Age of Adepts

A cave carved out of ice.

The slim silhouette of a woman.

Countless white lights surrounded her like a dreamlike scene out of a fantasy world.

When the lights glowed, the mist of ice burst apart to reveal a beautiful face. The woman looked around in confusion.

The divination only lasted three seconds, but that was more than enough for Alice.

She didn’t dare hesitate. She immediately took out a translucent, fist-sized crystal ball and silently recorded the image in her mind.

Finally. All of today’s divination slots had been used up. Alice’s Spirit had also been completely exhausted.

Alice covered her mouth as she yawned. She fell asleep before she could even finish stretching her body.

Her curled hand loosened in her sleep. The shining crystal ball clattered to the ground and rolled away from her.

It only stopped when it ran into the foot of a towering figure.

Greem bent to pick up the crystal ball and placed it against his forehead.

”Beep. An unknown mental passage is detected. Connect?”

”Connect!”

The three-second recording ended almost as quickly as it started. Greem wasn’t even able to get an accurate look at its contents. Thankfully, the chip had dutifully recorded everything and saved the scene in its data library.

”This must be fate’s feedback from Alice’s divination! Chip. Analyze this recording with all your power. Dig out every single bit of information that we can use to our advantage!”

In the next second, the chip had split the three-second recording into a thousand static images. They drifted into Greem’s mind one by one.

Greem felt his Spirit plummeting. He had instantly lost 2 points of Spirit when the chip converted it all into mental energy to sustain its massive operation.

Two points of Spirit, at Greem’s current level, meant two complete First Grade spells. If these spells were Fire Core Explosions, a single one would be enough to kill an ordinary adept. And if they were Meteor Showers, two points of Spirit would be enough to turn an area of five hundred meters into a hell of fire.

Even Greem couldn’t help but frown at this drastic and sudden decrease in his Spirit.

Greem gave the chip free reign in processing the static images in his mind. Meanwhile, he walked to Alice’s side and picked her up. He carried her in his arms and brought her to the bedroom next door.

Greem put her on the bed, helped her remove her shoes and socks, then covered her with a blanket.

Once everything settled, he left the room, rubbing his head as he did so.

The exhaustion of Spirit caused him to be unexpectedly tired. It was best to get some sleep! Perhaps the chip might be able to draw an initial conclusion by then.

Greem yawned as he returned to his room.

…………

At this moment.

Several hundred thousand kilometers away, in the distant Northern Lands.

Snowlotus opened her eyes.

She was a beauty that looked as if she had been carved out of the most pristine block of ice and snow.

Her features were delicate and beautiful, yet held a cold edge to them that caused them to look stiff and unyielding. When she opened her eyes, a torrent of chilling aura surged through their depths.

A crystalline ice armor had formed around her body. Traces of frost enveloped her body, crackling with the sound of moisture in the air freezing into ice. Even the light around her seemed to have become dimmer due to this.

Snowlotus glanced around this world of ice and snow.

Sharp ice pillars and jagged spikes littered the cave. It was a patch of brilliant white wherever Snowlotus looked. There was no other color to be seen. It was deathly quiet her.

There was no one around her, and no possibility for anyone to be around.

This frozen realm had formed through the use of a tremendous number of resources. The temperature in the air had reached a hundred and forty-five degrees. If an ordinary person stepped into this environment, they would die in an instant. Their blood would freeze within moments, and their heart would stop. Even a pseudo-adept with a talent for frost had to protect her internal organs with ice particles to survive.

If there were no outsiders or onlookers, where had that moment of shock and fear come from?

Could it be…that someone was scrying her?

Did this have anything to do with grandma’s prior arrangements?

Snowlotus didn’t approve of the assassination of her competitors. She had absolute confidence in her abilities from such an extended period of training and cultivation. Sweeping aside those enemies would have been no problem, even without the help of the clan.

Snowlotus had a growing feeling of unease as the body count of candidates increased. She sensed that fate’s blessing was slowly distancing itself from her.

Such scrying attempts by unknown enemies had mostly failed in the past. Even those that succeeded hadn’t gone unnoticed. Fate would always send her a vague hint that reminded her of what was happening. When had something like today’s event occurred? The fear from her soul had sprung out of nowhere, without any prior indication or warning.

If she continued to have the candidates of fate slaughtered without restraint, fate itself would one day abandon her!

Perhaps it was time to speak with Grandma Angelina.

…………

Feidnan City, Adept’s Tower.

Snorlax was hiding in his room. He stepped onto a tall wooden bench and had a ’friendly,’ ’warm,’ and ’intimate conversation’ with the despicable, perverted, stingy, ungenerous, gold-hoarding Duke Gazlowe of the Goblin Empire.

”No way,” Snorlax leaped three feet into the air. He waved the ’Elementary Golem Creation Handbook’ as he roared, ”You should know that this is a top-tier secret tome that I stole from the evil adepts at the risk of my life! And you want to exchange it for only two hundred magical crystals?”

”Little brat, you should know how much two hundred magic crystals is in our Goblin Empire. It’s enough to buy ten square kilometers of land and everything on top of it. Even if you didn’t want to purchase land, two hundred crystals could allow you to hire a squad of fifty magical mechanical mercenaries. That’s why two hundred magical crystals are already…” Gazlowe’s voice suddenly turned sharp before he finished speaking, much like a chicken that had just gotten cuffed at the throat.

He could see very clearly what Snorlax was doing through the light screen. He was taking out handfuls of gleaming, shining magical crystals from his belt!

Clink. Clink. Clink.

The crystalline, magical crystals fell from Snorlax’s hand like raindrops. They let out a crisp sound as they crashed into the solid stone floor. The clinking was so soul-stirring and attractive that Gazlowe’s rage bar filled to the max in a single instant!

Duke Gazlowe pushed his monocle aside and pressed his ugly face against the screen.

”Goddamn Snorlax, you freaking jerk. Remember to never, ever, ever, ever flaunt your worldly wealth before the great Duke Gazlowe. As the greatest inventor, most respected engineer, and lord of the Goblin Empire, my mind filled with infinite knowledge is the only wealth that a clever goblin should be proud of.”

Snorlax betrayed an expression of disdain at the opponent’s outburst.

He grabbed yet another handful of magical crystals and pressed it against the screen. He asked tauntingly, ”Then may I ask the greatest lord of the Goblin Empire how much his brain is worth?”

”Not the greatest lord, but the most respected lord.” Gazlowe angrily corrected Snorlax’s mistake, ”Moreover, my brain is priceless!”

”Priceless? Doesn’t that mean it’s worth nothing?”

”It’s priceless! Not worthless!” Gazlowe’s shouts filled the entire room.

”Tsk, doesn’t that mean the same thing!” Snorlax held the crystals in his hand as he snickered, ”If you aren’t willing to pay with magical crystals, what are you going to use to exchange for this top-tier secret tome?”

Gazlowe quickly calmed down once it came back to the transaction.

”We are a low-magic plane over here. The number of magical crystals we produce is meager. Moreover, you don’t seem to be lacking in crystals over there.”

”Mmhmm…continue…”

”Then I will use…the spider tank to trade with you!”

”Spider tank?”

”Didn’t you mention that your master was crafting a spider-shaped golem beast recently? We have something similar in the Goblin Empire. The equally powerful and mature machine– the spider tank.” Once the conversation turned to his profession, Gazlowe instantly transformed into the most passionate and devoted magical engineer.

”It is made entirely of tungsten alloy and has superior toughness and malleability. The main body of the machine has the form of a spider and possess four pairs of metallic limbs, a three hundred and sixty-degree rotational magic cannon, foldable metallic saw claws, a close-range flamethrower at its tail and…”

Snorlax immediately interrupted Gazlowe before he could finish. His face was extremely hostile.

”Your Transportation Tool can only transfer five hundred grams worth of items. Are you sure you can send me the stuff you promised? Or are you going to open a small spatial wormhole like the last time? If you can’t accomplish this task, what does it have to do with me regardless of how powerful your machine is?”

”Er,” Gazlowe froze, ”That sort of spatial wormhole can’t be used too frequently! Even the magic-generator furnace in my lab was damaged to get the golem heart the last time. I used so many resources to fix my furnace.”

”Magic-Generator Furnace? What’s that?” Snorlax’s big ears immediately perked up.

He might not understand what the words meant, but his greedy goblin nature had already smelled the scent of gold!

”Do you know why I, Gazlowe, am unashamed to call myself the greatest inventor of the Goblin Empire? It is precisely because I invented the magic-generator furnace, a device that can continuously extract energy from the galaxy. We of the Goblin Empire might not have mountains of magical crystals, but we have an endless supply of magical energy with this magic-generator furnace. The future advancement and rise of the Goblin Empire will be forged by my hand alone.” The slightly passionate Gazlowe instantly become a zealous believer when his magic-generator furnace was mentioned.

”There’s such a great invention?” Snorlax’s beady green eyes opened wide. He immediately put up a fawning expression, ”Then… o’ greatest inventor Sir Gazlowe, can you let me take a look at this great, epochal invention of the ages?”

At this moment, Snorlax’s green face filled with excessive admiration and adulation!