Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Dong! Dong! Dong!

  A loud explosion rang out behind the door. It seems as if there was a gigantic creature that was trying to escape the room and was furiously attacking everything in sight.

  Ulnak frowned and gave an order in a chilling tone, “Cammpus, conduct a thorough cleanup on Lab Seven.”

  Cammpus was the name he had given the tower spirit.

  “Understood, my lord!” The tower spirit promptly reacted after receiving the owner’s orders.

  A loud, unusual roaring came from within the room. A short moment later, everything fell silent.

  “Cleanup on Lab Seven completed. Berserk magical creation has been exterminated. All machinery and facilities in the room have been destroyed. Replacements required. Specific lists of repairs are as follows: requesting permission from the owner to use tower reserves to conduct repairs.”

  A list of resources and items reverberated in his mind. Ulnak couldn’t help but feel his head hurt.

  The Cloud Giant Potion he had been working on had failed and cost him a lot of high-grade resources in the process. In addition to the costs of rebuilding a high-grade laboratory, it was a massive loss, even for a Sixth Grade Great Adept.

  Four million and two hundred thousand magical crystals.

  That berserk Sixth Grade experiment had caused him to lose four million and two hundred thousand magical crystals.

  It was practically the equivalent of a Third Grade dragon’s hoard. No wonder Ulnak’s face was so dark right now!

  “Cammpus, clear out Lab Five and prepare a set of Cloud Giant Potion ingredients for me.” Ulnak gritted his teeth and prepared to try once more.

  “Lab Five has been cleared out. However, remaining resources are insufficient for a Cloud Giant Potion.”

  “What are we missing?”

  “Three hundred grams of Ancient Giant spinal cord.”

  “Hss.” Ulnak felt his teeth hurt now.

  The Cloud Giant Potion he was trying to brew was a Sixth Grade potion. The Ancient Giant spinal cord required as an ingredient was an exceptionally rare resource. Trying to obtain any of it in the short term was nearly impossible.

  The Ancient Giants had been extinct for tens of thousands of years. Trying to get a preserved supply of their spinal cord was incredibly tricky.

  Ulnak had only been fortunate enough to obtain a set of usable spinal cords after stumbling across a small plane that contained a group of creatures with Ancient Giant bloodline. He had to slaughter over a hundred pseudo-giants and repeatedly extract and refine their bodies to obtain what he needed.

  Where was he supposed to restock this ingredient now that it was all used up!?

  Just as Ulnak was being bothered with frustration, Cammpus brought him more news.

  “Warning. Warning. Intense energy radiance detected outside of Exodar Camp. Target Location: …… Adept Kaelf of Inspections sent a query 27 hours ago on intervention from the camp. Currently awaiting your reply!”

  Inspections were a department subordinate to Exodar Camp. They were responsible for the security and order around the camp. Kaelf was a Fourth Grade adept and Head of Inspections.

  “Twenty-seven hours ago? It seems like brewing this Cloud Giant Potion has kept me out of the loop.” Ulnak smiled viciously. “Cammpus, pull up Kaelf’s report!”

  “Understood!”

  A short moment later, a magical mirror the size of a table was floating in front of Adept Ulnak. All sorts of books, notes, and tiny objects were placed on top of the mirror-table. A parchment written full of pretty runes hovered above the table. It glowed faintly with a red light that indicated it was a matter of great urgency.

  Ulnak tapped the parchment with his right hand, where the Ring of Authority was placed. The parchment unfolded itself and revealed its contents.

  “Mm? A new camp? The Crimson Clan…a steel city…the Istanal Clan’s forces.”

  After reading through the report presented by Inspections, a vicious expression appeared on Adept Ulnak’s face. He quickly waved his hand and established communications with Kaelf.

  A strange man with golden skin and no hair or eyebrows appeared on the screen. The adept hastily bowed when he saw Adept Ulnak.

  “What is the situation now?” Ulnak yawned and asked impatiently.

  “The fighting is still going on.”

  “They are still fighting? How is this possible? The Istanal Clan has plenty of high-grade adepts. How could they still be in a stalemate against a clan that only just set foot in space? Have all the high-grade adepts of Istanal Clan died?”

  The golden-skinned adept smiled bitterly at Great Adept Ulnak’s question. The image on the screen changed as the magical mirror turned towards the battlefield in the distance.

  …………

  The battle was raging on!

  As the defenders, the Capital of Steel had demonstrated shocking defensive and offensive power.

  In just one month, the Capital of Steel had expanded to every corner of the floating rock. Its thick metal plates had firmly enveloped the floating rock, and the center had become the core of the city.

  The rock itself was now plated heavily in armor, while tall towers of metal could be seen everywhere. Countless cannons reached out from the fortresses, pointing in every direction in space.

  Meanwhile, a grand, magnificent metal palace stood at the center of all the buildings. Its entrance was open. In fact, it was the only entrance in and out of the rock. An army of ferocious magical machines was in formation in a wide plaza in front of the palace.

  At the moment, the Capital of Steel was like a metal hedgehog curled into a ball. It hid its weakness under layers of thick metal plates while protecting itself with a forest of magic energy cannons.

  On the opposing side was an army of adepts numbering three thousand.

  They all wore the same emblem on their chest, the emblem of the Darkblood Army of the Istanal Clan.

  The Darkblood army was the most famous adept force of the Fifth Grade Istanal Clan.

  All their members were made up of Darkblood adepts from a different plane.

  It was said that these adepts were creations of bloodline synthesis. They were artificial creations. These adepts could not advance through their own power. Their only path forward was even more powerful and advanced bloodline synthesis experiments.

  In all honesty, they were little more than humanoid voodoo beasts with certain abilities unique to the adepts!

  All the Darkblood adepts rode on strange, gigantic owls. They circled the Capital of Steel. They waved their magical staffs every time they dove at the city and unleashed elementium magic of terrifying power.

  They were of varying grades. The leader was a Third Grade Darkblood adept, with over seventy others being Second Grade. The rest still had an average power level of advanced First Grade.

  This party of surprising power had thoroughly blockaded the Capital of Steel. They had formed multiple squadrons and bombarded the city from above.

  Bright flashes of fire and colorful elementium explosions could be seen everywhere from their violent magical attacks. The elementium explosions never stopped, engulfing the entire battlefield in fire and fury.

  The Capital of Steel wasn’t sitting by and watching its doom either. A web of cannon fire covered the skies and retaliated against the adepts.

  The Darkblood adepts and the mutated owls they were riding were all protected by magical shields.

  The shields of an ordinary First Grade Darkblood adept could resist about five to seven shots from the magic energy cannons, while the more powerful Second Grade adepts could endure up to fifteen attacks. As long as they didn’t charge into the midst of the cannon fire, or were targeted by multiple cannons, there was no chance of them dying.

  They also employed guerilla tactics. They split up into multiple packs and drew the Capital of Steel’s firepower to exhaust its reserve of elementium energy. Should any Darkblood adept’s shield shatter, they would retreat immediate
ly and return once their shields had recovered.

  The Fourth Grade adept of the Istanal Clan in charge of commanding the Darkblood army had a comprehensive plan.

  They had already done their investigations before they came here.

  The Crimson Clan had not built an adept tower here at all.

  The massive city of steel beneath them was not protected by any adept tower. Naturally, this meant that it could not be supported by a tower’s resources. The more magic energy cannons the enemy revealed and the more frequently they attacked, the greater the exhaustion on their energy reserves.

  How many magical crystals could a ‘small,’ newly-advanced Fourth Grade clan have in reserve!?

  Given the intensity of their firepower, this battle alone would be enough to cripple the Crimson Clan economically!

  That was why the Darkblood adepts only appeared to be eager to fight while not actually committing very much to the battle.

  Chapter 1176 - The Bloody Battle Begins

  The ‘fierce’ and difficult battle lasted for over twenty hours, and the Darkblood Army only lost around thirty First Grade adepts.

  The Capital of Steel had not been too severely damaged, either. Apart from the first few layers of metal plates being blasted apart, and some of the watchtowers being brought down, it had not suffered any damage. Meanwhile, over a hundred of the First Grade magical machines had been destroyed, while not a single high-grade magical machine of Second Grade and above had been lost.

  These numbers alone were evidence of how gentle the battle had been.

  If this had been a conventional war between adepts, the number of casualties could have easily been ten times the current amount!

  The energy shockwaves produced by the battle had even drawn the patrols of Exodar Camp here. However, upon seeing the emblem on the Darkblood adepts, the patrol decided not to intervene in the battle. Instead, they sent a report up to their authorities.

  This incident involved the Fifth Grade organization, Istanal Clan. Ordinary patrol adepts had no power or authority to be involved in such a fight. Moreover, this was the border region of the Exodar Camp. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t part of the camp. The patrols could only watch the battle unfold in silence.

  It was precisely because of this that the Fourth Grade adept of the Istanal Clan was so brazen in starting a war. Otherwise, any adept clan that started trouble in Exodar Camp would not escape punishment from the stationed Great Adept, even if they won the battle in the end.

  When the battle finally dragged out past the twenty-hour mark, the Fourth Grade adept of the Istanal Clan realized something was wrong.

  If…if the Crimson Clan was really sustaining this city with magical crystals, they would have exhausted everything by now. They would be spitting out blood over their heavy economic losses. Yet, even though the Darkblood adepts had already lost a squadron, the enemy metal fortress’ firepower was still as ferocious as ever before. There were absolutely no signs of a lack of energy.

  “Bastards! There must be something strange with their fortress! We can’t drag this out any longer. Zuval, charge into the city with a platoon and establish a fortified point.”

  “Understood!”

  Upon hearing the Fourth Grade adept’s order, a Third Grade male Darkblood adept with a sinister expression and a hooked nose laughed wickedly. He patted his owl, and five hundred Darkblood adepts dove down at the city.

  “Wenno, you specialize in plant magic. Once Zuval establishes a fortified position, you will summon magical vines and breach this damn rock to its very core.”

  “Understood, as you wish!”

  Wenno was a Third Grade male adept whose entire body radiated a faint, green light. All sorts of vials and bottles hung from his body. He bowed and acknowledged his order, then waved his hand and led his three hundred direct subordinates down at the city.

  “Dust, Doria, continue attacking the Capital of Steel with all you have and provide cover for Zuval. Remember, go as hard as you can!”

  “Understood! ” “Understood!”

  Another two Third Grade female Darkblood adepts accepted their orders and led their forces out of the sky.

  With the Fourth Grade adept’s commands, over two thousand Darkblood adepts joined the fray in a single instant, causing the battle to instantly reached the peak of its intensity.

  At the core of the rock, seven hundred meters deep inside, Gazlowe’s large brain was submerged in a viscous liquid. He was using his incredible mental powers to control everything happening within the city.

  An unusual metal hat of unmistakable goblin design had been placed on his quivering brain.

  The shiny yellow surface indicated that this was an unusual hat forged of bronze.

  The reason it was unusual was because of its size.

  This hat would be small, even for a human. How was it supposed to be placed on the brain monster’s giant brain, which measured well over sixty meters in width, was anyone’s guess! Moreover, the ‘hat’ seemed to be an amalgamation of many assorted pieces of circlets, bands, screws, and other components. The soldering craftwork of the device was also incredibly crude. It looked like a mash-up creation made up on the spot.

  A thought amplifier device. That was what this thing was.

  Obviously, it was one of the many goblin creations produced by the Goblin Research Institute!

  Even Gazlowe had to hand over two Motherships in exchange for this product.

  Yet, this seemingly shoddy device had enhanced Gazlowe’s brainwaves by over three times. It made his mental powers more potent and his reach more penetrative.

  Under Gazlowe’s control, the entire core region of the rock had been carved out, leaving a large cave that was five thousand meters in diameter. All the magical machine factories, refineries, workshops, and assembly lines had been stuffed in here. Supported by more than sufficient magic energy, these buildings continued to excavate the metal ores of the rock and turn them into magic energy machines and weaponry.

  In the past, Gazlowe would not have been able to support such a large-scale operation on such a massive rock, even with the ultra-magic generator furnace as his power source.

  Now that Greem had successfully established trade with Molten Fire City, the Crimson Clan could obtain a steady supply of Queyras alloy. This unusual alloy was only a rare adept resource in the hands of others. In Greem’s hands, it could be turned into an unimaginable source of magic energy.

  Since Gazlowe had so bravely chosen to stand on the frontlines of the clan’s expansion into space, Greem naturally would not let him down. Over the past month, the Capital of Steel had been reinforced with five magic generator furnaces.

  With the tremendous amount of energy from all the furnaces, and the constant supply of excellent ores from the boulder, the Capital of Steel had not stopped expanding since the moment it took root.

  All the ores dug out from the rock were sent to the workshops where they were separated, selected, filtered, smelted into metal, refined, synthesized into alloys, and subjected to many other processes. After being turned into the alloys required by the Capital of Steel, they would be used to create legions of magical machines to fill the never-ending ranks of the city’s guardians.

  With energy and metal in hand, the Capital of Steel had the foundation required for ceaseless expansion.

  In all honesty, the Capital of Steel had built countless mechanical eyes and probes in the past few weeks. These machines were sent all over space.

  The probes had visited every floating rock in the area.

  Their locations, the composition of the rocks, the nature of the metals, the number of reserves, and the ratio of rare ores were all precious pieces of information that gathered within Gazlowe’s mind.

  In all seriousness, Gazlowe might have a more comprehensive and thorough understanding of the distribution of the rocks in this area, as well as their composition, than even the stationed adepts of Exodar Camp.

  If the enemy hadn’t a
rrived suddenly and so quickly, Gazlowe would probably already be considering where he should be establishing his second base.

  However, Gazlowe had sealed away this thought for the moment. Instead, he focused all his efforts on dealing with these uninvited foes!

  Not only did twenty hours of low-intensity fighting not exhaust the Capital of Steel’s reserve of magic energy, but it even allowed Gazlowe to gain an additional three hundred tons of alloys, four hundred First Grade magical machines, and over two dozen Second Grade machines.

  If it weren’t for the sake of tricking the enemy, Gazlowe would not need to leave the exterior of the Capital of Steel as tattered and bruised as it appeared to be. With all the power he had at his command, repairing all of the damage sustained by the city so far would not take more than a few minutes.

  When Gazlowe’s pervasive mental powers picked up on the enemy’s grand invasion, he immediately activated the two magic generator furnaces he had kept on standby. They increased the magic energy supplied to the city by an incredible amount.

  A torrent of magic energy surged through the metal pipes and was transported to every corner of the city. The fallen towers and buildings were lifted as if they were liquid metal, then reshaped and reformed.

  The damaged and destroyed cannons were quickly replaced with new weapons fresh off the assembly line.

  Of course, all this happened within the Capital of Steel. No one could see this happening from the outside.

  When the armies of Darkblood adepts activated their shields and dove down against the rain of cannon fire, numerous magic energy cannons emerged from the metal towers that had risen from the ground. All of them fired simultaneously.

  The dark space of the galaxy instantly turned as bright as day!