A Sorcerer’s Journey

Seventeen days later.

During this period, Grimm had already come across the edge of the Narrow World a total of 322 times. This World-Core Fragment was constantly changing its form, like a soft jelly with an irregular shape.

As usual, today was a boring one for Grimm. As he was passing through the chaotic energy ribbons, the shadow of a peculiar object in the upper corner caught his attention.

“I found it, it’s the Metal-Castle Laboratory!”

With a height of over 300 meters, the enormous building was exuding a bleak metallic luster, befitting its name. The main castle was connected to dozens of other domiciles, and an energy harvesting device was mounted on the top of each domicile. Most of them seemed to be damaged; only a few were still running, emitting flashes of sparks.

The metal castle appeared to be a tilted floating object in the air as there was no sky and ground in the Narrow World. Adjusting himself to the same angle as the castle, Grimm cautiously hovered towards it.

According to Dwarf Tinman, the metal castle was originally an aircraft for ancient machinists. Then it was transformed into a laboratory by her grandmaster. Hereafter, her master resided in this metal castle when the experiment suddenly went south.

“Hmm?”

Six deep claw marks could be observed on the metal gate of the castle. They are most likely made by Dwarf Tinman’s master who had now become a mindless monster.

“Now that I don’t have the protection of sorcerer barriers, I should be extra cautious against attacks like these,” Grimm mumbled to himself.

A slight creak sounded as Grimm pushed open a gap on the seven-meter tall gate. He stepped into the castle with a grim expression on his face, and the metal gate closed automatically.

Shards of magic crystal lamps were scattered on the metal floor along with other random items. With some unknown mechanism, the metal castle was even able to simulate gravity in this building.

Grimm noticed something and picked it up from amongst the items on the floor—a scale. With a shape similar to a shell, the scale was a hue of turquoise, patternless and appeared to be made up of very hard material. It seemed like the scale of an ancient invertebrate creature.

“Could it be that the monster self-evolves?” Grimm wondered.

“No, it looks more like a rejection response.” Grimm shook his head in disagreement. “Just like Bloodline Sorcery, without constant self-will, these foreign objects will soon be rejected from the sorcerer’s body. Then they will either mutate or be discharged from the body.

The metal castle was unexpectedly dust-free and fresh, probably due to the fact that there were no cells metabolizing from living things.

After walking through a metal hallway, Grimm arrived in an assembly hall. The walls of the castle hall were full of claw marks, similar to the ones Grimm found on the main gate. A once luxurious chandelier had now fallen to the ground, obsolete and completely broken.

After a brief inspection in the hall, Grimm found a large trace of metal dissolution on the floor. He touched the trace and tried to extract information from it. It was most likely the after-effect of the Instinct Sorcery which had been infused into the body cells of the monster.

“By the looks of it, this should be some kind of Corrosive Sorcery. Ice attribute sorcery should be able to counter it to some extent,” Grimm muttered.

He looked around the hall and contemplated.

The greatest wealth of a sorcerer is his collection of sorcery knowledge, and Grimm did not intend to let the hidden treasure in this castle go to waste. Nonetheless, searching all the rooms in the metal castle would require a great deal of time. It would be advisable to eliminate the mindless monster first before searching the place.

Grimm opened a Dimensional Gap and took out a bagful of high-purity combustars and magic stones, and began to set up magical arrays in the hall.

The preparation was complete after a full hourglass. Grimm briefly tested the magical arrays to make sure they were working properly. After nodding in satisfaction, he swiftly left the grand hall.

The air was full of a disgusting, loathsome stench. Most of the rooms were empty as Grimm searched across them. Some rooms that were used to store experiment materials were now in ruins, with the specimens half-eaten.

As Grimm went deeper into the metal castle, he stopped in front of a door protected by Magic Interdiction. He cast Eternal Flame on his palm and pressed against it.

Buzz!

The Magic Interdiction resisted and flickered for a moment, and was dispelled by the Eternal Flame. Now that the spell had disappeared, Grimm then proceeded to creak open the metal door.

“What on earth is that?”

It was an empty room. Grimm abruptly caught sight of a mysterious black metal ball sitting in the middle of the floor. His eyes flickered as he hesitantly walked toward the metal ball.

The metal ball was about three meters in diameter. It seemed to have been made out of an unusual material as it felt a little soft when touched, not to mention that it required an elemental code to operate. It was a quaint magic tool.

The Holy Towers had a faction of Bright Demon-Hunters that specialized in deciphering elemental codes. They could be of help in cracking the metal ball.

“This is unexpected… I have no idea what it is. I’ll keep it just in case.” Grimm placed the metal ball into the Dimensional Gap without hesitation.

Grimm contentedly left the empty room and continued searching the other rooms.

There was a laboratory that had been used to store insect specimens. It was now in a mess with the specimens missing.

The next room was a laboratory for plant specimens which was in a chaotic jumble now. Grimm found an orange vine bud that could take root on metal covered debris. He carefully picked it up and kept it in the Dimensional Gap.

The library floor was shattered with torn and tattered books. Feeling contrite over their sorry state, Grimm recovered the books and scrolls that were still recognizable.

About half an hourglass later, Green finally stopped at a lobby door.

“Found you!”

Grimm instantly activated his Wild Instinct Level 1 and entered into a fighting stance. He cautiously observed the deformed monster as layers of scales covered his body.

The creature was crawling on all fours on the wall like a gecko while munching on a scroll of sheepskin.

Its hind limbs were extraordinarily stout, with some leftover scales still attached to them. There seemed to be some suckers under the monster’s feet that enabled it to crawl on walls. The six sharp nails on its forelimbs were glowing faintly, curved like the tip of a dagger.

The scales on its body had completely fallen off, exposing its red muscle tissue underneath. The beast was brandishing its fangs while sniffing back and forth with its nose.

The big mouth on the monster’s abdomen was exuding Despair Breath. It appeared to be some kind of mutation, most likely due to a transplant of a Black Sorcerer’s body cells.

“Meat…!” The mindless beast noticed Grimm and charged toward him at full speed.

Its sharp, dagger-like claws ripped open the metal wall like it was made of paper. With the aid of the suckers under its feet, it was able to maneuver on the wall like flat ground.

The monsters jumped and landed in front of Grimm. Then it swung both of its claws at him with all its might.

“Haa!”

Grimm swiftly jumped and evaded the attack. The metal floor was instantly cut through with twelve claw marks.

Grimm pounded the monster’s head onto the ground. He quickly collected its life signals, leaped backward and cast multiple Firebird Spells at the monster.

Boom boom boom!

The raging flames instantly engulfed the monster. Grimm walked toward one of the magical arrays with a piece of minced meat in his hand. It was meant to be used as bait.

The monster was surprisingly easy to deal with when compared to what Grimm had observed from the crystal ball’s projection.

“Perhaps it’s malnourished?” Grimm chuckled.

Dwarf Tinman most likely did not explore the Narrow World again as her strength fell sharply after she was reincarnated. Nevertheless, even with the monster’s current power level, it would still be too much to handle for the likes of an Arcane Sorcerer.

Grimm prepared for Curse Sorcery while quietly waiting for the monster to enter the magical array he had set up earlier.

Grr-roarr!

A ferocious shadow scurried out of the flame and then plunged into the magical array. The magical array became unexpectedly difficult to control after the monster intruded.

“Could this be because it used to be a Magical Array Master?” A thought suddenly came to Grimm’s mind.

This explained the powerful Magic Interdictions Grimm found around Dwarf Tinman’s castle.

With Grimm’s second-rate mastery of Magic Interdiction, it would only be enough to bamboozle the likes of low-level Foreign World’s creatures, or perhaps sorcerer’s apprentices.

Grimm could not help but feel annoyed. It was indeed embarrassing that the Magic Interdiction he spent hours setting up was so easily dispelled by a former sorcerer who had now become a mindless beast.

“No matter… Frost Greatsword!”

Grimm took a deep breath, before sloppily casting Curse Sorcery while stretching one hand out. A giant sword made of ice instantly formed in his hand.

The surrounding temperature seemed to drop all of a sudden, and flakes of ice crystals started fluttering around.

Grimm had spent years mastering his ice elemental sorcery after inheriting Millie’s Ice Marrow. He completed this spell during the three-month rehabilitation period in Dwarf Tinman’s castle. The basis of this spell was similar to how the Savage Flame Giant forged the Lava Greatsword.

Ptooey!

The monster spat a ball of black water toward Grimm.

He swiftly swung the Frost Greatsword to block the vicious spit. This attack was unquestionably extremely powerful—half of the sword eroded and melted away in an instant.

Creak…

Grimm amassed his magic power, and the Frost Greatsword was re-forged anew.

Without hesitation, Grimm dashed toward the famished creature with the greatsword.

After about one-eighth of an hourglass…

The Frost Greatsword turned into flakes of ice crystals, flurrying in the air.

Shaking his head, Grimm kicked the chunks of meat on the ground, or whatever was left of the monster. He still wanted to continue exploring the metal castle for more valuable loot. All of a sudden, he heard a strange sound coming from the monster’s remains.

Thump-thump…

A faint heartbeat could be heard from the inside of its chest.

“The Heart of Vitality!” Grimm yelled.

He quickly ripped open the monster’s chest and a bloody heart that was still beating appeared before his eyes.