Age of Adepts

Alice had returned to her usual state from before she was poisoned, and almost no one knew of what had happened to her.

At the very least, there weren’t very many people who knew about the whole affair apart from a few malicious enemies watching from the sidelines.

After two weeks of being sealed off, the Tower of Fate once again opened to the public.

No one knew when, but Legendary Fire Adept Greem, Bloody Queen Mary, and Fate Witch Leader Alice had formed a small social circle of their own. A three-person circle of frightening power.

Fourth Grades. Three Fourth Grades.

It was nothing compared to the three major adept organizations. However, for a relatively unknown adept clan, it was shocking news.

A discordant response emerged within Zhentarim when they heard the news of Mary’s advancement. Adept clans of smaller sizes became unusually excited. They saw this as a sign of the growing power of the central adepts and an omen of the birth of a powerful adept.

The appearance of such a powerful adept would be the core needed to unite the center of the continent, once and for all!

Bloodcastle was their home, and Maple Town was the farm where they bred their livestock. That said, to maintain their facade of ‘ruling’ and not scare away all the civilians with rumors of bloodsucking monsters, the Viks had always restrained themselves when it came to feeding!

Unfortunately, the Vik Family had been completely defeated by an adept clan.

Not only did their blood master die by the enemy’s hands, but even the foundations of the Vik Family itself had also been uprooted. All the land belonging to the Vik Family had also fallen in the hands of their enemies.

The only ones which could have so quickly taken over the Viks’ territory were naturally other vampire clans.

Bloodcastle had changed hands a total of three times and finally ended in the hands of the Heinesen Vampires. However, with Mary’s meteoric rise, all the other vampire clans only had two choices: migrating away from the central lands or obediently becoming Mary’s subordinate.

Bloodcastle, once the pride of the Viks, was handed over to Mary by the Heinesen Clan as an offering. It was now the most important outpost for the Crimson Clan vampires in the central lands.

The sinister Bloodcastle was composed of five separate castles and fortresses. It functioned as both the living space of the vampires and as a military fortress. Four of the smaller fortresses that were spread around the main castle were not designed with comfort in mind. They were meant for defense and warfare.

These fortresses were very sturdy in construction. Even their entrances and windows were unusually narrow and small. Most passages only allowed a single, fully-armed guard to walk through. Meanwhile, the critical regions of defense were filled with secret passages, tunnels, and hidden openings to attack from.

The outer layer of Bloodcastle had sacrificed comfort and entertainment for incredible defensive capabilities. In all honesty, Bloodcastle only required two to three hundred elite warriors to stave off an invasion of a few thousand enemies.

Meanwhile, the main castle, which was protected by the four fortresses, was an elegant, majestic construction.

The ill habit of vampires pursuing perfection, elegance, and nobility couldn’t be more evident than in the construction of this building. If this place wasn’t so far away from any other living humans, and if it weren’t for its unusually sinister atmosphere, it would have been easy to mistake the place for a castle meant for the exclusive entertainment of nobles and royalty.

Many guests were now gathered in the main hall on the second floor of the castle.

Naturally, the only ones that could be present here were vampires, all dressed in pretty, noble clothes.

Most of the male vampires wore tuxedos, with neat red bow ties and fancy hats. They held walking sticks in their hands and had neat mustaches under their noses. On the other hand, female vampires wore pretty dresses, sunhats of various colors, and soft silk gloves on their hands. They also wore beautiful, delicate high-heeled shoes.

Everyone was appropriately dressed, perfect examples of the elegance and refined arrogance of the human nobles.

Unfortunately, these individuals were all insignificant small fry. The true masters who could decide the future of the vampires were gathered on the third floor in a secret room, furiously discussing a particular matter.

“With the might of us vampires, we are entirely capable of establishing a new adept clan of our own. Lady Mary, what do you think? Should we not just leave the Crimson Clan and with Bloodcastle as our headquarters?”

A Second Grade vampire was excitedly giving a speech. However, before he could finish, a flash of crimson cut through the room as his entire person exploded in a puddle of blood.