A Sorcerer’s Journey

Although it was just an illusion which brought about trust among sorcerers of two different races, at that very moment, Grimm chose not to follow the choice of most of the sorcerers who killed helpless younglings to gain the power of Mount Serpentine. Even if these younglings were killed, not much power could be gained.

With one hand holding the skull of Grandalph which kept burning on, Grimm started collecting Johann’s body, while the power of Serpentine kept dispersing. Grimm did not care about the younglings anymore but instead, dashed down Mount Serpentine.

He had to enter the Phagocytic Shell before the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls arrived. Grimm had not completely regained his senses and was not ready to leave this space.

Looking up at the nearly static whirlpool in the sky and the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls in the Phagocytic Shell which was opened wide by two red rays, Grimm quickly tossed the self-burning skull of Grandalph and Johann’s body into a blackish-gray Phagocytic Shell that was about seven meters long. He lied down in it and slowly closed his eyes.

“Erm?”

Grimm opened his eyes a little and a chill ran down his spine.

“What is happening? Is it because it’s too late?”

The Phagocytic Shell which Grimm was in, did not shut and Grimm did not enter an egocentric Spectral World. The moving Phagocytic Shell beside him would soon emerge from the pupal case after being exposed to the ray of the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls. A gentle ray appeared in the Phagocytic Shell.

Grimm’s heart was racing and he felt instant regret.

If only he knew, he would not have fought for Grandalph’s and Johann’s power of Serpentine. He had time to get that power through hunting other creatures.

These sea serpent’s pearls looked pure white and gentle on the surface but when they turned ferocious, they could be very terrifying. Grimm had seen how some hunters were completely melted after being exposed to the rays of the sea serpent’s pearls.

Grimm was fully awake and beside him was a sea serpent’s pearl of this kind!

If this sea serpent’s pearl called out to the other sea serpent’s pearls like how it had happened previously to attack Grimm, Grimm would melt completely within just a few breaths.

With his right hand shaking uncontrollably, Grimm’s body tightened and beneath the Mask of Truth, he clenched his teeth.

With the opening of the Phagocytic Shell, Grimm could see millions of sea serpent’s pearls filling the sky. After a few sounds of “whoosh”, a few sea serpent’s pearls flew towards the Phagocytic Shell Grimm was lying in.

Grimm was near the edge of a storm, the next moment was a struggle from death and his heart leapt furiously.

Yet, things did not happen according to his imagination.

These sea serpent’s pearls were merely hovering over the skull of Grandalph and the body of Johann and it seemed like they were dispersing the power of Serpentine and showed no interest in Grimm.

Were these sea serpent’s pearls harmless? Or did they appear harmless to creatures without the power of Serpentine?

Grimm hesitated for a while and then tried moving his thumb gently. He realized that the sea serpent’s pearl beside him did not respond and so he moved his head a little but the sea serpent’s pearls around him did not respond as well.

Finally, Grimm opened his eyes and still, the sea serpent’s pearls showed no response.

Grimm took a deep breath and suddenly sat up from the Phagocytic Shell. The sea serpent’s pearls did not even change. They ignored Grimm as if he was not there.

Grimm calmed his racing heart as he went into deep thoughts. Oh, so this was all a trick.

In this place, if any living being had hunted for the sea serpent’s pearls and had absorbed the power of Serpentine, they were fated to walk a path with a dead end, to live or die in this space between the real and Spectral World, or to be enchanted by Mount Serpentine and dash towards the maze of the sea serpent in a suicidal manner.

In the meantime, Grimm lowered his head and finally saw the root of his blinded perception.

Under the pure white and gentle ray of the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls in the sky, Grimm’s chest was pierced through by a light red ray, connecting him with Mount Serpentine. This ray could be weakened by “The Awakening Ray” of the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls.

On Mount Serpentine, every creature was connected by such a ray and they were each deceived by their own perceptions.

This ability was indeed too dreadful.

From the moment Grimm was sober, he had been deceived by the pupae. He had been told that he could not stay alert when the Eye of Destruction approached, that he could only move around on Mount Serpentine, and he was taught how to remove self-illusions.

Whether it was self-illusion or the pupae, it was only Mount Serpentine’s trick.

Then, one after another, deceived creatures on Mount Serpentine formed a deceived ecosystem, following the rules of Mount Serpentine, hunting for the sea serpent’s pearls. Hence, those who were trapped in between the real and Spectral World were all very willing to do so.

Was this the dreadfulness of the Eternal Dominator’s changing rules?

Besides the difference in abilities, it was beginning to affect the rules. To the world, the Eternal Dominator depicted the qualitative change of life.

For a lower creature like Grimm, facing the Eternal Dominator was like facing a hard-to-resist “God”.

To be able to escape from “God’s” palm was already an extravagant hope, not to mention standing up and fighting back.

Suddenly, it seemed that that very moment was the time when the ray of the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls was at its strongest. Coupled with the few sea serpent’s pearls beside him attracting “The Awakening Ray”, Grimm felt himself regaining perception towards the world’s balancing rules.

This meant Grimm could now put magic to good use.

Although there was vagueness in the rule of balancing, the lever rules of the sorcerers were only multiplied in low levels.

“Little Myna!”

The first thought that came to Grimm’s mind was to contact Little Myna, to detach himself from this world.

However, Grimm was disappointed because although he could sense the presence of Little Myna, he could not practically connect with him through space and time as the dark red ray in his chest was still affecting his senses.

At least it was safe to say that Grimm still could not sense that the spiral exit on the floor was the true feature of Mount Serpentine. It was still a long way to go before he was able to completely regain his perception of reality.

Phut…

A flame lit in his hand while he was using magic. He was surprised that this ball of fire had the same attraction as the power of Serpentine emitted from the bodies of Grandalph and Johann. Half of the sea serpent’s pearls hovering beside Grimm floated towards him.

“Eh?”

Something unbelievable was happening.

Originally, Grimm’s weak balancing senses could use his fire ball magic to move the lever five times but now it could only move it one time. The Sabbatic Goat Staff was of no help at that moment.

However, at that very moment, as seven of the sea serpent’s pearls gathered around him, shining gently, the weak fire ball in his hand suddenly flared up, achieving eight times its power!

This…

This had simply overturned Grimm’s magic rules in the Sorcerer World!

Startled and frightened, Grimm pondered for a while and suddenly flew towards the sky where most of the sea serpent’s pearls were gathered.

Grimm’s ball of fire achieved a maximum of fifty times its power and maintained at a minimum of one as he flew past sea serpent’s pearls which were at times many and at times few.

These sea serpent’s pearls were indeed extraordinary.

It was clearly the reason why Mount Serpentine kept on collecting sea serpent’s pearls.

The magic of the fire ball achieved the law of fifty times leverage. Grimm could use one fifth of his consciousness, which was between eighteen and twenty-two. Hence, after multiplying by fifty, Grimm’s fire ball magic would achieve nine hundred to one thousand and one hundred degrees!

Originally, it was only five times of the fire bat magic.

If he were to use the fire bat magic ten times, fire bee magic twelve times, and eruption blaze magic thirty times, he would achieve five thousand and four hundred degrees to six thousand and six hundred degrees!

Grimm had once possessed magical power for a short period of time but this way surpassed the maximum attacking ability of his magical power.

Out of a sorcerer’s greed, Grimm’s first thought was to collect lots of sea serpent’s pearls before leaving the Spectral World so that once he stepped back into the real world…

But in the next moment, Grimm rejected this stupid idea.

Without a doubt, even if he had left this half Spectral World, he was sure that the sea serpent’s pearls had a fascinating ability but realistically, it would be better to say that these sea serpent’s pearls possessed a fascinating ability by absorbing “The Awakening Ray” of the lord of sea serpent’s pearls.

Or else, Mount Serpentine would not have deceived all living beings into collecting sea serpent’s pearls which had been awakened by the lord and not sea serpent’s pearls which were deep in slumber.

After all, the source of this fascinating energy came from the lord of the sea serpent’s pearls.

Besides that…

In the face of reality, Grimm’s vision sparkled. In the Spectral World, the only resources that Grimm could gather were the deceived senses and the polluted mentality, which was the red ray connected to his chest.

This was indeed the ability of an Eternal Dominator, although it was only a minor ability which was not worth mentioning.

Should this opportunity be missed, Grimm might not have a second opportunity like this.

As the endless world was full of changes in fate, Grimm would not be stupid enough to treat this place as a permanent secret place for taking in resources.

A Level-1 creature attempting to dig unlimitedly from the Eternal Dominator?

With just a sneeze from the Eternal Dominator everything the creature had would be vanquished.