Chapter Summaries

Charles reunited with Molly in Isata, where his wizard robes and status left her disbelieving and terrified. After teasing her for insulting him, he revealed that his second-circle wizard robe was real, leaving Molly stunned.

• Molly mistook Charles for a second-circle wizard, panicked, and accidentally caused her potion to explode in her face.
• Charles cleared the smoke and revealed himself, but Molly thought she was hallucinating and drank an antidote potion.
• Molly realized Charles was truly there and begged him to forgive her for insulting him.
• Charles teased Molly about her dirty face and insincere pleading, then told her he forgave her.
• Molly tried to pull off Charles's robe, assuming it was fake, and Charles told her it was real.

Charles reunited with Molly, who had become a First-Class Wizard Apprentice by brewing potions, and teased her about her progress and his own rise to Second Ring Wizard. He offered her Magic Stones, and Molly eagerly accepted, packed her valuables, and left with him.

• Molly was shocked to learn Charles had become a Second Ring Wizard and asked whether he had suffered for his success.
• Molly showed Charles the apprentice-level potions she had brewed and explained that she had taken a course and borrowed Magic Stones to get started.
• Charles told Molly he had advanced to First Ring Wizard in the Trial Plane and later became a Second Ring Wizard with help from a Third Ring Grand Wizard.
• Charles offered to support Molly with Magic Stones, and Molly dropped to her knees and eagerly agreed to accept them.
• Charles told Molly to pack her valuables and leave with him, and she said goodbye to her neighbors while boasting about her new prospects.

Charles brought Molly to his residence, where she and Erika immediately competed for his attention. After Delis joined Charles and the women, Molly and Erika stopped fighting and formed a united front.

• Charles brought Molly home, and Erika and Molly exchanged jealous, pointed remarks before Charles declared they would be good sisters.
• Erika arranged a room for Molly beside hers and tried to impress Charles that night.
• Charles summoned Delis, whose presence and Succubus aura delighted her and surprised Erika.
• Molly listened outside Erika’s room, and Delis opened the door with her tail, causing Molly to fall inside.
• Delis drew Molly into the room, and Molly and Erika ended the night allied against her.

After more than a year of studying as a second-circle wizard, Charles prepared to return to the plane battlefield and help Anderson. He left Erika and Molly with equipment and instructions before carrying Demon-Sealing Boxes through the portal with Scorchflame.

• Charles returned to Anderson's tower, bought witchcraft study scrolls, and studied under Lady Boxi for more than a year.
• Lady Boxi told Charles that Anderson wanted him to return to the plane battlefield and help with the invasion.
• Charles packed his belongings and arranged Erika and Molly's studies and daily lives, giving them equipment for the Trial Plane.
• Charles returned to the tower with Scorchflame, accepted the Demon-Sealing Boxes Lady Boxi had prepared, and entered the portal.

Charles returned to Ship Island and met with Anderson, who welcomed his progress to second-ring wizard. A briefing revealed that Klenze Kingdom had nearly destroyed Sahoan Kingdom’s navy and would likely invade its coast, creating an opening for the wizards’ planar conquest.

• Charles traveled from the Outpost Base to Ship Island on a fast, rune-enhanced speedboat.
• Charles passed security and met Anderson, who praised his advancement to second-ring wizard and his study progress.
• A second-ring wizard reported that Klenze Kingdom had nearly wiped out Sahoan Kingdom’s naval forces.
• The wizard explained that famine would likely drive Klenze Kingdom to raid Sahoan Kingdom’s coastal cities, provoking fierce battles.
• Anderson said the conflict and resulting chaos offered an opportunity to conquer the plane.

Anderson planned to use the war between Klenze Kingdom and Sahoan Kingdom to conquer island earldoms and the remaining pirate Ship Islands, building a force strong enough to challenge the great kingdoms. Charles received a Ship Island to capture and a squad of Blood Ring Knights, then found that Bruce had kept the Undertow Pirate Crew in good shape.

• Anderson said the wizards would begin their conquest regardless of whether Yaz Kingdom joined the war, targeting at least five earldoms and the other three Ship Islands before Storm Month.
• Anderson assigned Aiden one Ship Island and gave each of the other wizards an earldom to conquer.
• Anderson told Charles he could distribute his conquests’ spoils after paying the Wizard Sages, and gave him a squad of second-rank Blood Ring Knights when Charles asked for support.
• Anderson instructed Charles to gather intelligence before taking action, and Charles agreed to spend several days learning about the situation on Ship Island.
• Charles found his Undertow Pirate Crew and praised Bruce for maintaining it and its ships.

Charles returned to Ship Island and learned how Bruce had built up the Undertow Pirate Crew during his absence. After reviewing Leland County’s defenses, Charles prepared to launch an invasion.

• Bruce welcomed Charles back aboard the Undertow Pirate Crew’s flagship, and Charles reunited with Bruce and Scorchflame.
• Bruce reported that the crew had grown to eight hundred core members, forty-three Blood Ring Knights, and eight ships, earning nearly one hundred thousand Magic Stones from raids.
• Ten second-rank Blood Ring Knights arrived under Anderson’s orders to serve Charles, who told Bruce to arrange their accommodations.
• Charles assessed Leland County’s population, troops, and navy, concluding that his elite forces could defeat its outdated defenses.
• Charles ordered his subordinates to prepare for battle, gather supplies, and leave Ship Island.

The Undertow Pirate Crew reached Leland County and launched a surprise assault on its naval harbor during the fog before dawn. They breached the water fort and seized ships, but the alarm was raised as Charles’s main force landed.

• Charles brought the Undertow Pirate Crew and Blood Ring Knights to Leland County and ordered them to rest while Quake scouted the harbor.
• Quake reported that most of Leland County’s warships were docked and lightly guarded, so Charles assigned teams to seize the ships and attack the defenses.
• Charles killed the guards on the water fort, and Quake’s men opened its gate for the fleet.
• Quake led pirates aboard the docked warships and quietly slaughtered the sailors left aboard.
• Charles’s main force landed at the harbor, where soldiers ashore spotted them and raised the alarm.

Charles and the Undertow Pirate Crew attacked Leland County's naval port, breaking through its wooden defenses and overwhelming the soldiers guarding the breach. The pirates poured into the port after the Blood Ring Knights crushed the elite force sent to stop them.

• Leland County's soldiers sounded the alarm and rushed to defend the shore and wooden wall.
• Charles blasted a wide breach through the wall with Abyssal Flame Burst, killing and injuring the soldiers nearby.
• A Tide Warrior officer and port elites rushed to hold the breach while soldiers fired arrows at the advancing pirates.
• Charles sent the Blood Ring Knights charging toward the breach.
• The Blood Ring Knights killed the Tide Warrior officer and swept through the elite soldiers, clearing the way for the infantry to rush into the port.

Charles and the Undertow Pirate Crew overwhelmed the Leland County navy’s harbor barracks with Blood Ring Knight charges and targeted spells. The naval soldiers surrendered in large numbers, and the navy was completely defeated.

• The Blood Ring Knights and the Undertow Pirate Crew stormed the barracks while Charles sent Dalle to clear the city wall.
• Charles wounded a second-rank Tide Warrior with Radiant Ray and Internal Combustion, allowing a Blood Ring Knight to kill him.
• Charles and the knights killed enemy Tide Warriors and shattered the soldiers’ command and morale.
• The naval soldiers fled through the rear gates, where the crowding and panic caused further disorder.
• Charles ordered Qiu Qi to urge surrender, and the pirates’ calls led the soldiers to throw down their weapons.
• The navy of Leland County surrendered and was completely taken down.

After capturing Leland County’s naval port, Charles recruited about five hundred surrendered soldiers and set out to draw the county’s army into an open-field battle. When his troops found a baron’s castle, he ordered them to skip dinner and take their meal there.

• Charles rejected Bruce’s suggestion to kill the prisoners and ordered Qiu Qi to recruit those willing to serve.
• Qiu Qi persuaded about five hundred prisoners, including some Tide Warriors, to join Charles’s forces.
• Charles ordered the recruits divided into groups under fifty veteran leaders, bringing his forces to around thirteen hundred men.
• Charles left one hundred pirates to guard the prisoners and ships, then marched openly and arranged for intelligence about his small army to reach Leland County.
• A knight reported a baron’s castle ahead, and Charles ordered his troops to eat dinner there that night.

Charles's army surrounded the baron's castle after taking control of the nearby town, while the baron rallied his defenders and waited for reinforcements. Charles then used second-circle witchcraft to blast the castle gate open, leaving the defenders exposed to the assault.

• Charles ordered Qiu Qi to seal off the town and prevent its residents from escaping or looting.
• The baron sent messengers to nearby nobles for aid, then rallied more than three hundred defenders by promising rewards for killing enemies.
• Charles left one hundred soldiers to control the town and advanced on the castle with the rest of his army and crude siege equipment.
• Quake ordered the captive soldiers to lead the assault, promising they could join Charles's forces if they breached the castle and threatening to behead anyone who retreated.
• Charles cast Abyssal Flame Burst, destroying the castle gate with a massive fireball.

Charles’s forces broke through a baron’s castle and defeated its defenders, then absorbed the prisoner soldiers and surrendered private soldiers into the Vanguard Battalion. After the victory, his subordinates began clearing the dead, preparing food, and searching the castle’s wealthy storehouses.

• Charles blasted open the city gate, and the supervising knights drove the prisoner soldiers to charge into the castle.
• The prisoner soldiers broke through the defenders at the gate, and Charles sent the Blood Ring Knights to support them and intercept the Tide Warriors.
• Charles’s forces killed the baron and the defending knights, capturing the castle in less than two hours.
• Charles declared the prisoner soldiers the Vanguard Battalion and promised them the same treatment as his other soldiers.
• Quake incorporated sixty or seventy surrendered private soldiers into the Vanguard Battalion, while Dalle organized the captives to clear away corpses.
• Bruce searched the castle’s storehouses and found Water Magic Stones, Golden Shells, and other valuable materials.

Charles rewarded his soldiers with Golden Shells and led them toward the royal capital of Leland County. A noble army of two barons and one viscount tried to prepare for battle after Charles’s forces caught up with them, but it assembled in chaos as Charles ordered his knights to charge.

• Bruce distributed Golden Shells to Charles’s officers, Blood Ring Knights, and former pirates, who shouted slogans pledging loyalty to Charles.
• Charles led his army away from the captured castle and continued toward the royal capital of Leland County.
• Three barons and one viscount halted their 2,000-man army overnight, then considered retreating until the king’s main force arrived.
• A knight reported that Charles’s army had reached them, so the viscount ordered the troops to assemble for battle.
• The nobles’ soldiers gathered in disarray as Charles approached, judged the enemy camp weak, and ordered his knights to charge.

Charles led the Blood Ring Knights in a cavalry charge against Leland County’s forces, using Shadow Bat Swarm to disrupt and rout the enemy cavalry. He then turned his charge toward the militia, leaving them facing the knights’ full force.

• Charles handed the infantry command to Bruce and led more than a hundred cavalrymen toward the enemy militia.
• The Leland County viscount ordered a baron to lead the nobles’ cavalry against Charles’s charge and buy time for the troops to assemble.
• Charles cast Shadow Bat Swarm, sending bats at the enemy riders and warhorses and throwing their cavalry formation into chaos.
• The Blood Ring Knights charged the disordered cavalry, killing the baron’s warhorse and knocking nearly all the enemy riders from their mounts.
• The viscount lamented the loss of his cavalry as Charles redirected the Blood Ring Knights toward the militia.
• The Blood Ring Knights charged into the enemy militia under a sheet of scarlet mist.

Charles and the Blood Ring Knights terrorized the enemy militia and infantry while Bruce brought his own force into the battle. After Charles struck the viscount with Painful Hallucination and the knights disrupted the enemy formation, Bruce attacked and tore a gap in its front line.

• The Blood Ring Knights charged twice through the militia, scattering them and leaving the nobles with only their elite private soldiers in formation.
• Bruce caught up with more than a thousand equipped infantrymen, prompting the viscount to rally his troops and urge them to hold until nightfall.
• Charles cast Painful Hallucination on the viscount, whose imagined injuries appeared on his body and sent him screaming from his horse.
• Charles ordered the Blood Ring Knights to harass the enemy infantry flank; they evaded its spear wall and arrows, then circled around and hurled short spears into the ranks.
• Bruce led his infantry toward the enemy as the knights' charge loosened its formation, then broke open a gap in the front line.

Charles's forces defeated the nobles' private soldiers, then raided their castles to seize their wealth. When one viscount's family had already taken his treasure away, Charles offered the captured nobles freedom in exchange for service and forced the willing ones to prove their loyalty by killing a wounded baron.

• Charles's forces routed the noble private soldiers, captured the surviving nobles, and increased their ranks to more than sixteen hundred.
• Charles redirected his army to raid three baronial castles, taking tens of thousands of Magic Stones from each.
• After a three-day siege, Charles captured a viscount's castle but found its treasury empty because the viscountess had fled with the valuables.
• Charles ordered the viscount killed, but spared him when he offered to serve, then offered the other captives freedom if they pledged allegiance.
• Several knights agreed to surrender, and the viscount killed a severely wounded baron as a test of loyalty.

Charles released a baron who refused to surrender, deliberately ensuring that the nobles who had joined him could not retreat. The baron reached King Leilan’s assembled army, where the king condemned the traitors and promised their fiefs to warriors who fought well.

• Charles released a defiant baron and sent him away with a packhorse, despite a surrendered viscount’s warning that he could reveal military information.
• Charles halted the confiscation of property and continued marching to confront King Leilan’s gathered forces.
• The released baron reached King Leilan’s command tent and reported that the other nobles and knights had surrendered to the invaders.
• King Leilan ordered the sons of the fugitive viscount to be beheaded and their heads sent to the invaders.
• King Leilan promised the traitors’ fiefs to the bravest warriors, and the baron vowed to fight for him.

King Leland assembled Leland County’s forces and pursued Charles’s withdrawing army to stop the invaders from taking the county’s wealth and warships. After a day’s march, the armies met on a battlefield Charles had chosen, and King Leland ordered the attack.

• King Leland inspected his army of royal troops, noble private soldiers, and conscripted militiamen, then learned from scouts that Charles’s force was withdrawing with captured wealth and naval warships.
• King Leland summoned the nobles, presented the withdrawal as a sign that the invaders were afraid, and won their support for pursuit.
• King Leland left a baron to guide the militia and led the coalition’s elite private soldiers after Charles’s army.
• Charles positioned his infantry and cavalry across unharvested fields, while King Leland judged the enemy outnumbered and ordered his troops to attack.

King Leilan sent a vanguard against Charles’s smaller force, and Charles used enhancement spells and elite Undertow veterans to break their formation. The battle remained fierce as Charles and Scorchflame attacked enemy Tide Warriors, leaving Charles’s side with the advantage at the front.

• King Leilan ordered a viscount and several barons to lead roughly six hundred soldiers forward and test Charles’s strength.
• Charles sent Bruce, around four hundred veteran soldiers, surrendered Tide Warriors, and three second-rank Blood Ring Knights to meet them.
• Charles and Scorchflame cast enhancement spells on Bruce and other fighters, drawing King Leilan’s attention as the forces approached.
• Bruce led the charge, broke through the enemy front, and threw their formation into disorder before the viscount led his Tide Warriors into battle.
• Charles struck the enemy viscount with Painful Hallucination, and the viscount’s former ally killed him while Charles urged the Tide Warrior to attack.