Age of Adepts

When Greem stood once more in the middle of the battlefield, he was immediately overwhelmed by Mark's imposing aura.

Back when he was still on Earth in his previous life, being overwhelmed by a person's imposing aura might just only be a metaphor. But in this world of highly advanced magic where even spirit and faith could become some kind of force, one can actually feel the intense spiritual pressure and the aura emanating from another person.

Through the Chip's feedback, Greem realized that his opponent had at least seventeen points in both Strength and Physique with a tiny bit lower amount of Spirit which was at least sixteen points.

It was a powerful aura forged from an intrepid physique and powerful spirit. It made Greem have difficulties in movement making him feel as if he was standing right in the heart of a powerful storm from Mother Nature. He even felt a slight burning sensation of pain on his skin.

Greem knitted his brows in a tight frown.

Looks like he has to improve his Spirit as soon as possible, or else he would have to endure the intense suffocating pressure given off by advanced apprentice whenever he had to face one.

This was all due to Greem's rank being too low. If he had at least the overall strength of an intermediate apprentice, he would be capable of integrating his elemental energy and spirit to form a protective shield similar to that of an energy field. In that case, if he was to face an enemy stronger than him, he would not be like the way he is now who was similar to a man standing naked without any cloth.

Thunder Axe Mark was a burly man who stood at 2.5 meters tall. He had broad shoulders and a muscular body. Although his axe was still strapped on his back and not in his hand, it still didn't reduce the violent aura he was giving off.

At the moment he saw Greem who seemed to have a poor physique, he wasn't able to hold himself back and bursted out in a fit of laughter.

"Kid, you've got guts! You already know you're going to be tortured today but you still come out here and face me, hahaha… I like this!"

Greem narrowed his eyes. While he was enduring the uncomfortable feeling brought by the gap between their ranks, he refuted vaguely.

"It's still too early to tell who will be the winner. I hope master Mark will be nice to me later!"

"Haha… I wish I could. Despite the fact that these guys asked me to break both of your arms and legs and crush half of your bones, I, Mark, am rather fond of you. Good kid, I really didn't expect you to be able to make Dark Wood, that living corpse, faint because of anger. Honestly, it was pretty enjoyable to watch that. Hehe, since I'm really happy today, I'll just break both of your legs then. Take this suffering as the welcoming gift from our training camp!"

"Ugh…" Although having both arms and legs being broken wasn't an injury that couldn't be healed in the first place, one would still have to go through a painful healing process. So, upon listening to how Mark talk about this "painful" topic with a rather 'charitable' tone, Greem simply rolled his eyes taking all of this as a fart.

"Hey, are you guys ready? Once you're done with calculating the bets, I'll start the fight! How long do you want me to wait?" Mark shouted at the side of the battlefield as he rubbed his palms together. Obviously, Mark was a hot-tempered man.

Meanwhile, it was a lively scene at the side of the battlefield.

There were oceans of apprentices and pseudo-Adepts surrounding Messa who was eagerly shouting out their bets.

"One hundred and seventy magic crystals! I bet on Mark!"

"Two hundred and thirty magic crystals! Me too, will bet on Mark!"

"Ninety magic crystals on Mark's victory!"

…

…

A large illuminated stone slab was erected at the side of the field, showing the bets on the fight. The number of magic crystals that had wagered on Mark was stacking up really fast, soon stopping at a total of 3680 magic crystals. On the other hand, below Greem's name, it only showed merely 700 magic crystals.

This actually included Greem's own bet, otherwise, the bet would collapse with everybody only betting on one side.

Today's odds weren't as exaggerated as yesterday. After being carefully considered and agreed on by everyone, Hulk had taken charge and hosted the bet, the ratio he gave out was four to one. With the odds like this, if Greem was defeated by Mark, aside from the pain and wounds he will be receiving, he would also have to owe a hefty debt. In that case, he would have to sell himself out to the camp, working restlessly in order to pay back his debt!

For those fighting maniacs of the training camp, being able to profit or not was just a small matter. But pushing the newcomer off the edge was the entertainment they were all looking for.

However, while the commotion was gradually subsiding and Hulk was about to announce the start of the battle, a deep and hoarse voice suddenly sounded through the scene.

"Three hundred magic crystals, I bet on Greem!"

Although the voice wasn't that loud, it was like a cold breeze suddenly freezing the lively atmosphere. Everyone was stunned for a brief moment and only then did they remember to turn their heads and find out where the voice came from.

Dark Wood?!

It was Dark Wood!!!

In that instant, everyone felt as if their world as they knew it, was suddenly turned upside down. This… how could this be possible? No one would find it strange even if everyone in the training camp had placed their bets on Greem, but it shouldn't be Dark Wood! Didn't he know they were actually helping him to vent out his resentment?

Right when everybody still had their mouths wide open while gazing at each other, speechless, another voice came from the middle of the crowd.

"I also bet on Greem, two hundred and seventy magic crystals!"

Kevin! It was Blackhand Kevin!

Everyone inhaled sharply while showing all kinds of expressions. As the host for today, for the first time, Hulk felt today's sunlight was rather offending to his eyes. The magic crystals piled up beside him didn't look so loveable anymore. Although he never had the time to study the art of prophecy, he still had the feeling that today's wager had gone beyond his control.

He glared at Dark Wood and Kevin then eagerly shouted with a loud voice.

"The bet is decided and so I announce, the fight begins now!"

Following the announcement of Hulk, both men standing inside the battlefield promptly moved.

The burly man named Mark stretched out his arm, pulling out the giant axe from his back and then held it tightly with his giant palm. At the same time, cracking and popping sounds were heard coming from his body as countless blue electric arcs lingered around him.

The electric arcs created a powerful chain reaction, causing Greem who stood a hundred meters away, smell the putrid odor of air being burned by electricity.

Even though he had great confidence in the Demon Alligator Hunter, Greem still did not dare to wait for Mark to gather enough energy for a power strike. He quickly stomped his right foot, rushing the Demon Alligator Hunter to sink into the ground with the fastest speed possible.

Having his strength accumulated to the maximum, Mark threw his head back and let out a raging war cry, striding with steps that shook the earth while charging towards the Demon Alligator Hunter which was descending into the ground. He didn't use too much of his strength on his feet but every step he took would leave behind a shallow crater full of cracks. Also, despite not charging at them with big steps, Mark still managed to arrive in front of Greem before the Demon Alligator Hunter completely disappeared to the ground below.

A strong gust of wind brushed past his face as the Demon Alligator's bulky tail full of spikes and lumps swept by, landing right onto Mark's axe that was covered with raging electric arcs.

A loud boom rang out, immediately followed by dirt scattering in all directions. A mini lightning storm then suddenly exploded.

Greem, who had his body hidden within the Demon Alligator Hunter, sank underground just in time, successfully evading the shower of debris and the lightning storm. However, the crowd clearly saw that before the Demon Alligator was able to completely sink into the ground, a large portion of its long had already disappeared making it look really miserable.

Concurrently, Mark crouched down and forcefully jumped up with both of his legs, borrowing the force from it and leaped high up in the sky. While his body was still in the air, he let out another raging cry. He used all of his strength and threw his axe down, aiming at the very spot Greem had disappeared to.

Another earth-shaking explosion could be heard. Carrying with it a dazzling lightning storm, the axe forcefully struck the surface of the ground, shattering the ground and producing a large crater half a meter deep. The exploding lightning storm kept flaring violently at the the bottom of the crater, burning all the dirt into pieces and shaping the sand into molten glass.

It was such a vicious strike. Let alone resisting it directly, even the shockwave alone would be enough to kill a beginner apprentice.

In the sensitive spiritual senses of the crowd, Greem's life force had significantly dropped. In just an instant, he had already lost two-thirds of it.

Fortunately, the earth had helped Greem block most of the damage, making him suffer only a fraction of the damage from the shockwave. And so, Mark's thunder strike wasn't able to defeat him within a few seconds. This made the crowd feel pity and shock then they all sighed.

If Mark was able to move just a bit faster, or if only he could strike with an even stronger force, perhaps he had already killed Greem who was still in the shallow level under the ground.

A beginner apprentice challenging an advanced apprentice? What a joke! If the strike landed right on the target, Greem wouldn't even be able to withstand a single strike from Mark. Maybe only a useless fool like Dark Wood would be defeated by a mere beginner apprentice!

Enduring the gazes of either wonder, mocking, or disdain, Dark Wood hid his face under the shadow of his hood, showing only a pair of pale green ghastly flames dancing unclearly. No one knew what he was thinking about.

Only Kevin's expression changed following the situation of the fight.

The vicious first strike of Mark nearly scared away Kevin's soul. His bet of two hundred and seventy crystals was his hard-earned savings for two or three years which he had hoped to use to buy a nice, enchanted dagger. If his rash decision caused all of his savings to disappear, he would be crying out loud.

What kind of trump card did that Greem have? If it was that Demon Alligator, once it shows up again, it would only be crushed into a pile of clay by Mark's formidable strength. Kid, oh kid, you better not cheat me, or else I'll go and bother you every single day!

At this time, Greem was hiding underneath the ground and spitting blood.

The enemy's powerful strike had given him serious injuries. If not because he was able to act just in time, hastily diving deep underground, maybe with just the first strike alone would force him out. Even so, the tremendous shockwave that he felt from the squeezing of the ground had him coughing up a few mouthfuls of blood, nearly making him unable to recover.

While he was moving quickly in the darkness of the underground, Greem hid inside a small space created within the Demon Alligator Hunter's body and hastily treated his injuries. After he was done with that, he had a ferocious expression on his face as he tossed out a new golem he had created from the strenuous effort of a whole night. He then drove the Demon Alligator Hunter to slowly ascend to the surface.

Sure enough, Mark had been on guard against Greem's sneak attack from underground. On his foot were a pair of strange leather boots that were able to unleash bizarre magical ripples, enabling him to turn the ground underneath his feet into a hard rock, effectively blocking all the earth element spells casted by the Demon Alligator Hunter.

In the end, Mark simply sat down and crossed his legs while wearing a disdainful look and he shouted, "Kid, from now on, any attack of yours coming from under the ground is useless to me. If you wish to fight me, show yourself now! If you want to prolong this battle, I have no problem doing this with you. I don't believe your golem will be able to let you hide underground for so long!

Before he finished speaking, Mark abruptly stood up and pulled out his axe again.

At a spot nearly a hundred meters away from him, the Demon Alligator Hunter slowly emerged to the surface. Greem stared at him coldly.

"Good kid, so you do know what you should do. Today, let your master Mark teach you what a true battle is!"

After saying that, Mark covered his body again with countless arcs of blue lightning. He wielded his axe and charged towards Greem while howling out loud.

"Didn't you want to see what my trump card is? Fine, I'll show it to you now". Greem grinned. With both hands raised up, he shouted, "Show yourself, my raging fighter!"

Following his summons, the ground on the battlefield crumbled.