[Black Widow Association]
There existed countless magical organizations in the world. The magical court was the strongest of all, as it was funded by the Phuinem Empire itself. It possessed a legacy of over two thousand years, each generation of magi increasing the wealth of knowledge in its libraries and laboratories.
However, the magical court possessed a system of rules that was not in adequation with all paths.
Those who could not grow under the magical court's umbrella, like bloodline path acolytes who relied on growing and blood essence, would form clans instead. They were called Bloodline acolytes.
Lastly, there was one other category of acolytes who wished to become magi, but did not join the magical court: Dark Path Acolytes.
Witches, necromancers, blood mages...Some of the arcane arts were forbidden in the magical court code. For those who possessed death or shadow attributes at their core, they could not fully exploit their potential in the magical court.
Willem, Vanessa, and Greem were part of latter category. Dark path acolytes. Wanted criminals who would be hunted on sight if ever caught by magical court acolytes. However, they did not act alone. They were part of a small-scale faction: the Black Widow Association.
"Excellent work", the witch Elizabeth Blackhope spoke
As an advanced rank acolyte, a single glare was enough to put extreme pressure onto the likes of Willem, Vanessa and Greem.
[Elizabeth Blackhope - Lv. 16 Acolyte]
There existed four sub-realms of magic below the magus realm. Ever since Greem got the Soul Ring at the age of 12, Greem had developed a keen understanding of its capabilities. It allowed him to gather 'EXP' upon the killing of enemies. The stronger their magical power, the stronger the amount of 'EXP' he would gain. In turn, once he reached the EXP threshold, he could 'level up' and earn one point of magical power, making him substantially stronger.
It was a game changer. It meant that as long as he killed enough magical creatures, no matter his talent or limitations, he could grow stronger. In other words, the ring allowed him to reach the pinnacle, theorically.
Despite being only 16, Greem could see the difference it made. While others struggled to make progress, Greem had already reached level 7. In the past, Greem used to look up to his teammates, wishing to reach their level.
In the span of four years, since he first joined the team, he had not only caught up to them. He had become even stronger.
[Willem Pourshield- Lv. 6 Acolyte]
[Vanessa Tyrien - Lv. 5 Acolyte]
Greem squinted: "We killed five arcane faction acolytes. Won't that cause an issue? If they summon an investigation team, they might track us with divination spells"
Willem and Vanessa nodded. Although it was not their first time hunting acolytes from the magical court, the risk of being caught was never null, especially when there was a school of magic facilitating investigating murders and gathering information. Even without magic, the crate of fire stones they had stolen was worth hundreds of magic crystals. It was a large haul, to the point that it was suspicious that there was no intermediate-rank acolyte overseeing the mine.
But this suspicion was immediately cleared.
Elizabeth Blackhope, founder of the Black Widow Brotherhood, smiled: "Do not worry. They are likely investigating Marius, the stone titan. He was the one in charge of the Pyrke Mine, but I cursed him. By now, he should be dead, even if the arcane faction's best acolyte reached him in time to heal him"
Greem gulped. The stone titan was a famous acolyte. One of the many intermediate-rank acolytes in the magical court, and the second-in-command of the ressource division. It was not a small fish by any means. It was a big one. Yet he was dying?
After checking the content of the crate filled with the treasures, Elizabeth chuckled: "This was a large operation which took months to prepare, from the information gathering to the infiltration of the Pyrke mine. Again, great work. You are dismissed. You can claim your rewards with my disciple Ronnie"