Recaps

Dark Flame Master broke free of the Silver Runes matrix as the Space Fortress devastated the Akale Plain and killed the Gulan Lizard God. He halted the third volley, shielded the surviving forces, and captured part of the Golo Earthworm King while the wounded creature fled underground.

• Saine and Lunna dove into the volcano crater, followed by the enraged earth dragon, as the Space Fortress began firing.
• The Space Fortress's first volleys devastated the central Akale Plain, killing large numbers of Gumo Plane creatures and Wizard World troops.
• The second main-cannon blast destroyed half of the Gulan Lizard God's body, killing it and ending its hold on Dark Flame Master.
• The Golo Earthworm King fled underground, but the beam severed the rear half of its body, which Dark Flame Master captured with Dark Fire Element.
• Dark Flame Master halted the Space Fortress's third volley and raised a vast magic barrier to shield the surviving forces from the energy in the sky.

Saine and Lunna struggled to survive the continent-wide upheavals caused by the Dark Flame Holy Tower’s bombardment of the Gumo Plane. Trapped deep underground, they endured the magma and earth-vein forces while growing stronger and gaining a chance to encounter the plane’s laws.

• Saine and Lunna descended into the magma as the space fortress’s attacks and the earth dragon’s protection kept them alive.
• Dark Flame’s bombardment triggered another continent-wide volcanic eruption, threatening the Gumo Plane with decades of darkness and devastation.
• Saine recalled Marylian’s prophecy that a crisis could contain an opportunity as geological pressure and magma battered them underground.
• Lunna used her Earth Element battle qi to create a small refuge and shield Saine from the earth-vein turbulence.
• Lunna experienced the Gumo Plane’s earth-vein laws firsthand, while Saine was tempered by the Fire Element essence in the magma.

After the native legions collapsed and the battle on the Gumo Plane ended, Saine and Lunna returned from underground after three months missing. Saine received a new Holy Tower Badge and learned that Dark Flame Master had personally approved his exceptional Task Points and wanted to meet him.

• After the two native gods died, the Gumo Plane’s legions broke and fled, and Wizard Civilization forces spent two more months hunting down the routed troops.
• Dark Flame’s Space Fortress had caused heavy losses among the Dark Flame Holy Tower’s magicians, leaving him likely to face an inquiry and damage to his reputation.
• Saine and Lunna emerged through a cooled Volcano Crater after roughly three months, with Saine’s Dim Star Magic Robe and temporary Holy Tower badge destroyed.
• Saine reported to the Fortress Main Base, where he received a new badge showing Task Points worth at least twenty thousand Magic Coins.
• A young Level-1 Magician told Saine that Dark Flame Master had approved his Task Points as a special exception and wanted to meet him after the war.
• Saine accepted that Dark Flame’s decision to fire the Space Fortress had been correct, believing he would have made the same choice.

Saine reunited with Nataya and Yuli at the Fortress Main Base, where Nataya was recovering from severe injuries. Nataya was astonished by Lunna’s transformation, and the chapter ended with Saine proposing to study Lunna’s body as she ate.

• Saine visited the injured Nataya in the Rest Area, where she clung to him and wept with relief.
• Nataya failed to recognize Lunna after her Level Three advancement and the Fat Burning Secret Skill transformed her appearance and figure, but recognized her when she spoke.
• Nataya and Lunna learned that each had received nearly twenty thousand Magic Coins in War Fortune and discussed how to spend the money.
• Lunna said she planned to buy more food, and Saine warned that overeating might undo her transformation.
• Saine told Lunna she could eat a lot at once so he could study and assess her physical condition.

Saine was summoned by Dark Flame as the war on the Gumo Plane neared its end, after the Dark Flame Holy Tower had lost most of its registered magicians. Their meeting revealed that both men had once been rescued from Black Magicians, leaving Saine surprised by the connection.

• Saine continued researching after returning from the Underground World while the Wizard World legions spent nearly three more years occupying the Gumo Plane.
• As registered magicians abandoned the Dark Flame Holy Tower in growing numbers, Saine learned that its membership had fallen by about sixty percent.
• After hearing that Dark Flame had captured the Golo Earthworm King, Saine planned to leave the plane with Nataya and Lunna when Dark Flame summoned him.
• Saine met Dark Flame in the nearly empty Main Control Room of the Space Fortress and sensed a familiar Black Magician-like aura in him.
• Saine told Dark Flame that Black Magicians had abducted him as an apprentice and that the Azure Source Holy Tower Master had rescued him.
• Dark Flame revealed that he, too, had been rescued from Black Magicians when he was still a Quasi-Magician, astonishing Saine.

Saine met Dark Flame Master in his Space Fortress and impressed the Level-5 Magician with his ease and shared history as an apprentice. Dark Flame offered Saine the position of dean at the Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy, leaving him to weigh the career and connections the role could provide.

• Saine examined Dark Flame Master's laboratory and saw the Silver Heart of the fallen Mokenu Grand Priest and preserved remains of the Gulan Lizard God.
• Saine and Dark Flame spoke harmoniously, and Dark Flame became satisfied with the young magician who had helped save him.
• Dark Flame unexpectedly offered Saine the title of academy dean at the Dark Flame Holy Tower.
• Saine considered how serving as dean could build connections and help him recruit and train magicians for a Holy Tower of his own in the future.

Dark Flame Master invited Saine to serve as dean of the Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy, and Saine accepted as a Foreign Aid Magician rather than leave the Azure Source Holy Tower. As compensation, Saine secured a wisp of Dark Flame, though Dark Flame Master withheld its cultivation method.

• Dark Flame Master offered Saine the position of dean because several of his current deans had resigned and Saine impressed him with his strength.
• Saine decided that serving as dean could help him prepare to advance to Level 3 and gain experience before establishing his own Holy Tower.
• Saine declined to join the Dark Flame Holy Tower directly but agreed to serve its academy as a Foreign Aid Magician.
• Saine asked for a wisp of Dark Flame as compensation instead of Magic Coins or other resources.
• Dark Flame Master agreed to give Saine a wisp of primitive, pure Dark Flame but refused to share its cultivation method unless Saine joined his lineage.

After the Gumo Plane War, Saine returned to the Dark Flame Holy Tower and began a two-hundred-year tenure as dean, though the promised Source Dark Flame had to wait while he dealt with the tower’s affairs. He tried to retain inexperienced magicians bound by contracts, and after speaking with Magician Harris, he crossed Harris’s name off the list and moved on to Magician Jenny.

• Saine returned to the Dark Flame Holy Tower with the third batch of Holy Tower Magicians and agreed to a two-hundred-year contract with Dark Flame Master.
• Dark Flame Master gave Saine a wisp of Source Dark Flame in a Crystal Bottle, but Saine had to postpone his research to handle the tower’s accumulated work.
• Saine learned that Dean Kester and vice deans Bob and Weems had stayed, while several other deans and vice deans had resigned.
• Saine and Kester divided the task of handling departing magicians, with Saine playing the white face and focusing on retaining inexperienced Level-1 Magicians still bound by contract.
• Saine questioned Magician Harris about leaving before his contract ended and the penalty he would owe.
• After Harris left the classroom, Saine crossed his name off the list and called for the next magician, Jenny.

After mass departures left the Dark Flame Holy Tower weakened, Saine learned that the academy also faced a severe shortage of apprentices. With the next Regional Holy Tower Academy War still decades away, Saine took responsibility for finding a way to recruit new apprentices.

• Saine reviewed how the Dark Flame Holy Tower's registered magicians had fallen from 19,876 to 3,207 after the Gumo Plane war, while Tower Master Dark Flame left with powerful visitors for a trip expected to last at least three years.
• The remaining magicians numbered only about three thousand, with no Demigod-level Magicians and fewer than five Third-Level Great Magicians, including Saine.
• Vice Dean Bob told Saine that apprentice recruitment was in crisis, as few new applicants were arriving and current apprentices were dropping out.
• Saine learned that departing magicians had taken their younger relatives with them, while the former recruitment leader Kaite had also left the Holy Tower.
• Saine told Bob he would find a way to recruit apprentices, easing Bob's concern about the Dark Flame Holy Tower's future.

Saine traveled to the Ebarute Empire to recruit Magic Apprentices for the Dark Flame Holy Tower, but repeated failures left him frustrated. After spotting an Imperial Public Magic Academy transport ship, he decided to abduct its apprentices and take them to study at his Holy Tower.

• Saine flew into the Ebarute Empire, hoping to recruit its many Magic Apprentices for the Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy.
• He failed to recruit apprentices in thirteen cities and grew angry at the setbacks and ridicule.
• Saine spotted a floating ship carrying apprentices for an Imperial Public Magic Academy.
• After considering the rules governing magicians and Magic Apprentices, Saine decided to snatch the apprentices aboard the ship.

Baus, an ordinary Level-1 Magician of the Ebarute Empire, escorted 204 young apprentices toward a magic academy while reflecting on the hardships and inequalities of his life. A powerful Flame Demon with a demonic aura blocked his floating ship, leaving Baus terrified and outmatched.

• Baus traveled aboard a floating ship with 204 young Magic Apprentices bound for an academy affiliated with the Francina City Second Public Magic Academy.
• Baus reflected on his long rise from a commoner apprentice, his four-hundred-year contract, and his envy of Holy Tower graduates such as Nilan.
• A blazing pillar of fire approached and forced the floating ship to stop.
• Baus recognized the figure as a battle-hardened Flame Demon with a demonic aura and realized how vastly stronger it was than him.

Saine questioned Baus, a timid Level-1 Magician aboard a floating ship, about taking the ship’s Magic Apprentices and learned that Baus could secretly recruit replacements. Saine proposed a deal, leaving their arrangement unresolved.

• Saine subdued the floating ship’s crew and questioned Baus, whose appearance reminded him of a lost apprentice friend.
• Baus feared the academy would hold him responsible if Saine took the apprentices and ship.
• Baus explained that he could replace the apprentices by recruiting from lower cities because the current batch had not yet been registered.
• Saine seized on Baus’s plan and proposed that they make a deal.

Saine took Forn and the other apprentices from the floating ship to study at Holy Tower Academy, where Forn asked whether he could eventually return home. Saine arranged for Aijieli to escort the children onward and left with Baus to recruit more apprentices.

• Forn recalled his journey from Hof Village and watched Saine negotiate with Baus, then asked whether they would learn magic next.
• Saine told Forn that the apprentices would attend Holy Tower Academy and could go wherever they wished after becoming Formal Magicians.
• Saine summoned Aijieli and a flying carpet, then ordered her to take the children to a hidden floating ship near the Ebarute Empire's border.
• Saine gave Forn a Magic Coin and encouraged him to pursue his hopes before leaving with Baus to seek more apprentices.

After recruiting more than seven hundred Magic Apprentices across twenty-one cities, Saine persuaded Fatty Baus to help expand their illicit recruitment network. Baus recalled the family he had left behind for magic, while Saine planned to draw more Imperial Academy Magicians into the profitable scheme.

• After a child’s Magic Flying Carpet disappeared, Saine asked Baus whether the boy would someday fulfill his wish, and Baus recalled leaving his family to study magic and returning only after his parents had died.
• Saine and Baus passed through twenty-one cities and recruited more than seven hundred Magic Apprentices, with Baus taking two hundred and Saine keeping the rest for the Dark Flame Holy Tower.
• Baus considered backing out until Saine raised his payment to one hundred Magic Coins, then agreed to continue supplying apprentices for ample compensation.
• When Baus said other cities were handled by different Magicians and recruiting there could expose them, Saine suggested bringing those Magicians into the scheme.
• Saine offered Baus a specimen of devil limb tissue if he helped, leaving Baus to regard Saine with fearful fascination.

Saine brought more than seven hundred Magic Apprentices from the Ebarute Empire to the Dark Flame Holy Tower and set about rebuilding the Holy Tower Academy. With Fatty Baus’s help, the academy began receiving more than a thousand apprentices each year and gradually stabilized.

• Saine returned to the floating ship with nearly seven hundred apprentices, and Bob reported that most had accepted their new school.
• Saine told Bob he planned to return to the Ebarute Empire in six months to recruit more apprentices.
• After returning to the Dark Flame Holy Tower, Saine resumed academy administration and used the new apprentices to fill its classrooms.
• Half a year later, Fatty Baus brought Saine another 1,043 apprentices, having recruited two Academy Magicians with Magic Coins.
• Saine instructed Baus to expand his network into other academies while keeping his activities hidden.
• From the second year onward, Baus and his contacts supplied the Dark Flame Holy Tower with more than a thousand apprentices annually, and the academy gradually stabilized.

Saine resumed his research and discussed his coming advancement to Level 3 with Luluenman, who promised to seek new fire arcana knowledge from her grandmaster for him. When Tower Master Dark Flame returned, he praised Saine’s leadership and ordered the Holy Tower to recruit apprentices from rival towers, leaving the other deans to accept his demand.

• Saine contacted Serena, Irene, and Luluenman after the Dark Flame Holy Tower’s affairs eased, and he reassured Luluenman that he would return to help the Azure Source Holy Tower after his two-hundred-year contract.
• Saine told Luluenman that he expected to advance to Level 3 within a few years, and she explained that his grandmaster would grant him a new field of fire arcana knowledge afterward.
• Saine returned to his research and made progress in deciphering Dark Flame and studying fire element qualitative transformation.
• Tower Master Dark Flame returned after three years, and Saine and the other deans reported the Holy Tower’s recent situation to him.
• Dark Flame praised Saine for recruiting apprentices from the Ebarute Empire and ordered him to recruit apprentices from the Star Sun Holy Tower and Gray Feather Holy Tower as well.
• Dark Flame dismissed the other deans’ concerns, said he would take responsibility, and Saine and the others accepted his order.

After returning to the Holy Tower, Dark Flame learned from Saine and Kester that its public funds had dwindled to just over thirty thousand Magic Coins. They explained that apprentice training and improvements to the Holy Tower had consumed most of the money, leaving Dark Flame to decide whether to replenish the funds.

• Saine and Kester asked Dark Flame to replenish the Holy Tower's public funds, which had been almost entirely depleted.
• Dark Flame reviewed the expenditure records in two Crystal Balls and confirmed that only a little over thirty thousand of the original one hundred thousand Magic Coins remained.
• The records showed that apprentice training and improvements to the Holy Tower's environment and equipment were the largest expenses.
• Saine's efforts to train commoner apprentices and his experience at Azure Source Holy Tower had motivated him to expand the Academy and improve the Holy Tower.
• Saine and Kester asked Dark Flame for money, and he fell into a long silence.

Saine and Kester asked Dark Flame for more funding to develop Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy, but Dark Flame resisted and offered only a fraction of what they requested. After Saine threatened to resign, Dark Flame raised his offer to five hundred thousand Magic Coins, leaving Saine and Kester to decide how to use the funds.

• Saine and Kester presented Dark Flame with their construction plan and requested more funding, hoping to secure two million Magic Coins for the Holy Tower's Public Funds pool.
• Dark Flame refused to fund the library expansion and offered only two hundred thousand Magic Coins for operations.
• Saine threatened to resign as president if Dark Flame would not provide the money, and said he could have his mentor or grandmentor remove the contract's backlash.
• Dark Flame agreed to give Saine and Kester five hundred thousand Magic Coins, and Saine accepted the compromise.
• Saine decided to leave the funds' allocation to the more experienced Kester, while considering building a private laboratory in the Black Volcanoes.

Saine prepared to break through to Level 3 by combining the many unusual flames he had collected, while Kester managed the Holy Tower’s affairs. Saine successfully formed a gray flame he called Ash Power and began comprehending its nature.

• Saine and Kester improved the Dark Flame Holy Tower’s facilities and gained the support of its magicians.
• Saine handed the academy’s daily affairs to Kester and returned to his residence to focus on advancing to Level 3.
• Saine gathered the Azure Blaze, Azure Flame White Fire, Dark Flame, and his other collected flames for his breakthrough.
• Saine activated his Fire Element True Form and Flame Demon Transformation as the Holy Tower’s arrays poured elemental energy into him.
• Saine fused the flames into a gray, qualitatively transformed flame and recognized it as Ash Power.

After four years of secluded cultivation, Saine advanced to Third-Level Great Magician and discovered that Dark Flame Holy Tower had become embroiled in conflicts with neighboring Holy Towers over its apprentice-seizing operation. He was left facing a long list of injured magicians and grew furious at the harm done to his people.

• Saine emerged from the Meditation Room after four years and advanced from Second-Level Magician to Third-Level Great Magician.
• Saine reviewed messages reporting years of clashes between Dark Flame Holy Tower and neighboring Holy Towers over the seizure of Magic Apprentices.
• Saine learned that neighboring Holy Towers had joined forces to blockade Dark Flame Holy Tower and that its magicians were being beaten, even when they had not taken part in the operation.
• Saine saw the list of injured magicians and grew angry as gray flames flared around his newly advanced body.

Saine received a plea for aid after Harris and his companions were surrounded by Star Sun Holy Tower magicians during an apprentice transport mission. He reached the Petrified Forest and found Jenny confronting the attackers while Harris was injured.

• Saine learned that Star Sun Holy Tower magicians had injured Pino and surrounded Harris and two others on their apprentice transport mission.
• Saine flew to the coordinates in the plea for aid, traveling from Dark Flame Holy Tower to the Petrified Forest in half a day.
• Saine found Harris clutching his injured chest aboard a floating ship as Jenny berated seven Star Sun Holy Tower magicians.
• Saine recognized Jenny as a young magician whose request for better pay he had approved years earlier.

Saine arrived at the Petrified Forest after advancing to Level 3 and defeated the seven Star Sun Holy Tower Magicians with a single attack. He sent the Dark Flame Holy Tower group back to safety while preparing to face more arriving enemies.

• Saine's arrival changed the balance of the confrontation, and Jenny, Harris, and Jackson recognized him.
• Second-Level Magician Flaman hesitated before Saine, while the Star Sun Holy Tower group tried to stall for reinforcements.
• Saine cut Flaman off and struck the group with his Hand of Elements, heavily injuring all seven Magicians.
• Saine's attack raised the Dark Flame Holy Tower group's morale, and the Magic Apprentices cheered from the floating ship.
• Saine told Harris, Jenny, and the others to take the floating ship back to the Dark Flame Holy Tower while he stayed behind as rearguard.

Saine left the injured Star Sun Holy Tower magicians behind and headed south through the Petrified Forest, judging that stronger opponents were approaching from the west. Meanwhile, Ande Lie and Adolf arrived to find their allies badly wounded, then rushed toward Jini Si’s battle after hearing a violent clash.

• Saine flew south of the Petrified Forest after deciding the western approach held stronger enemies than the southern one.
• Ande Lie and Adolf discussed Fire Element fusion research while traveling on Star Sun Holy Tower’s mission to pressure Dark Flame Holy Tower.
• Ande Lie found Flaman and seven other magicians severely wounded, with a giant handprint nearby, and demanded to know who had attacked them.
• A violent explosion and cry came from the south, where Adolf recognized the battlefield as Jini Si’s location.
• Ande Lie turned into a pillar of fire and flew toward Jini Si’s battle with Adolf.

Saine fought Star Sun Holy Tower magician Jini Si and her rare summoned creatures in the Petrified Forest, but their battle became a stalemate. Ande Lie joined the fight and unleashed two Nuclear Bombs, while recognizing Saine’s strange gray flames as the force overwhelming Jini Si.

• Saine severely wounded Jini Si’s Calamity Azure Serpent, forcing it to withdraw from the battle.
• Saine continued attacking Jini Si and the Golden Thread Steel Carp, while Jini Si used spells and her summoned creature’s defenses to hold him off.
• Saine’s Flames of Ash left Jini Si’s thirteen subordinate magicians badly injured but alive.
• Ande Lie arrived and shouted for Saine to stop as Jini Si’s Elemental Shield neared collapse.
• Ande Lie identified Saine’s gray flames as the cause of Jini Si’s worsening disadvantage and summoned two Nuclear Bombs.

Saine fought Ande Lie and Jini Si south of the Petrified Forest, revealing that his Flames of Ash could absorb and corrode energy while resisting Ande Lie’s Nuclear Bombs. As Jini Si summoned an army of Alien Creatures and the battle escalated, the Petrified Land Turtle warned its subordinates to stay away from the forest’s outskirts.

• Saine survived Ande Lie’s two Nuclear Bombs, and his Flames of Ash grew more active after absorbing their impact.
• Adolf rescued the badly wounded Level-1 and Level-2 mages while Ande Lie and Saine continued fighting.
• Jini Si summoned a host of Alien Creatures through Gates of Space-Time and sent them charging at Saine.
• The Petrified Land Turtle warned its subordinates to avoid the forest’s outskirts as explosions shook the southern forest.
• A far larger white mushroom cloud and violent storm erupted over the battlefield, where the Petrified Land Turtle glimpsed a Qingtian Fire Element giant holding a miniature sun.