Chapter Summaries

Anton Buchanan advanced to Level 8, imprinting his laws on the plane and transforming into a powerful old man. He celebrated his success by conjuring a banquet in the hall, where the gathered wizards took their seats.

• Anton Buchanan’s advancement sent a pulse through the plane as he solidified his laws, unsettling its creatures and pressuring the wizards in the hall.
• Mentor Clark explained the law replacement to Benjamin, Viola, and Angelo, and urged them to study the rhythm; Benjamin recorded its changes despite being unable to understand them.
• Anton’s body transformed from a child into a massive old man as the pressure peaked, and the plane settled into a more ordered state after his advancement succeeded.
• Mentor Clark explained that Anton’s child and old-man forms reflected different aspects of his laws governing life, returning forms to their origin, and strength.
• Anton welcomed the gathered wizards to celebrate his promotion and transformed the hall into a lavish banquet setting.
• The wizards accepted Anton’s invitation and took their seats at the feast.

Benjamin returned to the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, fulfilled orders, and spent decades researching spatial wizardry before naturally advancing to Level 4 Wizard. He then tested a new Crystal Blade Patroller whose phase concealment and Spatial Slash let it destroy a Level 4 shield, making it a specialized assassin for his forces.

• Benjamin produced and shipped ten thousand high-grade Military Merit worth of Spirit Energy to Mentor Clark, sent Blake a new batch of Liquid Adamantine, and confirmed Grand Mentor Anton Buchanan's advancement to Dean Avery Knight.
• Benjamin spent decades studying spatial wizardry and advanced to Level 4 Wizard while conducting a biological construction surgery.
• Benjamin's advancement drove his Cultivation from the Nascent Soul Middle Stage through the late stage and toward the Nascent Soul peak.
• Benjamin unveiled a new Crystal Blade Patroller based on the Mutant Spider-Snake and ordered a performance test.
• The Crystal Blade Patroller concealed itself in Phase Space, used Spatial Slash to destroy a Level 4 shield, and vanished again.

Benjamin agreed to meet Viola’s friend, a Level Six wizard who studied the Law of Spirituality, after learning that his Imaginary Element resonated with her research. He and Viola traveled from the Purgatory Sulfur Plane toward her private plane to examine the cultivated magic plants and exchange ideas.

• Viola told Benjamin that her friend had found a connection between his Imaginary Element and the Law of Spirituality.
• Benjamin agreed to meet the friend and discuss how the exchange might deepen his understanding of Spirit Energy.
• Viola arrived at Benjamin’s laboratory, bought two tubes of concentrated Spirit Energy, and Benjamin briefed the Black Giant Priest commanders on his research plans.
• Viola led Benjamin through Noren Academy No. 147 and toward an ultra-long-distance teleportation array.

Benjamin and Viola arrived in Starfall's Hundred Flowers Garden and found it transformed into a battlefield between elemental creatures and animated plants. They met Anya Starfall, who was revealed to be Viola's friend's descendant, student, and assistant.

• Benjamin and Viola emerged into a laboratory under attack and saw elemental creatures fighting animated plants across the continent.
• Nearby creatures charged at Benjamin and Viola, but Viola incapacitated them with a wave of pain that drove the rest of the fighters away.
• Benjamin had Black Giant Priests capture the disabled creatures for a soul search while he and Viola questioned whether an invasion had caused the devastation.
• A powerful presence approached, and a fire dragon elemental spirit shrank into a tiny ruby-like dragon beside Anya Starfall.
• Benjamin recognized Anya from the Noren Workshop graduation trial, and Viola explained that Anya was her friend's descendant and most important student and assistant.

Benjamin and Viola learned that a rebellion had engulfed the private plane of Viola’s Level 6 Wizard friend, who had deliberately let her created races develop without soul contracts. They headed for her laboratory, while Anya’s intense interest in Benjamin’s Imaginary Element left him eager to keep his distance.

• Anya told Benjamin and Viola that the servant races in her grandmother’s plane had rebelled, and explained that her grandmother had allowed the conflict to unfold as part of her research.
• Anya said the plane’s defense system had redirected their teleportation to a frontline observation post, and Viola led them toward the safe laboratory.
• Viola ordered the captured creatures erased because they had been contaminated, and Benjamin and Anya helped clear the battlefield before following her.
• Anya asked to buy Benjamin’s Imaginary Element, then admitted she found his life force so appealing that she struggled to resist investigating him.
• Benjamin accelerated toward Viola to avoid Anya and reach the person in charge as soon as possible.

Benjamin, Viola, and Anya entered Starfall’s hidden laboratory, where the Level 6 Wizard explained that her research on Benjamin’s Imaginary Element had let her awaken intelligence in life forms. The experiment had created two warring societies, and Starfall revealed that she had run out of material before she could test whether soil and rocks could also gain sentience.

• Viola found a concealed entrance on the grassland and led Benjamin and Anya through the laboratory’s defenses.
• Anya introduced Viola and Benjamin to her grandmother, the Level 6 Wizard Starfall, who eagerly approached Benjamin before Viola stopped her.
• Starfall explained that the Imaginary Element contained latent spirituality that could guide evolution and ignite intelligence in life forms.
• Starfall said she had awakened intelligence in Ironwire Demon-Devouring Vines and Radiance Aggregates, which had formed societies and begun fighting over resources.
• Starfall said her attempt to awaken ordinary soil and rocks had failed, and she had used up her remaining Imaginary Element.

Benjamin, Viola, and Starfall investigated why two newly intelligent races were waging war and considered whether mutual disgust at each other’s appearance had sparked the conflict. They began designing experiments with third-party creatures to test the theory.

• Starfall showed Benjamin and Viola decoded battle communications in which elemental creatures called the plants twisted and unclean, while the plants called the elemental creatures mutations and toxins.
• Benjamin recalled that both races had called the wizards ugly flesh monsters and proposed that their mutual disgust at each other’s appearance might be driving the war.
• Viola and Starfall considered Benjamin’s hypothesis plausible, and Starfall suggested using the wizards as an external stimulus in her experiment.
• Viola proposed comparing how the warring races reacted to the wizards and other creatures introduced into separate regions.
• Benjamin offered Spirit Energy to create more experimental subjects, and the three wizards began planning the tests while Anya watched in disbelief.

Benjamin and Wizard Starfall observed the Demon-Devouring Vines cautiously cooperate with the Rock-Twisting Vines, suggesting their hostility toward other creatures might have been shaped by how they were given intelligence. Starfall then asked Benjamin and Viola to investigate the luminous elements’ attempt to build a massive weapon, and Benjamin prepared to go underground with Anya.

• Benjamin reported that the Demon-Devouring Vines and Rock-Twisting Vines joined forces against the luminous elemental creatures, then withdrew without merging.
• Wizard Starfall and Benjamin concluded that plantlike similarity might explain the vines’ restraint and cooperation, while their extreme aesthetic hostility could stem from the circumstances of their creation.
• Viola suggested that Wizard Starfall’s emotions and the idea of opposition may have influenced the Demon-Devouring Vines’ and luminous elements’ intelligence.
• Wizard Starfall revealed that the luminous elements were gathering energy underground to construct a potentially catastrophic device and asked Benjamin and Viola to observe and stop them at the last moment.
• Viola agreed to monitor events from the laboratory, while Benjamin set out with Anya to observe the underground construction and interrupt it when the time came.

Benjamin and Anya infiltrated a hidden fissure beneath a wasteland to observe the light-cluster creatures’ secret construction site for Wizard Starfall. They discovered and silently killed a concealed sentinel, then continued deeper into the fissure.

• Benjamin and Anya found the concealed entrance beneath a basalt boulder and chose to infiltrate without alerting the creatures below.
• Anya wrapped them in shadow and guided them through the boulder’s cracks and down the narrow fissure.
• Benjamin and Anya spotted a light-element sentinel that had evolved extreme light sensitivity and concealed itself by absorbing light.
• Benjamin determined the sentinel could observe them but could not send an immediate alarm, so he and Anya decided to remove it quietly.
• Anya used her life-force plundering sorcery to kill the level-three sentinel without making a sound.
• Benjamin and Anya continued down the fissure, wary of further surprises.

Benjamin infiltrated the light-orb elementals’ underground cavern and discovered that they were feeding their strength into a dangerously unstable central orb. As the orb awakened into a powerful new life, Benjamin realized the creatures were creating a king or ultimate weapon, and its power surged toward the sixth level.

• Benjamin and Anya descended through the fissure, where Anya eliminated sentinels while Benjamin explained that the light elementals were developing into distinct spirit races.
• Benjamin split from Anya and entered Phase Space to bypass the cavern’s defenses and observe the core area.
• Benjamin disguised himself as a weak light orb and scanned the enormous central orb, transmitting his findings to Viola.
• Viola warned Benjamin that the central Energy Aggregate should already have collapsed, suggesting that a living core was restraining it.
• The central orb released a powerful energy and mental shockwave as a unified life will awakened within it.
• Benjamin realized the elementals were concentrating their race’s strength to create a king or ultimate weapon, while the newborn life surged toward the sixth level.

Benjamin discovered that Wizard Starfall’s knowledge had unconsciously shaped the newly sentient light beings, who had advanced one of their own to Level 6 and laid a trap for their creators. After Benjamin narrowly escaped their attack, Starfall tasked him and Anya with capturing the Level 6 being alive as the light beings prepared further defenses.

• Viola identified array carvings in the cavern, and she and Starfall concluded that Starfall’s studies had unconsciously passed knowledge to the newborn intelligences during Sentience Ignition.
• The central light cluster completed its advancement to Level 6, then it and dozens of other light beings attacked Benjamin’s disguised position.
• Benjamin escaped into Phase Space as the converging attacks vaporized the surrounding area and formed a deep crater.
• Benjamin, Viola, and Starfall realized the light beings had anticipated their creators’ observation and set a trap using knowledge of blood-and-flesh creatures’ visual weakness to intense light.
• Starfall ordered Benjamin and Anya to capture the Level 6 being alive, while Anya reported that she had cleared the outer interference and was approaching.
• Benjamin explained the situation to Anya and prepared to establish tactics as the light beings formed defenses around the Level 6 creature.

Benjamin and Anya attacked the Light-Cluster legion while two Black Giant Priests battled its Level Six Lord. The priests captured the Lord and the wizards subdued the remaining light clusters, leaving the cavern cleared and the mission complete.

• Benjamin used Phase Shift to strike the Light-Cluster Lord with a spatial slash, drawing the legion’s attention.
• Anya summoned natural spirits to disrupt the legion as two Black Giant Priests engaged the Lord.
• Benjamin and Anya fought the lesser light clusters, with Benjamin using spatial distortion and Anya relying on close combat.
• The Black Giant Priests interrupted the Lord’s attempted self-destruction by siphoning its energy and capturing its weakened core.
• Benjamin and Anya subdued or imprisoned the remaining light clusters, bringing the battle to an end.

Benjamin and Anya returned to Wizard Starfall’s laboratory with captured light-cluster creatures, where they learned the creatures and Demon-Devouring Vines had secretly allied against their creators. After more than a decade of research, Benjamin prepared to leave, but Starfall revealed a new plan to activate an entire plane.

• Benjamin and Anya sealed the defeated light-cluster creatures and returned with them to Wizard Starfall’s laboratory.
• Wizard Starfall showed Benjamin and Anya that Viola had captured Demon-Devouring Vines, and explained that the vines and light-cluster creatures had planned a joint attack on their creators.
• Benjamin realized the creatures’ alliance and strategy showed that Starfall’s research had fostered the potential for intelligent life and independent civilizations.
• Viola teased Benjamin about his eventful technical exchange, and he said he looked forward to the formal exchanges still ahead.
• After more than ten years, Benjamin prepared to leave the Tower Laboratory, while Starfall asked him to stay and described a new model for activating an entire plane.

Benjamin returned to the Purgatory Sulfur Plane after years of research with Starfall, having greatly improved his understanding of the Spirit Energy law and sensing that his breakthrough into the Spirit Transformation Stage was near. He settled at the Incense Divinity Path’s central formation and began preparing for advancement.

• Starfall urged Benjamin to advance quickly so he could provide more and higher-quality Imaginary Elements for her plan to create an Animated Plane.
• Benjamin reflected on his research gains, including raising his control of the Spirit Energy law from about 5% to 12%, while recognizing that he still needed practice to absorb the knowledge fully.
• Benjamin returned to the Purgatory Sulfur Plane and learned that its Incense Divinity Path, energy network, and Black Giant population had continued to develop under the Black Giant Priests.
• Benjamin went to the plane’s central formation, set up defensive and Spirit Energy-gathering barriers, and began organizing his cultivation while awaiting his breakthrough.

Benjamin studied the origins of the cultivation realms, then successfully advanced from the Nascent Soul Realm to the Spirit Transformation Stage. His breakthrough improved his recovery, perception, and ability to manipulate the principles underlying matter, leaving him ready to test his theories in practice.

• Benjamin read a notebook explaining how the cultivation realms developed from the pursuit of immortality and, after the Nascent Soul Realm, the need to protect the Dao.
• Benjamin compared cultivation and wizard advancement, noting that their different origins and methods seemed to lead toward similar endpoints at their highest levels.
• Benjamin began the breakthrough and fused his Nascent Soul with his body, achieving a complete unity of essence, qi, and spirit.
• Benjamin discovered that his recovery, mental control, cognition, and perception had improved, and he made the water in a cup disappear by lowering its elemental activity.
• Benjamin used All-Purpose Eye to observe twelve meters around him with unprecedented detail, then turned his attention toward applying his accumulated theories.

Benjamin discovered that his combined Wizard and Immortal Cultivation attack wasted much of its power because his control could not keep pace with the energy he mobilized. During daily cultivation, he reinforced his bond with his Internal Grotto-Heaven, a newborn plane that was growing and developing its own cycles.

• Benjamin tested a composite Rune Artifact and found that its Level 6-scale output produced only middling Level 5 killing power at its core because the energy dispersed too widely.
• Benjamin concluded that his fine control could not manage the energy drawn by both systems and rejected simply reducing his output as wasteful.
• A Black Giant Priest reminded Benjamin to replenish energy, and Benjamin went to a cultivation chamber connected to the Incense Divinity Path.
• Benjamin absorbed purified Spirit Energy to strengthen his connection to his Internal Grotto-Heaven rather than to advance his own cultivation.
• Benjamin reflected that the Grotto-Heaven was drawing energy and matter from the Endless Chaotic Void, had developed a day-and-night cycle, and might form a stable elemental cycle within decades.

Benjamin completed the Thought Resonance Array in time for the Black Giants’ Molten Fire Festival, using the gathered population’s intense mental resonance to collect a vast reserve of high-quality Incense Divine Power. He tested the Divine Thought Resonance Art and gained a clear solution to the energy dispersion problem in combining two Power Systems.

• Benjamin finished calibrating the Incense Power Collection Network Module, and its self-diagnostic confirmed that the system was operational.
• Mount Magma reported that preparations for the Molten Fire Festival were nearly complete, with the Black Giants expected to gather at the main venue.
• More than three billion Black Giants celebrated beneath the twin suns, and their synchronized thoughts and energy drove Incense Divine Power production beyond Benjamin’s predicted threshold.
• Benjamin let the collection continue through the festival’s peak, accumulating enough top-grade Incense Divine Power to complete his planned Incense Divinity Path modules.
• Benjamin used the Divine Thought Resonance Art to enhance his thinking and immediately devised a complete solution to the problem of energy dispersion when combining two Power Systems.

Benjamin realized he could avoid energy dispersion by rebuilding cultivator spells as wizardry models powered by elemental energy and designed to handle amplified output. After discovering Incense Divine Power had distorted his sense of time and produced flawed details alongside useful insights, he began preparing to test the new approach.

• Benjamin recognized that overcharging Wizardry Models caused energy dispersion because their structures could not handle the excess power.
• Benjamin proposed reconstructing cultivator spells with wizard runes and elemental techniques so each model could efficiently focus its own amplified energy.
• Benjamin recorded his new designs on the Magic Network Terminal and discovered that twenty-four hours had passed while he worked under Incense Divine Power.
• Benjamin reviewed the laboratory logs and found that the divine thought state had greatly accelerated his brain activity and metabolism while distorting his time perception.
• Benjamin spotted oversights in some designs, concluded that Incense Divine Power was useful for inspiration but not fully reliable, and went to verify his approach through experiments.

Viola brought Benjamin a request from Wizard Starfall for a long-term supply of Spirit Energy to support an attempt to animate the Starfall Plane. After supplying an initial batch, Benjamin learned that his mandatory rest period was nearly over and found an urgent military directive awaiting him.

• Viola arrived at Benjamin's Purgatory Sulfur Plane after surviving the aftershock of Wizard Starfall's experiment and explained that Starfall had found a path toward Level 7.
• Viola delivered Starfall's request for 10 billion low-grade Military Merit worth of supplies, and Benjamin realized Starfall planned to animate her entire plane using Imaginary Element.
• Viola explained that she intended to buy safeguards, including Plane Destruction Devices, in case the animation experiment went out of control.
• Benjamin compressed half of his available Spirit Energy reserves into a Level 6 Small Elemental Pool and gave it to Viola for delivery to Starfall.
• Viola reminded Benjamin that his mandatory rest period had about three years left and urged him to check his military notifications.
• Benjamin opened his Magic Network Terminal, filtered for military directives, and found three urgent messages, including one sent seven days earlier.

Benjamin studied the Samsara Plane's military dispatch and learned that the Sickle-Skull Race repeatedly reversed time whenever its civilization neared extinction, restoring both sides while retaining and adapting to lessons from each cycle. Unable to see how he could break the loop, Benjamin decided to strengthen his combat power before testing whether his Internal Grotto-Heaven could resist the reversal.

• Benjamin saw that the Samsara Plane's battle reports listed zero deaths and suspected the enemy could not be defeated by conventional means.
• Benjamin read that the Sickle-Skull Race had reset the plane seventeen times, reviving the fallen and returning invaders to the invasion's starting point.
• Benjamin considered whether the time reversal came from the Sickle-Skull Race, an ancient relic, a spacetime entity, or the plane itself.
• Benjamin noted that the Sickle-Skull Race had learned to develop anti-magic fields and specialized elemental resistance across repeated cycles.
• Benjamin concluded that he could not yet solve the time loop and resolved to raise his combat strength before testing his Internal Grotto-Heaven.