Chapter Summaries

At Luo Guang’s month-old celebration, Roland learned that her permanent holy glow had made her a focus of the Church, while he completed his Ascension Ritual and became a Ninth-Rank Grand Mage. After discovering that his Book of Wisdom could manifest laws through written words, he was summoned to an emergency meeting where he learned that Sinvira’s defeat had put a planar gate at risk and drawn Atrelin into war.

• Sister Alela presented the glowing Luo Guang at her celebration, and Roland concluded that the Church was publicizing her supernatural trait while he remained wary of its intentions.
• Roland completed his Ascension Ritual, advanced to Ninth Rank, and inscribed a magical record of the achievement.
• Ovesto congratulated Roland and questioned him about the meaning of being Legendary, while Lunifis encouraged him to keep moving forward despite the passage of time.
• Roland tested the Book of Wisdom’s new ability by creating a runeword that set a training dummy on fire without detectable magical power.
• The Tower Spirit summoned Roland to an emergency Arcane Committee meeting, where Antonia reported that Sinvira’s army had been defeated and the planar gate was in imminent danger.

As the Abyssal Legion threatened the Planar Gate in Sinvira, Atrelin prepared for war and redirected resources toward combat. Roland coordinated the Seris School’s response, agreed with Rosa to send elite troops, and formed the school’s own armed forces, which departed for Xinweila World alongside him.

• Antonia warned the Arcane Commissioners that losing Sinvira’s Planar Gate would endanger every material plane, and Atrelin called for war preparations and combat-focused research.
• Roland urged the Seris School to support the war while preserving foundational projects, and its members discussed converting research into military applications.
• Rosa chose to send East Lainer’s elite troops to the Planar Battlefield, and Roland promised to protect Lainer World and secure the troops favorable treatment.
• Roland ordered the East Lainer Mage Tower to form the Tower Mage Guard and Tower Guard Knights, and to assemble the Jonis Mercenary Corps and Holy Judgment Knights.
• The new legions joined the allied forces and traveled through the Gate of Myriad Worlds in Sigil to Xinweila World, where Roland also arrived to join the expedition against the Abyssal Legion.

Roland visited the Skyrealm battlefield and inspected the Lainer Legion’s favorable defensive assignment, urging its commander to use the opportunity for training and research rather than merely earning battle merits. The chapter ended when angry officers confronted Moxiu Andrew over their reassignment from the sector given to the Lainer Legion.

• Moxiu Andrew welcomed Roland and his companions to the Outer Sky Floating Island and briefed them on the defenses and the demons’ attacks against the surrounding Sky Islands.
• Roland visited the Lainer Legion, learned that it guarded forty wormholes in a comparatively manageable sector, and praised the posting before warning Nalanerduo not to waste the opportunity.
• Roland ordered Nalanerduo to train elite soldiers, develop powerful fighters, and conduct war research and tactical field tests.
• Roland met Doto Jonis and other Lainer allies, praised Doto’s progress, and told Vian, Pamir, and the others that the war might help them reach the higher tier.
• A group of officers stormed Moxiu Andrew’s command tent and demanded an explanation for their reassignment from the sector awarded to the Lainer Legion.

Roland encountered Stradelta warriors protesting Sinvira’s reassignment of their defensive position and became fascinated by their magically empowered battle tattoos. He provoked their leader into accepting a duel with Tatali, promising to exchange the defensive positions if Tatali lost, and secretly gave him three Magic Cards before the fight.

• Roland learned that Sinvira had reassigned the Stradelta warriors’ defensive sector to the Lainer legion, and Moxiu Andrew struggled to contain their protest.
• The Stradelta warriors went to Roland’s quarters to confront the Atrelin delegation, where Roland studied their tattoos and considered their connection to ancient rune magic.
• Roland rejected Moxiu Andrew’s suggestion to placate the warriors and challenged them to prove their strength against Tatali.
• The Stradelta leader accepted Roland’s challenge, and Roland secretly slipped three Magic Cards into Tatali’s hand before the duel.

Roland studied the Stradelta warriors’ battle tattoos during Tatali’s duel with Barluf, then used the encounter to build friendly ties with their tribe. His exchange scheme succeeded in obtaining the tattoos’ basic patterns, though his people also gave the Stradelta introductory elemental true qi formulas.

• Roland recognized that the Stradelta battle tattoos encoded magical effects as Tatali and Barluf prepared to fight.
• Tatali used the power of Xingtian, the Bronze Axe, and a shield to overwhelm Barluf, and Roland saved Barluf from Tatali’s final attack with a Seris rune.
• Barluf admitted defeat and asked about Tatali’s power, and Roland described Xingtian and offered a Sinviran translation of the Romance of Seris.
• Roland brought wine to the Stradelta camp and used Tatali and his attendants to foster friendship between the Stradelta and the Mata Tribe.
• Over the following days, Roland’s people traded Seris-Style Martial Arts for battle-tattoo patterns and elemental true qi formulas, collecting the basic patterns Roland had requested.

Roland investigated the Sladelta People’s battle tattoos and concluded that their power came from a blend of witchcraft and ancestral belief. He planned to recreate the tattoos through ritual magic, Totem Art, and writing, while asking Tatali to teach Barluf Xingtian Battle Spirit.

• Roland rewarded the men who brought back battle tattoos, then tested their patterns and ink but found that neither worked alone.
• After questioning the adventurers, Roland learned that Sladelta wizards made tattoo ink with bone ash and secret potions, performed rituals, and chanted incantations.
• Beloda identified the tattoos as advanced witchcraft drawing on similarity, sympathy, and ancestral spirits, and Roland proposed using divine magic and arcana to study them.
• Roland asked Tatali to teach Barluf Xingtian Battle Spirit and the improved Xingtian Totem, persuading him that sharing the art could benefit both peoples.
• Roland told Beloda to adapt the tattoos with ritual magic and Totem Art, and he recognized that his trait, The Way Is Carried by Words, could let writing inscribe power onto people, objects, and land.

Roland developed Seris Rune Tattoos, establishing arcane and Xingtian-based divine branches, and demonstrated their powers on adventurers and Tatali. Barluf asked Roland to tattoo “Xing” on his forehead so he could seek Xingtian’s protection and honor his bond with his interpreter.

• Roland created Seris Rune Tattoos that permanently enhanced adventurers’ attributes and battle aura, while Beloda studied how their runes worked.
• Roland used a concealed divine mark to tattoo “Xing” on Tatali, who gained battle power he believed came directly from Xingtian.
• Roland sent the tattoo system’s research framework to East Lainer, where Lie Yi and a young mage welcomed the chance to develop it further.
• Barluf admired Tatali’s tattoo and asked Roland whether the Sladelta People could receive Xingtian’s protection through tattoos.
• Barluf offered to honor Xingtian and asked Roland to tattoo “Xing” on his forehead as a sign of reverence and brotherhood with his interpreter.

Barluf brought the Sladelta People’s Great Elder a manuscript from Roland explaining the Xingtian Battle Tattoo, prompting the elder to question Roland about his intentions and his view of gods. After Roland explained his belief in fair exchange and using gods to check other gods, the Great Elder studied the technique and tested it, finding that it worked.

• The Great Elder learned that Barluf had gone to Roland to get a battle tattoo and scolded him for trusting a foreign Grand Wizard.
• Barluf gave the Great Elder Roland’s manuscript on inscribing battle tattoos, and the elder was astonished by its depth and generosity.
• The Great Elder visited Roland and asked what he was trying to do, and Roland said he wanted only fair trades and that Serisians did not keep idle gods.
• Roland discussed the Xingtian Battle Spirit and Totem with the Great Elder, who was shaken by the idea of using multiple gods to keep one another in check.
• The Great Elder studied Roland’s materials through the night, developed his own version of the tattoo, and tested it by smashing a boulder with renewed strength.

Roland developed Xingtian Battle Tattoos that turned sacrifices into combat power, while Lie Yi secured funding to research them as an arcane system. When a plane tide brought a vast Abyssal Legion attack to the Lainer Legion’s front, Roland rushed to the battle to strengthen the Xingtian System through blood sacrifice.

• The Sladelta Great Elder gave Tatali secret texts describing Battle Tattoos that formed sacrificial Magic Weapons, and Roland studied the method.
• Roland tattooed axe and shield runes onto Tatali, then tasked Beloda with organizing the findings and exploring an arcane version.
• Roland used the Book of Wisdom to create Xingtian Battle Spirit runes for himself and manifested an axe and shield from battle aura.
• Lie Yi submitted a Battle Tattoos research proposal, and Atrelin approved an initial budget of ten million gold coins.
• A plane tide brought a large force of demons through planar passages, and Nalanerduo led the Lainer Legion’s troops in defense.
• Roland hurried to the front with his Guard Unit, intending to use the battle’s blood sacrifices to strengthen the Xingtian System.

Roland and his companions helped the Lainer Legion repel an Abyssal demon assault, and Roland’s head-cleaving sacrifice to Xingtian strengthened his battle tattoos with each demon he killed. After reports of their power spread, soldiers across nearby camps sought Seris battle tattoos, prompting Roland to expand their use and develop an arcane system for them.

• Roland arrived at the demon-infested battlefield, adapted his tactics, and fought alongside Tatali and his guards to break through the enemy ranks.
• Roland joined Nalanerduo’s forces, and the Lainer Legion fought for more than three hours until the ebbing plane tide cut off the demons’ reinforcements and the survivors fled.
• Roland discovered that the souls of demons he beheaded had strengthened his battle tattoos, estimating that he had gained at least three hundred percent power in two lower-tier tattoos.
• Barluf and the Great Elder learned about the tattoos’ effects, while Moxiu Andrew received reports and nearby soldiers began asking for the Seris designs.
• Roland approved established tattoos for allied soldiers and offered divine-magic designs to worshippers of Xingtian, while urging research to turn the system into Arcana.

Barluf’s warriors strengthened their battle tattoos through decapitation sacrifices, while Roland divided Xingtian’s growing power among new Magic Cards and gave Tatali one of them. As the year ended, Roland accepted an invitation to Xinweila World and arrived at its Royal Magic Academy to a grand welcome.

• Barluf’s warriors killed scattered demons by beheading them, strengthening their battle tattoos and increasing Xingtian’s power.
• Roland split Xingtian’s power among several Magic Cards and tested a card that summoned a powerful divine arm.
• Roland presented Tatali with the Xingtian’s Right Arm card, which Tatali accepted as a sacred relic.
• Atrelin mages spread battle tattoos among garrisons, while Roland promoted Magic Cards to the Sladelta People in exchange for their knowledge.
• After the delegation studied the Abyssal Legion, Roland accepted an invitation to visit Xinweila World and traveled to Everwinter City.
• Roland and his companions arrived at the Royal Magic Academy, where arcanists welcomed them enthusiastically.

Roland negotiated cooperation with Sinvira, securing support and purchases for the Seris School’s battle-tattoo research while advancing his school’s influence. Late that night, Vanessa Jin Lienkers revealed herself as a Lust Devil and attacked him, leaving their confrontation underway.

• Roland rejected Sinvira’s attempts to demand aid and research without compensation, then helped establish a framework for cooperation between the countries and their allied forces.
• Sinvira agreed to support the Seris School’s battle-tattoo research and purchase related developments, and Roland put Lie Yi in charge of expanding the school’s work.
• After a full day of meetings and ceremonies, Roland returned to his villa and reviewed the day’s affairs.
• Vanessa Jin Lienkers visited Roland late at night, claiming she wanted him to teach her Seris, but his holy light exposed her as a Lust Devil.
• Vanessa summoned a long whip and attacked, while Roland leapt back, raised his battle aura, and cast “True Word Spell: Cleave!”

Roland captured Vanessa after foiling her assassination attempt and learned that she had acted for Hell, while Sinvira’s ties to devils made a full investigation impossible. Sinvira offered him protection and an Illusory Beast Egg as compensation, leaving the wider network of devil collaborators untouched.

• Vanessa escaped Roland’s attack through a Maze Spell, but a Mata Tribe warrior accidentally struck her, and Tatali helped capture her.
• Roland interrogated Vanessa, who revealed that Bloodthirsty Tyrant Shank had ordered her to assassinate him and that she had once been human.
• Master Augut explained that Sinvira’s dealings with devils prevented a broad investigation, and the search for Vanessa’s handler failed.
• Antonia told Roland that Sinvira would likely protect its intertwined interests and compensate him rather than expose everyone involved.
• Master Augut reported that more than a hundred academy staff had been dismissed, investigated, or executed and presented Roland with enhanced protection and a golden Illusory Beast Egg.

Roland uncovered how devils had infiltrated Sinvira’s government and urged Atrelin to investigate its own vulnerabilities, prompting a wider crackdown. The investigation also ensnared his former student Leilide, whose research into devil true names had produced a True Name Pact that Roland realized might be the fruition of a seed planted seventeen years earlier.

• Roland investigated the devil spies in Sinvira and learned that devils had gained influence across its government and bureaucracy.
• Roland reported Sinvira’s problems to Atrelin, and Antonia ordered an investigation into devil infiltration and corruption at home.
• The Atrelin investigation exposed Hell’s groundwork in the empire, leading its leaders to call for stricter institutions to curb the devils.
• In Lainer World, investigators questioned Leilide over dubious research practices, and he asked Roland for help.
• Roland reviewed Leilide’s record and discovered that his research had developed a Seris-style True Name Pact for controlling devils.
• Roland realized Leilide’s breakthrough might be the seed he had planted seventeen years earlier beginning to take root.

Roland studied Leilide’s research on the True Name Pact and used the Book of Wisdom to create an original pact written in Seris Divine Runes. While conducting business in Sinvira, he sought materials for summoning lust devils and forming pacts so he could experiment with devils connected to the region.

• Leilide pleaded with Roland to protect his research, and Roland told the investigation team to withdraw after it confirmed only misuse of funds and other lesser offenses.
• Roland used the Book of Wisdom to transform Leilide’s True Name Pact research into a Seris Divine Rune pact imbued with the true essence of law.
• Roland attended Sinvira’s celebrations and conferences, where he observed how lust devils worked throughout the city’s offices and factories.
• Roland visited an alchemy factory, gave the director Summon Succubus cards, and secured his promise to promote the Seris School.
• Roland asked the factory director to collect materials about summoning lust devils and establishing pacts, planning to conduct an experiment with local devils.

Roland examined a Styx Oath pact and tasked Leilide with creating a fair, binding pact system in Seris. After preparing a summoning ritual in Xinweila World, Roland summoned the devil Aixipu and revealed his identity, leaving Aixipu trapped across the sealed barrier.

• Roland consulted an expert about the Styx Script pact and began planning a Seris-language pact that could invoke the River of the Underworld's binding power.
• Roland assigned Leilide to develop the Seris pact master text using fairness, collective resonance, and the Oath of the Daoheart.
• Roland gathered the ritual materials in Xinweila World and considered how Seris could spread through widely used pact texts.
• Roland secretly performed a summoning ritual and called the devil Aixipu using an ancient Hell-language name.
• Roland revealed himself as Aixipu's old friend, and Aixipu discovered that Roland had sealed the void and prevented his withdrawal.

Roland gathered intelligence from Aixipu about Bloodthirsty Tyrant Shank’s plans for Xinweila World, then used research from Leilide’s team to test a new pact with Duke North. The framework agreement unexpectedly revealed a way to probe a devil’s true name, which Roland recognized as the Naming Art.

• Roland questioned Aixipu about the Nine Hells and learned that Shank was leading an invasion of Xinweila World backed by several devil factions.
• Roland paid Aixipu for the information and later received Leilide’s research on the True Name Pact and devil summoning.
• Roland presented Aixipu with a proposed long-term pact, prompting Aixipu to summon his grandfather, Duke North.
• Roland and Duke North signed a broad framework agreement using their Arcane Marks.
• After signing, Duke North sensed an attempt to uncover information about his true name, and the pact produced glowing Seris runes before Roland.
• Roland identified the successful result as the True Name Pact’s Naming Art.

Roland used the Seris language’s collective power to impose the name Xiros on Old Xiros, forcing him to sacrifice part of his essence to halt the erosion. The Naming Art remained capable of locating and binding him, while the Seris School prepared to publish its research and expand cooperation with Sinvira and Atrelin.

• Roland’s Naming Art nearly replaced Old Xiros’s true name with Xiros, forcing Old Xiros to expend much of his essence to stop it.
• Old Xiros summoned Aixipu, then empowered him with a portion of his essence and authorized him to use the name Little Xiros while maintaining ties with Roland and the Seris School.
• Roland sensed that the Naming Art’s erosion had stopped but that its resonance still tracked Old Xiros through more than ten anchor points.
• Roland sent the pact materials back to Leilide so she could develop additional provisions for template contracts.
• Leilide and her colleagues published a paper on Seris and true names as Lie Yi and the others completed the Battle Tattoos principles and Basic Arcana.
• Sinvira and Atrelin announced a comprehensive agreement to fight the Abyssal Legion and cooperate with the Seris School, while the Royal Magic Academy offered visiting scholar positions and student exchanges.

Roland’s success in Sinvira made Seris battle tattoos a rising arcane trend, drawing research and investment across multiple schools. As frontline trials showed promise, Opani moved to secure a role for the Elements School in developing the technology’s higher tiers.

• Lie Yi and Blaise celebrated the benefits Seris Academy gained from Roland’s Sinvira visit, while Oksaya published a glowing defense of Seris battle tattoos in the Arcana Communications Journal.
• The Seris School’s influence unified the Runes School, and researchers from other schools began exploring battle tattoos for uses including constructs, Elemental Envoys, and witchbeasts.
• Roland approved of the growing research interest after confirming the trend was producing useful work, while Moxiu Andrew worried that soldiers were being used as experimental subjects for political reasons.
• Frontline soldiers eagerly requested tattoos as Beloda and other Arcanists struggled to keep up with the trials, and a late-March report concluded that the project had broad potential.
• Opani gathered Moningia, Varian, and other Grand Mages and proposed joining forces with the Witchcraft and Alchemy Schools to pursue the middle and higher tiers of battle tattoos.

Roland discussed the growing contest over battle-tattoo research funding with Lie Yi, while Opani warned Moningia and Varian that Seris’s rise could threaten their school. In Xinweila, Master Augut proposed that his gifted student Fane Neres study under Roland and establish a Seris lineage there, then urged Roland to take on more students.

• Opani explained to Moningia and Varian that Seris needed future Grand Mages and that they had to secure a share of state funding.
• Roland encouraged Lie Yi to focus on arcane research and said he would handle rival factions seeking battle-tattoo funding.
• Atrelin and Xinweila World funded battle-tattoo research, but the Seris School received only half of the field’s expected support as other schools claimed a stake.
• Roland and Master Augut exchanged ideas about runic spells and magical imprints while visiting the Royal Magic Academy in Xinweila.
• Augut asked Roland to teach Fane Neres and make him the Seris School’s Preacher in the region, offering his school’s secret techniques in return.
• Roland agreed to consider teaching Fane if Fane and the Magic Academy approved, and Augut urged him to accept several more students.