Age of Adepts

After the Crimson Clan’s headquarters tower was constructed, Fire Throne became Greem’s personal adept’s tower.

Not a single living person could be found in the tower apart from Greem himself.

His seclusion lasted for twenty-one long years.

During this time, Greem spent one year completing the replacement of his bloodline with the starbeast bloodline, and another six months adjusting the condition of his body. Once he had completely assimilated the starbeast bloodline, he carefully removed the Flame Fiend’s Heart in his chest as well as all the Flame Fiend transformation tattoos on his body. He then constructed a ‘Heart of Flames’ in his heart using his fire powers.

For seven years, Greem soaked in an energy pool, wildly devouring ferocious fire energy to nourish the Heart of Flames.

This Heart of Flames took seven years of Greem’s time to develop fully!

Why?

Because they were all waiting for news from their clan leader!

Even though the clan was acknowledged as a Fourth Grade force by the world twenty years ago, the lack of a proper Fourth Grade adept in the group caused the clan members to remain not fully confident in their strength.

Now that there was movement from the clan leader, it could mean that a massive change was going to occur in the clan. These changes could mean a large influx of resources and magical crystals for these adepts and apprentices at the very base level of the clan.

…………

Mary was the first to arrive at Fire Throne.

Mary looked down from mid-air. She could see traces of crimson aura radiating from the ground around Fire Cave into the air.

The ground where the crimson aura lingered was slowly being roasted. Moisture evaporated from the earth, and cracks were starting to appear in the dirt. The plants growing in the area were also rapidly withering and shriveling, twisting in agony as they did so.

Mary could feel how difficult it was to breathe while she was in this dense cloud of fire.

The surrounding air appeared to have been heated by the aura. When it entered her lungs, it felt like her internal organs were being burned and scorched.

While Mary observed all this was a frown on her face, a wild gust of wind descended. Meryl arrived at Mary’s side in dragon form, her wings beating furiously as she came to a stop.

“Lady Mary, is Teacher finally coming out?” Meryl impatiently asked upon arriving.

Mary shook her head in frustration.

“I can’t establish for the moment. The fire elementium aura down there is far too dense. It’s enough to distort any magical probe. Even I can’t contact that guy!” Mary’s voice was filled with anger when she said that guy!

He had said he would go into seclusion to advance to Fourth Grade, but he never mentioned that his isolation would last this long.

Even though there was more than enough food in Fire Throne, along with plenty of elementium servants, the long period without communication still made Mary extremely worried. If it weren’t for Alice stopping her, Mary would probably have been unable to resist the urge to charge inside and check on that guy’s condition!

While the two of them were talking to each other and discussing whether they should enter Fire Throne to investigate, they smelled a pungent odor in the air. Gargamel had arrived.

“Lady Mary, is the clan lea—”

“Alright, enough. Stop asking. Even I have no idea how that guy is doing! However, judging from all this fire aura, he probably succeeded in his advancement. The question is, why make all this commotion?”

Mary’s resentful voice had just finished when Greem’s crisp and bold voice rang out in the air.

“You think I made these clouds of fire? Hmph! Even I can’t help it right now.”

“It’s Teacher.”

“It’s the clan leader.”

Meryl and Gargamel couldn’t help but cry out in joy when they heard this voice.

“Alright, the three of you don’t need to be worried anymore. Since you are already here, come in and take a look!”

Greem had just finished speaking when the three of them felt the crimson aura quickly gathering around them. The aura enveloped their bodies tightly. The next second, lights flickered as they instantly appeared in a large and vast hall without any preparation whatsoever.

There was nothing in the hall. There was only a blazing humanoid standing in the center at over a hundred meters in height. Terrifying and blinding light shone from the fire humanoid’s chest, illuminating the entire hall in red light.

“Tea…teacher.”

Meryl had already reverted into her human form. She stood at the feet of the hundred-meter-tall giant. Meryl could hardly see the giant’s complete appearance, even when she lifted her head. She hesitated for a moment and called out for her teacher when she sensed the familiar soul flux within the flame giant.

“It can’t be helped. The current state of my body is a little special. I can’t return to my human form for the time being. So…you guys will just have to deal with me like this!”

The fire giant opened its mouth, and the thunderous sound of a rumbling fire rang out throughout the hall.

The temperature in the hall rose abruptly and exponentially, instantly reaching intolerable temperatures.