Age of Adepts

Heart of the Ice Dragon, 4th level material....

This was the heart of the giant cold dragon Nax had saved before he made up his mind to transform his soul origin.

It had to be said that Nax was still very careful in preserving the parts taken from his own body. This could be seen from the cold ice material it sealed the heart with and the means it used to apply it, all of which were high-grade goods.

And the consequence of Nax's doing so was that... Grim had undoubtedly harvested a 4th-grade sorcery material of a higher grade.

It could only be a sorcery material too!

If a Dragon Brand material like Ice Heart fell into the hands of a high level alchemist, it would most likely be processed to create a treasure like Ice Heart that could add cold damage and deep freeze effects to the user's attacks.

To fall into the hands of a Puppeteer, on the other hand, it would be able to be loaded onto a high level Constructed Puppet or oneself as a chilling superior material to be used as a power source for battle.

In addition to that, it could also be added to an alien or witch beast, bringing an exceptionally powerful sorcery servant to the wizard.

As for Grim, after the deep calculations of the chip, it was felt that it would be more cost effective to sacrifice this Ice Dragon Heart directly as a 4th level material to nourish one's Star Beast bloodline.

At this current level, Grim had already used his strengths to the fullest, and all the parts that could be strengthened in every aspect had already been done so. From now on, the growth of his strength had entered a flattening period.

The few items that could effectively enhance his basic strength were Spiritual Strength, Soul Origin and Bloodline Talent.

Of these, Spiritual Strength relied on constant daily deep meditation, and although the results weren't great, it was at least still slowly improving. The deep meditation that used to have immediate results now easily required a month or two of work to see the slightest increase.

But now with the assistance of the Book of Filth and Darkness, Grim was also able to rely on constant reading outside of meditation to improve his mental strength. At this point, his rate of progress was undoubtedly dozens of times faster than those ordinary 4th rank witches.

The improvement of his soul origin was even more of an unattainable heavenly blessing.

According to the chip's estimates, Grim only had to gather a sufficient number of Flame Laws and use the method provided by the Flame Monarch to quench them into a Law Fire that was uniquely his own. The moment the Laws of Fire ignited, that was the moment he Grim advanced to the 5th level, and the moment his soul origin sublimated once again.

Other than that, there was no other way!

As for the third bloodline talent, there was no other shortcut to its advancement, and that was to continuously devour the flesh and blood of those high level creatures that were rich in the breath of the Peerless Law.

Those wild star beasts spent their entire lives wandering in the boundless starry sea, searching for every bit world they could. Their only purpose was to devour flesh and blood, plunder souls, and then absorb the Origin lost from the planetary worlds.

However, when it comes down to it, what the Star Beast devours is actually the fragmented Laws of the Planets.

The fragments of the laws that ordinary creatures regard as poisonous to life are the top food that the Star Beasts dream of. Not only could they eat them, they could also digest and absorb them, and could extract the corresponding law power from the broken law fragments, and twist them to suit their own strange abilities.

The reason why Star Beasts were so powerful was because they were a typical Law creature from the moment they reached adulthood, and were far above the vast majority of bit creatures in terms of life level and soul level.

Therefore, if Grim wanted to enhance his Star Beast bloodline and make the chaotic physique derived from it stronger, he had to always look for high-value, 'highly nutritious' biological flesh and blood to nourish it.

And the Heart of the Ice Dragon certainly fit that bill!

The blood sacrifice ritual prepared for the Feathered Serpent Dome last time was not used, but this time it was extremely appropriate to use it on the Heart of the Ice Dragon.

However, as Grim was carefully preparing the special items needed for the blood ritual inside the chamber of his residence, an urgent message from the outside world forced him to abort the work at hand and retreat from inside the chamber.

The message was from Emelia.

With Gargamel and Emelia's familiarity with Grim, they naturally knew that he hated outside interference when he was in seclusion. Therefore, the fact that Emelia had chosen this moment to send an urgent message through the special channel reserved for her, undoubtedly indicated that there was something extremely important happening outside that must be dealt with by Grim himself.

Thus, as soon as Grim browsed through the message, a stern color flashed across his smooth and calm face.

"...Conflict has erupted at the border...Conflicts are continuously escalating...The Denel family has begun to increase its troops in a big way... ...the small border town of Amman has fallen to the enemy...the Crimson Archduke Antoinel has lost his way..."

The Dennell family....

Grim couldn't help but chant.

That was a powerful witch family with a 4th rank witch, Clara.

Ever since he had advanced to rank 4, he had a decent relationship with this Clara. Although there wasn't a close connection, both sides still retained a trace of restraint and tolerance, seeing as they were both 4th rank forces.

For nearly a hundred years, the Crimson Family's expansion and extension had deliberately avoided the Denel family territory, and even its affiliated forces hadn't touched a single bit.

And yet, in such a situation, the other side was steeped in conspiracy, even if Grim had no evidence or intelligence to sniff out in it!

It seemed that the excitement that Horton Witchcraft Academy brought to certain guys was still very strong, even forcing them to go from behind the curtain to the front stage, having the courage to tear their faces off and fight with the Crimson Family.

Moreover, these guys also held a Crimson Grand Duke in their hands, which was also clearly provoking the Crimson Family's anger.

Ever since the Crimson Kingdom, a huge human kingdom, had emerged, it had replaced three kings before and after. However, there were still only five publicly crowned Crimson Grand Dukes, and they represented the five subsidiary forces that had split off from within the Crimson Family.

Therefore, these Crimson Grand Dukes were nothing more than ordinary human nobles, and were actually nothing within the Crimson Family. However, externally, they represented the face and dignity of the Crimson Family.

Since the other party had detained a Crimson Grand Duke, it was obvious that this was their intention.

Not only did they make it impossible for the Crimson Family to stay out of it and pretend to be deaf and dumb, but they also left room for them not to completely tear their faces apart. Otherwise, their detaining a Crimson 2nd rank wizard would serve a much higher purpose than this Crimson Grand Duke.

What exactly did this Clara want to do? Did she want to be used by a few of the old guys inside the association to be the blade against the Crimson family and against herself? Hey, hey, don't you think it's a little late for them to do it now? ........

While endlessly speculating, Grim strode towards the teleportation room.

Since these enemies were not going to allow him to remain in seclusion in peace, it was time for the Crimson Family to strike back forcefully. He would use the fiercest and wildest of sorcerous flames to warn the ambitious and conspirators that he, Grim, was not to be messed with by their jumped-up clowns.

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

Small town of Amman.

A small, unsung border town on the southwestern edge of the Alois region.

The fires that had been lit had not yet been completely extinguished, and the smoke of the wolves was drifting over the town, turning the sky gray.

All the doors and windows on both sides of the streets were closed, and countless eyes filled with doubt and fear were cast from the cracks of the doors and windows, secretly measuring the strange army that was walking through the streets of the town.

This was the Wizard Army belonging to the Denel Family, a strong and solid Wizard Apprentice riding on top of a tall magic horse, wearing thick armor painted with strange runes, patrolling the streets while eerily scanning the dwellings on both sides of the streets.

From time to time, they would charge into the dwellings, driving the occupants and merchants within into the streets and making them kneel on the sides of the roads like slaves. Any one who dared to defy or resist them was instantly put to death.

A corpse nailed to the walls and beams was the only fate for those who resisted!

They were searching for the crimson nobles and fleeing crimson sorcerers who were hiding inside the small city, and all the suspects were sent to the earth dungeon within the city's main residence for custody.

And above the sky, a sorcerer riding on a giant double-headed eagle circled and flew around without stopping, closely monitoring and guarding the entire small city.

And in an exquisite noble manor half a mile outside the city, a large number of Denel family sorcerers were coming in and out of this place, apparently already treating it as a core stronghold for them.

The main body of the manor was a small, three-story wooden building, which was now tightly protected by a large number of witch beasts and witch guards.

The second floor.

Inside a room that was closely guarded.

Antoinette hatefully lowered the wooden window, withdrew her gaze from peeking outside, and paced around the room anxiously.

And the Sterling wizard who was slumped on top of the couch quietly reading a book on sorcery couldn't help but chuckle lightly, "Grand Duke, just don't fret! Now that things have come to this point, it's no longer in our power to stop or control it."

Antoinette, who was in the middle of pacing, stopped and listened sideways to the movement in the corridor outside, before muttering in dissatisfaction, "You can see it, but I can't! This time we mistakenly fell into a trap and fell into the hands of the Denel family, and we don't know how the family will react inside. Once war breaks out..."

The Crimson Family and the Denel Family could both be famous 4th rank forces in the middle of the continent, and the Crimson Family was the only superfamily of its kind. In such a situation, if war broke out between the two sides, the terrible consequences would be unimaginable.

Even with his qualifications and status as the Grand Duke of Crimson, he wouldn't be able to bear this heavy weight!

As a consultant sorcerer hired by Antoinelle, Sterling was clearly much more insightful than this employer, and was even more blunt in his words, "What, Grand Duke, do you still think this war was started by our mistakes?"

"Is there any other reason for that?"

"Oh..." whispered Sterling with a soft chuckle, "You really do think too highly of you and me! To tell you the truth, even if you and I were to be added together, we wouldn't be qualified to start such a witch war. This is a witch war, not a mundane territorial war, and the main subject of this battle is not you or me..."

At this point, Sterling closed his mouth, but his gaze was cast through the walls and manor to the northeast.

There... it was the Crimson Family's sacred ground and the place where the legendary house master, Grim, lived in seclusion!