Age of Adepts

Papa Mazik was an old gnome with an old face and a rickety figure.

To be honest, it was already surprising that it had survived the bit suppression to reach the Wizard World alive.

Based on its appearance alone, it and Locke stood together, and outsiders would only treat them as a pair of goblin grandparents. But who could have known that Papa Mazik was actually one of Locke's closest goblin companions since he was a child.

Seeing that the little goblin had brought Locke here, a smile immediately appeared on Papa Mazik's wrinkled old face.

"So it's little Harold! Since you're here, help me guard the shop first, and Locke and I have a few words to say..." with that, Papa Mazik took out an exquisitely crafted mechanical chick from under the pitch-black counter and tossed it into the gnome's arms, waving his head at Locke, and the two of them entered the cargo barn behind the shop.

The goods warehouse was crowded and dim, filled with tall metal shelves filled with strange creations of varying shapes and unspecified uses.

And without a lamp, Papa Marzik just stood in the darkness, silently watching over this childhood friend who was nothing like it already.

The green-skinned goblin had a base lifespan of only thirty or forty years, and even if it was properly maintained, it wouldn't live past sixty.

However, since Locke had successfully advanced to Level 1 in the Wizard World, with the nourishment of the magic energy package and magic breath, its life had far surpassed the lifespan limit of an ordinary goblin. If nothing unexpected happened, Locke would be able to live for at least another 120 years.

Such a life, although much less than that of a human wizard, was already astonishing compared to most of its companions.

Thus, the pair of childhood friends who had been playing together since childhood were now standing together, one magnificent like a young goblin of seven or eight years old, and the other old and senile like an old coffin flesh that was going to be buried.

The difference in appearance of the two was so great that the two goblins were also sobbing!

"Did the princess ask you to come?" In the darkness, Locke's eyes flashed and glowed.

"How...how did you know?" Papa Mazzik's mouth opened wide in surprise, his shocked expression not faking in the slightest.

"Ha... If Lord Tigure or Lord Cappy sent you here, there's no way you could be so secretive..." since being promoted to the rank of Magic Armsmaster, the surge of mental energy had also made Rock's head and thinking became completely different from before: "Thinking about it, only Your Highness would probably spend such a thought!"

It took a good deal of effort for Papa Mazik to snap out of the shock that filled him.

The young 'handsome' goblin before it was both familiar and unfamiliar to it!

What was familiar was the youthful face, what was unfamiliar was the meaningful smile on the other's lips.

Papa Marzik steadied his mind and finally asked the words.

"Locke, Her Highness has entrusted me to ask you a question, do you... still consider yourself a goblin?"

In the darkness, Locke closed his eyes and thought for a full fifteen minutes before opening them again.

"I have green skin, and I have goblin blood flowing through my veins, and I'm certainly still a goblin! It's an irrefutable fact!"

"As long as you still consider yourself a goblin..." quietly relieved Papa Mazik, "Her Highness wants you to join the Magic Energy Society!"

It's about time!

Locke sighed and fell into the long test once again.

Over the years, as a large number of goblins had integrated into the Crimson Family, many goblin organizations had appeared in the Flame Throne, in the White Tower, and in various goblin residences.

Like what 'King of Steam', 'Magic Armament Research Society', 'Goblin Mutual Aid Fellowship', 'Green Peace' ...Some groups are retro and want to bring the goblins back to the great age of steam; others are purely to bring the goblins together and avoid being bullied by the aliens....

However, probably the most famous of them all belonged to this 'Magic Energy Society' founded by Goblin Princess Winnisha!

At the beginning of the establishment of the Magical Energy Society, Princess Winnisha had launched a call to arms, wanting to gather all the goblins who had mastered supernatural power, to delve deeper into the study and mastery of great magical energy, and to make the goblin camp gloriously strong once again.

It sounds like a wonderful intention and an admirable ideal.

But unfortunately, only a handful of people responded!

Not to mention new wizards like Locke, even the great goblin warlord Lord Tigure didn't seem to have joined this magical energy club. And Lord Cappy, the great goblin sage, had even directly rejected Princess Winnisha's invitation.

This matter had also caused quite a stir and discussion in the goblin community.

Some said that it was a struggle for power by several goblin greats, while others said that Princess Winnisha's ambitions and aspirations were too great for the rest of the group to approach....

But no matter what, the Magic Energy Society had been successfully founded in the White Tower under Princess Winnisha's strong request.

Some time ago, Locke had also heard from some sources that Princess Winnisha was trying to get closer to Dean Gunga, trying to bring the group of goblin engineers from the Magic Alloy Laboratory into the Magic Energy Society.

This was what made Locke more and more sure of some of his suspicions.

Princess Winnisha really hadn't given up on the past glory and splendor of the great goblin empire, and wanted to seek some degree of independence and freedom. And I'm afraid the one she most wants to emulate is that brain monster Ghazruvi who made himself a self-made man in the Lance Plane!

Magic Energy would... That Princess Winnisha probably pinned all her hopes on Magic Energy, thinking that if the goblins mastered it, they would be able to get rid of the witch's control and be truly *independent* from then on.

As a narrow-minded and shallow-minded goblin, it was actually understandable to have such delusions and thoughts. But as a goblin after his promotion, Locke's thoughts and vision were already completely different from other goblins.

What was Magic Energy?

It's just a magical power that fills the world inside and outside the plane!

It was through magical power that humans gave birth to shamans, and thus developed a great shaman civilization.

The world of the gods relied on the power of faith to give birth to deities of all sizes, thus ruling the side.

Cosmic powerhouses like the Titans relied on their compatibility with magical energy, thus dominating the entire multiverse.

With so many races and so many worlds all relying on their magical energy to become powerful, it was reasonable to say that the goblins should be able to as well.

Unfortunately, the goblin plane was a rare low-magic plane!

The environment there was not enough to support a system of magic energy users, so it led the goblin plane to a different path of development - steam machinery.

Unfortunately, the power of steam machines was too weak compared to magical energy.

That's why during an 'accidental' witch invasion, the entire Goblin Plane became an appendage of the Crimson Family, and the many goblins became slaves and servants of the equals.

The resources of the entire throne were left to be usurped, and the population of the entire throne was left to be driven... This kind of life was bitter, but it was a fate that the goblin throne had always found difficult to escape.

Locke came to the Wizarding World, read many books, mastered great magical powers, and looked back to revisit his world and kingdom with quite a bit of mourning and anger!

Goblins were not a powerful race to begin with, and had encountered a low magic world, hence the overall 'weakness' they displayed. Gathering the essence and strength of the entire plane, but not being able to resist the invasion of a small wizard family within the wizarding world, this...what was there to complain about?

On the other hand, if the Goblin Plane were a High Magic Plane, could the Goblin Race, with its inherent weakness, still dominate the Plane with steam machinery?

Taking another ten thousand steps back, the Crimson Family's Meryl Witch was already a rare moderate in the wizarding community. The policies and tactics she implemented in the Goblin Plane were so mild that even Locke felt that they were too 'indulgent'. If it were any other witch family, how could they give the goblins so much freedom and power!

And in many of the goblins that Locke came into contact with, they had no idea that the Meryl Witch that they feared like a tiger and respected like a god was only an 'insignificant' 1st rank witch in the Crimson family. On top of her, there was the fearsome 2nd rank Worm Witch Billis, the mysterious 2nd rank Witch Alice, and the incredibly powerful 3rd rank Legendary Witch Grim and the Blood Queen Mary.

The idea of trying to rebel against the rule of the Crimson Family was undoubtedly very dangerous, and could even pull the entire goblin camp into the bottomless abyss!

And for the first time, that Princess Winnisha had mastered magical power, and the vanity of her power swelled within her, and she could no longer see clearly the great irreparable gulf of power between goblins and witches.

Resist...by what...magic power?

Wizards have been studying magical energy for tens of thousands of years, and the goblins have the audacity to claim to surpass them with decades of research? The stakes were too big and too big... One bad move and the entire goblin bit would be lost.

If they failed to resist and were branded as traitors by the wizards, I'm afraid all the goblins would have to pay a heavy price for it.

The thought that he would lose his current life, the thought that he would be branded as a slave and dispatched to the dark, damp mines, made Locke's heart beat a little harder to hold back.

"Locke...Locke...will you...will you join us?" Papa Marzik inquired timidly.

"It will!" Locke suddenly unfurled a smile, his face re-covered with a gentle smile, "Mazik, you are my best mate after all, and I will help you even if I don't help anyone else!"

"That's good... that's good..." the wary Mazik finally breathed a sigh of relief, "I will now arrange for you and that secret envoy of Her Highness' A meeting?"

"There's no rush, I still need to go to the Black Forest tomorrow to do a few more missions and will be able to return in about 4 days. It won't be too late to meet with the secret envoy then!"

"Well, I'll have the secret envoy wait for you here for a few days, so make sure you go early and come back early!"

"Don't worry, I'll be back. We're all goblins, and goblins will help goblins!"

"Yeah, the goblins will definitely help the goblins!"

"By the way, Marzik, remodel your goblin shop a bit! The shop's portal is so low and small, and at a glance it's not for external services, so it's easy to arouse suspicion from outsiders..."

The two goblins left the barn amidst a series of promises from Papa Marzik.