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A small flying ship stopped above Fire Throne for a brief moment before quietly leaving half an hour later.

Inside the cabin, Greem was engaged in a casual conversation with a middle-aged adept in a white robe.

The man who came to fetch him was someone familiar to him. It was Laurent, Third Grade adept and leader of the Zhentarim Association’s Disciplinary Corps.

“Sir Greem, you haven’t been to Kerslin Castle since you became an adept, have you?” Compared to the last time they met, Laurent had a broad smile on his face and was as pleasant as a kindly elder.

However, Greem knew very well that Laurent’s hands had to be stained with the blood of adepts. He was the leader of the Disciplinary Corps, after all. Naturally, he wouldn’t usually be so friendly and easy to talk to.

Moreover, their last meeting in Rhein hadn’t exactly been pleasant. His attitude now was likely an attempt to ease the tension between them and to mend their relationship.

If he was willing to make peace, then Greem was perfectly ready to respond in kind. He also put on a gentle smile.

“Indeed. I have been so busy after advancing to an adept. It’s either running around searching for knowledge or dashing about looking for resources. Don’t even talk about the three major forces; I haven’t even been to half of Zhentarim’s regions! It’s a real shame.”

“Then you should take a proper tour around Kerslin Castle when you arrive. They produce some of the best magic wands and magical slaves there. If you don’t mind me, Sir Greem, I can personally accompany you on tour.”

If Adept Laurent’s attitude before this was mere etiquette, then what he said now was an attempt at currying favor. Greem might not know why Laurent was willing to lower himself as such, but he still had to express sufficient gratitude.

Perhaps sensing Greem easing up in his attitude, Laurent pressed closer to him and chuckled, “Sir Greem, you are going to be running into some old friends on your trip to Kerslin Castle this time. You had best prepare yourself, I’d say.”

Having said that, he steered the conversation to lighter grounds and started talking about exciting things happening all over Zhentarim.

As Greem responded half-heartedly to Adept Laurent and his naturally sociable antics, he silently pondered the words ‘old friends’ inside his head.

At their level, any adept below Third Grade could no longer be referred to as a friend. Laurent was hinting that he would likely ‘run into’ certain familiar Third Grade adepts at Kerslin Castle.

Who could it be?

Greem quickly ran through all the Third Grade adepts he knew in his mind. In the end, the Chip only projected one image.

A purple mist so dense that it was impossible to see through it.

It’s her.

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

Kerslin Castle.

Kerslin Castle was located in the center of Zhentarim. It did not belong to any adept clan or organization and was completely independent neutral ground.

That was because the headquarters of the Zhentarim Association was located here.

All land within five hundred square kilometers with Kerslin Castle at its heart was the private property of the Association. It was jointly managed by all fourteen Fourth Grade adepts of Zhentarim. They had their own independent adept squads and adept cultivation system. It could be considered the only joint force of Zhentarim that possessed the right to supervise, enforce, and punish others.

By the time the flying ship slowly landed on a parking spot near Kerslin Castle, a group of individuals dressed in brightly-colored adept robes was already waiting here.

Greem walked down the wooden plank in the company of Adept Laurent.

“Boss, you are finally back, and this must be the famous legendary fire adept, Lord Greem!” It was a muscular and big man that walked forward to greet them. He had a fierce-looking face, a slightly balding head, and a loud voice, giving off the impression that his entire body was brimming with explosive power.

“Come, come; let me introduce. This is my assistant, Tito. He’s a Third Grade body-refining adept. Tito, this is the Lord Greem that you’ve wanted to meet for so long!” Laurent introduced the two of them with a big smile on his face. For some reason, he pronounced the words ‘Third Grade body-refining adept’ especially hard, as if he was trying to hint at something.

“Hehehe, we body-refining adepts have a bunch of pent-up grievances over all these years thanks to you, Lord Greem! How about it? Let’s shake hands since it’s the first time we are meeting!” The muscular Tito greeted while extending his massive right hand, but he was chuckling coldly with a malicious expression in his face.

There was no such etiquette as a handshake amongst the adepts.

There were all sorts of magic and spells out there. Who knew whether the adept they met would have some sort of ability to trigger curses or poison through bodily contact. As such, most adepts greeted each other by placing their hands on their chests. They very rarely ever made physical contact with one another.

Obviously, in doing this, Tito was expressing his intent to have a showdown!

The adepts that gathered around them all had smiles on their faces. It seemed like they were all waiting for the result of their confrontation.

Greem was slightly surprised. He looked at Tito’s coarse and thick hands that seemed as powerful as an iron vise. His elementium sight could see terrifying amounts of magical energy gathering in his right hand.

To make an elementium adept like himself face off against a body-refining adept in a show of Strength! It seemed like this was an opening gambit by the opponent to take him down a notch!

Greem smiled and extended his right hand as if he had no idea what was happening. He gripped Tito’s hand firmly.

Greem’s base Strength was now at 20 points. In addition to the 5 points provided by Sodden’s Holy Ring and the 2 points from the Fire Throne set, he now had 27 points of Strength. This number might not be enough for him to beat a Third Grade body-refining adept in a fist-fight, but a simple handshake would be no problem.

Moreover, as a Third Grade fire adept, the fire forcefield shrouding his body was not something that an average person could bear either.

Thus, when Greem and Tito gripped each other’s hands, their faces instantly turned dark.

Greem felt like he had put his right hand into a blender. An incomparably violent force quickly crushed Greem’s 27 points of Strength. For the next thirty seconds, this tremendous force was like a continually stirring blender, crushing and devastating Greem’s frail finger bones and flesh in all sorts of different ways.

There was no need to scan with his Chip. From the intense pain shooting through his arm, Greem could tell that most of his bones in his hand were now fractured. The flesh and tendons acting as a buffer to his bones had also been crushed into a bloody, pulpy mess now.

Surprisingly, despite the tremendous force that Tito was exerting, the skin on Greem’s right hand was still perfectly untouched. It made it look like everything was perfectly normal, even though the internals were already crushed and destroyed beyond recognition.

However, Greem was not the kind of person who would sit by without retaliating!

The translucent fire forcefield wrapped around his right hand had increased to a speechless degree. While Tito was overwhelming him with Strength, Greem’s fire forcefield had already seeped into Tito’s skin, cooking, burning, and reducing to cinders his right hand in an unimaginable fashion.

Of course, for the sake of maintaining etiquette in their appearances, Greem also made sure not to hurt Tito’s skin in the slightest. However, the flesh, tendons, and blood vessels beneath the surface were quickly turning from red to dark red from the vicious heat, before turning into dark purple-black.

Their hands were still firmly gripped with pleasant smiles fixed on their faces.

However, one of their right hands was creaking and cracking with the sound of breaking finger bones, while the other person’s right hand was rapidly turning black while giving off a faint smell of cooked meat.

Both of them were bracing with all they had, while still having to maintain surface friendliness in their behavior. As such, their expressions gradually started to distort and turn weird.

“Alright, alright. Don’t be so passionate when it’s the first time you’re meeting. I still have to bring Lord Greem on a tour around the entire castle. Stop now, won’t you!” Laurent, who had been watching the whole thing from the side with a smile on his face, stepped forward to wrap up the showdown.

Greem was the Association’s guest, after all. Preparing an opening gambit for him that didn’t really hurt anyone’s feelings or reputation was no problem. However, if they were to crush his right hand upon arrival, it would appear as if the Association was far too severe and underhanded.

Both adepts laughed awkwardly and let go of their opponent’s hand.

Greem subtly slipped his right hand into his robe and turned to nod at the other Third Grade adepts around them.

“How is it? How’s the fire adept’s Strength?” Laurent secretly sent a voice transmission to Tito without betraying any expression on his face.

“His Strength is at 27 points. That’s incredibly high for an elementium adept. I wrecked his right hand. He won’t be able to recover completely and use his hand without three to five days of rest.”

“Haha! Buddy, great jo...”

“But my right hand’s wrecked as well!”

“Er...”

“That guy’s fire is overbearing. It almost cooked all of the flesh and bones in my hand.”

“Alright, then. Go back and treat your wounds. I’ll show him around!”

Naturally, knowledge of such a thing happening upon meeting couldn’t be allowed to get out. It was only spread amongst a tiny circle consisting of the Association’s higher-ups.

According to Tito’s estimation, this legendary fire adept had 27 points of Strength and 24 points of Physique. That was undoubtedly far too high for an elementium adept.

After all, elementium adepts relied on their Spirit. Wasting large amounts of time on Physique and Strength was undoubtedly a colossal waste of resources.

An ordinary Third Grade elementium adept would be able to deal with most dangerous environments with more than 10 points of Strength and Physique. Only top-tier adepts cultivated by the major forces would be able to raise all of their secondary attributes to such heights, due to their plentiful resources and efficient cultivation system.

It wasn’t surprising that someone like Greem could defend against the violent power of a Fourth Grade adept and exhaust all of his stamina. Even though he was clearly an elementium adept, he had a powerful Physique that did not lose to bloodline adepts.

Of course, the Fourth Grade magical golem dragon was still the main determining factor in his victory.

That said, if Greem wasn’t sustained by such an unbelievable Physique, he would not be able to control the golem dragon and keep fighting for such an extended period!

After greeting all the Association adepts who had specially come here to receive him, Greem walked into the Kerslin Castle he had heard so much about while in Launrent’s company.