Age of Adepts

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Alarmed and panicked, Greem was in deep thought.

He sort of had the feeling that he had unintentionally intruded into a dangerous domain that he shouldn’t have stepped into at all!

It was impossible for the Fairy to have absorbed so many bloodline genes just by relying on its own ability. So there was only one possibility: the fragments of bloodline genes were being stored by the Adept Tower. When that place had been abandoned by the Fallen Adepts, the Human-faced Flower that was lucky enough to survive had absorbed the other bloodline genes, and so had grown into an Adept level Fairy.

After all, due to the mightiness of Adept’s bloodline and the powerful strength of the family behind them, in the entire Adept Continent, any behavior that led to the stealing of Adept’s bloodline was forbidden and any research related to that was totally prohibited as well. Therefore, that within an Adept Tower built by Fallen Adepts, Greem had actually found the trace of so many bloodline genes, perhaps… there was a severe secret hiding behind this!

On instinct, the first assumption Greem had was that Second Grade Fallen Adept Pridka had carried out a secret experiment related to synthetic bloodlines. And it was highly possible this assumption was real! After all, for a First Grade Adept, carrying out any research related to bloodlines was nearly impossible.

But the deeper Greem dug into this matter, the more he just couldn’t help but gulped a mouthful of his own saliva as his mind was overcast by a huge patch of shadow.

Could a Second Grade Fallen Adept complete bloodline research on such a huge scale alone?

After all, Bloodline Apprentices were high-quality resources that were sought after by clans of all different sizes. The treatment they received was much better than that given to Elemental Apprentices, Body Refining Apprentices, and Profound Apprentices. If more than double digit numbers of Bloodline Apprentices had been murdered or went missing in the Dagon region, a massive storm would have long broken out.

However, Greem had been in this place for quite some time but he had never heard any rumors or news regarding this.

Could this mean that the Second Grade Fallen Adept had handled this matter brilliantly and kept it well hidden, or there was an unknown, yet powerful, clan that was hiding this for him? In the Dagon Region, a couple of small Adept families wouldn’t be able to achieve that; even the big families would not be able to keep this matter very secret.

If that was the case, then the only possibility would be…

Greem turned his head slightly, looking into the direction of the Adept Tower of Underground Cave. Sudden comprehension bloomed in his mind.

Only the Zhentarim Association had the ability to cover the matter up to the level of no leakage!

Based on this assumption and extrapolated further, the purpose of designing the Underground Cave was rather thought-provoking.

On the face of it, it seemed like a few Fallen Adepts had fled to the Underground World, engaged in guerrilla warfare, and fought with the surface Adepts for rare and precious resources. But if one looked from a higher perspective, that place did look like a conflict zone purposely created by someone, with the hidden purpose of training their minions through constant battles.

If the higher grade Adepts who managed this region truly had a selfish motive, were taking the opportunity to secretly carry out forbidden research, it could actually be covered up with a good reason. After all, the place was in constant warfare. From time to time, many apprentices would get themselves killed. At most, people would felt pity for their death but it was tough for them to relate their deaths to something else.

If Greem were the true mastermind behind this, he would just need to assign more Bloodline Apprentices when announcing a mandatory mission, then purposely create some conflicts during their mission. With that, the death of the Bloodline Apprentices would become well-reasoned and no one would notice anything fishy.

Greem recalled, among the ten people on the compulsory mission team of his, four of them were Bloodline Apprentices, including Mary. So far, out of two Advanced Apprentices who were dead, Shila had been a Bloodline Apprentice. Also, it seemed like the Demon Vine Lady killed by Greem had also been a Bloodline Apprentice.

He had never felt anything wrong before this. But thinking back now, as the superior existence among same level apprentices, the death rate of Bloodline Apprentices was extremely high! This… this told him something was not right.

So how were they going to handle Greem, an outsider who accidentally intruded onto their secret experiment field? Were they going to assign him a highly dangerous compulsory mission without his knowledge and have him killed in the Underground World? Or maybe the mastermind would settle this matter personally, killing Greem straightaway and shutting his mouth? After all, he was just an Intermediate Apprentice who had no background, and no one would confront a Second Grade Adept for the death of a mere apprentice!

Quietly, from his waist pouch, Greem took out the chest badge that represented the Byron family, which he had been given by Adept Angus, and carefully pinned it onto his chest. For the first time, he realized the tremendous benefit of having support from an Adept family!

…………

One hour later, when Greem, carrying the sleeping Mary, and Snorlax, who was carrying a huge bag on its back, approached the entrance of the Adept Tower, they were blocked by a magical golem.

With no explanation, they were brought to a huge secret room on the ninth floor of the Adept Tower.

They were greeted by a young Adept who looked only a few years older than Greem. He had a delicate and handsome face and a tall and strong body. He was wearing a luxurious Adept robe with a pointy Adept hat on his head. Standing in front of them, he sent forth a youthful aura that felt rather strange.

If not for the powerful spiritual pressure indistinctly leaking out from his body, perhaps Greem would thought this Adept was disguised by an Apprentice Adept. But when he sensed the pure and reserved spiritual wave, Greem immediately felt like he was staring at a dazzling sun which made his eyes sore. Under the brilliant radiation of such strong glow, he nearly turned into a blind man.

Greem immediately lowered his head, bent his back slightly, and expressed his respect. At the same time, he quietly unleashed some Fire Elementium and covered his eyes. Only then did he feel the pain in his eyes relieve a little bit. In his arms, as if the sleeping Mary had also sensed some threat, she restlessly moved her body and buried her beautiful face under Greem’s arms.

At the same time, Snorlax, who was standing behind Greem, shrank its body away from fear, lying on the ground with its face down, and did not dare stand up again.

As a demon, Snorlax’s sense of danger was more direct and sensitive compared to human beings, so the spiritual pressure it felt was much stronger than anybody else.

This was a simple and rather crude meeting room; the wooden table and chairs placed inside had never gone through any polish, as they still had the original color of the wood.

The young, evil looking Adept was sitting in one of the chairs, holding a cup of a steaming hot beverage in his hand. He was none other than the Second Grade Adept who controlled this Adept Tower, Master Andre.

After all, he was in a bizarre world, which was totally different from the Earth in his previous life. Though the appearance, behavior, and habit of the people here were pretty similar to Middle Ages Europe back on Earth, there was still a huge difference. The most obvious difference was their name.

In Greem’s memory, Europeans always had complicated names that were used to indicate the origin of their family. But in this world, where the strong would gain authority, the family influence had been weakened. A new type of family was found here, which was established around a powerful Adept.

Usually, the leader of the family would not be the strongest of that family, but an elder of the family who was an expert in managing their territory. The direction of development of the family was actually held in the hand of the higher grade Adepts, who hid behind curtains and possessed powerful abilities.

The Adept and the family were like twin trees that supported each other; when the family was strong, the Adept of the family would become the vine that parasitized the tree. And once the Adept became stronger, the family would, in turn, became the accessory of the Adept, allowing him to demand anything he wanted.

Therefore, many mighty Adepts didn’t have a family name. On the contrary, his family would felt honored to have his name as their family name. It was a reversed relationship of dependence.

Since the first day Greem had arrived at the Adept Tower of the Underground Cave, he had memorized the name of Master Andre. But with his status and position, there was no chance he could have met with such mighty existence.

Apparently, today was obviously an exception!

Therefore, Greem lowered his head and bent down his body, waiting quietly and never showed any disrespect.

After a long time, after Adept Andre had slowly finished with the hot beverage in his hand, he placed the cup down gently and moved his glance over to Greem, who was standing respectfully.

Without raising his head, Greem could feel the scorching hot glance. It didn’t mean Adept Andre’s element affinity was Fire, but that the element energy soaking his eyes was too dense. When he moved his glance over to Greem, the sudden increase in element density had caused element damage to him.

This was why Greem felt like he was burning!

“Have you gone to the Underground World recently?” Adept Andre finally spoke.

Greem’s body trembled slightly. He lowered his head further and said, “Yes, master. I just came back from the Underground World!”

“Did you find anything?”

Greem moved his head a little, as if he had tried to raise his head to have a look but quickly held down the impulse.

“Yes, master. I did find something on this trip!”

A wondering expression emerged on Greem’s face, which was still pointed at the floor. Clearly, he was puzzled about why a Second Grade Adept would show concern to a mere Intermediate Apprentice. Of course, Greem had purposely put on this expression!

With the powerful Spirit of a Second Grade Adept, perhaps the entire Adept Tower was under his control and senses. Therefore, though Greem had lowered his head, any changes on his face would still be sensed by Adept Andre.

Greem had to put on a real show!

Since the moment he had stepped into Adept Tower, Greem had been hypnotizing himself restlessly, disguising himself as a reckless boy who knew nothing.

After all, the information he had obtained previously was based on the data gathering, information summarization, and analysis of the powerful Chip. If any ordinary Apprentice Adept had wished to dig out the hidden secret from the Fairy’s body, perhaps he would have needed to use the precise equipment found in the Alchemy Laboratory.

Therefore, if Greem wanted to lower the risk he would face, he needed to pretend that he knew nothing about the secret!

Also, Greem had tried to sound out Snorlax secretly, but the goblin had shown no knowledge of the bloodline experiments. It didn’t even have an idea about how it possessed such bizarre abilities.

This had strengthened Greem’s decision to play stupid!