Age of Adepts

The Origins of Magic, On the Birth of the First Magical Elemental Particle, On the Magical Properties of the Single Anti-Hirring Particle Under Strong Magnetic Manipulation, On the Study of Magical Materials, On the Past and Present of the Arcane, On the Place of Earth Vein Research in the Arcane System, On the Merits and Demerits of the Arcane Network System, A Guide to the Construction of Arcane Towers, On the Fundamental Application of Anti-Gravity Boundaries in the Floating Ring, On the Energy Cooling of Composite Arcana....

When Team Grim had successfully robbed an arcane tower, they had also each harvested some loot that satisfied them.

Naturally, the members of the squad were secretive about their harvest, and would not easily divulge it.

Grim's harvest, on the other hand, was mountains and mountains of basic arcane books, as well as the travel journals, diaries, and scattered writings of arcane masters, or smooth thoughts on a certain problem or phenomenon.

With them, the branches of the arcane that Grim had specifically branched out from the body of knowledge had enough basic underlying data. In this way, there was also a functioning chain of materials and basic data when deducing up the higher arcane arts.

So far, what Grim was most interested in in the arcane knowledge system was still the floating rings that the arcane masters had developed.

It could be politely said that the reason why they were able to make a tower that towered high into the sky, the Floating Sky Ring played a decisive role in it. And the so-called Floating Sky City was nothing more than a human city held up by an oversized floating ring!

With Grim's current knowledge, he was naturally able to imagine that the arcane masters had used some sort of highly skilled means to incorporate and strengthen the simple anti-gravity boundary and apply it to the magical architecture. But although the reasoning can be figured out, but to derive it from nothing and successfully apply it, I'm afraid the chip in the brain alone will not be able to do it without hundreds of years.

The arcane masters naturally did not rely on one or two geniuses to develop the floating ring, but hundreds of generations of arcane masters over the past thousand years have continued to study, fail, study, fail, only then to create the first primitive and humble floating ring.

Then it took hundreds of years of continuous improvement and enhancement to make the Floating Ring an epoch-making great invention that held up arcane buildings and cities!

In terms of the level of knowledge system and the maturity of the civilization alone, the Sorcerer's World almost completely overwhelmed the Austrian Empire.

But why didn't the Sorcerer World develop this kind of caster architecture that could fly and disappear from the sky and earth, but the Austrian Empire did? One of the main reasons is that the upper echelons of both sides have different development philosophies!

Perhaps the development system of witches had run off the rails, or perhaps tens of thousands of years of battles with powerful biological species had changed their intentions, and now witches no longer had the pursuit of magic's origin and the exploration of the world's truth as their first beliefs, but were now trying to survive.

Under the waves of the perpetual war between the Calamity Lords and the Titans, secondary powers like the Witch World, the World of the Gods, and the Kingdom of the Dragon had to desperately strengthen their own power in order to avoid becoming victims of the war.

Therefore, in the process of continuously training witches, the Sorcerer World paid more attention to individual survivability and basic battle strength. In contrast, the popularization and derivative research of witchcraft lagged behind.

Seriously speaking, neither witch would spend centuries studying systems of knowledge that had nothing to do with improving their abilities. If they had a little bit of resources, they would drop them on their own physical enhancement or mental exercises, or research some means and techniques to enhance the lethality of sorcery.

As for the underlying applications of sorcery and using them to improve the living standards of the lower class, such things were not uncommon at all, but they were always just the spark of individual sorcerers, unable to accumulate into a prairie fire that would completely change the living landscape of the lower class of the wizarding world.

Therefore, what the witches were seeking was only the height of magical power, far inferior in breadth and width to the arcane empire!

As for those floating cities created by the Silver Alliance, the technology applied and the means employed were actually completely dependent on the great sorcerers' amazing and bizarre sorcery methods, rather than any deep breakthroughs in technology.

That kind of means and abilities obviously couldn't benefit ordinary sorcerers!

In addition to the Floating Ring, what Grim was also interested in was the energy system of the Austrian Empire.

For any powerful force to rise to power, resources and energy were the two essential constant themes!

The Austrian Empire's energy system relied heavily on the elemental pools.

They still believed that the original power of magic came from the four basic elements: earth, fire, water and wind.

They used the changing tides of magic in the Endless Star Ocean to channel the magical elements into the elemental pool to store them and use them to support their arcane research and the operation of their arcane buildings. Only when the magical elements in the elemental pool have been modulated and tamed can they be diverted into the mana pool and become an alternative source of arcane energy to the Olympian's own arcane energy.

The reason why the arcane masters were so powerful was not the little bit of arcane energy that they themselves had worked so hard to accumulate, but the fact that they were backed by a mana pool with a near-infinite amount of energy. Therefore, they only needed to focus on their arcane knowledge and didn't have to work hard day in and day out to meditate and accumulate energy like the sorcerers did.

This also created a side effect of their feeble individual strength and their great reliance on arcane architecture!

The deeper I learned about the Austrian Empire, the more sorry Grim became.

In a way, the Austrians were actually 'sorcerers' on the other path. It was only due to the different bit of environment they were in and the difference in their attitudes towards the world that drove them to two very different paths of development.

The sorcerers focused more on individual strength, while the arcane masters valued overall power!

There are no advantages or disadvantages to either path, nor is there a right or wrong, it all depends on the fortunes of the world.

The current situation was that the Wizard World survived and was still growing, while the Austrian Empire was facing extinction and could be annihilated by its many enemies at any moment.

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

A canyon woodland near Muzo City.

Grim used the tall forest trees to cover his body, peering through a gap in the canopy overhead at a small black dot in the distant sky.

The black dot was small, but it was extremely striking.

It was clinging to the clouds, slowly cruising along, a bright arcane light constantly scattering down and sweeping across the land. It was a composite arcane technique that combined detection and life perception, and as long as a living being possessed flesh and blood, body temperature and soul, it could not escape the arcane scan.

Ever since this arcane tower had appeared from the end of the sky half a day ago, it had been cruising and scanning the vicinity as if it was searching for something.

And around the perimeter of the arcane tower, there were hundreds of small arcane puppets lingering.

In appearance, they were somewhat similar to the goblin-built eyeball fighters, both belonging to a small floating weapon platform. Whenever the Orbital Tower perceived some strange individual on the ground, these Orbital Puppets would swoop down and instantly flood the target's area with terrifying energy rays.

Whether it was a yellow-spotted deer hiding in a dense bush or a fat gopher hiding underground, none of them could escape the perception of the Orbital Tower, and then they were blown to pieces in a dazzling burst of rays that saved up.

"These guys are trying to force us out!" Mangus walked slowly to Grim's side, had a good look at the distant Orbital Tower through the forest gap, and smiled sardonically, "Looks like they didn't have enough of that last time!"

"It's different this time than last time!" Grim shook his head, "From the looks of it, what's coming this time is an Arcane Vigilance Tower directly under the Floating Sky City, far more powerful than the ones on the local level. Moreover, if my guess is right, there will definitely be a 4 ringed arcane master sitting inside this time."

Hearing the two talking, that one Holly Wizard also came over.

"So what if there's a 4 ringed arcane master? Although they claim to be on the same level as 4th ranked witches, it's not like we don't know their true battle strength. Their ontologies are one brittle!"

"That being said, with the protection of the Orbital Tower, the battle power they can exert is not to be underestimated. At the very least, a 4-ringed Olympian driving an Olympian Tower, who of us is sure that we can fight it head-on?" Grim shook his head.

"In my opinion, if we all join forces, we shouldn't have any problem bringing this arcane tower down..." the Holly Wizard licked his lips, looking a little hyper and impatient.

"Knock it down for what? That would poke a hornet's nest... There must be other Orbital Towers around that are searching for us as well. Once we get entangled in them, it'll be a bit difficult for us to get out of there!" Mangus was clearly not too willing to be brutal; after all, he was the weakest of the four.

To Mangus's opinion, Wizard Holly didn't pay much attention to it, instead keeping her eyes on Grim.

Seeing that Grim wasn't too interested in his proposal, Holly could only bait him.

"There are some things in the energy room of the other Orbital Tower that I really need, so I don't want to let go of any Orbital Tower that I run into. However, if I'm the only one, it's obviously a bit difficult to leave the Ojutsu Tower behind completely. So, I'd like to get your help! Don't worry, I won't touch anything else in the Orbital Tower except for those in the energy room, it's all yours..."

"Why don't you go talk to that Shani?" Grim smiled.

"That guy... "Holly's face fell, "She's simply greasy, and she's full of no care for any kind of benefit. Hmm, I wonder what she's trying to gain by volunteering for this mission?"

"Active?" Grim, slightly startled, asked rhetorically, "Did that Shani witch volunteer for this mission?"

"Yes! With such a secret, you Scattered Earth Tallinn definitely won't get wind of it, and our Silver Alliance still has some ways in the North, that's why we were able to hear such news!"

Grim's heart was racing, and he bowed his head in thought before finally speaking.

"If you want me to help you, you can. After it's done, I won't take advantage of you, and the loot I get will still be distributed according to the old rules..."

"So what do you want?"

"Do me a favor! If I ever need your help, I want you to be able to help me out against someone without endangering yourself..."

"Who?"

"Keep it a secret for now, it won't jeopardize the mission or put you in danger anyway. How about it, cooperation?" Grim smiled slightly.

Now it was the Holly Wizard's turn to frown and think.

Finally, he nodded his head heavily in agreement!