Age of Adepts

The World of Adepts, the Tower of Fate.

The magical light radiating from the astrology ritual at the top of the tower was just as blinding and enchanting as ever in the night sky.

The entire adept’s tower shimmered with prismatic light. From a distance, the whole structure looked like a seductive beauty dressed in a formal dress, making for an unforgettable sight.

Meanwhile, a solitary wooden table sat alone at the top of the tower, where the astrology rituals were typically held.

Silky black velvet draped over the surface of the table, hiding its legs. A smooth magical mirror had been placed on the table, and some tarot cards in used condition were scattered before it.

Alice sat silently at the table, her gaze fixed upon the reflection in the mirror.

The astrology hall wasn’t dim, but Alice’s appearance in the magic mirror was hazy and obscure. Moreover, when Alice extended a hand to caress the tarot cards facing up on the table, the reflection in the mirror remained unmoving, only staring coldly at her through the thin glass.

“I’m older than you, so it wouldn’t be excessive for you to call me ‘sister,’ would it?” The entire astrology hall was empty apart from Alice herself. Even Helen was nowhere to be seen. Yet, Alice was silently whispering to herself like a mental patient.

“Incredible moves, sister! You managed to split them up at the very start of the show. It seems you have a series of other plans to follow it up, as well. Why don’t I try and guess who you are going to send out for them next?”

The reflection in the mirror did not move, but the pretty eyes on the hazy face appeared to be wise and calm. Still, it was perhaps too calm, so much so that it seemed to be cold and merciless.

Alice casually drew a tarot card from the deck and placed it in front of the mirror. The card’s face was a continually shifting silhouette, making it hard to discern its contents.

The look of the reflection in the mirror fluctuated, betraying a faint sense of mockery.

A mere Second Grade junior of hers dared to challenge a Great Witch like herself with astrology?

It was the greatest joke in the world!

Alice wouldn’t even have the opportunity to see the face of the card with her power, let alone pry into her future plans.

Alice was not dejected at all. She swiftly grabbed the Staff of Divination at her side and lightly tapped the tarot card as she mumbled, “Who cares what you are!? I will just curse you with the worst possible luck!”

Bright, magical light shimmered from the Staff of Divination, gathering into a torrent of Fate that surged into the card. The powers of Fate then transformed into a set of mysterious shackles of Fate, sealing the entire card.

The black shape in the mirror finally moved. She lifted her head and glanced at Alice coldly before letting out a cold snort as the mirror faded to black.

The mental connection between the two Fate Witches was abruptly severed!

…………

A small black hole slowly opened somewhere in the vast primal forest.

Blade Princess Katherine carefully avoided a small space shard and finally arrived at her destination after much difficulty– the Plane of Henvic.

Yet, just as she stepped out of the black hole, the massive planar consciousness crushed down upon her, forcefully pushing her power from peak Third Grade to peak First Grade.

It was a demotion of two whole grade levels.

The sudden disappearance of her power, and her badly exhausted Spirit, caused her to trip on a vine on the ground and fall flat on her face. Just as coincidentally, there was a fresh, steaming pile of animal feces in front of her. She crashed right into it, completely unprepared. Her entire upper body was buried in the filth.

There was soft popping sound as Katherine plucked herself out of the pile of shit with some difficulty. An unbearable stink lingered around her nose. The immensely infuriated Katherine was just about to let out a scream, when she lifted her head and saw a massive behind, along with the strange dragon head of a creature peeking out from the side.

The two looked at each other, both stunned by this horrific sight!

As the tyrant of this stretch of the forest, Tyrannosaurus King Mosh had never expected there to be another living being that dared to disturb him while he was relieving himself, much less with such a strange method as emerging from a black spatial wormhole.

A spatial wormhole? An otherworldly invader?

Meanwhile, Blade Princess Katherine, who had emerged from the wormhole after traversing space with much difficulty, had also never expected the old hag to open the exit of the wormhole right at…at the toilet of a giant magical beast.

The two stared at each other, just like that, while slimy and wet…shit was still trickling down Katherine’s entire face.

It seemed like King Mosh’s stomach wasn’t doing well these few days. It was clear he had eaten something difficult to digest.

A flash of anger appeared on Katherine’s face beneath her metal mask, and her flashing, red mechanical eye gleamed with a cold light. Five metallic appendages shot out of her modified body, and the metal blades at their tips started to spin and roar wildly.

However, before the berserk Katherine could begin her attack, the shocked tyrannosaurus king shivered. Its massive asshole quivered as another blast of watery shit showered Katherine’s entire body.

There was a deadly silence in the forest.

A terrifying scream that could rend the heavens broke out, accompanied by the dull sound of metallic blades slicing against flesh and bone. That was then followed by the wild roars and howls of the tyrannosaurus king.

A short moment later, the tyrannosaurus king’s mountainous body collapsed in the woods. A small and slender form held his giant head in her hands as she slowly walked out of the forest.

Finally, the sound of choking and vomiting rang out from a patch of bushes in the distance.

…………

Lakeside Town.

It was a human town that sat on the west coast of Silentwater Lake.

Silentwater Lake was a deep, vast lake. The water was clean, the seaweeds plentiful, and the temperature perfect for life, making for a place teeming with marine life. Most famous among them was the spotted sunfish, a fish whose meat was plentiful, with a smooth texture. This fish made up a sizeable majority of the trades between merchants of other cities and the fishermen of the town.

The surface area of Silentwater Lake was massive and took up over one-sixth of the land of the Cedrac mountain area. From Lakeside Town in the west, to the Tower of Ilgalar in the east, the lake stretched across the entirety of the Cedrac Mountains. The shape of it was like a dragon crouching upon the land, its wings folded against its back.

As this was a neutral region, the mountain areas around it were rife with danger.

Wolfspiders lurked to the east, as terrifying orc tribes ruled in the north, and jackals and wolves stalked the forest. Dozens of people in Lakeside Town died every year due to the invasions of beasts and orcs. For a small border town with a population of no more than two thousand, this was an incredibly dangerous environment.

The mayor of the town was a human man over the age of fifty. His name was Gandas, a higher knight with a fiery personality. A tall stone fortress had been constructed at the edge of the town with one hundred and fifty imperial warriors living within. Their commander was also a powerful higher knight.

The power system of Henvic was more inclined toward the profession of holy knights. It was somewhat similar to the Knight’s Plane that Greem had once invaded. However, unlike the Knight’s Plane, where magical power was viewed with hostility and hatred, the natives of Henvic preferred research on the combination of magical powers and warrior techniques.

Their faith was also a simple one. It was a primal worship of holy light, without any specific deity to which the religion belonged.

One could say that the faith of Henvic Plane was still weak and incapable of supporting the existence of even the weakest of gods!

However, two powerful Fourth Grade holy knights existed within Henvic Plane.

If either of them were fortunate enough to advance to Fifth Grade, they would naturally be able to gather the holy light faith of the entirety of the plane, thereby becoming a great god.

However, there was no matured power system or available prior experience for reference in such a primal and primitive plane. As such, the two Fourth Grade holy knights were relying entirely on personal accumulation and luck to take that one crucial step forward.

Still, it was more than evident that luck was the primary factor here!

The grading system of the holy knight profession in Henvic was completely different from the adepts. They could roughly be split into: Trainee Knight—Knight—Iron Knight—Silver Knight—Gold Knight—Holy Knight.

The two higher knights of Lakeside Town were only First Grade iron knights.

Greem could completely ignore such a force.

When it came to race, the humans of the Zambez Empire were not too different from the humans of the World of Adepts. They had tall and muscular bodies with short brown hair and were often seen wearing light flax robes of various colors.

The class oppression of Henvic Plane was not severe. At the very least, the rulers of Zambez still allowed ordinary civilians to wear colorful clothes. In the World of Adepts, civilians could only wear gray.

Any individual that dared to step out of line and wear the colors of a noble would be imprisoned by sheriffs and guards where they would be beaten up.

To that extent, life in Zambez Empire was relatively honest and free!

In a more unpopulated corner of Lakeside Town, Greem used magic to enchant a woman that had come to fetch water. He then extracted societal information on the Zambez Empire along with their language from her mind. It was then that he took out a black traveler’s cloak to cover his body and slowly walked along the small path toward this scenic town.