Age of Adepts

Greem needed time to grow.

Though he firmly believed that, with the experience of having lived a life before this one, and help from the Chip, his growth speed should not be less than those geniuses who were born with extraordinary innate talents, he needed time in order to grow. Just like a juvenile beast, even if Greem was given a pair of wings, his growth would still require a huge amount of time and the investment of a vast amount of resources.

Currently, he was weak. If he had someone to protect him, he could grow much faster in the safety provided by that person. Therefore, when Mary took her own initiative and spread her wings to offered him shelter, although troubling in the way she did so, he now happily accepted this protection.

But Greem wished he could show his value, trying his best to make this ‘relationship’ appear more like a form of alliance that benefited both partners, rather than just himself.

Greem took a long look at Sinbad’s head, which was sitting in his hand. If he was right, Sinbad’s soul was still trapped in this head, and, if he didn’t properly manage it, perhaps the quality of his prize would be reduced.

Anyway, this was the head of a Ghost Nanny’s Leader who could be compared to some Advanced Apprentices. Thus, no matter how he might use it, this was an excellent material for experimenting on.

There was a total of three outsiders who had intruded on the Magical Swamp. Although they didn’t kill Alice, at least they had made her suffer. At this moment, that arrogant and cocky girl was either dead or in really bad shape. As for the other two intruders, Madwoman and Hawkeye should be dealing with them, so it was not something Greem needed to worry about.

As for Mary, clearly she was more interested in the blood of the other two intruders, because, without saying goodbye to Greem, she transformed into her bat form and shot away, into the misty fog. In the end, Greem was left standing by himself in the swamp. After recovering from the shock of finally having a calm moment in this hectic day, he snuck his way back to the Adept Tower, wanting to safely get his loot back to his room.

…………

A dazzling light show was flashing in front of her eyes. At the same time, an intense dizziness made it hard for her to identify directions, or even which way was up!

But, with the help of her spatial senses, Alice arduously freed herself from the chaotic spatial storm, ripping open a spatial crack and returned back to the physical world.

A wriggling spatial crack appeared in mid-air, and, right after that, Alice came out from it facing upside down.

“Ouch!”

Alice, who utterly exhausted, had hit her head on the hard and cool surface of a rock, so she cried out in pain and surprise.

Damn rascal. Damn Vampire. You better not let me fully recovered. Once I have fully healed, I’ll definitely…

While crazily cursing in her mind, Alice suddenly went completely still, With her reminding eye wide open and filled with a great fear, she stared straight at the frightening figure that had suddenly appeared in front of her. The fear made her pause, forcing her not to do anything recklessly.

Alice examined her surroundings in confusion. Only now did she notice that she was in a dark, closed off stone room. This place was not the safe zone that she had set up in advance, and the person who stood in front of her was not any Apprentice Adept she was familiar with.

Looking at the man’s skinny and almost dried-up body, his gray Adept long robe, his old wizard’s hat, and that vicious, eerie smile…

Alice finally realized who was in front of her, and couldn’t keep herself from letting out a cry of shock, “Adept Anderson!”

The skinny old man who stood in front of her was none other than the master of the Tower, First Grade Adept, Anderson.

He was the highest authority of the Tower. Hence, right when Alice used the Teleportation spell and retreated, her destination was modified, bringing this little loli, who had already suffered so much, straight to his front door.

The frightening ability of a real Adept was not something any ordinary mortal could understand.

Honestly, right from the beginning of their apprenticeship, many Apprentice Adepts started modifying their bodies. In their minds, the appearance of their body and their face was far less important than their overall power.

If someone thoroughly examined everyone in this town, out of over fifty Apprentice Adepts, perhaps less than half of them was still had pure human bodies.

Bloodline modification, biological modification, spell contamination… all these were the direct results of their restless efforts to become stronger. The boundary between human and inhuman was not all that significant in this world of Adepts.

Knowing that even Apprentice Adepts were heavily modifying their bodies, one can only imagine what full Adepts must do to their bodies.

Able to endure the cruel and painful modification process, able to persevere in the lonely lifestyle of knowledge seeking, able to use all means and make themselves become stronger… After going through all this suffering and finally becoming an official Adept, do you think they would still have a kind and compassionate personality?

When mentioning these Adepts in the world of Adept, what most ordinary people thought of was powerful, insidious, evil beings, who are level-headed in all scenarios. Although they claimed themselves to be slaves of knowledge, forever walking in the path of knowledge-seeking, their methods of gathering said knowledge would never be described as merciful or moderate.

In the entire multiverse, being on of the rare, large scale planes, it was inevitable that the World of Adepts had enslaved more than a thousand middle and small scale planes. They brutally ‘appropriated’ all the resources and knowledge from those planes which they conquered, using them to arm and strengthened themselves. If an Adept family didn’t have their own private plane, they weren’t even considered to be in the lowest rank of Adept Families.

The core strength of the army which represented the World of Adepts was made up of members of these Adept Families. If a First Grade Adept, like Anderson, was placed in the boundless battlefield of the endless conquering expedition, he would simply be cannon fodder.

Yes, the entry requirement to be in the army of World of Adept was to be a First Grade Adept. As for Apprentice Adepts, they were merely rookies who were not experienced in the Principles of Planes. They were not even qualified to be cannon fodder.

Thus, after meeting with so many Adepts, Alice held a deep fear and respect toward these powerful people.

Although her innate Spatial ability made her be considered an extraordinary talent, when faced with these official Adepts, even with her amazing protection barrier, she was merely a canary who could be killed by them anytime. In the World of Adepts, innate talent represented your potential, not your strength. Throughout the past millions of years, countless geniuses lost their lives to stronger Adepts with lesser potential.

Therefore, when Alice realized she was facing an official Adept, her arrogant and violent attitude immediately vanished. Even though the severe injuries on her body made her feel an intense amount of pain, such that she was soaked with a cold sweat, she still acted like nothing was wrong, slightly bending her body forward, and patiently waiting for the man to question her.

“I’m in a really bad mood today. It seems that a few bugs slipped into my garden when I was busy with experiment. So, little girl from the House of Fragrance… Who gave you permission to enter my territory?” Adept Anderson’s insidious looking face was completely emotionless, and his cold voice made shivers run down Alice’s spine.

“Honorable Adept Anderson, my mentor, the great Deborah, sent me here to deliver a message.” Alice didn’t hesitate and immediately stated her purpose of coming here.

“Deborah, the crazy woman?” Anderson frowned, “So, you’re that genius Apprentice that Deborah got three years ago? Now what? Are you trying to show off in my place after learning a few tricks from her? Hahahaha… little girl, didn’t your mentor tell you that I don’t like to be disturbed? Oh right, so are the other two little bugs from the House of Fragrance too?”

Cautiously standing up while keeping her back straight, Alice quickly replied, saying, “No. We met at the outside of Swampy Area. All of us are here for our own respective missions. One of them is from Mandasor Academy, the other is from the Black Glove Association.”

“Mission? All of you came to my Magical Swamp for a mission?”

“Yes! We each received training missions from our own organizations. That’s why we came here uninvited!”

“Damn it, damn it… I knew those damn Zhentarim guys would never stop trying to get this place. This is The Magical Swamp! My private territory! How dare those guys set this place as one of their mission sites. In the next Adepts gathering, I’ll definitely report their damn behavior to the council…”

Perhaps what Alice said had been a sensitive subject for Adept Anderson, but, though he has already behaved crazily, when he heard about the situation he became even more frenzied. Almost screaming, he began to venomously curse at someone in some distant land. At a certain point, Anderson started speaking in a couple of different languages, and Alice could only identify not more than three of them.

At some point, Adept Anderson calmed down and suddenly became quiet. Once again, his insidious looking eyes stopped on Alice’s face.

“Because you have shown respect, I’ll not keep you here. But, as you have intruded on my garden and wreaked havoc, I can’t let you go without punishing you. This will serve as your lesson!” Adept Anderson gently pointed his staff into the air and unleashed a tiny glowing green dot, which shot right into Alice’s empty eye socket.

At the same time, a bizarre looking ring suddenly appeared under Alice’s feet. After blinking a few times, a bright light flashed, and Alice disappeared from the stone room.

At almost the same time Alice was expelled, the same teleportation ring also appeared under the feet of the other two Apprentice Adepts, who were still searching through the depths of the swamp. With a flash, they were expelled from the Magical Swamp as well.

…………

At the entrance of Magical Swamp.

It was a small, desolated, miserable looking hillside.

Facing the hillside was the Magical Swamp, covered with a thick fog. When looking out from the hilltop, besides the numerous muddy ponds, one could only see some light mangled foliage. Otherwise, nothing seemed abnormal.

After a dazzling flash, Alice was thrown to the ground from empty space.

Before she could struggle up, another two light flashes occurred, and two familiar figures appeared in the space around her.

While whining, Alice stood up from the ground, hastily taking out all sorts of bottles from her waist pockets and beginning to restlessly heal herself. Although she had left the boundaries of the Magical Swamp, she dared not utter any curses toward that Adept.

Who knew if that damn Adept had some way to spy on them. If he heard her say anything bad, perhaps he would strike them down where they stood…