Chapter Summaries

Lister helped Captain Kade’s team clear the approaching Evil Shadow Eye Monsters and descended into the mother’s nest to attack the Tier 15 mother. After Lister wounded it with true damage, the mother unleashed a control attack that he resisted, while Kade lost control of his arm.

• Lister used a saber slash to destroy the high-tier Evil Shadow Eye Monsters, then swept through the remaining attackers in the area.
• Captain Kade confirmed Lister’s strength, questioned why he served aboard Ship A73, and led him toward the mother’s nest.
• Kade ordered Major Lucas to guard the nest entrance while Lister and Kade descended into the nest, where they found the mother surrounded by breeding chambers and advanced growth fluid.
• Captain Kade’s attacks barely damaged the mother, so he asked Lister to try; Lister cut into its shell and dealt substantial true damage.
• The mother spoke and unleashed a strange attack, but Lister resisted its manipulation while Captain Kade stood helpless as his arm moved to strike his own head.

Lister killed the Evil Shadow Eye Monster Mother, ending its control over the offspring and clearing the way for the remaining monsters to be defeated. He discovered valuable materials in the mother’s remains and joined the cleanup outside the cave.

• Captain Kade’s controlled right arm attacked him, and Lister broke its bones with a Knee Strike before turning back to the mother.
• Lister ignored the mother’s pleas and defeated her with repeated saber strikes, while her shadow body emerged and her breeding chamber stopped churning.
• The offspring monsters lost their drive to attack and retreated after the mother died, and Captain Boren warned that others were feeding a new mother with an estimated twenty-two hours remaining.
• Lister collected nine vials of Core Eye Fluid and found an S-grade Resentful Evil Eye inside the mother’s eyeball.
• Lister met Lieutenant Zahn outside the cave, confirmed his soldiers were safe, and went to help Captain Boren and Captain Kade clear the remaining monsters.

Lister led the A73 and A61 forces to eliminate the Evil Shadow Eye Monsters, then received rare S-rank metal from Captain Kade. At an Arcane Civilization Army headquarters meeting, senior officers debated whether the Army could retain Lister, an Overlord Tier talent, and Major General York argued they should genuinely invest in him instead of trying to keep him by force.

• Lister swept through the battlefield, killing low-tier eye monsters while the A61 destroyer targeted survivors and Truman guided him to enemy concentrations.
• After seven or eight hours, the soldiers eliminated all the eye monsters; the A73 reported a 2.1% mortality rate, while the A61 reported 4.8%.
• Captain Kade thanked Lister for helping complete the mission and gave him a piece of Tantalum Dark Alloy, which Lister stored in his Inventory.
• At Army headquarters, major generals and colonels reviewed the A61 mission report and questioned how Lister had killed a fifteenth-tier opponent before his third evolution.
• Major General Morse criticized Major Falco for sending Lister to the A73, while Major General York defended Falco and argued that the Army could not keep a Hegemon talent through secrecy or force.
• Major General York urged the Army to invest genuinely in Lister rather than try to force him to stay.

Arcane Civilization Army leaders agreed to treat Lister as a strategic investment by encouraging him to form a Civilization Army, even as they prepared to send A73 on the Federation’s conscription mission. As news of Lister’s Overlord Tier potential spread through headquarters, Fals instructed Captain Boren to watch him closely.

• Major General York proposed guiding Lister to form his own Civilization Army so he would remain with the Arcane Army Group while earning military merits, and Major General Nielsen agreed.
• Morse raised concerns about the Federation Military District’s conscription mission targeting A73, but Nielsen and Major General York rejected hiding Lister and decided he should go to the Central Army.
• After the headquarters meeting, officers began spreading news that Lister was an Overlord Tier newcomer who had killed a fifteenth-tier insectoid mother at the twelfth tier.
• Director Falco confirmed that he had arranged Lister’s transfer and warned the Personnel Division staff to keep the information within the office.
• As Lister’s name spread throughout the Arcane Army Group, Fals contacted Captain Boren and told him to keep a close eye on Lister.

Lister synthesized powerful S-grade bracers, consulted Kavin about upgrading Jiji, and assigned Powell several forging jobs. The chapter ended with Lister giving Powell half a year to forge the Tantalum Dark Alloy blade first.

• Lister synthesized sixth-tier C-grade equipment into Merrick's Tyranny Bracers, an eighth-tier S-grade item.
• Kavin sent Lister Jiji's original blueprints and a new upgrade plan, including a proposal to replace its eyes with the Resentful Evil Eye.
• Kavin told Lister he was in the Chaotic Star Region and planned to build a new mechanical life civilization for their wager.
• Lister received the upgraded Merrick's Heart of Determination from Powell and gave him Jiji, the Resentful Evil Eye, Tantalum Dark Alloy, and the Tyranny Bracers to work on.
• Powell protested that the three jobs could not be completed within half a year, so Lister told him to forge the blade first and gave him six months.

Lister maxed out his attributes, accepted a difficult third class advancement quest to raise the Merrick Civilization’s renown, and received Powell’s powerful Shadowless Blade. The Federation conscription was about to begin, and a commotion broke out outside the A73.

• Lister used his military merit to max out all four attributes and accepted the increased-difficulty third class advancement quest, which required 50,000 civilizations to awe the Merrick Civilization.
• Reck delivered a long case from the Yalan Civilization and reported that the soldiers still complained but were eager for the dangerous Federation conscription.
• Lister opened the case and found Powell’s grade S Shadowless Blade, whose invisible blade could extend and siphon energy.
• Lister tested the blade, damaged the training room wall, and admired its speed and power before a commotion began outside the warship.

Lister rushed to the docking area after learning that sergeants from the A73 had clashed with the Thirty-Ninth Central Army Group, leaving one sergeant dead and Reck badly injured. He found his crew outnumbered and under pressure to pay an improper docking fee, while the ship’s senior captains were unavailable.

• Mila told Lister that the Central Army had killed one of the A73’s sergeants and injured Reck in a fight over docking.
• Lister contacted Captain Boren and hurried to the staging planet’s docking point, where he found the two sides in a standoff.
• Lister saw Reck badly wounded and confronted a red-haired Central Army captain who dismissed the death and demanded that the A73 pay up.
• Cohen explained that the red-haired captain was demanding three hundred thousand credits for docking, and that the initial dispute had escalated into a brawl.
• Other Arcane Civilization captains urged Cohen to pay, hoping the A73’s refusal and resulting trouble would make their own compliance look wise.
• Lister weighed the consequences of acting as the red-haired captain continued to provoke the A73.

Lister turned a dispute over Ship A73’s docking fee and a dead soldier into a fight with the Central Army, killing the soldier who had attacked Reck and nearly killing the red-haired captain. He then forced the watching captains to choose between striking the wounded captain themselves or facing him.

• The Central Army captains demanded a higher docking fee while refusing responsibility for the soldier who had died, and Cohen hesitated over how to respond.
• Lister questioned Reck about who had killed Ship A73’s soldier, and the red-haired captain’s bloodstained subordinate admitted she had done it.
• Lister killed the female soldier with his Shadowless Blade and then attacked the red-haired captain, wounding him severely with a knee strike and successive blade attacks.
• Lister dragged the nearly dying captain back to his own soldiers and agreed to spare his life after Cohen asked him to stop.
• Lister turned his killing intent on the watching captains and demanded that each of them strike the wounded captain or be struck by Lister himself.

Lister forced the other captains to kill Titus, then confronted officers from the D15 who claimed they meant no harm. After Captain Boke gave him evidence of military corruption as a welcoming gift, Lister returned to A73 and saw that his reputation had risen to 233, prompting new ideas for the summons mission.

• Lister threatened the captains until they attacked and killed Titus, then made the Central Army soldiers withdraw.
• Captain Cohen urged Lister to prepare an escape capsule, but Lister detected approaching officers and readied for a confrontation.
• Captain Boke identified himself, examined Titus's body, and took it away while giving Lister a file documenting his own military violations.
• A73 docked at the war-ready planet, and Lister copied the file for Cohen before checking his advancement quest.
• Lister saw that his reputation had risen to 233 and decided to act more conspicuously during the Federation summons mission.

Lieutenant Colonel Weiss and the officers reviewed the killing of Captain Titus by officers from the Arcane Civilization Army and agreed to delay reporting the incident to conceal Titus's crimes. As punishment, Weiss assigned Boren's ship A73 the difficult Route Three, leaving Boren to promise it would complete the mission.

• Weiss asked Captain Boren to confirm that Lister Merick, an officer aboard A73, had the potential to reach the Overlord Tier, then shared the report on Titus's death.
• The officers learned that Lister and officers from six other ships had delivered finishing blows to Titus, whose crimes included reselling Federation Military District resources.
• Major Siegfried defended Lister and proposed treating the killing as a conflict during the conscription mission so Titus's crimes would not become public.
• Weiss accepted Siegfried's proposal, canceled the fleets' original support arrangements, and assigned each fleet its own area of the mission.
• Weiss designated Route Three as A73's punishment, and Boren agreed to lead the attack along it.

Lister learned that the A73 would face a dangerous assault route as punishment for his confrontation, then questioned Reck about his feelings for Mila. The Federation’s conscription mission began, and Captain Boren identified Marquez, a fallen Quasi-Hegemon leading the Silver Mutual Aid Society, as its target.

• Reck offered to help Lister flee, but Lister said the A73’s punishment targeted the whole ship and asked why Reck had fought Captain Titus instead of Mila.
• Reck admitted Mila liked Lister and defended her past, while Lister warned Reck to keep the mission first and said he would not oppose their relationship.
• Federation notifications announced the start of combat operations and the blockade of external signals, and Captain Boren summoned the department heads to the control room.
• Captain Boren identified the mission’s goal as eliminating rebel organizations in the WA-27 Star Sector, led by Marquez of the Silver Mutual Aid Society.
• Lister reviewed how Marquez lost his political standing and Overlord Tier strength, massacred his critics, defected from the Federation, and sought to establish a new regime in the Chaotic Star Region.

Captain Boren briefed Ship A73 on its mission to attack the Silver Mutual Aid Society, and Lister volunteered to lead its landing operations. On Planet K15, Captain Davis prepared to defend the Society’s base and grew furious when he learned that only Lister, a mere captain, was leading the assault.

• Captain Boren explained that the Silver Mutual Aid Society was an independent regime and assigned Ship A73 the main assault route as part of the Federation’s mission.
• Boren encouraged the officers by praising Lister’s landing-operation skills, and Lister agreed to destroy the planetary garrisons.
• The Society’s members evacuated to their bases on Planet K15 while Captain Davis ordered Lawrence to carry valuable items to headquarters and Feiwa to prepare for battle.
• The Society’s frigate escaped Ship A73’s neutron cannon under cover of anti-ship missiles, and Davis planned to use the remaining six hours to weaken the attackers.
• Feiwa reported that the enemy had landed and was advancing on the base under Lister’s leadership, prompting Davis to react with anger and prepare to confront him.

Lister annihilated the Silver Mutual Aid Society’s forces on the surface, including Captain Davis, while the neutron cannon destroyed the underground defenses. He stood victorious after a single slash cut through Davis’s defenses and the enemy formation.

• Feiwa reported that the seventh squad had been wiped out, and the base’s alarm warned that a neutron cannon had locked on; Davis ordered everyone to evacuate.
• The neutron cannon shattered the base’s shield and erased the underground defensive installation along with its escape pods.
• Lister killed fourteen more enemies as Lieutenant Zahn’s soldiers recorded the battlefield, then ordered Zahn and Reck to take men to the flanks while he faced a larger force alone.
• Davis arrived with the enemy force, restrained Lister with a particle-beam cage, and attacked him with a gravity well and annihilation beam.
• Lister emerged unharmed, destroyed the cage with a slash, and cut through Davis, the giant disk, and the surrounding enemies.

After Lister helped the A73 overcome the planet’s shield and defeat the Silver Mutual Aid Society, Captain Boren explained the requirements for promotion to major and offered him the ship’s vacant vice-captain post. Lister agreed to remain aboard and promised to complete his third evolution, while the planet’s hostile inhabitants were spared and ordered relocated.

• Lister and the A73’s soldiers completed the landing operation, deactivated the planet’s shield, and found the inhabitants hostile despite the Silver Mutual Aid Society members being dead.
• Captain Boren praised Lister for locating the resistance headquarters and clearing the rebels, then said he would place the cruiser under Lister’s command if other planets had similar defenses.
• After learning the planet’s inhabitants met the Federation’s threshold for extermination, Captain Boren chose to spare them and ordered logistics to take them away.
• Captain Boren explained that promotion to major required 100,000 military merit points, three evolutions with at least B-rank combat power, and an available post.
• Captain Boren offered Lister the A73’s vacant vice-captain position after he completed his third evolution, and Lister agreed to stay aboard and pursue promotion.

Lister and A73 rapidly cleared the outer coordinate points and entered Route Three’s middle region, earning recognition from Lieutenant Colonel Weiss. Major Siegfried arranged a joint mission to intercept an enemy cruiser and offered Lister continued support, revealing that his recruit-camp assignment had largely ended.

• Lister defeated the Silver Mutual Aid Society’s resistance squad, then ordered Zahn to collect tantalum and send some to cover the training room’s repair costs.
• Lieutenant Colonel Weiss learned that A73 had cleared nine coordinate points faster than the Central Army’s warships and approved support for it if needed.
• Lister returned to A73 after taking its first middle-region coordinate point, bringing its total to nine points in four days.
• Major Siegfried briefed A73 on a temporary mission to intercept an escaped enemy cruiser, with 35 percent of the approved military merit points allocated to Lister’s force.
• Siegfried told Lister he had arranged an ongoing communications link between their ships and explained that his recruit-camp assignment’s special period had lasted only half a year.

Lister joined Major Qi and the Central Army in attacking an enemy fleet, then boarded a frigate where he found a hidden S-rank planetary catalyst. The chapter left Lister holding a device capable of making a planet collapse and explode.

• Major Qi warned Lister that his actions had made a transfer to the 39th Army difficult and told him to focus on the conscription mission.
• Captain Boren and Truman kept the enemy fleet at a distance while waiting for Major Qi's ship, and Boren identified a frigate that had escaped earlier.
• Major Qi used blood mist to control the enemy ships' crews, while SA199 attacked the cruiser and A73 opened a path for Lister to board the third frigate.
• Lister killed the remaining enemy crew aboard the frigate, and Lieutenant Zahn discovered an object hidden in the logistics area.
• Lister uncovered a Whiteman Civilization energy isolator and found the Witchcraft Civilization's Planetary Catalyst inside its box.

Lister and Zahn discovered that the misty blue liquid was a Planetary Catalyst, and Captain Boren chose to conceal it from the flagship. A week later, Ship A73 fought through increasingly difficult battles on Planet WA322, suffering heavy losses while Lister helped defeat an Arcane mage.

• Lister briefly exposed the Planetary Catalyst, triggering an activation warning for Planet WA4872, then covered it again and stopped the activation.
• Captain Boren learned about the catalyst and decided Ship A73 would not report it to the flagship, fearing the ship would be sent into danger or forced to surrender the weapon.
• A week later, Lister fought an Arcane mage on Planet WA322 while Reck and Zahn helped divert the mage’s lightning attack.
• Lister’s blade light cut through the mage and the enemies shielding him, killing the mage and revealing his pointed ears.
• Ship A73 cleared the planet at coordinates E24, but after ten days of fighting it had lost most of its soldiers and nearly a fifth of its officers.

After A73 reached E24, Major Kaya ordered the battered ship to keep advancing, but Captain Boren secured permission to hold its conquered coordinates. More than half a month later, Central Army orders put a destroyer once commanded by Captain Titus in charge of the next offensive, leaving A73 in support and Lister on alert.

• Major Kaya ordered Captain Boren to continue along the route, and Boren protested that A73 had suffered over 60 percent mortality and lacked strength to advance.
• Kaya let A73 set its own schedule on condition that it retain every coordinate it had conquered through E24, so Boren's crew chose to hold position.
• Lister checked his system, received the Alchemy Civilization exploration quest rewards, and noticed unexplained surges in his fame.
• A73 repelled two probing attacks by the Silver Mutual Aid Society while stationed at E24 for more than half a month.
• Captain Boren announced that Central Army forces would take over route three, with destroyer S-D15 leading the offensive and A73 providing support.
• Boren warned Lister that S-D15 was the warship Captain Titus had once served on.

Captain Lister refused Captain Lacey’s order to lead the first attack, then used his overwhelming killing intent to force Lacey to back down. Captain Boke helped smooth things over, and Lister chose to lead his own men in the main operation while leaving Ship D15’s troops to make their own arrangements.

• Captain Lacey mocked Lister and ordered him to lead the first attack, but Lister ignored him.
• Lister confronted Lacey with his killing intent and warned him not to meet the same fate as Titus.
• Captain Boke intervened, and Lacey apologized and thanked Lister for killing Titus.
• Lister withdrew his aura and said he would lead his own men in the main operation, leaving the other troops to arrange themselves.

Lister led A73’s attack against the Silver Mutual Aid Society and revealed overwhelming strength, stunning the Central Army officers who had thought him a weak martial arts Hegemon. After the battle, Flagship S27 designated their assault line a priority route and transferred command from D15 to the reinforcing cruiser SA199.

• After A73 and D15 suffered heavy casualties during two successful operations, Captain Lacey asked Lister to lead their third landing attack.
• Lister received D15’s direct orders to take the lead, which he recognized as Captain Isos’s attempt to put him and A73 in danger.
• Lister unleashed his blade techniques, killing or incapacitating most of the Silver Mutual Aid Society force and astonishing Lacey, Boke, and the D15 soldiers.
• Captain Lacey led his troops into the weakened enemy force while Lister moved across the battlefield and killed more opponents.
• Captain Boren announced that Flagship S27 had made assault line three a priority route, sent the cruiser SA199 as reinforcements, and transferred command from D15 to SA199.