Age of Adepts

Emblem of Fire. Second Grade magical equipment. Magical armband. Increases magic resistance by 5 points and fire resistance by 10 points. The wearer will possess the Fire Molding ability and can mold elementium flames into weapons of any shape.

The Fearless. Second Grade magical equipment. Magical belt. Increases magic resistance by 5 points and fire resistance by 10 points. The wearer will possess the Fire Summoning ability and can summon a certain number of fire elementals from the Fire Elementium plane.

Ash. Second Grade magical equipment. Magical boots. Increases magic resistance by 5 points and fire resistance by 10 points. The wearer will possess the Fire Regeneration ability: health regeneration will be doubled while the wearer is standing within magical flames.

Fire Dragon’s Breath. Second Grade magical equipment. Magical accessory. Increases magic resistance by 5 points and fire resistance by 10 points. The wearer can concentrate the fire energy in the pendant and release it in a single breath, forming a fan-shaped flame shockwave in front of the wearer.

The Fire Throne set was made from five loose pieces. Each of them was Second Grade at the very minimum and possessed their own magical abilities. When combined, they exhibited some strange set abilities.

Two set pieces: Immune to fire damage.

Three set pieces: Fire magic exhausts half as much Spirit.

Four set pieces: All of the wearer’s fire magic is enhanced with one Second Grade magical effect (Spell Penetration, Critical Spell Strike, or Extended Spell Range).

Five set pieces: Once all set pieces are equipped, a Burning Domain will automatically form around the wearer, restricting all non-fire spells in a five-meter radius around the wearer. Anyone that casts a spell within the Burning Domain will temporarily forget that spell after a successful cast. All units moving within the Burning Domain will have to endure a burning effect.

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Greem gulped when he saw the long list of attributes attached to the set.

This Second Grade magical equipment might not be all that powerful individually, but when put together into a set, their odd magical abilities made Greem drool.

This set was the most optimal solution that the Chip had given Greem after summarizing all the data.

The knowledge required to forge this Second Grade magical equipment was already available. The necessary resources were also things that Greem could easily gather with his current strength. That was why Greem couldn’t help but hold his breath again when he turned his eyes from the equipment to the lengthy list of resources behind them.

What a long resource list!

Greem saw the names of countless rare resources on it. Moreover, the required amount and unit price listed behind the resources caused the oxygen to surge out of his brain. Greem felt dizzy and was having difficulty breathing.

He endured the trembling of his Spirit and braved reading through the resource list. He finally saw the total cost of production given by the Chip– 1,350,000 magical crystals!

The base price of forging such a Second Grade magical equipment set was already 1,350,000 magical crystals. That didn’t even include the cost of the associated magical knowledge or the losses from failed attempts.

For the first time, Greem started to understand the significance and importance of knowledge and resources to an adept!

Even an extraordinarily talented genius adept would have no choice but to spend day after day toiling slowly to raise his Spirit if he didn’t possess sufficient influence and resources. Moreover, the power they obtained through their hard work would be insignificant to that of adepts who easily obtained powerful magical equipment through their clan.

Even the most intense of hard work, the most extraordinary of talents, would be crushed to pieces under a sea of resources and the thousand-year accumulation of a massive clan, turning into no more than footnotes for the defeated.

It was at this moment and this instant that Greem once again understood how convenient it was to control a mature adept organization with his hands. It made collecting knowledge and resources so much easier. Otherwise, he could only do like most other adepts did and join an adept clan reluctantly, offering his magic abilities in exchange for magical crystal rewards and some essential resources.

Rare resources and high-grade knowledge would still have to be obtained through life-risking ventures into the Black Forest or participation in interplanar wars. Otherwise, the high price of these things would be enough to crush any free adept without a clan to back them.

If they didn’t want to take risks, they would have to slowly collect the necessary knowledge and resources through long years of service. It undoubtedly took up an immense amount of time and energy.

As such, when Greem looked at the basic equipment models provided by the Chip, he wasn’t looking at magical equipment. He was looking at towering and unreachable mountains of magical crystals.

Greem would have to squeeze every last bit of juice out of the Crimson Clan’s reserves to even have a chance at completing this Fire Throne set. Consequently, he could not complete the set in a short amount of time!

The more practical solution was to choose one or two pieces of the set and forge those first to increase his combat power. Once the clan’s financial situation was in a better spot, he could consider creating the rest of the set pieces.

If that was to be the case, then which pieces should he choose?

Greem’s passionate gaze roamed about the five magical pieces as he gritted his teeth and considered how he should make his choice.

When compared to each other, the Burning Suncrown provided the highest resistance of the five set pieces. It was also clearly the core equipment of the set. However, the Ring of Fire it provided overlapped with Greem’s mastery of the same spell. If the effect of the two spells couldn’t be stacked, then the value and efficiency in picking it would be much lower.

Meanwhile, The Fearless’ most eye-catching skill was its ability to summon a group of fire creatures. Elementium golems could entirely replace this ability and could not complement or compensate Greem’s current abilities.

Now that these two pieces had been excluded, it was easier to make a choice. Greem only needed to choose between the Emblem of Fire, Ash, and the Fire Dragon’s Breath pendant.

Greem frowned and pondered the question for quite a while. Finally, he made up his mind and chose the Emblem of Fire and Ash, the boots. He already possessed plenty of offensive magic. A free Second Grade Dragon’s Breath spell wasn’t enough to attract his interest. Instead, the unique abilities of the other two magical equipment gave him something to look forward to.

The initial cost estimate of creating the Emblem of Fire and Ash was four hundred and sixty thousand magical crystals. Moreover, he would also have to purchase some fire dragon’s hide, fire agates of the highest quality, and a type of unique magical alloy known as Flameloathe Iron.

Greem had plenty of high-quality fire agates.

He had obtained these after scouring the nest of Second Grade Green Dragon Ohgu back in Faen Plane.

Flameloathe Iron was a more troublesome material to obtain. It was a unique magical material formed from Pyrophobic Stones found deep in volcanoes after they had been soaked in the blood of fire creatures for a long time. It was very rare for such a material to appear naturally. Consequently, they only truly emerged in the laboratories of high-grade alchemists.

If Greem needed it, his only choice was to send people to buy some from the forces scattered around Zhentarim. Of course, he could also find some in the shops and auctions that the Silver Union had set up in the central area. However, the price was proportional to its rarity.

It was the last material–a fire dragon’s hide–that troubled Greem the most!

It was hard to find large dragon-type beasts in the World of Adepts nowadays, not to mention pureblood fire dragons.

Since he was to forge a piece of Second Grade magical equipment, it was clear that a Second Grade fire dragon’s hide would be the most suitable material.

However, Greem might not be able to deal with a Second Grade fire dragon, even if he were to bring along all the Second Grade adepts in the clan. After all, dragons were universally known to be powerful beings. They had absolutely no problem fighting off multiple enemies.

Moreover, the dragons weren’t stupid either. If they were fighting a losing battle, they could just flap their wings and fly away. Greem and his adepts would have an immensely difficult time stopping them from escaping.

The only ones in the Crimson Clan who had the endurance to take a Second Grade fire dragon head-on were Dragonborn Zacha and Tigule’s Goblin Shredder. However, as a half-blood dragonborn, Zacha was very easily affected by a dragon’s aura of might.

It was likely that his legs would be trembling even before he started fighting.

It wasn’t his lack of courage, but his half-dragon bloodline being affected by the dragon’s presence!

The other tank, the Goblin Shredder, was agile on the ground despite its heavy metal body. However, it was no better than a clumsy bear when the battle took to the skies. Having it fly up into the air and intercept the dragon would be a comical sight.

The only ones in the clan who could match the dragons in flight speed were Mary and her blood knights and blood elves. However, these people were all pseudo-Second Grade. They had the attributes of Second Grade creatures, but they didn’t have the combat power to match.

Moreover, vampires naturally had a weakness they could not compensate for– their weak defenses and frail bodies. A massive dragon’s breath would be more than enough to exterminate the lot of them.

That was why Greem had often resorted to schemes and geography to constrain the dragons’ movements and flying abilities when facing them in the past. He would then fight as fast as he could and knock out the dragons with wild attacks in the shortest time possible, before they could even react.

Otherwise, once the dragons realized the situation they were in, they could easily use the advantage of their resilient bodies to drag the Crimson adepts into a guerilla war. When that happened, the ones who would die wouldn’t be the dragons, but Greem and his adepts!

All these troublesome matters made the crafting process almost impossible. Any other adept would probably have to choose a replacement material with similar attributes to a fire dragon’s hide. For example, the hide of a fire lizard, or the skin of a Blazebird.

However, Greem happened to have a certain Plane of Lance in his hands. Since there was a female fire dragon like the Third Grade Star of Apocalypse Philipa, it shouldn’t be a problem finding a suitable Second Grade fire dragon. It seemed there was one such Second Grade fire dragon in the dragonflight that had followed Philipa to assault the fortress.

Greem fell silent in thought and started contacting Brain Monster Gazlowe, who was far away in Lance.