Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  In all honesty, Billis might have been satisfied with his current strength. However, when he saw the scene of the battle between the Second Grade adepts and the fire dragons, he immediately amended his position.

  One couldn't think too much of him right now because of his powerful army. If he were actually to be sent onto the battlfield of a Second Grade, everything he had would turn into dust.

  So what if he had a virtually endless swarm of insects? A single dragon's breath from that Second Grade fire dragon would exterminate the majority of them! So what if he had ferocious insect generals? They couldn't even break through a layer of the Second Grade fire dragon's skin! The insects and insect generals might be uncontested against opponents that were of the same grade or weaker than them. However, if they were to run into difficult enemies, any number of them would not be as useful as that dragonborn.

  That was why the battle that erupted in the lava hall also caused Billis to fall into contemplation. He started reflecting on his evolution path and his role within the clan. Perhaps he would advance to Second Grade very shortly. It was better to figure it out now rather than later.

  A bloody and brutal battle was happening on the winding stone stairs carved into the walls of the hot lava valley.

  Due to how narrow the stairs were, only one dragonborn could fit at the same time. Consequently, the Firethroats formed themselves into one long line and charged down the steps. Billis' magical mantises either unfolded their wings or climbed up the walls to intercept the dragonborn along the stairs, breaking out into a bloody conflict.

  The Firethroat Dragonborn were all muscular and massive, and the large long-handled axes in their hands were unstoppable when they waved them. However, such heavy weapons could not be used to their fullest potential on such a narrow path. They weren't as agile or mobile as the slender and fast mantises either.

  What lay beneath the stairs was a dark and swirling river of lava. Even with the excellent fire resistance of the Firethroats, falling into the river would mean death. That was why the mantises constantly circled the stairs and looked for spots of weaknesses among the dragonborn before diving at them.

  Due to the harassment of the insects, a Firethroat dragonborn occasionally take a misstepped and fell from the stairs, plunging into the lava with an audible plop. Dragonborn like these had no chance to struggle and save themselves. The blazing lava devoured them in a mere two to three seconds. Not even a bubble popped on the surface.

  "What's the situation here?"

  A familiar male voice rang out. Greem walked out of the labyrinth with the adepts. The only person missing was the Dragon Devourer Oliven.

  It was clear that the dragonslaying battle had left the Crimson adepts injured. Some of them even carried fairly grievous wounds. However, the joy of victory was painted on everyone's faces. They were excited.

  "Those Firethroat Dragonborn have all hurried back. My Lord, do you think we should retreat now?" Old Fox Vanlier asked respectfully.

  "Now now. That Oliven's still…never mind. Let's try and stall a bit longer for her!"

  With Greem's order given out, a trace of wickedness appeared on the faces of these Second Grades that had just won a battle.

  The battle against the fire dragon had been too dangerous and stifling. The battle had been trying with only their power and numbers. It caused an indescribable fire to accumulate in the hearts of every one of them. Now that they saw these dragonborn warriors who had come to court death, the Crimson adepts couldn't suppress their killing intent any longer.

  "Let's go!" A scorched and burnt Mary beat her wings and took to the skies, leading her two badly injured blood knights against the Firethroat Dragonborn.

  They were all severely wounded from the previous battle and were in need of high-energy blood to replenish the exhaustion of their strength. The sight of so many Firethroat Dragonborn was like the sight of a moving blood bank. Their glee showed on their faces.

  Zacha and the Goblin Shredder had been kicked about by the fire dragon like a ball for the entire duration of the battle. Now that they finally had a chance to relieve their anger, they wouldn't possibly give up on it. Similarly, they too charged onto the stone stairs.

  Inside the lava hall, an unbearably bloody ceremony was unfolding.

  The previously intimidating and berserk fire dragon was now lying on the floor like a dead dog. His large abdomen swelled massively, forming a barrier of flesh and tendons. One could vaguely see the silhouette of a girl curled in a ball inside him.

  The fire dragon's limbs had all been shattered, and its neck was bleeding profusely while missing a large patch of his hide.

  Under the guidance of a mysterious force, all the life energy of the Second Grade fire dragon, along with his overwhelming Spirit and dragon soul, was slowly vanishing. Even the blood, bones, flesh of his body, and the dragon crystal in his skull were melting into a surge of energy by the corrosion of a strange force and slowly being assimilated by the mysterious girl.

  The power within the mysterious girl's body started to boil in this place where no one could see.

  A strange and immensely powerful flux was slowly forming.

  Chapter 736 Crimson Dormancy

  Second Grade Fire Dragon Bamler's underground labyrinth had collapsed!

  This scary bit of news spread throughout Lance with the speed of a plague.

  Every dragon that heard this news was shocked and started listening for the source of the story and its reliability. Some more meddlesome dragons even took a special trip to Bamler's labyrinth and attempted to verify the truth of the news with the dragon himself.

  Sadly, that Second Grade fire dragon had vanished without a trace, almost as if he had evaporated into thin air.

  The labyrinth he'd constructed had utterly collapsed, just as the rumors claimed. The massive amounts of rock and stone that had come down from its collapse also fell into the lava river and blocked it. The lava that continually surged under the Burning Plains had begun to surge up to the surface, forming a massive magma lake where the valley once was.

  That stopped the desire of meddlesome dragons to continue pursuing the matter!

  Along with the Second Grade fire dragon, his subordinate Firethroat Dragonborn had also vanished. The sight of those tall silhouettes in crimson scales patrolling the burning lands could no longer be seen around the valley.

  According to some of the higher magical creatures left in the Burning Plains, it seemed as if Bamler had strangely vanished after some odd outsiders had broken into his territory. Meanwhile, the lack of sufficient information made it difficult for anyone to investigate the true identities of these outsiders.

  After six months of sloppy inquiries, the dragons that got no useful information finally lost their patience and scattered.

  As such, the question of the mysterious vanishing of Second Grade Fire Dragon Bamler became a mystery of Lance!

  …………

  Even an entire Second Grade fire dragon still couldn't boost Oliven up onto the throne of Third Grade.

  That said, compared to before, she was much stronger, be it in terms of magic resistance, physical strength, or spiritual strength. More importantly, she seemed to have inherited some racial abilities of the fire dragon. Just like Bamler, she could unleash a lethal, wide-area fire breath.

  Even Greem fell into a daze at the sight of a petite and cute girl releasing a massive fan-shaped fire dragon's breath like a dragon. Though the adept had modeled the high-grade spell Dragon's Breath after actual dragon breath, the spell itself was still far inferior to the real thing.

  The dragon weapons that Oliven carried with her had also gained even more powerful and terrifying powers after absorbing the vengeful spirit of the fire dragon. These powers might not be able to do much against other races, but they were especially effective against dragons.

  After all, the dragonsoul curse entangled in the weapons was not something that ordinary dragons could easily endure!

 
; In fact, when facing off against Oliven, low-grade dragons would even have to suffer her dragon's aura of might. Oliven would only need to let out a massive roar, and all dragons that were at least two sub-grades below her would flee in terror. They wouldn't even be able to muster the courage to surround her and beat her.

  However, the surge in Spirit also made it impossible for Oliven to hide herself like before perfectly. Until she managed to digest and absorb the remnants of this dragonsoul curse, Oliven was not suited to continue staying in Lance.

  Otherwise, all the dragon powerhouses of Lance would be attracted to the dense dragon devourer aura and track her down to the metal fortress!

  That was why Oliven had no choice but to suppress her Spirit and follow Greem's adepts to Fire Throne, becoming a new Second Grade adept of the Crimson Clan. On the surface, the Crimson Clan now had a total of four Second Grade adepts.

  As for Dragonborn Zacha, the two blood knights, and the three blood elves? Their unique status made it such that they could only be considered Second Grade servants of Greem and Mary, rather than official adepts with independent souls.

  However, the fact that a newly risen adept clan that had not been established for more than five years had such power was completely beyond everyone's expectations. It also meant that the individuals who had joined the Crimson Clan during its infancy were bound to reap massive profits. They would become the biggest winners!

  However, the wellspring appearance of Second Grade adepts in the clan also applied tremendous pressure to the current First Grades of the clan. If they didn't hasten their advancements, they would probably be excluded from the core of power in the near future, cast away as peripheral members of the clan.

  After giving out the fire dragon's hoard to the participating adepts based on contributions, the remainder was returned to the clan's warehouse. It was only now, after so much toiling and working, that the Crimson Clan had finally stabilized for the first time. The focus of development had finally returned to Fire Throne.

  The recruitment of multiple Second Grade adepts and the growth of the First Grade clan adepts caused the fame and might of the Crimson Clan to grow with each passing day.

  One had to admit that a small adept's tower like Fire Throne could no longer hold the entirety of the Crimson Clan!

  The power and forces of the clan desperately needed expansion. Thus, the choice of their future development path became ever more critical.

  After several discussions between Greem and Alice, they finally decided to construct the new Crimson Clan's tower in the north.

  Zhentarim might have looser adept forces and organizations with greater potential for development, but the struggle between the clans was also exceedingly brutal. Bloody conflicts between adept clans occurred every so often. It was only the suppression of the Zhentarim Association that kept these conflicts from erupting into war all over the place.

  Greem had always stayed outside of the Zhentarim adept groups, which was what kept him from being embroiled in a cruel adept's war. He had remained within the newly excavated area of the Black Forest after leaving the Sarubo Clan and establishing the Crimson Clan. That was how he avoided becoming the new prey of those adept clans.

  There were too many people who wanted to attack the Crimson Clan. However, there was nothing they could do against an organization that stayed cooped up in their underground tower. If the Crimson Clan had their own lands, villas, and resource sites in the central area of Zhentarim, they would most definitely have been split up by the surrounding clans already.

  Unfortunately, the Crimson Clan had none of these things.

  Moreover, the Crimson Clan seemed like it had no interest in these inherited territories and resource sites. It had not extended the influence of its clan even a single step beyond the tower despite the scale that they now possessed.

  The only known property of the Crimson Clan was a small adept's tower hidden underground– Fire Throne. Yet, this tower was also the hardest piece of property to take over. Even the Third Grade vampire clan had fallen before Fire Throne. Other adept clans had no interest in traveling thousands of miles to try and crack this tough nut.

  It wasn't that surrounding adept clans didn't want to deal with the quickly rising Crimson Clan; it was that they couldn't find a way to do so!

  The Crimson Clan that had yet to even walk out of their tower already had countless enemies in the center of the continent. Among them was a vampire clan with an unresolvable grudge, two other adept clans who had hostile ties with them, and even the old Sarubo Clan wasn't on speaking terms with them.

  Such tremendous ability to draw hatred was unique amongst all the small adept clans!

  Consequently, the Crimson Clan would surely experience attacks and conspiracies from these enemies if they were to attempt to expand their forces in Zhentarim, be it on the surface or in the shadows. When that happened, it wouldn't be worth all the hassle and losses they would suffer.

  It was the consideration of all these factors that caused Alice to suggest Greem expand the Crimson Clan toward the north. Though the witches here were fairly xenophobic, with Alice, the Witch of Fate's leader backing him, the space for development for Greem and his Crimson Clan would still be infinitely more abundant than at the center of the continent.

  Now that they had decided their future direction, it was naturally time to determine the address of the new clan base!

  Excessively prosperous and bountiful lands were already under the governance of witches of other branches. The areas that had been given over to the Fate Witches over the years were either barren salt lands or borderlands infested with magical creatures. Even a top-grade adept clan would have to prepare themselves for loss if they were to attempt to expand in places like these.

  However, Greem didn't seem to mind at all.

  His ideal adept's empire was completely discongruent with the World of Adepts of the present. Perhaps it was only this process of building up from nothing that could help him discover his true path forward.

  After running to and fro the north for five long months, Greem finally decided on the new territory of their clan– a place called Icewind.

  Icewind.

  It was a frigid place neighboring the Black Forest to the east of the Northern Lands.

  There were almost no human villages or cities here. Even the closest adept's tower was four hundred kilometers away. It was actually the territory of the Coldwinter Witches, but they were unwilling to part with a bountiful land in the center of the Northern Lands and thus gave this hundred-kilometer-wide frozen plain to the Fate Witches.

  Due to the difficulty of raising Fate Witches, they had not managed to take over their direct subordinate territories completely yet. Such a border area to the Black Forest naturally turned into nothing more than an ornament, a barren land managed by no one.

  No witches were willing to stay here, and without the protection of a powerful adept's tower, there were naturally no citizens who dared to stay here. As such, Greem found absolutely no living people in Icewind when he traveled the entirety of the area, apart from one or two dozen hunter families!

  Such a territory might be a profitless bone for others, but it was a decent springboard for Greem. After circling out an area on a hill five kilometers away from the Black Forest, the tower builders that Greem had hired quickly arrived.

  Just like in the center of the continent, the tower builders that Greem hired still belonged to a subsidiary force of the Silver Union, based in the Northern Lands. For the sake of his clan's future development, Greem gritted his teeth and asked them to construct a medium tower.

  A medium tower, fifteen levels tall, with all magical facilities possible!

  The cost of constructing a medium tower matched its functions and power. The price was so high that it made Greem want to curl up and cry.

  One million, two hundred thousand magical crystals; a million and two hundred thousand magical crystals!

  Just the odd change in
the price of a medium tower could compare to that of a small tower.

  Chapter 737 Clan Strategy

  However, a price like that was still acceptable.

  After all, Greem had already scoured four dragon's dens clean. The resources and gemstones he had gained would be more than enough to support the construction of this new tower without any problems.

  Moreover, he had already gathered the materials and resources required to forge the two set pieces of Fire Throne during this time. Greem would naturally need to take this opportunity to reorganize his resources and power.

  Due to how remote the place was, there were no suitable stone materials for the construction of a tower, making it take as long as two months for this medium tower to be completed. To avoid trouble from the Coldwinter Witches, Alice specially sent Icelady Snowlotus over as the overseer.

  One had to admit that the Silver Union had its own unique perspective on golem creations and tower construction. For the first month, the resource caravans they sent over continued without stopping, turning the cold and silent Icewind into a lively market.

  The resources they had gone to such lengths to transport were all heavy stones and tower components that had undergone heavy processing. Meanwhile, the three Silver Union adepts commanded large groups of magical stone and metal statues along with construct golems to build the tower. In just a dozen days, they managed to erect an icy tower ninety meters in height and three hundred meters in diameter.

  Indeed, to better match the environment and elementium traits of Icewind, the Silver Union adepts had recommended an ice tower to Greem. The outside of the tower was constructed with Icefrost Stone, a type of special material that could continuously strengthen itself by absorbing wandering ice elementium from the air.

  That made it very well suited for Icewind.

  It was because the area was at the northern border and its weather was always cold and dry. In the twelve months of a year, the temperature would only rise above zero degrees Celsius during the seventh and eighth months. It typically remained below negative twenty degrees for the remainder of the year.