Age of Adepts

Time flies.

Eighty years flew by in the blink of an eye.

Eighty years. It wasn’t a particularly long nor short period. It could be a person’s entire life or less than a nap in the eyes of a dragon.

For a certain fellow buried under a lava lake, it was only enough time for him to take a tiny step forward and advance from Fourth Grade to Fifth Grade.

Fifth Grade was a dividing line!

Those below Fifth Grade were still immature chicks in the eyes of the Great Adept, even if they were uncontested rulers within their own worlds capable of moving mountains and shifting rivers.

Those above Fifth Grade were known as gods in the World of Gods. It was a demonstration of their ascension from mortality and an escape from the cycle of life and death to become a nearly immortal being. Meanwhile, in the adept faction, only adepts above Fifth Grade could be known as Great Adepts.

Great Adepts were wholly different from your ordinary adept!

This difference manifested in every aspect, from their body to their Spirit, to their very soul origin. Fifth Grade principle adepts had fully adapted to their principle powers. Affected by them, every part of the adept’s body within and without had adapted and become compatible with the principle powers they possessed.

Take Greem, for example. When he was Fourth Grade, his human body was still his true form, while the body of flames was his elementium form. That situation was now inverted. His flame state was his actual body, while his human body was more of a projection to some extent.

If it weren’t to maintain this last trace of a connection to his human origin, Greem would never leave behind such a fragile and dangerous weakness in his origin power.

It was, in fact, the major problem that all human Great Adepts faced!

Their human bodies were too frail. The limit of power that such bodies could contain was also far too low. If the Great Adepts insisted on keeping their human bodies, the most direct consequence was having to suffer terrible energy reserves and poor defenses.

At the very least, the Great Adepts that stubbornly insisted on keeping their human origins were the weakest of Fifth Grade beings!

The lava lake started to turn restless in the afternoon.

The mild quakes loosened the piles of boulders nearby, causing pebbles to fall off and even avalanches in other places.

It seemed as if the lava lake was leaking.

The viscous lava started to flow away, and the lake’s water level quickly went down, revealing a scarlet bed of magma at the very bottom.

Large spouts of steam rose from the ground, blasting fine stones into the air as they did so. The internal temperature of these steam pillars was over five thousand degrees. Any human that got hit by these pillars would be vaporized without a trace.

The earth was undulating unevenly, with certain parts of the ground rising while others sank; wrinkles appeared all over the land. It was almost as if there was an earth dragon tunneling underground. Dirt flew everywhere around the lava lake as steam burst out from beneath.

From a distance, it seemed as if the ground itself was boiling like water!

The adepts on the Mothership noticed the abnormality on the ground a long time ago. Third Grade Blood Knight Windsor soon descended with a few other Crimson adepts to search for the source of this commotion.

Windsor wore intricate knight’s armor carved full of fine and complicated magical patterns. His crimson cape fluttered in the wind, making him seem all the more intimidating.

Windsor and the adepts hovered in the air above the lava lake as they silently observed the changes below. From a distance, they could not spot any invaders or suspicious creatures.

All the lava had drained away from the lake, and the lake’s scarlet bed could be seen. Scalding waves of heat rose from the bottom of the lake, the air itself heavy with the smell of sulfur and fire.

“Lord Windsor, it doesn’t seem like this was the doing of a person. Rather, something’s happening underground!” One of the Crimson adepts couldn’t help but frown as he said.

“Underground,” Windsor brooded in silence.

As a member of the Crimson, he naturally knew what was hidden beneath the lava lake. Now that something was happening underground…could it be?

While he was deep in thought, another Crimson adept let out a surprised cry.

“Look…what’s that?”

Windsor looked down and focused his gaze. He indeed managed to notice some new abnormalities.

Several dark red ribbons of light seeped out from beneath the dried bed of the lake. They were like prismatic tentacles of some giant squid, extending in every direction and toward the sky.

For some reason, Windsor’s heart trembled when he saw these ribbons of light. There was an impulse from the depths of his heart to simply turn and run.

The Second Grade adepts might not be able to sense anything unusual about these light ribbons, but as a Third Grade blood knight, Windsor had already started to gain a vague understanding of the higher powers. His sharp senses insistently warned him not to approach those ribbons of light.

Windsor hesitated for a moment before reaching into his storage pouch and pulling out a metal ore with a blue gleam the size of his fist. He relaxed his grip on it and let it fall to the ground.

The metal ore spun as it fell, the magical powers contained within leaving a blue trail in the air as it did so.

Diablue Ore. It was a magical ore that contained water elementium powers. The Diablue metal extracted from it was an excellent material for forging a water staff.

This Diablue ore might not look very large, but it was undoubtedly a mid-grade magical material. A piece of ore the size of a fist could easily fetch a market price of four hundred magical crystals.

The Crimson adepts did not understand Windsor’s actions, but they still focused and watched.

The Diablue ore fell toward the ground and happened to collide with one of the wandering ribbons of light. The moment it came into contact with the ribbon, green smoke appeared as the ore instantly turned red-hot. The terrifying heat vaporized the ore instantly, leaving only scattered flakes of metal drifting to the ground.

“Hss!”

The Crimson adepts immediately drew in a breath of cold air. When they looked at the light ribbons again, a hint of fear had taken over their eyes.

Diablue ore was not known for its defensive power, but it was still much harder than regular metal. In addition to its unique magical attributes, the ore would have no problem surviving an ordinary elementium attack.

The fact that these seemingly harmless and weightless light ribbons could possess such terrifying power was unthinkable. If the adepts became caught in the ribbons, there wouldn’t even be a body left to bury.

“You all return immediately and inform headquarters of the situation here. I will go down myself to have a better look,” As the one who shouldered the responsibility of overseeing this land, Windsor had an obligation to figure out the source of the disturbance.

It was very dangerous down there, and he had no choice but to grit his teeth and go down to explore.

Just as he was about to move, a familiar female voice rang by his ear.

“Come up! There’s no need to go down there anymore.”

It was Lady Mary!

Windsor lifted his head in surprise, only to find two beautiful and perfect women hovering silently in the air as they watched the ground.

And Lady Alice.

Windsor waved his hand, and the other Crimson adepts quickly flew upward in a hurry. They bowed and paid their respects to Mary and Alice before returning to the Mothership.

“Inform the commander to take the ship and await us fifty kilometers away from here. No one is to step within the lava lake area without permission! Go!” Mary quickly issued her orders.

Over the past eighty years, Mary had ruled the Crimson Clan while also serving in the capacity of Associate Dean of Horton Magic Academy. Her reputation in the Central Lands couldn’t be any greater, and she possessed tremendous influence and power within the Crimson Clan as well.

With just a single order, the giant Mothership had vanished over the horizon.

Only two pretty ladies were left above the lava lake.

Mary beat her wings, causing her to bob up and down slightly in the air.

After all these years, Mary’s beauty was still as it was in the past.

A beautiful face, crimson eyes, juicy red lips, fiery red hair that reached her shoulders, a slender waist, and long, white legs. She also wore enchanted dragon-leather armor that perfectly fit her form, making her appear all the more enchanting.

Meanwhile, Alice standing beside her appeared to have become even more gentle and noble.

She wore a purple starry robe on her person that outlined her slender figure. Her silk-like silver hair ran down her back, making her appear unusually gentle and tranquil. The light of intelligence gleamed in her long, narrow eyes, giving off a mysterious impression to all who saw her.

The two women stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched the undulating earth. Their eyes were filled with an unconcealable concern and sorrow.

“Alice, say…is he going to come out today?” Mary asked softly. There wasn’t any joy of reunion in her tone.

“Mm!”

“He’s…already…Fifth Grade?”

“Mm!”

“Then is he leaving the World of Adepts immediately?”

“…not that soon, but he doesn’t have much time left!”

“……”

The two girls both fell silent.

As they watched, the lava lake that had started to cool down began to tremble and quake violently once again.

Fines cracks appeared all over the earth like broken porcelain as blinding red beams of light shone from below. It was almost as if a burning sun was slowly rising from the ground.

Everything on the surface began to melt and soften. Even the air itself had reached ridiculous temperatures.

A giant hand broke apart the earth and reached upward amidst all the fire and lava. The fire hand bent and gripped the ground as a gigantic and fearsome flame humanoid emerged from below to stand proudly upon the earth.