Chapter 269 On the Flying Ship
The ticket price of the flying ship was calculated on a per person basis.
It wasn't really expensive, but neither was it cheap. Two hundred magic crystals for every passenger.
This basically made it impossible for ordinary peasants and low-level apprentices to ever take a ride on the flying ship!
Greem would never receive more than ten magic crystals per month back when he was an apprentice adept. If one deducted the basic cost of borrowing books, renting the lab, and purchasing magical materials from his income, he would barely have any crystals left at the end of each month.
And if he wanted to increase his income? The only way would be to take on the apprentice missions put out by the Adept's Association.
However, such missions often required travelling to faraway places. Moreover, there would occasionally be a need to take the risk of venturing into hazardous areas. It didn't matter whether it was the wild plains, the ancient woods, or some hidden ruins. All of these would contain hidden threats that were lethal to apprentice adepts!
Two hundred magic crystals was an unimaginable sum of money for most low-level apprentices. Only pseudo-adepts would be able to bear such a cost. Thus, almost all of the people on the deck, with the exception of Snorlax and Alice, were adepts.
Most of the adepts had already obscured their faces using elementium particles. One look and Greem could tell that these were lone wolves that didn't like being involved with others. Those adepts that didn't hide their faces were mostly wearing cloth robes. Their expressions were peaceful and calming, as if they didn't want to initiate any form of conflict with others.
Greem contemplated for a moment.
He had heard of such adepts in books that discussed these types of adepts.
These adepts disliked conflict. They preferred to do research in silence, slowly accumulating knowledge and spending most of their lives in their labs.
This was why they were known as scholar adepts.
Now that Greem had already chosen fire mastery, it would be difficult for him to walk down the path of the scholar adept. That said, his personality was not suited to being a scholar in the first place. Greem had always been enhancing his own combat prowess ever since the chip activated. The magical research he conducted was only for the sake of modifying and strengthening his abilities.
Even though he was extremely interested in the creation of golems, he knew very well his own place in the world. Being a combat adept was his true profession. Golem creation was only a secondary profession that acted as an auxiliary source of power for him!
Scholar adepts, on the other hand, were the exact opposite.
They rarely experimented with combat techniques or the art of killing. Instead, they took on secondary and auxiliary professions as their main specialty. Thus, countless non-combat professions continued to develop. These were the potions masters, enchanters, golem masters, summoners, alchemists, and array masters.
These people formed a massive branch within the adepts. These were the esoteric adepts.
These people, whose motto was 'Knowledge is power!', had to do something to distance themselves from the maniacs that liked to engage in battle and murder. Thus they put on silver robes and formed a completely distinct adept organization in the west of the continent– the Silver Union.
They might not have much individual prowess in combat, but their strange powers and sheer numbers allowed them to force their way into the ranks of the top three most powerful adept organizations on the Continent of Adepts.
And Greem's destination this time was the heart city of the Silver Union– the Castle in the Sky.
It was rumored that all of the silver-robed adepts had rallied together, put together all of their wisdom, and merged a tremendous amount of otherworldly knowledge to forge a mighty city over the course of a thousand years. An adepts' city that floated in the skies!
It was precisely because of this miraculous Castle in the Sky that the Silver Union was able to remain influential and powerful, even after ten thousand years. It was because of this magnificent feat of knowledge that the city had become the holy city for all esoteric adepts on the Continent of Adepts.
Every year, all newly advanced adepts that wanted a future as an esoteric adept would treat the Castle in the Sky as their ultimate destination for pilgrimage. They would personally visit the city, regardless of what difficulties they might face. Moreover many newly advanced adepts, having experienced and fallen in love with the learning atmosphere and amount of resources available in the city, would simply choose to stay there.
This undoubtedly strengthened the talent and power within the Silver Union!
There were countless talents and geniuses within the Silver Union's territory as well. Along with the various potions, magic items, magic equipment, and golems available there, the place was also a hotspot for trade. If other adept organizations and forces wanted to get their hands on these top-grade resources, they would have to traverse thousands of kilometers to visit the Castle in the Sky and deal with the Silver Union.
All of these advantages added together caused the Castle in the Sky to become the most prosperous and lively trade city on the Continent of Adepts. It was where talent, knowledge, and resources congregated!
However the journey to the Castle in the Sky was not an easy one.
Currently, several major areas within the Continent of Adepts had been developed. The Zhentarim Association's territory was located in the central area of the continent, while the Silver Union reigned over the territories to the west. These two major forces were the closest to each other.
Sadly, a true connection of transport between these two places had yet to come to fruition.
The Wendu territory in the westernmost land of the Zhentarim Association was still 185,000 kilometers away from the Silver Union's territory. Most of the primal forest that connected the two territories were Third Grade areas that had yet to be explored. There was absolutely no way to pass through these areas.
Third Grade areas referred to terrifying locations where even Third Grade adepts would have to worry for their lives.
The Great Adepts that chose to leave the continent had worked together to exterminate all creatures above Fifth Grade. This was to ensure the preservation of the Continent's ecosystem, as well as to encourage the other adepts to continue working hard. This caused an extremely delicate balance to exist between the adepts and the ferocious magical creatures.
However, the settlements the humans had carved out took up only twelve percent of the total landmass on the entire Continent of Adepts. Consequently the magical creatures had a far larger space to live in as compared to the humans. Their numbers and variety were far superior to the humans.
The primal areas surrounding the human settlements had been completely explored by the adepts. These places were fairly safe. Still, not even First Grade adepts would remain safe if they walked over five thousand kilometers into primal territory. And if it were about a whole fifty thousand kilometers deep into primal territory, all adepts below Second Grade would most certainly die!
Therefore, since ancient times, countless adepts had died for the cause of connecting the human settlements, their bodies left behind and buried in the depths of the wild forests. It was thanks to their relentless attempts and arduous exploration that the adepts were finally able to find a path through the vast stretches of forest. A narrow corridor in the air.
The numerous flying ships crafted by the Silver Union travelled along this occasionally dangerous aerial corridor, ceaselessly transporting resources from all over the continent to the Castle in the Sky. They would then ship the top-grade products manufactured in the city to every corner of the continent.
As the flying ship that Greem was flying on was still within the Zhentarim Association’s airspace, it was still relatively safe. However the moment they reached the Wendu territory they would have to face the 185,000 kilometer-wide forest. They would have no choice but to take on certain risks then!
Greem took a couple more looks at the amazing scenery below the ship before getting sick of it. He turned and entered through the narrow cabin entrance.
The cabin was the same as any ordinary cabin. Greem walked down ten steps and appeared before a narrow and dimly lit corridor. Five doors stood on each side of the corridor. A bronze plaque had been fixed to each of the doors with a single fundamental rune carved upon each door.
Some meant 'flora', while others meant 'sun', and some others 'knowledge'…
None of the runes on the plaques were repeated. These were clearly used to allow adepts to distinguish between the different rooms!
The runes on some of the bronze plaques were already lit up. It seemed there were already adepts occupying these rooms.
Only adepts were allowed to stay in the first and second levels. Even Alice, who was a pseudo-adept, could barely get a cabin on the third level. This was the same level as the human nobles. On the other hand, servants like Snorlax could only squat in the damp, dark fourth level.
The low-class servants were not allowed in the upper levels during the flight. This was to prevent them from affecting or interrupting the good moods of the adepts and noble lords. Their meals and biological needs had to be dealt with on the fourth level. They had to endure any sort of humiliation or bullying in silence. Otherwise the guardian adept responsible for guarding the safety of the ship had the authority to throw them overboard.
Even though Alice already had some understanding of the situation, she was still unavoidably upset when she had to endure this inferior treatment. She pouted and walked towards the end of the corridor with Snorlax. The steps to the lower levels were there.
After all, this was a world where adepts reigned supreme. If Greem wanted to let them stay by his side, he would likely draw the ire of the other adepts. Some privileges were reserved only for adepts!
This was a classist atmosphere that the adepts had intentionally created. It could not be easily shattered.
Greem randomly picked an unoccupied room and pushed the wooden door open.
Perhaps due to the rune on the plaque detecting magical energy, it started to let out a pale glow.
This room was simply a small cabin room. There was a wooden bed affixed to the corner of the room. The bedsheets were fairly clean. Apart from this, the only furniture in the room was a small desk and chair. These were made of redwood and seemed to be fairly sturdy.
A window the size of a washbasin was placed in the wall, right above the bed. The window was made of a transparent crystal glass. The material was most likely hard vulcanized crystal. Such crystal glass might look thin, but it was difficult to break with ordinary knives and swords.
Greem performed a basic inspection of the room. Having confirmed that there were no hidden arrays or special energy fluxes in the room, he closed the door and sat on the chair.
He reached into his storage belt and rummaged around for a bit. Finally, Greem pulled out a thick and heavy book with gold lining and a black cover. He started flipping through the pages, focusing all of his attention on its contents.
A small line of words appeared in his sight at the lower right corner of the page he had flipped to.
The soul reigns above the material, and the mind is the product of the material and the Spirit.
— Kane.
These… these were Kane's notes on magic. Kane of the Two-face Adept.
Password of the Mind!
Honestly, the fire spells that Greem had mastered all prioritized might. They had tremendous firepower. This truly made him powerful and gave him an edge in combat, but it also prevented him from obtaining any decent spoils from combat.
This 'Password of the Mind' had been a fortunate acquisition. If Greem hadn't been agile and quick enough to grab it from the enemy's storage belt, it probably would have perished in the ferocious flames, along with all the other items the Two-face Adept had on them!