Age of Adepts

The Saint Martin knights finally started retreating!

After several futile and hopeless charges, they finally realized the gulf in power between them and the enemy before them. They gave up on the battle and started retreating into the distance.

There had been approximately two to three hundred of them when they had arrived, but their ranks were less than a hundred when they fled.

From start to finish, Greem had not taken a single step away from the bonfire. Apart from striking once at the Second Grade Division Head, the other Saint Martin knights had all fell casually to the flaming metal fists of the elementium magical machine. Blade Princess Katherine had also remained unusually quiet and had not taken the opportunity to assault Greem.

Of course, this was most likely because she didn’t have the chance to do so!

After all, even when the ‘battle’ was at its most intense, Greem was still keeping over eighty percent of his attention on her.

However, both Greem and Katherine couldn’t help but betray hesitation and lick their lips when they saw this pure, holy light left behind by the devoted and courageous Second Grade Silver Knight.

This wisp of pure, holy light was a branch of a completely different power system. It was utterly distinct from the adept path of knowledge and modification and was a lot more similar to the faith system of the World of Gods. However, most planes that belonged to the Gods worshipped an actual, existent deity, while the bone-headed knights of Henvic Plane worshipped an intangible sort of spirit or belief.

The Light? A sort of light that was filled with sublime and holy ideals?

What was the purpose of worshipping such a thing? Could this light listen to the prayers of its believers and grant them all sorts of blessings?

Out of the natural contempt that the adepts held for the Gods, Greem didn’t think highly of the Holy Light faith of the natives here. However, a loyal and pure believer of the Holy Light had now died in front of him. His body had turned to ash, yet the last traces of his soul rested within a cluster of bright white light that was now hovering before his eyes. The mental impact of this discovery was tremendous to Greem!

This wisp of holy light was far too frail!

If Greem retracted the Burning Domain, even a slight wind from the wild would cause the holy light to vanish without a trace. However, Greem had a feeling that the holy light and the soul attached to it wouldn’t just disappear like that. Instead, they would probably be guided toward a specific place by the planar laws and become part of a greater consciousness.

It was a strange and unjustified feeling, but Greem was confident in his intuition.

The source of his confidence was the Chip’s analysis of the Henvic Plane.

Greem was not powerful enough to decipher even the most surface-level laws of this planar world. As such, the Chip mostly performed investigations into the effects and use of the planar laws. There were still countless unachievable thresholds to cross before they achieved actual control over the laws.

The faith of Holy Light was undoubtedly one of the few higher powers of Henvic Plane. The value of researching it was most definitely above the basic planar laws.

Now, here was a shortcut to examining the power of Holy Light faith standing right before him. It might be entirely different from the source of the adepts’ powers, but it was still a precious research subject.

[Beep. Presence of pure spiritual energy detected. Said energy can be captured, absorbed, or destroyed. Please make your decision.]

Greem could understand capturing and destroying it. However, what was the purpose of absorbing it?

“Chip, what are the effects of absorbing this Holy Light?”

[Beep. It is a kind of extremely pure and refined Spirit energy. After extracting the spiritual impurities within, it can rapidly increase the host’s Spirit attribute.]

Increase the Spirit attribute?

All of Greem’s hairs almost stood on their ends.

Ever since becoming an adept, he had searched countless times for ways and items to increase his Spirit quickly. Unfortunately, there were no other methods available apart from the meditation techniques of the adept system.

Of course, some exceptionally rare adept resources could achieve the same effect. For instance, the Holy Water of the elves in Faen, the Spirit mixture sold by the Silver Union, and the giant’s brain that often appeared in adept markets worked. Unfortunately, these items were often high-grade resources belonging exclusively to adepts of Fourth Grade and above. They were way beyond Greem’s league.

What was the most significant factor limiting an adept’s ability to advance? Naturally, that would be the speed at which their powers improved.

Greem was currently walking the path of an elementium adept. His primary focus was, therefore, Spirit.

Even after he advanced to Third Grade and experienced a period of rapid Spirit improvement, his Spirit had only gone from thirty-one points to thirty-two points. The rate at which his Spirit increased had gradually slowed down since he reached thirty-two points.

Greem figured some estimations. Given the current rate of his improvement, it would take ten to twenty years of grueling training and continuous meditation to increase his Spirit by a single point. Moreover, the increase in Spirit always became slower and more difficult when you reached the peak of the grade.

Many adepts exhausted their entire lives and remained unable to raise their Spirits to the threshold for advancement.

If adepts could successfully advance by hiding in their towers, there wouldn’t be so few Fourth Grade adepts throughout the World of Adepts. If they didn’t find ways to obtain resources that could expedite this process, most adepts would only die in their towers of old age and in despair.

That was why even the calm and composed Greem couldn’t help but fall into a daze when he heard the Chip’s notification.

In his absent state of mind, he impatiently reached out to grab this wavering wisp of light.

The fire beside him dimmed as sharp and howling wind screeched across the air.

Greem didn’t know when it happened, but Blade Princess Katherine had crossed the two hundred meters between them and appeared beside him. She held two metal spikes in her hand and had already severely dented the semi-translucent flame barrier between the two of them. Meanwhile, the five metal discs had wrapped around to his back and were slicing the barrier from multiple different angles.

Regardless of how powerful a Third Grade Flame Barrier’s defense was, they could not possibly endure the all-out attack of a Third Grade mechanical witch. It lasted only 1.7 seconds before it shattered completely.

After the barrier was reduced to sparks, it was Greem’s defensive forcefield that was under attack.

It was his last defense, a forcefield formed of Spirit and fire energy!

The elementium magical machine that was still chasing after the Saint Martin knights let out a howl and hastily rushed toward the fire. Meanwhile, the Spirit of Pestilence swaying its legs on Greem’s shoulders unleashed a Death Curse upon Katherine.

One was a hundred and twenty-meters away, incapable of solving the imminent danger at hand. The other was only Second Grade and incapable of blocking the attack of a Third Grade mechanical witch.

The only one that could save Greem was himself!

A single second of absent-mindedness had brought about a crisis of death upon Greem. It was more than enough proof of the savagery and terror of a duel between high-grade adepts.

The two metal spikes were still piercing forward, striking straight at Greem’s brows.

The distance between the two of them was less than half a meter now.

The Sharpness and Penetration spells enchanted upon the spikes were still in full effect, shattering the barrier and the energy forcefield into sparks and cinders. Katherine’s own thirty-one points of Strength allowed the metal spikes to continued forward steadily. Otherwise, the elementium turbulence caused by the explosion of the Flame Barrier and the energy forcefield would have been sufficient to disrupt any follow-up attacks.

The all-out Death Curse of the Spirit of Pestilence turned into a cloud of gray smoke and entered Katherine’s body, causing a smudge of gray to appear on her face of flesh and steel. However, her thirty-six points of Physique allowed her to endure the first wave of effects from the Death Curse and push the spikes steadily forward.

The gleaming points of the spikes were no more than five centimeters away from Greem’s eyebrow now.

The last defensive forcefield was badly indented now, the surface filled with fine cracks as if it was about to shatter in the very next second.

Once the energy forcefield was gone, his death would be sealed. He would have no chance against a hunter adept like the Blade Princess with his crude melee skills.

Crack!

A faint crackling sound came from a withered branch in the bonfire beside them.

The steadily blazing flame erupted as a giant flame humanoid formed from the red flames.

The light flickered on the spot, and Greem mysteriously swapped positions with the towering humanoid figure.

The defensive forcefield shattered, and the spike drove into the head of the flame humanoid, blasting it into cinders and sparks. Katherine’s spikes and metal disc-blades slashed, and the humanoid figure was completely obliterated.

Greem’s pained and angered howls abruptly filled the air.

The next second, the humanoid figure in the flames took on Greem’s appearance and threw two giant fireballs towards Katherine.

Dong! Dong!

The massive fireballs exploded on the scene, and Katherine let out a tragic cry. Her entire body turned into a whirlwind of blades as she backed away from the ravaging firestorm. She flickered, and her entire body appeared a hundred meters away. Katherine flashed once more, and she was already at the edge of Greem’s vision. Another second later, she had vanished without a trace.