Greem’s mouth was stuffed full of dragon meat. His jaw ached slightly from all the chewing. He was only listening somewhat to the maid’s report.
Finally, he swallowed the meat with some difficulty and washed it all down with the wine on the table. He then patted his chest and exhaled.
“A succubus…I haven’t seen these abyssal creatures since I was an apprentice. They are truly rare beauties. Where did Meryl manage to get her hands on one of them?”
“Lady Meryl mentioned that this succubus came from the Capital of Steel in space. She has been asking to see you, my lord, and seems to have a certain purpose in mind!”
Space…an abyssal succubus…
Greem paused for a moment. He couldn’t help but frown and think.
Chapter 1223 - Unexpected Visitor
The World of Abyss was also known as the home of the demons.
It sheltered demons, as they represented its evil and twisted origin.
Almost all Abyssal demons were formed by the corruption of an evil soul or will by the Abyss consciousness.
Apart from the more common demons, many other evil creatures also lived in the World of Abyss. They included demon-hunting spiders, bodaks, all sorts of undead, ghosts, corrupted mortals, and even more damnable existences.
The only ones who could survive in the World of Abyss were powerful, evil madmen, with no exceptions!
However, amidst all the ugly, evil, and chaotic demonic creatures, the succubi were undoubtedly the most welcomed in other worlds.
They had pretty looks, explosive figures, and an instinct carved into their very genetics to obey the powerful. They would go to any lengths to seduce and please their masters. Consequently, many high-grade adepts would keep succubi servants in their personal towers.
However, even though succubi might look pretty and seductive, they were still cruel, evil, and twisted at their very core. If they managed to get hold of your weakness, they would crush you beneath their feet without any hesitation the very next moment, even if they had just been subserviently obeying your orders earlier. They would let you know the full extent of the cruelty and evil that demons were capable of!
That was why even Greem, as smart as he was, couldn’t quite figure out the purpose of the succubus coming here to seek an audience with him.
Greem met the succubus in a hall on the second level.
When the succubus slowly walked into the room, Greem narrowed his eyes and assessed the demon.
Her white skin was smooth as jade, and small purple spots could be faintly seen on her upper arm. Her red lips were like blazing flames, and her glowing, red eyes made her look cute and petite. Her appearance could very easily draw out a sense of protectiveness from male creatures.
Succubi did not have a habit of wearing armor. Most of this succubus’ skin was exposed, with only a few key areas covered by a thin layer of dark scales. These scales were spread in a very ‘artistic’ fashion. They barely covered the tips of her large breasts and her crotch.
Rather than protection or modesty, these scales served more the purpose of seduction.
The large, crimson wings on her back, her agile tail, twisted horns, and hooved feet were all evidence of her identity as a succubus. It only increased her attraction, making her feel like more of an exotic beauty to be treasured.
Even in the face of an overwhelming Fourth Grade fire adept like Greem, this young succubus showed no signs of fear. Rather, she continually flaunted her seductive figure and looks the moment she entered.
“Speak up then…which Abyssal Lord are you subordinate to? Why have you come here to seek an audience?” Greem narrowed his eyes, a dangerous light glowing deep within.
His domineering spiritual-pressure filled the entire hall. The fire elementium in the room started to move with the slight change in his emotions. It was almost as if a storm of fire would begin at any moment.
This entire tower was Greem’s territory. Naturally, this hall itself was also filled with his dense fire aura.
In a world of fire, Greem was the absolute tyrant and ruler!
Any slight shift in Greem’s emotions while he was in this domain of his would trigger tremors in the fire elementium, resulting in horrifying calamities.
How could a mere advanced First Grade succubus ever hope to resist the spiritual pressure of a Fourth Grade adept? Her face instantly went pale. She wrapped her arms around herself, her knees buckling, and began shivering uncontrollably on the ground.
Even terrified by Greem’s aura, her every movement was still as seductive as ever. Even her action of wrapping her arms around herself only further emphasized her trembling breasts, making her look even more vulnerable and weak.
“Hmph! Brat, your techniques won’t work on me!” Greem sneered coldly and waved his hand. A massive hand of fire appeared above the succubus, threatening to crush her at any moment. “Spit out your purpose here now, or……”
“O’ revered Lord Greem, I…I am a subordinate of Prince Gerobarrick. It…it was Lord Kzoyde that made me come to see you.” The succubus was actually terrified now. She shouted out her answer as loudly as she could.
Gerobarrick, Kzoyde.
Greem waved away the hand of fire and started brooding in silence.
Why did these two names sound familiar to him?
Adepts had extraordinary Spirit, after all. Retentive memory and rapid calculations were child’s play to them. Greem still had an impression of these two names, even though he had only heard them in passing a hundred years ago.
However, before he even needed to recollect where he heard the names, the Chip had already searched his mind and found memories related to these two names.
Kzoyde was a Flaming Demon with a sizeable force behind him. Greem had met him in a market in the Fire Elementium Plane. That Kzoyde had claimed to be a subordinate of Prince Gerobarrick when he introduced himself.
Memories flashed past Greem’s mind as he remembered everything.
“True, I do know of a Flaming Demon known as Kzoyde. What’s the matter? Why did he send you here?” Greem asked solemnly.
“Lord Kzoyde is overjoyed to hear that Lord Greem has advanced to Fourth Grade. As such, he sent me here, hoping to establish direct communications with you, my lord. Furthermore, he wishes to meet you in person as well,” The succubus shivered as she spoke.
“Meet me…then have him speak with me personally!” Greem’s gaze turned sharp as he pointed at the succubus. The power hidden in her body was instantly forced to appear.
A dark-red light appeared from her body, quickly turning into a tall Second Grade Flaming Demon. The demon’s chest was covered in evil tattoos, two long horns grew from the top of his head, and a cape of flame fluttered behind him.
Judging from the energy aura that his entire person emitted, this was only an energy projection, rather than the person himself.
It had been a long time since they last met. This Flaming Demon had advanced from advanced to peak Second Grade. Given the intensity of the fire gathering in his body, he was probably going to turn into a Lord of Ashes soon.
The succubus grunted and fell unconscious the moment the flaming demon appeared.
“Lord Greem, we meet again!” Kzoyde hastily bowed when he saw Greem. His tone carried with it a trace of exasperation.
Two hundred long years later, he had only taken a small step forward in his evolution as a demon. Yet, the fire adept in front of him had risen from Second Grade to Fourth Grade, an advancement of two major grades.
The difference was massive.
As someone who had met Greem both then and now, Kzoyde could feel the tremendous change in their relative positions. The emotions and feelings invoked by this experience were not something that others could hope to understand!
“We don’t know each other all that well, do we? Why have you gone to such lengths to climb out of the World of Abyss to find me? What is it that you wish to talk about?” Greem coldly said.
“Truly
direct and straightforward, Lord Greem. I won’t be holding anything back then. I am not actually the one who wanted to speak with you. It isn’t the lord I serve either. Rather, it’s someone powerful from another world. I am very sorry for this, but to prevent a leak of information, I cannot state the name of that person here. However, I have a message from him here for you. I hope you will accept it.”
“And the message?”
Kzoyde smiled and exploded into sparks without a second word.
Meanwhile, the unconscious succubus suddenly shivered and woke up. She quickly got up from the ground.
“Mm? What happened to me? My…my head hurts!”
A thought shot through Greem’s mind. He couldn’t help but smile gently and wave his hand at the girl.
“Come over here!”
The succubus shivered and hesitated on the spot. She didn’t dare move forward.
Greem had no time to waste on her. He motioned with his hand, and the succubus flew towards him, restricted by an unknown power.
Greem placed his hand on the succubus’ forehead, and thousands of strands of Spirit penetrated her head like serpents of fire. The next moment, the Chip’s notification rang out in Greem’s mind.
[Beep. Detecting unknown data stream. No traps or harmful substances have been found upon examination.. Requesting instructions from host. Receive data?]
“Receive!”
As Greem gave his order, a strange flow of data surged into his mind, quickly turning into a recording of a sequence of events.
Greem watched and listened quietly. He quickly understood everything.
A short moment later, when Greem finally let go, the succubus’ eyes went white as she collapsed to the ground.
What elaborate design.
This succubus was only a messenger.
The information to be conveyed had been hidden deep in her mind, and she had no idea. Moreover, those images and recordings had vanished without a trace after Greem received them!
The main reason why the sender of this message had gone to such lengths and complexities was that certain information could not be orally or textually conveyed. Should they be spoken or written, the individuals involved behind the scenes could pick up on the fact that they were being mentioned!
Greem looked at the unconscious succubus and considered for a brief moment. He then picked up a small golden bell beside him and shook it. A short moment later, the calm, composed leader of the maids walked out.
“Take her downstairs! Keep in her the tower. There’s no need to restrict her movements, but she cannot be allowed to leave the tower or communicate with the outside world.”
“Understood!”
The maid did not know why she should be doing these things, but she knew well enough not to ask. She waved her hand and summoned two other night elves, who carried the succubus away.
Greem stood silently in place for a moment before sighing and erupting into flames as he returned to his room.
Chapter 1224 - Dealing with the Orb of the Fire God.
Inside an isolated dimension.
As the flames in the corners of the space gathered together, Greem’s muscular figure slowly materialized.
However, the moment his soul aura appeared, a dense and massive fireball shot towards him and crashed into his body.
This fireball was nearly five meters in diameter, filled with liquid fire energy so dense it had almost turned solid. The heat radiating from the edge of the fireball was already enough to destabilize the space. The milky-white barrier that marked the boundaries of this dimension creaked under the tremendous load of energy.
Such a terrifying fireball obviously burned at an incredible heat. Just the surface of the fireball already reached thousands of degrees, while the core of the fireball had hit upwards of ten thousand degrees.
A Third Grade adept wouldn’t even need to be hit by the fireball to turn to ashes. They might roast to death just by standing too close.
Greem showed no signs of panic when he saw such a horrifying fireball crash towards him. Instead, he simply smiled.
“Stop fooling around! Show me your true form!” Greem chuckled as he said. He then reached into the fireball with his hand and pulled out the silently burning orb within.
As his palm trembled slightly, the fireball that had lost its core immediately erupted and dissipated into the sea of fire around him.
The entire space instantly blazed with fire.
Greem did not seem to care. He stood amidst the flames quietly as he toyed with the orb in his hand.
Eighty years. Eighty long years.
Greem had been fighting with this Orb of the Fire God daily all these years.
The brand of that powerful Fire God had fully assimilated with the fire origin of the orb. Trying to erase it completely was an impossible task. Greem’s only solution was to seal the divine brand and cut off its control over the orb.
Such a task was still a monumental one. However, Greem was backed by a Fourth Grade Fate Witch. Suppressed by Alice’s Hourglass of Time and Staff of Divination–two powerful artifacts in their own right–Greem finally managed to project a fire clone into the orb and supplanted the divine brand’s position.
The Orb’s power weakened in doing so, and several of its abilities were also sealed away. However, it ultimately put the orb in Greem’s control.
It was only at this moment that Greem had truly gained control of the Orb of the Fire God!
From now on, this orb truly belonged to him.
Greem toyed with the orb, silently feeling the plentiful and overwhelming fire energy within. He could sense the presence of his soul aura in every strand and every spark of fire energy inside the orb. With a single thought from Greem, the fire energy within the orb would move according to his will, freely forming whatever state he wished, as if it was his own limb.
Greem gripped the Orb of the Fire God tightly as a light flickered in his eyes. The sea of fire inside the dimension gathered and dissipated under his will, sometimes forming into brilliant fireballs soaring across the air, occasionally turning into bright red birds that danced in the sky, and sometimes transforming into a threatening beast.
Greem controlled the flames and played with them. His understanding of fire energy deepened as the flames continued to shift from form to form.
Greem might have been able to control fire in the past and had even mastered four fire laws, but the marks of his manipulation were still too obvious. Unlike now. The fire was him, and he was the fire. The two of them were closely connected and were showing signs of complete assimilation.
The Chip projected the most recent analysis of Greem’s body in his mind.
[Greem. Male. Fourth Grade Principle Adept (Fire Specialization).
Chaos Physique (Excellent Magic Resistance). Starbeast Bloodline (13%). Heart of Principles (56% Mastery).
Bodily Attributes: Strength 31 | Agility 19 | Spirit 44.
Bloodline Talent: Energy Blackhole.
Fire Laws: Increased Fire Range, Increased Fire Effectiveness, Fire Penetration, Invisible Flames, Critical Fires.]
At Greem’s level, even a slight increase in power required a colossal investment of resources and time.
After eighty long years of daily meditations and training, Greem had only managed to increase his Spirit by 4 points. Part of this had even been thanks to the various strange mushrooms.
The mutated mushrooms had now lost all effectiveness on Greem. He would have to find new high-grade resources again if he wanted to accelerate his progress!
The constant battling with the Orb of the Fire God and the Libram of Wisdom over the years had benefitted Greem greatly as well.
His mastery over the Heart of Principles had increased from 48% to 56%. That gave him access to one new fire law: Critical Fires.
Under the effects of this law, Greem could freely enhance an offensive spell with twice the fire damage. The cost of this was double the exhaustion on his magic power.
Greem’s offensive power was already top of the line and exceedingly scary. With this ability to further enhance his attacks, Greem’s spells were devastating.
However, with Greem’s 44 points of Spirit, the unrestrained use of this Critical Fire law would rapidly exhaust his Spirit. Fortunately, the Orb of the Fire God could relieve the strain on his limited Spirit.
[Item Name: Orb of the Fire God
Item Categorization: Elementium Orb (Artifact)
Item Attribute: Fire
Item Grade: Fifth Grade
Basic Attributes: +3 Spirit | +2 Physique
Enhancements: 300% increase in power to passive and summoning fire-spells.
Unique Item Effects: Fire Breathing, Fire Mending, Blazing Berserker, Fire Immunity (Intermediate)
Item Abilities: Scorched Earth (Fifth Grade divine fire spell, sealed), Inferno Armor (1700 points of defensive power), Dimension of Flames (Self-contained fire dimension, capable of containing up to three fire creatures)]
As the Orb of the Fire God slowly fell under Greem’s control, its attributes were gradually revealed.
Compared to Fourth Grade magical equipment, the Fifth Grade Orb’s power was obviously on another level.
Disregarding everything else, just its unique effects alone made Greem overjoyed.
While Greem remained within flames, he would gain the abilities of Fire Breathing (passively absorb surrounding fire energy to replenish exhausted energy), Fire Mending (absorb surrounding flames to heal wounds), Blazing Berserker (300% increase in movement speed while walking in fire), and intermediate Fire Immunity.
All these effects combined made Greem possess fire abilities as diverse as a Fire Lord!
Moreover, the Orb had a self-contained fire dimension of its own that could store three fire creatures. Greem could commit to cultivating three powerful fire creatures as his subordinates. He could keep them in his Orb and release them as a hidden ace at crucial moments in battle.
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