Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Greem narrowed his eyes and smiled as he replied, “My lord, you should know that I am currently an elder of the Zhentarim Association!”

  “Elder of the Zhentarim Association,” Domhnall repeated after Greem, laughing madly as he did so. “You can repeat that again! We will see if Freed is as insistent on you being an elder of the Zhentarim Association as you are!”

  Having said that, he let out another boisterous laugh!

  A flash of anger flickered across Greem’s face as Domhnall laughed. However, his expression quickly turned into one of awkward frustration and, finally, dejection.

  Domhnall couldn’t be blamed for mocking him. Greem’s position in the Central lands at the moment was quite awkward indeed. He had kept a low profile and hidden within Fire Throne for the past eighty years. One reason for that was to heal the injuries to his soul, but also, he was concerned about further provoking the adepts of the Central lands.

  If it weren’t for the alliance he had formed with the Fire King and the agreement for his method of purifying the law fires, Greem would never have emerged from hiding and appeared in public again.

  The only thing he was relying upon on this trip was the Orb of the Fire God, which he had now finally gained some measure of control over.

  It was thanks to this Fifth Grade origin magical equipment that Greem could suppress Olivia, much to her chagrin.

  “Since both of us are willing to have an honest talk, there is no need for any more smoke and mirrors. Your position in the Central lands at the moment is very awkward. There’s really nowhere to go for you. If you truly intend to unite Zhentarim, we three major adept organizations won’t be your first concern. Retaliation from within the Zhentarim Association will be very intense, indeed. Do you have the confidence to suppress the united retaliation of a dozen adepts?

  “Even if you were to wait a few more years to further bolster the clan’s power, it simply won’t work. Do you expect the three major adept organizations to watch silently when you finally possess the power to unite the Central lands?”

  Greem fell into a speechless silence.

  “I hear that you have four Fourth Grades in your clan now. You, Mary, Alice, and a powerful thunder dragon from another world. Truly, a formidable force if given more time to mature and grow. However, that is still nothing before our Adept’s Association.

  “Rather than stifling your growth by remaining amongst those talentless adepts of the Central lands, why don’t you come to our Adept’s Association? At least here, we have broader skies, free for you to grow and explore. Moreover, our Adept’s Association has a far superior reserve of knowledge and resources than the other two major organizations. Practically day and night compared to Zhentarim.

  “If you want to continue advancing and rise to Fifth Grade, coming to our Adept’s Association is the wisest decision!

  Vice-Chairman Domhnall’s combat prowess was utterly unknown, but his persuasive ability was indeed impressive. Even as determined as Greem was, he felt his heart waver slightly when he heard Domhnall’s words.

  Just then, the Chip’s cold voice rang out in Greem’s mind.

  [Detecting the presence of an unusual mental forcefield. Initial estimates suggest its effects to be mental contamination, resulting in the victim becoming more receptive to suggestions. Reminding host to remain alert!]

  Shit! It was mental magic. No wonder his mind was wavering from a few words.

  Greem cursed furiously to himself, all while calling upon the fire laws to protect his mind.

  Nothing seemed to have changed in his appearance, apart from a strange fire rune suddenly lighting up deep in his black eyes.

  Domhnall, who had been keeping a close eye on Greem, believed himself to have guided Greem’s thoughts onto the right track. As he prepared to deal the final blow and seal the deal, the suddenly ignited fire rune abruptly burned a massive hole in his intricate web of Spirit.

  Domhnall was surprised and instantly lost all control over Greem’s mind.

  “Thank you for your concern, Lord Domhnall!” Greem’s eyes burned passionately as he smiled coldly. “My life is in the Central lands is going quite well. In fact, I have no plans for migration to the east at the moment. So, I believe it’s best we get back to discussing our terms!”

  Cough.

  Seeing as Greem had managed to free himself from the mental manipulation, Domhnall could only let out a sigh and put on a smile once more.

  “Since you have no intention of coming to our Adept’s Association, we won’t be pushing the issue either. If that’s the case, we will have to settle this business the proper way! Ten million magical crystals, in addition to the spores of those magical mushrooms, and the cultivation method.”

  Olivia’s voice shouted out in objection within the mental network the moment Domhnall gave the offer.

  “Olivia, this deal concerns the benefit of all elders of the Association. We can’t let you do whatever you want on this matter. In the end, isn’t extending your brother’s life what you want the most? Very well. We will send an invasion team to an elven kingdom immediately and take their Tree of Life off their hands. Your brother should have no problem living for another hundred years with a Tree of Life as a sacrifice. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

  The Tree of Life of an elven kingdom from a mid-sized plane was still not as valuable as the egg of a Fifth Grade divine creature. However, Olivia knew that this was the old man’s final offer. She had no choice but to agree to these terms.

  Olivia gritted her teeth and replied sternly, “I want to lead that invasion team personally. My brother doesn’t have long left. We can’t afford to proceed slowly with the invasion!”

  “Very well!”

  A bloody war in another world had been decided in a matter of a few sentences, exchanged between two of the most powerful adepts in this world. All of it stemmed from no more than a desire to allow the relative of a Fourth Grade adept to live a few years longer!

  Greem had no idea that this negotiation was happening behind the scenes. He frowned deeply, considering the terms that were being offered to him.

  Ten million magical crystals, and all the magical mushrooms.

  These two terms put together represented an unbearable burden to the Crimson Clan as it was! Greem had to consider all the consequences on the Crimson Clan’s future development before he could decide.

  Finally, fifteen minutes later, Greem took off an unusual ring from his ring finger on the right hand. He weighed it in his hand solemnly as he said, “This is Sodden’s Holy Ring, a Fourth Grade treasure I found in a holy knight plane. It can convert one’s powers into non-attribute holy light power. There shouldn’t be any problem if I use this to discount some of the magical crystals, would there?”

  Having said that, Greem poured fire energy into the ring, creating a holy light shield and holy light arrow in front of him.

  All of a sudden, Domhnall raised an eyebrow. Adept Geraldine’s excited yelp rang out in his mind.

  “That ring is mine. Old man, help me get that ring!”

  Greem finally smiled when he saw the slight change in Domhnall’s gaze.

  Chapter 1246 - Origin Blood

  At the level of Fourth Grades, it wasn’t too difficult to obtain some high-grade equipment.

  One could simply go to an otherworldly battlefield, fight a few wars, and find some decent equipment. Meanwhile, even those who didn’t like to go into battle could simply accumulate some wealth from the backlines and use those resources to forge decent magical equipment.

  However, this only referred to obtaining Fourth Grade equipment!

  Finding origin equipment that belonged only to yourself and was completely compatible with your soul origin was no more than a dream.

  The equipment you obtained in battle was often incompatible, while the ones created through the accumulation of resources were often mediocre. As such, the average Fourth Grade adept had very few pieces of equipment that genuinely suited them. />
  Greem was a perfect example. He had obtained all sorts of Fourth Grade equipment since his advancement: the Bleeding Spear, the ogre’s warhammers, Sodden’s Holy Ring, Shadow’s Breathing, the Ring of Shadows. However, the only one that matched his fire affinity was the fire-coral staff.

  If it weren’t for the Orb of Shadows coming into his possession that he used to trade for the Orb of the Fire God, Greem’s combat prowess would not have improved so rapidly. He would not have been able to stand toe-to-toe against a powerful individual like the Adept of Torture.

  That was why even Adept Geraldine couldn’t help but become exceptionally excited when he saw a Fourth Grade ring that was perfectly compatible with his origin attribute. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on it.

  The reason Greem was willing to offer Sodden’s Holy Ring as part of the exchange was mainly that he could not use the ring to its full potential. It barely displayed the might of a Fourth Grade item in his hands. Most of the time, Greem forcibly drew on the ring’s powers with his powerful Spirit.

  In his hands, such awkward equipment was an inefficient ring of healing at the very best. He might as well trade it away with this opportunity and make the best use of the ring.

  As for whether this would aid the enemy, it wasn’t exactly a problem to be considered!

  The Adept’s Association was still too far away from Zhentarim. For the foreseeable future, which was the next few hundred years, Greem’s main rivals would be the stubborn, conservative Fourth Grade adepts of the Central lands.

  Greem would not easily make enemies out of the three major adept organizations before he had confidence in surviving!

  Even if the Adept’s Association was hostile towards him, they couldn’t launch an actual invasion. As for the schemes and plots that they could throw his way? Greem couldn’t care less about those.

  As long as the three major organizations did not dare to start an actual war, Greem had confidence in winning this race of time and power.

  Domhnall, who was sitting across from Greem, took Sodden’s Holy Ring into his hands. He toyed with it a little and verified its attributes. His wrinkly old face relaxed before breaking into a slight frown as he said, “The base price of Fourth Grade items in the market right now is between two to three million magical crystals. This ring is relatively powerful, but its attributes are too niche. That might affect its base value if traded away. However, since you are willing to offer it up, I won’t push the price too low; three million magical crystals, how about that?”

  Greem gave a thin smile, “I remember there was one Adept Geraldine among the adepts you introduced to me earlier. I believe if I contacted him, he would be willing to offer a far higher price than what you’re offering me!”

  Domhnall’s expression didn’t change. He appeared as composed as ever.

  “You are right. The market for high-grade items is simply like this. What might be an invaluable treasure in the hands of one who needs it might just be another high-grade item in the hands of another. Since you’ve mentioned him, I will contact Geraldine and see how high a price he is willing to pay!”

  A short moment later, a light flashed in the room as a mysterious person of light appeared out of thin air.

  After elementiumizing his body, Geraldine had gained this strange ability to disassemble and reassemble his body freely. He could infiltrate any place where there was light. Nothing could stop him from entering. His power was also endless wherever there was light.

  Such power was comparable to those incredibly pure elementium creatures!

  “I want this ring. You can offer whatever price you like, Sir Greem. As long as it is something I can afford, I will not give a lower offer!” Geraldine was a straightforward man, and the ball was clearly in Greem’s court now.

  Everyone here was a veteran Fourth Grade adept. If Greem were to ask for an exaggerated sum, he would only be mocked. That wouldn’t be beneficial to the rest of the negotiations. However, giving too low a price was simply unacceptable.

  Greem narrowed his eyes. He took a good look at this seemingly straightforward but incredibly cunning Adept Geraldine. After a long pause, he spoke up.

  “Five million magical crystals…and a drop of…your blood!”

  Geraldine was a humanoid made out of light elementium. His entire body glowed with blinding brilliance. As such, it was impossible to discern his expression. However, judging from the flux of his light elementium, he had not been provoked by Greem’s rude request.

  “You intend to research light elementium?” A while later, Geraldine finally said.

  “Indeed! Amongst all the elementium particles, light elementium alone possesses excellent purifying traits and a unique method of teleportation. In speed alone, light elementium is undoubtedly one of the top three. As such, I wish to research your light elementium and improve the slow movement speed of my transformed giant body!” Greem smiled.

  Geraldine didn’t really have an opinion on what Greem said.

  It might be the truth, or it might be a lie. He would have to discern it for himself.

  There were far too many curses that required the use of a person’s blood and hair. Actively asking for someone’s blood was a very offensive gesture indeed.

  However, given Greem’s identity, casting a curse on an Association elder was no different than declaring war on the Adept’s Association. As such, whether Greem would do something so foolish was a matter that Geraldine had to judge for himself.

  Were there fools among Fourth Grade adepts? There might be quite a few madmen, but there were no fools at all!

  Would a Fourth Grade adept with a large clan in the Central lands take the risk of going to war with the Adept’s Association, simply to curse him, Adept Geraldine, despite the lack of any grudges or hostility between them?

  Seeing as Geraldine was still wary and cautious, Greem could only take a step back himself.

  “Since Sir Geraldine clearly has his doubts, why don’t I avoid taking the blood with me? All I need to do is sense the light laws here. That shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

  Geraldine was happy to hear this. He finally nodded and said, “Very well!”

  His right finger sliced his chest, and a milky-white drop of blood hovered towards Greem.

  Perhaps feeling that this trade wasn’t exactly fair for Greem, Geraldine decided to compensate in his own way. What he offered up wasn’t an ordinary drop of blood, but origin blood from deep within himself.

  Origin blood was incredibly crucial to a person. It was not something that should fall into the hands of another adept. However, since Greem had already promised not to take it away and only feel and experience its laws at close distance, there should be no problem.

  Moreover, Geraldine did not believe that anyone could decipher the light laws he had only mastered after several hundreds of years just by sensing with their Spirit.

  Greem looked at the origin blood floating in front of him. He did not use a container to store it. Instead, he drew a few lines in the air with his hand, merging several fire runes with the blood. He then slowly reached and felt for that unusual power within the blood.

  Blue light flickered dimly in the depths of his eyes. Lights of various spectrums were emitted to repeatedly scan and confirm the elementium composition and energy structure within.

  [Beep. Detecting light elementium aggregate of abnormal concentration. Conducting in-depth scans.]

  A three-dimensional image of this drop of blood had been projected in Greem’s mind. As data started to flow in, the picture became clearer and clearer. The projection was soon able to simulate the energy flux and frequency from the blood with perfect accuracy.

  [Beep. Acidity level of the compound confirmed.

  [Beep. Cell activity surveyed.

  [Beep. Composition of the acidity is 21.46% identical to human blood. No bacteria detected.

  [Beep. Light elementium has replaced biological energy, highly assimilated with cell structure. Cond
ucting deconstruction of energy structure. Warning. Said deconstruction will cause irreversible disintegration of energy structure. Requesting instructions from host: would you like to proceed with the operation?”

  “Pause it temporarily. Conduct the operation after finishing all other tests!”

  [Beep. Instruction sequence has been readjusted. Composition analysis resuming.

  As the Chip’s notifications continued to ring out in his mind, Greem’s tests on that drop of origin blood started to push towards the deeper structures.

  As Greem poured all his focus onto the drop of blood, Domhnall and Geraldine couldn’t help but exchange a look. Their expressions turned solemn.

  Greem was analyzing the origin blood. However, at the same time, the Association adepts were also observing Greem.

  Unlike the average alchemist adept, Greem did not rely on any equipment or even divination wands to conduct his analysis. It was almost as if he really was using his eyes and fire spells to perform a complicated examination of the blood.

  Such a method of analysis was unprecedented!

  Could Greem’s eyes possibly be more accurate than a magnifying glass on an alchemy platform? Could Greem’s spiritual senses go past the limits of what was possible and see the cells at their smallest level? Could he see the origin structure of the energy without the aid of a spectrum analyzer?

  There were too many impossibilities that made the two adepts start to become suspicious.

  It couldn’t be possible that Greem was just putting on a show, could it? Could it be that he didn’t actually see anything?

  It wasn’t just them. Even the Association elders observing from the mental network were becoming anxious.

  While the two of them were replying to the elders’ barrage of responses in their minds, a beam of red light shone from Greem’s eye and hit the rotating origin blood.

  The two energies of differing attributes clashed, instantly triggering an intense reaction.