Chapter Summaries

Locke studied a Two-Cicada Spirit Macro, met Brandy at the secondhand market, and learned about rivalries surrounding the Special-Grade Funding Grant. He then returned to his laboratory and began experimenting with Yellow-Robed Mushroom Factor to make a Magic Plant's Atavistic Evolution controllable.

• Locke examined the Two-Cicada Spirit Macro Rubbing, exchanged another rubbing for materials to refine a Doppelgänger Potion, and met Brandy, who invited him to two groups and warned him about Wizard Droma and the Special-Grade Funding competition.
• Locke joined Brandy's Secondhand Scrap-Recycling Group, then met Alex, who said the Fairy Family Bank had lent him thirty-five million Magic Stones for his Shark-Subduing Flute business.
• Locke returned to Group 2's underground laboratory, where one hundred acres of Magic Field were planted with Yellow-Robed Mushrooms, and extracted their Factor.
• Locke diluted the Yellow-Robed Mushroom Factor with White Jade Aloe juice and treated a Green Dogtail Grass with it, causing the plant to mutate and lose its resistance to lodging.
• Locke used Plant Essence sequencing results and a magical magnetic field to remove three possible mutation-causing Plant Factors, then planned to continue the experiment and control the plant's Atavistic Evolution.

Locke discovered that Green Dogtail Grass contained a hidden factor linked to Golden Tassel Wheat and used Historical Reenactment to witness the ancient conflict surrounding its degeneration. After escaping the spell’s loss of control, he concluded that his research needed a new approach and learned that Droma wanted him to design a pair of Second-Ring Wizard’s Shoes.

• Locke’s Green Dogtail Grass absorbed the laboratory’s light, turned golden, then lost control and attacked him before withering.
• Locke examined the plant’s cells, recognized a Negative Energy Particle Field, and used Historical Reenactment to enter the ancient Realm of Dusk and Dawn.
• Locke witnessed Golden Dragons discussing Golden Tassel Wheat’s degeneration as a Pale Giant and an undead army approached the wheat fields.
• Locke asked Ackerman about the Pale Giants and learned they served the Pale Grand Lord, while the Pale Pilgrimage last sent them into the Wizarding World three thousand years earlier.
• A Sun-Ring-level Mutated Dragon attacked Locke inside the reenactment, but Locke escaped Saphirot’s Grasp and returned injured to the present.
• Locke decided to rethink his Golden Tassel Wheat research, sent Mason Witch, Barrett, and Freya to continue their Pineapple Magic Plant project, and learned that Droma wanted custom Second-Ring Wizard’s Shoes.

Locke investigated the cause of Green Dogtail Grass’s failed Atavistic Evolution, arranged production of Great Bloodwave Wizard’s Shoes with Witch Scarlett, and purchased a Void Magic Cube for future exploration. He left the shop with an agreement to pay within thirty days, his Eye of Truth code recorded.

• Locke concluded that a Sun-Ring-level Mutated Dragon was disrupting Green Dogtail Grass’s Atavistic Evolution and asked team leader Celt for leads on Dogtail Grass Breeders in the Realm of Dusk and Dawn.
• Locke gave Witch Scarlett one hundred Great Bloodwave Pineapple seeds, grafting instructions, and Jaeger Dream Flower fragrance so her Breeders could cultivate them through the Shared Imaginary Root System.
• Locke told Witch Scarlett that his next Second-Ring Wizard’s Shoes might draw inspiration from Golden Magic, while she prepared to promote the shoes and oversee their production in the High Elf Grand World.
• Locke visited the Otherworldly Peach Garden to buy a basic Void Magic Cube and showed the shopkeeper his 1,000 Civilization Credit Points.
• The Second-Ring Wizard shopkeeper let Locke take the Void Magic Cube on credit after recording his Eye of Truth code and warned him to repay within thirty days.

Locke launched a Void Magic Cube into a trade route and met Jon Quis, a senior researcher who admired his wizard shoes. He then investigated Wizard Russell’s research on golden dogtail grass and learned that Russell favored wizards with Golden Dynasty blood, but Locke found a possible connection through Russell’s student Alaric.

• Locke launched a Void Magic Cube toward a Void Plane, and Jon Quis explained how trade routes enabled true void exploration.
• Jon Quis praised Locke’s mass-produced Second-Ring Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes and described his own research on magic plants growing along trade routes.
• Locke considered his competitors for the Special-Grade Funding program and recalled that Breeder Zeno had studied Witch Catherine’s Light-Element Reverse-Infusion Mutagenic Breeding Method.
• Locke researched Wizard Russell’s work on golden dogtail grass with Ackerman and learned that Russell was a powerful Golden Dynasty wizard known for favoring those with golden bloodlines.
• Locke recognized Alaric among Russell’s students and suggested contacting Russell through him, and Ackerman encouraged him to try.

Locke studied Golden Dogtail Grass and contacted Russell and Alaric for answers about its evolution before meeting Droma, who warned him about Brandy and asked him to make shoes for a dangerous Abyssal expedition. Locke refused and focused on his research; a week later, he used the Void Magic Cube to discover the Three-Cave Plane, where giants controlled human populations by posing as gods and periodically destroying the world.

• Locke read Russell's book on Golden Dogtail Grass, became puzzled by its haploid evolution, and wrote to Russell and Alaric seeking an explanation.
• Locke met Droma in the library, heard his warning about Brandy, and declined to join a group of Special-Grade Funding Grant applicants.
• Droma asked Locke to make Wizard's Shoes for a dangerous sulfuric-acid vortex in the Abyss, but Locke refused and returned to his research.
• A week later, Locke examined a plane revealed by the Void Magic Cube and identified it as the Three-Cave Plane, a valuable world containing a magical lotus leaf.
• Locke discovered that the plane's giant inhabitants ruled over mortals, controlled their population, and initiated world destruction whenever human numbers grew too large.

Locke investigated the strange Three-Cave World, whose thirteen giant gods had seized parts of its Plane Power, and survived the Light God’s attack. After his Peachheart Curse sent his Half-Body into the world, Witch Catherine assigned him missions to investigate Douglas and earn his Second-Ring Breeder Certificate.

• Locke discovered that thirteen giants had divided up the Three-Cave World’s Plane Power and suspected they had damaged the world by taking it.
• The Light God’s arrow attacked Locke through the Void Magic Cube, but Locke’s defenses stopped it and he shattered the Plane Principle behind the attack.
• Wizard Jon Quis offered to explore the plane with Locke, but Locke declined because he already had an expedition team.
• Locke noticed that the Peachheart Curse had taken effect and that his Half-Body had been born in the Three-Cave World.
• Witch Catherine told Locke to hasten the Wedding Ring test, investigate the ancient soul within Douglas, and obtain his Second-Ring Breeder Certificate quickly.

Locke studied Witch Catherine’s Spiritual Breath Cultivation Method and struggled to understand and memorize her unconventional teachings before its limited reading time expired. He planned to prepare through research and practice, then turned to his coming expedition as Alaric considered how to deliver Locke’s request to the Golden Sheaf Throne.

• Locke read Witch Catherine’s Spiritual Breath Cultivation Method and learned that she viewed spirituality as the sole core of Second-Ring breeding and described Spiritual Breath as increasing a plant’s capacity rather than its level of life.
• Locke discovered that he had only 270 hours left to read the book, used No-Thought to record what he could recall, and planned to study related literature and practice before reading it again.
• Locke found that the Light-Element Backflow Mutation Cultivation Method could be opened only twice for twenty-four hours each time, then prepared to contact Hassan and the others about their plane expedition.
• Alaric read Locke’s letter asking him to approach the Golden Sheaf Throne and recognized that he had little access to his nominal teacher.
• After a Cat-girl witch urged Alaric to ignore Locke, Alaric rebuked her and considered speaking to his teacher at the next group meeting, perhaps by sending a witch to his senior apprentice brother.

Russell Throne recognized the brilliance in Locke Augustine’s research and sent him a Dogtail Grass specimen as a reply, while Locke learned that Solas Barefoot had ordered a raid on his shipment. After discovering Hassan was being hunted by the Pale Pilgrimage, Locke set out to help him—and saw the pursuers as valuable targets for his research.

• Russell Throne praised Locke’s letter, identified two gifted researchers behind its ideas, and told Alaric to find the second wizard.
• Russell Throne returned Locke’s letter with a Golden Dogtail Grass specimen and ordered Alaric to give up his witches.
• Old Pirate Henry warned Locke that Solas Barefoot had issued a pirate raiding order targeting a shipment from Arthas’s High Elf World.
• Locke decided to have his clone protect the shipment and arranged for Henry to enter the Cloud Marsh Wetland near Golden Crown Mountain.
• Hassan told Locke that three Second-Ring Wizards from the Pale Pilgrimage were pursuing him, and Locke asked for his coordinates so he could hunt them.

Locke used the Comet Gate to reach the Crimson Stone Empire, where Hassan was fighting three Second-Ring Wizards of the Pale Pilgrimage. Locke arrived with overwhelming Magic Pressure and attacked the three Black Wizards, aiming to force them into a world war.

• Locke rode Rainbow Peacock, empowered it with Golden Cloud Peach and the Pinellia, then passed through the Comet Gate to travel toward Hassan.
• Four Vampire Demon-Gods terrorized the Crimson Stone Empire as Hassan fought three Pale Pilgrimage Wizards, who were baffled by his powerful Life-Stealing Celestial Instrument ritual.
• The three Wizards activated their Life-Stealing Celestial Instruments and drew life energy from their worlds, while Hassan looked for a way to defeat them without suffering severe injuries.
• Locke arrived beneath the Moon of Evolution and declared that Black Wizards were forbidden from entering the Golden Crown Mountain District, giving the three Wizards three minutes to leave.
• After Locke's spiritual concealment ended, he attacked with the Great Glazed Winter Green Plum, freezing the sea of blood and suppressing the three Wizards as he tried to force a world war.

Locke overwhelmed three Second-Ring Vampire Black Wizards with Winter and Summer Magic, then forced them into World War after Hassan helped weaken them. The battle shifted to the Heidenberg Plane, where Locke began empowering mortals to resist the vampires.

• Locke froze the Black Wizards' blood curse with the Great Glazed Winter Green Plum, then used Pinellia to turn their attacks back on them.
• The three Black Wizards tried to flee, but Locke revealed that Sea Golden Sand spores had parasitized them and triggered seasonal transformations.
• Hassan cursed the Black Wizards to weaken them, helping Locke initiate World War against their shared Heidenberg Plane.
• Locke discovered that the vampires secretly ruled the plane and conducted Life-Stealing rituals through the Church of Light on Light Mountain.
• Locke began forming an ecological community with his Moon of Evolution and created Leaves of Power to grant Forest Ranger abilities to the plane's resistance groups.

Locke tested a new Leaf of Power system by inscribing simple Botany spells onto leaves and granting them to his Treant incarnation. After the Holly Treant saved Jack and Susan from a Vampire, Locke revealed the threat facing their world and offered them nature’s power to fight back.

• Locke created Leaves of Power that let his Holly Treant cast simple spells, but a leaf broke when he tried to inscribe the more advanced Vine Hand spell.
• Jack dragged Susan through the forest as they fled a Vampire that had slaughtered people at a resistance gathering.
• Locke’s Holly Treant trapped and killed the Vampire with vines, saving Jack and Susan.
• Locke told Jack and Susan that Vampires had killed their families and replaced their king, lords, and church bishops.
• Locke offered to make Jack and Susan Forest Rangers if they would fight for the forest, and Jack accepted.

Locke created a growing Forest Ranger power system, and Jack and Susan used its Leaves of Power to defeat Vampire forces while three Black Wizards turned against one another. As Locke prepared an assault on the Light Mountain Church, he discovered that Golden Lantern Vine could explain Green Dogtail Grass’s partial reversion to Golden Dogtail Grass, bringing his Atavistic Evolution research close to completion.

• Locke gave Jack and Susan Leaves of Power, making them Forest Rangers whose strength grew through battle and their compatibility with the leaves.
• Locke created the Nemesis Path Leaf, which doubled Forest Rangers’ spell damage against Vampires, and more than a hundred people gained Leaves of Power.
• More than a hundred Forest Rangers repelled over three hundred Vampire servants, and Jack and Susan later killed a Vampire ancient elder.
• The three Second-Ring Wizards realized they could devour one another’s Great Magics, then grew too suspicious to unite against Locke.
• Locke prepared a thousand Forest Rangers to attack the Light Mountain Church and destroy its vampire-making ritual base.
• Locke examined a Golden Dogtail Grass specimen from Alaric and identified the parasitic Golden Lantern Vine, which he believed could complete his Atavistic Evolution research.

Locke discovered that Antoine would compete for next year’s Special-Grade Funding, then returned to his experiments and intervened as the Forest Rangers faced the three Black Wizards on the Heidenberg Plane. Jack’s bond with a Leaf of Power helped defeat a Black Wizard and evolved Locke’s power system beyond its previous limits.

• Locke met Antoine at the Dragonblood Market and learned that Antoine planned to compete for next year’s Special-Grade Funding with a project prepared during his previous life.
• Locke resolved to pursue Special-Grade Funding and decided it was time to finish off the three Black Wizards on the Heidenberg Plane.
• The three Black Wizards sent down Saint Incarnations as the Forest Rangers prepared to attack their last stronghold on Light Mountain.
• Jack trusted the Leaves of Power, and his convictions awakened the Leaf of Power in his hand, letting him wound the Blood Ancestor’s True Form.
• Locke descended and destroyed one Black Wizard’s Saint Incarnation after the Forest Rangers’ linked auras overwhelmed its Magic Pressure.
• Jack fell unconscious, and Locke realized that the Leaf of Power’s Nemesis Path had evolved from 0.1 Ring to 0.3 Ring through Jack’s resonance with the Beast Panel.

Locke defeated the three Black Wizards, saved Jack, and negotiated with the Heidenberg Plane to keep his forest system there in exchange for Clear-Sky Witchstones. After leaving Susan and Jack behind to rebuild their world, he considered developing a second Great Magic from his Life Ancient Tree.

• Locke restored Jack’s body and soul, then destroyed the remaining Black Wizards and their Life-Stealing Celestial Instruments.
• Locke collected the Black Wizards’ spirituality into three Zero Potions as the Blood River tributaries receded and the Blood River Plane’s will tried to recruit him again.
• Locke discovered that the Heidenberg Plane could supply Clear-Sky Witchstones and agreed to leave his Subordinate Forest and Forest Rangers there to aid the plane’s recovery.
• Locke absorbed Clear-Sky Witchstones, gained five hundred points of Magic Pressure, and planned to develop his Life Ancient Tree into a second Great Magic.
• Locke named Susan and Jack his fourth and fifth students, told them to rebuild the Heidenberg Plane, and departed through a moonlight door.

Locke and Hassan escaped to Golden Crown Mountain after Locke killed three Second-Ring Black Wizards, while a mysterious girl returned and vowed to destroy Teacher Catherine’s Academic Lineage. After earning a large profit from Wizard’s Shoes, Locke rejected settling for easy success and began planning a challenge to the leading shoe alliances with affordable, exploration-focused designs.

• Hassan explained that his Primordial Blood Curse had stripped wisdom from the Vampire clans and prevented the Black Wizards from turning Locke’s subordinates into Vampires.
• Old Pirate Henry arrived in his Light-Transmission Voidship, learned that Locke had killed the three Black Wizards, and recognized Hassan as a blood bag of the Progenitor Wizard’s Bloodhand Clan.
• Locke, Hassan, and Old Pirate Henry left for Golden Crown Mountain, while five Wizards of the Eternal Radiance Hall arrived and credited Locke with killing the Black Wizards.
• A little girl returned to the Imperial Capital, blamed Teacher Catherine for betraying her and blocking her advancement, and vowed to destroy Catherine’s Academic Lineage.
• Witch Scarlett gave Locke eighty million Magic Stones from their Wizard’s Shoes venture and proposed raising prices, but Locke insisted on expanding the alliance and making Wizard’s Shoes affordable to more wizards.
• Locke and Scarlett agreed that their next Wizard’s Shoe would use Golden Magic for extreme exploration, with versions for First-Ring and Second-Ring Wizards and apprentices.

Locke completed an experiment that artificially induced Golden Dogtail Grass to recover much of its ancestral Golden Tassel Wheat traits. He submitted the result to the Little Rest Cup Committee and planned to turn to his Golden Cup entry and a Void expedition.

• Locke rented private rooms for Hassan and Old Henry at Dragonblood Market, then discussed recruiting a diviner, a healing Potion Master, and an Alchemist for their expedition to the Three-Cave World.
• Hassan recommended recruiting a diviner from Quinn Joel or Little Rest Mountain, while Old Henry said he could navigate by Astral Plane light in ordinary circumstances.
• In his laboratory, Locke found that Golden Lantern Vine parasitism could help Golden Dogtail Grass recover ancestral traits, then refined the process with Yellow-Robed Mushroom Factor and severed the vine from its host.
• Locke completed the atavistic evolution experiment, producing Golden Dogtail Grass with key Golden Tassel Wheat traits and estimating that the process could restore seventy to eighty percent of the original plant.
• Locke contacted the Little Rest Cup Committee to submit his work early and planned to pursue his Golden Cup project, another Wizard's Shoe, and opportunities in other Rose Throne markets.

Locke showed the Little Rest Cup officials his atavistically evolved Golden Tassel Wheat and asked to be awarded the championship early. When they refused, he began evolving a second Magic Plant to demonstrate his abilities, and the Sea Golden Sand started to resemble a Mountain-Dragon Naked Fern.

• Locke showed Wizard Nikrus the evolved Golden Dogtail Grass, and Nikrus identified its Brilliant Photon Plant Factor as a defining trait of Golden Tassel Wheat.
• Locke asked Nikrus and Director Maupassant to award him the Fifth Little Rest Cup championship early, but Maupassant offered him extra Magic Stones if he waited six months.
• Locke said he would prove the strength of his work by evolving another Magic Plant in front of the two Breeders.
• Locke used his Fire Tree Silver Blossom Spell, Golden Lantern Vine, and a dose of Zero Potion on an ordinary Sea Golden Sand.
• The Sea Golden Sand grew rapidly into a fern-like shape, and Locke recognized it as a Mountain-Dragon Naked Fern.

Locke’s Atavistic Evolution transformed Sea Golden Sand into a modern plant resembling the ancient Mountain-Dragon Naked Fern, whose Special Imaginary Roots drew Wild Surge Spiritual Breath from the Imaginary Sea. After accepting the Little Rest Cup championship and choosing Life Spiritual Breath as his prize, Locke learned that Douglas had been seeking the Brandy Wizard and went to find him before the wizard could interfere with the ancient soul inside him.

• Locke used five doses of Zero Potion and grafted a Golden Peach Tree Imaginary Root onto Sea Golden Sand, transforming it into a Mountain-Dragon Naked Fern with a Special Imaginary Root that drew Wild Surge Spiritual Breath.
• Maupassant identified the plant as resembling the extinct Mountain-Dragon Naked Fern, and Locke deduced that Wild Surge was a special Spiritual Breath drawn from the Imaginary Sea.
• Maupassant named Locke the fifth Little Rest Cup champion ahead of time, and Locke chose Life Spiritual Breath as his reward.
• Locke moved the declining fern into his demiplane, where it stopped suffering, and agreed to attend the Dragon-Blood Secret Society Club’s gathering.
• Mason told Locke that Douglas had been seeking the Brandy Wizard, so Locke decided to go to Group Three himself and bring Douglas back.

Locke visited Group Three’s laboratory, where he encountered Edgar and learned about the Golden Cup and the competition to reach the Ends of the Earth. He found Douglas trapped in Brandy’s dangerous experiments and confronted Brandy to take him away, leaving Douglas’s answer—and the dispute—unresolved.

• Locke examined Group Three’s Tree-Ring Studies research and exchanged news with Edgar about the Golden Cup and the Ends of the Earth.
• Locke found Douglas working in Brandy’s laboratory among hazardous Flesh Wonder Trees and realized Brandy was exploiting him to seize his hidden fortune.
• Douglas recalled Brandy’s threats, while the Witch King Lagmammon urged him not to surrender his secret treasure.
• Locke told Brandy he had come to transfer Douglas away and argued that Brandy had poached a wizard from his group.
• Brandy asked Douglas whether he wanted to return to Group Two or remain in Group Three, while Locke prepared to take him regardless.

Locke took Douglas back from Witch Brandy and learned that Douglas possessed ancient Kingdom Domain knowledge, while concealing that he could hear fragments of the Witch King within Douglas. Locke put Douglas to work helping prepare a Second-Ring article for Myriad Crossroads, and a month later his clone submitted it as Locke’s main body prepared to lead a team to select a Void Battleship.

• Douglas asked to return to Group 2, and Witch Brandy reluctantly let Locke take him away from Group 3.
• Locke gave Douglas Holy Spring Nectar Potion and discovered that he possessed ancient Kingdom Domain knowledge, which Douglas offered to share.
• Locke demonstrated a Kingdom Domain and inferred that Douglas carried an ancient Third-Ring Wizard, while the Witch King urged Douglas to give Locke an original version of the knowledge.
• Locke gave Douglas one day to record the Kingdom Domain knowledge, then assigned him to help write an article about Atavistic Evolution and Golden Tassel Wheat for Myriad Crossroads.
• Locke’s main body recruited a team to select a Void Battleship while his clone completed the article with Douglas and Gregor’s help.
• Locke’s clone submitted the article to Myriad Crossroads through the Dispatch Bureau of the White Wizard Association.