Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Thus, when Adept Angus, who came to receive the mission item, arrived at the main hall, Isaac started to jump up and down furiously.

  “Master Adept, it’s all because of them… they insisted on leaving the team, which eventually attracted the revenge of four Fallen Pseudo-Adepts, that is the reason why we failed in this mission. You have to punish them!”

  Leander and Bruce were also yelling out loudly, filled with righteous rage.

  As for the other two male Pseudo-Adepts in the team, both of them were having long faces while not saying a single word. Even though they didn’t try to pin the responsibility to others, in their minds, they were still filled with dissatisfaction towards Greem and Mary. Due to the difference between their levels, they were defeated in a fair fight with those underground Fallen Pseudo-Adepts, and returned with bodies full of wounds.

  The only team member who was able to return unscathed was Sabrina.

  “Hahaha…” Adept Angus responded with a cold sneer then said, “Stop playing your childish tricks in front of me. I’ve seen too many internal discords between team members all these years, I have no time for your petty thoughts and plots. What I really care is, what have you brought back to the Adept Tower?”

  Everyone’s heads turned to Sabrina at the same time.

  Wearing an indifferent expression, Sabrina stretched her hand out and handed over four mission items. Out of all four of them, only one mission item was lit.

  “You only completed one mission? Where’s the other mission item?” Adept Angus’s expression turned cold in an instant.

  “It’s with me!” Mary took a step forward and extended her palm.

  A brightly lit mission item was revealed in front of everyone.

  “Out of five missions, you only completed two. According to our agreement, you’re spared from the punishment of failing the mission. But you can also forget about the rewards.”

  When they realized that they were spared from the punishment, some of the Advanced Apprentices of the team relaxed their expressions. But what Adept Angus said afterwards came as a shock to them.

  “Also, I want to announce an internal decision of the Adept Tower Council. Considering that Greem and Mary showed outstanding performances in the elite mission of the training camp, the council had decided to transfer them into the training camp. From now onwards, they don’t have to participate in any more compulsory missions.”

  Although Adept Angus said it with a deep and hoarse voice, it sounded like a sudden thunder clap in the ears of all team members, greatly stupefying every one of them.

  “This… how can this be?” Seized by terror, Isaac yelled out loudly, “Master, this is unreasonable! Our team is left with only eight members, if you transfer two of them away, how are we going to complete the remaining missions? We want to protest…”

  Before he could finish his words, a black chain suddenly shot out from the void, tightly tying Isaac up in a bundle.

  “What? Is there anyone else who dares to challenge the authority of the Adept Tower Council? Kid, let me tell you, no matter what, don’t challenge the authority and dignity of an Adept. This is a lesson for you, next time, I will not be as nice today and won’t spare you as easily!”

  Following Adept Angus’s stern warning, the black chain suddenly turned red, transforming into a long chain of scorching hot metal, burning Isaac’s skin and flesh making them produce hissing noises. When Angus’s voice turned louder, the chain started to tighten, digging deep into Isaac’s flesh, causing his bones to produce cracking noises as well.

  It was as if Isaac’s magic resistance had suddenly disappeared, making him unable to withstand the fire chain punishment from Adept Angus. After letting out a few miserable shrieks, Isaac fainted as a result of severe pain.

  With a snap of a finger, the fire chain vanished out of thin air, just like how it appeared.

  Adept Angus then moved his dazzling eyes across everybody’s faces. When he did that, every team member felt a sharp pain in their eyes, and couldn’t help and lower their heads.

  “This is just a small punishment to all of you. Your purpose here is to train yourself and complete missions assigned to you, not blaming each other and putting up a stupid show of internal discord! If you’re lacking in strength in order to crush those black bastards, then be smarter, use your strategies and unite to defeat the enemy to complete your task. You don’t have enough manpower? Then go to the main hall in the first floor and get some new recruits! See for yourself if any fools are willing to be hired by you!”

  After a rare long-winded speech, Angus turned his eyes to Greem.

  “Kid, I heard you’re really good in hiding your ability! Haha, looks like you know how being lowkey is important in keeping your life safe. But sometimes, burying your strength too deep isn’t good as well. A strong man should show his bearing and dignity. If you showed your ability earlier, perhaps all the members of this team are now your minions, and the girls would’ve been your exclusive sleeping buddies, isn’t that more meaningful than laying low all by yourself? Come, show me your loot this time!”

  Ugh… Looks like Adept Angus was also a restless guy when he was still an apprentice.

  While helplessly complaining inwardly, Greem and Mary took out their war trophies from their underground trip. Two people brought back two heads of Fallen apprentices, and both were at the level of Advanced Apprentices.

  An unsightly expression surfaced upon the faces of the others who were watching quietly beside them. Only Adept Angus laughed out loud in satisfaction.

  “Not bad, not bad at all! You only visited Underground World twice, yet you brought back two heads already. Indeed, you possess the magical ability that is suited perfectly to the Underground Cave. Kid, you have a bright future, I have confidence in you! Now tell me, what kind of reward do you want to exchange for these heads?”

  The near death experiences of this trip had filled Greem’s mind with great anger. A Pseudo-Adept level Rock Snake he just crafted had been destroyed by the enemy. This, without a doubt, deeply angered him!

  “Elementium core with life aura, it’s better if it’s of the Earth element, and it should also be at Pseudo-Adept level.” Greem gritted his teeth and decided not to hide his talent in crafting golems. After all, he had already exposed the Rock Snake previously. So long as someone paid enough attention to him, that alone was more than enough for them to make some assumption.

  If he still laid low like how he did previously, perhaps he wouldn’t be as lucky on his next trip to the Underground World.

  “Hahaha… two heads, you can exchange them with two Pseudo-Adept level Earth element cores, here you go…” Angus grabbed the two heads, and casually tucked them into a bowl-sized spatial crack that suddenly opened up in front of him. He then pulled out two Earth element cores flashing brightly and tossed them over to Greem. After doing all that, he turned around and left.

  The host was now gone, leaving behind the group who were gazing at each other awkwardly.

  Greem nodded his head to Sabrina, pulled Mary away, and returned to his very own residence.

  Their last journey had made Greem and Mary realize their weakness. Therefore, for the following days, both of them started to get busy on their own, trying all they could in order to supplement their weaknesses.

  What Greem could do now was feed himself with the best food, strengthen the foundation of his constitution, and consume a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion every three to five days so that he can restlessly increase his Spirit. As for the two Pseudo-Adept level Earth element cores, they had long ago turned into two brand new Rock Snake Golems.

  Mary on the other hand, felt the lack of power behind her attacks and the vulnerability of her resistance. Thus, she spent a huge amount of magic crystals to purchased a pair of ‘Cruel Claws’, using it to improve her offensive power.

  This pair of Cruel Claws was a set of melee finger-cot magical items. The effect attached on the left hand was tearing, while
the right hand gave her attacks the effect of bleeding. They were considerably a perfect match to Mary’s current abilities. In the middle of a fight, Mary could inject her Blood element energy into these finger-cots, giving them a +2 effect of sharpness.

  Besides that, Mary was also wringing her brain out concerning her magic resistance.

  It would take a long time for her to train to increase her magic resistance, that’s why Mary purchased some small decorative items that could bring her additional magic resistances. If she had an Electric Resistant Necklace which could bring her +2 in electricity resistance, she wouldn’t be burned into a big piece of charcoal when she forcefully penetrated through the lightning web in the Underground World.

  Greem had given all his magic crystal cards to Mary, therefore Mary, who had her desire of spending unleashed completely, used this fortune and brought back a lot of magic resistance jewelries and magic potions. While Mary was crazily spending Greem’s magic crystals, Greem was having a ‘passionate and friendly’ conversation with the Snorlax in his room.

  Snorlax still looked like a green-skinned goblin. The only change it had was a magical collar on its neck, which a few runes could vaguely be seen on top of the collar. It was a special magical item used specifically for imprisoning those demi-humans who refuse to obey its master’s command.

  A ring of runes was engraved on the inner side of the collar. Three tiny needles that poked into the wearer’s neck were present, slowly drawing the magic energy of the wearer in keeping the collar’s normal functionality. Any action that causes any damage to the collar would immediately trigger a powerful lightning attack. The same effect applies to the wearer if it moved too far away from its master.

  The only way to remove this collar was for the caster to recite a magic spell according to a specific order.

  Therefore, after putting the collar on Snorlax upon their return, Greem finally had his mind relax.

  It was clear that this extremely intelligent goblin named Snorlax had long gotten used to the life of being a slave, and for that reason, it didn’t show any resistance to what Greem had done to it.

  [Edited by: DragonFly]

  Chapter 84

  This was an extremely clever little guy who knew how to understand people’s thoughts.

  Upon entering Greem’s room, it quickly carried out its duty. Taking care of the room’s cleanliness, organizing books on the table, wiping off ink stains, washing the quill pen and cleaning the remains of magical experiments, and even helping Greem take off his thick and heavy traveler robe…

  In short, all the tasks that a magical slave could do, it had completed them within a very short period of time after it came into the room. After that, it stood politely beside the table, awaiting Greem’s command.

  Carrying a smile in his eyes and watching how Snorlax completed all these tasks, Greem finally gave out his order in a rather cold manner.

  “Tell me about that Adept Pridka!”

  The goblin’s body trembled slightly, raising its head and taking a peek at the young apprentice who stood opposite to it, but its gaze was caught by Greem’s cold and calm glance. This made it shudder, quickly lowering its eyes and began to speak in a stuttered manner.

  The story was more or less as what Greem had been expecting. This green-skinned goblin who had the name of Snorlax was indeed a very lucky escaped slave.

  In order to tell the whole story, it had to start from fifteen years ago.

  To put it simply, that Second Grade Adept Pridka wanted to carry out some kind of soul experiment, so he captured a large group of underground creatures to serve as his magic spell experiment subjects. Like most of the magic spell experiments, this soul experiment was extremely dangerous and difficult to control, thus most of his test subjects eventually died painfully, while only this green-skinned goblin survived.

  With regards to the soul experiment, Snorlax didn’t have many memories, and most were not complete. But through its brief description, Greem suspected that Second Grade Adept Pridka was trying to perform a soul transfer experiment.

  As soul transfer was the only lead to immortality, it was a magic topic that must be researched privately by most of the Adepts who wished for immortality.

  As for the Adept’s treasure mentioned by Snorlax, it was just one of the many laboratories Adept Pridka built in the Underground World. Since Snorlax accidentally awakened its intelligence during the soul experiment and managed to survive, in order to better observe any changes to its soul, Adept Pridka promoted it to become his personal slave. And out of curiosity, he taught it some magical knowledge.

  So, that was when Snorlax learned all three magic spells it knew.

  Despite only having the most basic intelligence, Snorlax was actually smart in its own unique way. The reason why it chose these three spells was so that it could escape from the Adept! Even though it didn’t have a brilliant brain and vast knowledge like an Adept, but it also knew as a test subject, sooner or later it would have to be cut open on an operating table.

  Since the day its intelligence awakened, it had been preparing for its grand escape.

  After listening to Snorlax’s story, Greem couldn’t help and speculate how this goblin must be a very lucky creature that was blessed by the Will of Adept World. After it served the Adept for eleven years, it finally found an opportunity for its great escape.

  It happened five years ago during an Underground World clean up mission. The Zhentarim Association sent a large group of Adepts and ambushed Elysium City. Adept Pridka was forced to bring most of the Fallen Adepts and moved to a deeper place underground, while Snorlax was abandoned in the laboratory.

  According to normal circumstances, Snorlax would disappear together with the self-destruction of Elysium City. But surprisingly, this lucky fellow was able to escape before the city was destroyed. And so, not knowing anybody, Snorlax had once again become a wild creature that roamed the Underground World.

  As for its situation after that, it was rather easy to guess.

  Despite the fact that Snorlax mastered a few peculiar magic spells that didn’t have much fighting ability, it was not something that could be easily captured by ordinary underground creatures. After wandering in the wild for some time, through its peculiar abilities, Snorlax actually gathered a large group of goblins and established a camp in the shallow region of Underground World, becoming the leader of a goblin colony.

  After he listened to Snorlax story, Greem sighed emotionally inside of his heart. This was simply a motivational story of this strange world. But too bad, no marvelous or extraordinary story could move him now. Greem snapped his finger angrily, causing the tiny needles that poked into Snorlax’s neck to inject a powerful electricity into its body.

  In next moment, dark smoke started to billow out from Snorlax’s body, as it fell to the ground, its body twitching.

  “Hmph, your story is indeed motivational, and is pleasant to hear. But tell me, what benefits can I get after putting all that effort to save you? Do you think I just want to listen to your fucking fantasy story?” The enraged Greem kept roaring at Snorlax, showing a look that seemed as if he was about to rip this goblin into pieces.

  “Mas… master… I.. I can… I can give you a magic spell laboratory of a Second Grade Adept!” Snorlax proved itself to be a tough creature who had both thick skin and strong guts, even though it was facing a threat to its life, its eyes and mouth twitching due to the electricity, it was still able to smoothly say its life-saving statement.

  “Where’s that laboratory?”

  “In Elysium City!”

  “Fuck! Damn you, goblin! Do you think a surface apprentice like me can freely enter Elysium City, the place where all Fallen Adepts come together in crowds? Do you want to taste electricity again?”

  “Master, I was referring to the ruins of the old Elysium City, not the current one!” Greatly terrified by Greem, Snorlax nearly used up all of its strength in yelling out this sentence.

  “Oh?
Give me more details!”

  “I didn’t really understand what the exact scenario was, but all I know is one thing, Elysium City had been destroyed three times before. Whenever the surface Adepts came to the Underground Cave, the Elysium City would be destroyed. After that, those Fallen Adepts will find another location and rebuild a brand new city. The Elysium City I mentioned to you just now is the ruins of the previous Elysium City after it was destroyed in the last war. The current Elysium City is built after that.”

  “After it went through a massive self-destruction, would there still be anything left?” Greem pretentiously said in a disdainful manner.

  “Master, master! The laboratory built by Adept Pridka was protected by the strongest magical arrays. Although it’s impossible for it to remain completely intact, but I’m sure there will be some leftover resources. The resources that can be found there are left by a Second Grade Adept, though it might just be in a small quantity, but it’s still worth the risk!”

  Greem quieted down.

  “Chip, analyze the truthfulness of what Snorlax said.”

  “Beep. Data analysis completed… Preliminary results show what it said is true… The reference data included: ‘The Chronicles of Underground Cave’, ‘The Secrets of Underground Creatures’, ‘Bibliography of Fallen Adepts’… Note: When the creature mentioned the laboratory in the ruins, an abnormal spiritual ripple was detected. The analysis shows there is something it needs in that place…”

  “Hmph, it can also be the chance for it to once again escape from the hands of someone else!” Greem had this thought in his mind.

  Of course, all these were secrets that was hidden within Greem’s mind. Externally, he had his face covered with a bright smile and raised Snorlax from the ground, vowing solemnly that, so long as it could bring Greem to the laboratory, he would set it free and reward it with a huge sum of magic crystals.