A Sorcerer's Journey 406 An Expedition into the Infernal Spirit World II

"Master, they're all looking at you."
Little Myna whispered into Grimm's ears.
Of course they were...
Grimm walked into the Battle Command hall under the scrutiny of the sorcerers. Kchik. The huge metallic door behind him was then shut tight.
There were sixty-nine people in the hall.
Grimm could feel a strong sense of penetrative insight. Each one of the sorcerers here must have been the elites from the big four White Robe Organizations. Within the jurisdiction of the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings, there were more Dawn Sages compared to Demon Hunter Consociations.
"Um…"
Grimm was figuring out the correct words to use. However, no matter how he tried, with his Level-1 wisdom and experience, he knew he would not be able to hide from the sharp insights of these elite sorcerers. He gave up before he even tried.
"I'm Grimm, and as you can see, I am a Level-1 Demon-Hunter Sorcerer who's gotten a Rank-1 Honor Badge. I owe a huge part of my accomplishments to pure luck. Though I have been assigned here, a lowly sorcerer like me would not interfere with your mission assignments and battle plans. Please, do not mind my presence here."
The crowd continued to stare at Grimm with their puzzled expressions. But none of them spoke.
Grimm gripped his Sabbatical Goat Staff and walked step by step towards a huge table in the middle of the hall. There were over thirty sorcerers surrounding the table and they were all drawing up battle plans.
At the center of the table, a gigantic crystal, spanning over three meters in diameter was hovering on top.
"Um...you are all looking at me one kind, did I do something wrong?"
Next to Grimm, an old Level-3 sorceress said in a low voice," Wisdom or luck, it doesn't matter. The fact is that you've earned the attention of the Principal Will of the sorcerer. Furthermore, you could sense that your lowly sorcerer's light of wisdom is unsuitable for drawing up battle plans and chose to interrupt the Battle Command as little as possible. That is rare wisdom in itself."
Obviously, the old witch was quite a reputable person in the Battle Command. She had a Rank-2 Honor Badge.
She pointed at the huge hovering crystal at the center of the table.
"This is the heart of the fortress, the very core of the fortress. Once the Principal Will of the Sorcerers World has bestowed its will to the heart of the fortress, you would be able to communicate with it like a Stigmata Sorcerer."
After pausing for a moment, the old witch continued, "Of course, for some missions which could have major impacts, you'd have to come back and sign a letter of discharge. Or, you could discuss with the Stigmata Sorcerer yourself."
"Huh."
Grimm nodded.
After earning his Rank-1 Honor Badge, a Demon-Hunter could no longer gain any other low-level Honor Badges with any means whatsoever.
This was due to the highly-sensitive intelligence that a Rank-1 Honor Badge sorcerer had access to. He could get hold of intelligence reports regarding low-level Honor Badges and earn them through loopholes.

The great wisdom of the Holy Tower had already plugged the hole which could be exploited.
Also, in general, the whole point of earning a low-level Honor Badge was to gain the attention of the Principal Will of the Sorcerers World. It was a key condition for the elite Demon-Hunter Sorcerers to advance into Stigmata Sorcerers.
On the other hand.
A middle-aged male sorcerer passed a set of documents that was hundreds of pages thick to Grimm. There was also a recording crystal ball. He was a middle-aged sorcerer with greying hair. He wore round-framed spectacles.
The round-framed spectacles sorcerer pointed at the crystal ball which he had just passed to Grimm.
"These are all the intelligence that Black Isotta had passed to us regarding the Infernal Spirit World. The Battle Command has filtered out the parts which are suitable for the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers that have joined the expedition and passed them on to the Stigmata Sorcerer."
The round-spectacled sorcerer then pointed at the thick documents that were over a hundred pages long.
"According to the information given by Black Isotta, the mission requires us to obliterate the whole civilization of this world as well as its means of propagation. We have studied the race known as the Acraepoids in terms of their racial traits, their bio-life cycle on the mainland, how they breed, their social structures, their distinctive patterns, as well as their battle capacity. The Battle Command has decided to disrupt their bio-life cycle. Within fifty to seventy years, we shall set off a cataclysmic event which will annihilate the social structure of the Acraepoid civilization as well as their means of proliferation."
Set off a cataclysmic event!
Naturally, Grimm understood what it meant. It meant that the sole purpose of this Demon-Hunting expedition was to completely wipe out any trace of this race.
The purpose of this expedition was to gain complete control of the pillaging of their resources. It was how sorcerers treated their potential rivals!
At the same time, this was how the Sorcerers World warned those within the sorcerer's alliance as well as the powerful worlds that were within their dominion to never attempt advancing into their own civilization.
Grimm nodded. He was immersed in the information on the documents and the crystal ball. Time passed by without him realizing.
The more he read, the more astounded he felt!
First off was the information crystal ball provided by Black Isotta.
The Infernal Spirit World, also known as the Acraepoid World, was a medium-sized world similar in terms of the laws of nature to the Sorcerers World. There were day and night cycles as well as changes in the seasons. The World Lords possessed the ability to communicate with distant Foreign Worlds.
There were five known World Lords. One of them had been sealed by the Sorcerers World to be used as the coordinates where the Void Fortress would land at the Kingdom of Dark Destroyer.
There were seven larger worlds enslaved by the Infernal Spirit World.
One of them, the Burrow World, had been conquered by Black Isotta to be the permanent soul slave supply station of the Sorcerers World.
At this time, there were five World Lords in the Infernal Spirit World that had each built their own kingdoms, namely the First King Kingdom, the Darkborne Kingdom, the Dark Destroyer Kingdom, the Lightglow Kingdom, and the Darkglow Kingdom.
The strongest among them was the First King. He was estimated to be a Level-5 World Lord.
There were three World Guardians, protecting the sky, the land, and the sea.
Other than the five great kingdoms, Level-3 Acraepoids were given the title 'Nobles'. They had built up thousands of vassal kingdoms next to the five great kingdoms.
Level-2 Acraepoids were known as Acraepoid Commanders while Level-1 Acraepoids were known as Acraepoid Warriors.
The Acraepoids bred through sexual means. They were born from the womb, though their mothers carried no milk. Acraepoids who did not train in the Infernal Spirit had a constitution of between five to fifty points. Their lifespan ranged from thirty to a hundred years, mostly affected by their predecessor's bloodlines.
The Acraepoids' society worshipped fire and souls and practised blind faith towards their own bloodlines. Their understanding of the races remained within their local world as well as the worlds around their boundary, similar to the knowledge of a sorcerer-apprentice.
***
Traces of images recorded about the Infernal Spirit World flashed across the crystal ball.
Grimm learned that these records were seen through the lens of an Acraepoid. They could very well be the Acraepoid's memories. They were definitely not collected by Black Isotta or another sorcerer.
Among them were general information regarding the Infernal Spirit World in exquisite detail. From their youngest to the oldest, from the tallest to the shortest; Grimm was able to take in all the information instantly.
Grimm then looked through a page regarding the mission plan of the Battle Command.
As he flipped through the pages continuously, Grimm's originally shocked expression soon turned cold.
I) Civilizational Obliteration Plan: Setting off Cataclysmic Events to Completely Annihilate the Acraepoid Race as well as its Offsprings.
Large scale infestation of abysmal moss and their long-term cultivation to introduce invasive bio-species into their ecosystem to set off a cataclysmic event.
Abysmal Moss is the ruling class of plants of the Dragon Abyss of the Sorcerers World. They hold the same status as the Snowthread worms of the Burrow World.
The proliferation of abysmal moss shall alter some natural laws of this world and increase the mortality of young Acraepoids. Once the plan is scaled up, it would cause an event of cataclysmic proportions!
To fully develop a plague in accordance to the occult code of life and death and to increase its efficacy unceasingly. This would also trigger a cataclysmic-level event of the Sorcerers Will and thus greatly reduce the Acraepoid's numbers.
To seek out the fault lines of major plates of the Acraepoid mainland. We will secure the surrounding areas and perform advanced calculations to attempt to alter the geostructure of the plate and destroy them using the Stigmata Sorcerer's power. This is a cataclysmic-level event that would leverage on the geophysical property on a massive scale.
Infiltrate the Acraepoids using Dark Sorcerers to promote the great achievements and capabilities of our sorcerer's civilization while spreading the dark side of the infernal gods to instigate conflict with the Sorcerers World. Confuse them with their faith and devotion, incite schism among them to trigger a localized false flag event to create confusion.
II) The full purpose should be to obliterate enemies of the sorcerer's civilization.
The Holy Tower of the Seven Rings shall provide supplies and resources. The six Stigmata Sorcerers shall come together in their six Void Fortresses, leading an army of one point five million Dark Sorcerers, six million Bright Sorcerers, and a soul slave legion that is fifty million strong to annihilate any large cities in the Acraepoid mainland. From the large cities, they should go forth in separate ways to further destroy any remaining Acraepoid civilization.
The Seven Rings Celestial Sorcerer shall seal the void shadows of the Infernal Spirit World and cut off any wormholes that are deemed to be escape routes to prevent the World Lord from escaping with the seed of civilization.
To seek out the heart of the world and invade it using the Sorcerers Will. This will cut off the protection offered by the power of the world and nullify the World Guardians.
III) Contingency plan.
Should all six Stigmata Sorcerers fail in their mission, the Seven Rings Celestial Sorcerer shall personally descend upon the Infernal Spirit World to complete the obliteration plan of the civilization and push them to extinction.
It took him three hourglasses' worth of time to go through the documents.
Grimm had gone through each sentence of the Infernal Spirit World battle plan. For a moment, he felt that the Sorcerers World, or at least the Seven Rings Celestial Sorcerer himself had listed the Infernal Spirit World as the true hidden enemy!
That explained why the Sorcerers World would mobilize such a huge unit for this expedition.
In the eyes of the Sorcerers World, a civilizational structure whereby a race became stronger after emerging from battle was more terrifying than an Eternal Dominator!
It would take six Stigmata Sorcerers, each leading their own Void Fortresses to destroy designated large civilizations of the Acraepoid World. On top of that, they would have to attempt various means to trigger cataclysmic-level events to wipe out the creatures of that world…
Grimm suddenly recalled what the black-flamed Acraepoid World Guardian had said to him while trying to persuade him into backing down.
"Accept the order of fate, give up your foolish resistance. It would serve to reduce your pain. The cruelty of fate? The fate of the entire boundless world is cruel; your Burrow World is just one small part of it."
Grimm's pair of elemental eyes were calm beneath the Mask of Truth. He could not stop thinking about how the Acraepoid World Guardian had once shown him pity.
He put the battle plan and the information crystal ball aside and looked at the sorcerers who were busy at work in the Battle Command.
"Hehe, yeah, cruel fate indeed."
After the cynical remark, the huge metallic door of the Battle Command opened up. Grimm left with the Little Myna.

Chapter end