A Sorcerer's Journey 404 Mask of Truth's Third Construction Stage

With the endless activation sounds of Grimm's Observation Tool of Destructive Energy resonating within his Demon-Hunter Castle, seconds became hours and hours became days. With the blink of an eye, three decades had gone by.
There was not a single word regarding Vivian having advanced into an official sorcerer from the Holy Tower of Seven Rings.
"Master, the Mourn Dust had a slight resistance towards the Destructive Force!"
Beside the Observation tool of Destructive Energy, Little Myna shouted on Grimm's shoulder.
"Hmm."
Grimm nodded and drew a yellow circle on his experiment notes. After that, he followed the instructions on the notes and mixed the next ingredient, which was the golden roots, into the equipment which consisted of highly concentrated energy latex. After adding the golden roots into the equipment, he waited for the latex to coagulate.
Grimm randomly flipped through his notes.
Throughout the years, Grimm had lowered his expectations on the materials of his experiments. Even so, there were only three yellow circles on the Mourn Dust in his notes.
Of course, it was because these materials were unable to match the requirements for the usage of the Destructive Force.
On the bright side, after years of experimenting, Grimm had mastered the basic properties of various types of materials. This had helped him a lot in expanding his knowledge on alchemy.
Currently, there were only around sixty kinds of materials on the experiment notes yet to be experimented.
"Hmm, it seems like on the journey to the Infernal Spirit World, not only do I have to get the Infernal Spirit Scriptures, but I also have to scavenge for as much Destructive Energy experiment materials as I can find. Currently, with only thirty million types of basic materials, I have already used up so much of resources. If it was a bottomless pit like synthetic materials…"
Grimm did not dare to imagine any further.
An arrow would never turn back after being shot. The closer Grimm was to success, the dimmer his light of hope became. It was dimmed to the point where…
Despair was felt.
***
Three years later…
"Finally done before the demon-hunting expedition!"
Grimm sighed in relief.
The Mask of Truth's heteromorphic marrow raw material spread out like sheets of paper above the massive experiment table with densely packed runes horizontally crossed with each other in mid-air.
Generally, these runes were categorized into four major parts. Specifically, Ultrasound detection sorcery, Infinity Eyes, and the newly completed Eagle Eye technique's rune combination array.
With a small amount of magic on his fingertips, he came into contact with the Mask of Truth.
At that very moment, the Mask of Truth spread out like a gigantic piece of paper instantly compressing itself. Soon, a greyish twister-patterned Mask of Truth appeared in perfect form once again!
With his enthusiasm running high, Grimm picked up the Mask of Truth and placed it on his face.

Beneath the mask, Grimm slowly opened his eyes. With a huff, a spark lit within the eyes of flame and ice.
A wave of magic activated the Eagle Eye technique that was hidden beneath the mask. Soon, changes occurred on Grimm's Frost Eye and an eagle's pupil appeared.
Grimm glanced towards a distance through the crystal glass window of his Demon-Hunter Castle.
The bubbles that floated in the sky, gigantic eagles, weird mechanical gears, millions of Demon-Hunter castles from afar and the million meters tall Tree of Life…
At this moment, not only did Grimm's vision become further in range, but it also became wider.
However, the Eagle Eye technique was not meant to make a copy of the scenery from afar and project it right before his eyes, it was meant to extend the limit of Grimm's field of vision so that he could briefly see a blurry outline of something at the absolute limit of the visual field he had activated using the Eagle Eye technique, something that his eyes could not detect with his previous field of vision.
Tuning in to the force of nature, Grimm flew out of his Demon-Hunter castle and did numerous experiments in order to test out the capabilities of the Eagle Eye technique within the Mask of Truth.
Five hourglasses went by…
Working from daylight until nightfall, Grimm received a decent amount of the Eagle Eye technique's data.
Sitting in front of his experiment table, Grimm flipped open his experiment notes titled 'Mask of Truth's Plans'. Afterwards, he recorded every single detail regarding the experiment procedures of the Eagle Eye technique.
As the name implied, the Eagle Eye technique was a spell created by using an eagle's long-distance eyesight as an inspiration. It was one of the most common perception sorceries among sorcerers, a type of sorcery that originated from a sorcerer's desire to collect information.
The Eagle Eye technique involved a series of knowledge, such as the induction of elemental pupils, retractable vision, neuroimaging and more…
If it was not for the maturity of the development stage of this particular perception sorcery in the Sorcerers World, the blatant truth was, the complexity of this sorcery would not be able to compare with the Infinity Eye and the Mystic Eye.
During the day in the Sorcerers World, due to the blockage of elemental ripples and dust, a normal human's field of vision was around one hundred to three thousand meters in distance.
With Grimm's Eagle Eye technique activated, he could enhance the limit of his base field of vision to around ten thousand meters.
Beyond the ten thousand meters distance, for every five thousand meters that was increased, his range of vision shrank a quarter smaller. At the same time, the ability to identify the blurriness of his vision would decrease according to his mental strength respectively. However, up until this point, he had yet to detect the absolute limit of his vision with the Eagle Eye technique activated.
Despite the Eagle Eye technique being a common spell, it was categorized into various versions.
This was because sorcerers had different physiques and ways of thinking. Hence, the development of sorcery was usually unique to that particular sorcerer.
With that said, the centenary Grimm spent on developing the Eagle Eye technique was considered a success. This would no doubt bring many benefits to Grimm during his time as a formal sorcerer.
"The expedition to the Infernal Spirit World… Even though there's support provided by Black Isotta, I did attract the hatred of Acraepoids upon myself at the gate between the Infernal Spirit World and the Burrow World. On the other hand, I no longer have the support of the mana pool. I guess I have to be more careful this time around."
With that thought in mind, Grimm stared at the three hundred plus Sorcerer Essences in his Dimensional Gap.
"Hmm, with this many left, I guess I can purchase some defense equipment."
With his target set, Grimm instantly retrieved his Starfall Reconnaissance Craft and summoned Little Myna. After that, he flew towards the underground lair of the Tree of Life.
Using one hundred Sorcerer Essences, Grimm bought himself a middle-level Demon-Hunter outfit.
For a Rank-1 Demon-Hunter, this was considered as an extremely lavish expenditure.
With the magic support of the middle-level Demon-Hunter outfit, even if all the disasters that occurred in the Shadow World happened before him again, Grimm would be able to handle it while preserving some of his magic.
Inside a luxurious shop of an underground lair, Grimm was hesitant between a small green bottle and a black demolition bomb.
The small green bottle was named as Seraph's Echo.
It was a psychedelic created by a high-ranked pharmacist. For organisms that had a physique of a thousand and below, or specifically Level-3 and below organisms, their vision would be affected. It was a great life-preservation item which was only priced at twenty-five Sorcerer Essences.
On the other hand, the black demolition bomb was named as Fusion Oil Reaction Ball.
The Fusion Oil Reaction Ball's central blast point could release five thousand offense power in one go with the blast ranged at around seventy meters. The power of the blast would decrease as it got further away from the central blast point. After seventy meters away from the central blast point, the power of the blast was left with only one-tenth of its original power, which was five hundred points of offensive power. This bomb was priced at one hundred Sorcerer Essences.
For Grimm who had experienced the excitement from the instant kill of a strong Level-3 organism with Black Isotta Essence, he was leaning more towards the direct attack of the Fusion Oil Reaction Ball.
However, the Fusion Oil Reaction Ball's releasing speed and attack range was unable to match the standard of the Black Isotta Essence. Not to mention the difference in power between the two items.
Secondly, Grimm still had to successfully conduct his Destructive Energy experiment in the future. Hence, he still required the support of a great number of Sorcerer Essences.
With all those considerations in mind, Grimm decided to save up his Sorcerer Essences.
Finally, Grimm stated in a deep tone.
"I want two bottles of Seraph's Echo."
***
A year later…
Grimm, Wicky, Solumn, Millie and Claudia, five completely different Demon-Hunters gathered at Grimm's Demon-Hunter castle.
With Grimm's mystique, Wicky's arrogance, Solumn's secrecy, Millie's icy frost, and Claudia's charm.
There was no doubt about it, Grimm who had the fluctuation of a Rank-1 Honour Badge became the core of the five sorcerers.
"Our priority for this expedition to the Infernal Spirit World is the Infernal Spirit Scriptures. I won't further explain the details of the contract, once we have succeeded, I'll personally reward you with one hundred Sorcerer Essences as stated in the contract. Aside from this, the Infernal Spirit World has been specifically ordered by the Seven Rings Celestial Sorcerer to be completely annihilated. I am not authorized to tell you why though, so don't even think about capturing slaves in that world. The only thing that we need to do is to massacre, destroy and plunder."
After Grimm was done with his explanation, he looked at the others with his heterochromia eyes from beneath the Mask of Truth.
"Hmm? Complete annihilation!"
Beneath the bald golden crown, Wicky who somewhat resembled a granite giant had a flash on his hand, then a giant hammer appeared. After that, he started laughing with 'fuhuhuhu' sounds escaping from his lips.
"To think that this is a world that caught the Seven Rings Celestial Sorcerer's attention. Looks like this world has some extraordinary secrets. Grimm, let yourself be informed that aside from helping you to plunder the Infernal Spirit Scriptures, I'm going to search for the secret of the Infernal Spirit World that the Seven Rings Celestial Sorcerer was wary of."
On the other side.
Solumn lifted his head and said, "Grimm, if possible, I hope that you can dig up some hidden missions for the Honor Badge with the information that you have access to. I wouldn't mind paying you some commission for it."
Grimm flinched, then he nodded and replied, "I'll try."
Millie, on the other hand, gave it a thought before she questioned, "If I want a copy of the information within the Infernal Spirit Scriptures, what price do I have to pay?"
Grimm did not even bother to give it any thought and answered, "Judging from the situation, if any of you need it, I'll charge you accordingly."
Last but not least, Claudia.
"Hee hee, Grimm, for this Demon-hunter expedition, I wish to accompany you as your wife and complete the missions together with you. What do you think?"
Beneath the Mask of Truth, Grimm's face darkened.
"I already have a wife."
"Lefay? She's dead, yo."
Claudia's reaction was huge, with her gaze imploring and seductive as she sat beside Millie.
Grimm questioned coldly, "You investigated me?"
"Oh, come on, I care about you. Fine, then I'll accompany you as your friend. As you know, I missed your glory times back at your Holy Tower qualification battle."
Claudia was an extremely intelligent yet weird sorceress, this was a fact that Grimm did not deny.
Aside from himself, only this woman had received a Rank-3 Honor Badge in this group of five.
Which meant that she must have gotten the honor badge just like he did, through the Camphro-Agate Worms. It was a display of wisdom rather than strength.
Grimm cautiously observed Claudia.
"Whatever your objective is, I'll only allow you to stay by my side for the first thirty years in the Infernal Spirit World. After that, I have some secret explorations to do."
"Okay."
Claudia agreed without a second thought.
The more Grimm thought about it, the more that he felt that Claudia must have noticed something about him.
All of a sudden, Millie, seemingly confused, questioned, "Grimm, where's Mavrica Nevichy?"
Grimm coughed twice before answering, "Gone to play with another parrot. Don't mind him, let's go."

Chapter end

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