Chapter Summaries

Ruger maintained all three spells as his demon body and soul continued to grow, then fell asleep beneath three bell-shaped flowers. As he drifted off, he read about a soul wizard’s theory that death involved three final sleeps and that reversing the third could prevent a soul from perishing.

• Ruger wandered through the garden in demon form, drank flower nectar, and chose a spot beneath three bell-shaped flowers to sleep.
• Ruger kept all three spells active as he settled down, hoping to support his growing body.
• Ruger read a book criticizing faith power and describing old faith wizards whose souls had been corrupted by failures in deity shaping.
• The book explained its author’s theory that souls passed through three special sleeps at the moment of death, with the third bringing them close to new life.
• The author sought to reverse the soul’s third sleep and create a spell sequence that could let a wizard survive death repeatedly.
• Ruger fell asleep beneath the flowers as his body, mind, and soul continued to grow.

Ruger woke from a long sleep to find the garden barren and its magic array inactive. He explored the dust-covered hallway and laboratory, where the Old Wizard was gone, and prepared to check one more place.

• Ruger woke after an unknown length of time and found the garden stripped of its flowers, books, and grass.
• Ruger saw that the garden's magic array had stopped working and noticed wear on the round table and chair.
• Ruger opened the greenhouse door and found the hallway dusty, cobwebbed, and silent.
• Ruger entered the Old Wizard's laboratory, found it dilapidated and the Old Wizard missing, and turned toward the last place he needed to check.

Ruger explored the dust-covered building, searching for the Old Wizard and Miss Kailyn while avoiding the forbidden rooms on the first floor. As he reached the last room on the second floor, someone knocked at the building’s entrance.

• Ruger probed the empty laboratory with his mental power and found no trace of the Old Wizard, Miss Kailyn, or their experiments.
• Ruger climbed the spiraling staircase and found a dilapidated living area, including a small bird’s bones and ruined belongings.
• Ruger searched the second-floor rooms, finding spaces for art, breeding, storage, training, and cooking, but no people or useful clues.
• Ruger reached for the final second-floor door as someone knocked at the building’s entrance.

Ruger opened the Treehouse door and suddenly awoke beneath the three death-sleep flowers in the garden, uncertain whether his experience had been a dream. He met Lady Kailyn at the garden table, where she teased him about sleeping through the time he was meant to spend with her.

• Ruger heard persistent knocking, approached the door, and saw it open a crack before darkness overtook him.
• Ruger awoke beneath the three flowers and checked that his body, Wizard rank, and concealed demon true name remained unchanged.
• Ruger recalled his long sleep and walked through the lush garden toward its central lawn.
• Ruger found Lady Kailyn waiting at the white table, and she welcomed him with tea.
• Ruger asked whether Kailyn disliked dragonkin creatures, and she replied that the dragonkin pet was meant to walk through the garden with her.

Ruger left Kailyn after sharing tea and pastries, then returned to the old wizard’s laboratory and found a high-rank wizard assisting there. He quietly accepted the old wizard’s task and began working with a more composed, mysterious bearing.

• Kailyn recognized that Ruger’s embedded spell concealed him on a perceptual level, and she served him pastries that soothed his mind.
• Ruger sensed the old wizard’s summons, ate the remaining pastries, and left the conservatory.
• Ruger reached the laboratory and overheard the old wizard criticizing a high-rank wizard while the man worked.
• Ruger greeted the high-rank wizard, guessed that he was the persistent visitor recruited as an assistant, and decided to act with more composure.
• The old wizard sent Ruger a small ball of mental power, which Ruger accepted before walking to a workbench and beginning his task.

Ruger assisted the old wizard with a demanding observation experiment while discreetly watching the new High-Rank Wizard. After being dismissed to rest, Ruger walked with the newcomer, who appeared to be edging toward one of the corridor’s eleven doors.

• Ruger recorded the changing subject’s reactions on a disc while the laboratory apparatus made him float and required him to track his own movements.
• Ruger discreetly observed the new High-Rank Wizard, whom the old wizard repeatedly scolded despite his diligent work.
• The old wizard ended Ruger’s work, checked him with several flashes of light, and guided him toward the corridor.
• The new assistant greeted Ruger and walked with him, describing how the work made him feel like an apprentice again.
• Ruger noticed the man drifting toward the eleven doors and raising his hand as if to open one.

Ruger escorted a High-Rank Wizard through the corridor, where the man mistakenly tried a door on the wrong side before the Old Wizard corrected him. When Ruger entered the garden, his companion stopped at the threshold and wept in apparent awe.

• Ruger realized the High-Rank Wizard was watching his reactions as they walked along the corridor.
• The High-Rank Wizard turned the handle of a door on the side Ruger was not permitted to enter, and the Old Wizard warned him to stay on the left side.
• The man explained that he had judged left and right from the laboratory end, and Ruger reassured him that the mistake was understandable.
• Ruger avoided the man's questions about the forbidden door and led him into the garden.
• The High-Rank Wizard stopped near the doorway, spread his arms, and wept as he took in the garden.

Ruger accompanied a High-Rank Wizard through the Old Wizard’s garden of books, where the visitor reacted intensely to the knowledge he encountered. After reading a work that used variations of the Stone Fist Spell to challenge assumptions about spells and the world, Ruger returned to the laboratory and discovered the Old Wizard’s mental-power sphere held something bewildering.

• Ruger watched the High-Rank Wizard enter the garden flowers without acknowledging him, then continued along the path to read.
• Ruger reflected on how the garden arranged books according to what Wizards of different ranks could understand.
• Ruger read “Examining the Relationship Between Spells and the World Through Variations of the One-Ring Stone Fist Spell,” which used the spell to examine the foundations of a wider field.
• Ruger returned to the laboratory with the silent High-Rank Wizard and was suddenly enclosed in a pitch-black space.
• Ruger touched the Old Wizard’s sphere of mental power, learned what it contained, and stared at it in bewilderment.

Ruger realized that the old wizard’s lessons and laboratory events were repeating with small differences, then endured another trial in the dark and returned to the Large Laboratory. A chilling sensation when the old wizard vanished led Ruger to suspect the strange predicament was caused by one of the wizard’s experiments or goals.

• Ruger recognized that the old wizard’s instructions and events were repeating, though not exactly.
• Ruger summoned the recovered Shadow Servant and performed the Word of Sharp Horns while maintaining the black heart’s blood threads.
• Ruger endured the long trial, noticing that Lady Kailyn and other details had changed and that he gained no new benefits this time.
• Ruger returned to the Large Laboratory, where the old wizard praised his work and then disappeared.
• Ruger felt a chilling sensation and suspected the repeated predicament stemmed from the old wizard’s experiment or ultimate objective.

Ruger entered the Flower Room, found an unfinished spell for creating a Spell Sword, and discovered that the courteous high-rank wizard was a black wizard. The man wept over being shown the garden before completing a more important objective, leaving Ruger confronted by the world’s rejection emanating from him.

• Ruger entered the Flower Room and found the high-rank wizard standing on a garden path.
• Ruger read a book about creating a Spell Sword and learned an unfinished spell that could hold other spells.
• The high-rank wizard told Ruger he should not have brought him into the garden and wept as he described his longing to see it.
• Ruger sensed the world’s rejection emanating from the man and realized that the high-rank wizard was a black wizard.

Ruger realized the weeping figure had come to the Small World to find the tiny door that appeared in trees, and suspected the invaders had sealed the world to keep it from vanishing. When the figure attacked, Ruger evaded its spell by hiding among the flowers.

• Ruger recognized the figure’s aura and listened as it described its desperate desire for the place and its sorrow at having its plan ruined.
• Ruger recalled Lady Kailyn’s explanation of the tiny door and concluded that the invaders had deliberately sought it, sealing the Small World to improve their chances of finding it.
• A tear fell near Ruger, and he jumped back as demon horns emerged and his Gluttonous Unseeable Heart pounded.
• The figure cast an invisible spell that missed Ruger, who suppressed his aura and strolled among the flowers to evade its searching gaze.

Ruger tried to evade the High-Rank Wizard without damaging the garden, while piecing together why the Black Wizards had come and what the Old Wizard was doing. Their quiet standoff escalated into a clash of binding spells and mental power, with Ruger struggling to keep his spell intact.

• Ruger used Unseeable Heart and the garden’s flowers to move quietly while considering the Black Wizards’ plans and the Old Wizard’s repeated experiments.
• As the High-Rank Wizard’s search grew more desperate, Ruger realized he had to change the balance before he was caught.
• The High-Rank Wizard cast an invisible chain spell toward Ruger, and Ruger answered with Boundless Cage.
• Ruger asked whether the High-Rank Wizard would use his unfinished spell, then cast Word of Sharp Horns to exploit the wizard’s reluctance to harm the garden.
• The High-Rank Wizard’s rage tore apart Boundless Cage, but the spell formed again as the two wizards’ mental powers clashed and Ruger struggled to hold on.

Ruger struggled to contain a High-Rank Black Wizard with the Boundless Cage and nearly used the Demon Dice before Kailyn intervened. Kailyn subdued the wizard with one hand, revealing herself as a Domain Knight, and Ruger watched as the fight ended in her grasp.

• The High-Rank Black Wizard broke against Ruger's Boundless Cage, forcing Ruger to consider using the Demon Dice.
• Ruger stopped himself from damaging the garden and trusted Kailyn when she appeared and the pressure suddenly vanished.
• The Black Wizard realized Ruger was a visitor who could see the gate and attacked him without restraint.
• Kailyn stepped between them, seized the Black Wizard, and identified herself as a Domain Knight.
• The Black Wizard failed to cast a spell as Kailyn held him by the skull, and Kailyn reassured Ruger that the damaged flowers could recover.

Ruger followed Kailyn through the garden despite cracks in his mental power space, then asked about the Old Wizard’s apparent recognition of him and learned about Domain Knights. Kailyn explained that she was an unusually created Domain Knight equivalent to a Seven-Ring Wizard, leaving Ruger astonished as she poured tea.

• Ruger noticed cracks in his mental power space and followed Kailyn to the garden despite his headache.
• Ruger asked Kailyn whether she remembered him, but she offered him pastries instead of answering.
• Kailyn explained that Domain Knights could merge with world runes and were rare, costly creations.
• Kailyn said she was equivalent to a Seven-Ring Wizard but was most confident of defeating Five-Ring Wizards.
• Kailyn said she had not been born in the age of conquest and had become a Domain Knight because someone begged her not to die.

Ruger learned that Lady Kailyn was the old wizard’s childhood friend, wife, and follower, and that they had survived their ruined hometown together before becoming powerful in their own ways. Kailyn explained how the strange place affected their memories and asked Ruger to help the old wizard as he was able.

• Kailyn told Ruger that she and the old wizard had grown up together in Grotto City, survived its destruction, and eventually became husband and wife.
• Kailyn explained that her mental power aptitude and knightly talent helped her become a domain knight, and described how mental strength supported advancement to higher levels.
• As Ruger’s headache eased, he offered to help Kailyn and the old wizard, and she warned that using her power might make her forget him again.
• Kailyn explained that the old wizard devoted his capacity for change to experiments, while she had more freedom to add new memories, and told Ruger to help him, read, and leave when he wished.

Ruger considered whether the Old Wizard’s repeated failures were keeping their predicament from ending in final silence, then fell into a long sleep after Lady Kailyn urged him to believe in the Old Wizard. He woke in the still-green Garden with his Mental Power Space stabilized but cracked, and left to wander the paths alone.

• Ruger reasoned that the Old Wizard’s experiments might be preventing their predicament from ending permanently.
• Lady Kailyn made Ruger fall asleep and told him she believed the Old Wizard would succeed.
• Ruger slept for an unknown time and woke when he began to tip sideways.
• Ruger found Lady Kailyn and the teapot gone, while the Garden remained lush and green.
• Ruger checked that his Mental Power Space had stabilized, accepted that he must avoid strenuous magic, and walked away along the Garden paths.

Ruger read a scroll about the soul in the Garden, but the strain worsened the cracks in his mental power space. The Old Wizard gave him a golden potion and brought him to the Golden Pasture for a new assistant task that would aid his recovery.

• Ruger found and read a flower-scroll titled “Ten of the Most Outlandish Yet Impossible-to-Ignore Conjectures Concerning the Soul,” including a passage about familiar contracts.
• The Old Wizard summoned Ruger to the laboratory, noticed his fatigue, and gave him a golden potion that sped the healing of his mental power space.
• Ruger saw two unfamiliar assistants in the laboratory and considered whether they might be Black Wizards hiding their auras.
• The Old Wizard sent a ball of mental power to Ruger and transported him to the Golden Pasture, where Ruger learned his new task would help him recover.

Ruger discovered that he could summon strange grazers into the Golden Pasture by sensing them through cracks in his mental power space, while the Old Wizard explained that herding them would help his space heal naturally. After sampling a blade of golden grass and receiving a burst of mental power, Ruger noticed the grazers had all stopped to stare at him.

• Ruger sensed a passing creature and pointed, causing it to appear in the Golden Pasture and graze.
• The Old Wizard explained that herding would help Ruger's mental power space heal, then vanished and left Ruger to continue alone.
• Ruger repeatedly sensed and summoned strange creatures, and the golden meadow expanded as they gathered.
• Ruger bit the tip of a blade of golden grass and felt his mental power replenished and his healing accelerate.
• The gathered grazers froze and stared at Ruger, who stood still and sensed no danger or malice.

Ruger directed countless strange creatures onto the Golden Pasture, helping repair his Mental Power Space until it was nearly restored. Back in the laboratory, he told the Old Wizard he had met Lady Kailyn, but the Old Wizard seemed not to recognize the name.

• Ruger watched the strange creatures resume grazing after briefly noticing him, then began directing more of them into the Golden Pasture.
• As Ruger guided the creatures for a long time, their faint auras accumulated and repaired his damaged Mental Power Space.
• Ruger noticed that some creatures vanished where the golden grass grew lusher, and he continued guiding new arrivals into those places.
• The Old Wizard touched Ruger's shoulder, waking him after his Mental Power Space had nearly recovered.
• Ruger told the Old Wizard that he had met Lady Kailyn in the Garden, and the Old Wizard froze and asked which Lady Kailyn he meant.

Ruger went upstairs hoping to meet Lady Kailyn again, but found a bird who spoke in her voice and insisted that she was Kailyn. He left the landing holding a box of pastries, bewildered by the unexpected encounter.

• Ruger passed an ajar door in the corridor and wondered why the Old Wizard seemed unable to remember Kailyn.
• Ruger climbed the stairs and called out to Lady Kailyn, saying the gentleman downstairs had sent him to ask for food.
• Kailyn answered and passed Ruger a box of pastries.
• Ruger discovered that Kailyn was a bird who spoke rapidly in her voice and told him there was no Lady Kailyn.