Age of Adepts Chapter 676 Player and Chess

"Someone's got their eye on us now!" Alice casually said.
She was currently, elegantly, sitting in front of a wooden table, slowly spreading the tarot cards in her hand.
The back of every single tarot card was carved with delicate and mysterious patterns.
Apart from some eye-catching colors in the patterns, the cards only had meaningless magical lines on them, especially to the eyes of outsiders. However, in the eyes of the Fate Witches, every wave and turn in these patterns were soaked with an indescribable aura of mystery.
These patterns were formed from twisted letters and symbols that only diviners could accurately decipher!
It was clearly a damp and dark underground stone hall.
Yet, if one were to look at Alice's elegant and casual appearance, her delicate and extravagant silk robe, the expensive velvet tablecloth upon the table, and the flashing crystal ball at a corner of the table…
Greem had a mysterious feeling in his heart. He felt as if he were inside a breezy hall of paradise, holding a crystalline wineglass in his hand, swirling its contents, and enjoying the fragrant scent within as he silently listened to the sweet words of a beautiful diviner.
Perhaps this was a unique aura of Fate Witches!
They could always take someone's mind beyond reality and place them in an enchanting and fantastical scene.
Greem rubbed his right fingers together and confirmed that there was no such crystal goblet in his hand. He then awkwardly sat straight and pursued a question with a frown on his face, "Can you confirm who it is that has their eye on us?"
"Well, there's definitely one clone of a Moonlight Goddess among them (advanced Third Grade)!" Alice was still slowly flipping the tarot cards over, "We have already offended her thoroughly. Do you believe me? The moment our positions are exposed, a portal will instantly open before us, and swarms of Second and Third Grade powerhouses will emerge from within."
"Second and Third Grade powerhouses…" Greem sucked at his teeth. His head ached.
The Crimson Clan was only a newly-established adept clan right now. Most of its clan members were no more than beginner or intermediate First Grade. If they were to run into the clone of the Moonlight Goddess with their current strength, the enemy would crush them as easily as she would crush ants.
The reason they could still live on so comfortably at the moment was due to their stealthy and constant movements. If the enemy intercepted them in Garan, hehehe; the terrifying consequence was one that Greem didn't even want to imagine.
"Moreover, that Moonlight Goddess' clone isn't the most troublesome of them all." It almost seemed like Alice wasn't aware of what she was saying. She was still talking as slowly and casually as before.
"You mean, we have even more troublesome enemies to deal with?" Greem's frown deepened.
"Of course!" Alice pursed her lips and smiled. The damp and dark stone room was instantly lit up by her smile, "That pretty girlfriend of yours did a good job. She even managed to catch the attention of the main elven god, Saoirse! Fortunately, Saoirse only cast down a manifestation of her holy will. Her combat power isn't that strong."
Greem laughed awkwardly and intentionally ignored how Alice referred to Mary. Instead, he carefully asked, "How strong is your ‘isn't that strong’?"
"Probably just beginner Fourth Grade!" Alice's smile became even brighter.
Holy crap, beginner Fourth Grade.
Greem's feelings were practically falling apart!
The Fourth Grade divine manifestation of the elven chief god's will was probably nothing to the Fourth Grade Pale Witch. It would be like a meat bun challenging a dog; that clone would be done for. However, if she were to deal with them, then even Third Grade Dark Witch Uzzah would not be able to escape with absolute certainty! As for the remaining adepts? They would most certainly be condemned to death. There was no chance of survival.
Greem then frowned as he spoke.
"This is the main reason you have been forbidding the flying ship from mobilizing?"
"Of course! Over the past few days, the two goddesses have been keeping their eyes fixated on the southwest coast. If we dare to show ourselves, the next group of people to intercept us would be a large group of high-grade spiritualists."
"Then, are we safe here? There has to be at least one or two gods amongst the elven pantheon that specializes in divination and prophecies, aren't there?" Greem was suddenly tense again.
"Hmph! The elves would already have made their way here by the time you thought of that!" Alice rolled her eyes at him unamusedly, "Isn't that why I had my witches carve so many anti-divination arrays on the island over the past few days? It's all to obscure the scrying and senses of the elven gods."
Alice seemed to have been reminded of the Fate Witches that died during the last battle upon saying this. Her eyes silently turned red.
If they wanted to master the powers of fate, the Fate Witches had no choice but to sacrifice the magical powers they had formerly possessed. However, without the protection of their magical powers, every single Fate Witch was as frail as paper.
These witches who claimed to have control over the powers of fate could only latch onto certain powerful factions if they wanted to establish themselves in the tumultuous and dangerous world that was the World of Adepts. The Fate Witches might have a pair of eyes that could see through the complex world of possibilities, but they did not have sufficient strength to alter or obtain anything.
For example, Alice herself had severely exhausted her life due to the excessively frequent use of the powers of fate. Her remaining life force was not sufficient to sustain her until her advancement to Second Grade.
Thus, if she wanted to take the risk and undergo advancement prematurely, she had no choice but to steel herself and enter this Faen Plane populated by pantheons of gods.
The practically powerless Alice had only managed to establish herself in Garan with the dedicated support of Greem and his subordinate Crimson Clan. The current situation might still be shrouded in mist and clouds without a clue as to the best step to take next, but at least she had successfully secured a seat at the table.
The entirety of Garan was like a massive chessboard. The only ones who were qualified to make moves upon it were either gods or Fourth Grade witches like Rimura. Even Third Grade witches like Uzzah could only be used as chess pieces that charged forward mindlessly. They had no ability to influence the outcome and direction of the game.
Alice was only First Grade now and was even less qualified to play against the gods.
However, the powers of fate were truly mystical. There were plenty of times where they didn't rely on face-to-face confrontations against the enemy to acquire victory.
What she needed to do now was to secure her position as a player and silently observe the changes and state of the chessboard. Then all she had to do was wait until the time was ripe to use all her power to snatch away the most insignificant chess piece from the enemy's board!
One could say that Alice's most significant advantage was, in fact, her immense weakness!
It was because of how weak she was that no chess piece or player would treat her as a noteworthy character alongside the gods and the Fourth Grade witches. That then gave her the possibility of laying out the board and influencing certain outcomes in a calm and composed manner!
However, it was still far too risky to attempt to shift the direction of the chess match, even with the combination of Fate Witches, Dark Witches, and the Crimson Clan. Over the past few days, Alice had been hesitating between advancing and retreating. She had been even more frustrated over the chaos of the chess match.
However, Alice couldn't help but acknowledge the power of Greem's subordinates. Forget the fact that this mysterious fire adept was such a powerful individual himself; even the few subordinates he had somehow recruited were all so unorthodox and weird.
Mary was a Second Grade vampire after all. She led her vicious blood knights and blood elves, running from the west coast to the north and extending the fires of war to the north-central section of the Fantasy Forest.
That Bug Adept Billis was even stranger. He was only an advanced First Grade adept, yet he was jumping about with all the liveliness in the world despite being surrounded by Second and Third Grade elves near Greenwater City itself.
It was important to note that Greenwater City was currently a military stronghold! Even the number of Fourth Grade powerhouses and god messengers probably exceeded five, not to mention the Second and Third Grade combat professions that likely numbered in the double digits! An insignificant and tiny bug adept was digging through their very beds and had yet to be exterminated.
This…
Alice tilted her head and thought for a moment. She couldn't find the appropriate words to praise this cute bug adept!
In truth, it was the multi-pronged distractions of Bug Adept Billis and Bloody Queen Mary that allowed the central mountains that had always been shrouded in the dense mist of fate to be ever so slightly exposed.
Even though Alice could not yet divine anything concrete about the area, this was an excellent omen!
At the very least, she had already managed to divine some of the information related to the Staff of Divination.
A massive stretch of mountains oddly stood out in the center of the boundless forest of Garan. These mountains stretched from the west to the east, covering a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers.
The center of the mountains had lakes, rivers, gorges, and valleys.
Of course, most of the terrain was still mountainous forest.
The central mountains could be said to be the absolute core of the entire elven kingdom.
The massive temple district was located at the northeast part of the central mountains. There was an exceptionally wide and silent valley of plains there. Tall and steep mountains surrounded the plains, and thus, the place had been excavated by the gods and turned into an extensive temple district.
As the rulers of the forest elves, the elven court were also loyal slaves of the gods. They didn't dare to stand on the same pedestal as the temples of the gods. Consequently, the entire court was built upon a neighboring stretch of forest in the central mountains.
A massive and ancient Tree of Life towered there, having lived for thirty thousand years.
The entire elven court was built around this Tree of Life!
It was said that the chief elven god, Saoirse, personally planted this Tree of Life, and that this was one manifestation of her true form and that this was where the pulse of the fate of the entire race of forest elves laid!
Meanwhile, the Staff of Divination that Alice was determined to acquire on this trip belonged to a Second Grade green dragon– Ohgu. The dragoncliff upon which this Second Grade green dragon resided was located at the foot of the central mountains to the west. It could be considered one of the more rural areas already.
Alice originally had no idea as to how to obtain the Staff of Divination.
However, in the past few days following the chaos sowed by Mary and Billis, some strange movements had been incited within the central mountains. At the same time, it allowed Alice to vaguely peek at a chance to obtain the Staff of Divination!