Chapter Summaries

Richard sought Anna’s help measuring mana so he could make his teacher’s Focus Potion formula more precise, and Anna reluctantly guarded him while he tested it. After half a month of experiments, Richard successfully brewed a potion using his recorded measurements, leaving Anna baffled by how he had done it.

• Richard asked Anna for a Mana Probe, explaining that he wanted to make his teacher’s vague potion formula more precise.
• Anna warned Richard not to alter the formula and suppressed him with her mana, but agreed to accompany him to the Test Area after he asked her to protect him.
• Richard spent half a month experimenting in the Test Area while Anna guarded him from behind a folding screen.
• Richard recorded the final experiment’s mana value and completed the brewing process.
• Blue vapor burst from the Alchemy Pot, and Richard announced his success to Anna, who asked how he had managed it.

Richard repaid Anna with Focus Potions and commissioned her to build a machine, then began designing a kinetic weapon that accelerated ice projectiles. As he gathered materials and learned his potions were affecting Ulrich's Alchemy Shop, Kevin asked to become his potion agent.

• Richard gave Anna the Focus Potions he had made to settle his debt and asked her to build a machine for him.
• Richard returned to his dormitory, fed Munin, and developed an idea for repeatedly accelerating an ice projectile to increase its speed and range.
• Richard sketched a crude wizard-style firearm and asked Ellie to simplify its Kinetic Spell while he searched for suitable materials.
• Richard asked Kevin to help find materials, and Kevin explained that Richard's Focus Potions had reduced sales at Ulrich's Alchemy Shop.
• Kevin offered to become Richard's potion agent.

Richard accepted Kevin as his agent and gave him sales rights to Focus Potions while keeping control of their price. With Anna’s machine increasing production, Richard’s potions overtook Joseph’s shop, prompting Joseph to hire someone to deliver a Blackstone Beef Steak to Richard.

• Richard consulted Jacques, who explained how an agent could shield him from Curses and profit by trading access to scarce Focus Potions for favors and Magic Stones.
• Richard and Kevin signed an Agent Contract that gave Kevin sales rights and the option to buy ten percent of the potion output, while Richard retained control over pricing.
• Anna completed Richard’s potion-making machine, and Richard set production at one hundred Focus Potions per month.
• Apprentices flocked to Anna’s Hut for Focus Potions, while Ulrich’s Alchemy Shop sat empty and Joseph learned that half his stock had not sold.
• Joseph smashed his room in anger, then went to Corner Alley and arranged for a Blackstone Beef Steak to be sent to Richard.

Joseph arranged for a Curse Wizard to curse Richard using a Magic Potion Richard had brewed, but Kevin and Ellie helped thwart the attack. The Curse Wizard cut the curse off before the Academy Watchers could identify him, leaving Richard determined to find out who had ordered it.

• Joseph's order reached a Curse Wizard, who used Richard's Magic Potion as a medium to cast a curse on Kevin and Richard.
• Kevin transferred the curse to his Curse Worm, drank a Focus Potion, and alerted the Academy Watchers that Richard was also targeted.
• Richard transferred the curse to a Curse Worm and rushed to Ellie's room, where Ellie used magical items and curse magic to resist the attack.
• The Curse Wizard intensified the curse with a Dried Toad, but Ellie countered with a Black Finger Bone, forcing him to end the curse.
• Ellie told Richard the Curse Wizard could not be traced, and suggested asking Senior Brother Jacques for information.
• An Academy Watcher arrived after the curse ended, and Richard realized Kevin had helped save his life and planned to check on him.

After Kevin was cursed and badly injured, Richard learned that Joseph was likely behind the attack and prepared to retaliate with a weapon installed in Munin. Richard planned to exploit the Academy Watchers’ blind spot in the sky, refusing to wait years for the Bloody Exam.

• Richard visited Kevin in the hospital, promised to keep his agent position open, and paid his medical expenses.
• Richard asked Jacques to investigate the Curse, and Jacques reported that Joseph was suspected of hiring someone in Corner Alley.
• Richard asked Jacques to install a black steel tube in Munin, his Death Crow, and Jacques warned him not to act rashly before the Bloody Exam.
• Ellie asked about the tube, and Richard explained that it was his nearly finished Magic Drive Gun, powered by three Kinetic Spells.
• Richard reasoned that Watchers could not monitor the sky above two hundred meters and that Munin could fly five hundred meters overhead.

Richard prepared Magic-Repelling bullets and modified Munin into an aerial weapon, then used him to shoot Joseph after Joseph’s curse failed. The bullet pierced Joseph’s defenses, leaving his fate unstated.

• Richard made Magic-Repelling bullets and added Airflow Barrier spells to protect them from wind during flight.
• Jacques modified Munin with a concealed feeding mouth and a steel pipe in his throat.
• Richard tested the bullets and found they could penetrate up to three layers of mana barriers.
• Joseph learned that the curse had failed and took out a Curse Worm and Magic Armor before leaving the Central Black Tower.
• Richard tracked Joseph through Munin’s senses and fired a bullet that broke through his barriers as blood burst from him.

After Richard killed Joseph, Vice Dean Alex investigated the murder and confronted Richard in Gerald’s laboratory. Gerald destroyed the evidence and told Richard that Joseph would eventually be revived, while ordering Richard to live in the Black Tower.

• Alex deduced that Joseph had been killed by a projectile fired from the sky and learned that Richard had a business conflict with him.
• Richard stayed in the Central Black Tower after the killing, where Jacques drank with him until Anna summoned Richard to Gerald’s laboratory.
• Alex questioned Richard about Joseph’s death and threatened to use the Curse School to divine the bullet’s origin, but Richard denied knowing anything about the murder.
• After Alex left, Gerald burned the bullet, warned Richard not to cause trouble again, and told him to move into the Black Tower.
• Gerald revealed that Joseph’s soul had survived in a Miniature Soul Locket and that Joseph could be revived, though it would cost tens of thousands of Magic Stones and take over a decade.

After Joseph's Curse shattered his sense of safety, Richard bought an Intermediate Meditation Method and completed his second Bloodline Alchemy using Two-Headed Troll blood. He woke a month later with greatly increased strength and regeneration, then asked Jacques to let him use a Chimera to get used to his new body.

• Richard moved to the Fifty-Sixth Floor of the Central Black Tower and bought an Intermediate Meditation Method to improve his strength more quickly.
• Richard purchased Two-Headed Troll blood and prepared a crystal Incubation Pod, an Alchemy Array, and the materials for his second Bloodline Alchemy.
• Richard fused the bloodline in the crystal coffin, enduring a prolonged transformation before passing out.
• Richard woke after sleeping for a month and discovered that his physique had risen from twenty-three to twenty-nine point nine.
• Jacques tested Richard's physique and explained how difficult it was to cross the physique bottleneck.
• Richard asked Jacques to let him use a Chimera to get accustomed to his stronger body.

Richard trained with Jacques’s Chimera, Blake, to adapt to his stronger body after his second Bloodline Alchemy procedure. He defeated Blake by exploiting Jacques’s limited vision, then decided he needed better equipment.

• Richard entered a battle-beast testing room with Jacques and prepared to spar with his Chimera, Blake.
• Blake overwhelmed Richard with its speed, strength, and defenses, while Richard’s sword and Fireball Technique failed to damage it.
• Richard gradually adapted to his body and used two fireballs to obscure Jacques and Blake’s vision before smashing Blake with his Greatsword.
• Richard reflected on the fight and recognized that his apprentice equipment was inadequate, deciding to upgrade it.

In his tenth year at the Academy, Richard completed the first stage of the Magic Eater Greatsword and assembled an extensive arsenal of magical equipment. He learned that Anna would soon take the Wizard Exam, while his own Bloody Exam was only a month away.

• Richard reached thirty-two mental power and thirty physique after becoming an intermediate Wizard Apprentice.
• Richard completed the first stage of the Magic Eater Greatsword and prepared several pieces of equipment at a cost of seven or eight thousand Magic Stones.
• Richard tried to extract Gerald's dissection technique from an enchanted scalpel, but put it back when the Miracle Furnace showed the cost was beyond his mental power.
• Gerald and Anna entered the laboratory, and Gerald reclaimed the scalpel from Richard.
• Anna told Richard she would take the Wizard Exam in a few days, and Gerald assured her she would pass.
• Richard returned to his room and saw that only a month remained until the Academy's Bloody Exam.

The examination for Black Tower Wizard Academy's four hundred and thirty-second class began, sending apprentices across a vast area to survive for a month and collect marks. Richard killed an opponent soon after teleporting in, then pursued another who escaped with a spatial leap as deadly battles erupted throughout the grounds.

• Richard met Ellie before the examination, and they agreed to meet at the center of the grounds after random teleportation.
• Alex announced the examination's start, and the apprentices were teleported across the examination grounds with curse marks on their hands.
• Richard blocked a weak fireball and killed the apprentice who had attacked him, gaining an apprentice mark.
• An apprentice ambushed Richard with a wind blade, but Richard's Guardian Pendant blocked it and he awakened his bloodline.
• Richard overwhelmed the ambusher with his black-flaming Greatsword, and the apprentice escaped using a short-range spatial leap.
• Richard sent Munin to locate the fleeing apprentice as battles broke out among schools throughout the grounds.

Wizards watched the examination as Gerald and Aijon argued over their apprentices’ performances. In the grounds, Richard confronted Sly and his Corpse Giant, opening the creature’s abdomen and exposing its beating heart.

• Wizards gathered in the Central Black Tower to watch the examination, and Aijon mocked Richard’s low score while Gerald defended him.
• Richard spotted Sly and a Corpse Giant approaching, then decided to fight after Sly sent the giant charging at him.
• Richard transformed into a Black Scale Giant, and Sly expected to use his body to strengthen the Corpse Giant.
• Richard dodged the giant’s attack and cut open its abdomen with the Magic Eater Greatsword, revealing a shriveled, beating heart.

Richard defeated Sly after destroying his Corpse Giant and resisting Sly’s death spells with his Bloodline Seed. Sly’s collected marks raised Richard’s total to twenty-three and revealed his dangerous score to other apprentices.

• Richard removed the Corpse Giant’s heart without triggering the spells hidden inside it, frustrating Sly’s ambush.
• Richard crippled the Corpse Giant by severing its leg, then dismantled its head and limbs after Sly stopped powering it.
• Sly drank a Focus Potion and trapped Richard with Death Hand and Death Chain before preparing a finishing attack.
• A Death Crow suddenly attacked Sly, while Richard’s Bloodline Seed surged and nullified the spells’ weakening effects.
• Richard reached Sly and killed him with a punch, and Sly’s nineteen marks transferred to Richard.
• Richard’s mark total rose to twenty-three, placing him ninth in the rankings and emitting a powerful fluctuation that warned other apprentices of his threat.

After reaching the examination grounds’ center, Richard repelled and killed several apprentices before reuniting with Ellie. They agreed to hunt the powerful High-level Monsters for points when the creatures entered the grounds on the fifteenth day.

• Gerald identified Richard’s armor as a form of Magic Armor researched by his apprentice, while Aijon reacted angrily.
• Richard reached the beam of light at the examination grounds’ center and prepared for the next stage.
• Richard killed an apprentice who tried to ambush him, and the growing mark fluctuations made his location increasingly obvious.
• Ellie arrived, and she and Richard compared their progress before discussing the examination’s unusual rewards.
• Richard and Ellie agreed to hunt High-level Monsters for points and rested until the monsters’ scheduled arrival on the fifteenth day.

Koguk Bloodfang, a captured warrior forced into a lethal examination, sought to reclaim his honor by hunting Wizard Apprentices. After killing two and recovering from his wounds by absorbing magic power and eating a corpse, he attracted the attention of a Death Crow that reported his location to Ellie.

• Koguk recalled the Blood Axe Tribe’s defeat by wizards and his enslavement in a mine before being promised freedom if he survived a battle.
• A wizard teleported Koguk and nine other aliens into an examination ground and armed him with a rune-etched cleaver.
• Koguk charged a hill, killed a hidden Wizard Apprentice, and decided the apprentices were criminals he could sacrifice to regain his glory.
• Koguk tracked down and killed another Wizard Apprentice, then healed by absorbing magic power from the air.
• Koguk ate the apprentice’s corpse to replenish himself as a Death Crow spotted him and told Ellie it had found the monster.

Richard and Ellie fought Koguk, a four-armed Advanced Apprentice monster, while Griffith and Kevin escaped the battlefield. Ellie’s powerful spell crippled Koguk, and Richard killed him, left with the memory of the warrior’s calm acceptance of death.

• Richard followed Ellie to help Griffith and Kevin, who were struggling against Koguk, and a fire crow struck the monster from behind.
• Griffith and Kevin fled as Richard and Ellie confronted Koguk, whose instincts let him deflect Richard’s Magic Drive Gun bullet.
• Richard blocked Koguk’s attacks with Liberation, but Koguk unleashed his Frenzy secret technique and drove Richard back.
• Richard held Koguk in place while Ellie’s prepared fireball struck, blowing apart half the monster’s body and destroying one of his arms.
• Koguk accepted his death as an honorable battle and spoke of joining his ancestors, and Richard cut off his head.

Richard became famous across the examination grounds after killing Koguk, then found a Ring of Power that boosted his strength and set out to hunt another monster. He attacked an enormous mosquito, but the chapter ended before the result was clear.

• Richard killed Koguk, triggering an announcement that made him the first apprentice to slay one of the released monsters and put him atop the leaderboard.
• Ellie teased Richard about becoming a Legendary Apprentice, and Richard recovered Koguk’s Ring of Power from his shattered broadsword.
• Richard tested the ring, gathered Koguk’s flesh and organs for research, and used Munin to locate another monster.
• Wizards in the Central Black Tower praised Richard and discussed the rewards for the leaderboard’s top apprentices.
• Richard found a giant mosquito monster that had drained an apprentice, transformed into a Black Scale Giant, and struck at it with his greatsword.
• The mosquito seemed unharmed after Richard’s attack, but something fell as he wondered whether he had missed.

Richard drew the Mosquito Monster away after disabling its proboscis, then used it to test the strength of newly arrived rivals. He faced a Blind Apprentice from the Soul School while Ellie encountered Holder and his Flame Giant, leaving Richard preparing to fight the Blind Apprentice and his Black Scale Giant.

• Richard led the enraged Mosquito Monster through the forest, then hid when he sensed another marked presence approaching.
• Ellie attacked the newcomer with a Fireball Technique, and the Blind Apprentice from the Soul School called out to Richard and tried to influence his mind.
• Richard's Mind Guard Rings blocked the Blind Apprentice's intrusion, while Ellie greeted Holder and assessed the strength of his Flame Giant.
• The Blind Apprentice saw Richard's two Mind Guard Rings and coveted his equipment, but Richard's Black Scale Giant advanced on him with a Greatsword.

Richard defeated the Blind Apprentice after enduring his Mad Roarer soul attack, then hurried to Ellie’s battle with Holder. As Holder sent his Flame Giant after Richard, Richard offered it twice as many Magic Stones and a contract, leaving the duel poised to turn on his bargain.

• Richard fought through the controlled apprentices and recognized that the Blind Apprentice had contracted with a Mad Roarer from the Astral Realm.
• The Blind Apprentice’s soul tentacle shattered two of Richard’s mental barriers, but Richard survived with a third Mind Guard Ring and killed him.
• Holder used his Flame Giant to wear Ellie down while she saved her Curse Flame for an emergency.
• Ellie began casting Curse Flame, but Richard arrived and stopped her from charging Holder.
• Holder ordered the Flame Giant to attack Richard, who offered it twice as many Magic Stones and a contract.

Richard and Ellie defeated Holder during the examination, and Richard secured first place while Ellie placed seventh. After the examination, Richard learned from Gerald what secret realms were and why exploring the Dean’s realm was valuable.

• Richard negotiated an Employment Contract with Fielster, the Flame Giant, and the creature deliberately slowed its attacks against him.
• Holder fled after Richard damaged his magic power barrier, and Richard and Ellie pursued him; five days later, Ellie killed Holder and Richard hired Fielster under a twenty-year contract.
• Richard finished first in the examination rankings with sixty-two marks, while Ellie placed seventh, and both survived the nine-day examination.
• The Academy announced that the top ten would explore the Dean’s secret realm, but Gerald said the expedition had been postponed for two years.
• Gerald explained to Richard and Jacques that secret realms were long-lasting fragments of planes that could preserve environments and creatures from earlier eras.