Chapter Summaries

Locke sought a mentor in Potions from the Sea Queen Throne, but his first answer to her test failed. After uncovering the Divine Eye’s plan through Nicholas’s Memory, he began extracting its Spirit Macro to separate it from the Sky God King.

• Locke had Douglas submit a Second-Ring article to [Cloud Marsh] with Witch Catherine as the corresponding author, then accepted Madam Tataroni’s invitation to meet a Throne-Class Potion Master.
• A family witch tested Locke on what a potion was; although he gave two answers, she said neither satisfied Lady Winchester, leaving him two more chances.
• Locke studied Nicholas’s Memory and learned that the Divine Eye and the Sky God King were two aspects of one body, and that the Divine Eye planned to use the Lava Behemoth as a new vessel.
• The Divine Eye tried to provoke Locke into killing it, but Locke revealed that he knew its plan and said he could separate it from the Sky God King by extracting its Spirit Macro.
• Locke thrust five Magic Flames into the Divine Eye and began creating his first Spirit Macro Mark from its name.

Locke refined the Divine Eye’s Spirit Macro while Hassan and Old Henry held up the collapsing Three-Cave World, until the Sky God King sacrificed himself to repair its foundation. The reunited Locke recovered his memories and World Tree Leaf, but the repaired world revealed a massive coffin connected to the Archaeology Grandmaster, who appeared to him through a Historical Reenactment Spell.

• Locke used the Magic Flame Generation-and-Overcoming Extraction Method to refine the Divine Eye, while its destruction of the Sky Divine Pillar caused the Three-Cave World to collapse toward the Imaginary Sea River.
• Hassan shared Spirit Knowledge with Locke and, with Old Henry’s help, held up the Ringed Mountain as Locke continued refining the Spirit Macro.
• The Sky God King emerged from the Divine Eye, summoned Locke’s Half-Body from the past, and sacrificed himself with the Divine Eye to form a stable foundation beneath the world.
• Locke received the World Tree Leaf and merged with his Half-Body, recovering its memories as the Three Upper Planes fused into the Present World.
• A massive coffin rose from the Imaginary Sea River, and Hassan stopped it from crashing into the Three-Cave World; Locke recognized the Wizard King Grimoire mark on it and suspected a tomb of the Archaeology Grandmaster.
• Locke activated the Historical Reenactment Spell on the coffin and met the Archaeology Grandmaster, who admitted he had severed Locke’s connection to two stretches of history.

Locke met the young Archaeology Grandmaster, learned how he had manipulated events in the world, and asked about the Loom Princess before choosing between two gifts. The Grandmaster revealed the danger hidden in the Historical Diamond, gave Locke the Parallel History Curse, and left him with a way to seek a Black-and-White Grimoire.

• The young Archaeology Grandmaster questioned whether Locke was his enemy, then explained how he had guided the Bannaladga God Clan and Persepolis God Clan toward the outcome he intended.
• Locke asked whether the Loom Princess had truly been erased from the records, and the Grandmaster warned him not to pursue the subject because it could alarm Heaven.
• The Grandmaster told Locke that he could not give him a Black-and-White Grimoire, but offered him either a Historical Diamond or the Parallel History Curse.
• Locke chose the Parallel History Curse so that he could develop his own Historical Dynamism and potentially retrieve a grimoire through parallel history.
• The Grandmaster admitted that the Historical Diamond would have bound Locke's Archaeology potential and praised him for passing the test before handing him the curse.

Locke completed the Archaeology Grandmaster’s trial, gained control of a false tomb that could generate Historical Dynamism, and learned that the grandmaster’s claims might conceal another scheme. After returning to the Three-Cave World, Locke and his companions found an enormous Verdant Spiritual Breath Mine vein and discussed how to develop it.

• The Archaeology Grandmaster revealed that the princess had ended the Age of Stars and defeated the Black Sun Tower, then warned Locke that revealing more information could trigger its Sacrificial Magic.
• The grandmaster gave Locke the false tomb’s Bronze Brow-Fish Key and taught him to construct twenty Historical Resonance Spells, which Locke completed over thirty-one years of perceived time.
• The grandmaster warned Locke that his bloodline’s path was severed and that he would face a life-or-death crisis at the Sun-Ring stage before disappearing.
• Locke returned to Hassan, sank the false tomb into the Imaginary Sea, and questioned whether the grandmaster was truly his ally.
• Locke, Hassan, and Old Henry reached the Celestial Realm on Renform Mountain, where Old Henry found a vast Verdant Spiritual Breath Mine vein and explained that developing it would require major investment.
• Hassan offered to represent Old Hump in court and clear his criminal record, but estimated that the case would cost at least thirty million Magic Stones.

The Black Sun Tower’s new envoy ordered its branch to investigate those triggering the Erasure Curse and rebuild Sacrificial Magic. In the Three-Cave World, Locke discovered a rare Luminous Spiritual Breath mine vein, prepared to return with his expedition, and invited the Magic Wolf Giant to join him.

• The Demon Dragon took charge of the Black Sun Tower branch for thirty years and ordered its followers to investigate and eliminate those repeatedly triggering the Erasure Curse.
• Old Henry accidentally ruined a piece of Luminous Spiritual Breath by touching it, and Locke identified the rare mineral and its mine vein.
• Locke learned the vein held about ten pieces, promised Old Henry five pieces of Verdant Spiritual Breath as payment, and decided the expedition should return.
• Locke incorporated the Three-Cave World’s forests into his Forest Sanctuary, then told Orian to lead the Forest Rangers after his departure.
• Locke invited the Magic Wolf Giant to accompany him to his world, and the giant eagerly agreed.

Locke learned that Wizard Trajan had escaped the Dark Great World with the Heartbreak Flower and warned that the Dark Great Evil King might threaten Golden Crown Mountain. Locke submitted his Golden Dragon Claw · Air Pineapple to Arthas, whose evaluation revealed its exceptional quality, then prepared to use it to enter the wizard-shoe market as he considered attending Wizard Patrick Finch’s symposium.

• Wizard Trajan told Locke that the Dark Great World held multiple great lords of darkness, ancient wizard ruins, and the Heartbreak Flower he had recovered.
• Locke considered how to develop the Super Verdant Spiritual Breath Vein and learned that Golden Crown Mountain might be at war with the Dark Great Evil King over the Heartbreak Flower.
• Witch Scarlett sent the Golden Dragon Claw · Air Pineapple to Arthas headquarters, where Evaluator Kungu ordered an expedited test and identified its exceptional Magic Pressure and innovative Special Imaginary Root.
• Locke posted Arthas’s evaluation and his combat report, then told Witch Scarlett to contact void exploration teams as he prepared to launch his wizard-shoe alliance.
• Wizard Daniel invited Locke to Wizard Patrick Finch’s academic symposium, and Locke agreed to attend.

Locke attended Patrick Finch’s conference on living Magic Plant crystallization but kept to his own research plans as Augustus Wizard Shoes surged in popularity. The Golden Dragon Claw’s success disrupted Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep, while Witch Rose took control of both alliances and prepared to advance to the Star Ring.

• Locke and Daniel arrived in Rose Town, where Patrick Finch demonstrated Magic Plant crystallization and invited Breeders to help develop the new research field.
• Brandy urged Locke to pursue crystallization research, but Locke decided to hear the conference first and stay focused on his planned work.
• At Solas Barefoot’s event, expedition teams rejected ordinary Second-Ring shoes and ordered Augustus’s Golden Dragon Claw after comparing its performance and price with Solas’s Radiant Envoy.
• The ten teams publicly avoided renewing their ordinary Second-Ring shoe contracts, and Solas Barefoot’s board dismissed Holmu after the event became a public setback.
• Witch Rose helped remove the administrative supervisors of Solas Barefoot and Meraki Magicstep, gained control of both alliances, and prepared to advance to Star-Ring Wizard.
• After the conference, Locke left to plan production for Augustus Wizard Shoes and told Daniel that he would not abandon his research direction to follow the crystallization trend.

Witch Rose secured control of the Aolaye Shop Alliance while Locke expanded Augustus’s Wizard Shoe business and arranged production support from Queen Ella Grant. After demonstrating his Spirit Macro Studies, Locke became the Sea Queen Throne’s Potions student and arrived at her classroom, where she singled him out as a genius before her students.

• Wizard Hades abandoned his plan to hold Witch Rose accountable after learning she was nearing the Star Ring, approved her management of the two Wizard Shoe Shop Alliances, and gave her the loss-making Aolaye Shop Alliance.
• Witch Rose ordered Solas Barefoot to stop supporting Golden Crown Mountain’s Truth Institute, leaving Wizard Brandy without his sponsorship and prompting Brandy and Wizard Droma to scramble to join the popular Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology research field.
• Locke used Approach Grafting to lower Golden Dragon Claw production costs, calculated that his 180-pair sale could earn about fifty million Magic Stones, and refused offers to sell Augustus equity.
• Queen Ella Grant contacted Locke, promised advance funding and priority supply-chain support from Arthas, and arranged for Witch Scarlett to transfer ten million Magic Stones for seed production.
• Locke extracted half a fragment of Spirit Macro from the spoken word “potion,” passed the Sea Queen Throne’s test, and was accepted as her Potions student.
• At Root Crown Court, the Sea Queen Throne praised Locke as a genius in front of her students, drawing angry stares from the classroom.

Locke joined Lady Helen’s Potion advancement class while she argued that only talented wizards could succeed through hard work alone. After publishing a paper on Atavistic Evolution, Locke considered new research opportunities and learned from Trajan that the Cold Sky River’s breach had been deliberate.

• Lady Helen challenged William Rogel’s Potion ambitions, praised Locke’s progress, and agreed to teach a class of Locke and ten Second-Ring Wizards.
• Wizard John arranged the class, which Lady Helen said would continue until the first student passed the Potion Master examination; Locke would need to refine the Archangel Potion, Doppelgänger Potion, and Spirit-Stabilizing Potion.
• Locke received notice that his paper on Mountain-Dragon Naked Fern and Spiritual Breath had been accepted by the Cloud Marsh Journal, while wizards discussed Patrick Finch’s Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology.
• Locke decided to write another paper on the Spiritual Breath Cultivation Method with Douglas and planned to borrow the Queen's Chessboard and Sunlight Magic Mirror.
• Locke returned the Test Rings to Witch Catherine, who gave him new rings to distribute and retrieve and said she would entrust him with more responsibility.
• Trajan told Witch Catherine that his investigation showed the Cold Sky River’s banks had been breached deliberately, not by a natural disaster.

Witch Catherine assigned Locke to revive Silver-Clad Peach Garden on the Heaven River Coast, where he would compete with Witch Rose’s newer Aolaye Shop Alliance. Back at the Group 2 research institute, Locke continued planning his Flying Magic Plant and prepared to test its evolution on the Queen’s Chessboard before risking the costly graft.

• Witch Catherine told Wizard Trajan that the Cold Sky River’s breach was not the work of the Rose Throne and sent him to protect Golden Crown Mountain’s project on the Heaven River Coast under cover of an assignment.
• Witch Catherine appointed Locke to manage Silver-Clad Peach Garden, and Locke accepted after examining its decade of losses and declining business.
• Wizard Trajan explained that Witch Rose had recently won the Red and Purple Holy Grails and that her Aolaye Shop Alliance was a new, struggling rival on the Heaven River Coast.
• Witch Catherine gave Locke the Twin Forging Method, and Locke left after overhearing a reference to Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology.
• The Sea Queen Throne told Locke to prepare three Two-Cicada Spirit Macros for a lesson on the Doppelgänger Potion.
• Locke inspected the grafted Four-Winged Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow and decided to simulate its Atavistic Evolution on the Queen’s Chessboard before proceeding.

Locke used Spring Prosperity to improve the Four-Winged Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow’s chances of Atavistic Evolution, then bred it into a powerful flying Magic Plant with special red dragon breath. He named the result the Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow and realized that studying its Demon Dragon traits might help him uncover a way to restore the severed Demon Dragon evolutionary path.

• Locke used Queen's Chessboard to discover that Spring Prosperity from the Tree of Prosperity could strengthen a Magic Plant and improve the success rate of Atavistic Evolution.
• Locke, Douglas, Mason Witch, Wizard Barrett, and Witch Freya carried out the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow’s Atavistic Evolution in the underground laboratory.
• The evolving Magic Plant’s Demon Dragon Bloodline influenced Locke and drove him into a destructive rage, but he broke free by destroying the invading consciousness.
• Locke completed the evolution and found that the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow could gather Spiritual Breath through Imaginary Roots shaped like dragon horns and turn it into destructive red dragon breath.
• Locke tested the Magic Plant’s speed and destructive power, then named it the Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow.

Locke completed Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow, tested its exceptional flight performance, and sent a daughter plant to the Golden Cup competition with Wizard Barrett. He then began planning an integrated flying weapon platform using Attila's Chain Lightning and offered Douglas knowledge about casting a Kingdom Domain.

• Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow tore open the Dune Plane's heavy-element clouds, and researchers at the Group 2 Institute marveled at its power and calculated its flight efficiency.
• Locke confirmed the plant's magic-pressure-to-flight-speed conversion rate was 11.2, grew two mature copies using Verdant Spiritual Breath, and paid Wizard Barrett to deliver one to the Golden Cup.
• Locke proposed turning the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow series into weapon-carrying platforms, and Witch King Lagmammon recommended using Chain Lightning enchantments.
• Douglas relayed the Gate of Lightning's Attila's Chain Lightning spell models to Locke, who recognized that the spell's compression effect could combine with the Dragon Sparrow's Life Energy.
• Locke decided to seek Henry's help with the Second-Ring enchantment and offered Douglas knowledge about casting a complete Kingdom Domain, captivating Witch King Lagmammon.

Terence struggled to keep the failing Silver-Clad Peach Garden together as Rose Witch recruited its staff, until a direct appointment from the Red Dragon Throne named Locke Augustine its new administrative director. Meanwhile, Locke learned more about the Kingdom Domain and Douglas's ancient soul, then received a contact from Wizard Saronilus.

• Kyle resigned from the Silver-Clad Peach Garden to join Aolaye, and Terence let him leave after Rose Witch paid the compensation.
• Dawen asked to resign after Rose Witch offered enough money to support the Silver-Clad Peach Garden, but Terence told him to wait for the new administrative director.
• Terence received a letter appointing Locke Augustine as the Silver-Clad Peach Garden's administrative director by order of the Red Dragon Throne.
• Witch King Lagmammon explained through Douglas that the Sun-Moon Dual Cycle was a signal tower built by the Black Sun Tower, which detected his revival.
• Witch King Lagmammon concluded that the Kingdom Domain relied on Sacrificial Magic and the Black Sun Tower, while Locke realized the ancient soul might have rebelled against it.
• Locke left to check the Golden Dragon Claw breeding area and prepare for his potion class, then noticed Wizard Saronilus contacting him through the Water Gourd System.

Locke learned that the Windcatcher Sacred Land would judge the Golden Holy Grail’s Flying Magic Plant Competition and considered making another Doppelgänger to protect his chances of winning. At the Sea Queen Throne’s Potions class, he began practicing the difficult method for refining Doppelgänger Potion, while the other students struggled with the lesson.

• Wizard Saronilus warned Locke that the Windcatcher Sacred Land would select the competition’s winning Flying Magic Plant for a commercial partnership, prompting Locke to consider sending another Doppelgänger.
• Locke decided to learn Doppelgänger Potion so he could create a second Doppelgänger without leaving Golden Crown Mountain.
• The Sea Queen Throne demonstrated how Doppelgänger Potion created nearly indistinguishable Doppelgängers and taught the class to split and rearrange Two-Cicada Spirit Macros.
• Eve Roland and Alex Walker challenged the difficulty of the task, and the Sea Queen Throne explained that Adrian Franklin had invented Doppelgänger Potion as a Crystallization Wizard before defecting to the Abyss.
• Locke tried to split two Spirit Macros, failed when dizziness threw one off course, and immediately began tracing replacements for more practice.

Locke borrowed spirit knowledge from Old Henry to complete the Spirit Macros needed for the Doppelgänger Potion, while Brandy’s Q2 paper on magic-plant crystallization stirred interest at the institute. Locke successfully brewed and drank the potion, and his shadow transformed into a real person.

• Locke borrowed spirit knowledge through Hassan’s Shared-Death Blood Curse and completed two Two-Cicada Spirit Macros in a day.
• Droma told Locke that Brandy had published a Q2 paper on magic-plant crystallization technology and urged him to join the rapidly growing field.
• Locke severed the blood curse after finishing the Spirit Macros, while Hassan mentioned he had only about three years left to live and Old Henry complained of exhaustion.
• Locke learned that Daniel had entered the soul decline period and reflected that they might compete for special-grade funding if his own application failed.
• Locke extracted the Doppelgänger Potion’s ritual gesture, brewed the potion successfully, and drank it.
• Locke watched as his shadow stood up and transformed into a real person.

Locke reconciled his three bodies after nearly falling into the Doppelgänger Mystery, then advised Williams on the Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology route and shared research materials with her. As Locke traveled toward the Realm of Dusk and Dawn, he learned that the technology had put rival wizards at a disadvantage in the Special-Grade Funding Grant contest, leaving him wondering why Antoine had joined their search for opportunities in the Four Bright Waters.

• Locke's two doppelgängers compared the golden leaves of his life and recognized that they were the same person, allowing his original consciousness to control all three bodies.
• Locke's Potion doppelgänger took thirty thousand Magic Stones and left for the Realm of Dusk and Dawn, while his Ancient Tree Fruit doppelgänger advised Williams and sent her materials on Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology.
• Locke inspected three hundred breeding seeds in the Dune Plane and prepared to tend the Magic Fields until the batch was ready to ship.
• At the wizard airship terminal, Antoine told Locke that ten Second-Ring Wizards were heading to the Four Bright Waters to seek research topics in world ruins because Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology had made competition for funding tougher.
• Locke boarded an airship to the Realm of Dusk and Dawn and wondered why Antoine had joined the expedition despite having a project from a Third-Ring Wizard.

Locke arrived at the Meri Ruins for the Golden Cup and learned that Barrett’s caravan had been ambushed by a powerful Second-Ring creature in the wilderness. Locke flew to rescue him on his Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow, drawing the attention of the Windcatcher Sacred Land delegation and the competition organizers.

• Locke arrived at the Meri Ruins, inspected a market stall selling Spirit Ash, and declined the Second-Ring Wizard’s offer.
• Barrett told Locke that he had joined a caravan traveling with wizards from Spiral Basin, but a Second-Ring creature attacked them and killed or wounded most of the group.
• Barrett and two surviving Spiral Basin wizards tried to fight their way through the darkness, but their mana and Permanent Defense Fields began to fail.
• At the Meri Ruins, Quinn Bruce complained that the Windcatcher Sacred Land had been ordered to find a Flying Magic Plant for the Golden Cup competition.
• Locke rode his Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow toward Barrett’s location, and its speed and fiery flight impressed the Windcatcher Sacred Land delegation.
• A competition organizer recognized Locke’s Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow as the entry from Golden Crown Mountain.

Locke used his Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow and Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrows to defeat a Golden Swarm Earthworm Beast that had attacked the Meri Ruins. After destroying its golden vein and claiming its Golden Heart, he was recognized as a member of the Golden People.

• Locke attacked the Earthworm Beast as it emerged from beneath the wilderness, while wizards gathered at the Meri Ruins watched and worried their competition entries could not match his Flying Magic Plant.
• Samuel Dawson, the Meri Ruins’ city guardian, explained that the Earthworm Beast belonged to the Golden Swarm, was drawn by Golden Apples, and could only be killed by destroying its golden vein.
• Locke pierced the golden vein and used Spring Prosperity to multiply his thirteen Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrows, lifting the Earthworm Beast into the sky.
• Wizard Barrett and the other wizards realized the creature had deceived them by making its body seem like a starry night and had transported them underground.
• Locke destroyed the Earthworm Beast’s golden vein, and the Demon Hunter Corps delivered the final blow as its body broke apart into small earthworms.
• Locke claimed the Golden Heart, and the Star-Ring Wizard captain told his companion that Locke possessed a high-level Golden Bloodline and belonged to the Golden People.

Locke uncovered that Yennefer’s Golden Apple had endangered Barrett’s escort mission and suspected the Rose Council’s Magic-Plant Crystallization faction had arranged attacks to protect its competition entry. He refused a private approach from Bruce of the Windcatcher Sacred Land, then watched the Golden Cup flying competition begin as he questioned why the faction resorted to sabotage.

• The Three-Legged Golden Bird vanished into the sun after telling Locke about the sealed Palace of Tenochtitlan and the lost Golden Potion, and Locke wondered whether he had glimpsed the palace within the sun.
• Locke opened a contestant’s magic box and found a Golden Apple instead of the Flying Magic Plant, revealing why Earthworm Beasts had targeted the escort; the Demon Hunter Corps took the matter to the Demon-Hunting Bureau.
• Locke told Barrett that Yennefer had paid for her part in the sabotage and suspected someone had hired her to stop his entry, possibly to protect a Magic-Plant Crystallization entry.
• Locke refused to meet Bruce before the competition and insisted that any partnership be handled through official channels; Bruce decided to investigate Locke’s background.
• At the Golden Cup venue, Locke saw that four contestants had withdrawn, including a Rose Council wizard whose entry appeared connected to Magic-Plant Crystallization Technology, and suspected the faction had tried to eliminate rival entries.
• The 347th Golden Holy Grail Flying Magic Plant Competition began with Barrett and the Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow at takeoff lane seven, while Locke questioned why the technology’s supporters had resorted to sabotage.

At the Golden Holy Grail Magic Plant Flying Competition, Locke faced the other contestants as the overwhelming favorite while Champion Marquis Russell arrived and revealed his connection to him. Russell officially opened the race, leaving the competitors ready to fly a dangerous course through attacking Flying Magic Creatures.

• Locke observed the Golden Dynasty’s officials and contestants arrive, then recognized Champion Marquis Russell as the Third-Ring Throne Wizard he had corresponded with.
• Leon Newman challenged Locke, declaring that he would try to win the championship with his Flying-Man Gourd.
• Russell spoke with Wizard Bruce about Locke’s Great Radiant Dragon Sparrow and reminded him that Locke had once sought his advice, prompting Bruce to abandon his plan to pressure Locke over the plant’s price.
• Russell announced that the Golden Dynasty’s Grand Chancellor had sent him to observe the competition and declared the Golden Holy Grail officially underway.
• Russell explained that contestants had to fly along a chain-lined aerial course, where Flying Magic Creatures would break free and attack them.