The day the magic surge erupted was like a button being pressed. The giant machine filled with rusted parts that was the Central Lands started to creak and run.
One had to admit that the Central Lands were indeed the most populated and wealthiest region of land in the World of Adepts.
The Central Lands had remained divided and fragmented for tens of thousands of years. Despite its history, the Central Lands’ natural geographical boons allowed it to shine with brimming energy and life when it finally gained a heart upon which their powers could be concentrated. The vigor demonstrated by the Central Lands in these past few years had shocked everyone familiar with them.
The Association adepts that had been stirring trouble in the Central Lands hastily retreated back east. A long and challenging process of fortifying Inkdeep Valley began.
If the mega-rift in the Central Lands was a pretty lady, then the rift sealed in the depths of Inkdeep Valley was a mammoth.
The size of the two rifts was not even on the same scale. The rift in Inkdeep Valley was a tremendous pain for the Association adepts.
The Association adepts responsible for constructing towers in Inkdeep Valley were extremely close to just killing themselves!
Their task was to stuff more than five high-grade adept towers in that narrow land measuring no more than fifty square kilometers while ensuring that the buildings would not interfere with each others’ elementium altars. This unreasonable request was practically an insoluble problem. The Association adept in charge of the fortification had almost gone mad over the whole affair.
It was important to note that the most crucial component of any adept tower was the elementium altar hidden deep within. Due to an elementium altar continually drawing magical energy from the Elementium Planes and space, adept towers could receive an endless supply of elementium.
Common sense in the construction of adept towers dictated that two different elementium altars had to be at least fifty kilometers apart. Otherwise, the elementium interference from their activity would cause unpredictable energy resonance and affect the stability of the space around them.
If that happened when the five towers in Inkdeep Valley were operating simultaneously, the spatial turbulence created would be enough to wipe them out before the enemy arrived.
If they didn’t construct multiple adept towers, they would have to rely on a single tower supporting all the adepts when the magic surge descended on them. Support from a single adept tower was far from sufficient when the adepts would face fearsome starbeasts- tough, resilient, and possessing tremendous offense and magic resistance.
The Adept Association had no other choice but to seek a different path to achieve their desired results. They built an energy-conversion pool somewhere underground, outside of Inkdeep Valley. It was foreign technology from the Arcane Empire, and they were using it to supply the towers on the frontlines with power.
It indeed allowed more towers to be constructed and operated without interfering with each other.
However, in doing so, they had also created a critical weakness in their defense.
It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen when the magic surge finally cracked the spatial rift wide open. When hordes of starbeasts and otherworldly monsters swarmed through the opening, it would be a true trial of the adepts’ courage!
If anything were to happen to the energy-conversion pool during the invasion……
In all honesty, the Association higher-ups didn’t even dare imagine the scene of that happening.
Even the dominant Adept’s Association had to deal with the magic surge cautiously and fearfully. It was only natural that the other two major organizations were equally on edge.
Unexpectedly, the entire World of Adepts entered a period of unprecedented peace and quiet.
Every adept organization was trying their best to build up their defenses and strengthen their forces, like ants trying to put their nest together before the storm arrived. The adepts kept their lips tight, but their cautious behavior and constant construction of adept towers still caught the attention of mortals and caused quite a commotion.
Time flew by quickly.
Eight years were gone in the blink of an eye. Just as the adepts’ preparation work was coming to an end, news of the coming magic surge started to spread throughout the mortal world.
The individuals who had spread the news out to the common people were a group of madmen.
Indeed, just as the magic surge was about to arrive, a group of insane individuals appeared all over the world, in various major towns and cities. Some of them called themselves prophets, others claimed to have seen dreams of warning from the Great Consciousness, but all of them ran about declaring the end of times.
Initially, the rulers and nobles of human kingdoms regarded these madmen with scorn and disdain, simply throwing them into prisons and ignoring their words. Strangely enough, the more of these madmen they executed or imprisoned, the more madmen would appear the next day.
Soon, even these rulers of human kingdoms couldn’t help but become doubtful and anxious.
Given their political expertise and abilities, they quickly sensed that something was wrong. After all, when they secretly asked their adept acquaintances about these incidents, the answers they got back were vague and uncertain.
Compared to the adepts, the mortals had absolutely no written memory of the magic surge after all these years. Any legend or information about a magic surge had been wiped out from human communities by the adepts. Consequently, the mortals had no idea how to respond to the impending calamity.
There were no fools amongst those who ruled over entire kingdoms, even if they were not adepts themselves. The moment they smelled danger, they began a different sort of ‘escape’ for themselves.
No one knew where would be safe and which places could turn into a horrifying battlefield the next second. However, you could never go wrong with counting on the powerful. As such, the nobles started to send their most excellent or direct descendants to towers guarded by adepts.
In their hearts, adept towers represented absolute power. They were the final fortresses that would never fall!
The clan could be snubbed, their land could be lost, but as long as the towers remained standing, hope would remain.
The last two years passed by in a flash.
………………
Northern Lands, the Tower of Fate.
Two witches sat silently in the center of the astrology hall. Their heads lifted as they examined the dark night sky above them.
There, in the depths of space, waves of energy rippled throughout the universe, washing across the stars. The stars were blinking, blazing with all they had, radiating light thousands of times their usual brightness. The entire night sky was illuminated.
The light from these stars tussled with each other as if a never-before-seen war was unfolding in space.
Bit by bit, these stars exhausted their starlight and finally turned dim once again. Some of the stars even wobbled and crashed, cutting across the night sky and vanishing into the darkness.
For a moment, the beautiful and unchanging sky full of stars seemed to be filled with a dramatic and tragic brilliance!
“The magic surge has begun!”
Alice looked up at the night sky, her ivory-smooth skin appearing even more charming under the illumination of the starlight. Her starry blue eyes reflected the stars as they moved across the sky.
Even though she had already expected this scene, Alice still couldn’t help but sigh as she saw the darkest shadow in the sky grow and slowly devour the rest of the night sky.
“Teacher,” The beautiful Lucia, who appeared only sixteen or seventeen, betrayed an expression of confusion and doubt as she stood silently behind Alice. After a moment of hesitation, she finally asked, “Does the eruption of this magic surge have anything to do with the Arcane Empire?”
Having studied under Alice’s tutelage for so long, Lucia had become a Second Grade astrologist and a First Grade arcanist. Naturally, she was able to pick up on something through the violent changes of starlight in the sky.
“If you have already sensed something, then you should not ask me. You should seek all the answers you want by yourself! Remember, as an astrologist that has offered your life to Fate, Fate will always be with you. All you have to do is open up your heart and truly embrace it!”
Having said that, Alice turned around and looked quietly at Lucia. She then sighed with a loving expression on her face, “Are you still unwilling to offer yourself to Fate?”
“My life and soul belong to the arcane arts! I will never offer myself to anything other than the arcane,” Lucia was still as insistent as ever.
Alice sighed and said, “If you accept Fate, then Fate will become your weapon, your life, your everything! But if you reject Fate, it will become your greatest burden! Think carefully before you make your decision.”
Lucia smiled brightly as she replied, “I already decided, from the moment I was brought back to life. My everything belongs to the arcane arts. They cannot be offered to anything else!”
Alice sighed again. She no longer fussed over the issue, but instead turned to gaze into the night again. Right now, countless other powerful individuals in countless other worlds were staring into the same sky.
Perhaps they were all feeling the same emotions that she was!
…………
The Silver Union.
A crisp and drawn-out bell ringing could be heard echoing over the Castle in the Sky.
Countless Union adepts in silver robes rushed out of their homes and their labs, taking up the balconies as they gazed at the blazing night sky. They all chanted those two fearsome words in their minds silently.
Magic surge.
After ten years of preparation and waiting, the magic surge they had been expecting had finally occurred!
The looming Obelisk, whose base was buried in the large plaza and whose tip disappeared into a mysterious spatial vortex, suddenly glowed brightly.
Row upon row of profound and mysterious runes carved on the Obelisk lit up sequentially, turning into pretty ribbons of light that hovered above the plaza.
This place was a restricted area in the Silver Union. Even the Fourth Grade senate members were not allowed to set foot here without permission.
However, just as the magic surge erupted and the Obelisk glowed in response, two portals appeared in the plaza. Two elderly adepts wearing wizard hats and tattered robes appeared, leaning on their magical staffs as they walked out.
They saw each other when they stepped through their portals.
The elderly adept on the left was the first to hold his hand over his chest and speak, “Welcome back…Lord Douglas!”
The adept being greeted took a look at his acquaintance’s white hair and old-fashioned glasses. He couldn’t help but shake his head, “I knew you would be here. You, who rules over the Diviners’ Tower, would most certainly appear given the scale of what is to happen. Tell me, why have you stopped me here?”
