Chapter Summaries

Russell advanced to become an advanced apprentice after studying spells with Hill, then spent a month learning cantrips while helping Carpenter improve before the siblings prepared to meet their clan leader about leaving for the Black Enigma Tower.

• Russell woke with a clearer Mental Sea, concealed the secrets tied to the Defense Tower, and resolved to make his progress look like the result of rune practice.
• Hill taught Russell shaping spells, and Russell became an advanced apprentice while pretending he needed several more days before revealing his progress.
• Hill made Russell learn more cantrips, leaving Russell stunned when he discovered he could not yet learn first-circle spells.
• Russell taught Carpenter Detect Magic and urged her to improve before their trip, while she teased him for sounding like a grandfather.
• Over the following month, Russell learned nearly every kind of cantrip and grew more wary of Sia Tower's strength, while Carpenter estimated she still needed six months to approach the advanced rank.
• Carpenter told Russell that the clan leader wanted to see them, and the siblings set off intending to surprise the family and encourage them to pay for their journey.

Russell and Carpenter negotiated with the Hainalson Family head over Russell’s method for improving magical aptitude, receiving rewards and resources before leaving for the Black Mystery Tower. As they approached the tower, Ulrich advised Russell to keep some knowledge from the family, and Russell soon met the frail Mage Gilbert.

• The Hainalson Family head recognized Carpenter’s improved strength and gave Russell the family’s Formal Apprentice reward.
• Russell accepted the family’s offer of travel resources, a reward for Carpenter, better treatment for both families, and a level-one storage ring for each of them.
• Russell restrained Carpenter when she wanted to object, and she ultimately stayed silent about the agreement.
• On the way to the Black Mystery Tower, Ulrich asked Russell about the secret method and urged him not to tell the family everything.
• Russell assured Ulrich he understood, then saw that Mage Gilbert was extremely frail.

Russell and Carpenter registered as apprentices under the gravely ill Gilbert, who had been waiting for his family to produce a successor. After accepting them as his students, Gilbert discovered that Russell could write runes with astonishing accuracy and began to reassess the boy’s abilities.

• Russell saw how severely Gilbert’s suffering had weakened him, while Gilbert told Ulrich to leave Russell and Carpenter with him.
• Mage Wester registered Russell and Carpenter as the Hainalson Family’s apprentices, and Russell thanked him for his encouragement.
• Gilbert accepted Russell and Carpenter as his students, gave them Magic Books and his notes, and warned them to stay in the Side Tower.
• At Gilbert’s request, Russell wrote runes, astonishing Gilbert with their resemblance to the imprints in naturally formed arrays.
• Gilbert summoned two balls of light to guide Russell and Carpenter around the tower.

Gilbert confronted Hill about his failing health, the fate of souls, and the goddess worshipped in his world. Hill confirmed that Gilbert could not be saved and revealed that Gilbert’s world was not truly called Bisozeya.

• Gilbert detected an unseen visitor in his Mage Tower and wondered how the Soul-Capturing Array had failed to identify Hill.
• Hill told Gilbert that his damaged Mental Sea and depleted life force meant that even a perfect Mind Power Potion could not save him.
• Gilbert explained that he had seen his parents’ souls drawn into a vortex resembling the Goddess Gate and had concealed what he witnessed.
• Hill said Gilbert had been right to keep the discovery secret, since revealing it could have doomed the Hainalson Family and the Black Mystery Tower.
• Gilbert questioned whether the goddess Bisozeya could truly have sacrificed herself for humanity while devouring the souls of her people.
• Hill revealed that Bisozeya was not the true name of Gilbert’s world.

Gilbert learned that Rute had secretly monitored him and let go of his last attachment to the Black Mystery Tower. As he worried about what would happen to Russell and the others if he died, Hill offered to preserve memories that someone else might also know.

• Gilbert asked Hill whether he needed him to do something, and Hill said he wanted to look inside Sia Tower.
• Hill explained that Gilbert’s damaged soul had somehow received the River Styx’s mark, so he could not simply keep Gilbert’s soul after his death.
• Hill revealed a hidden listening formation beneath the rug, and Gilbert recognized it as something Rute had installed.
• Gilbert recalled how Rute had abandoned him after finding him no longer useful and gave up his lingering gratitude toward the Black Mystery Tower.
• Hill modified Gilbert’s isolation formation and agreed to take memories Gilbert shared with at least one other person.

Gilbert agreed to let Hill take his place in ten years and entrusted him with teaching Russell and Carpenter. After Gilbert gave Hill a silvery-blue gem formed from his soul, he peacefully closed his eyes, leaving Hill to watch and wonder how the River Styx would claim his soul.

• Gilbert recognized that Hill was not trying to threaten him and agreed to help Hill impersonate him when Black Mystery Tower could no longer hold on.
• Gilbert asked Hill to teach Russell and Carpenter, and Hill promised to teach them if they studied diligently without guaranteeing their futures.
• Gilbert agreed to make the change happen soon so Russell and Carpenter would not feel lost after changing teachers.
• Gilbert released silvery-blue strands of light from his forehead, and Hill drew them into a diamond that became a gem.
• Gilbert closed his eyes in his favorite recliner, and Hill watched to see how the River Styx would take his soul.

Hill encountered a rabbit-like iron dragon who had sent Gilbert’s soul into the River Styx, then realized the dragon was a red dragon hiding his identity and protecting his daughter. After Gilbert’s remains burned away, Hill recovered the silver-blue diamond and fashioned it into a headband, leaving Hilbert as the sole person in this world.

• Hill questioned the rabbit-like iron dragon, who sent Gilbert’s soul through a fading entrance to the River Styx and said he would wait for Hill’s undertaking to finish.
• The iron dragon vanished into the ground, and Hill recognized him as a red dragon who had prepared contingencies for his daughter.
• Hill considered whether the dragon’s daughter might become neutral and serve as a spokesperson for the River Styx.
• Hill burned Gilbert’s body and belongings, leaving only Hilbert in this world.
• Hill recovered the silver-blue diamond, wrapped it in black thread to make a headband, and recreated Gilbert’s stone table and iron recliner.

Hill reviewed Gilbert's memories and checked the magic notes intended for his new apprentices, while Russell and Carpenter woke to the comforts of the Mage Tower and met their teacher. Hill set strict rules for their training and warned that their regular lessons depended on their progress.

• Hill reviewed Gilbert's memories, considered his ties to the Hainalson Family, and wondered what the disguised Red Dragon was planning.
• Hill examined Archmage Rute's magic notes to check whether they contained errors.
• Russell woke in a comfortable room, admired the cotton clothes and silver accessories, and urged Carpenter to prepare herself properly before meeting their teacher.
• Hill gave Russell and Carpenter Archmage Rute's magic notes, directed them to study the first shelf of the library, and scheduled lessons every seven days during their first year.
• Hill warned the apprentices that he would cancel their lessons if they failed to study and think independently, and Russell promised they would work hard.

Hill left Russell and Carpenter to study for seven days, then met with them to hear Russell’s remaining questions. When Russell asked about the principles connecting several Transmutation School spells, Hill encouraged him to investigate the answer himself.

• Hill arranged for Russell to study on his own and left him a Magic Book suited to the world’s spells.
• Russell and Carpenter spent seven days studying under a strict schedule, with Russell helping his sister make progress.
• Russell approached Hill with a notebook and five unanswered questions after their study period ended.
• Hill learned that three of Russell’s questions concerned possible connections between Transmutation School spells.
• Hill told Russell he could not yet answer his question about the spells’ relationship and urged him to try figuring it out himself.

Hill assigned Russell more Transmutation practice and corrected his overconfidence, while Carpenter’s concern for her brother led Hill to recognize her potential for illusion magic. The chapter left both siblings with new spells to study before their next lesson.

• Hill told Russell to practice two Transmutation spells for seven days and explained how mages developed silent casting and Fast Casting.
• Carpenter reminded Russell to master his spells before thinking about advanced techniques, and Russell apologized to Hill.
• Hill stopped Russell’s spell demonstration and told him to perfect his gestures before their next lesson.
• Hill gave Carpenter an Elementary Guide to Illusion and asked her to learn one of three illusion spells with Russell’s help.

Hill settled into life at the Black Mystery Tower while a disguised Primordial Red Dragon raided several Mage Towers as an Iron Dragon. A fellow apprentice revealed that the Black Enigma Tower planned to help the Sia Tower hunt the dragon because the tower’s dwindling number of new mages threatened its future.

• Hill reflected on his past aloofness and became gentler toward Russell and Carpenter, who gained a little more free time together.
• The Primordial Red Dragon disguised himself as an Iron Dragon, ambushed the Despair Tower’s workers with sleep gas, and stole half the meteorite’s iron ore.
• The dragon escaped underground, raided another Mage Tower’s cattle farm, and provoked more towers to join the hunt.
• A senior fellow apprentice told Hill that the Black Enigma Tower would join the hunt because the Sia Tower wanted the dragon.
• The senior fellow apprentice revealed that fewer than thirty official mages had emerged from the Black Enigma Tower since Hill, leaving the tower unlikely to last another hundred years.

Gilbert’s senior fellow asked Hill to shelter his promising apprentices if the Black Enigma Tower’s members left to join Sia Tower. Hill agreed to let them seek refuge only in a genuine life-or-death crisis, and received materials about Sia Tower in return.

• Gilbert’s senior fellow explained that the tower masters’ authority kept the Black Enigma Tower’s factions from turning on one another.
• He asked Hill to protect his apprentices because the tower’s uncertain future could leave them vulnerable to murder or revenge.
• The senior fellow said he had secured his belongings and sealed his side tower, but feared for two apprentices who might become Official Mages before thirty.
• Hill agreed to let the apprentices flee to him in a life-or-death emergency, while warning that he would offer no second chances.
• The senior fellow gave Hill books about Sia Tower and left, prompting Hill to wonder what the Red Dragon intended.

Hill deduced that Fengo and the River Styx were behind the Red Dragon’s arrival, and that Fengo might have to confront the dragon to keep the world in order. At the Black Mystery Tower, Russell felt unsettled by the departure of senior mages and Carpenter teased him about being kept indoors under Gilbert’s strict schedule.

• Hill reasoned that Fengo was Asmodeus’s most trusted intelligence officer and might be monitoring Glasya’s world while she pursued her mother’s resurrection.
• Hill concluded that the River Styx had allowed a Red Dragon to enter by impersonating an Iron Dragon, creating an unforeseen problem that Fengo would likely handle personally.
• Hill suspected the River Styx was acting to prevent its souls from being stolen and welcomed it as a useful temporary ally.
• Russell noticed that the Black Mystery Tower felt desolate after many mid- and high-ranking mages left.
• Carpenter mocked Russell for not understanding that the apprentices felt vulnerable without the senior mages around, and Russell complained that Gilbert scheduled their breaks with unnerving precision.

Russell reflected on how thoroughly Mages could see through their apprentices, while Carpenter discovered that her Demoralizing Gaze showed different loved ones. Hill reassured the siblings about the spell and the Iron Dragon, leaving them to focus on their studies.

• Russell considered the different kinds of apprentice robes and realized that a teacher might choose students for their personalities as well as their abilities.
• Carpenter told Russell that her Demoralizing Gaze showed him, their mother, or their father, and she wondered whether something was wrong with the spell.
• Hill overheard the siblings and told Carpenter that the spell worked correctly, without addressing her doubts about whom she loved most.
• Russell asked Hill whether the Iron Dragon and recent disappearances would affect the apprentices' futures.
• Hill told Russell and Carpenter that the Iron Dragon would not affect them for the next twenty years and urged them to keep studying.

Hill kept the Black Mystery Tower calm while the Iron Dragon’s prolonged pursuit wore down the other Mage Towers. When Sia Tower finally sent Fengo to join the hunt, Hill realized the Iron Dragon had succeeded in drawing out the torturer it wanted.

• Hill strengthened the Side Tower’s defensive arrays and made Gilbert’s improving condition conspicuous to discourage threats against the apprentices.
• After three months of chasing the Iron Dragon, Sia Tower and the other Mage Towers began losing patience, while two of the Black Mystery Tower’s level-15 mages returned after losing students.
• The returning mages’ presence cooled tensions in the Black Mystery Tower, and Hill observed their spellcasting to judge how much force he might need against future enemies.
• Hill learned that Sia Tower had sent Fengo, whose signature electric-shock torture technique had once been used on a Primordial Red Dragon.
• Hill understood that the Iron Dragon had deliberately kept flying to lure Fengo out.

Hill learned that the Underworld Tower’s necromancers had launched deadly raids on mage parties and Mage Towers, while Fengo focused on tracking the Iron Dragon. The attacks left Archmage Rute’s faction relatively unscathed and poised to gain power in the Black Mystery Tower, leading Hill to suspect the Red Dragon had planned the upheaval for its daughter’s benefit.

• Hill heard that the Sia Tower’s Archmage had killed many Underworld Tower attackers, but surviving necromancers continued ambushing mage parties and returning in new bodies after being destroyed.
• Fengo rushed to confirmed necromancer attacks but devoted most of his attention to the Iron Dragon, while the necromancers used swift guerrilla raids against weakened Mage Towers.
• An enraged tower master returned to the Black Mystery Tower and burned the town cemetery, prompting its people to accept the loss of their dead rather than face them as undead.
• Hill learned that Gilbert’s teacher and the senior disciples of Archmage Rute’s faction had largely survived, leaving Rute positioned to become the Black Mystery Tower’s dominant power.
• Hill suspected the Red Dragon had helped engineer the upheaval and wondered whether the necromancers’ attack on the Black Mystery Tower had served more than a diversion for him.

The Black Mystery Tower sent some forces home while Sia Tower continued its massive search for the Disguised Iron Dragon, prompting changes in how the Black Mystery Tower treated its apprentices. Gilbert warned Russell that Sia Tower’s apprentice potions could limit his potential, leaving him to weigh his teacher’s pointed advice against the benefits of faster advancement.

• The Black Mystery Tower recalled part of its fighting force, and other Mage Towers refused to risk their Mages for Sia Tower’s search.
• The scale of Sia Tower’s forces unsettled the Black Mystery Tower, whose Archmages began curbing disorder and improving conditions for apprentices.
• The Black Mystery Tower started giving apprentices resources directly according to rank rather than relying on teachers to distribute them.
• Hill realized that Fengo was keeping Low-Rank Mages out of the search to protect them from the necromancers and from the dangers of the Mage Tower’s influence.
• Gilbert told Russell to avoid Sia Tower’s apprentice potions because they could harm his future prospects, and Russell recognized the warning as a barbed remark.

Russell and Carpenter discussed sharing a magical potion with their family, and Hill warned them to avoid outsiders while the other tower masters were away. Russell revealed that someone in the opposite Side Tower had been watching Carpenter, prompting Hill to realize that a mage might be considering her as a bride.

• Carpenter asked whether their family members could use the potion, and Hill explained that it was only suitable for advanced apprentices.
• Russell said he wanted to help protect his relatives, and Carpenter explained that he repaid the kindness they had shown him without knowing Gilbert’s painful family history.
• Hill told Russell and Carpenter they could use their own resources as they wished, but warned them not to contact outsiders and to ask Ulrich for anything they needed.
• Hill explained that the other two tower masters had returned while their own faction’s members had not, and warned the siblings not to get involved in outside affairs.
• Russell told Hill that someone in the opposite Side Tower had been watching Carpenter, and Hill suspected a mage hoped to take her as a bride to gain a connection to Gilbert.

Hill reflected on how his travels had affected his feelings toward his siblings, then warned Russell and Carpenter about mistakes that could harm their magical training. He left Russell ready to attempt consecutive spellcasting, with Magic Alarm as the next lesson if he met the standards.

• Russell argued that Gilbert should clearly reject the visitors’ intentions instead of remaining silent.
• Hill realized that his time in Oaisis had made him take his siblings’ affection for granted and resolved not to let outside influences hurt them.
• Hill encouraged Russell to be more confident and warned Carpenter that overusing illusions could blur the distinction between her true self and a role she performed.
• Carpenter understood the danger and agreed to set aside her disguise spell and focus on Illusory Sound and properly controlled spells.
• Hill told Russell to begin consecutive spellcasting and promised to teach him Magic Alarm if he met the standards.

Russell failed to cast a sequence of spells because he ignored how they interfered with one another, so Hill gave him a handbook on spell theory to study. Russell asked Hilbert for one month to master the material before facing him again.

• Russell cast spells in the wrong order, exhausted his control, and failed to form his arcane mark.
• Russell admitted his mistake, and Hill explained that spell interactions and Russell's cautious use of mental power had caused the failure.
• Hill gave Russell a handbook on spell theory and told Carpenter to study it only if she could work out Russell's mistake herself.
• Hill explained that Russell and Carpenter needed to memorize the books they could access, and Russell insisted Carpenter would study alongside him.
• Russell asked Hilbert for one month before he stood before him again.