Chapter 318
Chapter 318 Advancement Ceremony
Greem placed the broken wooden golem back on the stone platform. What came next was a complete and detailed dissection.
Since it was hard to decipher the secrets contained within the golem stone directly, Greem had to approach the subject from another angle. He examined the traces left behind by the white smoke and saw what mysterious changes had happened within the wooden golem after it awakened its elementary intelligence.
If the wooden golem’s simple body were hardware, the white smoke was the software system that managed the entire thing. Greem was curious about the nature of the white smoke. Was it a magical effect, or the soul of a lifeform that had undergone memory washing and treatment?!
Greem had already suspected this to be the case when he first tested the golem stone. It was very likely that the white smoke was composed of soul fragments that the Silver Union had extracted from certain intelligent creatures. It would have to be humanoid creatures for them to achieve such levels of intellect.
For example, the native ‘humans’ of lesser planes.
The Silver Union’s reported internal price for a low-level golem stone was fifteen magical crystals. In truth, its price reached upwards of forty magic crystals in some black markets. Greem had done a simple calculation. Because native human souls were often weaker than the humans of the World of Adepts, successfully crafting a low-level golem stone required three to five native human souls to be successfully crafted.
These native humans from lesser planes were not worth anything at all. It was easy to purchase thousands of ordinary slaves with a single magic crystal.
This disparity was a difference in their fates!
Greem lamented for a moment, then regained his composure. He started to go through the list and examined the goods before signing the receipt and sending the apprentice adepts away.
It was a considerable sum of money that he had spent. The instant he placed his emblem on that receipt, his assets had shrunk by one third. Who made Alice his ‘personal asset’? This arrangement was why the Sarubo Clan had no obligation to take on this expensive advancement fee for him.
That said, Greem wouldn’t allow it even if Adept Keoghan wanted to take on this cost for Alice.
Alice belonged to him first, before she could be considered as a Sarubo clan adept.
That was something that Greem would always insist upon!
The other apprentices under Greem had caught wind of the news and had hurried over to see him.
Their arrival was timely. Greem had wanted to leave the treatment and processing of these resources to them.
Saro was a rare fruit from the primal jungles. Consumption of the fruit would strengthen an individual’s vitality. Moreover, there were no side effects to use.
Primal Worm was a bizarre worm cultivated with the use of magic. It could noticeably increase mental tenacity when eaten during advancement and was considered a rare resource often used during an advancement.
Rancid Potion was a potion that increased Spirit through the burning and exhaustion of life force and potential.
The Water of Life was a miraculous item of the elves of other planes that replenished the life force lost from the advancement ceremony.
……
……
There were all sorts of things in the resources sent over by the Sarubo Clan. Every one of them was a precious resource with particular uses. They were all exceptionally beneficial to an advancing adept.
All of the resources had been sealed within a unique magical array to prevent them from losing their efficacy over time. When the items were ready to be used, they would undo the seals and process the materials with a specific methodology.
Greem left this arduous work to his apprentices.
He, on the other hand, put in all his effort to calculate the odds of success for Alice’s advancement!
According to all the information and data that he had, with the effects of the auxiliary resources taken into account, the chip projected the success rate to be 67.71%.
Alice’s had superior talent, the numerous resources that she had access to, and the good fortune of the Witch of Fate. Even all of this added together barely pushed her advancement success rate above the halfway mark.
That alone was enough to demonstrate the difficulty of advancing from a pseudo-adept to an adept!
When they had prepared everything, and Alice had adjusted her condition and mental state, she took all the prepared resources and got ready to enter the hidden ceremony room.
Alice had put on a long robe to prevent anyone from discovering the odd condition of her body. She didn’t want anyone to see her dematerialized stomach.
She received Kodar’s, Meryl’s, Am’s, Toril’s and Lena’s blessings.
“You can do this, Big Sis!” As one of the only two pseudo-adepts subordinate to Greem, he was the first to give his blessings.
“You will definitely become a beautiful witch!” Meryl softly whispered into Alice’s eyes.
The advancement to adept was also a refinement of the core human existence. This opportunity could allow Alice to break through fate’s seal and enable her to break free of the curse that had forever sealed her body when she was eight.
“Big Sis, I’ll have to call you Lady Adept the next time we meet.” Am giggled.
“I believe in you,” Toril shouted from aside.
“You must succeed!” An envious but passionate light gleamed in Lena’s eyes.
One more person had followed behind the apprentices. It was Snorlax.
This fellow brought a wooden carving of a female goblin for Alice. He even insisted that this was the goblins’ good luck charm.
However, advancement was a significant event. Any unknown items that could disrupt or affect the ceremony couldn’t be allowed in. So, Greem immediately confiscated the carving the moment Snorlax took it out.
Alice stood by the door and took a look at everyone before placing her gaze on Greem.
“I will wait for you!” Greem’s blessing was direct and straightforward.
Alice nodded then turned and walked into the room with determined steps.