Chapter 1399 Secret Discussions
Greem was now the ruler of the Central Lands in name and in truth.
Every Fourth Grade adept of the Central Lands had gathered at the Ahlden Clanâs adept tower awaiting his audience, just a single day after his order.
Even Ashton, who had been engaged in a bloody battle on a lesser plane, had hurried over. He had teleported twice through the arrays before arriving at the mega-rift. Thus, it wasnât hard to see that Greemâs terrifying might had left an indelible impression on the Central Landsâ adepts.
Everyone had been busy with defending their territories and lesser planes after the magic surge erupted; they hardly had time to have a gathering like this one. Thus, everyone took the opportunity as best they could. The first few adepts who arrived had a small meeting of their own and exchanged what information they had.
Truly, it was nice being able to enjoy the shade of a big tree!
The appearance of a powerhouse like Greem in the Central Lands had, to some extent, started to change the commonplace and stubborn perception of Central adepts as weaklings. Greemâs shout toward the world had directly affected the Central Landsâ current political and military situation.
Greem had managed to beat back the abyssal invasion alone and had sealed the mega-rift once again. He then intimidated the magical creature rulers of Black Forest, causing the more powerful magical creatures to avoid the last few stampedes.
Even though the stampedes still caused terrible disasters and chaos in the various territories, the situation was much more contained. Without the powerful magical creatures to strengthen their ranks, the stampedes remained as disasters and did not escalate to a calamity level!
The three regions to the south and the five to the north had all endured stampedes of varying severity. Overall, everything remained within a manageable range.
This situation was already far better than everyoneâs expectations!
Gradually, the adepts became less opposed to Greemâs dominant position.
The World of Adepts was a spellcaster civilization that respected power and worshipped those who wielded it. The many Central adepts were too used to being kings of their own hills in the past. They had forgotten the heart that pulsed at the center of the adept civilization.
In the face of such a dominant and powerful fire adept, they could only adapt and obey. They did not have the power to rebel at all. That much was obvious enough to the adepts after all the blood that Greem had shed.
The Central Lands had remained the same way for far too long. The political situation was outdated, inflexible, and utterly incompatible with the needs of the current times. This magic surge was both a test for the adepts as well as an excellent opportunity to shuffle the deck.
The adept clans that could not adapt would slowly decline, while new clans would gain new life from these declining clansâ remains. Meanwhile, the clan that would oversee this change of power would undoubtedly be the most powerful Crimson Clan.
As Greem forged one miracle after another, won glory after glory, the adepts finally became able to affirm his rule. Naturally, that also meant accepting the dominant status of the Crimson Clan.
Consequently, with a single order from Greem, they all hurried here without hesitation, despite all the difficulties and conflict that their clans were still engaged in.
The other clans were doing quite well. Only the two lesser planes under Ashton had run into trouble. The first plane was experiencing rebellion from the local natives, while otherworldly creatures had invaded the second. The two problems gave him a headache, and he had no choice but to hurry over to those planes personally.
Having received a notification for the meeting while in one of the lesser planes, Ashton could only reluctantly hand over command to his aide, as unwilling as he was. He then returned to the clan with an interplanar teleportation array before using the public teleportation network to reach the Ahlden Clanâs adept tower.
The bitter battle in the lesser planes, along with the turbulence of long-distance teleportation, gave Ashton a headache when he arrived.
Fortunately, his formidable Spirit as a Fourth Grade adept allowed him to recover quickly and solemnly march out of the array.
Adepts of the Ahlden Clan were already waiting here. They bowed and paid their respects to him.
âHave they all arrived? Kerala as well?â Ashton asked once he had emerged from the teleportation array.
He was well-acquainted with Kerala. Naturally, she was the first person he wanted to see to ask about this gatheringâs purpose.
âAll the Fourth Grade adepts have arrived, my lord. You are the last one!â A middle-aged adept with a sickly yellow face walked over and explained the situation in a soft voice.
Those bastardsâŠalways loved to oppose this and that, yet now they are so quick to scurry over when a meeting is called. Hmph!
Ashton cursed in his mind and prepared to go look for Adept Kerala.
Before he could leave the teleportation hall, a handsome young male adept wearing the Adeptâs Associationâs emblem stopped him in his path.
âPlease wait a moment, Lord Ashton!â
A Third Grade adept of the Association? Why is such a fellow in Andrewâs tower?
Ashton stopped in his tracks, several questions in his mind as he coldly evaluated the adept.
The Adeptâs Association had behaved far too oppressively and unreasonably all this while. Their relationship with the Central adepts wasnât exactly genial.
âMy lord, please give us a moment to talk,â The young adept guided Ashton out of the teleportation hall and down two corridors. They stopped in a quiet corner as the adept finally introduced himself, âMy name is Germaine, from the Adeptâs Association. Lord Domhnallâs sends his greetings to you!â
âDomhnall,â Ashton brooded in silence before saying, âWhat did he send you here for?â
He knew that Domhnall was one of the most influential decision-makers of the Adeptâs Association. His identity was rather unique. In fact, he was quite likely to be the clone of a Great Adept. Ashton naturally knew bits and pieces of this secret.
âSince my lord has only just arrived, you might not know this. The reason Lord Greem has summoned you all for a meeting is to send reinforcements to the Adeptâs Association,â Germaine smiled as he explained.
âReinforce the Association? Are you pulling my leg?â Ashtonâs eyes opened wide. âThe Association is so powerful. What could they possibly need the help of the Central Lands for?â
Adept Germaine sighed in his mind. He could only softly explain what had happened in Inkdeep Valley, again. In all honesty, he had repeated the same words over a dozen times in just this one day alone.
Inkdeep ValleyâŠinvasion of the disaster creaturesâŠmutated beasts stampedeâŠthe collapse of the defensive lineâŠâŠ
A schadenfreude smile appeared on Ashtonâs face as he listened to the adeptâs explanation. The wars in the two lesser planes had run him ragged for the past few months so much that he had no time to deal with any matters beyond the clan.
Now, it seemed like the Adeptâs Association was having its fair share of trouble.
For some reason, all the Central adepts had the same smirk on their faces when they heard news of the Adeptâs Association predicament. Adept Germaine was already used to it by now!
âLord Ashton, the Association badly requires the aid of the Central Lands at this moment. If you could push for reinforcements during the meeting, then the Association will be willingâŠâŠâ At this point, Adept Germaineâs voice turned quiet as he switched to using magical messages to communicate.
The two of them then started some intense negotiations in seclusion.
After fifteen minutes, they had yet to come to an agreement. Germaine appeared to be hesitating as if he couldnât decide on something.
Ashtonâs expression suddenly changed. He seemed to be listening to something. Then, he chuckled and asked, âHave you not decided yet? Kerala has informed me that the meeting is about to begin. Miss this opportunity, and I wonât agree to any of your terms again.â
âVery well, then it is as you desire!â Adept Germaine gritted his teeth and said, âI will order that thing you want and have it sent to your clan. We will be relying on my lord in the meeting later then!â
Ashton nodded in satisfaction.
Ever since the magic surge erupted, this negotiation was the only thing that made him feel any joy or happiness. Though the situation in the lesser planes had yet to be resolved, being able to get his hands on such an item was enough recompense to brighten his mood.
âŠâŠâŠâŠ
The Central adepts met at the mega-rift.
Greem had created a cloud of fire and kept it hovering in front of his chest, saving everyone the trouble of shouting back and forth.
Mary and the others had also been summoned back from their demon-hunting mission.
In just half a month, Mary had captured the marilith and imprisoned it in the Versailles. The high-grade flame fiend was killed by adepts and disassembled into a bunch of materials.
The surviving quasit managed to flee into the Black Forest. Hunting it was a far more troublesome task now.
That said, the Central Lands had finally managed to obtain some semblance of peace.
Once they had secured this mega-rift, the magic surgeâs first wave would be over for the Central Lands.
Though the other Fourth Grade adept clans were still a mess, there were no terrible situations where kingdoms or territories were overrun.
That was already incredibly fortunate!
Naturally, at the center of all this and responsible for such an achievement was the legendary fire adept.
Greem called everyone to come closer. He then looked around and said calmly, âThe reason for todayâs meeting is to decide on a rather important matter. Andrew, call Germaine over and have him explain the situation again!â
Soon, Germaine hurried over and described the purpose of his visit in detail, as if he had never discussed the issue with the many adepts.
Finally, Andrew took out the parchment and replayed the projection within.
Everyone was horrified!
Honestly, having secret discussions and agreeing to terms in the safety of a room was one matter, while witnessing the carnage on the battlefield was a whole different matter. All the adepts couldnât help but start wavering in their decision.
The battle there seemed to have exceeded the realm of an ordinary planar invasion!
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