A Sorcerer's Journey

Chapter 589: The Golden-Scaled Old Man

The flourishing branches of the Tree of Life pierced through the clouds.

Even though Grimm had experienced several Demon-Hunting Expeditions, during which he had witnessed some peculiar forms of foreign life, he had never seen such an unbelievably monstrous living being like the Tree of Life.

After piloting the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft and passing through the peaks of the trunks, Grimm arrived at his new Demon-Hunter Castle.

‘Click’, the door of the craft opened, and the Demon-Hunter Castle, situated thousands of metres above in the air on the Tree of Life, appeared in front of Grimm’s eyes.

Strong wind was billowing where he stood.

Looking at the widespread area, the Demon-Hunter Castle that was separated by intersecting small ponds and stone roads, the low-altitude mechanical flying devices, Sorcerers who were rushing about, and monster slaves coming back and forth, a sudden feeling of a person holding great power in his hands creeped into Grimm’s heart.

“Starfall Reconnaissance Craft! Rank-1 Honor Badge! You are the new owner of this Demon-Hunter Castle?”

On top of another Demon-Hunter Castle, there was a ten-metre or longer golden-scaled python, and on the python was a Sorcerer wearing a purple robe, he was using magic ink and patiently outlining magic interdiction on every individual scale.

This seemed to be quite a high level chimera, in Grimm’s senses, it appeared to have the aura of a Level-3 creature!

“Hello, I’m Grimm.”

Grimm’s Demon-Hunter Castle was built on a small branch that protruded from the Tree of Life, for a mere branch from the Tree of Life, it was already enough to hold a Demon-Hunter Castle.

There were two neighbours beside Grimm’s Demon-Hunter Castle, the three Demon-Hunter Castles were all built on the same branch from the Tree of Life.

Every Demon-Hunter Castle had five floors, the inner space was bigger and wider than the Level-1 Demon-Hunter Castle on the grounds.

“Hehe, as expected from the newcomers that are assigned to the Demon-Hunter Castle here, you’ve already received a Rank-1 Honor Badge when you were a Level-1 Sorcerer, it seems like there’s gonna be a strong contender in the future Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ rankings.”Read more chapter at vipnovel

The purple-robed Sorcerer flew to a place not far from Grimm, he was smiling lightly but his eyes were dignified as he introduced himself, “Everyone calls me the Golden-Scaled Old Man, the reason is because this chimera is my greatest creation.”

He pointed, naturally, to the direction of the golden-scaled python coiled on top of the Demon-Hunter Castle.

Golden-Scaled Old Man?

This form of address was quite similar to Grimm’s Ashen Mask during his Sorcerer-Apprentice period, where he probably made a name for himself, and people unwittingly called him that as it was easier for the public to remember.

His withering white hair actually felt elegant, and the Golden-Scaled Old Man’s face was full of wrinkles, even though he was smiling at Grimm, Grimm still felt as if the cold stares from a snake were embedded deep within the pair of sage eyes looking at him.

At the same time...

On one side, while Grimm was observing the Golden-Scaled Old Man, on the other side, the Golden-Scaled Old Man was observing Grimm as well.

However, as the Golden-Scaled Old Man paced fifteen metres closer to Grimm, he instinctively stopped in his tracks, and did not dare to go any nearer!

An indescribably overwhelming power, as if looking into a bottomless pit, was being emitted unconsciously from Grimm, wild violence mixed with destructive restlessness, yet it was forcefully suppressed by that layer of extreme cool rationality, a faint, mysterious half-illusory wave that made it feel surreal.

This guy... perhaps he was a monster that was even more terrifying than the Bloodshadow!

The black flames burning in the eye sockets of the Sabbatic Goat Staff, and the black aura surrounding his body that was covering a translucent Sorcerer robe, seemed like they were automatically distorting the surrounding light rays, making people feel like it was an illusory dream. Under the greyish-white mask with spiral patterns on it was a pair of deep and calm elemental eyes, looking into his eyes made him feel utterly exposed, naked as day.

Whether it was the waves from the magic power of outer magical tools, or the nature of the Elemental Sorcerer, or the life level of evolution of the cells, Grimm made the Golden-Scaled Old Man feel a sort of impeccable pressure, as if what was standing in front of him was not Grimm, but a giant looking down at his puny self.

This newcomer, how scary...

This guy would, without a doubt, become a notable person on the Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ rankings in the future!

“Golden-Scaled Old Man, your praises are too much. I’ve only heard about the Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ rankings, but I’ve never come in contact with it before. I heard that the first three in the rankings will receive Time Artefacts as rewards every hundred years that will be beneficial for evolving into a Level-3 Great Sorcerer. Even though one were to desire for the rewards, knowing the Level-2 Sorcerers on the Tree of Life that are hiding their abilities, and the number of talented Sorcerers that are competing and peeking from the dark, I am but one amongst all of these people.”

After a courteous and modest response, Grimm fell silent, and then asked deeply, “Being assigned to the Demon-Hunter Castles here, is there a difference?”

The so-called ‘Demon-Hunter Castles here’, meant the Demon-Hunter Castles on this breeding branch on the Tree of Life.

These were the branches in the canopy on the top of the Tree of Life, as the Void Fortresses for the Demon-Hunting Expeditions would pass through frequently, the canopy would open and close often, and so it was not suitable to build Demon-Hunter Castles. Most of the Demon-Hunter Castles were built on cliffs at the tree gaps, rarely would Demon-Hunter Castles be built on the breeding branches from the trunk.

The Golden-Scaled Old Man laughed, revealing a slight arrogance.

“There are one hundred thirty seven branches breeding from the Tree of Life trunk, there are only a few thousand Demon-Hunter Castles built on top, for Level-2 Sorcerers who have been assigned to Demon-Hunter Castles here, the Holy Tower of Seven Rings must think of the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers as having a lot of potential!”

While the Golden-Scaled Old Man praised Grimm, he was also praising himself, when he was assigned over here, the Holy Tower of Seven Rings also thought that he was a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer with potential.

“And the Golden-Scaled Old Man title was coined four centuries ago when I successfully fought for the seventy-seventh place in the Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ rankings. Believe in your own strength, if you are willing to fight with all your might in the next one hundred years for the Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ rankings, you’ll definitely cause a huge wave, and obtain a title that belongs only to you.”

Grimm did not respond.

Maybe because it was so difficult for him to evolve from a Level-1 to a Level-2 Sorcerer, or because of the Strings of Time given by Hourglass Stigmata Sorcerer, or the biggest possibility which was the fact that Grimm had completely controlled the qualitative energy change needed by a Level-4 Sorcerer for the destructive force, which meant that to Grimm, evolving into a Level-3 Sorcerer...

It was as close as a piece of thin paper!

What Grimm needed to do was just to adapt to the accumulation of Level-2 sorcerer knowledge, after that all he had to do was to penetrate this piece of paper naturally.

The Golden-Scaled Old Man pointed to a Demon-Hunter Castle on the other side of Grimm’s Demon-Hunter Castle.

“That’s the Bloodshadow’s Demon-Hunter Castle, he was a Sorcerer that evolved three hundred years ago, his strength is very frightening, he’s competing in the Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ ranking with all his might right now, he’s already in the 18th place on the Holy Tower of Seven Rings’ ranking.”

18th?

To be given the title of Bloodshadow, Grimm could not help but think of the Evil Blood Dreadlord from the Magnetite World Demon-Hunting Expedition that was completed just recently.

“Haha, alright, it’s a lot more convenient as a Level-2 Sorcerer compared to Level-1 Sorcerers, and the fight for the top will be one of the main objectives. After all, after advancing as a Level-2 Sorcerer, Demon-Hunting Expeditions won’t come so easily, so the faces around you will start to become more constant.”

Grimm nodded in agreement, indeed it would.