Age of Adepts

The Black Forest in the afternoon was unusually and uncomfortably warm.

Tall trunks supported the massive umbrella-like canopy.

The distance between each of the ancient trees wasn’t much. Their branches, leaves, and vines intertwined together to form the boundless expanse of forest. A thin mist wandered in the woods, and sunlight filtered through the gaps of the leaves to form slanted pillars of light, turning the forest into a dream-like fantasy.

There wasn’t a single trace of a bug’s call or beast’s roar in the forest.

The dirt beneath a massive tree suddenly started moving, and a tiny earth hill the size of a human’s head swelled on the spot. Countless black beetles surged out of the ground and gathered together to form a crawling figure of a human.

This bug man formed out of a pile of insects stood silently for a while, as if he was communicating with some subordinates of his in the distance. A short moment later, the man raised his crawling head of bugs and turned to stare in the direction of the Aba Beemen’s nest. Profound confusion filled his heart.

The Aba Beemen had abandoned their outer hunting area and inner living area; they had all retreated into their nest. That was beyond his expectations!

However, after some quick thought, Billis managed to deduce the actions of the Aba Beemen based on the knowledge crystal that Greem had given him.

The knowledge crystal that Greem had passed off to him was full of content. It encompassed almost everything about the Aba Beemen. It detailed the origin of their species, the organization of their tribe, their governance system, the mode of operation of authority, the fundamental attributes of the different members of the tribe, their combat strategy, and the traits of the beemen classes.

With this information, Billis could beat down these low-level magical creatures that even outnumbered his bug army. In fact, most of the time, Billis could lay down all sorts of traps and wait for the beemen to walk into them.

Billis still managed to find the answer he needed from the knowledge crystal in response to this unusual behavior of the Aba Beeman.

The Bloodlocust Bee. That was probably the only trick up the sleeves of those Aba Beemen!

The bloodlocust bee was a type of terrifying otherworldly creature. It possessed adept-level power and was one of the rare individuals among the Aba Beemen that had individual power beyond an adept level.

Any Aba Beemen tribe had to sacrifice the lives of three to five beeman soldiers on a daily basis to sustain the existence of a bloodlocust bee. That was why the Aba Queen wouldn’t so easily hatch this terrifying creature that feasted upon its brethren, as well as the enemy, if the tribe didn’t at least number a thousand.

Yet now, the Aba Beemen had almost gone mad from torture by the annoying bug man. That was why they could no longer care for these taboos and instead prepared to hatch a bloodlocust bee to deal with Billis quickly.

Recorded in the knowledge crystal was the fact that bloodlocust bees possessed resilient bodies that could even compare to beginner body-refining adepts. Their flight speed was swift, and their terrifying scythe-like mouthpart could shred steel.

Fighting against a monster like this was impossible. Even Billis himself might be hunted down and killed, let alone his seven sting scorpions!

Hmph! If I can’t beat you, then I’ll just hide from you!

Billis wasn’t a brainless, wild magical creature that only knew how to run against a wall until it died. In any case, the mission his master gave him was just to limit the expansion of the Aba Beemen. Now that he had mainly accomplished his task, there was no need to continue fighting them to the death.

Return to the tower?

A deadly murderous intent raged in Billis’ heart when he recalled the forest spirit’s angry look when she had seen him. However, that forest spirit seemed to be the partner of that mouse, and that mouse was his master’s assistant. It wouldn’t be easy to lay a finger on her.

Since he wasn’t going to return to the tower, then he might as well go and find trouble with the other magical creatures!

Master said that the Three-Headed Fiend Hound and the Medusa were secret pawns that belonged to him. Billis couldn’t lay a finger on them either, so his options were limited.

Wyverns?

No. Wyverns could fly. Catching them would be a complicated matter!

The brutelephants?

Not possible either. The brutelephants’ Strength and Physique were off the charts. His sting scorpion larvae couldn’t even wound them with their current power.

No matter how Billis thought about it, the flaming tigers and the ogres were the most suitable target for him now.

Billis’ strength was improving at a significant rate. He would likely reach advanced apprentice after two or three more feasting sessions. At that time, his boosted Spirit would enable him to control even more subordinates, and his combat prowess would increase even further.

Mm! It will be the ogres then!

There were plenty of them, and they lacked magical abilities. They were just right for watering his army of bugs.

After making up his mind, Billis no longer hesitated. His entire body suddenly fell apart and once again turned into a swarm of countless tiny bugs. The insects dug into the ground and headed northeast towards the ogre camps.

Seven sting scorpion larvae the size of washbasins quickly tunneled behind him under the ground.

Seven small swells in the earth quickly appeared and extended into the distance.

…………

Fire Throne.

Boom! A massive explosion that shook the ground and the heavens.

The entire tower trembled slightly.

With just a tiny mistake, such as a small deviation in the runic lines being drawn onto a Second Grade elementium core, the rioting of the magical energies had resulted in a terrifying explosion.

This explosion had exceeded the tolerance limits of the defensive arrays in the alchemical lab. The frightening shockwaves spilled out of the room and even affected the entirety of the tower.

Greem opened the doors of the lab and stumbled out of the room with a billowing cloud of black smoke behind him. The entire laboratory was already a mess with shards and pieces of the destroyed alchemical platform everywhere. A ringing sound came from the room.

Keoghan, Gargamel, and Meryl hurriedly went to him after receiving news of the incident.

”Are you okay?”

”Are you alright, master?”

”You didn’t get hurt, did you, teacher?”

Three people and three different expressions of concern, but the only reply they got was an intense wave of coughing from Greem.

Greem’s young and handsome face flushed white now. There was even a trace of blood at the corners of his mouth. Several large holes had been blown into that black robe of his, and several small fires were also burning on the cloth.

Judging by the situation at the scene, it was evident that the explosion of the elementium core had damaged both his mind and body. No defensive arrays protecting him would have been able to endure the chain explosions triggered by the elementium blasts in that environment. The elementium shockwaves would easily hurt his mind and Spirit.

”Cough! It’s… such a shame,” Greem continued intensely coughing as he spoke frustratedly, ”Just a bit more and it would have succeeded. It’s still a matter of my Spirit being unable to keep up, after all.”

”Greem, you don’t need to be in such a rush,” Adept Keoghan felt pity over the loss of the Second Grade elementium crystal core, but he still needed to console Greem on the surface, ”The time limit for the clan’s mission is still abundant, and you don’t need to be so hasty in crafting the cores. It’s better to take it slow and steady!”

Gargamel and Meryl weren’t in a position to speak about this situation. They could only surround Greem and help him treat the most obvious wounds on his body.

Greem’s Spirit recovered by a lot after during this short rest.

”It’s a shame this time! I would have completed it with just a little bit more, and then I got impatient. In the end, I failed again.”

”There’s no need to rush; there’s really no need to. From my perspective, you need to be more steady when doing this. Also, I’ve completed the voodoo beasts you asked me to modify. There are still many matters I need to tend to back at the headquarters so I won’t be extending my stay here any longer.” Greem had shut himself inside his lab for the past few days. Keoghan hadn’t been able to see him at all. That was why Keoghan took this chance to say his farewells.

Of course, Greem was extraordinarily gracious and thankful for his services. He went and had Gargamel retrieve the agreed-upon reward before personally handing it over to Adept Keoghan.

Even though everyone belonged to the same clan, these sorts of tasks that consumed large amounts of Spirit and time couldn’t be performed for free. That was why a reward was necessary.

Once Gargamel had sent Keoghan away, the three of them once again gathered in a hidden room on the fourth floor to talk.

”Teacher, is your body really alright? Do you need to meditate and self-examine your body?” Meryl was still asking concernedly.

Greem’s previously hunched-over body suddenly straightened up. His weak Spirit also became full of energy all of a sudden.

”Master, how did the thing go?” Gargamel had obviously been involved in this matter. He was now rubbing his hands together anxiously while opening his wide, beady eyes and asking softly.

Meryl was utterly confused by their actions. Her pretty eyes swept from one person’s face to the other’s.

Greem didn’t reply. Instead, he lightly swiped across his waist with his right hand, and a bright, crystalline golem core appeared before the two of his subordinates.

”It worked... it worked. It really worked.” Gargamel immediately leaped up in excitement. He rushed to Greem’s side and stared at the golem core with his mousy eyes without even looking away. The goatee on his chin swayed and trembled without end.

Sadly, a woman’s sensitivity and agility when it came to shiny jewels were ten times that of a man’s.

Gargamel’s trembling hands hadn’t even reached outwards when the golem core had already fallen into Meryl’s hands.

Meryl joyously played with the gem as she pouted in an unamused fashion at the other two guys, ”This is the elite-level elementium golem you mentioned? Shouldn’t it be destroyed already? Why is it still here? Could the two of you have been putting on a performance earlier?”

Greem and Gargamel didn’t reply. Instead, they started letting out sinister laughter in unison.

”Teacher, even you’ve been influenced by Gargamel’s wickedness. It must be Gargamel’s idea. It’s really nasty indeed.” Meryl rolled her eyes at Gargamel and continued playing with this exceptionally precious ’gemstone.’

Er……

Gargamel rolled his own eyes at Meryl’s words. He almost couldn’t help but exclaim that this was Greem’s idea and that he was only a manager.

Sadly, his words were stuffed back down his throat by an intimidating glare from Greem. He had no choice but to bear this unfair accusation on his back silently.

”In all honesty, I didn’t expect us to succeed on the first try. That’s why we made preparations to do it again. However, our luck was good enough, and it ended up working in the end. We even managed to trick Keoghan over this,” Greem said, ”Right. This thing should be kept between the two of you. You are not allowed to tell anyone else about this.”

”What about Eva then?” Gargamel rolled his mousy eyes.

It was obvious that Gargamel was incredibly devoted to Eva. He was like a cute boy waiting for his mother’s instructions.

Greem paused for a moment. He had no choice but to change his words, ”Only you two and Eva are allowed to know about this. No one else should know!”

Gargamel and Meryl bowed together and acknowledged his orders.