Chapter Summaries

Ang recruited magic apprentices and nearly twelve hundred soldiers, then assessed the applicants and accepted 840 into the North Wind Warband. The expanded force and their families entered the city in orderly formation, drawing attention from guards and commoners.

• Ang persuaded three more magic apprentices to join, bringing their total to five, and welcomed them and their families at the garrison.
• Ang assigned Quintina to oversee the apprentices’ lives and studies and described the North Wind Territory to them.
• Ang and the North Wind Warband assessed the soldier applicants, eliminating nearly three hundred who chose to flee and accepting 840 after the remaining tests.
• Quintina registered the accepted soldiers, and Ang supervised the making of identity tags bearing the North Wind Warband emblem.
• The newly joined soldiers and their families joined the original force and entered the city in orderly formation.

Ang expanded and reorganized the North Wind Warband, outfitting and training its growing ranks while integrating the force into Bahoya City's defenses. With the camp running smoothly and its apprentices learning to craft rune equipment, Ang looked over the warband’s progress.

• Ang arranged temporary housing and supplies for the growing warband, then secured two additional camps from Marquis Yaglu's household.
• Ang divided the warband into two regiments, assigning its original fifty soldiers to lead squads and companies while recruits trained under them.
• Ang and Quintina guided five magic apprentices in engraving runes, while Ang organized nearly a hundred archers into an independent ranged unit.
• Ang announced monthly pay and supplied equipment for soldiers and apprentices, raising morale across the camp.
• Ang rejected a proposal to send the warband to the front lines and instead assigned it to patrol Bahoya City and protect supply flows.
• Quintina and the apprentices improved their rune work, helping Ang increase enchanted-armament production as the warband settled into the city's defenses.

Ang’s Enchanted Armaments strengthened the front lines and helped Bahoya City grow more peaceful, while Quintina became his official follower. The chapter ended with Ang investigating a suspicious mage near the teleportation plaza and ordering patrols to protect the Temporary Portal.

• Marquis Yaglu’s Enchanted Armament corps earned Duke Panston’s praise as it helped reclaim territory, while Ang’s workshop produced nearly 180 sets of armaments.
• Ang and his apprentices increased production, and Quintina completed her first set of Basic Strength Armaments.
• Ang and Quintina discussed Bahoya City’s recovery, the war, and North Wind Territory before Quintina agreed to become Ang’s follower.
• Ang treated Quintina to dinner and went shopping with her, deepening their bond.
• A soldier reported that a suspicious man had been watching the teleportation plaza, so Ang strengthened patrols and went there undercover.
• Ang watched the man inspect supplies arriving through the portal, concealed his patrol unit from the mage’s notice, and ordered the soldiers to keep watch without drawing attention.

Ang tracked a mysterious person to a hidden basement and deduced that the person used teleportation shoes and a fixed magic-array anchor to escape. With Quintina and the apprentices, Ang built and tested an anti-magic array plate that suppressed magic within a twenty-meter radius, but its crystals were consumed during use.

• Ang used an improved magic detection device and hidden blueprints to find a concealed basement containing a short-range teleportation array and traces of the target’s movements.
• Ang and his soldiers observed the target’s glowing foot before he vanished, and Ang concluded that magical shoes teleported him to the basement’s fixed array.
• Ang proposed using anti-magic crystals and magical-silver mirrors to build an array plate that would prevent the shoes from working.
• Ang, Quintina, and the apprentices completed the array plate and activated it, suppressing magic and causing the nearby mages to retreat from its twenty-meter field.
• Ang tested the field on Quintina’s magic staff, then found that activating the plate had shrunk and dulled its anti-magic crystals.

Ang and his allies captured a Black Mage who tried to destabilize Bahoya City's Plane Portal, though his Spatial Cut killed civilians before he was subdued. After the Empire learned of the attack, Duke Panston ordered an elite squad to guard the portal.

• Ang prepared Anti-Magic Field array plates and ambushed the Black Mage as he attempted to disrupt the Plane Portal, while Quintina evacuated the crowd.
• Ang fought the mage with fire, steel spears, and holy light, but the mage's Spatial Cut killed civilians before Ang could drive him toward the prepared trap.
• Archers broke the mage's shield, and soldiers activated the Anti-Magic Field, grounding him; Quintina struck him back into its range before arrows crippled his legs.
• Ang disarmed and captured the mage, then brought him to the garrison as Quintina and other mages helped treat injured civilians.
• After the portal stabilized, Duke Panston learned of the attack and ordered an elite squad to guard it.

Ang helped secure Bahoya City and watched the Imperial Mage Association and Duke Panston’s team interrogate Vic Jales, a captured Black Mage. Vic revealed how the Black Magic Society’s deal with the Tarim Plane’s Mage Association and a Demon Lord caused the Hell Gates to open, while his own mission involved delivering a Space Gem to the Empire.

• Duke Panston sent twenty-three Rank 1 Enchanting Warriors to Bahoya City, and the Imperial Mage Association posted seven Peak Rank 1 Mages to protect the Plane Teleportation Plaza.
• Ang searched Vic Jales’s belongings, kept the safe items and Space Magic books, and sealed away items tainted with dark energy.
• The Interrogation Team made Ang give Vic a Demon-Exorcising Potion, which forced the Black Mage’s mana to pour out before a Healing Potion stabilized him.
• The interrogators revealed Vic’s past as a talented Space Magic student and member of the Astrologer’s Guild, whose Elemental Trauma had led him to seek healing through the Black Magic Society.
• Vic said the Black Magic Society had worked with the Tarim Plane’s Mage Association president and made a deal with a Demon Lord, leading to the opening of Hell Gates and the failed evacuation.
• Vic explained that his mission was to deliver a massive Space Gem to the Empire so he could cross Spatial Turbulence after the portal was destroyed.

During Vic’s interrogation, an Imperial mage used Soul Grasp and triggered a Demon Lord’s mark, destroying Vic’s mind. Ang left him unrestrained and returned to his work, while Vic wandered through Bahoya City until people stopped paying attention to him.

• An Imperial mage searched Vic’s belongings for the Space Gem but found nothing, and Vic mocked the interrogators for believing he carried it.
• An Imperial mage used Soul Grasp on Vic, triggering the Demon Lord’s mark in his soul and leaving him mentally shattered.
• The Imperial officers and mages blamed one another and left Bahoya City, while Ang removed Vic’s restraints and departed.
• Ang told Quintina and the other apprentices what had happened, then returned to his delayed Enchanted Armament work and set up an Anti-Magic Field.
• Vic wandered Bahoya City, accepted food from soldiers, and eventually faded from people’s attention.

Ang left the North Wind Warband Encampment for Central City as the final battle approached, bringing Enchanted Armaments to Duke Panston’s forces. After learning that Imps and Hellhounds had stalled the Allied Forces, he flew out to fight an Imp and began looking for a way to exploit its weakness.

• Ang sentenced captured Black Magic Society spies to death while reports showed the Imperial Allied Forces encircling Central City.
• Ang left Quintina in charge of the North Wind Warband and asked her to recruit craftsmen and magic apprentices for his territory.
• On his journey, Ang gave food to civilians searching war-ravaged ruins, then reached Duke Panston’s camp and distributed Enchanted Armaments to the nobles.
• Haru told Ang that Imps and Hellhounds were guarding the three Hell Gates and that conflict between the army and the Mage Association had left the battle stalled.
• Ang flew toward a circling Imp after missing it with a bow, blocked its fireballs, and planned to kill it while staying within range of the ballistae.

Ang killed an Imp in midair and presented its corpse to Marquis Damon and Archmage Lorne, who identified the Imps’ strengths and weaknesses but had no clear countermeasure. The army then tested an airship protected by Lorne’s Earth Shield and armed with elite archers, driving the Imps away and restoring hope as Damon called for Ang’s cooperation.

• Ang overcame the Imp’s speed with Light Magic, tore off its head, and stored its corpse in the Demon Sealing Box.
• Marquis Damon questioned Ang about fighting Imps, and Archmage Lorne examined the corpse, identified its Flame Demon bloodline, and gave Ang its magic core.
• Ang returned to camp without a strategy, then told Haru that he had made his Enchanted Armament using Guanda rune technology and a flamingo’s soul.
• Marquis Damon ordered an airship protected by Lorne’s Earth Shield to take off with more than five hundred elite archers aboard.
• The archers’ Arrow Rain killed many Imps and forced the rest to flee, and Marquis Damon said the army would need Ang’s cooperation.

Ang helped defeat the Imps with a giant hooked net, then joined the assault on Hell Gate with a magic crystal cannon. The Mage Association’s array destroyed the gate, ending the Hellhound threat as the army celebrated victory.

• Ang’s airship operation against the Imps failed when a Three-headed Hellhound attacked, and the Hellhound legion later charged the defensive line, causing heavy casualties.
• After Ang healed wounded soldiers, he proposed a fire-resistant hooked net to catch the Imps, and mages and blacksmiths completed it after several days of work.
• Ang led the airships in trapping the Imps, and the archers killed them, clearing the way to Hell Gate.
• Ang took two magic crystal cannons and used them to fight Three-headed Hellhounds while Lorn and the other mages prepared their array.
• The Mage Association activated the array and destroyed Hell Gate, and the army cheered as Ang flew over the battlefield.

After helping destroy a Hell Gate and tending to the wounded, Ang joined the army’s final assault on the last Hell Gate in Central City. The gate collapsed, the remaining Hellhounds were hunted down, and the Tarim Plane was reclaimed.

• The surviving Hellhounds fled after Marquis Damon's army won its battle, but nearly half his forces were lost, and Ang worked through the night treating the wounded.
• Marquis Damon praised Ang and reported that Marquis Yaglu's army had destroyed another Hell Gate at devastating cost, including the deaths of Yaglu's Enchanting Warriors and Humphrey's younger brother.
• Ang comforted Humphrey, then repaired recovered Enchanted Armaments, restoring more than ninety-five percent of the damaged metal sets.
• Duke Panston organized the armies and twelve airships to attack the final Hell Gate, with Ang and Archmage Lorne using magic crystal cannons to support the assault.
• Ang shattered the Hell Gate's shield and pierced its core, allowing the mages to activate a destruction array that collapsed the gate and opened Space Rifts.
• The soldiers hunted down the remaining Hellhounds after the collapse, and the Tarim Plane was reclaimed.

After helping defeat the remaining Three-headed Hellhounds, Ang collapsed from exhaustion and spent two days recovering. He returned to the command post, received recognition and spoils for his service, and learned that Lorn had given him three Hellhound Hides as a gesture of goodwill.

• Ang and Lorn the Mage killed the remaining Three-headed Hellhounds, and Lorn encouraged Ang to keep pursuing both magic and combat training.
• Ang collapsed from exhaustion and woke in a Marching Tent after sleeping for two days and two nights, where Kailin cared for him and told him that Susan and Haru were clearing stray Hellhounds.
• Ang recovered through rest and meditation, then returned to the command post, where Marquis Damon praised his service and announced orders to eliminate the remaining Hellhounds on the Tarim Plane.
• Marquis Damon gave Ang twenty Level 4 Magic Crystals and three Hellhound Hides, explaining that Lorn had allocated the hides to him.
• Nicole questioned Lorn about giving Ang the valuable hides, and Lorn explained that he hoped Ang would benefit from them and urged Nicole to learn kindness.

Lorn sent Nicole to learn from Ang, hoping the experience would temper her pride. As Ang treated soldiers and explored Central City with Haru, Nicole arrived at the same tavern, and Haru discussed giving his Tarim Plane territory to Karina.

• Lorn told Nicole to stay with Ang and learn from him, while warning he would reclaim the Hellhound hides if Ang proved incapable.
• Nicole agreed to follow Lorn’s instructions, then went to Central City with her fellow disciples.
• Ang treated wounded soldiers with Holy Light Technique, earning their gratitude and respect.
• Haru told Ang that Demon Hunters would come to hunt the remaining Hellhounds, and they explored Central City together.
• Haru said he planned to hand his Tarim Plane territory to Karina, and Ang supported his decision.
• Nicole entered the tavern with fellow mages, briefly met Ang’s gaze, and Ang told Haru he sensed something about her.

Nicole's companions sent Gilper to challenge Ang at a tavern, and Ang and Gilper began a wagered, best-of-three magic contest. Ang conceded the first round after matching Gilper's Fire Meteor, then won the rune-carving round; the crowd was left to choose the final challenge.

• Nicole told her companions to teach Ang a lesson, and Gilper approached Ang's table to challenge him.
• Ang agreed to compete with Gilper and proposed a wager that included the female warrior as referee; the tavern owner cleared a space for their match.
• Gilper chose a Fire Meteor contest, and Ang created one faster before withdrawing his magic and conceding the round.
• Ang chose rune analysis and carving for the second round, then completed the unknown rune first and made a table float with its Rune Tablet.
• Gilper accepted his loss with new respect for Ang, and Ang asked the crowd to choose the final challenge.

Ang and Gilper competed to craft Spirit Potions, and Ang won by producing two stronger potions with his low-temperature extraction method. After Gilper went with Hena, Ang sold the potions and secured an order from Nicole for his equipment.

• Hena teased Gilper and proposed an endurance contest, but Nicole set the final contest as crafting Spirit Potions.
• Nicole gathered herbs from the tavern crowd and split the materials evenly between Ang and Gilper.
• Ang used refined equipment and low-temperature extraction to make two stronger Spirit Potions, defeating Gilper, who accepted the result.
• Ang explained his technique and advertised his potion-making equipment while Hena dragged Gilper upstairs as her promised reward.
• Ang sold two potions to the contributors for 240 Magic Crystals, and Nicole ordered a custom equipment set for 80 Magic Crystals.

Ang reunited with Herax, learned why he had come to the Tarim Plane, and agreed to teach Nicole and her companions at Archmage Lorn’s request. The group began repairing enchanted leather armor, honoring the fallen warriors who had worn it.

• Nicole paid Ang a deposit for a potion-making device, then arranged to meet him at Marquis Damon's camp the next day.
• Ang reunited with Herax, who explained that his family had sent him to the Tarim Plane after their representative died during the Hellhound invasion.
• Herax revealed that he remained a freelance mage after failing to join Star of Flames, and he and Ang parted on warm terms after catching up.
• Nicole arrived at Ang’s camp with her companions and gave him a letter from Archmage Lorn requesting that he teach them.
• Ang asked Nicole’s group to help repair damaged enchanted armaments, and Gilper demonstrated how to restore leather armor.
• Ang told the group that the armaments had belonged to Marquis Yaglu’s regiment, which died fighting at Hell Gate, and they agreed that repairing the gear honored the fallen warriors.

Ang finished repairing Enchanted Armaments with Nicole and the others, then taught them a more efficient way to brew Healing Potions using his custom equipment. After saying goodbye to Herax and receiving his next assignment from Marquis Damon, Ang left with the wounded soldiers for Bahoya City, bound for the Empire.

• Nicole and the other mages completed their Enchanted Armament repairs, and Ang praised their progress before arranging a Magic Potion exchange.
• Ang demonstrated his potion-making equipment and showed the mages how to improve their Healing Potions while using less magic and mental strength.
• Ang visited Herax to say goodbye, while two nobles privately discussed whether Ang had obtained something important and prepared to gather personnel.
• Marquis Damon assigned Ang to escort the wounded soldiers through the Plane Portal and told him the Empire might elevate his title and expected him to build up his forces.
• Nicole, Haru, Robur, and the others wished Ang a smooth journey as he departed with the wounded soldiers toward Bahoya City.

Ang escorted wounded soldiers toward Bahoya City while investigating a cavalry unit secretly following his convoy. After discovering the group planned to seize the Space Stone they believed he carried, Ang poisoned their horses and began a night attack, but the cavalrymen raised the alarm.

• Ang ordered the convoy to stop and had the wounded protected from the sun and jolting by covering the flatbeds and padding them with Hellhound Hide.
• Ang treated the wounded with the Holy Light Technique and learned that an unidentified cavalry unit of about fifty men continued following the convoy.
• Ang secretly observed the cavalry camp and overheard its mage and captain planning to obtain the Space Stone, which they suspected Ang had.
• Ang recognized the two men from Herax's residence and learned they intended to distract him and attack while he protected the wounded.
• Ang used Nicholas's Coma Potion to knock out the Black Scale Horses, then killed one cavalryman with his Dragon Thorn Spear.
• A cavalryman discovered the blood and raised the alarm, so Ang killed him with a water arrow and vanished beneath his Shadow Cloak as the camp erupted into chaos.

Ang ambushed and defeated Ollie’s cavalry unit, then pursued and captured Borton after the mage fled. He questioned Borton about the Black Magic Society and Herax, and left the wounded prisoner behind as dawn approached.

• Ang killed cavalrymen with arrows and a magic bomb before using Earth Spikes to attack the survivors.
• Ollie led the cavalrymen out through Borton’s firewalls, but Ang killed Ollie and routed the remaining soldiers.
• Borton escaped on his Magic Broom, but Ang chased him down, broke his magic shield, and captured him with an Anti-Magic Field.
• Ang interrogated Borton about the Space Stone, the Black Magic Society’s activities on the Tarim Plane, and Herax’s past.
• Borton begged Ang to kill him rather than hand him to the Mage Association, and Ang flew away, later retrieving his Dragon Thorn Spear and returning toward the Black Scale Horses.

Ange returned to the North Wind Warband Encampment with more than forty Black Scale Horses after escorting the wounded soldiers to Bahoya City. He announced plans to form a heavy cavalry unit, selecting over two hundred Senior Squires for training and promising to choose forty official members.

• Ange revived the surviving Black Scale Horses, arranged special feed for them, and asked Bamonda to find unprocessed seeds of Golden Fruit and Round Beans in Bahoya City.
• Ange tested the Black Scale Horses' strength and speed during the journey, then reached Bahoya City after thirty-one days and handed over the wounded soldiers and supplies.
• Ange praised Bamonda's work, promised to report his merits to Marquis Damon, and reminded him to ensure the wounded soldiers received proper support.
• Ange returned to the North Wind Warband Encampment, reunited with Quintina, and told her that the Hell Gates had been closed and the hellhounds defeated.
• Ange announced the formation of a heavy cavalry unit and set a Senior Squire minimum, with the final roster to be decided through contests.
• Ange gathered the warband and selected more than two hundred Senior Squires for intensive cavalry training, from whom he would choose forty official members.