Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  The two of them couldn’t help but become nervous!

  “Where’s the old fox? Call him over. Our plan forward needs to be revised!”

  Upon hearing Mary’s summons, Vanlier appeared from the ranks of vampires, still dressed like an elegant noble. He bowed respectfully before Mary.

  “Old fox, what do you think about what just happened?” Mary slowly landed, her crimson-crystal high heels clicking against the stone ground.

  “Master, perhaps the situation isn’t as bad as we think?” Vanlier was still as cunning and sly as ever.

  “Oh? What do you mean?”

  “Given the habits and animistic faith of the trolls, the Feathered God that they worship is likely no more than a totem god! A totem god like this is a far cry from the faith gods of the World of Gods. They are also known as ‘false gods.'”

  “What’s the difference?” Mary frowned and asked.

  She might be a peak Third Grade vampire, but she excelled only at battle and slaughter. She seldom took the effort to memorize and organize basic magical knowledge. That was why she often consulted Vanlier when it came to such technical problems. He was more of a vampire scholar, after all.

  “Master, totem gods and faith gods walk two entirely different paths. Totem gods more often appear amidst primal tribes and species. These barbaric beings will regularly actively worship powerful creatures to obtain more power for themselves. However, the target of their faith is either some sort of powerful magical creature in the wild, or a hero or king in their tribe.

  “To pray for power, they will carve the target of their faith onto their flags, their totem poles, and other objects, worshipping these idols day and night. Every time they complete a hunt or win a war, they will perform a ritual sacrifice.

  “As time passes, their faith power will gather on these totem objects, forming what are known as totem gods.

  “You mean, the Feathered God of these trolls does not actually exist? Is it only an amalgamation of their faith power?” Mary couldn’t help but ask.

  “Not necessarily!” Vanlier frowned and replied, “There are many primal tribes that will worship actual magical creatures that exist in the wild and hail them as their gods. Totem gods like these often have material forms and are incredibly powerful as well!”

  “What are the strengths and weaknesses of these totem gods?”

  “When it comes to strength, it would undoubtedly be the fact that they can physically descend to battle. They are often powerful magical creatures of the native continent, to begin with. With the faith power invested in them, they gain possession of certain fundamental skills unique to the gods. However, they are still very, very far away from being an actual god!”

  “And their weaknesses?”

  “Their weakness is that they cannot leave the area covered by their totem objects. Should they leave the area covered by the totem faith, they are no more than magical creatures, entirely and utterly incomparable to Fifth Grade gods.”

  Mary nodded her head silently after hearing all this.

  If the god worshipped by the trolls was only a totem god, then this war could still be won!

  However, before they waged total war against the trolls, it would be best to figure out the target of their faith. If it were only a totem object, then they would face an immaterial spirit in the upcoming war. If it were an animistic faith, then they would have to fight against a powerful magical creature.

  A magical creature that also possessed certain divine powers!

  “Isa, you’ve absorbed the voodoo doctor’s soul, what have you seen? What kind of creature is this totem god?” Mary asked impatiently.

  “Master, it’s a Feathered Serpent!” Blood Elf Isa replied with certainty. “This voodoo doctor visited the troll empire once when he was thirteen. He personally witnessed the Feathered God descend during a major ritual sacrifice. According to his memory, the trolls worship a giant Feathered Serpent.”

  “A Feathered Serpent.” Mary couldn’t help but brood in silence.

  The Feathered Serpent was not an unfamiliar name for the adepts.

  Feathered Serpents were a type of serpent that grew wings!

  They had the scales and body of a serpent, as well as the head and tail. However, they had a pair of feathered wings on their backs. These wings couldn’t let them fly too high. They only allowed them to glide quickly at lower altitudes.

  Feathered Serpents were often mistaken as dragons in many planes, becoming a source of fear for many lower creatures.

  Most Feathered Serpents possessed the lightning attribute, but some variants spat fire or ice.

  Given all the information provided, Mary deduced that the Feathered God worshipped by the troll kingdom was a peak Fourth Grade Lightning Feathered Serpent.

  Of course, this was a Feathered Serpent enhanced with the totemic faith of the trolls.

  If Mary and the vampires could cut off the effects of this faith, the Feathered Serpent would fall to its actual grade level. That said, no one knew what the serpent’s exact grade was!

  After all, only the higher-ups of the troll empire knew the true form of the Feathered God. Voodoo doctors in border tribes like these were lucky to witness the Feathered God even once in their lives.

  The opponent was certainly powerful, but Mary and her vampires were not weak either.

  They were backed by the Crimson Clan, along with the adepts’ deep and powerful magic system.

  If they were willing to think things through, they had plenty of methods to deal with the false god of a lesser plane’s primal kingdom.

  However, it didn’t matter what kind of faith the trolls held. Cutting down on the foundations of their faith was a necessity!

  Thus, Mary gave an order, and the vampires disappeared into the woods, hurrying towards the closest troll tribe.

  ………………

  World of Adepts, Northern Lands.

  The Tower of Fate.

  An exceptionally grand astrology ceremony had just concluded. The upper levels of the Tower of Fate glimmered with starlight, illuminating the desolate wastes of Dragonblight.

  Many powerful magical creatures in Dragonblight were hiding and secretly absorbing the strange energy radiating from the Tower of Fate to further their mutations and evolutions.

  A large group of astrology apprentices walked out of the hall in an orderly fashion under the lead of several Fate Witches.

  The hall slowly returned to silence.

  Alice stood in the center of the hall. She had her back against the entrance as her hands waved and guided the star power onto the astrology platform. The starlight slowly gathered and formed into a beautiful, naked woman.

  Once the woman’s body had been created, Alice took out a soul-gathering crystal and blew on it. The faint figure of a human girl flew out from the crystal, quickly entering the beautiful body formed out of starlight.

  Once ‘her’ soul and body merged, an incomparably bright pillar of light shone from her body, completely lighting up the hall and even Dragonblight itself.

  An overwhelming surge of Fate power cut across space and entered the body of the girl.

  The next moment, her pretty eyelashes moved as she slowly opened her eyes.

  The moment the girl opened her eyes, the entire World of Adepts could feel an overwhelming pulse of Fate power and the instinctual joy that emanated from the very core of the planar consciousness.

  The world trembled as several unusual law ripples spread across space.

  Powerful adepts that had mastered different laws couldn’t help but push open their windows and their doors. They silently observed and sensed this unusual energy aura.

  The Heir of a Plane…what was this? Since when did an heir appear in the World of Adepts?

  Was a revolution about to come?

  For a moment, the adepts couldn’t help but murmur and talk amongst themselves. No one was sure of what had happened!

  Chapter 1164 - Fate Coalescence

 
; Lucia woke up dazed and confused.

  The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a world full of pretty, floating light ribbons.

  These ribbons of lights danced beneath the dark ceiling, flowing freely in the air like dreams and poetry. Lucia almost thought she was in an entirely illusory world.

  Lucia’s consciousness refused to awaken for a while. She only stared mindlessly at these ribbons with their shifting colors and shapes. A teardrop unknowingly rolled down her cheek.

  That was because she sensed a trace of familiarity in the ribbons of light– the feeling of a mother.

  Moreover, as her consciousness slowly surfaced in her mind, that familiar aura slowly faded away like a kind and gentle mother saying goodbye to her child.

  That warmth, that aura, and that feeling lingered around Lucia’s heart. It was unforgettable!

  Morrian Plane had been destroyed.

  After a long time, Lucia finally got up from the stone platform. Her gaze landed on a pretty woman in a purple starry robe.

  She was an incredibly beautiful lady, one whose appearance you would not forget once you laid eyes on her!

  She had soft, silk-like silver hair and a gentle, quiet face. However, her bright blue eyes that turned upwards at the corners gave her an unusually mysterious and seductive charm.

  Meanwhile, a tiny and pretty humanoid fairy with a pair of thin, glowing wings sat on her shoulder.

  When Lucia’s eyes landed on it, the fairy tilted her head, put her finger in her mouth, and looked at her with an equal amount of curiosity.

  “Who are you people? Where is this? I…how did I come back to life?” Lucia spoke fluent Morrian when she opened her mouth. Obviously, Alice and Helen couldn’t understand her.

  Alice smiled slightly and lifted one hand. A small star flew out of the ribbons of lights around them and entered Lucia’s body. Some mysterious and unfamiliar knowledge immediately surged into Lucia’s mind.

  “What did you do to me?”

  Lucia was also surprised to be hit in the head by a tiny star. She took a few steps back and looked at the woman warily. However, Lucia was shocked the moment she spoke. She realized that what she said wasn’t the language she had always spoken, but an entirely new language.

  An answer naturally appeared in her heart.

  The language of the Adepts.

  She was speaking the language of the adepts! If that was the case, then this place was the World of Adepts!

  Just as Lucia realized this, an endless river of knowledge fragments suddenly burst forth from the depths of her mind, instantly drowning her weak and frail soul.

  Lucia clasped her ears, hugged her head, and squatted down. She lifted her head and let out a howl of agony.

  For an instant, countless figures flickered before her eyes, myriad voices blared by her ears, and countless emotions rushed through her heart. Lucia felt like she was going to explode from all the things that were being crammed into her mind. She screamed in pain and despair.

  In her moment of absolute despair and terror, a small and cool hand touched her forehead, instantly dispelling all those weird sensations.

  Lucia regained her peace. She kneeled on the cool stone floor, unfazed by her naked and exposed body. She stared at Alice.

  “Are you willing to be my disciple—” Alice gently said.

  Unfortunately, Lucia interrupted her before she could finish speaking.

  “I don’t!”

  “—and inherit my…” Alice stopped speaking.

  It was her turn to stare at this weak and frail girl.

  “Why?”

  “Because I have already sworn that my life will belong only to the arcane! Only the arcane arts are worth my eternal pursuit!”

  “But…but I’m the one who saved you!”

  “You are free to take my life back if you want to!”

  “I saved you! Do…do you not intend to repay me?”

  “I can repay you in my own way.”

  “What is that?”

  “When I avenge the Arcane Empire in the future, you will not be one of my targets of vengeance!”

  Alice was utterly speechless.

  She stared straight into Lucia’s firm and determined eyes. She could sense that every word the girl said was genuine, with no lies or hesitation.

  However, these words of truth were a little too crass and direct, weren’t they?

  As expected of the purest soul of a plane. Their unique quirks were so hard for an ordinary person to understand and accept.

  Alice cast away all thoughts of ‘convincing’ the girl to her side. Instead, she began to negotiate with a different method.

  “I am Alice, leader of the Fate Witches, a branch of the Northern Witches in the World of Adepts. Weren’t you curious why I brought you back to life just now?”

  “It’s for the Fate power of Morrian Plane, isn’t it!” Lucia lifted her head and stared at the dancing ribbons with eyes filled with sentiment. “You used my identity to abduct such tremendous Fate power from the Morrian Plane. Isn’t it for the planar feedback that the World of Adepts will give you?”

  Alice was surprised again.

  Lucia was no more than an arcane apprentice, with the power and talent of an apprentice. She should not have access to such deep and profound knowledge of the planes. The only explanation for this was that the dying Morrian Plane had projected not only its Fate power during the astrology ceremony, but also fragments of knowledge.

  When the dying planar consciousness realized that the calamity was unavoidable, it had generously given away all it owned to the fleeing natives of its world. In this process, there was no doubt that Lucia obtained more than any other person due to her identity as the heir of the plane.

  As such, at this moment, there was no doubt that Lucia’s potential and talent was superior to that of any genius currently in the World of Adepts. The consciousness of the World of Adepts had created such a ‘monster’ by Alice’s hands. But what for?

  At this moment, it wasn’t just Lucia. Even Alice was confused!

  “As long as you understand!” Alice continued to speak calmly, “I brought you back to life to use your identity to ‘abduct’ a portion of the Morrian Plane’s Fate before it is destroyed. Now, I have the Fate power I wanted. As such, you do not need to thank me nor feel like you owe me anything. There are no debts between us!”

  She didn’t expect Alice to be so honest in acknowledging her motives, and Lucia was stunned for a moment. Finally, she looked straight at Alice and said, “Thank you!”

  “Since you’ve brought me such tremendous benefits, I will naturally not neglect to take care of you. How about this; you can be my disciple in name only, and I will not interfere with whatever you want to do next. You are free to browse the books in my tower and use the resources here. Everything I have here is open to you!”

  Now that Alice had already promised her such generous benefits, Lucia thought for a moment and nodded her head in agreement. She wasn’t foolishly stubborn.

  After reaching an agreement, Alice waved her hand once again. A sea of magic energy gathered around Lucia’s body, forming into a pretty purple robe that covered her beautiful figure.

  “Elementium energy materialization.” Lucia bit her lips lightly in envy.

  A great deal of mysterious, ancient knowledge and experience had suddenly appeared in her mind, giving her some understanding of the workings of this world. However, due to her bodily limitations, most of this information was too advanced for her. They were not things that she, with her body, could bear with her current grade.

  Thus, having shelter—a place where she could quietly grow to assume power—was invaluable to her!

  After all, Alice has already been very clear. Now that Alice had obtained the Fate power she had sought, Lucia had next to no value. At this moment, a mere arcane apprentice like herself had to make ends meet to survive in this other world.

  Alice watched as Helen led the beautiful girl o
ut of the hall before finally turning around to deal with the Fate power that had gathered in the Tower of Fate.

  She could sense that the planar consciousness of the World of Adepts was favoring her and clearly expressing its boundless joy at this new pool of Fate power. Moreover, the planar consciousness also seemed to be paying attention to the girl known as Lucia. It expressed intentions of assimilating the girl into the world.

  It was precisely due to these changes in the planar consciousness’ movements that Alice tried her best to keep Lucia at her side. Keeping Lucia with her was equivalent to keeping the planar consciousness’s blessing with her. It was incredibly beneficial for a Fate Witch in many, many aspects.

  However, Alice required more observations and meditations to figure out the true intentions of the planar consciousness. Alice’s main focus for the moment was to deal with the Fate power here first.

  Alice released the limitations on the Tower of Fate, allowing the ribbons of light in the hall to spread out, silently dispersing into the skies of Dragonblight.

  It was almost as if a hole had been poked in the sky. A trace of warm sunlight pierced the constant clouds above Dragonblight. It introduced endless warmth, light, and positivity to the Tower of Fate.

  The entire tower trembled as it basked in the sunlight and reflected its brilliant radiance!

  Along with the light came warmth and an indescribable feeling of enlightenment. Every single individual in the Tower of Fate, apprentice or witch, could feel their Spirit slowly grow in power and their soul consciousness basking in a wonderful and warm sea.

  At the same instant, many witches in the tower advanced instantly. Even more apprentices gained an in-depth experience of the existence of Fate’s powers.

  With this experience, they would only need a bit more time to accumulate their Spirits; they would have no trouble advancing to become witches.