Chapter Summaries

Xiao Ran proposed creating a Logic Research Department to investigate Prometheus, while Luo argued that the effort was premature and presented a proposal to invest heavily in basic science. Xiao Ran approved both initiatives, assigned Giliam to oversee logic research, and set out to earn Merit Points to fund the work.

• After returning to Fleet Territory, Xiao Ran privately wondered about Prometheus's purpose and summoned Hana to arrange a meeting with Giliam, Hades, and Luo.
• Xiao Ran proposed studying Prometheus's logic through a new research division, using Sophia's simulated world and the help of Little Eight, Nifaline, and other experts.
• Luo and Hades cautioned that recreating Prometheus was premature, and Hades suggested they first secure a force capable of resisting it.
• Luo presented a proposal to establish a major basic-science program, including a planetary-scale super collider, and explained its potential to drive future technological advances.
• Xiao Ran approved the basic-science investment, appointed Giliam to oversee the Logic Research Department, and said he would earn Merit Points to fund the projects.

Xiao Ran established the Logic Research Institute and Basic Science Research Institute despite the cost, then met with Shadow Blade and Emerald Dream to discuss an alliance and Burning Legion products. Qinglong agreed to pursue a comprehensive strategic alliance after Xiao Ran laid out the benefits, though his detailed response to the offer remained unstated.

• Xiao Ran approved the creation of the Logic Research Institute and Basic Science Research Institute, and Luo and Giliam began arranging their frameworks.
• Xiao Ran left Luo’s office after learning the money had arrived, while Hades vanished through an open window.
• After the Emerald Dream Legion defeated the Grey Rock Legion, Xiao Ran met with its leader Qinglong and Shadow Blade representatives Sute and Bicchy at the Presidential Palace.
• Xiao Ran offered Emerald Dream a comprehensive strategic alliance, and Qinglong agreed to consider the terms after Renard showed him Shadow Blade’s agreement.
• Xiao Ran described the Burning Legion’s products and services, prompting Sute and Bicchy to grow eager to buy and Qinglong and his vice legion leader to react with dismay.

Xiao Ran sold large quantities of the Burning Legion’s goods to the Shadow Blade Legion and the Emerald Dream Legion, earning 2 billion Merit Points and securing a strategic alliance with the Emerald Dream Legion. He assigned Cruze and Renard to manage council relations and sales while the Burning Legion prepared for a year of Retention Time.

• Sute and Bicchy ordered warships, Cores, bloodlines, Portable Armor, Custom Mecha, and mentorship for the Shadow Blade Legion, spending 500 million Merit Points.
• The Emerald Dream Legion ordered one hundred Cores, forty warships, mecha parts, bloodline slots, and other goods, raising its order to 1.5 billion Merit Points and forming a strategic alliance with Xiao Ran.
• Xiao Ran gave 1 billion Merit Points to Luo and tasked Renard and Cruze with council affairs, sales, and arranging Retention Time for the Burning Legion’s core members.
• Over three days, the Burning Legion prepared early deliveries and custom mecha while Cruze and Renard finalized more than fifteen friendly cooperation agreements with other legions.
• Renard confirmed that Bolsia was a major client, while the Burning Legion continued discussions with its new partners and kept the Emerald Dream Legion alliance secret.

After a year of Retention Time, the Burning Legion completed preparations, trained allied legion members, and delivered a singer to the Emerald Dream Legion. Xiao Ran was summoned to a gathering of the top five Legion Leaders to discuss the Shared Territory and intelligence about the mysterious Fantasy Zone.

• The Burning Legion used the year to advance its research projects, prepare ordered goods, and train S-class Pilots and visiting members of Shadow Blade and the Emerald Dream Legion.
• An Emerald Dream Legion trainee stayed for a year at the Singer Academy, and Xiao Ran agreed to provide the legion with a singer for two hundred million Merit Points.
• The trainee returned as a genuine singer, satisfying the Emerald Dream Legion, while Bicchy regretted that Shadow Blade could not afford the same arrangement.
• Xiao Ran spent time with his daughter Artemis until Eshe summoned him to a gathering attended by the top five Legion Leaders.
• Eshe told Xiao Ran that the gathering would cover intelligence exchanges, the Shared Territory, and Cruze's information about the Fantasy Zone.

Xiao Ran attended his first Five-Person Council meeting after the Burning Legion entered the top five, meeting the leaders of the other top-ranked legions. The council invited him into its private trade and intelligence circle, and the discussion turned to cooperation and maintaining stability among the five legions.

• Cruze told Xiao Ran that the council had called a meeting because the top-five rankings had changed, and shared rumors about the mysterious leader of the Mythical Legion.
• Xiao Ran entered the council chamber, where Qinglong introduced him to Zoe of Bolsia, Todd of Qi, and Nameless of the Mythical Legion.
• Xiao Ran explained that he had approached Qinglong to build cooperation and said he hoped the Burning Legion would be friends with the other legions.
• Zoe said the council wanted to meet Xiao Ran and preserve good relations among the five top legions.
• Todd invited Xiao Ran to join the five legions' private trade and intelligence circle, and Xiao Ran asked what participation would require.

Xiao Ran learned how the Five-Person Council handled trade and disputes, then negotiated with Nameless for intelligence about the Fantasy Zone. Nameless revealed that the Fantasy Zone had vanished after a rebellion devastated both sides, leaving Xiao Ran to reconsider what he knew and offer Nameless additional payment.

• Todd gave Xiao Ran the Five-Person Council's trade catalog and explained that the Council charged a one-percent fee for public territories.
• Todd offered real-time printing technology for trade, and Xiao Ran expressed interest in acquiring it for the Burning Legion.
• Nameless raised complaints about a Legion massacring participants, but the Council declined to intervene beyond its normal mediation process.
• After the meeting, Xiao Ran asked Nameless for intelligence about the Fantasy Zone and agreed to pay one hundred million Merit Points.
• Nameless revealed that the Fantasy Zone no longer existed because a rebellion had left both sides devastated, and Xiao Ran offered an additional gift for the information.

Xiao Ran negotiated with Todd over technology and exchanged two special inheritances for Todd’s technology and a non-hostility agreement. The deal left Todd satisfied, while Xiao Ran planned to use the inheritances’ limitations to draw Todd’s legion into closer cooperation with the Burning Legion.

• Xiao Ran left the Legion Council with Todd, and they talked over drinks before discussing a trade.
• Todd requested mental and defensive inheritances in exchange for technology he valued at one hundred million Merit Points, and Xiao Ran asked about Todd’s cooperation with the Bolsia Legion.
• Xiao Ran offered two inheritances in exchange for Todd’s technology and a non-hostility agreement with the Burning Legion.
• Todd said he would take the Mage inheritance himself and give the Paladin inheritance to a core legion member, then Hades delivered the two inheritance cards.
• Xiao Ran explained the Mage and Paladin specializations, their abilities, and the need for suitable mechs, and Todd agreed to the exchange and confidentiality terms.

Xiao Ran and his allies analyzed intelligence about the lost Fantasy Zone, imagining a vast, dangerous world containing countless factions and powerful beings. Nameless’s further details supported their theories, but they remained unsure who had fought Prometheus in the rebellion that destroyed the zone.

• Xiao Ran returned to the Fleet Territory after trading technology with Todd for two Class Cards, then summoned Yuzes, Giliam, Cruze, Shirakawa Shuu, and Luo to discuss intelligence about the Fantasy Zone.
• Xiao Ran explained that Nameless had sold him information describing the Fantasy Zone as an independent, chaotic world without mandatory missions, lost after a rebellion left both sides grievously wounded.
• Yuzes, Giliam, Shirakawa Shuu, and Cruze speculated that the Fantasy Zone had been a massive battlefield where participants and countless known factions competed, and Xiao Ran imagined how terrifying its strongest inhabitants could be.
• Xiao Ran asked Nameless whether participants in the Fantasy Zone had united or fought independently, and Nameless replied that they were generally united but still competed among themselves.
• Nameless sent further details saying the Fantasy Zone had four stages, dangers even for S-class and Mythical Pilots, Prometheus towers, and many kinds of factions and powers; the group read the information and found their earlier theories broadly plausible.
• Yuzes concluded that Prometheus had been one side in the rebellion, but the opposing side might not have been the participants.

Xiao Ran concluded that the vanished Fantasy Zone might reveal Prometheus’s weaknesses and ordered the Burning Legion’s true core members to investigate it. He went to the Legion Zone to try to force Prometheus to appear, while Todd and his Vice Legion Leader tested their new inheritance cards and realized the powers might not help them while piloting mechs.

• Xiao Ran discussed the Fantasy Zone’s possible conflict and disappearance, concluding that its history might offer a way to challenge Prometheus.
• Xiao Ran told the Burning Legion’s core members to share the information selectively, then left for the Legion Zone to seek Prometheus and demand compensation.
• Cruze proposed obtaining another Designated Follower Card to test Prometheus, prompting the group to misunderstand his suggestion in several ways.
• Todd’s Vice Legion Leader activated the Paladin Class Card and gained skills, a personal panel, and a method for communicating with holy light.
• Todd activated the Mage Class Card and discovered that he could use magic, but he and the Vice Legion Leader questioned how their new powers could work with mechs.
• Todd and his Vice Legion Leader decided the inheritance was genuine but potentially impractical for mech combat, and Todd chose to contact Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran confronted Prometheus in the Legion Zone and pressed it about the missing Fantasy Zone, its rewards, and its restrictions. He secured compensation and a one-way opportunity to enter the Fantasy Zone, while agreeing not to reveal information about it outside the Burning Legion.

• Xiao Ran entered the Legion Zone, arranged a private room, and used the Cross-Zone Mission Card and a directory of legions to persuade Prometheus to speak with him.
• Prometheus confirmed that it had three Main Systems and that the Fantasy Zone had been lost, but it refused to confirm Xiao Ran’s theories about the war and the Legion Council.
• Prometheus explained that the Dragon Pearl had replaced the second Cross-Zone Mission Card reward and offered to raise the level of Xiao Ran’s remaining card as compensation for its misleading description.
• Xiao Ran learned that S-class Pilots and Mythical-level Pilots had once been able to enter the Fantasy Zone, and he negotiated a one-way trip there in exchange for completing an assigned mission.
• Xiao Ran signed a contract restricting what he could reveal about the Fantasy Zone, received additional compensation, and made Prometheus agree not to avoid him.

Xiao Ran explained the inheritances Todd and Ries had purchased and demonstrated how the Burning Legion could combine them with compatible mecha. He left Todd considering a strategic alliance as the price for access to the Legion’s broader training and technology, while Xiao Ran aimed to win over the entire Enlightenment Legion.

• Xiao Ran told Todd and Ries that the inheritances were sound, explained how to develop their abilities, and described the Burning Legion’s advanced training materials and mecha modifications.
• Xiao Ran brought Todd and Ries to the Secret Weapon Department, where a mage and a paladin demonstrated their abilities both on foot and in compatible mecha.
• Xiao Ran showed Todd and Ries the Secret Weapon Department’s training grounds and said that true allies, including the Emerald Dream Legion, could study and buy from the Burning Legion.
• Todd asked about compatible mecha, and Xiao Ran said the Burning Legion would provide them and permit study of the corresponding inheritances only to partners in a comprehensive strategic cooperation alliance.

Xiao Ran presented Todd and Ries with the Burning Legion’s catalog and alliance terms, persuading them that the Enlightenment Legion could benefit from a strategic partnership. After Ries proposed joining the Burning Legion to bring the two legions closer, Xiao Ran sensed someone listening and struck toward them, leaving Todd asking whether his attack was another inheritance.

• Xiao Ran offered the Enlightenment Legion a comprehensive strategic alliance with access to the Burning Legion’s inheritance training and product catalog, conditional on changing its stance and prioritizing the Burning Legion as a supplier.
• Ries signed a confidentiality agreement and reviewed the catalog and cooperation terms; Todd later signed as well and recognized how much the Enlightenment Legion might gain from the partnership.
• Todd accused Xiao Ran of drawing the Enlightenment Legion into his calculations, and Xiao Ran explained that the catalog and available items would vary depending on the level of partnership.
• Xiao Ran claimed the Burning Legion could crush the Enlightenment Legion with its hidden strength and long-range weapons, while Todd worried that confidentiality would make it difficult to persuade his legion to ally with them.
• Ries asked to join the Burning Legion, arguing that her position as Todd’s sister and the Enlightenment Legion’s Vice Legion Leader would bring the two legions closer and reassure Xiao Ran.
• Xiao Ran stopped Ries from saying more, ordered the conversation kept secret, and punched toward a suspected listener; Todd then asked whether the attack was an inheritance.

Xiao Ran rejected Ries’s attempt to join the Burning Legion and warned his scheming subordinates not to cause trouble, while Todd left to consider a strategic alliance. After reviewing the Burning Legion’s strength and catalog, Todd and Ries leaned toward signing before Bolsia joined the cooperation.

• Todd praised Xiao Ran’s powerful punch, and Xiao Ran suggested that Todd’s mage inheritance might eventually achieve something similar.
• Todd left the Burning Legion to discuss cooperation with his core members, while Xiao Ran summoned Basak, Cruze, and Yuzes and told them not to meddle with Ries or the Enlightenment Legion.
• Xiao Ran doubted that Ries would be useful as a link between the legions and ordered his subordinates to watch the Enlightenment Legion and Bolsia.
• Todd returned to his legion and considered the inheritances, weapons, warships, and other goods in the Burning Legion’s catalog, which had impressed him.
• Ries urged Todd to sign a strategic cooperation agreement before Bolsia did, arguing that an alliance with the Burning Legion and Emerald Dream would increase their influence among the top five legions.

Xiao Ran explained to Cruze and Yuzes that Prometheus had agreed to send someone to the Fantasy Zone, where a lost Prometheus might be found, but the journey would be one-way and involve a mission. Concerned that Prometheus had singled him out, Xiao Ran decided to stay behind while the legion prepared Eagle and the Berserk Beast Squad for the trip.

• Xiao Ran told Nameless that he would send a Portable Armor and Bloodline Serum to maintain their relationship, while keeping their cooperation cautious.
• Xiao Ran informed Cruze and Yuzes that the three Prometheuses controlled the Real Zone, Super Zone, and Fantasy Zone, and that the Fantasy Zone's Prometheus had been lost.
• Xiao Ran told Cruze and Yuzes that Prometheus would send someone to the Fantasy Zone but would not bring them back, and they considered sending a Super AI instead of a participant.
• Xiao Ran, Cruze, and Yuzes decided that Eagle and a larger group of Super AIs should go, while Xiao Ran stayed behind to avoid raising mission risks for the legion.
• Xiao Ran joined Luo, Shirakawa Shuu, Yuzes, and other experts to rebuild Eagle and the Berserk Beast Squad with extensive safeguards and enhancements.

Xiao Ran remained in the territory while the Burning Legion went on missions and finally enjoyed a truly restful day. As he reflected on the Legion’s dependence on him, he decided to strengthen its leadership and prepare for its future stability.

• Xiao Ran stayed in the territory rather than enter a mission, then slept peacefully in the garden while the other members of his household watched over him.
• After waking, Xiao Ran agreed with Da Xia that they could take a trip after everyone returned, but he privately recognized that Prometheus still prevented him from truly relaxing.
• Xiao Ran considered how his absence could expose old grievances and destabilize the Burning Legion and its territories, since no other core member could fully take his place.
• Xiao Ran concluded that the Legion needed a second-in-command, a third-in-command, contingency plans, and an heir to safeguard its stability.
• At dinner, Xiao Ran asked whether the women wanted work; Da La and Xiao La offered to help, and he agreed to arrange responsibilities for them.
• Xiao Ran considered Da La and Xiao La helping him manage the territories and decided that Artemis would be the eventual heir, with Da Xia best suited to guide things until Artemis grew up.

Xiao Ran planned to secure the Burning Legion’s succession and stabilize its territories, ordering Kane and Carolan to monitor influential figures and protect Shanamia and Artemis. After Kane cautioned that Artemis was too young and restless to be named heir immediately, Xiao Ran agreed to proceed gradually, while Kane began arranging further preparations across the Legion.

• Xiao Ran instructed Kane and Carolan to watch important figures across the territories and secretly establish a team to protect Shanamia and Artemis.
• Xiao Ran outlined plans to establish Artemis’s succession and have Shanamia and the others gradually take over territorial affairs, but Kane warned that naming Artemis heir so soon would be premature.
• Kane recommended appointing Legion deputies and forming a Royal Knights Order, while Xiao Ran named Luo, Cruze, Char, and Shirakawa Shuu as possible deputies.
• Xiao Ran accepted Kane’s advice to delay formally naming Artemis heir and said the Legion’s preparations should proceed steadily.
• Kane warned Carolan to keep their discussion secret and remain loyal to Xiao Ran, Shanamia, and Artemis.
• Kane reviewed the Legion’s forces, decided more powerful loyal forces had to remain in the territories, and ordered his driver to take him to Britannia.

After the returning mission teams came back, Xiao Ran recognized how much pressure the Technology Department carried and decided to reorganize the legion. He announced new leadership roles, stricter growth assessments, and expanded support for technicians, leaving the legion’s members and core staff bracing for heavier responsibilities.

• Xiao Ran welcomed the returning members and gave everyone a day off, then realized Luo and the Technology Department were overwhelmed by the legion’s rapid technological growth.
• Xiao Ran summoned the legion and allied-legion representatives to a meeting, where he introduced the Emerald Dream Legion and Shadow Blade Legion as allied partners and urged cooperation with them.
• Xiao Ran appointed Cruze, Luo, and Char as the first, second, and third vice legion leaders, respectively, and announced that core members would receive specific responsibilities.
• Xiao Ran introduced combat-power growth assessments, promising resources for rapid improvement and entertaining punishments for those who lagged behind.
• Xiao Ran ordered the legion to recruit and train more technically skilled members, double the Technology Department within three years, raise its personnel’s benefits, and guarantee them regular rest and trips.
• Yuzes, Ingram, Shirakawa Shuu, Cruze, and Char reacted uneasily to Xiao Ran’s new demands and expectations.

Xiao Ran assigned new responsibilities to the Burning Legion’s core members and laid out plans to expand its organization, train more S-class Pilots, and protect Artemis. The meeting ended with Cruze and Char tasked with leading the arrangements as the Legion prepared for the dangerous Fantasy Zone and its goal of controlling Prometheus.

• Xiao Ran ended the main meeting after assigning Cruze and Char to organize the Legion’s growing responsibilities, then asked Tery and Bicchy about their legions’ recent missions and offered more training and technology exchanges.
• Xiao Ran told the core members to strengthen territorial management, inspect the Legion’s territories, double the Technology Department, train one thousand S-class Pilots, and form a non-participant guard for Artemis.
• Cruze argued that the Legion needed a clear successor and that Artemis must inherit the Legion and its territories, while Zengar and Shirakawa Shuu pledged to defend Artemis and preserve the Legion’s path toward freedom.
• Xiao Ran asked Cruze and Char to lead the follow-up work and urged the Legion to achieve a major leap within three years.
• Xiao Ran left the conference center thinking about the Fantasy Zone and the possibility of finding and controlling the lost part of Prometheus.

Xiao Ran reorganized the Burning Legion and spent a year strengthening its territories while preparing to seize control of Prometheus. The chapter ends with the legion’s leaders gathering at the Technology Department after Luo reported news about the Berserk Beast Squad and its mission to the Fantasy Zone.

• Xiao Ran decided that the Berserk Beast Squad, led by Flying Eagle, was the best choice to enter the Fantasy Zone and seek Prometheus’s lost part.
• Xiao Ran, Char, and Cruze spent three days establishing the Burning Legion’s new system and assigning duties to its core members.
• Sanger established the Secret Weapon Department, Shirakawa Shuu led the Operations Division, and Shiun Theodore took charge of the new Knights Order.
• Xiao Ran bought three years of Retention Time, and every member of the Burning Legion chose to remain in the territories and train.
• Over the following year, the Operations Division uncovered and eliminated threats across the territories, while the legion prepared for the dangers in OG World.
• Xiao Ran arrived at the Technology Department, where Luo told him the main concern was the Berserk Beast Squad’s mission to the Fantasy Zone.

Luo introduced the Super Core, a durable, self-repairing core that could house a Super AI and transform into a mecha, and Xiao Ran approved upgrading the Berserk Beast Squad for the Fantasy Zone. When the five robots began planning their modifications, Flying Eagle demanded an absurd assortment of weapons and insisted his core should look like a brick.

• Luo showed Xiao Ran and the others Number One, a Super Core developed by combining Super AI, Aegis Core technology, magic, alchemy, and runes.
• Luo explained that Super Cores could move in core form, store a mecha body in contained space, and repair themselves as long as their cores survived.
• Xiao Ran agreed to have Flying Eagle and the other Berserk Beast Squad members upgraded, while Luo said their cores could take different shapes but could not transform freely.
• A few days later, Flying Eagle, Giant Whale, Mad Wolf, Overlord Lion, and Charge entered the Technology Department for comprehensive upgrades.
• Flying Eagle requested drills, a Lambda Driver, a Getter Ray reactor, nanomaterials, and multiple weapons before choosing a brick as his preferred core shape.
• Flying Eagle said Yuzes had suggested engraving Daoist runes on a brick so it could transform into a mountain, prompting Luo to angrily ask who had given him the idea.