Chapter Summaries

Fran finished forging a Dragon Bone club and discovered that Harbos's enhancement spell gave it a lightning effect despite her lack of lightning affinity. After working through the night, she learned that the Society President wanted to see her about an important matter, possibly a prize for her Alchemy School work.

• Fran carved spell-enhancing inscriptions into the Dragon Bone club and decided to enhance it with Harbos's Rite of Weapon Forging.
• Fran successfully cast the spell, transforming the club into a bone-white weapon with golden patterns, and tested its improved melee and spellcasting performance.
• Fran infused the club with mental power and found that it gathered lightning, then realized the spell's elemental effect was random rather than based on her affinity.
• Fran finished cleaning up after working all night and answered a knock at her door.
• Dylan told Fran that the Society President wanted to see her about something important, possibly a prize for her previous Alchemy School work.

Fran learned that her paper on the mathematics of Fireball had won the Silver Alchemy Award, while her paper on Refining White Star Sand had not. Iris gave her a Second Order Alchemy School technique and told her that if she was nominated for the Gold Alchemy Award in six months, she would have to attend the ceremony with Iris.

• Fran noticed that the Silver Alchemy Award trophy bore her platform name, Lai, and asked Iris why Mage Philip's name was missing.
• Fran told Iris that she had redeemed the Transmutation School's Song of the Deep Sea sequence, and Iris revealed that Fran's paper on the mathematics of Fireball had won the award.
• Iris gave Fran the Second Order secret technique Heart of Quicksand as her reward.
• Iris explained that she had declined the Silver Alchemy Award presentation on Fran's behalf because Fran could not safely appear in public.
• Iris told Fran she would take her to the Gold Alchemy Award ceremony if Fran was nominated, and Fran agreed to go.

With one day left before the Trial of the Sun, Fran prepared by surgically grafting a Black-Striped Giant Shark’s signaling organ into her liver and securing a Second Order spell construct from Iris. Meanwhile, Heather spent the final night before the trial playing cards, confident that the other Deities’ proxies had little to prepare.

• Fran obtained a Black-Striped Giant Shark’s signaling organ to meet the Song of the Deep Sea’s Sequence Five requirement.
• Fran used Transmutation Surgery to attach the organ’s particles to her liver, sacrificing much of her mental power but recovering enough to move normally.
• Fran checked her condition, cleaned up, and prepared the Heart of Quicksand construct that Iris had made for her.
• Heather played cards with Valerie instead of preparing for the Trial of the Sun, after spending the previous week avoiding her Church duties.
• Valerie let Heather relax because she believed the Deities’ proxies would easily disrupt the trial.

Fran learned the Trial of the Sun’s rules and the limited help Zali could provide. She arranged to begin near a Proxy while the other Proxies were scattered, preparing to hunt them before they could join forces.

• Zali explained that the trial had three minor trials and ended with everyone attacking whoever defended the arena.
• Zali described how he could identify Proxies, mark trial locations, set participants’ general starting positions, and strengthen the Sunflame Arts.
• Fran asked whether the Deities could communicate with or otherwise interfere on behalf of their Proxies, and Zali said they could only withdraw a Proxy from the trial.
• Fran asked Zali to scatter the participants, keep the Proxies far apart, and place Spirit Realm trial-takers around them.
• Fran requested to start within ten meters of a Proxy, intending to hunt the Proxies herself.

Darian, the God of Shadows’ Proxy and heir to Lorinvik, was forced into the Trial of the Sun before he could finish preparing. He was ambushed and killed in the Spirit Realm, then returned to his body blind and gravely injured, where he recognized a traitor from his own Sect.

• Darian told his attendant to let the Alliance mage investigate the missing Blood Wolf Knights while he prepared to enter the Spirit Realm.
• Darian recalled how becoming the God of Shadows’ Proxy had helped him rise toward the throne, and the deity’s mark forced him to enter the trial with little preparation.
• Darian arrived in the Sun Domain and was struck from behind shortly after casting Shadow Cloak.
• Darian used Shadow Infiltration to escape, but a flash blinded him and a wooden pole pierced his chest, killing him in the Spirit Realm.
• A black-robed member of Darian’s Sect approached his body, but Darian returned from the Spirit Realm gravely injured and identified the man as a traitor.

Fran hunted Proxies while heading toward the first trial, and Heather and Rachel searched the Spirit Realm for other participants. Fran reached the trial with ten Proxies left to kill and spotted groups beginning to gather, forcing her to consider how to handle them.

• Fran reviewed her fight with a Proxy and decided to use powerful Arts to kill opponents in one blow.
• Fran used the celestial markers to plan a route, killed two more Proxies along the way, and headed for the first trial.
• Heather killed a trial participant and then encountered Rachel, who said she had found no participants and recalled that her previous trial began with many participants surrounding her.
• Heather and Rachel decided to search together for other participants.
• Fran arrived at the first trial and saw several groups of Proxies gathering, so she considered infiltrating them if larger groups formed.

Fran passed the Sun Trial’s first test, then hunted the Proxies gathering nearby. As three Dragon Clan Proxies spotted her, Matthew recognized Fran as the person he had been looking for.

• Fran opened the azure palace gate with Sunflame, signed her name on the stele, and left after seeing Zali’s name among those who had truly passed the Sun Trial.
• Fran chose to hunt the nearest Proxy instead of heading toward the second trial and killed him with her bat.
• Fran noticed that three Proxies had gathered and resolved to kill the unusually fast one before they could learn she was hunting them.
• Cyril, Harrison, and Matthew discussed how strangely few trial-takers they had encountered as they traveled through the barren land.
• Cyril spotted Fran in the distance, and Matthew recognized her by the aura of the Lord of Radiance.

Matthew entered the trial as a new Proxy for the Dragon Lord of the Back-Head, tasked with secretly marking Fran so his Deity could find her afterward. Fran concealed her preparations while traveling with the group, then struck Harrison with Sunflame Arts and [Sky Strike], leaving him badly wounded and surrounded by sand.

• The Dragon Lord of the Back-Head told Matthew to mark Fran or her equipment without being noticed and to stop the participants from passing the trial if necessary.
• Fran discussed the Spirit Realm and Aether with Cyril while quietly using Aether to conceal her casting of [Heart of Quicksand].
• Fran judged Harrison to be the fast-moving Proxy and launched Sunflame Arts at him before following with [Sky Strike].
• Harrison's combat instincts let him turn and take the blow on his back, but the attack nearly melted his shoulder and back and destroyed the base of one dragon wing.
• Harrison flew away, turned to counterattack, and found the sky covered by yellow sand.

Fran trapped Harrison with [Heart of Quicksand] and attacked Cyril and Matthew, who recognized her as the trial-taker seeking the Sunflame Knight Profession. As Cyril prepared a divine spell and Matthew engaged Fran, Cyril’s recorded techniques helped protect Matthew from her Sunflame strike, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Fran used [Heart of Quicksand] to trap Harrison in suffocating yellow sand after her ambush failed.
• Fran attacked Cyril, but he used a displacement technique to appear behind Matthew and identified her as the trial-taker.
• Cyril warned the nearby Dragon Clan members to kill Fran, while Fran attacked the two men with [Flame Ray].
• Cyril blocked Fran’s flames and recognized them as Dragon Flame, while Matthew used feathers from his sleeve to shield himself and cut off his burned arm.
• Matthew charged Fran, but her [Counter Shield] threw off his attack and she struck his abdomen with her Sunflame-charged club.
• Cyril slowed Fran with [Potent Slow], and Matthew’s gelatinous body deflected her blow as Cyril prepared to use his many recorded techniques.

Fran fought Matthew and Cyril, killed Cyril with a surprise attack, and defeated Matthew and Harrison. As she searched for her next target, she noticed an object where Matthew had fallen.

• Cyril used multiple enhancement Arts on Matthew, who wounded Fran with spikes from his body.
• Fran secretly pierced Cyril through the chest, causing the Arts on Matthew to fail.
• Matthew chose not to resist as Fran cleaved him apart, while Harrison remained trapped in the yellow-sand sphere.
• Fran freed Harrison only to strike him unconscious, then noticed an object where Matthew had fallen.

Fran discovered a strange black claw that she identified as a Third Order material, then planned to eliminate two isolated Proxies before tackling a group of four. Heather questioned why three other Proxies were following her, and one of them revealed she was searching for a Proxy Heather had met before.

• Fran tested the black claw with Sunflame and detection spells, confirmed it was a Third Order material, and stored it to show Lord of Radiance after the trial.
• Fran saw four Proxies gathered together and two more apart, and decided to hunt the isolated pair before the group could unite.
• Fran considered how dangerous the Proxies' unusual abilities were and planned to separate the group of four before attacking.
• Heather asked why the three Proxies accompanying her were following her, and the short, thin man said staying with the group was best for him.
• The red-haired woman in a purple robe told Heather she was seeking a Proxy of a god whom Heather had met before.

Heather learned that Ophelia was seeking Fran, the Proxy who had forcibly taken goods from the Emerald Market, and agreed to let Ophelia and Tristan join her group. Meanwhile, Fran reached the second trial site and faced three Spirit Realm creatures, including a fast, powerful beast that crashed into her sand barrier.

• Ophelia told Heather that Fran had broken through the Emerald Market's defenses with her Deity's help and that she had come to the trial to find her.
• Heather said she wanted to settle the score with Fran, while Rachel questioned why Ophelia was following their group.
• Tristan explained the limits of divination and prophecy, and Heather agreed to let him and Ophelia travel with them.
• Fran arrived at the second trial site, entered a grassy field, and heard that she had to kill three Spirit Realm creatures to pass.
• Two ox-like creatures and a larger, fur-covered beast appeared, and Fran raised her glowing club as the beast leaped at her.
• Fran's diamond-shaped crystal produced a wall of sand that stopped the leaping beast, while the two ox-like creatures stayed back in fear of her red glow.

Zali watched Fran’s progress through the Trial of the Sun as the Gods tried to tempt and threaten him into abandoning his domain, while he wondered whether an unstable signal belonged to a real Proxy. Fran encountered Heather, Tristan, and Ophelia; after agreeing to speak with Ophelia privately, she learned that Ophelia was an Alliance mage, not a Proxy.

• Zali watched Fran defeat the Iron-Hide Horned Ox and kill three monsters while Gods invaded his domain and pressured him to abandon the sun.
• Zali refused the Gods’ offers and threats, declaring that only the sun could change his mind.
• Zali sensed that one of the remaining Proxy signals appeared intermittently and wondered whether it was genuine.
• Fran approached Heather, Tristan, and Ophelia, but Heather recognized her and demanded the dagger Fran had sold her.
• Fran and Heather agreed to postpone their fight, and Fran followed Ophelia aside to talk.
• Ophelia introduced herself to Fran as an Alliance mage rather than a Proxy.

Ophelia, claiming to represent the Alliance’s Astrology School, proposed a partnership to Fran and Lord of Radiance. She revealed that the school wanted to conquer a domain but needed a lord to occupy it.

• Fran doubted Ophelia’s claim that she was an Alliance mage who could disguise herself as a Proxy.
• Ophelia brought up Lord of Radiance’s ransacking of the Emerald Market and asked Fran to contact the Deity about a partnership.
• Ophelia explained that Lord of Radiance and Alliance mages had poor reputations in the Spirit Realm, leaving both sides in need of allies.
• Fran insisted that Ophelia explain her specific plan before Fran considered passing the proposal to Lord of Radiance.
• Ophelia said the Astrology School had the power to conquer a domain but needed a lord to occupy it.

Ophelia proposed that the Lord of Radiance help the Alliance seize a domain occupied by another Deity, offering substantial resources and support in return. Fran withheld her decision until she could consult her lord, while wondering how Ophelia had known she would appear at the trial.

• Ophelia explained that the Alliance needed another Deity to help claim a domain controlled by a rival Deity.
• Ophelia offered Spirit Crystals for Gold Coins, Alliance ally status, and paid access to Battle Mage Corps units, then promised the Alliance would return the domain after obtaining what it wanted.
• Fran recognized the offer's value but said she would discuss it with the Lord of Radiance after the trial.
• Fran questioned how Ophelia had known she would attend the trial, exchanged contact information with her, and returned to the group.
• Ophelia announced that her task was complete, then used a green compass to vanish before Heather could react.

Fran lured Heather into taking back the Purple Shortsword, then used the distraction to ambush and kill her, Tristan, and Rachel. With the three Proxies eliminated, Fran turned to the remaining cleanup, confident she could obtain the Sunflame Knight Profession.

• Fran offered Heather the Purple Shortsword as a peace token while secretly preparing a spell.
• Heather examined the sword's concealed rune, and Fran bound and killed her with the Sunflame Arts.
• Fran trapped Tristan in sand and killed him with a red-lit strike from her club.
• Fran recognized Rachel as the Proxy of the Elephant of Mountains and killed her despite her struggle to escape.
• Fran looked toward the largest red sphere and prepared to finish the remaining trial-takers.

Heather returned from the Spirit Realm after being ambushed by someone using the Sunflame Arts, while reports confirmed that most Proxies had failed to stop the trial. Fran endured the Trial of the Sun beneath its pillar of light for a day, and Zali watched as a new Sunflame Knight was born.

• Heather told Valerie that a concealed attacker using the Sunflame Arts had killed her, and Valerie reported that about ten Proxies had returned after the mission failed.
• Heather asked whether Rachel had returned and recalled meeting Fran, who had handed her a short sword just before the attack.
• Heather recognized the red art Fran had used at the Emerald Market as the Sunflame Arts but argued that Fran was unlikely to be the attacker.
• Heather realized she had no way to contact Fran or retrieve the short sword, while Valerie left the question of the attacker to the Archbishop.
• In the Sun Domain, Zali watched Fran defeat the captured Proxies and remain beneath the Trial of the Sun's pillar of light for a day, becoming a Sunflame Knight.

After passing the Trial of the Sun, Fran gained the Sunflame Knight profession and returned to the Sun Domain, where Zali confirmed her advancement. As the Black Claw began to writhe, Zali urged her to move farther toward the Sun.

• Fran checked her Panel and found that she had gained the Sunflame Knight profession, the Burning Sun Power art, and the Protection of the Sun trait.
• Fran left the trial and emerged in a hotter part of the Sun Domain, where the Sun’s flames burned away anything crossing an invisible boundary.
• Zali saw that Fran had become a Sunflame Knight and told her she could use the Spirit Realm Cruising Method on Sunflame to return to him.
• Fran asked Zali about Burning Sun Power, and he said she could use it for up to ten seconds within 24 hours without harm.
• The Black Claw in Fran’s pouch began to writhe, and Zali told her to go farther in until she was nearly unable to bear the heat.

Matthew reported how he had spent the Dragon Lord of the Back-Head’s Divine Power to mark Fran, and the Dragon Lord approved his effort. After the Sun Trial ended, the Dragon Lord activated the mark to attack Fran in the Sun Domain, where a black beast-shaped phantom emerged from the claw she carried.

• Matthew told the Dragon Lord of the Back-Head that he had carved its mark into a Black Shadow Wolf's claw by creating it with Divine Power.
• The Dragon Lord of the Back-Head praised Matthew and dismissed him, accepting him as its Proxy.
• The Dragon Lord considered the Lord of Radiance’s actions and decided to use the mark to attack Fran after the trial.
• Fran ran deeper into the Sun Domain until the heat forced her to stop, carrying the black claw instead of her weapons.
• The Dragon Lord activated the mark, and a black beast-shaped phantom crawled out of the claw as Fran exclaimed in surprise.

Fran used her newly acquired Burning Sun Power to destroy a creature sent by a Deity to attack her in the Sun Domain. The creature left behind a Black Claw, and Fran's Spirit Realm Talent activated, seemingly offering her a new ability.

• Fran recognized the black creature's aura as belonging to the Deity she had defeated in Monsa, and realized the Deity's attack had failed in the Sun Domain.
• Fran used Burning Sun Power on the creature, and the spreading voidlike force prevented it from moving before annihilating most of its body.
• Fran stopped the art after about eight seconds, relieved that she had avoided the lasting damage caused by using it for too long.
• The creature died, leaving a Black Claw, and Fran gained 3000 Burning Sun Power proficiency.
• Fran's Spirit Realm Talent activated, and she suspected the creature had come to deliver her an ability.