Age of Adepts

Adept Meryl was silently spacing out in a wide hall on the seventh floor with a piece of parchment in her hands that had just arrived.

There was only one short line of words on the smooth piece of parchment, ordering that she was to immediately transfer control authority of White Tower to Fate Witch Snowlotus and hurry to report to Fire Throne.

The letter provided no explanation or timing for her departure.

No one could rob Adept Meryl of all her influence in such an abrupt letter. No one but the person who wrote it!

The unique mark of fire magic still slightly burned in the lower right corner of the parchment; it didn’t damage the letter itself in the slightest.

Of course, Meryl recognized this to be the personal magical emblem of her teacher, Greem.

She lightly traced the red mark with her finger. She could feel the magical aura radiating from the mark, even as she felt a slight burning pain.

It was a magical emblem her teacher had personally placed on the parchment!

If there were something her teacher needed to convey to her, a magical message would have been enough to summon her. Yet now, this official letter from her teacher had very clearly requested she hand over her control authority over White Tower. The implications behind this were completely different.

Did something happen within the clan? Was someone slandering her behind her back? Was this letter forged?

A series of questions arose within her heart, but Meryl gradually calmed down as she caressed the unique magical emblem of her teacher.

White Tower had always been co-managed by Meryl and Snowlotus. However, Meryl was typically the one in charge, while Snowlotus only managed matters related to the Fate Witches. As such, it was necessary for her to temporarily hand over her authority over White Tower to Snowlotus when her teacher reassigned her to a different place.

However, Meryl had managed White Tower for so many years. Almost all of her time and effort had been spent on this place. All of those development plans, long term and short term, were all proceeding in an orderly fashion. Meryl was truly worried that her successor would ruin these projects now that she had been suddenly transferred away.

Snowlotus witch had far too cold of a personality. Her means of dealing with conflicts were also far too crude. Meryl would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t concerned about handing over all one thousand adepts and apprentices of White Tower to her!

“What do you know about this letter?” Meryl frowned and couldn’t help but turn to ask Vanlier, who was standing beside her.

The handsome vampire dressed in noble robes elegantly replied, “The letter was sent over by Lady Mary’s messenger. Only people who can be trusted handled the letter. There is no problem with it. Moreover, Lady Mary sent a message along as well. It is a good thing. You must not hesitate!”

The letter was sent by her teacher through Lady Mary, and not through the usual means of communication between Fire Throne and White Tower. That meant her teacher did not hope for Fire Throne to catch wind of the news too early. Could something have happened to Gargamel?

With all sorts of doubts and uncertainties in her mind, Meryl summoned Snowlotus and handed over a fist-sized crystal rune to her. This crystal rune was the core item used to control the tower spirit of White Tower. It was also the most important symbol of Meryl’s status in the past.

Snowlotus seemed to be already aware of something. She asked no questions and simply asked Vanlier to continue carrying out his duties. Meanwhile, White Tower announced Adept Meryl to be involved in an important magical experiment and would not be seeing any subordinates in the short term.

Such occasions were rare, but they had happened a few times over the years. As such, it didn’t really draw any suspicion from the people of White Tower.

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

The light of the teleportation slowly faded.

Meryl finally endured the spatial confusion of long-ranged teleportation as her vision became clear once again.

It was not the public teleportation array of Fire Throne, but the secret teleportation array on the fifth floor of the tower. That was why Meryl immediately saw a tall fire humanoid standing outside the array when she opened her eyes. The humanoid was silently assessing her.

Naturally, Meryl knew that this fire humanoid was her teacher’s fire clone. She hurriedly bowed in respect.

“It’s good that you’ve arrived!” The fire person nodded at her slightly, “Come with me. You might need to stay here for a while this time.”

Meryl arrived at a biological lab on the fifth floor under the guidance of the fire body. Meryl was both excited and in awe when she saw the gallery of glass jars and all the strange specimens floating within.

It was the secret lab of a high-grade adept!

Even if she were Greem’s disciple, she would not have been able to take a single step in her without a good reason. However, everything that appeared before her now pointed toward the fact that her teacher had taken a firm stride forward in his research of creatures and bloodlines.

Still, Meryl would have a hard time determining the subject and direction of her teacher’s research given her own reserve and understanding of higher-grade knowledge. However, she had her own unique way of appraising the research– she looked at the grade level of the specimens.

She could hardly recognize ten percent of the hundreds of living specimens in the lab. Moreover, the only specimen creatures she could recognize were all terrifying Second Grade and Third Grade magical creatures.

The most obvious specimen of those was one Meryl could very clearly recognize. It was the Third Grade beholder that the White Tower had run into during their expansion seven years ago. The beholder had become a living specimen in her teacher’s laboratory. It floated in a glass jar filled with brown-yellow liquid, bobbing up and down, its fate unknown.

Four more specimens radiated the same aura of power as the beholder.

Though they were long since dead, the power and viciousness in their aura was something that would not quickly vanish, even in death!

Meryl passed through rows of wicked and horrifying specimens and finally arrived at a small operation platform, where she saw her teacher.

The fire clone walked forward, lightly touching Greem’s body and once again merging with him.

It was then that Greem straightened his body and turned to look at Meryl.

“Teacher, were you the one that summoned me?”

Meryl felt a sense of genuine exasperation every time he looked at Greem’s young and handsome face.

Even though her teacher was older than her, she, the disciple, was the one that looked older on the outside.

Though Meryl’s face was still as pretty as ever, there was a trace of age and experience between her eyes at having seen the world. Greem was still as handsome as dashing as ever. He radiated a great youthfulness from his entire being, from his straight nose to his dark and soulful black eyes.

With the short two to three hundred year lifespan of a First Grade adept, at one hundred and forty, Meryl had indeed reached the midpoint of her life. Meanwhile, her teacher had become a Third Grade adept, with a basic lifespan of seven to eight hundred years. At one hundred and sixty, there was no doubt that he was still in his prime.

It was what made it seem like Greem, the teacher, was younger and more youthful than Meryl, the disciple. Of course, this was a ubiquitous sight amongst adepts and something that they had already gotten used to.

“Mm, I specially summoned you this time. You will stay here for this period of time. Don’t keep contact with the outside world anymore. I have a special magical experiment, and I need you to stay here and cooperate with me to complete it!” Greem ignored the confusion in Meryl’s eyes and immediately explained the future arrangements.

“But teacher, the projects over at White Tower have only just started running well. Many things still require my attention at Doverand City and Moussent. Princess Vanessa is also planning something at White Tower. The harvesting of resources from the resource sites this season also requires planning soon. The trade with the Dark Witches...” As Greem’s disciple, Meryl was more intimate and indulgent with her behavior. She couldn’t help but softly protest.

However, her words were quickly interrupted by Greem.

“Meryl, what is the most important thing to an adept?” Greem stood tall with his towering figure, his black eyes looking at her indifferently.

“Knowledge? It seems like many adepts hail knowledge as power! However, over these years, I feel like influence and authority is very important as well. With influence, you can gather resources faster and at a higher quality. Influence seems to be important as well! Still, typically, many adepts worship talent and believe that talent can decide everything.” Meryl gave the question serious thought. Her expression shifting over and over as her mind wandered.

“Meryl, the most important thing to an adept is power!” Greem said decisively.

“Power?” Meryl couldn’t help but mumble and repeat what Greem had just said.

“Power is what an adept should truly be pursuing. It is only when we have power that we can stand proudly above everyone else, becoming a commanding race that can rule and dominate all things within the universe.” Greem paused for a brief moment, “The knowledge, influence, and talent you speak of are nothing more than the means by which adepts obtain power. If you have knowledge but no ability to convert it into powerful magical abilities, then knowledge is weak!

“Influence is a derivative of power. It is a side-effect of the manifestation of power. It should not be the pursuit of a powerful adept!

“Talent, on the other hand, decides the ease with which an adept obtains power! If one has exceptional talent, there is no doubt that they can accelerate their improvement and make their path of advancement easier and shorter. ”

“However, in the end, they are all derivatives born for the sake of power. As adepts, we should not pursue these branches and twigs. Rather, we must head straight for the origin and capture the very source of an adept’s power.”