Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  The might of elementium adepts were more easily demonstrated on the battlefield, earning them titles as glass cannons, exterminators, and destroyers. However, body-refining adepts were classical duelists. They held the advantage in narrow spaces and rapid engagements against opponents of the same grade.

  Elementium adepts would have a tough time defeating body-refining adepts of the same grade if they could not create some distance or restrict their opponent’s movements!

  Today, Greem experienced this principle for himself.

  Gloria was a body-refining adept, one who had reached the ultra-powerhouse level!

  Her every movement, even the wind pressure unleashed by her bare fists, could inflict devastating physical damage on Greem. Of course, this was partly due to the fact that Greem’s Physique had decreased tremendously due to his injuries during the last battle.

  More importantly, the Chip’s data allowed Greem to come to a horrifying conclusion.

  Adept Gloria likely had a piece of ultra-grade magical equipment in her possession! Moreover, it was Strength-type equipment!

  This much was obvious from that savage strike earlier.

  It was important to note that the main reason for Greem’s dominance over the Central Lands and most Fourth Grade adepts were his two artifacts– the Orb of the Fire God for offense and the Tome of Corruption for defense. Together, their law powers were enough to crush any opponent of the same grade.

  If Gloria had not relied on the might of her artifact to shatter the Tome of Corruption’s defense, Greem would not have suffered such terrible damage.

  Greem had just escaped Gloria’s range of attack and was instantly surprised by the giant ball of dirt hurtling toward him.

  If anyone else had thrown this ball of dirt, Greem could calmly blast it to pieces with fireballs and then deal with the person behind it. When the attack came from Gloria, Greem had no choice but to cautiously dodge aside before flickering away with Fire Teleportation once more.

  After three failed attempts to close the distance, Gloria was furious. She turned around, ignoring the sly fire adept as she sprinted toward the Nightmare Castle just a few hundred meters away.

  As long as the Nightmare Castle remained, that annoying forcefield suppression would persist.

  Even as powerful as Gloria was, she could not possibly catch that slimy fire adept while thirty percent of her power was sealed. Thus, Gloria changed targets, preparing to tear down the castle first.

  Given her barbaric, overwhelming Strength, tearing down an immobile castle wouldn’t take much time at all!

  Perhaps sensing the tremendous hostility emanating from Gloria, Kerslin instantly went berserk. Fearsome nightmare power tore at the mind of the adept, attempting to drag her into the Nightmare Domain.

  Unfortunately, protected by the strange purple light, Gloria’s soul remained as firm as a bastion and unrelenting as a boulder in a river. In fact, Gloria was able to lock onto Kerslin due to its mental attack. She broke free of Greem’s stalling tactics and ran toward the Nightmare Castle.

  Gloria stopped abruptly after just a hundred meters and looked down.

  Black light glowed from her shadow as a five-meter-tall golem slowly emerged. Two metal claws shrouded in black mists were attacking her glowing purple defenses.

  The purple light was shockingly effective when used to defend against energy attacks. However, it was somewhat mediocre against physical attacks. That said, as a body-refining adept, Gloria held no fear of a mere shadow golem.

  She let out a battlecry and swung her right fist down upon the black body of the golem.

  Clang! A terrifying metallic ring could be heard.

  The five-ton heavy, Fourth Grade Shadow Demon forged entirely of shadowsteel was blown away like a bowling ball. Its massive body scraped against the ground at high speed with a grinding metallic noise.

  A terrifying hundred-meter-long ditch had been raked across the earth, a small hill of dirt forming at the end of it. Shadow Demon’s metal body was distorted beyond recognition when it climbed up from the ditch, trembling.

  “Avoid her. Do not fight her head-on. Use guerilla tactics and focus on harassment!” Greem gave an order, and Shadow Demon levitated into the air before disappearing with a puff of black smoke.

  Dong! Dong!

  Two completely transparent blasts shot through the smoke, landing on a hill a thousand meters away and razing it from existence.

  Overwhelming physical prowess. Even without magic, the wind pressure formed by her punches alone could have such a devastating impact! Gloria’s power could not be more obvious.

  “Leaving already? Our fight’s not settled yet!” Greem’s injuries had mostly recovered in those few seconds. He roared in his booming voice as two golden fireballs formed instantly in his palms. He threw them at Gloria.

  Gloria had been relying on her barrier of purple light since the start of the battle, neglecting to avoid any of the attacks directed at her.

  If the enemy dared attack her, she would simply endure the attack and counter!

  Gloria had never gotten the short end of the stick in an exchange of blows.

  However, when she turned around and saw the two golden fireballs, her expression finally changed.

  What tremendous law power!

  What finally moved Gloria wasn’t the size of the fireballs or the fire energy contained within. It was the trace of the fearsome principle power they possessed.

  It was evidence that the legendary fire adept had not only gained full mastery of multiple fire laws, but that he had even purified and refined these laws, allowing him access to a sliver of the principle fire powers.

  The change from law to principle was not just a change in name. It was a genuine change in the very nature of its power!

  One could only continue advancing to the principle level and beyond after fully digesting the law powers that one possessed and assimilating them with one’s soul. It was an evolution of an adept’s soul and the only path of advancing into a principle adept!

  Regardless of the core principles the fire adept had mastered, Gloria had no interest in experiencing them for herself.

  For the first time in battle, Gloria kicked with her legs. Her body shot a hundred meters back like a lightning bolt, allowing her to dodge the two unusual fireballs.

  Boom! Boom!

  Two loud explosions rang out. Waves of fire quickly devoured everything nearby.

  Compared to the attacks from before, the fireballs’ explosion was weaker and caused far smaller shockwaves. However, everything burned wherever the golden flames passed.

  Dirt, sand, fossils, shards of metal, ores, and minerals– everything, including the air itself, had been ignited.

  This fire didn’t seem to require any fuel. Golden flames appeared abruptly wherever the trace of the fire principle swept past, burning quietly and gently.

  Gloria could sense a trace of ‘eternity’ in these golden flames!

  Undying Flames!

  Gloria took two steps backward, silently evaluating the golden fires burning in front of her eyes. She was utterly shocked into silence.

  She had truly underestimated this Legendary Fire Adept Greem.

  It was true that he was only an intermediate Fourth Grade and was still a distance away from advanced Fourth Grade. That was why Gloria had treated him as a luck brat that had only managed to obtain his current accomplishments due to his two artifacts.

  Now, it seemed like the mastery of his laws was no weaker than any other ultra-powerhouse. Undying Flames, Undying Flames…though the trace of principle power he had managed to consolidate was still very weak, it was still a trace of principle power.

  There was no defense against powers of the principle level as a Fourth Grade adept!

  Even as prideful as she was, Gloria had no confidence in enduring the golden flames with her purple light. The scary thing about this golden fire wasn’t the fire itself, but the principle contained within the flame.


  Should the principles invade her body, and should she lack a power of equal magnitude to neutralize it, it would be a very tragic ending for her. Gloria shivered at the very thought of it.

  Cerveris couldn’t have been injured by these flames, could he? If that were the case, then the law fires in his body would never be extinguished without power of equivalent magnitude to expel it. Even an ultra-powerhouse would have their origin damaged if these law fires were allowed to burn on for an extended period of time.

  Gloria’s face couldn’t help but turn pale at the thought of this. She took a few steps backward and put some distance between herself and the golden flames.

  “Gloria, this is the Central Lands. It is not the place for Association adepts like you to throw your weight around. If it’s a fight you want, then very well- I will be your opponent!”

  A deafening roar filled the night sky. The flames around Greem blazed even higher. He raised both hands, and a rain of meteors crashed down from the sky with tails of black smoke, instantly engulfing the battlefield in a violent inferno.

  Chapter 1343 - The Power of Principles

  Wuuuuuuu!

  The whole sky was filled with blazing meteors hurtling toward the ground.

  This attack was even more ferocious and violent than the previous one.

  Yet, for some reason, Gloria couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief. Her wildly beating heart slowly calmed down.

  Fortunately…fortunately, it seemed like that tiny trace of fire principle was all the fire adept could muster. If Greem could imbue a fire spell with such radius and power with a trace of that Undying principle, then Gloria would turn and flee without a second thought.

  She did not want to embarrass herself by getting singed and burned all over.

  She might be incredibly prideful, but she wasn’t so arrogant as to dare to fight against principle powers!

  As the meteors rained down, Gloria weaved about rapidly, punching with her fists over and over to shatter the meteors with equally violent force.

  As for the splatter of lava and fire? All of it was kept at bay by the purple light around her. It could not touch her at all.

  Compared to Mary’s extraordinary Agility, Gloria had obviously raised her Physique and Strength to the limits. Every one of her actions contained devastating power.

  If Greem had Undying as the core of his fire principles, then the core of Gloria’s strength was Unstoppable! Moreover, she had imbued this will of hers into every one of her techniques. Every punch and kick contained the same barbaric will to crush every defense and decimate every object.

  Though she was indeed powerful, she had yet to reach the level where her willpower and technique were one and the same. She was only borrowing slightly from the realm of willpower to empower her skills further.

  However, this imbuing of her will had allowed her to surpass Cerveris and become the second-ranked ultra-powerhouse in the Adept’s Association.

  Meanwhile, even though Greem’s understanding and mastery over the principle powers were slightly superior to Gloria, he had far less accumulated experience compared to her.

  Gloria was able to take full advantage of this fact. She quickly unleashed her assault, weaving through Greem’s ferocious fire spells. She would then close in on the molten giant and let loose a barrage of punches the moment the opportunity presented itself.

  Whenever that happened, Greem had no choice but to scramble and flee in a hurry!

  It couldn’t be helped. Greem might have become more powerful after transforming into a molten giant, but his defenses were insufficient against this opponent.

  Who would’ve thought that those seemingly tiny fists could possess such fearsome power?

  If it weren’t for Greem’s elementiumized body being able to scatter into energy and avoid most of those punches, then even a steel giant would have been turned into scrap.

  Comparatively, Greem was exceptionally courageous even in the face of this incredibly mighty ultra-powerhouse. Fireball after fireball, cloud after cloud of flames, wave after wave of fire. It was almost as if the apocalypse had descended upon them. Greem was turning the whole battlefield into a world of fire and lava.

  Greem also occasionally drew on that fearsome principle fire, mixing it in between the rain of fire spells he was unleashing at the enemy. If Gloria were as ignorant as the average Fourth Grade adept and was struck by these ‘Undying Flames,’ she would end up scorched inside and out.

  Every once in a while, Greem’s Undying Flames would clash with Gloria’s Unstoppable strikes. When these two ultimate powers of different attributes clashed on the principle level, it would cause the planar laws themselves to tremble and ripple.

  These law shockwaves law would travel in every direction through the World of Adept’s principle system, almost instantly spreading to every corner of the world.

  Every blade of grass and every lifeform in the World of Adepts could faintly feel the world’s unrest. However, they were limited by their level of consciousness and intelligence. They panicked and cowered in fear, but none of them had any idea where this feeling came from.

  Only strong individuals who had come into contact with the laws and principles could clearly feel every fold and ripple being transmitted through the world’s principle system. No matter where they were or what they were doing, they cast aside their work and turned around, gazing into the distance where the principle shockwaves emanated from. They silently awaited the conclusion to this conflict between some of the most powerful individuals in this world!

  …………

  Adept’s Association, the Tower of Observation.

  Domhnall held his staff in his hand as he hurried to the highest floor of the tower. He was furiously venting his anger at Maztan.

  “This is the power of principles! The power of principles! You fool…I had you monitor Greem. What exactly have you been doing? Why…why does he have mastery over principle powers all of a sudden? Why did you not figure out such important information?”

  Domhnall lifted Maztan, who was wrapped under multiple blankets on his couch like a riceball, and shook him around angrily. Domhnall’s crooked nose practically prodded Maztan in his face, and his spit had covered Maztan all over.

  While Domhnall was fuming, Maztan was confused and shocked. He immediately shouted back in a voice just as loud.

  “How can you blame me for this? It’s not like you don’t know who’s standing behind that fire adept- the Witches of Fate. He has a whole clan of Fate Witches behind him, along with Fate’s daughter herself. Do you know how hard my work has been dealing with those witches every day? I lost another thirty years of my life. Thirty years…thirty whole years! Can you make up for my losses?”

  Domhnall finally regained a trace of his rationality after hearing Maztan shout. He let go of his collar. There was still anger on his face, but his tone was much gentler.

  “Even so, failing to uncover the fact that the fire adept has mastered the principle powers is still your responsibility! There’s no need to explain yourself. The Association will help you recover the lifespan you lost through a magic ceremony as soon as possible. However……”

  Having said that, Domhnall paused for a moment and took out a dry cloth to wipe his glasses. The dark circles around his eyes were incredibly obvious. “I want you to keep a constant eye on Greem from now on. I want you to figure out everything he’s doing on a daily basis, with no exceptions. The Association will provide you with any resources and materials you require. However, if you dare say it’s an impossible task again……”

  Domhnall didn’t finish his threat, but his sinister gaze and cold expression said everything.

  Maztan shivered in fright. Finally, he lost all courage to argue and simply acknowledged the orders, “Very well! I need spacestones, Queen Lazear’s Cube, demonic dragon blood, and thirty girls between ages five and seven.”

  Upon seeing Domhnall’s gaze still fixed firmly on him, Maztan explained
with a hoarse voice, “I’m not trying to do anything debaucherous with the girls. It’s simply the minimum requirement for a blood ritual. It’s impossible to break through Alice’s Fate restrictions without the power of blood rituals.”

  Domhnall tilted his head and thought for a moment. He then nodded. However, before he left, he warned once again, “Maztan, restrain yourself a little! I know you have given up a lot doing divinations for the Association. However, understand where you stand. Given your innate potential, you would have been nothing without the Association’s sponsorship. You would be dirt, incapable of climbing to the heights where you now stand.

  “Since you’ve enjoyed the offerings of the Association, you must make necessary sacrifices at key moments. Otherwise, this position of the top diviner of the Association will have to change hands. Don’t forget; I have plenty of other diviners under me who have their sights set on your current position.

  “They are all hoping to contribute their powers and lives to the Association!”

  After leaving behind these words, Domhnall turned and left the stunned and pale Maztan behind in the room.

  …………

  Silver Union, the Silver Hall.

  Senate Head Salvinin abruptly stopped working on the documents at hand. He raised his head and sensed the ripples and shockwaves from the principles.

  As he frowned, a knocking came from the doors as Vice-Senate Head Melone came busting into the room.

  “Sir Senate Head, you’ve sensed it as well, haven’t you? Principle power…that is principle power!” Melone was clearly restless. He paced around furiously and waved his arms incessantly.

  “Alright, shush! I know already,” Salvini then lowered his head and continued working on the documents.

  “Oh, sir, that’s principle power! The conflict in the Central Lands has already reached the level of principles! What should we do? We need a plan.”