A Sorcerer’s Journey

Grimm’s crystal ball went dim after he cut off its Magic Power transmission. Julni disappeared from the crystal ball screen.

A faint smile appeared on Grimm’s face. He unleashed his Magic Power once again to contact another Demon Hunter with his crystal ball. After awhile, Machine Heart Victor, the cyborg whom Grimm met at the first-year novice sorcery test appeared on the crystal ball.

“Hmm? Grimm? Is this about that Mechanical Armor Core of yours?” Victor asked after realizing it was Grimm on the crystal ball.

Grimm nodded.

Just when Grimm was about to say something, the Myna flapped its wings and rested on Grimm’s shoulders and pointed its clawed-wings at Victor with a sinister grin. The Myna exclaimed, “You are right! This is about the Mechanical Armor Core! My great, noble and intelligent Master Grimm hates to waste his precious time waiting. So you better rush here quickly! Oh and bring some nuts for me along the wa-ouch!”

Grimm tossed the Myna into the dimensional gap, and turned to Victor who looked stunned on the crystal ball screen. “U-uh, that’s all for now, I still have some other things to settle here,” Grimm said awkwardly.

“H-huh? Oh okay, sure.”

Victor disconnected the call and Grimm’s crystal ball went dim once again.

Grimm’s surroundings became distorted and the Myna reappeared on Grimm’s shoulder. The bird faked an innocent and pitiful expression, nuzzled its head against Grimm’s ears, trying to please its master. “Master, I did all these only for the sake of our….”

Grimm ignored the Myna. He could not be more familiar with all its tricks after all these years. “Order the Gnaw to prepare a fruit platter and wine. You can join me at the auction for the Mechanical Armor Core later. If we manage to earn more than the market price, you will get your share,” he told the Myna calmly.

Grimm knew all too well that negotiation and bargaining were not exactly his strengths, but it was a whole different story for an eloquent bird like the Myna.

Not to mention the Myna was the one who explained the true value and origins of the Mechanical Armor Core to Grimm.

“I get to share the profit!?” the Myna replied, stunned with excitement. “How are you planning to split the profit? Fifty-fifty?”

Grimm turned around and stared at the Myna quietly without a word, the atmosphere was cold and awkward. The Myna’s excitement was immediately replaced by a nervous expression as he stammered, “U-uh, since you are my master, I am good with a forty-sixty.”

Grimm remained silent and glared piercingly at the Myna on his shoulders without blinking.

“Oh, gosh!” the Myna flapped its wings and covered his head, peeking through them at Grimm. After realizing that Grimm was not going to compromise, the witty bird reluctantly said, “Alright, alright, my mighty Master Grimm, I can settle with a thirty-seventy. But only this one time!”

However, Grimm was still not impressed. He continued glaring coldly at the Myna. The atmosphere was getting even more stiff and uncomfortable. They stared at each other for a while longer.

The Myna then pointed at Grimm with one wing, another wing on its hips and remarked helplessly, “Master, I swear by the name of the Almighty Steel Emblem Myna, I will never give in to a twenty-eighty.”

“Twenty-eighty? Almighty Steel Emblem Myna? I think you have misunderstood me. Actually, I have decided that you get ten percent of the share while the remaining ninety percent will be mine,” Grimm retorted nonchalantly, ignoring the Myna who was frozen stiff on his shoulder. Grimm then swung his arm towards an empty space and accessed the dimensional gap. He picked up a metal sphere from the gap and walked into his experiment lab.

Thirty years had passed since Grimm officially became a sorcerer. It seemed like Julni had just become an official sorcerer with some assistance from the Holy Tower of Seven Rings, much later than Grimm’s expectation. However, it was all understandable.

Generally, sorcerer apprentices with greater wisdom had better chances of becoming official sorcerers, with further assistance from the Holy Tower of Seven Rings, over ninety out of one hundred apprentices would successfully become sorcerers.

Nevertheless, there were still some uncertainties. Despite the high success rate, no apprentice could ensure that they would not become one of the unlucky drop-outs.

After all, compared to an apex sorcerer apprentice who could immediately become an official sorcerer after obtaining the world-core fragments, the mental torture and the uncertain amount of time needed that an apprentice had to go through at the Holy Tower of Seven Rings to become an official sorcerer was exceedingly more unbearable.

Not only that, those who had entered the Holy Tower yet failed to become an official sorcerer would probably not be able to live to see another day.

Grimm was unable to use the Mechanical Armor Core to its fullest potential without machine blood. However, merely opening the core using some external tactics was still possible. Grimm opened a bottle of low quality machine blood that he got from the Free Market and dripped a few drops on the Mechanical Armor Core.

At that moment, the metal sphere let out a series of robotic sounds, a vibration of energy was released from its core and it started to expand, eventually transforming into an ultra-thin fully sealed metal armor, completely covering Grimm’s body.

Within mere seconds, the Mechanical Armor Core had completely transformed into a metal armor that covered Grimm’s body perfectly.

Grimm carefully used his mental strength to inspect every dimension and functionality of the ancient armor.

‘On the left arm of the armor is a mini artillery with power storage feature. Based on its power storage capacity, its offense power could reach anywhere between 230 to 680 points. However, it would probably take more than an hourglass for the artillery to store and release its highest offense power.’

‘The right arm of the armor is a sound wave sword, with an offense power of 250 to 310 points towards physical objects, and an offense power of 120 to 130 towards objects in energy form.’

‘The cuirass has a defensive function between 150 to 210 points, while the defensive function of other parts of the armor is between 70 to 110 points.’

‘The greave and sabaton of the armor have a one-time Thunder Teleportation feature, capable of releasing a one-time teleportation ability of two hundred meters. While at the back of the armor is a wave of…’

‘This armor also comes with an illumination camouflage function, providing the wearer the ability to conceal themselves under natural lights.’

‘The armor is equipped with three supporting functions—thermostatic ability, the gleam of water curtain and scent sealing. Hmm? No, that’s not right…’

‘There is even an air filtering system on the mask. Could this be how ancient sorcerers supported their respiratory system before the sorcerer protection skill was invented?’

Usually with the support of sorcerers’ natural force, simply breathing in the different air particles in foreign lands would not cause them to be poisoned to death. However, it would still cause discomfort in the long run, which explained the design of the air filtering system on the armor mask and also the invention of the sorcerer protection skill after that.

There were indeed huge differences between ancient and modern armors.

For modern armors, the functionalities were a lot less, they were mainly focused on enhancing the sorcerer’s offense and defense power and providing physical and strength support. The other functions were replaced by the sorcerer’s protection skill.

In this case, it would make sense for the Myna to estimate the price of this Mechanical Armor Core to be ten sorcerer essences plus some low rank demon hunting weapons.

After testing all the armor’s features, Grimm transformed the armor back to its original form of a sphere. He then took out a book with the title “The Principle of Restraining Element Activation Sorcery through the Power of Purifying Thunder” and read it quietly in the main hall, while enjoying the sumptuous food platters prepared by the Gnaw.

A moment later, an imprint signal appeared on Grimm’s crystal ball.

The Myna flapped its wings excitedly and rested on Grimm’s shoulder while saying, “Here they come! Here they come! I bet Julni will be the first!”

Grimm stored his sorcery book and connected his crystal ball. It was indeed Julni. Her face was wrinkled with age.

“I guess you’re right,” Grimm said in reply to the Myna and opened the door of his castle, he spotted Julni standing on the parterre of his castle.

Grimm greeted her as per sorcerer’s etiquette and said calmly, “Congratulations on becoming an official sorcerer.”

Julni eyed Grimm up and down and stated placidly, “I didn’t expect you to choose to deteriorate your mental strength for the sake of nurturing your physical body. In this case you will get a lower Magic Power increment when you advance into a Stigmata Sorcerer and build your own sorcerer tower. Nevertheless, I think I can understand why you choose to do so, back in our sorcerer school war days, you had such a powerful constitution, rather than becoming a normal elemental sorcerer, an Elemental Surge Anatomy Refinery Sorcerer would suit you better.”

Grimm merely nodded his head and said nothing in return.

Julni walked across the turf of the parterre. Just when Grimm was about to invite her into the castle, a figure appeared swiftly behind them. Grimm turned around and wondered to himself, “Hmm, he can’t be that fast, can he?”

Right after that, Grimm turned back and introduced Victor to Julni, “I have known Victor for years, he is interested in the Mechanical Armor Core as well. Since he has arrived, we can start the auction for the armor core.”

Julni’s expression shifted slightly as she looked at Grimm, asking in return, “So I am not the only one who has come for the Mechanical Armor Core?”

“Of course,” Grimm replied matter-of-factly. “While ancient armor cores have their incompetencies, they are still highly useful for living creatures who don’t possess the sorcerer protection skill. Its astonishing features would still make it more valuable than any same-level armor in the market today. ”

Grimm knew very well that the reason why Julni was so captivated by this ancient Mechanical Armor Core was to use it on the pair of elves of hers instead of herself.

Victor courteously greeted Julni, seemingly already expecting that he would be joined by someone else. He looked at Grimm quietly under the hood of his cloak.

Grimm nodded and invited Julni and Victor into the auction chamber.