Recaps

Jia Xiu contracted Bubu as his Deputy Sect Master, inherited Elemental Affinity, and prepared for the Saint Dero exam in Larven. When the evil god Morpheus tried to find Bubu and its contractor, a mysterious force struck him and warned him to stop.

• Jia Xiu contracted Bubu, chose to inherit Elemental Affinity, and used his improved grasp of magic to study Mage Armor.
• Jia Xiu visited Aunt Susan’s farewell gathering, where Bubu and Peggy’s children challenged the old neighbor’s goose while Jia Xiu cooked chicken stew.
• Morpheus noticed that one of his altars had gone silent and traced the intercepted faith to Bubu, an Undead Fairy who had signed a contract.
• Morpheus tried to locate Bubu’s contractor, but his spell warped, summoned a Phantom hand that slapped him, and delivered a warning.

Jia Xiu arrived in Larven after a miserable, seasick voyage and reunited with his mentor, Margaret, who was startled by Bubu’s power. Margaret arranged lodging for him and planned to replace the wand Princess Emilia had given him.

• Jia Xiu and Bubu reached Larven by ship, and Jia Xiu struggled ashore after three days of seasickness.
• Jia Xiu met the woman Margaret had sent to collect him and rode with her to the city.
• Margaret was shocked to learn that Bubu, Jia Xiu’s attendant, was a powerful undead and warned Jia Xiu not to take such risks again.
• Jia Xiu told Margaret that Princess Emilia had given him his wand, prompting Margaret to offer him a different wand for his magical progress.
• Margaret brought Jia Xiu and Bubu to an inn she had booked for him, while Bubu wondered why Margaret seemed unhappy.

Jia Xiu spent the day reviewing before taking Saint Delro Academy’s entrance exam, where the unexpectedly math-heavy paper played to his strengths. As Piyede’s invigilators noticed Jia Xiu had already handed in his paper, they were left to wonder whether he had solved the difficult questions.

• Jia Xiu reviewed his mistakes at the inn while Bubu read a knight novel, and a boastful druid girl claimed she never needed to study.
• Jia Xiu found his assigned exam room and began Saint Delro Academy’s written exam after its protective seals were released.
• Jia Xiu found the paper increasingly focused on advanced mathematics, which suited his background, and worked through it with growing confidence.
• Margaret worried that Jia Xiu might struggle with the unusually difficult math questions, while question-setting team leader Piyede proudly explained why he had made the exam harder.
• An invigilator told Piyede that Jia Xiu had already handed in his paper.

Jia Xiu’s rapid completion of the Saint Dero exam astonished Professor Piyede, who tried to recruit him, while Margaret worried that she would lose her chance to mentor him. Piyede left Jia Xiu with a famous number-theory question to investigate, and Jia Xiu wondered whether future mathematical advances would owe something to him.

• Piyede inspected Jia Xiu’s exam and discovered that Jia Xiu had answered every question, including Piyede’s research problem with two proofs.
• Piyede announced Jia Xiu’s brilliance to the invigilators and ordered his assistant to find him, while Margaret regretted not securing Jia Xiu sooner.
• Jia Xiu took Bubu to a restaurant, where Bubu tried ice cream but could not taste it.
• Piyede found Jia Xiu and urged him to become his student, but Jia Xiu said he preferred spellcasting and asked Piyede about integer solutions to x^n + y^n = z^n for n greater than two.
• Piyede left the restaurant promising to think about the question, and Jia Xiu wondered whether future progress in number theory and geometry would partly be his doing.

After paying an unexpectedly steep bill in Larven, Jia Xiu prepared for the Saint Dero practical examination and received a private request from Princess Emilia. She introduced him to the friend she wanted him to help, leaving Jia Xiu surprised by the enormous figure working at an anvil.

• Jia Xiu paid 1 Crown and 20 Hel for his restaurant meal and realized how quickly Larven could drain his savings.
• Jia Xiu visited the Caster Association, found the warlock branch obsessed with Eldritch Blasts, and prepared spells for the practical examination.
• A messenger summoned Jia Xiu to Princess Emilia, and Bubu challenged her bodyguard Quido to a mock knightly duel.
• Emilia asked Jia Xiu to look after a close friend during the team assessments and offered him funding in return; Jia Xiu accepted.
• Emilia led Jia Xiu to meet her friend, whom he found hammering metal at an anvil and questioned whether he was really taking the Saint Dero exam.

Jia Xiu met Emilia’s childhood friend Ram, a human-ogre hybrid who wanted to study forging and enchanting at Saint Delro Academy. After learning about Ram’s talent and extraordinary luck, Jia Xiu agreed to help him prepare for the exam and considered introducing him to Margaret’s group.

• Emilia introduced Ram to Jia Xiu and explained that he wanted to apply to Saint Delro Academy.
• Jia Xiu discovered that Ram had eaten durian rind, and Emilia pulled it from his throat.
• Emilia explained that she had rescued Ram from a freak show when they were children and wanted to help him pursue his studies.
• Ram told Jia Xiu that he wanted to forge and learn enchanting in honor of Torgan, and Emilia showed Jia Xiu a shield Ram had made.
• Jia Xiu recognized Ram’s forging talent and Great Luck trait, agreed to help him without compromising his own exam, and considered bringing him into Margaret’s group.

Jia Xiu discovered that Bubu could grow stronger through training and celebrated passing Saint Dero’s written examination with it. A druid from his examination room then pulled him aside and unexpectedly knelt to ask for help.

• Bubu gained one strength point after its sword fight with Quido, who praised its swordsmanship talent.
• Jia Xiu promised to find Bubu a swordsmanship teacher and returned with it to the inn after saying goodbye to Princess Emilia.
• Jia Xiu found his name among the apprentices who passed Saint Dero’s written examination and bought ingredients to make Bubu ice cream.
• The druid who had called Jia Xiu “Low purity” approached him and led him to an empty corner of the inn.
• The druid dropped to one knee and asked Jia Xiu for help.

Jia Xiu met Mia Oak, a brilliant but combat-inexperienced druid, and agreed to help her pass the practical exam in exchange for her writing his coursework. At Saint Delro Academy, Jia Xiu, Mia, and Ram formed a team and learned their next test would be an illusory dungeon exploration.

• Mia Oak clung to Jia Xiu and asked him to help her pass the practical exam, offering to write his coursework in return.
• Jia Xiu tested Mia's extraordinary calculation skills and used Insight to discover her high Wisdom and Numerical Sensitivity, Poison Immunity, and Calculation Mastery traits.
• Mia explained that she wanted to study nature at Saint Delro Academy but lacked combat experience, so Jia Xiu agreed to help her prepare.
• The next day, Jia Xiu asked Mia and Ram about their combat abilities as the three gathered with the other candidates.
• A mage announced that the next round would require candidates to complete a Sun Ruins dungeon exploration commission in an illusory world.

Jia Xiu planned to investigate the exam’s systems rather than rush into the Sun Temple dungeon, and assigned Mia and Ram separate scouting tasks. After entering Phantom World, he tested how its NPCs reacted by punching one and was immediately confronted by guards.

• The academy announced that examinees had to earn thirty crowns in three days by completing commissions in Phantom World, while warning them against failing in dungeons or breaking the rules.
• Jia Xiu learned that Mia, Ram, and he had been placed in separate exam batches, then told Mia to investigate commissions and city services while Ram wandered for anything unusual.
• Jia Xiu entered Phantom World, saw examinees head toward the Sun Temple, and chose instead to explore the city for possible flaws in its magical simulation.
• Jia Xiu punched a roadside NPC to test the world’s freedom, and guards appeared at once to arrest him.

Jia Xiu tested Phantom World for loopholes and became convinced the exam rewarded spotting ways around its apparent combat challenge. At the examination center, Margaret saw Professor Piyede consumed by mathematics, while Jia Xiu laid out his plans to Mia and Ram.

• Jia Xiu repeatedly tested Phantom World, found that the guards could not be fought but could sometimes be escaped, and recorded the results in his notebook.
• Jia Xiu questioned the Caster Association clerk with increasingly strange registration requests, made her freeze by ordering egg fried rice, and headed for the Adventurer Association.
• Margaret noticed that Professor Piyede had returned to the examination center disheveled and obsessed with mathematical proofs, and worried about what Jia Xiu had done to him.
• The second-round exam leader told the proctors that the test would focus on combat and restoring the academy’s emphasis on real fighting.
• Jia Xiu told Mia and Ram that the exam deliberately contained loopholes and outlined a series of plans to exploit them.

During Larven's second-round entrance exam, the inspection team praised Thomas and misread several examinees, while Mia followed Jia Xiu's advice and launched a tax-consulting scheme. The chapter left the professors stunned as Mia began targeting examinees returning from their commissions.

• The inspection team discussed the first batch's performances, including a reckless examinee trapped in a dungeon and Thomas's swift organizing and commission work.
• The professors praised an examinee for carefully inspecting a treasure chamber, but Margaret explained that he had gotten lost and circled back there four times.
• Margaret told the professors that Mia had sold her academy coat to fund paper, pens, furniture, and a banner for a plan of her own.
• Mia set up Mia Tax Consulting outside the Adventurers' Guild and advertised help avoiding its commission cut and the city lord's income tax.
• The inspection team watched Mia's scheme unfold and stared in disbelief.

Mia used her knowledge of regulations and tax loopholes to offer candidates a way to reduce the Adventurer Association’s commission, drawing the proctors’ attention. The test-setting team leader realized she had already circumvented his exam design and asked Margaret for a copy of the recording to study.

• Saint Delro Academy’s proctors discussed the Adventurer Association’s fees and watched Mia’s stall to see how she would address them.
• Mia advised a solo candidate to register an adventuring party, claim eligible incentives, and use other regulatory exemptions to reduce his costs.
• When the candidate struggled with the paperwork, Mia offered to handle it for five percent of each commission and assured him she would take responsibility if anything went wrong.
• The test-setting team leader entered the examination hall, found the proctors watching Mia, and ordered them back to their posts.
• The team leader asked Margaret for a copy of Mia’s recording, claiming he wanted to research whether her methods broke any rules.

Thomas Reinhardt’s team defeated a cyclops and he believed their achievements would secure first place, until Mia’s fee-saving service made her earnings far surpass his. With the exam’s final round approaching, Thomas resolved to challenge her for the top rank.

• Thomas led his team through the Sun Temple dungeon and defeated a cyclops using grease, vines, a curse, and fire.
• Thomas collected a cyclops fang as proof of the highest-difficulty commission and confidently expected to rank first.
• At the Adventurer Association, Thomas discovered Mia was helping candidates reduce fees in exchange for a five-percent commission, so he rushed to accept more difficult jobs.
• Two days later, Thomas submitted a rare amulet commission and calculated that his earnings of 326 crowns had beaten Mia’s.
• Mia revealed that her table held 270 crowns and her bags contained much more, leaving Thomas stunned and determined to defeat her in the final round.

Jia Xiu sent Ram into the second batch of the Phantom World exam after the rules were changed to block Mia’s method of earning crowns. Meanwhile, Thomas learned he had placed first in the practical exam but third in the written test, and Ram began robbing stores inside the Phantom World.

• Jia Xiu spotted Mia among the successful first-batch examinees and encouraged Ram to pass the next round.
• The examiners changed the rules so the second batch could earn crowns only through Adventurer Association commissions.
• Thomas learned he ranked first in the first batch’s practical exam, while Mia ranked second, but Jia Xiu had beaten him on the written test with a perfect score.
• Thomas told Gudrian Reinhardt to report the next batch’s results, especially Jia Xiu’s, and then went to rest.
• The exam-setting chief assured a proctor that crimes in the Phantom World would trigger the guards, but learned Ram had already robbed three stores.

Ram robbed shops during the exam and used the stolen goods to post and complete his own commission, while the test-setting team struggled to explain the guards’ repeated failures to catch him. The team leader collapsed after realizing Ram had found a way around the exam’s rules.

• The test-setting team leader watched Ram rob three shops and suspected he was a professional bandit, then summoned Mage Leonardo to explain why the guards could not catch him.
• Ram followed Jia Xiu’s instructions, escaped pursuing guards amid a chain of traffic accidents, and jumped from a high platform onto a carriage without being injured.
• Mage Leonardo and Mage Buonarroti blamed the guards’ failures and collisions on realistic city systems, while the team leader worried that Ram’s stolen goods might count toward commissions.
• Mage Sancy assured the team leader that commission targets could only be found in dungeons, but Ram entered the Adventurer Association and posted a commission to recover the goods from the robbed shops.
• Ram turned in the stolen goods as the commission’s completed objective, and the team leader lost his footing and collapsed.

After the second examination, Headmaster Nico discovered that Ram’s extraordinary luck had helped him pass and that Jia Xiu had guided candidates through loopholes. Nico decided to revise the Phantom World before the next batch, while suspecting Jia Xiu was challenging Saint Delro Academy’s examinations.

• The team leader woke after fainting, and Headmaster Nico told him the two candidates had passed despite exploiting flaws in the Phantom World.
• Nico and the team leader questioned Ram, who said pursuers had accidentally run into things and that his rooftop jump had been unplanned.
• Nico tested Ram’s luck with dice and confirmed that Ram guessed the result correctly repeatedly, then declared that he had passed.
• Nico read Ram’s thoughts and learned that Jia Xiu had devised Ram’s commission strategy and was also connected to Mia.
• Nico concluded that Jia Xiu was using examination loopholes to challenge the academy and decided to patch the Phantom World before the next batch.

Jia Xiu entered the final exam batch and discovered the academy had revised Phantom World’s systems and rules. He used a loophole in the Caster Association’s regulations to register as the Lord of the Sun, then demanded a share of the Sun Temple Dungeon’s rewards.

• Jia Xiu dismissed the exam as easy and decided to study the revised Phantom World regulations after learning the rules had changed.
• Margaret watched Principal Nico Hohenheim and the exhausted question-setting team gather around Jia Xiu’s projection.
• Jia Xiu sold his academy coat, bought a mask, and registered as the Lord of the Sun at the Caster Association.
• Principal Nico realized the association’s regulations barred nations and organizations, but not individuals, from owning the sun.
• Jia Xiu went to the Adventurer Association and invoked the dungeon commission rules to demand five percent of the Sun Temple Dungeon’s rewards.

Jia Xiu exploited the examination’s rules by declaring himself the Sun Lord and taking a cut of other examinees’ earnings, provoking Headmaster Nico’s amusement and the examinees’ fury. When Ben confronted him, Jia Xiu began revealing an absurdly grand identity, leaving Margaret choking in disbelief.

• Margaret worried that Headmaster Nico would disqualify Jia Xiu, but Nico laughed at his scheme and ordered the graders to ignore the five-percent deduction while keeping the decision secret.
• Ben earned fifteen goblin ears and learned that the Sun Lord’s share had reduced his commission, forcing him to hunt more goblins to reach the passing line.
• Ben confronted Jia Xiu at the Adventurer Association, accused him of cheating, and challenged him to a duel.
• Jia Xiu warned Ben that the city guards would prevent him from fleeing, then began reciting an extravagant introduction to his identity.
• Margaret choked on her water when Jia Xiu announced the start of his name, Hannash.

Thomas learned that Jia Xiu had taken first place in the second examination and planned to make him a laughingstock in the final round. At Saint Delro Academy, the grouping golem failed to assign Mia, Ram, and Jia Xiu, so Headmaster Nico grouped them together and Gudrian volunteered to examine them.

• Thomas received Gudrian’s letter reporting that Ram had broken the speed record and Jia Xiu had achieved the highest overall score.
• Thomas resolved to write back and turn Jia Xiu into a joke during the final examination.
• The grouping golem failed while trying to assign Mia, Ram, and Jia Xiu to teams.
• Headmaster Nico ordered Mia, Ram, and Jia Xiu to be placed in one group and asked a mentor to take responsibility for their final examination.
• Gudrian volunteered to examine the trio.

Margaret tried to protect Jia Xiu from Gudrian’s harsh spell selection for the final examination, but Headmaster Nico urged her to trust him. Meanwhile, a newspaper report linked the baron’s son Hannas to the Larven examination and left the baron wondering who was targeting his family.

• Margaret learned that Jia Xiu, Mia, and Ram would face Gudrian, so she asked to see his spell list and give Jia Xiu more preparation time.
• Margaret found that Gudrian had chosen only powerful fourth-circle spells and suspected he was targeting Jia Xiu because Jia Xiu had outranked Thomas Reinhardt.
• Margaret warned Headmaster Nico that Gudrian might endanger Jia Xiu’s group, but Nico said Gudrian had broken no rules and told her to trust Jia Xiu.
• After Margaret left, Nico inspected his shattered divination crystal balls and reflected that Jia Xiu might be a variable in the future.
• At the lord’s manor in Creekwood Town, the baron read that candidates had complained about Hannas’s behavior during the Larven examination and was alarmed that his son had attracted attention.

Jia Xiu learned that Gudrian would be the mentor opposing his team in the final exam and began planning how to exploit Gudrian’s poor health. Margaret warned him about the danger, then discovered that Jia Xiu had inspired Ram and Mia’s schemes; the chapter ended with Jia Xiu asking Mia for disease-causing fungi over hotpot.

• Jia Xiu tested a copper pot over a modified Flame Arrow while preparing hotpot, and Margaret arrived disguised as an old granny to warn him that someone had set him up for the final exam.
• Margaret told Jia Xiu that Ram and Mia were his teammates, then realized that Jia Xiu had inspired their outrageous exam ideas and that she would have to worry about them too.
• Jia Xiu, Margaret, Ram, and Mia ate hotpot while Jia Xiu explained how Ram and Mia could contribute to his laboratory plans.
• Margaret explained that Gudrian was a skilled Arcane Archer with powerful spells, and advised the team to hide and disrupt his aim rather than fight him head-on.
• Jia Xiu asked Mia whether she knew fungi that could make Gudrian sick, prompting Ram to complain that they were discussing it during dinner.

Jia Xiu planned how to defeat Gudrian and discovered that Mia could observe and control microscopic organisms with her druid magic. After helping her identify bacteria, Jia Xiu set out to find a place where she could gather them for use against Gudrian.

• Jia Xiu assigned Ram to train with Bubu so he could fight Gudrian, while Mia described the poisons and poisonous mushrooms she knew how to make.
• Mia explained that her Microscopic Vision let her see spores individually and that she could quickly learn to control them.
• Jia Xiu realized Mia might be able to observe bacteria by combining Microscopic Vision with a magnifying lens.
• Jia Xiu shaped heated glass rods into tiny lenses, and Ram made a frame for testing them with a skin sample.
• Mia observed bacteria and said she could control them within five meters, so Jia Xiu headed out to find somewhere with many sick people.

Jia Xiu and Mia gathered infectious samples from Larven’s slums to prepare for Gudrian’s exam, while Ram and Bubu trained at Emilia’s estate and revealed the source of the samples. The chapter left Emilia wondering how Jia Xiu would handle the Reinhardt family’s targeting.

• Jia Xiu and Mia entered Larven’s largest slum and offered sick residents five Hel and a Basic Healing Spell in exchange for participating in an experiment.
• Mia collected samples from the patients, and Jia Xiu said he could modify the Activation Spell to make the bacteria cause illness within minutes.
• Jia Xiu and Mia agreed to adjust their plan depending on Gudrian’s behavior, with Jia Xiu threatening to increase the dosage if Gudrian acted badly.
• Ram and Bubu sparred in Emilia’s estate, and Ram said Jia Xiu was being targeted by the Reinhardt family.
• Ram told Emilia that Jia Xiu and Mia were extracting invisible substances from rotten wounds, pustules, and poop.

Jia Xiu and his teammates watched Thomas Reinhardt survive his examination round before preparing to face Gudrian. Gudrian tried to provoke them with insults in the Phantom World, and Jia Xiu and Mia began discussing how much of their prepared dose to use.

• Jia Xiu read a booklet that praised Thomas Reinhardt as the Kingdom's Blazing Flame Dragon while describing him only as a mysterious man who submitted his written test early.
• Jia Xiu's group watched Thomas Reinhardt remain standing until his examination ended, then left the crowd to prepare for their own turn.
• Gudrian reviewed detailed files on Jia Xiu's team and planned to provoke them before defeating them in the examination.
• Gudrian entered the Phantom World and insulted Jia Xiu, Ram, and Mia to try to make them lose control.
• Ram answered Gudrian's insult literally, and Mia asked Jia Xiu how much of their dose they should use.

Headmaster Nico watched Jia Xiu’s entrance examination, expecting Instructor Gudrian to suffer the defeat foretold by his prophecy. Jia Xiu blinded Gudrian with a modified Darkvision spell and then interrupted his explosive arrow by placing Mage Armor on Gudrian’s tongue.

• Headmaster Nico joined Margaret at the viewing window to watch Jia Xiu’s group face Gudrian.
• Jia Xiu cast a version of Darkvision that left Gudrian unable to see in normal light, and Gudrian’s Purification spell failed to remove it.
• Gudrian tried to use an explosive arrow against the charging Ram, while Jia Xiu began casting another spell.
• Jia Xiu attached Mage Armor to Gudrian’s tongue, preventing him from pronouncing the incantation and interrupting the arrow’s enchantment.