Chapter Summaries

Zheng Yichen continued training and studying magic while searching the forest, where he found a fresh, magical feather. When Church investigators arrived in town, Lolise took him away and assured him that the missing townspeople were still alive.

• Zheng Yichen failed to develop Battle Qi and continued training to strengthen his body and mental power.
• Zheng Yichen found an unusually large feather with a faint magical pulse while hunting in the forest.
• Zheng Yichen returned to town and found that Lolise was absent, then started exploring parts of town he had not visited.
• Lolise returned, used Disintegration on a piece of tableware, and told Zheng Yichen they had to leave because Church members had arrived.
• Zheng Yichen saw the armed investigators approaching and asked Lolise whether the missing townspeople were alive; she said they were.

The Holy Church investigated the town beneath the Tot Mountains after earlier teams vanished and found a sealed Mercenary Guild branch and signs of a powerful, unexplained force. The captain followed traces of a young dragon into the forest, where his squad found evidence of a battle and a suspected dragon’s cave.

• Zheng Yichen watched the Holy Church team enter the town from several kilometers away, and Lolise warned him not to draw attention.
• A Mage sensed a possible watcher but failed to detect Zheng Yichen and Lolise.
• The Holy Church team found the town empty and strangely untouched by time, then discovered a dangerous seal on the Mercenary Guild branch.
• The captain sent Mages to work on the seal and led a squad toward the Tot Mountains to investigate a young dragon linked to the town’s recent growth.
• The squad encountered newly appeared Devil Beasts and found a battle site with crushed siege weapons and barren ground.
• A tracker found a cave believed to belong to the young dragon, and the captain hurried to inspect it.

The Church searched Zheng Yichen’s abandoned lair and discovered that the town’s residents were alive but trapped inside the sealed Mercenary Guild branch. Meanwhile, Zheng Yichen traveled with Lolise to the Illusion Demon Forest, where rumors of an unprotected young dragon had already spread.

• The captain found claw marks and patterned tally marks in Zheng Yichen’s old lair, but his team found no other useful clues.
• The Church’s mages partially broke the seal on the Mercenary Guild branch and discovered that the town’s residents were held motionless inside an expanded space, all still alive.
• Lolise rode on Zheng Yichen’s back as they traveled toward the Illusion Demon Forest, explaining that she had a home there and that the forest’s hallucinations could kill or drive intruders mad.
• After more than half a month on the road, Zheng Yichen learned he could fly without the gravity spell, but he and Lolise reached the forest on foot.
• News spread that a young dragon without its mother’s protection had been found beneath the Tot Mountains.

Zheng Yichen spent the night at Lolise’s old castle and tested the Illusion Demon Forest’s strange trees with a compressed fireball. A Ghost Maid warned him that his actions had affected someone and urged him to investigate.

• Zheng Yichen followed Lolise to her old castle, where two Ghost Maids appeared and Lolise told him he could sleep in the hall.
• Unable to sleep because he felt watched, Zheng Yichen slipped outside and found the Illusion Demon Forest transformed by night.
• Zheng Yichen compressed a fireball and threw it at a tree, but the flames vanished quickly while the tree remained nearly unharmed.
• A Ghost Maid pointed at the smoking tree and urged Zheng Yichen to move away, then gestured that his actions had affected someone.
• Zheng Yichen understood the warning and followed the Ghost Maid’s indication toward the person she wanted him to find.

Zheng Yichen followed the Ghost Maid through the Illusion Demon Forest and learned that its aggressive ghosts were people twisted by the forest’s illusions. He subdued a group of people driven into a frenzy by the effects of burning trees and stayed with them until they could recover, while discovering he needed the Ghost Maid to find his way back.

• The Ghost Maid beat a gray ghost and explained that gray ghosts had been decent people in life, while black ghosts should be killed.
• Zheng Yichen heard screams and found a group of young people and a middle-aged man losing control near the site of the trouble.
• The group panicked at the sight of Zheng Yichen and began attacking themselves and one another, so he used icy mist to slow them and knocked them unconscious.
• Zheng Yichen learned from the Ghost Maid that the group had inhaled fumes from burned trees and needed time to recover before leaving the forest.
• Zheng Yichen told the Ghost Maid to return without him, but she explained that he could not get back alone; he leaped into the air to check the way behind him.

Zheng Yichen cared for the unconscious group in the Illusion Demon Forest, healing their injuries and learning that Petty was a summoner. As the teacher awoke still trapped in a hallucination and attacked a student, Zheng Yichen knocked him unconscious again with his enchanted club.

• Zheng Yichen flew above the forest, realized he could not find the castle, and admitted he would need the Ghost Maid to guide him back.
• Zheng Yichen cast a Minor Healing Spell on the injured group and rummaged through their belongings.
• Zheng Yichen found Petty's summoner card and checked the others' cards, discovering that Petty was the only one with an unusual profession.
• Zheng Yichen shielded the Ghost Maid from the morning sunlight as the forest returned to normal.
• The teacher awoke while still hallucinating and swung at a student, so Zheng Yichen struck him with his enchanted wooden club and knocked him out.

Zheng Yichen waited for the students’ illusions to wear off and met Petty when she awoke. As the Ghost Maid left briefly, Petty summoned a rabbit for him to inspect.

• The Ghost Maid indicated that the students would return to normal that afternoon, and Zheng Yichen resumed practicing magic while he waited.
• Petty woke from the illusion, remembered the terrifying dragon from her nightmare, and found her classmates still unconscious.
• Zheng Yichen reassured Petty that he would not eat or kill her and told her to wait until her classmates woke.
• The Ghost Maid left for the hidden castle, and Petty recognized Zheng Yichen as a true dragon and wondered what kind he was.
• Zheng Yichen asked what Petty could summon, and she produced a three-dimensional Magic Array Pattern that formed a rabbit projection.

After rescuing Petty and her classmates, Zheng Yichen learned more about summoning and let Petty touch his scales. He stopped the students from revealing his presence by making them sign a binding confidentiality contract before they left.

• Petty explained that a Summoner could summon a powerful creature’s projection even without enough mana for its true body, and that a creature could share the cost.
• Petty touched Zheng Yichen’s scales, and her roommate woke up; Zheng Yichen explained that he had knocked their teacher unconscious again after the teacher woke but remained trapped in the illusion.
• Zheng Yichen told Petty and the others to leave and not tell anyone about him.
• The Ghost Maid returned with a Contract Document, and Zheng Yichen noticed two students react suspiciously to it.
• Zheng Yichen ordered the students and their teacher to sign the contract, which bound them to keep his existence secret under the threat of losing their souls.

Zheng Yichen made Petty, her teacher, and the other students sign a harsh contract before allowing them to leave the Phantom Forest. He then asked Petty about summoning contracts and proposed an Equal Contract, leaving her overwhelmed with excitement.

• The Ghost Maid cleared the group's minds of the forest's influence and woke their teacher, while Zheng Yichen trapped everyone inside a Warning Barrier.
• Petty explained the contract to her teacher, who signed it after checking its terms; the other students followed, and the contract burned away.
• Zheng Yichen told the teacher and students they could leave, then asked Petty to speak with him privately.
• Petty described Familiar, Enslavement, and Equal Contracts, and Zheng Yichen chose an Equal Contract and asked whether it could be dissolved.
• Petty became so delighted that she drifted into a lovestruck daze, and Zheng Yichen used icy mist to bring her back to her senses.

Zheng Yichen accepted Petty’s Equal Contract after confirming it carried no hidden danger, then returned to the castle, where Lolise remarked that he could have signed an Enslavement Contract with himself as master. Three days later, Petty kept their contract secret and resolved to become stronger so Zheng Yichen might truly approve of her.

• Petty offered Zheng Yichen her Personal Mark, and he examined the Equal Contract before accepting it.
• Zheng Yichen told Petty to return to her classmates and summon him somewhere private, while the teacher led the students out of the Illusion Demon Forest under a Confidentiality Contract.
• Lolise told Zheng Yichen he should have signed an Enslavement Contract with himself as master, and he wondered whether she was angry about his choice.
• Three days later, Petty’s roommate worried that the forest’s illusions had affected her, while the students privately considered possible causes of the intensified illusions.
• Petty rejected her roommate’s suggestion that she see a priest or physician, kept her contract with Zheng Yichen secret, and vowed to become stronger to earn his approval.

Petty summoned Zheng Yichen’s projection in an academy meditation room and discovered that his cultivation was rapidly strengthening her. Zheng Yichen learned he could adjust the size of his projection and asked Petty to take him out to see human society.

• Petty went alone to the Training Ground and prepared to summon Zheng Yichen, realizing his mana had brought her daily cultivation up to her limit.
• Zheng Yichen sensed Petty’s summoning through the Personal Mark and allowed part of his awareness to enter a projection.
• Petty successfully summoned Zheng Yichen, but her limited mana produced a tiny version of him and left her nearly exhausted.
• Zheng Yichen tested flying and changing the size of his projection, while Petty warned him that she was supplying the mana.
• Zheng Yichen landed on Petty’s shoulder and asked her to take him out to look around human society.

Petty took Zheng Yichen, who called himself Connor, to the academy library, where he researched what humans knew about dragons. He learned that dragons experienced time far more slowly than humans, while Petty wondered why he seemed unfamiliar with ordinary dragon knowledge.

• Petty worried that Zheng Yichen wanted to go out, but he hid in her pocket and insisted on going to the library.
• Zheng Yichen asked Petty to call him Connor and brought books about the Dragon Race to read.
• Zheng Yichen searched the books for information about the Dragon Race’s current state and noticed that many accounts were decades or centuries old.
• Petty explained that long-lived races, especially dragons, experienced time slowly and could keep routines for decades or sleep for more than ten years.
• Petty wondered why Zheng Yichen did not already know such basic facts about dragons, then recalled that a Summoner could sign a Symbiotic Contract only once and that a person who used one to lure away a young dragon had faced the Dragon Race’s retaliation.

After learning that dragons and the Dragon Slayer profession still posed potential dangers, Zheng Yichen helped Petty plan to move out and prepared a resource for her to collect. Back at the castle, he tested Basic Magic Weapon Creation and discovered that it produced the weapon shape he imagined.

• Zheng Yichen read that dragons could still appear across the continent and that Dragon Slayers had received power from the Dragon Race to hunt Cursed Dragons.
• Petty considered leaving the dormitory to protect Zheng Yichen's secret but worried she could not afford rent, so Zheng Yichen told her to collect something he had left near the Illusion Demon Forest.
• Zheng Yichen returned to the castle and retrieved a small bag from his storeroom, warning the Ghost Maid not to throw it away.
• Zheng Yichen used a branch and a magic book to practice Basic Magic Weapon Creation while Lolise watched from the second floor.
• Zheng Yichen created the same imagined longsword twice, despite the spell being described as random.

Zheng Yichen created a Magic Weapon by layering several Magic Array Patterns with threads of magic power, then prepared a deck of wooden playing cards for the little ghost maid to carve. Lolise recognized his unusual talent and told him to explore magic on his own.

• Zheng Yichen drew Reinforcement, Sharpness, and Magic Gathering patterns onto a temporary Magic Weapon using threads of magic power.
• Lolise and the little ghost maid watched in astonishment as Zheng Yichen combined spells in a way that defied normal magical techniques.
• Zheng Yichen finished the Magic Weapon, enlarged it, and reshaped it into a carving knife.
• Zheng Yichen carved a complete deck of playing cards from wood and asked the little ghost maid to carve designs onto them.
• Lolise picked up the Magic Weapon and told Zheng Yichen to explore magic on his own because he was too talented.

Zheng Yichen and Petty went out at night to retrieve valuables, and Petty discovered how unusually skilled he was at weaving magic and handling delicate work. After they sorted and cleaned the jewelry to remove identifying marks, they prepared it for sale and Zheng Yichen considered finding a way to project himself without being summoned.

• Zheng Yichen led Petty to a tree and used magic threads to uncover the buried bag of valuables.
• Petty realized Zheng Yichen could weave magic threads directly into spell patterns and was astonished by his unusual talent.
• Petty examined the coins and jewelry, identifying pieces with personal or Lineage marks that could expose their owners.
• Zheng Yichen erased the marks and marking spells from the jewelry with heat and compressed water while Petty watched in amazement.
• Zheng Yichen realized his smaller projected body made delicate work easier and decided to look for a way to project himself without being summoned.

Zheng Yichen discussed buying a home with Petty and discovered that the Magic Weapon he created might last indefinitely. He warned Petty to keep information about him secret, then sent her back, while Lolise went to a rabbit burrow.

• Petty said Zheng Yichen had given her enough money to buy a place, and he agreed to wait while she arranged it.
• Zheng Yichen learned from Petty that ordinary Magic Weapons lasted less than a day, then realized his creation remained intact and considered testing a new idea.
• Zheng Yichen told Petty that Lolise had secretly revised the Evil Contract to cover information learned about him in the future.
• Petty promised to keep his secrets and said that meeting him had changed her life.
• Zheng Yichen returned with Petty while his real body slept in Lolise's castle.
• Lolise went to a place that appeared to be a rabbit burrow instead of returning to the academy.

Petty and Zheng Yichen stored their valuables with Didi, then found the city gates closed for the night. Zheng Yichen projected Bonnakane’s spellbook, built them a hut with magic, and Petty recognized the legendary book before telling him she had failed to get a librarian position.

• Petty used pastries to persuade Didi to carry the valuables into her rabbit hole, then explained that she could summon Didi and her cargo together by spending extra mana.
• After discovering the city gates were closed, Zheng Yichen projected his spellbook from his true body and used the Earth Wall Spell and Reinforcement Spell to build a small hut.
• Petty was astonished that Zheng Yichen could reinforce one spell with another and recognized the projected book as Bonnakane’s spellbook, missing for six hundred years.
• Petty explained the book’s unusual ability to search its vast record of spells, and said her experience copying books had helped her earn a place in the academy trial.
• Zheng Yichen suggested that Petty become a librarian, but Petty said she had tried and failed to get a position.

Zheng Yichen discovered the Ghost Maids secretly playing with the cards he had made while Lolise remained in seclusion. He continued studying Projection Spells and kept his summoned projection with Petty, who brought him to class in her pocket.

• Zheng Yichen saw Ghost Maids roaming the castle at night and learned that they had been playing cards while he slept.
• A Ghost Maid used an illusion to show Zheng Yichen a playing card, and he invited her to include him in their next game.
• Zheng Yichen found that Lolise was still in her room and shifted his attention to Petty, who had returned to class with his summoned projection hidden in her pocket.
• Petty asked Zheng Yichen to stay out of sight during class, and he agreed to wait until she called him afterward.
• Zheng Yichen studied the basic Projection Spell and learned that it created a weak, limited projection controlled by its caster.

Petty took Zheng Yichen to a Black Market to sell jewelry, where a shopkeeper tried to cheat and threaten her. Zheng Yichen frightened the shopkeeper’s thugs with two simultaneous spells, and Petty secured the full eighty gold coins.

• Petty explained the dangers of Projection Spell use, then summoned Didi to collect a small bag of valuables and sent the Half-Rabbit away again.
• Petty brought Zheng Yichen to a Black Market to sell the jewelry, despite hostile groups watching her.
• A shopkeeper offered Petty only twenty gold coins for jewelry worth at least eighty, then threatened to have her taken away when she refused.
• Petty gathered up the jewelry, and Zheng Yichen cast two single-target Fear Spells that terrified the shopkeeper’s thugs and drove one away.
• The shopkeeper’s detection item reacted to a powerful presence, and Petty demanded eighty gold coins; he agreed and abandoned his schemes.

Zheng Yichen urged Petty to learn martial techniques so she could grow stronger as a Summoner and compete in the academy tournament in two months. After leaving the Black Market, Petty asked her senior Kesha to teach her combat arts, and Kesha agreed.

• Zheng Yichen suggested that Petty learn martial techniques to make up for her lack of summons, and Petty agreed to try.
• Petty said she wanted to compete in the academy tournament in two months, and Zheng Yichen promised to help her prepare.
• Zheng Yichen warned Petty that she might be targeted after leaving the Black Market, but Kesha arrived and escorted her out.
• Petty asked Kesha to teach her combat arts, and Kesha agreed to train her after preparing for the tournament.
• Petty told Zheng Yichen that Kesha was a skilled Battle Qi warrior and explained how they had become friends.