Chapter Summaries

Ace witnessed a Soul Rune naturally form from his mural, underwent a mysterious soul-like experience, and returned with greatly improved perception. He studied and reproduced the rune, naming its hidden material-like components Magic Essence, before his attempt to activate a copy drew him into the otherworldly space again.

• A Soul Rune formed around Ace’s mural as magic power gathered, strengthening his will and spirit while transforming his body.
• Ace experienced what seemed like his soul leaving his body, entered a mysterious otherworldly space, and eventually returned to reality with sharper perception.
• After resting, Ace studied the mural and reproduced the process that formed Magic Essence, naming the process Magic Element Composition.
• Ace repeatedly copied the Soul Rune, discovered its Will Rune and Empathy Rune, and improved the stability of his reproductions.
• When Ace touched a copied Soul Rune structure with his spiritual power, it rushed into his soul and carried him back into the otherworldly space.

Ace developed the Soul Secret Treasury, a hidden space within his soul that could preserve replicated Soul Runes, and used his improved abilities to analyze runes and create new spells. He recorded eleven Soul Spells and left three-dimensional spell modeling unresolved because his spiritual power was insufficient.

• Ace poured most of his spiritual power into the hidden extradimensional space, stabilized it at the center of his brain, and named it the Soul Secret Treasury.
• Ace discovered that accurately replicated Soul Runes could be stored permanently in the treasury, while breaking them down caused the space to tremble and prevented new runes from being absorbed for three days.
• After weeks of experiments, Ace identified twenty-one types of magic essence and 156 effective combination formulas, then analyzed the runes in the Hallucinatory Eye, Ring of Protection, and Burning Short Sword.
• Ace organized his runes in the treasury and combined new spell models, but failed to form a three-dimensional model because his spiritual power was too low.
• Ace calculated his spiritual and affected magic power, judged himself an advanced wizard apprentice, and recorded eleven Soul Spells in his magic diary.

Ace discovered that Locke’s body was transforming into a fishman’s after Moor, a former Blessed One, had placed a hand on his head. He kept Locke in the hospital for research and extracted new Soul Runes from the orb in Locke’s brain.

• Locke went to Tsimari Private Hospital for severe abdominal pain and was sent to Ace for surgery.
• Ace used Ultrasonic Perception and found that Locke had a mixture of human and fishman organs, with the human organs gradually changing.
• Ace sensed a weakened orb in Locke’s brain that resembled the orb in the copper mirror and suspected it was linked to the Child of the Ocean’s scheme.
• Ace learned through illusions and beguilement that Moor had touched Locke’s head months earlier, after which Locke developed unusual abilities and symptoms.
• Ace persuaded Locke to stay in the hospital, secretly added a Soul Rune structure to the back of his head, and monitored him as his pain eased.
• Ace analyzed the orb and extracted Transformation, Solidification, Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wisdom, and Perception Runes, then developed new spell models and rune arrays.

Ace used Locke to draw out the vanished Blessed Ones and discovered that ordinary people could undergo magical transformation. He then targeted Priest Moor for shapeshifting, while reflecting on the differences between Pontos’s organized faith and the Elegant Goddess’s bloodline-based worship.

• Ace transformed into Sharp Eric using Glimmer and discovered that he had gained Sharp’s Quasi-Authority, which he used to strengthen the short sword into a magical weapon.
• Five days later, Ace followed a group of cloaked figures who took Locke to Pontos’s temple, then withdrew rather than risk being discovered.
• Ace grew familiar with the temple priests and observed Moor, whose magical transformation made him a suitable target.
• Ace placed an Illusion Barrier on Moor’s usual route, and Moor stopped to pray when he began to feel unwell.
• Ace considered the Priestly Order’s structure and recalled that Pontos was a demigod without an accompanying divine authority.

Ace impersonated the priest Moor to investigate the Pontos temple and discovered that its leaders were preparing to transform Tzimali’s people into half-Merfolk. As the promised ritual neared completion, Ace concluded he needed to escape before the transformation began.

• Ace used divine illusions to break Moor’s will, learned about the priest’s beliefs and temple duties, then transformed himself to resemble Moor.
• Ace turned Moor into a goat and hid him in a nearby sheep pen while he investigated the temple under Moor’s identity.
• Arnos delivered the High Priest’s summons, and Ace attended a meeting with the temple’s priests.
• The High Priest announced that a century-long agreement with the Merfolk would soon culminate in a mass transformation and the creation of a united city-state.
• Ace joined the priests’ acclamation but decided that the temple’s brainwashing and transformation ritual made Tzimali too dangerous to remain in.

Ace learned the transformation ritual’s structure, transformed Moor into a Merfolk, and fled Tsimari before its Bonfire Festival. Traveling north toward Medimoth City, he encountered a caravan besieged by Demon Fist Rats and began fighting them under a new identity.

• Ace studied the priests’ transformation ritual and secretly mastered its components and requirements.
• Ace permanently transformed Moor into a Merfolk and sent him to pray beneath the sea for a month.
• Ace left Tsimari under cover of night, then traveled north while monitoring reports from the city.
• Ace found a merchant caravan under attack by Demon Fist Rats and disguised himself as a demon hunter named Sharp.
• Ace rushed into the battle, killed one Demon Fist Rat with Glimmer, and faced the others as they surrounded him.

Ace saved a caravan while disguised as Sharp, then used Demon Fist Rat runes to develop new spells and create the Iron Masked Fire Fist persona. After two months of hunting Demonic Beasts in western Medimuss, he headed back to Medimoth City before continuing north toward the Lar Mountains.

• Ace incinerated the Demon Fist Rats attacking Borg's caravan, accepted a reward, and chased the survivors away from the group.
• Ace studied the remaining Demon Fist Rats, discovered the Reinforcement and Ejection runes, and developed new secondary spells from them.
• Ace designed a masked demon hunter persona and began hunting Demonic Beasts in the western wilderness as Iron Masked Fire Fist.
• Over two months, Ace killed fifteen kinds of Demonic Beasts, found thirteen secondary runes, and created eleven secondary spells.
• With no unusual news from Tsimari Port, Ace stored his collected materials at a demon hunter camp and set off for Medimoth City to visit his parents and see Peter and Athena.

Ace returned to Medimous City-State, visited his teacher Peter, and recounted his medical discoveries and progress. He considered helping Daina pursue magic and finally asked Peter to borrow his bronze mirror.

• Ace returned to the city in his original appearance and bought Silver Wheat Beer from his manor in the commercial district.
• Ace visited Peter’s villa, reunited with Daina, and continued Peter’s lecture on logic.
• Ace told Peter about his medical research, including his collection of prescriptions and his work on anesthetic surgery.
• Peter told Ace that he had recommended Morton for a post as confidential secretary to the Grand Regent.
• Ace considered whether blessing runes could help Daina exceed her spiritual limits, then asked Peter to lend him his bronze mirror.

Ace visited Athena after receiving a warning from Great Hero Arnold about the Child of the Ocean’s blessing. Athena gave him a protective badge and assured him the blessing was safe, while Ace remained close to her as a trusted friend.

• Ace asked Peter to tell his parents he had returned to Medimoth City, then studied Peter’s bronze mirror to replicate Soul Runes.
• Ace went to the royal palace and gave Athena’s bracelet to a guard, who summoned Great Hero Arnold to meet him.
• Arnold warned Ace to use the Child of the Ocean’s blessing sparingly, avoid worshipping the deity, and seek to rid himself of the blessing.
• Ace gave Athena a clay baby-merman figurine and spent three days painting her portrait for her.
• Ace asked Athena about Arnold’s warning, and she gave him a badge blessed by the ancestral god, saying it would protect him and preserve his power.

Ace returned to his estate and learned how much it had grown, then finished four books on New Medicine and shared them with Athena and others. Athena lent him the Pact Scroll to study, and after a month Ace had analyzed more than a dozen Soul Runes, though he still concealed how much his mathematical knowledge could help.

• Ace reunited with Romon and Marina, returned to his family home, and heard how the estate's roads, industries, farms, livestock, mine, and harbor had expanded.
• Ace organized four books on New Medicine, replicated the Emotion Suppression and Active Thinking Soul Runes, and distributed copies through Peter, a scholars' gathering, and Athena.
• Ace described the books to Athena and proposed testing his medical approach at his estate before establishing a hospital in Medimoth City.
• Ace asked to examine the Pact Scroll, and Athena lent it to him on the condition that he study it only in her palace.
• Ace studied magical artifacts for nearly a month and analyzed more than a dozen Soul Runes, while concluding that complex rune analysis required mathematical tools unavailable to most heroes.

Ace returned to his manor after promising Athena he would travel again to spread New Medicine, and he brought Daina along as a prospective apprentice. After surveying his growing territory, he ordered Kelson to begin reforms, including construction of a glassworks.

• Ace told Athena he would return to the manor before traveling across Salia to refine and spread New Medicine, and Athena urged him to pursue his convictions.
• Ace hosted Teacher Peter, Morton, Carter, Daina, and Romon at his villa, where he toasted New Medicine and announced his plans for a long journey.
• Ace invited Daina to live at his manor and study mathematics, intending to assess her as a potential apprentice and guide her toward magic.
• Ace retrieved the magical materials he had stored near the city and returned to the manor with Daina, Romon, Marina, and the slaves.
• Ace wrote Daina a mathematics textbook, then inspected the manor’s lands, town, fishing village, and military forces with Kelson.
• Ace ordered Kelson to begin the planned reforms, including immediate construction of a glassworks and the creation of public facilities, a bank, and territorial scrip.

Ace discovered that a Book Spirit had been born from his widely praised dictionary and used his Contract Ritual to bind it to him. The ten-year agreement took hold, though Ace recognized that the unequal contract could not have lasted longer.

• Ace sensed elusive magical fluctuations in the archive room and finally revealed a hidden, talking ball of light by threatening to burn the books.
• The Book Spirit said it had been born from Ace's dictionary three moons earlier and could conceal itself from him.
• Ace used the dictionary's title page and a portion of his spiritual power as tokens to begin his Contract Ritual.
• The Contract Scale rejected the proposed longer terms until Ace reduced the agreement to ten years, binding him and the Book Spirit together.

Ace learned the abilities and limitations of Fuwa, the Book Spirit, and studied its magical structures while worrying that meditation was becoming less effective. Two months later, as the manor's harvest prospered, Ace prepared magical-pattern pages containing advanced information and began planning how to guide Daina toward magic.

• Ace named the Book Spirit Fuwa and learned about its information, correction, understanding, and special abilities, along with its dependence on the dictionary.
• Ace assessed Daina's progress in mathematics and prepared tests while noting that his meditation had grown much less effective as his mental power increased.
• Ace had Fuwa demonstrate its abilities and painstakingly studied and reproduced the runes he could perceive.
• Two months later, Ace watched the manor's subjects bring in the wheat harvest with Daina, whose learning and curiosity increasingly impressed him.
• Ace inscribed hundreds of sheets of magical paper, refined them into six pages, and combined their functions with magic and Book Spirit abilities to develop a new concept.

Ace completed a Spellbook designed to recruit gifted mortals and gather magical knowledge, then chose Daina as his first test subject. He approached her in disguise at night and offered her a contract to become a wizard apprentice.

• Ace designed the six-page Spellbook to record magical knowledge, bind its owner to the Flamebearers, and enable communication with him.
• Ace considered using blessings to raise Daina’s spirit, estimating that spiritual power between 0.6 and 1.0 might let it interfere with matter.
• Ace told Daina to rest after she finished her mathematics lessons, and she followed him.
• Daina fell asleep, then woke to find Ace disguised as Iron Masked Fire Fist beside her bed.
• Ace revealed a Spellbook and told Daina she was the chosen one, asking her to sign a contract and become a wizard apprentice.

Ace used the Book of Magic to bind Daina to a pact, then guided her through an equivalent-exchange ritual in which she received a Lesser Permanent Mental Blessing. The chapter left Daina beginning to absorb the blessing while Ace monitored the ritual from his hidden chamber.

• Ace weakened Daina, established a pact between them through the Book of Magic, and made her its owner.
• Daina awoke believing the encounter had been a nightmare, but she found the Book of Magic beside her and followed Ace’s implanted instructions.
• Daina used a card and the Book of Magic’s first page to activate an equivalent-exchange ritual, receiving a parchment bag at the cost of some life force.
• Ace watched Daina through a rune-covered glass sphere and explained that the Book would take part of her gains from meditation to sustain their connection.
• Daina used the Lesser Permanent Mental Blessing card, and the powder from the parchment bag formed a pattern that flew toward her brow.

After awakening the Spellbook’s powers, Daina overused her mental abilities and spent much of the day recovering. Ace added an introduction to wizards to her Spellbook, and Daina ended the chapter recognizing herself as a wizard apprentice stepping into a supernatural world.

• Daina examined the silver patterns on her forehead, explored the Spellbook’s pages, and used its retrieval feature to check her condition.
• Daina transformed the Spellbook into a nail decoration, then used its magic to make clothes and accessories fly until she exhausted herself and collapsed.
• Daina woke late, apologized to Ace and Marina, and asked Ace to suspend her mathematics studies for the day.
• Ace used his own Spellbook to add an article titled “Introduction to Wizards” to Daina’s magic diary page.
• Daina transformed the nail decoration back into a Spellbook, checked her depleted mental power, and read the new article as she accepted her path as a wizard apprentice.

Daina began studying wizardry and reached the mental-strength threshold for a Junior Wizard Apprentice, while Ace reverse-engineered runes to create the Blink Technique. The chapter ended with new entries appearing in Daina’s magic book.

• Daina read about the shamans who had pioneered wizardry and learned how mental overclocking, runes, and spell models worked.
• Daina suspected Ace might be connected to a Firebearer but kept her thoughts to herself and began training with the Five-Step Meditation Method.
• Ace used Fuwa’s abilities to reverse-engineer the ricochet Soul Rune and, after a month of work, created the Blink Technique and other long-range spells.
• Ace summarized the manor’s farming methods in Intensive Farming and planned to take it and his Elementary Mathematics books to Teacher Peter.
• Daina’s mental strength reached 1 unit, and the magic book revealed Secondary Magic Power #1 and Minimalist Meditation Method.

Daina successfully used the Minimalist Meditation Method and began developing her magical abilities, while Ace tested her talent and flew to Medimoth City using spells he had created. The chapter ended with Daina discovering the more complex offensive spell Minor Magic Missile in her magic book.

• Daina examined Magic Power #1, devised her own way to trace its rune, and successfully meditated to improve her body and soul.
• Ace watched Daina's experiment and considered whether she was suited to become his true disciple.
• Ace used Levitation, Blink, and his self-created Gliding Wings spell to fly nearly a hundred kilometers to the vicinity of Medimoth City.
• Daina checked her improved attributes and learned that innate magic power reflected the degree of demonization accumulated through magic.
• Daina discovered the new runes and spell model for Minor Magic Missile in the magic book.

Daina practiced Minor Magic Missile before returning to the city-state with Ace, who gave Athena books and received mysterious rune-covered pelts from her. The chapter ended with Peter revealing that the Grand Regent had read Ace’s agricultural book and was waiting to meet him.

• Daina cast Minor Magic Missile in the wooded hills, depleted her mental and magic power, and realized the projectile followed a parabola.
• Ace and Daina returned to the city-state, where they parted so Daina could reunite with her family.
• Ace delivered copied books to Teacher Peter and Athena, and Athena gave him mysterious pelts she had taken from Inspector Dickens.
• Peter told Ace that the Grand Regent had read Intensive Farming and had come to Peter’s home to wait for him.

Ace declined the Grand Regent’s offer of a public office and continued pursuing his plans to practice medicine and gather knowledge. Back at his residence, he studied lesser runes, recorded new spells in his magic book, and developed magical incantations and gestures to improve Magical Trick.

• Ace met the Grand Regent, who praised Intensive Farming and offered him an advisory role and a future public office, but Ace politely refused.
• The Grand Regent spoke with Ace through the night about agriculture, medicine, and education, then saw him off the next day.
• Ace returned home, rested, and studied the lesser runes on the barbarian hide Athena had given him.
• Ace recorded the runes and improved spell models in his magic book, including Lesser Enhancement, Lesser Vine Entanglement, Lesser Detect Hostility, Lesser Restoration, and Lesser Magical Trick.
• Ace experimented with Magical Trick and found that words and gestures helped him produce effects through imagination and magic power.
• Fuwa woke to record Ace’s new knowledge, then returned to his head as a cowlick.