The World of Adepts. Icewind, the White Tower.
After the past few years of cultivation, the once desolate Icewind had changed completely.
The beginnings of a small village had appeared in a forest clearing just three hundred steps away from White Tower. The buildings there were made of logs and seemed to be heavy, but st.u.r.dy. There were about three or four dozen families scattered across the village, with a small plaza at the center of the settlement. A few shops and unique buildings were scattered about as well.
Due to the tower"s protection, the chill winds from the east became warm and gentle before they reached the small town. The average temperature of Icewind used to be around 17.8 Celcius, but it had now stabilized at 0 degrees.
Such temperatures could no longer affect normal outdoor activities for humans!
It was difficult to conduct any farming or animal husbandry in a place like Icewind. As such, most of the civilians there were hunters. They would form groups and enter the edges of the Black Forest on a good day to hunt for wild beasts or low-grade magical creatures.
With the appearance of the White Tower, the magical creatures near Icewind had all retreated into the depths of the Black Forest. That took away the prey that the hunters relied on for their livelihood. However, as more and more Crimson adepts and apprentices ventured into the Black Forest, the hunters decided to settle near White Tower and sought to be recruited and employed by these people.
These magic casters were undoubtedly the most wealthy group of individuals in this world!
As long as they served the adepts well, any simple bag of gold that they got from them would be enough for them to lead a lavish lifestyle for several months.
It was dusk once again.
It was the time when the apprentice groups that ventured into the Black Forest returned.
Any later and night would fall. Most beasts and magical creatures would then become active, and walking in the Black Forest would be a serious risk. As such, any groups that did not manage to find the hidden camping spots before nightfall were to return to White Tower.
It was undoubtedly the time when the town was most lively!
The seven people of Shadow"s Light emerged from the Black Forest in the moonlight, laughing as they walked toward the town.
The five at the front were apprentices, while the two dragging a lion-like prey along on a crude wooden platform at the back were the hunters they had hired.
It had only been half a year, and Shadow"s Light had undergone tremendous changes.
The captain, Ponta, was still a pseudo-adept. His powers hadn"t improved too much, but the staff in his hands had changed from the Staff of Intelligence, which gave a minor boost to his Spirit, to his current Shadow Wand. This wand could effectively reduce the difficulty of casting shadow spells for Ponta. It had cost him two hundred magical crystals– nearly a third of his magical crystal income over the past six months.
However, with the aid of this wand, he could now successfully cast some shadow spells that he used to have trouble with. It was an incredibly amazing thing for a pseudo-adept, whose life revolved around magic and spells.
Meanwhile, Body-Refining Apprentice Dakso was still an advanced apprentice, and Transfiguration Apprentice Blanco was still an intermediate apprentice. That said, the other two members had changed tremendously.
Plant Apprentice Eco was now an advanced apprentice. Judging by the array of magical equipment on her, she was treated very well by her teammates. Still, little goblin Locke was the one who had changed the most. He was now an advanced goblin magical mechanic. A golem machine that creaked nonstop followed behind him.
The golem might look frail and weak with its one-meter height. However, on an actual battlefield, it was as effective as almost five intermediate apprentices.
Firstly, it was a ma.s.sive monster "attractor"!
Any magical creatures drawn toward the team would most definitely attack this noisy little guy first.
Secondly, this small guy"s ability to escape and dodge was unmatched!
No one had any idea how Little Locke had come up with and invented this golem. Its offensive ability might be terribly weak, but its ability to avoid attacks was shockingly powerful.
If an enemy attacked it, the golem would instantly transform into a spider-type golem with eight metal legs and weave between the dense greenery as if it was flat land. Apart from exhausting their stamina trying to catch the golem, the pursuing magical creatures would not even be able to touch it.
This way, the members of Shadow"s Light could comfortably dole out damage and take down one powerful beast or magical creature after another.
Even when accidents occurred and the little guy was torn to pieces by agile beasts or flying creatures, it could easily be repaired as long as Locke the goblin magic mechanic was still around.
It was through all these strange combat machines that Locke was able to become an advanced apprentice in a matter of half a year. It also allowed Locke to become one of the leading forces of Shadow"s Light.
The team was surrounded by a group of people that had been waiting for them the moment they entered the town. Hunter Hank and Thor called for help, and the villagers moved over to carry the fire lion"s corpse into the town.
Fire lions were a commonly seen low-grade magical creature in the Black Forest. It also had the power of a beginner First Grade. However, magical creatures were still magical creatures in the end. They might be sufficiently powerful, but their intelligence had not kept up with their might.
Thus, an adept-level fire magical creature had been hunted down by a group of apprentice adepts who were only advanced apprentices on average.
The most valuable thing on the fire lion was its fire crystal core, as well as its soft and warm mane.
An adept-level core could quickly sell for a hundred and fifty magical crystals and more. Meanwhile, the fire lion"s mane was the main ingredient in the crafting of a Flamecloak. Its basic price was around thirty magical crystals. Apart from these, the fire lion"s fangs, bones, tendons, flesh, and blood were all spoils of war that could be converted into magical crystals.
However, fire lion"s meat was tough and sour, making it a mediocre cooking ingredient.
However, it was because of its cheap price and how easy it was to purchase that it was a favorite item of many body-refining apprentices.
If they carefully butchered this adolescent fire lion, then they could obtain approximately a hundred kilogram of meat. The body refining apprentice, Dakso, had already reserved fifty kilograms of meat in advance. The cost of buying the meat would be deducted from his share of the income this time.
An extremely professional slaughterhouse had already been established in the town.
It took no more than fifteen minutes for this hundred-kilogram fire lion to be taken apart finely, packaged, and then handed over to the Shadow"s Light team. All the team paid in exchange was three magical crystals and some fire lion bits that they did not require.
In truth, the town was their final destination as well.
All the butchering, appraising, and selling was done in the town.
The information here would be sent to White Tower and the Crimson Clan. If any adept were to be interested in the goods here, they could reserve it directly. Then, the matter of preservation and transportation would be left to the people of the town. The members of Shadow"s Light only needed to wait for the magical crystals to come in.
Such work distribution undoubtedly decreased the pressure of logistics and supply on the apprentice groups, allowing them to divert more attention to the improvement of their combat skills. The acquisition of magical knowledge might be crucial for all apprentice adepts, but for most of them, turning that knowledge into corresponding combat power was undoubtedly even more important!
After handing over the prey, the two hired hunters returned homes with smiling faces and two large pouches of gold. On the other hand, the apprentices walked toward the only tavern in town.
There, they ran into another group of apprentices who were also celebrating their hunt– Bloodsucking Fang.
Just from the name alone, you would know that this was a combat group purely made up of apprentice-level vampires. There were seven members on the team, and all of them were pretty men and women in luxurious clothes. Some of them were even blood elves with sharp ears and sharper fangs.
These vampires might not possess the diversity of spells that other apprentice teams did, but with their rapid movements and bat transformations, they could freely travel in and out of the Black Forest to hunt. With the Battle of Fire Throne, Lady Mary had made a tremendous contribution to the clan. These vampires in the lower levels of the clan also gained more reputation and status this way.
At the moment, the vampire faction had become the most significant faction within the Crimson Clan. Even Tigule, who was backed by an entire lesser plane, could not compare to Mary.
The vampires, the Fate Witches, and the magical mechanic goblins; these three forces owned eighty percent of the Crimson Clan"s resources and authority, each supporting the Crimson Clan as a pillar. Of course, this was only the crude opinions of the lower cla.s.ses.
Only the higher-ups of the Crimson Clan knew the secret that the largest force in the Crimson Clan wasn"t the vampires, but the mysterious Third Grade Brain Monster Gazlowe.
During the Battle of Fire Throne, Gazlowe had only revealed a bit of his power and had managed to send the Alliance of five clans packing. If Greem was willing to bring him back from Lance to the World of Adepts, then there was a possibility that the Crimson Clan could instantly rise from a small clan to a large one, only one step away from those ultra-clans.
If one were to pick out any weakness of the Crimson Clan now, it would be the lack of a high-grade adept who could support and defend the clan. At the very least, without a Third Grade adept, the Crimson Clan would never be acknowledged as a large clan.
That was not something that could be compensated for with an army of magical machines!