Chapter Summaries

Pust and the female wizard from White Mist City fought over Guluo’s Holy Land Key, then realized Richard’s body had disappeared. Pust suspected Richard had been hiding his true intentions, and Richard approached him while he was weakened.

• Pust and the female wizard admitted they were both seeking Guluo’s Holy Land Key, then attacked each other when neither trusted the other’s claims.
• Pust and the female wizard exhausted much of their mana in a fierce spell battle and paused to recover.
• The female wizard noticed Richard’s corpse was missing and insisted it had vanished before their battle began.
• Pust recalled Richard’s suspiciously smooth training and the vest that had failed to explode, then wondered whether Richard had been disguising himself.
• Pust sensed someone pressing a hard object against his back, recognized from the female wizard’s expression that Richard was behind him, and offered to cooperate before suddenly saying, “die!”

Richard killed Pust and the Female Wizard, then discovered the mummified body of the real Guluo and began searching the underground chamber for the Holy Land Key. Before he could start, someone knocked on the chamber’s iron gate.

• Pust activated a Ruby Ring for protection, but Richard’s Blood-Red Short Staff shattered the barrier and killed him.
• Richard questioned the Female Wizard about Guluo and the Holy Land Key, then killed her when she tried to deceive and attack him.
• Richard found a diamond-shaped sapphire in the Female Wizard’s hand and stored it in his Space Iron Ring.
• Richard discovered a preserved corpse he suspected was the real Guluo and reasoned that the Holy Land Key remained hidden somewhere nearby.
• Richard prepared to search the underground space, but someone began knocking on its iron gate.

Richard concealed the aftermath of killing the Female Wizard and impersonated Guluo to drive away Feili, who had come to investigate strange vibrations and mana fluctuations. He left Feili believing he was Guluo’s student, keeping his real identity hidden as he continued searching for the Holy Land Key.

• Feili knocked on Guluo’s iron door to check on him, and Richard answered in Guluo’s hoarse voice, ordering him to leave.
• When Feili questioned the voice, Richard moved the two corpses into Eden Garden, cleaned the blood and traces of the spell battle, and arranged the secret chamber.
• Richard berated Feili for lingering, removed his disguise, and opened the door in his true appearance.
• Richard claimed he was Guluo’s student and said Guluo had invited Feili inside for a talk.
• Feili feared entering Guluo’s chamber and hurried away without discovering Richard’s identity.

Richard failed to find the Holy Land Key despite searching Guluo’s underground space and gradually establishing himself as Guluo’s student in the Gathering Place. In October, Nairid Clark struggled to carve pumpkins for her teacher and accidentally smashed one.

• Richard bluffed Feili into leaving, then searched Guluo’s underground space nine times without finding the Holy Land Key.
• Richard’s attempt to use Pandora’s prophetic ability failed, so he began building a believable identity as Guluo’s student by appearing regularly among people at the Gathering Place.
• Richard expanded his search to places connected to Guluo, but found no clues about the Holy Land Key.
• In October, Nairid Clark tried to make ten pumpkin lanterns and struggled to carve even one properly.
• Nairid stabbed a pumpkin with her broadsword, smashed it while carving its face, and shouted in frustration before a cat meowed behind her.

Nellide asked Hai Di to make the Pumpkin Lanterns Circe had assigned her, but Circe caught them and revealed she had deliberately given Nellide a task she knew she could not handle. Circe began explaining the reason for her assignment.

• Nellide persuaded Hai Di to make Pumpkin Lanterns for her, and Hai Di used an Ice Mist Spell to clean out a pumpkin before carving a lantern.
• Nellide asked Hai Di to make nine more lanterns and said Circe would not find out that she had help.
• Circe emerged from the Wooden Building and confronted Nellide and Hai Di about working together.
• Nellide complained that Pumpkin Lanterns were too difficult and offered to catch rabbits instead.
• Circe said Nellide had nearly driven the local animals away and revealed that she had deliberately assigned the lantern task despite knowing Nellide could not manage it.

Circe punished Nellide and Hai Di by having them tend the garden, then told them they might accompany her to an Exchange Meeting. Richard also decided to attend the meeting between the Dark Forest and Green Wind Gathering Places, hoping to learn where Guluo had hidden the Holy Land Key.

• Circe sent Nellide and Hai Di to tend the garden after scolding them for their mistakes.
• Nellide and Hai Di finished the work, though Nellide broke twelve flowers, and Circe told them to clean up and eat.
• Circe told Nellide and Hai Di that they might accompany her to a meeting at another Gathering Place in a few days.
• Richard learned that the Exchange Meeting would bring together Wizards from the Dark Forest and Green Wind Gathering Places to discuss matters and exchange resources and information.
• Richard decided to attend the Exchange Meeting to reinforce his false identity and seek information about Guluo and the Holy Land Key.

Richard attended the Exchange Meeting in place of Guluo and confronted Wan An, who had come looking for trouble over an old injury. Richard drove him off by revealing his mastery of Guluo’s Necromantic Flame, then returned to his seat after the gathering’s organizer stopped the confrontation.

• Richard arrived at the Exchange Meeting and sat behind the chair labeled with Guluo Kasijia’s name.
• Wan An approached Richard and admitted he had a grievance with Guluo over his injured leg.
• Richard challenged Wan An’s motives and summoned the Necromantic Flame, startling him and the observing Wizards.
• Wan An threatened to attack, but a powerful woman warned them not to fight inside the venue.
• Richard returned to his chair, and Wan An left without participating in the Exchange Meeting.

At the Exchange Meeting, Richard discovered that Nellide and Hai Di were both there and met them afterward. They exchanged news about how they had ended up at the Gathering Place, while Nellide began explaining the time Richard had treated her poisoning.

• Richard spotted Nellide and Hai Di among the Green Wind Camp delegation and realized he needed to prepare an explanation for his journey.
• After the Exchange Meeting, Richard left the venue, and Hai Di and Nellide got permission from Circe to follow him.
• Richard met Hai Di and Nellide outside and explained how he had left White Stone City, traveled to Floren and Witch Forest, and become Teacher Guluo's student.
• Hai Di told Richard that Aunt Mary had taken her to her teacher and then disappeared, while Nellide criticized Aunt Mary for abandoning her.
• Richard asked Nellide whether his antidote had caused side effects, and she said it had not.
• Hai Di asked Nellide about the poisoning, and Nellide began telling her what had happened.

At the Exchange Meeting, Richard learned little about Guluo from Circe, but Circe’s comment about Guluo’s teeth led him to discover the Holy Land Key hidden in her dentures. He found the key and prepared to continue his research.

• Richard confirmed that Hai Di was safe, then met Hai Di and Nellide’s teacher, Circe, and asked her about Guluo.
• Circe said she had known Guluo more than ten years earlier, when Guluo still had some teeth, then left with Hai Di and Nellide.
• Circe used a Crystal Ball and warned Hai Di and Nellide that Richard was not an ordinary person and that they should not interact with him too often.
• Back at Guluo’s residence, Richard recalled Circe’s remark and noticed that Guluo’s corpse had a full set of teeth.
• Richard broke apart Guluo’s dentures and found the Holy Land Key hidden inside.

Richard searched the Jungle Hut’s holy land, Yadis, for the Black Spirit King’s final treasure but instead discovered a journal containing the Hand of God design. He realized it complemented the Gloves of Extinction blueprint and that Yadis still pointed toward the right trail, though the treasure remained undiscovered.

• Richard used the Holy Land Key to enter the temple beneath the pyramid in Yadis.
• Richard found a recently moved coffin in the mass grave and followed the passage inside it to a hidden chamber.
• Richard discovered the tomb of Yadis, founder of the Jungle Hut, and searched its burial chest.
• Richard found Yadis’s journal and learned it contained the design for the Hand of God, a component of the Gloves of Extinction.
• Richard concluded that Yadis was still relevant to the treasure hunt but that he needed to continue researching and searching.

Richard returned to Guluo's residence while Wan An questioned Feili about his identity and watched him suspiciously. Richard prepared to exploit Wan An's suspicions, then entered Eden Garden, where he checked Pandora's math homework and encouraged her to keep studying.

• Richard returned to the Gathering Place, and Wan An watched him before asking Feili about Richard and his connection to Guluo.
• Feili told Wan An that he had heard Guluo's voice when he first met Richard, leaving Wan An pondering whether there was a problem.
• Richard copied and organized the Hand of God notes, hid the Space Suitcase in a secret chamber, and entered Eden Garden.
• Richard considered how Wan An's investigation might help make his fabricated identity seem genuine.
• Richard found Pandora working on her math homework and told her that only her final calculation was wrong.
• Richard patted and rubbed Pandora's head as she promised to be more careful with her calculations.

Macbeth, Nancy, and Gelo met the hostile God Raven Church forces outside their valley, where Macbeth revealed his overwhelming strength and proposed an alliance. Keso agreed to discuss the threat that destroyed the White Stone Tower, and the group entered the valley to talk before continuing to another Wizard organization.

• Macbeth stopped Nancy and Gelo outside the valley and announced that the God Raven Church members had come out to meet them.
• Heier accused the White Stone Tower group of seeking to seize the church's territory, but Macbeth displayed power reaching Level 2 Wizard Peak and silenced the challenge.
• Keso, the God Raven Master, arrived and introduced himself to Macbeth, who explained that the force behind the White Stone Tower's destruction might target other Wizard organizations.
• Keso invited the group to a banquet, but Macbeth declined when he learned there was no Orange Jam and insisted they discuss business first.
• Macbeth, Nancy, and Gelo followed Keso into the valley, while Nancy joked to Gelo about whether Orange Jam might change Macbeth's priorities.

Adolf Sig met secretly with a Black-Robed Man and reported that the plan at Deep Blue Fort was proceeding, while Muse addressed a complication at Duluk Mountain. After killing the Quake In Society’s leader, Muse ordered Franklin to continue the plan.

• Adolf Sig reprimanded the Black-Robed Man for appearing without warning and reminded him not to break their agreement by killing Sig’s people.
• Sig told the Black-Robed Man that the White Stone Tower members had left and that he would act when the time was right; when Dean Mason summoned him, Sig put on a hidden crimson ring and went to meet him.
• Franklin told Muse that most targets were complete but warned that the Quake In Society’s leader at Duluk Mountain could disrupt the plan and was difficult to kill.
• Muse took the location from a Crystal Ball and rushed to Duluk Mountain.
• Muse returned with the Quake In Society leader’s head, ordered Franklin to preserve it, and told him to continue carrying out the plan.

Richard studied the Gloves of Extinction blueprint and planned to adapt Earth’s chipmaking processes to engrave its complex magic patterns onto a tiny Spell Chip. He identified photolithography as the likely core technique and began considering how to make its components, starting with the negative.

• Richard shifted his attention from searching for Yadis to studying the Gloves of Extinction blueprint and the Hand of God scroll.
• Richard compared the Gloves’ complex magic patterns to computer chips and reviewed how chip technology had developed on Earth.
• Richard decided not to build Earth-style chips, but to adapt chipmaking methods to create a magic-pattern item centered on a Spell Chip.
• Richard reasoned that photolithography could transfer magic patterns onto the Spell Chip and identified the negative as the first problem to solve.

Mas secretly followed his target from the Dark Forest Gathering Place into the forest and watched him collect sand by the river, but he failed to learn why. He reported the observation to Wizard Wan An, who sent him out to keep watching.

• Mas nervously followed his target out of the Gathering Place and used a speed spell to catch up when the target ran deeper into the forest.
• Mas watched the target use magic to gather sand from a riverbank and put it into a wooden bucket.
• Mas threw himself down to avoid being seen and landed face-first in animal dung; when he got up, the target had disappeared.
• Mas returned to the wooden building and told Wizard Wan An that the target had collected sand.
• Wizard Wan An told Mas to keep watching the target, and Mas left with two packets of dried fish.

Richard manufactured silicon wafers and prepared photoresist and developer solution, then began engraving a mask for the Gloves of Extinction chip. Meanwhile, Mas continued spying on Richard for Wizard Wan An, who remained puzzled by his search for Montok Stone.

• Richard purified sand, processed it into high-purity polycrystalline silicon, and grew a single-crystal silicon rod.
• Richard cut and polished the rod into a silicon wafer, completing the chip substrate.
• Richard chose positive photoresist and spent several days preparing it and developer solution.
• Mas reported that Richard was searching for Montok Stone, and Wan An ordered him to keep watching despite Mas's hunger.
• Richard confirmed that the photoresist and developer solution worked, then began engraving the Gloves of Extinction's magic patterns onto a metal mask.

Richard completed the first successful photolithography process in Eden Garden and produced a working Spell Chip, confirming that Earth’s chip technology could be used to make the Gloves of Extinction. He realized the chip contained only one-tenth of the required magic runes, so he still needed to produce nine more.

• Wan An grew frustrated that Richard had made no notable moves and ordered Mas to keep watching him.
• Richard assembled a photolithography machine, fitted a photomask and photoresist-coated substrate inside, and began the process using deep ultraviolet light.
• After the process finished, Richard developed and treated the substrate to obtain a standard Spell Chip.
• Richard injected Wandering Energy Element into the chip and confirmed that it produced mana fluctuations and resonance.
• Richard concluded that he needed nine more chips to create the Gloves of Extinction.

Richard completed a Metal Glove fitted with ten Spell Chips, but every test ended with the chips burning out. After weeks of failed experiments, Pandora identified the glove’s problem as its ugliness, leaving Richard speechless.

• Richard finished the Spell Chips and installed them in the Metal Glove.
• Richard tested the glove, but after increasing the energy input, all ten chips burned out.
• Richard investigated the failed design and repeatedly tested new gloves, but the chips kept burning out.
• Richard spent more than ten days searching for a flaw while Pandora finished her homework.
• Pandora told Richard that the Metal Glove was ugly.

Richard realized that conflicting Prophecy Spell effects were making the Gloves of Extinction unusable, so he built a one-fingered version called Death Finger. He tested it on a metal target, but its Spell Chips melted under the energy load before he could see the attack’s effect.

• Pandora told Richard that the Gloves of Extinction’s five fingers seemed to be fighting one another, leading him to suspect that their Prophecy Spell effects conflicted because he had flattened the layered rune design.
• Richard decided to make just one finger of the Gloves of Extinction and named the new device Death Finger.
• Richard installed two Spell Chips in Death Finger and confirmed that they reacted when he fed it a tiny amount of Wandering Energy Element.
• At the Spell Testing Ground, Richard fired Death Finger at a metal humanoid target, but both Spell Chips overloaded and melted.
• Richard considered replacing the silicon chips with new ones or better materials and looked toward the target to judge Death Finger’s offensive power.

Richard tested the destructive power of Death Finger and reflected on the Black Spirit Empire’s lost history. He then used the device’s Power of Fate on Mas, a spy watching his home, and Mas felt an energy enter his body.

• Richard found that Death Finger pierced the metal target, all ten metal walls, and the sinkhole’s earthen wall before its projectile dissipated.
• Richard compared Death Finger to an anti-materiel sniper rifle and wondered who had defeated the Black Spirit Empire and why its enemies had disappeared.
• Richard left the Spell Testing Ground and went out at night to test Death Finger’s Power of Command on a living creature.
• Richard spotted Mas spying on him, aimed Death Finger at him, and activated Power of Fate.
• Mas recognized that Richard had discovered him and felt a surge of energy strike and enter his body.