Fourth Grade adepts of the World of Adepts did not have such a premium treatment.
However, the adepts’ magic system provided them with plenty of means to escape death. For instance: life-concealing magic, soul-escape magic, substitution dolls, and many other techniques. However, these spells could only be used on adepts who were killed by enemies. Should an adept’s origin lifespan be exhausted, they could not be saved no matter what magic they employed.
Consequently, when Mary sensed that the unusual energy in the blood was crucial to her advancement, she ordered the extraction of the energy at all costs.
After over twenty days in the forest, the vampires had finally accomplished this task.
When the vampires finally set out again and moved towards the troll empire based on the marks left behind by the blood servants, Mary had in her possession a light blue crystal the size of a bean.
It was an unusual power crystal. It had lost all blood activity, yet it had a power that could not be rivaled by blood crystals or magical crystals. If Greem were here, he would have been able to tell Mary that this was a strange dual-attribute crystal that contained the powers of lightning and faith.
The most significant value of the crystal wasn’t the energy contained within, but the fragment of the power of the lightning laws!
Without the existence of the power of faith, the lightning laws would not be able to manifest, let alone solidify in such an unusual form. If Mary could bring it back to the World of Adepts, the elementium adepts that practiced lightning magic would be willing to purchase it at the price of a Fourth Grade item.
In the World of Adepts, a Fourth Grade item’s starting price was around two to three million crystals!
Mary rubbed the crystal between her fingers. Finally, she resisted the urge to swallow it.
The power in the crystal was not sufficient for her to advance to Fourth Grade.
Finding a way to extract even more divine blood from the source of this crystal was her best choice!
After understanding this, Mary waved her hand and summoned Vanlier. The two of them started discussing their plans.
As they continued to talk, a grander, more dangerous plan quickly began to present itself.
…………
World of Adepts, Fire Throne.
The fifth level of the tower.
Greem stood in front of a sizeable magical mirror, communicating remotely with Alice.
Alice had been the one to initiate this meeting, which was what surprised Greem.
Ever since Alice had advanced to Fourth Grade, she and her Fate Witches began to hold more diplomatic weight in the Witch Council.
For the sake of keeping the Fate Witches within the Northern Witches, all of the witch branches changed their attitude of cold avoidance. They started to express their goodwill towards Alice as much as possible.
In fact, they didn’t even let Alice reject their proposal to hold a grand advancement celebration in Werning City for her.
All of the witch leaders would be attending, as well all of the high-grade witches. They intended to celebrate, in high fashion, the return of the Fate branch.
Naturally, Alice couldn’t reject such an offer!
Even though she didn’t like to be dragged along like this, she could only accept the idea for the sake of the Fate branch.
Most of the time, the Fate Witches were like little pets of the planar consciousness.
They could see, hear, and understand so many secrets of Fate, but its powers controlled them. They could not make any decision freely without consequence.
Flowing down the river of history, having a grasp over the beat of Fate.
It might all sound nice, but when you were personally drowning in the river, there weren’t very many things that you could decide with your own will.
Chapter 1172 - Adept and Arcanist
“Mary’s in danger?”
Greem asked in surprise.
Alice let out a sigh through the mirror.
“You all underestimated those planar natives. They might not compare to the World of Adepts in any regard, but some powerhouse can still be born with all the confluence of variables available.”
“What’s in Seawoods Plane?”
“A native god. A totem god described in books!”
Greem was silent for a moment.
In just an instant, the chip had managed to draw out all the information in the data library related to a totem god. Greem instantly understood the risks that Mary currently faced.
A totem god was a regional god, at best. Unlike other gods, they couldn’t place their god kingdom in the interspatial layers where mortals could not reach. The god kingdom of the totem gods existed on the material plane itself, giving the mortals a chance to come into contact with them.
Against regional gods like these, the adepts only had to play it safe. They would remain at an advantage as long as they didn’t enter the god kingdom.
After all, these totem gods might be Fifth Grade beings in their own god kingdoms, but once they exited, they would be subject to the limits of the planar laws and restricted to Fourth Grade power. It was the main reason gods rarely ever stepped out of their god kingdoms.
Consequently, adepts did have a set of methods to deal with totem gods like these.
That was to slaughter their believers and weaken their faith foundation. Adepts would set traps on the outside and bait the totem gods out of their kingdoms, where they would then engage them in battle.
“You mean…Mary intends to go to the Feathered God’s den and fight with it there?” Greem’s head hurt.
“Judging by the current situation, Mary is both lucky and unlucky!” Mary let out a sigh. “Fortunately, the Feathered God that Mary is facing just gave birth. Its power has regressed from beginner Fifth Grade to advanced Fourth Grade.”
Even Greem couldn’t help but lick his lips when he heard this. His mouth felt dry.
That was because a divine creature whose power had regressed due to giving birth was a great temptation, even for a Fourth Grade adept. An opportunity like this hardly ever came by!
However, after venturing through the World of Adepts for so many years, Greem knew well that risk always came with opportunity. The more you hoped to gain, the more you risked losing. The two factors were always proportionate.
“You haven’t mentioned the unfortunate part!” Greem calmly asked.
“The Feathered God seems to be pretending to be weak. When Mary led her subordinates to attack its kingdom and kill its subordinates, it chose to hide its strength and bait them deeper into its territory. At the moment, Mary is leading her vampires to the capital of the troll empire. That is where the den of the Feathered God is located.”
Upon saying this, Alice stole a quick, concerned glance at Greem.
“I can sense that an intense battle will break out there between the two of them. However, I simply cannot see the specifics of how things will develop. That is the den of the Feathered God, after all; the power of faith obscures it. I cannot see its machinations, nor how things will proceed, even though I have advanced to Fourth Grade.”
“Which means Mary will be in danger?” Greem solemnly said.
“It is a foreign plane. My Fate senses cannot extend that far. However, I can sense that Mary is standing on a very crucial crossroads of Fate. She has one foot in the grave and the other above ground. There are simply too many variables that can affect the future.”
“I will contact Gargamel and Meryl immediately. We will mobilize as much of the Crimson Clan’s force to help Mary as we can. The magical machine army and the magical golem dragon. I want all of them mobilized. I don’t believe the natives will be able to survive the attacks of the ferocious machines with their bodies made of flesh and bone. Since the Feathered God wants to play dirty, I will just have my troops destroy his entire home!” Anger flared in Greem’s heart when he heard that Mary would be in danger.
“Uh, you still don’t understand
what I mean,” Alice sighed again. “This is both danger and opportunity for Mary! Don’t you want Mary to have a bright future? This venture is her opportunity. If she can grasp it, it will belong to her. If Mary fails to grasp it, or if we were to intervene, what could have belonged to her will slip past her fingers.”
Alice shot another glance at Greem as she said this.
“Are you…sure you want Mary to always remain as a weak little adept that has to rely on you? Will you take on all the danger for her? Make her give up on all the opportunities she comes across and safely grow up under your wing?”
Greem fell silent.
“Moreover, you can’t forget Mary’s personality! Do you think she will like a life like that? In all honesty, the reason she chose to venture alone and take such a huge risk was that she was clearly affected by news of my advancement. If we were to rob her of her best chance to gain power at this time, she would probably go mad.”
Greem fell silent. He finally made up his mind.
“Shadow Demon, head to Seawoods Plane immediately. Find and protect Lady Mary. Remember: as long as she is in no danger of death, you are not allowed to lift a single finger, regardless of the losses incurred by the vampires. Go.”
A light flux came from the shadow beneath Greem when he gave his order. Everything returned to normal afterward. If it weren’t for the soul connection he had with Shadow Demon, he would not even be able to sense it leaving.
“This is more than enough preparation on our side!” Alice nodded and said, “Mary’s not an idiot either. She will not simply step into the den of that damned serpent without a guarantee of winning. Meanwhile, the opponent is no more than a Fourth Grade Feathered Serpent with access to some divine powers in the end. Since it is trying to hatch its egg, Mary will have a chance to defeat it, shouldering the risk in the process. It’s just a matter of whether she can grasp that opportunity now!”
Since they had already made plans, Greem decided to force himself to avoid thinking about the things happening in Seawoods Plane. He changed the topic of conversation.
“How did you advance to Fourth Grade this time? Could this have something to do with the ‘Heir of a Plane’ you mentioned previously?”
Alice was all smiles when this topic was brought up.
“The reason I managed to advance this time was all thanks to you bringing that strange soul back from Morrian Plane. I managed to abduct a large amount of Fate power from the dying Morrian Plane through that soul. That was how I managed to advance.”
“What happened to the soul?”
“She gave me the powers of Fate, and I gave her a body made of manifested energy. She is in my Tower of Fate now. She has shut herself in my private study and is fervently memorizing all the magical knowledge there.”
“She’s an arcane apprentice and the heir of Morrian Plane. Are you not worried she will cause some sort of trouble?”
“Let her make as much as trouble as she can!” Alice remarked casually. “I am not the one that’s protecting her now. The Fate power of the World of Adepts is. I don’t know what the planar consciousness is planning for her, but it’s obvious that it has its eye on her.”
Greem hesitated for a moment when she saw Alice mention this. Finally, he couldn’t help but ask.
“Alice, given what you know, what is the fundamental difference between adepts and arcanists? Is it possible we share the same origin?”
Alice simply smiled.
“We are adepts, not mages or arcanists. We come from chaos and will return to chaos. Even if all living things perceive us as evil, that will not change our true origin of chaos. Becoming an adept means danger, taboo, and the unknown will always accompany us.
“Mages and the arcanists might have come from the same origin as ourselves. However, for the sake of spreading their so-called civilization and passing on their knowledge, they repeatedly removed the chaotic portions of their systems. Everything dangerous and unknown containing the adept arts were removed, leaving behind only spells and arcane arts that can be systematically cast and unleashed.
“This might increase the universality of magic and allow untalented individuals to become part of the system. However, the adept arts lose an incredible amount of power when doctored in such a fashion, as well as the trace of origin connection they possess with the planar world.
“Moreover, do you think that what decides the might of a group of spellcasters is the number of its members or the might of their greatest users? Greem, you are already a Fourth Grade adept. You should be able to sense it now. Who has more value? A single Fourth Grade, or ten Third Grades?
“Take yourself as an example. How many Third Grades are required to be able to match you in combat? Ten? A hundred, two hundred? In your eyes, it probably doesn’t matter how many Third Grade creatures there are. They would never be formidable enough to be your enemy!
“The extinct Arcane Empire had once forged such a brilliant and beautiful arcane civilization. They were just like us. They were spellcasters with a similar origin. However, in their developmental process, they abandoned the excessively bloody and cruel portions of being primal spellcasters. They organized their primal magic and turned it into a neat little system. They called this civilization. They called it progress. Where are they now?
“Such a massive empire. Such incredible amounts of resources. If they had not pursued stability and limited their individual powers, then a blood ritual would have been enough for them to instantly create a large group of arcanists at the Great Adept level! If the Arcane Empire had managed to develop a Ninth Grade Great Arcanist, would the Arcane Empire still have been invaded by their enemies and taken apart alive as they had?
“The arcanists are gentle and elegant. They have vast knowledge yet are kindly and close to the common folk. However, they never train their bodies and Spirits, relying primarily on their arcane facilities in combat and magic. Adepts are heretical and selfish. They never care about whether their means and methods match the values and morals of worldly society. In most cases, adepts can be very cruel to their own kind. They do not reject taboo magic like blood rituals or voodoo poison.
“It is because of all this that the paths of development for arcanists and adepts differ so much.”
Chapter 1173 - Muri’var, The Troll Capital
Seawoods Plane. The troll capital.
Muri’var.
As the capital of the trolls who ruled over Seawoods Plane, Muri’var’s size and magnificence were beyond the imagination of an outsider.
Muri’var was built on a mountain.
Truthfully, the entire city was carved out of the mountain itself.
A gentle slope was dug out of the belly of the mountain at every interval of height, from the foot of the mountain to the peak. Tough, stone buildings were built on these slopes. Steps of stone, carved out of the mountain itself, connected these slopes. Stone totems standing at over two-meters-tall lined these steps, and at the entrance of every step were braziers made of stone.
Looking up all the way from the bottom, there were as many as a hundred of these sloped stone platforms where settlements and buildings could be seen.
Even though the mountain appeared to be covered in multiple layers of stone buildings, it did not seem at all crowded or messy from a distance.
Meanwhile, there was a grand, towering set of steps that led from the bottom of the tower to the peak. An exceptionally magnificent and large temple could be seen looming at the end of the ten thousand stone steps.
Every dawn and dusk, all trolls living in Muri’var gathered near these stone steps and knelt down, facing the temple. They would pray for the Feathered God to continue protecting the trolls, to bless them with power, and to allow the Degu Forest to flourish with life.
However, the trolls had started praying for one more thing over the past few days since the arrival of the foreign invaders. They prayed for the Feathered God to unleash his divine might and protect the trolls from the plague’s
infection.
Awhile ago, the troll army sent to search for the invaders in the forest had retreated in defeat. What came back along with them, apart from the many casualties, was that terrifying plague!
The trolls, whose living standards remained at a primitive level, had no means of constructing an effective medical system. In addition, they were all strong, healthy individuals that rarely fell sick. Consequently, no more than thirty or forty voodoo doctors were in the troll capital. Moreover, most of these voodoo doctors were at First or Second Grade.
The higher-ups of the empire and the voodoo doctors recognized the terror of the plague. They ordered the infected to stay in temporary camps beneath the mountain, restricted from entering the capital or returning to their homes. However, it was apparent that this order was not properly obeyed!
No one knew how or through which vector, but the plague had still spread into the city.
In just a single night, over half of the twenty-three thousand citizens throughout Muri’var had been infected with this terrifying plague.
For a moment, pitiful trolls shrouded in yellow poison clouds lay stranded all over the city. They coughed violently, too weak to even get up.
And this result was already thanks to their strong and resilient bodies!
If this plague had been released in a human city, it would have been filled with tens of thousands of plague creatures when morning came. The same plague on the trolls only took away their mobility and left them suffering in agony.
Meanwhile, several muscular and impatient troll commanders were gathered on a stone platform in the temple. They furiously shouted at a frail voodoo doctor leaning on his staff.
“Ye’ke, are your men able to do this or not? When will you be able to dispel this plague?”
“I can’t tolerate this any longer. Over half of the boys under me have already collapsed, and you fools are still sitting on your hands.”
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