Age of Adepts

“That serpentine-bloodline recreation potion and purification potion are mine. I must get them!”

Snorlax shouted the moment he saw this item on the list.

Unfortunately, Dean Gonga standing beside him was much calmer.

“Don’t be so sure yet. I have a feeling that you have a good chance of getting the bloodline recreation potion. As for the bloodline purification potion, I suggest you give up on that! Haven’t you seen those two people’s expressions?” Gonga pursed his lips in the direction of Gargamel and Meryl.

Gargamel and Meryl both currently walked the path of a bloodline adept. Why would they give up on such high-grade purification potions?! Thus, the moment Lady Mary announced the list of items available for redemption, the two of them immediately started gathering their subordinates to try their best to gather as many contribution points as they could.

Indeed, private trading of personal contribution points was allowed as well!

While a single person might not be able to redeem a high-grade item that required a tremendous number of contribution points, a dozen adepts with all their points put together could easily redeem it.

However, most Crimson adepts had only obtained their contribution points through trials and tribulations of life and death. Naturally, they would hope to use the contribution points for themselves. Moreover, each of them had an item they personally wanted. Why would any of them ever be willing to just give their points away?

Even significant authorities such as Gargamel and Meryl had to mobilize many of their subordinates and promise countless favors just to barely pool together enough points to redeem a Third Grade item. Meryl acted quickly and was one step ahead of Gargamel. She successfully obtained that only vial of bloodline purification potion.

Gargamel could only sigh in disappointment. The frustration in his heart was indescribable!

In Gargamel’s moment of disappointment and hesitation, Goblin Sage Snorlax had also redeemed the serpentine-bloodline recreation potion and was leaping up and down in excitement. Gonga and Drusilla could only shake their heads and groan at the sight of this.

It couldn’t be helped. Even though they were leaders of the goblin faction as well, the scale and speed at which they could gather and mobilize wealth were far, far inferior to Snorlax.

With the incredible tool that was the Goblin General Chamber of Commerce in his hands, Snorlax could easily extend his reach and influence into the other goblin factions. The astonishing amount of wealth he could accumulate was incomparable.

Not long after, Princess Vanessa also redeemed the Third Grade mechanical heart.

Currently, Princess Vanessa remained the princess of the goblins in public while also leading the Magic Energy Association in the shadows. It allowed her to pull together a decently-sized force within the goblin faction. In addition to the immense wealth of the goblin royalty, she had no problem redeeming a Third Grade item.

Moreover, Vanessa was currently walking the path of a mechanical adept. The mechanical heart taken from Third Grade Mechanical Adept Blade Princess Katherine fitted her perfectly. With this mechanical heart, Vanessa’s way to Second Grade would smooth sailings. Advancement would not be a problem as long as her attributes reached the necessary levels.

As for whether she could become a Third Grade? That would depend on her potential and whether her soul affinity was compatible with this heart.

As the items on the list were redeemed one by one, the Crimson adepts who had clear targets in mind started to become anxious. They stopped hiding and hesitating, hastily taking out all sorts of rare resources and treasures they had collected to exchange for their companions’ contribution points.

For a moment, the banquet hall where people had just been drinking and eating suddenly became a small treasure auction. All sorts of unusual wealth and resources started to appear, and the crowd’s passion boiled to a peak once again.

Spring of Regeneration, Lionseye Gem, Robe of Shapeshifting, Bracers of Binding, Unicorn Necklace, Boots of Dodging, Dawnlight Crystal, Mermaid’s Tear, Dragonmarrow Stone, Banshee Grass, Ghosthaunt Plaque…

A series of rare and valuable treasures appeared one after another. One of them was even a Third Grade item, whose owner was a completely inconspicuous First Grade adept.

It demonstrated that every individual who became an adept had a rough, unknown, and unimaginable story behind them.

Naturally, the fortunate ones among them would obtain rewards beyond the average person. If it weren’t for how attractive the clan’s list of items was, they would probably continue hiding these items deep in their pouches until they found the perfect opportunity to sell them.

The Spring of Regeneration was a rare Third Grade adept material. It was also a core material in several high-grade life extension ceremonies. As such, the crowd fought over it the instant it appeared.

The Robe of Shapeshifting appeared only to be a First Grade item, but it gave the wearer the mysterious ability to shapeshift. It was one of the best treasures for which to explore the woods and travel through the Black Forest.

Meanwhile, the Unicorn Necklace could increase the wearer’s mental resistance, reducing the effect of charming, hypnosis, and other similar mental magic on the user. It was a Second Grade item.

The Ghosthaunt Plaque was also a Second Grade item, allowing the owner to see spiritual lifeforms. The plaque could also function as a medium by which to host high-grade spiritual beings. It was an excellent magical item for cultivating ghosts, vengeful spirits, and other similar familiars.

……

Apart from the adepts, the foreign forces of the Crimson Clan also excitedly joined in the ranks of the treasure-seekers.

Dragonborn Zacha immediately bought the Third Grade Armor of Invigoration with the large number of contribution points he had amassed over the years. He fought like a berserker warrior to begin with, and he already possessed a lightning spear and the Frost Mallet. He was only missing a high-quality armor.

The Armor of Invigoration.

+5 Physique, +2 Strength, +55 base magical resistance, +100% base regeneration. 800 points of physical defense.

Abilities: Invigorate. Increases base regeneration by 600% for a short time.

With the Armor of Invigoration, Zacha would become a cockroach that could not be killed. With his powerful Physique and the armor’s incredible defenses, he would be able to endure two to three attacks even if he was fighting against a Third Grade opponent. If he activated Invigorate, he was practically immortal for the seven-minute duration that the ability lasted.

It was already an incredible life-saving ability in battle, where time was of the essence!

Meanwhile, Split-Brain Gru, the other rich person keeping a low profile, decided to redeem the Abyssal Staff after some thought. With this item, he would be able to summon some abyssal magical creatures or demons every so often. It would make for a reasonably interesting toy.

Meanwhile, Arms and Iritina became collectors of all sorts of treasures.

The couple successfully obtained the Third Grade Grail of Purification by pooling their contribution points together.

It was a Third Grade holy item that Greem had taken from the holy knights. It possessed the powerful ability to cleanse darkness and purify evil.

One could say that Greem had returned from Henvic with his hands full of treasure.

He had wiped out three holy knight bases in a row, killed four hunter adepts, and found a shocking volume of treasures in their storage rings. The items he put out as rewards for the clan members to redeem were things he couldn’t use or didn’t care about. He had carefully put away all the valuable stuff.

Greem gave Alice a book as a souvenir.

The book was a strange tome that only casters capable of divination could use. The caster could sacrifice a divination spell to the tome in exchange for a random cantrip. Of course, most of the time, the cantrip would be an utterly useless low-grade spell. Occasionally, some completely unseen and foreign spell could appear.

If one wanted to obtain good spells through the tome, they would need not only a sturdy determination but also extraordinary luck.

From Greem’s perspective, Alice’s luck had always been decent!

He couldn’t play favorites either, so he gave Mary a Third Grade dagger.

Stinger.

+4 Agility, +1 Physique, +1 Spirit, +40% attack speed.

Possesses armor-breaking and rending effect.

Abilities: Concentrated Strike. Concentrates all of the user’s strength on a single point, inflicting the most extreme pain to the enemy.

Mary had walked the path of an agile assassin ever since she became a Third Grade vampire adept. However, most of the time, she preferred to fight like a berserk assassin to maximize the damage inflicted on the enemy, trading wound for wound. With this Third Grade Stinger, Mary had an additional means to deal with the sturdier opponents she couldn’t deal with before. She would have a much easier time cracking their defenses.

Though Mary and Alice remained in the lava hall to host the redemption of items, Greem had already returned to the higher levels of the tower and started examining the collection he had brought back from Henvic Plane.

Ever since Greem had absorbed the holy light souls, his Spirit had increased to 37 points. He had brought back another soul-gathering crystal with him this time, and the number of souls within it far surpassed the previous one. There were as many as four Third Grade holy knight souls in this crystal alone.

It couldn’t be helped. Near the end of the battle at the Poison Swamps, those stubborn Gold Knights had all fought with the determination to take an enemy to the grave with them. As a result, it was hard to control the rhythm of battle, resulting in three of the Gold Knights’ souls dispersing without a trace.

However, the Chip had already performed its calculations. The holy lights in the crystal alone were enough to push Greem’s Spirit to the 39-point limit. There would no longer be any meaning in absorbing these souls once he reached Fourth Grade!

The last time Greem absorbed a Third Grade Gold Knight’s soul in Henvic Plane, it had taken him five years. Now, there were four of them in the crystal. It wasn’t hard to imagine how difficult it would be to absorb them all.

However, Greem was not bothered by this challenging task.