Chapter Summaries

The Istoria Archaeology Award committee recognized Locke and his three teammates for identifying the Nameless King, while Istoria suspected Locke had uncovered a deeper secret. Back at Golden Crown Mountain, Locke learned that Witch Shally was risking her life to advance to the Second Ring, then reunited with his group as Freya began explaining trouble that had started during his absence.

• A First Ring History editor prioritized the article on the Tomb of the Nameless King's Wife, and Istoria decided its four authors would receive the First-Ring Award.
• Istoria added the research on the Nameless King to his Chronicle of the Age of Stars and asked Barry James to find Locke's other articles because he suspected Locke had noticed something hidden.
• Locke returned to Golden Crown Mountain and asked Witch Shally why she had ignored the Black Wizards aboard the Void Battleship; she said she considered them dead people who had forfeited their humanity.
• Witch Shally told Locke she planned to attempt Second-Ring advancement and explained that the Silent Grail Competition offered contestants a free Great Magic modeling experience, warning Locke not to advance before it.
• Witch Shally warned that her aggressive attempt might kill her, and Locke watched her leave, unsure whether they would meet again.
• Locke reunited with Witch Mason, Witch Freya, and Wizard Barrett, and Freya began telling him that a Second-Ring Wizard researcher had caused trouble in Group 2 while he was away.

Locke returned to Group 2 and saw Zalan Bailey’s industrial plan transforming the Dune Plane while generating severe pollution. He reassured his group that Zalan was neither a friend nor an opponent, then met with group leader Sith without revealing his immediate plans to pursue a wizard-shoe bidding opportunity.

• Locke and his companions inspected Zalan Bailey’s factories, polluted skies, and early efforts to restore plant life across the Dune Plane.
• Locke criticized the risks of Zalan’s rapid ecological reconstruction plan, while Freya Witch explained that Zalan had blocked their project funding to secure resources for himself.
• Locke told Freya Witch, Mason Witch, and Wizard Barrett to focus on their own work and promised that his return would bring funding and projects.
• Locke met group leader Sith, who welcomed him back and asked about his research plans, but Locke said he had none for the time being.
• Group leader Sith sent Locke to rest, while an unfamiliar researcher listened for information about Locke’s intentions.

Locke developed an environmentally friendly marketing strategy for his new Wizard Shoes and used the Queen’s Chessboard to analyze the Ancient Flower. He discovered that its roots formed a powerful Energy-Locking Structure that could transform sand into soil, giving him a promising research project and a possible path to improve his Great Magic.

• Wizard Zalan Bailey learned from Wizard Tucker that Locke had no plan to compete for the Special-Grade Funding Grant and thanked Tucker for his support.
• Locke gave Witch Scarlett his improved Demon Realm Pineapple Wizard Shoes designs and proposed having the Augustus brand recognized as environmentally friendly to strengthen its bid for the Demon World War contract.
• Witch Scarlett confirmed Golden Crown Mountain still had environmental protection quotas to fulfill and agreed to contact the Hand of the Jungle about recognizing Locke’s Wizard Shoes.
• Locke paid to use the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion’s Queen’s Chessboard, where he found that the Ancient Flower was an artificial polymer modeled on a real Magic Plant.
• Locke determined that the Ancient Flower’s roots could use natural magical components to turn sand into clay, provided water was available.
• Locke concluded that the roots held a new Energy-Locking Structure that could earn him the First-Class Project Fund and help build his Great Magic.

Locke analyzed the Ancient Flower’s roots and uncovered their energy-storing Glandular Root Sacs, while suspecting the Black Sun Tower had hidden reasons for degrading the plant’s prototype. He then used Queen’s Chessboard to organize his historical materials, narrowing his research to the Concise History of Ancient Plants to advance his Sect Master’s Book toward becoming a Legendary History Book.

• Locke identified seven natural magic-structure components in the Ancient Flower’s roots and determined that its Glandular Root Sacs stored energy for short-term use.
• Locke deduced that the Ancient Flower’s prototype destroyed itself after one hundred generations and may have been a pioneer plant that prevented desertification.
• Locke suspected the Black Sun Tower had a concealed reason for combining superior plants into a degraded artificial flower, then stored the seeds for later study.
• Locke placed his Sect Master’s Book on Queen’s Chessboard and used its deductions to connect scattered historical records into a Brief History of the Age of Stars.
• Locke narrowed his history project from broad political histories to the Concise History of Ancient Plants, estimating that three more Queen’s Chessboard sessions would complete the compilation.

Locke Augustine’s Istoria Archaeology Award earned him Golden Crown Mountain’s recognition and two Golden Cloud Peaches, while he secured funding to pursue his Ancient Flower Root Pineapple project. As Locke left to meet a representative from Storm Tower, Zalan Bailey continued maneuvering within Group 2 and had arranged for a Second-Ring environmental wizard to visit the increasingly polluted Dune Plane.

• Tucker told Zalan Bailey that Locke had won the Istoria Archaeology Award and published in a top Starfield Sea archaeology journal, prompting Zalan to worry that Locke would compete with him for Group 2’s resources.
• Sith learned of Locke’s award, and Golden Crown Mountain rewarded Locke with two Golden Cloud Peaches and asked him to give a newspaper interview.
• Catherine discussed Locke’s upcoming Silent Grail Competition with Gaia, who warned that the contest would determine recruitment quotas in the Unclaimed Lands.
• Locke accepted the interview, submitted a First-Class Project Fund application for his Ancient Flower Root Pineapple research, and received approval and one hundred Magic Crystal Cards.
• Locke told Mason Witch, Freya, and Barrett that he wanted to reproduce the Ancient Flower Root in pineapple-type magic plants, using Group 2’s abundant water to turn desert into fertile land.
• Locke agreed to meet someone from Storm Tower at Witch’s Kitchen, while Zalan Bailey visited Group 2 and its researchers revealed that he had invited a Second-Ring environmental wizard to the Dune Plane.

At Golden Crown Mountain, Wizard Forbes and Wizard Luka tested wizard shoes for the coming Demon World War, comparing extravagant designs from major brands. They set aside their doubts to try a pair of Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes made by one of their own wizards.

• Patrol wizards explained that the Twin Demon World had approached Cloud Marsh Wetland and breached the Ghost Gate Pass, then escorted two Moon-Ring Wizards into the Otherworld Battlefield.
• Wizard Forbes and Wizard Luka began testing equipment submissions, noting that only about one in fifty First-Ring Wizards would be selected for the war.
• Wizard Forbes tested Serandi’s Shadow Leopard shoes and criticized their many extra features despite praising their quality and Shadowstep spell.
• Wizard Forbes tried Solas Barefoot (30k)’s Radiant Voyager and found its speed and resistance to demonic terrain impressive despite its dazzling appearance.
• Wizard Forbes tested Meraki Magicstep’s Shadow Dancer 86, discovering its repeated short-range shadow transformations before the shoes played music.
• Wizard Luka offered a pair of Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes from an in-house designer, and Wizard Forbes agreed to test them because they came from one of their own wizards.

Forbes Wizard and Luka Wizard tested wizard shoes and recommended Locke’s Snow-Capped Pineapple 02 for the war, impressed by its performance and low price. Later, Wizard Smith confronted Locke about the Apocalypse Witchstone, suspecting he had taken it from the ruins, while Locke denied knowing anything about it.

• Forbes Wizard tested Snow-Capped Pineapple 02 and found its speed and performance comparable to leading First-Ring wizard shoes.
• Luka Wizard confirmed the shoes’ capabilities but could not decipher their secrets because of the Triple Phantom Leaf.
• Forbes Wizard and Luka Wizard chose Augustus Wizard Shoes’ Snow-Capped Pineapple 02 for their recommendation to the War Committee, citing its quality and low cost.
• Locke met Wizard Smith and the leader of the Thunder Demon Society, rejected their attempt to blame him for the society’s losses, and told them to state their business.
• Wizard Smith asked Locke whether he had obtained the Apocalypse Witchstone from the wizard ruins, and Locke denied knowing about it.

Locke traded the Abyssal Energy-tainted Apocalypse Witchstone to Wizard Smith for Storm Tower’s Moon Witchstone and celestial research materials, while both acknowledged that they had entered the Soul Decline Period. As Locke left to study his new stone, Witch Lana confronted him over failing to recognize her.

• Wizard Smith attacked for the Apocalypse Witchstone, but a Third-Ring Wizard intervened, and Locke identified Smith’s Soul Decline Period.
• Locke and Wizard Smith negotiated a trade: Locke requested the Moon Witchstone and research materials from Mana Hayes’s group in exchange for the Apocalypse Witchstone.
• After consulting Witch Catherine, Locke signed the contract with Wizard Smith and received the Moon Witchstone and research files.
• Wizard Smith warned Locke that he would regret helping him at the Silent Grail Competition, while Locke noted that his own soul had entered the Soul Decline Period.
• Locke left the Witch’s Kitchen and encountered Witch Lana, who angrily asked why he did not recognize her after corresponding with her for months.

Locke met Witch Lana, who cleared him of responsibility for the deaths in the Abyssal Ruins and warned him that they were part of a plot by the Abyss Werewolf King to sow conflict before the Abyssal War. She gave Locke the Rose Ecological Corridor Spell, and as his Soul Decline Period worsened, he began planning to use its ideas and his Moon Magic Mirror to develop his first Great Magic.

• Witch Lana questioned Locke about the six Rose Council members who died in the Abyssal Ruins, accepted his account, and explained that the incident had been classified as a war casualty.
• Witch Lana told Locke that the Abyss Werewolf King had engineered conflicts among the wizard academies and warned him that the Abyssal War was approaching.
• Witch Lana gave Locke the Rose Ecological Corridor Spell and cautioned him to be careful about challenging the wizard-shoe brands backed by High-Ring Wizards.
• Witch Lana rebuked Witch Suella Sharp for seeking to blame Locke, then departed after Locke flattered her about a researcher who had rejected her mentorship.
• Locke recognized that his Soul Decline Period was clouding his mind and worsening his condition, and he resolved to advance to Second-Ring as soon as possible.
• Locke studied the spellbook, decided not to learn its model directly, and began planning to adapt its ecological connections through his Moon Magic Mirror into his first Great Magic.

Locke managed his dangerous Magic Pressure while visiting Little Peach Mountain, where Daniel shared a meteorological idea involving mist as a distributed energy-storage and transport carrier. Daniel’s research led Locke to recognize flaws in his Great Magic and consider using mist to strengthen it.

• Locke refused to press Witch Camilla after she rejected his request for twelve Cancer Natal Witch Porcelains, then brewed and drank a Weakening Potion to limit his rising Magic Pressure.
• Locke decided to construct only one Great Magic before advancing to the Second Ring and rode to Little Peach Mountain to check on Group 2’s research.
• Locke traded mounts with Daniel, who said he had paid off his debts and was returning to the Gray Mist Plane despite his research group’s suspicion of him.
• Daniel demonstrated how mist could hold persistent dark energy and described his idea for a distributed energy-storage network and transport carrier.
• Locke realized his Forest Alliance Spell lacked mobility and an energy-transport carrier, and considered adapting Daniel’s mist research to improve his Great Magic.

Locke weighed the risks of ecological research, secured equipment for his team’s Big Pink Diamond Pineapple experiment, and learned that the Dune Plane might still shelter its native people. He also received news that Augustus Wizard Shoes had won a major procurement contract, while a Moon-Ring Wizard at a rival seminar demanded to know who they were.

• Locke visited the Dune Plane and reflected that Zalan Bailey’s aggressive ecological transformation might produce quick results but risk long-term collapse.
• Locke’s team argued with a laboratory administrator over access to a large metal telescope, and Locke pressed him to make one available for their research.
• Mason Witch reported that the team had grown Big Pink Diamond Pineapples with Glandular Root Sacs, and Witch Freya said a telescope was needed to study their structure.
• Witch Freya told Locke that the Dune Plane had once supported an advanced civilization of psionic Dune People, and Locke resolved to search for survivors.
• Witch Scarlett informed Locke that Augustus Wizard Shoes had won a contract for more than 450 pairs worth twenty million Magic Stones, earning him ten million.
• At a Meraki Magicstep seminar, a Moon-Ring Wizard supervisor demanded to know where Augustus Wizard Shoes had come from.

Solas Barefoot (30k), the Rose Council, and the Magic Weaver Industry Association reacted to the rapid rise of Locke Augustine’s Augustus Wizard Shoes brand. Solas struggled to find a way to challenge him, while the association sent a sanctions letter despite having no authority over his business.

• Solas Barefoot (30k) discovered that Augustus Wizard Shoes had won Golden Crown Mountain’s First-Ring contract, while Meraki Magicstep and Vicos had taken the Second- and Third-Ring markets.
• Solas’s executives recognized that the Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes threatened their heavy-asset business model and blamed the Crisis Preprocessing Department for failing to anticipate the brand’s rise.
• Solas’s managers considered commercial pressure and price cuts, but concluded that Locke’s ties to Golden Crown Mountain and Arthas made him difficult to attack.
• The Rose Council discussed Augustus Wizard Shoes, but its members took no action after learning Locke was a Golden Crown Mountain researcher.
• The Magic Weaver Industry Association realized its rules had no authority over Locke or his business, but its chairman still ordered a sanctions letter sent to the relevant parties.
• The association chairman proposed threatening Locke and banning him from joining the association.

Locke rejected Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep’s acquisition offer and sought the Hand of the Jungle’s help to protect Augustus Wizard Shoes from their trade-in campaign. Expert Salvador promised to pursue Life-Friendly Brand recognition and Green Magic Plan support, leaving Locke to wait for the Hand of the Jungle’s local representative while he continued expanding the business.

• Scarlett Witch told Locke that Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep had launched a trade-in campaign targeting Augustus Wizard Shoes and offered him 10 million to sell the brand.
• Locke refused the offer, asked the two companies for entry quotas to unexplored medium-sized worlds, and chose the Boniface Sector as Augustus Wizard Shoes’ second sales sector.
• Locke contacted Expert Salvador, explained the shoe brand’s concept and the rival companies’ campaign, and asked for assistance from the Hand of the Jungle.
• Expert Salvador promised to seek Life-Friendly Brand recognition, environmental investigations of the rival companies, and support through the Green Magic Plan.
• Locke decided that the Hand of the Jungle’s involvement could raise the cost of suppressing Augustus Wizard Shoes while he worked to strengthen the brand and advance to the Second Ring.

Locke explored the Dune Plane to investigate how its surviving ecosystems and Dune People endured, discovering that Wizard Zalan Bailey’s transformation project had polluted their underground river. After secretly treating a poisoned Dune Person, Locke chose to keep observing rather than intervene directly, questioning how efficiency could coexist with nature.

• Locke left Group 2’s research institute and used the full moon’s gravity to locate underground plant communities beneath the Dune Plane’s desert.
• Locke found drought-resistant Stone Ferns, underground ice, and other magic plants that helped sustain the plane’s Magic Tide and remaining ecosystem.
• Wizard Zalan Bailey visited Group 2’s research institute looking for Locke, while Mason Witch and Freya wondered why he was so eager to meet him.
• Locke found two starving Dune People and understood their telepathic conversation, learning that polluted river fish had caused one of them to fall gravely ill.
• Locke secretly used Holy Spring Nectar Potion carried by moonlight to ease the sick Dune Person’s symptoms, then decided to observe the ecosystem without further intervention.

Locke followed the surviving Dune People and discovered that their ritual worship of the Stone Spirit seemed to extend a dying tribesman’s life and reverse his deformity. He hypothesized that their natural telepathy sustained a Group Consciousness Resonance that accelerated evolution, and prepared to test whether his Moon Magic Mirror could amplify it.

• Locke followed two Dune People to their cave settlement and watched a tribesman suffer from polluted water and a grotesque Steel Bone deformity.
• The Dune People performed a ritual around a rock, believing the Stone Spirit could guide their evolution, while Locke observed that the dying man survived beyond his expected time.
• Locke secretly gave the tribesman diluted Holy Spring Nectar Potion and Bear Spirit Emerald Gallbladder Potion, and the man’s condition began to improve.
• The tribesman declared that he had evolved as his Steel Bone returned toward normal, and Locke used a Luck Potion to help keep him alive for further observation.
• Locke sensed the Dune People’s telepathic collective consciousness and theorized that their shared belief sustained a Group Consciousness Resonance that accelerated their evolution.
• Locke decided to use his Moon Magic Mirror to reflect and amplify the resonance so he could test his hypothesis and study the resulting evolution.

Locke tested several explanations for the Dune People’s unusual vitality before discovering that their worship had transformed spirituality stored in a stone, which could fuse with plants and cause special evolution. He planned to take the Dune People elsewhere to support further spiritual grafting experiments, while first helping them survive their magical contamination.

• Locke’s attempt to use the Dune People’s collective resonance on one of them failed, and he saved the man with diluted Holy Spring Nectar Potion.
• Locke tested whether the Dune People’s resonance could alter nearby ferns, but his experiments produced no useful change.
• Locke used Spiritual Vision to find that the worshiped stone held special spirituality created by the Dune People’s faith.
• Locke infused the stone’s spirituality into a Sea Golden Sand plant and used Full Moon Growth, causing its leaves to develop serrated edges.
• Locke concluded that the transformed spirituality enabled plant evolution and decided to find more races like the Dune People for his experiments.
• Locke planned to help the Dune People clear their contamination and later take them away from the Dune Plane.

Locke investigated a rare spirituality that fused with plant spirituality and accelerated evolution, then realized Zero Potion might raise its quality enough to cultivate Magic Plants toward the Second Ring. Meanwhile, Solas Barefoot faced backlash over its treatment of Augustus’s Wizard Shoe brand and planned to pursue an acquisition.

• Locke searched for other Dune People settlements and found that only the first tribe’s stone produced an unusual spirituality-related phenomenon.
• Locke studied Totem God and Primordial Spirit research, concluded the stone’s spirituality was something rarer, and considered combining it with Zero Potion.
• Locke saw that Stuyas George endorsed Solas Barefoot’s Wizard Shoes while mocking Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes.
• Solas Barefoot was designated a Life-Unfriendly Product by the Hand of the Jungle, and its leaders discussed acquiring Augustus’s brand after he rejected their offer of ten million Magic Stones.
• After a week of research, Locke concluded that the special spirituality enhanced plants and accelerated their evolution, then prepared to test Zero Potion on the stone to create a cultivation method of his own.

Locke discovered that the Dune People’s sacred rock could produce a strange spirituality that helped Magic Plants evolve, and he developed the Moon Cultivation Method from it. After settling the Dune People in his Forest Sanctuary, he received Witch Camilla’s offer to trade Natal Witch Porcelains for a Dragon-View Peach to save her sister.

• Locke used Zero Potion to strengthen the rock’s unusual spirituality, then fused it with Sea Golden Sand using Full Moon Growth and evolved it into a Moon Fern with a Crescent Moon Mark.
• Locke found that Moonlight Essence could ripen Magic Plants, accelerate their cultivation, or give them a chance to evolve, and he named the method the Moon Cultivation Method.
• Locke confirmed that the rock had become a self-contained Stone Spirit and moved it into the space containing his Forest Sanctuary.
• Locke opened a Half-Plane Gate and brought the two hundred Dune People into his Forest Sanctuary, where they settled and believed the Stone Spirit had blessed them.
• Witch Camilla told Locke she would provide as many Natal Witch Porcelains as he wanted if he obtained a Dragon-View Peach to restore her sister’s human wisdom.

Locke refused to obtain a Dragon-Saliva Peach Garden, then used special spirituality to restore Witch Camilla's sister’s reason, though it made her call him “Master.” Her recovered memories revealed that an ancient soul from the Age of Stars had possessed her, leading Locke to suspect the immortal lich ruler had returned.

• Locke refused Witch Catherine’s offer of the Dragon-Saliva Peach Garden because it would disrupt his Great Magic and bind him to Golden Crown Mountain, then told Witch Camilla he could not obtain a Dragon-View Peach.
• Locke invited Witch Camilla to bring her sister to the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion and used the Stone Spirit’s special spirituality to restore her sister’s human reason, but the witch began calling him “Master.”
• Locke tested the special spirituality, concluded it could only fuse with plants, and adjusted his treatment so Witch Camilla’s sister regained awareness while remaining loyal to him.
• Witch Camilla’s sister recalled the Black Wizard who had stolen her talent and an ancient soul from the Age of Stars that had possessed her and helped her become a wizard.
• Locke wondered whether the Twin Demon World’s attack on the Magic Combat Tournament had targeted the ancient soul and whether the immortal lich ruler had been resurrected.

Locke created Porcelain Moon Growths to strengthen his Great Magic and began challenging the Fourth Round of the Heavenly Ladder using a magical copy of a deceased Necromancer. Meanwhile, Zalan Bailey faced suspicions that his pollution-control project was failing and sought a meeting with Locke.

• Camilla traded Locke ten Cancer Natal Witch Porcelains for two hundred Magic Crystal Cards and left with her sister, while Locke used Full Moon Growth to create Porcelain Moon Growths.
• Zalan Bailey intimidated Mason Witch after Locke failed to meet him, and Mason refused to let the incident distract Locke from the Great Magic Modeling Competition.
• Tucker showed Zalan a report and wastewater sample indicating excessive heavy elemental particles, prompting Zalan to worry that the Shop Alliance had not built proper treatment facilities.
• Locke synthesized Porcelain Moon Growths with Moon Fern Sea Golden Sand and went to challenge the Fourth Round of the Heavenly Ladder.
• The Green Dragon Half-Dragon shopkeeper used the Heavenly Light Divine Mirror to recreate a deceased Necromancer's body data for Locke's test and reported Locke's challenge to his superior.