Age of Adepts

The Marsh Wetlands was large and had a diverse ecosystem.

Moreover, the unique planar environment had given birth to all sorts of strange creatures and plants.

However, in terms of numbers alone, there was no doubt that the strange spores gliding through the air were the most superior.

According to the Chip’s scans and analysis results, genetic sequences of the spores could be found in the bodies of almost all the creatures in the Marsh Wetlands. If one were honest, the Marsh Wetlands’ ecosystem was composed entirely of spores and animals that had assimilated with the spores.

The source of these spores was the mushroom forest that grew all over the Wetlands.

The mushrooms grew and became home and food for all sorts of swamp creatures. Mature mushrooms would release countless spores, spreading their genes all over the land.

The many different species of mushrooms, and the many spores with their different genes, parasitized and contaminated all the animals and plants of the Marsh Wetlands. It created all sorts of strange, unusual magical creatures and plants.

It appeared to be an exceedingly slow and gradual process. However, with the appearance of the magical sporepeople, this process of assimilation seemed to have been accelerated.

The magical sporepeople were small and insignificant. They lacked muscular bodies, great strength, or mysterious powers. They used to be an inconspicuous lesser species of the Marsh Wetlands.

At the same time, the magical sporepeople were also incredibly powerful. They cultivated a shocking quantity of parasitic spores and mixed them into the unique mushrooms of the Wetlands. Bit by bit, the spores began to contaminate powerful species surrounding them.

In the three hundred years that the magical sporepeople had lived in the Marsh Wetlands, they had managed to corrupt large groups of Fungal Giants, multiple Swamp Lords, and even a powerful tribe of ogres.

Tribes that had been contaminated by the spores of the magical sporepeople became servants, loyally protecting and guarding the sporepeople. Even if they knew something was wrong, the Marsh Wetlands’ powerhouses had trouble making their way through the lands of these subordinate species to attack the sporepeople themselves!

The relationships and connections involved in this were too complicated. Even Greem only managed to straighten out all the politics after thinking about it for a while.

Of course, it helped that Emelia was able to provide him with some insider information!

After all, half of Emelia’s soul memory came from the spore princess. Even though the princess was forced to abandon her hometown due to being defeated in a civil war, she still had many of the tribe’s classified secrets in her memories.

In particular, information on the powerhouses of the sporepeople and a map layout of the Podling Cave drew Greem’s attention.

The leader of the magical sporepeople that stood opposed to Emelia, her uncle Fahssn, was no more than an insignificant Third Grade. However, the Fungal Giant he could assimilate with, Mragesh, was a genuine Fourth Grade monster. He would have to be regarded as a fearsome Fourth Grade opponent in combat.

Apart from the Fungal Giant, Fahssn had also managed to draw a powerful Swamp Lord to his side, partly through persuasion and partly through coercion. This Swamp Lord was Krach.

Krach was a fearsome Swamp Lord of advanced Fourth Grade. He possessed destructive power and an incredibly resilient life force.

Apart from these two individuals, Fahssn could also mobilize the leader of the Ango’rosh Ogres, Gorefist. He was also a scary fighter at Fourth Grade.

The Marsh Wetlands had a total of eight Fourth Grade creatures, and three of them were subordinate to the magical sporepeople alone. The remaining five could still maintain a numerical advantage, but it was hard to unite their forces into a coherent opposition.

Fortunately, with Sage Moat as the conduit, they barely managed to form a core for the Anti-Sporepeople Alliance. Meanwhile, due to his need for the Primal Water and Emelia’s stance, Greem was naturally on the side of the Alliance.

For the next few days, Greem ran all over the Wetlands visiting areas ravaged by the blight, catching one sporeperson after another as they went out to infect the swamp creatures. The mounting evidence was finally enough to enrage the leaders of the other tribes!

On the seventeenth day after Greem and his party arrived in the Marsh Wetlands, a terrifying civil war in the swamps broke out!

The once quiet and peaceful Marsh Wetlands had devolved into battlefields all over the place. The roars and battle cries of countless swamp creatures of various races and shapes could be heard all over the dark Mushroom Forest, their forms clashing in combat over and over.

Greem traveled beneath a shady mushroom tree with Remi in tow. He passed by a small hill and ran into a group of swamp creatures that were tied up in combat.

On one side were three colossal Swamp Giants of enormous size. Each of them was over seven meters tall. Their bodies were as intimidating as black bears. In place of claws, they had long, tentacle-like appendages. Their bodies’ surface was also covered in green moss and lichen, with white bumps vaguely showing beneath.

They were obviously on the side of the Anti-Sporepeople Alliance.

On the other side were two dozen equally imposing and muscular Ango’rosh ogres.

The ogres were only three to four meters tall, barely reaching the waist of the Swamp Giants. However, they were great in numbers and very disciplined, not as dull and clumsy as ogres in other worlds tended to be.

The ogres even appeared to have a balanced squad composition. There were seven or eight ogre warriors with shields in hand at the very front, enduring the lashes and body blows of the three Swamp Giants. Meanwhile, a dozen ogre barbarians were beating away at the Giants with their stone hammers and clubs.

Even further behind the lines stood two shaman ogres.

They tossed balls of red mist at the ogre warriors, causing them to become even more ferocious in combat, while also hurling red fireballs at the Swamp Giant, causing parts of their bodies to dry and wither.

A squad of two Second Grade and one First Grade Swamp Giants was forced back by a team of First Grade ogres. It looked as if they were about to be defeated.

Greem tapped his staff and observed the battlefield from a distance away. Who knew what he was thinking. Meanwhile, Remi evaluated the battlefield with his beady, little pig eyes, as if he was planning something nasty.

Seeing that an outsider had approached the battlefield, an ogre close to Greem let out a roar and charged at him with a hammer in hand.

His large body and heavy hammer caused the ground to tremble with every step he took. His rumbling footsteps almost sounded like the war drums of humans.

Due to the advantage they had in this fight, the shamans were able to cast their gaze over as well. When they saw that their companions were charging a frail creature that was not even two meters tall, they couldn’t help but start chuckling.

They might not be stupid, but they were still quite far from true intellect. Knowledge required accumulation, and intelligence was a product of legacy. Not every creature that had a brain could be called an intelligent being!

The next second, the two ogre shamans couldn’t help but let out an audible gasp.

The insignificant and tiny creature in the distance had only raised his staff when five fireballs of shocking intensity shot forward. The ogre warrior that had been charging at Greem was blown away by a single fireball. His body was kept in the air by the chain of fireballs that followed after, utterly blasting him into a mist of blood and flesh before he could even land.

Both sides of the conflict stopped fighting when they saw this. They turned and looked at the remaining half of the ogre’s body.

“A Fourth Grade…he’s—” One of the shamans shouted out loud.

Before he could even finish, the ‘short’ human vanished abruptly. He then realized, to his horror, that the human had appeared beside him.

There was no time for chanting and casting. The shaman ogre might not be as muscular as the ogre warriors, but he was no weakling either. He raised the thick staff in his hand and smashed it at the enemy.

Judging from the breaking wind sounds of his motion, this wooden staff would be enough to break the bones of any ordinary creature.

Unfortunately, he was fighting against a fearsome fire adept!

Greem didn’t even need to cast a spell. He merely touched the shaman with his staff, and the fire energy in the ogre’s body instantly ignited.

The next second, the shaman’s entire body was on fire. Flames burst forth from his mouth, his nostrils, and his ears. They even surged forth from the pores of his skin, turning the ogre into a blazing human torch in the blink of an eye.

He howled in agony, but both of his eyes had already been scorched blind. He could only run around helplessly and aimlessly.

When the fire energy in his body had been exhausted, and the flames were finally extinguished, the ogre’s body was black as charcoal. It collapsed to the ground with a thud and moved no longer.

He had been alive while the flames were burning, yet by the time the flames went out, he was already dead.

The world was indeed so strange at times!

The other shaman looked at Greem in horror. When he realized that the human’s gaze had shifted to him, he immediately scurried away. However, before he could even take two steps, a beam of red light shot from Greem’s eyes and swept past his legs.

A deep scorch mark was burned into the ground where the red beam had passed. The ogre’s legs had been severed from the knee, and his entire body crashed into the ground. He screamed in pain.

Even the two shamans of advanced First Grade had been slaughtered so easily. Naturally, the rest of the ogres did not dare approach the enemy.

The screamed and scattered, fleeing in every direction.

Greem took down another five of them with Blazing Fireballs, while the rest disappeared into the distant mist.