Age of Adepts

The spoils after exterminating a border village of the elves were reasonably plentiful.

The resources and supplies obtained were secondary; the greatest spoil was actually the small nature altar they had obtained.

Moonwater, also known as Water of the Moonwells, was a sort of special spring water produced within the elven territory.

It was rumored that moonwater was an entirely new energy created by elves by combining magic elementium with the power of faith. This energy manifested in the form of well water.

For ordinary mortals, moonwater could bring the dead back to life, even if all that was left was bones. It was practically a miracle medicine. For spellcasters, moonwater was the most potent and safest healing potion in the world.

Even if a spellcaster was utterly exhausted, without Spirit or stamina, all they had to do was drink a bottle of moonwater to revitalize themselves instantly. Their Spirit would be so full that they would be on the verge of exploding. That was why any high-grade adept that could bring a bottle of such moonwater with them was essentially providing themselves with a second life.

One could easily imagine an adept using the moonwater to regain his strength after exhausting themselves in a battle with an equal. The sudden rejuvenation and pleasure that came from torturing and beating down the opponent with their newfound power couldn’t compare to ordinary entertainment!

The World of Adepts might be superior to Faen, but the magical potions they created were still the sort that stimulated the body and Spirit to hasten regeneration speed. It was entirely unlike moonwater, which could allow anyone to turn the tables after consumption instantly: bursting full magical power, stuffed Spirit, maximum stamina. It would be just that easy to crush the opponent.

Moreover, the magical medicines of the World of Adepts caused serious potion resistances. Drinking multiple vials of the same potions wouldn’t have stacked effects either. Their regenerative performance was utterly inferior to moonwater in every aspect. They were like heaven and earth with absolutely no points of comparison.

That was why moonwater was a high-class potion that high-grade adepts fought over, even in the World of Adepts. Moonwater of the same quantity was often eight to ten times the price of magical potions. Still, it was a valuable good with no market among the social circles of high-grade adepts.

The sole cause for this phenomenon was the combination of large amounts of power of faith in the process of creating genuine moonwater. The adepts had almost no faith. Thus, they had no control over the power of faith and could not replicate moonwater in their magical laboratories.

Since they couldn’t replicate the substance through magical means, the only method left for adepts to obtain moonwater was to rob the elves. However, those amongst the elves who could own Moonwells and produce large quantities of moonwater were usually large elven settlements.

Deities often protected these settlements!

It didn’t matter how powerful of an adept they were. If an adept were to stir up trouble at an elven home ground and invite the fury of the deity behind them, they could easily exterminate the adept and shred their soul to pieces by sending down an avatar through a god messenger. The avatar they sent down might have a considerable power difference compared to the deity themselves depending on the tier level of the faith channel and the individual power of the deity.

Still, a Sixth Grade deity projecting his consciousness upon a Third Grade god messenger could easily butcher multiple Third Grade opponents. It was a simple matter, really. The superior understanding and utilization of energy and technique were more than enough to allow them to fight off numerous enemies and slaughter all who opposed them!

That was why elven settlements protected by deities were all forbidden places for adepts. No one could defend against the god messengers and the fearsome divine magic they could cast.

Divine power was considered a force more potent and superior than magical strength in the power system of the adepts. The only thing that could oppose divine power was the power of laws that the Great Adepts possessed.

That was why Greem and the others were already satisfied at having unexpectedly obtained some moonwater from a small border elven village.

They had managed to fill five whole standard vials with moonwater. Every one of these vials would sell for, at least, the sky-high price of twenty to thirty thousand magical crystals in the World of Adepts. Moreover, even with such a high rate, moonwater could hardly be found on the market. No one would sell off the moonwater they had taken such great pains to obtain.

After all, in moments of crises, a bottle of moonwater like this could save their lives!

No one would complain about their lives being too long!

That was why high-grade adepts would instead stockpile them rather than sell them.

Of course, the value of moonwater was undoubtedly immense to Deserra and the rest. However, for Alice and Greem, the value of that wooden idol seemed to be even greater than the moonwater!

Since they were fortunate enough to come to a plane of faith ruled by gods, it would be a disgrace to their identities as adepts if they didn’t do some proper research on this ’power of faith’ that was even more powerful than magical power.

Of course, if Greem could go to the holy kingdoms of the elven gods, beg for some divine power crystals, and have them open up their domains for him to have a thorough tour, his research progress would most definitely skyrocket.

Unfortunately, otherworldly non-believers like himself had no fate other than destruction if they were locked onto by the native deities here. That was why Alice and Greem’s paths to make contact with divine power were very, very narrow. If one were to be honest, there was almost no way they could come into contact with it.

The wooden idol they had obtained from the nature altar of the elven village might not have sufficient divine power to form a divine halo, but it was nonetheless a treasure in itself.

One could imagine what had happened in the past. The leader of this elven village must have knelt before this idol and prayed religiously, day after day, year after year, communicating with and contacting the God of Moonlight that they believed in through this wooden idol.

This way, after much time had passed spent soaked in the faith toward the God of Moonlight, the wooden idol would transcend its worldly roots and become a genuine divine item, regardless of how ordinary its material and how crude its workmanship.

In-depth research on the idol would not only yield traits of the God of Moonlight’s divine power. It would also indirectly reveal the law domains the deity was involved in, along with the strength of their divinity.

That was why Alice immediately sealed the wooden idol with tremendous fate powers upon finding it.

She wasn’t foolish enough to research such terrifying subjects in such a dangerous and simple environment.

If the God of Moonlight was to discover a non-believer spying on her authority and powers through a node of faith, she might hurl a divine punishment this way. It was rumored that the God of Moonlight was a Fifth Grade deity. Even though the limits of her power–when projected into the plane–could only go up to Third Grade, that much power was already too much for the First Grade Alice.

All members immediately boarded the flying ship after scouring the village. They then escaped into the distance without hesitation.

Two hours after the ship had left, a squad of elf huntresses riding upon nightsaber leopards charged into the elven village.

What awaited them, apart from the blazing flames, was the shattered remains of the elven treehouses. The elves that lived in the village had been slaughtered, abducted, or had escaped into the surrounding woods. Not a single survivor could be found here.

”Find them. Spread out and find them. We must find a survivor and find out what exactly happened here.” The leading huntress let out a pained shout. All the other huntresses immediately spurred their nightsabers and charged into the surrounding forests. They started to search and call with the unique Whispering Wind of the elves.

Soon, some survivors had been gathered before the huntress leader. Amongst them was the junior female druid who knew how to turn into an antelope.

”Cassan, what exactly happened here? Who were you attacked by? Humans or witches? Why are the losses so tremendous? Did you not have scouts around the perimeter?” The huntress leader asked a long chain of questions; she simply had too many of them. The junior druid known as Cassan had no choice but to reply to each and every one of them dejectedly.

In truth, even at this point, Cassan still hadn’t figured out how today’s events had happened.

She had only followed orders and went to investigate the odd movements in the southern forests with Syd. After running into a group of strange metallic lifeforms that were wildly slaughtering the animals, she stayed behind to keep an eye while Syd went back to the village to report the situation. Then, the strange metallic lifeforms flew away.

By the time she had realized something was off and ran back to the village, the place had been reduced to ruins. Apart from some smoldering piles of flames, she could no longer find a single surviving elf.

The huntress leader questioned another two or three elves, but all of them were dazed and confused. No one had any idea how the enemy had appeared. They had been stunned by the enemy’s ferocious firepower at the very start of the battle. They had then scattered and escaped into the surroundings after receiving the female elf captain’s order to run.

Sadly, most of the elves had been beaten and abducted. Only a few of them were fortunate enough to remain hidden and escape calamity.

The huntress leader couldn’t help but get upset after failing to obtain any accurate information after questioning several of the survivors.

”Madam, I know how those bad guys arrived.”

Just then, a deep and hoarse voice rang out from a side.

The elves turned to look with befuddled expressions, only to find the speaker to be a young girl covered in dust. Her body still had burn marks on it.

The huntress leader had questioned so many of the elves besides her precisely because of her young age. There was no way she would know too much about the situation. However, it was this young girl that brought them their most pleasant surprise.

”I’m Vena. I was talking with Sister Lyfaea in the tree hall when the enemy arrived. Little Mott was still alive then.” The little girl remembered her dead friend as she spoke and couldn’t help but start crying.

The huntress leader was impatient and anxious, but she didn’t press the issue. Instead, she took the girl into her arms and calmed the girl down with gentle words.

”They came from the skies.

”They suddenly crashed down from the clouds. The metal ship completely covered the moon.

”All the metal men jumped off of the ship. They used foreign weapons and killed many of the elves the moment they landed.

”Both Sister Lyfaea and Brother Syd were killed by the metal men. Their metal armors were way too thick, and ordinary elven arrows couldn’t pierce them at all. Only Sister Lyfaea’s Double Shot could pierce their shells.

”Brother Syd turned into a bear and died along with a metal man. He died a terrible death.

”Before she died, Sister Lyfaea had shouted for everyone to run. I…I turned into a pigeon and escaped. A hole even got shot through my arm by their weapon; this is the weapon they attacked us with.”

As she said that, Vena raised her hand. A round, shiny metal bullet the size of a pigeon’s egg lay in the middle of her dusty, bloody, and burnt palm.