Chapter Summaries

Ruger and the other Wizards examined a Level-Five Wizard Apprentice who had died during advancement and become a crystalline stone containing a jumble of supernatural auras. The Foreign God Oversight Council revealed more similarly distorted bodies, leaving the cause and scale of the incident unresolved.

• Ruger, Zorn, Mahama, and the others followed two Foreign God Oversight Council Wizards through a shifting stone corridor into a room.
• The Council Wizards showed the group a dead Level-Five Wizard Apprentice who had turned into a fusion of flesh and crystal.
• Ruger used his mental power to sense faith, demon, deity, and Wizard auras mingled within the Apprentice's body.
• The Council Wizards explained that the Apprentice had followed regulations and died while advancing to become a Formal Wizard.
• The stubbled Council Wizard opened a larger space, revealing a row of platforms bearing more grotesquely distorted bodies.

Ruger and the others investigated the strange corpses, collecting compatible pale yellow crystals before traveling with the Foreign God Oversight Council. The group teleported to the Twilight Sea and continued toward their destination, while Ruger focused on learning Fendim's Flaming Centipede.

• Ruger learned that the pale yellow crystals came from the corpses and could be used to make alchemical items more attuned to him, then took one.
• Ruger handed his Demon Hunter Wizard badge to Zorn to remove his probationary status.
• Zorn and the Foreign God Oversight Council Wizards led the group through a concealed teleportation array to the Twilight Sea.
• Zorn brought out his silver carriage, and Ruger boarded first so he could keep studying his spell.

Ruger studied Fendim's Flaming Centipede, concluding that the spell imitated a mysterious creature and that its full potential might lie beyond the version recorded in the spellbook. A fluctuation caused by Mahama's spell modification interrupted Ruger, and the carriage began descending toward an island.

• Ruger studied the complex spell model and considered how its components supported its imitation of Fendim's guiding bug.
• Ruger suspected that Fendim's true final version of the spell had gone with him to another world and that accumulating more than a thousand legs would reveal further changes.
• Ruger wondered whether the spell's affinity might help him master it and eventually accumulate its legs.
• Mahama apologized for a minor problem while modifying a spell, jolting Ruger out of his concentration.
• The carriage changed direction and began descending toward a large island, following the two wizards from the Foreign God Oversight Council.

Ruger and Zorn accompanied Foreign God Oversight Council wizards to a palace on a vast Twilight Sea island, where two apprentices were preparing to ascend. The council warned them about the dangers of foreign gods as they prepared to intervene.

• Ruger watched the silver carriage cross the enormous island and descend near a palace.
• A Foreign God Oversight Council wizard told the group that an isolation array concealed the palace and that the suspected ritual would begin at the darkest point of night.
• The council explained that an elderly Two-Ring Wizard and his two Level-Five Wizard Apprentice disciples were inside, preparing similar ascension rituals.
• Ruger learned that the island was divided among more than fifty territories and had become a haven for low-level wizards after its Heaven Pillar Mountain began to decline.
• A council wizard warned that foreign gods could influence wizards, and Zorn argued that Origin Wizards were not greatly affected.
• The council wizard countered that even Origin Wizards were not immune and that Zorn's experience with demons was not a reliable guide.

Ruger guarded a palace during an operation led by the Foreign God Oversight Council while Zorn joined the Wizards entering the main building. At his post, Ruger met a curious child who mistook him for a divine envoy and asked him to grant her wish.

• The Foreign God Oversight Council assigned Ruger and the other Demon Hunter Wizards to guard positions around the palace's isolated main building.
• Zorn volunteered to enter the palace with the council's Wizards, while Ruger took his assigned post with a pale yellow crystal.
• Ruger sensed few people nearby and waited quietly in a courtyard, watching for the crystal to react.
• A child called Little One approached Ruger from behind the columns and asked if he was a divine envoy who could grant her wish.
• Ruger asked Little One what her wish was.

Ruger questioned Little One after realizing she was a demon disguised as a child, then fought her when she revealed her true form and her malice surfaced. The demon urged him to seek her in the Abyss before Ruger brought down the Weighty Book and collapsed the palace corridor.

• Little One asked Ruger to heal her family and help her find her missing mother, Lisa.
• Ruger recognized that Little One might have deceived a Wizard Apprentice and transformed into his demon form to test her.
• Little One revealed her demonic features after Ruger’s mental power struck her, but the Pale Yellow Crystal showed no reaction and Ruger sensed little malice from her.
• An explosion sounded from the palace as its master apparently failed to persuade the Foreign God Oversight Council.
• The demon invited Ruger to find her in the Abyss, then revealed herself as a giant black hand and began showing malice.
• Ruger used Foul-Smelling Skin and Malice Imprint before repeatedly smashing the demon with the Weighty Book, collapsing the corridor.

Ruger battered a hand-shaped demon while monitoring the Royal Palace, then prepared to destroy it once the palace fell quiet. Zorn arrived and claimed the demon and a fragment of its soul, then took Ruger to hurry toward their next target.

• Ruger used two Fur Hands to bombard the demon with Grey Bullet Spells and replenish the origin power in his markings.
• Ruger studied how demons might conceal their descent and continued attacking while watching the pale yellow crystal and the Royal Palace.
• After the palace had been quiet for a while, Ruger fired a Fire Nail Spear at the demon and prepared to unleash the Weighty Book.
• Zorn appeared, identified the demon as a powerful, cunning being, and claimed it along with a fragment of its soul.
• Zorn sent the demon into the demons in his chest hair, then took out the Silver Carriage and told Ruger they were heading to the next place.

Ruger waited while the Foreign God Oversight Council inspected a jointly governed territory, then questioned Zhizhi about its people. He learned that Zhizhi's ancestors carried diluted bookworm blood, and a Formal Wizard arrived as Ruger put Zhizhi away.

• Ruger observed the wizards investigate a territory jointly governed by two One-Ring Wizards and five apprentices.
• Ruger summoned Zhizhi and asked about its people and any special bloodline.
• Zhizhi told Ruger that a wizard had raised its people because they carried a trace of bookworm blood.
• Ruger learned that bookworms were ancient experimental creations tied to attempts to explore the Knowledge World, and that the wizard had found no satisfactory results.
• Ruger returned Zhizhi to the space when a Formal Wizard arrived.

Ruger stopped a wizard and an apprentice approaching Mountain Hollow, then discovered that the gathering there was a recurring prayer meeting for the God of Wizards. The reason for the trip remained unresolved as Zorn and the Foreign God Oversight Council continued on.

• Ruger knocked out a one-ring wizard who approached the sleeping apprentice near Mountain Hollow.
• Ruger noticed that his Miserly Demonfall Spell seemed capable of gradually adapting and growing as his life origin changed.
• Ruger kept the two wizards within range of Foul-Smelling Skin while collecting flowers, plants, soil, and stones for the Bedroom Space.
• Zorn arrived with wizards from the Foreign God Oversight Council, and Ruger explained that he had stopped the wizard and apprentice.
• Zorn told Ruger and the others that the wizards at Mountain Hollow had gathered for a regular prayer meeting to the God of Wizards.

Ruger and the Foreign God Oversight Council investigated Flett’s secluded valley, where Flett revealed that his teacher had changed and someone had been stealing their Faith Power. A crash from the sealed tower suggested the suspected thief was inside, leaving the Council facing the island’s final and most dangerous target.

• Ruger and the others traveled across the island and entered a secluded valley filled with strange Wizard-grown plants and experimental creatures.
• Ruger met Flett, a One-Ring Wizard who had anticipated the Council’s arrival by sensing them through mushrooms in the valley.
• Flett explained that he and his teacher had lived in the valley without fighting over territory and had used controlled rituals to capture demons’ manifested flesh and souls.
• Flett told the Council that his teacher had grown strangely cruel and that an unknown being had begun stealing their Faith Power.
• A crash sounded from Flett’s sealed tower, and Ruger realized the tower likely held the island’s final threat.

Ruger and the Wizards of the Foreign God Oversight Council opened Flett’s strange, mobile Tower to confront the source of its danger. Flett’s teacher emerged in a transformed state, scolded his disciple for waiting a year to seek help, and then calmly invited the Wizards to talk.

• Ruger reflected on the difference between the God of Wizards and teachers who felt threatened when their disciples surpassed them, then watched the Council Wizards prepare a magic array around the Tower.
• Flett told Ruger that his teacher had once traveled through the Underground Caverns in the living, crawling Tower and returned to the Endless Sea after taking Flett as a disciple.
• Flett used his teacher’s Emblem to open the Tower while Ruger and the Wizards sensed something unusual inside.
• Flett’s elderly teacher crawled out of the Tower with part of his body transformed into pale yellow crystal.
• The old Wizard angrily berated Flett for waiting a year to bring help, then smiled at the Council Wizards and invited them to talk.

Badong traded his contaminated familiar and cooperation with the Foreign God Oversight Council for rare materials, while Zorn revealed that the Demon Hunter Wizards were pursuing a separate high-level commission. The client, a golden demon named Master Smith, emerged from a rift and recognized Ruger, who noticed the demon carried a book like his own.

• Badong listed the materials he wanted, then offered his contaminated familiar and himself as experimental subjects in exchange for them.
• The Foreign God Oversight Council accepted Badong’s contract, and he severed his connection to the insect-egg tower before being taken away with Flett for observation.
• Zorn told Ruger and the Red-Haired Wizard that the Demon Hunter Wizards were handling a separate high-level commission, then recovered a fragment resembling a Pale Yellow Crystal.
• Zorn used the fragment to summon Master Smith, a golden demon who showed the group his Demon Hunter Wizards badge and asked them to resolve his troubles.
• Master Smith and Ruger recognized each other’s curved horns, and Ruger noticed the demon carried a thick book.

Ruger and the others met Smith, a golden-horned demon who said he had been unjustly associated with a huge surge of stolen Faith Power. Smith explained that someone was impersonating him and stealing most of the power, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• Ruger realized the demon's commission was a plea for help from someone blamed for the Faith Power theft, not evidence that the Foreign God Oversight Council had found the culprit.
• Smith praised Ruger's disguise and said he had mistaken Ruger for an elegant demon like himself.
• Smith set out a table, served tea, and recalled his friendship with the Demon Hunter Wizard Old Jim, who had given him a badge and a tea set.
• Smith said that small amounts of Faith Power had sometimes gathered around him, but the current enormous surge was unprecedented and unwanted.
• Smith explained that someone was stealing most of the Faith Power while making it flow to him as though he were the thief, and Zorn asked whether someone was impersonating him.

Ruger and Zorn questioned the golden demon Smith about the faith power being stolen in his name, and Smith revealed that an injury from a falling world might be connected to the mystery. Smith proposed using Ruger as a temporary stand-in so he could trace the stolen power and mark the thief.

• Smith explained that someone was impersonating him to divert faith power from other gods, and that he had never revealed his demonic true name or joined unusual experiments or battles.
• Smith recalled being lightly injured by a fragment of a dying world that fell into the Endless Sea, which Ruger recognized as the fall near the Three-Flame Divine Palace years earlier.
• Smith told Ruger he could temporarily bear the tangled faith power while Smith followed its path to locate and mark the thief.
• Ruger agreed, and Smith moved him and his chair into the Tower's former pit before laying out materials for a magic array.
• Ruger spread spirit furs around himself and covered his body with pure faith power as prayers began sounding from him, surprising Smith.

Ruger endured the golden Demon’s filthy faith power using the Spirit Furs’ prayers while the Demon’s blood symbols concealed him. As Ruger studied the blood structure and its connection to the Demon, the heartlike formation suddenly shuddered.

• Mr. Smith covered Ruger’s surroundings with blood columns and symbols, sending filthy faith power toward him.
• Stray Hair One guided the Spirit Furs’ prayers to shield Ruger, who remained seated as the faith powers clashed.
• Mr. Smith vanished from sight, while Zorn and the Holy Judgment Wizard watched Ruger’s defense stabilize.
• Ruger read Fendim's Flaming Centipede and found a new line of thought, then became absorbed in the blood symbols around him.
• Ruger realized the blood columns formed a beating heart connected to Mr. Smith’s concealed demonic true name, and the heart suddenly shuddered.

Ruger experienced the Anomalous Heart from within, witnessing Demon Smith discover a crystal-marked figure who carried the stolen faith power. After the heart dissolved, Ruger glimpsed a mysterious character that felt uniquely his, but recalling it brought back his chest discomfort.

• Ruger's breathing and heartbeat synchronized with the golden Anomalous Heart, and he sensed his empty second-ring spell slot transforming.
• Through the heart, Ruger saw Demon Smith enter a cave strewn with corpses crystallizing pale yellow and encounter a hooded, partly crystal figure radiating faith power.
• Demon Smith lunged at the figure, then reappeared at the depression and explained that he had marked the strange, Wizard-like figure despite failing to kill him.
• As the Anomalous Heart dissipated, Ruger studied a strange character that felt as though it belonged to him, though he sensed it was incomplete.
• Ruger nearly fell and clutched his chest when remembering the character, drawing the attention of Demon Smith and Wizard Zorn.

Ruger experienced a vision of a blood-red river after his heart pounded, then learned that his strange experience might have revealed part of his demon true name. He suspected his demon form and spell could help stabilize the character, and found that the Miserly Demonfall Spell model seemed changed by the encounter.

• Ruger awoke on the ground after seeing a silent, blood-red river and found the Golden Demon, Mahama, Wizard Zorn, and others watching him.
• Lord Smith advised Ruger that he might need an additional heart to become a demon, and Ruger bowed in thanks.
• Ruger returned to the table and conjectured that the fleeting character he had glimpsed was part of his demon true name, linked to a legendary river of demonic inheritance.
• Ruger reasoned that further growth of his demon form and Life Origin might clarify and stabilize the character.
• Ruger examined the Miserly Demonfall Spell model in his mental power space and felt that it seemed to smile at him.

Ruger reflected on the new true-name character and the blood-red River of Life, considering how it related to becoming a true demon and the advice about a demon’s heart. As Zorn prepared to follow Smith’s commission, Mona offered to guide them, and Smith suggested that Ruger’s unique aura might explain his unusual nature.

• Ruger considered how his true-name character might help free him from the Kobold curse and wondered whether the Miserly Demonfall Spell needed a demon’s heart.
• Ruger realized that Wizard Jillian had been secretly watching him, then noticed her resume sipping tea after he sent his spirit furs away.
• Mona offered to guide Zorn, who remarked that Prophecy Wizards rarely volunteered to help.
• Zorn brought out his silver carriage, and the group set off with Smith toward the nearest teleportation magic array.
• Smith told Ruger that his distinctive aura and one-of-a-kind nature might explain why he seemed unlike other demons.

Ruger, Mona, and Demon Smith followed Mona’s guidance to the former heart of the Three-Flame Divine Palace, where Smith sought the person he had marked. After their target vanished and then returned to the ruins, Smith used his power to expose something in the mist, leaving Ruger beside Mona as violent sounds erupted.

• Demon Smith told Ruger that he lacked the human transformation ability some powerful Demons possessed, and they traveled with Mona’s guidance toward the target.
• The group reached a wooded island near the Chaotic Star Sea, the former heart of the Three-Flame Divine Palace, and Smith said he had marked his target.
• Mona led everyone to ancient ruins and a concealed underground entrance, where Smith sensed the target fleeing and charged inside with Wizard Zorn.
• Smith and Zorn returned without the target, and Mona quietly told Ruger that the fugitive had come back.
• Mist spread through the ruins as Smith unleashed his Mental Power, and Ruger heard sounds of an argument followed by repeated stabbing while only Mona remained beside him.

Ruger and Mona waited in strange mist, where a despairing young man asked whether he had been right to kill his best friend. After Ruger answered him, the pair set off, and Ruger grabbed Mona as the scenery shifted around them.

• Ruger silently cast Foul-Smelling Skin around himself and Mona, and they waited for Zorn and the Holy Judgment Wizard.
• A bloodied young man approached through the mist and asked whether he had done right by killing his best friend to protect their families.
• Ruger told the young man that his only fault was being weak, and the man bowed before disappearing into the mist.
• Mona said she sensed no danger, and Ruger decided they had waited long enough to rely on themselves.
• As Ruger stepped toward the direction the young man had vanished, the scenery changed, and he grabbed Mona's robe to keep her with him.