Age of Adepts

Emerald Hill.

This place was once a beautiful tourist spot in Morrian Plane.

Its soil contained an unusual mineral particle that would glow jade-green, blue, and many other different colors under sunlight. These colors would even shift and swirl under the moonlight, making it seem as if the earth was made up of pieces of gemstones that flowed like a liquid in the night.

That was how this place won the name of Emerald Hill!

However, the former beauty had now completely vanished. Emerald Hill was now a bald, empty hill. The rocky hillside had no soil or vegetation; its stone foundation was exposed to the air, cold and unfeeling beneath the moonlight.

A small campfire burned in a small camp at the top of the hill. Seven hooded figures huddled together, seemingly waiting for something.

It had been thirteen days since the Day of Ruination. Morrian Plane was becoming increasingly unstable, and more and more otherworldly creatures were appearing in higher frequency. Trying to find an undisrupted place under such conditions was extremely difficult.

Especially since the planar barrier was starting to disintegrate with the ruination of the plane world. Thousands of tons of material substance from regions closest to the spatial rifts were whisked away by the spacestorm and scattered deep into space.

Moreover, these losses were continually happening. As long as the rifts remained open, the material substance of Morrian Plane would continue to be lost to space, leaving only the most hardened and toughest essence substances of the plane.

Of course, the living creatures whisked into space had no nope of survival!

“Captain Roy, how long are we supposed to wait?” An adept in black robes lifted her head and asked softly, her tone filled with dissatisfaction.

The adept’s hood slid off her head as she spoke, revealing her white and smooth chin. There was a beauty mark on the corner of her mouth, giving her an exceptional sense of charm.

“Indeed, Captain. The members of that party might all be dead now. Otherwise, they should have already arrived by now!” Another adept chimed in with the same upset tone.

“There’s nothing to complain about!” The captain of the party wore a gold headband on his head. He had a deep claw mark on his left cheek, with gray mist still rising from the wound. It made him look unusually cold and cruel. “We agreed to wait here for three days before we separated. It’s only been two days now. Just a day more, and we can leave. Why the hurry?”

“You’re not wrong, but this plane,” The female adept’s voice was low, but her tone was filled with worry, “I can already hear constant explosions coming from the skies these past few days. It means Morrian Plane’s planar barrier won’t last for much longer. Once the planar barrier shatters, the ultra-long range interplanar teleportation array we brought with us will be affected by the spacestorms. When that happens……”

She did not finish her words, but the suggestion was more than enough to provoke the imagination of her companions.

As elite Fourth Grades selected from their respective factions, the two parties had already successfully completed their missions and returned to the evacuation point. Unfortunately, of the twelve people that had set off, only seven had managed to return.

Five elite Fourth Grade adepts had died in Morrian Plane over the past fifty-three days. A casualty rate of nearly 50%. It was a testament to the danger and terror of the mission they had to carry out!

Meanwhile, Group Three–which was meant as a diversionary force–had only four members, all of whom were newly advanced or inexperienced adepts of the various major factions. Given their power and ability to adapt, their chances of surviving such dangerous missions were fairly low.

That was why the groups of the elite had been secretly guessing at the number of survivors in Group Three, even as they gathered here and waited for them to return.

The weak two-headed adept was most certainly dead, and the golem master esoteric adept also had a high chance of dying. After all, the two of them were only good at fighting but not fleeing. Their chances of a successful escape when surrounded by enemies were nearly zero.

The somewhat famous fire adept was reasonably powerful, but the more you stood out on such a dangerous battlefield, the quicker you died. Therefore, his chances of successfully leaving after completing his mission weren’t very high either.

On the contrary, the Dark Witch was an intermediate Fourth Grade, and her magic was inclined towards mobility and ambush. People like her were most suited to an otherworldly battlefield. She could advance and retreat, fight and flee as she wished. Her powers would certainly improve immensely if she survived this battlefield.

However, while the adepts were waiting in silence, three towering figures appeared on the distant, winding road. The three figures were quickly approaching the camp.

The adepts around the campfire were on alert now. Shuffling sounds could be heard under their robes as they grabbed their wands, scrolls, magical equipment, and treasures in their hands. They were prepared to strike at any time.

The female adept stood up and took a good look at the approaching individuals. She couldn’t help but let out a gasp of surprise.

“Mm? It’s Group Three! They…they’ve returned with three people.”

It was a simple sentence, but it couldn’t help but make the other adepts frown.

Soon, Greem, Holly, and the siblings managed to scale the stony hill and meet up with the other adepts.

“Three people,” the leader of the group mumbled under his breath. The wound on his cheek started twitching, making him appear all the more ferocious.

“Sir Roy, we have returned!” Greem and the other seemed to have detected the hostility and coldness in the gaze of the other adepts. As such, Greem took the initiative to greet the leader.

“Greem, where is Shani?” One of the adepts in the group of seven stood up. She took off her hood and questioned coldly.

It was a female adept whose entire body was shrouded in a chilling aura. Her eyebrows were thin and delicate, carrying with them a trace of resolved, murderous intent.

Judging from her appearance and the clan emblem she wore on her chest, she was a Coldwinter Witch!

Coldwinter Witches were a branch of the Northern Witches. Though they were a different clan from the Dark Witches, they were still a subordinate clan to the great Witch Queen. The Northern Witches were a united group of people, especially against outsiders. They were a group of women with a united front and were extremely difficult to deal with.

Greem lowered his eyes, a faint trace of sorrow appearing on his face.

“Lady Shani has very unfortunately fallen in battle against an otherworldly creature!”

“Bullshit! You are lying! Who in this plane could corner Shani and kill her with her powers? The Dark Witches are famous for never dying!” The Coldwinter Witch roared angrily and in complete distrust of Greem’s words.

Greem’s expression didn’t change. He lifted an eyebrow and softly explained.

“Arcanists of this plane certainly cannot, but those otherworldly creatures can. Shani died at the hands of a powerful enemy with an artifact. His name was Mietzel, the son of the God of Wisdom Hierro. If you don’t believe the truth of my words, you are free to find a diviner to verify it.”

An artifact. A god’s son. The God of Wisdom.

This high-impact information caused all the adepts to frown uncontrollably.

The Dark Witches all had soul energy pools that could preserve their soulbrands. It allowed them to run about the battlefield brazenly, making their combat style incredibly barbaric and aggressive. Even if they died in the line of battle, they could revive through the soul energy pool and completely reforge an energy body.

It was what made the Dark Witches such difficult opponents!

However, if a Dark Witch ran into an enemy with an artifact, the enemy could undoubtedly use the higher-grade properties of the artifact to trap and exterminate their soul. It made sense for Greem to explain Shani’s death in this manner.

A scrawny old adept stood forth and demanded with a wicked smile on his face, “If even Witch Shani died in battle, how did the three of you escape alive? Could it be that all of you just cooped up somewhere safe without accomplishing your missions?”

“Indeed, that must be the cast. I knew this ragtag bunch was unreliable.” The other wounded adepts also started making a fuss and closed in on the three adepts threateningly.

“Hand over your mission crystals. I need to examine them!”

The leader also became suspicious of Greem and the two others when he heard the words of his companion. He demanded the mission crystals.

The mission crystals were an item passed down by their superiors before the group departed. They could record brief images of the party conducting their missions and were often kept by the party leader.

These items contained the aura of higher-grade adepts, and there were no ways of altering its contents. Therefore, it was the most direct evidence of a party accomplishing its mission.

Greem was shocked for a moment, and his expression turned dark.

“Examining mission crystals is something that should be done by our superiors. Are you not overstepping your bounds by making me hand over the mission crystal!?”

“Hmph! Who knows if you have finished your mission if you don’t hand over your mission crystal. I am the leader of this group as appointed by the Great Adepts. Everything I say here is of absolute authority. Now hand over your mission crystals!” The adept with the gold headband coldly replied.

Greem glared at him coldly for a brief moment before nodding his head slowly. He took out a magical crystal the size of a fist and passed it over.

Holly and the siblings hesitated for a moment before handing over their mission crystals as well.

The leader took the crystals. He first verified their authenticity before lifting them to his eyes and reaching in with his Spirit to examine the images within.