Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  The second piece of information was the magical machine exoskeleton combat assistance system.

  The adepts could use magical equipment to assist them in combat. Meanwhile, the goblins had no elementium affinity and could not use elementium attacks even with the aid of a magical machine.

  However, the newborn magical goblins were somewhere in between. They might not have elementium affinity, but they could use their natural magical patterns to obtain some control over magic energy.

  To enhance the power of these magical goblins, Dean Gonga had invested considerable resources and created this exoskeleton combat assistance system. These devices were like magic-mechanical equipment. They could be equipped on the bodies of magical goblins and used to assist them in unleashing elementium attacks.

  Greem was highly interested in this topic when he heard it.

  If these magic-mechanical exoskeletons were modified for a human adept’s size and elementium affinity, it might just be beneficial for human adepts as well!

  Greem immediately ordered Gargamel to assign some adepts and apprentices to work with Dean Gonga. He wanted to figure out if the magic-mechanical exoskeleton’s function was universal.

  Thirdly, the blueprint of the Thunder God Titan was almost complete.

  Dean Gonga excitedly requested Greem’s permission to construct the prototype and to begin experimentation.

  Thunder God Titan was a powerful war machine that could theoretically reach the levels of Sixth Grade. The number of high-grade materials and rare resources consumed in constructing such a device was astronomical, not including the countless number of technical problems waiting to be solved.

  In all honesty, the energy core of a single Thunder God Titan would require three to five magic generator furnaces to power it. For the Titan to fight at full efficiency, Greem would have to make another mega magic-generator furnace.

  Greem gave Gonga’s request some thought after hearing it. He then took out a knowledge crystal from his storage ring and slid it across the table to the old goblin.

  “Don’t be in a hurry to construct the Titan. We can talk about it once you have digested the knowledge in that crystal!”

  “Clan leader, what…what is this?” Dean Gonga lifted the crystal in confusion.

  “The fundamental theory of the Arcane Empire’s energy core,” Greem calmly said. “When it comes to the advanced application of basic energy, the Arcane Empire’s knowledge is the most well-established and effective above them all. I believe that your mastery and application of magic energy will improve by leaps and bounds once you understand their arcane theories!”

  The next second, every single adept in the room looked at the crystal with passionate, gleaming eyes.

  Chapter 1143 - Ruling Rights

  “Clan leader, what happened to the Arcane Empire in the end?”

  Everyone now knew that the clan leader had been sent to the battlefield of the Arcane Empire; they were all very interested in the topic.

  “The Arcane Empire has fallen apart. It no longer exists!” Greem coughed into his hand, shook his head, and sighed. “Such a massive empire, only slightly weaker than the World of Adepts, reduced to dust just like that. Even if some remnants of the Arcane Empire managed to escape into hiding, they wouldn’t be showing themselves for a thousand years, at least.”

  The adepts here were knowledgeable individuals as well. They had all heard of this Arcane Empire through their own channels of information. The shock and indescribable emotion of loss that they all felt was tremendous when they listened to their clan leader describe the fall of a massive empire in such a casual tone.

  The World of Adepts was composed of a large group of spellcasters, very much like the Arcane Empire.

  The only difference was that the World of Adepts’ period of development and growth coincided with the period of peace in the universe. It was a rare era of peace that had come about after the colossal war between the World of Disasters and the Titans, which had rippling effects across the entire universe. It was because of this that the World of Adepts and the World of Gods could develop so rapidly and survive their period of weakness to give birth to their respective Ninth Grade powerhouses.

  If it weren’t for the protection of these Ninth Grade Great Adepts, the World of Adepts would never have been able to develop peacefully.

  As a Fourth Grade adept, Greem had begun to come into contact with the more well-hidden secrets of the world. His understanding of the changes in the multiverse had significantly expanded.

  In all seriousness, the multiverse they lived in was a classic high-magic world!

  Meanwhile, the two species that were the greatest driving forces of change in the multiverse were the Scourge Lords and the Titans.

  The Scourge Lords were the evil faction, while the Titans were a dominant species born from the will and consciousness of the multiverse.

  The Scourge Lords hunted planar worlds as prey and devoured their planar origin for sustenance. They were the largest, most malignant tumor in the world. Moreover, they were a tumor that spread. When the Scourge Lords moved out in high numbers, it was a calamity for the billions upon billions of planar worlds in the universe.

  As such, as the will of the universe personified, the Titans were naturally born with powerful physical strength and the vicious purification power of lightning. Their only purpose in life was to search the universe to exterminate the Scourge Lords.

  Whenever war broke out between the Scourge Lords and the Titans, it inflicted severe damage to both of their forces.

  The Titans would retreat deep into the universe to rest and recover, and the Scourge Lords would have to do the same in their World of Disasters. This period was the best development time for the innumerable civilizations in the universe.

  Once the Scourge Lords had recovered their Spirits, recovered from their physical injuries, and slowly woke up from their ten thousand year slumber, the entire universe would once again be plunged into an unending war. When that happened, the Titans would gather once more and emerge to search for the Scourge Lords.

  However, the two factions could not fight alone. They would always find subordinate species and organizations to join their cause, starting one terrifying planar war after another in every corner of the universe.

  When that happened, the major civilizations of the universe were forced to choose a side. Either help the Titans beat the Scourge Lords, or aid the Scourge Lords in their conquest of the universe.

  Either option would trigger rapid change in the politics of the universe and lead to changes in the power balance.

  Some powerful civilizations had been exterminated shortly after their meteoric rise, simply because they had been dragged into a war beyond their limits. Some species had rapidly risen to become a significant powerhouse simply because they chose the right side of the conflict and steadily grew in power.

  The entire multiverse slowly moved forward to the beat of the eternal war!

  The Scourge Lords and the Titans would step off the stage when both sides were grievously wounded, leaving the other civilizations an excellent time for peaceful development. Once they had recovered and stepped out from their hiding spots, the multiverse would be ravaged by the flames of war again.

  The newly grown wild grass would either be burned down to ashes or survive to become stronger until the next cycle descended upon them.

  During a ‘period of peace,’ every civilization would fight with all they had to increase their power in hopes of facing the upcoming war in their best condition!

  The World of Adepts was fortunate. Their rise to power occurred during the ‘Golden Age of Development’ for the universe.

  Now, after such a long time of peace and quiet, the Scourge Lords were stirring once again.

  The first ones to move were always the weaker Scourge Lords.

  They were either Sixth or Seventh Grade, but they started causing trouble in the universe. They incited wars everywhere, invading still d
eveloping worlds to siphon their planar origin and regain their powers as quickly as possible.

  Their awakening also meant that the stronger Scourge Lords were about to wake as well.

  Once the World of Disasters was fully active and a real menace to the universe, the Titans would emerge for their deathmatch once more!

  It was due to his understanding of the universe’s story that Greem could not help but have his own lamentations.

  The Arcane Empire might not have been weak, but the timing of its rise to power was not the best. That was why they became the first targets of the Scourge Lords.

  The participation of the adepts was mostly inconsequential. They were only hoping to steal some leftovers with the Scourge Lords serving as the spearheads of the conflict!

  If the newly awakened Scourge Lords were terrifying jackals, then the adepts were a pack of vultures. There was cooperation between them, but also conflict. It was a complicated relationship they shared.

  Of course, such a broad perspective of the universe was only available to Greem after his advancement to Fourth Grade. People like Mary still had their views constrained within the World of Adepts. They could not see through to the true reasons behind the Arcane Empire’s fall.

  However, Greem had neither the responsibility nor the mood to correct their worldview.

  After a few simple sentences lamenting the fall of a great civilization, Greem turned his attention back to the internal affairs of the clan.

  The next ones to step forward for a report were the goblins, represented by Snorlax.

  After the goblin rebellion, the Crimson Clan had properly assimilated and organized the goblins. They were now separated into two major groups. The Goblin Chamber of Commerce was responsible for trade and smuggling. The Military Faction was composed of the goblin adepts, goblin machinist-sorcerers, and the new magical goblins.

  Due to his weak combat power, Snorlax had become the new Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, responsible for all goblin trade and smuggling activities.

  With his agile mind, slippery methods, and the weight of the Crimson Clan’s treasury behind him, Snorlax had expanded the services of the Chamber of Commerce to every corner of the World of Adept. The short, busy silhouettes of the goblins could be seen in every area ruled by the adepts: from the Silver Union in the west, to the Adept’s Association in the east, the Northern Witches in the north, and Zhentarim at the center of the continent.

  What propelled their growth outwards was the name of Greem, the legendary Fourth Grade adept, and the infamous reputation of the Crimson Clan.

  Of course, this process also involved the hard work and lives of countless generations of goblins!

  It was important to note that the local authorities and organizations managed every region. These organizations might not dare touch the businesses of the major adept organizations, but they had no such concerns when it came to the weaker and smaller trade groups.

  The goblin traders had faced plenty of harassment from the local organizations when they traveled. The weaker organizations might not be a match for the goblin traders, protected by their magical machines, but the more prominent and sizeable organizations had more than enough means by which to rob the merchants of their goods.

  Over the past hundred years, over seventy goblin merchant groups had been exterminated in the World of Adepts for various reasons. Billis, the head of the assassination department, traveled the continent to investigate these incidents and exact proper punishment on their enemies.

  These activities were uncontested in Zhentarim, but it became much more difficult in the regions ruled by the three major organizations.

  After all, Greem’s reputation was only well-known in Zhentarim. Only a few people outside of the central continent knew of his name.

  Greem did not speak much or attempt to intervene as he listened to his subordinates report on their affairs. He only asked a few questions when it came to topics that interested him.

  Once everyone was done with their reports, Greem coughed lightly, and the hall fell silent in an instant.

  Greem looked around him at those familiar faces and finally spoke.

  He lifted his head and released two glowing white orbs, letting them float in front of him.

  “Judging from the reports I have received from you, I can tell that everyone has worked hard. Therefore, it is now time for your rewards. These are the coordinates of the two lesser planes I just obtained from the Zhentarim Association. Both of them are small planes and relatively well developed.”

  The eyes of the Crimson adepts glowed when they heard Greem’s words. Their gazes at the balls of light were burning with passion now.

  Greem smiled casually.

  “We can discuss amongst ourselves now. Which two factions in the clan should obtain the ruling rights for these two lesser planes?”

  Chapter 1144 - Wedding Ceremony

  Ruling rights.

  Was the clan willing to give out ruling rights over lesser planes?

  The gaze of every Crimson adept present burned hot with desire.

  The Crimson Clan currently had two lesser planes. One was the Goblin Plane, which provided the clan with a tremendous amount of metal ores. The other was Lance, the genuine dragon plane that gave the clan all the dragon resources it needed.

  The clan leader’s intention seemed to be to transfer all ruling rights over these two new planes to two factions within the clan. The clan itself would not be responsible for managing or developing these planes. How…how could this not cause the more ambitious members of the clan to become wild with excitement?

  Greem ignored the expressions of wild delight on his clan members’ faces and continued speaking.

  “Seawoods Plane. The plane is over four million square kilometers large, with two continents in total, the rest of which is sea. The two continents have a total size of 1.6 million square kilometers, with vast stretches of primal forests and large groups of natives living within. Magic concentration is average, planar laws are basically complete, and the magical resources are fairly ordinary. Initial estimates suggest that an annual income of eight hundred thousand magical crystals from the plane is possible after proper development.”

  “And the powerhouses of the plane? They haven’t already been exterminated, have they?” Even Mary, who was behind Greem, couldn’t help but straighten her body and express a trace of interest.

  “There aren’t many Fourth Grade creatures in Seawoods. The dominant species are the forest trolls, who are revered by several other tribes. It is said that the king of the trolls is Fourth Grade!”

  “Then I’ll take it! As the representative of the vampires, I will dedicate my all to the development and excavation of Seawoods Plane!”

  “Certainly. Ruling rights over Seawoods Plane belongs to you vampires, but you will have to pay the clan four hundred thousand magical crystals on an annual basis for the rights.”

  “No problem! If I can’t find any adept resources there, I will capture those trolls and selling them as slaves!” Mary shot Greem a mean glance as she spoke.

  Greem simply smiled and waved with his hand. The milky-white light representing the coordinates of Seawoods flew into Mary’s hands.

  The vampires in the hall, led by Mary, all smiled happily.

  The vampires were very different from ordinary adepts, after all.

  Now that they had a lesser plane that belonged solely to the vampires, they could freely change the environment within into one that suited them completely. It would make it much easier to raise bloodkin descendants in the future.

  “The Mountain Plane. It is 1.8 million square kilometers. The only elementium within the plane is earth elementium. We suspect it is a small plane that split off from the Earth Elementium Plane. There are no seas, forests, nor lifeforms in the plane. The entire world consists of scattered mountains and hills. However, probes indicate that there is an intense earth elementium aura beneath the hills. There should be a plentiful re
serve of magical ores to be excavated underground. Anyone who wishes to obtain the ruling rights for this plane will have to pay the clan an annual fee of two hundred thousand magical crystals!”

  After a simple introduction of the lesser plane, Greem looked around the room and asked softly.

  “Is there any faction that wishes to obtain this plane?”

  Mono-elementium of earth. Magical ores.

  The members of the Goblin General Chamber of Commerce, led by Snorlax, exchanged a few looks and expressed tremendous interest in the plane.

  Excavation of ores was the greatest strength of the goblins. They were the most suited for the job.

  Thus, Greem nodded and tossed the second ball of light to Snorlax.

  Apart from the two lesser planes, Greem lifted his head and released over three dozen unusual items hovering within red bubbles. These were all otherworldly resources and unique treasures he had obtained on his journey.

  Of course, he had already put all the truly valuable items into his personal collection. Everything he displayed here was a resource he would not use himself. The addition of these things allowed the clan’s list of redeemable items to improve tremendously.

  “Basic Arcane Theories.”

  “Analysis of Spatial Energy.”

  “Studies on Mutated Creatures.”

  “Encyclopedia of Starbeasts.”

  “Secrets of the Gods.”

  “Memoirs of Space Travel.”

  Arcane Golem Core Component.

  Unstable Arcane Crystals.

  Arcane Bracelet (Recover half of all expended magic on a successful spell. Note: Only arcanists can use this item).