Age of Adepts

The Fire Elementium Plane was truly the world of the fire creatures.

Meanwhile, a pure fire adept like Greem also undoubtedly enjoyed a massive boost to his fire powers here.

Sadly, all the creatures here had shockingly high fire resistance. Otherwise, Greem would most definitely have treated this otherworldly exploration as a casual monster-whacking trip.

To reduce the chances of being discovered, Greem had no choice but to perform fire conversion on his body and reveal his body of flames. There were far too many low-grade fire elementium that wandered around aimlessly in the Fire Elementium Plane, much like himself.

These fire elementium creatures would roar and charge at any otherworldly intruders they saw, yelling all sorts of weird slogans and battlecries like "Eliminate the intruders," "Let the fire warm your heart," and then immediately break out into combat. Moreover, these fire creatures had absolutely no reservations about self-destructing if they found the enemy to be too powerful to deal with!

Greem, in his current state, could easily exterminate apprentice-level and even First Grade fire elementals with a flick of his wrists. However, battles against them would always leave a mark of varying degree upon the spot. All this would undoubtedly leave a trail that would allow the pursuers to chase after him.

Thus, Greem disguised himself as a wandering fire humanoid of First Grade to avoid all unnecessary troubles. He carefully advanced in the direction he had decided upon.

Of course, Greem wasn't idle along the way. The new 'Fire Molding' ability he had just gotten became his greatest toy, providing him with plenty of entertainment.

It was a strange ability that the Emblem of Fire had provided him with. When he summoned magical flames around his hands, he could make these flames change and shift form according to his will. After countless attempts and experimentation, Greem had successfully imitated over a hundred different weapons, including knives, swords, claws, shields, spears, whips, and bows.

According to the data gathered by the chip, this Fire Molding ability could be divided into two different states: melee and mid-ranged. Melee weapons that could be imitated included: knives, swords, warhammers, claws, shields, and many more. The quality of the weapons and defensive equipment could compare to First Grade magical equipment. Mid-ranged weapons that could be imitated included fire whips, fire bows, as well as arrows formed from concentrated fire, providing Greem with a certain degree of mid-ranged offensive options with Fire Molding.

There were many options available to Greem, but randomly shifting between the various weapons forms during combat would most definitely invite trouble. Greem had the Chip repeatedly calculate the most effective weapon forms for battle after having it gather the sufficient necessary data. He prepared to incorporate these weapon forms as part of his combat abilities.

Moreover, the Emblem of Fire and Ash had already resonated with his soul. As such, apart from his human form, he would also be able to benefit from the massive boost provided by the two pieces of Second Grade magical equipment even after he turned into his Flame Fiend form.

Ash provided Greem with +1 Spirit, while the Emblem of Fire provided +1 Strength.

Moreover, these attribute bonuses were not something that the origin contract could limit.

Greem repeatedly tested his Fire Molding ability along the way, even as he surveyed the unique scenery of the Fire Elementium Plane. Two bright yellow flames burned in his palms, occasionally shifting into different weapon forms.

It was almost as if Greem had discovered a new land. His hands used the simple Fire Molding ability to turn the fires into all sorts of new things. One moment they would turn into a shimmering shield of fire, the next it would be a fire whip with adjustable range, and then it would become upper body armor fit with claws before turning into a fire longbow.

Of course, apart from these basic weapon forms, Greem was also overcome by a momentary surge of playfulness. He manipulated the fires to turn into the form of a magic energy cannon. Sadly, the most crucial part about the cannons–the runic arrays within their core–exhausted too much of his Spirit. Thus, the magic energy cannon that Greem had conjured only had an awesome look and could only fire the most basic of energy fireballs.

"Chip, is it possible to solidify a powerful ranged weapon form?" Greem gave it a bit of thought and finally started to look through the Chip's data library.

[Magic-energy marksman form. The simulation of the form of the energy cannon through Fire Molding while using the host's right arm as the carrier for the cannon and the host's right shoulder as a support structure for the turret. The mode of offense is energy fireballs. Attack intensity is estimated to be between a hundred and seventy to two hundred and ten points. Attack frequency will be three shots per two seconds.]

A three-dimensional projection slowly started turning within Greem's mind as the Chip's notification rang out.

The three-dimensional form of the host was still Greem's Flame Fiend appearance. However, his arms were no longer the appearance of bare magma hands. Instead, they were covered by two shining energy cannons embedded into them. The body of the barrels extended up Greem's arms, before turning into an odd mode of armor when they reached his shoulders.

Greem had always preferred to control large portions of the battlefield in the past, turning everything within vision into a sea of fire at his whim. However, such a combat method had its limitations in small-scale skirmishes. Area-of-effect spells could not do sufficient damage to opponents of the same grade due to the dispersion of power.

With the ability of Fire Molding, Greem could now rapidly transform into the magic energy marksman form by turning his hands into cannons. Of course, this attack method was reduced to inflexible and straightforward energy fireballs. Still, that rapid attack rate and powerful energy intensity of two hundred points made it an excellent option to decide a battle.

"Approximately how long will it take to complete the design of the magic energy marksman form?"

[Beep. Fundamental knowledge and magical theories are already in possession. Related combat module designs and optimization requires an estimated 37 hours, 56 minutes, 33 seconds.]

"Begin now!"

[Beep. Host's instructions received! Model of magic energy marksman form is currently being constructed.]

As the Chip began the massive number of calculations required for the complex optimization process, Greem felt his Spirit drain at a rapid pace. In the blink of an eye, he had lost five points of Spirit. If it weren't for his Spirit reaching twenty-six points after his advancement, and the +1 bonus provided by Ash, Greem would not have been able to endure such an intense demand of Spirit.

Greem immediately stopped walking. He looked around and quickly found a small fire pool that was suited for him to recover his Spirit. He charged over without any hesitation.

As for the original owner of this pool? It was an advanced First Grade Fire Deity, but Greem simply ignored his existence!

A short moment later, the First Grade Fire Deity's fire core had been removed by Greem and faded into sparks. Meanwhile, Greem jumped into the pool of fire and comfortably started to bathe.

Ordinary mortals could only enjoy hot springs. Only fire creatures of the Fire Elementium Plane could enjoy such a unique fire bath!

…………

While Greem was casually enjoying his life of fire, a vast horde of fire creatures had started to search for signs of an outsider far, far away in Dustfire Valley. They had received instructions from Fire Lord Artes.

However, the black mountain that Greem had appeared on was several tens of thousands of kilometers away from Artes' Dustfire Valley. As such, the Fire Lord couldn't possibly find any trace of Greem, even if he was to tear his territory apart.

However, the Second Grade Fire Lord Artes was not an incapable individual either. He quickly recalled his troops after an inconclusive search and instead switched to a facade of loose security while keeping up the intensive hunts. He had also spoken with the neighboring Fire Lords and cast a massive net around Dustfire Valley.

This way, the human adept would not be able to escape his scouts and his eyes, regardless of which direction he approached from!

The only thing that Artes felt to be a shame was his lack of knowledge about the human adept that was to assassinate him. That made it hard to prepare traps and ambushes based on the enemy's personality and habits. However, Artes quickly calmed down when he remembered the seven thousand soldiers he had in his lands.

All that was left was waiting for that human adept to attack him!

…………

One had to admit that the Fire Elementium Plane was truly a higher plane most suited for fire adepts to train in and explore.

The Heart of Flames in Greem's chest had been beating even more strongly ever since he entered the plane. The frequency of fire energy pumping out of the heart also significantly increased.

More importantly, the planar consciousness here appeared to be willing to embrace all fire beings, allowing them to live as they liked in this strange world freely. If it was possible, Greem planned to construct a magical laboratory here in the future.

If he were ever expelled from the World of Adepts, treating this plane as his second origin plane wouldn't be a bad choice!

It was a vast and wide plain of fire!

Fissures and valleys were all over the scorched earth. Terrifying and hot jets of air would occasionally burst forth from the ground, forming red pillars of fire on the surface, each measuring several hundreds of meters high.

These pillars of fire all had temperatures reaching seven thousand degrees. Even the native fire creatures could not endure such astounding heat. They would be burned to ashes when hit by these roiling flame streams and fire pillars.

Then, as the fire pillars burst into the sky, some fire crystals or strange magical gemstones would be expelled from the ground alongside the explosions. These things were massively beneficial to those low-grade fire creatures. As such, there were plenty of fire creatures that roamed these parts despite the danger.

From a distance, one could see the wandering fire spirits, fire elementals, and fire humanoids drifting about everywhere in this massive space.

When Greem arrived here, he had run into an unprecedentedly massive explosion. Countless rare fire materials were expelled from underground, sending a rain of gems pouring down from the skies.

It was the first time Greem had seen such a phenomenon in the Fire Elementium Plane. He couldn't help but be attracted to it.

Fire agates, fire crystals, firestones, fire cores, magma shards, and numerous strange fire materials.

Greem stood on the edge of the sea of fire and silently let his vision sweep across the plains. Suddenly, his pupils shrunk as they were drawn to a strange gem rolling across the sky.

It was that!