Recaps

Benjamin learned that his accelerating research had pushed the time-reversal system close to overload, and Artorius planned to lure it into revealing itself by targeting him. Benjamin accepted Artorius's concealed mark and protection, leaving the two wizards waiting for the system to act.

• Artorius confirmed that Benjamin's actions had sharply increased the system's informational contradictions and brought it near its load limit.
• Benjamin and Artorius reasoned that the system might target Benjamin as the most significant anomaly in the plane.
• Artorius explained that the system could not truly leave the plane and that its attack would reveal the final clue to its location.
• Artorius offered to place a mark on Benjamin to detect the system's actions and give him a chance to survive, and Benjamin accepted.
• Artorius vanished after placing the mark, and Benjamin returned to his chart as they waited for the system to strike.

Benjamin recognized that the Sickle-Skull Race's deep excavation was intended to create a brief failure in the camp's spacetime defenses, then watched the plan unfold as the camp was overwhelmed by an underground invasion. Amid the chaos, Benjamin vanished from his laboratory without anyone noticing.

• Commander Frost ordered the army to its highest alert after detecting the Sickle-Skull Race's excavation of isolation belts beneath the camp.
• Benjamin suspected the excavation would destabilize the camp and open a brief opportunity for a time-manipulating enemy to target him.
• A day later, earthquakes and ley line surges weakened the camp's shields, and the ground ruptured across the region.
• The Sickle-Skull Race poured out of the fissures and attacked the camp as the wizards fought to defend it.
• Benjamin began to rise into the air, then vanished unnoticed amid the battle.

Benjamin discovered that he had been dragged into a separate timeline branch and was nearly erased by its powerful will. Star-Forged Artorius appeared in person and saved him, leaving Benjamin face to face with the Level 8 Archwizard.

• Benjamin recognized that the temple differed from the one in his memories and used the All-Purpose Eye to determine that he was in a timeline gap.
• Benjamin explored the branch world and found only ruined structures, barren land, and a blue energy sphere above the temple altar.
• As Benjamin approached the sphere, Artorius's concealment mark failed, and the world's will detected him.
• Benjamin tried to escape into Phase Space, but the branch world's laws collapsed his escape and its will began erasing his existence.
• Artorius stepped through a star-filled spatial rift and casually dispersed the erasing force, saving Benjamin.

Artorius tracked the retreating will to its true hiding place and entered the core timeline, with Benjamin following and attempting to breach the enormous mechanical sphere. Benjamin found an apparent archive channel and was swept into a vast stream of recorded memories and time.

• Artorius tore open a rift to the will’s core timeline, and Benjamin followed him through it.
• Benjamin found the genuine temple and saw an enormous metallic sphere at its center.
• Artorius’s message instructed Benjamin to approach the sphere and seek an external interface while he restrained its defenses.
• Benjamin resisted the sphere’s information attack and used the All-Purpose Eye to search its systems.
• Benjamin found a data stream leading to a protected core region and extended his consciousness toward it.
• A vast outpouring of recorded information swept Benjamin into an abyss of memories and time.

Benjamin accessed the sphere’s history and technical data, then breached its firewall while confronting the Sphere Will with evidence that its claimed civilizational ascension had been a fearful faction’s violent seizure of control. The final firewall fell, giving Benjamin the highest authority over the Time Paradox Generator.

• Benjamin learned that the original insect civilization had transformed its plane into a time-resetting fortress and transferred its citizens’ consciousnesses into the Sphere Will.
• Benjamin used the sphere’s technical data to open its operating interface and rapidly breach its internal defenses.
• The Sphere Will pleaded with Benjamin to stop, but Benjamin argued that the Sickle-Skull Race had become a new civilization while the Sphere Will was only a remnant imprisoned in the machine.
• Benjamin deduced that the Sphere Will’s faction had suppressed a rival faction and modified their bodies into the first Sickle-Skulls, and the Sphere Will’s denial strengthened his theory.
• Benjamin removed the final core firewall and gained access to the Time Paradox Generator’s highest authority.

The Sphere Will cast Benjamin into a temporal branch and attacked him with a deadly trap. Benjamin survived the first strike and discovered that his attacker was another version of himself.

• The Sphere Will activated its final protocol and hurled Benjamin into an unknown temporal branch.
• Artorius took control of the sphere, found the protocol records, and began searching for a way to retrieve Benjamin.
• Benjamin arrived in a ruined temple and raised his layered defenses against a sudden Dark Gold beam.
• Benjamin used Light Transformation to survive the beam, then stabilized himself to identify its source.
• Benjamin saw that the attacker in the temple was another Benjamin.

Benjamin fought a Time Afterimage of himself in the ruined temple and used his knowledge of the Body Tempering Method and an Anti-Magic Field to gain an advantage. Though the mirror image’s final attack nearly killed him, Benjamin left it trapped in the stabilized field with its forces crippled.

• Benjamin realized the mirror image was a Time Afterimage that could not reproduce the ongoing adaptive evolution of his Body Tempering Method.
• Benjamin ordered his Black Giants to self-destruct, but the mirror image copied his order and both sides fired Li-Fire Extinction Divine Light.
• Benjamin reversed the Great Light Manifestation’s energy flow, draining the surrounding elements and creating an Anti-Magic Field.
• The mirror image overloaded its Rune Artifacts and launched a final volley, blasting away Benjamin’s left shoulder and much of his chest.
• Benjamin struggled to his feet and saw the mirror image trapped in the stabilized Anti-Magic Field with its Great Light Manifestation crippled and its Black Giant Legion devastated.

Benjamin defeated the Time Afterimage in a close-combat battle that pushed his Body Tempering Method and fighting ability to new heights. Star-Forged Artorius congratulated him, and they left the collapsing time branch through a spatial rift.

• Benjamin regenerated from his injuries and charged the Time Afterimage for a second battle.
• Benjamin adapted to the afterimage’s attacks, refined his movements, and gradually overcame its predictive advantage.
• Benjamin punched through the afterimage’s chest and destroyed its head, causing it and the replicated creations to vanish.
• Star-Forged Artorius emerged from a spatial rift, praised Benjamin for passing the Mirror Trial, and told him the temporary prison was collapsing.
• Benjamin followed Artorius through the rift as the Mirror Corridor time branch collapsed into nothingness.

Benjamin returned to the Wizard Camp with Star-Forged Artorius's warning that the next Samsara would be the final one, and Frost prepared the force for the Endgame Protocol. During the sixteenth Samsara, Artorius reclaimed the unconscious high-level Sickle-Skull Race and issued orders to capture the remaining members while the wizards prepared to study and control the completed Time Paradox Generator.

• Benjamin relayed Star-Forged Artorius's instructions to Frost, who ordered the wizards to prepare for the Endgame Protocol.
• Benjamin sealed the research records as the sixteenth Samsara began, and he sensed that something enormous was being drawn into the plane.
• The Sickle-Skull Race's high-level leaders had lost consciousness, and their instinctive defenses killed lower-ranked members who approached them.
• Star-Forged Artorius reclaimed the unconscious high-level Sickle-Skull Race and announced that their shells would be awarded according to military merit.
• Artorius ordered combat wizards to capture living Sickle-Skull Race members, prompting them to charge into the disorganized enemy ranks.
• Artorius assigned the logistics divisions to analyze and begin controlling the returning Time Paradox Generator and the soon-to-be-complete plane.

Star-Forged Artorius flew the Wizard Camp to the temple and secured the Time Paradox Generator for study. When Benjamin warned that a distant civilization might threaten the Star Ring Federation, Artorius revealed that its supposed catastrophe had likely been caused by an ancient battle fought by a Federation expeditionary legion, leaving Benjamin to face the absurd cycle behind the relic.

• Star-Forged Artorius lifted the Wizard Camp into the sky and guided it toward the temple region.
• Sickle-Skull Race survivors entered the temple, found the mechanical sphere on its altar, and were immobilized by Artorius.
• Artorius incorporated the temple into the Wizard Camp and stored the frozen Sickle-Skull Race members away as samples.
• Logistics Department wizards began scanning and researching the sphere, which Benjamin identified as the Time Paradox Generator’s core control unit.
• Benjamin told Artorius that the device had been created after a distant civilization was nearly destroyed by a mysterious shockwave.
• Artorius said the shockwave most likely came from a battle by a Star Ring Federation Level 9 Wizard against the Void Abomination Race, and Benjamin turned his attention back to studying the sphere.

After a century researching the Samsara Plane, Benjamin reached a knowledge barrier and decided to return to Noren Academy No. 147. He reviewed his substantial military merit and research gains, then arrived at the academy as new students enrolled.

• Benjamin declined a symposium invitation and prepared to leave the Samsara Plane research project after realizing he could no longer follow its advanced research.
• Benjamin collected his Sickle-Skull samples and tallied his military merit, research archives, and gains in Spirit Energy and Time Law mastery.
• Benjamin packed his laboratory and confirmed his departure with Star-Forged Artorius's Level 7 adjutant, who awarded him a complete Level 7 Sickle-Skull body and relayed Artorius's praise.
• Benjamin teleported to Noren Academy No. 147 and watched new students arrive, reflecting that he had become a qualified wizard.

After returning to the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, Benjamin reviewed a century of operations and decided to use Time Afterimages to accelerate his cultivation. He spent 5.46 billion low-grade Military Merit on training Wizard Artifacts and began preparing a dedicated training ground.

• Benjamin returned to the Purgatory Sulfur Plane and ordered a full-domain scan of its systems.
• Benjamin reviewed the Black Giant Legion's growth, the Incense Divinity Path's efficiency, and the Level 7 Large Elemental Pool's available capacity.
• Benjamin searched the Magic Network for Alchemy Wizard Artifacts that could generate Time Afterimages for training.
• Benjamin bought three Mirror Gallery of Time sets and two Hourglasses of Self for 5.46 billion low-grade Military Merit.
• Benjamin began preparing a training ground, cultivation aids, energy channels, and protections for his Time Afterimage training.

One year later, Benjamin’s training and medicinal baths had greatly strengthened his body, but the imbalance with his mental power and Spiritual Power led him to pause physical enhancement. He turned to planning the next stage of his research, choosing to install cross-space energy transmission into the Incense Divinity Path.

• Benjamin emerged from the Time Afterimage training ground and reviewed measurements showing his physical attributes had increased dozens of times.
• Benjamin recognized that his powerful body had disrupted the balance of essence, qi, and spirit, so he decided to focus on tempering his mental power and refining his Spiritual Power.
• Benjamin reflected on the different advancement requirements of the Wizard and Immortal Cultivation systems and concluded he would eventually need to reach the Void Refinement Realm.
• Benjamin selected the Incense Divinity Path as his next project and opened its holographic diagram.
• Benjamin tapped the Cross-Space Energy Transmission Module to begin formally integrating it into the system.

Benjamin received Starfall Wizard’s invitation to a celebration in five years while overseeing construction of an energy transmission array. Viola then warned him that Starfall had created a Living Plane that was showing signs of instability, and Starfall was unreachable inside its lockdown.

• Benjamin supervised Black Giant Priests constructing the Cross-Space Energy Transmission Module in the Purgatory Sulfur Plane.
• Benjamin received Starfall Wizard’s invitation to attend her celebration ceremony in five years and wondered whether it marked her advancement to Level 7.
• Benjamin accepted Viola’s teleportation request and met her in his core laboratory.
• Viola explained that Starfall’s research, inspired by Benjamin’s Imaginary Element, had succeeded in creating a Living Plane.
• Viola told Benjamin that the plane’s energy and spiritual fluctuations were dangerously unstable and that its lockdown prevented her from contacting Starfall.

Viola warned Benjamin that Starfall Wizard’s artificially catalyzed Living Plane might become dangerous and asked him to help contain or destroy it in five years. After preparing for the mission and arranging for Mentor Clark to join them, Benjamin traveled to Noren Academy No. 13 to meet his mentor.

• Benjamin recalled that Viola had bought three Plane Annihilation Devices and one Plane Binding Device to prepare for a possible crisis with Starfall Wizard’s Living Plane.
• Viola asked Benjamin to help operate the devices if the plane became uncontrollable and gave him a crystal containing manuals, emergency protocols, and her suppression plan.
• Benjamin agreed to prepare and study the devices, trusting that Mentor Clark might also intervene.
• Over the next five years, Benjamin continued developing the Incense Divinity Path, prepared supplies, and left the Purgatory Sulfur Plane’s affairs in the Black Giant Priests’ hands.
• Benjamin traveled to Noren Academy No. 13 to meet Mentor Clark before heading to Fallen Star Land with him.

Benjamin and Mentor Clark traveled aboard Viola’s heavily automated void battleship to assess the increasingly unstable Falling Star Plane. They found its Plane Barrier already wrapped in an activated Plane Binding Device, prepared to suppress it.

• Benjamin met Mentor Clark in his office, and the two used a permanent teleportation array to reach Viola’s vessel.
• Benjamin recognized the vessel as a high-end warship built for long-term travel through the Endless Chaotic Void.
• A silver construct guided Benjamin and Mentor Clark to the control room, where Viola said the plane’s spiritual fluctuations were growing more frequent.
• Benjamin looked through the battleship’s porthole and saw the Falling Star Plane surrounded by crimson spell arrays from the Plane Binding Device.

Viola reported that the Living Plane’s instability and hostile consciousness were rapidly worsening, while contact with Starfall remained impossible. Clark decided to enter the plane himself to find Starfall, despite Viola and Benjamin warning him of the risks.

• Viola showed Clark and Benjamin data indicating that spiritual intensity and energy activity were rising as the Plane Barrier weakened and the plane consciousness grew more aggressive.
• Viola urged Clark to activate the outer Restraint Array at full capacity, but admitted she could not contact or locate Starfall inside the sealed Fallen Star Land.
• Benjamin questioned whether they could risk containment or extermination without knowing Starfall’s condition, and Clark warned that either action could endanger her or destabilize the plane.
• Clark proposed entering the plane himself to search for Starfall, prompting Viola and Benjamin to object that its chaotic laws and nascent consciousness could trap or attack him.
• Clark explained that he had prepared defensive spells, emergency extraction plans, and extensive simulations, and said he was confident he could retreat unharmed.

Clark entered the sealed Falling Star Plane to find Starfall, while Viola and Benjamin prepared the arrays outside. The plane began awakening sooner and more violently than predicted as Benjamin finished preparing the annihilation systems.

• Viola gave Clark the crystal authorization code that would let the Annihilation Arrays recognize and avoid areas marked by its energy signature.
• Clark ordered Viola and Benjamin to analyze the plane’s monitoring data, then calculated his safest entry window and coordinates before entering the plane.
• Viola took charge of manually overseeing the external Restraint Arrays, while Benjamin prepared the three Plane Annihilation Arrays as a final safeguard.
• Benjamin detected a sharp rise in spiritual activity, and the Falling Star Plane began radiating a powerful, chaotic presence that made its barrier and the surrounding void fluctuate violently.
• The awakening plane reacted to the activated scarlet Restraint Arrays, which became a direct stimulus to its emerging consciousness.

As the Living Plane's will fought against the Restraint Arrays, Viola prepared to launch the Annihilation Arrays, but Benjamin sensed that the newborn consciousness was frightened and in pain rather than malicious. Viola agreed to wait and keep the restraints stable while they awaited news from Mentor Clark and Wizard Starfall.

• The Living Plane's awakening will strained the Restraint Arrays until their rune chains cracked, while Mentor Clark and Wizard Starfall remained out of contact.
• Viola sent an emergency order to launch the Annihilation Arrays, but the battleship did not respond to the command.
• Benjamin studied the Detection Array's readings and sensed that the Living Plane's consciousness was reacting with fear and discomfort rather than intent to destroy.
• Benjamin urged Viola to wait for Mentor Clark and warned her that using her Law of Pain could further agitate the consciousness.
• Viola reluctantly agreed to hold off on the attack and focused on stabilizing the Restraint Arrays as the Living Plane continued to struggle.

Benjamin and Viola’s attempt to calm the newborn Living Plane helped its soul core form and briefly stabilized the chaos. The terrified soul then unleashed a concentrated blast that shattered the Restraint Array, leaving Viola facing the plane’s sudden attack.

• Benjamin monitored the Living Plane as Viola used a gentler approach to keep the strained Restraint Array from collapsing.
• The plane’s spiritual traits converged, forming a soul core and calming its chaotic energy enough to ease the pressure on the array.
• Benjamin told Viola that the soul had formed and the plane seemed to be stabilizing.
• The newborn soul erupted in terror and focused the plane’s power into a single impact.
• The blast shattered the Restraint Array, and Viola reacted in horror as the attack broke through.

Viola tried to stop the Living Plane’s violent outburst, but the blast destroyed the remaining Annihilation Arrays and hurled her through the void. Benjamin’s emotional analysis showed that the plane had reacted in terror rather than attacked, apparently because Mentor Clark was exploring inside it.

• Viola tried to activate an Annihilation Array, but the Living Plane’s outburst destroyed the nearby arrays and sent her tumbling through the void.
• Viola ordered Benjamin to fire at the plane, but he told her to examine his emotional spectrum analysis instead.
• Viola saw that the plane’s terror far outweighed its malice, and its fear began to subside into confusion and pain.
• The last Annihilation Array was destroyed by another burst of residual energy as Viola returned to the battleship and demanded an explanation.
• Benjamin concluded that the plane had been startled by Mentor Clark, a powerful wizard wandering inside its body.

Viola and Benjamin entered the newly awakened Starfall Plane after Clark confirmed the situation was under control. In Starfall’s damaged laboratory, they found her alive as a distinct soul body, though her physical body had vanished.

• The newborn Plane stabilized, but Benjamin warned that Starfall’s safety remained uncertain until Clark sent word that they could enter if they kept their mental fluctuations gentle.
• Viola shielded Benjamin, and the Plane opened its barrier to let them through as they sensed its curious, timid consciousness watching them.
• Viola and Benjamin flew to Starfall’s laboratory and found its tower breached and its interior badly damaged.
• In the laboratory, they found Clark beside Starfall, whose body had disappeared and whose vivid form was now a translucent soul.
• Viola rushed toward Starfall in shock, while Starfall cheerfully greeted them and insisted she was fine.

Starfall explained that animating the Living Plane had consumed her body, though Clark had rescued her soul and the experience had opened a path toward Level Seven. She resolved to make the newborn plane a wizard and apply to the Star Ring Federation for its admission.

• Viola confronted Starfall over losing her body, but Clark warned that Viola's anger was frightening the newborn Living Plane consciousness, so the group left through a passage it opened for them.
• On the warship, Clark praised Viola for restraining herself and Benjamin for persuading her to change tactics, while Starfall and Viola briefly bickered and tussled.
• Starfall said the animation experiment had advanced her understanding and that she hoped to attempt a Level Seven breakthrough within one or two thousand years.
• Viola asked how Starfall planned to treat the Living Plane, and Starfall said she intended to make it a wizard.
• Clark said the plane could learn wizard knowledge, but its admission depended on whether the Star Ring Federation and Star Track Tribunal would permit it to sign the wizard contract.
• Starfall decided to submit a formal application to the Star Ring Federation through the Magic Network.

Clark told Benjamin and Viola that Noren Workshop would soon fight the Tower of Silence and the Chaos Cult after Anton Buchanan’s advancement to Level 8 disrupted the balance among the factions. Federation mediation had delayed the conflict for at most eighty years, and Clark doubted Starfall would be ready in time; Starfall returned from the control room dazed by an apparent shock.

• Clark warned Benjamin and Viola to prepare for war against the Tower of Silence and the Chaos Cult.
• Clark explained that Anton Buchanan’s advancement gave Noren Workshop a second Level 8 Wizard, prompting its rivals to seek a chance to contain it.
• Viola and Clark explained that the Star Ring Federation would coordinate a limited, regulated conflict rather than force the factions to cease hostilities.
• Clark said Federation mediation had delayed the war for at most eighty years, and he believed Starfall would not be ready to take part.
• Starfall returned to the lounge in a dazed, disordered state after connecting to the Magic Network.

Wizard Starfall learned that the Star Ring Federation had approved the little one's entry into Wizard Civilization and awarded her a Level One Training Agreement for her groundbreaking research. The chapter ended with Starfall embracing the scale of the Federation’s investment and the path her theory could open.

• Wizard Starfall told Viola, Benjamin, and Clark that the Star Ring Federation had agreed to teach the little one basic wizard knowledge and accept it as a special member if it signed the contract.
• Wizard Starfall revealed that Felix, the Star Ring Federation Magic Network’s core artificial intelligence, had personally handled the application.
• Wizard Starfall announced that Felix had granted her a Level One Training Agreement in recognition of her contributions to Plane Activation Theory, the Law of Spirituality, and expanding Wizard Civilization’s strategic force.
• Benjamin realized the agreement was an investment in Starfall’s proposal to turn Living Planes into wizards, a path that could transform the Federation’s military strength.
• Viola embraced Starfall, who brightened and said that she had truly pierced the heavens.