Age of Adepts

The welcoming banquet was held on the third level of the tower, just as scheduled.

Almost everyone who could participate in this banquet was one of the first members of the Crimson Clan.

Though neither Clan Head Greem nor Lady Mary was here, the atmosphere in the banquet was just as passionate and lively.

Most of the clan adepts had just returned from another plane. Their purses were full, their pouches were bursting, and their skills had improved by quite a bit. Disregarding everyone else, even the inconspicuous Bug Adept Billis had managed to advance from intermediate First Grade to peak First Grade.

If everything went well, then in another dozen years he might be the second clan adept after Lady Mary to advance to Second Grade.

Second Grade.

If one were frank, this grade was already the stopping point of most adepts’ fantasies.

As for Third and Fourth Grade? Without exceptional talent and stunningly lucky encounters, most adepts would never be able to reach such a height even if they were to dedicate their lives towards work and improvement.

The ones providing service during the banquet were a group of female apprentices that had been specially selected, along with a few exceptionally obedient otherworldly slaves– forest elves.

One had to say that any group would have different individuals in them: some who were stubborn, while others knew how to adapt.

These forest elves hadn’t been in Fire Throne for more than a day, but they had already dejectedly resigned themselves to their new identities. They put on their slave collars and seriously attended their roles as elven waitresses.

It was a wise move from them.

Almost every single forest elf that Greem had brought back were fighters, and some of them were at the level of Second Grades. They might have been superior individuals and nobles back home, but here they were no more than delicate dolls that the adepts could toy with in the palms of their hands.

They might be able to live longer if they were obedient. And if the elves insisted on being stubborn, the dissection table would be their final resting place!

Of course, if they were to run into some evil adepts with unusual hobbies, turning them into sex slaves or specimens to add to a collection wasn’t out of the ordinary.

Finally, midway through the banquet, Greem walked in with the dressed-up Adept Mary, while he was dressed in a black adept’s robe.

Dragonborn Zacha and Goblin Tigule followed behind them.

The arrival of the four Second Grades in the clan immediately pushed the atmosphere of the banquet to its climax!

All the clan adepts stopped their chatting and dancing to give applause and welcome these elites. The young pseudo-adepts clapped the hardest of them all, and their faces flushed red with excitement from being able to witness this legendary character of their clan.

It was said that this Crimson Clan leader of theirs was a fantastic individual that had risen to Second Grade by his own power.

He had started from a swamp tower, made his name in the Underground World, and excelled at manipulating elementium golems. He had once beaten pseudo-adepts as an advanced apprentice and threw the World of Volcano into chaos as a pseudo-adept.

However, the one event that could best mark the legend of this man was the unknown battle that had occurred in the shadows!

Three adepts that had just advanced turned the tables against the evil adept that had tried to kill them in a blood sacrifice. They murdered the adept even as their lives were held in the adept’s hands.

It had become his most famous battle!

From then on Greem could not be stopped, and he quickly rose from a nameless adept to an immensely powerful elite.

Flame Demon. Flame Fiend.

Such titles were given to him again and again, and each time signaled the defeat of yet another powerful enemy.

He had walked all this way and successfully planted his very own adept’s tower on the map here in this part of the Black Forest.

As for his adventures into other planes, summoning a mighty dragon, slaughtering a vampire family, and returning victorious from another plane yet again? All of these feats were the distinctive footprints that marked the rise of a powerhouse.

Why were the adepts, pseudo-adepts, and apprentices present in the banquet here?

They were here precisely for the sake of joining the side of this powerful adept; to share and bask in the profits of war that others could not enjoy.

If the Crimson Clan were to rise under the leadership of such a legendary clan head, then all of them who had joined early would rise along with him, obtaining more resources and benefits!

And that was the only reason why everyone had gathered here!