Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  A moment later, an adult and two juvenile Molten Giants came to the scene with heavy steps. What could they do? As their bodies were overly huge, they just couldn’t squeeze through the ordinary and narrow tunnels. Most of the time they could only travel through the large tunnels produced by the erosion of underground lava. As for enemies who hid in narrow spaces, the Molten Giants could only rely on their Fire element creatures to chase them out.

  Upon seeing the collapsed tunnels, a sudden comprehension struck them.

  Under the orders of the adult Molten Giant, Alexios, the remaining Lava Hounds gave up the decision of digging a path, turned around, and leapt into a few nearby lava tunnels which were still in a good condition with the intention of intercepting the enemy by taking a circuitous route.

  Alexios turned around and gave its order to the two juveniles of its clan. “There is only one enemy, and he is a mere human Apprentice Adept, so there is no danger ahead. Bring my message to Arghol: he needn’t belabor our people. I’ll hunt him down myself.”

  Having finished saying that, it turned around and walked towards the tunnel that had been completely sealed off. Following its striding, a scorching hot flame of extreme temperature burst out from its body. And, right in front of it, the once rock solid piles of broken rocks started to soften and melt, and eventually, turned into boiling lava that flowed all over the place.

  Unobstructed, using the fearful flame, Alexios had melted a human-shaped tunnel in front of it, allowing it to keep striding forward at high-speed. Yet, it left a path full of lava behind, so no outsider could follow.

  However, at that time, Greem had fled to some five miles away.

  Nevertheless, in this underground world filled with twisting and winding tunnels, although he had fled for five miles, if it was measured in a straight line, it might just be a distance of four to five hundred meters. Also, the Fire Elementium contained in the rock strata here was extremely high. If the Rock Snake wished to travel through the ground like it did in the Underground Cave, it would have to consume a jaw-dropping amount of Earth Elementium.

  Therefore, before reaching the most critical moment, Greem didn’t want to waste the Rock Snake’s energy.

  The pursuit lasted only an hour before it ended, and it was the Molten Giant who gave up the hunt. It was as if there was a clear-cut line in their mind; once the fleeing enemy crossed that line, they wouldn’t take the risk and continue the pursuit beyond that boundary.

  Sensing the intense source of Fire chasing behind him was departing, Greem finally breathed out a long sigh of relief. He was pretty sure that it must have been an adult Molten Giant of Adept level. If he was forced to fight with a big fellow like this, even if he summoned all his golems, he would end up with a miserable defeat.

  He lacked a big guy of Earth element that could stand up against this Molten Giant, and he didn’t own any element golems that could provide maximum power in this volcanic environment. It looked like there was still a huge gap before he could construct a fully fledged golem army.

  Moreover, he could tell the Molten Giants showed great care for the younger generations of their clan. With his senses, he discovered that two little Pseudo-Adept fellows hadn’t participated in the hunt and they didn’t travel alone. Undoubtedly, this increased the difficulty of capturing one of them.

  After all, with Greem’s current overall strength, he didn’t have the courage to plan anything against adult Molten Giant of Adept level. Yet, there was some hope for the little guys of the Pseudo-Adept level!

  Since he had been driven off from the core region of the lava ocean, Greem had nothing else could do but wander around the upper region. While waiting for the full recovery of his body, he was searching for a new route that led to the lava ocean. After all, for years, this enormous volcano had been corroded by the underground lava and hundreds of thousands of lava tunnels had been formed and interconnected like a complicated spiderweb. Thus, nearly all of the tunnels would point to the miraculous and profound world of lava. It was impossible for the Molten Giants to block off every single route.

  Without wasting any more time, when his body had fully restored to its best condition, Greem once again snuck into the lava ocean. This round, he doubled the time he spent soaking in it and the progress he achieved surprised him.

  The modification progress of his Inferno Body had skyrocketed to 37%, from the previous 23%. Yet, Greem’s body had once again gone through great torture, as 1/7 of his flesh was burned off. But his booming Physique had stimulated the quick regeneration of new flesh and blood.

  His body was like a factory that kept being pushed down and rebuilt. Every time, the delicate balance constructed by the regeneration of his flesh would be broken by the strengthening of his Fire element innate talent. And when everything was pushed down, new internal organs and flesh would regrow slowly, so that they could match the latest state of his Inferno Body.

  And, within the progress of this seemingly endless loop, those modifications, that perfectly matched with his Inferno Body constitution, remained. And yet, the temporary unfitted modifications would be placed in line, waiting to be modified again.

  Initially, Greem wanted to let the Chip to participate in this process of body modification and reconstruction. But after a few small scale experiments, he had no choice but to give up the idea. Due to the constraint of his experience and vision, it was impossible for the Chip to predictively leave appropriate room for the future strengthening of his Fire element innate element. Yet, it was marvelously achieved by the instincts of his own body, amidst obscurity and out of chaos.

  Also, under the instruction from the instinct of his body, many tiny changes made to his organs were determined as useless or redundant by the Chip. However, after going through another couple rounds of body modification, to Greem’s surprise, the portions which had been deemed useless and redundant actually turned into the flawless foundations for the latest modification.

  If such discovery only happened once in awhile, Greem wouldn’t be so surprised. But, following the Chip’s overall monitoring of his entire body, a similar discovery could be found in almost every modified part of his body.

  At this point, Greem was forced to stop the Chip from meddling in the process and let the instinct of the body lead the entire process. The Chip would be a general observer, recording the entire process with detailed and accurate data.

  The more he observed the process, the deeper he pondered it. And that brought Greem more understanding about the ‘Will of the World’ he always heard from Adepts.

  The world Greem was staying in right now was just a large-scale plane inside of the enormous multi-verse. Yet, a boundless world with abundant resources like this was merely a tiny grain of sand within the depths of the vast ocean of stars.

  If Earth, and the universe where Earth was located in Greem’s previous life, was referred as a world of low-magic, then in this life of his, the Plane of Adepts and the multi-verse would be referred to as a world of advanced-magic. Countless energy tidal waves fully filled every inch of space in this world.

  Influenced by the copious energy tidal waves, Occultism itself had transformed into a frightening force. Any world, any plane, any human, could unleash fearful power far beyond the limit of their own ability. And all this could be put together under the scope of mighty Occultism!

  Back on Earth in his previous life, if someone claimed that the Earth had its own conscious and possessed its own will, it would simply be a joke that made people laugh their heads off! Because the mass of the Earth was too huge; for a massive object like this to produce its own will, it was far from enough just to rely on the materials and energy contained within itself.

  Therefore, in the world of low-magic, it was impossible for a planet to produce its own will!

  But… but Greem was living in a world of advanced-magic. The mighty energy tidal wave was everywhere. And this had given a solid foundation for the planet to give birth to its self-conscious. Of cours
e, in this multi-verse, there weren’t any planets, only planes!

  At all times, one after another, floating continents covering the insides of plane barriers were soaking in immense energy. Using their own body of boundless land, they carried massive amounts of dirt, sand, rocks, trees, woods, forests, mountains, lakes, oceans, metal, mines, minerals, and last but not least, hundreds of thousands of living creatures of different species. No matter if it was just an ordinary rock or a mighty Adept who stood at the pinnacle of the world, they were all part of the plane.

  Innumerable materials, millions upon millions of living beings of different species, together with the immense energy tidal wave; all of these had provided a solid foundation for the birth of the collective consciousness. Perhaps the prime form of the Will of the World was this collective consciousness, as it was the grand fusion of the countless living beings and elementary materials found within its body. But, as time went on, the plane became stronger, and a vague, incorporeal conscious of the plane was born, virtually.

  Chapter 130

  With the massive scale of a plane, the Will of the Plane born within could never be as nimble and as witty as a human brain, which answered to every single plea it received.

  Nevertheless, the basic likes and dislikes were no different from a normal human!

  Every single individual who lived in its bosom, regardless of if they were living beings with consciousness, or rocks and woods without any consciousness, they were all humble existences that formed the entire Will of the Plane. If a plane was completely sealed off and the resources and living beings contained within maintained at the same volume, then the Will of the Plane would lose its opportunity to evolve and become stronger.

  Only by diligently keeping what it owned and seizing the resources required for its growth from outside of its own body could the Will of the Plane continue to grow stronger. Eventually, this would allow it to awaken and become an even mightier existence.

  As a major scale plane, obviously, the Adept Continent had long given birth to its own mighty conscious that solely belong to itself, which had then transformed into the Will of the World that perfectly matched the Adept Continent.

  And, after the birth of this Will, the only method to control this plane was using the Hand of Principle that took no shape and was nothingness. Thus, every single material and living being that existed in this plane was bound by the power of countless principles.

  Wood could produce fire, fire could melt metal, metal could chop down trees and break rocks, while earth bore the weight of everything, dirt gave birth to life, and water nourished and cherish all things… yet all of this was just the surface of the world. The ultimate hand that controlled and guided everything behind was the ubiquitous invincible Principle of the Plane.

  Even the supreme Adepts, who claimed they could conquer every plane and were formidable enough to compete with deities, couldn’t ignore the existence of the Principle of the Plane and act wantonly.

  Therefore, the stronger an Adept became, the deeper comprehension he had for the Will of the World, while weaker living beings would only have a vague feeling towards everything. Just like the evolution of Greem’s Inferno Body, at a given time, the Will of the Plane had shown its existence.

  There was no God nor Deity here, but a selfless Will of the Plane hiding in the depths of the plane, quietly but surely pushing the course of the world in an orderly fashion. Any behavior that was of benefit to the evolution of the plane would receive positive feedback from the vague Will, which eventually improved the individual’s degree of mastery and control toward the Principle of the Plane.

  As for the behavior which defied the Will of the Plane, it would attract ‘its’ dislike, and thus make the individual a target that was hated by every single living being of that particular plane.

  And yet for Greem, it was through the monitoring of and analyzing the overall data of his body that he noticed that there was a huge, invisible hand who controlled everything inside of the plane. Otherwise, if he had really thought this was just an unconscious behavior that was put out by the instinct of the body, it would be an insult to his intelligence.

  And if an Apprentice Adept wished to become an official Adept, it seemed that one of the thresholds he had to step over was the understanding of the Principle of the Plane. Otherwise, why was there such a huge gap between a Pseudo-Adept with 20 Spirit and an Adept with 21 Spirit?

  His mind filled with questions, when Greem finished soaking his Inferno Body, he hurriedly left the lava ocean to avoid being caught by the patrolling Molten Giants.

  After rushing to the safe zone in one go, Greem found himself another place as his temporary shelter.

  After some time, the food and water he had brought were nearly depleted. Having no other alternative, Greem had to live a primitive life of eating raw meat and blood. His food source were the Fire Lizards he hunted, while the water came from condensing it using magic spells and Fire Lizard blood.

  In order to make the best of his soaking time, every two days, Greem would change the location of his temporary shelter. With that, the time and location he appeared at the lava ocean would be completely different. Using this method, he managed to avoid several ambushes and traps set by the Molten Giants, making them really angry. But there was nothing they could do about it.

  Through the countless times he ‘communicated’ with the Molten Giants, even though they had never met face to face, Greem had quickly figured out his enemies’ way of thinking and acting. Also, through the countless probes and results, he finally broke through the blockade of the Molten Giant patrol team at the outer perimeter, and successfully drew close to their nest – the Ring-shaped Reef.

  Although it was referred to as Ring-shaped Reef, it was in fact, a chain of interlocking huge rocks floating on the surface of the lava ocean. Using a thick alloy chain, the Molten Giants had tied them together, forming into a large floating island anchored right at the center of the lava ocean.

  The nest of the Molten Giants was placed on top of these floating islands.

  So to speak, from the womb to the tomb, a Molten Giant spent nearly its entire life in this boundless lava ocean. This resulted in the fact that though they had the overall strength of an Adept and high intelligence, they didn’t own the advanced wisdom that matched it.

  In brief, they were smart, but hadn’t reached the state of ‘cunning!’

  That was the reason why, though they had such formidable overall strength, they were thrown into unrest by a mere ‘Advanced Apprentice,’ Greem.

  Of course, an Advanced Apprentice who was like Greem was rather rare to come by.

  Through secret observation of the Molten Giants, a thief-like thought arose in his mind. He actually intended to rob the Molten Giant’s clan treasure vault. The Molten Giants were born and brought up here, and they had been patrolling the lava ocean every single day. Nearly all the advanced magical gemstones and top grade magic spell materials that one could find in the underground volcano had to be piled up like a mountain in their treasure vault.

  If he could rob a clan treasure vault of this magnitude, Greem felt that he wouldn’t have to worry about harvesting resources himself for the next few hundred years. Just doing it once was more than enough to fill his need to the maximum!

  However, after a few more times of careful survey, Greem was discouraged once again.

  As expected, the Molten Giants attached a very great importance to their treasure vault. Not only had they built the treasure vault on the largest floating island, it was placed right next to the residence of their elders. Also, round the clock, two elite level Molten Giants guarded its entrance with high vigilance to make sure there would be no leakage of any kind.

  Greem had the Chip design him countless plans, but still he couldn’t find a safe and sound method that allowed him to sneak into the treasure vault under the watchful eyes of two elite level Molten Giants.

  Nevertheless, during the fruitless course of find
ing his path to the loot, unintentionally, Greem made another discovery.

  He discovered the graves of the Molten Giants!

  Although Molten Giants could live more than 2000 years, as time went by, unavoidably, they still had to face their deaths. In order to give their deceased people a place to rest forever, the Molten Giants had built a graveyard on one of the floating islands amidst the Ring-shaped Islands. Whenever a Molten Giant was facing its own death, it would enter this graveyard and wait there quietly for its death to come.

  Once they were dead, their huge and flaming hot bodies would cool down gradually, and eventually solidify into a stone statue that stood quietly. Hence, in this graveyard stood great numbers of stone statues, and many of them were the dead bodies of formidable existence that stood seven to eight meters tall.

  No doubt the Molten Giants had put a heavy guard on their treasure vault, to stop any human Adepts or some Fire element creatures from sneaking into it and stealing their treasures. But for the clan graveyard, Greem didn’t find any real safety precautions.

  Actually, this was understandable. After all, no one or creature would have improper thoughts toward a lifeless stone statue! But when the Molten Giants were met with Greem, an expert who could even squeeze oil out of stone, their clan graveyard was facing great peril.

  Greem was after the element core that remained in the dead bodies of the Molten Giants. Of course, the element cores which had been dead for a long time had no soul aura and couldn’t be used anymore. However, among the element cores from Molten Giants that had been dead for less than one hundred years, Greem might be able to find some which could be used as the conscious core for his golem.

  After all, the Molten Giants who had the right to enter their clan graveyard were all old fellows, so the lowest level element core he could find would be of that of Adept level. If he was lucky enough, perhaps… perhaps he might even find a Second Grade Adept level core.