Age of Adepts Chapter 168

Three days later.
Greem and the others who had been out to scout had returned to the base, bringing with them the information they had collected.
Although it had only been three days, the once grassy field where the adepts had arrived in was already looking like a small town.
A tall stone house stood from the ground, covering the projection and the space vortex within. There were no windows on the structure, only an arcane entrance in the front. Row after row of wooden and stone houses were built with the stone building in the center, spread around on the outside haphazardly.
The ones responsible for guarding the outer rim of the forward base was a bunch of voodoo beasts of all sorts. There were lions, tigers, jaguars and many more, but without exception, there was the special flux of magic organs from within their bodies. The voodoo beasts with the power of intermediate apprentices might not be much to an adept, but they were most suited to deal with any normal native or beasts that wandered into the base by accident.
On the other hand, the security system within the base were the numerous and plentiful magic arrays and troops of weird-looking robotic beasts. These robotic beasts were clearly exquisite products from the Castle in the Sky, as each of them had the power of an advanced apprentice. Considering their bodies that had high resistance to damage, with good cooperation, surrounding and killing a pseudo adept was an easy matter.
Besides all this, there were also a few winged dragon knights.
Judging from their appearance, these were created by using voodoo magic to modify some sort of humanoid being and sew them to the back of winged dragons, giving them the ability of both flight and long ranged attacks. The ingredients were probably taken locally and the product just finished, considering their bloody bodies.
The entire lower half of the humanoid beings had been amputated and forcibly merged onto the winged dragons back due to the rushed job. It was still bloody where the flesh of the two creatures met. The thick corpse-weaving thread could still be seen clearly.
A winged dragon knight beat its wings and stopped Greem's path as he returned.
The humanoid on the dragon's back was a male with a large physique and solid muscles, baring his chest. In his hand was a magic weapon shaped like a spear with light blue light flickering about it. He bent his body and sniffed. Perhaps because he sensed the thick adept's smell around Greem's body, he flew back into the woods after bowing and giving his respects.
Greem paid no attention and walked boldly forward. Twenty or so clay golems dragged a dozen large forest creatures behind them as they followed behind Greem. The pained howls and screams of the creatures filled the woods as they were dragged into the base.
Adept Keoghan, his robe still caked with blood, came out after hearing the calls of the creatures. An expression of wild surprise and delight filled his face as he saw one after another living sabertooth elephants, four-arm apes, swamp alligators, and gryphons.
"Hahaha……Just in time! I was missing ingredients! Quick, send them over……"
Only then did Greem realise that Keoghan also had such talent on the modification and creation of voodoo beasts. All the new voodoo beasts he saw earlier were probably his handiwork. It's important to note that those winged dragon knights each had the power of a pseudo-adept!
The temporary base leader rubbed his hands together in excitement as he ordered the clay golems to send the "ingredients" into the giant slaughterhouse. Looking at the nimble and agile golems, Keoghan couldn't help but exclaim: "I have long heard of your amazing talent in the creation of elemental golems. It seems you live up to your reputation." If this had been the case, you should have gone down the route of the Profound Adepts. Being a puppet master is not bad at all. "
Greem was standing beside Keoghan when he shook his head and spoke: "The roots of an adept, ultimately, lies within oneself. My talent in creating puppets might be enough for me to dominate for a while, but it's not beneficial for my own growth. Between a powerful First Grade Puppet Master or a weak Second Grade Elementium Adept, I would rather pick the latter! "
Keoghan stopped smiling and narrowed his eyes as he said, surprised: "To think you already have such an understanding so quick after your advancement! Very good……If that Anderson had understood this 300 years earlier, perhaps he wouldn't have landed such a tragic end……”
Greem remained silent.
Keoghan smiled awkwardly as he instructed Greem: "Go rest! We might still need to have a meeting tonight! "
Greem nodded. One after another, the clay golems walked to his side and dispelled the earth Elementium and dirt that formed their bodies, their summoning cores lightly landing in Greem's hand.
Greem kept the summoning cores and swiftly went to a row of the simple stone houses.
A dozen of stone houses of the same design stood in a row. Some of them were shut tight, the emblems of their occupants etched onto the door, glowing with magic. Other stone houses were wide open, with nothing inside them.
The houses with emblems on the door were clearly occupied, so Greem just picked one of the empty houses and went in. Following a red flash on the door, the image of a burning iron fist raised towards the sky appeared on the stone door. This was the emblem Greem chose for himself, meant to express the path he had chosen for himself.
He had already checked earlier. There was no sign of Mary or Acteon's emblem. It seemed that they had yet to return. Greem crossed his legs on the stone bed and shut his eyes as he communicated with the chip.
"Chip, what's the progress on the plane law analysis? "
"Beep, current progress is 97.14%. Estimated time remaining: 3 hours 27 minutes 11 seconds....."
Greem nodded in satisfaction. He could finally relax.
Those who have never broken into another world would never understand the terror of plane suppression. Like a lion tossed into a sea, the change in environment would make every action in daily life so much more difficult and painful.
Adepts were, after all, a being that rooted their strength in the laws of the world. Once there was a change in laws, they would feel the deepest and most intense of its effects.
Ever since he entered this plane, Greem had felt like his nose and mouth were covered with a thick wet cloth. Even breathing had turned into a chore. His Spirits that had replaced his eyes had been suppressed within his body, with no means of extending outwards, barring him from detecting every single little change around him as he had before.
This limited his powers greatly.
A lion might not survive if it fell into a sea, but adepts were way smarter than that. As long as they could analyse the source of the change in plane laws, adepts could adjust the laws and allow themselves to become accustomed to the environment and regain their strength.
…………
The adepts' meeting happened in tandem with dinner.
A large campfire was burning in the middle of the camp. The seven adepts sat around it, enjoying golden ribs cooked to perfection as they listened to the information gathered by Greem, Mary, and Acteon.
Adepts were always a group of clear-headed and knowledgeable individuals.
Even though Keoghan hadn't set out any specific tasks for them, Greem and the others had already swept the forest, drew a map, investigate this plane's power structure and completed many other tasks.
It could be safely said, in just three days, the three had made sure that even half a large-sized beast or magical being could no longer be found within 25 kilometers of the base. The three each threw a ball of smoke to Keoghan. After he inhaled it into his body, he waved his hand and the previously flat ground started to rise like waves.
Once all the earth Elementium in the air had gradually settled down, the geography of the base's surroundings was perfectly presented before everyone. The ridge of mountains, the cascade of rocks, the dense forests, the flowing rivers, the dark caves, the deep canyons....Without needing to step out of the base, they had a clear view and understanding of the surrounding's geography.
The first to speak was Acteon. His voice was hoarse and low and had a tinge of a bug's hissing attached to it.
“I did not discover much in the direction I went. After going past 15 kilometers of forest, there is a human settlement. I found a small human city there. There is also a small town and three to four villages nearby.
I caught several natives from a small village and interrogated their souls. This place is located in the east and is known as the Great Greenland Forest. As for the powerful beings of their plane, they had very little knowledge of them. I only managed to find out that the organisation known as the Witcher Knights are pretty powerful. There's nothing more besides these.
If we really want to understand this plane's power structure, we might have to enter the human city for a clue……"
The next to speak was Mary.
"The direction I went in should lead towards the depths of the forest. The deeper I went, the denser the trees and the more beasts and magical creatures there were. Some of them tasted pretty good! "Mary licked her red lips: "I found the rallying points of several large magical beings. There's the man-eating demon's tribe. There are two dozens adults and they are located here……There's a group of poison dragons of around a dozen located here……There's a den of gryphons with 5 adults and 3 cubs here……"
Mary lived up to her reputation as an agility-focused adept. In just three days, her investigation radius covered a range of 100 kilometers. Judging from her familiarity with the locations, she had probably personally visited each rallying point. Of course, this meant she had already had a feast of her own!
Then it was Greem's turn.
"The forest on my side is less dense. 10 kilometers of trekking brings you outside of the forest. There are 3 small human villages at the edge of the forest here.....here.....and here......One of the villages is pretty developed. I saw many mercenaries and hunters there. Their range of activity is pretty large and are very likely to wander into our base.
I caught a mercenary and from the information I got, the main fighting force of this plane is that group of witcher knights. From his depictions, it seems that a normal witcher knight is at the standard of an apprentice adept, and the so-called Spellbreaker Knights can reach the level of a First Grade Adept.
There the Spellbreaker Knights there are Radiant Knights, Dragon Knights, and Holy Knights. Unfortunately, this means that we might encounter a group of magic fighters that will hate adepts with a passion in this plane. "
The power structure of both planes was very different. It would need an actual confrontation for both parties to have a better understanding of the other's abilities and powers. But based on Greem's information, it seems that it is highly possible that a Fourth Grade opponent will appear in this plane.
For this group of First Grade Adepts, that was way too powerful!