Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  He had a feeling that his understanding of magical tattoos would significantly improve if he could decipher the secrets behind these tattoos!

  Chapter 824 - On the Stage, Behind the Scenes

  The Crimson adepts immediately became active after seeing Greem leave.

  It was a rare experience to come to a different plane. Moreover, the adepts had just obtained a massive victory. They were understandably excited and couldn’t help but want to express this in some manner.

  Their gazes swept across the otherworldly slaves in the courtyard and couldn’t help but land on the maids with pretty faces and exceptional figures.

  Hmph! Those damned orcs sure did know how to enjoy themselves.

  This thought appeared in the minds of more than one adept.

  These servants were all beautiful and seductive. It wasn’t hard to tell why their masters had chosen them as servants.

  In truth, the existence of these maids truly opened the eyes of the Crimson adepts.

  Who would have known that they could be so pretty? Those green-skinned orcs were all rough and coarse in appearance, so much so that it was hard to look at them straight. However, these girls of the subordinate races were utterly different from the orcs. They had a very attractive, exotic charm to them.

  The rabbit girls all had a pair of snowy white ears that drooped behind their head, giving them a charming appearance. Their faces were smooth and white, with two light dimples and a pair of snow-white teeth when they forced a smile. It was easy on the eyes.

  Meanwhile, the fox ladies all had shapely faces, slender waists, and a long, fire-red tail behind them. Their hips swayed as they walked, giving them a very different charm.

  Still, the most unique of them all was the snake girls. Their upper halves were women, while their lower halves were in the form of a snake, long but equally as beautiful. In particular, their strange jade eyes and full breasts covered in thin snake scales were particularly eye-catching.

  The four Crimson adepts that followed along with the group were new recruits that had submitted to the clan after the last clan war. Naturally, they didn’t dare to fight with Mary and the other core adepts over the ‘spoils.’ They could only wait eagerly by the side while waiting for Mary and the others to choose.

  Mary could have been said to have given her all in today’s battle. She had feasted on plenty of enemy blood. Consequently, she was exhausted now. She waved listlessly at the rest of the adepts and went to find a room to rest.

  As a Third Grade thunder dragon, Arms could not change the promiscuous nature of his being. He immediately chose three of the rabbit girls, four of the fox ladies, and a snake girl. It was then that he left the hall, crowded by all these women.

  As a green-skinned goblin, Tigule’s sense of beauty was completely different. He could not possibly have any interest in these ‘ugly’ females. Thus, he gave up his choice and found a place to rest.

  Only Wind Adept Deserra was licking his lips greedily.

  However, in consideration of his image in Dana’s eyes, he had no choice but to bear the pain and give up on his selection as well.

  Medusa Dana didn’t seem to care for Deserra’s intentional flattery. Instead, her eyes circled those snake ladies who looked much like herself. Surprisingly, Dana waved her hand and took away all five of the remaining snake ladies, leaving the four new adepts to feel pity that they couldn’t do the same.

  After a simple discussion, the four new adepts split up and took away the maids that they liked.

  For a moment, the sound of promiscuity could be heard throughout the entire manor. It was the moaning of pretty servants in beds everywhere!

  …………

  In a brightly lit room.

  The corpse of the Third Grade orc shaman was laid upon a tough wooden table.

  The animal hide robe he wore had already been taken off, revealing the muscular body and violet tattoos beneath.

  Greem lightly pressed against the shaman’s chest. It didn’t feel like flesh to the touch at all. Instead, it felt like cow leather that had been treated over and over again, robust and sturdy.

  It was an innate trait of the orcs– hard skin.

  Their skin could even resist slashes from sharp weapons after some training. This way, the orcs were practically wearing a thick layer of leather armor even when they were unarmored. It could allow them to be immune to sixty percent of slashing and piercing damage, along with twenty percent of blunt force damage during battle.

  That was a decent racial ability, no matter how you looked at it!

  Greem’s nimble fingers slowly moved about the orc shaman’s body. With the help of the detailed Chip’s scanning abilities, all of the orc shaman’s bones, veins, organs, and secret acupressure points appeared before Greem’s eyes.

  Orcs were truly orcs, after all. The shaman had a layer of tough and tight-knight muscles beneath the skin.

  Judging from the Chip’s data, the toughness of the orcs’ muscles were ten times that of elves and a hundred times that of humans. Just this point alone could allow one to easily imagine how much destructive power an orc warrior could have when fighting with all his strength!

  Beneath the steel-like muscles were the extremely dense and thick bones. These bones were extraordinarily thick and even. Exceedingly deep veins wrapped around these bones, allowing the orcs to evenly distribute all force they took across their entire body, reducing the damage and pressure that the bones themselves had to endure.

  The organs of the orc shaman were also starkly different from the humans of the World of Adepts. They might seem somewhat similar, but upon detailed dissection, Greem found that the orcs in Strongwoods Plane were utterly different from the orcs he had seen in other planes. These were two races of entirely different lineage.

  To avoid damaging the orc shaman’s tattoos, Greem did not do a direct dissection. Instead, he had the Chip perform a complete scan of his body.

  The strange totems of the shaman were placed beside him.

  Though the totems had lost their original elementium activity following the death of the orc shaman, Greem could sense traces of some mysterious power lingering on them.

  Divine power.

  Though the power was weak and unfamiliar, Greem had undergone a planar war in Faen and instantly recognized the true origin of this magic.

  It was divine power!

  In the end, orc shamans were the believers and practitioners of Beast God Aruger in the mortal realm.

  The power they possessed wasn’t cultivated by them, but was gained through pious prayer and pleasing the Beast God.

  These orc shamans didn’t know how to gather and release elementium powers by themselves. It was a divine blessing they had obtained by praying to Aruger. In all seriousness, every single elementium attack that the orc shamans unleashed in battle was transmitted from Aruger through the faith system.

  That handily explained why Greem’s Burning Domain so easily disrupted the orc shaman’s elementium spellcasting abilities. The main reason wasn’t Greem obstructing the elementium particles from gathering. Instead, it was because he had managed to disrupt the orc shaman’s faith channel with the Beast God deep in his soul.

  That meant the orc shaman had lost the protection and blessing of the Beast God. It was the real reason why he had lost the fight!

  “Chip, you are done scanning the tattoos and the carvings, right?”

  [Beep. Both three-dimensional patterns have been stored in the data library. Comparisons are now being conducted and analyzed. A basic conclusion will be obtained in an estimated 23 hours, 48 minutes, and 14 seconds.]

  Another twenty-three hours.

  Greem couldn’t help but yawn. He finally felt the exhaustion in his Spirit.

  He had been fully involved in the bloodbath today. He had even been the most ferocious cannon during the siege, turning half of the city wall into a sea of fire by himself.

  That undoubtedly took an immense toll on his Spirit!
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  Now that he finally got to relax, Greem immediately felt worn out.

  Greem did not directly go to rest. He was the Crimson clan leader after all. Thus, he went to talk with Gru, who was wandering about the orc manor.

  As a monster and someone who didn’t even personally participate in the battle, Gru had no possibility of being exhausted. Thus, the magical machines surrounded the manor under his command, keeping a tight guard over the place.

  Greem finally went to sleep in his room after doing all this.

  …………

  Pompes City.

  As the capital of the Strongwoods Orc Empire, Pompes City was a holy city in the hearts of all orcs.

  In particular, a towering and magnificent Beast God temple stood in the heart of the city.

  Currently, countless orc shamans sat within the largest hall of this temple. They were furiously shouting and bickering with each other.

  “This is the holy decree of the Beast God. The enemy is the terrifying witches who have come here with the intent to destroy our plane. We absolutely cannot allow them to find a foothold in our world.” A Fourth Grade shaman roared madly.

  “We know this, but Witherwater City has already fallen. We have lost a hundred and ten thousand orcs for this purpose.” An elderly orc with a purple-gold crown on his head replied worriedly.

  “A sacrifice like that is nothing. As long as we beat the invaders, Lord Beast God will definitely reward you greatly. When that happens, your family and your people will obtain the eternal blessing of the Beast God.” Another Fourth Grade shaman loudly ‘consoled.’

  Under the various threats and promises of the high-grade shamans, this elderly orc had no choice but to sign on the parchment they had presented him and adorn it with his seal.

  With this parchment, the orc shamans could finally mobilize all military forces in the name of the Orc Empire. They could command these forces to engage in one last deciding fight against the witches!

  Once the orc shamans exited the hall with great excitement, the elderly orc king turned and kneeled before the towering statue of the Beast God. There he prayed, anxiously and softly, his face contorted with sorrow.

  Chapter 825 - Greem's Harvest.

  Greem was woken up by the strange notification sound of the Chip.

  He slowly emerged from his deep meditative state and was immediately flooded by a series of messages and notifications.

  [Beep. Detected unknown energy resonance system. Data incomplete.

  [Beep. Detected unusual means of soul repose. Data being collected.

  [Beep. Detected otherworldly versions of energy amplifying arrays. Models have been recorded.

  [Beep. Detected otherworldly versions of life amplifying arrays. Models have been recorded.

  [Beep. Detected otherworldly versions of energy-gathering systems. Models have been recorded….

  [……]

  A series of notifications instantly flooded Greem’s mind, putting him in a temporary daze after waking up from his meditation.

  Greem took half a day before managing to take a look at all these notifications. They were mostly strange arrays that the Chip had discovered and extracted from the orc shaman’s tattoos and totems. These arrays might differ from the magical array system of the World of Adepts, but they functioned in much the same way. Thoroughly researching them would pose a tremendous benefit to Greem and his understanding of magical patterns.

  Greem’s own Strength was still too weak. The amplification to his bodily power after two transformations had only been his basic insurance in multiple fights against powerful enemies. If his magical pattern knowledge system could improve by leaps and bounds, it would allow him to improve his current Flame Fiend Transformation tattoos. It would undoubtedly be of tremendous help in all battles here on out.

  It was precisely this reason that caused Greem to be so interested in the tattoos of the orc shaman!

  Of course, trying to figure out the origin of the tattoos’ magic, true visual observation and simple imitation was no more than fantasy, like attempting to fish the moon out of a well. However, by comparing the tattoo patterns with the adepts’ magical pattern studies, Greem could find their similarities and differences. That could allow him to obtain quite a lot of new knowledge and inspiration.

  The magical pattern studies developed in a different plane according to a different system of power had to have unique traits. Still, it was possible to pursue the origins of the most fundamental of the magical patterns.

  The magical pattern studies of the World of Adepts was mostly the study of three-dimensional magical arrays. They very deftly utilized the magical runes hidden within the array to cause resonance with the elementium particles in the air. In doing so, the arrays could guide and focus the elementium into a terrifying power that could even change the material world.

  That was why mastering high-grade and variation runes became the only way to improve in the field of magical pattern studies in the World of Adepts!

  However, the magical pattern studies in Strongwoods Plane still retained the chaotic and primal runic systems that the ancient adepts had used in the past. With the modifications and changes made by the Beast God Aruger, these simple magical patterns gained the strange ability to communicate with the gods to construct faith channels and deliver divine energy.

  Orc shamans used the seed of divine magic bestowed upon them by the Beast God in tandem with their life energy system to unleash their elementium magic and supernatural abilities.

  Orc shamans might have some advantage over adepts when it came to Physique and Strength, but they were far, far inferior when it came to the most essential trait of spellcasters– Spirit. When comparing orc shamans and adepts of the same grade, their Spirit could often be ten to fifteen points lower. It resulted in them being incapable of unleashing powerful spells and being liable to exhaust their Spirit too rapidly in battle.

  To work around the awkward reality of orc shamans having a terrible elementium affinity, Beast God Aruger bestowed upon them the remarkable Soul Repose ability. It allowed them to split off part of their soul and place it within the totems. They could then use the totems to replace themselves as additional sources of energy.

  With the totem pillars, the orc shamans no longer needed to worry about the lack of elementium energy during battle. Moreover, with the aid of the totems, any orc shaman could instantly become a caster of all four attributes. That allowed them to have more options and more logical magic combinations in spellcasting battles.

  However, everything had two sides!

  These blessings caused the so-called orc shamans to become complete servants of the Beast God.

  Their power came solely from the great Beast God Aruger. If their actions infuriated Aruger, the god could punish them and cut off the faith channel with which they obtained their divine magic seed. The orc shaman would then instantly be reduced from a powerful and revered spellcaster to a lowly orc with nothing to his name.

  This power obtained without work was like a terrifying addiction. It was impossible to rid oneself of it once you were addicted.

  No orc shaman could bear the emptiness of losing power, and even less so the rapid plummeting of their status in society. To protect their status and power, they would only crouch even more before the feet of great Beast God Aruger and loyally offer up all they possessed.

  Unlike the development of civilizations in other worlds, planar worlds affected by the various gods were often stuck in a state of suspended development and regressed technology. Excessively prosperous and advanced lives could very easily cause believers to ‘fall into depravity.’ They could be lost in the advancement of technology, resulting in their faith and respect in the gods weakening.

  That was why almost all worlds that were ruled by the gods would be stuck forever in a primal and crude society. The followers that fervently believed in their gods lived within an ordinary and plain society. Bitter conflict and severe societal issues continued
to exist between the various classes.

  The effect of scarce resources caused their lives to be harsh and miserable. One had to work ten times, a hundred times, harder to barely feed themselves and live on in poverty.

  Even so, it was all this suffering that caused the nobles, who were favored by the gods and therefore enjoyed a good life, to become the target of envy of all others. Those lowly peasants in the lower classes would have only one way to climb the social ladder and lead a genuinely luxurious and opulent life. They would have to try their very best to win the favor of and please Beast God Aruger.

  That was why the more disasters and suffering that a god brought down upon a plane, the more believers they would be able to gain. That further allowed them to purify the members of their core believer group.

  It had undoubtedly become the standard process of ruling for all gods!

  For example, Strongwoods Plane had been ruled over by Beast God Aruger for over ten thousand years. Yet, the current state of its society was still the relatively crude and primal tribal system.

  They might have established the mighty Orc Empire and defeated the military forces of all other races. However, their civilization and societal system were like a tiny bug suspended in ancient amber, forever locked at a particular stage by the god high above them.

  Numerous races had tried to rise again in Strongwoods Plane, but the Orc Empire had defeated all of them by virtue of their overwhelming might. Moreover, the Orc Empire and its population of seven million became the largest slave owners of the plane, holding the leash to all other races. They did nothing productive, but possessed the best land, enjoyed the best resources, and abducted the beauties of the various species for their carnal pleasure.

  It was their suppression and violence that caused the primal societal state of Strongwoods Plane to continue as it was for tens of thousands of years. Otherwise, if even a weak race like goblins could develop to such a scale, there was no reason that the society of Strongwoods Plane should still be so crude and primal!

  Whether the gods were a bane or boon to a planar world was truly hard to tell sometimes!