Age of Adepts

Despite being a somewhat newly established city, Crimson Wing had a shocking population of two million.

It was a tremendous number in a world of magic where transport and resources were not that plentiful.

In the World of Adepts, cities with a population of ten to twenty thousand were considered small cities. Those with twenty thousand to fifty thousand were mid-sized cities, cities with fifty to ninety thousand population were large cities, while those with more than ninety thousand were massive cities.

This standard was established for a reason. It was the limitation of transport, food, and water!

In a higher plane like the World of Adepts, things were still incredibly limited. Even though the adepts could travel through space, upend mountains, and empty oceans with a single wave of their hands, the mortals still lived a primitive lifestyle that relied on farming, fishing, and hunting.

The lives of adepts and the lives of ordinary people were as different as heaven and earth. It was impossible to visualize the gap between them. Adepts would rather waste enormous amounts of resources to cultivate some incredibly delicious fruits than direct even a single thought toward the improvement of a mortal’s crop yield.

Crops grown on the large amount of land that the ordinary humans lived on was not enough to sustain too many people. The hard work of the average farmer was barely enough to fill the bellies of his own family. If a family wanted to eat meat and enjoy better meals, they would have to take the risk and hunt in the woods.

That was why it was impossible for there to be a large population in any given place. The lack of food alone was enough of a problem for a governor.

If local food production was insufficient, then why didn’t they import from other lands?

Here, the issue of transportation in magical worlds had to be discussed.

The roads in the World of Adepts were mostly crude and simple dirt roads. At their very core, they were roads that had only appeared due to the incredible number of travelers and merchants that traversed the same paths. Such roads would often become impassable when it rained. Even when the weather was good, there were too many potholes and rocks along the road to make for a smooth journey.

Most of the transportation of goods in the World of Adepts relied on carts- specifically, wooden carts drawn by a special breed of wildebeest. The unique features of these wooden carts were their limited load, fragility, and slow speed.

With such roads and means of transportations, the transporting of goods over short distances was still possible. However, it was no more than a delusion if one hoped to continuously ferry essential resources such as food, drinking water, and firewood for hundreds of kilometers daily.

It was this series of primitive and outdated technologies that the people still relied on that limited the appearance of massive cities!

Even within the capital cities of the few famous Fourth Grade organizations of the Central Lands, the population rarely exceeded a hundred thousand. It wasn’t that these organizations did not want to attract more residents to their cities. Rather, they could not shoulder the resource shortage that would occur with the increase in population.

Consequently, the fact that Crimson Wing could provide for two million people hinted at something deeper. Many of the Fourth Grade adepts arriving from afar started to wonder.

Could it be that the Crimson Clan had such plentiful resources that they could even extend them toward their ordinary civilians? Still, wasn’t wasting these resources on these lowly mortals an incredibly wasteful act on its own?

It was important to note that these mortals had absolutely no magical talent. Their only value was in working the land and, more crucially, to reproduce. They were to use their great numbers to give birth to a certain ratio of apprentice adepts.

These apprentices were the only ones that had value and were worth investments from the clans. Mortals without magical talent were little more than livestock in the eyes of many adepts. They were only tools necessary for the continuation of the species!

As such, they could never be bothered to expend their precious time and energy on these useless creatures, let alone help them improve their lives.

However, this massive city of Crimson Wing was very different from any other city!

It was a strange city that had combined magic with everyday society and daily life.

The neatly arranged streets, the clean and smooth stone roads, the organized shops and stalls, the residential areas, commercial districts, and entertainment districts with their meshing architectural styles. You could even see numerous magical machines and metal carriages running through the streets by the crowd of pedestrians.

Crimson Wing had already abandoned inefficient and slow horse-powered carriages. The magical machines powered with magic energy batteries were their primary form of transporting goods. You no longer had slow, clunky wooden carts rumbling down the streets; you had precise magical machines forged entirely out of metal.

Small shops relied on magical machines to transport goods, while the major merchants used special goblin flying ships.

Powered by magic energy, these flying ships no longer gave off steam wherever they went, nor did they make tremendous noise due to their propellers. They glided silently through the sky, buzzing here and there according to fixed flying routes. The whole city gave off a sense of a burgeoning magic-mechanical civilization!

Ever since the Crimson Clan had obtained a steady supply of Queyras alloy from Molten Fire City, the forging of the magic generator furnaces had never stopped. Magic energy was no longer a problem that bothered the Crimson Clan.

There were many goblin shops opened in Crimson Wing. They sold non-combat magical machines to everyone and even provided free magic energy charging services. These shops undoubtedly made it very convenient for the promotion of magical devices throughout the city.

A magical machine that could traverse hundreds of kilometers of distance without any rest was far more cost-effective than having to keep an entire caravan group around. Consequently, you could no longer see those outdated caravan merchants anywhere in Crimson Wing.

They had been replaced by magical machines that could travel as fast as the wind.

However, for the sake of pedestrian safety, all magical machines that entered Crimson Wing could only run at their lowest speed. Moreover, they had to travel on the stone roads.

The popularization and application of the magical machines and the bloom of a magical civilization allowed for many unusual occupations to appear in Crimson Wing. Magical=machine mechanics, magical-machine technicians, pilots, researchers, janitors, law enforcement forces, etc.

One had to admit that Crimson Wing was a new world completely different from any other city in the World of Adepts! Even a top-class adept like Mornashen could not understand nor comprehend the energy and liveliness of this city.

“Does Greem have nothing better to do? Why has he made all these toys?” Mornashen put the curtains of the carriage down, his face struck with disbelief. “What is the point of treating these humans so well? They will be completely useless when an enemy comes. Even an apprentice adept would be more useful. At least they can throw a few fireballs!”

“You don’t have to care about what he thinks,” Molten Fire City Lord Alfred stroked his little mustache as he asked softly, “Just tell me, do you think the citizens of this city are happy? Do you think they are content?”

“What in the blazes is the point in keeping them happy and content? What can you get in return by wasting resources and energy on them? Can they help us conquer a lesser plane?” Mornashen was clearly a firm advocate for the classical stance of bloodline superiority and adept superiority. He couldn’t be less interested in these pointless affairs. “With their frail bodies, probably half of them would die the moment they were teleported to a foreign plane.”

The Lord of the Molten Fire City shook his head but did not argue. Instead, there was a change in the topic of conversation.

“You have seen the Crimson Wing for yourself. Have you not sensed how it is different from other adept cities?”

“Are you talking about the magic energy?”

“Indeed! You should have sensed it for yourself. This city is filled with magic energy. It is a prosperous city sustained entirely by magic energy. Aren’t you curious where their magic energy comes from? Don’t tell me it comes from those three adept towers. They can’t sustain such incredible demand.”

“You mean…the Crimson Clan has obtained a source of infinite energy? What is it? Some sort of treasure or a magical array? Or perhaps a unique technique from a foreign world?”

“I have done my investigations. It is a sort of unique device known as a magic generator furnace. They can endlessly extract chaotic magic energy from space and tame it for use.”

“Isn’t that the same as elementium altars?”

“Not at all. Elementium altars can only be constructed on fixed spots along leyline nodes. Moreover, they cost a shocking amount to build. However, this magic generator furnace they have invented is a mobile energy source that can be fitted on any magical machine.” Alfred narrowed his eyes and explained in awe.

“No wonder the Crimson Clan can employ magical machines on such a tremendous scale. So they were relying on an endless source of magic energy! The crucial requirements for any civilization or organization that wishes to grow and expand are energy and resources. They no longer lack energy now. As long as they continue to expand outward and obtain the required resources from foreign worlds, it will be no problem for them to establish themselves as a massive organization,” Mornashen Gaia couldn’t help but exclaim in awe as well. “No wonder Greem could incite conflicts everywhere and still grow stronger with each passing year. So this is the true reason for their power!”

“Don’t overthink. The reason Greem summoned us here must be to discuss how we should deal with the coming magic tide. Mine and Kerala’s attitudes are very clear. We will be deferring to him in all matters. As long as his demands do not cross the line, we will stuff our complaints and obey. That said, if he pushes too far, I am hoping you will argue logically and point out his mistakes, brother. We can’t let him do whatever he wants.”

A half-grin appeared on Mornashen’s face when he heard this, “This is your’s and Kerala’s stance?”

“And Ariza’s and Roderick’s. You are the only one left amongst the Central adepts who can wrestle with Greem now. So……”

“So you wish to push me forth and roast me upon the spit?” Mornashen flashed a sarcastic smile.

“We don’t want you to oppose Greem. We just want you to ‘argue logically’ with him!” Alfred couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.

Power was status.

Without the power to back it up, even Fourth Grade adepts like himself had no spine to their words.