Chapter 701 Negotiations
When Greem brought Mary inside the metal hall, Uzzah was sitting alone inside and carefully fiddling with a palm-sized pegasus statue in her hands.
It was probably the form of the Pegasus Magic Spring after having been sealed!
Even though it had been completely sealed, Greem could still sense the stone statue's vast magical aura through the sparks of light emanating from it.
The Pegasus Magic Spring could transform ordinary wild horses into flying magical beasts. It was inevitable that there was some research value to it. If it were wholly dissected and understood, it would have incredible benefits for the Dark Witches' taming and rearing of flying magical beasts.
As such, it was only natural that Uzzah's mood had become unprecedentedly pleasant after successfully obtaining the stone statue!
"Tell me," A rare smile appeared on Uzzah's cold and sinister face, "What exactly is it that you people want me to do for you? Let me say this beforehand; I won't participate in anything that's excessively dangerous. At the very worst, I will compensate you for your contributions after we return to the World of Adepts."
Greem slightly smiled when he heard this.
"Don't you worry, Lady Uzzah. What we want you to do will in no way exceed the limits of your abilities!"
"That is not a certainty!" Uzzah couldn't help but grunt, "Now that the entirety you've thrown the entirety of Garan into chaos, the old fogeys hiding behind the scenes should be stirring soon. Trying to start up even more trouble in the heartland of the elven kingdom at this time is far too risky. The chance of running into Fourth Grade powerhouses is too high."
Now that both of her missions had been accomplished, Uzzah wasn't too keen on taking up any new adventures. After all, Garan was currently swarming with elven god messengers and elites. Even with her powers, Uzzah had no confidence in successfully escaping, especially if she ran into those Fourth Grade powerhouses with abilities that countered her own.
In all honesty, the Dark Witches might not be afraid of those great combat professions, but they were fearful of high-grade god messengers. Even if they were to fall in combat against strong combat profession users, the Dark Witches would be able to revive on Shadow Island with the soul energy pool. That was why they behaved in such a fearless manner, recklessly charging into enemy ranks and fighting in such a barbaric way.
However, if they were to die at the hands of high-grade god messengers, their chances of being revived were no more than forty-five percent. That also caused the Dark Witches to be extremely careful and cautious wherever there was a god messenger, losing all of their usual barbaric streaks.
Moreover, now that the heartland of Garan itself had been thrown into chaos by a horde of undead, the various gods of the elven pantheon would no longer be able to stand by silently. They had all started sending their god messengers, or even their personal clones, to aid the elven army in battle.
Revealing themselves at the center of the continent under such circumstances was very likely to invite the retaliation of the most powerful elven forces!
Not to mention the fact that they had just poked at a massive hornet's nest and tore the entirety of the Pegasus Magic Spring from the elven kingdom. For the forest elves–who already lacked flying mounts–this was like hacking away one of their limbs.
It would have been weird if the elves hadn't completely taken up arms!
That was why even Uzzah couldn't help but be somewhat cowardly compared to before.
That said, fear was fear, and Uzzah still had a bit of curiosity about Greem and Alice's real target.
What was it that Alice so desperately needed that she would be willing personally travel and risk the lives of her Fate Witches?
"The target of our attack this time is a Second Grade green dragon. That is because he has in his hoard a pseudo-artifact that we desperately need." Greem slowly explained, clearly enunciating each and every word.
"Pseudo-artifact?" Uzzah's eyes suddenly lit up.
In the World of Adepts, only adepts of Fourth Grade and above had a chance of mastering the planar laws. The high-grade magical equipment that they forged also often possessed tremendous law powers. However, creating magical equipment like this not only demanded a shocking number of resources, but also exhausted the law powers that the adepts had personally understood.
That was why high-grade adepts would never forge excessively powerful magical equipment for outsiders under ordinary circumstances.
It had been a long time since Uzzah became a Third Grade Dark Witch, yet she only had a piece of Third Grade support magical equipment on her– the Orb of Darkness. It allowed her to maintain a connection with the shadow plane regardless of what planar space she was in.
It was the difficulty of finding and crafting powerful magical equipment that forced most adepts to continue using conventional gear that was one grade beneath themselves, almost as if they were paupers. Any adept that came to possess powerful magical equipment compatible with their origin power would instantly rise to become an elite among their peers. They would become the targets of envy of all adepts.
However, in the Faen Plane, the existence of the gods allowed for the presence of many magical items. These individuals that had mastery over immense divine power and divine authorities could easily forge mysterious objects that possessed divine attributes of their own. Moreover, these strange items all possessed powerful strength that did not match their grade.
Some adepts that had come into contact with divine items had found, upon research, that the so-called divine attributes of the weapons were the planar laws that the adepts obsessed over. The creation of artifacts and pseudo-artifacts wasn't as difficult for the gods as it was for high-grade adepts.
That was why even mortals in worlds ruled by gods could own weapons, armor, accessories, and other pseudo-artifacts that possessed the powers of laws. The adepts were accustomed to referring to these items as divine items.
Unfortunately, the Faen Plane had no dark gods. Otherwise, the Dark Witches would have formed raid parties to slaughter the followers of the dark gods in hopes of obtaining these wondrous divine items.
"Of the divination attribute, of course!" Greem reminded Uzzah with a smile in case the Dark Witch had any thoughts of greed in her mind.
"Of course it's of the divination attribute. Why else would Alice be able to put herself at so much risk," Uzzah said disdainfully, before shooting a glance at Greem, "What price, exactly, did Alice pay to make you work so diligently for her? If you were willing to ally with us Dark Witches with your talent and power, I could guarantee you even higher status than you currently have. Of course, if you want women, I have some pretty good collections back home."
Mary, who was listening at the side, couldn't help but start chuckling when she heard the offer.
"Since you two are bringing up this topic, I had best shy away for the moment! Otherwise, it may be awkward for you to make your choice."
Mary laughed and left.
Even Uzzah couldn't help but lick her lips when she saw Mary's seductive figure.
"This female companion of yours is an excellent good, but her identity is a little awkward!" Uzzah stared lustfully at Mary's back for a few seconds before turning and speaking to Greem with a serious tone, "I'm warning you; you had best have your female companion rein herself in a little. No one cares what she does in another world, but if she were to infect other adepts in the World of Adepts, the Punishers would come for her. You won't be able to save her if she catches the eyes of the Punishers, even if you were a Fourth Grade adept!"
"The Punishers?"
"Don't think too highly of yourself because you are a Second Grade adept and a famous figure even amongst the adept clans of Central. As long as you are not a member of the three major adept organizations, you will never come into contact with the true higher classes of the World of Adepts.
"The three major adept organizations are located at the three edges of the World of Adepts, without any joining borders between them. As such, the Zhentarim area in the central area became the best buffer.
"The reason Zhentarim can remain outside of the three adept organizations and lay claim to the widest and richest piece of land of the continent isn't due to their own power. It is because of a silent agreement between the three major organizations.
"It has already been ten thousand years, yet not a single major adept clan that can compare to the three major forces has risen from the central area, rich in both resource and talent. Don't you find that odd?"
"You mean to say that the three major forces are secretly suppressing the central adept clans?" Even Greem didn't expect Uzzah to secretly reveal so many of the secrets of the World of Adepts to him today.
"This was no secret to begin with!" Uzzah cackled coldly, "All three major forces have raised proxies of their own in Zhentarim, but no one family can gain the absolute upper hand due to their conflicts and disagreements. You think the old fogeys of Central can't tell, but it's just them not wanting things icing over between them and the three major forces."
"The Punishers you mentioned?"
"The Punishers do not belong to any one of the three adept organizations. Instead, they are a secret organization comprised of elite adepts from the central area. The purpose of their existence is to punish the scum amongst the adepts that refuse to abide by the Adept's Code of Conduct along with the black adepts that have committed atrocious sins."
"An independent body that doesn't belong to any of the three major adept organizations?" Greem asked, confused, "Could they be an underground organization the old folks came up with to deal with you guys?"
Uzzah's expression froze on her face for a second. She couldn't help but take another look at Greem, "You're pretty fast. You are right. The Punishers are an underground organization those Fourth Grade old men of Zhentarim created. The purpose of the Punishers is to go beyond the boundaries of clan and family to gather the high-tier forces of the central adepts. Their public motto is to punish the 'black adepts' that do not obey the Code. In actuality, their real targets are still the proxies of the three primary forces that have been stationed in Zhentarim. They will not hesitate to strike at anyone that crosses the line!"
"We are not of the three major forces."
"But you are small fry. If that female companion of yours were to lay her hands on an adept of the same grade, then those old folks in the Punishers wouldn't let her off the hook, even if it was just for their appearances!"
"Very well, I understand!" Greem scratched his head in frustration, "Lady Uzzah, let's get back on topic! Will you be willing to accompany us for this trip?"
"You think I'm mad? Do you think I'd send myself to die in the den of the dragons?"
"This green dragon's den isn't located alongside the others. It seems to be a traitor or rebel of the green dragons and has been expelled from the dragons' den by the green and emerald dragons. It now lives in an extremely rural branch mountain of the central mountains."
"The news is getting better, so much so that I almost can't help but agree! Any more good news?"
"The green dragon isn't in its den right now. It has hurried off to the Death Scar!"
"The divination pseudo-artifact is yours. However, I want half of the remaining treasure, and I get first rights in choosing."
"Deal!"