Chapter Summaries

Two concealed Master Level spellcasters ambushed Huai En and killed his guards, Gru and Rondo, before he could react. Huai En realized he could not defeat the attackers and tried to stall them while hoping the King would learn of the danger.

• One attacker killed Gru with Dual Casting while Huai En and the other guard were caught off guard.
• The remaining guard tried to warn Huai En with a Charge Battle Skill, but the mage stopped him with Unidirectional Kinetic Lock and incinerated him.
• Two attackers mocked the guards’ misplaced trust in the peaceful rear as Huai En realized what had happened.
• Huai En controlled his rage, judged the attackers too powerful to fight, and decided to stall them and leave the King time to sense the danger.
• Huai En addressed the attackers and defended Gru and Rondo’s honor, urging them to respect their enemies.

Punk and Benraji fled the Dragon Roar Kingdom with the unconscious Huai En after kidnapping him, while Punk explained why Ovakain—Acid Throat was unlikely to risk confronting them. They pressed on toward the Maple Leaf Kingdom before dawn, wary that the enraged dragon might still pursue them.

• Punk and Benraji carried the unconscious Huai En across the rooftops toward the Maple Leaf Kingdom.
• Punk explained that Ovakain—Acid Throat risked trouble with Thought of Truth if he fought them, and that his attachment to the Dragon Roar Kingdom made retreat his safest choice.
• Benraji asked whether they could threaten the towns to draw Ovakain out, but Punk rejected the plan because Thought of Truth and Kirkwell would oppose massacres.
• Punk urged Benraji to leave the Dragon Roar Kingdom before dawn, warning that kidnapping Huai En could provoke Ovakain to pursue them with warriors.
• Benraji abandoned his idea of stopping in a city to relax and agreed that they should hurry away.

Punk used Heart of Obedience to interrogate the captured Huai En about Ovakain-Acid Throat. Huai En began recounting the kingdom’s history, leaving Punk with an account of how Ovakain rose to power and founded the Dragon Roar Kingdom.

• Punk crossed into the mountains between the Dragon Roar Kingdom and the Maple Leaf Kingdom with Huai En and Benraji.
• Punk awakened Huai En and cast Heart of Obedience to make him answer questions.
• Punk asked Huai En to recount Ovakain-Acid Throat’s history.
• Huai En described how Ovakain became leader of a half-dragon tribe, defeated the Maple Leaf Kingdom’s rule, and established the Dragon Roar Kingdom.

Punk questioned Huai En about Ovakain-Acid Throat and the Fountain of Goodness, then tried to use magic to make him sabotage the Dragon Roar Kingdom. Huai En began to succumb, but a thunderous voice interrupted just before Punk could turn him into a puppet.

• Punk learned that Ovakain-Acid Throat created the Fountain of Goodness and that Huai En knew little about its formula or production.
• Huai En revealed that the Ting Family supplied White Butterfly Wings, an ingredient used in the potion.
• Benraji mocked Punk as Punk considered how to exploit Huai En's position within the Ting Family.
• Punk commanded Huai En to destroy the family's White Butterfly Wings and start a war between rival families.
• Huai En began to obey Punk's spell, but a thunderous voice declared that it had never agreed to the command.

Punk’s attempt to erase Huai En’s consciousness was interrupted when Ovakain projected himself into Huai En’s mind. Punk and Ovakain exchanged threats and learned that Ovakain had caused Monbe—Windbeak’s madness before their confrontation turned toward battle.

• Ovakain’s Mind Projection shielded Huai En’s soul and stopped Punk’s Heart of Obedience spell.
• Punk projected himself into Huai En’s Mind Space and taunted Ovakain, demanding half his hide, bones, and soul as payment to leave.
• Ovakain threatened Punk and challenged him to enter his lair beneath Dragon Square in Dragon Roar City.
• Punk asked whether Ovakain had caused Monbe—Windbeak’s madness, and Ovakain admitted his spell had damaged Monbe’s soul while trying to make him kind.
• Ovakain blamed Punk for killing Monbe, and both prepared to test each other’s strength in battle.

Punk and Ovakain fought with Mind Spells inside Huai En’s Consciousness Space, where Ovakain’s skill and Dragon Might gave him the advantage. Ovakain urged Punk to abandon his plans against the Dragon Roar Kingdom, but Punk refused and remained intent on challenging him for dragon wealth.

• Punk attacked Ovakain with Mind Blade, but Ovakain’s Mind Fusion Shield absorbed the spell and strengthened itself.
• Ovakain unleashed Mind Roar, shattering Huai En’s soul and Consciousness Space while cracking his skull in reality.
• Punk discovered that Ovakain had infused Dragon Might into Mind Roar, and the attack swept away Punk’s mental projection without defeating him completely.
• Ovakain warned Punk that he could not challenge the Dragon Roar Kingdom or claim its wealth, and offered him a chance to turn back.
• Punk acknowledged Ovakain’s strength but said the gap between them made the challenge appealing and promised greater spoils.

Punk withdrew from his mental battle with Ovakain and concealed how much the dragon had unsettled him from Benraji. Back in his laboratory, Ovakain ordered preparations to protect the Fountain of Goodness and admitted that Punk felt dangerous to him.

• Punk abandoned his probing and withdrew after Ovakain repeatedly interrupted his spells and proved overwhelmingly powerful.
• Punk told Benraji that Ovakain's spell was a minor matter, burned Huai En's body to ashes, and withheld what he had learned.
• Benraji accepted Punk's silence and suggested they eat the roasted lamb leg before it got cold.
• Ovakain rose in his underground laboratory and ordered Mia to have Huai En's younger brother stabilize the Ting Family and the Xizi family prepare spare White Butterfly Wings.
• Ovakain rejected Mia's concern about collecting more blood, saying he needed extra reserves because the invading enemies were troublesome and Punk had given him a dangerous feeling.

Anya sought a position as Mika’s assistant because she feared the strange changes in her personality and wanted help understanding what was happening to her. Mika recognized her as Lord Sian’s favored disciple, while Anya anxiously waited to learn whether she would be chosen.

• Mika finished preparing an enchantment laboratory and found five female apprentices waiting to apply for the assistant position.
• Mika recognized Anya among the applicants and worried because she was Lord Sian’s most valued disciple.
• Anya considered seeking Mika’s help because she had grown uneasy about her rapid advancement and increasingly disturbing personality changes.
• Anya realized her possessiveness toward Jasmine had intensified, and Jasmine had begun to fear her.
• Anya attended Mika’s recruitment hoping to find answers, but she also felt a growing, unrecognized urge to kill her rivals.

Punk and Benraji reached the Maple Leaf Kingdom and found its towns and farmlands devastated despite the region’s fertile soil. The stark contrast with the prosperous Dragon Roar Kingdom left Punk suspecting that something beyond the war was wrong.

• Benraji fantasized about the welcome King Jonny Zordas would give them as he and Punk hurried toward the Maple Leaf Kingdom.
• Punk and Benraji entered a town where damaged buildings, neglected fields, starving dogs, and desperate residents revealed widespread hardship.
• Benraji was shocked by the kingdom’s decline and sympathized with the suffering children, while Punk dismissed his concern as an obstacle-free personal quirk.
• Punk compared the impoverished Maple Leaf Kingdom with the prosperous Dragon Roar Kingdom and suspected something was amiss.

Punk and Benraji witnessed a noble youth abuse refugees and try to seize a little girl named Nivi for the kingdom’s recruitment squad. Benraji killed the noble youth with fire, while Punk watched and remained curious about the kingdom’s corruption.

• A noble youth demanded head tax from an impoverished old man and threatened to take his granddaughter Nivi as a comfort girl in exchange for waiving the tax.
• The noble youth dragged Nivi away and kicked her grandfather when he tried to stop him.
• Benraji intervened and warned the noble youth not to harm the child, while Punk watched from the alley entrance.
• The noble youth attacked Benraji, who vaporized him with flames.

Benraji rescued a little girl and her grandfather, while Punk questioned them about the war and the empty town. The old man explained that the kingdom’s army had taken the young men and that crushing taxes left the poor with little food.

• Benraji burned the noble who threatened the little girl, then treated her and her grandfather with a diluted Vitality Potion.
• Punk complained that Benraji had killed a potential source of information, then questioned the girl and her grandfather.
• The old man said the kingdom’s army had taken his sons and other young men to fight in a war that had lasted for centuries.
• The old man explained that nobles and the royal family took nearly all the people’s crops in taxes, leaving them hungry.
• Punk gave up on using a Soporific Spell to continue questioning the exhausted pair after Benraji showed his anger.

Punk left the impoverished Maple Leaf Kingdom town with Benraji and reflected on how Joni Zordas’s endless wars had devastated the kingdom. He explained the hidden reason deities often let their churches stagnate: they were resisting the divine offices that threatened to consume their identities.

• Punk left the town at night after giving the old man and girl food and a divination-guided safe route.
• Punk reviewed how Joni Zordas’s repeated wars had burdened the Maple Leaf Kingdom’s poor and driven its people into hardship.
• Benraji wondered why the Church of the God of Justice tolerated Joni’s destructive stubbornness.
• Punk recalled that deities secretly resisted their divine offices by limiting the growth of their churches and weakening their own believers.
• Punk explained that divine offices consumed deities’ wills through faith, so deities often eliminated promising followers and obstructed church development to preserve their identities.

Anya, whose suffering from the transplanted bizarre eyeball had become unbearable, sought help from Mika despite Punk’s warning. After learning the problem began following Sayan’s potential modification experiment, Mika hesitated to challenge a Master Level expert but agreed to try to help her.

• Anya won the assistant position at Mika’s laboratory after the other candidates withdrew upon learning she was Sayan’s disciple.
• As Anya worked alongside Mika, he grew increasingly fond of her, while she came to trust his gentle manner.
• After a nightmare and a renewed sense of danger, Anya went to Mika during a storm and told him what had been happening.
• Mika realized Anya’s symptoms had begun after Sayan’s potential modification experiment and hesitated to get involved.
• Seeing Anya’s hopeful gaze, Mika set aside his refusal and promised to do his best to find a solution.

Punk and Benraji traveled toward Maple Blossom City to meet Jonny Zordas and prepare for their campaign against Ovakain. Punk planned to help Jonny provoke Ovakain into action by adding a controversial army, though he kept the details from Benraji.

• Punk and Benraji rode Mana Rays toward Maple Blossom City, crossing the barren volcanic landscape around Sleeping Dragon.
• Benraji complained that Jonny Zordas had not sent anyone to welcome them, while Punk suspected Jonny was hiding Ovakain's true strength and avoiding them out of guilt.
• Benraji questioned whether Punk had a plan and worried they would have to storm Ovakain's lair.
• Punk explained that he intended to lure Ovakain into a fight by helping Jonny wage a large-scale war against the Dragon Roar Kingdom.
• Punk assured Benraji that he would add a controversial army without attracting blame or provoking the Church of Tir.

Punk and Benraji arrived at Maple Blossom City, where Joni Zordas confronted them with a disciplined paladin army after his deception had been exposed. Punk met Joni’s forceful welcome with a hard stare, preparing for a confrontation rather than backing down.

• Punk and Benraji reached Maple Blossom City and prepared to respond to any danger as they approached its gates.
• Joni Zordas arranged six formations of paladins to meet them before the city, standing mounted at the center of the passageway.
• Benraji admired the paladin army, while Punk told him to act like a reclusive master and focused on Joni.
• Punk inferred that Joni knew they had investigated the Dragon Roar Kingdom and had exposed his lie.
• Joni remained mounted and contemptuous, and Punk decided to answer his forcefulness with even greater force.

Punk mocked Joni Zordas and his paladin army, provoking Joni by ridiculing his failure to reclaim territory from the black dragon Ovakain Acid-Throat. Joni restrained his anger, ended the confrontation, and ordered his troops to escort Punk and Benraji into the city.

• Punk abandoned the contest of presence and insulted Joni Zordas's paladins as useless ants.
• Joni defended the paladins' devotion to Tir and their honor as warriors.
• Punk mocked Joni's inability to retake territory seized by Ovakain Acid-Throat, causing Joni's battle aura to surge in fury.
• Punk taunted Joni for losing control, but Joni ultimately held back from starting a fight.
• Joni turned toward the city gate and ordered Oakes to dismiss the troops and escort Punk and Benraji into the city.

Punk and Benraji entered Maple Blossom City, where Oakes explained the wartime requisition of ore and the city’s severe poverty. Benraji challenged the Zordas family’s refusal of Dragon Roar Kingdom’s food aid, but Punk cut him off and told Oakes to keep leading them.

• Oakes escorted Punk and Benraji toward the residence Jonny had arranged, while Punk remained wary of staying there.
• Oakes explained that Maple Blossom City’s ore was being handed to the military without compensation for the War of Glory.
• Benraji questioned the city’s many beggars and asked whether the mine-owning nobles accepted the unpaid requisitions.
• Oakes blamed the suffering on Dragon Roar Kingdom and declared that the Zordas family destroyed its food aid and executed anyone who accepted it.
• Punk stopped Benraji from arguing further and told Oakes to continue leading them.

Punk and Benraji stayed in Maple Blossom City, where Benraji was shaken by the death of a poor child and the suffering of ordinary people. Punk dismissed his emotions and left to find a place to shelter for the night, warning Benraji not to disrupt his plans.

• Oakes heard Benraji call the Maple Leaf Kingdom pitiful but left without confronting him further.
• Punk enjoyed the Aged Wine Roasted Duck at the inn while Benraji stared at a dead little girl outside.
• Benraji confessed his violent past and his confusion over feeling sadness and anger for the poor.
• Benraji burned the girl's corpse, and Punk criticized him for letting emotions obstruct a spellcaster's path.
• Punk warned Benraji not to interfere with his plans to kill the black dragon, then left to dig a cave for shelter.

Punk secretly launched his plan to force Ovakain-Acid Throat out of his magic tower by making the Dragon Roar Kingdom face a devastating crisis. He contaminated Maple Blossom City's canal with Gray Bone Virus and left without informing Benraji or Joni-Zordas.

• Punk walked through Maple Blossom City under a Mass Suggestion Spell while preparing a vial of Gray Bone Virus.
• Punk decided to create a catastrophe that would compel Ovakain to defend the Dragon Roar Kingdom, rather than rely on Joni-Zordas's conventional military offensive.
• Punk poured the Gray Bone Virus stock solution into the city's canal, modifying it to spread quickly while delaying its symptoms.
• Punk planned to persuade Joni-Zordas to exploit the epidemic and restrain Benraji's kindness so the infected population would threaten the Dragon Roar Kingdom.
• Punk concealed the remaining virus and left the riverbank carefully, wary that his actions might attract a Legendary powerhouse.

Mika examined Anya and concluded that Master Sai'an had altered her brain, though he could not determine whether her soul had been affected. He warned that his attempt to treat her could be dangerous, but Anya agreed, and she fell unconscious during the procedure.

• Mika told Anya that a magical device had detected faint residual magic in her brain, suggesting Master Sai'an had modified it.
• Mika said he could only try to ease Anya's symptoms and investigate her nightmares, warning that his treatment carried serious risks.
• Anya agreed to Mika's treatment despite his warnings, saying she could no longer bear the nightmares.
• Mika prepared Anya on an experimental table and began the procedure with a chant and a prick to her arm.
• As she lost consciousness, Anya confessed that she liked Mika and felt safe with him beside her.