Age of Adepts

Gazlowe noticed Greem’s mental activity the moment he woke up. After all, Gazlowe controlled the entirety of the Capital of Steel.

“Master, you are finally awake. I have received eleven invitations while you were asleep. Please examine them.”

Gazlowe’s mental fluctuation instantly trembled throughout the hall.

Invitations?

Greem’s Spirit quickly connected with Gazlowe. A large amount of related data flooded his consciousness like a torrent.

If this had been in the past, Greem would never have dared to connect directly with Gazlowe in this manner. After all, the human mind could not compare to a brain monster like Gazlowe. Without powerful calculation abilities, the flood of data alone would be enough to inflict incalculable damage upon his mental consciousness.

Suna of the Burning Ring.

Eyre of the Wings of Darkness.

Goleman of the Magic Research Federation.

Freyde of the Blood Origin Society.

Ebert of the Light of Magic.

……

……

Greem couldn’t help but be stunned at the long list of adept organizations and unfamiliar names.

Given his position in the past, he rarely had the opportunity to come into contact with Great Adepts.

He was unlikely to have attracted their attention, even if he had gone knocking on their doors with valuable gifts as offerings. Now that he had become a Fifth Grade Great Adept, invitations fluttered down upon him like snowflakes, even as he remained in his home.

The only problem was that Greem was utterly unfamiliar with all this data. As such, he had absolutely no idea how to deal with it.

Given that he had Gazlowe right beside him–someone who was completely familiar with space–Greem knew what he had to do. Greem quickly obtained the data he wanted from Gazlowe through the mental connection.

One had to admit that this camp in space was truly a chaotic place!

The Great Adepts who remained stationed in this camp were the ‘scholars’ who preferred not to fight. They buried themselves in their labs, where they conducted their experiments and research. Their power might be superior to adepts of Fourth Grade and below, but they were weaklings amongst Fifth Grades.

Who knew how much of their power they could unleash when they left their adept towers and the camp!?

Because these Great Adepts all had tremendously long lifespans, they formed alliances across the dozen adept camps based on the content of their research.

These adept organizations typically only consisted of three to five people, the members of whom were all Great Adepts. Occasionally, they also invited exceptionally talented Fourth Grade adepts to join their ranks. However, these organizations were all built around a topic that the members shared a common interest in. There wasn’t much benefit or influence tied to the organizations themselves.

That was the case for organizations like the Magic Research Federation and the Light of Magic.

Apart from these, certain special adept organizations prioritized having the same ideal when recruiting. These were secret groups that were closer, more tight-knit, and more binding.

These organizations included the Burning Ring, the Wings of Darkness, and the Blood Origin Society.

The information collected by Gazlowe in the past few hundred years revealed that the Burning Ring was a small organization that mainly recruited fire spellcasters, based around Exodar and a few nearby camps.

Meanwhile, the Wings of Darkness was a mysterious organization put together by a group of darkness adepts. Their members were unknown, their research topic was unknown, and even their organization’s location was unknown.

On the other hand, the Blood Origin Society’s base was located within Exodar. They were a secret organization focused on researching bloodlines. The reason they had sent an invitation to Greem was likely related to the starbeast bloodline he possessed.

After reading through the material provided by Gazlowe, Greem finally started to read through the contents of these invitations.

It was important to note that fewer and fewer Fifth Grade Great Adepts had emerged from the World of Adepts in recent years as the principles were slowly taken up.

Fresh blood was rare. It was only natural that most adept organizations at Exodar Camp extended their hand in hopes of meeting with him.

After reading through the eleven invitations, Greem discovered two familiar names amongst them.

Great Adept Sarubo.

Great Adept Ulnak.

Greem couldn’t help but frown when he read these names. He fell into a long period of thought.

They were both Sixth Grade Great Adepts! Moreover…Greem had made acquaintances out of both of them.

Ulnak was the current manager of Exodar Camp. He had the Seventh Grade Great Adept Erlenwald as his superior, but Erlenwald often secluded himself for hundreds of years at a time. Consequently, Sixth Grade Great Adept Ulnak managed the affairs of Exodar Camp most of the time.

His invitation to Greem for a visit was perfectly reasonable and natural.

However, the invitation from Sixth Grade Great Adept Sarubo was somewhat unusual.

In all seriousness, Greem had a conflict of interest with Sarubo.

Greem had started on his journey of magic in the Sarubo Clan to begin with. His path from apprentice adept to Second Grade adept was all undertaken within the Sarubo Clan. During this journey, he had been fortunate enough to have a brief encounter with this Great Adept Sarubo.

Though the person he met was only a clone projection of Great Adept Sarubo, the clone still contained a significant portion of his actual mental consciousness.

In the end, Greem broke up with the higher-ups of the clan on bad terms. He stormed out of the Sarubo Clan and founded his own Crimson Clan. While mostly skirmishes, the Crimson Clan’s conflicts with the Sarubo Clan had lasted for almost four hundred years at this point.

The most severe conflict between the two of them had been during the Third Grade selection contest held in Zhentarim. Greem had knocked the Third Grade Sanazar unconscious and caused her to lose her best opportunity to become Fourth Grade.

Ever since then, Sanazar had not shown herself again. It seemed like she had been assigned to another planar world, with headquarters being taken over by a purple-eyed adept.

It wasn’t hard to see from all this that the conflict between Greem and the Sarubo Clan had reached monumental levels. If that was the case, why did Great Adept Sarubo want to meet Greem!?

It couldn’t possibly be to teach him a lesson, could it?

Greem questioned his own conscience. If he were the kind of person who held grudges, he would have exterminated the Sarubo Clan while he reigned supreme over the Central Lands. The main reason he had not lifted a single finger against the Sarubo Clan was out of respect for this Sixth Grade Great Adept.

That was why it was unlikely that Sarubo intended to worsen their relationship. On the contrary, it seemed as if Sarubo wanted to improve their relationship. After all, Great Adept Sarubo had long since left the World of Adepts. His clan’s might was gradually fading, while Greem’s Crimson Clan was as bright as a sun in the morning afternoon.

Greem closed his eyes and fell into thought. He gradually managed to process what needed to be done next.

Finally, Greem opened his eyes and contacted Gazlowe. “Help me contact Lord Ulnak! Just tell him that Greem will be paying him a personal visit.”

…………

Space, Exodar Camp.

The tower at the center of the ‘city.’

When Greem walked into the hall of a building in a simple red robe, the adepts around him hastily took two steps backward and bowed to show their respect.

There were no weaklings among those who could live in space.

Even the weakest of them had been advanced Second Grade. They all wore earth-yellow badges that represented Exodar Camp. It meant that they were a part of the Exodar Camp management and possessed certain authorities.

They might not have seen Greem prior to this, but that didn’t stop them from recognizing his identity.

Greem was the first Fifth Grade Great Adept to have emerged from the World of Adepts in the past five hundred years!

By the second day after Greem arrived at Exodar Camp, news of his exploits, as well as his image, were already circulating the camp. Of course, the camp’s adepts were not just looking for this information to sate their curiosity. They also wanted to get to know this legendary fire adept and prevent committing any unintentional offense toward him.

It was a very common sight in the camps in space.

The more foolish ones were often tricked into causing trouble for the Great Adepts, thereby inviting their fury and destruction. After these things happened several times, the adepts of the camps learned better.

Every time they reached a new camp in space, their first job was to obtain information on the camp’s important individuals. It was the best way to avoid causing trouble.

In the eleven years that Greem had been sleeping, everything known about him had spread throughout the camp.

The adept who was fastest to advance…exceptional fighting prowess, unified the Central Lands. Executed numerous minor Scourge Lords…instantly defeated the projection of the Fire God.

Any one of these achievements would have been great news, worthy of lengthy discussion and thought. However, all of these achievements were gathered upon the shoulders of a single, newly advanced Fifth Grade Great Adept.

During this time, Greem’s name was spoken of endlessly in Exodar Camp. He was like a blinding, rising sun. His reputation had even superseded those of the more veteran Fifth Grade Great Adepts.

The direct consequence was Greem being recognized by an adept the moment he stepped out of the Capital of Steel and came to the giant door of the central plaza’s tower.

Greem had stepped into a completely foreign world and was being bowed at by every stranger he ran into. This strange experience caused Greem’s expression to become awkward. He wasn’t sure how to react.

Fortunately, he was a Great Adept, which meant that no one here dared to tug at his hair.

The first to welcome Greem was a familiar face. Caelf, Head of Inspections, peak Fourth Grade.

After inquiring about Greem’s purpose in coming here, Caelf enthusiastically contacted Tower Spirit Cammpus for him.

Greem was led by a Fourth Grade golem-construct into the tower. They arrived on the twenty-third floor, where Greem personally knocked on the door of Lord Ulnak.