Chapter Summaries

Margherita gave Ang a confirmed lead on a Level 4 earth-element magical beast in Adaparin, then used her promised condition to join Ang and Dana on their expedition. After they arrived, a William Family noble ordered his people to dispose of Margherita as part of a plan.

• Margherita told Ang she had personally seen a Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino in Adaparin's North Scars Mountain Range and mentioned an unconfirmed rumor about an Earth Tyrant Bear.
• Ang verified Margherita's report three days later, and she demanded that he take her to Adaparin as the condition for her reward.
• Ang agreed to bring Margherita with him and Dana, and the three set out for Adaparin the following morning.
• Ang, Dana, and Margherita traveled through Fortress of Will and Akreli before arriving in Adaparin, where Margherita led them to a restaurant for dinner.
• A William Family butler reported that the three had arrived in Adaparin, and his employer ordered him to dispose of Margherita as well.

Ang, Margherita, and Dana enjoyed a meal in the Adaparin Plane before buying a detailed map and discussing local customs at a magic shop. After learning that the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino had defeated every hunting party, Ang and Dana considered taking it on themselves.

• Dana teased Ang about liking women who ate heartily, and Margherita ordered a second serving to test his reaction.
• The three left the restaurant and bought an accurate map of Adaparin, which included faction bases, routes, resource sites, and concealed intelligence about noblewomen.
• Ang offered a Ring of Potent Healing and a Magic Sense Guard Bracelet for appraisal and possible consignment at the shop.
• Ang bought Yellow Chrysanthemum and buckwheat seeds after enjoying the local tea, and Dana suggested Natiya and Quintina would like them.
• The clerk said no group had returned with the horn or magic core of the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino, and Ang and Dana exchanged a knowing look as Level 2 Great Warriors.

Ang sold two magic items in Adaparin, then grew suspicious of the mage who appraised them and watched the shop with Dana and Margherita. The mage later reported to a group plotting to ambush and kill Ang at the Hill of Shattered Rocks.

• Ang sold his Ring of Potent Healing and Magic Sense Guard Bracelet for 105 magic crystals after the mage appraised them.
• Ang questioned the mage about recognizing him and the Black and White Magic Society, then quietly watched the shop with Dana and Margherita after they left.
• Margherita secretly placed a listening hide by Ang's door, then returned to her room uneasy.
• The mage met with a guarded group and revealed that Count Ang was their mission's target.
• The group decided to ambush Ang at the Hill of Shattered Rocks, using the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino and additional fighters to kill him.

Margherita sneaked into Ang’s bed and slept with him, but he refused to promise he would treat her well and kept his distance afterward. The three resumed their journey, and Ang took precautions at inns to prevent a repeat of the night.

• Margherita entered Ang’s room at night and climbed into bed with him while he slept.
• Ang woke when Margherita clung to him, but their struggle led to them sleeping together before morning.
• Margherita asked Ang to treat her well, and he reminded her that she was Preston’s fiancée; she left in tears.
• Dana found Ang preparing to leave, and Ang used a Holy Light Blessing to ease Margherita’s soreness before they set out.
• The three bought a Green Mane Horse for Margherita, while Ang planned to carry Dana on the Magic Broom.
• Over the next week, Ang locked his room and set a soundproof magic barrier at every inn.

Ang, Dana, and Margherita entered the North Scars Mountain Range on foot after the Green Mane Horse reached its limit, then continued toward the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino. After witnessing a gang stage a fake battle to disguise its attacks on adventurers, they unknowingly became the gang’s next targets.

• Margherita stopped Ang from forcing the exhausted Green Mane Horse onward, so the group rested and released it before setting out on foot the next morning.
• Ang gave Margherita Holy Light before they continued, and she felt conflicted by his concern despite his cold manner.
• After trekking through the North Scars Mountain Range for three days, the group neared the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino and learned that gangs preyed on adventurers in the ungoverned region.
• Ang, Dana, and Margherita watched two groups stage a deadly fight, then saw the survivors unite after looting the bodies.
• The gang discovered the trio nearby, noticed Margherita’s Enchanted Armament, and pursued them with plans to attack.

Ang found a former feeding ground of the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino and prepared a concealed underground chamber and spirit-enchantment altar to wait for it. As rival groups searched the basin and fought each other, Ang and his companions remained hidden, leaving the suspicious leader to move his forces east in search of them.

• Ang and his companions crossed into the basin, where Ang recognized signs of an extinct volcanic crater and found raspberries at a former feeding ground of the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino.
• Ang built a concealed underground chamber, set up the spirit-enchantment altar, and had Dana and Margherita wait with him.
• An assassin from a strange group killed the Black-Eat-Black team's scout and disposed of his body, then searched the basin without finding Ang's group.
• The strange group's ambush slaughtered the Black-Eat-Black Adventuring Team after it entered the basin.
• The strange group's leader ordered searches around the basin, then took most of his forces east after receiving reports that no one had left the area.

Ang completed an experimental magic array for imbuing Enchanted Armaments while he, Dana, and Margherita waited in the basin for the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino. When the Level 5 beast arrived, Ang eliminated a concealed squad of watchers and joined Dana in the fight, which ended with Dana’s strike cracking the rhino’s hide.

• Ang finished an improved magic array and prepared to test it on an Enchanted Armament.
• Ang, Dana, and Margherita spotted a likely Black-Eat-Black squad watching the basin and stayed hidden while they waited for the rhino.
• After three days, the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino entered the basin, and Ang realized it was a Level 5 Magical Beast.
• Ang flew to the watchers’ camp and killed the concealed squad with an Explosive Arrow.
• Ang’s Magic Piercing Arrows failed to pierce the rhino’s hide, so he made an ice path for Dana to reach its back.
• Dana struck the rhino with Bone Crusher, was thrown away by the recoil, and cracked the beast’s rocky hide.

Ang and Dana killed the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino after a fierce battle, then slaughtered a group that arrived and attacked them. Ang concealed their strength by eliminating every survivor and destroying the bodies, leaving the basin silent.

• Ang restrained the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino with water and ice while the Nightmare King burned it from within with Hellfire.
• Dana broke through the rhino's armor with Bone Crusher as Ang shot arrows into its wounds, but the beast retaliated with its Earth Splitter beams.
• Ang and Dana unleashed their full strength and killed the rhino by splitting its spine and severing its head.
• An unfamiliar group arrived and attacked, but Ang shot the fleeing mages while Dana wiped out the remaining fighters.
• Ang harvested the rhino's remains, then patrolled the basin, killed every hidden survivor, and had the Nightmare King consume their bodies.

Ang and Dana completed the Earthly Armament by fusing the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino’s soul and materials into a Tier 2 Enchanted Armament. Dana tested its powers, while Ang promised to make Margherita her own set once she became a Level 2 Great Warrior.

• Ang warned Margherita that her survival depended on behaving, then rested with Dana after their battle with the Rock-Crushing Ground Rhino.
• Ang and Dana used the altar to fuse the rhino’s body, magic core, and soul into a Tier 2 Enchanted Armament, draining two hundred Soul Stones to finish it.
• Ang named the finished armament the Earthly Armament, and Dana put it on while Margherita admired its living texture.
• Dana tested the armament’s Quicksand Aura, Earth Vein Breathing, Endless Rock Shield, and Earthly Ray, but could not yet persuade the rhino’s soul to let him transform into the beast.
• Ang promised to make Margherita an armament when she became a Level 2 Great Warrior, and she vowed to catch up to Gweny.

Ang and his companions escaped the North Scars Mountain Range, where he killed the magic-shop owner who appeared to be following them and concealed the battlefield. After returning to the empire and then Fortress of Will, Ang accepted the governor’s banquet invitation and agreed to take Margherita with him.

• Ang, Dana, and Margherita left the basin, and Ang questioned the magic-shop owner who had sold them their map before killing him when the man tried to leave.
• Ang returned to the basin and used earth magic to conceal the signs of the battle, then camped with Dana and Margherita and declined to hunt an Earth Tyrant Bear for Gweny.
• The three traveled back to Adaparin City and returned to the empire, while a William Family noble ordered his agents to eliminate everyone on the Adaparin Plane who might know what happened.
• Ang, Dana, and Margherita reached Fortress of Will, where a messenger invited Ang to the governor’s banquet; Dana left for home, and Margherita asked to accompany Ang.
• Ang accepted Margherita as his companion for the banquet.

Ang and Margherita attended the governor's ball, where Ang met Fortress of Will's first governor, Put Taylor, and greeted Helen Morgan and Kodo Roland. Helen's mother appeared and exchanged a knowing glance with Ang, leaving Margherita wondering who she was.

• Ang told Margherita to wear her Enchanted Armament to the ball, then booked separate rooms at an inn.
• Ang and Margherita arrived at the Governor's Mansion, where Ang focused on eating while Margherita waited for the ball to begin.
• Margherita asked Ang to dance, but he pointed out that her Enchanted Armament made dancing difficult and asked about His Highness's progress instead.
• Put Taylor introduced himself to Ang as the governor of Fortress of Will, and the two exchanged polite greetings.
• Ang reunited with Helen Morgan and Kodo Roland, congratulated them on their marriage, and noticed Helen's mother approaching.
• Helen's mother greeted Helen, glanced at Ang with concealed surprise, and left Margherita asking who she was.

At the Archon's Ball, Ang persuaded Put Taylor to partner with him on a railcar line between Fortress of Will and Amnath City, while declining to pursue Brook Prairie. Brandon Morgan then met Ang and recalled how Helen had chosen Kedao over him.

• Margherita asked Ang about the noblewoman he had watched, but Ang refused to explain who she reminded him of.
• Put Taylor asked Ang about the Archipelago Plane's future, and Ang proposed linking the nobles' territories with railcars.
• Ang and Put agreed to split the costs and profits of a railcar line between Fortress of Will and Amnath City.
• Ang dismissed the idea of getting involved in Brook Prairie, citing the lizardfolk, difficult logistics, and the ceasefire.
• Brandon Morgan congratulated Ang on becoming an Imperial count and lamented that Helen had not chosen him, while Ang defended her choice of Kedao.

At the banquet, Ang confronted Joandi Rockefeller Morgan, Helen’s mother, about her missing sister Joyce and discovered that Joandi’s nature and knowledge were suspicious. Joandi implied that Joyce was alive but did not want to see Ang, and Ang left with Margherita, still intending to investigate Joandi.

• Ang asked Brandon about the noblewoman who resembled Joyce and learned that Joyce had been missing for a long time.
• As Ang prepared to leave, Joandi introduced herself as Helen’s mother, and Ang tested her with holy light without detecting any magic.
• Joandi said Joyce had likely trusted Ang and asked whether he knew where her sister was; Ang told her Joyce might have met with misfortune.
• Ang suspected Joandi was connected to the Black Magic Society and tried to test her again, but Margherita stopped him.
• Joandi hinted that Joyce was alive and did not want to see Ang, then kissed his cheek and returned to the manor.
• Ang explained his suspicions to Margherita, and the two left for Amnath City at dawn the next morning.

Ang returned to Amnath City and resumed work on his magical, military, and transportation projects, while helping Quintina through a frustrating spell of meditation. After completing a railcar line to Fortress of Will, he planned a northern extension that would bypass hostile nobles and cross territory claimed by the lizardmen.

• Ang returned Margherita to the Governor's Mansion and told her to wait there for His Highness, leaving her tearful as he went to Natiya's workshop.
• Ang reunited with Natiya, told her about his battle on the Adaparin Plane, and later encouraged Quintina to stop forcing her attempts to sense the Ice Elemental Plane.
• Pri told Ang that twelve mages in the Magic Corps had reached Late Level 1 with help from the Golden Radiance Divine Sprout.
• Ang ordered Isi and Yas to begin construction of the railcar line from Amnath City to Fortress of Will, and the line opened in under ten days with Put Taylor presiding.
• Ang told Put that he would extend the line northwest toward Volgograd, bypassing the Litchfield Plains and avoiding stops or trade through lizardmen territory.

Ang pushed a tram line through the Gurbane Wilderness despite a tense standoff with the Lizardmen, who ultimately let construction continue. After learning Ang had once infiltrated the World Tree in disguise, the Lizardmen’s leaders agreed to trade magical herbs for Imperial weapons and armor, and their delegation arrived at Ang’s camp.

• Ang began building a tram line along the Fett Mountains, and Putt ignored nobles’ accusations that the project would violate the Truce Agreement.
• When Lizardman Warriors blocked the route in the Gurbane Wilderness, Ang threatened them, and they withdrew under pressure from his forces.
• Gronra ordered the Lizardmen to yield for the time being and accepted Augustus’s assessment that the road did not violate the agreement.
• Therese recognized Ang from reports of his infiltration of the World Tree and persuaded the legendary Lizardmen to trade with him.
• A Lizardman delegation arrived at Ang’s camp with magical herbs and offered to exchange them for Imperial weapons and armor.

Ang traded basic weapons and armor with the lizardfolk, demonstrated the superiority of enchanted weapons, and celebrated the railway linking Fortress of Will with Volgograd. The lizardfolk later returned seeking a million swords and sabers, offering magic beast cores as payment.

• Ang exchanged the lizardfolk's magical herbs for refined steel weapons and armor, then had the remaining viable herbs replanted.
• At Dana's test, the North Wind Steel Sword damaged an ordinary refined steel sword without being harmed, prompting a noble to buy more than a hundred enchanted swords.
• Ang celebrated the completed railway from Fortress of Will to Volgograd, while Putt worried that Ang's conflict with the old nobles left him caught between them.
• Margherita spoke with Gweny about the Rose Warband, then agreed to go home with Ward to see their mother.
• The lizardfolk returned to request a million refined steel swords and sabers, offering magic beast cores, and Ang inspected the cores before responding.

Ang arranged for Imperial nobles to produce one million fine steel weapons for the lizardmen, using the order to spur local industry in northern Volgograd and the Milaginbi Mountains. He left the chapter expecting the lizardmen to seek more advanced weapons if they approved of the first shipment.

• Ang divided the order for one million weapons, reserving five hundred thousand for his own production and offering the remaining five hundred thousand to five northern Volgograd nobles.
• Viscount Rudolf and the other nobles agreed to split the order, signed a supply contract with Ang, and pledged to deliver their weapons within three months.
• The five families began building workshops in northern Volgograd, accelerating mining, manufacturing, transport, and security recruitment.
• Ang discussed the remaining weapons with Quintina, then summoned the Milaginbi Mountains nobles and offered them orders on the condition that they use local raw materials.
• The Milaginbi nobles volunteered production capacity, accepted deposits, and began preparing their mines and workshops to meet Ang's Imperial-quality standards.
• Ang told Quintina that the lizardmen might order enchanted weapons or Enchanted Armament after receiving the first batch.

Ang sold a limited supply of Basic Strength Armaments to the lizardmen, and the Empire and Northern Council let the deal stand because the lizardmen’s legendary power may soon affect their status within the orc system. He then tested Dana’s Earthly Armament, badly injuring him with a strike empowered by Six-armed Momentum.

• Ang explained to Quintina that he would sell the lizardmen accumulated practice pieces of Basic Strength Armaments, not enough to equip them on a large scale.
• Putt reported Ang’s weapons deal to the Northern Council and the Empire, but neither took action, and the Council shelved the impeachment case.
• Ang told Quintina that the lizardman legend’s possible return from the God-Demon Battlefield had prompted the Empire to tacitly accept the trade, and he asked her to check whether the Empire was still investigating the Guanda Plane matter.
• Ang found Dana at the training ground and tested his Earthly Armament’s rock giant form.
• Ang struck Dana with Six-armed Momentum, shattering his armor and knocking him down after Dana received Holy Light Blessing.

Ang returned to the Guanda Plane with Quintina and Natiya after confirming the Empire had ended its investigation, then found Monag County and the Guanda village devastated by a beast tide. He retrieved the hidden array foundation and chose to turn the area into a concealed training site, where Isi and Yasi helped build an underground base.

• Dana recovered from Ang's training punch and agreed to wait for Ang's scouts to find Minotaur tribes before seeking Combat Techniques on the plateau.
• A month later, Ang traveled to Akreli with Quintina and Natiya, confirmed the Empire had recalled its investigator, and returned to the Guanda Plane.
• Ang found Monag County damaged and nearly deserted, then saw that the Guanda village had been abandoned without obvious signs of slaughter.
• Ang, Quintina, and Natiya reached the wilderness and found the hidden Magic Teleportation Array foundation intact.
• Ang reactivated the array and decided to establish a concealed training site in the Guanda Plane.
• Isi and Yasi helped Ang hollow out a small mountain and complete an underground training base for three thousand people.

Ang led the Magic Corps through months of dangerous training, and Quintina, Isi, and Puli each sensed an Elemental Plane. He took Quintina north to Snow City to find a suitable place for her Archmage breakthrough, and they arrived at the ice-built city together.

• Ang’s teams trained across the Guanda Plane while he managed weapon deals, and the lizardmen kept their trade agreements under his name as they pursued equal city-state status in the Empire.
• Quintina sensed the Ice Elemental Plane, Isi sensed the Earth Elemental Plane, and Puli sensed the Fire Elemental Plane; the three shared their experiences with the Magic Corps.
• Ang chose Agnis Province for Quintina, Wilson Province for Isi, and Prada Volcano for Puli as potential breakthrough locations, then left Dana and Natiya in charge of the base.
• Ang and Quintina traveled through Amnath City, Fortress of Will, Akreli, and Agnis City on their way north, stopping to rest and gather supplies.
• After flying for half a month through the snowfields, Ang and Quintina reached Snow City and approached its ice-crystal gates to find a suitable breakthrough site.