Chapter Summaries

After reaching Magic User Level 8, Gauss felt his attributes and charm increase, then watched over the Red Dragon Group as teammates began breakthroughs after the battle. He practiced his new 5th Ring Spells while guarding the camp and its spoils.

• Gauss advanced to Magic User Level 8, raising his Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma, and reflected on his growing charm and strength.
• Albenna tried to hug Gauss, but he escaped with Any Door, prompting Alya to warn him jokingly about powerful admirers.
• Gauss told his teammates to begin their breakthroughs and took responsibility for guarding the camp and collecting the battle spoils.
• Theron, Shadow, Albenna, Alya, Rick, Ivan, and several other Red Dragon Group members entered seclusion to break through.
• Gauss cleared the areas around the secluded teammates, left Clay Spiders to watch for danger, and began practicing Bigby's Hand and Dawn.

Gauss practiced Bigby's Hand and Dawn, demonstrating the extraordinary power of his 5th Ring spells to the Red Dragon Group and a distant party of adventurers. After testing both spells, he left the story with the approaching adventurers spotting him as the caster of Dawn.

• Gauss activated Bigby's Hand and formed a giant silver hand despite being only level 8 as a Spellcaster.
• Gauss tested Bigby's Hand's attack, control, and defensive forms while the Red Dragon Group watched in astonishment.
• Gauss practiced controlling Bigby's Hand, then flew farther away to cast his second 5th Ring spell, Dawn.
• Gauss used his White Wand to amplify Dawn, sending a pillar of light down onto an open patch of ground.
• A Giant Eagle and its riders were blinded by Dawn's distant flash, and an old Mage identified Gauss as the spellcaster.

Gauss welcomed the Sky Adventurer Group at the Red Dragon Group’s base and negotiated a deal for monster spoils. After selling them a section rich in Magic Frogs for eight hundred gold coins, he continued contracting with other adventurer groups as their leaders arrived.

• Gauss led the Sky Adventurer Group to the battlefield, where Hawkins and his companions saw the vast number of monster corpses the Red Dragon Group had defeated.
• Gauss ate Magic Frog Lord soup, which restored his strength and slightly increased his maximum magic power, while the guests declined to try the monster meat.
• Gauss showed the Sky Adventurer Group a map dividing the monster corpses into sections for possible contracts.
• Hawkins offered six hundred gold coins for a section containing more than three thousand Magic Frogs, but Gauss negotiated the price up to eight hundred gold coins.
• Hawkins paid Gauss, and other adventurer-group leaders arrived over the next day or two to arrange contracts with the Red Dragon Group.

The Red Dragon Group grew wealthy from selling monster materials while Gauss trained and guided his teammates through their breakthroughs. The chapter ended when a rumble sounded from the cave where Theron was secluded.

• Gauss earned nearly four thousand gold coins from the monster materials and resumed practicing magic.
• Albenna returned as a Level 8 Warrior with the Giant Transformation ability, Alya reached Level 6, and Shadow reached Level 7 with five shadow clones.
• Gauss checked on Theron, who remained curled up and nearly motionless during his unusual breakthrough.
• Gauss delayed plans to open the maze's Fifth Floor while the adventuring parties explored the Fourth Floor and recovered their purchased materials.
• Gauss gave members of the Red Dragon Group personal training advice, helping Holly cast Colorful Ball successfully.
• A rumble came from the place where Theron had gone into seclusion.

Theron survived a cave-in while attempting a breakthrough, but awakened a violent Snake King bloodline that briefly stripped him of reason. He and Gauss learned that the bloodline could threaten Theron and those around him, though his teammates promised to help keep him under control.

• Gauss found Theron buried beneath the collapsed cave and saw him emerge with a stronger, bestial form and crimson eyes.
• Theron attacked Gauss and tried to flee, but Gauss struck him down and called him back to his senses.
• Theron woke in the Red Dragon Group's medical tent and watched a Recording Stone showing his loss of control.
• Theron explained that the Snake King bloodline lay dormant in snake people and could turn its bearer into a destructive monster.
• Theron admitted that the bloodline had awakened in him, and Gauss and the others reassured him that they would help restrain him.

After Theron refused to leave the maze for treatment, Gauss returned to the mysterious space after exploration progress passed 10% and received an upgrade to his insect-related Talent. He discovered the new abilities of [Weaver's Mark] and left wondering how far he could develop them.

• Theron refused Gauss's suggestion that he leave the maze to seek treatment, and Gauss agreed to keep watch over him.
• Gauss noticed the maze exploration progress had risen to 10.22% and used the iron plate to return to the mysterious space.
• Gauss examined the insectoid statue and received the upgraded Blue Quality Racial Talent [Weaver's Mark].
• Gauss discovered that [Weaver's Mark] strengthened his insect control and mental links, while giving him new control over the shape of magic power.
• Gauss imagined using the Talent to create increasingly complex spells, then used the iron plate to leave the mysterious space.

Gauss led the Red Dragon Group onto the unexplored fifth floor of the Timbel Maze, where they fought slimes and learned that the Myconid Clan posed a greater threat. His survey revealed that the myconids were raising slimes, and a three-meter-tall Mushroom Man appeared to confirm it.

• Gauss opened the gate to the fifth floor and led the Red Dragon Group down into a damp cavern.
• Gauss used Bigby's Hand to crush the attacking slimes while the Red Dragon Group defeated the others, including the Slime Leader.
• Gauss established the cavern as a base camp and used Weaver's Mark to question insects about the fifth floor's creatures.
• Gauss learned that the floor was home to large slime and myconid populations, and recalled the myconids' regeneration, collective consciousness, and Spore Servants.
• Gauss and Shadow surveyed the area, where Gauss found slimes kept in enclosures and suspected the myconids were farming them.
• A three-meter-tall Mushroom Man emerged and fed dead leaves and weeds to the slimes in a pit.

Gauss and the Red Dragon Group exploited the myconids’ slime farms, killing thousands of slimes with Hefis’s Dragon Flame before a myconid force confronted them. After Gauss crushed the troops with Bigby’s Hand, the Myconid King and more myconids advanced toward the group.

• Gauss and Shadow watched myconids feed slimes, then returned to the Red Dragon Group’s cave and shared what they had learned about the Fifth Floor.
• Gauss used the Weaver’s Mark to find slime farms, and Hefis burned the slimes in the first cave while the group collected their hardened cores.
• Gauss led the Red Dragon Group through successive farms, using Hefis and the adventurers to kill nearly 3,500 slimes.
• Armed myconids and their Spore Servants blocked the group, so Gauss summoned Clay Goblins and fought alongside the Red Dragon Group.
• Gauss used Bigby’s Hand to crush the myconid troops, then learned that more myconids and the floor’s lord were approaching.

As adventurers rushed onto the 5th Floor, Gauss’s Red Dragon Group fought a coordinated horde of Myconids, Spore Servants, and Slimes. Gauss withdrew the weaker fighters and faced the arrival of a lord monster: an unexpectedly small, crystal-like blue Slime.

• Adventuring groups reached the 5th Floor and found that the areas around the Exit Camp had been cleared of monsters, prompting them to suspect Gauss had already found the floor’s lord.
• Gauss fought off waves of cooperating Myconids, Spore Servants, and Slimes while his kill count climbed past 63,000.
• Gauss ordered Luna to lead the lower-level fighters back toward camp, and Hefis cleared a safe route for their retreat.
• Gauss used Bigby’s Hand against the remaining monsters and improved the spell’s proficiency to level 3.
• Gauss detected a powerful approaching aura and saw a small, crystal-like blue Slime arrive as the lord monster.

Gauss fought the Slime Lord, a mysterious creature that could dissolve into Natural Magic Power and re-form to attack. He identified how its concealment worked and forced it to reveal a weakness before the Slime Lord introduced itself as Eden Graham Liddy.

• Gauss watched the Blue Slime appear and vanish, then used Bigby's Hand to attack it but failed to catch it.
• The Blue Slime struck from above, and Gauss hit it with Vampiric Touch, sending it into a rock wall where it redirected the impact.
• Gauss realized the Slime Lord used Elementalization to blend into Natural Magic Power and could be detected when magical effects disturbed that power.
• Gauss unleashed a torrent of Magic Missiles at the Slime Lord's hiding place, forcing it to flee the turbulent magic and revealing another weakness.
• The Slime Lord contacted Gauss telepathically, called him interesting, and began introducing itself as Eden Graham Liddy.

Gauss fought the Slime Lord on the fifth floor of the Timbel Maze, overcoming its concealment, regeneration, and clones with powerful magic and layered defenses. After Gauss destroyed several clones and weakened its main body, the Slime asked whether he intended to kill it, sounding strangely excited.

• Gauss tracked the Slime Lord with Magic Missiles, anchored its position with [Precision], and forced it out of the ambient magic.
• Gauss struck the Slime Lord with Dawn, nearly annihilating it, but escaped fragments regenerated by combining with Natural Magic Power.
• Gauss activated his Dragon Species Talent and survived the Slime Clones' piercing attacks behind Bigby's Hand and his layered defenses.
• Gauss cast several Dawns to destroy the exhausted clones, weakening the Slime Lord's main body.
• The Slime Lord asked Gauss whether he planned to kill it, and Gauss sensed eagerness in its voice.

Gauss fought Slime Eden, whose unusual abilities and comments helped him recognize and suppress his killing intent, before defeating it with a coordinated magical attack. The Monster Codex declared Eden a Demon King Seed and awarded Gauss the Demon King Slayer title, but Eden's voice returned, suggesting it had survived.

• Gauss attacked Eden, which swallowed Natural Magic Power, grew stronger, and used tentacles to repel Bigby's Hand.
• Eden warned Gauss that his obvious killing intent revealed his attacks, and Gauss learned to sense and reduce it.
• Gauss and Eden exchanged a prolonged series of magical attacks, with Eden displaying combat strength comparable to Gauss's.
• Gauss restrained Eden with Water Manipulation and struck it with Dawn; Eden dropped its defenses and appeared to be destroyed.
• The Monster Codex identified Eden as the King of the Born Slimes, a Demon King Seed Initial State, and awarded Gauss the Demon King Slayer title.
• As Gauss prepared to collect Eden's treasure chest, Eden spoke beside him and said Gauss had almost killed it.

Gauss learned that Eden was an immortal Demon King Seed whose repeated rebirths were eroding its memories and humanity, and promised to keep its secret. After the Red Dragon Group cleared the Fifth Floor, Gauss collected the rewards, gave Alya a high-grade magic stone, and considered how to prepare for stronger enemies as Eden found a way to rebirth beyond the floor.

• Eden told Gauss that it was a human soul reborn as a slime and a rare Demon King Seed, and that its immortality was slowly eroding its sanity and memories.
• Eden asked Gauss to keep its identity secret, and Gauss agreed.
• Gauss opened the Fifth Floor treasure chest, collected its rewards and an Opening Stone to the Sixth Floor, and watched the remaining monsters fall back against the adventurers.
• Gauss worried that powerful Demon King species could challenge him, resolved to improve his single-target spells, and learned that Eden might use him as a coordinate to escape the Fifth Floor.
• Gauss gave Alya a high-grade magic stone, and she happily accepted it.

Gauss convened the adventure group leaders to coordinate exploration of the Fifth Floor and arrange the sale of monster materials. The meeting ended with George Bell securing the materials and Gauss recommending Hailiel’s family merchant guild as a business partner.

• After Gauss invited the adventure group leaders to a meeting, George Bell prepared to attend and reflected on Gauss’s overwhelming strength.
• The leaders gathered at the Red Dragon Group’s camp, where Gauss greeted them and warmly reunited with George.
• Gauss opened the exploration meeting, with Ivan assisting him and the leaders discussing how to handle the monster materials.
• The adventure groups bid for the materials, and George Bell’s Iron Hand Brotherhood won with the highest offer.
• George asked Gauss for a merchant guild recommendation, and Gauss suggested Hailiel’s family’s Golden Beak Merchant Guild.

Gauss postponed opening Timbel's Sixth Floor and organized the adventurers' continued exploration of the Fifth Floor. He then trained Hefis, whose awakening revealed impressive magical ability, and prepared to teach it stronger spells.

• Gauss decided to let the adventurers rest and regroup on the Fifth Floor, informed them that the Sixth Floor would remain closed, and assigned exploration routes.
• Gauss learned that Hefis had fully awakened, gaining much greater command of Dragon Language and magic.
• Hefis cast a powerful Fire Bolt at Gauss, who praised its accuracy and strength.
• With Gauss's guidance, Hefis successfully cast Electric Claw and then conjured a stronger-than-usual Mage Hand without a ready-made spell model.
• Gauss recognized Hefis's hidden magical talent and planned to teach it higher-circle spells, especially fire magic.

Gauss taught Hefis magic, then led the Red Dragon Group across the Fifth Floor to Eden’s old lair. He opened Eden’s sealed entrance with its password and entered to search for the treasures left inside.

• Gauss ended Hefis’s lesson when her magic power ran low, and Hefis ate several cartloads of food while Gauss and Eden watched.
• Gauss and the Red Dragon Group set out to explore the Fifth Floor with Eden guiding them toward its former lair.
• Eden told Gauss that its old treasures should remain and shared its theory that the maze drew in creatures and valuables from the Prime Plane.
• Gauss reached Eden’s apparently abandoned lair and tested its powerful magical seal with a punch.
• Gauss imitated Eden’s entry password, opened the seal, and stepped inside.

Gauss led the Red Dragon Group in clearing nearby monster nests while training Hefis to use a wider range of spells. The chapter ended with Hefis mastering several new spells and keeping its private conversations with Gauss in Dragon language, unaware that a tiny slime had observed its softer side.

• Eden gave Gauss the treasures in its lair, and Alya transplanted Eden's Magic Plant seedlings into pots for her dream world.
• Gauss had Hefis rely on magic in combat, where it improved its fire spells while the Red Dragon Group fought the mushroom people.
• Gauss observed Theron's newly awakened Royal Family bloodline making him more aggressive in battle and strengthening his physical recovery.
• Gauss taught Hefis Grease and combined it with Burning Hands, then helped it master Comprehend Languages, Feather Fall, Shield, Mage Armor, and Cloudkill over the next two days.
• Hefis learned human Common Tongue but continued to speak privately with Gauss in Dragon language, unaware that a tiny slime had witnessed its affectionate behavior.

After receiving the 5th Ring spell Energy Drain, Gauss learned that Barry's Adventurer's Guild had summoned the adventurer groups to a meeting. He led the Red Dragon Group out of the Timbel Maze and returned to Barry, where the meeting awaited.

• Gauss received Energy Drain from his Monster Codex and tested the spell's dark-energy tentacles.
• George Bell and other group leaders told Gauss that Barry's Adventurer's Guild had invited every adventurer group to a meeting in Central City.
• Gauss decided to attend the meeting and brought the Red Dragon Group out of the maze, delighting the exhausted members and drawing envy from other adventurers.
• Gauss and several other groups traveled up through the maze and emerged into the sunlight.
• Gauss's party reached Barry, where Eden excitedly repeated the city's name.

Gauss settled into Barry while waiting for a major Adventurer's Guild meeting, then visited Hailiel and learned how her merchant guild had prospered through his support. He left her with a long-term order for magic clay as he prepared to strengthen his forces ahead of the meeting.

• Gauss and his companions spent two quiet days in Barry, where adventurers were gathering for a meeting called by the local guild.
• The Barry Adventurer's Guild sent Gauss a formal invitation to attend a special meeting and provided carriages for his group.
• Gauss visited Hailiel at her family home and saw how greatly his extraordinary strength and status had changed their relationship.
• Hailiel told Gauss that the Golden Beak Merchant Guild had opened several branches and gathered over two hundred kilograms of magic clay for him.
• Gauss told Hailiel to keep collecting magic clay, promising that his group would buy all she could obtain.

Gauss and his team attended a gathering of Barry’s military, guild, and civic leaders, where Matthias Monroe announced that the Green Dragon’s forces were massing near Cold Green Province. The news raised fears of a province-wide war and the possible emergence of a new Demon King.

• Gauss and his team traveled to Barry’s Adventurer’s Guild headquarters and saw the Mother Tree, Terra Hill.
• Bella escorted Gauss and his companions into the meeting, where high-ranking adventurers and representatives from across Barry had gathered.
• Gauss recognized Matthias Monroe, the guild president, as a level-15 paladin whose formidable power was concealed behind an ordinary appearance.
• Matthias Monroe reported that monsters throughout the Emerald Forest were mobilizing toward Cold Green Province and that the Green Dragon had not responded to attempts at contact.
• Matthias Monroe warned that war might be imminent, prompting attendees to consider whether the Green Dragon’s actions signaled a wider conflict and a new Demon King.