A Sorcerer’s Journey

The cycle of the sun and moon continued. Spring went and summer came; then came fall before pale winter.

A year thus went by in a flash.

Atop of a huge rock that was being padded constantly by the tidal waves on a shore, Grimm solemnly sat and recalled all the memories he had with Lefay.

That day, he held Lefay in his arms as they watched the stunning sun set by this beach, whispered sweet words and looked forward to a beautiful future together.

Every moment, every memory of her flowed slowly through his mind as he silently sat there alone.

The most important person in his life was now dead. She’s gone… just like that. This meant that she would never appear on another part of any world ever again; this meant that her journey in life would never cross with his ever again—like the day she met him and Old Ham.

The life of a low-level being was too short indeed.

It was so short that in the eyes of the high-level beings, they were nothing but a small thread of memories that was tied to larger, more important incidents.

In fact… Lefay’s death was not something so sudden and unbearable to most.

Even if Hattori the Hidden did not appear… even if there was no Demo Hunter Consociation’s involvement… she would still have died.

Grimm knew that. He had foreseen this when he left Black Isotta Academy via his sorcerer’s foresight. Yet, he did not want to believe it… until it finally happened; and then came the agony.

He wondered… what would the Celestial Sorcerers think when they looked at him? Would they treat him like he would to Lefay?

It was not that they were forbidden to contact another. It was the tremendous gap in their life that made it difficult for them understand one another.

This was what Master Peranos meant. No matter how much power a sorcerer obtained, if he had not experienced any of these… in the end, he was in essence nothing but a sorcerer-apprentice who had acquired the power of a sorcerer.

This was something that every sorcerer must experience in their growth. It’s unavoidable.

This one-year time might be, on the surface, a period of time for Grimm to heal the wound upon his soul; but on top of that it was, actually, a time that was granted for him to develop his soul into something that was befitting for a sorcerer.

Henceforth, Grimm and the other Sorcerer-apprentices would have a massive gap in terms of the understanding of life—much like how Grimm viewed the sorcerers as the untouchable mysterious beings when he was an apprentice.

It was like how a toddler acquired its self-consciousness.

Grimm had felt it.

The hate for Black Sorcerers… the contempt for the Demon Hunter Consociation… and the eternal love for the woman he loves.

There was nothing Grimm could do to express his hate for the Black Sorcerers.

As for the contempt for the Demon Hunter Consociation, he was too powerless to protest against them.

As for the eternal love, Grimm was convinced that he would not be able to harbor such feelings for another member of his kind on the opposite gender ever again.

Perhaps, this was also why most sorcerers who could suppress their feelings and urges had lost their ability to produce offspring. This, perhaps, was also the price the sorcerers who had experienced love during their apprentice-days had to pay.

“Caw caw caw! Master, what are we going to eat today?”

Myna glided down from the sky afar and landed on Grimm’s shoulder.

It seemed that Myna, a creature whose intelligence was akin to single-cell creatures, could recover from this grief much better than Grimm—in just a matter of a few days, Myna had completely returned to his usual self.

Grimm wondered again. If he too had died, would Myna still be able to recover as quickly?

Perhaps… Myna might feel sad for a few more days compared to Lefay’s death… this bird was, after all, had lived with him for over two-hundred years…

To him, a mystical bird who had experienced almost everything already, Grimm’s short life of three-hundred years was not as colorful and painful than his own.

Maybe… to him… the other people, like Grimm himself, were all idiots who kept on finding meaningless things to torture themselves?

“Grimm is just my dog. He will come when I summon him.”

Grimm couldn’t help but to recall what Myna said a long time ago.

He abruptly stood up on the rock and sighed. “I don’t have the appetite. If you may eat if you are hungry. We’re going to Tomb Segja Academy.”

“Caw? Master… you’re leaving? Alright, let’s go. After Lefay’s gone, this island is starting to bore me…”

After laying his eyes on this land that nurtured him once, tears welled in Grimm’s eyes as he smiled serenely.

Then, he swiftly turned and flew away.

…

Half a month later.

Across the Jewel Sea… Section 19 of Seven Ring Holy Tower… even further away from Section 18 of Sorcerer Continent, Grimm had arrived at a Bright Sorcerer academy—Tomb Segja Academy.

It was a massive city that was formed by white castles, crystal clear streams and emerald green pastures. In the middle of the city stood a tall Sorcerer Tower, one that displayed its just and fair ideals while still maintaining a romantic atmosphere.

The citizens of the city were all Sorcerer-apprentices, living peacefully together as they earnestly study the great knowledge of sorcery.

Indeed.

The Bright Sorcerer academies recruited far more apprentices than the Dark Sorcerer academies. It was not unheard of to see their academies grow to the size of a city.

Away from disturbance of war, these places were heavens of Sorcerer-apprentices in the Sorcerer World.

Crooow Croooow…

A white owl glided down from the sky and landed on Grimm’s shoulder.

This was a Level 1 Creature and a guardian of the academy. A circlet of flower was knotted to one of its talons—a symbol of the Tomb Segja Stigmata Sorcereress.

“O’ great Sorcerer, to enter the academy as an outsider you are required to reveal your identity.” The white owl politely spoke after it gave Grimm a bow.

“Caw caw! Look at this.”

Myna had a five-colored flower in its beak. An insect’s leg was extended from the flower’s stigma… fuming a rather peculiar scent.

“Oh! This… this is the scent of the great Tomb Segja Stigmata Sorcereress!?”

The white owl quickly recovered from its surprise and continued on respectfully, “O’ our guest, what is it that I could do for you? Or is there any message you need me to pass on to the principal?”

Grimm nodded to the owl, “Please inform your principal that I require some outsourcing from the academy.”

Croooow… Crooow…

After hearing this, the white owl extended its wings and swiftly flew towards the Sorcerer Tower. While waiting for its return, Grimm took a slow walk in the academy to experience the Bright Sorcerers’ academician world.

Groups of Sorcerer-apprentices walked pass Grimm, not realizing nor noticed Grimm’s identity as a full-fledged sorcerer at all.

And from afar, there was Sorcerer-apprentice holding a magic lamp while calling out to the crowds. It seemed that she was trying to market and sell her new inventions?

Booom!

Black smog fumed out from one of the castles as several Sorcerer-apprentices rushed out gasping for air. Then, they quickly gathered round and started a fierce debate about the accidents from the experience inside the lab.

Then, atop of a tall platform, two Sorcerer-apprentices gave each other a polite bow before beginning their sorcery sparring…

Every corner he turned, Grimm saw a world of sorcerers that felt so alien.

So… this was how the Bright Sorcerer-apprentices spent their days?

Grimm started to recall his apprentice-days… the enigmatic curse murders… then Gore Test… Missions… wars between the academies… and the Holy Tower Qualification Battles…

Every single success of a Dark Sorcerer was at the expense of others’ lives. They, the Dark Sorcerers that would send Black Sorcerers and other creatures fleeing in fear, were all forged in fire.

A few moments later.

A Level 3 Sorceress, extended a pair of leaf-wings behind her back, flew towards Grimm.

Grimm was astounded as he saw her. That pair of leaf-wings… they looked like Lefay’s…

“O’ our honored guest, our guardian told me moments earlier that you possess a token of pledge from the great Tomb Segja Stigmata Sorcereress; and you wished to outsource a task to the academy?”

An elegant glow of amber was blooming in the principal Sorceress’ eyes; an illusion of a tiny playful fairy was hovering about in a jewel that was sitting atop of her Sorcerer Staff.

The Principal Sorceress examined Grimm carefully with her keen eyes before laid them on the flower that was in Myna’s beak.

Grimm responded with a bow. “Yes, O’ Principal. Via the token of pledge I’ve acquired from the great Tomb Segja Stigmata Sorcereress, I wish to donate 100 Sorcerer Essences to the academy in exchange for some outsourcing.”

The Principal Sorceress extended her palm as Myna passed the flower to her.

Then, she replied, “Indeed this is the Tomb Segja Stigmata Sorceress’ token of pledge. The academy accepts your outsourcing and aids you to run research on your behalf.”

Nodding with a smile, Grimm slashed open a dimensional crack and took out a paper and a large chunk of Sorcerer Essence.

“There are 200 Sorcerer Essences here. Out of these, 80 Sorcerer Essences are for the purchase for the materials. The rest are for the matrix sketching.”

The paper that Grimm handed over was a blueprint of “Destructive Force Gauge”.

There were thirty-six readings on the Destructive Force Gauge—it included the extreme elements of fire and ice, each had eighteen readings on them. Grimm designed this to better observe and measure Destructive Force. By doing so, he would then be able to invent better sorcery that utilized Destructive Force.

The Principal Sorceress smiled widely.

“Oh? 220 years of outsourcing? Sure, I will gather six Sorcerers to participate in the effort. Come! Let’s discuss this over coffee…”

Thus, Grimm had wisely spent his Sorcerer Essences to acquire a tool that would have originally taken him over 200 years to assemble via the aid of the Arcane Sorcerers.

Although Grimm had completed some preparation for this, the work, including the gathering of materials, would still take up over 200 years.

Yet now, with the aid of a Sorcerer Academy, Grimm could acquire it within forty years. And he did not need to wait in the four decades just for the tools to be assembled—he could proceed and do something else.

This was one of the reasons as to why the Demon Hunters were always becoming much stronger than the Arcane Sorcerers in the end.