On his way to the Black Isotta, Glenn chose to walk to get more exercise, and for this purpose, he walked very fast.
With the mask on his face, Glenn raced on the road, carrying the large sword and also a sack. In it were the heads belonging to three black sorcerers.
"Upon arriving at the school, how would Norris reward me for killing three black sorcerers?" Glenn snickered expectantly. "Oh, stop thinking about the reward. I had this wonderful experience and gained knowledge. That's more important."
...
Twenty days later in the Bramble Forest.
At night that day, the lights pouring down from the moon and the stars had been thinned out by the dark clouds. Glenn was sitting atop a giant tree and was feeling the texts in the Devil Pact with his soul using the flash produced by his Flame.
"What magical words! They introduce a way to interpret meaning using souls! They seem to be the natural product of soul waves and might be helpful in learning how to use souls."
While saying this, Glenn noticed the small, black fireball at the bottom of the pact again. It had no temperature and didn't glow.
Glenn reached his hand out and touched it gently. It felt like a burning liquid. He then thought:
'This motivator is beautiful. At first sight, my soul responded to it! There's so much potential waiting to be explored in it. We'll see what will be created the moment the fire element sorcery is activated using this motivator.'
After having read through the pact, Glenn fished for that glass piece he had picked up when the huge mirror fell apart.
Glenn studied it attentively, yet it turned out to be an ordinary glass piece glazed with a layer of metal.
Glenn sighed, doubting both its uniqueness and his depth of knowledge.
Further study on it was also fruitless, so Glenn set it aside and pulled out his crystal ball.
Mental Strength: 30 points.
Magical Force: 285 ~ 310 points.
Constitution: 36 points.
Stamina: 189 ~ 190 points.
Strength: 91 ~ 294 points.
Activity: 162 ~ 296 points.
Glenn read his achievements made these past few days on the crystal ball and mumbled:
"Over two months have passed. Despite the fact that the 36-point constitution is far from being fully exploited, there have been some improvements in basic constitution properties."
Concerning enhanced stamina, its benefits had been evidently felt. Glenn could work longer without feeling fatigued, and while at work, he was always galvanized and his senses were keener. Also, he had a very good appetite.
Admittedly, boosted constitution would not directly lead to better battle strength. However, this would serve as a power-increase accelerator because it could bring about more energy, more focused concentration and higher efficiency in knowledge acquirement.
On strength, Glenn's current measurement of 91~294 points represented a substantial improvement from his previous 35~120 points. However, the strength calculating method differed greatly from how the magical force offensive power (element sorceries) was measured. For Glenn, the attack degree depending on his pure strength lied merely between 9 and 30 degrees.
Besides, strength was hard to elevate by a large margin. After long-term research by underground sorcerers, capabilities related to strength had been leveraged up, but the leverage power was limited, which usually increase the sorceries by one, three or five times, and thus couldn't match the leverage power of element sorceries, which could do it by several times, by scores of times and even by several hundreds of times.
However, constitution building had its own uses.
Element sorcery students had mental strength which was bounded at 40, a ceiling that couldn't be broken unless heshe became an official sorcerer. But there was no such thing restricting constitution building, which was a passive evolution.
Underworld dragon-based sorcerers were roughly ranked, and the ranking was made by comparing their average battle strength with the with the hierarchic system for element sorcerers.
For example, a foreign land creature with excellent constitution might be equivalent to a sorcerer between level 2 and level 3, which technically qualified it as a sorcerer who was worse than a level 3 and better than a level 2. However, for element sorcerers, the gap between the two levels was huge.
This was the upside of constitution enhancement--there was no ceiling and no distinct ranks.
In the underground world, 250 points offensive power would qualify one as an official sorcerer, which should be based on 80 to 100 points constitution. But one wouldn't be qualified even if one point was subtracted.
Most living beings in the universe progressed through the passive evolution of constitution strengthening, and and because of this evolution, the Sorcerer World reigned over others.
Concerning Glenn's 162~396 points activity now, it was a sharp rise relative to the 110~157 points prior to the practice these days, but the attack power he could withstand was only 16~29 points, the lowest points of Glenn's Ashen Mask defense power.
In conclusion, there was much more to be done to build his constitution.
......
Three days later, at the Black Isotta's main entrance which faced the Bramble Forest.
Glenn noticed a man coming towards him. Beefy as a bull, the man was wearing a black leather-made suit, with a giant axe behind his back. His right hand seemed like a layer of black, solid rock, and mysterious, cold lights came off from it.
Glenn stopped and caught sight of Lumen who was behind the man. Immediately, Glenn could guess this man's identity. He then shouted: "Thunder Axe Gade?"
"Yes," replied Gade, displaying his oral cavity which was as scary-looking as sharks.
"And you're Glenn?"
'He must have cultivated some Hematology Sorcery to look like this!' Glenn thought.
He then answered with composure, "Yeah, I'm Glenn."
Gade replied coldly: "You killed Harry right in the face if my partner. He might have done something wrong, but it was not your place to punish him! Now I believe you have been on the hit list of the four best!"
"Is that a threat? If it is, so be it."
Glenn's sorceries were now superb, and he would not be at a disadvantage against sorcery students. In this Sorcerer Continent where apathy ruled relationships between students, he feared no one.
"Ha!" Gade replied in an icy voice, "I'm not gonna kill you since the school rules forbid it, but this will be enough to teach you a lesson!"
With a thumping sound, the ground below Gade's feet cracked, and the next second, a footprint-shaped gap appeared. Before Glenn could react, Gade had disappeared.
Glenn felt the hair all over his skin bristle, and he produced his shield instinctively for possible attacks.
A second later, the shield had received an impact as if it was from thunder, and several fissures appeared on the shield because of it.
Almost immediately, a huge fist had hit Glenn on his arm with a loud crackling noise, and the punch, which seemed to be made up of granite, sent him several steps backwards. Being nearly incapacitated, his face was extremely pale.
This attack of Gade's had more than 150 degrees and was beyond Glenn's mask to resist.
"That punch was for Harry, and this one is for Lumen."
Having smashed Glenn's shield, Gade had gotten ready to throw his second punch.
Glenn's face became darker. He gnashed his teeth and shouted as he produced his flame armor.
The second punch had been smashed against Glenn. As a result, he was shoved a dozen meters away, and a gush of blood shot from his mouth.
At the time, an owl swooped in and landed on Glenn's shoulder. It stared at Gade with its green eyes and ordered in a high-pitched voice. "Gade, you've been arrested by the Legal Enforcement Team, go to the fifth floor of the Black Isotta and turn yourself in or you'll be sentenced to death and executed immediately."
Glenn spitted some blood again, but he could already rise up after he had treated himself with the Glenn Dissimilation Sorcery.
"Seems like the LET is not just lip service," murmured Glenn.
Gade stopped and pulled away his punch. He then swaggered towards the Black Tower, and while leaving, he nodded at Lumen unperturbed. Only, he was heading away fast as if hiding his trembling hand in the sleeve.
Glenn wiped away the blood stains at the corner of his mouth and sneered because he had noticed Gade's trembling hand.
Soon, the owl fluttered its wings and disappeared into the sky.