Mary felt a conflicted mix of joy and sorrow upon hearing this. She seemed to have been reminded of some difficult decision.
The other higher-ups of the Crimson Clan had no such concerns. They all seemed to be filled with envy and admiration for this news.
The clan leader’s pace was getting faster and faster, so fast that they could no longer keep up with him!
At the thought of this, everyone’s happy expressions turned more complicated. They sighed in resignation in their hearts but sincerely rejoiced for their clan leader at the same time.
A Great Adept was finally about to be born in the Crimson Clan!
Greem’s advancement to Fifth Grade was a tremendous glory for the Crimson Clan and the Crimson adepts. However, for Alice and Mary, it would mean a temporary parting from Greem.
They had spent most of the past hundreds of years on their own projects and business, only sometimes meeting up when they were free. However, they had all still been inside the same world. They could have met each other whenever they wanted. Naturally, they did not feel the same kind of concern and pining for their lover as if Greem had gone to the realms beyond.
Once Greem advanced to Fifth Grade, it would be time for him to leave!
When that happened, it would no longer be so easy to see him.
If the two girls couldn’t keep up with Greem, they would only be left further and further behind. When that happened, they would only be able to admire his radiance from the shadows, unable to approach him in the slightest.
The hostility between the two girls vanished without a trace at this thought.
Having obtained Alice’s word on the situation, Mary no longer insisted on going down for an investigation.
The two girls gathered and had a simple discussion. They then gave out a series of instructions.
With this lava lake at the center, a restricted zone twenty-five kilometers in radius was drawn out. No adepts outside of the Crimson Clan were allowed to enter this area. To ensure that Greem wasn’t disturbed by any external interference, a Mothership was kept stationed above the lava lake all year long, manned by high-grade adepts from the clan.
Meanwhile, Alice and Mary went to various places and began organizing the adepts of the Central Lands.
To their surprise, even though Greem remained absent, the Fourth Grades of the Central Lands did not show any hostility or resistance toward their instructions. In particular, the six veterans that had followed Greem to war genuinely revered the legendary fire adept.
Even Matthew and Nicolas, who had grudges with the Crimson Clan in the past, had changed their attitudes. They were eager and passionate about the unification and reorganization of the Central Lands.
All the Fourth Grades of the Central Lands agreed unanimously to reorganize the forces of the major clans around Horton Magic Academy to create the fourth major adept organization of the World of Adepts. Moreover, Horton Magic Academy would be a public adept organization with no restrictions on the nationality or species of the members who wished to join.
In doing so, many apprentices and adepts in the three major organizations’ territories would probably become eager to join.
However, it wasn’t so easy to accomplish such a colossal feat either!
There was the organization of the departments within Horton Magic Academy, the classification of subjects, staff hiring, workforce assignment, construction of resource sites, furnishing of laboratories, and internal allocation of resources. There were far too many tiny tasks that fell squarely on the shoulders of Mary, Alice, and the Crimson adepts.
The Central Lands had been known as Zhentarim in the past, a name that also represented the region’s loose organization where each prominent clan managed their own benefits and profits.
Now, they would all have to give up some of their territories, adept towers, and resources while also making sure the welfare of their clan members was still taken care of. Negotiations over these matters would not conclude so quickly.
The higher-ups of the Crimson Clan constantly traveled between the Fourth Grade organizations. Discussing, negotiating, compromising, trading- everyone was busy at work, giving their all for the establishment of the fourth major organization.
Finally, after five years of preparation and hard work, all of the negotiations came to an end. The Crimson Clan began to announce to the other three adept organizations that the Horton Magic Academy of the Central Lands was now officially the fourth major adept organization of the World of Adepts.
Its date of establishment? The fifth day of the eleventh month of the year 33,072.
Chapter 1429 - Academy Celebrations
Year 33,072 of the Era of Adepts; The fifth day of the eleventh month of the year.
Today was a great day destined to go down in the annals of history.
On this day, the fourth major adept organization of the World of Adepts was successfully established in the Central Lands. Its name? Horton Magic Academy.
Horton Magic Academy had been located near Ironwood City of Ailovis since its establishment. The territory that belonged to the academy was about one-fifth of Ailovis. It was a public academy open to everyone.
With the collaboration and merger of the numerous Fourth Grade organizations of the Central Lands, Horton Magic Academy had become an institution of immense size. The total amount of area it governed was over 70% of the total area of the Central Lands’ thirty-one regions.
The introduction of a large number of intermediate and low-grade adepts instantly provided Horton Magic Academy with a massive faculty. It was enough to make them exceed the Northern Lands and Silver Union to become the second most powerful adept organization in the World of Adepts.
Of course, every famous adept organization had to have a powerful adept that served as their soul and heart, a figure that the high-grade adepts could rally around. It was only when the higher-ups had been twisted together into a single united knot that the organization could become a singular entity that threatened all potential enemies.
The heart of Horton Magic Academy was undoubtedly the legendary fire adept, Greem!
Frankly speaking, it was all due to the overwhelming might of the legendary fire adept that the status quo in Central Lands had been shattered, the borders torn apart, and all the Fourth Grades brought under him.
Such a tremendous feat was unprecedented. You could not find another individual of such accomplishment, even if you rummaged through all the World of Adepts’ historical records. If you were to keep searching, the only individuals you would find that were comparable were probably the three powerful Great Adepts who had established the three major organizations in ancient times.
Moreover, those three powerful adepts had all become mighty Ninth Grade existences. They were leaders and pioneers respected by the entire adept civilization.
Many adepts talked in private to each other about whether this Legendary Fire Adept Greem would one day also become such a powerful and great adept!
These rumors only increased when people used their channels to find out the reason for Greem’s absence from the expansion and reorganization of Horton Magic Academy. It was because he had found the path toward Fifth Grade!
Perhaps the next time the legendary fire adept showed himself would be when he became a Great Adept!
That meant the newly established Horton Magic Academy was fully backed by a future Great Adept.
A Fifth Grade Great Adept that could still remain in the World of Adepts for the moment.
In all honesty, there was no greater backing than this!
It was probably the key reason why the three major adept organizations had not attempted to stop Horton Magic Academy’s establishment.
They even sent representatives to participate in the founding ceremony!
…………
Ironwood City.
Headquarters of Horton Magic Academy.
Ever since the eleventh month started, Ironwood City had been a sea of cheer and joy.
Horton Magic Academy had expanded, and Ironwood City had become a holy city for adepts, famous across the continent. Voodoo beasts sprinted across the road alongside goblin vehicles while ferocious birds soared in the skies, all of them carrying adepts on their backs.
Even the pedestrians who filled the streets to the brim, pacing here and there, were all adepts.
This place had become a world of adepts. Every corner, every inch of space, was filled with the silhouettes of the adepts. Meanwhile, those who served as waiters and attendants here were adept apprentices from all over the world who had come here to pursue magical studies.
The size of Horton Magic Academy had also exceeded the usual size for an ordinary adept organization. It took up every inch of space within fifty kilometers of Ironwood City. Magical halls, libraries, alchemy labs, magical machine factories, and magic training facilities had been built all over the land, scattered around Ironwood City.
An apprentice that came to Horton Magic Academy would take months just to familiarize themselves with all the magical facilities available inside the academy. They would have to find themselves hawkstriders or goblin cars to travel freely from one building to another.
Otherwise, they would spend most of their day simply running between libraries and labs!
After the remodeling of Horton Magic Academy, Ironwood City had become a city of magical machines. Magic energy pools could be seen all over the place, along with magical-machine rental centers and magical-machine factories. The convenience and wonder of magical machines had been turned into part of everyday life.
However, due to the excessive number of adepts present in the city, the magic-energy radiation had reached an unhealthy level. Though most of the radiation was filtered by purification arrays, there was still enough of it to injure an ordinary person badly. As such, the only ones who could step within fifty kilometers of Ironwood City were adept apprentices or adepts.
Of course, as Horton Magic Academy’s name spread far and wide, the academy started to select the more excellent and intelligent individuals that could be found amongst the one hundred and twenty-seven lesser planes that were part of the academy assets. These individuals were allowed to enter the academy and study as students.
In doing so, a large group of unusual foreign students of various species and appearances suddenly appeared in Ironwood City.
To ensure that the number of foreign students wasn’t too excessive, Horton Magic Academy gave out a quota of fifteen students to every lesser plane under their rule. Moreover, these students had to be under the age of thirty, with special exceptions for certain races.
Any human in the World of Adepts, as long as they had elementium talent and the potential to become apprentice adepts, were allowed to join the academy. Of course, the natives of the lesser planes did not enjoy such welfare.
Almost every single foreign student selected from the natives were prodigies of their generation.
Moreover, to obtain one of the few spots to go to the World of Adepts to study, these students were almost always subjected to bloody and cruel bouts of elimination with other competitors.
There were prodigies to be found almost every year, but there were only so many quotas provided.
The lesser planes often had their own classes of nobles and peasants. Naturally, the more important nobles were always eager to send their children and relatives into the esteemed World of Adepts to obtain the most excellent magic education.
After all, even if the students failed to become adepts, the network and social relationships they established during their study would easily allow them to become part of the ruling class after they returned.
This method of ‘gilding’ the students with acclaim was undoubtedly the easiest way for the foreign nobles to become more acquainted with adepts and the adept class!
Consequently, every foreign student that could survive the competition and distinguish themselves was an individual of excellent skill and potential. They had only lacked the opportunity to prove themselves.
Now, Horton Magic Academy gave them this opportunity they so badly needed!
The higher-ups of the academy did not discriminate among the students of the academy; everyone was treated fairly and equally. As long as they took enough credits and completed the academy missions assigned to them, the academy was sure to provide them with the resources they needed to develop themselves further.
Whether they could succeed and become adepts depended on their luck and their ability!
Due to this impartial method of doing things and the tremendous amount of resources at their disposal, Horton Magic Academy was able to quickly cultivate their first batch of adepts within these five years of its reorganization.
Some of these adepts were even foreign students who had now successfully integrated themselves into the adepts.
Today, the fifth day of the eleventh month, was the moment Horton Magic Academy was officially declared as established. It was also a great day for all the adepts and apprentices who had been living in Ironwood City for the past five years to rejoice and celebrate!
…………
Ironwood City.
Inside the academy’s adept tower that loomed at the very center of the city.
Mary wore an intricate and beautiful adept’s robe as she stood silently on the highest floor. She looked calmly through the window down at the city, neat as a chessboard, and the crowd that crawled through its tidy streets like tiny ants.
Four beautiful elven maids were carefully helping her put on the unusually complicated accessories behind her.
Each magical accessory glowed with a faint magical light. When they were all equipped, the accessories resonated with the runic array on Mary’s robe, creating a beautiful, radiant effect.
Mary’s power had been improving rapidly ever since she assimilated the Nightmare Castle.
These elven maids could sense magic radiation prickling their skin just by standing beside her. More terrifying, the blood laws and Nightmare Halo that Mary possessed were all very invasive.
You would start bleeding out and fall into nightmares just by staying around her for more than fifteen minutes.
Thus, the only ones who served Mary at her side were elves of Second Grade and above.
While Mary was observing Ironwood City, seemingly in thought, Emelia stood by the side. She was already intermediate Third Grade now. She held a large pile of documents in her hand and was softly reading out reports on the founding ceremony’s arrangements.
“……”
“The Silver Union’s representative is Vice-Senate Head Melone. He is accompanied by……the gifts they presented include……currently, they have been arranged to stay at Embassy Seven and are being received by Lord Alfred and Isa!
“The Northern Lands’ representative is Deceit Witch Leader Angeline, who is accompanied by……the gifts presented include……currently, they are arranged to stay at Embassy Nine and are being received by Lord Kerala and Lilia!”
Mary listened silently. She then asked without turning her head.
“And the Adept’s Association?”
“No news as of yet.”
It was less than an hour until the start of the ceremony, and there was still no news from the Adept’s Association’s side. Their attitude couldn’t be clearer!
Mary snorted coldly and said nothing else.
Emelia lifted her head and took a subtle glance before continuing her report.
“The Seafolk, the Underground World, and the Storm Kingdom have also sent their own representatives. I have instructed people to receive them.
“The preparations for the celebrations are all complete. We will require Lady Mary to be there personally to host the ceremonies.
“The approximate flow of events is as such……”
“……”
Chapter 1430 - Old and New Crimson
“My lady, all the representatives are present and awaiting your arrival!”
The door at
the end of the hall opened. Meryl, the other figure of authority in the Crimson Clan, walked in wearing a perfectly tailored adept’s robe made of an incredibly soft material. She bowed and paid her respects to Mary.
The two of them had been the closest of sisters in the past. However, as Mary grew stronger and stronger, the massive gulf in power between the two of them had cemented their positions as superior and subordinate.
Given the Crimson Clan’s wealth now, they would have no problem pushing both Meryl and Emelia to Fourth Grade. However, that was the limit of the clan’s power. Every step above Fourth Grade was a complicated and drawn-out process that couldn’t be accomplished with a simple accumulation of resources.
The two prideful women were also incredibly confident in themselves. Consequently, even as they were swamped with the numerous clan affairs, they still found time to improve and train themselves further.
Meryl was only advanced Third Grade at the moment, while Emelia was only intermediate Third Grade. Their grades were not very impressive, but their future potential was quite considerable.
At the very least, both of them had confidence that they would be able to advance to Fourth Grade with their own power!
It was an attitude and belief they had taken on for the sake of achieving greater heights in the future.
According to all the past data that adepts had collected, those who had been able to advance to Fourth Grade under their own power were the only ones who had a chance of advancing even further. Those who pushed into Fourth Grade with the accumulation of resources should count themselves fortunate if they could rise to intermediate Fourth Grade.
“The time is upon us. Let us leave!” Mary turned around, looking at the two women awaiting her. She nodded and walked out of the hall.
Everyone waiting outside the hall was a higher-up of the Crimson Clan.
Standing at the very front of the procession measuring only a single meter tall was Goblin Sage Snorlax, dressed in a luxurious formal suit. As the most veteran of the goblins who followed Greem, he was almost three hundred years old. It was comparable to a human being eight hundred years old. It was also a record for the oldest goblin in history.
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