Age of Adepts

After a long time in battle, Tuncay–the adept who had transformed into a squid monstrosity–could no longer bear the plane’s suppression. Both he and his opponent dove beyond the planar barrier. The other two pairs of combatants quickly followed suit and shifted the battle to space.

Greem hesitated for a moment but did not flee from the planar world like the rest of them.

First, while the beast tamer was difficult to deal with, he wasn’t so challenging that he had no choice but to transform. Second, the adept they were supposed to protect on this mission was still in the camp behind them. If everyone left and another orc powerhouse arrived, this mission would be finished.

That was why Greem didn’t stray too far. Greem led the beast tamer and his two Fifth Grade beasts along as he circled around Dun Modr. It seemed like their battle was tearing the skies and earth apart, but there was no real danger in truth. No significant damage had been inflicted on either party.

Greem was secretly scanning for the opponent’s true power while they fought. Judging by the information obtained by the Chip, the beast tamer’s power was undergoing a slow regression.

After all, the beast tamer was not the same as Greem.

Greem was a bonafide Fifth Grade Great Adept, only forced into such dire straits by the planar suppression. Meanwhile, the beast tamer was fundamentally a peak Fourth Grade orc powerhouse. He had only managed to temporarily advance to Fifth Grade with the power projected through the God Summoning.

Wielding Fifth Grade power with a Fourth Grade body exerted terrible exhaustion upon an individual, even with the protection of divine power. After an entire day and night of fighting, the beast tamer was starting to falter.

Of course, it wasn’t a lack of combat power on the part of the beast god who had possessed him. Rather, it was that the body of the host–the beast tamer himself–that was starting to collapse.

Just then, ripples appeared on the planar barrier as several spatial rifts tore open. The orcs and adepts who had fled to space for a battle had returned. However, compared to before, they were in far worse condition. Blood and injuries covered their entire bodies.

They couldn’t heal these wounds with their power. That was enough evidence to suggest that their injuries were grievous or that a foreign energy lingered on their wounds. These were the only conditions by which such obvious wounds could be left on their bodies.

Both sides had clearly reached their limits. The energy reserves within their bodies had fallen to a hazardous level. However, neither side intended to sacrifice themselves to take down their enemy. As such, they could only call a truce and wait for a better opportunity to fight in the future.

The five orcs had arrived in high spirits, but they had nothing to show for it after all that fighting; they could only walk away resentfully. The Great Adepts exchanged looks but said nothing. They chose to return to Dun Modr to rest and recuperate.

Sixth Grade Great Adept Windstern seemed to have fought a pretty vicious fight. Over one-third of his body of smoke was missing. However, the orc powerhouse he had been fighting didn’t go untouched either. Black smoke lingered around the countless wounds on his body. The orc couldn’t heal the wounds through his power at all.

Of the Fifth Grade adepts, the most badly injured appeared to be Bloodline Adept Tuncay. The majority of his tentacles appeared to have been severed by the enemy. Thick black mist spewed forth from the stumps, making his form a sorry sight.

Upon seeing the Great Adepts return ‘victorious,’ the adepts of Dun Modr rushed out hastily to welcome them. They arranged clean rooms in which the Great Adepts could rest.

To help mend the Great Adepts’ wounds, large groups of healing adepts gathered together to use every means possible to expel the foreign energy lingering in their injuries. The orcs’ attacks contained terrifying beast god divine-power. Dispelling this divine power was an exceedingly difficult task, and the Great Adepts suffered greatly through this process.

Fortunately, the orcs weren’t in much better condition.

After this battle, the adepts would not have to worry about ultra-grade combatants appearing on the enemy’s side for a few weeks at the minimum!

Perhaps because of this guarantee on the part of Great Adept Windstern, Dun Modr instantly bustled with life again.

Large groups of adept forces teleported over from the various lesser planes. They rushed out of Dun Modr and started assaulting orc cities all across Plane Gere under Commander Melora’s command.

For a moment, the smoke and fires of war rose over Plane Gere once more as every region fell into deep, bloody battle once again!

Greem and the other Great Adepts couldn’t be concerned about the adepts’ strategy for conquering Plane Gere.

These things were all planned and put into action by Melora and the other leaders of the army. The Great Adepts were only responsible for holding the backline and ensuring that the orcs’ ultra-grade forces didn’t attack the invading force.

While his companions were recovering in the city, Greem leisurely ran around exploring the more famous ‘ancient ruins’ and ‘forbidden lands’ of Plane Gere.

Of course, for a Fifth Grade Great Adept like Greem, it was nearly impossible to find anything within a planar world that could actually threaten him with death. The more dangerous the place was rumored to be, the more excited and curious Greem became.

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

Plane Gere, the Sacred Dragon Valley.

It was a pleasant afternoon, where the warm sun shone high above.

The usually peaceful and quiet Sacred Dragon Valley was suddenly bustling with commotion.

A large group of wyverns arrived from the east, cutting across five thousand kilometers of distance and the Bismarck Mountains before descending at the valley entrance.

The group was composed of a hundred wyverns, with two adepts riding on each wyvern’s back. At a rough count, there were over two hundred adepts in this army alone. They could be considered a formidable military force.

The leader of the army reined in the wyvern king he rode upon. He was holding a crude map drawn on parchment in front of him. He quickly compared the geography and markings on the map to the scenery in front of him; a smile flashed across his face.

He turned around hastily and said, “My lord, we’ve arrived. This is the legendary Sacred Dragon Valley!”

The leader was a Fourth Grade body-refining adept who wore adept robes but carried a pair of strange copper hammers on his back. The many years of body refinement made his body carry an oppressive aura of bloodthirst naturally. However, no matter how murderous his aura was, he had to be very careful near this fearsome individual before him. He didn’t even dare to breathe too loud.

After all, he had personally witnessed the terrifying prowess of this man!

“Oh? We’re here already?” Greem, who had been meditating with his eyes shut all this while, opened them and looked down. When he saw the low valley hidden within the woods, his expression loosened as well. “Since we’re here, let’s go down and make camp for a bit! We will enter the valley soon.”

“Understood!”

The leader acknowledged the order before turning around and shouting, “Descend and prepare to make camp!”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

Affirmations rang out all around him.

The wyverns reared their necks and roared before beating their wings, pushing apart the canopy of the ancient forest and finding a clearing in the woods to land.

Wild wyverns were First Grade magical beasts when fully grown. Its individual offensive power was lacking, but its strong jaw, terrible venom, commendable mobility, and tendency to live in flocks made them one of the most challenging creatures to deal with.

Meanwhile, these wyverns had all undergone bloodline modulation by high-grade adepts. Their basic combat power had been increased from First Grade to Second Grade. Meanwhile, the wyvern king had a skeletal crown growing on top of its skull. It was intermediate Third Grade.

That much power was enough to make it a regional ruler in most forests!

In this army, it was only an enslaved mount of the adepts. Its status was not much higher than those unintelligent voodoo beasts.

In particular, it was currently carrying an absolutely horrifying Great Adept on its back. It was incredibly fearful of even thinking any rebellious thoughts.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

As the wyverns landed one by one, the dead leaves and branches on the ground blew into the air by the wyverns’ wings. The entire forest appeared to be crowded as these creatures landed.

Elite adepts leaped off of the wyverns and formed scouting parties to investigate their surroundings. The adepts remaining in the clearing summoned voodoo beasts and golems to level the ground and fell the surrounding trees. They were going to make preparations for a few days of camping here.

By the time the leader landed in the clearing with his wyvern king, the place was already starting to look like a camp.

Those who were leveling the ground were leveling the ground, those setting up camps were setting up camps, those finding water sources were searching with all they had, and those preparing food were bent over their pots and pans; everything was so orderly and perfectly organized.

There wasn’t even a need for orders from the leader. The elite adepts were already searching toward the depths of Sacred Dragon Valley in preparation for their upcoming expedition.

The wyvern king crouched gently and created a small stair with its wings and head, allowing Greem to walk to the ground easily.

“My lord, rest here in the camp for a moment and have some food. I’m sure the scouting party will return with useful information very soon,” The leader accompanied Greem attentively and cautiously gave a suggestion.

It might be the Great Adept’s private expedition, but I could surely obtain decent rewards if I can establish good relations with him.

The leader almost couldn’t help but break out into a smile at the thought of this!