Age of Adepts

Agatha the Witch swept away all the items that littered her wooden table.

She took out a crystal ball and placed it on the narrow space she had cleared out.

”Come, put your hand over here.”

Snowlotus hesitated for a moment when she heard Agatha’s orders. Still, she extended her slim and slender white hands and put them on the crystal ball.

A cluster of faint white mists swirled within the ball as if it wanted to break out of the constraints of the crystal walls. Snowlotus could even feel the crystal ball trembling slightly from the impact.

The mist suddenly stopped, perhaps because it sensed the aura of life. It instantly turned into the ugly and ferocious face of a hag! She opened her large mouth filled with sharp teeth and chomped at Snowlotus!

Snowlotus retracted her hands even though there was still a layer of crystal between them.

A vengeful wraith!

An adept-level wraith!

Snowlotus would experience nightmares for several weeks if a spirit of this level even slightly cursed her!

”Don’t worry, Liz is gentle and cute. She was only playing a prank on you.” A sinister smile appeared on Agatha’s ugly face. A croak came from inside her sleeve. An equally hideous toad leaped out of there.

The toad continued to leap forward on the table and finally stopped when it landed above the crystal ball.

”Say hi! This toad is my partner, Wendy! Isn’t she adorable as well?” The smile on Agatha’s face became even ’sweeter.’

The hideous toad was only the size of a fist. Abscesses of various sizes filled its purple and black body. It even excreted a disgustingly viscous liquid from its skin. It had red eyes and a white belly that expanded and deflated as it croaked. The toad didn’t seem to be that much different from ordinary toads from natural ponds.

”Dammit Agatha, you got us into massive trouble again!” The hideous toad finally spoke. Surprisingly enough, it had the sweet and childish voice of a young girl, ”She stinks of curses from Fate itself. Do you also want to attract the attention of the laws of fate?”

”Wendy, don’t go running your mouth about pointless stuff like this.” Agatha spoke coldly, ”This brat is the leader of the Witches of Deceit’s granddaughter. If you don’t want to get chased out of the Muttering Forest along with me, you had best get to work!”

The toad’s belly expanded once more as it uttered a bunch of strange syllables. It appeared that it was grumbling and swearing about something. However, its bulging red eyes quickly turned towards Snowlotus.

”A talented little brat. You would have become a powerful witch even if you didn’t awaken to your talent for fate. Given that to be the case, being chosen by the laws of fate is not so much a blessing but a curse. Very well, very well, enough with the useless speech. Put your hand on the crystal ball, girl. We will wait for that diviner to show themselves!”

”The diviner would always scry me five times a day. Moreover, she would always choose… moments where it’s inconvenient for me. It’s about thirty minutes before my daily meditation. I am sure they will try and do it again then!” A cold gleam of rage flashed in Snowlotus’ pretty eyes. She was extremely resentful of that fellow’s actions.

Thirty minutes quickly passed.

The silent Snowlotus suddenly trembled. She once again felt that frustrating feeling that left her with no means of retaliation. A glow lit up within the white mist of the crystal ball. The fog quickly dispersed, and a strange scene in an unknown located appeared within the orb.

It seemed to be an arcane room. There was no unique furniture in the empty room. A cute girl that appeared to be eight or nine years of age was lying flat on the ground in the middle of the room. She shattered a turtle’s shell with a tiny platinum hammer.

The cute girl suddenly lifted her head, as if she had sensed something. She stared into the air in surprise. Her beautiful but sly eyes, through some unknown means, passed through the crystal ball and clashed with Snowlotus’ cold, resentful eyes.

The two candidates of fate located in entirely different areas on the Continent of Adepts now looked at each other through the help of the strange connection of fate. Their spirits were temporarily connected.

”Are you the one that has been scrying on me and my private life? Well, please stop it, lady, or else… ” A hint of curiosity was contained within Snowlotus’ angry gaze as she stared at this mysterious enemy. However, her heart trembled when she felt the opponent’s adept-level mental flux.

”Or else what? Are you going to send people to kill me?” Alice spoke from the other end of the mental connection in her slightly sharp voice, ”It isn’t as if you haven’t done such a thing already. Thanks to you, I have already been attacked by people from your clan. Now, please endure your deserved backlash from fate!”

Snowlotus’ face became increasingly pale.

With her arrogance, she had never bothered to care for these schemes and dirty plans. She had only heard of her grandmother and mother making plans behind her back. She had never actually tried to understand and participate in these activities. Her heart suddenly trembled when she finally heard Alice’s furious accusations. She could vaguely sense yet another thread between her soul and the laws of fate snap.

Snowlotus faintly heard the screams of the dead and the curses of the resentful in the air.

Another candidate for the Witch of Fate had died. Moreover, her death also seemed to be due to her clan as well!

”You heard that, didn’t you! These are the screams of fate and the tolling bells of your death!” Alice had felt the events that had transpired in the distance, ”The more your clan does for you, the further they push you away from fate. Did they really think that you could successfully become the only Witch of Fate once they exterminated all other candidates? Hahaha. I really have no idea why the laws of fate picked you as a candidate. Everything you have done has gone against fate itself. I can’t wait to see your grim future.”

Snowlotus’ hands that held the crystal ball trembled.

She had only trusted in herself all this while. She had never believed in fate. Yet at this moment, where the streams of fate clashed against each other at their most intense, Snowlotus seemed to be able to see through that endless river of time and peer at the moment of her death.

A sizeable, bloody hole had pierced through her body. A fearsome flame completely reduced her hair and robe to ashes. In her weakest moment, the cute and delicate face of a girl appeared before her eyes.

It was her!

The one that would kill her was this damned little witch before her eyes!

While Snowlotus shivered in a daze, a terrifying woman’s face appeared on the back of the toad. It seemed to be the adept-level phantom that had been trapped in the crystal ball, Liz.

The toad opened its large mouth, and a long and sticky tongue shot out towards Snowlotus’ forehead. It quickly stabbed right into her skull.

Strangely enough, not a single drop of blood flowed out from the wound.

Then, Agatha chanted. A horrifying amount of resentment from the wraith surged into Snowlotus’ mind through the connection with the tongue. A large cluster of dark curses followed along with the phantom’s animosity. The curses and hatred traveled along the mysterious fate connection and surged towards the other end.

”Aaaaaah……” An ear-piercing screech. Alice grabbed her head with both hands and rolled about the ground in agony.

Pu.

The image within the crystal ball suddenly turned dim and disappeared. The trace of fate’s connection was broken.

Snowlotus also could no longer endure fate’s backlash. Her vision went black as she fell unconscious.

…………

Feidnan City, Adept’s Tower.

Seven minutes later, Greem appeared in Alice’s room.

The first thing he saw was an insane brat rolling on the ground and mumbling all sorts of nonsense.

”Help me… I think a vengeful wraith has controlled me… ”

”Damned adepts… damned humans. You all must die. Die. ”

Two completely different voices came out from the same body. One was Alice, while the other was an unknown voice. It was thick, hoarse, and dripping with hatred.

At the same time, many black spots appeared on Alice’s milky white skin.

These black spots were bizarre. They appeared as if they had surfaced from within Alice’s body and were quickly spreading all over. Alice’s skin rotted and abscesses formed wherever they spread.

Blisters filled with purple-black blood and pus exploded one after another. Black blood splashed everywhere, and a pungent smell filled the room.

Alice stood at the brink of death and endless agony. She rolled her eyes and fainted!

Greem had just moved close to Alice. He hadn’t had time even to examine her condition when she once again leaped up. Her cute little face was distorted entirely out of shape. She extended her sharp fingers and lunged at Greem.

”I will kill you. I want to kill you.”

Alice grumbled wildly with the whites of her eyes exposed for all to see. Something clearly possessed her.

Greem extended a finger, and a brilliant chain of fire appeared in the air out of nowhere. The chains bound Alice in one swift move and kept her suspended in the air. The chain entirely restricted her movements.

The few apprentices that had hurried over after hearing the commotion gasped. They looked at this scene with their eyes wide open.

”What are you all standing about for? Go and get Adept Ferrier, quick!” Greem scolded.

The apprentices quickly rushed to get help.

”Chip, examine Alice. What’s happened to her?” Greem ordered in an unamused tone.

This Alice always gave him things to be concerned about. He was still trying to build a golem to protect her, and already she had somehow managed to get herself cursed in this high-security room!

The intense blue light in Greem’s eyes flashed, and the chip had soon completed its scan of Alice’s body.

”Beep. Alice’s examination report is completed.

”Initial conclusions estimate this to be wraith possession along with dark curses.

”The source of the spells can no longer be traced.

”An intensely monstrous resentment has been detected in Alice’s body.

”It is recommended to expel it as soon as possible.

”Moreover, one hundred and twenty-seven closely intertwined dark curses have been detected.

”It is recommended that these be neutralized as soon as possible.”

Christ! What the heck have you done, Alice? Why would there be so many curses and so much resentment crammed into your body?

Greem’s handsome face twitched in disbelief. He had absolutely no words for this situation.