Age of Adepts

An unnoticed corner of Stoneshard Valley in the east.

Two adepts, a male and female, were hiding deep underground within the bulb of a magical flower. They were secretly observing the battlefield in the distance.

The image of the two colossal giants tearing at each other’s throat was being projected onto the inner walls of the flower bulb.

The hearts of these two adepts trembled as they watched the devastating and apocalyptic might of the two powerful adepts. Even though they were hiding in a completely safe and hidden spot with no chance of being affected by the shockwaves, they still felt their mouths turn dry. An indescribable anxiousness and frustration throbbed in their chests.

“Ultra-powerhouses. Who would’ve ever thought that a place as run-down as the Central Lands would be hiding two ultra-powerhouses?” The female adept cursed angrily.

“They don’t deserve to be called ultra-powerhouses yet!” The male adept remarked coldly, “The two of them are only able of such power through external means. One relies on his overwhelming bloodline power, and the other relies on a high-grade artifact that is compatible with his soul origin. They, by themselves…have clearly not yet reached the standards of an ultra-powerhouse!”

“They are very close, even if they aren’t there yet,” The female adept replied angrily. “If this development is allowed to continue, the Central Lands might be able to break free of the Association’s control and become a new force of their own. Don’t forget why the Association sent us here. What they wanted was for us to buy over some of the loose forces of the Central Lands. If the two of us are the ones that let the Central Lands slip through the Association’s fingers, that kind of burden to bear…”

Having said that, the female adept couldn’t help but shiver. It was obvious that she had thought of something nasty.

The male adept had a dejected expression on his face as well.

The situation before them had gone far beyond their control. It involved the future of the Central Lands, the fates of half the Fourth Grade adepts of the Centra Lands, and two adepts whose power seemed to rival those of ultra-powerhouses.

What good could Third Grades like themselves do?

In all honesty, they might be inspectors from the Adept’s Association and well-received anywhere in the Central Lands they went. However, in the Fourth Grades’ eyes, they were no more than the Adept’s Association’s spies and plugs in the Centra Lands.

Though the Fourth Grades wouldn’t actively undermine them, it was unavoidable that they would work around and behind them in the shadows.

Moreover, with their power as Third Grades, recklessly walking into that vicious battlefield could mean their immediate deaths. After all, both opponents were fighting all-out now.

As such, they would rather observe everything from underground than take a single step toward that battle.

“What do we do?” Fear flashed across the female adept’s face at the thought of the punishment they would have to face after today.

“What can we do? Just report everything we saw here today as it happened and request for stronger adepts to take over and manage the situation. Otherwise,” The male adept replied decisively.

Adepts stronger than them. Didn’t that leave only the Association elders?

Moreover, judging by the intensity of the fight, an ordinary Association elder might not be able to settle things, even if they were present!

The female adept licked her dry lips and was just about to say something else when a sinister voice rang in the underground space.

“The two of you brats shut up. Keep your eyes on this fight and watch carefully! You don’t see fights of this level in the World of Adepts very often.”

The voice came from the ring of authority that the adepts wore. There weren’t very many individuals in the Adept’s Association who could override their jurisdiction and perform direct communication in this fashion.

Moreover, this voice was so unique and memorable that the two adepts immediately thought of the same ultra-powerhouse’s name. They looked at each other.

Cerveris.

“My greetings, Lord Cerveris!” The two adepts said in unison, their faces flushing with excitement.

Since headquarters had sent an ultra-powerhouse like Lord Cerveris, it meant that they were prepared for a big operation!

“Shush. Don’t be so loud, you two!” The sinister voice continued to speak, “You don’t think only our Association sent people here, do you? Hmph! Idiots.”

The faction that the female adept belonged to appeared to have some connections with Cerveris. She mustered her courage and asked, “My lord, have the other organizations also sent forces here?”

After a short moment of silence, the cold voice replied lazily, “I haven’t found who the Silver Union have sent here, but the Northern Witches will definitely be sending Khesuna here, that bitch. Hmph! If I have the opportunity, I won’t shy away from a reunion with her.”

Judging from Cerveris’ resentful tone, their meeting wouldn’t be quite a peaceful or friendly one!

After another moment, the voice suddenly said, “You two brats best leave now! Go back to the outpost in the Central Lands and await further news. While you’re at it, make sure to pull back all forces you have waiting nearby. I can sense new auras approaching. If a fight starts, it will be too late for any of you to run.”

The faces of the two adepts, who were intermediate and advanced Third Grade respectively, turned pale when they heard the warning.

The male adept stomped his feet and pulled at the flower bud, causing it to shrink rapidly. When the space was so small that it barely accommodated the two of them, he began to control the flower and dig away from the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the female adept rubbed her ring of authority and sent out retreat instructions to all of her subordinates. The forces sent here were all elites that the two of them had spent hundreds of years training and cultivating. All of them were at least Second Grade. If any of them were to die here, they would be absolutely heartbroken.

After the two Third Grade Adept’s Association adepts had snuck away, a mysterious figure appeared near Stoneshard Valley.

It was a strange crystal ship that resembled a stingray.

It hovered high in the air, over two and a half kilometers northeast of Stoneshard Valley. It silently observed the two ‘ultra-powerhouses’ as they fought.

The inside of the flying ship was much larger than it appeared outside. A dozen individuals in the Silver Union’s unique silver robes busily worked at their posts inside the broad central command.

Ratpersons, treants, sethraks, dark elves, black dwarves, gnomes…at a single glance, there were individuals of so many different species, it was almost as if you had walked into some sort of menagerie.

“Lord Tartas, the scouts have been sent out. We will have an image feed of the battle soon,” A silver-robed adept with a humanoid body but the head of a snake reported respectfully.

Fourth Grade Golem Master Tartas sat on a small, elevated platform with his eyes closed. He opened them slowly when he heard this.

Tartas was also not a human. He was a mixed-blood human with obvious gnome blood. He was only 1.3 meters tall, with undeveloped muscles and Spirit slightly lower than the average Fourth Grade adept.

However, as a high-grade golem master of the Silver Union, most of his power, in fact, came from the golem that was assimilated with his very own soul. That was why this person appeared to be somewhat weaker than the average adept.

Tartas opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the image of the battle in the distance projected onto a large screen in front of him. Tartas’ eyes instantly gleamed when he saw the two towering adepts tearing the world apart with their every movement.

“Titan bloodline. Truly one of the most powerful bloodline powers in the universe!” He stared as he praised, “It’s a shame that Titans are too strong. Otherwise, the Union could capture one or two of them, and we could make flesh golems out of them. They would certainly make much more powerful golems than those slow and clumsy metal cans. Such a shame…such a shame!”

He continued to speak until no one knew exactly what shame he was referring to.

However, his gaze was quickly drawn towards the flame giant.

“An energy body…fire elementium modification…these elementium adepts only have these few tricks up their sleeves for enhancement of their powers! No creativity at all…hang on, isn’t the offensive and defensive power of this fire adept a little off the charts? He’s only intermediate Fourth Grade. How are his attacks reaching over 10,000 points? What…this…how is it possible?”

Tartas was more surprised the longer he looked. He waved his hand and called the screen forward, then put on a multipurpose pair of goggles. He leaned onto the three-dimensional projection and started to analyze with all he had.

“Artifact…he’s using an artifact! A Fifth Grade artifact…hang on, why are there two spots of high-energy reactions detected on him? Could he…could he have two Fifth Grade artifacts on him? Bastard…this lucky bastard.”

The silver-robed adepts in the room shrugged when they saw their flight supervisor laugh like a madman. They returned to their work like they hadn’t seen anything weird.

In all honesty, they were very busy!

They had to collect and arrange all the data collected from this battle, predict the future of the Central Lands, and provide information upon which the Silver Union higher-ups could make their decisions. None of these tasks were easy. It was no wonder that their flight supervisor for this trip was one of the Union’s more famous powerful individuals.

While Fourth Grade Golem Master Tartas was breaking out in tears and laughter, three witches stood in a barrier of invisibility, just ten meters away. All three witches had similar figures, appearances, and age. They were also observing the fight.

Death Witch Leader Khesuna. In the Northern Lands, her name carried enough weight to shake the world where she traveled. It was often rumored that she was the most powerful of the Northern Witches.

Accompanying her were the two supervisors of the Witch Council stationed at the Central Lands. One was Second Grade, and the other was Third Grade, belonging to the Dark Witches and the Pale Witches, respectively.

The two of them did not belong to the Death Witches, but they were still beholden to the Witch Council. As such, in the face of the sudden appearance of this witch leader, the two witches could only obey her every order fearfully.