Chapter Summaries

After Rain was captured as a Lich, Antonia tasked Roland and Anna with finding his phylactery so the Empire could control and potentially use him. Their initial attempt to locate it with Wish failed, leaving Roland to propose upgrading Strategic Deduction into Decision Theory.

• Antonia interrogated Rain, who asked how Roland’s Prophecy Spell had found him and then secretly gave Antonia information about the Quagmire Plan.
• Antonia told Roland and Anna that Rain’s information connected the matter to the Xinweila World and assigned them to find Rain’s phylactery.
• The Pydos Mage Tower’s faction also pursued the phylactery, hoping to gain influence by controlling Rain.
• Roland and Anna concluded that locating the phylactery through exhaustive searching was impractical and tried using Wish to determine whether it was in Atrelin, but received only an uncertain answer.
• Roland proposed improving Strategic Deduction into Decision Theory and using a deity’s power or Wish to make its judgments.

Roland and Anna invented Decision Theory, a spell that narrowed the search for Rain’s phylactery until the Arcane Gendarmes found it, prompting support for an Occult Studies program. After Rain agreed to serve Atrelin again, Antonia recruited Roland to help with the secret Rod of Retribution plan against Xinweila World by befriending Sinvira’s ambassador and Royal Magic Academy mages.

• Roland and Anna developed Decision Theory and used it to produce ten possible locations for Rain’s phylactery.
• Antonia approved their work, endorsed an Occult Studies program, and sent the Arcane Gendarmes to investigate the locations.
• Omifer learned that Roland and Anna’s spell had advanced prophecy research and watched the phylactery search shift in their favor.
• The Arcane Gendarmes found Rain’s phylactery, and the committee began studying Decision Theory and considering support for the new program.
• Antonia told Roland that Rain had agreed to serve Atrelin again and outlined the Rod of Retribution plan against Xinweila World.
• Antonia assigned Roland to approach Sinvira’s ambassador and the Royal Magic Academy mages to win their trust and recruit talented people.

Roland accepted Antonia’s recommendation to enter government while Anna reflected on the political opportunities she had once rejected. As donations poured in for the new Occult Studies program, Roland met Xinweila’s ambassador and learned Antonia planned to use Raine’s escape to expose Sinvira’s connections; the chapter ended with Roland meeting the imprisoned Raine.

• Roland told Anna about Antonia’s recommendation, and Anna explained how refusing Pidos Academy had once blocked her ambitions.
• News of Roland’s Decision Theory spell drew debate and inspired donations and student applications for the new Occult Studies program.
• Antonia introduced Roland to Ambassador Gaojart, and they discussed evidence linking Sinvira to the Undead Mages’ plot against Atrelin.
• Antonia revealed he planned to let Raine escape so Sinvira would try to contact him, and he told Roland that Raine wanted to meet him.
• Roland entered the prison reception room and met Raine Hurlengar, whose magic was sealed by a Restraining Ring.

Roland met with Rain, who explained how academic setbacks and disillusionment with Atrelin had led him to pursue Lich Reincarnation and immortality. Afterward, Antonia warned Roland about Rain’s outlook, then reviewed Rain’s unpublished elemental furnace research and suggested combining it with Seris School work for publication.

• Rain recounted his rise from a blacksmith’s family to a celebrated High Mage, followed by mounting competition and frustration with the Mage Tower’s academic system.
• Rain said that exploitation, failed efforts to secure justice, and the limits of mortal life had driven him to seek immortality and become a Lich.
• Rain argued that he had chosen a path beyond nations and humanity, while also claiming that others he once despised had pursued immortality.
• Roland left the cordial meeting and told Antonia that Rain had found his path but had tried to provoke his interest in Lich Reincarnation.
• Antonia discussed the limits of Atrelin’s system and urged Roland to pursue becoming a Legendary Mage rather than immortality.
• Roland handed Antonia Rain’s secret research materials, and Antonia identified them as further findings on the elemental furnace and suggested publishing them alongside Seris School research.

Roland sent Rain’s Elemental Furnace research to the East Lainer Mage Tower, where the school members demonstrated its potential to enhance undead and proposed adapting its principles for elemental battle aura. After returning to East Lainer and discussing the school’s future with Queen Rosa, Roland met a Church of Light envoy and proposed training knights to wield paladin powers without requiring them to be believers.

• Roland sent Rain’s research to the mage tower, and the school members found that its Elemental Reactors could give skeletons powerful elemental attacks.
• The school members proposed using the findings to develop elemental battle aura and make techniques such as Frost and Flame Palm accessible to more practitioners.
• Roland traveled to East Lainer with Anna and attended a crowded welcome gathering, then introduced her to his circle over a meal.
• Roland stayed at Queen Rosa’s Summer Palace, discussed the school’s research priorities, and explained that his relationship with Anna was based on close partnership rather than marriage.
• Roland met an envoy from the Church of Light and suggested that knights should be able to gain paladin powers without being restricted to believers.

Roland secured approval for the Holy Judgment Knights, a cross-border force to fight demons that united several churches and states under a framework shaped by the Seris School. As Sinvira prepared to send recruits to East Lainer, Roland privately planned to turn the initiative into the foundation of an armed force controlled by his school.

• Archbishop Pana defended Roland’s devotion and considered how his beliefs differed from conventional religion, while Antonia and the Arcane Committee reviewed Roland’s proposal to unite churches against evil.
• Roland explained his plan to Rosa, then demonstrated the Sacred Character Formula to Atali and said faith in justice and human goodness could produce holy power without reliance on a god.
• Roland’s proposal drew condemnation from conservatives and support from reformists, especially the Church of the God of Light.
• At the end of December, Antonia told Roland that the Holy Judgment Knights had been established with cross-border authority, dedicated teleportation quotas, and most of its funding supplied by Sinvira.
• Antonia assigned Roland to recruit talented visitors from the Royal Academy, identify spies, and involve suitable candidates in the demon-suppression campaign.
• Roland privately resolved to use the joint force’s resources and training to build an armed force under his school’s control.

Verlina declined Roland’s request for the Gossus elves to formally join the Holy Judgment Knights, but Vivian secretly traveled to meet him and became an honorary knight. Roland persuaded Verlina to let Vivian stay with him, and the chapter ended with Church Knights and transferred troops ready to join the new order.

• Verlina and the elven officers declined formal involvement in Roland’s order but offered to consider supplying weapons and armor.
• Vivian secretly used an outside patrol to leave the elven warship and travel to Roland’s tower.
• Roland charmed Vivian and persuaded Verlina to let him look after her while she joined the Holy Judgment Knights in a private capacity.
• Roland named Vivian an honorary knight and gave her leadership titles in the order’s strategic support and magical forces.
• A reserve battalion of Church Knights mustered, and Xienni and Lamb were transferred with their troops to the new order.

Roland established the Holy Judgment Knights as a joint force, appointed Hu De'an as their commander, and began arranging their training, equipment, and research support. After Pollas reported finding demon worshippers in Lainer World, Roland ordered the knights to prepare for an expedition and planned to join them.

• Roland summoned Lamb and Xienni, then arranged for them to serve in the newly forming Holy Judgment Knights.
• Jonis gave Vian and Pamir transfer orders to join the knights, while several experienced mercenaries joined as instructor candidates.
• Roland presided over the knights' founding parade outside Terry City, where he presented Hu De'an with the command flag.
• Roland directed the Seris School to develop specialized products and purification methods using funding from the joint project.
• Pollas reported a den of demon worshippers in Lainer World, and Roland ordered Hu De'an's troops to prepare for an expedition while planning to accompany them.

Roland led the Holy Judgment Knights against demon worshippers, uncovered evidence linking them to the Kongel Organization, and sought to expand the knights’ authority. Antonia and the Grand Mages agreed to let the force operate independently with little funding, leaving Roland’s ambitions unchecked.

• Roland and Pollas led an assault on demon worshippers, whose lair held undead sealed with talismans developed by the Seris Martial School.
• Roland inspected the spoils with Vivian, encouraged Vian and Pamir’s progress, and urged them to help lead Lainer World toward strength and prosperity.
• Vivian found documents linking the demon worshippers to the Kongel Organization, which had kidnapped Kana, and said her sister Verlina was also hunting the group.
• Roland decided to target the Kongel Organization, invoking its crimes against elves to justify an attack by the Holy Judgment Knights.
• Antonia discussed Roland’s request to expand the knights’ operations with the Grand Mages, who agreed to let the force grow independently without providing key funding or equipment.

Roland established a new way to channel holy light through Seris beliefs and used it to transform Atali into a seventh-rank paladin. The ritual succeeded, but the Goddess of Light appeared before Roland afterward.

• Roland discovered that writing the character for “Holy” could connect its meaning across universes and provide an independent source of holy light.
• Roland explained his holy-light incantation to Lie Yi and prepared to create a Seris-style paladin profession.
• Roland began Atali’s profession-change ritual, using the Mage Tower and a magic array to reshape her body and attune her to holy light.
• Atali experienced visions of Seris stories and heroic figures as her soul was tempered by the ritual.
• Atali emerged with golden armor and wings of light, and the school celebrated the successful creation of its signature profession.
• A golden feather became a ten-star legendary card, and the Goddess of Light appeared before Roland.

Roland witnessed Atali’s revelation from the Goddess of Light and continued developing the Seris School’s military and magical technologies. As March arrived, he returned home to take up greater authority as a full committee member and Grand Arcanist.

• Atali and Roland experienced a revelation from the Goddess of Light, and Roland concluded that different faiths could coexist within the Seris School.
• On Glia, Hu De'an, Verlina, and Vivian routed Kongel Organization mercenaries, captured supplies, and reported their victory to Roland.
• Roland approved experiments with runeword socketing and made Doctor Jados’s Knight Breathing Method a priority for development and collaboration.
• After Ovesto told him he would become a full committee member and Grand Arcanist, Roland said farewell to Rosa and returned home with Atali.

Roland returned to Atrelin and learned that he would be promoted to full member of the Arcane Committee and appointed head of the Arcane Development Department. As older factions weighed how to limit his influence, Roland began planning how to use his new position to strengthen the Seris School.

• Omichidit learned that Roland was returning and decided to use his connections to delay Roland's rise, leaving Omifer to manage matters at the Pydos Mage Tower.
• Opani and leaders of Atrelin's factions considered how to respond to Roland's growing influence, with some factions open to cooperation.
• Roland returned to Atrelin, met with Antonia, and discussed possible government appointments, including a role in the Arcane Development Department.
• Ovesto explained that the Arcane Development Department had broad authority and could give Roland room to build influence and advance reforms.
• Roland studied the department and recognized that Antonia hoped he would strengthen it, while he considered how the position could help his school.
• On March 10, Antonia announced that the Arcane Committee had promoted Roland to full member and appointed him head of the Arcane Development Department.

Roland was named a grand arcanist and imperial regent, then began his new role in Atrelin’s Development Department by studying its personnel and planning how to build influence. He chose Bruno to assist him and started maneuvering to take control of the Forbidden Spell Administration Office.

• Antonia announced Roland’s appointment as a grand arcanist and imperial regent, presented him with a new badge, and explained its authority and magical powers.
• Roland celebrated with colleagues and allies, then told his school members that he intended to rise higher and asked Bruno to join him in the Development Department.
• On March 15, Roland began work at the Atrelin Mage Tower and studied the department’s political appointees, using spells to assess their records and prospects.
• Roland told Atali he was judging which staff members’ fortunes matched his, while encouraging her to use her free time to strengthen her Holy Light power.
• Roland planned to recruit secretaries and place Bruno in the Forbidden Spell Administration Office, then began burdening neutral staff to test whether Mage Pennis would resist and to prepare Bruno to win over the affected mages.

Roland consolidated his authority over Atrelin’s Arcane Development Department by creating Seris School working groups, promoting loyal mages, and placing Bruno in a role designed to obstruct Pennis and his allies. Oksaya and other associates arrived to assist Bruno as Roland continued his struggle against the Elements School.

• Pennis worried that Roland’s changes would ruin the careers of the younger mages under him, but Opani urged him to keep resisting the Seris School for a few years.
• Roland considered which allies to promote and, with Ovesto’s approval, planned special working groups to take control of school-related matters from existing departments.
• Roland promoted Campast, Dominia, Finira, and others to deputy directors and gave their working groups authority over approvals and permits, alarming Pennis and Opani.
• Opani failed to overturn Roland’s reforms before the Arcane Committee, and Roland secured Bruno’s Advanced Rank and installed him as his deputy.
• Roland told Bruno to scrutinize Pennis and his allies, then brought Oksaya and other associates from Lainer World in to help; Oksaya eagerly welcomed the assignment.

Roland used new administrative rules and a damaging exposé to weaken the Elements School’s hold over the Forbidden Spell Administration Office, leaving Pennis under investigation and the Seris School with new influence. Oksaya then turned his attacks on the Astrology School, accusing it of failed predictions and praising Anna’s reformist Seris School.

• Pennis objected to Roland’s order requiring Development Department documents to include Seris translations, but Roland’s supporters defended the pilot and promised trained translators.
• Opani’s Elements School tried to counter the policy by placing its own Seris speakers in the Forbidden Spell Administration Office.
• An exposé connected Pennis to failures in the Sigum chaos-energy project’s pollution cleanup and to unauthorized contamination experiments that had escaped forbidden-spell oversight.
• Opani angrily confronted Pennis, then sought a meeting with Roland; Roland announced a new Arcane Discipline Group and kept Pennis in office under probation pending investigation.
• Omichidit and the Astrology School learned that Oksaya had published a commentary accusing them of inaccurate predictions and praising Anna’s Occult Studies program.

After completing his first ten-year term as a committee member, Roland stepped down to focus on his cultivation and family. He returned to the Larus Territory with Atali and Rowan to visit the aging Old Horry, whose declining health suggested that his remaining time was short.

• Oksaya used public opinion attacks to thwart factions obstructing the Seris School, and Roland later promoted him to high mage and inspector.
• Over the next ten years, Roland dismantled old power structures, built up the Development Department, and expanded the Seris School’s influence before reporting on his tenure and stepping down.
• Antonia approved Roland’s request for time away from politics so he could resume arcane research and work toward higher ranks.
• Roland learned that Atali was pregnant, reviewed messages and invitations, and decided to take her and Rowan to visit Old Horry while sending Vian and Pamir as their escort.
• More than a month later, Roland reunited with Old Horry in the Larus Territory and saw how much the elderly man had weakened.

Roland reunited with his aging teacher Ovesto, supported Swein’s succession as master of the Orvisto Wizard Tower, and promised to help its promising young mages. He then visited the aging Lunifis, who urged him to pursue legendary immortality before time left him with regrets.

• Roland declined to arrange Young John’s admission to a mage tower but suggested he seek work with the Church of Light’s poetry project.
• At the Orvisto Wizard Tower celebration, Roland reunited with the aged Ovesto and agreed to support several promising young mages.
• Ovesto announced his retirement and named Swein as his successor, and Roland pledged to support Swein’s nomination through the Arcane Committee.
• Roland visited Lunifis in the Yther Kingdom, reassured her about her aging, and recited a poem at her request.
• Lunifis gave Roland an album of her portraits and urged him to pursue the legendary realm while he still had time.

Roland performed his long-planned Ascension Ritual in Nevis City and advanced to the eighth rank. He discovered that the ritual had manifested his soul’s knowledge as the Book of Wisdom, a soul armament that could store spells and record magical understanding.

• Roland returned to Nevis City and prepared the Ascension Ritual, which would transform his mind, will, and soul while balancing divinity and humanity.
• Roland activated the citywide magic array and advanced to the eighth rank after his soul traits passed the required threshold.
• Roland sensed a new presence in his soul and recognized it as the Book of Wisdom, a high-quality soul armament that could eventually become physical.
• Roland found that the Book of Wisdom contained his spells as soul memories, letting him cast them without relying on Atrelin’s spell system.
• Roland examined the runes and metamagic properties recorded in the book, then used its writing-based power to clarify his thoughts and create golden runes.

Roland used the Book of Wisdom to pass spells and Seris knowledge to his unborn child, then returned to Larus Territory when Old Horry and his wife fell gravely ill and gave Crown Prince Rowan memories of Seris myths. After Atali gave birth to a radiant daughter, Roland named her Light Luo Seris, and a mysterious power descended upon Nevis.

• Roland tore out a page of the Book of Wisdom to remove his memory of the spell Light, derived the spell again, then restored his knowledge by copying it onto another page.
• Roland implanted soul memories of minor spells and Seris language into Atali’s fetus, making their unborn child a natural-born mage.
• Roland returned to Larus Territory with Atali when Old Horry and his wife fell gravely ill, and he gave Crown Prince Rowan memories of Seris myths before sending him back to Lainer World.
• Roland developed the Book of Wisdom’s supernatural trait, transcribing arcane works and turning the book into a searchable, linked electronic volume while consolidating his Eighth-Rank power.
• Atali gave birth to a daughter after eighteen months of pregnancy, and Sister Alela reported that mother and child were safe as the infant radiated holy light.
• Roland named his daughter Light Luo Seris, and a mysterious power descended upon Nevis.

The Goddess of Light bestowed powerful divine grace on Roland's newborn daughter, Luo Guang, prompting the Holy See to seek a closer role in her life. As Roland negotiated limits on the Church's influence, the Pope ordered sacred archives and scriptures secretly moved to Lainer World, where the Church believed the survivors of an approaching abyssal catastrophe would find hope.

• The Goddess of Light blessed Luo Guang with a durable holy shield, resistance to toxins and extreme environments, and enhanced strength, while the Holy See confirmed the miracle and considered appointing her a Saintess.
• Roland and the Atrelin Arcane Committee rejected the Saintess appointment but accepted Divine Favored privileges, and Roland allowed Church members to help care for Luo Guang during the day.
• Antonia told Roland that the Goddess of Light was likely seeking to expand her influence through the Seris School and might be cultivating favorable ties with him.
• The Pope ordered the secret transfer of the Grand Library's archives and sacred items to Lainer World, declaring that the abyssal legion would destroy several great empires and that Lainer World was the divinely favored refuge.