Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Violent and ruthless fire elementium permeated the room. The blazing flames had ignited everything that could burn.

  The sky was burning, the earth was burning; even space was burning brightly.

  The intensely radiating heat caused the floor of the arcane hall to melt. Thick smoke rose into the air. Even the magic resistant bricks couldn't stand the terrifying radiation from the blazing fires, not to mention flesh and blood. The blood stains and gore left behind from the bloody battle started to carbonize and disintegrate until nothing was left.

  Red flames had started eating away at the mysterious girl's hair and the edges of her robe, despite her protection by the powers of Fate. The air was scalding hot. Just the single act of inhaling would even cause the alveolus of your respiratory system to catch fire.

  Raging fires surged out of the center of the Tyrant's self-destruction and quickly ravaged everything around it. Neither Alice nor the mysterious girl was spared from the destruction.

  A thick block of ice kept Alice and Snowlotus frozen and protected from the fire. Snowlotus' ice powers were continuously reinforcing it. However, a short moment later, the radiation reached the ice block. The terrifying crackling of ice and fire clashing rang out in the room!

  …………

  Outside the Tower.

  Greem raised his head in surprise.

  The other witches of the various branches also looked up in horror.

  The peaceful and silent Tower of Fate had abruptly started quaking. Two massive cracks that went all the way along the walls of the Tower had appeared. Savage fire elementium leaked out from within. Even the skies were burning red from the flames.

  The Infernal Tyrant!

  Greem gasped.

  The others might not have known what had happened in the Tower, but Greem knew very well what was going on.

  The Infernal Tyrant had self-destructed!

  Some extraordinary trouble must have cropped up in the Tower of Fate. Otherwise, Alice would never have chosen to have the Tyrant destroy itself. Greem couldn't even care for the loss of his most powerful golem. A feeling of endless concern and worry arose in his heart.

  The situation must have gone out of control!

  …………

  Within the arcane hall.

  The messy battlefield had now been reduced to a field of blazing flames.

  Any substance without magical protection had been incinerated and transformed into viscous lava. There were only a few piles of rocks that remained untouched. Alice and Snowlotus barely found a place of shelter upon one such group of stones. They were still enduring the heat and the streams of fire with all they had.

  If it weren't for the remnants of the ice block keeping them cool, they would have died from just the heat in the air.

  They looked around for any signs of the mysterious girl. Just then, the lava in front of them split apart, and an utterly charred figure walked towards them with determined steps.

  Dammit! I knew this wouldn't be enough!

  Fueled by her hatred and anger, Snowlotus forced herself to get up. She still wanted to resist. However, with the single word 'Death' from the opponent's mouth, she collapsed to the ground and slipped into the pool of magma.

  Alice straightened her body amidst the strange sounds of sizzling meat and the pungent smell of burning flesh. A charred hand grabbed her throat right as she stood up.

  Alice's body was tiny. The girl picked Alice up and suspended her in the air. Her hands and feet flailed in an attempt to free herself from the enemy's grasp.

  "Well done… very well done. All that's left is the two of us," A scalding breath of air came out of the charred girl's mouth, "I won't let you die. I will burn your body and preserve your soul. I will turn you into a doll of fate and make you suffer endless lifetimes of cruel torture. I won't let you die just like this."

  Alice could only let out gasps and chokes with her throat being gripped by the enemy.

  "What is it? Is there something you want to say before you part with this body of yours?" The mysterious girl was enraged. She might die of the bottled-up rage if she wasn't able to take out her resentment and hatred on her enemy.

  The girl loosened her grip to listen to Alice's final cries before her death.

  Alice swiftly grabbed the girl's wrists. A smile flashed on her face of utter fear and despair.

  "Thanks for letting me touch your body. Goodbye!"

  A mysterious surge of spatial energy coursed through the defenseless Alice. It instantly enveloped the mysterious girl before she could do anything.

  She still had the power to resist?

  The mysterious girl, disfigured from the explosion, was startled. The remaining powers of Fate in her body rapidly turned into an impenetrable defense. The girl was relieved when the defensive barrier finally formed.

  This barrier hadn't collapsed, even when all three of them had attacked her. How could this little brat harm her through the protection of this barrier?

  Even before she could finish the thought, her vision blurred. Everything before her eyes changed.

  The skies that had been burnt bright red, the endless stretch of desolate land, the tall Tower of Fate behind her, and the Northern Witches looking curiously at her…

  Dammit, this was outside the Tower!

  The mysterious girl let out an ear-piercing screech when she understood what had happened. She immediately turned and lurched towards the Tower.

  But it was too late.

  A vast and omnipotent will filled with a sense of antiquity locked onto her position. The next moment, all the powers of Fate in her body converted into a frightening flame that engulfed her body.

  The gentle power of Fate that had been her servant and soldier was now the cause of her death. It rapidly turned into the most unforgiving bandit in the world, burning every piece of flesh on her body. She broke down into a cluster of pure energy essence while consumed with fear and regret. The energy then slowly floated back into the Tower of Fate.

  Greem and the other witches looked at each other, confused. None of them understood what had just happened.

  The Witch of Fate selection this time was weird!

  Chapter 376 Witch of Fate

  Inside the arcane hall.

  Alice was shivering!

  Her petite body was already at its limit after such an arduous battle. She had lost one of her eyes and endured so many spells. From a distance, Alice looked just like a broken doll abandoned by her young owner. Not a single spot of her body remained uninjured.

  Alice shivered on the spot for a long time before finally being confident that the mysterious girl would never come back. Her beating heart could finally relax!

  That mysterious girl was an undefeatable existence. She was not someone that low-grade witches like themselves could have dealt with.

  Alice hugged her shoulders with her badly wounded hands and sat on the pile of rocks silently. Just then, an exceptionally bright cluster of light floated into the hall under the guidance of a magical line and slowly merged with the large glow at the center of the array.

  There was a strange object in the middle of the lights. Bizarrely enough, the powers of Fate hadn't disintegrated it. Instead, it continued to float stubbornly around the lights. It was a remarkable sight to behold.

  Alice finally broke free of her fear after momentarily adjusting her psychological state. She stood up and looked obsessively at the massive ball of light in the array.

  The mysterious girl's soul and consciousness had already been wiped away by the planar laws and reduced to pure energy essence. Any entity no longer manipulated the array, and for the first time, it opened its welcoming embrace to the only victor of the Battle of Fate– Alice.

  The mysterious array was closely related to the Tower of Fate. The array's acceptance of Alice's identity as the Witch of Fate also meant approval from the Tower of Fate. Alice would become the new Witch of Fate once she absorbed the powers in this array!

  H
aving obtained authority over the Tower of Fate, Alice was able to gain an understanding of the whole story through the data stored in the Tower's core.

  The mastermind behind the massive chaos in the selection of the Witch of Fate this time was the First Witch of Fate.

  When she had been forced to depart for the galaxy due to her power exceeding the limits of the World of Adepts, she, like the other Northern Witches, had agreed to an equal exchange with the world consciousness. In exchange for her departure from the World of Adepts, the World had to allow her to imprint part of her legacy into the planar laws. It was a legacy that would pass on for generations and eternity, never to be extinguished!

  But these were only her actions on the surface!

  Out of her desire and greed for the powers of Fate within the World of Adepts, the first Witch of Fate intentionally created the Tower of Fate and established the Battle of Fate. She then hid part of her soul within the Tower.

  Every so often, when it came to the time of selection, the shards of her soul hidden within the Tower of Fate would try its best to possess and take over the body of a candidate. The soul then took part in the Battle of Fate with the stolen identity.

  That way, it didn't matter if that soul shard lost or won the battle. Since everything would be distilled into the power of Fate that fed back into the final victor of the Battle of Fate, every single Witch of Fate that came to be would have a piece of her soul hidden within them.

  Every Witch of Fate was like a seed planted by the Witch of Fate. They slowly budded, grew, and became stronger in the World of Adepts. When they finally had enough power to depart from the World of Adepts, the piece of soul would guide them towards the first Witch of Fate, who would then assimilate them and their powers.

  The world consciousness forbade such actions.

  However, with the dense powers of Fate within the Tower shrouding and obscuring the truth, the mechanical and inorganic system of planar laws was not able to discover anything. That was how the secret of the First Witch of Fate managed to endure for so long!

  However, Alice had managed to crack the Tower of Fate with the Tyrant's self-destruction. The subsequent use of her spacestone then allowed her to teleport the girl outside of the Tower. That action exposed the truth and secret of the First Witch of Fate under the ever-watching eye of the planar laws.

  The most severe of planar backlashes had immediately punished the opponent. The backlash was in addition to the great punishment she had to face for being outside of the Tower during the Battle of Fate.

  For the first time in history, with the purification by the planar laws, the advancement of the Witch of Fate was no longer being meddled with by the First Witch of Fate.

  Two mysterious options appeared in her mind when she finally stumbled into the array and stood before the ball of light.

  The first option– power infusion.

  It would directly infuse the powers of Fate into her to increase her strength. The energy in the cluster of light was estimated to be enough to push her to become a Third Grade Witch of Fate.

  The second option– potential increase.

  She could give up on increasing her powers and use it to enhance and elevate her talents and potential instead. This option was estimated to produce a vast and all-rounded increase to her current potential.

  Alice fell silent.

  She sank deep into thought when confronted with these two options.

  She could sense that this choice was planar feedback from the world consciousness, presented to her as a reward of sorts for having 'killed' the mysterious girl. If it hadn't been for her part in exposing the secret, she would only have the first option. The second option would never have been presented to her.

  Judging from this point of view, raising her potential was undoubtedly the wisest course of action!

  However, if Alice indeed did that, she would become the first person to ever advance to Witch of Fate while remaining at First Grade. A First Grade leader of witches. The situation would undoubtedly throw chaos into the politics of the Northern Witches. Everything would become messy and troublesome!

  If Alice stepped out of the Tower of Fate as a Third or Fourth-Grade Witch of Fate, then there would have been no question as to her authority. She would be guaranteed a seat on the Witch Council, and all the former territories and resources of the Witches of Fate would be returned to her.

  But a First Grade leader of the Witches of Fate…

  What awaited her might be an arduous and painful journey to climb to the top once more!

  The best option would cause her to walk down a path of thorns. In comparison, the first option could bring her immediate convenience and benefits. Even though the mysterious girl had wasted too much of the power of Fate, becoming a Third Grade Witch of Fate still gave Alice plenty of authority within the internal affairs of the Northern Witches. Her days would be more comfortable if that were the case.

  The differences between her treatment would be massive!

  After an extended period of consideration, Alice took out the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal and tried to contact Greem.

  The Infernal Tyrant's self-destruction had dealt quite an extensive blow to the Tower of Fate. If this had been any other Battle of Fate, communication with the outside would have been impossible.

  Greem quickly understood what had happened after listening to Alice's story.

  Even the outsider Greem couldn't help but feel shocked and concerned at all the twists and turns in this Battle of Fate!

  The scheme of one of the ancient witches was involved in this matter. It wasn't even Greem or Alice's turn to think about issues at that level. Their biggest problem right now was what option Alice should pick.

  Greem instantly understood this as well; Alice had already made her decision. She only asked his opinion out of respect for their relationship and in consideration of their future cooperation.

  This attitude was undoubtedly beneficial for Greem's long-term gain!

  Thus, without hesitation, he chose to support Alice's decision to increase her potential.

  Alice was finally able to make her decision with Greem's support.

  However, before she selected the second option, she secretly borrowed part of the powers of Fate to do something.

  …………

  Outside the Tower of Fate.

  The skies had undergone a mysterious change.

  The fire elementium that had covered the entire sky disappeared. A massive funneling vortex appeared in the air. The end of the funnel extended all the way to the Tower and connected with the peak of the building.

  An immense power of repulsion emitted from within the Tower. Greem and the witches had no choice but to retreat one and a half kilometers away and watch the Tower from afar.

  They didn't need anyone to remind them. All the witches knew that this was the new Witch of Fate savoring the fruits of her victory. Perhaps, in a few more hours, the Northern Witches would welcome a new witch leader. As the representatives of the various witch branches, they had to offer their gifts and greetings to this new sister of theirs.

  The neighboring branches, in particular, wanted to meet this new witch leader as soon as possible. They wanted to start discussing the issues of territory ownership. After all, the past thousand years had seen the lands of the Witches of Fate being divided and split between the other branches.

  Now that the Witch of Fate had returned, everything they had eaten and swallowed into their stomachs had to be brought back up. Massive changes would unavoidably happen in the Northern Lands. One misstep and the politics within the Witch Council could be significantly affected!

  Several high-grade witches gathered together when they saw the increasing commotion occurring in the sky. They began discussing who the new Witch of Fate might be, and what powers she would possess.

  If the new Witch of Fate were only Third Grade, then the Second and Third Grade gathering of witches here were qualified to negotiate with her o
n equal standing. They might even have the influence to push back on issues of specific territories and populations.

  After all, the new Witch of Fate would be alone and without any subordinates. If she wanted to establish the dominance of the Fate branch, she had to rely on the support of the other groups. here was still plenty of room for negotiations.

  However, if the new Witch of Fate were Fourth Grade, the witches would only suffice as ambassadors to offer gifts and welcomes. Only their witch leaders qualified to negotiate with the Witch of Fate then.

  Greem's existence among these cackling witches was incredibly awkward.

  Even though he already knew the outcome of the Battle, he couldn't reveal any of it before Alice became the Witch of Fate. Greem quickly started looking for solutions to deal with these witches when he felt the cold gaze of a Witch of Deceit on him.

  That witch was Rena, the mother of Snowlotus, the Dancer of Ice and Frost. Even Greem wasn't sure what the enraged Rena would do if the person who walked out of the Tower of Fate weren't Snowlotus.

  Four hours quickly passed as everyone waited anxiously.

  The doors of the Tower once again opened.

  This time, it truly opened. There was no longer a barrier of light like the last time.

  Everyone held their breath as they silently waited for the final results.

  A silhouette flashed behind the doors. A beautiful figure wearing a long royal dress appeared before everyone.

  Her! It's her!

  Everyone was stunned.

  Chapter 377 Congratulatory Gifts

  It was a beautiful woman draped in a purple celestial robe.

  Her silky silver hair fell upon her shoulders. Her face was gentle and tranquil, but her two bright blue eyes whose, corners inclined upwards, gave her a sense of mystery and charm.

  "Alice, why is it you? What about Snowlotus?"

  Rena faltered. Her voice trembled as she asked.

  Even though Alice had transformed from her eight-year-old appearance, her familiar mental flux was the best proof of her identity for these witches.