Age of Adepts

A strange expression appeared on Greem’s face when he read the strangely familiar contents of this recruitment order.

After a long pause, he looked at Sainz with a false smile and said, “I believe you were the one who issued the compulsory conscription order last time as well. I still remember that mission clearly, even now! And now you’re recommending similar missions to me again? Seems like we really do have an affinity for each other.”

Sainz also laughed and said, “That does seem to be the case. However, Freed was the one I handed the mission to last time. Who would’ve known he would push you forward to fill the ranks. Without the ‘opportunity’ from that time, you probably wouldn’t have become a Great Adept so easily. If you think about it like that, it really is quite a coincidence.”

“So you and Freed…?”

“Aren’t related in any fashion. He had been providing me with offerings regularly because he hoped to obtain a share of the camp market! That is all.”

“Haven’t I gotten in your way then?”

“It was just some low-grade resources anyway! Do you think those people that hide inside the planeworld, fearful of large-scale plane wars, would have anything good to offer?” Sainz smiled as he explained. “He did indeed ask me for help, but I rejected him!”

“Why?”

“Because Great Adepts that have left the World of Adepts almost never want to intervene in battles inside the planar world. We will trigger a backlash from the planar consciousness if we get involved. If things turn sour with the planar consciousness, it could lower my compatibility with my principles. That would be a terrible loss for me! In particular, no one would ever dare touch someone who’s blessed by the planar consciousness, like you.”

“Not necessarily, is it?” Greem seemed to remember something. He chuckled and said, “I was attacked by the clone of a Great Adept in the World of Adepts. I believe he was called…Douglas!”

“Douglas!” Sainz appeared surprised. He followed up with a question. “Douglas of the Silver Union?”

“I don’t know what faction he’s aligned with, but the signs do point toward him being close with the Silver Union,” Greem hesitated for a moment.

“Then it must be him!” Sainz sighed and said, “Douglas is a Great Adept that advanced 1,200 years ago. He’s Sixth Grade now and has long since left Camp Exodar. It’s said……”

At this, Sainz lifted his head and stole a glance at Greem before he continued in a soft voice, “It’s said he’s now in leagues with a certain witch and has been showing hints of leaving the Silver Union. That was why he had no choice but to leave the camp to avoid trouble. Of course, these are all just rumors!”

Witch…avoiding trouble……

Greem frowned slightly. He had a vague feeling that these two things were all somehow related to him. However, he had never researched divination. He couldn’t figure out the secrets lying behind all of this with only these tiny clues.

Sainz did not urge Greem further when he saw him brood in silence. Instead, he simply picked up a book and started reading.

After a long pause, Greem finally lifted his head and asked, “If I said I was interested in this mission, who should I contact?”

“Kehkehkehe. Just give me the word, and I will help you contact who you need to.”

“And with Lord Sarubo…?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I can promise you that Lord Sarubo won’t hold anything against you over something as trivial as that. Moreover, if you do participate in that mission, you just might run into Lord Sarubo over there!”

Having obtained the information he wanted, Greem didn’t dally any longer. He bid farewell to Sainz and immediately returned to the Capital of Steel.

Of course, Greem couldn’t take everything that Sainz said at face value. That was why he assigned Gazlowe to inquire about and obtain more information on this recruitment order.

Gazlowe had been stationed at Camp Exodar for over two hundred years now. He had his own means of gathering information. He didn’t return with news on just one recruitment order, but five of them.

The entire adept faction was currently waging war with five separate forces. Moreover, they had all scattered recruitment orders to the camps. Any adept interested in these missions or wanting to train their will in trials of life and death could voluntarily sign up for these missions.

The rewards for these missions were bountiful as well!

At the very least, they were much more bountiful than staying in camp without doing anything.

In that regard, Sainz hadn’t been planning anything malicious when recommending the mission to Greem.

The descriptions of all the missions were similar. Some of them were about attacking the Gazing Empire, some about a war against the Abyssal World, and some were about invading the draconic planes. The point being that manpower was needed everywhere. Everybody was preparing for war. It was entirely different from the casual and laid back adept lifestyle that Greem had expected.

After a long pause, Greem couldn’t suppress his curiosity about the large-scale planar wars in the end. He contacted Sainz.

Sainz was overjoyed to hear an affirmative response from Greem. It made Greem suspicious that Sainz would be able to obtain some benefits as an intermediary.

However, Greem couldn’t be bothered with these insignificant details. Instead, he put all his attention into arranging matters within the camp.

Greem left the issue of constructing an adept tower in the Fire Elementium Plane to Split-Brain Sock. Greem had left planar coordinates there. With the aid of Fourth Grade Emberweb Spider Lasbes, the construction of the tower should be safe from disruption by other fire creatures.

The only difficulty now was building construction machines that could endure the harsh environment of the Fire Elementium Plane and purchasing materials in bulk.

There was no hurrying these affairs. One had to take their time with it.

According to the Chip’s calculations, the tower would not be completed for another five or six years.

Greem had nothing to do in the camp during this time anyway. He might as well take a look at the large-scale planar wars that Sainz had spoken of. That might be a good thing after all.

At any rate, these recruitment orders weren’t compulsory. Greem could cast his duty aside and walk away if he wasn’t doing well. He didn’t need to worry about being assigned to the most dangerous areas of fighting like last time.

It was the fundamental reason why Greem had been willing to accept the mission!

Of course, the tremendous mission rewards were a factor as well, albeit a secondary factor.

Resource planes, origin substances, slaves- these things were valuable, but you would always be able to find them if you were willing to collect them patiently. However, Fifth Grade materials were very hard to find in these camps.

Greem had been incredibly fortunate to have obtained Fifth Grade materials in the war before this. He had not found them all that valuable, but upon taking a look at the market of Camp Exodar, he was surprised to find that there was an absolute lack of Fifth Grade materials. No one was willing to put them up for sale.

Even when Fifth Grade materials were traded, it was in the form of private transactions.

The Fifth Grade materials that Greem had obtained prior to this involved the body of a many-headed lizard and the corpse and soul of the many-armed giant. That said, the principle crystals were the only things from the bodies that he could really use. The rest of the stuff was valuable, but he could only leave them sealed in an alternate dimension for the moment.

Of course, if Greem were a master-class golem master, he might be able to turn that tattered body of the many-armed giant into a Fifth Grade voodoo beast.

In doing so, Greem would obtain a Fifth Grade helper!

Unfortunately, the most powerful golem master of Camp Exodar was only Fourth Grade. Someone like that didn’t have the ability to process such valuable Fifth Grade materials.

Greem would rather wait than let these materials go to waste. He had no choice but to let them gather dust in a warehouse!

The principle crystal of the many-armed giant was of the earth elementium. It wasn’t suited for Greem and couldn’t be absorbed. He could only try to exchange it for a fire principle crystal.

As for the soul and magical core that he had extracted from the giant? That could be used to create a Fifth Grade magical golem. Successfully forging such a golem would require some fairly valuable Fifth Grade materials. Yet, these things were exactly the ones that were hardest to find on the market.

Greem could only put his hopes in the mission’s Fifth Grade material reward!

One had to admit that adepts were very efficient when they mobilized.

Sainz informed Greem that he would need to depart on the sixth day after agreeing to take on the mission.

…………

This place was a giant stone fortress drifting in the depths of space.

Its size was comparable to the main continents of many small planar worlds. The only ones that could set foot in this fortress were powerful adepts and elite adept armies from the various camps.

Right now, the light of teleportation was fading away from a balcony on the seventy-third floor of the stone castle. A tall and muscular young was revealed.

“You must be Great Adept Greem of Camp Exodar! Please report to Lord Erlenwald in War Room 7,” It was a strange adept with a bird’s head who was stationed outside the array. He was only Third Grade, but the energy in his body was unlike any other adept that Greem had ever seen before.

Greem stood silently for a moment. After enduring the mild discomfort of the ultra-long-range teleportation, he finally had a chance to take a good look at his surroundings.

Above him was a dark curtain speckled with stars. A giant energy barrier enveloped the stone fortress, protecting it from the magic tides outside and making the environment within much more tolerable.

Though the magic winds that blew within the barrier were not as savage as those outside, their energy radiation was still beyond what ordinary creatures could hope to survive. The Chip estimated that any being that wished to move freely in this environment would have to be advanced Second Grade at least.

While Greem looked around, a white light flashed across several balconies nearby. Loud rumblings sounds could be heard as numerous adept powerhouses appeared in this stone fortress that represented one of the nexuses of the adept wars.