Age of Adepts

Plane Saka. God Kingdom of the Beast God.

A tragic howl suddenly rang out inside the giant orc temple.

“My true form…my actual self…who killed my true form?”

Horr’s clone, who had been meditating silently in the temple, suddenly stood up and let out a furious and mourning howl. His radiant body began to peel apart, layer by layer. Divine power started to disperse from his body, and even his soul showed signs of disintegration.

Every god clone left in the temple couldn’t help but open their eyes and watch in horror.

Horr’s true form had been killed?

It was somewhat unimaginable, but it was the only explanation for what was currently happening.

Supposedly, even if a god’s true form was killed, the clone left behind could still survive, providing them with a sliver of hope for revival. However, the collapse of a god kingdom and the breaking of divinity triggered by the death of a god’s true body would result in a vicious backlash that no clone could ever endure.

Horr had taken most of his divine authority fragments with him when he went into battle. Only one divine authority fragment remained in the clone left in Arugel’s temple. Obviously, this divine authority fragment wasn’t enough to support the overwhelming divinity that had shifted over after the true form’s death.

That was why Horr’s clone was showing signs of falling apart!

To think, Horr had actually been killed on the battlefield by a Fifth Grade adept much weaker than himself. It was clearly a difficult truth for the gods to accept. They couldn’t help but look down on Horr with disdain for that.

Given the savagery and cruelty of the orc pantheon, useless fools like Horr were better off dead. The divinity he left behind could then be split between everyone else.

However, letting one of his vassal gods die on the battlefield in this fashion would undoubtedly impact Arugel’s authority tremendously.

Arugel suddenly stood up from his throne. His giant, fierce eyes glared with the flames of hatred. He waved his hand. Four perfect crystalline glowing orbs flew out of his body and into the trembling body of Horr’s clone.

The threat of Horr’s clone disintegrating was finally put at ease!

However, Horr had once been a Sixth Grade true god. It was impossible for him to sustain such a tremendous divinity domain with only five divine authority fragments.

Arugel looked around the room with his fierce eyes and demanded coldly, “Anyone else who has divine authority fragments to spare, hand them over to Horr. Put together ten fragments for him and let him stabilize at the level of a low-ranked god!”

The numerous orc gods in the hall looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

Divine authority fragments. Those were the lifeblood of every god!

It was incredibly difficult to obtain them in the first place. After the numerous battles, they had all experienced losses to varying degrees. Who among them had more fragments to spare?

However, the Major God had spoken. As reluctant as they were, the other gods had no choice but to do as they were told.

Soon, another five divine authority fragments flew toward Horr’s clone.

A total of ten divine authority fragments quickly merged inside the body of Horr’s clone to form a complete divine authority. Sustained by such power, the threat of death finally faded from Horr’s clone.

From now on, God of the Hunt Horr would be demoted to the level of a low-ranked god. He would be no different than those new gods that had only recently ascended. The only difference would be that he had a more powerful divinity and greater wealth reserves than them.

However, these things were only reminders of former glory for a once-Sixth Grade god. It was nothing to be happy about.

“Horr, what happened? Which Great Adept was it that killed you? Tell me their name. I will avenge you!” As the Major God of the orc pantheon, Arugel was beyond furious at having one of his subordinates suffer such a defeat.

“It’s…it’s……” Even though it hadn’t been long since the death of his true form, the instinctual connection between souls meant that Horr’s clone knew about everything that had transpired trillions of kilometers away. However, the fact that his powerful self had been devoured by a mere beginner Fifth Grade weakling. He really couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“What is it? Do you doubt my power?” The hesitation of his subordinate infuriated Arugel even further. He shouted out loud, “Tell me his name! It doesn’t matter if it’s a Seventh Grade Great Adept or the Eighth Grade Barbara herself. I will get revenge for you!”

“It was…a human adept called Greem!”

“Greem?” Arugel repeated this unfamiliar name. For a moment, he couldn’t think of any amongst the high-grade Great Adepts who had this name. Arugel looked at the other gods. “Any of you know this person?”

They all shook their heads.

Only God of Tyranny Haistoc’s clone’s expression changed. He seemed to recall something uncertainly.

“He…he’s a beginner Fifth Grade adept!” Horr’s clone–no, what was now Horr himself–finally managed to finish his sentence.

Buzz!

The next moment, an overwhelming and violent consciousness caused the entire temple to shake.

“Beginner Fifth Grade?” Beast God Arugel’s roar filled the skies, “Horr, why don’t you go ahead and die!”

…………

Greem was fleeing.

Ever since he devoured Horr, he had become the public enemy of every orc god on the battlefield.

Even the Sixth Grade One-Eyed God had cast his gaze toward him and was moving over with his lumbering form, let alone the Fifth Grade clones and orc petitioners.

Greem turned and fled without hesitation.

The god in his stomach had yet to fully die. He needed to find a safe place to digest him entirely.

Covered by the ten-armed giant and Remi, he fled straight to Boulder Fortress. He shut himself in his room and didn’t show himself again.

[Beep. Obtained one divine authority fragment.

[Beep. Obtained one divine authority fragment.

[Beep. Obtained one divine authority fragment.

[……]

[……]

It was a simple notification sound, but Greem’s blood boiled every time he heard it ring out!

He no longer had the mind to keep track of the constant notifications. His entire being was reveling in overwhelming joy.

There was no sound more beautiful than this!

He would simply be willing to bask in this happiness forever and ever!

It took one entire year for Greem to thoroughly digest Horr’s true form. What he obtained was enough to make anyone’s mouth run dry and their eyes turn red.

He gained 17 fragments of divine authority.

He gained 463 units of divine virtue.

Over 117,000 divine power crystals.

Sixth Grade Divine Weapon: Longbow of the Ancient Keepers, Rhok’delar.

Fifth Grade divine equipment (headpiece): Collar of the Deceiver.

Fifth Grade divine equipment (boots): Boots of Avoidance.

Sixth Grade equipment (dagger): Devil’s Strike.

Fifth Grade equipment (bracer): Deathblow Bracers.

Fifth Grade equipment (belt): Ogre’s Belt.

Fifth Grade equipment (accessory): Great Restoration.

……

……

One had to admit that Horr’s equipment matched his status as a former Sixth Grade mid-ranked god. Three pieces of divine equipment and a series of only Fifth and Sixth Grade equipment. It was blinding.

This equipment was Fifth and Sixth Grade but not classified as divine equipment because divine authority fragments had not been used as their main material when they were forged. Instead, the material had been replaced with other rare resources. Consequently, the equipment could not form a soul resonance with the god and would be considerably less powerful.

However, how bad could equipment used by a Sixth Grade god be?

Obtaining this equipment instantly filled Greem’s arsenal up!

Once Greem digested everything, he opened the restrictions and protections around his room. A flood of magical messages rushed into his mind and caught him by surprise.

All of them were requests for transmissions, with most of them being from Fifth Grade Great Adepts. There were also a dozen Sixth Grade Great Adepts trying to reach him. And even Seventh Grade Body-Refining Adept Erlenwald.

“See me immediately after coming out of seclusion!”

Great Adept Erlenwald’s message was simple, but it contained tremendous magical power behind it. Greem looked the message over and thought for a bit.

A ‘mere’ dozen divine authority fragments shouldn’t be enough to drive a Seventh Grade Great Adept to do something horrible to him. Still, you never knew. Who knew why Erlenwald was in such a hurry to talk to him?

No matter how he thought about it, the only things Greem had that could draw his attention were the divine authority fragments.

Greem hesitated for a few days, but he finally contacted Great Adept Erlenwald.

Just as their consciousnesses connected, Greem felt the world around him spin and space itself distort. When his consciousness snapped back to sharpness, he found himself located in a large and majestic hall.

The hall was empty save for a throne placed on a tall platform. An adept whose image was somewhat blurry sat silently there.

“You are Greem?” The tall adept did not move, but an overwhelming mental consciousness pressed down upon Greem.

Greem’s face changed. For the first time, he felt the terror of a Seventh Grade Great Adept!

Everyone said that Fifth and Sixth Grade adepts manipulated principle power, while Seventh and Eighth Grade adepts manipulated world power. Greem hadn’t understood this saying before. But now, upon experiencing the spiritual pressure of a Greater Adept, he finally understood.

World power…this was world power!

At this point, the mental consciousness of the Great Adept was no weaker than the planar consciousness of the World of Adepts.

The two might be different in terms of total power, but they were undoubtedly of the same nature.

Equally superior! Equally majestic! Equally eternal!