Miles away in the forward base, Keoghan paused the retrieval of the robot beasts from his storage item and extended his Spirit to better pick up the magic ripples of Mary's roar.
Clearly sensing the prideful and domineering intent in the vampire's challenge, the ever-present stern expression on his face shifted into an ugly smile.
"What a woman. Vampires like her are so rare. It's unfortunate…" he turned to look in the direction Greem left in, shaking his head and returning to his task.
It was no secret that the two were lovers, their bond unusually tight for Adepts. Mary in particular, deferred to Greem in a way that was rarely seen among individuals of their level.
Either he was that good of a lover or he'd charmed the young vampire with some mysterious means.
There was no other way for him to have wrapped a member of a race known not just for their manic bloodlust but for their volatile temperaments around his finger so tightly.
Shrugging, he traced the air and outlined multiple glowing magical runes.
With simple intent and a flick of his finger, he directed them into the cores of the robotic creatures he'd summoned and they came alive with creaks of aged machinery.
When they stood to their full heights of 3 meters, he directed them to join the construction efforts around the base, assigning them to assist the Adepts already present and hard at work.
Less than an hour had passed since they arrived, but all traces of grass in the clearing had been removed. The ground had also been flattened and hardened.
The skeletons of multiple houses could be seen, the one around Lord Sarubo's projection and the space vortex being the most detailed and farther along than the others.
Keoghan surveyed all this activity and found things coming along nicely.
Regarding the base's development, his work was done. It was time to focus on security.
On that front, he summoned more robotic beasts and activated them, directing them towards the forest to cut down trees to build him a structure specifically for him.
While the beasts felled the trees, he retrieved a talisman from his robe and sent a message to Greem.
☀☀☀
Nothing in his visage or appearance suggesting he'd spent three days without an ounce of sleep, Greem marched into the forward base with the cries, roars, and shrieks of beast trailing him.
Dragged along the ground by a veritable army of golems, the captured forest creatures were right to struggle even though it was pointless. After all, they'd soon end up as like the horrific abomination currently standing in his way.
Slowing down the activity of its wings, the winged dragon knight holding a spear with a light blue glow stopped in front of him and leaned forward, sniffing.
This… "winged dragon knight" was one of Keoghan's creations. A voodoo beast. Greem could tell that a wyvern he delivered to the Adept went into its creation.
As for the muscular male Keoghan had cleaved in half and sewed onto the beast's back, he had now idea where the Adept procured him from.
While the horrifying amalgam of man and beast verified his identity through the scent of Lethon on him, Greem also assessed the thick stench of blood around it and shifted his eyes to the source.
At the bloodstained point where man and beast met, thick and bloody corpse-weaving threads joining and holding them together entered his sight.
'Keoghan must be rushing through his stock…' he thought and advanced when the creature beat its wings and took off after confirming his identity.
Striding forward and making sure to bring the voodoo beast creator's wailing gifts along, he surveyed the massive changes that had taken place in the base.
The valley and the field where the base was located looked nothing like it did three days ago, its appearance similar to a small town from how many completed structures were in it.
Surrounded on all sides by the stone and wooden houses, a single stone tower housing the clan head's projection and the space vortex stood in the base's center. It had no windows, only a single entrance.
Greem observed the tower and houses for a short moment, looking to see if Mary had arrived at some point to choose one of the latter as her own.
He found nothing indicating that, so he moved his attention to the various voodoo beasts patrolling the perimeter.
They were all creatures he'd captured and delivered to Keoghan, all of them modified and merged in various arcane ways to increase their strength and lethality.
Lions, gorillas, ogres, giant eagles… you name it, they'd all be worked on, the undeniable flux of magic emanating from them confirming this.
"Hahaha… just in time! I just ran out of materials."
His voice hearty and expression unusually bright, Adept Keoghan strolled out of the one of the large stone houses, his robe smeared and soaked in blood—both old and fresh—as he wiped his stained hands with a rag.
Dismissing the ineffective rag and wiping his hands on the clean parts of his robe, the Adept with a talent for creating voodoo beasts assessed the fresh materials, the delight in his gaze growing with each creature he identified.
He rubbed his hands and directed his own clay golems and assisting voodoo beasts to take the creatures into the slaughterhouse he just came from.
As he did this, he observed Greem's own army of puppets and said, "It seems your reputation wasn't unfounded. You truly have a talent for creating golems. Why didn't you become a Profound Adept? You could've been a puppet master."
Standing right beside the curious base leader, Greem thought about it for a second and replied,
"It's simple really. As a body refining adept, my strength is always with me. Wherever I go, it goes. I can always rely on it.
With what you're describing, that kind of power is external. While it isn't bad and certainly helpful, it is much easier for it to be sealed or taken away."
The earlier delight vanishing from his features, Keoghan voiced his reason for the surprise that took its place.
"Very good. You've advanced for less than a year yet your understanding of Adepts is so rich. If Anderson had understood this earlier, he wouldn't have stagnated for over 300 years…"
Shrugging his giant shoulders at the statement, Greem kept silent.
Keoghan simply smiled and sent him off. "Go and rest. We'll have a meeting tonight."
Nodding to show he understood, Greem dismissed all the golems, multiple clumps of dirt and rocks piling up at various points around the camp as a line of shiny yellow cores flew into his hand and disappeared into his storage ring.
Quickly determining which of the houses were occupied and those that weren't, he chose one of the latter and entered it.
When the door closed, a fiery red light flashed on it for a moment and vanished, leaving the image of a fist grasping a sun.
☀☀☀
The same day, nightfall…
Whether it was by design or chance that the meeting Keoghan mentioned coincided with dinner was unknown to everyone present.
However, they all appreciated the aroma and sight of the massive set of golden ribs hanging above the campfire and the drops of goodness that dripped from it into the flames below.
As the scent of cooked perfection spread into the air, the four Adepts who stayed behind to work on the base's construction listened attentively to the report of the three who went out to explore and secure it.
Though Keoghan hadn't mentioned anything beyond keeping any creatures from reaching the base and bothering Lord Sarubo, Greem, Mary, and Anderson had cleared the forest and mapped it, alongside conducting their own separate investigations into the plane's power hierarchy.
In just three days, they'd ensured that no large-sized beast or magical creature could be found in a 15 mile radius around the base.
As for the information they'd gathered, each of them held a thumb and index finger to their temples and pressed them together before pulling out balls of pale grey smoke.
They then threw them to Keoghan, who sucked them into his nostrils, closed his eyes for a moment and waved his hand over a flat section of the ground.
Like waves of the sea, except this time under someone's control, the earth bubbled and undulated in various places, taking various identifiable shapes and forming a life-like representation of the forest.
Long stretches of trees, deep canyons, winding rivers, mountains, caves… Keoghan had replicated it all to perfection, his control and precision nearly a match for Greem's. Nearly.
Anderson gave his oral report first, his voice low and laden with age.
"There weren't many beasts in the direction I went. After travelling for about 15 kilometers though, I found a human city, a small town, and four villages.
I captured some natives from one of the villages and scanned their minds. This forest is called the Great Greenland Forest, and it's located in the east.
Regarding the rulers of this plane, they didn't know much. Only that there's an organisation called Witcher Knights and that they're pretty powerful. We'll have to infiltrate a city if we want to know more."
A series of nods accompanied his update and Mary took it from there.
"The direction I took led me deeper into the forest. The trees were larger and more numerous. Same for the creatures the further in I went. Some of them tasted pretty good," she licked her lips with a smile and gestured to some spots on Keoghan's earth map. "I found a tribe of ogres here… a nest of poison wyverns here…"
She went on and on, demonstrating why her reputation as an Agility focused Adept wasn't mere talk.
Judging from the spots she pointed out on the map and the familiarity with which she talked about them, all the listening and observing Adepts deduced that she must have personally visited them all.
This meant her exploration covered an area no less than one hundred kilometers.
Once she finished and everyone took a minute to process everything, all eyes shifted to Greem, who gave his own update.
"The forest in my direction was less dense. 10 kilometers in, I reached the edge and found 3 small villages here.....here.....and here....
One of the villages is well developed and has a lot of mercenaries and hunters in it. Their range of activity is extensive and there's a chance they can wander here.
After catching and probing one of them, I learned about the Witcher Knights organisation.
They're the most powerful force on this plane. A regular witcher knight has the strength of an apprentice while the Spellbreaker Knights are as powerful as First Grades.
Above them are the Second Grade Radiant Knights, the third Grade Dragon Knights, and the single Fourth Grade Holy Knight."
Greem paused to let the words sink in, the ones he said after eliciting deeper frowns on every face. "You'd think that would be the worst of it, but no. Apparently, this group hates casters with a passion. They've branded any other magic users apart from themselves as heretics and work very hard to eradicate them whenever they pop up."
While the thought and imagery of delusional bumpkins in armor chasing after spellcasters irritated the listeners greatly, the Adepts were more focused on the hierarchy that Greem had outlined.
Multiple Second and Third Grades and a single Fourth Grade. This was too much for them, a group of First Grades.
Keenly aware of the kind of thoughts his colleagues nursed in their heads, Keoghan kept mum on it and assigned new tasks to them. Well, not really new. They were more like updates to the previous ones.
The four clan adepts including himself would stay in the camp and continue the construction of a proper Adept's tower to house the projection, hide it from divinations and probes, and more importantly, allow it to unleash its strength.
If the plane's Fourth Grade managed to somehow find them, Lord Sarubo's clone would be able to kill him with a single attack, but that would only incite the plane's retaliation.
He would be kicked out of the plane. With the tower however, he'd be able to use his strength without worry. He'd be the strongest entity on the plane.
Aware that their survival and success in this plane depended on it, the clan adepts resolved to try their best to speed up their construction work.
As for Greem, Mary, and Anderson, they were sent back into the forest.
Greem was responsible for retrieving the creatures his lover had singled out in her exploration. The young woman herself and Anderson were tasked with using their own means to prevent any large group from venturing into the forest.
Whether they were going to infiltrate the settlements and plant spies or eradicate any groups that entered it, they were to keep eyes on things and report everything back to base.
Since the three already knew the clan's stance regarding their allegiance and usefulness, the three expected these assignments, thus they took them without any complaints.
After gorging themselves on several of the perfect ribs and taking a few hours to rest, they each set off to complete their missions.
****
Author's note:
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