Chapter Summaries

Dean and his level-one adventuring party captured a baby Slime after fighting off a stronger adult Slime. They delivered the healthy creature to a farm owner in Brown Town and collected their reward.

• Dean, Kana, Yanxi, and Lamore entered a mine and found a baby Earth Slime with a larger adult Slime.
• Dean used Basic Binding to trap the baby Slime, then Yanxi, Kana, and Lamore fought the adult until it fled.
• Kana picked up the baby Slime, and the four adventurers returned to Brown Town to complete their quest.
• The farm owner accepted the healthy baby Slime and gave Kana and the party their reward.

After completing a job for a farmer, Dean had enough money to buy his first attack spell and went to Bru Magic Academy’s Magic Library. Mousse eagerly dragged him toward the bookseller’s counter, hoping to earn a commission.

• The farmer used a Beginner Familiar Contract to bind the baby Slime and set it to work in his field.
• The farmer gave the four adventurers extra payment, and they split it before parting ways in town.
• Dean counted his earnings and realized he could afford the cheapest spell and its magic lesson without borrowing money.
• Dean went to Bru Magic Academy’s Magic Library and showed Mousse his Gold Coin.
• Mousse grabbed Dean and hurried him toward the magic books, excited about earning a sales commission.

Dean abandoned his plan to buy Small Fireball and chose Magic Hand, a dark-element spellbook recently added to the library. After studying it, he went to Bru Academy to attend a related Ice Shaping Magic course.

• Dean noticed a purple-black spellbook and asked Mousse about it before completing his purchase.
• Mousse explained that Magic Hand was a semi-support spell whose magical hands could perform dangerous tasks and be used in battle.
• Dean chose Magic Hand over Small Fireball, and Mousse revealed that the spellbook had come from an important figure in the Magic Capital.
• Dean examined the spellbook at home, noted that its magic level depended on the user, and studied it for three hours.
• Dean went to Bru Academy to find a related course and discovered that Ice Shaping Magic was being taught that day.

Dean attended a lesson on Ice Shaping Magic, where a white-haired theoretical teacher explained how to shape ice by first imagining its form and expression. The class ended with the teacher stressing that an ice creation needed a false soul, not merely a convincing shape.

• Dean arrived early and took a seat in a quiet corner of the classroom.
• A white-haired second-level Mage began teaching the small class about Ice Shaping Magic.
• The teacher drew a lifelike Sky-Swallowing Python on the blackboard, capturing the apprentices’ attention.
• The teacher explained that Ice Shaping Magic required both form and expression, including imparting a false soul to the creation.

Dean sought out Sanderson after his Ice Shaping Magic lesson and asked him to become his mentor. Sanderson questioned whether Dean was sure about choosing a teacher of the theoretical school, and Dean accepted him without hesitation.

• Dean decided Sanderson’s theoretical knowledge made him a suitable mentor and followed him home after class.
• Dean arrived at Sanderson’s courtyard and met the unusual wooden magical servant sweeping there.
• Sanderson came outside and recognized Dean, who explained that he wanted guidance with a spellbook and had heard Sanderson had no disciples.
• Sanderson asked Dean whether he was certain he wanted a theoretical-school teacher as his mentor.
• Dean bowed and accepted Sanderson as his mentor.

Dean asked Sanderson to help him understand the Magic Hand spellbook, and Sanderson discovered that the complete dark magic spell was worth several hundred gold coins. Dean chose to learn its combat-focused Demon Hand form, and Sanderson began explaining demons and their power.

• Dean showed Sanderson the Magic Hand spellbook and asked for help understanding it.
• Sanderson explained that Dean's dark affinity was difficult to cultivate because dark magic instruction and spellbooks were scarce.
• Sanderson examined Magic Hand and said the complete spellbook was worth several hundred gold coins, though it required dark magic.
• Dean chose the combat-focused Demon Hand form, and Sanderson promised to teach him.
• Sanderson formed an icy sphere and explained that demons lived mainly in the Abyssal Great World and could vastly outmatch human mages.

Sanderson explained the demons of the Abyss and helped Dean begin designing his Demon Hand spell. Dean left after failing to shape a satisfactory hand, with Sanderson urging him to consider what a truly powerful Demon Hand should look like.

• Sanderson told Dean that becoming stronger would require leaving Blue Town and showed him a lifelike sculpture of a flame demon.
• Dean recognized the savagery and fear embodied by the demon and decided his Demon Hand needed to be terrifying.
• Sanderson instructed Dean to shape clay before forming the spell, and the two dug up and prepared clay together.
• Dean made more than twenty clay hands, but Sanderson rejected them all while his own clay animals stood nearby.
• Sanderson called an end to the day and told Dean to think about the appearance of a powerful Demon Hand.

Sanderson watched Dean experiment with hand designs before visiting a gravestone in a bamboo grove and bringing Dean a precious Memory Crystal. Dean settled on a basic form for his Demon Hand, then began viewing the crystal and found himself before a gigantic hand beneath a crimson sky.

• Sanderson examined Dean’s many clay hand models, then visited a gravestone in a bamboo grove and spoke to his mentor about hopeful and despairing news.
• Dean reread the Magic Hand spellbook, decided not to alter the Demon Hand unnecessarily, and woke with an idea for its basic form.
• Dean visited Sanderson, met the magical servant Wooden Man, and learned that Sanderson was asleep after exhausting himself the previous night.
• Sanderson came out, took Dean to the magic laboratory, and showed him a cracked One-Time Memory Crystal he wanted him to experience.
• Dean activated the Memory Crystal and appeared in a desolate land beneath a crimson sky, facing a hand as vast as a mountain.

Dean chose to create a Magic Hand that could grow into a Demon Hand, accepting its greater mana cost in exchange for versatility. Sanderson approved and gave him Basic Troll Vortex Meditation to support the mana demands of his future Magic Vortex.

• A Memory Crystal shattered after showing a One-Armed Demon strike with a gigantic palm, and Sanderson explained the demon's strength to Dean.
• Sanderson asked Dean to choose the initial form of his Demon Hand, and Dean decided to make a Magic Hand capable of gradually growing.
• Dean explained that growing the hand would cost more mana than forming a Demon Hand directly, and Sanderson accepted his decision.
• Sanderson offered Dean Basic Troll Vortex Meditation, a highly regarded method for increasing mana reserves.
• Dean accepted the meditation manual from Sanderson.

Sanderson showed Dean a small spatial node hidden in the bamboo grove and revealed that it connected to the Demon Great World. He prepared to explain that a cruel, bloodthirsty demon waited beyond it, leaving Dean to face the secret and Sanderson’s request to become his one and only student.

• Sanderson gave Dean the Basic Troll Vortex Meditation and asked him to become his one and only student, promising to teach him everything he had learned.
• Sanderson led Dean to a stone in the bamboo grove and revealed that it was a small spatial node.
• Dean realized the node might connect to the Demon Great World and warned that the Bright Church would punish Sanderson if it discovered it.
• Sanderson assured Dean that the node and grove were concealed, then said it led to a demon who kept his word but was cruel and bloodthirsty.

Sanderson summoned the high-ranking demon Stavago and revealed that he and his predecessors had traded their souls after death for the demon’s knowledge. Stavago asked Dean whether he wanted to sign a contract, leaving Dean to face the dangerous bargain.

• Sanderson drew a magic circle with his blood and mana, using a large mana crystal to summon Stavago.
• A seal associated with the Thunder God tried to strike Stavago, but the demon shattered the gathering dark clouds and appeared on the stone slab.
• Sanderson told Dean that he had brought him to inherit the arrangement between their generations and Stavago.
• Sanderson explained that the arrangement traded their souls after death for Stavago’s knowledge, and that outliving the demon was the only way he knew to avoid paying.
• Stavago impatiently asked Dean whether he wanted to sign a contract.

Dean considered Stavago’s offer to exchange endless knowledge for his soul after death and decided to accept the contract. He learned that Stavago would devour Sanderson’s soul after taking its knowledge, but Stavago offered to make a concession.

• Stavago offered Dean endless knowledge in exchange for his soul after death, and Sanderson encouraged him to accept.
• Sanderson explained that a failed limb-transplantation procedure had ruptured his Magic Vortex when he was close to becoming a Sixth-Level Mage Mentor.
• Dean reasoned that the knowledge could help him surpass Stavago and chose to pursue the contract.
• Dean asked whether Stavago would devour Sanderson’s soul and whether it could be rescued.
• Stavago said he would eat Sanderson’s soul after extracting its knowledge, then offered to make a concession.

Dean questioned Stavago about the soul contract and hesitated to sign it despite its promised knowledge and magic. Stavago offered to preserve four generations of souls for a future feast and promised Dean another gift as his time ran out.

• Stavago told Dean and Sanderson that he would preserve the souls of four generations until Dean's life ended, intending to eat them together.
• Dean learned that the contract's knowledge would become available only as he reached certain levels, and that some knowledge could not be shared.
• As dark clouds gathered over Sanderson's bamboo grove, Dean asked how long Stavago could live and learned that he had over a thousand years left.
• Sanderson produced the contract, and Stavago explained that its hellish soul script projected its terms directly into the signer's soul.
• Dean hesitated to sign despite the magic for making storage items, and Stavago offered him another gift as the clouds thickened.

Dean received a Demon Horn from Stavago, then sealed their contract with his blood as the world will removed its hidden traps. Stavago disappeared after warning Dean to grow stronger, and Dean discovered the contract did not confirm Stavago’s claim that he had only a little over a thousand years left to live.

• Stavago gave Dean a Demon Horn, increasing Dean’s sensitivity to the elements and leaving a small bone protrusion at the back of his head.
• Sanderson used an ice blade to make a small cut on Dean’s palm, and Dean pressed his bloodied hand onto Stavago’s parchment contract.
• The world will appeared and helped Dean remove hidden traps from the contract while it fought against Stavago.
• Stavago, weakened by the struggle, warned Dean that he was the final generation to sign a contract with him, then dissipated as the stone slab crumbled and the contract burned.
• Dean read the contract in his mind and realized that Stavago had not written down his claim that he had only a little over a thousand years left to live.

After signing a soul contract with Stavago, Dean began learning magic runes from Sanderson and discovered that the Demon Horn let him sense elements with the precision needed to become a rune inscriber. He spent the night meditating and ended just one point short of reaching the late stage of Level-One Magic Apprentice.

• Dean drew an introductory guide to magic runes from the Infinite Eye and asked Sanderson to explain them.
• Sanderson taught Dean that magic runes could enhance magical items or give them new abilities, and that Dean’s Demon Horn helped him sense elements precisely.
• Dean practiced inscribing runes on paper throughout the afternoon, and Sanderson arranged to teach him every three days.
• Dean returned to his hut and meditated through the night, raising his magical power to seventy-nine points and nearing the late stage of Level-One Magic Apprentice.

Dean’s squad came to fetch him for a mission, but Kana demolished his hut when he overslept. Dean announced that he was leaving the slums and revealed that Sanderson of Bru Magic Academy had become his mentor.

• Yanxi and Lamore tried to wake Dean while Kana threatened to chop down his hut.
• Dean rushed to get dressed, but Kana struck the doorpost until the roof collapsed.
• Dean crawled out of the wreckage and decided to leave the slums for good.
• Kana asked whether Dean had bought a new spellbook, and Dean told the squad that Sanderson of Bru Magic Academy had taken him as a mentor.

Dean and his companions fled a crowd in the slums, then traveled from Blue Town to a vast farm for a quest to drive away Goblins. Along the way, Dean agreed to move in with the team, and the group began searching the farm without the farmer’s help.

• Dean showed Yanxi, Lamore, and Kana the gold coin his mentor had given him, drawing the attention of the slums’ desperate residents.
• Kana grabbed Dean and Yanxi and led them to safety as Lamore fled ahead of them.
• Kana revealed she had already accepted a quest to drive off Goblins, and Dean agreed to move in with his companions after Yanxi invited him.
• The four arrived at the farm near Blue Town and learned their task was to search its edges for Goblins while leaving the Slimes to work.
• Kana asked Dean to use Basic Life Detection Magic to find the Goblins, but he said he had never learned the spell.

Dean received a powerful set of Life Detection spells from the Infinite Eye and decided to learn the basic version on the spot. Kana interrupted his thoughts, and his companions watched in surprise as he began studying.

• Dean discovered that the Infinite Eye had given him a set of Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Life Detection Magic spells.
• Kana pulled Dean up by the ear after he stood lost in thought, then dodged his attempt to swipe at her.
• Dean cursed Kana, and she threatened to pull his other ear while Yanxi watched.
• Dean sat on a pile of wheat straw and announced that he would learn Basic Life Detection Magic.
• Kana, Yanxi, and Lamore questioned how Dean could learn the spell without instructions, while Lamore backed away from Kana.

Dean learned Basic Life Detection Magic and used it with his team to search the farm for Goblins. After nearly two hours of scanning, Lamore spotted a smoking mound of warm earth and a bloodstained dagger in the grass.

• Dean failed his first attempt at Life Detection Magic, then successfully sensed his companions and a Burrowing Beast within a hundred meters.
• Dean discovered that his Life Detection Magic scanned every thirty seconds, lasted ten minutes, and cost five mana points per casting.
• Dean and his teammates circled the farm, scanning for Goblins, until they had covered about two-thirds of the area.
• Yanxi gave the exhausted Dean a pouch of stamina-restoring spring water, and he drank it quickly.
• Lamore spotted a mound of warm earth with smoke rising from it and glimpsed a bloodstained dagger in the grass nearby.

Dean unexpectedly recovered all his mana in half an hour and continued searching for the Goblins with Lamore, Kana, and Yanxi. He found them taking an afternoon nap, and the team prepared to attack.

• Lamore found a bloodstained dagger that smelled of Goblin and told Dean to restore his mana while the others stayed alert.
• Dean drew in fire elements from the sunlight and recovered all his mana in less than half an hour, astonishing his companions.
• Kana, Yanxi, and Lamore assumed Dean had used a rare mana-restoring item and agreed to keep his supposed secret.
• Dean realized his mana capacity was growing rapidly and suspected the Demon Horn Stavago had given him was responsible.
• Dean resumed Life Detection Magic and found the Goblins asleep nearby, prompting Kana to prepare to kill them.