Chapter Summaries

After returning to camp, Shien told Vivian he planned to become stronger by learning skills and pursuing the adventurer path, using the Adventurer's Guild to gather information about the world. He spent the night watch asking Vivian questions before returning to his tent to sleep.

• Shien returned to camp and reassured Vivian that he was all right, though his Hero identity still troubled him.
• Shien decided to improve his strength, make becoming a full-fledged adventurer his goal, and focus on learning skills.
• Vivian offered to help Shien and encouraged him to ask whenever he faced difficulties.
• Tier returned from her patrol, gave Shien a seemingly complicated glance, and went to the tents.
• Shien kept watch with Vivian and asked her about the world until Lumya and Merika took over, then he went to sleep in his own tent.

Vivian led Shien and the others into the Mangal Mountain Range to collect spring water and hunt Fire Lizards, explaining how Magic Power Sources formed along the way. Shien ended the discussion by asking whether consuming too much magic power and then life force could really not kill someone.

• Vivian woke Shien at dawn and gathered the group to enter the Mangal Mountain Range.
• Vivian reviewed their remaining tasks and planned a route to a medium-sized Magic Power Source while avoiding the large source and dangerous monsters near it.
• Shien asked what a Magic Power Source was, and Vivian explained how magic power gathered and materialized into a spring.
• Shien asked whether people could die after using up their magic power and then consuming their life force.

Shien learned how vitality and magic power were connected, while Vivian explained how Magic Power Sources formed and attracted monsters. The party entered the Mangal Mountain Range to lure Fire Lizards to a Magic Power Source and take their hide membranes after the monsters fought.

• Vivian explained that vitality sustained life, could be replenished, and was converted into magic power, whose depletion could cause fatigue or fainting.
• Vivian told Shien that Magic Power Sources formed when the world's vitality became concentrated magic power, and that monsters gathered around them.
• Vivian explained that the Magic Power Source could attract a group of level thirty-to-forty Fire Lizards, allowing the party to wait for monsters to fight and collect the Fire Lizards' hide membranes afterward.
• Shien called Vivian devious, then said he liked her plan, while Tier, Lumya, and Merika reacted.
• Vivian put away the map, and the party packed their luggage, left the carriage in the forest, and entered the Mangal Mountain Range.

Vivian's Squad reached the spring and began collecting water, while Merika unexpectedly opened up to Shien. Vivian suggested that someone else in the squad might also have started letting down their guard around him, leaving Shien worried he was winning people over without realizing it.

• Vivian's Squad reached their destination after a tiring march, with Lumya helping the exhausted Merika along the way.
• Shien asked Merika about magic that could strengthen the body, and she explained that she had trained only in fire and ice magic.
• Merika blushed after answering Shien, and Vivian sent her ahead to collect spring water while Lumya and Tier followed to protect her.
• Vivian teased Shien about Merika and suggested someone else might already have let down their guard around him.
• Shien wondered if he was unintentionally winning over the women in the squad, then hurried after Vivian when she called him.

Vivian's Squad collected spring water from a Magic Power Source, but a pack of Lizardmen interrupted them. As the battle began, Vivian introduced her teammates' abilities and ranks, then announced that the squad's strongest member was about to be revealed.

• Vivian explained how Merika used special equipment to extract and preserve the Magic Power Source's spring water.
• Tier spotted a group of twenty-two Lizardmen approaching, and the squad stopped collecting water to prepare for battle.
• Lumya charged a Lizardman, knocked its sword away with her gauntlets, and sent it flying with a punch.
• Merika burned the airborne Lizardman to ashes with her fire magic.
• Vivian knocked another Lizardman away with her tower shield and told Shien about her defensive skills and fifth-rank status.
• Vivian announced that the squad's strongest member and one of Lamigium's foremost geniuses was about to be introduced as a petite figure flashed past.

Tier demonstrated her exceptional combat ability by slaughtering the Lizardmen, while Vivian explained her skills and reputation as Lamigium’s youngest genius. Tier revealed that she had also learned Magic Sword, leaving Shien impressed by her strength and potential.

• Tier rushed into the Lizardmen and killed them with her Dual Blades while dodging their attacks.
• Vivian explained that Tier was a Level Fifty-Nine guerrilla fighter who had trained several combat skills to high levels.
• Tier charged a shield-bearing Lizardman and cut through both it and its shield with Magic Sword.
• Vivian revealed that Tier had learned Magic Sword three months earlier and trained it to Level Two.

After the Lizardmen fell, Shien tried to get Tier to teach him her Magic Sword technique, but his awkward hints backfired. Tier offered to teach him after they returned to Lamigium, leaving Vivian to suggest that Tier had begun to lower her guard around him.

• Tier, Lumya, and Merika defeated the Lizardmen, and Tier compared her skill to an unnamed Princess.
• Vivian said the Princess could only be defeated by beings on the level of the Three Great Goddesses or Six Great Demon Lords.
• Shien awkwardly hinted that he wanted to learn Tier's Magic Sword technique, then denied it when Tier asked him directly.
• Tier told Shien she could teach him and asked him to find her after they returned to Lamigium.
• Vivian told Shien that Tier had already begun to lower her guard around him.

Vivian's Squad collected spring water from the Magic Power Source and let the monsters fight over it, then harvested the corpses for valuable materials. With their haul loaded, they left the Mangal Mountain Range for Lamigium, where Shien looked forward to learning skills and magic.

• Vivian's Squad watched as monsters, including the Fire Lizards, fought over the Magic Power Source until a level-sixty-two rhinoceros monster killed the others and drank the spring water.
• Vivian explained that the Magic Power Source would refill overnight and that the squad had collected the water during its activation phase to avoid fighting dangerous monsters.
• Vivian led the squad in dismantling the monster corpses and taught Shien how to identify, preserve, and carry valuable materials.
• Low-level monsters approached, but Lumya and Merika defeated them while Vivian decided not to use them as practice opponents for Shien.
• Vivian drove the carriage away from the Mangal Mountain Range toward Lamigium as Shien anticipated learning Magic Sword skills and magic.

Vivian’s Squad returned to the Adventurer’s Guild, turned in their requests and extra monster materials, and earned one hundred gold coins to split among the five members. Just as Vivian handed Shien his share, someone snatched the pouch and suggested he buy everyone drinks.

• Shien returned to the Adventurer’s Guild with Vivian’s Squad and heard other adventurers gossip about the group and their rookie.
• Vivian’s Squad turned in spring water, Fire Lizard hides, and confirmation that they had cleared Blood Sucking Vines, completing three requests for forty gold coins.
• Vivian asked the guild employee about demand for other monster materials, and Tier explained how the squad could turn in extra materials to fulfill additional requests.
• Vivian returned with Lumya and Merika and announced that extra materials had earned sixty more gold coins, bringing the total reward to one hundred gold coins.
• Vivian divided the reward into twenty gold coins for each member, but an unidentified person snatched Shien’s pouch and suggested he use it to buy everyone a drink.

Ryley Razahad, the Lamigium Adventurer's Guildmaster and Vivian's longtime friend, intervened when Vivian tried to give Shien an equal share of the squad's reward. Shien accepted one gold coin instead, and Ryley left him with an approving impression of her.

• Ryley appeared in the Guild hall, took the reward pouch, and introduced herself to Shien as the Guildmaster of the Lamigium Adventurer's Guild.
• Vivian greeted Ryley warmly, and Tier told Shien that the two had been close friends for at least ten years and that Ryley had arranged for him to join Vivian's Squad.
• Ryley challenged Vivian's decision to give Shien an equal share, and Shien agreed that taking less was fair given his limited contribution.
• Ryley advised Vivian to separate kindness from Guild business, then gave Shien one gold coin and praised his potential.

After Ryley left with Vivian, Lumya gave Shien a pouch of gold that Ryley had secretly provided as personal aid for promising newcomers. Shien accepted the hundred gold coins and decided he would remember the favor and repay Ryley in the future.

• Tier led Lumya and Merika out of the guild, and Shien followed them.
• Lumya nervously offered Shien a money pouch that Ryley had secretly given her.
• Merika explained that Ryley personally supported newcomers with potential because the guild had rejected a formal subsidy system.
• Tier reasoned that Ryley had come to assess Shien and had intervened in the public reward distribution before arranging aid for him.
• Shien found at least a hundred gold coins in the pouch, accepted them, and said he would remember Ryley's favor.

Ryley and Vivian discussed Shien’s unexplained background and the risk his existence might pose to the peace among the Three Races. Ryley agreed to conceal and forge his identity after Vivian guaranteed he was trustworthy, leaving her committed to helping him.

• Vivian warned Ryley that interfering in squad compensation could damage the Guild’s relationships, but Ryley said she had prevented such trouble before.
• Ryley explained that Vivian, Tier, and the others’ unusual treatment of Shien had convinced her there was something exceptional about him.
• Vivian said Shien’s secret might threaten the balance among the Three Races and refused to reveal what she had learned.
• Ryley disclosed that her investigation had found no information on Shien and proposed hiding his records and giving him an identity from one of her sponsored orphanages.
• Ryley asked whether Vivian could guarantee Shien was not a foreign spy or Demon Race agent, and Vivian accepted responsibility for him.
• Ryley agreed to help protect Shien and said she wanted to meet him for a drink.

Shien met Tier in the woodland outside Lamigium to begin learning the Magic Sword skill. Tier explained the two requirements, leaving Shien to show whether he met them.

• Shien left Lamigium alone and met Tier in the woodland where she lived and trained.
• Tier told Shien that Lumya lived with her seven younger sisters and supported them after their parents died.
• Tier explained that learning the Magic Sword required a close-combat weapon skill at Level Five or higher and sufficient mana.
• Tier asked Shien whether he met both requirements.

Tier began teaching Shien Magic Sword by guiding him to sense and control the mana in his body. Shien effortlessly gained the qualifications to learn Mana Perception and Mana Manipulation, and the chapter ended with both skills available to him.

• Shien realized Tier might have noticed his unusual abilities and agreed to begin learning Magic Sword.
• Tier explained Mana Perception and compared it with Enemy Perception, which detected hostility rather than mana or all living beings.
• Tier told Shien to focus on the mana flowing inside his body, and Shien sensed it clearly for the first time.
• Shien gained the qualification to learn Mana Perception.
• Tier instructed Shien to move mana through his arm, pour it into his weapon, and gather it there, and Shien gained the qualification to learn Mana Manipulation.

Shien learned Mana Manipulation and Magic Sword, then raised both skills to their maximum levels while practicing with Tier. His unstable, vastly empowered Magic Sword struck the wilderness outside Lamigium, leaving the town shaken and prompting an investigation.

• Shien learned Mana Manipulation and immediately raised it to its maximum level, gaining precise control over his mana.
• Tier taught Shien to channel mana through his broadsword and concentrate it at the blade to form a Magic Sword.
• Shien poured his enormous, rapidly replenishing mana into the broadsword, causing a gigantic Blade of Magic Power to erupt and earning him the Magic Sword skill.
• Shien raised Magic Sword to its maximum level, stabilizing the weapon but greatly increasing its power, then swung the blade despite Tier's urgent warning.
• Shien's strike shook the wilderness outside Lamigium, frightening monsters and people across the region and prompting the Adventurer's Guild and the town's Knights to investigate.

After Shien unleashed the Magic Sword and split the wilderness and a distant mountain, Tier urged him to flee before Lamigium’s investigators arrived. They left together, agreeing to keep the incident secret and warning Shien not to use the skill carelessly.

• Shien saw the massive fissure and split mountain his attack had created, while his broad-bladed sword crumbled into dust.
• Shien checked on Tier, who was shaken and disheveled after trying to withstand the attack.
• Tier told Shien to leave before Lamigium’s investigators arrived and warned that he could be treated as a demon spy.
• Tier caught Shien as her legs gave way, then told him not to tell anyone, including Vivian, about what happened.
• Tier warned Shien not to use the Magic Sword around others or in crowded places until he could control its power.
• Shien and Tier hurried away from the scene.

After Shien learned several skills from Tier, he gained unexpected additional skills and rose to Lv.18. Tier left to fight a stronger monster, while Shien headed toward Lamigium to find someone who could teach him magic.

• Shien asked Tier to teach him Pierce, Acceleration, and Close-Quarters Evasion, and she taught him all three.
• While learning, Shien also acquired Armor Break, Free Movement, and Instantaneous Shift, along with the skills he had requested.
• Shien raised all nine of his skills to maximum level and discovered that his level had jumped to Lv.18.
• Tier explained that training could cause someone to level up and suggested the earlier Magic Sword might have contributed as well.
• Tier went off to fight a monster stronger than herself, while Shien turned toward Lamigium to seek out a magic teacher.

After causing a powerful disturbance while practicing Magic Sword, Shien returned to Lamigium and saw the fear and concern it had caused among the townspeople. A mana-rich stranger confronted him and showed him a portrait of someone Shien knew.

• Shien returned to Lamigium and denied seeing anything unusual when guards questioned him about the earthquake and loud noise.
• Shien heard townspeople speculate about the disturbance and felt guilty for frightening them with his Magic Sword practice.
• Shien resolved to study Magic Sword more carefully so he could control its power and avoid causing another disaster.
• Shien sensed an approaching man with immense mana, who stopped him and asked whether he had seen the person depicted on a parchment portrait.

Shien confronted a man who was searching for a woman whose mana remained on him, then attacked him when he turned to leave. Shien defeated the man with a mana-charged punch, leaving him unconscious in a crater.

• The man showed Shien a portrait and demanded to know where Shien had encountered the woman.
• Shien admitted he had fought the woman but said he did not know where she was, then insulted the man.
• The man warned Shien and prepared to leave, but Shien kicked him from behind and repeatedly punched him.
• The man unleashed a surge of mana, and Shien concentrated mana into his fist using the Magic Sword technique.
• Shien's punch drove the man into the ground, where he lost consciousness.

Shien explained the destruction in the street to the Knights by claiming he had used a party member’s Magic Item, and Vivian’s reputation persuaded their captain to accept his account. The Knights identified the unconscious man as a likely major criminal and asked Shien to remain in Lamigium while they investigated, leaving him concerned about the portrait they had found.

• The Knights arrived at the crater, and their captain questioned Shien about the fight and the damage.
• Shien claimed a suspicious man had accosted him and said he had caused the destruction with a Magic Item from his party.
• Shien named Vivian as his party’s captain, and the knight captain recognized her and became less suspicious.
• The Knights found the portrait on the unconscious man and identified him as a likely major criminal wanted by the kingdom.
• The knight captain thanked Shien, said the lord might reward him, and ordered him to stay in Lamigium while the Knights took the man away.
• Shien watched the Knights leave and recalled the person in the portrait as his smile faded.