Age of Adepts

The Tower of Fate sitting high atop Dragonblight had already been shrouded in mist for an entire day and night.

Ever since night fell, the top of the ever quiet and inconspicuous Tower of Fate had suddenly lit up like a large burning torch. Blinding and dizzying radiance came from atop the tower, piercing the mists and clouds as it shot through the sky.

Many Fate Witches were gathered in the astrology hall inside the tower, desperately guiding the powers of the stars to point the way home for a certain lost child far away in the remote corners of the universe.

The mists of Fate enveloping the tower were not the work of the Fate Witches. When the Fate marker pierced the skies and projected somewhere into the distant void, the mists rumbled and gathered together as if intending to cut off the pillar of light.

The mist clashed with the pillar of light, causing the skies above Dragonblight to shift and turn colors, making for a strange and unpredictable sight.

Two incredibly powerful forces of Fate power clashed, tangled, and neutralized each other. The clouds of Fate shards and chaotic Fate vortices created by this conflict brought about a calamity of extinction to the native creatures of Dragonblight.

Even the Tower of Fate had no choice but to erect a forcefield to stop itself from being destroyed by the clash between the two powers of Fate.

As those powers rumbled and surged in the skies, the world consciousness, that had been asleep in silence, abruptly moved. With an incomparable and unmatched will, it crushed the foreign power of Fate cast upon its body to pieces.

Like oil cast onto a brazier, the light projected from the Tower of Fate suddenly glowed tens of thousands of times brighter. The pillar of light turned into arrows that pierced through the skies, instantly dispelling the pale white mist around the tower.

A woman’s faint grunt of pain could barely be heard from the void beyond the plane.

This foreign power of Fate then gradually retreated from the Northern Lands and from the World of Adept itself, vanishing in the endless storm and energy tides of space.

Back in the Tower of Fate, the fully equipped Alice opened her mouth and spat out blood, staining the Staff of Divination she held tightly in her hands. Her frail body trembled slightly, but she managed to grit her teeth and keep herself standing.

Elementium Fairy Helen anxiously fluttered around Alice, constantly waving her wand to bless her with one spell after another. It was only due to these blessings that Alice had barely managed to endure the remote battle between her and that other Witch of Fate.

Greem was still too careless in the end!

The single-use teleportation array he had obtained came from Maysa, to begin with. There was no way he could escape her intervention if he wanted to return to the World of Adepts with that array. Fortunately, Greem had chosen the Tower of Fate as his destination when selecting the planar coordinates for the teleportation array, as opposed to Fire Throne. That decision was what allowed Alice to change his Fate.

Witch Maysa attempted to use the powers of Fate to change the final destination of the teleportation array to transport Greem to someplace in the realms beyond. Meanwhile, Alice relied on the combined strength of all her subordinate Fate Witches, the power of the astrology ritual, the Staff of Divination, and even a borrowed trace of power from the World of Adept’s River of Fate to redirect Greem’s planar coordinates back onto their proper path.

Witch Maysa’s reckelss action had also incited backlash from the World of Adepts. It was hard to imagine that her condition was much better than Alice’s.

After a thirty-one hour delay, the milky-white light around the array finally started to fade. The silhouette of Greem and the three other people eventually turned from faint to solid as they became clearer in view.

The moment the teleportation completed, the three witches in the array fell to the ground and started retching violently. Even Greem, whose Physique was comparable to a Second Grade body-refining adept, remained dizzy for a long while before he could walk out of the array, step by step.

As a Third Grade adept, Greem had already experienced hundreds of long-ranged teleportations. Even the interplanar, ultra-long-ranged teleportations would only take up to two or three seconds. Such a situation where the teleportation lasted for over thirty-one hours had never happened before.

It was like being caught in the intense clash of two separate spacetime forces.

Even though it was only a short teleportation process, it had forcefully been drawn out to a seemingly unending drift through spacetime. Greem and the three others had a terrible time being caught in a rift between spacetime for such a prolonged duration.

If it weren’t for all of them being protected by powerful spells, the extension and tearing of the powers of spacetime would have been enough to leave incurable damage to their Spirits.

The ones waiting outside the teleportation were naturally Alice, Helen, and Snowlotus, who had hurried over.

They couldn’t help but lift their eyes and look at Greem when they saw the three witches collapsed near the array, foam spewing from their mouths.

“You took too much of a risk this time! You knew that the teleportation array was hers, and you still dared to use it. If it weren’t for me realizing her plot in time and redirecting your coordinates, you would probably be somewhere in the realms beyond now, drinking tea with her!” Alice complained softly, her face full of fatigue and weakness.

At this moment, even Greem knew that he had messed up.

The difficulty of this teleportation had already alerted him to trouble. It was only now that he heard what Alice had to say that he understood the reason behind the issue.

Seeing how frail Alice appeared to be and how weak her Spirit was, Greem could fully imagine the intensity of the conflict that had happened between her and the other Witch of Fate.

“I’m sorry. This time, I was in too much of a hurry!” Greem stepped forward and lightly wrapped his arm around Alice’s waist, letting her lean into him. He apologized softly, “For some reason, I keep having the feeling that something is about to happen back at the clan, which is why I was in so much of a hurry to come back.”

Alice’s face turned red, and she extended her hand to push herself away from Greem’s embrace. Unfortunately, the exhaustion of her Spirit and stamina left her with no strength at all. Her two hands pressing against Greem’s chest didn’t seem like they were pushing at all. Instead, it almost looked like she was caressing him.

Greem smiled and kissed Alice on her red lips.

Alice whimpered but was quickly lost in that sweet and passionate kiss.

“Oh no, no, I’m gonna get a stye,” Helen quickly clasped her hands on her eyes and started flying about randomly through the air. Icelady Snowlotus grabbed Helen with her hands and flicked her on the forehead. She then put Helen on her shoulder along with her own little fairy, Hannah.

After a long while, Greem finally let go of Alice. Her face was already bright red now, and she was swooning a little.

After a short moment, after allowing her emotions to settle slightly, Alice pointed at the breathless witches and asked out of curiosity, “Italil, why did she come back with you? What about Rena?”

Snowlotus also straightened her ears when she heard Alice mention her mother’s name.

“There’s a limit to the quota for the teleportation, so only some of us could return first.” Greem simply explained, “Rena is still in Henvic Plane. She’s helping the witches there rebuild a permanent base of operations. We have also brought the new teleportation coordinates back with us. The Deceit Witches should be able to bring back the rest of the witches once we hand them over.”

Due to their powerful Fate Senses, both Alice and Snowlotus could tell that the story behind the scenes wasn’t as simple as Greem had described. However, they had no time to ask for details in front of these outsiders.

Under Snowlotus’ instructions, the two fairies flew over to the three witches and waved their wands. Colorful light entered their bodies, helping them deal with the remainder of the spacetime power.

Italil and the old poison witch were both Third Grade witches. Their Physiques and Spirits might be inferior to Greem, but they still had a decent foundation. When the chaotic spacetime powers vanished from their bodies, they rubbed their heads and slowly got up from the floor.

That teleportation was definitely out of the ordinary!

It was just an interplanar teleportation, yet it had almost killed her.

Italil knew that there was more behind the whole thing, but she didn’t quite feel like she could ask about the truth in front of Alice and Greem. The only thing she could do was greet the two and express her gratitude.

As a Third Grade Deceit Witch, Italil had a personal witch tower that belonged to her in the Northern Lands. She was no ordinary figure, be it in terms of personal might or the clan she belonged to. That was why Rena had asked for her protection and escort in the first place.

“The reason I managed to come back alive from Henvic is all due to Lord Greem’s efforts. I owe you a favor now. Once I have reported on the situation to the clan, I will make a special trip to your tower to pay a visit!” After sincerely thanking Greem, Italil pulled the other First Grade witch along with her and stepped into the teleportation array to return to her tower.

Both Alice and Snowlotus’ mouths were in the shape of a perfect circle when they saw how respectful the Third Grade witch was to Greem, who was Third Grade as well.

It was important to note that most Northern Northern Witches were believers in the matriarchal structure. They had never paid any respects to male adepts whose powers they deemed inferior to their own. Italil was an owner of a witch tower, after all. Her status among the Deceit Witches was only inferior to the two Fourth Grade witches. She typically never showed any respect to other male adepts, yet she referred to Greem as ‘Lord.’

Alice and Snowlotus couldn’t help but speculate about what had happened in the distant plane of Henvic. What was it that had made Italil so humble before Greem? Her attitude was so respectful; it was almost as if she was treating Greem as a Fourth Grade adept!

Alice couldn’t help but glance at Greem in confusion. Though his aura was mysterious and profound, so much so that even she couldn’t see the true extent of his power, his soul was definitely at the level of a Third Grade.

Greem seemed to have noted the confusion of the two women. He smiled casually and said, “There’s no need to wonder. I can find some time to tell you the whole story if you want to know!”

Alice could only nod her head. It was then that her gaze landed on the old poison witch, who had stayed behind.

Third Grade. It was a Third Grade witch!

Still, wasn’t her aura way too strange?!

Alice kept having a feeling that this monstrous, seemingly inhuman being had a faint trace of soul connection with Greem. A contract...yes, this was the smell of a soul contract!

“She...is a Third Grade witch you forcefully enslaved?” Alice couldn’t help but ask in shock and horror.

Greem wasn’t a soul adept or a psionic. He shouldn’t have the ability to capture someone as his slave, should he? Moreover, the witch was a Third Grade too. What kind of soul contract could have such tremendous binding power?

“Not me. Him!” Greem shrugged and lifted his hand to summoned Spirit of Pestilence Remi.

Alice looked at the other strange Third Grade figure that appeared out of thin air. Her small face couldn’t help but start twitching in disbelief.