Age of Adepts
chapter-268

A small library was behind the door of light.

The entire place was no bigger than twenty to thirty square meters. There was a row of wooden shelves by the wall. Books were scattered across the shelves. Weak and pale light glowed on the surface of each and every book. It seemed that they were protected by some sort of magic.

There were very few adepts in the library as well. Only two adepts stood by the shelves, silently flipping through the pages of their books.

"Did you just arrive? To avoid any trouble, it's best that you wear your organization emblem on your chest!" An elderly adept sitting at a desk by the entrance put down the book he was reading. He frowned as he advised Greem.

It seems even a public territory would run some background checks on wandering adepts!

Adepts like the Two-face Adept were wanted criminals for the Zhentarim Association. Ordinary public territory would probably be restricted from access for such adepts.

Greem took the silver crescent moon emblem of the Sarubo Clan out of his storage and pinned it on his chest. The elderly adept responsible for watching over the place was stunned for a second before speaking, "You are from the Sarubo Clan? I don't recognize you! Could you be the Flame Demon people have been talking about recently?"

The two adepts who were focused on their reading raised their heads when they heard this. They too started to assess Greem.

"Is there any problem?" Greem asked curiously.

"Of course not! It's just that… " The elderly adept paused for moment, "I heard the conflict between the Sarubo Clan and the Black Glove Association is pretty bad. Some of the adepts from the Black Glove Association are fairly active within Motta City. You best be more cautious when entering and exiting the city!"

Greem could tell that the elderly adept was well-intentioned. He smiled as he nodded in acknowledgement, before walking over to the nearest bookshelf.

He randomly picked up a hardcover book with a blue front cover…

Gulliver's Travels.

It seemed to be a record of an adept's travels. Even though it did not involve any profound or complex magical knowledge and theories, there was still reference in learning about the unique magical creatures and plants described and recorded within the book.

The price of this book was ten magic crystals.

Greem put it aside.

Such a book wasn't very valuable, but it was still good to increase the available data within the chip's data library!

Greem picked up an ancient parchment. It seemed as though a certain potion recipe had been drawn on the parchment. It was a potion of the poison series. However the brewing, ratio of the involved materials, as well as the precautions, had all been censored by a pale magical light.

It cost four hundred magic crystals!

Greem hesitated for a moment before putting it back on the shelf.

He had no intention to become a potions master in the short term. Moreover, a physical poison attribute recipe like this one wasn't too useful to an adept. Spending four hundred magic crystals on this was unnecessary.

Greem picked up a couple of other books. Most of them contained extremely ordinary and fundamental theories. Occasionally, he would discover books with better and improved magical models. However, these books would be extremely and unbelievably expensive. Greem couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment as he made his way through the books. He had flipped through almost half of all the documents here, but he had only managed to pick out three books of some limited value.

In truth, this was unavoidable!

After all, this library was only a public library that the Motta adepts' tower opened to the public. Only wandering adepts or those with limited finances would visit this place.

The truly valuable knowledge was clearly stored in another place, and was only available to the actual members of the adepts' tower. Only groups of adepts with no roots to speak of, such as the Black Glove Association, would be willing to use this place as a headquarters. If they took on some of the daily duties of the tower, they could be recognized as an official member of the tower. They would then be one of the protectors of the public territory!

"Hey. Sarubo brat. There's a little girl looking for you outside… " The elderly adept called to Greem.

"Understood!" Greem took the three books to the entrance and forked over the magic crystals to the elderly adept. The elderly adept quickly started to removed the protective enchantments that had been placed on the books.

When Greem walked through the door of light, he saw Alice.

Thor didn't seem to be present. It seemed he had been sent away by Alice.

"I have already reserved the tickets for the ship that leaves tomorrow afternoon. We will be staying at Brucelan Inn tonight!"

Alice appeared to have accepted her fate as a servant after this period of time. She was no longer as upset and temperamental as she used to be. Once she had calmed down, she was an extremely smart and helpful servant. Her intellect as a pseudo-adept saved Greem from plenty of unnecessary trouble!

Greem followed Alice to the inn and ordered the waiter to send the food to their room. He, on the other hand, quickly recorded the contents of the three books into the chip's data library before continuing his research on the strange otherworld runes.

Having received the warning and reminder from the elderly adept, Greem dismissed his original plan to stroll through Motta City. He decided to stay in the inn for the remaining time instead.

It was only when Alice and Snorlax came to remind him that it was time to board the ship that he stopped his research!

…………

When Greem brought Alice and Snorlax to Motta City's flying stop, he could see a flying ship slowly landing on the green fields on top of a hill.

There were no hot-air balloons or propellers attached to the transport. The bottom of the flying ship was glowing with brilliant golden light. A faint pulsating magic array was generating air currents beneath the ship, allowing it to land steadily on the ground.

The flying ship that Greem had flown in last time seemed to have an edged bottom. It was clearly less capable of bearing a load when compared to the flat-bottom flying ship before him.

A crowd buzzed about the landing platform.

Several carts filled to the brim with cargo were already waiting here. Muscular and strong workers were shouting chants as they carried cargo out of the ship and moved a new load of cargo back onto the ship.

Some individuals wearing adept robes were casually conversing on the fields around the platform. They also appeared to be waiting to board.

In just a single hour, all of the cargo had been loaded onto the ship.

Thus the passengers, adepts, and the nobles started to board the ship. They stood by the railing of the ship and waved at the people below it.

Shouts and sounds of crying rang out from the field below the ship as relatives said their farewells.

Soon, the energy flux emanating from the array at the bottom of the ship intensified. The ship trembled as it was wrapped in a thick layer of wind particles before slowly taking off from the ground.

Far away in a wooden hut, two adepts gazed at the ship as it gradually rose into the clouds. Their eyes were filled with hatred and anger, as well as an intense frustration and resentment.

"Sir, are we letting him leave just like that?" A middle-aged adept with sharp features spat resentfully.

"What else can we do but let him leave?" The other adept was the head of the Black Glove Association– Green Dwarf Pyro, "This is Motta City. It is not a place where we can do whatever we like! That old fogey has already warned me. If I dare to kill any visiting adepts within Motta City, they will deny shelter to all of us! Then the toxic loaches of the Sarubos would probably be waiting to swallow us whole!”

"This Flame Demon fellow is pretty alert as well. He hid within the inn for the entire time he was here. All of the plans we had made for him ended up useless. Was he tipped off by someone?" The thin adept with sharp facial features was still resentful over the entire incident.

"I already know who! It's probably the fault of those old fogeys again. They secretly warned the brat!" A vicious light gleamed within Pyro's eyes.

"Sir, you should be more cautious within the Association as well!" The thin adept hesitated for a moment, "I heard… "

"What?"

"I heard some organizations have already made contact with Fernand and Valier!"

Pyro was shocked for a moment.

He had spent over two hundred years to gather this group of six First Grade adepts. It was already heartbreaking to have lost the most powerful, McThran. If the remaining adepts were drawn away during this time of turmoil for the Association, how was he to accomplish his dream of a Pyro Clan?

"What have you heard? Tell me all about it. Quick… "

The two adepts started to converse quietly within the shelter of the wooden hut.

Greem, ignorant to all of this happening, was standing by the edge of the ship. He silently looked down upon the scenery below him.

The higher the flying ship flew, the smaller everything on the ground appeared to be.

Even the lofty adepts' tower seemed to be slimmer and smaller, like a thick cigar placed on the top of a huge cake.

Looking from above, the territory of Motta City looked like a mix of gray-white ground and structures of every color. The surroundings of the city was filled with vast stretches of golden wheat fields and rectangular human towns. If one were to look even further into the distance, one could see the mountainous forest and the gray paths winding through the trees.

The roads that the humans had paved through the forest twisted and turned. Some slimmer and more narrow paths occasionally branched off the main road. From a distance, the gray-white paths looked like blood vessels spreading across the green forest.

The surrounding temperature had clearly dropped as the flying ship continued to rise in altitude. The chilly winds blew across the deck, causing everyone to shiver in cold.

This tiny problem was clearly not of an issue to a certain adept. A layer of pale red light surfaced on his body, and Greem was warm once again.

Ever since he picked fire mastery, all of the other elementium particles had basically started to distance themselves from Greem. This meant that it was much harder for Greem to cast spells of other elements with his own strength. He was committed to the path of fire manipulation!

Thankfully, there was still such a thing as a magical wand in this world. A magical wand enchanted with the Spell of Watercraft could prevent Greem from dying of thirst in a desert. A magical wand enchanted with Fly could prevent him from falling to his death.

If these options were unavailable, he still had golems of various elements and forms stored within his storage belts. All of these could be used for various purposes.

Greem was never concerned about his safety, even if he was high above in the skies a thousand meters above the ground.

He quickly got used to the scenery below the ship. It was no longer worthy of his attention. Thus, he shifted his gaze to the ship's deck.

The few nobles on the ship had clearly been unable to endure the chill at this altitude. Most of them had retreated into the comfort of the cabin, leaving only adepts on the deck. Pale magical glows enveloped their bodies. Clearly, all of them had some form of magic and means to drive away the cold.