Age of Adepts

The eruption of the magic surge was like Pandora’s box had been opened. It unleashed tremendous disasters upon all the material planes.

Greem had no idea what arrangements the three major organizations had made in preparation for this event.

All he knew was that the Central Lands was truly in trouble now!

Ever since the first wave of the magic surge reached the World of Adepts, there had been over a hundred cases of otherworldly intrusion reported in the Central Lands every day. There were probably more that had slipped into the plane through more inconspicuous means and had yet to be detected.

The arrival of these intruders brought unimaginable turbulence to the Central Lands.

Most of these intruders had been randomly teleported to the World of Adepts after wandering into a spacetime vortex. Some malicious intruders had traveled the infinite vastness of space to take advantage of the weakness in the World of Adept’s planar barrier to raid and slaughter to their heart’s desire.

The unintentional intruders were many in number, but they varied in power. Most of them simply went into hiding in the World of Adepts, prepared to flee to another plane at any moment. Most of these unintentional intruders were not very powerful. They were also disorganized and without support- it was easy dealing with them. Almost every one of these unintentional intruders that had been discovered had been hunted down.

However, intentional intruders were much harder to deal with!

After all, they came prepared. These intruders were more familiar with the environment of the World of Adepts and were sometimes backed by even more powerful individuals. This particular kind of intruder was bad news for the adepts who ruled this plane.

Reports on seven cases of mass deaths spread across six regions lay upon Greem’s desk. Each file represented the fall and extermination of a human settlement.

“The Mysterious Deaths of Molten Fire City.

“A mass death event occurred today in the Skettis region. The location is to the east of the region, only a hundred and fifty kilometers away from Molten Fire City. All 416 mortals living in a town known as Maz died abruptly over a single night.

“Initial investigations reveal that the corpses of the victims remain untouched. None of their possessions have been touched either. The victims were spread all over the town. It seemed as if all of them had died at the same instant due to an unknown reason.

“All victims were smiling in their deaths. Their muscles were stiff, and initial dissections found signs of supernatural power on the corpses.

“Time of death is three days after the eruption of the magic surge.

“The case is currently being investigated and managed by Molten Fire City Second Grade Adept Freina.”

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“The Mysterious Disappearance of the Clarke’s Treasure Well.

“Clarke Alchemy Academy, located in the Ankala region, experienced an anomaly. The Treasure Well, one of the academy’s primary trial locations, was shrouded by a mysterious white mist.

“At present, the academy has lost contact with the eleven alchemist apprentice undertaking their trials in the Treasure Well. An official adept of the academy has also gone missing after venturing into the well to investigate.

“This incident happened on the third day of the magic surge eruption. Second Grade Adept Woodwhisker of the Entom Clan has gone to investigate.

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“The Plague of Entones City.

“On the seventh day of the magic surge, a mysterious plague broke out in Entones City of the Ailasia region. The plague infected over one-third of the city’s population upon breakout. The estimated number of infected then was approximately twenty-one thousand.

“The plague has been spreading rapidly toward the surrounding territories. At present, the three neighboring towns have been afflicted, and the scale of the plague continues to grow.

“This area is under the joint management of the local organizations Quirin Cottage, Mourning Bell Academy, and Morrin’s Stone Tower. They have sent out adepts to form an investigative team aiming to investigate and control the plague.

“Signs of taboo magic have been found in the plague viruses. The investigative team is currently pursuing the offending adept. Currently, there are no signs of otherworldly involvement.”

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Greem read the case briefs on his desk one by one, the frown on his forehead scrunching even further with each page.

In the past, all he had to do was manage the affairs of the Crimson Clan.

The dedicated Meryl and Emelia had also aided him. As such, he had never felt clan affairs to be a burden of a task.

As the Central Lands slowly fell into his control, there were 31 regions spanning 3,751 square kilometers containing 1,000 adept clans. All of them had become places and locations he had to understand and manage. A tidal wave of reports requiring his administrative and executive decisions flooded his office.

It was important to note that Meryl and Emelia had already helped him filter out most of the less urgent matters. The only reports that reached his desk either involved Fourth Grade adepts, Fourth Grade organizations, or were more complex than they appeared. Either way, they all required him to make a decision as the leader of the Crimson Clan.

Any one of these reports was enough to give him a headache for several days to come!

These days, all ordinary affairs had already been kept off his desk. Yet, these seven cases had still found their way into his hands. It was more than enough evidence that all of these cases were somehow related to the magic surge’s eruption.

These were many insignificant events. However, they were very likely hinting at the arrival of a powerful and cunning otherworldly creature in the Central Lands. These events were likely their doing and were, perhaps, the commencement of some ritual. Maybe they were just to satisfy their bloodlust.

Greem wasn’t too worried about the intruders that started a massacre the moment they entered the plane.

Intruders like that wanted nothing more than a feast. They would leave as soon as they filled their bellies. Greem’s attitude toward such intruders was to simply banish them.

After all, there were far too many otherworldly monsters these days. It was impossible to kill them all.

Banishing them from the plane after discovering them and sealing the rift they came in through was the best result with minimal effort that Greem could think of!

What really made Greem’s head hurt were the sly predators.

They would not start a massacre at a whim, as that would draw the adepts’ intervention. Instead, they behaved like chameleons, sneaking into the World of Adepts silently and hiding all traces of their existence. They would even disguise themselves and blend in among the local nobles.

They could go into hiding for decades for their secret plans, slowly corrupting the human settlements near them through their unique methods.

By the time they were exposed, they could cause casualties numbering in the hundreds of thousands!

The Adepts’ Handbook recorded the invasion of the sporepeople, the snakeskins, and the undead. There were signs of the intervention of a greater force in space behind each of these terrible historical events.

The World of Adepts was a famous planar world, after all. The quality of the human souls here was vastly superior to the smaller planes. Many otherworldly monsters worked in the profession of peddling the souls of creatures from the major planes.

By bringing souls from another major world back to their homeworld, they would be able to strengthen their homeworld and obtain feedback from the planar consciousness. It was one of the means by which the planar worlds strengthened themselves!

If the Central Lands had not effectively belonged to Greem now, he wouldn’t have bothered to worry over all these incidents.