Chapter Summaries

After transmigrating into the doomed young master Lanchi, the game's chief artist resolved to avoid provoking Talia and live peacefully. He discovered that his drunken predecessor had already shot and eaten Talia's familiar, Dark Dove, putting him on course for the feud he hoped to prevent.

• Lanchi woke in his new body and recalled that Talia would kill the original Lanchi after he provoked her and stole her family relic.
• Lanchi decided to avoid Talia, stop drinking, and leave her safely beyond his family's territory.
• Lanchi greeted his frightened maid calmly and learned that his father was waiting for him in the dining room.
• Lanchi's father told him the roasted pigeon at breakfast was the one Lanchi had shot down the previous day.
• Lanchi recognized the pigeon as Talia's familiar, Dark Dove, and ate it while considering how to handle the evidence.

Lanchi asked the butler to smooth over the trouble caused by shooting down a pigeon and to secretly find Talia, then painted her portrait. The painting drained his mana and proved to be an Epic artwork; after waking, Lanchi found the butler had located Talia and that the portrait had been hung in his room.

• Lanchi asked the butler to handle the witnesses to the pigeon shooting and secretly search for a gray-haired, gold-eyed woman, offering to draw her portrait.
• Lanchi went to the study and painted Talia, astonishing the maid with his skill and realizing that painting could connect to Magic Card making.
• The maid warned Lanchi that painting consumed his mana, so he stopped after completing the portrait and told her to give it to the butler and keep it inside the estate.
• The maid used Appraisal Magic on the painting and discovered it was an Epic artwork that restored a little energy and increased favorability toward Talia.
• Lanchi woke in the afternoon to find a letter from the butler with information about Talia's whereabouts and her portrait displayed in his room.

Lanchi used a paid contract to bring Talia, the Demon Race Princess who wanted to kill him, into his protection detail. Talia accepted three pounds a day to guard him while she remained in the city, unaware that she herself was the person he feared would kill him.

• Lanchi pretended to feed stray cats near Talia and offered her the leftover chicken in exchange for keeping the bigger cats from bullying the smaller ones.
• Talia returned Lanchi's lunchbox the next morning, insisting that returning it was outside the terms of their deal.
• Lanchi privately offered Talia a new contract to watch for suspicious people near his home and protect him from an assassin.
• Talia questioned why Lanchi needed her when his household had guards, and he said he could not fully trust people close to him.
• Lanchi offered Talia three pounds a day for protection, and she accepted the contract and took his checkbook and pen.
• Lanchi walked away, amused that Talia did not know she was the person he wanted protection from.

Lanchi visited the Border City-State Library and spent the day studying the Hutton Kingdom Code, believing legal knowledge was essential to surviving in a new country. He left with plans to study Magical Engineering next and investigate mental and curse magic.

• Lanchi walked to the Border City-State Library after buying breakfast, pleased that Talia's murderous intent had been resolved.
• Lanchi obtained a library card, found the latest Hutton Kingdom Code, and began studying the kingdom's laws.
• Lanchi spent the day reading while library workers whispered about his looks and his reputation as the Wilford Family's spoiled young master.
• Lanchi marked his place in the unfinished code and planned to study Magical Engineering, cults, mental spells, and fraud cases next.

After waiting all day for Lanchi, Talia refused his offer of dinner, though his descriptions of desserts tempted her and sparked thoughts of restoring her nation. Lanchi returned to the estate, where his father Noe summoned him to the study and reflected on his unexpected trip to the library.

• Talia waited outside the Border Library until Lanchi emerged with a copy of the Hutton Kingdom Code.
• Lanchi apologized for keeping Talia waiting and offered to treat her to dinner, but she refused and headed toward the estate.
• Lanchi tempted Talia with descriptions of the estate's food and desserts, and she wondered whether he could help her restore her nation before dismissing the thought.
• Lanchi followed Talia home, suspecting she secretly loved sweets despite her self-discipline.
• After dinner, Lanchi was summoned to Noe's study, where Noe was surprised to see him carrying a law book and worried about his possible interest in cultists.

Lanchi promised Noe he would pass the Alchemy Institute's entrance examination, while privately realizing that his family's merchant guild faced a deadly threat in the future. Noe agreed to send him to the royal capital, unaware that Lanchi planned to develop his talents and protect the family business.

• Noe confronted Lanchi about his reckless behavior and asked how he was preparing for the Alchemy Institute entrance examination.
• Lanchi realized his predecessor had never studied and recalled a future game quest about the Wilford Merchant Guild collapsing and its leaders being murdered.
• Lanchi decided he needed to investigate the family's danger and saw Iketerite Academy as a place to develop his card-making abilities and gain protection.
• Lanchi promised to pass the entrance examination, and Noe agreed to buy his train ticket to the royal capital if he kept studying.
• Noe doubted Lanchi could pass the examination, while Lanchi confidently promised to make his mark at the academy.

Lanchi secured Noe’s funding for the next three months by claiming he needed materials and a teacher to make Magic Cards. He planned to enter Iketerite Academy through a combat-focused institute instead of the Alchemy Institute, leaving his exact route to enrollment unresolved.

• Lanchi asked Noe for three months of funds to research Magic Cards, and Noe agreed after butler Hans vouched for his talent.
• Lanchi stopped Hans from showing Noe his portrait of Talia, avoiding a possible misunderstanding.
• Francine worried that Lanchi had deceived Noe about preparing for the Alchemy Institute’s examination, but Lanchi reassured her that he would study the rules.
• Lanchi read Iketerite Academy’s admissions guidebook and planned to apply to the Sage or Knight Institute, then change his application from the Alchemy Institute.
• Lanchi intended to make several Magic Cards with his own characteristics and combine them with cards bought on the market to pass the academy’s combat assessment.

Lanchi planned to return the borrowed grimoire, begin practicing Magic Card creation, and make arrangements with Talia before leaving for the royal capital. Talia continued guarding the estate while wondering whether she truly understood humans.

• Lanchi reviewed his Magic Engineering books and concluded that the subject came easily to him, though he doubted he could become a traditional mage.
• Lanchi decided to rent a Card Making Workshop and experiment with creating Magic Cards after his Mana recovered.
• Lanchi saw Talia guarding the estate and waved to her, while privately thinking she was several hundred years old by human standards.
• Talia ignored Lanchi's greeting and focused on protecting her employer, though she sensed he had been thinking something detestable.
• Talia reflected that her distrust of humans and her difficulty understanding them meant she still had much to learn to blend into human society and seek a chance to Restore the Nation.

Lanchi brought Talia to the Card Maker Association to rent a private workshop and begin making cards. He left her there to watch while he prepared to work.

• Lanchi met Talia, whom he called by her alias Tata, and walked with her to the Card Maker Association.
• Lanchi persuaded Talia to enter the association with him, offering to introduce her as his bodyguard.
• Lanchi rented an advanced private Card Making Workshop and ordered materials for making cards.
• The attendant delivered the materials, including Magic Scrolls, which Lanchi planned to use for practicing Spell Cards.
• Lanchi set out a chair for Talia, and she sat down to watch him make cards.

Lanchi spent two weeks teaching himself card making, repeatedly failing before creating a Purple Rare version of Mental Interference. The card’s effect made enemies kneel, and he decided to keep it as a life-saving card while Talia questioned whether it would actually protect him.

• Lanchi attempted to make a Magic Card from the Mental Interference scroll, but his first card exploded after he tried to improve the spell.
• Lanchi returned with books and materials, then spent the afternoon studying and recording his repeated failures while Talia watched.
• Over the next two weeks, Lanchi kept practicing in the workshop, but Talia assumed he lacked card-making talent.
• Lanchi successfully created a Purple Rare card named Basic Etiquette, which made enemies within three meters kneel before him.
• Talia asked whether Lanchi would sell the card, but he refused, calling it a useful life-saving card.

After Lanchi completed a Purple Rare Magic Card with an unusual effect, Talia recognized its potential to become universally useful and reshape combat. Lanchi offered to sell her his next copy after his exams, and Talia asked how much it would cost.

• Talia considered the Magic Card grades and was more surprised by Lanchi's card effect than by its Purple Rare quality.
• Talia asked Lanchi how old he was, and he said he would turn seventeen next year.
• Talia told Lanchi he was not too late to learn card making and called him a natural-born Magic Artisan.
• Talia said that if Lanchi could mass-produce his card, it could become universally useful and change the nature of battle.
• Lanchi offered to sell Talia his next copy after his exams, and Talia asked the price.

Lanchi asked Talia to teach him card making, and she agreed to train him up to Tier 2 in exchange for the cards he made. When he revealed he would soon travel to the royal capital for the Iketerite Academy Entrance Examination, he offered to arrange a legal identity for her, giving Talia a reason to continue protecting him.

• Lanchi said he needed a Card Making teacher to help him study Tier 2 Magic Cards and hoped Talia would borrow the Poem of Compassion and help him make it into a card.
• Lanchi praised Talia and proposed that she teach him card making while he shared the cards he created with her.
• Talia agreed to teach Lanchi up to Tier 2, and he accepted her limit.
• Lanchi told Talia he would travel to the royal capital in a little over a month to take the Iketerite Academy Entrance Examination and asked her to keep teaching and protecting him there.
• Lanchi offered to use the merchant guild's connections to create a legal identity for Talia by presenting her as household staff, and she was stunned by the prospect of gaining freedom in human lands.

After a month and a half of learning to make cards from Talia, Lanchi set off with her for the Royal Capital Ikelite to take the Entrance Examination. They left the household behind, while Lanchi narrowly kept Talia from learning that he had painted a portrait of her.

• Lanchi agreed to become Talia’s student, and she tacitly accepted being addressed as Teacher Tata.
• A month and a half later, Lanchi and Talia prepared to travel from South Wantina Border City-State to Royal Capital Ikelite for the Entrance Examination.
• Hans and Francine saw Lanchi off, and Hans asked Talia to look after him.
• Hans teased Lanchi about the portrait in his room, prompting him to claim it depicted a poor, pitiful old woman.
• The train arrived, and Lanchi boarded with Talia after bidding Hans and Francine farewell.

Lanchi and Talia traveled to Ikelite, where Lanchi planned to apply to the Sage Institute and take its entrance assessment. They arrived in the royal city and set out for the academy, while Talia remained uncertain what combat profession suited him.

• On the train, Lanchi asked Talia about Shadow Worlds, and she explained their dangers, rewards, and connection to Magic Cards.
• Lanchi and Talia arrived at Ikelite Central Station and left the train with his suitcase.
• They boarded a sightseeing carriage and traveled through Ikelite toward the academy.
• Lanchi explained that he had switched his intended application from the Alchemy Institute to the Sage Institute because his attributes made the Knight Institute a poor fit.
• Talia remained unsure how to classify Lanchi's combat profession and left the problem to the academy.

Lanchi and Talia arrived at Ikelite Magic Academy, where Lanchi switched his entrance examination application to the Sage Institute and completed an attribute assessment. After learning his strong mental potential let him pass the initial threshold, he registered for the combat simulation in two days while Talia remained puzzled by his claim to be a White Mage.

• Lanchi and Talia reached Ikelite Magic Academy and found the Student Service Center in the Learning and Education Building.
• Lanchi changed his intended institute from the Alchemy Institute to the Sage Institute and went upstairs for an attribute assessment.
• Teacher Theresa tested Lanchi and found exceptionally high mental growth potential, above-average stamina potential, and little talent in Mana or strength.
• Lanchi told Theresa that his profession was White Mage, and Talia reacted with disbelief because he seemed to sincerely believe it.
• Theresa issued Lanchi an Examination Bracelet and told him to bring it to the seventh floor for the combat simulation in two days.

Lanchi waited at Iketerite Magic Academy’s entrance examination, where Dean and chief examiner Loren Krantel explained the Shadow World test’s focus on wisdom and composure. The examinees entered the recreated Shadow World as the examination began broadcasting across the academy.

• Lanchi waited nervously at the examination venue, worrying that the live broadcast might draw attention to him.
• Loren Krantel introduced himself as the chief examiner and Dean of the Sage Institute, then explained that the examination tested wisdom and temperament.
• Loren described a past Tier 4 Shadow World accident in which seven students died after their arrogance led the mission astray.
• Loren explained that each examinee would face the same single-player Shadow World and had to clear it to pass.
• Loren activated the Artificial Shadow World Activation Terminal, and staff guided the examinees through the Void Gate as the giant screen began showing the examination.

Lanchi entered the Artificial Shadow World, where he had to help a family survive the winter after their magic furnace was stolen. He used the law to have the suspicious family arrested and the girl placed in the church’s care, while the examiners watched in disbelief.

• Lanchi read the Artificial Shadow World instructions and entered the snowy village in the Shadow World Hidden Flame of Winter.
• Lanchi assessed the mission’s restrictions and went to investigate the family whose magic furnace had been stolen.
• The examiners reviewed the other examinees’ approaches, including Frei sacrificing his clothes to help the family.
• Lanchi returned to the village chief’s house, read the code, and accused the couple of insulting nobility for failing to bow to him.
• Lanchi had the executioner detain the family and take the girl into the church’s care, believing the law would keep them warm through winter.
• The professors and chief examiner reacted with shock to Lanchi’s legal maneuver.

During the entrance examination broadcast, Lanchi Wilford cleared the Shadow World by arresting an entire family and then calmly waiting beside a fire, shocking the students watching. Talia feared his behavior would expose her connection to him, while chief examiner Loren questioned how Lanchi could pass the practical exam; the examination ended, and results were being calculated.

• Students watching the broadcast learned that Lanchi had fulfilled the Shadow World’s conditions after arresting a family, and they began speculating about him.
• Talia worried that being seen with Lanchi would draw suspicion and expose her identity, but she remembered her agreement to protect and teach him.
• Loren became angry that Lanchi’s actions seemed to make the Benevolent Holy Emperor look foolish, then wondered how a student with such weak magic could pass the practical exam.
• The examination ended, the last examinees exited the Artificial Shadow World, and Loren closed the Void Gate.
• The terminal began calculating the results as qualified examinees waited in the courtyard.

Lanchi finished the second-round examination in under ten minutes, but his unusual method caused the Artificial Shadow World Activation Terminal to malfunction while it calculated the candidates’ scores. Dean Loren announced that the results would be evaluated manually and that the third-round practical examination would take place the day after tomorrow.

• Hughberlian asked Lanchi how long he took, and he claimed it was less than fifty minutes rather than reveal his actual time.
• Hughberlian considered the risks of being assigned weak teammates for the third-round examination and silently vowed to take revenge on those conspiring against her.
• Frei wondered why the other candidates measured their completion times in minutes, since he had solved the examination in seven seconds by pawning the target family's belongings.
• Loren reviewed the candidates’ times and realized that Lanchi had arrested the entire target family in about nine minutes and fifty-three seconds.
• The Artificial Shadow World Activation Terminal malfunctioned while calculating scores, and Loren shut it down before finding it would not restart.
• Loren announced that the candidates’ second-round results would be evaluated manually and that they would receive their third-round arrangements before the end of the day.

The Sage Institute's teachers debated how to rank Lanchi after he completed the simulated Shadow World in an unconventional way, recognizing his academic insight but worrying about his lack of combat ability. Vice Principal Ron tentatively placed him first, a position that could put him on a team with Duke Miss Hughberlian and expose him to Ferrat's scrutiny in the third round.

• The teachers argued over how to score Lanchi after he ignored the intended scoring points and solved the artificial Shadow World through an unusual interpretation of benevolence and righteousness.
• Vice Principal Ron acknowledged the academic significance of Lanchi's approach and led the teachers toward treating him as a promising research scholar.
• Ron tentatively concluded that Lanchi ranked ahead of Duke Miss Hughberlian and would therefore take first place.
• Teacher Theresa tried to warn that first place could leave Lanchi vulnerable as a teammate for Hughberlian, but Ferrat insisted that Lanchi should rank first.
• Ferrat said he would assess the top-ranked students and screen out those he considered unqualified, while Ron recognized that Lanchi's poor combat talent could make him vulnerable in the third round.