Age of Adepts

Even he, with his elementiumized body and powerful resistance to poison, he had to stop breathing in order to not take in any more of house’s air.

However, Alice had a completely different reaction to the smell. She was standing on her toes, trying her best to take in as much of the ’heavenly smell’ as she could. It was as if she was smelling the most delicious and fragrant delicacy in the world. If it wasn’t for Greem holding her back, Alice would probably already be gorging on the stew in the cauldron.

Greem took a quick look around the cottage.

Several black metal hooks were hanging down from the ceiling. All kinds of jars and bottles of various colors were hanging from the metal hooks. The containers were filled with a dark and murky liquid, with the eyeballs of various magical creatures soaking in the jars.

There were both large and small eyeballs, flat and round ones, and even some with eyeballs dragging their bloody veins behind them as they swam to and fro within their containers...

A large green jar swinging before Greem’s eyes had a giant’s eyeball immersed within the liquid. Greem could tell this was a giant’s eye because of its sheer size. A single eye alone had taken up all the space within the one meter tall jar.

The massive eye even blinked when Greem walked forward to take a closer look!

"Beep. Detecting high-energy magical organ... initial estimates suggest the organ to be at Second Grade!"

"Are you able to tell what creature this eyeball belonged to?" Greem silently conversed with the chip.

"Beep. Data reference and examination completed. Estimates: Cyclops, 63%... Beholder, 21%... Evil Giant, 4%... the remaining matches only have a 1% compatibility. Is there a need to display the data?"

"No need!"

The Cyclops was a fearsome giant that had both powerful physical strength and tremendous control over the earth. A Cyclops might be slightly weaker and smaller than the Hill Giant that Greem saw in the Black Forest, but it had the odd ability of petrification.

This was what made it an extremely powerful Second Grade magical creature!

As Greem’s vision continued to move about he noticed a wooden desk in another corner of the room. It was extremely messy and disorderly. There were plenty of ink bottles tipped over, spilling ink all over. Numerous yellowed scrolls and parchments spread across the table. A massive and unstable stack of books, so high it almost touched the ceiling, was teetering on the verge of falling....

A strange witch with messy hair was crouched upon this equally messy table. She wasn’t very tall. In fact, she might have been slightly shorter than Alice. The witch had to stand on the tall wooden stool to be seen.

She seemed to be wearing a black adept’s robe.

However, Greem couldn’t even be sure of this!

The wrinkled robe she was wearing was just way too dirty and stained. There were oil stains, ink blotches, and all sorts of unknown potion stains on the robe. The original color of the robe had already been completely covered by a thick layer of dust and dirt. Only a single trace of an elegant and beautiful golden thread at the corner of her robe suggested that this was an adept’s robe.

Greem had even suspected, when he first saw her, that Witch Liana was a member of the Death Witches. After all, he had seen far too many items related to death ever since he walked into this cottage. However Alice, who was still holding his hand, had secretly told him the truth using a mental connection. Liana was a Witch of Despair. Her area of expertise was hope and revival.

Well, it might be a little out of his expectations, but Greem had to silently accept the truth!

"Tell me your intent in coming here! You aren’t the first fool to trespass into my Swamp of Darkness, but you are the first one to be able to make it here alive. If you don’t have a good reason for this intrusion, kehkehkeh... " A sinister laugh slipped from the old witch’s wrinkled face. Her set of yellow and missing teeth were revealed as she smiled. Still, Greem was more terrified by her eyes. They were like those of a dead fish; not budging even a single inch.

"Respected Lady Liana, I am here because I wish to purchase a bottle of Dead Soul’s Water. I heard that your Mushroom Cottage was the only place in the Castle in the Sky where I could get it. This is why I had no choice but to risk your displeasure to stand before you!"

Greem could only tell the truth when placed before a crazy and powerful witch like Liana. Who knew if this hag had some disgusting spell she could use to verify the truth of his words.

"Dead Soul’s Water? The one used to protect wandering and exposed souls from damage once they left their bodies?" The old witch stared at Greem with her stale dead eyes and commented coldly, "It seems you have already done your research before coming here. What do you wish to exchange for a bottle of Dead Soul’s Water?"

"A top-grade Nighteye Stone, a twig from a Tree of Life, and a hundred grams of Stardust from the Spaceworld." Greem didn’t dare to hesitate. He instantly took out all of the items that were prepared for the trade. Of course, none of these items were his possessions. They were materials given to him by the Byron Clan.

The Dead Soul’s Water was a Second-Class Rare Material. Its market price was around seven thousand magical crystals. All three of the objects Greem offered were worth above three thousand magic crystals each. When put together, they were more than enough to purchase Dead Soul’s Water.

Unfortunately, the only person in the entire Castle in the Sky who could synthesize the Dead Soul’s Water was this Lady Liana. The success of the trade depended on her mood. Greem held his breath and waited for her reply after placing three crystal boxes on the table.

"A fair price! However..." A sinister smile suddenly appeared on the old witch’s face, "I am not in a good mood today, so I choose to refuse your offer!"

"......"

Greem felt utterly speechless for a moment.

He didn’t dare to argue with such a terrifying Second Grade witch.

"Hey, old hag, don’t go overboard!" Alice couldn’t help but interrupt their conversation, "The stuff we are offering you is already worth way much more than you Dead Soul’s Water. What reason is there to not accept the trade?"

Greem’s face changed. He quickly pulled Alice behind him and shielded her.

"My lady, she is only a child. Please forgive her for her ignorance!"

"What are you scared of?" Alice was still running her mouth off behind Greem, "She’s a witch and I’m a witch candidate. My identity alone guarantees that she won’t kill me! Why should I be afraid of her?"

"Kehkehkeh... interesting. Very interesting... " The old witch let out a cold laugh, "It’s been so many years, and this is the first time someone has been so arrogant before me. Young boy, I’ll make an exception and give you a chance. As long as you turn this little brat’s magical contract over to me, I’ll give you a bottle of Dead Soul’s Water. How is it? Pretty good conditions, aren’t they?"

All of a sudden, Alice’s body trembled. She tightened her grip on Greem’s hand and no longer dared to speak anymore.

Greem forced a smile as he slowly backed away, "Lady Liana, Alice is only a companion of mine accompanying me on this trip. We... "

The old witch Liana extended a wrinkled and ghostly right hand at them before he could even finish speaking. She made a grabbing motion in the air. Greem and Alice simultaneously felt a sting in their souls. An illusory and intangible magical contract suddenly appeared, hovering in the air.

"A slave contract!" Blood red light gleamed in the depths of the old witch’s deadly dull eyes, "Well, aren’t you a brave one!? To think of enslaving a candidate for the Witch of Fate. Do you intend to humiliate all the Northern Witches in doing so? If you dispel this slave contract and hand over that pathetic excuse of a loser, I’ll let you leave alive. I’ll even let you leave with the Dead Soul’s Water. Otherwise don’t blame me for getting rid of a certain loser for the sake of the dignity of all witches!"

The entire Swamp of Darkness started trembling at her words.

Thicker and heavier mists started to rise from the ground, causing the already dim house to go completely dark.

Greem felt all of the magical eyeballs in the various containers turn and look towards him at this very moment. A suffocating feeling of death hanging above his head rose in his heart.

"Speak! Will you hand over the contract and leave with the Dead Soul’s water, or will you die right here on this very spot? Speak... " The old witch’s fearsome voice echoed within the small and silent cottage, sending chills all the way to Greem’s bones.

Gegegegege...

Slight sounds of chattering teeth rang out from behind him.

Even the reckelss and fearless Alice was frightened now.

The subtle tremors in the air started to become more and more frequent. Perhaps with only one more second, Alice would be able to open a spatial rift large enough for both of them to escape.

Sadly, there was no such thing as ’perhaps’ when you were confronted with a Second Grade witch!

The spatial rift disappeared the instant it appeared.

Psst. The spatial rift hadn’t even stabilized before it disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, leaving a bright green mark glowing in the air.

"Now you think of escaping? Kehkehkeh... too late!" The old witch extended a finger, and a ghostly face made of gray smoke instantly appeared beside Greem. The apparition laughed sinisterly as it dove into Greem’s body.

The next second, Greem froze. He could feel his intimate connection with the fire elementium being completely cut off. As if... as if he had suddenly been placed in an anti-magic barrier, and there was no longer any fire elementium around him.

Greem’s tall body stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

Having completed the elementiumization of his body, there was no difference between himself and fire elementium. He was fire elementium, and the fire elementium was himself. Now that his Spiritual connection with fire elementium had been cut, Greem didn’t even have the energy to support his own weight.

Dammit, there was such a flaw to body elementiumization? Why have I never heard of this in any of the books I read? Is this the ability of high-grade adepts? The ability to cut off the connection of lower-grade adepts to their elementium particles?

Greem lost a lot of strength now that his connection to the fire elementium was severed. He pressed his arm against the twisted pillar to support himself. This was the only reason he didn’t collapse to the ground.

Hissssss...

An odd sound came from beneath as a massive black Python thicker than his leg crawled up the pillar and found its way around Greem’s arm. The black python rose its head high, slowly closing in on Greem’s face.

Greem could even feel the pungent breath brushing against his face when the python hissed.

The old witch’s voice rang out once more.

"Last chance to make your decision! Hand over the contract, or...

“Die!"