Age of Adepts

Regency Gardens, Floating City.

The situation had become increasingly grim.

News from the north proved that the Floating City of Truth had been attacked by Star Beasts.

Although it relied on a billet of the Austrian Emperor to settle the enemy there, the scattered invaders still brought all sorts of unimaginable disasters and losses to the Austrian Empire.

One by one, remote villages, towns and cities fell, and piece after piece of human settlements were slaughtered and burned, leaving little time left for the Morian Plane.

The upper echelons of the Austrian Empire were naturally well aware of the calamities facing the Morian Plane, but when the news reached the middle echelons, the relevant content was much simpler and cruder. By the time the news reached the ordinary arcane masters, the information was so vague that it was hard to tell if it was true or not.

As for those ordinary people at the bottom of the bit plane, they were all objects of abandonment, so naturally, it was impossible to know what kind of calamity was about to befall them.

The large-scale selection of the Arcane Apprentice had happened so abruptly.

It wasn't yet time for the selection of the arcane apprentices, but the Floating Sky City located all over the world had already issued a mandatory order to the lower regions to select outstanding arcane apprentices and send them to Floating Sky City for an alternative.

A large number of outstanding and talented children were selected and sent to Floating City one after another, and the city, which was in great danger of war, was revitalized by the infusion of a large amount of living blood.

The Empire was retreating... Such news was no longer a secret and became a matter of intense discussion among all the arcane masters and apprentices.

Most of the Aurors were naturally included in the retreat list, but the size of the list for the Auror Apprentices was much smaller.

Ruijing Garden Floating City, as the Arcane Center of the Kantos Continent's Ryan Province, had as many as 30,000 Arcane Apprentices living, studying and researching here, and with the newly selected little ones, the number was even closer to 50,000.

And according to the authoritative information circulating from within, the number of apprentices that the Arcane Empire was able to transfer away was up to 4,000.

After all, the entire Austrian Empire had seven continents, more than twenty provinces, and seventy-six floating cities. Even if each floating city only selected 4,000 people, that was a huge number of nearly 300,000.

What's more, in addition to the future new blood of the arcane apprentices, each floating city would also need to transfer a large number of arcane masters, arcane equipment, various precision instruments and equipment, plus a huge amount of resources and materials, as well as various living supplies.

To be honest, even these 4,000 Arcane Apprentice quotas were only squeezed out after the upper echelons of the Arcane Empire had bitten off more than they could chew and discarded a number of Arcane Masters who had no potential for development.

It was just that the good intentions of the upper echelons could never be understood by those at the bottom, and they were still only obsessed with a simple comparison of numbers.

50,000 vs. 4,000....

What a huge disparity between the two numbers!

If the unit behind them was a gold coin, the huge disparity was enough to make one secretly wonder. But if the units behind them were human lives, the value of their immersion was so vast that it was difficult to estimate in detail.

These days, the Rikei Garden Floating City was on tenterhooks, and all the arcane masters were busy with the transfer of resources and the dispatch of supplies, also causing most of the arcane institutions and facilities to face suspensions and layoffs. The helpless arcane apprentices were either drilling around to find out about the evacuation list, or knowing that they were hopelessly squeezed into the 4,000-man list, they could only gloomily pack their bags and prepare to return to their homeland and hometown.

Although it was difficult for them to understand the current state of the war and the dynamics at the top, the difficulty of the situation was evident to all.

There had already been six or seven horrifying incidents of outside invaders openly attacking Floating Sky City within the Austrian Empire. Although most of the attacks had been repelled and the invaders destroyed, there were still two Floating Sky Cities that had become war sacrifices, falling into the sky amidst the howls of thousands of people.

Floating Sky Cities falling... such a thing had almost never happened before in the nearly ten thousand years of the history of the Arcane Empire, thus bringing a particularly harsh blow to the confidence of the Arcane people.

The Floating Sky City was no longer the Never Falling Sky Garden, nor was it an absolutely safe fortress in the hearts of the people of Arcane. Numerous news from around the world also indicated that the invading monsters were mostly targeting large cities and floating cities.

Therefore, in this situation where the Arcane Empire was waning, staying in the Floating Sky City was not only not safe, it was even more worrisome.

Many of the arcane families that were not eligible to board the retreating flotilla could only find another way to create some shelter in some of the most desolate and secluded places in each continent, preparing for the upcoming arcane twilight.

Therefore, those Austrian apprentices who were not selected for the 4,000-man list were also anxious to return to their families as soon as possible, in order to occupy some better positions for themselves and their loved ones in those safe fortresses. In order to strengthen the family's reputation and seek a greater right to survive, they are also trying to recruit some of the helpless apprentices of the higher ranks.

And Lucia, as a great beauty with the title of senior apprentice in both alchemy and puppet making, naturally received the largest number of olive branches. Unfortunately, Lucia was unmoved and simply rejected everyone, still following her past daily routine of shuttling between the arcane research lab, library and arcane academy on a daily basis.

On this day, Lucia hurried along the familiar moonlit path as usual, carrying a thick stack of arcane books, surrounded by a rush of apprentices as well. There were no smiles on anyone's faces, and there were no young figures relaxing on the soft sandy beach or by the beautiful fountain.

Lucia kept her head down and walked in silence.

It wasn't until a familiar corner of a cloth robe and a pair of beautifully styled arcane leather boots appeared in her line of sight that she was appalled and raised her head.

What appeared before her was that heroic and handsome young apprentice, Soren.

And in the meantime, his brows were knitted and his face was haggard, and he looked like he was suffering from a troubled heart.

"Soren, you... haven't left yet?" Lucia was appalled and covered her mouth.

Looking into Lucia's pretty, bright eyes, Soren's dry mouth opened several times before he finally spoke.

"My grandfather has decided to evacuate today..."

"Congratulations! I will bless you..." a genuine smile appeared on Lucia's face.

Soren's pained gaze scrutinized Lucia's face, but he couldn't find any falsehood or pretense in the other's smile at all.

"Grandfather has already urged me to leave...I just came to ask you one last time...are you...really not willing to come with me?"

Lucia slowly withdrew her smile and shook her head once more with a curt shake of her head.

"Lucia...I...I take back what I said earlier...I won't force you to do anything more with this quota. You...you're free...you come with me...I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do anymore...just come with me...okay? "Soren said with difficulty, his face twisted in pain, it was obvious that he had made this decision with a great deal of determination.

Lucia was startled at first, then a beautiful smile slowly bloomed on her face.

She stepped forward and cupped Soren's face, willingly offering her first kiss.

However, just as Soren was overwhelmed with surprise and tried to grab her, Lucia abruptly stepped back and out of his embrace.

"Soren, leave!" Lucia's little face was still red and filled with a regal glow from the kiss she just offered, "This kiss is considered our farewell gift. We may never see each other again, so... I hope you can leave without any strings attached, and continue to work hard for the Empire's tomorrow and for the legacy of the arcane civilization!"

"No...Lucia, I...I can't leave you here!" Falling from the mountain of joy into the deep valley, Soren was clearly unable to accept the reality before him and spoke almost hoarsely.

"I'm not leaving!" The shyness faded from Lucia's face, but another divine glow was cast over her eyes by the strange look in her pupils: "My life belongs to the Occult! Even if I have to face death in the next moment, I won't stop what I'm doing. This...is the oath I took when I was elected as an arcane apprentice, and the belief I will pursue for the rest of my life. So, even without this disaster, we are doomed to never be together! I hope you can understand my feelings..."

Soren looked pained and gloomy.

After a long time, he finally gave way to the path that led to the Academy of Occult Arts.

Lucia gazed deeply at him and once again hurriedly embarked on her journey.

Looking at that pretty and resolute figure, sensing what seemed like a knife cut inside, Soren finally shed rolling tears.

At some point, an old-faced figure of an Olympian appeared on Soren's side, who also silently gazed over the direction in which Lucia had disappeared, his eyes filled with unconcealed silence and pain.

"She was a good girl... Unfortunately, not yours!" The old man said in a reedy faint voice, "If I was as unattached as her, I might have made the same choice as her. Unfortunately..."

Bowing his head and adjusting his mind, the old man reared his head.

"Come on, Soren! There is no hope here anymore...the task of rebuilding a new arcane empire in the Otherworld is not an easy one either...your future is not here, but far away. The glory of the arcane, the glory of the family, we are all old, and it is only up to you to pass it on and carry it forward. So, cheer up, grit your teeth, and stay strong for the sake of the Austrian Empire and the Jonas Family!"

Soren's body trembled a little.

After a long time, he finally dried his tears, turned to face his grandfather, and nodded, "I understand... Let's go, grandpa..."

Then, in a sudden burst of bright white light, they were suddenly lost.