Age of Adepts

“What Fire King Groms is looking for is a Lightfire stone.”

“It’s an exceedingly rare magical material, only born where light and fire energy is very dense and concentrated.”

“I believe that Groms is searching for the Lightfire stone to correct some of his fire laws. If he can convert some of his fire energy into light energy, his movement speed would undoubtedly increase tremendously.”

“A while ago, an adventuring party from the Adept’s Association found an ancient ruin in another world. The Lightfire stone was one of their spoils. It is now in the hands of a Fourth Grade adept of the Adept’s Association known as Olivia.”

Greem couldn’t help but frown when he heard Alice’s explanation. “If Maysa wants to coerce Groms, why doesn’t she keep the stone with her rather than let it end up elsewhere?”

“Because that’s her modus operandi!” Alice smiled and said, “She’s a Seventh Grade Great Witch. She has woven and manipulated the powers of Fate for tens of thousands of years. The web that she has woven around her must be incredibly complex, so much so that it is hard for anyone to imagine.

“Everyone knows that Witches of Fate have no combat power! Then what is it that Maysa relies on to mobilize and manipulate so many powerful individuals? The mysterious and wondrous Fate!

“She uses Fate to peek at powerful individuals. When she discovers what they badly need, she will do everything in her power to push Fate in the direction that would deny them what they want. In doing so, the individual would not be able to get it, and their only choice would be to turn to her and obey her instructions.

However, when he turned, his eyes unintentionally swept past two figures standing silently at the end of the deck. He couldn’t help but stop in his tracks.

The only ones who could travel between Zhentarim and Adept’s Association territory were proper adepts or human nobles of incredibly high status. Neither of these individuals should have been able to avoid Ralph’s spiritual senses.

For some reason, when Ralph’s gaze landed on those two hooded figures, he felt his skin jump. It was almost as if it weren’t two adepts standing there, but two ferocious monsters that could devour every morsel of his being.

Ralph remained dazed for a moment. His right hand immediately gripped the runic crystal that allowed him to control all the arrays on the ship. He silently pulled up the information stored within.

With his Spirit as a Second Grade adept, he almost instantly managed to scour the list of passengers and found the information on these two guests.

Green and Billy. Two ordinary, inconspicuous names.

However, noted beneath those two names were two bright red words: Crimson Clan!

The Crimson Clan? That clan had been on the rise in Zhentarim recently. Why were they going to Association territory now?

The fact that they could avoid his spiritual senses and the ship’s scans meant that they were very likely high-grade adepts in disguise. But all the high-grade adepts of the Crimson Clan were well-known. They……

Ralph pretended to survey the geography beneath the ship while secretly evaluating the two adepts.

For some reason, the more twisted and unusual of those two figures was familiar to him.

Suddenly, his eyebrow jumped. He knew who it was.

Bug Adept Billis. To think, one of them was the most frightening Third Grade adept of the Crimson Clan.

What was he going to the Adept’s Association for?

Ralph couldn’t help but frown and start thinking to himself.