Chapter Summaries

Jiang Rui met Harrison of the Felison Conglomerate in R'lyeh, learned about the Void's major conglomerates, and returned to the main world. He confirmed that time in derivative worlds did not pass in the main world and headed out into New York at night.

• An old man and a golden-eyed young woman interrupted Harrison's conversation with Jiang Rui, and the old man warned Jiang Rui about the Felison Conglomerate's investments.
• Harrison introduced himself as the person in charge of the low-sequence zone and explained that the Felison Conglomerate was known as the Black Merchants.
• Jiang Rui researched the Felison Conglomerate and its competitor, the Void Conglomerate, then consigned most of his miscellaneous items and returned to his personal space.
• Jiang Rui went back to the main world and found that it was still April 28, 2011, at 10:38 p.m.
• Jiang Rui concluded that time in derivative worlds did not consume time in the main world and went out to explore New York at night.

Jiang Rui followed a strange, sweet scent into a supernatural bar in New York, where he discovered monsters and superhumans openly gathered. After choking on the bar’s Scorching Magma, he ordered drinks like the one a mysterious girl in a baseball cap was having and tried to start a conversation.

• Jiang Rui arranged to meet the owner of a vacant storefront near Times Square, then followed a familiar scent of desire into a bar across the street.
• Jiang Rui entered the supernatural bar, where the bartender and patrons openly displayed their inhuman traits.
• Jiang Rui tried the signature Scorching Magma, choked on its heat, and asked the bartender what it was.
• Jiang Rui noticed a mysterious girl in a baseball cap drinking Rainbow Delight and asked for two of the same drinks.
• The bartender hinted that he would make the drinks slightly stronger, while Jiang Rui hoped his skills would keep him out of trouble.

Jiang Rui went to a bar frequented by superhumans, where Lucy Booklia invited him to meet her group after noticing his confidence and high Spirit. The group introduced themselves and began discussing the bar’s term “Among Giants.”

• Jiang Rui stopped using Great Sage to search the bar for useful information after finding only gossip.
• Lucy Booklia approached Jiang Rui, clinked glasses with him, and invited him to join her group.
• The Baseball Cap girl gave Jiang Rui a German chocolate bar as a return gift and left the bar.
• Lucy pulled Jiang Rui over to her group, where he introduced himself as Brent and met Olyric and the others.
• A girl with glasses asked whether Jiang Rui’s Spirit was high, and Olyric brought up the phrase “Among Giants.”

Jiang Rui learned that the Church had been attacked, apparently by The Truth Society, while puzzling over the unseen woman who had sat beside him. Olyric’s comments suggested that Lucy and her brother came from a family with deep ties to the supernatural world.

• Olyric explained that Desire Paradise could immerse newcomers who lacked strong willpower, mental strength, bloodlines, or Sequences.
• Jack said newcomers and strange organizations were becoming more common, then claimed he had heard major news.
• Jiang Rui asked about the woman who had been sitting beside him, and Lucy recalled seeing an older man take the seat beside him.
• Jack revealed that the Church had been hit, and Olyric suggested The Truth Society was responsible.
• Lucy challenged Olyric over how he knew, and he implied that their parents had shared information he had asked her to pay attention to.

Jiang Rui learned more about the Transcendent social world while listening to the Olyric siblings’ gathering, but Oakley dodged his question about which Magic Society led the attack on the Vatican. Jiang Rui left the bar at midnight, and Olyric predicted he would soon meet him again after Bob arrived.

• Jack told the group that several Magic Societies from The Truth Society had attacked The Church’s Vatican headquarters, apparently winning with the power of two demigods.
• Jiang Rui asked Oakley which Magic Society had led the operation, but Oakley teased him to ask again once he became Lucy’s brother-in-law.
• Lucy explained that the group members had once been lone wanderers and answered Jiang Rui’s questions about Extraordinary Points and life in the main world.
• At midnight, Jiang Rui said goodbye and left the bar, despite Lucy’s disappointment.
• Bob arrived and greeted the Olyric siblings, and Olyric told Lucy that he had a feeling they would see Jiang Rui again very soon.

Jiang Rui realized that his forged identity might have exposed him to surveillance, but chose to ignore the two people following him. The next morning, he prepared to meet a prospective landlord while considering how to find money and join a major organization.

• Jiang Rui and the Great Sage reasoned that technological extraordinary beings could have detected his forged identity, and that newcomers might be disrupting established organizations.
• Jiang Rui decided not to confront the two people following him, returned home, and asked the Great Sage to monitor them.
• The next morning, Jiang Rui learned that the followers were waiting in a business van near his apartment and set out dressed for a meeting with a prospective landlord.
• Jiang Rui discussed ways to make money with the Great Sage, rejected bank robbery, and said he wanted to join a major organization with ideals and prospects.
• Jiang Rui reflected that he wanted to explore the world, settle down, and eventually return to his ancient motherland in the East.

Jiang Rui met Mr. Smith to finalize the rental of a shop, while two mysterious observers continued to watch him. He signed the contract, then was left bewildered when Mr. Smith departed after telling him to take care of his daughter.

• Jiang Rui exchanged 9 Extraordinary Points for US dollars and imagined what kind of business to open in his rented shop.
• At a nearby coffee shop, Jiang Rui ordered a vanilla latte from the owner and spotted the two people monitoring him across the street.
• A young woman arrived with Mr. Smith, who explained that she owned the property and he was her lawyer father.
• Jiang Rui reviewed and signed the shop contract, and Mr. Smith gave him his business card in case he needed help with disputes.
• Mr. Smith left after telling Jiang Rui to take good care of his daughter, leaving Jiang Rui stunned beside the young woman.

Jiang Rui learned that Anna had been cut off by her family after pursuing her dream of becoming a pastry chef, and agreed to let her work for him as his personal lawyer. Anna introduced herself as Anna Solveig Smith, leaving Jiang Rui with a new employee for his planned supernatural agency.

• Jiang Rui questioned Anna about why she needed to work for him, and she admitted she had no money after her family's support was cut off.
• Anna explained that she had failed to make her pastry shop succeed and that her parents wanted her to inherit their prominent New York law firm.
• Anna revealed she had told her father she would work as Jiang Rui's personal lawyer, prompting Jiang Rui to suspect her father saw him as a potential son-in-law.
• Anna considered postponing her return home by pursuing graduate school, and Jiang Rui agreed to hire her.
• Jiang Rui introduced himself as Brent Rand, and Anna gave her name as Anna Solveig Smith.

Jiang Rui spent several relaxed days eating and checking on his shop renovations, which Anna organized efficiently. When the two men following him were attacked by writhing shadows, Jiang Rui intervened and saved them, though the unseen assailant escaped.

• Anna paid for Jiang Rui’s coffee and left to organize the shop renovations, while Jiang Rui headed to Chinatown for food.
• Jiang Rui spent the next few days eating and sleeping, and he praised Anna’s work arranging the renovations.
• The Great Sage warned Jiang Rui that the two men monitoring him had run into trouble.
• Jiang Rui saw dark, threadlike shadows attacking the men and heard one of them struggle to call for help.
• Jiang Rui touched both men, resisted the shadow attack with the Light Prayer’s passive ability, and forced the enemy to retreat.
• One of the men thanked Jiang Rui as both recovered from the attack.

Jiang Rui left the scene after rescuing two people, then investigated the supernatural forces gathering around New York and returned to R’lyeh to buy spell knowledge from Harrison. He sought divine light spells along with shadow, curse, and mental warlock magic, setting out to become a Dirty Priest.

• Jiang Rui pretended he had only helped the two people out of kindness and headed toward the energy point the Great Sage had found.
• One of the rescued people used an emergency earpiece to report that they had been attacked by an unknown supernatural ability and judged Jiang Rui non-hostile.
• Jiang Rui found two charcoal-like wooden carvings that resembled the people, then left after the Great Sage detected no surveillance abnormalities.
• Jiang Rui returned home, confirmed it was secure, and traveled to his personal space in R’lyeh.
• Jiang Rui asked Harrison for books containing spell models for divine light magic and for warlock spells involving shadows, curses, and mental powers.

Jiang Rui bought several new abilities and potions, then went out at night to investigate New York’s criminal underworld. Meanwhile, Olyric worried about The Truth Society, and a sniper watched two people fighting from a rooftop.

• Jiang Rui spent over three thousand Extraordinary Points on Soulfire, Shadow Force, Mind Barrier, and other goods from Harrison.
• Jiang Rui learned that the Encyclopedia of Holy Light had finished inputting its contents, bought magic potions, and returned to the real world.
• Jiang Rui worried about money owed to Anna, then disguised himself as Rimuru and left to investigate New York’s gangs and extraordinary individuals.
• Olyric and Lucy drove toward the Gambino Family as Olyric worried that The Truth Society might be involved.
• A sniper on a rooftop spotted two bats fighting and asked her earpiece contact whether she should shoot.

Jiang Rui tracked supernatural activity to Vika’s building, where he encountered Lucy and helped her fight grotesque monsters. A distant sniper’s shot revealed that another girl had targeted the masked Jiang Rui, whom she identified as File 6356.

• Jiang Rui killed the drug addict who had guided him toward Vika’s building and spotted supernatural bats overhead.
• Jiang Rui used mana perception to map the building and its surroundings as bats and fast-moving figures converged nearby.
• Lucy attacked Jiang Rui, but a sniper’s shot forced her to break off; Jiang Rui then warned her about monsters behind her.
• Jiang Rui impaled the monsters with ice spikes, and his voice helped Lucy recover from their disturbing influence.
• A girl one kilometer away told Yutong she had found File 6356 and admitted that she had taken a shot at her.

Jiang Rui and Lucy fought their way through aberrants contaminating New York as they raced to support Lucy’s brother, Olyric. They discovered Olyric was battling an apparent ally, while the Sequence 5 causing the contamination remained inside the building.

• Lucy explained that the aberrants were ordinary people contaminated by a Twisted One attempting to advance to demigodhood, and she led Jiang Rui toward her brother.
• Jiang Rui cleared a swarm of aberrants with water and ice while Ye Xiaoqian provided sniper support from a distance.
• Lucy and Jiang Rui found Olyric fighting a lean man who identified himself as barely Sequence 6 and said the Sequence 5 was inside the building.
• Olyric’s blood-red bats gathered near the group, and Jiang Rui accidentally worsened Olyric’s injuries by casting Holy Light.
• A middle-aged batman mistook Jiang Rui for someone from The Church, so Jiang Rui cast Holy Light at him too.

Jiang Rui faced the Truth Society’s leader while the Bookeria Family offered no help, and he questioned why the enemy seemed content to wait outside the building. After the Great Sage detected unknown energy entities overhead, Jiang Rui announced that reinforcements had arrived.

• Olyric warned Jiang Rui that the enemy leader belonged to the Truth Society’s Undead, while Ye Xiaoqian abandoned her surveillance position and headed toward the conflict.
• Jiang Rui surveyed the battlefield and wondered why the leader of the Undead was letting them talk instead of attacking.
• Jiang Rui asked Olyric where the Bookeria Family’s forces were, and Lucy explained that the family probably would not send help because of its ancient Hunter lineage.
• The Great Sage detected unknown energy entities in the sky, and Jiang Rui pointed them out as reinforcements.

Jiang Rui and the others became trapped in a spatial lockdown as several powerful figures confronted a mysterious old man amid the battle against the aberrations. The chapter left Jiang Rui suspecting that the supposed ascendant was a deception and that the old man had sealed the area for another purpose.

• A silver Ephemera Angel attacked The Undead while Ye Xiaoqian ambushed him, and Jiang Rui used a water tornado to clear aberrations around himself.
• The Undead repelled Ye Xiaoqian and avoided the Ephemera Angel's attack when a black hole swallowed its laser beam.
• An old man in the robes of the Eye of Truth emerged from the black hole, and four powerful figures and the Ephemera Angel surrounded him.
• The old man activated a spatial barrier that sealed the battlefield, preventing anyone from escaping.
• Jiang Rui suspected the ascendant might not exist, while Ye Xiaoqian failed to enter the Shadow World and realized they were trapped.

Jiang Rui faced a Sequence 3 Truth Society elder who had sealed off the battlefield and planned to sacrifice himself in a destructive aberration. With the group trapped and time running out, Jiang Rui offered escape through Supernatural Paradise in exchange for Extraordinary Points, and Ye Xiaoqian paid first.

• Ye Xiaoqian emerged from the shadows and joined Jiang Rui's group as the elder fought four Sequence 5s and cut the Ephemera Angel in half.
• The elder revealed that he had advanced to Sequence 3, sealed the space away from the main world, and was nearing complete aberration.
• Jiang Rui realized the elder intended to burn his soul and detonate his body, taking everyone trapped inside the space with him.
• Jiang Rui relied on the Great Sage and Supernatural Paradise's authority, then offered the others escape for 5,000 Extraordinary Points per person.
• Lucy objected to Jiang Rui's crisis pricing, but Ye Xiaoqian transferred 5,000 Extraordinary Points to him.

Jiang Rui took Ye Xiaoqian into a new mission world after bargaining with two Sequence 3s, and Supernatural Paradise sent them to the 1990 Type-Moon world. He arrived with the identity of Tyrant Blue—Rimuru Tempest, a powerful Clock Tower Magician, and wondered how the fabricated history had made him a tyrant.

• Jiang Rui invited Ye Xiaoqian to the next mission world, and she suspected he could use Paradise items outside R'lyeh.
• Jiang Rui charged Blood Ripper and Shahua 3,000 Extraordinary Points and accepted IOUs for another 7,000 to save their lives.
• Jiang Rui refused to bring four Sequence 5s and broke through the spatial barrier, escaping with Ye Xiaoqian, Blood Ripper, and Shahua as a Sequence 3's self-destruction threatened the area.
• Supernatural Paradise assigned the team to the 1990 Type-Moon/Holy Grail War world and recorded three Legend Points for Jiang Rui.
• Paradise gave Jiang Rui the identity of Rimuru Tempest, the final heir of the Tempest Family and a Color-ranked Clock Tower Magician called Tyrant Blue.
• Jiang Rui arrived in the Clock Tower with memories of a fabricated past and wondered how he had become a tyrant.

Ye Xiaoqian discovered she had arrived in the Type-Moon World during the Fourth Holy Grail War and encountered Jiang Rui at the Clock Tower. Jiang Rui agreed to cooperate with her, and she followed him into his office.

• Ye Xiaoqian found herself in a classroom with Waver Velvet and recognized that the setting was the Fourth Holy Grail War.
• Jiang Rui entered the classroom, taught a lesson on inherited Magic Crests, and left with Ye Xiaoqian following him.
• Jiang Rui decided Ye Xiaoqian was probably connected to Town Mountain River and chose to cooperate with her.
• Eleroi Archrodt pounced on Jiang Rui in his office, and he learned she had come to the Clock Tower with Lady Mei to study magecraft.
• Jiang Rui asked Ye Xiaoqian to cooperate, and she agreed and entered his office.

Jiang Rui and Ye Xiaoqian set out to reunite their team after Eler left, then found Olyric and Lucy at a police station. Lucy’s unusual ability to smell blood revealed that Jiang Rui’s blood was dangerously alluring to her, leaving him to reconsider their earlier encounter at the bar.

• Eler insisted on learning Jiang Rui’s magecraft, but he sent her back to her teacher before discussing the team with Ye Xiaoqian.
• Jiang Rui agreed with Ye Xiaoqian to find their other teammates and used the Great Sage’s All Things to locate Olyric and Lucy at a nearby police station.
• Jiang Rui and Ye Xiaoqian met Olyric and Lucy, who had been detained because they lacked identification and seemed suspicious.
• Lucy explained that she and Olyric avoided using their abilities because the Bookeria Family was associated with artificial vampires and could be mistaken for Dead Apostles.
• Olyric explained that Lucy could smell blood and that Jiang Rui’s blood was so alluring it could trigger her Vampiric Urge, prompting Jiang Rui to rethink Lucy’s behavior at the bar.

Jiang Rui met Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, who invited him to Reines’s birthday and received Jiang Rui’s offer to take her as a disciple at age four. After Kenneth left, Jiang Rui and his companions discussed Kenneth’s unshakable belief that he would inevitably succeed in the Holy Grail War.

• Jiang Rui encountered Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald at the Clock Tower, with Ye Xiaoqian and the others accompanying him.
• Kenneth invited Jiang Rui to Reines’s second birthday celebration and mentioned that she could influence his Volumen Hydrargyrum.
• Jiang Rui declined the celebration but offered to take Reines as his second disciple once she turned four, and Kenneth accepted.
• Kenneth left after exchanging polite words with Jiang Rui, while Lucy criticized his disdainful glance at the others.
• Lucy wondered whether Kenneth was making plans for his family because of the Holy Grail War, and Jiang Rui explained that Kenneth expected success in everything he did.
• Olyric suggested that Kenneth’s mentor had likely prompted him to seek Jiang Rui as Reines’s teacher.