Age of Adepts

Kerslin Castle appeared to be exceptionally eye-catching with all its decorations.

Countless stone tiles of uniform shape and size paved the main path leading to the castle. The path led upwards, winding around until it reached the massive lapis lazuli gate of the main castle. On either side of the road were a series of shops and small fountain plazas. Every region was distinctly unique, making for a varied and colorful splendor.

There was great variety in the style of architecture around Kerslin Castle. There were domed buildings, pointed roofs, flat roofs, murals, and stained glass walls and windows. The entirety of Kerslin Castle had been revamped to welcome the representatives of adept clans coming from all over Zhentarim and was refreshing to view.

The adepts that had rushed here for the event also came in all sorts of strange and distinct vehicles.

Apart from the public flying ships, some adepts came on wyverns, griffins, Socrates Condors, two-headed chimeras, and other winged beasts. The adepts with more unusual tastes slowly arrived on Berserk Elephants, Armored Tyrant Bears, Moraq Goats, Magiclaw Lizards, and other strange creatures.

These accompanying magical beasts and creatures could not be brought into Kerslin Castle and had to be left in the large stables outside the plaza. The people diligently receiving the adepts here were all elite apprentices cultivated by the Association. Not only were they dressed well and had proper etiquette, but they were also impressively powerful.

With their abilities, they would be treasured prodigies in any of the small clans, shielded from any kind of danger. Here, however, they had to lower themselves to do the work usually left to ordinary slaves.

It couldn’t be helped. There were far too many adepts coming into Kerslin Castle during this time. All of the adepts were of different grades as well. If mortal slaves were the ones working the reception for the Second and Third Grade adepts, they would have to be replaced with a new group of slaves every thirty minutes.

After all, most high-grade adepts had twisted and unusual personalities. An ordinary mortal would not be able to endure their elementium radiation if they didn’t actively hold back their overwhelming magical energies.

Most foreign adepts had no right to enter Kerslin Castle. They could only find a place of shelter near the castle and await the day of the tournament.

Many impressively constructed flying ships descended in the port daily. Adepts dressed in uniform robes with uniform emblems on their chests would then ride towards the main castle on black carriages under the lead of Association adepts.

These were all famous large clans and organizations in Zhentarim. Naturally, they wouldn’t have to lower themselves and stay outside the main castle. Moreover, they were obviously reasonably familiar with the Association adepts. They immediately gathered together with the Association adepts upon arrival and hid in their rooms to whisper gossip and rumors.

No outsiders had no idea what the Association leadership was thinking about in coming up with this tournament.

However, if the most powerful person were to be selected at the end of the tournament to advance to Fourth Grade, then the quicker the news, the more initiative they would have in the political changes that would follow.

Of course, such an initiative meant hardly anything to Fourth Grade adepts, but it could decide the rise or fall of those small and mid-sized clans. It was only natural for them to become nervous about the whole affair!

Of course, the selection of the strongest Third Grade within the Association this time had also attracted the attention of the other three major forces.

It was said that the three forces had already sent out undercover observers to witness the entire tournament in hopes of indirectly gaining insight into Zhentarim’s development over the recent years.

The battlefield for the tournament was set to be in a lesser plane known as Bluesea.

The four peak Third Grade powerhouses would be split into two groups. They would be teleported to different regions in the Bluesea Plane, where they would engage in a fifteen-day-long battle. The two participants would each have half of a fixed teleportation crystal on their person. They would be able to successfully return to Kerslin Castle after obtaining their opponent’s half of the teleportation crystal.

The people to successfully return to Kerslin Castle would be the winners of the preliminary.

If neither competitor could obtain the other person’s teleportation crystal, then it would be considered a loss for both of them, and they would both be eliminated.

The finals would be held fifteen days after the first preliminary with the same rules and win conditions. The one to obtain a complete teleportation crystal and return would be ruled as the victor.

These rules meant that the person who wished to become the strongest Third Grade of Zhentarim had to defeat two competitors in succession in a span of thirty days. It was both a test of power as well as a test of determination.

Of course, if any person could dispatch their opponent in a single day and return to Kerslin Castle, they would have not only fourteen days to rest, but also the opportunity to watch their next opponent fight. It would be incredibly helpful to know more about their opponent before going into the finals.

That said, while that might sound like a brilliant idea, it wasn’t exactly the most practical.

After all, the adepts that had been chosen for this tournament were all peak Third Grade veterans that had fought in hundreds of battles. They were incredibly experienced. None of them should be able to defeat their opponent easily.

…………

Bluesea Plane.

It was a small plane with a vast landmass and a wealth of biological and ore resources.

Ever since it became a lesser plane of the Zhentarim Association, the most powerful individuals among the natives had already been captured or killed. The survivors were then reduced to slaves and ore miners beneath the Association, spending their days working in all sorts of plantations and lightless mines.

Today, this place became the battlefield of four Third Grade adepts from another world.

A radiant beam of light shone in a dense forest near the west coast.

A towering figure then walked out of the gleaming door of light before proceeding to frown and look at the alien world.

Greem immediately felt an overwhelming sense of hostility crushing down upon him the moment he stepped out of the portal.

The tremendous magical energy aura on his person rapidly fell as a result of the potent suppression from the planar consciousness. In the blink of an eye, he had been reduced to the level of a beginner Second Grade.

It was like stuffing an elephant into a boot. Greem fell his entire body cry out in pain and rebellion at having to be in such a cramped and stuffy planar world, even if he had yet to run into an enemy yet.

“It seems like the first round in this battle will revolve around the planar suppression. Whoever can adapt to the planar environment first will be able to unleash more power.”

“Chip, begin analysis of the planar laws here!”

[Beep. Mission received. Time until the analysis is completed: 11 hours, 29 minutes, 31 seconds.]

Eleven hours…hmm. I’ll take this time to look for my opponent!

Then again, who was my opponent?

Greem and the three other adepts had stepped into the portal at Kerslin Castle at the same time. However, they were teleported to different regions in pairs of two. As such, at this moment, Greem had no idea who his first opponent was.

[Beep. Detecting unknown energy fluctuation.]

While Greem was thinking in silence, the Chip let out a series of notifications. Seven lifeforms containing a strange energy flux were then projected into his vision.

Greem lifted his head, his gaze cutting through the canopy and landing on an eagle circling in the blue skies above.

The eagle glowed with a bright red light in Greem’s Elementium Sight. It was a voodoo beast that had undergone modification.

Greem glanced around him and looked in several other directions, discovering the same red light on several deer, squirrels, and snakes.

It seemed like these were modified beasts that the Associations had left ahead of time to monitor the entire battle.

It wasn’t hard to imagine the hundreds and thousands of adepts in Kerslin Castle who were currently watching their every move and action through the eyes of these voodoo beasts.

He had best be more subtle with the secrets he didn’t want to expose!

A naughty smirk suddenly appeared on Greem’s face. He raised his right hand in the shape of a pistol and made a firing motion at a squirrel hiding in a bush a hundred meters away.

Pa!

As Greem moved his lips slightly, the squirrel hiding in the leaves suddenly ignited into a small fireball, quickly burning to nothing in the blink of an eye.

Greem smiled and turned his finger towards a deer hiding in a bush a hundred and twenty meters away.

Pa!

Yet another dubbing from Greem’s mouth as flames erupted out of the deer’s orifices. It struggled away but collapsed after five steps, where it turned into a pile of ashes.

Seemingly intimidated by Greem’s unbridled actions, the other creatures glowing with red light started to run into the distance desperately. Unfortunately, no matter how fast they ran, they could not be faster than the sound effects coming out of Greem’s mouth. Pa! Pa! Pa! A few more shots resulted in the extermination of five of the seven red lights.

The eagle was the fastest of them all. It had already flown one and a half kilometers away. As such, Greem did not kill it. After all, this was the means by which the Association monitored them. It wouldn’t be right to kill them all. He only needed to draw a boundary and chase them all some distance away from him.

After chasing away the eagle, Greem’s gaze turned to the base of an ancient tree.

A mole glowing with a red light was hiding underground there, relying on the cover of the earth to avoid having to run away.

It seemed like the Association adepts controlling the voodoo beasts had yet to figure out how Greem discovered the creatures. They were still trying to rely on the cover of the earth to avoid Greem’s hunt.

Greem chuckled. His right hand formed a fist and punched downwards.

A hundred meters away, an area twenty meters around the ancient tree abruptly collapsed as if an invisible fist had crashed down there. A massive crater two meters deep formed. All the trees, branches, vines, and bushes in the area were reduced to ashes by the invisible flames.

The red dot of light also vanished from Greem’s Elementium Sight.

It was just an ordinary creature with transplanted magical eyes. Naturally, there was no way it could have survived a casual attack from Greem.

After blinding all the ‘eyes’ monitoring him within a thousand meters, Greem finally took out a strange black crystal from his pouch.

The crystal was only the size of a fist, filled with a shimmering black mist, obscuring any content within it.

The black crystal started shaking when it was taken out as if it wanted to leave Greem’s grasp and fly in a particular direction northeast.

It seemed like that was the location of the other teleportation crystal.