Chapter Summaries

Saine and Lina charged into the graveyard to retrieve the Black Crystal embedded in a Bone Dragon’s eye, while Angle followed them into battle. After Saine’s Green Source Seeds grew into Plant Creatures that pinned down the Bone Dragon and held back the undead, Saine took the crystal and heard the Bone Dragon complain that Piano had trapped it in the subspace for six thousand years.

• Angle recognized the emerging Bone Dragon as a dangerous opponent and urged the others to leave.
• Saine noticed the Black Crystal in the Bone Dragon’s eye, learned Lina wanted it, and promised to help her get it.
• Saine and Lina flew toward the Bone Dragon, and Saine scattered Green Source Seeds that grew into ten level-one and two level-two Plant Creatures.
• The Plant Creatures pinned down the Bone Dragon and held back the undead as Angle joined Saine’s defensive circle.
• Saine pulled the Black Crystal from the Bone Dragon’s eye and heard it curse Piano for leaving it trapped in the subspace for six thousand years.

Saine and the others restrained a bone dragon that had awakened in the Undead Graveyard, only to learn it was a Netherworld Creature and an old acquaintance of the Wizard World. The bone dragon claimed it had lived for over ten thousand years, leading Saine to suspect that its true strength was at least Level 3 despite its apparent weakness.

• The two Level-2 Plant Creatures pinned down the awakened bone dragon while Saine's Azure Fire caused it pain.
• The bone dragon recognized Saine as a magician from the Wizard World and complained that it had once been tricked by Piano into serving as his mount.
• The bone dragon identified itself as a Netherworld Creature, and its presence calmed the nearby Undead tide and made several Level-1 Undead Creatures withdraw.
• Saine explained the Netherworld's close ties to the Wizard World but kept the plants restraining the bone dragon because he did not fully trust it.
• The bone dragon insisted that its relationship with Piano had been equal, and Saine inferred from its age that it likely possessed at least Level-3 strength.

Saine and Lina learned that the Black Crystal had kept the Bone Dragon trapped in the subspace for six thousand years and contained a spatial coordinate to the Netherworld. Lina planned to study the crystal and its imprint, while Saine worried that the subspace would close before they could send the Undead Creatures away.

• The Bone Dragon explained that removing the Black Crystal from its eye socket had restored its clarity and revealed that the crystal might lead it back to the Netherworld.
• Lina found a spatial coordinate imprinted in the Black Crystal, and the Bone Dragon eagerly asked her to help it return in exchange for compensation.
• Lina told Saine that she needed to study the crystal and a Death and Summoning Element Magic Book before attempting to activate the coordinate.
• Lina discovered a restriction that could imprint creatures who used the teleportation array, potentially allowing her to summon the Undead Creatures later.
• Saine urged Lina to hurry because the subspace secret realm would not remain open for long, and Lina said she would first try to create a one-way array to the Netherworld.

Lina secured the bone dragon’s cooperation to send the cemetery’s undead back to the Netherworld, while studying the summoning Teleportation Array. She hoped the Netherworld would let her and Saine stay together beyond the reach of the Wizard World’s authorities.

• The bone dragon eagerly agreed to help Lina return its undead followers to the Netherworld and reclaim its old territory.
• Lina demanded Energy Crystals to open a passage for tens of thousands of undead, and the bone dragon offered Soul Crystals to cover the shortfall.
• Lina began studying the summoning Teleportation Array because her status as a wanted Black Magician made it difficult to accompany Saine in the Wizard World.
• Lina considered the Netherworld a place where she and Saine could remain together with less interference from the Wizard World’s laws and authorities.

Saine and his companions signed a contract with Bone Dragon Sanchez, who agreed to help them in exchange for their assistance returning to the Netherworld. Saine recognized the Black Crystal that had obscured Sanchez’s consciousness as a possible staff head for Lina, and Sanchez revealed that the magician who trapped him was a demigod named Piano who was likely dead.

• Saine asked the Bone Dragon its name and learned that Piano had named it Sanchez; its tail markings showed it had lived for over eleven thousand years.
• Saine proposed a Magic Contract, and Sanchez agreed after worrying that the Wizard World magicians might trick him again.
• Saine, Lina, Angle, and Sanchez signed a contract forbidding them from harming one another and promising three acts of unconditional assistance from Sanchez; Lina received one of them.
• Sanchez asked for payment, but Lina refused, and Saine noticed Sanchez feared her and the Black Crystal she carried.
• Saine considered the Black Crystal as the head for the Magic Staff he wanted to make for Lina and asked Sanchez about Piano.
• Sanchez said Piano had been a demigod who wore a leather cap and that he believed the magician was dead.

Lina activated a Teleportation Light Gate to the Netherworld using a spatial waypoint left by Magician Piano, and Saine’s group witnessed the graveyard’s undead begin their migration. With the Knight Continent Trial zone close to closing, Saine and the others chose not to enter the Netherworld, while Lina was left exhausted from marking thousands of undead.

• Lina activated the graveyard’s Teleportation Light Gate using the Black Crystal, a magic array, Energy Crystals, Soul Crystals, and Death Qi.
• Saine and Lina saw three ancient Rank One undead emerge, including a zombie whose energy level neared Rank Two, and Bone Dragon Sanchez explained how natural undead differed from artificially created undead.
• On the fourth day, the gate to the Netherworld opened as a one-way passage that would take years to traverse, so Saine, Lina, and Angle decided not to enter.
• Saine learned that the Knight Continent Trial zone would close in about a day, and Sanchez assured him that the graveyard’s undead could pass through the gate in half a day.
• The Death Knight led more than ten thousand undead into the passage, while Lina leaned against Saine, weakened by the mental strain of sensing each creature’s imprint.

Saine, Lina, and Angle received gifts from Bone Dragon Sanchez before leaving the secret realm subspace, while Sanchez discovered a hidden mark and pondered whether he could reach the demigod realm. After returning to the Knight Continent Trial zone, Saine and Lina visited a small trading market and continued their journey without Angle.

• Bone Dragon Sanchez gave Saine, Lina, and Angle Soul Crystals, Soul Essences, Death Element materials, and Bone Nails before departing through the Spatial Light Gate.
• Saine and Lina discussed using the Bone Nails or a Black Crystal to summon Sanchez and considered introducing Lina to Saine's mentor.
• After Sanchez left, Lina's Mental Strength exhaustion caused her to revert to her little girl form.
• In the Space Channel, Sanchez found a hidden mark left by Piano and wondered whether the energy he had gained could help him reach the demigod realm.
• When the secret realm subspace began closing, Saine, Lina, and Angle returned to the Knight Continent Trial zone and confirmed that the manor had belonged to Piano.
• Saine and Lina browsed a trading market, then continued their journey after Angle chose to train alone.

After continuing north through the Trial Zone, Saine spent two years researching and then half a year forging a Darkness Crystal Magic Staff for Lina. The staff was completed successfully, and Saine planned to keep improving both their staffs as they advanced.

• Saine and Lina continued north after Angle departed, exploring the Trial Zone and studying magic along the way.
• Saine chose the Black Crystal from the bone dragon's eye socket as the core of Lina's new staff and spent two years researching it and planning the experiment.
• Saine began forging the Darkness Crystal Magic Staff in a cave laboratory, where an elemental explosion destroyed part of the staff body and caused a landslide.
• Saine found dark-green underwater jade bamboo in his Space Equipment and used it as supplementary material to finish the staff successfully.
• Saine gave Lina the Darkness Crystal Magic Staff and told her that he would continue strengthening it and the Azure Fire Heart Magic Staff.

Saine and Lina continued pushing northwest against the Beast Tide while preparing to face another wave. They reunited with Hai Xi and the other three magically enhanced Sea Lizards, whose hatching had made Lina their mother and Saine their father.

• Saine examined his improved Crystal Ball and hoped his Mental Strength and Magic Power would reach the peak of a Level 1 Magician before he left the Knight Continent.
• Lina told Saine that another Beast Tide wave was approaching, and the pair packed up their tent to move on.
• Saine and Lina continued advancing northwest against the Beast Tide, seeking new species and unexplored parts of the Trial Zone.
• Lina waited for Hai Xi and the other three Sea Lizards to return from the forest.
• Saine recalled that Lina had enhanced the Sea Lizard Eggs with precious resources and dragon blood, then named their leader Hai Xi.
• Saine remembered that the Sea Lizards had first seen Lina after hatching and regarded her as their mother and him as their father.

Saine and Lina traveled through the Beast Tide-ravaged Trial Zone with their four powerful but simple-minded Sea Lizard companions, led by Hai Xi. They rested in a giant tree and continued their research into magic, while Lina explained why the Knight Continent’s rules restricted some passenger-type Space Equipment.

• The four Sea Lizards returned from the jungle carrying a slain Advanced Magical Beast, which Saine stored in his Space Ring.
• Saine and Lina continued northwest through the Trial Zone, where frequent Beast Tide attacks had driven them to search for weak points in the jungle.
• Saine recalled trading resources with Angle, whom he had encountered again four years earlier and who had continued to grow stronger.
• At dusk, Saine called the four Sea Lizards into their specially made passenger-type Space Equipment to rest, and Hai Xi wished him good night.
• Lina suggested that the Knight Continent’s rules prevented trial-takers from summoning outside lifeforms through passenger-type Space Equipment, then Saine asked about her Mental Strength and magic matrix research.

After years of surviving the Beast Tide, Saine and Lina reached the edge of their Trial Zone and discovered that the beasts were fleeing from a neighboring zone. A White Giant Bird of at least Level 4 crossed the boundary, leaving Saine to wonder whether the next zone was a training ground for Wizard World powerhouses.

• Saine and Lina continued northwest through increasingly dangerous Beast Tide attacks, evading powerful Level-2 cleaners with Dragon Turtle Bixi’s Aura Concealment Technique.
• In their eighteenth year, they encountered a wounded, blindfolded purple-haired swordsman from the Desert Kingdom, who told them the Trial Zone ended to the northwest at the boundary with another zone.
• After the swordsman, Saine and Lina found no other Trial participants and explored two secret realms, where Saine obtained a Battle Qi cultivation method usable up to Level-3 Sky Knight.
• In their twenty-first year, Saine and Lina reached a vast energy membrane separating their forested Trial Zone from a mountainous neighboring zone, as a Beast Tide crossed through an Elemental Vortex beneath it.
• A White Giant Bird with a wingspan exceeding seven hundred meters flew across the neighboring sky, and Saine suspected the adjacent Trial Zone trained Wizard World powerhouses above Level 4.

Saine and Lina watched as a Level-5 Gray Giant Ape and a Level-5 Black Earth Dragon confronted each other beyond the Trial Zone’s energy membrane. Saine stopped Lina from approaching the battle and began recording the rare clash as the two beasts prepared to fight.

• Saine and Lina spotted a Level-4-or-higher White Giant Bird across the Trial Zone but realized they could not reach it through the Beast Tide.
• A Gray Giant Ape over two thousand meters tall emerged from the mountains, followed by a massive Black Earth Dragon.
• The Black Earth Dragon unleashed Dragon Might, killing and injuring magical beasts near the spatial vortex and causing a stampede.
• Lina proposed taking advantage of the chaos, but Saine stopped her because the Level-5 battle’s aftershocks could kill them.
• Saine recorded the Gray Giant Ape and Black Earth Dragon as they built their auras and prepared to fight.

Saine and Lina watched a three-month battle between a Gray Giant Ape and a Black Earth Dragon until a colossal, bull-shaped being appeared and ended their fight with a bellow. After the towering shadow departed with the two Level-5 Creatures, the Beast Tide turned toward Saine and Lina, forcing them to leave.

• The Gray Giant Ape and Black Earth Dragon fought for three months, reshaping the terrain as Saine and Lina observed.
• A White Giant Bird returned with a colossal shadow tens of thousands of meters tall, whose bellow made the two Level-5 Creatures stop fighting and approach it submissively.
• Saine watched the shadow depart with the giant beasts and suspected it was a True Spirit Dominator, recording the sight in his Crystal Ball.
• After the beasts left, a Level-3 magical beast led part of the Beast Tide toward Saine and Lina.
• Lina noticed the approaching magical beasts, and she and Saine decided to leave.

After twenty-three years in the Knight Continent Trial Zone, Saine and Lina escaped the Beast Tide and returned to the Western Islands. They headed toward the Black Domain, where Saine intended to avenge his mentor Moxidu, while Sylph spotted Saine from a passing floating ship.

• Saine and Lina reached the southeastern exit and left the Trial Zone through an Elemental Vortex after spending twenty-three years there.
• A Level-3 female magician welcomed them and directed them toward Bisai City, where they spent two weeks before setting off for the Black Domain.
• Saine and Lina declined a free airship and flew through the Western Islands, with Saine saying he would personally avenge Moxidu by confronting Di'ersi.
• As Saine and Lina passed Berkeley City, Sylph spotted Saine from the deck of a floating ship and wondered if he was her junior apprentice.

Sylph spotted Saine and Lina traveling below her floating ship, while the pair continued their journey through the Western Islands and grew closer. After two years, they reached the northern Western Islands and entered the trading waters near the Black Domain.

• Sylph recognized Saine and wondered about his relationship with Lina as her ship carried her back toward the Wizard World.
• Lina sensed someone watching them, so Saine urged her to avoid large cities as they traveled north through the Western Islands.
• Saine and Lina explored the islands, experienced ordinary life, and attended noble balls together.
• After two years of travel, Saine promised Lina he would give her a plane of their own as a gift for their feelings.
• Saine and Lina left Sethos Port and entered the Public Sea Domain, where Black Domain magicians and knights could trade during the Knight Continent Trial's limited opening.

Saine reunited with Zorro at a black market in the Public Sea Domain and found him embroiled in a dispute with a Gray-Armored Knight over a Magic Conductor. When the knight insulted Saine, Saine attacked him with an Azure Fire Flame-wreathed fist.

• Saine used Crystal Ball Communication to find Zorro soon after arriving in the Public Sea Domain.
• Saine saw that Zorro had earned money making magic items and was selling his equipment at a medium-sized black market.
• Saine noticed Lilianya near Zorro’s stall as a Gray-Armored Knight argued with Zorro over the price of a blue arm shield.
• Saine said the Magic Conductor was fairly priced at 27 Magic Coins, and the Gray-Armored Knight insulted him.
• Saine’s fist, burning with Azure Fire Flame, was about to strike the Gray-Armored Knight.

Saine confronted a Gray-Armored Knight at Zorro’s stall, but Zorro defused the conflict by lowering the price of an Aquamarine Shield. After Saine reunited with Zorro, he declared that he had returned to avenge their mentor.

• Saine stopped his Azure Fire Fist just short of the Gray-Armored Knight’s face, proving his strength without breaking the black market’s ban on fighting.
• The Gray-Armored Knight challenged Saine, but Zorro intervened and reduced the Aquamarine Shield’s price until the knight agreed to pay twenty-four Magic Coins.
• The Gray-Armored Knight left with his companions after paying, while Lina joined Saine and greeted Zorro as Senior Brother.
• Saine questioned why Zorro sold formal Magic Conductors so cheaply, and Zorro explained that he had other intentions and that someone must avenge their mentor.
• Saine told Zorro that he had returned to avenge their mentor.

Saine resolved to pursue revenge for his mentor Moxidu and went with Zorro to meet Dean Martin, while learning that Fei'er had become a Formal Magician. Lina asked Martin to negotiate with Kanterla, the powerful backer of Saine’s target, Di'ersi.

• Zorro explained that he sold his Magic Conductors cheaply to build connections and resources for future revenge, while Saine preferred to act with the strength he already possessed.
• Zorro told Saine that Fei'er had advanced to Formal Magician seventeen years earlier and had stopped her from traveling to the Public Sea Domain so she could stabilize her realm.
• Zorro led Saine and Lina to Martin’s Magic Tower, where Martin recognized Saine’s increased strength and welcomed Lina because of her Black Tower Badge and reputation.
• Lina told Martin that Saine wanted to avenge Moxidu and asked about Martin negotiating with Kanterla, who backed Di'ersi.

Saine and Lina secured a duel between Saine and Di'ersi, with the Pale Bone Black Tower's Demigod-level Jigson serving as witness. At the eastern edge of the Public Sea Domain, Saine faced Di'ersi and taunted her about her enslaved soul and transformation into a Madwoman.

• Martin said Kanterla co-owned the black market and might not agree to the duel, so Lina offered to have the Pale Bone Black Tower's dean witness it.
• Lina said Jigson had looked after her, and he agreed to send an Elemental Projection to oversee the duel two months later.
• Saine learned Di'ersi was in a nearby black market and saw that she had become an old woman wearing a soul-enslaving Magic Conductor mask.
• The parties set the duel at the eastern edge of the Public Sea Domain to avoid disrupting its busy free market.
• Saine confronted Di'ersi and mocked her for being controlled by another person's magic and nearly turned into a puppet.

Di'ersi's decades of enslavement and fear culminated in a hysterical confrontation with Saine, whom she blamed for bringing vengeance upon her. At the dueling sea, Jigson's Elemental Projection arrived, drawing attention from the Black Magicians seeking the Pale Bone Black Tower's favor.

• Saine's taunts made Di'ersi relive her failed betrayal of Moxidu and the decades she had spent under Kanterla's control.
• Di'ersi learned that Fei'er had also become a Formal Magician and feared that Moxidu's disciples would come after her.
• Di'ersi broke down and vowed to kill Saine, Zorro, and everyone who had wronged her.
• Jigson arrived at the dueling sea as an Elemental Projection and spoke with Lina, Martin, and Kanterla.
• Martin and Kanterla tried to curry favor with Jigson, hoping for access to the Pale Bone Black Tower's influence and high-grade resources.