Chapter Summaries

Li Si helped Andre capture Seth and Ul, then claimed the rewards for defeating Ul. After warning Andre about possible safeguards on the prisoners, Li Si returned to the inn and prepared to leave Northwind City the next day.

• Li Si identified Seth as Winter Serpent's leader, and Andre overwhelmed him and brought him in alongside Ul.
• Andre ordered Seth and Ul guarded for interrogation and promised to clear the Cold Pine Merchant Guild's strongholds and send its assets to Li Si.
• Li Si warned Andre that Winter Serpent might have placed seals or restrictions on Seth and Ul, so specialists should handle their interrogation.
• Li Si returned to the inn, completed the challenge mission, and received experience, specializations, skills, and Ul's Diary.
• The author announced that they planned to write for twelve more days before stopping for the rest of the year.

Li Si prepared to leave Northwind City with the Fies Merchant Guild after warning Earl Solo of the Dillon Kingdom’s invasion plans. Before departing, he recruited Luo Kui for the White Dove Merchant Guild and left the two young women in the merchant group’s care for their journey to Can Guang City.

• Luo Kui told Li Si that Earl Solo’s steward had asked when the merchant group would leave and that Earl Solo might visit.
• Andre arrived in armor and told Li Si that King Morton had authorized him to clear out Cold Pine Merchant Guild strongholds across the Northern Borderlands.
• Andre passed on King Morton’s regards to Li Si, then rode off with his soldiers.
• Li Si told Luo Kui he would leave the merchant group in Viscount Laya Territory and asked him to escort the two young women to Can Guang City.
• Li Si offered Luo Kui a position in the White Dove Merchant Guild, and Luo Kui immediately accepted.

Li Si encouraged Fink to pursue his dream of becoming a noble by developing his strength, claiming that Fink had the talent to reach Gold level. He decided to train Fink over the coming days, investing in the young mercenary’s potential for the future.

• Li Si teased Fink about learning that he was a Marquis, and Fink admitted that seeing Li Si beside Earl Solo had made him aspire to become a noble.
• Li Si explained that a Gold-level powerhouse could swear loyalty to the king and become a Court Baron.
• Li Si told Fink he had come on the journey because he believed Fink would become a Gold-level powerhouse, claiming his prophetic sense revealed Fink’s talent.
• Fink asked what he should do, and Li Si said he would train him and teach him over the next few days.
• Li Si resolved to invest in Fink’s talent, believing the future Kane Floating City would need capable people.

Li Si said farewell to his companions in Laya City and left for the northwest, entrusting Fink’s training to Magat. Fink resolved to make the most of Li Si’s instruction and become stronger before they met again.

• Li Si instructed Luo Kui to deliver his letters to Mora, Tiya, and Lisa after returning to Can Guang City.
• Li Si thanked Keleisi and Lizi for their farewell and advised Lizi to seek help at the Church of Love or 36 Fes Street if she needed it.
• Li Si told Fink to continue his training, use the medicinal materials, and save the Spatial Teleportation device for a life-or-death crisis.
• Li Si asked Magat to look after Fink, then left Laya City for the northwest.
• Magat urged Fink to seize the opportunity Li Si had given him, and Fink resolved to show his teacher a stronger version of himself when they met again.

Li Si reached Xue Ling Town, where he hoped to find the ruins left by a Legendary Arcanist, and began gathering local information at a mercenary tavern. Yulia told him purple fog appeared around the town in autumn and winter, denied hearing of nearby ruins, and began to share a local legend.

• Li Si arrived alone in Xue Ling Town after traveling for half a month from the Firth Merchant Group.
• Li Si ordered cold ale and honey-cured fish at a mercenary tavern, then paid the attendant Yulia for information.
• Yulia said purple fog appeared around Xue Ling Town and a small nearby area of the Luo Xue Mountain Range during autumn and winter.
• Yulia said she had never heard of mercenaries finding ruins in the nearby mountains.
• Li Si asked about local legends, and Yulia began telling him the one story she knew that was related to Xue Ling Town.

Li Si heard Yulia’s legend of the God of Wisdom Sphinx, who supposedly saved Xue Ling Town before dying in a disaster, and considered whether the god might have been a Legendary Arcanist. After learning that the purple mist seemed harmless, Li Si suspected the ruins were hidden behind a test that only qualified people could pass.

• Yulia told Li Si the legend of a god who taught the people of Xue Ling Town, moved part of the mountains, and died stopping a catastrophe that left behind the purple mist.
• Yulia recalled that the god was called God of Wisdom Sphinx, a name Li Si had never heard before.
• Li Si questioned whether Sphinx could have been the Legendary Arcanist who left behind the ruins, but lacked enough information to reach a conclusion.
• Yulia said priests had inspected the purple mist and that mercenaries entered the mountains through it without known trouble.
• Li Si left the tavern and reasoned that people either could not reach the ruins through the mist or had their memories erased afterward.
• Li Si recalled that Arcane Grandmaster Dragos had been too weak to seek out the ruins and concluded that entering them might itself be a test for worthy heirs.

Li Si waited for Purple Mist while training and observing the Luo Xue Mountain Range, then encountered a powerful young man who had bypassed his camp barriers. The stranger said Li Si's ring carried a familiar aura, leaving Li Si on guard as he demanded an explanation.

• Li Si searched the area near Xue Ling Town for signs of Purple Mist while honing his skills in the mountains.
• Li Si prepared lamb and vegetable soup at his campsite and passed the time practicing arcane models.
• A handsome young man appeared behind Li Si without triggering the camp's warning or Protective Barriers.
• Li Si raised his Emerald Staff and surrounded himself with magical defenses as the stranger claimed he meant no harm.
• The stranger pointed to Li Si's ring and said he had approached after sensing a familiar aura from it.

Li Si met Sylvester Ludwig, a gold dragon who had received a teleportation ring from Fran Stephens and first encountered him on Dragon Island. Ludwig recounted his fascination with magic and his failed attempt to become an Arcanist, leaving Li Si curious about the dragon’s connection to his teacher.

• Ludwig recognized Li Si’s teleportation ring and revealed that Stephens had given him an identical one.
• Ludwig explained that he had met Stephens on Dragon Island fifty years earlier, when the teacher visited to study Dragon Language Magic.
• Ludwig told Li Si that he had pestered Stephens to teach him magic after watching him test spells over the eastern sea.
• Ludwig admitted that he lacked the talent to become a true Arcanist.

Li Si learned from Ludwig that Fran Stephens mastered Dragon Language Magic quickly and spent the rest of his year on Dragon Island researching ways to enchant the human body with it. Ludwig remained hopeful that Stephens would eventually accept him as a disciple, while Li Si realized Ludwig might become his junior brother.

• Ludwig told Li Si that Stephens mastered most Dragon Language Magic in one month.
• Ludwig explained that Stephens spent the remainder of his time researching Human Body Enchantment with Dragon Language Magic.
• Ludwig said Stephens engraved physical-strength-enhancing runes on himself and defeated a Dragon Elder at arm wrestling.
• Ludwig explained that the enchantment gave Stephens little benefit because he had to spend mana strengthening his body to use it.
• Ludwig said Stephens gave him a ring before leaving Dragon Island, and he still hoped to become Stephens's disciple.
• Li Si encouraged Ludwig, considered that he might become his junior brother, and served him another lamb leg.

Li Si discussed magic and travel with Ludwig, a gold dragon seeking to become an Arcanist, and gave him Bobaka's Arcane Notes to help his advancement. As Ludwig studied, Li Si realized he could adapt Teacher Stephens's Human Body Enchantment method to his own exceptional physique.

• Li Si and Ludwig shared a meal and discussed Ludwig's magical studies, his lack of creativity with Spell Models, and his twenty years of travel on Fanor Continent.
• Ludwig recognized Li Si as one of Teacher Stephens's formal disciples and admitted he had entered Li Si's Protective Barrier as a prank, while envying his talent.
• Li Si gave Ludwig Bobaka's Arcane Notes, and Ludwig began studying them intently.
• Li Si recalled Teacher Stephens's Human Body Enchantment method and started drawing on refined iron with an engraving pen.
• Li Si concluded that his All-Rounder talent and class specialties let him enchant his own body without first spending magic power to maintain his physical strength.

Li Si shared Arcane research notes with Ludwig, giving the golden dragon new hope of becoming an Arcanist. Ludwig left for Can Guang City after declaring their friendship, and Li Si noticed a strange purple mist spreading through the forest.

• Li Si added Dragon Language Script-based Human Body Enchantment to his research plans after considering how it could suit his close-combat style.
• Ludwig studied Li Si’s notes and said their methods gave him confidence that he could become an Arcanist.
• Ludwig transformed into a golden dragon, gave Li Si one of his scales as a token of friendship, and flew off to find Teacher Stephens in Can Guang City.
• Ludwig returned briefly to warn Li Si that soldiers were building a castle near the Luo Xue Mountain Range, then departed again.
• Li Si received Ludwig’s Dragon Scale, gained the Metallic Dragon Race’s Friendship milestone, and advanced the Extraordinary Race Diplomatic Ambassador quest to 2/10.
• Li Si noticed dreamlike purple mist spreading through the forest.

Todd spent a snowy morning with his family in Xue Ling Town, where his parents worried about rising grain prices and the hardship winter might bring. After breakfast, he played in the town square and prayed to the God of Wisdom, until a handsome young mercenary approached him.

• Todd got dressed, washed up, and ate corn chowder and oat bread after Brenda called him downstairs.
• Virgil told Brenda that wheat prices had risen by thirty percent and that grain costs were climbing across the Northern Borderlands.
• Todd finished breakfast and went to the town square to play in the snow while his friends helped their families.
• Todd made a snow figure, prayed to the God of Wisdom to make him smarter than Lian, and promised to give up corn chowder for three months.
• A handsome young man in mercenary armor appeared behind Todd and asked if he was praying to the God of Wisdom.

Li Si questioned Todd about the God of Wisdom after hearing him pray, hoping the boy’s story might help him find the ruins hidden behind Xue Ling Town’s Purple Mist. Todd revealed that he repeatedly dreamed of a radiant black palace and woke to find Purple Mist outside, giving Li Si a possible key to entering the ruins.

• Li Si returned to Xue Ling Town after ten days of searching for the ruins, but his attempts to investigate the Purple Mist had found nothing.
• Li Si heard Todd pray to the God of Wisdom and offered him a Gold Coin in exchange for the story behind the name.
• Todd explained that Teacher Robert had told him a legend about the God of Wisdom, and he insisted the god existed because he had seen his palace in dreams.
• Todd described a black palace shining with multicolored light, reached by a long staircase he never managed to climb in his dreams.
• Todd said beautiful Purple Mist appeared outside whenever he woke from a dream of the palace, and Li Si realized the clue might lead him to the ruins.

Li Si realized the palace was hidden in the Dream World and prepared to enter it when the Purple Mist returned. He fell asleep on the third night and found himself approaching the palace, unable to control his body.

• Li Si learned from Todd's account that the ruined palace appeared in a dream during the Purple Mist, then paid Todd a Fes Gold Coin.
• Li Si concluded that the Purple Mist screened people for entry into the Dream World and decided to explore the ruins despite the risks.
• Li Si waited through two nights without seeing the Purple Mist, then fell asleep on the third night as it drifted over Xue Ling Town.
• Li Si woke in pale purple mist and saw a black palace above hundreds of steps.
• Li Si found that he could sense his body walking toward the palace but could not control or wake it.
• Li Si's body stepped onto the first stair, and a sound rang out.

Li Si entered the Temple of the God of Wisdom Sphinx in a dream and discovered that his body and abilities had been reduced to an ordinary person's. He reached the temple, where a voice welcomed him, as the trial began.

• The system triggered the Trial of the God of Wisdom and instructed Li Si to pass three trials to obtain the God of Wisdom's inheritance.
• Li Si realized he was in someone else's dream space, with his equipment gone and his attributes sealed.
• Li Si examined the temple and spotted Xue Ling Town civilians wandering in the purple mist, including the little boy.
• Li Si climbed the stone steps and opened the temple doors when the scroll emblem lit up.
• Li Si entered the temple and heard a majestic voice welcome him to the Temple of the God of Wisdom.

Li Si searched the Temple of the God of Wisdom and discovered that its mysterious voice came from a talking black cat, the god’s messenger. The cat told him that he must pass three trials to obtain the inheritance, then wished him success after learning his name.

• Li Si ignored the temple’s disembodied voice and found a black kitten hiding behind the statue.
• The kitten revealed itself as the messenger of the God of Wisdom Sphinx, and Li Si recognized it as a magical construct.
• Li Si asked about the temple and its inheritance, but the black cat said he would learn more by passing three trials.
• Li Si gave his name as Li Si Kane, and the black cat wished him success in reaching the end.

Li Si passed the first trial in the Temple of Wisdom because he was already an Arcanist, then blacked out when the second trial flooded him with magic power. He woke as a poor child named Miles in what seemed to be a dream of Xue Ling Town, where the Temple of Wisdom’s test was about to begin.

• The black cat explained that climbing the temple steps had already tested Li Si’s compatibility with the God of Wisdom’s legacy, and declared the first trial passed.
• The black cat began the second trial and sent the temple’s magic power into Li Si, causing him to faint.
• Li Si woke as a child in a queue beside Rory, who told him the Temple of Wisdom’s test was about to begin.
• Li Si examined his surroundings and suspected he was inside a realistic dream set in an earlier Xue Ling Town.
• Li Si followed the queue around a wall and saw the familiar Black Temple again.

Li Si, inhabiting Miles in a past version of Xue Ling Town, entered the Temple of Wisdom for a test overseen by Priest Kelly. As he prayed before the statue of Sphinx, he sensed Faith Power forming and a mysterious force entering his body, triggering a check for the Priest Class specialty Pious Faith.

• Li Si observed the struggling residents of Xue Ling Town and inferred that the newly built temple belonged to the Church of the God of Wisdom.
• Li Si learned from Rory that Priest Kelly was conducting the test and that the God of Wisdom would observe the children.
• Li Si entered the temple after Rory and the other youths, then stood before the statue as Kelly instructed him to pray.
• Li Si questioned the prayer's claims about Sphinx and noticed Faith Power leaving him as he recited it.
• Li Si felt multicolored power from the statue enter his body, and a system message checked for the Priest Class specialty Pious Faith.

Li Si rejected the Pious Faith specialty and tried to understand the strange Priest training in his dream trial. After Kelly healed the children with what Li Si recognized as a Mage spell, Li Si grew more certain that the God of Wisdom’s Church was not what it seemed.

• Li Si refused the Pious Faith activation check, then learned from Kelly that he had passed the test and should return to the temple the next morning.
• Li Si returned to his home in Xue Ling Town, where his uncle Rogge celebrated his success and urged him to eat more meat so he would grow strong as a Priest.
• Rogge brought Li Si to the temple, where Kelly began training Li Si, Rory, and Akaer with prayers, laps around town, and strength exercises.
• Kelly used the divine spell Restore Minor Injury to heal the children after training, and Li Si recognized it as a first-circle Transmutation spell.

Li Si continued grueling training in Xue Ling Town while trying to uncover how the God of Wisdom’s priests cast divine spells without a divine domain. After months of effort, Kelly summoned Miles to the temple to receive the Lord’s grace and learn divine spells.

• Li Si realized Kelly’s healing spell had the aura of a divine spell despite behaving like a first-circle spell, and decided that learning the God of Wisdom’s method might help him pass the second trial.
• Li Si, Rory, and Akaer endured a month of demanding physical training, while Li Si noticed that Kelly was Xue Ling Town’s only Extraordinary Professional.
• Li Si asked Kelly when he could learn divine spells, and Kelly estimated that Miles would need another six months of training.
• After heavy snow covered Xue Ling Town, Miles kept running in the cold and reached the temple, where Kelly told him he would receive the Lord’s grace and master divine spells.