Age of Adepts

Fourth Grade. It was definitely Fourth Grade!

The elementium machine stepped up to the exquisite coffin under Greem’s orders and pushed the lid aside with all its strength.

Cold, rotting air came spewing out of the container, abruptly causing the temperature in the crypt to drop by several degrees.

If it hadn’t been the Holy Light Chapel, Greem might be extremely concerned about the possibility of the Fourth Grade corpse mutating. Fourth Grade was already the limit of power in most planar worlds. An individual at this level only needed to take one more step forward, and they would be an inch away from immortality.

That was why most Fourth Grades who had reached the end of their lifespans would make arrangements for the treatment of their corpses ahead of time. Without any proper preparations, the strength of a Fourth Grade creature’s physical body and Spirit almost guaranteed their conversion into undead creatures upon death.

That was why the Zambez Empire placed the corpses of all dead holy knights in the underground crypts of the Holy Light Chapels. It was to rely on the pure Holy Light to prevent their bodies from transforming into powerful, undead creatures.

The crypt’s function as a memorial and means of remembrance was only an excuse to conceal the truth!

A middle-aged man with a brutish face lay inside the coffin. He wore golden full-body armor with a strange shield carved with a golden flying tiger lying above his body. A particularly long longsword had also been placed at his side.

This Fourth Grade holy knight might have been dead for hundreds of years, but his appearance and skin looked almost as if he were still alive. At a glance, it looked like he was taking an afternoon nap.

Blue light flickered in Greem’s black eyes, and he quickly scanned the silent body. There was not a single trace of soul aura detected within his body, though the strength of his physical form was oddly well-preserved.

A necromancer would surely have been overjoyed to see such a perfectly preserved Fourth Grade corpse. However, Greem was not skilled in necromancy. He was probably unable to turn this corpse into a powerful undead creature. As such, he would have to take his time considering how to maximize the value of the body best.

Greem carefully reached in to touch the Fourth Grade corpse while silently chanting an activation spell in an attempt to store the body in his storage ring. However, when the faint spatial flux enveloped the corpse, a surge of magical energy flowed out and disrupted Greem’s actions.

What was happening?

Greem narrowed his eyes and observed. He quickly discovered the source of the incident by following the flow of magical energy!

Greem found a magical ring with a large rock crystal embedded in it on the right little finger of the corpse. Despite hundreds of years of silence and age, it remained bright with magical energy and shrouded with light; it was clearly the sign of a treasure.

It wasn’t just the magical ring. The armor, weapon, and shield that were buried with the corpse all glowed with a purple light. Given the energy level that remained on these magical items, Greem was certain that they were all Fourth Grade magical equipment.

Even if he couldn’t use these items, they would be worth a fortune back in the World of Adepts.

Greem carefully removed the rock crystal ring from the corpse’s finger and lifted it to his eyes for further examination.

[Beep. Detecting a high-energy magical item. Conduct deep scan?]

“Scan it!”

An ordinary magical ring would either store certain unique spells within it or be able to provide status enhancements to its wearer. However, this was a Fourth Grade ring. Naturally, the power it contained was incomparable to an ordinary magical ring. However, Greem clearly could not use the ring until he had analyzed it.

There was a sizzling sound in his mind as his Spirit rapidly depleted. Finally, seven minutes later, the Chip stopped its scans and analysis.

[Beep. Deep scan completed. Magical item attribute analysis is as below.

[Item Name: Sodden’s Holy Ring

Item Grade: Fourth Grade”

Item Attributes: +5 Strength | +3 Physique | +1 Agility

Item Characteristics: This is the magical ring that Fourth Grade Holy Knight Sodden most treasured in life. It possesses indescribable power and might. According to the wielder’s will, the ring may convert any energy into pure holy light, or attach four hundred points of holy damage to any of the wielder’s attacks against an enemy. This enhanced holy attack ignores defense and magical resistance.]

……

Greem’s eyes opened wide as he stared blankly at the words the Chip had projected in his mind. His entire body couldn’t help but tremble in excitement.

Dammit! It was truly a Fourth Grade magical ring. Disregarding the basic attributes it provided to its wearer, the characteristics of the item alone were unbelievably powerful!

Every attack would be enhanced with four hundred points of holy damage. That was terrifying power that exceeded most of Greem’s Third Grade spells. The only question now was whether this additional damage was only active for melee attacks or applicable to long-ranged spells as well.

If it applied to long-ranged spells as well, then the power of Greem’s spells would increase by four hundred points. Moreover, these four hundred points of power would ignore defense and magical resistance, all while containing the unusual holy attribute.

Greem lifted Sodden’s Holy Ring and kissed it over and over, before finally and giddily putting it on his right little finger.

He then immediately had the Chip scan his attributes.

[Greem, Beginner Third Grade.

Profession: Elementium Adept (Fire Specialization).

Bodily Attributes: Strength 18+7 | Physique 21+4 Agility 11+2 | Spirit 32+4.

Profession Skills: Body of Flames, Flame Fiend’s Body.]

Now, even without his transformation, Greem possessed twenty-five points of Strength and twenty-five points of Physique. At this level, he could fight with a Second Grade Silver Knight on even footing, even while bare-handed. In fact, his body would be able to endure the full-force attack of a First Grade even without magical protection.

This Fourth Grade corpse could no longer resist the spatial flux of the storage ring after Sodden’s Holy Ring was taken off.

Greem finally settled what he had set out to achieve after placing the corpse and everything within the coffin inside his ring. He started to walk around and collect all the items that had not been destroyed by the flame shockwave.

It was a very rare bounty, and Greem collected almost all the mysterious items in the crypt. After walking through the tomb three times and confirming nothing had been left behind, Greem led the elementium magical machine and returned to the surface.

He had stayed in the underground crypt for two entire hours. He had only realized that Arms and Cindral had vanished after he stepped out of the cathedral and took to the skies.

After all, they were summoned from other worlds through a magical contract. They could not remain in Henvic for extended periods. Once the duration of the summon was over, they would return to their original planes under the binding of the spell.

That was why Greem wasn’t surprised at their disappearance.

From high above, Greem could clearly see that this once peaceful and beautiful city had now been ravaged and reduced to rubble.

The wild battle between the Third Grades earlier had even destroyed the three streets and countless buildings at the city’s center. The Flamegate that Greem had summoned had also unleashed thousands of otherworldly fire creatures.

He had not placed any restrictions on these creatures. They roamed the human city as if it was a ruin meant to be explored, aimlessly and destructively traveling throughout Hakans.

Due to their instincts as fire creatures and their hatred for life, they spread flames everywhere they went and slaughtered any living being they saw.

These fire creatures were the ones who caused the most destruction to Hakans!

Then came Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms and Third Grade Flaming Tiger Cindral. They were only here for the treasure. They couldn’t be bothered to slaughter the humans as long as they didn’t stand in the way between them and the treasury.

However, Greem could see smoke rising from the luxurious city lord’s mansion. Most of the buildings’ roofs were destroyed, and several of the warehouses had collapsed entirely. It was a tragic sight to witness.

The commercial area on the other end of the city was also blazing with flames as if everything there had been set on fire.

Greem shook his head and let out a sigh. He didn’t dare stay here too long. He unsummoned the elementium magical machine and summoned a First Grade stone serpent instead. They then dove into the ground and vanished without a trace.

…………

The World of Adepts, the Tower of Fate.

The familiar astrology platform at the top of the tower.

Even though it was the brightest time of the day now, this room remained as dark as ever. The ceiling was filled only with the faint light of countless stars. The room was so dark that it was almost intimidating.

Alice still sat before the wooden table, dressed in her long starry robe. Her silky smooth hair ran down behind her back. She was casually arranging the tarot cards in her hand while gently whispering with the black shadow in the magic mirror.

Given how intimate they were being, an outsider just might have mistaken them for the best of friends!

“It’s already been a month. How is it? What does the situation on your end look like?” Alice pursed her lips and chuckled as she shuffled the cards, “Why do I sense the life aura of the person you sent getting somewhat weaker? They couldn’t have been surrounded and caught by the planar natives, could they?!”

The black shadow in the mirror remained silent as it listened to Alice’s mocking words. It simply continued staring through the mirror.

The battle for the power of Fate was bizarre and unpredictable. It did not rely on raw power and might alone, like other conflicts.

For body-refining adepts, whoever had the higher Strength and Physique would have a greater advantage in combat. The same logic was applicable among elementium adepts, though their focus was on the strength of their Spirit.

However, for these two Fate Witches, increased power would only allow them to make more calculations at a deeper level, without being able to influence the outcome of the battle of Fate.

As the two of them both cast their attention on the distant plane of Henvic, their powers of Fate would disrupt each other, making both of them incapable of grasping every single change that was occurring there. They could only rely on some vague sense of Fate and their divination spells to predict the developments in the situation. Moreover, there was a considerable buffer and delay to their divinations, as well.