Recaps

Locke rose in the Academy through competition victories, expanded his Magic Plant businesses, and began studying First-Ring defenses under Harlan Vela. After surviving Eternal Dusk Garden and gaining powerful insights, he led apprentices through more Secret Realms and prepared to pursue advancement while awaiting a special-grade research project.

• Locke traded Bear Spirit Emerald Gallbladder Potions for the Beholder Potion Formula, then learned that his Perseus's Eye Lichen Shield and Emerald Iris Lichen had won major competitions.
• Locke became a double champion, received rewards and a Breeding Science Rising Star honor, and was reassigned to Harlan Vela, who welcomed him as a student.
• Locke drank the Hive Mind Potion, created a psionic network linking his Magic Plants, and uncovered a memory of an ancient hive’s catastrophe and its tree-shaped diagram.
• Locke grafted a Great Green Owl Plantain onto a Two-Ball Plane Tree, then recruited apprentices through Harlan Vela’s network to expand his Magic Plant production.
• Locke entered Eternal Dusk Garden with Zoina, fought its Stone Statue Legion, and destroyed the clock tower governing its Transfiguration Magic Array, collecting Memory Fragments and learning about Foucault and Cliff Levis’s secret experiments.
• Locke raised his Mana to 800 with the Beholder Lord Potion and chose to wait for a special-grade research project before selecting a Permanent Defense Field.
• Locke led Kali Ackerman and other apprentices through Secret Realms, where Kali restrained a Lightning Element Lord and Locke defeated it, collecting its core crystal and rare materials.
• Locke returned home planning to collect his Advancement Potion and attempt a breakthrough, while keeping his plans secret until he could examine the special-grade research project.

Locke advanced to Formal Wizard, learned about the World Tree’s warning, and completed Forest Sanctuary in the Forbidden Forest. He returned to find the Black Wizard Alliance attacking Lilith’s Cottage and used his new forest magic to fight through the city, where Stanley confronted him.

• Locke won the spell inscription blade and other breakthrough resources at the Potion Auction, then led five apprentices into the Forbidden Forest.
• Locke drove off Secret Fire Academy’s wizards, tracked down Wizard Foucault’s hidden laboratory, and discovered the Forest Sanctuary research.
• Locke completed his breakthrough, met the World Tree, received a Natural Force Rune, and reached Mental Power Vaporization.
• With Dean Lewis’s guidance, Locke bonded six Red-Earth Holly trees and completed Forest Sanctuary before leaving the laboratory with the apprentices.
• Locke and the apprentices encountered a Vampire ambush after exiting the Forbidden Forest, and he broke the Sixfold Curse Barrier and pursued Hassan.
• Locke watched the Black Wizard Alliance begin its attack on Lilith’s Cottage, freed the souls bound to a Skeleton King, and recognized that Forest Sanctuary could supply him with Wood Element Particles.
• Gabriel told Locke that the defense field was down, and Locke fought through the city before Stanley recognized him as Augustine and learned he had become a Formal Wizard.