A Sorcerer's Journey 254 Mysterious Metal

At the foot of an inconspicuous volcano.
With the coming of this world's Great Cataclysm, those volcanoes that used to emit thick black fumes were now flowing with golden lava instead. Now, lava streams and lava lakes dotted the landscape.
Starry sparks of flame appeared from time to time on this lava lake's surface—they were the flapping wings of flaming moths hovering around.
There were also dim spots of green lights like some kind of strange micro-worm. It was as if it were playing a game of chase with the flaming moths. At times, they would gather up into a ball of light. At times, they would spread out like glowing grains of sand.
Splash!
A lava fish jumped out from within the lava lake, biting onto a flaming moth before falling back into the lake.
"Caw caw, young master, it's right here. I can feel its faint presence." Myna jumped up and down on Grimm's shoulder as he said this.
Grimm nodded his head but did not make haste. Instead, he stood quietly on the spot by the banks of the lava lake. He stared at the ecosystem before him, studying it closely.
In terms of traits, Demon-Hunter Sorcerers were sorcerers that are specialized in combat. However, when boiled down to the basics, they were still sorcerers.
Demon-Hunter Sorcerers, Flying Dragon Anatomy Refinery Warriors, Arcane Sorcerers, Black Sorcerers, Bright Sorcerers, Dark Sorcerers… regardless of their different categories, even for some highly-specialized sorcerers, the fundamental similarity between them was that they were all learners.
To use their intelligence to learn was what all sorcerers had in common.
At the moment, Grimm seemed to have been fully-absorbed by the ecosystem happening before his eyes. You could even say that he was rather obsessed with it.
According to the sorcerers' theory, a region's ecosystem inevitable had a self-balancing system. The length of time and the vastness of space provide the capacity to suppress high-level lifeforms that might possibly affect the ecosystem's balance.
At the same time, within the short timespan of an ecosystem, some unbalanced creatures would appear as a result of evolution.
But at this time, the creatures in this Fire World were thriving extremely well after the Great Cataclysm. It was surprising that they were able to adapt to the new environment within the span of a few years and consequently create a new, extremely balanced ecosystem.
Observing this, Grimm remembered an intellectual thesis in a book he read back at the Tree of Life Library in the Sorcerer World.
It mentioned that the Soul's Will of all living-creatures was divided between the Innate Will and the Self-Will.
The Self-Will was a part of what was considered by the Cell-Soul theorist sorcerers, a determinant of life and death for the Source of Life. It was a conflicting theory with the Cell-Evolution theory, namely: "The Subjective Rationale of Creatures."
The Innate Will was mentioned in the book to be something all creatures are born with. The Innate Will dominated one's survival instincts when one was in its early years, way before the Self-Will had been developed yet. This Innate Will is made up by the accumulation of the will to survive by generations of ancestors, which is then inherited by the current being.

This point of view goes hand in hand with the Anatomy Refinery Sorcerers' thesis, who could activate the Self-Will, release their Wild Instincts and open up the abilities of the refined anatomy.
Rather than saying every living creature in this endless world has an ancestor that had a body of a Level-7 lifeform, it's more suitable to say that each level-seven and above lifeform had the ability to transform a new race as the continuation of its own will.
For now, this ecosystem was so perfectly balanced...
Was this proof that the Innate Will of these creatures had long ago possessed the concept of balance? Like a human infant with the inborn ability to find its mother's breasts for milk.
Deep in thought and deduction, Grimm went silent. His cruel Dark Sorcerer's eyes gradually dissipated into a look of wisdom.
Having the Innate Balanced Will meant that the ancestors of these creatures must have had the same experiences. These experiences were then branded into the soul which was inherited by generations to come.
'But this situation, how is it possible…'
'Something's wrong!'
Grimm was shocked. He then remembered that he was looking at this world's history from the perspective of mere low-level creatures only.
Who was to know that before the historical records of the two Great Cataclysms there happened countless similar Great Cataclysms, like an eternal cycle between the Crimson Sun and the Shadow World.
'If I were to become a Great Necromancer and observe this world like observing a test tube in a laboratory, perhaps everything would be different,' Grimm thought to himself.
'Perhaps I should find more specimens of the creatures here to do more research and gain knowledge on the Soul's Innate Will. I have a feeling that my breakthrough of the Wild Instinct's first layer is closely related to my research on the Life Code.'
Grimm returned to reality from his reverie.
The chain of thoughts lasted just a few breaths in the real world. In Myna's eyes, Grimm was only paused for a few moments.
Manipulating the Force of Nature, Grimm flew forward in search of that Twin-headed Lava Snake that was discovered in his previous mission.
***
A day later, Grimm found the Twin-headed Lava Snake in a harsh environment situated at the boundaries between fire and water. It's high temperature had resulted in the area to be saturated with hot water vapor.
The Twin-headed Lava Snake had a main head and a secondary head.
The main head controlled the Lava Flame Energy while the secondary head controlled the ability to harden the body into stone. It could transform its body from a liquid state into a rock hard solid state in the blink of an eye. At the same time, it had an extremely resilient life force. No doubt, this creature belonged to the top of the fire creatures' food chain.
"Hmph!"
With incredible dexterity, Grimm cast a seal on the three-meter long Twinheaded Lava Snake using the Green Python Thread. Still maintaining a rock hard body, a pair of hands covered in black scale armour formed a death grip on the neck underneath both heads of the snake.
Hiss…
The Sorcerer's Barrier provided complete protection from the Flame Energy spat out by the Twin-headed Lava Snake, making Grimm invulnerable to its attacks. At the same time, a golden beam of light appeared on Grimm's forehead.
In a matter of seconds, this Twin-headed Lava Snake has been successfully turned into a preserved specimen, which is then stored into the Dimensional Gap.
"Cough cough cough, I'm suffocating to death here. This crappy place really isn't a suitable living environment for the Great Steel Emblem Myna, a noble living being," Myna mumbled while he covered his beak with his wings as he stood on Grimm's shoulder, looking at the steam-covered sky.
After losing his Magic Staff, Grimm, who had turned into a Dark Sorcerer and experienced five years worth of Demon-Hunting missions had gradually grown used to such environments.
"Alright, now that we found the lair of these Twin-headed Lava Snakes, try to sense where that strange object with the ability to radiate Mystical Energy is located."
Myna closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. He pointed his wing to the left and said, "It's over there."
"Alright."
With a whoosh, Grimm flew high speed towards the direction Myna pointed in using the Force of Nature. A little later, Grimm came face to face with a massive silhouette.
"Huh? This big? Is this it?"
Looking from above, underneath Grimm was a Twin-headed Lava Snake with a length of more than twenty meters, tumbling around violently in the mud. It was under the category of a level-one lifeform.
This Twin-headed Lava Snake evidently has gone through some mutation.
"That's it."
Myna affirmed, while faking a sympathetic look towards this Twin-headed Lava Snake. He wore a mischievous expression as if saying "You're dead." to the snake.
"Re… respected sorcerer, is there anything I can help you with?" the Twin-headed Lava Snake said in a shaky voice. It most probably has detected something wrong in the air.
This Twin-headed Lava Snake not only had a developed intellect—it was able to learn the sorcerers' language within such a short timespan. Even Grimm was shocked as he tried to check if it was really the snake communicating with its own voice.
Nowadays, all intelligent creatures in this world had already come to fear the sorcerers' might. To the creatures of the Fire World, the sorcerers were the monsters in their nightmares.
Grimm looked on with an imposing expression. 'A Level 1 creature with the ability to radiate Mystical Energy, paired with high intelligence—this should be quite tricky huh?'
However, that was just a flash of thought. Grimm, still maintaining a cold expression said sternly, "Indeed there is, I need… a specimen of your body."
As a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer specialized in combat, especially for a Dark Sorcerer, Grimm was unafraid to put up a fight with any creatures of the same level, no matter which world they came from!
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
A great battle erupted. Though, only after a few moments, a Savage Flame Giant comprised of golden and black flames roared as it crushed the liquefied body of this Twin-headed Lava Snake. A swing of its Lava Greatsword cut off the secondary head of the snake.
This head squirmed around non-stop after it hit the ground. It slowly inched closer to its body, as if trying to reconnect with it.
The extreme vitality of this Twin-headed Lava Snake was undoubtedly obvious.
"This weak?"
Grimm who had turned into an intense ball of flames in the sky said, as he looked down at the snake, seemingly in control of the event unfolding.
"Caw? It's not right! Young master, that strange object that could emit Mystical Energy isn't this guy! Instead, that object is within this guy's body!"
"Hmm?"
Coming back into his senses, Grimm yelled, "Wild Instinct first layer, activate!"
In the blink of an eye, a layer of black scale armor assembled onto Grimm's body, emitting an aura of darkness around him. Even his Sorcerer's Barrier was starting to be stained black. The pair of eyes underneath the Mask of Truth remained calm as his body transformed into a phantom.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
This massive Twin-headed Lava Snake was being continuously smashed up by the incomparably small Grimm. Following every punch or kick, the snake flew back tens of meters from the impact, which seemed never-ending.
Despite facing non-stop attacks, this Twin-headed Lava Snake wasn't dying anytime soon. In fact, the secondary head managed to reattach itself to the body. Although it did not put up a fight, it still seemed unfazed by Grimm's hail of attacks.
Gradually, Grimm became surprised and at the same time, lost his patience.
Roar!
The Savage Flame Giant bellowed as it sheathed its Lava Greatsword back into its body. It then grappled the Twin-headed Lava Snake's body and just like that, Grimm rushed head-first into the mouth of the snake.
"Ah! Don't do that, you're gonna stink to death…", cried Myna
Zoom!
In a flash, Grimm once again appeared from within the Twin-headed Lava Snake's body. In his hand, he held a decaying, irregularly-shaped piece of metal. In confusion, as he asked, "What's this?"

Chapter end