Chapter 106: Scepter of the Fire Lord

Often, Greem had no time to identify every item hidden in the grass to determine which were useful and which were not. As long as he sensed the lingering aura of elemental energy, he would have the rock python swallow the objects along with the surrounding soil, storing them in its belly to be sorted through carefully upon his return.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the ground cracked and the earth trembled as the rock python that had burrowed underground successfully returned.

"Go, move!" The greater the harvest, the more anxious Greem felt. Without another word, he leaped into the belly of another rock python and fled immediately.

A quarter of an hour later, a strange, dark figure suddenly appeared on the scarred and ravaged battlefield.

Using his powerful mental perception, he moved across the battlefield like a ghost. Soon, he stopped at the spot where the Flower Spirit had finally perished, silently sensing and analyzing the elemental traces remaining in the air.

While these residual traces meant nothing to anyone else, they provided him with a massive amount of battlefield intelligence and key data. Before long, scenes of the battle began to piece themselves together in his mind like a historical playback.

He remained indifferent to the epic battle that had taken place, and he showed no expression regarding the death of the Fallen Apprentice Witch. Yet, when he reached the moment where Greem had ordered the rock python to sweep away the Flower Spirit’s remains, his body shuddered slightly, and a pair of eyes hidden beneath a lowered hood erupted with a piercing, sharp light.

Since the most valuable Flower Spirit was gone, there was no reason for this place to exist any longer!

With a low, murmuring incantation, countless ghostly shadows erupted from his body, racing in all directions across the Magic Forest. Very quickly, the entire forest fell into a deathly silence, and no trace of life could be sensed any longer.

The Magic Forest had become a thing of the past; it would once again become a dead zone devoid of any life!

Having finished all this, the dark figure vanished as mysteriously as he had appeared. Throughout the entire process, no person or object could perceive his existence, as if he were merely a phantom drifting between heaven and earth.

...

Not rushing back to the Wizard Tower, Greem and his magic puppet squad surfaced and infiltrated the Crera Mountains. After digging a cave in a hidden spot, he began the slow process of sorting through his spoils.

The rock python first spat out the sleeping Mary and the drained remains of the Flower Spirit.

Greem checked carefully once more. Mary had simply been overwhelmed by the vast quantity of the powerhouse’s blood; she was in a deep sleep to slowly digest and absorb the power within it. According to the chip's scan and projections, Mary had truly struck gold this time and would likely break through to the rank of Apprentice Witch in one go.

Greem laid out a thick felt blanket in a corner of the cave and placed Mary gently upon it. A serene, sweet smile, cheeks flushed like a ripe apple, vibrant and succulent lips, beautiful eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings... In her deep sleep, Mary displayed an uncommonly gentle and quiet girlish demeanor, causing Greem to impulsively plant a light kiss on her forehead.

Once Mary was settled, Greem turned his attention to the Flower Spirit’s remains.

Lacking a constant supply of energy and drained of all its blood, the Flower Spirit now looked like a shriveled, withered husk, like a deflated leather doll. However, what attracted Greem the most were the Rose Flower Armor covering its body and the magic bow. During the previous battle, these two items had caused him no small amount of trouble.

Holding the magic bow in his hands, he studied it for a long while before finally hearing the thrilling chime in his mind.

"Beep. Item scanning complete!
Found one magic bow. Item information as follows: ...[omitted]...
Modifiable!"

Greem licked his lips in excitement, his eyes narrowing into slits.

He had roughly scanned the basic information of this bow during the previous fight; now, the chip had simply provided more detailed data. This wasn't what excited him—what truly thrilled him was the chip’s conclusion: this magic bow could be modified!

The bow had been used by the Flower Spirit, and the energy system it utilized to fire light arrows was plant-based, making it difficult for others to use. But since the chip determined it could be modified, it meant its energy system could be altered—changed to fire or blood-based...

Thinking of himself in the future, perched atop a rock python's head, raining down countless light arrows upon his enemies with a flick of his finger, Greem couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

Setting the bow aside, Greem muttered, "Calm down, calm down... Let's see if there’s a wand I can use. If there is, this bow goes to Mary. If not, hehehe..."

The second item removed from the Flower Spirit was the Rose Flower Armor.

Greem really wanted to keep such a protective treasure for himself. But the thought of the armor sprouting endless rose vines to attack enemies made him lose interest. Damn, a grown man wearing flowery armor to fight? The absurdity of that scene was enough to make him shudder.

Forget it, I’ll modify it and give it to Mary.

As a wild magical creature, these were the only two pieces of wizarding gear on the Flower Spirit—it seemed pitifully sparse.

After being stripped of its armor, the Flower Spirit’s petite body was completely exposed. However, having lost the nourishment of blood, the once crystal-clear and supple skin was now withered and dry, like an eighty-year-old woman, having lost all its former beauty and feeling like the bark of a dead tree.

Although the Flower Spirit was dead, Greem could sense that her organs were still saturated with an extraordinary, powerful aura. Should he hack her to pieces and harvest her as magical materials? Or keep the corpse intact and find a way to maximize the profit?

Greem hesitated for a moment, deciding to set it aside for now and seek professional advice before making a final decision.

If he were a Necromancy apprentice, he would definitely turn the body into a powerful corpse puppet. But as a fake puppet master, he would struggle to extract every last bit of value from this wizard-level magical creature.

After using the chip to perform a detailed and complete scan of the Flower Spirit’s anatomy and extracting key biological data from her tissues for the chip to analyze, Greem began to process the remaining loot.

Goblin Kabi, who had been serving him carefully, placed a huge cloth bag in front of Greem. As the bag opened, countless brilliant, colorful fluorescent rays hit Greem’s face, blinding him for a long moment.

Shadowstone, Tiger’s Eye, Malachite, Green Agate, Lesser Moonstone, Emerald, Citrine, Turquoise, Blood of the Mountains, Ruby, Large Cat’s Eye, Sapphire, Giant Emerald,碧 Moonstone, Peridot, Fire Garnet, Draenor Gold Diamond, Blood Garnet, Water Jade, Dawnstone, Night-eye Stone, Red Obsidian, Yellow Crystal, Lion’s Eye, Burning Stone, Red Spinel...

Greem couldn't help but sigh; this Flower Spirit was definitely a gem fanatic. Almost every magical gem he had ever heard of could be found here. Taking a single gem from the bag and running to a mortal kingdom would be enough to exchange for tens of miles of land and subjects. The higher-value ones were easily worth a title of nobility.

Yet, in the eyes of a wizard apprentice, these were merely consumable magical materials. Only a formal wizard could consume such expensive materials without batting an eye.

He toyed with the gems, picking one up now and then to study it. After all, he had only known of most of these gems from books; holding them in his hands was a much clearer and more intuitive experience.

Beside him, Goblin Kabi’s breathing grew heavy.

Under the reflection of the colorful fluorescent light, it found it increasingly difficult to breathe, its heart skipping a beat.

Greem casually selected a few gems he might need, then pointed to the rest and said softly, "You are responsible for handling these. You may take one-third as a reward for this adventure. Your performance today was quite good, especially the trap you left on the magic wand—that was brilliant. This is all well-deserved."

Hearing this, Kabi’s green skin twitched rapidly; before its smile could even bloom, it rolled its eyes and fainted on the ground.

Shaking his head and ignoring this subordinate who had finally proven his worth, Greem continued digging through the pile of gems. Soon, he pulled out a magic scepter made of what looked like fiery red deep-sea coral.

The Flame Lord’s Scepter!

As soon as the scepter appeared, Greem sensed the hidden, indescribable, and surging power of the fire origin within it. Before it was in his hands, he could feel the scorching elemental flames radiating from it, but the moment he gripped it, the intense heat vanished. The scepter became warm and comfortable, with waves of warmth flowing into his body.

The fire origin power condensed within Greem began to stir, becoming more than 30% more active than before.

"Chip, scan the Flame Lord’s Scepter!"

"Beep. Task accepted! Scanning... Scan complete. Results:
Item: Flame Lord’s Scepter
Attribute: Fire
Support: Holder gains Fire Resistance (Intermediate), immunity to low-tier fire damage, Fast Casting (Fire)
Skills: Flame Shield (3 times/day), Summon Fire Genie (Apprentice Witch level) (1 time/day)
Auxiliary Function: When placed on a special magic altar, it can open a small portal to the Fire Elemental Plane. It can summon 1 Fire Genie (Apprentice), or 2 Fire Giants (Advanced), or 5 Magma Hounds (Intermediate), or 10 Fire Spirits (Primary) per day without consumption.
These fire creatures cannot leave the altar's 1,000-meter radius. If the Flame Lord’s Scepter is removed from the altar, all fire creatures are immediately sent back to their home plane."

"Uh..." Greem couldn't help but gasp.

This Flame Lord’s Scepter was far more powerful than he had originally estimated!