A Sorcerer's Journey - Chapter 93

Chapter 93: Mysterious Realm of Black Isotta III

Grimm gave a shout as he hacked at the crystal and metal rock with his Hydra Greatsword.

The loud sound of the sword against the rock rung in his ears while the rock bore no mark of damage at all. God knows what it was made of and with what sort of processes. It bounced off Grimm’s attack when it had been eroded already.

Nonetheless, the echoes foretold something—the space beneath the rock was hollow and sounded huge. Big surprise.

Grimm walked around it and found a crack on a corner of the rock. It looked like a natural mark caused by geological changes over time. He cleaned the surface of the crack with water which he produced by pulling off some sorcery and an entrance to a cave appeared.

He did not rush into the cave. Instead he sniffed by using his enhanced sense of smell. The smell of earth gushed out, combined with something giving off a repulsive rot. It carried the smell of ancient properties in an enclosed space.

Grimm sent an ultrasonic wave down into the cave, and a spacious room appeared with black and white background colors. On the ceiling hung sundries of sorcerer-design chandeliers, mostly seeming to only function as adornments. In this environment where element density was much thicker stood a huge article…

“This must be a relic from ancient times then. Something not found even by the master of the Black Tower?”

Looking at the small-sized cavity, Grimm said to himself. “Looks like I have to get a little slimmer.”

Under the Grimm Dissimilation, his body started to twist, and soon he became thinner and snuck into the cave.

The Eternal Flame lit, Grimm floated further into the cave by using his attraction/repulsion sorcery, and after some time he landed steadily on the ground.

The ground clanked as his feet touched the “soil”. The clanking sound echoed in the room as dust was whisked off.

“Is a buried history being unveiled?”

Grimm activated his mask to block the dust and further explored this huge unknown space.

It was a huge hole with no end in sight. Countless chandeliers hung overhead were of less use than the few lights shot through from the crack and the fire ball in Grimm’s hand.

As Grimm moved the fire ball around, he found some crystal, cylinders erect in the air, capped with metal wares. The tubes stretched into the darkness deep down.

“Are they the equipment for making some classy creature by sorcerers from ancient times?”

The tubes were over 10 meters long for the shortest and 50 for the longest, permitted by Grimm’s vision, snaking deep down from the very top of the cave. And signs were discovered on them, but they were too blurry to be recognized.

“The signs might be used for the enclose sorcery.”

The biggest crystal ware down there attracted Grimm’s attention. He thrust at it immediately without caring for the consequences, his boots whisking off dust as they clunk against the ground.

Grimm washed it quickly with sorcery-generated water. Heavy layers of dust were rinsed and a clearer view was revealed before him——a huge skeleton within the tube!

It was a long, irregular skeleton. Quite like a gibbon, but with hooves and its head was an octopus’ with endoskeletons. There were many strange little bones, which Grimm had no idea supported which organs. The translucent skeleton became thinner as it was squeezed inside a ware. It was actually floating as if weightless, pliable and flexible.

Barely legible pictographs in red were found in the bottom of the tube.

Grimm tried his best. “A Heteromorphic, infancy, subject 0004. Danger level: highest.”

Grimm was taken aback. He murmured in shock. “This place is indeed a laboratory where ancient sorcerers run experiments. Subject 0004? An infant? A 50 meter long ware to wrap an infant? What kind creature is it? The highest lever danger when it’s just a baby???”

As he was throwing the questions, he noticed a pool of milky liquid in the tube. And it was pulling his soul.

“This extensibility, inclusiveness…Is it the heteromorphic marrow?!” Grimm couldn’t believe what he saw.

There was a legendary material that had become extinct in smeltery. It was called the heteromorphic marrow, found by the sorcerers of ancient times. Because of its extensibility, and inclusiveness, it was ranked as the best raw material for making armors.

“Heteromorphic marrow in such little amount can only be enough to make a shoulder pad.”

As a student, he had of course never had the chance of witnessing one. His eyes were popping out with curiosity. He immediately looked for the switch or something to open this tube and get the marrow.

With it to his facility, he could make a first class magical tool for sure. It was its extensibility, inclusiveness that eventually mattered.

There was one minor setback both at present and in the long term. Grimm sucked at smeltery.

“Never mind…”

Grimm flew to the top end of the tube and started attacking the cap with the water and fire element alternatively.

Using fire for a moment and water for another;this accelerated the erosion of the cap.

Grimm so desired the marrow as if he was an octopus wanting fish as food.

Cool and heat.

The internal structures of the cap were being shaken and started to disintegrate because of the thermal expansion and then contraction. The molecules were being reduced to its smallest state. But this was the theory. The actual change depended on the article’s physical condition and the difference in temperature.

“It won’t take long before this rusty metal breaks…”

With a start Grimm dove into the tube. He collected the white liquids carefully and put it in the space pocket. As he was leaving, the translucent, flexible skeleton caught his attention.

He then slashed his Nine-headed Snake sword at it.

“No way…” Grimm gulped. “It’s as solid as this…”

Grimm had directed his sword at the thinnest part of the skeleton. Thus, such a huge thing would not fit into the space pocket at all. The space pocket was not a real pocket and Grimm was not able to enclose stuff.

At the time Grimm sensed a movement at the crack. He sniffed the familiar smell of owls.

“It’s not good. School’s protector is here!” Grimm got out of the tube in no time and dove down into the darkness.

“Better to stay in here a little longer. The discoveries are nowhere to be found elsewhere.”

Grimm continued his flight downwards in the light of the small fire ball he produced. Tubes containing Heteromorphics flew past.

Suddenly a metal gate appeared in front of Grimm. It appeared to have been attacked by a formidable force. The center of the metal gate was stressed out and the stamp was in the shape of a hoof, the diameter of which was 10 meters. The originally smooth front of the gate protruded some 7 or 8 meters in the center like a creased paper!

“Ah…” Grimm grimaced. He had hacked a tube with his sword just now and it didn’t appear to have made even a dent.

The corner of Grimm’s eye twitched as he took another path.

<pre><code> Dark Night owls cooed, followed by some other unknown hoarse tweetings. Grimm scowled. He put out the flame and tried to make no noise while flying. However, it seemed that the soul slaves of the Black Tower master had their way of discovering/locating their targets. The owls hovered for some time and came toward Grimm directly at full speed. “I’m doomed.” Grimm’s face darkened. Glen descended to the ground and a metal ball lying on the floor caught his attention. “What’s this? Have I seen it somewhere? Oh, isn’t this the bead Machine Heart (Victor) was studying at the mirror drop place back in the first-year student trial?” Grimm knew nothing about mechanics but he speculated that this ball might be some leverage for a trade or something. He put the bead into his pocket as he surveyed the surrounding. At the time, Grimm also discovered that the wall beside him was made up of crystals rather than metals. But this fact would serve no good for Grimm’s escape because he couldn’t break that as well. Grimm could tell the guardians were coming closer and he had discarded his attempt at escaping. Instead out of curiosity, he wiped off the dust coating the surface of a tube beside him. Grimm almost stood dead still! His breath was literally taken. It was an extremely large space inside the tube, so expansive that the place Grimm was in became a wing-room to it. A 300 meter long creature was floating inside, giving off light, green lights. It seemed like a fascinating and hallucinogenic wonderland. Upon closer observation, something more was found. Around the huge skeleton was thousands of smaller, translucent skeletons like ants defending the queen ant. A beautiful view became scarily arcane. After some moments, Grimm’s eyes were set on the countless human skeletons and mechanic wreckage on the ground, lined up and forming up a carpet. Terror stuck Grimm. He could almost hear the loud shouts as the many ancient sorcerers fought each other. “What happened? Where is this place? Somebody tell me please.” “Got ya.” An owl landed on Grimm’s shoulder. Grimm couldn’t resist at all as the surrounding repulsive forces assaulted him. His body was stretched thin and the next second he had disappeared.</code></pre>