Age of Adepts

Inside a hidden room.

A strange humanoid figure had suddenly swelled up from the empty ground.

As the light yellow mist that obscured the figure scattered, a strange man who looked even older than Domhnall was revealed. The folds and wrinkles on his face were so heavy that it was almost impossible to discern his actual appearance.

This elderly man was hunched over, leaning against a yellow staff taller than himself. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were a blank white with no pupils at all. He was even wearing a raggedy old robe that had clearly not been washed in years. The stains and dirt on the robe had already covered its original color, making it impossible to tell what material it was made of.

At a single glance, this was a poor wandering adept who couldn’t be in any worse of a financial situation. He was someone who could never be seen at a proper place, let alone the Tower of Observation, a structure that represented the Adept Association’s greatest achievement.

Yet, somehow, this old man had not only appeared here, but even casually acknowledged Vice-Chairman Domhnall’s greeting.

“Maztan, you are the most potent diviner of the entire Association. Can’t even you see Greem’s future clearly?”

“Domhnall, as I said earlier, someone has concealed this young man’s Fate from view.”

“So, we won’t be able to see anything at all?” Domhnall couldn’t help but frown as he said, “Maztan, the Association has treated your people very well over these years. The budget allocated to diviners is the highest of all the branches. We even gave you the top floor of the Tower of Observation. Do you really intend to dismiss me with just those results?”

“I can sense a powerful stream of Fate power rising in the north. She has been keeping a constant eye on this young fire adept as well. If we diviners were to intervene here, I’m afraid…we could be starting an unseen Fate war!”

“War?” Domhnall cackled coldly. “Since when have we adepts been afraid of war!? I’ve paid you well all this while. Wasn’t it all in hopes of you being of use in situations like this? What is it? Do you intend to refuse my orders?”

“Domhnall, we’ve had an enjoyable cooperation over the past few hundred years. What is it with you today?” Maztan raised his head, his milky-white eyeballs staring straight at this old friend of his as he hissed, “What is it about this young man that’s made you so agitated?”

“Danger. I smell danger on him!” Domhnall frowned and brooded for a moment before saying, “The problem is I still have not been able to find the source of this danger. That is why I wanted your help to search for the reason for my feeling!”

“I understand. Then I…will try my best! I’ll return and borrow the tower’s powers. Perhaps I can see more than what I was able to.”

Having said that, Maztan tapped his staff as his entire person vanished as light yellow mist.

Once Maztan’s aura had vanished entirely, Domhnall couldn’t help but mumble to himself, “The Central lands…the richest and most populated land of the World of Adepts. If we of the Adept’s Association can’t get our hands on it, no one can. Hmph! Greem, you had best not have any thoughts of uniting the Central lands. Otherwise……”

…………

The Tower of Observation.

The seven hundred and seventy-seventh floor.

Looking down from here, the soft clouds hovered in layers around the waist of the tower, making it impossible to see what was on the ground. You could only see the bright spots of the earth’s colors through the gaps in the clouds every once in a while.

Yellow smoke dissipated in a large magical hall. Maztan’s hunched figure appeared.

He walked towards the back of the hall with his staff the moment he appeared.

The dull thuds of the staff tapping against the ground lingered in the room, echoing without stop.

As the only Fourth Grade diviner in the entire Association, Maztan was revered and respected. Even though every Fourth Grade adept could have a floor of their own, Maztan was the only person who could have the top floor of the Tower of Observation to himself.

That was both an honor and a burden of expectations!

Whenever the Association arrived at a crossroads of their development, a chief diviner like himself would have to part the mist and be the shining light that guided the Association down the right path.

However, only Maztan himself, who had studied Fate magic, understood what tremendous power was required to shift the course of a massive ship of the Adept’s Association’s size and ensure there were only clear skies ahead.

In the past one thousand years since Domhnall had been in charge, the Adept’s Association had always seemingly been at peace and stable. In truth, the Adept’s Association had already encountered countless terrifying calamities that were not known to the world. With the help of the chief diviner and the massive force of the Adept’s Associaton, they had managed to pull themselves out of these whirlpools of death, time after time.

It wasn’t that easy to stay in this seat of the chief diviner!

At the very least, to Maztan’s knowledge, there had already been three chief diviners who had died to the backlash of Fate prior to himself.

The seat of chief diviner was not a fixed position.

Whoever could become the only Fourth Grade diviner of the Association would be able to sit firmly upon this throne, giving orders and enjoying the most generous allocation of resources. However, these resources came at a cost. Most of the time, their lives!

At any one time, there could only be a single Fourth Grade diviner within the Adept’s Association. It was only once this diviner had died to a Fate backlash that the Association would select the most powerful and excellent of the Third Grade diviners to cultivate and push towards Fourth Grade.

Meanwhile, before this new chief diviner died, the other diviners were no more than reserves and insurance!

That was why there were hardly any feelings of affection or fraternity between the diviners of the Association. Instead, it was a simple, vicious competition. Those below wanted nothing more than to rise to the top. Meanwhile, those in positions of power spent their lives in fear, always afraid that they would one day become stepping stones for the Association to sacrifice and turn their Fates around.

They might be able to change the Fates of tens of thousands of adepts, but the one thing they could not truly control was their own Fate.

Looking from this perspective, Maztan was quite jealous of his colleague who worked in the north.

Perhaps that was what a messenger of Fate should truly be like.

He, on the other hand, was no more than a lowly servant cowering before Fate!

Maztan was the only person on the seven hundred and seventy-seventh floor of the Tower of Observation. It was a rule he had laid down and his only pride.

At the very least, no one was allowed to set foot in his territory before he died.

As the chief diviner of the Association, Maztan naturally possessed extremely high clearance in the Tower of Observation. His authority over Tower Spirit Rafatus was second only to Domhnall.

It allowed him to draw on the tower’s energy reserves freely and replaced the power of Fate that needed to be extended in his Fate rituals with as much magic energy as possible.

The Tower of Observation…the Tower of Observation.

The reason this tower was named such was because it was the tallest tower in the World of Adepts. When one stood at the top of this tower, they could see the unusual speck of blue at the edge of the horizon if they had good enough vision.

That was the color of the Boundless Sea!

Maztan passed through a lonely and empty corridor and arrived in front of a metal spiral staircase. He walked up, holding onto the rails as he did so. Finally, he arrived at the astrology platform.

The platform was a very crude construction. It was a narrow space placed under the roof of the Tower.

Above the platform was the tip of the Tower of Observation. A ten-meter metal spike stood there, terrifying magical energy radiating from it. The walls of the astrology platform were hollowed out. When the cold winds of the altitude soared past the metal wall’s patterns, they would cause a phantom-like howl.

A one-meter-tall stone pillar stood at the center of the narrow space. An unusual crystal the size of a human head was embedded at the top.

Clouds and mist filled the inside of this crystal, obscuring everything from sight.

Maztan walked into this small room through the staircase.

Upon setting foot here, he pulled his robe tighter around himself. Yet, there was no stopping the cold winds from seeping in from the corners of his clothes, robbing him of what little warmth he had.

This place was Fate’s Shelter. All powers apart from Fate power were rejected from here.

As such, Maztan could not cast any spells to protect or warm himself. Even his robe had to be made out of ordinary cloth with no magical effects to speak of.

If it weren’t for his Physique as a Fourth Grade adept, he might even have risked hypothermia just by staying here.

Eleven points of Physique were undoubtedly incredibly low for a Fourth Grade adept. However, it was enough for Maztan.

Due to their profession, diviners always lacked in lifeforce. Even if they were to take perfect care of themselves and increase their Physique as much as possible, their lifeforce would be drained away with all the significant Fate rituals that they conducted.

A price had to be paid to scry Fate!

The diviners of the Adept’s Association did not have such high affinity with Fate as the Fate Witches did. To scry Fate’s direction required them to sacrifice their lives. The most considerable exhaustion was to their Physique!

Once Maztan’s Physique was wholly eroded, it would be the end of him.

Before that, he still had eleven points of Physique. That was enough to do plenty of things.

Maztan stumbled before the stone pillar and placed his right hand over the crystal. He caressed it softly.

A tremendous surge of energy flowed through the tower, lighting up all the runes and arrays on the walls. Even the stone pillar started glowing, inch by inch.

Finally, when the magic energy surged into the crystal, the tip of the Tower of Observation glowed with blinding radiance.

The winds mysteriously halted!

The mist and clouds inside the crystal slowly faded away, revealing a majestic and mysterious world within.