Recaps

Saine fought Ande Lie, Jini Si, and Adolf in the southern Petrified Forest, holding his own despite being outnumbered and leaving the battlefield devastated. When Bob, Weems, and other Dark Flame Holy Tower Magicians arrived, the two Holy Tower groups faced each other, leaving a larger conflict on the brink of breaking out.

• Saine battled Ande Lie and Jini Si while Adolf used Water Element Profound Truths to create a damp environment that restrained Saine's Fire Element attacks.
• Saine's Flame Demon True Body endured Ande Lie's Plasma Fusion Bomb, and their clash devastated the surrounding hills and basin.
• The fighters ended their clash without pursuing a fight to the death, and Jini Si recalled her badly injured Calamity Azure Serpent and other summoned creatures.
• Bob, Weems, and more than a dozen Dark Flame Holy Tower Magicians arrived, revealing they had come to meet Harris, Jenny, and the apprentice escort party.
• The Dark Flame Magicians gathered beside Saine and faced the Star Sun Holy Tower Magicians, while the Golden Thread Steel Carp moved closer to Jini Si after seeing Saine's Magic Staff.

Saine confronted the Star Sun Holy Tower magicians who had entered Dark Flame Holy Tower territory, and the two sides nearly resumed fighting. They reached a tense truce, and the Star Sun magicians departed by floating ship after Adolf invited Saine to visit their territory.

• Saine refused to accept Adolf's claim that the clash was merely a misunderstanding, and Bob and the Dark Flame magicians readied their weapons as the Star Sun magicians did the same.
• Adolf explained that the Star Sun magicians had come to the Petrified Forest to gather magic materials, and Saine demanded that future large expeditions be reported in advance.
• Adolf urged the Star Sun magicians aboard a miniature floating sailboat, which expanded into a large ship and carried them eastward.
• Adolf invited Dark Flame magicians to gather experimental materials in Star Sun territory, and Saine replied that he would come.

After consolidating his new Level Three realm, Saine researched the Flames of Ash until news arrived that Baus had been arrested and dismissed from his academy job. Saine recruited Baus to manage Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy’s recruitment in the North Side.

• Kester praised Saine’s achievements in the Petrified Forest and advised him to focus on stabilizing his realm while Kester handled academy affairs.
• Saine researched the Flames of Ash and considered how they might improve his alchemy and potion-making experiments.
• Baus was detained for seventy-two magic hours over his apprentice-smuggling operation, released without charge, and dismissed from Francina Second Public Magic Academy after paying compensation.
• Saine recruited Baus to lead recruitment efforts in the North Side and urged him to bring in apprentices while avoiding misconduct at Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy.

Saine finalized Baus’s recruitment role and persuaded Kester to lower the Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy’s apprentice standards. Kester agreed, clearing the way for Saine’s planned reforms.

• Saine told Baus to recruit through his contacts in the Ebarute Empire’s western provinces after his northern contacts proved too cautious.
• Saine and Kester discussed the shortage of qualified commoner apprentices at the Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy.
• Saine argued that lowering the minimum initial Mental Strength from ten to eight would give more children a chance to learn magic.
• Saine drew on his experience at the City of Mozhsuobula Black Magic Academy, where lower-aptitude apprentices often learned and fought effectively under pressure.
• Kester agreed to lower the recruitment standard, citing historical evidence that ancient magicians did not all begin with Mental Strength above ten.

Saine announced sweeping reforms to Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy, including expelling long-enrolled apprentices with the lowest scores, increasing combat missions, and replacing some academy services with apprentice assignments. As the new rules took effect, Forn watched Saine with admiration, hoping to one day reach his level.

• After gaining Kester's support, Saine announced new academy rules at the opening ceremony, including expelling apprentices who ranked among the bottom hundred after ten years of study.
• Saine added compulsory off-campus combat missions for Low-Level Magic Apprentices and secretly raised the casualty target to 10% after Kester opposed a higher increase.
• Saine reduced apprentices' basic benefits and introduced paid assignments, including combat missions, laboratory work, and cleaning duties, while offering major rewards to the hundred top-scoring apprentices.
• Kester said Saine had driven the apprentices' initiative to its limit, and Bob remarked that Saine resembled Dark Flame, the Tower Master who had taken an interest in him.
• Forn, now an Intermediate Magic Apprentice after ten years at the Holy Tower, watched Saine's speech with admiration and regretted never attending a course taught by the dean.

The Dark Flame Holy Tower flourished under Saine’s new academy rules, while Saine resumed body-tempering research after reaching Level 3. He reunited with Lunna and Nataya after their travels, and his offer to examine Lunna left her embarrassed.

• Saine’s admission standards and Apprentice Elimination Mechanism pushed apprentices to study harder, and Kester and the other deans approved of the results.
• Saine continued exploring the Flames of Ash and resumed his Body Tempering Plan as his constitution grew after his advancement to Level 3.
• Lunna and Nataya returned from nearly ten years of travel and showed Saine specimens they had collected on an Earth Elemental Micro Plane.
• Saine noticed Lunna had gained weight but did not criticize her, instead asking her to come to his laboratory for an examination.
• Lunna blushed at Saine’s invitation, while the chapter revealed that her parents hoped she might eventually marry him and give them a grandchild.

Saine continued his magical research and body tempering experiments while maintaining relationships with Nataya, Yuli, and Lina. When Saine and Lina exchanged research results, they noticed similarities between his Dark Flame and her newly acquired Pale Bone Flame, though they recognized that the two flames had different elemental natures.

• Saine began his scheduled body tempering experiments after Lunna and Nataya returned, and Luluenman visited her own mentor and fellow mages after Saine's advancement to Rank Three became known.
• Saine refused Nataya's suggestion that Lunna take her place, treating Lunna as a trusted friend, and Yuli later took Nataya's place instead.
• Saine reconnected with Lina after many years and learned that she had gained a Pale Bone Flame profound truth from her mentor, the Pale Bone Black Tower Tower Master.
• Saine and Lina exchanged research results, and Lina remarked that her Pale Bone Flame and Saine's Dark Flame seemed to share similarities in their initial elemental properties.

Saine prepared the Dark Flame Holy Tower Academy for the Regional Holy Tower Academy War, securing more funds and rallying its apprentices despite their small numbers. When the war began two years later, six regional Holy Tower Masters gathered outside the barrier, and Saine assessed their relative power.

• Saine led a mobilization assembly for the war, noting that the Dark Flame Holy Tower would send just over fifteen thousand apprentices, fewer than its regional rivals.
• Saine and Kester reported the academy’s progress and debts to Dark Flame, who threatened Saine if he failed to achieve a good ranking.
• Saine obtained more funding from Dark Flame and used some of it to reward apprentices and encourage them before the war.
• Two years later, Dark Flame and the Holy Tower Masters of the Star Sun and Maze Holy Towers arrived for the war, prompting the other regional Holy Tower Masters to gather as well.
• Saine observed the six Holy Tower Masters and judged Dark Flame the strongest, followed by the Star Sun and Gray Feather Holy Tower Masters.

Saine and Kester prepared the Dark Flame apprentices for the Regional Holy Tower Academy War, explaining its dangers and urging them to compete. Tower Master Dark Flame ended the mobilization by promising Magic Coin rewards for eliminating or killing apprentices from rival academies.

• Saine reviewed the War Secret Realm’s formidable barriers, its trial creatures, and the expected death rate, while noting the risks and prospects for elite apprentices.
• Saine urged confident Dark Flame apprentices to invade rival zones and plunder points, promising extra rewards if they placed in the overall top three.
• Kester encouraged the apprentices to prioritize survival and use their Holy Tower Badges to leave if they faced danger they could not handle.
• Tower Master Dark Flame promised one Magic Coin for each rival apprentice eliminated and three for each one killed, further fueling the apprentices’ enthusiasm for the war.

Saine watched Dark Flame Holy Tower’s apprentices enter the Regional Holy Tower Academy War and saw them launch an immediate raid into Star Sun Holy Tower’s territory. The raid succeeded, earning them a “Full House” and leaving Star Sun’s observers furious.

• Dark Flame’s Holy Tower Master rallied the apprentices with a fierce speech before they entered the Trial Space.
• The six Holy Tower Academies sent nearly two hundred thousand apprentices into the war, with Star Sun and Gray Feather fielding the largest forces.
• Saine joined the other deans in the Trial Space to observe the war while Kester stayed behind to handle Dark Flame’s affairs.
• Saine greeted Ande Lie and Jini Si from Star Sun Holy Tower, and Jini Si responded coldly.
• A hundred-person team from Dark Flame abandoned plans to secure resources nearby and attacked Star Sun’s region, scoring a Full House.
• Saine praised the raid and noted its leader as someone worth cultivating, while Jini Si looked furious.

Dark Flame Holy Tower’s apprentices initially dominated through aggressive surprise attacks, but their small numbers and lack of large-scale battle experience became clear as other academies adapted. Saine watched Wave Wheel Holy Tower’s Despairer-level apprentice Grote halt Dark Flame’s westward advance and learned that the Wave Wheel tower master had taken him as a disciple fifteen years earlier.

• Dark Flame Holy Tower’s apprentices attacked neighboring regions aggressively, and many apprentices from other academies were eliminated early in the war.
• As the conflict escalated into large battles, Dark Flame Holy Tower’s limited numbers and inexperience became apparent, while rival academies adapted to their tactics.
• Saine noticed that Grote of Wave Wheel Holy Tower could cast a powerful Level-1 cutting spell called Light Wheel Slash.
• Grote eliminated two of Dark Flame Holy Tower’s strongest apprentices, stopping their advance westward.
• The Wave Wheel Holy Tower dean told Saine that Grote had been the tower master’s disciple for fifteen years, despite having been below Level 1 when accepted.

The Holy Tower Masters debated ending the unusually brutal Academy War early, but Dark Flame insisted it continue for another half year. The war ended after two and a half years with Dark Flame Holy Tower placing second, behind Star Sun Holy Tower.

• The Maze and Fire Velvet Sandbox Holy Tower Masters proposed ending the war early, and three other Holy Tower Masters agreed.
• Dark Flame appeared and insisted the war continue for another half year, and the other Holy Tower Masters tacitly accepted.
• The war lasted two and a half years, and the top twenty apprentices entered a Final Trial against three Rank One Alien Creatures.
• Five Dark Flame apprentices took part in the Final Trial as the apprentices displayed their spells.
• Dark Flame Holy Tower finished second behind Star Sun Holy Tower, and Holy Tower Master Dark Flame disappeared after the war ended.

Saine met Faine, an apprentice whose leadership helped Dark Flame Holy Tower place second in the Academy War, and approved Faine’s family’s trip home. With the war over, Saine turned to alchemy research and planned to make a new Magic Robe.

• Saine welcomed Faine, his wife, and their daughter Goria, then gave Goria a Magic Hairpin he had made in his early Rank One days.
• Faine told Saine that he and his wife wanted to take Goria back to the Ebarute Empire to visit their families, and Saine approved their leave application.
• After the family departed, Saine thought about his distant relatives and acquaintances, then returned his attention to his own research.
• Saine decided to study Alchemy Experiments and make a replacement Magic Robe using materials he could purchase with his wealth and Holy Tower privileges.

Saine spent half a year crafting a gray robe and upgrading his own and his companions’ equipment, while continuing his alchemy experiments and improving Yuli’s magic puppet. With the Dark Flame Holy Tower stable under his reforms, he resumed traveling to gather materials, where repeated clashes with Star Sun Holy Tower magicians Ande Lie and Jini Si turned rivalry into friendship.

• Saine crafted a gray robe and refined high-grade magic conductors for himself after learning from the dangers of the Gumo Plane War.
• Saine reforged Lunna’s shoulder armor and Eight-Sided Heavy Hammer and upgraded Nataya’s equipment.
• Saine improved Yuli’s Constructed Magic Puppet using components from the City of Steel and Commercial Alliance Capecci, then considered asking Luluenman for her Silver Magic Puppet when Yuli grew stronger.
• The Dark Flame Holy Tower recovered from the Regional Academy War and continued stable growth under Saine’s reforms, though its expenses rose sharply.
• Saine traveled to the Star Sun Holy Tower region to collect materials and repeatedly fought Third-Level Great Magicians Ande Lie and Jini Si, eventually becoming friends with them.

During the Regional Holy Tower Academy War, Saine encouraged Goria and asked Kester to watch over her before leaving Dark Flame Holy Tower on a mission to investigate a Spacetime Fluctuation. He led a group of magicians north to determine whether a massive Time-Space Rift had formed beneath the Wizard World.

• Saine spoke with Goria, who hoped to place among the top ten and win an Azure Heart to aid her research into Water Element Truth Arcana.
• Saine asked Kester to oversee the Academy War and protect Goria from harm.
• Saine left Dark Flame Holy Tower with several dozen Level-1 Magicians and seventeen Second-Level Magicians after completing the war's prewar mobilization.
• Saine led the expedition north to investigate a Spacetime Fluctuation and establish whether a new massive Time-Space Rift had opened.

Saine met the investigation teams from the surrounding Holy Towers and continued with them to the Matoru Rift Valley, where they would investigate a possible spacetime anomaly. He considered the teams scouts until the Eli Knights Alliance and Wizard Civilization confirmed that a great spacetime rift had appeared.

• Saine noted that the Third-Level Great Magicians from the other Holy Towers had developed a tacit understanding, though Jini Si snubbed him and Ande Lie greeted him.
• Saine gathered Dark Flame Holy Tower's magicians and continued northwest, judging that the Holy Towers and Knights' Halls were holding back their full forces until they confirmed the threat.
• Saine's group arrived at the entrance to the Matoru Rift Valley.
• Saine reflected on the Wizard World's vast underground regions, the resources left unmined there, and the subhumanoid species that lived beneath the surface.
• Saine recalled that some underground subhumanoid groups included individuals of Rank Four or higher.

Saine searched the Underground World for abnormal spacetime fluctuations while collecting specimens and learning about its inhabitants. After three months without finding any anomalies, he headed toward the Underground City of Balas to seek information from its intelligent residents.

• Saine split his magicians into teams to investigate different underground branches while he continued alone.
• Saine spent three months searching without finding abnormal spacetime fluctuations, but he collected many native biological specimens.
• Saine encountered green-haired dwarves, named them the Green Hair People, and studied their strength, intelligence, and way of life.
• Saine questioned subterranean creatures about what they knew as he traveled toward Balas, the region's largest Underground City.

Saine reached Balas City after a month-long journey and investigated whether abnormal phenomena had occurred there. As the city's inhabitants escorted him deeper underground, he discovered their population was far larger than they claimed and learned of a Divine Statue, prompting a sudden melee.

• Saine arrived at Balas City and asked its leaders whether abnormal phenomena had occurred in recent decades.
• The Old Subhuman reported no unusual events, and the Black-Bellied giant spider offered Saine a dead Soul-Devouring Spider specimen.
• Saine accepted the offer and descended into Balas City with an escort, discovering that it housed over a million inhabitants.
• Saine asked a Level-1 subhuman about a towering statue, and it identified the statue as Balas City's Divine Statue.
• A chaotic melee erupted, and the Black-Bellied Spiders moved faster than Saine.

Saine and Yuli fought the Underground World creatures that attacked them in Balas, with Saine overwhelming their Level-3 spider leader using powerful magic and abundant equipment. The battle continued as Saine’s spells exposed the strength he had built since the Gumo Plane War.

• The Black-Bellied Spiders and subhumans attacked Saine, who activated his Flame Demon True Body and charged at their Level-3 spider leader.
• Yuli appeared with the Flame Mark Constructed Magic Puppet and thirteen ordinary-model magic puppets, helping hold back the surrounding creatures.
• Saine’s Scorching Fire Lotuses struck the spider leader, whose hardened shell let it withstand the attacks.
• Saine unleashed a barrage of powerful fire spells while his stored magic and layered shields protected him.
• Saine’s well-equipped assault put the Underground World creatures in the same helpless position that Jini Si and other Holy Tower Magicians had faced.

Saine battled the Black-Bellied Spider Leader and the Level-3 Old Subhuman, whose support magic strengthened the underground creatures. The two enemies retreated toward the Underground City's temple to borrow the Goddess's power, and Saine pursued them with Green Source Seeds in hand.

• The Black-Bellied Spider Leader failed to overpower Saine in close combat and suffered severe burns from his Flames of Ash.
• The Level-3 Old Subhuman strengthened nearby underground creatures with green halos and attacked Saine with energy spheres.
• Saine shifted his focus to the Old Subhuman, but wooden barriers and the Black-Bellied Spider Leader blocked his advance.
• The Old Subhuman proposed borrowing the Goddess's power, and it and the Black-Bellied Spider Leader retreated toward the temple.
• Saine suspected a scheme, took out Green Source Seeds, and pursued the two Level-3 creatures.

Saine pursued the Black-Bellied Spider Leader to Balas City's temple, recognized the Spider Goddess's statue from an earlier investigation, and retreated rather than risk entering. The chapter revealed that the Goddess was not an ordinary foreign god but a powerful local with at least half Wizard World blood, whose faith network faced possible retaliation.

• Saine chased the Black-Bellied Spider Leader and another Level-3 lifeform to the Spider Goddess's enormous temple in Balas City.
• Saine recognized the statue from a damaged Divine Statue he had found during an earlier Azure Source Holy Tower investigation and suspected the Goddess was a powerful Dominator.
• Saine hesitated at the silent temple, judged that the Eli Knights Alliance and Holy Towers would retaliate against the Goddess's faith, and withdrew to report what he had found.
• The creatures of Balas City feared Saine would return with knights and magicians, putting their underground city and the Goddess's temples at risk.
• The chapter revealed that the Spider Goddess had at least half Wizard World blood and was a local whose complicated background had earned her leniency from the Guardians.

Saine fled Balas City after realizing the Black-Bellied Spider Leader and an Old Subhuman had been empowered by their goddess to Demigod-level strength near the temple. After taunting the Underground World creatures and their goddess, Saine was trapped by spatial confinement as the city’s Divine Statue appeared to awaken.

• Saine recognized that the Black-Bellied Spider Leader’s divine power made it too dangerous to fight, so he fled the temple.
• The Black-Bellied Spider Leader and the Old Subhuman pursued Saine, but their divine strength weakened as they moved farther from the temple.
• Saine escaped to the outskirts of Balas City and recorded the pursuit with a crystal ball.
• Saine taunted the Underground World creatures, threatened them with the Dark Flame Holy Tower and the Eli Knights Alliance, and insulted their goddess before leaving.
• A spatial force immobilized Saine, and the Divine Statue spoke as its pressure made millions of Underground World creatures prostrate themselves.

Saine was captured by the Black-Bellied Spider Leader and brought before the Sexy Goddess, whose overwhelming power left him unable to resist. As she prepared to kill him and turn his body into a Soul-Binding Corpse, a light and Dragon's Roar revealed his ties to powerful protectors, stopping her attack.

• The Black-Bellied Spider Leader bound Saine in Spider Silk and brought him to the God of Gods' Hall in Balas City.
• The Sexy Goddess appeared before Saine and mocked him, then cut his face while threatening to eat him and make him a Soul-Binding Corpse.
• Saine asked whether she was an Undead Element magician, and the Goddess said she had only studied with an old man.
• The Goddess sharpened her nails and reached for Saine's brain, but a gentle white light and a Dragon's Roar emerged from him.
• The Goddess stopped and recognized that Saine was illuminated by the Light of the Planes and blessed by direct blood relatives of the Baxia Family.

The Spider Goddess spared Saine after recognizing the protections and powerful family backing that made killing him risky. After Saine explained why he had entered the underground world, she questioned her servants about unusual spacetime fluctuations nearby.

• The Spider Goddess reconsidered killing Saine because he carried the Light of the Planes and Bixi's blessing, and she withdrew her hand.
• The Goddess told Saine she would spare him if he explained why he had entered the underground world and whether he sought her temple.
• Saine regained some mobility, stopped his head from bleeding, and honestly explained his purpose and what he knew.
• The Goddess summoned the Third-Level Black-Bellied Spider Leader and the Old Subhuman and asked whether unusual spacetime fluctuations had appeared in nearby underground worlds.

After the Black-Bellied Spider Leader and the Old Subhuman reported no nearby spacetime anomalies, the Spider Queen freed Saine and ordered him to help search for the node. She placed her Lifebound Spider on him as a monitor, then saw through his false name and identified him as Saine.

• The Black-Bellied Spider Leader and the Old Subhuman told the Spider Queen they had heard nothing of a nearby Spacetime Fluctuation.
• The Spider Queen freed Saine, who treated his wounds and collected the valuable spider silk that had bound him.
• The Spider Queen ordered Saine and her servants to search for the spacetime node and told the underground leaders to mobilize local believers.
• The Spider Queen placed her Lifebound Spider on Saine's finger to monitor him, and the spider ate his Flame Ring.
• The Spider Queen introduced herself as the Spider Queen and laughed when Saine claimed his name was Ande Lie, revealing that she knew he was Saine.