Age of Adepts Chapter 285

Chapter 285 The Arena
A circular amphitheater, an oval stage for combat, an impenetrable energy barrier, and an arena full of passionate spectators…
Guriad Arena. In terms of design and architecture, it wasn't much different from Greem's past life memories of the Colosseum.
When Greem finally entered the arena alongside the Byron adepts the whole arena went silent. The adepts and apprentices remained quiet in their seats, assessing Greem and the Byron adepts with odd and doubtful gazes.
Some adepts who were familiar with each other couldn't help but start murmuring when they saw Greem. Greem could only see their mouths move, but not a single sound came out of their throats. It was obvious that they were communicating using magic.
"No need to get nervous! The Byron Clan will help you deflect any kind of variable or interference that might come from the outside. You just do your best to beat the opponent." Adept Nunnally ground her teeth as she sent a voice transmission to Greem, "Remember, you must win!"
Even though she knew that this would probably put more pressure on Greem, the path to retreat was already shut off for the Byron Clan. Thus, after giving Greem a wicked and mean 'encouragement', Nunnally sat down and waited for the outcome in silence.
Angus let out an awkward laugh. He looked at Greem with an expression that suggested at the complexity and difficulty of the situation, but he didn't say anything more.
The stage where combat took place was around five hundred meters in diameter. The floor had also been magically hardened. The entire place could endure the chaos and damage caused by a fight between two magical golems. There were about two hundred seats in the spectator stands. All of them were already filled. There were about forty to fifty adepts amongst them, while the rest of them were elite apprentices from various clans.
A commotion started up just as Greem was calmly observing the place.
"Here they come! It's here… "
"Quick, look! That thing is here again… "
"We get to see the Golem Knight in action again …"
"……"
The noisy voices of chattering adepts and apprentices filled the arena as they talked about the Golem Knight.
Greem stopped looking around and turned to see the opponent he was about to face. A tall and powerful metallic golem entered the arena, following behind a group of adepts. The group hadn't even gotten close, yet already Greem could hear the heavy footsteps of the metallic golem and the unique sound of its grinding joints.
There were seven adepts in all, both male and female.
All of them were wearing an emblem with a roaring bear's head on their chest. These were the Gerto Clan adepts.
The one walking at the very front was a bald and muscular man wearing a thick and heavy bronze armor. As a Second Grade adept himself, he was the clan leader of the Gerto Clan. His eyes clashed with Adept Nunnally the moment he walked into the arena. A deep-seated hatred was carved into his gaze.
Greem couldn't help but have suspicions when he saw this happening. There were probably some other tensions and conflicts between the two clans other than the bet with the golem challenge. At this point, there was no longer any room to back out. Thus, Greem gave up on mulling over unnecessary thoughts and shifted his attention to his opponent– the golem master and his Golem Knight.
Greem's eyes swept across the seven adepts and quickly identified the golem master.
Of course, this wasn't because the golem master was any different from the other adepts. He had already seen a portrait of this golem master in the information the Byron Clan provided him with.
This was a short, crafty old man with wrinkles over all his face and a white goatee below his chin. Greem could sense his aura. He didn't seem to be much more powerful than Greem himself. His Spirit probably didn't even exceed ten points. Otherwise there was no way Greem would be able to detect the strength of his aura.
Greem had finally gotten a basic understanding of First Grade adepts after all this time.
One could be considered an adept once they successfully formed their adept core and were able to sense the strength of the planar laws. Under normal circumstances, a newly advanced adept would have no more than one point of Spirit. The basic condition for becoming a Second Grade adept was raising that one point to twenty-one points.
Thus, the greatest amount of Spirit that a First Grade adept could have was twenty points!
A First Grade adept at their very peak would have twenty points of Spirit, while a newly advanced adept would only have one point of Spirit. Although true combat ability wasn't defined purely by the amount of Spirit, the difference between an adept at their peak and a rookie adept was still extremely obvious.
First Grade adepts would often treat the first ten points of Spirit as a threshold for a certain standard. Adepts that passed this threshold of ten points were called elite adepts. Those who never crossed this threshold would almost always remain as rookies and amateurs.
The Adept Anderson that died at the Greem’s hands, on the other hand, had advanced for three hundred years already. Yet he still hadn't manage to break the threshold of ten points. These fellows that had no potential for improvement could only be known as veteran adepts, even to their graves. They had no qualification to call themselves 'elites'.
In truth, nearly sixty percent of all First Grade adepts on the Continent were unable to cross this threshold in their entire lifespan.
The Gerto golem master before him, Rouneau, had already exhausted most of his life force, yet his Spirit remained on the level of any other adept. It was clear that he had no chance of breaking through to Second Grade.
This was one of the awkward truths that esoteric adepts had to face.
They spent too much time searching for the best formulas, scouring for their ideal rare metals, ceaselessly improving and modifying their golem arrays, and trying their best to forge the ultimate golem… every single one of these tasks were enough to grind away at the years of an esoteric adept. All of these tasks added together would quickly exhaust the entire lifespan of an esoteric adept's brilliant and amazing life!
Thus, in general, there were very few Third and Fourth Grade adepts amongst the esoteric adepts, and even fewer Great Adepts above Fifth Grade.
Even most of the high-grade adepts that the Silver Union had right now didn't advance to their level through their own efforts. It was mostly because they made immense contributions in their research that they were able to get the Union to invest heavily in them. Most of them were high-grade adepts that had risen to their level through the accumulation of an uncountable number of resources.
These people were known as the Chosen Ones among the esoteric adepts!
This was a source of hope for those who were untalented and unfavored. If they knew they had no hope for advancement, they could throw themselves into their research as esoteric adepts. If they ever came up with an innovative branch of knowledge, or a new line of thought, they could possibly be noticed by the Silver Union Senate, and be selected as a Chosen One.
Sadly, Golem Master Rouneau was not someone with immense potential either. He had not been selected as a Chosen One. This was why his power was almost equal to Greem's, despite his seniority. He even seemed to be slightly weaker than Greem.
However, the fight today was a fight between golems, not a fight between their masters. Greem took a quick look at Rouneau and shifted his gaze to the Golem Knight behind him.
This was a metallic golem that had the appearance of a human knight. Platinum-colored armor, a full helm, and a massive sword and shield on its back. Its movements might not have been as agile and smooth as humans, but they were far more organic than your regular golem.
The silver-robed adept waiting by the stage spoke, seeing that both parties had arrived.
"Now that you have both arrived, please let your chosen esoteric adept enter the stage! Remember, adepts are not allowed the attack each other. Only your golems are allowed to fight with each other. Any party that violates the rules will be awarded the loss. Please be careful with your spells! Very well, you may enter the stage now!"
The silver-robed adept might only be First Grade, but he represented the Silver Union. Even the Second Grade adepts of the two clans didn't dare to be disrespectful to him. Greem and Rouneau quickly stepped up and stood before the silver-robed adept.
The silver-robed adept looked at the Golem Knight first. An expression of great desire and admiration appeared on his face. However he couldn't help but be stunned for a second when he looked towards Greem "You are Greem? Representing the Byron Clan? Where's your golem?"
Greem took a summoning core out of his belt and threw it to the ground. The sound of a fiery explosion rang out, and a massive and powerful giant rose from the flames, standing silently beside Greem.
"An elementium golem!"
"To fight an magical puppet with an elementium golem. The Byrons must have gone mad… "
"Indeed. Are the Byrons such fools? To use an elementium golem against a magical puppet… "
A wave of noise rose as chattering and murmuring spread throughout the crowd, quickly drowning the Byron Clan adepts with their voices.
Adept Nunnally coldly scanned the entire place with her Spiritual flux. All the clamoring died down instantly. A Second Grade adept was almost always respected, regardless of where they went. Before they humiliated and insulted the Byron Clan, they would have to consider whether they had the ability to endure the wrath of a Second Grade adept.
Everyone had a clear understanding of the situation.
The Byron Clan had clearly sent an elementium adept to this duel. The golem he used for the duel was even an elementium golem. Either of these factors alone were enough to lose them the duel. Both of these factors together probably spelled certain defeat.
So what if an elementium adept was good at a fight? The adepts weren't allowed to cast spells at any target but their own golems in an esoteric duel. The strength and prowess of an elementium adept was completely wasted here. Moreover, the elementium golem had too weak of a body. It wouldn't be able to endure the violent and brutal blows of the magical puppet. It seemed that today's outcome had already been sealed in fate.
The silver-robed adept couldn't help but let out a sigh and waved his hands to have the two enter the stage.
Rouneau led the Golem Knight onto the stage and Greem brought his Infernal Tyrant along with him. A temporary entrance had been made in the barrier, and the two entered from there.
As the entrance slowly disappeared, the arena once again became an enclosed space.
When looking from the inside, a grey barrier of light had completely covered the place. The view of the outside had also been obscured by a layer of mist. Neither Greem nor Rouneau could see the spectators nor hear any of their noise.
This was set up to prevent outside interference in the duel!
Greem brought the Infernal Tyrant to one side of the barrier and waited for the start of the duel. He turned just in time to catch the sinister smile on Rouneau's face.
"Kid, you had best yield quickly! Don't get too heartbroken when your golem is torn to pieces!"
Greem shook his head as he laughed. He had no intention of talking to someone that was about to lose to him.
"I hereby announce, that the duel has started!" The silver-robed adept's voice rang out within the stage.
Greem instantly took out a vial of grey potion and swallowed everything in one gulp.