Chapter Summaries

Azuhan was appointed commander of Morik Shield, an organization tasked with fighting Black Wizards in the empire’s rear, and recruited Akara and a mix of soldiers, nobles, and specialists. As Morik Shield matured into a serious threat, Advisor Richard received orders to join White Wizard Squad Thirteen on a mission.

• Harash gave Azuhan an imperial appointment naming him commander of Morik Shield and charged him with confronting Black Wizards in the empire’s rear.
• Azuhan decided to recruit Silver Horn Nobles and, after meeting Akara, persuaded her to join Morik Shield.
• Azuhan and Akara began establishing Morik Shield, recruiting front-line Fire Lizard Warriors, Silver Horn Nobles, and specialists whose skills aided the hunt for Black Wizards.
• Morik Shield refined its operations through repeated pursuits and became a growing problem for the Black Wizards.
• Advisor Richard received orders to report to White Wizard Squad Thirteen and accompany them on a mission with a Spell Support Vehicle.

Richard joined Squad Thirteen as its technical consultant and inspected the Spell Support Vehicles before they departed to extract a Black Wizard behind enemy lines. Five days later, the Black Wizard sent a signal but was killed by Morik Shield, whose Fire Lizard ambushers planted a decoy to lure in the rescuers.

• Richard met Captain Iyad and Squad Thirteen, then inspected all four Spell Support Vehicles and found no problems.
• Iyad explained that Morik Shield had requested an extraction for a Black Wizard discovered behind enemy lines.
• Richard and Squad Thirteen departed in the Spell Support Vehicles for their rendezvous.
• After five days, the Black Wizard emerged from hiding, sent a signal, and was ambushed by Morik Shield Fire Lizards.
• The Fire Lizards killed the Black Wizard, planted a robed doll as a decoy, and waited in ambush for the rescuers.

Richard tested and repaired the Spell Support Vehicles, then used them to bombard a Fire Lizard ambush and record proof for the squad’s failed mission. The attack nearly wiped out the ambushers, but a surviving Silver Horn Noble sent up a distress flare, forcing Richard and Iyad to flee before the Fire Lizard army arrived.

• Richard repaired the Spell Support Vehicle, and Ulysses scouted ahead and found a Fire Lizard ambush near the signal’s origin.
• Richard learned that the ambushers included dozens of first-level Fire Lizards and three second-level elites, so Iyad agreed they needed evidence of the mission’s failure.
• Richard ordered the four Spell Support Vehicles to fire 1,440 fireballs at the ambush site, nearly wiping out the hidden Fire Lizards while Ulysses recorded the attack.
• Iyad accepted the recording as evidence and proof of their achievement, while Richard prepared to inspect the battlefield and collect data.
• A surviving Silver Horn Noble launched a Fire Lizard distress flare, and Iyad warned Richard that they had to flee immediately.

Richard realized the squad had been marked by a Fire Lizard distress signal and left Iyad’s convoy to capture the Silver Horn Noble who had sent it. He brought the captive back, where the Fire Lizard vowed that the Noricius Family had no traitors, and Richard prepared to find out more.

• Richard warned Iyad that the distress firework had marked the squad, and Iyad chose a route that avoided Fire Lizard patrols.
• Ulysses fell asleep, so Richard flew off alone to capture the Fire Lizard who had sent the distress signal.
• Richard seized the wounded Silver Horn Fire Lizard with Rune Chains and flew back to Iyad’s convoy.
• Richard learned the captive could speak Wizard Language and told Iyad he no longer needed him to interpret.
• The Silver Horn Fire Lizard declared that the Noricius Family had no traitors or cowards, and Richard’s eyes flashed as he prepared to interrogate him.

Richard tortured Cliff with recurring nightmares until Cliff revealed how the Fire Lizard distress firework marked wizards and how patrols tracked them. As the convoy raced across the Red Soil Plain, Fire Lizards found tracks from the vehicles and began following them, while a patrol appeared ahead.

• Cliff awakened from Richard’s nightmare interrogation but initially refused to reveal what the distress firework did.
• Richard plunged Cliff back into the nightmare until Cliff explained that the firework marked wizards within ten kilometers and that patrols used instruments with a similar detection range to find them.
• Richard asked a Soul Wizard to verify Cliff’s information, then continued repairing the Spell Support Vehicle turrets; the Soul Wizard confirmed the information and killed Cliff.
• A Blackhorn Fire Lizard discovered concealed vehicle tracks near the battlefield and ordered patrols to follow them and search for more tracks.
• Four Spell Support Vehicles raced across the Red Soil Plain until a Fire Lizard patrol appeared ahead, prompting the wizards to prepare to break through.

Richard and Iyad’s squad battled a Fire Lizard patrol with their Spell Support Vehicles, but the vehicles’ tracks were targeted and the Fire Lizards’ main force arrived. The surviving wizards scattered to escape, while Richard rigged the abandoned vehicles to explode and the Silverhorn commander ordered a pursuit.

• Iyad directed the Spell Support Vehicles to fire on the Fire Lizard patrol, which scattered and retaliated with arrows as the vehicles charged through.
• Richard and Iyad led the squad in fighting off nearby riders, but the Fire Lizards concentrated their arrows on the vehicles’ armor and tracks, disabling Number Three Vehicle.
• Richard spotted the approaching Fire Lizard main force, whose arrow barrage killed more than half the squad and badly wounded Sampo.
• Iyad ordered the survivors to split up and flee, while Richard rigged the Spell Support Vehicles as bombs before escaping.
• A Spell Support Vehicle exploded as the Silverhorn Fire Lizard examined it, killing several patrol captains and prompting him to order the Fire Lizards to hunt down the fleeing wizards.

Richard escaped the pursuing Fire Lizard knights by following a Giant Flame Lizard into the magma tunnels beneath the Red Soil Plain. After discovering a Precursor Crystal concealed in an enormous pillar, he continued searching the Lava Sea for more Precursor relics.

• Richard used the Giant Flame Lizard to escape the Fire Lizard knights and entered the magma network beneath the Red Soil Plain.
• Richard removed his equipment and survived the magma without a barrier thanks to his Body of Adaptation.
• Richard followed the Giant Flame Lizard through the tunnels for three days until it stopped beside an enormous Crystal Pillar.
• Richard studied the pillar for a week and chipped off a fragment, which revealed itself as a Precursor Crystal.
• Richard placed the crystal in his secret realm and swam through the Lava Sea in search of more Precursor relics.

Richard trained in the Crimson Sun World’s Magma Sea while searching for the Precursor Ruins, then sent Ulysses to find them. After Ulysses returned with a nearly Rank 4 Flame Giant Beast’s corpse, Richard suspected the creature had mutated and searched the ecosystem for the source of its change.

• Richard abandoned his attempt to reach the Crystal Pillar’s origin and trained in the Magma Sea, improving his physique before retreating to his secret realm to recover from Fire Element erosion.
• Richard explained that he had fled into the Magma Sea to escape over a hundred Fire Lizard knights, and Ulysses agreed to search for the Precursor Ruins.
• Richard met Pom-pom, the first Sacred Tree Elf, who had become Rank 1 and fervently praised him as the Creator God.
• Two months later, Ulysses returned badly burned and described an ecosystem of Flame Giant Beasts, including a dangerous creature that had nearly killed him.
• Richard and Ulysses retrieved the dead blackish-blue beast and stored its corpse in the secret realm.
• Richard reasoned that the beast was a mutation and began searching the ecosystem for the source of its mutation.

Richard spent ten years studying the Lava Sea’s semi-elemental creatures and searching for the source of a Giant Flame Lizard’s mutation. After giving up, he found a dangerous blue flame near the upper magma layer and let Ulysses borrow it.

• Richard collected and dissected more than three thousand creatures while training his physique in the Lava Sea.
• Richard decided to stop searching and began swimming toward the surface with Ulysses.
• Richard’s mana waves detected a mana-devouring anomaly, leading him to a cluster of blue flames encased in fire elemental crystal.
• Ulysses retrieved the crystal and brought it to the Secret Realm, where Richard sealed it in cyan ice after its radiation damaged his skin.
• Richard identified the blue flame’s heat, energy combustion, and radiation as likely causes of the Giant Flame Lizard’s mutation.
• Ulysses asked to borrow the sealed flame, and Richard gave it to him despite Ulysses suspecting he did not understand the flame or Lords of the World.

Richard emerged from the Magma Sea after a three-day ascent and continued toward the surface, while the wizards' war against the Linksa Empire left the empire in turmoil. In Luxor, Black Robe Wizards decided to attack a Dragon Beast Breeding Base despite suspecting the intelligence was a trap, then discovered Richard underground.

• Richard carved a passage through the upper rock wall and left the Magma Sea, continuing his ascent toward the surface.
• The wizards' war and covert operations severely weakened the Linksa Empire, though General Balashar kept Luxor Province secure.
• Black Robe Wizards in Luxor debated intelligence that placed the Dragon Beast Breeding Base inside a nearby volcano and concluded Balashar had deliberately leaked it.
• Master Theodore urged the wizards to attack the base for its Dragon Beasts and possible artifacts from [The Lost Ones].
• A stone wizard sensed someone underground, and the assembled wizards attacked but failed to capture the intruder.
• Richard burst out of the ground wreathed in black-blue flames and demanded to know who had attacked him.

Richard emerged from the Magma Sea into a basement in Luxor City, where Third-Ring Wizards were planning an attack on the Dragon Beast Knight Order’s breeding base. After learning the operation might uncover artifacts made by the Lost Ones, Richard agreed to join.

• The Black Crow burned through the hand of a Physique Wizard who tried to seize it, then Richard emerged from a fissure and asked the wizards where he was.
• Theodore identified the basement as being in Luxor City and invited Richard to hear the wizards’ plan.
• Richard learned that the wizards planned to attack the Dragon Beast Breeding Base, and they voted five to three in favor of the operation.
• Theodore explained that the base might contain treasures left by the Lost Ones, whom Richard recognized as the Precursors.
• Richard agreed to join the plan.

Richard joined Theodore and the other Black Wizards for a raid on a Dragon Beast Breeding Base near Luxor, then spent a month improving his Heart of Annihilation spell while they prepared. The wizards began their operation at night, with Richard and the other Third-Ring Wizards poised to infiltrate the base.

• Theodore drafted a Soul Contract for the operation, and Richard introduced himself and Staven to Theodore as a Shaping Wizard and an Alchemist Wizard.
• Theodore assigned Toin to guard the basement and monitor army movements, then punished him for asking whether the wizards planned to attack the base; afterward, Toin told Bili that a golden-patterned nail offered them salvation.
• Richard spent a month optimizing Heart of Annihilation, cutting its mana consumption in half without weakening it, though modifying its spell imprint remained painful.
• Theodore and Starling delivered the operation plan: lower-ring wizards would make feint attacks while the Third-Ring Wizards secretly infiltrated the Dragon Beast Breeding Base.
• Richard, Theodore, and Starling joined the other Third-Ring Wizards near the volcano, and Theodore ordered them to move after night fell.

Richard and the wizards infiltrated the Dragon Beast Breeding Base beneath the volcano, where they learned that its defenses included ten Third-Level Fire Lizards. The wizards split up to sneak through the base, and Ulysses concealed Richard in the Shadow Gap as they continued onward.

• Mephisto led the wizards through a tunnel beneath the volcano and opened a passage through the magma into the Dragon Beast Breeding Base.
• Ulysses had determined that the vast base had four layers, and Richard warned the wizards that ten Third-Level Fire Lizards guarded its core.
• Theodore agreed that a frontal assault was too risky, so the wizards split up and used their own methods to infiltrate the base.
• Ulysses moved Richard into the Shadow Gap, where Richard passed through a Fire Lizard without being noticed.

Richard explored the Dragon Beast Breeding Base and discovered its Precursor Incubation Pods, while the other wizards triggered the Fire Lizards’ Sacred Guards. The armored defenders overwhelmed the wizards, and Balashar credited Toin with bringing the Sacred Guards into the battle.

• Richard explored the breeding base’s levels, saw Fire Lizards dissect a deformed dragon beast, and found a plaza filled with Incubation Pods, many of whose machines had broken down.
• Ulysses warned Richard that the Incubation Pods were likely equipment left by the Precursors for their servant armies and told him about the Tavern World’s story-trading bards.
• The Fire Lizards discovered Mephisto after he attacked them, and Sacred Guards emerged from sealed rooms to confront him.
• Mephisto recognized the Sacred Armor as a Lost Ones’ Relic and transformed into a Rune Stone Giant, but the armored Fire Lizard activated limit combat mode and attacked him with a Chainsaw Sword.
• The other wizards tried to destroy the Incubation Pods, but Sacred Guards exposed their hiding places, resisted their spells, and tore Starling apart while capturing his soul.
• Balashar watched the fighting in Luxor City and told Toin that his defection had brought the Sacred Guards into action.

Toin was forced by Balashar to expose Fire Lizard traitors in Linksa Eye while the battle at the Dragon Beast base intensified. Richard used Dragon Alchemy to disable a Sacred Guard’s armor and captured it, but its self-destruct command detonated inside the Secret Realm, where the World Mushroom contained the blast.

• Balashar spared Toin from execution but ordered him to identify every Fire Lizard traitor in Linksa Eye.
• A Sacred Guard detected Richard in the Shadow Gap, but Ulysses intervened and stopped its attack.
• Dragon Beast Knights rained javelins on Richard while a Sacred Guard used an energy chain to hold him in place.
• Ulysses bound the Sacred Guard, allowing Richard to use Dragon Alchemy through scratches in its armor and disable it.
• Richard threw the immobilized Sacred Guard into the Secret Realm, where it activated its self-destruct command.
• The World Mushroom wrapped the armor in mycelium, contained the exploding reactor, and the armor fell silent.

Richard helped Mephisto disable a Sacred Guard, but its self-destruction devastated the base and the wizards’ escape. After fleeing through the Magma Sea, Richard learned that five Third-Ring Wizards had died and discovered that the Sacred armor he had salvaged had also self-destructed.

• Richard agreed to help Mephisto defeat a Sacred Guard in exchange for the Tesla Model 9 Shield Guard Alchemy Puppet blueprints, then used Ulysses to trap it and damage its structure.
• The Sacred Guard self-destructed, blasting the base and leaving Mephisto badly injured; Richard and Ulysses escaped through the rock using a magic scroll.
• Richard traveled through the Magma Sea to the secret realm while Ulysses distracted the pursuing Sacred Guards and witnessed the wizards’ escape attempts.
• Ulysses told Richard that five wizards had died, including the Physique Wizard, while Mephisto, the Flame Wizard, and Theodore had escaped.
• Richard examined the Sacred armor he had salvaged, but the World Mushroom told him that it had self-destructed inside the secret realm.

Richard dismantled the Precursor combat armor and extracted valuable technology, including a Chainsaw Sword blueprint and Dragon Alchemy knowledge. After testing an armor plate he had made, he left the secret realm, while Toin told Theodore that Balashar suspected him and prepared to leave.

• Richard learned that the armor had self-destructed, then spent a month dismantling it and salvaging its surviving components.
• Richard extracted the Chainsaw Sword blueprint, Special Steel Production, a Dragon Alchemy Tree Pattern Diagram, and an incomplete Dragon Alchemy skill.
• Richard used the recovered knowledge to make an armor plate and tested its resistance to magical and physical attacks.
• Richard restored his mental power, left the secret realm, and set out from the Magma Sea toward wizard-controlled territory.
• Toin warned Theodore that Balashar was becoming suspicious, and Theodore ordered him to apply for a transfer so they could leave.
• After speaking with Theodore, Toin touched the new scales on his forehead, which covered the spot where a nail had blocked the Soul Seed's control.

Richard and Ulysses traveled through the Magma Sea on a tamed Flame Giant Beast while Richard considered how to reduce the energy costs of Precursor technology. After surfacing near wizard territory, Richard headed for the Floating City, leaving Kain to wonder whether he was the powerful wizard from a recent battle rumor.

• Richard confirmed their route on his map and let Ulysses race their tamed catfish through the Magma Sea.
• As Ulysses provoked and dodged Flame Giant Beasts, Richard pondered using Alchemy Machinery to power the Chainsaw Sword more efficiently.
• After traveling four hundred kilometers, Ulysses turned back toward the surface, and Richard worried about where they would emerge.
• Kain and another White Wizard on rotation leave discussed wizard casualties and a rumor about a powerful third-ring master who had emerged from underground during an operation.
• Richard surfaced near Kain and his companion, endured their spells, asked for directions to the Floating City, and gave Kain a high-quality Fire Element Gem.
• Kain recognized the resemblance between Richard and the rumored wizard who had drilled out of the ground.

After returning from ten years trapped behind Fire Lizard lines, Richard visited the Nine Stars Merchant Guild and negotiated with Bob over a piece of flesh from a powerful Mutated Fire Lizard. Bob traded his collected premium items for the flesh, while Richard claimed he had found nothing else in the magma network.

• Richard returned to Great Wizard Clear Frost's Floating City, submitted his weapon test report, and learned that Chief Mechanic Vladimir had repeatedly asked after him.
• Richard heard that Damir, Iyad, and Savo had survived the earlier mission by relying on soul phylacteries.
• Richard visited Bob at the Nine Stars Merchant Guild and used a mediocre Fire Element Gem and a half-finished story to encourage Bob to guess that he had found an opportunity on the Red Soil Plain.
• Richard showed Bob a piece of Mutated Fire Lizard flesh sealed in azure ice, and its intense Life Force radiation startled Bob.
• Bob gave Richard a Magic Pocket containing his premium wares in exchange for the flesh, and Richard found no Precursor relics among the items.

Richard returned from the Red Soil Plain, proposed using a puppet Fire Lizard kingdom to weaken the Fire Lizard Empire, and learned from Vladimir why Great Wizards rejected the strategy. He helped improve the Spell Support Vehicles and settled into research after upgrading more than four hundred of them.

• Richard traded a piece of flesh to Bob for restricted alchemy-blade research rights, a flame gemstone, a Third-Level Fire Lizard heart, and a second-level Dragon Curse Master’s body.
• Richard saw Fire Lizard refugees living in wizard-controlled territory and proposed supporting a puppet kingdom and army to fight the Fire Lizard Empire.
• Vladimir explained that Great Wizards preferred crushing native societies over preserving them, though Richard’s plan could help a newly promoted Great Wizard save money.
• Richard showed Vladimir his Spell Support Vehicle optimization drafts, and Vladimir revised them with further improvements.
• Richard helped upgrade more than four hundred Spell Support Vehicles, then entered his laboratory to study his new materials and technologies.