Age of Adepts

Right from the start, the Underground Cave was a place where one was apt to get into trouble.

Though no one had purposefully spread the news, early next morning, nearly the entire Adept Tower was startled by a frightening news that had spread like the plague.

In a fair one-on-one match, an individual who had recently broken through to Intermediate Apprentice Adept had defeated Toril, the member of the Wharton family who had the highest chance of becoming an official Adept in the shortest amount of time. When the news was freshly heard, countless Apprentice Adepts simply sniffed at it to show their contempt.

In the World of Adept, even within the same grade, but just different by one or two minor tiers, let alone the gap between two major grades, there would be a jaw-dropping difference between their overall strength. Some busybodies actually performed a statistical study before. In a normal battle, a Pseudo-Adept could easily defend himself from the joint attack of two to three Advanced Apprentices and could just as easily defend himself against the joint attack from a double digit number of Intermediate Apprentices.

Therefore, when they heard the news for the first time, most of the people just treated it as a lousy lie used by an enemy of the Wharton family to bring shame to them. But as time went by, the 'lie' had grown hotter and hotter, so much so that many guys who were well-known among the elite apprentices vowed solemnly that it was real.

As the result, a massive storm broke out in the circle of Apprentice Adepts within the Adept Tower of Underground Cave!

Countless Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices ran around, spreading the news, while inquiring about the genuine version of that 'rumor'. Soon, all the rumors gathered through the grapevine had pointed to a name that everybody was unfamiliar with - Greem. Hence, more news about Greem was dug out.

For example, when Greem had arrived at the Underground Cave, he had just been a Beginner Apprentice. Also, during his first trip to the Underground World, he had killed the frightening Demon Vine Lady and gotten himself the first head of a Fallen Apprentice. Not only that, when he was invited to join the training camp, he actually had defeated two elite Advanced Apprentices…

When the series of outstanding results were pieced together, every single apprentice who heard about it was struck with astonishment.

This… how could this be possible?

Everyone was very familiar with the overall strength of an apprentice who had just become an Intermediate Apprentice. During this stage, their overall strength was in a rather awkward situation, as usually they had only mastered two to three offensive magic spells. Some with a stronger overall strength would master a defensive magic spell in advance, while those ordinary Intermediate Apprentices would have to fight nakedly for a long period of time before they mastered the first defensive magic spell in their life.

Comparing an overall strength like this to an Advanced Apprentice who been thoroughly tempered or even those Pseudo-Adepts who had nearly reached the pinnacle of apprenticeship, it was like the difference between a five to six year old toddler and a youth who had nearly become an adult. Most of the time, a gap in overall strength like this could never be covered up by skillful techniques or experience.

But they soon learned that, it was highly possible that this man of marvel, Greem, was a Golem Controller who had extraordinary talent. He was able to overstep the constraints of his level and control many powerful magical Golems. After this news was spread, it immediately made the few rare Golem controllers within the apprentice circle feel proud of themselves; they even walked and talked with a higher spirit as compared to before.

However, none of them knew at this moment when they were discussing about this miraculous Golem Controller with much warmth, Greem, whose face would have blushed because of the discussion, had brought Mary and Snorlax and ventured deep into the Underground Cave. They followed the path he found on his previous trip and stealthily traveled towards the ruins of the Adept Tower.

To be honest, with regards to this treasure hunting trip, though Greem had prepared numerous plans and strategies in his mind, when his opponent was an Adept level demon, it was unknown whether these plans and strategies would work as they were designed to.

Riding on the back of the Demon Alligator Hunter, the trio had a meeting and repeatedly cross-checked each other's tasks. In order to defeat the Transvestite Fairy, not only Greem had to face a tremendous amount of pressure, he even arranged an extremely important task for both Mary and Snorlax to complete.

As the main force for the war, Greem's existence was used to attract attention. Only by luring the frightening Fairy away from the entrance of the ruin could Mary and Snorlax have the chance to sneak into the place and search for the true form of the Fairy.

And only by finding a way to cut off the spiritual connection between the Fairy and its true form would Greem have the possibility of defeating it face-to-face. Or else, if he had to fight a complete Fairy, even if Greem sacrificed all of his Golems, he might not be able to obtain any advantage.

Perhaps the previous lesson was overly painful as all the Gnolls that had been prowling at the outer perimeter of the ruin had actually disappeared. This really surprised Greem who had planned to make a clean wipe of the outer perimeter first.

When Demon Alligator Hunter once again arrived in front of the demonized forest, both Mary and Snorlax had their jaws dropped in amazement. They wouldn't be so surprised if what they saw was on the surface world. However, when they were at nearly twenty miles underneath the surface, yet were still able to see such a wild profusion of vegetation. This really astounded both of them who had got used to the desolate and lonely environment of the Underground World!

"Let's move, and don't forget about your task. Once that Fairy leaves the place, both of you need to act fast, because I can't stand against it for a long time!" Before they separated, Greem couldn't help but urge once again.

A sweet smile emerged on Mary's pretty face. Her slim body leapt into the air and within a split second, she had transformed into a fist-sized red bat and flew into the forest.

Greem didn't have too many worries for Mary. Both her overall strength of an Advance Apprentice Vampire and her new ability, Natural Charm were the biggest guarantees for her survival. Especially the latter, in a chaotic demonized forest such as this, as long as she didn't actively attack the enemy, ordinary demonized creatures and plants wouldn't attack her actively either.

In fact, the ability of Natural Charm could actually ignore the species, genders, factions, and some other factors, and directly influence the subconscious mind of any intelligent creature. Thus, it could simply be regarded as the best innate ability for treasure hunting in the wilderness. Allegedly, the advancement requirement for this very unique class actually needed the ability of Natural Charm as a foundation.

The current Snorlax was seen wearing a torn and tattered leather armor, while having a perfectly matching old cloak flinging behind its back. Also, the short wooden stick that it always carried around was found in its hand.

"Master, rest assure, I'll try my best to complete the task!" Snorlax bowed respectfully before jumping off from the Demon Alligator. It moved its short legs and strode into the depths of the forest.

Though the demonized forest was a place filled with dangers, for a goblin who had mastered Invisibility and Camouflage, those low ranked demons could never threaten its life. Also, with Mary protecting it in the dark, even if some demons had discovered Snorlax, they would be 'lucky' enough to have gotten themselves killed.

When both peers disappeared, only then had Greem dispersed the Demon Alligator Hunter and freed up two Spirit points used to summon it. For the upcoming battle, he needed his most powerful combative force, thus every single Spirit point was extremely precious and couldn't afford to waste any of them.

After adjusting and calmed down his Spirit, without any hesitation, Greem summoned the Lightning Giant and a Rock Snake. It took seven Spirit points to maintain the existence of the Lightning Giant, while Rock Snake occupies three Spirit points. Currently, Greem's Spirit had reached 13.25 (including the +1 effect from the Circlet of Nobility), if he was pushed to his limit, he could summon another Rock Snake or a Water Elemental.

This was the strongest battle group Greem could achieve after pushing himself to the limit.

Nevertheless, considering the surrounding environment in this place wasn't suitable to let out his latest golem, the Water Elemental, to unleash its strongest combative strength, Greem preferred the former option.

Upon the appearance of the Lightning Giant, deep and muffled thunderclaps immediately echoed throughout this spacious underground space. With its entire body covered by a crackling lightning storm, the Lightning Giant opened up its dazzling eyes and hovered in the air over ten meters from the group. It took the lead and charged into the demonized forest.

Greem gritted his teeth and briefly organized the equipment on his body, before following behind the Lightning Giant without another glance backwards. Meanwhile, the massive Rock Snake was slowly slithering behind Greem, keeping its high vigilance towards any possible attacks that might come from his back.

A man and two monsters were slowly walking in the demonized forest.

Greem didn't need to waste his time or effort cleaning any of those troublesome vines or bushes on their way, as the Lightning Giant's tall body flashed through any plants that got too close to it, turning them into a pile of ashes by the sudden strike of the thunderstorm. Even those little animals hiding in the dense woods couldn't escape from it! As long as their life aura was detected by the Lightning Giant, they would be greeted by a lightning strike.

With the peak Pseudo-Adept level overall strength of the Lightning Giant, even those Iron Rhinoceros who were known for their strong vitality couldn't withstand the lightning strike it casually unleashed, let alone those small demons who only had with their strange abilities and the ability to hide!

Completely advancing while crushing everything in their path!

Wherever they passed, everything would be turned into ashes, even the ground was filled with burned cracks caused by the lightning strikes!

Though the demons wished to protect the magical source which brought them endless power, when the largest pack of violent wolves were totally wiped out by the Lightning Giant, these demons had finally become scared and started to crazily flee from the messenger from hell who could bring death upon all of them.

At the same time, right in front of the collapsed Adept Tower where Greem had visited last time, the seductive body of Fairy was seen gradually emerging from thin air.

It was overlooking the rocking dark cloud that had formed above the forest. From time to time, a dazzling lightning strike would struck out from it, following by a series of muffled thunderclaps. Though it couldn't see the numbers of the enemy from here, but judging from the power of this summoned thunder cloud, the Fairy had furrowed its brows slightly, as if trying to make a tough decision.

Looking at the direction where the thunder cloud was headed, it seemed its destination was right where the Fairy was.

If these intruders were allowed to bring those flames of war to this place, perhaps they would cause an inestimable damage to the life source hidden underground. Finally, a firm expression emerged on the beautiful and delicate face of the Fairy. With its hand making a grabbing movement in the air, the magical bow that it had owned since the day it had been born appeared in its grip.

Following a whisper from the Fairy, the demonized plants around the ruins started to grow crazily and soon a dense green foliage had totally covered up the secret entrance to the ruin.

After finishing all these, the Fairly shouted angrily, flipping its near transparent wings, before leaping towards the enemy with tremendous speed.