Age of Adepts

Three years of seclusion provided Greem with not just recovery but also many subtle improvements to his power.

His lost right eye had recovered and been reforged into the Berserk Eye.

The voodoo beast that he left with Adept Karon to craft had been finished.

The four Fifth Grade fire spells the Chip had been constructing were all completed.

More importantly, after using large amounts of divine virtue to repair his body and nourish his bloodline, the Chip had finally managed to decipher and analyze the prerequisites for principle assimilation. Apart from his short and long-distance Fire Teleportation, Greem would also possess a more subtle and rapid means of mobility from now on– movement through the principles.

If Greem faced an opponent of a higher grade than him, recklessly choosing to move through the principles in this fashion would expose him to risk. Against opponents of the same grade as those not acquainted with principle techniques, the ability to hide and move through the principle system was absolutely horrifying.

Principles were formless, intangible concepts. Worldly weapons and ordinary elementium attacks could not even interact with the principle level. It would be impossible to harm Greem in his principle form without the use of principle weapons or high-grade principle techniques.

The only problem was that Greem had only fully mastered two fire principles at the moment: Undying Flames and the upgraded Fire’s Clone. In particular, Undying Flames was still a relatively low-level principle. It was lethal and effective against enemies below Fifth Grade, but it was somewhat useless against enemies of Fifth Grade and above.

After elevating Fire’s Image to Fire’s Clone, Greem gained three fire clones that could freely form and scatter. Each possessed thirty percent of his offensive power. If they merged together, they would become a powerful fire creature with ninety percent of Greem’s power.

Thus, Greem came up with a pretty ingenious combat strategy.

He would hide in the principles and wipe out all traces of his existence while having the fire clone remain outside, posing as him. Due to the soul connection between Greem and his clones, he didn’t need to worry about enemies seeing through his ruse.

If the opponent attacked with the fire clone as their target, then Greem would ambush them from the principles while they were wide open. It would most definitely catch them by surprise.

It was because of these new, powerful aces that Greem gained more confidence than before. He walked out of his room and stepped upon the planar battlefields once more.

…………

Plane Saka.

The Beast God’s kingdom.

A vast, endless stretch of grassy plains extended beyond the horizon. The inside of the god kingdom was just exactly to Beast God Arugel’s liking. The orc tribes were scattered all over the plains. A small idol of Beast God Arugel could be found in the center of each and every tribe.

Here in this mysterious, vast, and plentiful god kingdom, the people had never wanted for food.

The various tribes’ daily mission was to send out hunting parties to battle with the ferocious beasts and creatures that were left to graze on the plains. Upon victory, they would drag their heavy hunting spoils back to camp, start a bonfire, and begin roasting their dinner as they cheered and danced around the statue of Arugel.

Hunting, prayer, and living. These orc petitioners that had been liberated from aging and death lived fulfilling lives that would make all orc believers envious of them. Meanwhile, their constant daily sacrifices and prayers gave rise to pure, firm faith power. This faith power was gathered through the idols and channeled toward the Beast God temple that stood at the peak of a mountain at the center of the god kingdom.

The great Major God of the orc pantheon, Eighth Grade Arugel himself, resided upon a towering throne in the center of the temple there, silently surveying his divine kingdom.

The only one that could freely extend his will and power within this vast land was him, Beast God Arugel!

Not even the planar consciousness could extend a hint of its power here.

He was the king here! He was the god! He was the absolute sovereign!

Where the will of the Beast God reached, the mountains and valleys would reshape and reform to his heart’s desire. Sometimes crumbling to pieces, sometimes turning flat as earth, and sometimes undulating like an earthquake. Everything within his god kingdom was like plasticine to him. He could freely shape and form anything he wished here.

If he wanted mountains, towering peaks would rise from the ground. If he desired rivers, surging torrents would burst forth and run across the land. If he wished for winter, chilling streams and freezing blizzards would fill the skies.

What sustained all these miracles was the endless, surging divine power within the god kingdom!

The petitioners living within the god kingdom, the mortal followers in the material worlds– all their faith power gathered within the god kingdom and was converted by Arugel’s divine authority into the purest of divine power.

Arugel, who possessed all this divine power, was the absolute master of this space.

It was he who had personally created this god kingdom upon which the orc petitioners lived. That was how he had slowly increased his divine power and his grade!

Gods were immortal!

As long as his divine body wasn’t destroyed by an enemy, his divine authority taken, and his consciousness wiped from it, Beast God Arugel would continue to exist until the end of the universe.

Consequently, the way in which gods thought was fundamentally different from mortals!

At the moment, a dozen strange figures of varying heights and types stood in Arugel’s temple. Most of them glowed with golden divine radiance. It was apparent at a glance that they were clones of certain gods.

Only one who was seated in a corner did not radiate the unique divine radiance of true gods. Instead, he looked like an ordinary, dejected orc.

At the moment, a somewhat scrawny orc god whose eyes glowed with unnatural intelligence was talking his head off, explaining to his peers the strategy to deal with the adepts’ invasion.

Unfortunately, the numerous orc gods present were all emitting a savage, impatient aura. They did not have the patience to execute such complex strategic maneuvers.

“Do we have to make this so complicated? Those human adepts are all soft eggs. Can they even defend against us if we gather our forces and charge at them?”

“That’s true! All this shuffling around and tricks and schemes hasn’t managed to weaken the enemy in the slightest; already, our power’s been scattered all over the place.”

“Right! Right! If I had a say, we should all follow after the boss. Just go all out and wipe out the adepts’ lair. We’ll see what they have to be arrogant about after that!”

These musclebrains were all muscular and powerful individuals. They had never been fearful of anything in all these years, even when they had to fight with numerical disadvantages. They were rough individuals that would swing their axes at the drop of a hat.

This personality of theirs had only been amplified by their divine virtue after becoming gods.

Rough, callous, cruel, savage, impulsive, temperamental.

These negative words seemed to follow them forever, becoming a label for the entirety of the orc pantheon.

Perhaps influenced by the restlessness of his vassal gods, even Arugel, the Major God of the orcs, couldn’t help but become agitated.

“Those human adepts have become increasingly arrogant!” Arugel’s true form was that of a one-eyed orc wearing a crude black suit of armor. The giant eye embedded on his forehead blinked when he spoke of the enemy. A deep-seated hatred was revealed in it. “They’ve destroyed Enus’ origin plane and ravaged many of our faith worlds. We must repay this grudge in blood!”

Upon hearing this, Demi-God Enus stood up furiously and waved his arms. “Boss, tell us how we’re fighting this! I, Enus, will follow after you, even if I were to actually die.”

“Yes! I want revenge as well!” Horr, the God of the Hunt, who had demoted a grade due to the adepts, also stood up abruptly. His eyes were filled with burning hatred as well. “We can send out an army of petitioners and wipe out the adept forces!”

“Very well! That is what we shall do!”

“Agreed!”

Only Seventh grade God of War Kodyr, who was the only one with the war domain included in his divinity, stood up and opposed. “My lord, we cannot do this! Don’t forget, the elf and human gods are still waiting for us to show weakness! If we were to go on the offense so recklessly, our backlines—”

“Shut up, you scrawny monkey! Do you think those fragile elves and unremarkable humans dare find trouble with us? Hmph! If they do dare come, I will challenge them to a divine battle. We’ll see whose axes are sharper,” God of Slaughter Garon, who was Seventh Grade himself, spat. He had a cruel and savage smile on his face, as if he would fight any challenger to the death.

“Yes! Divine battle! I think we could kill them just by scaring them to death!” A few of the Fifth and Sixth Grade vassal gods waved their fists and clamored.

“Cough.” Seventh Grade God of War Kodyr couldn’t help but sigh to himself. He once again felt sad over his identity.

The orcs needed no strategy or tactics. All they did was gather their forces, shout their battlecries, and charge at the enemy. It put him, the God of War who was planning to develop the War domain as his primary divinity, in an awkward position. It made him seem out of place with all these orc gods.

On the one hand, he had to resist the influence of the chaotic and disorderly divine virtue deep within him. On the other, he had to try his best to suppress these restless and rowdy peers of his. Kodyr felt distraught over this most of the time!

However, Beast God Arugel was an Eighth Grade Major God of a pantheon, after all. He could still barely suppress the wild tendencies and impulses within him. He shouted sternly at Kodyr, “Speak, Kodyr. Where are the human adepts planning to attack next?”

Kodyr’s face turned pale. However, the Major God of their pantheon was asking. He couldn’t lie. As such, he could only reply truthfully, “Judging from how they are mobilizing and judging from the trend of their invasions……”

“Where?”

“Your Plane Saka!”

The temple fell silent.

An earth rending howl could be heard throughout the skies.

“Blasphemy!”

“How dare they!”

“I see these adepts are sick of living!”

The orc god clones were beyond themselves with fury. The restless waves of divine power radiating from them almost blew the ceiling of the temple apart.

“This is war!”

“Gather the petitioner army. I will flatten the homes of the human adepts beneath my feet.”