A Sorcerer’s Journey

A month later.

In a magma cave within the Perishing Volcanoes, Grimm managed to exchange an obscene amount of pure fire crystals using thirty pieces of sorcerer coins. They were more than ten times the amount of fire crystals that were collected by the two Golden Amonro soul slaves in the past few years.

Grimm couldn’t help but let out a sigh at this. For a sorcerer, they were but worthless gold coins. But after imbuing them with the will of the world, the coins had inflated value when it came to trading in the foreign worlds.

Although a sorcerer-apprentice might have forgotten the concept of gold coins, tens or hundreds of magic stones were hard to come by.

The sorcerer’s coins were just sweeteners that were given away by the Stigmata Sorcerers to the groups of Demon-hunting Sorcerers due to the Shadow Calamity. Each sorcerer had their fair share.

Grimm tore open a dimensional gap to store the small pile of sorcerer essence in front of him. He then walked silently into the depths of the magma cave.

There were large quantities of ancient Amonro remains and spoils of war, all turned into the Lava Giants’ precious collection for trade.

Glug… glug…

The pure lava lake was bubbling non-stop. Within the sacred land of the Lava Giants, there wasn’t any dark smoke coming out from all the volcanic craters and lava lakes. They were radiating heat in a golden hue.

Moments later, Grimm was contemplating whether to exchange five sorcerer coins for a mystical violet energy crystal. Suddenly, within the lava cavern that had a ceiling height that reached a hundred meters, a violent tremor was felt. Crowds of sorcerers and Lava Giants were momentarily stunned. A horn was frantically sounded.

“Amonros! It’s the Amonros! Quick! Quick! Defend the sacred mountain!”

The underground cavern which was just bustling with trades turned chaotic in an instant as the tall Lava Giants rumbled in their footsteps. Rock fragments began flying everywhere.

The Demon-hunting Sorcerers were quick and agile as they passed through the fiery gaps between the Lava Giants and dashed toward the crimson sun after they flew out from the magma cave.

Adorned in a sorcerer’s robe, with blonde hair blowing in the wind, Grimm’s eyes surveyed his surroundings beneath the Mask of Truth.

Within the spacious compound of the sacred fiery mountains, numerous Demon-hunting Sorcerers converged at the void fortress from all four directions. The lava giants and fire creatures were gathering at Sacred Lava Mountain, a huge volcano that was a few thousand meters tall.

The scene was similar to the huge battle between the lava giants and the sorcerers a month ago.

All in all, the combined forces of all the lava giants that were in the Perishing Volcanoes weren’t even one-thousandth of the main Amonro battle forces that started the Shadow Calamity.

However, the place they were in was the extreme opposite of the Shadow World, the burning Crimson Sun World.

This place was able to survive the Amonros’ onslaught since it was a cursed land for the Amonros that largely depended on the enigmatic shadows for their power.

Still…

A sorcerer’s ability was to utilize the leverage of knowledge of principles. Although changes in regional principles would affect some extremes of a sorcerer’s elemental energies, they would never fall into a situation like the lava giants or the Amonros where living under the other extreme of the world’s principle would cause problems for their own survival.

Clang! Grimm’s legs stepped on the metal deck of the void fortress’s square. A tree ent soul slave that was tens of meters in height walked by his side toward the legions of soul slaves.

“Over there!”

The Myna had a much better sensing ability than Grimm at the moment. It was perched on top of Grimm’s shoulders as one of its claws pointed smugly at the outer boundaries of the volcanic world, in the direction of the enigmatic hurricane seal.

Even though the world of perishing volcanoes was nothing much compared to the rest of the shadow world, it was still a very wide space for someone like Grimm. The world had tens of thousands of volcanoes and lava lakes and even a natural food chain of its own.

Grimm couldn’t sense anything from the direction that was pointed out by Myna.

After letting out a sigh, Grimm took up his crystal ball to contact Millie. At that time, Millie was standing on top of the Ice Phoenix, looking pale. “Grimm, I’ve been summoned by the High Dark Sorcerer. I am to assist the lava giants here to protect a target.”

Other than hundreds of Demon-hunting Sorcerers, there were also many lava giants standing behind Millie.

Behind them was a huge statue that stood imposingly. It was carved out from the mountain. It appeared that the carving had some special meaning to the lava giants of the perishing volcanoes.

“Okay, understood. Be careful.” Grimm nodded and broke off the crystal’s communication.

Clank! Clink!

Metallic chains were clanging beside Grimm. The vibration and scraping between the metallic chains produced a mixture of crisp and piercing sound.

Grimm turned his head and saw Nairo, who was in the same year with him and was the top apprentice from the Holy Tower of the Seven Ring’s twenty-first to twenty-eighth mixed division.

Behind the black metallic flails, underneath the dark hairs, Nairo’s eyes were glaring at Grimm. A black aura was emanating from the metallic flails without apprehension.

Beneath the pale-gray Mask of Truth, Grimm’s intelligent, calm eyes looked toward the layers of chains that wrapped around Nairo.

There was such a dense despair of Amonro within the black auras!

Faintly, shadows of Amonros that were in deep despair appeared among the dark auras. It seemed that each time Nairo cast even the most basic spells, the addition of the Amonros’ despair would add at least five-hundred points in his attack power.

“Your research in the collection of despair in the Dark Sorcerer’s occult code of life and death sure is going on very smoothly.” Grimm gave a straight compliment in a deep tone.

An Elemental Sorcerer studies the arcane principle of leveraging energies. Although the occult code of life and death of Dark Sorcerers was strong, it was but an offensive arcane that only had effects on lives.

From the point of view of an Elemental Sorcerer, although the occult code of life and death had a strong grasp of a creature’s life and death, it lacked the most primitive aspect of a sorcerer’s dreams and desires… the power to change the world.

Nairo’s expressions were noticeably more mature than when he was still an apprentice two hundred years ago. There was more patience and calmness in his dark eyes that seemed to have experienced the sufferings and cruelties of the world.

Grimm had a momentary flashback.

If Hill Woods, the Bell-sound Dictator had not died during the Holy Tower qualification war and proceeded to become an official sorcerer, after centuries of training, would he be the same as Nairo right now, who had become more rational and patient on top of their great talents and wild characters, after seeing how wide the world is?

Was it fate?

Nairo reached out his hand from the layers of black chains. A Heart of Lava appeared. It hovered toward the Myna that was perched on Grimm’s shoulder through the force of nature.

With utterly fixated eyes, Nairo asked, “The Steel Emblem Myna that could contact the mysterious laws, I wish to know, is there a god that could grant any wish within the boundless worlds?”

“What do you mean?” Grimm asked in a cold manner.

The Myna, however, picked up the heart of the lava with its beak and stored it in the dimensional gap. It then cackled into laughter. “Gods? Those things only exist in novels, how could they exist in the real world? Even if there is one, do you think that such an advanced lifeform that is beyond your understanding would care about a little girl like you? Or… do you have a wish that needs granting?”

After gently shaking her head, Nairo looked disappointed and turned to leave.

“Caw! Caw! Little girl, since you were so generous, I’ll let you in on a secret. Miracles exist in hard work, fate changes due to efforts.”

Nairo did not pause. Wrapped in layers of metallic chains, she levitated and left.

Grimm furrowed his brows and chided,” How is that secret?”

That was merely a quote from the novel “Love Goddess Venus”.

The Myna cackled into laughter. “She gave me the reward first, I didn’t say I could give her an answer. Master, those hoping for an all-able god are either mentally sick people who are being pushed toward the extremes by wishful thinking, pain, or suffering or great immortals who are attempting to find out the arcane truths of a mystical world. Clearly, she belongs in the first one.”

Hmm?

Suddenly, there was a glow across Grimm’s crystal ball. After injecting some magic into it, Second Master Deidarion’s face appeared.

“Grimm, on behalf of the great Hearkening Whisperer, I am giving you a private mission. There will be no need for you to join the battle afterward.” Second Master Deidario had a stern face.

Grimm was briefly stunned. He asked in a deep tone,” What mission?”

“You are to join up with five other Demon-hunting Sorcerers and calculate the spatial coordinates between your communications to locate the exact coordinates of the Infinite Crimson Sun Seal within the sacred lava mountain. This mission must be conducted by a low-level sorcerer that would not raise too much attention from the lava giants while at the same time have some talents in the spatial field. You are a good fit.”

Second Master Deidarion deftly stared at Grimm with a stern expression.

Grimm was shocked. The seal of the Infinite Crimson Sun Seal?

The ultimate power that was passed down by word of mouth within the perishing volcanoes and launched by the ancient lava giants to prevent the Amonros’ invasion?

That was how the fire crystal world shaped the shadow worlds after the crimson sun calamity in ancient times.