Age of Adepts

Greem let out a breath of relief when the pure white body of the White Tower was finally in sight.

As the teleporting party was simply too large, the teleportation room within the tower could not fit all of them. As such, the final teleportation destination was set as the massive teleportation plaza in front of White Tower.

Even though Greem was confident that Gazlowe wouldn’t attempt anything too impulsively, he still kept his guard up in case anything out of the ordinary happened.

He understood the brain monster’s personality far too well.

Gazlowe had both the scheming nature and arrogance of a Third Grade brain monster, along with the cowardly and abject nature of a goblin.

When massive benefit presented itself before him, he could abandon all the virtues of loyalty, principles, and companionship without any hesitation. However, when something threatened his safety, he would begin to waver, regardless of how small the risk or how large the chance of success. In the end, he would let a brilliant opportunity slip between his fingers.

That was the true nature of the Third Grade brain monster!

It was his deep and cutting comprehension of Gazlowe that caused Greem to be so confident in Gazlowe’s inaction. However, the Capital of Eternity was not a place to linger. Greem was worried that some small things might trigger Gazlowe’s irrepressible greed and optimism if they stayed for too long.

As such, the clan army did not stay at the Capital for too long and quickly returned to the clan’s outpost.

When the massive expedition party appeared in the teleportation plaza, deafening cheers immediately rang out in front of White Tower.

The sudden disappearance of such a massive group of clan adepts and elite apprentices had already drawn the attention of individuals with malicious intentions.

Every large-scale otherworldly hunt and exploration represented a tremendous and unpredictable danger to most adept clans. So many previously dominating and rising clans had abruptly fallen from grace simply because incidents in their otherworldly ventures had brought an enormous blow to the might of the clan.

When they saw the clan expedition party successfully return from the foreign plane, every adept and apprentice of the Crimson Clan felt an unconcealable joy and excitement from the very depths of their hearts.

Most of the clan members had successfully returned, which meant that the risk had disappeared and the only thing that was left was counting the loot.

As the Mothership descended to the ground, rows of otherworldly slaves in metal chains walked off the deck under the guard of the magical machines. These slaves assessed their surroundings with expressions filled with shock, fear, and confusion.

When they saw the looming tower stretching above the clouds and the adepts in their magical robes, they couldn’t help but lower their heads and listlessly stepped into the tower, herded by the tall metal golems.

There were ogres, muscular and tall with large bellies, as well as necklaces of skulls and teeth hanging from their necks.

Trolls of great stature, with developed muscles, slender and strong limbs, fire-red hair, and vicious fangs.

Fearsome werewolves with brown fur, sharp claws, and powerful legs.

Female centaurs whose lower half was the body of a horse, white and sturdy, and the upper half of a human female, their breasts wrapped with a thin layer of hide.

Mountain giants that stood at seven meters tall, with rough yellow skin and terrifying brute force.

……

……

All sorts of otherworldly slaves of different sizes and species could be seen in the long line of slaves. Most of them were tall and muscular laborer slaves, with the occasional skilled and agile slaves mixed amongst them.

Meanwhile, the female slaves mostly had shocking beauty, special techniques, or seductive figures. All of them drew the attention of the adept apprentices and caused them to mutter and talk amongst themselves.

In comparison, the Crimson adepts were far more composed. Their eyes wandered between the slaves, occasionally stopping on a certain one as they fell into deep thought. Most of their attention was concentrated on the slaves that were suited as guards for themselves.

After the ordinary planar natives had been walked into the tower, the more powerful creatures who had been locked with heavy shackles were walked off the ship. These were the ferocious and massive dragonborn warriors, the Dragonborn Cultists dressed in robes and radiating magical aura, or some especially fierce high-grade magical creatures.

Most of these creatures were quality First or Second Grade goods. Some of them were even Third Grade magical creatures.

They had been powerful lords in Lance that possessed lands of their own and lived a relatively free life even under the rule of the dragons. Here, they had become unfortunate slaves, stripped of all their freedom and could only wait in grim silence for the adepts to choose them.

One day in the future, they would be branded with the mark of a slave and be forced to serve a powerful adept forever.

However, no one would care for the thoughts of these otherworldly slaves, nor empathize or sympathize with them.

Such a conclusion was fated to happen over and over again from the day the adepts started to invade the planes of other races. Even the adepts themselves, who now ruled as the masters, would have to dejectedly accept their fate of enslavement if another powerful race ever conquered the World of Adepts.

It was the inevitable conclusion of planar worlds expanding outward into the universe!

The procession of slaves continued.

As the large and vicious dragons were brought out from the cabins, the Crimson Clan members that were gathered around the plaza all broke out in a tsunami of cheering and screaming.

The atmosphere of the clan was immediately ignited!

Dragons. These were dragons!

They were rulers, predators, and raiders that stood at the top of the massive food chain in every plane. They robbed and raided, taking over mountains and forests, ravaging and pillaging one intelligent race after the next, with no one being able to stop them in any manner.

But now, they had become the spoils and prisoners of the Crimson Clan.

Their meat would be served on the dining tables of the adepts, their blood turned into the food of blood adepts, their bones crafted into weapons, their spinal fluid mixed into potions. Their bodies would be taken apart by the adepts; every bone, tendon, rib, piece of flesh, and scale would be utilized to their utmost potential, becoming resources that the adepts would fight over.

It might be a disaster for the dragons, but it was a banquet and a buffet for the adepts!

The spirits of the Crimson Clan adepts rose with the appearance of every dragon, becoming even more excited and more uncontrollable.

Even clan members who did not have the opportunity to participate in the distribution of such high-level resources cheered with all they had, inexplicably joyous and glad.

The success of every large-scale hunt meant a growth in the clan’s power, and even they would be able to enjoy the boon that came with such growth.

The appearance of Second Grade dragons after the First Grade dragons pushed the emotions of the clan members to an extreme. It was a sea of cheering throughout the entirety of Icewind.

Then, amid the waves of shouts and cries, the grand prize to be shown from the hunt was finally revealed.

Guarded by four goblin chariots and a massive number of magical machines, a strange dragon with gleaming scales and a body over thirty meters in length was carted down from the ship. It had vicious horns, a majestic head, a massive, yet streamlined, body, and sharp and terrifying claws.

The apprentice adepts held their breaths and silently muttered beneath their breaths.

“A Third Grade dragon.”

“Third Grade.”

Only the more knowledgeable of the adepts could recognize that this was an exceedingly rare water dragon.

This time, it was the adepts’ turn to mutter amongst themselves.

Some of the adepts who prided themselves on their vast reserve of knowledge moved their lips slightly and described all they knew of water dragons through magical messages. Adepts who were collecting high-grade water resources started to raise their eyebrows. It was clear that the appearance of this dragon moved them.

That wasn’t the end of it yet. The last thing to come out of the ship was a massive prison cell with a black cloth draped over it, making it impossible to see the contents within. However, judging from the level of adepts guarding the cell, it was clear that the value of the prey within was far above the dead Third Grade water dragon.

That was because the Crimson adepts saw the silhouette of the Crimson Clan leader, legendary Fire Adept Greem, among the group escorting the cell. Meanwhile, the little Fairy Helen, who always followed by Alice’s side, was unexpectedly sitting on Greem’s shoulder, her face full of worry and anxiety.

A prey personally escorted by the legendary fire adept himself!

The adepts couldn’t help but become more curious as to the victim inside the metal cell.

Unfortunately, the high-grade adepts of the clan didn’t seem to have any intention to answer their curiosity. They directly transported the metal cell to the upper levels of the tower.

Adept Meryl stopped Greem at the entrance of the fourteenth floor.

She was here to ask about the distribution of the spoils among the clan for this war.

Greem paused to give it some thought, all while ignoring the little fairy on his shoulder. Helen was making trouble here and there, clearly dissatisfied that he wasn’t immediately saving Alice.

“Distribute it according to the list we drew up on the way back! Reward all clan members that participated in the battle of the Northern Wastelands with the highest level of contribution points. Mary will personally host the celebration banquet tonight, but I won’t be present.”

Meryl nodded over and over, noting down everything that Greem was telling her, before turning to leave.

Naturally, the ones caged within the cell were the shadow dragon and Alice, both of whom were currently sealed. Though the two of them were sealed inside, it was hard to guarantee Alice wouldn’t be hurt by the shadow dragon when the seal was released. As such, when and how to release the seal were both things that had to be appropriately planned ahead of time.

Helen intended to have Greem invite a Fourth Grade adept and use their tremendous power to hold back the wild retaliation of the Third Grade shadow dragon as they saved Alice.

Greem gave the issue some thought and came up with a different idea.

However, while Greem sat alone in his room and planned the operation, an unexpected request for an audience took him by surprise.

There weren’t very many subordinates in the Crimson Clan who could directly contact Greem; this person was one of those special exceptions.

Greem hesitated for a moment and finally decided to put Alice’s matter aside for a while as he met with this special ‘guest’!