A Sorcerer’s Journey

“Grimm, my boy!”

Little Myna yelled out in surprise, “You’ve finally come back! Lord Myna is delighted to have you under his command again. Are you truly not dead? Lord Myna is not dreaming, is he?”

Little Myna smacked himself onto Grimm’s face. Little Myna’s wings were fanning back and forth at Grimm while he was in a half-dazed state from sheer exhaustion.

But in comparison to what he had experienced after leaping into the Whirlpool Gate that led to the Aphid River World, this was multitudes better.

Grimm tried to shake a lingering discomfort off from his head violently. As he did so, the bone spurs which followed his body’s movements created a low “buzz”. Suddenly, Grimm glared at Little Myna furiously which made him jump back and cry out in surprise.

“Caw caw caw, this really isn’t a dream after all. My dear young master, Grimm has finally returned, caw caw caw caw caw…”

Little Myna’s change in attitude was lightning fast, owing to his thick skin. In a flash, he made his way onto Grimm’s shoulder. Then, Little Myna proceeded to gnaw at him affectionately. Grimm had no idea where he had learned such “cute” behaviors from.

“Hmph!”

Grimm snorted at Little Myna’s actions coldly. He looked around the surrounding landscape. Apart from the pure-white ice sheet, there was nothing else in his field of vision. Beside Grimm stood Claudia, still wearing the same old skimpy outfit as she stared at him in surprise, her eyes opened up wide like two round saucers.

At the moment, the creature which Little Myna referred to as “young master” was three meters tall and was covered by a body of grey-white bone spurs. A majestic signal permeated without restraint through his entire being. The scene truly shook Claudia to the core. The signal that Grimm was releasing had even caused the ice beneath his feet to melt into water which floated upwards into the air as round droplets.

“Grimm!?”

After a brief moment of silence, Claudia started to relax under the tense atmosphere and cautious state following Grimm’s unexpected arrival.

“Where have you been for the past fifty years?”

She asked curiously.

‘It’s been fifty years?’

Grimm quickly made some calculations in his head and was caught up with the general concept of time in seconds. His eyes scanned the surroundings as he asked, “So, is this the Arctic Tundra of the Infernal Spirit World?”

Claudia froze for a moment as soon as she heard Grimm’s question. So they had already left the Infernal Spirit World huh…

Nodding her head, Claudia softened her posture which was tense in the heat of the moment. Her eyes lit up as she slowly approached Grimm, one step at a time. Her gaze was filled with admiration, for Grimm’s body fulfilled the criteria for an ultimate Dark Sorcerer. Intense, strong and unyielding, Claudia was intoxicated by these descriptions physically embodied by Grimm.

“It’s so beautiful, it’s truly a work of art. The aesthetics of an Anatomy Refinery Sorcerer is far too fascinating.”

Claudia mumbled to herself. Those bone spurs in Claudia’s eyes were like carved and polished pieces of ivory. She was beguiled by them the moment she laid eyes on him.

“Yeah, this is the Arctic Tundra.”

Hearing Claudia’s reply, Grimm slowly returned to his human form. He clasped the Sabbatic Goat Staff in silence, perhaps in hopes of concealing his body’s illusory state.

In front of other sorcerers, a Dark Sorcerer would never readily reveal his own weaknesses.

“Young master, where have you been the past few years? Here I thought I would never meet you again, boohoo…”

The level of truth to Little Myna’s words was questionable. Grimm interpreted it as Little Myna’s attempt to show his lovey-dovey side, to which he ignored.

A short while later.

Grimm broke the silence with a question.

“If this is the Arctic Tundra, then where’s Master Senichino? How’s the mission which Black Isotta assigned to me progressing?”

Claudia shook her head slightly.

“Ever since you vanished, Senichiro waited for you for a few consecutive days in the Sea of Whirlpools but failed to make any contact with you. After that, he led an army of sorcerers to the Arctic Tundra alone for simple reconnaissance tasks. Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer then sent another messenger to take over your mission to which he had completed five years ago.

The mission had ended…

While Grimm had already prepared for the worst, he could not help but feel a sense of loss after hearing that.

But, all was not lost. Grimm had collected a little over ten thousand Blood of the Tainted Eyes as well as a precious pack of Awakening Ray back on Mount Serpentine. Though, that was all at the cost of losing a mission specially assigned to him by the Stigmata Sorcerer.

If there were no major hiccups in the original plan, this mission would have granted Grimm an incredible sum of Sorcerer Essences in return. However, the unthinkable had happened and Grimm had indeed screwed up his mission.

“Right.”

With an imperceptible sigh, Grimm questioned Claudia curiously.

“If the mission had been completed then why are you still here on the Arctic Tundra with Little Myna?”

In response to Grimm’s question, Claudia pointed towards a peak far away in the distance.

The freezing wind was blocked by the hill peak which created a howling sound.

Woo woo woo…

What caught Grimm’s attention was the fact that there were no signs of snow on this hill peak. It was dark colored, with zero traces of white. He activated the Eagle Eye ability on the Mask of Truth and zoomed in on the hill top. There seemed to be a large number of creatures collecting some sort of ore on the hill, and from time to time, there would be a sorcerer in the midst of these creatures.

These creatures had a green-colored skin, just like an Acraepoid.

Instead of two grasping hands like humans, their two forelimbs were blades like that of a mantis. Their bodies were incredibly agile and despite being bipedal and standing upright, their bone structure was very much different from humans.

“That is Dark Gold Hill. As the name signifies, the ore purity of Dark Gold found on this hill is incredibly high. They are extremely valuable and I intend to collect some of this precious metal for myself.”

Dark Gold!

This was a precious metal which possessed high magic resistance. Many sorcerers who were skilled in alchemy liked incorporating bits of Dark Gold into the essential parts of their weapons with fire attributes which could greatly enhance flame elemental spells.

Thinking back to the Eternal Destructive Energy Meter and the experiments Grimm had planned to carry out when he returned to the Sorcerers World, Dark Gold was also one of its fundamental components, which made Claudia’s project all the more interesting to him.

If he were to buy Dark Gold back in the Sorcerers World, it would undoubtedly cost him a pretty penny.

Grimm would save himself an arm and a leg if he could collect some of it right now.

With this in mind, Grimm nodded his head and replied.

“Alright, since I have lost the chance to complete the mission that Black Isotta had assigned to me, then I need not rush back too soon. I’ll first contact Solumn, Millie, and Wicky to make arrangements on the quest for the Infernal Spirit Scripture. Although the chances of success have been whittled down, I’d like to take a shot at it. Later on, please fill me in on the details I have missed out on for the past fifty years.”

Apart from the Dark Gold, there was something else Grimm sought after in the Arctic Tundra of the Infernal Spirit World. It was the Tree of Soul Fusion!

“Understood.”

Claudia agreed. With two consecutive “whooshes”, both of them flew towards Dark Gold Hill.

While Dark Gold Hill seemed to be right in front of their eyes, it still took them quite a bit of travel time. On their journey, Grimm took out the crystal ball and contacted Solumn, Millie and Wicky at the expense of his Null World Stones.

A short moment later, after Grimm had wrapped up his calls to the trio, he began listening attentively to Claudia’s explanation on the events of the past fifty years.

“For the past fifty years, I have always stuck around this place due to my current mission. I do not have detailed information on the developments in the Infernal Spirit continent but from the gist of what I have heard, the Abyss Moss seems to have rampaged across that land leaving nothing behind in its wake. In fact, it has started spreading uncontrollably towards the Arctic Tundra too. The Great Calamity has befallen the Infernal Spirit World and there is no one to stop it now!”

“Huh.”

Grimm nodded his head. Little Myna, who was perching on his shoulder remained silent.

“As for the Arctic Tundra, we have discovered that there are twelve groups of Acraepoids inhabiting this place, each of varying sizes. Though, only two of them possess a potential for further development. The first one is called the Broodmother Tribe and the second, the Mantis Tribe. In the end, the Sorcerer’s Will chose the Broodmother Tribe to aid its quest to dominate the entire Arctic Tundra. Battle Command has since made use of the defeated Mantis Tribe as slaves who mine Dark Gold on this hill.”

The two of them landed as Claudia was explaining while pointing towards one of the creatures Grimm had seen from afar just now.