Chapter Summaries

Thor received a message from Kismet revealing that Archaeost held a powerful tree and many Evil Spirits, then decided to seek the spirits rather than risk stealing the tree. He left Agu and An to their original plan and prepared to go outside the city before returning in disguise.

• Thor read Kismet’s letter, and a Shadow Monster entered his mind and wrote a message on the Diary’s Black Page.
• Kismet urged Thor to steal the Great Tree beneath Archaeost and revealed that the city contained many Evil Spirits.
• Thor rejected the dangerous plan to take the tree but became interested in gathering Evil Spirits for Spirit Body fragments.
• Thor realized Kismet had steered him toward the comparatively safer choice of hunting Evil Spirits.
• Thor told Agu and An to continue the original plan while he went outside Archaeost to return in disguise and claim Kismet’s other gift.

Thor collected the gifts Kismet had left in Archaeost City, then visited Baidong Academy to inspect its Witchcraft Items and look for ways to earn Magic Crystals. There, he encountered Captain Harry and discovered that ordinary people staffed the academy’s exhibition hall.

• Thor found Kismet’s Healing Potion, Mental Stability Potion, and prepared identity, while another hypnotized person arrived and called him “Naughty.”
• Thor returned to Archaeost City with his Silver Pass and traveled to Baidong Academy, where he reunited with Captain Harry at the west gate.
• Harry greeted Thor, then returned to the Wizard Apprentice and received another chance to submit his renewal documents.
• Thor entered Baidong Academy’s exhibition hall, chose a woman to guide him, and realized that she and the other attendant were ordinary people.

Thor toured Baidong Academy’s exhibition hall and learned that its new Composite Space Storage held more than a standard Compression Bag but consumed too much energy for ordinary users. After the Dean advised him to choose regular Compression Bags, Thor noticed a disturbing vision and a twisted thread above Wei'er as she left.

• Wei'er showed Thor the academy’s experimental equipment, and he decided its energy costs and usefulness did not justify buying any.
• Wei'er led Thor to the everyday Witchcraft Items exhibit, where she presented a smaller Composite Space Storage with ten cubic meters of configurable space.
• Wei'er explained that the Storage Device required extra Magic Crystals and consumed too much energy for ordinary people to use, so Thor considered buying several Compression Bags instead.
• The Dean arrived, dismissed Wei'er, and advised Thor to choose the regular Compression Bag over the unfinished Storage Device.
• Thor briefly saw Wei'er as a charred, jerking figure with a twisted thread extending above her, then heard the Dean offer to transfer her work contract to him.

Thor met Dean Pang De at Baidong Academy, bought a Storage Device and two Stasis Pods, and encountered Mentor Yona, a strange Dark Attribute wizard. Pang De offered Thor Yona’s laboratory if Thor joined the academy, leaving Thor to consider the recruitment offer.

• Thor introduced himself to Dean Pang De, who explained the Storage Device’s features and sold him one along with two Stasis Pods.
• Pang De showed Thor around Baidong Academy and introduced Mentor Yona and his Level 2 Apprentice followers.
• Yona probed Thor with Mental Power, but Thor’s translucent tentacles absorbed it, frightening Yona’s apprentices.
• Pang De rebuked Yona and threatened to dock his pay, while Penny told Thor that many voices seemed to be arguing inside Yona.
• Yona argued with Pang De and ran off with his apprentices after Pang De threatened to send him to the Corpse Refining Building.
• Pang De offered Thor Yona’s laboratory if Thor agreed to join Baidong Academy.

Thor declined Headmaster Pang De’s offers to join Baidong Academy permanently, but became interested when Pang De proposed that he work as a Cleaner dealing with Evil Spirits. Thor suspected the spirits were tied to Archaeost’s prosperity and learned that Cleaners earned rewards and kept the Evil Spirits they handled; he asked what other duties the job involved.

• Thor told Headmaster Pang De he could not commit to joining Baidong Academy because his mentor might have other plans for him.
• Pang De offered Thor an honorary position, then described his own rise from a struggling scholar to the head of a thriving academy.
• Pang De explained that Baidong Academy employed Cleaners to handle Evil Spirits appearing in Archaeost and the Academy.
• Thor suspected the Evil Spirits were connected to the costs ordinary people had paid for Archaeost’s growth.
• Pang De offered resources and ownership of each spirit as rewards, and Thor asked what else the Cleaner role required.

Thor investigated Archaeost City’s pass system and planned to find new resources at Baidong Academy, while John’s girlfriend disappeared into a disturbing incident. Thor arrived at a sealed apartment to investigate abnormal Radiation and found a white-haired woman ready to begin tracking.

• Agu reported that public areas used Blue Passes and hidden Witchcraft Array nodes, while An and Morton assessed the Array’s functions.
• Thor told Agu and An to study the Blue Pass and planned to search Baidong Academy for a Meditation Method and Witchcraft.
• John waited for his girlfriend, then followed her into her apartment after she ignored him on the street.
• Thor received a report of abnormal Radiation and entered the sealed apartment, where he found a white-haired woman crouched beside a broken bottle.
• The white-haired woman looked at Thor and said they could begin tracking.

Thor and Julie tracked a newly formed Evil Spirit from an apartment to the building’s plumbing, while Shaya abandoned the mission in a panic. After finding a terrified old woman beside pulp flowing from a faucet, Thor confirmed it contained no soul, and Julie identified the pipes’ destination as the Underground Sewer.

• Julie introduced herself and Shaya as Thor’s temporary teammates, but Shaya accused them of setting a trap and fled.
• Thor traced black smoke from the bedroom toward the communal bathroom, while Julie followed the Evil Spirit’s emotional traces.
• Thor and Julie reached a men’s washroom and found faint Magic Power in a faucet, prompting Thor to suggest searching the pipes.
• A scream led Thor and Julie to another floor, where they found an old woman beside pulp dripping from a faucet.
• Thor examined the pulp and soothed the old woman before the Security Squad carried her away.
• Julie told Thor that the pipes led to the Underground Sewer.

Thor and Julie pursued an Evil Spirit through Kaositer’s sewer, where they found John transformed and encountered a huge root-like creature. Thor escaped its grasp with John’s head, while Xiao Zao held the roots back.

• Thor, Julie, and two Security Squad members entered the Underground Sewer after the water valves were shut and the Purification Facility was activated.
• Julie attacked a woman in blue-black work clothes, and Thor pursued John’s severed head after Julie warned him that John was suspicious too.
• John’s head tried to reach a deep pool as grotesque legs and shifting Ghost Claws attacked Thor and Xiao Zao.
• Thor realized the Ghost Claws were roots and the Diary warned him about being taken away by a hospitable host.
• Thor used Xiao Zao’s vines to slip through the roots, grabbed John’s head, burned away its insect legs, and fled.

Thor and Julie escaped the strange roots after confronting an Evil Spirit, and Thor kept the captured head in an Evil Spirit Bottle. Julie tried to entice Thor into celebrating with her, but he rejected her and continued home, while she resolved to meet him again.

• Thor found Julie fighting an Evil Spirit among the roots, distracted the spirit, and helped her escape.
• Thor revealed that he had captured the head in an Evil Spirit Bottle, disappointing Julie, who had hoped to claim the Evil Spirit herself.
• Julie suggested that she and Thor celebrate together, while Penny encouraged him and Thor scolded her and Xiao Zao.
• Thor rejected Julie, saying he was wary of being harmed and shy around strangers, then left her behind.
• Julie wondered whether Thor was merely inexperienced and decided they would meet again.

After returning to Baidong Academy, Thor searched the Mission Hall’s exchange list and turned down offers to sell an Evil Spirit. Shaya warned Thor that the Academy’s wizards were all dangerous, leaving Thor with the sense that survival mattered more than trust.

• Thor and Julie reported the strange underground roots to the Academy, and Julie gave Thor most of their mission points.
• Thor found no suitable Meditation Method on the exchange list and told Shaya that his suspicious behavior resembled paranoia.
• Yona asked Thor to sell him an Evil Spirit, but Thor refused; Kent introduced himself and promised the Academy would investigate the mission.
• Shaya asked Thor how to treat paranoia, rejected his suggestion to speak with Julie, and asked for advice from someone experienced.
• As Thor left the Mission Hall, Shaya warned him through a Message Spell that Kent, Yona, and Julie were not good people, then declared that only the living and the dead existed there.

Thor investigated how souls became Evil Spirits to prepare for his Soul Armament experiments and studied the legacy left by Jassim. He learned the Dark Spirit Blade, but Gudo’s attempt to reveal a secret about the Judgment Court ended with his Black Page shattering, leaving Thor wondering whether the Eye of the Abyss was expanding.

• Thor continued Cleaner missions, turned Julie away, and researched Evil Spirits and Soul Armament in his rented building.
• Thor discovered that Jassim’s Soul Fragment carried hidden risks, so he merged it with Gudo’s Black Page and had Gudo relay the knowledge.
• Thor learned that Jassim’s legacy was the Dark Spirit Blade, a powerful Witchcraft that could attack spirits and physical bodies.
• Gudo revealed that the Judgment Court was founded to stop the Eye of the Abyss from expanding, but his Black Page shattered before he could finish.
• Thor connected the Eye of the Abyss to the enormous planetary depression and questioned whether it was expanding.

Thor negotiated with Shaya over the Evolution Diagram, a Meditation Diagram suited to Dark Attribute Wizards, while Shaya sought to learn how Thor suppressed Evil Spirits. The conversation ended with Thor pressing Shaya to explain why he needed another way to fight them and where the Evil Spirit was.

• Thor joined Shaya, Kent, and another Wizard in an Evil Spirit hunt, but they lost track of the first spirit after it had killed three people and stolen their souls.
• Shaya approached Thor at the Mission Hall and offered him the Evolution Diagram in exchange for learning how he suppressed Evil Spirits.
• Thor examined the Evolution Diagram and saw people, monsters, and light evolving into one another around its circle.
• Thor said he had already dealt with his previous Evil Spirits and could obtain other Dark Attribute Meditation Diagrams, then asked Shaya why he needed another way to fight Evil Spirits and where the one he sought was.

Thor pursued Shaya’s help obtaining the Evolution Diagram, but learned that Shaya was plagued by a mysterious Evil Spirit that appeared in his dreams and made captured spirits vanish. Thor persuaded Shaya to let him observe the nightmare in his villa, where Shaya prepared protective and binding Witchcraft Arrays, then lay down while Thor relaxed on a gaudy pink sofa.

• Thor tried to persuade Shaya to take the Evolution Diagram, and Shaya privately told him that an Evil Spirit had haunted his dreams for more than two years.
• Shaya explained that captured Evil Spirits vanished from sealed laboratory arrays after appearing in his dreams.
• Thor questioned Shaya about what he did when the dream figures devoured an Evil Spirit, then used tentacles to examine him without finding any trace of one.
• Thor asked to observe Shaya dreaming, and Shaya eventually agreed to bring him to his villa after Thor accepted several conditions.
• Shaya set up separate Witchcraft Arrays to protect himself and restrict Thor, then lay down while Thor settled onto a huge pink sofa.

Sol entered Shaya’s dream to find the Evil Spirit and discovered it had been clinging to him in the form of copies of himself. He devoured the creatures, collapsing the Dream World, and Shaya confirmed that the Evil Spirit had disappeared.

• Sol entered Shaya’s dream and found him trapped in a crowd moving toward a distant light.
• Sol noticed the dream repeating itself and realized Shaya could not see or sense him.
• Sol changed his appearance and discovered a copy of himself clinging to his back.
• More copies emerged from Sol’s body, but he transformed into a tentacled form and devoured them.
• The Dream World collapsed, and Shaya awoke, surprised and relieved that the Evil Spirit was gone.

Thor saw Shaya transform into a Shadow Monster, then was summoned to Baidong Academy’s Clock Tower to discuss the Root Monster. After Thor left, Beth told Pang De that Thor was too alert to keep at the academy.

• Thor took Shaya’s Evolution Diagram and saw him briefly appear as a Shadow Monster, joining two earlier transformations he had witnessed.
• Two Level 3 Apprentices brought Thor to the Clock Tower at Dean Pang De’s request.
• Pang De introduced Beth, a Tier 1 Wizard nearing advancement, and showed Thor a root recovered from a Root Monster that had killed a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice.
• Pang De asked Thor about his encounter with the Root Monster and offered Magic Crystals or Witchcraft materials for any tissue sample he brought back.
• After Thor left, Beth told Pang De that Thor had not noticed her and that keeping him at Baidong was impossible.

Thor studied the Evolution Diagram, discovered that it identified him as an Evil Spirit, and found that its meditation method improved his perception. He then created a Scorpion Tail Needle from pieces of weak Evil Spirits and successfully attached it to An, who ended the chapter sparring with Penny.

• Beth left Pang De after saying Archaeost needed more people, despite his warning about the Western Region.
• Thor and the Consciousness Entities studied the Evolution Diagram and found that whoever opened it saw an image corresponding to their race; it showed Thor an Evil Spirit and had previously shown him an Octopus Monster.
• Thor tried the Evolution Diagram, found that meditation became more efficient and vivid, and began studying Soul Armament.
• Thor assembled seven usable pieces from five weak Evil Spirits into a Scorpion Tail Needle, but Morton's spirit rejected it.
• Thor attached the Scorpion Tail Needle to An, who tested his new tail by sparring with Penny.

Thor took An into the countryside to test her Scorpion Tail Needle, but underground roots attacked her and she showed signs of Corruption-induced Alienation. He returned her to the Diary and left the woods carrying what appeared to be her corpse.

• Thor took An into the forest to test whether her Scorpion Tail Needle could block his spells.
• Pale roots erupted from the ground, seized An, and dragged her underground while ignoring Thor.
• Thor fired a Flame Arrow into the roots’ suspected location, shaking the clearing and forcing the roots to fall quiet.
• Xiao Zao pulled An from the cracked earth, but An awoke with black eyes and attacked Thor as her scorpion tail struck at him.
• An’s tail vanished and she went limp; Thor returned her to the Diary and hurried back to the carriage carrying her body.

After An was attacked by a Root Monster, Thor investigated its connection to a hidden Great Tree and grew suspicious that Dean Pang De and others at Baidong Academy knew more than they admitted. He continued hunting Evil Spirits in Archaeost City, where Xiao Zao was the first to find a newly born one.

• Thor told Agu and the others that roots had attacked An, and An said she had sensed a distant Great Tree connected to them.
• Thor warned An and Agu not to go out alone, then went to Baidong Academy to ask Shaya about the Root Monster.
• Shaya said a Great Tree in Archaeost City had supposedly been burned down and advised Thor to ask Dean Pang De about the city's history.
• Thor questioned Dean Pang De about the Root Monster and learned that Kent handled dangerous Evil Spirit incidents after another Wizard died.
• Thor suspected Dean Pang De and Witch Beth were connected to the hidden Root Monster, then continued joining Cleaner missions to collect Evil Spirit fragments.
• Thor sent Penny to search for newly born Evil Spirits, but Xiao Zao was the first to report one.

Iz returned to her apartment in Kaositer and grew frightened when her roommate came home, tried her locked bedroom door, and left strange black marks behind. In the hallway, the girl knocked on another apartment door but was snatched away by a black tentacle before anyone could find her.

• Iz came home exhausted, counted her savings, and wondered whether to leave the city or keep working.
• Iz heard someone try her locked bedroom door and saw her roommate leave without speaking.
• Iz found black footprints on the floor and a pitch-black handprint on her bedroom handle, then hid in her locked room.
• The girl who had left Iz's apartment knocked on a neighbor's door, but a black tentacle seized her from the stairwell.
• A man opened the door after the girl vanished and found black spots shedding tiny flakes on it.

Thor discovered that similar Charred Corpse Evil Spirits had appeared across the city, suggesting a dangerous new Pollution Source, but Dean Pang De left the matter to Kent. After Penny spotted signs of Corruption in Iz, Wizard Shaya called Thor about an extremely dangerous Evil Spirit and asked him to come to his place.

• Thor captured a newly formed Charred Corpse Evil Spirit near his lodging and added it to the Witchcraft Array holding his other Evil Spirits.
• Thor told Julie that similar Evil Spirits had appeared in distant parts of the city, and they reported their suspicions of a Pollution Source to Dean Pang De.
• Dean Pang De directed Thor and Julie to inform Kent, and Julie warned Thor that Kent might be collecting Evil Spirits rather than handling the threat.
• Penny noticed that Iz smelled burned and had a shadow that did not match her body, so Thor prepared to investigate her with Morton.
• Wizard Shaya called Thor and said he had found an extremely dangerous Evil Spirit; he invited Thor to his place within an hour, and Thor suspected the situation could be deadly.