Swamp Tower, fifth floor…
Hovering a short distance from the ceiling in a large and expansive chamber, Greem had his wings completely unfurled and spread out.
Apart from a barely audible hum, the place was silent, the several meter long flight appendages not flapping as one would expect.
They were completely stationary, their propelling function taken over by the small contraption responsible for the low hum, the rocket pack affixed to Greem's upper back.
Clad in a black sleeveless black vest that doubled as armor and a harness, gloves, bracers, boots, and pants of the same color, Greem was currently engaged in flight training.
He'd figured out the control mechanism for the jetpack a month ago. He could now adjust the thrust and power output with dial-like precision.
Since then, he took an hour or two out of each day to test the various velocities he could reach with the booster and master its usage at such speeds.
The mode he had active currently was the pack's lowest possible setting, the generated thrust capable of holding his 360 pounds aloft without issue.
And it didn't even rely on wind elementium, just normal oxygen.
After his first disastrous test, Greem had installed two air intake grills at the top end of the pack, enchanted them with Gravity magic, and connected them to the combustion chamber with pipes.
This was because the lowest possible amount of wind elementium mixed with the flames in the combustion chamber produced speeds of around 100 m/s and nothing lower.
This led to an interesting scene where he fired up the pack for the first time and slammed head first into the ceiling of this very room.
Granted, it was the latter that ended up the damaged party with his cranium none the worse for wear, but it was still unacceptable, hence the grills.
Having already practiced and gotten used to hovering and maneuvering around in this low power state—walking and running included—it was time to take things to the next level.
Today's training session was about achieving instant bursts of speed.
Due to the intense, high stakes nature of Adept battles, Greem wanted to completely master the ability to cover large stretches of distance at the drop of a hat.
Such quickness would be the deciding factor in whether he lived or died in the upcoming planar war and any subsequent battles.
If things were not somehow different from what he remembered, he and his compatriots would be facing off against the Second and Third Grades of the plane they'd be invading.
As such, it was paramount that he got this method of mobility down to a tee.
His focus primed to the utmost, he leaned forward slightly and zeroed in on a spot hundred meters away. He then controlled the "dial" responsible for discharging the elementium from five wind cores.
For just a split second, he twisted the control and returned it to normal, sending a small stream of cyan wind particles into the waiting arms of the four thousand degree flames in the chamber.
The mixture instantly combusted and expelled the superhot magical gases from the booster's open end, shooting him forward and past the location he intended.
A loud, thunder-like explosion accompanied his super fast movements, the wind itself roaring from being torn apart so suddenly.
The entire affair was quick and instant like he desired, and the overshot was only three meters, but he wasn't satisfied.
He wanted it to be as precise as possible. He refused to accept unknown variables in something concerning his survival.
So he kept up the practice, finding another location the same hundred meters away before leaning and exploding towards it.
In this manner, a full hour passed as the sound of jets taking off in quick succession bounced off the walls of the magically expanded training room.
Up, down, left, right… even backwards, Greem practiced accelerating in all these directions for when the situation demanded it, his wings not flapping even once, only serving as stabilizers and aerodynamic control surfaces.
Leaning his shoulder slightly to the left, he blasted off towards a predetermined spot, going about two meters past it.
He spun upon arrival, his heavy and powerful wings sweeping through the air audibly before his right leg shot out and kicked at an imaginary enemy.
Thoughts of this figure blasting away with ruined innards filled his mind, but they were quickly replaced by curiosity when he got an alert from his upgraded identification talisman.
Anderson was sending him a message.
☀☀☀
To put it in Worm terms, Anderson had been completely mastered.
If Greem asked him to go against his official masters—the Sarubo clan—he would obey and execute this order wholeheartedly, despite his massive cowardice and the obvious folly in doing so.
Because the various forms of mastering in that ultra depressing reality manipulated some bodily aspect of an individual and not their intangible minds or souls, extensive testing on mastered individuals could blow the offending master's cover wide open.
That wasn't the case for Greem and Anderson.
The work Greem had done on him was soul deep, the changes so precise and ultra fine that even Adepts of higher grades would be hard-pressed to find anything amiss even if his soul was bared completely.
On the outside, Anderson was his usual negligent and secluded self.
But with a single word or the right signal from Greem, he'd turn into his real, remodeled self, a subservient old man eager to carry out his master's wishes.
Despite this however, Greem had freely exercised such control in the tower only once, getting the confidence to do so after first setting up multilayered obscuration fields and checking his observation detection ring to ensure it was cool the entire period.
He hadn't entirely figured out how the clan heads kept watch on the happenings in the tower, but he knew for a fact they did.
If he messed around and they found out he had brainwashed one of theirs—albeit a somewhat useless one—Greem was certain to get a "visit" from the Third Grade serving as their current head.
So he kept the trigger word under wraps and used the coin to plant subliminal messages in Anderson's mind.
While the latter went about his normal daily habits, completely unaware of his forced servitude, he'd spend some of the time completing these tasks, his conscious mind not even registering the actions.
One of these tasks was to monitor the swamp.
Greem wanted to be alerted the instant any intruders broke in, and the person he'd been expecting to barge in here at any time had done just that.
Hearing the matching name and description being relayed through the talisman, a small smile formed on his face.
His massive wings disappeared as he sucked them into the marks on his shoulder blades, the rocket pack deactivating and dropping him on the ground with a dull thump.
Landing feet first without issue, he exited the training room and kept the pack affixed to his back since he was going to use it again soon.
He instead found the staircase that led downwards and started a descent to the lowest floor.
With the confidence and ease one would prance about in their backyard, he glided down the steps with his hands crossed behind him, his agility eclipsing that of a panther.
On the third and second floors, his brief appearances there drew gazes of awe and worship, the apprentices having somewhat gotten over their shock at his advancement.
In the past month, he had taken one hour out of each day to train with Tony.
During these sessions, he taught the barbarian apprentice everything he knew about the Levitate spell. After a single week, Tony could cast it after ten seconds of intense concentration.
Now, he only needed to practice frequently with it and he'd maybe get to the five seconds Greem achieved as an apprentice.
The tutor in question doubted his student would be able to, but that wasn't the important thing about this.
News of his exceptional tutorship of Tony had somehow spread to the other apprentices, leading to some of them approaching the barbarian to find out how they could receive such similar favor from Greem.
Inundated with requests and messages left and right, Tony ran to his master and relayed the news to him.
Greem nearly facepalmed upon processing the news.
He'd been so caught up in getting used to the power aspect of being an Adept that he'd forgotten the intricacies of the status side of things.
He, Mary, and Anderson were now equals in the tower, meaning they were all responsible for nurturing the apprentices in it.
Sufficiently aware of Mary's temperament and stance regarding this issue, he didn't bother asking her to join in.
He only asked her to take Tony along on her hunting missions so that he'd benefit from the magical meat of the creatures she took down.
On his end, he transcribed his understanding of the various elementium natures, summarized them, and distributed them freely in the tower.
He also had Tony gather topics the apprentices were interested in before the latter left with Mary.
With all that info, he patched up his knowledge where it was needed and held a three hour lecture where he answered any and all questions thrown his way.
Needless to say, his reputation among the apprentices had soared massively, their opinions on him vastly superior to that of Anderson.
Another lecture had been planned for this month and the subsequent ones, and they'd follow the same format of the students coming with questions regarding anything they had issues with.
As for one on one meetings to address issues of advancement and path choices, he was holding off on that till he had a proper system in place.
Still, this didn't diminish the worship directed his way wherever he went. Overall, the dull and dreary atmosphere within the tower's confines had reduced noticeably.
There were even more smiles.
Feeling oddly pleasant and fulfilled, Greem maintained a content expression as he stepped onto the first floor.
He sent a nod towards Wallace, the apprentice teaching the new kids and shifted his attention to the stone door leading out the tower.
Having Adept level clearance like Anderson did, he didn't chant any spell and only sent forth his Spirit and intent. The doors heeded his will and split apart, revealing the ever foggy swamp.
Standing right outside a few meters away was Alice, the petite girl dressed in a summer princess dress.
Her doll-like expression morphed into immense rage upon setting eyes on Greem. "Where is she?! Where's that disgusting vampire?"
The recipient of her question ignored it and shifted his gaze to the apprentice at her feet, a frown overtaking his features.
Using presumably, her spatial abilities, Alice had twisted the limbs of the unlucky girl, the latter's shaky breaths and agony stricken face streaked with tears as.
Following his gaze, Alice looked down at her feet and snorted. She opened her mouth to say something when something massive cast a shadow over her briefly.
Kneeling near the apprentice looking at him with hope, Greem placed his large hand over her forehead and used a ring he'd enchanted with Spirit magic to deaden her nerves and put her to sleep.
Meat Vision guiding his actions, he reset the girl's limbs and lined up the torn and damaged tissues before feeding her a healing potion.
Once he confirmed the wounds were being mended, he took out his talisman and sent a message to Ellen and focused his cold gaze on the impatient Alice.
"What? I was just playing with her. It's not my fault she can't take a joke."
Unwilling to unravel the plethora of issues with that demented thought process, he stood up and cut straight to the heart of the issue.
"Mary isn't here. But even if she were, you're looking for the wrong person," he said, his cold expression shifting to mockery. "I was the one who shot the arrows that day. I figured out the weakness of your shield."
"YOU! Bastard!" Alice shrieked, her eyes shooting invisible flames as space cracked around twitching right hand. Her voice and expression immediately turned icy, her childlike demeanor gone like it was never there.
"Tell me how you did it! Or—"
"Or nothing. We beat you fair and square. If you want the secret, you'll have to force it out of me."
A confident, toothy smile promising pain and suffering forming on her face, Alice floated a small distance off the ground and said, "Deal… I'm going to enjoy making you suffer."
She turned to move outside the swamp for the battle, only for Greem to stop her teleport attempt with his next words. "What do I get in return?"
"What?" Alice couldn't believe her ears. Did this guy really think he had a chance of winning? He could sense her aura right? That she'd become a Pseudo Adept?
"If you win, you get to do whatever you want with me. Shouldn't I get the same thing in return?"
Eager and itching to teach this insolent, weak-as-paper body-refiner a lesson, the space apprentice held out a dainty hand and a scroll rippling with magic appeared in it.
"Sign this so the bet is official. If you win, I become your slave. If I win, you're mine to do with as I please."
With a smile that made her wary for some reason, Greem signed the contract with his brand and the scroll erupted into flames, the principle chain representing the planar laws sinking into him and tying them together.
O little lamb…
****
Author's note:
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