Age of Adepts

“Welcome…welcome.”

An elderly adept with wrinkles on his face and a wisp of a beard on his chin walked forward. His eyes were slightly closed, and a strange light gleamed in them.

“I am Domhnall, and we welcome you, Sir Greem!”

The other adepts also nodded in this direction and acknowledged Greem’s arrival.

Meanwhile, Olivia didn’t so much as move a muscle.

Greem hurried forward, bowing to Adept Domhnall and paying respects as a junior. Greem wasn’t being humble. Rather, it was because he knew very well about the background of this elderly adept that he showed his respect.

Domhnall, Vice-Chairman of the Adept’s Association, responsible for managing most of the Association’s daily affairs. He had held this position for as long as 1,200 years, hardly making a single mistake along the way.

Consequently, there were many rumors about him in public.

The most convincing rumor was that Domhnall was the soul clone of a Great Adept of the Association. He had remained in the World of Adepts for the long-term development of the Adept’s Association and was thus in charge of managing the Association’s affairs.

In doing so, most of the other Association adepts were liberated from menial duties and could focus all their time and energy on their personal improvement. More crucially, it allowed the Adept’s Association to remain eternally within the grasp of a select group of individuals. It would never become the battlefield of individual, ambitious adepts vying for power.

Domhnall appeared quite pleased by Greem’s show of respect. He pulled Greem along with him as they walked around the hall, patiently introducing him to all the adepts present in the room.

Geraldine, Fourth Grade elementium adept, male.

This was a powerful adept whose body had been entirely converted into light elementium. His eyebrows, skin, flesh, and even his bones had turned transparent. You could see the organs in his body and the blood circulating throughout perfectly. The light elementium surging within him was also apparent. You could see how the light elementium melded and meshed with the muscle tissue.

He must have been after the enhancement to combat power by choosing such an unusual elementium form. However, there were both benefits and downsides to such a thorough elementiumization. Otherwise, Greem wouldn’t be so insistent on keeping his human form.

Ames, Fourth Grade bloodline adept, male.

He was a strange individual with blue hair and blue eyes. A peculiar magical halo engulfed him. As he had utterly concealed the aura of his halo, Greem couldn’t figure out its effect based on sight alone.

However, the Chip estimated that the halo was a radiated forcefield formed as a result of his overpowering magical beast aura that could not be easily concealed.

Neve, Fourth Grade bloodline adept, female.

Neve was a strange adept with almost no hair at all. She was bald and had no eyebrows or lashes to speak off. Her skin was smooth as jade, and a pair of green reptilian pupils rested in her sharp, narrow eyes. An intense and chilling aura would rise from her when her pupils shrank.

She must have possessed some unusual serpentine bloodline. That much was evident from the sinister aura she radiated. However, there were as many as a thousand known serpentine bloodlines, with over a hundred of them having the potential to reach or exceed Fourth Grade. It would not be an easy task figuring out her actual bloodline.

……

……

In addition to Horner and Greem, there were eighteen Fourth Grade adepts in this hall. It would be a shocking scene if it were set in the Central lands.

However, here, it appeared normal and casual!

While Greem was silently recording and collecting basic information on all these Fourth Grade adepts, the Association elders were also trying to uncover Greem’s information.

With the aid of a mental network constructed by Tower Spirit Rafatus, the elders could communicate between themselves without drawing Greem’s attention.

“Olivia, you just fought him. What was it like? How powerful is he?”

“Indeed, Olivia. You fought with that guy for such a long time. It must have been a stalemate, wasn’t it?”

Olivia’s face darkened when her companions teased her. She couldn’t help but let out a furious roar.

“Schreiber, if your attacks are as sharp as your tongue, why don’t you challenge him to a duel? He’s a fire adept; you’re a fire adept. Why don’t you two see whose flames are stronger? Campbell, you bastard. Don’t think that your magic will necessarily be able to beat me! Why don’t you challenge that fire adept as well, if you’re so confident!”

Even more people entered the mental conversation when they saw Olivia lose her cool.

“I heard that this Greem fellow was only three hundred years old when he advanced to Fourth Grade. Is that true?” Finally, a sharp male voice asked.

“I know about this!” The bloodline adept known as Ames spoke up, “I went to the Central lands a while ago, and I took the opportunity to do some research on this Adept Greem. According to the information available to the public, the first time he became the center of public attention was when he advanced to First Grade. It has only been three hundred and eighty-seven years since then.”

“And his birthplace? Does he have any relatives?” Some asked coldly.

“There’s no longer anywhere we can look to in order to find this information! It’s said that a little accident happened at the resource site of the clan he belonged to when he advanced. All the apprentices and even the stationed adept died in that accident. Only him, a female adept, and a bug adept survived. Moreover, all of them advanced to become adepts.”

“Hah! Accident. It was probably something to do with blood rituals!”

“We’ve already contacted the Sarubo Clan with regards to this matter and tried our best to obtain what primary information we could. Indeed, Greem seemed to have been an apprentice accepted from a nearby village from the resource site. We couldn’t find any more specific information beyond that. The stationed adept of the resource site tried to sacrifice his apprentices in a blood ritual to advance to Second Grade. Unfortunately, he failed, and his plan benefitted three apprentices under him instead.”

“He failed? Not necessarily! In my opinion, it was this Greem who outwitted the adept!”

“Advanced to First Grade three hundred and eighty-seven years ago. Second Grade, three hundred and sixteen years ago. Third Grade, two hundred and thirty-two years ago. And finally, Fourth Grade ninety-four years ago. If we were to calculate based on these milestones, he would have been exactly three hundred years old when he advanced to Fourth Grade.”

The mental network suddenly fell utterly silent. The adepts couldn’t help but frown.

Even though the speed of advancement had absolutely nothing to do with the combat prowess of an individual, the fact that Greem could rise to prominence in the Central lands indirectly demonstrated his overwhelming talent as an adept. Moreover, judging from his performance after advancing to Fourth Grade, this would not be his final destination. He was still improving and advancing at a respectable pace.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time they had met an individual with such unbelievable talent.

Over a thousand years ago, one Adept Sarubo had rapidly risen in prominence in the Central lands, in a fashion just as domineering and overwhelming. Unfortunately, even as talented as he was, he could not avoid the endless interventions and disruptions of the three major organizations from the shadows. In the end, even he could not unite Zhentarim and was forced to advance to Fifth Grade and leave the World of Adepts.

Sarubo was now a Sixth Grade Great Adept, making a prosperous living for himself in the realms beyond. Sadly, the Sarubo Clan he left behind in the World of Adepts had fallen from their position of prominence after just three or four hundred years of prosperity.

Of course, the main reason for this was because Great Adept Sarubo demanded far too many resources from the clan, which affected the clan’s development. He had successfully advanced from Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade, while the clan he left behind had been drained of its nutrition, resulting in a gap in power between him and his followers.

If he had taken less from his clan and bestowed resources on his descendants in a reasonable manner, the Sarubo Clan would not be in the situation they were in. They would not lack a Fourth Grade adept and be reduced to a mid-sized clan that could easily be pushed around.

“Just three hundred years to advance to Fourth Grade, and another eighty years to stabilize his Spirit. His combat power has already reached the level of an advanced Fourth Grade. This Greem fellow is not to be underestimated!” It was Blak’shir who spoke up this time. He was a powerful bloodline adept who was undeniably stronger than Olivia.

“Olivia, there’s no need to be so upset! I know you have many techniques that you have yet to unleash, but this Greem fellow definitely has many more aces hidden up his sleeves than even you. In a deathmatch, you should be happy to have a forty percent chance of winning!”

If Olivia, the Adept of Torture, was definitely one of the top ten Association elders, then Blak’shir was certainly among the top five. An ultra-powerhouse.

No one would doubt his words.

Greem could suppress the Adept of Torture. A person like him was probably worthy of being known as an ultra-powerhouse.

If a person like him was allowed to stir up a storm in the Central lands…everyone’s expressions turned solemn.

“Then how should we deal with this Greem. Should we try our best to pull him to our side, or should we suppress his rise?” Someone asked softly.

If Greem were only an ordinary adept, they would not have needed to go to such lengths. However, if Greem were truly as powerful as an ultra-powerhouse, then the disunited Zhentarim would be the best place for him.

“In the one thousand years I have managed the Adept’s Association, I have seen countless geniuses. However, in the same thousand years, the three major adept organizations are still the three major adept organizations. A fourth force has yet to emerge. Why?” Vice-Chairman Domhnall couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw everybody so concerned.

“Their foundations are too shallow! Trying to unite the entirety of the central lands with only one Fourth Grade ultra-powerhouse? Come back and talk when you’re an Eighth Grade adept, why don’t you!”

Having said that, Domhnall let out a long, arrogant laugh.