Age of Adepts

Origin of Magic, On the Birth of the First Magic Elementium Particle, Magical Characteristics of Single-Reversed Sillin Particles under Heavy Magnetism. Magical Material Studies, Research on Conductive Magical Materials, The Past and Present of Arcanists, A Guide to Arcane Tower Construction. Basic Applications of Anti-Gravity Barriers within Floating Rings, The Energy Cooldown Problem in Compound Arcane Spells……

After successfully robbing the arcane tower, everyone in Greem’s party obtained spoils that they were satisfied with.

Naturally, the party members kept their findings to themselves. No one would reveal what they had obtained.

Greem’s loot was a mountain of basic arcane tomes, along with the journals, diaries, and notes of many arcanists.

With this literature, the arcane knowledge branch that had diverted from the adept’s main knowledge system would have enough necessary data. It gave him the fundamental materials and data he needed for the deduction of higher-grade arcane spells.

At the moment, Greem’s primary interest in the arcane knowledge system was still the floating rings that the arcanists had developed.

One could frankly claim that the invention of the floating rings was the decisive factor behind the arcanists’ ability to create flying towers and cities. The so-called floating cities were only ordinary human cities carried upon massive floating rings!

Naturally, with the wealth of knowledge that Greem had managed to amass, he could imagine that the arcanists had employed an advanced technique to enhance the simple Anti-Gravity Barrier and assimilate it into their architecture. That said, though he could understand the principles behind it, actually attempting to reverse-engineer the technology and apply it would take the Chip at least a hundred years of calculations.

Of course, the floating rings of the arcanists did not come into existence from the spark of ingenuity from just one or two geniuses. It was the product of research and failure, and then more research and failure over thousands of years and hundreds of generations of arcanists.

It was after yet more hundreds of years of constant improvement and refinement before the floating rings became an epochal invention that could carry buildings and entire cities into the skies!

In terms of the level of the knowledge system and the maturity of the civilization, the World of Adepts was head and shoulders above the Arcane Empire.

However, why was it that the World of Adepts did not invent these magical flying buildings, while the Arcane Empire managed to do so? The main reason was because of the difference in ideals between the leaders of the two factions!

Perhaps the adepts’ system of development had gone down a deviant path, or maybe the tens of thousands of years of fighting against powerful creatures had caused the adepts to lose their original ideals. The adepts no longer believed in the pursuit of the origin of magic and the uncovering of the truth of the world as their primary ideal. No, their only goal was survival.

In a world where the war between the Scourge Lords and the Titans raged on without end, lesser powers like the World of Adepts, the World of Gods, and the Kingdom of Dragons could only desperately empower themselves to avoid becoming a sacrificial pawn in the tides of war.

As such, the World of Adepts prioritized the survival and power of the individual when they cultivated new adepts. In contrast, the universalization and derivation of adept magic lagged behind considerably.

In all seriousness, no adept would ever spend hundreds of years researching a knowledge system that was completely unrelated to their own abilities. If they had any resources, they would invest it in the improvement of their Physique or Spirit, or in the research of methods to improve their combat power.

As for the applications of magic for the civilians and the peasants? It wasn’t as if these instances never occurred, but they were only small sparks by individual adepts in a massive world. They would never gather into a wildfire large enough to thoroughly change the lives of the common folk of the World of Adepts.

Thus, the adepts pursued only greater heights in magic. The width and breadth of their magic were inferior to that of the Arcane Empire!

The floating cities created by the Silver Union? The technology and techniques used in building those floating cities came entirely from the unusual and powerful magic of the Great Adepts. It wasn’t due to some profound technological breakthrough.

Techniques and abilities like that would not benefit ordinary adepts in any manner!

Apart from the floating rings, Greem was also reasonably interested in the Arcane Empire’s energy system.

Resources and energy were two necessary and eternal requirements for the rise of any major force!

The energy supply system of the Arcane Empire relied primarily on the elementium pools.

The arcanists still firmly believed that the origin of magic’s power came from the four fundamental elements– earth, fire, water, and wind.

They used the changes in the magical tides in space to draw in magical elementium into their elementium pools, where the energy was sorted. This energy could then be used to support their arcane research and the operation of all their arcane facilities. It was only when the magical elementium in the pools had been modulated and tamed that it could be transferred to the magic pools. These magic pools could then serve as a source of power that replaced the arcanists’ own arcane energy.

An arcanist wasn’t powerful because of the arcane energy they had accumulated through their own power. Rather, they were powerful because a magic pool with near-infinite energy supported them. As such, the arcanists only needed to focus on the research of arcane knowledge. They no longer needed to meditate diligently day after day to accumulate energy, as the adepts did.

It indirectly resulted in the individual arcanist becoming weak and incredibly reliant upon arcane facilities!

The more Greem understood about the Arcane Empire, the more he sympathized with the civilization.

From a certain standpoint, arcanists were just ‘adepts’ that had walked down a different path. It was only a difference in the environment of the plane they were born in and their view towards the universe that drove them down two entirely distinct paths of development.

The adepts prioritized individual might, while the arcanists prioritized the strength of the whole!

There wasn’t a clear superior path between the two, nor was there a correct or an incorrect one. In the end, it was only a matter of Fate.

Given the current circumstances, the World of Adepts would continue to thrive and grow stronger. At the same time, the Arcane Empire faced an existential threat, teetering on the brink of destruction at any moment.

…………

Inside a valley forest near Metso City.

Greem hid himself using the tall trees and looked at a diminutive black dot on the distant horizon through the gaps in the canopy.

The black dot was tiny but distinct.

It glided along the clouds, moving slowly as it flew. Several bright beams of arcane light descended from the black dot, sweeping the ground over and over again. It was a compound arcane-magic that combined the effects of Scan and Life Sense. Any lifeform with body heat, flesh, and a soul would not escape the scan.

This arcane tower had been wandering near this area and scanning continuously since it appeared over the horizon. It was as if it was searching for something.

Hundreds of tiny arcane golems patrolled around the arcane tower.

They looked similar to the eyeball combat machines of the goblins. These arcane golems were also a sort of miniature armed aerial unit. Every time the arcane tower detected something on the ground, the arcane golems would dive downwards and bombard the area where the signal had been detected with fearsome energy beams.

It didn’t matter if it was a deer hiding in the bushes or a fat mole digging below ground. Nothing could escape the arcane tower’s scan, and nothing could escape the barrage of energy beams.

“These fellows are trying to drive us out of hiding!” Mangus slowly walked to Greem’s side. He glanced at the arcane tower in the distance and smiled wickedly, “It seems like we didn’t give them enough of a punishment last time!”

“This time is different from the last time!”Greem shook his head and said, “Judging from the appearance, these are security arcane-towers direct from a floating city. They are much more potent than those local arcane towers. Moreover, if I am not wrong, there is most certainly a Fourth Ring arcanist stationed within that tower.”

Adept Holly also came over when he heard the two adepts talking between themselves.

“So what if there’s a Fourth Ring arcanist? They might claim to be of the same level as a Fourth Grade adept, but it’s not as if we don’t know their actual combat capabilities. Every one of them is extremely weak in person!”

“That might be the case, but while protected by an arcane tower, they are still a very formidable force. At the very least, who amongst us could confidently say they could defeat an arcane tower controlled by a Fourth Ring arcanist?” Greem shook his head.

“In my opinion, knocking this arcane tower out of the sky should not be a problem if we work together.” Adept Holly licked his lips. He appeared somewhat excited and restless.

“What do we want to knock down the tower for? That will be prodding the hornet’s nest. There must still be other arcane towers in the surrounding areas searching for our tracks. It will be a little challenging to get away if they locate us!” Mangus obviously didn’t want a direct confrontation. After all, he was the weakest of the four of them.

Adept Holly didn’t really care for Mangus’ opinion. Instead, his gaze shifted to Greem.

Seeing that Greem wasn’t too interested in his proposal, Holly could only attempt to sway him with the promise of a reward.

“There is something that I really need in the energy room of the arcane tower. Because of that, I don’t want to let go of any arcane towers we run across. However, it will be tough to take down an entire arcane tower alone. That is why I hope to have your assistance! Don’t worry; I won’t touch a single thing in the arcane tower apart from those things in the energy room. The rest is all yours.”

“Why don’t you discuss this with Shani?” Greem smiled.

“That witch,” Holly’s face turned into a frown, “I can’t convince her at all. She doesn’t care about any sort of reward or treasure in the slightest. Hmph! Who knows what she is trying to obtain in volunteering for this mission?”

“Volunteering?” Greem was stunned for a moment and followed with a question, “Witch Shani volunteered for this mission of her own volition?”

“Yeah! You people in Zhentarim definitely won’t be able to find out such secrets. We of the Silver Union were only able to obtain this information because we have our means in the Northern Lands!”

Greem had an idea. He lowered his head and thought for a moment. Finally, he spoke.

“You want me to help you? Sure. I won’t take anything extra once the raid is done either. We will still split the loot equally, just as we have been doing.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I want a favor from you! When I need your help, I hope you can help me deal with someone without putting yourself at any risk, of course.”

“Who?”

“We will keep that a secret for the moment. At any rate, it won’t jeopardize this mission nor put you in any danger. How about it? Do we have a deal?” Greem smiled faintly.

It was Adept Holly’s turn to frown and think now.

Finally, after a long pause, he solemnly nodded his head and agreed to the terms!