Age of Adepts
chapter-306

Feidnan City, Adept's Tower.

A small elementium fire pool bubbled in a secret arcane room filled with mist.

Greem silently meditated in the pool.

There was no natural volcanic magma pool in the tower that he could use for recovery purposes. The fire elementium in this seven-meter-long, five-meter-wide, and one-meter-deep pool had been extracted from the energy pool at the bottom of the tower.

Seventeen percent of the energy that the adept's tower gathered daily was needed to maintain this pool. If one were to consider the additional cost of purifying the elementium energies into pure fire elementium, this small pool took up a total of 31% of the tower's daily energy reserves.

Converted to magic crystals, it would cost 120 magic crystals a day.

This cost was more than enough to hire a pseudo-adept to accompany you on an adventure into the woods!

But right now, all of these resources were only used to create a comfortable environment for Greem to recover.

Greem splashed the red lava against his chest and savored the warmth as it trickled down his skin. The boiling heat from being soaked in lava seeped through his skin and found its way into his body. Greem felt incredibly at ease here.

The boiling lava wasn't real lava, but instead a liquid fire that formed after the fire elementium reached a certain level of concentration. It wasn't as viscous or thick as natural magma, but it was a great deal purer.

His dark red hair spread across his shoulders. The red crystalline-lava soaked the tips, but they didn't burn. Crimson sparks occasionally rose from the lava and Greem's long hair slowly absorbed them.

His dark red hair became fuller and more lustrous as it took on more and more fire elementium. A strange and wicked scene indeed!

A massive amount of fire elementium surged through his body as he entered a deep meditative state. It coursed through his body, purifying every nerve, bone, tendon, and bit of flesh. The dense fire elementium had taken up every inch of his body, leaving nowhere for the evil abyssal aura to hide. Finally, the aura turned into strands of black smoke and was expelled from Greem's body, quickly dispersing into the air.

The World of Abyss was also known as the 'Bowels of the World'. It was a terrifying place.

There was an uncountable number of demons there. Cruel, bloody, twisted, evil, chaotic; you could list every single negative adjective as their traits, and you wouldn't be wrong. These gigantic monsters had a fearsome strength and a deep passion for murder. They reveled in the pleasure of destruction.

What was more horrifying was the nature of these creatures. The devilish personalities the World of Abyss had bestowed upon them made them incapable of feeling any guilt for their senseless killing and reckless destruction.

There might be evil races in the multiverse that committed genocide and murder for survival, territory, resources and even dignity. However, the abyssal creatures only did it to hasten their evolution. In fact, most of the time they killed for entertainment!

The Flame Fiend's Heart that Greem had transplanted into his body couldn't avoid the same effects. There was far too much ugliness, evil, and chaos mixed into it. Just as Greem had been eyeing the strength and endless energy the Flame Fiend's Heart provided him with, the distant Abyssal Will had also projected part of its aura into Greem's soul through the Heart.

In all seriousness, this resembled a fair trade!

Greem obtained a mighty Heart that could sustain his Flame Fiend transformation. In exchange, he lost the humanity in his soul.

The process was slow and gradual, and the effects weren't immediate.

Greem might not be able to avoid the corruption caused by the aura, but resisting its effects allowed him to train his will.

As an adept with vast knowledge and a wise mind, he wanted to ensure that everything was within his control. Thus, he had never taken a single step out of the elementium fire pool ever since he returned to Feidnan City. He tried his best to purify and lessen the effects of the abyssal aura.

The adepts were powerful because of their knowledge and wisdom. Greem would be crippled if he became corrupted and turned into a murderous madman!

As long as he was not a fool, he would never allow himself to fall to the level of a demonic creature.

Greem completed his meditation. His Spirit had just exited the state of meditation when he received a message. He reached out and conjured a red rune before sending it into the controls at the center of the room. The doors opened immediately.

A red barrier of light prevented the hot air from spilling out of the room.

The advanced apprentice who walked in was Am.

He held a metallic tray forged from a magical alloy in his hands. Jars and bottles of various colors, shapes, and sizes were arranged on the platter.

Am also had a Physique with a fire affinity. Am was like a fish in water here. Every single pore in his skin wanted to open wide and take in the thick fire elementium in the room. However, he had no choice but to maintain a barrier around his body to avoid his clothes from being ignited by the heat. In doing so, he cut himself off from the fire elementium.

Even with the powers of an advanced apprentice, Am didn't dare walk within ten steps of the elementium fire pool.

He could see, very clearly, the distortion in the air that the heat caused. Several odd strands of crimson light floated in the air. They seemed harmless, but the temperature at their cores reached a shocking three thousand degrees.

Am would probably be turned into ash at this temperature, even if he wore enchanted armor!

The sound of splashing water rang out in the room. Greem continuously splashed lava onto his body. The temperature in the room continued to rise to unbelievable heights with every movement he made. A blazing barrier of fire had naturally formed around the elementium fire pool, even without Greem activating his Ring of Fire.

Am snuck an envious peek at Greem, who was playing with the pool's fire. He gulped.

He might have a fire affinity, but the pool would instantly vaporize him if he were tossed into the pool. Only adepts who had elementiumized their bodies could enjoy the pleasure of bathing in flame.

It was no different than a torturous death for everyone else!

"Sir, these are the potions that Adept Ferrier sent for you."

Greem had asked for help from the potions master to get rid of the abyssal aura remnants on a more fundamental level. He had to endure another fifteen days of this painful struggle against the abyssal aura.

"How is Alice? Who is taking care of her?" Greem asked.

"Lena is. According to her, they've expelled almost all of the petrification energies from Alice's body. She is now recovering at Adept Ferrier's place. She should be able to start walking again in five day's time." Am replied respectfully.

Greem acknowledged him with a silent 'mmm', but didn't say anything more than that. He had also received a telepathic message from Keoghan.

The two talked over the mental connection for several minutes.

Once they finished, Greem rested his arms on the edge of the pool and laid down on his back. He couldn't help but muse to himself, "Counterattack? Splitting the benefits? It seems Lady Sanazar has permitted me to gain something out of this! Well, I was going to build a tower and form a personal clan eventually. I suppose I'll take this chance."

…………

Fandear City.

Fandear was a small and prosperous city in the Laxia area that belonged to the Ximan Clan.

Wylick Castle, constructed one and a half kilometers into the western outskirts of the city, was the private property of Adept Sak.

In the past, this was the favorite place for the nobles and ladies of Fandear City. The entire castle would be brightly lit when night fell. Numerous extravagant carriages would be seen in the square before the building. Nobles with any influence would take pride in receiving an invitation from the respected adept and gather here for a night of drinking and feasting.

However, the entire place had become silent and vacant after the news of Sak's death.

The gates of the castle were shut tight. A hundred servants, waiters, butlers, and guards hid in their rooms, nervously awaiting their unknown fate.

Two youths, one male and one female, nervously talked in a bedroom on the third floor of the castle.

"Celia, you must leave now…" The young man wore noble attire. His face betrayed an expression of worry and concern as he paced around the room, "We cannot wait until the people of the clan arrive. Grandpa is dead now. We will be affected by this event as direct descendants of his bloodline."

The young man stopped before the girl and grabbed her shoulders. He shook them as he spoke, "Wake up! I've heard that the clan doesn't intend to take revenge for Grandpa Sak. In fact, they want to hand us over to resolve this conflict. If you don't want to become a slave, you have to leave her as soon as possible."

"I won't…I won't…" The delicate and pretty girl spoke. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she was evidently lost.

If someone looked, they would see light grey patches near the parotid glands on her face.

If a Ximan adept had been here to see this, they would have been able to recognize this as an indication that the girl was awakening to her serpentine bloodline. When she started to mature, and her bloodline thickened to the extent that her innate talents could manifest, her head would gradually take on the traits of a snake, much like Sak.

However, the fact that only a trace of bloodline awakening was manifesting when she was already almost sixteen meant that she had limited potential. Even so, the initial rousing of her bloodline powers had given her strength rivaling advanced apprentices.

Of course, she was still unable to properly use the power within her when compared to the more weathered and experienced apprentice adepts!

Her bloodline talent was extremely limited for a descendant of Adept Sak. Her elder brother didn't even have any signs of bloodline awakening. He was a thoroughly ordinary man.