Chapter Summaries

Li Lin helped a black-clad man recover the Caseli Magic Core from a corpse, then explained its dangerous mind-control effects to Angela, Mina, and Fina while they traveled. The group continued toward its destination at Li Lin’s unhurried pace, with the core’s origins tied to an Arcane Mage named Caseli.

• A black-clad man admitted he was searching for the Caseli Magic Core, and Li Lin told him it was hidden inside the third bone of the last man’s spine.
• The man retrieved the core, wrapped it without touching it, thanked Li Lin, and left; Li Lin dissolved the corpses before the group rested.
• The next morning, Li Lin and the three girls continued traveling on foot while he told them about the Magic Empire’s history.
• Angela asked about the Caseli Magic Core, and Li Lin explained that it merged with a creature’s spine and took control of its life functions.
• Li Lin said an Arcane Mage named Caseli had made the core, though he admitted he had offered a few suggestions.

Li Lin noticed that Yinkalan Town had the layout and traditions of the Magic Empire, then discovered a magical barrier at the mayor’s mansion. He visited the young mayor with ornaments from the Empire, hoping to learn who was behind the barrier.

• Angela showed Fina her velvet fan and explained that she had made it from the hair of six hundred and sixty-six beautiful virgins.
• Li Lin recognized the town’s fountain, zigzag walls, and groups of thirteen trees as features associated with the Magic Empire, but initially found no trace of Magic Power.
• Li Lin detected a barrier coming from the mayor’s mansion and settled his group at a nearby inn.
• Li Lin discussed the possibility of meeting a survivor of the Magic Empire with Angela, Fina, and Mina, then decided to visit the mayor.
• Li Lin showed an ornament from the Magic Empire to gain an audience with the young mayor, who seemed impatient to see it.

Li Lin sold a Magic Empire ornament to a mayor who showed no real interest in its history, then prepared for the God of Justice’s return by choosing a spell. Meanwhile, Angela took Mina and Fina into town to find women for Li Lin, and the chapter ended as she spotted a cloaked woman she believed was a beautiful virgin.

• Li Lin accepted a hundred gold coins for his ornament and concluded that the mayor had been pretending to care about the Magic Empire.
• Angela comforted Li Lin with a story about a former vampire companion who later betrayed her, and Li Lin explained that he needed his weapons before the God of Justice recovered.
• Angela took Mina and Fina into town to look for women to cheer Li Lin up, dismissing their objections to her plan.
• Li Lin raised a barrier and began preparing a spell, deciding against his most powerful undead and mind-control spells.
• Angela sensed a beautiful virgin walking into a side alley and excitedly followed her scent.

Angela sent Mina and Fina to capture a cloaked woman, but the mage escaped, so Angela planned to hunt for another target. The woman returned to Yinkalan and asked Jieka Hilton about a Magic Empire relic; he secretly ordered his guards to drive out or kill the traveler who had given it to him.

• Angela threatened Mina and Fina into following the cloaked woman through Yinkalan's alleys.
• The woman vanished with a spell before the sisters could catch her, and Angela gave up and looked for another target.
• Jieka Hilton welcomed the woman back and gave her the ornament Li Lin had brought him, then told her the traveler had left town.
• The woman asked Jieka to look for the traveler so she could speak with him the next day.
• After the woman retired, Jieka ordered his guards to find the traveler and drive him out or kill him, then stared greedily at a portrait in his study.

Li Lin and his companions were forced out of town after the mayor accused him of selling a fake, but a Beast Tide interrupted the confrontation. Li Lin and Angela left Mina and Fina to face the charging beasts alone as a test of their strength.

• The old guard captain led Li Lin and the three girls outside town and ordered Li Lin to leave and return the mayor’s payment.
• A distant cry for help drew the captain and two guards away, and Mina and Fina sensed a large number of beasts nearby.
• The guards returned in panic, warned that a Beast Tide was approaching, and rushed back to alert the town.
• Li Lin explained that magic beasts gathered and migrated in destructive groups, while Angela dismissed the sisters’ fear and urged them to watch the tide up close.
• As the beasts charged, Li Lin separated himself from Mina and Fina with a barrier, and Angela moved to a nearby branch.
• Li Lin and Angela told Mina and Fina to fight the beasts and survive as a test of their strength.

Li Lin and Angela watched Fina and Mina fight the Shadow Hounds during a prolonged planar overlap, while secretly betting on which sister would prove stronger. As the seemingly endless tide kept attacking Yinkalan, a cloaked woman arrived on the wall and prepared to act.

• Li Lin identified the approaching beasts as Shadow Hounds from the Plane of Shadow and warned that their danger depended on how long the planes overlapped.
• Angela and Li Lin wagered on whether Mina or Fina would perform better, with the sisters unaware they had become the stakes.
• Fina nearly wasted a spell, but after the Shadow Hounds swallowed the sisters, she struck back with Flame Burst while Mina protected her.
• The town’s soldiers fired flaming arrows and defended the walls as the sisters fought, but the Shadow Hounds continued to appear even after two hours.
• The cloaked woman arrived on the wall, questioned the old captain about the attack, and ordered the soldiers to prepare because something was wrong.

Li Lin identified the attackers as the Shadow Mage Order and watched the town’s defenders face a worsening Shadow Hound assault while their mage fought three shadow mages. After the mayor’s militia crowded the wall and a Shadow Hound broke through, the defending woman defeated the three mages, but a dark cloud appeared, prompting Li Lin and Angela to wager on who would kill the powerful figure about to emerge.

• Li Lin recognized hidden figures among the Shadow Hounds as members of the Shadow Mage Order and suspected they had lured the beasts toward the town.
• The shadow mages countered the town mage’s lightning and engaged her, while Li Lin declined Angela’s offer to intervene and chose to wait.
• As the defenders faltered, the mayor brought militia onto the crowded wall, where a Shadow Hound broke through and entered the town.
• The defending woman cast Chain Fireball Explosion and killed the three shadow mages, but a dark cloud appeared and spread a bone-chilling cold.
• Li Lin proposed a wager with Angela about whose spell would kill the powerful figure about to appear, and Angela accepted.

Li Lin and Angela defeated the King of Shadow Mages, saving Nia from his attempt to seize her golden staff. Li Lin reunited with Nia, while Jieka left after she rejected him.

• The King of Shadow Mages trapped Nia with Dimensional Anchor and demanded her golden staff, but Angela attacked him and Li Lin destroyed him.
• The planar overlap ended, and Li Lin reminded Angela that she had lost their wager.
• Li Lin reunited with Nia, who recognized him as Luoxia and embraced him in tears.
• Angela mocked Jieka, and Nia told him she could not be with him.
• Jieka accepted Nia's rejection and walked away into the crowd.

Li Lin reunited with Nia, who had waited a thousand years for him and revealed that she was his weapon, the Eternal Library. Nia told him the God of Justice had died long ago, but before they could discuss it further, the young mayor challenged Li Lin to a duel.

• Nia recounted how she had searched for Luoxia after the Magic Empire fell, founded Yinkalan, and waited for him for a thousand years.
• Li Lin used Reset to reveal that Nia was the Eternal Library, a magical book capable of taking human form.
• Nia reported that the God of Justice had died 1,352 years earlier, during the war that broke out in the Magic Empire.
• Li Lin and Nia discussed how the current God of Justice seemed different and noted that Nia had found little about the gods' war.
• The young mayor entered in armor and challenged Li Lin to a duel, but Li Lin refused.

Li Lin and his companions left the town after Nia helped remove its abusive mayor, and Nia returned to book form to recover her magic. As she recounted the continent’s history and proposed seeking the Eye of Kalatu in the City of a Thousand Towers, Li Lin suspected the God of Justice had helped orchestrate the empire’s destruction and the persecution of other faiths.

• Angela struck the mayor after he demanded that Nia spend the night with him, and Nia put him to sleep before ordering the old guard captain to take him away.
• Li Lin and his companions left town the next morning without Nia in human form, as she returned to her book form to replenish her magic through him.
• Nia explained that the other weapons had likely sealed themselves away and suggested traveling to the City of a Thousand Towers to seek help and use the Eye of Kalatu to find them.
• Nia told the group how the Five-Nation Alliance conquered the Magic Empire, suppressed mages, destroyed other Temples, and drove the elves and dwarves from the continent.
• Li Lin concluded that the God of Justice had been involved in the continent’s upheavals.

Li Lin discussed helping Nia become compatible with his Magic Power, while Angela pushed for a more intimate approach. After Fina and Mina returned from shopping, Angela tore Mina’s new armor and provoked a fight with nearby mercenaries, leaving Mina to face them.

• Li Lin explained that his unmodified body had trouble channeling Magic Power with Nia, and Nia asked for time and reference materials to prepare for becoming more compatible.
• Angela urged Li Lin and Nia to adapt to each other through intimate exchanges, then began another passionate encounter with Li Lin.
• Fina and Mina returned from shopping after recovering from their Shadow Hound injuries, and Mina revealed her new leather armor as the party’s lone warrior.
• Angela tore open Mina’s armor and threw a wineglass at nearby mercenaries, making Mina the apparent culprit.
• Mina confronted the angry mercenaries while Li Lin, Angela, and Fina watched from a distance.

Mina fought the mercenaries in the tavern until Li Lin restrained them with magic, then the group sought a carriage out of Beacon City. After Li Lin persuaded a driver to take them toward the City of a Thousand Towers, two mages confronted him and demanded the Eternal Library.

• Mina attacked the mercenaries, and Li Lin used magic to slow and silence them so Mina could drive them from the tavern.
• Angela deterred the tavern owner from demanding compensation, and the group left for the carriage company.
• Li Lin learned that drivers feared devils on the road to the City of a Thousand Towers and that city officials had dismissed their reports.
• Li Lin persuaded an elderly driver to accept a gemstone and agree to take the group to the City of a Thousand Towers.
• Two young mages blocked Li Lin at the carriage company and demanded that he hand over the Eternal Library.

An old archmage learned that the Aolaier Empire might be searching for a thousand-year-old demon, while Li Lin dealt with two mages who tried to steal the Eternal Library. After Li Lin left Beacon City, the archmage ordered an investigation into his destination and summoned powerful mages.

• The old archmage heard that the Aolaier Empire wanted to break a royal prohibition and search for the demon from a thousand years ago.
• Two low-ranking mages demanded that Li Lin hand over the Eternal Library, and one injured himself when his magic ran wild.
• The old archmage arrived, apologized to Li Lin, and watched him leave Beacon City with Angela.
• The old archmage turned Suosi to dust and ordered the surviving mage to summon five intermediate-ranked mages and find out where Li Lin was headed.

Li Lin prepared to confront the Mages' Association after its members pursued the Eternal Library. He trapped the old mage and five companions in an Isolation Barrier and forced them to fight him or die.

• Angela told Fina that they should not interfere with Master, while Mina rode with them toward the others.
• Li Lin and Nia prepared for battle, with Nia explaining that she had sealed some of the Eternal Library's power.
• The old mage arrived with five white-robed mages and demanded to inspect the spellbook, warning that it was dangerous.
• Li Lin activated an Isolation Barrier that prevented the mages from escaping or sending messages outside.
• Li Lin opened the Eternal Library, overwhelmed the mages with Magic Power, and told them they had to defeat him or die.

Li Lin used the Eternal Library’s defenses and endless magic to overwhelm the white-robed mages, killing one and capturing his soul while promising to question the old mage. The old mage sacrificed himself by breaking his staff and unleashing a destructive beam that swallowed Li Lin.

• The white-robed mages attacked Li Lin with spells, but his multiple magic protection framework blocked their attacks.
• Li Lin explained the mages’ mistakes as their spells failed to weaken his defenses, then called on Nia to attack.
• Li Lin erased the mages’ magical protections and killed one with a high-level spell, capturing the mage’s soul.
• Li Lin told the old mage he would save him for last and question him, but the old mage broke his staff and unleashed a beam that engulfed Li Lin.

Li Lin defeated the mages and discovered that their broken staff contained energy linked to a mysterious woman. He transformed the old mage into a lich bound to his phylactery, leaving him ready to reveal everything he knew.

• Li Lin survived the old mage’s devastating spell, killed the remaining mages, and restrained the old mage.
• Li Lin and Nia recognized the staff’s stored energy and wondered whether the Mages’ Association had obtained “her.”
• The old mage refused to reveal where the staff came from, so Li Lin used pain and threatened him into submission.
• Li Lin and Nia performed a ritual that transformed the old mage into a lich, with Li Lin keeping his phylactery.
• The lich knelt to Li Lin and agreed to tell him everything he knew.

After learning that the Mages' Association held one of the seven weapons, Li Lin decided to postpone retrieving it until they found Suoxiate. When bandits attacked a caravan, Angela led Mina and Fina to watch, then attacked the bandits and declared that they would become her toys.

• Nia explained how she had spent centuries traveling the continent and had once joined the Mages' Association and the Temple of the God of Justice under false identities.
• Li Lin and Nia decided to leave the weapon held by the Mages' Association alone until they found Suoxiate.
• Angela heard screams from the road and took Mina and Fina to the scene, where bandits were slaughtering and abusing the caravan's survivors.
• Angela stopped Mina and Fina from intervening and made them watch the bandits' cruelty.
• Angela killed one bandit by forcing his head into a woman's corpse, then turned toward the others and announced that they would be her toys.

Angela forced the last bandits to fight each other, then had Mina kill the survivor after mocking her promise to spare him. The group reached Warsaw, where Nia revealed that mages—not the Five-Nation Alliance—now controlled the city.

• Angela made two wounded bandits fight, and the survivor killed his companion before Mina killed him on Angela’s command.
• Mina and Fina returned to the carriage with darker thoughts, while Li Lin ignored the change and the group continued toward Warsaw.
• Nia explained Warsaw’s history as a refuge for mixed-blood people, criminals, travelers, and exiles, and said the group would receive preferential treatment there.
• The group reached Warsaw, passed through its mountain entrance after Nia showed the guards a golden leaf, and entered a long, moonstone-lit tunnel.
• Li Lin asked Nia why she knew the city so well, and she revealed that a group of mages now controlled Warsaw.

Nia agreed to speak with Mina and Fina about their worries while Li Lin took Angela shopping in Warsaw and bought forbidden necromantic materials. When guards arrived to arrest him, Li Lin agreed to go with them, though Angela had disappeared.

• Fina asked Nia to talk with her and Mina, and Nia agreed to help them.
• Angela asked Li Lin to spend time with her, so he took her shopping through Warsaw.
• Li Lin visited Old Pikachu's Hundred Thousand Thunderbolts and bought necromantic materials with gems.
• The shopkeeper hid the materials when half-elf guards arrived to investigate a report of contraband sales.
• Li Lin agreed to accompany the guards and clear up the misunderstanding, while Angela was nowhere to be seen.

Li Lin and Shopkeeper Pikachu were detained over the sale of forbidden spellcasting materials, while Nia met with the three elder mages who governed Warsaw. When they learned Li Lin was the accused man, the elders understood why Nia was displeased.

• Two half-elven men celebrated Li Lin’s arrest as an opportunity to challenge the city’s leaders.
• Li Lin and Shopkeeper Pikachu were locked in a guarded room, where the shopkeeper feared losing his life and business while Li calmly examined the goods.
• Angela told Li Lin that Nia would ensure the matter ended satisfactorily, then vanished to find a place to watch the proceedings.
• Nia met the three elder mages atop the city’s tower and praised their stewardship of Warsaw.
• A senior officer announced that Huoteman had called a trial over the forbidden trade, and the elders learned that Li Lin was Nia’s companion.