Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  These quality slaves were favorite products, even in the World of Adepts. If an adept clan discovered these particular races within the lesser planes that they conquered, they would gain immense wealth through the sale of slaves.

  However, the majority of the population in these lesser planes were still comprised of native lifeforms with absolutely no unique talents. These people were not worth anything. Selling them off in the World of Adepts wouldn't even earn enough magic crystals to pay their transportation fee. Thus, these individuals were often forced into the mines to dig for rare ores and materials to maximize the profits of the World of Adepts.

  If the Silver Union were able to set up a production facility in their lesser planes and convert the massive population 'resource' into a more convenient form for transportation, they would undoubtedly be able to make massive profits. It was even more so if they could use the resource in the creation of a more valuable alchemical item. For example, golem stones.

  After all, massacres were forbidden in the World of Adepts. Such an evil, inhumane operation could only occur on the unsupervised lesser planes!

  Greem finally discovered signs of soul possession in the wooden golem with the help of the chip. This evidence indirectly proved his suspicions.

  The Silver Union had always conducted savage and bloody business in the lesser planes they owned!

  Of course, Greem did not intend to criticize or accuse them of any wrongdoing.

  After all, every single clan did something similar. The clans only differed in the extent to which they did it!

  Perhaps it was because of such actions that other planes considered the World of Adepts a force of evil, and the adepts hailed as heartless creatures that haunted the dreams of the living.

  He might have been able to understand the mechanisms and composition of the golem stone, but this information wasn't much help to Greem. After all, the golem stone was merely a container. Most of its functions and effects came from the white soul smoke contained within it. And Greem was not very well acquainted with soul studies. He still had no idea how the esoteric adepts had extracted the soul, nor how they refined it, cleansed it, or stored it within the golem stone.

  These topics were often the domain of necromancers! They were the ones who were masters of soul studies!

  Could the Silver Union have hired a large group of necromancers to work for them? Or had they invented a device that could carry out the complex and delicate tasks involved in the process?

  There were too many possibilities. Greem would need to sneak into the Silver Union's lesser planes and take a look at their golem stone production facilities if he wanted to know more about them.

  However, the various organizations had always kept a tight grip on the lesser planes under their control. It was impossible to sneak into one without joining their organization or signing some form of soul contract.

  It was evident from how the Sarubo Clan treated the Knight's plane.

  Greem was already a core adept of the Sarubo Clan. He had also contributed a great deal during the planar war. However, the plane coordinates had been ripped out of his brain the moment he chose to exit the knight's plane.

  Even with the chip's help, Greem still couldn't recall the position of the plane. In clearing his memory, the Sarubo Clan no longer needed to worry about the coordinates leaking to the outside world.

  Greem had killed two adepts in a fight in the forest back then. He had managed to find some notes and books in their possession. After reading through their contents and doing some organization, Greem once again confirmed his future development path.

  He had already elementiumized his body, but this was only semi-elementiumization. If Greem wanted to reach for Second Grade, he needed to prepare for spirit elementiumization.

  The chip estimated that Greem would have to undergo a hundred years of accumulation before he could complete his spirit elementiumization. Moreover, he needed to be in specific environments such as volcanos during this long process of elementiumization.

  Thus, Greem had ceaselessly studied the maps of the Zhentarim area to find a location suitable for his hermitage. However, before he could go ahead and start worrying about that, he had to deal with Alice's problem.

  After all, Alice's talent as a Witch of Fate was something that he prioritized as well. If Alice succeeded, she would play a vital part in the plans for his life!

  …………

  Greem received a magical message from Keoghan the moment he exited the lab.

  The clan had prepared the resources for Alice's advancement. The ceremony could start any time she was ready. Of course, Greem would have to pay for all this!

  Soon, someone knocked on his door.

  Greem opened the door to find a male pseudo-adept subordinate to Keoghan. It was Maiguta.

  A group of adepts followed behind him, carrying a variety of boxes of different sizes.

  "Sir Greem, these are the advancement resources that Sir Keoghan asked me to send to you. Please find them enclosed!"

  Greem could almost feel his eyes watering when he took the list from Maiguta.

  Fate was such a bitch sometimes!

  His advancement was complete torture. It was arduous and trying. A single and unfortunate slight turn in the series of events and he would have been the victim of a blood ceremony. On the other hand, Alice only needed to stay in her room and enjoy life. She could rack up the nutrition and gain some weight. Her 'master' Greem would take care of everything for her advancement.

  This disparity was a difference in their fates!

  Greem lamented for a moment, then regained his composure. He started to go through the list and examined the goods before signing the receipt and sending the apprentice adepts away.

  It was a considerable sum of money that he had spent. The instant he placed his emblem on that receipt, his assets had shrunk by one third. Who made Alice his 'personal asset'? This arrangement was why the Sarubo Clan had no obligation to take on this expensive advancement fee for him.

  That said, Greem wouldn't allow it even if Adept Keoghan wanted to take on this cost for Alice.

  Alice belonged to him first, before she could be considered as a Sarubo clan adept.

  That was something that Greem would always insist upon!

  The other apprentices under Greem had caught wind of the news and had hurried over to see him.

  Their arrival was timely. Greem had wanted to leave the treatment and processing of these resources to them.

  Saro was a rare fruit from the primal jungles. Consumption of the fruit would strengthen an individual's vitality. Moreover, there were no side effects to use.

  Primal Worm was a bizarre worm cultivated with the use of magic. It could noticeably increase mental tenacity when eaten during advancement and was considered a rare resource often used during an advancement.

  Rancid Potion was a potion that increased Spirit through the burning and exhaustion of life force and potential.

  The Water of Life was a miraculous item of the elves of other planes that replenished the life force lost from the advancement ceremony.

  ……

  ……

  There were all sorts of things in the resources sent over by the Sarubo Clan. Every one of them was a precious resource with particular uses. They were all exceptionally beneficial to an advancing adept.

  All of the resources had been sealed within a unique magical array to prevent them from losing their efficacy over time. When the items were ready to be used, they would undo the seals and process the materials with a specific methodology.

  Greem left this arduous work to his apprentices.

  He, on the other hand, put in all his effort to calculate the odds of success for Alice's advancement!

  According to all the information and data that he had, with the effects of the auxiliary resources taken into account, the chip projected the success rate to be 67.71%.

  Alice's had superior talent, the numerous resources that she h
ad access to, and the good fortune of the Witch of Fate. Even all of this added together barely pushed her advancement success rate above the halfway mark.

  That alone was enough to demonstrate the difficulty of advancing from a pseudo-adept to an adept!

  When they had prepared everything, and Alice had adjusted her condition and mental state, she took all the prepared resources and got ready to enter the hidden ceremony room.

  Alice had put on a long robe to prevent anyone from discovering the odd condition of her body. She didn't want anyone to see her dematerialized stomach.

  She received Kodar's, Meryl's, Am's, Toril's and Lena's blessings.

  "You can do this, Big Sis!" As one of the only two pseudo-adepts subordinate to Greem, he was the first to give his blessings.

  "You will definitely become a beautiful witch!" Meryl softly whispered into Alice's eyes.

  The advancement to adept was also a refinement of the core human existence. This opportunity could allow Alice to break through fate's seal and enable her to break free of the curse that had forever sealed her body when she was eight.

  "Big Sis, I'll have to call you Lady Adept the next time we meet." Am giggled.

  "I believe in you," Toril shouted from aside.

  "You must succeed!" An envious but passionate light gleamed in Lena's eyes.

  One more person had followed behind the apprentices. It was Snorlax.

  This fellow brought a wooden carving of a female goblin for Alice. He even insisted that this was the goblins' good luck charm.

  However, advancement was a significant event. Any unknown items that could disrupt or affect the ceremony couldn't be allowed in. So, Greem immediately confiscated the carving the moment Snorlax took it out.

  Alice stood by the door and took a look at everyone before placing her gaze on Greem.

  "I will wait for you!" Greem's blessing was direct and straightforward.

  Alice nodded then turned and walked into the room with determined steps.

  Chapter 319

  There was an empty arcane room.

  There was nothing else here apart from a remarkable and mysterious array on the floor.

  "Not even a chair to sit on."

  Alice pouted as she grumbled. She slowly walked before the array and bent to examine the patterns.

  It was a purely defensive array. Once it was activated, the entire room would be on lockdown. Alice didn't need to worry about any interruption from the outside while she commenced with her advancement!

  Alice inserted her magical emblem into the array. In doing so, she could obscure everything. Even Greem, the owner of the room, would no longer be able to sense or see what happened in here.

  Everyone had their secrets. Even if Alice had already accepted Greem as her master, that didn't mean that she would give up her rights and privacy.

  The defensive array slowly started to activate. Faint light surfaced on the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. The room severed all connection to the outside world.

  Alice sat crossed-legged in middle of the room. She started taking out all of the resources and items she needed to use for the ceremony and placed them by her side. With her smarts and a powerful memory, she could instantly recall the position of all the items with absolutely no errors.

  These items were all placed within her reach to make it convenient for her when she needed them.

  She had placed the consumables mostly to her right. There were a total of seventeen or eighteen different herbs and medicines. They were either used to increase Physique, enhance Spirit, or to calm her mind. Every single item and potion had a unique application. All of them could increase her chances of a successful advancement.

  The items placed in front of her were magical tools that were related to the ceremony. The most obvious one was a crystal altar. The other things were situated around it.

  Adepts were an arcane group whose origins were full of primal, savage, and ignorant voodoo practices. Tens of thousands of years of development had passed, but some of the details still retained the style and trappings of their ancient arts.

  The adepts of the past had conducted extraordinarily bloody and cruel human sacrifices. They killed the people of opposing tribes and bathed in their blood to obtain strange but powerful abilities.

  The adepts were a lot more civilized now and used all sorts of materials to replace the blood and flesh of living beings. However, the ritual was fundamentally still the same.

  Restoration food and potions were on her right.

  After all, the advancement ceremony was a long and trying process for most people. Even those who managed to advance would be utterly exhausted, if not grievously wounded. Thus, the post-ceremony recovery was something that needed attention as well!

  Having placed everything where it was supposed to be, Alice softly removed her long robe and revealed her body.

  The transparent effect had already extended to her chest.

  She could still sense the parts of her body below her chest. She could also move her body as she wanted to. However, she couldn't see those parts of her body nor touch them with her hand. The skin near her chest had also become semi-translucent. She could see the blood vessels, muscles, and the heart inside her body.

  The energy pollution from the spacestone was still ongoing. In fact, there were signs of the contamination speeding up.

  Alice had no reference for what she would become after being entirely polluted by the spacestone. However, ever since she received her magical tattoo, the aura of intangible fate had become increasingly clear.

  Every time she wondered about the nature of the spacestone's pollution of her body, a terrible feeling would course through her body. Alice even vaguely sensed that this was the World itself rejecting her existence.

  Perhaps this was the most obvious hint that fate could give her!

  Since she was confident that this change was a malignant one, there was no need to hesitate. Alice had to use this advancement ceremony to stop this change to her state of existence.

  Thus, Alice started to feast without hesitation.

  Saro, Primal Worm, Underground Fire Pulp, Vurg Potion, Purple Watershroom.

  She ate all sorts of things and couldn't help but let out a burp after she finished.

  The powerful effects of the various items started to course through her body, stimulating her physical body as well as her mind. Alice gripped her fists and silently endured the barrage of life force that charged and crashed through her entire body.

  Her blood started to boil.

  Alice's face flushed bright red. Drops of sweat flowed down her head. She seemed like she was at her limits.

  She had been disadvantaged because of her weak Physique. Even with so many resources to strengthen herself, the flood of energy within her body had already exceeded the limits of her control by far. Thus, the sudden boost in her body's fundamental attributes not only provided her with a false sense of endless power, but they also continuously damaged and repaired her internal organs.

  Alice endured the ferocious pounding upon her body and grabbed a bag full of magical crystal dust. She spread the dust and drew a magic circle with it. She cautiously placed the crystal altar within the circle and lit up four candles on each corner of it.

  When she had prepared everything, Alice knelt before the altar. She silently started to reach for the complex and profound Law of Fate.

  The magic circle was to cut off the interior from the outside.

  The circle had no start nor end. It represented permanence. The inside edge of the circle was considered a place beyond ordinary time or space. The altar within the circle had its own temporal and spatial structure.

  Alice had the bloodline of the Witch of Fate. Her power didn't come from some deity or powerful adept. Instead, it was from the Branch of Fate that had ultimately merged with the planar laws of the World of Adepts.

  More frankly, the bloodline powers of the Witch of Fate came from Zithermoon 'Meisa'.


  Once upon a time, the Witch Queen led thirteen powerful witches and together they created the Northern Witches, forging a place for themselves beyond the cold and desolate land of ice and snow in the north of the continent. They had cut through jungles and paved new roads. Countless witches had paid with their lives to wrestle land from the hands of forest creatures, magical creatures, mutated monsters, and corruptors. They erected one adept's tower after another and eventually, the Kingdom of the Northern Witches came to be.

  Then, the 'Upheaval of the Adepts' happened. All Great Adepts above Fourth Grade were forced to leave the plane, never to set foot on the World of Adepts again.

  The world consciousness of the World of Adept had suitably opened up some of its world laws in exchange for the adepts' departure. Great Adepts that had reached certain heights of power could leave their markings within the laws of the world.

  To ensure that the legacy of the Northern Witches would always exist, some witches chose to stay when the Witch Queen left with her entourage of powerful subordinates. These witches merged their body and soul with the laws of the world.

  In doing so, the legacies of the thirteen witch branches became part of the world's laws. They no longer needed to worry about their legacy vanishing!

  Thus, if Alice wanted to advance, she definitely shouldn't go down the path of an ordinary adept. She shouldn't accumulate knowledge, then strengthen herself, then form her adept core and communicate with the planar laws. The witches walked a completely different path of inheritance!

  The laws of the world contained the knowledge and power they required. What they needed to do was use their bloodline to win the approval of the laws and receive recognition from the world consciousness.

  As such, Alice prayed zealously before taking out a crystal dagger from the pile of items. She stabbed it into her open palm, then extended her arm forward and let the blood drip onto the altar to paint it scarlet.

  A bright silver radiance covered the entire altar the moment her blood fell onto it.

  The magic circle made of crystal dust caught on fire as well.