Sufficiently Advanced Magic/Summary

This page contains a chapter-by-chapter summary of Sufficiently Advanced Magic. We hope it will make it easier for find specific parts of the book, as well as a quick refresher to those who don't have the time for a re-read.

Chapter 1 - Entry[edit]

Corin Cadence enters the Serpent Spire to begin his judgment, taking a backpack full of supplies. Within the spire, he starts in a room full of items, where he takes a gold key, trials of judgment, a quill, a Dueling Cane, a dueling vest, and a scroll in a foreign language. After the item room, he goes through a room with tile platforms and a mirror that spawned a shadow copy of himself.

Characters

Corin Cadence

Chapter 2 - Valor[edit]

Corin continues his judgment, cheating his way through a room with a valor board and rising mist. With the assistance of marginally helpful advice from Trials of Judgment and his gold key he enters the next room, one with multiple doors across a pool of water. After draining the water, he exits through a hidden, previously-underwater gate.

Characters

Chapter 3 - Limited Options[edit]

Corin continues his judgment, finding a corpse outside a prison holding Vera Corrington, a masked Keras Selyrian, and an unconscious young child (later discovered to be Echion Valden). Corin opens Echion's cell using a prison key found on the corpse and Vera's cell using his gold key, after which Keras breaks himself out. After going through a room full of pendulums, which Keras destroys, and receiving a warning about the prisoners he rescued from Trials of Judgment, Corin follows Vera and Keras into a large room, with Katashi, the Visage of Valor baring their path.

After failing to convince Katashi to let them leave, Keras starts fighting with Katashi, and after siding with Keras against Katashi, Corin and Vera carry the unconscious Echion away while Keras and Katashi fight.

Characters

Chapter 4 - Escape[edit]

Corin and Vera enter a room with a pillar of ice containing a sword and several sectioned off groups of monsters, including a spire guardian. Vera kills the non-spire guardian monsters with Corin's dueling cane while Corin assists. When Vera and Corin break the ice pillar, the spire guardian attacks. Corin takes the sword from the pillar, which turns out to be rusted and useless in a fight, and distracts the spire guardian while Vera kills it. When Vera discovers the next room has an exit, she takes the kid and Corin's dueling cane and leaves, while threatening Corin and preventing him from taking the same exit.

After Vera has left, the The Voice of the Tower (from Trials of Judgment) appears, directing Corin to an attunement fountain, where he drinks and sees a vision. The Voice of the Tower then dips his sword in the fountain, transforming it into a magic ice sword, and tells Corin to tell Lyras Orden that The Voice of the Tower must speak with her. After warning him not to tell anyone what he had seen, it vanishes. Corin then writes his experiences down, fills his flask with water from the fountain, and exits the spire.

Outside the spire, Corin discovers that his memories are intact, then heads to the administration tent, where he discovers he has the Enchanter attunement. When he gets home, his father proclaims his failure, and announces Sera Shard as his replacement.

Characters

Chapter 5 - Orientation[edit]

Corin learns a bit about his attunement and anonymously notifies the family of the corpse he found in his judgment, then heads off to Lorian Heights Academy. On the way, he writes to the Voice of the Tower, and shows Sera some of what was written in Trials of Judgment. After Chancellor Wallace's orientation speech and moving into his dorm room, Jin Dalen knocks on his door and asks he is a spider, which he denies. He spends the rest of the day getting school stuff taken care of until Curtis Maddock gets everyone for a dorm meeting.

This chapter contains a flashback of Corin, when his brother falls out of a tree.

Characters

Chapter 6 - Preparations[edit]

Corin goes to Professor Orden's office, and delivers the Voice's message, but is stopped immediately by Orden. She says her office is not secure enough, and warns him to protect his room against potential assassination attempts. He then secures his room in small ways, limited by his funds.

The next day after breakfast with Sera, where he learns Tenjin has gone missing, he has a lecture by Professor Meltlake on the school's structure and the basics of magic. After class, he signs up for his electives: permanent enchantments and magical dueling. His first magical dueling class starts with a duel in which Marissa Callahan beats Rupert Kent, and Roland Royce challenging Corin to a duel.

Characters

Chapter 7 - Duel[edit]

When Professor Teft discovers that Corin is an Enchanter, Teft and his simulacra attack Corin, claiming that if he lasts 10 seconds he can remain in the class. With help from his Roland Royce, Sera Cadence, and Patrick Wayland, he lasts 10 very long "seconds" and is allowed to remain in the class. After the rest of class, consisting of a lecture on simulacrum, he meets up with Sera, Roland, and Patrick for lunch.

Chapter 8 - Training Courses[edit]

Corin gets his mana checked out, and is warned about potential mana scarring from his mana balance. In his permanent enchantments class, Professor Vellum starts teaching them to be "Real Enchanters". As he is going to sleep, he is attacked by an "assassin" who claims to be Professor Orden, but between his preparations and Jin's assistance, they get her to leave. Due to both the damage to their rooms and the possibility that the "assassin" was not Orden, they go to sleep in Sera and Patrick's rooms.

Chapter 9 - Hard Day[edit]

Corin goes to Professor Orden's Office, where she confirms that she was the one who attacked him last night and teleports him to a "secure location" somewhere in a void. They exchange information regarding the events in the tower, then she tells him not to tell anyone about the tower, and he returns to update his friends. After finding that information on Keras Selyrian is restricted, Jin borrows a costume from Corin and steals a memory crystal from the restricted section of the library. The memory crystal contained an experience of Keras defeating a group of emeralds, including Corin's mother and Elora Theas, who tried to arrest him. When he finished viewing the crystal, he writes his mother, returns the crystal, and talks about what he learned with Orden.

Later that day, he has a class where he first activates the aura viewing function of his attunement, but fails to move his mana away from his mind. Later, he manages to recharge his shield sigil's grey mana using his hand's mana. During a class some time later in which Professor Edlin discusses the various Valian attunements, an alarm goes off, and the students are sent to underground bunkers. The monsters that caused the alarm, and which included Mizuchi, did not attack. They leave after they fail to find what they were looking for.

Chapter 10 - Commissions[edit]

After finally managing to contact the voice of the tower again, Corin makes his first trip to the Climbers Court. He also manages to successfully transfer mana between items. Immediately after this, Jin commissions Corin to make some items.

Later, he builds some enchantments into his room, sees a mana powered automobile sold by Aloras Corrington, and shoots and befriends Marissa Callahan in dueling class. When he returns to his room, he finds a letter from his mother.

Chapter 11 - Enchantment[edit]

Corin has a class about attunements, and starts working on some items for Jin, and goes to the climber's court where he sees a young masked man carrying a large sword and a doll. While there, Lars Mantrake tells him about his upcoming test and of a curse on Selys-Lyann, his sword.

Later that day, he gets his test team put together, containing Corin, Sera, Patrick, Marissa, and Jin. In preparation for the test, he enchants a demi-gauntlet, but makes a mistake that nearly costs him his hand.

Chapter 12 - Testing phase 1[edit]

After fixing his gauntlet, Corin recruits Marissa, and gets to know her better. Then it is time for their first practical test, which begins with a dark room containing 6 torches, a fountain with a key, and a monster that shows up with the dark. After solving the room and defeating the monster, Jin is instantly eliminated by an fire breathing statue in the next room, which Corin survives due to his sword. Corin is eliminated later in this room, after covering himself with ice from his sword.

Chapter 13 - Liminal Phase[edit]

Corin wakes from a vision of a previous wielder of Selys-Lyann, after nearly dying from the cold he pulled from the sword. Once he is recovered, he goes to Professor Vellum, who bans him from using his sword in future simulations. Then, he discusses the test with the rest of his team. Sera tells them about her and Mara's experience, including a colorful telling of an encounter with a dragon. After the discussion, they creates a wish list of items for the next test.

Later, Corin attends a class on enhancement elixers and meets with Vellum again to discuss enchantment ideas. They finalize their item selling partnership and she tells him that he should think about other ways to solve his money problem.

Chapter 14 - Test Prep[edit]

Corin goes to the climber's court and meets Derek Hartigan, a friend of Tristan's, who invites him to a survival match. There, he talks to Lars about providing items to sell. He then realizes what Vellum meant by "solving his money problem" and asks her how to make mana crystals. She provides him with some casings and tells him his to use them.

After a scare where he uses a lot of his mental mana, he takes Sera to go see Derek's survival match. Since his partner dropped out, Sera joins him in the match. In the match, Elora Theas, Derek's former partner, summons a Wyvern, a karvensi (in addition to the house's Ogre, which Sera makes summoner bindings with. The match ends with Derek knocked out of the ring and Sera unconscious and badly mana drained but victorious.

Chapter 15 - Recovery[edit]

Corin takes care of Sera while she recovers from her match, then goes to Vellum with an idea for a Mana Watch, who helps him patent it and make a prototype.

Later, Patrick delivers some money and a commission from Sera. He also asks Corin to make him his retainer so Patrick will have sufficient social standing to ask Sera to the winter ball, which Corin accepts. When Corin meets with Sera to discuss her commission, she makes it clear that he should not make family decisions without her, and claims she already has a date for the winter ball.

Chapter 16 - Testing Phase 2[edit]

After a lecture on the other nations, Jin asks Corin to the Winter Ball, which he accepts. Then, they meet to discuss the second test, and Corin hands out items to everyone. He made upgraded shield sigils for everyone, a lens of weak true seeing for Jin, a Gauntlet of Punching for Mara, and spell enhancement gauntlets for Sera and Patrick. He also made himself a sword that used transference mana.

The first test rooms were the same as the previous test, except swapped, so Corin switched out immediately for Mara, who had experience with the room he ended up in. A few minutes later, Jin swaps out for Corin after defeating the shadow monster. The room behind the door without the fire statues consisted of a vine throne, a crown, a key, a sword, and vine-covered walls. Vanniv flies Corin in to get the crown, but picking up the crown causes a simulated tyrant in gold to appear. The tyrant then attacks Corin and Vanniv, shrugging off their attacks, and breaking Corin's nose. It fades just before killing Vanniv, leaving them in an empty, blank room in the middle of an earthquake, which Orden informs then is an attack on the city.

Chapter 17 - Assault[edit]

After telling Corin and his friends about the attack on the city by Katashi, Orden teleports then to near Katashi. Orden loans Corin a ring of regeneration to deal with his concussion from the tyrant construct, then Teft protects them from the shock-wave from one of Mizuchi's attacks, nearly overwhelming him. Corin and his friends then wipe out an group of monsters, leaving Jin injured.

Once past the army, Corin talks to Katashi, who heals Jin, raises Mara to Carnelian, and tells Corin that his brother, Tenjin, had been kidnapped, and to bring Vera Corrington to the tower within one week, or he will send a much larger army against the city. Katashi then gives Corin a brand that will explode if he fails.

Chapter 18 - Reconnaissance[edit]

After the attack, they notice that the city environment shield is down, opening them up to attack. On the way back from the tower, Corin and his friends meet Orden and Teft in Orden's "Safe Place" to discuss the whole Tenjin situation, from before Corin's judgment to the present. Orden tells Corin that she is an observer for the visages, or a Whisper, and that the Voice of the Tower was an associate of hers. They plan to take Corin, Orden, Teft, Vera, Sera, and Jin on the tower expedition.

Chapter 19 - Borrowed Memories[edit]

I'm preparation for his upcoming spire expedition, Corin goes to the Climber's Court, where he talks to Lars and buys a return bell, a flask of endless water, a temperature controlling cloak, and a flameless lantern. Corin then goes to the divinatory, where he finds Jin and meets Researcher. While there, he searches for information on Vera, and acquires the Jaden Box.

When they leave, Orden is waiting with Derek (who shows Corin that he is an emerald), not Teft. After talking to Sera, they decide to allow Derek to accompany them. They then go pick up Vera, who Corin convinces to join willingly after they deliver Echion to a train station. She tells them about her encounter with Tenjin, mentioning that Elora Theis and an emerald level swordsman, who sounds suspiciously like Derek. She also mentions that Echion was very powerful.

On their way into the spire, Sera releases her weaker contacts and advances to Carnelian, Corin sets up his return bell anchor, and Orden gives Derek a return ring.

Chapter 20 - Serpents[edit]

Corin's group enters the spire, and through a room with 3 slimes which drop 3 life mana crystals and a pickaxe when Corin and Sera kill them. Next comes a room full of keys, where they spend several hours finding keys to unlock doors and a chest which contains a blue serpent styled key, which Orden takes. Next is a room full of icicle spear traps and a pool of acid. When they open the door at the end of a secret passage, massive winds blow them all down the hallway. Sera blocks the winds long enough for them to get back to the icicle room, but doing so pushes her mana well into dangerous territory, and takes her voice. Derek goes ahead and blocks the wind with a massive golem body, then helps Orden disable the wind runes. The next room is a safe room with a mana fountain.

Chapter 21 - Venom[edit]

After Sera recovers a little, Corin discovers that Derek's "return ring" is actually a control ring, and that Orden has been trying to prevent Corin from completing his mission. When Corin calls her out, she explains her role as one of Tenjin's kidnappers and her future plans, and Vera explains that Echion is a test subject with a God-Beast attunement. When the conversation goes south, Corin, Vera, Sera, and Jin flee through a room with a giant spider. After defeating the spider, the next room is full of fire breathing statues. Sera drinks Corin's mysterious attunement liquid, starts glowing, gains a massive amount of ice mana, and regains her voice. When checking her mana level, Corin realizes that her attunement has completely changed, but without any increased capacity. They then go through the flame room and down the staircase into the room where they are supposed to meet Katashi, as Orden appears in front of them.

Chapter 22 - Permafrost[edit]

Orden teleports into the room, attacking immediately. With her massive mana reserves, Sera summons Vanniv and her Wyvern to fight Orden. Unfortunately Orden takes control of the Wyvern. Between Sera, Jin, Vera, Corin, and Vanniv, they have the situation reasonable under control until Derek breaks his way through the door behind them. Corin distracts Derek briefly, then Jin, who is apparently a sunstone, knocks out Orden and puts her under a sleep spell. Derek almost defeats the rest of them until Sera summons Seiryu, although the effort nearly kills her. Seiryu then freezes Derek long enough for Corin to remove the ring, after which Derek faints and Seiryu vanishes. Jin then shoots Vera in the back.

Chapter 23 - Finishing Moves[edit]

When Jin doesn't have enough bullets to finish murdering Vera, Corin distracts him before he can finish her off with a dagger. Jin explains that he is from East Edria, but not a spy or a traitor, and that his family is descended from one of the Queen of Dalenos's retainers. He also explains that he is murdering Vera in order to get katashi to carry out his attack because of the potential threat of God-Beast attuned. Corin then fights Jin, explodes Jin's Phoenix Sigil into his chest. Vanniv then knocks Jin out, then un-summons himself. Corin then uses the life gems from the slimes to enchant a rock of regeneration, then uses some of the splattered blood and the Jaden Box to summon Katashi. Katashi then heals Vera, absorbs her and Orden's memories, and tells Corin that his brother is working with Orden. Before closing off the spire, Katashi heals Sera, turns Corin's Brand into an attunement, gives Sera his sword Ceris, and teleports Sera, Corin, and Derek near Keras, who "owes" Katashi. Upon Corin's arrival, Keras disarms him with a chicken leg.

Epilogue - Cadence[edit]

After telling Keras his story, Corin shares a meal with Keras, who was patrolling the Edrian boarder for Katashi. The next morning, Corin wakes up to a fight between Keras and Derek, which Corin defuses. As they head back, they realize that Sera's condition is bad. Her attunement has changed to something neither Keras nor Derek recognizes, and has no mana, and she can't speak at all. On the train ride back, Corin decides not to attempt to find Jin. They find Patrick and Mara waiting at the spire, and decide that they all will stay at Derek's house. Once there, Derek tells them about how Elora attempted to recruit him. That night, he writes the The Voice of the Tower, threatening to expose them. They reply quickly, saying that they were working with Orden, but had a falling out. The Voice then says that he is Corin's brother, Tristan.