Chapter 536: Netherheart
After gathering together once again, the lot left the Holy Tower of Six Rings’ protection barrier as they headed toward the Netherheart Sorcerer Academy.
Layers of hilly basins were filled with floras of all kinds as they straddled across hills and valleys, through a gushing river. Vast green grasslands gradually overtook the peak of strange rocks on the mountain.
The Netherheart Sorcerer Academy was located on the peak of the cluster of mountains. The enormous figures of soul slaves left behind by a group of Level-3 Great Sorcerers attracted many Sorcerer-Apprentices to spy on them in the dark.
Within the Netherheart realm.
Seated high and above, an old hand was holding onto a black crescent staff as a black sorcerer’s robe clung to the skinny figure. “Thump thump thump thump…” A faint melody echoed throughout the big halls. That was the heartbeat of the Netherheart.
Like a dark moon, the eyes of Netherheart Stigmata Sorcerer glanced throughout the crowd. A slight curve of satisfaction crept up on the wrinkled corner of his lips.
“Heeheeheehee, so you’ve all arrived.”
Master Hydra Wrath, Master Deidarion, Master Peranos and Master Orton stood up from their seats and bowed humbly before Netherheart Stigmata Sorcerer.
“Master…”
The word, ‘Master’ did not represent the position of one’s strength among other Sorcerers, instead, it represented respect toward knowledge. Even if a Sorcerer were to surpass his master in the future, he would need to pay his respects to the masters that had given him their own knowledge and teachings selflessly.
Behind the four of them stood all the third-generation students and the fourth-generation students of Netherheart’s first inherited vein.
Master Deidarion’s stitched up face had already recovered by seemingly using the repulsive and attractive force method that was provided by Grimm in the Shadow World.
Blood colored energy surrounded his blood red metal armor unsteadily. An honest face lied below his long black hair along with eyes so sharp that they could easily see through others.
Standing behind him were six students of different classes. The one with the highest seniority was a Level-3 female student who had brought with her a fourth-generation student, who also seemed like an official Sorcerer.
Master Peranos had changed into a brand new black sorcerer’s robe. His face was covered with stitched scars as he smiled while holding onto his staff. Garnigel was next to him with the green in its eyes captivating the ones who would look into them. Mistress Alice was standing next to Master Peranos as well.
Varro, Grimm, and Vivian stood behind him.
Master Orton wore a white Sorcerer’s robe. Yet his face that was filled with stitches and scars did not have the ferocious wisdom that could be found on Mastor Peranos’. Instead, a sense of heartiness could be found from his facial looks.
Three students stood behind Master Orton. Two of them were Level-2 Sorcerers and one of them was a Level-1 Sorcerer. The Level-1 Sorcerer being the pure wild instincts Anatomy Refinery Sorcerer, Cameron.
What stuck with Grimm was the fact that Cameron had a daughter called Barbara. However, she did not embark on the journey of becoming a Sorceress and had become a short-term memory.
Right at this moment, besides Grandmaster Netherheart, the one that caught Grimm’s attention the most in the hall was Master Hydra Wrath.
Taking a first glance at Master Hydra Wrath, two words came to Grimm’s mind naturally—debaucherous, unruly.
The loose white sorcerer’s robe on him seemed like a loose coat instead of a sorcerer’s robe. His solid chest muscles were exposed as his thick chest hair could be seen clearly. His arms looked strong while his loose sleeves were placed right behind him.
Under his short black hair lied his tall cheekbones and his roughly stitched together skin, ever highlighting his wild aura.
This was the Master Hydra Wrath that was advancing toward becoming a Stigmata Sorcerer?
He may be a Level-4 Great Sorcerer without the support of the Mana Pool, but when compared to Grandmaster Netherheart who was also a Stigmata Sorcerer, the difference between them was a little too much.
Behind Master Hydra Wrath were nine third-generation students and a few four-generation students.
“Heehee, looks like we have a couple more new faces.”
A ray of light glided by the crescent staff in Grandmaster Netherheart’s hand. After scanning through the whole hall, his gaze fell upon Vivian.
The Stigmata Sorcerer’s coercion had already caused Vivian who was a Sorceress-Apprentice to feel suffocated. But Vivian did not show any abnormal signs due to Grimm’s protection.
In the end, Grandmaster Netherheart did not say anything to Vivian. Instead, he took a longer look at Grimm.
“Peranos, after Quiet Spring, you’ve yet again trained another good student. Receiving a Rank-1 Honor Badge during his time as a Level-1 Demon-Hunter Sorcerer. Heehee heehee, not bad. Not bad at all.”
Peranos who had already anticipated that Grimm’s attendance would score him some praise was very pleased.
“This is my third student, Grimm. His wisdom is extraordinary. He has proficient research knowledge on both elemental sorcery and the path of refinery. He advanced to become an official Sorcerer by gaining the best results in the Holy Tower qualification battle when he was in the World-Core.”
“Uh huh.”
Netherheart Stigmata Sorcerer nodded and said while he let out a sigh, “It’s just a pity that he’s lower in level. If he were a Level-3 Great Sorcerer like Quiet Spring, then it’d be more convenient.”
Grimm had his head down without saying a word. Naturally, he understood what Grandmaster Netherheart meant.
The number of people for the commanding and reproduction of the initial stage of building Master Hydra Wrath’s Sorcerer Academy and his Sorcerer Tower was not enough. Due to that, there were not enough Sorcerers that could gather the Mana Pool together in the inner parts of the Sorcerer Tower, causing the Sorcerer Tower to be unstable.
The initial stages of building the Sorcerer Tower included a five-hundred-year protection period under the Holy Tower law.
After the protection period, if the Sorcerer Tower’s Mana Pool had yet to take form, it would result in a fail in advancement.
The difficulties that Master Hydra Wrath had to face was not only this, but also the Sorcerer Academy Battle that might derive from the hatred of Shadow Argus Stigmata Sorcerer—the war that might take place after the protection period of the Holy Tower law.
Yet Master Hydra Wrath did not show any signs of worry.
“You don’t have to worry, master. In the past years, a group of arcane Sorcerers had begun to rise up in my territory. Yet there’s still a hundred and fifty years to the deadline of the Holy Tower protection period. The formation of the Mana Pool should not be a problem when having the support of three students. As for Shadow Argus… if it came to the point where Quiet Spring had not returned by that time, I have already asked for a good friend of mine to find a strong Level-3 Great Sorcerer from the Holy Tower of Two Rings to protect the academy.”
The biggest chaos that could take place in the Sorcerer Continent was the Academy Battle.
It was precisely because of the various hospitality of the Holy Tower law and the important position they had during the Academy Battle period that Level-3 Sorcerers were known as Great Sorcerers.
Even though Level-3 Great Sorcerers were half times higher in their mental strength basis and half-step time ability when compared to Level-2 Great Sorcerers, the difference in their combat power may not be as large as between Level-1 Sorcerers and Level-2 Sorcerers. However, the difference was still very obvious as it normally took multiple Level-2 Sorcerers to match the strength of one Level-3 Great Sorcerer.
“Uh huh.”
Every Sorcerer had their own journey as a Sorcerer.
Netherheart Stigmata Sorcerer nodded and took out a hand-written notebook.
“This is the Grand Toxic Refinery that has records of my new breakthrough in my intoxication sorcery research from these past hundred years of me travelling through foreign worlds. This will become the reward for this assessment.”
All the third and fourth generation students inhaled sharply as they stared at the Grand Toxic Refinery in the hands of Netherheart Stigmata Sorcerer.
“One, two, three, four, five, six… twenty-nine. There are a total of twenty-nine students. Well then, let the title for this assessment be human reproduction. One hundred and fifty years has gone by ever since the population of Hydra Wrath’s Sorcerer Academy had moved. The first city has already appeared on the premises of the academy. Your task is to manage a city as the governors of the city. This task will go on for fifty years and the reward will be distributed according to the growth population ratio of the city.”
It was obvious that Grandmaster Netherheart had counted the fourth-generation students in as well.
A newly built Sorcerer Tower—for the first two hundred years, the population would mostly be based on the policies of the Holy Tower by migrating the population from the city center.
While the population after the reign of the Holy Tower would determine the number of Sorcerers. In turn, determining whether the Mana Pool could be gathered after the five-hundred-year protection period of the Holy Tower.
Human population was the wealth of a Stigmata Sorcerer.
“Grandmaster, Vivian might not be suitable for this assessment. So for this assessment, I hope she can stay by my side.”
Grimm stood out and said as he lowered his voice.
Netherheart and the other Sorcerers all looked toward Grimm and Vivian’s direction. After several moments, Netherheart nodded and approved Grimm’s request.
Soon after, dinner followed where they got to get to know each other better…