Chapter Summaries

Ruger’s apparent collapse prompted the wizards to suspect an attack, but he dismissed it as a chronic ailment. Holm then revealed that the peculiar old wizard was weakening from starvation rather than old age, leaving Ruger wary just as the camp began to shake.

• Ruger nearly fell from his chair, and Holm and the other wizards rushed to investigate what they thought was an attack.
• Ruger told Holm that his weakness came from a chronic ailment, and the wizards returned to their seats.
• Holm confronted Gubo’s peculiar friend, saying he had sensed the old wizard steadily weakening since his first visit to camp.
• Gubo explained that his friend was nearing the end of his life and had come seeking a miracle, but Holm said the old wizard was starving himself and enduring intense hunger.
• Ruger reconsidered the old wizard’s tearful looks and wondered whether he wanted to eat him, then the camp suddenly shook.

Ruger and the other wizards fled as their airborne camp was torn apart, then encountered a towering Otherworld Invader beside the crater below. Ruger left the chapter relieved that it was not a Black Wizard but uncertain whether the creature had deliberately found their concealed camp.

• Ruger decided to run if the situation became dangerous or unclear as strange noises and collapsing magic arrays shook the camp.
• The camp was lifted into the air and tossed about, and Ruger caught a Wizard Apprentice and sent them toward two knight guards.
• Ruger and Holm flew toward a shifting gash in the camp’s dome and escaped just before its final magic array failed and the camp shattered.
• Ruger cast Light Body Spells on the falling knights and saw a towering creature resembling a mixture of tree parts and rotten mushrooms beside a large pit.
• Ruger sensed that the creature was an Otherworld Invader and wondered whether it had detected the camp or simply hunted it as prey.

Three One-Ring Wizards defeated the towering invader with a joint spell, though Gubo explained that its spores could eventually grow back into it. As suspicion fell on Usman, Ruger revealed his Demon Hunter Wizard mark and left the camp, wondering whether the invader’s kind could truly be defeated.

• A fierce wind scattered the camp’s wizards, and Ruger saw a towering invader formed from algae, wood, and mushrooms.
• Three One-Ring Wizards joined hands and cast a pillar of shifting black-and-white light that broke the invader apart and extinguished its mental power.
• Gubo told Ruger that the invader could eventually revive as its scattered spores took root, while he collected spores in small bottles.
• Holm acknowledged Ruger’s Demon Hunter Wizard mark and allowed him to leave the ruined camp.
• Wizards began questioning Usman about whether he had brought the invader, and Ruger departed after releasing the spell he had been empowering.

Ruger flew to the edge of the Mire, rested in a tree hollow, and woke to discover a tiny door in the tree. The chapter left him examining the unexpected door while questions about his mentor’s knowledge remained unresolved.

• Ruger activated his Demon Hunter Badge but found no message from the strange old mentor, and he considered whether the lack of guidance was itself an answer.
• Ruger reached a transitional area at the edge of the Mire, summoned the Spirit Fur Knights, and rested in a tree hollow while they patrolled.
• Ruger slept unusually deeply and woke refreshed, without entering the dream realm.
• Stray Hair One greeted Ruger, who noticed a tiny door where a branch joined the tree trunk.

Ruger discovered a hidden door that led to a spacious wizard’s laboratory, where an old wizard immediately enlisted him to brew potions. The chapter left Ruger working at the brewing station, equipped with knowledge he had received from the wizard.

• Ruger reassured Stray Hair One after it failed to notice the hidden door and sent it back to the Bedroom Space.
• Ruger approached the tiny door, discovered that it could be reached only by someone who perceived it, and entered.
• An old wizard welcomed Ruger into the house and hurried him down the corridor to a laboratory.
• The old wizard recognized Ruger as a Three-Ring Wizard, transferred potion-brewing knowledge into his mind, and assigned him to make potions.
• Ruger began brewing as the ingredients at his station started reacting.

Ruger immersed himself in potion-making under an old wizard’s demanding guidance, learning to refine unfamiliar materials despite not knowing their purpose. He began working at two stations simultaneously as his concentration and control improved.

• Ruger completed seven bottles of one potion and five of another after repeated work and a knock on the head from the old wizard.
• The old wizard used a movement spell and sent Ruger mental instructions for a new task at a foul-smelling workbench.
• Ruger peeled thin bark-like skins from floating toad-like creatures and collected their green fluid using magic arrays and alchemical equipment.
• Ruger gradually perfected the process and began controlling the curved workbench while working at a neighboring station.
• The old wizard inspected Ruger's work and nodded, though he remained somewhat dissatisfied.

Ruger worked at two laboratory benches under the old Wizard’s supervision until his mental power was exhausted, then went to rest in a garden that was also a study. He discovered that its flowers and plants held books he could read with his mental power.

• Ruger concentrated on processing materials at two laboratory benches and sensed that the laboratory and the enormous tree beneath it were unlike anything he knew.
• The old Wizard told Ruger to rest in a room on the corridor’s left side and warned him not to enter the rooms on the right.
• Ruger opened one of the permitted doors and entered a vast indoor garden filled with fragrant flowers.
• Ruger discovered that plants in the garden held books and began reading one flower with his mental power.

Ruger rested in a magical garden after discovering Shingor's Law, which gave him a way to improve his second-ring spell, Boundless Cage. Refreshed by a nap and a flower's sweet water, he resumed exploring the garden.

• Ruger read about Shingor's Law among the purple flowers and realized he could use it to reduce waste and strengthen Boundless Cage.
• Ruger learned that the law was named after wizard Shingor's food-stealing cat, then released the climbing plant and settled down to rest.
• Ruger fell asleep on the white petal and woke refreshed when a neighboring pink flower dripped sweet water into his mouth.
• Ruger thanked the flower, decided the wizard had not yet summoned him, and continued along the garden path.
• Ruger noticed a little plant as he explored.

Ruger read a grass book about Four-Language Wizards and learned that his Word of Flame’s strength against the Emberfolk came from its compatibility with them. After making preliminary adjustments to the Boundless Cage spell, he remained tempted to search for a special language of his own.

• Ruger read that true Four-Language Wizards had to awaken a unique language, while mastering a fifth special language was taboo.
• Ruger realized the incomplete world rune amplified his Word of Flame chiefly because it perfectly matched the Emberfolk, limiting its exceptional power to them.
• Ruger considered seeking his own special language, despite wondering whether he could avoid the risks by becoming only a Two-Language Wizard.
• Ruger used his mental energy to make preliminary adjustments to the Boundless Cage spell and judged its stability without a target to test it on.
• Ruger prepared to leave the garden but still felt drawn to explore his own special language, remembering Mahama's senior.

Ruger wandered through the vast garden, where every plant held a book, and became absorbed in a treatise about how spellcasting used mental power. He chose to stay rather than leave the garden, but a cool voice addressed him from an empty-looking patch of grass.

• Ruger explored the garden instead of trying the other doors, enjoying its flowers and books.
• Ruger read a treatise explaining that mental power was spent communicating with and affecting the world, and that spell compatibility made this exchange easier.
• Ruger decided to remain in the garden until the old wizard summoned him rather than ask for more work.
• A cool voice asked Ruger whether he liked the garden, and he looked toward a patch of grass but saw no one.

Ruger met Kailyn in a secluded garden after entering a mysterious door in a tree, and learned that another Kailyn waited upstairs to provide food. He stayed to enjoy the garden and tea, newly aware that the door could vanish and reappear elsewhere.

• Ruger crossed an empty lawn and found Kailyn seated at a white table, where she invited him to share floral tea.
• Ruger told Kailyn that the Old Wizard had sent him to find her, but he did not know the Old Wizard's name.
• Kailyn explained that Ruger needed to take the stairs and greet a different Kailyn if he wanted something to eat.
• Kailyn told Ruger that the door could appear in any tree, last only briefly, and return him to where he had entered when he left.
• Ruger chose to remain in the garden and poured himself another large cup, emptying Kailyn's teapot.

Ruger discovered that the conservatory’s lawn was a self-maintaining book and magic array, and became absorbed in reading it. Lady Kailyn quietly left and later returned to leave him pastries while he continued to lie on the grass.

• Ruger examined the conservatory’s flowers and realized the lawn might be more than ordinary grass.
• He used his mental power to discover that the lawn was a book explaining the magic array that sustained the garden.
• As Ruger studied the lawn, Kailyn recognized his growing Wizard-like absorption and their conversation faded away.
• Ruger finished the tea without noticing Kailyn had left, then lay on the lawn and read it more deeply.
• Kailyn reappeared briefly, left a plate of flower-petal pastries beside Ruger, and vanished again.

Ruger used the garden’s living book to deepen his understanding of magic arrays and attempted to discover his own special word, hoping to understand his heart and find his Demon Heart. As he neared a breakthrough in meditation, a starry vision shattered and a vast white tree appeared before him.

• Ruger finished reading the living book and realized his accumulated knowledge had helped him understand it.
• Ruger decided to meditate in the garden to seek his own special word and advance his Third Ring spell.
• Ruger transformed, entered a meditative state, and explored his sense of self as though he had become a world.
• Ruger crossed the mountain-like image of his head and saw lights arranged like curved demonic horns.
• Ruger came close to uttering a new special language, but the starry sky shattered and a giant white tree appeared.

Ruger explored his personal language through meditation and recognized that his Miserly Spell model had changed under the influence of something he had seen. As he neared another breakthrough, the pale skeletal hand vanished and a group of glowing Fuzzies appeared, leaving him wondering if he had awakened a third special language tied to spirituality.

• Ruger recognized the dim stars and phantom horns in his meditation as the fifteen difficult nodes and curved horns of his Demon of Miserliness.
• Ruger recalled Immanuel’s claim that only a spell model’s owner could alter it, and read a book that described spell models as private and unobservable to others.
• Ruger meditated before the white Giant Tree and feared it might awaken a second special language connected to the hand that had changed his Stinking Skin Spell model.
• Ruger struggled to utter an emerging language as his consciousness drew close to a breakthrough but felt increasingly suffocated.
• The skeletal hand vanished from Ruger’s perception, and glowing Fuzzies appeared, prompting him to wonder whether he had awakened a third language linked to spirituality.

Ruger mastered the Word of Gray after encountering a pale skeletal hand during his meditation, though he remained unsure what the language did. He ended the meditation with a strange utterance that was not the Word of Gray.

• Ruger felt a sleeping beast among the Fuzzies and let the language-mastery process continue.
• The Fuzzies vanished, and a pale skeletal hand appeared and stayed long enough for Ruger to reach mastery.
• Ruger understood his new language as the Word of Gray, tied to malice and the colorless nothingness it revealed.
• Ruger decided not to attempt mastering another special language until he learned more about Four-Language Wizards.
• Ruger ended his meditation and awoke in the greenhouse after speaking something that was not the Word of Gray.

Ruger mastered the Word of Sharp Horns, completing his understanding of the three special languages that reflected his Demon Form. Their cries inspired him to begin shaping his long-awaited Third Ring spell model, which continued changing as he searched for an answer within himself.

• Ruger pieced together how true demons, like true fairies, followed a pure desire that shaped their nature.
• Ruger realized he had mastered the Word of Sharp Horns and now knew three special languages alongside the Word of Flame and the Word of Gray.
• Ruger recognized that the three languages precisely reflected his Demon Form and had guided his breakthrough.
• Ruger alternated the languages in strange cries, and the spiral patterns storing malice on his body began to tremble and shift.
• Ruger began constructing his Third Ring spell model in his Mental Power Space while the three languages guided his search for himself.

Ruger completed Gluttonous Unseeable Heart, a Third Ring spell that formed a powerful, concealing heart in his demon form. Before he could permanently fix the spell and engrave his demon true-name characters on it, the Old Wizard summoned him away.

• Ruger used his demonic insights and spell knowledge to build a four-hundred-and-ninety-eight-node spell model.
• Ruger's spell became Gluttonous Unseeable Heart, which consumed mental power, faith power, malice, and spell fluctuations.
• Ruger tested the heart's effects and found that it strengthened his body, sharpened his thoughts, and enhanced his mental-power impact.
• Ruger decided the spell was stable enough to fix permanently and planned to engrave his demon true-name characters on the heart.
• The Old Wizard probed Ruger's concealment and used mental power to urge him out of the conservatory.

Ruger discovered that the Gluttonous Unseeable Heart concealed his emotional fluctuations more thoroughly than he had expected. The Old Wizard brought him to a special laboratory, where Ruger began an experiment that required him to keep a thread of black blood flowing continuously.

• Ruger realized that the Gluttonous Unseeable Heart suppressed even the Mental Power fluctuations caused by his excitement, especially in Demon Form.
• Ruger left the garden and returned to the Old Wizard, who noticed his progress before summoning him to a hidden workbench.
• Ruger learned that the black workbench was a demon's body and that its heart had to be protected during the experiment.
• Ruger used his Shadow Servant to draw a thread of black blood from the heart, then invoked Word of Sharp Horns to maintain the flow.
• Ruger adjusted to the task and kept the thread slender and steady without letting it break.

Ruger endured the Old Wizard’s experiment with the Black Heart, using the Word of Sharp Horns to keep it and his Shadow Servant from reaching their limits. The experience refined his spell model, and after returning to the garden, he solidified Gluttonous Unseeable Heart into his third-ring spell slot, leaving him feeling complete in his demonized form.

• Ruger used the Word of Sharp Horns to influence the Black Heart’s pattern while protecting his Shadow Servant from being eroded.
• As Ruger observed the Black Heart, his spell model began to beat and gradually refined its structure.
• Ruger and his Shadow Servant reached their limits, and the Old Wizard appeared, praised Ruger, and sent him away to rest.
• Ruger returned to the garden and felt his spell model move toward his vacant third-ring spell slot.
• Ruger solidified Gluttonous Unseeable Heart in the slot and felt his demonized form become complete.

Ruger completed a major transformation as his demon form, mental power space, and spell heart grew more stable, and his three demon true-name characters settled onto the heart. He examined how his three spells worked together and concluded that their complementary foundation could lead to greater power in the future.

• Ruger felt his demon form become more complete and his mental power space finally stabilize.
• Ruger’s three demon true-name characters flew to his spell heart and branded themselves onto it, triggering a burst of bodily changes.
• Ruger decided to keep Gluttonous Unseeable Heart beating continuously to improve his mental power.
• Ruger cast Foul-Smelling Skin and sensed how it interacted with Miserly Demonfall Spell and Gluttonous Unseeable Heart.
• Ruger reflected that his spells complemented his origin power and that their solid foundation could eventually give him more ways to fight.