Age of Adepts

A simple Burning Hand magic spell would require Greem to expend approximately 20 Adept energy points, which meant that Greem could cast four Burning Hand spells in a row. But, of course, that was just in theory, as it was extremely difficult to achieve that in reality.

When an Adept had a full ‘Energy Pool’, his mind was performing at its best. No matter whether he was pondering over hard questions or casting spells, he would perform the best when his Energy Pool was full, but when an Adept’s Energy Pool was at ⅓ its max, his mind would become fatigued. The most significant expression of this would be dizziness and the swelling of certain tissues in the brain, causing the Adept to feel sick and start throwing up.

If he tried to cast a spell at that moment, even a spell that would normally only take him five seconds, he might not even be able to cast it in ten seconds, and there was a good chance he might not even be able to cast it at all.

Therefore, when any Adepts were required to frequently cast spells, they did their best to conserve a portion of their Spirit energy so that they could avoid all the negative side effects of Spirit Fatigue.

From the symptoms Greem was having, it was clear that his Energy Pool was at less than 5%, and thus he was suffering from Spirit Fatigue. The only solution for this was to get a good night of sleep. After all, sleep is how a brain relieves itself.

The Chip was great, but it consumed a large amount of Greem’s Spirit energy when it was operating. Hence, once he realized that he was suffering from Spirit Fatigue, Greem struggled to his bed, threw himself onto it, and immediately fell asleep.

The rest of the day passed as he slept, and the darkness of night settled over the swamp. Now the moon had raised itself high up into the dark sky, though its face was rarely seen through the dense clouds and fog. A deep silence reigned over the quiet Swamp Tower as many of its residents went to sleep.

During this time, a tall and bizarre dark shadow suddenly appeared beside Greem’s bed, bending over him and quietly staring down at him.

As the result of nausea from his severe Spirit Fatigue, Greem didn’t sleep well. Even though he was in a sleeping, his brows were tightly knitted in a frown and his face was filled with distress.

The bizarre looking human figure had its back toward the moonlight, so its entire body was immersing in an indescribable darkness. No one would be able to clearly see its face, but no one could ignore the pair of blood red eyes flickering on this unseen face. These eyes would make anyone who saw them shiver in fear.

“Blood... blood... I need blood...”

The dark shadow tremblingly stretched out both arms, as if to grab Greem’s neck, but, for some unknown reason, it always retracted back, as if it was reluctant to do whatever it was trying to do. Its behaviors seemed to suggest that it was experiencing a fierce mental battle within itself. Also, it kept mumbling the same words over and over again, showing the intense struggle happening within.

After a few minutes, it seemed to gain control of itself. It paused for a moment, then stared at Greem, who was completely unaware as to what was going on around him. A few moments later, it turned around and jumped out of the window.

This window was on the outside of the tower. This meant that there was a formidable Magical Formation attached to it, which would make it impossible for any outsider to roam freely in this place. But, strangely enough, when this dark shadow grabbed onto the tower wall outside Greem’s room, it never actually triggered the magical formation surrounding the tower.

If Greem had seen this, he would have realized that this being was an Apprentice Adept, as only Apprentice Adepts had the Magical Talismans which would let them freely travel through the magical formation.

The dark shadow was climbing around the outside wall of the Adept Tower at an extremely fast speed. Its movement was swift and agile, yet seemed effortless as the shadow flowed around the vertical face of the tower. This was an impossibly impressive feat of strength and dexterity, and would have stunned anyone who witnessed it. Surprisingly enough, it seemed like it purposely moved through the dark corners of windows and ledges, where moonlight couldn’t reach. This made its movements even more impressive, yet also hard to see.

Its movement was swift and graceful, and it didn’t make any noise over the course of its journey. Also, it seemed like it was searching for something specifically, as it purposely avoided the rooms which were still lit by candlelight. After searching for a while, it seemed to finally find whatever it was looking for.

It hung on the side of a narrow window, tilting its head slightly to one side and listening for a moment. Only after making sure that the sound of breathing coming from inside the room was stable and lengthy did it carefully climb through the narrow window.

For a while, nothing could be seen or heard inside the room. After a few minutes, it finally left the room, the faded smell of blood hovering around its body.

It was obvious that the dark shadow was satisfied with itself. Before it sneaked away, it squatted on the narrow window and casually turned its head upward and looked at the sky. Right at this moment the clouds cleared just enough for the moon to shine through, pouring its silver light down from the sky above, and lighting up the face of the shadowy figure.

What was seen was the youthful face of a teenage girl. Her face was fair and beautiful, but if one looked closely, they would see two sharp incisors sticking out slightly from her upper lip, and if they looked even closer, they would see blood staining these teeth.

The beautiful young girl used her tiny tongue and gently licked both teeth clean. When she withdrew her tongue, she pursed her lips, as if she were tasting a delicious fine wine. Only after sitting there for a moment did she leaped out from the window and disappeared into the dark shadows below, where the moonlight could never reach.

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

The next day, Greem was woken by a rapid knocking at his door.

Greem shook his head, which still felt dizzy, then he got up and opened his door. To his surprise, he found three people standing outside.

Apprentice Leader Anksorus, Apprentice Ellen, and Apprentice Fenrir.

The position of Apprentice Leader was personally assigned by Great Master Anderson, and Anksorus was the current Apprentice Leader. Therefore his status was supreme amongst all the Apprentice Adepts. Most of the time, he would perform Apprentice management duties on behalf of the Great Master, managing all the Apprentice Adepts inside the Tower. Also, as he possessed the strength of an intermediate Apprentice, thus all lesser Apprentices had to obey his orders. If someone antagonized him, he could easily play put that person on a path to death, and they would never know that they had been set up.

As for the other two men, Ellen and Fenrir, they were just beginner Apprentice Adepts, just like Greem, but both of them were good at butt kissing, and they had followed Anksorus day in and day out, licking his boots. Hence they were considered the trusted followers of the Apprentice Leader.

So wherever Anksorus appeared, these two flatterers would always be there. The relationship between them was similar to the symbiotic behavior between the Killer Trees and the Bloodsucking Rattans. Two flatterers needed help from Anksorus. Only then would they have the privilege to choose safer daily tasks. Meanwhile, Anksorus would need these two Apprentices’ help in order to hold back those idealists who desired his position.

Greem had an unsociable and eccentric character, and thus he rarely made contact with others. Therefore, the relationship between him and this group was not good, but not bad either. That’s why he felt really surprised when he found out these guys standing outside his room.

Apprentice Leader Anksorus was a young man in his mid-twenties. He had a hawk nose, a pair of thick brows, and sharp eyes. Although his facial features didn’t make him look fierce, it still gave an imposing air to anyone who stared at him. The moment when the wooden door opened up, Anksorus flashing glance immediately fell on Greem’s face, indistinctly making Greem feel as if his skin had been burned.

Greem felt a small shock in his heart.

He knew that this was an anomaly that only happened when one’s Spirit energy overflowed, and was a signal that this guy’s overall power had reached to a very high level.

Among all the Apprentices of the Tower, there was actually very strict divisions which were based on the power of the Apprentice.

Those who had only mastered one or two Magic spells, and possessed a Spirit level of 10 or less were all beginner Apprentice Adapts, considered to be the lowest ranked among the Apprentice Adepts in this tower. As for those who had mastered three to four Magic spells, and had a Spirit level of 11 to 15 were classified as intermediate Apprentices, and they were considered to be fairly strong power. Finally, those who mastered five or more Magic spells, and had a Spirit level of over 16 were the elite of the Tower: the Advanced Apprentice Adepts.

Once an Apprentice’s Spirit level reached 20, then he had gained the qualification to become a Pseudo Adept, and the Great Master Adept would give him a special treatment, preparing himself for the ceremony which would mark them becoming an official Adept.

One must note that, currently, there were no real Pseudo Adepts in this Swamp Tower!

As for this Anksorus, although it was unknown how many Magic spells he had mastered, but, with the help from some unique Magic items, sometimes he was able to unleash a power which not weaker than that of an Advanced Apprentice. Within the Tower, there were only three people who had reached the level of Advanced Apprentice: Hawkeye, Evil Bugs, and Madwoman.

Of course, these were not their real names, but nicknames.

Hawkeye was Clutha, a frightening guy from the West Coast. In order to strengthen his own power, he actually replaced one of his eyes with a hawk’s eye. This gave him some bizarre abilities.

Evil Bugs was Actaeon. He was even more bizarre than Hawkeye. He went as far as raise a swarm of horrifying bugs with his own blood and flesh. When fighting with him, a single careless mistake in battle would end with being eaten by thousands of bugs!

As for the last one, Madwoman, she had an immense thirst for violence. Using a huge steel sword, which was taller than your average human, she was undefeated among all the Apprentices. She was so violent and terrifying in battle that no one dared to challenge her.

The three of them had either mastered some Magic spells with tremendous power or possessed some bizarre and unique abilities. No matter what, they had long ditched the status of ordinary Apprentices and all become candidate who had the potential to break through and attained the status of Pseudo Adept.

Thus, when facing with the flaming glance from such a powerful Apprentice Adept, Greem’s spirit was clearly not enough to support him, and his mind was suppressed by the person in front of him.

“Greem, something happened in the Tower last night! Do you know anything about it?” Apprentice Leader Anksorus was still staring coldly at Greem without saying anything. It was Ellen who was doing all the talking.

“What? Something happened? Was someone killed in a Magical experiment?” Obviously, Greem had no idea what was going on.

“There were no issues with any magical experiments. Someone was murdered right inside his room!” Finding that Greem’s puzzled eyes and shocked expression didn’t seem fake, Anksorus spoke slowly, but his eyes were still focused on Greem’s face, making sure he missed nothing of Greem’s expression.

“Murdered?” Greem was startled, but he immediately became freaked out and said, “Who died?!?”

Although from time to time Apprentice Adepts died in accidents in this Swamp Tower, most deaths happened while on dangerous missions or from accidents in bizarre Magical experiments. Not once had an Apprentice Adept been murdered by someone before. After all, every single Apprentice Adept was a precious treasure for Great Master Adept Anderson, so he would never allow his Apprentices to murder each other.

Once something like this discovered by him, those who violated his will would definitely be severely punished.

“Muret.”

Greem frowned.

He knew this Muret. That guy was just an ordinary Apprentice who had only mastered one magic spell... that was all he knew. The only other thing he could remember was that this guy had a face full of freckles, and was younger than him.

“So why are you guys here...?”

“We need to check your room. This is not out of spite against you, as we are checking every apprentice’s room.” Anksorus said with a cold manner.

“That’s right, we have to check everyone’s rooms. Move aside quickly, or we will tell the Great Master that you are to blame for this murder... Do you think you will live long if that happens?” No doubt Fenrir was the biggest nuisance here, spitting out threats against Greem.

Greem felt anger well up in his heart, but he gritted his teeth and slowly pressed it down.

They were checking everyone’s rooms?

Would you have the guts to check Hawkeye’s room? How about Evil Bug’s room? Or maybe Madwoman’s room. You guys would turn around and walk away if Madwoman was standing in front of you!

Though his heart was full of rage, Greem simply frowned. He hesitated for a short moment before finally moving aside and letting them enter his room.

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