Age of Adepts

Fifth Grade.

It was a lofty and unattainable height for most adepts.

Anyone who could advance to Great Adept was undeniably a frightening existence, more fearsome than a calamity!

The crowd started to panic.

All the adepts hastily stepped away, even the enforcers.

Only the unfortunate adept who was burning was left behind, along with Greem and Kay.

Greem slowly turned back and looked coldly upon Kay, who was still desperately struggling against the fire chains. He chuckled, “Kid, next time, open your eyes and look before you attack your opponent. You don’t want to offend someone you can’t afford to. Hmph!”

Kay might have been entirely bound by chains, but he continued to swing his knives around, casting sparks off the chains. The pair of magical blades seemed to have reached the limit of law weapons. They carried a trace of principle power within them.

Obviously, this Adept Kay was very talented indeed and was well-acquainted with the path of murder and bloodshed.

This pair of twin knives was infused with his savage and cruel will, possessing the fearsome magical power of being able to shake an enemy’s willpower.

If the opponent were only an ordinary Fourth Grade, even the slightest negligence in their mental defenses during the heat of battle would render them vulnerable to that influence. The result would be the death of their body and the extermination of their soul. The knives would absorb all of the blood within their body, and they would be cast to the wind.

Though a body-refining adept, Kay did not focus his efforts on the cultivation of his body. Instead, he invested most of his resources and diligence into the sacrificial improvement of his weapons. It was a rare case, but it was an alternative form of body refinement.

Body-refining adepts who trained in this fashion would be slightly weaker themselves but would possess powerful weapons that exceeded their grade level. Other body-refining adepts trained their bodies to be as hard as magical weapons, while those like Kay improved their weapons through sacrifice as if it was another body of theirs. These weapons were tremendously powerful, sharp, and unstoppable.

These body-refining adepts were exceedingly scary. They pursued extreme lethality and often had horrifying instantaneous bursts of power.

Unfortunately, while he might be uncontested within his grade, his power appeared comical compared to a Fifth Grade Great Adept.

Kay couldn’t flee, even if he wanted to- law chains had tightly locked down the space around him. He couldn’t even teleport.

He couldn’t attack or move forward either. Greem was only five meters away from him, but that distance was like the deepest of chasms. No matter what violent attack he unleashed, he could not move forward by even a single inch.

He was like a fly that had fallen into a spiderweb. He struggled with all his strength, trying to break free of the constraints all around him. Unfortunately, there were so many fire chains wrapped around him that he could only feel despair. No many how many he sliced apart, the only result was that more chains–thicker chains–would extend toward him and lock down every last inch of movement he was allowed.

Moreover, the golden flames attached to the law chains constantly licked at his body. The bone-burning agony that reached all the way to his soul made him even more insane and reckless in his actions.

No matter how he tried, the difference in grade and power between the two of them was simply too massive. It was so big that it couldn’t be compensated for with combat techniques and a raging will!

Greem was like a huntsmen spider crouched in the center of his web, looking down upon the fly that had fallen into his trap and waiting silently until it had exhausted all its strength.

The pervasive Undying Flames corroded Kay’s body through the principle level, slowly eating away at his flesh and life in an invisible dimension. Kay struggled with all his strength, preventing the fire principles from reaching his soul origin.

Should the fire principles manage to reach his soul origin, Kay wouldn’t just be losing his body and flesh. His soul would lose the future potential to reach Fifth Grade.

No matter how much it hurt, no matter how difficult it was, he did not dare let up his resistance by even a single bit!

The crowd hastily backed away.

No one dared to walk up and provoke a Great Adept in the middle of his fury.

Several adepts took out their communication tools and began contacting their backers, relaying this information as quickly as possible. Even the leader of the enforcer adepts had no choice but to communicate with the fortress spirit.

The next second, a tremendous mental consciousness descended upon the area. It was almost as if a pair of eyes had been cast on Greem’s body, looking straight into his soul.

“Great Adept Greem, please watch what you are doing. According to Section 3 of Term 187 of the Boulder Fortress Adept Code, you cannot kill adepts of the same faction within the fortress without proper reason! Otherwise, you will be subject to compulsory missions and heavy fines.”

“I have not killed him. I am only punishing someone who has offended me. What is it? Does Boulder Fortress allow a lower grade adept to actively strike at a superior?” Greem continued to roast the adept as he casually conversed with the fortress spirit.

“Of course not! Boulder Fortress will not allow any inferior to offend a revered guest of the fortress. However, Lord Kay is one of the top Fourth Grade ultra-powerhouses of Boulder Fortress. If possible, it would be best for him not to be sacrificed internally!”

Naturally, the fortress spirit knew well enough which was more important between a peak Fourth Grade ultra-powerhouse and a Fifth Grade Great Adept.

“I understand. I won’t harm his soul origin. I will only roast him a little and dry him out.”

“Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Have a good day! Furthermore, I would like to inform you that a Great Adept closely associated with Kay is hurrying over. To avoid a conflict between Great Adepts, I suggest you pay attention to the extent of your punishment.”

Another Great Adept.

Greem frowned slightly. He couldn’t help but sigh. Even this seemingly transcendent group of adepts were wrapped together in such complicated webs of social relationships.

Beat up the small guy, and a big guy shows up. Beat up the big guy, and an old guy shows up.

This principle held true no matter where he went!

Just as Greem thought so to himself, a deep, elderly voice suddenly rang out.

“Friend, that should be enough now! Could you do me a favor and let him go?”

Greem tilted his head and instantly saw an elderly adept fly over.

This man wore a black robe. His hair was a silvery-white, and his eyes were different colors– one red and one black. Fine wrinkles covered his face.

He seemed to be approaching while filled with anger; he radiated a turbulent and savage aura. He smiled as he greeted Greem. However, there was no genuine friendliness behind those smiling eyes– only a thick, murderous aura.

“Who might you be, sir?” Greem casually replied with a question.

“José Mudi, of the Blacklight Plane. I am currently stationed in Hall Thunder.”

“Greem, of the World of Adepts, Hall Flower.”

A sinister smile flashed across Great Adept José’s face when he heard Greem’s introduction. He chuckled and said, “Ah, a revered adept from the homeworld. I was wondering why you were so confident!”

As everyone knew, the adept faction had conquered a few dozen planes to serve as the cradle for the next generation of adepts. Among all these planar worlds, the World of Adepts was undoubtedly the most important, most notable, and most prestigious plane.

While many of the other planes could be considered powerful enough to be homeworlds for other species, there was only one homeworld for the adepts– the World of Adepts!

That was the origin of the adept faction and the homeworld of the three currently known Ninth Grade Great Adepts. That was why the World of Adepts was crowned with a superior status in the hearts of all adepts.

The prestige of the World of Adepts was so incredible that all adepts originating from the homeworld were also regarded with the same prestige. This was an unspoken agreement within the adept faction.

Most of the time, adepts from the World of Adepts were considered orthodox and mainstream, while adepts from the other planar worlds were only secondary in importance. Perhaps it was due to this discrimination that adepts of the other planar worlds were often filled with hostility and dissatisfaction toward adepts from the homeworld.

These tiny details were incredibly evident in the social going-ons between the adepts!

Not a single good word out of his mouth. Greem’s already-burning fire flared even further.

Ever since he chose the path of fire affinity, Greem’s temper had been wilder and more incendiary than before. His mind might be rational and clear, but he was getting into more and more situations where he fought first before talking.

It couldn’t be helped. The modifications to Greem’s soul did indeed change part of his innate personality traits. It was perhaps a minor flaw that Greem had to accept as a fire adept!

Greem grunted coldly and waved his hand. Kay, who had been completely scorched on the outside and well-cooked on the inside, was thrown in front of the elderly adept, wrapped in chains.

Kay was a hard-boiled man too. He did not let out even a single yelp after such devastation. Moreover, even as badly injured as he was, and even though his twin knives were bright-red with heat, he held onto them tightly, refusing to let go.

“Teach…er……,” Kay cried out with great difficulty when he saw the old man. A thin wisp of invisible fire rose from his cracked lips as he said the word.

It was obvious that he had been completely cooked by the strange fire, inside and out!

The elderly adept bent over to examine Kay’s soul origin. He finally let out a sigh of relief when he confirmed that nothing had happened to it. It caused his cold glare at Greem to relax ever so slightly.

“Adept Greem, how did my disciple offend you. I hope you can enlighten me!”

“He didn’t offend me. The guy who offended me is him,” Greem glanced at the stall owner, who was barely breathing at this point, and said, “Your disciple insisted on standing up for him and tried to attack me. Naturally, I had to punish them!”

The elderly adept’s gaze landed on the stall owner, and a sinister expression flashed across his face. It was an expression that said, ‘I knew it was you.’

He gritted his teeth for a moment. In the end, he turned toward Greem again.

“Everyone is here for the mission. Would you do me a favor and let the two of them go? I will be willing to take on any of the losses incurred on your part, sir!”

“There weren’t any losses to speak of. I have already punished them, so I will simply leave them to you, sir. You can take them back with you any time you want…I won’t be staying any longer. Farewell!”

Greem couldn’t be bothered to deal with the elderly adept. He left behind a simple sentence and turned to leave.

Adept José stared at Greem’s back with a dark face and a complicated expression. It was as if he was incredibly frustrated, but there was nothing he could do.