Recaps

Solim offered the Fourth Prince and Seventh Prince a choice between serving as hostages to the Qixing Army or commanding armies, and both chose hostage duty. As they departed for Okla City, a Moon God Church mission entered Seraphitaine, Celeste was summoned back, and he arrived in the palace garden to ask Velin whether the Saint had come.

• Solim told the Fourth Prince and Seventh Prince that one of them would succeed as Crown Prince, then offered them two paths to compete for the throne.
• The Fourth Prince and Seventh Prince both chose to serve as hostages to the Qixing Army for ten years, and Solim ordered them to leave for Okla City in three days.
• After leaving the palace, the Fourth Prince and Seventh Prince acknowledged each other's hidden power and agreed to remain rivals without making things difficult for the other.
• Three days later, the princes departed west, while fifty-five priests of the Moon God Church crossed into Seraphitaine under the escort of five thousand troops assigned by Mikhail.
• In July 9813, Celeste received an order to return to Okla City, then arrived in the palace garden seven days later and asked Velin whether the Saint had come.
• Velin teased Celeste about neglecting his missionary duties, while Celeste silently mocked Velin for spending his time basking in the sun.

Celeste and Kyle discussed Saint Gerard’s expected arrival in Okla City while Gralard traveled through Erich City to find two orphaned siblings and invite them along. Gralard planned to deliver the siblings to Celeste, who sensed that trouble was approaching.

• Kyle told Celeste that Saint Gerard was expected to reach Okla City in three days, and they guessed that he was coming to see Kyle’s Lord.
• Velin resumed reading while Celeste challenged Kyle to a chess game, and Velin reflected on his rapid progress in the Reality Illusion.
• In Erich City, Gralard met a blonde girl and her silver-haired younger brother, shared their roasted bean potatoes, and heard that a flood had destroyed their village and separated them from their parents.
• Gralard invited the siblings to travel with him to Okla City, and the girl reluctantly agreed after her brother showed interest.
• Gralard planned to hand the siblings over to Celeste and find out why his Lord had arranged the detour, while Celeste sensed that trouble was coming.

Gralard brought a silver-haired boy and a blonde girl into Okla City, where he reunited with Velin, Kyle, and Celeste over a meal. After acknowledging Celeste’s improved strength and hearing Velin tease him about his habits, Gralard prepared to tell Celeste something important.

• Gralard entered Okla City with the two children after answering questions at the gate.
• Gralard took the children to a restaurant, where the silver-haired boy and the blonde girl eagerly ate.
• Velin, Kyle, and Celeste joined Gralard at the table, and Velin said he had spent years cultivating.
• Gralard addressed Celeste, who the blonde girl recognized as the commander of the Qixing Army’s Eastern Expeditionary Army.
• Velin teased Celeste about neglecting preaching to play chess with Kyle, and Celeste covered Velin’s mouth and denied it.
• Gralard told Celeste to sit down because he had something to tell him.

Velin told Gralard that thirty-four lands would form a new subcontinent and a corridor to the Main Continent in twelve years, then asked whether the Dawn Church could send three hundred Legendary powerhouses to his realm. Gralard said it could, revealing the Church’s vast reserves as Velin considered how to use them.

• Gralard assigned a blonde girl and a silver-haired boy to Celeste as students, and Celeste accepted.
• At the royal palace, Velin told Gralard that thirty-four lands would move away from the Xenops Subcontinent, with nine forming a new subcontinent and twenty-five creating a corridor to the Main Continent.
• Gralard realized the Church could use the twelve-year lead time to establish a presence in the new subcontinent, though it lacked manpower to develop it fully.
• Velin asked whether the Dawn Church could provide three hundred Legendary powerhouses, and Gralard agreed, listing Legends available from the Xenops Subcontinent, nearby archipelago principalities, and the Holy Third Dawn Kingdom.
• Velin recognized that he had underestimated the Dawn Church’s reserves and reflected on the distance between their respective strengths.

Velin welcomed Glaierd to the garden, where Glaierd gifted him three volumes of Mite's Travels. As they headed to a banquet, Velin explained his plan for a sky-built capital with three secondary capitals, then hinted that Glaierd owed him thanks for something.

• Glaierd offered to let Velin send people to the Holy Third Dawn Kingdom and gave him volumes sixty-seven, sixty-eight, and seventy-two of Mite's Travels.
• Velin hosted Glaierd and the others in the garden, and they chatted without discussing Glaierd's past or the Qixing Army's history.
• Hilda oversaw preparations for a banquet featuring 130 dishes made from Gold-tier magical beasts and potion plants.
• Velin invited Glaierd to the banquet and agreed to have someone bring the two children along.
• Velin told Glaierd that he planned to build the capital in the sky and establish three secondary capitals on the ground.
• Velin told Glaierd that he had to thank him properly for something.

At a banquet, Glaierd discussed Leonus’s possible future with Velin and presented Velin with the Vessel of Io, a divine artifact from the Dawn Church. Velin learned of its origins and refused the gift, saying it was too precious to accept without earning it.

• Glaierd placed marks on the silver-haired boy and the blonde girl to help them safely store the blood energy in the banquet food.
• After the banquet, Velin asked Glaierd to help Leonus stay, and Glaierd agreed to speak with the Left Canon Chief when he returned to the Holy Third Dawn Kingdom.
• Velin asked whether the Left Canon Chief could visit, but Glaierd explained that the chief had important matters to attend to.
• Glaierd gave Velin the Vessel of Io and explained that it was a divine artifact capable of cultivating magic potions.
• Kyle sent Velin memories explaining the Vessel of Io’s history, and Velin then refused to accept it because it was too precious.

Velin accepted the Vessel of Io from Glaierd in exchange for supervising Celeste’s guidance of the clergy and monthly prayers. At the Royal Palace, Velin, Kyle, and Celeste began testing the vessel by placing thirty condemned prisoners inside and preparing a thirty-year Breathing Technique experiment.

• Glaierd offered Velin the Vessel of Io if he supervised Celeste’s duties as a guide, and Velin accepted after clarifying the task.
• Velin added a promise to supervise Celeste’s prayers once a month, which Celeste reluctantly accepted.
• Velin summoned Kyle and Celeste to the Royal Palace’s Administrative Hall to plan tests of the Vessel of Io.
• Velin sent thirty death-row prisoners—fifteen class holders and fifteen ordinary people—into the vessel, where the three observed their initial reactions.
• Velin proposed dividing the prisoners into three groups, teaching each group a different Breathing Technique, and accelerating time by thirty years; Kyle and Celeste agreed to a wager about the results.

Velin, Kyle, and Celeste tested three warrior Breathing Techniques by sending thirty death-row inmates into separate regions of the Vessel of Io and accelerating time for thirty years. Celeste’s group won the trial, and Kyle acknowledged his defeat.

• Velin reset fifteen Transcendents to young bodies, restored fifteen non-professional inmates to peak condition, and divided the thirty subjects among himself, Kyle, and Celeste.
• Velin assigned the groups to forest, desert, and icy terrain, gave them Breathing Techniques, and announced that the winning group would be spared while the losers would be judged for their usefulness.
• Velin, Kyle, and Celeste accelerated time inside the Vessel of Io as the inmates cultivated, fought, and progressed in rank; after a death-row inmate was killed, a bolt of lightning punished the killer.
• At the end of thirty years, twenty-eight survivors emerged, and their ranks showed that Celeste’s group was strongest, Kyle’s weakest, and Velin’s in the middle.
• Kyle told Celeste he had won, while Celeste felt relieved that he could now play chess with Kyle openly.

Velin inspected the condemned prisoners, executed seventeen of them, and freed or punished the rest according to their crimes. After learning that Brend had killed a constable who violated his sister, Velin ordered the officials responsible arrested and launched investigations into corruption across both Qixing districts.

• Velin found that the twenty-eight prisoners had aged thirty years and suffered shortened lifespans, then executed seventeen of them.
• Kyle searched Brend's memories and confirmed that Brend had killed a constable who violated his younger sister.
• Velin commuted the sentences of eight prisoners and freed two noble children from the former Okra Kingdom.
• Velin ordered Zeflin to arrest Lidian City's archon, constable, Guard City general, and local garrison general, and absolved Brend pending their return.
• Velin sent the Shadow Assassins to investigate Qixing West District and told Celeste to gather information about conditions in Qixing East District.

At a banquet outside Lidian City, Bernard urged Feyn to confess to his corruption, but Feyn refused. Zeflin arrived with the Ice Legion to arrest the city’s officials, while Bernard resolved to take Feyn to Okla City himself.

• Feyn attended a lavish banquet, used his position as Archon to pursue a guest, and ignored her husband’s discomfort.
• Bernard secretly met Feyn and warned him to stop abusing his power and plead guilty in Okla City, but Feyn dismissed his concerns.
• Bernard remembered their long friendship and decided to take Feyn to Okla City, even if he had to knock him unconscious.
• Zeflin landed a Floating Battleship at Lidian City and ordered the Ice Legion to arrest the Archon, security officer, city defense general, and local garrison general.
• The duty officer let the Ice Legion enter the City Lord’s Mansion, where a soldier ordered everyone to gather in the courtyard.

The Ice Legion searched the Lidian City Lord’s Mansion for Archon Feyn and learned he was at Crystal Manor. Feyn dismissed warnings that the arriving forces meant to arrest him, but the Blue-haired Youth dragged him away just as the Ice Legion arrived.

• The High-rank Silver warrior ordered the Ice Legion to search the City Lord’s Mansion and interrogate its staff for Archon Feyn’s whereabouts.
• The Ice Legion confirmed that Feyn was attending a banquet at Crystal Manor and departed for the manor.
• The woman in the long dress feared that Feyn’s arrest would cost her position, while the officials returned to their duties.
• An officer warned Feyn and the Blue-haired Youth that a Floating Battleship had arrived, but Feyn refused to hurry back to the city.
• The Blue-haired Youth dragged Feyn toward the city, and the Ice Legion warriors arrived at Crystal Manor before they could leave.

Ice Legion troops arrested Lidian County’s officials and brought them before Velin, who reviewed their records and decided who would answer for their actions. Velin sent Winston Cormac and Gareth to the Eagle Marquis and Marcus to the Hurricane Count, while Bernard remained a promising recruit.

• The High-Silver Warrior arrested Feyn and summoned Bernard to accompany the Ice Legion troops, then Winston Cormac and Marcus were also taken into custody.
• Zeflin learned that Bernard had replaced Gareth as Lidian County’s garrison general and redirected the Legion to Treya Province to find Gareth.
• On July 21, 9813, Velin reviewed the records of Feyn, Winston Cormac, Marcus, Bernard, and Gareth as they knelt before him.
• Velin ordered Winston Cormac and Gareth sent to the Eagle Marquis, Marcus sent to the Hurricane Count, and their records copied and delivered with them.

Velin confronted Feyn over years of corruption in Lidian County and gave him ten minutes to settle his affairs. Feyn killed himself to protect his family, and Velin appointed Bernard to help oversee officials after the purge.

• Feyn confessed that he had taken bribes and embezzled about four million gold coins during his six years as Archon.
• Velin blamed Feyn’s greed and ordered him to take his own life, promising that his family would not be implicated.
• Bernard pleaded for Feyn’s life, but Feyn asked him to watch over innocent officials and warn Feyn’s children not to follow his example.
• Feyn killed himself with the Transcendent-grade longsword while Bernard watched in grief.
• Velin allowed Bernard to collect Feyn’s body and offered him a position in the Inspectorate after the purge in Qixing West District.

Velin reviewed widespread corruption among Qixing West District’s officials and ordered arrests while preparing to reform the administration. Brend, summoned to the Royal Palace after learning that the official who had wronged his sister was dead, arrived before Velin.

• Velin’s provisional regulations described overlapping civil, tax, security, and military authorities, but he decided the system needed gradual reform and called for a meeting by July next year.
• Brend read that Feyn had taken his own life and Winston Cormac had been executed, and celebrated the death of the man responsible for his sister’s abuse.
• Royal Guards summoned Brend to the Royal Palace, where Velin and Kyle examined records showing corruption among officials in seventeen provinces.
• Velin ordered severe punishment for the corrupt officials without implicating their families this time, and assigned Zeflin to oversee the arrests with the Qixing Legion.
• A guard announced Brend’s arrival, and Brend entered the Administrative Hall and saluted Velin.

Velin cleared Brend’s name and offered him compensation for the loss of his lifespan, and Brend chose a pioneering charter to settle the Solantia Death Forest. Velin then met with Belder and Kyle to discuss a new system of official ranks for Qixing’s expanding lands.

• Velin declared Brend innocent and offered him either a Constable post with benefits or a pioneering charter, along with thirty thousand gold coins.
• Brend chose the pioneering charter, which granted him and his descendants the right to establish a territory in the Solantia Death Forest for a hundred years.
• Velin sent Brend with Hilda to collect his compensation, then paid Kyle a gold coin after Kyle won their wager about Brend’s choice.
• Belder arrived at the Administrative Hall, and Velin invited him and Kyle to discuss the official-post system in the garden.
• Velin explained that Qixing’s expansion had made its old methods of overseeing officials inadequate and asked Belder to propose a ranking framework.
• Belder proposed numbered administrator ranks for town, county, prefectural, provincial, and district officials, with deputies ranked one level lower.

Velin, Belder, and Kyle established the kingdom’s administrative structure and assigned its offices to senior officials. After delegating most government work, Velin relaxed in the garden until an unexpected figure appeared before him.

• Belder proposed a system of local administrations, national bureaus, and oversight bodies, and Velin approved the framework.
• Velin and the others established fourteen national offices and three court ministers, despite Belder’s objection to the extra aides.
• Velin appointed Belder, Kyle, and Orlando as Tenth Rank Archons, divided responsibilities among them, and put Xuemya in charge of the Resource Integration Directorate.
• Velin negotiated with Belder over the share of retired military officers assigned to his offices and settled on seventy percent.
• After Kyle left, Velin relaxed in the garden and wondered whether Kyle planned to urge him to cultivate.
• A figure appeared before Velin and blocked the setting sun.

Velin received a letter from Odor Kadra warning that his return date was uncertain and promising to fight him once he returned. Fearing the future battle, Velin began training intensely while Kyle and Celeste discussed the letter’s effect on him.

• Xuemya revealed that Odor Kadra had written to Velin and handed him the letter, which said his return was uncertain and challenged Velin to a fight when he came back.
• Velin concealed the challenge from Xuemya, secretly watched her for several days, then believed the letter was genuine and began planning to train harder.
• Half a month later, Kyle told Celeste that Odor Kadra’s letter had made Velin more diligent, while Celeste suspected Kyle had arranged it.
• Velin trained through Reality Illusions in the royal palace, believing he needed to improve his laws and prepare to face Odor Kadra.

Belder began preparations to test the new administrative system in Treya Province, where Noctus reported the province’s population, resources, taxes, and expenditures. Months later, Velin, Kyle, and Celeste arrived at First Teleportation Array Island and headed to find Hebrew, who was happily slacking off with adventure books.

• Belder addressed Treya Province’s officials, warning them against crossing the line as they searched for loopholes in the new administrative system.
• Noctus reported Treya Province’s population, cultivated land, tax revenue, and expenditures to Belder.
• Belder distributed documents for the officials to study and scheduled a meeting to answer their questions before the trial began.
• Belder told Noctus to use the trial as a chance to restore his reputation and earn a title.
• Velin, Kyle, and Celeste arrived at First Teleportation Array Island and decided to visit Hebrew.
• Hebrew relaxed at his desk, reading adventure storybooks without realizing Velin was coming.

Velin caught Hebrew slacking off in his study, confiscated his Adventure Storybooks, and asked him to show First Teleportation Array Island. As they walked, Velin observed how much the island had expanded and how its island fees generated substantial income.

• Velin entered Hebrew's study and questioned him about three documents that Hebrew claimed to have reviewed, then revealed they were blank.
• Hebrew admitted to slacking off and surrendered his Adventure Storybook and thirty-six more books, which Velin confiscated.
• Velin told Hebrew to take him for a stroll around First Teleportation Array Island, and Hebrew left the study dejectedly.
• Velin surveyed the island's Northern and Southern Districts, noting the Southern District's reclaimed land and hundreds of incorporated islands.
• Velin learned that island fees brought First Teleportation Array Island an annual income of fifty-eight million seven hundred thousand gold coins.

Velin learned how the Southern District harbor’s trade flourished, then spent three days there before secretly returning to the Iron Forge Dwarven Mountain Kingdom with Kyle and Celeste to search for a hidden location. The chapter ended with the three splitting up to look for the site marked by three crooked trees.

• Hebrew explained that Velin’s elder brother had established a trade channel through the Teleportation Array, generating public teleportation fees and usage fees for Velin.
• Velin ordered Kyle to hang Hebrew from a flagpole for three days after Hebrew said Velin had been slacking off.
• Velin stayed in the Southern District for three days, sampling local food while Hebrew handled government affairs and cultivated before returning to his usual slacking.
• Velin, Kyle, and Celeste secretly returned to the Ilia Kingdom and traveled to the Iron Forge Dwarven Mountain Kingdom to obtain a Floating City.
• Near Black Forest Fortress, Velin searched for three crooked trees that could lead them to their destination, then split up with Kyle and Celeste to ask locals and search the surrounding land.

Velin learned that the three crooked-necked trees were near the long-destroyed Ailadan Village, then waited there while Kyle and Celeste were away. Kyle returned empty-handed, and after Celeste arrived, they continued searching for the trees’ remains.

• Velin used magic to alter the perceptions of Kabala Village’s Dwarves, received food from the elder, and learned that the three crooked-necked trees had been near Ailadan Village.
• Velin paid the village elder with two hundred jin of Bean Potato and traveled to the ruins of Ailadan Village.
• Velin searched the surrounding area for several days, then built a pavilion and waited for Kyle and Celeste to return.
• Kyle returned without finding anything, and Velin told him he had searched for the trees’ remains without success.
• Velin removed his pavilion before Celeste returned, and three days later Celeste joined the search.

Velin learned that opening the fragile Outer Dimension required another Legendary and sent Kyle to fetch Duke Moravia. While waiting in the Cecilia Demiplane, he learned the Life Tree's consciousness had formed and saw Celeste's Dawn Power change Griffin cubs; the group later reunited at Ailadan Village.

• The Blood Knight warned Velin that the Outer Dimension could not withstand his power and said its Godhead's attached awareness would self-destruct if it sensed him.
• Velin rejected Celeste's offer to find a Continental Legend and sent Kyle to fetch Duke Moravia.
• Velin and Celeste entered the Cecilia Demiplane, where Cecilia told Velin that the Life Tree's consciousness had formed five years earlier and that its birth would trigger a half-year life tide.
• Celeste's Dawn Power affected nearby blue-furred Griffin cubs, beginning the formation of a light-attribute branch of Xing's tribe.
• Velin and Celeste returned to the ruins of Ailadan Village after four months, and Kyle arrived with Duke Moravia another half-month later.

The Blood Knight enlisted a temporal dragon to break the remaining spacetime restrictions, opening the gateway to the Outer Dimension. He warned Velin, Duke Moravia, Kyle, and Celeste that the space would drift to another time within three months, giving them unequal amounts of time to escape.

• Duke Moravia delayed their work until the next day, while Celeste returned to Ailadan Village and played chess with him as Kyle prepared food.
• The next morning, Velin summoned the Blood Knight, who began breaking the spacetime restrictions while Duke Moravia, Kyle, and Celeste studied the laws of spacetime.
• A temporal dragon emerged from a spacetime gate, but the Blood Knight trapped it and forced it to help break the remaining restrictions.
• After the Blood Knight gave the temporal dragon a ray of light and released it, the three thousand restrictions collapsed and the gateway appeared above the pool.
• The Blood Knight explained that the gateway led to the Outer Dimension and that the unanchored space would drift into the past or future within three months, then gave the four travelers transparent bracers and entered Velin's body.

Velin entered the Outer Dimension alone and found a letter from Kyle explaining how their companions were scattered across different times. He learned that Duke Moravia had to complete a temporal loop, but the landmarks named in Kyle’s instructions were unknown to the man who delivered the letter.

• Velin entered the passage ahead of Kyle, Celeste, and Duke Moravia, but arrived alone in a starry realm and flew to its inhabited planet.
• Velin disguised himself as a local and searched the library for history and legends related to the unfinished Floating City.
• After observing Velin for two days, an ordinary-looking man approached him and invited him home, where Velin recognized Kyle’s handwriting and the Noble Banner of Qixing Territory on a family heirloom.
• The man explained that his family had guarded the heirloom for five hundred years, then gave Velin a sealed box containing a letter from Kyle.
• Kyle’s letter explained the companions’ different arrival times and instructed Velin to pass information to Duke Moravia, who had to visit Ambrose Lake and kill a temporal dragon phantom.
• Velin asked the man about Noctus City and Ambrose Lake, but the man said neither place existed in the Grayfeather Kingdom.

Velin chose a wounded former soldier in Light Spring City to arrange for Kyle’s letter to reach Moravia in Noctus City five hundred years later. After healing the man and giving him a Breathing Technique, Velin left through a gate of time and space.

• Velin searched the slums and found a disabled former unit commander whose sister struggled to care for him.
• Velin tested the man’s resolve in an illusion, and the man passed.
• Velin offered to heal the man and teach him a Breathing Technique in exchange for having his descendants deliver a letter to Moravia five hundred years later.
• The man agreed, and Velin restored his injuries, gave him the technique, and entrusted him with the letter.
• Velin also sent life force into the man’s sister, then left Light Spring City through an illusory gate of time and space.