Age of Adepts

Greem casually walked down a metal bridge hanging between the steel fortresses.

A howling gust of wind blew across the bridge, causing his robes to ruffle and billow loudly. It revealed the dark-red fire dragon armor he wore underneath.

The bridge was five-meters-wide, firm, and secure enough for an army of magical machines to quickly march across.

There were one-meter-tall railings on the side of the bridges. Looking down from above at the edge of the bridge, you could see countless dots of uneven height below. There were strange buildings that were almost steampunk in fashion, packed together so tightly they were almost like a pack of marching ants.

The Capital of Eternity relied on its impenetrable steel fortresses and terrifying magic energy cannons to repel the hordes of dragon lords that came to conquer it. It had managed to establish itself as an unconquerable city of steel in Lance, where dragon lords ruled everywhere, and it did so through sheer power.

As long as you could demonstrate uncontested power in any plane, you would always have an endless horde of admirers and followers.

When the Capital of Eternity proved its power through blood and iron, the planar natives that had been deeply oppressed by the dragons couldn’t have been happier to change banners and join the Capital of Eternity. It allowed the influence and fame of the Capital to spread throughout Lance rapidly.

Thus, just as Greem saw right now, the Capital of Eternity was not only home to the tens of thousands of magical machines, but these hundreds of thousands of natives as well. They were like weeds, bushes, or vines growing on the outside of the Capital of Eternity, getting by through donations and whatever leftovers they could scrap together.

Anyone that wanted a good livelihood or for their tribe to rise to power would have to join the Capital of Eternity, becoming part of Gru’s subordinate army.

It was through this method that Split-Brain Gru had managed to put together a massive native army of various races and abilities with a minimal amount of resources.

Now, with a single order from Gru, the entire Capital sprung into action. Squads of magical machines and native warriors swarmed out of the buildings scattered throughout the steel fortress, rushing wildly at the black-haired, black-eyed adept standing upon the bridge.

Having advanced past the elementary phase of an elementium adept and raising his power to the level of principles, the strange characteristics caused by radiating elementium or projected power were slowly fading from Greem’s appearance. The current Greem was the closest to the original state of his soul.

The elementium sediments in his once long, crimson hair had faded away, revealing his actual hair, smooth and brilliantly black. Fire elementium no longer radiated from his person, causing his eyes to turn black once more. Only small sparks of tiny red dots were faintly visible at the edge of his pupils.

If anyone were to magnify these red dots, they would be shocked to find that these dots were strange symbols burning with minuscule flames. Moreover, these microscopic runes constantly fluctuated with every change in Greem’s own psychology and emotion.

Greem slowly walked across the long metal bridge, traveling from a towering metal fortress to the tower of steel on the other end.

Though there were plenty of metal fortresses here, and the metal bridges were as common as a spider’s web in a forgotten cellar, Greem could not become lost as he had already been here once before. He made straight for the core of the Capital of Eternity– the steel hall in which Brain Monster Gazlowe was hiding.

In all seriousness, Greem was only here today to reminisce about the past with Gazlowe!

Though he had done many things to upset Greem in the past, that was all in the past. With his advancement, Greem’s perspective and angle of looking at things had changed entirely.

Gazlowe was a relatively ambitious and insane goblin. The fact that he could turn himself into his current state was more than enough proof of his talent and intelligence. He was a Third Grade brain monster who possessed an impenetrable capital all to himself. Even Greem himself would be reluctant to remain as the servant of an adept if he was in Gazlowe’s position.

As such, Greem truly did understand all of Gazlowe’s restlessness and rebelliousness.

However, understanding didn’t mean acceptance!

The past Greem definitely did not have the absolute power required to suppress the Third Grade brain monster, let alone make him submit.

The two of them had only chosen to beat around the bush out of consideration for the mutual benefit they could obtain from their ‘cooperation.’ During this time, the Third Grade brain monster had done many things to harm the Crimson Clan interests.

Naturally, Greem knew of all his deeds, but he chose to endure them in silence. He did not want to exile this Third Grade brain monster from the clan simply because he did not want them to lose Lance and all its dragon resources.

However, Greem was a Fourth Grade adept now. The power balance between the two of them was utterly shattered. Whatever he could tolerate in the past, the Greem of the present could no longer endure.

He had only one purpose in coming here– to fold the Third Grade Brain Monster into the clan’s control once and for all. If the brain monster was foolish enough not to understand the circumstances, Greem didn’t mind putting on a small display of his new powers.

Greem couldn’t help but open his mouth slightly in shock when he heard the ringing sirens in the skies of the Capital of Eternity. He saw the army of magical machines and native warriors lunging out of the fortresses and barracks.

He had expected the Third Grade brain monster to resist, but he didn’t expect the opposition to be so intense.

It was complete and utter hostility!

It didn’t matter what the Third Grade brain monster was thinking about now. He was so sure he could force Greem into a retreat that he didn’t even leave any room for negotiations. Did he believe that Greem didn’t dare to kill him?

Greem’s eyes couldn’t help but narrow at this thought.

He had a feeling that things weren’t so simple. It was as if there was an invisible hand pushing and manipulating something behind the scenes. Otherwise, given Gazlowe’s cowardly and fearful personality, he would never be so absolute and decisive in his actions!

However, these doubts could only be answered after he dealt with this matter. Right now, Greem had to deal with the tens of thousands of enemies swarming onto the bridge.

He would probably have to first exterminate these annoying gnats before he could see Gazlowe.

Ga! Ga! Ga!

A series of deafening screeches rang out. The first to arrive was not the magical machines spread all across the city, but a squad of one hundred and seventy harpies.

There were both male and female harpies. All of them had humanoid bodies, with the wings and claws of eagles. They were completely naked, save for some thick gray feathers growing at the edges of their limbs. Wings replaced their arms, and they had two clawed feet holding onto three-meter-long spears.

These spears were made of wood and their tips were sharpened.

These harpies held the wooden spears tight and flapped their wings with all their strength as they charged at Greem.

Greem’s black eyes swept past all of them, unconcealable scorn in his gaze for these creatures.

Just a bunch of small fry at no more than apprentice level. There was not a single adept-level individual in such a large group. Even weaklings like these dared to launch an assault at a Fourth Grade adept?

Greem couldn’t be bothered to even lift a finger against such trash. He silently activated his Burning Domain.

As a crimson shadow dome enveloped a one-kilometer radius around Greem, all the harpies and native warriors following behind them screamed in horror as they were quickly burned and turned to dust. Meanwhile, the bridge and steel buildings that were now cloaked beneath the crimson dome rapidly became red from the shocking heat of the invisible flames. The surface of the buildings and the bridge even started melting.

The appearance of the Burning Domain instantly dissuaded any of the native creatures from continuing their assault on Greem. Without tremendous magic resistance of at least Second Grade or above or any sort of defense against fire, any being that entered the Burning Domain would have to suffer 210 points of fire damage per second.

Don’t mention these naked, unarmored natives. Even among Second Grade adepts, armed with a complete set of resistance equipment, there weren’t very many individuals who could endure such continuous burning.

In the blink of an eye, the aggressive momentum of the soldiers was put to a halt.

One planar native after native screamed madly and charged into the crimson dome, only to be reduced to ashes. It didn’t matter whether it was just an ordinary soldier or famed warrior among the natives. Anyone that walked into the crimson dome would unavoidably burn to dust after a few steps.

After witnessing this scene repeat over and over again, the natives were finally wholly terrified.

They gathered near the crimson dome, watching on with looks of horror as the dome slowly approached them. They had already lost the courage to attack and were now gathering into a big ball of flesh before the barrier, desperately trying to retreat.

The occasional, unfortunate native would be knocked into the dome by the crowd. Countless flames would spew out of their bodies before they could turn and run, turning to ash in front of everyone’s eyes.

The natives were finally afraid!

They might be brave, but they weren’t foolish. They might not fear death, but that did not mean they were willing to die for no reason.

Thus, when one horrified planar native let out a scream and turned to run, all the other natives couldn’t help but scatter and flee as well.

It couldn’t be helped. The ‘demon’ the group faced was far too scary, and they were far too weak.

It wasn’t even a matter of hurting the ‘demon.’ They were so many, yet they didn’t even dare to face him!

Greem continued strolling down the metal bridge, unfazed. The crimson dome he had erected was like a shepherd dog, terrifying the natives and making them flee like cows and sheep.

At this moment, a group of natives that were halfway across the bridge was riddled with holes by a barrage of bullets and energy beams. The next second, squads of magical machines in tight formation stepped across the corpses and moaning injured with perfectly coordinated steps as they slowly pressed towards Greem.