Age of Adepts

The fire elemental elder died!

A Second Grade fire elemental elder died a humiliating death beneath the bombardment of Greem and the Flame Fiend of Terror, just like that.

Any Second Grade adept in the World of Adepts would have had plenty of life-saving spells and powers. They would not have been so easily disposed of as the elemental elder. If a Second Grade adept had died in battle, it would be a major event that could cause a tremendous commotion in the local area.

However, in the Fire Elementium Plane filled with fire creatures, the death of a Second Grade creature was as ordinary as the death of a chicken in a farmer's home. There wouldn't be someone jumping out unexpectedly seeking vengeance. After all, even the wandering fire creatures didn't seem to care less about what had happened.

As long as the fighting didn't involve them, they were perfectly fine with wandering the plains and looking for things that could help them evolve.

Of course, this was a manifestation of their unevolved intelligence. Otherwise, they would probably have run as far away as possible at the very sight of two vicious Second Grades engaged in combat!

Greem held two bright red crystals in his hand once the brutal battle had concluded.

One was a clear, fire-red crystal with a jadelike appearance. One could only vaguely make out a strange flame swimming within the solid crystal if they brought it close to their eyes.

The other crystal was a heart-shaped gemstone burning with fire. An overwhelming sense of heat could be sensed emanating from within the gemstone.

Elementium creatures were truly elementium creatures. It didn't matter which grade they had achieved– they were still tragically broke and destitute. Greem had gone to such lengths to kill the Second Grade fire elemental elder–even summoning the Flame Fiend of Terror–and all he got for his efforts was a Second Grade fire core.

If he hadn't managed to kill the fire elemental elder instantly, the elemental elder would have self-destructed, and Greem would have had absolutely nothing to show for the ordeal. Greem would probably be unable even to cry if that had happened!

The Fire Elementium Plane was a large plane, and the fire creatures within it were numerous. They could be counted in the trillions. Moreover, fire creatures didn't have lifespan limitations like other intelligent lifeforms. Strictly speaking, they belonged to a special long-lived species.

Still, the vast majority of these creatures were unintelligent, bumbling elementium beings that did not even possess mental consciousness. They had no recognition or understanding of good or evil that other species had. However, that didn't mean that they had no intelligence whatsoever.

In truth, the powerhouses among the elementium creatures had intelligence that far surpassed the common man, and perhaps even the dragons. After all, some of them had existed since a time far more ancient than the dragons themselves.

Despite how lazy the elementium creatures tended to be, and their lack of talent for cultivation, the massive number of individuals in the Elementium Planes and the gradual accumulation of power still caused a frightening amount of powerhouses to be born in these worlds. The number of these monsters would terrify most material planes.

Otherwise, Greem wouldn't have run into a wandering Second Grade fire elemental elder in such a backward, rural place in the middle of nowhere. The opponent also clearly wasn't wise enough. It lacked an instinctual sense for danger and had engaged in combat against a same-grade opponent like Greem, all for the sake of an Essence of Fire.

The result of this decision was Greem obtaining a fresh Second Grade fire core alongside the Essence of Fire. As long as he had the chance to return to Fire Throne, Greem had the means to turn this Second Grade fire core into yet another loyal and reliable elementium golem.

Thus, after some thought, Greem had to admit that the Fire Elementium Plane was indeed the most suitable place for him to train and gain in power. If he had a hundred year's time to train here, he had absolute confidence in raising a golem army formed entirely of Second Grade elementium golems from scratch.

If he then changed professions and became a tiny Fire Lord here wouldn't be such a bad idea either.

At the very least, these dull and foolish elementium creatures were much easier to deal with compared to adepts of the same grade!

After some thought, Greem decided not to hurry away from these burning plains. Instead, he found a slightly more peaceful cave nearby and impatiently started to absorb the Essence of Fire.

The whole matter of assassinating the Fire Lord was full of weird instances. It was very likely that he would trigger a death trap set down by the enemy if he approached the Fire Lord prematurely. Thus, Greem had already made his decision to treat this assassination mission as a rare chance for a 'vacation' and 'training.'

Since he managed to find a treasure here, it was only natural that he stayed here for a few more days.

Every single Essence of Fire was immeasurably precious to fire adepts.

After all, treasures that could improve elementium affinity could only be found at unreasonably high prices back in the World of Adepts. Naturally, Greem wouldn't so easily give up on this chance to obtain them for free.

For the next month, Greem stayed in this cave and spent day after day absorbing and digesting that Essence of Fire.

The Flame Fiend of Terror wasn't idle while he worked either.

Greem sent out a hundred beginner apprentice fire golems in a single go and spread them out over the several-dozen kilometers wide plains. He had them silently monitor everything that was happening nearby. Once a valuable fire treasure or magical gemstone was expelled from underground, the Flame Fiend would rush over and retrieve it as soon as possible.

For a moment, tension overtook the plains.

Some of the smarter fire creatures, realizing that a powerhouse had arrived in the vicinity, made the right decision to flee. At any rate, the Fire Elementium Plane was a vast world. There were countless other places like this one here. There was no need to run into a confrontation with this fearsome elite over some resources and treasures.

The only ones left here were dumb idiots that didn't even possess an independent soul consciousness.

The Flame Fiend labored hard, and Greem, the boss behind the scenes, enjoyed the fruits of his work, living a carefree life in the area. Greem's improvement here in the Fire Elementium Plane was definitely faster than back in the World of Adepts.

One month later.

A humanoid statue in a silent cave covered in a thick layer of ash suddenly trembled.

The specific action couldn't be clearly seen, but the volcanic ash on Greem's skin melted like virgin snow, quickly flowing down his body.

As the ashes from his eyebrows fell off, Greem slowly opened his eyes.

Two blinding golden fires were suddenly lit in the dark cave, illuminating the entire space.

"Chip, assess my current attributes!"

[Beep. Host's instructions received. Self-assessment beginning.]

As the Chip's familiar voice rang out once again, a screen of light projected into Greem's mind. His bodily attributes were listed upon the screen in detail.

Greem. Intermediate Second Grade.

Profession: Elementium Adept (Fire Specialization).

Bodily Attributes: Strength 11+1 (18) | Physique 13 (20) | Agility 10 (8) | Spirit 26+1 (29).

Note: Attributes in brackets refer to post-transformation statistics.

Profession Skills: Body of Flames, Flame Fiend Transformation.

Greem's power was only that of an intermediate Second Grade fire adept in the World of Adepts. His powerful fire spells might have great might in a large-scale war. However, fire adepts lacked sufficient mobility in skirmishes between adepts and had trouble shaking off close-quarter pursuits from adepts of other disciplines.

It was a universally-known and accepted fact!

However, Greem's power increased tremendously when he transformed into the Flame Fiend. The 29 points of Spirit and 20 points of Physique allowed him to sweep aside most adepts of the same grade and become a terrifying overlord that dominated the battlefield.

The one unfortunate drawback to this was his inability to sustain the Flame Fiend form for extended periods of time, even after sealing a Flame Fiend's Heart in his own body. If he went all out, the Flame Fiend transformation could only be maintained for a mere fifteen minutes.

In those fifteen minutes, Greem at his full power could even compare to beginner Third Grades to some limited extent. However, once the fifteen minutes were up, the reverted Greem would only have the strength of an intermediate Second Grade adept. He would be crushed in moments by an actual Third Grade.

However, if the battlefield was in the Fire Elementium Plane, Greem was confident he could extend the Flame Fiend Transformation to thirty minutes.

It was basically his powers being doubled!

The origin contract had now sealed his soul brand, and no substantial change to its nature was possible. Thus, Greem wasn't paying attention to his attributes when he read the assessment report. Instead, he was focusing on his elementium affinity.

A bar chart slowly appeared before Greem's eyes.

From top to bottom, the bars of various colors represented the affinity of Greem's body toward the myriad of arcane powers.

The ones at the top were naturally the ones with the highest affinity, and it decreased as they went down.

In the very first place was the fire attribute. The length of the bar was nearly the sum of all the other bars, and its color was a vibrant red.

In second place was the earth attribute. Its length was only one-fourth of the fire bar, and its color was a deep yellow.

The third was the metal attribute. Its length was only one-twelfth of the fire bar, and its color was a dull, rusty brown.

There were as many as five or six affinity bars after them, but their lengths were pathetically short, and Greem had no interest to even look at them.

The longer the bar, the higher the affinity Greem had with elementium particles of that attribute. This way, Greem would obtain greater achievements through his daily meditations and training with the same amount of effort.

Greem had spent the past few days devouring and digesting the Essence of Fire. It had allowed his fire affinity bar to increase by a minimum of one-seventh. Moreover, if one were to look closely, they could find a strange trace of gold on the bright red bar of the fire attribute.

This golden color represented Greem's understanding of the laws of fire.

One day, when Greem's knowledge and understanding of the fire laws had reached a level that granted him control, it would be the moment he obtained the power of the planar laws.

And the power of the laws was a supreme domain that only Fourth Grade adepts could come into contact with!