A Sorcerer’s Journey

Chapter 585: Follow-up Mission

Thirty years later.

With a loud whoosh, the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft ground to a halt in the sky. Hovering stably where it stopped, its metallic cabin door clicked open. Soon after, Grimm and Little Myna exited the aircraft and started their descent onto the ground below.

The ground below was littered with the crumbling remains of a Magnetite Star, stretching thousands of miles across. However, they were not the remains of the Dagutha Magnetite Star, nor was it from the Grand Peak Magnetite Star. Instead, it was one of the eight great Magnetite Stars that was rejected by the World Force and had collapsed long before the Sorcerers World had even come to know of this world’s existence.

Hidden amongst these ruins was what will soon become the most important resource to the Sorcerers World, which would all be transported directly to the city in the sky.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Four Intelligent Mechanical Marionettes flew over. They belonged to a team of Demon-Hunter Guards currently carrying out their patrol mission in a nearby territory. A ten-meter-tall prism fortress that was glowing brightly and consistently in this world that did not see the light of day, nor the moonlight, was erected at the top of a small hill of ruins.

Ever since the final Magnetite Star came tumbling down in this world, its Magnetite laws had gradually faded into nonexistence. Case in point, the law of light had visibly grown weaker by the day and the ancient rainbow laws had been wiped out completely. The entire world had turned into an increasingly cold and dark place.

It was as if Grimm’s decision to bring down the Grand Peak Magnetite Star had accidentally brewed a great calamity that had befallen this world!

Large portions of creatures that could not adapt to the rapid change in the environment died off, while only a handful of Level-1, 2 and 3 creatures continued surviving day-to-day, forced by their circumstances to adapt to their new habitat.

What Grimm had traded for with his Awakening Ray was just a single Magnetite Star Core. The Ancient Sevenfold Rainbows’ legacy that had come under his possession was not known by the four Stigmata Sorcerers and could be counted as his own loot. However, it was still required of him to shoulder the responsibility of being the architect of this entire calamity and its resulting consequences.

What the consequences referred to, was a loss of the chance for them to bring development to this world, and Grimm had to make up for this loss.

With the blood moon hanging high above the Void Fortress, the Stigmata Sorcerers as well as the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers had all retreated back to their stronghold, leaving only a portion of Arcane Sorcerers from the noble families of the Holy Tower’s territory, who continuously went in and out of the World Teleportation Array in search of potential areas for development across this world.

As for the reason why Grimm was still here in this world, was that after the Magnetite peoples’ extinction, this world required a new species of intelligent, sentient beings to govern it under the Sorcerer’s Will, in order to facilitate the spread of the Sorcerer’s laws.

Otherwise, to rely on Demon-Hunter Sorcerers and the mechanical marionettes to collect the Magnetite Star ores on a large scale across this world was simply a whimsical idea.

“Achoo!”

The raging winds blowing across the desolate ruins were so cold that it pierced into one’s bones. Little Myna, who was perching on Grimm’s shoulder, sneezed and with a wing covering its beak, it murmured to Grimm, “Ah, Young Master, I think I’m gonna have to add more chilli to tonight’s meal.”

Grimm stepped on a black ore rock from a fallen Magnetite Star, and immediately after, the four mechanical marionettes flew over to his position.

“O Great Sorcerer.”

“Mm.”

Grimm replied nonchalantly. He looked at the Prism Fortress far away in the distance, and at the five foreign world development Arcane Sorcerers from the central Holy Tower territory. All of them were roughly Level-1 Sorcerers and trailing behind them was a large group of soul slaves who were all of a burly and muscular physique.

The five Arcane Sorcerers, having devoted a great deal of time after Demon-Hunting Expeditions exploring for and developing resource points across Foreign Worlds, all possessed the Sorcerer’s Barrier ability. Consequently, every one of these Sorcerers were extremely skilled and experienced in exploration, as well as surviving in the harshest of conditions.

Picking up the signal waves of a Rank-1 Honor Badge from Grimm, the expression on these Sorcerers’ faces changed as they hurried over to greet him.

“My respects, Great Master.”

The black signal floating around Grimm shape-shifted like mist, and his sorcerer’s robe was in an elemental state of constant distortion. It seemed as if he would disappear at any moment, fading out of existence. Holding the grey Sabbatic Goat Staff in his hand, and with Little Myna who was currently in a dream-like state perching on his shoulder, he seemed all the more mysterious with only two of his all-seeing eyes visible from underneath the Mask of Truth. Those eyes pierced through all things superficial to see the real truth behind the world, and from his gaze alone, one could feel the light of wisdom pouring out like a fountain.

Grimm nodded in acknowledgement to the five Arcane Sorcerers. Eyeing the large group of soul slaves that the Sorcerers had brought over, he deduced that they must have discovered some clues from the land. In a calm tone, he asked, “The injuries on these soul slaves. What happened?”

“Twas a kind of blood-sucking bat. These soul slaves have skin as thick as hide, so their perception toward touch is fairly low, which apparently, the blood bats find incredibly convenient. When the blood bats start sucking their blood, they would spit out some kind of anaesthetic on the wound, which not only helps avoid detection but also enhances clot formation which speeds up their healing after the bats are done with their meal.”

Nodding in response, Grimm suddenly waved his hand. Soon after, a bat’s screech could be heard from a faraway distance. It then became visible to everyone on the spot that it came from a blood-sucking bat, who was originally preying on one of the soul slaves but was captured and brought over by a Magnetite Stone.

“God damn bats! Young Master, I, Little Myna, firmly protest that this world cannot be handed over to these vile creatures’ rule!”

Held tightly in Grimm’s grip, the little bat that looked like a black ball of fluff, had fur around three to four centimeters long. He observed the bat for a moment before shaking his head in disappointment.

“It’s already adapted quite well to the laws of this world after the great calamity, but its intelligence still does not fulfil the requirements of a sentient being. Not to mention that such a creature would find it physically impossible to actualize to the Sorcerers World’s aim of collecting Magnetite ore.”

After saying so, Grimm tossed the blood bat aside, and immediately, the small creature started flapping its wings and disappeared into the dark horizon.

Grimm went on to inquire about the Arcane Sorcerers’ exploration progress. Not long afterwards, Grimm was once again flying across the sky into the distance.

Six months later.

The Starfall Reconnaissance Craft came to a halt as Grimm and Myna once again climbed out of the aircraft before heading toward the ground, their silhouettes in a blur as they moved about.

“So this is what Elland Garden Stigmata Sorcerer referred to as the World Gap of the Southern Sky? To call it a gap was not wrong, but this space is way too narrow and chaotic. Even a Level-1 creature may find it impossible to cross over, and a Level-1 creature will not be able to sustain the impact of a rapid shift in a world’s laws, let alone thrive in it.”

Grimm shook his head and picked up a few low-radiation rocks nearby to mark the location just in case.

Even back during his apprenticeship days, such low-radiation stones were of no use to Grimm’s level of anatomy refinery. Though, when forging items that required a mixture of materials, such mineral stones were required from time to time.

“I can feel a faint sense of flame energy mixed with hyper-toxic minerals coming from beyond this crack, as if there’s a massive amount of radiation rocks on the other side. Could it be that on the other side of this narrow crack, there is a tunnel that leads to some kind of radiation world?”

Grimm put forth his hypothesis.

“Caw caw caw, a radiation world? I remember, in ancient times, the Sorcerers World once defeated a highly-intelligent world that used the powers of radiation in battle. That kind of world was extremely hazardous for low-level Sorcerers and weak soul slave monsters. There would be the occasional high-intensity radiation territories that constantly maintained an offense power of up to tens of thousands for the poor soul that accidentally stumbled across it.”

Grimm too, had read about such a world before. Such formidable laws were indeed found in some of the material worlds conquered by the Sorcerers World and it made said world one of the most dangerous places the Sorcerers had ever set foot in.

“Let’s go, for this World Crack to evolve into a true World Aperture would need at least ten thousand more years. Maybe, it will even disappear one day in the future. It’s not worth much to observe closely.”

Grimm then brought Little Myna back to the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft and resumed their flight path across the sky.