Chapter Summaries

Quentin flew to the Divine Revelation Hall to absorb Dragon Blood but found the building gone and a trap prepared below. After the half-dragons wounded it with ballistae, a powerful beam struck Quentin from above and drove it into the ground, where it confronted a figure in a golden robe.

• Quentin arrived at the former Divine Revelation Hall and discovered it had been cleared and turned into a weapons platform.
• Fran’s nearly two hundred half-dragons prepared ballistae, and Lyle ordered them to fire at Quentin.
• Two ballista arrows struck Quentin, one piercing its chest and another lodging in its hind leg.
• Quentin prepared to unleash Dragon Flame but sensed danger and looked upward.
• A powerful beam slammed Quentin into the ground, and Quentin demanded to know who the golden-robed figure was.

Fran and Lyle led the 'half-dragons' in a coordinated assault that brought down Quentin, the transformed High Priest. After Lyle confirmed the dragon was dead, the survivors celebrated, but Fran was nowhere to be seen.

• Fran conserved the radiance she had received from the Lord of Radiance and prepared the 'half-dragons' and their ballistae to attack Quentin.
• The 'half-dragons' charged, used heavy arrows to damage Quentin's scales, and scraped at his armor with hoes and pickaxes while Lyle led the assault.
• Quentin burned several attackers and a ballista crew, but Fran used radiance to clamp his jaws shut, allowing eleven arrows to strike and pin his wings.
• Fran unleashed a huge sword of light that pierced Quentin's back and killed him.
• Lyle confirmed Quentin's death, and the survivors celebrated their victory, but Fran had disappeared, leaving only footprints in the mud.

The Back-Head Dragon God persuaded Felicity to spend Spirit Crystals restarting Dream Number Two, hoping to punish a rival. Before Felicity could act, the dream vanished from its control, leaving the Back-Head Dragon God wondering whether the human undergoing the trial would survive and Felicity furious.

• The Back-Head Dragon God contacted Felicity and asked it to manually restart Dream Number Two, explaining that a colleague had refused its offer and needed to be taught a lesson.
• Felicity agreed to help and began using its Spirit Realm lord authority, charging the cost to Spirit Crystals collected from the Back-Head Dragon God's dream.
• The Back-Head Dragon God waited for the Lord of Radiance's power to strike Quentin but wondered why it had not arrived.
• Felicity sensed that the Spirit Realm trial had ended and tried to restart it, but the point of light representing the dream disappeared.
• The Back-Head Dragon God realized the rival had taken the dream away, and Felicity blamed the Back-Head Dragon God and knocked the diamond-shaped stone into a pillar.

Fran passed the Spirit Realm trial and received the Dragon Bone Embodiment talent, choosing to gain Quentin’s dragon flame. She returned to the Material Realm with a battered book bearing a request to tell people its name.

• Fran’s Panel registered her as a Spirit Realm Mage, though the Spirit Realm’s reward text glitched and failed to grant her a Spell or trait.
• The Spirit Realm awarded Fran the Dragon Bone Embodiment talent, which let her plunder one ability from each slain Dragonkin.
• Fran chose dragon flame from Quentin and gained the Dragon Flame Fire trait, letting her breathe fire and strengthen her fire Spells.
• Fran returned to her body, checked that her magical traps had not been triggered, and found a battered book on her stomach.
• Fran read the golden words on the book’s cover: “Please tell them my name in the Material Realm.”

Fran returned to the Material Realm, abandoned plans to serve the Lord of Radiance, and focused on improving her magic and finding a melee Profession. After two months of training, she visited Harbos's workshop and told him she had become a Formal Mage, leaving him stunned.

• Fran discovered that her divine spells still worked but cost far more mental energy, so she decided not to develop her Priest Profession unless necessary.
• Fran chose to practice Sword Dance and Earth Spike, aiming to learn their First Order versions before seeking Harbos's guidance.
• Two months later, Fran visited Harbos at his machine-filled workshop for the first time.
• Fran told Harbos she had become a Formal Mage, startling him so much that he lost control of the spell powering his machinery.
• Harbos began to discuss Fran's achievement with her.

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 Demonic Beasts. 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 Demonic Beast hunt and registration with the Adventurers Guild.
• Fran registered as an adventurer and requested information about the Earth Dragon and other Demonic Beasts.
• 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.