Chapter Summaries

He Ao reviewed Dawn City officials’ attitudes toward the Wilderness Wanderers and concluded that changing the city’s perception would be necessary to help them. He met Christos again and asked whether the Wanderers could legally stay in the city, learning that it would be very difficult.

• He Ao settled Joey’s affairs, including cleaning his room, checking his bank account, and submitting a school withdrawal application.
• He Ao reviewed officials’ positions on the Wilderness Wanderers and identified senior public security officials as their strongest opponents.
• He Ao considered how Dawn City’s different checkpoints treated the Wilderness Wanderers and concluded that public opinion would need to change.
• He Ao called Christos as K and met him at the Ino Media Building.
• He Ao asked Christos whether the Wilderness Wanderers could legally stay in the city, and Christos said it would be very difficult.

He Ao discussed legal protections for the Wilderness Wanderers with Christos, then questioned him about the City Defense Army and its leadership. He left after warning Christos to build reforms on reliable strength, and considered how the city’s hidden conflicts might create an opportunity to change the Wanderers’ fate.

• Christos explained that legislation protecting the Wilderness Wanderers was unlikely to pass, while an executive order would offer only temporary protection.
• He Ao and Christos used their shared cookbook reference to confirm He Ao’s connection to the K organization, but He Ao declined an executive order.
• He Ao asked Christos about the City Defense Army and learned that Legion Commander Stifa was A-rank, the Northern Army’s Dick was B-rank, and the Southern Army’s Enoan was C-rank.
• Christos said Stifa had left Dawn City to investigate the A-rank Mirror Flower Butterfly, and that the two army commanders had held their posts for years.
• He Ao sent Christos Kaven’s email and warned him to base drastic reforms on reliable strength.
• As he left Ino Media Building, He Ao reviewed the forces and clues in Dawn City and considered using their hidden conflicts to change the Wilderness Wanderers’ fate.

He Ao studied North City Commander Dick and South City Commander Enoan, using their public appearances and combat videos to assess their personalities and abilities. He had prepared for a possible event but still lacked a plausible explanation for who was behind it and whom they intended to target.

• He Ao reviewed footage of the South Gate guards and studied public information about Dick and Enoan.
• He Ao used Hyperthymesia to identify traits in Enoan's shifting public persona, including his risk-taking, love of provoking conflict, and habit of lying.
• Christos sent He Ao information and videos identifying Enoan as Talent Sequence 72: Hidden Magician and Dick as Talent Sequence 160: Warden.
• He Ao thanked Christos and deleted their message records.
• He Ao concluded that he had prepared for the possible event but still lacked a plausible motive and could not determine the intended target.

Penny and the Wilderness Wanderers arrived at Hope Building, where they found shelter amid the city’s poorest residents and reunited with Dak and Linda. As Penny confronted the humiliation and fear facing those born in the wilderness, He Ao comforted her and told her they were not the ones in the wrong.

• Penny followed the Youth through Hope Building’s squalid floors as he explained how poverty and gang violence trapped its residents there.
• Penny gave a loaf of bread to a Little Girl, who traded her a silver glass marble.
• The Youth brought Penny to the Wilderness Wanderers’ orderly new shelter, and Penny reunited with Dak and Linda.
• Penny, Dak, and Linda discussed why the Wanderers did not want to return to the wilderness, despite facing exclusion and danger in the city.
• He Ao found Penny by a window with a bleeding arm, embraced her as she broke down, and told her they were not the ones in the wrong.

He Ao identified the likely Talent Sequence behind the Rank C fire-wielder and connected Enoan’s escalating troublemaking to a plot involving Kyle’s factory, the God of Chaos Church, Nold Corporation, and Christos’s inauguration oath. He left the story by urgently warning Christos that something had changed in the city and asking him to bring back the Legion Commander.

• He Ao asked Roger about the red-blooded Rank C fire-wielder, and Roger identified the sequence as Fire Master, advancing to Arsonist.
• He Ao reviewed Enoan’s history and connected his increasing attempts to stir up trouble with several clues, including Kyle’s factory and Christos’s oath.
• He Ao realized he could predict the archer’s next move and noted that Christos’s inauguration ceremony would begin the next morning.
• He Ao called Christos and urged him to find the Legion Commander and warn him that something had changed in the city.

He Ao learned that danger might soon strike Dawn City and organized the Wilderness Wanderers for a desperate chance to change their lives. After he called for volunteers, people from across the camp began to stand with him.

• Christos sent Viktor to return the Legion Commander to Dawn City before noon the next day and warned that mutant beasts might attack.
• He Ao told Penny to fetch Wade and the camp's elites, bring Bitter Ape's Heart, and arrange for Selina to use it on the battlefield.
• He Ao addressed the Wilderness Wanderers, describing their harsh lives and asking them to risk their lives for a chance to change the city's treatment of them.
• Linda and Dak stood first, followed by everyone from Ronald's camp and then other Wanderers who rose amid the rain.
• Christos sent He Ao a brief message as more people stood to join the effort.

He Ao organized fifteen hundred Wilderness Wanderers and deployed them to South City's gates as the beast threat grew. He concluded that Southern Army commander Enoan secretly controlled the factory enslaving Wilderness Wanderers, then waited as a youth arrived with a heavy motorcycle.

• He Ao formed the Wilderness Wanderers into three battalions and equipped them with weapons and communication devices for the journey to South City.
• He Ao told Linda that beasts would enter the city as the group traveled through the rain.
• He Ao deployed the Wilderness Wanderers at South City's three gates, with Money Rat Gang members guiding them to defensive positions.
• He Ao connected Kyle Manufacturing Company's exploitation of Wilderness Wanderers to Enoan, commander of the Southern Army.
• A youth arrived in a silver gray pickup truck and revealed a polished black heavy motorcycle in its rear.

He Ao deduced that Enoan planned to use summoned strange beasts and Christos’s inauguration to complete an advancement ritual, seize Dawn City, and force the Nold Corporation to support him. As the gates came under attack and opened, He Ao drew his sword while five Angel-level Mechanical Armor units raced toward Radiant Palace.

• Viktor’s men delivered He Ao a custom motorcycle called Blood Wolf, and He Ao thanked Viktor and connected the bike to his bracelet.
• Christos told He Ao that two suspected Rank B strange beasts were approaching the Northwest and East Gates, and He Ao suspected the Southwest Gate would also be attacked.
• He Ao inferred that Enoan planned to summon strange beasts, kill Christos during the inauguration, and advance to Rank B amid the resulting chaos.
• The Money Rat Gang accelerated its covert evacuation of residents near the Southwest Gate while He Ao prepared for the attack.
• A Rank B Exotic Beast attacked the Northeast Gate, another appeared at the Southwest Gate, and the Southwest Gate opened as the South and Southeast Gates were breached.
• He Ao drew his Short Sword as five Angel-level Mechanical Armor units sped toward Radiant Palace.

He Ao helped defend the city from the exotic beast invasion, then rode the Blood Wolf Motorcycle after five fleeing Seraph-type Mechanical Armors. He left the road behind and raced up a steep steel framework toward Dumeier National Cemetery as the pursuit continued.

• He Ao killed a wolf-like exotic beast, took the requested weapon case from Linda, and spotted a fear-inducing Rank B Exotic Beast approaching the city gates.
• The FBI Branch Director forced the Inner City Gate shut while the City Defense Army fought Enoan's guards, then charged outside to face the Rank B beast.
• He Ao ordered Linda to hold the line and save civilians, then mounted the Blood Wolf Motorcycle and tracked five Seraph-type Mechanical Armors.
• He Ao used an alley, a stack of metal crates, and a rooftop to gain ground on the armors as they detoured around high-rises.
• He Ao rode toward Dumeier National Cemetery and accelerated up the narrow steel spine of a sail-shaped building.

He Ao destroyed a Seraph Mech’s engine, lured its pilot into an alley, and took over the machine by using the pilot’s identity. He caught up with the remaining Mechs near the Radiant Palace, where someone greeted him as Tom.

• He Ao rode his motorcycle through the rain and shot down the lead Seraph Mech’s engine with a Laser Cannon.
• He Ao evaded the pursuing Mech, staged his motorcycle’s crash, and lured its pilot into an alley with a hundred-dollar bill.
• He Ao killed the pilot with his Short Sword and used the corpse’s biometric information to bypass the Mech’s identity lock.
• Eve welcomed He Ao as Major Tom, and he took control of the Seraph Mech just before its self-destruct countdown ended.
• He Ao mastered the Mech and caught up with the other four near the Radiant Palace, where a voice asked, “Tom, you’re back?”

He Ao ambushed Enoan’s Mecha Squad in the storm and used the Seraph Mech to destroy its attackers. After his control console was pierced, he relied on Eve and a Smart Bracelet to destroy the final enemy mech and escape as the machines exploded.

• He Ao inferred that Enoan was probably piloting the lead mech and approached the squad under cover of the Rain Curtain.
• When the mechs recognized that He Ao was not Tom, three of them fired, but He Ao used the storm and his engine to attack from behind and destroy one mech with the Seraph’s greatsword.
• He Ao charged through the explosion and used the Seraph’s Electromagnetic Cannon to destroy a second mech.
• He Ao grabbed the third mech’s charging cannon and fired point-blank through its cockpit, though the enemy’s shot tore open the Seraph’s left side and cockpit.
• A fourth mech pierced He Ao’s control console, but He Ao used Eve and a Smart Bracelet to maneuver the Seraph into impaling both mechs’ energy cores.
• He Ao leaped from the shattered cockpit as the mechs exploded behind him.

Wilderness Wanderers rescued a family from mutant beasts as the city came under attack, while Penny reached the South Gate carrying Bitter Ape's Heart for Selina. He Ao faced the Old Man after surviving an explosion, and the Old Man formed a fireball above him.

• A five-person Wilderness Wanderer squad killed a human-headed centipede and saved the Bearded Man's wife and child from a black wolf.
• The squad retreated from a pack of Shadow Wolves until a blonde FBI woman destroyed them with a laser and then rushed toward a C-Rank Blade Turtle.
• The youngest Wanderer accepted a lollipop from the child, who asked how old he was.
• Penny entered through the South Gate with Bitter Ape's Heart and searched for the blonde woman while He Ao considered the threat to the gate and Selina's chances of stopping the Blade Turtle.
• He Ao, badly wounded by an explosion, faced the Old Man, who praised him and formed a fireball above his head.

He Ao fought Enoan through the rain as Enoan used fireballs and fog to control the battlefield. At the Radiant Palace, Christos proceeded with his inauguration despite a city crisis and waited for word from Viktor and K.

• He Ao parried Enoan's attacks and dodged the fireballs, recognizing that they were physical flames rather than illusions.
• Enoan filled the area with fireballs that formed a fog, using them to track He Ao as he ran toward its edge.
• At the Radiant Palace, Christos ordered the Mayor's Guard to defend the City Council after learning that the southern city wall had fallen and two suspected City Defense Army convoys were approaching key buildings.
• Christos learned from Professor Cer that Viktor had not contacted them, then asked whether K had responded to an invitation to the inauguration banquet.

He Ao ambushed Enoan’s City Defense Army in the fog and fought Enoan while trying to kill him before the soldiers could regroup. Enoan survived by sacrificing his soldiers to the God of Chaos, then drank Arsonist secret medicine and began advancing to B-Rank.

• He Ao led Enoan’s City Defense Army into dense fog, where he attacked the disorganized soldiers and caused many to flee or die.
• Enoan confronted He Ao, and they fought as the fog cleared and the surviving soldiers regrouped.
• A concealed armored car fired its Laser Cannon at He Ao, who destroyed it by piercing its Energy Circuit with a blade.
• A brief distraction let He Ao stab Enoan through the heart, but Enoan unleashed fireballs that killed the surrounding soldiers and blasted He Ao away.
• Enoan’s God of Chaos emblem absorbed the dead soldiers’ souls and restored his heart, and he revealed that he had prepared them as Blood Food.
• Enoan drank the Arsonist secret medicine as chaotic singing filled the air, and his power surged to B-Rank.

He Ao evaded Enoan’s ambush, prompting Enoan to abandon his plans and pursue him. Meanwhile, the wounded FBI agent used Bitter Ape’s Heart to regain her strength and faced the Blade Turtle as Penny ran into the city.

• He Ao recognized that Enoan was hiding his strength, then escaped his attack by changing direction with his sword and disappearing into an alley.
• Enoan, enraged by He Ao’s escape and the humiliation, rushed after him instead of heading to the Radiant Palace.
• The Blade Turtle prepared to overwhelm the wounded blonde FBI agent with a barrage of blades as she reflected that she had bought time for the city.
• Penny brought the blonde woman Bitter Ape’s Heart, a Class C Transcendent Item that increased combat power with injury severity, and warned her of its cost.
• The blonde woman absorbed the heart, which repaired her body and formed a new arm, then charged at the Blade Turtle while Penny ran deeper into the city.

He Ao confronted Enoan over the destruction of his father’s camp and used a ritual to summon the Desire Witch, killing Enoan but suffering mortal injuries. As dawn broke, Penny found He Ao and heard him entrust the camp to her before he died and returned to his original world.

• He Ao confronted Enoan with evidence that Enoan had arranged the attack that led to his father’s death and the camp’s destruction.
• Enoan explained his plan to exploit Wilderness Wanderers and attacked He Ao, who revealed he had prepared a ritual instead of waiting for the Legion Commander.
• He Ao completed the Desire Witch’s ritual and provoked her fury, causing her Divine Punishment to engulf him and Enoan.
• He Ao survived the blast long enough to find Enoan’s dead head among the rubble, though his own wounds were fatal.
• Penny tracked He Ao to the ruins, and he entrusted the camp and his sword to her as dawn broke.
• He Ao died as the mission completed and he returned to his original world.

Selina killed the giant turtle as Christos took his oath as mayor of Dawn City, and the city recovered from Enoan’s attack. Christos helped pass the Wilderness Wanderers Immigration Act, and Penny and Selina honored their lost leader as the Wanderers gained a home.

• Selina shattered the giant turtle’s shell, killed it, and saw a purple light like the one that had taken Ander and Roy.
• Christos took the oath as mayor while the purple light struck nearby, and Penny later used Enoan’s Head to end the fighting between the City Council and the Municipal Police Department.
• Viktor and the Legion Commander killed three B-Rank mutated beasts, reorganized the Southern Army’s Command Center, and cleared the beasts from Dawn City.
• Christos defended the Wilderness Wanderers Immigration Act before the City Council and warned council members that unrest could threaten their reelection, helping the bill gain support.
• Penny refused to take back the Mithril Box, and Selina agreed to keep the Bitter Ape Heart until a Wanderer could use it.
• Penny placed a copy of the Wilderness Wanderers Immigration Act before a statue of the leader and said that the Wanderers had a new home.

He Ao reviewed his SS overall evaluation for the sixth official instance and realized that the Wilderness Wanderers Immigration Act had earned an SSS rating by changing the Federation. The System updated his player permission advancement progress to 27/38 and began settling his mission reward.

• He Ao read the detailed evaluations, including SSS for settling the Wilderness Wanderers in Dawn City and passing the Immigration Act.
• He Ao concluded that Main Mission Two evaluations depended on the real-world influence and scale of the changes he caused.
• He Ao noted that the Side Mission earned SS and the Hidden Mission earned SSS for fulfilling Ronald's wish to preserve the camp and save most of its people.
• The System raised He Ao's player permission advancement progress to 27/38 after his overall SS evaluation.
• The System began settling He Ao's mission reward.

After earning the History Revisionist achievement, He Ao upgraded his reward and gained Three Divine Senses. He tested their abilities, then joined Yang De on deck to hear intelligence about Dawn.

• He Ao compared the three refreshed rewards and chose the chance to gain Divine Sense, reasoning that the achievement upgrade could restore its incomplete result.
• The system upgraded his reward to Three Divine Senses, and He Ao endured intense pain as he obtained them.
• He Ao tested Divine Sense and found it could see through barriers and reveal energy pathways, though using it consumed his mental energy.
• He Ao detected Yang De's Energy Convergence Point and realized Divine Sense could help him attack even a powerful opponent.
• Yang De invited He Ao to the deck to discuss Dawn, and He Ao agreed.

Yang De explained Dawn’s radical ideology, its criminal membership, and the dangers and ranks of extraordinary power to He Ao. He also described a rare advancement liquid found in ruins, though its source and method of manufacture remained unknown.

• Yang De told He Ao that Dawn sought to reveal extraordinary power and build a world ruled by extraordinary beings, a vision that would provoke conflict and worsen pollution-related dangers.
• Yang De explained that Dawn had gathered fugitives and criminals, had more than ten C-Rank members and around two B-Ranks, and had no known A-Ranks.
• Yang De said the rank system came from records found in ruins, which also suggested talents could advance through dangerous methods such as consuming remains or Transcendent Items.
• Yang De described sealed liquids from ruins that could safely advance the right talent user, but said the highest grade found was E-Rank and their origin was unknown.