Age of Adepts

Keslin Castle.

Within a heavily guarded secret magic hall on the lowest level.

A huge cluster of light a hundred meters in diameter was floating in the center of the hall, maintaining close contact with the hundreds of magical witch formations around it through countless beautiful silver-white bands of light.

The ribbons of light were not pure energy streams, but if someone was lucky enough to catch a section of it and magnify it ten thousand times, they would discover that the so-called ribbons of light were actually energy jets formed by densely packed microscopic runes twisted and linked together.

Each tiny point of light is a miniature rune light formation.

And the light bands were hundreds of thousands of light points on top of each other, and they were so dense that they twisted and linked with each other before outlining and constructing an even more vast and magnificent rune and light formation system at the previous level.

In the middle of the light, a pair of indifferent strange eyes were silently watching the operation of the entire Rune Light Formation system. Behind the cluster of light, there was a thin, withered, old shaman with almost naked hair floating in the air.

Just as the entire rune and light formation system was operating perfectly and harmoniously, an unusually brilliant band of light penetrated through countless layers of stone walls, past hundreds or thousands of defensive witch formations, and pierced straight into the withered brain of the sleeping old man in the ball of light.

"Yuri, wake up for a moment..."

This sound was exceptionally grand**, and it shook the surrounding light bands so much that they began to distort and shake a little. But this all quickly returned to normal under the gaze of that pair of indifferent and strange eyes, and did not interfere with the operation of the talismanic light formation.

Finally, under the urging of the grand voice, the thin, withered, pale wizard slowly opened his eyes.

"Damn it, which bastard has come to disturb my old man's sleep again? Don't I know...er, Lord Freed, why you?"

The old sorcerer had just woken up, his mind still a little dizzy, and he connected to that stream of mental consciousness as he complained in a broken voice. His 'weak' spirit touched slightly with the other party, then immediately recognized the latter's unique mental fluctuations, and hurriedly closed in with a flattering and pleasing smile.

"Yuri, you but assured me that the revitalized Keslin is completely under our control. So what about the illegal empowerment two days ago? Why would it suddenly get out of control?"

"So that's it!" Yuri is a Level 3 Sorcerer, who would be a ruthless character to stomp on the world outside, but in front of a raging Level 4 Sorcerer who came to ask about his crime, he could only nod his head and hasten to explain: "This is a small mistake I made when setting up the empowerment rules.... "

"What blunder?" The macro voice pursued with dissatisfaction.

"When I determine the running rules again for Kathryn, the 3rd rank wizards within the association uniformly have 2nd class privileges..."

"What's the problem with the unanimous opinion of all the 4th Order Wizards in the Association on this matter? That kid wasn't a member of the Society then!"

"The problem is that Kirthlin sensed the scent of his kind in him, and thus classified him among his own people, and even more simultaneously triggered the empowerment mechanism!"

"Kindred? What do you mean...there's some kind of activated life in that kid too?"

"Yes." But the old wizard added casually, "Of course, it could be some sort of revitalized life-like thing!"

The macro voice was silent for a moment, then spoke, "There are some possibilities on that point. According to the information that the Association has searched, that Grim is bound to a soul armor, and I've heard that he has been trained to become a deity-like existence with autonomous consciousness. Could it be that thing that Kirthlin sensed?"

"It's possible, but I'm afraid that the only way to truly determine what exactly it is is to arrest that brat and probe him closely. Lord President, you see..."

"Forget it! That brat can't be moved for now." After a long time, the grand voice sighed leisurely, "Recently the association is going to hold a competitive tournament, that kid is the protagonist of our elaborate preparations, we can't just move him casually. So, you'd better keep an eye on Keslin, but don't let it make a similar defensive loophole again!"

"Yes, Lord President, everything is as you wish!"

"Well, just put it that way!"

As the grand voice dissipated, the brilliant and colorful band of strange light disappeared instantly.

"Kindred? Hey hey, would it be something as simple as a deeded spirit? My lord has heard that that brat is able to control a giant war puppet of a hundred meters in size all by himself, and that he also harbors a strange monster that can assimilate magical metals in the foreign realm. If you can unearth the secrets in him, it will be of great benefit to my lord to master the manipulation of Kesrin."

When only the old sorcerer himself was left in the Hall of Mysteries, he finally couldn't help but start muttering to himself.

"But that brat is currently the beloved of the Association, and he's being pointed at to act as a scapegoat! Trying to move him at this point, I'm afraid..."

After thinking about it for a long time, Yuri, who was a 3rd rank wizard, didn't dare to disobey the great 4th rank wizard's will in the end, and could only grit his teeth and write it all down, before he fell back asleep, his spiritual consciousness and that huge light group merging into one.

............

Kirthlin Castle.

Inside a singular room.

Sanaza turned off the remote contact crystal on the wooden table in front of her and fell into a long silence.

Just as her heart was burning with anger, the wooden door of the room was knocked on by someone.

Opening the door, Sanaza was surprised to find two powerful sorcerers with strange costumes and shapes standing pinned outside, smiling at her.

"Gallo, Dante, what are you two doing running here?" Cloaked in the purple mist, Sanaza's voice was a bit shrill.

"Why aren't we welcome? Won't even let us in the room?" The strange and bizarre form of the shatter-faced wizard Gallo at the forefront was too horrifying, and when he smiled at someone, the many cracks in his face along with the dense pins and needles began to wriggle, the intense visual impact was by no means something ordinary people could bear.

Hesitantly, Sanaza finally made her way to the door and watched as the two competitors walked in front and back.

Casually closing the door and reopening the witching formation protection, Sanaza then muffled, "Say, what are you two doing running to me?"

The shattered-faced wizard Gallo looked around the room before dropping his body, his great 2-meter tall form coupled with that terrifying face filled with a full sense of oppression.

"Sanaza, how much do you know about this tournament?"

The somewhat shadowy and illusory Dante Wizard was also staring with interest at the purple mist outside Sanaza's body.

Sanaza didn't rush to answer, but stared coldly at Gara and asked rhetorically, "And how much do you know?"

Gallo grinned, "Not much to know, but enough to know."

Sanaza smirked, "You're the most promising witch under Lord Clara to advance to the 4th rank, and she'll not take care of you in advance?"

The smile on Gara's face was even 'wider'.

"My lord did take care of me, but..."

"Could it be that Lord Clara's care is not to your liking?"

"Hmm..."

Sanaza twisted to look at Dante, and the other man waved his hand frantically, "No need to look at me, I've been given a serious warning as well."

Sanaza nodded in understanding and said glumly, "It seems we're all getting the same message, the internal winner of this tournament has to be that Grim!"

"Well!" Dante Wizard's hazy face showed a grin, "I was warned too, I can fight you two however I want, but when I meet that Grim, I have to lose!"

"The care I received was much the same as yours!" That Gara also looked obscurely indignant.

"That brat has just offended Lord Declan, there's no way the Association will turn around and support him. So, I suspect that the Association is intentionally wanting Grim to become an Association 4th Order Sorcerer as soon as possible! Do you two have any inside information to divulge about this?" Sanaza stared at the two 'companions'.

Dante shrugged his shoulders and made a face like he didn't know anything.

Only Gallo bowed his head in silence, as if he was thinking about something.

Only after a long time did he raise his head and whispered with that horrifying shattered face that was cut and sutured back together, "The Association currently has a *bother*, those great sorcerers outside the domain have demanded that all major powers must select a 4th rank to go on a mission, and I've heard it's quite dangerous."

"That means it's obvious. This tournament is a trap, and what the association wants to send out isn't those source qualities, but that association witch identity. All four of us have already reached the peak of the 3rd rank, and whoever gets those source qualities has the greatest chance of advancing to the 4th rank, and possibly comprehending some rule power beforehand..." said here, even with Sanaza's calm and composed nature, she couldn't help but get a little irritated and impatient.

"Maybe we can fight for it too... After all, the mission of the Out-of-Territory Selection is a bit more dangerous, but it's not necessarily certain death! And..." the Dante Wizard's voice suddenly lowered, "In terms of talent potential, both of you are much better than me, and your hopes of advancing to the 4th rank are greater than mine.... "

"What's talent potential?" Shattered Face Gallo said coldly, "Which time crossing a rank isn't a life or death experience! Is this current group of 4-steps in the Association all the 3-steps of the most powerful one at the time? Well, there's always a cap on all the efforts made by individuals, and it's the damn luck that really determines our fate!"

At this point, the three sorcerers present could not help but feel somewhat gloomy.

Even if they stepped out of the house, any one of the three of them was a proud son of heaven who was envied by outsiders. However, one knew one's own business, and the illusory aura of past glory was of no help in advancing to the 4th rank, and none of the three of them had more than a half chance of doing so.

That meant that advancing to the next level was a big gamble!

If you won the bet, you would naturally take it to the next level, becoming the top wizard in the wizard world that no one could restrain anymore. But if the bet was lost... there were countless instances where too many losers had retired in disgrace, never to recover, and were reduced to marginal figures.

Looking through the past history of the Scattered Tower Forest, where are all the proud sons and geniuses now? After all, the only ones who will be remembered are the fourteen successful ones!

This may be the deep darkness hidden behind the glorious aura of glory of the wizard community....

"No matter what you think, anyway... I'm going to fight for those source qualities!" With a grim smile, the shattered-faced Gara threw down the gauntlet and turned to leave.

Dante's witch sighed once more and could only take her leave with a heavy heart.

When Sanaza was the only one left in the house, she too fell into a long silence....