Chapter Summaries

Ang discovered an antidote for Sleepless Plague and used it to help the afflicted passenger finally fall asleep. Although the captain claimed the man was an ordinary civilian, he concealed something from Ang as the airship continued toward Akreli.

• Ang built a holy-light barrier around the afflicted passenger and found an antidote formula in his Magic Books.
• Ang prepared the potion, gave preventive doses to Quintina, Pri, and the others, and brought more to the captain and onboard mage.
• Ang gave the antidote to the passenger, whose tears flowed before his eyelids closed and his breathing steadied.
• Ang questioned the captain about the passenger and the airship's cargo, then urged him to isolate the man until they reached Akreli.
• After Ang left, the onboard mage asked whether the captain would tell him, and the captain decided to keep the matter secret.

Ang helped Quintina improve her rune work and began teaching her ice magic during the airship journey. After overhearing crewmen discuss a restricted cargo hold, he decided to investigate it.

• Ang corrected Quintina's Rune Tablet technique and told her Mons and two others were close to becoming official mages.
• Ang advised Quintina to study ice magic, and she agreed to train with him.
• Over the next few days, Quintina mastered Ice Cone Technique and Ice Arrow Technique but struggled with more advanced spells.
• Ang and Quintina practiced ice cones on the deck, where Ang overheard crewmen say the captain planned to seal off the cargo hold and warned them not to contact passengers in the civilian cabins.
• Ang connected the cargo hold discussion to the poisoned man and the captain's suspicious behavior, then decided to investigate the hold.

Ang secretly investigated a suspicious cargo crate aboard the airship and discovered it contained more than twenty Space Stones. After separating the crystals to stop their resonance, he concluded they were being smuggled through the black market, likely by the Black Magic Society.

• Ang left Quintina in their cabin and used the Shadow Cloak to investigate the cargo hold, where he sensed an unusual fluctuation from a crate marked as magic weapons and belonging to the Runak Workshop.
• Ang returned the next night, found anti-theft runes on the crate, and opened a small hole in its side without triggering them.
• Ang retrieved more than twenty crystals from a hidden compartment and divided them among several Magic Waist Pouches, making the strange fluctuation disappear.
• Ang restored the crate, returned to his cabin, and identified the crystals as Space Stones from the Tarim Plane.
• Ang reasoned that the airship's cargo had been obtained through black-market dealings and suspected the Black Magic Society was involved.

After stealing the Spatial Crystal, Ang checked that the airship crew had not noticed it was missing and continued monitoring the situation. With only a few days left before reaching Akreli, he encouraged his companions to take a break and led them to enjoy the airship’s recreation room.

• Ang put the Spatial Crystal in his Magic Waist Pouch, then joked and played around with Quintina before leaving her to sleep.
• Ang meditated at dawn, checked on the sleeping Quintina, and found that the crew and captain showed no sign of noticing the missing Spatial Crystal.
• Ang spoke with Mons, Leander, Ellis, Puri, and Isi about their training and confirmed that their magic power was stabilizing.
• Quintina suggested visiting the recreation room, and Ang encouraged the group to relax instead of continuing to cultivate.
• Ang taught Ellis how to play Elemental Duel while Quintina, Mons, Isi, Puri, and Leander tried other games.

Ang and Quintina tested a suspicious passenger aboard the airship and discovered that holy light caused him severe pain, suggesting he had contact with dark power. The man hid his worsening wound and resolved to be more careful until they reached Akreli.

• Ang noticed a gloomy man in black and teal behaving as though he might be ready to cast a spell, so he told Quintina he suspected the passenger.
• Ang persuaded Quintina to stage a fall and wound the man with Ice Spikes, and the passenger reacted with anger and vigilance.
• Ang used the Holy Light Technique on the man's cut, and the passenger jerked away in pain, revealing his sensitivity to holy light.
• Ang and Quintina concluded that the man was likely a Black Mage or had contact with dark power, and Ang said they could confirm their suspicions at Akreli.
• In his cabin, the man saw that holy light had burned his wound and stopped himself from using dark magic, fearing Ang or other mages would detect it.

Ang investigated the awakened passenger Kov after finding a White-headed Black Sparrow feather, then arrived with Quintina and Mons at Akreli. As the others left the airship, Ang went to a Mage Association outpost while they waited outside.

• Ang questioned Kov, who said he was traveling to Akreli to join his brother in the Sari Mercenary Group, and found a White-headed Black Sparrow feather beneath the bed.
• Ang used a Silence Spell to make Kov admit he had stolen and eaten one of the birds, then confirmed that the crew had discarded the other carcasses.
• Ang and the others watched their airship approach Akreli’s North Port, and Ang explained the city’s four airship ports and strict travel rules.
• Ang said the group should stay in Central City near the Imperial Magic Academy until the investiture ceremony began.
• After the airship landed, Ang sent Quintina, Mons, and the others outside and walked toward a nearby Mage Association outpost.

Ang reported a suspected Black Mage aboard the airship, prompting the Imperial Mage Association to inspect the passengers. After the Black Mage revealed himself and attacked, Ang helped defeat and capture him; the captain and accompanying mage were taken for questioning.

• Ang told the North Port outpost mages that he suspected a Black Mage aboard his airship and described the suspicious man, the White-headed Black Sparrows, and Kov's Sleepless Plague.
• The Imperial Mage Association Enforcement Team sealed the port plaza and inspected the passengers, holding Kov separately while the crystal ball exposed a Noble Lady as a Black Mage.
• The Noble Lady fought the Enforcement Team, broke the magical barrier with Black Ice Burst, and engulfed the plaza in a Darkness Cloud.
• Ang used Holy Light Bullets to disperse the Darkness Cloud, revealing the man in black he had encountered aboard the airship.
• Ang pierced the Black Mage with steel spears, and the mages bound him with Sealing Chains and subdued him with an anti-magic potion.
• The Enforcement Team thanked Ang, the outpost mage said Kov could be released if he posed no danger, and the captain and accompanying mage were taken for questioning.

Ang reunited with Quintina, Puli, Isi, and Mons after reporting a Black Mage aboard their airship, then guided them through Central City as they explored and shopped. They reached Little Shell's Inn to meet Aisha, who appeared at the end of the chapter.

• Ang told Quintina and the others that a Black Mage on their airship had been arrested after he reported him to the Mage Association.
• Ang and his companions rode a carriage pulled by Red Giant Rhinos to the North District Hub and took a Magic Train into Central City.
• Quintina and the others explored Central City's busy streets and shops, and Ang bought them items while gathering useful materials for himself.
• Ang told his companions that the purchases were gifts for his trusted team, and they pledged to work hard for the North Wind Territory.
• Ang led everyone to Little Shell's Inn, where Aisha came downstairs to greet them.

Ang reunited with Aisha in the city and introduced her to his companions before she questioned him about Quintina and heard about his adventures in the Tarim Plane. While the group waited for the investiture ceremony, Leander, Ellis, and Mons each broke through to Rank 1 Mage and were registered to attend the ceremony in ten days.

• Aisha joyfully reunited with Ang, met his companions, and led them to the rooms she had reserved at the inn.
• Aisha asked Ang about Quintina and listened as he recounted his experiences in the Tarim Plane; Quintina later visited Ang and asked what they had discussed.
• Isi told Ang that Mons, Ellis, and Leander had sensed a chance to break through, so Ang protected their rooms with magic barriers.
• Leander, Ellis, and Mons each emerged from meditation having become Rank 1 Mages, and Ang sent them to stabilize their new realms.
• Ang registered the three newly advanced mages at the Mage Association and told them they would attend the investiture ceremony in ten days.

Ang took Quintina and Aisha on a walk through places tied to his early days in Akreli, then unexpectedly reunited with Ernit. Ernit had left the Enchanted Armament business after selling his rune techniques to a Great Noble and had rebuilt his merchant association around other goods.

• Quintina and Aisha persuaded Ang to leave the inn and show them places where he had once worked and lived.
• Ang brought them to his former potion-making courtyard and recalled how he had gradually saved magic crystals near the Imperial Magic Academy.
• At a park, Ang reunited with Ernit, who told him that his nephew had become a mage and would attend the investiture ceremony.
• Ernit explained that a Great Noble had acquired his rune techniques, forcing him to leave the Enchanted Armament business and change trades.
• Ernit showed Ang his merchant association's headquarters and its magic materials business, and Ang bought some materials and herbs before leaving.

Ang explained the choices facing newly elevated magical nobles, then helped Quintina and the others settle on territories in the Tarim Plane and sell them. He attended a noble's ball with Quintina and Aisha, where they noticed the divide between the Northern Territory and other regions.

• Ang explained that new nobles could choose territories and that some sold their land to other nobles.
• At the knighting ceremony, Quintina said the group could choose only unclaimed territories on the Tarim Plane or the Archipelago Plane.
• Puli and the others agreed to follow Ang rather than invest in developing territories, and the group received invitations to noble balls.
• After learning the Archipelago Plane remained troubled by conflict, the seven chose Tarim Plane territories and sold them to a local noble for 500 magic crystals each.
• Ang took Quintina and Aisha to a ball while Puli and the others visited magic shops.
• At the ball, Aisha and Quintina noticed that Northern Territory nobles were absent and felt uncomfortable among the other guests, so Ang reassured them that they did not need those nobles' approval.

Ang, Quintina, and Aisha left a dull banquet, but their carriage was diverted to a strange manor by a zombie driver. Trapped in a magical barrier around the manor, they decided to go inside to investigate.

• A female mage invited Ang to dance, but he declined until Quintina offered to teach him; Ang repeatedly stepped on Quintina's foot and healed her with holy light.
• Ang, Quintina, and Aisha left the banquet and discussed holding a celebratory ball when they returned to North Wind Territory.
• The group realized their carriage had traveled too long, then discovered the driver had become a zombie and brought them to an unfamiliar manor.
• Ang destroyed the zombie with fire and holy light, then drove the carriage himself as they tried to escape through the forest.
• The carriage repeatedly circled through an unchanging forest, and Ang recognized they were trapped inside a magical barrier.
• Quintina suggested they enter the manor to investigate, and Aisha suspected the trap involved more than the Black Magic Society.

Ang, Quintina, and Aisha visited a manor where a black-robed figure demanded that Ang return something he claimed not to possess. When they tried to leave, the figure trapped them with undead, and a Skeleton Knight charged at Ang as the fight began.

• Ang drove Quintina and Aisha through the manor gates and followed a walking corpse servant into the villa.
• The black-robed host served grotesque dishes made from creatures of the dark planes and demanded that Ang return something that did not belong to him.
• Ang denied knowing what the host wanted, refused to cooperate, and turned to leave with Quintina and Aisha.
• The host surrounded them with walking corpses, and Ang, Aisha, and Quintina fought their way toward the exit using Holy Light, water magic, and frost.
• A Skeleton Knight mounted on a Skeleton Nightmare Steed appeared and charged Ang as he readied himself for battle.

Ang defeated the Skeleton Knight and Nightmare Steed, then faced the black-robed necromancer. With Aisha and Quintina supporting him, Ang shattered the necromancer’s defenses and struck him with holy light, leaving the fight ongoing.

• Ang, Aisha, and Quintina fought the Skeleton Knight and surrounding zombies, with Ang destroying the knight and its Nightmare Steed using holy light and his spear.
• The black-robed man revealed his decayed face and declared himself a necromancer before attacking the group with Shadow Bolts.
• Ang, Aisha, and Quintina blocked the Shadow Bolts and counterattacked, but the necromancer’s Bone Shield stopped their spells.
• Ang endured the necromancer’s Soul Shriek and broke the Bone Shield with a rapid series of spear strikes.
• The necromancer released Corrupting Poison, but Aisha filled the hall with water and Quintina froze the vapor, preventing the poison from spreading.
• Ang hit the necromancer with a Holy Light Bullet and began striking him with his spear as a staff.

Ang tortured and questioned a necromancer, learning that the Black Magic Society targeted him over the missing Space Stones needed for a Plane Portal. After killing the necromancer, Ang gathered his belongings and promised Quintina and Aisha he would find a way through the barrier.

• Ang beat the necromancer until Aisha stopped him and urged him to ask why they had been lured there.
• Ang used Life Siphon on the walking corpses to restore the necromancer, shocking Quintina and Aisha.
• The necromancer revealed that the Black Magic Society wanted the Space Stone and had tracked Ang since the ball at the Count's manor, believing he was connected to the stones' disappearance on the Tarim Plane.
• Ang learned that Space Magic users had made the barrier at one of the Black Magic Society's hideouts, but the necromancer claimed he did not know how to break it.
• Ang killed the necromancer with holy light and stored his equipment and skeletal mounts in the Demon Sealing Box.
• Quintina asked how they would escape, and Ang said they would find a way after dealing with the remaining troubles.

Ang looted the Black Magic Society villa, then discovered how to break the barrier by detonating magic bombs at its energy nodes. When Ram opened a breach and sent a scouting party inside, Ang hid Quintina and Aisha so he could confront the intruders alone.

• Ang searched the villa, collected valuable scrolls and materials, and found Soul Stones in the basement.
• Ang mapped the barrier’s magical flow and planted bombs to disable its energy nodes.
• Ram opened a magic door in the barrier and ordered two warriors and three mages to investigate.
• Ang sensed the opening and observed Ram and the guards outside through a telescope.
• Ang gave Shadow Cloaks to Quintina and Aisha, told them to hide, and headed toward the villa alone.

Ang returned to the villa and ambushed the Black Magic Society members searching for Mage Sti. After defeating them and destroying the villa in an explosion, he left the Black Magic Society’s remaining forces to face the burning ruins.

• Ang disguised himself as Mage Sti’s walking corpse puppet and entered the villa, where the Black Magic Society members believed Sti was nearby.
• Ang killed one mage with his Dragon Thorn Spear, then used his shield and spear to defeat two Dark Heavy Armor Warriors.
• Ang fought the two remaining Black Mages, dodging their spells until their magic power and scrolls ran low.
• The Black Mages began a sacrificial ritual, but Ang suppressed it with holy light and an Ice Blade Storm.
• The mages broke free by joining their dark energy and transformed into fire puppets, so Ang threw High-Explosion Magic Bombs and escaped the villa.
• The explosion engulfed the villa, and the two Black Mages disintegrated in the flames as Ang watched from a distance.

Ang, Aisha, and Quintina escaped the barrier after Ang’s planted bombs destabilized it, then defeated Archmage Ram. The Mage Association’s Enforcement Team arrived, took Ram into custody, and ordered Ang and the women to remain in Akreli under supervision while the incident was investigated.

• Ram sent the Black Magic Society members into the barrier to investigate the disturbance, leaving himself outside to maintain it.
• Ang told Aisha and Quintina that he had dealt with their enemies and waited for chaos to break out before attempting an escape.
• Ang’s hidden bombs exploded across the ruins and at the barrier’s energy nodes, opening cracks in the barrier.
• Ang blinded Ram with a Holy Light Bullet, expanded the breach, and escaped through it with Aisha and Quintina before knocking Ram down and forcing him to surrender.
• The Mage Association’s Enforcement Team arrived, extinguished the fires, and took Ram into custody.
• The Enforcement Team questioned Ang and ordered him, Aisha, and Quintina to stay in Akreli under supervision until the investigation was complete.

After returning to the inn, Ang recovered from the battle and explained the events to his companions. He revealed that he could use Dark and Space Magic and had taken Space Stones, leaving Aisha and Quintina impressed and concerned about the Black Magic Society.

• Ang returned to the inn with Aisha and Quintina, told Puli they were safe, and went to rest until evening.
• Ang reviewed a newspaper report about the Black Magic Society and the Enforcement Team, then told Puli and Mons that they would remain in Akreli while the investigation continued.
• Ang explained to Aisha and Quintina that magic itself was neither good nor evil and demonstrated that he could use both Holy Light and Dark Magic.
• Ang told Quintina that he had obtained Space Stones from Vic and the airship cargo, and admitted that he used Space Magic to keep an opening in the barrier from closing.
• Aisha warned Ang that the Black Magic Society would target him over the Space Stones, and Ang agreed they needed to stay cautious.

After the Mage Association cleared Ang of ties to the Black Magic Society, the Northern Council summoned him and issued a suspicious conscription order sending him alone to the Archipelago Plane. Ang refused the order and decided to leave Akreli with his companions for Tan'anster the next morning.

• Ang spent his days in Akreli buying equipment and large quantities of rare magical herbs while the Enforcement Team kept him under surveillance.
• The Mage Association questioned Ang about the Black Magic Society, then concluded he was truthful and withdrew the surveillance on him.
• As Ang and his companions prepared to leave Akreli, Northern Council soldiers escorted him to Count Richard Dodd, who presented an order dispatching him alone to support the Archipelago Plane.
• Ang refused the conscription order, suspecting it was connected to the Black Magic Society, and told Richard he might appeal.
• Ang told Quintina, Aisha, and the others about the order, and they agreed to leave Akreli for Tan'anster the next morning.