A Sorcerer's Journey 307 Second Phase Project on the Mask of Truth

Time is like flowing water. The years pass by easily without one noticing.
On this day, in front of the massive test bench, Grimm set out in creating rune strokes on the Mask of Truth using a quill pen dipped in precious magic ink.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
The gears in the mechanical clock kept on spinning. Further away, was a chronograph hourglass that produced a constant, yet faint "shh, shh" sound. It was as if both of them were creating a synchronized beat that accompanied Grimm's progress in his work.
From time to time, Grimm dipped his quill pen in the magic ink before he continued drawing the runes meticulously.
Dong…
Suddenly, the mechanical clock chimed, indicating that the solidifying process for the high-density energy gel block in the Eternal Destructive Energy Meter was complete.
As if woken up from a dream, Grimm jolted subtly from the chime. He sighed before putting down the quill pen on the table.
"There are only seven years left before my two hundred year allowance in the Sorcerer World ends. At this point I can only barely complete works on the Boundless Eye even though I planned to do the Eagle Eye technique as well. Not to mention the second phase experiments on Chimeras or even the completion of my current work on the Mask of Truth."
Grimm rubbed his brows.
Not planning to waste any more time, Grimm gritted his teeth as he stood up and walked over to the Eternal Destructive Energy Meter.
"It seems that I'll have to postpone my work on the Eagle Eye Technique to the future when I initiate the third phase project on the Mask of Truth. That will mean I have to balance it between working on the Eye of Microscopy as well."
Within the fifteen-meter-tall Eternal Destructive Energy Meter, the high-density energy gel block had completely undergone the solidifying reaction.
Over the past few years, Grimm had used this machine in countless experiments on Destructive Energy. Consequently, he was now sure that his accumulated knowledge of the Destructive Energy has already reached the ancient sorcerers' limits of understanding.
Even so, Grimm was still lingering around the ancient sorcerers' boundaries of understanding and had yet to make any breakthroughs regarding the Destructive Energy.
Is there even any material that can be used as a vessel for this terrifying energy?
Buzz…
As Grimm activated the Eternal Destructive Energy Meter, the energy between the eighteen upper Water Elemental bases and the eighteen lower Flame Elemental bases had started colliding with each other, producing a deafening roar. The clash between the two elements was so violent that the ground started shaking and rumbling.
The immense pressure produced by the instrument had started distorting the light rays within the Demon-Hunter Castle, which were then sucked into the crystal vessel.
Briefly, the Destructive Energy within the instrument emulated a black hole that devoured anything in its path, which was enough to strike fear into the hearts of any sane human.

After three seconds passed, everything in Grimm's laboratory had returned to normal.
Grimm picked up his experiment journal and began making detailed records. Nowadays, making such records came as instinctive to Grimm only. In actuality, experimental observations on Destructive Energy like this one added little significance to his understanding about it.
In the beginning, every time Grimm initiated a new experiment on Destructive Energy, Myna would look on curiously from nearby. However, as Grimm repeated his experiments day after day, Myna's excited curiosity gradually grew into boredom and today, hatred and disgust.
No wait, that guy had started going to Millie's place to play every day…
A year later.
As Grimm completed the final rune stroke on the Mask of Truth, a self-contained magical array suddenly started shining brightly.
The Boundless Eye has finally been completed!
After the Ultrasound positioning sorcery and the Mystic Eye, this would be the completion of Grimm's third perception sorcery skill.
Despite his exhaustion, Grimm was still quite excited.
After wasting away a decade, Grimm was finally able to take a step forward in the advancement of his Mask of Truth. He had now completely mastered the Boundless Eye skill passed down to him by Master Peranos.
Vaguely, Grimm remembered his master's instruction to pass down the knowledge when he received the scroll of the Boundless Eye from his master.
Inhaling deeply, Grimm's fingertips lit up as he activated the Mask of Truth. After a "squeak", the paper-thin sheet of metal had instantly folded up, back into the original form of the Mask of Truth.
Grimm put the Mask of Truth on with a serious composure.
'About passing on the knowledge about the Boundless Eye…'
How could Grimm possibly take in a disciple before he himself even mastered the Boundless Eye skill? How would Grimm even explain to his disciple that the knowledge was passed on to him by his mentor, and his mentor's mentor?
The worst-case scenario would be his disciple asking him, "What about you, master?"
Grimm closed his eyes shut before opening them again.
Within seconds, his pupils turned into that of a snake's and the whole world in front of him suddenly changed.
The world had turned a fuzzy shade of green with gradual spots of pale red from the heat emitted by the magic lamp. Stretching his arms before him, they glowed a deeper shade of red in his vision. There was a noticeable difference in the shade of red between the blood vessels in his palms and the fleshy muscles between them.
The brightest shade of red in his vision however, was from the Combustar located in the eighteen Flame Elemental bases of the Eternal Destructive Energy Meter, which glowed so bright in Grimm's vision, it hurt to look at them.
After a while, Grimm gradually got accustomed to the Boundless Eye vision. He muttered to himself, "Is this what they call, thermal vision? Although it's pretty unique, it is relatively inferior to a human's perception of light."
This type of perception sorcery is as useless as a bicycle pedal on a wheelchair in places like the Lava Lake in the Shadow Enigmatic World.
However, if it were in the chasms of the Camphoragate, it would come to good use to detect ambushes from nearby Amonros hiding within its fleshy walls.
In short, this sorcery brings with it many perks. Though it is hard to ignore its shortcomings as well. Even so, the key lies in how the sorcerer uses the skill.
"Well then, now that I've completed this task, I will have to start preparing for the upcoming Demon-Hunting Expedition. Let's see how things are coming along over at Millie's place."
With that said, Grimm hurriedly left his Demon-Hunter Castle and headed over to Millie's place.
Knock, knock.
A few moments after knocking on Millie's door, out she walked to invite Grimm in as Myna cheered on her shoulder.
"Caw caw, young master!"
As soon as Myna saw Grimm, he flew over to his shoulder. Millie, amused by the funny sight, smiled as she nodded towards Grimm, a gesture of inviting him into her Demon-Hunter Castle.
"It's fine."
Grimm rejected Millie's invitation and quickly followed up with a question, "I have to register for the Demon-Hunting Expedition soon, what about you?"
Millie returned to the Sorcerer World nearly twenty years later than Grimm, meaning that the allocated time for her to stay here was still far from over. Millie frowned and sighed. "I'm afraid we can't participate in the upcoming expedition together. After all, I'm currently at the critical period for my experiment to succeed."
Nodding his head in acknowledgment, Grimm similarly sighed before replying, "Hm, stay safe then."
"You too."
Millie waved goodbye to Myna as she smiled slightly.
After saying his farewells to Millie, Grimm flew straight to the Dark Demon-Hunter Headquarters to register his name for the upcoming expedition.
Mere moments later, he already received his missions for the Demon-Hunting Expedition.
"Only nine months left? We're running short of time…"
After a moment of hesitation, Grimm gritted his teeth. "I guess the only thing I can do now is to sell off some resources and get two sets of low-level Demon Hunting weapons."
Grimm had experienced the nightmares of Magic Power exhaustion back at the Shadow Enigmatic World and was hell-bent on preventing that from happening again.
A few days later, Grimm acquired a large pile of Sorcerer Essences after selling off the Natural Soul of a Great Bloodfalls Lavawyvern. He then immediately purchased two sets of low-level Demon-Hunting weapons, leaving out a few Sorcerer Essences for potential transactions in the future.
Grimm still had the Natural Soul of the Water Crystal Turtle for his second phase projects on the Chimera so there were no issues there.
Since Grimm was still in the stage of accumulating knowledge in the field of Chimera research, the supplies required in those experiments were not urgently needed by Grimm at the moment.
As such, Grimm returned to his Demon-Hunter Castle where he quietly awaited the arrival of his second Demon-Hunting Expedition.

Chapter end