Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Alice walked forward and used her sharp nails to cut their skin. She started carving the mark of fate upon their foreheads. It was a symbol of two snakes biting each other's tails. The brand started glowing once she finished drawing the totem. The light disappeared in the blink of an eye. The two girl's foreheads became as smooth as they were before they had been cut. Not a trace of the brand could be seen.

  "From now on, the two of them will be the deputy leaders of our Witches of Fate. Do you find this a suitable arrangement?" Alice asked the two witches in a gentle voice.

  Hela and Rena bitterly smiled when they heard this.

  Even though this outcome didn't match their original expectations for the Battle of Fate, it was still a happy ending when compared to the worst possible outcome. Supporting Sofia had mostly been Hela's personal decision. Most of the other Death Witches had been standing on Alice's side before the Battle.

  What else could she ask for with a result like this?

  Snowlotus and Sofia's bodies abruptly started moving while everyone was still deep in thought.

  Snowlotus' long eyelashes fluttered, and a soft groan escaped her mouth. The rough and uncouth Sofia had already sat up. She looked around her surroundings in wide-eyed confusion. Her eyes slowly started to focus as she examined everything around her.

  "Sofia, it's me!" Witch Hela stepped forward, removed her hood and revealing her face to Sofia.

  Greem instantly felt a shiver run down his spine.

  What a hideous face!

  If one ignored the numerous stitches that ran across her face like centipede legs, and the face that had split into four or five pieces, she could still be considered pretty. However, the numerous cuts and stitches on her small face had utterly wrecked any beauty she had. Ignoring the wounds scarring her face was impossible!

  For the first time in his life, Greem hated his excessively powerful vision.

  The chip's atomic-level visual capturing abilities had perfectly projected the face in his mind. It had magnified every detail of Hela's hideous face. Greem could even see wriggling maggots and strange creatures moving under her face through the cracks of the stitches.

  If Greem hadn't suppressed the turmoil in his stomach with his powerful Spirit, he would probably have embarrassed himself by throwing up on the spot!

  "Aunt Hela, you? Didn't I die?" Sofia leaped off of the stone platform. Her substantial body caused the ground to tremor and rumble when she landed.

  The Physiques of berserk witches were unbelievably strong. They could compare to body-refining adepts. She was able to move about freely so soon after her soul had re-entered her body.

  Still, her uncouth and unrefined behavior was intolerable. She just stood there with her legs wide apart. She didn't seem to care about her nudity with a male adept standing right before her.

  At this moment, Snowlotus also sat up on the stone platform. She scanned her surroundings in confusion.

  "Where is this? Didn't I… die?"

  Chapter 379 Magical Crystal Mountain

  The process of convincing the two witches to join Alice's side was straightforward.

  After all, the two of them had been powerful competitors during the Battle of Fate. They had already prepared for all the possible outcomes. No one would choose to die after being revived over some insignificant limitations.

  This fact was evident from their performance during the Battle of Fate

  Even an uncouth, violent witch like Sofia knew how to keep a trick hidden up her sleeve and cast Life Concealment on herself. It was incredibly obvious how much the witches valued their own lives.

  A hundred year contract and the brand of fate were not a problem at all. In fact, Snowlotus and Sofia were more curious and unknowing as to why Alice hadn't just assimilated their powers of Fate.

  Alice couldn't have brought the two of them back to life with her meager First Grade powers. The fact that she had managed to do so was only plausible if she had split part of the energy used for her advancement before the ceremony.

  She had reduced her powers to save two individuals who didn't have clear allegiances towards her. Even though there was a 'friendship' forged from their cooperation in the battle, it wasn't sufficient reason to save them. Thus, Snowlotus and Sofia, in their confusion, became Alice's deputies, and the deputy leaders of the Witches of Fate. They were leaders without anyone to lead, though.

  As for the subordinates…

  The apprentice witches promised by the various witch branches would arrive in one or two days. It was unfortunate, but before the apprentices came, there would only be the three of them within the tower. Not even a ghost could be found here.

  Well, that wasn't entirely true.

  After inspecting the Tower of Fate, Alice had found the few surviving guards. Two armored guards, three shadesteel statues, two revenant banshees, and four mummy elders. The other guards and voodoo beasts had all been destroyed and turned into useless piles of metal or destroyed during the Battle of Fate. It was hard to find any other creatures that could even move.

  Rena and Hela had already left the Tower of Fate to report to their respective witch leaders. The Death Witches had always been allies of the Witches of Fate; there was no need to worry about any trouble from their side. Instead, it was the Witches of Deceit that could pose a slight issue. No one knew how Rena's return to the Witches of Deceit might affect Alice.

  Sofia and Snowlotus set off to find their rooms within the Tower. Meanwhile, Alice brought Greem to the core area of the Tower.

  The intense battle had turned this place into ruins. The tremendous explosion of the Infernal Tyrant had devastated the entire area. Most of the magical facilities on the floors, walls, and the ceiling had been utterly destroyed. The Tower of Fate was not going to have its usual combat prowess until they performed a large-scale renovation.

  "The Tower of Fate was crippled after this battle," Alice took the initiative and took Greem's hand. She took him on tour around the tower, "The Infernal Tyrant you lent to me is gone. The spider golem you spent so much time on has also turned into useless scrap metal. Tell me, how do you want me to compensate you for all your investments?"

  An expression that was neither happy nor sad crossed Greem's face. He looked at the mess around them and frowned, "The whole Tower of Fate can't be this poor, can it? Did all the previous Witches of Fate need to slowly build up over a hundred years to regain the wealth and power they previously had?"

  "There, it's all here!" Alice took out a thick stack of parchments and pushed them into Greem's hands, "These are some of the territories and assets the other branches have returned under the guise of congratulatory gifts. I already read through the list. They probably account for around one-eighth of the territories and assets that we had in the past. These are just the appetizer they are serving. Not a single one of the important assets have been returned. We will probably have to rely on our strength and our fists to get back all the other assets!"

  "Isn't it always said that the Northern Witches are an extremely harmonious group?!" Greem's frown grew even deeper as he flipped through the list of gifts, "Why do they also love to fight and compete like everyone else?"

  "Hmph," Alice snorted coldly, "Don't you forget. The legacy of the Witches of Fate has been extinct for one thousand seven hundred years. Any of the relationships established in the past have already faded after such a long time. Do you think those Death Witches will give back all the resources they've taken just because of some flimsy relationship of the past? To have actively supported me earlier was already the largest gift they could have given me."

  "Then what are your plans? Just struggle in the middle of these ruins? No subordinates and no resources? You probably won't have the ability to fix the Tower of Fate even if you wanted to!"

  "Let's take a look around first!" Alice frowned as well. It was the first time she felt the pain of being a faction leader, "There are several hidden spots in the Tower that I haven't checked! Maybe we'll find
some surprises there."

  "I can only hope so!" Greem couldn't help but sigh.

  As the tower of origin for the Witches of Fate, the damaged Tower of Fate was going to cost a tremendous number of resources to repair. The cost alone would be a massive and miserable sum. Both Alice and Greem, leaders of their own groups of individuals now, couldn't help but sigh when they thought about the expensive repair costs.

  Greem believed himself to be a reasonably wealthy adept, even within the Sarubo Clan. Yet, that amount of wealth would make absolutely no sound when thrown against the monstrous beast that was the Tower of Fate. It was, after all, one of the most powerful adept towers throughout the entire continent.

  The Tower had nineteen levels in total. Fifteen of them were above ground, and four were underground. The place they were walking towards was the energy room on the second level of the basement. The energy room was always the most important place for any adept's tower. It was the energy source and the energy reserves for the entire tower.

  They had to pass through twenty-one layers of magical defenses and arcane doors. Even Alice, with the highest level of authority over the tower, only made it past the final barrier after an hour and a half.

  A transparent crystal flashing with strange magical runes floated in front of Alice. This crystal was what allowed Alice to maintain a connection with the core of the tower. She chanted a complex, arcane password that consisted of three hundred and seventeen syllables, as well as ninety-seven magical handsigns that had to be employed at different intervals.

  Once she had completed this, the thick, rune-enhanced door trembled. Dust fell everywhere as the door slowly opened to the side and revealed the energy room that had been sealed for a thousand years.

  A thick, almost solid wave of elementium aura surged out at them the moment the doors opened.

  Alice wasn't quite affected. She was a Witch of Fate, and her talent didn't slant towards any particular element. However, Greem was a pure fire adept. The thick elementium aura that enveloped his body instantly turned into a crimson sea of fire.

  From a distance, it looked as if Greem had been sealed in a massive ruby. The bright red color was a beautiful sight from afar.

  Alice's act of opening the energy room had also drawn Sofia and Snowlotus to this place. The thick elementium aura immediately engulfed their bodies the moment they got close. They two looked like they had been encased in a giant gemstone.

  Snowlotus' appeared to be a sapphire, while Sofia's looked like a diamond!

  The two greedily inhaled the flowing magical particles around them. Almost every pore of their skin had opened to the fullest and was trying their best to absorb these nearly liquid-state elementium particles. Their bodies had just reconstructed after death. There were almost no magical energies within their bodies at this point. Of course, they couldn't wait to replenish themselves with such a great opportunity before them. They wanted to rid themselves of this unbearable state of energy starvation.

  The four of them were utterly shocked by the scene in front of them when they walked into the hall of the energy room!

  Magical crystals, magical crystals. So many magical crystals!

  As one of the best adept's tower on the Continent, its energy room was one of the largest as well. It probably had twenty thousand square meters of area in total. The chamber also reached a surprising forty-three meters in height.

  A towering platform occupied the center of the hall, and the top of the platform was a three meter long, five meters wide, and two-meter high altar. It was this magic altar that allowed the Tower to continuously absorb wandering magical particles and add it to the elementium pool below.

  A stone terrace with many different layers was below the altar. Each segment of the terrace contained a massive magic energy pool. Once the pool at the top filled with magical energy, it would flow into the pool below it.

  The entire structure was like a brilliant flower. The altar was the center of the flower, and the layers of magic energy pools were like the many different layers of the flower's petal. The pools were dug in an incomprehensible manner around the terraces in a specific profound order.

  The four adepts present were all knowledgeable individuals. The all knew that liquid, magical energy perpetually filled the energy pools at the top of the terraces. The pools on the bottom, on the other hand, would be split into elementium pools of their respective elements.

  If the owner of the tower were a fire adept, the number of fire elementium pools would greatly outnumber those of other elements. If the owner were a Death Witch, the negative energy pools would take up the most space.

  It was only through such a method that the entire tower could create an environment that was most suited for its owner. Still, modifying such an ample space to convert this state of elementium equilibrium into one with only a single dominant attribute would exhaust tremendous amounts of elementium energy.

  Why was it that so many adepts loved to choose geographical environments that suited their attributes when constructing their adept's tower?

  Fire adepts liked to build their towers in volcanic areas, while ice adepts preferred to construct theirs in frozen wastelands. All of this was to reduce the waste of elementium energy while modifying the environment!

  Saving all this energy allowed it to be converted into tangible economic benefits– magical crystals!

  The first thing the four adepts saw when they entered the energy hall was the hill made of magical crystals.

  A magical crystal cluster as large as a mountain!

  Chapter 380 Magic Fairies

  What would your reaction be if a cluster of magical crystals as large as a mountain appeared before you?

  Greem, at least, was completely tongue-tied. His eyes opened wide as he stuttered for several minutes, trying to find the words to express his feelings.

  The entire block of crystals was like a massive cactus growing without a particular pattern. The gigantic clusters of crystal started from the energy pools and gradually extended outwards, with numerous smaller, derivative crystals growing out of the giant block. Their crystalline structures shined with a magical light.

  It looked like most of the energy room's space had been taken up by these crystal clusters. If one looked throughout the room, they would find crystals everywhere, along with the prismatic light they reflected. There were even giggling magic fairies flying all around the room.

  Magic fairies were not creatures born of nature; they weren't magical creatures in the ordinary sense. Instead, they were elementium spirits that manifested once the magic elementium in the air reached a certain density. They looked no different from regular elementium fairies, but the level of their existence origins was far superior to elementium fairies.

  If elementium fairies were analogous to the beasts of the wild, then magic fairies would be the powerful magical creatures that ruled over them all. They were few in numbers, but their soul origin was several levels above your ordinary magical being.

  When the four adepts walked into the hall, they saw a total of six or seven magic fairies.

  A slightly larger magic fairy flapped her wings and flew to the four of them while they were still mesmerized by the sight of the crystal mountain.

  "You outsiders, why are you trespassing in our home? Get out, or we will attack you!"

  The one who was speaking to them was a beautiful magic fairy. She was only the size of a palm, but she had a slim figure and looked just like a tiny elf. She had a pair of transparent wings on her back and waved a magic wand in her hand. The wand was so thin that it looked like a matchstick. Glimmering magic dust would remain in the air wherever she went, painting bright starry paths in the air.

  The other magic fairies also surrounded the adepts after the first one had threatened them. They beat their wings and scattered stardust in the air as they flew. All of them pointed their magic wands at Alice and the rest.

  "Big guys, get out of our home."

  "Leave
quickly, or I'll turn you into honking pigs."

  "No, it's better to turn them into little snakes."

  These magic fairies were quite talkative. They surrounded the adepts, but after issuing one or two threats, they started arguing among themselves over the smallest of matters. Greem was amazed at the sight of these magic fairies, even as they waved their fists and tried to look intimidating. He communicated with the chip.

  "Chip, can you scan for the base model of these lifeforms?"

  "Beep. Project has been constructed. Scanning commencing. Beep. Beep. Beep. Warning. Target lifeform has an unknown forcefield around their body. Ordinary detection rays are unable to penetrate said forcefield. Recommending use of elementium analysis rays. However, this will be active probing. There is a certain probability that the target will detect the probing. Requesting instructions from host. Commence operation?"

  "Can't their race be deduced from their appearance and their behavioral traits?"

  "Beep. No similarities found within the 1,397,941 lifeform traits within the data library. Initial estimates suggest lifeform to be a legendary lifeform. Passive probing abilities have indicated that the target is most likely a nature spirit that manifested once magic elementium density passed a certain threshold. Lifeform does not belong within the category of natural lifeforms and magical creatures."

  "Nature spirits?" Greem brooded in silence.

  Meanwhile, Sofia, who only believed in absolute strength, marched forward.

  "You uninvited midgets, this is our land. How dare you be so arrogant in our place. Do you want me to punch you?" Sofia raised her massive fist and waved it at the fairies while she spoke.

  With how big her fists were, it was probably more than enough to crush two fairies in a single grasp.

  However, her threats didn't work. In fact, the fairies treated her reckless actions as an attack against them.

  The next moment, four magic wands pointed at her.

  Crisp and sweet yells rang out in the air as four green beams shot towards Sofia and hit her on her broad chest.