Black Hearted Mage

After removing the venom sac and fangs, the elves began to process the giant snake's body. The flesh was cut into pieces. The snake's tendons were carefully separated according to their different parts. They were the best material for making bowstrings, being tougher than dark spider silk.

Snake skin is a very precious material for armor, requiring the expertise of a skilled leatherworker. The process is complex, requiring the removal of the crimson scales, the stretching of the leather to dry, and the scraping of excess oil.

Once the leather is somewhat dry, it needs to be soaked in an alchemical solvent, then taken out and aired, and this process is repeated several times before it can be kneaded. Kneading animal hides is a tedious and slow process, but experienced elven leatherworkers can make the leather as soft as silk.

Snake gall and liver are important materials for alchemy, and were collected by Crassus as soon as they were taken out.

"Let's try some snake meat first. If it doesn't taste good, it will all belong to Caesar!" Crassus said lightly as he looked at the pile of snake meat.

"Great Elder, why should the snake meat belong to me even though it doesn't taste good?" Kaisas was a little dissatisfied. He was forced to eat it even though it didn't taste good.

"Because of their Abyssal bloodline, elves may not be able to adapt to this kind of meat. Boy, even after the heart of a great demon is dug out, it can still survive for hundreds of years. Even after the heart of a demon lord is taken out, it is still beating thousands of years later. Look at the heart of this giant snake. The snake has been dead for several hours, but its heart is still beating. Only you can eat this thing!"

"Great Elder, aren't you afraid of making me sick?"

"You're immune to snake venom, so it would be strange if you got an upset stomach!"

The giant snake meat had been cleaned, soaked, blanched, and stewed with spices. The meat was rich in flavor, but it tasted like sawdust—too woody. With a wave of his hand, Crassus claimed all the giant snake meat.

Kaisas could only collect them all. Although the giant snake meat was a bit unpalatable, it contained extremely powerful elemental energy, which would help strengthen his physique. However, the snake meat needed to be processed and cut into small pieces to make delicious jerky.

About twenty days later, Kaisas received a message from the elven elder, asking him to prepare for extreme body tempering.

Kaisas hurried to the magic tower. He would become stronger after tempering his body, and he was already impatient.

In the underground level of the magic tower, there is a very small magic pool on one side, and next to the magic pool there is a small pool that looks pitch black.

"Three elders, the magic power pool of the magic tower is only this small? It's too small!"

When Caesars came here for the first time, the magic pool seemed too small, only slightly larger than the bathing pool for nobles.

"Kid, if you don't know, don't talk nonsense. Frostcrown is an arcane tower, and its magic pools store arcane energy. This small pool contains attributeless magic, prepared for your body refining. The pool on the other side contains dark energy infused with magical materials, and the giant snake's bones have already melted into it. Just soak in it. When the elemental energy in both pools is gone, the Abyssal Body Tempering will be complete!"

The three elven elders looked at Kaisas with a hint of smile in their eyes.

"Three elders, you are not kidding, are you? It will take at least several years to absorb all the energy in the two pools!"

Kaisas looked at the two pools, which were full of magical elements. His magic sea was not big enough, and a few years was not enough.

"A few years is nothing. The materials in these two pools are worth millions of gold coins. Caesars, go down and soak!"

"It's been soaking for so long, it's going to make my skin peel off!"

"We don't care whether you can shed your skin or not. The black pool is laced with snake venom. If you give up halfway, you'll be wasting millions of gold coins!"

The elves were afraid of the venom of the black demon snake, and they dared not even touch the venom of the red giant snake. Kaisus slowly took off his robe and prepared to enter the pool.

"Three elders, you haven't given me the magic robe you promised me. Last time, I had a mutated dark demon lizard, so this time I need a magic robe made of giant snake leather!"

"Yes, as long as you complete the Abyss Body Tempering, two magic robes will be tailor-made for you. Now, get in! The elemental energy is escaping, and we need to activate the magic circle!"

Crassus began to become stern. They had been busy for many days preparing various materials, but Caesar was still bargaining with them.

Caesars quickly took off his underwear and went into the dark pool with his bare chest. Before he could feel the temperature in the pool, the magic circle was activated, and he felt like he was sealed in the magic pool.

"Boy, just stay here and be quiet. We need to have a good rest for a few days!" Crassus said and turned away.

"Kaesas, the materials in the pool are very precious, don't waste them!" After saying this, Destro also walked out the door.

"Kai's boy, there are a lot of good things in the pool. Feel free to eat if you're hungry. The three of us have been busy day and night for more than ten days preparing these medicines. We'll come back to see you in a few days!"

Old Ethan waved to Caesars as he spoke, his face full of fatigue, and he slowly walked towards the dark stone door.

Frostcrown's primary color is black. It's constructed from abyssal obsidian, effectively shielding it from all magical fluctuations. Once the heavy black stone door is closed, even if Caesars were to drop an alchemical bomb, no sound would be heard from outside.

The pitch-black pool of medicine felt a bit rough, so Kaisas fished out a few black crystal-like objects from beneath his feet. They were high-purity dark magic crystals, their veins buried deep. Dark magic crystals were of the same grade as fire crystals, and they possessed higher elemental energy than non-attributed magic crystals.

Caesars took another step and seemed to step on something again, but this time it didn't hurt. When Caesars fished it out, he couldn't help but feel distressed.

"Golden ginseng, what a waste of good stuff!"

At that moment, he felt a burning pain on his skin and a tingling sensation in his pores. Enormous magical energy began to invade his body, and he knew that the Abyssal Body Tempering Technique had begun to take effect.

Gradually, all kinds of pain began to appear, from the surface of his body to his internal organs, leaving no inch of pain untouched. Caesars' entire body convulsed in pain, and the golden ginseng in his hand fell into the liquid. Unable to stand, he slipped and fell into the liquid.

When he was about to sink, the magic circle pulled him up, but only his face was exposed above the liquid, just to prevent him from suffocating.

Kaisas now felt a little regretful, but there was no turning back. The three elven elders' intentions were too obvious. He was sealed in this medicine pool by the magic circle and could only silently endure the pain of the abyss body tempering.

Kaisas kept twitching and convulsing in the medicine pool. The three elven elders were watching the image on the top floor of the magic tower. It was an image of Kaisas in extreme pain.

"Are we adding too much magic materials?"

Crassus looked at the image and turned to ask the other two old elves.

"I think that magic core shouldn't be put in there. The elemental energy contained in it is too violent. Kaisus is a lot lower than the giant snake!"

High Priest Distro was a little worried. It would be difficult for them to refine and absorb such a huge amount of energy.

"You two old fellows, stop worrying about this! I can assure you that Riven will never harm him. You know, the key to this Abyssal Body Tempering Technique is to awaken the powerful bloodline hidden within Kaisas' body and to fully activate and purify it. As for the so-called body tempering, it's just a side step. From what Riven has described, the energy required to successfully activate this mysterious and ancient Abyssal bloodline is simply enormous. Even those extremely powerful super beasts are probably only able to meet the most basic requirements!"

After a quick glance at the video playing before him, Old Ethan slowly walked over to the soft and comfortable sofa that seemed to make one sink into it, and sat down gracefully. He closed his eyes slightly and instantly fell asleep, entering a wonderful state of deep meditation.

Thinking of the upcoming Abyssal Body Tempering Technique, which would be a long and arduous journey filled with endless pain and torture, the other two highly respected old elves couldn't help but sigh softly, then both found a place to sit down quietly.

Next, they needed to hurry and replenish their consumed mana and physical strength. Once the dreaded Abyssal Body Tempering officially began, all they could do was stand quietly by and observe closely. During this time, no one was allowed to interrupt or interfere with the entire Body Tempering process without authorization.

At this moment, in the basement of this magnificent magic tower, Caesars was in a strange semi-comatose state. The excruciating pain that penetrated his bones constantly attacked his fragile nerves, causing him to fluctuate between coma and lucidity again and again.

Every time a wave of pain came crashing down on him, he would be pulled back from his coma; however, when the pain reached a certain extreme threshold, he would fall into the chaos of fainting again... This cycle repeated itself until, in the end, even the pain from all parts of his body had made him feel numb.

Caesars was now unable to summon his magic power, nor could he feel his body, let alone shout. He had lost control of himself. Only half of his face was floating on the surface of the liquid, with only his eyes and nose exposed.

Across the vast expanse of the Roland Empire lies a bustling metropolis known as Fire Maple City. This city is not only a hub of commerce and trade, but also a focal point for political and military power. Beneath this seemingly peaceful surface, a dark tide surges.

In the heavily guarded, solemn atmosphere of the Imperial Intelligence Headquarters in Fire Maple City, Carlos, the head of the secret service, sat at a huge desk, carefully examining a newly arrived secret report from the south. The information revealed in this report made the Imperial Jackal frown.

It turned out that according to reliable sources, the Golden Viper Mercenary Group, belonging to the two earls, had recently been recruiting a large number of mercenaries, and the number of recruits had reached nearly 5,000! Such a large number of people was truly astonishing, and naturally aroused the high vigilance and close attention of the Empire's Eagle Eyes.

Carlos thought to himself: "Any noble with a bit of brains would never recruit so many mercenaries so unscrupulously. After all, nearly 5,000 people is not a small number. Add to that the more than 1,000 mercenaries they originally had left and the private armies they secretly raised, the number of troops controlled by these two southern earls is now approaching 10,000!" Thinking of this, his face became even gloomier.

After quickly skimming the secret report, Carlos tossed it aside as if it were a piece of insignificant waste paper. However, his vigilance toward the two southern earls remained undiminished. In recent years, their actions had revealed their growing ambitions, repeatedly challenging the Roland Empire's authority.

At this time, a leader from the Empire Eagle Eye standing nearby saw Carlos's silence and couldn't help but ask, "Lord Carlos, facing this situation, how should we deal with it?"

Obviously, the leader was also keenly aware that the recent abnormal behavior of these two nobles from the countryside must have hidden dangerous signals.

"This matter can't be handled openly. After all, they are recruiting mercenaries under the guise of a mercenary group. Go get 500 alchemical bombs and launch them remotely into the base of the two earls' mercenary group to kill all their recruits. Let's give these country nobles a warning first. If they still insist on having their own way, we'll give them a more ruthless punishment next time!"

The spy chief suddenly thought of something important and waved his hand towards his men. More ruthless tactics were not enough, so he had to prepare first.

The more unusual the two rural nobles' behavior, the more likely they were to have leverage, and the Imperial Eagle Eyes hadn't yet discovered it. However, the spy chief wasn't worried about that. Even if the two rural nobles had tens of thousands of men, they were no match for the Imperial Legion.

The spy chief rushed to the Royal Mage Corps, where he needed to borrow the remote communication device.

A few days later, one morning, in the misty crater, Orcus, dressed in a magic robe, came to the magic tower. As a great alchemist of the elves, he wanted to get some giant snake venom to make a potion.

"Ocus, the giant snake's venom doesn't need to be refined into a potion. Its gallbladder is the best antidote. Although it tastes a bit bitter, it's an extremely effective antidote. It just needs to be diluted!"

Krasus rejected Orcus's request and gave him a can of thick, turquoise liquid. The venom of the giant snake was so toxic that it could corrode the alchemical gloves when it evaporated.

"Great Elder, please give me a small bottle of venom!"

"I can't give it to you now. Once the snake skin is made into alchemical gloves and an alchemical mask, the snake venom will be too corrosive!"

Okus' heart skipped a beat, as he knew that a lot of giant snake venom had been added to Caesar's body-tempering medicine.