Chapter Summaries

Li Aoz’s journey to Gulante was delayed by severe weather, and he waited out a storm while researching the first players scheduled to enter Azure Planet. After his gene construction completed, he rejected the available Aoneng options that threatened his plans or bloodline, leaving him to consider other ways to develop as a Starcaller.

• Li Aoz traveled through Sasco Republic toward Gulante after a natural disaster grounded his flight, then flew across the wasteland and endured two snow tornadoes that disabled his navigation.
• Li Aoz rested through the storm and browsed player forums, where he found Caramel Snail and learned the future streamer planned to descend into Sky Ring.
• Li Aoz’s gene construction completed after forty hours, producing a new Aoneng choice: Physical Enhancement, Electric Shock, Rose Dragon Scale, or Mountains Armor.
• Li Aoz rejected Rose Dragon Scale because it would introduce Dragon Race bloodline factors that high dragons could control, and he also avoided other dangerous nonhuman bloodline routes.
• Li Aoz judged Physical Enhancement too common and ordinary, and recognized it as an Aoneng associated with the Conqueror rather than the Starcaller path.

Li Aoz chose Mountains Armor and underwent a perfect mutation that upgraded his Ability Pod. As Grant’s territory came into view, Li Aoz had increased his Aoneng storage limit while leaving the other mutation options behind.

• Li Aoz selected Mountains Armor, which let him absorb Free-Floating Elements and improved his physical condition.
• Li Aoz considered possible paths for his racial ascension but decided to postpone choosing one.
• When his genes became unstable, Li Aoz reset the mutation options and reviewed three perfect mutations.
• Li Aoz rejected reproductive-system detachment and the Combat Race Factor, then chose Gene Grafting Enhancement Ability Pod.
• The system upgraded Li Aoz’s Ability Pod, and Grant’s territory drew near.

GTB agent Barnum Ziegler watched an armed assault unfold at the Surut Palace in the Grant Duchy. The attack began with glider-suited assailants, while his bearded neighbor joined the fighting by firing a rocket launcher at an armored vehicle.

• Barnum watched the Grand Duke's guards change shifts and reflected on his life and hopes of immigrating to Zhengxu.
• Barnum's colleague Zhao Sen'an told him that Li Hui-xi had been arrested to pressure her brother, Li Aoz, into surrendering.
• Zhao Sen'an worried about bringing his family to the Grant Duchy as tensions with Sky Ring threatened war.
• Barnum spotted white ribbons descending toward the Surut Palace and warned Zhao Sen'an to keep his wife at home.
• Glider-suited assailants stormed the Grand Duke's residence as gunfire and explosions erupted across the district.
• Barnum saw his bearded neighbor fire a rocket launcher at an armored vehicle.

Barnum Ziegler survived the coup and the brutal searches by Law Enforcement Division Three, while learning that Bermudes sought independence for the Grant Duchy. Li Aoz then appeared in Barnum’s apartment, called him a protagonist of the country, and began explaining how he had arrived after failing to assassinate the Grand Duke.

• A bearded Bermudes fighter destroyed an armored vehicle with a rocket launcher before a Law Enforcement Division Three agent killed him.
• Law Enforcement Division Three searched homes during the coup, beat Barnum, and questioned him about Bermudes before releasing him.
• Barnum learned that Bermudes were independence advocates and that GTB officials refused to help employees who wanted to leave.
• Li Aoz entered Barnum’s locked apartment, took his whiskey and cigarettes, and offered him one reasonable favor.
• Barnum recognized Li Aoz as the man who had killed over a hundred members of Nethermark Humanity.
• Li Aoz told Barnum that he was the country’s protagonist and began recounting his failed assassination of the Grand Duke.

Li Aoz arrived in Grant to assist the resistance, but found its divided groups had a poorly conceived coup plan and little chance against Frostplate’s Beta-ranks. After he began eliminating targets on his own, the resistance launched its coup early and ran into General Mobis Corinthala and his Alpha Rank subordinates.

• Li Aoz met Grant’s many resistance groups and questioned their plan to attack Surut Palace from the air.
• The resistance proposed using advertising airships and ground forces, but could not identify an assassin capable of defeating Grand Duke Gamos Luvenchi Grant or his Beta-rank guards.
• Li Aoz warned the Grantians about the power gap, then decided to work alone and target Beta-ranks one by one.
• Li Aoz killed two Frostplate agents at the Law Enforcement Division Three office, but found the remaining agents had returned to their embassy.
• Li Aoz failed to catch the Grand Duke or Malise Gamos Grant, then went to the Sky Ring Embassy to discuss countermeasures with SCIA.
• The resistance launched its coup early, and its forces met General Mobis Corinthala and twenty-nine Alpha Rank subordinates at Surut Palace.

Li Aoz recruited Barnum to join his plan to save the country, then revealed their immediate goal was kidnapping. After hearing about a deadly attack, Duke Gamos reflected on the physical toll of his Gamma Rank power and summoned Malish.

• Li Aoz told Barnum he planned to save the country by a roundabout route, and Barnum agreed to join his team.
• Barnum asked what they would do under martial law, and Li Aoz answered that they were going to kidnap someone.
• A report stated that an attack had destroyed six armored vehicles, killed seventeen people, and wounded others, and that Frostplate Law Enforcement Division Three would help suppress the news.
• Duke Gamos reacted to the report and struggled to calm his failing body, which could not sustain his Gamma-rank power on Azure Planet.
• Gamos lamented that his extraordinary strength had become a source of suffering and ordered his secretary to bring Malish.

Malise learned that the Grand Duke expected him to reach Gamma Rank before the end of the year, then Li Aoz intercepted him and asked where Punishment Officer Alexia Emmanuel Justin was. Malise was stunned when Li Aoz claimed the Yellow Rhododendron Blood Oath made him her fiancé.

• The Grand Duke used a ghost to force Malise out of his office and ordered him to reach Gamma Rank before the year's end.
• Malise feared the Grand Duke's threat and rushed toward the Frostplate Embassy to seek help.
• Li Aoz appeared in Malise's hovercar, subdued him, and had Barnum drive them away from the capital.
• Malise surrendered his phone, tracker, and firearm as Li Aoz began questioning him.
• Li Aoz asked for Punishment Officer Alexia Emmanuel Justin, and Malise reacted with alarm at his knowledge of her.
• Li Aoz claimed he was Alexia's fiancé under the Yellow Rhododendron Blood Oath.

Li Aoz captured Malish and left him with the Bermudes rebels, then decided their forces could not overthrow Grant’s rulers without outside support. He took Barnum to an abandoned nuclear plant on the outskirts of Speria to seek help from his supposed fiancée.

• Barnum drove Li Aoz and the bound Malish to an abandoned factory, where Bermudes rebels took custody of the Archduke's Son.
• Li Aoz broke Malish’s arms and legs, trapped the ghost monitoring him in the dungeon, and learned that Archduke Gamos was physically failing without life-support technology.
• Li Aoz concluded that the Bermudes rebels could not unite or defeat Frostplate, and he abandoned their plan to attack Speria.
• Li Aoz gave Barnum coordinates and drove with him to the sealed Arkjia Nuclear Power Plant, which Barnum recognized as a radioactive wasteland.
• Barnum questioned whether Li Aoz’s fiancée was really there and switched on the radiation dose counter.

Li Aoz and Barnum entered a ruined residential area to find the grave Malish had described, where Li Aoz uncovered an alloy coffin containing a living person. Barnum recognized the coffin as Erbium Gold, a priceless strategic material, as they prepared to discover who lay inside.

• Li Aoz forced Barnum out of the car and led him through a radiation-ravaged residential area, where they saw wild deer and found a monument written in Amirelian.
• Li Aoz followed the monument to an abandoned cemetery and located a plain tombstone marked "1917," the place Malish had described.
• Li Aoz dug beneath the tombstone and uncovered an alloy coffin, insisting that someone living remained inside.
• Barnum identified the coffin as Erbium Gold and estimated its value at at least 1.8 billion Derby.

Li Aoz opened an Old Era cryogenic coffin and awakened Alexia Emanuel Justein, a prosecutor who had been prepared as a bride for a future person. When she asked about the world she had expected to find, Li Aoz told her the Amireko Federation had fallen and humanity had failed.

• Barnum praised Li Aoz, who cut open the Erbium Gold coffin and uncovered its self-circulating cryogenic system.
• Li Aoz entered the Old Era contract password, and the system revived the person inside.
• Alexia Emanuel Justein emerged, introduced herself as an Amireko Federation Punishment Officer, and greeted Li Aoz as her groom.
• Alexia asked Li Aoz about the future, expecting humanity to have solved its problems and reached the moon.
• Li Aoz told Alexia that the Amireko Federation had been destroyed 570 years earlier and that war and hunger still plagued humanity.

Alexia awoke five hundred years in the future and mourned the fallen heroes of her destroyed homeland before accompanying Li Aoz. She saw the disorder of the present era in silence, while Li Aoz refused Barnum’s suggestion that he comfort her as her fiancé.

• Li Aoz woke Alexia from her memories and invited her to come with him to seek answers.
• Alexia transformed her protective coffin into a briefcase and laid flowers at the graves of the heroes buried nearby.
• Alexia bid farewell to her own grave and remarked that the Artificial Sun was not dazzling.
• Alexia joined Li Aoz’s party as a Level 80 Punishment Officer.
• Barnum drove Alexia through a city plagued by martial law and looting, and she remained silent at the sight.
• Barnum asked Li Aoz to comfort Alexia as her fiancé, but Li Aoz dismissed the suggestion.

Li Aoz brought the shattered Alexia back to the rebel gathering, where she heard a dispute over the Children of Fire Church and the Colonizers. Alexia regained her resolve and condemned both the church and Frostplate oppression, leaving the crowd facing her declaration.

• Li Aoz reflected on Alexia’s despair and hoped she could recover through her own will as Barnum drove them back to the abandoned factory.
• Li Aoz and Barnum found Amanda Williams confronting David Lian after Adam disrupted the Children of Fire Church’s corpse-offering ritual.
• Amanda told Adam to apologize because the rebel alliance depended on the church’s followers, but Adam refused and demanded justice against oppression.
• Alexia heard Adam speak of resisting the Colonizers, stood up, and denounced Frostplate’s exploitation and the church’s use of soldiers’ corpses as sacrifices.
• Someone shouted “Heretic!” at Alexia.

Alexia stopped a violent clash between Adam’s followers and Amanda’s forces by exposing the Children of Fire Church’s crimes, then revealed that she was Li Aoz’s betrothed from the Old Era. She left Li Aoz facing an unexpected marriage proposal.

• As the opposing groups raised their weapons, Alexia stepped forward and addressed the crowd, condemning them for turning against their compatriots.
• Alexia invoked her authority as a Punishment Officer, forcing thousands of Children of Fire Church followers to kneel and confess their crimes.
• Alexia explained that she would not rebuild Yamiliao Ke and said the people of the Azure Planet had to create their own future.
• Alexia introduced herself to Li Aoz as his contractually matched partner and proposed to him with a ring.
• Li Aoz said he was not ready to marry, and Alexia laughed that women proposing to men had been fashionable in her era.

After the GTB summit imposed sanctions on Frostplate, Liu Zhidong called President Medvi Ostavia to warn her that the Grant Duchy had fallen into rebellion and that major powers had recognized the new republic. Medvi dismissed the crisis and ordered military pressure, while Liu’s growing anger exposed the damage caused by the president’s rule.

• After the summit, Liu Zhidong hurried to the secure communications room and called Medvi to report sanctions, a food embargo, and a seventeen-percent cut to Frostplate’s Helium-3 allocation.
• While inspecting a reservoir, Medvi handed her speech to Prime Minister Zhu Yuliu and answered Liu’s call, dismissing the sanctions and ordering Law Enforcement Division Three to pressure Red Arrow.
• Liu told Medvi that Bermudes’s rebels had taken the Grant capital, eliminated Frostplate’s agents, kidnapped heir Malish, and declared the Grant Republic.
• Liu reported that Red Arrow, Zhengxu, Sky Ring, and their dependent states had recognized the republic, while Medvi ordered two airborne divisions and six Mobile Armor units to the border.
• Liu reflected on Medvi’s military failures, the loss of two Forward Cities, the scapegoating of male soldiers, Dai Weilin’s detention on Elf Island, and her own fear of suffering the same fate.
• Anger overcame Liu’s fear as she blamed Medvi’s obsession with extreme measures to change women’s status for Frostplate’s international disgrace.

Liu Zhidong recognized that Medvi’s plan to intervene in Grant would worsen Frostplate’s crisis and decided to oppose her. She contacted Jose Rediaz and resolved to have Medvi killed, while Li Aoz remained a target of the President’s pursuit.

• Liu Zhidong warned Medvi that Li Aoz had likely supplied Sky Ring with information and helped the Grant rebellion.
• Medvi erupted in anger over Li Aoz, then ordered Liu Zhidong to investigate him and announced plans to send Law Enforcement Division Four into Grant.
• Liu Zhidong cautioned Medvi that invading Grant would violate international principles and worsen Frostplate’s diplomatic position, but Medvi dismissed her objections.
• Liu Zhidong concluded that Medvi’s rule threatened Frostplate and resolved to warn Li Aoz through Sky Ring’s channels.
• Liu Zhidong dismissed her staff and privately asked Jose Rediaz for a favor, deciding that Medvi had to die.

Alexia helped Bermudes unite its factions under Sisron Grana’s provisional military government, while Li Aoz sought foreign support for Grant’s coming fight against Frostplate. He secured recognition efforts, weapons, ammunition, cannons, and a possible oil supply, then decided to visit another of the Four Nations.

• Alexia persuaded Bermudes’s faction leaders to cooperate, and they named Sisron Grana head of a provisional military government.
• Sisron announced that Bermudes would resist Grand Duke Gamos and promised elections and a return of power to the people.
• Li Aoz delivered Alexia’s letter to the Heavenly Ring embassy, which agreed to consider recognizing Grant’s new government and relay his request for aid.
• Li Aoz warned himself that Frostplate could send Law Enforcement Division Four agents to invade Grant, whose army lacked morale, ammunition, and fuel.
• Li Aoz negotiated with Zhengxu’s Diego Aureliano Italia and secured 6,000 rifles, ammunition, four cannons, and a possible oil supply for Bermudes.
• Li Aoz decided to visit another of the Four Nations.

Li Aoz immigrated to the Red Arrow Empire and handed over intelligence, while Director Eugene recruited him to help undermine Frostplate. The chapter left Li Aoz facing a mission that could pit him against two Gamma Rank opponents.

• Li Aoz visited the Red Arrow embassy, applied to immigrate, and presented Bio-Kongou's sample data as critical intelligence.
• Director Eugene welcomed Li Aoz, praised his public reputation, and gave him a Red Arrow passport and 150,000 Galen.
• Li Aoz recalled Crown Prince Rudolf's past support and considered whether he could help Rudolf survive.
• Eugene asked Li Aoz to help remove Medvi from power and defeat Frostplate's forces invading Grantian.
• Eugene warned that Governor Leliel Nanhu would bring Law Enforcement Division Four's ultimate weapon, the Blizzard, leaving Li Aoz potentially facing two Gamma Rank powerhouses.

Li Aoz shut down Speria City’s barrier generator, plunging the city into darkness and a freezing storm to support the Rebel Army’s assault. As Bermudes forces entered the city, Li Aoz flew toward Surut Palace to confront Archduke Gamos.

• Li Aoz injected himself with a third Aura Awakening Potion, then called Alexia and told her to lead her troops to Surut Palace to assassinate the Archduke.
• Li Aoz used Optical Distortion to evade the search forces and infiltrated the reactor facility powering Speria City’s barrier generator.
• Li Aoz crushed the facility staff with gravity and disabled the barrier’s particle confinement system while leaving the city’s electricity running.
• The Artificial Sun went dark, unleashing a blizzard that threw Speria City into panic and disrupted vehicles, drones, and communications.
• Archduke Gamos ordered his guards to defend Surut Palace as spirits inside him urged him to surrender control of his body.
• Bermudes troops launched their assault under cover of the storm, and Li Aoz flew toward Surut Palace.

Li Aoz used his gravity and fire abilities to smash through the Grantian defensive line and destroy the drones attacking him. He left Bermudes’ forces advancing toward Surut Palace as he drew the enemy’s attention.

• Grantian soldiers attacked Bermudes’ forces, but Li Aoz crushed their tanks and opened a path through the defensive line.
• Li Aoz killed an Alpha Rank assassin, gathered debris into a massive heated sphere, and blasted it through the street, destroying the defenses.
• Li Aoz restored the road by pulling the scattered debris into the crater, and Bermudes’ soldiers charged forward with renewed morale.
• Li Aoz drew the attention of Grantian drones and artillery, then combined his abilities with the Su Zhan longsword to unleash a sweeping attack.
• Li Aoz’s slash destroyed the drone swarm in a sky-wide blaze, and he named the technique Trinity—Demon-Slaying Scorching Sever.

Li Aoz and the coalition reached Surut Palace after the principality’s forces largely surrendered, and planned a coordinated assault to capture Archduke Gamos. Li Aoz began livestreaming the operation as Alexia prepared to infiltrate the palace through a sewer.

• Li Aoz advanced with the coalition and found that many Grantian soldiers had surrendered, leaving the defenders’ morale broken.
• Alexia reunited with Li Aoz, and Sisron offered Amanda and an Alpha Rank team to help attack Surut Palace.
• Li Aoz called off the assassination plan, saying he did not want to lose more companions through carelessness.
• Li Aoz and Alexia planned a two-pronged assault, with Li Aoz attacking from the front and Alexia leading an infiltration through an abandoned sewer.
• Li Aoz removed his mask and began livestreaming the liberation of the colonies to draw attention away from Alexia’s infiltration.