Age of Adepts

The Black Forest.

There was a spot that had been left wholly untouched and yet to be excavated.

Tall and firm trees filled the area, covering the forest in a pitch-black shade with their dense foliage.

The black dirt of the earth was hardly exposed as a dense cover of fungus and moss grew above the ground. Of course, there were even more thorny brambles, bushes, and magical vines that crept everywhere.

It didn’t matter what time of day it was. A light shroud of black mist lingered in the place, making it seem as if it was a magical forest.

Yet, a crude cottage abruptly stood there in this strange no man’s land; it was a stark contrast to the surrounding environment.

A door creaked as a beautiful lady in green robes emerged from within the cottage. She held in her hand a mysterious staff decorated with strange patterns.

She had a slender waist, beautiful figure, delicate facial features, long, light-green hair, and the long, sharp ears.

Unexpectedly, this beautiful lady was a forest elf from a different world.

Pushing open the wooden door, Melinda stood before the clearing in front of the cottage, her heart filled with terror and despair.

This little cottage was her prison cell, and the hideous Black Forest was the prison that contained her.

The howls and roars of all sorts of wild beasts and magical creatures could be heard deep in the night. Even hidden within the cottage, Melinda could hear the movements of the magical creatures prowling near the cabin due to her sharp sense of hearing.

If it wasn’t for the strange circle of magical plants around the house that stopped the magical creatures, she would probably have been torn to shreds and eaten.

The circle of magical plants only covered an area of approximately fifty square meters. As such, Melinda’s range of activity was limited to these fifty meters. If she ever stepped out of the circle, she would come face to face with the various strange and ferocious magical creatures of the Black Forest.

Melinda had never thought that this would happen to her; that as a forest elf, she would one day be trapped within a forest.

On the first day she was imprisoned here, she tried to communicate with the plants.

Unfortunately, every ancient tree and wild grass in this forest only returned to her a fierce desire for flesh and a twisted sense of consciousness close to insanity.

If Faen’s Fantasy Forest was like a herbivore, then the Black Forest was a vicious carnivore. It wasn’t just the magical beasts. Even the grass and flowers of the place were filled with a savage and terrifying aura of violence.

A forest elf–a member of those hailed as the Children of the Forest–actually had trouble making their way through this vicious forest where danger, death, and slaughter were everywhere. Even if that horrifying demon did not place any shackles or chains on Melinda, she had nowhere to run. Her only place was here in the cottage, where she diligently tended to that demon’s strange ‘moonwell.’

Indeed, no one knew how, but that scary demon had actually planted a moonwell in front of the cottage. The reason for Melinda’s existence was to take care of the moonwell and hasten its growth.

Every time night fell and the full moon hung in the skies, a single, quiet, and elegant beam of moonlight would descend on the cottage, landing on that strange moonwell. If Melinda knelt before the moonwell when this happened and prayed zealously, her mental consciousness would vaguely return to that dreamy Fantasy Forest.

The familiar smell of the earth, the familiar scent of the grass, fairies beating their wings and weaving between the trees as the trees themselves swayed in the winds and greeted her…

The crisp and joyful voices of her companions could even be heard in the distance.

It was the only time of the day when Melinda was happy!

Ever since this moonwell was planted here, the strange roots surrounding the moonwell had faced problems with the environment and the earth. It had started shriveling and withering. It was only due to Melinda’s continued use of Rejuvenation, Cleanse Ground, Plant Growth, and various other nature magics that revived the moonwell.

It took six months for the moonwell to barely adapt to the environment and once again sink its roots deep into the earth, taking in the entirely different magical power of this world. After another half a year of recovery and nourishment, this one-meter deep moonwell with a half-meter diameter finally succeeded in gathering a small pool of clear, jade-green moonwater.

Melinda had also secretly tasted the water.

Just that mouthful of moonwater had nearly burned a hole through her stomach. If she hadn’t managed to treat herself in time, she would probably have died to this otherworldly version of moonwater.

Melinda was still a First Grade forest elf priest.

She was yet unable to analyze the exact reason for the drastic change to the moonwell’s water with her knowledge and understanding.

She had initially been concerned that that demon would give up on this place due to the change in the moonwater. If that happened, she would have to return to that terrifying adept’s tower, locked up in a dark prison, or waiting to be chosen by an adept and turned into those damned blood elves or an experimental subject.

There had been over a hundred forest elves with her when the adepts abducted them. However, after all this time, there were no longer many companions who could maintain their pure faith and their beautiful souls.

If the demon had not chosen Melinda for her identity as a priest, she would probably not have escaped the same fate as her companions.

And that demon; that demon was actually a young, handsome man with a wise and powerful aura, along with a wicked charm. Disregarding both of their identities and factions, he would have been an incredibly charming individual to fall in love with.

Unfortunately, their identities, status, factions, and beliefs were utterly at odds with each other. It filled Melinda’s heart with regret and sorrow!

It was almost the time when night came and the full moon rose. The demon would be here soon.

The somewhat panicking Melinda quickly walked to a corner of the clearing. A strange wooden well appeared here.

The wooden well protruded half a meter above the ground, where green vines and branches wrapped around it. These vines didn’t grow on their own; they were embedded alongside wooden patterns on the well, slightly projecting outward, looking as lifelike and fresh as actual vines.

Perhaps because they sensed Melinda approaching, the vines and branches along the moonwell also became active. Several buds bloomed, and a fragrant scent filled the air. For the first time, the deathly quiet forest became a warm and peaceful place.

Melinda knelt lightly in front of the moonwell. She held her nature staff in one hand and caressed the moonwell with the other while she mumbled softly, repeatedly singing praises and prayers to the Moon Goddess.

No one knew when, but a sliver of quiet and elegant moonlight shone through the canopy and landed within the well.

A strange and mysterious power rippled within the moonwell as Melinda continued to pray religiously and sing praises of the Moon Goddess. Several beautiful streams of light started to flow along the walls of the well. If one looked carefully, they would see that these beautiful lights were made up of tiny runes.

A dense shroud of nature power spread outward. Part of it stimulated the moonwell’s roots to continue growing, while another seeped into the dirt and the air, changing the environment around the well. Yet another portion of the nature power gathered within the well, condensing into droplets of green liquid containing a peculiar magical aura.

Just as Melinda fell into a strange trance-like state of meditation and hallucination, a blast of fire rose in the corner of the clearing.

The fire went as fast as it had come.

When it erupted, it did not harm the plants around it at all. In fact, it didn’t even startle the elven priest, still lost in her prayer.

When the fire faded, Greem’s tall and handsome figure appeared on the spot.

This cottage was one of his magical experiments, made to demonstrate the wonders of the moonwell as a magical facility of the elves.

Judging from the current effects, this was the only place to have succeeded. The other two locations had both failed.

Of course, there were many possible reasons for the failures, but the most suspicious one of them all was Melinda’s identity as a priest.

She was the only elven priest to have been abducted back from Faen. The other two locations were being looked after by an elven mage and a druid, respectively. They also possessed nature magic much like Melinda, but unfortunately, their moonwells had withered, bit by bit.

Of course, the experiment here with Melinda couldn’t be considered a complete success!

According to a sample that Greem had taken, the moonwater produced here was completely different in nature to those produced in the Faen Plane.

According to the Chip’s analysis, the concentration of the new moonwater was 230% more than that of the Faen moonwater.

That meant that any adept that drank the new moonwater would have the elementium balance within their body disrupted by the magical aura, causing their magical power to go berserk.

The new moonwater was not only not a life-saving cure, but a deadly and lethal poison!

However, given the unique nature of the new moonwater, a sort of strange magic essence could be obtained if the water was put through a unique process of extraction.

This magic essence was a powdered form of the essence of magical power. It was an extremely precious magical material in high-grade alchemy and could provide high-grade magical items with the unique attribute of automatic magic regeneration.

In the high-grade markets of the World of Adept, every gram of magic essence could sell for two thousand magical crystals.

Given the production rate of moonwater from this moonwell, as much as fifty grams of magic essence could be extracted every month.

Of course, the Chip’s investigations and calculations provided Greem with a new line of thought.

If the refinement process could be improved, the magic essence powder could be further refined into Empowered Magic Essence. Empowered Magic Essence could allow ordinary individuals with no magical talent to possess magical power and step upon the path of becoming an adept.

That was what Greem truly had his eyes set on!