Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  That…was the true nature of the spineless Fourth Grade adepts of the Central Lands!

  …………

  The so-called secret meeting was more accurately a show of Mary’s powers.

  Once everyone had personally experienced the terrifying power of Mary and the Nightmare Castle, there was no longer any doubt as to the final victor of the struggle for power in the Central Lands.

  After a brief discussion of the terms of surrender, Kerala, Alfred, and Declan left on their own, each of them hurrying to the various other Fourth Grade clans.

  There was no need for verbal intimidation or threats. All that was needed was a presentation of the bloody reality, and they would naturally what best to choose.

  Every one of them was a Central adept. Most of them were acquaintances of hundreds of years and had all sorts of relationships between them. Kerala, Alfred, and Declan would be far more effective as messengers than having the Crimson Fleet pay a visit to the clans one by one.

  There were hundreds and thousands of adept clans, with as many as a dozen Fourth Grade clans. If a war were to break out, it would take at least a dozen years to wipe out all the opposition. To unify the Central Lands into a single organization would take decades of work.

  That was why Greem leaned toward a peaceful unification, even though he was confident in crushing these stubborn rebels. It was the only way to best preserve the elites and essence of the Central Lands, instead of letting them go to waste in a civil war.

  The actual situation was just as Adept Kerala predicted. When the Fourth Grade clans they visited heard that Bloody Queen Mary also possessed the might of a pseudo-ultra-powerhouse, they finally bowed their heads and entered agreements with the Crimson Clan. They would all invest their clan’s resources into the newly founded Horton Magic Academy.

  Horton Magic Academy quickly grew in scale, becoming the largest and most famous public academy in the Central Lands.

  A powerful faculty, an endless stream of adept resources, a specialized department system, and the backing of ultra-powerhouses- these were all reasons for its success!

  Moreover, Greem’s focus was on the promotion of the Horton Magic Academy instead of turning the Crimson clan into the only mega-clan in the Central Lands. In that regard, his terms were very fair towards the various clans.

  After all, the doors to Horton Magic Academy were always open to all adepts and apprentices. The talents that came out of the academy were also not required to join the Crimson Clan.

  These terms and conditions were fairly beneficial to the smaller clans whose growth had been restricted in the past due to their lack of resources!

  Thus, the sense of resistance that the incumbent forces held toward the Crimson Clan slowly faded over time.

  Chapter 1334 - The Alliance of the Defeated

  Annemdor Academy.

  Inside a dark, dim room.

  Mirva, who had not shown himself in days, was communicating with someone in a soft voice through a magical mirror.

  The mirror was the only source of light in the room and glowed with a sickly green light. Not only did the light not illuminate the space, it even filled the entire room with a sinister aura.

  The magical mirror was split into several different screens, with an individual appearing on each of those screens. If one were to zoom in to one of those screens, they would be surprised to find that all these people were Fourth Grade adepts famous throughout Zhentairm.

  All of these individuals had enjoyed fame and glory in the past. Each and every one of them was an important character that could send tremors throughout the Central Lands with a single stomp of their foot. At this moment, they appeared as nervous and anxious as rats in a sewer.

  Adept Matthew, with his sparse hair and swollen eyes in a corner of the mirror, asked in an anxious and soft voice, “Has this news been verified? It had best not be false news released from Greem in an attempt to sow disorder amongst us.”

  In another corner of the mirror, Nicolas spoke solemnly with a grim expression, “I just sent off Declan. He came here to persuade me to surrender!”

  The other adepts in the mirror couldn’t help but start cursing when they heard that name.

  “Declan is a spineless bastard.”

  “Hmph! He must have said that because Greem controls him.”

  “We can’t trust his words!”

  ……

  Mirva said bitterly from his room, “It was Alfred who came to see me!”

  The adepts in the mirror fell silent and cast their gaze toward Mirva.

  “What did Alfred say?”

  “You’ve always been on good personal terms with Alfred. Could it be…did he say the same thing?”

  The expression on Mirva’s face grew even more bitter when he heard everyone’s questions.

  “This is no longer just a rumor, but the truth! Apparently, those who experienced Mary’s Nightmare Domain on that night weren’t just Kerala, Declan, and Alfred. There were also two Silver Union senate members present.”

  “How powerful was she?”

  Mirva inhaled deeply and said, “Enough to rival an ultra-powerhouse. Naturally, she would have no trouble with ordinary Fourth Grades like ourselves!”

  The room fell silent.

  Everybody lost interest in speaking any further, and the atmosphere turned dreary and heavy.

  After a long pause, Adept Nicolas finally spoke again. He posed a question to Mirva, “Mirva, what do you think we should do next? Freed…is gone. We…we……”

  Everybody in the mirror looked at Nicolas with looks of sympathy.

  It couldn’t be helped. Of all the Fourth Grade clans apart from Kerala’s Dener Clan, Nicolas’ clan territory was the closest to the Crimson Clan’s Ailovis region. If Greem refused to stop here, his next target would either be Vice-Chairman Mirva for his position in the Zhentarim Association or Nicolas for his proximity.

  That was why the threat of doom was far more imminent for the two of them compared to everyone else!

  Nicolas’ question was very vague, but everyone understood what he meant.

  In fact, everyone also wanted to know Mirva’s choice. He was the only one who could lead them now that Chairman Freed was dead. Should they fight, or should they surrender?

  If everyone stubbornly insisted on resisting the Crimson Clan to the very end, then Greem would still have a tremendously difficult time unifying the Central Lands. Don’t forget, the other name for the Central Lands was Zhentarim!

  Zhentarim. The name itself held a meaning- it referred to the unique and scattered distribution of clans in the Central Lands.

  Divided regions, and forests of adept towers.

  There were many adept clans in the Central Lands. The rise and fall of clans were a common occurrence.

  Every time an adept war broke out, no one cared about the change in borders of worldly territories. Adepts were only interested in control over the adept towers.

  A small adept clan might be weak, but all they had to do in the face of an invasion from a superior force was to retreat into their tower. With the aid of their adept tower, they could repel a siege from enemies many times their number.

  Moreover, if the invading force was unable to conquer the tower, then all the worldly territory they had seized would be in vain.

  After all, they couldn’t possibly siege the opponent’s tower indefinitely. Once their armies retreated, the clan would be able to project their influence and forces across their territory once again. All the land and population that had been seized would return under their control, with only the loss of some resources!

  That was why trying to completely pull an adept clan up by its roots and exterminate them was an arduous task in the Central Lands. There was no way you could possibly chew down an adept tower without the courage and determination to break most of your teeth.

  Greem’s Crimson Fleet might have demonstrated power enough to conquer an adept tower, but their flaws were also revealed.
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  Multiple high-grade adepts were required to be present during the siege, and powerful war machines like the Motherships or the golem dragon were needed. Even with all these conditions, the casualties suffered by the invading side were still terrifying!

  That was why the Fourth Grade adepts here would still be an incredible nuisance for Greem if they insisted on opposing the Crimson Clan to the very end.

  Greem’s Crimson Fleet might be fearsome, but there were only three Fourth Grade commanders who could truly hold the line in a conflict: Greem, Mary, and Arms.

  They couldn’t possibly always be on the frontline, personally leading fleets to conquer one tower after another, could they? Without them to protect the Crimson Fleets, a single Fourth Grade adept would be enough to devastate the army.

  When that happened, the Crimson Clan’s unification would be delayed indefinitely.

  That would give everyone the confidence to wait for a change in tides!

  They firmly believed that the three major organizations wouldn’t sit by and watch Greem devour all the sheep in the Central Lands and take the fattest piece of meat for himself.

  The reason everything seemed so calm at the moment was because the Crimson Clan had erupted with unexpected fury and ferocity. The three major organizations had been entirely unable to react.

  Wars occurred far too frequently in the Central Lands in the past. However, those wars were often long, drawn-out, and boring. Cutting across vast lands to attack the enemy’s base and ending a war with an arrow straight through the heart, though……

  In all honesty, such an adept war had never occurred in the history of the Central Lands!

  Consequently, the three major organizations had been unable to predict how quickly events would unfold after the internal conflict of Zhentarim finally broke. Everything soon spiraled out of their control.

  What determined the victor in an adept war wasn’t the number of low and intermediate-grade adepts, but the rare few high-grade adepts!

  At the start of the war, the three major organizations had sent out ultra-powerhouses to witness the battle, with plans to turn the tides if required. They had believed those plans and preparations to be sufficient.

  After all, the last time Greem appeared at the Adept’s Association, his power was only on par with the Adept of Torture. He was certainly powerful, but he still had some way to go until he could reach the ultra-powerhouses.

  What they had never expected was for the legendary fire adept to improve so tremendously in just a matter of years. Not only was Greem able to forcefully wear out the Gold Titan Mornashen, but he was even able to severely injure Curse Adept Cerveris in a ‘fair’ duel.

  That…was all clearly beyond the Adept’s Association’s expectations!

  If even Cerveris had been defeated by Legendary Fire Adept Greem, then they could only send more powerful ultra-powerhouses after him now. However, these individuals were either exploring the depths of endless space or shut up in isolation conducting their own important experiments.

  The Adept’s Association might want to summon them, but even if these people with their unique personalities were willing to give up on whatever important tasks they had on hand, the time and cost required for them to return from space were tremendous!

  If these powerful individuals could not be mobilized, then all that was left were their armies.

  However, the vast and dangerous Black Forest itself was a natural barrier that prevented such maneuvers. The Adept’s Association might not have much trouble teleporting a few powerful individuals using teleportation arrays, but attempting to teleport entire armies was no more than fool’s talk.

  Mobilization through aircraft?

  Even if they could gather all the flying ships required for the task and properly organize the logistics, it would take them over two months to accomplish such a job! Given the speed at which the Crimson Clan had managed to take down the Entom Clan, two months would be more than enough for them to eliminate the most stubborn opposition and stabilize the situation in the Central Lands.

  When that happened, what were the Association armies that had traveled all this way supposed to do?

  Moreover, how would the Northern Witches and the Silver Union react once they had mobilized several Association armies? The intertwined politics of the three major forces meant that even more time had to be wasted on explaining the purpose of their mobilization.

  By the time the three major forces came to a conclusion, the Central Lands would probably already belong to the Crimson Clan!

  The point was that the Crimson Clan’s hidden power was so immense that even the three major organizations could not react in time when it was finally revealed.

  However, while the three major organizations’ main concern was what benefit they could gain from the chaos in Zhentarim, what was presented to the Fourth Grade adepts of Central Lands was a life-and-death choice!

  Their eyes flickered, and their expressions were stern yet filled with sorrow and tragedy.

  Once upon a time, they had been feared gods of the Central Lands, who could shake the world with a single move. However, ever since they ran into this demon god that was even more unreasonable than them, they had no means of venting their frustrations apart from grumbling to themselves.

  Frustrated. Indeed, they were all incredibly frustrated!

  In all honesty, the reason Greem was able to become Fourth Grade so quickly was due to the aid of everyone present here. Yet, they had now been cornered by this much younger adept. In fact, they might even have to bend the knee to him in the future.

  Nicolas, Matthew, and the other Fourth Grade adepts all felt so upset at the very thought that their heads just might blow up any next moment!

  Chapter 1335 - A Tavern in Space

  Vast rivers of stars shot by, forming pretty ribbons of light in the background.

  From a distance, the entire universe appeared filled with color.

  The shining stars seemed within grasp as if all one needed to do was reach forward to touch them.

  However, this was only an illusion.

  Even the closest star was billions of kilometers away. Without the ability to cut through space, you could spend hundreds of years flying and never get close to them.

  Space was infinitely vast and filled with many, many things!

  The vastness and majesty of space weren’t within the realm of imagination for ordinary planar creatures. Moreover, the depths of space were filled with fluctuating energy tides and spacestorms.

  It was impossible to survive in such a harsh and horrifying environment without a robust Physique and extraordinary magic resistance.

  At this moment, a humanoid figure radiating purple light emerged from the depths of space, rushing forward through a spacestorm with the might of countless Second Grade spells.

  The place that the figure was heading toward was what appeared to be a large mountain range drifting in the endless space.

  The entire mountain range stretched for five hundred kilometers, a collection of pitch-black rocks covered in plenty of glittering metal particles. The presence of its amazing metal content allowed these mountains to survive the destruction of the spacestorms and remain in space.

  It was apparent that this mountain range had drifted into space after the destruction of a continent in a broken world. Due to its mostly metallic composition, it had managed to exist until now. However, as the spacestorm continued to erode the mountains, the edges were starting to fall apart.

  The boulders and steelrock that peeled off of the mountains would instantly be tossed far away into the depths of space by sparks of energy.

  The mountain range was crumbling and shrinking at a visible rate.

  In perhaps another hundred years, this five-hundred-kilometer-long mountain range might vanish without a trace, devoured completely by space.

  As long as you were diligent enough, you could find all sorts of strange items that drifted from the planar worlds. Moreov
er, anything that could remain intact despite the energy tides would certainly carry a value of its own!

  There would always be intelligent people who knew best how to take full advantage of the remaining utility in such space ‘trash.’

  Since the mountain range had another hundred years to go until its disintegration, a small tavern had popped up in a small, flat ridge in the middle of the mountain range.

  It was obvious that this mysterious figure in purple light was heading for that tavern.

  The purple figure dodged some spatial turbulence slicing towards them, avoided a few boulders peeled off the mountains, endured the cold, howling winds, and landed on the ridge.

  In front of the figure was some strange architecture dug into the belly of a mountain. The doors were exceptionally large, so much so that they could allow a whale to enter. The doors of the building appeared to be made out of wood. You could still see the delicate, intricate patterns of wood on it.

  However, a strange magical rune had been carved on the surface of the doors.

  The magical rune glowed and dimmed, uniformly radiating energy and propping up a thin barrier of energy. This incredibly thin and intricate energy layer kept the endless spacestorms at bay, allowing the two wooden doors to remain untouched.

  The image of a beer mug with foam at the top was carved into the sign above the doors.

  The purple figure landed in front of the tavern, passed through the barrier, and pushed apart the doors to enter.

  The world inside the doors was utterly different from the world outside!

  It was a harsh, cruel, and desolate world outside, while this interior room was filled with boisterous chatter and lively talk.

  Those two seemingly simple doors had an incredible magical power that separated space and cut off energy auras.