Right after the duo signed the contract and moved out of the swamp with their individual methods, Apprentice Leader Ellen arrived at the tower entrance and unlocked it with the chant.
Once the stone doors parted and he stepped out, he was immediately graced with the sight of Alice disappearing and reappearing 50 meters away and Greem sprouting wings before taking to the air.
He noticed the unusual contraption on the latter's upper back, orange-blue flames shooting from its tail end as he angled the wings downward in a triangle shape and blasted off into the distance.
Staring in the direction they duo disappeared in, Ellen briefly wondered what was happening before shifting his gaze to why he was called here.
Prudently steering his thoughts away from the affairs of an official Adept, he went towards the unconscious apprentice, picked her up, and returned to the tower.
☀☀☀
Outside the radius of the swamp, Greem and Alice hovered 50 meters away from each other, the former's gaze calm, and the latter's increasingly apprehensive.
When Alice recalled Greem's triumphant smile, observed his stationary wings, freely hovering form, and his calm visage, she felt a tiny spark of doubt.
But then she remembered how much work she'd put in to improve her powers and abilities. How she'd killed scores of cocky apprentices, a lot of them body-refiners.
No matter what made this idiot so confident, her spatial powers were a top tier, seen once every ten thousand years kind of talent.
If she couldn't use them to deal with a dumb muscle brain no matter his trump cards, then she might as well turn those very powers on herself and end things.
Locking her determined eyes with Greem's serene ones, Alice initiated the first movement.
She performed a Spatial Jump and appeared a few meters away from him, out of arm's reach but close enough to rip out chunks of his body without him being able to dodge.
Her dainty hand didn't get to rise up even an inch as a strong wind besotted her shield and a large object cast an equally large shadow over her.
She failed to react as Greem's right wing blurred and slapped her in the side, sending her shooting to the weedy ground like a silver comet.
Boom!
She smashed into the dry ground, sending dirt, roots, and ruined plants flying, a small dust cloud obscuring her tiny form.
When dust dissipated with the dry winds, an empty vial lay on the ground beside her as she forced herself up from the small crater, a trace of fear in her expression.
She immediately noticed Greem's calm gaze trained on her, with nothing suggesting he was going to attack, and she flashed 50 meters away.
That hit had given her a genuine death scare.
When the giant wing slammed into her, it not only smashed her shield to pieces, it did the same to her arm and fractured her skeleton in many places. Even her organs weren't spared, the iron on her tongue a sure sign of their injured states.
Having drunk a healing potion and learned her lesson about implanted appendages and their own ranges of attack, she leveraged her innate advantage of distance and made a grasping gesture in Greem's direction from 50 meters away.
Showing no physical inclination that he was about to do so, the target of her attack shifted his whole body a few centimeters to the left like he had a telekinetic grasp on it.
Not only that, he moved exactly a split-second before her Spirit locked on to him, dodging her Spatial Grasp with contemptuous ease.
Unwilling to believe he could dodge her attacks forever, Alice raised both arms and began to pull in his direction multiple times, her focus strained to the limit.
She tried targeting different parts of him at the same time, tried targeting around him hoping he'd waltz into a trap, and even tried to attack his wings.
None of it worked.
Greem was like a particularly slippery mosquito. No matter how hard she tried to pin him down, he always found a way out somehow, her attacks missing by mere inches.
Every time she thought she'd successfully cornered him, he'd suddenly pick up speed and dive or roll out of the way.
If Alice knew Greem had purposely slowed his reactions to use her as practice, the girl would have teleported close to him and set off her Spatial Shatter spell long ago, as she was about to do now.
Her anger and frustration at a boiling point, Alice stopped her fruitless actions and locked eyes with her infuriating enemy, who in turn slowed his movements and returned the stare, conveying "what next" with his gaze.
Shrieking, Alice performed a jump and appeared a few inches in front of him.
She tamped down the overwhelming urge to gloat and instead released the power she'd been building up with the pretense of a staredown.
Her tiny body was like a rock thrown into a mirror, the cracks in it extending from her position in a web-like pattern through space, shredding and mincing everything in fifty meter radius to dust.
…Or should've.
Opening her eyes with the expectation to find her infuriating enemy diced into a thousand pieces, Alice's brain short-circuited when she found anything but.
Greem's appearance was as pristine and handsome as it was since the start of the fight.
Not a drop of sweat could be found on his brow or exposed biceps. The tiniest of scuffs could not be found in his vest or pants, and the perfection of his long hair flowing in the wind was untouched.
If she didn't hate him so much at this moment, the 26 year old lolita might have actually blushed from the close proximity and his Hercules Method induced charm.
Instead, she stared agape while her brain tried to formulate an explanation for why an apprentice could withstand her Spatial Shatter.
At the end of the day, even if she could manipulate space, Alice's powers relied on elementium.
To overcome or damage any barriers and obstacles in her way, the intensity of space element particles in her attacks had to be more than the strength and defense of what she was attacking.
As an Adept, Greem's defensive forcefield satisfied this condition easily.
Only another Adept or an Adept level lifeform could produce the energy levels and/or force needed to break through his defense and harm him.
Not really satisfied with Alice's subpar performance but cognizant of the massive gulf between himself and her, Greem dismissed the dissatisfaction and ended the fight.
Clenching his fist but quickly changing his mind, he opened his hand wide and shot his palm towards the stunned girl's midriff, smashing her Protection Barrier to pieces and striking her in the abdomen.
This sent a massive jolt throughout her system, her eyes bulging out comically and her body folding in on itself as darkness overtook her.
Carrying the defeated loli in his arms, Greem turned around and leaned forward, cranking the booster to stage one speed.
He shot forward in the swamp's direction and vanished when he reached the mist.
☀☀☀
A few hours later…
After dropping Alice off in one of the unused apprentice rooms, Greem went about his daily routine; tinkering with his ideas, training his close combat skills, and finally, practicing the method.
At this stage in his development, his speed of progression had slowed drastically, and it wasn't even an exaggeration. His body now improved at a rate a hundred times slower than before.
Even if he practiced the method every single day, his 300 to 400 year lifespan wouldn't be enough to bridge the 20 point gap between his current level and Second Grade.
His soul would wither before that happened, and the method's immortality wouldn't change this because it only made his body unaging and undying, not his soul.
In Lethon, and this multiverse as a whole, souls had lifespans, and only Sixth Grades and above were exempt from this.
To solve this pressing issue of improvement, Greem incorporated conditions similar to what he experienced in his advancement whenever he trained.
He did this with one of the Second Grade molten giant cores he looted, giving it the golem and spatial storage treatment but forgoing the Elementium Body Construction function.
Whenever he practiced the method, he'd wear the fist sized core around his neck like a necklace and draw the potent fire elementium into his body, using a mini form of the death-rebirth cycle to push his physique further.
This boosted his progress massively, his precise and deep connection with his body allowing him to determine that he'd reach the threshold for Second Grade in a hundred years give or take.
That is, if nothing that slowed or enhanced this process happened within this time period.
A hundred years.
Greem shook his head at the absurdity as he strolled towards Alice's room. He had a long, long way to go to fulfill his benefactor's and his own dream.
With no fanfare, he arrived in front of the door to the little witch's room and paused when he extended his Spirit into it to check if she was awake.
Raising an eyebrow at the scene on the other side, he unlocked the door and ushered himself in, finding Alice on her feet before a conjured mirror.
She'd pulled her dress down from her shoulders, leaving her upper body and the bright reddish-purple bruise on her belly exposed. She turned to look at Greem, showing no emotion whatsoever and not bothering to cover herself up.
In her mind, Greem couldn't possibly want her for her body.
She'd been locked in this child form for 19 years ever since her spatial talent awoke, making her unattractive to no one but the most perverted of men.
She was certain, however, that Greem wasn't one of these, as his eyes were completely devoid of lust as he gazed at her nudity. It convinced her further that he wanted her for her abilities, not as a plaything.
Her voice devoid of the playfulness and passion she usually exuded, she stared at him and asked, "How did you withstand my spatial shatter?"
"I'm an Adept," Greem said simply and loosed his aura, letting it's near blinding ripples wash over her.
Feeling her eyes sting and water, Alice forced herself not to look away as she regained a bit of her former boisterous self. "How?!"
Greem smiled. "Is that a question a slave is supposed to ask her master?"
The words were like a bucket of cold water being dumped on the incredulous Pseudo Adept, reminding her of the differences in their status.
Even if she wasn't his slave, it was taboo to ask someone their process and methods of advancing, especially if they were a Grade above you.
Still though, Alice wasn't worried.
Greem definitely had the chance earlier, but he didn't simply kill her and be done with it. She also woke up to find her innocence untouched, her current nudity not drawing out an ounce of lust from him.
He wanted her for her abilities and he was also afraid of the Northern Witches, the group every witch in Lethon belonged to. This alone assured her of her safety.
However, she kept silent and maintained silent eye contact, thinking of the various ways Greem might try to take advantage of her rare talents.
Meanwhile, the person in question was having difficulty deciding what to do with the obviously conniving witch.
With the greedy and annoying Seventh Grade, Maysa, out of the picture, Alice likely wouldn't need his help in the battle of fate that would take place in the coming years.
His crafting essence also meant he wouldn't need her for anything once he obtained his own tower and the freedom to tinker more heavily.
The ancient magics could replicate any and all of her powers be they fate or space related.
He didn't need her for anything. He had no reason to woo her over to his side and her status as a slave meant even less to him.
"You know, you have nothing I want. You're of no use to me. You can go. I'll break the contract."
What?!l
****
Author's note:
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