A Sorcerer's Journey 316 Surficial Tundra V

A month later.
It was apparent that no Demon-Hunter had yet wandered this area.
Under the condition without any competition, through Grimm's continuous search for entry points into the Burrow World, he had found forty-four mission targets as of now, meaning he had earned forty-four pieces of Sorcerer Essences.
Forty-four Sorcerer Essences, could be exchanged for forty-four years of work as an Arcane Sorcerer back at the Sorcerer World. While what Grimm had given were just four months of Demon-Hunter mission time only.
The pace at which Grimm was completing his mission was just the average standard of many Elite Demon-Hunter Sorcerers.
For now, Grimm had finally realized the benefits of being awarded an Honor Badge as a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer.
Originally, Grimm would not have the right to participate in such a special mission. However, it was due to Black Isotta that he was chosen to take part in a mission other high-ranking Dark Demon Hunters took part in.
Coincidentally, the danger level of this mission was relatively low, so they had to complete this mission as quickly as possible. Grimm too, felt that he had not been left behind in terms of his pacing.
Swoosh!
As the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft tore through the sky, a behemoth canyon that stretches tens of thousands of miles suddenly appeared in Grimm's field of view.
The two sides of the canyon were just a flat tundra. Most likely, it was due to a geological movement that this massive crack appeared in this flatland. The crack spanned a hundred meters across, and its depth stretched thousands of meters into the ground.
Everything was blindingly white, making the view blurry. Perhaps due to the mist, or the snow on the ground below them.
"Caw, young master, let's go down and check it out. Maybe we'd find some rare creature or treasure from this world. We'd be rich if that's the case!" Myna said while urging Grimm on.
There was no need for Myna to say that as Grimm already had intentions to scout the canyon.
With a "hm", Grimm nodded before maneuvering the Reconnaissance Craft into the canyon below.
"Huh?"
As soon as they entered the canyon, Grimm realized something off about the situation.
Looking from the side of the canyon, the upper layer was covered in fifteen meters of dense snow. Although the snowfall was on the heavier side in the Burrow World, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
However, Grimm had found something unusual.
As Grimm continued studying the cross section of the ground from within the canyon, he saw that the layers of ice were further divided into layers by streaks of blood-red imprints.
Although Grimm did not do any research on the evolving accumulation of snow, he still could tell, using his shallow knowledge in this field that whatever he saw was not a naturally occurring phenomenon.
Across this canyon, after a certain period of time, there would occur a large scale dying off of all creatures, which dyed the canyon layer blood red. And as time passed, this layer of red snow would be covered by a new layer of snow. What Grimm saw was similar to the tree rings, that indicated the passage of time. Perhaps this should be called the "yearly cycles of snow".

Or was it that...the wheels of history always kept turning for the creatures in this world?
Naturally, Grimm could sense that he had discovered something essential in order to understand the workings of this world!
However, there is also the possibility that… the blizzard winds blew over some kind of red-colored mineral that covered the ground?
"Young Master, why did we stop?"
Myna questioned Grimm suspiciously. He still did not notice anything odd about the snow layers.
Grimm kept silent. He opened up the metal sheet upper half of the Reconnaissance Craft and caressed the blood-red part in the ice layer with his hand.
Crack!
He dug out a piece of red snow from the wall and melted it in the middle of his palms before taking a sniff of it using his hunting nose.
"No doubt about it, it's the smell of blood. That eliminates the possibility that it's dyed red by some mineral."
His suspicion was reaffirmed as he removed the mineral idea from his mind. His expression changed slightly as he looked down into the deep canyon.
Perhaps, this really was a groundbreaking discovery?
However, what Grimm had to do for now was to collect a complete sample of the ice layer before handing it over to the Battle Command for analysis and see if he would receive an additional reward. And with that, Grimm activated his magic and formed an ice sword in his hands. With a small grunt, he stabbed into the ice layer.
Moments later, an ice pillar was cut down by Grimm and stored into the Dimensional Gap. On it were at least thirty layers of blood-red streaks, clear as crystal.
"Uh, Young Master, could this really be blood?"
Nodding his head, Grimm replied, "It really is blood. It must be from confrontations between groups of creatures in this Burrow World. I'll hand this sample over to the Bright Sorcerers at the Battle Command for further analysis when we get back."
Finishing his reply, Grimm then continued his descent into the depths of the canyon.
On the canyon walls were different layers of granite containing an array of minerals. Though, if compared to the Pyrodust World and its Combustars, the Burrow World was way too plain. There were however, traces of Snowthread activity on the walls. These holes were way too small and narrow to be entered into to check if they were entry points to the World Burrow, so it was impossible to mark it as a mission target.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, a wave of energy that carried with it a strong aura of death came washing over them as they got closer to the bottom of the canyon.
'This feeling, it's awfully similar to the Sea of Skeletons of the Human Will!'
At the same time, Grimm's senses had detected that the surrounding temperature had gone up quite a bit. The surrounding traces of snow had vanished and the plants here no longer had the ice crystal protective layer like the plants on the ground above. They all grew uncovered, scaling the canyon walls.
'This…'
The blurry white layer Grimm saw in the canyon was not from the snow Grimm had imagined. Instead, it was from the True Fog that defied the world's laws.
This proved that the fog could only be generated in the canyon depths that had a higher temperature than the rest of the world, and the snow had nothing to do with it.
Grimm's expression grew strained.
Grimm chose to not dive so fast into the bottom of the canyon. Instead, he flew towards an ominous weird flower that grew not far away on the canyon walls.
Standing on top of the craft, the eyes under the Mask of Truth looked at this flower in curiosity.
It had six gray-colored petals, each one about the size of a palm. A thick, gray-colored deathly gas was continuously emitted from the central part of the flower.
Despite how it looked, the flower had a mystifying fragrance, and was not what you would expect from just looking at it.
"Weird, this plant isn't conforming to the world's laws. It does not fit in with the evolution cycle of this world at the moment. Could it be that this is a special plant evolved from this kind of special environment?"
Grimm said while he picked the flower and stored it in his plant specimen collection.
However, the moment Grimm's hands came close to the flower, in a flash, it made a "puff" sound before shriveling up into a flower bud. In mere seconds, it retreated into the cracks on the granite wall, and was nowhere to be seen again.
"Caw? Young Master, it ran away, it ran away!" Myna's eyes widened as it pointed at the crack while yelling out in surprise.
"Huh?"
Similarly shocked, Grimm punched into the granite crack with a "thud" in an effort to search for the escaped gray flower.
However, it was apparent that it hid away in deeper parts of the crack, and Grimm found nothing.
Because the granite wall was further solidified by the freezing cold, Grimm's punch felt pretty painful. He took out his Sabbatic Goat Staff this time instead.
The staff itself belonged to a great Level 4 creature as the bones on it belonged to a World Lord. To add to that, the staff stored a mysterious seal sorcery within it by Black Isotta, a Level-6 Stigmata Sorcerer.
It did not take a genius to deduce that the fist of a Level-1 sorcerer was incomparable to a weapon of such prestige.
Bam!
The impact echoed through the canyon as the Sabbatic Goat Staff hit the granite walls. The shockwave from the impact spread through the interiors of the granite wall, creating a dull ringing noise.
Grimm tucked away the Sabbatic Goat Staff.
From his vision, cracks had started to spread quickly through the initially solid granite wall. These densely packed cracks spread around and formed a network.
Shortly after, with a loud crash, pieces of rocks started falling out of the wall. Each of these rocks roughly had the same size, around that of a thumbnail. They fell neatly into the chasm below.
Grimm grabbed one of the rocks before it fell away. What was originally so sturdy had been loosened effortlessly by the shockwave of the hammering impact from the Sabbatic Goat Staff.
With a light squeeze, the rock turned into dust.
"Caw? Young Master, is this Boulder Disintegration?" Myna looked at Grimm with surprise.
It was also the first time Grimm had witnessed the shocking power the high-intensity shockwave attack this Sabbatic Goat Staff held, when it turned into a Goat Horn Hammer.
After happily storing away his Sabbatic Goat Staff, Grimm carefully dug out the rock pieces using the repulsive and attractive forces.
Suddenly, a hole thirty centimeters in diameter and with a depth of three meters appeared. However, it soon grew into an opening of two meters in diameter.
A black crystallized energy stone emanating a fragrant aura of death appeared to be lodged inside a white rib cage located in the deepest part of the cavity.

Chapter end

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