Age of Adepts

Edge of the Sea of Ashes.

This place was a world of fire, completely different from the usual material plane. No magical particle of an elementium other than fire could be found.

Even the mountains, rivers, earth, and skies were composed of fire elementium in various states. Even the slightest handful of dirt here contained a shocking amount of pure fire elementium.

Most of the fire elementium creatures here were unintelligent, non-sentient beings. They were born in the fire and wandered the plane aimlessly in a daze until their consciousness dissipated.

Only fire elementals that accidentally merged with fires from another world and grew stronger could gain true intelligence. Consequently, the number of fire elementium creatures in the Fire Elementium Plane that actually had intelligence were few and far between compared to the total population.

Unlike most material worlds, the elementium worlds were completely open to outsiders.

The four elementium worlds were like public elementium domains. Spellcasters from any material world could obtain feedback from the elementium worlds by means of sacrifice, resonance, or exchange.

For instance, when Greem cast Flamegate. He sacrificed a portion of his Spirit and fire energy to open a portal to the Fire Elementium Plane and recruited elementium warriors to fight for him.

It was, in fact, the core of most fire summoning spells!

Today was yet another ordinary and peaceful day in the Fire Elementium Plane.

A radiant portal abruptly opened at the edge of the Sea of Ashes. Greem walked out of the doorway.

It was a completely different experience than being in space. Greem felt his mood perk up just by stepping in here.

The dense and active fire elementium in the air surged into his body like a tide, causing his humanoid form to erupt into a blazing torch with a loud bang.

Greem’s body started to swell within the flames, only stopping once he had reached a hundred meters in size.

Apart from the changes to his body, the dense concentration of fire elementium triggered the fire principles in Greem’s body into manifesting. Two fire halos of different colors reverberated around Greem, shrouding his figure and causing sparks to drift away every time they clashed.

The fire principles also triggered the principle system hiding behind the Fire Elementium Plane. Certain mysterious things were sent into Greem’s body through the law chains. Simultaneously, the unique contents of his own principles were feeding back to the principle system.

The two melded together and conducted a kind of exchange, causing a change to take over the fire principles!

These fluctuations at the principle level were not something that ordinary creatures would pick up on. However, they could not slip past Fire King Groms.

An overbearing consciousness of fire traversed across space and clashed with Greem’s mental consciousness.

Greem let out a grunt as the flames around him dimmed for a moment. They then glowed brilliantly, provoked by the attack, and Greem was able to endure the ‘barbaric tackle’ out of nowhere.

“Ah, it’s you! I was wondering where some mysterious soul had popped up from...hm? You’re Fifth Grade already!” It was Fire King Groms’ mental consciousness that had arrived. His actions had been rough and clumsy, but it wasn’t out of any malice or hostility against Greem; it was simply the nature of fire creatures.

Simply put, fire creatures had absolutely no idea what the word ‘gentle’ meant!

Given the strength with which Groms’ will descended earlier, Greem’s body and Spirit would have been torn asunder if he had not advanced to Fifth Grade.

“Greetings, Lord Groms!” Greem might be of the same grade as Groms now, but Groms had advanced several thousands of years ahead of him. He still had to respect this seniority.

“You human adepts might be short-lived, but your passion for improving and rising to higher grades always impresses me. Still, human, now that you have advanced to Fifth Grade, you will have to obey the rules of the Fire Elementium Plane while you’re here!” Groms’ booming voice echoed in Greem’s mind.

“I was planning to ask you in the first place, my lord. What is it that I need to take note of while I’m here?” Greem humbled himself and asked in a modest tone.

“There’s really not much you need to be careful about. After all, you are a powerhouse that has ascended beyond the mortals. You can do whatever you like as long as you don’t invade the territories of the other Fire Kings!” Groms warned. “However, remember, never walk within fifty kilometers of where the other Fire Kings reside. Otherwise, that will be akin to declaring a war between kings!”

Greem drew in a breath of cold air. He finally realized why Groms’ will had rushed over the moment his Spirit fluctuations had spread out.

“Seeing as you’re an old acquaintance and you’re new to this, I won’t be pursuing your offense this time!” Groms then sent over a large map that outlined the territories of various forces. He chuckled as he said, “This is the layout of the Fire King forces within a five hundred thousand kilometer radius of the Sea of Ashes. Feel free to find a place not governed by a Fire King to settle down.

“Whatever territory you manage to conquer in that area can all be your territory. However, do not slaughter the intelligent fire natives without good reason. Should the planar consciousness consider you an unwelcome guest, you will not be able to find any more friends in the Fire Elementium Plane!”

Greem nodded silently.

He knew that this was Groms repaying him for the lightfire stone from last time.

It had been a fair deal, with Groms getting the lightfire stone and Greem obtaining knowledge on how to create his principle fire. However, Fire King Groms definitely came out of the whole deal a little bit better.

If Greem were still that insignificant human adept from before, Fire King Groms wouldn’t be bothered by this. Now that Greem had become a Fifth Grade equal to himself, he had to behave more fairly and try his best to befriend a powerful adept with plenty of potential.

“Thank you, Lord Groms. I will contact you as soon as I settle down!” Having obtained what he sought, Greem hastily bid farewell to his friend.

“Very well. Good luck! I hope to still be able to sense your existence the next time I wake up,” Groms boomed once again, and his gigantic will of fire instantly dissipated as it returned to the depths of the Sea of Ashes.

Elementium creatures were all incredibly lazy individuals.

It was due to the fact that they lived radically different lives compared to planar creatures. Even the most ordinary fire elemental could easily live for eight hundred years. Meanwhile, a Fire King like Groms could live for a hundred thousand years or more.

As such, their concept of time was extremely loose and long!

The way they liked to make friends was to observe and test an individual’s character and personality over the course of thousands of years. In all seriousness, ordinary planar creatures did not have the qualifications to be their friends.

That was because a valiant life was no more than an ‘instant’ in the eyes of elementium creatures, hardly enough for a nap or a stroll. You might already have turned old and died in what was the blink of an eye for them. How would it be possible for someone to ever befriend an elementium creature that way?

Greem might have become a Fifth Grade now, but his lifespan was still only a tenth that of Groms. That was why Greem was already overjoyed that Groms was being this ‘friendly’ with him.

Greem left the Sea of Ashes with consecutive Fire Teleportations. He found a relatively quiet spot and started communicating with the Chip.

He had thought he would have to pay visits to a few Fire Lords to obtain information on the distribution and layout of the forces of the Fire Elementium Plane, but somehow he had managed to get his hands on it really easily. What came next was naturally coming up with an effective plan of action.

“Chip, pull out that map we got earlier.”

A massive map model was instantly projected in Greem’s mind.

The entire map was drawn with the Sea of Ashes at the center.

The Sea of Ashes spread for approximately sixty thousand kilometers and took up the center of the map. It was marked in red, with a crown that represented Groms hovering above it. Meanwhile, the area within a hundred thousand kilometer radius around it was marked yellow. That was the territory governed by Groms’ direct subordinates.

Groms’ whole territory spanned nearly five hundred thousand kilometers. The total area was almost equal to one-third of the Central Lands.

It didn’t sound very large, but it was important to note that there were many, many Fire Kings like Groms himself in the Fire Elementium Plane. They numbered in the hundreds. It was also the most direct reflection of the Fire Elementium Plane.

Two of the four corners of the map were marked a deep red. They were the territories of Fire Kings Thanos and Zetas, respectively.

One of them was Fifth Grade, while the other was Sixth Grade. Both of them were powerful Fire Kings that you would not want to provoke.

Given that case, only the regions to the southwest and northeast were still marked green. These were areas governed by scattered groups of lower-grade Fire Lords. If Greem wanted to settle down quickly, he would have to set his eyes on the Fourth Grade Fire Lords.

Southwest and northeast.

Greem’s eyes wandered across these two directions, and several completely unfamiliar names entered his eyes.

Firebird Peak– Lord Zamok (Fourth Grade).

Burning Bay– Flamespirit (Third Grade).

Bigstone Mountain– Molten Giant (Third Grade).

Land of Light– Phoenix (Third Grade).

......

......

One had to admit that the Fire Elementium Plane’s sheer size gave birth to numerous tribes of fire creatures.

All sorts of fire creatures, tribes, and species took up various lands where they lived and grew over generations.

The forces that could be marked out on the map were all significant forces of Third or Fourth Grade. The weaker forces were completely ignored.

Even if Greem were absolutely desperate, he would never set his eyes on the smaller forces.

After all, the Fire Elementium Plane was a world where power reigned supreme. You could only obtain a better location for your people if you had the strength to back it up. Only certain unique sites in the Fire Elementium Plane–those hailed as death zones and forbidden lands–were suited to be a place of residence for ultra-grade beings like Greem!