A Sorcerer's Journey - Chapter 516

Chapter 516: The Dreadlord III

Ten years later.

Over the past decade, Grimm seemed to have lost his heart. His only focus had been collecting Fright Energy in this city, which was under the protection of the Tricolor Fairies of the fairytale law.

In the beginning, Grimm invested 2,000 points of Fright Energy on four separate occasions, which gave him constant returns of 2 to 3 Fright Energy points every night. Thus, Grimm’s pool of investment grew larger by the day and for now, he was receiving over 10 points of Fright Energy every night!

With his accumulation of more than 22,000 points of Fright Energy, Grimm was able to raise his constitution by more than 1,000 points all while remaining in the interiors of the Nightmare World!

Although this was far below the standard that was expected of a Dreadlord Servant, Grimm had become one of the Horrifying Creatures that lurked the Nightmare World.

Such an exceptional growth rate was virtually unheard of since the Nightmare World’s capitulation to the Ancient Sorcerers World.

After all, Nightmare Draws typically did not form into a chronic disturbance unlike that of the Sorceress-Apprentice’s infant. This was because it would usually dissipate once one arrived in the Nightmare World.

Also, only within this human city with a population numbered over ten million residents could Grimm, who was considered a relatively weak and puny being, find a constant supply of Nightmare Draws.

When Grimm had finally understood what his rumored Nightmare Power was, which was stealth and concealment, he could not help but feel surprised and a little satisfied.

With such a horrifying Nightmare Power, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that, one day, Grimm would rise up to become The Dreadlord.

This stealth ability, enabled by the concealment of the Tricolor Fairies of the fairytale law, gave Grimm physical access to most parts of the Nightmare World without facing any obstructions. The outposts of the Sorcerers World had little effect on Grimm overall in his unstoppable quest to absorb a mind-boggling amount of Fright Energy.

Perhaps some Dreadlords had billions, or tens of billions of Fright Energy in reserve. However, the number of Nightmare Draws and the energy required to create nightmares they have harvested everyday was limited to roughly the same rate as Grimm’s, which was around 10 points per day.

This did not benefit the Dreadlords, not one bit.

Even so, the rate at which Grimm was collecting Fright Energy belonged to the only method that did not face any containment strategies targeted by the Ancient Sorcerers on the path of advancement toward becoming a Dreadlord.

In the Sorcerers World, it was basically unthinkable to the Horrifying Creatures of the Nightmare World for Grimm to collect Fright Energy in such a carefree manner within such a massive city of over ten billion people. In fact, this was and still is the final obstacle which prevented most Dreadlord Servants from advancing toward their final destination!

Otherwise, considering how many years had passed, it would be impossible for the Nightmare World to have such a meager number of Dreadlords despite the Sorcerers’ restrictions on them.

Fright Energy was similar to Despair Energy, in that it could only be extracted from within the body of a living being.

Which was to say, when the Nightmare World abandoned a weaker world which was previously under its parasitic control in exchange for a much stronger new world to infest itself in, the reserves of Fright Energy would be reduced to null regardless of whether one was the Dreadlord himself, or the Dreadlord’s Servants.

As for the Nightmare Creatures, everytime they abandoned a weak world to infest a more powerful world, it would usher in a new life which to them was rejuvenating.

In the Ancient World that they had infested prior to the Sorcerers World, a pattern could be observed in every world they had invaded, which was that after a set period of time, there would be countless terrifying Dreadlords of the Nightmare World roaming the surface. As for the native creatures of that particular world, they would have their thoughts hijacked by the Nightmare Creatures, thus invading their enemies from within as parasites.

Perhaps due to this feature, the Sorcerers World added the word “Nightmare” in front of their originally designated name of “Bizarre Civilization”.

However, the Ancient Sorcerers proceeded to uncover the Nightmare World’s secrets and subsequently invaded their realm using an ingenious method devised by a high-level Sorcerer, banishing these immortal Nightmare Creatures into a pit of eternal silence.

Theoretically, these Dreadlords were immortal. However, if one managed to kill them, it would disperse all the Fright Energy it had accumulated throughout its existence. The Dreadlord would then return to being your run-of-the-mill creature that plagued the Nightmare World.

According to legends, the Fright Energy which the Dreadlords possessed once belonged to other Dreadlords that preceded it who were killed in order to obtain their powers.

In other words, once a challenger Dreadlord slaughtered an opponent Dreadlord, the Fright Energy his slain enemy possessed would be incorporated into his own powers. Such a cold-blooded approach to amass Fright Energy was one of the most secure methods a Dreadlord could use in order to regenerate itself in the Nightmare World.

Though, for the regular Nightmare Creatures, it was not possible to absorb the Fright Energy that was scattered upon its enemy’s death.

Ten years ago, however, Grimm had continuously collected Fright Energy from the aftermath of the attacks of the Tricolor Fairies on the Dream Watcher King. Grimm’s ability to absorb the scattered Fright Energy of his fellow Nightmare Creatures was definitely something out of the ordinary.

Gradually, Grimm had come to realize something.

Perhaps…

This was his actual Nightmare Power!?

Every Nightmare Creature possessed Nightmare Powers with characteristics unique to its user.

As for the stealth ability that most of the other Nightmare Creatures thought was Grimm’s Nightmare Power, was in fact just a side effect of the Sorcerers World’s Principal Will working together with his Awakening Ray. To put it simply, it was not his true Nightmare Power.

What his true Nightmare Power was, was in actuality the unheard of ability of absorbing fallen Nightmare Creatures’ Fright Energy into his own reserves.

Such an ability, should be rightfully named the “Jaeger” ability.

With the supplementing Principal Will of the Sorcerers World as well as the Awakening Ray, Grimm’s concealment allowed him to collect Fright Energy at an alarming rate in the Nightmare World. At this rate, if Grimm were to continue evading detection by that Sweeping Sorcerer, it would take him at most another twenty thousand years before he could then advance into the ranks of the Dreadlords.

In the eyes of his fellow Nightmare Creatures, this was such an envious position!

Twenty thousand years spent in the Spectral World. Such words had no meaning let alone weight for the immortal Nightmare Creatures.

The Sorcerers World was after all, considered by the Nightmare World to be an “outsider” high-tier world. The Nightmare World had completely cut itself off from the Sorcerers World at this point.

As for the troubles the Sorcerers World was facing, say for example that “Metal Destroyer” Civilization that they would clash with thousands of years into the future, the Nightmare Creatures seemingly felt nothing knowing this fact…

No!

It was not that they did not feel anything.

On the contrary, it was as the Nightmare World had hoped for. That the Sorcerers World would be defeated by creatures from another world, which would provide them with a chance to infest a new world. This was much more preferable than being “sealed off” by the sorcerers, accompanying the Sorcerers World as it slowly marched toward its impending death forty thousand years later.

But what about twenty thousand years to Grimm?

By that time, he would no longer be receiving new knowledge about the Endless World under the knowledge laws of the Sorcerers. Due to this, Grimm had started questioning his eligibility to be identified as a Sorcerer.

By then, what Grimm feared the most would probably come true, that he would become like the other creatures roaming the Nightmare World. He would forget his own nature and grow into an ugly, hairy ape that so well-suited the attributes of the Nightmare World.

To continuously harvest Fright Energy at an exponential rate for the next twenty thousand years?

Perhaps after that period, Grimm would have fully adapted to the laws of the Nightmare World. He would lose his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a trait commonly shared between Sorcerers. If so, could he still be called a Sorcerer?

A Sorcerer’s knowledge was not something that was achievable within a sealed space.

There must be an exchange of information between the Sorcerer and his fellow peers. No one cared if the interaction was superficial, what was most important was that the other sorcerers’ findings could be used as a frame of reference for one’s own research. Similarly, one would not hesitate to share knowledge discovered in a new world with his comrades so that the pool of information would continue to grow, fuelling the Sorcerers World’s research progress.

As such, Grimm’s current plan to escape this realm, which was to advance into a Dreadlord before defeating the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord seemed to be working against his wishes as it would inevitably turn him into a Nightmare Creature sooner or later.

If this went on any longer, to the point where he would undergo rebirth, Grimm would cease to be Sorcerer Grimm, but Nightmare Grimm!

After twenty thousand years of being nurtured under the laws of the Nightmare World, Grimm’s hopes of re-embarking on the evolutionary path of the Sorcerer Civilization would be close to zero.

Grimm would morph into another Nightmare Creature, stuck in its eternal struggle to find a more powerful creature in a stronger world with a greater potential to possess in order to fulfil what was the so-called “rebirth” process. Perhaps this was the evolutionary path of the Nightmare World’s civilization itself.

Black Isotta once said that Grimm’s only way out was to find Judgment Staff Stigmata Sorcerer, which made sense.

However…

Now that Grimm’s “Jaeger” Nightmare Power had appeared, the reality of his situation had changed!

What this meant was that, provided Grimm did not scatter the Fright Energy he had collected after his death, he could speed up the process in which he would be collecting the energy at an exponentially faster rate as he continued to kill stronger and stronger Nightmare Creatures. The stronger the monster he killed the more his strength would grow, but more importantly, the greater his harvest!

It made all the sense in the world for Grimm to give his personal ability such a befitting name as the Jaeger ability.

Gripping the Sabbatic Goat Staff, the pair of dual-colored eyes underneath the Mask of Truth peered into the horizon with glints of hope.

“It’s time to leave the refuge of this city and to continue my journey in search of Judgment Staff Stigmata Sorcerer. From today onwards, my name shall be the Nightmare Jaeger!”

The black sun of the Nightmare World rose up from the horizon, indicating the arrival of a new day.

Grimm, who had received 22,000 points of Fright Energy after ten years of collecting it patiently in this very city, finally bid his farewell and left for one more journey.