Chapter Summaries

After the Grade Assessment, Andis rewarded Lina for her fierce battle with Death Hand Mike, while Saine thanked the owl supervisor who had saved them. Meili arrived with medicine, and her kindness softened Lina’s cold expression as Lina remained badly poisoned.

• Andis praised Lina’s battle with Death Hand Mike and gave her a piece of Black Demon Copper, despite her and Mike having missed the top three.
• Saine offered the owl supervisor ten Black Gold coins, then gave it a partly depleted Earth Crystal when it showed no interest in the money.
• The owl ate the crystal, introduced itself as Qi, and told Saine he could find it in the eastern treetops of White Crow Forest.
• Meili arrived after the assessment and offered Saine potions for his wounds, but he refused because Lina needed treatment more urgently.
• Meili gave Lina a Low-Level Antidote she had made herself, and Lina’s expression softened slightly.

Saine hurried Lina home to treat her poisoning with an Intermediate Antidote, then visited Master Moxidu and broke through to Intermediate Apprentice. Meili and Baus also discussed working together to sell her potions.

• Meili gave Saine three Low-Level Recovery Potions, and Baus offered to help her sell her potions in exchange for a share of the profits.
• Meili negotiated terms with Baus, agreeing to consider working together if he supplied the ingredients she needed.
• Saine gave Lina a Low-Level Antidote and a Recovery Potion, and Lina said she would ask Feilunna for a Purification Potion the next day.
• Master Moxidu praised Saine for winning the academy reward and encouraged him to advance to Intermediate Apprentice.
• Saine meditated with his Strong Acid Scepter and the Initial Meditation Method and successfully advanced to Intermediate Apprentice.

After advancing to Intermediate Apprentice, Saine entered Moxidu’s laboratory and began assisting Fei'er with an experiment. He learned that the work involved making four Element Fission Generators, apparently on an academy assignment.

• After two days and nights of meditation, Saine emerged as an Intermediate Apprentice with Mental Strength and magic power above 30 points.
• Saine left Moxidu’s residence without disturbing the others and returned the next day, when Moxidu allowed him into the laboratory.
• Moxidu gave Saine five thick Magic Books to study and told him to help Fei'er observe and record energy data.
• Fei'er explained that Saine’s station monitored a semitransparent crystal while Moxidu and the Senior Brother worked at the other laboratory tables.
• After Moxidu embedded a dazzling Energy Crystal into the main table, Fei'er told Saine that the experiment was to make four Element Fission Generators for an academy assignment.

Saine learned alchemy by assisting Mentor Moxidu’s disciples with a Fire Element Fission Generator and then their Water Element Fission Generator. An explosion wrecked the laboratory and injured Zorro, and Moxidu rushed outside in fury to confront whoever had caused it.

• Saine spent more than half a month recording data and operating equipment as Moxidu and his disciples completed a Fire Element Fission Generator.
• Fei'er handed most of the experiment’s procedures to Saine, who gradually became more proficient at alchemy.
• On the third day of work on a Water Element Fission Generator, an explosion shattered a Water-type Brilliant Crystal and flooded the laboratory with elemental energy.
• Moxidu was blasted back, while Zorro was injured and Saine and Fei'er escaped with little harm.
• Moxidu stormed outside with magical equipment and demanded to know who was responsible, while Saine helped Zorro up and offered him a Low-Level Recovery Potion.

Saine witnessed Kaisersen Master attack Moxidu and learned that Kaisersen had come for him because he had killed Yierke. Moxidu refused to hand Saine over, struck Kaisersen with Meteor Descent, and pursued him after Kaisersen escaped.

• Saine arrived with the injured Zorro as Moxidu fought Kaisersen and his Plant Monstrosity.
• Fei'er asked Saine whether he had killed Kaisersen's disciple, and Saine recognized Yierke's Pale Mask.
• Kaisersen demanded that Moxidu hand Saine over, revealing that Saine was his target and Zorro had been caught in the attack by chance.
• Moxidu refused and cast Meteor Descent, forcing Kaisersen to sacrifice his Plant Monstrosity to block the meteor.
• Kaisersen fled, and Moxidu drank a potion and pursued him with his Metal Discs.

After Moxidu drove Kaisersen from the city over the destruction of his Water Element Fission Generator, Dean Dadalong tried to mediate but agreed to supply replacement materials. Moxidu warned Saine to strike back decisively against weaker enemies, and later received several more mediators, including Di'ersi, Meili's mentor.

• Owl Qi and the other Academy Supervisors flew after Moxidu and Kaisersen once their battle ended.
• Dean Dadalong visited Moxidu to urge him to let the dispute go, but Moxidu explained that Kaisersen's interference had ruined his Water Element Fission Generator.
• Dadalong agreed to gather the materials Moxidu needed and insisted he complete the Element Fission Generator on schedule.
• Moxidu told Saine to retaliate hard against weaker opponents and recalled that his Second Senior Brother might have survived if he had followed that principle.
• Three more Formal Black Wizards came to persuade Moxidu to spare Kaisersen, and Moxidu welcomed the last visitor, the potion-maker Di'ersi.

Master Deers negotiated with Moxidu to spare Kaisersen in exchange for valuable materials, while Saine's Senior Brother Zorro gave him a Crystal Ball and encouraged his alchemy. Saine learned that Zorro was a Quasi-Magician whose focus on alchemy had left him weak in combat.

• Master Deers offered Moxidu rare materials on Kaisersen's behalf and persuaded him to spare Kaisersen, provided the compensation arrived within three days.
• Master Deers explained that Kaisersen wanted to stay at the academy because Black Magicians hoped to profit from the Time-Space Rift.
• Zorro gave Saine a Crystal Ball so he could test his Mental Strength without visiting the Public Library.
• Zorro praised Saine's alchemy talent and became more willing to guide him after Saine had given him a Low-Level Recovery Potion.
• Saine learned that Zorro was a Quasi-Magician who had neglected combat training while concentrating on alchemy.

Saine planned his studies after his Mentor’s laboratory was damaged, then returned to Ke Suo Long’s anatomy class to develop skills he hoped to use in creating Synthetic Beast servants. The chapter left him performing a corpse dissection as the class watched.

• Saine checked his slow progress in Mental Strength and Magic Power and planned to study Intermediate magic, attend classes, and read his five Magic Books.
• Ke Suo Long invited Saine to join his faction, but Saine respectfully declined because he was already Moxidu’s disciple.
• Ke Suo Long appointed Saine as his assistant at the Laboratory Table and praised his quick learning and steady hands.
• Ke Suo Long began the anatomy class by ordering Saine to remove the heart from an apprentice’s corpse without damaging it.
• Saine calmly began the dissection, hoping anatomy would prepare him to create powerful Synthetic Beast servants.

During Ke Suo Long’s dissection lesson, his pet rat devoured an apprentice who ruined his specimen, terrifying the class. Saine secretly helped a young female apprentice correct her work, and Ke Suo Long let her pass without noticing Saine’s intervention.

• Ke Suo Long punished an apprentice for ruining a specimen by having his rat swallow him.
• The rat’s attack frightened the apprentices, who carefully worked on their specimens while Ke Suo Long inspected them.
• Saine noticed a young female apprentice had made two mistakes and saw her silently plead for help.
• Saine demonstrated a correction with his knife, and the apprentice used the Cross Stitching Method to fix her specimen.
• Ke Suo Long praised the apprentice’s remedy, wondered aloud whether he had taught her the technique, and moved on.

After saving Tian Di from Master Ke Suo Long’s anatomy class, Saine asked her to help carry a specimen back to his dormitory. Tian Di mistook his request as a chance to become his protected dependent, while Saine simply expected a favor in return.

• Three apprentices were eaten during Master Ke Suo Long’s anatomy class, and the surviving apprentices left after the lesson ended.
• Wei Da and several Low-Level Apprentices respectfully greeted Saine as they passed him.
• Tian Di thanked Saine for saving her, and Saine explained that the three dead apprentices had made more than three obvious mistakes.
• Tian Di offered to do something for Saine, imagining he might become her backer, but Saine asked her to carry an apprentice specimen to his dormitory.
• Tian Di agreed to help while assuming Saine had ulterior motives; Saine only wanted to apply the Principle of Equivalent Exchange.

Saine studied the Wizard World and continued attending the academy’s newly opened Public Classrooms, while he and Lina planned to identify Magician Ke Suo Long’s unusual preservative fluid. His mentor Moxidu’s popular lessons gave Saine a chance to learn more advanced material, and Tian Di’s conversations with him led other apprentices to assume she was under his protection.

• Saine read Moxidu’s book but found no clear answers about the Wizard World, the Surface World, or how to leave the Underdark.
• Lina joined Saine, and he asked her to help identify the unusual preservative fluid on Ke Suo Long’s specimen.
• Saine audited Public Classrooms in subjects including potions, magical beasts, magic models, fire magic, and alchemy.
• Moxidu brought deeper material to his lectures, drew full classrooms, and had Saine assist him.
• Tian Di spoke with Saine after class, and other apprentices assumed she was his forbidden possession.

Saine continued attending Public Classroom lessons while studying intermediate spells and considering how to protect himself in battle. He chose to exchange Academy Points for Fire Wall, a spell he believed could serve as a directional defense as well as an attack.

• Saine suspected Di'ersi's interest in him was connected to Moxidu, and he recalled seeing her force apprentices to test dangerous medicines in class.
• Saine studied Flame Hand to prepare for his upcoming mandatory mission and shared the Magic Book on Object Control Art with Lina.
• Saine decided he needed a defensive spell because he lacked magical equipment and could not create puppet meat shields.
• Saine selected the Public Library's Fire Wall spell, judging that it could block attacks from one direction and was within his ability to master.

Saine left the City of Mozhsuobula to complete an academy mission exterminating Blue Jaw Feathers in Gray White Valley and test his new spells. After reaching the moss fields, he was approached by the hunched human residents who cultivated them.

• Fatty Baus warned Saine about leaving the city, then gave him Iron Phosphorus Powder, Sweet Berries, and potions Meili had left for him.
• Saine accepted Meili's potions and left the shop, heading northeast out of the City of Mozhsuobula.
• Saine traveled to Gray White Valley, where Blue Jaw Feather flocks threatened the humans growing underground moss.
• Several hunched residents ran out of the valley's wooden huts when Saine arrived in his black Magic Robe.

Saine investigated a Blue Jaw Feather flock that was eating the moss crop in Gray White Valley, threatening the Underground Humans’ food supply. After arranging torches to protect the field, he crept toward the birds and set out Iron Phosphorus Powder and Sweet Berries for his plan.

• The Underground Humans begged Saine to drive away the Blue Jaw Feather flock before it ate their moss.
• Saine ordered the humans to place torches around the field and approached the birds’ barren feeding ground.
• Saine counted twenty-six adult Blue Jaw Feathers, including a Blue Jaw Feather King, and heard juveniles deeper in the Moss Field.
• The Underground Humans lit torches while Saine prepared to confront the flock.
• Saine crawled closer, scattering Iron Phosphorus Powder and burying Sweet Berries in the soil.

Saine lured a flock of Blue Jaw Feathers, including their king, into an ambush and used Fire Wall and Iron Phosphorus Powder to engulf them in flames. The wounded king and several birds charged at him, and Saine summoned a giant flaming hand to meet them.

• Saine drew Blue Jaw Feathers to his ambush with Sweet Berries and waited until seventeen adults, including the Blue Jaw Feather King, entered the Iron Phosphorus Powder.
• Saine cast two Fire Walls, igniting the powder and the flammable moss to trap the flock in a spreading sea of fire.
• The Underground Humans watched the burning flock from hiding, while Saine assessed Fire Wall's power and his slow casting.
• The Blue Jaw Feather King escaped the flames with three badly injured adults, then charged Saine alongside four less-injured birds.
• Saine began chanting and conjured a giant hand of fire in the darkness.

Saine defeated the Blue Jaw Feather flock in Gray White Valley, collected valuable spoils, and shared the remaining creatures with the Underground Humans. On his return to the City of Mozhsuobula, an ambusher wounded him, but Saine struck back and brought the attacker down.

• Saine killed the Blue Jaw Feather King with Flame Hand, driving the surviving Blue Jaw Feathers from Gray White Valley.
• Saine collected claws, beaks, eggs, and a hind leg, then gave the Underground Humans the remaining Blue Jaw Feather corpses to compensate for their burned Moss Field.
• Saine left Gray White Valley and headed back toward the City of Mozhsuobula with his spoils.
• An attacker ambushed Saine with a poisoned dagger, but Saine dodged and fired the Strong Acid Scepter at the attacker.
• Saine approached the fallen attacker and identified it as a dwarf wearing Black Moss Skin Clothes.

Saine survived a Gray Dwarf’s ambush on the road from Gray White Valley, but the attacker’s poison left him badly weakened. After waking in a hidden cave, he recovered enough to eat and assess his situation, still stranded in the Underground World.

• Saine killed the wounded Gray Dwarf with a Minor Fireball, took its dagger and bundle, and searched for a safe place to recover.
• Saine found a small cave, barricaded its entrance, and discovered that the Gray Dwarf’s dagger had been coated with Blue Lichen Juice that was paralyzing his body.
• Saine drank potions he had received from Baus and lost consciousness, thinking that he owed Meili his life.
• Saine awoke in the cave, found that he could move his right hand again, and drank his last Low-Level Recovery Potion.
• Saine discovered that most of his supplies were gone, then ate one of the four remaining Blue Jaw Feather Eggs and decided to learn how to make Nutrient Potions from Senior Sister Fei'er.

After surviving a Gray Dwarf attack, Saine returned to the City of Mozhsuobula, sold most of his spoils, and discovered his Blue Jaw Feather Eggs were worth far more than expected. He left for the academy to submit his mission, carrying a recovery potion from Fatty Baus.

• Saine left his hiding place, recovered his route to the City of Mozhsuobula, and entered the city without trouble.
• Fatty Baus questioned Saine about his injuries and delayed return, then appraised the spoils Saine had brought back.
• Baus valued Saine’s goods at nearly five hundred Black Gold, largely because Demi-human Tribes wanted his three Blue Jaw Feather Eggs.
• Saine declined Baus’s offer of an advance and prepared to return to the academy to submit his mission.
• Baus gave Saine a Low-Level Recovery Potion made by Meili, and Saine hurried toward the academy.

After returning injured from his academy mission, Saine arranged for Fei'er to teach him to make Nutrient Potions and for Zorro to teach him alchemy. He continued practicing alchemy in Moxidu’s laboratory, where repeated failures led him to reconsider his workspace and tell Lina they should resume plans to move.

• Moxidu teased Saine about returning wounded and refused to use Flesh Regeneration magic on him.
• Saine asked Fei'er to teach him to make Nutrient Potions and asked Zorro for alchemy lessons; both agreed, though Zorro could only teach him at night.
• Zorro reflected that Moxidu might have taken Saine as a disciple because he resembled a fallen Second Junior Brother, then returned to the demanding alchemy work with Moxidu.
• Saine’s attempt to carve a Magic Rune Array into a Blue Jaw Feather Claw failed again, exhausting the material’s Element Power.
• Saine reviewed what had gone wrong and told Lina that the Laboratory Table was too small and they should resume their moving plans.

Saine and Lina settled into a spacious dormitory and discussed their neighbors, magical studies, and the different professions in the Wizard World over dinner. Lina’s explanation led Saine to plan to study the intermediate spell Object Control Art and read Ankeda Annotations more carefully.

• Saine and Lina moved into a secluded, spacious home in the second-to-last Apprentice Dormitory building.
• Saine told Lina that the two male apprentices living together on their floor surprised him, and Lina explained that their neighbors were Mali, a promising Intermediate Apprentice, and Stanson, an Advanced Apprentice skilled in rare Bloodline Magics.
• Saine and Lina prepared dinner together and shared recent findings from their magical studies.
• Lina explained that Ankeda Annotations described wizards and other magical professions, and identified them as Fire Elementalists.
• Saine decided to study Object Control Art while examining Ankeda Annotations more closely.