Age of Adepts

The three goblins shivered in shock and looked at each other.

Vanessa was the owner of the room. Naturally, this meant that she had the highest authority over the place. She waved her hand; a barrier of light appeared in front of her, projecting the scene occurring beyond the doors.

Vanessa’s red mechanical eye shone brightly when she saw the familiar towering silhouette on the screen, but the light quickly faded away.

The looming figure standing outside the door was none other than Tigule’s Goblin Shredder.

The two goblin machinist-sorcerers looked at each other in fear. They had a feeling that things were slowly going downhill, rapidly heading towards a place where they had no control. They had just been talking about Tigule, and he was already breaking down their doors. Moreover, he was in full combat outfit.

Could it possibly be a coincidence?

Tigule must have rushed here immediately after leaving Fire Throne. Otherwise, there was no way he would have arrived so quickly.

Princess Vanessa scolded the two messengers when she saw the nervous expressions they had on their faces. She then waved her hand and sent them away.

There were several goblin teleportation devices leading to different regions in a secret room hidden in her quarters. It could allow the goblins to freely and secretly come and go while avoiding the detection of the tower.

Once the two goblin machinist-sorcerers had vanished into the teleportation devices, Vanessa calmed herself down. It was then that she strode towards the door and dispelled all the magical protections around her quarters.

The doors opened wide.

Tigule roughly blasted through the alloy doors with the Goblin Shredder, breaking into the room with rumbling steps. A dozen magical machines in full combat gear followed behind him.

“Tigule, this is my personal quarters. You...you have no right to freely enter in this manner!” Blinding red light shone in Vanessa’s mechanical eye as she shouted. She opened her arms wide and stood before the magical machine.

The Goblin Shredder ignored Vanessa’s words. Instead, it lifted its legs and strode right over her head. It slowly bashed down the doors to the four or five secret rooms, until it found the goblin teleportation devices.

The principles by which the goblin teleportation devices operated were not of the same system as the adepts’ teleportation arrays, which was what allowed them to escape detection from the tower. Vanessa would only require a single teleportation device if it were for the sake of her own convenience in traveling.

However, there were five expensive teleportation devices in her room. To say that she was using them for convenience in travel would be far too terrible an excuse. It might work for the more ignorant, but it was far from sufficient to deceive Tigule.

The Goblin Shredder abruptly froze on the spot when it saw the five teleportation devices. Vanessa, who had been following behind the Shredder, also fell silent.

After a long pause, the Goblin Shredder stood up straight and waved its hand silently.

The dozen powerful magical machines that had broken into the room slowly retreated and shut the doors back in place. The machines did not leave immediately. Instead, they stood guard over the entrance of the room in combat mode.

After a long time, the Goblin Shredder finally turned around, its vicious and terrifying metal frame facing towards the cute and petite Princess Vanessa.

“It’s been a while, Vanessa,” Tigule’s deep and tired voice rang out from within the vicious machine, “Can you explain why all these goblin teleportation devices are here?”

Princess Vanessa’s fully metallic body remained stationary. There was not a trace of an expression on her smooth and perfect face.

Clearly, she refused to answer Tigule’s question.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Tigule’s tone was furious yet powerless at the same time, filled with unconcealable anxiety.

Vanessa finally replied to the question of her admirer.

“Helping the goblins rise to power once again!”

“With what? With the mercy and charity of the adepts? The magical crystals you are using belong to the adepts, the knowledge you have obtained belongs to the adepts, even the room you are living in belongs to the adepts. Every single thing you own belongs to the adepts.

“What exactly do you intend to rely upon to fight against the adepts? Three hundred million goblin lives?” The anger burning in Tigule’s heart only grew with every word he spoke. His tone was turning sharper, and he was practically shouting by the end of it.

“But everything you just mentioned once belonged to us! The adepts took everything away from us, then tossed the unwanted remains back to us, as rewards for our ‘loyalty’ and ‘diligence.’ That isn’t fair! I want to take back everything that once belonged to us now.” Finally, Vanessa started shouting back in Tigule’s face.

She balled her fists and screamed loudly, revealing her true thoughts for the first time in her life.

“As expected, that is what you were thinking.” Tigule was no longer as furious when Vanessa finally bared her heart, “Then, do you know why I’m here today?”

“It’s that tyrant. That evil adept that took away everything from us sent you here.”

“Indeed, everything you have said might be true. But...so what? You have already been living in the World of Adepts for several decades now. You should have witnessed and experienced the power of the adepts. Do you think that we could have continued surviving untouched, even if Lord Greem hadn’t invaded and enslaved the Goblin Plane?”

Vanessa, who had been shouting with all she had earlier, suddenly stopped talking. She chose to respond with complete silence.

She was no longer the insignificant and ignorant goblin princess of the past. She was a mechanical adept that had witnessed the world beyond her well. Through the massive number of magical tomes she had read, and through all she had personally seen, Vanessa understood very clearly how backward and isolated the Goblin Plane had been.

Even though she was reluctant to admit it, the civilization she had experienced over the years did not allow her to gloss over the problems that once existed in the Goblin Plane.

Compared to the World of Adepts, compared to the tens of thousands of lesser planes enslaved by the World of Adepts, the Goblin Plane was simply far too weak and primitive!

The only advantage that the Goblin Plane could claim to possess was its shocking amount of metal resources.

Meanwhile, the goblins were simply a weak race that kept guard over the treasure hoard without the power to claim its ownership.

It wouldn’t even take the World of Adepts to conquer the Goblin Plane. The goblins would not have been able to escape their fate of being enslaved and slaughtered had they run into any other planar world with some degree of power.

Moreover, while their metal resources could be considered rare resources, the goblins themselves were barely qualified as a labor force. They might not even have the qualifications to serve as slaves.

As such, the fact that the Goblin Plan had run into Greem and the Crimson Clan could be considered fortunate for them. At the very least, the Crimson Clan had not employed the most barbaric and cruel way possible in taking over the Goblin Plane. They did not enslave all the goblins and reduce them to mere miners.

It was probably the greatest fortune in all of their misfortunes!

However, Vanessa was the princess of the goblins. She could never rid herself of that damned and heavy tag. As the only noble princess of the goblin royalty, Vanessa was constantly dreaming of the glory and brilliance of the Goblin Empire rising by her hands once again.

These wild dreams forced her to push towards that unspeakable ‘Secession Plan’ slowly, one doomed step at a time!

Vanessa had always believed her actions to be successful and covert in the past.

However, when Tigule, who was completely uninvolved in the affair, appeared before her, she had a sudden and shocking realization. None of her actions in the past had ever escaped the grasp of the adepts.

How much did the adepts know? How many core members of the Magic Energy Association had already been exposed? Could the Secession Plan still be carried out?

While Vanessa was caught up in her state of panic and loss, the cockpit of the Goblin Shredder opened up. Tigule jumped out in his tightsuit, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her gently, “Wake up, Vanessa. Your plan, your people. Everything is within the grasp of the Crimson Clan. It doesn’t matter how good your intentions are; your reckless actions will never bring about a happy future for the goblin race. You will only be leading even more goblins into the abyss with you. Turn back, Vanessa. As long as you are willing to give up on these delusions, I...I can protect you with my life on the line. I can ensure you stay alive.”

Vanessa might be a lot more petite than Tigule, but her ‘weakness’ was only on the surface. In the end, Vanessa possessed the power of an advanced First Grade mechanical witch. Dealing with the intermediate First Grade Tigule at such a close distance was no problem at all.

Tigule might be able to fight as an advanced Second Grade while hiding inside the Goblin Shredder. However, now that he had emerged from his armor, he was no more than a slightly stronger goblin pilot!

Red light glowed brightly in Vanessa’s strange mechanical eyes.

............

One of the higher floors of White Tower.

Meryl was seated in her chair in a bright, large arcane hall, silently listening to Vanlier’s report.

Snorlax was rubbing his hands together in the corner of the hall, excitement written all over his face.

“You mean...Tigule led his men into Vanessa’s room, then had them exit the room while he remained inside her room alone?” An intimidating light glowed in Meryl’s red eyes as she asked with a cold and cutting voice.

“Yes!”

“There’s nothing strange in Vanessa’s room, is there?”

“We have been keeping a very close eye on her recently. Even though she has not made any contact with any members of the Magic Energy Association, the Association has become increasingly active.

As such, I suspect that there is some sort of strange device in her room that allows her to maintain contact with the outside world.” Vanlier had become sharper and more capable after all these years serving as Meryl’s aide.

“My lady, if I’m not wrong, Vanessa might be hiding some goblin teleportation devices in her room.”

“Teleportation devices? What are they capable of?” Meryl couldn’t help but frown deeply when she heard the word ‘teleportation.’

“Those devices only work for goblins. They allow them to do short-distance point-to-point teleportation. They cannot teleportat more than fifty kilometers away.”

“Teleporting goblins?” Meryl’s eyes grew wide. She immediately stood up and gave an order, “Go. Immediately detain Vanessa. If she dares resist, then kill her!”

“Yes!”