Age of Adepts

The Spirit World might be an extremely strange world, but it was also home to many ordinary creatures with no supernatural powers.

However, these ordinary creatures were not wholly ‘ordinary.’ After all, each one of them possessed intelligence.

The three of them had only walked a small distance from the point they arrived when the bushes by the road rustled. A white rabbit with red eyes leaped out from within.

This unusual little rabbit didn’t seem to be afraid of the strangers either. It stood on its hind legs and put on a human-like smile as it greeted the three of them.

“Greetings, foreign visitors! Welcome to the Spirit World.”

The rabbit’s accent was weird, and its tone was a little strange, but for some reason, Greem easily understood what it was saying.

“Greetings,” Greem was still dressed like an adept, with a staff in his hand. He looked the rabbit up and down and found no signs of elementium within its body.

That was unimaginable!

In most planar worlds, only high-grade creatures were capable of awakening intelligence and communicating with humans. These creatures would have to be a minimum of Second Grade. After all, without the sustenance of magical energy, it was difficult to support the logical thought unique to intelligent life with a weak body and a weaker lifeforce.

Low-grade creatures only had basic, instinctual intelligence. Only high-grade animals could awaken full intelligence and sentience!

It was common knowledge in the planar worlds, but it clearly did not work the same way here in the Spirit World.

The Spirit World before them seemed to have significantly weakened the laws of other planar worlds while greatly strengthening and amplifying mental consciousness laws in a deviant fashion. Native creatures of the Spirit World could possess shockingly advanced intelligence despite having extremely low grades.

At the very least, most rabbits in the World of Adepts only knew how to scurry around and munch on grass, instinctually avoiding the dangers of the natural world. None of them would be able to think like this little rabbit would, identifying dangers as they came while also being aware of the existence of planar worlds.

While Greem was digesting this newfound knowledge of the world, Emelia proudly stood forward from behind him, speaking up loudly, “What family are you from, little guy? And where are the adults?”

The little rabbit stood up straight in surprise. Its small pink nose took a few quick sniffs of Emelia, and a forced smile appeared on its little rabbit mouth.

“You have that annoying sporepeople smell on you. It seems like you’re another wanderer that drifted to a different world. A little self-introduction; I am Am of the Snowpear Clan, an abandoned Am.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Those two bastards left me behind and went on a vacation by the beach,” A dejected expression appeared on Am’s face when he said that, as if he was about to cry.

An image naturally appeared in Greem’s mind: two elderly rabbits leaning on their walking sticks, wearing singlets and sunglasses, and holding hands as they walked towards the setting sun.

It was a ridiculous notion, but the moment the image appeared in his mind, Greem became firmly convinced of its existence, as if he had personally witnessed the scene.

Hmm? The planar laws of the Spirit World were quite strange. Not only was there no suppression of thoughts and ideas, but they seemed to aid and propel them in the mind.

“Alright, alright. I have no time to chat with you. Hurry up and tell me where the Sage of the Spirit World is. We need to ask him for directions!” Emelia was half a planar creature, after all. As such, she still had painful memories of how talkative the creatures here were. She quickly interrupted Am’s recollections and asked the crucial question.

“Very well, annoying sporelady. Head west for three days from here, and you will be able to meet the Sage. Also, when you pass by Beta’s house, remember to send my greetings to him.”

The three of them bid farewell to Am and immediately headed into the distance in the direction he pointed.

Greem unintentionally turned back and saw the little rabbit Am stand straight on his hind legs, waving farewell with a white handkerchief in his hands that he had produced out of somewhere.

That image, that scenery. Greem couldn’t help but feel like laughing!

Greem’s worldview greatly expanded as they traveled. He saw all sorts of unimaginable scenes along the way.

A duck with a grocery store by the roadside, a cat that built a wooden house on a tree, monkeys playing hide-and-seek in a maze of sunflowers, and many more animals living simple lives like intelligent, sentient beings.

Of course, the arrival of Greem and his party also caused the animals to become excited. They emerged from their homes and greeted them with their weird accents and tones.

One time, while they were camping, a litter of kittens even ran into Greem’s arms and started playing around. Strangely enough, Emelia and the equally cute Remi were not as close with these native creatures.

At the sight of all this ridiculousness, even Greem became somewhat helpless, despite his usual composure.

He looked at the little furry balls climbing all over himself and frowned as he communicated mentally with Emelia.

“Are the natives here not afraid of strangers? Have they never heard how scary adepts are? Are they not scared we will eat them alive?” Greem frowned and peeled a curious kitten that was clinging to the edge of the cooking pot as he said this, pulling the creature away from the steaming stew.

“My lord, don’t look down on the native creatures here. They all have extremely sensitive mental senses. If you have even the slightest hostility towards them in your heart, they will be able to sense it immediately!” Emelia squatted by the campfire, adding logs to the fire while stirring the stew in the pot.

Steam rose as the stew in the pot bubbled, bringing some fresh mushrooms and pieces of meat to the surface of the liquid.

The mushrooms had all been picked nearby, while the meat was brought from the World of Adepts.

When they arrived, Emelia had warned Greem and Remi not to harm any talking animal or plant here in the Spirit World. Otherwise, they would not be able to obtain the help of any of the native creatures in their travels.

Emelia was very serious when she said this!

Greem couldn’t help but fall into thought when he heard Emelia’s reply.

When he once again lowered his head, he realized that the little kittens that had been playing in his arms had gathered together, looking at him with big, droopy eyes.

The leader of the kittens stood out, shivering as he asked in his sweet voice, “O’ respected lord adept, are you…are you going to eat us alive?”

Greem’s expression changed.

He had never expected that these kittens had managed to sense a portion of his thoughts, even though he had only just communicated mentally with Emelia briefly and had not committed to any of the ideas in his head.

There were no signs of elementium on their persons, nor any indication of supernatural powers. Yet, they were able to detect the hidden hostility of a Fourth Grade adept. How could Greem not be impressed by this!?

“Don’t worry about it. We adepts have no interest in small guys like you! If you were slightly fatter, with a bit more meat, I might consider eating you, “Said Greem, putting on a mean face and threatening them.

Strangely enough, regardless of how fierce he made himself look, the kittens were utterly fearless. Instead, they lunged into his arms and started tussling together once again.

“The creatures of the Spirit World love to get close to people with exceptional Spirit. Consequently, the Forest Sage that we are about to pay a visit to is one of the smartest and wisest people in this land. However, people like him mostly learned the trading ways of the spellcasters. They are very likely to ask for something in return.”

“A trade? What kind of trade? What do I need to prepare ahead of time?”

“Nothing much. Their requests are mostly for some special snacks. Only a few of them will raise some unusual requests. Just do what you can and take on whatever request you can grant. If we can’t deal with the Sage here, we can look for Sages elsewhere to talk to!”

Greem thought for a moment and asked, “You mean, the Spirit World isn’t divided by race or territory, but revolves around these sages?”

“Yes!” Emelia nodded and said, “There is no so-called strong or weak in the Spirit World, only ordinary individuals and sages. These sages often have contracts with individuals from foreign planes. They are contracted spirits that have seen the outside world. Having gained knowledge of the greater universe, their wisdom is undoubtedly superior in the eyes of the average being.”

Greem nodded silently. He had vaguely figured out the unique rules of the Spirit World now.

As expected, three days later, they met the ‘Sage’ in a grass hut in a clearing.

It was a panther with pretty black fur. Strangely enough, the panther had six claws, and there was an unusual hook at the end of its tail. However, the most surprising thing about the panther was the soul projection hovering on its head.

The soul projection looked just like the panther itself, only a dozen times smaller.

Most of the soul’s immaterial body was peeking out of its head, while the lower half was embedded in the panther’s head, connected with its soul origin.

A contracted spirit…this was a Second Grade contracted creature!

Greem could sense that this unusual panther had signed a soul contract with someone in a distant plane. Moreover, the contract’s agent could freely summon this panther from the Spirit World to their own world through the contract’s power.

For some reason, Greem felt like his understanding of otherworldly summoning deepened when he saw this panther.