Recaps

After parting from Meili, Saine learned more about the Black Magicians hunted after the Underdark mission and traveled to Stormwind City. He arrived at the South Sea port to seek a nearby black market, where the Holy Towers’ influence was weaker and illicit trade was widespread.

• Midiqi gave Saine a mission memorandum listing Black Magicians wanted by the Holy Towers and Knights’ Halls, including the dead Dadalong and Ke Suo Long and the escaped Di’ersi, Qiongni, and Martin.
• Meili watched Saine leave, then picked up Anji and said she would prepare to advance to Level-1 Magician.
• Saine traveled from Dawn Holy Tower to Stormwind City instead of going to Muser City.
• Saine discovered that the South Sea around Stormwind City held vast inhabited islands, human kingdoms, and many Knights’ Halls.
• Saine arrived in Stormwind City to find a nearby black market in the region’s extensive Gray Areas.

Saine traveled through Stormwind City to Feixia Island, following Meili’s information about a ship route to the City of Munich, where Black Magicians might be found. He boarded an old Alchemy Powered Ship and confronted a formidable knight who mistook his concealed identity for that of a Black Magician.

• Meili told Saine that traces of Black Magicians might be found in the dangerous City of Munich and that apprentices had once sought ships there from Feixia Island.
• Saine crossed Stormwind City and avoided flying directly across the perilous ocean toward Munich.
• Saine found an old Alchemy Powered Ship on Feixia Island and approached its deck.
• A burly sailor in a white jacket revealed himself as a powerful knight, while Saine released a chilling aura from his black robe.
• The knight recognized Saine’s appearance as that of the feared Black Magicians he had encountered in the Western Islands’ Black Domain.

Saine paid passage on an illicit alchemy-powered ship bound for Wave City, the former City of Munich, and set sail during storm season. As the ship navigated the storms, Saine recognized how small his power was compared with the forces of the Wizard World's sea.

• Saine told the sailor he was traveling to the City of Munich and paid five Magic Coins for passage to Wave City.
• Saine boarded the wreck and sensed other passengers and faint life signs in its lowest hold, where sea folk creatures might be smuggled.
• The burly sailor and the Goatee Old Man set sail after three more days, carrying Saine and twelve other human passengers.
• Saine noticed an Advanced Magic Apprentice in a Gray Magic Robe aboard and wondered why the shabby man had spent so much on passage.
• Cook piloted the ship through storm-season seas, and Saine reflected on the limits of his power against the vast natural forces around him.

Saine and the crew survived a colossal storm while crossing the Endless South Sea, and Saine examined Silver Flood Dragon Fish afterward. Their journey was interrupted when Sea Lizards rose from the water and encircled the ship.

• Saine collected Silver Flood Dragon Fish and told Cook they carried faint dragon-blood factors.
• Saine warned Cook that extracting dragon blood from the fish would take far too long and suggested seeking other creatures near the storm zone.
• A Brown-Robed Magician approached Saine to ask about his knowledge of dragon creatures, but Saine showed little interest in talking.
• Cook detected nearby sea folk and shouted as columns of water rose around the ship.
• Several Sea Lizards emerged from the sea, surrounding the ship with rusty halberds in their claws.

Cook and the Goatee Old Man fought off a huge Sea Lizardman force demanding fifty Magic Coins from their ship. Saine suspected the Sea Lizardman Elder had a hidden purpose, since he watched his own people die without joining the battle.

• Tens of thousands of Sea Lizardmen surrounded the Black Ship, and their Elder demanded fifty Magic Coins to let the passengers leave.
• Cook refused the demand and attacked the Sea Lizardmen, while the Sea Lizardman Chieftain charged him on a sea shark.
• The Goatee Old Man joined the fight with a Magic Staff and wounded or killed many Sea Lizardmen with falling ice shards.
• Saine observed that the Elder had not joined the battle and suggested he might be using the fight to reduce his own clan’s numbers.

Saine watched Cook's forces slaughter the Sea Lizardmen and considered how their poverty and overpopulation might make low-tier sea folk and Underdark subhumans a source of labor for the Azure Source Holy Tower. He began forming a plan to recruit them for future wars in exchange for a share of the spoils.

• Saine recognized that the Sea Lizardmen had attacked Cook's ship partly to seek supplies and partly to reduce their tribe's excessive population.
• Cook's forces overwhelmed the Sea Lizardmen, killing nearly a thousand while the survivors spread a thin seaweed net through the surrounding waters.
• Saine connected the sea folk's and subhumans' desperate circumstances with the Azure Source Holy Tower's shortage of Slave Creatures.
• Saine recalled that Luluenman had sacrificed nearly two hundred thousand Plant Creatures in the Poison Fire Green Flame World War because she lacked a slave army.
• Saine considered recruiting low-tier sea folk and subhumans for future campaigns and paying them with a share of the postwar gains.

Yuli joined the battle against the Sea Lizardmen in her Flame Mark Constructed Magic Puppet and cut down their raiders as Cook's strength failed. The Sea Lizardmen abandoned their attack after losing nearly three thousand fighters, leaving the Alchemy Powered Ship safe.

• Cook retreated toward the Alchemy Powered Ship as exhaustion and injuries weakened him against the Sea Lizardman Chieftain and the raiders.
• Saine summoned Yuli and ordered her to enter her repaired Flame Mark Constructed Magic Puppet and fight.
• Yuli charged the Sea Lizardmen with Saine's Fire Element Energy Sword and killed them in large numbers.
• The Brown-Robed Magician, another Level 1 Knight, and several magic apprentices joined the defense, stopping the Sea Lizardmen's assault.
• The Sea Lizardmen retreated after leaving nearly three thousand corpses behind, following a sorrowful conch call from the aged Sea Lizardman Elder.

After the Sea Lizardmen retreated, Saine pursued them with Yuli and proposed trading for rare materials and specimens. The Sea Lizardman Elder refused to sell the tribe’s young, but Saine’s offer of one Magic Coin per egg left him silent as the Chieftain raged.

• The Sea Lizardmen withdrew with losses expected to exceed five thousand adults, and Cook retreated to the ship after fighting the Chieftain.
• Saine flew after the retreating Sea Lizardmen with Yuli and was blocked by the wounded Chieftain and the Elder.
• Saine offered Magic Coins for rare materials, marine specimens, and information about the Sea Lizardmen.
• The Elder said his tribe had few trade goods and refused Saine’s request to buy Sea Lizard Eggs.
• Saine offered one Magic Coin per egg, leaving the Elder silent while the Chieftain tried to attack him.

Saine traveled with the Sea Lizardman Elder to the Komora Clan’s home in the Fei Lie Trench and selected four valuable eggs in exchange for four Magic Coins. The Sea Lizardman Chieftain protested, but the Elder prioritized the tribe’s survival and accepted the trade.

• Saine sent Yuli back to the Alchemy Powered Ship, then followed the Sea Lizardmen alone toward their territory.
• Saine and the Sea Lizardman Elder reached the Fei Lie Trench after about fifteen sandglass-hours.
• The Elder revealed the tribe’s nesting grounds, where Saine chose four eggs with especially strong bloodlines, including the Chieftain’s child.
• The Sea Lizardman Chieftain roared in anger, but Saine explained that one Magic Coin bought one egg and questioned the value of the chosen egg’s mother.
• The Elder rebuked the Chieftain and accepted four Magic Coins for the eggs, valuing the supplies they could buy for the tribe.

Saine traded with the impoverished Sea Lizardmen, acquired a strange magical iron shard from Gloomy Canyon, and returned to Cook’s ship. Cook reimbursed the fighters, then learned that damage from the battle had cost him cargo and might leave the voyage unprofitable.

• Saine paid the Sea Lizardmen seven Magic Coins for four eggs and a collection of goods, then watched nearly two thousand injured warriors leave for Gloomy Canyon to forage.
• The Sea Lizardman Elder gave Saine a crescent-shaped iron shard he had found in Gloomy Canyon, and Saine recognized its potential connection to soul magic and stored it away.
• Saine left the Sea Lizardman tribe and returned to Cook’s damaged Alchemy Powered Ship, where Cook thanked the fighters and refunded their fares.
• The Goatee Old Man told Cook that some cargo had been lost during the battle, leaving Cook worried that the voyage might not cover its costs.

Saine and Yuli arrived at Wave City, the seasonal black market, after traveling aboard Cook’s ship. Cook revealed that he was smuggling Luo Fei Fish, and Saine entered the city as it shifted from a Gray Area refuge back into a prosperous settlement protected by powerful organizations.

• Cook resumed the voyage after Saine rested, and passengers disembarked at scattered islands and sea locations along the route.
• Saine and Yuli were among the last passengers to leave Cook’s ship, and Saine asked Cook when he would return.
• Cook told Saine that he had transported 2,700 Luo Fei Fish and lost 500 in the battle with the Sea Lizardmen.
• Saine suspected the Sea Lizard clan’s attack might have been connected to Cook’s smuggling trade, then bid Cook farewell.
• Saine and Yuli entered the former City of Munich, now called Wave City, which served as a black market during storm season and a protected city afterward.

Saine explored the black market in the City of Munich, learning that Black Domain prisoners were sold there and that Black Magicians operated within it. After surveying the city, he considered attending the Crown Pearl Auction and noted the black market’s cheaper but less reliable one-way teleportation arrays.

• Saine saw a sea creature leading bound human apprentices and knight attendants through the black market, while nearby magicians ignored them.
• Saine learned that the prisoners were Black Wizard Apprentices and Knight Attendants from the Western Islands’ Black Domain, and that such people might be auctioned as merchandise.
• Saine spent two days exploring the city and found a Corpse Refinement Synthetic Beast made partly from a Level 1 Wizard World knight, a Titan, and a magical beast.
• Saine concluded that Black Magicians were present in the market and planned to attend the Crown Pearl Auction five days later.
• Saine discovered short-range teleportation arrays that led to hidden regions south and west of the Dawn Holy Tower, though they were one-way and less stable than Holy Tower arrays.

Saine and Yuli attended the Crown Pearl Auction in the City of Munich, where Saine paid for a private room and examined the auction catalog. He discovered that the auction included unregistered Black Wizard Apprentices and Black Knight Attendants, while the bidding began under a Level-1 Magician’s supervision.

• Saine brought Yuli to the Crown Pearl Auction and paid their admission fees.
• Saine paid a two-hundred-Magic-Coin deposit and secured a private room on the fourth floor.
• Saine observed the auction crowd and learned that powerful Magicians and knights were likely watching from private rooms above.
• The auction’s presiding Level-1 Magician gave an opening speech, and the five-day auction began.
• Saine skimmed the catalog and found unregistered Black Wizard Apprentices and Black Knight Attendants listed for sale.

Saine studied the Crown Pearl Auction catalog to learn about the Black Domain and identify useful goods within his budget. The auction began with a Red Sea Coral and a Magic Apprentice’s staff, while Saine remained interested in a rare Pink-Tailed Mermaid listed in the catalog.

• Saine examined the catalog’s Black Wizard Apprentices and Black Knight Attendants, hoping to learn more about the Black Domain rather than buy them for research or personal use.
• Saine saw a damaged Heart Core from a Level-3 Peak lifeform listed at eleven thousand Magic Coins and reflected that Luluenman’s imprisoned Fire-Breathing Dragon King was likely worth far more.
• Saine noticed a Pink-Tailed Mermaid with a starting bid of three thousand Magic Coins and considered which catalog items he could afford.
• The Yellow-Robed Magician opened the auction by presenting a three-meter Red Sea Coral with a starting price of thirty Magic Coins.
• A bidder in a third-floor private room bought the Red Sea Coral for forty-three Magic Coins, and the auction moved on to a Magic Apprentice’s staff starting at seven Magic Coins.

Saine spent the first days of the Crown Pearl Auction buying alchemical materials and Black Domain captives to learn about their homeland. The auction’s sale of an elf slave and then a highly prized Pink-Tailed Mermaid left him watching as the prices rose far beyond his means.

• Saine bought a Silver Lotus for 6 Magic Coins and a Yuan Magnetic Bomb for 4 Magic Coins to study and dismantle.
• Saine bought an older Black Wizard Apprentice for 6 Magic Coins, then purchased a female Black Wizard Apprentice and a Black Knight Attendant to gather firsthand information about the Black Domain.
• Saine spent nearly all of the more than 200 Magic Coins in his account on slaves and other resources, then restrained his bidding to avoid flaunting his wealth.
• An elf female slave sold for 2,374 Magic Coins, after the auctioneer described her long lifespan and the risks of capturing an elf from a people allied with Wizard Civilization.
• On the fourth day, the auctioneer introduced a Pink-Tailed Mermaid with a starting price of 3,000 Magic Coins, explaining her near-Level-1 strength, the Mermaid race’s sea blessing, and their lifelong fidelity to a single partner.

At an auction, Saine saw a Pink-Tailed Mermaid whose Crystal Necklace could contain living creatures, renewing his interest in researching Manned Space Equipment. The Mermaid was sold, and Saine left the auction pondering Moxidu’s alchemical inheritance and hoping to exchange knowledge with Senior Brother Zorro.

• Saine admired the Pink-Tailed Mermaid but became more interested in the spatial properties of her Crystal Necklace.
• The auctioneer demonstrated that the necklace could contain the Mermaid, and Saine recognized it as advanced Manned Space Equipment.
• Bidders purchased the Pink-Tailed Mermaid for 4,734 Magic Coins, while Saine stayed focused on the necklace’s alchemical mysteries.
• Saine wondered whether Senior Brother Zorro had mastered Moxidu’s Manned Space Equipment techniques and resolved to exchange knowledge if they met.
• Saine watched the rest of the auction, where a Level-3 Peak creature Heart Core sold for more than 33,700 Magic Coins, and thought of the Fire-Breathing Dragon King in Mentor Luluenman’s laboratory.

After the auction, Saine went to collect the Black Wizard Apprentices and Black Knight Attendants he had bought and discovered that their seller was a powerful Second-Level Black Magician. The chapter left Saine observing the old magician’s many auctioned captives, including a Pink-Tailed Mermaid.

• Saine paid 364 Magic Coins for his auction purchases and went to the basement to collect three Black Wizard Apprentices and Black Knight Attendants.
• Saine entered the room where the seller was removing soul restrictions from more than forty restrained Magic Apprentices and Knight Attendants.
• Saine recognized the seller as a formidable Second-Level Black Magician whose oppressive aura surpassed that of most Second-Level Magicians he had encountered.
• A Black-Haired Knight urged the old magician to hurry, then admitted he had bought five female Magic Apprentices.
• Saine noticed two other buyers in the Underground Space and heard water splash near a corner, where a Pink-Tailed Mermaid was also among the old magician’s auctioned goods.

Saine bought three enslaved apprentices and Knight Attendants at the Crown Pearl Auction, then left the City of Munich using a black-market Space Teleportation Array. The array sent him to the Ji Ge'mu Plain near the western border of Dawn Holy Tower’s influence.

• A Black-Haired Knight asked the Black Magician about buying a female magician, but turned down the official magician priced at twelve hundred Magic Coins.
• The Black Magician transferred Soul Imprints to Saine’s three purchased slaves, and Saine sensed hatred and madness beneath their numb expressions.
• Saine left the auction, noticing the Black Magician’s interest in his Azure Fire Eye Mask and sensing an uneasy restlessness around his new slaves.
• Saine departed the City of Munich through the black market’s Space Teleportation Array instead of taking Cook’s Black Ship.
• Saine arrived on the Ji Ge'mu Plain, near the western edge of Dawn Holy Tower’s sphere of influence.

After arriving in the Black Domain, Saine settled into a cave laboratory and questioned three captured Black Wizard Apprentices and Black Knight Attendants to learn about the region. He discovered the Black Domain’s Black Towers and brutal Trial of Despair, where only a tiny fraction of apprentices survived.

• Saine recovered from the unstable teleportation with Yuli while the three human slaves remained unconscious.
• Saine and Yuli traveled into the woods, where Saine established a temporary laboratory in a mountain cave.
• Saine bound the three captives to experiment tables and used interrogation and Mental Strength suggestions to gather information about the Black Domain.
• Saine learned that the Black Domain had Black Wizard Academies and Rank Four-or-higher Black Towers, and he suspected it also had organizations of Black Knights.
• Saine learned that the Trial of Despair had a survival rate as low as 1%, far deadlier than the Regional Academy Wars held by Holy Towers.

After questioning three Soul Slaves about the Black Domain, Saine ordered Yuli to destroy their cave and continued west with her and Little Seven. They crossed into Scarlet Holy Tower territory, where Saine reflected on the South Coast’s greater prosperity compared with Green Source Land.

• Saine gathered what he could about the Black Domain from three Soul Slaves, then decided to leave the cave.
• A female Black Wizard Apprentice begged Saine to take her along, but he left her behind.
• At Saine’s order, Yuli fired her Gray-White Constructed Magic Puppet’s shoulder cannon, collapsing the mountain and burying the cave and its occupants.
• Yuli asked whether Saine would abandon her; he said he would not, then explained that she still had value to him.
• Saine, Yuli, and Little Seven flew west and, after nearly a month, reached Scarlet Holy Tower territory.

Saine traveled west through the Scarlet Holy Tower’s territory and crossed the vast Maywesson Forest to reach the Hurricane Holy Tower’s sphere of influence. His lingering sense of crisis, which had begun after he purchased three Soul Slaves, faded as he moved farther from the West Coast, and he headed for Magilite City.

• Saine considered visiting Level-2 Knight Bakda to thank him but postponed the trip because his itinerary was full.
• Saine used a Teleportation Array to cross the Scarlet Holy Tower’s territory and reflected on how one might benefit the Azure Source Holy Tower.
• Saine learned that the Maywesson Forest might shelter a Level-4 King of Devil Beasts and continued west toward the Hurricane Holy Tower.
• Saine spent nearly two months crossing Maywesson Forest, gathering magical materials while avoiding detours and encounters with Devil Beasts.
• Saine linked his sense of crisis to buying three Soul Slaves in City of Munich and flew toward Magilite City after entering the Hurricane Holy Tower’s territory.

Four months later, Saine left Haiwang Port aboard an Alchemy Powered Ship, beginning a half-year voyage to the Mamet United Alliance. Elsewhere in the South Sea, Van Basten slaughtered a ship’s passengers with the Black Death Virus and captured a Pink-Tailed Mermaid for his laboratory.

• Saine chose the sea route to avoid crossing the Qierqisi Mountain Range and boarded a Kuriman Family ocean liner bound for Kancheng Sea City.
• Saine considered the Wizard World’s regional barriers and the Mamet United Alliance’s history before the ship departed Haiwang Port.
• Van Basten killed everyone aboard a nearby Alchemy Powered Ship by spreading the Black Death Virus through the surrounding waters.
• Van Basten replaced his damaged heart, collected the victims’ valuables, and took a Crystal Necklace from a dead Second-Level Magician.
• Van Basten freed a Pink-Tailed Mermaid from the necklace and announced that he would take her to his Water Prison in the Black Domain.

The Black-Robed Person chose to pursue a masked Level-1 Magician for one last job while fleeing the consequences of his recent attack. Meanwhile, Saine continued sailing toward the Western Islands, declined recruitment by the Kuli Man Merchant Guild, and watched his attributes continue to rise.

• The Black-Robed Person used his Magic Map to identify nearby targets and decided to chase the masked Level-1 Magician westward.
• Saine traveled across the calm South Sea, collecting strange specimens and filling his Space Rings along the way.
• Level-1 Magician Satchi offered Saine a position as a retained magician of the Kuli Man Merchant Guild, but Saine politely refused.
• Saine checked his attributes, which had risen to Mental Strength 8, Magic Power 7, and Constitution 2, and predicted that his Mental Strength would slow after passing 200.

Saine and the crew of an Alchemy Powered Ship faced the Second-Level Black Magician who had tracked him down. As the Black Magician attacked and the ship’s passengers panicked, Satchi ordered the crew to activate the cannons and call for help.

• Saine considered how his exceptional physique and Azure Fire Heart Magic Staff could let him unleash greater power in battle.
• Saine and Satchi spotted an approaching black cloud, and Saine recognized the returning sense of danger as coming from the Black Magician from the City of Munich.
• The Second-Level Black Magician arrived above the ship and declared that he would add its Level-1 Creatures to his Collection Room.
• Yuli stayed beside Saine and prepared to summon her Constructed Magic Puppets as the Black Magician’s aura sent sea creatures into a frenzy.
• Satchi ordered the ship to activate its Magic Guided Cannons and request aid from nearby ships, sea clans, the Knights' Hall, and other forces.

A Second-Level Black Magician attacked the Alchemy Powered Ship, overwhelming Satchi and two Level 1 Knights while Saine and Yuli prepared to defend themselves. The fight remained heavily in the Black Magician’s favor, and Saine suspected he also possessed powerful alchemical weapons.

• Satchi ordered the apprentices to aim the ship’s two Magic Conductor Cannons at the approaching Black Magician.
• The Black Magician spread dark clouds over the ship and sent black crows diving at the apprentices.
• Satchi drove away several crows with a hurricane, but the Black Magician attacked him with a beam of dark energy that cracked his shield and forced him to flee.
• Saine layered himself with Magic Shields while Yuli deployed three Constructed Magic Puppets to protect him.
• The Black Magician toyed with Satchi and two Level 1 Knights, corroding one knight’s arm to the bone as Saine recognized the enemy’s mastery of several elements and alchemy.