Ash Zone

Biodata

History

The Shattered Ash Zone opened four hundred days before the beginning of the story. Indestructible entrances appeared throughout the world, including in the sky, deep sea, underground, and on the surface. Unless an Ash Zone was cleared within ten days, its entrance unleashed monsters, alien races, anomalous phenomena, or environmental disasters into reality. The world government reportedly dissolved after only fifty-six days 1 11.

Humanity survived by establishing fortified bases and sending Ash Zone Walkers through the entrances to stop disasters at their source. Treasures such as Heaven-Gifted Source Essence made permanent settlements possible by stabilizing nearby space and directing new entrances to designated locations. By the opening chapters, Ash Zones were appearing increasingly frequently 1 2 7.

Classification

Ash Zones differ in their underlying nature, activity type, scale, and difficulty rank 2 15 16.

Real and False Ash Zones

Activity Types

Difficulty

• C-rank corresponds to a level-four Ash Zone Walker, though Dark Cavern also contains level-five native class holders and monsters 4 5.
• S-rank is intended for level-seven Walkers. Even a Walker with all attributes at 70 must proceed cautiously in Fierce Martial City 32.
• Main quests in real Ash Zones can contain major pitfalls; an apparently straightforward objective does not make the surrounding world safe 32.

Entrances and Access

Natural Entrances

• Entrances appear randomly, with variable locations, opening times, and destinations. Naturally appearing entrances are indestructible 1 2.
• An uncleared entrance produces a disaster after ten days. Clearing the zone and closing its entrance prevents that outbreak 1 2.
• Heaven-Gifted Source Essence stabilizes surrounding space, concentrating future entrances at designated sites and protecting nearby areas 7.
• Iron Rain Base’s main entrance is a rotating, pitch-black vortex approximately five meters across, located on its fifth basement level under heavy military security 2.
• Ancient Splendor Base’s main entrance stands in its central plaza, surrounded by a busy commercial district catering to Walkers 13.

Sequence Authority

Sequence holders can interfere with access rules and conditions inside Ash Zones 13 14.

Sequence-selected zones do not follow the ordinary ten-day disaster rule. Their entrances disappear after opening once, although the same zone may open elsewhere later 14.

Entry, Duration, and Return

Li Peipei’s return from Dark Cavern involves a ten-second teleportation process. Xia Lin later demonstrates that a return already in progress can be interrupted 7 38.

Quests and Clearance

Completing a main quest is distinct from clearing an Ash Zone. Main quests enable departure, while clearance requires separate, exceptionally difficult objectives 15 40.

• Side quests can arise directly from a native’s demands. Zhou Yan’s challenge to survive a top-tier arena match generates one for Bai Guang 16.
• A single Ash Zone can offer different clearance missions. Understanding Fierce Martial City’s underlying power structure activates another clearance mission for Xia Lin 40.
• Clearance rewards are issued in the Settlement Space 40.

Powers and Native Class Holders

Ash Zone Walkers

• Walkers receive quantified attributes, talents, classes, and skills. Their reported mortality rate is 95 percent, despite the extraordinary privileges their powers bring in reality 1 2.
• A Walker’s normal attribute cap is ten times their level: 10 at level one, 20 at level two, and so forth. Each level grants another ordinary skill slot 9.
• Limit-breaking skills can permanently raise attributes beyond the normal level cap 9.
• Class changes normally grant one to three class-related skills of S-rank or below 9.
• Class selection can determine factional alignment with one of the Six Pillars. Xia Lin’s customized Indeterminate Shadow class explicitly avoids alignment with any of them 8.

Native Class Holders

Residents can possess classes, levels, attribute panels, and skills without being visiting Ash Zone Walkers 4 38.

• Fierce Martial City’s native professionals include Karate Masters and Boxers. All top-tier Fierce Martial Arts fighters are professionals, as are some advanced fighters 43.
• Professional status can arise through different achievements: Li Zhengzai gains it after mastering Gale Style Karate, while Casimo gains it after winning an intermediate arena match 43.
• Native leveling methods include potions, training, and combat; advancement raises attribute limits and unlocks skill slots 43.
• Established residents may recognize Walkers immediately. Zhou Yan identifies Bai Guang on sight, while Aoluosi understands Walker skills and investigates Xia Lin’s activities 16 38.

Rewards and the Ash Zone Shop

Ash Zone Points purchase permanent improvements, utilities, and starting resources. Local currency cannot be exchanged back into points 15.

• Zone rewards also include equipment, skills, treasures, and potions. Some locally obtained items can be carried between Ash Zones and reality 15 21.
• The Divine Might Potion grants 30 points to every attribute over three days and can exceed normal caps. The Ascension Potion bypasses an advancement mission and raises an eligible Walker by one level. Each can be used only once per person 41.
• In the Settlement Space, Xia Lin’s consumed Heaven-Gifted Source Essence generates a class reward 8.

Documented Ash Zones

Xia Lin’s Expeditions

• Dark Cavern: Forced into Li Peipei’s expedition, Xia Lin becomes a Walker, turns against her squad, and consumes its target treasure. His settlement reward grants access to Indeterminate Shadow before he returns to Iron Rain Base 2 5 7 8 9.
• Fierce Martial City: Xia Lin completes three arena matches, destroys the North Wind Consortium, and triggers clearance objectives. He postpones returning to cooperate with Aoluosi against the Suzuki Consortium, ultimately completing Backlash of Ambition 32 37 38 40 50.

Unresolved Origins

• The Ash Zones’ origin and the establishment of the Sequences are not explained to lower-ranked Sequence holders. Bai Guang believes the top five or ten know more 14.
• Aoluosi reports that Walkers have visited Fierce Martial City every few years, despite the Shattered Ash Zone having appeared in Xia Lin’s reality only a little over four hundred days earlier. Xia Lin considers differing time rates or Walkers originating on other planets as possible explanations; neither is confirmed 38.