Age of Adepts

One hundred and ten thousand magical crystals!

This regional battle for territory had exhausted one hundred and ten thousand magical crystals.

And this was already the optimal outcome that Greem had achieved by taking advantage of the geography and the sea of lava. If he hadn’t had this trick in reserve, Greem would have had to lead his men in a desperate fight against tens of thousands of beasts.

Their defeat would have been set in stone!

He did a little calculation himself. One hundred and ten thousand of the one hundred and twenty thousand magical crystals Alice had sent him had been exhausted. The remaining ten thousand were just enough to patch up the tower. That was a clear demonstration of Alice’s powers as the Witch of Fate. The extent of her help was just sufficient enough; not too much, not too little.

The situation in the energy room came as a shock to Greem as well. The activation of the defense system and the offensive array had depleted the small reserve of energy in the elementium pool. However, the existence of the sea of lava had filled up the lower levels of the elementium pool. It was now pure fire energy that sustained the functions of the tower.

The enormous fire energies coursed through the tower’s structure. The wall’s volcanic rocks glowed a faint red from the heat. From a distance, the tower looked like a blazing tree stuck in the sea of lava. It was an odd sight to behold.

The chip had connected with the core array and generated a list of the battle’s casualties while Greem was taking a look at the energy room. The record projected into Greem’s mind.

”Battle of the Magma Hall, ally casualties: two manticores. Enemy casualties: Approximately one hundred and seventy-three thousand low-level forest beasts, three hundred beginner-level magical creatures (apprentice-level), eighty intermediate-level magical creatures (adept-level), thirty high-level magical creatures, and two magical creature leaders. Magical Creature Lord Tula and Magical Creature Leader Dana remain on the run. The Dark Tentacular and the Wyvern King remain trapped somewhere underground.

”One hundred and twelve thousand magical crystals were consumed during the battle. Thirty-one locations of damage detected in the structure of the walls. One hundred and twenty-seven malfunction areas detected within the internal energy conduction system. Thirty-four arrays have been damaged.

”Spoils of war: two magical creature leaders confined in the Room of Bindings. They are the Three-Headed Demon Hound and the Giant Berserk Gelada. (Gelada has received critical physical damage. It is unlikely for it to regain combat ability. Voodoo beast modification is recommended). Two high-level magical creatures confined. They are the Bird Demon and the Snake Fiend. The bird demon is the unevolved form of the harpy. It is a close-range agility magical creature. The snake fiend is a mutated beast created by magical corruption. It possesses traces of a demonic bloodline and is a close-range offensive magical creature.

”Fire spirits can be sent out to salvage more spoils of war. Magical creature corpses or items that can survive the continuous heat of lava will have immense value.”

…………

Greem couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down his spine when he saw the numerous rows of statistics listed in his mind!

If he hadn’t drawn the sea of lava into the cavern, he would never have been able to resist this stampede of beasts with only the tower. That wasn’t even considering the magical creatures that had been mixed in!

It wasn’t hard to imagine how things were for other adepts. Imagine that a clan built an adept’s tower in the Black Forest and stationed one of their adepts within. That tower would have to face the attacks of all magical creatures and beasts within an area of three to four hundred kilometers. The price they would have to pay to succeed was immense.

If the tower fell, the resources and manpower lost would be incalculable. Even if they managed to repel the stampede, it would still be hard to develop the area rapidly. They would still have to fight with the upset beasts again and again before they could turn it into a safe zone.

These border areas were the zones of contention between adepts and magical creatures. They were extraordinarily hazardous and unsafe to live in. No clan attempted to start a mass migration of their population into such a dangerous place. They had to slowly rely on their adepts, apprentices, and mercenaries to repeatedly exterminate the magical creatures and clear out their dens.

This game of tug of war would typically last for ten years before they could develop a village suited for humans to live in!

In this process, any small mistake by the leader could bring about disaster for the entire human settlement. It could easily cause the clan’s decades worth of effort to go to waste.

That was why every clan that wanted to develop new land and expand their territory had to be extremely cautious.

They not only had to take into consideration their strength, but also the number and quality of the magical creatures surrounding their new territory. In particular, they needed a powerful team of adepts that could promptly react to any emergency that cropped up around their land.

When considering this standard and cumbersome procedure, it wasn’t hard to see how fortunate Greem was!

This risky and dangerous defense of his tower didn’t just fend off the magical creatures. More importantly, it killed off most of their numbers. It meant that the amount of wildlife and magical creatures around Plaguewood would plummet tremendously.

Moreover, the tower itself was hidden two hundred meters underground. It possessed a geographical advantage. Anyone that sought to destroy it had to face the wrath of a sea of lava. Greem only needed to remain in the tower, and he could strike when he wanted and defended as required. Even if the surface was once again taken over by magical creatures, he did not need to worry about his safety.

As for developing the surface? Greem had never considered that part of his plans, at least not within the short term.

He hadn’t spent so much effort constructing and defending the tower just to expand territory for the Sarubo Clan. This endeavor was all for his future development. Based on information he had collected and gathered from various sources, spirit elementiumization was an unavoidable stage for Greem if he wanted to advance to Second Grade.

If he wanted to refine his Spirit and make it compatible with his future path of development, he needed an excellent environment to train in. The Plaguewood adept’s tower was the most suitable place for his cultivation!

Gargamel sent a magical message to Greem’s mind as he was contemplating his future.

Greem paused for a moment before walking to the Room of Bindings on the third level.

The moment he walked in, Greem narrowed his eyes and looked at the shivering figures suspended in midair.

The magical flowing lights on the walls illuminated everything in the room. One could vaguely make out the elegant patterns and lines glowing beneath the smooth surface of the stone wall. Everything connected to form a vast yet complex runic array.

It wasn’t a regular pentagon or hexagon array. All sorts of complicated symbols and runes laid upon each other and connected to form the elaborate spread of stars that you would usually see on a halo array. The various magical creatures were all bound in different silver halos; none of them could move a single finger.

”How is it? Are these fellows willing to surrender?” Greem asked.

”Of course, of course, of course.” Surprisingly, the first to reply wasn’t Gargamel. Rather, it was the three-headed demon hound crouching in the circle of light. Unguja spoke with a fawning smile on his face, ”Sir, please heal me quick! If I’m not healed soon, I might even regress, and my grade will fall. My injuries are so severe that even my spirit origin has been damaged.”

Greem looked at Gargamel, who nodded silently. It was only then that he believed Unguja’s words.

Once they planted a manipulation rune in the demon hound, the beast would be one their own. It wouldn’t be beneficial for either of them if his strength regressed.

”If that’s the case, then open up your mental space to me!” Greem extended a hand and started to draw in the air. Soon, a soul brand containing his magical aura materialized, ”As long as you obey me properly, I will immediately have Gargamel treat all your injuries.”

Unguja gritted his teeth and growled in agony. A soul projection emerged from the leading head in the middle. It bowed respectfully before Greem.

Greem was just about to send the manipulation rune into the silver halo when a voice called out.

”Teacher, don’t be tricked by it!” Meryl quickly walked into the room from outside, ”Sister Alice just told me something earlier. There’s no point in gaining control over the main head of a three-headed demon hound like this one. You need to control all three heads at once. Otherwise, it can break free of the soul brand by forcefully devouring its own main head!”

Greem eyes sharpened, and a crimson light glowed in the depths of his black eyes.

”I forgot… I really did just forget earlier,” The three-headed demon hound was terrified out of its wits. It had no choice but to grimace and force out the soul projections of the other two heads, ”Master, I won’t dare to do it again!”

Greem blew out. The manipulation shook within the hot air current and split into three. They whizzed through the air and quickly sank into Unguja’s three soul projections.

The sudden change to his soul and the terrifying heat Greem had intentionally attached to the rune caused intense pain to Unguja. His whole body crouched against the ground. Hundreds of wounds and scars cracked and split apart as he coped from the pain in his soul. Purple and black blood flowed all over its body. It wasn’t a pretty sight to see.

”Very well, you can treat it now!”

Greem closed his eyes and confirmed that the manipulation runes had safely merged with the demon hound’s soul. He then waved his arm and dispersed the binding array to allow Gargamel to treat the demon hound.

Simple external wounds would not kill Unguja; however, they would have to extract the horrifying fire poison deep within his body as soon as possible. Otherwise, it might affect Ungaja’s spirit origin.

”What about the two of you?” Greem turned his eyes towards the bird demon and the snake fiend.

These two spineless creatures naturally chose to surrender, just like Unguja.

They were also released after Greem carefully planted a manipulation rune within them.

Having dealt with the three cowards, Greem moved on to the last silver halo. The large and mighty Giant Berserk Gelada was confined within. However, its spirit seemed to have withered.

”Are you willing to surrender?”

Greem had just spoken when the gelada opened its mouth and roared as it punched at the transparent halo of light. Apart from some muffled banging, the silver circle of light didn’t even tremble. Electricity suddenly flashed within the array.

Electricity flickered across the gelada’s body amidst the sound of crackling and sizzling. Its massive body started trembling uncontrollably.

However, even in its disabled state, the gelada bared its fangs and roared at Greem.

”It seems it’s a tough nut to crack!” Greem shook his head in pity. He turned and ordered Meryl, ”No need to break in a fellow like this. Invite Adept Keoghan from the headquarters and have him wipe away the gelada’s spirit and turn it into a voodoo beast!”

”Yes, teacher!” Meryl nodded.

”You shouted for me to come over earlier and said there were other spoils. What is it?” Greem turned to look at Gargamel.

Gargamel, who had been rubbing his hands together all this while, couldn’t help but betray a look full of greed, ”Master, all these fellows have their own dens!”

”Oh, so you mean...?”

”Of course we will want to take a visit to the dens of the three-headed demon hound and the other two. More importantly, they know the exact locations of the other survivors’ dens! Master, you should know that all those creatures were alone when they escaped.” Gargamel couldn’t hide the greedy glint in his eyes when he spoke. He licked his lips and waited for a reply.

Greem’s eyes brightened when he heard this.