Chapter Summaries

Locke passed the Breeder examination and received Formal Breeder certification from Lady Morgana, whose views on breeding differed from those of his teacher, Sophia. The new certification granted him access to the Academy’s Germplasm Bank, broader experimental permissions, and priority in applying for a medium-sized Plantation, which he planned to use.

• Locke defended Sophia, explaining that he had only recently become a First-Class Wizard Apprentice and had little experience with the library’s paper system.
• Lady Morgana declared Locke the only successful examinee and awarded him a golden Formal Breeder badge, while urging him to focus on functional magic plants rather than combat varieties.
• Locke realized Lady Morgana’s strong preference for energy and other functional plants helped explain her falling-out with Sophia, who had encouraged him to pursue whichever magic plants interested him.
• Locke told Lady Morgana he was developing a magic plant for potion materials, and she praised his choice and encouraged him to produce work of lasting value.
• Lady Morgana described the privileges of Formal Breeders, including access to the Germplasm Bank, fewer restrictions on dangerous experiments, and priority when applying for a medium-sized Plantation.
• Locke decided to use his new priority to apply for a medium-sized Plantation despite having previously been pushed aside by someone with connections.

After passing the Breeder examination, Locke received offers from several studios, including a lucrative invitation from Green Sprout Studio. He rejected them all, leaving his plans for his breeding work independent of any studio.

• Locke left the examination hall and was surrounded by studio representatives offering him jobs.
• Breeder Lancaster invited Locke to join Green Sprout Studio, offering 1,500 Magic Stones per month and a path to partnership.
• Lancaster explained that Green Sprout Studio would direct Locke’s magical plant cultivation and research, with Senior Mary helping plan his work.
• Locke decided that studio employment would constrain his independent projects and rejected Lancaster’s offer.

Locke refused Lancaster’s repeated offer to join Green Sprout Studio and defeated him in a direct clash of Magic Pressure. He left to sign a Memory Ointment contract, unconcerned by Lancaster’s threats and considering the possibility of establishing his own studio.

• Lancaster tried to recruit Locke into Green Sprout Studio, but Locke refused to join any studio.
• Lancaster blocked Locke’s way and boasted about Green Sprout Studio, so Locke cited his higher competition ranking and warned Lancaster to move aside.
• Lancaster challenged Locke with Magic Pressure, but Locke overpowered him and continued on his way.
• Lancaster threatened to report Locke to Senior Mary and claimed no studio would hire him, while Locke waved goodbye and ignored him.
• Locke headed to Aixi and Anglu’s shop to sign the Memory Ointment contract and considered opening a Breeder studio of his own.

Locke visited Owl Cauldron Potion Shop after passing the breeder exam and asked whether it would buy a potion made by his newly opened personal laboratory. The shop managers had just rejected Robel’s slightly improved Worm Regeneration Potion, leaving Locke’s own sales prospects uncertain.

• Robel urged Anglu and Aixi to buy his newly developed Worm Regeneration Potion, but they refused because it lacked a proven market record.
• Robel explained that he had spent heavily improving the potion and was now struggling to keep his personal laboratory afloat.
• Locke judged that Robel had misread market demand and chose not to help him.
• Anglu and Aixi noticed Locke, congratulated him on passing the breeder exam, and asked why he had come.
• Locke said his personal potion laboratory had received an Academy production license for one of its formulas and asked whether the shop would purchase it.

Locke brought his Memory Ointment to the Owl Crucible Shop, where Anglu and Aixi examined his research and agreed to buy it. He left with a first sales deal, while his limited production capacity kept him from supplying more.

• Robel saw Anglu and Aixi welcome Locke into the shop and wrongly concluded that his own lack of connections was why his potions could not sell.
• Locke gave Anglu and Aixi his Memory Ointment research and production qualification certificate for review.
• Anglu and Aixi recognized that Locke had improved the Mind-Calming Ointment formula and that Memory Ointment could attract buyers from many magical fields.
• Anglu offered to buy Memory Ointment for 15 Magic Stones per tube, and Locke accepted.
• Locke estimated he could supply about 375 tubes each month and resolved to expand his production capacity after establishing himself in the potion trade.

Locke secured a deal to sell Memory Ointment to Anglu and Aixi, then visited Lilith's Cottage Potion Shop to buy Beholder Potion and Fission Potion for his experiments. He paid for three vials of each despite warnings about their dangerous side effects, and the shop arranged delivery to his home.

• Locke signed a contract with Anglu and Aixi to sell Memory Ointment for fifteen Magic Stones per vial, and Anglu invited him to bring future potions to Owl Cauldron Potion Shop.
• Locke left for Lilith's Cottage Potion Shop to buy potions that could increase his magic power.
• Locke ordered three vials each of Beholder Potion and Fission Potion, spending fifteen hundred Magic Stones.
• The assistant manager warned Locke about the potions' side effects and urged him to use them cautiously.
• Locke paid and left his address for delivery, and Assistant Manager Julie recognized him as Lord Sophia's student.

Locke rented advanced breeding equipment to study the Magic Plant Curse and develop Emerald Iris Lichen, then took a Beholder Potion and discovered it greatly increased his meditation efficiency at the cost of severe hallucinations and mental confusion. He decided to postpone taking the Fission Potion until he had recovered and tested its safe dosage on a magical creature.

• Locke rented a Differential Magic Mirror from Golden Secret to aid his Emerald Iris Lichen research and prepare a report for the Breeder Competition.
• Locke learned that two First-Class Wizard Apprentices with the Magic Plant Curse had left the clinic and could manage their condition with monthly Lesser Emerald Potions.
• Locke drank a Beholder Potion and began meditating with Energy Potion, Tears of the Stars Potion, and Four Seasons Fruit-Kernel Incense.
• The Beholder Potion more than doubled Locke's meditation efficiency but caused disturbing eyeball hallucinations and mental confusion.
• Locke used the Deep Blue Diamond and Deep Purple Jade to filter impurities and toxicity, then decided to delay the Fission Potion until he could test its safe dosage on a magical creature.

Locke tested Fission Potion and grafted a Degraded Lightning Bamboo onto a mutant Emerald Iris Lichen, using mana resonance to ease their conflict and cultivate resistance to a plant curse. He then tried to provoke Seflin into producing more Magic Plant Curses for his research.

• Locke fed a calf water containing Fission Potion, watched it explode, and concluded that he needed to strengthen his body before risking the potion himself.
• Locke drew blood from his cat-girl servants in an effort to extract their ancient Three-Eyed Tiger-Eyed Cat bloodline.
• Locke used a Differential Magic Mirror and Radiation Cauldron to reduce the conflict between a Degraded Lightning Bamboo and mutant Emerald Iris Lichen, then preserved the lichen offspring after it developed resistance to the bamboo's curse.
• Locke decided he needed more magic plant curses and planned to visit the Healing Hand Research Institute.
• At the Healing Hand Clinic, Locke told Kali Ackerman that he had solved the Magic Plant Curse and dismissed it as an ordinary little curse, hoping Seflin would be provoked into creating more.

Locke’s team discussed Anglong’s Workshop’s advantage in the clinic’s healer awards while Locke believed the coming surge of Magic Plant Curses could give his team a chance to compete. Angered by Locke’s public criticism, Seflin ordered her Black Wizards to intensify their attacks on First-Class Wizard Apprentices.

• Aixi warned Locke that taking on cursed patients could harm the team’s evaluation score, but Anglu urged her to trust Locke’s judgment.
• Aixi and Anglu explained how Anglong’s Workshop used Harlan Vela’s network to gather treatment records and pursue all four clinic awards.
• Locke reasoned that his new status as a Formal Breeder and Assistant Potion Maker could make him central to treating a surge of Magic Plant Curses.
• A contact’s report reached Seflin, who grew furious that Locke had publicly scorned her curse.
• Seflin ordered Field to triple the intensity of their operations and curse more First-Class Wizard Apprentices from Lilith’s Cottage and its allies.

Over two weeks, Locke treated seventeen Wizard Apprentices afflicted by Seflin’s Magic Plant Curses while secretly using the cases to develop a curse-resistant Magic Plant. With his creation nearing completion, he faced a half-month deadline to finish his fifth creation for Lilith's Cottage’s Custom Magic Plant Competition.

• Locke subdued an out-of-control Super Mandrake Vine and learned it was the seventeenth Magic Plant Curse case in two weeks.
• Locke reflected that Seflin had used seventeen different curses to demonstrate her skill, but her attacks had supplied the experimental data he needed.
• Locke’s mutated Emerald Iris Lichen had developed broad-spectrum resistance against curses, and the latest cursed Magic Plant would provide his final test.
• Kali Ackerman mocked Locke for handling so many patients, but faltered when he suggested asking Anglong's Workshop for help.
• Locke left to focus on finishing his fifth creation before registration closed for the Custom Magic Plant Competition in half a month.

Locke continued designing a way to modify Emerald Iris Lichen while his coworkers worried that his recent focus on the Magic Plant Curse was wearing him down. After hearing the Memory Ointment had received excellent customer feedback, he left early to work on his fifth potion and attempt another approach to solving the curse.

• Aixi and Anglu comforted Locke, noting that the Magic Plant Curse victims had remained safe and that the Academy might send Mary to help.
• Anglu told Locke that Gabi and other apprentices reported improved memory and about fifty percent faster Transfiguration Magic learning after using Memory Ointment.
• Anglu and Aixi asked to write research reports using customer feedback on Memory Ointment, but Locke declined to participate.
• Locke asked Anglu and Aixi to cover for him while he left the treatment center early, and they agreed.
• Locke kept his plan secret: he intended to finish his fifth work and try brewing Bear Spirit Bile Potion with Emerald Iris Lichen.

Locke successfully grafted the Super Mandrake Vine onto the Emerald Iris Lichen, creating a level 7 defensive Magic Plant with curse resistance and the ability to reflect curses. He named it Perseus's Eye Lichen and planned further tests for a competition and an article.

• Locke used the Mana Resonance Cultivation Method and a Differential Magic Mirror to graft the Super Mandrake Vine onto the Emerald Iris Lichen.
• Locke tested the new lichen's secretions on cursed blood and found that they removed several ordinary curses.
• Locke crushed a Curse Stone to release a Bleeding Curse, and the lichen reflected the curse back and purified the stone fragments.
• Locke named the mutated Magic Plant Perseus's Eye Lichen and planned to test it for the Combat Department's competition.
• Locke planned to use the successful grafting experiment as the basis for further research and his first A-grade article for Lilith's Cottage.

Locke tested Perseus's Eye Lichen against the restored Vampire Howard to gather combat data for the Academy's Custom Magic Plant Competition. The lichen reflected Howard's curses and crippled him, while Locke recorded its strengths and weaknesses for a future article.

• Locke brought Vampire Howard to his laboratory and offered to restore him and let him escape so he could test Perseus's Eye Lichen in combat.
• Locke restored Howard's condition with Magic Creature blood, then recorded the test as Howard prepared to fight.
• Howard attacked Locke with a chain of five curses, but Perseus's Eye shielded Locke and reflected the composite curse back at Howard.
• The reflected curse destroyed Howard's eyes and purified much of his Mana, leaving him unable to fight; Locke recorded that Perseus's Eye was effective against curse wizards and Vampires but could be damaged after only a few uses.
• Locke assessed the lichen's limitations, then locked the nearly unconscious Howard back in the Binding Cage and sent him to Witch Sophia's breeding room.

After writing four research papers on Perseus's Eye and related magical plants, Locke began brewing the complex Bear Spirit Bile Potion. He prepared its ingredients and reviewed the potion's required techniques as he started the process.

• Locke wrote four papers covering magical plant data, defenses against Curse Magic, Magic Vine grafting, and Perseus's Eye's effects on Vampires.
• Locke concluded that Perseus's Eye's purifying energy both harmed Vampires and dispersed the Blood Curse, and proposed research into plants that could counter curses.
• After discovering that dawn had arrived, Locke decided to brew the Bear Spirit Bile Potion before sleeping.
• Locke gathered Emerald Iris Lichen and Perseus's Eye, then used Columnar Elemental Separation Equipment to refine the lichen extract.
• Locke began brewing the potion and reviewed its ingredients and the Wood-, Fire-, Earth-, and Air-Element Magic Flames required to prepare it.

Locke tested three versions of Bear Spirit Bile Potion and found that the version made with Emerald Iris Lichen juice greatly improved resistance to curses. He named it Bear Spirit Emerald Gallbladder Potion and planned to gather patient data before seeking approval to produce it.

• Locke refined two bottles of Bear Spirit Bile Potion using different types of Emerald Iris Lichen and prepared a simplified test with cursed blood.
• Locke found that ordinary Bear Spirit Bile Potion only cleared the curse briefly, while the version made with Perseus's Eye Lichen destroyed both the curse and normal components in the blood.
• Locke observed that the version made with Emerald Iris Lichen juice suppressed the curse while leaving the blood mostly normal.
• Locke considered the Perseus's Eye Lichen potion's potential as a poison against cursed creatures and the Emerald Iris Lichen potion's broad use against curses.
• Locke named the improved potion Bear Spirit Emerald Gallbladder Potion and planned to test it on Magic Plant Curse patients before applying for a production license.

Locke submitted six research articles and learned he could qualify for the Academy’s Outstanding Apprentice title by publishing enough high-grade work. He then visited the House of Historians, where McCarthy noticed a change in Locke’s ancient bloodline.

• Locke submitted six articles to Dwarf scholar Aul, who expected them to earn B-grade ratings or better and explained the requirements for becoming an Outstanding Apprentice.
• Locke realized he could compete for the Outstanding Apprentice slot this year and asked Aul to send the articles for evaluation.
• Locke went to the House of Historians, passing up an offer from Tayne to buy a mana ring.
• Locke saw a mysterious Arcanist pay McCarthy to identify an antique porcelain shard, then heard the Arcanist suggest McCarthy would have higher standing in Black Wizard society.
• McCarthy welcomed Locke and noticed that the ancient bloodline around him had grown stronger and slightly mutated, prompting Locke to ask what creature it came from.

Locke asked Old McCarthy to teach him Archaeology so he could investigate his ancient bloodline and learn about bloodline transplantation. McCarthy welcomed him as a research companion, lent him the Tombstone Grimoire, and began explaining Negative Energy Particles and the discipline’s foundations.

• Locke told McCarthy that he had Level 3 Negative Energy Particle affinity and wanted to study Archaeology and Ancient Creature Bloodlines.
• McCarthy praised Locke’s rapid improvement and explained that Archaeology could help research ancient bloodlines and uncover lost magical knowledge.
• McCarthy offered Locke a place in his fast-track class without charge, asking only to discuss future research together.
• McCarthy lent Locke the Tombstone Grimoire, warning him to return it in a month and not let anyone else open or copy it.
• McCarthy explained that Archaeology began with learning Modo Language and described Negative Energy Particles as a broad category whose varieties retained information through their responsiveness to outside influences.

McCarthy explained how archaeologists interpreted Negative Energy Particles and taught Locke the fundamentals of Archaeology magic. Locke decided he could use potions and the Synthesis Cube to overcome his weak talent for distinguishing particles and pursue the field.

• McCarthy demonstrated how death aura, hatred, and light magic transformed Dark Energy Particles into Death Energy, Curse Energy, and Annihilation Particles.
• McCarthy explained the 210 Negative Energy Particles, Modo Language, and how [Tomb Spirit Summoning] organized interpreted traces of the past into a ghost's account.
• McCarthy showed Locke that the Tomb Spirit could infer the number and magical specialties of wizards who had visited the shop, while warning that Magic Pressure could cause misreadings.
• McCarthy described [Historical Projection] and [Ancient Pointer], and told Locke that Archaeology Scholar certification was available at Northern Niflheim University.
• Locke decided he could use potions strengthened by the Synthesis Cube to improve his particle-discerning ability and study Archaeology despite his Level 3 Dark Energy affinity.

Locke considered learning Archaeology after studying McCarthy’s grimoire, then learned that Sophia had secured a lecturer position in Parthinos, the City of a Thousand Towers. Before leaving Lilith’s Cottage, Sophia had to complete one final task: kill the Black Wizard Rashid Tariel.

• Locke realized Archaeology could support his research, combat skills, and path toward becoming a Formal Wizard, but he could not store McCarthy’s Tombstone Grimoire in his Astral Ring.
• Locke returned the grimoire to his residence and went to meet Sophia after her forest elf maid summoned him.
• Sophia told Locke that his achievements had helped her pass the employment assessment and earn a Formal Wizard lecturer position at Parthinos.
• Sophia explained that she would leave for Starfield Sea after completing Lilith’s Cottage’s final task.
• Sophia told Locke that her target was Rashid Tariel, a Formal Wizard-level curse caster from the Blood Curse Court.

Witch Sophia revealed her certainty that she could kill the powerful Black Wizard Rashid Tariel and invited Locke to join an operation against the Blood Curse Court. Locke agreed, and Sophia gave him a potion as advance payment and the coming-of-age gift she had promised.

• Witch Sophia explained that Rashid Tariel was a veteran Formal Wizard with Vaporization Stage Mental Power, but she was certain she could kill him.
• Locke realized that Sophia’s abilities likely surpassed those of an ordinary Child of the Element, and she invited him to help infiltrate the Blood Curse Court’s territory.
• Sophia described the allies joining the operation and said Locke and the other apprentices would assist while she alone confronted Rashid Tariel.
• Locke agreed to participate for Sophia’s sake, combat experience, and the chance to obtain Tartarus Cave Worm Spinal Fluid and study his defensive Magic Plants.
• Sophia scheduled the operation for one month later, advised Locke to prepare items against Curse Magic, and gave him a Giant Tree’s Heart Potion as advance payment and a coming-of-age gift.