Age of Adepts

This place was only a small city in another world.

However, it didn’t appear much different from human cities of the World of Adepts in Greem’s spiritual senses. If one had to pick out something different, it would undoubtedly be the unusual architecture and facilities that were in the style of the arcanists’ society.

There were wide, smooth roads, orderly shops, civilians in bright and colorful clothes, a clean and beautiful environment, as well as small gardens and parks everywhere.

Greem had been in dozens of different planes, and even he had to admit that the civilians of the Arcane Empire were the humans with the most privileges and the highest standard of living.

He couldn’t see a single arcanist in the streets, but the personality and character of the Arcane Empire still manifested everywhere.

For instance, the tall street lamps were lining the side of the streets.

Even the most wealthy and extravagant cities of the World of Adepts only used the cheapest of illumination stones as the light source for their street lamps. Yet here in Morrian Plane, an arcane crystal with excellent magical conductivity could be found in each and every lamp.

Arcane fountains, arcane plazas, arcane gardens, arcane libraries. In front of several stores, Greem even saw ordinary people ordering arcane golems to move cargo.

Metallic golems cost upwards of over a thousand magical crystals in the World of Adepts. Only adepts would have the ability to own golems like these!

Though the turmoil of the planar world had unavoidably spread to this city as well, life here was still relatively peaceful and stable compared to the rest of the world. After all, even those ferocious otherworldly monsters would have trouble wreaking havoc in this place while the arcane tower protected them.

Greem took off his thick traveler’s cloak upon arriving in the city. He removed his hood and revealed his handsome face, smiling and looking around as he mixed in with the crowd.

The population of this city was fairly small.

Even with all the refugees that had arrived in the past few months, there were only fifty thousand people in the city.

Moreover, the city had plenty of refugee shelters that were in perfect condition. There weren’t very many homeless people in the streets at all.; the city was still orderly.

However, with his pervasive spiritual senses, Greem could sense that the two-headed adept was now taken over by Cherisha and that she had successfully made her way into the shelter where the refugees gathered. Meanwhile, Adept Holly and Witch Shani were hiding in a noble’s mansion just two hundred meters away from the arcane tower. They were staring at its entrance from a distance.

This arcane tower was sixty meters tall and was divided into nine surface levels and two underground levels. It glowed with a faint arcane radiance. The entire tower shone brilliantly and colorfully, even in the middle of the day.

Within Greem’s powerful Elementium Sight, the arcane tower also appeared to be connected with all the arcane facilities in the city. Several well-hidden energy circuits connected all the facilities to the tower.

It seemed like all the arcane facilities in the city were supported by the tower’s elementium pool!

Such a design and consideration for the common people were no problem during times of peace. However, there was no doubt that these energy circuits would become the arcane tower’s highest security risk when war broke out.

It seemed like the arcanists had been staying in comfort for far too long. They had forgotten the taste of danger!

Greem couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh softly.

…………

Rian Province, Arcane Tower Four.

“Tower Master, more and more refugees have been swarming in from the north. Merkin City has reached its capacity. I think…we should send the refugees further north.” The one speaking was the young and capable Riant, one of the three Third Ring arcanists of Arcane Tower Four.

He was a young man with stiff, brown hair, and he was one of the current masters of this arcane tower.

According to the basic configuration of the Arcane Empire, a facility like Arcane Tower Four required the presence of at least one Fourth Ring arcanist. However, with the escalation of the war outside the planar barrier, human resources were becoming increasingly scarce. After multiple drafts, only three Third Ring arcanists remained stationed in Arcane Tower Four.

The invasion of otherworldly creatures that had recently occurred in the south had caused tensions and anxiety to rise here.

Though the terrifying disaster creatures had yet to invade deeply into the Arcane Empire, the large numbers of refugees fleeing this way had already thrown cities all over the Empire into disarray. Everyone was requesting aid from the leaders of the Empire.

“Riant, do you think we could organize a large-scale migration with all the chaos in the Empire right now?” The tower master was an old man whose hair had gone white. He had an ancient pair of tortoise-shell glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. The wrinkles on his face piled together as he spoke bitterly and helplessly, “Moreover, we can protect the people from the disaster creatures with the arcane facilities and the arcane tower while they remain in the city. If the migration party runs into those monsters on their journey…”

He did not continue speaking, but the other arcanists present could easily imagine the scene of carnage that would occur. Their faces turned dark at the very thought of it.

“Tower master, I’ve discovered abnormal magical fluctuations on the west coast of the continent in my past few days of observing the stars. I’m worried that it might be those otherworldly invaders slipping into the plane. I suggest we send a scouting party to investigate. If the enemy really intends to invade from that location, we can notify Reisin Garden and have the floating city mobilize their forces. At the very least, it would prevent the tragedy of Gallan Province. It could save Rian from being conquered by the enemy and the loss of millions of civilian lives.” It was Arcanist Sors who spoke up now. He was the most proficient at astrology in Arcane Tower Four.

Everything he said caused the faces of his companions to turn even paler.

“Gallan Province has already been conquered by the enemy. It is now a battlefield where our arcane golems are fiercely fighting against those otherworldly monsters. If…if what Sors said is true, then I’m afraid our Rian Province will also be in danger now!” The tower master let out a sorrowful sigh.

“It’s best if we don’t come to conclusions so early. After all, the planar world is in intense turmoil right now. It’s possible that it was just some turbulence from the magical tides. We should send a scouting party to investigate as soon as possible.”

“Since the two of you think there is a need for that, then we will send Squad Thirteen!”

“I agree!”

“I also agree!”

While the three Third Ring arcanists solemnly discussed the current circumstances surrounding the Empire, the arcane crystal on the table before them suddenly glowed red and started flashing.

An emergency. It was an alert message that occurred when the arcane tower detected an incident.

The gaze of the old tower master suddenly turned sharp. He pressed the arcane crystal, and the troubled voice of a man came ringing from within.

“Lord Douglas, Lord Douglas, this isn’t good. It’s terrible. The refugees have revolted!”

Refugees? Revolted?

This sentence that came out of nowhere confused the three arcanists completely.

However, the situation would not be too difficult as long as it wasn’t an invasion by otherworldly creatures.

The three arcanists were not particularly worried when hearing the report. They contacted the arcanist stationed in the monitoring room and quickly understood the cause-and-effect of everything.

Perhaps out of fear or an issue with the rations, a violent conflict had broken out between the civilians of the city and the refugees. It had quickly snowballed to the level of a riot.

The refugees were incredibly furious and were wildly beating people and robbing stores as they marched down the street. It seemed like they were making their way towards the arcane tower.

“Bastards! These people! Do they not know how much pressure the Arcane Empire is enduring in this war? To think…to think they would choose to come out and cause trouble at this moment!”

“It seems like we need to respond with harsher methods. Exile them from the city as soon as possible. We cannot have them shake the faith of the civilians and cause even greater panic.”

“Let me go! I will lead a squad of arcane golems and chase them back to the shelters!”

“Very well. We will act separately then. We can’t let their chaos spread through the city.”

The gates to the arcane tower opened under the command of the arcanists. The translucent barrier flickered a few times and slowly vanished. Squads of tall and ferocious arcane golems marched out in an orderly fashion under the command of a dozen arcanists. They immediately walked into the wide arcane plaza in the city.

Meanwhile, Adept Holly and Dark Witch Shani, who had been waiting for this opportunity in the dark, also received a magical message from Greem.

“Now! Remember to destroy the elementium pool first.”

“Hehehe. There has to be quite a lot of treasure in this arcane tower. Whoever grabs it first gets to keep it. Don’t get jealous of me after this,” Adept Holly cackled and charged forward without any hesitation.

Meanwhile, Witch Shani abruptly vanished from the spot without a trace.

A massive, earth-shaking explosion rang out.

Adept Holly strode out of the shadows and appeared in front of the arcane plaza. Mysterious star substance surged out of thin air around him, forming into pieces of gleaming blue metal that quickly attached to his body.

Adept Holly’s body grew taller and bigger with every step he took.

He was a massive metal golem by the time he arrived in front of the arcane golems. He was six meters tall, his entire body covered in thick and heavy armor.

Adept Holly laughed and fought his way into the ranks of the arcane golems under the horrified gazes of the arcanists.