Chapter Summaries

Xie Yu learned that Wig Brown had faked his death and that a dispute over his estate was brewing between the Brown Family and the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce. Sealed Artifact 3-0771 revealed that Wig had taken it from the Chamber’s heir after a classroom incident killed eleven students, while Yize and Fry considered whether the Chamber might have arranged Wig’s death.

• Yize told Fry and Xie Yu that Wig Brown had supposedly died peacefully at six the previous evening, and warned that the funeral might become contentious.
• Yize divined that Roman Brown would clash with the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce over Wig’s estate, prompting Xie Yu to realize 3-0771 might be involved.
• 3-0771 told Xie Yu that Wig had taken it from the Chamber’s heir after it was brought to school, where a struggle with Wig led to eleven students’ deaths.
• Fry explained that one of the students killed had been the Chamber president’s only son and that City Hall had suppressed the Chamber’s response.
• Xie Yu asked whether the Chamber might have assassinated Wig, and Yize and Fry discussed how someone could make a death appear natural.
• 3-0771 praised Xie Yu for redirecting the discussion, while Xie Yu remained willing to give it up if keeping it became dangerous.

Xie Yu raised Sealed Artifact 3-0771's favorability to 100 by convincing Yize he would stay away from Wig Brown's funeral. He chose the Lifelong Entrustment reward, permanently activating the artifact.

• After breakfast, Xie Yu resolved to max out Sealed Artifact 3-0771's favorability before Fry returned.
• Xie Yu told Yize he still wanted to help Kaiming, but Yize warned him to avoid the Brown Family and offered to scout the funeral if Xie Yu insisted.
• As Yize explained the risks and offered assistance, Sealed Artifact 3-0771 grew increasingly anxious and urged Xie Yu to let it handle Wig Brown.
• Xie Yu accepted Yize's advice and said he would stay away from the trouble, raising Sealed Artifact 3-0771's favorability to 100.
• Xie Yu chose the Lifelong Entrustment reward, and Sealed Artifact 3-0771 began glowing inside his coat pocket.

After Xie Yu permanently activated Sealed Artifact 3-0771, the doll discovered it could sense magic and cast spells, while Xie Yu began exploring what the change meant. It also revealed a hidden compartment in Kaiming’s cane containing an expensive fire-magic potion concentrate, and Xie Yu considered having the doll read books.

• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 sensed human magic after Xie Yu permanently activated it and successfully cast a detection spell.
• The doll used its new spell to detect details around the inn room, including objects and dust.
• The doll noticed a hidden compartment in Kaiming’s cane, and the cane told Xie Yu how to open it.
• Xie Yu found a Flame Gold-Melting Potion concentrate in the cane, which the cane identified as a costly gift Kaiming had intended for Fry.
• The doll estimated its spellcasting ability at about the level of a magic apprentice, and Xie Yu wondered whether it could read books.

Magister Yize investigated how Xie Yu earned a perfect score and found no evidence of cheating, though the completed magic array on his exam paper remained inexplicable. The Education Bureau officially upheld Xie Yu’s score and authorized extensive support for him, leaving Yize to protect the young man’s future by treating him as a genius.

• Yize reviewed his divinations and the exam proctor’s account, concluding that Xie Yu had not cheated despite the unexplained magic array on his paper.
• Yize privately warned the Education Bureau’s leadership about the suspicious details and decided to keep Xie Yu’s perfect score from drawing public attention.
• Fry returned with 132 books from Weile’s collection and delivered a sealed letter from the General Affairs Department to Yize.
• Yize opened the official letter, which confirmed Xie Yu’s score and authorized him to secure teachers, academy resources, and Education Bureau personnel for Xie Yu.
• Yize told Fry that Xie Yu was a genius, and Fry carried the books to Xie Yu’s room and knocked.

Xie Yu tried to increase Sealed Artifact 3-0771’s Faith while preparing it to kill Wig, and discovered that demanding unconditional obedience worked. Meanwhile, Yize and Fry uncovered regional bias in the exam results, leaving Xie Yu as Northern Plains Province’s only hope.

• Xie Yu welcomed Fry’s delivery of books and asked him to attend a meeting with Kaiming and return the pendant at the funeral.
• Yize showed Fry evidence that two advanced exam questions and their marking schemes favored the Southwest Gorge Administrative Province, hurting candidates in Northern Plains Province.
• Xie Yu argued with Sealed Artifact 3-0771 about whether he would take it with him after it killed Wig.
• Xie Yu demanded that Sealed Artifact 3-0771 obey all his orders unconditionally, raising its Faith from 20 to 40.
• Xie Yu ordered Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to read and learn magic, then told it to fly back by itself after killing Wig.

Xie Yu coaxed Sealed Artifact 3-0771 into studying wind magic, then searched his books for a field suited to researching Sealed Artifacts. He found a knowledge-magic book that mentioned how scholars could become Sealed Artifact researchers, but his handling of it woke the rest of the books.

• Xie Yu encouraged Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to practice the Breeze spell and turned the page for it after it called him Master.
• Xie Yu recalled that knowledge, memory, and dreams belonged to the illusory elements and chose a book about knowledge magic.
• A lonely book told Xie Yu that Weile had kept it and the other books untouched for forty years, and Xie Yu calmed it by praising it.
• Xie Yu found a section about knowledge scholars changing class to Sealed Artifact researchers and began to turn the pages.
• One hundred and thirty lonely books woke up and looked at Xie Yu and the book in his hands.

Xie Yu learned how different magical domains supported sealed artifact research and decided that sealing and storing dangerous artifacts suited him best. After conquering a lonely book and choosing a reward that strengthened his rapport with paper, he began courting four more books, while Sealed Artifact 3-0771 revealed why the old bastard had hurried to kill Kaiming.

• Xie Yu discovered that the lonely books’ Affection rose when he focused on them but crashed when he reached for another, so he won one book over by reading it attentively.
• Xie Yu read about sealed artifact research and found that magicians of the dream, void, geomancy, and water element domains were best suited to sealing and storing dangerous artifacts.
• Xie Yu conquered the knowledge-magic book, chose Friend of Books as his reward, and then turned his attention to four books about dream, void, geomancy, and water magic.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 feared Xie Yu would discard it and revealed that the old bastard had rushed to kill Kaiming because their acquaintance increased the risks of impersonation, especially with Kaiming soon taking a public post at the Black Pine City Geomancy Academy.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 earned Xie Yu an additional Complete disclosure reward by sharing unknown magical knowledge and details of its past life and experiences.

Roman and his eldest sister visited Kaiming to demand the sealed artifact 3-0771, but Kaiming agreed to return it after Wig Brown’s funeral. Xie Yu learned that Wig had prepared to replace Kaiming and suspected the Brown Family had arranged Kaiming’s academy appointment.

• Roman and his eldest sister visited Kaiming’s clinic, where Roman requested the family’s sealed artifact 3-0771.
• Kaiming said he would return the artifact after the funeral, explaining that it had become agitated and needed to be calmed.
• Roman warned Kaiming to remember the favors the family had granted him, then left with his sister without finding the artifact.
• Xie Yu asked his walking stick about Kaiming’s conversation with Fry and learned Kaiming had been offered a mental health inspector position at Mountain Rock Academy.
• Sealed artifact 3-0771 told Xie Yu that Wig had prepared for a year or two to replace Kaiming, and Xie Yu suspected the Brown Family had influenced Kaiming’s appointment.

Xie Yu sent Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to kill Wig Brown before the Brown Family could claim it at the funeral. After Wig died, Yize detected the artifact’s power around Xie Yu and confronted him, and Xie Yu admitted to killing Wig.

• Xie Yu learned that the Brown Family knew about Sealed Artifact 3-0771 and reasoned that its members would try to claim it at Wig Brown’s funeral.
• Xie Yu sent Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to Wig’s house and told it to kill him before the funeral.
• Wig picked up the talisman doll, which substituted his fate with the already-dead Kaiming’s fate and burned him to death.
• Yize sensed the fate-altering artifact around Xie Yu and saw it fly back to him after killing Wig.
• Yize visited Xie Yu, who told him, “Wig Brown is dead. I killed him.”

Xie Yu told Yize and Fry how Wig Brown had stolen Kaiming’s identity and how Sealed Artifact 3-0771 had killed him. Yize’s investigation exposed a Brown Family scheme to influence the Education Bureau through potions and appointments, while 3-0771’s faith in Xie Yu reached 100.

• Xie Yu explained that Wig Brown had replaced Kaiming’s fate, planned to fake his own death, and was killed after Xie Yu made 3-0771 obey him.
• Yize summoned Fry and sealed the room against divination as Xie Yu revealed the artifact’s role and Fry admitted he had promised Kaiming a public position.
• Yize divined that the Brown Family had used a focus-potion scheme to influence fifteen Education Bureau employees and had manipulated Kaiming’s pursuit of the post.
• Yize explained that Kaiming had been unknowingly drawn into the scheme and warned Fry that accepting the potion would have tied him to bribery and Wig Brown’s planned appointment.
• Yize and Fry left to verify the evidence and investigate the Education Bureau, while Xie Yu told 3-0771 he had acted first because officials would otherwise have delayed confronting Wig Brown.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 understood Xie Yu’s determination to protect it and gained 100 Faith in him.

Xie Yu put the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to work learning magic and found ways to have his cane and fountain pen help him study. He ended the evening by asking his clothes whether they could read, only to discover they did not know what books were.

• Xie Yu ordered the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to practice magic, but it admitted that clear orders made it feel safer than his encouragement.
• The cane offered to help Xie Yu read, and he recruited it and the gentle fountain pen to study books about magic and Sealed Artifacts.
• Xie Yu ordered the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to use wind magic to float the pen and cane and turn pages, while the books complained about the cold wind.
• After washing and changing clothes, Xie Yu asked his max-Affection clothes if they could read, and they showed that they did not know what books were.

Xie Yu chose to begin studying Void Magic after deciding Dream Magic would not help him pursue Sealed Artifacts. He learned how spellcasting combined physical actions with mental visualization and successfully cast a small Void Twist before his beginner’s magic dissipated.

• Xie Yu finished reading the Dream Magic book, gained a second [Friend of Books], and chose reward three instead of the book’s permanent Affection or Collector Weile’s secret.
• The [Gentle Fountain Pen] explained that Void Magic could isolate Sealed Artifacts and help with escape, while the [Loyal Solid Wood Cane] described how earth, rock, and water magic could suppress them.
• Xie Yu decided Void Magic suited his goals, and Sealed Artifact 3-0771 agreed while privately wishing to experience being subdued by him.
• Xie Yu read that spellcasting required both physical actions and a distinct mental trajectory, which explained why reciting incantations alone did not produce magic.
• Xie Yu followed the book’s instructions and cast a palm-sized Void Twist, but it dissipated when he could no longer sustain it.

Xie Yu discovered that he could perceive and win over released spells, using their feedback to refine a Void Twist to veteran-level stability. The Education Bureau gave him Sealed Artifact 3-2152, which ate his Void Twist and teleported him out of Fry’s fireball, while Xie Yu demonstrated that he could identify flaws in the spell.

• Xie Yu repeatedly cast Void Twists, followed their advice, and created a stable spell that Lonely Book (Void Magic) assessed as meeting the standard of a veteran Void mage.
• Xie Yu tested Sealed Artifact 3-0771’s spells and learned that released magic could become a target for his ability to perceive and win over magic.
• Xie Yu fed his stable Void Twist to Sealed Artifact 3-2152, the Chapter of Teleportation, which ate it and offered to teleport him in exchange for more.
• Fry threw a fireball at Xie Yu, and the Chapter of Teleportation moved Xie Yu behind him before the fireball exploded.
• Xie Yu identified the fireball’s unstable circulation and uneven temperature, impressing Fry with his assessment.

Xie Yu learned that the grand examination had exposed deep inequalities between provinces and that nobles had gained an advantage, leaving the kingdom’s future uncertain. He then practiced Void magic, befriended an elegant Void Twist, and chose to help it grow permanently.

• Xie Yu explained his knowledge of magic to Fry, and Yize told him that he was Northern Plains Province’s only perfect-score candidate while Southwest Gorge Province had ninety-five.
• Yize revealed that nobles in the capital and Southwest Province had excelled on the same exam, while the kingdom’s official investigation denied any cheating or leaked questions.
• Xie Yu asked whether talented non-noble mages would lose access to mentors, and Yize could not refute his concern that the system was getting worse.
• Xie Yu returned to his room, practiced shaping Void Twists, and used the Chapter of Teleportation to reassure one as it feared being eaten.
• Xie Yu raised the Void Twist’s Affection to 100 and chose Lifelong Entrustment, allowing it to grow permanently, while Sealed Artifact 3-0771 worried about its own fate.

Xie Yu fed the Elegant Void Twist until it grew powerful enough to bend solid objects, then named it Dali. As he fed and spoke with the Chapter of Teleportation, the artifact’s affection rose sharply, while Yize and Fry waited to see whether it would turn against Xie Yu.

• Xie Yu fed the Elegant Void Twist Smooth Void Twists, and it grew large enough to crush the desk and bend a gold coin’s path and shape.
• The Elegant Void Twist demonstrated that it could bend solid matter, and Xie Yu named it Dali.
• The Chapter of Teleportation told Xie Yu about its past users, its hunger for magical arrays, and its fellow Sealed Artifacts at the research institute.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 and the Chapter of Teleportation argued, so Xie Yu reassured the artifact and said he trusted it.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 used magic to probe the Chapter of Teleportation and urged it to serve Xie Yu sincerely; the Chapter called Xie Yu Master, and its affection rose to 90.5.
• At the Education Bureau, Fry proposed publicizing Xie Yu’s talent, but Yize urged him to wait and see how the Chapter of Teleportation behaved.

The wooden house recalled Kaiming’s death and realized that Xie Yu had turned the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll against Wig Brown. After Roman Brown and the black-robed lady investigated the clinic, the house’s Affection for Xie Yu reached its maximum, unlocking a choice of rewards.

• The wooden house waited for Kaiming to return, then accepted that he and the fake Kaiming were both dead.
• Roman Brown and the black-robed lady arrived at Kaiming Clinic and found traces of two battles involving Wig Brown’s magic.
• The black-robed lady suggested the Sealed Artifact had turned against Wig Brown, and the wooden house connected that possibility to Xie Yu.
• Roman Brown suspected the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce had taken the Sealed Artifact and angrily knocked over Kaiming’s mailbox and newspaper box.
• The wooden house recognized Xie Yu’s face in the newspaper and became certain that he had made the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll kill Wig Brown.
• Xie Yu received a choice of three rewards after the wooden house’s Affection reached 100, but he was too far away to claim some of them.

Xie Yu won over the Chapter of Teleportation by letting the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll persuade it to abandon its transactional view of serving him. He permanently activated it, then prepared to leave with Yize and the others.

• Xie Yu chose the Friend of the Wooden House option, hoping to learn what had happened at Kaiming's clinic.
• The Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll lectured the Chapter of Teleportation about sincerity, and the artifact reflected on its greed until its Affection reached 95.5.
• The Chapter of Teleportation accepted the doll as its guide, declared that it wanted to stay with Xie Yu, and reached 100 Affection.
• Xie Yu chose Lifelong Entrustment, permanently activating the Chapter of Teleportation and allowing it to use magic.
• The Chapter of Teleportation struggled to create void food, apologized for eating Dali, and praised Xie Yu.
• Xie Yu put on the Chapter of Teleportation and told Yize and the others that he was ready to leave.

Xie Yu demonstrated that he could command the Chapter of Teleportation, then learned that the Education Bureau expected challenges to his perfect exam score. As the Brown Family searched for Sealed Artifact 3-0771, Xie Yu proposed using an interview to expose their alleged crimes and link them to the nobles’ exam cheating.

• Xie Yu ordered the Chapter of Teleportation to transport him to his room and back, proving it would obey his requests.
• Yize warned Xie Yu that skepticism about the exam results and the Bureau’s protection could lead to a hostile interview.
• Yize explained that Wig Brown’s funeral and the concealment of 3-0771 were meant to keep the Brown Family apart from the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce.
• Yize divined that Roman Brown and Cynthia Brown were heading to the Chamber of Commerce to search for 3-0771, despite his efforts to settle the matter.
• Xie Yu proposed claiming that Wig Brown tried to take his perfect score through life substitution and that the Brown Family was behind the exam scandal.
• Xie Yu challenged Yize and Fry to consider exposing the Brown Family through his interview and destroying its reputation.

Xie Yu persuaded Yize not to obstruct his campaign against the suspected exam cheaters and the Brown Family, despite the risks. Yize arranged official protection and sent applications to the relevant offices, where Xie Yu's special protection was approved.

• Xie Yu explained how the Education Bureau and the suspected cheaters could use the exam controversy to shield the capital, then asked whether Yize would follow if he challenged the Browns.
• Yize recognized that Xie Yu's plan could expose the Brown Family and roil the kingdom, but he feared Xie Yu might abandon it.
• Xie Yu said the nobles' actions angered him and insisted that was reason enough to act.
• Yize refused to support Xie Yu's behavior in principle but agreed not to stop him and promised to seek protection for him.
• Yize sent letters about the Brown Family, temporary transfers of sealed artifacts, and special protection for Xie Yu to offices in Mirror Lake City.
• The Mirror Lake City Administrative Public Security Law approved the special protection application for Xie Yu.

Bai Luo Brown Ilya returned from the capital after earning a perfect score, and his grandfather used the fields to explain how the Brown Family managed its people and plans for the younger generation. The old man revealed that he had arranged to harvest mental and spiritual power through a kingdom proposal, intending to use it to help Bai Luo grow.

• Bai Luo complained about taking the magic apprentice exam and asked about his relatives, and his grandfather said his third uncle was still far from becoming a Magister.
• Bai Luo watched his grandfather clear weeds with wind blades as he explained how crops and weeds could represent people in the family.
• Bai Luo's grandfather warned that the family could fall into ruin if no one tended it, then told Bai Luo that his talent could take him beyond the North Province.
• Bai Luo's grandfather promised him a major gift later that year and said the Mental Supervision proposal would enable the family to collect mental and spiritual power from magic apprentices using their potions.
• Bai Luo's grandfather said he would use the harvested power to help Bai Luo rather than advance himself or Bai Luo's third uncle.