Age of Adepts

The contents of the contract in front of Greem shocked him.

This…how could this be possible?

However, after some quick thinking, he realized that there wasn’t anything odd about the feasibility of a contract like this.

After all, the bodies of most adepts had become indistinguishable with those of magical creatures during their process of improvement.

However, adepts were the cultural cornerstones of the great World of Adepts. They were always the ones enslaving all sorts of magical creatures. There had never been a case of an adept being contracted to a magical creature.

What was this flaming tiger trying to do?

Just as Greem’s gaze started to turn cold as he prepared to release the Flame Fiend of Terror silently, the flaming tiger seemed to have seen through his actions. It coldly chuckled as it said, “You were so excited when I asked you to lead me to your adept’s tower earlier. Hehehe. You don’t think I’m dumb enough not to know that the adept’s towers are an adept’s strongest combat tool, do you? I would become a fish on the chopping block once I enter your tower. Establishing a slave contract like this for my own self-preservation shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Greem could only put away all his intent to lie and cheat when dealing with a tiger as sly as this. He started to treat it earnestly and honestly.

Intelligent life–any intelligent life–from any place would have a brain as smart as an adept’s. Most of the time, they appeared to be excessively lazy or bloodthirsty. However, that wasn’t because they had lower intelligence. Instead, it was their spiritual instinct that drove them to pursue the method of communication that was most direct and convenient for them.

However, communicating with them was a somewhat annoying matter for adepts. The difference in lifestyle, species, thought processes, and interests all resulted in completely distinct logical thoughts. When two such individuals sat together for a discussion, it was only natural that their words would turn into fists.

Unfortunately, Greem would never accept such a magical contract, even if he were to die!

A man could be killed, but never humiliated!

Greem might treasure his life, but it wasn’t at the cost of everything else. Moreover, his spiritual senses and the Chip’s scans allowed him to realized that the flaming tiger didn’t hold much hostility toward him. Rather than insurance for its life, the magical contract was more of a prank negotiation from the flaming tiger.

At the very least, the little dot of light projected in Greem’s mind as the flaming tiger remained white despite his seemingly threatening pose.

White meant neutrality.

Red meant hostility. The greater the hatred, the brighter the color.

Greem meant friendliness. Similarly, the deeper the green, the more friendly the individual.

The information gathered by the Chip showed that the aura radiating from the flaming tiger was very much neutral; the tiger had no hostile intention to murder him. The various shows of intimidation were only a way to get Greem to do what it wanted.

In all honesty, the tiger probably couldn’t even guess that an inconspicuous Second Grade human adept like this could break through the protection of its life forcefield and determine its true intentions by scanning its emotional spectrum.

Greem became extremely calm and composed with this information from the Chip.

After a five hour long negotiation, Greem finally arrived at a cooperative agreement with this flaming tiger.

Greem would help Third Grade Flaming Tiger Cindral avoid attention by the Will of the World of Adepts and sneak it into the plane. Meanwhile, Cindral would have to help Greem kill the Second Grade Fire Lord Artes.

Greem had originally thought he would be able to terrify the flaming tiger by naming the individual standing behind Second Grade Fire Lord Artes. Sadly, the tiger only betrayed an indifferent smile of disdain upon hearing of the Fifth Grade Fire King Groms.

That made it harder for Greem to figure out the true depths and background of Cindral!

After another seven minutes spent chanting and casting spells, Greem finally completed the magical contract with Third Grade Flaming Tiger Cindral. The golden magical contract hovered in the air, continuously extracting the souls of Greem and Cindral as collateral. If either side were to go against their agreement, the soul offered up as collateral would instantly be exterminated.

Greem offered up two-thirds of his soul for this cooperation agreement, while Cindral only offered up a fingernail’s worth of his. It was a representation of the massive difference in their power!

The contract represented a more considerable restriction on Greem.

If Greem were to breach the contract, he would instantly lose a vast majority of his soul. He would immediately die from such a blow, even though he was a Second Grade adept. Meanwhile, Third Grade Cindral would only be paying a meager price. If he were to be punished by the contract, he would only feel a slight headache. It was far from capable of killing him or turning him into an idiot.

It couldn’t be helped. It was the greatest difference between the powerful and the weak!

Any single hair from Cindral’s body would be thicker than Greem’s waist. It was the same contract, yet Greem had to offer up nearly all that he owned to even compare to a shred of Cindral’s soul.

No number of magical equipment could make up for the woeful difference in power between grades!

However, at the very least, Greem had managed to avoid being wholly enslaved by the tiger. They might not be equal in power, but they were individuals of equivalent standing within the contract.

Greem knew very well that he had come here to the Fire Elementium Plane to kill Fire Lord Artes, and he could only return to the World of Adepts once he accomplished this mission. If Cindral wanted to arrive in the World of Adepts as soon as possible, helping Greem complete his task was the best available option.

Cindral pouted at Greem’s request before turning without hesitation and vanishing into the sea of fire.  He left only a sentence behind when he disappeared.

“When you want to go back to the World of Adepts, simply find a sea of fire and call my name three times. I will be able to find you!”

Greem’s heart shook when he heard Cindral’s words.

Would he be able to sense me as long as I call his name three times? This…why does this sound like the power of laws is involved? Could it be…?

As a Second Grade fire adept, Greem might be considered a decent fighting force in the World of Adepts. However, once he stepped out of the plane, he realized that there were too many incomprehensible and unexplainable mysteries of higher lifeforms from higher dimensions.

No wonder the World of Adepts had set the starting limit at Fifth Grade for adepts who wished to explore the outer realms. There had to be certain reasons for it. Adepts below Fifth Grade might think of themselves as fully-realized powerhouses, but there were far too many uncontrollable risks in the process of exploring the outer realms.

That was why Greem had to be extremely careful while he was exploring this otherworldly Fire Elementium Plane. He could not let himself be put in an awkward spot where he had no control over his life again!

Greem found a relatively quiet place and dealt with the origin flames on him. He then attempted to locate the flaming tiger, but he couldn’t find it no matter what he tried. Still, he had a feeling that Cindral hadn’t gone all that far. The tiger was probably still watching him from somewhere nearby.

It was a common problem with all elementium creatures!

They lacked any concept of time in their minds. They were always slow at doing things and didn’t care about the passage of time. That was why trying to threaten the Third Grade flaming tiger with time was not an option. Cindral couldn’t care less if he were to arrive in the World of Adepts tomorrow, or next year.

Time was practically static in an elementium plane!

Of course, all of this had much to do with the long lifespans of the elementium creatures.

Greem tried everything he could think of, but he still failed to locate the flaming tiger. With no choice left to him, Greem could only begin his journey once again and run straight toward the den of Second Grade Fire Lord Artes.

…………

Dustfire Valley.

It was a desolate land filled with dust and fire.

A massive valley ran across a vast plain. The interior of the valley was dark and dim, covered with dusty air and flame pillars that occasionally blasted out of the cracks in the walls. There was no chance of seeing what the inside of the valley was like from the outside.

There was an ancient city deep in Dustfire Valley, with typically one or two hundred thousand citizens in it. They were all intelligent lifeforms with minds of their own. The civilians here might be a bit more honest and violent than humans, with none of their slyness. However, there were enough to make up a complete, though primitive, city.

Greem immediately started to run into more fire creatures once he entered the edges of Dustfire Valley.

After all this time, Greem had mastered the technique of disguising himself as a fire creature.

Firstly, the fire spirit he disguised himself as couldn’t be too small.

Though high-grade fire creatures didn’t assess power based on size, low-grade fire creatures still did. The larger you were, the more powerful the fire energy in your body. As long as the fire spirit that Greem hid as was sufficiently large, the low-grade beings would flee at the sight of him. They would never dare to harass him or look for trouble.

Secondly, he couldn’t be too active.

The Fire Elementium Plane was a dull and boring place. All the fire creatures here moved with a slow rhythm and spent their days wandering idly through different regions.

It wasn’t until they developed a mind of their own in their fire core that they could break free of their chaotic primal state and awaken the consciousness of their individuality.

This fact was reflected in the personalities and appearances of most fire creatures. That was to say– incomparably dull and slow!

Even intelligent individuals with a mind were several levels behind humans when it came to the activity of their soul and the clever use of their intellect.

Thus, Greem turned himself into a five-meter-tall fire spirit with a stiff, emotionless face and slowly walked past the two Molten Giants guarding the entrance of the valley. The giants only glanced at him before looking elsewhere.