Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  This phenomenon of the weakening and regression bloodline was a problem with no solution!

  After all, the birth rate of adepts rapidly decreased with their increase in grade.

  Both male and female adepts had too overwhelming a life force. It was incredibly disadvantageous for procreation.

  If one partner were far too weak, then the terrifying radiation from the other person’s life essence would be enough to kill any and all unqualified ovaries or sperm. If both partners were powerful, then the life essence would inherit their power as well. The life essence of the two partners was very likely to treat each other as hostile entities and engage in a deathmatch for the dominant position in the new lifeform.

  Moreover, this was all instinct. It was not something that the adepts themselves had any control over!

  As such, when adepts attempted to have offsprings, luck was the only thing they could rely on. Ungodly luck!

  Chapter 1080 - Great Adept’s Messenger

  The Empowered Magic Essence was vastly inferior to Breeding Flowers when it came to effect alone.

  After all, Breeding Flowers were the optimal solution to the adept’s problem of procreation. Empowered Magic Essence was, at the very best, a sort of stop-gap, an improvisational measure to make up for what couldn’t be achieved.

  That said, Breeding Flowers were Sixth Grade items, while Greem’s Empowered Magic Essence was only a Fourth Grade item. It wasn’t hard to imagine which was harder to obtain.

  If a Breeding Flower were to appear in Camp Exodar someday, the Sixth Grade adepts would probably be the first to get their hands all over it. Sainz would never even have the opportunity to see the flower.

  Moreover, if Greem’s Empowered Magic Essence could indeed provide ordinary mortals with elementium affinity just as he claimed, then it would quickly become a much-demanded resource. When that happened, Sainz would not ever be able to obtain Empowered Magic Essence at such a low cost.

  As such, just half a day later, Sainz traded an advanced Fourth Grade focusing crystal with Greem for one person’s worth of Magic Empowered Essence. As for its effects? He would be testing it on a suitable descendant in his clan.

  After all, Sainz lacked no resources, knowledge, or magic. It was only unfortunate that his bloodline had regressed to a state where even apprentice adepts could not be found after two thousand years.

  He couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation every time he thought about this. Yet, there was nothing he could do!

  The Empowered Magic Essence had now provided his clan with a chance to rise to power once more.

  Greem rushed excitedly into his alchemy lab once Sainz had left.

  After a series of scans from the Chip, it was confirmed that the quality and magnification capacity of this Fourth Grade focusing crystal was far above that of the Third Grade crystal.

  [Beep. Discovered one Fourth-Grade focusing crystal. Crystal toughness: 450 points. Magnification magnitude: 2.57x. State of focused energy: To be determined. Attribute of focused energy: No attributes. Attached elemental effects: Splash damage.]

  A magnification magnitude of almost three times. Greem could increase the might of his spells by 2.57 times when he poured his Spirit into his fire spells through the focusing crystal. Moreover, the tremendous amount of Spirit mixed into the spell would cause it to gain a unique Splash effect.

  Much like a soundwave, the spell would ripple and spread outwards upon impact, like a bursting water balloon. Although this splashing would take away part of the attack’s power, it was a decent method for dealing with hordes of enemies.

  Offensive power magnified by 2.57 times?

  Elementium adepts were already known for their fearsome offensive power, while fire adepts were acknowledged as the most destructive among all elementium adepts. If Greem’s offensive power was magnified by 2.57 times, his spells would be horrifyingly powerful.

  With such tremendous firepower and the four fire principles he had mastered…

  Even Greem himself couldn’t help but start shivering in uncontrollable excitement, let alone his enemies. For some reason, he couldn’t help but start looking forward slightly to that upcoming ‘mission of death.’

  The effect of the focusing crystal might have been verified. However, if he was to use it in its current form, he would likely become the focus of his enemies in battle. Thus, Greem spent some more effort and very ingeniously embedded the crystal into the Burning Suncrown.

  Greem would not usually run about with such a magical crown of such ornate and delicate design. He would only equip the Fire Throne set in combat. When he equipped the Burning Suncrown, the focusing crystal would be right upon his forehead. It was the most convenient position for him to unleash his Spirit.

  The realms beyond might be incredibly dangerous, but they were also the best place to further train and refine an adept’s power.

  As such, the World of Adepts had never severed its intimate relationships with all the adept camps in space.

  Large clans and organizations could send groups of adepts to planar battlefields or space battlefields and have them rapidly grow amid fire and war. It might cause many casualties among the low-level adepts, but as long as a single one of these adepts could survive and improve upon the corpses of others, it would be worth it.

  They would bring about returns ten times, a hundred times, as massive as what the clan had initially invested.

  The Crimson Clan did not have the conditions to send their adepts to the realms beyond before this. They could only send their adepts to the more dangerous planar battlefields for training. Now that Greem had come here as a pioneer, he slowly figured out the situation in the realms beyond. He started to have thoughts and plans to expand the clan’s influence into the realms beyond.

  Of course, this would all come after. Greem’s key concern at the moment was surviving that terrifying mission of death!

  While Greem quietly made all sorts of preparations in the tower in anticipation of the mission, some unexpected ‘guests’ arrived to disturb his peace.

  “Great Adept Anrimus? What did he send you here for?”

  Greem stared at this strange Fourth Grade adept composed of two heads sharing a single body. It was a male and a female, both with very cold and austere expressions on their faces. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

  In all honesty, most adepts would be mutated to some degree when they reached the higher grades. However, very few of them would mutate in such a severe fashion.

  “Lord Anrimus heard you have a sort of Empowered Magic Essence in your hands that can provide ordinary people with elementium affinity. He specially sent us siblings to make a trade with you. This is what we brought with us. Take a look first!” The male head was the one who spoke. He referred to himself as the elder sibling. He had a stern face and a mean look to his eyes. The female head wasn’t ugly, either. On the contrary, she had quite a pretty appearance.

  Unfortunately, despite the two heads and two consciousnesses, it seemed like only one of them could control the body at any one time.

  While the brother spoke, the sister had her eyes closed. Her head hung limply to the side, seemingly in a state of deep sleep.

  As the two-headed adept waved their hand, three items of unusual design floated before Greem.

  Greem’s gaze lingered on the two-headed adept for a long time before finally shifting towards the first item.

  There was a strange seed he had never seen before.

  It was the size of an egg, while its surface was covered with strange magical patterns occasionally fading and appearing.

  Natural magical patterns?

  According to what Greem knew, lifeforms that possessed natural magical patterns all possessed unusual and unique effects!

  Greem alone would never be able to memorize the hundreds of thousands of species of magical plants in the Adept’s Handbook, no matter how good of a memory he had. However, with the Chip’s aid, he was able to search the Chip’s datab
ase for the identity of the seed based on its shape, color, and unique aura. Soon, the Chip displayed its results.

  A Sun Flowervine Seed.

  When planted in a room and grown to maturity, Sun Flowervines could absorb magical power and release a strange fragrance that could bolster the effects of meditation.

  It was said to be effective even for Fourth Grade adepts.

  That alone made it a decent support resource for adepts!

  As such, the Chip rated the seed as a Third Grade item that could be somewhat considered Fourth Grade in its effect.

  The second item was a memory crystal.

  Greem picked it up and lifted it to his forehead. His Spirit moved, and he sensed the information contained within.

  It was a Fourth Grade fire spell that was contained within the memory crystal– Torrential Flames.

  It could gather fire energy into a single beam of fire that would assault and flood the enemy from any angle. Its power was around 1400 to 1600 points.

  Out of considerations of confidentiality, only the first half of the information within was revealed. The other information relating to the actual casting, chants, and spiritual movements were all sealed with magic.

  Greem hesitated for a moment and put the crystal back into the air. He turned to look at the third item.

  It was an actual fire coral staff.

  Its dark-red head, its body, drawn full of strange patterns, and the warm heat pressing against Greem’s face all pointed towards its real identity.

  A Fourth Grade fire staff!

  It could enhance Greem’s fire damage by seven percent.

  Seven percent might not seem like much, but with the improvement in Greem’s magical abilities, any percentage increase often meant over a hundred point increase in energy damage.

  As such, a seven-percent fire damage enhancement was already very impressive for the Fourth Grade Greem!

  Greem slowly looked at the three Fourth Grade items before him. He couldn’t say he wasn’t moved, but it wasn’t as if he had to make this trade.

  If Greem brought the fire coral staff along with him to battle, it would mean that he had completely given up on melee combat. He would be fixing his position as one of a spellcaster.

  That was truly a significant waste of his potential, given his great Physique and decent Strength!

  He didn’t really have to have the Fourth Grade fire spell either.

  The first thing that the Chip had been busy with since Greem’s advancement to Fourth Grade was the calculation and improvement of the Third Grade spells he currently possessed.

  Currently, the Third Grade Vicious Fireball had been upgraded to the Fourth Grade Blazing Fireball.

  The Third Grade Flamegate had been improved to the Fourth Grade Molten Fire Gate.

  The Third Grade Meteor Swarm had been upgraded to the Fourth Grade Meteorite Bombardment.

  The Third Grade Magma Armor had been upgraded to the Fourth Grade Blaze Form.

  Apart from these spells, Fire Teleportation had also been improved and optimized by a certain degree.

  It allowed Greem’s offensive power to increase exponentially, from the 400-500 base damage to the current 700-900 base damage. In addition to all the magical equipment he was wearing and his fire specialization, a tiny fireball from Greem would have around 1300-1500 points of power.

  Of course, if he were to combine all this with the focusing crystal he had just obtained, the upper limit of his damage reached a shocking 3900 points.

  It was far too shocking for a Fourth Grade adept who had just advanced not ten years ago!

  It was all these factors that made these three Fourth Grade items not as appealing to Greem.

  Greem’s hesitation and dissatisfaction fell on the eyes of the two-headed adept as well. He couldn’t help but be slightly surprised at this.

  Great Adept Anrimus was a Sixth Great Adept from the Adept’s Association. To think that the things he offered would be rejected by a mere Fourth Grade adept. It was unbelievable!

  As the Great Adept’s messenger, he could not afford to lose face in this manner.

  Chapter 1081 - Oath Contract

  Chapter 1081 Oath Contract

  The male head opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. However, he was interrupted by his sister’s head, which had abruptly opened her eyes and shoved him to the side.

  The eyes of the male head shut after losing control over the body. The expressions faded from his face as if he had suddenly fallen into a deep slumber. The sister’s head moved to the center of the neck and opened her eyes to take a good look at Greem.

  “You must be Greem! My brother was a little rude earlier. He did not properly introduce ourselves. My brother’s name is Mangus, and I am Cherisha. We are also participants in the upcoming Arcane Empire Extermination mission!” The sister’s voice was soft and gentle. Obviously, she had a much more friendly personality compared to her brother.

  “Oh?” Greem lifted an eyebrow. The look he was giving the two-headed adept turned much friendlier.

  “As I’m sure you know, we who have been chosen for this mission are practically cannon fodder. Once we enter the Arcane Empire, there won’t be many companions around us that we can trust, let alone the actual danger that those Great Arcanists will pose to us. Therefore…”

  “You wish to establish an alliance ahead of the mission?”

  “Yes!” Cherisha smiled casually. “Rather than sit by idly and wait for Fate’s arrangement, why don’t we form an alliance? It will allow us to defend ourselves better. At the very least, we should be able to intimidate the monsters from the World of Disasters. Otherwise, they might just treat us as prey, along with the rest of the Arcane Empire!”

  Greem gave the proposal some thought. He couldn’t help but be moved by the suggestion.

  Even though they were all Fourth Grade adepts now, they were still as frail as strawmen when compared to those veteran monsters that had advanced thousands of years ago. In particular, the adepts would not be in an advantageous situation when fighting against the arcanists, who had all the benefits of fighting on their homeground.

  Under such circumstances, if they were able to form an alliance, they would at least be able to ensure that they didn’t exhaust what little might they had in a pointless internal conflict.

  “I agree with your suggestion in principle, but how are we supposed to make this alliance? Ordinary magical contracts probably can’t restrain Fourth Grade adepts all that well anymore, can they?”

  “Oath contracts. You have heard of them, haven’t you?”

  “I have. They seem to be a sort of spell where every adept involved in the oath would cast a curse of their own. In doing so, those who betray the oath will have to endure the combined curse backlash from multiple other adepts.”

  “Indeed! This is the draft of the contract we have written up. If you decide it is appropriate, you can join the oath and leave your own curse on it.”

  Cherisha waved her hand, and a strange stone tablet made of an unknown black material appeared out of thin air. A magical contract with exceedingly incredible binding power was written on the plague in the adept language.

  The magical emblems of three adepts were etched into a corner of the tablet.

  One belonged to Mangus, another to Cherisha, and the last to one Adept Holly of the Silver Union.

  Greem sensed the aura of curse magic and poison upon these names.

  It seemed like only his and the Northern Witches’ representative’s emblems were missing from the tablet.

  Greem’s eyes quickly swept through the tablet, storing and containing its contents within his mind.

  While he closed his eyes and pretended to consider the terms of the contract, the Chip had already analyzed every single clause. It confirmed that this was a magical contract restricting any sort of internal conflict in hopes of repelling the enemy. It also confirmed that there were no hidden clausal loopholes or magical traps contained within
the contract.

  Soon, Greem opened his eyes and smiled as he drew several fire runes in the air. These runes did not dissipate. Instead, they gathered together, colliding and forming into a complex and unusual runic array.

  The strange runes enveloped his magical emblem and floated in front of the stone tablet under his control. They rapidly merged into the surface of the black stone. The next second, Greem’s name appeared on the stone tablet.

  “What an elaborate and complicated runic array! You didn’t use a curse spell?” Cherisha let out a gasp of surprise.

  “My research into curses is minimal at best, and I can’t produce any cursed item powerful enough to restrict a Fourth Grade adept. A fire array is the best replacement I can come up with. It only contains a single fire attack from me!”

  “That’s fine. It is only a way to maintain trust between all of us, after all. As long as no one is feeling suicidal, I don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to tear up an oath contract as beneficial as this!” Cherisha smiled as if completely unbothered by Greem’s addition to the curses.

  However, if she could see through the runic array and realize that that one attack would inflict over 3700 points of damage, she would not be as relaxed as she currently was.

  Three thousand seven hundred points. Such a powerful fire attack was enough to kill Fourth Grade adepts below intermediate-grade instantly. Even bloodline adepts or body refining-adepts, who were famed for their Physique, would be severely injured if they were unprepared for such an attack.

  After all, most beginner Fourth Grade adepts had a base damage of anywhere between 1100 to 2000 points, while intermediate Fourth Grades had base damage between 2000 to 3000 points. Greem’s most potent attack could reach 3900 points. That could already rival advanced Fourth Grade adepts at their peak.

  However, he was only a beginner Fourth Grade adept that had just advanced no more than ten years ago!