Age of Adepts

Thunder Dragon Arms.

As a Third Grade thunder dragon that had joined Greem during the developmental years of the Crimson Clan, Arms was still considered a young, powerful, and wealthy dragon.

However, ever since he allied with the humans, he was completely shunned and rejected by Lance’s dragons. He was no longer part of their social circle.

Similarly, Arms did not fit in with the human adepts either.

Thus, he became a lonely dragon, often staying alone in his massive territory with no direction in life.

It was said that the ambitious Emerald Dragon Iritina had fought with him several times over this. A giant rift had appeared in their relationship.

If Greem could help Arms reach Fourth Grade, his presence would certainly further propel the Crimson Clan to greater heights. However, Arms still lacked in loyalty, especially compared to Dragonborn Zacha.

However, Zacha was only advanced Second Grade at the moment. He was still far weaker than Arms. The divine crystal would not have as much effect on him as it would on Arms. Moreover, one was a pureblood dragon, and the other was a dragonborn of mixed blood. The difference in their combat prowess, even at the same grade, was tremendous.

After some hesitation, Greem finally contacted that thunder dragon in the faraway world of Lance– Arms.

The magical screen unfolded before his eyes as an unusual image appeared before him.

On that screen was a tall mountain cave, as well as Thunder Dragon Arms.

His scales were still as shiny as ever, his fangs and claws as sharp as before, and his streamlined body still just as majestic. However, he seemed to be in very low spirits. His entire body was splayed lazily over the rock floor. He didn’t even seem to have the energy to lift his head to greet Greem.

“What’s…happened to you?” Greem couldn’t help but pause for a moment.

“Iritina is planning to leave me.” An expression of pain appeared on Arms’ long dragon face. “She thinks I’m useless and resents that the other dragons laugh at me and that I can’t build her a fancy home. She’s planning to leave me for somewhere else!”

Greem was speechless.

He had never expected to see a dejected, whining, and crying dragon lounging in his home in his entire life. This being was supposed to be a dragon lord– an enviable and powerful creature, a majestic ruler in the eyes of the worldly mortals.

Well, this wasn’t so bad for him. The worse the situation Arms was in, the more leverage he would have over the dragon, and the easier the negotiations would be!

Greem wasn’t one for formalities.

He pointed with his finger, and the focus of the magical screen switched to a pile of strange crystals behind him.

Arms’ eyes instantly opened wide when he saw this image. He immediately got up from the ground with all fours, lifted his nose, and tried his best to sniff through the screen.

“The smell of laws. I smell the smell of lightning laws on them. Those…those are divine power crystals! You–no, Sir–where did you get them?” Arms was immediately reinvigorated. The light of hope shone from his big dragon eyes. He was very cautious when he spoke as if he wanted to curry favor with Greem and was careful not to say anything wrong.

“You don’t need to know where they came from. I just want to know if these would help you?”

“Of course…of course they will…they definitely will.” Arms instantly started roaring out loud, “With these divine crystals and the resources I have collected over these years, I should have no problem advancing to Fourth Grade within two hundred years!”

Dragons truly had a long lifespan. An incredibly easy advancement like this would take them one to two hundred years? By the time Arms woke up from his slumber after his advancement to Fourth Grade, there would already be a whole new generation of First Grade adepts.

“A guaranteed advancement like this would take you two hundred years?” Greem was speechless. For the first time, he understood how difficult it was for dragon creatures to advance.

The principles of the world were still fair!

Dragons had powerful bodies, excellent magic resistance, incredible strength, devastating magic powers, and nearly uncontested melee prowess. Certainly, having gained so much, the dragons would have to lose out in certain aspects.

It took an exceptionally long time for their powers to grow, and producing offsprings was a complicated affair as well.

These two factors severely limited the number of dragons, preventing them from forming an endless horde and becoming the destroyers of the universe!

“Clan leader, I signed a cooperation agreement with you. You can trust me fully! What do you think about…about these divine crystals? Don’t you think…?”

Greem was expressionless, and his tone was calm and composed. He said, “We have indeed signed an agreement of cooperation. However, once you advance to Fourth Grade, your Spirit will certainly triumph mine. Do you think a contract like that could still bind you? Tell me, how am I supposed to trust you?”

“Clan leader, I am already a member of your clan. Can you still not trust me? Moreover, no one in the clan apart from me carries the lightning attribute and could possibly—” Arms had not finished his sentence when he saw Greem use his flames to display the image of a certain dragonborn.

Arms closed his eyes immediately and struggled internally for a moment.

“My lord, Zacha is only Second Grade at the moment. Even with the aid of these divine crystals, it would be near impossible for him to cross two major grades and reach Fourth Grade! Moreover, apart from their melee prowess and insignificant elementium powers, dragonborn are inferior to us dragons in every aspect.”

The image on the screen flickered once more, this time revealing the corpse of a massive divine creature. Arms looked at the body. Even dead, it still radiated a sacred aura of intimidation. His words came to a stop, and he was momentarily stunned.

What had Greem been doing? How had he managed to get his hands on the corpse of a divine creature? Moreover, judging from the aura it was radiating, the creature had undoubtedly been a terrifying peak Fourth Grade existence in life!

If Greem were willing to invest everything, then this corpse and the divine crystals would be able to forcefully pull Zacha to Fourth Grade, even as terrible as his potential was.

He no longer had any room for negotiation now!

An expression of pain and agony appeared on Arms’ face.

He had been working with Greem for so many years. Naturally, he knew what it was that Greem wanted. Still, to hand over his freedom and his life for ‘mere’ pieces of divine crystals. The…thought of this was still so painful!

However, Arms knew that if he missed this opportunity, getting his hands on any divine crystals in the future would be impossible.

If he led his dragons on a raid to another world, they would never be able to obtain divine crystals of such power. If he followed those Fourth Grade dragons on raids, then even if they managed to obtain such crystals, they would only belong to the Fourth Grade dragon lords.

He would never be able to get close to these crystals.

Divine crystals of such power and of the same origin attribute as himself were rare enough that they were things he could only come across, never things he could seek. If he missed this opportunity, and he would regret it for eternity!

After struggling for a brief moment, Arms finally lifted his head. His light-blue eyes stared straight at Greem as he spoke, “Give me the corpse of the divine creature and the divine crystals, and I will sign a dragonsoul contract with you.”

Ordinary dragon contracts were already incredibly binding for a dragon. A contract signed with their dragonsoul as the basis was even more terrifying. To sign a contract like this was to hand over their very life to another individual.

A single thought would be all it took to kill them.

It was unimaginable for a proud, pureblood dragon.

Greem raised an eyebrow, but his expression was still as calm as ever. He replied coldly, “I can only give you half of the corpse. I already have plans for the other half!”

Arms already twisted face became even more ugly.

“Fine, I’ll take half, but I want a real dragoncliff! ”

“That is no problem!”

Arms let out a puff of black smoke from his nostrils as he replied sternly, “The very best!”

“That is no problem! I can order Gargamel to open the clan treasury and help you build the largest, most majestic, and most brilliant dragoncliff in Lance. I promise you it will be the brightest star among the Fourth Grade dragons of Lance!”

Arms finally felt better when he heard Greem’s reassurance.

With the divine crystals, his control of the lightning laws would certainly improve significantly. With the corpse of the divine creature, his thunder-dragon bloodline would be further nourished. With that, it wasn’t just a matter of advancing to Fourth Grade; he might even have a sliver of a chance of reaching Fifth Grade!

A little thought was still hidden deep in Arms’ heart.

If…if he could reach Fifth Grade before Greem did, even a dragonsoul contract wouldn’t be perfectly binding!

…………

Any other adept would have been much more reluctant to give away the corpse of a Fourth Grade divine creature like this.

With some special methods, the immortal trait of the divine creature’s corpse could be transplanted into an adept’s body. However, Greem walked the path of an elementium body. He did not have as strong a desire for an immortal body as a body-refining adept would have.

As for the other half of the corpse that he had reserved? It wasn’t meant for him, but a ‘veteran’ of the Crimson Clan that was worth investment.

Perhaps, that person could bring him an unexpected surprise when they got stronger.

After all, there weren’t many things left in this world that was worthy of his reminiscing anymore!