Chapter Summaries

Locke revealed his Magic Pressure had reached 780, earning Wizard Seed status and a new study plan from Harlan Vela. Harlan gave him a valuable grafting knife and invited him to a Hellfire Club banquet where he could meet talented students and find support for his projects.

• Locke confirmed that his Magic Pressure was 780, and Harlan Vela said he would apply for Locke to receive the Wizard Seed title and its rewards.
• Francis questioned Locke’s rapid progress, but Harlan defended Locke’s privacy and explained that his strong drug resistance and bloodline modifications could account for it.
• Harlan presented Locke with a powerful grafting knife from the ruins of the Golden Dynasty, and Locke recognized its great value.
• Harlan invited Locke to a Hellfire Club banquet the following afternoon, where his outstanding students could become useful allies and assistants.

Locke attended Harlan Vela’s banquet and listened as the wizard mentor’s former students shared news and discussed other Wizard Lands. He learned about the Land of Six Towers and heard that Witch Sophia had recently gone to the Starfield Sea.

• Locke attended the Hellfire Club banquet, where Harlan Vela’s former students and other Formal Wizards gathered in person and through magical projections.
• Harlan Vela congratulated Adriana on becoming an official wizard mentor at the Esosend Weaving Fire Institute and recalled his exceptional former student Bazel.
• Wizard Anthony described the Land of Six Towers, its ancient wizard towers, family-led inheritance, and conservative culture, saying he hoped to move on to a larger Wizard Land.
• Locke learned that the Southeastern Corner Region was a remote but not especially poor Wizard Land, while the Land of Six Towers was a White Wizard Land with no Black Wizards.
• Harlan Vela said that Witch Sophia, Locke’s former wizard mentor, had recently gone to the Starfield Sea.

At Harlan Vela’s banquet, Locke learned about distant Wizard Lands and received advice on shadow-type Magic Plants from Adriana. After revealing he had solved mass production for the Great Greenleaf Plantain, he attracted the interest of the gathered wizards, and Harlan offered his lineage as manpower.

• Anthony and Adriana discussed Sophia’s move to Starfield Sea and described the dangers and magical environment of Sunshadow Peninsula.
• Locke asked Adriana about shadow-type Magic Plants, and she advised him to study Harlan Vela’s works on their cultivation.
• Adriana inferred that Locke had a nearly complete flying Magic Plant project, and Locke confirmed that he had cultivated one.
• Locke explained that he had improved the Great Greenleaf Plantain and found a rootstock-type Magic Plant that could mass-produce it, but lacked the manpower to scale up cultivation.
• Harlan praised Locke’s achievement and offered the gathered wizards, along with his other students, as potential manpower.

At Harlan Vela’s banquet, Locke demonstrated his Great Green Owl Plantain and announced a project to mass-produce it, winning Harlan’s full support and attracting many apprentices to join his various production efforts. The chapter ended with Harlan praising Locke as a true wizard while Adriana wondered whether he might apply Shadow Magic Plant traits to the plantain.

• Locke recruited First-Class and Second-Class Wizard Apprentices through Harlan Vela’s network to help expand his production projects.
• At Harlan Vela’s suggestion, Locke demonstrated his Great Green Owl Plantain’s flight capabilities to the banquet guests.
• Locke announced that he intended to produce thirty Great Green Owl Plantains a month, eventually doubling the output as the project matured.
• Harlan Vela designated Locke’s rare Magic Plant production project for the school’s full support, and apprentices began volunteering to join it and Locke’s other production efforts.
• Harlan Vela praised Locke as a true wizard, while Adriana wondered whether Locke might use grafting to add Shadow Magic Plant traits to the plantain.

At the banquet, Locke secured an order for Crystal Palmfire Lotuses and Harlan Vela promised to get him a medium-sized botanical garden. Anglong watched Locke gain Harlan Vela’s attention and resolved to surpass him through fair competition.

• Christine approached Locke and offered to buy two thousand Crystal Palmfire Lotuses for Four Seasons Garden’s war against the White Bone Order.
• Locke agreed to a ten-thousand-Magic-Stone order and told Christine that restarting production would take at least three months.
• Locke asked Harlan Vela to help him obtain a medium-sized botanical garden, and Harlan promised to secure approval within a week.
• Harlan Vela dismissed Koen Chamberlain’s son as a rival for the garden and said he would defend Locke’s claim to Academy resources.
• Anglong saw Harlan Vela and Kali Ackerman focus on Locke, grew jealous, and resolved to surpass Locke through his results.

With Harlan Vela’s support, Locke expanded his Plantations and Potion Laboratory until they projected a monthly income of 36,000 Magic Stones. After harvesting two mature King Rotten Soil Konjacs, he prepared to seek resources and guidance for choosing his First Ring Permanent Defense Field.

• Locke established three hundred mu of Magic Fields in his new medium-sized Plantation and expanded several other Magic Plant projects with help from Harlan Vela’s network.
• Locke’s Potion Laboratory increased production, and his Plantations secured bulk-purchase contracts and monthly income from scattered fields, bringing his projected total monthly income to 36,000 Magic Stones.
• Locke calculated that his monthly expenses were about 16,000 Magic Stones, leaving him able to save roughly 20,000 Magic Stones each month.
• Locke harvested two mature King Rotten Soil Konjacs from a Two-Ball Plane Tree, allowing him to control three King Rotten Soil Konjacs with [Mayfly Firework].
• Locke considered how to choose his First Ring Permanent Defense Field and decided to ask Harlan Vela for advice before visiting the Forbidden Forest in the Wizard Secret Realm.

Locke consulted Harlan Vela about choosing a First-Circle Permanent Defense Field and received a reading list and a map for the Wizard Secret Realm [Eternal Dusk Garden]. He agreed to bring Zoina with him, while Anglong grew jealous and fearful of Locke.

• Anglong reported to Harlan Vela that he had published an A-grade article with a score of 80, but Harlan Vela warmly welcomed Locke when he arrived.
• Locke asked Harlan Vela about First-Circle Permanent Defense Fields, and Harlan Vela advised him to prioritize defense and study [Life Force Field] and [Oak Magic Armor].
• Harlan Vela gave Locke a reading list and recommended that he enter [Eternal Dusk Garden] to learn more about Permanent Defense Fields.
• Harlan Vela asked Locke to bring Zoina into [Eternal Dusk Garden], and Locke agreed to help his junior sister.
• Anglong silently resented Locke’s closeness with Harlan Vela and feared Locke after sensing his hostility; Harlan Vela then prompted Anglong to continue his report.

Locke and Zoina entered Eternal Dusk Garden, a Wizard Secret Realm formed from the memories of the deceased First-Ring Wizard Foucault. After the manor’s marble statues came alive and attacked them, a hostile presence accused them of being Black Wizards and threatened to kill them.

• Locke and Zoina presented their application forms to the guardian wizard, who merged their magical seals and opened the way into Eternal Dusk Garden.
• The guardian warned them that they would experience death’s punishment inside the realm and said they could not leave except by dying.
• Locke and Zoina arrived in a manor within Foucault’s memory, where Locke recognized the setting as the echo of a wizard from the Shapeshifting School.
• A marble Minotaur statue attacked Zoina, and Locke used the Great Green Owl Plantain and Plant Mimicry Art: Raptor to carry them into the air and evade it.
• The manor’s marble statues came alive and surrounded Locke and Zoina as a hostile presence called them Black Wizards and threatened to kill them.

Locke discovered that defeating the Angel Statue Soldiers yielded First-Ring Wizard Memory Fragments and magic crystals, making the Secret Realm a source of magical insight and potion materials. He decided Zoina had to fight for herself, leaving her to begin learning combat in the Secret Realm.

• Zoina warned Locke as an Angel Statue Soldier attacked, and Locke used the Blackchain Sword Bamboo to destroy it.
• Locke obtained a magic crystal and a Memory Fragment, realizing that defeating creatures in the Secret Realm let him collect a First-Ring Wizard's magical insights.
• Locke explained the Secret Realm's value and the Angel Statue Soldiers' potential as sources of potion materials.
• Zoina admitted she had never fought despite her training, and Locke realized Harlan Vela had sent him to guide her.
• Locke told Zoina to fight independently and use her map to choose targets, and she nervously agreed.

Locke fought the manor’s statue soldiers to harvest Memory Fragments, learning more about First-Ring Magic as the statues grew stronger after each clock-tower chime. He exploited their weakness during transformation, while the guardian wizard debated whether to stop him from draining the secret realm.

• Locke flew around the manor, destroying gargoyles and statue soldiers with his Magic Plants and collecting Memory Fragments that helped him understand First-Ring Magic.
• Locke approached the manor, and the clock tower chimed, restoring the statues and resetting the clock to midnight while strengthening the statue soldiers.
• The statues transformed into faster birds of prey, but Locke realized they were vulnerable while reassembling and used fire attacks to destroy them and gather higher-quality Memory Fragments.
• The guardian wizard watched Locke’s battle and worried that his harvesting could exhaust the secret realm’s energy, but chose to wait because Locke was Harlan Vela’s student.

Locke discovered that the secret realm’s clock tower served as the Ruler sustaining the Stone Statue Legion and destroyed it by luring the statue soldiers into striking it. As the realm’s magic collapsed, he absorbed Foucault’s memories and uncovered a concealed, failed research project involving transformable First-Ring Permanent Defense Fields.

• After the third reset, Locke realized the Stone Statue Legion’s soldiers were not growing stronger without limit; a Weakening Array was altering his form and slowing him down.
• Locke identified the manor’s clock tower as the Ruler governing the Transfiguration Magic and led the pursuing statue soldiers into crashing into it.
• The clock tower began collapsing, causing the Stone Statue Legion to lose control and shatter as Memory Fragments flooded Locke’s mind.
• Locke drank the Beholder Lord Potion to heighten his perception and recover fragments about Foucault’s research with Cliff Levis.
• Locke learned that the pair had secretly experimented on apprentices’ and fellow wizards’ souls while seeking to create transformable Permanent Defense Fields, and that Foucault had hidden the research site’s location in his memories.

Locke learned more about Wizard Foucault’s research and the First-Ring Permanent Defense Field before the guardian wizard stopped his excessive harvesting of Memory Fragments. The guardian revealed that a failed attempt to become a Formal Wizard had left him bound to the secret realm, and Locke was told to leave.

• Locke considered how Mana Grafting and his Distributed Psionic Network might relate to Wizard Foucault’s research, and obtained a reading list for the First-Ring Permanent Defense Field.
• The guardian wizard appeared and ordered Locke to stop harvesting, warning that the secret realm’s resources were depleted and it might shut down.
• Locke explained that he had destroyed the Transfiguration Magic Array’s Ruler by exploiting the array’s flaws, and the guardian acknowledged Locke’s strength.
• Locke asked to exchange his remaining annual chance for another entry into Eternal Dusk Garden, but the guardian refused because the resource point had reached its limit.
• The guardian told Locke that a failed breakthrough to become a Formal Wizard had left his Mana unstable, forcing him to remain within the Lantern Grass Solidification Formation.
• The guardian urged Locke to leave the secret realm while watching him warily.

A year of study and potion-making brought Locke to 800 Mana, while repeated use of the Beholder Lord Potion gave him an Abyssal Energy cycle that raised his Magic Pressure to 900. As he prepared for the final step toward becoming a Formal Wizard, he postponed choosing his Permanent Defense Field until he could investigate more secret realms and a sealed research project.

• Locke refined Beholder Lord Potion and drank it, briefly becoming feverishly aggressive before a magic trap snapped him back to normal.
• Locke discovered that his Mana had reached 800 and that Abyssal Energy gave him an additional 100 points of Magic Pressure.
• Locke decided to study the effects of his Abyssal Energy cycle after becoming a Formal Wizard, since it currently improved his power without seriously affecting him.
• Locke chose to wait for the results of a sealed special-grade research project before selecting a Permanent Defense Field, despite favoring the Life Force Field over Oak Magic Armor.
• Locke applied to enter Eternal Dusk Garden, Frostbound Isle, and Tesla Wasteland, then prepared to ask Harlan Vela whether any students wanted to join him.

Harlan Vela arranged for Kali Ackerman to accompany Locke into the Tesla Wasteland after Anglong refused, and Locke led his junior brothers and sisters through three Secret Realms to gather Memory Fragments and rare resources. In the wasteland, Locke’s group trapped the Lightning Element Lord, and Kali urged him to strike.

• Harlan Vela invited Anglong to join Locke in the Tesla Wasteland, but Anglong refused and left in anger.
• Kali Ackerman accepted Harlan Vela’s invitation, offered Locke Wizard Tea, and thanked him for taking her along.
• A week later, Locke led his junior brothers and sisters through three Secret Realms and collected many Memory Fragments, including a rare Hexagonal Prism Watchtower Ice Tree seed.
• In the Tesla Wasteland, Kali bound the Lightning Element Lord with Guardian Tree roots while another apprentice shielded her from its Lightning Summoning Technique.
• Kali told Locke that the Lightning Element Lord was under control and urged him to kill it.

Locke defeated the Lightning Element Lord in the secret realm and obtained a Myriad-Weight Grass seed, then left with Kali and the other apprentice. Back at his residence, he prepared to collect his Advancement Potion and pursue becoming a Formal Wizard, but wanted to inspect the special-grade research project before choosing which First-Ring Magic to inscribe.

• Kali held the Lightning Element Lord with the Guardian Tree's roots while Locke confronted it above the thunderstorm zone.
• The Lightning Element Lord fired a Positron Beam, and Locke endured the attack before striking it with Earth Extreme Magnetism and cutting it in two.
• Locke collected a Tesla Discharge Flower, the Lightning Element Lord's core crystal, and a First-Ring Myriad-Weight Grass seed.
• Locke led Kali and the other First-Class Wizard Apprentice out of the secret realm after they had exhausted their attempts.
• Locke returned to his residence and planned to collect his Advancement Potion and pursue a breakthrough, while keeping his plans secret until he could examine the special-grade research project.

Locke obtained a Sacrifice Potion from Claudia Forbes after reaching the Mental Power threshold for an Advancement Potion and signing the Academy’s contracts. Claudia explained that the potion was easy to brew but tightly restricted because its fixed effects and side effects could devastate a Wizard Land, then began to reveal what it did.

• Locke arrived at the Alchemy Cabin and identified the rooftop crucible’s contents as a mixture of high-grade Mana-boosting potions.
• Locke told Claudia Forbes that his Mental Power had reached 800 and applied for an Advancement Potion.
• Claudia recognized Locke and invited him inside after confirming that he had reached the required stage.
• Locke read and signed the Academy’s confidentiality and service agreements.
• Claudia gave Locke a Sacrifice Potion from a pile of bottles and explained that its formula and preparation were heavily restricted.
• Claudia warned Locke that the Sacrifice Potion’s effects had ruined many wizard geniuses and began to explain its true effect.

Locke learned that the Sacrifice Potion raised Mental Power by burning a wizard’s lifespan and stored potion effects, and that the White Wizard Association restricted it to protect the Wizarding World’s future. After calculating his youth and abundant residual potion effects, Locke concluded that he still had a strong chance of becoming a Formal Wizard.

• Locke studied the Sacrifice Potion’s formula as Claudia Forbes explained that it exchanged future potential for present Mental Power by overdrawing lifespan.
• Claudia Forbes explained that older wizards and those with lower talent faced greater risks, especially when advancing from 950 to 1000 Mental Power.
• Locke recognized that unrestricted use could lead apprentices to sacrifice their futures for immediate power, and Claudia Forbes praised his judgment as that of an Excellent Potion Master.
• Claudia Forbes explained that residual effects from previously consumed potions also counted as potential and could be burned by an Advancement Potion.
• Locke considered his Level 4 talent, young age, accumulated potion effects, and available resources, then decided he had a strong chance of advancing to Formal Wizard.

Locke received a Sacrifice Potion and learned how a cursed coin enforced the Association’s contracts before attending Lilith’s Cottage’s large-scale Potion Auction. There, Christine proposed branding his magical plants as Augustus Magic Plants and gave him the completed Lichen Shield spell.

• Claudia Forbes warned Locke that violating the Association’s contract would trigger the curse of a Second Ring Cursed Aztec Corn Coin.
• Locke went to Lilith’s Cottage’s grand Potion Auction to spend his Magic Stones on resources and met Christine, who invited him to Four Seasons Garden’s private room.
• Christine said she was persuading Four Seasons Garden’s senior advisers to place a large order for Locke’s Emerald Iris Lichen and proposed promoting his work as Augustus Magic Plants.
• Christine gave Locke the 0.9-circle Lichen Shield spell, which Four Seasons Garden had developed under their contract, and reminded him not to teach it privately or distribute it near Four Seasons Garden.

Locke attended Four Seasons Garden's auction with Christine and secretly bought a One-Time Spell Inscription Blade to aid his planned breakthrough to Formal Wizard. He won the item for 15,000 Magic Stones, while Christine bought a rare Soulheart Potion.

• Locke followed Christine into private room No. 31, concealing his identity by bidding under Four Seasons Garden's name.
• Auctioneer Regan Thomas presented a Prophet's Skull, but no one bid on it, then sold a Solar Helm for a rapidly rising price.
• Christine won a Soulheart Potion for 50,000 Magic Stones and said she could begin preparing for Mental Power vaporization.
• Regan introduced a One-Time Spell Inscription Blade that could help inscribe First-Ring Magic onto a wizard's soul with less risk.
• Locke bid 15,000 Magic Stones from private room No. 31, discouraging other bidders, and won the spell blade.

With Christine’s help, Locke secretly spent heavily at the auction on rare resources for his breakthrough to become a Formal Wizard. His purchases left Christine stunned while other Wizards mistakenly believed she was buying everything for herself.

• Christine turned away Formal Wizards seeking information about Room 31 and assured Locke she would keep his identity secret.
• Locke spent fifteen thousand Magic Stones on Star Soul Spirit Liquid, then bought Execution Hammer Mushroom spores for ten thousand and Brilliant Aura for twenty-five thousand.
• Christine explained that the Execution Hammer Mushroom could mature during a Wizard’s breakthrough and become a powerful magical plant.
• Locke tried bidding on a Heavy-Magic Land Fragment but stopped as its price climbed to three hundred thousand Magic Stones.
• Locke spent another one hundred and fifty thousand Magic Stones on breakthrough resources, prompting other Wizards to speculate that Christine had gone mad.
• Christine watched Locke’s lavish spending in Room 31 and was left dumbfounded.