Age of Adepts

“Mary’s in danger?”

Greem asked in surprise.

Alice let out a sigh through the mirror.

“You all underestimated those planar natives. They might not compare to the World of Adepts in any regard, but some powerhouse can still be born with all the confluence of variables available.”

“What’s in Seawoods Plane?”

“A native god. A totem god described in books!”

Greem was silent for a moment.

In just an instant, the chip had managed to draw out all the information in the data library related to a totem god. Greem instantly understood the risks that Mary currently faced.

A totem god was a regional god, at best. Unlike other gods, they couldn’t place their god kingdom in the interspatial layers where mortals could not reach. The god kingdom of the totem gods existed on the material plane itself, giving the mortals a chance to come into contact with them.

Against regional gods like these, the adepts only had to play it safe. They would remain at an advantage as long as they didn’t enter the god kingdom.

After all, these totem gods might be Fifth Grade beings in their own god kingdoms, but once they exited, they would be subject to the limits of the planar laws and restricted to Fourth Grade power. It was the main reason gods rarely ever stepped out of their god kingdoms.

Consequently, adepts did have a set of methods to deal with totem gods like these.

That was to slaughter their believers and weaken their faith foundation. Adepts would set traps on the outside and bait the totem gods out of their kingdoms, where they would then engage them in battle.

“You mean…Mary intends to go to the Feathered God’s den and fight with it there?” Greem’s head hurt.

“Judging by the current situation, Mary is both lucky and unlucky!” Mary let out a sigh. “Fortunately, the Feathered God that Mary is facing just gave birth. Its power has regressed from beginner Fifth Grade to advanced Fourth Grade.”

Even Greem couldn’t help but lick his lips when he heard this. His mouth felt dry.

That was because a divine creature whose power had regressed due to giving birth was a great temptation, even for a Fourth Grade adept. An opportunity like this hardly ever came by!

However, after venturing through the World of Adepts for so many years, Greem knew well that risk always came with opportunity. The more you hoped to gain, the more you risked losing. The two factors were always proportionate.

“You haven’t mentioned the unfortunate part!” Greem calmly asked.

“The Feathered God seems to be pretending to be weak. When Mary led her subordinates to attack its kingdom and kill its subordinates, it chose to hide its strength and bait them deeper into its territory. At the moment, Mary is leading her vampires to the capital of the troll empire. That is where the den of the Feathered God is located.”

Upon saying this, Alice stole a quick, concerned glance at Greem.

“I can sense that an intense battle will break out there between the two of them. However, I simply cannot see the specifics of how things will develop. That is the den of the Feathered God, after all; the power of faith obscures it. I cannot see its machinations, nor how things will proceed, even though I have advanced to Fourth Grade.”

“Which means Mary will be in danger?” Greem solemnly said.

“It is a foreign plane. My Fate senses cannot extend that far. However, I can sense that Mary is standing on a very crucial crossroads of Fate. She has one foot in the grave and the other above ground. There are simply too many variables that can affect the future.”

“I will contact Gargamel and Meryl immediately. We will mobilize as much of the Crimson Clan’s force to help Mary as we can. The magical machine army and the magical golem dragon. I want all of them mobilized. I don’t believe the natives will be able to survive the attacks of the ferocious machines with their bodies made of flesh and bone. Since the Feathered God wants to play dirty, I will just have my troops destroy his entire home!” Anger flared in Greem’s heart when he heard that Mary would be in danger.

“Uh, you still don’t understand what I mean,” Alice sighed again. “This is both danger and opportunity for Mary! Don’t you want Mary to have a bright future? This venture is her opportunity. If she can grasp it, it will belong to her. If Mary fails to grasp it, or if we were to intervene, what could have belonged to her will slip past her fingers.”

Alice shot another glance at Greem as she said this.

“Are you…sure you want Mary to always remain as a weak little adept that has to rely on you? Will you take on all the danger for her? Make her give up on all the opportunities she comes across and safely grow up under your wing?”

Greem fell silent.

“Moreover, you can’t forget Mary’s personality! Do you think she will like a life like that? In all honesty, the reason she chose to venture alone and take such a huge risk was that she was clearly affected by news of my advancement. If we were to rob her of her best chance to gain power at this time, she would probably go mad.”

Greem fell silent. He finally made up his mind.

“Shadow Demon, head to Seawoods Plane immediately. Find and protect Lady Mary. Remember: as long as she is in no danger of death, you are not allowed to lift a single finger, regardless of the losses incurred by the vampires. Go.”

A light flux came from the shadow beneath Greem when he gave his order. Everything returned to normal afterward. If it weren’t for the soul connection he had with Shadow Demon, he would not even be able to sense it leaving.

“This is more than enough preparation on our side!” Alice nodded and said, “Mary’s not an idiot either. She will not simply step into the den of that damned serpent without a guarantee of winning. Meanwhile, the opponent is no more than a Fourth Grade Feathered Serpent with access to some divine powers in the end. Since it is trying to hatch its egg, Mary will have a chance to defeat it, shouldering the risk in the process. It’s just a matter of whether she can grasp that opportunity now!”

Since they had already made plans, Greem decided to force himself to avoid thinking about the things happening in Seawoods Plane. He changed the topic of conversation.

“How did you advance to Fourth Grade this time? Could this have something to do with the ‘Heir of a Plane’ you mentioned previously?”

Alice was all smiles when this topic was brought up.

“The reason I managed to advance this time was all thanks to you bringing that strange soul back from Morrian Plane. I managed to abduct a large amount of Fate power from the dying Morrian Plane through that soul. That was how I managed to advance.”

“What happened to the soul?”

“She gave me the powers of Fate, and I gave her a body made of manifested energy. She is in my Tower of Fate now. She has shut herself in my private study and is fervently memorizing all the magical knowledge there.”

“She’s an arcane apprentice and the heir of Morrian Plane. Are you not worried she will cause some sort of trouble?”

“Let her make as much as trouble as she can!” Alice remarked casually. “I am not the one that’s protecting her now. The Fate power of the World of Adepts is. I don’t know what the planar consciousness is planning for her, but it’s obvious that it has its eye on her.”

Greem hesitated for a moment when she saw Alice mention this. Finally, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Alice, given what you know, what is the fundamental difference between adepts and arcanists? Is it possible we share the same origin?”

Alice simply smiled.

“We are adepts, not mages or arcanists. We come from chaos and will return to chaos. Even if all living things perceive us as evil, that will not change our true origin of chaos. Becoming an adept means danger, taboo, and the unknown will always accompany us.

“Mages and the arcanists might have come from the same origin as ourselves. However, for the sake of spreading their so-called civilization and passing on their knowledge, they repeatedly removed the chaotic portions of their systems. Everything dangerous and unknown containing the adept arts were removed, leaving behind only spells and arcane arts that can be systematically cast and unleashed.

“This might increase the universality of magic and allow untalented individuals to become part of the system. However, the adept arts lose an incredible amount of power when doctored in such a fashion, as well as the trace of origin connection they possess with the planar world.

“Moreover, do you think that what decides the might of a group of spellcasters is the number of its members or the might of their greatest users? Greem, you are already a Fourth Grade adept. You should be able to sense it now. Who has more value? A single Fourth Grade, or ten Third Grades?

“Take yourself as an example. How many Third Grades are required to be able to match you in combat? Ten? A hundred, two hundred? In your eyes, it probably doesn’t matter how many Third Grade creatures there are. They would never be formidable enough to be your enemy!

“The extinct Arcane Empire had once forged such a brilliant and beautiful arcane civilization. They were just like us. They were spellcasters with a similar origin. However, in their developmental process, they abandoned the excessively bloody and cruel portions of being primal spellcasters. They organized their primal magic and turned it into a neat little system. They called this civilization. They called it progress. Where are they now?

“Such a massive empire. Such incredible amounts of resources. If they had not pursued stability and limited their individual powers, then a blood ritual would have been enough for them to instantly create a large group of arcanists at the Great Adept level! If the Arcane Empire had managed to develop a Ninth Grade Great Arcanist, would the Arcane Empire still have been invaded by their enemies and taken apart alive as they had?

“The arcanists are gentle and elegant. They have vast knowledge yet are kindly and close to the common folk. However, they never train their bodies and Spirits, relying primarily on their arcane facilities in combat and magic. Adepts are heretical and selfish. They never care about whether their means and methods match the values and morals of worldly society. In most cases, adepts can be very cruel to their own kind. They do not reject taboo magic like blood rituals or voodoo poison.

“It is because of all this that the paths of development for arcanists and adepts differ so much.”