Chapter Summaries

Dempsey explained that the Wizard World was dangerous and that White Stone Tower would test and eliminate weak apprentices, while promising great power and rewards to those who survived. Richard joined the looting of the pirate ship and found two dead pirates with unexplained wounds, suspecting an invisible weapon had killed them.

• Dempsey told the students that the pirate attack had been an elimination test and that future tests could kill those who failed.
• Dempsey demonstrated the destructive power of Purple Flame and said surviving Wizards could gain power, wealth, and other rewards.
• Dempsey gave the students permission to loot the pirate ship as spoils of their victory, and they hurried aboard.
• Richard followed the others onto the pirate ship, where he found the pirate captain and a one-eyed old man dead with small holes in their foreheads.
• Richard examined the corpses and guessed that an invisible weapon, such as an ice spike or Air Arrow, had killed them.

Richard searched the pirate ship’s lower cabins and found a captive woman, whom Nancy claimed as a maid after Richard agreed to let her have her. As Richard left, he caught a strange scent near the stairs to the deck.

• Richard examined two dead pirate officers and concluded that a Wizard had probably killed them with a powerful air attack.
• Richard searched the ship’s lower cabins, finding spoiled provisions, liquor, and a prison at the deepest level.
• Richard found a wounded captive woman and considered whether to save her as several students arrived and eyed her.
• Nancy arrived, asked Richard to give her the woman as a maid, and offered him a favor in return.
• Richard agreed to let Nancy take the woman, then smelled something strange as he climbed toward the deck.

Richard discovered hidden parchments revealing the recipe for One-Eye's Frenzy Potion and considered how to study and use it. The chapter ended with Richard and four Wizards separately wondering how to proceed.

• Richard found a hidden compartment in a pirate cabin and took its two parchments and several bottles of powder.
• Richard read that the old parchment described the Spartan Heroic Potion, while the newer one gave a weakened recipe called One-Eye's Frenzy Potion.
• Richard deduced that One-Eye had developed the potion from the recipe and used it to win the pirate captain's favor.
• Richard considered studying the potion and using its effects alongside the Crystal Skull's Mental Shock against enemies.
• Richard wondered how to begin his research, while four Wizards aboard the giant ship asked themselves the same question.

The Wizards debated how many recruits to sacrifice in further tests, dismissing Richard as unlikely to become a Wizard. Richard studied the One-Eye's Frenzy Potion and discovered it required Rainbow Bird Purified Blood, then went to the deck after hearing the Wizards had called everyone for another test.

• Dempsey said the tests should continue until the recruits were reduced by a third or half, and ordered that talented students such as Nancy receive some protection.
• Dempsey dismissed Richard's swordsmanship as insufficient to make up for his low or nonexistent talent, while Siver fell silent.
• Richard realized he could not brew the One-Eye's Frenzy Potion without Rainbow Bird Purified Blood and planned to search the deck for the creature.
• Gelo told Richard that the Wizards had called everyone to the deck for what might be another test, and Richard went up with him.

Wizard Dempsey drew a flock of valuable Griffin Seven-Colored Birds to the ship for an unofficial test, and the students began trying to capture them. Richard suspected the birds were the Rainbow Birds from One-Eye’s parchment but set aside his doubts; the chapter ended when someone behind him offered to lend him a sword.

• Richard joined the students on the dark deck and heard Wizard Dempsey announce an unofficial second test.
• Dempsey created a golden light that attracted hundreds of Griffin Seven-Colored Birds, then explained their value and invited the students to catch them.
• The students began attacking the birds, while Richard suspected they were the Rainbow Birds described on One-Eye’s parchment.
• Richard decided to confirm the birds’ identity before pursuing his unease about the apparent coincidence.
• Someone behind Richard offered to lend him a sword.

Richard noticed Nancy acting unusually warm, then hunted Griffin Seven-Colored Birds with her and collected their blood. In his cabin, he separated the blood into two liquids and identified one as the core ingredient in One-Eye's Frenzy Potion, while the other remained unexplained.

• Nancy offered Richard a sword, and he used it to kill a Griffin Seven-Colored Bird and collect its blood.
• Nancy proposed that they hunt together, taking the feathers while Richard kept everything else, and they killed more than twenty birds.
• Nancy gave Richard a sack of feathers and offered him the sword, but Richard returned it after she could not explain the gift.
• Richard went to his cabin and processed the collected blood using the procedure for One-Eye's Frenzy Potion.
• Richard identified the light yellow liquid as Rainbow Bird Purified Blood and found that the deep blue liquid was an impurity that worsened the potion's effects.

Richard tested two potions on rats, finding that One-Eye's Frenzy Potion made one rat aggressive and insensitive to pain while his Unknown Potion made another fearful and quick to dodge. He suspected the potions affected pain and danger signals differently, but left to gather more subjects and test his theory further.

• Richard considered using sleeping Pandora as a test subject but decided she was too unresponsive.
• Richard brought two rats to his cabin and gave the larger one One-Eye's Frenzy Potion and the smaller one his Unknown Potion.
• The larger rat became agitated, ignored pain, and viciously attacked Richard's scalpel until he killed it.
• The smaller rat trembled and repeatedly dodged the scalpel, even as Richard increased his speed.
• Richard theorized that the yellow potion weakened pain and danger signals while the blue potion heightened fear and alertness, then left to conduct more experiments.

Richard discovered that the deep blue extract in the Griffin Seven-Colored Bird blood dramatically increased reaction speed by transmitting signals through a special substance beyond the nervous system. He left the chapter with a theory for how the potion worked, though he had not yet confirmed its mechanism.

• Richard ran repeated experiments on mice and found that the extract accelerated neural signal transmission, letting them react faster.
• Richard realized the extract One-Eye had dismissed as an impurity was more valuable than One-Eye's Frenzy Potion.
• Richard considered how the extract might speed signal transmission through nerve fibers or neurotransmitters, then decided to test it on himself.
• Richard drank increasing amounts of Richard's Unknown Potion and sensed its effects with his Mental Strength.
• Richard suspected the potion created a temporary substance that carried signals along faster routes than the nervous system.

Richard studied a spell that could increase reaction speed and used Pandora to test his Unknown Potion through a hand-slapping game. Pandora failed to hit him, accused him of cheating, and went back to sleep, while Richard left the cabin.

• Richard found Pierce's Nerve Sensitivity Technique in the Chapter of Munro and drank his Unknown Potion while considering how to test its effects.
• Richard invited Pandora to play a hand-slapping game and dodged her first four attempts.
• Pandora used nearly all her strength on her final attempt, missed Richard, and fell from the bed, breaking a decorative wheel.
• Richard explained that Pandora needed to move quickly with less force, but Pandora accused him of cheating and went back to sleep.
• Richard shook his head and walked out of the cabin.

Richard tested how the Unknown Potion affected attacks by playing a slap game with Gelo, then met Nancy practicing swordsmanship on the deck. Nancy revealed that she was a princess of Oren and that her father had agreed to make her the future wife of the Blue Lion Kingdom's king's youngest son.

• Richard tested the potion's effects on attacking by playing more than three hundred rounds of the slap game with Gelo, winning every round and leaving Gelo's hand badly swollen.
• Richard went to the deck before dawn and found Nancy practicing swordsmanship.
• Richard asked Nancy why she practiced swordsmanship despite her talent for magic, and Nancy suggested that he was hiding a secret.
• Nancy told Richard she was a princess of the small Oren Kingdom, which had suffered invasions and unfair treaties imposed by the Blue Lion Kingdom.
• Nancy explained that the Blue Lion Kingdom's King Donas demanded she become the future wife of his youngest son as a child hostage, and she revealed that her father had agreed.

Nancy told Richard how she had worked to escape an arranged marriage and become strong, then asked him to serve as her attendant once she became a Wizard. Richard left the offer undecided and returned to the cabin to record his findings about the Trial Keen Potion.

• Nancy explained that she had awakened her Wizard talent to avoid being forced to marry the Blue Lion Kingdom’s prince, and said she did not regret her efforts.
• Richard told Nancy that the prince had died after being eaten by a Fire-breathing Dragon, and she reacted with satisfaction.
• Nancy and Richard practiced swordsmanship, and Richard blocked her attacks before defeating her and pressing his blade to her neck.
• Richard concluded that the Trial Keen Potion made him nearly invincible while defending in close combat and considered combining it with Pierce's Nerve Sensitivity Technique.
• Nancy asked Richard to become her attendant when she became a Wizard, and Richard said he would decide later.
• Richard returned to the cabin to organize his potion data and record it on a Papyrus Scroll.

Richard completed and tested a spell ring that enhanced his physical abilities, then meditated out of his body and observed the varying success rates of apprentices and Wizards. He continued exploring the ship while the others slept or meditated.

• Richard engraved Wind Brute Force onto the Silver-White Ring, named it Ring No.1, and tested its strength-enhancing effect.
• Richard chose Wind Agility and Pierce's Mental Sensitivity as future additions to the ring, then rested while Pandora slept.
• Richard's consciousness left his body and floated through the cabins, where he saw Nancy asleep.
• Richard reached the deck and observed Wizard Apprentices meditating out of their bodies.
• Richard recalled that out-of-body meditation succeeded more often for higher-level apprentices and Wizards.

Richard considered why his consciousness could leave his body and travel freely, unlike everyone else's, then secretly listened as four Wizards discussed arranging a dangerous elimination test. The discussion was interrupted by a sudden impact against the cabin door.

• Richard compared his unrestricted perception and movement outside his body with the severe limits other apprentices and Wizards faced.
• Richard wondered whether his unusual abilities came from his transmigrated consciousness and the deeper principles of the world.
• Richard floated into the cabin where Dempsey, Siver, Quinton, and Louis discussed the next elimination test.
• Dempsey insisted that they must arrange a test within three days and eliminate some poor students, despite Louis and Siver's objections.
• Something struck the cabin door with a bang, and the four Wizards demanded to know who was outside.

Death Knell Birds warned the Wizards that a dangerous spellstorm was approaching the ship, and Dempsey turned it into a test for the students. As schools of glowing fish fled across the sea, Richard anticipated that the storm’s threat would soon appear.

• Death Knell Birds struck the ship, and Dempsey concluded that a spellstorm and a greater danger were approaching.
• Dempsey ordered the Wizards’ apprentices to wake the students and prepare them for the test, while Richard returned to his body and joined the crowd on deck.
• Richard told Gelo to stay close, and Nancy gave Richard a longsword and told him to stay near her for protection.
• Schools of brightly colored fish swam past the ship, and Richard realized they were fleeing from the approaching storm.

Richard and the others witnessed strange signs at sea before Wizard Dempsey warned that Sirens would attack during a powerful storm and become the next test. The storm struck, and the first Siren climbed onto the ship’s deck.

• A huge school of flying fish rushed past the ship, and Richard recognized them as ordinary fish fleeing danger.
• The ocean fell eerily silent after the flying fish disappeared, leaving the people on deck frightened and confused.
• Wizard Dempsey announced that Sirens could create storms, declared them the next test, and urged the students to kill them for valuable fangs.
• A violent storm hit the ship with heavy rain and hail, and black shapes approached through the waves.
• The first Siren climbed onto the deck and revealed itself to the crowd.

Sirens attacked the ship’s deck, and Richard fought one while the wizard apprentices helped the frightened students hold back the creatures. Richard lured his Siren toward the deck’s edge, where a wave surged over him and the creature.

• A Siren split a student’s abdomen open, and more Sirens climbed aboard and began killing people.
• Richard rescued Gelo from an attacking Siren and tested its defenses with repeated sword strikes.
• Dempsey ordered the wizard apprentices to help, and their spells wounded and held back half the Sirens.
• The students gathered courage and joined the fight as Sirens continued to kill people across the deck.
• Richard provoked his Siren into charging him toward the deck’s edge, just as a wave rose behind him.

Richard and the others defeated the first wave of Sirens, but a group of much larger Elite Sirens boarded the deck. The apprentices struggled to damage them, and Robin prepared to use Wood Magic to trap one.

• Richard activated Wind Brute Force three times and killed a Siren by stabbing through its body.
• Richard and Nancy fought together while Gelo finished off fallen Sirens and pulled their teeth.
• Nancy restrained a deep blue Siren with vines, allowing Richard to pierce its heart and kill it.
• After the last ordinary Siren fell, several Elite Sirens climbed onto the deck, and Dempsey gave no response to the group's alarm.
• An Elite Siren shrugged off the apprentices' attacks, and Robin and the others agreed to try trapping it with Wood Magic.

Robin restrained many Elite Sirens with a green-stone spell, but they broke free and killed several people before another apprentice froze them. Richard fought an Elite Siren alone and struck the same spot on its lower limb three times, making it wail.

• The Elite Sirens charged Robin after one of them roared, and Robin shattered a green stone to bind many of them with vines.
• Richard dodged an Elite Siren that targeted him and learned that its defenses were far stronger than an ordinary Siren's.
• Robin struggled to hold the Elite Sirens while they attacked, and several people died amid the chaos.
• A thin Wizard Apprentice used a Blue Bracelet to freeze the Elite Sirens temporarily, while a female apprentice killed one with an Ice Spear.
• Richard struck the same spot on his opponent's lower limb three times, and the Elite Siren responded with a wail.

Richard and Nancy killed the Elite Siren by blinding it and severing its spine, while the Wizard Apprentices defeated the remaining Sirens on the deck. As the exhausted survivors wondered whether the test was over, a sudden bang interrupted them.

• Richard and Nancy fought the Elite Siren together, and Richard struck its eyes to blind it.
• Richard used Ring No.1 to sever the Elite Siren’s spine, leaving it paralyzed.
• Richard saw that Robin and the other apprentices had stabilized the main battlefield, though many ordinary students had died.
• The last Elite Siren was killed, and the exhausted survivors waited to see whether the test had ended.
• A curse rang out from the crowd, followed by a bang.

Dempsey and the other Wizards defeated the Siren Leader, ended the storm, and announced that the surviving students had passed the third test. After the students buried their dead and cleared the deck, someone spotted something in the sea.

• The Siren Leader climbed onto the deck, and Dempsey told the panicked students that the Wizards would handle it.
• Siver, Louis, and Quinton pinned the Siren Leader with Rainwater Spears while Siver removed its four unusual fangs.
• Dempsey killed the Siren Leader with an Energy Arrow, and he and the other Wizards dispersed the storm clouds.
• Dempsey declared the third test over and told the survivors to collect their rewards and clean the deck.
• The students buried their dead at sea, discarded the Siren corpses, and finished cleaning the deck.
• Someone pointed toward the sea and asked what they were seeing.