Age of Adepts

Once again, the moon climbed to the dome, and the cool, desolate glow shined through the mist into the mushroom hut.

Alice picked up a nearly crimson soup pan and watched the moonlight penetrate through the crevices of the cabin. Bloody eyes filled with deep despair, sorrow and numbness!

Crying, begging, cursing, cursing...

Everything she's been able to do all these days has been done one by one.

Unfortunately, in the face of an old witch with no oil and salt, her disguised or real emotions were directly ignored. The only thing the old witch does every day is stand on a tall wooden stool, stirring the soup pot with a giant wooden spoon, whispering stories that no one can understand.

Whenever Alice tries to get out of here, she shows up in time and pushes her back with a hissing snake letter.

Shady swamps, horrible haunted houses, ugly witches, and creepy black snakes...

It all sounds like a strange dark fairy tale!

But what brought Alice was unbearable torture and suffering.

Alice can't sleep or dare to sleep.

Every time she falls asleep, the space barrier on the body's surface disappears, so what awaits her is boiling water. Pink, white and delicate bodies can be burned red and instantly filled with large and small bubbles and crimson flesh after crushing.

And while she was screaming so hard in the soup pot, the old witch, wherever she was, would rush over and scoop up the sauce of the orangutan with a spoon and drink it up. In the words of the old witch herself, the soup soaked in Alice's blood smells like fate!

So the only thing Alice can do is keep her head clear and use all her energy to fight flesh * physical fatigue. Whenever she feels unable to sustain herself, she silently removes the space barrier on her left hand and then uses the sharp pain of her heart to stimulate her restlessness and drive away the heavy sleepiness.

A few days later, her left hand had been boiled in boiling soup without half an inch of good meat, and thick purple and black blood scabs layered over and over. Always waiting for complete healing and new burns.

Alice barely survived the last two days with this method.

Alice's spirit was on the verge of collapse when Grimm's tall body appeared in the mushroom hut! The whole human being is unconscious and seems to have lost touch with all the changes in the outside world. But amazingly, even in this case, Alice still has a thin space film wrapped around her to protect her body from tumbling soup.

Seeing Alice's tragic condition, Grimm's heart of the fiery demon in his chest beat sharply twice, almost breaking the seal of witchcraft and burning the anger in his heart all over his body.

“Ten days is up, I'll take Alice!” Grimm dropped a cold sentence and leaned over and poked her arms into the hot soup pot, one of which caught Alice.

Looking at Alice's perfectly purple and black left hand and the burning skin and blood scab on her body, Grimm's black eyes lit two tiny flames, suppressing anger with one last trace of reason, holding Alice's body in her arms with nothing, and walking away.

Strangely enough, the old, low-shaped witch just looked at it with a smile on her face and did not interfere with Grimm's behavior.

When Grimm's tall body was completely obscured by the fog of the Dark Swamp, the old witch closed her smile, and her mouth burst with a terrible tsunami of nightmares.

“Destiny! Destiny! Destiny...”

…………

When Alice woke up again, she was already in a clean and bright room.

Rooms are very simple.

A single bed, a chair, a brown wooden table, that's all the room has to offer.

And at the wooden table, a crusty body sits there, looking at the book quietly.

Alice was lying in soft silk and her body twisted slightly, and based on that slippery touch, she could feel herself not wearing any clothes. And the wounds all over her body came with a hint of refreshment, mixed in with a spicy tingle, making her itchy and painful.

Alice lifted her left hand gently, and the dense white cloth wrapped her left hand around her like a little pussy, sniffing it in front of her nose, able to smell the haemostatic cream and lotion.

Her mouth was numb and bitter, and Alice threw up her tongue, which made her realize that she had a leaf of life in her mouth.

Humph, left me to the old witch without saying a word, now you want to rely on these little grace to pull my heart, think beautifully!

Somehow, the tears of Alice could not help but flow.

With the witch's acute perception, no small movement in the room could have been hidden from his ears and eyes.

When Alice's tears blurred, Grimmna's tall figure had appeared in front of the bed, bending over and looking down slightly at her.

“Does the wound still hurt? ”

“Mmm!”

“I've drugged you. With your physique, you will recover completely in about three or two days, without leaving too obvious a scar! ”

“Mmm!”

After a simple conversation, there was an elusive silence.

They have all been apprentices of witches, they have all come from the bottom level, they have experienced terrible suffering without 1,000 or 800. In contrast, this time it was not the worst. Either sorcerer apprentice will suffer all this alone, and no one will suffer on your behalf, even if blood runs out and tears dry.

So both wizards and apprentices develop a cold, isolated spleen.

So at this moment, both warm Grimm and cared for Alice don't know how to proceed.

“Alice, where have you been for ten days, do you know why that old witch did this to you?” Grimm suddenly remembered a question and couldn't help but ask.

“What else could it be? Of course it's because she's crazy! She is a nervous woman..." Alice hates to bite her teeth when she remembers the torture of the day.

“I always have an illusion…” Grimm frowned hesitantly.

“What illusion? ”

“She seems to be trying to help you!” Grimm hesitated for a moment and finally said what he felt in his heart.

“Help me!” Alice opened her eyes and could barely resist jumping out of her quilt. She waved her left hand angrily and growled: “I was so fucked up by her, you said she wanted to help me? Are you out of your mind? ”

Grimm was not intimidated by Alice's teething claws and had a thoughtful expression on her face.

“As you and I both know, the Northern Witch is an extremely traditional and inherited closed group. That Leanna belongs to a different school of witches than you, so she won't hurt you easily to avoid getting involved in the selection of Destiny Witches. ”

“So what? ”

“If what I have is true, don't you think she behaves strangely? ”

“Of course she's acting strange, because she's already crazy! ”

“Alice, calm down. Don't let anger confuse your mind. Taste carefully what kind of message she wants to convey to you with this behavior! ”

Alice is still shaking her head in the dark.

“Her behavior makes you resentful and makes you feel weak. So what do you want most when your emotions develop to the extreme? ”

“Power!”

“Yes, power! You need strength to grow yourself, you need strength to avenge yourself. So where does your power come from? ”

“Where does the power come from?” Alice is confused repeatedly.

“You awaken the gift of the Witch of Destiny! Though there are many Destiny Witches awake at the same time, tracing back to the origin, you need to understand where your power comes from! ”

Alice shook her head knowingly.

Although she is gifted and talented, her lack of experience still makes it difficult for her to keep up with Grimm II's jumping thinking.

“You must always remember where your power comes from.” The teachings of Grimm's bitter mother-in-law: “You awaken the gift of the Witch of Destiny, so your source of power can only be attributed to the words Destiny. Alice, I ask you, do you believe in destiny? ”

Alice raised her head and looked firmly into Grimm's eyes, finally for the first time beginning to seriously think about the true meaning of the Witch of Destiny gift for herself.

Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in destiny?

Asked herself over and over again, Alice became demented for a while.

Yeah, since the gift awakened, the power of space has been like an instinct, her ability to summon and play. Relying on this powerful spatial talent, she is able to leverage almost all her peers with ease.

Powerful powers confuse her.

Everyone's awe and praise also let her float.

Success after success had intoxicated her, but she had forgotten where her true strength came from!

Fate?

Fate!

Looking back on her journey as a Wizard Apprentice, she never seemed conscious enough to grasp what fate meant and what fate meant.

She enjoyed the glory of destiny with such a reassuring gift, but never tried to get close to it and understand it.

So at this moment, where does she go when she succeeds in tasting the weak humiliation and when she once again yearns for powerful power? Is it meditation, accumulation of knowledge and resources, strengthening of one's strength day after day like other wizards, or...

Alice was suddenly confused.

Even if she knows her way forward and understands the nature of her power, how can she experience the fate of nothingness?

Can shouting "Fate, I Believe You” into the sky give yourself more power?

Still unable to find a definitive way out, Alice finally raised her head and put her eyes on Grimm.

“What should I do? Teach me!” Alice made her first sincere request.

“Do you believe in destiny?” Grimm once again asked solemnly.

This is both a question and an answer!