Chapter Summaries

Alita dragged Caroso to his dormitory and had him demonstrate the zero-star cards he knew while she worked out their principles. After discovering how the cards used material and magic-array resonance, she took Caroso to her lab to continue the demonstration.

• Alita took Caroso’s key and pulled him into his dormitory, where two students saw them and speculated about what was happening.
• Caroso crafted the zero-star cards he knew as Alita recorded their designs and learned that his friend used the code name Sophia My Wife.
• Alita calculated the cards’ principles through the night while Caroso waited beside her.
• Alita concluded that the cards used resonance between materials and magic arrays, and explained how their arrays created transitions.
• Alita dragged an exhausted Caroso to her lab to demonstrate the method with more materials.

After Alita made Caroso a zero-star Epic card, she began researching how to reduce card Star Levels and planned to enter seclusion. Caroso left the laboratory to face a crowd of merchants, then received a hesitant call from Elena asking what he thought of Alita.

• People at the school spread rumors about Caroso and Alita after seeing them together, while Alita hurried Caroso away from those seeking her cooperation and apprenticeships.
• Alita brought Caroso into her restricted laboratory and made him the zero-star Epic Nature Mage spell Giant Growth.
• Alita explained that materials and magic arrays could reduce a card’s Star Level, then agreed to convert Caroso’s revolver into a four-star Legendary Card and research the principles further.
• Caroso told the crowd outside that Alita was researching zero-star cards and directed them to the school’s departments for further inquiries.
• Elena contacted Caroso, congratulated him on reaching fourth tier, and cautiously asked what he thought of Teacher Alita.

Rayne tried to understand Caroso and Alita’s relationship and worried that their connection would cost Elena her chance to marry Caroso. At the prince’s office, he learned that Alita was effectively committed to Caroso because Caroso had fulfilled her long-held wish, while Grand Duke Osiris left Caroso’s romantic choices up to him.

• Caroso told Elena he had been busy all night, and Elena broke down in tears after their call.
• Rayne suspected Grand Duke Osiris was arranging a match between Caroso and Alita, while Elena insisted she would not accept a man who had other women.
• Aisha told Rayne that rumors claimed Caroso and Alita had a forbidden romance, and Rayne ended the call as the gossip spread.
• Rayne asked the prince about Caroso and Alita, but the prince said their relationship was more complicated than tutoring.
• The prince explained that Caroso had found New Moon Gold and restored Alita’s father’s legs, making it impossible for Alita to pledge loyalty elsewhere.
• Rayne asked whether Elena’s marriage prospects could still be saved, and the prince said Osiris considered Caroso’s choice his own business.

Caroso and Nimel saw Teresa off after rumors spread that Caroso and Alita had spent the night together. Caroso explained that they had made zero-star cards, then learned that people cared more about the rumors than his unprecedented achievements.

• Rayne questioned why his uncle dismissed concerns about Alita and Caroso's marriage.
• Nimel woke to rumors that Caroso and Alita were engaged and expecting a child, then received more gossip about their night together.
• Caroso contacted Nimel and said he and Alita had spent the night discussing and making zero-star cards.
• Caroso and Nimel met Teresa before her departure, and Caroso arranged to meet her in Free City on January sixth.
• Nimel told Caroso about the rumors, and he wondered why people focused on them instead of his achievements.

Caroso left with the principal for Azure Wolf Province while learning from the bullet comments how Blank’s future research into the Revival of the Dead would lead to a deadly conflict. He realized his own future actions had contributed to Blank’s fate and decided he needed to investigate the dungeon where he had been imprisoned.

• Caroso dismissed the school rumors and agreed to cooperate with research into his dual professions and Alita’s zero-star cards.
• The principal agreed to escort Caroso back to Azure Wolf Province, while Caroso told Nimel to stay and attend class.
• On the plane, Caroso asked the bullet comments what had happened to Blank in the future.
• The bullet comments explained that Blank’s work on the Revival of the Dead would draw powerful forces into a conflict, during which the principal and vice principal died and only one of the two Blanks survived.
• Caroso realized that his future war had helped bring about the attack on Mal Academy and decided he needed to investigate the dungeon where he had been held.

Caroso returned to the Kolia estate, where Grand Duke Osiris welcomed the headmaster, Claire, and spoke privately with her. Caroso later told his father about his plans for a pharmaceutical factory and the origin of the Zero Star Cards, and Osiris agreed to support him and handle the card matter.

• Osiris welcomed Claire, an old friend, and asked Caroso and Krumen to go upstairs while they spoke privately.
• Krumen mistook Caroso's request to remove her coat for a sexual advance, but he explained that the room was warm and told her how to arrange her lunch.
• Osiris praised Caroso for reaching the fourth rank through dual professions and warned him not to take risks with less than a thirty percent chance of success.
• Caroso insisted on investing all three hundred million in a pharmaceutical factory, and Osiris approved the plan while making Caroso responsible for any losses.
• Caroso explained that a friend had created the Zero Star Cards, and Osiris said he would take charge of the matter.

Caroso brought Krumen to the manor dungeon to show her its secrets and encountered a seventh-tier Mage imprisoned for a mass human sacrifice. The Mage defended his plan to summon his god and cleanse the world, while Caroso insisted he would face execution.

• Caroso took Krumen into the dungeon and told her that, as his future steward, she would need to learn the Kolia family’s secrets.
• Caroso identified Shelley, a prisoner who had abducted 168 children and sold them to cultists, and showed Krumen the dungeon’s restricted lower level using Grand Duke Osiris’s token.
• Caroso and Krumen found a white-haired seventh-tier Mage reading and writing in his cell, and Caroso realized he might have been Nimel’s teacher.
• Caroso confronted the Mage over using a thousand children in a ritual to summon a god and said the Mage would be executed once the Mage Guild approved it.
• The Mage argued that the world was unjust and that his god’s arrival would bring wisdom, equality, and an end to nobility.

Caroso challenged a mage’s faith in the Lord, then explored the prison’s lowest level with Krumen. A sudden force pulled them into a wall, while Karei entered a simulated dungeon with his followers and Nimel was swept inside after them.

• Caroso argued that the mage’s promised salvation might conceal selfish motives and warned that an all-powerful god could treat people like ants.
• Caroso told Krumen that Nimel lacked the ambition to pursue the mage’s plan and explained that he wanted to protect Azure Wolf Province out of gratitude and responsibility.
• Caroso reached the third underground level and questioned a red-haired prisoner about training him to reach the eighth tier, learning that she was only an eighth-tier warrior and could not help him.
• A powerful suction pulled Caroso and Krumen into a wall, prompting the soldiers to report what happened to the Grand Duke.
• Karei led dozens of fourth-tier fighters into a simulated dungeon, planning to confront Caroso and cripple Nimel’s magic source.
• Nimel watched Karei’s group enter, but the dungeon lit up and pulled her inside as well.

Caroso entered a prison dungeon where God's Chosen had to conceal their identities and survive until dawn. Realizing he had replaced the identity of a prisoner, he decided to use the dungeon's cards, believing his future self had relied on them.

• Caroso learned from the dungeon's introduction that God's Chosen were being hunted and that he had to hide his identity, survive until dawn, and escape the prison.
• Caroso discovered cards of various tiers and considered how his disabled future self might have used them to fight.
• Caroso inspected his single-person cell and read wall writings describing the prisoners' fear of nightly searches and executions.
• Caroso realized the dungeon had changed his face and identified it as an identity replacement dungeon.
• Caroso asked the viewers to help him choose cards, reasoning that his future self had used the dungeon's cards to gain power.

Osiris and the headmaster investigated the wall that had swallowed Caroso, while Karei and Krumen found themselves trapped in a real dungeon. Karei tried to prepare for its challenge, and Krumen feared she had been mistaken for God's Chosen.

• Osiris questioned Minette, who said a pulling force had slammed her into her cell door when Caroso triggered something.
• Osiris reassured the headmaster that Caroso would survive the dungeon, while Grand Duke Kolia knocked on the wall.
• Karei realized the simulated dungeon had become real and that he had been suppressed to the third tier; he adjusted his cards and planned how to clear it.
• Krumen wondered why the dungeon treated her as God's Chosen and feared Caroso would leave her alone with dangerous monsters.
• Krumen sensed someone appear behind her, then begged them to find Caroso instead of her.

Nimel was trapped in an unfamiliar dungeon after following a lead about Karei, while Caroso entered the same dungeon under the identity of Joe. At dinner, Caroso noticed that the blue-haired girl beside him was Nimel, though she appeared not to recognize him.

• Nimel followed a tip about Karei's plans and was pulled into a dungeon that changed her appearance, so she adjusted her deck to hide her identity.
• Caroso left his cell as Joe and discovered that magic power did not work in the prison dungeon.
• Caroso spotted a blue-haired girl who seemed familiar, and she greeted him while staying close as they went to the cafeteria.
• Caroso pretended to enjoy the prison food and watched outsiders lose their meals to people who stole food after they sat down.
• Nimel stole meat from Caroso's table and whispered to him that another diner seemed strange, leaving Caroso worried that she knew him.

Caroso and the other prisoners learned that they had to identify god's chosen to earn their freedom, while the dungeon's rules encouraged them to kill one another. As their powers returned, Caroso resolved to act rather than hide, and Karei gathered a group of outsiders around himself.

• A man in a black long coat announced that prisoners could search the dungeon for evidence of god's chosen and kill suspected targets, but false accusations would cost the accuser their life.
• The black long coat revealed that some prisoners' souls had been replaced by evil spirits, then shot a man who stood up during the meal in violation of the rules.
• As the dungeon's magic suppression weakened and the prisoners regained their powers, Caroso warned the blue-haired girl that more than ten people might die and refused to wait in his room.
• Karei Quint identified himself and gathered twenty-three outsiders, while Caroso decided he would play with Karei.

Caroso explored the prison with the blue-haired girl, found documents tied to her and the God of Wisdom, and began cooperating with Karei’s group. When a supernatural fog vanished, they discovered a prisoner dead, and Caroso revealed that an enforcer had killed him because the dungeon’s magic array had malfunctioned.

• Caroso led the blue-haired girl through the prison and found a hidden compartment containing her file and two ice Spell Cards.
• Karei offered Caroso cards and cooperation in exchange for information about hidden doors, and Caroso guided his group to another secret room.
• Caroso tried to read a book about the God of Wisdom, but its blue light hurt his eyes, so he turned its pages while the outsiders searched the documents.
• A fog filled the prison during an enforcer inspection, and when it disappeared, the prisoners were caught in the middle of attempted assaults and a private feud.
• The group found a blue-haired church member dead with a bite mark on his neck, and Caroso told Karei that an enforcer had killed him because the dungeon’s magic array had malfunctioned.

Caroso manipulated Karei into organizing the prisoners to resist the enforcers, then learned from Krumen that food was essential to survive the coming fogs. He warned Karei, who hurried to act before the prisoners lost their strength, while Caroso’s growing attachment to the blue-haired girl left their relationship fractured.

• Caroso convinced Karei that the fog was designed to make prisoners turn on one another, and Karei decided to unite them and fight their way out.
• Karei gathered his followers and ordered them to organize the prisoners, while Caroso advised everyone to spread out when the fog returned.
• The blue-haired girl challenged Caroso about his changed behavior, then left when he could not explain their past together.
• Caroso contacted Krumen, who reported that the enforcers could not see clearly in the fog and that prisoners who had not eaten would lose stamina during later fogs.
• Caroso warned Karei about the food, and Karei hurried to find a way to feed the prisoners before they became too weak to resist.

Krumen traded information and food with Karei’s group, who searched trapped rooms and uncovered a suspected God's Chosen while Caroso gathered valuable records. On the third floor, the Enforcer’s inspection began as phantoms attacked the dungeon, while Nimel encountered a glowing statue that offered her power to fight alongside her brother.

• Krumen used information traded from the Enforcer to sell food and dungeon intel to Karei, while giving Caroso a cut of the payments.
• Karei’s group explored trapped rooms, suffered injuries and exhaustion, and recovered items and records that Krumen exchanged for more rewards.
• Krumen identified a prisoner as a God's Chosen, and Karei persuaded the group to unite rather than kill him.
• Caroso and Krumen reached the third floor, where the Enforcer’s inspection began and Caroso used Rogue cards to defend them from attackers in the mist.
• Caroso used Enhanced Perception to see phantoms attacking prisoners and enforcers, while the phantoms left him unharmed.
• Nimel found a glowing statue that praised her wisdom and offered her power to fight at her brother’s side.

Nimel encountered the God of Wisdom, who tried to make her a chosen one before binding her and draining her power, loosening her divine mark. Meanwhile, Caroso fought the dungeon’s twisted enforcers with Krumen as the dungeon’s ritual went wrong.

• Nimel learned from the God of Wisdom that the Goddess of Dawn had sealed the gods and that the God of Wisdom wanted her to carry its voice to the world.
• Nimel chose to consult Caroso before accepting, so the God of Wisdom bound her and began draining her magic.
• Nimel entered an inner vision where the God of Wisdom’s larger blue sphere touched the God of Magic’s sphere, loosening her divine mark.
• Caroso shielded Krumen and explained that the dungeon ritual had gone wrong, forcing them to fight their way out.
• Caroso killed several enforcers with Blade Dance and gained the King Slayer Blade, a weapon that could regenerate endlessly.

Caroso fought through the second-floor fog with Krumen and helped Karei’s group survive by giving them cards. After Nimel appeared amid a sudden ice storm and Black Long Coat revealed the ritual’s purpose, Caroso warned that everyone’s strength was rising and Karei led the survivors into battle.

• Caroso gave Karei the cards he and Krumen had saved, then used the King Slayer Blade to kill smoke elements while protecting Krumen.
• An ice storm swept through the second floor, and Caroso found a blue-haired girl holding Snow Soul Ice Heart, whom he suspected was Nimel.
• Black Long Coat revealed that the Lord of Eternal Life needed fear, anger, and doubt for the ritual, then unleashed a gray energy storm that Caroso helped repel.
• The fog cleared, revealing dead Enforcers and prisoners, while Caroso realized his mana and the smoke elements had risen to fourth-rank strength.
• Caroso warned Karei that the survivors might grow stronger still, and Karei led his formation toward Black Long Coat as Enforcers rushed down to meet them.

The blue-haired girl mistook the people in the dungeon for possessed spirits while Caroso questioned her identity, and her plea to the God of Wisdom unleashed power beyond the fourth tier. Elsewhere, Nimel fought a conscious force inside a statue and contacted her brother after it attacked her.

• Black Long Coat summoned skeletons as the group fought the enforcers, and Caroso confronted the blue-haired girl, calling her Nimel and demanding to know what she had done.
• The blue-haired girl asked how to drive out the supposed spirits, while Krumen insisted they were in their own bodies and Karei urged the group to fight.
• The dungeon shook as stone elementals attacked, and the blue-haired girl called on the God of Wisdom, gaining enough power to blast Caroso and Krumen away.
• Caroso charged at the blue-haired girl as the other God's Chosen failed to break through the fourth-tier limit.
• Elsewhere, Nimel attacked a statue with her Necromancer's Walker, but its power overwhelmed her and threw her into a wall.
• Nimel answered her flashing Communication Card and warned her brother that the dungeon concealed a conscious, sealed power of the God of Wisdom that wanted to possess her.

Caroso learned that Nimel was trapped in a Dual Ritual Dungeon, where the God of Wisdom had tried to possess her, and rushed to reach her. In the dungeon, he joined Karei against Black Long Coat as the competing forces clashed, while poisoned food and summoning powers made the battle more dangerous.

• Nimel told Caroso that she had been dragged into the dungeon, encountered the God of Wisdom, and survived his attempted possession after his power suddenly weakened.
• Caroso grabbed Krumen and charged toward Black Long Coat so he could reach Nimel, while the blue-haired girl pursued them with ice magic.
• Caroso and Karei fought Black Long Coat and his Earth Elementals as the blue-haired girl attacked, and Karei discovered that the supposed enforcers were ghouls.
• Caroso noticed that the dungeon's meat had poisoned him and the prisoners, while the blue-haired girl found that her borrowed magic power weakened beyond a certain range.
• Caroso joined the battle against Black Long Coat, who summoned more ghouls from the earth with Blizzard Swordfall.

Caroso and his allies fought Black Long Coat in the dungeon, where Krumen’s salvaged holy items helped keep him at bay. As Black Long Coat pursued Caroso over a mysterious stone, the deaths of three fighters awakened a new power in Caroso.

• Black Long Coat broke Caroso’s leg and rejected his claim that the God of Wisdom was stealing the Lord of Eternal Life’s power.
• Krumen hurled salvaged holy items at Black Long Coat, burning him and giving Karei and the others an opening against the Earth Elementals.
• Black Long Coat blasted Caroso toward the blue-haired girl, who shielded him and said that the body was hers; Caroso promised to help restore her body and soul.
• Krumen threw a dull gray stone, and Caroso grabbed it while Karei led the others to block Black Long Coat from reaching him.
• Black Long Coat killed three people with one strike, and Caroso discovered that their power gathered toward him; he recognized the stone but could not recall its erased memory.