Age of Adepts

World of Adepts. The territory of the Northern Witches.

The Tower of Fate.

A routine, daily Fate prayer ceremony had just concluded. Several dozen Fate Witches were filing out of the astrology hall in an orderly fashion. Alice, the host of the ceremony, stood silently in the center of the starlight array, feeling the Fate power as it merged with her body like tiny raindrops.

“Teacher, there seems to be something on your mind today,” The sweet voice of a girl came from behind. It was Lucia.

It had been many years now. This daughter of Fate had turned from a child to a beautiful young woman. A round face, a high nose, thin lips, eyes as bright as black grapes, and her youthful and explosive figure all revealed her incredible beauty.

Strangely enough, she didn’t wear the traditional starlight robe of the Fate Witches. Instead, she had on an incredibly simple arcane robe. However, to indicate her status as an astrologist, magical patterns representing the sun, moon, and stars were woven into the robe’s edges.

Alice sighed as she turned around. She looked Lucia up and down and said, “What is it? Do you still intend to walk the path of an arcanist?”

“Yup! “Lucia replied softly, but the determination between her brows couldn’t be more obvious. “I firmly believe that the only truth of this world is tough, relentless research of the arcane arts! After all, the Fate power that we obtain by praying day and night is ultimately a power bestowed upon us.”

“Power is power. Is there a difference?” Alice’s eyes were filled with unconcealable appreciation and doting love for the girl.

“Yes! If Fate can give us power, then Fate can also take it away. Once Fate no longer favors us, we will no longer possess anything. We will become completely useless. However, the arcane arts are different. No one can take away the arcane knowledge we’ve obtained through our own research. No one at all!”

Alice sighed and reached out to caress Lucia’s silky smooth hair. “Kid, you should know that if you insist on this line of thought, your level in astrology will never reach Fourth Grade! What Fate requires is utter devotion, not half-hearted efforts!”

“I know, but I would rather believe in a power that I truly own!” Lucia might be young, but she already held the dual status of both a Third Grade arcanist and a Third Grade astrologist.

The arcanist profession required one’s eyes to be open and to embrace the truth of the world. They rejected all that was illogical and all that was not knowledge. Meanwhile, astrologists required one to shut their eyes and zealously cast themselves into the embrace of Fate, listening to its guidance wherever it called them.

Fundamentally, these two professions were utterly opposed, so much so that there was no room for tolerance!

Strangely enough, both these professions merged perfectly in Lucia!

“What plans do you have for your future?” Alice asked curiously.

“I intend to continue improving myself, then go to the Abyssal World,” Lucia grit her teeth and said.

“Why would you want to go to the Abyssal World! That place is filled with ugly and evil demonic creatures. It’s hardly a place for a pretty lady like yourself!”

“I must go there!” Lucia said solemnly, “Because I heard that many of the surviving arcanists have fled into the Abyssal World and are barely making it by. I…I wish to fight alongside them!”

Alice sighed once again and said softly, “The demons of the Abyssal World will not care for your ideals or beliefs. They will only tear apart your flesh and devour your soul. Those companions of yours have been living in the Abyssal World for over two hundred years by now. Are you sure they are still the same people as they once were?”

“I don’t know! Perhaps most of them have already been corrupted by the Abyssal consciousness! Even so, I wish to see for myself…even if only one person remains, I want to drag him out of that hell myself!” For some reason, when Lucia said that, her soft face suddenly glowed with an incredibly pure and holy light.

“Then work hard! The identity of a Third Grade arcanist won’t be enough. You will need to at least have the strength of a Fifth Grade to go exploring in the Abyssal World.”

“I understand, which is why I will work harder from now on!”

“Now, I finally understand what your faith is! It’s not that you are faithless; that which you worship resides not in the material, but inside yourself. That is perhaps the greatest difference between you and me!”

“Teacher Alice, you…you’ve been spouting a lot of wisdom today. Could you be missing that Greem fellow again?” Lucia finally asked out of curiosity.

The whole compassionate-elder image that Alice had earlier immediately crumbled at the question.

She rolled her eyes at Lucia unamusedly and said, “Since you don’t intend to become a Fate Witch, don’t call me teacher anymore. Just call me by my name!”

“Then…Alice, were you thinking about Lord Greem earlier?” Lucia clearly did not intend to let Alice shake off the question. She giggled and pursued.

“Cough!”Alice sighed and pulled Lucia into her arms as she said, “Not so much thinking about him as…worrying about him!”

“Aren’t those two things the same?” Lucia peeked her head out from under Alice’s chest and asked. “Moreover, I heard Greem’s been doing quite well for himself! He even sent back a bunch of good stuff to Mary a while ago. Man, those things, even I can’t help but drool at the thought of them! Alice, you aren’t angry that he didn’t bring you presents as well, are you?”

Alice didn’t know how to respond to the teasing and stuffed the girl’s little head back into her chest.

“Aaah…Alice, do you intend to suffocate me? You…you seem to have gotten a little bigger there again!”

“You naughty kid! You’ve become just like him now!” Alice’s face turned bright red, but it was quickly replaced by a wave of sadness.

“Sis, what’s troubling you?”

“This is the tragedy of us Fate Witches!” For some reason, Alice had been sighing more and more frequently now. “Even though we see Fate and know everything that will happen to our lover, we cannot say a single word about it.”

Lucia was stunned.

This time, she knew well enough not to ask. Instead, she simply listened quietly.

She was a Third Grade astrologist herself. Naturally, she knew of the taboos for Fate Witches. Many things couldn’t be revealed. Should those things be revealed, it would cause disruptions to the known Fate. When that happened, even more unpredictable and uncontrollable splits and branches would occur to Fate.

That was why Alice would say anything herself if it was something she could and was willing to speak about. Meanwhile, the things that she couldn’t talk about would only end up harming everyone if Lucia asked about them.

“Lucia, perhaps your choice is the correct one! The longer you walk on the path of Fate, the lonelier it gets. We can’t say or do anything even if we see the horrible future that our lover is about to face.

“If I don’t say or do anything, he might still have the slimmest of chances to survive. But if I were to speak up or put anything to action, he might just lose this last thread of hope.

“It’s… excruciating. I feel so powerless. Sometimes, I really hate this ability of mine. Perhaps, being completely ignorant of Fate’s arrangements and being able to live every day happily would be true bliss!”

Alice finished what she had to say. She hugged Lucia tightly as her tears finally rolled down her cheeks and soaked the girl’s hair.

Lucia could only sigh helplessly and return the hug.

…………

Fire Elementium Plane, Fire Throne.

When a beautiful and blinding light shone from the adept tower, everything within six kilometers of Molten Altar became Greem’s territory.

Supposedly, taking possession of land in the Fire Elementium Plane as a human adept should have triggered the rage of the Fire Elementium Plane. High-grade fire creatures would have appeared to intervene.

However, Greem had long since established good relations with the nearby Fire Kings and dealt with any individuals that might pose a problem.

When he finally showed his banner and outlined his territory, not only were there no riots from the locals, there were even messengers from the Fire Kings.

Fire King Zetas and Thanos naturally wouldn’t come in person. They couldn’t be bothered with an outsider like Greem. However, out of respect for Fire King Groms, they sent their own messengers, and friendly relations of a sort were established.

After all, Greem was able to make a lair in the Fire Elementium Plane due to Groms’ help. Naturally, Greem was considered part of Groms’ faction.

Greem neither acknowledged or denied this association. He simply glossed over it!

It couldn’t be helped. After all, Greem was still an outsider to the Fire Elementium Plane. Though he had managed to get acquainted with the planar consciousness through a world sacrifice, he wasn’t a local creature.

It was only natural that he had to ride on the coattails of someone else’s reputation to establish himself!

Fortunately, Greem’s identity as a fire adept was compatible with this world, which was why the locals didn’t severely reject him.

Once Fire Throne began functioning, Greem ended his days of wandering. He finally had a home of his own.

After dealing with all the matters of the World of Adepts and Camp Exodar, he went into seclusion in Fire Throne and began the next step toward improving his might.

The results of the orc war had left him filled and bloated.

The divine authority fragments would be sealed off temporarily until he could find a way to maximize their value. Meanwhile, he directly absorbed the large amount of divine virtue. Greem used some of it to increase his base attributes, while the rest was used to nourish his increasingly powerful starbeast bloodline.

Greem’s base power changed tremendously as the days slowly passed!