Age of Adepts

The female serpentfowl found the tracks of the hatchlings after flying for a kilometer.

The three hatchlings were curled up together near a pile of rocks in the forest. Their heads hung limply by their bodies with not a trace of movement from them.

The serpentfowl cried and dove down from the canopy. It snapped many branches along the way as its ferocious body landed heavily in the woods, gouging the earth as it did so.

The female serpentfowl was a bit smaller than a male, and had much brighter and prettier wings.

Their strength might be inferior to the males, but their speed and the toxicity of their venom was superior.

The serpentfowl lunged toward the rocks. Her one and a half meter long snakehead immediately sensed the life force in the hatchlings when it touched them.

The hatchlings weren't dead!

The serpentfowl's pounding heart finally relaxed.

Just as she nudged the hatchlings with her head, a round metal ball rolled out from beneath them and bumped against her bird claws.

What was this?

As the serpentfowl bent down to inspect the strange object, several dozen holes abruptly appeared in the metal. A dense green gas released into the air.

The poison gas swiftly engulfed the serpentfowl's body.

She took a few steps backward out of shock, but her odd snake-bird hybrid body started swaying before she could get out of the poison cloud. She was stumbling like a drunk.

The poison gas was indeed toxic. In fact, it was a potent poison!

Unfortunately, this much poison was still insufficient to bring down a creature that was poisonous itself.

A wild wind blew across the place as a muscular bald man jumped out of the bushes. The long blade in his hand smashed down upon the head of the serpentfowl.

The female serpentfowl was only at the pseudo-adept level at best. Her snakehead might be protected by fine scales, but even they could not defend against such a ferocious strike. If the bald man hadn't struck with the back of the knife, his nine points of strength would have cleaved the head in half.

A dull thud rang out and blood splattered from the serpentfowl's head. Her head had almost been bashed into pieces.

The serpentfowl cried out in pain, swayed about, and finally fell with a thud.

The last scene reflected in the serpentfowl's eyes was of a few human silhouettes walking toward her with wicked smiles!

"It fell…it fell."

Blanco started laughing gleefully, and the other apprentices were full of smiles as well.

"What about it, boss? Do we stop here or do we keep going?"

"Of course we are gonna keep going," There was a wicked smile on Ponta's face as well, "There's still three hours before dark; those male serpentfowls won't be back so soon. We should take this opportunity to clear out their nests. Don't forget, the most valuable things about the serpentfowls are actually their eggs!"

"Then we must act faster. We need to find a place to hide after we finish searching the nests, or the male serpentfowls will find us." Body-Refining Adept Dakso prompted his teammates, bloody knife still in hand.

"Let's go. Eco; you and Little Locke stay here and bring the serpentfowls back to our hiding spot. We will meet up with you once we are done searching the nests!" Ponta decisively ordered.

"You guys be careful!" Eco said longingly.

The three apprentices vanished into the forest in the blink of an eye.

Eco looked around for a while and finally retracted her gaze after the three of them had disappeared entirely from sight. She sighed faintly, "Let's get moving on our end as well then!"

"Alrighty!" Little Locke replied. He took out seven or eight magical machinery components from his pouch and started to put them together in the clearing.

In less than seven minutes, he had basically completed a three-meter-tall miniature magical machine warrior of smaller stature. Little Locke pulled open the tailgate on the back of the machine and carefully slotted in three sets of magic energy batteries into it.

The next second, the miniature magical machine warrior stood up before the two apprentices, grinding and clanging with all sorts of metallic sounds.

"Magical Machine Worker J001 reporting for duty. Please give work orders."

One-meter tall Little Locke appeared all the shorter in front of this towering machine. Still, Little Locke seemed to be more energetic and confident than ever before when in front of his magical creation.

"Don't just stand there bumbling. Go over and carry those prey. We are gonna start running immediately!" Little Locke jumped about and gestured wildly as he finally gave his first order.

The magical machine warrior that was made entirely out of scrap metal appeared to have no magic energy weapons at all. The only thing that could be said to be a weapon was probably its giant clamp-like metal hand.

The energy source of the magical machine warrior might come from magic energy batteries, but one could see plenty of other technologies on its pieced-together body. There were signs of steam valves, switches, suspension systems, grinding gears, and metal levers.

The machine worker walked toward the serpentfowls with heavy steps after receiving its order. It tossed them onto its shoulders before following the goblin and the female apprentice toward their hidden spot.

Meanwhile, at the Serpentfowl Cliff, the other serpentfowl that had stayed guard over the place was flying in the sky. It occasionally dove down and used its terrifying snake bite and sharp bird claws to attack these invaders.

Sadly, though it had the power of a pseudo-adept, it was not equipped with any weapons. It could only fight three fully-armed human apprentices with its bare body. Moreover, one of the three apprentices was a dark pseudo-adept whose abilities were not inferior to its own.

The aerial attacks of the serpentfowl were all blocked by Body-Refining Adept Dakso.

Dakso calmly blocked all the attacks with his tower shield, giving his two companions the perfect environment to use their spells.

Pseudo-Adept Ponta's shadow arrows and Blanco's armor-piercing crossbow bolts all delt decent damage to the serpentfowl. In particular, the constant barrage of shadow arrows had a very high chance of ignoring defense. They would corrode the serpentfowl's feathers and skin every time they hit its body, revealing the red blood and flesh beneath.

After fifteen minutes of combat, the badly wounded serpentfowl realized that it could not deal with these invaders. It cried and took to the air, trying to escape toward the forest.

"Trying to go look for help? Stay!"

Ponta put on a wicked smile. He had been secretly gathering power for this moment. He strode forward, and the dark energy in his hands gathered into the form of a dark spear. He threw it at the serpentfowl with all his strength, piercing through its body with the spear.

The serpentfowl fell from the sky with a pained cry.

"Dakso, you go retrieve the corpse! Blanco, come with me to the nests!"

The three apprentices immediately split up with victory in sight. They started to perform the clean-up for today's combat.

Yet, just as the three apprentices scoured Serpentfowl Cliff and packed up all the eggs and hatchlings, a strange, loud cry came from the distant horizon.

"Dammit, it's those male serpentfowls! They're back! Let's leave, quick."

Ponta, who had the most attuned Spirit sense, immediately changed expressions. He could no longer care for a more detailed search of the caves. He whistled and immediately started running with his two companions.

As many as seventeen adolescent serpentfowls were living on Serpentfowl Cliff. They had dealt with two of them, which left fifteen serpentfowls more.

That was fifteen pseudo-adept-level serpentfowls!

Regardless of how prepared or well-equipped they were, the apprentices could not deal with the attacks of the entire flock if they were trapped in the cave.

The hatred from the killing of their mate and the grudge for stealing their eggs was at stake. If the three of them were to fall into the hands of the serpentfowls, they would not die happy deaths.

Dakso and Blanco immediately picked up the massive bags, even without Ponta's instructions. The three of them sprinted down Serpentfowl Cliff. Ponta took the rear, scattering a strange yellow powder as he retreated.

This alchemical powder could effectively disrupt scent trails left in the air, leaving magical creatures who relied on their sense of smell helpless in tracking down enemies.

However, relying on this method alone to throw off the pursuit of the serpentfowls was still too risky. Ponta quickly took out a magic wand and quietly whispered several words.

A short moment later, Little Locke received the magical transmission and sent out his eyeball combat machine. The machine flew into the skies and started shooting at the serpentfowls.

These heat rays, with only eleven points of power, could not possibly kill the serpentfowls; it only made them shriek in pain a few times. The eyeball machine turned and fled without any hesitation after drawing the attention of all the serpentfowls. It flew toward the edge of the Black Forest with flame streams blasting out of its jets.

The serpentfowl flock was infuriated and distracted by the eyeball machine before they could even figure out what had happened at home. They cried out loud and beat their wings to chase after the machine. Soon, they vanished from sight.

Shhhh!

The three apprentices could finally relax, seeing that the serpentfowl flock had been drawn away. They brought their spoils with them and calmly returned to their hiding.

This hiding spot was a deep ditch that Little Locke had made the machine worker dig in a forest clearing. He then covered and concealed it with woody plants and vines. The effect was much better than merely hiding in a cave or between rocks.

"Good job, Little Locke! There will be your share in these spoils once we get back!" Ponta was clearly very satisfied with Little Locke's contributions in this adventure. For the first time, he recognized him as a teammate.

"Thank you, boss. Thank you."

Little Locke grinned widely!