Chapter Summaries

Lin Ye planned the mechanics for his official Instance, linking Solar System Online and the Trisolaran civilization through a Dimensional Gate so each world could serve as the other's Challenger Spawn Point. Creation Space approved the design, and Lin Ye decided that any world used as a Spawn Point would have its weapons and technology stripped away.

• Lin Ye told Alice to oversee the Trisolaran civilization's Sophon technology and later manage its Instance map and technology design.
• Lin Ye decided to design the Instance mechanics himself, inspired by his earlier duel with the Firmament.
• Lin Ye proposed connecting Solar System Online and the Trisolaran civilization with a Dimensional Gate and making each world's planet the other's Challenger Spawn Point.
• Creation Space confirmed the two-Instance design was feasible and said Divine Firmament would approve of it.
• Lin Ye proposed stripping weapons and technology from whichever world served as the Spawn Point, leaving only basic facilities and a map.

Lin Ye finalized the key mechanisms for his Trisolaran Civilization and Solar System Online Instances, designing them to disadvantage incoming Challengers. He assigned Alice to complete the details and left to rest.

• Lin Ye decided to strip Challengers of access to Instance technology so his forces could exploit Trisolaris's harsh environment and the Solar System's defenses.
• Lin Ye recalled how the Firmament had unfairly placed Dimensional Gates during their battle and chose to use similar tactics against other civilizations.
• Lin Ye placed the Trisolaran Civilization's Dimensional Gate beyond Proxima Centauri, where the three stars' gravity would endanger incoming fleets.
• Lin Ye placed Solar System Online's Dimensional Gate in the Oort Cloud, exposing arrivals to meteor showers and the Solar System's planetary defense network.
• Creation Space recorded the gate locations, and Lin Ye handed the Instances' detailed design work to Alice before deciding to rest.

After taking a week to rest, Lin Ye summoned the regional leaders to review the Instances they had designed and met privately with Archbishop Brahma about building a planet-wide religion. Brahma reported that the God Ye Sect had already gained one billion willing believers.

• Lin Ye spent a week relaxing and recovering, then asked Katerina to arrange a meeting with the regional leaders and bring him the Instances collected from other civilizations.
• The regional leaders gathered at the Federation building and discussed their Instance designs while waiting for Lin Ye.
• Lin Ye met privately with Archbishop Brahma to ask about spreading the faith in him as the God of Creation.
• Brahma reported that the God Ye Sect had preached that Lin Ye was sent by Heaven and said the sect had gained one billion voluntary believers.

Lin Ye approved Brahma’s plans to expand the God Ye Church and recruit loyal believers into the Azure Federation. He then gathered the District Heads to review their Instance designs, starting with Long Yuan’s “Quantum Star Transformation.”

• Brahma told Lin Ye that the God Ye Church had gained one billion followers in less than a week and proposed building churches across Azure Star and a grand cathedral at the former Cliffside Villa site.
• Brahma asked Lin Ye to admit exceptional believers into the Azure Federation, and Lin Ye approved the plan while assigning Brahma to focus on developing the religion.
• Lin Ye and Brahma went to the Federation Tower conference room, where Lin Ye asked the District Heads to present the Instances they had designed.
• After no one volunteered, Lin Ye called on Long Yuan to present his Instance, “Quantum Star Transformation,” set on a planet called Variable Star.

Long Yuan and Xi'er presented their Instance designs to Lin Ye and the regional heads. Long Yuan's changing, AI-managed planet met the standard, while Xi'er began detailing Iron Star, a metal world built around powerful weapons and constant combat.

• Long Yuan explained that Variable Star was an ocean-covered planet with floating cities, low gravity, and weapons adapted from Earth Online.
• Long Yuan revealed that artificial intelligence and Quantum Communication would change the cities' positions every ten minutes, forcing Challengers to capture specific locations.
• Lin Ye praised Long Yuan's design and suggested that he also make the planet change position within its star system.
• Xi'er presented Iron Star, a high-density metal planet with volcanic eruptions, inexhaustible military ordnance, and warriors devoted to battle.
• Xi'er described the planet's plasma blades, heavy armor, particle bombs, and planetary nuke as Lin Ye recognized that Xi'er had built the design around his passion for weapons.

Xi'er presented her weapon-covered metal planet, and Lin Ye praised its strengths while advising her to focus on developing more superweapons. The presentations then moved on to Ivan, Arthur, and George, whose planets Lin Ye was preparing to assess.

• Xi'er finished explaining her Instance design, a metal planet built entirely from weapons, and stunned the conference hall.
• Lin Ye told Xi'er to keep the planet's foundation and focus on researching weapons and superweapons such as the Particle Bomb.
• Xi'er became wildly excited and vowed to create more terrifying weapons to help Lin Ye defeat their enemies in the Universe Arena.
• Lin Ye calmed Xi'er down, then moved on to the next presentations.
• Ivan, Arthur, and George began presenting their planets and the progress they had made with the technologies Lin Ye had given them.

Ivan, Arthur, and George presented their redesigned planets, and Lin Ye approved them while advising them to develop their technology further. Fulangche then revealed Eternal Domain, a planet frozen in time, leaving Lin Ye impressed by the bold concept.

• Ivan presented Gray Bear Star, an icy planet inhabited by genetically enhanced Bearfolk.
• Arthur presented Radiation Earth, a radioactive post-apocalyptic world whose humans used radiation-powered weapons.
• George presented Light Star, a planet of luminous plants and light-energy weapons, and Lin Ye told all three District Heads to refine their Instances.
• Lin Ye called on Fulangche, the last District Head to present an Instance, and learned that Fulangche had been assigned spacetime technology.
• Fulangche projected Eternal Domain, a planet surrounded by a field that stopped time inside it, and Lin Ye urged him to continue explaining.

Fulangche presented the Eternal Domain, a planet where time had stopped and its landscapes, inhabitants, society, and technology remained frozen. He outlined ways its Stasis Field could be used in combat, but admitted the Instance was incomplete and asked Lin Ye for guidance.

• Fulangche explained that the planet’s terrain, light, living things, and society were fixed in the moment time stopped.
• Lin Ye praised Fulangche for considering the world’s society and culture, then asked how the Instance would defeat Challengers.
• Fulangche proposed using the Stasis Field to halt damage to retreating ships and impair Challengers who entered the field.
• Fulangche said the Instance was incomplete because he had not mastered the Stasis Field technology and asked Lin Ye for guidance.
• Lin Ye applauded Fulangche, and the other District Heads joined in.

Lin Ye praised the District Heads’ Instance designs and reminded them to keep managing Azure Star as well as researching. After the meeting, Prince Singh reported that his currency plan was progressing smoothly, and Lin Ye approved a gradual rollout.

• Lin Ye told Fulangche that the Stasis Field was beyond his current understanding but encouraged him to keep developing the Eternal Domain Instance.
• Lin Ye praised the District Heads’ presentations, reminded them of their responsibilities for Azure Star, and promised further guidance next week.
• After the other District Heads left, Lin Ye asked Prince Singh about the currency project, and Singh showed him a gold coin bearing Lin Ye’s image and symbols of the Five Permanent Members.
• Prince Singh reported that ninety-nine percent of Azure Star’s settlements had agreed to introduce the new currency and separate it from points.
• Lin Ye advised Singh to introduce currency gradually and adjust its issuance to market demand, and Singh promised to work toward a full rollout within a week.

Lin Ye reviewed Katerina’s intelligence on the top civilizations in the Universe Arena and examined the Intelligent Machines God Civilization’s Core Storm Instance. He left impressed by the mechanical galaxy and eager to face the formidable opponents in the Arena.

• Lin Ye sent Singh back to work on the currency project after discussing its details.
• Katerina presented the information she had gathered on other civilizations’ Instances, noting that top-ranked civilizations opened theirs more often.
• Katerina introduced the Intelligent Machines God Civilization, ranked first in the War Zone, and its strongest Instance, Core Storm.
• Katerina described Core Storm’s Great Void Furnace, mechanical spiral arm, and four planet-like structures to Lin Ye.
• Lin Ye recognized the Instance’s advanced technology and complete galactic structure, then reacted with excitement rather than fear.

Lin Ye learned that the top-ranked Machine Intelligence Star System had dangerous periodic events and seemingly endless replication, but he remained confident that it could be defeated. Katerina then introduced Demon Mountain, the second-ranked Demon Pet Civilization, and its strange blue star.

• Katerina explained that Mechanical Tide occurred every twelve hours and Overload Starburst every twenty-four hours, with destroyed mechanical creations restored six hours later.
• Lin Ye judged the Machine Intelligence Star System powerful but insisted that they had to defeat it to advance to the next War Zone.
• Lin Ye considered using Alice and the Sophons to take control of the Machine Intelligence Star System, while deciding not to provoke it yet.
• Katerina introduced Demon Mountain and showed Lin Ye its star system, which contained a blue star and five planets.
• Katerina explained that Demon Source Star's energy caused living things to mutate and evolve into strange Demon Pets.

Lin Ye learned about the Demon Pet star system and assessed its biological engineering civilization before turning his attention to the Crow Civilization’s Endless Night Instance. He concluded that Endless Night did not use true black hole or wormhole technology, but its design suggested that the Crow Civilization could become a serious threat.

• Katerina explained that Demon Pets were mutated creatures from the Demon Source Star, and that the Doro People bred them and used their genes for research and self-improvement.
• Lin Ye judged the Demon Pet star system to be a biological engineering civilization and decided it was not their primary target yet.
• Katerina introduced Endless Night, an Instance designed by the third-ranked Crow Civilization, and described its Crow Beak Black Hole, Lost Nebula, shattered planetary belt, and hidden Crow Bait spaces.
• Lin Ye concluded that the Crow Beak was not a true black hole and the Crow Bait were gravitational traps, but he considered the Crow Civilization’s design and potential a threat.

Lin Ye reviewed information about the mysterious Endless Night Instance and decided the Crow Civilization was a major threat that Azure Star should eliminate. After Katerina briefed him on the War Zone’s civilizations, Lin Ye praised her work and asked about her progress designing a spaceship Instance.

• Katerina told Lin Ye that Divine Firmament described void creatures, ancient god guardians, and the Lost Ones, but no Challenger had crossed the Lost Nebula to confirm the claims.
• Lin Ye decided to target the Crow Civilization, believing its black-hole technology gave it dangerous potential.
• Katerina showed Lin Ye information on the War Zone’s hundred civilizations, and Lin Ye identified the Crow Civilization and two other leading civilizations as Azure Star’s main opponents.
• Lin Ye said he would choose the Green Vine Civilization as his first Instance opponent to reclaim Star Yuan and punish it for taking information about Azure Star.
• Lin Ye praised Katerina for gathering information, then asked whether she had made progress designing the spaceship Instance.

Lin Ye reviewed Katerina’s Queen spaceship design and offered to upgrade it into a Star Destroyer-class ship. He asked for its Creation Space Source Data and said the upgraded ship would be requisitioned for his new Instance.

• Katerina presented the Queen, a graceful spaceship design inspired by Lin Ye’s Prometheus, and described its materials, weapons, energy system, and AI.
• Lin Ye praised the Queen’s exterior but said its weapons and energy systems needed improvement for the Universe Arena.
• Lin Ye told Katerina to give him the ship’s Creation Space Source Data so he could upgrade it and return the data to her.
• Lin Ye said the upgraded Queen would be requisitioned for his new Instance.

Lin Ye assigned Katerina to manage the Federation and gather intelligence while he focused on designing his Instance. When he returned to the Creation Space, he found that Alice had completed major additions to his Solar System Online, including its Space Marines, Psionic forces, and planetary defenses.

• Lin Ye told Katerina he would upgrade the Queen into a Star Destroyer and add it to his Instance, and she vowed to serve him loyally.
• Lin Ye told Katerina to gather information on other civilizations and handle Federation management while he stopped holding meetings to design his Instance.
• Lin Ye returned to his penthouse, pleased with his subordinates’ progress and Katerina’s intelligence on the major civilizations.
• Lin Ye entered the Creation Space and received notifications that one million Space Marines and 1,000 Psionics had been generated.
• Lin Ye learned that the Eight Planets had been climate-modified and equipped with orbital defenses and specialized weapons, while Pluto and the Kuiper Belt had gained an outer defense and reconnaissance network.

Lin Ye inspected the formidable Solar System Defense Perimeter that Alice had designed and built, and marveled at its defenses. A system announcement then revealed that his first Star Destroyer, the Blue Star, had been completed and was docked between Earth Online and Mars.

• Lin Ye viewed the newly completed defenses across the Solar System, from stealth probes at its edge to weapons and shields around the planets.
• Lin Ye praised Alice for creating a defense network that exceeded his expectations and believed it could defeat any challenger without attack units.
• The system announced that Lin Ye's first Star Destroyer, the Blue Star, had been completed and docked between Earth Online and Mars.
• Lin Ye reacted with surprise that the Star Destroyer had also been built.

Lin Ye checked the progress of his Solar System Online and Trisolaran star system Instances, then used this week’s One-Click Error Correction to complete Sophon technology. He prepared to enter the Universe Arena in another week, with Alice ready to help Ding Chang defeat other civilizations.

• Lin Ye learned that Alice had completed the Blue Star Star Destroyer and was designing several more for a fleet.
• Lin Ye inspected the Trisolaran star system and saw its civilization developing during a Stable Era, with antimatter technology complete but Sophon and Droplet technology still unfinished.
• Lin Ye used his weekly One-Click Error Correction to begin completing Sophon technology and ordered the Creation Space to mass-produce Sophons afterward.
• Lin Ye planned to use next week’s privilege to complete Droplet technology, finishing both Instances ahead of the end of the newbie period.
• Lin Ye told Alice that the Instances might enter the Universe Arena in a week and that she would help Ding Chang defeat other civilizations.

Lin Ye asked Alice to upgrade Katerina’s spaceship, the Queen, into a Star Destroyer and prepare Solar System Online for the Universe Arena. After Alice’s jealous tantrum, she agreed to help and promised major upgrades before Lin Ye’s planned attack in one week.

• Lin Ye sent Alice the Queen’s data and asked her to turn the ship into a maneuverable Star Destroyer to escort Blue Star in Solar System Online.
• Alice refused to work on what she called a bad woman’s ship, but Lin Ye reassured her that she was the only one he trusted.
• Alice agreed to upgrade the Queen and asked Lin Ye to set a deadline for finishing the Instance.
• Lin Ye set the deadline at one week and said he would launch an all-out war against the Universe Arena then.
• Alice promised to prepare 100 Star Destroyers, 10,000 Sophons for the Trisolaran Civilization, a comparable fleet, and mass-produced Droplet weapons if the technology succeeded.
• Lin Ye told Alice to prepare for future attacks on other civilizations’ Instances and said he would take her along.

Lin Ye asked Divine Firmament to explain the Universe Arena’s Instance rules as he prepared to put his civilization’s new resources to use. He learned the limits on opening and entering Instances, then began considering how the rules might be exploited.

• Alice eagerly agreed to fight as either an Instance defender or a challenger.
• Lin Ye surveyed the Star Destroyers, Space Marines, and growing star system he had built.
• Lin Ye asked Divine Firmament to explain Instance cycles, challenges, and rewards and punishments.
• Divine Firmament explained cooldowns, daily Instance limits, participation rules, and the protections granted during a civilization’s Safety or Absolution Period.
• Lin Ye studied the rules and noticed clues that might offer opportunities to exploit them.

Lin Ye evaluated the advantages of defending his Instances and confirmed that Azure Star could open Instances during the Newbie Amnesty Period without being challenged. He planned to use that protection to plunder Star Yuan from other civilizations, then asked Divine Firmament about Star Yuan kickbacks and technology plundering.

• Lin Ye concluded that letting other civilizations challenge his Instances would earn Star Yuan with less effort and allow him to use their defensive advantages.
• Lin Ye asked Divine Firmament whether he could open Instances during the Newbie Amnesty Period, and learned that other civilizations could not interfere with Azure Star during that time.
• Lin Ye planned to use the remaining two weeks of Azure Star's protection to challenge civilizations with his Instances, then open the other District Heads' Instances and use all ten daily openings.
• Lin Ye said he could later lead a team into the Crow Civilization's Instance and wipe it out once the Newbie Amnesty Period ended.
• Lin Ye asked whether civilizations had to give Divine Firmament a share of their Star Yuan and whether technology plundering existed; Divine Firmament said it took no Star Yuan, but did not answer the technology question.