Chapter Summaries

Ruger considered the Cavern World's fragile existence and the Wizards' efforts to save it while waiting for the Beast-Eared Witch to recover. She chose to serve him but left to settle matters, promising to return, while Ruger kept a secret warning from Barry Danton.

• Ruger reflected on the incomplete world rune, the Cavern World, and the Wizards' attempts to preserve their home and civilization.
• The Beast-Eared Witch thanked Ruger for protecting her and said she had decided to follow him, complete her commission, and repay what she owed.
• The Beast-Eared Witch explained that she needed to leave to address matters after breaking a contract and losing her spirit furs.
• A Mushroom Man delivered Barry Danton's warning that Ruger should conceal their connection and destroy the messenger, but Ruger erased the message and stored it in the Bedroom Space.
• The Beast-Eared Witch thanked Aisijin for her care and cooking, then left after promising Ruger she would return.

Ruger relaxed with Tuzel after the Flesh Cape refinements, while the spirit furs prepared to dismantle the Treehouse for transport. He tested the spirit fur and contemplated his incomplete world rune before the group finished a kobold-shaped section of the stump house.

• Tuzel relaxed beside Ruger and planned to redesign the Flesh Cape and renovate the Treehouse.
• Ruger considered how the Flesh Cape eased his teacher’s symptoms without addressing their underlying cause.
• Ruger tested the spirit fur and found that it contained vitality he could use to strengthen his body.
• Tuzel directed the spirit furs in dividing the Treehouse into sections for later assembly in the Bedroom Space.
• Ruger reflected on how world runes might shape a Wizard into a small, independent world.
• Tuzel revealed that the final Treehouse section beneath Ruger’s recliner was shaped like an enormous, blocky kobold, and Ruger applauded.

Dati encountered Ruger while running through the forest, and shadowlike Otherworld Invaders attacked them. Dati destroyed the Invaders with her flaming boots and then turned toward a hidden Wizard, a Mushroom Person, whose flames she extinguished.

• Dati ran through the forest, scattering tiny objects as she tried to shake the feeling that someone was following her.
• Dati found Ruger reading by a campfire and sat beside him, unknowingly causing the Oddity Rooted Troubles in his arm to condense golden sand.
• Three shadowlike Otherworld Invaders emerged from Dati’s shadow and attacked Ruger and Dati.
• Dati advanced in slow steps, and the flames from her boots burned the three Invaders into black ash.
• Dati detected a hidden Mushroom Person near a distant Giant Tree and extinguished the flames on him with a light stamp.

Ruger encountered a Mushroom Person Wizard and an elderly Wizard hiding underground, and learned how misfortune had brought the two companions together. After Dati introduced herself as a Wizard from Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy, all four sensed a mysterious summons in the distance.

• Ruger understood through the Mushroom Person’s Emotion Spores that he felt wronged after being woken and attacked.
• Dati apologized to the Mushroom Person, who accepted her formal salute and revealed the elderly Wizard hiding with him.
• Ruger learned that the Mushroom Person had stayed to protect the elderly Wizard, who sought a miracle while struggling with uncontrollable emotional shifts.
• Dati identified herself as a Wizard from Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy and explained her academy’s longstanding ties with Mushroom People.
• The elderly Wizard became angry after Ruger’s smooth fur reminded him of his own declining vitality, but Ruger showed that he did not take offense.
• Ruger, Dati, the Mushroom Person, and the elderly Wizard all sensed a mysterious call from the distance.

Ruger met three other wizards following the same mysterious call and learned that Dati was surveying a Newborn Small World for the Seven-Colored Mushroom Academy. The group decided to continue toward the call together, believing it might not be far away.

• Ruger invited Gubo, Dati, and Usman to share fruit tea, and they introduced themselves around the campfire.
• Dati explained the Seven-Colored Mushroom Academy’s unusual training methods and its plan to develop mushroom caves in the Small World.
• Dati said the academy was negotiating with the Supreme Council and the Faith Wizards to take over the Small World.
• Usman declared that he would follow the mysterious call, and the others agreed to continue their journey together.
• Ruger observed that Gubo tasted the fruit tea first, then raised his cup to the pleased Mushroom Person.

Ruger, Dati, the old wizard, and Gubo reasoned that a spiritually sensitive being native to the small world was likely sending the mysterious call. They set off toward its source, with Ruger letting Zhizhi carry him at an easy pace.

• Dati said the call seemed to affect wizards through spirituality rather than strength, and she suspected its source was not a wizard.
• Ruger and Dati agreed that the call could be an unintentional lure from a powerful native being, and that wizards' curiosity and confidence would draw them toward it.
• When the call swept through them again, Gubo animated mushroom people to carry himself and the old wizard away, while Dati started off on foot.
• Ruger summoned Zhizhi, noticed it eating the soil where the bonfire had been, and decided to let it finish before following.
• Zhizhi carried Ruger after the others, and Ruger wondered whether they might encounter Barry Danton.

Ruger and his companions traveled through the Small World, drawing the attention of wary Wizards as they approached their destination. The party reached a clearing where the Giant Trees twisted together into a huge chair, with a humanoid sitting on its armrest.

• Zhizhi carried Ruger and the group onward for more than two days while Gubo replaced the mushrooms carrying their branch.
• A Wizard stopped the party and offered magic stones for information, but Ruger told him to follow them and continued on when the Wizard hesitated.
• The Wizard returned with another figure, and both trailed the party as more Wizards appeared ahead.
• Ruger noticed the light and darkness alternating in rings as the Giant Trees grew sparse, then put away Zhizhi to let her rest.
• Ruger saw the last towering Giant Tree and a humanoid sitting on an armrest formed by the tangled, fallen trees.

Ruger and the gathered Wizards encountered a winged, feathered, and scaled being seated among the fallen Giant Tree’s twisted trunks. After revealing itself, the being called the place and its own existence meaningless, then described the Wizards as visitors from another realm.

• Ruger saw a relaxed, winged figure on the chair formed by the fallen trunks and told Dati, Usman, and Gubo where it sat.
• Dati looked at the figure and covered her eyes as tears ran down her face, saying its smile had conveyed overwhelming sorrow.
• More Wizards gradually noticed the figure, and it revealed itself to the gathering as they drew closer.
• A heavily bearded Wizard asked whether anyone had left the place, and the being replied that the seat was its own, though it had never sat on it and would give it away.
• The being said the place had no meaning, that its own existence was meaningless, and that the Wizards were visitors from another realm.

A sorrowful intelligent creature invited Wizards to take it away from its doomed Small World after explaining how a Wizard had helped it understand its fate. Lady Dati offered it a place at Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy, but a distant middle-aged Wizard silenced her.

• The creature showed five fruits containing incomplete world runes and explained that an earlier Wizard had visited, spoken with it, and taught it about life and its sorrow.
• The creature said it had called the Wizards to find one who would take it away from the world, since it wished to escape its predetermined fate.
• A refined Wizard asked why the earlier Wizard had not taken the creature, and it explained that he had refused after circumstances changed.
• Lady Dati presented her identity emblem and invited the creature to join Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy, offering to help transform the world.
• A middle-aged Wizard in the distance cut off Dati's voice while her mouth continued moving.

Dati offered the winged being protection and a mentor’s position, explaining that Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy had applied to the Supreme Council for ownership of his world. As the wizards debated whether to surrender him, Ruger watched the being remain a powerless spectator and searched the crowd for Barry and Danton.

• Ruger considered how the winged being’s connection to the Gnarled Chair might affect Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy’s plans.
• Dati told the wizards that the academy could offer the winged being a mentor’s position and had applied to the Supreme Council to claim the world.
• The winged being smiled at the absurdity of his world being claimed while he could only listen.
• The Bearded Wizard argued that the winged being was more than a child of the world and that the wizards should not give up their claim to him.
• As the wizards debated and Ruger suspected they were stalling, he searched the crowd for Barry and Danton.

Ruger and the gathered wizards faced an intelligent Otherworld Invader who sought cooperation after mistaking the Cavern World for a vessel that could save them from catastrophe. The wizards destroyed it, but the purple-headed figure on the enormous chair then challenged them over their apparent failure to invade through a child of the world.

• Ruger noticed a purple-tinged figure watching him from the enormous chair, and the figure fell backward onto it, leaving blood behind.
• Ruger prepared his spells as a hard-shelled, purple-lit Otherworld Invader appeared and questioned the wizards.
• The Invader proposed cooperating to use the Cavern World and create dying worlds, then said half the ship’s living beings needed to die first.
• The gathered wizards unleashed their spells and reduced the Invader to dust, which vanished into a fissure.
• The figure on the enormous chair rose with a purple head growing from his chest and questioned whether the wizards knew how to invade through a child of the world.

The Otherworld Invader began its full invasion by sending Emberfolk crashing from the sky, but the wizards calmly captured them in specially made water balls. Ruger watched the battle unfold and realized the figure on the enormous chair was still alive, possessed as part of the Invader’s Child of the World strategy.

• The Otherworld Invader thickened its aura and opened the sky, causing vast numbers of Emberfolk to fall toward the wizards.
• Ruger recalled how the Supreme Council’s gates let wizards travel between certain worlds and reasoned that the Invader’s sky-tearing feat likely required preparations.
• The wizards produced crystal-like water balls that weakened the Emberfolk’s flames and imprisoned them, collecting the captured creatures afterward.
• Ruger saw what might have been the figure on the chair smiling amid the chaos and concluded that the Invader had possessed it through its Child of the World invasion strategy.

As the Invader transformed Emberfolk into increasingly powerful forms, Ruger used a word of flame linked to an incomplete world rune to extinguish more than a thousand of them at once. The wizards turned their attention to him, while the Invader reacted with astonishment and one of its heads still seemed to smile.

• The purple Emberfolk merged into larger, winged, and giant forms as the wizards tested them with spells.
• Ruger watched the fighting from a tree branch until an ember giant attacked his position.
• Ruger spoke "Extinguish," using his mental power and an incomplete world rune to extinguish the flames of more than a thousand Emberfolk.
• The Emberfolk collapsed into rubble, and the wizards looked toward Ruger.
• The Invader stared at Ruger in astonishment, while Ruger noticed a fleeting smile on one of its heads.

Ruger met the Otherworld Invader’s purple mental-power assault and held it off while reflecting on his own nature and the invaders’ ignorance of the Cavern World. The invader became excited by the wizards’ strength, while Ruger recognized that even a successful conquest would not save it from its fate.

• The Otherworld Invader unleashed a purple tide of mental power, and Ruger blocked it with his own mental power.
• As the collision made time seem to slow, Ruger questioned whether his savage nature came from demon spells or had always been part of him.
• The mental shock waves passed through Ruger’s mental power space, while the Silence Magic Seal spun to stabilize it.
• Ruger watched the surrounding wizards drink potions, cast spells, or transform to withstand the assault.
• Ruger returned to normal on a tree trunk as the Otherworld Invader reacted with excitement at the wizards’ strength.
• Ruger reflected that the invaders misunderstood the Cavern World’s scale and would still face death even if they conquered it.

Ruger watched the high-rank Invader tear off the original head of the Child of the World, while the surrounding Wizards discovered that their Identity Stones had broken. As the Invader rose and then shattered, two powerful figures in Wizard Robes descended from the sky.

• Ruger reflected on how even ordinary beings and small changes contributed to the Wizards’ resistance against fate.
• The furious Invader seized and tore off the Child of the World’s original head, then grew larger as its chair transformed into armor.
• The Wizards checked their Identity Stones and found them broken, prompting them to turn and move in different directions.
• The world fell silent, and the Invader rose from its chair before breaking apart into fragments.
• Two figures wearing Wizard Robes descended from the sky with unsettling auras.

Ruger fled after two Black Wizards appeared, recognizing one as Barry Danton and wondering what had brought him there. As Emberfolk continued falling from the sky, Ruger prepared another spell and hoped the Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy would eventually discover and address the danger.

• The Wizards scattered when two Black Wizards arrived, and Ruger instinctively retreated with a prepared Zan Zemanla's Flame Torrent.
• Ruger recognized one of the Black Wizards as Barry Danton, whose wry smile recalled their past encounters and his signature, the Unfortunate Lucky One.
• Ruger saw that Barry stood behind the other Black Wizard and judged that the other figure was the one in command.
• Ruger noticed Dati fleeing and reasoned that the Rainbow Mushroom Wizard Academy had not taken over the area, leaving open the possibility that it would later investigate.
• As Emberfolk kept crashing to the ground, Ruger speculated about their relationship to the Invaders and readied a third Zan Zemanla's Flame Torrent.

After the temporary Identity Stones shattered, Ruger fled the disruption and found the Bedroom Space only barely accessible. He reached a marshy area, where he discovered a Wizard camp concealed beneath the mud.

• Ruger realized the Black Wizard had obstructed access to the Cavern World and severely limited his connection to the Bedroom Space.
• Ruger fled through the giant trees, noticing that Emberfolk continued to fall despite the disruption.
• Ruger stopped in a marsh, opened a tiny gap into the Bedroom Space, and took out grilled meat and Bubble Wine.
• Ruger greeted an old Wizard who dragged a chained beast’s corpse and watched him enter a hidden camp through a mouth-shaped passage beneath the mud.

Ruger entered the camp through a hidden passage disguised as a giant toad and learned that news of a Black Wizard incident had reached the camp. He emerged into the crowded camp and discovered that Gubo and Old Wizard Usman had arrived before him.

• Ruger found the toad-shaped entrance and descended into the hidden passage.
• Two knights warned Ruger that a Black Wizard incident had occurred and that the camp's temporary Identity Stones had shattered.
• Ruger displayed a magical pattern to reassure the knights and left the passage into the camp.
• Ruger examined the camp's unusual construction as Gubo explained how its design concealed those inside.
• Ruger sensed Gubo and Old Wizard Usman nearby and realized they had reached the camp before him.

Ruger joined Gubo and five other Three-Ring Wizards as they discussed reports of powerful Black Wizards and the danger they posed. He reflected on Barry and Danton’s possible future and wondered whether Varin and her companions had left the Small World safely.

• Ruger entered a tent where Gubo and five Three-Ring Wizards were questioning the Mushroom Person about Black Wizards.
• Ruger confirmed that Gubo’s judgment about seeing a Black Wizard was correct, lending credibility to Gubo’s warning.
• Gubo said that he had sensed the fear of nearby mushrooms and believed two powerful wizards had been present.
• The wizards discussed how unpredictable Black Wizards could be and how even kindhearted ones might become frightening.
• Ruger wondered whether Barry would change under the burden of being a Black Wizard and hoped Varin and her companions had left the Small World safely.

Ruger sat with the Wizards in a hidden camp, speculating about the Black Wizards and the dangers facing them. His teacher's teacher's teacher arrived, and as Ruger endured the powerful Wizard's gaze, he tried to recall the questions for which he wanted guidance.

• Ruger asked Gubo whether Lady Dati had been seen, and Gubo's troubled reaction suggested she was still absent.
• Ruger considered the Black Wizards' possible motives and concluded that Danton had likely been an accident and Barry had become a Black Wizard unexpectedly.
• Ruger grew drowsy and recognized that the stifling relaxation was not under his control.
• Ruger's teacher's teacher's teacher entered the tent and fixed his attention on Ruger.
• Ruger met the powerful Wizard's gaze and, while feeling exposed and mentally muddled, tried to bring his unanswered questions to mind.