Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Greem raised an eyebrow and stepped forward in front of the young female adept. He faced the tide of spiritual pressure with absolute composure.

  Without any hesitation, the Spirit that Greem radiated gathered into a silver shield in front of him. The four principle auras within him also manifested, turning into four strange, glowing runes as they attached themselves to the shield of light.

  Boom!

  There were no loud explosions or piercing ringing. The tremendous clash had all happened on the intangible spiritual level.

  Greem’s expression turned dark, and his body trembled as his feet were driven into the crystalline floor.

  The over three dozen Great Adepts gathered within the hall broke out into broad smiles and started chuckling. The more impatient ones even started chanting out loud.

  “Fall…fall…fall……”

  Greem felt as if he had been blasted by lightning. His entire body trembled lightly, and his consciousness was a blur. He barely knew where he was. However, as the four-colored principle runes on his silver shield glowed, the waves of spiritual pressure pressing toward him were devoured, one after another. It was only due to this that Greem’s spiritual defenses had not been overwhelmed.

  If Greem were only just a newly advanced Fifth Grade Great Adept, he probably would have already fallen unconscious. However, his robust principle defenses, in addition to his sturdy spiritual shield, allowed him to have as much defense on the spiritual level as veteran Great Adepts that had been active for a thousand years.

  Greem only wavered slightly and endured the spiritual attack. He remained rooted to the spot. However, the violent spiritual power with nowhere to go had been guided into the ground, completely pulverizing the crystal floor within a dozen meters of where he stood.

  His feet were also stuck beneath the floor.

  “Why didn’t he fall?”

  “Isn’t he a rookie?”

  “Zamur, your information ain’t reliable.”

  A storm of spiritual messages erupted in the hall as everyone began talking amongst themselves. Beams of mental consciousness shot to and fro as the Great Adepts expressed their shock and pity. A tremendous disturbance could be observed in the air due to the sheer amount of power behind these individual Spirits.

  “Alright, silence, all of you!”

  All of a sudden, a mighty mental consciousness blasted into the air, instantly suppressing the mess of spiritual fluctuations in the room.

  The expressions of all the Great Adepts changed. They had no choice but to retract their Spirits dejectedly.

  “Remember, from now on- no one is to play that boring game again! Hmph!”

  The hall instantly fell silent.

  Greem did not know what the Great Adepts were talking about between themselves. However, he was able to capture the source of that overwhelming spiritual fluctuation through his sharp senses.

  This place was an oval-shaped hall, its structure somewhat resembling that of an opera house. The hall was high on the left and low on the right. There were over a thousand seats arranged along cascading steps that ran down the hall. However, there were only thirty-six adepts scattered here and there. All of them were Fifth Grade.

  On the rightmost end of the hall, where the heart of the area was, five crystal thrones were arranged in a row. An old man with a white beard was seated on the second throne from the left. Judging from how old he looked, no one would be surprised if he literally fell dead the very next second.

  When Greem looked at this elderly man, his eyes were filled with deep fear and respect.

  That was because of how he appeared in his sight. Everyone in the hall appeared light-red in Greem’s senses, with a few specific individuals glowing a dark, nearly-black red. However, this old man with the beard was a piercing dark purple in his eyes.

  Light-red represented a threat, deep-red represented a medium threat, while dark-red represented a tremendous threat. As for deep purple? That signaled extreme danger!

  The unseen battle between the Great Adepts earlier had clearly terrified the young female adept. She hastily bowed and paid respects to the white-bearded old man before fleeing from the hall without turning back.

  The old man was also evaluating Greem with curious eyes.

  He picked up a scroll on the table in front of him with his nails as he read softly, “Greem, newly advanced adept. Born in Zhentarim of the World of Adepts, principle adept, fire specialization……”

  As the old man read off the document, a mysterious look appeared in the gazes directed at Greem. Some of the more dangerous individuals that the Chip had specially marked were looking him up and down, a hint of hostility gleaming from behind their eyes.

  “Alright, since everyone’s made it, we can do a simple assignment of the missions now!” The old man clapped his hands as an inviolable aura of authority spread outward. “Adept Greem, find a spot to sit in as well!”

  Greem acknowledged his words. He looked around him and sat down in an emptier spot in the hall.

  There were only thirty or forty people in this space meant to fit a thousand. It was only natural that the hall appeared empty and unpopulated. However, everyone present was a Great Adept. Everyone had their own privacy zone that they would never let another stranger breach.

  That was why, as everyone released their Spirits and barriers, the hall didn’t appear empty at all. On the contrary, they were a little tight on space.

  “Some among you might already know me, but some of you don’t. So, let me introduce myself,” The white-bearded old man chuckled and said, “I am Gerritsen, the person-in-charge of this recruitment mission and your handler for these missions. So, if you’re hoping to survive this war without a scratch on you and return home with loot aplenty, you all had best behave.”

  A nearly solid and cold gleam of light burst forth from the old man’s eyes, almost hidden behind his sagging eyelids. He glared coldly at all the adepts present. Every Fifth Grade adept who met his gaze felt a chill in their hearts and quickly looked away.

  “This might be the first time some of you are participating in a large-scale planar war. Therefore, I will provide you with a simple explanation of the rules of war.

  “Firstly, the main target of our war this time is the Eighth Grade main god Arugel of the beastmen pantheon. This fellow is also known as the One-Eyed Tyrant. He’s a powerful god known for his savagery and bloodthirst. The tribes and believers he rules over are also terrifying, barbaric, and warmongering warriors.

  “There are approximately twenty vassal gods of various gods that are subordinate to him. Each of them is a capable, powerful, and proficient warrior god. In addition, there are the clones of those main gods and vassal gods, as well as their consciousness projections and messengers. Our enemy is a formidable one.

  “However, you don’t have to be fearful either. Arugel and his vassal gods have always only thrown tantrums in their god kingdoms. They have never dared to take a single step out of their god kingdoms. As such, the only ones appearing on the battlefield will be their clones or mental projections.

  “The bigwigs will be dealt with by more powerful adepts. As for you guys? You will have to work hard and ensure that our subordinate armies will be able to do what they need to do. The tough menial work of invading the planes with brute force will be left to those below us. Our job is to act as their shield and ensure ultra-grade individuals from the beastmen don’t attack our forces.

  “Usually, there’s no need for everyone here to go to the frontlines at all. All you have to do is wait here. We will teleport you to wherever your power is needed when it is needed. If you are up for a fight, feel free to fight with the clones of those beastmen gods. If you aren’t, all you have to do is intimidate the enemy and keep them at bay with a show of your force. All you need to do is make sure that the enemy can’t disrupt our attacking forces.

  “How is it? Does everyone understand the nature of your missions?”

  Greem nodded sile
ntly. As expected, the reality of the situation was similar to what he had learned through the information he had collected.

  In that case, coming out here for some contributions and reaping some mission rewards was quite an easy task. Moreover, there was one thing that Gerritsen hadn’t mentioned. That was the fact that divine authority fragments could be found in the bodies of every god clone.

  Anyone who dared to take the risk and kill the clone of a beastmen god would reap tremendous rewards. Just the divine authority fragment alone would be worth more than whatever mission rewards were promised.

  However, the beastmen gods were extremely proficient at fighting. Trying to defeat and kill them was impossible for an ordinary Great Adept.

  “After everything I’ve said, I’m sure you are very curious how the missions are usually assigned! Very well, I will show you right now!” The white-bearded Gerritsen chuckled coldly as he snapped his finger. The crystal wall behind him suddenly turned transparent, revealing what was behind it.

  There was another circular space behind the crystal wall. A large cluster of crystals stood at the center of that space, so tall that it almost penetrated through the stone fortress.

  Groups of white-robed adepts were gathered around the crystal cluster. Most of their bodies appeared to be embedded within the crystals. Only a small part of their faces–along with their mouths, noses, and ears–were exposed.

  Around this circular space were eleven other rooms similar to the crystal hall Greem was in. The crystal halls all had the same layout. They were like petals that surrounded this giant round space.

  Greem could see through the now-transparent walls at the numerous powerful adepts meditating silently in the various crystal halls.

  Greem couldn’t help but be shocked at this sight.

  There were twelve crystal halls in total. If the number in every hall was equal, that meant that over five hundred Great Adepts had been gathered in this stone fortress.

  That did not even include Great Adepts above Fifth Grade.

  What a terrifyingly powerful force!

  Chapter 1453 - War Potential

  Three months later.

  Greem meditated silently inside a well-protected magical room.

  At his level, ordinary meditation techniques were already only a little better than nothing when it came to improving his Spirit. However, it was a habit that had been developed over the past hundreds of years. Greem was still more used to meditating over sleeping. He would only lie down and fall asleep when he was overly exhausted.

  However, he rarely ever got that exhausted, even once in a hundred years.

  Just as his soul drifted and his consciousness began melding with the principles, a sweet female voice rang out in the room.

  “Lord Greem, it is your shift now!”

  It was a message from the spirit of the fortress.

  Greem frowned slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

  Hm? Is it time?

  Greem didn’t dare delay. He stood up and opened a portal. The next second, he appeared at the entrance to Hall Cloud.

  As the central command center of the entire war, there were twelve crystal halls in Boulder Fortress where Great Adepts could rest while they awaited battle. The hall that Greem came to was codenamed Cloud, which was why some people also called it Hall Cloud.

  Five other adepts appeared at the same time Greem did.

  After all this time of getting to know each other, everyone had gained a certain understanding of their companions. They greeted each other and stepped into Hall Cloud at the same time.

  The adepts who had been on shift nodded when they saw their replacements arrive. They vanished from the spot with explosions of different colors.

  The six adepts who had just arrived, including Greem, bowed and paid respects to the person seated at the front of the hall- Adept Gerritsen. They then found seats of their own and sat down. The six of them were the only ones in this crystal hall that was large enough to fit a thousand people. Every one of them sat far away from each other, silently doing whatever interested them.

  Some of them took out thick tomes and started reading. Others closed their eyes and began light meditation. Some others gathered mist around them and started tinkering with who-knows-what away from everyone’s eyes.

  Only Greem remained seated in his crystal chair, observing the circular hall beyond the wall with great interest.

  This place was undoubtedly the heart of the battle against the beastmen gods. The thousands of subordinate armies out there were working with elite adept forces to launch an unending assault against the beastmen worlds.

  The adepts embedded in that crystal cluster maintained close contact with the adept forces trillions of kilometers away through some peculiar method, rapidly relaying information on the battles and skirmishes.

  Bloody and intense battles raged simultaneously across a dozen planar worlds.

  However, these wars were all trillions of kilometers away. The high-grade adepts present could only describe the savagery and intensity of these distant battles with crude numbers.

  “Assault on Plane Nike on Cloudclear Front has been obstructed. Losses of Two-Headed Dragon Army at 41%. High-grade reinforcements urgently required.”

  “Plane Behta of Skyriver Front has managed to corner the native army in their kingdom. It is said that they are currently praying for the vassal Beast God Urkan to descend. Request that headquarters send an appropriate force in response.”

  “The situation on Plane Moguta of the Bluesea Front is dire. Clone of vassal god, Eudara, has appeared on the battlefield. Target is Sixth Grade and has currently inflicted severe losses to ally forces. Ghostspirit Army has been exterminated. Commander Neemo has died in the line of duty. Wooddrake Army has suffered a 71% loss. Commander Wall is badly injured and has been blasted into a nearby galaxy. Reinforcements should keep an eye out and search for him.”

  The adepts wouldn’t sit idly by now that the enemy had deployed a Sixth Grade clone onto the battlefield. The interception mission was quickly sent over to Hall Flower.

  A short moment later, the light of teleportation flashed from Hall Flower as the Sixth Grade Great Adept in charge of that hall vanished to the battlefield along with two Fifth Grade adepts. At the same time, several adepts hurried to Hall Flower under instructions from the fortress spirit, replacing the empty spots their companions had left behind.

  War was being waged in a dozen planes at once. Some armies were stuck outside the planar barrier, still working hard on breaking through. Others had already managed to infiltrate and were currently engaged in a bloody battle against the local natives around the portals and spatial rifts. There were also those that had finished their conquest and were currently cleaning up the remnant Beast God forces.

  There were wars on a dozen fronts at once. The numerous trivial and menial tasks that had to be accomplished were uncountable. Every plane had to be dealt with differently. Adept forces of different levels and specialties had to be deployed based on the strength and abilities of the natives. It involved a complex chain of logistics, provisioning, transferring, recuperation, shift-changing, and rotation.

  They had to consider the dynamic changes to the battlefield and the follow-up response required whenever the situation changed. There were also unexpected factors of note. All these things added together into a steep and terrible cliff of statistics for any command center to deal with.

  However, after tens of thousands of years of trials and tribulations, the adepts had developed their own unique command and order system. Every adept–low, intermediate, or high-grade, adept or Great Adept–was assigned to their appropriate stations by this command system.

  Through the constant deployment of their subordinate and vassal forces, the adepts were able to preserve their most elite individuals. These elites could then be mobilized at the most appropriate time in the most suitable location, allowing them to obtain the greatest results on the battlefield with the least effort.<
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  However, such wars could not persist for very long. After all, once the subordinate armies had been exhausted, such large-scale invasions would require the adepts to send in their own precious combat forces.

  That was why the major civilizations participating in a large-scale planar war would have to take some time off to rest after the conclusion of each engagement. They had to wait for their subordinate forces to recover somewhat. Once a major civilization managed to refill its ranks, it would be time for the civilization to greedily search the universe for more prey.

  Greem couldn’t help but be inspired and feel countless emotions at the sight of all this.

  That was because he remembered following the Northern Witches in an assault against a plane belonging to the Beast God once before. It was something that had happened almost three hundred years ago. Given the passage of time, that must have been the precursor to this massive invasion against the Beast God worlds.

  The Greem of that time had not understood the significance behind his actions at all. He had simply followed the Northern Witches blindly, hoping to obtain some resources in the planar war. Now he was seated in the command center of the adept faction, silently watching all this unfold from the perspective of a neutral observer.

  At this moment, there might be countless young adepts holding the same thoughts he had, bathing in blood on the frontlines of the planar war. They might be successful and return home with large numbers of resources, or they might fail and return to the dust in a cold, unfamiliar earth far from home.

  Whether they succeeded or failed, their participation pushed the adepts’ war machine forward, crushing the bodies of countless beastmen under its tracks as the adept faction slowly but surely climbed its way to the peak of the universe.