Age of Adepts

While Fügen and Keoghan whispered to each other, a young adept standing near their side was staring into space.

The young adept stood there in a daze, as if the name repeatedly mentioned by the two adepts had touched on some memories of his. His face was full of confusion and frustration. Who knew what he was thinking about?

“Am…Am.” Adept Fügen had to call his name twice before he snapped back to reality.

“Oh, Lord Fügen, you called for me? I was thinking about something a little too hard there.” The young Adept Am smiled and hurriedly bowed before Adept Fügen.

“It’s nothing much. I just wanted to remind you of something. I heard that Meryl, the girl who advanced alongside you, has also arrived at Kerslin Castle. There’s a possibility that you will run into them there. You must be mentally prepared. Dammit! Even that girl’s advanced to Second Grade. What’s going on with this world.”

Am’s body trembled when he heard this, and he quickly lowered his head and acknowledged Fügen’s advice.

Adept Keoghan and Adept Fügen’s gaze lingered on him for a moment before moving away, but there was a trace of pity and cautiousness in the depths of their eyes.

Am was once the senior to the now-famous Fire Dragon Adept Mery. Both of them had been apprentice adepts personally taught by Greem. However, the path of development they each took had diverged tremendously.

Meryl had been an ordinary female apprentice with average talent. Advancing to First Grade was already an incredible fortune for her that had probably taken up most of her luck for the rest of her life. In comparison, Am definitely had far more potential for development after advancing to First Grade.

With Meryl’s disappointing talent, reaching intermediate First Grade by the end of her lifespan would already have been a commendable feat. Meanwhile, Am had the potential to reach advanced First Grade. If he was slightly more fortunate and could improve his powers to peak First Grade before the end of his lifespan, he would have one chance at advancing to Second Grade.

Thus, Am’s development should have been far superior to Meryl from every aspect!

Unfortunately, the path of one’s life would not always peacefully follow the predicted trajectory.

Naturally, being able to advance to First Grade, Meryl’s heart was filled with gratitude towards her teacher. As such, she defended Greem at every turn and juncture, displaying tremendous loyalty to her teacher. Even when a rift appeared between Greem and the Sarubo leadership, she chose to stand by her teacher’s side without any hesitation.

Meanwhile, Am…chose a different path.

Tempted by Adept Fügen’s words and promises, Am didn’t look favorably upon Greem’s decision to secede from the Sarubo Clan. He had willingly become a spy and a sellout. It was his betrayal that caused insider information of Fire Throne to flow into the hands of Adept Fügen.

The first crisis of extermination that Fire Throne had faced was when a Third Grade vampire led his clan members to attack the tower.

Greem’s faction should not have had any chance of surviving under those circumstances.

Am took advantage of that crisis to officially leave Greem’s faction, return to the Sarubo Clan, receive Adept Fügen’s reward, and become his disciple.

However, the changes that followed were entirely beyond everyone’s expectations.

Not only did Greem’s faction survive, but they even managed to obtain more power through the multiple crises they had to deal with.

They slaughtered the vampire clan, beat back the allied army of five adept clans, and Greem himself even killed the Third Grade Adept Yurga in a fair duel. Recently, the Crimson Clan had thwarted the invasion of the Fabres Clan, one of the five mega-clans in Zhentarim. Am’s former teacher, Greem, even displayed his powerful might and forced the Fourth Grade body-refining adept, Declan, to run away.

This series of events was stunning and mind-boggling news!

Am even heard that Greem had ‘wasted’ an incredibly precious fire dragon’s bloodline on Meryl as a reward for her continuous loyalty and diligence.

When Am heard news of this, his heart was rent in two!

He shut himself in his room, smashing and thrashing every single object there, including the limited edition alchemical platform he had purchased at high cost.

In his crazed state, Am even summoned several of the female apprentices he was training and ravaged them for three days and nights before he managed to calm down. Of course, after the whole matter, Am spent another sum of resources to conceal the mattere of his outburst.

However, from that day onwards, his heart had been upended.

It was important to note that back when he was an apprentice adept, he was the only one among Greem’s five apprentices who possessed fire as his primary attribute. If–Am had fantasized over and over again–if he had still at Greem’s side, could there have been anyone else besides him who would have inherited the legendary fire adept’s powerful fire techniques?

It was these impractical delusions that tortured Am at the very core of his being.

He thought about it day and night, so much so that it was almost as if he had been possessed!

It couldn’t be helped! He couldn’t avoid thinking about it.

His identity and what he has done was well-known throughout the clan. As such, whenever something happened in the distant Crimson Clan, the members of the Sarubo Clan would look at him with a weird look in their eyes.

He hated this expression to death!

He needed no pity, nor did he want to see others rejoicing at his circumstances. Most of all, he did not want to hear anything regarding the Crimson Clan.

Unfortunately, the feats of the Crimson Clan were simply too shocking and unbelievable!

When the Fabres Clan marched out in full force and invaded the Crimson Clan’s territory without opposition, all of the Sarubo adepts had gone to praise Am for his excellent foresight in escaping that terrifying death trap ahead of time.

Am had even rejoiced over his decision for a while.

However, when the legendary fire adept forced the Fourth Grade adept to flee upon his appearance and slaughtered the Fabres army, all of the Sarubo Clan adepts fell silent. The looks they gave Am returned to the usual as if they were looking at the biggest, most foolish idiot in the world.

During that time, Am also lost an incredible amount of weight.

In all honesty, when he heard that the legendary fire adept was making history once again in being selected as one of the Third Grades for the Association’s tournament, Am was incredibly calm.

Adept Fügen and Adept Keoghan had no intention of bringing Am along on their trip to Kerslin Castle. However, for some unknown reason, Am had actively requested that his teacher bring him along.

Even Am couldn’t explain why he wanted to come.

He no longer wanted to dwell on the rights and wrongs of his choice in the past.

All he wanted to do now was see his former teacher and his old companions with his own two eyes. As for why he wanted to see them, what he would do after seeing them, Am had absolutely no clue.

…………

Five days later, the flying ship finally arrived at Kerslin Castle.

As the dense crowd of people walked down the flying ship, the first thing that came into view was a massive and beautiful plaza. The plaza was tiled with moonwhite stone that glowed brilliantly in the warm sun. If this were nighttime, then after having absorbed an entire day’s worth of light elementium, the moonwhite stone would emanate a soft and faint light, making the place even more beautiful and unreal.

An incomparable giant statue stood at the center of the plaza. It was in the liking of an old adept dressed in an adept’s robe, standing at over a hundred meters tall. The statue of the adept was carved out of a large stone. Every single detail, from the eyes and the brows to the skin and the robe itself, was life-like and realistic. It was the peak of craftsmanship.

Anyone would have thought that this was a living adept at first look, an adept carefully assessing every outsider that came to Kerslin Castle.

“This is Adept Csanad, first Chairman of the Zhentarim Association.” Adept Keoghan lifted his head to look at the statue and lamented.

Of course, Keoghan and Am knew that Adept Fügen wasn’t lamenting the deeds and accomplishments of this Chairman Csanad, but his regrets. Regardless of how talented Chairman Csanad was, he had never managed to cross the threshold of Fourth Grade to become a Great Adept.

As such, he was fated never to achieve immortality, dying of old age in Kerslin Castle at 1,173 years of age.

However, this was Kerslin Castle. If Adept Fügen were to express this lamentation of his out loud, it would be considered offensive to the Association. He could only express his feelings through a simple sentence like that.

“The fire dragon adept. It’s the fire dragon adept…”

Suddenly, a commotion spread out amongst the adepts who were enjoying the scenery of Kerslin Castle. Gasps and cries rang out throughout the plaza.

Fire Dragon Adept Meryl?

Adept Keoghan and the two others were stunned for a moment. They quickly turned their heads in the direction where the voices were coming from.

Two young and spirited female adepts walked side by side near a stone arch on the west side of the plaza. They were greeting a group of adepts that had just walked down from a flying ship.

Over the past decade, as the Crimson Clan was subtly acknowledged as a Fourth Grade force, more and more adept clans became willing to form alliances with them. In particular, small and mid-sized clans that lacked in power were ready to lean towards a rising group like the Crimson Clan in hopes of borrowing their strength to fend off advances by their enemies.

As such, as one of the authority figures of the Crimson Clan, Meryl had to maintain intimate connections with the allies of the clan, even if she was thousands of kilometers away from headquarters.

Now was such a case. A few allies of the Crimson Clan had come to Kerslin Castle in support of them today. Thus, Meryl had come here to welcome them.

Apart from the clan allies, Meryl and Emelia also greeted the other adepts that stepped forward to greet them. When the two pretty female adepts stood side by side, it was truly a very refreshing sight to take in.

Meryl would not have been considered a top beauty in the past. At the very best, she had been a gentle and demure woman.

However, nourished by the fire dragon’s bloodline, Meryl’s figure had become increasingly slender and pretty. Her smooth skin radiated with an overwhelming energy aura, giving off a sense of tremendous power.

Worldly beauty had no value to adepts. Uncontested strength was the only beauty that they acknowledged!

Am looked upon the pretty, smiling figure in the distance through the crowd, his heart once again torn in two.