Age of Adepts

Meryl has made a successful return after her power surge!

The news was spreading almost as fast as a plague around the White Tower....

The White Tower is now no longer the lonely, single wizard tower it once was. It encompassed the White Tower, Doverland City, Mussant City, and the three Ice Towns, with a territory radiating over a wide area of 300 kilometers, and the number of collar folk under its jurisdiction had reached 27,000.

Only this number of lords was still a bit watery, with more than 5,000 of them being green-skinned goblins from the Goblin Plane.

But to be able to purchase a boat ticket and teleport from the Goblin Plane to the Wizard World was already enough to show the wealth and power of these goblins. Either they were richly wealthy, territorial heads of some large zaibatsu, or they had only been recommended here because they had made outstanding contributions to Machinery City....

Either way, their arrival greatly enlivened and boosted the trade and commerce around the White Tower!

And this, in turn, fed more White Tower Lords.

Unlike the ordinary Lords who were more concerned about the stability of the White Tower's rulers, the witches who settled and moved around the White Tower year-round were more concerned about the reason for Meryl's soaring strength.

Everyone wasn't a fool, and the strong traces of bloodline transformation on Meryl's body couldn't be hidden at all.

So in private, the rumors that the Crimson Family had mastered a set of safe and perfect bloodline transformation techniques were endless.

As for the research of biological bloodline, although the Scattered Tallinn still maintained a high-handed and forbidden posture, all the sorcerers' private research was more or less related to biological bloodline. As long as they didn't cause a widespread bloodline mutation that spread to the Mortal Kingdom, they didn't bother to search and punish them one by one.

The powerful wizard families or organizational forces also had their own unique bloodline transformation studies. These quick-acquired sorcerers who had undergone bloodline transformation or bloodline synthesis would lose some of their development potential, but it was a means to quickly increase the family's strength.

Besides, there were only a handful of guys who possessed exceptional Sorcerer talent and had the confidence to become stronger step by step after all. There were still more middle and low level witches in the witch community who had ordinary talent and could only spend their entire lives at 1st or 2nd rank.

It was already a fluke that they were able to successfully advance to the 1st rank, and it was so thrilling and exhausting to climb another step upwards. If there was a shortcut to advance to Level 2, allowing them to live for another 200-300 years, how many of them would care if the development potential of the district was cut off?

It had to be said that Grim's previous path to advancement was too 'flat' and had given him a completely wrong perception of how difficult it was to advance as a Sorcerer. He was completely unaware of how great the attraction of an imperfect bloodline transformation was to those middle and lower ranked witches who desperately wanted to gain more power and authority!

For a low-level wizard who was stuck in the ranks of the 1st rank for a hundred or two hundred years and had almost reached the limit of their lifespan, any hope of advancing to the next level was something they were unwilling to give up. As for the negative factors such as bloodline reversal and severed potential, they didn't care at all.

This could be seen from the first Anderson Sorcerer that Grim came into contact with.

In order to advance in rank, in order to ascend, the other party had even taken out the blood sacrifice method that had serious consequences, thus it could also be seen how crazy the Anderson Sorcerer was in order to advance in rank!

Therefore, as soon as the rumor that the family might have possessed a set of bloodline transformation techniques or means appeared and spread widely, it immediately caused the Crimson Sorcerers to become agitated. Those low-ranked witches who thought that it was difficult to advance to the next level with their own strength were immediately given new hope, and began to inquire about the contents related to bloodline research within the family without stopping.

And Meryl, as the first prototype, also became the focus of attention in no time.

Her every move, her every step of progress was followed and observed by those who had an interest in her, and from this, they were able to estimate how far the bloodline research held within the Crimson Family had progressed.

It had to be said that Meryl's bloodline transformation had been very successful!

The strong fire dragon breath nourished and strengthened her body and blood without ceasing, causing her body base data to continue to rise. Despite not employing any body refining means, Meryl, a once weak female witch, surprisingly already possessed a strong physique that was as strong as that of any rank 1 body refining witch.

In terms of strength and physique alone, many dedicated Body Refining Sorcerers were still unable to reach her current physical qualities.

This undoubtedly made those Body Tempering Sorcerers ashamed and furious as well!

After a long period of observation, many Crimson Shamans could finally confirm that Meryl was fused with a fire dragon bloodline. And from the increase in power she obtained, it could be estimated that this fire dragon's strength would not be lower than rank 2. This also meant that Meryl would only need a decade or two of accumulation to successfully advance to a rank 2 witch.

This was undoubtedly even more stimulating for most witches.

Finally, the tide began to spread from the bottom up, eventually reaching the reclusive Grim's ear.

The aftermath of a severe bloodline transformation was actually so marketable among lower and middle ranked witches? Honestly, the first time he heard the news, Grim couldn't believe his ears.

The aftermath was very serious...well, they really didn't seem to care!

In the wizard community, the difference in status between a 2nd rank wizard and a 1st rank wizard is simply vastly different, not to mention the continuation of life force. Therefore, most 1st rank witches would put their only trust in bloodline transformation after various efforts were tried and cut off from hope.

However, even the simplest bloodline transformation was expensive, and those that could raise the level of a witch were even more incredibly expensive. That was why those low and middle ranked witches who were shy in their pockets were more than willing to obtain the inclination of the family's resources by signing a deed of sale in order to complete their own bloodline transformation.

The dark tide surging within the family also touched Grim's heart somewhat, and began to frequently contact Meryl and Gargamel to discuss this aspect.

Meryl was free of worries, able to sit at ease in her managerial position without delaying her own strength. Gargamel, who was identical to her, could only stare at Grim, a sigh of relief and frustration.

Gargamel was already over two hundred years old, and her body and sorcery were showing obvious signs of decay. If he hadn't joined Grim and saved up enough resources to perform a life extension ritual of the lowest order to give himself an extra 50 years of life, he would have died much earlier by now.

However, even so, Gargamel's current strength was only 1st rank advanced, and he was still a distant distance from the peak. With his own progress alone, it was nearly impossible for him to advance to 2nd rank before his life ran out.

Thus compared to Meryl, Gargamel's vale of hope and urge to transform his bloodline was also stronger and more urgent than Meryl's!

To be honest, Grim didn't intend to promote the bloodline transformation program he had applied to Meryl. After all, this bloodline transformation required a powerful biological bloodline source, as well as a carefully cultivated source-stealing insect, and the two rare resources stacked on top of each other caused a shocking loss of resources.

If it wasn't for gathering some necessary data for his bloodline transformation, Grim wouldn't have been able to be willing to be so extravagant.

However, the reaction within the family also reminded him from the side that it was also feasible to engage in some more cost-effective bloodline research using the chip's efficient and delicate operation. Anyway, what those low-ranked sorcerers were after was just to raise a level and live for an extra hundred or two hundred years, Grim had no need to waste such a rare resource as a 3rd-ranked dragon.

A random 2nd tier demon that was easy to cultivate and could reproduce in large numbers could also be improvised.

As for whether those sorcerers could gain powerful auxiliary abilities through this bloodline transformation, it wasn't on Grim's radar either!

In short, the cost must be cut down as much as possible, and the cheaper and easier it was to cultivate, the better.

However, for a guy like Gargamel who had made outstanding contributions to the family, there was nothing wrong with appropriately improving the quality of the bloodline.

With this in mind, Grim also divided the bloodline transformation into three different grades of low, medium, and high, allowing the chip to conduct an extensive screening of the bloodline source and come up with a feasible transformation plan. On the other end of the spectrum, Grim tasked Gargamel and Meryl with developing a contribution system for family witches, so that all witches within the Crimson Family would be able to exchange their contributions for the corresponding bloodline transformation services.

In fact, over the past hundred years, the Crimson Family had already established a perfect contribution value system within the Crimson Family. The Crimson Family had not a lot of rare resources invested in this system, like elemental magic puppets, metal magic weapons, magic essence, strong magic essence, weakened version of life raw liquid, and numerous goblin alchemical items....

Crimson Family shamans can obtain rewards in the form of magic crystals and contribution value through family quests, which can be exchanged for high value resources within the family at a lower price. Even many wandering shamans are willing to join the Crimson Family to exchange those elemental or metallic magic weapons to sell them for profit.

After all, the Crimson Family's Elemental Puppets and Metal Weapons were well known throughout the Scattered Tower Forest!

And now, with the appearance of the Bloodline Transformation Package, it immediately caused a tsunami of agitation within the Crimson Family. The family contribution value, which had been of average value in the past, instantly soared in price and was fired up by the internal sorcerer.

Because, the contribution value within the Crimson Family was tradable!

As soon as this bloodline transformation plan went live, a number of family bigwigs had already booked top-tier packages without hesitation, and many of them were patriarchs like Cappy, Tigure, and Gargamel.

Among them, both Gargamel and Cappy were facing a grim situation, their lifespans were running out!

If you don't have the taste of power, it's okay to lie in the mud with your eyes open and your eyes closed, and your life will be over. But guys like them, who have been deeply immersed in power, only now realize the preciousness of life.

Therefore, even if they were to smash their pots and pans, they would have to pick the best bloodline package for themselves.

Thus, something that was still brewing in Grim's mind, far from being formed, had become the most sought-after top resource within the Crimson Family!