A Sorcerer's Journey - Chapter 127

Chapter 127: Competition Stage?

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just now in the dusky sky, there had been a golden radiance which looked like a meteorite streaking across the horizon, disappearing from view. In the next moment, what appeared to be a fiery scorching sun “carried forward and followed” with majestic, unstoppable force, like a giant creature from the bottom of the ocean hunting some snacks to stuff between its teeth.

The Sorcerer-Apprentices scattered all around the 12th could not help but raise their heads and look up gaping, eyes filled with shock, until the dazzling radiance completely left their sights.

Millie and Mina stopped.

“Big Sister, that is…” Mina seemed to have thought of something. Her expression became unsightly upon sensing those familiar magic waves and indescribable attraction force.

Millie nodded indifferently, still appearing in poor health. She said with anguish, “This… is precisely the true way of ancient sorcerers which Father had spoken of. Whilst probing at profound meanings and truths, the cloak of moons and stars, cutting away the thorny undergrowth, subsisting on wind and dew[1]. Uncovering all the falsities which veil the path of the formidable sorcerers from antiquity!”

Mina lowered her head and sorrowfully murmured, “What is the Body of Flame to you?”

Millie patted this willful, haughty and tyrannic little sister with fiery-red hair who had been spoiled by their father from childhood. Quietly, she said, “To him, who follows the way of sorcerers from ancient times, so-called gifts… are nothing but a single step toward even greater heights. A cornerstone ten-thousand fathoms below the sorcerer tower. A fleeting, beautiful memory of an inexhaustible life.”

In only a split second, the two radiant lights pierced across the horizon and disappeared from Millie’s and Mina’s view.

At this moment, it was as if the two were like the foil that sets off the endless brilliance of the protagonist.

While Mina was being consoled by her older sister, she raised her head with great effort and forced a smile. “Heh heh. Ashen Mask Grimm, you prove yourself worthy as a Sorcerer-Apprentice I, Sun’s Child, took a fancy to. As expected… my eyes were the most correct! But fate had played out so that I was later than Black Isotta’s Lefay to meet you…”

Millie shook her head while smiling softly.

‘I’m afraid that without father taking care of you and the Body of Flame, you would no longer be the Sun’s Child.’

Everything was the foregone conclusion of impartial reality, not fate.

…

Meanwhile, in the sorcerer continent’s Holy Tower Tryouts’ obelisk area, overhead a stone pillar at the direct center. Following the traces of ripples in the incorporeal space, Otherworld Beings appeared inside the Mysterious Realm, one by one.

These life forms unexpectedly all possessed the strength of School Guardians!

“Plunder enough for ten-thousand points and stay alive until the end of this competition stage, and your tragic fates will all come to an end—you will be able to obtain freedom and a new life.” A voice via the soul was briefly transmitted within every Otherworld Being’s soul.

Freedom…

New life…

All the Otherworld life forms trembled, endless longing breaking out within their eyes. One after another, they charged toward any student they sensed. On their foreheads were a chain mark shaped like a skull and crossbones[2].

…

An hourglass’ worth of time passed during the rapid flight of the two radiant streaks of lights, and they had traversed across the 12th to arrive at the 13th Section.

Beneath the Ashen Mask, Grimm was gritting his teeth as he held a magic stone to replenish his magic. “This Lightwing is really enigmatic beyond comparison just based on this sort of flight speed. Were it not for my endless use of Spatial Force to warp and flicker, I would not have been able to keep up. In addition, he seems to have other techniques…”

Hmph!

Grimm knew perfectly well that even if he overtook the other, it was uncertain whether he’d find the opportunity to force his opponent to leave the Mysterious Realm. But as he had already swept across all five areas and hadn’t found any other worthy adversaries, Grimm might as well genuinely attempt it once.

*Shu! Shu!*

Each and every time Grimm flitted across the ground, nearby Sorcerer-Apprentices would raise their heads without exception and look with astonishment until Grimm rapidly disappeared into the horizon. As for Lightwing Yerko Dar, he was automatically overlooked by everyone.

The 13th and 14th Sections both had Grimm sweep by for two hourglasses’ worth of time. After that, Grimm had arrived at the 11th while chasing Yerko Dar.

At this very moment, even though Grimm was obviously somewhat tired, Yerko Dar who was ahead of him was also clearly not as fast as before. However, Grimm couldn’t get an opportunity to act due to the distance, while there were only a few hourglasses’ worths of time left in this final period of the Holy Tower Tryouts.

Hm?

Suddenly, Grimm’s gaze shifted, drawn to focus on the distinct traces of a large-scale battle on the ground. Finally, eyeing Yerko Dar who was in the sky still unceasingly fleeing, he let out a helpless sigh before giving up the pursuit. He looked toward the ground where there was the aftermath of a large battle in the area and rushed over.

“Oh! It’s that one foreign Sorcerer-Apprentice target!” A student on the ground caught sight of Grimm and immediately shouted loudly.

At the same time, several students that cut a sorry figure unhesitatingly broke the badges in their hands and the value of Grimm’s chain mark rapidly increased.

Nevertheless, Grimm remained unmoved. His eyes narrowed before he dashed into a very large pit 7-to-8 meters wide which had a corpse at its center.

After Grimm dropped down, the surrounding sorry-looking students that had gathered because of this situation, who hadn’t directly left the Mysterious Realm, scattered in succession and ran away in fright. Grimm, however, took no notice of this. His gaze was locked onto what was before him: a female Otherworld life form with a height of only around 1.5 meters who had the head of a bird and a human body.

Its entire body was covered with green feathers as strong as steel, and the several unusual-looking garlands hung on its two claws clearly showed this was an Otherworld Being that possessed intelligence.

Raising his head, Grimm scanned every trace of the battle. He muttered, “I guess this was where the 11th Section students prepared a trap for me before? But quite clearly this being had inadvertently rushed right in before a large battle completely destroyed those traps. Afterward, I then flew back here.”

“This being the case, it explains why all those students from a moment ago apparently recognized my appearance and why they were all very afraid.” Grimm gradually guessed the course of events.

Lowering his head, Grimm once again looked at this Otherworld life form’s corpse.

“However, what’s going on with this Otherworld Being? This is the Holy Tower Tryouts. Moreover, the Holy Tower Tryouts has been conducted here in this Mysterious Realm for who knows how many times. To be in a world fragment around the sorcerer world makes it basically impossible to have an Otherworld Being barging in. In that case… it’s quite likely to be a special arrangement for the Holy Tower Tryouts.”

Wrinkling his brow, Grimm arrived at a conjecture. “Could this be a special gift prepared by the Holy Tower for Sorcerer-Apprentices, allowing the students participating in the tryouts to research this Otherworld Being?

“The Holy Tower Tryouts actually also had this kind of reward!” Grimm’s eyes shone. He actually picked up this corpse of the Otherworld Being and rapidly flew toward the 12th Section.

Let’s hope there’s still time to get the 12th’s reward!

At this very moment, Grimm’s way of thinking had already gradually begun to break away from the common student’s. When it came to other students, the Otherworld Beings were no different than a catastrophe, while in Grimm’s eyes, it was a “reward” from those higher-ups in the Holy Tower.

Harboring boundless excitement in his heart, Grimm made a beeline toward the 12th Section.

There wasn’t a lot of time left. Grimm was not certain whether he could get this special reward in the remaining time nor did he know if he could obtain this reward a second time.

Three hourglasses’ worth of time passed.

Grimm gazed ahead to where an Otherworld Being was chasing Winter Ice Soul Bethany. Slightly disappointed, he remarked, “The reward is entirely the same?”

Anyway, when all was said and done, it was an Otherworld life form. Grimm couldn’t say for sure, but perhaps Senior-Apprentice Brother Varro would be willing to pay a high price to add to his collection.

With this thought, Grimm immediately charged toward the Otherworld Being without the slightest hesitation. The pupils of Winter Ice Soul Bethany, who was built like a ball, became pinpricks. Her hand that was holding the thick chain of the meteor hammer trembled slightly.

…

An hourglass’ worth of time passed.

*Huu…*

Grimm waved a hand and the Greedy Flame Giant and Bloodlust Puppet dispersed. Catching his breath somewhat, he said, “Even though their skill compared to legendary students are lacking to a large degree, their tough skin and thick-fleshed body plus their frightening power actually managed to suppress me. Only… it appears the Ashen Mask’s defensive cover has somewhat improved in the time before meeting these Otherworld Beings, even if this improvement currently has no big significance for me. Still, what’s going on? Furthermore… after killing these Otherworld Beings, I actually got more than 4500 points?”

“The Ashen Mask’s complete defensive cover seems to contain some special alchemical knowledge,” said Grimm with a frown.

(This early plot point will be unraveled. Quite a lot of people most likely didn’t pay attention that the defensive cover has an “outstanding attribute” kind of capability. It doesn’t have the characteristic energy traits to be capable of all-around defense.)

It just so happened that he needed to return once to the Black Isotta Tower in a low-profile way to accomplish two matters.

One of them was to gain the corresponding alchemy knowledge of this Ashen Mask.

However, he had to think about it carefully at present on what personal knowledge that he could pay for the price. Sorcerers always regarded knowledge as the most valuable thing, and not paying the appropriate price would absolutely get you nothing whatsoever.

But the Ashen Mask’s refinement knowledge was very important to him. After all, this was the first prototype of the Mask of Truth.

…

Half an hourglass’ worth of time passed.

Right when Grimm was in the middle of studying his “spoils of war,” he suddenly jolted. Some kind of soul waves faintly spread from the stone pillar beside Grimm and arrived within his soul.

“All students participating in the Holy Tower Tryouts. Aside from the 200 students with the highest amount of points that qualifies to be a reserve Demon-Hunter outside, every group’s students within the Holy Tower Tryouts can still gain the top reward. And this top reward is none other than… the absolute promotion to formal sorcerer! Children of the sorcerer world, compete on stage with your existing knowledge and experience against the formidable Otherworld Beings. Kill them and you will obtain all the points they have robbed. This will be your final opportunity to vie for the top prize. The Sorcerer World’s future and hopes rest in you all. Go fight relentlessly. You only need to stop at the top of any obelisk and execute an attack of 150 degrees once. Right away, you will be sent to the competition stage above!”

A Fire Blast Spell broke open the center of the huge pit. Grimm slowly lifted his head, his eyes igniting with dazzling radiance.

The final opportunity to vie for the top prize?

These Otherworld Beings actually weren’t rewards set up for the Holy Tower Tryouts?

In that case…

With the barest of hesitation, Grimm picked up the two Otherworld Being corpses he had obtained and flew above the peak of the stone pillar next to him. An ax dropped down in the next moment.

(The Otherworld Being’s carcass is too big to be placed in that type of low-level disposable space pocket.)