A Sorcerer’s Journey

Right after Julni and Victor entered the room, they were greeted by a Myna with shining feathers. The Myna was wearing a red bow tie on its chest, holding a small wooden mallet.

‘Hmm?’

A Bright Sorcerer like Julni was hopelessly drawn to such a beautiful creature, she was completely intrigued by the presence of the Myna.

Her reaction was exactly what Master Peranos had previously described—”merely a student that possesses the strength of a sorcerer”, naive and immature.

“Grimm, is this your soul slave?” asked Julni while pointing towards the Myna, looking amused.

Grimm stared at the Myna and replied, “No, that is not my slave, it’s my companion.” Grimm explained and invited his guests to have a seat.

‘A companion!’ Julni and Victor exclaimed, both shocked at his statement, they could not believe that Grimm had actually unsealed his Soul-fire Prime. Should this seemingly weak and defenseless bird die, Grimm’s soul would never have the chance to grow ever again.

The news came across as very astonishing indeed.

All of a sudden, Julni and Victor were looking at this Myna with a different expression from before.

There would be no emotional connection between a sorcerer and his or her soul slave. Soul slaves were merely tools or puppets in the eyes of sorcerers. However, a Soul-fire Prime companion was a whole other story altogether.

A Soul-fire Prime companion was the lifeblood of a sorcerer, an exposed vulnerability of a sorcerer, and hence, a true companion of a sorcerer. The relationship between a sorcerer and a Soul-fire Prime companion would even surpass the bond between a sorcerer and his or her spouse. Therefore, seeing a sorcerer’s Soul-fire Prime companion literally meant seeing the actual person of the sorcerer.

“Greetings, lady and gentleman! Welcome to Grimm’s Demon-Hunter Castle!” said the Myna with a slight bow, acting just like a real sorcerer.

“Hi there, beautiful birdie, what should I call you?” asked Julni in amazement.

“Ahem!” Grimm could no longer stand what was going and interrupted the bird’s hypocritical acting with a few forceful coughs. “You can call it uh…R-ra-rainbow Ray Nevichy!” Grimm uttered as he made up a name on the spot.

Grimm did not notice what had happened to the bird after that. The Myna which was initially talkative and playful suddenly started quivering, as if it was triggered by something.

After saying so, Grimm waved his hand signaling for the Gnaw to leave the room. Julni and Victor were invited to sit along a long table where a sumptuous fruit platter spread was served.

All three sorcerers were covered by loose long robes, yet all three displayed different auras.

As Dark Sorcerers, Grimm and Victor remained highly alert. They were both sitting on the couch, their postures were one of a wary stance. It would not be surprising to find out that they were not actually sitting down.

Since they were all in the chamber of Grimm’s castle, both of the Dark Sorcerers lowered their hoods. Yet, they seemed to have a layer of indiscernible veil over their faces, concealing their real features.

On the contrary, Julni was completely relaxed despite the unfamiliar surroundings. She rested on the sofa with a pointy hat on her head, enjoying the grapes on the table, making herself at home.

Among the three, it would seem that Julni was the only one who was revealing her true self, being completely real and alive.

Grimm and Victor could not help but observe the authenticity displayed by this Bright Sorcerer. After observing Julni for a while, Victor turned to Grimm.

It was Victor’s first time seeing Grimm’s true features under the Ashen Mask.

“Well, who would have thought Sir Grimm who was greatly feared during the Holy Tower qualification battle is such a handsome man,” said Victor in a dispassionate, robotic tone.

Grimm ignored Victor’s flattery.

After all, there were no actual benefits of being flattered by Victor’s words, his status was not worth the effort either.

On the other side, Julni frowned at Grimm who was concealing his true self in front of her.

‘I guess it does require some effort for Bright Sorcerers to associate with Dark Sorcerers,’ Julni thought to herself. She nodded at the Myna and turned to Grimm. “Sir Grimm, where is the Mechanical Armor Core?” she asked.

Victor remained silent and looked at Grimm with the same question in mind.

“Ahem! Honorable lady and gentleman, it is not suitable for my master Grimm to be hosting this trade, so I’ll be the agent in charge for the auction of this ancient Mechanical Armor Core instead,” interrupted the Myna.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Myna banged the mallet several times and disappeared into the dimensional gap. Julni and Victor were once again startled. After a few seconds, the Myna appeared again with a little metal sphere in its mouth.

It was the Mechanical Armor Core that Grimm accidentally found in the ancient ruins of the Mysterious Realm of the Black Isotta Tower.

The Myna dropped the armor core on the table. Grimm pointed towards the armor core and explained to his guests, “This is the ancient Mechanical Armor Core I found accidentally in the abandoned ruins of the Mysterious Realm of the Black Isotta Tower.”

The metal sphere rolled on the wooden table with a crisp sound. Julni’s emerald eyes turned into two swirls after she got a hold of the metal sphere. A pair of elves appeared in front of her.

Grimm’s eyes widened at this sight.

‘What an eerie sealing skill, a natural gift of being able to use herself as a container to seal other creatures. Or perhaps it was bestowed upon her by some other high level sorcerer? Or could it be an experiment?’ Grimm thought curiously to himself.

Among the two elves, one of the green elves was excited to see the Mechanical Armor Core in Julni’s palm. The green elf took out a needle-sized magic tool and ran towards the armor core.

Grimm looked at the needle in the elf’s hand and could not help but recall the gripping moment when his Ashen mask was broken.

“What do you think, Greenie? Are you happy with it?” Julni asked the little green elf who had already put on a miniature form of the armor.

At that very moment, due to the high extensibility and flexibility of the armor core—which was originally designed for humans—it shrunk to the size of the little elf named Greenie.

The other elf discussed excitedly with Greenie for a while, and flew towards Julni’s ear to convey something inaudible to others.

After a short moment, Julni nodded and the two elves disappeared. The Mechanical Armor Core transformed back to its original form and Julni carefully handed it over to Victor.

Victor received the Mechanical Armor Core and activated it with his Magic Power. The armor core rapidly expanded, covering only the human parts of his body, omitting the remaining parts of his body that were already mechanized. Victor closed his eyes and examined every function of the armor in detail.

Grimm was slightly shocked. ‘A partial armor?’

It was Grimm’s first time witnessing the function of the Mechanical Armor Core under the control of a Cyborg Machinist.

After a while, Victor glanced at Grimm for a second before handing the armor core back to the Myna as indicated by Grimm.

“Alright! Let the bid for this Mechanical Armor Core begin!” shouted the Myna in excitement.

Julni gave Victor a quick glance and smiled confidently. She took out a sealed container filled with green liquid. A beating heart was submerged inside the liquid-filled container!

“This is a very rare, preserved living heart, it is the key ingredient to successfully breeding Chimeras. It had an energy frequency between 158 to 390 points when it was found inside the body of a dead creature. It has great potential to be developed into a powerful Level 2 Chi-…”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Myna interrupted Julni’s pitch with his mallet.

“Ahem ahem! Breeding a Chimera requires many more criteria than just having a living heart! The effort to cultivate an elemental soul will not be any easier than getting a living heart, not to mention the enormous amount of energy required for carcass refinery and living flesh cultivation! Besides, the previous owner of this living heart was merely a Level 2 creature. Judging from its heart alone, it is only suitable to breed a Level 1 creature.”

The Myna shook its head and continued on with his negotiation tactic with a sneer, “Level 1? With all that hassle, a sorcerer would be better off buying a soul slave. In terms of the materials for Chimera breeding, anything below Level 3 will only be worth as much as a tester. ”

The maximum level any soul slave could reach would be Level 3. There was definitely a limit to the quantity and quality of soul slaves any sorcerer could obtain with the seeds of his or her soul, with the exception of the sorcerer advancing the soul slave into a higher level later on.

Hence, to most sorcerers, element-activated creatures would be their most loyal combat companions.

But of course, there were very few ace sorcerers who would choose to learn the Black Sorcerer’s way of breeding a Chimera.

Victor, on the other hand, pondered for a while before placing a small bottle on the table. In that bottle was a shimmering red color thunder filament.

“This is…”

Victor remained silent. Grimm leaned forward to observe the thunder filament in detail.

The Myna caught a glimpse of the thunder filament. “Filament of liquefied thunder, it has the powerful ability to repress avenging spirits. Yet with this little string, I’m afraid most evil spirits wouldn’t be threatened.”

Victor maintained his composure and added about six sorcerer essences to his offer.

Victor shook his head and said, “This is the highest price I can pay for that Mechanical Armor Core.”

The Myna turned around and looked at Julni.

“Ahem ahem! Are you sure this is the highest price you are willing to offer for this armor core? As the Almighty Steel Emblem Myna who has lived for centuries, let me remind you that the material to forge this ancient armor has completely gone extinct, and not to mention…”

***

Half an hourglass later, a living heart soaked inside a container and three sorcerer essences were on Grimm’s table.

“Mission accomplished, Master Grimm! Hurry up and give me my share! Hurry, hurry!”

Seconds after Julni and Victor left, the Myna threw away its bow tie and mallet and flew toward Grimm, thrilled for its reward.