Age of Adepts

“Origin substance.”

Greem spoke the name out loud in his heart. He did not say anything, but his gleaming eyes betrayed his thoughts.

Of course, he knew what origin substances were.

It was a scarce and valuable item, a top-class resource that typically belonged exclusively to Fourth Grade adepts.

More concretely, origin substances were a strange resource created under unique circumstances, when planar laws manifested and combined with materials in the world.

Ordinarily, planar origins were hidden behind the planar law and the frame of the world. They were a part of the continuously flowing laws of the world, impossible to capture by any means.

When a planar world has been heavily injured and was incapable of maintaining its stability and completeness, spacestorms could break through the world membrane and destroy the interior of the plane. It was only then that a portion of the planar origin would scatter due to the shattering of the plane’s law system. The reason that starbeasts liked to invade planar worlds so much was mainly out of their desire to devour these delicious planar origins.

Starbeasts could isolate and devour planar origins by tearing apart plane barriers and destroying the balance of the world.

That was the natural course of growth and development for a starbeast!

As such, it wasn’t hard to see why starbeasts were known as enemies of planar worlds and mortal opponents of all living beings.

Very few ancient adepts of the past had managed to step past the level of the planar laws. The main reason for that was due to the intangible nature of these laws, which made them nigh-impossible to grasp or comprehend. One could only rely on a shocking amount of talent and luck while spending an incredible amount of time to experience and understand the laws slowly.

It was the most challenging process to complete!

Should a person be stuck on the comprehension of planar laws, their only conclusion would be hundreds of years of stagnation, culminating in a resentful death when their lifespan invariably came to an end. It was the same for everyone, even if you were incredibly talented and incomparably powerful.

Innumerable geniuses and prodigies had been stuck at the peak of Fourth Grade in this manner over the hundreds of thousands of years in the World of Adepts’ history. They became meteors that flickered through the sky, shining only for a brief moment, simply because they could not master the power of laws.

Many among the adepts were wise and intelligent people. They exhausted their wits and tried everything to solve this daunting problem. Finally, brave adepts who dared venture into damaged and broken planes unexpectedly found the strange resources that were origin substances. They analyzed and figured out the mechanisms behind their formation.

From then on, some powerful adepts also began to intentionally destroy planes in hopes of inducing the formation of such origin substances. The appearance of large numbers of these substances made it a hundred times easier for modern adepts to experience and comprehend the planar laws, as compared to the ancient adepts.

This resulted in there being ten times as many Great Adepts as the ancient times.

However, the act of destroying a mature planar world and indirectly killing the tens of billions of lifeforms within, all for the sake of some origin substances, was simply too evil. The more the adepts committed such atrocities, the more they became hated and despised by other races.

The adepts were classified as an evil faction in the records of many planar worlds, alongside the demons of the World of Abyss and the Scourge Lords of the World of Disasters. It also had much to do with the fact that adepts often freely engaged in the use of blood rituals wherever they went.

With the increased number of Great Adepts appearing in recent years, attempts were made to improve the adepts’ image throughout the universe. Rules were set forbidding the intentional destruction of a plane for the sake of harvesting origin substances. That caused the supply of origin substances to shrink dramatically in the past few thousand years.

In the World of Adepts, origin substances of any attribute or nature were classified as Fourth Grade items and sold at a breathtaking price.

It was precisely the rarity of origin substances that made them top-class resources fought over by the Fourth Grade adepts alone. Ordinary Third Grade adepts had no means by which to obtain any of them.

Greem’s heart couldn’t help but start beating furiously when he heard Adept Freed abruptly mention origin substances. He had a strange feeling in his heart.

“It seems like you already know what origin substances are. Then I’ll skip over the explanation of their function.” A smile with a trace of slyness appeared on Adept Freed’s face. “Well then, Sir Greem, are you interested in obtaining some origin substances?”

“Lord Freed, if you have something to say, you can be direct about it! As long as it is within my ability, I will not decline!”

“Good, good, good.” A wide smile immediately appeared on Freed’s face when he heard Greem’s answer. “It’s been a long time since we have had a new Fourth Grade adept in our Zhentarim. As such, the Association intends to gather the most famous Third Grade adepts of the central region together for a fair tournament, from which we will choose a winner!”

At this point, Adept Freed paused for an instant before narrowing his eyes and continuing. “The reward for the winner is admission into the Association with the privileges and benefits of a Fourth Grade adept, as well as five hundred Siths of origin substance.”

Greem’s heart stopped momentarily and only resumed beating after a long, long pause.

Sith was the unit measurement for origin substance.

Origin substances were unique in nature. They had no weight nor volume and could attach themselves to any material. They could only be absorbed with non-elemental crystals to ensure that their law attributes were not ‘polluted’ by plane substances.

Origin substances were always in short supply in auctions and private transactions between high-grade adepts.

However, origin substances that were offered up in auctions and trades were mostly inferior ones that had been polluted by plane substances. The law attributes within the substance had already been corroded and fouled by the elementium in the environment. Truly high-grade origin substances only ever existed in the private collections of high-grade adepts, hidden away from prying eyes. They were never shown to the public.

What Freed was currently talking about had to be referring to those high-grade origin substances!

To Greem’s understanding, five hundred Siths of origin substance wasn’t a lot at all.

According to calculations done in the past, the amount of origin substance required for a Fourth Grade adept to experience and master the planar laws was dependent on individual talent and potential. Those who were extremely talented would only need seven thousand Siths of origin substance, while the less fortunate ones might need to use anywhere between twenty to fifty thousand Siths.

The total amount of origin substance that adepts could harvest by forcibly destroying a small plane was no more than ten thousand Siths!

As such, the cost of cultivating a Great Adept that had stepped past Fourth Grade was shockingly high. It was beyond what an ordinary adept clan could bear.

Five hundred Siths might be far from enough to raise a Fourth Grade adept to Fifth Grade, but it would be enough for a peak Third Grade adept to successfully cross the threshold and become one of those influential Fourth Grades of the world!

Greem was confident that he would be able to advance to Fourth Grade in one to two hundred years, even without the origin substance. However, the time it would take for him to advance would be shortened by an unimaginable extent if he could get his hands of these origin substances.

The temptation of five hundred Siths of origin substance was incomparably massive to him!

Tournament…origin substance.

Greem listened to every word that Freed said and pondered every one of them. He had suspicions about the motives of the Association.

The Fourth Grade adepts of the Association most definitely had reserves of origin substances, though they may have come in varying amounts. That was their guarantee of advancing to Fifth Grade. It was too little, even if they were to use them all for themselves. Why would they ever have the kindness to offer up the origin substances they had gone to such lengths to obtain as a prize for their juniors?

It was not in line with the selfish nature of the adepts!

The Association had to be hiding a conspiracy behind this tournament they were organizing. However, Greem had no way of figuring out their intentions and secrets with his current status and identity.

“Who will be participating in this tournament?” Greem asked solemnly.

“There were only three veteran Third Grade adepts scheduled to participate: Gallow of the Dener Clan, Dante of the Annemdor Academy, and Sanazar of the Sarubo Clan. Given your excellent performance in the last adept clan war, many of the elders in the Association suggested you be added to the list of participants. How about it, kid? Are you willing to join this tournament?”

At this moment, even the Chip, with all its computation abilities, could not calculate all of the benefits and risks of the tournament. Greem could only rely on his own analysis and judgment.

There was undoubtedly danger behind this.

However, the presence of danger signaled opportunity as well.

For the prepared, the danger would be an opportunity. It would be a chance to shatter the norm and surpass the enemy. However, for the unprepared, danger would only be danger. It would only push one into a perilous situation where both retreat and advance were untenable choices.

The reason Greem had come here in the first place was because of Alice’s attitude about the meeting.

He faintly understood something when he recalled the vague hints Alice had given him before he embarked on this journey.

Greem lifted his head and met Freed’s gaze. He nodded solemnly.

“Lord Freed, I am willing to participate in this tournament!”

“Good, very good.” Adept Freed nodded in satisfaction and turned to give orders. “Laurent, you have heard Greem’s reply. Go and make the necessary arrangements now!”

“Yes, my lord!” Laurent glanced at Greem with a complicated expression on his face. He then turned and left.

“Very well. Stay here and rest in Kerslin Castle in the meantime. The Association will make a public announcement to notify all adept clans and organizations of this tournament. They will be invited to send representatives to participate in this event. The competition is estimated to start in three months. This way, even the adept clans in the most rural of regions will have the opportunity to attend!”

Chairman Freed continued explaining a series of other matters before finally waving his hand and allowing Greem to leave.

Once Greem’s silhouette had vanished from the room, Chairman Freed stroked his beard and smiled silently.

Lights flickered in the room, and the profiles of two adepts, one male and one female, appeared.

“How is it? You two have seen Greem as well now. What do you think about him?” Freed asked, not surprised by their appearance at all.

“His bodily attributes are strange. They are a little too high.” The male adept that just appeared had a skinny build. He was also an elderly adept, but though he looked old, he also seemed to be vigorous and full of energy. It was Vice-Chairman Adept Mirva.

The female adept was Fourth Grade Adept Kerala, current clan leader of the Dener Clan. Scarface Adept Gallow, who would be participating in the tournament, was a member of her clan.

“Apart from his bodily attributes, I also observed some issues with his soul flux. It seems as if something strange is mixed with his soul,” Adept Kerala said coldly.

Chairman Freed and Vice-Chairman Mirva thought for a moment and couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Indeed, there was a trace of something unusual and utterly inhuman inside the kid’s soul. It was truly very mysterious.

“It doesn’t matter how strange his soul is, as long as it doesn’t affect the tournament. Don’t forget that it is only thirty years until that time again. If we do not find a scapegoat in time, one of us here will be the ones to get it!” Adept Freed gritted his teeth and squeezed out these cold words from his mouth.

The other two adepts frowned but nodded silently.