Chapter Summaries

Rosa moved Lainer’s capital to Terry City, enacted reforms with Roland’s guidance, and was crowned as Feilie launched a rebellion against her rule. As the kingdom prepared for war, Roland planned to bring Seris School experts and technology to Lainer to help it grow.

• Feilie denounced Rosa’s move to Terry City and prepared to challenge her, while Uboer and other patriots objected and Atrelin-aligned supporters welcomed it.
• Rosa introduced Seris-language requirements for office, a merit-based army, and reforms to weaken the feudal lords’ control over land and subjects.
• On December 21, Rosa was crowned Queen of Lainer and reflected with Roland on the political risks of the path she had chosen.
• A knight commander announced that Feilie had declared the Northsen Kingdom and was leading a large rebellion toward Savaran; Rosa called on her subjects to fight, and they rallied behind her.
• Roland enlisted Seris Academy students to plan for the war, while Atrelin declared Rosa Lainer’s legitimate ruler and threatened sanctions against mages serving Feilie.
• Roland and Rosa discussed using Seris School funds and inviting Doctor Jados, Pano, Bruno, and others to develop Lainer’s agriculture, army, and administration.

Roland tested Pendus's Detonation Talisman, a Seris Rune-based explosive, and backed its publication and commercial development. As the school prepared to expand its influence in Lainer, Roland learned that Jados had arrived with an elderly Druid.

• Jados persuaded Sakari to leave Atrelin for Lainer, while mages and adventurers also began heading there and Pulia's allies shipped supplies to the queen's army.
• Pendus showed Roland his Detonation Talisman, which used the Seris character for “explode” to create a powerful magical blast.
• Roland and Pendus tested the talisman against skeletons, zombies, and a frost-aura zombie leader, which it destroyed with ease.
• Roland promised to recommend Pendus's paper for publication and seek an award, then directed Moberon and Diaxili to negotiate patent rights for the Explosive Character Rune.
• Skord and Thibault tested mass production of the talisman cards, achieving an 87.3% yield, and Roland arranged to send usable cards to support Rosa.
• Rosa told Roland that Jados had reached Terry City with an elderly Druid, and Roland requested an immediate meeting.

Roland supported Jados and Sakari in founding a Seris medicine discipline at the Mage Tower, combining herbal medicine, meridian studies, and the Zhu You Art with magical research. After their lecture and free clinics launched the project, Jados and Gang Jide later told Roland they had developed Seris magic based on meridians and acupuncture.

• Roland welcomed Jados and Sakari, pledged resources for their work, and proposed developing the Zhu You Art as a foundational spell for physicians.
• Jados and Sakari lectured at the Mage Tower, presenting their medical research and inviting students to join the Seris School's herbal, meridian, and Zhu You branches.
• Few students signed up, but Jados and Sakari began free clinics, recruited apprentices from poor families, and established a clinic and teaching program with Roland's funding.
• Roland asked Atali and Gang Jide to review Jados's meridian theory, and Gang Jide found that it differed from how warriors cultivated battle aura.
• Jados sought funding to recruit people knowledgeable in both martial techniques and medicine, then returned with Gang Jide in early March to report they had developed Seris magic based on meridians and acupuncture.

Rosa and Roland sought a way to strengthen the Lainer Kingdom's soldiers without worsening its financial crisis, and Gang Jide and Jados revealed a new method for opening meridians and improving battle aura. The discovery established the Seris Martial School's approach to magic-martial cultivation, while Roland used Wish to try to multiclass as a warrior.

• Rosa told Roland that Detonation Talismans had helped win battles, but the costly war against Feilie's Rebels was straining the Kingdom's treasury.
• Gang Jide and Jados presented a method of using battle aura to open meridians and extraordinary acupoints, demonstrating how Gang Jide could shape his aura into Earth Armor.
• Roland judged the method a major advance in magic-martial cultivation, and Ovesto and Lunifis praised its significance.
• Roland announced the discovery, asked Jados to write a paper for Arcana, and arranged for Atali and Rosa's former Royal Guards to test the method.
• Roland sacrificed valuable gemstones and magical materials to use Wish and asked to multiclass as a warrior.

Roland trained with Atali and demonstrated that he had mastered martial techniques and battle aura through magic, equipment, and rapid study. During an inspection of Golden Sands Town, he protected his party from assassins, while Vian and Pamir watched and began to see him as a model of magical power.

• Roland sparred with Atali, explaining that magic and enchanted accessories had raised his attributes as he showed off his martial techniques and battle aura.
• Roland gave Atali magical equipment and promised to help her improve, restoring her resolve to pursue the Higher Tier.
• Roland and Rosa inspected Golden Sands Town, where Roland met Vian and Pamir, encouraged their Seris studies, and gave them copies of Romance of Seris: Records of the Grand Historian.
• Masked assassins attacked Roland's party with alchemical bombs, but Roland killed the attackers with a spellbook and a burst of battle aura.
• Vian admired Roland's power, while Pamir studied his movements and wondered what made his magic different.

Roland promoted Seris-style martial arts and magic-martial research, helped establish the Blood Eagle Warriors, and sent the newly equipped unit to the front as the war worsened. The chapter left the twenty-four soldiers ready to fight for Queen Rosa and reclaim Leiner.

• Roland read Anquis's research on magic-martial dual cultivation and funded a dedicated project, then saved ideas for enchanted melee Mage Staffs.
• Roland encouraged Jados to promote medicinal meals and asked him to guide the Blood Eagle Warriors in applying Seris-style martial arts.
• After Feilie's army won ground and received support through a newly opened trade route, Rosa proposed sending the Blood Eagle Warriors to gain battlefield experience, and Roland agreed.
• Roland and Queen Rosa inspected the twenty-four Blood Eagle Warriors, equipped with enchanted armor, weapons, and Seris Magic Cards.
• Queen Rosa charged Wilma and the Blood Eagle Warriors with defeating the rebels and reclaiming Leiner, and the unit vowed to win.

Roland learned that the Blood Eagle Warriors had won a decisive victory, prompting mages across the plane to recognize the value of Seris-style martial arts. Meanwhile, Vian and Pamir arrived in Terry City and found a possible route to work at Jados's clinic.

• Apprentice mages studied Roland's Romance of Seris and connected its lessons to Queen Rosa's reforms in East Lainer.
• The Tower Spirit reported that the Blood Eagle Warriors had routed Feilie's force, killing its commander Chala and wiping out its foreign advisers and warlocks.
• Atrelin condemned the Black Dragon Dynasty's involvement, and the dynasty's rulers decided to abandon Feilie rather than risk opposing the empire openly.
• Mages concluded that Seris-style martial arts had raised the Blood Eagle Warriors' basic strength and began taking the fighting methods seriously.
• Vian and Pamir reached Terry City, and their fellow villager offered to introduce them to Jados's clinic in exchange for fees and a share of their wages.

Roland tightened funding and launched an austerity campaign as the Seris School sought to become financially self-sufficient. Anquis then unveiled the Seris Martial Soul Spell, a breakthrough that let mages convert magical power into battle aura, and Roland quickly mastered it as the paper advanced through review.

• Arcane Commissioners reviewed Roland’s many funding requests and recognized how much influence he had gained over the Runes School’s resources.
• Rosa told Roland that Atrelin’s investment in the Lainer mage towers and education had exceeded eight hundred million gold coins, prompting him to pursue greater revenue and lower expenses.
• Roland introduced strict spending and material controls at the East Lainer Mage Tower, explaining to Skord that the Seris School needed to prioritize projects that could support its own development.
• Anquis sent Roland the Seris Martial Soul Spell, a level-one transmutation spell that enabled magic-martial dual cultivation and could strengthen close-combat ability alongside other spells and tools.
• Roland studied the spell and mastered it quickly, while Skord requested a copy to study on his own.
• Swein reviewed the paper at the Editorial Department of Magic and praised its practical, pioneering approach to unifying magical power and battle aura.

The Seris Martial Soul Spell won approval for publication and experimental teaching, while Roland tested its power and discovered its physical costs and limits. As public excitement grew, Roland learned that Wild Mages might have to pay around 2,000 gold coins to study and certify in the spell.

• The Magic Editorial Department approved Anquis's paper, and the Arcane Committee requested that the spell be added to the network and experimental Mage Tower courses.
• Roland cast the spell and found that it gave him Higher Tier warrior-like strength, enhanced his physical attributes, and let him form a short-range battle-aura blade.
• Roland concluded that the spell complemented Xingtian Battle Spirit but caused muscle soreness through mana backlash, and that mages needed a sufficient Source of Magic to sustain it.
• The spell's pending release drew widespread interest, and Wild Mages debated how much learning and certification would cost.
• Roland asked Rosa about the fees and learned that an ordinary Level 1 spell cost about 1,000 gold coins, while the new spell could cost around 2,000.
• Roland realized that his state-funded education and support had left him unaware of the everyday costs faced by other mages.

Roland chose affordable, merit-based access to the Seris Martial Soul Spell and set up training courses to broaden its users. As preparations advanced, he also invited Vian and Pamir to try a Magic Martial Artist course, giving them a new opportunity to study Seris medicine and magic.

• Roland told Rosa he would prioritize building loyal users over maximizing the spell’s price, and proposed using military merits and training courses to offset the cost for adventurers.
• Brogdon learned that military service, merits, and academy training discounts could reduce the Seris Martial Soul Spell’s price, prompting adventurers to inquire and register across the region.
• Roland arranged the second training group and planned a third course for people with no prior magic or martial training, while preparing Anquis to join the instruction.
• Jados explained to Vian and Pamir that Seris language and cultural knowledge were essential for advancing in medicine and healing magic.
• Jados offered Vian and Pamir two places in a Magic Martial Artist training course, and they accepted despite finding its Seris concepts difficult.

Roland expanded the Seris School, welcomed Anquis and his family to Lainer World, and advanced plans for a Martial Arts Department. By the end of the year, the second training cohort’s magic-martial tactics had helped the Queen’s Army seize key strongholds, prompting Feilie’s court to consider deploying the Spellbreaker Corps.

• Roland trained with the Seris Martial Soul Spell and discussed its principles and limits with Atali, who struggled with the Seris terminology.
• Anquis arrived in Lainer World with his family, joined Roland’s school, and agreed to help establish a Martial Arts Department while his wife chose a position at the Magic Card Company.
• Roland assigned Anquis to work with Jados on martial arts theory, medicine, and the Seris Martial Soul Spell as the training courses continued to develop.
• At year’s end, Brogdon and the second cohort used magic-martial tactics to overrun a Feilie Army stronghold and celebrate their training’s success.
• Feilie’s court learned that several strongholds had fallen and four mage squads had been wiped out, and the Court Mage urged the king to send in the Spellbreaker Corps.

The Feilie Army attacked the town with Siege Beasts and nonhuman troops, while Rosa’s forces coordinated their defense through Atrelin’s Real-Time War System. When Feilie’s Spellbreaker Corps trapped Jonis’s mercenaries by suppressing magic, Roland sent Seris Magic Martial Artists to rescue them, and the chapter ended with the Seris unit overcoming the Spellbreakers.

• Feilie’s army crossed the Red River and assaulted the town, breaking through its outer defenses with Siege Beasts and magical attacks.
• Jonis’s Mercenary Corps launched a mounted counterattack, but Feilie’s Spellbreaker Corps appeared and suppressed their magic, leaving them surrounded.
• Roland ordered an elite Warrior Soldier unit carrying the Winged Dragon Banner to advance and rescue Jonis’s men.
• The Seris Magic Martial Artists turned the Siege Beasts against Feilie’s troops and reached the trapped mercenaries.
• The Seris unit’s battle aura and inner-powered elemental attacks resisted the anti-magic domain, and its warriors defeated the Spellbreakers.

Jonis’s pursuit of the Feilie Army turned into a desperate battle when Feilie counterattacked, but Jonis rallied his trapped forces and broke through with a surge of magical resonance. The victory inspired Roland to create a legendary group-buff card based on the idiom “Fight with Your Back to the River,” which he sent to Skord’s team for mass-production research.

• After Hugmar’s defeat, Feilie used his remaining core troops to lure Jonis’s pursuing force toward an encirclement.
• Jonis ordered the mages to raise a wall of water across the Red River, trapping his men on the far bank, then rallied them to charge forward.
• Roland felt the idiom resonate with the world’s historical stories, strengthening Jonis’s fighters as they broke through Feilie’s personal troops and routed the army.
• Feilie’s trusted followers pulled him from the battlefield as his forces fled, securing victory for Jonis and his allies.
• Roland inscribed a legendary “Fight with Your Back to the River” group-buff card and gave it to Skord’s team to reproduce through printing.

After the Battle of Red River, Roland planned a swift counteroffensive against Northsen Territory while the Seris School gained widespread attention, investment, and research support. Feilie’s kingdom continued to fracture, and as he faced Roland’s coming attack, a representative of the Blackfire Legion offered him help.

• Roland approved an exchange visit from the Royal Academy of Xinweila World and told Rosa he wanted to end the war quickly with a counteroffensive against Northsen Territory.
• The Arcana Communications Journal reported on Seris magic’s battlefield success, prompting wider interest in Seris runes and new research across several magical disciplines.
• Roland shared research directions through the journal, attracting investment, resources, and talent for the Seris School’s projects.
• After his defeat at Red River, Feilie lost territory, saw city-states rebel, and watched his human and nonhuman troops lose faith or desert.
• Feilie learned Terry City was preparing another offensive and realized he had few options before a member of the Blackfire Legion offered to help him.

Roland secured approval for Seris School awards and a journal while the Queen's Army began a successful counteroffensive against Feilie. The advance collapsed at Blackstone Keep after an unknown force devastated the Queen's elite troops, and Roland learned that Quinnistine of the Blackfire Legion had intervened.

• Roland negotiated with Temperis and secured approval for the Oracle Award, two academy-level awards, and a Seris School journal.
• Roland announced the new opportunities to the school and urged Thibault to prepare the counteroffensive against Feilie.
• On January 30, 10032, the Queen's Army launched its counteroffensive, reclaimed towns and villages, and drove Feilie back to Blackstone Keep.
• The Queen's Army suffered a crushing defeat at Blackstone Keep, where a mercenary corps annihilated the Blood Eagle Warriors and inflicted devastating casualties on the Jonis Mercenary Corps and Seris magic martial artists.
• Roland questioned Quinnistine, the Blackfire Legion's Third Army Commander, and recognized him as the Pan-Plane Spell Scroll Association member who had given Gallo a Time Stop scroll.

Roland rejected Kunnis Ding’s offer to cooperate with the Scroll Association and prepared Lainer World to fight the Blackfire Legion, while seeking allies, expanding magical production, and strengthening the army. As Jonis regrouped for another battle, Pamir decided to enlist, and Vian agreed to go with him.

• Kunnis Ding offered Roland a partnership to divide the magical-tools market, but Roland recognized that he wanted to delay the conflict and obtain Seris movable-type printing technology.
• Lie Yi and Blaise warned Roland about Kunnis Ding and the Blackfire Legion, and Blaise proposed an alliance with the Card Association against the Scroll Association.
• Atrelin provided little support for the counterattack, so Roland and the Academy’s leaders resolved to develop the school while preparing for war.
• Roland ordered Jonis to recruit mercenaries and fight the Blackfire Legion again, while expanding Card Printing, training Seris Magic Martial Artists, and improving the Kingdom’s military.
• Roland sent Trina to the front line to deter the enemy without starting a larger fight, agreeing to pay her additional fees.
• Pamir told Vian he wanted to join the army, and Vian surprised him by agreeing to go with him.

Roland expanded Seris magical production and prepared for the coming war while weighing the costs of financing it. He helped establish a Seris Scroll Association to challenge the Spell Scroll Association, and Kunnis Ding learned of the move and erupted in anger.

• Roland visited the Bi Sheng Laboratory, where Skord described the production of Detonation Talismans and Magic Missiles and praised the apprentices’ work.
• Roland considered organizing wild mages to copy scrolls by hand and discussed the Mercenary Corps’ preparations and exhausted budget with Rosa.
• Roland agreed with Lie Yi that they should challenge the Spell Scroll Association by establishing a Seris Scroll Association under the Seris Language Research Society.
• The announcement of the new association caused an uproar among scroll scribes and members of the Scroll Association.
• A representative confronted Kunnis Ding about the new association, and Kunnis Ding learned of it and lashed out violently at the girls around him.

Deni Orcs led by Kunnis Ding attacked the front, prompting the Mercenary Corps and Atrelin’s leaders to prepare for a wider battle. Vian and Pamir arrived at camp and were assigned as interpreters and signalmen just as the next attack began.

• Adventurers returning from reconnaissance discussed the Deni Orcs and saw Trina fight Kunnis Ding and his guards.
• Jonis ordered an emergency muster as the mercenaries prepared to face Kunnis Ding’s attack.
• Roland and Lie Yi considered the risks of escalation and decided to prepare for the worst.
• Vian and Pamir arrived at the main camp and were assigned to liaison duties between the Kingdom’s army and the Jonis Mercenary Corps.
• Jonis asked Vian and Pamir to translate documents and help treat the wounded before another enemy attack sounded.

Roland arrived at the battlefield to support Jonis and resolved that Kunnis Ding must be killed rather than merely driven away. After Trina reported that Kunnis Ding’s powerful personal guards made the plan difficult, Roland tested a new runic prophecy method, which revealed that the guards might hold the key.

• Pamir and Vian watched the Feilie Army and the Queen’s Army fight, then met Roland, who had arrived with Rabio, Linge, and Naldo.
• Roland discussed the odds of killing Kunnis Ding with Linge and Naldo and insisted that the strategic goal remain his death.
• Roland observed Jonis command the battle and considered giving him a copy of The Art of War.
• Trina returned from scouting and told Roland that Kunnis Ding was formidable and protected by powerful personal guards.
• Roland used bamboo counting rods to test his Strategic Deduction prophecy spell, which produced the cryptic keyword “Personal guards.”

Roland learned that Kunnis Ding’s elite Purple-Skinned Orc guards were powerful and heavily equipped, making victory seem unlikely. After discovering that croton seeds caused severe diarrhea in the orcs, Roland recognized a possible advantage and began planning how to use it.

• Jonis reported that the Purple-Skinned Orcs outmatched Seris Magic Martial Artists, and a scout described Kunnis Ding’s powerful, well-equipped personal guard.
• Vian and Pamir treated wounded soldiers, then explained that a captured patient had eaten croton seeds and suffered severe diarrhea.
• Roland explained to Linge that his Strategic Deduction spell used linguistic analysis and magical meaning to infer outcomes rather than relying on divine prophecy.
• Roland arranged a test in which two captured Purple-Skinned Orcs ate croton seeds mixed with soybeans and developed diarrhea just over an hour later.
• Roland concluded that croton seeds could help secure victory and summoned Rabio, Linge, Naldo, and the others to hear his plan.