Age of Adepts

The mastiff, the snake, and Horr’s clone had all died by Greem’s hand. The surviving falcon knew well enough to take to the skies and flee toward its allies.

“Cover me...we will split the loot once we are safe!”

Greem sent out a transmission to Antuso before escaping back toward the adepts’ side with his bulging fish body. His swollen stomach seemed to be growing and constantly rumbling as if there was some monster rampaging inside.

Several majestic god clones in the distance had sensed Horr’s divine authority suddenly vanish. They cursed loudly as they hurried in this direction as quickly as they could.

It was fine if Horr’s clone was destroyed. That wasn’t a particularly concerning issue.

However, the divine authority fragment contained inside the clone had to be retrieved. Otherwise, Horr, the God of the Hunt, would forever lose that portion of his power.

If Horr lost too many divine authority fragments such that he was unable to assemble a whole divine authority, he would drop down by a grade, turning from a Sixth Grade god to a low-ranked god. If the loss of his divine authority was severe, he might even fall back to the level of a demi-god and lose his status as a true god.

The clone was disposable, but the divine authority fragment had to be recovered!

The few gods who were more intimate with the the God of the Hunt immediately commanded their clones to lunge at Greem, who had just devoured Horr’s clone.

There even seemed to be a Sixth Grade among the many clones rushing toward him. Greem didn’t dare stay a single second longer on the battlefield upon seeing this. He scrambled his way back to the adept side as quickly as he could. The god clones wanted to keep up the pursuit, but adepts from the other side promptly intercepted them.

Several violent fights instantly broke out on the battlefield again!

If this were in the past, it would not have been so easy for Greem to devour and digest an opponent of the same grade. Now that he had the Tome of Corruption and the Orb of the Fire God to protect his body, he could keep the enemy from escaping. He guided the Undying Flames to his stomach and forcibly melted down the divine body of Horr’s clone with the two artifacts’ aid.

After fleeing back to the adept’s side, Greem’s giant and swollen fish body remained hovering in the air. He finally crushed the wisp of soul consciousness attached to Horr’s clone to dust after much difficulty. The clone’s divine body then reverted to divine power. Naturally, the divine authority fragments within were now in Greem’s possession.

Upon sensing the clone’s soul consciousness vanish, Antuso asked eagerly, “Did you manage to kill him? How many divine authority fragments are there? Spit it out and let me see.”

Greem opened his tightly shut mouth, and a mysterious, blinding crystal floated out of his maw.

“Divine authority fragment...it really is a divine authority fragment!” Antuso put his face up against the crystal and examined it. He had an excited expression. “From what I can see, this divine authority fragment can be split into three pieces. How should we divide this between the two of us?”

“Of course, I get two of the pieces, and you get one...I suffered some pretty big losses in that battle earlier. I am entitled to the lion’s share!” Greem rolled his eyes, and the ugly face of the Devouring Fish made a very human expression.

“No, no...that’s a divine authority fragment! We can’t split it that way. We must each get half. I can compensate for your efforts and losses with other resources!” Antuso refused to compromise at this point, even if they were fairly close acquaintances.

After all, this business concerned a divine authority fragment!

The very reason the adepts were constantly waging war against the World of Gods was because of the divine authority, divine virtue, and divine power found within a god’s body. The gods’ power system might seem distinct from the adepts, but these three resources could all be used by the adepts as well.

Simply put, divine power was the power source, divine virtue was the manifestation of divine power, and divine authority was the foundation of divine power. Divinity referred to the domain of divine power which the god possessed!

Divine authorities were the true heart of a god’s powers. Most of the true gods’ power came from their divine authorities. There were even legends of mortals who instantly ascended into gods when they stumbled onto a divine authority.

Divine authority was also a necessary tool by which the gods could absorb and utilize faith power from their believers. It could also receive the prayers and requests from believers and process that vast amount of information. The gods could then weave a faith network to receive all the faith power dedicated to them. Divine authority was the very terminal and heart of this system.

The number of divine authorities represented the grade level of a god!

Horr, the God of the Hunt, was at least a Fifth Grade low-ranked god. He almost certainly had at least one complete divine authority and some more divine authority fragments in his possession. He would split out some of his divine authority fragments to serve as hosts for his clone. These clones would then battle in his stead.

The fact that Horr’s clone could summon three Fifth Grade animal companions to do battle clearly had a direct correlation to these three divine authority fragments in his body.

If divine authorities were the heart of a god’s power, then they were considered a pure energy converter to adepts. If the gods wanted to turn their magical equipment into divine equipment, the necessary materials would be divine authorities and divine virtues.

Divine authorities imbued the divine artifacts with their superior grade and offensive power, while divine virtues provided the relics with unique divine traits.

Due to the difference in their power systems, the adepts could not assimilate divine authorities directly. However, they could use them to forge high-grade magical equipment that was perfectly compatible with their powers!

A divine authority fragment, paired with the appropriate amount of divine virtue, could be used to create Fifth Grade magical equipment. The more divine authority fragments and divine virtues used in the process, the more terrifying and powerful the equipment.

Naturally, given such temptations, every god appeared to be little more than a humanoid treasure trove in the eyes of the adepts. If an adept could skin a god, rip out their tendons, and stew their bones into oil, the stuff they could get out of it would be enough to make them wealthy and satisfied.

For Greem and Antuso–both beginner Fifth Grade–a single divine authority fragment meant another piece of Fifth Grade magical equipment. It was no wonder that they were so insistent on getting their share of the spoils and were having an argument about it.

“No way! My body’s been torn to tatters by the opponent. I put in the most work, and I deserve to get the bigger share! Two for me and one for you. I...I will give you more divine virtue in exchange!” Naturally, Greem would never spit out food that’s already in his mouth, especially when it was such a scrumptious and succulent piece of meat. He opened his mouth and spat out a ball of golden light.

Prismatic lines could vaguely be seen shimmering and swimming within the ball of light. They moved around almost like sentient serpents.

Antuso hesitated for a moment.

He really wanted to win more loot for himself, but what he had just witnessed on the battlefield was enough to make him wary. Greem might only be a rookie, but he did have the power to back up his claims.

Falling out with him over a ‘mere’ fragment of divine authority wasn’t the most rational decision. Better to grant him this favor and further improve their relationship.

With this thought, Antuso could only nod and agree to the compromise.

Greem spat, and the blinding crystal split into three smaller pieces of divine authority fragments. It was the smallest unit of divine authority possible. One of the fragments, along with that ball of divine virtue, drifted to Antuso. He put them all away with a broad smile on his face.

Greem put away the two divine authority fragments and reverted to his human form.

“I intend to take another walk around the battlefield and see what more I can find. What about you?” Antuso couldn’t help but ask passionately.

“I won’t be going!” Greem sighed and pointed at his body. There were gaping wounds all over, layered with horrible gashes, all of which fumed with strands of black smoke. It was obvious that they had been afflicted with foreign energy. “These injuries alone will probably keep me in bed for a long time to come.”

“Go back ahead of me then! I will go out for a look-see again,” Antuso had not been injured too much in the previous fight. He was also greedy for more loot. His figure flickered. He vanished without a trace as he rushed toward the battlefield.

Greem put Remi back into the Tome of Corruption before flying toward the teleportation tile at the backlines.

Naturally, a Sixth Grade Great Adept was holding the line here. He had also witnessed Greem’s fight against Horr’s clone.

Even though the battle had yet to end, he wouldn’t stop Greem. After all, Greem had just significantly contributed to the fight and badly needed to return and rest.

“Lucky kid. You got yourself a divine authority fragment right as you got here. I am Adept Brien, in charge of the battlefield in this star region. Leave your contact method behind! We might be able to exchange some of our spoils when this is over,” The Sixth Grade Great Adept in charge of protecting the backlines nodded at Greem approvingly and offered his magical brand to Greem.

Greem respectfully sent over his own magical brand before stepping onto the teleportation array and disappearing in a flash of light.

The moment he returned to Boulder Fortress, Greem retreated to his room with the excuse that he needed to rest and recover.

Once he was in his room and had activated all the magical defenses, he started to carefully count all his loot from this battle.

Two fragments of divine authority.

Thirty-eight units of divine virtue.

Two thousand one hundred seventy-four pieces of divine power crystal.

The reason there were so many divine power crystals was that Greem had devoured Horr’s clone before he had the chance to use his power. As such, Greem had obtained plenty of divine power crystals and divine virtue after melting down Horr’s body.

A portion of the divine virtue also came from the two divine beasts that Greem had killed.

There were no divine authority fragments inside them, but they gave Greem quite a lot of divine virtue and divine power crystals.

Divine virtue was an excellent resource too!

All you had to do was mix in a little divine virtue when forging something, and that object would possess strange effects akin to principle powers. This divine virtue had come from the God of the Hunt. Naturally, they would have some relation to his divinity and his soul.

What exactly were the characteristics of these divine virtues?

Greem couldn’t help but give out an order. “Chip, analyze these divine virtues.”

[Beep. Instructions received...analysis in progress.]