Chapter Summaries

Ruger advanced to a Three-Ring Wizard after preparing in the Experiment Corner, but the Kobold curse obstructed his breakthrough. He used the Miserly Demonfall Spell and the Bloodline Hourglass to evade the shackle, then realized it would likely return at his next advancement.

• Ruger ate, rested, and prepared for advancement with the Spirit Furs gathered around the Experiment Corner.
• Ruger began advancing while Stray Hair One directed the Spirit Furs’ faith power to support him.
• Ruger encountered the Kobold curse as an iron chain blocking his mental power from rising.
• Ruger cast the Miserly Demonfall Spell, then released the Bloodline Hourglass and transformed into demon form to weaken the shackle.
• Ruger’s mental power surged upward, completing his advancement to a Three-Ring Wizard.
• Ruger pondered that the curse’s shackle would likely obstruct his next advancement as well.

Ruger advanced to the third ring but was left with an empty spell slot that would hinder him in combat until he adjusted and chose a spell to fill it. After ten days of recovery, he traveled to Falling Moon City and met Lord Old Del at the Knowledge Temple.

• Ruger expanded his mental power space and formed a third-ring spell slot, then spent two days adjusting to the resulting emptiness.
• Ruger resumed ordinary activity, teased Stray Hair One about its future metamorphosis, and went to the Little Inn.
• After ten more days of rest and adjustment, Ruger used Zan Zemanla's Flame Torrent to fly to a nearby Teleportation Array and traveled to Falling Moon City.
• Ruger walked through Falling Moon City looking for the Knowledge Temple and Lord Old Del.
• Lord Old Del welcomed Ruger, praised his stable mental power and advancement, and placed a book-shaped stone before him.

Ruger examined three expensive Third Ring Spellbooks and considered the spells Heart-Leaker's Hidden Scroll and Heartstring Scales. He thought Heartstring Scales suited him well, though he denied being timid.

• Ruger reviewed the three Third Ring Spellbooks he had bought and reflected on how he earned the Merit Stones for them.
• Ruger read about Heart-Leaker's Hidden Scroll, which let a caster conceal secrets from probing spells according to their strength.
• Ruger studied Heartstring Scales, a protective spell that produced continuous magical scales in time with the caster's heartbeat.
• Ruger decided Heartstring Scales matched his strong mental power and need for a durable defense, while insisting he was not timid.

Ruger weighed several spells against the restrictions caused by the kobold curse and chose to study Heartstring Scales first. He planned to learn three spells before visiting the bridge Small World, while also considering an earlier and longer trip to the Abyss.

• Ruger examined Ainige's Heart Chamber Arena, rejected it for his spell slots, and placed his Inverted Cup research notes beside the other spells.
• Ruger recalled Ka Liu's advice to confront the source of his shackles or weaken them by distancing himself from the kobold bloodline, and considered how difficult it would be to remove the curse.
• Ruger decided to study Heartstring Scales first because the missing piece in his soul hindered his concentration and learning.
• Ruger remembered that the rotund old wizard had suggested visiting the bridge Small World, where Barry and Danton were, to seek a solution to his difficulty.
• Ruger planned to learn three spells before visiting Small World as a pseudo Three-Ring Wizard, and considered moving his journey to the Abyss earlier.

Ruger mastered Heartstring Scales, his first third-ring spell, while continuing to meditate and investigate whether a mysterious shackle affected his mental-power growth. He tested the spell and found that it produced only a limited shield around him rather than the complete enclosure described in its model.

• Ruger considered spell compatibility and wondered whether it arose from a special communion between a wizard, a spell, and the world.
• Ruger studied Heartstring Scales while maintaining his Sleep Meditation and practicing Word of Flame.
• Ruger observed that his mental power was growing normally and concluded that the mysterious shackle seemed to emerge only during a transformation of life.
• Ruger mastered Heartstring Scales and cast it, creating up to five translucent scales that formed a shield in front of him.

Ruger practiced Heartstring Scales and reconsidered the healing purpose of Heart-Leaker's Hidden Scroll before the mysterious legendary Wizard visited him again. As the figure scrutinized him, Ruger struggled to endure and was shaken when the Wizard silently shook his head.

• Ruger realized Heartstring Scales consumed mental power with every heartbeat and that practicing where its scales appeared could help conserve it.
• Ruger read Heart-Leaker's Hidden Scroll again and concluded its creator had always intended to heal the Heart-Leaker.
• Ruger rested in the Old Recliner until he noticed the legendary Wizard approaching sooner than during previous visits.
• The Wizard silently examined Ruger, leaving him stiff, bewildered, and struggling to hold on.
• Ruger expected his recent advancement to protect him, but the Wizard shook his head and made his heart clench.

Ruger recovered from another visit by the Old Wizard, whose final shake of the head left him wondering whether their deductions about his potential were wrong. Mona arrived, and they agreed they were missing a crucial piece of information.

• Ruger awoke on the ground after the Old Wizard departed, unharmed but unsettled by the visitor's shake of the head.
• Ruger considered whether the Old Wizard believed he had exhausted his potential, but concluded that he still felt himself improving.
• Ruger opened the Spatial Gate and prepared a dining table outside the Wooden House in case Mona visited.
• Mona arrived, exchanged formal greetings with Ruger, and admitted the visit had frightened her.
• Ruger told Mona that the Old Wizard had shaken his head, and they wondered whether their earlier deductions were incomplete.
• Aisijin came through the Spatial Gate carrying supplies and began setting up a grill by the Cliff.

Mona told Ruger that his rapid advancement came from an unusual aptitude for breaking through, though the cause of the danger they had discussed remained unclear. At Ruger’s home, the gathering unsettled Mona’s prophetic senses, and she left shaken after describing the place as a vortex of fate.

• Mona explained that Ruger had advanced from the Second Ring to the Third Ring in a little over ten years and likely excelled at breaking through boundaries.
• Mona said she, Varin, and Lady Jillian would travel together, and Ruger inferred they were going to Trade Island.
• Ruger invited Mona to join the meal with his companions, whose presence stirred her sensitivity to fate.
• Mona stared toward the empty place at the head of the table and called Ruger’s home a vortex of fate.
• Ruger saw Mona off after the meal, noting that she left looking more shaken than when she arrived.

Ruger studied Heart-Leaker's Hidden Scroll and continued developing his special demon while recovering his mental stability through sleep meditation. Barry Danton sent him timed directions to a reward hidden inside a sea beast, and Ruger turned to studying Ainige's Heart Chamber Arena as he prepared to follow them.

• Ruger reflected on Mona's ideas about fate and studied Heart-Leaker's Hidden Scroll as a reference for shaping his special demon.
• After several sessions of sleep meditation, Ruger's mental power returned to a stable state, and he expected Mona and her companions to have entered the well.
• Barry Danton contacted Ruger through the Mushroom Man, laughing and offering directions to a reward hidden inside a sea beast's stomach.
• Ruger received the directions through a tiny mushroom, then noticed Barry's voice cutting out and the Mushroom Man falling still.
• Ruger put the Mushroom Man away, wondered about Barry's circumstances, and began studying Ainige's Heart Chamber Arena.

Ruger mastered the Heart-Leaker’s Hidden Scroll and experimented with his heart-related spells while preparing for a journey. After reaching a bottleneck, he used Little Regna to enter the Newborn Small World and began exploring its enormous forest.

• Ruger mastered the Heart-Leaker’s Hidden Scroll and discovered that it could temporarily replace a damaged heart and help train mental power.
• Ruger continued practicing and analyzing his heart-related spells while stockpiling special spirit furs for a possible journey into the Abyss.
• Ruger decided it was time to leave after his thinking reached a bottleneck, then went to Mahama’s home in the ruins instead of heading toward Trade Island.
• Ruger asked Little Regna to take them through the hidden entrance, and they crossed into the Newborn Small World with the aid of faith power.
• Ruger sent the tired Little Regna back to the Bedroom Space and examined the vast, unusually quiet forest around him.

Ruger explored the newborn world formed by the clash of two worlds and encountered a wizard fighting an Emberfolk. After Ruger crushed the Emberfolk, its flame began to reignite, and he discovered that his Word of Flame could terrify it.

• Ruger tested his spells and Nightmare Wings in the newborn world, then investigated the remains of a battle between a wizard and otherworldly invaders.
• Ruger watched a gray-robed Two-Ring Wizard fight an Emberfolk alongside a living suit of armor that the wizard later wore to deliver a powerful finishing slash.
• The Emberfolk reformed from a spark after its apparent destruction, and the exhausted wizard asked Ruger to defeat it in exchange for a share of the spoils.
• Ruger restrained the Emberfolk with Boundless Cage and repeatedly struck it with the Weighty Book until its life signs disappeared.
• Ruger waited with the armored wizard as a flame rekindled among the scattered stones, then spoke the Word of Flame, causing the Emberfolk's flame to flicker in terror.

Ruger captured an incomplete world rune after using Word of Flame to erase the Emberfolk. He shared the discovery with the armored wizard, who collected stone fragments while Ruger considered how the rune might affect his spell model.

• Ruger watched the Emberfolk flame go out and sensed an incomplete world rune drifting away from it.
• Ruger captured the world rune and realized it embodied vitality and flame in a newborn, growing Small World.
• Ruger told the armored wizard that he had gained an incomplete world rune and identified his power as Word of Flame.
• The armored wizard asked to collect the Emberfolk’s stone fragments, and Ruger allowed him to take them.
• Ruger gathered some fragments himself as the world rune drifted toward one of his spell models.

Ruger studied an incomplete world rune and found that it enhanced fire spells with greater power, persistence, and a trace of fire’s vitality. He used it to transform Fendim's Flaming Centipede and chose the spell as his new way to travel.

• Ruger flew away from the earlier conflict to study the incomplete world rune in solitude.
• He concluded that the rune’s incompleteness came from the world itself and could not be fixed by hunting Invaders or combining it with another rune.
• Ruger used the rune with his Fireball Spell and found that its flames burned persistently, resisting his Freezing Ray before going out.
• He tested the rune against several spells and found that it responded most strongly to fire-related spells, including the Miserly Demonfall Spell.
• Ruger cast Fendim's Flaming Centipede, and the rune’s influence made its flaming legs move with unusual vitality.
• He climbed onto the Flaming Centipede and decided to use it as his means of travel.

Ruger traveled through the Small World on his Flaming Centipede and reflected on how World Runes could transform spells. He encountered Wizards guarding an unusual native beast and demanded information before deciding whether to interfere.

• Ruger noticed that the incomplete World Rune had made his Flaming Centipede's power feel more restrained and vital.
• Ruger reasoned that World Runes could change the value of spells when combined with a Spell Sequence.
• A Wizard asked Ruger to take another route, but Ruger questioned him about the giant beast nearby.
• The Wizard explained that the beast was native to the Small World and had been born with its strange, self-burning nature.
• Ruger asked the Wizards for valuable or interesting information that would make killing the beast seem like too much trouble.
• The first Wizard asked whether Ruger had just arrived and offered to share useful information if he was new to the world.

Ruger questioned a Wizard about Invaders, outposts, and strange deaths before leaving the group behind. He traveled through the forest and found an elaborate hut built into a tree stump, where an unfamiliar feeling came over him.

• Ruger listened as the man warned him about several kinds of Invaders, outposts, and Wizard corpses found smiling.
• Ruger asked about the smiling corpses, then took his leave and sped away on the Flaming Centipede.
• Ruger used Foul-Smelling Skin to reveal nearby Wizards but saw that no one pursued him.
• Ruger recalled the warning about a rare Mushroom Person Wizard and continued through the thinning forest as its silence faded.
• Ruger spotted strange insects with demonic aura and considered how Wizards might alter the newborn world.
• Ruger descended to inspect a finely crafted hut in a tree stump and felt an unfamiliar sensation.

Ruger followed a twitch in his spiritually rich hair to a house, where Wizard Tab Wah revealed that she had set a trap to attract creatures with spiritual hair. She explained that she wanted special hairs to improve her Spirit Fur cultivation formula, leaving Ruger to consider her intentions.

• Ruger felt his hair twitch and decided to keep his distance from the house, but its door opened before he could leave.
• Tab Wah emerged, noticed Ruger was a Wizard, and admitted that she had set a special trap to draw him there.
• Tab brought out a tea table and chairs, apologized, and invited Ruger to sit and ask questions.
• Ruger asked about the trap, and Tab guessed that he was a Fur Shepherd because his hair was full of spirituality.
• Tab explained that her trap attracted creatures with spiritual hair because she wanted special hairs to perfect her Spirit Fur cultivation formula.

Ruger met Wizard Tab of the Fluffy Enthusiasts Association, learned about its beliefs and its powerful member Gong En, and received a Spirit Fur Cultivation Method as an apology. As Ruger left, Tab warned him not to tell anyone they had met because an annoying pursuer was after her.

• Ruger gave his name to Wizard Tab and asked why his earlier application to the Fluffy Enthusiasts Association had received no reply.
• Wizard Tab described Gong En, the bald Eight-Ring Wizard whose cloak, armor, and sword were made from his hair.
• Wizard Tab gave Ruger a Spirit Fur Cultivation Method as an apology for luring him to her trap.
• Wizard Tab explained the Association's world beast theory, which held that worlds were hairs of the great beast Yegesafus.
• Ruger prepared to leave, and Tab warned him to keep their meeting secret because someone was pursuing her.

Ruger considered the Fluffy Enthusiasts Association and studied the apology scroll’s method for cultivating flawless spirit furs, which could resist curses and death aura. As he traveled through the forest, he reflected on the curse rooted in his bloodline and heard someone calling for help.

• Ruger wondered why he had not been accepted into the Fluffy Enthusiasts Association and decided its members did not all need to be fluffy.
• Ruger read the Spirit Fur Cultivation Method and saw that flawless spirit furs could resist sudden curses, death aura, and harmful dust or spores.
• Ruger tried to contact Barry Danton through the Mushroom Man, but received no response and wondered whether Barry had found trouble or treasure.
• Ruger considered that neither becoming an unusual Demon nor transforming into Dragonkind would remove the curse at the origin of his bloodline.
• Ruger hid the Flaming Centipede behind a massive tree and extended his perception after hearing what sounded like a call for help.

Ruger hid in a tree and tested how an animal-eared woman tracked him, discovering that her senses were tied to spirituality and spirit furs. After she identified herself as a member of the Fluffy Enthusiasts Association and warned that Wizard Robin had been taken over by a monster, Ruger revealed himself to the pursuers.

• Ruger spotted an animal-eared woman running toward the tree while carrying someone called Robin and pursued by two people.
• Ruger used spirit furs and shadow fur servants to hide, then tested how the woman found him by changing his spirituality.
• Ruger covered himself with Spirit-Suckers, which accidentally drained the surrounding spirituality and made his hiding place obvious to the woman.
• The woman told the pursuers that a monster had taken over Wizard Robin's body and showed her Fluffy Enthusiasts Association insignia.
• Ruger dismissed the spirit furs, and the woman spotted him as the pursuers backed away and looked up at him.

Ruger watched the Beast-Eared Witch confront a group of Wizards who had staged a misunderstanding to conceal their plan. The men revealed they had knowingly used their companions as sacrifices to capture a creature for deity-shaping research, and the Witch declared that their actions deserved punishment.

• The Beast-Eared Witch released the exhausted Wizard and explained that she had been trying to save the group from the man who killed people at their camp.
• One of the men accused the Beast-Eared Witch of killing Trevor and Slim, but their companion kicked him in the mouth before he could say more.
• Ruger realized the men already knew the weakened Wizard was under strange control, and the smiling man admitted they had planned to lure him away themselves.
• The Beast-Eared Witch asked whether the men had deliberately fed two companions to the creature and whether she had been meant to be its third victim.
• The men defended the deaths as reasonable sacrifices and explained that they wanted to take the unusual creature to the Endless Sea for deity-shaping research.
• The Beast-Eared Witch condemned the men and said their actions called for punishment.