Chapter Summaries

Richard prepared Pandora to survive and avenge Gregory while the mysterious wizard discovered their return to the hill. The wizard advanced toward Richard through a series of Magic Rune traps, but he had not yet reached him.

• Richard urged Pandora to stay calm, reminded her of her promise, and told her to follow his preparations.
• The mysterious wizard realized the tracks had misled him and followed the red footprints back to the hill.
• Richard appeared among the Black Ancient Castle ruins and drew the wizard toward him.
• The wizard set off several Magic Rune traps hidden across the hill and began changing routes to avoid them.
• The wizard considered flying or blasting the traps, but hesitated to spend so much mana on the weak "rabbit."

Richard used a lightning conductor to deflect the Mysterious Wizard’s lightning, then struck him with the Crystal Skull and fled down the hill. The Mysterious Wizard transformed into a werewolf and pursued him, beginning a grueling chase.

• The Mysterious Wizard charged through Richard’s Magic Traps behind a barrier, but a powerful explosion hurled him into the air without injuring him.
• The Mysterious Wizard launched an azure lightning spell, and Richard’s lightning conductor diverted it into the ground.
• Richard struck the Mysterious Wizard with a powerful mental shockwave from the Crystal Skull, leaving him trembling and enraged.
• The Mysterious Wizard attacked Richard with Dark Claw, but Richard used Extreme Wind Repulsion on himself to fly down the hill and escape.
• The Mysterious Wizard transformed into a Demonized Creature werewolf with Savage Werewolf and chased after Richard.

Richard fled the mysterious wizard’s werewolf form through the forest, relying on his human endurance to outlast it. He believed the werewolf would tire first, but wondered whether the wizard would change tactics as he looked back.

• The werewolf chased Richard without using spells, trying to exhaust him before attacking.
• Richard used Wind Agility to race through the forest and gradually widen the gap.
• Richard reasoned that humans’ ability to run long distances, dissipate heat, and control their breathing gave him an advantage over the werewolf.
• Richard recalled his years of physical training and remained confident he could exhaust the transformed wizard if it kept pursuing him unchanged.
• Richard leaped over a rock and looked back, questioning whether the mysterious wizard would alter its approach.

Richard provoked the Mysterious Wizard’s wolf form into a reckless sprint, then used the Baiting Blood-Boiling Spell to counter his exhaustion and keep fleeing. The pursuit continued with Richard maintaining a steady distance from the wolf.

• Richard blew his whistle to taunt the Mysterious Wizard’s exhausted wolf form into charging after him.
• The wolf form accelerated and began closing the gap as Richard ran at full speed.
• Richard cast the Baiting Blood-Boiling Spell to ease his muscle fatigue and break down lactic acid.
• Richard’s speed increased, allowing him to keep a fixed distance from the wolf as the pursuit continued.

Richard led the wolfman transformed from the Mysterious Wizard through a series of traps and attacks, wearing down his vigilance without causing serious injuries. After Pandora’s final ambush, Richard decided it was time to begin the third stage of the plan.

• Richard lured the wolfman to Pandora, who struck him with a tree trunk, but he quickly recovered.
• Richard ordered Pandora to follow the plan, and she retreated after drawing the wolfman into an explosion and hitting him with Flame Impact.
• Richard led the wolfman through the forest, where a wild bull, a wild boar, Pandora, and hidden explosions repeatedly knocked him back.
• Richard used Flame Impact to redirect the wolfman’s pursuit while the attacks wore him down and dulled his vigilance.
• Pandora blasted the wolfman away again, and Richard decided to proceed to the third stage.

Pandora waited anxiously in the forest while Richard fought the Mysterious Wizard, and she held Wild Boar for comfort when the battle fell silent. Wounded but still pursuing his plan, Richard lured the Mysterious Wizard into a mountain tunnel, where the wizard charged toward a whistle suspended above two White Jade Shards.

• Pandora worried that Richard had been killed when the distant explosions stopped, and Wild Boar nuzzled against her as she held it.
• Richard, injured and frostbitten, judged that he could not defeat the Mysterious Wizard in a direct fight and used a Flame Impact and whistle to draw him away.
• The Mysterious Wizard followed the whistle through the snow to a tunnel in the mountainside and charged inside without caution.
• The Mysterious Wizard reached a secret chamber and found a whistle floating above two White Jade Shards that controlled the airflow.

Richard’s trap collapsed the mountain passage and buried the Mysterious Wizard, whom Richard later confirmed dead after waiting half a month. During that time, Gregory was buried, and Pandora mourned at his grave.

• The Mysterious Wizard crushed the whistle, searched for the rabbit, and was caught in the explosion and collapse Richard had prepared.
• Richard watched the mountain collapse and explained that he had lured the Mysterious Wizard into the passage so the explosives could bury him.
• Richard blew a different whistle tune, and Pandora arrived with the Wild Boar; Richard told her he could not yet be certain the Wizard was dead.
• Richard waited half a month before confirming the Mysterious Wizard had died, then excavated a passage through the mountain to recover his corpse.
• Richard buried Gregory at the former site of Dragon Cave, and Pandora stood silently at Gregory’s Graveyard twice as the snow fell.

After leaving Gregory's Graveyard, Richard and Pandora continued their journey while the abandoned wild boar vowed revenge and promptly hurt its injured snout. Elsewhere, Prince Gelo struggled with meditation, received a visit from the new King, and ended the chapter entering his study in low spirits.

• Richard placed the Mysterious Wizard's shattered head on Gregory's gravestone, then left with Pandora as the sun rose.
• Pandora asked Richard to always take her with him, and Richard told her to behave as they walked away.
• The wild boar resented being left behind, chose the black bear as its target, and injured its still-sore snout when it charged.
• Prince Gelo woke after falling asleep during another failed meditation attempt and worried that his potion was running low.
• A guard told Gelo that the King had arrived, and Gelo went to meet his older brother.
• After the King reassured him about his future territory and title, Gelo wandered through the palace and entered the study.

Gelo asked his teacher whether he was a failure, and the Silver-haired Old Man told him that life had no inherent meaning and that he should accept his mediocrity. Gelo left the conversation despairing but wondered whether the young Wizard he had seen in Viscount Lancaster’s border forest might know a purpose in life.

• Gelo entered his teacher’s study and asked whether his shortcomings made him a complete failure.
• The Silver-haired Old Man told Gelo that most people were ordinary and that life had no meaning beyond being alive.
• Gelo felt more hopeless after hearing his teacher’s view, though he sensed something about it might be wrong.
• Gelo thought of the young Wizard he had seen in Viscount Lancaster’s border territory and wondered whether that person knew the meaning of life.

During a heavy snowstorm, mercenaries Mula, Zake, Ke Er, and Dan Ni Si gathered at Oak Inn, where Dan Ni Si declared she intended to marry a noble. Their conversation was interrupted when a young man who appeared to be a noble entered with a little maid carrying his luggage.

• Mula, Zake, Ke Er, and Dan Ni Si ate and drank at Oak Inn while snowstorm travelers crowded the tavern.
• Mula warned Dan Ni Si not to provoke anyone, but she teased the patrons and called them cowards.
• Zake confessed that he liked Dan Ni Si, and she rejected him, saying she would marry a noble rather than a commoner.
• Dan Ni Si noticed a young man who seemed to be a noble enter with a little maid carrying his luggage, and she wondered why he had no guards.

Richard stayed at an inn with Pandora before continuing to the Royal Capital of Emerald City, while two members of a mercenary squad plotted to rob him. The chapter left Dan Ni Si and Ke Er preparing to carry out their scheme that night.

• Richard entered the inn, noticed a mercenary squad, rented a room, and took Pandora upstairs.
• Dan Ni Si admitted she was attracted to Richard, while Ke Er proposed luring him away and searching his luggage.
• Dan Ni Si and Ke Er recalled how they had betrayed one another in past schemes and agreed to work together.
• Dan Ni Si warned Ke Er to wear a mask because Richard and Pandora had seen him, and Ke Er planned to deal with Pandora if needed.
• Muke told the squad to sleep and leave for the Royal Capital early the next morning, and Ke Er and Dan Ni Si finalized their plan.

Richard and Pandora settled into an inn room, where Richard continued researching an iron ring until a female mercenary named Dan Ni Si came to his door. Suspecting a trap, he crushed her hand when she offered to become his companion, and Dan Ni Si tried to keep smiling through the pain.

• Pandora set down the heavy suitcase and flipped the bedding over after noticing a stench.
• Richard ate, then spent the evening writing down his theories about the iron ring.
• Dan Ni Si knocked on Richard’s door after night fell and introduced herself.
• Dan Ni Si asked Richard whether he found her pretty, then offered to become his companion for free.
• Richard suspected Dan Ni Si was baiting him for a scheme and crushed her hand when she grabbed it.
• Dan Ni Si endured the pain and asked whether Richard’s grip meant he agreed.

Richard rejected Dan Ni Si, but she and Ke Er tried to extort him by claiming he had bullied her. Zake believed their story and charged at Richard with Ke Er’s dagger, ending the chapter poised to attack.

• Richard rejected Dan Ni Si, and Ke Er emerged to accuse him of bullying her.
• Dan Ni Si and Ke Er argued, then agreed to demand money from Richard or make him marry her.
• Ke Er demanded five gold coins, but Zake came out of his room and asked what was happening.
• Ke Er told Zake that Richard had bullied Dan Ni Si and scratched her chest, and Dan Ni Si confirmed it while warning Zake not to kill anyone.
• Zake charged at Richard, grabbed Ke Er’s dagger, and prepared to strike.

Richard effortlessly defeated Zake, Ke Er, and Dan Ni Si after they tried to attack him, while lecturing them about how foolishly they planned their wrongdoing. The three retreated to Dan Ni Si's room to treat their injuries, where Ke Er and Dan Ni Si blamed Zake for what happened.

• Zake tried to draw his dagger against Richard, but Richard stopped him and threw him to the ground.
• Zake repeatedly tried to fight back during Richard's lecture, and Richard beat him until he could no longer stand.
• Dan Ni Si, Ke Er, and Zake left Richard's doorway and went to Dan Ni Si's room for treatment.
• Dan Ni Si treated their wounds with potions, then admitted she enjoyed being abused and challenged Ke Er to try it.
• Ke Er blamed Zake for their injuries, and the helpless Zake glared at him furiously.

Ke Er blamed Zake for the mercenary squad’s injuries while Richard returned to studying his scroll and Pandora went looking for squirrels. Ke Er then tried to attack Pandora in the inn corridor.

• Ke Er told the badly injured Zake that his recklessness had caused the squad’s troubles and that he deserved his injuries.
• Richard returned to his room and resumed examining the completed scroll, while Pandora learned he had seen squirrels and went searching for them.
• Dan Ni Si told Ke Er to stop berating Zake and leave the room, and Ke Er went into the corridor.
• Ke Er spotted Pandora, decided to use her to get revenge on Richard, and approached her while she searched for squirrels.
• Ke Er claimed he was a squirrel, then drew his dagger and slashed at Pandora.

Ke Er attacked Dan Ni Si’s little maid but was beaten and returned badly injured, while Dan Ni Si rejected Zake’s feelings and warned him to avoid Richard. Pandora returned from confronting Ke Er, and Richard began investigating the black Iron Ring he had recovered from the Mysterious Wizard’s body.

• Ke Er tried to stab Dan Ni Si’s little maid, but she knocked him down and repeatedly slammed him into the ground.
• Dan Ni Si told Zake she planned to marry a noble and did not care about love, then promised to seek help for him and warned him to avoid Richard.
• Ke Er crawled into Dan Ni Si’s room covered in blood and admitted he had provoked Pandora, Richard’s little maid.
• Pandora told Richard she had found a strange, ugly, weak squirrel and chased it away.
• Richard studied the Papyrus Scroll and wondered whether the black Iron Ring he had taken from the Mysterious Wizard was a Space Item.

Richard used the Mysterious Wizard’s blood to unlock the Iron Ring and deduced that it relied on DNA-like identity verification and magical-power patterns. He prepared to disable the blood-based lock so he could keep using the ring, despite making it less secure.

• Richard wondered whether the Iron Ring was a space item and considered how its magic might work like advanced technology.
• Richard melted a frozen drop of the Mysterious Wizard’s blood and dripped it onto the Iron Ring, which reacted.
• Richard concluded that the ring used blood as an emergency identity key and magical-power fluctuations for everyday verification.
• Richard decided to alter a tiny section of the ring’s magic patterns to bypass its verification and preserve its use after the Mysterious Wizard’s blood ran out.
• Richard focused on the section he had identified and reached for his suitcase to begin the alteration.

Richard engraved the Iron Ring to unlock its hidden space, inventoried the Mysterious Wizard’s belongings, and tested how the ring stored and retrieved objects. When he forced a table into the ring, it emerged shattered, leaving him with a damaged table and more questions about the ring’s limits.

• Richard spent several hours engraving two lines into the Iron Ring and successfully activated its hidden space.
• Richard discovered the ring contained about one cubic meter of space and removed the Mysterious Wizard’s materials, potions, research notes, powerful seed, and miscellaneous belongings.
• Richard repeatedly stored and retrieved the items, observing that objects passed through the ring’s opening at a limited speed.
• Richard tried to force a table into the ring after clearing its contents and using Wind Brute Force.
• Richard heard a crack and pulled the table back out, but it shattered as it fell to the floor.

Richard tested the Iron Ring’s storage space and found that time and gravity seemed to function inside it, while outside movement did not affect objects within. He tested whether living creatures could survive inside by putting a rat into the ring, and after three minutes it reappeared motionless.

• Richard crushed a long table into the Iron Ring and concluded that its internal space was extremely sturdy.
• Richard used an hourglass and a bowl of water to test the ring, finding that time and gravity seemed to work inside while shaking the ring did not spill the water.
• Richard considered using Pandora as a test subject but caught a rat instead, deciding not to risk harming her or breaking his promise to Gregory.
• Richard briefly put the rat inside the Iron Ring and took it out alive, then repeated the test for three seconds and found it panicked.
• Richard left the rat inside for about three minutes and took it out motionless, suspecting it was dead.

Richard tested the Iron Ring and discovered that its sealed interior was a vacuum, explaining why living creatures could not survive inside without air. After finishing his experiments, he let the mouse go and began recording his findings.

• Richard tested the Iron Ring with a mouse and an oil lamp, finding that the lamp went out and the mouse nearly suffocated inside.
• Richard reasoned that Space Items used vacuum interiors to maximize storage and considered how larger spaces might sustain ecosystems or serve as Demiplanes.
• Richard recalled the Ancient Wizard Civilization’s Lost Paradise spell and its vanished Demiplanes, noting that modern Space Items were rare and valuable.
• Richard completed his tests and prepared a Papyrus Scroll, Goose Feather Quill, and ink to record his findings.
• The mouse recovered and tried to flee, but Richard directed it to leave through the door and warned it not to return.
• Richard watched the mouse leave, brought a chair to the bed, and began writing his notes.