Clarke couldn't help but laugh, "You, a nobody, interested in my magic? Are you interested in becoming an antimage?"
Adam remained silent, staring at him, careful to not fall into any tricks Clarke was pulling. In fact, Adam wasn't sure if he could capture Clarke alive -- if Clarke had anything to help him escape, it would be equal to trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Now that Clarke was busy rambling, Adam took his time to conjure a more complex spell behind his back. If he could fully channel the spell, then he would be able to successfully capture Clarke.
"My name is Clarke and I'm from the Aum family. My grandfather is the patriarch of the family and he is a qualified antimage," Clarke boasted. He was trying to make Adam jealous in an attempt to recruit him to join the dark side.
Clarke chuckled and continued, "If you're willing to go down the path of an antimage... with your powers, you will definitely be in my grandfather's favour, and you will have access to endless resources! It is far more promising than rotting away at the Academy."
Adam tilted his head curiously, fully knowing that the magic antimages practice were gatekept by blood. Like rats.
Clarke didn't feel Adam's disdain for him, and continued to ramble, "Join me, and help me complete my final tasks so that I can become a qualified antimage. Then, I'll personally train you."
Adam pointed to Fawn's ashy remains and said, "So I can end up like him?"
Clarke froze, flustered, but he quickly regained his composure, "No! No... you're wrong. Fawn tried to betray me, so I had no choice but to take him down."
Adam's spell was fully channeled, and he laughed, "That's funny -- he wants to betray you, but I want to capture you. Stay still."
As soon as Adam spoke, an invisible force held Clarke in place. The harder he struggled, the tighter the spell held him.
"What did you do to me?!" Clarke panicked.
Adam didn't answer him. The spell is called [Gravitational Traction], and it is the most complex spell that Adam could learn from what he could access at the library. Due to the huge amount of mana required, it is difficult for ordinary apprentices to learn, but Adam was proficient.
Seeing that Adam didn't answer him, Clarke's face darkened and bellowed, "You're courting death! Feel the power of the Aum family, and maybe you'll be enlightened by what I can do!" Clarke then struggled to unfold a scroll, and with great difficulty, tore the scroll with his teeth.
Adam saw that his surroundings darkened immediately, and the light that was swallowed by the scroll rushed out towards him. Adam could see the faces of countless creatures rushing towards him, emanating an extremely evil aura.
"Feel the power to make even the strongest men cry and kneel before the Aum family!" Clarke boasted.
Adam could tell that this magic was related to Clarke's talent in negative magic, but at the level of a qualified mage. Adam didn't dare to challenge the magic and was prepared to dodge to the side, but the egg bounced in his hand. He immediately stopped in his tracks and lifted the egg to shield him from the blast.
The egg greedily leapt up from Adam's hand and absorbed the spell like a black hole. The grey energy that was homing towards Adam bent towards the egg immediately.
The egg slightly cracked after absorbing the energy, seemingly satisfied, and Clarke's mouth was agape.
"Oh! Is it about to hatch?" Adam looked at the egg. Clarke was stunned, still stuck in his bonds. "This is very good magic. Do you have any more?"
"My soul-devouring magic was absorbed as if it was nothing..." Clarke blubbered. "How is this possible?!"
Adam didn't have an answer either, since he knew abyss eggs like this prefer eating flesh and blood, but this egg seemed to prefer dark magic. Could it be an egg from a demon, and not of the abyss?
Clarke began to panic -- the negative magic that he was so proud of had zero effect on Adam, and his last resort was absorbed by his egg. He kept unravelling ordinary magic scrolls from his sleeve and casted it towards Adam.
These ordinary magics had no effect on Adam as it dissipated as soon as it hit Adam's psychic barrier.
Suddenly, Adam threw his egg hard to the ground.
The egg made a crisp sound, as if it shattered.
Clarke was overjoyed seeing Adam destroy his trump card in battle. He couldn't believe that Adam fell right into his trap, and he immediately unraveled another soul-devouring scroll in ecstasy.
Adam didn't move, continuing to study the egg. The egg's shell shattered, revealing a layer of gas that shrouded the creature within.
Adam didn't know how to describe the egg -- the gas orbited the creature smoothly, obscuring it from the outside world.
Adam simply picked the egg up with telekinesis and once again shielded himself from Clarke's spell. Adam noticed the gas shimmer brightly, as if it was enjoying the spell that it just absorbed.
Adam raised the egg towards Clarke and asked, "Do you happen to know what this is?"
Of course, Clarke didn't answer him. He unravelled his final scroll and Adam's spell broke instantly, letting Clarke vanish from his sight.
"Teleportation magic," Adam muttered. He knew Clarke couldn't have gone far, since his magic still lingered on Clarke.
Adam soared into the air, letting the magic fluctuations lead him.
Clarke fell on the ground, finding that he teleported a few kilometres away from Bran Village.
Back in Bran Village, several apprentices watched the orb of negative energy pollute the Rune Barrier, anticipating the attack that was supposed to follow, but found that the antimage that was supposed to appear did not make his appearance. Out of the corner of his eye, William saw a flash of light appearing outside Bran Village.
"Who is that?" William alerted, pointing at Clarke.
Zach and Thomas recognised his identity as an antimage at a glance, and immediately shot out a runic spell.
"It's an antimage!"
Everyone immediately manned their respective rune weapons, and bombarded the antimage with magic.
However, they soon discovered that Clarke was limping away, and Terry whispered, "It... it seems like he's running from something."
Clarke had never felt so helpless in his life. Born in a lineage of antimages, he was personally trained by his grandfather, who is a qualified antimage. There was never a shortage of resources and he had all sorts of spells in his fingertips. He regretted coming to the Mage Continent, because if he didn't, he would have never met Adam, and he would not be helpless.
"I need to escape... I need to escape... if I can escape, I can kill that bastard and everyone!" Clarke muttered, crazed with anger and embarrassment. Clarke attempted to fly, but he wasn't proficient in elemental magic, so the wind magic only propelled him slightly off the ground. The apprentice's runic weapons slowed him down even more, and he could only pray for a miracle.
There is no such thing as luck in the world of mages.
Adam caught up with him immediately, and couldn't help but laugh when he saw Clarke.
With a single flick of his hand, Adam successfully forced Clarke to the ground.
Clarke was disheartened, and he said to Adam, "Kill me."
Adam looked at him strangely, "Kill you? You are worth nothing when you are dead. You must stay alive. Now tell me, what is this egg?"
Mages are inherently cruel because they are curious, with zero moral concepts. If you become a mage's test subject, a fate worse than death awaits you. Death is the greatest mercy that a mage can bestow you.