Chapter Summaries

Kroya revived the Air Coral in freshwater and inscribed it with the Bubble Spell so it could release air into connected bubbles. The inscription succeeded, and the coral began stirring on the lakebed.

• Kroya decided to place the Air Coral in water so he could observe its nature before choosing a spell.
• At the mountain lake, Kroya learned the eleven Kaba Beasts had eaten their iron supply and considered working with Sai Liu to obtain more ore.
• Kroya placed the Air Coral in the lake, where it rapidly spread across the lakebed and grew into a clear coral grove.
• Kroya squeezed a soft piece of coral and discovered that it stored air, leading him to choose the Bubble Spell for his inscription.
• Kroya used the Astral Body Inscription Technique to inscribe the Air Coral, enabling it to release connected, expanding bubbles that he could enter freely.
• After the inscription succeeded, the Air Coral began stirring on the lakebed.

Kroya discovered that Air Coral could create a vast, mana-rich bubble beneath the lake and considered how it might enable underwater mining and settlement. He then received Baron Kermoyer, who offered him one gold coin per kilogram to refine an unusual metal.

• Kroya entered the Air Coral's bubble and found it spacious, breathable, and filled with mana.
• Kroya decided to let the Air Coral grow and plant water-aligned Magic Plants in the lake before transplanting them to the sea.
• Ate told Kroya that the merchant Sai Liu had arrived with Baron Kermoyer, so Kroya went to receive the unexpected guest.
• Kroya confronted Baron Kermoyer for visiting without sending a visiting card, then heard his offer to pay for refining metal.
• Kroya opened the box Baron Kermoyer presented and was surprised by the gleaming metal inside.

Kroya agreed to refine Kermoyer’s sacred white iron in exchange for magical plants or beasts, while refusing to rush the work without extra payment. Kermoyer offered a rare Woodstar Curving Vine King, and Kroya’s inscription technique identified it as a magical beast suitable for Astral Spirit Inscription.

• Kermoyer showed Kroya sacred white iron and offered a Contract of Order assuring him that the metal had no connection to the Church.
• Kroya agreed to refine as much sacred white iron as Kermoyer provided, asking to be paid in magical plants or magical beasts.
• Kermoyer revealed that he had brought two hundred jin of sacred white iron and asked when the refining would be finished because he needed weapons for exploring ruins full of undead.
• Kroya said he would not sacrifice meditation or experiments unless Kermoyer paid with magic crystals, and Kermoyer instead offered a vine-shaped bracelet.
• Kroya’s notification identified the bracelet as a Woodstar Curving Vine King suitable for Astral Spirit Inscription.

Kroya purified waterlight crystals with the Seven Luminaries Divine Law Array and used the resulting essence to feed the Magic-Storing Hanging Flask Grass and the Wood Luminary Curved Vine. The vine grew to human height and spoke to Kroya, while he planned to conceal how efficiently he could make the essence from the Merfolk.

• Kroya escorted the Baron out after agreeing to refine his ore within ten days, then had the Sacred White Iron and Kaba Beast brought into the castle.
• Kroya assembled the Seven Luminaries Divine Law Array and purified a waterlight crystal in thirty seconds.
• Kroya extracted essence from all ninety-nine waterlight crystals he had left, but decided to give the Merfolk only forty-five or forty-six drops.
• Kroya fed a drop of waterlight essence to the Magic-Storing Hanging Flask Grass, which had sprouted a tender shoot.
• Kroya gave the Wood Luminary Curved Vine fifteen drops of essence, and it grew into a person-tall vine and called him Master.

Kroya questioned the Wood Luminary Curved Vine, learned of its connection to the Legendary Mage Ilyst, and bound it to himself with a Master-Servant Contract. The vine taught him a technique for separating and combining powers and explained that the Mage Tower could not be entered without a Legendary Mage’s intervention.

• Kroya confronted the Wood Luminary Curved Vine about its speech, and it explained that Lady Ilyst had modified it and slowed time around it with a magic array.
• The Wood Luminary Curved Vine told Kroya that Ilyst had declared whoever awakened it to be its new master, and Kroya made it sign a Master-Servant Contract.
• Kroya asked about the Seven Luminary Crystals, and the vine explained that their refined essences could help magical beasts and plants reproduce.
• The vine taught Kroya Ilyst’s technique for separating and combining powers, which could even divide the power of the gods.
• The Wood Luminary Curved Vine explained that people seeking sacred metal were likely after the Mage Tower’s Spatial Anchoring Device, but could not enter the tower without another Legendary Mage’s help.

Kroya planned to use the Wood Luminary Curved Vine to monitor and guard his castle, then exchanged waterlight essence through the Sacred Spring Trade Guild for magical supplies and Sea Spirit Dolphins. He ended the chapter preparing to settle the dolphins and inscribe the Woodstar Curving Vine King.

• The Wood Luminary Curved Vine asked Kroya to help it grow enough to watch over the castle, and he planned to equip it with a Watching Demon Eye.
• Kroya discovered that each drop of waterlight essence was worth ten magic crystals and decided to keep ten drops while selling twenty-seven.
• Kroya sent the Trade Guild a shopping list and received eye crystals with a surveillance array, a water-element potion alchemy guide, and two Sea Spirit Dolphins with Master-Servant Contracts.
• The Sacred Spring Trade Guild awarded Kroya 540 membership points for his transaction, doubling the points because he had supplied valuable Sea Folk materials.
• Kroya collected the trade card and planned to settle the Sea Spirit Dolphins before inscribing the Woodstar Curving Vine King.

Kroya released the Sea Spirit Dolphins into the ocean, where they brought him seafood and a glowing fruit. A merfolk Archmage appeared to confront the dolphins, but Kroya told her he had finished extracting the waterlight essence, drawing her eager attention.

• Kroya carried the Sea Spirit Dolphins to the shore and released them into the sea, where they happily played with the Thirsty Sea Glow Algae.
• The dolphins searched underwater and brought Kroya Sweetfruit Shrimp and Blue Moon Sea Urchins, which he ate as a feast.
• The dolphins later returned with a glowing fruit wrapped in Thirsty Sea Glow Algae.
• A merfolk woman emerged from the water, accused the dolphins of being fish thieves, and revealed a murderous look.
• Kroya asked the merfolk woman to forgive the dolphins and said he had finished extracting the waterlight essence, making her stare at him with delight.

Kroya gave the mermaid forty-six drops of waterlight essence, securing merfolk protection and permission to use naturally occurring sea resources. After scolding two dolphins for stealing a strange magical fruit, he discovered its astral spirit body could strengthen his mental energy, though examining it nearly left him unconscious.

• Kroya presented the mermaid with forty-six drops of waterlight essence, and she promised merfolk protection for his beasts and subjects and access to naturally occurring sea resources.
• The mermaid departed with the essence, and Kroya realized he could continue cooperating with the merfolk.
• Kroya scolded two dolphins for stealing a magically guarded fruit, then examined the crescent-shaped fruit they had brought him.
• Kroya recognized the fruit's magic as the Illusion aspect of Space-Time Illusion and decided not to eat it or let the dolphins steal more.
• Kroya used the Astral Body Inscription Technique to inspect the fruit and exhausted his mental energy, but noticed that his capacity had slightly increased.

Kroya returned to his castle after deciding to train his mental energy cautiously, while King Mihail discovered that Kroya’s waterlight essence could support merfolk reproduction. Back at the castle, Kroya successfully modified the Woodstar Curving Vine King so it could use Watching Demon Eye crystals throughout its body.

• Kroya told the dolphins to gather Sea Spirit Pearls and seafood, then returned to the castle.
• Alia delivered forty-six drops of Kroya’s waterlight essence to King Mihail in the hidden merfolk city.
• King Mihail used the essence to create forty-six strands of azure radiance, which entered mermaids preparing to conceive, and told Alia to keep asking Kroya for help.
• King Mihail allowed Kroya’s pets to keep the Phantom Moon Fruit, hoping Kroya would advance faster and continue refining waterlight essence.
• Kroya inscribed Watching Demon Eye onto the Woodstar Curving Vine King and embedded eye crystals into its vines, allowing it to move the crystals across its body and retain their images.

Kroya tested the Woodstar Curving Vine King’s surveillance abilities, settled them into a planting bed, and met the newly trained servants. After Kroya fell asleep beside the Crescent Moon Fruit, it released a silvery mist that filled his room with waves and song.

• The Woodstar Curving Vine King explored the castle as a living camera, showing Kroya clear images until they ran short of mana.
• Kroya ordered the Woodstar Curving Vine King to guide three young servants into fetching soil and magic spring water, then praised their efficiency.
• Kroya planted the Woodstar Curving Vine King in a small bed and instructed them to watch over the castle.
• Kroya went to bed on the warm thirsty sea glow algae with the Crescent Moon Fruit beside him.
• The Crescent Moon Fruit released silvery mist that filled the room as ocean waves and a soft song accompanied Kroya’s deepening sleep.

Kroya discovered that the Sea God Barley had ripened in half its expected time and investigated why it contained so much natural magic. He singled out a golden-haired girl among the farming families, recognizing her unusual hair color as one associated with abundant harvests.

• Kroya noticed that his mental power had improved unusually overnight and suspected the Crescent Moon Fruit might be responsible.
• Kroya learned that the Sea God Barley had ripened early and tasted bread made from its flour.
• Kroya examined the barley field and found no signs of magical forced ripening, but detected an unusual abundance of natural magic in the crop.
• Kroya summoned everyone from the families tending the barley and examined them with magic.
• Kroya focused on a little girl whose golden hair matched a color associated with bountiful harvests.

Kroya investigated Elena, a golden-haired Child of Harvest whose tears formed crystals containing natural mana and the Earth Mother Goddess’s divine power. He began using the Seven Luminaries Separation Technique to test whether he could separate the two, but something unexpected happened.

• Kroya questioned Elena’s adoptive family after barley ripened suddenly and learned that Elena had been taken in as a child.
• Elena cried, producing golden-green crystal teardrops, and her adoptive father explained that her power had emerged unexpectedly the day before.
• Kroya examined a teardrop and sensed natural mana mixed with a trace of the Earth Mother Goddess’s divine power.
• Kroya ordered Rob to keep Elena’s family at home while he considered how to make use of her ability.
• Kroya cast the Seven Luminaries Separation Technique on a teardrop, and something unexpected happened as he increased the mana flowing into it.

Kroya extracted the Earth Mother Goddess’s divine power from Elena’s teardrops, kept the purified natural mana, and planned to use it to improve Reef Island’s crops. Rob then secured Elena’s promise to supply teardrops regularly in exchange for her father and elder brother joining the domain’s forces.

• Kroya discovered that his crimson mana could separate the divine power from the golden-green crystals, then threw the extracted power into the sea for safety.
• Kroya examined the emerald crystals and planned to use their pure natural mana to expand the Sea God Barley fields, speed up olive growth, and cultivate potential Magic Plants.
• Kroya told Rob and Ate to find out whether Elena could produce teardrops regularly and to reward her if she could.
• Rob visited Elena’s family and told them Kroya had pardoned their wrongdoing and would accept her father and elder brother as a guard and a barracks apprentice if she continued supplying teardrops.
• Elena promised to provide the same number of teardrops each week, and Rob left to announce the two men’s new positions.

Kroya helped a coconut tree become the Pure White Sea Spirit Coconut, a magic plant that could summon water creatures to help it grow. The tree quickly summoned a group of eager little servants, and Kroya began imagining the other coconut trees as portals to a larger force.

• Kroya tested Batos’s attitude toward serving as a farm worker, and Batos said he was happy tending the Kaba Beasts and coconut trees.
• Kroya infused the largest coconut tree with Waterlight essence and a Nature Mana Crystal, then watched its astral spirit body awaken.
• Kroya and Batos’s companions watered the tree with mana spring water until it became a magic plant that wanted people to wait on it.
• Kroya inscribed a Beginner Summoning Spell on the tree, naming it the Pure White Sea Spirit Coconut and learning that it could summon beings to aid its growth.
• The Pure White Sea Spirit Coconut summoned many jellylike water creatures, which fetched water and poured it onto the tree’s roots.

Kroya harvested a magically potent coconut from the newly advanced sea spirit coconut tree and decided to brew a Pure White Coconut Potion from its water. After appointing three youths as apprentices and assigning Batos work, he began preparing the potion, wondering whether his fire-leaning magic would interfere with water refinement.

• Kroya tested the coconut tree’s obedient water spirit slimes and asked the tree for a coconut.
• The tree dropped its largest coconut, and Kroya found that its water was rich in magic while its flesh had crystallized.
• Kroya appointed three youths as apprentices and ordered them to care for the coconut trees and water them with the magical spring water.
• Kroya told Batos to coordinate with Rob about his duties, then carried the coconut to his laboratory.
• Kroya prepared to brew a Pure White Coconut Potion using water refinement and wondered whether his fire-leaning magic would cause problems.

Kroya successfully brewed a second-tier Sea Spirit Coconut Potion using the Woodstar Curving Vine King’s method and made an ornate coconut-shell bottle for it. A desperate Sai Liu then asked Kroya for more sunflower seeds, offering two dancing Burrowing Mice and revealing that the Northern Territory Envoy’s son had bought his entire supply.

• Kroya separated and fused the potion’s ingredients, producing a pale azure liquid with water mana and a coconut fragrance.
• Kroya fashioned an engraved coconut-shell bottle and finished the Sea Spirit Coconut Potion.
• Sai Liu arrived in disheveled clothes and asked Kroya for more sunflower seeds, presenting two Burrowing Mice as a gift.
• The Burrowing Mice danced on Sai Liu’s command, but Rob told him that the pets alone would not persuade Kroya.
• Sai Liu admitted that the Northern Territory Envoy’s son had bought all his sunflower seeds and pleaded with Kroya for help.

Rob negotiated a sale of sunflower seeds and a healing potion to Sai Liu on Kroya’s behalf, while Kroya discovered that the Burrowing Mice could receive spell inscriptions. The chapter ended with Kroya hearing the mice’s clear wish to live on the seabed, far from people.

• Rob asked Sai Liu what he had charged Young Master Carl for the sunflower seeds, and Sai Liu showed him eleven blue water-attribute magic crystals.
• Sai Liu explained that Young Master Carl wanted the seeds for Lady Vanessa, who had not been well, and Kroya agreed to sell thirty more seeds along with a healing potion.
• Rob and Sai Liu signed a contract of the God of Order, agreeing that Kroya’s side would receive eighty percent of the proceeds.
• Rob brought the Burrowing Mice to Kroya’s laboratory, where Kroya told Rob that he could handle Sai Liu’s future visits.
• Kroya activated the Astral Body Inscription Technique and heard the Burrowing Mice wish to live on the seabed, far from people.

Kroya contracted two Burrowing Mice and inscribed underwater breathing and water control spells on them, discovering that desire and pressure could help magical beings refine spells. At the lake, he found the missing Kaba Beasts relaxing on the grassy bottom among glowing specks of holy white light.

• Kroya offered the two Burrowing Mice a home on the seabed if they signed contracts and tended his Sea Spirit Lingzhi fields.
• The Burrowing Mice signed Master-Servant Contracts, and Kroya inscribed the Underwater Breathing Technique and Basic Water Control Technique on them.
• The mice learned both spells and began refining them because they wanted to live underwater and tend the fields.
• Kroya considered experimenting with pressure and environmental conditions to cultivate new magical plants and beasts, then took the mice to test their abilities in the lake.
• Kroya discovered that the Kaba Beasts had vanished from the shore and spotted them sprawled on the grassy lake bottom among Air Coral and glowing white specks.

Kroya discovered a strange mushroom growing from a dimmed Void Luminary Crystal and decided to leave it in place while it continued refining sacred white iron. He prepared to contact Baron Kermoyer about the iron and left the Burrowing Mice in the underwater habitat to practice their water magic.

• Kroya and the two Burrowing Mice entered the Air Coral’s underwater bubble, and he realized that his magical inscriptions might let creatures pass through it.
• Kroya examined a platinum-colored mushroom that absorbed holy radiance and returned purified light, then found a depleted Void Luminary Crystal buried beneath it.
• Kroya decided not to move the mushroom and planned to build a magic array around it while letting it continue refining sacred white iron.
• Kroya collected the refined iron and considered dividing the Kaba Beasts between holy and other types of ore refining because holy power was changing their magic.
• Kroya had the Burrowing Mice demonstrate their water-control magic, told them to stay and practice, and left to ask Rob to summon Baron Kermoyer.

Baron Kermoyer exchanged sacred white iron with Kroya for eighty powerful Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks, which Kroya hoped to tame with his fire magic. The ducks’ attack demonstrated their strength, and Kroya prepared to make use of them as he expanded into the surrounding waters.

• Baron Kermoyer hurried to Kroya’s domain with 175 jin of sacred white iron and hoped to secure more refining help for his plans to explore elven ruins.
• Kroya inspected the iron and asked Kermoyer for the magical beasts or plants he had requested.
• Kermoyer presented eighty Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks and explained that their valuable eggs and capture came at the cost of dozens of serfs’ lives.
• When an armored man approached their wagons, the ducks fired icy beams that overwhelmed his enchanted Rotating Fire Shield.
• Kroya realized the ducks were difficult to tame but feared fire magic, and he decided his own fire spells might let him tame them.