eyes of the Great Adepts. The Great Adepts hunt plenty of Fourth Grade creatures. Perhaps they might be slightly interested if your holy knight was still living. But a dead corpse? Hmm……”
“I have some Empowered Magic Essence on hand!”
“Empowered Magic Essence is a Third Grade item at the very best.”
“The materials used to make these are a little special. Consumed in sufficient quantities, they can even allow an ordinary person to gain elementium affinities.”
“What? How is this possible? Has the effect been verified?”
“Without a doubt!”
“……”
Perhaps shocked by this news, Adept Martin only replied after a long pause.
“Greem, I have already put out news of your offer. There’s a Great Adept who wishes to speak with you right now. I—” Before Martin could finish, his magical message was cut off by another strange voice.
It sounded like that Adept Sainz.
“Kid, I heard from Martin you have something unusual in your hands? Those Empowered Magic Essences of yours can actually bestow ordinary people with magical power?”
“Indeed, Lord Sainz. The method I used to extract this batch of Empowered Magic Essence is slightly different compared to how the other adepts do it. That is why it has this unique effect. An ordinary person would be able to obtain an elementium affinity if they consumed fifty grams of this Empowered Magic Essence for ten consecutive days.”
“Good…good…good…simply brilliant.” Adept Sainz was obviously beyond overjoyed on the other end of the communication, “Tell me, how do you intend to trade for this Empowered
Magic Essence? I can pay five million magical crystals. That should be a fair price, isn’t it?”
“Er…Lord Sainz, in truth, I would rather trade them for a galaxy wanderer’s crystal!”
“What are you collecting those things for? Many adepts have already tried putting them to use, but those crystals have already been completely attuned to the galaxy wanderers themselves. No one other than the galaxy wanderers themselves can use them.”
“I wish to research the principles behind their formation and see if it is possible to artificially cultivate focusing crystals of my own.”
“Hmph! Why do I care what you are using the crystals for? Prepare the Empowered Magic Essence for me. I will be back soon. I know perfectly who amongst those old geezers has those focusing crystals here in Camp Exodar. If I find out that your Empowered Magic Essence doesn’t have the effect you claim it possesses after this trade, kid, you will be in big trouble.”
Martin’s voice once again rang in Greem’s ears after Great Adept Sainz cut off communications.
“Congratulations, Greem! You found a good buyer this time!”
“Why is Lord Sainz in such a hurry to obtain these Empowered Magic Essence? Could it be…?”
“Heheh, do I even need to explain it? It’s already been 1,300 years since Lord Sainz left the World of Adepts. The bloodline he left behind in Zhentarim has since waned and fallen from grace. Even though the Zhentarim Association keeps an eye out for them and makes sure that his bloodline isn’t broken, not a single adept has appeared amongst his descendants for the past three hundred years.
“At the rate at which this is going, the status of that adept clan will be revoked in another hundred years. They will be reduced to ordinary, worldly nobles. Lord Sainz has plenty of resources and magical crystals on hand, yet he can’t find a single apprentice adept in his entire clan. Of course, he’s in a hurry!”
Greem drew in a breath of cold air.
That was the real reason why so many adept clans fell from grace in the World of Adepts!
They might have a Great Adept for an ancestor looking over them from the realms beyond and ensuring that the clan’s development would proceed without a hitch. However, the lineage of the clan’s bloodline would regress over time, until they became an ordinary, non-magical clan.
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