Age of Adepts

Seawoods Plane. The troll capital.

Muri’var.

As the capital of the trolls who ruled over Seawoods Plane, Muri’var’s size and magnificence were beyond the imagination of an outsider.

Muri’var was built on a mountain.

Truthfully, the entire city was carved out of the mountain itself.

A gentle slope was dug out of the belly of the mountain at every interval of height, from the foot of the mountain to the peak. Tough, stone buildings were built on these slopes. Steps of stone, carved out of the mountain itself, connected these slopes. Stone totems standing at over two-meters-tall lined these steps, and at the entrance of every step were braziers made of stone.

Looking up all the way from the bottom, there were as many as a hundred of these sloped stone platforms where settlements and buildings could be seen.

Even though the mountain appeared to be covered in multiple layers of stone buildings, it did not seem at all crowded or messy from a distance.

Meanwhile, there was a grand, towering set of steps that led from the bottom of the tower to the peak. An exceptionally magnificent and large temple could be seen looming at the end of the ten thousand stone steps.

Every dawn and dusk, all trolls living in Muri’var gathered near these stone steps and knelt down, facing the temple. They would pray for the Feathered God to continue protecting the trolls, to bless them with power, and to allow the Degu Forest to flourish with life.

However, the trolls had started praying for one more thing over the past few days since the arrival of the foreign invaders. They prayed for the Feathered God to unleash his divine might and protect the trolls from the plague’s infection.

Awhile ago, the troll army sent to search for the invaders in the forest had retreated in defeat. What came back along with them, apart from the many casualties, was that terrifying plague!

The trolls, whose living standards remained at a primitive level, had no means of constructing an effective medical system. In addition, they were all strong, healthy individuals that rarely fell sick. Consequently, no more than thirty or forty voodoo doctors were in the troll capital. Moreover, most of these voodoo doctors were at First or Second Grade.

The higher-ups of the empire and the voodoo doctors recognized the terror of the plague. They ordered the infected to stay in temporary camps beneath the mountain, restricted from entering the capital or returning to their homes. However, it was apparent that this order was not properly obeyed!

No one knew how or through which vector, but the plague had still spread into the city.

In just a single night, over half of the twenty-three thousand citizens throughout Muri’var had been infected with this terrifying plague.

For a moment, pitiful trolls shrouded in yellow poison clouds lay stranded all over the city. They coughed violently, too weak to even get up.

And this result was already thanks to their strong and resilient bodies!

If this plague had been released in a human city, it would have been filled with tens of thousands of plague creatures when morning came. The same plague on the trolls only took away their mobility and left them suffering in agony.

Meanwhile, several muscular and impatient troll commanders were gathered on a stone platform in the temple. They furiously shouted at a frail voodoo doctor leaning on his staff.

“Ye’ke, are your men able to do this or not? When will you be able to dispel this plague?”

“I can’t tolerate this any longer. Over half of the boys under me have already collapsed, and you fools are still sitting on your hands.”

“Hurry up, come up with a solution. My little Zin’ro is still suffering from the plague at home! If anything happens to her, you voodoo doctors won’t get a single piece of your annual contribution from our Zan’gu tribe.”

The only ones that could gather here were the leaders of the various tribes. At the same time, these tribal leaders were also mighty Third Grade troll warriors. Still, they were all helpless against the sudden plague. They could only furiously shout and holler at this leader of the voodoo doctors.

Ye’ke, Third Grade voodoo doctor and the only Third Grade voodoo doctor throughout the troll empire!

He was seven hundred years old now.

He had seen countless disasters and calamities throughout his long life. As such, he had not lost his cool when faced with this fearsome plague, as all the other trolls had. Instead, he remained calm and composed.

“Silence! All of you bastards, shut up.”

Ye’ke stared at the impatient, angry trolls around him and tapped his staff against the ground. A violent current of air knocked them back and caused them to stumble backward. At the same time, the silhouette of a massive Feathered Serpent appeared behind Ye’ke.

It was a powerful creature with unusual, feathered wings and golden scales. A ferocious light gleamed in the two emerald-like eyes on its flat, full hide as the serpent seemingly glared at everyone present.

The entire room instantly fell silent.

All the trolls got down on one knee and placed a hand over their chest, respectfully offering their devotion and worship to the Feathered God.

“The enemy approaches.”

“Due to Ka’no’s inability, a trace of my origin power has fallen in the enemy’s hands.”

“I require that you retrieve it.”

The Feathered God hissed, its unusual voice reverberating in the air and so sharp it could tear the eardrums off of a lesser being.

The troll commanders couldn’t help but look at each other when they heard the Feathered God’s orders.

Finally, a troll mustered the courage to speak.

“O’ Great Feathered God, where are the enemies located, exactly?”

“The west…they are close. I can almost smell the stench they give off. They propelled the plague that has spread throughout Muri’var. The plague cannot be fully cured unless my origin power is retrieved.”

The Feathered God gave clear orders. Naturally, this left no room for the troll leaders to negotiate.

They hurriedly acknowledged the order and left the voodoo doctor’s place, hurrying back to their tribes to gather their forces.

The projection of the Feathered Serpent did not immediately disappear once the troll leaders left. Instead, it communicated with Ye’ke for a brief moment before dissipating into the air.

…………

This place was an unusual space in Seawoods Plane.

It was no more than a hundred thousand square meters in area.

However, similar to Muri’var, there were gray and white stone all over this place. There were also forests of magnificent statues and many, many trees.

At the center of this unusual space, through a path covered with moss and several tiny swamps, was a massive den built out of huge boulders.

The air here was humid and warm like tropical forests tended to be.

A massive, one-meter-tall egg was placed on a small stone platform within a pile of ash-white bones. The Feathered Serpent coiled silently by the egg, caressing it with its tail while blowing golden lightning at it.

The destructive lightning of the past now appeared to be gentle and soft. It circled the egg, splitting into smaller, thinner spars of electricity that were then slowly devoured by the egg.

Once it had eaten enough of the golden lightning, a mental fluctuation of satisfaction emanated from within the egg. When that happened, the life inside the egg stopped consuming and instead fell asleep to digest this golden lightning that contained traces of the planar origin’s aura.

It was only when the egg was asleep that the female Feathered Serpent could rest for a brief moment. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth, waiting for the male Feathered Serpents to feed her. These male Feathered Serpents served as both her servants and her guards.

The only things in this kingdom of Feathered Serpents were the beasts used as livestock and the Feathered Serpents themselves.

There were twelve Feathered Serpent guards in total, all of whom were male. They were all at Second or Third Grade. The only female Feathered Serpent was Zuka, the totem god worshipped by the forest trolls.

After several thousands of years of nourishment from the power of faith, Zuka had managed to grasp an understanding of some divine powers. Her strength had also advanced to beginner Fifth Grade.

However, out of her instinct as a magical beast, she had still exhausted a phenomenal amount of faith power and divine power to give birth to a descendant. During this process of hatching the egg, her ability had also fallen from beginner Fifth Grade to advanced Fourth Grade. She had to face a long, three-hundred-year period of weakness.

Zuka, the Feathered God, had to breathe golden lightning for three days and three nights before the life in the egg was finally full. Thus, when it eventually fell asleep, Zuka let out a breath of relief and coiled up at the egg’s side, closing her eyes to rest.

However, every time she tried to go into deep meditation to recover her powers, her mind would be disturbed by an unusual energy flux, leaving her with no peace.

“Bastards…these damned invaders! I will tear you to pieces and scatter your ashes!”

Having been roused from her slumber by this strange flux, Zuka became increasingly impatient and angry.

Her loud and sharp screech instantly filled the land, causing the entire space to tremble.

All the magical creatures that heard this screech cowered in fright, unable to move on the ground.

Even the Feathered Serpents lowered themselves out of fear and flared their wings, unsure of how they had angered their mistress.

The life in the egg was also obviously stirred awake. It hissed and let out a mental fluctuation of frustration.

The furious Zuka hastily cast away her anger and used her gentle lightning to coddle the egg once again.

Zuka straightened her body and looked through this unusual space. She could see from the temple atop of Muri’var, her gaze directed west.

“Those damned invaders have obtained a part of my origin power. They are using some unusual methods to attack me with it now. Hmph! When I am finally free to move, I will teach you a lesson!”