Age of Adepts

Greem was on a wild run!

For some reason, the Third Grade Flaming Tiger had been pursuing Greem closely ever since it had laid eyes on him. If it weren’t for some special tricks by Greem, it would probably have caught up.

He had used a fire clone to misdirect the flaming tiger last time, but he didn’t make it a hundred kilometers away before the flaming tiger appeared on his tail again. Of course, the flaming tiger only discovered a temporary camp that Greem had set up to rest in. With the fire rune he left behind, Greem instantly knew that it was the tiger that had found his camp.

A Third Grade flaming tiger was not a target he could defeat!

Thus, Greem had no choice but to start running with everything he had again.

In all honesty, the Fire Elementium Plane was an excellent place to train and cultivate, but it was definitely not suited for a vacation.

The scenery here was so repetitive that it was miserable!

There were either stretches of magma pools, an endless sea of fire, or some strange plains, hills, and volcanoes shrouded in smoke.

The scenery was repetitive, dry, and the creatures were dull and stiff. The powerful fire elementium creatures might be intelligent, but they didn’t seem to have anything resembling entertainment. Four seasons a year, year after year, the only thing that the fire elementium creatures seemed to do was endlessly wander the plane until they found a place with sufficient flame energy for them to settle in.

Even Greem couldn’t help but feel as if he was turning into a dull person after living for so long in this world. All the conspiring and deceiving in the past was like a dream from a past life. The memories of those times had been shattered by the monotonous life that he was currently leading.

However, Greem’s understanding of the fire elementium creatures had deepened after spending so long in this world.

Throughout his endless wandering in the Fire Elementium Plane, Greem had witnessed the process of a fire elemental’s birth more than once.

In all honesty, fire elementium creatures were born in the manner described in books– born of fire, die in fire!

A strange fire flux would appear in an empty place. Then, a bright-red fist-sized flame would emerge. After absorbing some of the wandering fire elementium, the fire would form a vague face.

It was the most commonly seen low-grade elementium creature of the Fire Elementium Plane– a Fire Spirit.

Fire spirits possessed the strength of a beginner apprentice the moment they were born. They could spit low-intensity elementium fireballs with an offensive power of between five to ten points.

If these low-grade fire spirits were allowed to absorb fire energy freely, they could grow into powerful fire elementals and flame spirits within a hundred years. Their power then would be approximately equal to an advanced apprentice!

After becoming a fire elemental or a flame spirit, it meant that they had started to possess a complete body and soul consciousness. Though this soul consciousness was fragile, it was enough for them to use explosive fireballs and area-of-effect fire spells with offensive power of up to thirty points.

If the Fire Kings ever waged war against another plane, they could be considered the most fundamental fighting forces of the Fire Elementium Plane!

They might not amount to much in the Fire Elementium Plane, but in any other plane, an individual that could casually toss out massive fireballs of thirty points could easily be considered a decent spellcaster. Yet, there were just so many such individuals in the Fire Elementium Plane. The Fire Kings could go to any random spot and immediately recruit a whole army of them. There was no need to cultivate or train them specially.

It was this peculiar trait of the Fire Elementium Plane that caused this place never to lack soldiers.

If it wasn’t because most other planes were not suited for fire creatures to reside in, and because most Fire Kings had no interest in taking trips to other worlds, even a large plane like the World of Adepts would not have much chance of winning against the Fire Elementium Plane.

After all, the massive group of fire creatures born and nurtured in the Fire Elementium Plane was not something that other material planes could hope to emulate.

Out of curiosity, Greem had also caught some newly born fire spirits and thoroughly dissected them. Though he did not have a well-equipped laboratory, the Chip’s detailed scans and x-ray vision allowed Greem to discover some things.

Fire spirits could entirely be said to be the combination of fire energy and a consciousness brand. The fire energy of a newly born fire spirit naturally came from the ubiquitous energy field all over the Fire Elementium Plane. However, where did the consciousness brand come from?

Greem had checked the fire spirits. Most of their consciousness brands were pure, but fragile, and there were no memories or consciousness shards within them. That was why newly born fire spirits were so dull and stiff. However, the attention-oriented Greem still discovered some soul shard remnants on individual consciousness brands.

Most fire spirits were a bundle of shapeless flames with no consciousness at birth. However, those fire spirits that preserved pieces of consciousness would shape the flames that formed their bodies into weird shapes based on the memory fragments in their consciousness brands.

These could be beasts, humans, things, or even wind.

At any rate, the broken past consciousness in the soul shards, as well as the memories in them, drove the actions of the newly born fire spirits, causing them to simulate their forms from their ‘previous lives.’ As such, it could be deduced that the flaming tiger that was tracking Greem belonged to such a situation.

As it possessed parts of its memory and experience from its previous life, it walked on a road completely different from native fire creatures in their own process of growth. At the very least, the flaming tiger was vastly superior to the other fire creatures Greem had met in terms of soul activity and curiosity.

If he had the chance, Greem would naturally want to capture the flaming tiger and dissect its body to thoroughly understand the birth process of an elementium creature’s soul consciousness. However, considering the difference in their power, Greem could only avoid the tiger and find ways to evade its relentless pursuit.

In all seriousness, this flaming tiger was really entirely different from the other fire creatures that Greem had encountered.

The Blazefire flamespirits that Greem had first encountered gave up on pursuing him after five hundred kilometers, even though he had killed so many of their people. Yet, this Third Grade flaming tiger had chased him for over five thousand kilometers. It was almost as if it wouldn’t stop until it had caught Greem.

This…this was the part that made Greem helpless, but also the part that surprised him the most!

Greem had a feeling that the reason it was pursuing him so fervently wasn’t to devour him. It seemed there was something more to it. However, Greem had no confidence to test this theory of his when faced with the threat of a Third Grade fire creature. He could only run as fast as possible and as far as he could.

Greem’s current form was that of a three-meter tall fire elemental, and his entire body was clad in a layer of bright red flames. To avoid trouble, Greem had concealed his humanoid body and turned it into a vague cluster of flame.

After all, a stable and defined body of flame was a mark of a high-grade fire creature. Individuals like those drew the attention of local creatures wherever they went. To avoid unnecessary attention, Greem disguised himself as a First Grade fire elemental that had yet to obtain a solid form.

These were undoubtedly the most numerous kind in the Fire Elementium Plane, as well as the most inconspicuous.

While Greem was making his challenging hike through the plane, a fire rune he had left behind him was once again triggered. Greem’s face turned green when he sensed the vague image transmitted by the fire rune.

Dammit, it was still that tiger!

It’d already been ten thousand kilometers, why was it still tracking him?

The fire rune was triggered fifty kilometers away. That meant that the tiger was getting closer and closer.

Greem sighed. He had no choice but to run while teleporting and searching.

As expected, Greem successfully found a large sea of fire stretching for several dozens of kilometers at a place fifteen kilometers away. A fire field with no substance and no solid form like this was one of the most common scenes in the Fire Elementium Plane. They were a bit like the rivers and lakes of material planes.

After a bit of hesitation, Greem gritted his teeth and dove into the field, instantly vanishing without a trace.

Even with his fire immunity, Greem could not ensure that he would not take damage in such a pure field of fire. Though his body might be immune to the fire damage, the soul brand and spirit consciousness attached to it still had to endure the immense pressure of being burned by fire.

Fortunately, he had already completed the process of elementiumizing his Spirit. He didn’t need to worry that his soul brand and consciousness would be assimilated by the fire as long as he did not stay within the field for more than an hour.

As such, choosing to travel through the fire field was the simplest way to wash away the tracks he left behind!

Fifteen minutes after Greem disappeared into the fire field, the edge of the area blazed with flames. A strange creature engulfed in violent fires suddenly appeared here.

It was a violent flaming tiger whose body flowed with static flames. Its body wasn’t too large at only three meters long, but it was full of powerful and overwhelming fire energy.

At the very least, three meters was too small for Third Grade fire creatures.

The strength of every fire creature in the Fire Elementium Plane directly correlated with the power of the fire energy stored within their bodies. The larger their bodies, the more fire energy they could store, and the more powerful the being would be. How were they supposed to save a large amount of fire energy if they didn’t have a large body?

It was a humble and straightforward truth!

At least, most elementium creatures obeyed this law.

However, this strange flaming tiger had forcefully broken this law. It was very likely that it had mastered some method or law to compress fire energy.

And this was a sign of a high-grade fire creature!

The flaming tiger lifted its nose and sniffed about when it appeared. It then slowly walked toward where Greem had entered the field. Its deep yet colorful eyes of flame stared into the field as if it was thinking about something.

If Greem were still here, he would most definitely be shocked by the human expression on the tiger’s face and eyes. Much like a stroke of color in an ink wash painting, this flaming tiger betrayed a flavor and style that was entirely alien in this repetitive and dull world.