Chapter Summaries

Saine collected 577 Black Gold from Baus and saw a Floating Behemoth bring nearly a thousand children to the Black Wizard Academy, of whom only 272 met the Mental Strength requirement. At Moxidu's laboratory, Saine overheard Moxidu and Di'ersi worry that future apprentice numbers might not meet the Dean's requirements.

• Baus gave Saine 577 Black Gold after selling the goods, including the Blue Jaw Feather Eggs at auction.
• A Floating Behemoth arrived over the City of Mozhsuobula carrying a new batch of children from the Surface World.
• The academy enrolled 272 of the nearly thousand children who met the minimum Mental Strength requirement.
• Saine returned to his studies instead of visiting the new apprentices' dormitory.
• Saine overheard Di'ersi ask Moxidu whether the academy would have enough qualified apprentices in ten years.

Moxidu and Di'ersi discussed the Black Wizard Academy's plans, their alliance, and the disparity in resources and apprentice recruitment between Black Magicians and the Surface Holy Towers. Moxidu ended by wondering whether a powerful magician might someday bring broad reforms like the ancient knight who changed the Knights' Halls.

• Moxidu told Di'ersi that the Black Wizard Academy's apprentices could meet Dean Martin and the others' requirements for their long-planned project.
• Moxidu reflected that his limited resources and devotion to alchemy had held back his magical advancement, and that Zorro most resembled him among his disciples.
• Di'ersi reported that Wote and the other raiders had been discovered after Dean Dadalong found two magical marks on their floating ship.
• Moxidu and Di'ersi criticized the Holy Towers for monopolizing resources and apprentice candidates, while Moxidu defended the Black Domain's broader recruitment practices.
• Moxidu praised the Knights' Halls for recruiting attendants from all humanity and wondered whether a similarly powerful reformer would arise among magicians.

Saine learned to make Nutrient Potion from Fei'er, then discussed possible ingredient substitutes with Meili while shopping for materials. He encouraged Meili to focus on cultivation as his next compulsory academy mission drew near.

• Di'ersi dismissed Moxidu's complaints about knights while they discussed the standing of magicians and knights in the Wizard World.
• Saine and Zorro continued enchanting Blue Jaw Feather Claws, and over the next half month Saine produced three with the Sharpness Spell.
• Fei'er taught Saine to make Nutrient Potion and explained why its recipe used Black Scabies Insect shells and Underground Multi-Legged Packhorse saliva.
• At Fatty Baus's shop, Meili suggested replacing those ingredients with Cane Thistle Grass and Green Plum juice or Ailan Water, while warning that the formula needed testing.
• Saine declined to have Meili improve the potion and urged her to cultivate, noting that her Mental Strength was 17.

Saine completed a safe patrol mission and spent three years advancing his studies, alchemy, and cultivation in the Underground World. At twenty, he had become a skilled alchemist with 38 Mental Strength and had learned Skeleton Summoning from Lina.

• Saine told Fatty Baus he planned to take a routine patrol mission and discussed selling enchanted Blue Jaw Feather Claws.
• Saine completed the patrol in three days and spent the following years studying, completing missions, assisting Moxidu, and cultivating.
• Three years later, Saine finished an Elemental Converter in Moxidu's laboratory and stayed behind with Fei'er to tidy up.
• Saine had surpassed Fei'er in alchemy and had made four Low-Level Magic Items, including a Light Spell ring that sold for three hundred Black Gold.
• Saine's Mental Strength had reached 38 points, and he had learned Object Control Art, Fire Chain Blade, and Skeleton Summoning from Lina.

After Saine and Fei'er cleaned Moxidu's laboratory, Fei'er renewed her request to spend a night with him and gave him three days to decide. Fei'er left hoping he would come, while Saine stayed behind confused and unsure what to do.

• Saine and Fei'er tidied Moxidu's laboratory together after a night of experiments.
• Fei'er asked Saine whether he had considered her request from the previous week, and Saine hesitated.
• Fei'er told Saine to visit her dormitory in three days if he wanted to accept, then left the laboratory.
• Fei'er checked her reflection in a magic mirror and worried about aging and her chances of becoming a Formal Magician.
• Fei'er hoped Saine would come and joked to herself that she would force herself on him if he did not.

Saine left Moxidu’s laboratory and visited his friend, Owl Supervisor Qi, in White Crow Forest, where Qi had previously shared details about the Underdark’s history and magical beasts. The chapter left Saine meeting Qi again, with the owl’s family and the number of Owl Supervisors still secret.

• Saine reflected on the Black Wizard Academy’s apprentice casualties as he walked toward the dormitory after working under Moxidu.
• Saine left the path and traveled through White Crow Forest to the enormous tree where Qi lived.
• Saine called to Qi, and the owl flew down to meet him.
• Saine recalled that Qi was a 137-year-old Quasi-Level Magical Beast and had told him how Black Magicians had conquered the region around the City of Mozhsuobula.
• Qi had refused to reveal how many Owl Supervisors the academy had or identify its elder blood relatives.

Saine spent the day meditating in White Crow Forest and returned to the dormitory with troubling thoughts about Senior Sister Fei'er’s request. He kept the request from Lina, and the chapter ended with Saine reflecting on his broad curiosity about magical knowledge.

• Saine gave Owl Qi an exhausted Energy Crystal, which the owl promptly ate.
• Saine meditated in White Crow Forest until evening, then returned to the dormitory.
• Saine and Lina prepared dinner together, but Saine kept silent about Senior Sister Fei'er’s request because he feared it would lead Lina to challenge her.
• Saine reread the Ankeda Annotations and resolved to explore magical fields beyond his main elemental studies.
• Saine suggested that he and Lina leave the dishes and rest early.

Saine confessed everything to Lina, who urged him to accept Senior Sister Fei'er's advances for the sake of his future and survival. Three days later, Saine visited Fei'er and was pulled into her room, while a Quasi-Magician watched from above.

• Saine told Lina the truth about his circumstances and said he planned to refuse Fei'er.
• Lina advised Saine to go to Fei'er, reasoning that the relationship could help him under Moxidu and advance his goal of returning to the Surface World.
• Saine and Lina reaffirmed their bond and spent the night together.
• Three days later, Saine arrived at Fei'er's dormitory and knocked on her door.
• Fei'er opened the door in a house dress, blushed at Saine's reaction, pulled him inside, and shut the door.
• A Quasi-Magician living above Fei'er noticed Saine's visit and privately commented on it; Fei'er pinned Saine against the bed.

Saine and Fei'er began a sexual relationship after she used aphrodisiac potions, and Saine later struggled to keep her demands from interfering with his studies. Half a month later, Fei'er wanted to see him more often, while Saine remained committed to limiting their meetings and continuing his research.

• Fei'er used aphrodisiac potions and pushed Saine toward her bed, and they began a sexual relationship.
• Saine took control of their encounter, and Fei'er was left too exhausted to wake; he gave her a Recovery Potion and Nutrient Potions before leaving for the library.
• Saine returned to his studies, though he worried about the strange mood of Mentor Moxidu and the laboratory.
• Over the next half month, Saine visited Fei'er twice more, and the encounters left him exhausted and disrupted his research.
• Fei'er urged Saine to visit her more often, but Saine maintained a limit of once a week, and Fei'er accepted that she could not monopolize him from Lina.

Moxidu told Saine and Fei'er that attacks on the academy’s Floating Ships had forced Headmaster Dadalong to advance an expedition through a Time-Space Rift, with Black Wizard Apprentices expected to enter first. Saine searched the Public Library for information about Alien Planes and ended the chapter wondering what awaited beyond the rift.

• Moxidu gave Saine another half-year leave from his compulsory academy mission and urged Fei'er to advance beyond the Advanced Apprentice realm.
• Moxidu explained that Surface World magicians and knights had attacked the academy’s Floating Ships, leading Headmaster Dadalong to suspend the raids and advance the Different World exploration.
• Moxidu told Saine and Fei'er that apprentices would be sent first through the Time-Space Rift to help plant Coordinate Generators, and said he planned to take them to the Western Islands after the exploration.
• Saine visited the Public Library and found only a few books with useful information about Alien Planes, including Microscopic Elements and Marco Polo's Travels.
• Saine returned to his bed and wondered what centaurs were, while Lina remained away at Master Feilunna's experiment.

During his six-month leave, Saine trained, prepared his friends for the academy’s coming expedition to an Alien Plane, and helped his small group stockpile supplies and equipment. As the academy grew tense, he finished the period by giving Lina, Baus, and Meili magic items suited to their strengths and needs.

• Saine spent his leave raising his Mental Strength and magic power after learning that the academy’s courses had been suspended and an Alien Plane expedition was planned for half a year later.
• Saine told Lina, Meili, and Baus about the coming expedition and the hidden dangers, giving Baus an early chance to prepare.
• As rumors spread through the academy, Baus stockpiled useful materials and potions, while Meili took potion orders and learned to brew Intermediate Antidotes and Vitality Potions.
• Saine relied on Meili’s Vitality Potions for intensive meditation, then crafted a Blackstone Necklace for Lina and Light Body Technique anklets for Baus.
• Saine made a Corrosion Scepter for Meili, completing the equipment he prepared for his group before the coming crisis.

Saine gave Meili the Corrosion Scepter and reassured Lina that Moxidu would provide them with stronger protections. As the academy prepared its apprentices for the Shadow Valley mission, Formal Black Wizards met to discuss the time-space rift and the threat watching them, and Jieda revealed a silver emblem.

• Saine explained the Corrosion Scepter’s limits and gave it to Meili, who accepted it without refusing.
• Lina asked Saine why he had given Meili the scepter, and Saine said he expected Moxidu to provide them with life-saving protections.
• The academy announced that its apprentices would leave for Shadow Valley in three days, while rumors spread about a time-space rift and an alien plane.
• Moxidu arrived at a meeting of seventeen Formal Black Wizards, where Jieda questioned whether they could open the rift seven years ahead of schedule and challenged the claim that a Holy Tower faction was watching them.
• At Headmaster Dadalong’s request, Jieda raised a silver emblem, and most of the Black Wizards reacted with alarm.

The Black Magicians panicked when Jieda revealed a silver emblem linked to Dawn Holy Tower, but Vice Dean Dadalong explained that Jieda had taken it from a slain Academy Magician and that their hideout remained undiscovered. Dadalong urged them to start exploring the Alien Plane through the Time-Space Rift in Shadow Valley ahead of schedule, and the meeting ended with no one choosing to leave.

• Jieda showed the Black Magicians a silver emblem associated with a Holy Tower faction, throwing the meeting into panic.
• A frightened Formal Black Wizard asked whether the Holy Tower had discovered their location, while Kaisersen looked ready to flee.
• Vice Dean Dadalong calmed the meeting and explained that Jieda had killed a pursuing Dawn Holy Tower Magician and taken the emblem as spoils of war.
• Dadalong said the City of Mozhsuobula remained undiscovered and urged the Black Magicians to accelerate their exploration of the Alien Plane beyond the Time-Space Rift in Shadow Valley.
• Dadalong warned that Dawn Holy Tower had increased patrols and said they should begin exploring the rift early; none of the Black Magicians chose to leave.

Before Saine and his companions departed for Shadow Valley, Mentor Moxidu gave his three disciples powerful magic equipment to protect them. Saine received five items, including a simplified Magic Conductor Cannon and a Space Ring, and the group prepared to leave without Moxidu accompanying them.

• The night before their departure, Moxidu told Saine, Fei'er, and Zorro that he had made life-saving items for them despite his heavy workload.
• Moxidu distributed more than a dozen magic items, giving Zorro two Formal Magic Conductors because he would enter the Time-Space Rift among the first group.
• Saine selected five items, including a simplified Magic Conductor Cannon with three shells, an Earth Element shield ring, a Storm Arrow staff, an invisibility cloak, and a Space Ring.
• Moxidu sent his disciples to rest before their journey to Shadow Valley and planned to recover his own strength, while apparently staying behind.

Saine and hundreds of Black Wizard Apprentices boarded a floating ship bound for Shadow Valley, where they would explore a Time-Space Rift. Vice-Dean Dadalong clashed with a Black Demon Spider over the clan’s limited participation, then left the spider injured while wondering why Martin had invited them.

• Vice-Dean Dadalong led the apprentices and other passengers out of the sealed City of Mozhsuobula and onto a floating ship bound for Shadow Valley.
• Saine and Lina secured a large cabin, while Zorro told Saine the journey would take at least a week and declined to explain more before their arrival.
• Vice-Dean Dadalong demanded to know why only a third of the Black Demon Spider Clan had come, and the spider blamed the academy for acting seven years early without warning.
• The Black Demon Spider defended its clan’s right to choose whether to join the expedition and invoked its Goddess, its vassals, and its influence across the Wizard World.
• Vice-Dean Dadalong crushed the spider with his elemental pressure, burst three of its eyes, and walked away while questioning why Martin had invited the clan.

Saine and the other apprentices arrived at Shadow Valley, where the Black Wizard Academy prepared to send them through a dangerous Time-Space Rift. The eleven Quasi-Magicians entered the Magic Altar first, while the Formal Black Wizards warned that many apprentices might not survive the crossing.

• Saine arrived at brightly lit Shadow Valley with Lina and saw its Magic Towers, Earth Elementals, and Formal Black Wizards.
• Saine and Lina joined Senior Brother Zorro and Senior Sister Fei'er, then claimed two tents near a Magic Tower and the Magic Altar.
• Saine learned that the Magic Altar held the Time-Space Rift and that the academy had brought eleven Quasi-Magicians and twenty-six Advanced Apprentices.
• On the second day, the Formal Black Wizards ordered the eleven Quasi-Magicians, including Zorro, to enter the Magic Altar first.
• A Black Magician warned that the unstable Time-Space Rift could kill many apprentices, and that the world beyond it remained unknown.

Saine witnessed the Black Magicians sacrifice hundreds of young apprentices to the Magic Altar while attempting to chart a safe route through the Time-Space Rift. After the exploration stopped, Zorro told Saine and Fei'er that the rift’s cracks had shifted, though the prepared Elemental Fission Device remained intact.

• Vice Dean Dadalong ordered the Quasi-Magicians to retreat and forced Entry-Level Apprentices into the Magic Altar as sacrifices.
• Nearly two hundred apprentices disappeared into the altar before its light turned red and Vice Dean Dadalong halted the sacrifices.
• Saine saw the surviving Entry-Level and Low-Level Apprentices fear that they would be sent into the altar next.
• Zorro returned to Saine and Fei'er and said the first three Quasi-Magicians should not have died if the original calculations were correct.
• Zorro explained that the Time-Space Cracks along the planned route had shifted, so the Black Magicians had used apprentices to find a safer path.

Saine witnessed the gruesome casualties from the Magic Altar exploration and learned that even the Quasi-Magician Anda'er had returned with both legs severed. Exploration resumed the next day with more apprentices sent into the altar, while the Black Magicians brutally punished those who tried to flee.

• Senior Brother Zorro told Saine that devices from their Alchemy Laboratory surrounded the Time-Space Rift and that a safe route might soon be restored.
• Minotaurs carried wounded apprentices, severed limbs, and corpses out of the Magic Altar, prompting some Entry-Level Apprentices to flee Shadow Valley and be captured or killed.
• Anda'er emerged from the Magic Altar alive but with both legs severed, and the Black Magicians sent him to the nearby Magic Tower.
• The Black Magicians resumed exploration the next afternoon by sending several dozen Entry-Level Apprentices into the Magic Altar, where many were injured or killed.
• Dark Beings and Academy Supervisors executed apprentices who tried to escape that night, and their corpses were displayed around Shadow Valley as a warning.

As the Magic Altar’s danger diminished, the apprentices’ testing advanced from Entry-Level Apprentices to Quasi-Magicians and then Advanced Apprentices. Before Lina entered, Saine shared a quiet farewell with her and gave her a wand that could cast Storm Arrow, hoping they would meet again.

• After Tian Di sought Saine’s protection, Fei’er warned her off with a Fire Chain Blade, and Tian Di stopped approaching him.
• Vice Dean Dadalong announced that the Quasi-Magicians would enter the Magic Altar after the Entry-Level Apprentices’ testing ended.
• Zorro gave Saine and Fei’er disposable magical arrows he had made, then entered the Magic Altar and did not return.
• After Zorro entered, Vice Dean Dadalong announced that the Advanced Apprentices would be next to enter the Magic Altar.
• Fei’er visited Saine’s tent, and the two spent the night together before Lina arrived.
• Saine held Lina in silence, then gave her a wand that could cast Storm Arrow and asked her to live so they could meet again.

Saine worried about Lina and Fei'er after they entered the Magic Altar, then volunteered for the next group of apprentices sent through the Time-Space Rift. He followed the others through the altar’s energy gate and heard his mentor’s voice as he entered.

• Vice Dean Dadalong learned that most apprentices had passed through the Time-Space Rift and suspected Dean Martin and the Dean had hidden motives for the expedition.
• The academy suspended apprentice transfers into the Magic Altar, leaving Saine anxious about Lina and Fei'er for more than half a month.
• Vice Dean Dadalong announced that up to fifty Intermediate Apprentices would enter the Magic Altar, and Saine volunteered first.
• Dadalong recognized Saine as Moxidu’s fifth disciple and assigned him to the first batch entering the Time-Space Rift.
• Saine walked through the Magic Altar, saw its inscriptions, energy crystals, and scarlet liquid, then followed the other apprentices through the energy gate and heard Moxidu’s voice.