Age of Adepts

World of Adepts. The territory of the Northern Witches.

Neo Valley.

The land where the origin tower of the Dark Witches was located– where the Black Mystery could be found.

Everything inside the valley was still as dark and sinister as before. All creatures and plants were engulfed by a faintly dim shadow, gray and lifeless.

Meanwhile, a heated argument was transpiring in the looming tower above.

Three black silhouettes coldly faced each other in a dark and lightless room. It seemed almost as if a fight would break out at any time.

“Circe, you might be the leader of the clan, but it does not mean that you hold all authority within it!” An unusually old and hoarse voice came from the shadow on the left. “What exactly happened to Shani? Where is the Orb of Shadows? These things…you have to give us an explanation, or us sisters of the Shadow will never obey the orders of headquarters again!”

An equally raspy voice rang out from the figure on the right as well.

It was where the great Adept’s Association could be found. It was the ideal land for tens of thousands of adepts.

There was a forest of adept towers here, along with wealthy and vast adept kingdoms, plenty of adepts, and an innumerable amount of adept resources.

Compared to the other organizations, the Adept’s Association could be considered the only true adept’s organization in the World of Adepts. The Silver Union was more like a federation of esoteric adepts and mechanical adepts with a talent for business. The Northern Witches were more of a witch organization with the legacy of an ancient bloodline, unwelcoming to other adepts.

The Zhentarim Association, on the other hand, was too loose to be an effective organization. They had no actual authority over their high-grade adepts. It could barely be considered a second-rate organization and was not at the level of the three major organizations.

The most famous landmarks of the Adept’s Association were their Seven-Ring Towers.

Seven top-tier towers constructed according to a mysterious array, connected through numerous altars and smaller buildings to form an unusually large system of arrays.

With the towers serving as nodes in the array and the vast land between them as the base, it was a colossal project of unbelievable proportions. Only the Great Adepts, with their unbound worldview, broad strokes, and destructive power could achieve such a feat.

At the moment, an unfamiliar hearing was underway in a hall in one of those Seven-Ring Towers.

Speaker Lawyes sat behind an old redwood roundtable. He listened to an adept report on the investigation of Adept Mangus’ death, all while asking questions on details that interested him in a calm and composed voice.

Speaker Lawyes was a Fourth Grade adept as well. His face was covered in wrinkles, and his hair was white. The black-framed glasses he wore above his nose gave him the flair of elegance, wisdom, and knowledge that all high-grade adepts possessed.

On the other end of the hall sitting behind tall wooden grates were a few dozen nervous adepts waiting for the Speaker’s final decision.

“You mean to say that Adept Mangus is dead beyond doubt, with not even a single shard of his soul being recoverable?” Speaker Lawyes slowly asked of the Third Grade adept sent out on the investigation.

“Yes, your honor.”

“How, exactly, did he die?”

“I have personally visited some of the adepts who returned with Lord Mangus. According to them, Lord Mangus was perfectly normal prior to the return from Morrian Plane. However, he suddenly went insane during the teleportation and seemed to attempt to kill one of their companions through self-destruction. More than three Fourth Grade adepts have verified this.”

“Who was it that he attempted to kill?”

“A newly advanced adept named Greem. He belongs to the Zhentarim Association and was assigned to the same party as Lord Mangus.”

“Was there a grudge between them?”

“According to our investigations, no! Moreover, judging from the information that we have, Lord Mangus seemed to have signed an oath contract with all his companions. If there were a grudge between the two of them, they would not have made a contract like that.” The Third Grade adept had clearly fulfilled his duty. The information he had gathered was comprehensive, detailed, and irrefutable.