Chapter Summaries

Locke used King Otto’s Reverse Refinement Method to diagnose a Wooden Man and successfully stabilized its Abyssal, Necromancy, and Transfiguration energies with a tailored potion. The Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion promoted him to B-Rank talent and gave him a Comet Gate, while the chapter ended with Locke encountering a distressed Wizard Smith.

• Locke used the Reverse Refinement Method to expose the Wooden Man’s conflicting energies and determined that Abyssal Energy had caused the Southern Witch Capital wizard’s fatal magical mutation.
• Locke combined Stone Spirit spirituality, White-Glow Tree spirituality, and Full Moon Growth to create Potion of Spirituality No. 1, which separated and stabilized the Wooden Man’s three magical energies.
• The Heavenly Light Divine Mirror confirmed Locke had passed the Fourth Heavenly Ladder, and the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion upgraded him to B-Rank talent and awarded him a Comet Gate.
• In a lava-filled place, Quinn reported Locke’s unusual refining method to his ancient master, who ordered him not to contact Locke yet.
• Locke received the Comet Gate and then saw Storm Tower wizards escorting a listless Wizard Smith into the pavilion; Smith tried to leave when he noticed Locke.

Locke learned that Wizard Smith had been severely corrupted by Abyssal Energy and refused Locke’s help before leaving to resume the First-Class Fund project. He then met Wizard Chad Schultz, who explained Golden Crown Mountain’s history and asked Locke to demonstrate his Great Magic, but became outraged when Locke had never heard of White Phoenix Tea.

• Locke confronted Wizard Smith about the Apocalypse Witchstone and learned that Smith’s body had been badly transformed by Abyssal Energy, while Smith refused to let Locke treat him because they would compete in the Silent Grail Competition.
• The Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion revealed that Locke was skilled in both Healing Potion Studies and Abyssal Potioncraft, but Smith sought another Potion Master through the Smith Family instead.
• Locke returned to the Dune Plane and joined Mason Witch and the others in completing the First-Class Fund project, then learned that he and Mason could join a society.
• Witch Catherine introduced Locke to Wizard Chad Schultz, a Moon-Ring Wizard and Luxu Bridge mentor, who agreed to assess Locke’s Great Magic and guide him for the competition.
• Chad explained Golden Crown Mountain’s origins as a fortress protecting heterodox wizards and its later roles in agriculture, food production, and Breeding Science.
• Chad offered Locke White Phoenix Tea and grew outraged when Locke admitted he had never heard of it.

Locke showed Wizard Chad Schultz his Great Magic prototype, Full Moon Growth, and Chad tested its strengths and flaws before beginning daily combat training to prepare him for the Silent Grail competition. Locke discovered that his Moon Magic Mirror could reflect Chad’s Great Magic and coexist with it, giving him a potential competition advantage.

• Wizard Chad Schultz served Locke White Phoenix Tea, which purified potion pollution and healed some of Locke’s soul damage.
• Wizard Chad Schultz criticized Antoine’s past misconduct and then asked Locke to demonstrate his Great Magic prototype.
• Locke cast Full Moon Growth, and Wizard Chad Schultz praised its potential while identifying weak offensive construction and testing it against Water Saint Tea Tree.
• Wizard Chad Schultz defeated Full Moon Growth and began training Locke to fight with Great Magic, demonstrating how Water-Vapor Tea Spear drew power from his magic system.
• After an hour of combat, Locke realized that the Moon Magic Mirror reflected Chad’s magic to achieve coexistence, while Chad wondered whether Locke’s evolving Spell Model could become a trump card.

Witch Georgina learned about Locke and Edgar from Diana as she prepared for the Silent Grail Competition, while the rival academies weighed the stakes of the contest. At Golden Crown Mountain, Williams reached Magic Pressure 800 and asked Locke for an Advancement Potion and a Hive Mind Potion, leaving Locke to support her chosen path toward the Forest Sanctuary.

• Georgina rejected Diana’s attempt to defend her parents and vowed to win the Great Magic Modeling Competition to prove she was a White Wizard.
• Diana told Georgina what she knew about Locke and Edgar, and Georgina used the information to begin planning how to defeat them.
• Two supervising wizards discussed Edgar’s extraordinary growth, the competition’s stakes, and arranging further training for him before the contest.
• Locke received Daniel’s message that the mist energy carrier had produced important results and asked him to bring them back.
• Williams told Locke that her Magic Pressure had reached 800 and requested an Advancement Potion and a Hive Mind Potion.
• Locke agreed to give Williams a Hive Mind Potion as a gift and postponed discussing a Forest Alliance until she became a Formal Wizard.

Locke negotiated with two wizard shop alliances over selling his Wizard's Shoes brand, but refused their offer of ten million Magic Stones and demanded an uncontaminated World Stone instead. Meanwhile, Medea secretly maneuvered to gain Wizard Smith’s trust, and Locke’s standoff with the shop representatives ended with them warning that he was in danger as a First-Ring Wizard.

• Locke arranged for Williams to receive a Hive Mind Potion, then told her he hoped to see her again after she became a First-Ring Wizard.
• Locke demanded an unused World Stone from the agents of Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep in exchange for his Wizard's Shoes brand, and agreed to meet them at Witch's Kitchen.
• At the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion, Locke found Wizard Smith recovered and accompanied by Medea, who recognized Locke from their past encounter but concealed her identity.
• Medea accepted Wizard Smith’s request to investigate a Potion Master and considered recruiting the Twin Demon World’s Black Wizard Alliance to help her plans.
• Locke picked up a Magic Crystal Card that Medea had apparently sent him through divination, then met Jessie and Wizard Luwen to discuss his brand.
• Locke rejected their offer of ten million Magic Stones and insisted on an uncontaminated World Stone, while Jessie and Wizard Luwen refused and warned him that a First-Ring Wizard was in a dangerous position.

Locke’s negotiations with the two wizard shoe shop alliances collapsed after Hassan intervened and challenged their legal threats. Locke remained determined to compete with the alliances, while Hassan left to investigate a clue pointing to Eternal Radiance Hall and looked forward to Locke’s Great Magic Modeling Competition.

• Wizard Luwen and Witch Jessie warned Locke that his Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes threatened their alliances and threatened legal action over his low prices.
• Hassan arrived, invoked his legal expertise, and persuaded Luwen and Jessie to abandon the negotiations and leave.
• Locke admitted that facing two Second-Ring Wizards had pressured him, and Hassan explained how the Representative Population Benchmark Law granted Second-Ring Wizards greater legal immunity.
• Locke told Hassan he intended to keep competing with Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep, and Hassan said he had bought an ordinary ticket to watch Locke’s Silent Grail competition for 150,000 Magic Stones.
• Hassan asked Locke about a place described as golden palaces, and Locke suggested Eternal Radiance Hall as a possible match.
• Hassan left to investigate Eternal Radiance Hall and said he hoped Locke would win the competition and bring recognition to the Southeastern Corner Region.

Locke developed his Moon of Evolution by combining the Dark Side of the Moon with a Magic Plant, gaining greater control over his demiplane and refining his understanding of Great Magic. He set aside further spellwork to focus on research and business, then Daniel arrived with a new energy carrier called Velen Mist.

• Locke transformed the Golden Palace Relic Branch into a Moon Plant on the Dark Side of the Moon, and the enlarged moon stirred the ocean in his demiplane.
• Locke tested how his Moon of Evolution could connect with Peach Arc Thorn Arrow, then reasoned about Great Magic, Kingdom Domains, and possible paths to becoming a Second-Ring Wizard.
• Locke decided to spend the two months before the competition on Group 2 research and his Wizard Shoes business, while avoiding Zalan Bailey and the worsening pollution in the Dune Plane.
• Daniel visited Locke with his student Helen and demonstrated Velen Mist, a new energy carrier that stored light energy but became less fluid after absorbing it.

Madam Candice monitored the approaching Chaos War and urged Edgar to accept her team’s planned Great Magic, while Locke tested Daniel’s Velen Orb and discussed the Smith Family’s meteorite magics. Daniel offered to join Locke’s advisory team for the Great Magic Modeling Competition, and Locke sought information about his other potential advisers.

• Madam Candice questioned Quidan about the Chaos Sea’s position, ordered him to keep monitoring it, and teleported Edgar away after urging him to accept her team’s Great Magic project.
• Daniel gave Locke a Velen Orb, and Locke used Moon Gravity to make its dense Velen Mist flow across the room.
• Locke described the Smith Family’s three inherited Great Magics, and Daniel reflected on the doubts people had cast on his Three Marshes Cup victory.
• Daniel volunteered to advise Locke against the Smith Family, and Locke agreed that Daniel could join if he had time.
• Witch Diana refused to join Locke’s advisory team, while Witch Preston said she would later tell him about the Boniface University witch.

Locke assigned Mason Witch, Freya Witch, and Barrett Wizard to analyze the Ancient Flower Root’s energy-locking structure, funding their work and urging them to finish within a month. He warned them to avoid Zalan Bailey’s group, then headed to the Dragonblood Gathering while considering how the root’s Agave Ketone and the dangers of Imaginary Roots could shape his next Wizard Shoes.

• Locke reviewed the team’s research and learned that the Ancient Flower Root’s structure produced inconsistent observations, so Barrett Wizard proposed analyzing it with the Queen’s Chessboard.
• Locke divided the research tasks, gave the team one hundred Magic Crystal Cards, and asked them to complete the analysis within a month to support his plans for a fifth pair of Wizard Shoes.
• Freya Witch raised concerns about Zalan Bailey’s control of Group 2 resources, and Locke told the team to yield and avoid contact because he suspected Bailey was being used in a larger conflict.
• Locke left for the Dragonblood Gathering while Mason Witch and the others agreed to follow his advice.
• Locke considered whether Agave Ketone’s toxicity and explosiveness could be controlled by the Ancient Flower Root’s structure, and planned to graft a plant with that root onto Snow-Capped Pineapple.
• Locke reflected on the Imaginary Root as a defining feature of Second-Ring Magic Plants and recognized that his work as a breeder would eventually require him to study it.

Locke prepared to launch a fifth Wizard Shoes product while arranging a magical countermeasure for the Demon World War, then completed his Agave Flower Root research and defended his First-Class Fund project. The defense began with Witch Catherine absent, while Zalan Bailey learned that Locke had reached the defense before him and was shaken by Locke’s pace.

• Locke asked Mason Witch to enchant his Wizard Shoes with a spell moon, explaining that he planned to exploit the stolen spell to absorb energy during the Demon World War.
• Locke told Mason Witch to prepare Arthas’s production line for a fifth Wizard Shoes product before the competition, and Mason Witch agreed to support his fight against the Shop Alliances.
• After a month and a half of research, Locke completed his Agave Flower Root analysis, helped Wizard Barrett recover from repeated use of the Queen's Chessboard, and applied to conclude his First-Class Fund project.
• At the Truth Institute defense, Wizard Sith explained that Witch Catherine was occupied with the Sky Garden Project, and Wizard Hao Brooks began Locke’s review.
• Zalan Bailey learned that Locke had applied for his First-Class Fund defense before him and feared that he could not keep up with Locke.

Locke defended his First-Class Project Fund research on a Magic Plant’s Glandular Root Sac, explaining how it stored and released energy and answering the judges’ questions. The judges approved his defense, while Witch Nina’s cryptic warning about obtaining a World Stone left Locke alert to dangers beyond the project.

• Locke presented the Glandular Root Sac as a temporary energy-storage structure that boosted a Snow-Capped Pineapple’s burst Magic Pressure, while acknowledging its costs and risks.
• Locke tailored his defense to the judges’ interests, and Witch Nina praised his work before asking whether the graft affected the plant’s other traits.
• Witch Nina warned Locke that she would find it unfortunate if he lacked a World Stone, prompting him to consider securing one as protection.
• Wizard Hao questioned whether the structure was active and widespread, and Locke supported his answers with energy-labeling results and an explanation of its likely rarity.
• Wizard Hao learned that Locke had adapted the structure for his wizard-shoe business and told him that Golden Peach Garden belonged to Witch Catherine.
• Wizard Hao approved the defense, and the other judges raised no objections, completing Locke’s First-Class Fund project defense.

Locke arranged to purchase a World Stone through group leader Celt after learning he met the special-talent channel’s requirements. As the Demon World War began, a Demon World Beast attacked Rose Paradise, forcing its lord to call on residents to defend it.

• After completing his defense session, Locke delivered the Wizard Shoes plans, Magic Plant seeds, and No. 2 Overlord Element-cell compound to Scarlett Witch.
• Locke called group leader Celt during his Plane Conquest and asked him to help apply for a World Stone; Celt confirmed that Locke’s awards and sixteen First-Tier journal papers qualified him to buy one for five million Magic Stones.
• Celt agreed to submit Locke’s application, and Locke ended the call and prepared to return to studying for the Great Magic Modeling Competition.
• The Ghost Gate Pass opened as the Demon World War began, and Golden Crown Mountain ordered participating wizards to enter while the others restrained Demon World Beasts.
• A Demon World Beast attacked Rose Paradise instead of Magic Nexus City, and Rose Paradise’s lord allowed uncontracted wizards to leave while ordering indebted contract holders to defend the organization.

Rose Paradise struggled against a Demon World beast that devoured its underground spiritual vein, while Locke questioned Golden Crown Mountain’s response to the storms. Locke and his companions traveled to the Silent Grail Competition, where rival teams gathered and Golden Crown Mountain’s late arrival raised suspicion.

• The Twin Demon World beast ate Rose Town’s underground spiritual vein, causing Rose Paradise’s protective arrays to fail, but the Moon-Ring Witch chose to stay and defend the Academy.
• Locke wondered why Golden Crown Mountain only contained Demon World Storms after they had grown, while Chad Schultz, Preston, and Locke waited for Antoine to join them.
• Antoine arrived battered from Combat Purgatory, and Chad Schultz used the Water Saint Tea Tree’s Tea Pearl Water Bullet to transport the group to the Silent Grail Arena.
• Wizards from across the districts filled the arena, where Master Milady praised Georgina, Edgar, and Locke as notable competitors.
• Boniface’s team prepared to ascend the Silent Throne and grew suspicious that Chad Schultz and Golden Crown Mountain were deliberately delaying their arrival.

Golden Crown Mountain arrived at the Silent Grail Competition with a dramatic entrance, and Locke learned that the contest would pit four Great Magic systems against one another inside the doomed Silent Plane. The competition was about to begin, with the Silent Witch’s unresolved mystery of the plane’s destruction serving as a secondary objective.

• Wizard Rush warned his team that Golden Crown Mountain’s delay might be a psychological tactic, while Wizard Edgar praised Rush as a champion.
• Wizard Chad Schultz arrived by using his Water Saint Tea Tree, challenged the other team leaders, and brought Locke, Antoine, and Witch Preston crashing into the arena.
• Spectators mistook Locke and the others’ forced arrival for a deliberately confident entrance, while Witch Camilla recognized that they had simply been rushed there.
• Wizard Chad Schultz showed Locke the judges’ platform, where the Mysterious Heaven seat was empty, and Witch Preston said Mysterious Heaven was displeased with the High Magic Plan for the Starfield Sea.
• A Sun-Ring Wizard explained the Silent Plane’s history and announced that the four competitors would face the plane, its doomsday omens, and one another through their Great Magic systems under strict rules.

Locke and the other contestants entered the Silent Plane for the Silent Grail Competition, where Locke completed his true Second-Ring Great Magic, the Moon of Evolution. The chapter ended as a girl in the Silent Plane invoked Locke’s power during a sacrifice, while her memories and the Silent Grail changed without her noticing.

• Locke climbed the Silent Throne’s steps, received a World Stone, and fused it with the Moon of Evolution to break through to the Second Ring.
• Witch Georgina revealed her Great Magic, Destiny Loom, while Wizard Smith presented Extraterrestrial Meteor and Wizard Edgar revealed Time-Shadow Fern.
• Locke accepted the Silent Plane’s gathered Plane Power, and all four contestants were transported into the plane.
• A girl conducting a sacrificial ritual aboard a train challenged a Gunslinger who had come to kill her.
• The Silent Grail at the girl’s altar changed into a model of a full Moonrock, and she invoked the Moon of Evolution without realizing that her memories had been altered.

Locke descended into the world as a Saint Incarnation and discovered that the Emperor’s Mind Network was suppressing the competitors’ Great Magics. He hid the Moon of Evolution and sought allies, while the gunslinger agreed to follow him to learn the truth.

• Locke appeared before the gunslinger as a Saint Incarnation, and the priestess and her believers recognized him as the Moon of Evolution.
• Locke assessed the world’s approaching apocalypse and realized the Emperor’s Light of Mind was forcing the four competitors’ Great Magics toward the upper atmosphere.
• The gunslinger admitted he doubted the Emperor, and Locke offered to reveal the truth if he protected the priestess.
• Locke, Edgar, Georgina, and Wizard Smith strengthened their Great Magics, helping the World Will resist the Emperor’s Mind Network.
• The Emperor scanned the world and sent a deceptive mental lightning attack, but Locke recognized the bluff and concealed his Great Magic.
• The gunslinger agreed to follow Locke to see the truth, though he refused to swear allegiance.

Wizard Smith recruited believers to build his Extraterrestrial Meteor Great Magic, while Witch Georgina entered the Silent Plane and began distributing protective magic clothes to the poor. Georgina’s unusual charity strategy baffled the judges, though Boniface University’s magic weavers hinted that it was their deliberate answer for the competition.

• Wizard Smith taught his cult members Star-Prayer Secret Incantations and planned to recruit workers to pray so he could summon comet planes and increase his Great Magic’s Magic Pressure.
• Wizard Smith decided to approach the city’s nobles and industrialists, promising benefits in exchange for their support.
• The judges discussed how Extraterrestrial Meteor could draw power from comet planes and use servant races to undermine rival Great Magics.
• Witch Georgina told the priestess and gunslinger to treat her as a person, then wove and distributed protective magic clothes to the cult members.
• Witch Georgina renamed the cult the Georgina Charity and said she wanted to provide free magic clothes to the poor, leaving the judges confused about her strategy.
• A Boniface University magic weaver called Georgina’s approach the magic weavers’ answer for the competition as Locke and Wizard Edgar began acting in the Silent Plane.

Locke realized Emperor Hall was using the inspectors and their examination system to control the world’s talented people, while the Emperor remained the greatest early threat to the contestants. Instead of heading to the nearly vanished Forest Reserve, Locke chose to take the priestess and gunslinger to the Imperial Capital, leaving the spectators baffled by the contestants’ unconventional strategies.

• Locke warned that killing the inspectors could reveal the group’s location and explained that the Emperor could soon empower them with supernatural abilities.
• Inspector Charles chased the believers after Locke’s Moon Magic Mirror made him see their images running in the opposite direction.
• The gunslinger demonstrated his bullet-guiding power, while the priestess admitted she did not know the world’s original power system.
• Locke learned that only 1.3% of the world’s Forest Reserve remained and decided to pursue his prior plan instead of competing with Edgar for the forests.
• Locke asked for the world’s most densely populated place and chose to go to the Imperial Capital with the priestess and gunslinger.
• Witch Camilla and the other spectators were baffled that Locke headed for the Imperial Capital, Edgar launched a rebellion, and only Smith pursued a conventional alliance-building strategy.

Locke expanded his Emperor-worshipping religious order while Wizard Smith, Witch Georgina, and Wizard Edgar provoked the Emperor through competing rebellions and movements. The Emperor unleashed mass killings and offered Locke the powerful post of Chief Inspector, which suited Locke’s plans.

• Duke Brisenot offered Smith factories and workers in exchange for a cure, and Smith demanded one and a half million workers and promised to turn the duke into a servant race.
• Locke’s followers in the Imperial Capital evaded an inspector’s crackdown by presenting their scriptures as praise of the Emperor, and the inspector joined their cause.
• The Emperor halted the Star-Prayers’ descending comet planes with his Mind Network and destroyed one of their factories, while Smith recruited nobles and business magnates and had an inspector killed.
• Witch Georgina’s charity societies spread across the Empire, and the Emperor responded to unrest by ordering a Regional Annihilation Plan that killed civilians in the rebellious province.
• The Emperor ordered arrests of Smith’s faction and rewards for Locke’s worshippers, then granted Locke the position of Chief Inspector.

Locke studied Great Magic and Second-Ring spells while investigating the emperor’s Mind Network, then witnessed Edgar complete a Great Magic cycle with the Time-Shadow Fern. Edgar’s breakthrough raised the world’s Magic Pressure, and Locke questioned why Edgar had unleashed such oppressive magic.

• Locke examined how Great Magic Runes strengthened Second-Ring spells and concluded that he needed to study their use before risking them in battle.
• Locke agreed to help stabilize the emperor’s Magic Pressure and investigate the Mind Network, while promising the young priestess he would go out with her that night.
• The world’s Magic Pressure rose as Edgar’s Time-Shadow Fern spread underground, grew into a giant fern, and created a Land of Myriad Spirits that completed the world’s balance between life and death.
• Quinn Joel University celebrated the Time-Shadow Fern’s Great Magic, which had descended in ten days and set a new record.
• Locke looked toward Edgar’s enormous Great Magic and asked why its Magic Pressure had become so oppressive.