Age of Adepts

"And what are your findings? Was Mangus to blame, or did he suffer some kind of plot to do so?" Speaker Lawyers held his glasses and frowned inquiringly.

When they heard the Speaker's question, the wizards who were staying in the gallery couldn't sit still and stood up to protest, "Our Lord Mangus must have been plotted against... Lord Speaker, you must avenge him!"

Seeing the messy gallery, Speaker Lawes' face instantly darkened, and with a muffled snort, an overpowering aura of awe-inspiring air instantly pressed down from the top of the hall.

"I do not wish to be disturbed by anyone while I am questioning a case! If anyone can't do that, I'll personally kick him out. Hmm..."

Only when they felt the terrifying authority of the 4th rank Speaker, did these witches, who belonged to the same family as the Mangus siblings, calmly sit down and patiently continue to listen to the death investigation.

The third level wizard sent by the association to investigate the cause of the Mangus wizard's death swallowed a mouthful of spittle and said with difficulty, "We have no way of knowing what happened in the Morian plane. A direct investigation of that Grim Sorcerer is being requested to the upper echelons of the Association right now. However, the other party possesses the identity of an elder of the Scattered Earth Tallinn Association, and without direct evidence, it is difficult for us to approach the other party."

"There's no direct evidence, so is there even a bit of indirect evidence?"

"That...seems a little!" At this point, the 3rd rank wizard in charge of the investigation swallowed even more.

"What is it?" The Speaker of the 4th Order couldn't help but ask a follow-up question.

"When the 'tragedy' occurred, Lord Irunwald, the 7th Order Grand Sorcerer in charge of this mission to the Arcane Empire, was also there. From what he said, he seemed to know who was behind the death of Lord Mangus? But with our hierarchy..."

7th Order Grand Sorcerer....

Even if the other party really knew something, I'm afraid that there wouldn't be a single person in the entire Sorcerer's Association who would dare to question him about anything! It was no wonder that the 3rd rank wizard in charge of the investigation was swallowing and hesitating.

"Well, I've pretty much understood the entire incident." At this point, Speaker Lawes raised his head, swept a glance at the anxiously waiting Mangus sibling family witches, and coldly said, "Regarding the revenge report you have brought forward, this Speaker is here to directly reject it. I will continue to report this case to the higher-ups of the Association and ask them to send a higher level wizard to contact the two colleagues. Until then, this chancellor will not draw any conclusions about the death of the Mangus Witch..."

Under the cold and regal gaze of Chancellor Lawyers, these wizards from the Mangus siblings' family could only hang their heads and take it all in stride.

"All right, you can all withdraw! The next case to be taken is the death of the Hannah Witch Curse...the client and the investigating witch can come in now!"

As the witches exited and entered in an orderly fashion, this Hall of Judgment was filled with new people and new stories....

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

The Throne of Fire.

As the crimson witches were leaving the Witch Tower, it was once again a world for the exclusive use of Grim, Alice and Mary.

Alice still had the same clouded, easy-going appearance, but her slightly burning eyes showed a hint of concern.

"Your soul origin... how is it? Is the trauma severe?"

Mary also calmed down, gazing at Grim with the same concern.

Grim had already completed the elemental energization of his body and spirit, and any injury or damage could be repaired through the replacement or reorganization of elemental energy, so it was reasonable to say that there shouldn't be a situation where this kind of damage to the flesh* body could not be recovered for a long period of time again. If it did occur, it could only mean that his damage had touched the origin of his soul, and that the manifestation of the damage to his flesh*body was merely a projection and refraction of his damaged soul consciousness!

Such an injury was also usually extremely difficult to recover from.

"Damaged by that Witch Council guy's sudden self-destruct that damaged my soul's origin, I'm afraid I need a long period of rest to recover." After briefly explaining his injury, Grim inquired curiously about Alice, "Compared to the injury, I'm actually more concerned about how that Sorcerer's Association guy came to be under the control of Misa the Great Witch! Could it be... that Misa Grand Witch is able to control the mind of a 4th rank witch at will?"

A look of fear and dread also appeared on Mary's face.

Grand Sorcerers were already another strange species compared to them, the Sorcerers who lived inside the Bit World. Due to excessive mutations or extreme transformations, the Grand Sorcerers had already undergone very different changes from ordinary sorcerers, whether it was in terms of their form or bloodline and soul.

Thus whenever a Great Witch was mentioned, even a fearless fellow like Mary had to be filled with awe!

A great witch who could control the life and death of a 4th rank witch at will was intimidating to think about.

"You guys are overestimating that Misa Grand Witch!" Alice laughed lightly, "She's not so powerful that she can control the life and death of another 4th rank witch across a distant bit of space. She was able to control that witch to self-destruct by relying on the fate seed planted centuries ago."

"Seeds of Destiny? Hundreds of years ago?" Grim barked incredibly strangely.

"Fate Witch is a very peculiar witch profession, a profession that has lost almost all of its witchcraft offensive and protective abilities, instead focusing all of its power on divination and fate perception. But that doesn't mean that Fate Witches don't have any offensive power, it's just that their attacks are too peculiar and unbelievable!"

"The most common way they manipulate destiny is to use it to destroy their enemies."

"And the way they manipulate fate is by implanting a single seed of destiny, branded with their own soul, into those key people who may influence a certain branch of fate."

"This means that the Great Witch of Mesa implanted the Fate Seed imprinted with his own faint soul consciousness within the mind of that Mangus Witch centuries ago when he was still very weak. But this Fate Seed did not take the opportunity to grow and consume his soul consciousness, it merely lurked deep within his soul."

"This way, she can activate this fate seed whenever she sees fit and temporarily control everything in that fate node. However, the stronger the strength of the Fate Node, the weaker and shorter this control will be. That's what drove her to only attack in an irreversible way like self-destructing!"

"Is the seed of another person's consciousness lurking in the consciousness of one's own soul, and that sorcerer is never able to detect it?" Mary was horrified.

"If the Fate Seed activates and stays active, it will naturally be noticed by the parasitic witches. But what makes Misa so powerful is that she can keep the Fate Seed in a sealed state at all times, without any conscious activity, so naturally it won't be noticed by the parasite! Only at the moment of activation does the Fate Seed instantly explode with its full power and take control of the host body." Alice couldn't help but sigh grudgingly.

"You mean that this latent Seed of Fate is not even detectable, not even you can identify it. And that everyone around us could suddenly become our enemy at some terrible moment?" Grim gritted his teeth in question.

It was no wonder that he was so angry, he had invested a lot of resources and effort in that Mangus sibling during the entire Arcane Empire mission, and had counted on them to find a perfect entry point in the Sorcerer's Association to be able to open the door to a huge Sorcerer's organization's power.

But now, it was good to defend the other side at every turn, holding up for them through a few tough moments of the mission, and the payoff was... a horrible self-destruct!

If Grim's own strength hadn't been so strong and hardened to survive that self-destruct, I'm afraid the ending would have been different.

"The Fate Seed isn't completely undetectable, it just requires the other party to let go of all their hearts and minds. Do you think I have the time and authority to detect every single human heart and soul around us?" Alice couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

"So you're saying that we simply don't have the means to guard against the invasion of Misa's Grand Witch Fate? It's not like you have to be constantly on the lookout for people around you in everything you do from now on, right?" Grim looked unnerved.

"Don't worry." Alice comforted him, "Such a tactic is very extravagant, even for a great witch. If the fate nodes implanted with the seeds are too weak themselves, they naturally can't threaten us in the slightest. And when implanted in those powerful witches, the probability of being discovered is also quite high. The Mangus sorcerer who attacked you should only belong to a semi-advanced stage, not quite a pure 4th stage sorcerer, otherwise, the Fate Seed's control wouldn't be able to do that..."

Hearing Alice's explanation, Grim was able to relax his mind a bit.

"Alright, alright, you guys should stop discussing such a hurtful matter. By the way, Grim, what did you get from this trip to the Otherworldly Plane, it should be more than just the bits and pieces and trash, right?" Mary couldn't help but get excited at the mention of the treasures, looking anxious and curious.

Those were precious arcane books and weapons and equipment full of otherworldly styles, but to Mary, they actually became bits and pieces and trash... Grim couldn't help but be speechless.

The trip to the Occult Empire really made Grim rich in income, in front of the two 'companions' also quite a show off show some valley yawn hope.

With a heedless smile, Grim waved his hand and released the true harvest of the trip!

More than a dozen dark red bubbles floated prominently within the hall, and inside each bubble was a strange item. From books to materials, from treasures to weapons, everything was there, listening to Lang was full of them.

And the energy scent that lingered around several of them emitted a hazy purple light.

This, however, was the unique elemental aura of a rank 4 item.

And on top of the many rank 4 items, two dark red bubbles carried sinking and floating, from which a distinctive light emanated, vaguely giving people an overpowering sense of their hearts and minds being suppressed.

"Divine artifact... this is a divine artifact!" Alice's sandalwood mouth opened slightly and she couldn't help but scream out.