This revelation instantly drew the attention of all the adept clans, making them even more fearful than before.
Stopping a stampede wasn’t as easy as sealing off intruders from space.
There were only so many rifts in the planar barrier. All they had to do was guard the rifts and kill every intruder that passed through them. It was difficult work, but it had been very effective so far. On the other hand, the Black Forest surrounded the Central Lands. It was nearly impossible to determine where the stampedes would come from.
Of course, the adepts could also rely on astrologists and diviners to foresee the magical creatures’ movements. However, after so many years of conflict with the adepts, the magical creatures had developed their own systems of stealth and counter-divination.
It was said that the magical creature lords of the Black Forest had specially raised a Crow Emperor with divination abilities to counter the divination of the adepts.
Since the adepts had failed to realize the magical creature lords’ movements ahead of time, plans to assassinate the ringleaders were now incredibly unlikely, given that the magical creatures had all gathered together.
If dispersing the stampede was impossible, then the only option was to wait until the charge rushed out of the Black Forest. Every region of the Central Lands, especially those bordering the Black Forest, was soon filled with anxiety, dread, and fear.
Regions guarded by Fourth Grade organizations were holding up better. Everyone felt safer being protected by at least one Fourth Grade powerhouse. The regions without Fourth Grade clans and jointly managed by an alliance of smaller clans could only shrink their defensive line. Their only hope was to defend the core territories of their clan.
In doing so, waves of refugees broke out in the human kingdoms they had abandoned.
No one was willing to sit and wait for their eventual deaths at the jaws of beasts. The civilians hastily packed all they had and fled their homes, streaming toward the relatively safer center regions of the Central Lands.
For a moment, the entirety of the Central Lands was filled with fear and panic!
…………
Fire Throne.
Greem was naked, soaking in a giant wooden barrel bigger than himself. The barrel was filled with a sort of pungent blue liquid.
There was no need for a fire to heat the water. Greem himself was a furnace.
His body appeared dark red and luminescent. You could faintly see the slow-moving blood under his semi-translucent skin. It was blood, but in truth, it was not much different from boiling lava.
The blue liquid in the wooden barrel started to boil as the temperature rose within his Burning Domain. The viscous blue liquid roared and bubbled like a raging monster, bubbles appearing and popping over and over.
Greem’s entire body was soaking in the liquid. The pores of his skin were open as they absorbed the unusual medicine simmering in the liquid. Simultaneously, the energy poison and impurities that had accumulated in his body were also being expelled.
He remained in the bath for five hours. Greem eventually climbed out when the blue liquid had turned completely black.
Shockingly enough, despite emerging from such a sticky and filthy liquid, Greem’s body did not pick up even a drop of the filth. It remained immaculate and spotless.
He stood silently in his room, his wickedly charming and powerful masculine figure on full display!
“Chip, self-examination!”
[Beep. Mission accepted. Self-examination began.]
A series of mechanical whirring sounds could be heard as a flood of information appeared within Greem’s view, forming into a three-dimensional humanoid model.
Greem’s attributes flickered and appeared beside the model.
[Greem. Male. Fourth Grade Semi-Principle Adept (Fire Specialization). Starbeast Bloodline (97%). Chaos Physique (Excellent Magic Resistance). Heart of Principles (Fire Principles 89% complete).
Bodily Attributes: Strength 21 | Physique 15 (+2) | Agility 16 | Spirit 46 (+5). Bloodline Talent: Energy Blackhole, Fire Principle (Undying Flames).]
Greem couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh after seeing his attributes.
His Strength had dropped by 6 points compared to before, his Physique by 16 points, and his Agility by 3 points.
He might have won at Stoneshard Valley, first defeating Mornashen Gaia, then Adept’s Association ultra-powerhouse Cerveris, but it was a tragic victory.
The severe injuries he had suffered had lowered his Physique significantly. Even his Strength and Agility had been affected by this decrease in his Physique.
However, there were always two sides to a coin. The constant fighting had helped Greem’s Spirit increase by 2 points, from 44 to 46 points. Even though it was only 2 points, he could feel the effect of the improvement clearly. His mind was clearer than ever before.
He was now officially advanced Fourth Grade. Having risen by a minor grade, he was only one step away from peak Fourth Grade!
The enhancements provided by the Orb of the Fire God and the Tome of Corruption magnified even one point of increase in his Spirit by a dozen times. Moreover, with the experience from these past few battles, Greem was slowly starting to discern his future path of development.
The deciphering of the starbeast bloodline had reached 97%. Just a little more, and Greem would possess a bloodline transformation ability of his own. The Chaos Physique was only a passive racial trait of the starbeast bloodline. It could not truly be considered one of his powers.
The reason the starbeast bloodline had been deciphered to this extent was that Mary had sent over a fish-shaped starbeast awhile ago.
Greem soaked daily in a medicinal blend made with the starbeast’s blood and several unique herbs. It was the body-refining adept means of strengthening the body. As expected, his Physique had recovered by 1 point. However, the bath’s greatest effect was the improved assimilation of his body with its starbeast bloodline.
Greem had relied entirely on his fire magic in battle all this while. He had barely ever shown the power that his starbeast bloodline should possess. The fundamental reason for this was because he had not found the correct path to allow his bloodline to grow and thrive.
He was only a fumbling rookie that had barely started on the path of bloodline magic!
He might have a starbeast bloodline, but he did not even manifest the most basic of bloodline traits apart from Chaos Physique and Energy Blackhole, two of the more insignificant abilities of the starbeasts.
That did not match his status as an advanced Fourth Grade adept!
However, the corpse of the starbeast that Mary sent over had allowed Greem to find a means to improve his bloodline.
Devour, devour, devour.
The classic characteristic of the starbeasts was their constant path of devouring. They devoured everything, from high-grade creatures, intelligent lifeforms, souls, and even planar origins.
These things were all fuel for the growth and evolution of the starbeasts and the source of their strength.
Since Greem had chosen a starbeast bloodline for himself, he would have to strengthen his bloodline in the ancient and classical way that all starbeasts did.
However, as a principled and intelligent individual, devouring other intelligent species would undoubtedly leave a horrid taste in Greem’s mouth. That was why he decided without any hesitation to consume other starbeasts.
Starbeasts all grew in weird shapes and sizes. They were monsters amongst monsters. Greem felt no psychological burden devouring any of them.
Of course, Greem wouldn’t actually be devouring the flesh of the starbeasts. Rather, he would be consuming the unique genetic sequence within their bodies. Greem could use the Chip’s powerful computation powers to strip beneficial gene fragments from starbeast corpses and assimilate them with his own body.
However, given his bloodline’s current state, only starbeasts of Fourth Grade and above could help further his growth. That said, th
ere were no weaklings among such starbeasts. Each and every one of them was a ferocious predator capable of slaughtering an entire plane.
That was why Greem would have to work hard if he wanted to feast upon their flesh!
Chapter 1365 - The Man of Light and the Stoneheart Egg
Through his self-examination, Greem discovered that his greatest improvement was in his fire magic.
With the Heart of Principles’ continued analysis, Greem had finally started to combine the multiple fire laws to form a principle fire of his own– the Undying Flame.
The Undying Flame would strike fear into the hearts of even ultra-powerhouses!
What Greem needed to do now was to slowly refine all the fire energy in his body into principle fire according to the method provided by the Fire King. He would then use the principle fires to slowly modify his own body.
Once his body had become perfectly compatible with the Undying Flame, Greem would have completed the legendary principle-body modification. He could then start preparations for advancement to Fifth Grade. Until then, he would remain a semi-principle adept!
The Chip estimated that the principle body modification would take two hundred and eighteen years. That was assuming that all other factors besides the accumulation of principle fire and Spirit had been accounted for. The moment these two things reached peak Fourth Grade would be the moment Greem would successfully advance to Fifth Grade.
Greem put the soft leather armor made out of fire dragon hide back on his body after completing his bath for the day. Even though he could create all sorts of simple clothes by manipulating elementium as a Fourth Grade adept, this manifested energy clothing would not possess the strange characteristics that magical items did.
The internal construction and runic systems of enchanted magical items were too complex for Greem to manifest with his current knowledge and ability.
That was why this fire dragon leather armor with its tremendous defensive power was still precious equipment for him!
Greem put all his clothes back on and took a single step forward. His entire person vanished in a pillar of flames.
Flames flickered in the corner of another magical room. Greem stepped out from the fire.
Strange, dazzling light radiated from a small pool in the room. The pool, of a standard seven meters length, five meters width, and three meters depth, was filled with a strange liquid brimming with light elementium aura. Moreover, the liquid itself gave off a peculiar, indescribable aura of life.
No one would be able to connect this glowing pool of liquid with human blood.
However, the liquid was indeed blood!
Even Greem had not expected that the blood he had managed to clone at a significant cost by deciphering Light Adept Geraldine’s origin blood would look like this.
One could feel how pure and clean the glowing liquid in the pool was just by standing beside it.
As waves rippled throughout the liquid, all sorts of fantastical lights and colors would appear before you, reaching deep into your heart. Even Greem felt his mind tremble and his Spirit flutter for a moment.
As if it sensed Greem’s gaze, the liquid began to rise, turning into a humanoid form in the center of the pool. Light flickered as a translucent humanoid that looked just like Greem stood in front of him.
“Hey, original, what exactly do you plan to do with me? You can’t imprison me like this forever, can you? Life is free! You might have been the one to bless me with life, but I still desire freedom!” The translucent humanoid spoke, his voice identical to Greem’s own.
Greem frowned slightly.
He still couldn’t quite come to terms with what had happened. Geraldine’s blood, which he had replicated at great cost, actually maintained a rather unusual mental connection with Geraldine.
Even though the adept tower’s isolation meant that Geraldine could not sense his clone while he was far away in the east, this translucent humanoid did possess a portion of the Messenger of Light’s might.
The humanoid possessed blood filled with dense light elementium and light principles similar to Geraldine’s own. The only difference between them was that Geraldine had hundreds of years of memories and emotions, while the man of light only had a pure soul that Greem had created with a portion of his Spirit at the core.
Apart from this, the two were practically identical.
Moreover, if the man of light was released from the tower, Geraldine would instantly be able to detect its abnormal existence through the light principles.
When that happened, Geraldine would track the man of light to this place, and Greem would have to explain the whole situation to him!
That was why Greem had no intention of releasing this man of light and creating trouble for himself until he figured out what to do with him.
“What will you do if I let you go?” Greem couldn’t help but ask curiously.
“I will find that Geraldine fellow and fight him. If he wins, he will assimilate me. If I win, I will assimilate him. At any rate, there can only be one Messenger of Light in this world. It is either him or me!” The man of light only possessed rudimentary intelligence. He had yet to pick up the sly and cunning of humans, nor their ability to lie. His power was only beginner Fourth Grade, an entire minor grade lower than Geraldine.
“You have no hope of beating him!” Greem shook his head and said, “He has an actual body. He will be able to produce light energy endlessly as long as he lives. The same can’t be said for you. Once you leave this pool of light liquid, you will lose the ability to generate light energy. Your energy reserve will only deplete over time until it is completely exhausted.”
Greem couldn’t help but sigh again when he said this, “You can never defeat him! After all, you are not a real lifeform.”
“Then how can I become a real lifeform?” The man of light asked curiously.
“Firstly, you must have a core that hosts your Spirit consciousness and your soul origin. Secondly, you will have to construct a body for yourself that is perfectly compatible with your light origin,” Greem did not hide anything from this man of light. He was genuinely trying to help with all his effort.
After all, this man of light was an intelligence formed with his Spirit at the core. He could make the man of light’s consciousness dissipate and its soul vanish with a single thought. That was why he was not worried that the man of light would turn on him.
If Greem could help the man of light with its trouble, he would instantly gain a trusted Fourth Grade subordinate!
“Don’t be in a hurry. I will try my best to gather adept materials compatible with light elementium and forge a real body for you. You will be able to move freely then! Perhaps you might even be able to find a chance to steal Geraldine’s power for yourself,” Greem consoled.
“I understand! I’ll leave it to you, original! Remember to wake me up if you make any progress,” The man of light nodded before his body collapsed into liquid and fell into the pool again.
Greem left the pool behind and walked toward an alchemy workshop in another corner of the secret room.
Shadow Demon’s four-meter-tall, pitch-black body lay on a strange platform here. Countless alchemical beams were carving complicated and intricate patterns and runes on its shadowsteel body.
During the battle at Nightmare Castle, Shadow Demon had suffered much at the hands of Gloria. Its body had been destroyed and torn apart countless times.
Even though Shadow Demon possessed the ability to heal itself while remaining in shadowspace, the severe damage it had sustained had caused its power to decrease considerably. Thus, Greem decided to add another layer of modifications to it, enhancing its stealth and ambush abilities.
After the modification, Shadow Demon would finally be able to pose some degree of threat and pressure ultra-powerhouses, unlike before!
According to the Chip’s calculations, the modified Shadow Demon’s grade would leap from intermediate Fourth Grade to advanced Fourth Grade. Its offen
sive power against elementium adepts would improve by leaps and bounds. With such power, Shadow Demon would have no problem overpowering a beginner Fourth Grade adept.
Greem silently waited until the magical runes on Shadow Demon had been completed. The golem sat up from the platform. He waved his hand, and the golem vanished into his shadow like a phantom.
After putting Shadow Demon away, Greem turned and teleported out of the room. Just then, a magical message rang out in his mind.
“Starspirit Tulas? Why is he looking for me?”
Greem returned to his room with that question in his head. He took out a blue crystal the size of a nail from a hidden compartment in the wall and placed it on his desk’s communication crystal.
As traces of an unusual energy aura radiated from the blue crystal, the communication crystal lit up, and the image within began to grow clearer.
Soon, the image stabilized as Tulas’ strange mist-like body and constellation of nodes that formed his skeleton appeared.
“It’s been a while, Greem!”
“It has been a while, indeed! Why have you suddenly contacted me?” There was no hint of friendliness or joy in Greem’s voice at having met an old acquaintance.
They had only been temporary allies once before, for the sake of their individual benefit; there was no trust or relationship between them. Greem had to reflect on each word that Tulas spoke and mull over them cautiously, in fear that he might be led into a trap or conspiracy.
However, as a Fourth Grade adept, it was always better to have numerous connections than wander the world completely alone. That was why Greem had contacted the starspirit over matters of interplanar trade after the Reliquary mission. The two of them had had some dealings in the past.
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