Chapter Summaries

Leo regained consciousness inside a vast inner space and reasoned that his body had survived by sacrificing cells and bodily functions in response to the desert. With only minutes left to live, he used his shadow talent to restore a little strength and escaped the sand burial with Shadow Jump.

• A witch crossed the desert at high speed, stopped beside a dune, and left after repeatedly raising and lowering her staff.
• Leo recovered his memories in the dark consciousness space and concluded that he was near death in the desert.
• Leo repeatedly urged his body to consume expendable cells and functions so it could survive, eventually drawing his consciousness back into his body.
• Buried beneath the dune, Leo found that his body had sacrificed most of its tissues and had only about two minutes left to live.
• Leo overlaid his body with his shadow, gained enough mana to activate Shadow Jump, and teleported out from beneath the dune.

Leo survived a near-death ordeal in the desert, and his body underwent a powerful passive evolution that improved its strength, defense, energy efficiency, and mana capacity. He then began a more extreme training attempt with his recovery and mana sealed and gravity increased, leaving him collapsed and buried in the sand.

• Leo drank healing potions and activated the Healing Rune Array until his body recovered from its mummified state.
• Leo found that his near-death recovery had replaced over 65% of his cells and improved his physical strength by about 3% overall.
• Benji told Leo that three months had passed and warned him that his previous endurance challenge had nearly killed him.
• Leo increased the Gravity Rune Array to four times gravity and drank a Bitterheart Grass Potion to seal his mana, despite Benji's objections.
• After a day of exhausting himself, Leo reached his limit, collapsed into the sand, and was buried by the shifting dunes.

Leo repeatedly pushed his body to the brink of death in the desert, using rapid cellular evolution to grow stronger and withstand fourfold gravity. After ten cycles, he left the desert to investigate how consciousness and the body influenced each other.

• Leo absorbed the Bitterheart Grass Potion through passive evolution, revived from beneath the sand, and found his body and mana capacity had increased.
• Leo combined poisons, mana restriction, and fourfold gravity to trigger repeated near-death evolutions, recovering each time with potions and healing runes.
• Benji watched Leo repeatedly return from the brink of death and gradually accepted the cycle as Leo grew stronger.
• After ten near-death cycles and a year in the desert, Leo could withstand fourfold gravity and decided the environment no longer helped him improve.
• Leo left the desert and added research into the relationship between consciousness and the body to his experimental notes.

Leo encountered the aftermath of battles between Level One Formal Wizards and realized the region was far more dangerous than he had been told. He reached an active volcano, where he dug a hidden cave to train in the heat while staying out of the conflict.

• Leo sensed powerful aura fluctuations, ignored Benji's warning, and found a devastated battlefield left by Level One Formal Wizards.
• Leo assessed his limited strength and continued toward the volcano, wary of the unknown fighting around Tiyama.
• Leo found a second battlefield and decided to hide at the volcano rather than investigate the unrest or missing people.
• Leo descended into the crater, dug a concealed cave, and reached a depth where the temperature was 200 degrees Celsius, which he considered ideal for training.

Leo trained in a poisonous volcanic cave while reading wizard books, as the Purple Flame Academy’s forces gathered in Tiyama to face Black Skull Academy’s invasion. The vice dean sent Gru to bring Leo back, revealing that the Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard had made Leo’s safety the priority.

• Leo endured poisonous heat, sealed mana, and quadruple gravity in a volcanic cave while reading the books Gavarci had given him.
• The vice dean learned that Black Skull Academy had invaded five academies, abducted civilians under twenty, and killed wizards despite facing larger forces.
• The vice dean told the assembled wizards to hold the invaders off for three days until reinforcements arrived.
• After the other wizards left, the vice dean asked Gru to retrieve Leo and gave him teleportation coordinates in case he faced an enemy he could not defeat.
• The vice dean reflected that the Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard had specifically ordered Leo’s protection and might personally intervene if a powerful enemy appeared.

Leo endured the volcanic heat to evolve his heat resistance, but a battle outside the crater exposed his hiding place to the powerful wizard Nox. After Nox attacked, Leo escaped the blast with Shadow Jump, though he remained in grave danger.

• Leo pushed his body through the volcano’s extreme heat, then began recovering with potions and his Healing Rune Array when Benji warned him that wizards were fighting outside.
• A wounded teacher from the Purple Flame Wizard Academy fell into the crater, and his glance revealed Leo’s hiding place to Nox.
• Leo climbed out of the crater and saw that Nox’s power left him with little hope of surviving a direct fight.
• Nox attacked without speaking, but Leo used Shadow Jump to escape the blast and reappeared fifty meters away.

Leo and Ice Woman were captured by Nox, a level two wizard, but Gru arrived and transformed into a Furious Giant to confront him. With Purple Flame reinforcements still fifteen breaths away, Nox faced Gru while Leo remained bound.

• Nox launched a sweeping attack at Leo, but Ice Woman blocked much of it with fifteen ice walls, allowing Leo to survive and restore his mana with the Black Pearl Potion.
• Nox recognized Ice Woman as the wizard with an innate ice physique and tried to capture her and Leo; her Ice Break Thousand Kills Grand Witchcraft briefly froze his earthen chains before they bound and injured both of them.
• Nox lifted the bound Leo and Ice Woman into the air, but Gru arrived from Tiyama City and attacked him with a powerful punch.
• Gru activated his Wild Giant Bloodline, then his Enraged Giant Bloodline, growing from a three-meter Wild Giant into a nearly ten-meter Furious Giant.
• Nox regarded Gru and the captured apprentices as unusually important, while Leo counted fifteen breaths until the Purple Flame reinforcements were due to arrive.

Nox and Gru fought to a stalemate while Leo and the injured Ice Woman waited for Purple Flame Academy’s reinforcements. Nox revealed that he had formed a large Teleportation Witch Array, and Gru answered by opening a smaller one of his own as an unknown wizard approached.

• Nox used air waves and a protective barrier to keep Gru’s Furious Giant at a distance, while neither wizard could seriously injure the other.
• Leo thanked Ice Woman for protecting him, and she said it was her mission despite her serious injuries.
• Gru summoned an enormous battle-axe and pressed Nox, who dodged while continuing to trace glowing lines beneath his feet.
• Leo recognized that Nox had completed a Teleportation Witch Array, and spatial force sent Gru flying as an unknown wizard’s aura emerged from the other side.
• Gru grew to eleven meters in a rage and opened a small Teleportation Witch Array in his hand.

Leo was rescued when three level three wizards converged on the battle between Purple Flame Academy and Black Skull Academy, and Gru carried him back to Tiyama City. There, Leo learned that Black Skull Academy had abducted young people from five neighboring academies and that Purple Flame Academy’s conflict with it had escalated.

• The Purple Flame Academy vice dean arrived to help Gru, while Nox summoned ten Black Skull Academy wizards and activated the Black Skull Stigmata Gift.
• Two more level three wizards appeared, freed Leo and Ice Woman, and joined the battlefield as a spatial rift opened above them.
• Gru took Leo away from the battle and flew him back to Tiyama City, while Ice Woman departed separately.
• Leo reunited with Samatchi, who told him Black Skull Academy had abducted people under twenty from five neighboring academies and concealed the kidnappings by triggering a beast tide.
• Samatchi explained that Purple Flame Academy and Black Skull Academy had fought dozens of battles over the past year, and Purple Flame Academy was sending reinforcements.

Samatchi offered Leo a bargain: he would teach him elemental wizardry in exchange for Leo helping his son Nigel once if trouble arose. After signing a binding contract, Leo began his lessons, but Samatchi’s first question left him confused.

• Samatchi introduced his son Nigel and explained that he feared Nigel would lose the family estate after his death.
• Samatchi asked Leo to promise to help Nigel once in exchange for instruction, and Leo agreed because he valued the chance to learn from a Peak Wizard Apprentice.
• Leo and Samatchi signed a contract requiring Samatchi to teach him fully and Leo to help Nigel if he faced trouble.
• Samatchi began teaching Leo elemental wizardry and asked what knowledge rested on and how it was acquired, leaving Leo puzzled.

Leo studied calculation and elemental knowledge under Samatchi, discovering that he could use his improved mind to understand the world through numbers and develop his own methods. After a year, he combined elemental study with body-refining training and began learning how wizards used knowledge and innovation to master witchcraft, leaving him at the beginning of understanding his own abilities.

• Samatchi tested Leo with a hundred sets of calculation problems, and Leo completed them with full marks in two days.
• Samatchi began teaching Leo elemental knowledge and calculations, and Leo devoted himself to studying until Benji abandoned the lessons in fear of seeing existence as numbers.
• After a year, Gru returned to Tiyama City and demanded that Leo keep training his body and raise his defense above 100 points.
• Leo showed Gru an Electric Arc Rune Array he had designed to strengthen his body, but Gru kicked him away as he rambled about future training arrays.
• Leo continued studying in Samatchi's library and learned that elemental wizards adapted and innovated witchcraft according to their individual characteristics.
• Leo's elemental attributes proved mediocre, with lightning slightly stronger than his other elements, while his shadow talent remained powerful.

Leo studied elemental wizardry and considered the demanding path of combining it with body refinement, then focused on an experiment to make his body produce toxins. Samatchi suggested modifying an existing organ instead of creating a new one, leaving Leo absorbed in a new direction for his research.

• Leo compared his elemental spell output of 200 attack power with his body refinement output of 400 and learned that elemental body refinement wizards combined both systems.
• Leo declined to pursue elemental body refinement because he lacked the resources to cultivate two paths, and Samatchi said he had never known anyone nearby to succeed.
• Leo told Samatchi that he had dissected 17 species of poisonous creatures in 253 experiments while studying how to create a toxin-producing organ.
• Leo explained that he hoped an internal toxin-producing organ would replace the need to buy and consume poisons for body refinement.
• Samatchi advised Leo to modify an existing detoxifying organ rather than create a new one, prompting Leo to consider making his body's detoxification systems carry toxins.

Leo struggled with the temptation to experiment on humans from Earth, then confessed his thoughts to Gru, who offered to help him find suitable materials in exchange for a share of the results. Gru also revealed the heavy casualties in the battle at the volcanic crater, leaving Leo concerned that conflict would continue.

• Leo devised a new experimental procedure and considered using humans from Earth as test subjects, but his conscience overwhelmed him.
• Leo ran to Samatchi's training ground, pushed himself under five times gravity, and was knocked unconscious by Gru.
• Leo told Gru about his experiment and his thoughts of using humans as subjects; Gru warned him against harming civilians and the consequences of violating wizard rules.
• Gru offered to find suitable experimental materials and help Leo in exchange for a share if the experiment succeeded.
• Leo ate with Gru, who recounted the severe losses at the volcanic crater, including the deaths of all seven first-level wizards from Black Skull Academy.

Leo completed his tonsil-modification experiment after years of testing toxins on humanoid slaves, then used his Shadow Talent to manage the dangerous effects of modifying his own tonsils. With the first of his three planned experiments finished, he turned his attention to investigating the mysteries of his Shadow Talent.

• Gru brought ten humanoid slaves to Leo, who promised them commoner rights if they helped with his experiments.
• Leo tested the slaves' bodies and reactions to toxins; three died, several were left gravely ill, and he had Gru buy more subjects.
• After two years of experiments, Leo determined that tonsils were more suitable for modification than detoxification organs, and he released the four surviving slaves with commoner rights.
• Leo infected his own tonsils with Lanconxin, but the resulting swelling and fever became severe after he misjudged the toxin dosage.
• Leo used his Shadow Talent to absorb toxins from his body, easing his symptoms as his modified tonsils stimulated his cells to evolve.
• Leo recorded the tonsil experiment as complete and planned to study the essential mysteries of his Shadow Talent next.

After ten years of training in Tiyama City, Leo graduated from Gru’s body-refinement instruction and began honing his combat skills by luring beasts with an energy crystal. His hunt drew a level-one Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast, which Leo eagerly prepared to face.

• Leo modified Gru’s tonsils with Lancoxin, then spent years strengthening his body with toxin stimulation and rune arrays.
• Gru formally graduated Leo after his defense reached 100 points, giving him a massive greatsword and telling him to pursue the rest of his path alone.
• Leo borrowed an energy crystal from Samatchi’s city lord’s residence and used it to attract beasts outside Tiyama City.
• Leo slaughtered the beasts with Gru’s greatsword, relying on his powerful defense to withstand their attacks.
• A level-one beast’s roar drove away the remaining beasts, and Leo spotted an adult Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast approaching.

Leo fought a Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast, using Shadow Jump and strikes at its vulnerable hindquarters to overcome its formidable defenses. After Leo severed both hind-leg tendons, the beast caught him with a concealed counterattack and sent him crashing through the woods with broken ribs.

• Leo unleashed his full strength and wounded the Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast’s neck, then escaped its tail strike with Shadow Jump.
• Leo attacked the beast’s vulnerable rear, inflicting a severe wound that enraged it and provoked a devastating storm attack.
• After the beast’s rampage weakened it, Leo cut one hind-leg tendon and then severed the tendon in its other hind leg.
• The Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast concealed its killing intent and struck Leo with its tail, breaking ribs and hurling him through the woods.
• The Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast collapsed with both hind legs disabled and lay panting heavily.

Leo survived the Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast, recovered, and spent years honing his combat skills by hunting beasts around Tiyama City. When Gru summoned him back for apprentice selection, Leo reunited with Alice and learned they had been assigned to compete together in the Six-Academy Joint Championship.

• Leo used Shadow Jump to recover from the Triple-Armored Sharp-Helm Beast's attack, severed its tail and hind legs, and defeated it.
• Leo recovered in a cave by eating the beast's meat while the Healing Rune Array repaired his injuries, and Benji challenged his dissatisfaction with his performance.
• Leo spent years fighting beasts around Tiyama City, improving his combat awareness and body while killing 15 of the 178 level-one beasts he encountered.
• Gru contacted Leo and ordered him to return to Tiyama City for the final apprentice selection of his garrison assignment.
• Leo found Alice waiting in the hall, where she told him the academy had assigned them to team up for the Six-Academy Joint Championship two years later.

Leo learned that the Six-Academy Joint Championship would pit sixty thousand wizard apprentices against one another in a lethal ten-year contest, then prepared for it by selling his stored treasures and buying lightning-enhancing equipment. He left Skye’s shop with a wizard robe and staff after Skye priced the gear and three energy crystals at exactly one million Wizard Coins.

• Alice told Leo that the championship would allow killing, last ten years, and require him to survive, while she planned to protect him.
• Gru explained that the championship was mainly a way for the academies to select apprentices worth investing resources in.
• With two years remaining, Leo sold the treasures stored in his Shadow Space and earned nine hundred and seventy thousand Wizard Coins.
• Leo visited Skye to buy equipment for the championship and chose three energy crystals, a wizard robe, and a lightning-enhancing staff.
• Skye explained that the robe and staff could boost lightning attacks by up to one hundred and fifty points, then charged Leo exactly one million Wizard Coins for the set and crystals.

Leo prepared for the contest for supremacy, then teleported with Alice into the battlefield, where they immediately killed newly arrived wizard apprentices and began hunting survivors. Alice warned Leo that Black Skull Academy apprentices were especially skilled and dangerous.

• Leo learned the contest would last ten years and that the Purple Flame Academy would guarantee advancement to a level one formal wizard for its top ten survivors.
• Leo spent the remaining time studying elemental witchcraft with Samatchi before his and Alice’s twenty-year assignment in Tiyama City ended.
• Leo and Alice teleported to the contest zone, where Alice froze seven Big Ben Wizard Academy apprentices and Leo shattered them to claim their rings and badges.
• As the slaughter spread among the sixty thousand apprentices, Alice led Leo through the battlefield and attacked a wizard apprentice concealed inside a tree.
• Leo killed the wounded Black Skull Academy apprentice after he offered his badge and ring, and Alice warned Leo to be wary of Black Skull’s superior killing skills.

Leo and Alice waited to ambush three Heluoluo Wizard Academy apprentices, but a flying top-tier apprentice interrupted the fight. Leo recognized him as the man who had once thrown him onto an altar and lost control as painful memories and a desire for revenge resurfaced.

• Leo and Alice used an Ice Mirror to watch three Heluoluo Wizard Academy apprentices lying in wait, then stayed hidden for half a month.
• When the Heluoluo apprentices attacked two women from Whisper Secret Realm Wizard Academy, Leo and Alice prepared to strike as soon as the women died.
• A flying top-tier wizard apprentice appeared above the battlefield, forcing the Heluoluo apprentices to stop fighting and defend themselves.
• Leo recognized the flying apprentice as the man who had thrown him onto an altar, triggering memories of the suffering he had endured.
• Leo's aura wavered as mana surged through him, and the five apprentices on the battlefield turned toward his hiding place.