Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  There only seemed to be a single class in the Fire Elementium Plane, and that was the ‘wanderer!’

  From the moment fire elementals were born of flames, they continually wandered and roamed the world. They would stay at a place for eternity once they found a home that suited them. If they couldn’t find it, they would wander for eternity until the consciousness in their core dissipated and reduced them to unsequenced fire energy again.

  That was why the Fire Elementium Plane was said to remain in a chaotic, primitive state of society. There was no greater or larger concept of a kingdom, nor even the idea to form groups or alliances. At the very best, fire creatures of the same species would live together, creating a loose regional clan.

  Meanwhile, the more powerful fire creatures would gather a bunch of subordinates around themselves to use as servants. The more capable ones would become Fire Lords. Above them were the Fire Kings, and at the very top of the pyramid were the Fire Hierarchs.

  Still, all of them shared the same system of governance– that of a master and servants. The Fire Kings and Fire Hierarchs owned more land and therefore controlled more servants.

  Fundamentally, their system of governance was the exact same as the Fire Lords!

  There was no concept of country or region. Moreover, elementium creatures did not even have to labor to fulfill their daily needs. All they had to do to survive was absorb some fire elementium as they wandered around. Naturally, this meant that there was no point in developing specializations or classes.

  The consequence of this was that Greem would have to hire architects from elsewhere and bring in materials if he wanted to build an adept tower here; the local fire elementium creatures could only serve as laborers. Moreover, they would be the lowest of all laborers, capable of little more than simple work that demanded brute force!

  Having made up his mind, Greem hastily sent Lasbes out to exterminate the surrounding Fire Lords.

  Given the Emberweb broodmother’s ability, a group of Third Grade fire lords was absolutely no match. There should be no surprises there. As for the more powerful Fourth Grade Fire Lords? They could be left alone for the moment until Greem had the time to deal with them.

  After dealing with all that, Greem left a fire mark by the lava lake. He then casually tore space apart and returned to Camp Exodar.

  Greem’s destination upon arrival was still the same ultra-long-range teleportation array hidden within the Capital of Steel.

  When Greem walked out of the teleportation room, Sock was already waiting respectfully for him.

  “What is it? Is there a matter?” Greem’s Spirit was incredibly sensitive. He instantly picked up on Sock’s unusual behavior.

  “Indeed, master!” Split-Brain Sock might be arrogant and prideful with a personality just as bad as his predecessor, but he dared not show any signs of disrespect to this increasingly powerful legendary fire adept. “Recently, quite a few people have been asking about your whereabouts in the camp!”

  “Oh, and who are these people?” Greem suddenly stopped walking and asked solemnly.

  “Not veterans in the camp. Most of them are powerhouses from all over the galaxy. They aren’t very powerful. There are Third, Second, and even First Grades amongst them. However, they go around asking for your information upon arrival, with special concern to your location.”

  “Were you able to find out their identities?” Greem smiled coldly. He already had an idea of who they were.

  “They come from all over the galaxy and from various planes. However, they all share one characteristic.”

  “They are believers of the Fire God?” Greem chuckled as he interrupted with a question of his own.

  “Almost all of them. Even the occasional non-believer is a galaxy mercenary of some sort.”

  Greem thought for a moment before suddenly asking, “What is the relationship between the adept faction and the World of Gods out here in the realms beyond?”

  “It’s very messy! Just as you understand, the adept faction has never been a single united front. The strategy taken toward the other forces is always affected and influenced by the more powerful adepts. Some adepts prefer to have the World of Gods as their target and often raid the gods’ planar worlds. Meanwhile, other adepts have secret agreements with the World of Gods and work together on conquests against the elves, the gazers, or the dragons. In fact, some would even work together with the gods to deal with another adept!”

  Sock explained the situation in space to Greem as they walked.

  The Capital of Steel had become a private trading spot of sorts in its two hundred years of establishment near Camp Exodar. They had managed to procure their own sources of information. This stream of trivial, uncertain news–mixed with rumors–was combined with the information that Greem had procured through more public means, allowing him to outline an approximate direction in which the adept faction was developing toward.

  From an overall perspective, the adept faction were not builders. They were destroyers!

  The adept faction was almost simultaneously at war with the Gazing Empire, the Dragons, the Elven Empire, the World of Gods, the Elementium Planes, the Abyssal World, and the Shadow World. Of course, these wars weren’t all declared in the name of the entire adept faction. Most of them were personal wars waged by small adept organizations or powerful individual adepts.

  Much like an octopus reaching out in every direction with its tentacles, the most powerful adepts of the adept faction were picking their enemies based on their personal liking.

  For instance, if an adept lacked dragon resources, he would encourage and guide the weaker adepts to attack the dragon’s territory. The lower-grade adepts would then invade the dragon planes, hunt down low and intermediate-grade dragons, and take whatever resource they wanted with them.

  Through this process, the superior adept would be able to obtain the resources and materials they desired. The subordinate adepts would receive their protection, as well as some other benefits. Both parties got what they wanted, making for a win-win scenario.

  However, the fury of the dragons incited during this process would be taken on by the entirety of the adept faction!

  Superior adepts who wanted to conduct research on a demon’s bloodline would rally adepts and break into the Abyssal World, waging numerous wars against the Abyssal Lords there. Whether the mighty forces of the Abyssal World were something that the adept faction could weather was not something they cared about.

  Indeed, one had to admit that Split-Brain Sock’s evaluation was quite accurate.

  The adept faction’s policy toward the other forces resembled a hydra. The countless heads would snap their jaws and bite at any piece of meat that came close to them, while lacking any sense of a clear and defined overall strategy!

  In all honesty, if their enemies weren’t in the same chaotic state, the adept faction would have been in deep, deep trouble.

  Believers of the Fire God.

  Hehehe, it seemed like Fire God Sinai had his eyes on him again!

  Greem could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

  It couldn’t be helped. The Orb of the Fire God was an invaluable treasure that he would never part with. There was no resolving the conflict between him and Fire God Sinai.

  As a Seventh Grade god, Sinai was somewhat well-known even in the World of Gods. He possessed numerous subordinate gods below him. Greem felt his scalp buzz when he was the target of such an individual. He could feel his heart beat wildly.

  He had been hiding in the World of Adepts before this. Sinai could not have done anything to him, no matter how powerful he was. Now that Greem had stepped out of the planar world into space, Sinai held plenty of options to deal with him.

  Directly attacking Camp Exodar was little more than a joke, of course.

  Camp Exodar was protected by a Seventh Grade Great Adept; the camp itself had a decent military force. If Sinai had truly gone mad enough to come all the way here seeking vengeance, Greem
would probably break out smiling in his sleep.

  If attacking Exodar directly wouldn’t work, then the most effective means was to track down Greem and set up an ambush.

  Greem would have to be extremely cautious when venturing out. He would have to avoid giving his enemies a chance to catch him alone. Otherwise, any simple Sixth Grade vassal god or clone would be able to kill him!

  It was out of these concerns that Greem gave up on Camp Exodar and chose to set down a residence in the Fire Elementium Plane.

  The reason for that was simple. Camp Exodar was a place with too many shadows where his enemies could hide. It was hard to defend against an arrow fired from behind. Meanwhile, the Fire Elementium Plane was a decent place to stay, given that Greem could choose to leave the place at any time.

  He would be overthinking the issue if he believed that Sinai would come to the Fire Elementium Plane to find trouble with him.

  After all, a fire god was basically an elixir of immortality for all high-grade fire creatures. If Sinai dared come anywhere close to this lion’s den or just sent just vassal gods or clones, the Fire Lords would definitely go berserk.

  What made fire gods a target for the Fire Lords was the divine authority within their bodies. That was the highest class of fire-energy converter that could be used on any fire creature.

  A perfect fire god divine authority could raise any Fourth Grade fire creature directly to Fifth Grade. Even a divine authority fragment could improve a fire creature’s power to a great extent.

  For instance, the fire god divine authority fragment that Greem obtained would have been enough to push a fire creature of beginner-apprentice level directly to peak Fourth Grade. The terrifying ability of divine authority couldn’t be more obvious.

  Because of the power and rarity of the divine authority fragment, Greem couldn’t bear to use it just to improve his powers. Instead, he left it in the light clone and hid it in the World of Adepts.

  He wasn’t stupid enough to bring the divine authority fragment with him, much less into the Fire Elementium Plane. If he actually did that, Fire King Groms would probably strike at him the instant he sensed the aura of the divine authority fragment.

  Friendship…camaraderie.

  These hollow words were worth nothing before the promise of tremendous benefit!

  Greem had not possessed the qualification to study an object like a divine authority fragment before reaching Fifth Grade. Now that he had become a Fifth Grade Great Adept, he needed to find a safe and secluded hiding spot for himself. He could then finally begin the research topics that he had put aside all this while.

  Chapter 1448 - Martin’s Sigh

  Naturally, Greem couldn’t leave the matter of constructing a personal adept tower to some outsider!

  Should the tower’s location be leaked, Greem’s almighty enemies would be able to locate him at any time. As such, he could only leave this task to Sock. The split-brain was responsible for organizing all matters related to the tower’s construction.

  However, the environment in the Fire Elementium Plane was too poor. Ordinary creatures couldn’t survive there at all. Most of the construction work could only be left to the construction magical-machines. These construction machines would have to undergo special modifications to increase their fire resistance in order to adapt to the harsh environment of the Fire Elementium Plane.

  Moreover, given Greem’s current identity as a Fifth Grade Great Adept, an ordinary small or mid-sized tower would not allow him to unleash his full power. It was a given that this would have to be a large adept tower.

  After handing over the coordinates to Sock, Greem hesitated for a moment but finally decided to pay a visit to Great Adept Sarubo.

  It was time to settle his ties and grudges with the Sarubo Clan!

  …………

  Fifteen minutes later, Greem appeared in front of a tall adept tower in Camp Exodar.

  All sorts of people were entering and exiting from the entryway on the first floor. These were all adepts, wearing robes and armor of various designs. They might be of different grades and classes, but they all wore a strange metal emblem on their chest.

  Whenever they passed through the defensive barrier, a flash of blue light would shine on the emblem. It seemed to be some sort of identification system.

  Meanwhile, two seven-meter-tall mithril statues stood silently on both sides of the door. A series of magical gemstones were embedded in the center of their humanoid heads. These gemstones continually scanned the adepts that passed through the entrance.

  With their indestructible bodies and violent metal fists, one could imagine how these two Fourth Grade mithril statues would give an invader an unforgettable memory should anyone try to enter without an emblem.

  Mithril statues were large metal magical statues made mostly out of powerful magical alloy and coated with a layer of mithril. They could endure any elementium magic below Fourth Grade and only took half damage from Fourth Grade magical attacks.

  Such powerful metal golems were practically invincible against adepts below Fourth Grade. Even Fourth Grade adepts would have a hard time against these constructs.

  These two mithril golems might only appear to be beginner Fourth Grade, but they were far superior to Shadow Demon when it came to charging on the frontlines and taking enemy attacks.

  If one were to be brutally honest, even two intermediate Fourth Grade Shadow Demons put together would not be a match for a single one of these mithril statues. The reason for it was simple. They were designed for different purposes.

  These tough-skinned giant magical statues with potent magic immunity were the natural enemies of spellcasters. Therefore, an assassin-type magical-machine like Shadow Demon was even less of a match for them.

  However, Shadow Demon was superior to these mithril statues when it came to stealth and assassination.

  At the very least, spellcasters like Greem were always more fearful of golems like Shadow Demon and less concerned about mithril statues. The fundamental reason for this was that the mithril statues were too large and clumsy. They were often unable to be used to their full effectiveness in many situations.

  As such, giant golems like the mithril statues could only be used as guards for critical magical facilities. It wasn’t easy to bring them along for expeditions.

  The numerous magical gemstone eyes of the two mithril golems locked on to Greem when he approached the entrance. They creaked and started moving.

  “Halt! Report your identity,” The mithril statue on the left moved into Greem’s path. A booming mechanical voice came from within it.

  The movements of the mithril statues immediately drew the attention of the adepts. Their bodies trembled when their gaze fell upon Greem. Shock and surprise flashed over their faces.

  “It’s the legendary fire adept!”

  “It’s him…it’s him.”

  At that moment, a mental fluctuation rippled over the mithril statues, and a low and hoarse voice spoke up.

  “Just as I expected, it’s you, Greem. Very well, you can come in now. I will be waiting for you in Hall Nine!”

  Judging from the voice, it was Fifth Grade Adept Sainz, whom Greem had met once before.

  As an adept, they could remember anything they had set eyes upon and recall anything they had heard. If it was needed, some adepts could even etch certain especially important scenes deep in their consciousness so that they could repeatedly recall them for appreciation and examination.

  It was one of the many benefits of adepts having powerful Spirits!

  The mithril statue stepped aside, and the barrier in front of the tower opened.

  Greem looked at the crowd around him and walked in calmly.

  A group of adepts hastily ran over the moment he entered the tower.

  The leader of the group was a familiar acquaintance of Greem’s as well. It was Fourth Grade Adept Martin.

  A group of high-grade adepts wearing executor robes followed behind him.
>
  “Greem…Lord Greem, very glad to see you. I’m here to show you the way on orders of Lord Sainz!” Two hundred years had passed, but Martin was still as tall and handsome as ever. However, Martin appeared a little awkward and at a loss, having so abruptly run into an ‘old friend’ who he now had to refer to as ‘Lord.’

  “I appreciate Sainz’s consideration!” Greem smiled and said. “Since that’s the case, let us talk while we walk!”

  “Yes!”

  Greem ignored the Second and Third Grade executors of the tower and walked into the building under Martin’s lead.

  “Have you been staying in the tower all these years? Why not go back to the Central Lands for a look?” Greem asked curiously.

  “I can’t go back, nor would I want to!” Martin sighed. “People like me are not good at managing affairs and can’t be bothered to deal with those Zhentarim bastards. So, I might as well hide in this camp in space where no one can tell me what to do. It’s a pretty unrestrained life I have here.”

  “Then your family and friends…?”

  “I might look young, but I am already over seven hundred years old. The only direct descendants I left behind in Zhentarim died out three hundred years ago. The other branch descendants use my name as a banner, but if you were to really go into it, they aren’t all that related to me anymore.” Having said that, Martin couldn’t help but let out a resentful sigh. “I can’t be bothered to deal with them either. Just let them be!”

  “And the others in this tower?”

  “Their situations are similar to mine. Some have lost their bloodline, others have conflicts with those in Zhentarim, and some others prefer the quiet here. The situations differ slightly, but after all this time out here, no one exactly has a mind to return to that small and narrow world.”

  Greem nodded when he heard this. He could somewhat understand their plight.