Age of Adepts

Much like the Trading Hall, the Knowledge Hall behind Door Two and the Mission Hall behind Door Three were filled with high-grade adepts from all over Zhentarim.

Some of them had concealed their figure and appearance, while others didn’t bother with the effort.

Greem probed around a little with his Spirit and was surprised to find that most adepts moving around the Spirit Illusion Realm were Second Grade adepts. That couldn’t help but make him extremely confused!

After asking the girl acting as his guide, Greem discovered that the lowest threshold to join the Winds of Freedom wasn’t Third Grade, but Second Grade. As for why Greem only received the invitation after he reached Third Grade? That most likely involved interference from some individuals within the organization.

That also meant that some people had mobilized their authority and resources to deny the Winds of Freedom’s invitation to Greem when he was Second Grade. It wasn’t until Greem had advanced to Third Grade, and that individual’s authority was no longer enough to maintain such an operation, that Greem had been invited.

In all honesty, before he joined the Winds of Freedom, Greem had truly been a little complacent about the influence and resources he held in his hands. He believed his power and resources were comparable even amongst adepts of his same grade. However, this little bit of complacency was smashed to bits in the Trading Hall and Knowledge Hall. He once again recognized the wealth and breadth of resources that these veteran adepts had accumulated over hundreds of years. It was not something that a rookie like himself could hope to match.

The shelves upon shelves of magical knowledge in the Knowledge Hall encompassed almost every single aspect of the system of laws in the World of Adepts. Unfortunately, with his newcomer’s authority, Greem could only browse magical knowledge as high as the Second Grade.

He would first have to increase his contribution points before he could even think of looking at Third Grade content!

If Greem could produce a set of First Grade information not recorded in the organization’s data library, he would obtain a hundred contribution points. For Second Grade knowledge he would earn a thousand points. Third Grade, ten thousand points.

However, if he wanted to browse knowledge, he required points as well. First Grade required fifty points, Second Grade required four hundred points, and Third Grade needed seven thousand points. Moreover, this was just the basic cost. It would rise correspondingly for knowledge of a unique nature or greater effectiveness.

Over the past eight years, Greem’s Crimson Clan had slowly devoured three to four insignificant small-scale organizations in the Ailovis region. Greem had also obtained some fairly interesting knowledge legacies from these forces.

The Chip ran some calculations. If this knowledge was contributed to the library, it could bring about approximately 1,400 points of contribution.

It might not be enough for Greem to obtain Third Grade knowledge, but it was enough for some Second Grade fundamentals.

That was already enough for Greem!

After all, with the Chip and some First and Second Grade fundamental knowledge, successfully sequencing and generating Third Grade knowledge wasn’t a complicated matter. It simply required time.

Thus, Greem sold the knowledge he had to the Winds of Freedom without any hesitation. He then used the 1,370 points to obtain three sets of Second Grade fundamental knowledge.

Soul Parasitization Experiment.

Aidiven’s Notes.

Crimson Cemetery.

Soul Parasitization Experiment was research on high-grade spirit beings. If thoroughly analyzed, Greem would obtain significant improvements in the protection of spirits and souls.

Aidiven’s Notes were the research contents left behind by a mechanical adept. The notes mentioned the topic of assimilation between flesh and magical metal. It had some degree of referential utility for the Iron Titan being constructed in the Goblin Plane.

Meanwhile, Crimson Cemetery was simply a book of introduction on the vampires. It also provided some insights and potential solutions to the bloodline limit that existed among them. The book might not be completely accurate, but it would still be a great help in solving Mary’s bloodline limit problem.

Greem arrived at the Mission Hall after spending all his contribution points. It was now that he realized that this was the place to earn contribution points quickly.

Many high-grade adepts had put out bounties in this hall. The contents covered everything from the exploration of other worlds, searching ruins, adventuring in the Black Forest, and even hunting down high-grade magical creatures. The most basic reward for these missions was a large number of contribution points.

These missions were also divided into Second and Third Grade based on their danger level. Second Grade missions meant that the enemies that would be encountered during the task would be Second Grade. Naturally, Third Grade missions meant that they would be Third Grade.

However, what Greem never expected was the long list of Fourth Grade missions in the Mission Hall.

He didn’t think that any Fourth Grade adepts would come here to accept a Fourth Grade mission. All these Fourth Grade missions would have to be undertaken by a group of Third Grade adepts.

One could easily imagine how dangerous these missions were!

……

Nevernight City Ruin Exploration Mission. Third Grade.

Mission Issuer: Adept Angmar. Third Grade.

Mission Contents: Proceed to the southwest corner of the Nigon region to explore the ruins of Nevernight City.

Mission Rewards: 50,000 magical crystals. 2,000 contribution points.

MIssion Requirements: Recruiting five Third Grade adepts.

……

Coarse Hill Demon Investigation. Third Grade.

Mission Issuer: Zhentarim

Mission Contents: Three years ago, tracks of demons appeared in villages near Coarse Hill. Seven villages became victims of blood sacrifices. Second Grade Association Adept Kede went to investigate and discovered traces of a Third Grade demon before going missing during the investigation.

Mission Rewards: 70,000 magical crystals. 3,000 contribution points. Reward will double if the demon lair is found.

Mission Requirements: A group of adepts Second Grade and above.

……

Greem also unexpectedly saw a familiar name amongst the many missions.

……

Dragon Hunting Mission. Third Grade

Mission Issuer: Adept Sanazar. Third Grade.

Mission Contents: Green Dragon lair discovered in a lesser plane. Two Third Grade adolescent green dragons, one male and one female. The female dragon is currently expectant. Hiring adept companions to hunt the dragons.

Mission Rewards: 20,000 magical crystals. 800 contribution points. Dragon corpse will belong to mission issuer, and participants will obtain a share of the dragon’s hoard based on contribution.

Mission Requirements: Two Third Grade adepts.

……

Greem couldn’t help but smile slightly when he saw this mission.

It seemed his old friend Lady Sanazar hadn’t been slacking off during the past couple centuries either. She had been wildly improving her power. The Flying Venom Dragon bloodline of hers was somewhat similar to Oliven’s Dragon Devourer Physique. They both liked to devour dragons of the same grade to improve their own abilities.

However, while Oliven seemed to devour any dragon without qualm, Sanazar leaned toward acidic dragons like the green dragons.

As for the lesser plane mentioned in Sanazar’s mission, Greem suspected it was the Knight’s Plane he had helped the Sarubo Clan conquer. To his understanding, there was a large green dragon tribe in that plane.

It was very likely that the green dragon tribe had been forced to retreat from the plane after the adepts conquered it. That said, it was still very possible that one or two green dragons were staying back in the plane to give birth. After all, it was hazardous for a pregnant female dragon to cross through a spatial rift recklessly!

However, Greem had a bit of trouble understanding why Sanazar didn’t turn to her companions in the clan and instead chose to recruit adepts from the outside.

After gaining a simple understanding of the nature of this Spirit Illusion Realm, Greem finally withdrew from it. He then put away the round mirror and stored it properly.

The round mirror was his tool of communication with the Spirit Illusion Realm, and the best place to enter the Realm seemed to be his tower. It was only in his own tower that the mirror could be continuously supplied with magical energy and sustain Greem’s mental consciousness activity in the Realm.

If Greem chose to access the Realm in the wilderness, safety would become a problem. Furthermore, the elementium consumption would be immense as well.

Meanwhile, if he were in another world, the lack of information exchange towers would make it impossible to connect to the Spirit Illusion Realm.

Greem wouldn’t get addicted to a magical tool like this.

In the end, the Winds of Freedom had only gathered together high-grade adepts through the sharing of knowledge, resources, and information. As for its actual influence and power? That would depend on the skills and organizational abilities of the Fourth Grade adepts behind the organization.

…………

The Sealing Room.

Greem would take the time to come here and visit an old friend every single day.

Third Grade Vampire Haines Vik was locked in a massive floating array in the sealing room. He could not move at all.

A hollow silver tube the size of a finger had been pierced into his exposed chest, reaching all the way into his heart. Drips of viscous, dark purple blood flowed down the tube. A jar the size of a human head caught the blood dripping out of the old vampire’s heart; it looked as if it was almost full.

Greem waved at the jar and took it into his hand. He covered the container and drew a sealing rune on it before carefully stashing it in his storage ring. However, he immediately took out a new clay jar and placed it before Haines.

Greem did not leave after doing all this. Instead, he took out a crimson crystal and waved it at the old vampire.

“Sir Haines, it’s time for your meal now!”

Haines grunted. He couldn’t even be bothered to open his eyes, much less take a single look at that blood crystals.

He had been imprisoned in Fire Throne for ten years. The only reason he had been able to live until now was due to these blood crystals. How much better than death was living in such suffering?

He didn’t think that his opponent was keeping him alive out of some reservation or concern. It was most likely that this was all for that damned bitch.

The reason Haines was alive was that he was food the male adept was providing that bitch Mary.

Once Mary had accumulated sufficient blood energy and reached peak Second Grade, it would probably be the time his life ended.

Leicester had died like that. He had turned into a stepping stone for Mary’s advancement to Second Grade.

He would die an even more tragic death and become the sacrificial piece for Mary’s advancement to Third Grade.

Haines wanted nothing more than to end his life immediately when he thought of his eventual end. He would never give the enemy the chance to progress upon his dead corpse.

Sadly, his weak body could not overcome the powerful sealing ability of the tower.

Haines was almost always kept in a dazed state of consciousness. It was only when this terrifying demon came that he would be woken up with special methods and tortured in the cruelest ways possible.