Age of Adepts

The people here today could all be considered allies of the Crimson Clan.

The arrival of Declan, Kerala, and Alfred undoubtedly boosted the Crimson Clan’s reputation tremendously. Greem and Mary gave them a warm welcome, and the five of them prepared to walk into the hall and begin the festivities.

However, before they started moving, all five of them paused and turned to look into the distance.

Who would’ve thought that there would still be guests arriving at this time?

A crystal flying ship resembling a stingray flew out of the darkness and came to a hovering stop at the plaza in front of the Nightmare Castle. Two strange silhouettes of the same height appeared before everyone, slowly drifting to the ground.

“Tartas and Monari. They are members of the Silver Union’s senate. Tartas, in particular, has quite the authority. He might look like a simple half-blood gnome, but his uncle is one of the few ultra-powerhouses of the Union,” Kerala was clearly acquainted with the newcomers and quickly introduced Greem and Mary with a voice transmission.

Two Fourth Grades.

Greem’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.

Even if the Silver Union viewed the Central Lands’ matters with great significance, sending a single Fourth Grade would have been enough to express their attitude. However, two Fourth Grades had appeared together today. Greem was confident that the Silver Union wanted to make moves on Zhentarim for themselves.

Moreover, Alice had informed him that Freed had contacted one of the three major organizations before the war. Even though she had been vague, it was most likely that Freed had chosen to talk with the Silver Union, given an analysis of the situation.

Two Fourth Grades of the Silver Union had appeared soon after the Crimson Clan defeated the Entom Clan. Even a fool would not believe it if you told them that there were no schemes behind this.

Greem thought to himself. As the leader of the Crimson Clan, hosting his guests was part of his responsibility.

Greem smiled gently and walked forward with both hands spread out.

“Welcome! Welcome! Everyone who makes it to Nightmare Castle tonight will be the friends of our Crimson Clan. Why don’t the two of you come in with us and have a talk since you are already here!”

Tartas was a half-blood gnome, no more than 1.3 meters in height. He was so short that his robe dragged on the ground, making him look like a sly and wretched man. Meanwhile, Monari was also not a human. He had the body of a human male but possessed an eagle’s head.

Tartas was a golem master, while Monari was a puppet master.

Golem masters often possessed an incredibly powerful magical armor that they could equip to do combat with their enemies. Meanwhile, puppet masters excelled at manipulating puppets. They often carried a ridiculous number of combat puppets with them.

These two professions were also the most popular professions within the Silver Union!

Tartas glared with his beady green eyes and spoke in response to Greem’s warm invitation.

“Our original intent in coming here was to meet Freed. Who would’ve expected you to move so fast and deal with him already? So, we have no choice but to come to see you instead.”

The other adept, Monari, was visibly more composed and used to dealing with such social situations. He spoke casually in a thick foreign accent, “We have also heard much about your feats in recent times, Sir Greem. In all honesty, I admire you quite a lot, Sir Greem. However, since you have defeated Freed, we will need you to give us some explanation on certain matters.”

As expected of senate members from the Silver Union, the arrogance and pride in their tones were unconcealable, despite them being in the Central Lands.

“You’ve made a long journey here, and I insist that you must be treated as guests. There’s no reason we should talk out here in the cold! Why don’t we sit down and have a good discussion on these matters inside…please!” Cold light gleamed in Greem’s eyes, but he warmly led all his guests into the Nightmare Castle.

The moment they stepped into the castle, everyone’s expressions changed.

The reason for it was simple. The castle possessed shockingly powerful forcefield defenses.

The moment they stepped in here, the adepts all felt their spiritual senses forced back into their bodies. All extended Spirits were severed here, and all means of magical probing restricted. They had been reduced to ordinary humans who could only feel with their physical senses.

The lack of spiritual senses meant that they could no longer sense everything within their range. Without their spiritual senses, they would lose the advantage if something unexpected happened.

This terrifying state of blindness made everyone nervous.

After all, as Fourth Grade adepts, they had never put their lives in the hands of strangers!

Tartas and Monari exchanged looks, a hint of understanding in their eyes.

This place seemed to be Bloody Queen Mary’s home field.

If they were to fight here, their spiritual senses would be suppressed immensely, while Mary’s abilities would be enhanced. The advantage brought about by this was horrifying.

Before they came here, the only one they had honestly perceived to be a threat was Legendary Fire Adept Greem. The rest of the Fourth Grade adepts were no more than mediocre fools!

However, upon stepping into Mary’s home field, the two Union senate members’ faces turned dark. For the first time, they felt worried about their mission.

After the Fourth Grade adepts walked into the third floor of the Nightmare Castle together, the other adepts finally let out a breath of relief. They started to gather together and talk again.

The gathering of seven Fourth Grade adepts was undoubtedly a rare occasion in the Central Lands!

The fact that they had gathered indicated that a significant event would soon occur in the Central Lands.

What would it be?

The appearance of a fourth major organization…or something else?

Wasn’t that the reason that all these messengers from various clans had gathered here? It was to obtain an advantageous position in this revolution of the Central Lands! Now that all the key actors had gathered together, what would they talk about? Would the talks go well?

All of these questions lingered in the hearts of the adepts.

Unfortunately, even though they were many and often came from large clans, the adepts could only wait patiently. They had to wait until the key actors had come to a conclusion and for them to announce it.

…………

The meeting in the Nightmare Castle had already begun.

When the seven adepts took their seats on the third level, an unusually majestic and gigantic eagle circled in the night sky above the castle.

The eagle was massive, about six to seven times the size of an ordinary eagle.

Their feathers were tough yet firm and glowed with a metallic gleam. Their crimson eyes scanned the ground and betrayed the light of intelligence.

Seeing as the people it was tracking had already gone into the castle and that there was no way of peeking inside due to the strong disruptions from the forcefields, the eagle let out a cry. It then beat its wings and flew southwest.

While it was beating its wings, one of its feathers fell off and drifted leisurely across the sky, riding on the cold winter winds.

The feather was only an ordinary object with no magic in it, after all. As such, it did not draw the attention of the many adepts below.

Finally, it drifted to the ground, landing on a small hill about two kilometers west of the castle.

The moment the feather landed, a strange figure dressed in a robe appeared out of nowhere and pinched the feather between his fingers.

It was a middle-aged man with stern features. He wore an emblem with a scroll and a quill on his robe. A strange tattoo of an eye was drawn on his forehead.

He stroked the feather, put it before his nose, and sniffed. An unusual stream of information that only an Archivist could decode flowed into his mind.

Gathering at the Central Lands…forbidden lifeform…enter the castle to investigate.

It was an investigation mission personally passed down by the tower master. He was to immediately sneak into the castle and figure out the secret agreement being brokered between the adepts. In the meantime, he was also to learn more about the forbidden lifeform.

Archivists always adhered to the fundamental principle of never getting involved, never intervening, and never explaining anything of what they knew. They were only servants of Fate. They were like an eye that existed beyond humankind, solely responsible for observing and recording all major events happening in the World of Adepts while staying uninvolved.

It was because of their principles that the other adept organizations never suppressed Archivists.

However, this didn’t mean that high-grade adepts would like their presence!

No one liked a person standing in the shadows recording everything they were doing with their quill. Even if these people were harmless, it was still very annoying!

This infiltration mission was also an extreme course of action.

The confidential agreement and the forbidden lifeform were both classified secrets of the Crimson Clan. They would never easily reveal them. However, the tower master wanted him to sneak in there and figure it all out.

Even though he knew this mission was incredibly difficult, the Archivist showed no signs of fear on his face. After reading all the information on the feather, he waved his hand as it quickly burned away.

Once the feather had turned entirely to ash, the Archivist shook his robe and seemingly vanished into thin air as he turned invisible.

There were no magical fluctuations or life signs detected. This invisible man quickly sprinted toward the tower like a ghost.

Two and a half kilometers…two kilometers…one and a half kilometers……