Age of Adepts

The expected boot finally dropped after a month’s long wait.

Greem’s contract of service with the Sarubo Clan was for a hundred years. He was now in his tenth year of service, and his protection period as a newly advanced adept had finally worn off. He was now an official adept of the clan, and as such the clan’s compulsory missions quickly arrived.

Just like Meryl had leaked to him, Greem would be sent to Gilneas, the closest city to the area of conflict. There was a Sarubo mine there known as Iron Ring Mine, famous for producing high-quality azure moonstones and noble topaz.

Of course, one of the clan’s Second Class resource sites was also nearby. That was one of the targets of protection for the stationed adept.

According to past conventions, Greem, as the stationed adept sent by the clan, would have to ensure the safety of these two places. Another specialized group of pseudo-adepts and advanced apprentices would be responsible for their daily production. Greem didn’t need to stay on-site to guard those locations.

However, if the resource site and mine faced a severe problem that the apprentices couldn’t handle, Greem, as the stationed adept, would have to come out to expel or murder those adept-level opponents that had threatened the collection of resources.

Therefore, Greem would usually be able to enjoy his days within the lively and bustling city of Gilneas. The everyday troubles would be dealt with by the apprentices in charge of security. They would only ask him over if they were dealing with adept-level opponents.

That was why adepts often considered station missions like this an enjoyable errand, apart from the relative lack of freedom.

After all, the managers and local nobles near the resource sites would try their best to entertain a stationed adept like Greem. As long as he wanted, Greem could indulge in pools of wine and forests of carnal pleasure on a daily basis. Every so often, the supervisors of the resource sites and mines would also provide him with offerings of additional resources. These were unspoken rules and were considered part of the basic welfare of the stationed adept.

However, all of these were what happened usually; the current circumstances were unusual.

Not long ago, the apprentice captain of Iron Ring Mine, a pseudo-adept by the name of Sak, had a confrontation with a pseudo-adept of the Aki Clan when he went out collecting resources. Sak had ’accidentally’ killed his opponent.

This incident set off all the accumulated grievances between the Sarubo and the Aki!

Of course, the leaders of both clans would have started secret communications away from the eyes of the public. They were probably discussing matters of ’vengeance,’ ’compensation,’ and the like. However, given Sanazar’s temper, how could she easily cave-in to the Aki’s conditions to hand over Sak and compensate them with resources?

This forward area of the clan’s turned into a powder keg while the two clans argued. It was likely going to be the target of the Aki’s revenge.

Even though the Zhentarim Association strictly forbade murder between adepts, the elders of the Association were willing to turn a blind eye if someone had a good excuse to commit murder. They wouldn’t so readily interfere in the affairs between two adept clans.

Given the tense situation near Gilneas City, they needed a great combat adept for keeping control of things. Greem, the thorn in the clan’s side, was naturally assigned here.

The Sarubo Clan only gave Greem twenty days to prepare.

If Greem still hadn’t arrived in Gilneas City after twenty days, the manager of the Sarubo Clan, Second Grade Sir Fügen, would have to come looking for him for a ’heart-to-heart talk.’

The subject of the safety of Greem’s tower had never been brought up.

The Sarubo Clan territory was so vast, yet Greem had still chosen a primal piece of the Black Forest as the site of his tower. This action had caused dissatisfaction among the higher-ups of the clan. The compulsory mission this time was clearly meant as a warning of sorts.

An ordinary adept would usually have two to three options for their compulsory mission. They could freely choose the task they preferred based on their liking and schedule.

These station missions usually took two years to complete. After that, the adepts were free to arrange their own time for the remaining three years until the next compulsory mission.

Unfortunately, this was a compulsory mission that Lady Sanazar had personally assigned to Greem. He didn’t have the guts to complain even if he was upset about the whole thing.

After he received the mission orders from the clan, Greem could only try his best to make arrangements for the internal matters of his tower.

He would probably be leaving for a fairly extended period. He would have to discuss and settle the security and internal development of the tower beforehand. Moreover, he would have to clear out all the potential threats to the tower before he left!

…………

Gigant Brutelephants were extremely territorial magical creatures.

They continuously patrolled their territory once they decided on it. Any dominant lifeforms that entered their area would have to face the mad and relentless attacks of the brutelephant horde.

In comparison, weaker lifeforms did not even catch their attention.

That was why it was nearly impossible to find other magical creatures within the living areas of the brutelephants!

The Black Forest was shrouded by the curtain of night, its ancient and massive trees spread out through the land like a boundless sea.

Every single tree was several dozen meters tall, their dense spread of leaves completely covering the ground. Anything flying from above would not be able to see what was happening below.

Greem rapidly glided towards the brutelephant’s territory under cover of night. He rode on the back of the manticore leader and made his way there based on the information provided by Unguja.

As the canopy obscured the ground, even Greem had trouble seeing and sensing what was beneath the leaves. However, while above the black sea of trees, Greem could still capture odd trembling motions in the treetops with his sharp eyesight.

Night winds blew past his side.

The manticore leader opened its wings wide and relied on the winds to glide above the trees.

Greem looked around at his surroundings and quickly discovered some odd occurrences in the mountainous forest. It seemed there was some massive beast running through the woods, knocking into trees and causing them to tremble and shake.

Greem lightly patted the manticore leader. It immediately understood and turned around to fly towards that direction.

When they were almost there, the manticore leader folded its wings and angled its body downwards. Its tough body crashed through the leaves and dove right into the pitch-black forest.

The manticore leader only unfurled its wings once again after it had entered the forest. It wove between the ancient trees with agile movements. Once in a while, it stopped on a thick tree branch and surveyed this mysterious forest with its sharp eyes.

Dong.

A massive hill-sized brutelephant slowly patrolled within their territory, and the ground quaked with every step it took.

Suddenly, it raised its long trunk. Its enormous body turned with incredible agility as its bloodshot eyes fixated upon a spot in the darkness beyond.

There, it could faintly sense a dangerous aura that it hated!

Roar.

The brutelephant lifted its thick front leg and stomped the earth beneath its feet. Its thick trunk swayed from left to right, smacking the trees nearby and causing them to shake and tremble. The brutelephant’s two sharply curved tusks chafed on the ancient trees. Bark flew everywhere, and the white wood beneath was exposed.

As a territorial creature, the brutelephant let out a threatening roar as it raised its trunk. It was trying to intimidate the enemy. If the creature in the darkness knew well enough to leave, it would pretend it hadn’t seen anything and would continue to patrol the territory.

After all, this terrifying sense of danger allowed it to understand that this was no ordinary enemy. However, the opponent cared not for its goodwill. Not only did the creature not leave, but it also even walked towards the brutelephant.

Rumble.

The angered brutelephant launched a death charge without hesitation. It lowered its head and pointed its tusks at the opponent before rumbling towards the humanoid creature walking out of the darkness.

The opponent was a human in a black robe. Intense elementium fluctuations surrounded him.

These details allowed the brutelephant to recognize the intruder as a human adept!

The brutelephant leader knew that an adept’s tower had been erected in the vicinity when it migrated here. However, it clung on stubbornly to the idea that neither parties would come into conflict as long as they didn’t start one. As such, the brutelephant leader chose to set up his home here.

Many of the surrounding magical creatures had come over to win it to their side during this time. However, the brutelephant leader had kept a strict hold on his subordinates and prevented them from stepping out of their territories for no reason. Sadly, all its efforts had been for nothing. It hadn’t gone looking for trouble with the human adept, yet the adept had come looking for trouble with it!

The brutelephant leader was like a moving mountain of flesh as it charged with anger and bloodthirst. It knocked over two or three massive trees that were in the way and advanced towards Greem with unstoppable momentum.

Greem lifted his head under the black robe. Two blinding red lights shone from under the shadow of his hood. He held a staff in his left hand and extended his right hand. A brilliant red stream of flames shot out of his palm. The fire cut through a distance of thirty meters and struck at the brutelephant leader’s exposed skull.

Szzzz.

The sound of wildly burning flesh rang out in the forest.

A thin force field appeared around the brutelephant leader, obstructing the stream of fire from Greem’s hand. Its massive body then rushed right past where Greem had been like an out-of-control train.

A large cluster of flame burst in the air.

Greem’s ’frail’ body vanished beneath the iron limbs of the brutelephant leader. When he once again reappeared, he was standing proudly upon the broad shoulders of the beast.

A massive magma fireball was forming in his palm.

When the fire elementium reached concentrations that were hard for even him to maintain control, he shook his wrists. He flung the fireball at the head of the brutelephant as Greem once again vanished in a blast of fire.

Boom.

An explosion thundered and sent quakes reverberating throughout the area.

A terrifying flame shockwave ravaged the silent Black Forest as waves of fire licked the skies.

The sea of fire had devoured an entire space almost thirty meters in diameter in an instant!