Chapter Summaries

The gifted ones learned their intended talent paths, and Angel discovered that Sanders had accepted him as a student. Back at the Tree Spirit Hall, Melanel tried to ingratiate herself with Angel, but he rejected her and left.

• The Tree Spirit Lord revealed that Angel had chosen the mysterious-side illusion school, while Hukedik had chosen the mysterious-side soul school and Nausicaa, Fusa, and Baruba had chosen the bloodline side.
• Melanel recorded Angel’s test results and saw that Sanders was listed as his mentor, making him a personally accepted student rather than an ordinary apprentice.
• Melanel changed her attention from Fusa to Angel, and Fusa left the Tree Spirit Hall in anger.
• Melanel tried to cling to Angel, but Angel pushed her away; Mila defended Melanel and the two women put on a tearful act.
• Angel ignored Melanel’s pleas and left the Tree Spirit Hall.

After leaving the Tree Spirit Hall, Angel and his companions met Abruie, a scatterbrained junior wizard apprentice assigned to guide them. She led the gathered gifted ones to collect mentor flying missives, which would determine whether wizard lords chose them as apprentices or they were assigned mentors at random.

• Angel, Nausicaa, and Serum discussed their mental power values as they walked back beneath the Eternal Giant Tree.
• Abruie arrived on a three-colored deer, introduced herself after stumbling and breaking her glasses, and began leading the gifted ones to their accommodations.
• Abruie remembered that she was also supposed to guide the group to collect mentor flying missives, and turned the deer around.
• Abruie explained that wizard lords could choose apprentices by sending flying missives, while those who received none would be assigned mentors at random, sometimes with deadly results.
• Abruie led the gifted ones to the resource distribution site and warned them that its prices were high before taking them inside to see whether they had received missives.

Abruie guided the gifted apprentices through the mentor invitation process, where Nausicaa and the others received invitations and Hukedik won a Golden Mentor Invitation. Angel appeared to receive nothing until Sanders manifested through the receiver and confirmed Angel was already his student, leaving the apprentices stunned.

• Abruie brought the group to the receiver and explained how to check for mentor invitations.
• Nausicaa chose Fantser Koneda over Flora, while Fusa received an invitation from Fantser and Serum received one from Kailar.
• Hukedik received a Golden Mentor Invitation from Nis Byron, misread the name, and mocked Angel for having no mentor invitation.
• Angel's receiver showed no invitation, prompting Hukedik to threaten and ridicule him.
• Sanders appeared through the receiver, told Angel to bring the gold coin that served as his invitation, and Angel revealed that his bone card named Sanders as his mentor.

After Angel’s identity as Sanders’s student was revealed, the new apprentices completed their mentor assignments and traveled to their accommodations. Abruie showed them the Cavern Wilderness, where those without magic crystals had to live in crude underground rooms.

• The apprentices learned that Angel’s mentor was Sanders, and Nanaji warned Angel not to tarnish Sanders’s name before leaving.
• Baruba received no mentor flying letter and was randomly assigned to Lord Flora.
• Angel told Nausicaa and Serum about his acquaintance with Flora aboard the Cloud Whale, while Nausicaa tried to reassure Baruba about life in the wizard world.
• Abruie led the apprentices through the Tree Spirit Court and explained that they could live in apprentice towns only if they had magic crystals.
• Abruie showed the group the tiny, bare cavern rooms and explained how to claim one with a bone card.

Angel rejected the unsafe cavern rooms and visited Sanders on Demon Illusion Island, where he learned the route and was reminded to bring his gold coin. After apprentices recognized him as Sanders’ new disciple, Angel rented a protected villa in 8th Apprentice Town, then returned to find Serum and Nausicaa guarding his broken door.

• Angel borrowed Nausicaa’s rapier and cut through the iron chain on his cavern-room door, deciding the rooms were too unsafe to live in.
• Angel followed Sanders’ Falcon Demon across an invisible aerial path to Demon Illusion Island, where Sanders told him he could visit for guidance and must bring the gold coin to avoid phantom-beast attacks.
• Poli and Hart recognized Angel as Sanders’ new disciple on the aerial vine bus, and Poli announced that Angel had become famous among the apprentices.
• Angel rented a furnished garden villa with soundproofing, protection, and magic-prohibition arrays in 8th Apprentice Town for five hundred contribution points a year.
• Angel returned to the cavern wilderness and found Serum and Nausicaa watching his broken door; Nausicaa guessed that he planned to move out.

Angel moved into a villa in Apprentice Town and began practicing the Singularity Scattering Meditation Method, but struggled to sense mental power. Anxious about the five-year deadline to save Jon, he sought help from Sanders and Flora, who offered no quick solution, though Flora hinted someone else might know.

• Angel told Nausicaa and Serum that he was moving to Apprentice Town, and they agreed that leaving their insecure underground home was wise.
• Angel settled into the villa, arranged rooms for himself and Toby, and began meditating in its basement quiet room.
• Angel spent weeks learning to quiet his thoughts and separate visualization of the mental power model from the search for mental power, gradually making limited progress.
• Serum also practiced meditation, while Nausicaa continued struggling with her thoughts; Angel suspected smoking helped her become calm.
• Worried that a year of his five-year pact with Jon had passed without him reaching apprenticeship, Angel visited Sanders, who told him progress was a slow grinding task.
• Angel then asked Flora for advice, and she said she knew no solution but suggested that someone else might, though he would be difficult to get information from.

Angel visited the Cloudtop Library to find Book Elder, hoping to seek guidance for himself and Toby. After searching several costly library sections, he found the elder, but it remained absorbed in its work and did not respond after he waited ten hours.

• Angel dressed formally and set out with Toby to visit Book Elder, hoping the elder might help Toby find a path to evolution.
• On the vine bus, Angel saw the Tree Spirit Court's central plaza illuminated as its enormous leaves curled away, while apprentices rushed into a crack in the plaza without his noticing.
• Angel reached the Cloudtop Library and paid steep contribution-point fees to teleport through sections 7920 to 7924, finding them empty.
• In section 7925, Angel found an alchemy shelf and discovered that renting a basic Energy Stabilizer manuscript cost 1.1 million contribution points.
• Angel found Book Elder writing at a table, waited ten hours, and softly called to it, but the elder did not respond.

Angel met with the Book Elder and discussed mass-energy relations, impressing him enough to earn an answer to one question. He learned that a Frostnight Potion could help him locate his spiritual power, but hesitated because of its side effects.

• Angel approached the Book Elder, whose thoughts about Gold Slime’s ability led them to discuss the relationship between mass and energy.
• The Book Elder learned that Angel was Sanders’s new student and offered to answer one question if Angel shared his views on mass-energy relations.
• Angel explained the proportional relationship between mass and energy, and the Book Elder praised his insight.
• Angel asked how to quickly locate his spiritual power, and the Book Elder suggested using a potion that caused it to fluctuate.
• Angel revealed he had a Frostnight Potion from Sanders, and the Book Elder confirmed that drinking it could help him sense changes in his spiritual power.

Angel experimented with tracing the mysterious wall’s patterns to make his spiritual power reveal itself, avoiding the need to drink the Frostnight Potion. He successfully found and branded his spiritual power, then collapsed from exhaustion.

• Flora told Sanders that Angel had asked how to quickly find spiritual power, and Sanders explained why he had not offered the Frostnight Potion.
• After Book Elder teleported Angel out of the library without answering his question about Toby, Angel considered whether to drink the Frostnight Potion.
• Angel used the Holographic Tablet to study the wall recording and traced its patterns in his mind, triggering intense pain and drawing out his spiritual power.
• Angel used the Guidance Method to brand the revealed spiritual power, then collapsed unconscious from exhaustion.

After sensing his mental power, Angel visited Apprentice Town and bought food before heading to the underground caves to see Serum and Nausicaa. There he met Baruba, who asked him to find out why Flora had left him without guidance, and Angel decided to consult Sanders before intervening.

• Angel woke refreshed and discovered he could sense and control his mental power, though he chose not to risk drawing the mysterious patterns again.
• Angel took Toby to the market, bought provisions and dried fish, and brought pastries and drinks from Milk Fragrance House to share with Serum and Nausicaa.
• Angel took a wrong turn in the underground caves and ran into Baruba, who asked for help because Flora had not taught him or given him a Guidance Method.
• Angel told Baruba he would ask Flora when he next saw her, but decided to seek Sanders's advice first.

Angel visited Serum and Nausicaa, encouraging Nausicaa to change her approach to meditation. On his way back, he met David, whose experimental flying machine sent Toby soaring uncontrollably before Toby dropped it and flew safely back.

• Angel brought Serum an assortment of dairy snacks, then learned that Nausicaa was still struggling to focus during meditation.
• Angel visited Nausicaa, gave her food, and suggested that she smoke and change her routine to break out of her frustrating cycle.
• Angel met David, a fellow Savage Cave apprentice, who explained that he had built a miniature device called the Spiral Flying Machine.
• Angel let David attach the device to Toby and test it, but it spun upward without a steering mechanism.
• Toby dropped the broken machine and returned safely to Angel, while David celebrated that it had flown.

Angel confronted David over the dangerous flying machine test, then visited Promi Alchemy Shop and discovered the underground trading market and Sky Tower. After buying Toby an Echo Flower and testing his mental strength, Angel found the reading unchanged at 15 points, though the golden line appeared slightly higher than before.

• Angel demanded compensation from David for risking Toby, and David gave him a Mental Scale from Promi Alchemy Shop.
• David led Angel through the underground trading market and explained Sky Tower’s battles and its connection to the Infinite Battle Tower.
• Angel examined Promi’s alchemy products, learned about the Echo Flower, and bought one for Toby despite David’s doubts about his funds.
• Angel returned home, placed the Echo Flower in Toby’s room, and prepared to report to Sanders before advancing to the third step.
• Angel tested his mental strength and read 15 points, but noticed the golden line seemed slightly higher than on his previous test.

Angel reported to Sanders that he had located his spiritual power and learned that Book Elder had answered his question. He also discovered why Baruba had no mentor: Baruba was a half-blood of human and Silver Wolf Clan barbarian descent, and wizards feared teaching him their methods.

• Angel watched apprentices study rain clouds from Fallen Cloud Leaf Platform before arriving at Demon Illusion Island to see Sanders.
• Angel admitted that he had visited Sanders partly hoping for praise, and Sanders reassured him that he should accept his honest desires.
• Sanders learned that Book Elder had answered Angel after Angel exchanged knowledge about mass-energy relations, and advised him about the Frostnight Potion and the Nightmare Realm wall.
• Angel asked Sanders whether Flora would be angry if he asked about Baruba, and Sanders explained that Flora was busy investigating a blood fusion incident on Pamiji Plateau.
• Sanders revealed that Baruba was a half-blood of a human and a Silver Wolf Clan barbarian from another world, so wizards avoided teaching him their methods out of concern for hidden dangers in his bloodline.
• Angel wondered why Baruba had been accepted into the wizarding world if his ancestry made him dangerous to teach.

Angel learned that unregistered beings from other worlds faced lethal recovery, and worried that Jon could suffer the same fate as Baruba. Sanders then led him to a garden where Constant Shards would mark out a Wizard Garden, while explaining Angel’s rare Nightmare Realm memory talent and hinting that Angel would help clear the way on their next visit.

• Sanders explained that the Extreme Sect required wizards to recover unregistered life-forms from other worlds, meaning they would be made to cease to exist.
• Sanders said Baruba was meant to be refined into a substitute puppet and told Angel to give him any ordinary Guidance Method he remembered.
• Sanders gave Angel a porous crystal bottle and explained that scraps from the Wizard Garden’s refinement could be made into a spatial item.
• Sanders explained that he had found Constant Shards and planned to establish a Wizard Garden, whose completed form would contain a randomly acquired law.
• Angel asked whether the alchemy books he found in the Nightmare Realm held lost techniques, and Sanders said they were ordinary books but praised Angel’s unusually complete memories of that realm.
• Sanders and Angel reached a patch of strange flowers and grasses, where Black Demon Shadow Servants waited with porous crystal bottles.

Angel collected a large amount of crystal wall microorganisms while Sanders began building his Wizard Garden, then went to deliver a copied Guidance Method to Baruba. Unable to find Baruba's room, Angel asked Serum for help and learned that Orlando might know where to look.

• Sanders sealed off an area and used Constant Shards to begin constructing the Wizard Garden, while Angel and the Black Demon Shadow Servants collected falling crystal wall microorganisms.
• Angel gathered enough crystal wall microorganisms to potentially forge a small stable spatial tool, and Sanders told him to work out the crafting himself.
• Angel returned home, stored his materials, and copied the Circular Cut Guidance Method with a few cultivation tips for Baruba.
• Angel went to the underground caverns to deliver the booklet but realized he did not know where Baruba lived, so he asked Serum for information.
• Serum said he did not know Baruba's room but suggested asking Orlando, who had once visited many talented apprentices, and Angel asked Serum to lead him there.

Angel saw Orlando progressing rapidly through meditation and felt driven to advance himself. He began constructing the Singularity Scattering mental power model with the difficult Thirty-Six-Dimensional Spatial Coordinate Positioning Method, establishing its first plane before collapsing and planning to use the Holographic Tablet to complete the remaining calculations.

• Angel and Serum found Orlando exhausted but meditating through the Thousand-Edged Crystal Guidance Method, already near the final stages of constructing a mental power model.
• Angel and Serum withdrew without disturbing Orlando, and Serum agreed to ask him about passing a message to Baruba while Angel offered to show Serum and Nausicaa an underground apprentice market.
• Angel returned home and began constructing the Singularity Scattering model, determined to use the precise Thirty-Six-Dimensional Spatial Coordinate Positioning Method.
• Angel calculated three coordinate points and used them to establish the first plane, then collapsed from the effort.
• After waking two hours later, Angel entered the coordinates into the Holographic Tablet and planned to use its modeling system to calculate the remaining planes and locate the singularity.

Angel completed the second plane of his spatial-coordinate method after days of arduous calculations. Serum brought Baruba to visit, and Angel gave Baruba Flora’s Guidance Method in exchange for protecting Serum and Nausicaa; afterward, Angel returned to meditation to begin the third plane.

• Angel calculated the second plane over three days, repeatedly fainting from the effort, then slept for two days and one night.
• Serum arrived at Angel’s home with Baruba, who had come to receive Flora’s Guidance Method.
• Angel gave Baruba the booklet and asked him to protect Serum and Nausicaa in the cave, and Baruba agreed.
• Serum told Angel that he had discovered mental force and that Nausicaa had entered stillness with Angel’s help.
• Serum and Baruba left, and Angel returned to the meditation room to work on the third plane.

Angel spent months developing the third plane of his mindscape, finally determining its first coordinate, then went to the market to celebrate. A delivery boy attacked him at his gate, but Toby, Baruba, and Nausicaa intervened, leaving the attacker pinned beneath Nausicaa’s sword.

• Angel repeatedly overworked his mind while calculating the third plane, and his friends Serum and Nausicaa advanced into apprenticeship.
• Serum warned Nausicaa that Hukedik might target Angel after advancing, and Nausicaa resolved to patrol and protect him.
• Angel finally verified the first coordinate of the third plane and took Toby to the market to celebrate.
• A delivery boy drew a dagger and stabbed at Angel’s back as he opened his gate.
• Toby slashed the attacker’s wrist, Baruba caught the dagger barehanded, and Nausicaa knocked the attacker down and held her sword to his throat.

After an assassin’s attempt on Angel failed, he resolved to focus on training until he could advance, while Nausicaa sought answers about his unusual progress at Cloudtop Library. Hukedik learned the assassination had failed and planned to deal with Angel and his protectors after returning from Soul Soil.

• Angel thanked Baruba for saving him, and Nausicaa reported that the assassin had taken poison and died without revealing his employer.
• Nausicaa suspected Hukedik had ordered the attack and advised Angel to stay protected and train until he became a transcendent.
• Nausicaa burned the assassin’s body, pondered why Angel had not advanced, and set off for Cloudtop Library to investigate Guidance Methods.
• Hukedik received a note from the Pollock Family confirming the mission had failed because Nausicaa and Baruba protected Angel.
• Hukedik dismissed the failure as a way to intimidate Angel and vowed to eliminate those who opposed him after his Soul Soil baptism.

Sanders oversaw Guxiluo’s refinement of the Wizard Garden while learning that Angel had been attacked, then tried to motivate Angel to abandon his painstaking positioning method by telling him about Sky Mechanical City’s upcoming Wizard Garden. Angel chose to keep pursuing a perfect Singularity Scattering model, completed the third plane’s coordinates, and left the Holographic Tablet calculating the remaining planes.

• Guxiluo continued refining the Wizard Garden, which had begun to take shape after two months of work.
• Gude told Sanders that Angel had been attacked by Lord Nis’s disciple, and Sanders decided not to intervene.
• Sanders had Gude tell Angel that Sky Mechanical City’s Wizard Garden would open in a year and require applicants to reach the summit of a Sky Tower.
• Angel weighed the chance to gain the Wizard Garden’s purification law against completing his perfect spiritual force model, then devoted himself to calculating the third plane’s coordinates.
• Angel completed the third cut and set the Holographic Tablet to calculate the remaining four planes over an estimated twenty-one days before going to sleep.