Age of Adepts

Looking at the ferocious Mark who was able to remain standing, Greem secretly felt respect for the man but that doesn’t mean he eased up his vigilance on Mark.

Clusters of earthly yellow smoke gathered at the severely broken parts of the Rock Snake. Using the Adamantine rocks it got from underground as materials, and the sticky Earth Elementium as the bonding agent, it only took a few seconds for the exposed summoning core to once again be concealed within.

After it completed its self-recovery, the frightening Rock Snake stood erect and coiled up its long tail made from rocks then thrusted itself to the enemy. The broken mouth opened up widely, revealing a pair of sharp fangs formed from pointy rocks, aiming right at Thunder Axe Mark who could barely stand straight.

The distance of under thirty meters took only a split-second of time.

But right before the Rock Snake’s ferocious mouth and its sharp fangs reach its target, a taller, burlier and more terrifying human than Mark appeared in front of him.

He had the same human body, the same muscles and bones, but this tall man only briefly clenched his fist and lightly punched the snout of the Rock Snake who approached him with a tremendous force. The Rock Snake which had put up quite a fierce battle with Mark shattered instantly into tiny bits, sending fragments everywhere.

It seemed as if there was an invisible air barrier around this tall man as nothing of the flying debris was able to get close to his body. He was standing right there at the heart of the explosion of dirt and debris but he was still firm just like Mount Tai. He still even had the strength to slowly retract his outstretched right fist that he then pointed at the depths of the dirt storm, performing a grabbing gesture.

A light puffing sound was heard, as the summoning core that dropped down between the slits on the ground was transported by a powerful force and it fell right into the tall man’s palm.

The tall man raised his right hand up, and carefully examined the eye-catching core through the light from the bright sunlight.

What was once a brownish crystal clear surface of the core was carved fully with countless micro runes and arrays with each magical rune emanating strong Earth Elementium and glimmered, forming a three-dimensional micro magical array in front of his eyes.

To be honest, he was able to clearly see every single rune there is that was carved with lines a few hundred times finer than threads of hair, and he could also roughly identify each individual magical runes. But when he pieced them all together, Hulk could only scratch his bald head as he couldn’t understand how these runes were able to project and shape the incorporeal Earth Elementium into the powerful and ferocious Elementium Golem.

After he spent an ample amount of time but still failed to comprehend the essence of the magical knowledge behind it, Hulk had no other choice but to secretly sigh for his own lack of talent concerning magical arrays. Meanwhile, Greem had led his Demon Alligator in front of Hulk, staring right at him anxiously.

Appropriately tossing the summoning core back to Greem, Hulk wore an expression full of disdain as he said, “Look how panicked you are. Do you think I can break it just by staring at it? Alright, alright already! I’ll consider you the victor of today’s bout. I’ll even help Mark admit his defeat! Now you go and redeem your war trophy.”

Greem retrieved the summoning core in a flurry, and then immediately placed it in front of his eyes for a careful inspection. After it suffered violent impacts multiple times, Greem was worried the overpowering shockwave would damage the fragile magical arrays carved on the core.

Fortunately, after having it carefully examined by the Chip, this summoning core which was able to summon a ferocious Rock Snake from underneath the ground, was still intact. This had eased Greem’s mind.

As for Hulk’s unexpected interference, Greem did not dare sound any dissent.

Although the chief of the training camp could easily stop the battle effortlessly, he deliberately used such a violent and savage method to destroy the rocky body of the Rock Snake. This was obviously Hulk’s way of giving a warning towards Greem.

It looks like he had performed too well today, forcing the chief to use that kind of method to warn Greem not to overdo things. It was the ‘gentlest’ method of cowing Greem into submission.

Nonetheless, the strength of a Pseudo-Adept that Hulk showed truly shocked Greem. The pure power of his muscles and the mastery of such strength, Greem could totally sense something different between Hulk and the other apprentices.

People had always said Pseudo-Adepts were the ones closest to Adepts, could this peculiarity be the origin of an Adept’s qualitative change from an apprentice Adept?

Greem silently lowered his head and diligently remembered what he had comprehended into his heart so that he could take his time in analyzing it in the future.

“It seems all of us here had really underestimated you!” Hulk said as he supported the wobbling Mark from the side. He continued, “Looks like you are quite reliant on Golems for most of your battle power. Indeed, this will allow you to gain a huge boost of your overall power. Alright, follow me. A talented man like you is needed in this camp. Let me see if I can find a suitable position for you!”

After he finished saying that, Hulk carried Mark and turned, running towards a large wooden cabin that was quite far. Smiling wryly, Greem touched his nose and followed closely behind Hulk.

Absolute silence was widespread among the onlookers that were on the side of the field, each and every one of them wore complicated expressions. It was clear that none of them was able to accept that kind of a surprising result. There were even a few advanced apprentices donning long faces, showing miserable looks that was as if their parents just passed away.

When Hulk passed through the crowed, he suddenly stopped and turned to Dark Wood who also had a complicated expression.

“Hey dead man, why did you bet on Greem?” he asked loudly.

Dark Wood pulled down his hood and covered his skeleton-like face. A trembling voice came out from within his shadowed face.

“If Mark won, wouldn’t that mean I’m useless? Isn’t this outcome better? Now, who would dare to say I was defeated because I’m useless?”

Hulk’s mouth hung open for a while which seemed as if he had something to say but failed to think of any.

Damn it, although this guy’s answer was rather disparaging, it was still an honest answer. It made the chief of this training camp unable to find a suitable reason to vent his anger on this person.

“How about you? Why did you bet on him?” Hulk turned to Kevin and asked.

“This kid told me he was confident in this fight and since I’m really poor, I thought why not try my luck!” Kevin’s nswer was also straightforward and honest.

“Ahhh...” Hulk was at a loss for words and finally gave up on his intention of venting his anger on someone. “You two lucky guys, why didn’t anyone tell me about this earlier? Hmph. Go and get your rewards now. Hey kid, you follow me, I’ll be treating you to a meal...”

Hulk really meant what he said.

Different from what was common formalities where the host would welcome his guests and talk for a bit, a few burly men immediately came in while carrying heavy food boxes in their hands right after Hulk brought his guests in and made them sit comfortably in front of a long wooden table.

An exquisitely made silver tray was placed in front of Greem. It had some simple but elegant decorations and the words carved on it looked quite mysterious as well. But Greem wasn’t interested in them at all. Instead, he kept staring blankly at the thick roasted meat that was on top of the tray.

It was a very huge piece of roasted meat weighing at least two kilograms. There were still traces of blood and smoke that could be seen from them. A large glass was placed right beside the tray, the contents of it was some crimson, sticky liquid. Greem tried to sniff it and a pungent smell of blood invaded his nostrils.

“Eat up!” Hulk said with a sinister and hideous smile, “I rarely treat someone to a meal, don’t tell me you’re not going to be giving me face!”

The severely wounded Mark was supposed to find a quiet place to treat his serious injuries, but strangely enough, he, too, had struggled for the long table. The bloody meat ribs that was placed in front of him weighed nearly ten kilograms, and the wine glass that came together with the meal was replaced by a large copper basin.

Greem then turned his head towards the host of this meal, Hulk. Right in front of Hulk was a large piece of medium rare animal rib and judging from its condition where it still had some blood, it seemed to be quite fresh as if it was just newly sliced from the body of some large wild beasts.

Meanwhile, inside his mind, the Chip gave enlightened him from his silent inquiry.

Underground Fire Dragon!

This was the rib coming from an Underground Fire Dragon!

The Underground Fire Dragon was a type of dragon who lived in the lava region deep within the ground. It possessed a little bit of the bloodline of dragons but didn’t possess frightening abilities like those mega dragons. They also loved to eat sulfur and the Dragon Fruit, therefore they were also a kind of Fire Element demon beast.

While Greem was still hesitating, Mark had already started to indulge in his huge meal. He had tossed away the huge silver cutlery and used his bare hands to tear apart the rib, gobbled it while ignoring its raw taste.

Hulk shouldn’t use this to harm him!

After he ordered the Chip to give the rib a thorough scan and found that there was no problem, Greem finally took the cutlery and tried to cut through his meal. He wasn’t really paying any attention to these utensils but when he grabbed the knife, he realized that this seemingly insignificant silver knife was unexpectedly a magical item. It held two magic effects of Penetration and Sharpen. The silver fork he was holding on his other hand also had the magic effect of Pierce and Strengthen.

Fuck, these were only cutlery used for cutting through the rib but the magic effects they had were so much better than those defensive magical items owned by most of the intermediate apprentices. Greem couldn’t help but marvel at the gap between different ranks of apprentices.

Greem sighed and cut out a small piece of meat after considerable effort. He picked it up with the silver fork and placed it in his mouth.

To be honest, for the very first time he tasted the meat, Greem nearly spat it all out. It tasted raw and bitter but Greem still tried his best and gave it a good chew until he felt his jaw become sore and reluctantly swallowed it into his stomach. When the meat had reached the inside of his stomach, a warm sensation then swiftly surged from his lower abdomen, causing his body to have a reaction towards this burning sensation.

It was as if Greem’s body suddenly entered into a state of extreme hunger, a strong desire to consume food resonated from his entire body and mind, challenging his will.

“What’s happening to me? Chip, activate dynamic body scan!”

“Beep. Dynamic body scanning initiated... traces of Fire Element energy detected... host’s body is absorbing them in a high speed...”

Accordingly, a dynamic body attribute sheet was projected in Greem’s eyes. Both his Physique and Spirit started to increase slowly. Although the gain was only three to four digits after the decimal point, at least it was still gradually increasing.

Greem’s eyes flickered.

Tonic food?

Could this be the tonic food of this world?!