Age of Adepts

They were still dealing with post-battle matters.

The apprentices remained in the tower to rest, while the others went back to the resource site to clear up the mess.

The resource site had lost its value after they emptied the warehouse.

The great battle between the three adepts had dealt destruction and permanent damage to the resource site. The broad stretch of land had either muddied into swamps ravaged by floods or burned to scorched earth. Most of the magical plants had died from the adepts’ shockwaves. The survivors had also escaped from the damaged defensive arrays.

To avoid a massacre happening to their lands nearby, Yuri and the slightly wounded Morse ventured everywhere near Gilneas, trying their best to exterminate these lucky survivors. Even so, dozens of ’strange occurrences’ still happened on a daily basis. Yuri and Morse were worked to the bone to solve these problems.

The dozens of adepts that had witnessed the battle gave a detailed account of what happened. Almost every single apprentice had heard of the might and power of Adept Greem and quickly began idolizing him.

Three adepts?

Based on apprentice Hill’s description, the Aki Clan had sent a surprising number of adepts!

Adept Greem had horribly burned one of them. Even now, he was still howling in agony on the second level of the tower, confined to bed. He had already received necessary treatment, but the process of recovering the burnt flesh was an arduously painful one.

Adept Greem had captured another adept. Greem had imprisoned him in the tower under many layers of magic and arrays, devoid of any freedom. It was rumored that this person was an elite-level combat adept!

The third one, on the other hand, didn’t even show their face. They had been utterly scared away by Adept Greem’s dominant show of force.

The battle of the resource site was an instant morale boost for the clan apprentices. It caused them to have unsurpassed respect and feelings of idolization for the Flame Demon. Even the doubtful ones looked shocked when they returned from the ruined resource site.

According to them, the entire place was a horrifying zone of magma. Lava flowed everywhere, the earth was scorched, pungent sulfur filled the air, and black and red magma remained on the surface of the ground alongside the damaged flowerbeds and gardens.

If it weren’t for the coordinates indicating they were right, these apprentices wouldn’t even have believed that this was the resource site they knew; the resource site they had guarded for seven or eight years.

The Sarubo Clan might have lost quite a lot of resources in this battle, but with the two enemy adepts in hand, the Aki Clan would have to pay a tremendous amount of compensation to settle this matter!

…………

While the apprentices were busy with work, Greem casually appreciated his spoils of war in his room.

He had captured two enemy adepts at once. According to the Adept’s Handbook, everything they had on them became spoils of war. Even if they were ransomed, he need not return the items. The enemy would have to offer a high price to repurchase their items.

Greem took the golden circlet and golden claws off of the badly burnt Sicha. Sadly, Greem’s fiery onslaught had severely damaged Sicha’s golden armor and boots. They had lost all possibility of being repaired.

Apart from this, Greem also found a charred storage belt and a cracked fire talisman on Sicha’s person.

It was clear that the opponent had performed a lot of preparations before seeking him out. However, Greem’s exponential increase in power upon transforming into the Flame Fiend had exceeded Sicha’s expectations. Consequently, the elementary-level fire talisman had shattered in the battle.

The golden circlet was an intermediate magical item. Its owner would possess the ability to walk in the air freely.

The golden claws were intermediate magical items as well. They were enchanted with three magical abilities: Blood’s Bite, Haste, and Armor-Piercing.

As for the rest of the items.

Most of them had already been destroyed in the great elementium flames, causing Greem to lose many potential spoils of war! Flandre, who had actively surrendered, had left behind a lot more prizes for Greem compared to Sicha. Just the collection of magical items that Flandre had on him was enough to make Greem’s eyes grow wide.

The short staff Flandre had been holding during the fight wasn’t worth much. However, the Empyrean Sapphire embedded atop the weapon was a high-quality product worth up to a thousand magical crystals.

Ring of Freezing. Intermediate magical item. The owner’s water spells would have a freezing effect.

Empyrean Robe. Intermediate magical item. Enchanted with Wave Shield (Three uses/day). Enchanted with Summon Water Elementium Golem (Adept-level. One use/day). Enchanted with Mirror Image.

Spirit Locket. Beginner magical item. Helped concentrate Spirit.

Ring of Quickcast. Beginner magical item. Could save up to one-third of casting time for a specific spell (Three uses/day).

Ring of Magic Detonation. Beginner magical item. Could enchant a specific spell with Mighty Spellpower (Two uses/day).

Bloodsucker’s Bracelet. Beginner magical item. Could enchant a melee weapon with Vampiric Touch.

Magic Belt. Beginner magical item. Enchanted with an energy barrier that could reduce the damage of all elementium spells by 12%.

Ripple Boots. Beginner magical item. Possessed the ability to allow one to walk on water and run on water. (An excellent combination with Acid Pool!)

There was also a storage ring with tremendous space. A magical crystal card worth twenty thousand magical crystals was stored inside, along with four thousand physical crystals, several magic tomes, a notebook, and plenty of casting materials.

The most valuable item within was a small vial of Ice Marrow; there were approximately twenty drops of the liquid within. This liquid was a type of unique substance created within the bodies of ice-attribute creatures. Consuming it in large quantities could raise an individuals’ magic resistance and innate affinity with water.

It was probably something Flandre had prepared for his future attempt to advance to Second Grade.

The Chip quickly estimated the total value of all these items with its rapid processing abilities.

They were worth approximately sixty to eighty thousand crystals in total!

That meant Greem had practically obtained half an adept’s tower through this battle.

At least for the moment, Greem no longer needed to worry about the day-to-day functioning of Fire Throne!

…………

The Aki Clan’s messenger arrived very quickly.

To Greem’s surprise, the messenger was Adept Lamure herself, who had fled without even fighting.

In all honesty, Greem might have talked with Lamure twice, but this was his first time seeing her in person.

Lamure was an ordinary-looking female adept with a head of brown hair. A gray adept’s robe wrapped her slim figure. Lamure’s most noticeable trait was her strange golden eyes.

There were two pupils stacked upon each other in her golden eyes. Greem felt as if a powerful vortex was hidden in the depths of her eyes when he looked into them. His soul felt like it would sink into them at any time.

Fortunately, Greem had the protection of Soul Barrier. He could withdraw his Spirit at any time to ensure Lamure didn’t make any contact with his soul.

”You are very cautious and surprising!” Lamure smiled at Greem the moment she met him, ”I only thought you would have brought a little trouble upon Flandre. Who knew you were that strong and had such a powerful elementium golem in your possession? Hehe, those old fogeys in the clan must be pissed now.”

”I haven’t thanked you for the information you provided, have I?” Greem returned a smile as well, ”I would have had trouble taking down both Sicha and Flandre without your information!”

”Hehe,” Lamure suddenly started giggling gleefully, ”What is it? Do you think you’ve got leverage over me now? Do you want to blackmail me into paying you?”

”Do I not?”

”Then I regret to tell you that you still don’t understand the Aki Clan!” Lamure spoke disdainfully, ”You could tell Flandre about all this. See if they would care about what I did.”

”Fine. Let’s skip the unnecessary words, shall we?” Greem interrupted her, ”What does your Aki Clan plan to offer as the ransom for the two adepts? I hope to hear a satisfying number.”

”With regards to the conflict between our clans, the elders are now holding negotiations. I still don’t know the specifics of their agreements at the moment. However, I did bring some benefits for you alone!”

”Oh?” Greem narrowed his eyes and thought for a while. He understood that that was how the situation was.

He might have been the one to capture the adepts, as well as the person who had created the chance for this ’agreement’ to come about. However, he was not the one who possessed the right to negotiate. If the enemy wanted to talk, they would go straight to the Sarubo leaders instead of wasting time on a First Grade adept like himself!

However, as the most prominent person in this conflict, his benefits were guaranteed, regardless of the final results of the negotiations!

Now it was just a matter of how much sincerity the Aki were willing to display to ’improve’ the treatment of the two prisoners!

Half an hour later, Lamure left the stone tower with a smile on her face.

Greem also received an additional fifty thousand magical crystal and some advanced healing potions.

Sicha’s wounds were extraordinarily grave and severe. His Physique was only enough to prevent the injuries from growing worse. It was difficult for him to regenerate and recover thoroughly. As such, these advanced healing potions were a kind of a bribe from the Aki Clan to make sure that Adept Sicha didn’t end up with permanent injuries that affected him in the future.

Greem did a rough calculation. Three of these advanced healing potions were enough to help Adept Sicha recover from the burns. The remaining two vials were undoubtedly a bribe meant for him!

For the next few days, Greem remained stationed in the tower, silently waiting for news from the clan.

His estimations suggested that the conflict between the Sarubo and the Aki would conclude in less than three days!