The clan would actively help high-grade adepts construct an adept's tower of their own, but this was not the case for First Grade adepts. Even someone as close to the inner circle of the clan as Keoghan was not qualified to own a personal tower.
Of course, if you could hand over the two hundred thousand crystal construction fee, you were free to build it of your own accord.
However, an ordinary adept would take sixty to a hundred years just to save up that number of crystals.
Someone like Keoghan had a steady crystal income from the clan's territory and resource sites. Moreover, his skill at voodoo beast creation was a respectable expertise that brought him quite a lot of additional income from commissions throughout the years.
Yet, Keoghan still didn't possess an adept's tower of his own!
"Adept Greem, may I know if you have chosen the construction location for your adept's tower?" Hani continued politely.
"It has been decided. The coordinates are as follows." Greem reported the coordinates of the Plaguewood.
Hani started flipping through and checking his maps on the other end of the light screen. He frowned when he finally found the location that Greem had given him.
"Adept Greem, are you sure you want to construct your adept's tower there? You should know that this is an area within the Black Forest! Even though this is only the edge of the Black Forest, you are still taking an inestimable risk in doing so."
"I am sure! I am a fire adept, and I found a small fire-attribute Lung of the Earth there. It is most suited for my future development!"
Both Fügen and Hani paused for a moment when they heard Greem's words. They couldn't help but envy the young adept for his fortune.
If there was a Lung of the Earth near the adept's tower, the architects had methods to connect it with the tower's energy room. In doing so, the tower would possess a far greater supply of energy compared to other towers. Furthermore, this particular tower would possess fire energy, the one element that was the most compatible with its owner. Once the tower was built, Greem could maintain a meditation efficiency and energy regeneration rate that was several times that of his peers.
"Congratulations, Adept Greem! Your luck is amazing!" Adept Hani couldn't help but sigh once again, "But there are some things that I have to tell you beforehand. A basic adept's tower like this one doesn't possess a teleportation array. If you want to construct one, you will have to pay an additional cost. Of course, if you are willing to offer up the teleportation array to be part of the Zhentarim public teleportation network, the Zhentarim Association might be open to bearing this cost for you."
"How much does it cost to add on a teleportation array?" Greem asked curiously.
"The bare minimum will be a hundred thousand magical crystals!"
"……"
Greem fell silent.
Although he already had some degree of understanding about the difficulty of constructing an adept's tower, he was stunned by that exorbitant pricing.
Fortunately, the construction of this tower was mostly for the benefit of training and refining his Spirit. He didn't require such an intimate connection with the outside world. Temporarily giving up on the teleportation array wasn't too much of a loss.
The two adepts talked over a bit more of the specifics, and eventually cut the connection on the crystal once they had come to an agreement.
"It seems the most likely one to advance amongst the adepts of the clan will be you." Adept Fügen voiced his thoughts right as Greem was about to leave.
In the end, Fügen couldn't help but feel a strong sense of amazement at the speed that Greem had improved ever since he brought the young adept into the clan.
Greem expressed his thanks once more.
He then promptly returned to Pinecone Town and silently waited as Adept Hani had asked him.
The three adepts of the Devinni Trade Company reached the town two days later.
Greem still held great respect for this trade company that the Silver Union had stationed in the Zhentarim area. The trip to the Castle in the Sky had allowed him to see, firsthand, the power and strength of the Silver Union. The army of war statues that could blot out the sky was so fearsome that seeing it almost made you feel despair.
The Silver Union's monopoly over the esoteric adepts had indirectly allowed them to corner the market over all sorts of construction techniques. The craftsmen that were esoteric adepts were the only ones that could arrange things like adept's towers and teleportation arrays. While most clans did cultivate support adepts such as array masters, architects, potions masters, alchemists, and golem masters, they still had no choice but to rely on the scholars of the Silver Union for the core technology.
On the other hand, those smaller clans that were not able to cultivate their own support adepts had to spend enormous amounts of money to purchase the services of the Silver Union.
Devinni Trade Company was a unique organization that the Silver Union had stationed in other lands. They were singularly responsible for the construction of adept's towers.
Greem had already made his preparations by the time the Devinni's array master, architect, and the combat adept that had been sent to protect them finally arrived in Pinecone Town.
Five manticores waited outside of the town; their existence surprised the three visitors.
It wasn't odd to see magical creatures retained as guards and transportation. However, most of these magical creatures were reared near the headquarters of the clan itself. The fact that Adept Greem was so easily able to conjure up five adept-level manticores to transport them near the Black Forest spoke volumes about his influence and power in this region.
Of course, the various wounds on the manticores that had yet to heal was a clear sign that Greem had only recently tamed them.
That caused the Devinni adepts to be even more curious and expectant of the fire-attribute Lung of the Earth that Greem had described to them!
Chapter 404 Wandering Adepts
A distance of a hundred and fifty kilometers was nothing to adepts.
They would have crossed that distance in two or three hours if it wasn't for the Black Forest.
There were rules when in the Black Forest. Even ten lives weren't enough if you wanted to fly through the skies recklessly.
Most powerful magical creatures couldn't be bothered to deal with those bugs that snuck past the edges of their borders. However, if you were to boldly fly across their heads, that would be a direct provocation!
The five manticores were native beasts of this place. They had a perfect understanding of all the hunting areas of the various magical creatures along the way. They didn't fly high. Instead, they stuck to the forest canopy and wound through the place, trying their best to avoid the territory of powerful magical creatures.
Thus, the four adepts safely crossed this stretch of the forest and reached the conspicuous Plaguewood.
And here was the home of the manticore family!
The five manticores folded their wings, and their magnificent bodies dove into the cave. Violent gusts of wind blew in every direction, shocking the bats in the cave and throwing them into a panic.
Regardless of how frantic they were, not a single one of them dared to come within ten meters of a manticore. In this area, the manticores were the undisputed leaders!
The manticores ignored this group of unpaid 'watchdogs' and continued into the cave. They flew past stalactites and stone pillars, avoiding every obstacle with ease as they entered a dark tunnel in the corner of the cave.
They unfurled their wings and glided within the tunnel. It was only when the geography narrowed that they packed their wings and returned to the ground, running as an ordinary lion would. Once there was more space, they expanded their wings and quickly traveled further into the cave.
This place was their home.
They were familiar with every passage and pillar.
WItrh their night vision, the dimness of the cave was no problem for these mantic
ores. They were like fish swimming past the coral at the bottom of the ocean, freely weaving between stones, boulders, and stalagmites as they made their way into the underground and reached the cavern with the lava well that Greem had discovered.
The space in the cavern was much larger than the rest of the tunnels and caves they had passed through. In fact, it was so large that it appeared empty. The three Silver Union adepts that had been sitting with their eyes closed couldn't help but open them. They started surveying the environment.
In particular, the lava well in the center of the cavern drew the attention of the two esoteric adepts. They excitedly walked towards the lava well once they got off the manticores. They then took out a strange magical tool and started taking measurements of the conditions.
The man named Eugene was a combat adept. His only job was to protect these two esoteric adepts. He had no interest in this unique area. He nodded at Greem and started to walk around the lava well aimlessly.
Greem let out an awkward cough when he saw the two esoteric adepts scurrying as they took their measurements. However, his cough didn't seem to have caught the attention of the two passionately immersed esoteric adepts. Rather, he managed to draw the attention of the wandering Eugene.
"What is it, what else do you need?" Adept Eugene's tone was cold and harsh; there was a sense of sternness and solemnity to the energy radiating from his body.
"Er, I just wanted to ask if there was anything I needed to help with regarding the construction of the tower?"
"We don't need any help from you!" Adept Eugene rebuked Greem with a single sentence, "If you had the ability, you wouldn't have needed to hire us for the job! This location is a decent one. It's quite suited for the construction of an adept's tower."
"Then what do I need to do?"
"Nothing. Just leave! It will only take nine days for a small basic tower like this one to be built. Once we've finished everything, I will go and inform you. You will complete the sacrificial ceremony of the tower spirit. Very well, you can leave now."
At this moment, Greem was so shocked by Eugene's arrogance and impoliteness that he couldn't even bother refuting.
However, his shock quickly faded away once he remembered what kind of existence the Silver Union was.
This type of construction was a monopoly of theirs after all.
After they had obtained their monopoly over most of the techniques and knowledge related to the esoteric adepts, the other adept clans and organizations had to rely on them if they wanted to construct an adept's tower quickly. The Sarubo had architects and array masters, but these strategic talents were all placed in the outer realms under the direct command of Great Adept Sarubo himself.
Having them cross the plane barrier and return to the World of Adepts to build a crude tower for a mere First Grade adept was a little extreme. Even Third Grade Sanazar didn't have the authority to give them such an order. All the esoteric adepts that the Sarubo Clan had painstakingly cultivated had been trained and prepared for planar wars. No one would make them labor for an ordinary adept of the clan.
Thus…
Something like constructing Greem's personal tower would have to fall on the shoulders of a specialized organization like the Devinni Trade Company!
Less than fifteen minutes after bringing the adepts to the lava well, Greem was 'politely' booted out of the caverns by Adept Eugene.
It was apparent that these adepts did an excellent job of protecting their knowledge and techniques.
Greem could still feel himself being monitored with magic, even after he left the caverns. It wasn't until he reached the manticore den that the feeling completely vanished.
"No need to be dejected, master!" Gargamel, who had been holing up in the cave and putting the manticores to work for the past few days immediately hurried over when he heard the news. He consoled his master, "Every single adept from the three major forces is like that! You get used to it over time."
"Oh? You know about all three of the major forces?" Greem asked curiously, "Could you tell me more about them?"
"Kehkeh. Of course!" An expression of hatred appeared on Gargamel's shriveled old face, "Those who have never experienced the pain of being a wandering adept would never understand! We are like mice running in the streets, oppressed and beaten down by the clan adepts wherever we go. We have no choice but to pinch our noses and flatter the managers of the public adept's towers, all for the sake of gathering knowledge and purchasing cheaper materials.”
"Then why don't you join a clan? Your qualifications as a potions master guarantee you a place in any mid-sized adept clan, as long as you are willing to join them. Why the wandering about, and the tough life of being looked down upon?"
"Master, the fact that you would say such a thing only proves that you have yet to understand the true nature of these adept clans. When you join a clan as an esoteric adept, you will find that they truly regard your existence to be of great significance. They are more than willing to invest resources in you. However, from then onwards, you will have forever lost your freedom!"
"Freedom?"
"Yes, freedom!" Gargamel sighed, "The more they invest in you, the more they expect to get from you! A potions master like myself will have a quota imposed upon him upon joining a clan. Every year, I will have to hand over a certain amount of potions to the clan. A person like myself, who has neither influence or power, will most definitely be asked to create an abnormal number of potions. If I want to complete my task, I will have to spend my days trapped in an uncomfortable lab, continuously repeating the same dull actions, day and night."
Greem rubbed his chin as he listened in silence.
"The consequence of this would be a complete lack of time to meditate or improve my abilities. Since I became an adept, I have already spent most of my time on the pointless concoctions of numerous potions. And that was how my body has slowly deteriorated over the years."
Gargamel was only eighty-nine years old. He wasn't even considered middle-aged among the adepts that often lived to two or even three hundred years. However, his body and his face were about as bad as those ancient adepts at the end of their lifespan!
"Aren't there still plenty of high-grade adepts amongst the esoteric adepts? You…" Greem was somewhat confused.
"Master, you are referring to the Silver Union adepts, aren't you?" Gargamel cackled coldly, "The adepts that a large organization like them would invest in and waste resources to allow advancement are all their own people! All of them are descendants of the higher-ups of the organization! They would never be willing to do so for outsiders. After all, the resources you sink into an untalented esoteric adept such that he may advance to Second Grade would be more than enough for you to make two or three Second Grade combat adepts. They would never part with so many resources if it wasn't one of their own."
Greem had felt this disparity in improvement rate himself.
Within the Sarubo Clan, Ferrier was a potions master, and Keoghan was a voodoo beast master. Both of them had a support specialty. However, their combat abilities were so poor that Greem didn't even regard them as a threat. The speed at which their powers increased was like a tortoise's crawl when compared to Greem.
Greem had barely seen them three or four times a year ever since they returned from the knight's plane. Most of the time, they spent their days in their labs. They would only come out for a walk every few weeks. Sometimes, they even ignored their meals and relied on nutrition pills to sustain themselves.
The extended periods without exercise, the exposure to harmful materials, and the failure to care for their Spirits had a significant impact on them. Their Spirits would even wither and waste away if they didn't properly care and maintain them.
In fact, it would be a miracle if their powers didn't diminish in such an environment!
However, compared to the deterioration of their powers, what was even more unbearable was the loss of their freedom.
A specialized adept painstakingl
y trained by the clan would never have the chance to go on adventures and explore on their own. No group would ever let their precious esoteric adepts wander with some strangers or journey on random adventures for the sake of some insignificant combat experience.
Even when they had to go on explorations, the clan would send a large group of strong escorts along with them. The esoteric adept would be well-guarded as they went to explore those low-risk ruins and hazard zones.
It made it impossible for the esoteric adepts ever to get a chance to train and improve themselves!
Greem finally understood why Gargamel would rather become a wandering adept than join a clan.
Adepts might look like a proud and glorious group on the outside, but if one were to delve deep into the workings of their organizations, they would find a despairing amount of internal oppression.
Chapter 405 The Tower
The three major Adept powers.
The Northern Witches of the North Coast, the Silver Union of the West Coast, and the Adept's Association of the East Coast!
They each had their respective knowledge legacies, culture, and traditions. They were extremely private organizations.
Whenever people mentioned the Northern Witches, the first thing that came to mind would be their ferocity!
Tremendous ferocity!
If it weren't for this bold and reckless nature of theirs, how would a group of witches have been able to expand and establish themselves in the resource-starved lands of the north? How were they able to ensure the continuing legacy of the witches for tens of thousands of years?
It was this ferocity of theirs that allowed them to push back against the magical creatures of the Black Forest, fighting for every inch and foot of the precious land they now stood upon. The reason the citizens of the Northern Lands followed the witches so loyally was because of their contributions. The witches were the ones who stood at the forefront, resisting the tides of monsters with courage and might far greater than the male adepts.
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