A Sorcerer’s Journey

It was like adding new firewood to a flame continuously, attempting to let the fire burn even brighter in the dark.

“Ahh…”

Grimm growled in a low voice. His initially radiant face gradually became filled with vicissitudes, and it even possessed the sense of time most Sorcerers in the Sorcerers World had.

No matter how much life vitality and the corresponding Ice Elemental Energy Grimm was exhausting, the ice element was still unable to break through that 100 point self-willed mental strength limit despite the large amount of ice element present. It was like adding large amounts of wet firewood into the fire thus being unable to let the fire burn just a little bit brighter.

If this kept going on, then it would only be a waste of life vitality.

Although he already had a hunch, Grimm could not help but let out a disappointed sigh. He controlled his mental strength rationally by force as he stopped the prying lever with a slight unwillingness. The whirlpool of the frost law had started to dissipate.

The law of this small section in the Nightmare World returned to normal.

Losing Ice Marrow Crystals and a part of his life force caused a wave of weakness to wash over Grimm.

Grimm whose face looked as if it had aged compared to before, curled up into a ball on the ground like a puppy shivering in the rain.

Losing his life force was the price he had to pay for failing to advance.

Slowly, Grimm blacked out.

***

By the time he woke up, the black sun of the Nightmare World was already high up in the sky.

Grimm stood up with the support of his Sabbatic Goat Staff. The Nightmare World around him had started to become distorted, including both the Destructive Force Research Notes and the Ice Marrow Crystallization Book which had also started to become distorted according to the laws of the Nightmare World. Both books were emitting heavy nightmare mists.

Only the Book of Grimm was unaffected, showing its extraordinary nature.

After quickly putting away the three books, Grimm took out his Starfall Renaissance Craft. Although by doing this, it would take a longer time for him to find the flying trail of the Tricolor Fairies according to the fairytale law, but for safety measures, he could care less about that.

“Creak!” The doors of the Starfall Renaissance Craft closed shut and the craft flew to a distance.

Inside the Starfall Renaissance Craft, Grimm who was very weak leaned on a chair as he disappointedly gazed afar into the blurry, distorted scenery of the Nightmare World. He was hoping that through the scenery, he could imagine glimpses of the Sorcerers World.

Failure was an experience every Sorcerer had to go through in this journey as a Sorcerer.

However, what most people remember were the glorious and magnificent looks Sorcerers displayed after they had succeeded. It was as if Sorcerers were protagonists that were destined to succeed while not many would even care about all the failures a Sorcerer had to experience.

Grimm took out the Book of Grimm that Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer had given him.

In the Sorcerers World, there was a story that went like this. Before the Supreme Celestial Sorcerer—Antonio had advanced to become a Stigmata Sorcerer, his name was already widely known amongst the Stigmata Sorcerers. Many of the Stigmata Sorcerers knew that he was a Level-3 Great Sorcerer of great potential and were looking forward to his advancement as a Stigmata Sorcerer.

Until one day, Antonio wanted to leave the Sorcerers World and travel across the void. A Stigmata Sorcerer who was very close to him stopped him in person, forcibly requesting the Level-3 Great Sorcerer to leave behind one aspect of his knowledge to be passed down in the Sorcerers World.

The act of travelling across the void was full of danger to a Level-3 Great Sorcerer.

At that time, the Sorcerers World was running out of time after the first ancient civilization war had ended. The Sorcerers World was in the period of civilization outbreak before the ancient heyday of darkness and glory, it was yet to be as strong as the modern Sorcerers World and the soon-to-be ancient heyday of the Sorcerers World.

Yet Antonio was about to travel soon and could not find a desirable disciple within such a short amount of time. He was also unwilling to announce his unique sorcerer knowledge to the world publicly.

Not having a choice, Antonio used three years to write the Book of Destiny which shook the Sorcerers World for many generations to come. Only then could he start his journey of travelling throughout the Endless World in his time as a Level-3 Great Sorcerer.

Yet that Stigmata Sorcerer could not comprehend the meaning within the Book of Destiny written by Antonio.

It was only until after a long time that Antonio left a remarkable mark in the Sorcerers World’s history where his praises were sung by many. Antonio built the destiny lever by using the Book of Destiny. Only then the Book of Destiny and the destiny lever were engraved on a stone statue as a commemoration.

At this moment while Grimm wallowed in melancholy from his failure, he took out this blank book and started to write out the regret and resistance in his heart with a long quill pen. The three words—Book of Truth, appeared.

“Pursuing the truth. All that can be done is to keep going up the stairs that are filled with endless failures and loneliness toward the spectacular Sorcerer Tower—and retrieve that bit of shining glory on the top of the hill.”

The quill pen moved rapidly on the Book of Truth according to Grimm’s will.

A valuable bottle of magical ink was floating in mid air. As Grimm dipped the quill pen into the ink, the bottlecap closed automatically after each dip, maintaining the magical attribute of the ink.

Grimm’s memory slowly went back to the times where he failed again and again in his Sorcerer’s journey after entering the Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy.

His first failure?

Grimm’s first failure in his Sorcerer journey had been slowly forgotten as time passed. The memory of his first failure had become very distant to him.

“My first failure is probably that time when I was in a magical potions class right after I had entered the academy. It was probably that time when that Sorcerer chose me and four other Sorcerer-Apprentices to be the disciples of the academy.”

It was a vague history in the dust.

In Grimm’s time as a Sorcerer-Apprentice, he was briefly favored by a Sorcerer in a magical potions class. The reason was because Grimm was pursuing the knowledge on Canine Olfactory and Scent Archives just for the famous saying, ‘Grant me infinite knowledge, and I shall be as a fulcrum, to move the Endless World.’

And the reason for that was Grimm’s early invention—his experimental perfume.

The perfume at that time was only made up of the natural fragrances of flowers and grass to meet the standard scent aesthetic of most humans. It was not the Venus Fragrance that was made by using the concept of hormones of the opposite sex that Grimm had made later on.

At that time, Lefay, Nina York, Chris York, and many others had high hopes for Grimm. Grimm was also a well-known person in the Death Sail League yet he was just a step away from success.

Unfortunately, that Sorcerer did not choose Grimm in the end but instead chose another Sorcerer-Apprentice.

Even though Grimm had failed, the Death Sail League still had high hopes for him. Under the forced arrangements made by Lefay, Grimm was given a position in charge of health in the Nursing Academy Library which paved a way for the first two years of boredom and loneliness he had endured as he studied the Canine Olfactory and Scent Archives in his Sorcerer-Apprentice days. A journey of countless failures indeed.

Only after that was there the modified version, the invention of the Venus Fragrance. That marked the start of Grimm’s discovery on life code knowledge, namely the Eucharist Dissimilation Great Sorcery and the Great Sorcery of the Three Sacrecies. Only then came the beginning of Grimm’s planned research on the life code rupture knowledge.

“As for the second failure…”

Success was just the result of pursuing truth. A real Sorcerer’s journey was built on the accumulation of failures!

Imperceptibly, the blood moon had risen as midnight in the Nightmare World had arrived. Grimm had already landed on the ground as he put away the Book of Truth in which he had only written the opening to. He was waiting for the fairytale law of the Tricolor Fairies to appear in the sky.

“He he he he… I have finally found you…”

The Dream Watcher King who had his ten meter long tongue stretched out, appeared a hundred meters away from Grimm.