Chapter Summaries

An Kai searched the Mage Tower’s second floor, found spellbooks and a Brute Force Staff, and used the staff to destroy a Stone Statue Giant. After raising his intelligence to 101, his Mage’s Body talent advanced to Lv2 and gave him forty attribute points; he sensed that his spells’ restraints had lifted, then froze as he began to act.

• An Kai found a Summoning Scroll and spell-analysis books on the Mage Tower’s second floor, but the books contained no Lv1 spells, so he stored them to sell later.
• An Kai tore apart the second-floor furnishings and uncovered a fine Lv1 Brute Force Staff hidden inside a cabinet.
• An Kai returned to the first floor and shattered a Stone Statue Giant with the Brute Force Staff, gaining a skill point and bringing his reserve to eighty.
• After five more days of secluded training, An Kai raised his intelligence to 101, triggering his Mage’s Body talent to upgrade to Lv2 and granting him forty attribute points.
• An Kai distributed the points evenly, ate ten days’ worth of food, and sensed that the restraints on all four of his spells had lifted before he suddenly froze.

After three months of seclusion in the Mage Tower, An Kai raised his attributes and spells, completed the tower’s second task, and prepared to leave. He emerged with a new goal of trading for Skill Points, replenishing his food, and finding a place for his next seclusion.

• An Kai discovered that spell proficiency requirements had tripled at level 11 and suspected his attributes now needed to rise by 30 points to unlock further spell levels.
• An Kai continued meditating, and three months later he had gained 80 Attribute Points and raised his Intelligence to 131.
• An Kai maxed out Freezing Spell and Summoning at level 11, then summoned a Giant-Toothed Boar that fulfilled the Mage Tower’s second task and helped ease his food shortage.
• An Kai met the Brute Force Staff’s attribute requirements and learned that it added weight to his spells, though he could not test it inside the Mage Tower.
• An Kai raised Meditation and Fireball to level 12, packed his belongings, and left the Mage Tower to sell supplies, buy food, and find a place for his next seclusion.

An Kai left the Mage Tower and found Reed and three Warriors tied up by the lake, about to be eaten by two orcs. He killed the orcs with a barrage of Fireballs, rescued Reed’s companions, and collected their belongings, leaving them awed and afraid of him.

• An Kai approached the lake and found Reed and three Warriors bound to branches while two orcs prepared to eat them.
• The orcs mistook An Kai for weak prey after checking his detector, and An Kai attacked them with repeated Fireballs.
• An Kai’s assault killed the two orcs and left a huge crater in the lakeshore.
• An Kai freed Reed, who dove into the lake to rescue his two companions, and the four Warriors later rested on the shore.
• An Kai demanded their belongings, and Reed handed over the Storage Ring containing everything the four men owned.

An Kai returned toward Chaos City with Reed and learned that Orcs had been operating a checkpoint near the city for months. Angered by their presence but eager for their resources, he ordered Reed and his companions to lure them over, promising that he would take action.

• Reed agreed to return to Chaos City with An Kai after witnessing his strength and deciding the Desert was too dangerous.
• An Kai summoned an Elite Lv11 Stone Statue Giant and rode on its shoulder while Reed explained the Orcs’ activities and what had happened to Hanks.
• Near Chaos City, An Kai spotted Orcs manning a checkpoint and refused Reed’s suggestion to take a detour.
• An Kai declared that the Orcs had victimized the humans of the Desert and urged Reed to support his call to fight them.
• An Kai ordered Reed and his three companions to lure the Orcs over, saying that he would take action.

An Kai sent Reed and three Warriors to scout an Orc settlement, using a supposed one-hour death threat to ensure their cooperation. After Reed's group escaped with the Orcs in pursuit, An Kai unleashed a barrage of Fireballs, leaving Reed alive and the Orcs under attack.

• An Kai placed Freezing Spells on Reed and the three Warriors and sent them to investigate the Orc settlement.
• Reed led the group toward the settlement, and An Kai waited on a dune with the [Stone Statue Giant].
• Five minutes later, Reed and the others fled the settlement carrying two wounded Warriors, with nearly a hundred Orcs chasing them.
• Reed signaled the Orcs' numbers and strength to An Kai as they ran toward him.
• An Kai struck an Orc leaping at Reed with a Fireball, then launched a barrage that devastated the pursuing Orcs.
• Reed collapsed in relief and murmured that it was good to be alive.

An Kai destroyed the Orc settlement and found a small cache of gold and identification tags before returning to Chaos City with Reed and his companions. After gaining two Skill Points from the [Stone Statue Giant]'s Magic Core, he spotted Hanks in the city.

• An Kai finished bombarding the Orcs, then led Reed toward the settlement while Reed checked the battlefield for anything they had missed.
• An Kai searched the Orc buildings, found 132 gold coins and eight identification tags in two treasure chests, and burned the settlement.
• An Kai returned to Chaos City with Reed and his three companions, then smashed the [Stone Statue Giant] apart and exchanged its Magic Core for two Skill Points.
• An Kai entered Chaos City and spotted Hanks as someone nearby threatened him over failing to bring home money.

An Kai confronted Hanks, who told him that the Nameless Town had returned as the Town of the Dead and invited him to investigate it for a bounty. An Kai refused and headed to the Evergreen Gang’s headquarters to find Will-Bukelin and sell unwanted items.

• Reed returned with the wounded warriors, and Hanks angrily blamed them for leaving before learning they had encountered An Kai.
• Hanks approached An Kai, who stopped him with a Freezing Spell sword and dismissed his complaints; Hanks then invited him to hear about trouble in the town.
• Hanks told An Kai that the Nameless Town had become the Town of the Dead, that Dong Lin had appeared and placed a bounty on An Kai, and that a mission offered 5,000 gold coins for uncovering the town’s secrets.
• An Kai refused Hanks’s proposal to investigate the Town of the Dead, admitting he was scared, and left.
• An Kai changed his appearance with the [Disguise Mask] and went to Evergreen Gang headquarters, hoping to find Will-Bukelin and sell unwanted items.

An Kai returned to Chaos City and found the Evergreen Gang transformed into a friendly, cleaning-focused group, with Sally Bukelin apparently still powerless. He abducted Sally Bukelin, leaving Will-Bukelin surrounded by gang members who refused to let him pursue.

• Hanks realized An Kai had concealed his strength and looked forward to profiting from their next exchange.
• An Kai noticed the Evergreen Gang's oddly friendly behavior and sensed a faint Tier Two presence at its headquarters.
• An Kai saw Sally Bukelin and Will-Bukelin leading more than a hundred gang members in cleaning teams, while Sally showed no sign of mana.
• An Kai decided against seeking help from Hanks or the Bounty Tower and approached the siblings in disguise.
• An Kai seized Sally Bukelin and escaped into an alley, while Evergreen Gang members restrained Will-Bukelin from chasing him.
• Sally warned An Kai not to struggle and claimed she knew Hanks, prompting An Kai to suspect she had been using his name.

An Kai took Sally Bukelin out of Chaos City and questioned her about the Evergreen Gang, but she recognized him as Hanks and explained the gang’s transformation. After learning the City Lord was Tier Five and wanted Will-Bukelin’s [Wanderer's Heart], An Kai left to find Will rather than get involved.

• An Kai carried Sally Bukelin from Chaos City to a nearby oasis and demanded to know how the Evergreen Gang had changed.
• Sally Bukelin recognized An Kai as Hanks after giving him her Storage Ring, while An Kai refused to admit who he was and verified that she had deactivated her distress signal.
• Sally Bukelin assured An Kai she had only used his name once and began explaining the Evergreen Gang’s changes.
• Sally Bukelin told An Kai that the City Lord had made her and Will-Bukelin joint leaders and promised to resolve the mystery of the Bukelin Duchy King’s death in exchange for Will’s [Wanderer's Heart].
• After learning the City Lord was Tier Five, An Kai left to find Will-Bukelin.

An Kai learned that [Mage Armor] would be auctioned in Chaos City's inner city and planned to obtain it through Will-Bukelin without revealing his strength. After returning to Chaos City, he gave Will a Storage Ring of goods to sell, and Will realized the items were worth far more than [Mage Armor].

• Sally Bukelin stopped An Kai by revealing that [Mage Armor] would be sold at the Bounty Tower's annual auction in two months.
• Sally explained that Tier Two class holders could enter Chaos City's inner city, and An Kai decided to have Will-Bukelin acquire the spell for him.
• An Kai returned to Chaos City with Sally, disguised his face, and rented a room away from the Evergreen Gang headquarters.
• An Kai sent Sally to bring Will, then gave Will a Storage Ring of goods to sell when he arrived.
• Will emptied the ring and recognized that its contents were worth far more than [Mage Armor].

An Kai appraised the spoils from his recent battles with Will-Bukelin, who thanked him for defeating the orcs threatening Chaos City. After taking Sally Bukelin’s magic stones, An Kai exchanged them for skill points and raised Freezing Spell and Summoning to level 12.

• Will-Bukelin assessed An Kai’s storage rings, skill analyses, and other items, then examined eight orc tags and realized An Kai had single-handedly wiped out the orc army.
• Will-Bukelin explained that the orcs had come for him and Sally, and that Chaos City’s City Lord had shortened the time before taking his Wanderer’s Heart from two years to a year and a half.
• Will-Bukelin said he valued his life but would accept death to avenge his father and secure protection for Sally, while An Kai put away the orc tags and said he would return in a month.
• Sally tried to give An Kai the magic stones she had saved, and An Kai returned, snatched her storage ring, and disappeared into the night.
• An Kai exchanged Sally’s 153 lower-grade magic stones for skill points, bringing his total to 155, then spent 48 points to raise Freezing Spell and Summoning to level 12.

An Kai disguised himself as Hanks’s neighbor, stocked a room with beast meat, and spent twenty-seven days meditating and improving his attributes. After finishing his secluded training, he planned to visit the Evergreen Gang, but Hanks recognized him as he stepped outside.

• An Kai successfully posed as Hanks’s white-haired neighbor and avoided suspicion while Hanks left to visit a Detector merchant.
• After a side story revealed that Orcs were watching the Bounty Tower, An Kai avoided it and bought large quantities of beast meat from taverns under various disguises.
• An Kai spent three days filling a room with frozen beast meat and summoned Bloodthirsty Rats, collecting Magic Cores for skill points.
• An Kai meditated for twenty-seven days, gained twenty-eight attribute points, raised his attributes evenly, and amassed 157 skill points.
• An Kai left his training room intending to visit the Evergreen Gang, and Hanks recognized him and shouted, “It’s you!!!”

An Kai reunited with Hanks and secured his new detector while leading him toward a major trade involving at least a thousand magic stones. On the way, they encountered an Astrologer whose prediction about Sally Bukelin’s death sparked a commotion.

• Hanks recognized An Kai and eagerly pursued him, hoping to make their long-delayed trade.
• An Kai took Hanks’s new detector as a reunion gift and concealed his plan to trade Orc identification tags for gold coins.
• Hanks claimed he could supply ten thousand magic stones, and An Kai discovered the detector identified Hanks as a Mage.
• Hanks explained that an Astrologer was a rare advanced class of Warlock as they approached a crowd near the Evergreen Gang.
• The Astrologer insisted that Sally Bukelin had died after ignoring his prediction that she would die if she left the city, provoking someone in the crowd.

An Kai learned that Sally Bukelin had died and killed the Astrologer who revealed the news after the man tried to read his fortune. At the Evergreen Gang headquarters, Will-Bukelin told An Kai that Sally had been killed by the President of the Bukelin Duchy Mage Association, her master, and began explaining the events leading to her death.

• An Kai heard the Astrologer announce Sally Bukelin's death and confirmed that he meant the Fifth Princess of the Bukelin Duchy.
• The Astrologer tried to extort An Kai for a fortune reading, then called him an innate demon god and a source of upheaval after sensing his power.
• An Kai killed the Astrologer with a Fireball, then hurried with Hanks to the Evergreen Gang headquarters.
• An Kai found Will-Bukelin mourning beside Sally Bukelin's coffin and asked how she had died.
• Will-Bukelin told An Kai that the President of the Bukelin Duchy Mage Association had killed Sally, and began explaining what had happened.

An Kai learned more about Sally Bukelin’s death and resolved to kill the president of the Bukelin Duchy’s Mage Association. He then headed with Hanks to the Evergreen Gang to collect money and resume their trade.

• A mysterious undead awakened atop a blood-and-bone altar in the Town of the Dead after a robed man called it forth.
• An Kai read a Side Story warning people away from the Town of the Dead and confirmed that Sally Bukelin’s name had vanished from the Side Stories.
• Will-Bukelin’s account revealed that Sally Bukelin had left Chaos City after receiving a message from her master, then died before her distress array could be activated.
• An Kai read Sally Bukelin’s letters, decided he would kill her master when strong enough, and vented his sadness by casting a Fireball at the spot where the astrologer had died.
• An Kai summoned and killed a Bloodthirsty Rat, then set off with Hanks for the Evergreen Gang to collect money and trade.

An Kai learned that the auction would offer [Mage Armor] and a Beast Meat Refining Station, and Will-Bukelin promised to buy the station for him with the Evergreen Gang’s funds. An Kai began a twenty-day secluded training period in Chaos City, preparing for the auction as the world grew more dangerous.

• Will-Bukelin gave An Kai 4,165 gold coins from sales and reported that [Mage Armor] would likely sell for around 3,800 gold coins.
• An Kai gave Will-Bukelin 265 gold coins and told him to win [Mage Armor] at the auction.
• Will-Bukelin told An Kai that he would use the Evergreen Gang’s funds to buy a Beast Meat Refining Station and revealed that he planned to leave in six months to avenge his sister.
• An Kai left Hanks waiting for a trade and promised to exchange at least a thousand magic stones in a month.
• An Kai spent his gold on beast meat, assigned two [Wanderer Guide] attribute points to Endurance and Stamina, and began secluded training.

After twenty days of secluded training, An Kai had strengthened his attributes and built up his skill points, but he needed to leave to find more food. Disguised at the Bounty Tower to exchange Orc Insignias, he discovered that its staff had marked him as an easy target and planned to kill him.

• An Kai gained twenty attribute points through meditation and raised all four attributes above 140, while Summoning earned him enough Magic Cores to bring his skill points to 201.
• An Kai decided to buy food with his eight Orc Insignias before escaping the growing conflict between the Orc army, the Town of the Dead, and Chaos City.
• An Kai disguised himself as a middle-aged man and went to the Bounty Tower, where he sensed three resident mages but refrained from starting trouble.
• An Kai discreetly showed the bounty clerk his Orc Insignias, then handed over all eight after she assured him that no one dared cause trouble inside the tower.
• The clerk used a Detector to judge An Kai as a weak, killable target and told a man near the stairs that the person behind him had not appeared; An Kai overheard her and realized his bait had worked.

An Kai collected the bounty on the Orc Insignias and lured the Bounty Tower woman and the Puppeteer out of Chaos City, where he killed them with Fireball spells. Hanks recognized An Kai’s disguise and later found him beside the crater, eager to resume their unfinished transaction.

• The Puppeteer mistook disguised An Kai for a weak bounty hunter and planned to control him outside Chaos City.
• The Bounty Tower woman gave An Kai 721 gold coins after deducting the price of a Storage Ring, then invited him for a drink with her supposed younger brother, the Puppeteer.
• Hanks recognized An Kai’s disguise after An Kai mouthed “Widow Wang” and packed up his stall to leave the city.
• The Puppeteer led An Kai and the woman west of Chaos City and prepared to control him with Puppet Threads.
• An Kai blasted the woman and the Puppeteer with two Fireball spells, leaving a large crater and a black Storage Ring.
• Hanks found An Kai sitting beside the crater and addressed him as Master Mage.

An Kai exchanged 800 gold coins with Hanks for 800 Lower-grade Magic Stones and learned that magic stones were tightly controlled outside the Desert. Hanks gave An Kai an Inner City access insignia, and An Kai proposed a ten-thousand-gold-coin deal tied to the Bounty Tower’s annual Auction Conference.

• An Kai offered Hanks 800 gold coins for 800 Lower-grade Magic Stones, and Hanks warned him not to sell them through the Bounty Tower or elsewhere because magic stones were strictly controlled.
• Hanks exchanged the magic stones for An Kai’s gold and gave him a free one-cubic-meter Storage Ring.
• Hanks warned An Kai that the Bounty Tower held secrets and that even a third-tier mage should avoid provoking it.
• An Kai recognized Hanks’s reference to the Inner City, and Hanks gave him an insignia that could teleport its holder to the real Chaos City.
• An Kai asked Hanks to join him in a ten-thousand-gold-coin deal and mentioned the Auction Conference in five days, prompting Hanks to demand more details.

An Kai prepared to ambush wealthy auctiongoers with Hanks and waited outside Chaos City for Will-Bukelin to deliver his purchases. Will-Bukelin brought the requested items and recognized An Kai’s old book as a letter from his royal father.

• An Kai agreed to give Hanks thirty percent of the spoils if Hanks lured people below Tier Three out of the city for him to ambush.
• An Kai converted 800 magic stones into skill points, raising his total to 1001, and planned to use the coming auction as an opportunity to hunt wealthy attendees.
• Over five days, An Kai gained two attribute points and ten more skill points, then disguised himself, burned his rented house, and left Chaos City.
• An Kai signaled Hanks and Will-Bukelin from a dune outside the city and waited there instead of entering the auction.
• Will-Bukelin delivered a Storage Ring containing the Beast Meat Refining Station and a scroll, then An Kai gave him the unopened book from the Nameless Town mayor’s Storage Ring.
• Will-Bukelin recognized the book as a letter from his royal father and thanked An Kai through tears.