Chapter Summaries

Punk secured the Crimson Necklace after choosing not to risk fighting Kane for the Legendary Equipment. The two wary rivals withdrew in opposite directions, ending their confrontation in the Raging Sands Desert.

• Punk strengthened his Mage Hand and pulled the Crimson Necklace away from Kane, ignoring the knight's attempt to provoke an attack.
• Punk caught the necklace, injuring his hand, and claimed the Legendary Equipment for himself.
• Kane glared at Punk but recognized that fighting him could be fatal, while Punk slowly retreated to avoid provoking him.
• Kane and Punk withdrew until they had enough distance, then flew away in opposite directions.

After escaping the Raging Waves Desert, Punk celebrated his gains from defeating Ovakain and advanced to level 19, the peak of the Master Level. He claimed Ovakain’s Legendary Ruby Necklace and studied its powerful properties and spells as he continued his flight.

• Punk left the devastated desert behind, confident the Haitzita Magic Casket would keep investigators from tracing him.
• Punk discovered that he had advanced to become a level-19 spellcaster, giving him the strength and qualifications to pursue Legend.
• Punk claimed the wealth and magical creations left by two peak level-19 spellcasters, including the Ruby Necklace and Magic Crow Vector.
• Punk imprinted his soul mark on the Ruby Necklace and analyzed its materials, protections, and fixed Legendary spells while fleeing.
• Punk judged the necklace’s Flash spell and added defensive capacity to be worth the danger of hunting Ovakain.

Punk examined the spoils he had taken from Sosend, including a wealth of alchemical supplies and a storage bracelet packed with Abyssal Energy suppression potions. While traveling through the desert toward Thought of Truth, he began inspecting Sosend’s eerie blood-red staff.

• Punk found three storage items on Sosend’s corpse and discarded the small ring, which held only ordinary goods.
• Punk claimed Sosend’s extensive collection of Master Level alchemical materials and tools from the medium-sized storage ring.
• Punk discovered that Sosend’s largest storage bracelet contained emergency potions and a huge supply of Abyssal Energy suppression potions, which he kept for possible study.
• Punk continued traveling around the Hoss Mountains toward Thought of Truth through the desert night.
• Punk took out Sosend’s crooked, blood-red staff and began examining the powerful, sinister magic creation.

Punk inspected Sosend’s Master Level staff and confronted the Magic Crow Vector, which had been pretending to be unconscious. He demanded access to Vector’s virtual soul permissions, but Vector resisted being enslaved.

• Punk examined the Staff of Wailing and Hatred, slung it across his back, and stored his Verdant Staff.
• Punk restrained Vector and pretended to know the crow had awakened, prompting Vector to open its eyes.
• Vector tried to distance himself from Sosend and begged Punk to release him.
• Punk decided to keep Vector for its Directional Interference spell and ordered it to open the core permissions of its virtual soul.
• Vector protested that Punk had killed Sosend and accused him of trying to make the crow his new servant.

Punk threatened the Magic Crow Vector with Kinetic Cones until Vector, terrified of being destroyed, surrendered control of his virtual soul and accepted Punk as his new boss. The chapter ended with Vector admitting that he was afraid of needles too.

• Vector refused to choose Punk as his master and insisted that he would preserve his freedom.
• Punk listed Vector's lack of bargaining power and warned him that resisting would bring unpleasant consequences.
• Punk aimed two Kinetic Cones at Vector's head, and Vector trembled but initially kept protesting.
• Punk spun the Kinetic Cones and brought them closer, making Vector fear that his virtual soul would be destroyed.
• Vector opened his virtual soul's core permissions to Punk and asked him to put the spells away.

Punk branded his Soul Mark onto Vector’s virtual soul core and set off toward the Thought of Truth branch in the Grayrain Kingdom. During the journey, Vector tried to win favor by beginning to recount his origins and his history with Sosend.

• Punk used two Kinetic Cones to frighten Vector into opening the permissions to its virtual soul core.
• Punk branded his Soul Mark onto Vector’s control region, taking permanent control of the Magic Crow unless a Legendary Level Spell removed it.
• At dawn, Punk placed Vector on his shoulder and resumed his journey toward the Grayrain Kingdom.
• After hours of silence, Vector began talking to Punk, hoping to gain attention and improve his new circumstances.
• Vector started telling Punk that an Evocation Specialist Mage who had advanced to Legendary only a few hundred years earlier had created him.

The chapter recounted how Abido-Dahak’s botched alchemy created the timid Magic Crow Vector, who was discarded in a junk warehouse before the spire sank beneath the desert. After millennia of isolation, Vector was discovered by the Master Level Mage Sosend-Jess.

• Abido-Dahak built a mage tower on the lush grassland and began studying alchemy to make up for his ignorance of the school.
• Abido-Dahak’s clumsy experiment created Vector, a weak Magic Crow with a timid, cowardly personality.
• Abido-Dahak discarded the unnamed Vector in his junk warehouse, where the Magic Crow spent thousands of years alone.
• The spire sank underground, and the surrounding grassland became the buried wasteland known as the Raging Waves Desert.
• During the Sunscorched Season, Sosend-Jess entered the warehouse, greeted Vector, and introduced himself as a Master Level Mage.

Vector recalled how Sosend found him and an ancient parchment in Abido's Lost Spire, then pursued Abyssal power after discovering the parchment's coordinates. Sosend's research corrupted him, leading him to hunt master-level powerhouses in a final attempt to reach legend.

• Sosend found Vector and a blood-marked parchment in the Spire's junk storage room, and Vector accepted him as its boss.
• Sosend deciphered the parchment's Abyss coordinates and began studying Abyssal Energy without understanding its dangers.
• For more than a thousand years, Vector lived freely while Sosend researched the Abyss and eventually tasked it with administering a monthly suppression potion.
• As Abyssal corruption worsened, Sosend used medicine to preserve his sanity and hunted master-level powerhouses.
• Near the end of his life, Sosend targeted three master-level powerhouses who had entered the Raging Waves Desert.

Punk returned to Thought of Truth's branch to turn in the dragon-slaying mission, but his arrival triggered a frightening confrontation in the mission hall. He recognized that Kirkwell had been waiting for him and calmly went to meet him.

• In Grayrain Kingdom's mission hall, Master Korkwelen waited while his presence kept the apprentices and mentors on edge.
• A young apprentice and a female apprentice tried to leave, but they struck an invisible barrier and spilled a bag of Frostwhite Stone.
• Punk appeared in the doorway and reflexively cast Kinetic Blast, terrifying everyone in the hall.
• Punk dismissed the spell, realized Kirkwell had been waiting for him, and strode inside to hand over his dragon-slaying mission.

Punk reported the completed Dragon Slaying mission to Thought of Truth and received his reward. After the other mages fled the hall, he finally faced branch leader Kirkwell, whose friendly smile disappeared.

• Punk left Kirkwell behind and used Any Door to reach the mission handover counter.
• Punk confirmed Ovakain-Acid Throat was dead and Benraji-Nokani had died in battle, declaring the Dragon Slaying mission complete.
• The golem credited Punk with fifteen thousand exchange points and said Benraji-Nokani's reward would go to him if Benraji did not claim it within ten years.
• The mages fled the hall, leaving Punk alone with Kirkwell.
• Kirkwell approached Punk, dropped his kindly smile, and welcomed him back to Thought of Truth.

Kirkwell confronted Punk with a tactful reprimand, convinced by intuition that Punk was connected to several recent disasters and Benraji-Nokani’s death. Punk rejected Kirkwell’s advice and made clear he would not let the old mage interfere with his path.

• Kirkwell reminisced about his youth and criticized the times as he indirectly admonished Punk.
• Kirkwell inferred that Punk was connected to the Hoss Mountains eruption, the demon traces in the Raging Waves Desert, and Benraji-Nokani’s death.
• Kirkwell held back from confronting Punk by force because his authority and declining strength could not match Punk’s.
• Punk told Kirkwell that knowledge was a caster’s highest pursuit and dismissed his advice as interference.

Kirkwell confronted Punk over his suspicions about Benraji and urged him not to disrupt the peace of the Thought of Truth branch. Punk made no promises, and Kirkwell led him to meet a guest who had been waiting for months.

• Kirkwell suspected Punk had caused Benraji's death but admitted he could not risk fighting a Senior Mentor and endangering his branch and family.
• Kirkwell told Punk that the branch was his home and pleaded with him to leave its peace undisturbed, while warning that he could still defend it.
• Punk refused to promise anything and said he had no reason to fight Kirkwell unless profit justified it.
• Kirkwell interrupted Punk's complaints and told him to follow, explaining that a guest had waited for him for more than three months.
• Kirkwell picked up a Frostwhite Stone from the steps, recognizing it as property an apprentice had exchanged, and planned to return it.

Punk assessed the consequences of his destruction in the Hoss Mountains and concluded that the Grayrain Kingdom would shield him from the Good God Churches. He was still expecting the Mage Guild to question him over the devastation.

• Kirkwell suppressed Thought of Truth’s internal questioning of Punk over the deaths of the client and Senior Mentor Benraji.
• Punk considered how the volcanic ash from Sleeping Dragon Volcano had devastated the Hoss Mountains and surrounding regions, inviting investigation from the Good God Churches.
• Punk concluded the clergy could not confront him while he remained a Senior Mentor of Thought of Truth in the Grayrain Kingdom, where Ankazan Flamebrow had banned clergy.
• Punk anticipated that the Mage Guild would question him and weighed surrendering benefits or accepting punishment to secure its compromise.

Punk returned to the Thought of Truth branch expecting the Mage Guild to question him about the disasters in the Hoss Mountains and Raging Waves Desert, but Kirkwell revealed that the Mage Guild and Shattered Talisman Society were nearing full war readiness. Kirkwell then introduced the Guild’s young inquirer, Scoti-Dani, whose magical books erupted into a chaotic display as the inquiry began.

• Punk considered how he could deflect blame for the volcanic eruption and demonic aura, and what assets he might offer to keep the Mage Guild from harassing him.
• Kirkwell told Punk that the conflict between the Mage Guild and the Shattered Talisman Society had escalated to include Morningstar casters, putting Grayrain Kingdom’s branches on alert.
• Punk wondered whether the turmoil could offer him a chance to profit, and Kirkwell warned him not to meddle and said he had already gained enough from the incident.
• Kirkwell introduced Scoti-Dani as the Mage Guild’s inquirer assigned to question Punk about the Sleeping Dragon Volcano eruption and the demonic aura in the Raging Waves Desert.
• Scoti-Dani panicked when Kirkwell opened the doors, triggering a chain reaction that filled the inquiry room with magical projections from her books.

Punk recognized that the Mage Guild had sent Scoti as a token inquirer to show goodwill toward Thought of Truth, not to hold him accountable. After he calmed the chaotic inquiry room, Scoti argued with Vector, and Punk urged her to get to the point.

• Punk realized the Mage Guild was trying to win over Thought of Truth by sending Scoti instead of a serious adjudicator.
• Punk accepted the Guild's conciliatory gesture and judged that Kirkwell would handle any future repayment.
• Punk entered the inquiry room and used magic to return the scattered projections and dust to the books.
• Vector mocked Scoti for accidentally activating the books' projections, and Scoti defended herself by explaining the difference between Mott Left Spiral and Mott Right Spiral principles.
• Punk interrupted their argument and told Scoti to proceed with the inquiry.

Scoti, a timid Journeyman Mage assigned to question Master Level spellcaster Punk-Sai'an, finally began the inquiry after waiting three months for his return. Though she tried to act professionally, Punk’s frightening appearance left her trembling as she read the first question.

• Scoti arrived at the Thought of Truth branch in Gray Marsh and learned that Punk-Sai'an was away on a mission with no known return date.
• Kirkwell let Scoti attend public classes and promised to seek a postponement if Punk had not returned after twenty years.
• After three months of waiting, Scoti embarrassed herself with a clumsy projection trick when Kirkwell and Punk entered the inquiry room.
• Punk instructed Scoti to begin questioning him so he could clear himself of troubles connected to the Hoss Mountains and the Raging Waves Desert.
• Scoti forced herself to stay in the room, then trembled as she read the first question from her parchment.

The Mage Guild’s inquiry cleared Punk of responsibility for the Hoss Mountains disaster and the Raging Waves Desert incident. Punk left Scoti a valuable soul gem for her mentor and prepared to depart, while Scoti hurried to gather her books and return to the Guild.

• Scoti read three questions to Punk, who answered yes to each, and announced that the accusations against him were unfounded.
• Kirkwell accepted the Mage Guild’s verdict, and Punk realized that the Guild’s ruling made the matter officially settled.
• Punk gave Scoti a soul gem taken from Sosend’s storage ring to pass to her mentor.
• Scoti stowed the gem and gathered her scattered magical books as Punk left the inquiry room.

After returning to his Mage Tower, Punk fortified his laboratory with powerful defensive and destructive arrays to protect his secret research and prepare for his advance to Legendary. He remained confident that even if the laboratory exploded, Flash would keep him safe.

• Punk returned to his temporary Mage Tower, and Vector mocked its shabby appearance and lack of defenses.
• Punk said he was too poor to improve the tower and promised its security would soon improve.
• Punk concluded that Kirkwell had investigated his laboratory, but found no research materials or useful information.
• Punk decided he would show no mercy if Kirkwell continued spying on research involving the bizarre eyeball, improved magic, and secret equipment.
• Punk spent a week using materials from Sosend's storage ring to fill the laboratory with powerful alarms, traps, and self-destruct arrays.
• Vector feared the heavily trapped laboratory could injure even a Master Level expert, but Punk trusted Flash to protect him if it exploded.

Punk reviewed the Netheril-era conditions for advancing to Legendary and assessed his readiness and the obstacles ahead. He had time to prepare, but the most powerful methods depended on rare aid and materials—especially divinity—and he was left confronting how difficult they would be to obtain.

• Punk recalled that failure during advancement to Legendary meant certain death and considered his parents' failed attempt a warning.
• He learned that candidates needed to reach Level 19 and avoid attempting advancement during the final seven hundred years of their lives.
• Punk expected to reach Level 19 peak after two or three hundred years of consolidation and had more than five thousand four hundred years left.
• He reviewed five methods that could raise the chance of success to about ninety percent, including refined spellwork, familiarity with laws, Legendary assistance, exceptional Willpower, and auxiliary potions.
• Punk recognized that most methods were difficult or nearly impossible in the current era, and that Redeemer's Divine Neutralizer required two standard units of divinity.

Punk assessed his chances of advancing to Legendary and concluded that his spell research, access to Law energy, soul-protecting artifacts, and willpower gave him a forty percent success rate. Dissatisfied with the danger of failure and unable to obtain Legendary Advancement Auxiliary Potions, he decided to focus on completing his improved spell and wait for further opportunities.

• Punk determined that he could improve a spell within five hundred years and use the bizarre eyeball to sense Law energy, satisfying two requirements for improving his advancement chances.
• Punk concluded that the Haitzita Magic Casket and Ruby Necklace could jointly stabilize his soul, bringing his chance of advancing to Legendary to forty percent.
• Punk compared his odds with Wedraxia's seventy-five percent chance and regretted that Thought of Truth could not provide Legendary Advancement Auxiliary Potions.
• Punk rejected the risk of advancing with only a forty percent chance and decided to complete his improved spell while waiting for more opportunities.