Chapter Summaries

Locke, Trajan, and Valerie Quinn entered the Void, where Valerie suffered cognitive dissonance and nearly seized control of the Peach Ark before recovering. After reaching the thirteenth layer of Near-Earth Void Orbit, Trajan set out to hunt Black Wizard pirates at the Otherworld Port, and Locke eagerly joined him.

• Locke observed how the Peach Ark drew energy from the Imaginary Sea as it carried the group into the Void.
• Valerie Quinn mistook the Wizarding World's gravity for a pursuing monster, attacked Trajan with the Peach-Killing Curse, and tried to change the ship's course.
• Trajan restrained Valerie, demonstrated the danger of a Void Formless-Energy Vortex, and helped her recover through No-Thought meditation.
• Trajan warned Locke about cognitive dissonance in the Void and cautioned him never to look directly at a Void Behemoth.
• Five days later, the Peach Ark reached Level-13 Near-Earth Orbit, where Trajan explained their mission to hunt Black Wizard pirates near the Otherworld Port.
• Trajan used his Magic Eye to track the pirates, and Locke eagerly agreed to join the hunt.

Wizard Trajan and Locke found a Pirate Mothership attack on Trix Transport Station, where Enchantment School magic had left the station vulnerable. Trajan began slaughtering the Black Wizards while Locke collected their bodies to refine medicine.

• Wizard Trajan used his brass magic eye and Astral Light Guidance to locate the Black Wizards, then steered the Peach Ark toward them.
• The Pirate Mothership's three dragonbone ships deceived Headmaster Trix into lowering the transport station's barrier and enchanted the station, disabling its defenses and targeting its supplies and apprentices.
• The pirates' spells made Wizards laugh uncontrollably and began turning one of them into a Human Artifact, but Trajan's arrival stopped the enchantment and freed the controlled Wizard.
• Wizard Trajan attacked the pirate ships, killed their leaders, and unleashed the Three Thousand Peach Slaughter Spell against the Black Wizards.
• Locke took the Bronze Cauldron into the battle and began collecting Black Wizard bodies to refine medicine, while Valerie Quinn watched in alarm.

Locke turned Black Wizard pirates into Zero Potions while Trajan fought their crew, but a fast Second-Ring pirate caught up with him. Locke exposed that the pirate’s Archangel War Greaves were failed Solas Barefoot shoes sold at a steep markup, and the furious pirate threatened to kill him.

• Locke used the Bronze Cauldron and Primordial Fire to refine Black Wizard pirates into Zero Potions while Trajan attacked their ships.
• Trajan killed a Second-Ring Black Wizard, and Locke refined the body into a Zero Potion as the remaining pirates reconsidered the fight.
• The Moon-Ring captain offered to withdraw with half the supplies, but Trajan attacked him instead.
• A Second-Ring pirate wearing Archangel War Greaves caught up with Locke and admitted he would kill his own comrades for potion profits.
• Locke recognized the pirate’s shoes as a failed Solas Barefoot design and revealed that the company had sold them at an eighty-percent markup.
• The pirate became enraged and threatened to kill Locke.

Locke defeated the Black Wizard Henry after using the Demon Dragon Rose and his wizard shoes to outpace and overwhelm him. He forced Henry to reveal that Zone C held Silver-Ring Green Sprout seeds the Rose Council had hired the pirates to destroy.

• Henry attacked Locke with enchanted weapons and spells, while Locke used his shields and magic to survive the assault.
• Locke broke Henry’s Spell Runaway effect and realized that Henry’s body was assembled from powerful magic artifacts.
• Locke evolved the Demon Dragon Rose and Great Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard Shoes with Moon Essence, then used their speed and dragon breath to overpower Henry.
• Locke struck Henry with Summer Grass Mars and questioned him about why he kept targeting Zone C.
• Henry revealed that Zone C contained Silver-Ring Green Sprout seeds that the Rose Council had ordered the pirates to destroy.

Locke defeated the pirates sent to destroy Golden Crown Mountain’s Silver-Ring Green Sprout and discovered that the Pirate Mothership’s Human-Artifact Enchantment System turned pirates into shared-use magic artifacts. After the mission, he considered how to profit from the rivalry between the Rose Throne and the Red Dragon Throne, while the surviving pirates discussed their failed raid and Locke’s offer to Old Henry.

• Locke learned that Old Henry’s crew had targeted the Silver-Ring Green Sprout to protect the Rose Council’s grain trade, and realized their raid was part of a feud between the Rose Throne and the Red Dragon Throne.
• Locke discovered a Spell Model in Old Henry’s soul that could let wizards imprint on pirates as shared magic artifacts, then spared Henry in exchange for his void-navigation skills and contact through the Water Gourd System.
• Trajan let the pirate ship escape, warned Locke not to pursue pirates blindly through the void, and gave him the captured wizards’ bodies, including a Star-Ring Wizard’s corpse.
• Trajan cautioned Locke against studying the Human-Artifact Enchantment System, then discussed how Golden Crown Mountain’s technology-transfer model differed from the Rose Throne’s direct grain sales.
• Locke considered using franchisees to expand his Wizard’s Shoe business and saw the academic rivalry as a chance to pursue opportunities in the grain market.
• Captain Farrell questioned Henry and Rick about the failed raid, then allowed Henry to prioritize a void-exploration trip with Locke because the Pirate Mothership was unlikely to approve another robbery project soon.

A month after helping Ivy become the Red Witch and join his Forest Alliance, Locke learned he had been excluded from a Second-Ring Wizard funding chat and heard that Solas Barefoot planned a major event amid its feud with Meraki Magicstep. He set aside new shoe designs to focus on reducing the Imaginary Root's cost, arriving at Boniface University to use its library and laboratory.

• Locke guided Ivy through completing her Forest Sanctuary, and Christine named her the Red Witch; Ivy joined Locke's subordinate forest plan.
• Daniel told Locke that Second-Ring researchers had created a funding-application group chat without inviting him, but Locke said he did not care.
• Witch Scarlett warned Locke that Solas Barefoot planned a costly themed event and urged him to develop more First-Ring Wizard shoes, but he said he was busy with another project.
• Locke learned that Solas Barefoot's campaign was likely aimed mainly at Meraki Magicstep, while the two businesses traded accusations and complaints.
• Locke went to Boniface University to research lowering the cost of the Imaginary Root, and Witch Georgina welcomed him and offered access to the laboratory.

At Boniface University, Locke studied its Breeding Science research while Georgina explained her wish to remain and help build the institution. Later, at Golden Crown Mountain, he obtained Stefania’s Ritual Magic Spell Model and used it to develop a new understanding of consciousness, the soul, and the Permanent Defense Field Shell.

• Georgina showed Locke Boniface University’s library and described the university’s ambitions, while admitting she hoped to stay and make amends for her past.
• Locke searched Boniface University’s free Second-Ring materials and found research on Rhizosphere Studies and Imaginary Roots that gave him new ideas about Breeding Science.
• At Golden Crown Mountain, Locke took Stefania to watch the sunrise and showed her wizard prisoners suffering under the heavenly fire array.
• After seeing the prisoners’ treatment, Stefania gave Locke the Specter Holy Church’s Ritual Magic Spell Model and asked to be sentenced to death rather than imprisoned there.
• Locke studied the Spell Model, learned it superimposed two people’s consciousness waves through the Styx River, and connected its theory to the Permanent Defense Field Shell and consciousness as a dimension.

Locke studied the Ghost Lich's Spell Model and let Witch Stefania leave, while Witch Catherine explained her struggle with the Rose Throne to Wizard Trajan and asked him to watch promising Wizards, including Locke. Stefania was killed by the Pale Pilgrimage shortly after escaping Golden Crown Mountain, and Locke resolved to deal with the group later.

• Locke dismissed Witch Stefania after obtaining her Spell Model, and she escaped Golden Crown Mountain without encountering a White Wizard.
• Witch Catherine told Wizard Trajan that she and the Rose Throne were competing for talented Wizards and resources as part of a struggle to become Fourth-Ring Wizards.
• Witch Catherine gave Trajan an open-ended task to observe eight promising Wizards and asked him to keep an eye on Locke.
• The Pale Pilgrimage killed Witch Stefania shortly after she left Golden Crown Mountain.
• Locke found Stefania's skeleton and decided to kill several Second-Ring Wizards from the Pale Pilgrimage later.

Locke completed the Black Swan Pineapple improvement in one week, left Boniface University, and traveled to the Rose Council to research Wizard’s Shoes. His work impressed Heraclitus, who planned to deepen cooperation with him, and the chapter ended with Locke meeting Witch Lana in the Rose Council’s library.

• Locke handed Vincent Parker the improved Black Swan Pineapple and told him it met Heraclitus’s requirements.
• Locke left Boniface University after studying Imaginary Root Studies and learning that the Ends of the Earth would reach the Land of Three Marshes in six months.
• Locke gave Williams his research data and outline for an article, then set off for the Rose Council to study Wizard’s Shoes.
• Georgina tested Locke’s Black Swan Pineapple and confirmed that its fibers were longer and resistant to the Styx River; Heraclitus then decided to deepen cooperation with Locke.
• Locke entered the Rose Council’s library and greeted Witch Lana, who was surprised to see him there.

Locke studied the Rose Council library’s research and developed a plan to adapt its plant-breeding methods into Atavistic Evolution for his Moon of Evolution. As he continued seeking ways to produce the Imaginary Root and improve Wizard’s Shoes, a Solas Barefoot designer gave him data that could help refine shoe design.

• Witch Lana escorted Locke into the Rose Council library, demonstrated how easily her protected Ecological Corridor destroyed his fragile one, and praised his independence when he insisted on his own path.
• Wizard Bill searched the library’s records for Locke’s requested research on Wizard’s Shoe pressure and the Imaginary Root, while Magic Weavers speculated about Locke’s purpose and Holmu dismissed his attempt to mass-produce the Imaginary Root.
• Locke studied the Rose Council’s agricultural research and Witch Sophia’s work on dormant plant factors, then realized he could combine low-concentration potion immersion with his Moon Cultivation Method to develop Atavistic Evolution.
• Wizard Michael, a chief designer for Solas Barefoot, gave Locke diagrams showing pressure patterns and shoe dimensions for forty-seven kinds of First-Ring wizards before hurriedly leaving.
• Locke recognized that Michael’s diagrams could help him improve Wizard’s Shoes and decided to search the library’s records of failed projects for useful ideas.

Locke discovered that the unfinished Dream Flower project could be adapted to link consciousness through the Styx River, then tracked down its creator, Carter Dunn. He offered to fund Carter, who had just regained confidence in continuing his research.

• Locke found the Dream Flower project among the Rose Council's failed research and realized he could strengthen it with the Imaginary Root and use it in the Styx River.
• Locke asked Wizard Bill where to find the project’s creator, Carter Dunn, and learned that he worked in Witch Olivia Bell’s research group.
• Locke watched Witch Olivia dismiss Carter’s proposal to develop a glowing Engodo Rose, leaving Carter discouraged about his place at the Rose Council.
• Locke told Carter that he valued pursuing knowledge over recognition, and Carter regained his resolve to continue researching.
• Locke told Carter, "I'm here to fund you."

Locke offered Carter Dunn one million magic stones to help complete the Dream Flower project, but Olivia Bell insisted Carter remain under her research group’s control. Locke challenged Olivia to solve a grafting problem using a Sea Golden Sand, and after her attempts failed, she continued investigating the mysterious energy affecting it.

• Locke offered Carter Dunn one million magic stones to fund the Dream Flower project and told him to come along so they could begin immediately.
• Locke brought Carter Dunn to Olivia Bell and asked her to let Carter work with him; Olivia refused to release a member of her research group.
• Locke proposed a contest: if Olivia’s laboratory solved his problem, he would fund her group, but if they failed, she would give Carter leave to work with him.
• Locke challenged Olivia to graft a Magic Plant onto a Sea Golden Sand within three hours, and her first attempts with an Apprentice-Level White Beauty Rose and a White Angel Rose failed.
• Olivia adjusted her Potent Grafting Healing Spell Model and briefly made the graft hold, but it broke apart after a minute, leaving her determined to discover why.

Locke’s Sea Golden Sand stumped Witch Olivia and a growing group of Rose Council breeders, who discovered that music seemed to prolong grafting but could not explain the plant’s unusual resistance. After Locke won their bet and left with Carter Dunn, Witch Lana warned him about the political risks of his challenge and revealed how he could raise his Magic Pressure with Tourmaline King Peaches.

• Witch Olivia summoned Second-Ring Wizards and Star-Ring Witches to investigate Locke’s Sea Golden Sand, but their grafting attempts repeatedly failed.
• Witch Valerie Sawyer found that flute music could extend the grafting time, while the Sunlight Magic Mirror revealed almost nothing unusual inside the plant.
• Witch Lana arrived and warned Locke that Hades and the Rose Council’s higher-ups might escalate the dispute, so Locke claimed victory and Witch Olivia agreed to let him recruit Carter Dunn.
• Locke told Witch Olivia that he had found the Sea Golden Sand in the Styx River, then told Witch Lana that it came from the Forbidden Forest; she explained the forest’s danger to higher-Ring Wizards.
• Witch Lana described how Tourmaline King Peaches could increase Magic Pressure, and Locke resolved to pursue Second-Ring projects to obtain them and approach the 20,000-point threshold.

Locke developed Carter’s Dream Flower into a Super Jaeger Dream Flower with an independent dream space, then carried it into the Underworld to test it in the Styx River. Its eruption sent the river into chaos and frightened the Underworld Yakshas, who could not see Locke.

• Locke reviewed Carter’s research, assigned him to refine the Enchanting Spell Model and Botanical Spell Model, and gave him seven hundred thousand Magic Stones.
• Locke bred and evolved Jaeger Dream Flowers, then synthesized three Second-Ring plants into a Super Jaeger Dream Flower whose stamen held an independent dream space.
• Carter told Locke that he needed three more days to finish the Enchanting Spell Model, and Locke decided to test the Dream Flower before it was ready.
• Locke opened an Underworld Gate using his accumulated death qi and traveled to the Styx River.
• Locke threw the Super Jaeger Dream Flower into the Styx River, causing violent waves that tossed the Underworld Yakshas’ warships and left them shouting about who kept throwing things into the river.

Locke used the Super Jaeger Dream Flower and the Botany Root Realm of Cloud Marsh Wetland to connect to the Underworld Iron Tree, then obtained Carter's Enchanting spell, Pleasure in Forgetting Home, and used its Dream Space to repeat Approach Grafting. He discovered that the Underworld Iron Tree could strengthen Wizard's Shoes and keep them at Second-Ring status even without Imaginary Roots, leaving Carter baffled by Locke's thanks.

• Locke used the Super Jaeger Dream Flower, the Land of Myriad Spirits, and the Botany Root Realm of Cloud Marsh Wetland to connect his Wizard's Shoes to the sinking Underworld Iron Tree.
• Locke returned to the Present World and accepted an Enchanting scroll containing Carter's spell, Pleasure in Forgetting Home.
• Locke returned to the Styx River and cast the spell on the Super Jaeger Dream Flower, creating a silver Dream Space where he repeatedly grafted the Time-Shadow Fern to Great Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard's Shoes.
• Locke found that the Underworld Iron Tree's power added one thousand Magic Pressure to the Wizard's Shoes and allowed shoes without Imaginary Roots to retain Second-Ring status.
• Locke told Carter that he had made the discovery possible, leaving Carter confused.

Locke announced the Great Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard Shoes for preorder at one million magic stones after solving the imaginary-root production cost problem. Witch Scarlett backed his plan and applied for platinum trader status, while Arthas executives and rival shoe makers began reacting to Augustus's entry into the second-ring market.

• Locke listed the Great Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard Shoes for preorder at one million magic stones and told Witch Scarlett that shared imaginary roots had reduced production costs to about five hundred thousand per pair.
• Witch Scarlett judged the breakthrough could make second-ring pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes a serious low-cost competitor, then applied for Arthas platinum trader status and arranged production support.
• Heath Harrington and Ella Grant reviewed Scarlett's request to use Arthas's High Elf World plantations and agreed to prioritize observing the promising Augustus Wizard Shoe Store Alliance.
• After Locke left, Holmu and Solas Barefoot's wizards discussed attacking Meraki Magicstep, but Selma Weaver alerted Holmu that Augustus had listed second-ring shoes for one million magic stones.
• Holmu confirmed the preorder price and warned his colleagues that Locke's new shoes had entered the second-ring market far below the cost of ordinary second-ring magic plants.

Locke tested the limits of his Shared Imaginary-Root System and weighed the costs and risks of launching Second-Ring wizard shoes. Trajan advised him that the shoes were a commercial venture rather than a fundable research innovation, while Mentor Sophia’s nearly finished Golden-Ear Wheat Project was better suited to a competition than a funding application.

• Locke tried grafting a Sea Golden Sand Tree Fern to the Underworld Iron Tree in a dream, but the plant’s roots became unstable and the Hell Warhorse pulling his carriage refused to move until Locke told it to continue.
• Locke calculated that his remaining fifteen million Magic Stones would fund thirty pairs of Second-Ring wizard shoes, and decided to presell them rather than take out a loan.
• Locke contacted Trajan for advice about his wizard shoes, funding plans, the Golden-Ear Wheat Project, and his other goals.
• Trajan explained that Locke’s wizard shoes were commercially promising but did not qualify as a Second-Ring Fund innovation, while Sophia’s Golden-Ear Wheat Project was strong enough for Special-Grade Funding.
• Trajan advised Locke not to use Sophia’s nearly completed project for funding and instead to finish its remaining work and enter it in a high-quality competition.

Wizard Trajan advised Locke on competitions, secured him funding for the Little Rest Cup, and entrusted his name to Locke through a secrecy ritual. As Locke’s wizard shoes sold out and he weighed taxes against exploration missions, he set out for a competition and encountered an apparent trap.

• Wizard Trajan recommended the Little Rest Cup and Golden Cup, and Locke said he wanted to enter every suitable competition; the Little Rest Cup committee offered five million Magic Stones for his project.
• Locke chose the Golden Cup Flying Magic-Plant Breeding Competition for his planned Demon Dragon Rose and Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow project, then agreed to safeguard Wizard Trajan’s name in the Black Hole Witch Peach.
• Locke found that all thirty pairs of his Great Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard Shoes had sold, saw a tax exemption offer tied to dangerous missions, and decided not to accept one just to avoid taxes.
• Wizard Edgar persuaded Quinn Joel University researchers to buy thirty pairs of Locke’s wizard shoes for an expedition to the Gardner Great World, where a hostile attack had prompted a call for reinforcements.
• Locke’s carriage was stopped by sick First-Class Wizard Apprentices in the wilderness, and he recognized the encounter as a trap and ordered the driver to keep moving.

Locke avoided a necromancer trap while traveling back to Golden Crown Mountain, secured research funding, and planned a flying Magic Plant project that could advance his bloodline research. After arriving, he discussed selling more Wizard's Shoes and applied to borrow thirty million Magic Stones, but the Wizard Bank questioned his lack of retained assets.

• Five First-Class Wizard Apprentices chased Locke's carriage for help, but skeleton undead emerged from their shadows, killed them, and became liches.
• Locke refused to stop for apparent plague victims, and two high-level liches revealed that they had tried to lure him into a trap but decided he was not their target.
• Wizard Saille offered Locke five million Magic Stones to fund his Dogtail Grass research, and Locke accepted the contract.
• Locke studied the Golden Cup Flying Magic Plant competition and planned to combine the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow with the Demon Dragon Rose to explore bloodline evolution.
• After three days, Locke reached Golden Crown Mountain, arranged to meet the Wizard Bank about a loan, and discussed supplying Wizard's Shoes to Jipu of the Seven-Color Nursery.
• At the bank meeting, Locke requested thirty million Magic Stones, but the fairy wizard questioned his Shop Alliance's lack of savings and asked for collateral or a personal application.

Locke secured a 30-million-Magic-Stone credit loan from the Fairy Family Bank after rejecting a predatory wager agreement. He then visited the Secondhand Market, where he exchanged a high-quality Crimson Vampiric Stone Spirit Macro Rubbing for a usable rubbing of the Two Chirping Cicada.

• Locke consulted team leader Celt, who warned him that the Fairy Family Bank was ambitious but constrained by the White Wizard Association and Golden Crown Mountain.
• Locke refused Manager Roler's wager agreement, and Roler offered him a collateral-free loan at 10% interest instead.
• After Celt confirmed the contract was the best available, Locke signed it and received 30 million Magic Stones in his account.
• Locke left the private room and encountered Wizard Alex, then went to browse the Secondhand Market.
• Locke found a damaged Spirit Macro Rubbing of the Two Chirping Cicada and exchanged his Crimson Vampiric Stone rubbing for the merchant's fresher copy.