Age of Adepts

Through his self-examination, Greem discovered that his greatest improvement was in his fire magic.

With the Heart of Principles’ continued analysis, Greem had finally started to combine the multiple fire laws to form a principle fire of his own– the Undying Flame.

The Undying Flame would strike fear into the hearts of even ultra-powerhouses!

What Greem needed to do now was to slowly refine all the fire energy in his body into principle fire according to the method provided by the Fire King. He would then use the principle fires to slowly modify his own body.

Once his body had become perfectly compatible with the Undying Flame, Greem would have completed the legendary principle-body modification. He could then start preparations for advancement to Fifth Grade. Until then, he would remain a semi-principle adept!

The Chip estimated that the principle body modification would take two hundred and eighteen years. That was assuming that all other factors besides the accumulation of principle fire and Spirit had been accounted for. The moment these two things reached peak Fourth Grade would be the moment Greem would successfully advance to Fifth Grade.

Greem put the soft leather armor made out of fire dragon hide back on his body after completing his bath for the day. Even though he could create all sorts of simple clothes by manipulating elementium as a Fourth Grade adept, this manifested energy clothing would not possess the strange characteristics that magical items did.

The internal construction and runic systems of enchanted magical items were too complex for Greem to manifest with his current knowledge and ability.

That was why this fire dragon leather armor with its tremendous defensive power was still precious equipment for him!

Greem put all his clothes back on and took a single step forward. His entire person vanished in a pillar of flames.

Flames flickered in the corner of another magical room. Greem stepped out from the fire.

Strange, dazzling light radiated from a small pool in the room. The pool, of a standard seven meters length, five meters width, and three meters depth, was filled with a strange liquid brimming with light elementium aura. Moreover, the liquid itself gave off a peculiar, indescribable aura of life.

No one would be able to connect this glowing pool of liquid with human blood.

However, the liquid was indeed blood!

Even Greem had not expected that the blood he had managed to clone at a significant cost by deciphering Light Adept Geraldine’s origin blood would look like this.

One could feel how pure and clean the glowing liquid in the pool was just by standing beside it.

As waves rippled throughout the liquid, all sorts of fantastical lights and colors would appear before you, reaching deep into your heart. Even Greem felt his mind tremble and his Spirit flutter for a moment.

As if it sensed Greem’s gaze, the liquid began to rise, turning into a humanoid form in the center of the pool. Light flickered as a translucent humanoid that looked just like Greem stood in front of him.

“Hey, original, what exactly do you plan to do with me? You can’t imprison me like this forever, can you? Life is free! You might have been the one to bless me with life, but I still desire freedom!” The translucent humanoid spoke, his voice identical to Greem’s own.

Greem frowned slightly.

He still couldn’t quite come to terms with what had happened. Geraldine’s blood, which he had replicated at great cost, actually maintained a rather unusual mental connection with Geraldine.

Even though the adept tower’s isolation meant that Geraldine could not sense his clone while he was far away in the east, this translucent humanoid did possess a portion of the Messenger of Light’s might.

The humanoid possessed blood filled with dense light elementium and light principles similar to Geraldine’s own. The only difference between them was that Geraldine had hundreds of years of memories and emotions, while the man of light only had a pure soul that Greem had created with a portion of his Spirit at the core.

Apart from this, the two were practically identical.

Moreover, if the man of light was released from the tower, Geraldine would instantly be able to detect its abnormal existence through the light principles.

When that happened, Geraldine would track the man of light to this place, and Greem would have to explain the whole situation to him!

That was why Greem had no intention of releasing this man of light and creating trouble for himself until he figured out what to do with him.

“What will you do if I let you go?” Greem couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“I will find that Geraldine fellow and fight him. If he wins, he will assimilate me. If I win, I will assimilate him. At any rate, there can only be one Messenger of Light in this world. It is either him or me!” The man of light only possessed rudimentary intelligence. He had yet to pick up the sly and cunning of humans, nor their ability to lie. His power was only beginner Fourth Grade, an entire minor grade lower than Geraldine.

“You have no hope of beating him!” Greem shook his head and said, “He has an actual body. He will be able to produce light energy endlessly as long as he lives. The same can’t be said for you. Once you leave this pool of light liquid, you will lose the ability to generate light energy. Your energy reserve will only deplete over time until it is completely exhausted.”

Greem couldn’t help but sigh again when he said this, “You can never defeat him! After all, you are not a real lifeform.”

“Then how can I become a real lifeform?” The man of light asked curiously.

“Firstly, you must have a core that hosts your Spirit consciousness and your soul origin. Secondly, you will have to construct a body for yourself that is perfectly compatible with your light origin,” Greem did not hide anything from this man of light. He was genuinely trying to help with all his effort.

After all, this man of light was an intelligence formed with his Spirit at the core. He could make the man of light’s consciousness dissipate and its soul vanish with a single thought. That was why he was not worried that the man of light would turn on him.

If Greem could help the man of light with its trouble, he would instantly gain a trusted Fourth Grade subordinate!

“Don’t be in a hurry. I will try my best to gather adept materials compatible with light elementium and forge a real body for you. You will be able to move freely then! Perhaps you might even be able to find a chance to steal Geraldine’s power for yourself,” Greem consoled.

“I understand! I’ll leave it to you, original! Remember to wake me up if you make any progress,” The man of light nodded before his body collapsed into liquid and fell into the pool again.

Greem left the pool behind and walked toward an alchemy workshop in another corner of the secret room.

Shadow Demon’s four-meter-tall, pitch-black body lay on a strange platform here. Countless alchemical beams were carving complicated and intricate patterns and runes on its shadowsteel body.

During the battle at Nightmare Castle, Shadow Demon had suffered much at the hands of Gloria. Its body had been destroyed and torn apart countless times.

Even though Shadow Demon possessed the ability to heal itself while remaining in shadowspace, the severe damage it had sustained had caused its power to decrease considerably. Thus, Greem decided to add another layer of modifications to it, enhancing its stealth and ambush abilities.

After the modification, Shadow Demon would finally be able to pose some degree of threat and pressure ultra-powerhouses, unlike before!

According to the Chip’s calculations, the modified Shadow Demon’s grade would leap from intermediate Fourth Grade to advanced Fourth Grade. Its offensive power against elementium adepts would improve by leaps and bounds. With such power, Shadow Demon would have no problem overpowering a beginner Fourth Grade adept.

Greem silently waited until the magical runes on Shadow Demon had been completed. The golem sat up from the platform. He waved his hand, and the golem vanished into his shadow like a phantom.

After putting Shadow Demon away, Greem turned and teleported out of the room. Just then, a magical message rang out in his mind.

“Starspirit Tulas? Why is he looking for me?”

Greem returned to his room with that question in his head. He took out a blue crystal the size of a nail from a hidden compartment in the wall and placed it on his desk’s communication crystal.

As traces of an unusual energy aura radiated from the blue crystal, the communication crystal lit up, and the image within began to grow clearer.

Soon, the image stabilized as Tulas’ strange mist-like body and constellation of nodes that formed his skeleton appeared.

“It’s been a while, Greem!”

“It has been a while, indeed! Why have you suddenly contacted me?” There was no hint of friendliness or joy in Greem’s voice at having met an old acquaintance.

They had only been temporary allies once before, for the sake of their individual benefit; there was no trust or relationship between them. Greem had to reflect on each word that Tulas spoke and mull over them cautiously, in fear that he might be led into a trap or conspiracy.

However, as a Fourth Grade adept, it was always better to have numerous connections than wander the world completely alone. That was why Greem had contacted the starspirit over matters of interplanar trade after the Reliquary mission. The two of them had had some dealings in the past.

However, Tulas had suddenly contacted him today after a hundred years. It did not seem like his purpose was an exchange of resources either. Greem decided to get straight to the point.

“Old friend, the magic surge has begun. How is the situation on your end?” Starspirit Tulas gazed at Greem with the two bright white lights that were his eyes. It was obvious that the answer mattered very much to him.

“I am managing. The situation might be quite terrible, but it has yet to reach the worst-case scenario!” Greem minced his words and kept it vague. Obviously, he would not tell Tulas the actual state of affairs in the World of Adepts.

“That is only natural. Your World of Adepts is one of the rare higher civilizations in the universe, backed by Ninth Grade Great Adepts. An unexpected magic surge could hardly shake your foundations,” Starspirit Tulas sighed and continued, “Meanwhile, things are very different in my Spirit World. Everyone is disorganized and scattered. We are all individually powerful, but we are unable to unite and fend off the intruders.”

“Oh? There are already intruders breaking in on your side?” Greem couldn’t help but be curious.

“It’s the Starbeast Hessmoto! That bastard broke into our Spirit World and forcefully laid a Stoneheart Egg here. We are still searching for that embryo everywhere now!” Having said that, even as typically calm and composed as he was, Tulas couldn’t help but start cursing.

Greem couldn’t help but shiver when he heard the words ‘Stoneheart Egg.’

God, how unfortunate for the Spirit World!