Chapter Summaries

Qin Chuan killed the Vampire Viscounts, completed his second class advancement, and used his upgraded Empty Hand Technique to collect a massive haul of loot. After clearing the tomb and planning his next steps, he encountered Rakshasa One-Slash and a large group of players, who demanded to know what had happened to the Viscounts.

• Qin Chuan killed the tomb’s Gargoyles and all three level-fifty Vampire Viscounts, completing his special-difficulty advancement quest.
• Qin Chuan evolved Empty Hand Technique to Dark Gold Tier, then used it on the Viscounts and Gargoyles to obtain dozens of additional loot items.
• Qin Chuan slaughtered the Blood Servants blocking his path back to the surface and planned to return to Beli City, level up, and pursue clues about Shadow Power.
• The Shadow Dragon greeted Qin Chuan outside the tomb, but Rakshasa One-Slash arrived with several hundred players and demanded to know where the Viscounts were.
• Qin Chuan calmly told Rakshasa One-Slash that he had killed the Viscounts.

Qin Chuan defeated Rakshasa Hall after Rakshasa One-Slash chose to fight, then returned to Beli City and completed his advancement quest. He reached level thirty-eight and received Idith’s inherited pair of daggers, while Rakshasa Hall discovered a grotto beneath the tomb.

• Rakshasa Madblood tried to give Rakshasa One-Slash an excuse to back down, but Rakshasa Hall members urged their guild leader to charge Qin Chuan.
• Rakshasa One-Slash led the attack and was instantly killed, and Qin Chuan’s Shadow Dragon slaughtered Rakshasa Hall’s members.
• Rakshasa One-Slash accepted responsibility for the defeat and rallied the guild, then Rakshasa Hall members returned to the tomb and found the Endless Grotto.
• Qin Chuan returned to Beli City, submitted his advancement quest to Idith, and rose to level thirty-eight.
• Idith gave Qin Chuan a Bronze Tier box containing the pair of daggers passed down by her teacher.

Qin Chuan equipped the Dark Gold daggers Forbidden Severance and Plunder, then asked Idith to buy materials for hatching his Flame Dragon Egg. He went to Dustwallow Marsh to level up, where he found the future legendary NPC Lost Witch Irena in danger from crocodiles.

• Qin Chuan equipped Forbidden Severance and Plunder, whose set effect greatly increased his damage.
• Qin Chuan gave Idith treasure from Heloise's Nest and asked her to purchase materials for hatching his Flame Dragon Egg.
• Qin Chuan declined Idith's proposal and left the Black Market as Kamael and his brothers forged his equipment.
• Qin Chuan flew to Dustwallow Marsh to level up and recognized the fallen Lost Witch Irena as a future legendary NPC.
• Qin Chuan used Shadow Flying Daggers to kill the Dustwallow Giant Crocodiles swarming toward Irena.

Ilena recovered after falling into Dustwallow Marsh, where Qin Chuan saved her from crocodiles and recruited her to manage his shop in Beli City. She agreed to help refine a Talent Potion, then set off on Qin Chuan’s Shadow Dragon to collect her belongings, intrigued by his Shadow Power.

• Ilena woke in Dustwallow Marsh and mistook Qin Chuan’s voice for a sign that she was dead.
• Qin Chuan explained that he had killed the Dustwallow Giant Crocodiles that would have eaten her, and Ilena promised to repay him.
• Qin Chuan asked Ilena to manage his shop and offered her potion materials in exchange for the potions she made and an attempt to brew a Talent Potion.
• Ilena accepted the arrangement and asked to retrieve her clothes and research notes from her cabin.
• Qin Chuan sent Ilena back on his Shadow Dragon, and she learned that he was the inheritor of Shadow Power.

Qin Chuan leveled to forty while Shadow Dragon brought Ilena and her belongings to him, and two new players joined Apex Guild. The chapter ended with Ilena arriving at Qin Chuan’s side carrying a large collection of supplies and a cauldron.

• Shadow Dragon flew off with Ilena to collect her belongings while Qin Chuan hunted Dustwallow Giant Crocodiles and gathered their loot.
• Qin Chuan reached level forty, checked the rankings, and saw that Richardson had fallen to third place while more guilds appeared on the rankings.
• Night Cherry Tangle recruited Oblivion and Evergreen into Apex Guild, and the guild members welcomed them in the Guild Channel.
• Shadow Dragon returned with Ilena, who brought bags, bundles, and a large cauldron.

Qin Chuan brought Ilena to Beli City, where her strange-looking restorative ointment became a popular shop item. He later heard rumors linking Viscount Harris to the Hand of the Dead, and Kamael reported that the equipment was finished.

• Qin Chuan brought Ilena to Beli City, where guards let them pass after recognizing him despite suspecting her pot contained poison.
• Qin Chuan offered to sell Ilena's restorative ointment through his shop and warned her not to discuss treating other races with outsiders.
• Qin Chuan introduced Ilena to the shop and announced her ointment; players bought it quickly after discovering its strong healing effects and low price.
• Ilena brewed more ointment as the shop's stock ran low, while Qin Chuan confirmed the shop was running smoothly and went to the Black Market.
• Qin Chuan overheard NPCs say Viscount Harris would leave with two carts of treasure and had ties to the Hand of the Dead.
• Kamael came to the tavern and told Qin Chuan that the equipment was finished.

Kamael and his brothers completed an eight-piece Epic-grade set for Qin Chuan, giving him powerful attributes and set bonuses. Qin Chuan then asked Kamael to reforge Idith’s daggers, and Kamael agreed to upgrade them to Epic-grade by the next day.

• Kamael showed Qin Chuan the eight-piece Death Shadow set, forged from dragon materials with help from his two brothers.
• Qin Chuan examined the set’s powerful attributes and bonuses, then equipped it and gained increased damage, a double-damage attack effect, and protection from fatal damage.
• Qin Chuan thanked Kamael, who explained that the forge work fulfilled a long-held wish and that he would receive thirty percent of the dragon materials.
• Qin Chuan agreed that Kamael could use the remaining materials to forge other items, with payment set at one-tenth.
• Kamael noticed that Qin Chuan had Idith’s daggers, Forbidden and Plunder, and agreed to reforge them with Dragon Fangs into Epic-grade weapons by the next day.

Qin Chuan arranged for Kamael to upgrade his equipment and learned that Idith planned to kill Harris for colluding with the Hand of the Dead. He recruited apprentices for Ilena’s recovery-ointment business and bought slave NPCs from Gazluwei, then offered the Gnome several dragon scales.

• Qin Chuan gave Forbidden Severance and Plunder to Kamael for upgrades by the next morning and learned that processing the remaining dragon materials would take three days.
• Qin Chuan reviewed information on Harris with Idith, who said Harris and other nobles had colluded with the Hand of the Dead and that she had already arranged their fates.
• Qin Chuan asked Ilena about teaching her potion-making skills, and she agreed to train apprentices to take over recovery-ointment production.
• Idith gave Qin Chuan a seal to meet Gazluwei, and Qin Chuan bought several slave NPCs from the Gnome at a favorable price.
• Qin Chuan offered Gazluwei several dragon scales.

Qin Chuan invested ten dragon scales in Gazluwei’s business for a sixty-percent share, then received powerful reforged daggers from Kamael. The chapter ended with Night Cherry Tangle reporting that the guild had found Qin Chuan a Dark Gold Tier skill book.

• Qin Chuan offered Gazluwei ten dragon scales for sixty percent of his business, and Gazluwei accepted and signed a partnership oath.
• Qin Chuan returned to his shop, left several slaves under Ilena’s management, and logged off to rest.
• Qin Chuan met Kamael the next day and received the reforged daggers Forbidden Calamity Severance and Brutal Plunder.
• Qin Chuan equipped the daggers and gained a major boost to his Attack Power, damage, and survivability.
• Night Cherry Tangle told Qin Chuan through the Guild Channel that the guild had found a Dark Gold Tier skill book, Focused Sniper.

Qin Chuan learned the Focused Sniper skill and met with his guildmates in Beli City, where he added equipment to the Guild Warehouse. The others marveled at his Epic-grade gear and resolved to earn Contribution Points for a chance to obtain it.

• Qin Chuan learned that Night Cherry Tangle had obtained a Focused Sniper skill book and told him he could use it.
• Evergreen joked with the guildmates about being eighteen, while they teased him about his imposing appearance and mature voice.
• Qin Chuan met Night Cherry Tangle and the others in Beli City, accepted the skill book, and placed equipment in the Guild Warehouse.
• Night Cherry Tangle and the others admired the equipment, and Qin Chuan revealed that he wore an Epic-grade set and wielded Epic-grade weapons.
• Oblivion and Dawn vowed to earn Guild Contribution Points in hopes of obtaining Qin Chuan's equipment.

Qin Chuan set out to kill Harris, but discovered that players and Goblins were also attacking Harris’s convoy outside Beli City. As mercenaries arrived to help Harris, Qin Chuan stayed hidden and waited to see what would happen.

• Qin Chuan checked his shop, collected the profits from two Bloodline Factors, and prepared to leave Beli City after learning that Harris had departed.
• Qin Chuan reviewed his new Dark Gold equipment, then flew toward Harris’s convoy on the Shadow Dragon.
• Qin Chuan discovered that the players near the convoy had all accepted quests to kill Harris, while hundreds of Goblins were also charging toward it.
• Qin Chuan suspected Idith had lured the Goblins there to make Harris’s death appear unrelated to Beli City, so he concealed himself and waited.
• A player broke through the guards’ defensive formation, and mercenaries arrived as Harris called on them to protect his convoy.

Qin Chuan disrupted Hand of the Dead’s plan by killing Harris and the disguised mercenaries, then learned from Idith that the Shadow Dragon Clan’s burial ground was in the Darkmoon Mountains. He set out with the Shadow Dragon, which knew where to find it.

• Qin Chuan watched Harris and the mercenary leader celebrate their plan to enter Beli City, then attacked them with Poison Blood Plague and wiped out the convoy.
• Qin Chuan left the scene and flew to Beli City, where he went to the Black Market to report to Idith.
• Idith told Qin Chuan she had once found a place filled with Dragonkin bones, and Qin Chuan connected it to the Shadow Dragon Clan’s burial ground in the Darkmoon Mountains.
• Qin Chuan traveled through Tansdell toward the Darkmoon Mountains and summoned the Shadow Dragon, which said it knew where the burial ground was.
• Qin Chuan climbed onto the Shadow Dragon’s back and flew toward the burial ground.

Qin Chuan and Scripps discovered that a necromancer had disturbed the Shadow Dragon clan’s Bone Burial Ground and destroyed him after Scripps fought a reanimated Bone Dragon. A vast Undead Legion then appeared, and its Skeleton King addressed Qin Chuan as an Inheritor of Shadow Power.

• Qin Chuan sensed abnormal undead power at the Shadow Dragon clan’s Bone Burial Ground, where Bone Dragons circled in the clouds.
• Scripps fought a reanimated Shadow Dragon Bone Dragon while Qin Chuan found a necromancer controlling it.
• The necromancer summoned Skeleton Archers and Bone Birds, but Qin Chuan killed him with a Shadow Flying Dagger after confirming he had no accomplices.
• The Bone Dragon’s soul flames went out, and Scripps burned the necromancer’s corpse, but the undead aura remained.
• A vast Undead Legion appeared, and its crowned Skeleton King asked Qin Chuan whether he would stand in their way.

Qin Chuan and the Shadow Dragon fought the Skeleton King and its endlessly replenishing Undead Legion, while the Skeleton King sought to return Shadow Power to the Netherworld. The Skeleton King summoned three Frost Bone Dragons and tried to trap the Shadow Dragon by threatening its ancestors' remains, but Scripps chose to abandon the clan and flee.

• The Skeleton King explained that Shadow Power had appeared in the Netherworld and was its foundational force, then declared that it intended to return Qin Chuan's power there.
• Qin Chuan attacked the Skeleton King, but it re-formed above the Undead Legion and sent its soldiers against him and the Shadow Dragon.
• Qin Chuan and the Shadow Dragon killed thousands of undead, but the Skeleton King raised more from the ground while Qin Chuan gained levels.
• The Skeleton King summoned three Frost Bone Dragons, and Qin Chuan told the Shadow Dragon to avoid their slowing Frost Breath.
• The Skeleton King threatened the Shadow Dragon with its ancestors' remains, but Scripps lamented that it had failed them and announced it was leaving the Shadow Dragon Clan.

Qin Chuan and Scripps forced the Skeleton King to agree to a truce, and the king revealed that a mysterious figure had directed it to the Shadow Dragon Burial Grounds. As Qin Chuan prepared to seek the Shadow Power, that same figure appeared and sent him falling into a trial.

• Scripps withdrew from the Shadow Dragon Clan, then helped Qin Chuan fight the Skeleton King’s forces as Qin Chuan killed one frost bone dragon with a Focused Sniper shot.
• The Skeleton King called a truce with Qin Chuan and answered three questions, revealing that a cloaked figure with an aura tied to the Positive Power God System had given it the burial ground’s coordinates.
• Qin Chuan let the Skeleton King leave but forbade it from taking bones, then suspected the figure’s real target was the Shadow Power beneath the burial ground.
• The mysterious figure appeared in the clearing and declared that Qin Chuan’s trial was beginning, then a magic circle opened beneath him and dropped him into a passage.
• The shadow dragon tried to pull Qin Chuan back but was caught by the passage’s invisible suction.

Qin Chuan and the Shadow Dragon fought waves of mist-made humanoid enemies in a trial, where Qin Chuan discovered that special shadows could be destroyed and absorbed. After breaking one and gaining a Shadow Power Fragment, he realized the trial rewarded additional Shadow Damage and prepared to collect more.

• Qin Chuan and the Shadow Dragon fell into a vast stone chamber, where armored figures emerged from the mist and attacked.
• The Shadow Dragon and Qin Chuan fought repeated waves of enemies, which re-formed and began attacking from multiple directions.
• Qin Chuan noticed faint shadows moving from destroyed enemies into the shadows of others, and he directed the Shadow Dragon to test his observation.
• Qin Chuan used Shadow Strike to shatter a moving shadow on the ground and obtained a Shadow Power Fragment that added 1% Shadow Damage.

Qin Chuan mastered the Shadow trial, gathered enough fragments to transform Shadow Power into True Shadow, and gained a powerful but risky advantage against creatures of Light. After the fog cleared, he explored nearby temple ruins and found clues suggesting Shadow Power may have hidden itself from an unknown enemy.

• Qin Chuan learned the enemies’ movement pattern and defeated them efficiently, raising his bonus Shadow Damage to 30%.
• Qin Chuan’s Shadow Power fused with True Damage and transformed into True Shadow, which dealt extra damage to creatures of Light but made him take more Light Damage.
• Qin Chuan realized the trial was not over because no Teleportation Array appeared, then walked with the Shadow Dragon toward buildings revealed by the receding fog.
• Qin Chuan explored the temple ruins and found headless statues, leading him to suspect Shadow Power had concealed itself deliberately to survive an overwhelming threat.

Qin Chuan completed the second inheritance trial, gained a Talent Upgrade Stone that raised Sniper God to LV3, and returned to the Darkmoon Mountains. He then learned that a million-strong Undead Legion was marching on Skyreach Harbor, possibly because his actions had awakened an Ancient Battlefield.

• The thirty-two statues in the temple shattered, revealing a Talent Upgrade Stone, which Qin Chuan used to raise Sniper God from LV2 to LV3.
• As the temple collapsed and mist closed in, Qin Chuan found the concealed Teleportation Array and escaped with Shadow Dragon.
• Qin Chuan questioned the mysterious trial-giver, who could not remember whether he was an Apostle and told Qin Chuan to follow his heart's guidance for the next trial.
• Qin Chuan received Dragon Soaring World's message that an Ancient Battlefield had unleashed a million Undead marching toward Skyreach Harbor after Rakshasa Hall activated it.
• Qin Chuan suspected that the Undead had awakened because he had killed the Vampire Viscounts who had been suppressing the Ancient Battlefield beneath the Joint Tomb.

Qin Chuan traveled to Skyreach Harbor to join the defense against the Undead Legion, which was overwhelming players with its skill. After meeting up with his guild, he prepared to face the attackers as the siege began.

• Qin Chuan learned that players were crowding into Skyreach Harbor and that its Teleportation Arrays were badly congested.
• Season Star told the guild that she had completed her Dark Gold Tier Destroyer X1, and the members agreed to share its operating costs.
• Qin Chuan reached Skyreach Harbor after a delayed teleport and advised the guild to use the Destroyer to gain levels.
• Qin Chuan heard the Undead Legion begin its attack as players rushed out of the city.
• The Undead Legion quickly defeated players with its refined combat techniques, and Qin Chuan's group hurried to confront the attackers.

Qin Chuan arrived outside Skyreach Harbor and saw Season Star using the Dark Gold Tier Destroyer X1 to devastate the Undead Legion. He agreed to let Dragon Soaring World hire the Mechanist to operate it, while Rakshasa One-Slash watched Apex Guild’s success with resentment.

• Qin Chuan joined the battle outside Skyreach Harbor and congratulated Dragon Soaring World on obtaining a Guild Order.
• Season Star piloted the Destroyer X1, whose cannons and beams wiped out large numbers of Undead.
• Dragon Soaring World asked Qin Chuan to sell or hire out the Destroyer, and Qin Chuan offered to arrange its use for five hundred thousand per minute.
• Season Star and Apex Guild’s members swept through the Undead, gathered loot, and drew the attention of players across Skyreach Harbor.
• Rakshasa One-Slash glared at the Destroyer and complained that Night Roaming God and Apex Guild kept getting the best things.