Chapter Summaries

Ang equipped a thousand Level 1 Warriors with Flame Armaments and founded the Flame Swordsman Regiment, then spent months training them in its five Combat Techniques. By the end, the regiment had developed strong discipline and fighting skill, while Ang discovered that its warriors were beginning to sense fire elements.

• Dana told Ang that the Minotaur population had grown to over five hundred and that Chief Herug had stayed behind to guard the mineral veins and mining teams.
• Ang spent two months in the Magic Workshop forging Flame Armaments, then distributed crimson armor to a thousand Level 1 Warriors and gave them Flame Enchanted longswords the next day.
• Ang taught the warriors the five basic Combat Techniques and named them the Flame Swordsman Regiment after they swore to follow him and defend their homeland.
• Ang trained alongside the regiment for five months, during which the warriors learned the Combat Techniques and built their discipline and fighting spirit.
• Ang discovered faint fire elemental reactions in the warriors and reconsidered the Crimson Armor Swordsman Corps' training manual as a guide to higher realms.

Ang investigated how Enchanted Weapons affected the Flame Swordsmen’s elemental resonance, then pushed the mages to improve their spellcasting through stricter practice. He later discovered a way to reset warriors’ Qi force to a pure state and began developing a cleansing potion to rebuild its connection with magic elements.

• Ang found that the Flame Swordsmen’s former Enchanted Weapons influenced elemental resonance, and traced seventy-three ice-attributed weapons to Quintina’s practice work.
• Ang inspected the mages’ spells, demonstrated how better magic control greatly increased their power, and ordered spellcasting exchanges every two months.
• Ang kept Ellis for personal instruction and assigned Aisha daily Water Arrow and Water Shield practice ahead of a magic competition in Fifth Town three months later.
• Ang began experiments with the Flame Swordsman Regiment to improve Qi force and elemental resonance, since his own naturally amplifying Qi force was unsuitable as a general sample.
• Ang discovered that returning Qi force to its pure newborn state could rebuild its elemental connection, and developed a cleansing potion that required the warriors’ blood and Qi force.

Ang restored the Flame Swordsmen's qi force, trained them to use Flame Slash, and revealed that their Combat Techniques had awakened a faint trace of mana. At Fifth Town's month-long Magic Exchange Meeting, the mages and apprentices learned, competed, and watched Ang defeat thirty-six mages in a coordinated battle.

• Ang gave each Flame Swordsman a personalized Purifying Qi Force Magic Potion, restored their qi force, and trained them to reconnect with their Flame Armament and master Flame Slash.
• Ang developed a second potion to help warriors increase their qi force, then organized Fifth Town's first Magic Exchange Meeting for mages, apprentices, and residents of the Milaginbi Mountains.
• Ang taught rune applications and guided the mages in crafting Mana Amplification Bracelets, demonstrating one with a four-layer array that amplified spells by 20%.
• The Flame Swordsman Regiment demonstrated Flame Slash, and Ang explained to Quintina that their Combat Techniques and Flame Armament had awakened faint mana through elemental resonance.
• The apprentices and mages competed in spellcasting contests, with Aisha winning the Early Level 1 group and Puli winning the Mid Level 1 group.
• Ang challenged thirty-six mages at once, withstood their spells, and urged them to coordinate before ending the battle after they strained his defenses.

At the end of the Magic Exchange Meeting, Ang urged the mages to value hard work and assigned them monthly rune and scroll production, while giving them a handbook of scroll rune arrays. He later comforted Quintina and demonstrated how repeated practice could strengthen magic, leaving them sharing a playful, intimate moment.

• Ang challenged the recruited mages' belief that talent mattered more than hard work and learned that Jerry's mentor had been killed by a White Snow Leopard.
• Ang required every mage to produce ten magic scrolls monthly and assigned apprentices to make basic Rune Tablets, promising to provide and purchase the materials.
• Ang distributed his Handbook of Primary Magic Scroll Rune Arrays to the thirty-six mages and told them scroll-making materials would arrive in three months.
• Ang told Quintina that he would stop recruiting outside mages for now and wait three months to judge the recruited mages' performance.
• Ang explained that Aisha had strengthened her spells by casting them ten thousand times, then demonstrated advanced Ice Sword control to Quintina.

Ang tested a new Qi-enhancing potion, then led the Flame Swordsman Regiment to the Dampier Highlands to hunt magical beasts. When three young Earth Tyrant Bears stirred up the Giant Horned Ram herd and an Earth Mane Lion drove rams toward his troops, Ang trapped the lion underground and ordered the regiment to seize the fleeing prey.

• Ang brewed and tested a pale green Qi-enhancing potion, then set its costly, unstable formula aside for later improvements.
• Ang led the Flame Swordsman Regiment into the Dampier Highlands to hunt Giant Horned Rams and Long-haired Black Bulls, ordering his warriors to wait in ambush.
• On the third day, three young Level 3 Earth Tyrant Bears attacked the ram herd, triggering a chaotic battle among the rams and nearby predators.
• Ang blocked an Earth Mane Lion driving nearly a hundred rams toward the regiment, evaded its Earth Spike attack, and trapped it underground with Earth Burst.
• Ang ordered the Flame Swordsman Regiment to encircle the fleeing rams, and the warriors killed and stored one hundred of them in Demon Sealing Boxes.

Ang and the Flame Swordsmen fought off predators and hunted Giant Horned Rams, then paused to eat while thousands of magical beasts surrounded the weakened herd. Ang decided to wait for another opening rather than risk drawing the stronger beasts into an attack.

• Ang held back while the Earth Mane Lion, Wind Wolves, and Spotted Hyenas attacked the Giant Horned Rams, then ordered the Flame Swordsmen to clear the predators blocking the herd’s southern escape.
• Ang’s five hundred Flame Swordsmen formed a moving wall of fire with the Scorching Shield Combat Technique, scattering and burning many rams before charging the disorganized herd and capturing or killing more.
• Ang ordered the soldiers to collect the charred rams’ durable horns for the blacksmith and salvage edible meat from their corpses.
• Ang and the Flame Swordsmen cooked and ate ram meat while numerous magical beasts watched the remaining herd and maintained a wary distance from the humans.
• Ang warned the commander that thousands of magical beasts, including Level 3 beasts, surrounded the herd and said the regiment should wait for another chance instead of provoking a concentrated attack.

Ang returned from the grasslands after the Flame Swordsman Regiment captured more than twelve hundred Giant Horned Rams, then organized beast-clearing patrols and processed the spoils into meat and nearly twenty thousand sheets of magic paper. Back in Amnath City, he reunited with Quintina, resumed expanding the airship fleet, and promised Ben he would try to capture live rams for the dwarves.

• Ang ambushed and killed a stalking Earth Mane Lion, then ordered the Flame Swordsman Regiment to withdraw after their capture of Giant Horned Rams exceeded twelve hundred.
• The regiment left the grasslands, returned to Fifth Town, and split into fifty-person teams to clear dangerous magical beasts from the Milaginbi Mountains.
• Ang and the apprentices processed the ram carcasses, producing nearly twenty thousand sheets of magic paper before Ang returned to Amnath City.
• Quintina welcomed Ang home and showed him that she could form two Ice Swords, while Ang demonstrated his more advanced control of the spell.
• Ang distributed magic paper to the city mages and checked on the airship workshop, where Ben reported that construction was progressing and dwarves were settling their territory.
• Ben asked Ang to bring back live Giant Horned Rams for the dwarves to tame, and Ang agreed to try on his next trip.

Ang completed four airships and investigated Count Steven Brill’s repeated incursions into the mountain border, then focused on refining his Qi force-supporting Magic Potion and helping Quintina make scrolls. Steven’s surveyors discovered three rich mithril veins beneath Ang’s territory, and the count began planning how to take control of them.

• Ang finished engraving the buoys, and all four new airships passed their tests, bringing his usable fleet to thirteen.
• Quintina reported that Count Steven Brill’s men had repeatedly crossed into the knightly fiefs, and Ang sent the count a formal warning after reviewing the reports.
• Ang stayed in Amnath City, helped Quintina complete ten magic scrolls, and refined a potion that improved Qi force recovery and sustained strength.
• Steven Brill replied with an apology and an invitation, while Ang dismissed the letter as insincere.
• A gray-robed mage told Steven Brill that three mithril veins lay beneath Ang’s territory, and the count declared that the mines would ultimately be his.

Ang finished producing Qi force and Healing Potions, then visited Quintina and returned to the North Wind Territory, where he reunited with Aida and his family. Before preparing to leave, Ang checked on his mother and granted knightly honors and lands to the North Wind Guard.

• Ang produced more than a thousand Qi force potions and over forty thousand Healing Potions, keeping some for the Black Scale Horse cavalry and sending the rest to military logistics.
• Ang told Quintina he would depart for Fifth Town in two days to investigate a possible Mithril Ore vein, then returned to the North Wind Territory and found Aida surrounded by his family at a ball.
• Ang gave Aida's five wives fitness bracelets, learned that Norma and Yus were doing well, and gave Aida a knight's badge and appointment document using his own military merit.
• Ang examined his mother with the Holy Light Technique, gave her a protective bracelet, and shared a meal with her before inspecting the North Wind Guard Camp.
• Ang awarded knight's badges and appointment documents to nearly two hundred first-rank warriors and granted them lands in the Milaginbi Mountains.

Ang strengthened Aida’s skills and returned to Amnath City, where reports of a spreading, untreatable epidemic prompted him to investigate. He examined the unconscious victims and suspected they had been afflicted by a curse.

• Ang discussed North Wind Territory’s defenses with Aida, warned him about the Northern Barbarians, and gave him potions, Flame Armament, and combat training.
• Ang visited the Purple-winged Bee hive, collected honey, and reinforced its protective magic array.
• Ang reunited with Aida’s family, gave gifts to the children, and then teleported back to Amnath City.
• Quintina showed Ang reports of an epidemic spreading through several knight territories, and he left to investigate before continuing to Fifth Town.
• Ang questioned Knight Hainei’s father and examined eight unconscious patients, concluding that their condition was likely caused by a curse.

Ang investigated a mysterious illness that left people unconscious across seven knight territories, but neither holy magic nor a broad search revealed its source. After tracing coordinated land-buying attempts to Count Steven Brill, Ang uncovered a link between the illness and the count’s plans.

• Ang treated the eight unconscious villagers with Holy Light Technique, but could not wake them, and found no cause in two patients’ homes or among their contacts.
• Ang investigated seven knight territories, stabilized the patients with holy light, and moved them to a guarded hut while he searched his books for an explanation.
• A cloaked visitor threatened Hainei's father while offering to buy his territory, and similar visitors approached the other six knight lords.
• Ang set a trap by having the lords invite the visitors back and demand two hundred magic crystals, then tracked all seven men to Count Steven Brill's estate.
• Count Steven Brill ordered his agents to accept the price and dismissed concerns about Ang, insisting that their plan had left no flaws.

Ang captured and interrogated seven nobles who had bought knight territories after villagers were cursed and land values fell. When they refused to explain how to remove the curse, he used Soul Grasp on one of them, leaving the others terrified.

• The Flame Swordsmen arrested the seven buyers and their attendants across the knight territories and transported them to Ang’s base.
• Ang questioned the captives about their scheme, and one admitted they had acted on orders and had business dealings with a magic society.
• Ang pressured a young captive who reacted to the Black Magic Society, then learned the buyers claimed the curse had been cast by someone else.
• When the captives insisted they did not know how to remove the curse, Ang struck one and exposed another’s baron’s crest.
• Ang killed the young man with lightning and used Soul Grasp on the baron, prompting the remaining captives to watch in terror.

Ang investigated the villagers’ missing souls and traced them to thirteen magically altered Gold Wacks, but he could not find a safe way to free the souls. A Black Magic Society member revealed that dispelling the dark magic should break the sacrificial seals, and Ang’s question about whether he was a Dark Knight candidate left his identity in doubt.

• Ang used Soul Grasp on Carl and the other prisoners, but learned little until one man said a magical container had absorbed the villagers’ souls.
• Ang searched seven villages and found thirteen altered Gold Wacks; after three days of research, he determined they held the souls of all forty-three unconscious villagers.
• Ang returned the Gold Wacks to the villagers, improving their physical condition without waking them, while Gesang and the other mages found no safe way to release the souls.
• Ang questioned the prisoners about a Gold Wack, and one prisoner identified the silent young man as a member of the Black Magic Society.
• The young man said the coins were likely Sacrificial Vessels and that dispelling their dark magic would break the seals; Ang then asked whether he was a Dark Knight candidate.

Ang purified the dark power from the Gold Wacks and freed the souls trapped inside, then investigated the mysterious statue that absorbed the darkness. After learning the villagers had picked up the Gold Wacks, he sent the recovered villagers home by airship.

• Ang used a Holy Light amplification array and the statue from the lizardfolk tribe to remove the dark sacrifice from a Gold Wack, freeing three souls who returned to their bodies.
• Ang purified the remaining twelve Gold Wacks, then exposed the statue to a stronger ritual that turned it almost entirely white before resealing it.
• Ang questioned the forty-three rescued villagers and learned they had found the Gold Wacks in different places and taken them home.
• Ang warned the villagers not to touch strange objects they found and to report them instead.
• After the villagers recovered for a week, Ang arranged an airship to return them to their knightly territories.

Ang imprisoned the seven missing knights and their attendants, warned Milaginbi about suspected Dark Mages, and prepared to confront the Mage Association’s inaction and the Black Magic Society. He visited Count Steven Brill, whose hidden dealings and plans remained unclear, and began a private discussion with him.

• Count Steven Brill sent the butler to investigate the disappearance of seven knights, but patrols of Flame Swordsmen blocked access to their territories and no clues emerged.
• Ang had the kobolds imprison the seven knights and their attendants in a sealed underground chamber, then issued a territory-wide warning about suspected Dark Mages and reported the matter to the Mage Association.
• After the Mage Association denied finding evidence of Black Mage activity, Ang decided to handle the threat himself, postponed his trip to the Dampier Highlands, and spent three days with Quintina.
• Count Steven Brill told a hooded man to lie low at a Mithril Ore mine in the northern forest hills, then prepared to receive Ang’s visiting party.
• Ang arrived at Brill Manor with two squads of Flame Swordsmen, exchanged polite remarks with Count Steven Brill, and joined him for a lavish banquet.
• Ang sent the Flame Swordsmen on a tour of the manor with Brill’s butler, then told the count it was time to discuss serious business.

Ang warned Steven Brill that the Black Magic Society was plotting against the Empire and used a Tracking Compass to reveal that Black Mages had recently been in Steven’s estate. Steven decided to leave for the imperial capital, then planned to test whether Ang’s claims were true without exposing his connection to the Society.

• Ang told Steven Brill that the Black Magic Society was joining forces with lizardmen and had targeted Steven’s remote estate.
• Ang activated a Tracking Compass, which reacted strongly to traces of Black Magic from the previous day and confirmed the Black Mages had been inside Steven’s estate.
• Ang advised Steven to leave immediately, and Steven agreed to travel to the imperial capital until the danger passed.
• After Ang left, Steven learned from his butler that the Black Magic Society members had withdrawn from the estate the previous night.
• Steven ordered his butler to verify Ang’s claims, and the butler proposed telling the Society there was a traitor among them to provoke a revealing response.

Ang monitored Brill Manor as six groups left it, while a black-armored force later infiltrated the estate and attacked. Steven Brill survived a Shadow Spear thanks to a church lamp that unleashed Light Magic, then left it behind as bait for the Black Robed Mage.

• Ang ordered Temple and the Flame Swordsmen to track anyone leaving Brill Manor, and six groups departed during the night.
• Ang’s forces continued following the groups while his airship reached a hidden valley, where a black-armored force prepared to attack without using Flame Combat Techniques.
• The Black Robed Mage breached Brill Manor’s defenses, divided the attackers into three squads, and led them in destroying plants and looting magical herbs.
• Steven Brill watched the attack as the Black Robed Mage fired a Shadow Spear at his study, and the butler shielded Steven but was gravely injured.
• A white lamp from the church drove away the corrosive black mist and saved Steven, who recognized the attackers as the Black Magic Society and left the lamp behind as bait.

The Black Robed Mage attacked Count Steven Brill’s manor, stole a white wickless lamp that briefly absorbed holy light, and unleashed a darkness that swallowed the estate. Three days later, Ang and Quintina discussed the attack, and Ang examined the lamp he had obtained from Steven Brill’s study.

• The Black Robed Mage searched Steven Brill’s study, found a white wickless lamp, and watched it briefly glow after absorbing holy light before it went dark.
• The Black Robed Mage took the lamp, scattered black crystals throughout the manor, and escaped with his soldiers as fires and panic drove the residents outside.
• Steven Brill disguised himself as a servant and fled with the crowd, while the black crystals shattered and engulfed the manor in darkness.
• The Black Robed Mage returned to his airship, and news of the attack spread across the Wilderland Empire three days later.
• Quintina brought Ang the report about Steven Brill’s manor, and Ang revealed that the Mage Association had dismissed his earlier warning about a Black Mage in the Milaginbi Mountains.
• After Quintina left to issue orders, Ang took out the white wickless lamp and began examining it.

The Black Magic Society sent Leon to investigate the attack on Steven Brill’s manor while the Mage Association Enforcement Team examined the ruins. Viscount Ang discovered the hidden warehouse and took all its supplies, leaving the Society unaware that its stockpile was gone.

• An enraged Black Robed Mage ordered Leon to investigate Steven Brill’s manor before the Enforcement Team arrived and warned him to conceal his identity.
• The Enforcement Team confirmed that Dark Erosion had been used at the manor, purified the ruins, and questioned a freckled mage who claimed to be an official registered mage.
• Leon watched the disguised visitor leave, then entered a tunnel and confirmed that the supplies in the basement were still intact.
• Viscount Ang agreed to guard and seal the ruins in exchange for two hundred magic crystals, then arrived with soldiers and Flame Swordsmen.
• Ang found a concealed staircase leading to the warehouse, took every stored material and weapon, and hid all traces of his discovery.

Ang guarded Steven Brill's ruined manor as bait for the Black Magic Society, while Leon and Candice disguised themselves as merchants to retrieve its supplies. After their caravan was stopped and ran short of water, Ang confronted its leaders, who had yet to reveal themselves.

• Ang ordered two hundred Flame Swordsmen to reinforce the area and prepared to ambush anyone returning for the supplies.
• The Black Magic Society sent Leon and Candice to recover the supplies, and they planned to pose as a merchant caravan and move them out over two weeks.
• Ang secretly positioned soldiers around the manor and waited as the Dark Erosion persisted for a month.
• Leon and Candice's caravan arrived and camped near the manor, but Ang's soldiers barred its members from collecting water there.
• After the caravan ran short of water and found no nearby sources, Ang approached and questioned its members.
• Candice and Leon introduced themselves to Ang as the people in charge of the caravan.