Age of Adepts

Mary, who bore the title of the Bloody Queen, had always been a hands-free leader.

The matters of fighting were hers to deal with, but all the logistics that came after were left to her subordinates.

She hovered in the air, using a series of crisp and fast orders to command the adepts and apprentices around. She finally returned to her room on the fourth floor after everything had been arranged.

The members of the Rouge Corps also scattered and went to attend to their personal matters.

A short moment later, Mary arrived in her room.

Her crimson eyes looked about the familiar room, and she stretched lazily before quickly kicking away the soft buckskin boots on her feet. She then took off her clothes and yawned as she walked toward the bathroom.

A pool made of white marble was in the corner of the room, with steam coming out of the water. Countless brilliant rose petals floated on the top of the warm pool water. The delicate, stone-carved faucets on corners of the pool were letting hot water flow out, and the fresh smell of flower and grass filled the air.

Two blood elf maids in light dresses knelt by the pool, their heads tilted downward. They didn’t dare lift their heads to look at Mary’s moving and seductive figure.

Mary laughed softly, and her soft and delicate feet swept across the cool floor as she walked toward the pool naked.

However, just as she arrived in front of the two blood elves, her body froze. She turned around as her crimson eyes stared coldly at an empty spot in the hall.

“Who is it? Get out here.”

As she shouted, Mary’s slender and pretty fingers grabbed forward. A sizzling crimson hand appeared in midair and grabbed at that suspicious spot in the air.

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other and your temper is still as hot as ever!” The clear voice of a male rang out in the air as the crimson hand dispersed while it was still flying forward.

Mary’s body trembled when she heard this familiar voice. Blinding red light shot out of her crimson eyes.

A tall, muscular figure slowly appeared in the air.

That perfectly proportionate body, those well-built muscles, that crimson and radiant skin, and those strange tattoos that covered his entire body.

Mary couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.

“Greem, it’s you. Are you finally out?”

Greem’s crimson hair flowed down his back. He was only wearing a red robe on him. As he stood there and smiled, his entire being radiated a wicked, mysterious, and wise aura.

Mary’s Spirit slowly extended toward him, but when it reached near him, it was stopped by a blurry and transparent layer of flames. Her Spirit could not get any closer.

Mary could also vaguely feel the powerful and fearsome magic within Greem’s body through the life forcefield.

“You are already Third Grade?!” With a bit of a sense of loss and a bit of joyfulness, Mary narrowed her eyes and looked at Greem as she resentfully spoke.

“Still worrying about who’s stronger and who’s weaker?” Greem couldn’t help but chuckle, “It seems you have improved quite a lot over this period of time as well. You can probably consider advancing to Third Grade soon!”

“So what? Won’t I still get left behind by you again?” Mary couldn’t help but complain again.

However, she immediately thought of something, and her crimson eyes glowed.

“Eight years…. It’s been eight years you’ve hidden in your secret room, and apart from the elementium golems sending you food consistently, you didn’t even send out a single message.”

“A little bit of a problem came up during the advancement. Fortunately, it has been perfectly resolved!” Greem hurriedly explained when he saw the dangerous glint of light in Mary’s eyes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy to coax a resentful Mary. She leaped onto Greem with a single step and used her shockingly springy thighs to wrap around Greem’s waist. She leaned toward Greem’s ears and said, “You are so mean. You didn’t even come out once in eight years. Tell me, how do you intend to compensate me now?”

Greem did not say anything else in response to the deep passion of his lover. He immediately found her full lips and gave her a passionate kiss.

Red blushes immediately appeared on the pale faces of the two blood elf maids. Their lowered heads became even lower.

The two figures in an embrace jumped into the pool and immediately started wrapping about each other wildly.

Seductive moans quickly rang out from within the steam and water.

…………

News of Greem’s successful advancement quickly spread throughout the Crimson Clan.

No one was amazed at this result. They only thought of it as natural.

The appearance of a Third Grade adept could allow the name of the Crimson Clan to rise even further. They would become like a sun at noon in Ailovis, uncontested and unchallenged. With Greem as the Third Grade adept of the clan, the Crimson Clan no longer had any significant concerns. The foundation of their clan was becoming ever stronger.

It was only with a Third Grade adept behind the scenes that the Crimson Clan could indeed live up to their name as a large adept clan!

Of course, it was impossible for the Crimson Clan to become a super clan without a Fourth Grade adept.

[Greem. Beginner Third Grade.

Profession: Elementium Adept (Fire Specialization)

Bodily Attributes: Strength 18+2 | Physique 21+1 | Agility 11+1 | Spirit 32+4.

Profession Skills: Body of Flames, Flame Fiend’s Body…

After this advancement, Greem had broken free of his reliance on the Flame Fiend Transformation. He had wholly assimilated the power of the magical tattoos into himself. The enhancement to his attributes that required the transformation was now part of the Flame Fiend’s body. Moreover, there was no longer a time limit to it.

The five set pieces of Fire Throne were Second Grade magical equipment. However, together, they could reach the level of Third Grade magical equipment. That was especially the case once Greem had risen to become a Third Grade fire adept. He was now capable of unleashing their true power.

After peeling away all unnecessary soul contracts, Greem’s only remaining Soul Equipment, the Spirit of Pestilence, also improved tremendously. It had now become a strange existence of peak Second Grade. When Greem needed to fight, the Spirit of Pestilence could apply a Poison Aura on him, increasing his poison resistance while allowing all of his attacks to possess some degree of poison damage.

However, Greem had only just advanced and had yet to master a single Third Grade spell.

Currently, he would need one or two years to analyze and calculate the Second Grade spells to turn them into Third Grade spells. It wasn’t a good time for him to fight veteran Third Grade adepts during this period.

Fortunately, with the Chip doing most of the deduction and computation, Greem was free to pursue any other thing that he liked. Once the Chip finished with its calculations, Greem could receive the completed models of the Third Grade spells and rapidly turn them into his own strength.

Thus, the first calculation of a Second Grade spell that Greem had the Chip perform was the Magma Fireball.

It was the Second Grade spell that Greem was most familiar with and the one he used most frequently.

“Chip, prepare to conduct re-analysis and calculation of the Second Grade Magma Fireball and expand it into a Third Grade spell.”

[Beep. Order received. Prerequisite knowledge is available, data calculation in progress…estimated time required: 36 days, 15 hours, 29 minutes, and 35 seconds.]

Greem couldn’t help but narrow his eyes when he heard the Chip’s feedback.

In the World of Adepts, spells that suited oneself were the most potent spells.

Though the various major adept clans and organizations stored knowledge about a certain number of high-grade spells within their organizations, the ones released to the public were always those with basic models. These spell models either brought along heavy side-effects or had tremendously strict pre-conditions.

As such, every high-grade adept would have to perform adjustment and optimization of their spells for their own purpose to better suit their soul attributes and magic characteristics.

If he had the Chip and still needed so much time to create a new Third Grade spell, how did the other Third Grade adepts manage to tide over this period of power vacuum?

…………

White Tower.

White snow danced as it descended from the skies.

Three consecutive days of heavy snowfall had covered the entirety of Icewind in a thick layer of snow.

From both a distance and up close, everything in the world had become wrapped in silver. It was stunning.

A group of apprentices was carefully and diligently clearing away the snow at the teleportation plaza in front of White Tower under the command of an adept.

Just then, the teleportation array beneath the snow let out a milky-white light. The light quickly extended to every magic energy node and the core of the massive array.

As the runes lit up in succession, the snow on the array started to be pushed outward by the defensive arrays. Several apprentices who didn’t make it out of the way in time were covered in snow.

“Hurry, hurry. All of you leave the teleportation array; someone’s teleporting over!” The adept hasty voice rang out as the apprentices rushed out of the array. They cleaned up their appearance a little and frantically stood behind the adept.

Just then, the white light in the teleportation array turned into an entire stretch of light. The transparent protection barrier now wholly covered the array. This barrier of light could prevent spatial fluctuations from reaching outward, while also protecting the teleporting adepts. That was why a defensive array was often a most carefully maintained part of a teleportation array.

A muffled boom rang out. White light flashed, and spatial power rippled through the air. Two towering figures appeared in the array, one male and one female.

Adept Uka quickly bowed when he saw that familiar figure and those familiar bat wings, “Welcome to White Tower, Lady Mary!”

Uka was a newly advanced male adept with a skinny figure and sharp eyes. He was also a local of the Northern Lands. Due to him being unable to endure the discrimination and horrible treatment of the Northern Witches, he chose to join the Crimson Clan as a pseudo-adept. He then proceeded to advance successfully with the resources of the clan.

It was due to such a debt that Uka had always felt indescribable gratitude to the Crimson Clan. That was why he had actively accepted the difficult task of maintaining and managing the teleportation array.

As a head figure of the Crimson Clan, Mary had frequently traveled between the two towers over these years. That was why Uka knew her very well. However, when Uka tilted his head and secretly looked a the tall male adept beside her, his eyes immediately ran into a pair of burning eyes radiating powerful might.

Uka immediately felt his eyes hurt in that momentary exchange of looks. A strange burning sensation even surrounded his entire body.

He quickly bowed down even further, shutting his eyes tight. Tears flowed down his cheeks, traces of blood seemingly flowing along with the tears.

Chapter Notes: Editor Ryu: If you’re enjoying Age of Adepts, now is a great time to stop by our Patreon and consider supporting this fine series! Patreon is mine and Eris’ sole form of income for working on this series, and everyone who supports us through Patreon helps ensure the continued translation and release of AoA. The AoA Patreon has contribution tiers that give you access to advance chapters of the series (fully translated and edited) up to 15 chapters ahead of the GT releases. Thanks for your readership, and we hope to have your patronage as well.

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