Age of Adepts

World of Adepts. The Skettis Region.

Molten Fire City.

Inside a hidden room of the adept tower.

The lord of the city, Adept Alfred, sat on a stone chair, dressed in a long purple robe. He silently looked at the young adept standing proudly in front of him and asked curiously, “Sir Greem, we don’t seem to be acquainted in any fashion, do we? What is your purpose in this sudden visit today?”

Greem was wearing his crimson robe and holding the long fire-coral staff in his hand. He smiled as he met Alfred’s gaze, calmly speaking, “My main purpose here today is to clear up all of our past grudges and misunderstandings. To express my sincerity, I have specially prepared some gifts for you!”

Greem took out an item from his storage ring and gave it a light push. The item slowly floated towards Alfred.

Alfred hesitated for a moment, but finally picked up the item and toyed with it.

A knowledge crystal.

Alfred glanced at Greem and reached into the crystal with a trace of his Spirit. Upon sensing its contents, his body snapped straight up in surprise.

What were these?

Basic Arcane Theories, Discussions and Applications on Anti-Gravity Barriers, Floating Ring Construction Manual.

It was a complete and self-consistent series of arcane theories that systematically introduced the floating ring, from its design to its construction and all the precautions necessary throughout the process. With all of this, Alfred could directly apply the knowledge to his adept tower with some slight modifications.

As a Fourth Grade adept, there was no way that Alfred did not understand the value of this knowledge crystal!

Ever since the ancient times, plenty of geniuses in the World of Adepts had hoped to construct a miraculous device that could allow their adept towers to move. Unfortunately, there were far too many problems that stood in their way.

Firstly, the energy source of the adept tower came from the elementium altar. The tower required an endless supply of elementium energy from the elementium planes. Should the position of an adept tower shift, the spatial coordinates of the elementium altars would shift as well. That would naturally sever the connection between the tower and the elementium planes.

How could they anchor the spatial coordinates of the tower to the elementium plane while the tower was in motion? It was one of the problems that countless talented adepts could never solve, no matter how they tried.

Secondly, for the adept tower to be able to fly, the tower’s weight had to be reduced.

Thus, the ability to maintain a balance between the tower’s defensive properties and the tower’s weight by finding a new construction material became the key to this problem!

All these difficult problems continued to plague the adepts who sought to modify their towers. Now, with this sophisticated and complete system in hand, completing these modifications were no longer just a dream.

“What do you mean by this, Sir Greem? The contents of this knowledge crystal alone are invaluable. Why would you be willing to hand them over to me easily?” When Alfred once again lifted his head to look at Greem, his eyes were no longer cold and cutting, but contained a trace of warmth and curiosity.

“I understand that my rash decisions in the past resulted in some ‘misunderstandings’ and rifts between the two of us. The reason I made this trip was to resolve them. I hope you are satisfied with my gift.” Greem smiled as he explained.

He placed extra emphasis on the word ‘misunderstanding’ when he spoke.

Alfred looked at Greem silently. After a long pause, he finally smiled.

“Since it was all a misunderstanding, let us put it behind us! From now on, you, Sir Greem, are one of the esteemed guests of our Molten Fire City. I, Alfred, will always welcome you!”

Greem let out a breath of relief in his mind. The smile on his face was bigger now.

With the gift as a conversation starter, the two enemies-turned-friends delved deep into their discussions. They excitedly talked in detail about the future cooperation between their two organizations.

The Crimson Clan required the many rare ore resources of Molten Fire City, and Molten Fire City was also interested in the dragon resources and magical machines of the Crimson Clan.

With how beneficial their cooperation would be, the two leaders quickly agreed to a strategic alliance.

The details would be left to their subordinates to negotiate and lay out slowly.

Once all this was done, the fire clone that Greem had projected over to the hall scattered into sparks and dissipated into the air. Molten Fire City Lord Alfred continued to caress the knowledge crystal as he stared at the spot that Greem had vanished from. A complicated light gleamed in his eyes.

It had only been a few years. That little fellow who would shiver nervously when speaking in front of him could now stand in front of him as an equal. Moreover, even something he casually took out from his collection was enough to startle a veteran adept like himself. It was evident that his treasury was filled to the brim with valuables of exquisite quality.

Alfred couldn’t help but reflect on the passing of time even after Greem had left. His entire being was immersed n a state of disbelief at everything that had just happened!

There was no underestimating that kid.

Perhaps coming to a truce with him now would be the best path forward for Molten Fire City’s continued development.

Alfred thought to himself in silence and finally came to a decision.

…………

One could, frankly, claim that Greem was the soul and pillar of the Crimson Clan!

When Greem had been on a journey to another world, the entire Crimson Clan had no choice but to maintain a low profile, quietly waiting for his return. Once Greem returned, the Crimson Clan seemed to change entirely. They were active once more, aggressive in their expansions, and ceaseless in the further extension of their influence.

Mary led a large group of her vampires and left for Seawoods Plane.

Even though the Zhentarim Association had developed the plane slightly, their rule was still far from stable, and the environment was still as chaotic as ever. The vampire faction still had to work hard to establish a firm and stable ruling structure in Seawoods, such that they could finally excavate the resources of the plane.

There was: reconstructing a forward base, establishing an interplanar teleportation array, investigating the environment and distribution of resources in the plane, making contact with the planar natives, intimidating and making an example out of ambitious slaves, and building up an efficient resource collection system.

These minute tasks all required careful planning and constant revisions. Otherwise, a simple mistake could lead to severe consequences.

However, the vampires led by Mary were more powerful than the empire of trolls in Seawoods Plane. Be it through violent oppression or gentle negotiations, making the trolls submit was only a matter of time.

As such, Greem did not interfere too much in Mary’s actions and let her deal with the situation as she pleased.

Meanwhile, Snorlax had already sent a vanguard of three hundred goblins into the Mountain Plane. They were during preliminary mapping and geological investigations. It was estimated that it would take them a month to figure out the distribution of resources in the lesser plane.

When that happened, the goblin miners and equipment could be mobilized, and they could immediately begin the excavation of ores.

However, even though there weren’t many living creatures in the Moutain Plane, there were still a few extremely territorial earth elementals. Even the goblins had to be assigned sufficient military power for this expedition!

…………

Seawoods Plane.

In a primal forest that had yet to be excavated.

The dense sea of trees covered the earth. From a distance, it looked as if the entire world was simply a canvas of green.

A strange black spot slowly moved through the air in a clearing in the woods.

Finally, as the spatial energy continued to reverberate, the singularity stretched and expanded until, at last, it was a three-meter-long spatial rift.

Pupupu!

Silhouettes flickered through the rift as a dozen lithe figures appeared from within and stabilized their presence.

After adapting to the teleportation fatigue, they could finally move freely and begin their unusual exploration in this foreign plane.

As a peak Third Grade, Mary was the first to adjust to the teleportation fatigue here.

However, for the same reason, Mary also suffered the highest amount of pressure from the plane!

Mary moved her body and beat her wings, slowly rising above the canopy.

Unfortunately, she could see no color other than green no matter where she looked.

The trolls were unlike humans.

Humans liked to cut down trees and cultivate farms to form settlements of their own. Meanwhile, the trolls preferred a simple and more natural state of life. They wore leaves and hides as clothes, subsisting on fruit and prey, living in treehouses or valleys. It was hard to discover their presence without careful searching.

It seemed like the first thing to do here was to extend their surveillance and discover the settlements of the trolls.

There was no doubt they required a tremendous number of cheap slaves if they wanted to excavate Seawoods Plane.

If they brought all the manpower they required from another plane, the exorbitant teleportation fees alone would overshadow the profit brought along by the meager resources of this plane. To save on cost, they would have to find ways to capture the natives to work as slaves.

After some simple planning, Mary turned and landed on the ground.

Her vampire subordinates had finally started getting over the teleportation fatigue. They were moving around and getting used to the planar laws here.

“Vanlier, have a few of your subordinates establish a small camp here. Stabilize the rift and prepare for the reinforcements.”

“Understood!”

“Soros, head there. Vanlier, there. Lilia, there. Spalla, there. You have three days to search as far as you can. Immediately return for a report once you discover the trolls’ tracks. Very well, you may leave now!”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

The vampires acknowledged their orders and headed out, each flying in their respective direction with one or two other subordinates following after them.

Both the blood knights and the blood elves were at Second or Third Grade. They might be suffering from planar suppression, but their base power was still present. A scout of this level was no danger, given their strength.

In just three days, the vampires would be able to scout as far as five hundred kilometers with their speed.

There should be no problem discovering the trolls after covering so much ground!