Chapter Summaries

Roland visited the ruined Lake-town with Omsk and checked in at its former Town Hall, earning enough Honor Points to acquire three War Trees. He planned to use them to strengthen the Grassland Elves, then left with Omsk.

• Roland and Omsk arrived at Lake-town, where Roland learned that more than three hundred people lived among its ruins and that the settlement was recovering through fishing and trade.
• Roland explained Lake-town's history as part of Dale and recalled how its mayor had refused to accept Girion's descendants as rulers.
• Roland checked in at the former Town Hall and received six Honor Points from the system.
• Roland chose to spend the six Honor Points on three War Trees, intending to give them to the Grassland Elves and bring the tribe under his command.
• Omsk grew concerned when Roland grinned to himself, but Roland collected himself and told him to head back.

Roland introduced three War Trees to Omsk and Valfay, claiming they were guardians of Lothlórien who had come to find him. Valfay recognized their immense life energy and was stunned that Roland had acquired three, leaving him impressed by Roland’s growing power.

• Omsk reacted defensively to the approaching War Trees until Roland explained that their sonic energy had triggered his instincts.
• Roland told Omsk that the War Trees were guardians of Lothlórien and had traveled to find them.
• Valfay arrived after sensing the War Trees’ life energy and recognized them as rare elven fortresses.
• Roland hinted that the War Trees were the foundation of his power, and Valfay stared at them in disbelief.
• Roland proudly suggested that following him had a future, and Valfay nodded as he looked at the obedient War Trees.

Roland persuaded Valfay, chief of the Grassland Elves, to join the Lagrange Kingdom by offering the elves the War Trees, then hastily left Omsk behind. Omsk caught up in Flowing City, where he told Yun Feng that Valfay had been given the title Duke of Lothlórien and might accept the offer.

• Roland distracted Valfay with the War Trees, had him kneel, and knighted him Duke of Lothlórien before Valfay could object.
• Roland left with Omsk’s horses, forcing Omsk to run back toward Flowing City and leave Valfay with the War Trees.
• Roland returned to Flowing City and told the soldiers that Omsk was exercising behind him.
• Omsk arrived panting and found Roland at the castle, while Yun Feng deduced that Omsk had run back on foot.
• Omsk told Yun Feng that Roland had offered Valfay the duchy and the War Trees, and Yun Feng believed the elves might accept.

Yun Feng showed Omsk a mental replay of the War of Nation Founding to demonstrate the power of a War Tree supported by elves. The replay ended with the War Tree advancing through the battlefield as its thorny forest slaughtered the Dark Alliance forces.

• Yun Feng explained that Valfay's support could give King Roland a legitimate reason to recruit the Grassland Elves in future wars.
• Yun Feng used Illusion Replay to bring Omsk into a reconstruction of the Battle of the Romanian Plains.
• The Lagrange army and its allies fought Mordor's forces amid charges, curses, and forbidden spells.
• Elf archers and rangers fired arrows more than ten miles from atop the advancing War Tree.
• The War Tree raised a mile-wide thorny forest that impaled the Dark Alliance troops and continued forward.

The War Trees survived a Grand Forbidden Spell, and Roland decided to settle the Grassland Elves beside Tupte Forest. Valfay accepted the arrangement and prepared to move his people there with the trees.

• The War Trees stopped the charging mammoths with vines, then withstood a Grand Forbidden Spell from the enemy high priest.
• Yun Feng explained to Omsk that War Trees were mobile fortresses, though these trees were weaker than the ancient tree of Lothlórien.
• Roland told Yun Feng he would bring some War Trees to Lagrange City and use the others as fortresses.
• Roland and Yun Feng chose the edge of Tupte Forest as the Grassland Elves' temporary settlement.
• Roland told Valfay he could move there with his people and the War Trees, and Valfay thanked him for the arrangement.

After Adrahil’s delegation left, Roland focused on House Modran, a newly arrived Border Baron family whose immense army and population greatly strengthened Lagrange. Yu Modran offered the family’s subjects and troops to Roland, who granted House Modran a hereditary countship while leaving its fief for later.

• Roland and Yun Feng watched Adrahil’s delegation depart and turned their attention to finding House Modran.
• Yun Feng questioned the strength of a Border Baron, and Roland explained that House Modran had once guarded the southern Rhûn Mountains against Mordor.
• Yu Modran arrived with a vast army and pledged House Modran’s loyalty to Roland.
• Roland checked the system’s records and discovered that House Modran had brought nearly twenty thousand people, including a three-thousand-man Swift River Legion.
• Yu Modran explained that House Modran could no longer support its people and troops in the Rhûn Mountains, and offered them to Roland.
• Roland thanked Yu Modran and granted House Modran a hereditary countship, promising to provide a fief later.

Roland accepted House Modran’s military authority and appointed Yu Modran governor of Giant Port, leaving Yun Feng and Heinrich to help manage the sudden influx of people. Roland and Nyx discussed House Modran’s calculated surrender and future rewards while Yun Feng struggled with the overwhelming workload.

• Roland appointed Yu Modran governor of Giant Port and told him to work with Yun Feng to raise the city’s population above ten thousand.
• Roland sent Heinrich to help arrange the crowd around Flowing City after Heinrich questioned why no one was organizing them.
• Nyx asked Roland how he planned to handle House Modran, and he explained that its patriarch had surrendered military authority and the people in exchange for the house becoming a count’s house.
• Roland and Nyx discussed House Modran’s hidden force of nearly fifty Knights and Roland’s promise to reward the family with fiefs.
• Yun Feng struggled to manage the enormous crowd while cursing Roland for leaving him with the work.

Roland arranged for House Modran’s newcomers to be relocated while discovering that their camp outside Flowing City was dangerously underguarded. He also approved Nyx’s proposal to reward Ismir with a baronetcy for his service in developing Giant Port.

• Roland saw that more than ten thousand newcomers were camping outside Flowing City with only a little over a hundred Swift River Infantry guarding them.
• Roland ordered Marcus to arrange more manpower to protect the people outside the city.
• Nyx reminded Roland that he had promised rewards to the pioneers who developed Giant Port and showed him her proposal.
• Roland approved a baronetcy for Ismir, and Nyx made the bestowal decree legally valid with their seals.

Ismir received a summons to Flowing City and was publicly ennobled by Roland for his achievements. He became a baronet, while House Modran debated what his promotion meant for noble society and the kingdom’s royal lineage.

• Roland’s messenger delivered Ismir a letter summoning him to Flowing City Castle for a public investiture.
• Ismir celebrated wildly in Giant Port, while Yu Modran, Nanfeng Modran, and Lise Modran discussed the rank he might receive.
• Lise pointed out that many noble families had royal ancestry, prompting Yu Modran to warn her against speaking carelessly about the royal bloodline.
• Roland drew the Dragon-slaying Sword as Ismir approached, startling him before ordering him to kneel for his investiture.
• Roland formally made Ismir a baronet and urged him to serve the kingdom, his liege lord, and his duties loyally.

Ismir struggled to adjust to becoming a noble and accepted Lance’s offer to teach him etiquette and noble knowledge. Meanwhile, Apophis Breo learned that House Modran and the Heinrich Family had survived from the empire’s violent past, raising fears that another era of civil war might begin.

• Ismir wandered Flowing City in his new noble’s robe and struggled with the attention and unfamiliar customs.
• Lance offered to teach Ismir noble knowledge and etiquette, and Ismir agreed to a daily study schedule.
• Ismir rented a room at an inn, paying one Gold Dragon Coin for half a month and three meals a day.
• Apophis Breo reviewed an intelligence report about House Modran and the Heinrich Family with Olaf.
• Apophis Breo recalled how the Heinrich Family’s past conflict with Duke Augustus had sparked an empire-wide civil war, and worried that a new conflict might be starting.

After hearing about the Empire’s collapse, Ismir decided to pursue greater power by pioneering new land. Roland granted him a Pioneer Order for Mirkwood and sent him off with equipment and a refuge at Lulong Fortress if the venture became too dangerous.

• Apophis Breo told Olaf how the royal family’s inability to intervene in the Dragon Knight Family’s feud led to the Empire’s destruction, leaving Olaf stunned.
• Lance finished teaching Ismir noble etiquette and advised him to recruit people and pioneer unclaimed land if he wanted a fief.
• Ismir asked Roland for a Pioneer Order and declared his intention to settle west of Lulong Fortress in Mirkwood.
• Roland warned Ismir that he would have to pay for the expedition himself, then issued the order in exchange for Ismir’s loyalty.
• Roland provided Ismir with weapons, armor, and horses, and told him to seek Reno’s protection at Lulong Fortress if he could not remain in Mirkwood.

After King Roland granted Ismir the right to pioneer land, Lance recruited a team for him through a humiliating public spectacle. Ismir assembled twenty pioneers and prepared to decide how to spend his remaining funds before setting out.

• Ismir received permission from King Roland to pioneer land, and Lance advised him to recruit settlers before collecting supplies.
• Lance disguised himself and loudly advertised Ismir's Pioneer Team outside Lagrange's southern gate, drawing attention from Marcus, Omsk, and Yun Feng.
• Lance selected twenty sturdy men for Ismir's team, including a first-tier Apprentice Swordsman.
• Ismir gave each pioneer twenty Gold Coins to support their families, earning their gratitude and loyalty.
• Ismir told Lance he still had over five hundred Gold Coins, and Lance began considering how to allocate the money.

Lance helped Ismir prepare supplies and equipment for developing deserted land, then arranged for Yun Feng to give him potions and a Space Bracelet. Ismir left with the aid he needed for his journey the next morning, grateful for Lance’s generosity.

• Lance advised Ismir to keep one hundred Gold Coins in reserve for buying food at Lulong Fortress.
• Lance gave Ismir ten wagons and supplies of weapons, armor, horses, and other equipment.
• Lance guided Ismir through Lagrange City to buy food, tents, tools, medicine, and daily necessities.
• Lance brought Ismir to Yun Feng, who provided fifty Healing Potions, ten Ice Blue Potions, one hundred Antidote Potions, a Berserk Potion, and a Space Bracelet.
• Lance stored the potions in the bracelet and gave it to Ismir, who realized how much help Lance had arranged for him.

Ismir left Flowing City to pioneer land south of the Swift River, while Roland told Lance to focus on settling the commoners. Ismir and his Pioneer Team reached Giant Port, where House Modran invited him to a welcoming banquet.

• Lance wished Ismir a safe journey, and Ismir departed at dawn with his caravan.
• Roland explained that Ismir had to forge his own path and urged Lance to help Yun Feng settle the commoners outside the gates.
• Ismir led his Pioneer Team south along the paved road toward Giant Port and encouraged them to face the hardships ahead.
• The team reached Giant Port after dark, and the city guards escorted Ismir inside after he showed Roland's Pioneer Order.
• Bor, steward of House Modran, invited Ismir to a banquet arranged by the family head, and Ismir accepted.

Ismir attended a banquet hosted by Yu Modran, who welcomed him as a newly appointed pioneering baron. After Ismir revealed his plans to settle in Mirkwood, House Modran presented him with soldiers as a gift for his venture.

• Ismir wondered why House Modran had invited him and learned that nobles offered goodwill to rising pioneers.
• Yu Modran welcomed Ismir at Giant Port's Town Hall, where Ismir presented a magic crystal as a gift.
• Lis asked Ismir where he planned to pioneer, and he said he would settle in Mirkwood across the river from Lulong Fortress.
• Yu Modran and his family served Ismir an extravagant banquet, including roast lamb and a First Tier Monster Water Saw Crocodile.
• Yu Modran gave Ismir a squad of soldiers as House Modran's congratulatory gift for his pioneering venture.

Yu Modran gave Ismir ten Family Sword Shield Soldiers, who became his retainers and followed him home. That night, Ismir unknowingly used the Nature Goddess Divine Spark fragment he carried to bless the sleeping soldiers, beginning their conversion into Apprentice Swordsmen.

• Yu Modran transferred the loyalty contracts of ten Family Sword Shield Soldiers to Ismir and gave him their training manual.
• Ismir brought the soldiers to his small home, where he inspected their equipment and struggled to sleep amid his hopes for the future.
• Roland saw that Ismir carried a fragment of the Nature Goddess's Godhead and realized it explained Ismir's unusual druid abilities.
• Ismir called on the fragment he named Breath of Nature, and emerald light enveloped the sleeping soldiers before the fragment dimmed.
• The soldiers' status changed to Nature Goddess's Blessing as their conversion into Apprentice Swordsmen began.

Ismir’s Family Sword Shield Soldiers became Nature Guardians after receiving power from the Nature Goddess’s Blessing, and Haro began teaching them to control their Battle Qi. The Pioneer Team reached Lulong Fortress, where Luke Leopold inspected Ismir’s Pioneer Order before letting them enter.

• The Family Sword Shield Soldiers awoke with Battle Qi and learned that Ismir had granted them strength through a secret of his family.
• Roland saw that the Godhead Fragment had transformed the soldiers into Nature Guardians, though the Nature Goddess Divinity had entered an energy recovery period.
• Ismir asked Haro to train the ten Nature Guardians, and Haro taught them to control their Battle Qi before they began learning basic swordsman skills.
• Ismir named the soldiers Nature Guardians and decided the Pioneer Team would rest before crossing the Swift River.
• The Pioneer Team arrived at Lulong Fortress, where Luke Leopold greeted Ismir and requested his Pioneer Order for inspection.

Ismir met Reno at Lulong Fortress to arrange supplies and shelter for his pioneering venture. Reno approved their stay and encouraged Ismir to proceed cautiously, leaving Ismir and his group free to rest before setting out.

• Luke Leopold welcomed Ismir and directed him to speak with Reno about staying at the fortress.
• Reno agreed to supply Ismir’s group in exchange for equal value and discussed the dangers of pioneering near Mirkwood.
• Reno told Ismir he could retreat to the fortress if his territory became too dangerous and urged him to lure Orcs or a Nazgûl toward the kingdom’s defenses.
• Ismir asked to stay another day so his group could rest, and Reno allowed it as long as they did not interfere with the defenses.

Ismir led the pioneers across the Swift River and established a camp in the wilderness. After sensing a powerful aura nearby, he used the Breath of Nature to build a wide-ranging magical detection net before finally resting.

• Reno ordered Luke Leopold to send a Wyvern Knight to watch the departing group.
• Ismir created a magically reinforced vine boat and ferried the pioneers, wagons, and supplies across the Swift River in batches.
• Ismir ordered the pioneers to scout carefully, establish a camp, prepare dinner, and arrange a night watch.
• Ismir sensed a powerful aura in the wilderness and stayed awake to protect the camp.
• The Breath of Nature replenished Ismir's exhausted Mental Power, allowing him to form a detection net across several miles before he went to sleep.

Ismir evacuated his group after sensing that they had camped in an Earth Dragon’s territory, while Reno investigated their disappearance and guessed they had gone south. The Earth Dragon followed the group’s scent toward them, and Ismir recognized its aura.

• Ismir suspected an Advanced Beast was nearby and ordered his group to pack up and flee south.
• Wyvern Knights found the camp abandoned and reported the missing group to General Reno.
• Reno inspected the camp, found wagon tracks heading south, and decided to wait for the group near the Romanian Plains.
• An Earth Dragon entered the abandoned camp, followed the scent of weaker prey, and headed after Ismir’s group.
• Ismir sensed the Earth Dragon’s aura as it approached.