Chapter Summaries

Saine overheard apprentices gossiping about the Training Ground damage he had secretly caused, then encountered Green with a group preparing an academy mission. Green introduced Saine as a Quasi-Magician, but Saine showed little interest in Hildas Goron or the other apprentices.

• Apprentices outside the library speculated about the Formal Magician who had damaged the Training Ground's Energy Shield, while Saine realized they were discussing his own spell.
• Saine entered the library area and spotted Green standing among a group of apprentices.
• Saine greeted Green, who said the group was planning to carry out an academy mission.
• Green introduced Saine to the group and revealed that Saine was a Quasi-Magician, drawing the apprentices' attention.
• Hildas Goron introduced himself to Saine, but Saine and Green made no effort to build connections with him or the other apprentices.

Saine considered the Azure Source Holy Tower’s mandatory academy missions and decided to take an investigation assignment concerning a frenzied Magical Beast in the Giggson Duchy. As he traveled by floating ship, he reflected on the Holy Tower’s guarded teaching and his decision not to take a Formal Magician as his master.

• Saine learned from Green that Green and the others planned to hunt Magical Beasts and gather materials in the Green Source Mountain Range, then left them and entered the Holy Tower Library.
• Saine decided to carry out an academy mission before his next deadline and chose an Advanced Apprentice-level investigation into a quasi-rank Magical Beast in the Giggson Duchy.
• Saine traveled aboard a floating ship above the Green Source Sea, enjoying the change from his usual studies and research.
• Saine reflected that the Formal Magicians who taught advanced courses withheld much of their knowledge unless apprentices became their disciples.
• Before departing, Saine left Cousin Serena Energy Crystals and Magic Coins and warned her that his mission might take a while.

Saine reached the Salted Basin to investigate a maddened Quasi-Level Magical Beast from the Underground World. At a mining camp, he backed Earl Krupp’s plan to clear the area and ordered the beast captured or killed once found.

• Saine traveled from the Azure Source Holy Tower to the Giggson Duchy and learned that the Salted Basin’s maddened Quasi-Level Magical Beast had not yet been killed.
• Giggson Duchy soldiers escorted Saine to the mining area, where he saw the duchy’s magically equipped troops and artillery.
• Saine entered a heated dispute between Earl Krupp and representatives of three mercenary groups over whether they should clear the whole mining area or only hunt the beast.
• Saine told the groups to follow Earl Krupp’s plan, clear the mining area, and capture and kill the Quasi-Level Magical Beast once they found it.
• The tall female knight glared angrily at Saine after he gave his orders.

Saine investigated the mine where a mutated Quasi-Level Magical Beast had appeared and discovered signs of dangerous underground creatures. After saving two poisoned Red Scale Mercenary Group members, he wondered whether the academy knew more about the disturbances than it had revealed.

• Saine and Little Seven searched the mine tunnel and found unfamiliar Quasi-Level Magical Beast tracks and brown-black fur.
• Saine hurried to a battle and found the Red Scale Captain fighting Underground Subhumans; two mercenaries had been poisoned and were near death.
• Saine treated the two wounded mercenaries with underground herbs, easing the Red Scale Mercenary Group's hostility toward him.
• Saine and the others continued deeper into the mine, where underground creatures attacked them with increasing frequency.
• Saine questioned whether the academy already knew the cause of the magical beasts' madness, while reasoning that the mission should not exceed the official danger level.

Saine led the mercenaries deeper into the underground mine despite mounting casualties, arguing that the intensity of the Underground Subhuman attacks showed they were nearing the target. After ordering the other mercenary groups and Giggerson Kingdom soldiers to join them, he warned the captains to prepare for the unknown threat ahead.

• Black Bats attacked the rear flank, killing another mercenary and bringing the Red Scale Mercenary Group's losses to five.
• Red Scales urged Saine to stop and regroup, but Saine argued the subhuman attacks were near their limit and pushed the group to advance.
• Red Scales asked whether they should summon the other mercenary groups and the Giggerson Kingdom soldiers, and Saine agreed.
• Earl Krupp objected that the mission had been contracted to the mercenaries, but Saine threatened to record his obstruction in the Holy Tower memorandum, forcing him to send his soldiers forward.
• The other two mercenary captains reported more than thirty casualties between their groups, and Saine warned them they were nearing the target without yet understanding the attacks or finding the Quasi-Level Magical Beast.

Saine led a force of more than five hundred into a vast underground cavern, where they encountered a wounded Lion Spider Beast and an ambush by Underground Subhumans and Black Bats. Saine stopped the whistles directing the attack, but the injured whistle-holder was swallowed by the Lion Spider Beast.

• Saine led the enlarged force deeper into the mine, where they found a cavern filled with bones and remains.
• Saine and the others discovered a wounded Lion Spider Beast at the cavern's center.
• A swarm of Black Bats and hidden Underground Subhumans attacked the group.
• Saine and the soldiers and mercenaries fought back with spells, weapons, and cannons, inflicting heavy casualties.
• Saine found the demi-human directing the attack with a short azure staff and struck it with Scorching Ray.
• The wounded demi-human crawled toward the Lion Spider Beast, which swallowed it whole.

Saine and the knights fought the evolving Lion Spider Beast in the Underground Space, and Saine killed it with Sun's Eye Magic. After the battle, he found a corroded black stone that appeared to be a humanoid Divine Statue with a spider abdomen.

• The Lion Spider Beast devoured a Subhuman corpse and began a violent, apparently abnormal evolution.
• Saine led the knights in attacking the still-evolving beast as Earl Krupp's forces fired ballista bolts and Black Fire Cannon shells.
• The Red Scale Captain and other fighters engaged the beast at close range while Saine and Little Seven supported them with magic and Wind Blades.
• As the Lion Spider Beast endured their attacks and grew more dangerous, Saine cast Sun's Eye Magic, blasting most of its head away.
• The dying Lion Spider Beast exploded, killing an Advanced Squire and injuring other fighters with its flesh and blood.
• Saine searched the beast's remains and found a black stone that seemed to be a corroded humanoid Divine Statue with a spider abdomen.

After the Lion Spider Beast’s death, Saine found little loot but treated the injured mercenaries with antidotes he brewed himself. When Red Scales jokingly offered to sleep with him as thanks, Saine accepted, and used magic to overcome her attempts to turn the tables.

• Saine concealed a black stone and told Red Scales he had found nothing, then agreed to try treating the mercenaries injured by the beast’s toxic remains.
• Saine found no Magic Crystal among the Lion Spider Beast’s remains and collected fragments for a Holy Tower quest; Little Seven declined to eat the corrosive flesh.
• Saine brewed Low-Level Antidotes for the injured, earning the gratitude of Red Scales’s mercenaries and the Giggson Duchy’s soldiers.
• Red Scales teased Saine by offering to sleep with him as repayment, and Saine surprised everyone by accepting.
• In bed, Saine restrained Red Scales with Elemental Fire Chains and a Flame Hand until the struggling knight finally yielded.

Saine returned from the Giggson Duchy to the Azure Source Holy Tower and submitted his mutated magical beast investigation mission. After a Second-Level Magician questioned him about the mission and examined his evidence, Saine received a reward of sixty Academy Points and three High-Level Energy Crystals, then headed back to his dormitory to test new ideas for Sun's Eye Magic.

• Saine offered to refine Red Scales's greatsword before leaving the Giggson Duchy, and they parted as he departed for the Azure Source Holy Tower.
• Saine went to the Mission Hall and was led to a second-floor room, where a Black-Haired Magician questioned him about the underground mine mission.
• Saine recounted his findings and showed the Black-Haired Magician the Lion Spider Beast remains, magical beast blood, and a black Divine Statue stone fragment.
• The Black-Haired Magician dismissed Saine without explaining the stone's origins and told him to collect his reward in the hall.
• Saine received sixty Academy Points and three High-Level Energy Crystals, then returned to his dormitory to work on Sun's Eye Magic.

After returning to the dormitory, Saine nearly lost his composure around Serena before turning back to his research. He spent two months dismantling Azure Source Holy Tower identity badges, gaining new alchemical knowledge and discovering hidden functions, but had to replace several badges along the way.

• Saine found Serena had prepared a lavish dinner, and the sight of her reminded him of Lina as he briefly pressed Serena against the dining table before regaining control.
• Saine considered expanding Sun's Eye to produce thirty-six eyes, but concluded his current abilities and magic power could not support the research.
• Saine began dismantling an Azure Source Holy Tower Apprentice Badge to study its alchemical construction.
• After two months, Saine had learned unfamiliar alchemical techniques and discovered that badges could conceal their signal and help locate nearby wearers.
• Saine reported badges lost and claimed replacements three times, and he also ruined two of Serena's badges.

Saine transformed the Pale Mask into a Crimson Mask, his first independently crafted High-Level Magic Item, then tried to incorporate Sun's Eye magic into it. After a blast shattered the mask during a third elemental-node experiment, Saine emerged unharmed but covered in soot.

• Saine inscribed Detection Art and Spirit Recovery Art into the Pale Mask, then reinforced it and added Flame Ray to create the High-Level Crimson Mask.
• Saine embedded a fire-element High-Level Energy Crystal in the Crimson Mask, allowing it to cast Flame Ray ten times before needing another energy source.
• Serena praised the mask and remarked that its Energy Crystal looked like an eye, prompting Saine to consider combining alchemy with his Sun's Eye Magic research.
• Two months later, Saine had inscribed two Sun's Eye elemental nodes into the Crimson Mask and began adding a third.
• A violent explosion destroyed the laboratory and split the Crimson Mask in two, while Saine dodged the blast and emerged covered in soot.

After the Crimson Mask shattered during his experiment, Saine prepared a stronger Sun's Eye Mask and spent more than three years researching and creating it. As the Regional Holy Tower Academy War approached, Azure Source Holy Tower's apprentices faced mounting anxiety over the academy's high casualty rate.

• Saine realized the Crimson Mask had proved that Sun's Eye Magic could be engraved onto a mask, but its materials could withstand only two Sun's Eyes.
• Saine planned to engrave six Sun's Eyes onto a new mask, then bought materials and studied magic array patterns before beginning a second attempt.
• Saine estimated his chances of successfully creating the Sun's Eye Mask at sixty to seventy percent and devoted himself to the experiment for more than three years.
• With the Regional Holy Tower Academy War six months away, Azure Source Holy Tower's apprentice population grew and veteran apprentices warned of the dangers.
• Azure Source Holy Tower apprentices feared the war after their academy suffered a casualty rate approaching forty percent in the previous one, though survivors could earn valuable rewards.

Director Johnny and Irene went to Saine’s residence after he missed several days of mandatory pre-war training, only to find him and Serena emerging from an explosion in his laboratory. The chapter left Johnny confronting a disheveled Saine, whose excitement about the blast puzzled him.

• Director Johnny learned that Saine had missed pre-war training and could not be reached, despite the academy’s surveillance showing he had stayed in his room for years.
• Director Johnny and Irene went to Saine’s residence to find out what he had been doing.
• Irene told Johnny that Saine was living with his Cousin Serena, aggravating his anger.
• Johnny used Sonic Magic to call Saine out, shaking the house and nearby woods.
• An explosion erupted in Saine’s house, and Saine and Serena ran outside covered in soot.
• Johnny noticed Saine’s apparent excitement and wondered whether the explosion had made him lose his mind.

Saine learned that the Regional Holy Tower Academy War was imminent after completing a formal-tier Magic Conductor, the Sun’s Eye Mask. He attended the pre-war training and learned that the trial served as both a contest among Holy Towers and military preparation for the Wizard World.

• Director Johnny found Saine disheveled after a laboratory explosion, recognized that he had reached Quasi-Magician, and ordered him to attend the next day’s mobilization training and avoid dying in the Academy War.
• After Johnny and the others left, Saine inspected the golden Sun’s Eye Mask, the formal-tier Magic Conductor he had spent three years crafting.
• Saine arrived punctually at the Teaching Building and joined more than a hundred Advanced Apprentices and higher, including Mark and veteran Quasi-Magicians.
• A Formal Magician explained that the Regional Holy Tower Academy War was an apprentice trial among neighboring Holy Towers and a form of military training for the Wizard World.

Saine learned how the Regional Holy Tower Academy War worked and saw that Azure Source Holy Tower planned to prioritize survival over aggressive competition. Unwilling to settle for a modest ranking, he decided to leave the academy’s main force and pursue points on his own, aiming for the top twenty.

• Saine learned that the five Holy Tower Academies would compete in a sealed Trial Space, where apprentices earned points by claiming resources, defeating rivals, and killing Alien Creatures.
• The instructors explained that apprentices could activate their Gravity Shield badges to escape danger, and warned them that the previous war’s casualty rate had approached forty percent.
• Saine concluded that Azure Source Holy Tower’s cautious strategy would leave it competing mainly for fourth place and decided to act alone once the war began.
• Saine set his sights on the top twenty in the overall points ranking, whose rewards would help apprentices advance to Formal Magician.
• Saine’s status showed 81 Mental Strength, 79 Magic Power, and 21 Constitution, with his Mental Strength having grown through alchemy and magical research.

As the Regional Holy Tower Academy War began, Azure Source Holy Tower Academy sent its apprentices into a vast Trial Space under a revised strategy. Several Holy Tower Masters observed the war, reportedly because an important figure had arrived in the region.

• Saine saw Green at a training class and learned that Green had advanced to the Quasi-Magician level while working on an unfinished research project.
• The academy expanded its training classes and instructed intermediate apprentices and below to obey advanced apprentices during the war.
• Three crimson light gates appeared at Azure Source Holy Tower Academy, and Johnny discussed the academy’s prospects and the Holy Tower Masters’ visit with a female Grade Director.
• The female Grade Director told Johnny that the Holy Tower Masters had come because a big shot had recently arrived in the region.
• Saine and the other apprentices entered the enormous Trial Space, while powerful beings watched the war from above.

The Guardian of Summer met with five Holy Tower Masters and explained that the recent faith-spreading disturbances were caused by a Wizard World girl, not alien gods. She planned to visit the Western Islands next, leaving the Holy Tower Masters concerned about what she might do in the Black Domain.

• The Holy Tower Master of the Great Earth Academy Holy Tower welcomed the Guardian of Summer and thanked her for visiting their region.
• The Guardian of Summer thanked the Holy Tower Masters for extinguishing recent disturbances in their territories.
• The Holy Tower Master of the Great Earth Academy Holy Tower asked why the Guardian of Summer had personally investigated the faith-spreading incidents.
• The Guardian of Summer said a Wizard World girl had caused the incidents and announced that she planned to travel to the Western Islands.
• The Holy Tower Master of the Great Earth Academy Holy Tower asked the Guardian of Summer to offer a prize for the Regional Holy Tower Academy War.

The Guardian of Summer offered a Light of the Planes as the prize for the Regional War’s first-place apprentice, promising its recipient a guaranteed advance to Level 1 and the Plane Will’s recognition. After entering the Trial Space, Saine found and marked a small resource point, earning points for the Azure Source Holy Tower.

• The Guardian of Summer revealed the Light of the Planes and explained that the first-place apprentice would receive the Wizard World Will’s acknowledgment and advance to Level 1.
• Saine gave Serena the repaired Crimson Mask and other Intermediate Magic Items, then entered the crimson gate among the first group of apprentices.
• Saine arrived alone on a vast plain, recalled that apprentices were placed randomly within their Holy Tower’s region, and flew east to search for resources.
• Saine found Water Chrome Stones in a small grove and marked the Small Resource Point with his Identity Badge, raising his score from 100 to 200 points.

Saine searched the Trial Space for resource points, but found most had already been claimed by other Azure Source Holy Tower apprentices. Half a month after entering, he reached the guarded Purple Fir Wood Forest Medium Resource Point and prepared to act while the gathered apprentices hesitated.

• Saine marked two Small Resource Points before other apprentices claimed them and earned 50 and 30 points.
• Saine met three Azure Source Holy Tower apprentices and directed them toward a Fire Crystal Stone resource point, which other apprentices had already marked.
• Saine's later resource-point finds were mostly claimed, and he encountered several apprentices but not Serena, Mark, or Green.
• Saine arrived at the Purple Fir Wood Forest Medium Resource Point, where three wounded Alien Creatures guarded the unclaimed site.
• Jack urged the gathered apprentices to wait for more reinforcements, but Saine decided not to delay.

Saine led the attack on three Alien Creatures at the Purple Fir Wood Forest, helping the Azure Source Holy Tower apprentices win at the cost of several deaths and severe injuries. After claiming the resource point and reaching 1,280 points, Saine dismissed Jack's accusation and flew east.

• Saine attacked the strongest Alien Creature, prompting Jack, the female Quasi-Magician, and the other apprentices to unleash a barrage of spells.
• The quasi-ranked Alien Creature sacrificed its remaining strength to send explosive green energy spheres toward the apprentices, killing three and seriously injuring five.
• Saine struck the quasi-ranked Alien Creature with enhanced Fireball Spells and a Flame Blade, while the apprentices defeated the other two creatures.
• Kesma survived severe injuries after an Alien Creature impaled him with a javelin while he was attacking it.
• Saine claimed the Purple Fir Wood Forest resource point and gained enough points to raise his total to 1,280.
• Jack blamed Saine for the apprentices' deaths, but Saine dismissed him and flew eastward.