A Sorcerer’s Journey

Chapter 396: Five-man Squad

Inside the giant crater.

As the grey-white spines and the black metallic-textured scales retracted back into Grimm’s body, his three meter-tall enlarged body too, shrunk to its original size. The high-pressure signal exerted on his surroundings reduced over time and the area returned to its once tranquil state.

“Ugh…”

Grimm stumbled as he desperately fought off the battle fatigue which caused his vision to grow increasingly blurry. Grasping tightly onto the Sabbatic Goat Staff, he propped himself up in the center of the massive crater. He refused to show any sign of vulnerability to the group of sorcerers apprentices standing in the distance, not one bit.

As Grimm had expected, the diverging directions of Arcane Sorcery research would inevitably lead to significant differences between sorcerers. Case in point, the Spirit Flame spell from the Spirit Sorcery branch. The same spell yielded by different sorcerers, in this case, Dira and Third Ghostpepper had drastically different effects.

This was the reason why the Sorcerer World was so diverse and prosperous in comparison to other foreign worlds.

But it was also precisely due to that reason that no same spell can be cast by two different sorcerers. This means that the Sorcerer World could never hope to mass-produce a standardized army of Elemental Sorcerers.

And also…

Grimm’s first level of Wild Instinct transformation, where he received the Wild Instinct innate ability as well as the Scale Armor was similar to an official sorcerer obtaining control over the Force of Nature. However, his second level of Wild Instinct transformation where his body would be covered by spines which were pervaded with a mass of dark, life signal would require him to put in considerable effort to activate his powers.

Otherwise, the powers that come with his second-level transformation would only be the tip of the iceberg of unexplored true powers.

In the short-term however, Grimm had a lot to learn from Gabriel. He had to train his body to adapt to the first-level Wild Instinct transformation as well as to minimize the negative effects after each transformation.

Grimm had a lingering sense of suspicion in his mind.

It seemed that unlocking the Wild Instinct Transformation was much easier for him in comparison to many other Anatomy Refinery Sorcerers. And how significant a role did the Life Code Rupture play in all this?

After standing there for a while, Grimm snapped out of his reverie. Immediately after, the spatial coordinates beneath his feet changed and in the next moment, he appeared next to the group of sorcerers apprentices on the black flying carpet from before.

Some of the apprentices almost jumped out of their skins from Grimm’s sudden appearance. Taking a few steps back, they nervously glanced at Grimm.

“Caw caw, young master, you should have activated your sorcerer’s barrier just now. You should have rubbed your Rank-1 Honor Badge all across that bastard’s face, that lowly Level-2 Arcane Sorcerer, caw caw caw caw caw…”

Grimm shook his head.

The fourteen apprentices, with their faces full of shock, awe and reverence rushed to the front part of the black flying carpet. Ignoring them, Grimm maneuvered the flying carpet as if nothing worth mentioning happened. Together, they flew in the direction of Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy.

“Little Myna, do you still not understand the words of that mentor back then?”

Myna looked back at Grimm with a silly face, as if Grimm had just spoken in an unintelligible language.

Sighing in disappointment, Grimm continued, “I’m afraid that in the near future, there will likely be a war at Master Hydra Wrath’s Sorcerer Academy , and a real one at that!”

The Sorcerer Academy Wars!

It was a war fought between the masters of the Sorcerer Academy Towers. The battles could be fought outside the Sorcerer World, directly in the Sorcerer World or even within a Secret Realm. Either way, the masters would use all their powers as well as the help of Level 1, 2, and 3 sorcerers to utterly destroy the opponent’s sorcerer tower.

The friction in the Sorcerer World had always remained even after all this time, and this kind of war was permissible under the laws of the Holy Tower.

In fact, every once in a while, there would be conflicts between two great Stigmata Sorcerers. The casualties arising from such conflicts would usually surpass that of foreign world expeditions by multitudes. Such degree of fighting would call upon large groups of World Guardians to make sure that both sides are kept in check in regards to the law.

Large-scale destruction to the Sorcerer World, genocidal campaigns and the like were all forbidden by the Holy Tower’s laws.

Even Grimm understood the need for these basic rules.

If a Sorcerer Academy war was to come into a deadlock, the focus of the war would gradually shift from destroying the opponent’s sorcerer tower to kidnapping the civilians living in their opponent’s territory. This would cut off the enemy’s source of sorcerer-apprentices, depleting the number of apprentices they have, which would inevitably weaken their sorcerer tower’s mana pool. In exchange, it would strengthen their own mana pool and…

From the perspective of the “big-six” Sorcerer Academies of Section 12, the horrifyingly powerful Black Isotta had always been there since ancient times. Even so, their territory was relatively peaceful and stable. However, due to their overriding strength, friction with surrounding academies was unavoidable.

Perhaps Master Hydra Wrath’s camp over at the Holy Tower of the Six Rings was relatively weaker than surrounding academies?

With the Level-3 sorcerers Master Deidarion, Mentor Peranos as well as Master Orton taking the reins, Hydra Wrath’s Sorcerer Academy would reach the general level of deterrence most sorcerer academies had.

If Master Deidarion was to accept Hydra Wrath’s invitation, whether it was for the compensation of sorcerer essences for long-term loss of Demon-Hunting missions, or for the sake of putting down the life of being a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer, being a true, combat-hardened Demon-Hunter Sorcerer, Deidarion would be degrees stronger than Mentor Peranos or Master Orton.

If the academic war is deadlocked for a long time, the focus of the war would gradually change from destroying the opponent’s sorcerer tower to plundering civilians in the opponent ‘s territory, breaking the path of the absolute sorcerer apprentice, thereby reducing the number of opponent sorcerer apprentices, and indirectly weakening the opponent ‘s wizard The source of tower magic, strengthening the source of your own sorcerer tower …

The difference in between their abilities would be almost equivalent to that of Peranos and the Dean “Rock Sword”.

Now that Grimm had a more developed foresight, he could see that Deidarion’s abilities and standing among other Level-3 Demon-Hunter Sorcerers was relatively average, with nothing out of the ordinary.

If it was…

If it was up to Quiet Spring to take command temporarily at Hydra Wrath Sorcerer Academy, based off her powers alone, it was more than enough to turn the balance of powers around. Her powers were enough to force any Stigmata Sorcerer to think twice before holding a grudge against Master Hydra Wrath.

Should a sorcerer tower be destroyed, without the mana pool to conjure up his mental strength, a Stigmata Sorcerer would cease to be a Stigmata Sorcerer. If anything, he would only turn into an awkwardly buffed up Level-3 sorcerer.

He would then have to undergo stigmatization in the Holy Tower, just like the six Sorcerer Tower Masters who jointly supported the Seven Ring Defense Barrier.

It was apparent that Level-3 sorcerers hold a very pivotal role in the Sorcerer World. They were the physical manifestations of the Sorcerer World’s laws after all.

In many different aspects, Level-3 sorcerers receive relatively special care from the Sorcerer World’s laws. Even before heading out for Demon-Hunting Expeditions, the Stigmata Sorcerer would have to go to the Holy Tower to personally invite them to the Principal Void Fortress together.

Half a month later.

In the sky, the Black Flying Carpet ground to a halt. From there, Grimm looked down to observe a fierce battle being fought on the ground between thousands of knights.

Behind both fighting forces stood dozens of nobles, commanding the ongoing battle. There were even the silhouettes of some sorcerer-apprentices standing nearby the nobles.

With the exception of Sorcerer Ukudali’s sons, the four prodigy apprentices, no one dared to even approach the edge of the carpet, out of fear of falling down onto to ground thousands of meters below.

From the view of official sorcerers, such battles are foolish and even to an extent, childish. It was the same as a bunch of stick-yielding weakling creatures massacring each other without reason.

Their lives were so fragile, like glass.

The true reason why Grimm had stopped to observe the pointless commotion was because of a five meter-tall Mechanical Marionette standing behind one of the nobles. Interestingly, the Mechanical Marionette’s intricate design was from an ancient time. However, its ability was only that of a worker ant, and was no more significant than a little toy to be played with.

Was it a family heritage, passed down through generations from an ancient aristocrat?

The black carpet in the sky had garnered the attention of some of the people on the ground. Evidently, some of the nobles were pointing at Grimm and company while speaking among themselves.

“Caw caw caw caw, Young Master, shall we go down and investigate?”

Grimm shook his head silently as he once again continued his journey towards Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy. Many of the knights and nobles on the ground sighed in relief, before resuming their fight.

Another half month later.

The black flying carpet finally made its gradual descent on to the ground. Grimm and Myna were waiting idly for them to make contact with the floor while the recruits were all standing excitedly behind Grimm. Their curious gazes absorbed their new surroundings, and in particular, the Isotta Tower that stretched hundreds of meters into the sky.

In the next moment, four sorcerer-apprentices, two male, two female, ran over to welcome Grimm’s arrival.

“O Great Sorcerer.”

The four apprentices bowed down to the ominous sorcerer standing before them. His face, hidden underneath that grey-white swirling mask and the robe that draped over his body, like a layer of yellow desert sand.

Grimm nodded in reply as he effortlessly teleported Sorcerer Ukudali’s four sons to the empty space behind him with the Sabbatic Goat Staff. He then gestured in the direction of the ten remaining newcomers while directing the four sorcerers apprentices, “Take them to the recruits’ residential area where they would be supervised accordingly.”

“Understood.”

The four sorcerer-apprentices replied to Grimm’s command in unison. Immediately upon turning to face these ten newcomer apprentices, their expressions turned sour. Looking at their slightly prideful and delighted faces, one of the sorcerer-apprentices whistled loudly to catch the newcomers’ attention before hurling a series of commands at them.

The newcomers’ paths might be bumpier than expected, but like it or not, they were going to have to learn the rules of the Dark Sorcerer from these vicious sorcerer-apprentices.

Delighted, proud or even arrogant of becoming a sorcerer-apprentice?

Do you think your sorcerer’s path would be smoothly paved, like a baby’s cheeks?

Every sorcerer would have personally seen an uncountable number of these kinds of children.

Looking back at the sky behind him, Grimm’s eyes underneath the Mask of Truth had caught onto another sorcerer returning on her black flying carpet. The only difference there being that this sorceress had only brought back six newcomers.

Without saying a word more, Grimm stepped back onto his flying carpet before taking off with the four brothers, heading directly towards the sorcerer, Fake Faceless Nilmar’s block on the seventy-seventh floor of the Isotta Tower.

Back then, Ukudali had explained to Grimm that the newly-ordained future dean of the Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy, the Level-3 Great Sorcerer Nilmar, would be taking special care of these four little ones.

Outside Nilmar’s laboratory on the seventy-seventh floor of the Isotta Tower.

“In a moment, I will entrust the four of you to the sorcerer behind this door. He is an old acquaintance of your father. Apart from that, he is also the future dean of this sorcerer academy. He will be arranging a suitable mentor for you all accordingly.”

These four brothers, having undergone intense drilling under their father, were evidently much better in comparison to the others Grimm had recruited, whether it be in the realm of innate talents or merely comparing their overall state of awareness.

Now that Grimm thought of it, Dira’s real aim, as well as the reason his mentor had assigned him with this task, were all purely for this band of prodigy quadruplets.

“Understood.”

The fourth brother replied tactfully.

Nodding his head, Grimm then knocked lightly on the door to Nilmar’s laboratory.

A short while later, the door flung open and the person standing behind it gave Grimm quite the surprise.

“Solumn?”

Wrapped under a black sorcerer’s robe, Solumn hung a great big Elemental Sword which was imbued with a bizarre signal on his back. Grimm’s appearance at Nilmar’s doorstep came to him as no surprise as he replied while smiling brightly, “Grimm, after coming back from the demon-hunting expedition, Claudia had told me about your invitation. I have to say, I’m rather interested in the Infernal Spirit World that you spoke of. Part of the reason I am here is to pay a visit to my mentor. Another part of the reason that I am here is to put a conclusion to our contract.”

“Sure.”

Grimm’s heart was now rejoicing. Now with the five-man squad comprised of Solumn, Claudia, Millie, and Wicky, Grimm could use his identity as a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer with a Rank-1 Honor Badge to issue special missions. At the same time, it would take a huge load off his shoulders as they could now complete missions as a team, as opposed to doing it on his own.

Of course, Grimm’s main purpose for his upcoming journey into the Infernal Spirit World was the “Dogma of the Infernal Spirit”.