Age of Adepts

Tikest Area.

City of Os.

As promised, Grim disembarked the flying boat in the city of Os, the closest public wizard city to Molten Fire.

There was no sign of the old wizard and the two young wizard lovers on the flying boat, so it's possible that they got off the ship halfway through Grim's meditation!

Grim's vast mental energy was able to detect everything that was happening inside the flying ship after just a brief scan. Even in his full-frequency scan, those witches who didn't have their protective force fields on were unable to escape his all-pervasive mental perception.

Ordinary 1st rank witches knew nothing about his spirit perception, only those 2nd rank witches who had a sharp spirit could detect the slightest hint of something wrong, but it was impossible for them to catch the location of the source of the spirit power.

The monitoring sorcerer in charge of the flying ship might have noticed something, but due to the power of a 3rd rank sorcerer, as long as Grim didn't do anything excessive on the ship, he wouldn't dare to stand out.

Following the springboard that was set up, Grim slowly stepped down from the flying boat along with the crowd.

A magnificent and grand city of wizards lay before him.

The middle of the continent, Scattered Tallinn, was made up of 31 different regions.

The small ones had 700,000 to 800,000 square kilometers, while the large ones had several million square kilometers, a vast area with rich resources and a population that occupied more than 60% of the entire Sorcerer Continent.

Under such circumstances, almost every region was a whole new world.

Although the local secular rulers were still human, they were all vastly different from the other regions in terms of race, skin color, language, culture, and so on. Only under the rule and administration of the wizards, the language of the wizards formed with the roots of the Sternite language became the common official language of the entire continent.

Naturally, ordinary people did not have the qualifications and energy to learn such a language with exotic characteristics, and only the noble class could popularize the Witch Language from a young age, and cultivate their heirs into outstanding talents immersed in the Witch Civilization from an early age.

Of course, if the children of an ordinary human family were checked to have the talent of a witch, then the family would immediately undergo a drastic change.

The local nobles, large and small, would compete to sponsor the young child to go to one of the Sorcerer's High Towers or Sorcerer's Colleges to further their studies. Once the other party was lucky enough to become a high ranking wizard, a little return of goodwill would be an excellent opportunity for the local noble to rise to the top.

It was because of this situation that when a well-talented sorcerer apprentice appeared in a certain place, the local nobles, large and small, would even go so far as to break out into a bloody war to get the sorcerer apprentice into their hands.

Those powerful nobles even sent their own children to the Sorcerer's Academy when they were young. If they had the talent, they would stay there to further their studies; if they didn't have the talent, they would also try to make friends with the apprentice and find some suitable investment objects for the family.

And the tight combination of the high and mighty community of witches and the huge noble system made up a scene that was unique to the style of each region.

As soon as Grim got off the flying boat, a luxurious and extravagant silver carriage drove up in front of him.

The one who got off the carriage was a 2nd rank wizard wearing a black witch robe, with a magnificent badge with a red stripe on a black background pinned to his chest.

Looking at the style of the badge, it was the logo of the Molten Fire City that invited him to this place.

"You are Lord Flame, right? Lord Kerak has already instructed me to wait for you here for three days. If you have nothing else to do, Lord Kerak hopes that you will arrive at Molten Fire City soon."

Grim looked up and had a look at the city of Oz, which was not far away, and could only say goodbye to the other party with regret in his heart.

"I don't have anything else to do, so let's go now!"

As the two boarded the silver carriage, the wheels clattered out of the flying ship's mooring area and turned onto a gray carriage path, escorted by a group of hundreds of exotic beast cavalrymen, and galloped off in some northeastern direction.

Grim took a quick glance at the group of exotic beast cavalry before boarding the carriage, and under his pervasive mental scan, the other party's basic data was quickly presented.

Lizard Cavalry, Exotic Beast Modified Soldiers, Overall Strength Level 1 Intermediate, consisting of Cave Lizards and Human Knights.

These lizard cavalrymen were somewhat thin and frail in size, and although their bodies were protected by exquisite ornate chain armor, they were still not suitable for the swift and violent charge on the land battlefield. However, the cave lizards they rode on had a piece of flesh pads on their claws, which could form tiny suction cups, not only landing silently, but also climbing over most of the obstacles, especially suitable for running in some narrow and rugged areas.

These lizard cavalrymen are holding a special spear with a short 3-foot handle and a 6-foot blade. The spear blade was covered with barbed spines, and the tip had a small blood groove that flickered with a cold blue light.

Whether it was the knight's chain armor or the weapons in their hands, they were clearly possessed weapons, even if they posed a considerable threat to witches.

And from their uniform armor and the weapons they made, it could be seen that this Molten Fire City must have a lot of power in the area, otherwise it would be difficult to support a beast transformation of this scale.

As for the 2nd stage sorcerer who was in charge of welcoming the 3rd stage sorcerer who was facing Grim up close, not only did he not have the slightest stiff and dull expression, he was also chatty enough to communicate with him.

Only through his introduction did Grim get to know more about this strange wizard organization called 'Molten Fire City'.

The headquarters of the Molten Fire City was located in the northeastern corner of the Tikist region, in a huge cluster of rolling volcanoes.

Like the Crimson Family, it was also a large power that ruled over almost the entire Tikist region.

The lord of Melting Fire City was a 4th rank wizard, and he had three 3rd rank vice-lords under him. As for the other contracted and hired sorcerers who were living in Melting Fire City, there were even as many as 200 to 300 of them.

In terms of scale alone, this Melting Fire City was even far above the Crimson Family, and the Tikist region they ruled over was also a large region that ranked higher in terms of area and resources even within the Scattered Tallinn.

As for the Eloise region occupied by the Crimson Family, it is a small region on the edge of the Scattered Tallinn, and cannot be compared to the well-developed Tikist region in every aspect.

With such a clear understanding, Grim's heart could not help but sigh again.

In the past witch wars, the few forces that had been devoured by the Crimson Family were small forces, and even that Kamala Family was only barely able to hang on to the side of a medium power.

It was true that defeating such an opponent once made Grim complacent, but today, once he stepped out of the family territory and compared with other old-fashioned forces, the huge gap immediately made Grim feel a slight sense of crisis.

The development of the Crimson Family still needed to continue to work hard!

....................

Molten Fire City.

After 5 days of continuous running, Grim and his party finally arrived at the rim area of that huge volcanic community.

Here, ordinary wagons became impassable, and that 2nd rank wizard invited Grim to ride on a cave lizard again and dive headfirst into an underground lava hole that was semi-artificially excavated.

Compared to the dark caverns Grim had visited, this place was clearly more developed.

Although there were caves of all sizes one after another along the way, and obstructive stalagmites and pillars had been destroyed or removed, the rugged and undulating terrain still made it incredibly difficult for an ordinary person to travel through here. Only local creatures such as the cave lizards have been able to navigate here, relying on their strange instincts.

In some particularly rugged areas, these cave lizards were even able to quickly run across cave walls or ceilings. This was probably one of the main reasons why the forces of Melting Fire City had tamed the Cave Lizards on a large scale!

From the moment he entered the underground molten cavern, Grim could feel the rapid increase in ambient temperature.

Even through the ubiquitous crevices and rift valleys, Grim could smell and inhale a choking smell of sulfurous flames!

However, as a fire witch, Grim not only did not have the slightest aversion to such a harsh environment, there was also a hint of joy and excitement that came from his body's instincts.

The original deep and dark underground trip, due to the transformation of the Molten Fire City forces, many lighting fluorites had been installed along the way, thus making the entire cave a dark red, almost no signs of underground creatures' activities.

It was actually understandable.

Since this road was the main entry and exit route for Melting Fire City, they would naturally send out sorcerers or apprentices periodically to clean up any underground creatures that accidentally entered the tunnel. As long as the underground creatures were not allowed to set up their nests, there would naturally be no signs of large-scale underground creature activity nearby.

It was only after two days of traversing through this winding, rugged and bumpy underground passage that Grim and the others could be considered to have truly arrived at that Molten Flame City. Of course, the Melting Fire City forces had also established four or five small strongholds along the way, and the number of people resting inside was no less than the number of ordinary human villages and towns on the surface.

And along the way, Grim and his party had encountered as many as thirty to forty incoming and outgoing caravans.

Large and small wooden crates and parcels were filled with regional specialties sold in Melting Fire City, covering animal furs, herbs, exotic ores and bulk metal ingots.

However, it was a pity that there wasn't the kind of Quillas ore that Grim needed.

Grim wasn't surprised by this.

The value of the Quillas ore had clearly surpassed that of ordinary magical gems, and even if it needed to be shipped out and sold, it was impossible for Molten Fire City to employ such a rudimentary team to take care of it. Therefore, the caravans that they saw themselves were actually only acquiring and selling secondary derivatives produced from underground ore excavations.

The truly valuable Everlasting Gold Ore and Quillas Ore were definitely saved by Melting Fire City, while these incidental 'trash' had become the meat and potatoes that nearby human forces were fighting over.

It seemed that if one wanted to obtain Quillas Alloy, one would have to deal with the top brass of Molten Fire City!