Chapter Summaries

After Dago Heka completed his final Blood Battle, Doru attacked Michael, while Jennifer transformed into a Fifth-Circle Wizard and fought Lintis. Their clash damaged the Rune Magic Array, giving the trapped wizards a chance to break out.

• Doru unleashed death-charged bone spikes at Michael, but the Miracle Wizard from the Emerald Court intervened with a life-powered vine spell.
• Lintis revealed that he wanted to take Tracy to the Old One Revival Society, and Jennifer transformed into her True Spirit Manifestation.
• Jennifer and Lintis revealed themselves as Fifth-Circle Wizards and fought, turning the battlefield around them into a forbidden zone.
• A stray strike from their battle damaged the Rune Magic Array and opened a crack in the barrier.
• The Miracle Wizards attacked the weakened section of the array and began trying to break out.

Lintis transformed into a demon and killed another Fourth Circle Wizard while the trapped wizards fought to break the Rune Magic Array. Just as Michael’s golden arrow opened a gap in the array, a figure wielding two scarlet blades charged toward it through falling red snow.

• Lintis killed a Fourth Circle Wizard, prompting the Miracle Wizards to flee as Jennifer struck the Rune Magic Array and widened its fissure.
• Lintis created spell duplicates that trapped Jennifer and forced the array’s fissure to begin closing again.
• A Second-Ring Wizard’s fireball inspired the gathered wizards to rally and bombard the array, while young geniuses including Tracy, Gellman, Rufus, and Korklau attacked it and fought Revival Society infiltrators.
• Lintis swept hundreds of black beams through the crowd, but Tracy intercepted several and the gathered wizards continued their assault.
• Michael fired a golden arrow that blasted a small opening in the array, and a figure carrying two scarlet blades charged toward the breach as red snow fell.

Dago Heka broke the rune array with his Despair Winter Dragon miracle and fought the purple-haired Miracle Wizard, while Michael created an opening that let Dago escape. Lintis then overwhelmed the battlefield with a massive energy hand and crushed Dago’s blades, until an unseen speaker invoked “[Miracle: Despair Black Hole]!”

• Dago Heka unleashed his frost miracle, shattered the rune array, and opened a path through the barrier.
• Wizards rushed toward the breach, but a purple-haired Fourth-Ring Miracle Wizard blocked their escape and annihilated those who approached.
• Dago attacked the purple-haired wizard with the Red-Ice Twin Blades but was driven back until Michael struck the enemy with a golden arrow.
• Dago used the opening to pierce the wizard’s defense and escape beyond the damaged Rune Magic Array.
• Lintis defeated Doru in the Fifth-Circle battle and summoned a giant energy hand that destroyed Dago’s blades and bore down on him.
• An unseen voice invoked “[Miracle: Despair Black Hole]!” as the energy hand descended.

Chapter Summary: “The Creditor Comes Knocking”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago uses the ancient Law Wielder Armlet, charged with centuries of accumulated magical power, to unleash a miraculous spell: [Despair Black Hole].
• His attack compresses and absorbs the enormous Fifth Circle energy hand created by Lintis, along with surrounding energy and mental power. The spell effectively neutralizes Lintis’s attack and prevents the Fifth Circle wizard from approaching.
• Riding atop the black hole, Dago escapes the battlefield, leaving the assembled wizards stunned by his ability to challenge a Fifth Circle opponent despite being only a Third Circle wizard.
• The collapsing rune array creates an opportunity for another group to escape. A four-winged figure rescues the red-haired girl, Phoenix, and flees.
• Lintis chooses to pursue Phoenix rather than Dago, identifying her as the true objective of the operation. He orders Doru to eliminate the remaining witnesses and sends out mental-power avatars to massacre those beneath the ruined array.
• Dago reaches a remote wilderness but collapses from exhaustion and magical backlash. The armlet is dimmed and cracked after its extreme use.
• He realizes that the attack against him was likely incidental; the true targets were probably Michael or the mysterious Ash Witch.
• Dago then suffers a violent reaction from Behelet, the terrifying power or entity connected to his soul. To survive the Blood Battle, he must once again break the taboo Bloodline Crystal and merge with the power of the Despair Winter Dragon.
• The chapter ends with the metaphorical “creditor” arriving: Dago must now pay the price for the power he borrowed from the devil within him.

Character Developments

• Dago demonstrates extraordinary growth and combat ability. By combining the armlet’s energy reserves with his own spell model, he temporarily reaches the realm of miracles and confronts a Fifth Circle wizard head-on.
• Despite his spectacular victory, Dago remains physically and spiritually unstable. His exhaustion, damaged armlet, and worsening condition show that his strength comes at an immense cost.
• Lintis is forced to acknowledge Dago as a serious anomaly, though he still regards him as a lesser southern wizard. His pride is wounded because the armlet he once indirectly enabled Dago to obtain becomes the weapon that defeats his attack.
• Michael experiences a major blow to his confidence after Dago’s escape and after seeing the disparity between Dago and the supposedly superior Emerald Court wizards.
• The Emerald Court wizards, particularly the silver-haired witch, are humbled by Dago’s performance and recognize that their previous contempt was arrogant and ignorant.
• Phoenix is revealed to be the operation’s true target, making her importance to the larger conflict clear.
• Dago’s relationship with Behelet and the Despair Winter Dragon becomes more dangerous. The power he has relied upon now demands repayment, forcing him toward another forbidden transformation.

Significant Themes

• The rise of the underestimated: Dago’s victory represents a “mortal slaying a god,” challenging established hierarchies based on rank, origin, and institutional prestige.
• Power and its cost: The armlet enables Dago to perform a miracle, but it is damaged in the process, while his body and soul suffer even greater consequences.
• Pride and humiliation: The Emerald Court’s arrogance collapses when Dago surpasses their expectations, while Lintis is personally humiliated by an opponent he considered insignificant.
• Sacrifice and survival: Dago’s escape is not a true victory; it only postpones the greater danger. Survival requires him to violate a taboo and risk losing control of himself.
• Borrowed power and debt: The final metaphor emphasizes that supernatural power is never free. Dago’s pact with the entity inside him has reached its repayment stage.
• The collapse of old orders: The black hole is portrayed as a symbol of a new force emerging and the weakening of established magical authority.

Character Interactions

• Dago and Lintis: Their confrontation is the chapter’s central clash. Dago’s miracle spell blocks Lintis’s Fifth Circle attack and allows him to escape, forcing Lintis to recognize his potential while deepening Lintis’s resentment.
• Lintis and Doru: Lintis gives Doru a cold, implicit command to eliminate the remaining enemies and witnesses. Their interaction reflects Lintis’s ruthless control and the operation’s exterminatory purpose.
• Lintis and Phoenix: Lintis prioritizes Phoenix over pursuing Dago, revealing that she is central to the larger conspiracy.
• Dago and the Emerald Court: Although they do not directly converse, Dago’s actions overturn the Court’s dismissive judgment of him. Michael and the others are forced to reassess both his strength and their own superiority.
• Dago and Behelet: Their relationship is presented as a dangerous bargain. Dago has used Behelet’s power to survive, but the entity now demands payment, threatening his body, soul, and identity.

Chapter Summary: “Flower-Transplantation Art”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago forcibly fuses with the Behelet bloodline to gain enough power to win the Blood Battle, triggering a catastrophic backlash.
• A wave of supernatural cold and scarlet frost consumes the wilderness. Dago’s body mutates, his Mental Force Field becomes unstable, and his six Soul Crystals begin collapsing.
• Behelet’s remnant will emerges from the Sea of Despair, attacking Dago’s consciousness and attempting to overwrite his identity. A colossal dragon-like manifestation begins forming as the Old One prepares to revive through him.
• Dago’s defenses are eventually destroyed, leaving only a fragment of his self-awareness. Behelet appears certain of victory and waits for Dago’s will to disappear.
• At the last moment, Dago activates a prearranged First Circle contract spell by carving a hexagram into his chest and invoking the words: “Act as servant. Together bear… Thorns!”
• The contract reverses the relationship between host and entity. Instead of being consumed by Behelet, Dago forcibly draws Behelet’s ancient will into a vortex and transfers it away from himself.
• Elsewhere, Behelet’s power manifests through a gigantic, two-headed serpent emerging from a frozen lake. After a silent confrontation across vast distance, the serpent withdraws rather than pursuing Dago.
• The supernatural frost dissipates, and Dago collapses into the crater. He eventually recovers, sheds his mutated form, and reforms his wizard’s robe from Yitai.
• Upon examining his Mental Space, Dago finds Behelet’s will gone and his six Soul Crystals stabilized. However, he recognizes that his survival was only a temporary and dangerous solution—“drinking poison to quench thirst.”

2. Character Developments

• Dago: Demonstrates extreme endurance, ruthlessness, and long-term planning. Although he appears nearly defeated, he reveals that he had anticipated the danger of borrowing an Old One’s power and prepared a contractual countermeasure. His calm after the reversal contrasts sharply with his earlier agony, showing his transformation into a calculating wizard who treats even his own life as an experimental stake.
• Behelet: Changes from an overwhelming possessing force into a trapped and displaced entity. Its arrogance and certainty collapse when Dago activates the contract, revealing that its apparent victory was part of Dago’s plan.
• The manifested serpent: Serves as the physical or semi-physical vessel of Behelet’s power. It retains ancient, tyrannical intelligence but ultimately chooses not to pursue Dago, suggesting that the transfer or confrontation has imposed limitations.

3. Significant Themes

• Power and equivalent exchange: Great power requires an equally serious payment. Dago gains divine-level strength only by risking his body, soul, and identity.
• Control versus corruption: The central conflict is not merely physical; it is a battle over who controls Dago’s consciousness. Dago survives by turning the laws of possession against the possessing entity.
• Preparation and distrust: The chapter emphasizes that a wizard must never trust a god or Old One without safeguards. Dago’s victory comes from contingency planning rather than brute strength.
• Identity and selfhood: Behelet’s attack threatens to erase Dago as an independent person. His resistance confirms that preserving autonomy is more important than merely surviving physically.
• Temporary survival and dangerous shortcuts: Dago’s success is not a clean victory. He has escaped immediate possession but remains dependent on an unstable, poisonous method of gaining power.
• Death, winter, and desolation: The blood-red snow, frozen landscape, and destruction of ordinary life symbolize the spiritual death and cosmic-scale danger surrounding the ritual.

4. Character Interactions

• Dago and Behelet: Their interaction begins as a predatory possession, with Behelet attempting to consume and replace Dago’s consciousness. Dago appears helpless but ultimately uses a contract to reverse the power dynamic, forcing Behelet into the role of the transferred or bound party.
• Dago and the Old One’s manifestation: The dragon-like entity observes Dago’s fading soul as prey, but the contract interrupts the revival before it can complete. Their conflict is therefore fought through laws, contracts, and spiritual manipulation rather than direct combat.
• Behelet and the manifested serpent: The serpent appears to embody Behelet’s surviving power. After the transfer, it looks toward Dago’s distant location and engages in an unseen confrontation, then withdraws, implying unresolved hostility and limits on Behelet’s ability to retaliate.
• Dago and the surrounding world: Though not a personal relationship, the cold emanating from Dago destroys birds, plants, animals, and travelers, showing how his struggle endangers innocent life and transforms the environment into an extension of the Old One’s influence.

Chapter Summary: “Tactical Compromise, the First Act of the Script”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago explains the desperate strategy he used against Behelet, the Ancient Old One known as the Despair Winter Dragon. Through the Master-Servant Pact, he redirected half of Behelet’s destructive backlash toward the dormant Great Ice Serpent.
• Behelet abandoned Dago’s weakened human body and possessed the Great Ice Serpent instead, whose pure Primordial Great Ice Serpent bloodline offered a far more powerful vessel.
• Dago recognizes that this is only a temporary reprieve. The soul mark linking him to Behelet remains intact, meaning Behelet may eventually find and enslave him unless Dago can destroy the connection at the level of both mental power and fundamental rules.
• Dago travels to the frozen lake where the serpent had been sleeping, but finds only devastation and no sign of Behelet. He concludes that Behelet has fled to avoid planar rejection, ancient enemies, and other predators attracted by its resurrection.
• Although the delay gives Dago time to recover and grow stronger, it also allows Behelet to steadily rebuild its power. Dago resolves to gather resources, uncover the truth, and advance his life level before the inevitable confrontation.
• At the Fairy Ancient City ruins, a large-scale wizard battle rages amid collapsing space and uncontrolled elemental destruction. Ang watches the slaughter from concealment.
• Vicky of the Chaos Secret Society arrives and orders Ang to locate Dago, whom the organization wants to capture as a valuable experimental subject. Vicky attempts to pressure Ang by invoking Lord Lintis and Ang’s dependence on the Elder Fallen Crow heart fragment.
• Ang ignores him. When Vicky prepares to use force, Ang effortlessly immobilizes him and pierces his chest through the void, ripping out and consuming his heart.
• Vicky realizes that Ang’s power is far beyond that of an Elder Fallen Crow and suspects that he is not truly Ang. He also questions why Ang deliberately lost to Dago during the Blood Battle, but dies before receiving an answer.
• Ang consumes Vicky’s heart and soul as nourishment, casually takes his black spellbook, and declares that the “first act” of his plan is complete. Before leaving, he briefly struggles with another consciousness within himself, suppressing it and reasserting control.

Character Developments

• Dago becomes more calculating and pragmatic. He accepts that his solution was merely “drinking poison to quench thirst,” but remains determined to exploit the temporary respite to prepare for Behelet’s eventual return.
• Behelet is portrayed as highly intelligent and predatory rather than blindly destructive. It chooses the Great Ice Serpent as a superior vessel and retreats strategically to recover strength.
• Ang is revealed as vastly more powerful and mysterious than previously believed. His effortless destruction of Vicky suggests that he has concealed his true identity and abilities, possibly while sharing his body with another consciousness.
• Vicky shifts from an apparent superior within the Chaos Secret Society to helpless prey. His confidence and threats collapse when he realizes he has badly underestimated Ang.
• Dago and Ang remain indirectly connected as predator and prey. Ang views Dago as unusually valuable and appears to be deliberately allowing him to mature before consuming or confronting him.

Significant Themes

• Temporary survival versus lasting victory: Dago’s escape is not a true solution; it merely postpones the threat.
• Predation and strategic patience: Both Behelet and Ang act like calculating predators, choosing the right vessel or timing rather than relying on brute force.
• Identity and concealed power: Ang’s true nature is uncertain, and his apparent identity may be only a shell or role maintained over another entity.
• Soul, possession, and loss of autonomy: The chapter repeatedly emphasizes consciousness being transferred, enslaved, consumed, or suppressed.
• Power as preparation: Dago understands that survival depends on acquiring resources and strength before an enemy’s inevitable return.
• The cyclical nature of predators and prey: Ang’s reflections on “ripened” prey suggest that powerful beings view lives and souls as resources cultivated for later consumption.

Character Interactions

• Dago and Behelet: Their relationship remains bound by the Master-Servant Pact. Dago temporarily redirects Behelet’s power toward the Great Ice Serpent, while Behelet abandons him for a superior body.
• Vicky and Ang: Vicky tries to command and intimidate Ang through organizational authority, but Ang dismisses him and kills him with overwhelming ease. Their exchange exposes the sharp difference between Vicky’s borrowed influence and Ang’s genuine power.
• Ang and Dago: They do not meet directly, but Ang tracks Dago’s departure and regards him as especially promising prey. His apparent decision to let Dago continue developing suggests a deliberate long-term plan.
• Ang and the inner consciousness: After killing Vicky, Ang struggles against an “old fellow” within his Mental Space, implying an internal conflict over control. He suppresses the opposing consciousness before departing.

Chapter Summary: “Aftermath”

Key Plot Points and Events

• In Kletam City, the Thorn Ring detects the arrival of a Miracle Tier wizard. The visitor briefly exchanges information with the Thorn Ring’s tower master before departing, prompting the leaders of the Ring of Law to gather.
• The First Tower Master announces two major developments from the Southern Wizard Prodigy Gathering:
  1. The Revival Society has resurfaced. A Fifth-Circle and Fourth-Circle wizard performed a blood sacrifice in the Fairy Ancient City Ruins, twisting the leyline rules and causing the soul imprints of more than three thousand wizards across the southern factions to perish.
  2. Dago Heka, a genius of the Thorn Ring’s Silver Tower, defeated all competitors, completed Isidore’s Blood Battle ritual, inherited Isidore’s legacy, and became the Chief Prodigy of his generation.
• The tower masters initially panic over the Revival Society’s strength, but calm when they learn that Wizard Rona, a powerful Fifth-Circle wizard, has been sent to help resolve the crisis.
• Undine is stunned to learn that Dago—the former wizard apprentice she remembers—has become the Chief Prodigy.
• Elsewhere, Michael escapes through the wilderness after suffering severe injuries and losing nearly all her strength. She collapses after encountering a noble-looking young man who calls her his sister.
• The young man, apparently a member of House Lucien and possessing the same golden hair as Michael, restores her vitality with powerful light magic. When hostile, death-filled clouds approach, he attacks them with a massive pillar of white-gold light, condemning whoever has targeted his sister.
• Meanwhile, Dago sits alone beside a campfire, ignoring roasted food and numerous flashing communication rune stones. Factions across the wizarding world are attempting to contact him, offering flattery, testing his intentions, or seeking to form alliances after his rise to prominence.

Character Developments

• Dago Heka has achieved an extraordinary elevation in status by becoming Chief Prodigy and inheriting Isidore’s legacy. Despite the attention and influence now directed toward him, he remains detached and unwilling to engage with opportunistic factions.
• Undine is forced to reconsider Dago’s identity and potential. Her shock reflects the enormous gap between the apprentice she once knew and the legendary figure he has now become.
• Michael is shown at her weakest, stripped of her dignity and nearly dead after being hunted. Her survival depends on her mysterious brother, suggesting that her family ties may provide protection but also connect her to dangerous enemies.
• Michael’s brother is introduced as an immensely powerful, aristocratic, and emotionally cold figure. His contempt for “lowborn” enemies reveals his belief in the superiority of his bloodline, while his intervention shows that he will defend House Lucien’s pureblood lineage.
• The First Tower Master demonstrates measured leadership, controlling the tower masters’ panic and presenting both the Revival Society threat and Dago’s success with careful composure.

Significant Themes

• The aftermath of power and fame: Dago’s victory immediately attracts political interest, manipulation, and attempted alliances.
• The threat of forbidden forces: The Revival Society’s blood sacrifice and leyline distortion demonstrate the catastrophic consequences of wizards meddling with fundamental laws.
• Bloodline and aristocratic supremacy: Michael’s brother’s language emphasizes hereditary purity, class hierarchy, and the prejudice of powerful magical families.
• Survival and vulnerability: Michael’s desperate flight contrasts sharply with her brother’s effortless strength, highlighting the brutal consequences of conflict.
• Isolation amid recognition: Although Dago has become the center of attention, he responds by withdrawing, emphasizing his distrust of political overtures and shallow relationships.
• The widening scale of conflict: The arrival of Miracle Tier power, the involvement of Fifth-Circle wizards, the Revival Society’s resurgence, and the appearance of House Lucien suggest that events are moving beyond a local competition into a major regional or world-scale crisis.

Character Interactions

• The Thorn Ring tower masters debate whether they can or should intervene against the Revival Society, revealing fear of forces far beyond their current abilities.
• The First Tower Master reassures them by invoking Wizard Rona’s strength, restoring order to the meeting.
• He then publicly announces Dago’s achievement, indirectly linking Dago’s rise to Undine through her stunned reaction.
• Michael encounters her brother at the moment of collapse. He mocks her condition but still heals her, combining emotional coldness with protective familial loyalty.
• Dago refuses to respond to the many factions contacting him, establishing a deliberate distance between himself and the political powers seeking access to his new status.

Dago reflected on his recent gains and the dangers still threatening his life, then prepared to study a relic from the Prodigy Battle. The chapter ended with a blazing meteor locking onto his location and rushing toward him.

• Dago decided to meet Ewakuai, who had offered to help resolve his soul problem, and received a set of coordinates.
• Dago examined his status and noted that his ancient Old One despair winter dragon bloodline had risen to six percent, advancing him to the Mid Third Circle.
• Dago considered using the God-Prison Blood Tree to purify his own bloodline, despite the increased risk of death.
• Dago inspected Isidore's Law Wielder Legacy armlet and recalled that opening its rune had transformed his [Despair Death River] into the Miracle [Despair Black Hole].
• Dago took out Maflin's Bone Death Knell to study its spell legacy, but a fiery meteor appeared overhead and seemed to target him.

Chapter Summary: The Broken Red Lotus Staff

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago’s Despair Winter Dragon Bloodline reaches six percent, dramatically strengthening his ice magic. His spellcasting has become almost instinctive, allowing him to summon an enormous frost pillar with minimal effort.
• A falling fireball crashes into Dago’s ice attack. After a prolonged clash between flame and frost, the fireball is extinguished, leaving behind a massive block of ice.
• Inside the ice, Dago discovers the broken Red Lotus Staff, the signature magical weapon of Ashen Witch Tracy.
• He realizes that Tracy must be in serious danger. The staff’s remaining power creates a pulling sensation, confirming that it was likely thrown away as a distress signal.
• Despite recognizing Tracy’s peril, Dago refuses to rescue her. He distrusts her because of their previous conflict at the Mechanical Heart and fears encountering the powerful pursuers chasing her.
• Dago summons Yitai, which begins devouring the staff’s metallic components. While Yitai feeds, Dago records the staff’s complex runes for later study.
• He leaves the area and travels in the opposite direction from the staff’s apparent signal, avoiding involvement in Tracy’s crisis.
• Three days later, Dago finishes studying the strange ancient cowbell he obtained from Maflin. He discovers that it contains a ghost-rearing space and the inheritance of a powerful undead spell, Ghost Arrow, a technique normally accessible only to Fourth-Ring Miracle Wizards.

Character Developments

• Dago: His ice-magic talent has advanced to an extraordinary level, reflecting the growing influence of his Despair Winter Dragon Bloodline. He becomes more cautious and pragmatic, choosing self-preservation over aiding Tracy. At the same time, he remains opportunistic and curious, exploiting the broken staff both as material for Yitai and as a source of magical knowledge.
• Ashen Witch Tracy: Though she never appears directly, her broken staff reveals that she is being relentlessly pursued and is in a desperate situation. The destruction of her beloved weapon emphasizes the severity of her predicament.
• Yitai: Demonstrates the ability to consume the valuable metallic parts of a highly advanced magical weapon, though the process is slow because of the staff’s complex materials.
• Maflin’s Cowbell/Undead Inheritance: The artifact proves more valuable than initially understood, giving Dago access to advanced undead magic.

Significant Themes

• Power and transformation: Dago’s bloodline enhancement turns his spellcasting from learned technique into something approaching instinct, highlighting his rapid evolution.
• Self-preservation versus loyalty: Dago knowingly ignores Tracy’s distress call because helping her would endanger him, showing his increasingly practical and guarded outlook.
• Knowledge gained through danger: Even while avoiding Tracy, Dago extracts value from her broken staff by studying its runes, reinforcing the importance of magical research.
• Destruction and renewal: The staff’s ruin symbolizes Tracy’s weakened state, while its remains become resources for Dago and Yitai.
• The contrast between instinct and skill: The chapter emphasizes the difference between magical beasts’ instinctive casting and wizards’ learned abilities, suggesting that Dago is beginning to bridge that gap.

Character Interactions

• Dago and Tracy: Their relationship remains hostile and distrustful. Tracy’s distress signal reaches Dago, but their past conflict prevents him from intervening.
• Dago and Yitai: Dago directs Yitai to consume the Red Lotus Staff, treating the magical weapon as both food for his companion and a research opportunity.
• Dago and the magical artifacts: He interacts with the Red Lotus Staff through suppression, rune analysis, and extraction of its materials, then studies Maflin’s cowbell to uncover the Ghost Arrow inheritance.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago studies the advanced undead spell [Ghost Arrow], which transforms a ghost into a soul-attacking projectile capable of directly damaging or killing an enemy’s soul.
• The spell addresses a major weakness Dago recognized during his battle with Elder Spirit Wizard Ewakuai: his lack of reliable soul-defense and soul-offense techniques.
• Dago summons the sole remaining ghost in Maflin’s cowbell: Aihaxiya, a powerful, resentment-filled ghost who had once been Maflin’s fellow apprentice.
• Aihaxiya was a talented wizard and potential heir to Bone Death Knell, but Maflin murdered both their master and Aihaxiya. Maflin later refined Aihaxiya into a powerful ghost servant, likely intending to use him as the basis for [Ghost Arrow].
• After Maflin’s defeat, Aihaxiya devoured every other ghost within the cowbell, making him an ideal “arrow blank” for the spell.
• Dago performs basic master-recognition procedures and successfully subdues Aihaxiya, though he continues to rely primarily on the cowbell artifact for control.
• Dago reviews another soul-attacking weapon, the bone spike taken from Korklau of the Spectral Mask, recognizing its deadly but manually directed nature.
• During three days of organizing his spoils and consolidating his gains, Dago’s strength improves significantly. His sixth Soul Crystal nears completion, and he begins considering the distant goal of condensing ten Soul Crystals.
• He also completes the Soul Imprint [Golden Law] in his fifth Soul Crystal, deciding to make its metal-element inheritance his primary cultivation direction.
• The chapter ends as the Yitai metal attached to Dago’s body suddenly begins to stir, hinting at an imminent development or danger.

Character Developments

• Dago becomes more aware of his weaknesses and takes practical steps to compensate for them, particularly in the area of soul combat.
• His confidence grows, but it is tempered by caution. Remembering Maflin’s downfall, he understands the danger of controlling powerful undead servants and recognizes that greater personal strength is the best safeguard against backlash.
• Dago’s mental will is described as vastly stronger than Maflin’s, allowing him to control Aihaxiya with relative confidence.
• His long-term ambitions expand beyond merely advancing as a Formal Wizard. Inspired by Michael, he begins considering the possibility of reaching the Wizarding Forbidden Zone through the condensation of a tenth Soul Crystal.
• Aihaxiya is revealed as a tragic and powerful figure: once a promising noble-born wizard, he was betrayed, murdered, and transformed into a tool of Maflin’s ambition. His overwhelming resentment explains his strength and hostility.

Significant Themes

• Power and vulnerability: Dago’s victory over Ewakuai exposed the danger of lacking soul-related abilities, emphasizing that strength in one area cannot compensate for every weakness.
• Control and backlash: Undead magic offers immense power but carries the constant risk of servants turning against their master. Maflin’s fate serves as a warning.
• Betrayal and resentment: Aihaxiya’s transformation embodies the consequences of murder, treachery, and the abuse of the dead.
• Long-term cultivation and foundations: Dago views the Formal Wizard stage as the foundation for future advancement and is determined to strengthen himself as much as possible.
• Unexplored realms of power: The mention of the Miracle Domain and the Wizarding Forbidden Zone suggests that the known limits of wizard advancement are only temporary boundaries.

Character Interactions

• Dago interacts with Aihaxiya through the cowbell, summoning, evaluating, taming, and returning him to its inner space.
• His relationship with Aihaxiya is primarily one of domination and utility, though Dago also learns and acknowledges the ghost’s tragic history.
• Dago’s thoughts repeatedly return to Maflin, whose failure and downfall influence Dago’s approach to undead control and reinforce his caution.
• Dago also mentally compares himself with powerful figures such as Ewakuai, Herlamus, and Michael, using those encounters and examples to assess his own weaknesses and future goals.

Chapter Summary: “Half of the Red Lotus Staff”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After three days of consuming the Red Lotus Staff’s material, Yitai transforms into a peak third-tier weapon and gains a faint fire-element aura.
• Dago senses that Tracy’s damaged section of the Red Lotus Staff is being summoned. When he loosens his grip, it escapes and flies away.
• Dago pursues the staff, hoping to locate Tracy and possibly keep it so Yitai can consume the remaining valuable material and potentially reach the Miracle Tier.
• The staff eventually slows and lands in a remote village, where villagers are worshipping a massive fiery-red object.
• The village’s robed leader, a weak wizard apprentice, attempts to confront Dago through spellcasting. Dago overwhelms him with spiritual pressure, causing him to faint, and the terrified villagers flee.
• Dago discovers that the fiery-red object is a translucent, egg-like structure containing Tracy, who is unconscious and suspended in magma-like fluid while apparently recovering from severe injuries.
• When Dago attempts to take the Red Lotus Staff, Tracy reacts faintly, suggesting she retains some awareness despite her condition.
• Concerned that Tracy’s allies or pursuers may arrive, Dago decides to leave the staff and avoid becoming involved. However, just after he turns away, Tracy unexpectedly opens her eyes.

Character Developments

• Dago: Demonstrates increased strength and caution. Although tempted by the chance to acquire a weapon that could help Yitai advance, he prioritizes survival and avoids provoking Tracy or the forces connected to her.
• Yitai: Develops substantially by absorbing part of the Red Lotus Staff, reaching the peak of the third tier and gaining fire-related properties that may complement Dago’s future cultivation of the Golden Law.
• Tracy: Is revealed to be severely injured and undergoing a mysterious healing process inside a fiery, egg-like vessel. Her apparent unconsciousness is misleading, as she may still perceive events around her.
• Village wizard and villagers: The villagers’ worship and fear suggest Tracy or the fiery object has become the focus of a local religious ritual. The wizard apprentice is shown to be vastly weaker than Dago.

Significant Themes

• Temptation versus caution: Dago must choose between obtaining a powerful resource and avoiding the dangers surrounding Tracy.
• Fate and inevitable encounters: Despite deliberately traveling away from Tracy’s presumed location, Dago is drawn back to her, reinforcing the sense that their meeting is unavoidable.
• Hidden vulnerability: Tracy, normally a dangerous figure, appears defenseless while recovering, yet her sudden awakening reveals that appearances cannot be trusted.
• Power imbalance: Dago’s effortless suppression of the village wizard and the villagers’ panic emphasize the vast difference between powerful wizards and ordinary people.
• Transformation and rebirth: Yitai’s evolution and Tracy’s suspension within an amniotic-like substance both suggest themes of growth, regeneration, and metamorphosis.

Character Interactions

• Dago and Yitai: Their relationship is shown through Yitai’s consumption of the staff, which directly strengthens Dago’s future capabilities.
• Dago and the Red Lotus Staff: Dago temporarily suppresses the staff, pursues it after it escapes, and ultimately chooses not to take it because of the danger connected to Tracy.
• Dago and the villagers: His arrival terrifies them, and his spiritual pressure causes the village’s wizard leader to collapse, sending the villagers into a panic.
• Dago and Tracy: Though Tracy remains physically enclosed and mostly unresponsive, Dago identifies her, considers taking her staff, and withdraws when her subtle reaction suggests she may awaken. The chapter ends with Tracy opening her eyes behind him, setting up their imminent confrontation.

Dago was pulled into a fiery crystal with Tracy, where they struggled as her flames clashed with his awakened frost. Elsewhere, Michael escaped through a spatial teleportation array after a royal heir sacrificed himself, while Lintis and Doru searched for a Phoenix-family member.

• A young woman emerging from the fiery mass dragged Dago into the crystal as flames swept across the surrounding land.
• A man transferred his power and the golden rune to Michael, then vanished after Michael escaped in a burst of white light.
• Lintis and Doru concluded that Michael had escaped through a high-tier spatial teleportation array and continued searching for a Phoenix-family member.
• Lord Rona and several Miracle Wizards appeared at the battlefield, then departed after a brief discussion.
• Dago struggled against Tracy inside the crystal, and his Despair Winter Dragon bloodline awakened, spreading ice across the fiery shell.
• Crimson tendrils pierced Dago from Tracy’s body, and the frost began melting as the flames surged again.

Chapter Summary: “Ice and Snow Overwhelm the Planet”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago awakens from a dream in which he becomes the Despair Winter Dragon and battles a flaming giant bird. His inherited Winter Dragon bloodline reveals the reason for his instinctive hatred of Tracy: she possesses the bloodline of the Eternal Flame Undying Bird, the Winter Dragon’s natural mortal enemy.
• Tracy is undergoing a fiery “nirvana rebirth” after suffering severe injuries. To fuel the process, she unknowingly—or instinctively—uses Dago as kindling, draining his vitality through energy-siphoning tendrils connected to her body.
• As Dago’s life force rapidly diminishes, his body begins to burn and wither. His hatred toward Tracy and the threat of death provoke an increasingly savage response, but he is unable to break free.
• Dago calls upon an imprint in his soul. Far away, a giant black-blue ice serpent—apparently connected to the Winter Dragon lineage—hears the call and briefly reacts to the name “Phoenix,” though it ultimately remains indifferent and disappears into the sea.
• At the brink of death, Dago enters a profound state of insight, sensing a possible way to merge the opposing elements of ice and fire. However, his consciousness begins to fade before he can grasp it fully.
• The Soul Crystal carrying the imprint [Winter Star] activates. A mysterious voice declares, “Ice and Snow Overwhelm the Planet,” unleashing a tremendous icy force that freezes the lava, flames, and nearly completed Undying Bird form into beautiful ice sculptures.
• In the Far North, ancient beings awaken in response to the disturbance. An extremely old woman in the Frost Palace senses that the other half of the Ice Emperor’s imprint has awakened.
• She summons Elsa, a noble blue-haired girl associated with ice and snow, and tells her that she is destined to become the next leader of the Frost Palace. Elsa is ordered to retrieve the complete inheritance of the Ice Emperor.
• Elsa departs on an ice dragon, heading toward the source of the awakened inheritance.

Character Developments

• Dago: Learns the true origin of his hatred toward Tracy and becomes aware of the deadly conflict between their bloodlines. His near-death experience pushes him toward a deeper understanding of ice-fire fusion and awakens the power of the Winter Star imprint.
• Tracy: Her identity as a descendant of the Eternal Flame Undying Bird is revealed. Her fiery rebirth demonstrates both the destructive and regenerative power of her bloodline, though her process nearly kills Dago.
• The Ice Serpent: Its brief response to Dago’s call suggests a connection to the Winter Dragon and the ancient conflict with the Phoenix or Undying Bird, but its emotional detachment leaves its intentions unclear.
• Elsa: Is established as the chosen successor of the Frost Palace and the future inheritor of the Ice Emperor’s complete legacy. Her respectful behavior toward the elderly woman contrasts with the cold, queenlike authority she displays after leaving the palace.
• The Elderly Frost Palace Woman: Acts as a guardian or prophet of the Ice Emperor’s inheritance. She recognizes the awakening of Dago’s power and sets Elsa on her mission.

Significant Themes

• Opposing bloodlines and inherited conflict: Dago and Tracy are bound by the ancient enmity between the Winter Dragon and the Undying Bird, suggesting that their hostility is both instinctive and historically predetermined.
• Death and rebirth: Tracy’s nirvana rebirth mirrors Dago’s near-death transformation, emphasizing destruction as a path toward renewal.
• Ice versus fire: The chapter develops ice and fire not merely as opposing forces but as elements that might coexist or merge, a possibility Dago briefly perceives.
• Awakening of ancient powers: The activation of the Winter Star imprint alerts powerful beings across the world and begins a larger struggle over the Ice Emperor’s inheritance.
• Destiny and succession: Elsa is presented as someone chosen by fate to lead the Frost Palace, while Dago appears increasingly tied to the awakening of the Winter Dragon’s legacy.

Character Interactions

• Dago and Tracy are physically entwined during Tracy’s rebirth, but their interaction is violently unequal: Tracy draws life from Dago while he struggles desperately to survive.
• Dago’s internal connection to the ice serpent shows that his soul can reach ancient beings linked to his bloodline, though the serpent does not directly intervene.
• The elderly woman and Elsa share a reverent, almost familial relationship. The elder affectionately blesses Elsa while formally assigning her the mission of recovering the Ice Emperor’s inheritance.
• Elsa’s departure marks the beginning of her pursuit of Dago’s awakened power and sets up a likely future confrontation or alliance.

Summary of “Symbiosis” Contract

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago breaks free from a massive ice sculpture after an unknown amount of time, emerging physically strengthened but with his internal energy still partly depleted.
• He discovers a ring-shaped mark within his soul: the Soul Imprint [Winter Star], inherited from the Ice Prison Palace. Through it, he senses a distant summons and recognizes the immense power of the Despair Winter Dragon bloodline.
• Before he can investigate further, Tracy emerges from another ice formation behind him. Remembering that she has repeatedly pushed him to the brink of death, Dago attacks immediately with overwhelming killing intent.
• Dago restrains Tracy, breaks both her arms, freezes her legs, and attempts to kill her by piercing her forehead.
• A mysterious rune suddenly appears on Tracy’s forehead, causing an identical mark and severe pain to manifest on Dago. An explosive force throws them apart.
• Dago realizes that the rune has created an unnatural bond between them: they can sense each other’s emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, and injuries.
• The bond combines extreme intimacy with their existing hatred as natural enemies. Neither can accept the contradiction, and Tracy reacts by attacking Dago in apparent mental breakdown.
• Their battle lasts until nightfall. Although Dago remains stronger, hurting Tracy causes him to experience the same pain, making the fight far more difficult.
• Exhausted and injured, they finally stop. Tracy bitterly identifies their connection as a “symbiosis” contract and despairs at being bound to Dago.

Character Developments

• Dago: Becomes stronger after escaping the ice, gains renewed awareness of the Winter Star inheritance, and displays heightened confidence and lethal decisiveness. However, the symbiosis contract forces him to confront vulnerability: he can no longer harm Tracy without suffering the consequences himself.
• Tracy: Initially remains Dago’s hostile and dangerous enemy, but the contract shatters her emotional stability. Her rage and despair reveal how profoundly she rejects being permanently linked to him.
• Dago and Tracy: Their relationship changes from straightforward mortal enmity into a contradictory bond involving shared pain, sensations, and emotions. Their conflict is now inseparable from mutual dependence.

Significant Themes

• Contradictory intimacy and hatred: The contract makes enemies emotionally and physically inseparable, blending affection-like closeness with murderous hostility.
• Loss of autonomy: Both characters are forced into a connection neither chose or desires, threatening their identities and freedom.
• Shared suffering and consequences: Violence against one immediately affects the other, making their former power dynamic impossible to maintain.
• Power and destiny: The Winter Star inheritance and the mysterious contract suggest that larger supernatural forces are shaping Dago and Tracy’s paths.
• Psychological conflict: The characters must cope not only with physical injuries but also with the disturbing experience of sensing one another from within.

Character Interactions

• Dago attacks Tracy without hesitation, driven by accumulated hatred and memories of her nearly killing him.
• Tracy struggles physically but is completely outmatched until the contract activates.
• After the bond forms, Tracy attacks Dago wildly, while Dago repeatedly repels her but cannot fight without sharing her pain.
• Their final exchange captures the new dynamic: Tracy recognizes the bond as a symbiosis contract and reacts with despair, while Dago remains stunned and uncertain about how to deal with their forced connection.

Chapter Summary: “Appointment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago realizes that Tracy’s attempted vitality-draining technique was interrupted by the power of the Soul Imprint [Winter Star].
• Instead of successfully stealing Dago’s vitality, the spell creates a forced symbiotic pact between them. Their bodies and lives are now linked, and separating too far causes backlash for both.
• Tracy attacks Dago in anger, but their connection causes him to suffer some of the consequences of injuring her.
• The two discover they are both naked after the previous struggle. Dago uses Yitai to form wizard’s robes for himself and gives Tracy a spare robe to preserve her dignity.
• Dago asks whether Tracy knows how to break the pact, but quickly realizes she would never help him, since ending it would likely leave her vulnerable to death.
• Dago decides to take Tracy with him rather than abandon her. He also takes her Red Lotus Staff and plans to seek Ewakuai, whose Elder Spirit Wizard heritage might provide a solution to their soul-related condition.
• Five days later, Dago and Tracy are traveling through a dangerous, miasma-filled forest. They maintain their required distance but barely speak.
• Dago creates a campfire at a temporary resting point. Their relationship remains extremely hostile and emotionally distant, though Tracy now obeys his instructions without protest.

Character Developments

• Dago: Initially shocked and angered by the pact, he quickly becomes practical. Although he still dislikes and distrusts Tracy, he accepts responsibility for keeping her alive because their fates are now connected. His decision to give her clothing and seek Ewakuai shows a degree of restraint and reluctant concern.
• Tracy: Her pride is devastated by the failed ritual, the loss of control, and Dago witnessing her most vulnerable state. Her previous arrogance collapses into humiliation, hatred, and emotional numbness. Over the following five days, she becomes quiet and passive, complying with Dago’s commands while concealing intense resentment.
• Dago and Tracy’s bond: Their relationship changes from direct hostility and attempted killing to an unwanted dependence. They remain enemies, but the pact forces them to cooperate and stay together.

Significant Themes

• Unwanted interdependence: The symbiotic pact forces two enemies to rely on one another, creating tension between personal hatred and mutual survival.
• Loss of pride and control: Tracy’s failed technique strips away her confidence and autonomy, leaving her emotionally shattered.
• Pragmatism over revenge: Dago suppresses his anger and focuses on finding a solution, recognizing that Tracy’s survival is now tied to his own.
• Consequences of forbidden power: Tracy’s attempt to forcibly seize vitality and the intervention of the Soul Imprint produce an unforeseen supernatural result.

Character Interactions

• Tracy launches a furious attack on Dago, while Dago instinctively kicks her away and then realizes their pact links their pain.
• Dago provides Tracy with clothing despite their mutual hatred, showing reluctant respect for her dignity.
• He questions her about dissolving the pact, but she responds with silent hostility and a mocking sneer.
• Dago carries her away and takes her staff, while Tracy briefly resists before resigning herself to following him.
• During their five-day journey, Dago gives directions and Tracy obeys, but they remain separated by emotional hostility and rarely speak.

Chapter Summary: “Wailing Mountains, Moon Trees”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago travels through the Wailing Mountains toward a primitive tribe where Ewakuai has arranged a meeting. He knows only that he must find a forest composed entirely of glowing Moon Trees.
• While waiting for nightfall, Dago examines his ongoing “symbiosis” with Tracy. Their connection has intensified over the past five days, raising the possibility that their souls may eventually merge into a new, indistinguishable being.
• Dago experiments with combining ice- and fire-type energies through his spell research, “Ice-Fire Coexistence.” He concludes that the technique requires both perfectly balanced elemental forces and a neutral medium to mediate between them.
• As night arrives, the Moon Trees reveal themselves, allowing Dago to locate the meeting area. Tracy struggles behind him because she has lost nearly all magical and mental abilities, is barefoot, wounded, exhausted, and starving.
• When Tracy becomes too injured to continue, Dago reluctantly carries her through the forest, despite still wanting her dead if their symbiosis could be undone.
• Upon advancing deeper into the Moon Tree forest, Dago is attacked by a glowing black thorn arrow. He stops it with mental power, redirects it, and then calls out in a dialect taught to him by Ewakuai, signaling his arrival to the tribe.

Character Developments

• Dago: Becomes increasingly concerned about the permanent consequences of his symbiosis with Tracy, though he remains emotionally hostile toward her. His magical research grows more methodical as he identifies the theoretical requirements for ice-fire coexistence. Despite his cruelty and indifference, he ultimately carries Tracy when her injuries prevent her from walking.
• Tracy: Has been reduced from a powerful noble wizard to someone nearly incapable of combat. She retains only the enhanced physical constitution of her Phoenix Bloodline. Her suffering—hunger, injuries, exhaustion, and humiliation—contrasts sharply with her former status and power. She continues to mock Dago’s efforts, showing that her pride and hostility remain intact.
• Ewakuai: Though absent, he remains important as the guide who directed Dago to the Moon Tree forest and taught him the local dialect needed to communicate with the tribe.

Significant Themes

• Forced interdependence: Dago and Tracy are bound together despite mutual hatred, with their physical and spiritual connection threatening to erase their individual identities.
• Powerlessness and reversal of status: Tracy’s loss of magic forces her to endure conditions beneath her former noble position, while Dago controls whether she receives even basic assistance.
• Cruelty versus reluctant responsibility: Dago refuses to comfort Tracy and actively allows her to suffer, yet the symbiosis forces him to experience some of her pain and eventually compels him to help her.
• Balance and coexistence: Dago’s ice-fire research mirrors the broader conflict between opposing forces. The need for balance and a mediating presence reflects the unstable relationship between Dago and Tracy.
• The unknown and threshold of discovery: The Moon Tree forest marks Dago’s arrival at a mysterious new stage of his journey, while the thorn-arrow attack establishes that the tribe may not welcome outsiders easily.

Character Interactions

• Dago and Tracy remain locked in a hostile, psychologically intimate relationship because their symbiosis allows them to sense each other’s thoughts and emotions.
• Tracy silently mocks Dago’s failed spell experiments, while Dago recognizes her contempt but refuses to react emotionally.
• Dago deliberately withholds food, footwear, and magical assistance from Tracy, treating her suffering as deserved punishment.
• Despite this hostility, Dago carries Tracy when her wounded feet make further travel impossible, revealing a reluctant dependence between them.
• At the chapter’s end, Dago uses Ewakuai’s language to address the unseen inhabitants of the Moon Tree forest after stopping their attack.

Summary: “Spirit Witch Tribe”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Dago’s shout attracts several nearly invisible natives whose bodies are camouflaged with glowing moon-tree-sap patterns.
• After a brief exchange in the tribe’s language, most of the natives leave to report Dago’s arrival, while one young man remains behind to watch Dago and Tracy.
• The young native offers Tracy medicinal powder for her injured feet. Dago accepts the gesture gratefully, but Tracy dismisses it, embarrassing him.
• The natives return with a young First-Ring Witch who speaks standard Southern Wizard Common Tongue. She identifies Dago and Tracy as the people the tribe’s “Saint” has been awaiting.
• Dago is brought to Ewakuai, who is now dressed as a tribal spiritual leader and lives within a settlement protected by a Rune Magic Array.
• Ewakuai is surprised and alarmed to see Tracy accompanying Dago. After Dago explains their unusual condition, Ewakuai identifies it as a failed Phoenix “Nirvana,” or a two-way soul aberration caused by the Phoenix’s attempted recovery process.
• Ewakuai admits he cannot currently reverse the transformation. However, he explains that even if the bond is severed, remnants of each person’s soul will remain within the other, creating an intense and lasting emotional connection.
• He advises Dago not to rush to end the relationship, since prolonged fusion could eventually alter Dago’s body and bloodline, potentially granting him Phoenix-related abilities.
• Ewakuai gives Dago a white finger bone capable of concealing his soul fluctuations from detection below the Seven-Ring level, which may protect him from Tracy’s family.
• With Tracy’s immediate situation temporarily addressed, Ewakuai reveals that he summoned Dago for a more serious and potentially dangerous matter.

Character Developments

• Dago: Demonstrates caution and respect by waiting outside the tribe rather than intruding. He becomes increasingly troubled by his bond with Tracy and recognizes that his inability to harm her may stem from soul-level influence rather than merely the symbiosis contract. Ewakuai’s gift reassures him and strengthens his trust in Ewakuai.
• Tracy: Remains physically vulnerable because of her injured feet and inability to resist Dago, yet her presence continues to shape the situation. Her dismissive attitude toward the native’s medicine reveals her arrogance and social superiority.
• Ewakuai: Appears in a more primitive, tribal role as the Spirit Witch Tribe’s Saint. He acts as an informed guide, explaining the Phoenix phenomenon and offering Dago both emotional insight and practical protection. His aid suggests that he considers Dago’s cooperation important.
• The young native and First-Ring Witch: The young man shows compassion and curiosity toward Tracy, while the young witch serves as the tribe’s mediator and translator.

Significant Themes

• Soul bonds and identity: The chapter explores how the fusion of souls can alter emotions, instincts, and relationships beyond conscious choice.
• The danger and promise of transformation: Dago’s condition is both a threat and a possible opportunity, since continued fusion may grant him Phoenix bloodline benefits.
• Trust and mutual obligation: Ewakuai’s protection and valuable gift establish a stronger bond of trust with Dago, while also implying that Ewakuai’s request will carry serious risks.
• Cultural difference and prejudice: The natives’ hospitality contrasts with Tracy’s disdain, highlighting differences between the tribal community and the Wizarding world.
• Survival and bloodline continuation: The Phoenix legend presents immortality not as endless existence, but as a method of preserving the species through rebirth.

Character Interactions

• Dago communicates only minimally with the natives because Ewakuai taught him just two phrases.
• The young native attempts to help Tracy, but she rejects his medicine; Dago accepts the gesture on her behalf.
• The young witch formally welcomes Dago and Tracy and guides them to Ewakuai.
• Ewakuai questions Dago about bringing Tracy, then privately listens to Dago’s explanation.
• Ewakuai challenges Dago’s assumption that he could kill Tracy once their contract ends, forcing him to confront the emotional consequences of their intertwined souls.
• Ewakuai gives Dago protective advice and the white finger bone before shifting the discussion toward the dangerous mission for which Dago was summoned.

Chapter Summary: “Soul Anomaly, Hall of All Spirits”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ewakuai invites Dago to accompany him into the sealed Hall of All Spirits, the core inheritance site of the Ancient Spirit-Witch Tradition.
• He reveals that he is descended from the Uta Tribe, which has preserved the complete Elder Spirit Wizard inheritance. Five years earlier, Ewakuai entered the Hall with several tribal elders but failed the trial, while the elders died inside.
• To attempt the inheritance trial again, Ewakuai needs the help of a Soul Anomaly—someone who possesses multiple souls within one body.
• Ewakuai identifies Dago as an unusually rare Soul Anomaly because he contains multiple souls while retaining independent consciousness.
• He also reveals that Ang Leo, whom Dago defeated in the Blood Battle, possesses an even stronger and more completely integrated secondary soul. Ewakuai believes Ang could have defeated everyone present if he had revealed all his abilities.
• Dago does not immediately accept Ewakuai’s proposal, though Ewakuai assures him that entering the Hall may help resolve Dago’s soul-fusion problem.
• Ewakuai explains that incomplete soul fusion results from failing to understand and satisfy the deepest obsessions of the souls involved. This prompts Dago to consider returning to his original body’s hometown to fulfill its unresolved desires.
• Ewakuai reveals that the Hall’s entrance lies on the central Upper Ring Continent.
• The chapter ends with Dago attending a welcoming banquet held by the Uta Tribe, where he notices Tracy sitting alone and staring silently into the fire.

Character Development

• Dago gains a clearer understanding of his unusual condition: his soul contains the original Dago’s consciousness and part of Behelet’s ancient will. He also learns that this condition, while obstructing his advancement to Level Four Dawn, may be connected to the Hall of All Spirits.
• Dago becomes more cautious toward Ewakuai. Although Ewakuai appears honest and offers valuable guidance, Dago remains unwilling to trust him completely and chooses to think before agreeing.
• Dago’s emotional perspective shifts when he realizes that the original Dago’s unresolved wishes may be preventing complete soul integration. He begins considering a return to his hometown.
• Ewakuai is revealed to be far more significant than public rumors suggest. Rather than merely possessing a fragmentary inheritance, he is a true spirit wizard with deep knowledge of souls and the Ancient Spirit-Witch Tradition.
• Ang Leo is recontextualized as a far more dangerous and mysterious figure than Dago believed, having deliberately concealed the full extent of his power.
• Tracy remains withdrawn and emotionally distant during the banquet, suggesting unresolved thoughts or distress.

Significant Themes

• Identity and soul integration: The chapter explores what it means to contain multiple souls and whether identity can remain stable after spiritual fusion.
• Unresolved obsessions: Souls are influenced by the goals and desires they held before death or fusion. Fulfillment, rather than suppression, may be the key to achieving harmony.
• Inheritance and sacrifice: The Hall of All Spirits represents a powerful ancestral legacy, but accessing it requires dangerous trials and has already cost the lives of Ewakuai’s elders.
• Hidden strength and deception: Ang’s concealed abilities and Ewakuai’s secret history emphasize that appearances in the wizarding world can be misleading.
• Trust and cooperation: Dago must decide whether the potential benefits of working with Ewakuai outweigh the risks of entering the mysterious Hall.

Character Interactions

• Ewakuai and Dago have a serious, revealing conversation in which Ewakuai discloses his origins, his failed trial, and his need for Dago’s assistance.
• Dago questions Ewakuai about the meaning of a Soul Anomaly, the dangers of the Hall, and the existence of other suitable candidates.
• Ewakuai provides Dago with important spiritual guidance, explaining how unresolved obsessions interfere with soul fusion.
• Ewakuai admits that Ang Leo was another possible candidate but was rejected because of his unstable temperament.
• After their discussion, the Uta Tribe honors Dago with a welcoming feast. Though respected as Ewakuai’s guest, Dago’s attention ultimately shifts toward Tracy, whose isolated silence contrasts with the celebration around her.

Chapter Summary: Gregg Town

Key Plot Points and Events

• After spending one day with the Uta Tribe, Dago leaves Ewakuai and begins searching for a safe destination while continuing to worry about his unresolved soul problem.
• Rather than return to the Thorn Ring, Dago decides to travel to his homeland in the East Coast Region, taking Tracy with him.
• In Gregg Town, Tracy waits outside a house while Dago arranges passage with the Starveil Whale Merchant Association.
• A young First Circle wizard attempts to touch Tracy, but Dago intervenes with overwhelming mental pressure and forces him to flee.
• The merchant association informs Dago—using the alias “Solomon”—that a caravan and ship will depart in three days. Because Dago reveals himself to be a Third-Ring Wizard, they waive his fare and offer him additional compensation.
• Dago plans to reach the East Coast in approximately two months, traveling first with the merchant caravan to the port.
• At the inn, Dago warns Tracy to alert him if similar incidents occur. Tracy responds with open resentment, threatening to make him pay “a thousandfold” for her suffering.
• Dago reflects on Tracy’s hostility and realizes that keeping her with him is dangerous but that he cannot simply abandon her.

Character Developments

• Dago: Shows caution and strategic thinking by avoiding the Thorn Ring, concealing his identity, and arranging discreet transportation home. His immense power is emphasized when his mental force terrifies a First Circle Wizard. Despite his confidence, he is increasingly troubled by Tracy’s hatred and uncertain how to manage their relationship.
• Tracy: Remains outwardly obedient but internally furious. Her quiet submission masks intense resentment toward Dago, and she openly threatens revenge. Her dependence on him contrasts with her growing desire to eventually retaliate.
• Starveil Whale Merchant Association: Treats Dago with respect after learning he is a Third-Ring Wizard, demonstrating the influence and privileges associated with his strength.
• The young wizard: His attempted harassment of Tracy exposes his recklessness and cowardice; he immediately submits once confronted by Dago.

Significant Themes

• Power and intimidation: Dago’s status as a Third-Ring Wizard grants him protection, influence, and superior travel opportunities, while weaker wizards are helpless before him.
• Disguise and secrecy: Dago uses the alias Solomon and avoids contacting known acquaintances to keep his location hidden.
• Captivity and resentment: Tracy’s forced dependence on Dago creates a tense relationship in which obedience conceals hatred and a desire for revenge.
• The burden of responsibility: Dago recognizes that Tracy is both vulnerable and dangerous, making her protection an obligation he cannot easily escape.
• Return to one’s origins: Dago’s planned journey to the East Coast represents a temporary retreat from the dangers of the Southern Wizarding World and a possible attempt to reconnect with his past.

Character Interactions

• Dago protects Tracy from the intrusive young wizard, establishing his authority and preventing her harassment.
• He receives travel arrangements from the Starveil Whale Merchant Association while maintaining his assumed identity.
• Dago advises Tracy to inform him if she encounters danger, but her bitter response reveals that she views him as the source of her suffering rather than as a protector.
• Their relationship remains deeply antagonistic: Dago feels responsible for her, while Tracy’s apparent obedience is overshadowed by hatred and threats of revenge.

Dago explored his ancient despair winter dragon bloodline and studied Isidore’s Spellguard Armlet before a powerful enemy arrived over Gregg Wizard Town. As Tracy warned him of the danger, Dago prepared to unleash the forbidden power of Frost-Tinted Crimson Radiance and hold off the attacker.

• Dago trained until his despair winter dragon bloodline reached six percent and reflected on the risks of opening the forbidden gate to use Frost-Tinted Crimson Radiance.
• Dago studied the vast Isidore Legacy inside Isidore’s Spellguard Armlet.
• Dago sensed Tracy singing sadly in the neighboring room, but Tracy noticed his mental intrusion and insulted him.
• Tracy sensed an approaching danger and told Dago it was too late to escape.
• Dago struck Tracy and carried her out through the window as a purple-haired man in pale bone armor descended in gray clouds.
• Dago flung Tracy away and prepared to open his forbidden gate, telling her he would hold off the attacker.