Chapter Summaries

Locke Augustine’s paper on the atavistic evolution of golden tassel wheat reached Myriad Crossroads, where Editor-in-Chief Flavius recognized its importance after Saronilus rejected it without reading it. Meanwhile, Locke chose to rent an Exploration Pioneer Void Battleship, but the required paperwork showed how much the Wizarding World’s regulations depended on Shop Alliances.

• Saronilus rejected Locke Augustine’s submission to Myriad Crossroads after judging his credentials, without reading the paper’s contents.
• Bos Bruce noticed that Locke’s paper concerned golden tassel wheat and developed severe cognitive disequilibrium while reading it, but found Saronilus away for a week.
• Flavius treated Bos Bruce’s symptoms, reviewed the paper, recognized its research on golden tassel wheat, and arranged for three wizards to assess it.
• Locke visited the Otherworldly Peach Garden branch and selected the fast Exploration Pioneer Void Battleship for rent.
• The shop manager explained that renting required a high civilization credit score, Shop Alliance documents, tax records, and registration with the White Wizard Association.

Locke rented a Void Battleship, bought exploration equipment, and paid taxes before preparing to depart. His Ancient Tree Fruit Doppelgänger then learned that his paper had been accepted by Myriad Crossroads, while Saronilus realized his earlier rejection of the paper about Golden Tassel Wheat could become a serious error.

• Locke signed a one-year Void Battleship rental contract and arranged to buy exploration gear without the Wizard's Shoes supplied by rival Shop Alliances.
• Locke paid 20.38 million Magic Stones for the rental and equipment, returned to Golden Crown Mountain, and paid three million in taxes to the White Wizard Association.
• Seven days later, Locke's Ancient Tree Fruit Doppelgänger received word that Myriad Crossroads had accepted his paper for publication.
• At a meeting in the Bronze Bell building, Saronilus saw Locke's paper about Golden Tassel Wheat and realized that rejecting it might amount to serious dereliction of duty.

Saronilus admitted that he had wrongly rejected Locke’s research paper, and Flavius ordered him to persuade Locke to enter the Golden Cup competition to preserve his year-end bonus. Locke led an exploration team toward the Three-Cave World, where the giants learned that an outsider’s power had locked onto their world and threatened their rule.

• Saronilus acknowledged that Locke’s paper deserved consideration, and Flavius withheld his year-end bonus while offering him a chance to earn it back by recruiting Locke for the Golden Cup.
• Flavius warned that Southern Gold might try to attract Locke and ordered Saronilus to act quickly.
• Locke equipped himself and his team aboard the Exploration Pioneer, while Ada began divining their fortunes for the journey.
• Locke guided the Exploration Pioneer into the Golden Trade Route and locked onto the Three-Cave World as Henry pledged to follow his orders.
• The giants’ palaces on Ringed Mountain shook, and the Oracle Giant revealed that an immensely powerful outsider had locked onto their world and would weaken their divine power.
• The giants discussed seeking help from their brother beneath the earth, whose daughter could manipulate fate.

Locke advanced his Second-Ring Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow research by learning to graft plant spiritualities into Super Plant Factors, while planning how to cultivate a genuine Second-Ring flying Magic Plant for the Golden Cup. Rag Mammon decided to wait for Locke to encounter a research obstacle before proposing that he open the secret treasure.

• Locke used the Finite-Element and Grafting Cultivation Methods with Azure Earth Spiritual Breath to create a Super Plant Factor that tripled Featherfallin secretion but stunted the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow’s size.
• Locke organized his research into developing the Dragon Sparrow’s Plant Essence, producing and selecting Super Plant Factors, and eventually grafting it with a Demon Dragon Rose, but postponed the costly final stage.
• Locke explained to Freya that the Finite-Element Cultivation Method alone could not turn a First-Ring Magic Plant into a Second-Ring one, and Freya described her team’s progress on their Air Pineapple project.
• Mason brought Locke his newly published journal article, and Locke invited Freya, Mason, and Barrett to dinner at Witch’s Kitchen.
• Rag Mammon told Douglas to wait until Locke faced difficulty with the Golden Cup before offering access to the secret treasure, hoping to use Locke’s need as leverage.

Locke celebrated his Second-Ring Q1 publication with his colleagues while Brandy Wizard reconsidered confronting him and arranged a night gathering for rival wizards. After Mason Witch asked why he had become a wizard, Locke answered that it was out of interest, then noticed a message from Southern Witch Capital—the Southern Gold.

• Locke left Douglas working in the institute, while Brandy Wizard was denied access to the tenth underground floor and decided to wait rather than risk provoking Locke.
• Brandy Wizard learned that Locke had published in the Second-Ring Q1 journal Myriad Crossroads, then proposed a wizard night gathering to discuss resources and next year's special-grade funding applications.
• Droma and Jon Quis agreed to the gathering, and Droma offered to invite Locke while Brandy Wizard planned to contact Antoine.
• Locke received congratulations on his publication and celebrated at the Witch's Kitchen with Mason Witch, Freya, and Wizard Barrett.
• Mason Witch asked Locke why he had become a wizard, and he replied that he had done so out of interest before she fell asleep.
• Locke left his drunken colleagues to sleep and noticed an incoming message from Southern Witch Capital—the Southern Gold.

Locke declined to make Southern Gold his first choice for publishing, but a sudden rise in the Magic Tide caused the Cold Sky River to breach and threaten the Eastern Sector with Magic Winter. As Locke prepared to restart the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion's Heavenly Ladder, Solanas Motes offered him access to copied material from a Black-and-White Grimoire if he submitted an article to Southern Gold.

• Locke reviewed Solanas Motes's invitation to publish in Southern Gold and decided he would consider it only if he had a suitable paper.
• Heavy snow fell as the Magic Tide surged, and a wizard warned that the Cold Sky River had breached, bringing the threat of Magic Winter.
• Locke learned about the Cold Sky River's history and voted to fund repairs, since his Academic Lineage was likely to be affected by the breach.
• Wizard Hades decided the Rose Council should help fund repairs to prevent the disaster from worsening and threatening the Wizarding World.
• Locke prepared to visit the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion and restart its Heavenly Ladder test to seek a Second-Ring inheritance.
• Solanas Motes offered to obtain copied Black-and-White Grimoire material for Locke if he submitted an article to Southern Gold.

Locke tested Solanas Motes’s offer from Southern Gold and declined to submit an article after learning the promised Black-and-White Grimoire materials were unlikely to be available. At the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion, he learned about Ostia’s Second-Ring Intermediate-Level Trap and was offered a chance to study under a master Potion Master.

• In the Dark Great World, the nameless wizard resisted the Dark Great Evil King’s Darkness Demonic Sound, kept Heartbreak Flower, and escaped into a dark village with the plant beginning to show signs of blackening.
• The nameless wizard warned Locke that Southern Witch Capital wizards often exaggerated their offers and advised him to ask for part of a deal in advance; he also cautioned Locke to stay alert about a snow disaster on the Heaven River Coast.
• Locke asked Solanas Motes for material on the Black-and-White Grimoire, rejected the offer of an advance payment when Solanas could not provide it, and left to continue focusing on Potions and Breeding Science.
• At the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion, Madam Tataroni explained that Ostia had created fifty-five levels within the Second-Ring system instead of advancing to the Third Ring, trapping its civilization in endless progression.
• Lady Tataroni offered to help Locke obtain instruction from a master Potion Master, whose teacher was a master Throne Potion Master from the Fragrant Coral Archipelago.

Locke began the fifth Heavenly Ladder trial, which required him to master the Doppelgänger Potion and Archangel Potion within ten years, and developed a Second-Ring Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow using an asymmetric Plant Factor group. As he prepared to accelerate the plant’s growth, a specter from the Dark Great World appeared and demanded the true name of the Wizard who had invaded its world.

• Locke accepted the fifth Heavenly Ladder trial after Madam Tataroni explained its rules, and the Universal Engine set his task of mastering the Doppelgänger Potion and Archangel Potion within ten years.
• Locke received the potion materials and left the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion to continue developing Flying Magic Plants.
• Locke and his colleagues combined three Super Plant Factors into the Asymmetric Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow Plant Factor Group and injected the adjusted Plant Essence into a sapling.
• When Locke realized he lacked Zero Potions to accelerate the plant’s growth with the Moon Cultivation Method, a Dark Great World specter appeared nearby.
• Locke arranged for Mason, Barrett, Freya, and Douglas to maintain the experiment while he confronted the specter, Zachary Potter.
• Zachary Potter trapped Locke in a dark cube and asked for the true name of the Wizard who had intruded into the Dark Great World.

Locke was trapped by Zachary Potter in a dark space empowered by the Dark Lord, but a Truth Wizard severed the connection sustaining it and gave Locke the chance to defeat Zachary and destroy the egg of darkness. Locke returned to the Present World with captured spirituality, planning to refine the Zero Potion and continue his Second Ring experiments.

• The nameless wizard found that darkness had invaded the Lingzhi Magic Plant and feared it had exposed Locke to the Dark Great Evil King.
• Zachary Potter trapped Locke in a dark space, where his Magic Pressure rose to 19,999 and black flies overwhelmed Locke’s defenses.
• A Truth Wizard in the Cloud Marsh Wetland purged the Water Gourd System of dark power and transformed it into three special magic plants, cutting off the Dark Lord’s support.
• Locke recognized that the dark space was a two-dimensional shadow stage, then destroyed the egg of darkness with a Sea Golden Sand plant and A Lone Tree Cannot Stand.
• Locke used a Golden Tassel Wheat plant and one of the pinecones to kill Zachary Potter, destroy his seven small-scale dark worlds, and capture his spirituality.
• The dark space shattered, and Locke returned to the Present World to refine the Zero Potion and continue his experiments with the Second Ring Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow.

Locke completed a Four-Winged Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow and told his colleagues that its development was only halfway done, with Atavistic Evolution still ahead. He learned how Name Potions worked and prepared to research a method for giving the Magic Plant a Demon Dragon Bloodline.

• The Bronze Cauldron extracted a Spirit Macro and helped Locke advance his Spirit Macro Studies, while Locke used it to cultivate a Second-Ring Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow.
• Locke tested the plant's enhanced flight and wind abilities, then explained that he planned to continue by carrying out Atavistic Evolution.
• Locke turned the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow into three seeds and asked Mason Witch to borrow a Bloodline Proliferation Pool so his colleagues could grow them.
• Locke went to the Golden Crown Mountain library and asked Wizard Ackerman about Name Potions as a medium for transferring bloodline power to a Magic Plant.
• Locke chose a Name Potion reference costing one thousand contribution points and learned that Wizard Droma had falsely claimed to be his close friend.

Locke refined a Name Potion from a Blue-Crystal Silver-Furred Hound, declined Wizard Droma’s invitation to a mutual-aid group, and spent months developing a flying Magic Plant while burning through his savings. When Antoine asked him to secretly make the banned Identity Salve for six million magic stones, Locke recognized the potion’s risks but agreed to the deal.

• Locke extracted the Blue-Crystal Silver-Furred Hound’s name Spirit Macro and successfully refined a Name Potion before Wizard Droma arrived.
• Droma invited Locke to join the Truth Institute’s mutual-aid association and Wizard Night Gathering, but Locke declined and asked Antoine to correct rumors that he and Droma were friends.
• Locke spent a month grafting and growing a Demon Dragon-bloodline Magic Plant, spending five million magic stones while developing a design for a second Second-Ring Wizard shoe.
• Antoine warned Locke about the dangerous competition for special-grade funding and asked him to refine Identity Salve, a banned potion, for six million magic stones.
• Locke agreed to make one portion of Identity Salve for Antoine and keep the deal secret.

Locke guided the Exploration Pioneer through a meteorite field and past a Void Behemoth, whose behavior deepened his understanding of Plane Hearts and creation. Later, he asked Wizard Saronilus to help secure five million Magic Stones for a Golden Cup project involving the Golden Dragon Bloodline.

• Locke steered the Exploration Pioneer through meteorites and Formless-Energy Vortexes toward the Three-Cave World, choosing not to detour around the Void Behemoth.
• Locke told the wizards to meditate on one detail of the Void Behemoth, and Hassan used the Blood Ancestor's True Form to gain insight while Locke studied its eye.
• The Exploration Pioneer passed safely by as the Void Behemoth collected two Plane Hearts from the destroyed plane and departed.
• At Witch's Kitchen, Locke told Wizard Saronilus he had already entered the Little Rest Cup, disappointing Saronilus's hopes of recruiting his project for the Golden Cup.
• Locke offered Saronilus a proposal for a Golden Dragon Bloodline project and asked him to find approval and five million Magic Stones in sponsorship.

Locke secured five million Magic Stones from the Golden Cup to develop his grafted Flying Magic Plant, while Saronilus revealed the Realm of Dusk and Dawn’s decline and its divisions. A month later, Locke’s graft was still progressing, and he learned that he had won the Little Rest Cup and would receive at least two Tourmaline King Peaches.

• Saronilus examined Locke’s Demon Dragon Rose, struggled with its variant Golden Magic, and agreed to recommend Locke’s project for Golden Cup sponsorship.
• Saronilus secured five million Magic Stones for Locke’s project and spoke of the Realm of Dusk and Dawn’s decline, while Locke considered expanding his Golden Magic research.
• Locke planned presales for his second Wizard’s Shoe and continued developing the grafted Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow with the Demon Dragon Rose.
• Locke used the Moon of Evolution to save the failing graft, which continued fusing spiritually with the Demon Dragon Rose over the following month.
• Mason Witch and Douglas told Locke that he had won the Little Rest Cup and would receive at least two Tourmaline King Peaches.

Locke collected his competition rewards and discussed research paths and rival breakthroughs with Wizard Sith, then continued planning his Golden Magic research. A witch from the Truth Institute, Rose Tacitus, asked to form a temporary alliance with him.

• Wizard Sith explained that projects, papers, and competition victories helped wizards forge their Great Magic, and urged Locke to choose Golden Cloud Peaches while his opportunities remained.
• Locke chose one Dragon-View Peach and one Golden Cloud Peach, prioritizing an experiment related to Witch Camilla's younger sister and the Stone Spirit mystery.
• Wizard Sith told Locke that Wizard Brandy had abandoned his Flesh Sacred Tree research and obtained an Arctic Ice Peach symbiotic with an Aiges Icefield Leopard.
• Locke returned to his laboratory to plan a Golden Magic grafting project, but found that only twenty-one copies of his latest presale had sold.
• Witch Mason told Locke that a witch from the Truth Institute wanted to meet privately, and Rose Tacitus introduced herself and proposed a temporary alliance.

Locke formed a temporary alliance with Witch Rose, who explained how Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep were undermining his Special-Grade Funding prospects and why his Wizard’s Shoe was struggling to sell. He returned to the Dune Plane to prepare his nearly mature Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow for testing during his exploration.

• Witch Rose told Locke that members of the Rose Throne had persuaded Brandy Wizard to abandon his Flesh Sacred Tree project and described her plan to seize control of Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep with Locke’s help.
• Witch Rose explained that Locke’s second Wizard’s Shoe lacked scheduled obsolescence and combat records, leaving it at a disadvantage among void explorers; Locke agreed to cooperate with her against the two Shop Alliances.
• Locke concluded that he needed to pressure Solas Barefoot commercially so it would have less opportunity to support his rivals for Special-Grade Funding.
• Locke traveled through Little Peach Mountain to the Dune Plane and inspected the nearly adult Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow, deciding to create three reproductive seeds before attempting Atavistic Evolution.

Locke studied Golden Magic and realized its runes encoded profound spell structures created by High-Ring Wizards, while his Demon Dragon bloodline made the script unusually easy for him to learn. He brought the Exploration Pioneer into the Three-Cave Plane’s Near-Earth Void Orbit, where the crew prepared to send in a small advance team and suspected the world’s growth had been stalled by outsiders.

• Locke studied Chryses Golden Script and concluded that each magic character represented a complex, universal Spell Model structure distilled by High-Ring Wizards.
• Locke decided to use his memory of Saphirot's Grasp and his Demon Dragon bloodline to develop a Golden Magic spell for his Wizard’s Shoes.
• After his clone continued studying at Golden Crown Mountain Library, Locke piloted the Exploration Pioneer into the Three-Cave Plane’s Near-Earth Void Orbit.
• Locke selected three Vaporization Stage wizards to take his treant incarnation into the world and plant its first tree seed.
• A Fire Giant shot a flaming arrow at the Exploration Pioneer, but Locke raised the ship to avoid it.
• Hassan suspected that the beings in the Three-Cave Plane were outsiders feeding on it and preventing its development.

Locke tried to contact the Three-Cave Plane’s World Will and discovered a giant king pleading for help, a hostile presence of eyes, and a second World Tree Leaf. After the presence rejected negotiations and threatened the wizards, Locke accepted its declaration of war and prepared a safer way to send three wizards into the plane.

• Locke tested the Three-Cave Plane’s defenses with a magic carpet and Hassan’s cursed rod, but divine lightning destroyed both and strengthened the plane’s rejection of them.
• Witch Ada divined that the three chosen wizards would die if sent down directly, while Locke concluded that the plane’s twelve giant kings controlled its response to outsiders.
• Locke entered deep meditation and contacted a giant king who called him the Natural Guardian, showed him a World Tree Leaf, and begged him to help repel invaders.
• An enormous eye appeared during Locke’s contact with the plane, rejected his offer of trade, demanded resources, and threatened to kill the wizards.
• Locke treated the eye’s threats as a declaration of war, ended his meditation, and ordered the three wizards to plant Red-Earth Holly branches while a Protection School wizard prepared sealing scrolls to protect them.

Locke sent three Vaporization Wizards into the Three-Cave Plane to plant Red-Earth Holly and test how its gods responded, while their illusions and defenses failed to shield them from the giants’ control of the World Principles. Locke briefly connected with the Forest Principle while trying to summon his Saint Incarnation, but the Overgod intervened, leaving him to seek another way into the world.

• Locke sent three Mind Corridor Vaporization Wizards into the Three-Cave Plane, where the Fire Giant and other Giant Kings destroyed most of their Phantom Clones and pursued the survivors.
• The three wizards planted Red-Earth Holly cuttings and sealed themselves inside Seal Stones as the giants attacked them.
• The Red-Earth Holly grew into Treants, causing the Forest Giant to lose her Forest Principle and divine power before the Overgod gave her the Grass Principle.
• Locke used his Moon of Evolution and Moon Goddess Blessing Spell to animate the Treants and tried to summon his Saint Incarnation, but divine radiance destroyed one tree and disrupted the ritual.
• The Fire Giant attacked a Treant incarnation as it questioned Akmod about the world, and Hassan used Greater Dryad Transformation Curse to strengthen the Treant into a Demonized Dryad.
• Locke realized that he had briefly connected with the Forest Principle and concluded that it might offer another way to summon his Saint Incarnation, but the Overgod had saved the Forest Giant.

Locke’s group learned that the giants had destroyed their descended treants, but the Wind Giantess secretly kept a Sealing Stone and the Overgod ordered a search for the missing stones. Locke raised his Magic Pressure to 18,500, revived and enlightened a Red-Earth Holly treant across worlds, and asked Hassan about his Great Magic Runes.

• Hassan used the High Treant to kill Grass Giantess Margaret, but the Fire Giant destroyed the treant before Hassan could finish her; the Sovereignty Giant healed Margaret.
• The Wind Giantess secretly took a Sealing Stone, while the Overgod ordered the giants to search the mortal world for the two missing stones and threatened to remake it if they failed.
• Locke explained that a hidden Red-Earth Holly branch could let him send another treant into the Three-Cave World, then consumed Tourmaline King Peaches to raise his Magic Pressure.
• Locke reached 18,500 Magic Pressure, used the Ferocious Beast Panel to reach 19,999 across worlds, and revived and enlightened the Red-Earth Holly branch.
• Hassan explained that his Great Magic Runes enhanced his Blood Ancestor’s True Form through High Treant Spirit and Primordial Werewolf transformation curses.

Locke launched Forest Ranger 2.0 by redesigning the Leaves of Power, while preparing a second Wizard’s Shoe amid an impending price war between two shop alliances. In the Three-Cave World, he found the Seal Stone with a fugitive boy and his protector, but remained unsure who they were or what message his Half-Body had left.

• After studying the Creation Star Map from the Tourmaline King Peaches, Locke upgraded his Leaves of Power and introduced levels, usage limits, and new spells for Forest Rangers.
• Locke deployed the revised system, and Forest Rangers including Shaw, Jack, and Susan sensed their powers change as Leaves of Power appeared in the forest.
• Witch Rose warned Locke that Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep planned a Second-Ring Wizard’s Shoes promotion, but Locke said he would complete his presale before it began.
• Locke tasked Douglas with polishing an article on the Atavistic Evolution of Sea Golden Sand and prepared to finish his second Wizard’s Shoe.
• In the Three-Cave World, Locke found the Seal Stone with a fugitive boy and a middle-aged protector, who believed the stone’s power might restore the boy’s favor with the God of War.
• Unable to identify the pair under the plane’s suppression, Locke considered using them to gather information and wondered what his Half-Body was trying to tell him.