Age of Adepts Chapter 289

Chapter 289 A Banquet
The victor had been decided.
A joyous Adept Nunnally and smiling Angus greeted Greem as he stepped out of the arena with the Infernal Tyrant.
The Gerto adepts stared angrily at them, their faces full of killing intent.
Both parties looked at Greem and the Tyrant, but no one paid any attention to the disheveled and defeated Rouneau.
"Very well. The esoteric duel today has concluded." The silver-robed adept stepped up as the mediator, "Shop 167 of Champs Élysées Street will continue to be managed by the Byron Clan. As the losing challengers, the Gerto Clan has to pay their compensations to the Byron Clan within three days. If the compensation is not paid on time, the Silver Union will exile the Gerto Clan and all property they have in the Castle in the Sky will be forfeited and put up for auction. I hope this will not be the case. Very well, now that the duel has come to a close, you may all leave."
The silver-robed adept took one last look at Greem and his golem before silently leaving.
"Let's go! We have to go back and have a proper celebration after this!" Even a cold and grim fellow like Adept Angus couldn't help but betray a smile. It was clear how significant of a victory this was for the Byron Clan.
The Byron adepts surrounded Greem, and together they returned to their clan outpost in high spirits.
Nunnally smiled coldly as she spoke to the bald-headed man, whose face was turning a deathly green, "We can settle our debts in the future, Nako. I hope to see the compensation paid as soon as possible. You know where I'll be. I'll be waiting for the good news!"
Every single muscle in the Gerto Clan Head's body tensed up when he glared at Nunnally. You could hear the crackling and popping sounds from snapping muscles in his body.
"Nunnally, you bastard. I want you dead… I'll make sure you die a horrible death… "
However, even a Second Grade adept didn't dare to start a fight here, regardless of how angry he was. The Silver Union's esoteric adepts might not have been worth much in a fight, but their army of magical golems was a fearsome lot.
The consequences of attacking Nunnally here would be severe. Despite being Second Grade, not only would Nako be unable to escape the Castle in the Sky, even his clan would be completely destroyed in the punishment that came after.
Fortunately, the Gerto Clan had already won two esoteric duels before this. Even though these were the more rural areas of the outer circle, and were far less prosperous than Champs Élysées Street, it was enough for his clan to establish a foothold in the city. Still, Nako's heart bled when he thought of the massive amount of resources he had to give to the Byron Clan three days from now.
…………
The fight at the arena propelled Greem to fame within the Twelfth District of the outer area.
The outer circle was like the face of a massive clock. Champs Élysées Street, where the Byron Clan stood, was located at the twelve o'clock position, which was why it was also known as the Twelfth District. There were around two dozen shops here, and every single one of them was backed by famous adept clans from the Continent.
The fact that Greem's name had spread among them was thanks to the might of the Infernal Tyrant!
Outsider adepts like Greem were the most popular within the outer circle. The price of hiring them was far cheaper than the esoteric masters. The strength of these outsider adepts might vary, but a successful gamble on one of them could allow a clan to come back to life and preserve their spot in the Castle in the Sky.
Greem's representation of the Byron Clan this time meant that it was possible he could represent their clans. Thus, every single outer circle clan was extremely willing to associate with a pseudo-esoteric adept who had a bright future ahead of him.
…………
Dusk.
The dark curtain of night had enveloped the Castle in the Sky, but lights were glowing brightly at the Byron Clan's place.
A small celebration banquet was being held in the hall on the first floor. All seventeen shops of the Twelfth District had sent representatives to the banquet to celebrate and congratulate the Byron's victory.
With the conclusion of the esoteric duels, most of these seventeen clans had successfully defended their land. However, there were still five new clans that had managed to replace the previous shop owners. Everyone was taking the Byron Clan’s banquet as an opportunity to scheme and establish deals under the table.
The old clans needed to reach new agreements, and the newer clans needed to make concessions or demonstrate sufficient influence to join their social circles. Some of the weaker clans also needed to establish alliances to ensure their continued prosperity.
As such, almost every clan representative and stationed adept were extremely busy during this banquet. They repeatedly went into hidden rooms and met with one representative after another. The only ones who had fun at this banquet were the newly advanced clan adepts that had been sent to the Castle in the Sky to experience and learn the intricacies of negotiation.
The banquet wasn't a very large affair, but the decorations were quite unique.
The walls and floor had been decorated with glowstones. With how brightly they lit up the hall, no other lighting was needed.
A dozen dinner tables were placed in an orderly fashion in a corner of the hall. Gold and silver plates and bowls filled the tables. Only delicacies were served. There were dishes like pan-seared ox's kidney, quails stuffed with spices and fruits, shortbread with lark and partridge meat fillings, steak cooked with wine and onion, dormice soaked in honey…
The waitresses serving the adepts in the hall were beauties of various races and appearances. There were the slim and light cat girls with delicate facial features, grey cat ears, and bushy tails on their backs. There were the succubi of the lower realms. Tall, curvaceous, pale skinned, seductive figures with tiny horns on their heads, bat wings on their backs, tails of bone, and hooves for feet.
Apart from these two, there were also female elves with soft bodies and pointed ears, as well as tiger girls with fierce personalities and fur growing by the side of their faces. Greem even saw a fifty-centimeter dwarf girl among these beauties…
Of course, without exception, they all had a tiny runic brand beneath their flimsy dresses. The Byron emblem was in the middle of these runic brands. The runic arrays surrounding the emblem served the purposes of sealing, locating, and various other functions that Greem couldn't decipher.
Greem already knew that the World of Adepts was a massive plane that had enslaved thousands of lesser planes. The resources taken from these planes were endless, and the slaves that they had obtained covered a huge range of races.
Of course, he had never had the opportunity to come into contact with these high-quality resources when he was only an apprentice. It was only now that he had become stronger and made a place for himself alongside the stronger adepts that they were now being presented to him.
A beauty of another race might have been the princess or queen of an enslaved race back in their own plane. Here in this brightly lit adept's banquet, however, they were nothing more than slaves and maids that could be toyed with in whatever manner the adepts enjoyed.
Some of the younger male and female adepts were surrounding these servants and talking about their appearances. They would even occasionally undress them and touch their bodies all over as if they were extremely interested in their biological construction.
Greem was also favored by the young female adepts, with how handsome and charming a newly advanced adept he was. Three or four young female adepts from various clans had surrounded him and were passionately flirting with him.
Honestly, the moral limits of the young men and women had been completely removed when they became adepts. As talented individuals being cultivated by their clans, their futures were bright ones. This was why all of them were more willing to indulge in the pleasures of life, using the authority of their position to enjoy beauties and delicacies! After all, what awaited them afterward was a long and arduous journey of accumulating knowledge!
They were still young and had no right to join the leaders of the clan, which gave them plenty of time and energy to pursue pleasure and enjoyment. Greem had heard plenty about how debaucherous and wasteful these youths were in their private lives. Every single one of these young male and female adepts had a harem of pretty boys and ladies waiting on them at home.
However, those were only their sexual partners. If they really wanted an actual partner for life, they would have to choose from adepts of the same Grade.
As long as two young adepts favored each other, they would instantly get into a relationship. The bold and direct nature of these female adepts when it came to carnal relationships was too much for Greem, the ultimate hermit, to deal with.
There were also other, smaller social circles in the hall aside from these youths.
One of them was the bloodline adept's circle.
Those who could step foot in here were all elites among the bloodline adepts. The greatest indicator of this was the dense bloodline aura they radiated, as well as their obvious appearances. Most of them were similar to the creatures their bloodline came from.
The Synos Clan managing the Black Rose was a clan of bloodline adepts. Their clan’s bloodline legacy was that of the Shadow Serpent. This was a terrifying shadow creature that was widely known to be able to reach the ranks of Sixth Grade.
That was why all of the adepts from the Synos Clans had a black serpent's head in place of a human one. It was the same whether they were male or female. All of them looked like a serpent. Their bodies also showed vague signs of blurring, as if they were constantly under the protection of shadows and darkness.
These bloodlines adepts clearly disliked intimate relationships with adepts of other races. Their considerations and priorities when picking a partner or lover were focused on the opponent's bloodline concentration and their Grade level. Appearance and personality was only a secondary thought.
There was also a group of mutated adepts in the hall that had undergone severe body modifications. Perhaps parts of their bodies had been replaced with that of wild beasts, turned undead, or replaced with mechanical parts. Either way, the marks of magical modification had been left on each and every one of their bodies.
There wasn't much left about them that was human!