Age of Adepts

Gargamel waited at the Flame Throne for a full two days before he was able to see Grim.

At this time, Grim's body was completely enveloped by an invisible layer of flame, and his entire body seemed to be in a state of intense burning.

Although it had tried its best to contain the overflowing flame energy, the temperature of this parlor immediately began to soar as Grim stepped into it. If Gargamel was still the same little rank 1 sorcerer from earlier, he would have been half-cooked at the moment.

Even after transforming into the Giant Serpent bloodline and possessing a strong physique and outstanding magic resistance, Gargamel still felt a hundred times more uncomfortable with the scorching heat of the near lava volcano-like environment here. However, under the gaze of the homeowner's substance-like burning pupil, Gargamel's finely scaled snake body still emitted curls of smoke on top of his body.

"I'm sorry, but my ability to control flame energy has been reduced when my spirit has been raised a bit too quickly lately..." seeing that his gaze had almost set Gargamel's body on fire, Grim could only helplessly turn his head towards no one in particular.

There was not a single wooden or metal object visible in the entire hall anymore, and even the only table and chairs were made of obsidian with excellent fire resistance.

Spiritual energy boosting too quickly... energy control declining..., this was probably the first time I had heard similar complaints since Gargamel became a wizard.

As a witch, there had never been anyone who complained that their mental energy increased too slowly, and there had never been anyone who complained that their mental energy increased too quickly.

This, perhaps, was what made the House Master different!

Gargamel grimaced at the thought.

"What's the latest event in the family that requires you to make a special trip? I remember the last time I contacted you everything was calm!" Grim spoke lazily, seeming to have lost his usual interest in anything other than sorcery.

"My lord, it's been a year since we were last remotely connected..." said Gargamel with a helpless grin.

"A year? Time flies by so fast!" Grim muttered, "Okay, tell me what you came for."

"Yes, my lord!" Gargamel hesitated, "President Freed of the Scattered Tarin Society would like to see you!"

"Who? Freddie? The president of the association...what does he want to see me for?"

Gargamel hurriedly bowed and explained, "My lord, the reason why we were able to pacify the Alois region so quickly last time, President Freed had a lot of effort behind it. And for him to express that to us this time through the Goblin Business Alliance, it's likely..."

"Most likely what?"

"It's likely that you're trying to force a choice on the Lord of the House..."

"A choice between the Scattered Tallinn and the Northlands?"

"Yes, my lord family. These old men of Scattered Earth Tallinn have always been very guarded and cautious about the infiltration of the three major powers, and the relationship between our Crimson Family and the Witch of Fate cannot be hidden from anyone. So..."

"So they just want to meet, weigh me up, and get me inside that little circle of theirs?"

"Yes, my lord, from the information obtained so far, this may be the only explanation!"

"So, all the benefits they gave us earlier were just a decoy? When we swallow the entire Alois region, it's the same as swallowing bait. Such a big piece of fat meat, they are certain that we won't be willing to spit it out, that's why they chose this moment to force us into a showdown... "Grim spoke calmly and analytically, but the invisible layer of transparent flames outside his body was clearly not calm.

The temperature in the room had risen again!

Gargamel licked his somewhat cracked lips and bowed his head and stopped speaking.

For such matters that could affect the future direction of the family, he was only responsible for providing the part of information he knew, and it was not for him to intervene as to how the head of the family would choose.

When witches were at different heights, they viewed the same issue from very different angles and ideas, so Gargamel didn't dare to influence the family lord's choice with his shallow viewpoint. It would be right to follow in the footsteps of the family lord anyway!

It was a full quarter of an hour before Grim opened his mouth again.

"You go reply to them, I agree to meet with President Freed, the meeting place will be arranged by them. However, the time must be placed six months from now, I'm not in a fit state to be out and about!"

"Yes!"

Gargamel led the order to leave without hesitation.

When calm was restored in the meeting hall, a shadowy female figure appeared sharply at Grem's side.

"Have you decided?" Alice's soft, calm voice came out of the shadows.

"Well!"

"That's actually good. Although the Northlands here is calm on the surface, it is extremely xenophobic in private, and the development of families here is always constrained by the witch faction. Instead, it's not as good as the Scattered Earth Tallinn, which isn't ironclad and suitable for emerging families to rise quickly."

"By the way, those old guys won't come up with any dirty tricks to deal with me, right?"

"... "Alice was speechless, "Where were you thinking of! Not only is there no harm in you going this time, but there will be some unexpected benefits. But it's not an easy benefit to take, so you'll have to weigh it yourself!"

"Benefits?"

"Well, don't ask any more questions. You know that such things as prophecies are not to be uttered lightly, or else fate will take some unpredictable fork in the road."

Grim nodded silently.

Having worked with Alice for so long, he did have a certain level of understanding of fate.

It was because Alice had informed Grim of something ahead of time during the last trip to the Enwick's Plane that his journey to the Otherworldly Plane had been tumultuous and dangerous, and he had almost lost his way there forever.

Fate is always unknown and unpredictable!

Even the Fate Witch who existed as the Fate Controller couldn't completely let fate move forward in the path she had set. Like the number of cheeses in a wooden bowl, Alice may be able to use her fate sense to know the exact number of cheeses before she opens it. But once Alice affects someone or something in fate based on that exact result, what was once certain can take some unexpected turns.

Or a cat accidentally broke in and knocked over a wooden bowl, or the cheese was stolen by a mouse, or the temperature was too high and the cheese melted... There are too many accidents, too many changes, and any one of these things can affect the outcome of what was already certain.

That's the very reason why most of the Fate Controllers are so silent!

There were often those mighty men who mocked the Fate cultivators, calling them useless bystanders. Very often, even if they saw through and through, they were trapped by the rules of fate and could not swim in it.

It's like they are playing 'Stud' with the heavens every day, even if you win for the rest of your life, a single failure may make you never be reborn.

Those who are wiser keep their mouths shut and don't easily interfere with the flow of destiny, and that's barely enough for them to survive. On the other hand, those who are too active or unsure of themselves will sooner or later be killed by fate.

And grim obviously also deep in its way, so never forced Alice to challenge the rules of fate, and never dreamed of relying on the power of fate to get any benefit.

And this was one of the main reasons why Alice was able to remain strong!

After a few brief words of communication, the illusion Alice had projected slowly dissipated.

Grim also returned to the laboratory on the fifth floor of the Witch Tower in a flash of flame.

In the corner of the hall, the tall and majestic Elemental Demon Armament stood quietly, its smooth and perfect lines made of super alloy shining with a dull blue luster.

After a long time of repair, the trauma that the Elemental Demon Armament had suffered in the Enwik's Plane had only recovered bit by bit. In this restoration, Grim even used some newly refined magic memory metals.

The Goblin Research Institute that was set up in the White Tower in the North, after spending a lot of magic crystals and massive resources on Grim, finally came up with some decent works, and the magic memory metal was one of them.

This special magic metal that could only rely on the alchemy lab to harden and purify possessed a strange memory function. Once the magic alloy was shaped using special means, it was able to memorize this form. Even if they were pierced, truncated, torn apart or twisted and deformed in battle, they could still be bridged back together under the stimulation of sufficient energy and regain their original form.

With such a magic memory metal, and the small magical melting pot inside the elemental magic weapon, Grim won't have to worry about battle damage when he runs off into a foreign realm to drive it into battle again. As long as it was given a certain amount of time, as long as the magical melting pot didn't blow up, it would be able to return to its optimal battle form.

Therefore, as soon as the Goblin Research Institute showed this result, Grim used his authority to preemptively upgrade and transform the elemental magic weapon.

As for the magic weapon puppet dragon, my goodness, such a huge mountain of metal, trying to transform the entire body into this expensive magic memory metal, is simply burning magic crystals like crazy. Therefore, Grim has only approved the replacement of some core components with this special magic alloy. Otherwise, he would have been burned away by that group of goblins in one breath even if he really had a mountain of magic crystals.

With the current human resources and funding of the Goblin Institute, only five pounds of magic memory metal can be quenched daily, at a cost of about 1700 magic crystals.

After prioritizing the family's internal use, there will probably be twenty pounds of magic memory metal for sale every month. The price for their external sale was all grams, 20 magic crystals per gram.

Grim had been secretly absorbing those holy light souls all these years while hiding in the Flame Throne, and his mental strength had then started to skyrocket wildly. But even then, it took him a full fifteen years to raise his mental strength from 37 points to 39 points, only one step away from his peak state.

Such a rapid increase in mental strength had also reduced his control over himself.

That was why when he would give himself a half year buffer time to stabilize his unstable mental state.

And time, obviously, was on his side!