Age of Adepts

The methods by which elementium adepts and bloodline adepts improved were entirely different.

Elementium adepts almost never considered refining their physical body. Instead, they prioritized the collection of elementium magic knowledge and the construction of spell models. They were more concerned about the affinity and harmony between their Spirit and magical elementium.

Elementium adepts believed that they only needed to maintain their physical attributes at a sufficiently useful level.

They would also find ways to improve and adapt their bodies, but it would be sufficient for their Physique to be able to resist the harsh environments of the various planes out there. The rest of their resources were mostly assigned to the improvement and cultivation of their Spirit.

Of course, the collection of magical equipment, tools, and spells models was also necessary!

Moreover, the conversion of collected magical knowledge into power, the understanding and improvement of spell models, the cultivation of Spirit, and the crafting of magical equipment were activities that demanded a considerable amount of resources and time.

As such, adepts never had enough time!

On the other hand, bloodline adepts focused on the assimilation of body, soul, and bloodline into their cultivation.

They would find ways to improve their Physique in order to create a ripple effect and magnify the Physique enhancements bestowed by their bloodline. They would also use unique magical means to continuously refine their bloodline to manifest even more powers from their bloodline origin.

It was the most common way in which bloodline adepts cultivated their power!

Many bloodline adepts enjoyed devouring the bloodline of their own kind, using it as nourishment to further propel and increase their bloodline powers. This method was considered taboo, but it was difficult to restrict adepts from employing this method.

As such, bloodline adept clans would often keep a very close eye on every member of their clan. They even had special magical techniques to check if any clan members have ever devoured the bloodline of their own kind. Anyone found to have committed this taboo would either be executed or have their bloodline talent confiscated and taken away from them.

The main ingredient of the two serpentine bloodline recreation potions that Greem had obtained was the origin blood of a serpentine adept. Naturally, the source of such origin blood came from those who were punished and executed by their clan!

Greem was now both a bloodline adept and an elementium adept. He would have to refine his body while also continuing his studies of magical knowledge and spell models. Naturally, he would have to exhaust twice the amount of time and resources as his peers of the same grade.

Without a large and reliable force to help him collect resources and knowledge, he would not be able to accomplish such a colossal task, even if he were to expend his lifespan.

Greem had the starbeast bloodline now. He could directly absorb chaotic magical energy.

According to the Chip’s feedback, Greem would have to frequently devour ‘nutritious food’ to nourish his starbeast bloodline. For starbeasts, the so-called ‘nutritious food’ would be chaos energy, Hearts of Elementium, origin substance, or the flesh of other starbeasts.

These things were either incredibly rare or tremendously valuable. It was very difficult to get one’s hands on any of these items!

Meanwhile, Greem could tackle his studies of an elementium adept with the Chip’s aid. He did not need to waste additional time to learn and practice new magical knowledge slowly. The Chip had also already been responsible for analyzing the spell models. It would transfer the information into Greem’s consciousness upon the completion of its analysis, saving him plenty of time that would otherwise have been spent on training and understanding.

The reasons Greem could advance five times as fast as other elementium adepts were directly related to the Chip’s aid.

Greem couldn’t help but feel his head hurt when he heard the Chip list all these valuable resources.

“Chip, aren’t there any simpler methods of improving my starbeast bloodline?”

Greem only had a small reserve of origin substance in his possession that could serve as sone of the ‘nourishment’ that the Chip had mentioned. Moreover, these origin substances were meant to strengthen his soul origin and increase his understanding of the laws. He could not use them to nourish his bloodline. Greem could only place his hopes in the Chip to find an easier, cheaper, and more available resource.

[Beep. Detecting one substitute for improving the starbeast bloodline.]

“What is it?” Greem asked with joy and surprise in his voice.

“Chaotic magical energy. The host can use the magic generator furnace to connect to the space beyond the planes and absorb unmodulated magical energy. In sufficient amounts, the chaotic magical energy can serve as a substitute to chaos energy.]

“How effective will this be?” Greem couldn’t help but ask.

[Beep. According to simulations and calculations, after absorbing chaotic magical energy for 4 hours a day for an entire month, the host will be able to improve the quality of the starbeast bloodline by 1%, and the quality of the Chaos Physique by 2.7%.]

“Only four hours a day? Why only four hours? Can’t we extend the absorption time and hasten the rate of improvement?”

[Beep. Host may have Chaos Physique, but continuously absorbing chaotic magical energy for four hours will also cause the body to accumulate a certain amount of elementium damage. As such, Host has to rest sufficiently for the body to heal and absorb the energy. Four hours a day is the most efficient time calculated!]

So that’s how it was!

Greem brooded in silence for a brief moment before asking again.

“What will happen after one hundred months, when the starbeast bloodline has been improved by 100%?”

[Quality of the starbeast bloodline will advance, and Host will obtain a new bloodline talent!]

Greem drew in a breath of cold air. Finally, for the first time ever, he understood the power of bloodline adepts.

If the advancement in the quality of their bloodline was always accompanied by the appearance of a new bloodline ability, didn’t that mean that bloodline adepts would obtain several powerful offensive options out of thin air that didn’t require the use of their Spirit? No wonder bloodline adepts were always able to unleash powerful spells that required no chants or handsigns, despite how little time they spent on researching elementium magic.

They weren’t using spells, but their bloodline powers!

A hundred months was no more than ten years. To be able to obtain a powerful bloodline ability out of nowhere in just ten years was exceptionally worth it, no matter how he looked at it.

Greem had already obtained a bloodline ability known as Energy Blackhole when he first acquired the starbeast bloodline. The Chip’s evaluation of that ability was reasonably high as well. If he could obtain another bloodline ability in ten years, it was sure to be at least as powerful as Energy Blackhole.

Greem couldn’t help but lick his chapped lips at the thought of this. He started to look forward to when his bloodline would advance.

Ten years might be a long time for an ordinary mortal, but it was only a small journey for Greem!

At the very least, Greem already planned to spend over twenty years in seclusion to complete his advancement this time.

…………

Northern Lands, White Tower.

Vanessa, who had dressed herself up as a young human girl, slowly walked down the corridor with a large stack of magical tomes in her arms. She smiled and nodded at all the adepts and apprentices she ran into along the way.

As one of the fairly well-known mechanical witches of White Tower, Vanessa had taken on several lectures for the apprentices. She was in charge of ‘The Origin of Mechanical Magic’ and ‘Research on Magical Energy Substitutes.’

After thirty years of hard work, Vanessa had also cultivated several qualified adepts. She was gentle and far more approachable than most other adepts, making him a lecturer admired and respected by most adept apprentices.

As such, most adepts and apprentices in White Tower looked past her identity as the goblin princess and fully treated her as a human adept.

Vanessa had a gentle and pleasant smile on her face, which was forged from a unique magical alloy. She kept the smile on her face until she disappeared into her room.

As the doors of her room close shut, the sweet smile on her face faded without a trace. It became the cold, expressionless metal face that she always had.

Two goblin machinist sorcerers wearing the uniform of the Brutalblood Army were waiting for her inside her room.

The two machinist sorcerer hastily walked forward when they saw Vanessa return. They leaned to her ear and started whispering.

“What? You said Greem personally summoned Tigule for an audience?”

“Yes, princess. My man saw it with his own eyes. Fire Throne might be on lockdown, but anyone that enters or exits Fire Throne will have to pass by Pinecone City. That is why I arranged men in Pinecone City a long time ago. My subordinate personally saw Lord Tigule pass by Pinecone City to Fire Throne. He stayed there for half a day before leaving.”

“Who else did Greem summon for an audience apart from Greem?”

“Greem met with Snorlax before Tigule, but Snorlax has not been seen leaving Fire Throne yet. Bug Adept Billis also had an audience after Lord Tigule left!”

“What is he thinking about? Shouldn’t he be busy absorbing the origin substance right now? Why would he have time to have an audience with Snorlax, Tigule, and Billis? If I’m not wrong, it has already been over twenty years since he last had an audience with them!”

“Yes. It is because we cannot determine his intentions in summoning Lord Tigule that our master has asked us to come here to ask you what to do next. Should we put our plan on hold and decide after we have ascertained his intentions?” The two goblin machinists sorcerers couldn’t help but further lower their voice when they spoke of the ‘plan.’ They even looked around them, seemingly nervous and in a panic.

“No, the plan cannot be put on hold. It must continue forward. I have already completed my arrangements in White Tower. Once we destroy that teleportation array, the people you have planted in the City of Machines must act as soon as possible. Apart from wind Adept Deserra, the rest of the stationed adepts in the City of Machines will not be much of a problem. You only need to keep them occupied while having others destroy the teleportation array, and our plan will have succeeded.”

“But…but Lord Gonga, Lord Locke, and the others are all still in the World of Adepts! Should we destroy the teleportation arrays, they won’t be able to return to the Goblin Plane any more!”

“Hmph, those traitors. They no longer think of themselves as goblins anymore. Why should we give them any consideration? Leave them here in the Crimson Clan to bear the brunt of their fury!”

Only these few influential individuals had risen to power in the goblin faction in the past hundred years of the adepts’ rule. Abandoning them in the World of Adepts would thoroughly break the hearts of all the goblins.

However, the reality was as the princess had said. These people no longer thought of themselves as part of the goblins. If they were involved in this plan, it was possible that this great operation that they had planned for several decades would be exposed.

At the thought of this, the two goblin machinist-sorcerers looked at each other and let out a helpless sigh.