Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and Adam looked at the devil standing before him and asked, "How is it?"
The devil was anxious. Even though they were born with the ability to control negative energy, three days was too short to do anything meaningful. They could only conjure their negative energy as a shock wave and shoot it out.
However, with their pride and ego, they bite the bullet and nodded, "Of course! It's too easy!"
"Alright then. Hit me with all you got."
"Alright! Huh?" the devil accepted, then stared at Adam in shock. "What did you say?"
"Hit me with all you got."
The devil plopped to the floor and grasped at Adam's thigh and begged, "Master! I know I'm in the wrong, please, don't do this to me!" If the servant attacks the master, they will suffer great pain, as per the master-servant contract.
Adam kicked the devil away and said, "I'll temporarily suppress the terms of the contract. Hit me with all you got."
The devil got up from the floor and asked in disbelief, "Are you sure?"
Adam nodded.
"What if I kill you?"
"Then, you're free. James and Frank can easily testify for you."
The devil was ecstatic, seeing Adam was courting death.
The devil was blinded by self-confidence and did not notice James and Frank staring at them with pitying eyes. They knew how strong Adam was, so they didn't think the devil could even scratch Adam.
"Master, how about you set up your psychic barriers?" the devil falsely reminded.
"No need."
In the next second, the devil's body collapsed into itself, becoming a huge mouth, spewing a beam of grey energy towards Adam. The energy was so intense that James and Frank couldn't help but experience hallucinations.
"Foolish human! You have to pay the price for your arrogance! I'm about to be free, free! Garfield will be free from the clutches of humans!" the devil laughed with a distorted voice.
There was a slight crack in the air, and James and Frank broke free from the illusion.
"Who is Garfield? Is that the name you gave yourself?"
The devil's laughter stopped abruptly, looking at Adam in disbelief, "You're... not hurt? How is that possible?!" They then conjured three orbs of negative energy and launched it towards Adam, but Adam was unphased.
Adam was satisfied, then swiped the devil aside to record information.
The devil turned towards James and Frank and asked, "What's going on?"
James walked up to the devil and patted their shoulder, "Watch yourself. You're lucky your master doesn't care, or else..."
The energy orbs did actually affect Adam, but the electrified nature of his meditation method shielded Adam perfectly.
Electricity coursed through his body constantly, stimulating Adam's neurons to keep him awake. With the help of the static electricity, his systems were able to run at full capacity again.
"This must be why qualified mages aren't affected by curse magic. They are naturally shielded by their own knowledge," Adam concluded.
"It's no wonder that modern mages would abandon ancient, obsolete magic."
In the next month, Adam continued to perfect his new meditation method, incorporating newly acquired knowledge into it. Soon, he gained the ability to passively levitate off the ground.
However, this does not mean that he has acquired electromagnetic knowledge. He only has some application capabilities in advance under the existing research results. To truly understand electromagnetism is a whole other story.
...
However, Adam had no way of conducting in-depth research. One day, the Black Mage sent someone to inform Adam to go to the 2nd floor of the Task Hall.
"He must be asking you to complete a mission for him," James predicted.
Adam suddenly remembered that apprentices under a contract were obligated to serve the Academy. They were obligated to complete one task a year, which could be offset with power stone payments. However, if the Academy summoned an apprentice by name, then the apprentice had no right to refuse.
Adam ordered the devil to leave the bar. Once he retrieved the devil, they flew off to the mission hall.
"Good day, Black Mage."
After Adam greeted, he found that he wasn't alone. William, Crystal, and Ophelia were gathered there as well.
William and Adam exchanged their greetings.
Crystal was still the same, but Adam could tell that her mental state was completely different.
"Long time no see, Adam," Crystal smiled.
Ophelia was fully armoured, and even her face was obscured with a helmet. She held a sword that was taller and broader than her, and she had no emotion in her eyes. She reacted as if Adam didn't exist at all.
Adam nodded back at Crystal, and the Black Mage announced, "All of you can catch up later. For now, you have to team up and complete your mission back at your hometown."
Adam was slightly taken aback.
"Back at the island we came from?"
The Black Mage nodded, "To be precise, it's called Madeira Island."
"Two years ago, an organisation appeared in the west of Madeira Island, calling themselves the Supreme God Cult. They claim that as long as you devoutly believe in their patron saints; you can obtain extraordinary power. They commit mass killings and sacrifice the bodies to their gods in order to obtain powers."
Adam was a little dazed. He thought of the cults back on Earth, and it seemed like it was the same cults that existed back on Earth. How do cults like that exist in a high-magic environment?
The Black Mage could tell Adam had doubts and explained further, "True enough, they are able to gain special abilities from the sacrifices. This was confirmed by Duke Alfred."
"Do gods really exist?" Adam asked.
Adam predicts that, even if there was a god, they would become a mage's prey.
"The Mage World has no gods," the Black Mage explained. "However, they exist in other worlds. They are like mages who have reached the power of trans-dimensional mages. Thanks to the Great Archmage Prometheus and World Guardian Annecroft, praise be their name, gods of other worlds cannot enter into our world with a physical form. Even then, they can only rely on sheer luck to find our world."
The Black Mage sneered and continued, "It is futile, however. The exact location of the Mage World is encrypted by the True Archmages and it is impossible to detect."
Adam froze, thinking back at the time where he was stuck inside a black hole. Was he extremely lucky?
"Gods of other worlds can only bestow their abilities through sacrifices and ordinary people can't harness their power fully. Hence, the Academy deduces that they shouldn't be a problem to all four of you."
"Your mission? Annihilate every single one of them and bring back the tool the gods use to commune with the humans."
"Any questions?" the Black Mage asked.
The four shook their heads.
"Then, set off in two days. Your leader will be Adam."
...
They then left the Task Hall and agreed to gather under the Tower early the next morning.
Adam spoke in his mind, "Is there any information you have of other god-like beings?"
The devil popped out of his mind and replied nonchalantly, "Not specifically. But master, you are a native of the Mage World, so you shouldn't worry about other gods."
After returning to the laboratory, Adam began to purchase various alchemy items, including teleportation scrolls. He learnt his lesson last time and wanted to be prepared in case of an emergency.
The next day, they gathered under the tower. Adam donned a robe blessed by a qualified mage, imbuing it with protective magics. The ring on his left hand could fire a fireball equal to the power of a qualified fire mage as well. The necklace resting on his chest had healing magics, which could help in a pickle.
The equipment that Adam wore was already higher than the net worth of most apprentices combined.