Age of Adepts

This was an extremely clever little guy who knew how to understand people's thoughts.

Upon entering Greem's room, it quickly carried out its duty. Taking care of the room's cleanliness, organizing books on the table, wiping off ink stains, washing the quill pen and cleaning the remains of magical experiments, and even helping Greem take off his thick and heavy traveler robe…

In short, all the tasks that a magical slave could do, it had completed them within a very short period of time after it came into the room. After that, it stood politely beside the table, awaiting Greem's command.

Carrying a smile in his eyes and watching how Snorlax completed all these tasks, Greem finally gave out his order in a rather cold manner.

"Tell me about that Adept Pridka!"

The goblin's body trembled slightly, raising its head and taking a peek at the young apprentice who stood opposite to it, but its gaze was caught by Greem's cold and calm glance. This made it shudder, quickly lowering its eyes and began to speak in a stuttered manner.

The story was more or less as what Greem had been expecting. This green-skinned goblin who had the name of Snorlax was indeed a very lucky escaped slave.

In order to tell the whole story, it had to start from fifteen years ago.

To put it simply, that Second Grade Adept Pridka wanted to carry out some kind of soul experiment, so he captured a large group of underground creatures to serve as his magic spell experiment subjects. Like most of the magic spell experiments, this soul experiment was extremely dangerous and difficult to control, thus most of his test subjects eventually died painfully, while only this green-skinned goblin survived.

With regards to the soul experiment, Snorlax didn't have many memories, and most were not complete. But through its brief description, Greem suspected that Second Grade Adept Pridka was trying to perform a soul transfer experiment.

As soul transfer was the only lead to immortality, it was a magic topic that must be researched privately by most of the Adepts who wished for immortality.

As for the Adept's treasure mentioned by Snorlax, it was just one of the many laboratories Adept Pridka built in the Underground World. Since Snorlax accidentally awakened its intelligence during the soul experiment and managed to survive, in order to better observe any changes to its soul, Adept Pridka promoted it to become his personal slave. And out of curiosity, he taught it some magical knowledge.

So, that was when Snorlax learned all three magic spells it knew.

Despite only having the most basic intelligence, Snorlax was actually smart in its own unique way. The reason why it chose these three spells was so that it could escape from the Adept! Even though it didn't have a brilliant brain and vast knowledge like an Adept, but it also knew as a test subject, sooner or later it would have to be cut open on an operating table.

Since the day its intelligence awakened, it had been preparing for its grand escape.

After listening to Snorlax's story, Greem couldn't help and speculate how this goblin must be a very lucky creature that was blessed by the Will of Adept World. After it served the Adept for eleven years, it finally found an opportunity for its great escape.

It happened five years ago during an Underground World clean up mission. The Zhentarim Association sent a large group of Adepts and ambushed Elysium City. Adept Pridka was forced to bring most of the Fallen Adepts and moved to a deeper place underground, while Snorlax was abandoned in the laboratory.

According to normal circumstances, Snorlax would disappear together with the self-destruction of Elysium City. But surprisingly, this lucky fellow was able to escape before the city was destroyed. And so, not knowing anybody, Snorlax had once again become a wild creature that roamed the Underground World.

As for its situation after that, it was rather easy to guess.

Despite the fact that Snorlax mastered a few peculiar magic spells that didn't have much fighting ability, it was not something that could be easily captured by ordinary underground creatures. After wandering in the wild for some time, through its peculiar abilities, Snorlax actually gathered a large group of goblins and established a camp in the shallow region of Underground World, becoming the leader of a goblin colony.

After he listened to Snorlax story, Greem sighed emotionally inside of his heart. This was simply a motivational story of this strange world. But too bad, no marvelous or extraordinary story could move him now. Greem snapped his finger angrily, causing the tiny needles that poked into Snorlax's neck to inject a powerful electricity into its body.

In next moment, dark smoke started to billow out from Snorlax's body, as it fell to the ground, its body twitching.

"Hmph, your story is indeed motivational, and is pleasant to hear. But tell me, what benefits can I get after putting all that effort to save you? Do you think I just want to listen to your fucking fantasy story?" The enraged Greem kept roaring at Snorlax, showing a look that seemed as if he was about to rip this goblin into pieces.

"Mas… master… I.. I can… I can give you a magic spell laboratory of a Second Grade Adept!" Snorlax proved itself to be a tough creature who had both thick skin and strong guts, even though it was facing a threat to its life, its eyes and mouth twitching due to the electricity, it was still able to smoothly say its life-saving statement.

"Where's that laboratory?"

"In Elysium City!"

"Fuck! Damn you, goblin! Do you think a surface apprentice like me can freely enter Elysium City, the place where all Fallen Adepts come together in crowds? Do you want to taste electricity again?"

"Master, I was referring to the ruins of the old Elysium City, not the current one!" Greatly terrified by Greem, Snorlax nearly used up all of its strength in yelling out this sentence.

"Oh? Give me more details!"

"I didn't really understand what the exact scenario was, but all I know is one thing, Elysium City had been destroyed three times before. Whenever the surface Adepts came to the Underground Cave, the Elysium City would be destroyed. After that, those Fallen Adepts will find another location and rebuild a brand new city. The Elysium City I mentioned to you just now is the ruins of the previous Elysium City after it was destroyed in the last war. The current Elysium City is built after that."

"After it went through a massive self-destruction, would there still be anything left?" Greem pretentiously said in a disdainful manner.

"Master, master! The laboratory built by Adept Pridka was protected by the strongest magical arrays. Although it's impossible for it to remain completely intact, but I'm sure there will be some leftover resources. The resources that can be found there are left by a Second Grade Adept, though it might just be in a small quantity, but it's still worth the risk!"

Greem quieted down.

"Chip, analyze the truthfulness of what Snorlax said."

"Beep. Data analysis completed… Preliminary results show what it said is true… The reference data included: 'The Chronicles of Underground Cave', 'The Secrets of Underground Creatures', 'Bibliography of Fallen Adepts'… Note: When the creature mentioned the laboratory in the ruins, an abnormal spiritual ripple was detected. The analysis shows there is something it needs in that place…"

"Hmph, it can also be the chance for it to once again escape from the hands of someone else!" Greem had this thought in his mind.

Of course, all these were secrets that was hidden within Greem's mind. Externally, he had his face covered with a bright smile and raised Snorlax from the ground, vowing solemnly that, so long as it could bring Greem to the laboratory, he would set it free and reward it with a huge sum of magic crystals.

In order to win over the heart of this new minion, Greem spent a big sum of his fortune and ordered the daily noble meal set for it. Therefore, while Greem was happily enjoying his magical energy meal set, Snorlax was also squatting at a corner of the room, devouring the delicacies like a wolf.

After both of them came to an agreement, Snorlax had also 'committed' itself to become Greem's servant. After it was promoted, the first thing Greem did was threw it into the bathroom and gave it a thorough wash.

In the Underground World, all resources were rare and precious, and these goblins had no habit of washing themselves regularly. That's why Greem wasn't able to stand the stinking smell that continuously emitted from its body. In order to get rid of this pungent smell, Greem had purposely purchased a bottle of deodorant, using it to thoroughly wash Snorlax from top to bottom.

Afterwards, when Snorlax stood in front of Greem, it actually looked cute and adorable like those green-skinned cartoons in Greem's previous life.

"Alright, now show me all of your abilities!"

"Master, which one do you want to look at first?"

"Show me your Camouflage Spell!"

Snorlax pulled out a small old wooden stick from its waist, then quietly recited some magic spells, and afterwards used the stick to point at its own body. Following the radiant glow of magical rays, the skin color of Snorlax turned exactly like the color of the floor. When it lied down on its stomach at a corner of the room, one could easily overlook its existence.

"How about the Partial Transformation spell?"

Hearing what Greem said, Snorlax made its ears stand erect as they slowly twisted and transformed into a withered flower. Although it wasn't flawless, but it still looked like the real thing. It wasn't easy to tell the difference with just one look.

"Good!" Greem nodded his head, and then said, "Invisibility?"

Snorlax shook its body, dismissing all abnormal transformations present. Following a murmur of an invocation, its wooden stick flickered as its body suddenly turned incorporeal. Five seconds later, it simply vanished into thin air.

Greem turned his head over and gave it a careful observation. If he didn't have his Elementium Vision and if Snorlax could move more nimbly, the result of this Invisibility spell would be pretty good.

"Take a few steps!"

A row of marks of water suddenly appeared on the floor. Snorlax took a bath previously, and that's the water that remained on its body.

Tracing its movement, Greem could vaguely see an abnormal reflection of light. But when it stopped, the abnormality instantly disappeared.

"Here, hold this book!" Greem directly grabbed a book and gave it to Snorlax.

Initially, the book floated all alone in midair, making it look really bizarre. But after five seconds passed by, it started to turn intangible and finally vanished without a trace.

"Oh? You can also hold foreign objects and make them invisible as well! Are there any limitations to such foreign objects?" Greem asked curiously.

"Firstly, it can't be a living object. Secondly, its size cannot be bigger than one fifth of my body size." Snorlax's answers didn't go beyond Greem's expectation. A magic spell with such excellent results always come with very strict restrictions.

Greem hesitated for a moment, and then finally decided to give up the idea of learning this Invisibility spell.