Age of Adepts

The Black Forest was still a wondrous place of magic, even at night.

The silver moonlight from the large, brilliant moon shined down through the leaves of the trees, forming mesmerizing pillars of light in the pitch-black forest. Plants shimmering with magical energy started to glow with iridescent colors under the moonlight.

In the eyes of an ordinary person, the Black Forest appeared to be submerged in eternal darkness. However, for adepts who had mastered elementium powers, this place was as bright as day. Strange glowing lights floated everywhere in the air.

Greem was amazed by the wonders of the World of Adepts as he walked past the ancient trees.

Every one of them was nearly a hundred meters tall, and so wide they needed three men to embrace them completely. Scattered on the ground beneath the massive trees were mushrooms of all kinds. Ther were matsutakes, black fungi, bright shrooms, whitehead shrooms, fluorescent moss. All the fungi and moss glowed in the dark. Red, green, purple, blue, gray– their lights came in a variety of colors.

Layers of vines coiled around the branches like stalking snakes. The ends of the vines disappeared into the canopy, preventing anyone from seeing where they led.

It was indeed a bright, fantastical world filled with life!

Sabrina cautiously walked behind the two adepts. She tried her best to maintain a certain distance between them. One that was neither too far nor too close. Too far away, and they wouldn’t be able to save her if something unexpected happened. Too close, and…

A subtle forcefield that was virtually invisible to the naked eye surrounded the two adepts’ bodies. The forcefields weren’t usually visible, but if any creature dared to come to close, they would trigger all sorts of magical effects.

The effect of Gargamel’s forcefield was poison. Both plants and animals instantly died when they came into contact with it. Sabrina had already witnessed several glowing bugs get too close to the sinister adept. Their lights immediately extinguished as they crashed to the ground.

Sir Greem’s forcefield was the Ring of Fire.

Any substance, both organic and inorganic, would suddenly combust when it entered the Ring of Fire. They were then reduced to ashes in a flash and fell to the ground.

A path of ash trailed behind him wherever he went!

Sabrina didn’t dare take even one step too close to these adepts. Even with her pseudo-adept level abilities, she would not come out unharmed if she accidentally entered their forcefields.

Adept Gargamel held a magical tool in his hands that resembled a compass. He led the group forward into the forest. Once in a while, he would lower his head to check the tool before correcting his trajectory. It appeared that he was tracking something.

Danger lurked everywhere in the Black Forest of the night!

The three of them had already run into strange magical creatures several times.

These creatures were like phantoms in the night. They passed through the bushes and vines without so much as a sound. They would immediately hide in the shadows and observe the party of three when they found them.

The smarter creatures quickly left after sensing the power of the three humans. Only bloodthirsty or unintelligent ones failed to resist the allure of flesh and blood, charging at the adepts.

These foolish beings were all done in by Sabrina alone.

The power of a pseudo-adept might not be much to an adept, but it was more than enough to crush these creatures. They were usually no stronger than an advanced apprentice.

Greem stood silently in the darkness and observed the way Sabrina fought every time monsters ambushed them.

Having replaced part of her limbs and organs with robotics, Sabrina possessed an extraordinarily unique and efficient combat style.

The robotic eye covered by her silver mask also seemed to have some unusual ability that granted her superhuman vision. She was completely unaffected by the darkness of the forest. The robotic left hand hidden underneath her cloak wasn’t just her weapon; it was also her shield.

A nightsaber leopard lunged at her from a tree branch ten meters above by using Shadowstalker Stealth, but Sabrina’s left hand, hard as steel, immediately struck it. The leopard’s heavy body was blown away, snapping countless vines as it crashed through the vegetation. It landed on the ground with a massive rumble. Greem couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

Three points of Strength!

Sabrina might have been an apprentice, but she was already as strong as him when it came to Strength. In fact, Greem was reasonably sure that he was not her match in terms of Strength if he didn’t transform into the Flame Fiend.

The nightsaber leopard, its black body covered in magical patterns, slowly walked out of the ravaged bushes. Pieces of grass and moss stuck to its beautiful black fur.

That violent blow had obviously damaged it!

It slowly circled the three of them and let out intimidating growls from its throat.

Gargamel let out an impatient snort.

Sabrina had no choice but to end this quickly. She didn’t want to displease the adept. She swiftly strode towards the magical creature.

The human’s active provocation and actions had angered the nightsaber leopard. It crouched and pounced. Four deep claw marks left behind by its powerful legs scarred the ground. Its lithe body turned into a flashing silhouette and rushed towards Sabrina.

This time, Sabrina didn’t choose to blow the opponent away. Instead, her robotic left hand abruptly shot forward and grabbed the nightsaber leopard in midair. Seven or eight crescent blades shot out from her body and instantly dug into the cat’s flesh.

The nightsaber leopard was a creature known for its agility. Most of its prowess came from its two abilities– Shadowstalker Stealth and Flash Claw. Its body’s defense was completely ineffective at stopping these strange robotic attacks.

Pupupu.

Seven or eight clusters of blood splashed from its body. It opened its mouth to roar in agony, but a drill-like robotic extension was shoved into its throat immediately.

Pu.

A bloody drill came out of the back of the leopard’s head. The drill itself was still spinning away, sending purple beads of blood flying in every direction.

Crash.

Sabrina threw the nightsaber leopard’s corpse aside, and she panted from exhaustion.

The nightsaber leopard had not been able to lay a finger on her body in the few seconds of conflict earlier. However, the violent shockwave from forcefully punching into the hardened body of a magical creature still caused her pain. Several of her internal organs started to ache once more.

”Let’s go!” Gargamel seemed to have become restless from all the waiting. He took the lead and hurried even deeper into the forest.

That damned forest spirit. He had already crossed paths with it countless times. A sudden accident always cropped up at a crucial moment and allowed the monster to get away. He had wanted to invite a few adepts to help him take down this sly forest spirit. However, he was also worried that the greedy adepts would take advantage of him being alone.

That was why he had been so impatient to invite someone like Greem, an adept intent on exploring the Black Forest solo.

And the price he had to pay for this forest spirit was…

…………

Forest spirits weren’t powerful magical creatures at all. It was the unusualness of their powers that made them hard to deal with.

This lack of power meant that forest spirits often lacked the privilege of owning a territory of their own. Most of them wandered around the territories of other creatures in search of souls they could consume.

The forest spirit that Gargamel was tracking also possessed extreme intelligence. It had even managed to catch Gargamel in traps it had set up beforehand. Those had not been pleasant times.

Last time, the spirit had lured Gargamel into the hunting grounds of a large group of ankhegs. If it weren’t for a little fortune that had allowed him to fight his way through the horde of monsters, he would have been the one to die on that day. However, he had also been severely injured in that incident. It took him six months to completely recover.

Gargamel looked down and inspected the magical tool in his hand. The needle on the compass was wildly spinning.

”Dammit… ” Gargamel cursed under his breath, ”That bastard is doing it again. It intentionally left its aura all over the woods to prevent us from detecting its location. Once we get impatient, it will lead us into the territory of magical creatures and leave us to die. Hmph! I won’t fall for it again.”

Gargamel angrily stashed the magical tool and stomped his feet. A mysterious black cat with shiny black fur suddenly emerged from his shadows.

A magical pet?

Greem was surprised for a moment.

Magical pets were creatures that had signed companionship contracts with adepts. Not only were they able to expand the arsenal of abilities that an adept possessed, they were also convenient and useful assistants. However, from Greem’s perspective, the slight benefit of owning a magical pet was offset by their flaws.

The death of a magical pet didn’t just mean the loss of a useful helper for the adept. The pet would also drag to their grave that portion of Spirit that the adept had given the pet to establish the contract. Greem only had seven points of Spirit right now. The instant evaporation of two to three points of his Spirit was more than enough to cripple his mental space.

That was why Greem was entirely unwilling to create another massive flaw in himself before he found a suitable target to turn into his pet. After all, not every adept could arm their magical pet to the teeth as they did for themselves!

However, for a wandering adept like Gargamel, a black cat pet made things much more convenient.

The black leaped onto his shoulders and started to talk with him.

”Speak, Gargamel. What do you intend to do this time in summoning this great and mighty one?” The lazy black cat stretched its body and yawned before asking in an unamused tone.

”Help me find that forest spirit, and I’ll give you two Spellfire Fish!”

”Chh! You haven’t even given me the mulberries you promised last time! Trying to trick this great one once again won’t… ”

”Just go, quickly, and I guarantee I’ll fulfill my promise this time! Be careful. Don’t tip that forest spirit off.”

”I understand, I understand, my stingy master. It’s this great one’s misfortune to have met a stingy guy like you!” The mysterious black cat with human-like expressions grumbled as it jumped off of Gargamel’s shoulders. It quickly flashed several times and disappeared from everyone’s vision.