Age of Adepts

Chapter 293 Danger at the Outpost

Greem was woken out of his sleep by the commotion.

He could hear anxious door knocking sounds clearly, even in his bedroom. Not even simple magical defenses were able to keep the commotion out.

Greem curiously removed the defenses and opened the door, only to be greeted with a shocking sight.

The land owned by the Byron Clan was split into two parts. The part facing the street outside functioned as a shop, while the other part was the storehouse and lodgings. Yet, at this moment, the skies above the clan outpost had been obscured by a gigantic black shadow.

A floating ship shaped like a whale hovered high the air. One after another, several massive shapes leaped from the ship, their heavy bodies smashing craters into the ground as they landed.

Amid the sound of grinding gears, the four-meter-tall metallic golems rose from the craters. A fearsome red light shone from the magical gems in their metallic eyes.

There were humanoid golems, spider golems, as well as spherical constructs hovering over the ground, with a dozen metallic appendages extending from inside their bodies…

”Aerial Guard Squad 935 will place this area under lockdown under orders. No individual is allowed to enter or exit at will. Everyone is to wait silently for the executors’ investigation to conclude! All who disobey will be killed without exception… ”

The metallic golems spoke with their emotionless mechanical voices. They quickly moved and sealed all the entrances and exits to the Byron outpost.

Once twenty-nine of these First Grade metallic golems had completely secured the perimeter, an even more intimidating War Statue flew down upon a hovering disc.

This was a fearsome animated statue of war. It’s humanoid body stood ten meters tall. Colorful patterns covered its entire body, giving its every action a terrifying aura of might. It gripped a metallic ax in its hand. The blade was so large that it was almost comical; just the axeblade alone would be enough to form the gate of any other city.

The earth quaked with every step the war statue took. Everyone who watched it move was certain that if it went berserk, it could tear down the entire outpost in less than a couple of minutes.

As the Byron outpost’s authority figure in the Castle in the Sky, Lady Nunnally was already present at the first sign of commotion. Unfortunately, her status as a Second Grade adept was not enough to intimidate anyone present! Just those war statues alone had power rivaling the Second Grade.

Moreover, this was the headquarters of the Silver Union. All the war golems and puppet-constructs within the Castle in the Sky were enhanced by magic while they were here. Even a Second Grade elementium adept would have a hard time taking down a golem of the same Grade as themselves.

Not to mention the fact that retaliation was a suicidal act in and of itself. Anyone that dared to raise a finger against the Aerial Guards would be poking a massive hornet’s nest. In less than a couple of minutes, all of the war fortresses hovering in the sky would descend upon the intruders. The small clan outpost would be flooded by the tide of terrifying golems that came afterward.

This was why Lady Nunnally didn’t dare expel the Aerial Guards. The only thing she could do was protest it as loudly as she could and argue against the intruders.

”Please wait here patiently. A silver-robed executor will soon be here to explain the situation. Please have all your personnel cease all suspicious activities before that.”

The war statue ignored Nunnally’s protests and spat out a warning in the process. Red light projected from the red-gemmed compound eye embedded in its head. In a single instant, the statue had done a complete scan of the entire outpost.

The war statue seemed to have discovered something when it scanned in a certain direction. The red light started to flash rapidly. The crimson light that had been scattered in every direction started to gather and slowly focus on the room next to Greem’s.

Greem stood behind the door of his room. His mind fell into turmoil when he saw the war statue’s detection rays converging on Snorlax’s room.

Goddammit. What is that idiot doing? To even have the infamous Aerial Guards come after him! Don’t drag me down with your suicidal acts!

Greem cursed furiously in his heart as he silently called upon Snorlax, using the mental link established from their contract. The connection was almost instant since they were practically next to each other. Snorlax hadn’t set up any magical barriers in his room either.

”You stupid goblin. What did you do this time? Do you know what you’ve done? The city guards of the Castle in the Sky have come for you. Quick. Tell me. What did you do?” Greem couldn’t help but start cursing at Snorlax the moment the mental link was established.

”Master, I… ” Snorlax cowered in fear as he spoke, ”I exchanged some good stuff with a guy from the Goblin Empire’s plane using the mechanical heart you gave me. I was just about to report to you… ”

”Forget the bloody report! We can celebrate after. Just think of some way to get these Aerial Guards off our lawn!” Greem scolded again, ”Oh right. What method do the two of you use to communicate?”

”Master, this is how it is… ”

Snorlax didn’t dare hide anything with danger knocking right on their doors. He told Greem everything about his contact with Gazlowe.

Greem immediately fell deep into thought after Snorlax explained what had happened.

What should he do now? Give Snorlax over? If he handed Snorlax over to the authorities, the communications between the Goblin Empire would end right there. If any major force got their hands on that Transportation Tool, they could make a huge fuss out of the issue.

A plane of goblins? This was an opportunity for the adepts! It was another lesser-plane that they could rob and exploit to their desire! Countless metal and mineral reserves, large numbers of skilled slaves with knowledge of mechanical construction, and an unimaginable amount of unknown resources… any single one of these factors was enough to spur the rise of a clan. It would be a waste to let such a treasure slip through his fingers!

But how was he supposed to explain that spatial transfer if he didn’t hand Snorlax and the Transportation Tool over?

After several seconds of thought, Greem quickly made up his mind. He had made a decision.

Just then, the space above the outpost tremored. A stable portal slowly opened in the middle of the air and three silver-robed executors proudly walked out from within.

”Lady Nunnally! Very nice. With you present today, we can solve this problem without a hitch!” The male executor in the lead was wearing a silver headband on his head. Magical runes had been carved all over the accessory. It was clear that this person knew Nunnally.

The three silver-robed executors, one female and two male, were all First Grade adepts.

Usually, in the World of Adepts, power was the only thing that demanded respect. These three adepts would usually have to bow down cautiously before the might of the Second Grade Nunnally. However, this was the Silver Union’s territory. A Second Grade adept like Nunnally couldn’t do as she wanted here. In fact, she had to negotiate peacefully with this bunch of intruders.

”Sir Randolph! I was wondering why you made a sudden visit to my clan’s outpost… ” Adept Nunnally had stayed in the Castle in the Sky for a long time, after all. Moreover, she was still a Second Grade adept! Even these silver-robed executors didn’t dare to offend a Second Grade adept without good reason.

”Lady Nunnally, you might not be aware, but we detected a spatial wormhole in your clan outpost earlier. That’s why… ” Randolph put on a courteous and superficial smile as he explained.

”What did you say? A spatial transfer or a spatial wormhole?” Nunnally frowned. She couldn’t believe her ears.

A spatial transfer meant that a small Transfer Array had been hidden in the outpost and had been used for long-distance transfers within the plane. This was forbidden in the Castle in the Sky!

However, if it was a spatial wormhole, this meant that someone had broken the planar barrier of the World of Adepts and was trying to contact another plane! This was… even though plenty of adept clans did such a thing, most of these contact points existed within their own adept’s tower in order to prevent outsiders from detecting spatial abnormalities.

Which adept would be foolish enough to try that in the Castle in the Sky? Even though the World of Adepts did not fear an invasion from another plane, opening a spatial wormhole in the heartland of the Silver Union was far too reckless!

Nunnally was completely caught up in the confusion. Just then, Greem shouted out awkwardly, ”Lady Nunnally, this… might be a misunderstanding!”

Everyone’s gaze shifted to Greem.

”A misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?” Randolph narrowed his eyes and let out a cold laugh, ”Lady Nunnally, this is a fresh face! Is he a newly advanced adept from your clan?”

Honestly, Greem’s powers were still lacking. Anyone could see that he was a newly advanced adept. Consequently, it was hard for him to earn the respect of anyone with just a glance.

”Our clan hired him for the esoteric duels. His name is Greem, and he has a fairly powerful elementium golem under his control!” Adept Nunnally gave a simple explanation, then turned and frowned at Greem, ”Greem, what did you mean by this being a misunderstanding?”

”I mean to say that if you are here because of the spatial abnormality earlier, I’ll have to confess. I was the cause!” Greem answered firmly.

”A newly advanced adept like you can open a spatial wormhole and access another plane? Ha… ”

Randolph raised his head. He was right about to laugh and ridicule the bizarre suggestion, but his jaw stopped when he saw what Greem held in his hand.

”A spacestone!”