Chapter Summaries

Five years after the Federation expanded into the Picto and Dominate Superclusters, Lin Fan realized that the sealed regions might be part of the Alphart Civilization’s plan to cultivate powerful civilizations. Lin Aotian, an ancient Alphart whose son Lin Hong had protected humanity, appeared before Lin Fan to investigate why humanity’s rise depended so heavily on him.

• Over five years, Lin Yu led the Federation to conquer the Picto and Dominate Superclusters, whose histories and Dark Energy Barriers resembled those of the Bosnia Supercluster.
• Lin Fan reasoned that the sealed Superclusters might be testing grounds where civilizations were forced to fight until the strongest emerged.
• Lin Fan suspected that the Alphart Civilization was behind the scheme and wondered whether it would retaliate after the Federation destroyed several testing grounds.
• Lin Aotian appeared in Lin Fan’s office, introduced himself, and said he had come to see whether the civilization Lin Hong protected could reach the highest step.
• Lin Aotian explained that simulations without Lin Fan showed humanity would never have advanced beyond the Fourth Order and would almost certainly have been destroyed a century earlier.

Lin Aotian explained Alphart’s God-Making Plans and humanity’s unlikely survival to Lin Fan, then revealed he had discovered why Lin Fan lacked Dark Energy Talent. He turned serious as he began to explain the true reason for his visit.

• Lin Aotian told Lin Fan that Alphart had created ten God-Making Plans and that simulations had predicted humanity’s extinction in every outcome.
• Lin Aotian recounted how Lin Hong had sacrificed himself to imprison both himself and Farn, and how humanity later advanced to become an Eighth Order Technological Civilization.
• Lin Fan thanked Lin Aotian for Lin Hong’s help and asked whether a major change had prompted his visit.
• Lin Aotian revealed that he could hear Lin Fan’s thoughts because Lin Fan was only a seventh-order Dark Energy User, and said Lin Yu would soon gain the same ability.
• Lin Aotian said he had figured out why Lin Fan lacked Dark Energy Talent and could solve the problem, then turned serious to explain his true reason for coming.

Lin Aotian warned Lin Fan that a fleet from the Black Mang Empire would reach their universe within a thousand years and that humanity needed to become a peak Super Civilization to survive. Lin Fan revealed his goal was to guide humanity toward God-tier status within that time, and Lin Aotian offered to fix Lin Fan's Dark Energy Talent before leaving him stunned by saying he knew Lin Fan came from outside the universe.

• Lin Aotian told Lin Fan that a hidden Black Mang Empire fleet would arrive within a thousand years and could overwhelm the Alphart Civilization.
• Lin Aotian explained that the Black Mang Empire would wipe out all life in the universe after conquering it, so humanity needed to reach at least peak Super Civilization status.
• Lin Fan said he had planned to lead humanity toward becoming a God-tier Civilization within a thousand years, surprising Lin Aotian with his confidence.
• Lin Aotian accepted Lin Fan's confidence and said he would help resolve Lin Fan's Dark Energy Talent before leaving.
• Lin Aotian revealed that Lin Fan could fix his talent because he came from outside the universe, shocking Lin Fan.

Lin Aotian explained that the Alphart Civilization existed as Progenitor Energy and used the differences in Lin Fan’s Life Source to identify him as a soul-transmigrator from another universe. He revealed that Lin Fan’s lack of Dark Energy Talent came from his Life Source being incompatible with this universe’s rules, and said it could only be fixed by altering his Progenitor Energy.

• Lin Aotian explained that Progenitor Energy existed within all living creatures and that Transcendent Civilizations could observe it.
• Lin Aotian distinguished Progenitor Energy from the primitive human concept of souls and described how astral projection occurred.
• Lin Aotian said Lin Fan’s Progenitor Energy differed from this universe’s and was incompatible with his current body, revealing that he had transmigrated from another universe.
• Lin Fan wondered whether his previous Earth existed in another universe and hoped he might return there someday, reassuring Lin Aotian that he was not a spy.
• Lin Fan connected his lack of Dark Energy Talent to his Life Source’s incompatibility with the universe’s rules.
• Lin Aotian said Lin Fan would need to alter the Progenitor Energy attached to his Life Source to make it fully compatible with this universe.

Lin Aotian modified Lin Fan’s Progenitor Energy, making him an S-Class Dark Energy User. Lin Fan revealed his new ability to Liang Xue and ordered a Dark Energy battle star and Alpha-type mecha, leaving her and Wei stunned.

• Lin Fan resisted altering his Life Source, but Lin Aotian reassured him and proceeded with the modification.
• After Lin Aotian left, Lin Fan removed the Full Dark Energy Calculation System and discovered that he could use Dark Energy without it.
• Lin Fan told Liang Xue to have the new Gonggong battle star converted into a Dark Energy version and to commission him an Alpha-type mecha.
• Lin Fan formed a Dark Energy Matrix in his palm and told Liang Xue that he had awakened as an S-Class Dark Energy User.
• Wei scolded Liang Xue over Lin Fan’s request, then learned that Lin Fan had become an S-Class Dark Energy User.

Lin Fan was forced to endure Wei’s experiments after she learned he had become an S-Class Dark Energy Manipulator, while the Zilun Empire delayed its invasion of Vilsert to suppress resistance in the Silas Empire and the Sallamo Republic. The expedition was postponed for five years.

• Wei learned that Lin Fan had awakened as an S-Class Dark Energy Manipulator and immediately set out for the Viers Supercluster with researchers from the Bailan Research Institute.
• Lin Fan realized Wei would investigate him and resigned himself to her arrival after Liang Xue refused to help him retract the news as a joke.
• More than a month later, Wei used Lin Zhen’s order to make Lin Fan cooperate with her experiments while Liang Xue took over his duties.
• Latis delayed the Zilun Empire’s expedition because resistance fleets remained hidden across the Silas Empire and the Sallamo Republic.
• Galon granted Latis two more years to suppress the opposition, postponing the expedition against Vilsert until five years later.

Latis recognized that Galon would keep weakening the Zilun Empire even if it fulfilled its orders, so she argued that the Empire had to act proactively to break the deadlock. As the fleet prepared to depart for the campaign against humanity, Eris understood her reasoning but did not know what proactive victory would look like.

• After five years of suppressing resistance in the Silas Empire, the Sallamo Republic, and the Zilun Empire, Latis halted the campaign and gathered an expeditionary fleet.
• In Nivela Galaxy, Eris reported that the fleet was ready with 980 billion warships, while Latis hesitated over a difficult decision.
• Latis asked Eris whether he understood the Empire's predicament under Galon, and Eris said he would take down the humans.
• Latis explained that Galon would keep draining the Zilun Empire's strength and that passive responses would eventually lead to its destruction.
• Eris realized that the Empire had to seize victory proactively, but he still did not know how to do so.

Latis changed the Zilun Empire’s plan from attacking humanity to seeking cooperation, and Eris sent ships toward Heres to make contact. A month later, an alarm sounded at the Federation fortress near the Current Mouth as Lin Tian worked in its command center.

• Latis told Eris that the Empire would seek humanity’s cooperation because force was no longer a viable option.
• Eris arranged for twenty-four Zilun Empire warships carrying special personnel to leave at hourly intervals and attempt contact with humanity.
• Latis delayed the fleet’s departure by one day when Galon and Hypnos questioned him, concealing that the special ships had already set out.
• One month later, an alarm suddenly blared through the Federation fortress at Heres while Lin Tian was working in its command center.

An alarm at Current Mouth put the Heres defense line on combat readiness, but the Mainframe estimated that only one to ten enemy warships were approaching. Lin Tian ordered the fleets to follow the full defensive plan and told Lin Kexin to capture the newcomers alive for intelligence, leaving her frustrated on the first defensive line.

• Bilodis reported abnormal energy flow at Current Mouth, and Lin Tian ordered a Level One combat readiness alert and preparation of the Doomsday Bomb.
• The Mainframe twice estimated that between one and ten enemy warships were approaching, so Lin Tian ordered the fleets to deploy according to Plan One rather than trust the estimate.
• The Federal Fleet deployed its defensive lines and activated the Starry Sky Defense Network while the command team prepared the Doomsday Bomb.
• Lin Tian told Lin Kexin to capture the enemy vessels alive so the Federation could learn about Nirkenia, and she reluctantly agreed.
• On the Luoshen, Lin Kexin ordered her fleet to charge its weapons but forbade it to fire without her command.

Karos recounted five years of brutal suppression in the Silas Empire and Sallamo Republic, then prepared to join the Zilun Empire’s campaign against the human civilization in the Viers Supercluster. A summons to the Marshal’s flagship ended with a special combat mission that left him dumbfounded.

• Karos described how the Silas Empire and Sallamo Republic sent fleets to the Viers Supercluster, where both fleets were destroyed in Heres.
• Karos said the Zilun Empire spent five years suppressing resistance in the two civilizations, destroying millions of planets and killing far more ordinary people than resistance members.
• Karos learned that Emperor Latis planned to send the Zilun Empire to finish off the human civilization, and he eagerly awaited departure.
• The Column's Supreme Commander ordered Karos to assemble with twenty-four other warships at designated coordinates.
• The Imperial Marshal summoned the twenty-four warship commanders aboard the War God and announced a special combat mission that stunned Karos.

Karos led the first Zilun Empire warship to Heres, hoping its forces would seek cooperation with humanity rather than fight. After his ship emerged into space surrounded by human defenses, Lin Kexin ordered her fleet to hold fire unless it detected hostile action, and the Zilun ship requested contact.

• Karos worried that Marshal Eris's orders to seek cooperation would leave his ship exposed, since it was the first of twenty-four warships sent ahead to Heres.
• The Zilun warship exited the Cosmic Current and detected billions of human warships with their Dark Energy weapons charged.
• Karos ordered his crew to contact the human forces and declare that they had no intention of fighting.
• Lin Kexin identified the unfamiliar vessel as belonging to a civilization at least Ninth Order and ordered her fleet not to fire unless it made a hostile move.
• The Zilun ship identified itself as belonging to the Tenth Order Zilun Empire and requested a communication channel.

Karos’s fleet contacted the Human Federation near Heres and requested cooperation, while the Federation kept its forces on alert. After meeting Lin Tian, Karos agreed to a virtual-space meeting and arranged for more Zilun warships to arrive safely.

• The Federation acknowledged Karos’s message, ordered its fleet to remain at Level One Combat Readiness, and warned the Zilun ships against hostile actions.
• Karos told his crew to hide any fearful reactions when they saw humans, but the warning made them imagine humans as terrifying beings.
• Lin Tian appeared through Dark Energy Communication and demanded Karos state his purpose; Karos requested a virtual space where Rusty could explain the cooperation proposal.
• Lin Tian ended the communication, then the Federation sent Karos an entrance to Void Space and scheduled a meeting for half an hour later.
• Karos told the Federation that twenty-three more warships would arrive and asked them not to fire, then contacted Rusty to report the situation.

Lin Fan agreed to speak with the Zilun Empire to learn more about the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster and address the threat blocking the Federation’s expansion. In their first virtual meeting, Lin Fan identified the Human Federation as an Eighth Order civilization, surprising His Majesty Rusty, and explained that its Dark Energy technology far exceeded its rank.

• His Majesty Rusty ordered Karos to avoid calling humanity an evil race and to continue waiting for a dialogue with them.
• Lin Fan told Lin Tian that contact with the Zilun Empire could help the Federation learn about the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster and resolve the obstacle to its expansion.
• Lin Fan instructed Lin Tian to establish a virtual dialogue space, and Lin Tian arranged talks with Karos for one hour later.
• His Majesty Rusty prepared to persuade humanity to cooperate against Galon, confident that he had an irresistible bargaining chip.
• Lin Fan and His Majesty Rusty introduced themselves in the virtual space, and Rusty challenged Lin Fan’s claim that the Federation was only an Eighth Order civilization.
• Lin Fan insisted that the Federation was an Eighth Order civilization but said its Dark Energy capabilities had advanced several levels beyond its rank.

Lin Fan learned that Purgatory’s creatures were Farn’s test subjects and discovered why His Majesty Rusty wanted the Federation’s help against Galon. Lin Fan agreed to cooperate with the Zilun Empire on the condition that he receive Purgatory.

• His Majesty Rusty explained the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster’s history and said Galon, a peak Tenth-order Biological Civilization individual, was a threat the Zilun Empire could scarcely defeat.
• Lin Fan connected Farn’s history to the Purgatory Creatures and concluded that Farn had created Purgatory as a place for test subjects.
• His Majesty Rusty revealed that Heg, Galon’s second brother, had been killed by Lin Fan and inferred that the Federation had technology capable of killing Biological Civilization individuals.
• Lin Fan agreed to cooperate with the Zilun Empire against Galon, on the condition that he receive Purgatory.

Lin Fan and Latis agreed to cooperate against Galon, with Lin Fan demanding Purgatory, the Minor Universe Farn left behind. They began planning how to deploy the Federation’s Doomsday Bombs while each privately prepared to outmaneuver the other over the laboratory.

• Lin Fan judged that the Federation lacked enough Doomsday Bombs to attack the Zilun Empire directly, but Galon still had to be eliminated because it could send forces through Black Hole Channels anywhere in the Federation.
• Lin Fan demanded Purgatory to prevent the Zilun Empire from inheriting Farn’s laboratory, and Latis agreed while secretly intending to break the deal later.
• Lin Fan planned to block access to Purgatory with Knox Particles from a Doomsday Bomb, which would make the area impassable to life for ten thousand years.
• Lin Fan told Latis that the Federation’s Knox-based weapon could kill even a Tenth-order Biological Civilization individual, but refused to share the technology.
• Lin Fan and Latis began discussing the operation, and Lin Fan explained that disrupted hyperspace and spatial transmission would make rapid Doomsday Bomb deployment difficult.

Lin Fan and Rusty put their plan into action as the Zilun Empire fleet prepared to leave Heres, with a disguised Nether Fleet joining its Second Super Attack Group. Rusty then decided it was time to tell Galon that the Zilun Empire had defeated humanity.

• Lin Fan arranged for a Doomsday Bomb and transmission interference to deter the Zilun Empire fleet while it remained in Heres, where the fleet observed their agreement for three months.
• Lin Fan and Rusty confirmed the plan, and Wang Hai led one hundred thousand disguised Nether warships toward the Zilun Empire's Second Super Attack Group.
• Wang Hai's fleet connected to the Zilun Empire's coordination system and merged into the Second Super Attack Group without raising suspicion.
• The Zilun Empire's First Super Attack Group departed through the Current, followed hours later by the Second Super Attack Group.
• Rusty watched the scenery from the imperial planet and decided to report to Galon that the Zilun Empire had defeated humanity.

The Zilun Empire's fleet returned to Nivela, while Galon recognized the captured human leader as an Alphart person and ordered Hypnos to delay the execution. The chapter leaves Galon uncertain about humanity's connection to the universe's sole Transcendent Civilization.

• A patrol ship's crew feared humanity might attack Nivela after defeating the Zilun Empire, then confirmed the arriving fleet belonged to the Zilun Empire.
• The patrol ship's captain ordered his crew to ask the returning Zilun fleet whether it needed assistance.
• Hypnos rushed to Galon's palace after learning the Zilun fleet had returned, intending to discuss the captured human responsible for Hegg's death.
• Galon recognized the human in Rasti's visual records as an Alphart person because of his inherited memories.
• Galon told Hypnos to postpone executing the human until he could determine whether humanity was connected to the Alphart Civilization.

Galon hesitated to execute the humans because he feared they might be connected to the Alphart Civilization, while Hypnos revealed he had never seen Farn’s true appearance. Meanwhile, Lin Aotian announced to the Supreme Council that he had found Galon, the Alphart Civilization’s missing Totem Sacred Beast.

• Galon explained to Hypnos why the Alphart Civilization might have preserved humans as a hidden contingency or experiment, and warned that Purgatory must not provoke it.
• Hypnos said he had never been able to see Farn’s true appearance, leading Galon to realize that Rasti may have attacked the humans because the people of Nirkienia did not recognize their resemblance to Farn.
• Galon decided to have Rasti send the captured human to Hailavi so he could investigate whether the human was connected to the Alphart Civilization before deciding what to do.
• Lin Aotian summoned the Supreme Council and announced that he had found Galon, the missing Totem Sacred Beast and last qilin in the universe.

Lin Aotian revealed that Galon ruled the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster and had launched wars against humanity, shocking the Alphart council. He warned that humanity planned to use Knox Particle weapons against Galon, and said he had intended to ask humanity to stop, but left the reason unfinished.

• The Alphart councilors celebrated when Lin Aotian announced that he had found Galon, then questioned why Galon had not returned to the Alphart Continent.
• Lin Aotian explained that he had encountered Galon while passing through the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster, which was at war with humanity.
• Lin Aotian revealed that Galon ruled Nilkenia, had ordered the war against humanity, and had expanded his forces to control three Superclusters.
• The councilors blamed Farn for Galon's change in behavior, suspecting he had altered Galon during his imprisonment.
• Lin Aotian told the council that humanity had mastered the preliminary application of Knox Particles and intended to use Knox Particle weapons against Galon.
• Lin Aotian said he had planned to ask humanity to stop attacking Galon, but his explanation ended after he said, "But..."

Lin Aotian argued that the Council must let humanity use Knox Particles against Galon so humanity could continue its path toward becoming a God-tier Civilization. He proposed secretly rescuing Galon afterward and faking his self-destruction, and the councilors agreed.

• Lin Aotian explained that interfering in humanity's battle with Galon could deprive humanity of a vital chance to understand Knox Particles.
• The councilors objected to abandoning Galon, the last Kirin and the Alphart Civilization's sacred guardian.
• Lin Aotian assured them he would not let Galon die and proposed rescuing him without disrupting humanity's operation.
• A councilor pointed out that humanity would notice Galon's intact body had vanished after the Knox Particle attack.
• Lin Aotian proposed staging Galon's complete self-destruction, and the councilors agreed to the plan.