Chapter Summaries

Anvis arrived at the Pamir Mystery and Ruins Academy, learned about its credit system, and declined Pani’s offer to buy his credits by spending some on a residence. The chapter left him settled at the academy and newly curious about how the Pigeon communicated with him.

• Pani explained Pamir’s rules and offered to buy Anvis’s first-year credits, but Anvis questioned why he had been given such a thorough explanation.
• Pani recounted how a senior had warned him not to risk future consequences over a small credit transaction, and said he had sold half of his credits.
• Anvis and Pani reached the academy, where Anvis viewed the statue of Emperor Gloria and saluted its motto.
• The Pigeon told Anvis that he sensed its speech rather than hearing it, surprising him before Pani explained the motto’s meaning.
• Anvis toured the academy, collected his Identity Plate, exchanged 1,000 Gold Coins for 100 credits, and spent fifty credits on a year of independent second-level housing.

Pigeon struggled to type in the freezing street after its bag disappeared, growing hungry and numb as snow piled over its feathers. It ended by begging readers for votes so it could buy matches from The Little Match Girl and warm its claws.

• Pigeon dropped its bag and ran when two carriages hurtled toward it.
• Pigeon searched for the bag, but it vanished, forcing Pigeon to type with its claws.
• Pigeon typed alone in the snow as the street emptied, while hunger and cold weakened it.
• Pigeon crouched in a corner and rubbed its swollen claws until its wings froze stiff.
• Pigeon asked readers to cast votes so it could buy matches from The Little Match Girl.

Anvis completed his trade with Pani, learned more about Pamir Academy, and went to the Trading District to look for the Olbins Siblings. While browsing the stalls, he spotted an item that caught his attention.

• Anvis traded fifty Credit Points to Pani for two Magic Crystal Cards and received advice about academy courses and facilities.
• Pani and Anvis exchanged Identity Marks before Pani departed on his Floating Disc.
• Anvis explained to Pigeon that mystery drove Spellcasters’ pursuit of knowledge as they traveled to the Trading District.
• Anvis used the Mercury Eye to locate the Olbins Siblings, found them far apart, and decided to wait before seeking them out.
• Anvis examined the Trading District’s stalls and noticed an item that made him stop.

Anvis recognized a stall's Good Dream Lantern as a replica containing Nightmare Power and sought to connect with its maker, Emily. He learned that the true Nightmare Lantern could guide him through the Dream World and point toward the legendary Dead Sea Lantern.

• Anvis examined a Good Dream Lantern and recognized a trace of Nightmare Power inside it.
• Emily, a First-Rank Alchemist, explained the lantern's effects and declined to sell him its manufacturing method.
• Anvis offered Emily one thousand gold coins as a deposit and exchanged Identity Marks with her.
• Anvis introduced himself to the stall owner, who gave her name as Emily.
• Anvis recalled that the true Nightmare Lantern was a Key pointing toward the Dead Sea Lantern.

Anvis collected supplies and money from the Olivenndi Merchant Guild branch and arranged for spells to be loaded into his Spellbook before heading toward a planned encounter with the Olbins Siblings. Meanwhile, Hillyl told Obin she had traded all her Credit Points.

• Anvis decided that gaining Emily’s future assistance in the Dream World would be more valuable than obtaining the Nightmare Lantern itself.
• Anvis met Valen at the Olivenndi Merchant Guild branch and received the requested materials and 150,000 Imperial gold coins.
• Anvis asked Valen to load a list of spells into his Mithril Codex and send it to his academy residence.
• Anvis left the merchant guild and boarded a floating disc, planning to run into the Olbins Siblings.
• Obin asked Hillyl how many Credit Points she had traded, and Hillyl admitted she had traded them all.

Anvis joined Hillyl and Olbins in the trading district, revealed his identity as a son of Duke Carlras, and explained that a family prophecy had led him to seek out Olbins. He offered Olbins a retainer position and financial support, leaving the siblings to consider his proposal.

• Hillyl argued that exchanging Credit Points for Gold Coins would make them rich, but Olbins instead gave her fifty Credit Points after exchanging their Identity Marks.
• Anvis met Hillyl and Olbins and accompanied them to the trading district.
• Olbins asked Anvis whether he liked Hillyl, and Anvis said it was too soon to know.
• Anvis revealed that he was Anvis Lo Olivenndi, a direct member of the Olyvendi Family and the Fourth Son of Duke Carlras.
• Anvis said a family prophecy had named Olbins as someone destined for great accomplishments and offered him a retainer position, a monthly allowance, and help with enrollment expenses.

Anvis offered Olbins a nominal position as a Family Guest Elder in exchange for sharing his research, and hinted that every new student at Pamir without noble ties was exceptional. Olbins concluded that he and Hillyl had little choice but to accept, while Anvis returned to the Academy, earned his first Credit Points, and settled into his residence.

• Anvis offered to waive Olbins and Hillyl’s tuition and fund their research in exchange for first access to Olbins’s discoveries, and Olbins asked for time to consider.
• Anvis warned Olbins and Hillyl that no Pamir student admitted without a noble background was ordinary, then gave Hillyl a ring for a discount at the Olivenndi Merchant Guild.
• After Anvis left, Olbins told Hillyl that refusing the offer could have serious consequences and that his request for time was only a matter of decorum.
• Anvis reasoned that supporting Olbins would benefit him regardless, since Olbins’s future research could make Constructs a threat to powerful professionals.
• Anvis returned to the Mission Hall, posted a task to buy Credit Points, completed a task for Dark Stone Hearts, and returned to his new Second-Class Residence.

Anvis’s choice of the Mystery School prompted Duke Carlot’s concern, while a secretive group ordered surveillance of his research. Anvis then secured Olbins as a Family Guest Elder with a powerful contract, complicating Veronica’s plans to make Olbins her disciple.

• Duke Carlot questioned Anvis’s choice to enroll in the Mystery and Ruins Academy’s Mystery School, but Duchess Elena defended him.
• A cloaked figure visited the Moist Cat Tavern, where the owner sent a coded message after the customer left.
• A shadowy leader ordered the Dark Side to watch Anvis’s daily actions and research, then questioned the black-robed messenger’s loyalty to the Empire.
• Anvis studied the Mercury Prophecy Book, practiced prophecy spells, explored the academy, and maintained his daily training routine.
• Anvis met Olbins and his siblings and had Olbins sign a high-level contract granting him Family Guest Elder status in the Olyvendi Family.
• Anvis used the contract to make it harder for Veronica to recruit Olbins as her Direct Disciple without negotiating with him.

Anvis attended Pamir Academy’s enrollment ceremony, then discovered that the Mystery Academy tower had trapped him in a Reality Mirror test. Older students watched his arrival through projections, eager to see how he would handle the challenge.

• Anvis gave Olbins a Low-Rank Space Ring containing two thousand Gold Coins as a meeting gift, and Olbins accepted it for Hillyl to carry.
• Anvis went to Pamir Academy’s enrollment ceremony, where vice principal Hughes Duman officially welcomed the new students.
• After the ceremony, Anvis entered the High Tower of the Mystery and Ruins Academy and sensed that its empty interior was isolated from the outside world.
• Anvis recognized the situation as a Reality Mirror effect and found that the tower gates would not open, so he headed upstairs to investigate.
• Upper Grade Students watched the tower tests through Magic Projections and commented as Anvis appeared in the latest projection.

Anvis ignored the tower’s mental suggestion and headed for the Mystery Great Library, where he hoped to find rumored mysterious items. He detected a dream-based trap blocking the library corridor and began casting a spell to counter it.

• Students watching the welcome ceremony debated how long Anvis would take to escape the High Tower, and Yani wagered that he would need two Magic Hours.
• Anvis noticed the tower’s mental suggestion guiding new students upward, resisted it, and changed course toward the Mystery Great Library.
• The other two new students headed toward the top floor and wasted time in corridors with traps that sent them back to their starting points.
• Anvis reached the corridor to the library, examined its trap with his Mercury Eye, and identified it as dream magic.
• Anvis began casting Reality Stabilization Art to counter the trap, drawing the students’ attention and teasing remarks toward Yani.

Anvis opened the Great Library’s doors and faced a Lesser Nightmare, which he quickly identified and banished with dream Magic. His success impressed the students watching from the tower, who began to regard him as an equal.

• Anvis dispelled the corridor trap and paused before the library doors, sensing an unknown presence behind them.
• Anvis asked the Pigeon to scout through the doors, and it reported a strange black mass inside.
• Anvis opened the doors and found a writhing Nightmare, while students watching through a Crystal Ball speculated about the creature.
• Anvis recognized the Lesser Nightmare and cast Nightmare Banishing, driving it back into the Dream World.
• The watching students praised Anvis’s strength, knowledge, and judgment, and some began considering befriending him.

Anvis explored the Mystery Great Library in the Mirror Space, found two hidden books, and uncovered extra trial rewards inside them. The trial recognized his keen eyes and prepared to return him to the outside world with a higher reading permission level.

• Anvis avoided the obvious rewards and searched the library, discovering a black Stone Book and a bone book whose auras differed from the other displays.
• Anvis opened both books and found a metal plate and a paper slip hidden inside each, with the slips together spelling “keen eyes.”
• Older students watching Anvis’s projection debated his choices, and one explained that the Mirror Space’s fake books helped him identify objects with real mysterious power.
• Anvis returned the books to their shelves, memorized their locations, and went to inspect the rewards on the table.
• The trial announced that Anvis could raise his Mystery Great Library reading permission by placing a metal plate on his Identity Plate, then revealed an extra congratulatory message for finding the two books.

Anvis passed the Mystic-type welcome Ritual quickly and received a perfect evaluation from his mentor, Nancy Campbell. After she announced the new students’ rewards, Anvis got first choice from a collection of magical items and began inspecting them.

• Anvis used the three Nameplates to raise his Mystery Great Library access to Level Four, then appeared at the tower’s summit as the first student to pass the welcome Ritual.
• Anvis introduced himself to the older students and watched the Magic Shadow Crystal Ball show other new students making their way through the tower trial.
• Val, Pekala, and Lona eventually joined Anvis at the summit, where Nancy Campbell introduced herself as their Seventh Rank Mystic Scholar mentor.
• Nancy praised Anvis’s performance and commended Lona for choosing another path after failing the Curiosities Exhibition Room trial.
• Nancy rated Anvis’s evaluation perfect, Lona’s excellent, and Waka and Pekala’s average, then offered the four students their choice of a magical item from the ruins.
• Anvis received first pick and began examining the items hovering before him.

Anvis chose a Hess Crystal ball during the welcoming ceremony, then learned the academy’s rules, graduation requirements, and tuition agreements. After Lona signed a service contract and the ceremony ended, class leader Gallup invited the new students to lunch.

• Anvis selected a crystal ball made from Hess Crystal, and Lona and the other new students chose their own items.
• Nancy explained that students could graduate after five years by passing an assessment and earning enough Credit Points, then offered a paid tuition option or a tuition-free contract requiring one hundred years of service.
• Lona chose the tuition-free option and signed the academy contract, while Anvis and the other two students chose to pay their own tuition.
• Nancy announced that classes would begin at 8 a.m. the next day, declared the ceremony over, and vanished.
• Gallup introduced himself as the class leader and invited the four new students to lunch, while a blue-haired girl revealed that the academy would cover the cost.

Anvis discovered that the Old Days Secret Scripture had opened three pages and granted him three new abilities. The pages described a strange trade involving purple gemstones, a secluded harbor, and slaves, but he could not decipher their meaning.

• Gallup treated Anvis, Lona, and their companions to a meal at the academy's high-level restaurant, where senior students tried to befriend them.
• Anvis heard a strange whisper linked to the Old Days Secret Scripture and abruptly left the gathering.
• At his residence, Anvis activated the scripture, which transformed the room and opened three pages of its main text.
• Anvis read cryptic passages about evil servants, greedy merchants and nobles, a rational mage, and a ship carrying enslaved people.
• Anvis discovered that the scripture had granted him Flesh Avatar, Old Days Majesty, and Twisted Seed.

Anvis attended his first Mystery and Ruins Academy lesson, where Mystic Tutor Nancy took the students to explore a real ruin. After teleporting to a rocky valley, the class entered a deep fissure under Nancy’s protection, while Anvis kept watch on Claire and his fellow students.

• Anvis considered using a Twisted Seed against Olbins but abandoned the idea because Brentz could sense the plot.
• Pigeon said the Old Days Secret Scripture felt unlike anything it had seen, like a drop of ink on white paper.
• Anvis went to the Starry Sky Auditorium and spotted Claire, a solitary Half-Elf student reading an ancient mystic tome.
• Nancy teleported the students to a rocky valley and led them toward a dark fissure.
• Nancy cast Spell Maximize Light Body Art on the students and jumped into the fissure, followed by the class.

Anvis and Nancy led the Pamir students into a newly discovered High Elf city from the Ancient Golden Era, where Nancy taught them how to examine its ruins. The group reached the Central Plaza, and Nancy began addressing the students before the chapter ended.

• Anvis used Dark Vision to survey the fissure’s depths as the students reached the bottom and Nancy illuminated the ruins.
• Nancy explained the city’s history and warned the students that carelessness was the greatest danger in ruins.
• Nancy guided the students along Central Avenue and showed them how to inspect the High Elf buildings before one fragile structure collapsed.
• Anvis approached the golden-haired Half-Elf girl he suspected was Claire, exchanged an awkward greeting with her, and then continued examining the ruins.
• The group reached the Central Plaza, where Nancy gathered the students beside the ruined fountain and began speaking.

During free exploration of the elven ruins, Anvis secretly followed Claire, expecting her luck to lead to something valuable. When a house she entered collapsed, Anvis headed there to stage a chance encounter, while Pekala hurried after him and tripped.

• Nancy began the free-exploration phase and told the students to return when the light orb turned golden.
• Anvis used an Arcane Eye to track Claire as she explored the residential district instead of the City Lord's Mansion.
• Claire entered a dilapidated house, and part of its roof collapsed with a loud crash.
• Anvis headed toward the house, using the collapse as an excuse to meet Claire by chance.
• Pekala, hoping to connect with Anvis, rushed after him and stumbled.

Anvis followed Claire’s footprints into a hidden passage beneath the collapsed building and caught up with her. Pekala joined them, and the three prepared to explore a passage Claire warned might still be dangerous.

• Anvis found a fresh fissure and ancient stairs, then used a flame to confirm Claire had entered the passage.
• Claire heard someone approaching, hid with Veil of Invisibility, and recognized Anvis when he arrived.
• Pekala entered the passage and introduced herself to Anvis and Claire.
• Claire warned that the passage had not been cleared and could contain dangers, but Anvis said he wanted to continue in search of possible gains.
• Anvis assessed Claire as Third Rank and Pekala as First Order.

Claire, Anvis, and Pekala explored an ancient corridor that appeared to lead toward the noble district, then found their way blocked by an anti-magic metal gate. Unable to open it directly, Claire proposed digging through the surrounding rock and asked Anvis and Pekala to help.

• Claire lit two Brass Lanterns, gave one to Anvis, and led the group deeper into the corridor with Pekala between them.
• Pekala suggested the corridor led toward the noble district, and she and Anvis imagined it might have been a secret passage used by lovers.
• Claire used Manipulate Earth and Stone to clear several collapses, allowing the group to reach the corridor's far end.
• Claire found that the dark metal gate resisted her Mana, and her corrosive alchemical liquid barely affected it.
• Claire proposed using Fossil to Mud to bypass the gate through the surrounding rock and called on Anvis and Pekala to help.