A Sorcerer’s Journey

Hidden under the Robe of Representations, Grimm cautiously approached the Shadow Argus Academy with Little Myna in tow. The security of the academy had obviously been increased, its patrols and defense efforts had been doubled, and from the looks of the large magic arrays on the outer walls the academy had not been stingy with their crystalized energy stones.

Until now, Grimm had only experienced about a dozen light based detection magical interdictions. These ones were not only limited to light but also sound and odor, even Grimm had to treat these with caution in order to avoid detection.

As usual, Little Myna stayed outside of the academy as Grimm entered alone. As the Sorcerer Tower got closer and closer, the detection magical interdictions became denser and denser. Grimm’s progression became more and more difficult.

Like today, Grimm was blocked by a triple ring chain magic array!

The first thing was a huge anti-perception hood buckled to the ground and air, perfectly covering the Sorcerer Tower. The defensive hood would detect any form of magic entering and leaving the magic array.

The next was a spatial enchantment that prevented Spacetime sorcery from affecting its outside and inside. The casting of this enchantment required a lot of stones, from the looks of it the Shadow Argus Academy would not be able to consistently keep this array up for very long.

The last giant magic array was situated at the innermost sector of the surrounding rings. It was hard to discern what it was as on one hand Grimm had not seen such an array before, and on the other, the nature of the array itself proved to be elusive and rare. He could only infer that it might possibly be a sonar based perception array.

“What a drag,” Grimm’s brow furrowed under the Robe of Representations as he took flight and circled the tri-ring array, looking for any weak spots in the magical array to see if he could have a chance of exploiting it.

1Grimm’s research on magical interdiction arrays was lacking, but he knew that it was almost impossible to crack those with just magic.

After two hourglasses’ worth of time, Grimm found himself in a large sewer which had filthy water flowing through it. The air was filled with a pungent smell and he could see twisted looking insects crawling along its walls. As a wild instinct Sorcerer, an elite among the elite, Grimm did not express any distaste.

However, Grimm came across a corner in the sewers where he could see the outline of the Three-Rings Magic Array. His brows would have been twisted into a knot if that were physically possible.

After thinking for a while, Grimm manifested the Sabbatic Goat Staff from his flesh and lightly tapped at the sewer wall, hoping to dig a new passage from the side to see if he could pass through it.

A high density shockwave from the Sabbatic Goat Staff easily punched through the hard stone wall. Grimm used his repulsive and attracting force to slowly pull the stone, powder and debris out of the way before pausing.

It was not possible!

The Sorcerer that created this magical array was clearly a master. A simple idea like this had no chance at all.

Sulking, Grimm slowly flew out of the sewer to look for other ways of entry.

Five hourglasses’ worth of time later.

A small group of patrolling Sorcerers ended their mission outside the magical array, passed through the Three-Rings and entered the Sorcerer Tower. Grimm silently followed behind them, hoping that he could vault over during the disturbance. Yet as the last Sorcerer entered the third magical array, Grimm was about to follow closely behind him but stopped abruptly as he realized that there was only a small gap left.

It was absolutely impossible!

The magical array reformed too quickly, Grimm had no chance at all, forcing his way through would just sound the alarms and put the security inside on high alert.

In the end, Grimm fretted for half an hourglass’ worth of time, and finally abandoned the endeavor, reluctantly retreating.

Three days later.

Three days had passed and Grimm had used more than ten different ways of infiltrating, and it seemed that the simple methods that Grimm could have thought of were all covered by the designers of the magical array. The array protected them like a giant egg shell, they were like a well-protected chick inside.

Wanting to enter the Sorcerer Tower? What an exasperating task!

However, Grimm did not give up. Any perception based magic would be controlled and monitored by Sorcerers. While Grimm might not find any loopholes within the perception based magic itself, so long as there was someone controlling it, there would surely be a loophole!

What could he do?

His silent contemplation was suddenly broken by a mechanical sound coming from the sky, it was a flying disc shaped object of about ten meters wide with a High Altar stationed above it. It was followed by several smaller aircrafts and slave monsters. Standing on the discs were a bunch of Sorcerers and Sorcerer-Apprentices making their final preparations for the Academy War.

Grimm naturally recognized the flying saucer. Whenever there was an actual confrontation between both academies, the Sorcerers on the aerial vehicle would be greatly empowered by the Altar and rain down great troubles for the Hydra Wrath Academy.

In other words, today…

Grimm’s eyes lit up all of a sudden in realization, something churning in his head.

Invisible under the Robe of Representations, neither Sorcerer nor monster noticed Grimm’s presence as he flew toward the flying saucer. Then he dove right into the cannon muzzle of the flying disc machine. The diameter of the muzzle was about half a meter and a tight fit for Grimm, but after a quick cast of dissimilation sorcery he was able to slowly stretch himself and at the same time pull a crystal glass sealing utensil out of the Dimensional Gap.

Grimm squeezed himself in and then covered the opening of the crystal glass! Of course, he left a small gap in the opening.

After that, he held his breath, controlled the rate of his blood flow and the fluctuations of natural energy surrounding him to the barest minimum he could manage, and his body gradually cooled down. He had minimized his life characteristics.

After a moment, the flying saucer flew into the Three-Rings array and Grimm truly did not trigger any alarms, successfully entering the Three-Rings Magical Interdiction Array. Nobody in the Shadow Argus Academy was aware of this intrusion.

Carefully, Grimm opened the lid of the utensil, and with the use of dissimilation sorcery he slowly inched his way out before firing himself out of the muzzle after putting away the utensil. His eyes fell upon the Sorcerer Tower’s last line of defense.

Relatively speaking, this barrier was meant for protection, not perception. As long as Grimm waited patiently for opportunities he could definitely pass through the guards between the seventh and eighth floor of the Sorcerer Tower and finally get into the interiors.

Three days later.

Grimm seized the moment to follow a guard Sorcerer that was on break, successfully passing through the mechanical detection of the red light, and finally successfully entered the Shadow Argus Academy Sorcerer Tower!

With his hunting senses, he could oddly smell the peculiar scent of Little Myna’s droppings wafting over.