Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ten days later…

In the empty laboratory, Grimm sat quietly under a magic lamp, his eyes were calm and focused. He had been scribbling down notes on his experiment desk.

The mute barrier that was activated in his Demon-Hunter Castle separated himself from the lively happenings and noise from the outside world. The complete silence that followed made him entirely calm and collected. Stillness slowly settled into him as his surroundings became quiet.

Sitting in front of his experiment desk, Grimm was holding a quill in his hand. He was focusing hard as he tried to comprehend his feelings and emotions while reading the contents of the Devil’s Pact. At the same time, he recorded the emotion that was triggered in his soul during the process using a third-person point of view. He was attempting to break down and analyze the wonders of the pact’s spiritual script with the cognitive wisdom of a sorcerer.

As Grimm’s soul had transformed after he advanced as an official sorcerer, he realized that the spiritual script on the Devil’s Pact was communicating its true meaning to its reader by triggering the soul of the reader after all. Within the script, the meaning of some hidden spiritual message would change depending on the different combinations of words. It was somehow like a different rune civilization in a foreign world.

That type of rune civilization was different from the rune system that was used by sorcerers to study the rules of the endless world. It was a different kind of rune system used in the foreign world civilization to study souls. Grimm was certain that there must be some form of knowledge and theory within that foreign rune system.

A tiny spark of excitement flared within Grimm. If only he could locate the foreign world of the Devil Lord, if only he could join the Demon-Hunter army once again to invade that foreign world, he would fight tooth and nail to collect intel about the soul runic civilization in that world.

As for now, Grimm decided it was wiser to research the foreign rune system thoroughly on his own and see if he could discover anything unexpected.

Three hourglasses later…

A Gnaw slave wearing tidy white apparel knocked gently on Grimm’s laboratory door. “Master, dinner is served.”

Grimm put down the matter at hand and replied without turning around, “Alright.”

With his face void of any expression, Grimm walked past his Gnaw slave and headed towards the grand hall located at the first level of his castle. A sumptuous spread of foreign land cuisine was served on the dining table. Two sets of tableware were prepared on the long table. The Myna was walking back and forth along the long dining table while ordering two Rain-dew Flower Spirits to set all the delicacies and fine wine in a presentable manner, acting like the butler of a viscount’s residence.

“Ehem.”

Grimm coughed twice and caught the Myna’s attention as he was walking down the stairs towards the dining hall. It flew into the dimensional gap and appeared on Grimm’s shoulder a second later. In the eyes of an outsider, the whole process would appear as though the bird had just disappeared into thin air.

“My great Master Grimm, all these dishes were prepared under the careful supervision of your very loyal and humble little Myna, using only the finest ingredients and thoughtfully crafted based on your personal taste,” said the Myna in an excessively flattering tone.

“Haha. I’m afraid they are prepared based on your taste instead,” replied Grimm sarcastically as he sat down at the dining table and tucked a napkin in his collar.

“Ah-haha, Master, you have a great sense of humor indeed.” the Myna said and gave a nervous chortle.

The Myna glanced at Grimm awkwardly for a moment and noticed his sarcastic expression. It flew towards its tableware to avoid the awkwardness in the air.

Grimm shook his head without saying anything else. After drinking half a glass of sour juice as an appetizer, he started to dig in.

Seven days ago, Grimm successfully enslaved one of the green-skin Gnaw species with the seed derived from his soul. That was Grimm’s first time ever subduing a soul slave that was controlled completely under his will. It was a completely different story from his accidental encounter with the Myna.

From that one time of soul slave subjugation, Grimm could clearly sense that he could further derive four more seeds from his soul. In other words, at any given point in time he could control a maximum of five soul slaves. Furthermore, there was a strong relationship between the strength of his soul seeds and his mental strength.

The Gnaw stood quietly behind Grimm and the Myna. Traces of emotions were completely absent on its wrinkled green face, there was only absolute compliance and obedience.

As for the pair of Rain-dew Flower Spirits, Grimm merely controlled them with some sorcerer’s tricks and let the Myna supervise them. They were not his soul slaves.

After finishing their meal, Grimm stared at the Myna and smiled. The Myna was lying on its back with its feet wide open and rubbing the green feathers on its bulging tummy with a satisfied look. Grimm wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin, gargled a few times and proceeded to a laboratory in his castle where he had prepared a passive evolution “feast” for himself.

The Gnaw cleaned the table obediently after its two masters were done with their meal, and proceeded to prepare the ingredients for the next meal.

The door of the laboratory cracked open and the whole room lit up as he switched on the magic lamp right beside the door.

A huge hexagram magic array can be seen on the floor of the laboratory, the magic array was filled with magical and mysterious runes. Six tall platforms were placed at the end of each point of the hexagram, with energy stones being placed in the groove of the platform surface. In the middle of the magic array was a stone chair much like the ones in interrogation chambers, most magical runes gathered at that spot.

Grimm walked towards a long table beside the magic array and flipped open an experiment journal. A red cross was marked beside the fire element symbol.

“Hmm, so dessert today will be the power of thunder huh.” Grimm murmured to himself jokingly and inspected the conditions of the energy stones that were placed at the six angles of the magic array. He took a deep breath and took off all his clothing, exposing every inch of his muscular figure to the air. A fiery aura of life emitted from Grimm’s body. He then secured himself on the stone chair with a cold and determined gaze.

At that moment, Grimm pressed a button on the stone chair without hesitation.

Buzz!

Bolts of thunder zapped electrifyingly across the stone chair.

“Ugh!” Grimm let out a low moan as he felt the pain spreading across his body.

After a few breaths, Grimm finally released the button. Sparks of thunder remained on his body, his hair was completely static and his body was shaking visibly. Grimm took a deep breath and pressed the button once again firmly.

Buzz!

***

Half an hourglass later…

Grimm finally regained consciousness after being shocked three times repeatedly. His blurry vision was slowly recovering.

Grimm could feel every tissue in his body struggling intensely, continuously adjusting and shaping themselves.

He shook his head slightly and his static blonde hair began to fall slowly back in place.

Grimm groomed himself and struggled to put his clothes on. He then proceeded to sit on the floor and started his meditation session.

As time passed, his breath began to stabilize.

Engaging in meditation right after the passive evolution session was the most time-saving and efficient arrangement for Grimm. Just like how his body would enter a weak and fragile phase after experiencing the intoxication sorcery, the tissues in his body needed some time to recharge and readjust in order to evolve.

Two hourglasses later…

Grimm’s body had fully recovered after the meditation. He was able to sense that the tissues in his body had become more resistant towards thunder attacks, so he left the laboratory which he named as “The Ascetic Prison” utterly satisfied.

***

In the alchemy laboratory.

Grimm’s Elemental Great Staff 1.0 Enhanced Edition. This magic staff was forged by Grimm based on the basic alchemy process of forging a traditional elemental sorcerer staff, with some adjustments and enhancements made later on.

The magic staff of an elemental sorcerer consisted of two parts, the rod and the ornament on top.

The function of a rod was to lead the force of nature. By casting sorcery with a magic staff in hand, it was easier for elemental sorcerers to drive the force of nature, thereby saving their magic power and even speeding up their magic power recovery.

The whole process consisted of the sorcerers’ most profound understanding of alchemy knowledge.

On the other hand, the ornaments of magic staff were forged by sorcerers using a few complex skills and ingredients, namely the initiation of the magic array runes, the refinery of rare magical ingredients, seal fixation sorcery, and the enhancement of elemental sorcery’s attack power. During the process, the sorcerer’s knowledge on magic arrays, collocation of alchemy materials, and magic tool sorcery had to be taken into consideration as well.

Grimm observed the reaction of the magic staff rod in the smelting furnace. He nodded and picked up an energy-filled magic stone and sat in front of the experiment desk. Then, he took a burin on the desk and dipped it inside an unknown blood red ink. A huge scroll with magic array runes written on it was spread open on the desk. With the blood-soaked burin, he started to engrave runes on a fist-sized amethyst based on the runes written on the scroll.

With his own knowledge, understanding and rune designs, Grimm had to engrave a permanent magic array sealed on the amethyst based on the natural vein and material of the gem.

The amethyst was precisely the top ornament for Grimm’s Elemental Great Staff 1.0 Enhanced Edition.

Half an hourglass later, Grimm put down the burin in his hand. He had completed all the tasks that he set for himself for the day. Grimm rubbed his sore eyes and stretched his body, the sound of his cracking bones could be clearly heard.

After ensuring once again the materials placed in the furnace was correct, Grimm pondered for a while and flew straight out of his laboratory.

Grimm thought about his arrangement while flying.

‘The project for the Mask of Truth must commence after the Elemental Great Staff 1.0 Enhanced Edition, while the research of the thunder pattern can only continue after the Endless Eye 1 sorcery is forged into the Mask of Truth. As for the study on the Destructive Force, I can only start my basic research after I buy the experiment materials that I have planned and use them to build the experiment equipment. Also, before I am able to do thorough research on the Destructive Force, I must first set up a Water and Fire Hedging Destructive Magic Array in reality, I guess that’s impossible for years to come.’

Grimm hesitated for a while.

He then continued to think to himself. ‘Nevertheless, being the external expedition base camp of the sorcerer world, this area has a much more comprehensive knowledge regarding voodoo compared to the Black Isotta Tower. I can even consider using my sorcerer essences to exchange for a voodoo formula with other sorcerers. Since my absolute advantage on the area of intoxication sorcery is that I do not require a precise poison measurement of the voodoo dosage, I can save a lot of my time by purchasing the voodoo formula instead of spending long hours researching on the formula myself.’

‘At least this is a feasible method for a current low ranking Demon-Hunter like me. I can use the time saved to explore more advanced knowledge on elemental sorcery, not to mention I can improve my life defending ability during this period when my knowledge on elemental sorcery remains stagnant,’ Grimm added to himself.