Recaps

Charles explored the Realm of Inverse Cause after Sage Webster sent the wizards to search for unusual materials. He observed how the plane separated the stages of a tree burning, and the chapter ended with him still investigating its strange environment.

• Sage Webster transmitted information about the Realm of Inverse Cause, and Charles claimed agency over its mall and purchased Webster’s gathered intelligence.
• Webster explained the risks of the plane and promised rewards for unusual materials, then told the wizards to explore while he stayed behind.
• Charles set off alone toward a hilly region and examined the plane’s black ground and strange plants, which crumbled into dust.
• Charles witnessed a tree vanish in stages as smoke, ghostly blue flames, and the smell of burning appeared separately.
• Charles picked up scentless ash and remarked on the plane’s peculiar nature.

Charles explored the Realm of Inverse Cause, where effects appeared before their causes, and discovered that observed changes could yield special materials. At some ancient ruins, he witnessed a figure silently approach a wall and repeatedly smash its head against it.

• Charles heard a stone fall before he saw it drop, realized the Realm of Inverse Cause revealed effects before causes, and collected the stone as a special material.
• Charles explored the wilderness for more than ten days and gathered several strange materials, suspecting that only observed changes produced them.
• Charles found the ruins of a small house and saw no useful objects inside.
• Charles heard repeated impacts from the remaining wall and watched its center dent as red-stained fragments and dust fell away.
• A figure appeared beside Charles, ignored him, and slammed its head into the wall.

Charles encountered the Causal Walker, bought materials from its shop, and watched it vanish without warning. He continued exploring the plane and finally spotted a vast city beyond a slope.

• Charles saw a Causal Walker appear without warning and repeatedly slam into a stone wall, while his mental power failed to detect it beforehand.
• Charles bought Bansler's Script, Silent Tears, Numb Nerves, and Fated Blood, discovering that the tear caused an illusion and the dried blood strengthened curses.
• The Causal Walker finished ramming the wall, walked toward Charles, and suddenly vanished; Charles cut out the dented section of wall to show Webster.
• Charles decided to keep exploring despite the risks and found increasingly well-preserved buildings over the next two days.
• Charles crossed a high slope and saw a vast city.

Charles explored a silent city frozen at the moment of its destruction, where objects appeared in one place but physically existed elsewhere and quickly decayed when touched. He discovered more Causal Walkers trapped in fixed scenes and headed toward a prominent building to learn about the city.

• Charles entered the city and recorded its suspended rubble and overturned carriage with his crystal ball.
• Charles found that objects he could see were not in their apparent positions, then accidentally crumbled a crate while locating it.
• Charles examined a skeleton with a fatal sword wound and watched a nearby longsword decay after he picked it up.
• Charles spotted a group of armored Causal Walkers pacing within a fixed stretch of road and recorded them.
• Charles climbed a watchtower, chose a prosperous-looking building as his next destination, and set out toward it.

Charles searched Bansler's library for readable records and reached its extraordinary seventh-floor hall, where three mysterious objects stood on pedestals. The title of the central book changed from “Book of Causal Paths” to “Book of Fate,” leaving Charles astonished.

• Charles explored the library's lower floors, finding little useful information and recording Bansler's runes.
• Charles sensed extraordinary power and traces of a vanished protective barrier from the fourth floor upward, but avoided touching the books and scrolls.
• Charles reached the open-roofed seventh floor, where black stone walls displayed fleeting words and images amid a faint rustling sound.
• Charles examined a damaged, energy-filled object resembling a fruit pit and a transparent stone containing a glowing ball of light.
• Charles read the central book's title as “Book of Causal Paths,” then watched it change into Wizard World common language and reveal the title “Book of Fate.”

Charles read the Book of Fate’s account of Bansler Kingdom’s destruction after Prophet King Alasta tried to force the future into a perfect, eternal result. Alasta’s final command caused a cataclysm that erased all life across the plane, leaving behind a ruin that had never existed.

• Charles saw the book’s name change from the Book of Causal Paths back to the Book of Fate, then watched it open and reveal Bansler Kingdom’s history.
• Alasta became Bansler’s king, used his prophecies to win battles, and later agreed to stop expanding after two empires defeated his armies.
• Alasta gathered his sorcerers to perform a ritual that would make his ideal future an unshakable result, and the ritual created a fruit core that began growing into a Perfect Tree.
• Alasta’s teacher tried to stop the ritual, then used fragments of the fruit core to forge the Book of Fate while the kingdom’s existence was being consumed by its predetermined result.
• The Perfect Tree bore fruit, stripping away Bansler Kingdom’s people and leaving only an empty shell of eternal prosperity.
• Alasta commanded that everything have never happened, triggering a cataclysm that stripped all life from the plane and created a ruin that had never existed.

Charles encountered the sentient Book of Causal Paths in Bansler and questioned it about its powers and the plane. The book agreed to answer his questions and confirmed that something in the plane could threaten him.

• Charles realized that the Book of Causal Paths contained an account of events after its creator vanished and wondered who had written it.
• The Book of Causal Paths revealed itself as the Book of Fate and said Charles was the first outsider to reach Bansler since the Great Cataclysm.
• The book showed that it had foreseen Charles's arrival, and Charles concluded that it was far stronger than he was.
• Charles agreed to talk with the book, which said he was important but advised him to ask about his own curiosity first.
• Charles asked whether anything in the plane could threaten him, and the book answered yes.

Charles learned that the plane was assimilating outsiders and that Alasta had become the eternal twilight in its sky. The Book of Causal Paths revealed that Charles was an undetermined process whose actions could alter causality, and its interest in him left him fearing it might follow him.

• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles that the plane threatened to assimilate him and that its Causal Walkers were former outsiders who had stayed too long.
• The Book of Causal Paths explained that Alasta's intended future was not the true result; the Book itself was the result of his actions, while Alasta had become the twilight in the sky.
• The Book of Causal Paths said the plane and Alasta had been processes necessary for its birth.
• The Book of Causal Paths revealed that Charles was also a process, but unlike Alasta, his causal threads had been severed and his actions could change many people's causality.
• Charles realized that his transmigration had made him an anomaly and that his actions had ended the fates of people who otherwise would have lived.

Charles debated whether to take the Book of Causal Paths, which promised to help him gain power in exchange for absorbing causality altered by his actions. After Charles picked it up, it entered his spiritual sea, and the plane began rumbling as the book urged him to take two other treasures and return to the Wizard World.

• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles it could grant him outcomes such as becoming a ninth-circle wizard, but needed power from changed causality.
• The book promised Charles the half-elf plane’s coordinates and said ruling over more people would let it absorb more causality.
• Charles used Mage Hand to pick up the Book of Causal Paths, which flew into his spiritual sea and forced the Book of Orenis into a corner.
• The book explained that taking it away was causing the plane to thunder and told Charles to take two other treasures and return to the Wizard World.

Charles took three treasures from Bansler and fled as the city began to collapse, learning that his actions were fulfilling the cause of its destruction and could trap him in the plane. He escaped and returned to Sage Webster, who searched him and praised the items Charles had brought back.

• Charles took a fruit-pit fragment and the plane’s last ray of natural light from the tower, then left as Bansler began to crumble.
• The Book of Causal Paths warned Charles that his actions had triggered Bansler’s inevitable destruction and that staying would cause the plane to assimilate him.
• Charles transformed into a Succubus and flew away from Bansler, destroying the crystal that recorded the exploration.
• Charles returned to the planar portal, where Sage Webster searched him for hidden items and then praised his spoils.

Charles waited with Webster and the other wizards to return to the Wizard World while the danger in Bansler grew. When a Causal Pathwalker Great Wizard attacked Webster and then vanished, Webster opened a cross-plane teleportation gate and ordered everyone to leave.

• Webster examined the materials Charles had gathered, praised him, and promised him a reward.
• Charles asked Webster to return sooner, but Webster said the thunder posed no immediate danger and they had to wait for the other wizards.
• The Book of Causal Paths told Charles that Bansler was still being destroyed and that an opportunity to return would come soon.
• A Causal Pathwalker Great Wizard approached Webster and attacked him while still seeming to plead for help.
• Webster crushed the Great Wizard's spell but could not seize or strike him, and the Great Wizard vanished after exhausting his magic power.
• Webster realized the place was unsafe, opened a cross-plane teleportation gate, and told the wizards to leave.

Charles and the other wizards escaped the collapsing outer plane, but the Book of Causal Paths warned that fragments of their causality remained behind. Back in the Wizard World, Charles resumed studying interplanar portals and considered how the Book could safely use the fruit pit fragment, while Bruce continued preparing for an important breakthrough.

• Charles led the group through the portal as the outer plane collapsed, and the Book of Causal Paths revealed that Alasta had escaped.
• Webster explained that the wizards' weakness was a temporary side effect of outer-plane travel, and the Book warned Charles that some of their causality remained behind.
• Charles asked whether the fruit pit fragment could secure plane coordinates, and the Book cautioned that the result might come through a dangerous process.
• The Book proposed absorbing the fruit pit fragment and using its power to find a suitable path to Charles's desired result, and Charles agreed to wait until he had mastered portal construction.
• Charles resumed studying planar theory and portals while summoning Abyssal demons to make materials and corpses for Bruce, who continued training toward an important moment.

Charles sent Molly and Erika into the Trial Plane, where they survived and became first-ring wizards. He then answered Yvenjieling’s summons and learned that their group had gained the support of several half-elf nobles, leaving him to meet a half-elf follower.

• Charles reassured Molly and Erika about the Trial Plane and equipped them before sending them in.
• Charles continued studying planar lore while Molly and Erika spent seven days in the Trial Plane.
• Charles sensed Molly and Erika’s return and later found that both had survived and become first-ring wizards.
• Yvenjieling told Charles that their gathering had grown and that several half-elf nobles would help them find spellcasters.
• Charles questioned how Yvenjieling planned to control the nobles, then asked to meet the half-elf who had come with him.
• Yvenjieling’s half-elf associate removed his hood, and Charles saw his face.

Charles used his demonic presence to make an old half-elf believe he could extend his life, while demanding that he prove his loyalty by finding a spellcaster. When a half-elf patrol surrounded the gathering, Charles directed Yvenjieling to begin a sacrifice and summon his projection, leaving the black mist to churn as something terrifying descended.

• The old half-elf begged Charles to extend his life, and Charles demanded that he find an obedient spellcaster to prove his loyalty.
• A patrol of ten half-elves, led by a second-tier ranger, crept toward the gathering and prepared to surround it.
• Charles sensed the patrol and warned Yvenjieling that powerful enemies had arrived, ordering her to begin the sacrifice and summon his projection.
• Yvenjieling led the old half-elf to the sacrificial position, where the ritual proceeded and Charles used his power to sustain the summoning instead of devouring him.

Charles used the elderly half-elf’s life force to summon a powerful demon projection, then entered battle against the rangers surrounding Yvenjieling and the Human Gathering. He ordered Yvenjieling to escape under concealment, and his attack on the rangers began by killing one of their warriors.

• The elderly half-elf was consumed by the ritual, supplying energy for Charles’s projection to emerge from the black mist.
• Charles deflected the ranger captain’s arrow with his wing, formed black armor, and took up the dead half-elf’s sword.
• Charles urged Yvenjieling to escape, then protected and concealed her with wizard spells.
• The half-elf warriors charged Charles as the ranger captain and archers fired arrows at him.
• Charles rushed a dual-scimitar-wielding warrior, struck him down, hurled his corpse at another warrior, and charged toward the others.

Charles fought the half-elf squad with his projection, using a corpse explosion, charm, and demonic abilities to kill and turn their own members against them. By the end, only three and a half of the ten half-elves remained.

• Charles exploded a dead half-elf’s corpse, killing the warrior who had caught it.
• Charles killed another half-elf, siphoned strength from the body, and charmed a female ranger into shooting one of her companions.
• Charles fought the remaining half-elves and used Abyssal Fury to kill a warrior who had been dazed by his roar.
• Charles charmed the female ranger again, prompting the captain to order her killed; their arrows struck both her and another ranger, leaving only three and a half half-elves alive.

Charles's projection fought the half-elf captain while Yvenjieling and other survivors escaped. Charles killed the captain and drove off the remaining attackers, but his projection collapsed after the battle.

• Yvenjieling followed Charles's instructions and fled into the forest while his projection drew the half-elves' attention.
• Charles shielded himself with his wings, cast Painful Hallucination on the half-elf captain, and inflicted severe injuries through the illusion.
• Charles seized the weakened captain and used Life Siphon as the remaining half-elves fled.
• Charles killed the unconscious captain, surveyed the devastating losses among Yvenjieling's gathering, and let his projection collapse.

Charles chose to trust the Book of Causal Paths with the Fruit Core fragment so it could seek the alternate plane’s coordinates. The book spent seventeen pages of causal power, and its final vision showed Yvenjieling beside Charles.

• Charles weighed whether to use the Fruit Core fragment himself or give it to the Book of Causal Paths, then decided to trust the book.
• The Book of Causal Paths swallowed the Fruit Core fragment and gained thirteen pages of power.
• The Book of Causal Paths began spending pages to obtain the plane’s coordinates, showing Charles fleeting images that included Bruce.
• The Book of Causal Paths burned through seventeen pages, and its final vision showed Yvenjieling beside Charles.

The Book of Causal Paths revealed that Charles could obtain the plane coordinates by entering the Abyss and being summoned by his demon retainer, Yvenjieling. Though Charles feared the risks, he agreed to proceed before Yvenjieling died.

• The Book of Causal Paths explained that it had found a future in which Charles obtained the plane coordinates, but he would have to follow the necessary process.
• The Book of Causal Paths proposed that Charles and his companions descend into the Abyss, where Delis could guide them to the right layer.
• The Book of Causal Paths showed that Yvenjieling could summon Charles into her plane, allowing him to calculate and obtain its coordinates.
• The Book of Causal Paths warned that Yvenjieling might not survive much longer, and Charles worried that another retainer could betray him or lead him into an ambush.
• Charles decided to take the risky path rather than give up the chance to obtain the plane.

Charles prepared to travel to the Bottomless Abyss with Molly, Erika, Scorchflame, and Bruce, coordinating with Delis to receive them. They successfully crossed over, arriving in the Abyss as Charles learned about its vast, dangerous worlds and demons.

• Charles invited Molly and Erika to join his journey to the Abyss, and both agreed.
• Charles contacted Delis, who promised to receive him at her safe lair, and they arranged a time for his arrival.
• Charles sold his assets, gathered supplies, and drew the Fallen Rune Formation while Scorchflame, Bruce, Molly, and Erika prepared to travel.
• Charles activated the formation, and the group fell through a distorted interplanar passage without opening their eyes.
• Charles opened his eyes after sensing the Abyss and arrived there with the group.
• Charles learned about the Abyss’s countless harsh worlds, powerful demons, and relentless invasions of other planes.

Charles entered the Abyss and visited Delis's improved cave lair, where he examined its defenses and learned how she harvested resources from captured demons. He discovered impurities in Delis's soul and offered to help her refine the souls she consumed.

• Charles entered the Abyss and found its dense magic power comfortable as Delis welcomed him to her lair.
• Charles praised Delis's renovated cave and offered to improve it, while Scorchflame began advancing toward the second rank.
• Charles and Delis toured her two-level lair, where Delis explained how she tortured captured demons to extract their pain and despair before devouring their souls.
• Charles examined Delis's soul, found it clouded by impurities, and urged her to refine the souls she consumed; Delis agreed.

Charles and Bruce traveled into a rocky hunting ground to gather demon materials for the ritual, where they encountered two wounded Ripper Demons. The Ripper Demons detected them and launched an attack.

• Charles left Delis's cave with Bruce to hunt demons while Delis, Molly, and Erika stayed behind and Scorchflame continued his breakthrough.
• Charles and Bruce traveled for several days to a vast stone forest where demons hunted one another for food.
• Charles concealed their auras and led Bruce through the shadows as they searched for a place to rest.
• Charles spotted two wounded Intermediate Ripper Demons, one dragging prey, and prepared to ambush them with Bruce.
• One Ripper Demon suddenly charged Bruce with a shriek, revealing that the pair had discovered Charles and Bruce.

Charles and Bruce fought and defeated two Ripper Demons in the Abyss, then harvested their valuable remains. They left the encounter with several corpses and demon materials to collect.

• Bruce charged the first Ripper Demon with his battleaxe as the second turned toward him, and Charles emerged from the shadows to attack it with his enchanted greatsword.
• Charles enhanced himself with sorcery and overwhelmed his Ripper Demon, while Bruce used his armor and battleaxe to hold off the other.
• Charles severed his opponent’s arm and leg, then pierced its heart and extracted its demon heart core.
• Charles collected the demon’s bone blades and used Essence Sorcery to extract its blood essence and soul-force essence.
• Bruce split the other Ripper Demon in two, then dragged over its corpse and the prey’s corpse as Charles gathered the valuable materials.

Charles and Bruce circled back to attack three demons who had formed a temporary alliance to feast on the corpses. Charles used newly unlocked second-ring sorcery to bind them and launched Abyssal Flame Burst, leaving the demons trapped as the fireballs approached.

• Charles and Bruce left the battlefield, then concealed themselves and returned after three demons stopped fighting and began sharing the corpses.
• The Book of Causal Paths urged Charles to kill the demons so it could gain causal power from severing their threads.
• Charles used Moonlight Mirror Art to create a mirror image and prepared Abyssal Flame Burst and Starlight Binding Chains.
• Charles bound the Ape Demon, Babau, and Four-Armed Serpent Demon together with Starlight Binding Chains.
• Two enormous fireballs shot toward the bound demons.

Charles and Bruce defeated three demons, harvested their resources, and left other demons to fight over the remains. After four Ripper Demons emerged as victors, Charles's spells struck again as they began to feed.

• Charles bound three demons with Starlight Binding Chains and wounded them with Abyssal Flame Burst and Radiant Ray.
• Charles killed the Ape Demon while Bruce grievously wounded the Babau, and the Four-Armed Serpent Demon fled.
• Charles caught and killed the Four-Armed Serpent Demon, then he and Bruce harvested the corpses and left.
• After Charles and Bruce departed, watching demons rushed in and fought over the remains until four injured Ripper Demons survived.
• As the Ripper Demons began to feed, Starlight Binding Chains, Abyssal Flame Burst, and Radiant Ray came from a distance again.