Chapter Summaries

Richard’s Witch Hunting Squad broke through Meteorite Academy’s defensive line, capturing wounded wizards and taking their valuables while Black Tower Wizard Academy secured its initial territorial objective. As dawn brought a standoff, Zeke decided to summon all Third-Ring Wizards and escalate the war.

• Richard ordered the Witch Hunting Squad to smash through Meteorite Academy’s defenses, while Necromancers collected Magic Pockets and other valuables from wounded wizards in exchange for their lives.
• Richard defeated an Old Wizard, forced him to surrender his Magic Pocket, and sent him to a better wounded ward.
• Black Tower Wizard Academy widened its breach through the night, then halted its advance at dawn as Meteorite Academy gathered more wizards and the Witch Hunting Squad’s armor needed protection.
• Richard confirmed with Gerald that Black Tower Wizard Academy had met its territorial objective, then began planning defenses for the coming seven days.
• Chrispin and Zeke learned that four modified Steel Golems had broken through Meteorite Academy’s defenses, and Zeke ordered all Third-Ring Wizards to be called in.

Anka reported that Meteorite Academy’s Third-Ring Wizards had entered the war, prompting Richard and the other commanders to prepare for the decisive battle. As the Third-Ring Wizards fought overhead, Richard sent Makal and Kava to aid Gerald, and they attacked a Necromancer threatening Gerald’s Chimera.

• Anka spotted a figure flying over an eye bug and sent Black Tower Academy a report that Meteorite Academy’s Third-Ring Wizards had mobilized.
• Richard received Gerald’s warning, summoned Makal, Kava, Heraen, and Mishaen to protect him, and informed the Old Wizards that the predicted crisis had arrived.
• Susanna and Chrispin confronted each other in the sky, and their clash triggered a battle between the Third-Ring Wizards of both Academies.
• Richard ordered Makal and Kava to help Gerald while Mishaen and Heraen stayed behind to guard him.
• A Necromancer attacked Gerald’s Chimera with help from a Bone Dragon, but Makal and Kava flew in, and Makal brought a charged Chainsaw Sword down behind the Necromancer.

Black Tower Academy won the Academy War after its Fire Lizards helped defeat Meteorite Academy’s Third-Ring Wizards. Richard then returned 858 captured wizards to Meteorite Academy, and the war ended at dawn.

• Makal defeated the Necromancer, who surrendered, and then Makal and Kava helped the Chimera defeat the Alchemist Wizard, who also surrendered.
• Gerald directed Makal and Kava to support other Black Tower Academy wizards as the battle continued.
• In the Astral Realm, Great Wizard Black Tower mocked Meteorite Great Wizard over winning ownership of the Extreme Dark Star Core.
• Susanna brought Heraen and Mishaen into the battle, tipping the odds toward Black Tower Academy, and Chrispin conceded defeat.
• Five days later, both academies withdrew their forces and Black Tower Academy arranged to release its captured Meteorite Academy wizards.
• Richard handed Zeke all 858 captives, including 112 Second-Ring Wizards, and returned to Black Tower Academy as dawn broke.

After the academies returned from the World Mirror, Richard began helping rebuild Black Tower Wizard Academy and brought his Demon Dwarf companions into the Wizard World. He arranged clothes and legal protections for them, then stunned Gerald by revealing he had received a Wizard World Second-Class Honor Medal.

• Twenty years after the war ended, the academies returned to the Wizard World, and Richard began adjusting to its thin energy while helping with Black Tower Wizard Academy's reconstruction.
• Richard released Pluto and the other Demon Dwarves from suspended death, explained why their belongings from the Mirror World had vanished, and went to collect apprentice wizard robes from Ulrich.
• Ulrich recognized Richard, gave him robes with Gerald's authorization, and urged his grandson Joseph to stop hiding from Richard and clear the ruins.
• Richard dressed the Demon Dwarves in apprentice wizard robes and brought them to Gerald, who advised him to have the dwarves officially marked to protect them under wizard law.
• Richard told Gerald he had received a Wizard World Second-Class Honor Medal after killing a Third-Ring Mad Wizard, leaving Gerald stunned.

Richard learned about the Silver Star Medal, then visited Ulysses in the secret realm and explored his new divine abilities. Ulysses taught him about Faith Power and passed on three Divine Arts, which Richard mastered through visions.

• Gerald explained the Silver Star Medal’s privileges, including priority admission to the Tower of Truth’s Great Wizard selection, and Richard joked that it would save him money.
• Richard entered the secret realm and discovered he could understand Ulysses through his new Lord God authority of language comprehension.
• Ulysses explained that Faith Power varied in purity and advised Richard to gather more followers, especially the Fire Lizards.
• Ulysses told Richard he could use the Purification Spell, Healing Spell, Divine Word Spell, and a partial Faith Armament, and explained that powerful gods had created the Divine Arts.
• Ulysses passed three Divine Arts to Richard through raven feathers, and Richard mastered them after seeing visions.

Richard returned from the secret realm with a divine spell and arranged for Bob to sell more Alchemical Ink and gather materials. At Black Tower Wizard Academy, Great Wizard Black Tower welcomed the surviving external-assignment wizards into his treasure vault, where Richard spotted what appeared to be a World Lord’s Arm.

• Ulysses passed a divine spell to Richard and warned that he might sleep for several thousand years, leaving Richard responsible for the Fire Lizards’ church.
• Richard contacted Bob, learned that his Alchemical Ink had sold out, and sent him a list of materials to gather.
• Richard arrived at the Black Tower and met surviving wizards who had carried out external assignments, then joined them in meeting Great Wizard Black Tower.
• Great Wizard Black Tower praised Richard’s contribution to the final battle and led the wizards into his warehouse to choose three items each.
• The warehouse’s Any Door randomly scattered the wizards, and Richard searched past dangerous artifacts before recognizing a withered arm as a possible World Lord’s Arm.

Richard selected a World Lord’s Arm from Great Wizard Black Tower’s warehouse and received research notes and secret realm materials as rewards. After donating to the Academy, he returned to his secret realm with the materials and called to the World Mushroom.

• Richard chose a shriveled World Lord’s Arm, endured its overwhelming terror, and sealed it in his Magic Pocket.
• Great Wizard Black Tower explained the arm’s history and gave Richard a booklet of his research on it.
• Great Wizard Black Tower rewarded Richard with Crystal Balls containing Secret Realm Fragments and small secret realms, and advised him to focus on learning.
• Alex persuaded Richard to donate one hundred thousand magic essence to the Academy.
• Richard returned to his secret realm with the Crystal Balls and excitedly showed them to the World Mushroom.

Richard gave the World Mushroom Crystal Balls to merge into its secret realm, agreed to take responsibility for developing his church, and helped Kayan lift a long-standing Curse. The Collector responsible was forced to compensate Kayan, who then offered to become Richard’s follower.

• Richard gave the World Mushroom the Crystal Balls, and it said merging them would take about twenty years and require the secret realm’s inhabitants to leave.
• Ulysses persuaded Richard to treat church development as a serious discipline, and Richard agreed to manage his church.
• Ulysses identified Kayan’s Curse as the work of a Collector from the Pocket Dimension, so Richard went to Kayan’s home and dispelled it with a divine spell.
• The Collector appeared after the Curse was lifted, and Ulysses pinned it down while Kayan confronted it for mistaking him for someone else.
• The Collector handed over three treasures as compensation and fled through a dimensional rift, and Kayan offered to follow Richard for life.

Richard refused Kayan’s offer to become his follower and instead sent him to work for the merchant guild. After examining the Eye of Truth, Light of Equilibrium, and Omni Crystal, Richard conceived a Staff using the Hand of the Earth and named it the Hand of Equilibrium.

• Richard refused to take Kayan as a follower and told him to work for the merchant guild, where Gerald would arrange his position.
• Ulysses identified the Crystal Eyeball as the Eye of Truth, a Precursor Relic that could reveal spatial gaps and the workings of rules.
• Ulysses explained that Light of Equilibrium could counterbalance unequal forces, and Richard considered combining it with Omni Crystal.
• Richard studied Great Wizard Black Tower’s research and learned that the Hand of the Earth could amplify Earth Elemental Magic and Force Field Magic by over ten thousand Energy Levels.
• Richard took out the Hand of the Earth, and Ulysses suppressed its pressure while Richard inspected it.
• Richard proposed combining the Hand of the Earth, Omni Crystal, and Light of Equilibrium into a Staff, then named it the Hand of Equilibrium.

Richard spent three years studying the spoils from the Academy War and preparing the Staff of Equilibrium, then accompanied Ellie as she began her Second-Ring advancement. He set out with the Demon Dwarves for their ancestral homeland and met Bob to arrange cross-domain travel to the City of Extreme Bliss.

• Richard counted his Academy War spoils and spent three years studying the experimental notebooks, spell models, and alchemical techniques he had acquired.
• Ellie entered a Promotion Chamber to attempt advancement to a Second-Ring Wizard, while Susanna comforted her and Richard worried about her safety.
• Richard visited Gerald, who advised him to travel and let him take the Demon Dwarves to their ancestral homeland.
• Richard told Pluto to gather the Demon Dwarves and meet him at the Airship Field for their departure.
• At the Airship Field, Richard reunited with Bob, who confirmed that the Nine Stars Merchant Guild could arrange their cross-domain journey.

Richard traveled with the Demon Dwarves to the City of Extreme Bliss, where an enforcement wizard challenged their origins. Richard produced official documents showing they had been accepted as wizard retainers, then accused the enforcement wizard of neglecting his duties.

• Richard met Bob, who arranged for the Demon Dwarves to travel across domains on the Nine Stars Merchant Guild's trade routes.
• Bob warned Richard that taking Demon Dwarves from the Truth Council could lead to a thousand years in prison, but Richard insisted their origins were legitimate.
• Bob's attendants showed the Demon Dwarves around the City of Extreme Bliss, while Pluto asked to visit a library and read about architecture.
• A Black Robe Wizard stopped Pluto and suspected that he was an unmarked clone or stolen Council property, then summoned Richard to investigate.
• Richard denied cloning Pluto and showed the Black Robe Wizard a scroll bearing five Tower of Truth seals that recognized the Demon Dwarves as wizard retainers.
• Richard accused the Black Robe Wizard of being derelict in his duties.

Richard registered the thirty Demon Dwarves and joined the Nine Stars Merchant Guild’s cross-domain trade route toward the First Ring Tower of Truth. During a month-long wait at the Tower, he moved his equipment and Fire Lizard companions back to the Crimson Sun World for a twenty-year stay, collected his Silver Star Honor Badge, and resumed his journey with plans to seek the Dreamwalker Club.

• Richard used a rarely remembered regulation to stop the Black Robe Wizard’s inspection and persuaded him to register the Demon Dwarves.
• Bob arranged for Richard to join the Nine Stars Merchant Guild’s route, and Richard left aboard a small airship with the caravan.
• After the caravan reached the Tower of Truth, Richard moved his equipment, Carrion, Sulina, and the Fire Lizards into the Crimson Sun World for nearly twenty years of work.
• Richard returned to the Tower of Truth, learned that no one had claimed the inheritance, and received his Wizard World Level Two Honor Badge.
• Richard rejoined the caravan with the Demon Dwarves and set out for the First Ring Tower of Truth to return them to their homeland and seek news of the Dreamwalker Club.

Richard escorted the Demon Dwarves to their ancestral land after a profitable cross-world trading journey. Beneath an ancient shrine, Pluto revealed a hidden Dragon Egg, which Richard recognized at the chapter’s end.

• Richard listened as Ulysses described interworld trade in Gods Civilization while the Nine Stars Merchant Guild’s caravan traveled through the Teleportation Gate.
• The caravan traded food for Wind Metal in Wind Dragon World, then sold the ore and bought elemental materials in other worlds, earning nearly four thousand magic crystals over more than a year.
• Richard left the caravan at the First Ring Tower of Truth and led several dozen Demon Dwarves to their ancestral land in the Dwarf Mountain Range.
• Pluto uncovered an ancient mine tunnel, and he and Richard followed a map through the passages to a sealed underground hall.
• Pluto prayed before the dragon-featured dwarf statue, revealing the statue of the King of Demon Dwarves, then moved the altar aside to uncover a Dragon Egg.

Richard received an ancient Dragon King Egg from the Demon Dwarves, then traveled to the Second-Ring Tower of Truth to find the Dreamwalker Club. He located its headquarters and discovered that its tower was emitting Nightmare Rules, leaving him to decide whether to enter despite a warning that members had gone mad.

• Richard chose to preserve the Dragon Egg rather than eat it, and the Miracle Furnace revealed information he could extract from its box.
• Richard declined to take the Demon Dwarves as vassals, advised them on settling and seeking knowledge, and left them to build their community.
• After failing to find the Dreamwalker Club at the First Ring Tower of Truth, Richard joined a trade caravan to the Second-Ring Tower of Truth.
• Richard paid a bartender for the Dreamwalker Club's address and heard that some wizards who joined the club had gone mad.
• Richard found the club's headquarters at Wizard Tower Number 362, and Ulysses identified its aura as Nightmare Rules evaporating from within.

Richard investigated the Dreamwalker Club’s nightmare-afflicted Wizard Tower and learned that a botched ritual involving a Nightmare Lord Remnant Body had trapped its occupants in years of torment. He prepared to remove the seal on the coffin containing Master Farret, whose transformation could threaten the Tower of Truth.

• Richard visited the Dreamwalker Club’s Wizard Tower and recognized its president, who explained that Master Farret had taken a Nightmare Lord Remnant Body from Amad’s territory.
• The president told Richard that a damaged Magic Array had swallowed the Wizard Tower and left its occupants suffering nightmares whenever they tried to rest.
• Richard examined Master Farret’s sealed coffin in the basement and learned that a Nightmare Rule had contaminated the president and the others.
• Richard agreed to help in exchange for the club’s Nightmare World research materials and ritual magic for entering the Nightmare World.
• Ulysses warned Richard that Master Farret had likely become a half-nightmare, half-flesh monster whose presence could endanger the Tower of Truth, so Richard prepared to remove the coffin’s seal.

Richard negotiated with the Dreamwalker Club to remove the Nightmare Rules affecting its members, then opened Farrett’s seal and helped Ulysses dispose of the creature inside. The club’s wizards were freed from their long torment, and Richard left with their research and a promise to reward Ulysses.

• The minister plotted to ensure Farrett died, while Richard explained that the wizard in the coffin had likely become a monster and agreed to prepare for the seal’s removal.
• Richard discovered that Farrett had studied dreams and signed a Soul Contract with the Dreamwalker Club in exchange for lifting the members’ supposed Curse.
• Richard used Holy Light to remove the Nightmare Rules from the club’s wizards, who celebrated their first chance to rest and meditate in more than two hundred years.
• The wizards gathered as witnesses while Richard studied the seal for half a month and recorded the process of breaking it.
• The seal’s collapse released a twisted flesh sphere that spread mental corruption, but Ulysses seized and swallowed it before the threat could escalate.
• Richard offered Ulysses more Fire Lizards as a reward, and Ulysses happily accepted.

Richard left the Second-Ring Tower of Truth after the Dreamwalker Club resolved the experimental accident, then studied how to enter the Nightmare World. He extracted the Nightmare Rule from the twisted ball of flesh, which transformed into a living human.

• Camilla arrived at Wizard Tower Number 362 to investigate the accident, but Richard persuaded her that the source had been cleared and left her to question the wizards inside.
• Richard told Ulysses that the Dreamwalker Club would handle compensation and boarded the Nine Stars Merchant Guild caravan without being questioned.
• After the caravan departed for the Third-Ring Tower of Truth, Richard studied the Gate of Nightmares ritual and decided to simplify it so he could cast it alone.
• Ulysses advised Richard to study the Aberration Rule, and Richard used the Miracle Furnace to extract the Nightmare Rule from the twisted ball of flesh.
• The flesh ball lost its twisted form and became a terrified human who moved, startling Richard.

Richard extracted a pure soul from Wizard Farrett’s twisted remains and raised it as a child named Munin. Six years later, Richard returned to the Fourth-Ring Tower of Truth, where Gerald approved Munin’s new identity and told Richard to take his role as mentor seriously.

• Richard and Ulysses separated the pure soul from Farrett’s twisted soul, placed the pure soul in an active-flesh body, and sealed the twisted portion in a Crystal Ball.
• Richard raised the child for six years as they traveled with the Nine Stars Merchant Guild’s caravan, teaching him Wizard language and apprentice-level knowledge.
• Richard returned to the Fourth-Ring Tower of Truth with Munin and showed him Wizard Tower No. 4523.
• Gerald confirmed that Richard could take Munin as an apprentice if Munin’s old identity was discarded and a new one registered.
• Gerald reminded Richard that Munin had a child’s memories and personality despite his powerful soul, and Richard agreed to fulfill his responsibilities as a mentor.

Richard trained Munin while optimizing the Gate of Nightmares, and Munin completed his curriculum in seven years. Richard also finished simplifying the spell and used the Nightmare Rule to make it usable for one day each week, leaving him ready to replenish his spiritual power.

• Richard designed Munin’s education plan and returned to optimizing the Gate of Nightmares with the help of his rule-driven sense for flawed Rune Arrays.
• Ulysses had Munin spend a week practicing Breeze Technique by fanning him, then gave him a wisp of Blue Flame fused with the Flame of Annihilation.
• Richard sealed the dangerous flame for Munin to study later, took him to choose three demi-human servants, and gave him materials to practice alchemy.
• Richard spent nearly two months compiling textbooks, including one on Dragon Alchemy, and Munin finished them all within seven years.
• Richard simplified the Gate of Nightmares from Sixth-Ring complexity to around Fourth-Ring and used the Nightmare Rule to make it usable for one day each week.

Bone was nearly captured by bounty hunters pursuing the five-hundred-thousand-crystal reward when Richard awakened and rescued him. After Bone explained that the hunt had followed him across more than a dozen Nightmare Territories, Richard decided to head for the nearest Lawless Land and use the hunters as ingredients.

• Bone used flashbangs to escape his pursuers, but his exhausted steed collapsed and left him surrounded.
• Bone fought the bounty hunters, but their poison and attacks slowed him until he believed he would be captured alive.
• Richard appeared as a soul, stopped Bone from killing himself, destroyed the pursuing Nightmare Creatures, and entered his Nightmare Body.
• Bone explained that a Nightmare Lord had placed a bounty on him and that hunters had chased him across more than a dozen Nightmare Territories.
• Richard told Bone they would go to the nearest Lawless Land and treat the bounty hunters as premium ingredients.