Age of Adepts

"I am not making you leave. I am asking you to leave!" Alice let out a helpless sigh.

"Is there a difference between the two?"

"Of course there is!" Alice laughed bitterly, "The former would be the action of the owner of the Tower of Fate, while the latter is the request of an ally!"

"If you treat me as an ally, then why, at this moment where you most need help, would you... "

"Because you are a male adept, and this is the territory of the Northern Witches!" Alice gave a direct and straightforward answer.

"You mean, my existence has brought you trouble?" Greem narrowed his eyes. It was the first time he had come into contact with this group of individuals that hailed witches as their absolute leaders. He hadn’t gotten used to it.

"Yes!" Alice once again sighed resentfully, "If this had been an ordinary advancement, and I possessed Third Grade or even Fourth Grade strength, no one would ever dare to trouble me over this minor issue. But now... "

"What happened?"

"I have already told you everything about my advancement. As you would know, the First Witch of Fate should have been able to sense it when I destroyed her soul projection. Even though she can’t enter the World of Adepts, she can apply pressure on me through more discreet means."

"For instance?"

"For example, raising doubts about my legitimacy in the Witch Council through one of the witch leaders. I passed the Battle of Fate to become the Witch of Fate. I have also obtained the approval of the laws of fate. They cannot deny this. However, they can accuse me of having betrayed the traditions of the Northern Witches and bowed before a male adept!"

"What kind of shitty tradition is this? Aren’t there plenty of male adepts in the adept’s towers of the Northern Lands?"

"Those are all male adepts that are subordinate to witches!" Alice held her forehead with her hand as her seductive eyes looked straight at Greem, "Or would you rather I go before the Witch Council and tell them that you are my concubine?!"

Greem’s towering figure couldn’t help but tremble at the suggestion.

He felt a shiver run down his spine when he thought of the sight of that happening. He could see Alice pointing her finger at him before hundreds and thousands of witches while shouting, "He’s my concubine!"

"Can’t we just say that we are allies?" Greem feebly suggested.

"What do you think?" Alice rolled her eyes and said, "The tradition of the Northern Witches maintains that females possess the ultimate authority. In fact, some of the more extreme witches even insist that their subordinates managing the human lands have to be female. They deeply hate those that try to go against the traditions!"

"This is what you saw in your astrology ceremony yesterday?"

"This is just a part of it. Not everything," Alice expression turned solemn, "I cannot tell you the specifics due to the laws of fate. This information involves the secrets of the leaders of the Northern Witches. The laws will be triggered if I ever speak of them, and unforeseen changes will occur. So... "

"I understand!" Greem also let out a deep sigh, "Then, I’ll be taking my leave."

"Come with me!"

The two of them quickly entered a secret room on the fifteenth floor under Alice’s lead.

There was nothing in the room except for a sizeable, mysterious array carved into the ground.

"A teleportation array?" Greem gasped.

He had seen arrays like this before. The Sarubo Clan had used similar arrays in their ultra-long range teleportations. The one before him was a teleportation array as well.

"This is a teleportation array within the Tower of Fate. It can send you directly to the Zhentarim area and spare you from the pain of having to walk through the Black Forest. I’ll give you the activation authority and coordinates of the array. That way, you can come here at any time if the need arises."

Having said that, Alice split out a cluster of light from the control crystal. Greem grabbed the ball of light and allowed it to enter his body.

"Beep. Detecting spirit data requesting access to the body. Requesting instructions from host. Authorize request?"

"Authorized!"

Soon, a set of planar spatial coordinates flowed into Greem’s mind and were quickly stored by the chip. At the same time, an even more complex and extensive flow of data entered his mind. If it weren’t for the chip, Greem could only have used his powerful Spirit to memorize the contents forcefully. He would never have been able to conduct a more balanced analysis of the chunk of information.

Greem could feel every trace of change that occurred in the teleportation array once the cluster of light entered his body. Greem even had a vague feeling that he could do more. If the chip had enough time, it would have been able to decipher the contents of the control authority completely. Then, he would have had even more control and influence over the teleportation than Alice, who owned the tower.

Greem entered the array and smiled at Alice, "Keep that Qiraji crystal. That way, you can find me if any problem crops up. You must be careful, regardless of what is it you will be doing from now on."

Before he could finish speaking, a warm and youthful body fell into his arms. Then, his lips were sealed by a pair of burning red lips.

Alice finally pushed Greem away after a lengthy embrace. She stepped backwards and took a good look at his handsome face.

"Thank you for everything you have done for me!" Alice started mumbling, "I only hope you understand that I will always be on your side no matter what you choose to do."

Greem extended his tongue and licked the part of his lips that had been torn by Alice’s fiery kiss. A blazing warmth spread through his heart as he looked at the blushing beauty.

"These are some of the things I found in the warehouse. You will most definitely need them. Take them along with you! Remember to come back and see me when I finally manage to cement my authority here. Don’t forget to bring Sis Mary along."

Alice gently placed a storage bag into Greem’s arms, then stepped away.

A milky-white light rose from the teleportation array and gradually consumed Greem’s shape.

A short moment later, the array vibrated as the spatial flux started to intensify. Blinding white light filled the whole room. When everything settled down, and the light faded away, the interior of the array was empty. Greem’s tall figure was nowhere to be seen.

For some reason, two trails of tears streaked down Alice’s face.

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

An intense humming surrounded Greem as white lights flashed.

He felt his mind turn heavy, and only managed to regain control over his body once the spatial fluctuation had settled down.

Greem had to support his head with his hands and stand still for a moment before opening his eyes and examining his surroundings.

"Welcome to Ibis City! Judging from the spatial coordinates, you were transported from the Northern Lands. That said, I have never seen these coordinates before. May I ask what array is this and which of the Lady Witches built it?" A white-robed adept stood in front of Greem with a quill and a parchment book in his hands. He had a silver executor’s badge pinned on his chest. It seemed he was an adept stationed here by the Zhentarim Association.

"The Tower of Fate!" Greem nodded at the adept and prepared to leave the teleportation room.

"The Tower of Fate?" The white-robed manager bit his quill and tilted his head, "That adept’s tower hasn’t been connected to the teleportation network for over a thousand years. Could it have been reactivated? Hey, you haven’t paid your teleportation fees."

"Wait, I still have to pay? Isn’t all the energy required for the teleportation gathered on the array on the other side? Why do I still have to pay over here on this?" Greem was instantly confused.

"Hmph! I bet this is the first time you got to enjoy such long-range teleportation!" The white-robed adept snorted, "Even though the teleporting party provides most of the energy, the receiving array still needs to endure a certain amount of spatial shockwave damage from the process. Thus, to ensure maintenance of the teleportation array and supplying our services to everyone, we have to collect a small maintenance fee over here on our side."

"How much is it?"

"Three hundred magical crystals!"

Greem was speechless.

It had only cost two hundred magical crystals to go through the Black Forest with the merchant group last time, and it required three hundred for teleporting? Then, if it had been under usual circumstances, how much would he have had to pay Alice for using her array?

The white-robed adept quickly gave him his answer.

Four Thousand!

And this was only because Ibis City was the closest to the Northern Lands. That was why the price was so ’low’. If Greem wanted to teleport from the center of the Zhentarim area to the Tower of Fate, it would have cost him as much as five thousand magical crystals. If he wanted to teleport from the Silver Union’s lands to the Northern Lands, it would cost him an enormous ten thousand magical crystals.

Greem had to control himself and stop his facial muscles from twitching when he heard the price.

No wonder so many low-grade adepts preferred to ride on flying ships or trudge through the Black Forest with caravan lines than use teleportation arrays, even though there were so many adept’s towers and arrays all over the place. The principal reason was the unbelievable price.

According to the white-robed adept, the cost of using teleportation arrays was expensive because of the massive drain on the tower’s energy reserves. Consequently, they had to collect a fee from the users to compensate their losses.

Greem could feel a fervent passion burn in his heart when he heard this.

He still had a spacestone in his storage belt. If he used it to build a teleportation array, the stone would automatically collect the spatial energies required for the process. Didn’t this mean that he had a treasure trove that could continuously provide him with magical crystals?

Still, the greater value of the spacestone was its ability to conduct ultra-long-range teleportation. That was where its real value lied. Using it as an ordinary array to earn some magical crystals was a waste of such excellent material. Only paupers desperate for money would ever do such a thing!