Age of Adepts

The World of Adepts never lacked high-grade adepts.

These high-grade adepts were continually trying new methods of reproduction in hopes of extending their bloodline.

Be it by natural reproduction or laboratory cultivation, the chance of producing a talented descendant was always present. However, it was much more likely for a bloodline descendant with no elementium talent to be born.

Given the difficulty of high-grade adepts giving birth to bloodline descendants, such untalented progeny could only be abandoned and left to live an ordinary life of luxury and decadence in the worldly territories. A high-grade adept might even see dozens of generations of descendants die if he lived for a longer time.

The magical essence extracted by high-grade alchemy lacked vitality and life force. It could not provide mortals with new magical attributes even after refinement. However, this magical essence that came from the mutated moonwell possessed a strange aura of life. When refined to a certain degree, it even possessed the ability to turn the rotten into the wondrous and allowed even a mortal to possess magical power.

It was undoubtedly further insurance for many high-grade adepts who were desperate for bloodline descendants. It would allow them to leave no regrets behind.

However, given the current production output of the moonwell, only fifty grams of magical essence could be extracted per month. It would take six months to gather enough magical essence for refinement into Empowered Magical Essence.

However, considering the bright future and potential of the Empowered Magical Essence, Greem had already determined its price to be a minimum of two million magical crystals. After all, this was a monopoly! He had never heard of anything else similar to this in the World of Adepts!

Though the Breeding Flowers could achieve a similar effect, they were consumable treasures of a limited amount. Moreover, no one knew where they grew in the various planar worlds and where to harvest them. They were vastly inferior compared to the Empowered Magical Essence and its continued production.

Moreover, while two million magical crystals was a sky-high price for most low-grade adepts, it was only the basic cost of a large-scale experiment for a high-grade adept. If spending two million magical crystals could ensure that no ‘weaklings’ appeared among their descendants, which high-grade adept would spare the money to do so?

Just as Greem was silently observing Melinda’s every action, the elven priestess finished her prayer ceremony. Slowly, she recovered from her trance-like state.

The moment she opened her eyes, Melinda saw that terrifying and handsome ‘demon’ standing beside her!

There was only one meter of distance between the two of them.

Melinda gasped in surprise, but quickly covered her mouth and stepped back, seemingly fearful and cowering.

Greem did not mind the behavior of the elven priestess.

He reached over and bent down to look at the moonwater. It had now filled half of the moonwell. A smile appeared on his face. In another three to five days, it would be enough for refinement into the first bottle of Empowered Magical Essence.

“Your performance during this period has been excellent!” Greem looked at the elven priestess with a gentle smile on his face, “Speak. You may ask any request of me, and I will fulfill it as long as it is within my ability!”

Carrot after the stick!

The girl had not slacked off at work and had been diligently praying every day. That was undoubtedly deserving of a reward.

“I…I…” The lips of the elven priestess trembled as if she was hesitating.

“So be it if you don’t have any requests. I have matters to attend to if you’ll excuse me!” Greem turned to leave.

“No…I do have a request.”

“Speak!”

“I want…I want a few companions to accompany me!” The elven priestess finally mustered the courage to say her request.

Greem turned back, looked at the priestess, and tilted his head to think for a bit.

“I will bring you a companion tomorrow, but you must properly instruct her of the rules here. If your performance from henceforth continues to be at this level, I will release all of your companions, one by one.”

Melinda’s pretty eyes immediately lit up. She hurriedly walked forward and said, “I will definitely be obedient! I will make sure they listen to me, as well. You…you don’t need to be worried about me!”

The elven priestess had not undergone any combat training back in the Faen Plane.

Her only daily tasks were to do some cleaning in the elven temples or altars, while occasionally hosting some public prayer ceremonies.

That was why Melinda’s combat prowess was completely negligible despite her being at First Grade.

Greem did not say anything else. He nodded at the priestess before walking two steps away and vanishing in a burst of fire.

Melinda bit her lips and thought for a long time. Alas, she knelt in that beam of moonlight and silently prayed toward the moon in the sky, “Great Moon Goddess, what should I do? Is what I am doing now right or wrong? I pray for your guidance.”

Unfortunately, this was not the Faen Plane. It was the incomparably powerful World of Adepts. The Moon Goddess Meve that she prayed to was not powerful enough. She could not extend her divine power to this corner of the multiverse.

Her prayer was fated to fall on deaf ears!

While Melinda once again fell into her trance-like state of prayer, Greem once again appeared somewhere nearby in the Black Forest. He looked across the two and a half kilometers of towering ancient trees, his gaze falling upon that cottage in the woods.

A series of strange sounds came from the air. It was the sound of beating wings.

A fanged bat, completely red in color, emerged from the dark woods. The bat transformed into a pale middle-aged noble in delicate robes in front of Greem’s eyes.

“Lord Clan Leader, what orders do you have in summoning Vanlier?”

“That cottage is a secret experiment location I have set up; you must not allow anyone to destroy it. Send some subordinates and seal off the area. Make sure no outsiders make their way in. I don’t care if they are magical creatures or adepts. Exterminate anyone that trespasses with extreme prejudice. Notify me as soon as possible if someone that you cannot deal with shows up!”

“Yes! I’ll make the necessary arrangements now.”

A defensive array might have already been set up around the cottage, but Greem was still worried. Thus, he ordered more forces to secure the area. It wasn’t until the place was well-protected that he turned and left.

…………

White Tower.

In a secret room.

A blast of fire erupted as Greem’s towering figure stepped out into his room.

His mastery and control over fire were increasingly refined now. As long as he left a magical brand in a location ahead of time, he would be able to instantly teleport to that place using the subtle senses between the flames.

Of course, a mid-ranged Fire Teleportation like this could not exceed twenty-five kilometers. It also required some degree of setup ahead of time, making it impractical in combat.

However, ever since reaching Third Grade, many combat strategies that he had long since thought of but couldn’t enact in reality had become possible.

Currently, what Greem wanted to optimize most was his mobility!

As an elementium adept, being a cannon on the battlefield was the best way to make use of his powers.

However, his severe lack of mobility spells in the past had often forced Greem to transform into the Flame Fiend and serve as a half-baked flame warrior. Now that he was Third Grade, his fire magic was increasingly elegant and excellent.

After a long time of calculation and deduction with the Chip, Greem finally came up with a feasible enhancement plan.

A Flame Jet Engine!

Flame jets were a simple application of fire magic to begin with. It involved firing out concentrated fire particles in a cone shape toward a specific direction to inflict area-of-effect damage.

Now, Greem combined his usual flame jets with the Fire Molding ability of the Fire Throne set and created flame armor for himself. The purpose of this armor wasn’t for defense, but mobility.

Much like having many tiny jet engines, the fire armor could expel searing flame jets under the effects of Greem’s immense fire energy. It used the counterbalance force from the flame jets to employ rapid movement in a limited area.

However, this kind of movement based upon sudden acceleration required Greem to get used to its application slowly.

Thus, Greem took two to three hours from the coming days to train his reflexes.

He set up hundreds of sharp stakes in a chaotic fashion within the room. He then forced himself to activate the Flame Jet Engine and weave through the stakes at an extremely high speed.

Of course, out of concern for his safety, Greem also made sure to cast a few Fire Shields around himself.

Unfortunately, during the first two weeks, Greem only succeeded at turning himself into a flaming cannonball. Every time the Flame Jet Engine was activated, he became a flaming meteor that crashed through the wooden stakes and smacked into the stone wall.

If it weren’t for the Fire Shields, he would probably already be half-dead.

These tragic days lasted for half a month before he finally managed, barely, to control the speed of the Flame Jet Engine. However, every time he weaved through the array of wooden stakes, some unexpected error in his cooperation with the Chip would come up. The result of every mistake meant disaster for the wooden stakes.

They were either burnt to char by the flame jets or smashed to pieces by the scrambling Greem.

Having no progress after so much training also caused Greem to lose confidence in his own athletic talent. He could only transfer all control over the Flame Jet Engine to the Chip in his mind.

Compared to the vague athletic sense of the human mind, the Chip’s control over the Flame Jet Engine was more precise and agile.

Every time the Flame Jet Engine was activated, Greem would turn into a flaming humanoid, rapidly weaving, advancing, and retreating through the dense array of wooden stakes. Unfortunately, though his movements were swift, his expression was utterly distinct from his actions.

Greem’s screams never stopped as he watched the stakes rapidly flash past his eyes and quickly approach him. Though he was completely unharmed after all the practice and had correctly completed all of the actions, his robes were soaked through with bead-like drops of sweat.

Such first-person point-of-view practice was more exciting than riding a rollercoaster from his past life a hundred times over!