Age of Adepts

“Clan leader, what happened to the Arcane Empire in the end?”

Everyone now knew that the clan leader had been sent to the battlefield of the Arcane Empire; they were all very interested in the topic.

“The Arcane Empire has fallen apart. It no longer exists!” Greem coughed into his hand, shook his head, and sighed. “Such a massive empire, only slightly weaker than the World of Adepts, reduced to dust just like that. Even if some remnants of the Arcane Empire managed to escape into hiding, they wouldn’t be showing themselves for a thousand years, at least.”

The adepts here were knowledgeable individuals as well. They had all heard of this Arcane Empire through their own channels of information. The shock and indescribable emotion of loss that they all felt was tremendous when they listened to their clan leader describe the fall of a massive empire in such a casual tone.

The World of Adepts was composed of a large group of spellcasters, very much like the Arcane Empire.

The only difference was that the World of Adepts’ period of development and growth coincided with the period of peace in the universe. It was a rare era of peace that had come about after the colossal war between the World of Disasters and the Titans, which had rippling effects across the entire universe. It was because of this that the World of Adepts and the World of Gods could develop so rapidly and survive their period of weakness to give birth to their respective Ninth Grade powerhouses.

If it weren’t for the protection of these Ninth Grade Great Adepts, the World of Adepts would never have been able to develop peacefully.

As a Fourth Grade adept, Greem had begun to come into contact with the more well-hidden secrets of the world. His understanding of the changes in the multiverse had significantly expanded.

In all seriousness, the multiverse they lived in was a classic high-magic world!

Meanwhile, the two species that were the greatest driving forces of change in the multiverse were the Scourge Lords and the Titans.

The Scourge Lords were the evil faction, while the Titans were a dominant species born from the will and consciousness of the multiverse.

The Scourge Lords hunted planar worlds as prey and devoured their planar origin for sustenance. They were the largest, most malignant tumor in the world. Moreover, they were a tumor that spread. When the Scourge Lords moved out in high numbers, it was a calamity for the billions upon billions of planar worlds in the universe.

As such, as the will of the universe personified, the Titans were naturally born with powerful physical strength and the vicious purification power of lightning. Their only purpose in life was to search the universe to exterminate the Scourge Lords.

Whenever war broke out between the Scourge Lords and the Titans, it inflicted severe damage to both of their forces.

The Titans would retreat deep into the universe to rest and recover, and the Scourge Lords would have to do the same in their World of Disasters. This period was the best development time for the innumerable civilizations in the universe.

Once the Scourge Lords had recovered their Spirits, recovered from their physical injuries, and slowly woke up from their ten thousand year slumber, the entire universe would once again be plunged into an unending war. When that happened, the Titans would gather once more and emerge to search for the Scourge Lords.

However, the two factions could not fight alone. They would always find subordinate species and organizations to join their cause, starting one terrifying planar war after another in every corner of the universe.

When that happened, the major civilizations of the universe were forced to choose a side. Either help the Titans beat the Scourge Lords, or aid the Scourge Lords in their conquest of the universe.

Either option would trigger rapid change in the politics of the universe and lead to changes in the power balance.

Some powerful civilizations had been exterminated shortly after their meteoric rise, simply because they had been dragged into a war beyond their limits. Some species had rapidly risen to become a significant powerhouse simply because they chose the right side of the conflict and steadily grew in power.

The entire multiverse slowly moved forward to the beat of the eternal war!

The Scourge Lords and the Titans would step off the stage when both sides were grievously wounded, leaving the other civilizations an excellent time for peaceful development. Once they had recovered and stepped out from their hiding spots, the multiverse would be ravaged by the flames of war again.

The newly grown wild grass would either be burned down to ashes or survive to become stronger until the next cycle descended upon them.

During a ‘period of peace,’ every civilization would fight with all they had to increase their power in hopes of facing the upcoming war in their best condition!

The World of Adepts was fortunate. Their rise to power occurred during the ‘Golden Age of Development’ for the universe.

Now, after such a long time of peace and quiet, the Scourge Lords were stirring once again.

The first ones to move were always the weaker Scourge Lords.

They were either Sixth or Seventh Grade, but they started causing trouble in the universe. They incited wars everywhere, invading still developing worlds to siphon their planar origin and regain their powers as quickly as possible.

Their awakening also meant that the stronger Scourge Lords were about to wake as well.

Once the World of Disasters was fully active and a real menace to the universe, the Titans would emerge for their deathmatch once more!

It was due to his understanding of the universe’s story that Greem could not help but have his own lamentations.

The Arcane Empire might not have been weak, but the timing of its rise to power was not the best. That was why they became the first targets of the Scourge Lords.

The participation of the adepts was mostly inconsequential. They were only hoping to steal some leftovers with the Scourge Lords serving as the spearheads of the conflict!

If the newly awakened Scourge Lords were terrifying jackals, then the adepts were a pack of vultures. There was cooperation between them, but also conflict. It was a complicated relationship they shared.

Of course, such a broad perspective of the universe was only available to Greem after his advancement to Fourth Grade. People like Mary still had their views constrained within the World of Adepts. They could not see through to the true reasons behind the Arcane Empire’s fall.

However, Greem had neither the responsibility nor the mood to correct their worldview.

After a few simple sentences lamenting the fall of a great civilization, Greem turned his attention back to the internal affairs of the clan.

The next ones to step forward for a report were the goblins, represented by Snorlax.

After the goblin rebellion, the Crimson Clan had properly assimilated and organized the goblins. They were now separated into two major groups. The Goblin Chamber of Commerce was responsible for trade and smuggling. The Military Faction was composed of the goblin adepts, goblin machinist-sorcerers, and the new magical goblins.

Due to his weak combat power, Snorlax had become the new Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, responsible for all goblin trade and smuggling activities.

With his agile mind, slippery methods, and the weight of the Crimson Clan’s treasury behind him, Snorlax had expanded the services of the Chamber of Commerce to every corner of the World of Adept. The short, busy silhouettes of the goblins could be seen in every area ruled by the adepts: from the Silver Union in the west, to the Adept’s Association in the east, the Northern Witches in the north, and Zhentarim at the center of the continent.

What propelled their growth outwards was the name of Greem, the legendary Fourth Grade adept, and the infamous reputation of the Crimson Clan.

Of course, this process also involved the hard work and lives of countless generations of goblins!

It was important to note that the local authorities and organizations managed every region. These organizations might not dare touch the businesses of the major adept organizations, but they had no such concerns when it came to the weaker and smaller trade groups.

The goblin traders had faced plenty of harassment from the local organizations when they traveled. The weaker organizations might not be a match for the goblin traders, protected by their magical machines, but the more prominent and sizeable organizations had more than enough means by which to rob the merchants of their goods.

Over the past hundred years, over seventy goblin merchant groups had been exterminated in the World of Adepts for various reasons. Billis, the head of the assassination department, traveled the continent to investigate these incidents and exact proper punishment on their enemies.

These activities were uncontested in Zhentarim, but it became much more difficult in the regions ruled by the three major organizations.

After all, Greem’s reputation was only well-known in Zhentarim. Only a few people outside of the central continent knew of his name.

Greem did not speak much or attempt to intervene as he listened to his subordinates report on their affairs. He only asked a few questions when it came to topics that interested him.

Once everyone was done with their reports, Greem coughed lightly, and the hall fell silent in an instant.

Greem looked around him at those familiar faces and finally spoke.

He lifted his head and released two glowing white orbs, letting them float in front of him.

“Judging from the reports I have received from you, I can tell that everyone has worked hard. Therefore, it is now time for your rewards. These are the coordinates of the two lesser planes I just obtained from the Zhentarim Association. Both of them are small planes and relatively well developed.”

The eyes of the Crimson adepts glowed when they heard Greem’s words. Their gazes at the balls of light were burning with passion now.

Greem smiled casually.

“We can discuss amongst ourselves now. Which two factions in the clan should obtain the ruling rights for these two lesser planes?”