Chapter Summaries

Taylor arrived at the White Tower Alliance, where his ambition to pursue knowledge and truth caught Wizard Mendes's attention. As Taylor began learning the Alliance's rules, he discovered that its peaceful order came with severe punishments for serious offenses.

• Taylor resolved to gather knowledge and uncover truths so he could gain power and reach the top.
• Mendes noticed Taylor's ambition and mental-power fluctuations, and judged him a promising wizard candidate.
• The airship reached the island of white Wizard Towers, and Mendes ordered the children to disembark.
• Taylor and the other recruits followed wizard apprentices who explained the White Tower Alliance's rules, customs, and exchange system.
• Taylor learned that serious offenders could have part of their soul core removed and be used as consumables or servants.

Taylor chose the Lesser Fireball Model and two subjects of knowledge at the White Tower Alliance’s Apprentice Knowledge Library, then began practicing the White Tower Meditation Method in his room. Meanwhile, Wizard Mendes recommended an interesting apprentice to Wizard Krite, who agreed to meet him later.

• Taylor collected the Lesser Fireball Model, Flame Shaping, and knowledge about the relationship between spirit and magic power.
• Taylor returned to his room, memorized the White Tower Meditation Method, and began practicing it to develop his spiritual power.
• Wizard Mendes and Wizard Krite exchanged insights about bodily structures, sorcerous power, and puppet constructs.
• Wizard Mendes told Krite about an interesting little fellow, and Krite agreed to take a look when there was time.

Taylor worked as a Menial Apprentice cleaning the western walkway while studying meditation, and after four days he opened his Mental Space. As he prepared to fill the Lesser Fireball Spell Model with spiritual power, he discovered a tiny blue-white dot at the center of his Mental Space that transmitted information to him.

• Taylor collected his cleaning tools and swept the western walkway, while a Six-Eyed Owl monitored the apprentices and inspected his work.
• Taylor spent each day cleaning and each night practicing meditation, gradually making progress faster than the other newly arrived Menial Apprentices.
• On the fourth day, Taylor successfully opened his Mental Space and sensed the spiritual power within it.
• Taylor found the phantom Lesser Fireball Spell Model in his Mental Space and received information when his spiritual power touched a tiny blue-white dot.

Taylor kept his planar traversal ability secret and focused on strengthening himself, studying wizard knowledge, and building his Lesser Fireball Spell Model. After months of disciplined training, he stood on the verge of becoming a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice.

• Taylor learned that planar traversal would become available in two weeks, but decided to wait until he was stronger before using it.
• Taylor began meditating regularly and continued working while studying and constructing spell models.
• Taylor mastered the White Tower Alliance's Basic Wizard Knowledge and copied Shaping the Form of Flame for further study.
• Taylor analyzed flame theory and found that his understanding made the Lesser Fireball Spell Model easier to work with.
• Over the following months, Taylor steadily increased his mental and magic power, studied Conjecture on Flame Intensity, and brought the Lesser Fireball Spell Model close to completion.

Taylor completed the Lesser Fireball Spell Model, became a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice, and learned that the Flame Medal could improve his training and protect him. The librarian offered him the medal for 300 points, leaving Taylor to consider its steep cost.

• Taylor connected the final mental power nodes in his Lesser Fireball Spell Model and transformed into a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice.
• Taylor created a small fireball with his new power, then continued meditating through the night.
• Taylor registered as a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice at the Apprentice Library, where the administrator praised him and urged him to remain humble.
• The administrator showed Taylor the Flame Medal, explaining its defensive and training benefits, and offered it for 300 points.
• Taylor was shocked by the medal's price, which equaled nearly a year of work for a Menial Apprentice.

Taylor agreed to buy the Flame Medal for 300 points after the librarian explained its value and offered to hold it for him. At the Miscellaneous Affairs Office, Taylor chose a task extracting Poison Vine Tree sap and set off for the botanical garden with an entry badge.

• The librarian persuaded Taylor that the Flame Medal was a valuable bargain and suggested he earn points by hunting monsters, then agreed to hold it for him until Taylor could pay 300 points.
• Taylor went to the Apprentice Miscellaneous Affairs Office and reviewed its dangerous tasks and low rewards.
• Taylor chose the task of extracting Poison Vine Tree sap, believing a rooted plant would be manageable with his fire magic.
• The office manager gave Taylor a badge that allowed him to enter and leave the botanical garden and warned him not to lose it.
• Taylor left for the botanical garden to get the equipment needed for the task.

Taylor traveled through the Botanical Garden to collect sap from a dangerous Poison Vine Tree, using his round badge and a fireball to keep its attacking vines at bay. He escaped with a little more than two portions of sap, short of the four needed to complete the task perfectly.

• Taylor followed the rune-protected path and watched a dog-headed bird die after it tried to cross the stones.
• Taylor reached the Poison Vine Tree and saw its poisonous vines lash out at a nearby tree.
• Taylor tested his round badge beyond the path and found that it made the Poison Vine Tree's vines hesitate and withdraw.
• Taylor used the badge and a fireball to approach the tree's roots, then inserted two collection devices into holes and extracted sap.
• Taylor retrieved the devices with a little more than two portions of sap and backed onto the path, nearly collapsing from nerves.

Taylor submitted his Poison Vine Tree sap task and spent a month gathering points through dangerous daily work, reaching 240 despite two thorn attacks. Injured and exhausted, he rested while continuing to study flame knowledge and trying to bargain with Oak for the Flame Medal.

• Taylor submitted the extracted sap to the Miscellaneous Affairs Office manager, who awarded him eighteen points and transferred his servant-apprentice points to his official record card.
• Over the next month, Taylor repeatedly extracted Poison Vine Tree sap and accumulated 240 points, spending 40 on antidotes after two poisonous thorn attacks.
• Taylor rested with injuries to his left arm and foot, and Oak warned him that taking tasks every day was unusually risky.
• Taylor told Oak he had 240 points and asked for a discount on the Flame Medal, but Oak refused to lower the price.
• Taylor returned to his room, studied his annotated Flame Knowledge notebook, and continued trying to bargain with Oak during visits to the Apprentice Library.

Taylor visited Oak to exchange for Black Mist and Basic Wizard Runes, receiving a small pouch of mental-relieving black powder after promising to repay Oak’s help. He began studying Black Mist and used the powder to clear his mental fatigue, ready to continue his training.

• Taylor arrived at the Apprentice Library and learned Oak had refused a struggling Level 2 Wizard Apprentice’s request for a discounted mental-power book.
• Oak explained that he had invested in Taylor because of his exceptional talent and gave him black powder for mental exhaustion, charging him 40 points for the pouch.
• Taylor exchanged points for the Black Mist wizard model and Basic Wizard Runes, which Oak said had fixed prices and were due back in fourteen days.
• Taylor studied Black Mist and learned it used sixteen mental power nodes and four runes to obscure a target’s vision, smell, and hearing.
• After three hours of study, Taylor mixed some black powder with hot water, felt his mind clear, and resolved to make the most of his time.

Taylor took a job feeding Stitched Beasts beneath Adela's Wizard Tower and encountered creatures that showed the power and danger of a wizard’s experiments. After a three-headed lion’s roar left him injured and helpless, he cautiously fed it extra food and continued to regard the beasts with alarm.

• Taylor accepted a 60-point job to feed the Stitched Beasts beneath Adela's Wizard Tower.
• Taylor entered the vast underground dungeon and used a spatial spell item to feed the caged creatures.
• Taylor noticed that some Stitched Beasts bore wounds while others appeared freshly stitched, and the beasts deeper inside were increasingly powerful and aggressive.
• A three-headed lion roared, leaving Taylor dizzy, bleeding, and unable to stand steadily.
• Taylor gave the lion twice the usual food ration, and it ate before Taylor reflected on how far beyond him the wizard’s creations were.

Oak told Taylor that the world was too small for great wizards to fully exercise their abilities, then promised Taylor would understand more as a third-rank wizard apprentice. Six months later, Taylor tested and documented a modified Black Mist spell, discovering that it caused minor disorientation but barely affected ordinary people.

• Oak laughed at Taylor for being frightened by the Stitching Beasts and said the great wizards prepared so many because the world was too small for them.
• Six months later, Taylor used Black Mist on mice and found that it blocked their sight, hearing, and smell.
• Taylor observed that mice in the mist became disoriented, then recorded the spell's minor disorientation effect in his notebook.
• Taylor fed the experimental mice to a Six-Eyed Owl, which acted as an inspector for apprentices in the White Tower Alliance.
• Taylor tested Black Mist on himself, found its mental interference too weak to fool an ordinary person, and noted that he might develop its disorienting ability.

Taylor used the points he earned from relentlessly completing tasks to acquire Chaos Concept knowledge, a Gale Spell model, a Spider's Eye Witchcraft Tool crafting method, and a Flame Medal. He began exploring how to incorporate chaos into the Spider's Eye, leaving his research poised for further experimentation.

• Taylor's task-taking inspired other apprentices to farm points before turning to study and experimentation, drawing the attention of Wizard Krite.
• Taylor spent his accumulated points on Basic Apprentice Analysis of the Chaos Concept, a Gale Spell model, the Spider's Eye crafting method, and a Flame Medal.
• Taylor grew close to the three-headed lion he regularly fed and named its heads Blazing Fire, Venom, and Gale.
• Taylor wrote down ideas for applying the Chaos Concept to the Spider's Eye's Illusion Ray and using its vacant rune slots to add chaos and weakness runes.
• Taylor continued documenting his theories about chaos, witchcraft tools, and spell models, unaware that powerful wizards already encouraged such innovation.

Taylor set out to gather spider eyes for a Spider's Eye Witchcraft Tool and traveled toward the Spider Cave. He discovered a Shapeshifter disguised as a signpost and marked its location for possible future use.

• Taylor recorded his idea for a personal witchcraft tool and packed his notebooks and prepared potions for the trip.
• Taylor exchanged 100 points for a Spider Cave entry badge and left the White Tower Alliance's core region alone.
• Taylor found that a signpost pointed away from the Spider Cave despite the map's directions and recognized that it was likely a disguise.
• Taylor fired a compressed Small Fireball at the signpost, revealing a Shapeshifter that fled.
• Taylor marked the Shapeshifter's location on his map and continued toward the Spider Cave.

Taylor used Scout Powder and a drugged rabbit to lure a Many-Eyed Spider out of its cave, then entered and found it incapacitated. He killed it by severing its nerve center while preserving its valuable materials.

• Taylor set traps outside Spider Cave and used Scout Powder to reveal the Many-Eyed Spider's silk.
• Taylor baited the Many-Eyed Spider with a rabbit containing hallucinogen and sedative, then waited for the drugs to take effect.
• Taylor entered the cave under the protection of his Flame Medal and found the remains of a Stone-Armored Boar, whose Magic Core was missing.
• Taylor found the Many-Eyed Spider twitching in its sleep and stabbed its nerve center to kill it while preserving its usable parts.

Taylor collected spider parts in the Spider Cave while the Six-Eyed Owl ate the remains, then planned a Spider's Eye Witchcraft Tool around a One-Eyed Spider's eye. He erased his tracks and headed back toward the White Wizard Tower Cluster, with the Six-Eyed Owl following him.

• Taylor killed the spiders using traps and potions, then gave their Magic Cores and remains to the Six-Eyed Owl in exchange for its protection.
• Taylor collected forty-nine spider eyes and Spider Silk Sacs, and chose the One-Eyed Spider's bewitching eye as the main vessel for his Spider's Eye Witchcraft Tool.
• Taylor recorded improvements and additional runes for the tool in his notebook, and the Six-Eyed Owl asked to join him on future hunts.
• Taylor burned the spider remains, erased his tracks, and left for his apprentice dormitory while the Six-Eyed Owl followed in the shadows.
• Taylor passed a patrol team of wizard apprentices without incident and continued toward the White Wizard Tower Cluster.

Taylor crafted the Spider's Eye witchcraft tool and tested its illusion and spider silk abilities. Satisfied with its power, he planned to strengthen himself and learn the Gale Spell so he could advance to a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice.

• Taylor refined a single eye and inscribed fourteen witchcraft runes to create the Spider's Eye pendant.
• Taylor wore the pendant and found that its amplification runes improved his mental force growth and magic power conversion.
• Taylor used the Spider's Eye to put a mouse into an illusion so powerful that it did not react when he stabbed it.
• Taylor tested the Spider's Eye's spider silk and found it exceptionally hard, adhesive, water-resistant, and able to withstand fire for about three minutes.
• Taylor planned to increase his mental force and magic power, construct the Gale Spell, and advance to a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice.

After advancing to Level 2 Wizard Apprentice and completing his Gale Spell, Taylor considered using Plane Traversal to explore another plane. His ability reassured him that the crossing was concealed, and its records revealed clues about his arrival and the immense powers beyond his understanding.

• Taylor studied three books on wind magic for a year while meditating, then optimized his Gale Spell and added an enhancement rune.
• Taylor became an eleven-year-old Level 2 Wizard Apprentice with three spells and two spell tools, and Oak recognized how well-rounded his abilities were.
• Taylor weighed the risks of activating Plane Traversal, worrying that powerful wizards or monitoring beasts might notice him.
• Taylor's ability sent him a message describing its concealment and how spatial power had washed his soul before he arrived in this world.
• Taylor examined the records of his arrival and learned that beings as powerful as planes had been outside the world without discovering him.

Taylor entered a new plane filled with active magical elements and found a thriving wilderness, but his first human encounter was a badly decayed figure wandering beside a cabin. The chapter left him suspecting that the figure was a walking corpse that local beasts avoided for a reason.

• Taylor prepared for his first planar journey, spent his remaining points on potions, and stepped through a dark-blue mirror.
• Taylor arrived in a lush forest and followed a river upstream while observing the plane's unusually active magical elements.
• Taylor encountered magical beasts, spared a group of white-bristled boars, and captured a two-headed vulture in a spiderweb.
• Taylor found a rotting, humanoid figure wandering beside a wooden cabin and wondered why nearby beasts had left it unharmed.

Taylor studied a zombie, recorded his findings, and explored the magical systems in the cabin it had owned. Elsewhere, a vast city’s machinery sustained a fleshy growth beside a skeleton and a note proclaiming that a god could arise from the clash of death and nature.

• Taylor bound a zombie and examined its behavior, discovering a transparent hexagonal Crystal in its brain that seemed to drive its movement and urge to consume flesh.
• Taylor fed rabbits to the zombie and found that their meat became withered and decayed while the Crystal grew slightly; he then burned the zombie and preserved the Crystal.
• Taylor entered the zombie’s cabin, found magical runes and energy channels integrated throughout its furnishings and appliances, and began recording the unfamiliar magic system.
• In a desolate city, Construct Puppets circulated around a chamber as energy Crystals and magic arrays supplied power to a fleshy, egg-like tumor.
• A skeleton lay beside a note claiming that the clash between endless death and endless nature could create a god to lead the world forward.

Taylor fought his way through a zombie-infested road, collected strange crystals from the corpses, and rode a magical six-wheeled vehicle to a nearby town. There he confronted a huge obese zombie and began wearing it down with spells and spider silk.

• Taylor released the Two-Headed Vulture, which died after eating poisoned zombie flesh, then left the mountain forest with a rough map.
• Taylor annihilated the zombies crowding the road with fireballs, wind blades, and mental-disturbing black fog.
• Taylor collected transparent hexagonal crystals from the zombie remains and learned to operate a magical six-wheeled vehicle.
• Taylor followed the road to a silent town, gathered more crystals, and headed toward its center.
• Taylor encountered a massive obese zombie and restrained it with spider silk while attacking it with fireballs and Crescent Wind Blades.