Age of Adepts

Morgana slowly walked across Dragonblight, one step at a time.

Everything within her vision was a tragic and cursed land drowned in overgrown grass. She could occasionally see massive dragon bones hidden by the dirt and sand in the distance.

After tens of millions of years of winds and sand, the bones were completely white, absent of any other color. The ghostly and vengeful cries of resentful spirits could be heard every time the cold winds blew through the bones.

Countless strange creatures roamed the barren grasslands, yellow sand, and black earth. They gathered in packs of two and three, restlessly patrolling this land cursed by the dragons. Whenever they saw outsiders enter, they lunged forward in a swarm, using their fearless ferocity and terrifying numbers to leave the gravediggers in this land forever.

It was said that a cursed dragonbone altar was hidden in the depths of Dragonblight, while the materials used to create the altar were the bones and dragon crystal of a high-grade dragon.

That was why so many gravediggers and treasure hunters continued to rush to this place despite knowing of its danger. They all dreamed of digging up one or two dragon crystals and living a life of no worries.

Of course, they came, and they stayed.

From then on, another group of howling spirits roamed Dragonblight.

Naturally, as the leader of the Coldwinter Witches, Morgana knew much more about this legend compared to the average person!

The dragonbone altar did indeed exist.

However, it didn’t exist in the wasteland, but deep beneath the foundation of the Tower of Fate.

Do you want to dig out the dragonbone altar? Sure, raze the Tower of Fate first!

The reason the Tower of Fate could become the land of origin of the Fate branch was very much due to that dragonbone altar. One could reasonably claim that the Tower of Fate would not be so mysterious if not for the dragonbone altar.

Where exactly did the ability to sense fate that all Fate Witches were born with come from? The altar beneath the Tower of Fate.

As such, rather than the owners of Dragonblight, it was much more accurate to call the Fate Witches the guardians of Dragonblight!

As for why the Fate Witches would come into possession of such a dragonbone altar? Judging from information stored in the Witch Council, it seemed it had something to do with the Witch Queen of ancient times. However, the specific details were lost to history due to missing records and the passage of time.

In her fury, Morgana had ignored all the taboos left behind since the ancient times and broken into Dragonblight with destructive anger.

It seemed they had sensed the intense killing intent, for the vengeful spirits, magical creatures, and monsters of the wasteland charged toward Morgana fearlessly.

With the fall of the previous Fate branch, the power of these wild beasts had regressed tremendously. However, the order to defend the tower left in their soul brands still existed. That was why the monsters and magical creatures continued to charge courageously at the snowstorm, even if they knew they were not the opponent of this Third Grade witch.

With their weak First Grade powers, they were turned into all sorts of oddly-shaped ice sculptures by a chilling wind before they could come within a hundred meters of Morgana. A thousand-meter-wide path of snow was left behind as Morgana strode forward. Crystalline ice sculptures in various poses could be seen along both sides of the trail.

If you wiped away the snow on the surface of the sculptures and looked through the half-meter-thick ice, you would see the vicious beast within.

Sadly, they had now lost their lives and turned into new wandering spirits in Dragonblight.

No beast or magical creature could come near Morgana during all fifty kilometers of her journey to the Tower of Fate. Naturally, there was nothing to stop her advance.

However, as the ferocious snowstorm arrived at the Tower of Fate, the one-kilometer-wide natural phenomenon appeared like a small vortex before the massive tower. It no longer seemed as terrifying and mighty before.

Morgana stood proudly before the Tower of Fate, allowing the wildly spinning storm to break against the gray body of the tower. She shouted furiously with her loudest voice, “Alice, come out here!”

This voice was so loud and fierce that it caused the wasteland around her to shudder. A group of vengeful spirits even flew out of the tower and started circling the walls.

A strange silhouette formed purely of light silently appeared in front of Morgana. As the light shimmered, the shape took on Alice’s appearance.

“Lady Morgana, I didn’t think you would personally visit my Tower of Fate. Welcome!”

Morgana pushed her hands to either side, and the snowstorm mysteriously split apart, revealing her tall and slender figure.

“Alice, don’t put on a show for me. How do you intend to end this war?” The fire in Morgana’s heart burned brighter when she saw Alice’s calm composure. Naturally, her tone became even more fiery.

“That would depend on your attitude!” Alice was still smiling gently: “The Coldwinter Witches have no actual conflict with us Fate Witches. This battle was purely a battle of pride. As long as you are willing to put this behind you, this war can end at any time!”

“Hmph! Easy for you to say. But who is to compensate us Coldwinter Witches for all the losses we have suffered over the past month?”

“Lady Morgana, wars between witches have always been like that. You have to bear the losses of losing a war if you want to start a war. I have already tried my best to keep those meaningless killings to a minimum in the battles before this. Otherwise…”

“You mean to say,” Morgana narrowed her eyes and it seemed as if a ferocious snowstorm was brewing in her white eyes, “You mean to say that my subordinates can’t beat yours?”

For some reason, this time, the usually gentle Alice refused to back down even slightly.

“Isn’t that reality, Lady Morgana?”

Morgana’s fury turned even fiercer. Even the snowstorm blowing around her started to become even more ferocious.

“I will kill you! I will kill you…”

“Lady Morgana, don’t you forget, it is strictly forbidden for us witch branches to kill each other. It is particularly prohibited for battles to happen between the witch leaders. Any witch that breaks the rules will have to be punished severely by the Witch Council! What is it? Do you intend to challenge this rule?”

“I have not forgotten. However, Alice, don’t you forget either, our branches are now at war. Can you refuse if I launch a branch challenge at you now?”

Alice couldn’t help but narrow her eyes as an indescribable light shone within.

“I cannot refuse it!”

“Hmph, as long as you understand!” Morgana snorted coldly, “As a Third Grade witch, I’m not willing to bully a mere Second Grade witch such as yourself either. So, if you surrender and hand over the imprisoned Coldwinter Witches, I…”

“I accept your challenge!”

“…can look past the transgressions and let you continue…what? What did you say?” Morgana was interrupted by Alice before she could finish. She was utterly shocked.

“I said, I accept your challenge!” Alice repeated her words once more, pronouncing every syllable with the utmost seriousness.

“You understand what you are doing?” The chill from Morgana’s white eyes pressed forward, and her entire body radiated a murderous aura.

“I’ve simply accepted your branch challenge!” Alice once again appeared calm and relaxed, “However, you are a Third Grade, and I am a Second Grade. You don’t mind if I bring along a few subordinates, do you?”

“Who do you intend to bring with you?”

“Don’t worry; I won’t break any of the rules and bring those Third Grade dragons with me. I will only bring four subordinates, and all of them will be Second Grade. There’s no problem, is there?”

“No…no problem!” For some reason, the sudden strike from Alice caught Morgana completely off-guard. She started stuttering, unsure of how she should respond.

To think a Second Grade witch leader would dare to accept the challenge of a Third Grade witch leader. She couldn’t possibly be her opponent, even if she brought along a few more Second Grade subordinates! Morgana was somewhat confused when facing this bizarre situation.

She was the one that issued the challenge. Why was it Alice seemed even more eager than she was?

Was…was there a scheme behind this?

But Alice already expressed that she wouldn’t bring along any Third Grades. How was she supposed to turn the tables then?

She couldn’t possibly believe that four or five Seconds Grades would be enough to take down a Third Grade, could she? Moreover, it was a Third Grade witch who was the leader of an entire witch branch!

Could Alice also possess a large number of elementium golems?

Greem’s legend of defeating a Third Grade veteran adept as a Second Grade had already spread throughout the Continent of Adepts. Even Morgana, who lived in the Northern Lands, had heard the news.

However, such a victory required far too many conditions to happen!

Firstly, the location of the battle had to be a restricted area, such as an arena.

Without such a restriction, any Third Grade adept would have the ability to retreat from battle at any time the fight turned against them. They would never be tortured to death by such a despicable tactic that relied on pure numbers.

Secondly, irregulars who possessed as many elementium golems as Greem were extremely rare.

If it weren’t for the shocking number of Second Grade elementium golems in his possession, and his complete disregard for the cost of their sacrifice, he would never have forced a veteran Third Grade adept into such an awkward position.

Of course, the most decisive battlefield advantage was Greem’s ability to hide in the sea of fire.

If it weren’t for that powerful ability to conceal himself and keep the Third Grade adept from finding his true form, he would never have been able to drag out the battle as long as he did.

It was all these various factors added together that caused that Third Grade adept to fall victim to Greem’s schemes!

However, Morgana had chosen this ample space in front of the Tower of Fate as the battlefield. There was no chance of her being surrounded and beaten to death. Furthermore, unlike the Death Heralding Crow, Morgana possessed many area-of-effect ice spells. She wasn’t afraid of multiple enemies.

Thus, after some quick thought, Morgana nodded and agreed to the challenge!