Age of Adepts

“You want me to help the Deceit Witches? Why?”

Greem asked in shock while inside a secret room of Fire Throne.

Sitting across him was Alice, who had specially made the trip from the Northern Lands. Her expression was solemn as if she was concerned about something.

“Because these Deceit Witches are not good at fighting, because I am desperate to establish a good relationship with the Deceit Witches, and because that plane is not that dangerous. Most of all, because there, I can find…” Alice took the initiative and sat in Greem’s lap, where she whispered a name in his ear.

“What, you can find…”

Greem cried out in surprise, but his mouth was covered by Alice’s hand before he could say the name.

“You can’t say the name. Otherwise, unpredictable changes will occur in the whole event.”

“Why is it like this?” Greem shook his head in frustration, “I keep having a bad omen as if this entire thing was explicitly constructed to deal with me.”

Alice put on a slight smile.

“It’s not to deal with you, but me!” She suddenly lifted a finger and pointed at the sky, “That old hag can’t sit still again. She’s trying to set a trap for us.”

Greem couldn’t help but speak resentfully, “If we know it’s her trap, why can’t we just not step into it?”

The smile on Alice’s face turned bitter.

“Now that you know that it’s a trap she laid down for us, do you think I should still step into it?”

An expression of doubt and struggle appeared on Greem’s face. He thought for a long while and finally gritted his teeth and frustration to say, “If that can really be found there, I…I still want to go and give it a try.”

He then let go of all his doubts, “Why shouldn’t we step into the trap? If she wants to lure us into a trap, she will have to throw out bait that can draw us in. Wouldn’t it be the perfect scenario if we could steal her bait and avoid the hook all at the same time?”

“It won’t be that easy!”Alice smiled bitterly, “I hope you give this matter some proper thought; don’t make a rash decision. Once you decide to join the fray, the trajectory of events will no longer be within our control. In that dangerous and isolated environment, your every action and behavior will all affect the outcome tremendously. Moreover, I won’t be able to offer you much help.”

Greem replied with a question, taking the matters just as seriously, “Will there be opponents that I can’t deal with there?”

Alice shook her head, “No. According to the information I have obtained, there are only two Fourth Grades in that plane. One has been badly injured by the Deceit Witches and has gone missing, while the other is now leading troops and sieging the witches’ outpost. As long as you are careful, your chances of running into them aren’t large at all!”

“Will there be other hidden enemies? A Fourth Grade that has concealed his identity, for instance?”

“Hehe,” Alice laughed proudly, “Don’t look down on me. I might not be as powerful as that old hag, but I am still the Witch of Fate blessed by the world consciousness. If she had planted anything in that world, it would not have evaded my Fate premonitions!”

Greem shook his head and sighed, “You two are always fighting with each other, but what is it that you are striving for?”

“She’s the Witch of Fate, and I am also the Witch of Fate. How could we know which of us can truly represent Fate if we do not cross swords? Moreover, the initiative in this conflict has always been in her hands. I have only ever responded to the call to battle!”

“She’s so immensely powerful. Would it be that difficult for her to kill you?” Greem asked out of confusion.

“She is much more powerful than me at the moment, with a tremendous amount of influence and authority as well. As long as she is willing and pays the price to hire a Fourth Grade witch, she could easily push me to death. However, she cannot do that, for she is a Witch of Fate. If she wants to beat me–if she wants to kill me–she will have to do it with the hand of Fate, not that of a bystander. Otherwise, she will not be able to endure the backlash of the powers of Fate from her origin world!”

“I don’t understand!” Greem shook his head in a daze as he said, “Why is it that you two women could make such a simple matter so complicated?”

Alice smiled and used her hand to smooth the wrinkles on Greem’s forehead.

“This is a matter of Fate Witches. You don’t need to understand. All you need to know is that this is a board she has laid out, and you are the only piece in my hand. It’s okay if we don’t enter the game. She cannot do anything to us while we hide in the World of Adepts. However, once you decide the join the fray, you must be careful of any tricks she pulls. Remember, you must shatter this chessboard to pieces!”

“And there are benefits for you as well if I win?”

“Of course. You are the one I chose, after all! You winning means me winning. The feedback of the powers of Fate might even let me advance to Third Grade.”

Greem drew in a breath of cold air, and his hands couldn’t help but slowly inch up toward Alice’s waist.

“No, no, this is unacceptable. You get all the benefits, and I have to be the laborer that does all the hard work? Tell me, how do you intend to compensate me?” Having said that, Greem brought his mouth gently to Alice’s ears and licked the smooth and white helix of her ear, all while he whispered, “You haven’t done those few positions I talked about last time. Make it up for me tonight, won’t you?”

Alice immediately turned red, all the way up her to her ears, and the room descended into an atmosphere of unbearable intimacy.

…………

Henvic Plane.

It was a lower plane that was in the process of intense conflict.

Ever since the Deceit Witches had set their sights on Henvic Plane and successfully established an outpost and an adept’s tower, there was no escaping their fate of being conquered and enslaved.

Henvic was a small plane, and its magical density was only of the middle-lower class compared to most planar worlds. It was just a bit better than a low-magic plane like the Goblin Plane. Though the passage of time had allowed for some Fourth Grade creatures to be born here, they were inferior to other high-magic planes, be it in terms of quality or quantity.

Henvic might be small, but it had a landmass nearly thirty percent that of the Continent of Adepts, along with dozens of kingdoms of various sizes. The dominant nation was a vast human kingdom known as Zambez. The only two Fourth Grade human powerhouses of Henvic belonged to this Zambez Empire.

When the Deceit Witches invaded this place, they constructed a forward base at a place called the Dabyrie Highlands. They then succeeded in erecting their adept’s tower.

Since then, the war between the witches and the natives had never ceased.

The resources of Henvic Plane were never plentiful, resulting in the plane not receiving any real attention from the Deceit Witches. As such, the witch stationed in Henvic’s forward base was only a Third Grade Witch of Deceit.

With the adept’s tower, their army of powerful and ferocious voodoo beasts, a single Third Grade witch, and twenty intermediate and low-grade witches, they were enough to ensure the safety of the forward base. They had defeated the army of the Zambez Empire countless times and inflicted heavy losses upon them.

Unfortunately, during one of the recent sieges, one of the two Fourth Grades of the Zambez Empire broke into the adept’s tower with no regard for his life and destroyed the interplanar teleportation array. It was a vital strike against the forward base, causing the Deceit Witches to lose their reinforcements and become isolated troops in a foreign plane.

Though the Fourth Grade responsible for this predicament had been severely injured and forced to retreat from battle, the other Fourth Grade powerhouse led their troops to siege the base in an attempt to topple the tower.

The situation at Henvic was extremely precarious!

What made things worse was the fact that the high-grade members of the Deceit Witches were all held up in other planes and could not be mobilized. As the leader of the Deceit Witches, Angelina intended to send some powerful subordinates into Henvic and transport some of the most critical resources for repairing the teleportation array to the tower.

At the moment, the person of choice was Second Grade Rena.

After all, she was the majordomo of Henvic Plane.

Now, her inadequate management had caused two dozen of their witch sisters to be trapped in a foreign plane. She was obligated to personally right this wrong.

However, as a scholar witch that had spent her years in comfort and luxury, her combat prowess was insignificant. Even her power as a Second Grade was something that had been forcefully attained by means of her identity as the daughter of Fourth Grade Clan Leader Angelina.

To save her own life, Rena searched for a way to find a reliable bodyguard for herself. Thus, through her relationship with Icelady Snowlotus, she managed to contact Fate Witch Leader Alice.

Alice couldn’t seem to be bothered initially. However, she had unexpectedly discovered something in Henvic Plane through her Fate premonitions. That, in turn, drew the attention of the Crimson Clan leader– the Third Grade legendary fire adept, Greem.

There was a trace of inevitability amidst all these twists, turns, and coincidences!

Naturally, Alice could smell the thick scent of Fate’s interference throughout all this.

That was why Alice immediately knew this was a game that her old opponent had set for her the moment she saw Witch Rena. Rena might not know anything at all, and might even believe that all this was a result of her decisions and coincidental incidents.

However, Alice could faintly see an invisible hand silently manipulating everything behind the scenes.

There were no signs nor evidence, but she knew the opponent existed and was also silently watching her every move and decision!

The next time, when Alice returned to the Tower of Fate to inform the anxiously waiting Rena of her successful recruit of Greem, Rena couldn’t help but break out into an expression of joy and surprise.

In all honesty, she hadn’t held high hopes in her journey here.

At the very best, she had been hoping to hire the legendary Bug Adept Billis and, if Snowlotus held enough sway, even Third Grade Bloody Queen Mary.

However, the one that would be joining here was the powerful Third Grade fire adept, the legendary clan leader of the Crimson Clan. How could it not make her overjoyed!

After agreeing on a time and location, Witch Rena and the accompanying master of Italil Tower turned to leave.

Alice could faintly hear the unconcealable and triumphant laugh in the air!

“Hmph! The game has just begun. We will see how it goes!”

Alice laughed just as coldly.