Chapter Summaries

Ronan examined the Frozen Earth inheritance and learned from Halowen’s letter that it was tied to the Lanster Family, the Frost Leader, and the Ice Flame Iris. After Basil rejected his appeal for support from the Arcane Circle, Ronan decided he could only take up the ice-element path.

• Ronan read Halowen’s letter and discovered the history of the Lanster Family and the importance of the Ice Ring and Frozen Earth.
• Ronan considered choosing the ice-element inheritance over Lola’s plant-element inheritance but put the box away while he waited for news of a metal-element inheritance.
• Basil visited Ronan, overpowered his attempt to probe with Spiritual Power, and questioned him about his past and Hoddam Academy.
• Basil told Ronan that Hoddam Academy had been destroyed by the Crimson Tower and mentioned a rumor that a First Level Wizard from the Whispering Forest had killed two Second Level Wizards.
• Basil left after Ronan tried to ask him for support, then told Gu Wei that Ronan was not the person they sought and ordered him to keep watching the other candidates.
• Ronan watched Basil’s airship depart and decided to choose Frozen Earth and switch to ice-element spells.

After completing the Frozen Earth Rune, Ronan discovered it could create an Ice Cold Domain by anchoring ice spells, then tested the domain and found a way to strengthen it using mastered zero-level spells. He left the training room excited by the rune’s newly revealed potential.

• Ronan completed the Frozen Earth Rune after a week of painful refinement, and Alida was startled by his changed appearance and aura.
• Ronan learned that Frozen Earth could create a growing ice domain using at least three ice-element spells as anchors, then chose Ice Armor, Frost Spear, and Frost Howl.
• Ronan practiced the three Level One spells and discovered that Yarlis's Ice Ring Necklace doubled Frost Spear’s power.
• Ronan anchored the three spells to activate the Ice Cold Domain, which covered a ten-meter radius and reached late-stage First Level Wizard strength near him.
• Ronan realized that mastered zero-level ice spells could also serve as anchors, potentially making the domain far more powerful.

Ronan reworked his Ice Cold Domain around zero-circle ice spells, then practiced them outside Magic Ring City while trading beast cores for Spiritual Power potions. After learning of a Rune Array task that might help him join the Arcane Circle, he headed to 131 Copper Ingot Street and considered how his growing mastery of Ice Ball could strengthen his domain.

• Ronan decided to replace one of his three first-circle domain anchors with zero-circle Ice Ball, Frost Ray, and Ice Blade, hoping a Master-level spell would derive an Extraordinary Magic Domain.
• Ronan left Magic Ring City to practice ice spells in the wilderness and later traded magical beast crystal cores with Quidi for potions and magic stones.
• Quidi told Ronan that an Arcane Circle member was seeking an ice wizard to adjust a Rune Array, offering a possible opportunity to earn sponsorship despite the issuer's bad reputation.
• Ronan accepted the address Quidi gave him and went to 131 Copper Ingot Street.
• Ronan reviewed his progress, noting that Ice Ball had reached Expert 784/800 and that adding it as a domain anchor had already increased the Ice Cold Domain's power.

Ronan visited Bennigo to recharge the Rune Array keeping a woman preserved in a crystal coffin, then tried to secure Bennigo’s guarantee for his Arcane Circle application by offering a Leaf of Innocence. The leaf’s vitality proved nearly exhausted, leaving Bennigo furious and Ronan’s plan in jeopardy.

• Ronan entered Bennigo’s manor, fought off a barrage of metal spheres, and followed Bennigo down to the basement.
• Ronan infused an inactive Rune Array on the crystal coffin with ice-element energy, and Bennigo paid him with fewer Magic Stones than promised.
• Ronan used his strength and the prospect of monthly maintenance to persuade Bennigo to discuss guaranteeing his Arcane Circle application.
• Ronan offered Bennigo a Leaf of Innocence as a way to help the woman in the coffin, and Bennigo initially showed interest.
• Bennigo discovered that the leaf had almost no vitality left, watched it turn into an ordinary dead leaf, and accused Ronan of trying to deceive him.

Ronan discovered that the seed Andre and Fiona had given him was a legendary Saint Blood Tree Seed and negotiated with Bennigo to lend it to him in exchange for help joining the Arcane Circle. Three days later, Bennigo arrived wearing the insignia of a Third Ring member and led Ronan to the Arcane Circle for his strength test.

• Bennigo found the Saint Blood Tree’s aura in Ronan’s seed and explained that the legendary tree was said to purify bloodlines and revive the dead.
• Ronan refused to give Bennigo the seed but agreed to lend it to him if Bennigo would help him enter the Silver Magic Ring and grow the seed.
• Bennigo told Ronan to return in three days for a strength test, then revealed that he planned to use the seed as the core material for an Eternal Life Coffin to awaken Fiona.
• Three days later, Bennigo emerged wearing a Third Ring insignia, and Ronan learned that Bennigo had noticed his progress in ice-element spells.
• Bennigo told Ronan the entry test would be easy for him and led him to the Arcane Circle’s metal building by the second-layer Rune Array gate.

Ronan entered the Arcane Circle’s selection test with Bennigo as his guarantor, despite learning that Bennigo’s reputation had made the officials wary. Inside the test realm, Ronan faced a hostile examination arranged by Tulpa, who intended to make Basil’s candidates suffer, while Bennigo watched and waited to see whether Ronan would prove worth his time.

• The Green Eyes Wizard reacted strangely to Bennigo’s name, registered Ronan, and sent him to the test entrance.
• Bennigo explained that Basil and other recruiters demanded thirty percent of a newcomer’s mission rewards for thirty years, and Ronan felt relieved he had not accepted Basil’s guarantee.
• Basil’s candidate Fire Vulture emerged from the test battered and reported that Tulpa had set a five-minute core-member requirement and enraged a peak first-level Terra Behemoth with a Berserk Potion.
• Bennigo told Ronan his test might be unusually difficult, and Ronan gave him his name before entering the testing grounds.
• Ronan entered a foggy Secret Realm Space and began walking toward a hill while an oppressive presence watched him.
• The Bald Man ordered the examiner to make Basil’s early-Level-One candidate suffer, even if it killed him, until Basil offered real compensation.

Ronan unleashed the Desperate Ice Seal, Domain of Despair, freezing the Terra Behemoth and shocking the Bald Man and the other wizards. The Bald Man then confronted Basil, revealing that Ronan had mastered domain force and killed a beast near Level Two, leaving Basil to realize the genius he had overlooked was Ronan.

• The Bald Man released the Terra Behemoth, which chased Ronan and restricted his flight with its gravity ability.
• Ronan fought back with ice spells but found the middle-aged wizard blocking his retreat toward the Rune Array’s safety zone.
• Ronan unleashed the Desperate Ice Seal, Domain of Despair, and froze the Terra Behemoth in a massive Ice Sculpture.
• Ronan emerged from the test area as Fire Vulture mocked him, while Basil dismissed the youth as insignificant.
• The middle-aged wizard halted the testing, but the Bald Man burst into the room, seized Basil, and accused him of setting up the test.
• The Bald Man revealed Ronan’s domain force and victory over the Terra Behemoth, and Basil recognized Ronan as the genius he had previously overlooked.

Ronan joined the Seventh Magic Ring after demonstrating the destructive power of his new Domain of Despair, while Bennigo returned to the Arcane Circle and prepared to leave again. Bennigo explained the Magic Ring’s elemental inheritances to Ronan, including why the complete Omnipotent Magic Ring rune could not be safely used.

• Ronan killed the Terra Behemoth in the test, stunning Basil, Fire Vulture, and the others, while Tulpa left after reclaiming his credential and giving it to Bennigo.
• Bennigo handed Ronan his core credential and brought him into the official Seventh Magic Ring area, where Ronan reflected on his new Domain of Despair and its power.
• Basil recognized Bennigo and secretly told someone that Bennigo had returned, suggesting that Travis could obtain the Nightmare Tungsten Steel he wanted from him.
• Bennigo met Nono, who told him that two Nefa Keys could open Mirror Garden and offered hope of a cure for his Soul Sickness; Bennigo instead asked Nono to protect Ronan from Lanny and the others before leaving the Arcane Circle.
• Bennigo found Ronan at the Hall of Inheritance and explained that the Seventh Magic Ring specialized in earth spells, while the Fourth Magic Ring suited Ronan’s ice talent.
• Bennigo told Ronan that combining seven elemental inheritances could amplify every spell sevenfold, but the resulting energy would annihilate even the seven Ring Lords.

Ronan received Bennigo’s Metal Element spell inheritance and learned that youth and competition determined access to the Arcane Circle’s resources and ancient secret realms. As Bennigo prepared to leave and return the Saint Blood Tree seed, he was ambushed while waiting at a ruined courtyard.

• Ronan asked Bennigo about changing Arcane Circles, then accepted a Rune Stone containing first- and second-tier Metal Element spells and the Silverization Rune inheritance.
• Bennigo explained the Arcane Circle’s resource competition, the importance of moving to lower continents, and why young souls could withstand the Time Curse and enter ancient secret realms.
• Bennigo told Ronan to bring the Saint Blood Tree seed in three days so he could charge the ice coffin’s Rune Array one final time, and gave him a Communication Stone before disappearing.
• Ronan inspected Bennigo’s gifts at the Blueberry Inn and questioned whether the Communication Stone’s missing imprint meant Bennigo had been deceived.
• Bennigo waited beside Fiona’s long wooden box in a ruined courtyard, then attacked someone approaching and struck Harry with a conjured greatsword.
• Bennigo’s attackers unleashed a powerful energy storm; after coughing and weakening, he retreated and threw black metal spheres that exploded across the courtyard.

Lin Qi and his fellow young wizards trapped Bennigo in a rune array and tortured him to extract the Nightmare Tungsten Steel. Just as they were about to finish, a youth wielding an Ice Spear shattered the array and arrived at Bennigo’s ruined courtyard.

• Bennigo tried to flee, but Lin Qi’s group sealed the courtyard in a crystal barrier and confronted him over the Nightmare Tungsten Steel.
• Bennigo fought back with his black hiltless greatsword, but Lin Qi and the others overwhelmed him with spells and magical implements.
• Lin Qi had Harry use an Agony Potion-coated dagger to painfully extract the Nightmare Tungsten Steel from Bennigo’s body.
• A mysterious attack cracked the rune array and its control crystal, engulfing the courtyard in snow and freezing cold.
• A white-haired youth carrying an Ice Spear entered the courtyard and addressed the nearly dying Bennigo.

Ronan rescued Bennigo from four wizards, received Bennigo’s Nightmare Tungsten Steel and shaped it into a sword, then left with him. Travis arrived at the ruined courtyard and contacted Lanny, offering to discuss Bennigo and his successor.

• Ronan defeated Lin Qi and the other wizards, leaving all four unconscious and taking their Storage Waist Pouches.
• Ronan returned the Saint Blood Tree seed to Bennigo and regretted intervening because he had become more entangled in Bennigo’s troubles.
• Bennigo gave Ronan his Nightmare Tungsten Steel, warning that its dark energy could corrode the body.
• Ronan used Animated Metal to shape the Nightmare Tungsten Steel into a longsword and accepted it as additional compensation.
• Bennigo told Ronan that Travis, a rising talent from the Arcane Circle, had sent the wizards after him, and the two left the courtyard together.
• Travis arrived at 131 Copper Ingot Street and asked Lanny to meet with him about Bennigo and his successor.

Ronan followed Bennigo into a decaying micro secret realm, where Bennigo explained Magic Ring ranks and taught him about One Segment Magic Domain Resonance. Bennigo planned to stay and cultivate the Saint Blood Tree seed, while Ronan left him a chance to prove his skills by brewing rare potions and departed after Bennigo crushed an old Communication Stone.

• Ronan entered Bennigo's hidden micro secret realm and learned that Bennigo had created it with a Space Energy Orb from the Mirror Garden ruins.
• Bennigo explained that Magic Ring wizards raised their Ring Levels through Contribution Points and described how elemental and Metal Element spells worked together.
• Bennigo demonstrated One Segment Magic Domain Resonance and told Ronan that deeper understanding of his spells was needed to achieve it.
• Bennigo warned Ronan that Travis was a powerful Level Two wizard and that Travis's group might try to break, cripple, or tame him.
• Bennigo said he would stay to help the Saint Blood Tree seed sprout and offered his secondary-profession services in exchange for resources.
• Ronan asked Bennigo to brew rare Spiritual Power-enhancing potions, left him two Communication Rune Stones, and departed; Bennigo crushed the Communication Stone he had once given Ronan.

Ronan discovered that contemplating the core essence of his Extraordinary Magic Domains rapidly increased his skill proficiency, giving him hope of reaching One Segment Magic Domain Resonance. After a month of training and preparation, he demonstrated his growing power by freezing a swarm of magical beast hornets and unleashing Particle Torrent.

• Ronan reflected on Particle Torrent as a flood of natural force and raised its proficiency by five points without casting the spell.
• Ronan contemplated despair to deepen his understanding of Desperate Ice Seal, raised its proficiency by twenty points, and filled his room with a lingering Despair Aura.
• Ronan tested Bennigo’s Nightmare Tungsten Steel, opened the storage pouches taken from Travis’s subordinates, and gathered a large haul of magic stones, items, potions, and materials.
• Ronan received Bennigo’s potion formula and materials, spent nearly two hundred High-Level Magic Stones on supplies, and later received several Spiritual Power-enhancing potions.
• One month later, Ronan used the Domain of Despair to freeze nearly ten magical beast hornets before forming a field of Particle Torrent.

Ronan returned to the Arcane Circle after a month of training and eliminating most of an Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee swarm to gather materials and fulfill mission requirements. He sensed a hostile wizard watching him, but proceeded to the mission tower and chose a hunt for Abyssal Giant Worm gland sacs.

• Ronan killed a group of Azure Thorn Hurricane Bees, collected their honey and valuable parts, and judged that the swarm's remaining guards were nearly gone.
• Ronan reviewed his growing Spiritual Power and spell proficiency, noting that Particle Torrent had plateaued while Desperate Ice Seal continued to improve.
• Ronan decided to return to the Arcane Circle for missions and Contribution Points, while remaining wary that Travis might still be plotting against him.
• Ronan entered the Arcane Circle and noticed a hostile late first-level wizard with slanting eyebrows following him to the mission tower.
• Ronan chose a mission to hunt Abyssal Giant Worms for their gland sacs after speaking with the green-haired clerk.

Ronan’s missions were repeatedly thwarted by cancellations and a deliberate registration error, until he uncovered the green-haired clerk Soya’s deception and smashed the service window. He left the Arcane Circle for a difficult trial mission, still aware that the Slanting Eyebrow Wizard was watching him.

• Ronan hunted Abyssal Giant Worms for three days, but learned their gland-sac mission had already been completed by someone else.
• He quickly gathered ten Fire Scythe Beast Hearts, only to find the mission had been canceled before he could submit them.
• Ronan accepted a long-term Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee mission, but after five days Soya claimed she had mistakenly registered the required item as honeycombs instead of eyes.
• Soya secretly admitted she had been manipulating Ronan, but he returned and caught her speaking into a Communication Stone.
• Ronan smashed the service window, confronted Soya, and accepted a difficult trial mission before heading into the Arcane Circle’s Secret Realm Space.

Ronan lured the wizard who had been sabotaging his trial mission into the open and defeated him, learning that Lanny had also targeted him. Bennigo explained that Ronan’s enemies could force him out of official membership, and advised him to challenge Travis or Lanny within half a year.

• A middle-aged wizard entered the secret realm and destroyed the herbs Ronan needed for his trial mission.
• Ronan revealed that he had used the mission to draw out the saboteur, activated [Immaculate Body], and overwhelmed him.
• The captured wizard told Ronan that Lanny had sent him, leading Ronan to ask Bennigo about the threat.
• Bennigo said Lanny had once been his rival and had likely advanced to the Fourth Ring, while several other powerful wizards had joined the opposition.
• Ronan realized his enemies could engineer repeated mission failures to strip his official Magic Ring membership and leave him vulnerable to attack.
• Bennigo advised Ronan to challenge Travis or Lanny within half a year, since they could not refuse a low-ring wizard’s challenge.

Ronan reflected on Bennigo’s advice to defeat his rivals, then fought the Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee King and overcame his fear by killing it. The battle brought a major rise in his wizard progress and unexpectedly increased his [Ten Thousand Years Immobile] proficiency, which he suspected was connected to being injured.

• Bennigo advised Ronan to challenge Travis or Lanny directly, or wait for missions the Arcane Circle could not interfere with.
• Ronan tested his Domain of Despair against the Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee King, but the beast broke free of his ice seal and pierced him with its poisoned tail spike.
• Wounded and facing the bee king’s gathering hurricane, Ronan questioned his fear and regained his resolve to fight.
• Ronan unleashed his arcane domain and Spell Breaking Flame, killing the Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee King with a decisive strike.
• Ronan noticed his Level One Wizard progress had risen from 39% to 45%, then found that [Ten Thousand Years Immobile] proficiency had increased from Master 1/1600 to Master 5/1600 and wondered whether his injury had caused it.

After condensing the Silverization Rune, Ronan tested its effects and discovered that silverized Nightmare Tungsten Steel could interfere with consciousness as well as strengthen his metal spells. He then prepared to test whether injury could increase his Master Level Ascetic Body Forging proficiency, leaving himself poised to make the first cut.

• Ronan delivered the Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee King's honey sac to Bennigo, who said the seed in his alchemical vat might sprout within one or two months.
• After seven days of meditation, Ronan reached 46% progress as a Level One Wizard and examined the newly condensed Silverization Rune in his Consciousness Space.
• Ronan silverized his Nightmare Tungsten Steel sword and found that the transformation greatly increased its sharpness and durability.
• Ronan tested the sword on a Mud-Eating Swamp Pig and discovered that Nightmare Tungsten Steel could disrupt a target's consciousness and Spiritual Power.
• Ronan tested High-Energy Crucible and Rusting Swamp with the silverized metal, then removed his robe and readied his sword to investigate whether self-inflicted injuries would raise his Ascetic Body Forging proficiency.

Ronan discovered that enduring elemental spells increased his Master-level Ascetic Body Forging proficiency, while Bennigo’s Saint Blood Tree seed sprouted. Bennigo told Ronan about a Brain-Eating Flower mission and an ancient potion that might help him comprehend One Segment Magic Domain Resonance early.

• Ronan pierced himself with the Azure Thorn Hurricane Bee King's stinger and learned that the concentrated wind-element particles, rather than poison, increased his Ascetic Body Forging proficiency.
• Ronan tested Ice Ball spells against his body and confirmed that repeated elemental attacks raised his proficiency, then began training by enduring spells.
• Bennigo saw the Saint Blood Tree seed sprout and summoned his companion to the Micro Secret Realm Space.
• Ronan arrived after two months of grueling Ascetic Body Forging, and Bennigo asked him to water the seed with his blood to build a bond with it.
• Bennigo told Ronan that the Arcane Circle had issued a mission involving a Brain-Eating Flower and that an ancient potion made from it might increase Ronan’s chance of comprehending One Segment Magic Domain Resonance early.

Ronan learned that the Brain-Eating Flower mission could draw Travis’s attention, but he accepted it to obtain the ingredient and a chance to recover from pressure inside the Arcane Circle. After his privileges were frozen and his savings dwindled, he registered for the Damp Jungle mission and waited with the other wizards.

• Bennigo explained that the Brain-Eating Flower mainly benefited First Level Wizards, but warned Ronan that Travis might target him during the mission to seize his Nightmare Tungsten Steel.
• Ronan asked Bennigo to prepare healing potions and other goods because his training had nearly exhausted his Magic Stones.
• Ronan discovered that the Arcane Circle had demoted him from One Ring core member status and frozen his purchasing, commission, and monthly benefit privileges.
• Ronan reviewed his progress, noting that Ascetic Body Forging and his physical defenses had improved while his resources had nearly run out.
• Ronan registered for the Damp Jungle mission and received a white Rune Stone that served as proof of participation and the key to the Secret Realm Space.
• Several intermediate First Level Wizards gathered around a newly arrived late First Level core member, and one of them asked Ronan to join their group.