Chapter Summaries

Merlin quickly defeated the fourth-floor Guardian Spirit and reached the fifth floor, where Spellcasters Enweiya, Sarah, and Ilman prepared their Koreman Rune Disc to fight the next Guardian Spirit. As Merlin watched them enter the battle, the fifth-floor Guardian Spirit began to appear.

• Merlin used a white-flame Fireball to destroy the black wolf on the fourth floor and immediately advanced to the fifth.
• Spellcaster Enweiya, Spellcaster Sarah, and Spellcaster Ilman prepared to use the Koreman Rune Disc and its formation against the fifth-floor Guardian Spirit.
• Merlin arrived sooner than the three spellcasters expected, prompting Enweiya to hurry them into inscribing their Mind Power into the disc.
• The three spellcasters entered the vermilion stone pillars while Merlin watched cautiously from the side.
• The pillars filled with white light, and an earth-shaking roar announced the appearance of the fifth-floor Guardian Spirit.

Merlin and the others watched Mage Enweiya, Mage Sarah, and Mage Ilman battle the fifth-floor Guardian Spirit with the Koreman Rune Formation. Their strongest attack stripped away some of the Gray Bear’s rune armor but failed to injure it, leaving the three mages defeated and the fifth floor unconquered.

• The Gray Bear appeared on the fifth floor, its powerful aura and swirling rune armor making Merlin sense a threat.
• Mage Enweiya joined Mage Sarah and Mage Ilman to activate the Koreman Rune Formation and bombard the Gray Bear with lightning.
• The three mages unleashed the formation’s strongest attack, Koreman’s Thunder, which destroyed some of the Gray Bear’s protective runes.
• The Gray Bear emerged unharmed, and Mage Enweiya, Mage Sarah, and Mage Ilman realized they had failed to pass the fifth floor.

Merlin watched Gray Bear defeat Mage Enweiya, Mage Sarah, and Mage Ilman on the Rune Tower’s fifth floor, then entered the challenge himself. As Spellcasters gathered outside to see whether he could match Klais’s achievement, Merlin faced Gray Bear and prepared to attack with his Annihilation Flame.

• Gray Bear used the runes covering his body to shatter the Koreman Rune Disc and send Mage Enweiya, Mage Sarah, and Mage Ilman out of the Rune Tower.
• Merlin realized Gray Bear’s runes powered both its defenses and attacks, and he stepped forward to challenge the fifth floor.
• Outside the tower, the three defeated Spellcasters reappeared, while the crowd gathered to watch Merlin’s attempt and compare him with Klais.
• Gray Bear formed again before Merlin, who recognized Archmage Fidel’s runes as the source of the Guardian Spirit’s power and immortality.
• Merlin summoned his strongest attack, Annihilation Flame, and sent compressed white Fireballs flying toward Gray Bear.

Merlin defeated the fifth-floor Gray Bear with his Annihilation Flame and chose to continue into the Rune Tower's sixth floor. As Spellcasters outside celebrated his advance and compared him with Klais, Merlin arrived in a room covered with runes that began drawing on the Spell Models in his Sea of Consciousness.

• Merlin burned through Gray Bear's rune armor with Concentrated Flame, passed the fifth floor, and chose to proceed without resting.
• Gray Bear explained that Merlin could leave the Rune Tower at any time, but failure would also send challengers out unharmed.
• The Rune Tower's fifth-floor light rose to the sixth, prompting Spellcasters outside to celebrate Merlin's advance and compare him with Klais.
• Ilman, Sarah, and Enweiya reconsidered their chances against Klais after their group had failed to defeat the fifth-floor Guardian Spirit.
• Merlin entered the rune-covered sixth floor, felt its runes drawing on his Spell Models, and watched a familiar figure begin to form.

Merlin reached the sixth floor of the Rune Tower and learned that he had to break five overlapping Rune Formations on a stone door to pass. After forcefully shattering the first four layers with Annihilation Flame, he challenged the fifth layer that had stopped Klais.

• Mage Aifidel told Merlin that the sixth-floor trial required breaking the Rune Formations on a stone door, behind which lay the floor's treasure.
• Mage Aifidel revealed that Klais had deciphered four layers before failing at the fifth, and Merlin learned that Klais had joined Osum after betraying the Dark Spirit Domain.
• Merlin tried to push open the stone door, then used Annihilation Flame to break the first layer and discovered that attacks rebounded from layers they could not break.
• Merlin increased the power of his attacks, broke the second and third layers, and then used Concentrated Flame to break the fourth.
• Merlin's fireballs reached the fifth layer, where Klais had failed, and he began his attempt to break it.

Merlin broke the fifth layer of the Rune Formation with an enhanced Concentrated Flame, reaching the Sixth-Level Limit and passing the Rune Tower’s sixth floor. Archmage Aifidel accepted his victory and opened the treasury, where Merlin could choose one treasure.

• Merlin’s ordinary Concentrated Flame failed to break the fifth layer, and Archmage Aifidel warned that it required power beyond a peak Sixth-Level Spell.
• Merlin unleashed an enhanced Concentrated Flame compressed to its limit and shattered the Rune Formation.
• Merlin realized he possessed the limiting power of a Sixth-Level Spellcaster and had passed the sixth floor, gaining an advantage over Klais.
• Archmage Aifidel hesitated over whether Merlin’s brute-force victory met Archmage Fidel’s intentions, but ruled that the tower’s rules required him to recognize the pass.
• Archmage Aifidel opened the treasury door and allowed Merlin to choose one treasure from the sixth floor.

Merlin searched the sixth floor of the Rune Tower and chose a Golden Relief that matched the four Mysterious Reliefs he already owned, making it his fifth. He then continued onward to challenge the tower’s previously unreached seventh floor.

• Mage Aifidel showed Merlin the sixth floor’s treasures, including Mage Fidel’s Rune Disc, Rune Formations, and personal record, but Merlin found them mostly useless to him.
• Merlin discovered a faintly glowing Golden Relief and brought out his four Mysterious Reliefs, which trembled in response and revealed that the Golden Relief belonged to the same kind.
• Merlin firmly chose the Golden Relief, and Mage Aifidel removed its Rune Formation and handed it to him.
• Merlin placed the Golden Relief in his ring and told Mage Aifidel he would continue to the seventh floor.
• Mage Aifidel enveloped Merlin in white light and sent him from the sixth floor.

Merlin became the first Spellcaster in over a thousand years to reach the Rune Tower’s seventh floor, surpassing Klais’s old record. There, he met Black Cat Didimos and chose to face a Seventh-level Spellcaster-strength opponent rather than attempt the rune-making test.

• The Spellcasters outside the Rune Tower watched the sixth-floor light flicker, then cheered when light burst from the seventh floor and Merlin became the first person in over a thousand years to reach it.
• Wizard Leo celebrated Merlin’s achievement as a victory over Klais, while Merlin reflected that he had surpassed only the Klais of the past and hoped to defeat the current Klais someday.
• On the seventh floor, Merlin discovered that Black Cat Didimos occasionally served as its Guardian Spirit under Archmage Fidel’s arrangements.
• Didimos explained that Merlin could pass by quickly creating a rune tool that met Archmage Fidel’s requirements, or by defeating Didimos, who could wield the strength of a Seventh-level Spellcaster.
• Merlin admitted he knew little about runes and chose the second test, telling Didimos to make his move.

Merlin challenged Didimos on the Rune Tower’s seventh floor but failed to overcome the lightning trial and was safely expelled. Back in his tower, he began studying the mysterious Golden Relief he had won on the sixth floor, suspecting its posture served a purpose beyond strengthening the body.

• Merlin asked Didimos to show him the power of a Seventh-level Spellcaster, but his Annihilation Flame could not stop the Rune Thunder.
• The lightning shattered Merlin’s Perfect Armor, and mysterious runes protected him and sent him out of the Rune Tower unharmed.
• Spellcasters gathered outside the tower learned Merlin had failed the seventh-floor trial, while Merlin declined to reveal the sixth-floor test and discussed Runology with Wizard Leo.
• Merlin and Wizard Leo returned to the tower as news of Merlin’s sixth-floor victory stirred renewed interest in the Rune Tower.
• Merlin examined the Golden Relief and found that its posture had no effect by itself but seemed connected to the first four reliefs and to a different, still-unknown purpose.

Merlin used his month to gather spells and foundational knowledge for the Wilson Family, spending nearly all his Contribution Points to support its long-term development. He returned to his tower to speak with Wizard Leo before their upcoming trip to Black Sand Castle's Exchange Conference.

• Merlin decided to prioritize exchanging spells and knowledge for the Wilson Family because he lacked time to prepare and consume many doses of Mokola Potion.
• Merlin visited the Tower of Myriad Phenomena, where spellcasters greeted him respectfully because he had passed the sixth floor of the Rune Tower.
• Merlin exchanged for several hundred spells from the first through third levels, along with spell-construction knowledge, basic Runology, Alchemy, Potionology, and Contract Paper.
• Merlin spent nearly nine thousand Contribution Points and judged the exchange worthwhile for the Wilson Family's future, though he knew it would take at least a hundred years to become self-sufficient.
• Merlin returned to his tower and met with Wizard Leo, whose forced use of the fourth form of Dark Eye had left him severely weakened.

Merlin returned to Wilson Castle and discovered that Wizard Bamu had gathered many Spellcasters there through coercion and promises of magical knowledge. Merlin arranged to bind them to the Wilson Family with contracts and supplied Bamu with Elemental Crystals, while his decision about learning the Dark Eye remained uncertain.

• Merlin left Wizard Leo and reconsidered learning the Dark Eye after seeing the consequences of Wizard Leo's cultivation.
• Merlin arrived at Wilson Castle and found more than a dozen Spellcasters, including two Fourth-level Spellcasters, gathered there.
• Wizard Bamu revealed that he had recruited the Spellcasters by threatening some and offering others Fifth-Level Spells and spell-construction knowledge.
• Merlin offered the Spellcasters contracts, magical knowledge, and other rewards to make them honorary members of the Wilson Family.
• Merlin gave Wizard Bamu several thousand Elemental Crystals after learning that Bamu had gathered the Spellcasters partly to obtain crystals for restoring his mana.

Merlin strengthened the Wilson Family, discovered that practicing the Golden Relief gave him a faint defensive layer and rapid healing, and then returned to the Dark Spirit Domain when Wizard Leo summoned him. He joined Wizard Leo and the Dark Spirit Domain’s elite delegation as they departed for Black Sand Castle.

• Most wandering Spellcasters signed contracts with the Wilson Family, while one Fourth-level Spellcaster chose to leave, and Merlin gave Bamu spells and foundational research materials to help train the family.
• Merlin practiced the Golden Relief posture for more than twenty days and discovered that its golden layer could block a weak dagger strike and that his wounds healed rapidly.
• After another month, Wizard Leo summoned Merlin back to the Dark Spirit Domain, and Merlin left Bamu in charge of the Wilson Family before departing.
• Merlin left Elemental Crystals for Black Cat Didimos at the Dark Spirit Domain’s stone monument, and Didimos promised to make his next visit to the Rune Tower easier.
• Merlin met Wizard Leo and the delegation led by Helsius, which included Wizard Natel, Wizard Mills, Wizard Sarah, Wizard Enweiya, and Wizard Ilman, and they set off for Black Sand Castle.

Merlin and the Dark Spirit Domain Spellcasters reached Black Sand Castle, a powerful organization hidden behind an illusion. Leo broke the illusion with his Dark Eye, and the group arrived at the gate, where two Black Sand Castle Spellcasters revealed they had deliberately made them wait.

• Enweiya asked Merlin to sell him his flying Spellcasting tool, and Merlin said he might transfer it to him after gaining a flying spell.
• Enweiya told Merlin that Black Sand Castle had many Ninth-level Spellcasters and two Archmages, far surpassing the Dark Spirit Domain.
• After several days of travel, Merlin and the others found only desert until Leo used his Dark Eye to break Black Sand Castle's illusion.
• The group saw Black Sand Castle's rune-protected city and Merlin considered whether its Alchemists could make composite Spellcasting tools like Bell Space.
• At the gate, two Black Sand Castle Spellcasters admitted that they had intended to make the Dark Spirit Domain wait and had underestimated Leo's ability to shatter the illusion.

Merlin and the Dark Spirit Domain spellcasters entered Black Sand Castle for the Exchange Conference, where they encountered the dangerous Shadow Thorn and clashed with their arrogant hosts. After Leo warned the Black Sand Castle spellcasters off, the group settled in and reunited with Flame City at the venue.

• Merlin saw several powerful Ninth-level Spellcasters from Shadow Thorn, and Leo warned him that the organization’s spellcasters were brutal and unpredictable.
• Sarah challenged the Black Sand Castle reception spellcasters for belittling Dark Spirit Domain, and Ilman tried to bind them with a Rune Formation.
• The Black Sand Castle spellcasters broke Ilman’s formation and turned it against him, but Merlin destroyed it with pale flames.
• Leo trapped the Black Sand Castle spellcasters in an illusion, then they guided Dark Spirit Domain to the Exchange Conference venue.
• Helsius greeted Flame City’s spellcasters, whose leader noted that Dark Spirit Domain had arrived late.

At Black Sand Castle’s Exchange Conference, Wizard Shaniman gathered Black Sand Castle, Shadow Thorn, and City of Miracles to prepare a united war against Osum after learning its headquarters had been exposed. Merlin heard that the Child of Miracles had secretly killed two Seventh-level Spellcasters and wondered how his own strength compared, leaving him eager to meet the prodigy.

• Wizard Heigliman confronted Wizard Leo over the incomplete Dark Eye training method Leo had given Abyssal Fortress, and Leo dismissed the deception as an exchange of what each side needed.
• Wizard Shaniman told Shadow Thorn and City of Miracles that Black Sand Castle had discovered Osum’s headquarters through a spy who had likely been killed, and warned that destroying Osum could require a brutal war.
• Shadow Thorn and City of Miracles agreed to join Black Sand Castle against Osum, and Wizard Shaniman planned to announce the alliance to the gathered Spellcaster forces.
• Spellcasters at the conference discussed Shadow Thorn’s Belah and revealed that the Child of Miracles had never defected to Osum, but had helped City of Miracles kill two Seventh-level Spellcasters.
• Merlin compared himself with the Child of Miracles and resolved to meet him if he had the chance.

Merlin watched the City of Miracles’ Child of Miracles join Balatu of Black Sand Castle and Belah of Shadow Thorn at the Exchange Conference, realizing how formidable the young mages were. After Mage Leo entered the inner hall, Merlin remained outside with Mage Enweiya and the others, determined to test himself against the other geniuses.

• Balatu of Black Sand Castle arrived, and onlookers described his strength and his ambition to surpass the Child of Miracles.
• The Child of Miracles arrived with the City of Miracles’ delegation, and Merlin felt a powerful pressure from him.
• Mage Leo explained the differences between the Child of Miracles’ victory over a Seventh-level Spellcaster and his own killing of Osius with the Dark Eye.
• Mage Leo urged Merlin to compete for the Exchange Conference’s rewards, and Merlin agreed to measure himself against the other geniuses.
• Mage Leo entered the inner hall with the other Seventh-level Spellcasters, leaving Merlin and Mage Enweiya’s group in the outer hall to await the conference.

Klais completed his cultivation of Space Blade and learned that Merlin would attend Black Sand Castle’s Exchange Conference, then left with Hualair. At the conference, Enweiya advanced while Sarah and Ilman were eliminated, and Merlin was called to face Mage Lania of Abyssal Fortress.

• Mage Doan warned Hualair that Black Sand Castle had discovered Osum’s base and that Osum planned to strike first at the Exchange Conference.
• Klais emerged after cultivating Space Blade and demonstrated its cutting power before asking Doan whether Merlin would attend the conference.
• Klais learned that Merlin and Mage Leo were attending, then left with Hualair, while Doan recognized Klais as a powerful spatial mage.
• Enweiya defeated Molin of Gray City with a rune-enhanced spell and advanced to the second round.
• Sarah and Ilman lost their first-round matches against spellcasters from medium-sized organizations.
• Merlin was called to fight Lania of Abyssal Fortress in the first round.

Merlin advanced through the first round after Lania conceded when his Dark Vortex failed against Merlin’s Dark Heart. Enweiya lost in the second round, leaving Merlin as the last representative of the small Spellcaster Organizations as he faced Beggs of the Earth Fortress.

• Lania used Dark Vortex against Merlin, but Merlin’s Dark Heart resisted the spell and Lania conceded.
• Merlin reflected on how practicing the Golden Relief postures had given him extraordinary recovery and control over changes in his body.
• Enweiya used a Rune Disc against Haildan, but Haildan’s Tide of the Sea God overwhelmed the Rune Formation and Enweiya conceded.
• Merlin told Enweiya that deeper study of Runology could let the Dark Spirit Domain wield powerful Rune Formations.
• Merlin was called to face Beggs of the Earth Fortress in the second round, drawing the attention of the small Spellcaster Organizations as their last remaining contender.

Merlin faced Beggs, whose Magic Energy-enhanced Earth Armor had made him a formidable defensive opponent. Merlin defeated him with Dark Vortex, advanced toward the third round, and left Beggs recognizing the strength of his dark-element spells.

• Beggs raised his Magic Energy-enhanced Earth Armor and invited Merlin to break through it or make him concede.
• Merlin judged that overcoming Beggs by force would require his strongest attacks, so he used Dark Vortex amplified by Dark Heart instead.
• Dark Vortex dragged Beggs into an illusion, leaving his defenses useless.
• Beggs conceded, and Merlin withdrew the spell as Beggs acknowledged that Merlin's dark-element abilities were powerful enough for the third or fourth round.

Merlin advanced through the fifth round of the Exchange Conference by defeating opponents with Dark Vortex, attracting attention from powerful Spellcasters. In the sixth round, Feradi struck first with wind spells and engulfed Merlin in storms, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• The Child of Miracles revealed that Merlin had cultivated the Dark Heart, while Belah and Balatu began taking Merlin seriously.
• Merlin defeated his opponents in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds, mostly with a single cast of Dark Vortex, and made Dark Spirit Domain famous.
• Merlin entered the sixth round against Feradi of Wind Domain, whose speed-focused wind magic was known to be formidable.
• Feradi rushed Merlin before he could cast a dark-element spell and unleashed successive storms that engulfed him.