Chapter Summaries

Lanchi and Hughberlian were assigned as teammates for Ikelite Academy’s combat and survival exam, but their third teammate withdrew after apparent pressure from noble schemers. Lanchi welcomed the prospect of being bribed so he could collect evidence and report the interference, leaving Hughberlian and Theresa stunned by his legal-minded plan.

• Lanchi walked to Ikelite Academy with Talia, who remained cold and reluctant to accompany him.
• At the exam venue, Lanchi discovered that his teammate was Hughberlian Aransal, and they introduced themselves to each other and Teacher Theresa.
• Hughberlian predicted that their third teammate would withdraw because powerful nobles wanted to undermine her exam.
• Theresa received notice that the third teammate had transferred academies and withdrawn, and Hughberlian said the apparent accident was designed to leave no evidence of interference.
• Lanchi regretted missing the chance to be bribed, then explained that he would collect evidence, donate the money, and use the Hutton Codex to report the schemers to the Goddess of Fate Church.
• Hughberlian realized she had misjudged Lanchi, while Theresa was left speechless.

Lanchi and Hughberlian entered a deadly adjusted Shadow World examination on the Ilyavin Great Plains, where a Tier 5 pursuer would hunt them across open terrain. Hughberlian questioned Lanchi’s calm resolve, and he said he could not fail because his father would scold him.

• Theresa warned Lanchi and Hughberlian that their examiner, Ferrat Chavenson, was extremely strict before leading them to the Void Gate.
• Lanchi and Hughberlian entered Infinite Phantom Canyon and learned that their pursuer was Tier 5, their starting distance had been cut to one-third, and they had to survive for thirty minutes.
• The pair arrived on the Ilyavin Great Plains and realized the open terrain left them little chance of escaping the pursuer.
• Hughberlian asked Lanchi why he was not withdrawing, and he replied that his father would scold him if he failed the exam.

Lanchi and Hughberlian faced Examiner Ferrat on the open plains during their first examination, despite the overwhelming gap in their strength. Ferrat ordered Lanchi to withdraw, but Lanchi challenged him to follow the examination rules, leaving Ferrat stunned.

• The Sage Institute teachers watched Lanchi and Hughberlian confront Ferrat and recognized that the powerful examiner had a decisive advantage.
• Hughberlian explained that Ferrat was an enemy of her family who relied on powerful spells and Magic Cards.
• Lanchi asked Hughberlian to hold Ferrat off while trusting him to provide support.
• Ferrat stopped nearby in the sky and ordered Lanchi to withdraw from the examination.
• Lanchi cited Article 13, which required him to fight alongside his teammate, and asked Ferrat whether he had even read the rules.

Lanchi used an unconventional Purple Rare Spell Card to stop Ferrat’s Tier 3 area spell. The teachers discovered the card did not silence Ferrat temporarily but inflicted the Mute status, leaving him unable to speak or chant.

• Ferrat began casting a sustained flame spell to kill Lanchi and Hughberlian.
• Hughberlian warned Lanchi that Ferrat’s spell could overwhelm them, while Lanchi prepared a Spell Card based on Talia’s teachings.
• Lanchi used the card to interrupt Ferrat’s incantation, and the teachers initially assumed it was a brief silence effect.
• Ferrat remained unable to speak for several seconds, surprising the teachers and revealing that Lanchi’s card inflicted Mute through curse and poison.

Teachers at the Sage Institute realized Lanchi’s Friendly Exchange card could make Silent Casting essential, while the exam battle shifted as Hughberlian wounded the silenced Ferrat with her poisoned dagger. Ferrat remained furious and dangerous, and the fight continued with Lanchi and Hughberlian still facing a large tier disadvantage.

• Vice Principal Ron concluded that Friendly Exchange would spread widely and considered recruiting Lanchi to the Sage Institute to protect him and investigate the card.
• Ron examined Lanchi’s sparse résumé and reasoned that his low-tier healing cards and functional spells could make him an unusually effective support.
• The teachers watched the battle and judged that Ferrat’s Tier 5 advantage still left Lanchi and Hughberlian with little chance of winning.
• Hughberlian used an invisible decoy to ambush Ferrat, then threw her poisoned Scorpion Tail Dagger when she could not pierce his heart.
• Ferrat dodged the dagger but took a cut to his cheek and was poisoned, while Lanchi’s Silence effect prevented him from purifying himself.

Hughberlian pressed Ferrat with her Purgatory Scorpion Tail while the Sage Institute teachers discussed her strengths and the team support Lanchi could provide. Ferrat remained wary of both examinees as the teachers waited to see what cards Lanchi would reveal.

• Hughberlian recalled the Purgatory Scorpion Tail to her hand after her ambush failed, and Ferrat assessed the danger of being drawn into a prolonged fight.
• The Sage Institute teachers examined Hughberlian's Pink Divine weapon and discussed how her fragile, physical-assassin build could benefit from support.
• Vice Principal Ron suggested that Lanchi could support Hughberlian with summons or enhancement effects, and the teachers wondered what cards remained in his deck.
• Ferrat watched Hughberlian for another stealth attack while keeping Lanchi in view, unsettled by Lanchi's calm demeanor.

Lanchi used a collection of failed healing spells to torment Ferrat instead of healing Hughberlian, leaving Ferrat in agony on the Ilyavin Great Plains. The teachers in the Conference Room realized Lanchi was deliberately provoking his opponent as the storm gathered overhead.

• Lanchi cast an Erroneous Slow Heal, accidentally—or deliberately—targeting Ferrat instead of Hughberlian.
• The terminal identified the spell as a failed healing card that restored health while inflicting intense pain whenever it did so.
• Vice Principal Ron and the teachers recognized that Lanchi could use the long-range, persistent healing effect to torture Ferrat.
• Lanchi stacked several more failed healing spells on Ferrat, who trembled and groaned in pain.
• Ferrat’s fury grew as he endured the spells beneath the approaching storm.

Lanchi fled Ferrat while Hughberlian stalled the furious examiner, but Ferrat broke through and closed in on Lanchi. With the exam seemingly at its end, Lanchi prepared the final Magic Card he had made with Talia using the ancestral relic Poem of Compassion.

• Ferrat ignored Hughberlian and pursued Lanchi, who kept tormenting him with Mistaken Healing Cards.
• Hughberlian fought to delay Ferrat while Lanchi cast spells and retreated, as the Sage Institute teachers doubted they could win.
• Ferrat spotted Hughberlian's opening as she retrieved her dagger and blasted her aside with wind magic.
• Ferrat charged toward Lanchi as Hughberlian struggled to chase after him and the distance between the two men rapidly closed.
• Lanchi stopped fleeing and examined the final Magic Card he had created with Talia using Poem of Compassion.

Lanchi summoned his Orange Epic card, Poet of Great Love, to stop the enraged Ferrat. Its magic intensified everyone’s emotions, and Ferrat’s mind snapped as he crashed to the ground with a cerebral hemorrhage.

• Ferrat charged at Lanchi while Hughberlian chased after him, convinced the fight was lost.
• Lanchi summoned the Flower Fairy and transformed the gloomy grassland with its healing aura.
• The Poet of Great Love’s hymn affected Ferrat and Hughberlian, intensifying their emotions and disrupting their control.
• Hughberlian realized the beautiful Flower Fairy was a succubus whose card increased all living beings’ emotions tenfold.
• Ferrat lost his rationality, fell from the sky, and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.

Lanchi and Hughberlian passed the examination after Lanchi’s Poet of Great Love caused Ferrat to suffer a cerebral hemorrhage and be evacuated. The Sage Institute’s teachers discussed Lanchi’s dangerous abilities and citizenship, while Lanchi recalled his summoned cards and prepared to leave the Artificial Shadow World.

• Lanchi worried that he had hit Ferrat too hard, and the system evacuated Ferrat after detecting severe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular damage.
• Theresa contacted the medical team and feared that Lanchi’s future as a healing mage would ruin the school’s reputation.
• The Sage Institute’s teachers reviewed Lanchi’s victory, debated whether to investigate his citizenship, and concluded that he would be terrifying to face as he grew stronger.
• Vice Principal Ron searched the Knight Institute’s new student records and discovered that the school had enrolled a promising pair.
• Lanchi and Hughberlian passed the examination; Hughberlian exited to recover while Lanchi prepared to recall his cards and leave.
• Lanchi reflected that Poet of Great Love’s summoned creature resembled Talia because he had copied her appearance when making the card with her.

Lanchi acquired the epic Magic Card Poet of Great Love for 75,000 pounds, leaving him indebted to Talia and tying them together for years. After Poet of Great Love returned to card form, Lanchi left the Shadow World and found Teacher Theresa handling Ferrat’s aftermath.

• Lanchi agreed to repay Talia 75,000 pounds over ten years with interest for Poet of Great Love, and Talia became responsible for protecting and helping him earn money.
• Poet of Great Love walked around as a summoned creature, joked about tormenting another enemy, and ignored Lanchi’s warning to obey the law.
• Poet of Great Love returned to card form after telling Lanchi to grow stronger so she could stay outside longer.
• Lanchi left the Artificial Shadow World and returned to the examination hall, where he noticed Teacher Theresa assisting medical personnel with Ferrat.
• Hughberlian heard Lanchi say he wished he could have helped carry Ferrat and suspected Lanchi was malicious despite his innocent expression.

After the examination, Lanchi reunited with Hughberlian and found her in a tense standoff with Princess Vivian. He tried to smooth over their hostility with his high-EQ remarks, leaving Vivian and Hughberlian silent and visibly unsettled.

• Lanchi entered the examination hall and noticed Hughberlian facing off against Princess Vivian and two wary examinees.
• Hughberlian ended the confrontation by telling Vivian she could challenge her in the arena after enrolling, then joined Lanchi in the waiting area.
• Lanchi learned Vivian was a princess and modestly credited his and Hughberlian’s teamwork for passing Examiner Ferrat’s trial.
• Vivian warned Lanchi to stay away from Hughberlian, but Lanchi turned her words into a compliment about Hughberlian’s beauty.
• When Hughberlian denied wanting to reconcile with Vivian, Lanchi suggested she had considered it, leaving both women unable to respond.

After Lanchi helped Hughberlian pass the examination, the two left the hall together, while Vivian feared Lanchi would turn against Hughberlian if he learned she was half demon. Hughberlian advised Lanchi that challenging the Shadow World was the quickest legal way to make money, and he reflected that his White Mage skills were ahead of his card-making.

• Lanchi mediated between Hughberlian and Vivian, leaving the examination hall peaceful.
• Teacher Theresa returned, congratulated Hughberlian and Lanchi on passing, and explained how to collect their enrollment credentials.
• Vivian watched Hughberlian leave and thought Lanchi would reject her if he discovered she was the illegitimate half-demon daughter of the Duke of Aransal.
• Lanchi asked Hughberlian how he could make money quickly and legally in the royal capital.
• Hughberlian said her family might have invested in Lanchi if her father had not gone missing, and recommended challenging the Shadow World.
• Lanchi considered that his White Mage combat profession was more developed than his Card Maker craft.

Lanchi learned that his entrance exam results could exempt him from the Registered Challenger Qualification Exam, bringing him closer to beginning true Shadow Worlds. Three days later, his father Noe Wilford read a newspaper report about the exam accident and assumed Lanchi had failed and returned home.

• Lanchi considered how to earn money and grow stronger, concluding that challenging Shadow Worlds could raise his tier faster than card making alone.
• Hughberlian explained that Lanchi’s exam performance should earn him an exemption, then described challenger tiers and the academy’s Fourth Year and Part-time System students.
• Lanchi and Hughberlian reached the final landing, said goodbye, and went in different directions.
• Three days later, Noe Wilford read a report about the Ikelite Magic Academy entrance exam accident and joked about the student who had injured an examiner and damaged the activation terminal.
• Noe assumed Lanchi had failed the exam and returned home, and he planned to cut off Lanchi’s financial support.

Lanchi arrived alone at Ikelite Academy to obtain his Student Bracelet and begin campus life, but the Magic Engineering Institute was not yet open. While he waited outside the Old Liberal Arts Building, Princess Vivian arrived and asked him about its carved School Badge.

• Lanchi left Talia behind and headed to the Magic Engineering Institute's Old Liberal Arts Building to exchange for a Student Bracelet.
• Lanchi arrived before the building opened and waited on the lawn, admiring the School Badge atop its spire.
• Princess Vivian explained that Magic Artisan Jela Zelt had carved the School Badge two hundred years earlier.
• After staff opened the building, Vivian asked Lanchi what distinguished the carved School Badge from a manufactured one.

Lanchi and Vivian discussed his interpretation of a sculpture before completing his enrollment at the Magic Engineering Institute. On the way to the dormitories, Vivian warned him about the dangers of real Shadow Worlds, while Lanchi concealed the harsher modifiers he and Hughberlian had faced in their examination.

• Lanchi described how the Southern Cross Constellation behind Magic Artisan Jela's Goddess Statue unified the sculpture, and Vivian was impressed by his insight.
• Vivian told Lanchi about her art-loving brother, Prince Enoer, and warned him to avoid meeting him.
• Lanchi completed his enrollment with Vivian's help and left for the dormitories.
• Vivian warned Lanchi that first-year students could not challenge Shadow Worlds alone and explained that Tier 3 Shadow Worlds were far more dangerous than the examination.
• Lanchi asked whether three severe modifiers could make the Infinite Phantom Canyon examination comparable to a runaway Tier 3 Shadow World, and Vivian agreed they could.
• Vivian suspected Lanchi and Hughberlian had faced those modifiers, but Lanchi denied it while concealing the similar conditions they had encountered.

Vivian advised Lanchi to consider joining a team before challenging a Shadow World, and offered to recommend him to hers. Their conversation ended with Lanchi becoming more interested in joining a newspaper office after learning that the Alchemy Institute’s Hutton Times could viciously smear people.

• Vivian advised Lanchi to learn about teams that could help him challenge Shadow Worlds, while Lanchi recalled the academy’s strongest teams and their powerful members.
• Lanchi told Vivian he had received notice that his exam-exemption materials were submitted and that he needed to complete the final steps to become an Iron Tier Registered Challenger.
• Vivian explained that Lanchi’s first-place Entrance Examination score could attract team recruiters, while Lanchi said others’ expectations felt like pressure.
• Lanchi’s gentle remarks prompted Vivian to admit that royal responsibilities exhausted her, before she caught herself and changed the subject.
• Vivian offered to recommend Lanchi to her team, praising its connections and logistical support, but Lanchi asked whether the Magic Engineering Institute had combat professions.
• Vivian warned that powerful Magic Artisans could fight and that the Alchemy Institute’s Hutton Times could smear anyone who offended it, prompting Lanchi to say he wanted to join a newspaper office.

Lanchi moved into the Sage Institute dormitory, chose a spacious first-floor room, and asked the administrator about fire-safety equipment because he planned to practice card making there. He settled in and reviewed the Card Maker registration requirements, then decided to explore a real Shadow World before pursuing the examination.

• Vivian explained that Lanchi could join a team led by a Silver Tier upperclassman, warned him about the dangers of Shadow Worlds, and offered to help him choose a team.
• Lanchi entered the Sage Institute Dormitory Building, where Vivian chose a second-floor room and he selected the larger Dorm 101 on the first floor.
• Lanchi asked the administrator where the fire-safety equipment was, listened to the building's safety details, and assured him he had brought no dangerous items.
• Lanchi arranged his belongings and considered using the extra room as a card-making workshop, noting that Talia called him a Card Blasting Master.
• Lanchi read the Card Maker Association Registration Charter and reviewed the Tier 3 requirement for the registered examination, then decided to explore a real Shadow World first.

On his first day at Iketerite Academy, Lanchi attended his required classes and sat beside Hughberlian, the isolated second-ranked student. As Hughberlian reflected on their bond, Mo Dan Gasigas arrived and pressured her to join his team, leaving her to reject his offer while facing a year with few chances to challenge the Shadow World.

• Lanchi arrived at the Sage Institute classroom and sat near Hughberlian, whom the other students were avoiding.
• Lanchi struggled through the first three required classes and fell asleep at his desk while Hughberlian studied beside him.
• Hughberlian reflected on the hostility she faced as a demon-kin and appreciated Lanchi's kindness and calming presence.
• Mo Dan Gasigas confronted Hughberlian and offered to take her through the Shadow World, claiming his was the only team that would accept her.
• Hughberlian refused Mo Dan's offer, aware that no other team was likely to recruit her.

Mo Dan bullied Hughberlian over her inability to find her missing father, but Lanchi intervened by warning him that his insults could bring legal consequences. The chapter ended with Lanchi trapping Mo Dan in his own admission that he had personally attacked Hughberlian.

• Mo Dan taunted Hughberlian and said she would eventually have to beg him for help finding her father.
• Mo Dan mocked Hughberlian for relying on Lanchi to pass Iketerite Academy's entrance examination, provoking her anger.
• Lanchi woke and reminded Mo Dan that personal attacks violated the student handbook.
• Lanchi explained how Hughberlian could pursue a legal case against Mo Dan after her Duke title was approved.
• Mo Dan challenged Lanchi to prove he had intended to insult Hughberlian, and Lanchi pointed out that Mo Dan had already admitted to personally attacking her.