Black-hand Kevin was back. And he'd heard some things he couldn't believe.
A group of newbies had killed Demon Vine Lady and Wind Devil. The first an Advanced Apprentice and the other a Pseudo Adept, both notorious in the Underground world for their strange and powerful abilities.
He himself had just returned with his squad, their hunting mission a success. So he was astonished to hear that such high profile deaths had occurred while he was also down there.
He immediately rushed to discover the identities of the responsible party, and found that it was none other than two of the newbies he recently ushered into this place.
A vampire and a body-refining apprentice. An unlikely duo… to say the least.
Both were following him right now, the annoyed vampire's near material glares boring into his back.
Apparently, he'd interrupted their early morning "fun," the obviously new couple taking every little chance they got to slake their recently developed thirsts.
Oh he'd heard the amorous sounds emanating from their room, he just didn't care.
These two, if their prowess was confirmed, would be valuable additions to his camp. Who cared if they were engaged in something as useless as sex? Was it more important than growing more powerful?
That's why he banged on their door anyway and told them to get cleaned up and follow him. He'd expected some minor pushback when he did that, after all, they were able to slay someone a realm above him and he'd interrupted their good time.
They had every reason to be annoyed and no reason to fear him whatsoever.
To his surprise though, the body-refining apprentice calmed his irritated partner down and said they'd be ready soon.
Black-hand assumed that perhaps the guy was humble and knew this was a big opportunity for them, or maybe his showing against the foolish Pseudo Adept a few days ago had left a lasting impression.
Either way, he'd gotten them to follow him. That was all that mattered. Now they just had to reach the camp. To do that, they had to fly. Hence their current location, the equivalent of an airport but for flying magical beasts.
"Socrates Condor. Advanced level wind elementium creature," Greem remarked in a low and even tone upon drawing close to a green and golden feathered behemoth of a bird.
"You know your magical creatures," Black-hand said and climbed one of the resting creatures, his presence on its back prompting it to stand up and unfurl its wings.
"That I do," Greem responded absentmindedly as he craned his neck to get the creature's full measure, its 3 meter height towering over him like an actual building.
He calculated its even wider wingspan while it made a few preparatory flaps, the strong, disturbed winds reaching him and Mary, their respective black and red manes flying back.
'Its wings and elementium control must be crazy strong to support its weight and flight. No wonder Adepts love them so much.'
Not wanting to keep his— wait, what was Black-hand even to him?
Not willing to waste their own and the assassin apprentice's time, Greem helped Mary—to the latter's delight and satisfaction—climb the giant bird before he joined her up there.
He didn't have to do anything. With a signal, he presumed, from Kevin, or its instilled training, the Condor stood straight, made a few strong flaps, and leapt into the air.
It soared to a great height immediately, catching the sun on its bicolored feathers, making it seem like they were sitting on a shiny gold carpet interlaced with jade threading.
The wind rushing past their faces and the bright blue sky with hanging clouds a simple reach away brought a special kind of relaxation to the lovebirds.
Black-hand looked back at them to laugh at their presumed panic and instead found them kissing, the vampire's thin arms wrapped around the body-refiner's thick neck as she hugged him from behind.
He shook his head and looked straight again. 'This relationship won't go anywhere.'
Due to the varying rates at which apprentices and Adepts progressed and the overall nature of the Adept world, loving relationships between its members were so scarce they might as well not exist.
Love had no place in their society.
A society that lorded benefits and cold hard rationality over everything else simply could not understand this concept. If Black-hand knew Greem was entertaining thoughts of a future where Mary was his wife, he might have actually done a spit take.
Why?
Adepts didn't get married. Ever. And rarely did they partner with one person for their immensely long lives. It had to be even worse for those that had ascended and gained immortality. In their case, variety was indeed and truly the spice of life.
The mere notion of making vows with a partner and honoring them like regular humans did would never cross their arrogant and powerful minds.
Unaware of the thoughts and opinions of the apprentice leading them… somewhere, Greem sat in a meditative position on the bird and enjoyed its smooth feathers, the sexy vampire pressed against him nuzzling into his neck, the magnificent view, and the tension melting breeze.
Mountains, hills, rivers, valleys, and dense forests teeming with wild creatures rolled by, the sight of nature in various forms having a profound, calming effect on the duo and adding to the experience.
Both wished they could stay airborne a little longer, but the magical avians lived up to their reputation and finished the 30 mile journey in no time.
Below them was a serene and picturesque valley, the mostly wooden training camp smack dab in its center.
Slowing the activity of their wings, the Condors began a slow descent and expertly dropped their cargo at the places obviously designated as such.
Upon climbing down his own, Black-hand tossed the bird a magic crystal and looked at the Greem and Mary, who moved their gazes to their bird, wondering if they should do same.
The cold and calculated intent in the beast's eyes was all the confirmation they needed.
They both tapped their storage belts, retrieved a crystal of solid magic each, and tossed it into the creature's waiting beak one after the other.
Watching the pleased avians move away to go and rest in their designated areas, Black-hand waved for Greem and Mary to follow him and started to explain his reasoning for dragging them here.
"This way. You'll gain nothing by mingling with those losers in your team and the public hall. Here, your combat skills and instincts will be sharpened. Here, you'll be made into Adepts!"
Greem had a funny look on his face as he shared a look with Mary, her frown devolving into something similar. Despite the cutthroat nature and harsh realities of the magical world, it seemed even people entrenched in it could still be dramatic.
There was hope for them then.
The speech didn't go unheard by the people already present in the camp. A loud, boisterous laugh came from the far distance in the direction they were heading and doused Black-hand's excitement like a bucket of water on a lit candle.
"Hey! Kevin! Which apprentices are you trying to fool this time with that cheesy speech of yours? Hurry up and bring them here."
His fervent expression and non infectious enthusiasm crushed, Black-hand visibly slumped and sped up, letting loose a few whispered curses along the way.
.
.
.
The camp had a simple layout.
On its east side stood a column of sturdy wood cabins, each of them constructed with tree sized logs. Looking to the west brought a haphazard arrangement of tents into one's sight, their sizes fit to accommodate one or two people each.
Taking up most of the space in the center were numerous segmented arenas filled with apprentices sparring against each other.
Colorful balls of elementium projectiles flew about, enchanted weapons clanged against each other, and minions and puppets surged forwards at their master's commands.
Greem and Mary followed Black-hand to a large crowd spectating one of these fights.
A fire elementium apprentice like the original Greem would have been, currently faced off against a body-refining apprentice like he was now, the latter wreathed in snakes of silver lightning.
With every wave of his axe, these silver serpents would fly like thunderbolts at the fire apprentice, smashing into the shields of compressed flame he had rotating around him and breaking through them somewhat.
Utilizing the flashing magical array beneath his feet, the fire apprentice dodged these remnants of the lightning attacks like an Agility focused apprentice would.
He didn't just sit there and let his opponent attack without retaliating however.
The basketball sized fireball he kept hovering above his open palm fired smaller versions of itself like a grenade launcher at his opponent, his rapid, dodging movements not affecting this in the slightest.
Weathering this literal firestorm with his powerful physique and lightning armor, the Body-Refining apprentice let out the occasional roar as he kept trying to charge forward, his intent to shrink the distance and throw his axe.
Those weak fire shields and the caster's even weaker body would crumble against such a powerful strike. The latter might not die, but the injuries he sustained would not allow him to continue. The fight would be over in an instant.
Keeping pace with Black-hand as he watched the fight unfold, Greem wiggled his nose at the pungent ozone in the air and thought about how most if not all of his future fights with elementium focused adepts would be similar to this.
He imagined dashing about the battlefield, trying his hardest to dodge the opponent's relentless attacks while also trying to draw closer so he could end the fight in one blow.
Following this train of thought, his mind naturally moved on to the Agility enhancing items he currently wore. He'd given the +1 Agility belt to Mary and replaced it with the +3 one he got from Angus.
Add that to the +4 cape he looted from Wind Devil and his +1 boots, talisman, and gauntlets, he'd solved the issue of his slow speed and drawing close to an enemy.
What remained was his defense.
Since most of his focus had remained on Agility for a while, he had not delved deeply into the issue of armor. And that wasn't good. Because not every attack was evadable or even detectable, like curses.
Oh he had measures in place for such occurrences, like his endless life force, defensive force field, and the curse alerting Screaming Tree Branch he always kept within his clothes. But they weren't enough… at least compared to the work he'd done on his Agility.
He already had some ideas on how to improve his defense, but he needed the right materials.
Hopefully, him joining this place would get him what he needed.
Cutting through the screaming and cheering crowd, Black-hand led Greem and Mary to the man who stood in the center, his bald head and sculpted physique bare for all to see.
The unrestrained aura of someone at the very peak of Pseudo Adept radiated from him in waves.
From what Greem could tell, the bald man with the abnormally chunky muscles was ready to advance and could attempt to do so at any time. As for how he knew this, his own aura gave off the same sensation when he unrestrained it fully.
After exchanging a short greeting with Black-hand, Hulk, as the others called him, alternated his gaze between Greem and Mary before shifting it to the dueling apprentices.
"Aren't you guys tired after jumping around like rabbits? Stop and get ready. The two of you will be fighting these newbies. They claim they killed Demon Vine Lady and Wind Devil. We'll see if that's really true."