Chapter Summaries

Thor joined Shaya and Julie to investigate Charred Corpse Evil Spirits, traveling by Shaya’s Teleportation Array to a cave near the sea. Shaya revealed that people lured out of the city were turned into Evil Spirits and sent back to work, where they infected others until their bodies failed.

• Thor went to Shaya’s villa, where he and Julie waited for Shaya to reveal his discovery.
• Shaya led Thor and Julie to a concealed Teleportation Array and transported them away from the academy.
• Thor asked Shaya whether his discovery involved someone from the academy, and Shaya confirmed he had brought them away to avoid being overheard.
• Shaya explained that Charred Corpse Evil Spirits could disguise themselves as ordinary people for more than a day before erupting.
• Shaya revealed that people promised help leaving the city were turned into Evil Spirits and returned to their jobs, where they infected others until their bodies gave out.
• Thor recognized the scheme as making people work until death.

Thor, Julie, and Shaya discussed who was preventing ordinary people from leaving the city and agreed to investigate the Pollution Source. Shaya proposed using a suspected target to track it and secured their secrecy with contracts witnessed by a Contract Fairy.

• Shaya told Thor and Julie that someone was killing ordinary people who tried to leave the city and warned that wizards might be targeted next.
• Thor questioned Shaya about his suspicions, and Shaya said he planned to mark someone already targeted by the Pollution Source and use him to locate it.
• Julie challenged Shaya's plan, but he threatened to kill her if she refused to participate and said he had recruited three people so one could draw pursuit while they escaped.
• Thor asked how they could prevent anyone from leaking the plan, and Shaya presented Secret Language Contracts made by a Contract Fairy.
• Thor and Julie examined the contracts, and Shaya explained that anyone who broke one would face a Curse Fairy's prolonged harassment.
• Penny warned Thor that Curse Fairies could torment even powerful wizards, and Thor concluded he could not afford to provoke one.

Thor, Julie, and Shaya signed a Secret Language Contract and planned their search for the Pollution Source. Thor then negotiated with Shaya for access to his Spatial Teleportation Array Scroll, agreeing to copy it under dangerous conditions while hoping the Diary would help him.

• Thor agreed to join Shaya's operation, and Julie joined him before the three signed a Secret Language Contract and planned their search for the Pollution Source.
• Thor returned to Shaya's villa after Julie left and asked whether Shaya had mastered the Spatial Teleportation Array or relied on a Witchcraft Item.
• Shaya revealed that he used Witchcraft Scrolls to set up the Array wherever he needed it.
• Thor offered to teach Shaya Parasitic Witchcraft in exchange for access to the Array, and Shaya offered to let him copy the Scroll at his villa for one day.
• After Shaya warned that a mistake could tear Thor apart or send him somewhere unknown, Thor agreed to copy the Scroll and appealed to the Diary for help.

Thor copied Shaya’s Spatial Teleportation Array and secretly analyzed how to build one, then returned home and was caught in a mysterious bedsheet-like illusion. He awoke trapped inside something white, with an unseen presence apparently gripping it from outside.

• Thor gave Shaya Luokai’s Parasite Witchcraft and spent a day and night copying the Spatial Teleportation Array while studying its design.
• Thor used the Diary’s help to analyze the Array and planned to trade Shaya some Parasites for the materials needed to construct one.
• Thor returned to his temporary residence and arranged to watch Iz, whose abnormalities might lead him to the Evil Ghost behind the Charred Corpses.
• Thor heard noises beneath his bed and saw faces seemingly forming under his bedsheet, but found nothing when he pulled it away.
• Thor fell into a vision of drowning beneath a bedsheet among countless people and saw a red shape approaching as he called for Penny.
• Thor vanished beneath the scorched bedsheet and awoke curled up in a cramped white space, with the material gathered above him as if held from outside.

Thor became trapped in a dream where he and his house hung upside down above a dark void, while pale flames burned across the land overhead. After escaping, he learned that the Nightmare Butterfly had struggled to reach him, and suspected the dream itself had expelled him.

• Thor realized that a black presence beneath his bedsheet had been himself, then woke in bed and discovered he was still dreaming.
• Herman spotted that Thor and his house were upside down, and Thor found a burning wasteland above the city and darkness below it.
• Thor burned the sprouts clinging to his feet, but gravity suddenly returned and he began to fall before the dream vanished.
• Thor woke in his room with Penny, An, and Agu beside him, and confirmed that he had escaped the dream unharmed.
• Agu explained that the Nightmare Butterfly could not find Thor in the dream, and the butterfly said it had finally pulled him out.
• Thor disagreed that the butterfly had rescued him and said he thought the dream had kicked him out.

Thor investigated a strange dream and learned that something had happened around Iz, while Wizard Shaya reported a promising lead and asked him to meet. As Thor and his companions went to investigate, Iz tried to leave Archaeost but learned that the city would take three months to approve her departure.

• Thor described his two-layer dream, and Agu suggested the Inverted City dream seemed peaceful while the hostile dream might signal an attack or corruption.
• Thor checked An for corruption and found none, but agreed to let her remain outside the Diary and assist Agu.
• A tentacle reported "Iz," and Wizard Shaya told Thor to come to the clinic on Fifth Avenue after his lead uncovered something.
• Thor sent Morton to investigate Iz's situation with him, while An stayed behind and Xiao Zao and Penny accompanied Thor.
• Iz, frightened by the indifference surrounding her missing roommate, applied to quit her job and return to her hometown.
• A city hall clerk told Iz that leaving Archaeost would take three months while the city investigated her records and outstanding obligations.

Iz heard what she believed was a presence trying to enter her locked bedroom and fainted when a shadow appeared beside her. Thor entered after capturing an Evil Spirit and discovered that Iz’s hand had charred flesh beneath its skin.

• Iz withdrew her resignation and returned to her apartment, where she heard dragging footsteps in the room next door.
• The landlady told Iz that a new tenant had rented the next room but had not arrived yet, leaving Iz frightened by the footsteps and the turning bedroom doorknob.
• The landlady called again to say the new tenant had arrived, and Iz heard knocking at her bedroom door before a shadow appeared beside her and she screamed.
• Thor entered the apartment, carrying a captured charred Evil Spirit, and found Xiao Zao supporting the unconscious Iz.
• Thor’s attempt to lift Iz tore away the skin on her hand, revealing flesh charred like a corpse.

Thor and Morton investigated Iz’s death and concluded that a citywide source other than the Charred Corpse Evil Spirits was causing the Corruption, possibly the Great Tree underground. Meanwhile, Shaya led Julie into a basement, believing his lead was about to be corrupted by the same underground source.

• Thor found that Iz’s body had carbonized from within before she died, then watched her rise as an Evil Spirit and search for water.
• Thor and Morton reasoned that the Charred Corpse Evil Spirits did not spread the Corruption and suspected the Great Tree beneath Kaositer was its source.
• Thor suspected Baidong Academy knew more about the Great Tree than it had revealed, and wondered whether it had planted and nurtured it.
• Shaya told Julie that Charred Corpse Evil Spirits did not create more of their kind, suggesting a different source of Corruption was targeting ordinary people.
• Shaya warned Julie that the Corruption could eventually threaten Apprentices and Wizards, then led her toward his marked lead in the basement.

Thor and Morton investigated the source of the charred-corpse Evil Spirits in a sealed building, where Kent and other Wizards arrived and accused Shaya of causing the deaths and disappearances. Kent claimed Shaya had lured Thor away so a Pollution Source could appear in the building, leaving Thor to question the accusation and Shaya’s apparent plan.

• Thor followed Iz’s Evil Spirit as drinking water eased the cracks in her skin, while Morton discovered that Witchcraft had sealed the building.
• Thor and Morton encountered a powerful branch spell in the stairwell, but Kent arrived and called off the attack before another Wizard captured Iz in a Soul Bottle.
• Kent told Thor that Shaya was behind the charred-corpse Evil Spirits and had targeted Wizards who worked alone, trapping them and stealing their possessions.
• Thor admitted that Shaya had invited him out, and Kent said the Pollution Source had appeared because Shaya expected Thor not to return.

Thor and Kent climbed toward Thor’s residence while discussing Shaya’s deception, as Shaya and Julie fled through an underground plant and confronted Dean Pang De. Shaya escaped using a hidden teleportation array, but Pang De remained confident that he could still capture him.

• Thor suspected Shaya’s attack was aimed at his residence, and Kent followed him up the stairwell sealed by a Witchcraft Scroll.
• Kent asked how Shaya had persuaded Thor to investigate him, and Thor said Shaya had accused him of secretly cultivating Evil Spirits.
• Shaya and Julie reached a dead end in the underground garbage treatment plant, where Dean Pang De confronted them.
• Shaya concluded that Baidong Academy needed the Evil Spirits and accused Pang De of running a conspiracy; Julie agreed to become an official Mentor.
• Shaya refused Pang De’s offer and vanished through a Spatial Teleportation Array hidden on his body.
• Pang De told Julie that escaping was useless against absolute power.

Shaya was transformed by Beth and sent to register as a full instructor at Baidong Academy. After a blast damaged the floor beneath Thor’s home, Thor and Kent fought powder creatures and a strange flower before Thor trapped Kent and asked whether he looked like a Pollution Source.

• Shaya escaped underground with both legs severed, but Beth found him and killed him with her power.
• Beth revived Shaya with water from a small watering can, ordered him to accept her invitation, and sent him to register as a full instructor at Baidong Academy.
• Thor and Kent heard an explosion below Thor’s home and hurried to the Experimental Zone, where An and Agu fought figures formed from Black Powder beneath a smoke-spewing flower.
• Thor’s Strike Undead spell failed against the figures, but Kent’s fire magic destroyed them and drove the flower toward a hole in the ceiling.
• Kent sent a brown plant after the fleeing flower, but Thor pinned him and trapped them both inside a cage of black and gray tentacles.
• Thor contained the powder flying toward him and asked Kent whether he looked like a Pollution Source.

Thor trapped Kent in an illusion after Kent used Giant Wood Growth to seal the building, and Kent’s attempts to escape led him into a space Thor’s power had created. Thor then confronted Kent about Baidong Academy’s connection to the corruption and Evil Spirits in Archaeost City.

• Kent realized Thor had trapped him in an illusion, but his Mental Power techniques failed to break it.
• Kent used Giant Wood Growth to attack Thor and later activated a gear-covered Witchcraft Item to counter the illusion.
• The device shifted Kent into a vast skyborne stone platform beneath an enormous Red Hardcover Book, where he sensed power beyond a Tier 1 Wizard’s means.
• Fearing the Radiation, Kent poured a milky-white liquid over his head, summoned a strand from the master behind the Great Tree, and prepared defenses.
• Thor appeared and accused Kent of controlling the Corruption and Evil Spirits in Archaeost City, including the upside-down Great Tree, and Kent’s expression revealed the accusation was true.

Thor trapped Kent in the Consciousness Battlefield and resisted Kent’s powerful fire Witchcraft before Kent fled by leaping into the Starry Sky. Thor and Herman watched Kent’s terrified reaction as he fell, and the Diary returned with a new Black Page.

• Thor concluded that Kent had come to test him and launched a surprise attack with Consciousness Battlefield.
• Kent tried to burn Thor with Geocore Doomsday, but the platform only grew hot and Thor began absorbing Kent’s Fire Attribute spells.
• Kent raised a Fire Wall Spell to escape, then jumped from the platform into the Starry Sky as Thor’s tentacles closed in.
• Herman emerged from the Diary and saw Kent turn toward the platform with a look of terror as he fell.
• Thor considered testing the platform’s edge but lowered his foot, and the Diary absorbed a streak of black light and revealed a new Black Page.

After Kent died, strange eyes appeared on his face and caused anyone who examined or healed him to suffer similar Corruption. As Thor investigated the aftermath, the room began shaking from something beneath the house, while An pursued the fleeing Strange Flower underground.

• Thor ordered Morton back to the Diary after Morton's eyes exploded, and Kent's strange eyes shriveled away as his body fell.
• Kent's death caused the Giant Wood Growth to wither, and Agu told Thor that An had followed the fleeing Strange Flower underground.
• Thor warned the arriving Wizards that Kent's corpse was corrupted, but one Wizard examined it and developed the same eye affliction.
• A Level 3 Apprentice healed the injured Wizard, causing more than a dozen pairs of eyes to grow across his face.
• The room shook twice, and Thor realized that something underground was shaking only their house.

An pursued Dumo through the Underground Sewer and found him fused with an enormous object, where he tried to absorb her and complete the Blood Rose Family’s Spirit-Flesh Fusion. An revealed that she had let him devour her deliberately, leaving the result of their attempted fusion uncertain.

• An abandoned her body and followed the flower stem as a Spirit Body through the Underground Sewer and into a hidden space.
• An found the flower stem lifeless against an enormous smooth object, then was seized by roots after sensing Dumo inside it.
• Dumo revealed himself and explained that he wanted An to fuse with him so they could complete the Blood Rose Family’s Spirit-Flesh Fusion.
• An taunted Dumo for betraying the Blood Rose Family and learned that he had pursued a false legend, believing the family’s sorcery could make him Tier 4.
• As Dumo pulled An into the object, An revealed that she had allowed him to devour her and questioned whose consciousness would consume the other.

An devoured Dumo inside the Inverted Tree, but the tree’s roots began tearing apart their Spirit Bodies. Thor used the Dark Spirit Blade to rescue An and escape, then returned to his body, where he planned to punish her for acting without permission.

• An gradually took control of Dumo’s consciousness and learned that his master was a Tier 3 Wizard.
• Andasonia sent roots to shred An and Dumo’s Spirit Bodies, and An devoured Dumo before nearly collapsing.
• Thor used the Dark Spirit Blade to sever the roots and pull An’s failing Spirit Body out of the Inverted Tree.
• Thor escaped the underground space and returned to his body, while the roots stopped pursuing him.
• Thor confirmed that the Diary showed no further danger, told An he had rescued her, and ignored her apology.
• An told Thor that Morton was guarding the entrance while Official Wizards from Baidong Academy discussed moving the bodies outside.

After Wizard Kent died from a strange Corruption in Thor’s room, Thor gave the Academy investigators a misleading account and decided Baidong was too dangerous to investigate further. Wizard Yona examined the scene, then secretly concluded that Thor carried a far greater eye Corruption and decided to urge the dean to eliminate him.

• Thor told the investigators that a Strange Flower and black-smoke figures had appeared, and that Kent had transformed after pursuing the flower.
• Julie hinted that Kent deserved his fate and complained that Shaya had run away during their investigation.
• Wizard Yona examined Kent’s body and questioned Thor about the eyes and his apparent resistance to Corruption.
• Yona ordered ordinary Security Squad members to carry away the body with their eyes covered, then suggested Thor find another place to stay.
• On the way back to the Academy, Yona avoided Julie and resolved to tell the dean to get rid of Thor before the eye Corruption spread.

Thor left Kaositer after rescuing An and dealing with Kent, then opened Kent’s Compression Bag and found little of value. On the road, Xiao Zao encountered the Light-Colored Root, and Thor discovered that Wizard Shaya had been swallowed by the Inverted Tree.

• Thor packed his belongings and left Kaositer without being stopped, noticing that several people in the city had surveillance-dish-shaped heads.
• Thor cracked Kent’s Compression Bag and found fewer than a hundred Magic Crystals, a possible summoning-array diagram, and a few common materials.
• A hidden pursuer followed Thor’s carriage underground, so Thor sent Xiao Zao to intercept it.
• Thor recognized the pursuer’s Mental Power as Wizard Shaya’s, but found Xiao Zao fighting the Light-Colored Root and its many branches.
• Thor approached the root-shaped figure and asked whether Shaya had been swallowed by the Inverted Tree; Shaya replied that it was too late to run.

Thor negotiated with Shaya, who revealed that he had been ordered to pursue Thor and steal some of his Spirit Body. After they exchanged knowledge and agreed on a deal, they fought as a performance, and Thor escaped with his companions while Shaya failed to harm them.

• Shaya told Thor that he had prepared to resist control and wanted to learn how Thor let Spirit Bodies inhabit corpses.
• Thor learned from An that she knew about Andasonia and the Inverted Tree, then negotiated with Shaya for the location of his stored Evil Spirits in exchange for the Soul Rejection Delay Potion formula.
• After swearing an oath, Thor gave Shaya the potion formula, and Shaya proposed that they fight to make the pursuit look convincing.
• Thor attacked Shaya with the Dark Spirit Blade, then fought back the roots as he retreated toward the carriage.
• Thor, Agu, Marsh, and Xiao Zao escaped the roots, leaving Shaya furious and unable to hurt them.

Thor learned the history of Baidong and the truth behind An’s revenge, then continued toward the Land of No Owner. At Baidong Academy, Beth chose not to pursue him because of the dangerous powers surrounding him and focused on developing Archaeost City instead.

• Morton recalled how Baidong’s Tier 3 Wizard destroyed the Kema Empire’s forces at Chuishou Valley, then died, leaving Baidong to retreat to Bay City and establish Baidong Academy.
• An revealed that Dumo had helped destroy the Blood Rose Family, and that she had stolen his treasure before being Corrupted and dying.
• Thor confronted An about pursuing Dumo, punished her through the Diary, and received her knowledge of Flesh-Spirit Fusion and the Tier 3 Witchcraft Earth Fire Eruption.
• Thor took the boxes of Evil Spirits Shaya had given him and continued toward the Land of No Owner.
• Pang De questioned Beth about capturing Thor again, but Beth refused because of Gorsa’s presence and another unidentified power linked to Kent’s eyeball Corruption.
• Beth decided to leave the Pollutant alone and focus on bringing more ordinary people and Wizards to Archaeost.