Chapter Summaries

After the Gray Rock Plane trial, the apprentices treated Benjamin as its true winner despite his thirty-sixth-place ranking, and he collected his reward before returning to the Academy laboratory. He assessed his damaged Rune Artifacts and began planning new ones that could improve his perception, tracking, and concealment.

• The apprentices and high-ranking wizards waited for Benjamin to claim his reward first, while the first-place Bert Vera Augusta reluctantly accepted his unspoken precedence.
• Benjamin handed over his apprentice badge and received 1,000 Academy points for placing thirty-sixth.
• The apprentices began collecting their rewards and whispered about Benjamin’s power in the Gray Rock Plane.
• Benjamin returned to his Academy laboratory, sorted the materials he had gathered, and inspected his damaged Fireball and Flying Rune Artifacts.
• Benjamin identified the need for Rune Artifacts focused on perception, tracking, and concealment after considering the trial’s scouting challenges.

Benjamin explored ways to use detection Rune Artifacts for continuous surveillance, but found that his information-processing ability and current strength prevented him from building a computational assistant. He began researching detection artifacts instead, only to find that turning wizard detection spells into external devices posed major technical challenges.

• Benjamin concluded that frequent probing-type detection would overwhelm his ability to process the returned information, even if Rune Artifacts made spellcasting nearly costless.
• Benjamin searched the Magic Network for computational assistants and found that artificial souls, runic artificial intelligence, and living spirits were too difficult for him to create and might not work across different planes.
• Benjamin consulted the Great Dao Library, but its suggested methods also exceeded his current strength, so he decided he needed to raise his level.
• Benjamin bought knowledge about runes, Alchemy, materials science, plane studies, and perception spells, then began designing detection Rune Artifacts.
• Benjamin found that detection runes were difficult to externalize because many depended on extending the caster's mental power, which left artifacts ineffective or costly.

Benjamin developed a prototype Rune Artifact that sensed life and energy through passive resonance, then advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining. He planned to use his increased cultivation to improve the artifact.

• Benjamin used Plane Resonance theory to redesign his runes and created a prototype Eye of Investigation that sensed life and energy fluctuations.
• Benjamin spent several days testing materials and refining the Eye of Investigation's runes to improve its range, clarity, and concealment.
• Benjamin entered the training room and concentrated elemental particles as he attempted to break through his Qi Refining bottleneck.
• Benjamin advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining, greatly increasing his True Essence and extending his spiritual sense several hundred meters.
• Benjamin decided to use his new cultivation to create a better prototype investigative Rune Artifact.

Benjamin improved the Eye of Investigation into a working Rune Artifact, then began searching for a Dharma Treasure blueprint that could provide strong spirituality and support his needs. After several days of evaluating options, he chose the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror.

• Benjamin refined the Eye of Investigation, improving its sensing range and clarity while keeping its energy consumption negligible.
• Benjamin tested the prototype and found it could continuously transmit nearby perceptions, though walls, barriers, and energy interference limited it.
• Benjamin decided to begin artifact refinement now that he had reached the late stage of Qi Refining.
• Benjamin searched the Great Dao Library for a Dharma Treasure suited to his cultivation level, available materials, and need for an intelligent information assistant.
• Benjamin selected the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror as his Dharma Treasure blueprint.

Benjamin studied how to forge the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror, an escape treasure that required True Fire, a spirit-linked artifact blank, and gathered concepts of light. He quickly condensed True Fire and captured Dawn Glow at sunrise, then planned his remaining work ahead of the Academy's final assessment at Noren Workshop.

• Benjamin reviewed the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror's abilities, drawbacks, forging principles, and five required kinds of light.
• Benjamin wrote down the core principles of artifact forging and began trying to condense True Fire.
• Benjamin condensed a pale golden wisp of True Fire in less than a day, realizing that his Alchemy and Analysis Art practice had strengthened his control over his power.
• Benjamin outlined his plans to learn artifact-blank condensation, gather light concepts, improve his Rune Artifacts, and study pill refining and the Potions Department.
• Benjamin recognized that dawn was the right time to gather Dawn Glow and captured a gleaming wisp of morning light in his palm.

Benjamin traveled beyond Noren Academy to gather materials for his Dharma Treasure and discovered that the Wizard Civilization meticulously controlled the plane’s settlements, people, and wilderness. After ending his travels, he began collecting Moonlight Essence on a remote highland beneath a full moon.

• Benjamin left Noren Academy and traveled through different regions, but found that the cities and villages were strikingly similar.
• Benjamin discovered that settlement leaders were Artificial Humans and that arrays across the plane tested residents’ aptitude for wizardry.
• Benjamin realized that the lord had detected his talent through a regional Detection Array, and he wondered what might have happened if he had ventured out before learning the truth of the world.
• Benjamin used the Eye of Investigation to confirm that distant forests had identical distributions of species, then abandoned his travels.
• Benjamin chose a remote highland to collect Moonlight Essence under the full moon, after gathering most of the Dawn Glow he needed.

Benjamin traveled across the plane to gather and refine the five conceptual light materials needed for the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror. After collecting them, he prepared to refine the Heart Mirror by constructing its artifact embryo and linking it to his mind.

• Benjamin gathered Moonlight Essence and refined it into four drops of Moonlight Light-Infused Spirit Dew.
• Benjamin spent several moonless nights in the desert and condensed three portions of Starlight Light-Congealing Crystal Sand.
• Benjamin risked injury in a thunderstorm to create three portions of Void-Rending Thunderlight Light-Congealing Crystal Sand.
• Benjamin captured Rainbow Light from a double rainbow and refined it into seven-colored Light-Infused Spirit Dew.
• Benjamin stored the five conceptual materials and turned to refining the Heart Mirror.

Benjamin quickly condensed the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror’s vessel embryo by applying his experience with Truth Runes, then began refining it with the concept of dawn. The first material cracked the embryo during fusion, and Benjamin used his True Fire and spiritual power to guide the dangerous process.

• Benjamin entered his Spirit Sea and found that forming a vessel embryo resembled constructing Truth Runes and Wizardry Models.
• Benjamin used the wizard Meditation Method to combine components of Truth Runes and condensed a translucent Heart Mirror vessel embryo in less than a month.
• Benjamin gathered the five conceptual materials—dawn, Rainbow Neon, Moonlight Essence, starlight, and lightning—and brought the vessel embryo into his Spirit Sea.
• Benjamin guided the Dawn Crystal Sand into the embryo, which shook and cracked as the concept began to fuse with it.
• Benjamin activated his True Fire and used it with his spiritual power to guide the dawn concept through the Heart Mirror.

Benjamin failed his first attempt to refine a Dharma Treasure when conflicting light concepts shattered the artifact embryo and injured his Spirit Sea. After using potions and his Truth Runes to recover and try again, he successfully forged the preliminary Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror, leaving it to be nurtured further.

• Benjamin's artifact embryo shattered when Rainbow Neon's Illusion clashed with the sharpness of dawn, leaving him with severe Spirit Sea and soul injuries.
• Benjamin bought Level 3 Soul Repair Potions through the Magic Network and quickly recovered, then assembled a new artifact embryo using the Truth Runes.
• Over several days, Benjamin successfully introduced and fused all five light concepts into the Heart Mirror artifact embryo.
• The embryo absorbed Benjamin's True Essence and soul origin before he guided it from his Spirit Sea to the Laogong Acupoint in his palm.
• Benjamin completed the preliminary Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror, a small round mirror that was now ready for further nurturing.

As Noren Academy welcomed a new batch of apprentices and returning Shadow Plane wizards, Benjamin learned that the Academy needed Adamantine for repairing and upgrading Wizard Artifacts damaged on the front lines. Mentor Clark offered him a commission to supply the material, leaving Benjamin poised to take advantage of the returning wizards’ urgent needs.

• Benjamin learned that Noren Academy’s five-year cycle had brought departing apprentices, new arrivals, and wizards returning from the front lines.
• Benjamin, Amy, and Victor discussed their assigned Academy tasks, including receiving the Shadow Plane veterans and posing as enthusiastic new apprentices.
• Mentor Clark gave Amy and Victor their task documents and asked Benjamin to stay behind.
• Clark explained that the returning wizards needed large quantities of Adamantine to replenish and upgrade Wizard Artifacts damaged by the Shadow Plane’s corrosive laws and energy.
• Clark offered Benjamin a commission, explaining that the returning wizards had points to spend and an urgent need for supplies.

Mentor Clark pressured Benjamin into accepting the Academy’s enormous Adamantine production task, revealing that the Academy had gathered over ten thousand cubic meters of gold for him. Benjamin agreed after learning the work would earn him high-tier Military Merit, which could open access to valuable resources, knowledge, and the front lines.

• Mentor Clark explained that the Academy would provide materials and sales channels while Benjamin manufactured Adamantine for the returning wizards and the Academy.
• Benjamin checked the Academy inventory and discovered it contained over ten thousand cubic meters of gold.
• Clark revealed that the Academy had assembled the gold in three days and threatened to refine Benjamin into gold if he refused the task.
• Benjamin accepted the assignment after Clark promised it would earn him 10 points of high-tier Military Merit.
• Benjamin learned that high-tier Military Merit could be exchanged across the Wizard Civilization and was required for high-ranking wizards to qualify for the front lines.

Benjamin learned why the Academy was offering High-Tier Military Merit for work related to the Shadow Plane and why its Dean had not intervened personally. Clark explained the dangers of the plane and the ways to overcome them, ending with the possibility that a wizard could advance to Level 6 there.

• Benjamin questioned whether the Academy could afford to award High-Tier Military Merit, and Clark said the Dean had been working on the front lines.
• Clark told Benjamin that Shadow Plane lifeforms were half-elemental and half-biological, and that the Shadow Element had caused heavy wizard casualties.
• Clark explained that wizards waged Plane Wars to gain resources and knowledge, and that the Star Ring Federation generally favored conquest without destroying a plane's native civilization.
• Clark revealed that the Shadow Plane's Level 6 god could use the Plane Origin to destroy the plane, making a direct attack risky for the Academy.
• Clark listed ways to deal with the threat: send a stronger wizard, weaken the plane over time, or have a wizard advance to Level 6 there.

Benjamin completed a grueling commission to refine gold into Adamantine, then joined Amy and Victor to watch Noren Academy send its senior apprentices to the Shadow Plane. The chapter left the apprentices heading toward a dangerous but familiar battlefield while Benjamin recovered from his work.

• Mentor Clark explained that the Academy could weaken the Plane Origin or rely on a native Level 6 being to help defeat the enemy, then told Benjamin to begin work quickly.
• Benjamin built an Adamantine-refining assembly line and spent half a month using his True Fire and spiritual power to process more than ten thousand cubic meters of gold.
• Benjamin finished the final batch, produced a gleaming Adamantine ingot, and emerged from his laboratory exhausted.
• Benjamin met Amy and Victor, who were surprised by his condition, and he told them he had completed a difficult materials-processing commission.
• Benjamin, Amy, and Victor watched the senior apprentices depart through the teleportation array for the Shadow Plane, where fighting was intense but the situation was already well explored.

Benjamin watched new apprentices depart and powerful wizards return from the front lines, where he sensed a Level 5 Wizard among them. After resting and nurturing his Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror, he brought his vitality, energy, and spirit back into harmony, and the Dharma Treasure entered its first stage of formation.

• Benjamin watched the Academy’s new apprentices leave to explore new planes and saw battle-hardened wizards return from the front lines.
• Benjamin sensed that most returning wizards were Level 3 or Level 4, then noticed an unremarkable wizard whose presence revealed him as a Level 5 Wizard.
• The Level 5 Wizard looked at Benjamin, unsettling him, and Benjamin realized Mentor Clark’s earlier remark about a third solution had carried a different meaning.
• Benjamin continued nourishing his Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror in his laboratory while taking time to recover from exhaustion.
• Benjamin felt his vitality, energy, and spirit return to harmony and realized that his Dharma Treasure had entered its first stage of formation.

Benjamin tested the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror’s Light Transformation Escape in a remote mountain valley and discovered that it let him travel at tremendous speed but left him exhausted and vulnerable. He recovered with a Magic Potion and realized he had crossed at least a thousand li in a single burst, while the mirror itself needed time to recharge.

• Benjamin traveled to a remote mountain valley to test the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror’s Light Transformation Escape.
• Benjamin activated Light Transformation and shot forward as golden-red light, unable to control his direction.
• Benjamin crashed into an enormous boulder, depleted his True Essence, and suffered physical and spiritual backlash.
• Benjamin crawled free, drank a Magic Potion, and recovered enough to assess the escape’s effects.
• Benjamin estimated that he had traveled at least a thousand li and noted that the dimmed Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror needed time to recover.

Benjamin tested the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror and decided to study how to reproduce its effects, then turned his attention to advancing to a Level 1 Formal Wizard and the Foundation Establishment Realm. He reviewed the requirements for Wizard advancement and compared the power of Wizard Apprentices with cultivators.

• Benjamin considered the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror’s escape ability powerful but risky, and resolved to research how to imitate it through Wizard methods.
• Benjamin returned to the Academy, recovered while nurturing the mirror, and realized he had time to plan his next steps.
• Benjamin focused on reaching Level 1 Formal Wizard and Foundation Establishment, noting that only five years remained before the new students went to the front lines.
• Benjamin reviewed how Wizard Apprentices needed sufficient mental power and an Advancement Potion to become Formal Wizards, and how lower-talent Apprentices relied on costly potions or rare treasures.
• Benjamin compared the systems and concluded that a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator was roughly equal to a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice, while a Level 1 Formal Wizard matched or sometimes exceeded a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Benjamin decided to study Potions Department and Alchemy to prepare for Foundation Establishment and reduce the risks of becoming an official wizard. As he combined wizarding potion studies with cultivation pill refinement, he deepened his understanding of materials and used it to improve his Rune Artifacts.

• Benjamin concluded that reaching Foundation Establishment before attempting to become an official wizard would help him withstand the advancement potion and improve his chances of success.
• Benjamin decided to study Potions Department and Alchemy, both to prepare for wizard advancement and to investigate ways to reduce the potion’s damage.
• Benjamin gathered Potions Department knowledge through the Academy’s Magic Network and practiced brewing basic potions, accepting the high cost of failed attempts.
• Benjamin studied pill refinement in the Great Dao Library, focusing on the properties of materials and the principles behind their interactions.
• Benjamin combined what he learned from potions and pill refinement to better understand materials and improve the stability, energy transmission, and efficiency of his Rune Artifacts.

Benjamin attempted to brew a Focus Potion in the Potions Department, but a flawed Moon Silver crystal triggered an explosion during the final fusion. He survived the blast and recorded the failure’s cause for further study.

• Benjamin prepared Glowgrass, Moon Silver, Nightglow Moss extract, and Flame Petals for the Focus Potion.
• Benjamin combined the ingredients in a heated crucible and used Analysis Art to monitor their unstable energy reaction.
• Benjamin added the Flame Petal powder, and an unground Moon Silver microcrystal triggered a violent purple explosion.
• Benjamin collected the potion residue and strange crystals, then documented the failed brew and the energy spike that caused it.

Benjamin spent five days absorbed in potion research before realizing his exhaustion and leaving the Potions Department. He encountered Amy, who was heading to an Alchemy Studies class, and watched her play a victim in a staged accident for the apprentices.

• Benjamin recorded lessons from his failed potion attempt and discovered that he had spent five days researching in the Potions Department.
• Benjamin gave his potion samples to the apprentices and left to rest, then met Amy carrying a box of gold.
• Amy invited Benjamin to help act as a plant in an Alchemy Studies class and showed him a silver-white piece of metal.
• Benjamin stayed to watch as two silver-white puppets dragged Amy past him, and Amy secretly winked before resuming her act.
• Benjamin called everyone an actor and staggered toward his laboratory.

After three years of studying potions and alchemy, Benjamin developed a Foundation Establishment potion and successfully advanced to Foundation Establishment. As he reached for a second dose, a mysterious force in his lower dantian stopped draining his power.

• Benjamin spent three years studying potions and alchemy while nurturing the Five-Skandha Rainbow Mirror.
• He refined a unique Foundation Establishment liquid using alchemy, potion-making, and Extraction Art.
• Benjamin swallowed the liquid and advanced to Foundation Establishment through his own cultivation, without using its medicinal power.
• After his breakthrough, the remaining potion energy and Benjamin's True Essence and mental power were pulled into a mysterious black hole in his lower dantian.
• Benjamin reached for a second Foundation Establishment potion, and the suction abruptly stopped when he touched its bottle.