Recaps

Xipei and Mel recovered from the botched Transformation Spell and decided to buy a black sheep, while Reynold struggled to understand that they knew each other and that Xipei was moving into Mel's tower. Their search ended in disappointment when they found no sheep at any pet store in Holy Light City.

• Xipei checked that Reynold had suffered no lasting harm from briefly turning into a sheep.
• Mel warned Xipei about Reynold, then let Xipei ruffle his hair and agreed to look for a black sheep with him.
• Reynold realized that Xipei and Mel knew each other, and Xipei explained that they had met in prison while studying spells.
• Xipei thanked Reynold for the meals he had ordered and told him to stop because Xipei was moving into Mel's tower.
• Xipei and Mel visited every pet store in Holy Light City but found no sheep.

The narrator visited her apprentice Moli to inspect her processing of magical materials and was startled by Moli’s gore makeup and secret pet spider. When Moli said she was going to a nightclub to find a date, the narrator warned her about bizarre diseases, leaving Moli exasperated by her outdated ideas.

• The narrator visited Moli’s luxurious home after forgetting to give Mel the spell notes.
• The narrator mistook Moli’s gore makeup for blood, then praised her efficient processing of the magical materials.
• Moli admitted she had hidden a spider because she wanted to keep it, and the narrator allowed her to keep a pair.
• Moli said she planned to go to a nightclub and find a date, so the narrator warned her about catching diseases.
• Moli rolled her eyes at the narrator’s claim that a disease could make dead people’s heads grow from someone’s chest.

Moli reassured her teacher that she would avoid the nightclub, but her teacher encouraged her to go and then tried to equip her with protective spells. The conversation left her teacher reflecting on her grim past and on how out of touch her warnings sounded in modern life.

• Moli cried after her teacher used a graphic illusion on her, then asked what painful memories had made the illusion so realistic.
• Moli promised to stay home and study magic, but her teacher told her to go out and enjoy herself.
• Moli teased her teacher about exaggerating her age, prompting her to recall being abducted and apprenticed to a dark mage she later killed.
• As Moli headed out, her teacher insisted she learn spells to detect sexually transmitted diseases and disguised devils.
• Moli protested that she was only going to drink and sing with old classmates, and her teacher finally let her go.

The narrator spent the morning at Moli’s home, reflecting on her new comforts and preparing to return to the research institute. She told Moli they would soon move into Mephistopheles’s mage tower, and they set out for work together.

• The narrator decided she would ask Mel to accompany her on an outing another day and stayed overnight at Moli’s home.
• The narrator worried about returning to the institute and possibly becoming an assistant, then dressed in Mel’s mage robes to visit the five-star old man.
• Moli returned with breakfast after staying out late, and the narrator warned her not to rely on wakefulness potions.
• The narrator told Moli about her own academy and explained that the Federation had required her to earn academic qualifications before taking the institute’s entrance exam.
• The narrator told Moli to pack because they would soon move into Mephistopheles’s mage tower, and Moli eagerly welcomed the idea of living with her teacher.
• The narrator and Moli planned to go to the research institute together, but Moli said she wanted to drive instead of using a Magitech teleporter.

Ciprins worried that the news footage of his fight at the summit would expose him as a black mage, especially after learning the Dawn Alliance might be targeting Mephistopheles. At the research institute, the five-star old man confronted Ciprins with gossip that Reynold had confessed his love to Mephistopheles.

• Ciprins and Moli watched a news report praising the unidentified black mage who had fought the cyborgs and thrown a bomb away from civilians.
• The report linked the mage to Shadow Moon Temple and said the Dawn Alliance might be targeting Mephistopheles, prompting Ciprins to resolve to stop the organization.
• Moli celebrated Ciprins’s televised heroics and said she wanted to tell everyone he was her apprentice.
• At the institute, the five-star old man accused Ciprins of still believing he and Reynold were together.
• The five-star old man claimed Reynold had confessed his love to Mephistopheles at a cinema the previous night and that someone had posted pictures online.

After her laboratory mishap, the narrator was demoted to assistant and assigned to work for the new mage Yamosi, while she continued testing her assistants’ magic. The chapter ended with news that Archmage Mephistopheles Madsen had secretly built a massive mage tower overnight in Holy Light City.

• A five-star old man showed the narrator a picture of Reynold as a sheep, and Moli said the image had spread across social media as Reynold’s popularity rose.
• The narrator received an order demoting her and her assistants to assistants serving the newly arrived mage Yamosi, whom the executive deputy director favored.
• The narrator and her assistants reported to Yamosi’s laboratory, but he was absent, so she tested their spells and silenced Keweite after he made a crude remark.
• The narrator stuck her assistants’ hands to their trouser seams and made them use magic to eat at the institute cafeteria.
• The midday news reported that Mephistopheles Madsen had demolished an entire residential development and raised a huge mage tower there overnight.

The narrator learned that Mephistopheles had completed a protected mage tower intended as a home for them and Moli, while helping the assistants practice controlling magic. Ms. Angela then arranged to transfer the narrator to the Shield of the New Star and asked them to join a future field assignment against the cyborgs.

• A news report described Mephistopheles's new tower, its defenses, and rumors that he had built it for someone he loved, prompting Moli to say she would pack to move in.
• The narrator let the assistants practice using their phones without touching them, and Moli and Keweite were the only ones who succeeded.
• Moli became absorbed in reading while walking and eating, so the narrator guided her around an obstacle and saw her onto a magical transporter.
• Ms. Angela called the narrator, learned that the institute had demoted them, and offered to transfer them to the military or the Shield of the New Star.
• The narrator chose the Shield of the New Star, and Ms. Angela said that after she returned in two weeks, the narrator and Mephistopheles would join her on a field assignment to investigate a cyborg secret base.

Xipei prepared to move into Mel's mage tower, but a crowd and traffic restrictions delayed her arrival as curious people gathered to see the tower. Mel urgently summoned her because politicians, including a five-star old man, had arrived, and Xipei teleported to the tower to help.

• Mel told Xipei she could move into the tower the next day and left his raven familiar to guide her.
• Xipei set out for the tower, but traffic restrictions and crowds filled the eastern district because people wanted to see the mage tower.
• Mel told Xipei that the prime minister had brought politicians into the tower and asked whether he could throw a five-star old man out the window.
• Xipei warned Mel that the old man could not use Feather Fall, then carefully teleported to the tower steps.

Xipei arrived at Mel’s mage tower, where Mel turned the five-star old man into a bouncing slime after he insulted her. After the politicians left, Mel showed Xipei around the tower and told her about his childhood there.

• Xipei entered the tower, which accepted her mana and revealed its layout to her.
• Mel embraced Xipei, then turned the five-star old man into a slime when he insulted her.
• Mel cast a bouncing spell on the slime and reassured the prime minister that it was protected from harm.
• Xipei calmed Mel, and the slime finally stopped bouncing and landed outside the tower.
• The prime minister and the female speaker left, and Xipei asked Reynold to take the meddlesome vice director with him.
• Mel showed Xipei around the tower and told her his teacher had built it and that he had spent his childhood there.

Mel showed Xipei around the mage tower and revealed that his teacher had been the legendary archmage Yamier. Their tour was interrupted when Moli exuberantly embraced Mel’s apprentice Anna and the two ended up embedded in the tower’s ceiling.

• Mel explained that the tower had belonged to him since his teacher died, and Xipei saw a childhood memory of Mel crying about priestesses pinching his cheeks.
• Xipei and Mel met Butler, the ghost who cleaned and maintained the tower, then explored its corridors and collections.
• Mel revealed that his teacher was Yamier Madsen Yilisi, the legendary Lord of Flames who had lived for nearly six hundred years.
• A scream from the entrance hall brought Mel and Xipei downstairs, where they found Moli hugging and kissing Anna, Mel’s dark elf apprentice.
• Mel and Xipei scolded Moli and Anna, then knocked them into the ceiling, where they became matching stone reliefs.

Xipei saw the memory of Mel’s deceased teacher, Archmage Yamier, and learned how much his warm guidance had meant to Mel. After Mel showed Xipei their room in the tower, Moli discovered the tower had no internet or cell signal, and Mel admitted he had deliberately blocked electronic signals.

• Anna excitedly recognized Moli as a fan, but Mel angrily trapped Anna in the wall for writing explicit jokes.
• Xipei encountered the lingering memory of Archmage Yamier carrying an injured cat, and Mel greeted his former teacher respectfully.
• Mel explained that Yamier’s memories remained in the tower and that the teacher’s questions about his practice encouraged him.
• Mel showed Xipei his room and said they could make the ceiling transparent to view the sky.
• Moli screamed after discovering the tower had no Wi-Fi or cell signal, and Mel revealed he had blocked electronic signals to keep the apprentices focused.

The narrator and Mel settled into life in the mage tower while their apprentices struggled with its stairs and got into mischief. Lusien visited with druid enhancement potions and news about the government’s slime-transformed director, while the narrator stayed in the tower awaiting Angela’s return.

• The narrator and Mel discussed restoring the ancient teleportation array so their apprentices would not have to climb the tower’s stairs.
• Moli complained about the stairs, while Anna freed herself from the wall and made a deal with Moli over pudding that alarmed the teachers.
• Lusien visited the tower and gave the narrator and Mel enhancement potions developed by the Druid Southern Sect.
• The narrator learned that the five-star director remained a slime and had become an online sensation as the “gross-cute director.”
• Lusien explained that the narrator could remain in the tower until Angela returned from her investigation.

Xipei and Mel confessed their love during a Hellfire lesson and kissed, but Xipei stopped Mel from going further because it felt too soon. Mel explained that Anna had told him physical intimacy was part of making a confession official.

• Xipei and Mel taught Anna and Moli about Hellfire on the mage tower observatory.
• Mel confessed his love to Xipei, and Xipei returned his feelings.
• Anna urged Mel to kiss Xipei, and the two kissed while Anna and Moli left them alone.
• Mel and Xipei kissed passionately until Xipei stopped him from unfastening her belt and questioned the speed of things.
• Mel said Anna had told him that confessing without making a physical move was immoral, and offered Xipei his entire book collection as a gift.

Xipei and Mel consummated their relationship and woke the next day feeling happy and close, with the butler bringing them a bath. After officially becoming partners, they prepared to leave on an adventure with Lady Angela, though Xipei found her legs weak and worried she might become addicted to being with Mel.

• Xipei agreed to establish a relationship with Mel, and they spent the night together.
• Xipei and Mel slept until the sun was high, then the butler brought them hot water and bathing supplies.
• Mel told Xipei he had learned martial skills from the dark elves, and they agreed they were partners.
• Xipei and Mel anticipated studying magic and traveling together, including their upcoming adventure with Lady Angela.
• After packing, Xipei said her legs felt weak, and she hurriedly assured Mel she only needed a little rest.

Mel and the narrator enjoyed a lavish dinner in the mage tower, then realized Anna and Moli had been gone since morning and had not returned. Lusien arrived with a nervous courier and a suspicious parcel, warning the two archmages that it might be connected to something important.

• Mel carried the narrator to the dining room, where Mr. Butler served a feast and displayed two singing water sprites as a chandelier.
• Mel and the narrator noticed Anna and Moli were missing, and Mr. Butler wrote that they had left for town that morning.
• Mel and the narrator grew concerned when the apprentices had not returned by nearly midnight and prepared to track them.
• Lusien forced his way through the tower's wards with a courier, then explained that he had brought the man and his parcel because they might be connected to an urgent matter.
• The courier handed over a securely wrapped package, and Mel and the narrator noticed that its wrapping had been treated to block spiritual perception.

A bomb delivered to Madsen’s tower confirmed Lusien’s suspicion that Anna and Moli had been kidnapped to target their teacher. The group connected the attack to the cyborgs who had previously tried to assassinate Madsen, but the responsible military company remained unidentified.

• Lusien recognized the package as a bomb, but Xipei restrained him and destroyed it with Hellfire.
• Lusien questioned the courier, and Xipei and Mel confirmed he was telling the truth before Xipei teleported him away.
• Lusien explained that the Shield of the New Star had intercepted a kidnapping letter addressed to Anna and Moli.
• Xipei and Lusien concluded that the kidnappers had targeted the apprentices to get to Madsen.
• Lusien linked the threat to the cyborgs who had tried to assassinate Madsen and said their military company was still unknown.

After Anna and Moli were kidnapped and their captors demanded the Shield of the New Star’s equipment data, Mel and Xipei traced the apprentices and prepared to rescue them. They joined Lusien and Priest Luolan at the airship station, where they waited for the final member of their team.

• Lusien showed Mel and Xipei a photo of Anna and Moli in an electrified cage and a demand for the Shield of the New Star’s equipment data and design drafts.
• Mel calmed down after his anger shook the mage tower, then he and Xipei admitted they did not know how to email the kidnappers.
• Lusien taught Mel and Xipei to register email accounts, and they sent half the requested data before using tracking magic to locate Anna and Moli northeast of the capital.
• Lusien proposed meeting Lord Angela early to rescue the apprentices, and Mel and Xipei packed supplies before setting out.
• Lusien and Priest Luolan met Mel and Xipei at the capital’s central airship station and explained that the team would travel discreetly to the rescue site.

The party set out by airship with Chairman Reynold accompanying them to assess the attack on the Federation’s leadership. During the trip, Xipei and Mel grew closer while the others reacted to their teasing and affection.

• Lusien explained that Chairman Reynold had been assigned to advise the party, while Mel called him fragile and marked his coat with a flame-drawn shipping label.
• The group boarded an airship, and Mel changed seats to block Reynold from Xipei after Reynold tried to speak to him.
• Xipei checked Moli’s condition and joked with Mel that Anna and Moli might be troubling their kidnappers.
• Lusien reassured the group that anything the captive apprentices did would count as self-defense, and Luolan teased him until he left the compartment.
• Xipei fell asleep in Mel’s arms, then woke to find their hair tangled together and kissed him.

Xipei and Mel became intimate aboard the airship while their companions slept or watched, then cleaned up as the vessel approached a major industrial center in the dwarven Gray Mountain Kingdom.

• Xipei and Mel checked on the sleeping apprentices and found no danger beyond Moli's swelling.
• Mel and Xipei kissed and touched each other while Lusien and Priest Luolan slept and Reynold watched in shock.
• Mel wrapped Xipei and himself in black mist, and they continued their intimate encounter.
• Xipei and Mel finished, cleaned up, and prepared for the airship's next stop in the dwarven Gray Mountain Kingdom.

The group arrived in Gray Mountain City, where they explored its steam-powered streets and bought a gift for Anna and Moli. After Lusien struggled to escape a crowd of curious dwarven women, he checked Angela’s message and asked for directions to Mining Platform No. 8.

• The group landed in Gray Mountain City, and Lusien awkwardly carried the sleeping Luolan off the airship.
• The narrator described the city’s mining trade, steam technology, and close ties with the Osland Federation.
• The group bought a rainbow-steam music box for Anna and Moli, while Mel and the narrator joked about dyeing their hair rainbow-colored.
• Dwarven women crowded around Lusien and Luolan, asking questions and requesting a photograph, while two passing elven knights watched them.
• Lusien checked his communicator and saw that Angela wanted them at Mining Platform No. 8, prompting Reynold to urge the group to hurry.
• Lusien asked a dwarven traffic officer how to reach Mining Platform No. 8.

Xipei, Mel, Lusien, and their companions hurried toward Mining Platform No. 8 after learning it had collapsed and been cordoned off. During the flight, Xipei and Mel discovered that their understanding of magic and their abilities were far beyond the standards of modern mages.

• A dwarf warned Xipei and the others that Mining Platform No. 8 had collapsed and was restricted because criminals were nearby.
• Lusien led the group toward the mine by air while Mel concealed them, and Luolan woke up and teased Reynold about looking mage-sick.
• Reynold revealed that he had graduated first in his class from the Royal Magic Academy of the Osland Federation, but admitted he could not cast Flight Spell because it was an eighth-level spell.
• Xipei and Mel explained their outdated system of spell grading and their ability to cast ancient forbidden spells, leaving Reynold stunned.
• Lusien explained that modern mages were ranked by the level of spells they could cast, and Xipei realized modern spell grading did not account for unfamiliar or newly created magic.

The group learned that Doug remained a hungry green slime, and Reynold asked Xipei to turn him into a sheep instead if she transformed him again. They arrived at Mining Platform No. 8, where dwarf miners were evacuating and Federation scientists were examining the site.

• Moli said Meteor Fire Rain was a level-six spell, and Xipei and Mel reacted with disbelief.
• Reynold realized Xipei had been capable of using the Flight Spell, while Mel praised her and Lusien called them living legends.
• Lusien told Xipei and Mel that Doug was still a green slime and might die because the hospital did not know how to care for him.
• Reynold asked Xipei to turn him into a sheep rather than a slime if she transformed him again.
• Luolan brought the group to Mining Platform No. 8, where dwarf guards managed an evacuation and Federation scientists examined the mining equipment.

Xipei and her companions investigated an attack at a dwarf mine, where an injured miner claimed demons had entered the tunnels. As Xipei descended into the dark mine, the darkness brought back memories of her years in a bunker, and someone caught her hand to steady her.

• Xipei and her companions overheard that the injured dwarves had wounds like those caused by cyborg magitech weapons.
• An injured dwarf shouted that demons had defiled the Heart of the Mountain Range and were inside the mine.
• Luolan and Reynold doubted that real demons had appeared, while Lusien questioned what the miner had actually seen.
• Xipei decided they needed to investigate and flew down into the dark mine.
• The darkness triggered Xipei's memories of her seven years in the bunker, and warm hands caught her wrist and held her fingers.

Xipei recovered from a traumatic memory while Mel comforted her, and the pair’s playful affection left Reynold visibly distressed. As the group continued through the dark mine, Luolan used a ring, leaving everyone stunned.

• Mel held Xipei and illuminated the tunnel while she recovered, then Xipei insisted she was ready to continue.
• Xipei clasped Mel’s hand, and the two teased and kissed, embarrassing Lusien and upsetting Reynold.
• Mel took Xipei’s hand and led the group farther into the mine as Reynold walked awkwardly ahead.
• Lusien stopped the group at a dark passage and asked how Luolan knew it was clear.
• Luolan turned a ring on his finger, and everyone stared in astonishment.

Luolan revealed that he was a dark elf priest who had been disguising himself and teasing Lusien, then led the group through the mine. After they found destroyed cyborgs and fragments of Lady Angela’s mecha, they followed a trail of blood deeper into the tunnels.

• Luolan revealed his dark elf appearance and admitted that he had deceived Lusien for fun.
• Lusien refused to let Luolan lead from the front, insisting that a knight had to protect the spellcasters.
• The group found scattered remains of cyborgs, and Reynold vomited before the narrator calmed him.
• Lusien identified a metal feather as a fragment of Lady Angela’s mecha and worried that she had fought the enemy.
• Luolan spotted blood leading farther into the mine, and the group followed it in search of Lady Angela.