Chapter 721 Grand Banquet
Greem and Mary's appearance immediately brought the clan banquet to its first climax!
Greem was not a body-refining adept and had none of their strong, steel-like muscles. However, his two-meter body was still perfectly proportioned and in excellent shape.
He possessed tough and well-defined muscles, smooth skin with a gleam of red, and unique tattoos that covered his entire neck.
Greem stood proudly in front of everyone, his long crimson hair running down his back and almost reaching his waist. Paired with the intimidating scarlet light in his black eyes, he radiated an aura of wickedness, mystery, and wisdom rolled into one.
Mary, holding hands with him, was also brimming with charm!
She was an absolute beauty; ripe and pretty.
Mary's face was delicate and flawless, with distinct features. Her small, red lips spread in a lazy yet satisfied smile. Her shining crimson eyes were like two pure and clear rubies embedded in her perfect face, enchanting and bewitching.
Mary wasn't in the habit of always wearing armor. Most of her white and slender skin was exposed, and only a thin silk dress was draped across her sexy body. The outfit wasn't too large either. The upper half of it was barely able to cover a portion of her breasts, while the lower half didn't go below her knees, revealing plenty of snow white flesh.
Such a dress would better be said to be seduction rather than concealment!
Mary's attractive appearance made it hard for others to associate her with the idea of an evil adept. However, the pair of small but delicate bat wings on her back, as well as her blood-red eyes, were constant reminders of her true identity.
It was like a dangerous and forbidden game of thrills. Step by step, Mary ensnared the ignorant and drew them into her enchanting and blazing flames.
For some reason, when all the females at the scene saw the handsome, yet also gentlemanly, male adept walk with Mary's hands in his own, they felt a trace of disappointment surge up their hearts, even as they were awestruck at the sight of the couple.
If…if only the hand that Lord Greem was currently holding was theirs. How perfect would that be?
Mary's crimson eyes swept across the field and a light smile once again appeared on her face.
Everyone who was swooning promptly broke free of their daydream when Mary's gaze swept across them. They hurriedly offered their most passionate applause and smiles. Just now, their Spirits had barely come into contact with Mary's own bloody and intense Spirit, and theirs had immediately shrunk into their bodies like rabbits running into wolves.
It was only at this moment that they came to the chilling realization that the target of their envy had been a genuine Second Grade adept
If they had infuriated her, no one here would be able to shield them from her fury and punishment!
"You are very charming, did you know," Mary continued to walk forward elegantly as she communicated with Greem mentally, "I sensed a trace of murderous intent in the eyes of those few girls just now!"
A light smile still hung upon Greem's face. He continued to nod and acknowledge all of his guests, even as he replied, "I am a conservative man! You wear something so revealing again, and I will spank you on the ass when we get back."
"Spank me if you want to. It's not like you haven't done that before…"
That was what Mary said, but red mist still shimmered around her.
In the blink of an eye, her seductive and revealing red dress had been replaced by a perfect and delicate red gown. She had changed so fast that Greem hadn't captured her movements at all.
"Let's make this clear first. I'll listen to you this time, but you will have to play a game of queen with me when we get back!" Mary rolled her eyes as an idea popped into her head.
Greem laughed, and a dominating aura burst forth from his muscular body.
"Sure. As long as you beat me, I'll listen to anything you say!"
Mary instantly went berserk over this!
Greem let go of Mary's dangerous hand without being fazed, walked to the center of the hall, and clapped twice.
Seeing that the clan head had a speech to make, everyone quickly went silent and held their breaths as they listened to this legendary man.
"Crimson Adepts. As your clan leader, I have to drink three glasses with everyone here today."
"After so many planar wars, several familiar individuals among us have departed forever. This first glass is dedicated to our companions who have sacrificed themselves for the cause of the clan! To Sabrina, and to Endor."
Greem drank all the wine in his glass in a single shot.
"To Sabrina…"
"To Endor…"
The adepts responded loudly, drinking alongside their leader with solemn expressions.
The waitresses in the room hurriedly walked around and refilled their cups.
"This second glass is to you, everyone here in the hall! It is your combined efforts and endeavors that allowed the Crimson Clan a chance to progress steadily. To everyone."
Greem once again finished his glass.
Excitement took over the faces of all the adepts as they downed their drinks as well.
"This third glass is dedicated to our glorious future! I believe that with everyone's effort, the Crimson Clan and all of us here will achieve our dreams and walk toward glory."
All the adepts roared in agreement and raised their glasses for yet another drink.
In particular, Snorlax's sharp voice stood out very much.
With the soaring morale and the fiery atmosphere in place, Greem took the opportunity to loudly announce the internal rewards for the clan adepts.
The trip to the Faen Plane had been a bountiful one. They might have suffered tremendous losses, but their bounties were equally as great. This was the best time for the clan adepts to share in the boons of the war.
The rewards for all adepts that had participated in the planar war were four to five times that of stationed adepts. Moreover, they'd also had the chance to gather personal loot and resources on the battlefield. With the announcement of these battle merits, the core and peripheral members of the clan became apparent at a single glance.
One had to acknowledge that Mary and Billis were the ones who profited the most from Faen this time.
They had both led troops to assault the elves, creating the perfect battlefield for the main force of the clan to attack the central mountains.
As a Second Grade vampire adept, Mary had even gathered many powerful servants about her. No one would have been surprised at her being at the top of the battle merit rankings. However, Billis' ranking over the other two Second Grade adepts as a First Grade himself, second only to Mary, was undoubtedly beyond everyone's expectations.
Greem announced to everyone present that Billis would become a core adept of the Crimson Clan. From here on out, he would be able to enjoy the treatment reserved for Second Grade adepts, even before he had advanced. That meant that Greem was optimistic about Billis' development and that he was prepared to cultivate him as the sixth Second Grade adept of the clan.
All the adepts and pseudo-adepts of the clan couldn't help but cast an envious gaze at Billis after hearing all this. They knew very well that Bug Adept Billis would become a new rising star in the Crimson Clan.
The only thing they could do was raise their glasses and give their respects.
Billis wrapped himself in thick layers of robes and cloaks, even during the banquet; not a piece of skin was showing. His evolution had been too thorough, leaving not a trace of humanity upon his body. He looked exactly like a bug person.
To avoid frightening everyone he came across, Billis could only hide his looks with thick robes wherever he went. It was the only way to avoid the fearful and shocked looks he got from others.
Despite the honor he had just received, Billis wasn't at all complacent. He returned the congratulations of his peers by raising the wineglass with his insect claws under his deerskin gloves. The four beady eyes under his hood glowed with a fearsome green light.
As one of the most committed participants of the Faen Plane expedition, Billis knew very well that the clan's journey into the other plane had not been for resources or prisoners. It had been for the Fate Witches located in the cold north.
The number of resources and prisoners obtained from this battle had been secondary. Most importantly, Alice had successfully advanced to Second Grade, and the Fate Witches were finally showing signs of assimilation with the Crimson Clan.
The most significant gain for the Crimson Clan this time was obtaining the trust and dependence of the Fate Witches led by Alice.
That was why, unknown to outsiders, the Tower of Fate in the Northern Lands had secretly become an outpost of the Crimson Clan.
The powerful Second Grade Fire Adept Crimson Clan Leader Greem had Bloody Queen Mary's full support on his left, and Fate Witch Leader Alice's complete aid on the right. Given a chance to develop his forces, Greem would be fated to soar up high and become unstoppable by any power or individual.
It was because Billis was perfectly aware of this that he tucked away all ambition and desires that he should not have and started to consider his relationship with Greem seriously.
His body had been bestowed upon him by Greem. Even the Queen Bug that had completely assimilated with his soul had been given to him by Greem. Consequently, Billis could not stop Greem from retaliating if he ever had thoughts of rebellion.
Perhaps continuing to stay in the Crimson Clan was a decent choice as well!
Just as the Crimson Clan was celebrating, the Tower of Fate in the Northern Lands was also undergoing a time of both pain and celebration.
Their leader Alice had successfully returned and had advanced to Second Grade. It was undoubtedly deserving of celebration. However, four of the seven Fate Witches that had accompanied her had permanently died upon that distant otherworld.
It was undoubtedly yet another heavy blow to the Fate Witches who had just started growing stronger!
That was why after the prisoners and spoils taken from Faen had been distributed by Icelady Snowlotus and Berserk Witch Sofia, Alice walked to the cold and deserted astrology platform alone.
Here, in this lonely and quiet world of solitude, Alice hugged her knees and sat in the corner of the hall. She looked at the starry sky above, two streaks of tears silently flowing down her cheeks.
It was only now that she could be herself, without any reservations, and cry all she wanted for her dead Granny Endor.
Chapter 722 The Rise of the Crimson Clan
The return of the clan's main force bolstered the morale of the Crimson Clan.
Some time ago, the clan had almost sealed off the Fire Cave that led to Fire Throne in order to prevent the tower from being invaded by enemies while it was relatively undefended.
Of course, no such problems existed now.
Fire Throne, Magma Hall, and Fire Cave were once again open to the public. The mercenaries, adventurers, and apprentices that had been waiting all along had surged into the underground adept's tower, turning it into a lively place once again.
Moreover, any of the outsiders that entered Fire Throne immediately discovered some things that were compeletely different from before.
First, the tower's defense system had become even stricter.
In the past, Fire Throne's security and patrolling tasks had always been managed by the manticores and the security arrays due to a lack of sufficient voodoo beasts. Now, these menial and tiresome jobs were left to some odd magical machines.
Unlike the usual metallic golems that other towers had, these magical machines had clear signs of otherworldly styles and designs. The energy circulation and combat systems were also radically different from the golem constructs of the World of Adepts.
Either way, these new forces meant that Fire Throne's strength had increased.
Second, a new batch of nature treasures had started to appear in the markets of Fire Throne.
Be it thousand-year treehearts, unicorn horns, or even large stocks of enchanted longswords, elven longbows, and nature staffs, the items all suggested something more to what had happened to the clan. The marks of a massive otherworldly civilization could be seen in these treasures.
Such a large number of alien treasures and weapons appearing in Fire Throne could only mean that the Crimson Clan had successfully conquered another plane again. Moreover, that plane was home to plenty of nature creatures.
Some more conniving individuals spread this information to the outside, instantly drawing the attention of the few adept clans around the area.
It was clear from the items that Fire Throne was showing to the outside world that the Crimson Clan had, at the very least, successfully conquered two to three otherworldly planes with completely different power systems. More importantly, their losses didn't seem to be too immense. At the very least, the known members of the Crimson Clan were all still present; there was no obvious thinning of their numbers.
That was actually the one thing the other clans couldn't understand!
Any adept clan that has tried a planar invasion would understand the difficulty of such a task.
Trying to devour an entire plane with the strength of a mere adept clan was extremely difficult. A dozen adepts sent over to another plane would have trouble establishing a firm outpost, let alone conquering an entire plane.
One simple mistake and you could be surrounded by the plane natives and exterminated.
On the surface, this so-called Crimson Clan only had seven or eight adepts of various grades. Moreover, most of them were First Grade adepts. What techniques had they relied on to obtain these victories, one after another?
Luck? Weak enemies? Powerful allies?
It was these questions that caused neighboring adept clans to turn their attention to this newly established Crimson Clan.
It still wasn't much of a fuss until all the adept clans attempted to investigate the Crimson Clan's strength!
No one when it had happened, but the weak Crimson Clan in their minds actually already possessed nine Second Grades.
Crimson Clan Leader Greem was a Second Grade fire adept, Bloody Queen Adept Mary was a vampire adept, Dragonborn Zacha a Second Grade magical warrior, and Goblin Tigule could pilot the Second Grade Goblin Shredder. Apart from these individuals, there were also two Second Grade Blood Knights and three Second Grade Blood Elves in the Crimson Clan.
These odd magical creatures might not have been able compare to orthodox Second Grade adepts. But when combined, their forces were still a terrifying one to watch out for.
Compared to the Second Grades, the number of First Grades in the Crimson Clan seemed very low.
There were: Earth Adept Meryl (Intermediate First Grade), Bug Adept Billis (Peak First Grade), Wind Adept Deserra (Beginner First Grade), Medusa Dana (Advanced First Grade), Manticore Charon (Advanced First Grade), Potions Master Gargamel (Intermediate First Grade), Forest Spirit Eva (Intermediate First Grade), Nature Adept Emelia (Beginner First Grade), Goblin Snorlax (Beginner First Grade), Old Fox Vanlier (Intermediate First Grade) and six Blood Elves (Beginner First Grade).
In any other adept clan, the First Grade adepts were the most numerous since they were the fundamental fighting force. On the other hand, the number of Second Grade adepts, who functioned as the critical fighting force, was the lowest.
However, this principle of most clans' development didn't seem to hold true for the Crimson Clan.
The number of Second Grades in the Crimson Clan showed signs of overtaking that of the First Grade members. This…this was almost unbelievable!
Moreover, most adept clans had to try their utmost to expand their territories. They used their tower, resource sites,castles, and other facilities to act as nexuses to control even more land and population. It was the only way to discover more apprentices with adept talents and establish a proper and organized system of cultivating adepts.
However, the Crimson Clan was a misfit in that manner. Not only was their clan headquarters located inside the Black Forest, there was also no population or land around them for them to control. Even the clan adepts behaved like hermits, rarely ever leaving the small tower buried deep underground.
This caused the Crimson Clan to appear out of place alongside the other adept clans. They were like carriages on completely parallel lines. Both parties would have had nothing to do with each other if it weren't for the other clans deliberately trying to find out more about the Crimson Clan.
However, with the increase of the clan's strength, there was no longer a need for them to maintain their previous mystique.
The development of the clan and the improvement of the adepts could not be separated from resources and knowledge. Relying solely on one's own clan to passively gather these things would undoubtedly be a very slow process. It would also affect the rate of improvement for the clan adepts.
That was why, with Greem's approval, most of the nature treasures, weapons, and a group of the forest elves were put on auction at Fire Throne. With Snorlax as the host, they successfully attracted many clan representatives and slave merchants around Zhentarim, allowing the strength of the clan to slowly but surely increase.
Fire Throne was no longer that rural place lacking in resources and materials. Instead, it had become a well-visited hub of Ailovis in the central lands.
With Fire Throne at the forefront, the land between it and Pinecone Town became 'familiar land.'
The small forest paths gradually became large, clear roads. The forest beasts and magical creatures that lived in these areas were all exterminated by visiting monster hunters and adventurers. As a result, several small settlements started to appear and develop into human towns.
The Black Forest was slowly pushed back toward the north, returning the area around Fire Throne, and a hundred kilometers to the south of the tower, to the humans.
However, according to the agreement between Greem and the Zhentarim Association, this newly excavated land would all belong to the Association. It would be managed and ruled over by individuals sent by the Association.
The adepts of the Crimson Clan might have been upset by this, but they were intimidated by the name of the Zhentarim Association, so no one dared to step forth and complain.
It was deep in the winter.
A delicate and luxurious noble's carriage slowly cruised along the forest road.
The last trace of sunlight vanished under the dark sea of trees over the distant horizon, causing the road to turn dark and sinister.
Even though the large carnivorous beasts in the nearby woods had mostly been driven away, it was still dangerous to travel through here alone at night.
Willems pulled apart the curtains of the carriage and gazed into the deep and sprawling forest as he fell into deep thought.
The cold night breeze entered the carriage along the road, chilling him to his bones and causing him to shiver.
Willems tugged on the delicate noble's cape he wore and covered the equally fancy armor beneath it. As the eldest son of the Andorras, he was a noble with the title of Baron. He had also learned the ways of horsemanship and horseback fighting with knights and wasn't simply an entitled and weak noble.
It was at this moment that a desolate and drawn-out wolf's howl rang out from the depths of the forest, instantly throwing Willems into a panic.
"Jem, can we reach Fire Throne by tonight?" Finally, the long and lonely trip made him ask this childish question to the butler and coachman that had followed him all these years.
"My Lord, I'm afraid we can't reach it tonight!" Coachman Jem blew out a breath of warm air from his mouth to warm his hands as he said, "There's still over twenty kilometers of mountain road from here to Fire Throne. We will probably have to stop and stay over at Goathorn Village."
"Goathorn Village." Just the lowly and crude name alone informed Willems of how shabby the place was. It probably had no facilities and only consisted of rundown straw houses.
That meant no warm and comfortable guest rooms, no delicious bread or warm soup, and definitely no beautiful ladies that could uplift his spirits. Willems became irritated, once again uncertain of the mission he bore upon his shoulders.
The man sighed helplessly and let go of the curtains, blocking out the cool air from the outside.
Once Willems' mood had recovered, he took out the ancient and elegant magical parchment and unrolled it.
The delicate lines of words written on the parchment with magical ink appeared before his eyes.
"……hereby appoints the eldest son of the Andorra family, Baron Willems, to proceed to XXX and take charge of all the land, produce, and population there. He is to be the undisputed ruler."
At the end of the parchment, the unique magical seal of the Zhentarim Association could be seen, along with the magical brand of two of its elders.
There was a new lord for this place!