Age of Adepts

There was a boundless and terrifying sea of fire!

The skies burned, as did the ground; the entire world was burning intensely.

One could not sense the terror of these baseless flames when looking from afar. It was only when you were inside the sea of fire that you could understand the tremendous damage that twelve-thousand-degree flames could inflict upon the human body.

Even the low-grade fire creatures didn’t dare to set foot in such a sea of fire. Otherwise, there was a possibility the fire could burn their souls and reduce their consciousness to ashes.

Yet, it was in such a sea of fire that the flames suddenly moved. Fire elementium particles were drawn from the surroundings and formed into a massive humanoid face.

The flames trembled.

The face opened its eyes and looked at its surroundings in confusion. It was only then that its eyes blaze and burned with the unique soul light of intelligent lifeforms.

Dammit, where exactly was this? Why can’t I sense even a trace of fire creature soul fluctuation? Could I have deviated from the plotted path and ended up in the depths of the sea of fire?

Greem started cursing after a series of questions.

Dammit, dammit, dammit! It was all because of that damned flaming tiger! If it weren’t because of its relentless pursuit, he would never have run into such a dangerous area without any regard for his safety. To think, he couldn’t even detect his current planar coordinates!

[Beep. Warning. Warning. Seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds left before soul assimilation. Request that host finds the closest path of exit from the origin sea of fire. Consciousness is at risk of dissipating. Soul is at risk of assimilation.]

“Don’t just warn me. Help me determine my position. I need a direction.”

[Judging from the intensity of the sea of fire, host can escape by traveling one hundred and fifty kilometers to the north!]

The next second, a blue light shone in Greem’s fire-formed face. The Chip projected an arrow and pointed in a certain direction.

“Hopefully we’ve managed to get the flaming tiger off our tail!” Greem sighed. His soul consciousness then silently moved away as the face dispersed without another sound.

Fifteen minutes later, the fires here parted, and a three-meter-long flaming tiger formed entirely of flowing flames appeared. It strode proudly and casually toward the location before lifting its nose and sniffing the air. Finally, its eyes landed on where Greem’s face had previously formed.

“Hehehe. Trying to play this kind of game with me, are you? You’re too green! You’ve already remained in the origin fire sea for over an hour now. You must be in a hurry to find the closest piece of land. Hmph. Judging from this clue, I shouldn’t go wrong now.”

The flaming tiger’s eyes swept about its surroundings before locking onto a particular direction. It then stepped upon the intangible fires and leaped away.

If Greem were still here, he would have realized that the direction the tiger was tracking was the same as the one he had set off in.

Half an hour later, Greem successfully emerged from the sea of fire and stood at the edge of a stretch of mountainous volcanoes. From a distance, he could see a towering volcano on the horizon piercing the clouds. The black smoke had engulfed most of the surrounding regions, giving the entire place the appearance of an apocalyptic hellscape.

Meanwhile, several two-meter-tall fire spirits were wandering aimlessly about the smaller volcanoes nearby. They looked as if they had been walking around the area for a long time.

Greem looked just like them in his current state. He looked just like a two-meter-tall elementium fire spirit. However, Greem had just emerged from the origin sea of fire, and his body of flames carried some purple origin flames on it. He needed to find a place as soon as possible to absorb or extinguish these origin flames.

Even his body couldn’t endure the origin flames for an extended period, despite having elementary fire immunity!

Greem had absorbed five Essences of Fire in the past two months and had raised the fire affinity of this body to a specific limit. From now on, there would be no room for improvement for his fire affinity if his soul origin didn’t improve.

After leaving Gaba Market, Greem had advanced north along the sea of fire. He had visited two other fire markets and gathered a sufficient number of Essences of Fire. There were still two Essences left after using up five of them. He intended to trade with fire adepts upon returning to the World of Adepts. He was certain that he would be able to obtain some decent treasures in exchange.

However, all that would come later. Greem’s current priority was dealing with the origin flames on his body.

Greem had just taken a step when his body froze on the spot.

With his three-hundred and sixty degree spiritual senses that had no blind spots, Greem realized that a strange flaming tiger had silently appeared behind him. Meanwhile, the opponent’s flowing, lava-like mouth was resting just two fingers behind his body of flames. Its majestic patterns, ferocious aura, and the unique concentration of a hunting predator terrified Greem.

Greem was sure that there had been nothing behind him just a second ago, not even elementium fire. Yet, this terrifying Third Grade flaming tiger had appeared out of nowhere, just like that. It was holding its breath like a stalking predator as if waiting for him to turn his head before severing his neck with a single bite.

Of course, elementium fire spirits did not have necks. Their entire body was a blazing fire. Only their heads and limbs showed some humanoid features. However, on the whole, they did not have the delicate and frail features of a human.

Dammit, it was that Third Grade flaming tiger!

At the same time that Greem realized this, a sudden blaze of fire engulfed his entire body. The next second, his body halfway up a volcano a quarter of a kilometer away.

A loud explosion rang out. Greem’s mental consciousness had just relocated from a distance. He extended his spiritual appendages outward and once again discovered the flaming tiger behind him, a strange smile on its face.

Greem didn’t know how a tiger would smile, but he was certain that the tiger definitely was.

Greem couldn’t be bothered with what the tiger is smiling about. He immediately activated Fire Teleportation for a second time. If this had been in the past, and before he had managed to increase his fire affinity, Greem would not have been able to cast the second Fire Teleportation in such quick succession after the first one. He would have needed a minimum of three to five seconds of buffer time between each Fire Teleportation to redefine his fire positioning.

Unfortunately, when Greem once again stepped out of the flames, he discovered the flaming tiger behind him again. It seemed that the distance between him and the tiger had not changed at all despite the two Fire Teleportations.

Greem let out a sigh and finally stopped trying to run.

Since the opponent had already demonstrated the massive gulf between their powers in this manner, there was no longer any need for him to keep up his futile struggle.

Greem very slowly and gently turned backward.

His gentle actions were so slow that it looked like those of an eighty-year-old grandma. Every single move of his was easily perceivable and clear for all to see.

As expected, the flaming tiger didn’t move this time. Instead, it faced Greem head-on. The distance between them was so close that they could hear each other’s breath.

“Go on, run. Why aren’t you running anymore?” The flaming tiger finally spoke was using mental messages.

“Given your exceptional pyromancy skills, I wouldn’t be able to escape even if I were to teleport another hundred times!” Greem said with a bitter smile on his face.

“Hmph, as long as you understand!” The flaming tiger snorted and said, “You outsiders always think you have comprehended the entire Fire Elementium Plane after mastering only the most superficial aspects of fire. You always run around the plane as if it’s your own home. If I weren’t the one you ran into, you probably wouldn’t even know how you died!”

Greem couldn’t say anything to that at all. He could only maintain his bitter smile.

Still, he, a Second Grade adept known for his wisdom and knowledge, was actually being reprimanded by a magical fire creature, which adepts had always regarded as slow and foolish. This irony in reality indeed filled Greem’s heart with resentment!

“You come from the World of Adepts?” The flaming tiger casually looked at Greem’s body of flames after scolding him before tossing out this question.

“Yes!” Greem answered without any hesitation.

“Are you still maintaining contact with the World of Adepts?” An urgent expression appeared on the tiger’s face.

“Yes!”

“Then you can return to the World of Adepts any time you wish?” The tiger asked hesitantly.

“I can’t!” Greem shook his head and said, “I came here by opening a planar rift through the use of my tower. I will need to recalculate the anchor point and find the planar coordinates left behind by the tower if I want to return!”

The tiger shook his head as if he didn’t understand and couldn’t be bothered to try.

“Don’t tell me about these things that I don’t understand. Just tell me whether you can bring me back along with you when you go back to your tower.”

Judging by the fierce expression of the tiger, he was obviously trying to convey an unfriendly message of ‘if you can’t do it, I will eat you now.’

“You…you want to go to the…World of Adepts?” Greem was instantly stunned.

What was the World of Adepts?

It was a place where the evilest and most selfish individuals in the multiverse lived! It was where the adepts lived!

A Third Grade flaming tiger might be a powerhouse in the Fire Elementium Plane that could easily bully a mere Second Grade fire adept like Greem who had ‘broken in’ here. However, if it were to go to the World of Adepts, it would instantly turn from predator to prey and become the best target that the high-grade adepts would compete over.

“You don’t need to care what my purpose is. Just tell me whether you can do it!” The tiger pressed even further, and the flame streams that rolled out of its mouth started charring Greem’s fire spirit body.

“Of course, of course, of course. As long as you are will it to be, I can make it happen for you!” Greem hastily agreed to the request.

It was only then that the flaming tiger moved his ferocious mouth away from him.

“Good. We can set off once you sign this contract!”

The next second, a mysterious contract formed from fire appeared from nowhere and appeared in front of Greem.

Greem quickly read through the contents of the contract, and the colors of his face changed several times in a row.

“What…what is this? You want me to become your contracted familiar?!”