Age of Adepts

As the finale, the auctioning of the wind dragon was exceptionally lively.

Adepts from various clans started bidding, causing the price of the wind dragon to rise exponentially. It very quickly rose from one million two hundred thousand magical crystals to one million nine hundred thousand magical crystals. A terrifying number like this not only kept the wandering adepts out of the ranks of competitors, it even dissuaded the adepts of the small-sized clans. Those adepts had no choice but to shake their heads, sigh, and watch on silently from the side as the Second Grade adepts competed over the dragon.

In terms of pure combat ability, a Second Grade wind dragon could easily defeat three to four magical creatures of the same Grade. Consequently, its price was also several times that of an ordinary Second Grade magical creature.

However, a price like that was still not enough to deter these prepared clan adepts. Their faces flushed red as they shouted out one heart-stopping number after another. The spectators around them felt their hearts ache just hearing them throw out such incredible sums of money.

The price of the wind dragon was increasing rapidly by the tens of thousands during these bids.

The Crimson Clan adepts had already left before the auction concluded. Some of them hurried back to their posts in the Goblin Plane while others went to Lance for further training. In the blink of an eye, only Greem, Mary, Alice, and Dragon Devourer Oliven remained in the tower.

The black-robed Oliven couldn’t possibly be in a good mood, seeing that the wind dragon she’d had her eye on had turned into prey that other people were fighting over. However, this wind dragon was the spoils of the Crimson Clan. She had contributed absolutely nothing to its capture and thus had no grounds to request anything of Greem.

Moreover, Oliven had recently rejected Greem’s invitation to join the Crimson Clan. She had even less reason to make such unreasonable requests.

After the past half a month of time together, Oliven had no choice but to admit that this young and handsome Second Grade male adept was indeed a fairly charming person. Not only did he possess vast power, but even his subordinates had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

Disregarding everything else, just the Second Grade female vampire and the Second Grade dragonborn were exceptional talents and geniuses. Still, despite their overwhelming power, Oliven didn’t think much of them. Instead, it was another First Grade ’small fry’ that frightened her.

What the heck was a Witch of Fate?

Could they be the legendary Great Prophets?

Oliven felt her heart tremble every time her eyes crossed paths with Alice, even though the witch was only First Grade. She felt a strange feeling as if she had been completely seen through.

It was a very odd feeling that Oliven had never felt in the face of other powerful creatures.

Alice’s bright blue eyes seemed to be able to see into a person’s heart and directly look upon the most secret memories hidden in the depths of Oliven’s soul. The idea sounded ridiculous, but it unsettled the dragon devourer.

The anxiety that the mysterious witch had brought upon her successfully drove out the dissatisfaction of having lost the wind dragon. Oliven might appear to be hiding in the corner of an arcane hall and looking at the scene of the auction projected on the light screen, but most of her attention was spent wondering about the oddity of the witch.

She had gotten closer with a few of the Crimson adepts over these past few days. She might be able to find a chance to discover more about the witch through them.

While Oliven was trying to sort out her uneasiness, Greem and Alice were discussing even more classified secrets.

”…you mean the Third Grade vampire, Haines, has come here before.”

”Mm. I sensed his aura the moment I arrived. However, I had to project a sense of danger into his soul and scare him away to prevent him from interrupting tonight’s banquet.”

”Why are you using your powers of Fate so frequently? Are you no longer worried about the backlash of Fate?”

”…” Alice sighed pensively upon hearing these words, ”All who attempt to control the powers of Fate will ultimately fall before the backlash of Fate. It is a sort of destiny and certainty! Why should I struggle against it if there’s no escaping it?”

”Isn’t the first Witch of Fate still alive? She must possess some means to escape Fate’s backlash if she’s managed to live for such a long time. We…” Greem was still frowning in contemplation.

”It’s no use!” Alice sighed once again, ”I have some idea of what means she used to escape Fate’s backlash. That, too, is a perilous path. The risk she will face when danger descends won’t be much lower than Fate’s backlash itself. So…”

”Don’t waste too much of your powers of Fate on inconsequential matters anymore. Don’t forget, the powers of Fate are now deeply intertwined with your life. Wasting your powers of Fate is akin to wasting your life! That reminds me. You mentioned last time that participating in major events that decided the future of a plane could allow you to collect large amounts of powers of Fate. How did that experiment go? Did you get anything out of the planar war in the Goblin Plane last time?”

Alice revealed a sweet smile when she heard this.

”I didn’t think you’d still care about me! Hmph! Mary turned me into your subordinate tonight. What about it? Do you feel anything special about that?”

”What can I feel about it? Aren’t you my slave from the very start? Don’t you forget, we signed a soul contract between the two of us.” Greem smiled wickedly, his eyes filled with intimacy and nostalgia.

”You…” Alice couldn’t help but get angry.

She had been ignorant when she was a young apprentice and was tricked into signing the soul contract. The soul contract had already turned vague and useless now that she had advanced to become the Witch of Fate. In fact, Alice could have cut off her soul connection with this bad, bad person at any time with her current power. She had only preserved it to make communication more convenient.

Now, this shameless person was using it to make fun of her. Alice’s face had unknowingly turned red when she remembered her capriciousness and mischief as an apprentice. She was embarrassed.

”Don’t just be shy, you haven’t answered my question yet! Was the war in the Goblin Plane of any help?” Greem clearly had something planned in his mind. He pressed the question.

”Of course it was. It was a great help!” Alice’s mind turned. She quickly discarded her childish embarrassment, becoming that wise, intelligent, and visionary branch leader once again, ”I did some estimations after the whole thing. The battle at the Steel Capital allowed me to collect three thousand seven hundred units of the power of Fate.”

”Three thousand seven hundred units of the power of Fate? That doesn’t sound like a lot.” Grem couldn’t help but curl his lips.

Alice rolled her eyes at him unamusedly.

”Ignorant kid, let me teach you a lesson!” Alice had no choice but to explain, ”Do you know how much power of Fate my daily Fate ceremonies in the Tower of Fate can bring me? Two units! Do you know how much power of Fate I consume every time I host a Fate divination ceremony? Thirty units! Moreover, the power of Fate required will shift drastically depending on the power of the item or person being divined. Under ordinary circumstances, the amount of power of Fate required will double with each increase of grade in the item or person.”

Greem gulped uncomfortably.

”You mean to say that divining the location of a First Grade adept might only take thirty units of Fate. But divining a Second Grade will require sixty units, and Third Grade, one hundred and twenty units.”

”These are only the base numbers!” A sad expression surfaced in Alice’s eyes, ”I can cut down this cost by half within the Tower of Fate through the use of the astrology platform and the other support facilities. However, if the target of the divination is protected by some abilities or means to disrupt Fate’s senses, then the consumption of the power of Fate could go further beyond my control. If the amount of stored power isn’t enough to sustain the Fate spell, then the remainder can only be compensated for with my life force. Perhaps this is the main reason why Witches of Fate face so many calamities!”

Greem took a deep breath.

He had always held a vague understanding of Alice’s situation in the past, but he never had the full picture. Greem finally understood the meaning of the profession of the Witch of Fate upon hearing Alice’s confession today.

It was a potent profession that used their own lives to move the lever of Fate!

However, Fate had its own unique rules and laws as well. It pushed the torrent of Fate in the determined path with these sons and daughters of Fate as its manifestations. In all seriousness, Alice and all the previous Witches of Fate were the janitors and guardians selected by the rules of Fate. They were chosen to protect and defend the normal functioning and operation of the laws of Fate.

The world consciousness even blessed them with some skill to manipulate Fate to allow them to have the ability to push back against those who could walk above the laws of Fate. However, the world consciousness also placed heavy shackles upon them to prevent them from abusing this immense power.

The power of Fate might indeed be mighty!

However, the cost of using this power was also hefty. There were times where the weight alone could cause them to sink into situations of irredeemable doom.

Greem took a few deep breaths and tried his best to calm down.

”We have now established a foothold in Lance. We will soon be starting large-scale exploration and excavation. Would you also be able to gain powers of Fate if you participated in this?”

Alice smiled bitterly.

”Greem, don’t ever think of toying with Fate! Your small skirmishes in Lance can’t possibly affect the future direction of the plane. It can’t possibly cause powerful and unknown effects to the dragons in there. That’s why I can’t gain much power of Fate there.

”The reason why I got so much out of the Goblin Plane was that we were deeply involved in a significant event that could have affected the entire plane or an entire species. Moreover, we were the main catalyst for the development. That was why it was such a harvest for me.

”A great plane like Lance and your Crimson Clan is like a cow with a tiny flea sucking blood on its back. Your actions are not yet at a level sufficient to upset the fate of Lance.”

Alice couldn’t help but smile when she saw Greem’s dejected expression. She caressed his face softly with her hand.

”Don’t worry! My body can still hang in there. We have plenty of time to think about this problem. There’s no need to worry about me.”

Before Alice could say anything more, a sudden incident in the auction drew both people’s attention.

Greem and Alice couldn’t help but turn their eyes toward the auction at the same time.