Age of Adepts

Gargamel shut off the communication furiously, stood up, and left the command hall. He walked through a long metal corridor and arrived in front of the entrance of a secret room.

Deng. Deng. Deng.

After a few light knocks, the metallic doors opened, sliding silently into the walls.

Greem was naked from the waist up in the room, Mary and Alice carefully treating the wounds on his body.

“What matter do you have to report now? Do you not know that the clan leader is currently receiving treatment?” Mary frowned and reprimanded with a scowl on her face.

Gargamel smiled awkwardly.

“Speak, what has happened?” Greem asked. He could discern many things from Gargamel’s expression.

“All the magical machine squads we sent to the border regions have been intercepted.”

“What? Who dares stand in our way with these circumstances? Who is it? Tell me who is it! I’ll go and tear them apart right now!” Mary’s crimson eyes lit up upon hearing this. She seemed incredibly eager to go.

“In the southwest is the Bloody Spear Army of the Dener Clan, in the northwest is the White Ghost Army of the Entom Clan, and in the south is the Swamp Flying Dragon Army of the Banda Clan. More armies of other clans are appearing in the other directions as well, and the magical machine squads we sent on pursuit have been intercepted.”

“Only intercepted and sent back, correct? No direct conflict?” Greem frowned and followed with a question.

“No!” Gargamel shook his head and said, “All interfering adept clans have claimed that they are acting on orders of the Association and are responsible for supervising the battlefield and potential violations. They did not directly attack our clan’s forces.”

Greem thought for a moment and turned to look at Alice.

A look appeared on Alice’s gentle, pretty face that said she had already anticipated this. She explained to Greem softly, “The fact that they didn’t initiate a fight means that the Association leaders don’t want to go to war yet. Intercepting our forces and sending them back is telling us that there’s a boundary to our war that we must not cross. Judging by the implication, the Association has tacitly consented to our rule over the Ailovis region, but we are not allowed to spread the fires of war beyond the region.”

“They say ‘wage war’ on us, and they wage war on us; they say ‘stop fighting,’ and we have to stop fighting? Hmph! Those old bastards. Don’t they just like to manage everything?” Mary’s temper was still as fiery as ever, and it was written all over her face.

Greem sighed and turned to speak to Gargamel, “Notify all clan adepts that our main target of pursuit is still the Fabres Clan, but we can loosen our chase on the enemies outside of the Fabres Clan! However, execute all enemies that remain within Ailovis and refuse to surrender by nighttime!”

“Yes, sir!”

Gargamel bowed and acknowledged the order. He was about to step out of the room to relay the instructions, but Greem stopped him.

“I have already heard Mary speak about everything that has happened in the clan recently. You...have done well. You lived up to my expectations!”

“It is only my duty! It is not worthy of my lord’s praise.” An unconcealable smile appeared on Gargamel’s old and sinister face when he heard Greem’s praise.

“This time, I also got my hands on some valuable items from the other world. These will be your rewards then!”

Greem took out three strange vials of purple potions from his storage ring and put them in Gargamel’s hands.

“Three potions. One of them is a bloodline re-creation potion, while the other two are bloodline purification potions. You might be advanced First Grade now, but you’re still a long way from peak First Grade. With this bloodline re-creation potion, you can obtain the bloodline of the Giant Black Mamba. I believe they are also venomous and of the poison attribute, which makes for a decent match with your adept affinities.”

“More importantly, once you turn into a bloodline adept, your lifespan should be extended to some degree. Once you use the two bloodline purification potions, it should be enough for you to advance to Second Grade!”

Greem continued to ramble on and warn Gargamel about many other things he needed to be cautious about while using the potion. However, Gargamel was completely stunned now as if he had just been blasted with a bolt of lightning. He could only laugh foolishly while holding the three potions in his arms.

No one might know about his situation, but Gargamel clearly knew that he only had eleven years of life left!

Ever since he became Greem’s majordomo in Zhentarim, he had been working day and night for the sake of the Crimson Clan and had almost abandoned his own practice as a potions master. He did not have excellent talent. Becoming a First Grade adept was already the fortune of his lifetime. As such, he had never hoped to advance to Second Grade.

The reason he still worked so hard for Greem and for the Crimson Clan wasn’t for his own benefit, but for the sake of his family. He hoped that Greem would treat Eva and his daughter Emelia well on account of his loyal service.

Yet now, close to the end of his life, a massive gift had crashed down onto his head from the skies above. Not only would he be able to continue living, but he would also be able to enjoy an even better, healthier life. It...it was incredible news that had shattered his mental state, leaving him reeling and dizzy with disbelief. He had no idea if what was happening in front of him was real or simply a dream.

Greem shook his head unamusedly when he saw Gargamel bite the back of his hand and jump up from the pain.

“I guess I’ll go relay the orders! I see Gargamel’s gone mad.”

Gargamel immediately snapped back to reality when he heard Mary speak. He hugged the three potions tightly, almost as if he was hugging the most important thing in his life.

“I’ll go...I’ll go. I’ll go now.”

He rushed out of the room.

When the door finally closed again, Mary turned and smiled at Greem.

“Seems like you got quite a haul from your trip to the other world. You even prepared a present for that silly adept. What about mine?” Mary flashed her incisors while she spoke, as if she would bite down on Greem if he said he had no presents.

Mary was a Third Grade vampire adept now. Even Greem would suffer a heavy loss to his spirits if she got to sink her fangs into him.

“Don’t...we can talk with our actions. No need to use our mouths! You just want presents, don’t you? I have them...I do.”

Greem hastily took out some tightly sealed clay jars from his storage ring and passed them to Mary.

Mary grabbed the jars and looked at them. The mud seals on the jars were carved full of mysterious runes, while the pots themselves, though of seemingly crude handiwork, had a pretty, otherworldly aesthetic. The clay jars were handmade by someone. Due to the haste in making them, their shapes were uneven, and much of the color had faded from their patterns.

Mary shook the jars. It was obvious that there was some sort of viscous liquid inside. Her ruby eyes couldn’t help but light up. She pierced the mud seal with her sharp finger and dabbed a little of red substance for a taste. She almost screamed from delight.

“Third Grade; this is refined blood from a Third Grade creature! Are you sure you want to give me all this?” Mary was so excited that her eyes gleamed.

Greem nodded his head.

If it wasn’t for Mary, he wouldn’t have needed to spend so much effort to draw a bunch of Third Grade Gold Knights into a trap. That earthshaking battle had caused Greem, Tess, and Italil to become severely injured.

However, the holy knights had ended up in a far worse position!

First, they were struck by the magic traps that the witches had hidden beneath the swamp. Then, while they were confused by the traps, the three adepts had worked together to take them down, one by one. Under their ferocious and reckless attacks, the seven Third Grade Gold Knights were killed in the Poison Swamps.

The blood of the Gold Knights was extracted, refined, and sealed in these jars. It was all done by Witch Tess. Greem then took away the holy light souls, leaving the witches only with their tattered corpses.

There were people among the Deceit Witches who excelled at creating voodoo beasts and zombie golems. This number of high-quality holy knight corpses was enough for them to create a terrifying squad of voodoo beasts.

With the protection of such voodoo beasts, they would be more confident in their safety.

Their chances of survival in Henvic would be reasonably good as long as they didn’t run into the two Fourth Grade Holy Knights!

As for whether and how they would be rescued? That was the concern of the Deceit Witches, and Greem couldn’t be bothered. Greem had immediately said his farewells with Witch Italil upon returning to the World of Adepts.

Greem quickly explained everything that had happened to Mary and Alice in a few sentences.

Mary immediately and happily went to look for another room to enjoy her snack, leaving Greem and Alice alone.

Once they were the only two people left, Greem laughed maliciously and patted his own thighs. Alice rolled her eyes at him unamusedly, before blushing and sitting onto his lap.

Greem embraced Alice and put her face into her silky long hair, taking in the light fragrance of her body. He then let out a long sigh, steeped in exhaustion and fatigue.

Over the past five years, Greem had been running around the other world and had never gotten proper time to rest and sleep. He had been on alert or fighting with people for every moment in his life. He hadn’t even dared to fall asleep while trapped in the volcano. He had instead replaced sleep with meditation.

There had been constant fighting and unending injuries. Even though most of Greem’s wounds had healed, the accumulated fatigue had been etched deep in his Spirit and soul.

Moreover, once he returned home, he had to engage in a battle against a Fourth Grade adept without the time to stop and rest.

Even a person forged of metal could not endure such arduous strain!

As such, after burying his face in Alice’s hair and semi-consciously muttering something to her, Greem fell into sweet, sweet sleep.

He fell into an exceedingly deep slumber, and an exceedingly sweet one at that; it was almost as if he had returned to his mother’s womb. It was calm, quiet, peaceful, and without worry.