A Sorcerer’s Journey

Under the shadow of the great Seven Rings Tree of Life, a small black dot slid to the end of a branch and dropped onto the ground.

Countless shadows flew by above the small black dot. The Tree of Life was humongous and towered over everything, it seemed to be the sky’s supporting pillar. Numerous high-level Demon-Hunter fortresses were built between its branches. Once in a while, Soul Slaves from another world could be seen busily running chores from one to another fortress.

Glenn landed on one of the Tree of Life’s root lightly. The root was huge like a hill, densely packed with assortments of residential houses that formed a path. The path was filled with sorcerers going about with their busy schedules.

Before Glenn’s body touched the ground, it reacted to a certain smell in the air, triggering certain desires and hormones which caused some sort of liquid to overflow in his mouth.

It was the human craving for delicious food.

Delicacy Captives not only craved for food to comfort their taste buds and hunger, but their basic spiritual needs required unique delicious cuisines to stay satisfied.

To survive, satisfaction was not judged by one’s self but the power and energy level surrounding all living creatures. Such was the law of balance in the Endless Worlds. There were a variety of energy-balancing seals and spells. All of them used the law of balance to keep the energy stored in another isolated World Space, sealing them at a different place.

Humans fed to sustain their bodies, and they called what they eat as food.

Different types of living creatures required different forms of food. Some species even fed on the weak ones just to maintain their energy level. As long as those things could provide higher tier beings with a great amount of energy, they would be in high demand to be served as food.

Every living creature released different emotions depending on the energy they received from food.

That was what was defined as Exquisite Cuisine.

Some sorcerers pursued Exquisite Cuisines to satisfy their hunger at the spiritual level. Some sorcerers only wanted to consume food that brought about positive effects on themselves. Hence they paid more attention to and studied the emotional changes of other sorcerers when consuming a certain type of food. These sorcerers turned into Delicacy Captives.

To answer and fulfill the needs of these Delicacy Captives, some Ougi Sorcerers focused only on Exquisite Cuisines and their benefits, becoming distinctive Gourmets in the Sorcerers World.

Boom!

With just one step on the roots of the Tree of Life a person would be instantly exposed to the moisture of its bark’s breath. It might not have any effect on a sorcerer apprentice, but it created a great disturbance for those who could control the force of nature.

‘Hmm? This feeling… Without a doubt, the Tree of Life has become part of the Sorcerer World’s law. Just like the other World Guardians, it has blended completely with the Will of the Sorcerers World. They themselves have started to behave like one who existed between reality and illusion, that is how they can produce the force of nature.’

Glenn was enlightened by what he felt.

Glenn levitated ever so slightly, as he hovered near to the surface and gazed upon the shops selling delicious food. He did not pay much attention to the sorcerers passing by. Everybody seemed to be able to keep their distance between each other at all times.

This was the famous Seven Rings Street of Exquisite Cuisine!

Every rare and delicious food could be found on this street. Other than food that had a physical form, there were also elemental beings, rare jewels harvested from World Cultivations, and certain energy forms of Nature Force.

Of course, high-quality food ingredients for human sorcerers were sold here as well.

Glenn took his time to stop and look at every stall, yet only one shop selling red fluid truly caught his attention.

“What is this?”

Under his Ashen Mask, Glenn’s eyes were fixed on a small vial filled with magma-like liquid. It emitted a very delicious smell, almost like a tasty scallop.

That smell was wonderful!

The store manager was a sorceress with half of her face decorated with silver scales. She responded to Glenn’s question while closing her book, “This is a vial of Fin Dolphin’s blood from the Oceanic World. Rated in the range of thirty-eight degrees to forty-seven degrees of high-class fire elemental energy food material, it is best served as the finishing touch for any Exquisite Cuisine which lacks fire element…”

Never had Glenn been exposed to the Gourmets’ basic knowledge of delicious ingredient mixture. He could barely understand a word she uttered.

Out of his basic desire, his intuition led him to ask, “So, what’s its price?”

Delighted by Glenn’s intention of buying the vial, the sorceress’s eyes opened wide as she replied, “If you pay using Magic Stones, it costs you one milliliter of a mid-grade Magic Stone. If it’s Sorcerer Essences you have, you will get one hundred live dolphins with just one piece, and a small gift of one liter of Fin Dolphin’s blood.”

Glenn pondered upon her offer and cautiously said, “I will take three hundred milliliters for a start.”

With a small gesture, Glenn opened a Dimensional Gap which was invisible to all other sorcerers except him. Three pieces of high-grade Magic Stones appeared on his palm and he handed them over to the sorceress.

It was common to own such an artifact that bent space for the safe-keeping of items. The sorceress was not surprised at all.

Since Glenn only intended to shop with Magic Stones, the sorceress was no longer interested in dealing with him. The trade ended quickly.

Moments later, Glenn saw several huge “fruits” as tall as three meters in a distance. It looked like Sorcerer World’s spinach, except they had soft tentacles on their skin. Plus, they could glow in the dark like jellyfish.

Glenn’s footsteps faltered at this sight and a few other sorcerers did the same. They seemed to be charmed by the same thing.

On the gigantic fruit, there was a sign hanging on it. On the sign, it was written that the fruit was called “Bolinse”, a rare food ingredient that came from another world. It cost three pieces of Sorcerer Essences each and no Magic Stones were accepted as payment.

Glenn tilted his head and called out to a male sorcerer with bulky arms, “Excuse me, in the world where Bolinse comes from, what is the size of the natives who cultivate them?”

The half-naked male Sorcerer took a glimpse of Glenn and replied, “Their heights range from ten meters to a hundred meters or more. They are of the same species as humans.”

Glenn nodded and left the place.

Glenn craved for the Life and Water Element within the Bolinse, yet when it came to Sorcerer Essences, Glenn would not make any hasty decisions. He moved on to look at other things somewhere else.

Further down the street, there was a delicate cylindrical metal cage, but nobody could see what was in it. However, with the help of his Demon-Hunter nose and Ashen Mask, Glenn ‘sensed’ a group of small creatures moving about in the cage like little sparrows.

“Hey there, these are flawless fats. One high-grade Magic Stone each.”

It seemed that no sorcerer has stopped at this stall for quite some time judging by the store manager’s reaction. He was excited when he noticed that Glenn was interested in his stock. There was a toothpick dangling from his mouth while he was talking.

Glenn did not respond for awhile, quietly embracing the moment…

“This feeling… Yes, it has to be. These flawless fat creatures are feeding on sound! My Ashen Mask’s power is based on sound, and it’s making these creatures go crazy!” Glenn exclaimed, amazed by what he was witnessing.

What would happen if Hill Woods of the Holy Tower’s qualification battle found these little creatures?

With two high-grade Magic Stones, Glenn purchased two ‘flawless fats’.

Glenn continued on with his stroll and stopped once more.

There was a thirty meters tall building with a few giant hooks hanging on its ceiling. An enormous corpse hung on top of it, covered in fresh blood. A butcher sorcerer was chopping the corpse into pieces. As a part of its wings fell, golden blood gushed out from the corpse. It smelled like fresh lemonade.

Glenn saw the price on the signboard and joined the existing queue. Everyone took out a few pieces of high-grade Magic Stones, ready for their purchase.

A large piece of cheap meat from a different world’s creature was indeed favored by many sorcerers.

***

After three hourglasses of time and having spent a large number of Magic Stones, Glenn still could not decide which ingredient he should spend those precious Sorcerer Essences on.

Glenn would definitely not spend them on luxurious restaurants.

In those restaurants, there would be some famous Gourmets preparing food which would then be served to their customers fresh out of the oven. The dishes were balanced in every way, every bite was enchanted and the delightful presentation would be sublime to just anyone who eats them. They were exquisitely delicious and there was no denying that fact.

However, not just any common sorcerer could afford to dine in such restaurants and experience the heavenly taste of these exquisite dishes.

A low-class sorcerer would never want to spend that large number of Magic Stones and Sorcerer Essences just for some taste bud satisfaction.

Glenn pitied Master Peranos for being married to his wife, Alice. He had no doubt whatsoever that Alice had transformed her husband into her own Delicacy Captive. Glenn would rather die than believe Peranos had gotten hitched to Alice solely because he loved her cooking.

Nevertheless, Alice was a wise woman.

The best way to a man’s heart?

Is through his stomach.

Glenn needed to do more research on the value of one piece of Sorcerer Essence, then only could he decide how to effectively utilize a Sorcerer Essence to help him boost his passive ability and resistance.

A surge of magic power was conjured. By controlling the force of nature, Glenn sent himself flying to another Tree of Life root.