Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Secondly, this attempt by the Adept’s Association to suppress the Crimson Clan had not achieved its desired effect.

  The ultra-powerhouse had arrived and was forced to leave, while Greem remained in his Nightmare Castle, still lively enough to send messengers to the various clans to demand resources.

  It severely disappointed the fence-sitters waiting for some sort of change to occur. They wanted to reject the Crimson Clan’s unreasonable demands, but without a leader to guide their resistance, no individual Fourth Grade clan or adept dared to disobey the legendary fire adept.

  He was a powerful adept that even an ultra-powerhouse could not do anything about, after all!

  Chapter 1349 - The Gem of Strength

  Greem sat silently inside the magical room.

  The intricate leather coat he wore perfectly outlined his muscular figure. The fire dragon hide that had undergone numerous treatment processes no longer had the flashy, fiery effects it used to have. The power it possessed was much more contained and subtle now.

  It was hard to sense the presence of any fire energy from this leather coat from a simple glance. Even Greem’s typically overwhelming fire aura was restrained, making him seem like an ordinary man.

  The Tome of Corruption placed before Greem flipped of its own accord, the thick and heavy pages rustling as they moved. Every time Greem thought of a certain spell or array in his mind, the Tome of Corruption flipped to that page and waited for him to read its contents.

  The Libram of Wisdom, the former incarnation of the Tome of Corruption, was truly the best companion for a spellcaster!

  It contained knowledge on all sorts of things, covering power systems from adept magic, demonic magic, divine magic, arcane magic, and many other systems. You could find almost any knowledge you sought in its pages.

  It was the most powerful aspect of the Tome of Corruption.

  Its fundamental purpose wasn’t as a weapon in combat but as a treasure trove of knowledge!

  However, what frustrated Greem was the fact that he wasn’t the original owner of the Libram of Wisdom. He had only forcibly devoured the Libram using his Soul Equipment. Even now, Greem did not possess the right to read the Tome of Corruption’s contents freely.

  Every time he opened the Tome of Corruption, the content and knowledge he could access were completely random and different. They were like tiny, jumbled shards. Every time he flipped the pages, Greem could only see a small piece of the puzzle of specific high-grade knowledge. Greem would have to continuously offer up his Spirit in order to obtain more and more fragments of knowledge in hopes of getting the complete picture.

  Some knowledge fragments were incredibly valuable, while others were utter nonsense. If Greem wanted to obtain valuable knowledge, he could only continuously offer up his Spirit, testing his luck over and over, accumulating and piecing the knowledge together, bit by bit.

  At some point, when he obtained all the knowledge fragments, he would be able to restore the full picture of high-grade knowledge!

  That was why Greem’s favorite activity to do in his free time was to take out the Tome of Corruption and try his hand.

  His luck was quite good today!

  The Tome of Corruption sat in front of him, a spark of purple light suspended above its pages in a bubble. As Greem offered up a point of Spirit, the Tome of Corruption rustled and flipped rapidly, finally stopping on a page.

  It was a new method of utilizing the Tome of Corruption that Greem had just discovered.

  By offering up his Spirit with a specific object as the target, the Tome of Corruption would automatically appraise and display the information it had on the item. The amount of Spirit offered up in this process determined the detail in the information that Greem would get.

  With his 44 points of Spirit, 1 point was practically nothing. He could recover that amount with just half an hour of meditation.

  With the investment of one point of Spirit, Greem felt a slight sting in his mind. The Tome of Corruption had extracted some of his Spirit.

  A short line of words appeared on the page.

  “……the power of conviction……”

  Four words. He had sacrificed a point of Spirit for a four-word response from the Tome of Corruption?

  Greem could barely believe his eyes.

  A single point of Spirit might not sound like a lot, but that was one point of Spirit from an intermediate Fourth Grade legendary fire adept. Converted into fire spells, that would be eight ordinary fireballs, four Magma Fireballs, two Vicious Fireballs, and half a Blazing Fireball.

  If this point of Spirit were used on the battlefield, it would be enough to wipe out a mortal army of two to three hundred elite soldiers fully equipped with magic-resistant armor.

  However, such powerful Spirit, when used to identify the purple light, had only obtained a four-word response. Greem couldn’t help but be terrified.

  The only explanation for this situation was that the purple light’s origin was not simple at all. It very likely involved the ultra-grade artifact in Gloria’s possession. That was why the tome would have classified information on the purple light so highly, so much so that even Greem was shocked.

  However, the more ‘expensive’ the information, the more valuable it would be for Greem!

  After a slight pause, Greem sacrificed another 8 points of his Spirit.

  These 8 points of Spirit were one-fifth of Greem’s total Spirit. To have so much Spirit extracted from him all at once felt like a large hole had been cut open in his mind, his brains left to pour out from within.

  A short moment later, the pages flipped and slowly stopped on a blank page. Several short lines of words started to appear.

  “This substance is a mutation of the power of conviction, composed of refined magic energy and powerful spiritual will. Its manifested attribute is neutral energy that can be regarded as ‘physical’ damage.”

  Greem scratched his head when he was done reading.

  He had paid such a heavy price, sacrificing eight points of Spirit, and all he obtained was information he already knew. That…had been a rather pointless exchange, hadn’t it!?

  Greem couldn’t help but grit his teeth at this thought. His Spirit connected with the Tome of Corruption once more. This time, he offered up twenty points of Spirit altogether.

  Twenty points; that was practically half of Greem’s total Spirit.

  The moment Greem gave the instruction to sacrifice his Spirit, he let out a terrible yelp. He clutched his head and remained tensed up in pain for a long while.

  He was a human, after all. He was not a machine, much less a cake that one could freely cut up as one liked. A human had blood and flesh. The Spirit, in particular, was a rather fragile construct.

  In a battlefield, an adept would usually output Spirit at a stable rate, drawing in the wandering magic energy to construct powerful spells. It was a gradual process, and the backlash inflicted on the spellcaster was much more tolerable.

  Greem was having half of his total Spirit extracted all at once. He would probably have been stunned or even rendered unconscious if not for his extremely resilient mind.

  After half a day, Greem finally recovered from his groggy state. He was able to focus and read the knowledge fragment being projected by the Tome of Corruption.

  Object Name: Seed of Conviction

  Item Classification: Mutated Conviction Power

  Item Attribute: Neutral

  Item Origin: Combination of refined magic energy and powerful Spiritual will

  “Analysis Results: This power originates from a peak Fourth Grade lifeform, currently estimated to be a member of the World of Adepts. By continually refining and concentrating their life energy, the user can turn life energy into their own magic power. Then, by guiding that power through some unknown force, the user was able to combine it with their own conviction power, creating the potent Seed of Conviction.

  “The Seed of Conviction contains tremendous physical pow
er and the host’s conviction of being ‘Unstoppable.’ When activated, the Seed can manifest in the form of Strength, absorbing wandering magic energy or host’s life energy to strengthen itself.

  “Note: As the Seed of Conviction contains the spiritual will of its host, it can be manipulated by the host while within a certain range. Manifested characteristics of the Seed of Conviction include: directional energy eruption, delayed activation, energy resonance, and many more.

  “The attribute of the Seed of Conviction is neutral, manifested as ‘physical’ damage. The Seed of Conviction manifests with a purple-black hue and contains the power of Fifth Grade energy equipment. Initial estimates suggest this artifact is…the Gem of Strength!”

  A bunch of information flooded into Greem’s mind as a stream of data. It was then organized by the Chip to be stored for future research.

  The source of the purple light’s power was Gloria’s life energy. She had combined that life energy with magic energy to further enhance its power, before adding in her own spiritual will. Thus, a unique Seed of Conviction was created, a unique manifestation of power!

  What grabbed Greem’s attention the most was undoubtedly the Fifth Grade artifact that made all this possible.

  The Gem of Strength. What was that thing? He had never heard of such an item. Could it be an artifact or treasure from another world?

  Even though the Tome of Corruption did not provide specific information on the Gem of Strength, Greem would have a much easier time uncovering information with this name in mind.

  However, it was clearly impossible to obtain any more knowledge for today!

  He had sacrificed a total of 29 points of Spirit already. It was a tremendous burden, even for Greem. He might have completed the elementiumization of his body and Spirit, but the preservation of his flesh body had left him with the various flaws of a human.

  He could avoid physical damage in combat through his body’s energy transformations and the projection of his power. However, he still had to endure the various inconveniences of a human body in daily life.

  The human body was simply far too frail compared to other magical creatures!

  It had a complicated intestinal system, an outdated digestive system, a fragile respiratory system, frail bones, and insufficiently protected organs. Any two of these things already made it impossible to sustain a large body, not to mention the fact that humans lacked an effective energy storage organ.

  Truly, there were only flaws and imperfections in the human body.

  An ordinary human could only be a planar creature. They could not venture outside of the plane, as they were incredibly dependent on having a stable and gentle environment.

  Adepts were able to venture into the multiverse despite their origins as humans because of their legacy of knowledge and the supernatural power they had discovered.

  If adepts were unable to draw power from their environment and had to rely on their own bodies’ pitiful energy reserves, they would be tens, if not hundreds, of times weaker!

  A clever mind and an unbroken legacy of knowledge were perhaps the foundations for the adept civilization’s continued growth and strength.

  Chapter 1350 - The Sudden Magic Surge

  The Central Lands. An outpost of the Adept’s Association.

  Gloria’s furious shouting echoed throughout the underground castle, reverberating within the dark tunnels and causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

  “Domhnall is a bastard…Maztan is an even bigger bastard. The whole Association is filled with bastards. To think they couldn’t even manage simple information-gathering. Tell Domhnall to summon Reese back from space…if that’s impossible, then Thor is fine as well.”

  The overseer of this outpost, who was no more than intermediate Third Grade, stood around awkwardly. He stuttered in front of the raging Gloria, unable to find words to explain himself. His two assistants listened to Gloria’s rant carefully as if they were ready to spring to action immediately.

  The other Association adepts in the outpost knew well enough to hide in their rooms. No one dared to show themselves at this moment and expose themselves to Adept Gloria’s fury. Even the voodoo beasts patrolling the outpost shuddered and returned to their lairs in fright.

  For a moment, this Association outpost hidden under the Anris Mountains fell utterly silent. Only Gloria’s furious shouting could be heard.

  After a long while, Gloria’s anger finally subsided, slightly. Overseer Cassidy Peyton finally spoke up gingerly, “My lady, it’s not as if the Association has been remaining idle. I heard…I heard……”

  “Spit it out if you have something to say. Don’t stutter in front of me.”

  “I heard that Lord Maztan was gravely injured over this affair. His life is hanging in the balance!”

  “Oh?” Even Gloria was stunned for a moment when she heard this.

  Maztan might be a perverted bastard, but his mastery of divination was unrivaled. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to monopolize the top floor of the Tower of Observation for as long as three hundred years.

  These diviners had always been precious babies of the Association. The Association would never let any harm come to them. That was why the only injury that Maztan could possibly suffer as the chief diviner was from Fate backlash.

  The fact that the highly protected Chief Diviner Maztan could be struck by Fate backlash was more than enough proof that Legendary Fire Adept Greem was protected by tremendous Fate powers. The Association’s report seemed to have mentioned that the individual behind this Fate power was the Witch of Fate Alice, who had only appeared two hundred years ago.

  These people who grasped the powers of Fate might be far weaker than an ultra-powerhouse like Gloria, but even Gloria would not want to make an enemy out of them.

  The reason was simple. Gloria just didn’t want to make trouble for herself!

  These unusual spellcasters who bowed before Fate might not be very powerful, but they had extraordinarily unique and fearsome abilities. As long as they were willing to pay the price, there was nothing that they could not find out within the planar world.

  Given the current circumstances, it was obvious that that bastard Maztan was not a match for that little witch in the north!

  “Hmph! To think he can’t even beat a little witch that’s young enough to be his great-granddaughter. It’s better if he died. He’s not the only diviner in the Association. We might even get a better chief diviner if he dies,” Gloria was still cursing relentlessly.

  Maztan had intruded on her privacy several times before. If it were not for the fact that they were both Association adepts, Gloria would have killed him a hundred times over. Even just running into Maztan disgusted her greatly. Maztan would have had no concept of restraint if she didn’t beat it into him.

  That was why Gloria would always fracture every single bone in Maztan’s body when they met. As long as she didn’t damage his brain, the Association could heal up any of his injuries, regardless of how bad they were.

  Injuries inflicted by Fate backlash were the one things that the Association couldn’t help with!

  Cassidy Peyton pretended not to have heard Gloria’s curses. He didn’t dare respond either.

  “You; contact headquarters immediately and have Domhnall send over Olivia, Neve, and Horner. As long as they help me keep Khesuna in check, I can capture Greem myself!” Gloria seemed to be very upset over her failure a few days ago. She was still shouting.

  “Doesn’t that mean we are declaring war with the Northern Witches?” Cassidy Peyton instantly started sweating, his face turning pale.

  The Northern Witches were had indeed run into a problem of withering talent over the past thousand years. Several famous witch branches had fallen into ruin. However, a starving camel was still larger than a horse. The Northern Witches were still one of the three major organizations, after all. There were two or three witches at ultra-powerhouse level remaining in the Northern Lands.

  This
amount of power might not be enough for them to make advances onto another organization’s territory, but it was more than enough for them to defend their own!

  That was why Central Lands Overseer Peyton could only gulp nervously when he heard Gloria’s words.

  Ultra-powerhouses. The Adept’s Association had no more than five of them. That was equal to the total number of ultra-powerhouses between the Silver Union and the Northern Witches. Gloria was ranked second among these five ultra-powerhouses. It wasn’t hard to imagine the sheer power and influence she possessed.

  However, the hierarchical structure of the Adept’s Association was slightly different from a conventional adept organization. Even an ultra-powerhouse like Gloria often had to obey orders from Domhnall, who was just an intermediate Fourth Grade.

  Though ultra-powerhouses like Gloria were highly revered and treated well within the Association, they did not have as much influence in matters that decided the future of the Association as Domhnall did.

  They were essentially executioners. No matter how good the benefits or how high their positions, they would always have to listen to Vice-Chairman Domhnall’s instructions.

  The reason for that was simple. The Association was an association for all adepts, not an association for a few powerful individual adepts!

  That was why Gloria could only throw her words around when it came to a matter like declaring war with the Northern Witches. It wasn’t her place to make such an important decision.

  “I will relay your request to the Association as best as I can. However,” Cassidy paused and said in a soft voice, “The Association is unlikely to take any big actions in the short term. You might not know this, but while you were fighting with Greem, important news came from headquarters. A magic surge is coming soon!”

  “A magic surge?” Gloria paused for a moment and said, “Shouldn’t there be another five hundred years until the next magic surge? What is the hurry?”