A Sorcerer's Journey, 2

by Flying White Egrets

  "Isn’t this the iron wire worm? It’s a worm that is extinct in the sorcerer world." Glenn was surprised. According to book records, it had a "misfortune string" within its body and could thus be used to pull off curse sorcery by some sorcerers. Besides, some of its behaviors were well-worth studying too.

  Without any hesitation Glenn threw his hand at it and clutched its head. He then spent about half an hour in pulling it out of the ground.

  Glenn became more shocked when the plucking process was complete.

  "Why is it so long? Was there any self-evolution or mutation? "

  It was reasonable Glenn became astonished. The Iron Wire worm was 20 meters long and its body was of a human baby arm’s length in radius. It was supposed to be 3-5 meters long according to records.

  Shocked as Glenn was, he would not be merciful to it. Soon he had killed it and tried to sample it. He stuffed the worm into the newly-bought one-off space pocket inch by inch headfirst. The pocket seemed to be bottomless, and the worm was soon pushed in altogether. One thing worth mentioning was that after stashing the worm, or stashing anything else in the pocket, the pocket would be destroyed when its contents were taken out.

  Glenn was cheered up at this achievement when the journey had just started.

  At the time, high-rising trees in the distance caught his attention. The trees appeared to have undergone some mysterious changes in this rule-free shattered fragment of a world. The whole forest gave off a dark and hideous image set against the gloomy sky.

  After having put some thought, Glenn finally flew to this seemingly endless forest.

  This must be a fragment of a world where the living beings, weak and strong, had been enslaved by the owner of the Black Tower for a long period of time. Thus, there was nothing to be worried about. If he was in danger, the tower master would just throw the threatening creature(s) out of the world fragment.

  However, there was a possibility of being killed by the creatures here. Then it was his or her bad luck. Every exploration came with risks. The tower master was not a nanny trying to look after the "intruders".

  A five-meter-tall shadow appeared just as Glenn left the place where he was at.

  The shadow was a two-headed dog.

  "Strange, there was definitely changes of force and space here. Why can’t I sniff out any scents?" one of the heads mumbled.

  "See the footsteps? The target is sly by having concealed body scent. Call out to the night owl for cooperation and we’ll get some good rest after getting the job done."

  Cuckoo, cuckoo…

  A night owl flew towards the dog from the distance in no time, followed by two snakes whose flight was supported by a pair of white wings.

  The tower master’s slaves observed for some time and headed off to the forest as well.

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  Chapter91 Black Mirror (II)

  The forest was composed of thorny bushes whose leaves were covered with black-red mottles.

  However, upon closer observation it would be discovered that the spots were actually small insects, thus forming that massively extended insect-infested area that caused arrivers to feel terrified.

  Glenn took out a test tube and carefully collected a number of "mottle insects". They were only one-tenth of a human fingernail in size. Strangely enough, in addition to an oral cavity in the frontal part of their body and a black gland that secreted venom, their legs seemed to have shrunk and degraded into a sucker.

  "Well, I’ve never seen this kind of creature before. Maybe I could explore them and see if its toxicity can be used in the toxin constitution-building practices later on." Glenn dropped the test tube into his space pocket as he was thinking about this.

  As Glenn was about to turn around and leave, he made a sudden exertion and rushed to one side about five meters away, to avoid a tree that was coming at him at high speed. Its branches had the leaves that had contracted the same mottle sickness.

  Glenn was surprised and he said: "Oh, a symbiotic relationship has been formed! No wonder the insects’ legs have degenerated into almost nothing."

  With a swish of his Nine-Headed Snake Sword, a branch was hacked off and green blood squirted out.

  After the exertion of the thunder force, the worms on the branch’s leaves were all shaken off. He then put the struggling twig into his space pocket.

  Having taken a look around, he then flew off toward a certain direction.

  The flight went on for several kilometers and he gathered a few of the creatures exclusive to this land. He stopped at a tree that dwarfed the other trees.

  The tree was up to 300-400 meters high, and it still distinguished itself in size in this forest where tall trees were common to be found.

  It was rumored that the highest tree existed in the wonder world. The so-called "world tree" was the guardian of that world and it supported the heaven there so that the sky would not fall. Life propagated and thrived with the tree as the hub. In Glenn’s understanding, its importance compared to the Holy Tower of Seven Rings for the nearby schools.

  There were also beliefs that many legendary life trees were well-known for their height, and an example were the life trees in the sorcerer world, which could be as high as several thousand or even tens of thousands of meters high. The tall trees always overwhelmed the smaller ones nearby as a tree had to prevail over the others to grow to that height. This was determined by the law of the jungle.

  Despite all that, the tree in front of Glenn…

  Glenn gathered himself and walked around the tree which was 4-5 meters long in diameter. Soon he found a cavity in the tree above one bulky root. The cave could only allow one man to dive in as far as its width was concerned.

  He didn’t act rashly and rush inside. Instead he produced the Inextinguishable Flame and looked inside. In the huge space within, Glenn saw many pairs of green, round eyes.

  Squeaking sounds were heard.

  Rats the size of butterflies swarmed outside. They seemed to be fearful of lights and parted into two ways around the flame. Glenn waved the flame on his hand and saw an empty cave.

  Looking into the cave, Glenn found many dark-colored stones floating in the trunk. It seemed like the cobblestone-like rocks were levitating in midair by using their repulsive force against nearby objects. Strangely enough, Glenn couldn’t even feel the power of their leylines even by using his own repulsive and attractive forces!

  "Wait a minute. Isn’t this the Tjugealong stone?" Glenn became shocked.

  The Tjugealong stone was transliterated from a word existing in the language of a foreign world. They were used by black sorcerers to help the sewed-up creatures, cursing beasts and mutation beasts to overgrow themselves. They were poisonous to live beings of nature but they differed from the toxins that could be used for constitution-building. It belonged to the field of Occult.

  What was inconceivable was that the lives here had adapted to this evil material’s toxicity and had grown huge in stature.

  Although these materials might not be useful for Glenn’s current research, they might prove to be so in his future experiments. Therefore, he gathered all of the stones in the trunk and threw them into his space pocket arbitrarily.

  "Wait a second, look at the rats’ feces, they’re giving off special life waves. I can use them to cultivate certain plants, like the explosive mushrooms…" Glenn grabbed the dung with his bare hand without caring for the filth, and also put them into the pocket.

  Time was precious because Glenn might get thrown out of this fragment any time. He didn’t tarry after having collected the stones.

  With that in mind he shot off a repulsive force against the ground at his feet and he then took to the air, and flew toward the canopy of the huge tree.

  "Eh…is this the Shade butterfly." Glenn uttered a strange noise.

  Above his head were thousands of Shade butterflies fluttering their wings in pairs.

  Sh
ade butterflies were recorded in the Canine Olfactory Enhancement and Odor Mapping. According to it, they could live by feeding on the odors they collected. But they had gone extinct in the sorcerer world. It would be out of the question for Glenn to forget such a wondrous creature.

  Several of the butterflies were pulled into Glenn’s hands after he had put forth his gravitational force. He then sampled them before throwing them into his space pocket.

  Afterwards, Glenn looked up at the golden fruits hanging in the canopy, and an enormous bird nest.

  Glenn gulped and sneaked toward the crown of the tree. Snoring was heard as he approached closer. The nest was 30 meters in diameter and it would be no wonder if its inhabitant turned out to be an avian monster or something of that sort. And Glenn would not bother for the provocation.

  70 or 80 golden fruits hung in the tree top, glittering in the sun. Glenn took a deep breath and picked one. As he was getting a second one, the sound of babies crying filled the air nearby.

  "Lylia’s been taken. Woo…"

  "A robber invading... Lylia is gone. Get some help…"

  Glenn stared at the golden fruits, displaying a stunned expression.

  Features began to show on their faces and odder even, they were crying and communicating in the language of the sorcerer world like babies at the age around three, tears in their eyes, showing fear.

  Aye…

  A surge of terrifying aura overtook Glenn. A huge, one-eyed head with a red cockscomb was glaring at him.

  Glenn’s skin crawled. The atmosphere turned heavier.

  He made a sudden movement and had moved away 100 meters without sparing time for thought. He made a consecutive sudden movement and finally disappeared from the monster’s sight.

  The huge bird showed no intention of capturing Glenn itself. Instead, the bird made a long chirp.

  Seconds later, animals of all sorts—Dark Night Owls, three-eyed monkeys, two-headed dogs, six-winged cicadas— were summoned and they headed to where Glenn had escaped.

  This bird must be a high grade soul slave belonging to one of the owner/master of the Black Tower.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Glenn continued fleeing until that giant tree disappeared from his sight. He landed with a start and rested putting his hand on the tree.

  "It was terrifying!" Glenn gulped. "That must be a level-three sorcerer creature at least. I’d be so dead if this wasn’t in the Black Tower mirror but a total strange place."

  Glenn recovered a little and noticed a rock coming out of the ground. He came to it with surprised look on his face. Finally, he touched it.

  "Feels like metal and crystal…Must be a product of some sorcerer, or is it a relic from ancient times?" Glenn hesitated. "That couldn’t be possible. Quite Spring said ancient relics were guarded by soul slaves. But this place is but empty grounds, a clearing of the forest. Nothing special."

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  Chapter92 Black Mirror (III)

  Glenn gave a shout as he hacked at the crystal and metal rock with his Nine-headed Snake Sword.

  The loud sound of the sword against the rock rung in his ears while the rock bore no mark of damage at all. God knows what it was made of and with what sort of processes. It bounced off Glenn’s attack when it had been eroded already.

  Nonetheless, the echoes foretold something—the space beneath the rock was hollow and sounded huge. Big surprise.

  Glenn walked around it and found a crack on a corner of the rock. It looked like a natural mark caused by geological changes over time. He cleaned the surface of the crack with water which he produced by pulling off some sorcery and an entrance to a cave appeared.

  He did not rush into the cave. Instead he sniffed by using his enhanced sense of smell. The smell of earth gushed out, combined with something giving off a repulsive rot. It carried the smell of ancient properties in an enclosed space.

  Glenn sent an ultrasonic wave down into the cave, and a spacious room appeared with black and white background colors. On the ceiling hung sundries of sorcerer-design chandeliers, mostly seeming to only function as adornments. In this environment where element density was much thicker stood a huge article…

  "This must be a relic from ancient times then. Something not found even by the master of the Black Tower?"

  Looking at the small-sized cavity, Glenn said to himself. "Looks like I have to get a little slimmer."

  Under the Glenn Dissimilation, his body started to twist, and soon he became thinner and snuck into the cave.

  The Inextinguishable Flame lit, Glenn floated further into the cave by using his attraction/repulsion sorcery, and after some time he landed steadily on the ground.

  The ground clanked as his feet touched the "soil". The clanking sound echoed in the room as dust was whisked off.

  "Is a buried history being unveiled?"

  Glenn activated his mask to block the dust and further explored this huge unknown space.

  It was a huge hole with no end in sight. Countless chandeliers hung overhead were of less use than the few lights shot through from the crack and the fire ball in Glenn’s hand.

  As Glenn moved the fire ball around, he found some crystal, cylinders erect in the air, capped with metal wares. The tubes stretched into the darkness deep down.

  "Are they the equipment for making some classy creature by sorcerers from ancient times?"

  The tubes were over 10 meters long for the shortest and 50 for the longest, permitted by Glenn’s vision, snaking deep down from the very top of the cave. And signs were discovered on them, but they were too blurry to be recognized.

  "The signs might be used for the enclose sorcery."

  The biggest crystal ware down there attracted Glenn’s attention. He thrust at it immediately without caring for the consequences, his boots whisking off dust as they clunk against the ground.

  Glenn washed it quickly with sorcery-generated water. Heavy layers of dust were rinsed and a clearer view was revealed before him——a huge skeleton within the tube!

  It was a long, irregular skeleton. Quite like a gibbon, but with hooves and its head was an octopus’ with endoskeletons. There were many strange little bones, which Glenn had no idea supported which organs. The translucent skeleton became thinner as it was squeezed inside a ware. It was actually floating as if weightless, pliable and flexible.

  Barely legible pictographs in red were found in the bottom of the tube.

  Glenn tried his best. "A Heteromorphic, infancy, subject 0004. Danger level: highest."

  Glenn was taken aback. He murmured in shock. "This place is indeed a laboratory where ancient sorcerers run experiments. Subject 0004? An infant? A 50 meter long ware to wrap an infant? What kind creature is it? The highest lever danger when it’s just a baby???"

  As he was throwing the questions, he noticed a pool of milky liquid in the tube. And it was pulling his soul.

  "This extensibility, inclusiveness…Is it the heteromorphic marrow?!" Glenn couldn’t believe what he saw.

  There was a legendary material that had become extinct in smeltery. It was called the heteromorphic marrow, found by the sorcerers of ancient times. Because of its extensibility, and inclusiveness, it was ranked as the best raw material for making armors.

  "Heteromorphic marrow in such little amount can only be enough to make a shoulder pad."

  As a student, he had of course never had the chance of witnessing one. His eyes were popping out with curiosity. He immediately looked for the switch or something to open this tube and get the marrow.

  With it to his facility, he could make a first class magical tool for sure. It was its extensibility, inclusiveness that eventually mattered.

  There was one minor setback both at present and in the long term. Glenn sucked at smeltery.

  "Never mind…"

  Glenn flew to the top end of the tube and started attacking the cap with the water and fire element alternativel
y.

  Using fire for a moment and water for another;this accelerated the erosion of the cap.

  Glenn so desired the marrow as if he was an octopus wanting fish as food.

  Cool and heat.

  The internal structures of the cap were being shaken and started to disintegrate because of the thermal expansion and then contraction. The molecules were being reduced to its smallest state. But this was the theory. The actual change depended on the article’s physical condition and the difference in temperature.

  "It won’t take long before this rusty metal breaks…"

  With a start Glenn dove into the tube. He collected the white liquids carefully and put it in the space pocket. As he was leaving, the translucent, flexible skeleton caught his attention.

  He then slashed his Nine-headed Snake sword at it.

  "No way…" Glenn gulped. "It’s as solid as this…"

  Glenn had directed his sword at the thinnest part of the skeleton. Thus, such a huge thing would not fit into the space pocket at all. The space pocket was not a real pocket and Glenn was not able to enclose stuff.

  At the time Glenn sensed a movement at the crack. He sniffed the familiar smell of owls.

  "It’s not good. School’s protector is here!" Glenn got out of the tube in no time and dove down into the darkness.

  "Better to stay in here a little longer. The discoveries are nowhere to be found elsewhere."

  Glenn continued his flight downwards in the light of the small fire ball he produced. Tubes containing Heteromorphics flew past.

  Suddenly a metal gate appeared in front of Glenn. It appeared to have been attacked by a formidable force. The center of the metal gate was stressed out and the stamp was in the shape of a hoof, the diameter of which was 10 meters. The originally smooth front of the gate protruded some 7 or 8 meters in the center like a creased paper!

  "Ah…" Glenn grimaced. He had hacked a tube with his sword just now and it didn’t appear to have made even a dent.

  The corner of Glenn’s eye twitched as he took another path.