Chapter Summaries

Steo and Robbie discovered that the World Tree Saplings were forming a Secondary Gestalt Swarm, forcing the White Wizards to prepare for a last stand. As Jimmy powered up for a promotional punch against the approaching swarm, Richard arrived with the item the Dean had asked him to deliver.

• Steo found a World Tree Sapling hidden among ordinary treants and smashed it, while Robbie burned its remains and joined him.
• A Secondary Gestalt Connection overwhelmed Robbie and forced Steo to warn the Command Department and flee toward the Floating City.
• Jimmy learned that the World Tree Saplings were forming a Secondary Gestalt Swarm and ordered the White Wizard Legion to prepare for battle.
• The White Wizard Legion's wind-blade storm failed to break the treants' defenses as the swarm advanced on the Floating City.
• Jimmy swallowed several One-Strike Potions and began gathering magic power for a final punch, but Richard arrived with the Dean's delivery.

Richard arrived with the Dean’s White Bear and helped Jimmy’s forces escape the treants. Jimmy merged with the White Bear and unleashed the Dean’s Three-Strike Power, wiping out more than half the treants.

• Jimmy’s forces learned that Richard had arrived with the Dean’s delivery and prepared to break through the treants.
• Richard led the White Bear, floating cannons, Arachnid armed puppets, and Giant Floating Mother Body into battle, while Ulysses used a Divine Word Spell to stop a lightning attack.
• The White Bear smashed open a path, and Richard’s forces joined with Adams and the White Wizard Legion to escort the Giant Floating Mother Body out of the treants.
• Richard told Jimmy he had completed the Dean’s task, and Jimmy merged into the White Bear.
• The White Bear revealed the Dean’s Three-Strike Power and unleashed a blow that erased more than half the sea of treants.

Richard helped Jimmy return after Jimmy used the beast puppet to devastate the treants, then learned that the World Tree was about to destroy the boundary between the Inner and Outer Worlds. As spatial upheaval devastated both worlds, Ulysses warned Richard that the World Tree and Great Wizard Kanon were about to begin their final battle.

• Richard supported Jimmy after the beast puppet's strike, and Jimmy emerged frail and bloodied but said he was only overdrawn.
• Jimmy asked Richard about Great Wizard Kanon and praised his role in the war, then learned Richard already possessed a Silver Star Medal.
• Great Wizard Kanon warned Jimmy that the World Tree was trying to break the worlds' boundary, so Jimmy ordered the wizards back to the Floating City.
• Adams ordered the White Wizard Legion to withdraw, even as the exhausted wizards struggled against the remaining treants.
• The World Tree kept attacking the boundary while Great Wizard Kanon fought it, and spatial turbulence and elemental storms devastated both worlds.
• Ulysses pointed out two immense figures emerging near the Storm Eye and told Richard to watch their decisive battle.

Great Wizard Kanon fought the World Tree in the storm and broke through the World Origin protecting its core. The World Tree surrendered as Kanon pulled its surviving sapling from the ground and prepared to make it his Staff.

• Great Wizard Kanon and the World Tree exchanged devastating attacks while Richard and other Third-Ring Wizards glimpsed the Rules Behind the Curtain.
• Great Wizard Kanon found the World Tree's core beneath the Magma Sea and demanded that it surrender.
• The World Tree used the World Origin to protect its core and diverted much of the energy Great Wizard Kanon tried to gather.
• Great Wizard Kanon poured magic essences from a Spatial Rift into himself and shattered the World Origin's defenses with a concentrated fist strike.
• Great Wizard Kanon discovered the World Tree had survived as a sapling, learned it recognized his qualification to become an Astral Dominator, and pulled it up by its roots.

After the war, Great Wizard Kanon organized repairs and rewards, then examined the Astral Fortress and Floating City's power furnace with Richard. Jimmy proposed buying Richard's Precursor weapons, and Richard offered to trade them for help making the Hand of Equilibrium, which required a Great Wizard from the Alchemy School and a great deal of Light of Equilibrium.

• Great Wizard Kanon arranged postwar development, Floating City repairs, and rewards for wizards who had distinguished themselves in the war.
• Great Wizard Kanon praised Richard's discovery of the Astral Fortress and promised him access to any research results he obtained from it.
• Great Wizard Kanon examined the Fuel Ring and explained that the Lost Ones had imprinted a complete Basic Rule onto its material to power the furnace.
• Jimmy planned to turn the world into a trial ground and asked Richard to discuss a trade involving his puppet legion.
• Jimmy offered to buy Richard's Giant Floating Mother Body and arachnid crystal puppets, but said he did not know what to offer in exchange.
• Richard asked Jimmy to arrange help from a Great Wizard of the Alchemy School and named Light of Equilibrium as the key material he needed for the Hand of Equilibrium.

Richard traded an incomplete star map to Great Wizard Kanon for a miniature world after reaching Great Wizard rank, and secured Kanon’s help in making the Hand of Equilibrium. With the war over, Richard returned to Green Forest World’s jungle to search for World Tree Saplings and the wreckage from the battle.

• Richard proposed leasing his puppets to the Academy for magical essence and showed Jimmy an incomplete star map.
• Great Wizard Kanon recognized the projection as a star map and offered Richard an undeveloped miniature world once he became a Great Wizard.
• Richard asked for a Gold Star Medal, but Kanon could not provide one, so Richard asked him to arrange a Hand of Equilibrium Staff instead.
• Kanon agreed to supply the Light of Equilibrium and Universal Crystal and have an old friend make the Staff from the World Lord’s Arm.
• Kanon promised to find Richard a ritual spell for bringing items back from other dimensions, and Richard handed the completed star map to Jimmy for delivery.
• After the war ended, Richard returned to Green Forest World’s jungle to track the remaining World Tree Saplings and search for battle wreckage.

Richard and the Fire Lizard Regiment continued hunting dangerous creatures in Green Forest World while World Mushroom prepared to evolve after absorbing World Tree remnants. With World Mushroom entering a long sleep and the regiment’s mission paused, Richard reconsidered the future of his battle-hardened Fire Lizards and called them to assemble.

• World Mushroom captured and devoured a powerful tree grown from a remnant of the World Tree, bringing it close to evolution.
• Ten years after the final battle, the Fire Lizard Regiment hunted a poisonous biological weapon and delivered its corpse to World Mushroom in the Secret Realm.
• World Mushroom told Richard it had found a path to a new level of life and would sleep during its evolution, limiting its ability to support him across Secret Realms.
• Richard learned that the Netherflame Legion and independent wizards had already cleared most degraded World Tree Saplings, leaving his regiment to hunt creatures bonded with their fragments.
• Richard reconsidered retiring most of the Fire Lizard Regiment because the warriors had become tense and battle-hardened, then ordered them to assemble for an announcement.

Richard traveled to the Hub World to retrieve a ritual spell from the Fist of Truth Merchant Guild, which had been safeguarding it for Great Wizard Kanon. After searching for the guild in City Number Nine, he reached its branch at a Colosseum and forced his way past the guards when they asked him to make an appointment.

• Richard offered the Fire Lizard Regiment contracts to continue serving or return to the Crimson Sun World as instructors, and every member chose to stay in the regiment.
• Fifteen years after the final battle, Richard and Ulysses arrived in the Hub World through a Teleportation Gate to find the Fist of Truth Merchant Guild branch holding the ritual spell.
• A local guide in City Number Seven could not find the guild but suggested its branch might be in City Number Nine, so Richard flew there after paying him.
• Richard hired a guide in City Number Nine, who led him through an old district to a Colosseum that housed the guild branch.
• When the Lionfolk guards demanded a ticket or appointment, Richard unleashed his pressure, froze them in place, and entered the Colosseum.

Richard collected a sealed spell scroll from John, the Fist of Truth Merchant Guild’s branch president, and proposed selling arena battle projections to poorer audiences. After returning to North Extreme City, he broke the scroll’s seal and discovered it contained ritual magic about dimensional space bubbles.

• Richard met John at the arena and explained that he had recognized the staged fight between a wizard and a cloud tiger.
• John gave Richard the sealed scroll entrusted to him by the Dean, and Richard suggested turning recorded arena battles into inexpensive projections for non-wizard audiences.
• John asked Richard for authorization to pursue the projection-theater business, and Richard directed him to negotiate a partnership with his merchant guild.
• Richard returned to North Extreme City and found his Wizard Tower empty because Ellie had gone back to Black Tower Wizard Academy.
• Richard broke the scroll’s seal and began reading the ritual magic about dimensional space bubbles.

Richard gathered rare materials and recruited several Third-Ring Wizards to perform the Multi-dimensional Space Storage Technique, creating a dimensional space bubble in the Interdimensional Gap. The ritual succeeded, giving him a way to transport Soul Origin from the Nightmare World to the Wizard World.

• Richard learned that Kanon's ritual could create a ten-year dimensional space bubble, but its rare materials would cost nearly a million magic crystals.
• Bob warned Richard that the Tesla Merchant Guild was studying his Spell Support Vehicles, while explaining that the guild's size could slow its project.
• Richard enlisted Bob, Gerald, and Jimmy to gather materials, then spent five years and nearly eight hundred thousand magic crystals collecting everything he needed.
• Gerald and several Third-Ring Wizards arrived at Richard's Wizard Tower, where Richard explained North Extreme City's prosperity and led them to the underground ritual hall.
• Richard and seven Third-Ring Wizards performed the ritual, successfully sending the dimensional space bubble into the Interdimensional Gap.

After completing a costly ritual, Richard learned that Projection Cinemas were spreading successfully and returned to his Nightmare Territory to prepare Soul Origin. He began refining the Fuel Ring’s Radiation Rule, leaving Ulysses and the Sacred Tree Elves to protect his sleeping body as the refinement began.

• Richard thanked the Third-Ring Wizards for helping with the ritual, settled their payment, and treated them to a meal at Kanon Wizard Academy.
• Gerald told Richard that the Fist of Truth Merchant Guild had begun expanding Projection Cinemas through White Wizard cities, and praised Richard’s business plan.
• Richard returned to his Nightmare Territory, found its Nightmare Power reserves had grown, and learned from Bone that the network channels were complete.
• Richard spent nearly two months refining Soul Origin, transferred it from the Nightmare World into the Material World, and collapsed from the effort for seven days.
• Richard entered the secret realm with Ulysses and the Sacred Tree Elves, then began refining the Fuel Ring’s Radiation Rule using the Soul Origin.
• Ulysses and the Sacred Tree Elves protected Richard as he fell asleep, and a month later the Fuel Ring vanished, marking the start of its refinement.

Richard awoke after ten years of sleep, extracted the Radiation Rule, and discovered its power while learning that it displaced his other rules. After receiving an invitation to a gathering of Third-Ring Wizards, he decided to attend and first study Rule Magic Equipment and develop the Radiation Rule.

• Richard awoke in the secret realm after sleeping for ten years because he had spent an enormous amount of Soul Origin extracting the Radiation Rule.
• Richard absorbed the complete Radiation Rule, which forced his incomplete rules out of his body, and learned that a demigod could hold only one complete Basic Rule before becoming a Grand Wizard.
• Richard fused the Radiation Aurora with his Heart of Annihilation and produced a spell with about ten thousand Energy Level of power.
• Richard found Jimmy's invitation to a Tower of Truth gathering for Third-Ring Wizards and Military Department personnel, scheduled for thirty years after the invitation was sent.
• Richard decided to attend the gathering to meet war wizards who might support one another during the Grand Wizard Trial, and planned to study Rule Magic Equipment and develop the Radiation Rule first.

Richard borrowed books on Rule Magic Equipment and spent years studying their competing methods before experimenting with imprinting the Aberration Rule into a Buffer Crystal. The imprinting succeeded, leaving him with a violet-red crystal and a new piece of Rule Magic Equipment.

• Richard borrowed seventy-three Rule Magic Equipment books from the Library on Jimmy’s tab after Elina quoted a price of fifty-three thousand two hundred units of magic essence.
• Richard studied the books for three years, learned about the material and Rune factions, and found that neither Anna nor Gerald knew how to research Rule Magic Equipment.
• Richard designed an Aberration Illuminator using the material faction’s method and spent five years drawing nearly five million Runes for an alchemy platform.
• Richard completed the platform, brought Ulysses from the Secret Realm Rift as insurance, and used the platform to imprint the Aberration Rule into a Buffer Crystal.
• Richard completed the imprinting successfully, producing a violet-red crystal resembling congealed blood.

Richard turned his imprinted rules into equipment and developed the Radiation Rule, then traveled to Kanon Wizard Academy for the wizard gathering. He arrived as the academy’s wizards prepared to depart for the Tower of Truth.

• Richard imprinted his rules into Buffer Crystals and crafted them into Rule Magic Equipment for his laboratory.
• Richard explored the Radiation Rule’s limits, listened to Ulysses warn him against relying too heavily on rules, and recognized that greed had clouded his judgment.
• Richard studied Shaping School books and developed stronger spells and the Radiation Battle Body.
• After Jimmy reminded him about the wizard gathering, Richard went to Kanon Wizard Academy and met the gathered wizards.

Richard and the other Third-Ring Wizards traveled to Star River World for a gathering that seemed connected to the Military Department’s struggle against a formidable enemy. The gathering required every wizard to take part in an operative selection, whose winners would receive news from the Truth Council.

• Richard learned from Steo that the Military Department’s high advancement rate reflected its selective recruitment of outstanding Third-Ring Wizards.
• The Two-Faced Wizard told Richard and Steo that the gathering had moved to a newly conquered world after the Military Department encountered a tough enemy, and Richard suspected it involved another civilization.
• Richard and the other wizards traveled through the Tower of Truth to Star River World, where the Two-Faced Wizard noticed signs of recent conquest.
• After five more days, Richard arrived at the gathering venue and saw hundreds of thousands of Third-Ring Wizards assembled, far more than at previous gatherings.
• A guide sprite told Richard that all wizards had to participate in the Military Department’s operative selection and that the winners would enter the Sky Garden to hear news from the Truth Council.

Richard learned that the Truth Council had made Third-Ring Wizards subject to compulsory selection for the Wizard World Development Department, with military merit offering a path to Great Wizard promotion. The battle royale began in Star River World, where Richard spotted a fight while Golin won his first point and detected another approaching wizard.

• Great Wizard Bronze Spear announced that Third-Ring Wizards would be required to enter the Development Department selection, where the top hundred would join and earn points by defeating rivals or resistance forces.
• Richard learned that White Wizards would compete separately in the Truth Magic Equipment Soul Maze, then was teleported to Star River World for the battle royale.
• Richard's Guiding Sprite explained that it could detect nearby wizards and that the competition area would shrink every ten days.
• Richard watched two Third-Ring Wizards battle in the distance and said he would take their points without using his Sprite's detection.
• Golin defeated a Third-Ring Wizard, claimed one point, and detected a Black Robe Wizard approaching him.

Richard defeated Golin, whose lightning rule and claim to be the Child of Destiny could not overcome Richard’s energy control and physical strength. As the competition entered its seventh day and weaker Third-Ring Wizards were eliminated, Steo encountered the powerful Sun Giant Belt near the safe zone.

• Richard evaded Golin’s lightning attack, broke through his shield with a punch, and survived Golin’s twenty-thousand-Energy-Level strike by weakening it with Radiation Control and his magic shield.
• Richard defeated Golin with a second punch, sending him back to the palace through the Guiding Sprite’s protection, then asked the sprite to find nearby wizards.
• Across the Star River World, a fire giant pressured a fleeing wizard, Aure sealed a fishman wizard beneath a frozen lake, and an Old Wizard tested a weaker Corrosive Arrow on his target.
• Steo defeated a wizard with his lightning-wreathed hammer, healed himself with a Magic Potion and metal pellets, and checked the map for the nearby safe zone.
• Steo sensed an approaching wizard and attacked the woods, where Sun Giant Belt emerged in the form of a Flame Giant.

Steo fought his old acquaintance Belt, but Belt overwhelmed him with a golden Sunlight spell before Richard intervened. Richard trapped Belt in a Stasis Field, only to discover that Belt’s Bio-Field resisted it as he charged toward him.

• Steo challenged Belt, who blocked his attacks while allowing him to demonstrate his Primal Revival ability.
• Belt hurled his Sunlight javelin at Steo, but Richard emerged from the shadows and helped Steo survive the blast.
• Richard distracted Belt with flattery while Crystal Floating Cannons assembled an enormous Stasis Field around the battlefield.
• Steo urged Richard to leave, but Richard activated the Stasis Field and declared that his chances of winning were good.
• Belt’s Bio-Field blocked the Stasis Field’s effects, and he charged at Richard as Richard ordered the Radiant Barrage Cannon to activate.

Richard used the Radiant Barrage Cannon to defeat Belt, then continued advancing through the shrinking competition arena with Steo. As the final circle approached, an Old Wizard in black robes appeared behind them.

• Richard fired the Radiant Barrage Cannon twice and forced Belt out of the competition, earning enough points to rank third in the regional leaderboard and seventh overall.
• Belt learned that Richard was a renowned merchant guild founder and creator of the Spell Support Vehicle, then reflected on how much stronger Richard was than he had expected.
• Aure saw Belt's defeat on the leaderboard, recognized Richard, and traveled toward a new site marked by the Military Department.
• Three days later, Richard and Steo fought off a Stone Golem Wizard and a wizard who had transformed into a swarm of bees as the competition arena shrank.
• An Old Wizard in black robes approached Richard and Steo from behind and suggested Steo should return early.

Richard and Steo met Delis, a legendary Black Wizard who recruited them to attack a dangerous native hideout made up of Star River Drifters. Richard warned Steo that the Drifters might belong to a rival civilization, leaving him to confront the possibility that wizardkind was not unique in the Astral Realm.

• Delis revealed that he had survived a failed Grand Wizard promotion and invited Richard to help destroy a native resistance hideout.
• Delis described the natives as Star River Drifters, weak individually but linked and highly coordinated in battle, and gave Richard a map to their nest.
• Richard convinced Steo to join the mission, arguing that Steo's Rule of Thunder would be useful and that studying the Drifters could help them survive future conflicts.
• Richard suggested that the Drifters might come from a vast civilization expanding through the Astral Realm and warned Steo that Wizard Civilization was not exceptional.