Age of Adepts

Greem rubbed his nose, clearly taken aback by the massive uproar. On the other hand, the fatty Sam couldn’t help but keep whispering to himself.

“This is bad… this is really bad… if I knew beforehand that it was truly a pair of Recovery Earrings, I wouldn’t have shouted out loud with my big fat mouth! If boss Kern knows about this, he’ll surely give me a good scolding…” after he finished saying that, he also took out a round crystal ball and used it to call someone.

The messy situation made Greem’s brows furrow. He had no idea what had caused this commotion. It was just some ordinary self-healing earrings, how was it able to cause such a commotion? However, through the help of his sensitive senses, he soon heard a keyword from the conversations between the surrounding apprentices.

Tier-3 magical item!

Greem had only read a few books of Alchemy before and had never comprehensively learned or researched much about the classification of magical items. That’s why he was totally unfamiliar with the term of Tier-3 magical item.

Right when he was hesitating while thinking, the delicate looking female apprentice finally asked her question.

“Pardon me, between the two of you, who is the owner of these Recovery Earrings?”

Meanwhile, fatty Sam had gloomily set aside his communication crystal and with a discouraged look, he pointed his finger at Greem.

Left without any choice, Greem nodded his head and rubbed his nose saying, “I own this item!”

“How much are you selling it for? How many magic crystals?” The female apprentice asked, full of anticipation.

“I’m not selling it!”

“Not selling? Then why did you display it?”

“Instead of selling, this item can only be traded. Items of the plant element doesn’t suit me, so that’s why I planned to exchange it with…:”

Before Greem was able to finish his words, an uproar suddenly broke out from the crowd. Soon, a few men covered in sweat pushed through the crowd and arrived in front of him.

These men were shocked to see each other in front of the stall and glared at each other furiously.

“Boy from the Patton family, it’s you again? One of my man saw this item first today, don’t you go on thinking you can seize it from us!” A burly man said in an imposing manner. He was also carrying a broadsword strapped on his back, wearing a finely made leather armor.

On the other hand, while showing a sinister expression and unwilling to be outdone, an apprentice in a gray robe who had rushed here responded disdainfully, “Your man saw it first? Hmph. Just with that childish thinking alone makes you unworthy of my time. Whoever bids the highest price will get the item, this is the rule of this place. If you’re so great as you say, why don’t you buy everything you see here?”

Apparently, both men were team leaders of two established teams with both possessing the ability of advance apprentices. Therefore, when they started to challenge each other, the raging killing intent they exuded gave made everyone suffocate to the pressure. Since this place was the inner area of the Adept Tower, none of them dared to start a real fight. What they could do, however, was to keep pressuring the other side using their powerful spirit.

“Alright, alright! Why are you two doing this every time you meet? Since all of us came across the Recovery Earrings together, let’s name our prices. We’ll see who get’s it at the end!”

The voice came from a young man dressed in a red robe who pushed his way out through the crowd.

Although he looked young, he had a calm and cold expression, like someone who had been through many things. He didn’t have a handsome face but he wasn’t ugly either, his looks were quite common, a faint smile formed from his slips.

“What a surprise, Boss Kern is here too!”

“This is going to become lively!”

“Don’t push me aside! I still want to see what will happen!”

…

The crowd’s commotion was getting louder and louder.

The man in the red robe turned around, sweeping his eyes over the crowd that had gathered. They quickly settled down when his glanced passed by them. Afterwards, he gave the crowd a warm smile.

“Alright, let’s stop making a racket. It’s quite rare to encounter a pair of Recovery Earrings here, and we all know everybody would want to get their hands on it, but we’ll see who has the fortune of becoming its owner in the end!”

Being suppressed by the man in the red robe, the two team leaders had no other choice but to retract their spiritual pressure. Together, they all went in front of Greem’s stall, casting greedy looks towards the earrings resting on the female apprentice’s palm.

This female apprentice was clearly a team member of the guy with the broadsword as his brows quivered with extreme pleasure when he saw her.

“Heidi, you truly have a good pair of sharp eyes. How is it? Are you able to buy this pair of earrings? If you don’t have enough magic crystals, the few of us together can go gather more. You have to buy it, no matter what!”

The man in the gray robe and Kern furrowed their brows at the same time.

“But he doesn’t want to sell, he only wants to trade it with something else!” Heidi couldn’t help but stomp her foot.

“Trade?” All the three leaders were struck dumb and immediately asked, “Trade with what?”

“Trade it with fire element magical items!”

The three men simultaneously became silent.

Where was this place? It was the Underground Cave!

Fire element materials were extremely rare in this place. As a result, all Fire element magical items were considered a rare commodity.

However, all three of them were obviously not someone who would give up easily. One after the other, they all secretly communicated with Greem through Spiritual Whisper, seeking for an alternative deal but Greem was firmly turned them all down.

Right when the three leaders were calling their men to help out and look for fire element magical items, Greem found a chance to ask fatty Sam and learned the main reason why Recovery Earrings was a sought after item by many people.

For most of the beginner and intermediate apprentices here, although the resources and materials found in Underground Cave had a high value, the risk from obtaining them was consequentially enormous. So most of their training and the areas of activity were carried out in the Kerala Mountain Range. Catching demon beasts, harvesting magical medicines, exploring secret places, all of these were always accompanied with unpredictable dangers. Therefore, if a team could have a member with them who was well-versed in healing during their trip, it would definitely bring massive benefits to any apprentice team.

That’s because if they only use Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste and Health Potions in healing their injured team members, the expenses they would incur would be too much, cutting down their earnings. Under such circumstances, a plant element Recovery spell would definitely help them save a large amount of additional expenses. Also, one advantage of the Recovery earrings was that, once the plant element energy stored within it ran out, they only have to stay within a place filled with lush vegetation for a period of time and the energy would be refilled automatically.

This, without a doubt, gave it a higher value!

As for the so-called tier-3 magical items, it was actually a classification of magical items given by apprentices. Magical items that could provide an effect 10 to 20 energy points were classified as tier-1. Most small decorative items crafted by apprentice Adept belong to this category.

Meanwhile, items that could provide 20 to 30 energy points of effect were tier-2 magical items. Sometimes, a few top quality items that were crafted by apprentices would be able to reach this tier as well.

As for the tier-3 magical items, their effects had reached an outstanding 30 to 40 energy points. Most of these items were crafted by official Adepts, usually as the products of their alchemy training. But when it falls to the hands of an apprentice Adept, it would become their trump card that can increase their strength.

After listening to fatty’s explanation, Greem was confused and said, “This is impossible! I have tested it myself and these earrings can only provide me at most 10 green life energy. It can’t be a tier-3 magical item!”

Hearing what Greem had said, fatty couldn’t help but pat his shoulder.

“Don’t tell me you were using your own energy to test it? In order to activate the Recovery Earrings’ maximum healing effect, there are two conditions. Firstly, you have to use it at place filled with vegetation like for example, a forest. Secondly, the user must also be a plant element apprentice. Since you’re a fire element apprentice, the effect would surely be reduced!”

At last, Greem was lit with a flame of comprehension.

No wonder these earrings gave him such a weak response when he tested it. Although the female apprentice only gave it a brief test, it instantly showed a distinct green glow. Apparently, he had used the wrong energy for it!

Glancing at the noisy scene, fatty shook his head while saying, “This have become such a mess… if this continues, those bastards of the enforcement force might be drawn to the commotion here soon…”

Maybe fatty was truly a real jinx or bad things were really just supposed to happen. A commotion broke out from the crowd once again as two intermediate apprentices wearing blue uniforms rushed in through the audience.

“Who was the one? Who dared selling tier-3 magical item in this place? Who gave you the audacity to do this? Don’t you all know tier-2 and above magical items and equipment can only be traded by us, the Murphy Association?” Showing a fierce expression, the young apprentice who was in the lead viciously glared at fatty Sam upon his arrival, convinced that the guy was the culprit.

“Sure enough, it’s you again! Sam! How dare you!”

His face covered with fury, Sam refused, “Ryan, you better not speak without knowing the truth. This thing doesn’t belong to me. No matter how unreasonable you are, you can’t incriminate an innocent man!”

The enforcement guy named Ryan moved his somber glance away from Sam’s face and came to a stop on Greem who was wearing a calm and relaxed expression. He was suddenly hit with uncertainty.

Although there were many apprentices in this Adept Tower, he knew who possessed strong abilities among them. However, he never once saw this beginner apprentice before, and from where did this guy found a tier-3 magical item?

“Kid, I think you don’t probably know the rules in this place!” Ryan stood loftily in front of Greem and continued, “As I said earlier, in this Adept Tower, any tier-2 and above magical item can only be sold to us, the Murphy Association. This is the magic contract that was signed between our association and Adept Howard. If you don’t obey the rule, you’ll risk having your apprentice status being revoked! Hmph…”

After he finished saying that, he timely snatched the earrings away from the female apprentice’s palm and held it in front of his face. After inspecting it, he nodded with satisfaction.

“The quality of this earrings is pretty good. According to the rules of Murphy Association, I’ll buy it from you using the market price. The price is…” Ryan rolled his eyes and added, “Fifteen magic crystals!”

Ryan actually only wanted to say twelve magic crystals but he realized there were too many apprentices gathered around. He had no choice but increase it by a tiny bit.

But even so, when the price of fifteen magic crystals was heard by the crowd, an uproar quickly ensued.

“Why don’t you go and rob someone else?”

“Heavens! Only fifteen magic crystals! This price can’t even buy a mere tier-1 magical item!”

“That’s right, this is robbery in broad daylight!”

…

The agitated replies of the apprentices obviously made Ryan angry from embarrassment.

“Shut up! This is the agreement between our association and the master Adept himself! Who dares to question me? If any of you still make irresponsible remarks, I’ll immediately report you to the Adept on duty!”

His blunt threats eventually quieted down the crowd. Even the three leaders who were standing in front of the stall were wearing annoyed expressions, suppressing their fury.