Hmm?

A world aperture connected to the sorcerer world?

Looks like it's a natural occurring world aperture. With a name like 'Fairy Nut World', it should be a world made up of as.e.xual plant faeries.

Second Brother Valor's rise to become an official sorcerer was to be expected. Or else, Master Peranos would not have taken him in.

...

After a warm, cozy candle-lit dinner, Master Peranos's wife, Alice, cleared the table. Master Peranos and Grimm both entered the enclosed laboratory and sat across each other.

"Well, speak out then. What's the deal about wrapping yourself tightly in elemental forces?"

Master Peranos was picking his teeth as he asked casually.

Beneath the Mask of Truth, Grimm let out a bitter laugh. He gradually dispersed the elemental forces that were covering his body. He reached out his hand from his loose sorcerer's robe to reveal a purple bruise. The dense, bruised pores were moving about violently and struggling on top of each other as if they were about to surface from Grimm's skin. It was a horrible sight.

In the laboratory, Master Peranos was shocked. As if a cold breeze had pa.s.sed, the temperature in the room appeared to have gone colder. A dense, ominous air filled the room.

"This…"

After staring at Grimm's hand for a while, Master Peranos looked at Grimm, who had taken off his Mask of Truth. He drew a cold breath and asked, "Nightmarish Shadows?"

Grimm gently nodded his head. He retracted his hand into the sorcerer's robe.

Master Peranos stood up abruptly at Grimm's admission. He threw away his toothpick that he had bitten in half and spoke in a sad manner. "Well, you sure got the best luck. Only a few of the modern-time sorcerers had this curse, and here you are, being one of them."

Master Peranos shook his head. "How long has it been?"

"About eleven years."

Grimm replied softly. He warily continued on. "I came back in the hope that you, Master, would seek help from the great Stigmata Sorcerer from the Black Isotta…"

"The great Stigmata Sorcerer of Black Isotta is a rank six sorcerer who's almost reached the rank of a great Necromancer. He's been busy trying to improve himself for countless years. Why would he have the time for you? Compared to the Stigmata Sorcerer of Black Isotta, you'd have better chances betting on your elder master or your grandmaster."

Elder master? Grandmaster?

Grimm appeared surprised. "Master, I've met Second Master Deidarion and he told me about the great Stigmata Sorcerer, Tomb Segia. That was how he recommended the Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer to me. However, he didn't mention the elder master and grandmaster to me."

"Hmm? So you've met him?"

Master Peranos lowered his head and pondered for a moment. "Well, it's right that he didn't mention anything about your first master and grandmaster. Grimm, you are now a demon-hunting sorcerer. It's about time you start putting your foot down. I'll let you in on a little something. This concerns the life and death of the sorcerer's civilization."

The life and death of the sorcerer's civilization!

Grimm was stunned. "What about it?"

Peranos's eyes squinted in seriousness. He spoke in a deep tone. "One thousand five hundred years ago, they found signs of an unknown civilization at the edges of the sorcerer's world through world exploration. We know very little about this unknown civilization as there is no direct contact with them. The higher-ups of the sorcerer's world temporarily named it as the "Metal Destroyer" civilization. Perhaps this was why your second master didn't mention the elder master and the grandmaster to you."

He then let out a sigh. "Your elder master and grandmaster are Level 4 Stigmata Sorcerers after all. Sealing the Nightmarish Shadows would have a noticeable effect on the sorcerer's tower."

"Another civilization! Is the sorcerer world going to start the third civilization war soon?"

There was a hint of terror in Grimm's voice.

Although Grimm couldn't fully comprehend the civilizational wars, he could imagine what kind of terror an ancient civilizational battle would wreak from the ruins of stigmata and necromancy craters that covered the mainland of the sorcerer's world.

And from a modern sorcerer's understanding…

With the countless soul slave legions of the sorcerer's world and its many void fortresses, their first encounter with the unknown rival, the "Metal Destroyer" civilization, would be so severe that it would be akin to a meat-mincing machine of the worlds.

After trying to calm himself for a while, Grimm continued to ask, "Master, when do you think will the sorcerer world clash with the Metal Destroyer civilization? How much time do we have left?"

"Definitely in one epoch. Three or five millennia at minimum, seven or eight millennia at most. Who knows. Your eldest apprentice, sister Quiet Spring had become one of the pioneers of the sorcerer world exploratory team and had already embarked on a journey to infiltrate the isolated world. The last time you've met her was most likely the last time you'll ever meet again in this life."

Grimm became silent. He reminisced about the eldest apprentice, sister Quiet Spring. She was one to have always wrapped herself up in white clothes and had a long, black sword behind her. Her strong, wild moves gave out an aura that could destroy the earth.

Grimm raised his head. "Master, I think the Black Isotta Stigmata sorcerer would agree to help me seal the Nightmare Shadows. Tomb Segia once said that the Black Isotta Stigmata sorcerer would surely want to get a hold of the ancient ruins."

Ancient ruins?

Peranos thought for a while before speaking gently. "Did you mean… the place you found in the mysterious realm of Black Isotta?"

Grimm once carelessly mentioned to Peranos about an ancient ruin in the Black Isotta. Master Peranos reprimanded him, saying that this secret was privy to Grimm himself.

The memories of that incident were still fresh in Grimm's mind.

Grimm slowly nodded his head. "That's the place. Tomb Segia once said that if it was related to the ancient ruins of the extrterrestrial Nightmare civilization, the great Stigmata Sorcerer from the Black Isotta would surely grant my wish."

Master Peranos became silent for a while. He slowly spoke, " I see...the energy needed to seal your Nightmare Shadow curse is insignificant for a great Stigmata Sorcerer of Black Isotta. But, if he could get some external a.s.sistance during the coming civilizational war, it would surely be of help."

After finis.h.i.+ng his words, Master Peranos said, "Follow me to the 99th level of Black Isotta into the mysterious realm. We are going to meet the Tower Master."