Age of Adepts

It was a flame giant blazing with golden fire, standing at ten meters tall!

Even though ten meters was far shorter compared to when he was a thousand meters tall, the strange fires that shrouded the giant constantly radiated tiny golden ripples.

These golden ripples were not visible to N ordinary mortal. They were almost intangible. Much like how magical auras could affect the environment, the planar laws changed wherever the golden ripples spread.

The one controlling this space was no longer the almighty planar consciousness, but a different, searing consciousness. It was the soul consciousness of the golden flame giant that ruled supreme here.

Looking from a certain perspective, the golden flame giant had become a source of principle power. The principle power flowing through his body was constantly interacting and communicating with the World of Adepts’ principle system, resulting in a trembling and rippling across the principle system.

However, the planar consciousness would not just happily relinquish control over its space.

Several law chains suddenly reached out of the space around the flame giant. They wrapped toward it like the tentacles of a ravenous octopus.

The golden flame giant clearly did not wish to be bound by the law chains. He roared and waved his hands as golden fire instantly engulfed a large stretch of space. The law chains within that sea of fire shattered. Even space itself started to distort and break down as the flames burned.

However, the planar consciousness was not so easily dissuaded.

The next moment, space tore apart, and even more law chains rattled as they rushed toward the golden giant. Where the law chains passed, the flames started by the giant were gradually suppressed.

The golden flame giant howled in agony and attempted to draw on even more of his power to resist the chains. At that moment, a golden halo of Fate landed on the giant’s body, temporarily halting his resistance against the planar consciousness.

“Greem, don’t confront the planar consciousness! You must endure its suppression if you want to extend your stay within the plane. Trust me, it will be okay!” Alice’s sweet and gentle voice rang out in the giant’s mind at the appropriate time. The giant finally stopped his futile resistance and gritted his teeth to endure the law chains’ painful restraint.

Once the giant had given up on resistance, the berserk law chains immediately wrapped all over his body and started to tighten. The golden flame giant moaned in pain as the law chains contracted. His body began to shrink, and the fires on his body began to extinguish.

Fifteen minutes later, the flame giant disappeared without a trace as a naked, muscular man standing two meters tall appeared on the spot.

Greem shook his head and winced before finally trying to get up from the ground.

His muscular body was covered in all sorts of mysterious and profound golden patterns. These patterns were then further covered and entangled with another layer of dark green skins, causing most of his power to be placed under an odd seal.

Of course, this layer of seals could not wholly suppress all his powers.

As long as he wanted to, he could draw enough power from within him to break the seal and allow the principle power of the golden ripples to rule over the space around him once more. In doing so, however, the conflict between him and the planar consciousness would never be resolved.

The planar consciousness would not rest until he was forced out of the planar world!

After all, letting a powerful principle adept like Greem roam the planar world freely was a bad idea. He would rewrite the planar laws wherever he went.

It was something that the planar consciousness could not allow to happen!

Greem had reverted from his body of fire to his current human body; most of his power had been sealed away. The upper limit of power he could unleash now was peak Fourth Grade, only a fraction of his true might.

It was such an unbearable experience. No wonder the Great Adepts could not tolerate it either.

Greem had personally killed two Fifth Grade creatures in the battles before this. It caused his ego to swell. He had come to believe himself to be sufficiently powerful.

However, upon advancing into a Fifth Grade Great Adept, he could finally experience for himself how ‘savage’ the suppression of the planar laws was upon ultra-grade beings!

It was a complete suppression from every aspect. From the body to Spirit to the soul itself- it was a complete suppression of the individual!

No wonder those Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lords became so ‘frail’ after entering the World of Adepts. Greem wasn’t the impressive one. Rather, it was the planar consciousness that existed everywhere that was impressive. It was the principle power that he had managed to grasp that was impressive.

The combination of the latter two was what actually caused an upset in his battle against the Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lords and what forged Greem’s moment of glory.

“Hm, what are you trying to do exactly? Showing up all naked after so long,” Mary couldn’t help but tease as she beat her wings and flew down from above.

Meanwhile, Alice blushed with a smile on her face.

Greem chuckled awkwardly and waved his hand, creating a red robe over his body.

However, where the golden flames reverberated, the space rippled turbulently. It took a long time for them to settle down once more.

“We are inside the plane right now. You…if it’s not necessary, you should restrain from using your principle power. Otherwise, the planar backlash will be a horrible experience for you!” Alice strolled to Greem’s side before standing on her toes and gently brushing his hair past his shoulders.

“Uugggghhh…it’s such a terrible feeling! I feel like my nose is clogged, my eyes are blindfolded, and there are fifty kilograms of chains wrapped around me. Even breathing is incredibly difficult!” Greem complained angrily as if he would rather die now.

His Physique was not comparable to the minor Scourge Lords, after all. The minor Scourge Lords were able to unleash devastating power within the plane even as they endured tremendous suppression. Meanwhile, Greem was currently having trouble even maintaining his powers at a Fourth Grade level.

“That’s because you’ve just advanced and haven’t gotten used to the planar suppression. Once you’ve been here long enough and adapted to it, you will be able to unleash more and more power,” Alice explained simply to him.

Greem already knew all this, but the experience was simply too unbearable. He wanted nothing more than to free himself of this torture and suffering as quickly as possible. It was only natural that he couldn’t help but complain.

“Have you advanced? Is that…golden flame giant your true form?” Mary asked curiously. She had already circled Greem thrice now. She even put her face near Greem’s and gently sniffed that sweet, enticing smell of blood pumping through his body, “Smells good! So good that I want to have a tiny, little bite.”

An amused expression appeared on Greem’s handsome face. He reached his finger out and flicked Mary lightly on her forehead. Greem then wrapped his arm around her waist before turning to ask Alice, “How much longer can I remain in the plane?”

Alice smiled and said, “Depends on how much of the plane’s blessing you still have! If you don’t leave the World of Adepts before the plane’s blessing is exhausted, the planar consciousness will find you and banish you!”

Greem focused his mind and immediately communicated with the Chip.

The next second, a gigantic countdown appeared in his mind.

[123 hours, 43 minutes, 57 seconds.]

Time was slowly ticking away.

This was the last remaining time he could remain within the World of Adepts. Moreover, if he drew upon power that exceeded the limit of this plane, that time would shorten dramatically.

He really didn’t have much time left to leave behind his ‘last will’!

“Chip, what’s the result of the self-assessment?”

[Beep. Beginning first self-assessment since grade advancement.]

Soon, a torrent of numbers flooded Greem’s vision.

[Greem. Male. Fifth Grade Principle Adept (Fire Specialization).

Starbeast Bloodline One: (Devouring Fish).

Starbeast Bloodline Two: (4%).

Chaos Physique (Excellent Magic Resistance).

Heart of Principles (Fire Principles 217% complete).

Bodily Attributes: Strength 26 | Physique 35 | Agility 18 | Spirit 51+5.

Bloodline Talent: Energy Blackhole, Fire Principles (Undying Flames, Fire’s Image)……]

After a hundred years of accumulation, in addition to the flames that Greem had devoured from Sinai, Greem had managed to increase the analysis of his fire principles to 217%. He had then successfully unlocked his second fire principle ability: Fire’s Image.

Greem could summon three mirror-images of fire from the flames he unleashed in combat. These images could replicate most of his abilities and commanded potent fire manipulation powers.

More importantly, Greem’s own self could switch freely between these three mirror-images, even under the effects of spatial interference or lockdowns.

Greem’s enemies would have to simultaneously endure the merciless bombardment of four powerful fire principle adepts. Moreover, if someone wanted to attack Greem himself, they would first have to eliminate all three mirror-images first.

Just the thought of what would happen made Greem uncontrollably excited!

Apart from the changes in his fire principles, Greem had also activated the analysis of a second starbeast bloodline in addition to the Devouring Fish. Once the analysis of that bloodline was complete, Greem would gain a second bloodline transformation ability.

When that happened, he could freely switch between his bloodline transformations as the situation demanded, making his combat tactics far more varied and dangerous!

Of course, the effect of having multiple bloodline transformation abilities on his development as an adept was something that needed to be observed over a longer period of time. He didn’t need to worry about that issue for the moment.

“I still have some time. So, what do you think we should do next?” Greem grabbed Alice by the waist and whispered into her ears.

Alice’s face instantly turned bright red and Mary, who had been eavesdropping, instantly got excited.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself! I’ve been holding it in for a hundred years now! You’re not getting away this time.”

Greem laughed out loud when he heard this. With a girl in each hand, he teleported and disappeared back underground.

A short moment later, the ground started quaking once again.