Chapter Summaries

Rhode, a human farmer in Southshore who had given up on conquering Azeroth and focused on surviving, discovered a little high elf girl stealing corn from his field. The chapter ended with Rhode realizing she was an elf after she removed his scarecrow’s straw hat.

• Rhode worked to save money and escape Southshore before the coming Third War, relying on his farming skills and unusual ability to speak several languages.
• Rhode struggled to protect his crops from wild animals that had learned to ignore his scarecrows.
• After hearing someone in his cornfield at night, Rhode grabbed a pitchfork and went to investigate.
• Rhode found a small figure wearing his scarecrow’s straw hat and poked it with his pitchfork.
• The figure revealed herself as a hungry child who had come to pick corn, and Rhode recognized her as a little high elf when she removed the hat.

Rod met a hungry High Elf girl named Lilia and invited her to share food at his farmhouse. After she showed him an Alarm Ward and offered to teach him magic, Lilia said a spellbook might help him learn and promised she knew where to find one before going to sleep.

• Rod caught Lilia stealing corn, learned her name, and invited her inside for roasted potatoes.
• Lilia chatted with Rod over dinner and explained that Alarm Wards could alert him when wild boars entered his fields.
• Lilia cast an Alarm Ward and told Rod she could sense mana in him, so he had the potential to learn magic.
• Rod struggled to follow Lilia’s spell instructions, and she suggested he might learn from a spellbook she knew where to find.
• Rod tucked Lilia into his bed, and she fell asleep after asking whether he thought she was cute.

Rhode joined Lilia on an adventure to retrieve her Spellbook and schoolbag, hoping the elf’s magic lessons could help him become a mage. In the maple forest, they rescued a child from a cocoon and drove off the Giant Spider, though Rhode lost his steel pitchfork.

• Lilia convinced Rhode that anyone with an adventurous heart could be an adventurer, and he agreed to help her recover her Spellbook.
• Rhode learned that Lilia’s schoolbag held magic textbooks and that he was the only non-elf she had met with mana surge.
• Rhode and Lilia heard a child crying in the woods and found the child trapped inside a web-covered cocoon.
• A Giant Spider ambushed Rhode as he tried to free the child, and Lilia scorched it with a spell.
• Rhode stabbed the spider in the mouth with his pitchfork, and the wounded creature fled into the canopy, leaving him alive but without his weapon.

Rod rescued little Fabulon from a giant spider and recovered Lilia’s schoolbag, then began studying magic with her. He realized spells resembled programs, but learned that experimenting with them could cause deadly magical backlash.

• Rod freed little Fabulon from the spider’s cocoon and learned that the boy had sneaked out to play and lost his pony.
• Rod and Lilia opened the other cocoons, found Lilia’s schoolbag, and Rod returned little Fabulon to his family.
• The Fabulons and townspeople bowed to Rod as he left Southshore, while Lilia praised him as a hero.
• At the farm, Rod examined Lilia’s spellbooks and began learning how spells used mana, nodes, and energy circuits.
• Rod compared spell structures to computer programs and asked Lilia whether he could cast spells by imagining their paths.
• Lilia warned Rod that changing a spell’s prescribed method could cause magical backlash, including blowing his own head up.

Rhode devoted himself to learning magic and tried casting an Alarm Ward without an incantation, but the attempt caused mana backlash. He kept practicing through repeated failures, leaving him with a bleeding nose as his spellcasting improved.

• Rhode practiced basic magic while Lilia supervised him and helped keep animals away from the farm.
• Rhode studied Practical Spell Ward Techniques and chose to learn the Alarm Ward because Lilia already knew it.
• Rhode attempted to cast the Alarm Ward without an incantation, produced a tiny flash, and collapsed with a headache.
• Rhode repeatedly tried the spell again, gradually guiding his mana faster and making the light grow clearer.
• Lilia noticed Rhode's nosebleed and wiped it while he insisted he had only been thinking about spells.

Rhode learned to cast Guardian Wards and began studying Fireball, then rushed with Lilia to investigate a prolonged disturbance. They found a nearly destroyed ward and a strange blue creature that Rhode recognized as a Murloc.

• Rhode set up Alarm Wards around the farm and learned to cast Guardian Wards that could fight intruders.
• Rhode began studying Fireball and eventually created a small fireball after days of practice.
• Rhode sensed a prolonged fight at the Guardian Ward to the southwest and went to investigate with Lilia, carrying his iron rod.
• Rhode found the Guardian Ward nearly destroyed and turned over the fallen creature, discovering it was a Murloc.

Rhode questioned a lone Murloc that had fled enslavement by evil creatures, then practiced Fireball with Lilia and devised a way to link spellcasting steps. The chapter ended with Rhode successfully guiding a fireball into a tree.

• Rhode discovered he could understand the Murloc and learned it had fled evil creatures that enslaved its people while searching for food.
• Rhode let the Murloc go, and Lilia sympathized with it despite Rhode joking about eating it.
• Rhode tried to hit a tree with Fireball but repeatedly missed, while Lilia demonstrated an accurate shot.
• Rhode studied Lilia's smooth spellcasting and drew diagrams to connect mana-gathering and spell-release processes through a key node.
• Rhode applied his idea and successfully sent a small fireball into the tree.

Rhode continued experimenting with Fireball, eventually combining spell fragments into a huge fireball that he could not control. It struck the Jade Mine and caused a massive explosion that woke the nearby town of Southshore.

• Rhode woke aching from practicing Fireball and told Lilia to be more careful about changing in front of him.
• Rhode bought parchment from Stalvan and used it to record spell models and test combinations of Fireball fragments.
• Rhode’s experiments produced increasingly successful small fireballs, so he tried combining more spell models.
• Rhode accidentally created a washbasin-sized fireball that drained nearly all his mana and flew toward the Jade Mine.
• The fireball struck near the mine’s flag, setting off a huge explosion that woke the people of Southshore.

Rhode faced the townspeople after his Fireball destroyed the Jade Mine entrance, and Mayor Mareb kept the angry miners back. Mareb learned Rhode had studied magic for only a few weeks, then turned with him to address the wrecked mine.

• Townspeople arrived at the Jade Mine and found its entrance buried under shattered rock, with magical flames still burning nearby.
• Bondes and the miners approached Rhode angrily, but Mayor Mareb stopped them and sent the crowd back to town.
• Mayor Mareb carefully crossed the flames and asked Rhode whether he had cast the powerful Fireball that wrecked the mine.
• Rhode told Mareb he had studied magic for only a couple of weeks, stunning the former magic apprentice with his rapid progress.
• Mareb compared Rhode's talent to Grand Archmage Antonidas, then agreed to deal with the damaged Jade Mine.

After his fireball spell damaged the mine entrance, Rhode learned he could reduce the compensation by using Mage Hand to clear it. He began practicing the spell while Lilia insisted she wanted to become a greatsword-wielding swordswoman, and the chapter ended with Rhode using Mage Hand to lightly punish her for threatening to hide his textbooks.

• Mayor Marebu explained the mage ranks and suggested Rhode use Mage Hand to clear the collapsed mine entrance and reduce the compensation owed.
• Rhode agreed to learn Mage Hand, motivated by the prospect of avoiding a huge bill for the damaged mine.
• The next day, Rhode set aside fireball practice and quickly learned several applications of Mage Hand.
• Lilia told Rhode she wanted to become a greatsword-wielding swordswoman and rejected his suggestions that she learn magic or other subjects.
• When Lilia threatened to hide the spell textbooks, Rhode used Mage Hand to lightly knock her on the head.

After clearing rubble at the Jade Mine, Rhode took Lilia to Southshore’s tavern, where a discount from Monica provoked three drunken miners into confronting him. The chapter ended with Rhode and the men facing off outside as townspeople gathered to watch.

• Rhode used Mage Hand to clear some rubble from the Jade Mine and practiced Glamour to make Lilia look more human.
• Rhode took Lilia to Monica’s tavern, where they ordered honey bread and milk, and Monica gave him half off.
• Lilia teased Monica by asking whether she liked Rhode, making Monica blush and retreat to the kitchen.
• Bondes and Hackett complained that Rhode received a discount and had damaged the mine, and Rhode offered to clear it and reimburse their lost wages.
• Bondes and two other drunken miners followed Rhode outside to fight, while Lilia hurried after him and a crowd gathered.

Rhode used Mage Hand to fight off three drunken men, but Bondes took Lilia hostage until Sheriff Redpath arrived and Rhode rescued her. The townspeople praised Rhode as a powerful mage, and Lilia told him she was never afraid with him there.

• Rhode stopped Hackett’s charge with Mage Hand, then swept another drunk aside when the men attacked together.
• Bondes grabbed Lilia and used her as a hostage, while Rhode and the townspeople urged him to let her go.
• Sheriff Redpath arrived, distracting Bondes, and Rhode punched him away with Mage Hand.
• Mage Hand caught Lilia and lowered her safely to the ground as the townspeople checked on her and praised Rhode.
• Rhode asked Lilia if she was scared, and she said she was not afraid with him there.

Rhode agreed to help Sheriff Redpath kill a dangerous monster in exchange for a bounty and swordsmanship lessons for Lilia. At the watchtower, Rhode and Lilia examined the wanted notices, and Lilia spotted one for a spider.

• Sheriff Redpath took the drunken townsfolk away after Rhode declined to press charges.
• Rhode asked Redpath to teach Lilia swordsmanship, and Redpath offered to do so if Rhode helped deal with a dangerous monster.
• Redpath explained that Rhode could earn a bounty for killing the monster and warned him about the compensation he owed the Jade Mine workers.
• Rhode eagerly agreed and followed Redpath to the watchtower with Lilia.
• Rhode and Lilia looked over the wanted notices, and Lilia pointed out one depicting a spider.

Rhode recognized the Giant Spider bounty but accepted Lieutenant Orinel’s far more dangerous Yetius hunt instead. He registered as an adventurer and identified his class as mage, surprising the crowd and leaving them impressed by his willingness to face the named monster.

• Lilia claimed that she and Rhode had wounded the Giant Spider, but the clerk and adventurers laughed at her.
• Lieutenant Orinel introduced Rhode and Lilia as help from Marshal Redpath and directed the clerk to register them for the Yetius bounty.
• Rhode read that Yetius occupied a cave on Darrow Hill and noticed the five-gold-coin reward.
• Lilia’s question about Yetius’s appearance eased the crowd’s tension, and Rhode decided to take the bounty.
• Rhode filled out the adventurer registration form and wrote that his class was mage, prompting the crowd to regard him with admiration and fear.

Rhode and Lilia registered as Adventurers and accepted the Wanted Poster commission to kill Yetius. After returning to the farm, Lilia trained as a Warrior while Rhode learned Frost Nova, which he used to make shaved ice.

• Whitesteed registered Rhode as an Adventurer and recorded his acceptance of the Yetius bounty, which required Yetius's horn as proof.
• At Lilia's insistence, Whitesteed registered her as an eight-year-old Warrior Adventurer and recorded her acceptance of the same commission.
• Rhode took Lilia back to the farm to rest and prepare for their hunt the next day, while Marshal Redpath offered to teach her sword techniques.
• Redpath began training Lilia in basic Warrior skills, including Charge and Heroic Strike, while Rhode studied Frost Nova.
• Rhode learned Frost Nova and made shaved ice for Lilia and Redpath.

Rhode and Lilia entered Yetius's cave expecting to face one monster, but discovered a pack of eleven led by the much larger Yetius. Rhode froze the ten underlings with Frost Nova and moved to attack the leader, while Yetius focused on Lilia.

• Rhode and Lilia traveled through the wilderness to the cave on Darrow Hill, where Rhode summoned Mage Hands to guard them.
• A pack of eleven yetis appeared, and Rhode identified the largest, red-skinned one at the rear as Yetius.
• As the ten smaller yetis charged, Rhode cast Frost Nova and lifted Lilia to keep her feet from freezing.
• Rhode pulled Lilia past the immobilized yetis and approached Yetius, who stopped chewing his bone and fixed his attention on Lilia.

Rhode and Lilia fought Yetius, using coordinated fireballs to wound him and drive him from the cave. Rhode pursued the fleeing monster and brought him down with a powerful long-range fireball.

• Yetius attacked Lilia, but Rhode interrupted his assault with a stream of quick, weak fireballs.
• Rhode told Lilia to move behind Yetius and hit his head with a fully charged fireball, drawing the monster's attention.
• While Yetius chased Lilia, Rhode charged a stronger fireball and blasted a deep wound into the monster's lower back.
• Yetius recovered and circled Rhode, then began backing away to retreat as his injury worsened.
• Rhode pursued Yetius outside the cave, charged a powerful fireball, and struck him down as he fled.

Rhode and Lilia killed Yetius and found Ruby Earrings that could store and replenish mana. When the Abominable Snowmen charged again, Rhode drew mana from the earrings and used the same trick to escape with Lilia.

• Rhode pinned the wounded Yetius down with Mage Hand, and Lilia killed him by stabbing his eye.
• Rhode and Lilia searched Yetius’s body, found a hidden pocket, and discovered a box containing Ruby Earrings.
• Lilia explained that the Ruby Earrings stored mana, while Rhode teased her about getting her ears pierced before deciding not to sell the earrings yet.
• As the Abominable Snowmen charged, Lilia urged Rhode to draw mana from the earrings, and he used the recovered mana to freeze them again.
• Rhode took Lilia’s hand, left the frozen snowmen behind, and kept the Ruby Earrings.

Rhode, Lilia, and the Goblin inventor Gixil traveled together toward Southshore after meeting on the road. Gixil named his nearly completed resurrection machine Goblin Jumper Cables, while Rhode learned he knew nothing about computers.

• Rhode and Lilia walked back along the main road, and Rhode used a Fireball to light their way after dark.
• Rhode spotted a green figure approaching and pulled Lilia behind him, then discovered it was the Goblin Gixil selling goods.
• Rhode asked Gixil about computers, but Gixil said he was researching a machine to bring people back from the dead.
• Rhode suggested the name Goblin Jumper Cables, and Gixil excitedly adopted it for his invention.
• Rhode invited Gixil to travel with them to Southshore, and the three continued down the road as Lilia questioned Gixil about Goblins.

Rhode, Lilia, and Gixil entered a maple forest and encountered the giant spider Rhode and Lilia had injured three days earlier. Rhode destroyed it with a full-power Fireball, leaving a crater, and the group continued to marvel at the blast.

• Rhode tried to check the dark forest ahead, but Lilia and Gixil rushed in before him.
• Rhode spotted fresh spiderwebs and a giant spider approaching, then extinguished his fireball and prepared to attack.
• Rhode unleashed all his mana in a massive Fireball, which struck the spider and blasted it apart.
• Rhode examined the crater and realized his Fireball was far more destructive than his previous spells.
• Lilia and Gixil came over, and Gixil compared the blast to Goblin explosives before Lilia noticed a delicious smell.