Chapter Summaries

Saine traveled across the Underdark’s Surface World, marveling at its size and avoiding cities while searching for a way north. When eight bandits tried to rob him, he used weakened Minor Fireballs to drive them away, but discovered one of them had mastered battle qi.

• Saine used Moxidu’s Magic Map to judge his position and realized the Underdark was vast enough that reaching its north could take at least half a year.
• He traveled for a month, bypassing human cities and finding no Formal Magicians, only faint traces of apprentice-level magic.
• Eight bandits surrounded Saine on a mountain road and demanded his belongings.
• Saine cast three weakened Minor Fireballs to scare off the bandits rather than kill them.
• Saine discovered that one of the ordinary bandits had mastered battle qi.

Saine learned from the bandit leader Liv that he had gained battle qi training while serving in the City of Seville’s guard force. Curious about the power, Saine dissected Liv and found that the energy in his abdomen vanished when exposed, leaving Liv alive but apparently stripped of his battle qi.

• Saine dodged Liv’s attack with a Fire Wall, drove off the other bandits, and questioned Liv about his battle qi.
• Liv told Saine that he had stolen from the City of Seville’s lord, fled, and learned a Breathing Technique after the guard captain implanted a Battle Qi Seed in him.
• Saine compared Liv’s rough training with his own childhood Breathing Technique and wondered why his Grant family had not given him a Battle Qi Seed before he was abducted and sold into the Underdark.
• Saine called Liv over for an experiment, and Owl Qi restrained him with Wind Chains.
• Saine partially dissected Liv and found that the strange energy in his abdomen dissipated when exposed, while Liv survived with stitched wounds and seemed to have lost his battle qi.

Saine entered the human city of Peterte to buy new clothes and observe surface life. After a tailor’s shop girl watched him leave, an elderly magician recognized him and showed respect upon sensing Saine’s Advanced Apprentice Mental Strength.

• Saine decided to enter a human city after receiving common currency from Liv and reached Peterte.
• Martha, a freckled shop girl, approached Saine at a tailor shop and imagined he might be a traveling nobleman.
• Saine bought robes, boots, and other clothing for a few Silver Coins, then continued exploring the city.
• An elderly gray-robed magician used a Sound Transmission Spell to ask Saine if he was a magician newly arrived in Peterte.
• Saine approached the old man and learned that William, a city gate guard, had reported his arrival.
• The old man sensed Saine’s Advanced Apprentice Mental Strength and replaced his smile with respect and envy.

Saine met Frank, the lord of Peterte’s magical advisor, and agreed to trade for Frank’s Sound Transmission Spell at a gathering of local Magic Apprentices. Saine declined Frank’s invitation to stay at the lord’s manor and planned to wait at his inn for the trade.

• Frank asked Saine whether he was an Advanced Apprentice, and Saine confirmed that he had recently advanced.
• Frank questioned Saine about his mentor, but stopped when Saine showed irritation.
• Saine asked Frank about the Sound Transmission Spell and proposed trading for it.
• Frank invited Saine to a Magic Apprentice trade fair near Peterte and arranged to move it up to four days away.
• Saine accepted the plan to wait four days but refused Frank’s offer to stay at the lord’s manor.

Saine left Baron Peterte’s manor after three days and attended a small trade fair for Magic Apprentices, where he planned to observe before trading. The fair began with only seven apprentices present, and an Intermediate Apprentice’s Vermillion Fruit caught Saine’s attention.

• Baron Peterte hosted Saine for three days, and Saine gave him a Nutrient Potion before leaving.
• Frank recognized the potion and asked whether Saine was a potioneer, prompting Saine to describe how he had learned and improved the recipe.
• Baron Peterte sent an escort with Saine and the others to a town outside the city, where the small trade fair was being held.
• Saine arrived at dawn and found six other apprentices at the fair, including a gray-hooded Advanced Apprentice.
• The apprentices agreed to begin the fair while Yoru was still on his way, and an Intermediate Apprentice opened the trading by offering a Vermillion Fruit.

Saine attended a local exchange where he learned about the regions surrounding the Underdark and asked what lay to the north. As apprentices considered traveling south to seek advancement, Saine confirmed that he planned to head north, while Old Frank chose to stay for his family.

• Old Frank traded two Blood Activation Potions made by himself for a Crimson Blood Fruit.
• The exchange continued with low-grade magic materials, including an unsold Screaming Branch that Saine found interesting.
• A gray-hatted Advanced Apprentice described resources and magician organizations to the east, west, and south, prompting Saine to ask about the north.
• Saine admitted that he planned to travel north, while the gray-hatted apprentice said he intended to go south and seek a place in a Holy Tower.
• Old Frank declined to travel south, saying he wanted to help his descendants and believed Little Piya had potential as a knight.
• Saine considered the long, dangerous journey to the Endless South Sea and the threats posed by magic beasts, bandits, and Black Magicians.

Saine traded with the Gray Hat apprentice at the exchange meeting, acquiring a Magic Coin and several other items. After the gathering, he accepted Mary’s offer and spent two hours with her in the lord’s manor.

• The Gray Hat apprentice offered a Magic Coin he had received from a Formal Magician, and Saine recognized it as the same kind of coin he had found in Moxidu’s Space Bracelet.
• Saine traded two Low-Level Recovery Potions and three Nutrient Potions for the Magic Coin.
• Saine bought Frank’s Sound Transmission Spell with a Low-Level Energy Crystal and purchased several unusual magical materials, including the Screaming Branch.
• Mary offered to sleep with Saine for one Low-Level Energy Crystal, prompting Joe Ke to protest that she was his girlfriend; Mary rebuked him, and Saine asked Joe Ke about his name.
• Saine went with Mary to a room in the rear courtyard of the lord’s manor, where they spent two hours together until Mary lost consciousness.

Before leaving the City of Peterte, Saine rejected Mary's request to travel north with him and paid her with an Intermediate Energy Crystal. At a farewell banquet hosted by City Lord Baron, Saine gave the baron a magic ring and received two thousand Gold Coins, then collected the Peripheral Creature Illustrated Handbook from old Frank.

• Saine gave Mary an Intermediate Energy Crystal after telling her he would not take her north, and they spent one more night together.
• Mary asked Saine about the south, and he confirmed that he had come from there.
• City Lord Baron hosted a farewell banquet for Saine, who gave him a Bright Ring in return for his hospitality.
• Baron hugged Saine and gave him a chest containing two thousand Gold Coins, while Saine declined a carriage and servants.
• Old Frank delivered the Peripheral Creature Illustrated Handbook he had prepared, and Saine paid him an Intermediate Energy Crystal.

Saine traveled north through remote mountains and forests while treating Qi’s injuries and considering how to obtain potion-making knowledge. Qi returned with magic materials and revealed that Ruigen Fruits could help Quasi-Level Magical Beasts condense their bloodlines, leaving Saine considering whether to make them into a potion to aid Qi’s advancement.

• Saine treated Qi with a Light’s Revival badge and said he would not join the Dawn Holy Tower because of its connection to his mentor’s death and his separation from Lina and others.
• While cooking, Saine worried that his potion ingredients were running out and considered contacting magician organizations or joining the Azure Source Holy Tower to gain knowledge and resources.
• Qi returned with Crimson Blood Fruits and Azure Nethergrass after fighting a snake, and Saine reminded Qi to bring back valuable parts from future battles.
• Saine asked why Qi had not eaten the Ruigen Fruits, and Qi explained that they could help it recover or condense its bloodline to pursue advancement to a level-one magical beast.
• Saine wondered whether a potion made with Ruigen Fruits could improve Qi’s chances of advancing, and Qi said it might.

Saine traveled to Clark City, where he gathered information about the lands north of the Underdark and learned of the Mercenary Guild. The chapter ended with him noticing a group of battle-qi wielding mercenaries at his inn.

• Qi studied Frank's handbook and gathered magical materials for Saine, including items the book did not identify.
• Qi defeated a band of robbers who attacked Saine's camp, and Saine experimented on the two surviving bandits, accidentally killing one.
• After more than half a year of travel, Saine reached Clark City, the largest city in the northern Underdark.
• Saine learned that three human nations lay north of the Underdark and wondered which one held his family's origins.
• Saine noticed seven or eight burly men with battle qi drinking at his inn and recognized them as members of a mercenary group.

Saine learned about the war between the Sifa Kingdom and the Ok Empire and chose to travel north toward the Lisia Alliance. He joined a small mercenary group transporting grain and ironware, leaving with them after three days in Clark City.

• Saine overheard mercenaries explain the rival human nations and learned that war had broken out between the Sifa Kingdom and the Ok Empire.
• Saine decided the Lisia Alliance was his first choice for traveling north, though he worried that the alliance might soon enter the war.
• After resting in Clark City for three days, Saine joined a mercenary group heading north to the Lisia Alliance to avoid traveling alone through the wartime border.
• Saine learned that the group had about twenty members and only seven Battle Qi cultivators, led by one Intermediate Squire.

Saine crossed into the Gloomy Mountain Range with Haishan’s mercenary group and an employer’s entourage, where poisonous plants and powerful magical beasts threatened their journey to the Lisia Alliance. After Qi surveyed the mountains, Saine learned that beasts stronger than the Quasi-Level Magical Beast lived there, especially to the west, leaving the group facing an unknown danger.

• Haishan pointed out the Gloomy Mountain Range and explained that it was the final, most dangerous obstacle before the Lisia Alliance.
• The goateed employer respectfully asked Saine for help crossing the mountains, while Saine remained aloof.
• On the first day in the range, one of Haishan’s men died after stepping on a poisonous Bailang Flower, and Saine collected liquid from the man’s blackened sole.
• Saine released Qi on the second day, and the mercenaries grew more reverent toward him after sensing the owl’s strength.
• Saine asked Qi about powerful beasts, and Qi reported that beasts at least as strong as it lived in the east while even stronger ones inhabited the west.

Saine and his companions crossed the resource-rich Gloomy Mountain Range, where Qi’s presence kept most magical beasts at bay while it gathered materials. After entering the Lisia Alliance, Saine declined an invitation to join the Fatt Family and headed west after his Bloodline Tracing Magic reacted, suggesting his family came from the alliance.

• Qi deterred magical beasts as it gathered resources and brought back a Hurricane Arrow Boar, whose valuable parts Saine kept and whose meat he shared with the mercenaries.
• Saine and the mercenary group left the Gloomy Mountain Range after five days, and Qi warned that lingering there could provoke powerful local magical beasts or a Beast Tide.
• The old man with the goatee invited Saine to join the Fatt Family, but Saine declined and said he planned to travel west from Black Fort Fortress.
• After entering the Lisia Alliance, Saine’s Bloodline Tracing Magic reacted, indicating that he truly came from the alliance.

After reaching Black Fortress, Saine refused the Ring of Thorns’ offer to join, rejecting its harsh obligations and confronting its representative when he hinted at consequences. He left without joining an organization, while the Ring of Thorns apprentice vowed to report the refusal and complained that Saine had offended them.

• After arriving at Black Fortress, Saine parted ways with Haishan and the mercenaries.
• An Intermediate Magic Apprentice in a yellow robe and two Low-Level Apprentices approached Saine to recruit him for the Ring of Thorns.
• Saine rejected the offer after learning he would face conscription, mandatory missions, and a thirty-year restriction on leaving or joining another organization.
• When the yellow-robed apprentice warned Saine about the Ring of Thorns’ influence, Saine asked if he was being threatened and left.
• The Intermediate Apprentice said he would report Saine’s refusal, while the other apprentices privately doubted the Ring of Thorns could prevent Saine from joining another organization.

Saine traveled through the Lisia Alliance while struggling with his feelings about finding his family and honing his alchemy. His Bloodline Tracing Magic led him to Grant City, where a guard captain suddenly addressed him as the Bauhinia Flower Earl.

• Saine hired a carriage and continued west through the Lisia Alliance, using the journey to practice alchemy with materials from the Underdark and Gloomy Mountain Range.
• After three months on the road, Saine sold three Low-Level Magic Items and refused an invitation from the Saint Harmony Society, despite its offer of Quasi-Magician-level membership terms.
• As Saine's reputation as an alchemist spread, more apprentice and higher-level organizations began seeking him out.
• Saine's Bloodline Tracing Magic stopped responding, signaling that he had reached his destination in the Bauhinia Flower Earl's territory.
• Saine entered Grant City, and a guard captain hurried over, knelt, and addressed him as “My Lord Earl!”

Saine arrived in Grant City and was mistaken for Earl Grant, causing a disturbance before the East District garrison commander recognized his name and memories. At the castle, the commander revealed that he was Old John, the retainer who had taught Saine his Initial Breathing Technique.

• The captain saluted Saine as the Bauhinia Flower Earl, and crowds of commoners began kneeling across the East District.
• The garrison commander arrived, recognized that Saine was not the earl, and asked his name.
• Saine introduced himself, and the commander ordered the East District restored to order before escorting him to the castle.
• Saine recognized the castle's stone guardian beast and recalled a lesson from his childhood.
• The garrison commander identified himself as Old John and said he had taught Saine the Initial Breathing Technique.

Saine returned to Grant Castle, where Old John warned him about the current Countess’s faction and told him that his mother, Lady Catherine, had died. Saine entered the castle amid a tense standoff, with the Countess’s knights blocking his way.

• Old John warned Saine that trouble might come from Lady Diya’s side before Earl Grant returned to the castle.
• Old John told Saine that his mother, Lady Catherine, had died from grief two years after Saine was abducted, leaving Saine overcome with sorrow.
• Saine composed himself, used a Clean Spell to wipe away his tears, and continued toward Grant Castle.
• Old John confronted Lagna and led Saine’s carriage through the castle entrance while most of the gathered crowd held back.
• A Red Armor Knight and his retainers blocked Old John’s path, and Old John rebuked the knight while the castle guards stayed out of it.

Old John and the Red Armor Knight clashed over Lady Diya’s order to arrest the person in the carriage, while the Earl’s soldiers tried to keep the factions apart. Saine began casting Flame Blade as the confrontation escalated, leaving the Red Armor Knight and his attendants facing a powerful magical attack.

• The Red Armor Knight ordered Old John to surrender the alleged criminal impersonating the Earl, but Old John refused and asserted the Earl’s authority over Grant Territory.
• The Red Armor Knight attacked Old John, and the Earl’s knights moved to intercept him and the Sia Kingdom’s attendants.
• Lagna tried to prevent the two groups from harming one another while awaiting the Earl’s return.
• Saine began chanting inside the carriage and formed a Flame Blade aimed at the attackers.

Saine subdued the Red Armor Knight and entered the Earl's Castle, where he saw a portrait of his deceased mother, Catherine. His arrival was challenged by the Countess, who accused him of impersonating the earl.

• Saine wounded the Red Armor Knight with a Flame Blade, then threatened him with the Strong Acid Scepter until he dropped his dagger.
• Old John restrained the injured Red Armor Knight, and the Sifa Kingdom's Knight Attendants surrendered after the fighting ended.
• Old John led Saine and Graina through the Earl's Castle to the council hall, where Saine recognized a portrait of his mother, Catherine.
• The Countess arrived with the Red Armor Knight and a red-haired young man, then demanded that Saine be arrested as an impostor and accused Old John and Graina of forgetting her and the earl.

Lady Diya tried to destroy the portrait of Saine’s mother, but Saine stopped her and then stored the painting in his Space Bracelet. Rejecting the Grant Family’s title and territory, he left the council chamber with his true home still elsewhere.

• Lady Diya grew furious at Saine’s disregard and at the portrait of the former Countess Catherine, which she feared would remind everyone of Saine’s claim to the earldom.
• Lady Diya hurled a silver candlestick at the portrait, and Saine melted it with a Minor Fireball.
• Saine’s red-haired younger brother cut the Minor Fireball apart with Violet Flame Battle Qi and pointed his sword at Saine.
• Saine decided the Grant Family’s title, honor, territory, and profit meant nothing to him and stored the portrait in his Space Bracelet.
• Saine glanced at everyone in the council chamber and left, shocking them with the size of his Space Bracelet.