Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  However, a simple flip through the list of instructors at Horton Magic Academy and a long list of incredible names would blind you. Fourth Grade…Fourth Grade…Fourth Grade…so many Fourth Grades, from a dragon lord to a Fire Lord to a lich.

  In all honesty, Freed’s heart trembled when he saw this list.

  He might have had a mean streak in the past that would have made him attempt to intimidate Greem with the hundreds of years of accumulation behind the Zhentarim Association. However, upon seeing the number of powerful individuals that Greem had gathered, and comparing that to the loose gathering of adepts he had around him, all will to fight seeped from his body like leaking gas.

  Out of nowhere, Freed felt incredibly sad and dejected. His tense spirits abruptly relaxed as he sunk limply into his couch. A teardrop formed in the corner of his wrinkly eyes.

  “We can’t beat him anymore,” Mirva also let out a series of sighs. “Once all of us old fools die, the Central Lands will fall into his hands. For the next one to two hundred years, I want to try our best to cultivate the few good seeds we have in the Association. See if we can continue our legacy. Perhaps they are our only hope now.”

  Freed remained silent. He did not reply.

  Almost every Fourth Grade adept had tens of thousands of descendants and clan members, especially those belonging to ancient clans that had lasted for thousands of years. These Fourth Grade adepts were the very gods of these clans. As long as they remained, no one would dare dispute or encroach upon the rights of their descendants.

  However, once their lifespans came to an end and their souls dissipated, the fates of their once sheltered descendants would be like candles in the wind.

  Who didn’t have an enemy or a rival? Once their protective umbrella was gone, these former enemies that had been kept down and low for hundreds of years would lunge for the throat. The clan would either fall into decline or be pulled up at the very roots, exterminated to the last member.

  These things were more than common in the World of Adepts!

  As such, most Fourth Grade adepts would find ways to protect their clans when they realized that Fifth Grade was an implausible dream. They would also try to cultivate a new powerhouse who could take on the clan’s legacy in their place.

  However, while it was easy to say such things, actually committing them to action was difficult.

  First, these Fourth Grade adepts would never be willing to cultivate any adept that was not a direct descendant.

  Those who were outsiders would always remain outsiders!

  The Fourth Grade adepts would never be willing to train these adepts that joined halfway, no matter how talented they were. After all, it was almost inevitable that these individuals would split off and found their own clans once they reached Fourth Grade. They would never treat their mentor’s clan as their own family.

  Thus, the legacy of the clan could only be passed on to a direct descendant.

  However, in doing so, the number of options available would become incredibly limited.

  The number of individuals within the descendants of a Fourth Grade adept who had the potential to reach the same level were very, very few. To raise all of them to Fourth Grade successfully would also consume an exorbitant amount of resources.

  While a Fourth Grade adept’s future was still uncertain and not yet doomed, they would first guarantee resources for themselves before providing their descendants with whatever leftovers they had.

  This situation undoubtedly further reduced the possibility of magical geniuses appearing among their descendants!

  That was why there were very few examples of high-grade adepts emerging from within the same clan and inheriting the clan’s legacy. Most adept clans faced uncertain futures. It was all laughter and joy while they were on the rise, but those times wouldn’t last forever. When the dark times came, they would live in poverty and struggle to survive.

  Many adept clans simply fell to ruin without a single surviving descendant.

  Take Chairman Freed, for example. The Sidmund Clan he belonged to had three thousand members. Four hundred of these members were direct descendants of his. Among them, only one hundred and twenty-seven had a talent for magic, while only two of them had managed to reach Third Grade.

  However, even these two individuals were not worth investing in or training. That was because they didn’t have sufficient talent to begin with. They had only managed to reach their current heights thanks to the pile of resources available to them.

  Of Freed’s direct descendants, there was a reasonably talented granddaughter. She was only two hundred years old, but she was already advanced Second Grade. Still, helping her reach Fourth Grade within another one to two hundred years was a difficult task.

  That was why Freed felt his heart ache at the thought of his clan declining after his death.

  He knew very clearly what would happen if he offended Greem too much now. Greem might not be able to do anything at the moment. However, once Freed had died of old age, Greem would certainly take bloody and terrifying vengeance on the clanspeople and descendants he left behind.

  That was the cruel reality of the World of Adepts!

  Usually, everyone treated the Sidmund Clan as an ancient and noble clan, out of consideration for him. However, once he was gone, his clan would not be supported by a single Fourth Grade adept. They would be like fish on a cutting board then– no happy fate awaited them.

  Freed lifted his head and looked at Mirva, his gaze filled with pain and hesitation.

  He knew that Mirva’s clan was in the same situation as his. There were no capable individuals among his descendants who could support the clan after his death. Mirva’s grandson had done quite a good job recently and had a fairly talented child.

  However, that child was only intermediate First Grade at the moment. To help him reach Fourth Grade within two hundred years was a hundred times harder than doing so with his own granddaughter.

  They were both in the same boat and were facing the same difficulties.

  “There’s no way we can keep fighting with Greem. However, Kerala and Alfred are still young. They still have three to four hundred years left to live. They aren’t going to be willing to be suppressed by the Crimson Clan, are they? Perhaps we should win them to our side!” Mirva stroked his beard and said.

  “Alfred. His Molten Fire City has allied with the Crimson Clan now. He’s making a killing out of selling those rare ores mined from his city. There’s no point in hoping that he’ll be the one to stand forward and make trouble.” Freed got upset every time they mentioned that lord of the Molten Fire City.

  However, his thoughts quickly shifted to another person. “Kerala, on the other hand, is someone we can win to our side. Her clan territory neighbors the Crimson Clan. She must be feeling even greater pressure than us. If some sort of conflict could occur between them, we might be able to suppress Greem’s arrogant ambitions slightly.”

  Mirva’s eyes gleamed as he chuckled coldly, “Isn’t that easy? I will go and arrange the matter immediately. I will make sure to have their two clans fight very soon! Hehehe, with Kerala as the vanguard, we can get Matthew, Nicolas, and Gaia on our side as well. At the very least, we will be able to slow down the Crimson Clan’s development and buy ourselves more time.”

  Having said that, Mirva promptly left the room in great spirits.

  Chapter 1275 - Fate Broadcasting

  East of the continent. The Tower of Observation.

  The scrawny Maztan was lying comfortably in his extravagant bed on the highest floor, snoring.

  All sorts of lavish and expensive furniture could be seen all over his room. The walls were covered with pictures of curvaceous and beautiful women. A full set of gold cutlery sat on top of the dining table in the corner of the room. A bright, magical light kept the place illuminated with fantastical lighting.

  If anyone were to break into this place by accident, they would not have believed that this was the room of a Fourth G
rade adept. That was because the entire room was filled with the boorish air of extravagance and debauchery common to nobles. It was utterly unlike the mysterious and transcendent air of high-grade adepts.

  Moreover, not a single item related to magic could be seen in the entire room. Instead, there were adult toys littered all over the place, covered in expensive silk undergarments.

  While Maztan was sound asleep with a big pillow illustrated with a naked woman in his arms, a space in the room’s corner started to ripple. An unusual magical eye appeared, blinking a few times as it began to examine the room curiously.

  The magical eye somehow appeared both real and illusory, but it did indeed exist here in this space.

  The eye was a blurry silhouette the size of a fist. It drifted around the room, seemingly curious about everything in here.

  Finally, its gaze landed on Maztan’s loathsome and naked figure. The eye then started to approach the Fourth Grade adept, taking every inch of his body into full view.

  Maztan was truly one ugly creature!

  There was barely any flesh on his bony body. His loose muscles draped limply over his prominent bones. From a distance, he looked just like a still-breathing skeleton.

  His gray skin was covered in spots. Messy, thick, black hair grew all over his chest, armpits, the soles of his feet, and many other places where hair wasn’t supposed to grow. Meanwhile, his head only had a few thin, yellow strands of hair.

  As a Fourth Grade diviner, Maztan obviously didn’t care much for his personal hygiene. His ugly body was covered in filth, and the entire room was filled with a pungent odor.

  Maztan was deep in sleep, and the magical eye was very close to him now.

  Most other people might not be able to pick up on the profound flux of Fate radiating from the eye, but he couldn’t be more familiar with it.

  Maztan angrily cursed as he stirred from his slumber. He opened his eyes; what met them were a pair of pretty, crystalline eyes. They were so large and so crystal clear, and they took up most of his sight.

  Maztan had no choice but to take a few steps back before he could see the entirety of the magical eye hovering in front of him. The pair of pretty eyes silently stared at him through that magical eye.

  “Bastard, it’s you again, you little rat!” Maztan cursed viciously with his crooked mouth and waved his arms about furiously, trying to chase the magical eye away.

  Unfortunately, the magical eye only moved back half a meter before moving to where he couldn’t reach and continuing its ‘spying’ mission.

  “Uggo, is this your room? Just as I expected, it’s smelly and ugly, just like you.” The magical eye caused the air to vibrate as a strange mental flux radiated outward. “You always say you’re a Fourth Grade adept, but why can’t I find a single thing related to magic or divination in your room? Can you take me on a tour of your lab? I am really interested in the experiments of Fourth Grade adepts.”

  The eye seemed to be intent on bothering Maztan. It circled around him, observing everything as the person behind the eye continued to talk. Anger and helplessness were written all over Maztan’s ugly face now.

  “Shut up!”

  Maztan shot out a beam of golden light from his palm, blasting the magical eye into pieces.

  However, the moment the magical eye dissipated, ripples appeared in the nearby space again. A new magical eye appeared.

  “Why did you destroy my Fate’s Eye? Don’t you know reforming it costs Fate power? You already destroyed seventy-three of my Fate’s Eyes yesterday. I haven’t even settled that score with you yet!”

  Maztan’s actions did not seem to have any effect on the person behind the eyeball. It let out a bombardment of words the moment it appeared, leaving a true-blue Fourth Grade diviner so frustrated he couldn’t even fall asleep again.

  Maztan reluctantly climbed off of his luxurious bed. He randomly grabbed a silk robe from the carpeted floor, draped it over himself, and stumbled towards the bathroom.

  “Brat, stop following me. I’m going to shower. You’re welcome to come in if you want to see what an old man looks like in the shower!” Maztan shouted angrily before he entered.

  The threat seemed to have a little bit of an effect. The eyeball hesitated for a moment and did not follow Maztan into the bathroom. Instead, it simply drifted around the bedroom.

  Obviously, the personal quarters of a Fourth Grade adept were not so simple. It might appear like the lavish home of a useless noble, but defensive arrays were hidden all over the place. Beneath the wooden floorboards, above the ceiling from which the chandelier hung– all of these places were covered in magical arrays.

  Moreover, several subtle, hidden spots in the room also radiated faint elementium fluctuations. These were hidden drawers and secret rooms.

  These secret rooms were covered by layers upon layers of defensive arrays that prevented scrying through divination, as well as keeping most other supernatural powers from entering.

  Unfortunately, this magical eye wasn’t sustained by ordinary, worldly magical power. It ignored all these magical defenses and freely roamed the rooms.

  Seven minutes later, Maztan walked out of the hot shower refreshed, only to see the magical eye casually floating out of his secret magical room.

  That room was filled with all his most precious and treasured items!

  Maztan’s face instantly became twisted and distorted.

  Ever since the last time, when he scryed on that Witch of Fate in the Northern Lands, he had been bothered by that Daughter of Fate apprenticed to the Witch of Fate. That girl seemed to be adored by the Fate powers. She possessed seemingly incomprehensible means of manipulating Fate.

  Ever since she unintentionally captured the Fate’s Eye that Maztan invented, she had managed to learn how to do it herself without any guidance. From then on, she had become Maztan’s nightmare that couldn’t be dispelled!

  Seemingly curious over this strange old man that possessed tremendous power of Fate, the girl started to use Maztan’s own Fate’s Eye technique to observe him constantly and from every possible angle.

  When Maztan meditated, she would be there. When Maztan divined, she would be there. When Maztan dined, she would be there. When Maztan slept, she would be there. When Maztan hid in his room protected by Fate power, she would be there.

  Either way, even though Maztan’s Fate power could perfectly shield him from the Witch of Fate’s notice in the north, these defenses were utterly ineffective against this daughter of Fate.

  Maztan had tried countless means of protecting himself, but there was simply no way he could shield himself from this girl’s constant scrying.

  For six months, this annoying eyeball floated around him every second of every day, monitoring his every action. He did not have any privacy left to himself.

  Moreover, he was the only one who could see this strange magical eye. The other adepts, even the Fourth Grade adepts of the Association, could not see this damned thing with their naked eyes.

  In all honesty, Maztan had always been doing such things to other people, peeping on others’ private lives.

  However, he had never experienced such a situation himself. To be bothered for six whole months without pause! Moreover, the terrifying part was the fact that the girl seemed to be able to instantly summon a new Fate’s Eye whenever he destroyed it.

  Perhaps, maybe, it was possible…that the Fate powers favored this girl so much that she felt no burden at all when drawing on Fate powers.

  That was what made Maztan truly despair!

  “Girl, what exactly is it that you hope to get from me? Please, I beg you, let me go! If you keep bothering me like this, I will go mad.” Maztan instantly charged over and grabbed the magical eye. He pressed his face against it and shouted with all his might.

  “I already said it, didn’t I? Teach me all the Fate magic you know, and I will leave you alone. I have already asked Alice, but she won’t teach me even a single Fate spell. She even said that
I’m the daughter of Fate and I can only get everything I want from Fate. Hmph! She’s just being stingy. That’s why she has all these excuses!”

  Upon hearing that her demand was his Fate magic, Maztan’s expression instantly changed. He crushed the eyeball and turned to walk out of the room.

  A short moment later, a new eyeball appeared behind him as the girl’s sweet voice rang out again.

  “Old man, you destroyed another one of my Fate’s Eyes. If you keep playing rough, I will display your ugly body for everyone to see and let everyone witness your ugly side. Hurry up, teach me Fate magic, or I will start broadcasting the images I have.”

  Maztan was furious. He started to curse and insult this monstrous little girl with all the crude swear words he knew.

  The girl seemed to have been infuriated by this. A strange spiritual flux radiated from the eyeball and rippled outwards.

  The ripple silently spread throughout the Tower of Observation. The image of an ugly, naked man’s body appeared in the minds of every being that the ripples touched, regardless of what they were doing at the moment.

  The tower instantly flew into an uproar!

  Chapter 1276 - The Diviners’ Tower

  The Castle in the Sky, the Diviner’s Tower.

  Even within the Silver Union, the Diviner’s Tower was an exceptionally mysterious and classified place.

  Outsiders hardly knew of this place, and the only ones that could enter the tower were unique individuals in silver robes, often seen holding thick tomes in their hands as they walked around. These adepts were individuals with the unique profession of Archivist.

  The Diviner’s Tower was an important location from where the archivists could observe the world’s movements and record its secrets.

  A strange old man dressed in white robes with a pair of tortoise-shell glasses stood on a stone balcony extending out of the Diviner Tower’s seventh floor. He was silently assessing the Castle in the Sky as the bright sun shone down upon it.