They might be able to change the Fates of tens of thousands of adepts, but the one thing they could not truly control was their own Fate.
Looking from this perspective, Maztan was quite jealous of his colleague who worked in the north.
Perhaps that was what a messenger of Fate should truly be like.
He, on the other hand, was no more than a lowly servant cowering before Fate!
Maztan was the only person on the seven hundred and seventy-seventh floor of the Tower of Observation. It was a rule he had laid down and his only pride.
At the very least, no one was allowed to set foot in his territory before he died.
As the chief diviner of the Association, Maztan naturally possessed extremely high clearance in the Tower of Observation. His authority over Tower Spirit Rafatus was second only to Domhnall.
It allowed him to draw on the tower’s energy reserves freely and replaced the power of Fate that needed to be extended in his Fate rituals with as much magic energy as possible.
The Tower of Observation…the Tower of Observation.
The reason this tower was named such was because it was the tallest tower in the World of Adepts. When one stood at the top of this tower, they could see the unusual speck of blue at the edge of the horizon if they had good enough vision.
That was the color of the Boundless Sea!
Maztan passed through a lonely and empty corridor and arrived in front of a metal spiral staircase. He walked up, holding onto the rails as he did so. Finally, he arrived at the astrology platform.
The platform was a very crude construction. It was a narrow space placed under the roof of the Tower.
Above the platform was the tip of the Tower of Observation. A ten-meter metal spike stood there, terrifying magical energy radiating from it. The walls of the astrology platform were hollowed out. When the cold winds of the altitude soared past the metal wall’s patterns, they would cause a phantom-like howl.
A one-meter-tall stone pillar stood at the center of the narrow space. An unusual crystal the size of a human head was embedded at the top.
Clouds and mist filled the inside of this crystal, obscuring everything from sight.
Maztan walked into this small room through the staircase.
Upon setting foot here, he pulled his robe tighter around himself. Yet, there was no stopping the cold winds from seeping in from the corners of his clothes, robbing him of what little warmth he had.
This place was Fate’s Shelter. All powers apart from Fate power were rejected from here.
As such, Maztan could not cast any spells to protect or warm himself. Even his robe had to be made out of ordinary cloth with no magical effects to speak of.
If it weren’t for his Physique as a Fourth Grade adept, he might even have risked hypothermia just by staying here.
Eleven points of Physique were undoubtedly incredibly low for a Fourth Grade adept. However, it was enough for Maztan.
Due to their profession, diviners always lacked in lifeforce. Even if they were to take perfect care of themselves and increase their Physique as much as possible, their lifeforce would be drained away with all the significant Fate rituals that they conducted.
A price had to be paid to scry Fate!
The diviners of the Adept’s Association did not have such high affinity with Fate as the Fate Witches did. To scry Fate’s direction required them to sacrifice their lives. The most considerable exhaustion was to their Physique!
Once Maztan’s Physique was wholly eroded, it would be the end of him.
Before that, he still had eleven points of Physique. That was enough to do plenty of things.
Maztan stumbled before the stone pillar and placed his right hand over the crystal. He caressed it softly.
A tremendous surge of energy flowed through the tower, lighting up all the runes and arrays on the walls. Even the stone pillar started glowing, inch by inch.
Finally, when the magic energy surged into the crystal, the tip of the Tower of Observation glowed with blinding radiance.
The winds mysteriously halted!
The mist and clouds inside the crystal slowly faded away, revealing a majestic and mysterious world within.
Chapter 1249 - Peeping Creep
Maztan, who had been calm and composed just a second earlier, was now like an excited child that had just gotten a new toy. He leaned against the crystal ball and greedily observed its contents as he mumbled to himself.
“Mine……mine……all mine! This is my world……you will never keep any secrets in front of me……”
“What should I do first now? ”
“Right, it’s been seven days since I last saw Anna, my darling. I think I’ll take a look at her first! ”
As Maztan mumbled to himself, seemingly in an insane fit, the image in the crystal ball continued to shift. Soon, it turned into an image of a room shrouded by water vapors.
A pretty woman with a bodacious figure was lying in an extremely luxurious bath. She was gently splashing the warm bath water on herself. Steam filled the air, making for a very enticing sight indeed.
Several young maids were gently massaging her shoulders, while one of them was painting her nails and another was peeling grapes and feeding her……
The entire bathing room was filled with pretty, exposed women.
“Hahaha……Anna, my darling, you finally can’t help but take a shower after so long! My god, that figure, that skin, that waist……of all the Fourth Grade female adepts, you are the most feminine of them all……”
Just as Maztan was peeping on that pretty female adept from the top of the Tower, Adept Anna, who was bathing in the pool, suddenly lifted her head. Her relaxed smile turned into a vicious frown.
She lifted her hand and tens of thousands of water arrows shot out of the pool, instantly shredding to pieces the magical eye that had appeared in the air.
“Goddammit Maztan! You bastard……peep on me one more time and I will dig your eyes out and use them to play ball! ”
At the top of the Tower of Observation, the image in the crystal ball became distorted. A water arrow shot out form within, instantly soaking Maztan’s clothes with water.
Maztan was not only not frustrated at having been humiliated in this fashion, he even lifted his arm to sniff the fragrance of the water. An extremely twisted and perverted smile appeared on his face.
“Even the bathwater of a beauty smells so good……Anna, you will be mine eventually. I will dig out all of your secrets. Heheh! Next time, I will peep on you while you’re in the toilet and make a recording of it for some blackmail material……kehkehkeh……”
“Speaking of which, if I’m not wrong, it should be about time for that girl from the Silver Union to go to sleep. Just the right time to go take a look……”
Having said that, Maztan smiled and lunged at the crystal ball again. He started to desperately rub the ball to try and find the special mark he had left in the River of Fate.
The image in the crystal shifted continuously. At times it was a highly secure magical room and at others a giant swaying ship at sea……the targets of the scrying were adepts that were either meditating or copying scrolls in their private quarters……they were all different people in many different locations, but they all seemed very relaxed. It was obvious that they had no idea that Maztan was peeping on them!
Finally, guided by a beam of red light, the image in the crystal ball finally stopped at where Maztan wanted it to. It was a rather feminine room belonging to an adept. A pretty adept who could be called a beauty in every sense of the word was disrobing, seemingly preparing for bed.
“Helena, I’ve peeped on so many female adepts, but when it comes to the shape of their butts, you are still the prettiest of them all……”Maztan was practically leaning against the crystal ball at this point. His tongue was stretched out from his mouth, licking the image of that adept’s butt without stop.
“Baby, you will be mine in the future! ”
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Perhaps Maztan’s lustful intent was a little too strong, but the female adept in the crystal ball suddenly looked back and surveyed her room anxiously.
Unfortunately, she was only Second Grade. There was no way she could quickly find the magical eye that Maztan had created through his special means as the Fourth Grade Adept Anna had been able to do.
The young female adept hastily took out a talisman from her undergarments and whispered a strange name into the magical device. A short moment later, lights flickered in the room and an elderly female adept appeared out of thin air.
“Lady Beatrice, that feeling’s come again! I……I am so afraid! ”
The young adept lunged towards the elderly adept the moment she appeared and hugged her arm.
“Hmph! It’s that foul stench of Maztan again! Maztan, you are overstepping your boundaries. This is Silver Union territory. Peep on my disciple again and I will go to the Tower of Observation and expose your vile behavior for everyone to see. Now get out, you bastard……”
As the elderly adept shouted out angrily, an invisible energy barrier enveloped the entire room, cutting off the divination crystal’s remote observation.
The straight line distance between the Tower of Observation and the Castle in the Sky of the Silver Union was around ten to fifteen thousand kilometers. Yet, Maztan was actually able to instantly projec this power across through the use of his divination crystal.
This indirectly demonstrated the terror of a high-Grade diviner!
For high-Grade diviners, every place in the world was practically transparent to them, with the exception of a few places protected by the powers of Fate.
Even though they might not have the ability to kill someone remotely or cast a curse, their constant scrying and endless probing would be enough to dirve the more unstable adepts insane.
In particular, young, pretty female adepts couldn’t bear to be the victims of harassment. Just the thought of a perverted old adept constantly observing them eating, sleeping and showering from every angle was unbearable!
Maztan felt no shame even after being interrupted by that Adept Beatrice. Instead, he started to viciously insult her instead: “Beatrice, you hag. You’re just jealous I’m not peeping on you cause you’re too ugly……Hmph! Next time, I will sneak in while you’re enjoying yourself with one of your manservants. I’ll make a recording and we will see if you still got the face to look me in the eye the next time……”
Maztan continued cursing and shouting for a good while before remembering the main task on hand.
“Dammit! I can’t fool around any more! I’ve been exhausting quite a lot of the Tower’s energy. If I can’t produce any information of note, Domhnall will be on my ass……”Maztan couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of Domhnall’s means of discipline. He leapt onto the crystal ball and started to seriously search for the legendary fire adept.
The fire adept was residing in the Tower of Observation. Even if he was protected by layers of magical arrays, he could not stop the sneaky infiltration of Maztan’s mental appendages through the River of Fate.
As Maztan continued to toy with the crystal ball, the image of room after room flickered past within. Finally, Maztan caught the fire adept’s figure in a securely protected room.
This was a magical room that had been decorated quite luxuriously. The young fire adept was sitting in front of a wooden table with a magical mirror hovering before him. It seemed like he was communicating with someone far away.
“Heheh, brat, caught you! Now let me see what you are doing. ”
Maztan chuckled coldly. He rubbed the crystal ball with both hands and pushed the magical eye forward. He wanted to zoom in and see who Greem was talking to and what they were talking about.
However, strangely enough, before the eye could approach him, the image in the crystal ball turned faint. Large spouts of red mist engulfed the image and concealed everything.
Then, the divination crystal lost all contact with the magical eye!
“Bastard! What happened? Did the fire adept place down some sort of defensive array? “Maztan howled furiously: “That’s impossible, I’ve imbued my magical eye with the power of Fate. It should be able to penetrate most known defensive arrays. That bastard……how exactly did he destroy my magical eye? ”
“No, this won’t do! I must try again! ”
Maztan had clearly never seen something so strange happen. He refused to give up and started rubbing the crystal once more. He created another magical eye and projected it into the fire adept’s room through the River of Fate.
The same image appeared. the fire adept was sitting in front of the table, whispering into the magical mirror. It seemed like he was ignorant to what had happened earlier.
“Hm? Seems like this wasn’t the fire adept’s doing. Did I mess up somewhere myself? ”
Maztan curiously pushed the eye forward. However, just like last time, the image in the crystal ball started shaking violently before he could approach. Red mist rose and everything faded from sight/
“Dammit……bastard……goddamit……”
This time, Maztan was certain that the scrying had not failed because of his own mistake. Rather……the legendary fire adept had destroyed his magical eye through some means.
Dammit! What could it be?
To think he would be able to destroy a magical eye protected by the powers of Fate. That fire adept had some truly bone-chilling abilities!
Could it be some fire law he had mastered? The red light that flickered right before the magical eye was destroyed. That seemed to be a unique trait of fire elementium……but how did he manage to destroy the magical eye without seemingly lifting a single finger?
Since it’s impossible to scry on the adept, might as well try scrying on the organization behind him!
The Fate protection on him seems to be the work of that brat from the north. Right, why not take a look at what she’s doing?
Maztan had also heard of the beauty of the leader of the Fate Witches from the information that the Association had gathered.
He always had extraordinary passion for scrying on pretty women. As such, he rubbed his hands excitedly and put the divination crystal to work again.
Chapter 1250 - Monster of Fate
The divination crystal went black for a moment before slowly lighting up again.
The image inside the crystal was that of the desolate Dragonblight. The crystal was looking down from high in the sky. This place was shrouded in dark clouds, with wild grass growing everywhere and unusual magical beasts stalking within.
At the edge of the image, a strange tower stood alone and lonesome in these plains, a silent testament to the countless years it had witnessed.
It did not have any of the flashy lights or radiance that other adept towers typically had. It also had none of the traffic or fancy architecture.
Dragonblight was nothing more from heartbreaking loneliness and desolation!
“Hehehehe. These Fate Witches lead a pretty tough life, don’t they! Why don’t I show them a good time then.” Maztan chuckled perversely and directed his magical eye towards the Tower of Fate.
“Spin, o’ Wheel of Fate. Let me see what that Alice is doing.”
A series of chants came from Maztan’s mouth. He cut open his right index finger with his nails and drew a ‘&’ shaped symbol on the divination crystal. The blood was quickly absorbed, and the image in the crystal began to move. The mist started to clear, seemingly as if an image was about to be revealed.
However, just as the vague image began to surface, the crystal suddenly glowed with blinding white light. Maztan’s eyes even started to tear up from it. When he finally regained his composure and wiped away his tears, the crystal was once again shrouded in the mists of Fate. He could no longer see anything.
“Bastard! Bastard…does that Alice always keep herself protected with the powers of Fate at every single moment? To think her defenses are so airtight. I couldn�
��t see a thing,” Maztan cursed resentfully and even started sulking.
However, he had plenty of means to scry on people. He wouldn’t give up from a mere rejection like this.
Alice might keep herself well-protected, but there was no way she could keep up such a tight defense for all the people around her, could she?
Maztan quickly recovered and started drawing on the crystal with his blood again while fervently praying, “O’ Fate, please let me see the person who spends the most time with Alice!”
Energy surged towards the top of the Tower of Observation. Overwhelming Fate power shrouded the astrology platform, clashing and merging with the elementium energy nearby, causing a colorful splash of colors to be seen high in the skies.
The mist in the divination crystal faded as the Fate powers guided it forward. The image changed rapidly, finally settling on a young girl crouched at a wooden table, seriously studying divination.
It was a young girl with blonde hair to her waist and pretty facial features. She had a wooden hammer in her hand and a tortoise’s shell in the other. She was mumbling angrily to herself, all while knocking on the shell with the hammer every so often.
“How am I supposed to break it? A tortoise’s shell is so tough, and all I get to use is a wooden hammer. Hmph! Why can’t it be a golden hammer? Even a metal one’s fine.”
After hammering on the shell for a bit longer and realizing that it was all in vain, the girl tossed away the wooden hammer. She pushed away all the other random stuff on her table and took out a magical tome to start reading.
“…Fate is one of the most powerful principle powers in the world! Take hold of Fate, and you can take hold of the trajectory of your life, allowing yourself to transcend the River of Fate and live free above.” The young girl couldn’t help but grumble again when she read this. “Transcend Fate. What’s the point of that? All we can do is look but not intervene. Any intervention means an immediate backlash from Fate…hmph! What kinda future does a profession like this have?”
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