Chapter Summaries

Benjamin used a sequence of Magic Potions to activate his body and soul, then advanced from a Level 1 Wizard to a Level 2 Wizard by rebuilding his Ring of Truth. He emerged with greatly increased spiritual power and control over elemental forces, while his Alchemy gained the ability to manipulate simple organic matter.

• Benjamin drank successive rounds of Magic Potions to activate and stabilize his body and soul.
• He dissolved the Wizardry Models in his Spirit Sea, releasing their spiritual power, and began his advancement.
• Benjamin spent several months fusing his knowledge into the Ring of Truth until it transformed into a vast new structure.
• After advancing to Level 2 Wizard, Benjamin found his Spirit Sea had expanded and his control over external elemental power had improved.
• He rebuilt his four foundational Wizardry Models, and Alchemy broke through its limitation to inorganic matter.

After advancing to Level 2, Benjamin began studying Master Elwin’s difficult spatial knowledge under their debt contract and found that the pressure helped his Body Tempering Method evolve. More than a decade later, David returned from military service and told Benjamin he had sensed an opportunity to advance to Level 2.

• Benjamin received Master Elwin’s extensive materials on spatial gaps and began studying them to repay part of his debt.
• As Benjamin struggled with spatial theories, his Body Tempering Method adapted to the mental pressure and improved his brain activity and understanding.
• More than a decade passed while Benjamin immersed himself in his research.
• David contacted Benjamin after returning safely from the Plane Battlefield, and Benjamin updated him on the Eloria refugees’ resettlement.
• David told Benjamin he had returned early because he felt ready to pursue advancement to Level 2, and Benjamin congratulated him.

Benjamin spent more than twenty years mastering spatial knowledge, then upgraded his All-Purpose Eye Wizardry Model and impressed Master Roland. Roland invited him to join his research team and offered to arrange a powerful spatial artifact on credit, but Benjamin declined both offers.

• After ending his communication with David, Benjamin resumed studying spatial knowledge while David prepared to seclude himself and advance to Level 2 Wizard.
• Benjamin mastered and integrated the spatial knowledge in a little over twenty years, realizing it could not yet help him manipulate spatial gaps but would support his future advancement.
• Benjamin contacted Master Roland and sent him the upgraded All-Purpose Eye Wizardry Model, whose observational ability exceeded Roland's expectations.
• Master Roland praised Benjamin's talent and invited him to join his spatial research team after reaching Level 3 Wizard, but Benjamin tactfully declined.
• Master Roland offered to arrange a spatial transportation Wizard Artifact made by his Level 7 mentor, with Benjamin taking out a loan, but Benjamin refused to incur more debt.

Benjamin established a lava energy pool on Purgatory Sulfur and used a Level 4 Lava Giant core to activate an Incubation Pool, successfully nurturing a Level 2 Lava Giant. Finding its strength insufficient and the core too scarce to sustain mass production, he began considering how to improve the Lava Giant race itself.

• After the modified Eloria Plane Cluster refugees were taken away by Noren Academy, Benjamin replaced their labor with Construct Puppets and sent invigorating Magic Potions to Senior Viola.
• Benjamin gathered Purgatory Sulfur’s ley lines into a vast lava sea and installed the Level 2 Incubation Pool, using the lava’s energy to activate it.
• He used a fragment of an active Level 4 Lava Giant core as a mother source in the pool and spent two months recording the incubation process.
• The pool produced a fully grown Level 2 Lava Giant, which Benjamin restrained and examined.
• Benjamin rejected straightforward biological modification as too costly and decided to improve the Lava Giant race’s biological essence, from genes to soul.

Benjamin sold most of his territory on Eloria's main plane to fund his research into transforming the Lava Giant race. Combining advanced biochemical knowledge with insights from the Great Dao Library, he began experimenting on a Lava Giant's unusual digestive system and saw promising progress.

• Benjamin confirmed the sale of all his Eloria territory except the area around the Golden Garden, and Noren Academy transferred the proceeds to his account.
• Benjamin reflected on how his accelerated perception made other people seem to move slowly, then returned to his laboratory with the funds.
• Benjamin purchased difficult biochemical modification knowledge after Adamantine sales slowed as nearby markets became saturated.
• Benjamin bred Lava Giants for experiments while studying the new knowledge and learning about the innate gods called Fire Spirits.
• Benjamin examined a Level 1 Lava Giant's digestive system and identified its ability to absorb lava energy and digest flesh as a promising way to improve the race.

After decades absorbed in research, Benjamin discovered that Victor and Amy had died on a failed plane-conquest mission. He struggled with grief and confusion, but Clark and Viola intervened, and Benjamin returned to his Lava Giant research with his turmoil eased.

• Benjamin received David’s message that he had advanced to Level 2 Wizard and realized decades had passed during his research.
• Benjamin checked his unread messages and learned that Victor Sario and Amy Gray Sparrow had been confirmed dead after the failed “Nest of Star Whispers” mission.
• Benjamin found that the mission had failed when the plane’s core was detonated by the Native race’s self-destruction mechanism, killing the entire Wizard squad.
• Benjamin told Senior Viola about the deaths, and she mocked his grief before Clark took over the communication and called him immature.
• Benjamin recognized that Clark and Viola had tried to help him, felt his grief ease, and returned to studying the Lava Giant.

After repeated experimental failures caused by grief over Amy and Victor, Benjamin accepted a mission to hunt an Illegal Wizard and traveled to the new Noren Academy branch. There, he discovered that the other wizard assigned to the mission was David, transformed in appearance by imposing black armor.

• Benjamin's grief distracted him during a precise experiment, causing a Lava Giant test subject to combust, so he paused his research.
• Benjamin accepted a Level 2 team mission to hunt an Illegal Wizard after learning that the target was estimated to be as strong as an ordinary Level 2 Wizard.
• Benjamin prepared his laboratory and traveled to the new Noren Academy branch, where the mission team was due to assemble within three days.
• Benjamin arrived at the meeting place and recognized David by his familiar soul aura, despite David's intimidating heavy armor and changed appearance.

David and Benjamin traveled to hunt an Illegal Wizard, and David explained that the target was the Sage of Eloria’s surviving soul, whose hidden cultivation and damaged mind had turned him into a threat. After finding no clues at the target’s last known location, they headed toward a nearby city to investigate.

• David and Benjamin left Noren Academy together and flew toward the Illegal Wizard’s last reported location.
• Benjamin asked why David had accepted the mission, and David explained the contracts that governed Wizards and how monitoring helped prevent Illegal Wizards.
• David revealed that the target had been born from the Sage of Eloria, whose divided soul secretly cultivated using an incomplete Meditation Method after the Plane’s transformation.
• David explained that the Sage’s remnant soul became cruel and destructive, prompting Noren Academy to issue a kill mission.
• Benjamin and David searched a scorched forest but found no useful traces, so they decided to question people in the nearest city.

Chuck’s belief in wizards led him to meet a dangerous stranger, but a city guard captain intervened before the man could kill him. Benjamin and David discovered the stranger had been artificially modified, and Benjamin recognized Chuck as a naturally talented potential Wizard Apprentice before they departed.

• Chuck secretly brought black bread to the black-robed man, who revealed himself as a dangerous wizard-like attacker and reached for Chuck’s neck.
• The city guard captain and his squad surrounded the man, but he attacked them with black fire; the captain shielded Chuck from the blast.
• Benjamin and David appeared above the alley and identified signs of artificial modification in the attacker.
• The attacker tried to flee and attack the wizards, but Benjamin killed him with a ray of energy.
• Benjamin gave the attacker’s head to David for analysis and recognized that Chuck had talent nearly equal to a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice.
• Benjamin and David left, while Chuck watched them go with awe and longing for wizards.

Benjamin and David investigated an infected pseudo-wizard and identified an unfamiliar, inefficient power that consumed stolen life force, prompting a wider hunt for the Illegal Wizard. Two years later, they pursued the target toward the Storm Sea, knowing the pseudo-wizards served as mobile base stations that collected life force for him.

• David examined the captive's shattered soul and determined that the man had been infected by an unknown power after encountering the Illegal Wizard.
• Benjamin analyzed the man's body and found that the unfamiliar energy drained life force while converting only a tiny fraction of it into usable power.
• Benjamin and David confirmed that the power belonged neither to Noren Workshop nor to the Eloria Plane's old extraordinary system, and they requested more support and a wider search.
• Benjamin reflected on how generations of mortals had forgotten the truth about wizards and considered the long, painful path toward the maturity Mentor Clark described.
• Two years later, Benjamin and David received word that the target's latest suspicious energy trace appeared in the Storm Sea and flew there to pursue him.
• Benjamin and David recalled that the infected pseudo-wizards acted as mobile base stations collecting life force for the hidden Illegal Wizard.

Benjamin and David traced the Illegal Wizard to a remote island and fought their way through a legion of vitality-drained monsters. They confronted the apparently ordinary man at the island’s center, whose true strength was Level 3, and David recognized him as familiar.

• Benjamin and David followed the hidden vitality network to a storm-wreathed island in the ocean.
• A legion of Level 2 pseudo-wizards and modified sea monsters attacked them at the island’s perimeter.
• David smashed through the enemy ranks while Benjamin adapted to their vitality-eroding negative energy and became immune to it.
• Benjamin and David defeated the legion and advanced to the island’s center.
• They found a weathered man whose energy marked him as a genuine Level 3, and David silently recognized him.

Sage revealed that he had never accepted Eloria’s defeat and used the life force of false Wizards to open a gate to a forbidden being’s lair. The supposed Destruction Demon God fled upon hearing that Wizards were involved, but a Level 7 Wizard appeared and held the collapsing gate open.

• Sage explained that he had waited until Eloria’s survivors had been transformed into people of the Wizard World before seeking revenge with an external force.
• Sage activated a blood-red ritual array across the island and sacrificed the life force he had gathered to open a destruction gate.
• David and Benjamin pretended to panic behind the array’s barrier, then smiled mockingly as the gate opened.
• The Destruction Demon God roared in alarm at the mention of Wizards and swiftly tried to retreat through the collapsing vortex.
• A Level 7 Wizard in a black robe appeared beside the vortex and forcibly held the passage open with his hands.

Benjamin and David watched as Academy Dean Avery Knight revealed the Wizards who had secretly followed them and captured the Level 8 Destruction Demon God through the portal. The demon tried to destroy itself to protect its world, but Avery contained the blast and salvaged fragments of its origin.

• Avery Knight held open the spatial portal while Benjamin and David realized that the island was surrounded by hidden Wizards.
• Benjamin recalled that he and David had reported signs of an unknown civilization to the Academy two years earlier, prompting Avery and other Wizards to secretly follow them.
• Avery attacked the Destruction Demon God through the portal as the other Wizards stabilized the passage.
• Avery pulled the Level 8 Destruction Demon God through the portal and imprisoned its soul.
• The Destruction Demon God triggered a self-destruction to protect its world, but Avery sealed the explosion and retrieved fragments containing its origin.

After the portal to the unknown world collapsed, Dean Avery Knight ordered Wizards to study the Destruction Demon God’s remains and recover the world’s coordinates. He then offered Benjamin and David Plane Origin as an additional reward, leaving them to choose which type they needed.

• The spatial portal collapsed under the Destruction Demon God’s self-destruction, and Dean Avery Knight sealed the remains in a crystal of soul power.
• Dean Avery Knight ordered the Wizards to record the spatial energy, search for the source plane’s coordinates, and study the remains, sacrificial island, and Sage.
• Dean Avery Knight told Benjamin and David that the failed invasion was not their fault and offered each an additional reward for their valuable intelligence.
• Benjamin and David learned that Plane Origin could provide Wizards with knowledge of a plane’s laws, and Dean Avery Knight asked which type they needed.

Benjamin and David chose to receive Plane Origin related to the four great elements, even after Dean Avery Knight increased their reward to ten strands. They left the Dean to rest while he prepared their rewards, due in about a dozen years.

• Benjamin and David asked Dean Avery Knight for Plane Origin related to the rules of the four great elements.
• Dean Avery Knight explained the risks of relying on Plane Origin and revealed that the target plane’s multiple Level 8 lifeforms meant their reward would rise from one strand to ten.
• Benjamin reaffirmed his choice, and David overcame his hesitation and made the same choice.
• Dean Avery Knight approved their decision and said he would deliver their rewards in roughly a dozen years.
• Benjamin and David saluted Dean Avery Knight and departed from the sea region where the demolition work continued.

Benjamin returned to his research in Golden Garden and received a wisp of Water Element rule origin from Dean Avery Knight as an advance reward. After absorbing it, he gained the knowledge he needed to complete the final stage of his Lava Giant modification research.

• Benjamin resumed his Lava Giant racial modification research in his private laboratory after recovering from his grief.
• Dean Avery Knight sent Benjamin a sealed test tube containing Water Element rule origin and explained that the Academy had found the Destruction Demon God's plane coordinates.
• Benjamin crushed the test tube and absorbed the origin, gaining insight into Water Element and time rules.
• Benjamin realized that the origin's knowledge of restraint, tolerance, and circulation supplied the final insight needed for his Lava Giant modification plan.

After fifty years, Benjamin’s fusion experiment using Lava Giant and Snow Monster cores neared completion, and Viola returned from the Frostfire Plane exhausted but eager for new work. She learned of a war on a newly discovered plane and planned to prepare before joining it.

• Benjamin checked that the Lava Giant and Snow Monster cores were fusing steadily and estimated they would need about another year to finish.
• Viola arrived at Benjamin’s laboratory after decades of research on the Frostfire Plane, where Clark had pushed her to her limits.
• Viola told Benjamin that Clark’s research had made a major breakthrough and asked him to send the Mortal Dust Potions he owed.
• Viola explained that Clark had released her to catch up on her foundational studies and repay her debt, so she asked Benjamin about profitable jobs.
• Benjamin told Viola about a resource-rich plane at war, and Viola decided to prepare for twenty or thirty years before heading there.

Two years later, Benjamin tested a newly modified Lava Giant that combined a Lava Giant’s energy reserves with a Snow Monster’s time talent and powerful heat absorption. After defeating it, he named the creation Black Giant.

• Benjamin watched the black giant emerge from the Incubation Pool, whereupon it lost control and attacked him.
• Benjamin fought the black giant and discovered its extraordinary speed, soul-chilling cold, and ability to absorb energy from its surroundings.
• Benjamin assessed the black giant’s defenses and time-manipulating abilities as they battled across the Purgatory Sulfur Plane.
• Benjamin eventually knocked the black giant down and gave it the codename Black Giant.

Benjamin monitored his slow elemental-core fusion and confronted two immediate problems: his stalled cultivation and empty finances. After Viola suggested selling older technologies, he eagerly began choosing inventions to market.

• Benjamin checked the Lava Giant and Snow Monster cores and confirmed their fusion was progressing extremely slowly.
• Benjamin realized that despite reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment, he could not break through to Golden Core without a crucial opportunity.
• Benjamin discovered that his research expenses had depleted his points, and Viola admitted she could not lend him money.
• Viola advised Benjamin to sell outdated technologies to fund his research, explaining that knowledge could earn him points and military merit.
• Benjamin thanked Viola, ended the call, and began selecting technologies to sell while Viola called after him to offer to buy them.

Benjamin developed the Self-Stabilizing Field Regulation Protocol by adapting the stable energy-circulation principle of Inner Circulation into a low-cost elemental magic array. After the Star Ring Federation’s artificial intelligence Felix offered to promote it in exchange for a sharply reduced price and waived fees, Benjamin agreed.

• Benjamin chose to adapt Inner Circulation’s stable energy circulation rather than sell his secret cultivation methods directly.
• After several months of work, Benjamin completed the Self-Stabilizing Field Regulation Protocol, which isolated and stabilized energy in a small area.
• Benjamin submitted the protocol to the Star Ring Federation’s Magic Network, where its review was quickly approved.
• Felix contacted Benjamin and offered to waive the sales fee and promote the protocol if Benjamin lowered its price to two hundred low-level Military Merit.
• Felix explained that the technology qualified for support under the Civilization Advancement Fundamental Treaty, and Benjamin accepted the offer.