Chapter Summaries

Punk prepared an alchemy accident to blast through his magic tower’s outer wall and release Iron-toothed Black Ravens, using the disruption to screen arriving apprentices and test whether Master Korkwelen noticed his schemes. He escaped the laboratory with the ravens just before the potion detonated.

• Punk ground Burning Stone Rock into fine powder and planned to disguise the explosion as an experimental error while releasing Iron-toothed Black Ravens.
• Punk considered Korkwelen a dangerous threat and decided to abandon the Host Project if the master detected anything suspicious.
• Punk confirmed that apprentices were arriving at the branch, then added Burning Stone Rock powder to an unstable potion.
• Punk used Any Door to leave the laboratory and took a cage of Iron-toothed Black Ravens with him, waiting for the explosion to breach the wall.

Anya struggled through a brutal three-day trek across Gray Marsh with her exhausted friend Jasmine and hundreds of other Thought of Truth apprentices, driven onward by a murderous Mage. The group finally reached Thought of Truth and was ordered to form up for identity inspection.

• Anya pulled her oversized boot from the mud while Jasmine stopped and broke down from exhaustion.
• Anya helped Jasmine stand, offered her half an apple, and urged her not to give up, but Jasmine said she wanted to go home.
• Anya comforted Jasmine as the apprentices continued through the rain, wary of the Mage who had killed those who fell behind.
• The leading Mage announced that Thought of Truth had arrived and ordered the apprentices to form up for identity inspection.

Anya and the other apprentices finally reached the Thought of Truth settlement, where a magical bird opened the barrier and showed them the impressive city and its towers. As the bird began registering them, an explosion struck a tower, and it shouted that the settlement was under attack.

• Anya and the other apprentices arrived at the stone gate of the Thought of Truth settlement after their arduous journey through the marshes.
• A Two-headed Strange Bird came alive from the gate, argued with itself, and opened the barrier to reveal the settlement.
• Anya and the other apprentices stared in wonder at the granite buildings and towering magic towers as the bird boasted about their strength.
• An explosion erupted from a dull gray tower, deafening the apprentices and sending the Two-headed Strange Bird fleeing through the gate as it cried that an enemy was attacking.

An explosion at Punk-Sai'an’s magic tower sent five escaped Iron-toothed Black Ravens toward the branch’s exits. Peter was left to defend a crowd of apprentices at Stone Gate Number Four as one raven attacked, while Anya tried to protect Jasmine.

• Peter saw that an explosion had breached the magic tower and contacted the branch for an explanation.
• Punk-Sai'an announced that an experiment had gone wrong and that five Iron-toothed Black Ravens had escaped toward separate exits.
• The mages fled Stone Gate Number Four, leaving Peter to guard the apprentices rather than abandon them.
• Anya held the frightened Jasmine and tried to move them away from the crowd as danger approached.
• An Iron-toothed Black Raven arrived and charged straight at Peter.

Peter was badly wounded by the Iron-toothed Black Raven and pretended to be dead, leaving Anya and the other apprentices exposed to the beast’s attack. Just as the raven unleashed a storm of metallic feathers, the rain and wind abruptly fell silent, and Anya saw a magnificent sight.

• Peter missed the Iron-toothed Black Raven with an Ice Bolt, and the raven struck him, leaving him with a half-severed arm and grave injuries.
• Peter pretended to be unconscious and suppressed his life force, so the raven turned its attention to Anya and the other apprentices.
• The Iron-toothed Black Raven fixed its blood-red eyes on the apprentices, then rose into the air and began shedding a cloud of sharp metallic feathers.
• Anya braced herself for death, but the rain and wind suddenly stopped before the attack reached the apprentices.

Punk protected more than three hundred apprentices from an Iron-toothed Black Raven, then searched them for promising recruits and found them disappointing. As he prepared to leave, a dark-haired girl’s curious, eager gaze caught his attention.

• Punk blocked the Iron-toothed Black Raven’s barrage with a Dispersal Field Barrier and appeared before the apprentices.
• Punk seized the raven with a Mage Hand, crushed its bones, and locked it in a magical cage.
• An apprentice pointed Punk toward Peter, who admitted he had faked being unconscious and accepted Punk’s rebuke.
• Punk scanned the apprentices and judged them unremarkable, deciding he would need another way to find a genius prospect.
• Punk noticed a dark-haired girl with pale green eyes watching him with curiosity, longing, and delight.

Punk investigated the apprentice Anya and chose her as a host for his project, then left and exchanged a terse message with Benraji about the escaped Iron-toothed Black Ravens. Anya sensed that Punk’s gaze had singled her out, while the strange bird ushered the apprentices back inside.

• Punk used a Master Level Divination Spell to learn about Anya and decided to make her his host despite his reservations about her bond with Jasmine.
• Punk flew back toward his magic tower as Benraji contacted him to complain about the escaped Iron-toothed Black Ravens and the trouble they caused.
• Punk dismissed Benraji’s complaints with a brief “Oh,” cutting off his attempt to draw out the conversation.
• Jasmine thought Punk had looked at them, while Anya felt unsettled because his gaze seemed directed specifically at her.
• The strange bird returned and began boasting about the Master Level powerhouse before its other head urged it to bring the apprentices inside.

Punk prepared serious interviews to select apprentices at his magic tower, intending to justify his future special attention to Anya. As Anya waited for her interview, another apprentice tried to provoke her, but she remained focused and dreaded what meeting Punk might mean.

• Punk selected more than ten gifted apprentices, including Anya, and scheduled their interviews at his magic tower.
• Punk prepared for the interviews and privately anticipated seeing whether Anya would surprise him.
• A richly dressed apprentice mocked Anya and urged her to withdraw so he could claim one of Lord Sayan's apprentice positions.
• Anya ignored the apprentice's provocation and worried that being chosen for an interview with Punk was a bad sign.

Punk interrogated Anya and used Soul Probe to examine her soul and memories, discovering that she had extraordinary talent, including an aptitude for divination. He accepted her as his apprentice while secretly deciding her divination talent could not be allowed to remain, and Anya left the laboratory in fear.

• Punk questioned Anya about her background and noticed that she felt fear rather than excitement or gratitude.
• Punk cast Soul Probe on Anya, causing her intense pain as he examined her memories and soul.
• Punk discovered that Anya had exceptional potential and divination talent, which he considered a threat to the secrecy of the Law Fragment.
• Punk gave Anya a recovery spell, named her his apprentice, and ordered her to arrive at seven the next morning.
• Anya called Punk Mentor and backed out of the laboratory without meeting his gaze.

Punk forced his apprentice Anya to drink a potion for a talent-development experiment, then ordered her to undress and lie on the experiment table for a procedure. Anya mistook his intentions for something sinister, but Punk's explanation reassured her enough that she began unbuttoning her clothes.

• Punk reprimanded Anya for arriving three seconds late and told her that talent had to be developed through hard work.
• Punk presented Anya with a potion and pressured her into drinking it for an experiment, despite claiming participation was voluntary.
• After Anya began feeling pain in her head and discomfort in her soul, Punk ordered her to undress and lie on the experiment table.
• Anya feared Punk was a perverted mentor and pleaded for a normal method, but Punk said he only meant to perform minor procedures.
• Anya accepted Punk's explanation and began unfastening her clothes.

Punk anesthetized Anya, destroyed her prophecy talent, and began transplanting a strange eyeball into her right eye socket. The eyeball’s negative emotional energy surged during the operation, and Punk activated Golden Lock's Protection to shield Anya.

• Anya pleaded to stop the experiment, but Punk injected her with an anesthetic and rendered her unconscious.
• Punk examined Anya and confirmed that the Whirling Smoke potion had destroyed her prophecy talent, then suppressed her subconscious to prevent resistance.
• Punk prepared the strange eyeball and laboratory protections before beginning the transplant.
• Punk removed Anya's right eye and optic nerve, placed the strange eyeball in its socket, and connected it to her brain's nerve center.
• The eyeball's negative emotional radiation intensified, so Punk activated Golden Lock's Protection before its energy could reach Anya.

Punk contained the strange eyeball’s released negative emotional energy by directing it into five Iron-toothed Black Ravens, then hid the eye in Anya’s socket as she slept. After Anya awoke, he dictated her magical training path, steering her toward choices that made it easier for him to monitor the eye.

• Punk’s runes stopped the negative emotional mist from escaping, and he redirected it into five Iron-toothed Black Ravens, driving them mad.
• Punk found that some negative emotional energy remained bound to the Law Fragment, so he placed a monitoring spell on the strange eyeball and stored it in Anya’s eye socket.
• Punk healed Anya’s head and removed the remaining potion from her body before she woke in his laboratory.
• Punk told Anya to study Evocation as her major and Conjuration as her minor, then urged her to specialize in Life Element spells.
• Anya accepted Punk’s commands without protest, and her magical path was set.

Punk gave Anya an enchanted mage robe and used stern instructions to keep her focused on her apprenticeship, while Anya convinced herself that her growing fear of him had been misplaced. He then turned to improving a Master Level spell as practical training in understanding magic.

• Punk gave Anya his repaired novice robe, enchanted with Lesser Deflection Field, to protect her and help her recover.
• Anya accepted the robe happily and reassured herself that Punk's experiments were meant to help her, as her ominous premonition faded.
• Punk told Anya to attend every public class, work hard, and prepare for his progress inspection the following week.
• Punk decided to improve a Master Level spell to move beyond studying others' spell models and deepen his practical understanding of magic.

Punk began planning a few centuries of spell research to turn inherited knowledge into his own understanding, choosing an unsuccessful spell to improve. He also built Golem Unit Three as an assistant, though its poor quality left him considering a more effective, controversial golem for later.

• Punk concluded that improving spells was the next step toward making Wedraxia's theories his own and planned to spend two or three hundred years researching.
• He chose a complex failed spell with little prior improvement work as his research target rather than practicing on a common spell like Fireball.
• Punk built Golem Unit Three, a cheap Semi-Elemental Golem designed for speed and ambush support, but ruined several enchantment plates during construction.
• Punk judged Golem Unit Three barely adequate as a tower guard and experimental assistant, then considered making a Flesh Golem from the Kwevo Golem Notes once his spell research paused.

Punk chose the obsolete Master Level summoning spell Soul Worm as the first subject of his magical research, hoping to improve it using a related magical creature as a prototype. He received fifteen Fierce Body Worms and prepared to begin his experiments in his magic tower.

• Punk selected Soul Worm after weighing its practical value, potential for improvement, and research costs.
• Punk ordered fifteen Fierce Body Worms, related to the extinct Aknir Worm that had inspired Soul Worm.
• Two apprentices delivered the crates of Fierce Body Worms to Punk’s magic tower, and Punk rewarded them with Spirit Refining Potions.
• Punk moved the crates into a lower chamber, reviewed the Fierce Body Worms’ properties, and opened them to start his research.

A week after becoming Punk's disciple, Anya arrived for her private lesson and found him experimenting on a Giant Corpse Worm. Punk noticed that her soul was unstable and easily influenced, and decided he would need to spend more exchange points to fix the problem.

• Anya arrived at Punk's tower for her weekly private instruction after a week of attention and questions she could not share with anyone.
• Anya entered the laboratory and saw a bound Giant Corpse Worm being cut open and connected to energy tubes.
• Punk told Anya to ignore the worm and focus, then noticed how frightened she was of him.
• Punk detected signs of instability in Anya's soul after the worm's cries had drawn her into an illusion.
• Punk identified a way to address Anya's fragile soul but complained that it would cost him more exchange points.

Punk dismissed Anya’s worsening memory, insomnia, and nightmares as temporary effects, gave her a potion, and sent her away with supplies. He then worried that his research and Anya’s treatment were consuming exchange points faster than he could earn them, and recognized that he would have to prepare for conflict on the path to Legendary.

• Anya told Punk about her worsening memory, sleeplessness, and frightening nightmares, and Punk questioned her about the voices she heard.
• Punk assured Anya that her symptoms were normal and gave her a specially modified Happy Recollector potion to take before bed.
• Punk guided Anya in her Meditation Method and gave her a storage necklace filled with potion before she left.
• Punk worried that buying Fierce Body Worms for his Soul Worm research and supplying Anya with Bellflower Potion would exhaust his exchange points.
• Punk reflected that advancement toward Legendary demanded constant preparation for combat and concluded that even Netheril’s inheritance could not keep him from that struggle.

After Benraji’s black-market trade collapsed, Punk ran out of exchange points and had to suspend his research. He decided to take a dangerous Master Level mission, preparing to leave the tower after arranging support and precautions for Anya.

• Punk realized Thought of Truth’s resource prices made legitimate income insufficient and suspected its Masters relied on illicit earnings.
• The potion trade through Benraji dried up, ending Punk’s cash flow and leaving him with almost no exchange points.
• Punk ruled out selling supplies or knowledge and considered taking a Master Level organization mission despite its dangers.
• Punk decided to accept a mission, planning to leave Anya exchange points and use a Suggestion Spell to keep her from taking risks.
• Punk packed emergency potions, checked Haitzita Magic Casket, and left his magic tower with his emerald-green staff.

Punk confronted Benraji at the Task Hall over the collapse of their black-market arrangements. Benraji admitted that the red robes’ attack with the Heart of Wither had destroyed three cities and left him afraid of attracting a Legendary powerhouse, while Punk waited for the tickets they had agreed on.

• Benraji waited in the Task Hall all day, greeting mages and driving many of them away.
• Punk entered and demanded that Benraji explain why his grand plan had lasted only half a year.
• Benraji blamed the red robes’ attack on the Grayrain Kingdom Professionals' Council and said he had cut off his trade routes to them.
• Benraji revealed that the red robes had used the Heart of Wither potion they bought from him, destroying three cities and surrounding rivers.
• Punk dismissed Benraji’s explanations as fear and asked where the tickets were.

Punk searched Thought of Truth's mission panel and chose a nearby job to kill the young black dragon Ovakain Acidthroat, tempted by the dragon's hoard and the promised spoils. Just as he was about to accept, Benraji interrupted him to propose a collaboration.

• Benraji defended his fear of the Legendary Archmage, while Punk decided he no longer wanted to deal with him.
• Punk examined Thought of Truth's missions, avoiding distant jobs and suspicious assignments that might involve hostile organizations or Legendary disputes.
• Punk found a nearby mission from Joni Zordas to kill Ovakain Acidthroat, a level-seventeen young black dragon occupying territory in the Maple Leaf Kingdom.
• Punk considered the risks and potential wealth of the dragon's hoard and remains, then decided to take the mission.
• Benraji stopped Punk before he could accept and asked to discuss a cooperation project.