Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Only the few Second Grade adeps in the room could barely shield their eyes with magical energy and look directly at Greem. However, all they could see was a human-shaped blaze burning furiously. They could not see through the forcefield of fire to look upon Greem’s face.

  When Greem appeared, all the adepts in the lava hall immediately stopped their conversation and socializing. They turned towards him, placed their hands on their chest, and bowed.

  “Hail, Clan Leader.”

  “Hail, Clan Leader.”

  Greetings rang out throughout the hall; the passion and admiration behind the words were clear and distinct.

  Frankly, the reason the Crimson Clan could develop to its current scale could all be attributed to Greem. Even though little things added up and the lower-level adepts contributed to the clan, what decided the status and position of an adept force was ultimately the power of the adept that stood at the center of the clan’s authority.

  Without Greem, the Crimson Clan would not have won the war, regardless of how many Third Grades they possessed. They would have been picked apart one by one by the Fourth Grade body-refining adept, and the clan would have been captured in one fell swoop. Without Greem’s coordination and commands, the Fourth Grade magical golem dragon would have had trouble stopping Adept Declan from breaking into its gaps alone.

  It was Greem’s existence that concealed the golem dragon’s weakness of slow movements and attacks. It was his presence that allowed them to force the Fourth Grade body-refining adept into a disadvantageous situation to play a game of endurance and exhaustion.

  Naturally, the result of such an exchange was incredibly tragic for Declan!

  In all honesty, the endless supply of magical energy from the magic generator furnace inside the golem dragon was occult knowledge beyond the comprehension and understanding of an ordinary adept. It was only in the highest archives of the Silver Union that one might perhaps be able to find similar perpetual magical machines.

  It was only with such a thing that Greem could fully unleash the advantage of owning a Goblin Plane and its massive reserves of metal ore!

  Without the magic generator furnaces, the Crimson Clan would not have enough resources to support such a massive army of magical machines, let alone bring to life these war machines that should only exist on paper. If the Crimson Clan were to lose the large number of magical machines that functioned as the base level fighters of the clan, it would instantly be reduced to its weak, former self.

  The clan only had less than a hundred clan adepts. It was not enough number or power to prop up a Fourth Grade organization. If it weren’t for the significant number of magical machines and goblin machinist-sorcerers charging at the frontlines in place of the clan adepts, this number of adepts would not last more than two or three wars.

  One could frankly claim that it was the shocking number of magical machines that was holding the lines for the Crimson Clan! They were the ones who forged this mighty ’empire’ for the clan!

  Following closely behind Greem were Fate Witch Alice, Bloody Queen Mary, Magic-Breaking Assassin Oliven, Spirit of Pestilence Remi, Arms, and Iritina. The elementium magical machine and the old poison witch were only Third Grade magical constructs and could not be listed as official adepts of the Crimson Clan.

  As the Crimson adepts looked upon the various Third Grade adepts of the clan and the foreign elders that represented its future, they once again felt the bright and vast future that awaited them. Everyone smiled.

  “For the clan. For the future. For our ambitions!”

  With his current lifeform grade, Greem didn’t have much to talk about with these small fries before him. After toasting three drinks to the clan, Greem immediately returned to the higher levels of the tower.

  However, Alice and Mary did not leave. Instead, they started announcing the internal rewards that would be given to the clan adepts who had performed the best and made the most contributions during the war.

  Serpentine bloodline recreation potion, bloodline purification potion, Mask of Petrification, Grail of Purification, Armor of Invigoration, Mechanical Heart, Abyssal Staff, Philosopher’s Stone…

  A series of unfamiliar and strange names were announced. Even though no one knew their specific effects yet, the fact that they were Third Grade items alone was enough to drive the Crimson adepts insane.

  Apart from the Third Grade items that made the adepts writhe in excitement, the clan was also offering plenty of First and Second Grade items, spanning everything from magical equipment to potions, scrolls, wands, and even knowledge. All of these were up for clan members to redeem with their points.

  They only needed to exchange the contribution points they had obtained through the war, and they would be able to purchase the high-grade items that they pined for.

  Chapter 1021 - Wild Redeeming

  “That serpentine-bloodline recreation potion and purification potion are mine. I must get them!”

  Snorlax shouted the moment he saw this item on the list.

  Unfortunately, Dean Gonga standing beside him was much calmer.

  “Don’t be so sure yet. I have a feeling that you have a good chance of getting the bloodline recreation potion. As for the bloodline purification potion, I suggest you give up on that! Haven’t you seen those two people’s expressions?” Gonga pursed his lips in the direction of Gargamel and Meryl.

  Gargamel and Meryl both currently walked the path of a bloodline adept. Why would they give up on such high-grade purification potions?! Thus, the moment Lady Mary announced the list of items available for redemption, the two of them immediately started gathering their subordinates to try their best to gather as many contribution points as they could.

  Indeed, private trading of personal contribution points was allowed as well!

  While a single person might not be able to redeem a high-grade item that required a tremendous number of contribution points, a dozen adepts with all their points put together could easily redeem it.

  However, most Crimson adepts had only obtained their contribution points through trials and tribulations of life and death. Naturally, they would hope to use the contribution points for themselves. Moreover, each of them had an item they personally wanted. Why would any of them ever be willing to just give their points away?

  Even significant authorities such as Gargamel and Meryl had to mobilize many of their subordinates and promise countless favors just to barely pool together enough points to redeem a Third Grade item. Meryl acted quickly and was one step ahead of Gargamel. She successfully obtained that only vial of bloodline purification potion.

  Gargamel could only sigh in disappointment. The frustration in his heart was indescribable!

  In Gargamel’s moment of disappointment and hesitation, Goblin Sage Snorlax had also redeemed the serpentine-bloodline recreation potion and was leaping up and down in excitement. Gonga and Drusilla could only shake their heads and groan at the sight of this.

  It couldn’t be helped. Even though they were leaders of the goblin faction as well, the scale and speed at which they could gather and mobilize wealth were far, far inferior to Snorlax.

  With the incredible tool that was the Goblin General Chamber of Commerce in his hands, Snorlax could easily extend his reach and influence into the other goblin factions. The astonishing amount of wealth he could accumulate was incomparable.

  Not long after, Princess Vanessa also redeemed the Third Grade mechanical heart.

  Currently, Princess Vanessa remained the princess of the goblins in public while also leading the Magic Energy Association in the shadows. It allowed her to pull together a decently-sized force within the goblin faction. In addition to the immense wealth of the goblin royalty, she had no problem redeeming a Third Grade item.

  Moreover, Vanessa was currently walking the path of a mechanical adept. The mechanical heart taken from Third Grade Mechanical Adept Blade Princess Katherine fitted her perfectly. With this mechanical heart, Vanessa’s way to S
econd Grade would smooth sailings. Advancement would not be a problem as long as her attributes reached the necessary levels.

  As for whether she could become a Third Grade? That would depend on her potential and whether her soul affinity was compatible with this heart.

  As the items on the list were redeemed one by one, the Crimson adepts who had clear targets in mind started to become anxious. They stopped hiding and hesitating, hastily taking out all sorts of rare resources and treasures they had collected to exchange for their companions’ contribution points.

  For a moment, the banquet hall where people had just been drinking and eating suddenly became a small treasure auction. All sorts of unusual wealth and resources started to appear, and the crowd’s passion boiled to a peak once again.

  Spring of Regeneration, Lionseye Gem, Robe of Shapeshifting, Bracers of Binding, Unicorn Necklace, Boots of Dodging, Dawnlight Crystal, Mermaid’s Tear, Dragonmarrow Stone, Banshee Grass, Ghosthaunt Plaque…

  A series of rare and valuable treasures appeared one after another. One of them was even a Third Grade item, whose owner was a completely inconspicuous First Grade adept.

  It demonstrated that every individual who became an adept had a rough, unknown, and unimaginable story behind them.

  Naturally, the fortunate ones among them would obtain rewards beyond the average person. If it weren’t for how attractive the clan’s list of items was, they would probably continue hiding these items deep in their pouches until they found the perfect opportunity to sell them.

  The Spring of Regeneration was a rare Third Grade adept material. It was also a core material in several high-grade life extension ceremonies. As such, the crowd fought over it the instant it appeared.

  The Robe of Shapeshifting appeared only to be a First Grade item, but it gave the wearer the mysterious ability to shapeshift. It was one of the best treasures for which to explore the woods and travel through the Black Forest.

  Meanwhile, the Unicorn Necklace could increase the wearer’s mental resistance, reducing the effect of charming, hypnosis, and other similar mental magic on the user. It was a Second Grade item.

  The Ghosthaunt Plaque was also a Second Grade item, allowing the owner to see spiritual lifeforms. The plaque could also function as a medium by which to host high-grade spiritual beings. It was an excellent magical item for cultivating ghosts, vengeful spirits, and other similar familiars.

  ……

  Apart from the adepts, the foreign forces of the Crimson Clan also excitedly joined in the ranks of the treasure-seekers.

  Dragonborn Zacha immediately bought the Third Grade Armor of Invigoration with the large number of contribution points he had amassed over the years. He fought like a berserker warrior to begin with, and he already possessed a lightning spear and the Frost Mallet. He was only missing a high-quality armor.

  The Armor of Invigoration.

  +5 Physique, +2 Strength, +55 base magical resistance, +100% base regeneration. 800 points of physical defense.

  Abilities: Invigorate. Increases base regeneration by 600% for a short time.

  With the Armor of Invigoration, Zacha would become a cockroach that could not be killed. With his powerful Physique and the armor’s incredible defenses, he would be able to endure two to three attacks even if he was fighting against a Third Grade opponent. If he activated Invigorate, he was practically immortal for the seven-minute duration that the ability lasted.

  It was already an incredible life-saving ability in battle, where time was of the essence!

  Meanwhile, Split-Brain Gru, the other rich person keeping a low profile, decided to redeem the Abyssal Staff after some thought. With this item, he would be able to summon some abyssal magical creatures or demons every so often. It would make for a reasonably interesting toy.

  Meanwhile, Arms and Iritina became collectors of all sorts of treasures.

  The couple successfully obtained the Third Grade Grail of Purification by pooling their contribution points together.

  It was a Third Grade holy item that Greem had taken from the holy knights. It possessed the powerful ability to cleanse darkness and purify evil.

  One could say that Greem had returned from Henvic with his hands full of treasure.

  He had wiped out three holy knight bases in a row, killed four hunter adepts, and found a shocking volume of treasures in their storage rings. The items he put out as rewards for the clan members to redeem were things he couldn’t use or didn’t care about. He had carefully put away all the valuable stuff.

  Greem gave Alice a book as a souvenir.

  The book was a strange tome that only casters capable of divination could use. The caster could sacrifice a divination spell to the tome in exchange for a random cantrip. Of course, most of the time, the cantrip would be an utterly useless low-grade spell. Occasionally, some completely unseen and foreign spell could appear.

  If one wanted to obtain good spells through the tome, they would need not only a sturdy determination but also extraordinary luck.

  From Greem’s perspective, Alice’s luck had always been decent!

  He couldn’t play favorites either, so he gave Mary a Third Grade dagger.

  Stinger.

  +4 Agility, +1 Physique, +1 Spirit, +40% attack speed.

  Possesses armor-breaking and rending effect.

  Abilities: Concentrated Strike. Concentrates all of the user’s strength on a single point, inflicting the most extreme pain to the enemy.

  Mary had walked the path of an agile assassin ever since she became a Third Grade vampire adept. However, most of the time, she preferred to fight like a berserk assassin to maximize the damage inflicted on the enemy, trading wound for wound. With this Third Grade Stinger, Mary had an additional means to deal with the sturdier opponents she couldn’t deal with before. She would have a much easier time cracking their defenses.

  Though Mary and Alice remained in the lava hall to host the redemption of items, Greem had already returned to the higher levels of the tower and started examining the collection he had brought back from Henvic Plane.

  Ever since Greem had absorbed the holy light souls, his Spirit had increased to 37 points. He had brought back another soul-gathering crystal with him this time, and the number of souls within it far surpassed the previous one. There were as many as four Third Grade holy knight souls in this crystal alone.

  It couldn’t be helped. Near the end of the battle at the Poison Swamps, those stubborn Gold Knights had all fought with the determination to take an enemy to the grave with them. As a result, it was hard to control the rhythm of battle, resulting in three of the Gold Knights’ souls dispersing without a trace.

  However, the Chip had already performed its calculations. The holy lights in the crystal alone were enough to push Greem’s Spirit to the 39-point limit. There would no longer be any meaning in absorbing these souls once he reached Fourth Grade!

  The last time Greem absorbed a Third Grade Gold Knight’s soul in Henvic Plane, it had taken him five years. Now, there were four of them in the crystal. It wasn’t hard to imagine how difficult it would be to absorb them all.

  However, Greem was not bothered by this challenging task.

  Chapter 1022 - Crimson Dynasty

  Fire Throne. Fifth level.

  Inside an incredibly protected secret room.

  Greem stood before an alchemy platform, silently examining the starbeast corpse lying in front of him.

  The corpse was sealed in a kind of semi-translucent amber. It was a strange species completely unlike any planar creature. Its appearance was difficult to describe. At the very least, Greem had never seen anything similar in any of the planes.

  In conclusion, the starbeast was like a mess of rotten meat that had grown haphazardly. It had no extended appendages or joints, nor any fixed skeletal structure. It didn’t even have defined flesh organs of any kind. Its entire body was covered in a black, hard layer of a substance that gleamed with specks of crystal light.

&nbs
p; In all seriousness, this should be a young starbeast!

  Even a youngling starbeast had the might of a Second Grade. It was more than enough proof of the dangers and terrors of the realms beyond.

  ‘Starbeast’ was a generic name encompassing many species. Any creature that could freely travel and survive in the endless sea of stars could be called a starbeast.

  The difference between starbeasts could be significant, as well. They could be as different as heaven and earth, and incomparable in the slightest.

  Some starbeasts were as small as mastiffs, while others were the size of hills. Some were even as large as a continent. Their power was often directly related to their size. However, the most frightening aspect of their existence was the chaos energy they carried within themselves.

  It was important to note that the elementium energy within a planar world was orderly, gentle, and tame.

  The planar laws were the main contributing factor to this.

  Outside of a plane was a terrifying and boundless sea of stars. An infinite amount of violent magical energy surged and rippled through the galaxies. Such magical energy was chaotic, violent, and disorderly– dangerous to most planar creatures.

  The planar worlds isolated themselves from outside space through the plane barrier, also commonly known as the world membrane. It was how the life and substances within the planes were protected. Through the world membrane, a planar world could disassemble the chaos energy seeping into the world using the power of principles. It would break down the energy into the basic elementium that planar creatures could absorb: earth, fire, water, wind, and the like. These elementium particles would then form the fundamental elementium environment of the planar worlds.

  As such, creatures living in planar worlds were actually all protected by the planar laws. The magical energy they absorbed was also an energy that had been tamed and filtered. Even though directly using chaos energy would greatly amplify the power of spells, chaos energy itself was no less than a lethal poison to most planar creatures.