Age of Adepts

As expected, the silence of the old vampire was only returned with cruel vengeance from Greem.

Greem’s right hand held the bloody crystal. It burst into flames as the crystal made of concentrated dragon blood slowly broke down and turned into a ball of strong-smelling blood mist.

As the flames continued to increase in heat, the temperature of the mist also started to rise. Soon, it gathered in front of Greem and turned into a bubbling crimson water ball.

Once the temperature approached the boiling point of dragon blood, Greem chuckled and pushed the water ball forward.

It floated into the array of light and came into contact with the old vampire’s body.

The four weeks of bloodletting had left the old vampire’s origin withered and dry, and he was already hanging on by a thread. Yet, when his body came into contact with the boiling blood, it immediately absorbed the blood into his body like a whale thirsting for water.

It wasn’t the old vampire’s intention, but an instinct of his body!

The blood of a Second Grade dragon was indeed an excellent tonic for the old vampire in his current state, but perhaps not boiling dragon blood.

As the vampire’s body instinctively took in the boiling dragon blood, it quickly seeped into his body and surged toward the heart along with the flow of blood.

“Ah!”

A long and tragic cry.

The already weak old vampire was stuck in complete pain and ecstasy.

The boiling dragon blood was coursing through his dry veins, nourishing the nearly withered cells along the way. Yet, as it was providing Haines with power, it was also boiling and scalding all of his cells and tissues, causing him unbearable agony.

The old vampire struggled with all he had. The gray wings behind his back unfolded completely, but just three seconds later, they were bound and sliced to countless pieces by the magical chains around him.

Red spots started to appear all over the old vampire’s pale skin. Countless small flames started burning on his body. Haines raised his head and opened his mouth in an attempt to let out an agonized scream. However, it was a jet of dark red flames that burst forth, carrying with it the scent of roasted meat.

After a long time, the tortured and battered vampire finally managed to let out a grunt. His entire body was like a reed in cold winds, shivering and trembling unstoppably.

If it had been anyone else, such gruesome torture inflicted on such a weak body would have killed them.

However, the vampires were a resilient race. The boiling dragon blood might have brought him the most extreme pain, but it was also rapidly healing all of his wounds. It didn’t take long. Soon, Haines’ body had recovered completely, and he was restored to peak condition.

However, his Spirit had hit rock bottom after such intense agony. He only had the strength to pant now!

Having completed all of this, Greem carefully looked over the sealing array and ensured there were no problems. It was then that he turned and left the sealing room.

Two magical machine warriors with Second Grade power stood beside the door, keeping solemn guard over the place.

“Continue to guard this place well! No one is allowed inside without my orders.”

Greem gave a simple order before erupting in a blast of fire and vanishing from the spot.

He was already in a secret magical room on the fifth floor by the time he reappeared.

There were no windows or doors here, making it impossible to break in through conventional methods. Even Greem would have to rely on the magical brand he had left in the room if he wanted to get in.

This room was an extensive biology laboratory. All sorts of glass vats of various sizes could be seen everywhere, protected behind defensive barriers. These were either the organs of magical creatures, formless tissue, creature specimens, or even some strange, unnameable substances.

It was chilling to even walk through the collection of displays!

A specially forged blood coffin lay silently in the corner of the laboratory.

The blood coffin was carved entirely out of a massive piece of blood crystal. Complex patterns had been carved onto the walls of the coffin and were lit up by the blood energy rippling out from within.

Greem walked forward, pushed open the coffin, and frowned when hit by the pungent smell of blood.

He held his breath, took out the jar, took away the seal, and poured the blood into the coffin.

The addition of the blood caused the blood level in the coffin to rise even further. It was so full it was almost overflowing.

Greem nodded in satisfaction.

This blood coffin specially prepared for Mary’s advancement was now ready. The sacrificial ceremony in the sealing room was also prepared. Now, he only had to wait for Mary to raise her power to peak Second Grade!

Greem placed the lid back onto the coffin and sealed the blood energy inside. He wasn’t in a rush to leave yet, though. He turned and walked to a different corner in the laboratory.

Here, inside the giant magical barrier, was an exotic unicorn. It crouched on the ground breathing laboriously, the color of life slowly draining from its eyes.

A tumor the size of a fist was quickly moving through its swollen stomach before finally stopping where its heart was. Greem then faintly heard the chittering sound of flesh being torn and devoured.

The process of waiting was long and tedious, but Greem was not at all impatient.

Ten entire hours later, a dull thud rang out as a strange creature the size of a palm emerged from the body of the unicorn, landing on the ground.

Judging from its appearance, it was a creature that resembled a small mastiff. It had no hair throughout its body, and its skin was covered in the blood and flesh of the unicorn. The creature only had two thick hind legs and no front legs to speak of. The creature’s bare, fleshy head was composed mostly of its broad, bloody mouth.

The creature sat there after emerging from the unicorn’s body. It opened its mouth and extended a flexible, fifty centimeters long tongue and started licking all the blood and flesh off of its body.

A milky white flame suddenly burned on the skin of the unicorn, its flesh now wholly devoured. The blaze turned the rest of the body, along with the hair, into a pile of ashes. Only a crystalline horn was left on the spot.

The creature suddenly saw Greem through the barrier of light and immediately lunged forward adoringly.

Its weak and frail body crashed against the barrier, and it fell to the ground. The creature struggled to get up before letting out a wailing cry at Greem.

No one could possibly connect this creature with the idea of a pet just by the looks of its rows of bloody teeth.

“Come, let me see what powers you have inherited from devouring a unicorn,” Greem spoke softly to the creature.

This creature was the Sourcestealer that Greem had taken the painstaking effort to nurture to maturity.

As for why an insect appeared so much like a beast after maturity, that was not something that Greem could understand.

Greem placed his right hand on the barrier, only half a meter away from the Sourcestealer.

The formerly gentle and obedient Sourcestealer immediately turned restless. Viscous saliva dripped from the gaps in its teeth, corroding little holes into the magic resistant metal floor when it landed.

The Sourcestealer’s murky, yellow eyes were fixed upon Greem’s right hand as if it was raring to go.

There was no doubt that the Third Grade Greem was a much more delicious prey compared to the dead unicorn!

Parasitic creatures like the Sourcestealers had no so-called loyalty or emotion. All intelligent beings in the world, as long as it was something they could hunt, were on their list of prey.

“Simmer down and show me what you can do. Or else…”

The smile on Greem’s face was unchanging, but a trace of killing intent slowly emerged in his black eyes.

The Sourcestealer was still hungering for his flesh.

Greem flicked his fingers, and a flame the size of a small finger suddenly appeared on the back of the Sourcestealer.

Fire clashed with flesh, and a strange sizzling sound rang out.

The Sourcestealer immediately started shrieking in pain.

Strangely enough, as it shrieked, a powerful light burst forth from the horn left in the ashes of the unicorn. The magical fire was instantly extinguished when the milky white light landed on the Sourcestealer’s back.

As the rest of the milky white light surged into the Sourcestealer’s body, the scorch marks left by the fire were instantly erased.

“Holy power.”

Greem muttered the name with a certain praising tone.

Greem could sense that power from earlier clearly. It was holy power, which was unique to the unicorns.

Such holy power possessed the magical effect of cleansing and dispelling. It was an ability that no other races could hope to replicate.

Naturally, a talent-stealing creature like the Sourcestealer couldn’t possibly possess such holy power. Yet, after devouring the bloodline talent of a young unicorn, it could now unleash this odd holy power with the use of the horn.

It meant that the talent-stealing of the Sourcestealer had succeeded!

Greem immediately activated a particular array in the barrier without any hesitation.

A gray anesthetic gas came out of a corner and quickly filled the barrier.

The Sourcestealer’s body quickly started swaying when it took in the gray gas.

However, it quickly activated a large ball of white light to cover its body and resist stubbornly against the gas.

Greem had no patience to wait until the holy power was thoroughly exhausted. He lifted his hand, and a few beams of red Scalding Rays shot into the barrier, leaving several holes in the body of the Sourcestealer.

The gray gas spontaneously surged into these wounds and entered the Sourcestealer’s body.

It staggered about a bit before finally falling to the ground.

It might have stolen the unicorn’s powerful innate ability, but it still lacked sufficient magical power to sustain the use of the abiltiy due to the limits of its own biological construction. It also didn’t possess the unicorn’s powerful magic-resistant skin. Thus, it couldn’t even resist First Grade Scalding Rays and promptly fell unconscious.

Seven minutes later, the Sourcestealer was placed on a cold dissection platform.

Greem put on a gray adept’s robe, turned on the bright magical lights, and opened the Sourcestealer’s body with a single slice.