Age of Adepts

The corridor was quiet and dark.

Some of the old wooden floors creaked strangely underfoot.

And the air was filled with a thick, almost suffocating scent of shadow.

Here, getting closer and closer to the core of darkness, Grim's flame breath around his body was also greatly suppressed, and could only extend barely half a meter outside of his body, able to protect his body and clothing.

In Grim's strange pupils, the corridor in front of him was comparable to a ghost house in the wilderness, with threads and strands of substantial shadow energy emanating from the second room on the left, slowly and truly moving and drifting in the corridor.

Due to the overwhelming shadow atmosphere, these strange shadows seemed to show signs of activation.

They were drifting and writhing in the narrow corridor in clusters, twisting and morphing into all sorts of strange and bizarre shapes. From afar, it looked like a terrifying demon waiting for its prey with claws and teeth.

As soon as Grim stepped into the corridor, into the distinct darkness, the nearest darkness activated into a strange mouth full of fangs, viciously biting at him.

Grim grunted a little, the flame wrapped right hand lightning probed and stabbed into the mouth of the strange mouth, allowing the other party to bite and grind desperately, but could not penetrate the flame barrier to damage his arm. When Grim's big hand groped inside the strange mouth for a moment and fiercely retracted, there was already a black crystal of dark and shiny color in his palm.

Losing the black crystal, that strange big mouth roared and shrieked madly for a moment and then it also vanished.

Grim held the black crystal in front of his eyes to look at it, and the chip quickly projected its base information.

Substance Name: shadow shard

Material classification: Dark energy crystals

Item Level: 1st Order

Physical Uses: Enchanting (can be used to add shadow damage to weapons), Alchemy (base material for dark sorcery), Potions (necessary for defense against shadow damage sorceries), Summoning (base material for summoning shadow creatures)

Special Purpose: Can be synthesized into Shadow Crystals (one Shadow Crystals per 100 Shadow Fragments through an alchemical ritual)

........

There were also a number of broader uses of the Shadow Shards projected densely at the back, but Grim was no longer interested in paying attention. It was just a Tier 1 Sorcerer's Material, not worth the thought he had put into it.

Throwing the Shadow Fragment into his storage ring, Grim was ready to move on.

Perhaps it was because he sensed the strength of the visitor, these natural catalytic masses of shadows quickly converged together to form a bizarre shadow creature that was only the size of a dwarf, with a pitch-black body that was unable to see its features and shape.

The moment it coalesced, a treacherous and frightening aura spilled out from its body.

Grim immediately sounded the chip's urgent alarm in his mind.

"Drip, detected 4th stage shadow creature fluctuation... Initial analysis is Shadow Assassin, danger level to subject has been reached... Please subject remain vigilant!"

That fast?

Grim was slightly startled, and his gaze couldn't help but fall on the door behind the shadow creature.

That dark witch Shani, even if she was the Witch God descended, couldn't possibly catalyze a shadow creature of rank 4 in such a short period of time. Unless... there was some kind of exceptionally powerful shadow treasure within that dark core, it would not be possible to do this with human power alone.

If the other party really had a treasure or witchcraft of this level in their hands, why wouldn't they just use it against themselves? Could it be that... that thing had some kind of use restriction or belonged to a pure auxiliary item?

As Grim scanned the rapidly forming strange creatures in front of him, deep inside, he quickly analyzed and judged the hidden secrets within the room.

It was about to face that 4th rank Dark Witch, how to try to take advantage of the battlefield before the start of the battle and see the opponent's cards clearly through everything in front of you. That was what a high ranked witch should do at the beginning of a battle!

But there wasn't much time left for Grim to think and analyze.

Within the room, the strange fluctuations of that dark core grew stronger and clearer.

Regardless of what kind of terrifying attack the other party was brewing, or what kind of powerful creature they were summoning, Grim didn't have this obligation to 'gentlemanly' wait for the other party to finish. Therefore, at this moment, no matter what kind of enemy was in front of him, Grim had to sweep it away with a thunderbolt, thus interrupting that dark witch's actions.

With this in mind, Grim did not hesitate to take a step forward, and with a flash of red light from the Fire Dragon pendant on his neck, a torrent of terrifying flames erupted from his mouth, covering the entire dark corridor in a fan shape.

Of course, this included the 4th level Shadow Assassin who had just been catalyzed.

When the tip of the terrifying flame stream broke through the darkness barrier and swept into the Shadow Assassin's surroundings, the other party bizarrely disappeared in an instant.

Yes, it was a disappearance, not a flicker.

The battle just now had brought Grim into contact with various types of shadow creatures, and although they were proficient in dark spells and possessed some strange shadow abilities, there was still a faint to almost imperceptible elemental fluctuation between their hands and movements.

If not for the chip's assistance, it would have been difficult for Grim to capture this level of shadow jumping or shadow travelling.

However, when this Shadow Assassin in front of him disappeared, Grim couldn't perceive any traces of elemental fluctuations even if he opened his eyes. It was as if it had instantly blended into the background of the environment, making it impossible to trace its figure through the trajectory created by the elemental changes.

The fire dragon's spit pierced through the pitch-black shadow left by the shadow assassin, setting the entire dark corridor on fire.

But the Shadow Assassin was nowhere to be seen, and his breath was nowhere to be seen.

Just as Grim's Fire Dragon Breath was ending, and his spirit was slightly shaken, a short black figure slipped out of the void behind him, and two black daggers in his hands stabbed at Grim's heart without the slightest wind or breath fluctuation.

With the spiritual perception of a 4th rank Fire Witch, how could Grim not notice the strange changes happening behind him?

The only thing is that the other party's movements seem to be light and careless, but to fall into the eyes of outsiders, they are as swift as thunder and lightning. And those two jet-black daggers were dark and lightless, and although they couldn't perceive any elemental breath on them, they gave people a ruthless taste like an extinct weapon in the face of illumination.

Facing the Shadow Assassin, Grim's mind was racing, and the Fire Coral Wand held high in his hand did not choose a defensive sorcery, but instead chose to... attack.

Two dark, lightless daggers pierced through the flaming barrier, piercing through the lava armor and plunging directly into Grim's vest. They moved between the lava flesh and blood, soaring between the torrent of flames, cutting and churning rapidly, doing their best to inflict maximum damage on Grim.

Grim endured the terrible pain and instantly struck a red light on the pitch-black body of the shadowed assassin.

In the next second, the dense fire element condensed in the void to form a flaming shackle like substance, binding that Shadow Assassin and Grim firmly together.

Flame Shackles!

An imprisoning type of flame sorcery.

It was able to trap enemies and itself together, and if the opponent tried to flee, he would have to take three times the fire damage of that sorcery.

The shadow assassin, seeing the situation, couldn't care less about hurting Grim, and tried to escape from Grim's side with a flicker. Unfortunately, before the pitch-black body could blend into the darkness, it was yanked out by the shackles of flame that were linked to the body.

Flashing twice, unable to escape, the Shadow Assassin could only swing his pitch-black dagger to frantically cut and slash at the flaming shackle.

But with this little buffer time, it was enough for Grim to completely lock down its soul fluctuations and elemental breath.

Grim flung his left hand around the neck of the Shadow Assassin who couldn't escape, and the violent golden flame extended down his arm to the opponent's body in an instant. In the next second, the shadow assassin danced with a mad roar, cutting Grim's arm into flesh and blood and flying flames.

However, even though the damage was severe, Grim didn't let go of his large arm for a single moment, while the golden flames were continuously injected into the other's body.

Finally, after eleven flexes, the shadow assassin could no longer withstand the burns of the Law Flame, and exploded into a black mist with a bang. And in the midst of the black mist, a dark and deep black gemstone fell down and was caught by Grim.

Shadow Diamond... a 4th rank Shadow Diamond!

Now it couldn't be ignored as calmly as before.

After all, a 4th rank Shadow Diamond was not easy to find even in the Wizard World.

If the Shadow Fragment was only a 1st-tier Sorcerer Material, then a hundred Shadow Fragments could be synthesized into a 2nd-tier Shadow Crystal, while a hundred 2nd-tier Shadow Crystals could be synthesized into a 3rd-tier Shadow Stone, and a hundred 3rd-tier Shadow Stones could only be synthesized into this 4th-tier Shadow Diamond in front of you.

Legend has it that the Shadow Diamond is a top-tier wizard material of the Darkness!

If the Shadow Drill fell into the hands of the Holly Shaman, he might be able to create the kind of Shadow Puppet that could freely travel through the Shadow Realm. It was a dark metal puppet of up to rank 4, capable of hiding in the shadow behind its master's back and protecting him closely at all times.

If the Shadow Diamond fell into the hands of a certain summoner, it could summon a Shadow Dragon with a strength of up to rank 4 accordingly. It was a bizarre species with a pitch-black body, sharp claws and shadow wings, capable of spewing shadow flames, and was somewhere between a dragon and a shadow creature.

If the Shadow Diamond fell into the hands of a certain high-ranking alchemist, creating a Phantom Scepter capable of summoning an entire Shadow Army would be no problem. Of course, the strength of the summoned Shadow Legion was also directly related to the alchemist's alchemical attainments.

........

When it came to the Shadow Diamond, Chip was able to give Grim a list of hundreds of suggestions for proper use and maximizing value in one sitting. But now was not the time to discuss this, after all, there was still a terrifying dark witch that had yet to be cleaned up.

Grim put away the Shadow Diamond with satisfaction, and pulled out another bottle of purple healing potion, popping off the cork and swallowing it in one gulp. Only after the huge blood hole in his back had closed up quickly under the combined effects of the witch potion and super strength did he step forward and gently push open the wooden door in front of him.

Inwardly there was an endless darkness!