Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  "Nina, what is your plan in inviting them? Do you intend to betray the Northern Witches? You best be careful. If I catch any weakness of yours, you can be sure that the Witch Council won't be letting you off easy!"

  Nina was a tall woman wearing white armor that hugged her well-proportioned body. Her face wasn't excessively pretty, but her bright and crystalline blue eyes were enough for one to list her among the most celebrated beauties.

  She stood tall on a boulder above the cliff. A giant, green-feathered thunder roc rested right beside her.

  It was apparent that she had traveled a long distance to arrive here. The long journey had utterly exhausted the thunder roc. There was no longer a trace of its wild and savage aura that befit a Second Grade magical creature like itself.

  Second Grade Witch Nina took one more look at Feidnan City and turned to appreciate the beautiful scenery of the forest. She never let her gaze fall upon the poison witch's ugly face no matter what she did.

  "You will know what I want to do soon! Don't forget, Endor. Before you find any weakness of mine, you will have to abide by the Council's ruling. Leader Angelina is willing to exchange Iceseal City and its surrounding lands for one of your apprentice witches. Your leader has already acknowledged this transaction. Do you dare to go against the Witch Council?"

  Precisely because she knew that Nina was right, Endor the Poisonous Witch betrayed an agitated expression. Still, she continued to argue, "You lot are only using your identity as the convener of this hundred-year assembly to force the resolution through the council. Only three branches voted. The other witch branches either refused to participate or happened to have their leader present at the council. That's the only reason you managed to get the False Witches to agree to this disgusting resolution."

  "And because of that, you hurried over here to stop me?" Witch Nina turned around, her sharp eyes gleaming a bright blue, making it hard for Endor to look her in the eyes, "You handed over an apprentice witch to be the slave of rotten men, and you still want her to become the Witch of Fate? Why? To continue humiliating the Northern Witches?"

  Poisonous Witch Endor was only a First Grade adept. She helplessly lowered her head beneath Nina's terrifying mental suppression. An expression of sorrow and humiliation appeared on her face.

  She had raised Alice from a young age. The rage and anger in her heart nearly exceeded their limits now that she had to watch her die!

  She knew that this was a scheme by the opponent. She knew that this would cause tremendous damage to the Pale Witches' morale. However, even Endor, the great-grandmother of Alice, couldn't do anything when faced with the Council's resolution. This helpless sorrow was incomprehensible to outsiders!

  She had no way of stopping Nina's operation. On the one hand, she didn't possess the ability to do so, and on the other, it would offend all the Northern Witches. As a Northern Witches herself, Endor would never do such a thing!

  Her expression shifted several times. Tears streaked down from her muddy eyeballs. Endor finally shook her head in agony, "Don't worry, I won't stop you from executing the Council's orders. I only ask of you to be done with Alice as quick as possible. Please do not torture her again!"

  The temperamental and cruel poison witch would beg on her knees?

  Even the resolute and decisive Nina couldn't help but hesitate. She quickly nodded.

  "I will. Alice has done nothing to betray the Northern Witches. Her soul can still be accepted by the Northern Witches once her blemish as a slave is cleansed with her own blood!"

  Endor fell silent.

  The Northern Witches had always been a matriarchal society. Most witches thought of males as tools, rather than equals. There were male adepts in the witch's territory as well. However, they were all suppressed by the powerful and dominant witch leaders. Thus, the Northern Lands had turned into a different society where witches held the ruling position.

  It was due to this mentality that every witch from the Northern Lands tended to be an arrogant and proud individual. Every single one of them had the power to back their attitudes. More importantly, they were an incredibly united group. The other adept organizations didn't like them very much, but they weren't about to go and provoke these ferocious, domineering women.

  Wild winds started to blow on the distant horizon as the two witches concluded their discussion. A green silhouette flashed and the Third Grade Sanazar appeared from the skies. She hovered in the air before the two witches.

  At the same time, a tall male appeared beneath the cliff with a flash of fire.

  They had finally come.

  The two witches approached Sanazar with different feelings bubbling in their hearts.

  "Nina of the Northern Lands greet Lady Sanazar on behalf of the Witch Council!"

  "Endor of the Northern Lands greets the respected Lady Sanazar!"

  Sanazar couldn't help but laugh coldly through the green mist shrouding her body.

  "No need to be so polite. No need to use your Witch Council to intimidate me either. These tricks are useless here in Zhentarim. Speak, why have you invited me here?"

  Sanazar's tone was quite hostile, but even the arrogant Nina didn't dare to behave with disrespect when faced with a Third Grade adept.

  She turned and looked at the silent young man at the bottom of the cliff and finally said, "Oh respected Lady Sanazar, I have come on behalf of the Witch Council to retrieve Alice, the apprentice witch of the Moya Clan. Here is the Council's resolution letter!"

  Having finished speaking, Nina took out a parchment scroll from her armor and lifted it in front of the cloud of green mist.

  The mist shivered, and a claw with green scales emerged. It grabbed the scroll and returned to the mist.

  A short moment later, the scroll landed back in Nina's hand.

  "I have read it. Alice is indeed located in our clan. What about it? Do you intend to take her away forcefully?" Sanazar's taunting sneer came from within the green mist.

  This situation was how it was.

  This resolution letter might have had absolute binding force for all the witches, but this was Zhentarim, not the Northern Lands. The decisions of the witch leaders could not possibly affect or direct the internal affairs of the Sarubo Clan.

  "My Lady, we will reward you handsomely as long as you are willing to let Alice go. Leader Angelina has already spoken. We are willing to provide you with two hundred thousand magic crystals or resources of equal worth. As long as you agree, we will send all of these items to your adept's tower within ten days. Moreover, one of our clan's witches seemed to have offended you and was imprisoned by you. Our leader is willing to gift you another hundred thousand if you are willing to let her go."

  An ear-piercing shriek came from within the mist. It sounded both like laughing and crying. Soon, a round object was tossed out from within the green cloud.

  "Well then, let's fulfill the second agreement! As for the first one; Alice doesn't belong to me, but to Greem. Go and discuss with him, not me!"

  Witch Nina caught the object that Sanazar had thrown at her. She lowered her head and looked, only to realize that this was the bloody head of the witch she had been looking for. There was a bloody wound at the neck of the head. It seemed that the head had been twisted off the witch's body while she was alive!

  Rage filled Nina's heart, but she quickly sensed a weak soul aura from within the head. Her frown loosened and she suppressed her anger.

  "I have returned the head to you! I didn't destroy her soul because I respect the Northern Witches. If you hurry back and find a body for her, you might still be able to save her. What is it? Don't you want it? If you don't want it, I'll take it back and feed it to the dogs!" Sanazar's tone was just like herself, cold and taunting.

  "Of course we want it!" Nina's practically squeezed the cold words out through her teeth, "We will remember your help today! The ten thousand magic crystals will be sent to you within ten days! However, about that Alice…"

  Boom.
r />   An explosion of fire and a tall and handsome young male adept appeared on the cliff. He smiled as he nodded to Endor. He then lifted his head and looked at Witch Nina.

  "Lady Sanazar said it very clearly already. You will have to talk to me about everything regarding Alice!"

  Nina looked at the opponent with disdain.

  She thought of herself as tall, but she was still half a head shorter when placed beside this man. It made her unable to exert her intimidating aura by looking down upon her opponent. Moreover, the First Grade young adept remained unfazed when faced with her overbearing mental suppression.

  This made her all the more upset!

  If it hadn't been for the meddling Third Grade shitty dragon beside her, Nina would definitely have beaten up the male adept. She would have made him cower before her presence. However, Nina had to endure this situation. After all, she didn't possess the martial upper hand. Nina had no choice but to deal with this stinky male adept. Alright, fine, the truth should be reflected as it was. The male adept didn't smell at all. In fact, there was an attractive liveliness to his being that wasn't present in other adepts.

  Likely, this was because he had just advanced! There was none of the depravity of other adepts. Instead, there was a pulsing life force and elegant aura to this young man.

  His stature, his face, his aura…it didn't matter how much one looked at him! He gave off a calm and wise feeling!

  Sadly, Nina had never found such a male within the entirety of the Northern Lands. Otherwise, if she was able to catch someone like him as her lover, wouldn't it just be…

  A flash of red had appeared on Witch Nina's cold face without her knowing. An incomprehensible smile also betrayed her face.

  Chapter 324

  Several black lines appeared on everyone's foreheads.

  Greem, the subject himself, couldn't help but betray an awkward expression. He let out an angry snort. Blinding scarlet light appeared from within his body. The fire elementium in the air quickly gathered, forming an armor of fire over his body.

  The air around Greem suddenly became hazy.

  Under ordinary circumstances, Greem's actions would have been considered a provocation from a First Grade adept to a Second Grade adept. If Sanazar hadn't been here, Nina would have been able to punish him as she wanted. The Sarubo Clan wouldn't have had a proper reason to pursue Nina for her actions against Greem.

  However, now that Lady Sanazar was present, Greem had to be more domineering in his actions!

  However, Witch Nina didn't seem to have realized Greem's affront. She raised an eyebrow, and her smile became even broader. There was also a trace of appreciation in her eyes.

  It would be a mistake to look down upon the Northern Witches just because they were mostly composed of females. They were well-known fighters, even amongst the three large adept organizations. The reason the witches were able to secure the Northern Lands on the Continent of Adepts, where magical creatures ran wild, had a lot to do with their ferocious talent for combat.

  Every leader and head of the witches had attained their position through raw strength and power. All of them were extraordinary fighters in their own right.

  It was this kind of mentality and personality that drove Nina's friendly attitude towards Greem. His strong front had bought him Nina's favor!

  "Lady Nina, why don't we have a proper discussion now that you are here. Alice is mine! You are challenging the dignity of the Zhentarim adepts in coming here to confront us!" Greem gave a stern warning with proper logic to back his words.

  Nina was a powerful and veteran adept after all. His words only fazed her for a moment before she regained her usual cold decisiveness.

  "We can compensate you for your troubles!" Nina smiled, "You must be the male adept that took in Alice, aren't you? You must be gravely lacking in resources since you've just advanced. We of the Witches of Deceit will not negotiate. We will fulfill any of your demands as long as it is within our abilities. This arrangement should save you a hundred years of time. You no longer need to run about and risk your life for some meager amount of resources. Why not accept our offer?!"

  Greem had yet to react to Nina's words, but Endor's face had already changed.

  Anxiety filled her heart as she stared at Greem with her sharp eyes from underneath her hood. As someone who had experienced the same struggle for resources, Endor knew how attractive an offer this was to a newly advanced adept!

  The development of all adepts followed a basic pattern on the Continent of Adepts.

  Once an adept advanced, they had to find a place to stabilize their Spirit. They would then get used to the lifestyle of an adept, as well as the social circles of adepts. More importantly, they took this time to adjust their attitude from that of an apprentice to one befitting an adept.

  This process would happen while the adept's Spirit was stuck around 1 point. It typically lasted ten years.

  Once their powers had started to settle, the adepts then began to realize the despair that was meditation. The insignificant increase in their Spirit through meditation was enough to cause any adept to break down. Even a hardworking adept that meditated daily would not be able to feel their Spirit growing at any significant rate.

  Some of the more free-spirited adepts performed a little calculation. A minimum of eighty-seven years was needed to raise one's Spirit from 1 point to 5 points if one spent all their time meditating. A minimum of eighty-seven years was required for an adept to advance to the ranks of veteran adepts. Moreover, the process of increasing Spirit to ten points and promoting to an elite adept would require a minimum of two hundred and seventy-three years.

  This calculation had yet even to include the time that adepts needed to spend on their experiments, nor their scouring for resources and knowledge.

  Thus, it was impossible for a First Grade adept to reach the 20 point Spirit limit purely through meditation.

  Those that remained cooped up in their tower and obsessed over their experiments and meditation would never reach Second Grade.

  The only thing that could change this was the aid of knowledge and resources.

  That was why most newly advanced adept couldn't help but go adventuring in the Continent of Adepts once they had stabilized their Spirit. It was a necessary path to gather knowledge and resources. Nearly twenty percent of newly advanced adepts died in this manner. They fell during their adventures to accumulate power.

  If a newly advanced adept were able to get his hands on a giant pile of resources at this moment, they would be spared of the pain of running all over the continent. There would also be none of the risks associated with adventuring and exploration. They could grow and develop their powers in safety.

  The Poisonous Witch Endor had already earned a name for herself in both the Northern Lands and the central areas of the Continent. However, even after exhausting most of her life, her Spirit had barely crossed the 10 point threshold. She was just barely an elite adept.

  At the speed at which she was improving, she would never be able to reach Second Grade in time. That meant that she had no opportunity to extend her lifespan.

  The cause of all this had much to do with the time she wasted on adventuring in her youth.

  Endor couldn't help but be concerned that Greem would change his mind with Nina's offer.

  After all, this was far too attractive an offer!

  Even Endor might not have been able to resist the deal if she had been in the same position in her youth.

  Greem smiled.

  Wisdom reflected from behind his eyes. An aura of mystery arose about him as his cool facial features come together to form a wicked smile.

  Greem wanted to laugh out loud right now.

  Worried about his spiritual improvement being too slow? Haha. His problem was the exact opposite. He wasn't worried about his development being too slow, but about it being too fast.

  In less than three years since he advanced to an adept, his Spirit had increased from less t
han 1 point to the current 6.4 points. While much of this was due to the planar feedback from the invasion of the knights' plane, it also had much to do with his personal accumulation and management.

  What he needed now was time to settle down and stabilize his rapidly increasing Spirit. He didn't lack knowledge or resources either. The spoils of war he had gotten from the numerous battles he had undertaken was enough for him to live out the first hundred years of his life in peace. Thus, Nina's conditions were…

  "I am extremely sorry Lady Nina, but I'll have to reject your offer!" Greem was extremely straightforward in his reply.

  Nina's smile vanished in an instant. She asked coldly, "Are you sure you want to reject the friendly gesture of a powerful witch clan? You should know what you are rejecting. It isn't just two hundred thousand magic crystals worth of items, but the goodwill of the Witches of Deceit!"

  "Of course I know what I'm rejecting!" An agitated expression suddenly appeared on Greem's face, "However, I will never hand Alice over, regardless of how many resources you are willing to offer!"

  "Why? Two hundred thousands magic crystals to buy a mere apprentice witch and you…"

  "My greatest apologies, Lady Nina, but you are mistaken! Alice isn't an apprentice witch anymore. She had just completed her advancement to a witch yesterday."

  "Ah……"

  "Gah!"

  It wasn't just Nina that was shocked. Even Endor's mouth had opened wide from the news.

  How was this possible? She had brought up Alice on her own. Alice had just risen to a pseudo-adept. How had she advanced to a witch in such a short time? Was he intentionally lying to Nina?

  Even Lady Nina couldn't help but cast her gaze at the green mist.

  Sanazar's ear-piercing voice came out from the mist once again.

  "I can verify his words. That little girl successfully advanced yesterday. Thus, we have no apprentice witch Alice here in the Sarubo Clan. What we do have is a proper Witch Alice!"

  Nina looked at the green mist doubtfully and turned to look at Endor again. She was still full of suspicion, but she didn't dare doubt the truth of a Third Grade adept's words.