Chapter Summaries

Stanley attacked Locke with his Aberrant Blood Curse, but Locke’s Life Force Field overwhelmed him and thwarted his attempts to strike. When Stanley tried to flee, Locke captured him and prepared to inject three Emerald Potions into his Permanent Defense Field.

• Stanley arrived in beast form and deployed his Aberrant Blood Curse, transforming nearby objects into flesh-and-blood matter.
• Locke activated his Life Force Field and compressed Stanley’s curse barrier, revealing that Locke’s Mana far exceeded Stanley’s.
• Stanley compressed his Permanent Defense Field, attacked Locke as a Vampire Count, and discovered that he still could not penetrate Locke’s defenses.
• Stanley fled, but Locke bound him with Omen Mandrake Vines and refused to let him go, suspecting he planned to return with reinforcements.
• Locke vaporized three Emerald Potions and used Potion Atomization to inject them into Stanley’s Permanent Defense Field.

Locke defeated Stanley in battle but could not kill him, then hurried into Lilith's Cottage's underground defensive installation while Black Wizards searched for him. Advisor Francis offered him a teaching position at the Academy, but Locke remained focused on activating the defenses.

• Locke used the Emerald Potion and his Life Force Field to weaken Stanley's defenses, then cut him in half with the Blackchain Sword Bamboo as Stanley fled.
• Locke chose not to pursue Stanley, whose injuries had further damaged his foundation, and stored the broken Blackchain Sword Bamboo before taking out the Clivia.
• Witch Gabriel checked on Locke, while Advisor Francis praised his victory and offered him a Lecturer Mage position at Lilith's Cottage.
• Locke asked Witch Gabriel to help him reach the underground defensive installation, and she used Stellar Fate Usurpation to conceal him from the Black Wizards temporarily.
• Locke entered the underground chamber and locked the Magic Alloy Door, but a Black Wizard's green fireball struck it shortly afterward.

The Blood Curse Court completed its Bride's Blood Curse over Lilith Academy while its Black Wizard allies prepared to plunder the school. Diviner Samantha discovered that Locke Augustine had entered Lilith's Cottage's defenses and could restart its barrier within ten minutes.

• The Blood Lord announced that the Bride's Blood Curse had cursed the land and urged the Black Wizards to seize Lilith's Cottage's wealth.
• The leaders of the Specter Holy Church and White Bone Order questioned the Blood Curse Court's strength, while Wizard Hanmoke calmed them and praised their magic.
• Samantha warned Wizard Hanmoke that Lilith's Cottage was trying to restart its defenses and that Locke Augustine had entered the system.
• Samantha said Locke could restore the Life Force Field barrier in about ten minutes, and that the undead feared and revered him.

The Blood Lord revealed the Bride's Blood Curse, which transformed the battlefield and its dead into indestructible curse spirits, and declared Lilith's Cottage doomed. Three Formal Wizards pursued the newly advanced Wizard from Lilith's Cottage after Wizard Stanley reported his defeat.

• Wizard Stanley warned the Blood Lord that a newly advanced Formal Wizard from Lilith's Cottage had nearly killed him, and the Blood Lord berated him for his failure.
• Cult Master Stefania sent three Formal Wizards to hunt down the Wizard from Lilith's Cottage, but their attack failed to break the Magic Lock on the Magic Alloy Door he had entered.
• The Blood Lord announced that his curse had turned the ground into cursed land, where the souls of fallen wizards and mortals became ghost brides and other curse spirits.
• Cult Master Stefania and the Golden Skeleton Wizard examined the strange spirits as the Blood Lord explained that the Bride's Blood Curse drew on the Totem God Phenomenon and could not be undone or destroyed.
• The Blood Lord declared Lilith's Cottage finished and enjoyed the awe and wariness of the gathered First-Ring Wizards.

Ghost Brides breached Life Force Fields across Lilith's Cottage, while Locke reached the underground control room to restore the defenses. He discovered that resilient mosses still carried life energy through the cursed land, offering a possible way to reactivate the large barrier.

• Wizard Francis found that three Ghost Brides could pass through the Life Force Field and ordered his students to retreat as they moved mechanically through the barrier.
• Old witch Forbes tested Emerald Potion on a Ghost Bride, but the creature recovered and continued forward, so she began searching for another potion that could affect it.
• Witch Gabriel led Locke to the underground control room, where Anglong blamed Locke for losing Harlan Vela's approval and attacked him; Locke knocked him unconscious with Life Force Field Eternal Defense Magic.
• Locke placed his palm on the control room's core crystal sphere and saw that the cursed land's life force had been suppressed, preventing the large Life Force Field from activating normally.
• Locke noticed that scattered mosses had resisted the curse and remained part of the ecosystem, realizing they might provide a way to restore the barrier.

Locke devised a plan to restore Lilith's Cottage's suppressed ecosystem and break the Bride's Blood Curse by nourishing its moss and algae and using [Nature's Words]. As his allies began carrying out the plan, Madam Samantha warned Blood Lord that his magic had a flaw.

• Locke determined that the surviving moss and algae could revive the land if they received energy and he used [Nature's Words] to communicate with the ecosystem.
• Witch Gabriel warned Locke that a Ghost Bride was approaching, and Locke explained that the ecosystem could not yet activate its large-scale Life Force Field.
• Locke asked Witch Forbes to feed potions from her Alchemy Cabin to the moss and algae and asked Wizard Francis to cast [Nature's Words] on him.
• Wizard Francis praised Locke's plan, while Old Witch Forbes revealed that her [Holy Spring Nectar Potion] could harm Ghost Brides and began preparing to nourish the ecosystem.
• Madam Samantha warned Blood Lord that his magic had a flaw, and Blood Lord rebuked Wizard Hanmoke in defense of the Blood Curse Court's dignity.

Old Witch Forbes and Francis helped Locke awaken Lilith's Cottage's ecology, restoring the forests and weakening the curse spirits and Ghost Brides. As the Blood Lord realized his Blood Curse contained an unknown force, Wizard Hanmoke ordered the Black Wizards to destroy the forests, and the Blood Lord stayed silent.

• Old Witch Forbes atomized her cauldron's contents into rain across Lilith's Cottage, while Francis blessed Locke with Nature's Words.
• Locke used the Large Life Barrier's core crystal to urge the local plants to awaken, then transformed himself into a forest with the Forest Sanctuary's blessing.
• Lilith's Cottage's mosses, ferns, trees, and other plants revived, restoring elemental balance and calming disasters across the land.
• The returning life energy weakened the curse spirits, freeing the souls trapped inside them and causing a Ghost Bride to decay when she attacked Locke.
• The Blood Lord realized his Blood Curse was spiraling out of control and suspected the Totem God Mechanism had created an unknown entity within it.
• Wizard Hanmoke ordered the Black Wizards to cut down the forests, and the Blood Lord remained silent rather than reveal his doubts about his magic.

Locke used the Academy’s defensive device and a vast Life Force Field to destroy the ring-shaped creature, purge the undead, and restore most of the Cursed Land’s ecology. After the Wizards praised his success and warned that the Black Wizards might return, Witch Gabriel alerted him that two Formal Wizards were approaching.

• The blue ring’s curse failed to reach Locke’s soul, and he reshaped the spell runes to trigger a massive Life Force Field.
• Locke’s Life Force Field swept across Lilith’s Cottage, purifying undead and forcing the ring-shaped creature and the Ghost Brides to disappear.
• The Cursed Land’s ecology recovered, and the undead army could no longer damage the region.
• Senior Consultant Francis urged Locke to stay at Lilith’s Cottage, while Old Witch Forbes praised his work and warned him about the Black Wizards.
• Witch Gabriel warned Locke that two ordinary Formal Wizards were approaching.

Two Specter Holy Church witches broke into the underground defense installation and attacked Locke, but he used the building’s traps and his superior strength to pursue them. He killed the witch who wielded Wraith Scream, while her sister remained at large.

• Gabriel told Locke that two witches had entered through the Magic Lock during the energy fluctuations, while a third had been shut out.
• The witches attacked Locke, but fled after realizing his Mental Power had materialized and his Magic Pressure far exceeded theirs.
• Locke ordered Gabriel to activate the installation’s magic traps, then pursued the witches through the corridors.
• Locke identified the witch using Wraith Scream as his target, while the other witch attacked him with Specter Frost Magic and summoned a Fetal Spirit Specter.
• Locke crushed the Fetal Spirit Specter, switched to Oak Magic Armor, and smashed the Wraith Scream witch’s head with the Execution Hammer Mushroom.

Locke defeated and killed Brittany, the notorious Infant Spirit Witch of the Specter Holy Church, after she transformed into a powerful fused specter. He revealed enough strength to reach 7,000 Magic Pressure, then reconnected with the Nibelungen System, where his allies recognized the significance of his victory.

• Brittany’s sister fled after Locke smashed her with the Execution Hammer Mushroom, leaving Brittany to face him.
• Brittany fused with two infant spirits and attacked Locke, but he battered her apart and forced her soul into the form of a snake.
• Locke destroyed Brittany’s remaining soul with Primordial Magnetic Light, killing her completely and briefly reaching 7,000 Magic Pressure.
• Locke sealed his Three-Eyed Tiger-Eyed Cat Bloodline and contacted the Nibelungen System after the battle’s chaos had cut him off.
• Gabriel checked on Locke, and Old Witch Forbes praised him for killing Brittany and making Lilith’s Cottage’s reputation resound across the Southeastern Corner Region.

After Locke killed Brittany, the Black Wizard Alliance summoned Holy Flesh Execution to break Lilith's Cottage's Life Force Field. Old Witch Forbes revealed that the White Wizards had prepared a counterattack, trapping the Black Wizards with Verdantia University's Cross Radiant Holy Sword Seal.

• A torchbearer told Church Master Stefania that Brittany had died, and the Soul Torch revealed Locke Augustine as her killer.
• Wizard Stanley identified Locke as the newly advanced Beholder Wizard, while Stefania demanded Locke's soul aura and questioned whether the Black Wizards should retreat.
• Wizard Hanmoke revealed that the Corpse Court had secretly prepared nine summoning arrays and used them to summon Holy Flesh Execution above Lilith's Cottage.
• Holy Flesh Execution battered Lilith's Cottage's Life Force Field with torrents of negative energy, but Old Witch Forbes said Locke had bought the White Wizards time.
• A giant wooden spear pinned Holy Flesh Execution to the ground, and Verdantia University's Cross Radiant Holy Sword Seal trapped the Black Wizards, stakes, and Dark Gate.

The White Wizards completed the [Cross Radiant Holy Sword Seal], trapping and slaughtering the Black Wizard Alliance with eight angelic giants. As the Black Wizards struggled to escape, Stefania targeted Locke with a Specter ritual that dragged him into an underwater vision despite his Permanent Defense Field.

• The eight angels attacked the Black Wizards, killing four Formal Wizards and suppressing their magic within the [Cross Radiant Holy Sword Seal].
• Hanmoke urged the Black Wizards to destroy the seal, but some fled through the malfunctioning Dark Gate while others found they could not escape its boundary.
• Locke realized the seal had been secretly prepared and that his interference had prevented the Black Wizards from seizing Lilith's Cottage before it was completed.
• Locke suddenly felt unable to breathe and found himself seeing the surface of the sea from underwater, recognizing that Specter Magic had pulled him away.
• Stefania performed a Specter ritual and declared that her Mental Power Crystallization allowed her to use ritual magic against Locke.

Locke escaped the Styx Plane after Headmaster Earl Thompson rescued him from Witch Stefania’s ritual magic. Thompson explained the exchange that saved Locke and confirmed the Academy would release him from his contracts, leaving Locke aware that his life had been bargained over.

• A water ghost dragged Locke beneath the Soul Sea and tried to make him take her place until Headmaster Earl Thompson gave him Holy Spring Nectar Potion and brought him back.
• Thompson thanked Locke for completing Headmaster Lewis’s Forest Sanctuary spell and promised to keep it secret from the association’s sensitive Holy Wizards.
• Thompson told Locke that the Academy considered his contracts settled and that he and Witch Sophia were free to pursue their own paths beyond the Southeastern Corner Region.
• Thompson explained that Witch Stefania had used Ritual Magic to pull Locke into the Styx Plane and released him in exchange for Thompson sparing another Specter Holy Church witch.
• Locke learned that Thompson had accepted the exchange because he valued Locke more than the injured witch, and that the potion had only restored his condition.

Locke learned how the Specter Holy Church’s Soul Torch had let its pope target him, and Earl Thompson revealed that the academy’s battle was part of a long-planned White Wizard Association strategy. The Great Purge began as six White Wizard factions joined forces to slaughter the Black Wizard Alliance at Lilith’s Cottage.

• Earl Thompson explained that the Soul Torch let the Specter Holy Church’s pope use Locke’s soul aura to drag him into the Styx River once, and warned him against casually killing its wizards.
• Earl Thompson revealed that he had stayed in the building to intervene, then credited Locke’s Ecological Transformation Plan with saving the operation and securing the academy’s role as a battlefield node.
• Locke inferred that Black Wizard society and White Wizard society had once been connected, while Earl Thompson disclosed the Association’s preparations to cripple the Black Wizards’ economy and escalate the conflict into total war.
• Earl Thompson said the Great Purge had been brought forward and predicted large-scale warfare across the Southeastern Corner Region.
• The Formal Wizards of Lilith’s Cottage, Verdantia University, Four Seasons Garden, Northern Niflheim University, Secret Fire Academy, and Valerian University of Sorcery joined forces to slaughter the Black Wizard Alliance inside the Cross Radiant Holy Sword Seal.

The White Wizards drove the Black Wizards toward defeat, but Hanmoke revived Holy Flesh Execution and broke a gap in the sealing barrier. As the Black Wizards’ Second-Circle Wizard arrived, Justin and Morgan threatened to unleash Great Magic against each other, placing Lilith’s Cottage and the region in danger.

• Hanmoke used a Frost spell cast by a Niflheim University wizard to reach Holy Flesh Execution and animated it with his Death Magic.
• Hanmoke released Holy Flesh Execution’s stored negative energy, destroying the Trustworthiness Angel and opening a gap in the sealing barrier.
• Black Wizard elites tried to escape through the gap, while White Wizard forces pursued them as the battle continued into the night.
• An abnormal aurora brightened the sky, and Dean Earl Thompson recognized the arrival of a Black Wizard Second-Circle Wizard wielding Great Magic.
• Morgan confronted Justin over the White Wizards’ victory, and both Second-Circle Wizards threatened to cast Great Magic, alarming Dean Thompson about the danger to Lilith’s Cottage.

After the White Wizard Association secured a major victory, Justin and the Black Wizards’ Second-Ring Wizard agreed to halt the fighting under favorable terms for the Association. As the battlefield was cleared, Locke received two Astral Rings and Headmaster Thompson offered him a temporary consultant title so he could claim war merits without taking his first formal teaching post.

• Justin ordered the White Wizards to let the Black Wizards retreat, and Headmaster Thompson lifted the seal on Giant Wood Spear’s Holy Flesh Execution.
• Locke considered the war’s effects on the region and planned to discuss opening a shareholding Wizard shop with Madam Irina through Harlan Vela.
• Headmaster Thompson gave Locke the Astral Rings of Brittany and her sister as spoils and a gift.
• Locke inspected the rings’ collections and decided to sell the Specter Magic items and human-body creations to suitable buyers on the black market.
• Headmaster Thompson explained that the Association’s agreement required the defeated Black Wizards to buy goods from them and offered Locke a temporary consultant title at Lilith’s Cottage to qualify for war merits.
• Headmaster Thompson warned Locke that his first teaching post would affect his future prospects, leaving Locke to recall that Consultant Francis had not mentioned this risk.

After Locke signed a contract with Dean Thompson, he joined the White Wizard Association of the Southeastern Corner Region as a special consultant and gained access to the Nygward Astrology System. The chapter ended with Dean Thompson explaining the system’s communication range and limitations.

• Locke and Dean Thompson signed a contract establishing Locke’s special consultant role at Lilith's Cottage.
• Dean Thompson welcomed Locke as a Formal Wizard and explained that he would now bear responsibility for himself.
• Locke accepted an invitation to join the Nygward Astrology System through the White Wizard Association.
• Locke inspected the system’s functions for calculations, association notifications, and messaging between connected wizards.
• Dean Thompson explained that Black Wizards lacked an equivalent system and warned that Nygward communication worked only within the Southeastern Corner Region and could be disrupted.

Locke explored the Nygward Astrology System and reviewed the Association’s Military Merit exchange list after the war. Finding few resources suited to his needs, he chose Sea Golden Sand as a way to expand his First-Ring spell knowledge.

• Dean Thompson explained the Nygward Astrology System’s paid memberships and invited Locke into the Lilith's Cottage Wizard Society.
• Locke joined the society, accepted Harlan Vela’s connection request, and read messages from Francis and other Formal Wizards.
• Locke reviewed the Association’s Military Merit rules and discovered that killing one Black Wizard Formal Wizard earned 100 Military Merit, giving him a total of 100.
• Locke searched the exchange list and found that most Mental Power resources were unsuitable for him, while Sox's Blood required 500 Military Merit.
• Locke selected Sea Golden Sand, which included Scorching Golden Sand Flow spellbooks and related research papers, for 100 Military Merit.

After exchanging for Sea Golden Sand, Locke inspected his businesses following the war and told his apprentices that he had become a Formal Wizard. The chapter left Teri and the others grasping how their futures had changed by working with him.

• Locke exchanged on the Gray Mist Slate for supplies, including Sea Golden Sand, and arranged delivery to Lilith's Cottage.
• Locke visited the Plantations beside his residence, where Harlan Vela's fellow disciples told him they had defended the area during the war; he gave them healing potions.
• Locke inspected his Potion Laboratory and found Teri and the three apprentices unharmed.
• Teri asked why she could no longer sense Locke's Magic Pressure, and Locke explained that he had become a Formal Wizard.
• Locke told Teri to organize the laboratory equipment because the Potion Laboratory might undergo major changes, leaving the apprentices stunned by his advancement.

After advancing to Formal Wizard, Locke returned to Lilith's Cottage to stabilize his Mana and replenish his spells. He attended Andy's funeral, learned how Andy had died, and then went to meet Harlan Vela about a matter he needed handled.

• Locke returned to Lilith's Cottage to organize his resources and stabilize his fluctuating Mana, while the King of the Forbidden Forest and the Silent Bee Fairy watched him from nearby.
• Locke learned that the upheaval had been blamed on a Black Wizard attack and that Lorne, Pierre, Anglu, and Aixi had survived, though Anglu had lost an arm.
• Locke attended Andy's funeral with Albert, Mitchell Perick, and Andy's family, while Mitchell vowed to kill Black Wizards whenever he encountered them.
• Albert explained that Andy had never recovered from the Fear Blood Curse and had died while besieged by ordinary Black Wizard Apprentices.
• Albert and Andy's family thanked Locke for avenging Andy by killing five Black Wizard Wizard Seeds, and Locke left the cemetery.
• Locke reflected that the war would intensify and went to Harlan Vela's office after receiving his message.