Recaps

Harbos explained how Formal Mages could obtain resources to advance through administration, the Alliance's armed forces, or research societies. Although he offered to recommend Fran to the Elemental School's prestigious Yobner Society, Fran chose the cross-school Northern Lands Society, and Harbos began describing it.

• Harbos confirmed that Fran had become a Formal Mage through her own mental strength, without using a potion.
• Harbos explained the Alliance's three main paths for Formal Mages to gain advancement resources: administration, the armed forces, and research societies.
• Harbos described the Northern Lands Society, which welcomed mages from every school but had drawn the schools' opposition for sharing their spells.
• Harbos offered to recommend Fran to the Yobner Society, which accepted only mages who had advanced through their own mental strength and guaranteed a place among the Elemental School's core members.
• Fran declined the Yobner Society and chose the Northern Lands Society, so Harbos began introducing it.

Fran chose to travel through the Antir Region to reach the Northern Lands Society, turning down Harbos’s recommendation to join the powerful Yobner Society. At Cuilan Academy, Elan helped process her graduation registration, and Fran prepared to teach the Forge School apprentices before leaving in a week or two.

• Fran explained to Elan that the Northern Lands Society was based in the north and that the Antir Region was the unavoidable route to reach it.
• Elan was astonished that Fran had declined Harbos’s recommendation to join the highly ranked Yobner Society, but wished her luck.
• Fran reminded Elan to process her graduation registration, which she needed for future Alliance examinations.
• Elan told Fran that several students had been accepted into the Forge School and were learning her two Spells.
• Fran said she would remain for a week or two and teach the apprentices before leaving, as Harbos had asked.

Kahn worried that his [Steam Jet] would not be enough for the assessment, while Ocien worked on a Spell-powered automatic crossbow. At a Forge School gathering, newly advanced Formal Mage Fran began demonstrating how to make a powerful weapon.

• Kahn practiced [Steam Jet] and decided he needed to buy basic Spells to prepare for the assessment.
• Ocien told Kahn that his [Energy Conversion]-powered crossbow could reload automatically and that Mentor Elan had approved Spell-powered equipment for the assessment.
• Kahn and Ocien answered Mentor Elan's summons and joined the other Forge School apprentices.
• Fran introduced herself as a newly advanced Formal Mage and used Telekinetic Hand and fire to heat and shape refined iron into a rifled tube.

Fran demonstrated a simple firearm to the apprentices, showing how it used a Spell to launch a bullet, then explained its design and possible improvements. After class, she told Elan why she had shared the weapon’s design and gave him a sheet containing a Spell from Harbos.

• Fran constructed a gun with rifling and a side opening, then used Telekinetic Hand and Steam Jet to fire a bullet through a wall.
• Ocien asked how Fran had cast a Spell inside the gun, and Fran explained that distance casting required practice.
• Fran answered the apprentices’ questions about the gun, described ways to improve it, and dismissed the class.
• The apprentices rushed to examine the weapon or try making their own, while Fran left with Elan.
• Elan questioned why Fran had taught the advanced design for free, and Fran said it could help the school secure a ranking.
• Fran gave Elan a sheet bearing a Spell developed by Harbos, while she kept her copy containing First Order and Second Order Spells.

Fran prepared to leave Loderis, canceled her businesses, and set out toward Gede Town, the Antir Region, and the Northern Lands Society. After passing through the city gates, she realized she needed to buy transportation and turned back toward the city.

• Fran packed her essential belongings and all her earnings, while canceling her outstanding orders and selling her stored enchanted daggers as raw material.
• Fran’s Runology advancement revealed the Ancient Rune Warrior Profession, but she could not figure out how to draw a true ancient rune.
• Fran joined the line to leave Loderis and saw how people and guards treated her with deference as a Formal Mage.
• Fran registered her route with the guard and passed through the city gates.
• Fran realized she had no transportation, recalled Elan’s advice about a nearby horse market, and turned back toward Loderis.

Fran visited Shane’s horse-trading shop to buy a horse for long-term travel, but a strange rune on a mercenary’s short sword caught her attention. She bought the weapon and learned its rune came from an Enchanter’s shop in Gede Town, then turned back to consider a Highland Black Horse.

• Fran reached Shane’s horse-trading shop in the unnamed town and asked Aaron to show her a horse suitable for long-term travel.
• Fran noticed the unfamiliar rune on a mercenary’s short sword and asked to inspect it.
• Fran offered the mercenary twenty-five silver coins for the sword and another five if he revealed where its rune came from.
• The mercenary said he had bought the weapon in Gede Town, and Fran paid him thirty silver coins before sending him away.
• Shane brought out a pitch-black Highland Black Horse for Fran to examine.

Fran bought a horse and a rune-etched dagger, then discovered the dagger could gather far more ice magic than ordinary runes. As a wolf pack surrounded her on the road, she charged the dagger and threw it at one of the larger wolves.

• Fran bought a horse from Shane for five Gold Coins and received a booklet about its care.
• Fran studied the dagger's rune and found it combined frost damage and a chance to freeze its target.
• Fran suspected the dagger bore an Ancient Rune because it gathered more ice elements as she fed it mental power.
• A pack of black wolves surrounded Fran and Black Horse on the road.
• Fran charged the glowing dagger and threw it at a large wolf, which dodged as a bone-deep chill rose from the blade.

Fran tested the power of a rune against attacking wolves, then reached Gede Town and encountered a man fleeing the gate guards. She helped the guards capture him and entered the town.

• Fran froze several wolves with the shortsword's rune, then burned the frozen wolves to ash with Dragon Flame.
• After traveling through the wilderness for three nights, Fran arrived at Gede Town and joined the queue at its gate.
• Kate argued with the guards when they tried to search him, then broke through their lines and ran toward the exit.
• Fran used Telekinetic Hand to yank Kate backward, allowing the guards to capture and bind him.
• A guard returned Fran's documents, and she rode through the gate into Gede Town.

Curtis returned to Captain Breden’s group without Kate, who had been arrested after drawing the guards’ suspicion while standing in line. With no one finding the sought-after item, Breden ordered the team to search the Gede Town administrator’s residence and report the item’s location to their ally.

• Curtis told Captain Breden that Kate had been arrested after refusing to give up his place in line, and Breden realized a Formal Mage had been standing behind him.
• Breden told the group to clean up their traces and said Kate’s fate was out of their hands.
• Kosti reported that he had found no information about the item, and the group debated whether the town’s owner or visiting mages had taken it.
• Breden explained that the team only needed to locate the item for their ally, who could negotiate with the Magic Alliance to obtain it.
• Breden ordered the group to infiltrate the Gede Town administrator’s residence and began examining a picture of the item they sought.

Fran visited Gede Town's Adventurers Guild, which had been built over the former site of an Enchanter's shop, and asked for records about the property. While she waited, a notice about a dangerous Earth Dragon caught her attention and appeared on her Panel.

• Fran found a grand Adventurers Guild where the Enchanter's shop had once stood and learned that the Guild supported adventurers who hunted valuable magical beasts.
• Fran asked the receptionist when the Guild building had been built and whether it had records from when the site was cleared and acquired.
• Fran gave the receptionist a gold coin, prompting her to search the Guild's records while another staff member attended to Fran.
• Fran read the Guild's magical beast notices and noticed a quest describing an Earth Dragon that ten teams had failed to subdue.
• Fran's Panel displayed a notification about the Earth Dragon notice.

Fran discovered the Monster Hunter profession and registered with the Adventurers Guild so she could hunt Devil Creatures. She paid for information on an Earth Dragon and left, while Oliver arrived afterward and learned that someone else had claimed the mission.

• Fran discovered that the Monster Hunter profession required a completed First Order Devil Creature hunt and registration with the Adventurers Guild.
• Fran registered as an adventurer and requested information about the Earth Dragon and other Devil Creatures.
• Fran paid the guild's information fee to claim the Earth Dragon mission despite the receptionist warning her that hunting it alone would be difficult.
• The front-desk clerk gave Fran information about an Enchanter's shop, and Fran left the guild.
• Oliver arrived to challenge the Earth Dragon again, learned Fran had claimed its listing, and angrily set out to find it.

Fran tracked down Raymond, a former Enchanter, and learned that he had carved the short sword’s unreliable frost rune from a battered book he found at home. After buying the book, Fran discovered it contained seven intact complex runes, including one that appeared to be an Ancient Rune of [Weight].

• Fran found Raymond at his home and asked whether he had carved the rune on the short sword.
• Raymond recounted finding a rune book seven years earlier, using it to become an Enchanter, and losing customers after a difficult frost rune he carved only halfway still worked unreliably.
• Raymond retrieved the battered book and sold it to Fran for twenty silver coins.
• Fran read the book and found seven complex runes alongside seven ordinary modern runes.
• Fran recognized the seventh complex rune as a depiction of the Elephant of Mountains and suspected it was an Ancient Rune of [Weight].

Fran inscribed an ancient-looking rune on a longsword and tested its power, then began considering whether divine symbols explained the runes’ strength. She planned to draw a rune based on the Lord of Radiance, but a waiter arrived with an invitation to dinner from Gede Town’s administrator.

• Fran copied a rune onto a longsword, spending a quarter of her Divine Power to complete it.
• She activated the rune and covered the blade in intense flames, then stopped before it ignited the room.
• Fran judged the rune weaker than her Dragon Flame-enhanced Fireball and realized the Panel did not recognize it as an ancient rune.
• She considered whether the runes’ depictions of gods supplied their power and decided to try drawing one modeled on the Lord of Radiance.
• A waiter told Fran that Gede Town’s administrator had invited the Mages staying at the residence to dinner.

Fran attended a dinner banquet at Caleb Walker’s estate with two other mages and heard Zeno Harper explain research on the Soul Creation Spell. The chapter left Fran with new insight that could help her develop the First Order Spell Powerful Spirit Awakening.

• Fran arrived at Caleb Walker’s estate and joined Caleb, Zeno Harper, and Daphne Marlow at the banquet table.
• Fran introduced herself as a member of the Forge School and a researcher of the Northern Lands Society, while Daphne teased her about her age.
• Zeno described the Skeleton Society and explained an experiment that optimized the Soul Creation Spell.
• Fran gained 50 proficiency in Soul Creation and realized she might be able to work out Powerful Spirit Awakening through further experimentation.
• Caleb praised the research Zeno had shared.

Caleb hosted a sword-grip duel among the mages and offered a mysterious token as the prize. Fran won the contest and kept the token, while Caleb watched with a strange smile.

• Caleb proposed a sword-grip duel and offered a decorated token as the prize.
• Zeno defeated Caleb by using his summoned evil spirit to push his arm during an attack.
• Fran defeated Daphne after noticing that Daphne had tampered with her wooden sword, then claimed to know a Body Tempering Method.
• Fran beat Zeno with her raw strength and received the token.
• Zeno asked Fran to travel with him to the Antir Region, but she refused because she had important business there.
• Fran examined the token, while Caleb watched the mages with a strange smile.

Caleb interrogated the captured Kalai Kingdom spies and revealed that he had identified their target as a Territory Token. He offered Duke Theodore a deal: kill Zeno Harper, who was carrying the token to Antir Region, and Caleb would provide information about him.

• Caleb questioned Breden and explained how he had deduced that the spies were after the Territory Token.
• Caleb said the token could grant land to someone with the proper noble bloodline, making it useless to him as a Mage.
• Caleb freed the captured spies and told Breden he wanted to make a deal with Duke Theodore.
• Caleb offered information about Zeno Harper in exchange for his death, and Curtis asked why Caleb wanted him killed.
• Caleb said simply that he wanted Zeno Harper dead, showing a complicated expression.

Fran engraved an Ancient Rune depicting the Lord of Radiance on her longsword, gaining a powerful weapon and the Ancient Rune Warrior Profession. She planned a route out of Gede Town to hunt three monsters and use their parts to upgrade her Black Horse.

• Fran engraved the Lord of Radiance’s likeness on her longsword and discovered that its rune greatly enhanced the blade and could charge a powerful burst.
• Fran checked her Panel and saw that the Ancient Rune Warrior Profession had raised her Physique to 6.4 and granted her the Mysterious Power trait.
• Fran planned to hunt three monsters to advance her Monster Hunter Profession and collect materials for Transmutation Surgery on her Black Horse.
• Fran decided to seek a Forest Sprite in the valley woods, a Gale Rabbit in the grasslands, and an Earth Dragon on a mountaintop.
• Fran planned to use the monsters’ essence, bones, heart, and blood to improve her Black Horse’s movement, speed, and durability.

As Antir’s Royal Capital came under siege, Connor received orders from Duke Theodore to help secure the Territory Token needed to encircle the city. Connor learned that the token’s holder was a Mage and agreed to kill two Mages to discover their whereabouts.

• Antir’s defenders used falling objects and burning liquid to repel soldiers climbing the Royal Capital’s walls.
• Connor received a letter from Duke Theodore and learned that the Kalai Kingdom’s spies had discovered the Territory Token north of the Royal Capital.
• Connor explained that securing the token would let Duke Theodore’s allies encircle the capital and weaken its new heir.
• Connor learned that a Mage in the Antir Region held the token and that the task required killing two Mages.
• Connor accepted the mission to kill a Mage collecting corpses on another battlefield, while his knight worried about the risks.

Fran modified her Black Horse using a Forest Sprite’s substance and fragments of a Gale Rabbit’s bones, improving its footing and speed. After testing the changes, she set off to find an earth dragon for the next modification.

• A Forest Sprite dodged Fran’s Magic Missiles, but invisible currents cut it into pieces and killed it.
• Fran mixed the Forest Sprite’s remains into a solution, knocked out the Black Horse, and applied the liquid through small cuts before healing it.
• The Black Horse woke with improved balance and moved more easily through the forest.
• Fran chased a Gale Rabbit until it collapsed, killed it, and implanted fragments of its bones in the Black Horse’s limbs.
• The Black Horse recovered with faster movement, and Fran said the earth dragon was next.

Oliver’s team found the Earth Dragon and prepared to hunt it despite Flynn’s objections, since they had bought a special scroll for the task. Fran arrived on the Black Horse and claimed the Earth Dragon was registered with the Adventurers Guild, prompting Oliver to accuse her of stealing their target.

• Oliver led his team through the mountains and found the Earth Dragon across a stretch of cliffs.
• Oliver decided to hunt the Earth Dragon, rejecting Flynn’s suggestion that they negotiate with the team that had registered it.
• Flynn warned that hunting it could create a conflict, but Oliver insisted they had to use the scroll they had bought for the Earth Dragon.
• As Oliver’s team prepared a probing attack, the Black Horse climbed the cliff and brought Fran to them.
• Fran asked whether they planned to hunt the Earth Dragon and said she had registered it with the Adventurers Guild, so Oliver accused her of stealing it.

Fran disputed Oliver’s claim that his team had reserved the Earth Dragon, insisting she had followed Adventurers Guild regulations. They agreed that Fran would have one chance to hunt it within seven days before Oliver’s team took over.

• Oliver explained that adventurers commonly warned others off a Devil Creature they planned to hunt, and said his team had claimed the Earth Dragon.
• Fran argued that she had registered properly with the Adventurers Guild and had the right to hunt the Earth Dragon within a month.
• Oliver warned that Fran lacked the preparations to stop the Earth Dragon from burrowing and pointed out his team’s enhanced Vine Entanglement scroll.
• Fran rejected Oliver’s objections and proposed that she try one hunt, then leave if she failed.
• Oliver and his teammates agreed on the condition that Fran hunt the Earth Dragon within seven days, and Fran accepted.

Fran drove the adventurers away so she could fight the Earth Dragon alone, then combined several spells through her rune-inscribed longsword to bring the beast down. The dragon lay mortally wounded, while Fran's sword was cracked and its runes would need days to recover.

• Fran sent the adventurers away and approached the Earth Dragon on Black Horse.
• The Earth Dragon charged Fran, stirring earth magic as Black Horse fled to safety.
• Fran used Tool Enchantment and Tool Overload to empower her rune-inscribed longsword.
• Fran added Holy Strike and released the sword's power in a slash that cut the Earth Dragon deeply.
• The Earth Dragon crashed to a stop, and Fran saw that the attack had drained half her mental strength and cracked her sword.

Oliver's team carried a heavy spell scroll down the mountain while he explained why they had to avoid offending Mages and Flynn described his failed attempt to join the Blood Wolf Knights. Oliver and Flynn insisted that a Mage could not hunt the Earth Dragon, but a sudden tremor and darkening sky suggested the hunt had begun.

• Oliver's teammates complained about carrying the four-hundred-kilogram scroll and asked why they had to wait three more days.
• Oliver explained that the Alliance made it dangerous to harm Mages, with the Blood Wolf Knights as a rare exception.
• Flynn told the team how he had failed to advance as a trainee member of the Blood Wolf Knights and later learned skills from an old Ranger.
• Oliver and Flynn assured the team that the Mage would fail to hunt the Earth Dragon, lifting their spirits.
• The ground began to tremble, and Oliver looked up as the sky seemed to darken.

Caleb gave Connor Fran’s records and a Tracking Bug to help the Blood Wolf Knights pursue and kill her. Connor headed for the Northern Territory Pass to intercept Fran, who was riding into Gede Town from the opposite direction.

• Caleb celebrated Zeno’s death and handed Connor Fran’s records and a Tracking Bug.
• Connor learned Fran was heading toward the Northern Lands Society and criticized Caleb for relying on a short-range Tracking Bug.
• Caleb explained he could not afford a concealed tracking spell and had given Fran the token after she won the duel.
• Connor fed enhancement materials to the Tracking Bug and hurried with his men toward the Northern Territory Pass.
• Fran rode into Gede Town on Black Horse, heading for the Adventurers Guild while Connor pursued her from the opposite direction.

Fran sold the remaining Earth Dragon remains and registered her kills at the Gede Town Adventurers Guild, gaining the Monster Hunter Profession and its growth trait. After checking her improved abilities, she asked for the guild’s exchange catalog to find material for her longsword.

• Fran sold the remaining Earth Dragon remains for Gold Coins after using its heart and Dragon Blood to strengthen the Black Horse and gaining Earth Dragon Breath.
• Fran registered proof of her Forest Sprite and Gale Rabbit kills with the Adventurers Guild receptionist.
• Fran gained the Monster Hunter Profession, raising her constitution and spirit and giving her medals for four kinds of monsters.
• Fran summoned an attendant and asked for the exchange catalog to find material that could withstand her longsword’s runes.