Age of Adepts

"These should be some of the small and medium-sized bits that have already been conquered. And how does your association respond to those tricky large bits?"

After holding it down for a long time, Grim finally couldn't help but ask this question that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time.

The top resources that could be captured by the small and medium sized bits were still too scarce, and it might be more than enough to nourish one or two witches or a small wizard family, but it was not enough to feed a large power.

Therefore, if someone told Grim that a huge organization of witches like the Sorcerer's Association got its start by capturing these small and medium sized spheres, he wouldn't believe it.

Even if such small and medium sized bits invaded even more, they would only be able to make a living. If you want to eat a mouth full of oil and want the organization to expand and grow, invading those civilizations that are similar or comparable in strength to the Wizard World is the only feasible way.

Hearing Grim's question, Horner smiled darkly and was silent for a moment, as if he was in silent contact with someone in the distance.

Finally, he bet on Grim again.

"You're lucky! Somehow, the old man holds you in extremely high regard and has exceptionally authorized me to take you on a tour of the Tower of War on our upper floors. Come with me."

As soon as Horner finished speaking, the metal floating platform beneath their feet also slowly rose towards the upper level of the Tower of War, held up by a thick metal mechanical arm.

A metal platform was overtaken, a psionic light door was thrown underneath them, and the metal platform leaped upwards without hesitation until it was stopped by a layer of metal baffles three meters thick.

"Rafatus, it was the old man who authorized me to show him the upper war tower, get out of the way!" Horner shouted in a loud voice.

"The message is being communicated, please wait..." a clear and sweet mechanical voice came out of the void, and the one who spoke seemed to be the high-ranking tower spirit who controlled the entire Overlook Tower.

A moment later, the mechanical voice sounded again.

"Authorization message has been confirmed, welcome Horner Wizard and Grim Wizard! The rest of you please stay..."

A dazzling white light had struck the silent Worm Witch Billis just after the mechanical voice had fallen. The latter disappeared without a trace without even being able to scream.

Grim's eyebrows shot up.

"Rest assured that the attendant has been placed within the alien dimension numbered DF7710, and there is no problem with safety. I will naturally re-release it when Your Excellency leaves the Tower of War."

As the mechanical voice prompted, a magic water mirror surfaced, and the image presented inside was that of the Worm Wizard Billis who was trapped and locked in an empty dimensional space. The latter was clearly in a panic, and was shaking out countless tiny black worms from his black robe, searching everywhere for gaps and exits in this white space.

Grim made a series of strokes with one hand, condensing a flame rune and speaking softly to it. And that Billis who was trapped and locked in a different space froze, gazed and listened, and finally gave up the unnecessary action, sitting there cross-legged and withered in silence, waiting for the end of the 'sentence'.

The magical water mirror disappeared.

The thick layer of metal baffles suddenly cracked into countless half-moon shaped metal sandwiches and slowly retreated back within the tower walls, giving way to the upper levels.

The metal floating platform began to continue to float.

And this time, what appeared before Grim's eyes was no longer an illusionary light door, but a terrifying blood door of crimson color.

"Bitgate!" Grim took a deep breath and only after a long time did he spit it out.

The differences between the two were not just in name, but in the nature of the disparity between their worlds.

The Teleportation Portal was also a 'cheap' method of teleportation, using strange spatial means to forcibly open a 'crude' wormhole between the two planes. In this way, this wormhole could be used for simple human travel and supplies.

However, precisely because of the crude and inexpensive method of teleportation, the sorcerers themselves needed to endure a great amount of spatial repulsion during the teleportation process. This also brought additional risk and pressure to the sorcerer.

Furthermore, this method of teleportation was also extremely susceptible to the effects of the Void Tides.

In the unlikely event that they happen to encounter a terrifying Void Storm during the teleportation process, the shaman will either be caught in the Void Storm or teleported to some unknown and bizarre place.

Either of these two outcomes would be quite deadly to a middle or low ranked sorcerer!

However, the Gate of the Surface was far different.

A Dimensional Gate is a channel between two planes that can travel to and from each other using superior spatial skills and methods. The entire passage is protected by the Spatial Sorcerer Formation and is extremely safe.

The construction of the portal required a huge amount of precious resources, not every world was worthy of such investment.

In the entire upper level of the Tower of War, there were only twenty or thirty of these Blood Gates.

From time to time, strands of otherworldly energy flowed out from the special material gates with strange patterns on their seals.

As Grim and Horner floated upwards, a blood-colored gate was trembling violently, as if it was in the middle of a turbulent war. Five wide metal escalators peeked out from the tower walls and extended before the blood gate, and a steady stream of terrifying witch beasts and tall, upright metal puppets were rushing forward and backward into the light gate.

"That's the gate to the World of Light and Darkness, and it contains too many strange creatures that hold both the power of holy light and darkness at the same time. We're only setting up an outpost camp inside it now, and it's still in the middle of a fierce battle. There are already five elders rushing to sit there, and just like that, we haven't been able to repel the frantic attacks of the local indigenous creatures..."

"The Light and Dark World...how civilized is it there?" Grim inquired curiously.

"It's a tiered civilization with our wizard world, only slightly behind us by a few thousand years. But their world power is so monolithic, it's not that difficult to deal with!"

Grim silently watched the constant influx of witch beasts and metal puppets into the otherworld, and from the rate at which they consumed them, he could also estimate the strength and intensity of the bitter war on the other side of the Blood Gate. If such a world wasn't hard to deal with, then what level of war would be considered really tough?

As Grim reverberated, he secretly felt sorrow for the huge power gap between the Scattered Earth Tallinn and the Sorcerer's Association.

With the power of the Scattered Earth Tarin, I'm afraid it would take an all-out effort just to invade a medium-sized plane! And yet, people's Wizard Association, facing a large bit that was equal in size to the Wizard World, could still divide it into three or six classes without changing their face....

The huge disparity in strength that was revealed here made Grim, an ambitious person who was interested in integrating the entire middle of the continent, become a bit discouraged as well.

Moreover, since people were willing to take the initiative to invite themselves to visit their hidden secrets of war, it meant that these things were still not the most central part of their content. There must be something even more unfathomable above these bloody gates.

However, Grim knew his own business.

As an outsider, if he were to be uninterested in trying to visit those places, it would be like forcing the other party to turn over a new leaf!

Thus, Grim finally nodded in satisfaction and thanked the Horner wizard with a smile.

"The Tower of War has been visited as well, how about a tour of our association hall! There are still quite a few elders there who want to meet with you!"

Seeing Grim nod, Horner also immediately became relaxed.

The metal floating platform immediately returned back down the same path to the lower level of the Tower of War, picked up the 'imprisoned' Worm Witch Billis, and then stepped out of the Tower of War, rejoined the floating flying saucer and flew towards the main tower of the Overlook High Tower.

A quarter of an hour later, in a hall on the three hundred and twenty-seventh floor of the main tower, Grim finally met the dozen or so association elders who had been waiting here for a long time.

It was a simple and plain sorcery hall, where a dozen or so 4th rank sorcerers wearing various sorcerer robes and armor were gathered inside the hall, gathering in groups to chat.

When Grim and Horner stepped in, they stopped talking and all their eyes were unitedly betting on Grim.

Grim immediately felt a heavy pressure coming down on him.

All those present were rank 4 Sorcerers, and there wasn't a single weakling.

Even if they didn't speak, but simply gazed, they were able to infuse their terrifyingly powerful mental energy into it, turning it into an invisible force that extended over Grim's body.

While they were gazing at Grim, they were also using their mental tentacles to covertly and obscurely probe the hidden secrets of Grim's body. In a few of them, Grim even detected the repulsive smell of prophecy!

Sixteen rank 4 witches, sixteen pairs of eyes, sixteen terrifying spiritual pressures....

Such a trial and downfall, if it were any other 4th stage wizard, he really wouldn't be able to bear it without changing his face.

Grim resisted the urge to take out the Fire Coral Sorcerer's Staff, a smile still on his young and handsome face, as surging flame energy spurted out from the Heart of Rule, and the powerful flame laws turned into a strange rune that poured into the Sea of Consciousness.

An unspeakably terrifying burning will soared out from Grim's body and collided with the terrifying pressure condensed from the spiritual consciousness of the many Association Elders.

Both sides immediately muffled in unison.

The dull and oppressive strange sensation was instantly swept away.

Grim, who stepped into the hall with Horner, eased the terrifying backlash even with a slight pause in his steps, and continued to smile and nod to the association elders.

And a dozen or so Association Elders had a strange look on their faces, half of them who were just projecting over a power billet even had a red color on their bodies, as if they had been invaded by that strange burning will.

But the good thing was that they were also the energy projection of a 4th rank wizard, and this 'insignificant' power remnant was only slightly suppressed and vanished into thin air.