Chapter Summaries

Lynn studied the Otherworld Purification Device and Maple Tree’s guidance on developing a Nature Wizard’s spiritual power while wartime restrictions tightened around the City of Machinery. After passing probation, he entered the research department and discovered that its simulated environment could become a hostile world that drained his Permanent Spell Mark.

• Lynn learned that the Otherworld Purification Device imposed the Wizard World’s rules on other worlds and suspected his research team was helping prepare to capture the Goddess of the Weave.
• Lynn studied Maple Tree’s advice on filling his spiritual domain with spiritual power and using extraordinary plants to benefit from apprentice-stage potions despite drug resistance.
• Martha left for the battlefield and Daven went to the seventh layer, leaving Lynn to focus on his studies and internship assessments.
• Lynn passed his probationary assessment, signed a contract, and gained access to the research and development department on the thirty-second floor.
• Lynn entered a simulated natural environment and activated his Permanent Spell Mark before stepping onto a platform that revealed a hostile world and began consuming its stored energy.

Lynn began his first research assignment as an Official Wizard, learning that his group was tasked with improving purification-device casings for an expedition into a hostile, five-layered otherworld. After Vidal laid out the research challenge, Lynn had no immediate solution and resolved to study the materials while preparing to assess his mental power and plan his cultivation.

• Lynn tested the simulated otherworld’s hostility and suffered severe pain when he loosened the protective spell around his hand.
• Lynn met Terra and other researchers at the project workspace before project leader Vidal and deputy supervisor Kalk arrived.
• Vidal angrily condemned the group’s lack of progress, then explained the otherworld’s Inner, Ether, Material, Outer, and Astral Planes.
• Vidal assigned the researchers to improve the Otherworld Purification Device’s metal casing and required progress every seven days.
• Lynn struggled to find a research direction, began examining the metal materials, and planned to measure his mental power and set a cultivation plan.

Lynn studied how to develop Ivgried and tested his growth as an Official Wizard while settling into a routine of research and cultivation in the City of Machinery. He began building his strength with apprentice-grade potions, intending to raise his mental power and eventually advance Ivgried further.

• Lynn summoned Ivgried to guard his laboratory and reviewed the extraordinary plant’s tiers, noting that Ivgried was at the Initial Spirit tier and could support him through Level 3.
• Lynn considered using the Azure Sky Meditation Method while placing his soul inside Ivgried to accelerate its growth, though the method would not directly increase his mental power.
• Lynn brewed a Rainbow Light Potion and used his Citizen Token to measure his strength, finding that he had 101 points of mental power and 10 points of physique.
• Lynn planned to rely on Level 3 Apprentice potions to raise his mental power, possibly using Ivgried to overcome drug resistance, while recognizing that diminishing returns could limit the gains.
• Lynn began a funded research project at the institute and continued brewing potions and cultivating at home as his mental power steadily grew.

Lynn advanced his research and earned Vidal’s approval, while the Wizard Civilization’s battlefield stalemate drew the attention of Mystra, the Goddess of the Weave. As seven stars aligned above the war zone, the Civilization of Gods began directing its power toward the Crystal-Wall-enclosed world that Mystra had favored.

• Lynn’s mental power rose to 106 points after two months of potion work, and Vidal praised his research plan and offered to submit a paper if it succeeded.
• Wizard soldiers escorted captured members of the Star Hunter Society to Prison 91, and their elf leader defied them by proclaiming Mystra’s power.
• Wizard commanders discussed maintaining a stalemate when Mystra’s Seven-Star Divine Seal appeared above the battlefield, prompting them to put their forces on high alert.
• The chapter described how the Wizard Civilization incorporated worlds into its system while the Civilization of Gods enclosed its territory within the Celestial Kingdom, Phlogiston Sea, and Crystal Walls.
• Blue-white stars moved toward the Crystal-Wall-enclosed world that Mystra had favored, but the Wizard Civilization had prevented its scheduled incorporation into the Celestial Kingdom.

Seven archmages summoned Mystra into a sleeping woman’s body while, three months later, Lynn and the City of Machinery research team proved their experimental metal could withstand 923 times normal pressure. Vidal privately named Lynn first author of the project’s official document and told him to submit it on the seventh level, leaving Lynn to question his motives.

• Seven archmages performed a ritual that brought Mystra’s presence into the blonde woman in the crystal coffin, beginning her transformation as the Goddess of the Weave prepared to return.
• Vidal began a high-pressure test of experimental metal No. 7891, and the sphere survived until 923 times normal pressure before cracking and losing its Magic Stone.
• Vidal praised Lynn for driving the research forward, but Lynn credited the team to avoid stirring resentment among the researchers.
• Kalk redirected the tense discussion by urging Vidal to prepare the research materials and apply for a larger budget.
• Vidal privately told Lynn that the official project document listed him as first author and instructed him to submit it on the seventh level.
• Vidal gave the research team several days off, and Lynn wondered why Vidal had handed him the first-author position.

Lynn went to the seventh level of the City of Machinery to report on his project paper, accompanied by Vidal’s daughter, Lori. At the destination, a Level 3 Great Wizard confronted him and asked whether the people from Furnace Stone were looking for him.

• Lynn waited at a café on the sixth level and met Lori, who revealed that Vidal was her father.
• Lynn and Lori used her token to enter the seventh level, where Mechanical Puppets escorted them along a quiet, restricted route.
• Lori chatted with Lynn as they walked, while he wondered why Vidal had arranged for her to accompany him.
• An Official Wizard led Lynn to a private laboratory near the top of a major building and left him there.
• A Level 3 Great Wizard arrived and asked Lynn whether the people from Furnace Stone were looking for him.

Lynn met Chris, who assured him that Furnace Stone could not harm him inside the City of Machinery, and received research funding and a reward for his paper. Back at home, he discovered that Furnace Stone might have found him while searching for the Golden Balance fragments, which had revealed the message “I'm here.”

• Chris questioned Lynn about Furnace Stone, then reassured him that he would be protected in the City of Machinery and offered to mediate the dispute.
• Lynn concealed the true cause of his conflict with Furnace Stone and discussed his research paper and funding with Chris.
• Lynn received one hundred thousand Magic Stones as a reward for his work, and his paper circulated through the research institute.
• Vidal mistakenly suspected Lynn was Master Warhammer's third student and considered him a suitable match for Lori.
• Lynn summoned Ivgried in his laboratory and wondered why Furnace Stone had tracked him down.
• Lynn examined the Spirit of the Blue Sky, and the Golden Balance fragments displayed the message “I'm here.”

Lynn realized the Otherworld Creature had tracked him through the Golden Balance fragments and began preparing for threats from both it and Furnace Stone. He spent his paper reward on equipment to improve his chances of escape, while the Spirit Eye Wizard arrived in the City of Machinery and examined divine creations with another Morning Star Wizard.

• Lynn suspected the Golden Balance fragments had exposed him to the Otherworld Creature and Furnace Stone, so he prepared to abandon them if necessary.
• Lynn reviewed his slowing Spiritual Power growth and limited finances, then used his research reward to shop for equipment.
• Lynn bought Master Warhammer's Starfall Shoes for seventy-five thousand Magic Stones and planned to spend the rest on other needed gear.
• The Spirit Eye Wizard arrived at the City of Machinery's seventh level and joined another Morning Star Wizard in examining divine creations.
• The Spirit Eye Wizard was revealed to be Lynn's former master, the Lord of the Furnace.

Puppet Wizard and Spirit Eye Wizard changed their deal so Lynn would be sent to the otherworld instead of being killed in the City of Machinery. After a transfer order named Lynn for the expedition, he failed to reach Great Wizard Chris and spent seven days preparing to leave.

• Spirit Eye Wizard persuaded Puppet Wizard to send Lynn and another Level 1 Wizard to the otherworld, and they sealed their agreement in the Book of Contract.
• Lori joined Lynn and Terra’s research group, and over the following month she grew close to Lynn while Vidal watched without intervening.
• Vidal told Lynn that the Expeditionary Army had ordered him to serve as a maintenance worker for the Otherworld Purification Device, and Lynn suspected someone had targeted him.
• Lynn tried to contact Great Wizard Chris through Daven, but Chris was secluded and could not be reached, so Vidal ordered Lynn to depart in seven days.
• Lynn entrusted Bevny to Daven and spent his remaining Magic Stones on supplies, potions, and materials before the expedition.

Lynn prepared to join the City of Machinery’s expedition to World 13, received a Research Institute Membership Token from Lori, and endured a punishing cross-world teleportation. As he arrived at the battlefield, the wizards neutralized the world’s divine advantage, but the Goddess of the Weave’s followers answered with a vast Dark Star spell.

• Lynn waited with the expedition force in the City of Machinery’s plaza, equipped with armor, reconnaissance gear, and escape tools for his logistics assignment.
• Daven and Bevny arrived to see Lynn off, while Lori rushed through the restricted plaza and gave him a Research Institute Membership Token from Lady Chris before teleportation began.
• Lynn endured the cross-world teleportation and remained conscious as most apprentices and many first-rank wizards fainted or became incapacitated.
• In World 13, the City of Machinery’s forces used Otherworld Purification Stones to strip away the land’s divine influence and make the battlefield neutral.
• A leading mage of the Civilization of Gods invoked the Goddess of the Weave and cast the eighth-circle spell Dark Star, creating a vast, deadly field of darkness ahead of the advancing mechanical forces.

Earl and Yude’s mechanical army was devastated when the Order of the Mystic Fire emerged from Dark Star, and the wizards’ command punished their front line by sharply cutting its supplies. Lynn arrived in the war zone as their sole new Official Wizard and found himself responsible for a tiny garrison.

• Earl suspected that Dark Star concealed the enemy’s true plan, but Yude dismissed his concerns and trusted Mechanical Blessing to protect the army.
• The Order of the Mystic Fire charged out of Dark Star, destroyed hundreds of thousands of mechanical troops, and forced Earl and Yude to order a retreat.
• Cindy restrained his knights from pursuing the fleeing wizards after the eighth-circle mage reminded him to follow the Seven Stars’ orders.
• At a military conference, a Morning Star Wizard reduced Earl and Yude’s resources, assigning their front line only five thousand apprentice-level forces and one Level One Wizard, Lynn.
• Lynn arrived in Demon Hunting Project No. 13, quickly adapted to the world’s suppression, and was sent to Earl and Yude’s depleted front line.
• Lynn surveyed his garrison and found that he was its only Official Wizard, with just over thirty Level Three Apprentices and a force of mechanical troops.

Lynn took command of a remote garrison castle tasked with protecting a sorcerous formation node and managing frozen soil, then uncovered a Star Hunter Society spy among the apprentices. After extracting intelligence about the Goddess of the Weave’s forces and their Witch-Hunting Daggers, he learned that another contact was due to arrive soon.

• Lynn kept the garrison operating as usual and ordered that frozen soil be brought to him for inspection before shipment to the War Fortress.
• Lynn visited the frozen soil collection site, examined the resource, and followed a Level Three Apprentice into storage after the apprentice arranged to speak with him privately.
• The Level Three Apprentice revealed himself as a Star Hunter Society spy and attacked Lynn with a Witch-Hunting Dagger, but Ivgried’s Echo of Vitality stopped the blade and its roots restrained the attacker.
• Lynn used Live and Die Together to search the spy’s soul and learned about the Goddess of the Weave’s coming awakening, infiltrated garrisons, Witch-Hunting Daggers, and the Star Hunter Society’s code phrase.
• A hidden restriction detonated the spy’s head during the soul search; Lynn burned the body, secured the dagger, and decided to wait for the spy’s expected contact to arrive.

Lynn discovered that the frozen soil made time pass ten times more slowly for living things inside it, though its energy was consumed in the process. Seeing it as a way to extend his time in the world and a valuable resource for Nature Wizards, he planned to earn military merit by using himself as bait to draw out Star Hunter Society spies; he ended by contacting superiors and allies for reinforcements.

• Lynn merged with Ivgried and found that fifteen minutes of his experience corresponded to one hundred and fifty minutes outside.
• Lynn realized the frozen soil displaced time tenfold, but its energy was finite and its consumption increased with the strength of the lifeform using it.
• Lynn decided to gather frozen soil by earning military merit, primarily by killing enemies of the wizard faction.
• Lynn recalled that God Blood Pills had left him with a spiritual mark that made Star Hunter Society members recognize him as a blasphemer and attack him.
• Lynn planned to use himself as bait to expose Star Hunter Society spies and decided to request reinforcements from his superiors, Martha, and Jiru.

After Lynn submitted proof that he had uncovered a Star Hunter Society spy and obtained its new passphrase, a military merit reviewer recognized the intelligence as a major breakthrough and sent it to Yude. Meanwhile, the Otherworld Creature carrying the Will of the Maple Tree watched Lynn’s image appear in his Golden Balance and reflected on his world’s destruction by the gods, hoping the conflict between wizard civilization and the gods would last long enough for him to finish his plan.

• A military merit reviewer examined Lynn’s report, verified the witch-hunting dagger and new passphrase, and sent the sealed intelligence to Yude.
• The Otherworld Creature showed the incomplete Golden Balance and saw images of Sonia, the Spirit Eye Wizard, the Black Dragon, Astrid, and finally Lynn.
• The Otherworld Creature remembered how the gods had destroyed his civilization, killing his family, comrades, and beloved.
• The Otherworld Creature recalled that his people had once slain a chief god and that wizard civilization had absorbed everything left after Chauntea’s death.
• The Otherworld Creature hoped wizard civilization’s involvement would prolong the war with the gods so he could complete his plan.

Great Wizard Yude explained that Nature Wizards had roots in the Civilization of Gods but had been accepted by the wizard origin, then ordered Lynn, Jiru, and Martha to proceed with their trap for the Star Hunter Society. After Jiru suggested Yude had appeared as a spiritual-power avatar, Lynn wondered what Nature Wizard origins meant for Ivgried and wished the Maple Tree had awakened so he could ask more.

• Great Wizard Yude told Lynn, Jiru, and Martha that Nature Wizard power might originate from a powerful god, but the wizard origin had accepted the path and prevented its practitioners from being contaminated.
• Yude ordered the group to set their traps against the Star Hunter Society and said he would remain nearby, then vanished from the room.
• Jiru explained that Level 3 Great Wizards could shape spiritual power into avatars, suggesting the Yude they had seen was an incarnation rather than his true body.
• Lynn realized Jiru had advanced to the peak of Level 1 and might soon become a Level 2 Wizard, while Jiru credited wartime access to resources.
• Lynn, Jiru, and Martha finalized their plan to lure out the Star Hunter Society's spies, and Lynn later worried about Nature Wizard origins and Ivgried's safety.

Lynn prepared to lure a high-ranking Star Hunter Society member into a trap, while a group of spies gathered in the tundra. The wizards sprang their net around the spies, exposing the ambush and leaving the Star Hunter Society members surrounded.

• Lynn inspected his strength and reflected on the stages of Level 1 Wizard cultivation, noting that Jiru was close to reaching Level 2.
• Great Wizard Yude warned Lynn that a cunning Star Hunter Society member above the second-level wizard rank had arrived and told him to act as bait with Jiru and Martha.
• Lynn contacted Jiru and Martha and planned to use his status as a blasphemer to draw the enemy closer so Great Wizard Yude could attack.
• A veiled Star Hunter Society spy used the Society's recognition phrase to summon companions, and ten spies gathered in the tundra.
• The Star Hunter Society members sensed wizardly ripples, but witchcraft formations activated around them and trapped them in a net as Lynn, Jiru, Martha, and their allies emerged.

Lynn, Martha, and Jiru faced ten powerful Star Hunter Society mages, using armor, mechanical constructs, and coordinated spells to withstand their attacks. Lynn revealed his concealed aura to draw the enemy’s attention, leaving the battle poised for his planned move.

• Lynn assessed the ten Star Hunter Society mages and told Martha and Jiru to hold on until Archwizard Yude acted.
• A second-ring mage attacked with Aganasa Firebreath Spell, but Lynn, Martha, and Jiru scattered and avoided its main strike.
• A second second-ring mage cast Cloud of Daggers, and Jiru assembled a Mechanical Giant that shielded the group and counterattacked.
• Martha cast Mechanical Heart to empower her tiny robots and support Jiru’s mechanical forces as they advanced against the enemy.
• Lynn noticed that several stronger Star Hunter Society mages were holding back to study the formation, then disabled his aura concealment and drew all ten enemies’ attention.

Lynn used his Blasphemer aura to draw the Star Hunter Society into attacking him, then defended against their spells until a five-ring mage broke into the formation. As a sacred knight emerged to attack Lynn, the Black Dragon swallowed it, and Lynn locked eyes with the mysterious wizard riding on its back.

• Lynn released his Blasphemer aura, drew attacks from three Star Hunter Society mages, and blocked them with Void Stillness, Echo of Vitality, his armor, and the Heart of Flower Language.
• A five-ring mage broke through the witchcraft formation, while Lynn, Martha, and Jiru prepared to defend themselves without Grand Wizard Yude.
• Grand Wizard Yude encountered the Black Dragon and its maple-leaf-robed rider, whose effortless strike destroyed Yude’s projected avatar and sent him fleeing to report to the Morning Star Wizards.
• The five-ring mage cast the Celestial Summoning Spell, opening a sacred gate and summoning a pegasus and its armored knight.
• The Black Dragon arrived, swallowed the sacred pegasus and knight, and Lynn recognized it from his encounter with Astrid at the Spirit Eye Furnace.
• Lynn met the gaze of the mysterious maple-leaf-robed wizard on the Black Dragon’s back.

Lynn faced the Otherworld Creature in Maple Tree’s body, which erased the Star Hunter Society and sent Jiru and Martha away before having Astrid challenge him. Lynn fought Astrid with natural witchcraft, but the Otherworld Creature stopped his killing blow and called his performance good.

• The Otherworld Creature greeted Lynn, then pressed the Star Hunter Society into scarlet maple leaves with a gesture.
• The Otherworld Creature told Lynn to let Jiru, Martha, and the others leave, and Lynn sent them away.
• Astrid suddenly attacked Lynn with an elemental spear while the Otherworld Creature watched in silence.
• Lynn used Entwining Roots and Ricocheting Flying Leaves against Astrid, then realized her physical abilities suggested she was a Body-Refining Wizard.
• Lynn bound Astrid with Ivgried’s roots and launched Emerald Blade, Sturdy Spine at her throat, but the Otherworld Creature stopped the blade and freed her.
• The Otherworld Creature praised Lynn as Astrid stood before him.

The Otherworld Creature stopped Lynn and Astrid’s fight, then offered Lynn a contract after revealing that it had been assessing his worthiness. Lynn signed, and the Balance of Exchange recorded his name and the otherworldly name “Qi.”

• The Otherworld Creature froze Lynn and Astrid in place, and Lynn secretly maintained his connection to the Spirit of the Blue Sky as protection.
• Lynn tried to negotiate, and the Otherworld Creature agreed that they had no life-or-death grudge beyond the Balance Fragments.
• The Otherworld Creature summoned the Golden Balance and demanded that Lynn sign a contract, but initially refused to explain its terms.
• Lynn considered hiding inside Ivgried, but the Otherworld Creature recognized the tactic and revealed contract clauses guaranteeing fairness and equality.
• The Otherworld Creature said it had been assessing Lynn’s suitability and ordered him to sign; Lynn and “Qi” were then inscribed on the Balance of Exchange.