Chapter Summaries

Caramel Snail set out to confront Li Ren, Ci Lang, and Cheng Zhisuke, but killed a teenage robber on the way and fled with his money. As he neared his targets’ apartment, a calico cat reacted to an invisible presence behind him, and Caramel Snail froze.

• Caramel Snail received a quest to beat Li Ren, Ci Lang, and Cheng Zhisuke into submission or kill them.
• Caramel Snail listened to a Red Brigade broadcast criticizing Sky Ring’s clans, military government, and upcoming Nine Dragons Gathering.
• A teenage robber tried to steal Caramel Snail’s terminal and stabbed him, so Caramel Snail fought back and killed him.
• Caramel Snail took the robber’s money, treated his wounds, and continued toward the cheap rental apartment where his targets were staying.
• Caramel Snail heard a sound in an alley and saw a calico cat staring at an invisible presence behind him; a voice greeted him.

Li Aoz recruited Caramel Snail into the martial arts Path and enlisted him as an attendant for the Nine Dragons Gathering. Caramel Snail accepted the quest and a large payment, though he realized Li Aoz might keep him working until his death.

• Li Aoz approached Caramel Snail in Nura City and praised his qualities before asking for his help.
• Li Aoz decided Caramel Snail's talent was being limited by Twilight Sword Saint and planned to train him as a Martial Artist.
• Li Aoz offered Caramel Snail the quest "Path: Great Power of Destruction," with tasks to enter a martial arts school and help him at the banquet.
• Caramel Snail accepted the quest, exchanged contact information with Li Aoz, and asked how long he would need to help.
• Li Aoz said Caramel Snail could leave when he died, then paid him 10,000 Derby, prompting Caramel Snail to agree.

Li Aoz publicized his arrival in Nura City while shopping with Caramel Snail, then brought him to a martial arts school to train. After Li Aoz made Caramel Snail confront his lack of ambition, Caramel Snail chose to train, and Li Aoz’s favorability toward him increased.

• Li Aoz dressed in Red Arrow formalwear and shopped with Caramel Snail, buying supplies while making his arrival in Nura City known.
• Nura City's government decided not to interfere with Li Aoz, while residents gathered around him and discussed his reputation and appearance.
• Li Aoz handed Caramel Snail over to a martial arts instructor and paid for him to train until he awakened his qi.
• Caramel Snail protested that Li Aoz had treated him like a dog, but Li Aoz said he had tried to show him a better life and inspire his ambition.
• Caramel Snail refused to give up the opportunity to compete and asked the instructor to train him, earning Li Aoz's favorability.

Li Aoz visited the Celestial Blaze Ring Red Brigade Army and praised its opposition to the Hojo Conglomerate’s invasion of the Huameida Island Chain. He recounted how the Lanmo Alliance was carved up by foreign powers before becoming the Red Arrow Empire, leaving his meeting with the brigade underway.

• Li Aoz left Nura City and traveled to Huxin Town, where his bearing and Aura of Goodwill secured him entry to the Raging Highway tavern.
• Two Celestial Blaze Ring guards challenged Li Aoz, and he identified himself as Red Arrow People seeking to speak with them.
• Li Aoz described the brigade’s international reputation as a radical organization and praised its anti-war demonstrations during the Huameida Island Chain incident.
• Li Aoz recounted how Frostplate, Sky Ring, Zhengxu, and other powers seized Lanmo’s land and resources during the Malefic Calamity.
• Li Aoz revealed that the small, nearly destroyed nation left behind was Red Arrow, which later became an empire.

The chapter explained the long dispute over Huameida Fortress and how Red Arrow’s sanctions and Sky Ring’s war-driven policies plunged Heavenly Ring into economic and political turmoil. It introduced the Red Squad, a disciplined student resistance group, and ended by identifying Gretwar Night Song as one of its internationalist volunteers.

• Red Arrow’s expansion and its claim to Huameida Fortress fueled a decades-long conflict with Sky Ring over the Old Era technology inside it.
• Red Arrow’s economic sanctions worsened Sky Ring’s unemployment and poverty, while the government encouraged people to form armed groups and seize territory in the Outland.
• Sky Ring’s plans to land on Huameida provoked Red Arrow’s nuclear threat and deepened the divide between hawks and doves as ordinary people feared being sent to war.
• Anti-war organizations emerged across Sky Ring, but the government arrested 220,000 members and scattered most of the groups.
• The disciplined Tianchi Ring Red Brigade Army remained active as the Red Squad, and Li Aoz recognized it as one of Sky Ring’s Main Storylines.
• The Red Squad recruited Aoneng users and internationalist volunteers, including Gretwar Night Song, the Black Knight.

Li Aoz confronted the Red Squad and pressured its members to explain their failure to plan a rescue for Gretwar Night Song. Lady Mirror, identified as Xiajian Jing, intervened with a mirror-based ability, leaving Li Aoz facing her in combat.

• Li Aoz sought out the Red Squad and identified Lady Mirror despite the guards denying their leader was present.
• Li Aoz used his charm and accusations to challenge the guards over their inaction toward Gretwar Night Song.
• Xiajian Jing told Li Aoz to stop bullying the young members and activated Refractive Mirror Waltz.
• The mirrored world shattered as Li Aoz prepared to face Xiajian Jing in combat.

Li Aoz fought Xiajian Jing after she attacked him through the shattered mirror world, and both displayed the extraordinary abilities of their ranks. Xiajian Jing held back but landed heavy blows, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Li Aoz used the damage from the shattered mirror world to locate Xiajian Jing, then struck first with neural tendrils and Sever Life.
• Xiajian Jing dodged his attacks, used Phantom Dash to close in, and knocked him down with a feint and a leg sweep.
• Xiajian Jing punched Li Aoz into the ground, but he blocked most of the blow with Mountains Armor and answered with Obsidian Armor.
• Li Aoz charged Xiajian Jing with gravity-enhanced lava blades, but she redirected his swords and struck his armor twice, cutting his health in half.
• Xiajian Jing feinted another punch and appeared behind Li Aoz as she welcomed him to Sky Ring.

Li Aoz defeated Xiajian Jing in a sparring match, then earned her respect and discussed the Tianchi Ring · Red Brigade’s struggle against the clan conglomerates. He revealed that he wanted their help to free Gretwar Night Song and pursue his goal of leaving Azure Planet for the universe.

• Li Aoz tricked Xiajian Jing into blocking a close-range blast, then restrained her with eighty times gravity until they agreed to end their sparring match.
• Xiajian Jing recognized Li Aoz’s strength, and they introduced themselves and went to the tavern to talk.
• Xiajian Jing asked whether Li Aoz had come to rescue Gretwar Night Song, and he admitted he needed Gretwar and the Red Brigade for his plans.
• Li Aoz and Xiajian Jing agreed that the clan conglomerates were the enemy behind Sky Ring’s troubles, despite their different views of Red Arrow.
• Li Aoz revealed that he wanted to go into the universe, which Xiajian Jing recognized as his reason for seeking the Red Brigade’s help.

Li Aoz explained to the Red Squad how he planned to use the Hojo Conglomerate’s Hydrogen Bomb to blast through Malefic Calamity and reach space without a spacecraft. The squad realized he intended to steal the bomb and detonate it, while Li Aoz insisted he had experience with such a plan.

• The Red Squad called Li Aoz a madman and warned him that Malefic Calamity made reaching space impossible.
• Li Aoz dismissed their objections and said he would go into space without a spacecraft.
• Li Aoz outlined how a Hydrogen Bomb explosion could clear the Esha Clouds and propel him beyond the atmosphere.
• Li Aoz revealed that the plan required stealing the Hojo Conglomerate’s Hydrogen Bomb and would make him a target for Sky Ring’s four active Gamma Rank officials.
• The Red Squad reacted with terror, and Li Aoz confirmed he would ignite the bomb and charge into space.

Gretvor endured the prison’s freezing punishment without breaking, while a mysterious summons called him one of the jury. He encountered White Shark in a vision, who insisted that Gretvor was destined to become a Black Knight and make a sacrifice.

• Sky Ring guards waited for Gretvor Night Song to succumb to the cold, but surveillance showed him alive and unfazed despite the frost covering his body.
• The guards discussed the rise of Gamma Ranks and argued that Azure Planet lacked the resources to sustain them.
• Gretvor sensed a strange call that showed him a blue sky above Malefic Calamity and told him to wake as one of the jury.
• A pale figure named White Shark appeared to Gretvor and criticized his understanding of his quality and destiny.
• White Shark declared himself the White Knight of the jury and claimed Gretvor needed to awaken as a Black Knight and embrace sacrifice.

Gretvor questioned White Shark about their shared origin and learned that White Shark believed they were Ether-born beings destined to serve a Living Civilization. White Shark then sensed a powerful Ether resonance in a girl named Yawen and hurried to support the Bellringer.

• Gretvor asked White Shark about his origins, and White Shark claimed they were Ether beings and called Gretvor a future Social Citizen.
• White Shark described society as a Living Civilization whose citizens served as its cells, and said he and Gretvor would become important stem cells.
• Gretvor learned from White Shark that Jing, the Bellringer, and the two of them were the planet’s four C3 Luca-type Cosmic Human Race members.
• White Shark sensed the Bellringer meeting a girl with powerful Blood of Ether and potential to become a Jury-level professional.
• White Shark learned that the girl was Yawen, possibly the Tailor, and said he would go support the Bellringer.

After Li Aoz proposed an impossible plan, Xiajian Jing left the Red Squad to visit an old friend and remembered her childhood with Gretwar Night Song. The memory left her acknowledging that she still could not move forward without her partner.

• The Red Squad dismissed Li Aoz's plan as madness, but Xiajian Jing ordered her motorcycle prepared.
• Xiajian Jing rode through the mountain forest and recalled Li Aoz praising Gretwar Night Song for his power and refusal to hurt anyone.
• Fourteen years earlier, Xiajian Jing urged Gretwar to join the military academy with her, while he tended an injured cat and said he wanted to become a doctor.
• Gretwar explained that he did not want poor people to be made to kill one another for the benefit of powerful officials and corporations.
• Xiajian Jing remembered Gretwar as gentle despite his strength and admitted she could not move forward without him.

Xiajian Jing visited her teacher Bediya Arkanu at Cold Iron Settlement and asked for Ether Concoction so she could gain the power to save Azure Planet, even knowing it could turn her into a Classholder and erase her from memory. Meanwhile, Li Aoz drew a crowd in Nura City and spotted a player from the White Day Guild, hoping to profit from the major guild.

• Xiajian Jing arrived at Cold Iron Settlement and asked Bediya Arkanu whether he believed the sun and stars existed and wanted to go to space.
• Xiajian Jing told Bediya Arkanu she planned to save Gretvor and send a Red Arrow person into space, then demanded Ether Concoction.
• Bediya Arkanu warned Xiajian Jing that Ether could make her a Classholder, enslave her to Society, and erase her from people's memories, but she remained determined to use it.
• Li Aoz returned to Nura City and drew a crowd while chatting with residents and gathering public Favorability.
• Li Aoz noticed the player White Day Wanderer and recognized the opportunity to profit from the White Day Guild.

White Day Guild and other player guilds rushed to recruit Li Aoz as their Overlord Class mentor after learning he was in Nura City. Li Aoz swept the players away with gravity and brought them to Triangle Town to show them his laboratory.

• White Day Guild chose Nura City as its base and struggled to afford martial arts training for its members.
• Night Wanderer spotted Li Aoz, prompting Guild Leader King Yama to gather the White Day Guild and hurry to recruit him.
• King Yama encountered rival guilds on the way, but insisted that securing Li Aoz and a Spellcaster class mattered more than leveling.
• Li Aoz examined the crowd of players, noted their low levels and poor equipment, and decided he would have to raise them from scratch.
• Li Aoz used gravity to carry the players into the sky and brought them to Triangle Town to visit his laboratory.

Li Aoz brought the players to Triangle Town and his laboratory, where they learned how highly the Outland People regarded him and explored the facility. He revealed that they were not natives of Azure Planet, then ignored their expectant stares to play on his phone.

• Li Aoz led the players into Triangle Town, where locals scolded them for their intrusive behavior.
• White Day Guild players gathered intelligence about Triangle Town and learned of Li Aoz's celebrated military achievements.
• Yan Wang worried that becoming a Mutant might involve hidden dangers or requirements beyond the players' reach.
• Li Aoz brought the players into his laboratory, where its life-rich atmosphere gave them Nutrient Enrichment.
• Li Aoz told the players they were not natives of Azure Planet, but after they braced for a dramatic confrontation, he ignored them and played on his phone.

Li Aoz revealed that he was an alien envoy and asked the players to help save Azure Planet, then issued an Apocalypse-rank main quest with major rewards. The players hesitated at the quest’s difficulty, and Li Aoz opened his Biochemical Pool to show them useful potions.

• The players failed to get Li Aoz’s attention with pranks, while he ate instant noodles in front of their hungry group.
• Li Aoz told the players he was not an Azure Planet Person but an envoy from the Fiennes Federation known as the Echoer.
• Li Aoz explained that Cresta had once connected Azure Planet with extraterrestrial knowledge, but the Malefic Calamity had severed those channels and threatened the planet’s future.
• Li Aoz issued the Apocalypse-rank main quest “Unknown Airspace,” offering rewards for training as Mutants, investigating the hydrogen bomb beneath the Hojo Conglomerate, and entering the Triangle Town selection tournament.
• The players reacted to the quest’s rewards but doubted they could handle its difficulty, so Li Aoz opened the Biochemical Pool and offered them useful potions.

Li Aoz introduced cheap mutation-inducing potions and a difficult Main Quest whose rewards drew the three guilds into debate. White Day and Antarctic Penguin chose to complete only its training condition for now, while the Murloc Guild accepted the full quest.

• Li Aoz offered players inexpensive XDM-101 Mutation Inducing Agents, explained their unstable results and guaranteed rare awakenings after repeated attempts, and advertised stronger products to warriors he recognized.
• The three guilds debated whether to accept Li Aoz's Main Quest, weighing its rewards against its difficulty and the risk of investigating the Hojo Conglomerate.
• Old Blindeye pointed out that only one of the quest's three settlement conditions involved investigating intelligence, and that none explicitly required combat.
• Yan Wang argued that White Day should complete only condition A, while Antarctic Penguin also chose to focus on A and consider condition C later.
• Old Blindeye persuaded the Murloc Guild to accept the full quest, while Li Aoz considered Yan Wang as a potential logistics recruit and wondered how Mouldy Crotch was doing.

Li Aoz trained the 31 Murloc Guild members, whom he called Descenders, while expanding their role in Triangle Town and dismissing the Auckland Lord’s hopes of using them as conventional soldiers. With the Nine Dragons Gathering still ahead, Li Aoz prepared the players for future missions, improved his own abilities, and began aggressively using Aoneng potions.

• Li Aoz awakened and trained the 31 Murloc Guild members, arranged duels and paid work for them, and promised them 50,000 experience points upon completing their training.
• The Auckland Lord questioned the Descenders’ strange behavior and apparent inability to die, then considered using them as warriors; Li Aoz explained they were better suited to small-scale infiltration than conventional warfare.
• Li Aoz focused on training the players and improving the Mutant class, while recognizing that the missions “Remember Them” and “White Frost Gold Bones” remained difficult to advance.
• Li Aoz learned medical skills through Red Arrow Empire channels, raised his Constitution, and upgraded the DM-303 Potion so it worked instantly.
• Li Aoz sent some new Aoneng potions to Sisron, sold some to players, and kept most for himself, then transformed into Changshu Arnor and repeatedly injected Aura Awakening Potion to strengthen himself.

Over seven days, Li Aoz fused several useful Aoneng, including Pegasus Force, Castling, and a powerful Rho-class Death Link. With his Bloodfiend Style finally assembled, he prepared to return for the Nine Dragons Gathering and shock the Heavenly Ring People.

• Li Aoz turned most of the common Alpha- and Beta-class Aoneng he obtained into gene fragments, while fusing a few promising ones.
• Li Aoz created Pegasus Force to strengthen his frail body and gain flight and protection from targets with divinity.
• Li Aoz upgraded Castling to Kappa-class, giving himself a positional swap with an illusory duplicate every three minutes.
• Li Aoz raised Death Link to Rho-class, allowing him to bind targets' deaths and transfer lethal damage to them.
• Li Aoz completed his Bloodfiend Style with Death Link and decided to come out of retirement for the Nine Dragons Gathering.

As the Nine Dragons Gathering approached, Li Aoz settled into Qiongan Capital while Murloc Guild players infiltrated the Hojo Conglomerate Building to search for the Hydrogen Bomb, Hirozaki Arisa. The players reached a restricted underground level, and one managed to sneak inside invisibly as their reconnaissance continued.

• Li Aoz stayed in a VIP hotel suite and watched Qiongan Capital's celebrations, remarking that the show was about to begin.
• Murloc Guild players entered Hojo Conglomerate Building disguised as volunteers and struggled to find clues about Hirozaki Arisa.
• Old Blindeye cautioned the players to scout carefully because the Hojo Family's security and powerful residents made the building dangerous.
• A cyborg guard ordered the players away from the restricted underground levels, and the group withdrew with one member missing.
• A player reported through the guild voice channel that they had sneaked inside invisibly, and Old Blindeye praised them.