Chapter Summaries

Soren explained to Yu Le why the military had delayed carrying out Xia Ya’s orders to send troops against Shalin: the new ruler was testing both Shalin and the military. He insisted the military remained loyal to the Alliance, while admitting it was not necessarily loyal to Xia Ya or the new ruler, and denied intending to rebel.

• Abu Yule brought Soren the twelfth order from Xia Ya, and Soren added it unread to the stack of previous orders.
• Yu Le warned Soren that continued delay could harm them, Reef Rock Fortress, and the military.
• Soren explained that the new ruler had ordered the expedition after the Judgment Tribunal’s failed mission in Atlantis City, and that the order also tested the military’s loyalty.
• Soren told Yu Le that the military’s loyalty to the Alliance did not mean complete loyalty to Xia Ya or the new ruler.
• Yu Le feared Soren might silence him, but Soren denied planning a rebellion and said the past three years had left him with doubts.

General Soren Bonaparte worried that sending troops against Shalin could destabilize Xia Ya and provoke Richard, so he hesitated to obey the new emperor’s orders. When the emperor’s envoy Axel Shazo demanded an explanation, Soren claimed the border forces were too stretched to spare any soldiers.

• Soren warned Yu Le that the emperor’s campaign against Shalin risked disaster because of Shalin’s strength, its Sparx Race warriors, and Richard’s power.
• Soren said he was considering delaying the deployment, but feared Xia Ya would lose patience and force his hand.
• A subordinate reported that Axel Shazo had arrived at Reef Rock Fortress with the emperor’s verbal order, and Soren agreed to meet him.
• Shazo asked why Soren had not acted on the emperor’s repeated orders to send troops to Shalin.
• Soren explained that most of his forces guarded military positions or watched the Sika Kingdom, leaving him unable to spare even a single soldier.

Axel Shazo secured Soren’s permission to use a military unit designation and led five hundred elite troops toward Shalin. As they crossed into Shalin by a rugged side route, they encountered a sentry post.

• Axel offered Soren five hundred elite troops, including one hundred Magic-armored Knights, to complete the journey to Shalin.
• Axel asked to borrow a unit designation, and Soren allowed him to use the best one while ordering Yu Le to secretly watch and report on his journey.
• Axel rode west from Reef Rock Fortress with his troops and learned from a subordinate about Shalin’s rough terrain and the dangers along its side paths.
• After the force entered Shalin, Axel spotted a two-story Stone Tower and stopped before its sentry post, where an older and a young soldier emerged warily.

Xia Zuo led five hundred cavalry into Shalin, captured two border soldiers, and continued toward Atlantis City while trying to keep the incursion secret. After finding the territory strangely deserted, he expanded his scouting patrols, then spotted several black dots approaching through the sky.

• Xia Zuo ordered his men to overpower two Shalin sentries, tie them up, and knock them unconscious before continuing inland.
• Xia Zuo sent scouting teams ahead and to both sides, then avoided settlements as his troops traveled toward Atlantis City.
• After hours without seeing anyone, Xia Zuo grew uneasy and ordered more scouts to cover the front, rear, and both sides.
• Xia Zuo halted his troops for a rest and saw several black dots rapidly approaching in the distant sky.

Xia Zuo’s force was attacked by mysterious black metal spheres that exploded after a Magic-armored Knight struck one. The blasts devastated his troops, and an approaching cavalry force surrounded the survivors.

• Black metal spheres crashed down near Xia Zuo’s soldiers, and he ordered one cut open to investigate.
• A Magic-armored Knight’s Executioner Sword bounced off a sphere, and the spheres began glowing crimson.
• Xia Zuo sensed danger and shouted a warning as the spheres cracked and erupted in powerful explosions.
• A pendant shielded Xia Zuo from the blasts, but many of his soldiers and Magic-armored Knights were killed or badly injured.
• More than a thousand cavalrymen arrived and surrounded Xia Zuo’s battered force.

Black-armored cavalry attacked Xia Zuo’s battered group, and a strange sickness incapacitated the Magic-armored Knights before the soldiers were slaughtered. The cavalry rejected Xia Zuo’s claim that he was an envoy, killed him, and left Nora to erase the evidence.

• Xia Zuo tried to identify his group and negotiate with the silent black-armored cavalry, but they drew their swords and advanced.
• The Magic-armored Knight captain and the other knights began vomiting uncontrollably, leaving the group unable to fight.
• The black-armored cavalry massacred Xia Zuo’s soldiers and spared only Xia Zuo.
• Xia Zuo presented the First Glory Regiment’s banner and claimed envoy status, but the cavalryman declared him an illegal armed intruder and beheaded him.
• The black-armored cavalryman asked Wizard Nora to clean up the scene, and Nora dissolved the corpses, horses, and weapons before departing.

Soren planned to tighten control over the border forces after Shalin killed an envoy posing as a member of the First Glory Regiment. Wizard Yule then warned that Wizard Ford might have been infected with a spell plague, and urged Soren to isolate everyone Ford could have exposed.

• Wizard Ford reported that Shalin had killed and disposed of the envoy from Xia Ya, and said the woman handling the body might have noticed him.
• Wizard Yule warned Soren that Shalin’s killing of the envoy showed it did not fear the Alliance or the First Glory Regiment.
• Soren decided to raise the border alert and deploy elite forces both west toward Shalin and east toward the Alliance’s interior to prevent a wider conflict.
• Wizard Yule suspected the Poison Heart Queen had infected Wizard Ford with a spell plague and recommended keeping him isolated in a sealed room.
• Wizard Yule urged Soren to isolate everyone Ford might have exposed, warning that delaying could let the plague spread.

Yu Le persuaded Soren to inspect Reef Rock Fortress for hidden cases of the spell plague. In Shalin, Richard explained to Molly that Xia Ya was testing him and that he would wait to see what they did next, though he was prepared to give the world an entirely new beginning if they crossed his limits.

• Yu Le urged Soren to isolate people who had contacted Wizard Ford and inspect all of Reef Rock Fortress for hidden cases and defensive gaps.
• Soren agreed to Yu Le’s proposals, and Yu Le left to carry them out.
• Molly reported that Wizard Nora had helped attack Xia Zuo’s group and had let an unknown follower go after giving them a small lesson.
• Richard’s multiple copies discussed how Xia Ya had tested them and how their retaliation against the Judgment Tribunal and special envoy could not be concealed.
• A sixth Richard told Molly they would wait for Xia Ya’s next move, while warning that he might give the world an entirely new beginning if Xia Ya pushed him too far.

Richard explained to Molly how his research into spells had advanced from Extraordinary Factors to searching for their more fundamental components. He began describing experiments to combine different Extraordinary Factors, leaving Molly listening as he outlined his work.

• The fifth Richard combined potion ingredients and operated an apparatus to produce a brown liquid, then merged with the other Richards into the sixth.
• Molly agreed that Shalin would preserve its autonomy while remaining open to cooperation with Xia Ya and refusing to be exploited.
• Molly asked Richard about his multiple selves and the research he had conducted over the past three years.
• Richard explained that his research teams had expanded his framework for Extraordinary Factors and investigated their underlying structures.
• Richard compared Extraordinary Factors to particles such as quarks and said he had begun combining different factors to observe the results.

Richard told Molly how his experiments combining Extraordinary Factors created a living energy creature he named “Spirit,” which vanished and could not be recreated. He explained that the spell accident at Atlantis University Spell Mysticism Academy had produced another Spirit, revealing that multiple conditions could create one.

• Richard explained that after hundreds of experiments, he combined Extraordinary Factors into a shapeless, hard-to-detect creature with a degree of intelligence.
• Richard named the creature “Spirit” and studied its extraordinary properties until it vanished on the ninth day.
• Richard failed to recreate Spirit in hundreds of attempts, then said an accident had led to new breakthroughs in his research.
• Richard told Molly that Wizard Moke’s experiment at the Spell Mysticism Academy had created a larger, aggressive Spirit that left Moke unconscious and caused severe injuries and Dark Energy contamination.
• Richard concluded that the accident showed Spirit could be produced under more than one set of conditions.

Richard explained that his experiments had not created spirits but had briefly connected his world to another dimension, allowing him to capture spirits that already existed there. He told Molly that powerful spirits lived near permanent overlap points in the void, and called them Void Spirits.

• Richard described generating and studying thirteen spirits through tens of thousands of Extraordinary Factor combination tests.
• Richard said he conducted the Dark Exploration Project more than a thousand meters underground but still found no pattern in how spirits appeared.
• Richard reconsidered his theory and proposed that spirits already existed in another dimension and were briefly captured when experiments caused the dimensions to overlap.
• Richard explained that void energy made dimensional overlap easier high in the sky and that permanent overlap points deep in the void were home to powerful, intelligent Void Spirits.

Richard told Molly that he planned to capture a High Spirit for study, then reminded her to monitor Xia Ya’s high-level visitors. Half a month later, the Alliance Ambassador Cyril Sack arrived at Atlantis City with a formal convoy and a thousand cavalry escorts.

• Richard explained that High Spirits could trade great power for sacrifices and revealed his plan to capture one for research.
• Molly realized she did not know what Richard had gained from three years of research and wondered whether he could truly capture a High Spirit.
• Richard reminded Molly to watch for Xia Ya’s high-level visitors and criticized her for forgetting to improve dangerous-gas pipelines; Molly asked him to stop walking through walls.
• Molly waited half a month for Xia Ya’s visitor as June neared its end.
• Cyril Sack arrived near Atlantis City with a luxurious convoy and a thousand-man cavalry regiment after formally announcing his itinerary.

Molly welcomed Honorary Duke Cyril Sack to Shalin, but he rejected her greeting on the grounds that she was not an Alliance citizen or Shalin’s lord. Cyril insisted on meeting Richard about the matter entrusted to him by the Emperor and went to wait in the reception quarters.

• Molly and her subordinates gathered at City Hall to welcome Cyril Sack, while Richard was absent.
• Cyril stepped out of his carriage wearing a Shalin-made pocket watch, and Molly greeted him as Shalin’s deputy lord.
• Cyril refused to shake Molly’s hand, saying that her status made the greeting improper despite her work governing Shalin.
• Cyril asked to meet Richard that day about the Emperor’s assignment, and Molly said she would inform him but could not promise when he would be available.
• Cyril asked to wait in the reception quarters, and Molly led the convoy there while suppressing her irritation.

Molly struggled to manage Honorary Duke Cyril Sack’s demands while delaying his meeting with lord Richard. Days later, Cyril grew impatient with Shalin’s stalling and discovered that the reception center had stopped providing him with a chef.

• Molly refused Hulk’s suggestion to kill Cyril and ordered Su to read out his list of complaints about the reception center.
• Molly decided to address Cyril’s demands one at a time, starting with the flooring, to keep him waiting for a meeting with lord Richard.
• After several days, Cyril complained to Ake that Shalin still had not arranged his meeting with lord Richard and ordered him to press them again.
• Cyril found the lunch unsuitable and learned from Ake that Shalin had withdrawn the reception center’s chef after Cyril reprimanded him.

Cyril Sack struggled with the poor food and slow service at Shalin’s reception house, then demanded a meeting with Lord Richard within three days. Molly refused to be rushed and kept the delegation waiting, even after they changed their request to meet her instead.

• Cyril Sack learned from Ake that Shalin had withdrawn its chefs and servants, leaving his own people to manage the reception house and procure ingredients.
• Cyril Sack saw an elderly worker struggling to renovate the garden, then told Ake to demand a meeting with Lord Richard within three days before their planned departure.
• Su informed Molly that Cyril Sack had requested the meeting, but Molly ordered her to keep him waiting.
• Three days later, Su reported that the delegation had stayed in Shalin and now wanted to meet Molly first.
• Molly refused to meet them until she had finished reviewing the backlog of documents.

Molly learned that the visitors at City Hall had come in person and refused to leave without meeting her or Lord Richard. Meanwhile, Emerson and the Wizards began preparations for the Ace 4728 High-Energy Experiment and the High Spirit Capture Plan, with the experiment underway as the chapter ended.

• Su told Molly that the visitors were waiting in the City Hall lobby and would not leave without meeting her or Lord Richard.
• Molly realized the visitors could no longer be kept waiting and began considering what to do.
• At the Three Six Two Research Institute, Emerson inspected the experimental equipment with Nora and the other Wizards.
• The control station authorized the Ace 4728 High-Energy Experiment and the High Spirit Capture Plan.
• Emerson directed the Wizards to activate the energy transmission system, heat the particle generator, and start the coolant and other systems.

Emerson and Nora lured the High Spirit of Other-Dimensional Dread through a Space Hole by offering Xi Ou Duo Ke as bait. After the Energy Octopus emerged and offered Emerson a wish, Emerson shut down the machine and severed its passage home, leaving the spirit trapped in the sinkhole.

• Emerson ordered the Wizards to open a Space Hole and Nora repeatedly sprayed it with Lure Agent, but the cautious shadow refused to emerge.
• Emerson told Nora to use the reserved bait, and she raised Xi Ou Duo Ke’s body from a coffin-like container beneath the Space Hole.
• The Energy Octopus emerged from the Space Hole and asked the Wizards who had summoned it and what they wanted in exchange for Xi Ou Duo Ke’s soul.
• The Energy Octopus identified Emerson as the strongest being present and offered to grant his wish.
• Emerson pulled a crimson lever, disabling the platform and collapsing the Space Hole, and the Energy Octopus accused him of trapping it.

Emerson and the Wizards tricked the Energy Octopus into letting them attack it, hoping to weaken and capture the supposedly gullible High Spirit. When it realized their deception, the Energy Octopus retaliated, and the Wizards fought back as the battle erupted in the sinkhole.

• Emerson ordered the Wizards to surround the Energy Octopus and attack it under the pretense of testing their spells.
• The Wizards struck the Energy Octopus twice while Emerson deceived it with excuses and explained that they needed to weaken it before it caught on.
• The Energy Octopus realized the Wizards had lied and attacked them with its tentacles.
• Emerson told the Wizards to defend themselves and keep weakening the Energy Octopus, and they answered its attacks with spells.
• The enraged Energy Octopus spread its tentacles across half the sinkhole and lashed wildly at Emerson and the Wizards.

The Energy Octopus swallowed Xi Ou Duo Ke and was trapped when the Wizards’ equipment destroyed its escape portal. Richard appeared to confront it, but the creature revealed a huge eye whose ancient energy stunned him and rapidly aged nearby structures.

• The Energy Octopus severely injured a Gray Robe Wizard, swallowed Xi Ou Duo Ke, and tried to escape through a Space Hole.
• The Giant Metal Needles destroyed the Space Hole, and the Energy Octopus turned its eyes on the Wizards.
• A voice ordered the Wizards to withdraw under Plan Number Four, and Richard appeared to protect the wounded Wizard from the Energy Octopus.
• Richard demanded that the Energy Octopus let him study it for ten years, but it rejected the deal and attacked him.
• The Energy Octopus’s crimson eye-beams cracked Richard’s Purple Energy Shield, and Richard moved behind it to prepare a spell.
• The Energy Octopus exposed a huge eye on its back, whose ancient energy aged a metal platform and left Richard stunned.

Richard trapped High Spirit inside one of his bodies and negotiated a research exchange, securing one month of cooperation before promising to send it back with a comparable soul. The deal was made, and Richard left the body holding High Spirit behind as he flew away.

• High Spirit entered Richard's mouth and tried to consume him, but Richard shut it inside a specially prepared body.
• High Spirit struggled to escape, but Richard's golden magic patterns restrained it and he offered to trade its freedom for cooperation.
• Richard revealed that the captive was only one of his many bodies and that he could replace it if necessary.
• High Spirit agreed to remain for one month and help Richard and his subordinates with simple research in exchange for a soul of comparable strength.
• Richard confirmed that the month would begin immediately, declared the trade settled, and flew away while leaving the body containing High Spirit behind.