Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  The Coldwinter Witches nodded and once again split off, slowly combing the area for vampires.

  However, this time, they shortened the distance between each of them to a mere two hundred meters.

  What the Coldwinter Witches didn’t know was the fact that ten eyeball machines were slowly gliding in the skies above the fog of Silent Swamp.

  A Disruption Array had already been set up in the depths of the swamp. It disrupted everyone’s Spirit and caused them to become inaccurate. However, the Crimson adepts had prepared ahead of time and had set up special surveillance crystals all over the swamp. They then used a peer-to-peer system to send the information they gained to the eyeball machines above the swamp, where a real-time map of all movements was distributed to the vampires in combat.

  Through this method, a blood elf could be used as bait to lure the witches into breaking their formation. Mary could then personally intercept and cut off all possible reinforcements from the isolated witch. That was how they had managed to capture a Coldwinter Witch at the cost of a blood elf.

  Thus, Mary’s prisoners had gone from one to two.

  However, just as Mary and the other vampires were gathering together to discuss a new assault, the eyeball machines transmitted disturbing news.

  A tremendous snowstorm was rushing toward them from the back of the swamp. Everything that the storm swept across was frozen in ice. Even the surveillance crystals they had set up ahead of time had lost their connection.

  It was clear that Morgana had lost her patience and was bulldozing her way into the battle!

  “You guys bring the prisoners back first. I want to have a bout with this Morgana!”

  Mary was not willing to lick a bloody knife and lose everything she had won in a fight against a nearly berserk Third Grade witch. Thus, with her orders, the vampires scooped out the battered Zivelina from the swamp, transformed into massive blood bats, wrapped around the destructive snowstorm, and secretly snuck back to Dragonblight with both wounded witches in tow.

  They were basically in Fate Witch territory once they entered Dragonblight; all the magical creatures there were under the control of the Tower of Fate. If the Coldwinter Witches dared to trespass, the road to the tower would not be a peaceful one!

  However, Mary did not leave. Instead, she carefully and slowly started to organize the items and equipment on her. She made use of these actions to calm herself down and relax.

  There was no excitement about having to battle a Third Grade witch soon, nor was there any anxiety. Mary’s heart was calm and collected, much like that still, silent vampire heart of hers.

  Vampires had no heartbeat!

  It was precisely their lack of ability to create blood that the vampires were forced to drain others of their blood to make up for it.

  Their hearts might no longer move and had lost their original functions, but they were still the most important organ for vampires. That was because most of their soul consciousness was stored in their heart. That was the actual medium and host of their soul.

  Greem could fight against a Third Grade adept as a Second Grade. Why couldn’t she?

  Mary slowly accelerated as this unyielding pride burned within her, flying straight toward the snowstorm.

  Chapter 869 - Mary's Path

  Mary dashed through the swamp at an unprecedented speed.

  Numerous swamps and withered ghost trees appeared in her vision before vanishing behind her. The scenery started to blur. All objects turned into splotches of color that mixed together, making it ever harder to distinguish between them.

  Mary could now fly across the sky even without the help of the bat wings on her back.

  A long crimson afterimage dragged behind Mary as she made her way across the swamp. The tips of her feet lightly touched the grass floating on the marsh. That slight bit of force was enough for her to walk across it.

  A swirling snowstorm was ravaging the Silent Swamp in the distance. Where the snowstorm passed, mud and swamps were froze while thorns and bushes were sealed in ice. Even the ferocious magical creatures that hid a dozen meters beneath the mud were turned into ice sculptures by an extreme chill, quickly losing all of their life force.

  The snowstorm was advancing at a very high speed.

  The silhouette of a slender, tall woman could be seen hovering at the edge of the wild storm. The terrifying snowstorm was like a beautiful veil cast upon her lithe body, covering the world in white and blue as she walked forward.

  There were still two hundred meters of distance between them, but Mary already felt her body swaying in the wind. It was if she were about to be whisked away by the fierce winds. The destructive snowstorm in the distance was rushing straight at her.

  “Good, very good. I’ve remembered your name. Mary; I hope you won’t regret what you are doing now! Now die!” The hateful and chilling voice of Morgana came from within the storm.

  Immediately after, a few dozen white snowballs shot out of the storm. They flew forward rapidly while shooting out frost arrows in every direction around them.

  A rain of frost arrows instantly engulfed Mary’s body.

  She instantly raised her Spirit to its limits.

  The world in front of her started to magnify and slow down.

  The frost arrows shooting toward Mary filled every corner of her vision. Some of them were flying straight at her, some of them were curving around, some of them were spinning wildly, and others were rotating in the wind. They ran into each other, knocking into each other, and caused the trajectory of the already chaotic rain of arrows to become even more unpredictable.

  Ordinary adepts could probably only erect a shield to defend against a rain of arrows like this.

  However, Mary’s mind was thoroughly immersed in the battle. She had already forgotten fear and death. Her form turned into a flash of crimson lightning as she casually strolled through the dense storm of arrows.

  Indeed, when she raised her Spirit and speed to their limits, these two attributes could combine and give rise to this mysterious scene, almost as if she were living in a world of slow motion.

  The snowstorm was raging in the distance, the swamp creatures were quickly freezing over around them, and the wild rain of arrows was all around her. All these things were like images moving one page at a time in Mary’s eyes. She could see every detail and everything that was happening.

  Power. What was power?

  This ferocious storm started by Third Grade Morgana had to be considered an extreme manifestation of ice, right? However, in the eyes of truly strong individuals, the power of this storm was far too dispersed. It failed to properly concentrate the power of frost at a single point and inflict maximum damage upon the enemy.

  Mary even had the confidence to brave through the Third Grade Frozen Orb that Morgana had cast while only sustaining some wounds. That was probably the most significant and unavoidable flaw of all elementium magic!

  Mary was like a powerful queen strolling through a world that had been put on pause, casually walking past one arrow after another. When she reached places that were far too dense with arrows, she would extend a slender finger. Crimson energy coiled around that finger as she brushed against the bolts. The arrows’ sharp point would shift by several degrees, missing their target.

  From Mary’s perspective, these were only pages of still images. However, in Morgana’s eyes, it was mysterious and unsettling!

  Countless frost arrows had covered the entire space, so tightly packed together that there was no empty space to be found.

  Yet, that damned Mary was like an elegant noble casually roaming through her own garden; not a trace of horror or fear could be gleaned from her composed appearance. Even worse was the fact that it looked like she had been possessed by the champion of fate herself, absolutely unharmed as she walked through a storm of arrows.

  Strangely enough, when the arrows reached Mary, it was almost as if they were peasants that had just met their monarch. All the arrows naturall
y avoided her and shot past her. All the frost arrows shot across the sky, and every single one of them brushed past Mary’s hair, ears, neck, body. All of them just barely missed their mark.

  Mary was utterly unharmed after that barrage of Frozen Orbs. Apart from her face being a bit flushed, she was unfazed.

  Morgana was horrified!

  Mary was panting intensely.

  She had only maintained that wondrous state for five seconds and she had perfectly avoided an extremely lethal Third Grade spell. If she could keep herself in that fantastic state for extended periods, wouldn’t she be able to defeat all her opponents easily?

  That said, though it had only been five seconds, those five seconds had exhausted nearly all of her Spirit. If it weren’t for the robust Physique of a Second Grade vampire, she would probably have collapsed already.

  Dammit, that instantaneous burst of power took up so much energy.

  Mary cursed as she quickly retreated. As she escaped from the Third Grade witch, she took out a crimson blood crystal and threw it into her mouth.

  The blood crystal made of concentrated Second Grade dragon blood quickly turned into active blood energy within her body, allowing her exhausted Spirit to be rejuvenated.

  Morgana had been stunned by Mary’s performance. She only just now realized Mary’s strange condition and instantly understood that Mary must have activated some sort of secret technique to stimulate herself to make it through her spell unharmed.

  However, this technique seemed to have a shocking drawback; it had drained her of her Spirit in just a few seconds. If that was the case, then she was no big deal!

  Morgana was no longer surprised by Mary’s performance once she understood this. She waved both her hands as a large cloud of frost and ice started to move toward Mary.

  With Morgana’s mastery over ice magic, Mary would probably be turned into an ice sculpture the instant the frost aura engulfed her. When that happened, she would be at the mercy of the Third Grade witch!

  Mary quickly retreated, and the cloud of frost pursued closely behind. The forefront of the tide of frost was no more than half a meter away from Mary’s wings.

  Mary had no choice left to her; she raised her head and let out a shriek, and a violent surge of blood energy instantly spread out around her. The speed of her flight instantly increased by fifty percent from the boost of this blood energy. She slowly started to pull away from the tide of frost behind her.

  Morgana might excel at ice magic, but she wasn’t as specialized in flight.

  This burst of power from Mary allowed her to put some distance between the two of them. Soon, Mary had disappeared into the depths of the mist like an arrow shot from a bow.

  Morgana pursued another kilometer before reluctantly stopping.

  The snowstorm roared and raged around her, turning the surroundings into a world of ice and snow.

  Unfortunately, regardless of how furious she was, there was no changing the fact that the enemy had escaped!

  That damned Second Grade vampire. Her combat power was no match for her, but that terrifying speed alone left Morgana incapable of doing anything.

  So what if her magic powers were tremendously powerful?

  Everything was for naught if she couldn’t catch up!

  For the first time, Morgana started to slightly regret never putting in a bit more work into her speed in the past.

  This short ‘contact’ in the depths of the Silent Swamp was not known by anyone else.

  Mary might have exhausted her Spirit, and her body might have been slightly injured from the explosion of blood energy, but her heart was boiling with excitement. It was so much so that she couldn’t keep herself composed.

  That was because she had clearly seen her future path of development during the battle earlier.

  This style of combat was what suited her the most. It was also immensely powerful!

  Mary did not delay at all. Her body turned into a crimson flash as she flew fifty kilometers and returned to the Tower of Fate.

  At this moment, Mary was suddenly extremely confident in her advancement to Third Grade!

  …………

  The Tower of Fate.

  Alice stood on the astrology platform alone, silently looking into the distance.

  Of course, she couldn’t possibly see everything that was happening in the Silent Swamp from this distance, but everything that had just unfolded was displayed in a massive mirror wall in front of her.

  The vast and brilliant star power slowly faded, and Alice’s lonely figured appeared frail and weak. Elementium Fairy Helen circled around her furiously, raising her voice as she questioned Alice.

  “Why did you help her…why did you help her? That person is your competitor! Why would you exhaust your own power to help her? If it were me, I would curse her to lose control of her power and die at the hands of that Third Grade witch.”

  Alice had just made it through her lethargy. She put on a pale smile when she saw Helen’s furious appearance.

  “You little brat, where did you learn all these bad things? You’re still young. You don’t understand the meaning of a companion! If we started scheming and plotting against each other, then this newly formed organization would soon begin to falling apart. The more powerful our allies, the better they can protect us. Isn’t that…good?”

  “Hmph! I can’t convince you either way. Still, I don’t think you should have helped that Mary girl. She…she’s always wrapped around that guy!” Helen’s voice got smaller and smaller.

  “That’s my business, isn’t it?” Alice chuckled weakly, “Alright, no more bantering. Bring me back to rest, please!”

  As the master and the fairy slowly left the room, the astrology platform once again turned dark and silent!

  Chapter 870 - Combat Power Comparison

  How was a Third Grade more powerful than a Second Grade?

  If one were to analyze in simple and broader terms, it would be tremendous power, better Physique, higher speed, and frightening Spirit!

  However, no adept would possibly increase their attributes in such a roundabout manner. There were always trade-offs and prioritization. As such, the elementium adepts prioritized Spirit, while giving some attention to Physique and altogether abandoning Strength and Agility. Meanwhile, body-refining adepts were split into three different categories. Some emphasized Strength, others Physique, and others, much like Mary, focused on Agility.

  On the other hand, the specialization of bloodline adepts depended on what bloodline they had inherited.

  If they inherited the bloodline of a Giant Raging Ape, their Physique and Strength would be enhanced immensely, while also making sure Agility didn’t lag behind. Spirit would be their only weak point. If they inherited the bloodline of a fire dragon, all of their attributes would be enhanced to a considerable extent. In particular, their fire magic would be uncontested.

  However, such analysis was only a summary of the statistics of the adept and wasn’t sufficiently comprehensive!

  One couldn’t forget that, as Third Grade adepts, these individuals had easily lived for several hundred more years compared to an average Second Grade adept. During these hundreds of years, they could use all the techniques and methods available to them to improve their base power and uncover more of their latent potential to walk even further on the path of magic.

  That was why Morgana, as a Third Grade Coldwinter Witch, had not only extremely high Spirit, but also very decent numbers for the rest of her attributes.

  Morgana. Advanced Third Grade.

  Profession: Elementium Adept (Ice Specialization)

  Bodily Attributes: Strength 24 | Physique 21 | Agility 16 | Spirit 37.

  Profession Skills: Icecold Bloodline…

  Even though Morgana was a Third Grade elementium witch, both her Physique and Strength had exceeded twenty points. That also meant she had a sturdy body no weaker than that of a Second Grade body-refining adept.

  This way, be it in te
rms of endurance or regenerative powers, she was at the same level as a Second Grade body-refining adept.

  Perhaps the only difference between her and a Second Grade body-refining adept would be their reflexes and close-quarters combat skills. She might not be able to win against a Second Grade body-refining adept in close-quarters combat without her spells, but her superior physical and elementium resistance was already at their level.

  If she were to empower herself with some Third Grade spells, she could pick up a massive mallet and fight a Second Grade body-refining adept on even ground for hundreds of rounds.

  Sixteen points of Agility also meant that Morgana’s running speed was about the same as Mary when she was at First Grade.

  It might still be too slow against Mary, whose Agility was now at twenty-nine points, but it was more than enough in most battles.

  In all honesty, if it weren’t for the speed bonus to her cast time from raising her Agility above fifteen points, Morgana would probably not have bothered investing her time into this attribute that had little to no effect on her combat prowess!

  Meanwhile, Spirit was related to many things, including spell power, magic effect duration, magical effect trigger chance, and a series of other attributes.

  With Morgana’s thirty-seven points of Spirit, any simple ice arrow from her hand, even without the enhancement of magical equipment, could reach three-hundred and seventy points of power. On the other hand, the Second Grade Ice Shield of a Second Grade elementium adept could only defend up to three hundred and fifty points.

  Even an adequately defended Second Grade adept was as frail as paper in front of Morgana. Just a few simple instant-cast Third Grade spells would allow her to pierce through their eggshell and turn them into an ice sculpture.

  With the physical and magical resistance of a Third Grade witch and the enhancement of other Third Grade spells, Morgana’s defense could easily reach six to seven hundred points. Even if she did not retaliate against a Second Grade elementium adept, the opponent would not be able to do anything against her.