Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn rejected the Rust Knight path and chose a blessing that greatly boosted his combat skills while training in the Rust Knight secret realm. After leaving, he encountered Su Zhizhu and unintentionally strengthened the rumors surrounding their upcoming duel.

• Lu PingAn abandoned the Rust Knight path and chose a blessing from his S-rank secret realm reward.
• Rust Knight granted Lu PingAn a time-limited blessing that amplified axe and shield techniques through the Heroic Spirit Shield-Axe Hero Soto. Lyon.
• Lu PingAn decided to rest before using the blessing to train in the secret realm over the next two days.
• Su Zhizhu entered the secret realm, told Lu PingAn she would not lose, and prepared to challenge his twenty-seventh-floor record.
• The girls surrounding Lu PingAn misunderstood his remarks as confidence about the duel, and he said he would win against Su Zhizhu.

Lu PingAn deepened his understanding of the Wave Battle Axe during his second trial, using its vibrations to defeat powerful armored enemies. He left the trial with a complete training manual and wondered whether he could use the technique without a metal weapon.

• Lu PingAn used the Wave Battle Axe’s ripples to disrupt and kill four third-rank Minotaurs.
• He realized the technique’s true principle was creating vibrations and resonance to control an opponent’s rhythm and combat distance.
• Lu PingAn reached the twenty-ninth floor and defeated Living Armor, but chose not to face the formidable enemy on the thirtieth floor.
• He left the second trial and asked Master Rust Knight for a Quasi-Polluted Item in exchange for his performance.
• Lu PingAn received a complete Wave Battle Axe training manual and wondered if the technique could work without a metal weapon.

After assessing his classmates’ performances in the secret realm, Lu PingAn planned to pursue the third rank through the Parasitic Tree and continued studying his martial technique. News that an outside mercenary had cleared the Thirtieth Floor drew the camp’s attention to him, but he remained calm.

• Lu PingAn praised Tian Xi, Simir, and Mei Yuge for adapting during their trials, then warned Tian Xi that suppressing pain could make her overlook injuries and danger.
• Lu PingAn decided to absorb his martial technique fully before choosing a path and considered the Parasitic Tree’s potential for expanding his perception and processing ability.
• Professor Wen invited Lu PingAn to his lab in a couple of days to learn about the Parasitic Tree hands-on after signing an agreement.
• News spread that an outside mercenary had cleared the secret realm’s Thirtieth Floor, and onlookers turned toward Lu PingAn as he calmly read and ate.

Lu PingAn defeated the Thirtieth Floor’s veteran Tier 4 Armor Knight with Little Flame, then reflected that he still could not beat such an enemy alone. After leaving the secret realm, he considered materials for his next creation and received an unexpected congratulatory message from Xia Qin.

• Lu PingAn used Little Flame to defeat the Tier 4 Armor Knight, though the fight left him injured and disappointed in his solo martial arts ability.
• Lu PingAn chose the item reward and received Armor Protection Oil, then resolved to keep training in the secret realm to gain martial arts experience.
• Spectators reacted to Lu PingAn’s accomplishments, while Su Zhizhu acknowledged him as a serious rival and left to prepare for their match in two weeks.
• Lu PingAn considered how to use the Tier 4 Living Armor fragments for his next creation and wondered whether to gather more materials.
• Xia Qin texted Lu PingAn, “well done,” leaving him confused about what she meant.

Mei Yuge admired Lu PingAn’s composure and fell asleep wishing she could earn the same respect. Meanwhile, Lu PingAn struggled to choose materials for his next creation until Big Cat suggested an incorporeal creature from the Knight Secret Realm.

• Mei Yuge remembered how Lu PingAn had calmly faced the attention of everyone at the camp and hoped to become confident like him.
• Lu PingAn reviewed how the Essence of Blood, Foundation of Flesh and Bone, and Core of Wisdom had shaped Little Flame.
• Lu PingAn decided to use Living Armor as the new creature’s Foundation of Flesh and Bone and planned to gather more fourth-rank materials.
• Lu PingAn struggled to choose an Essence of Blood and Core of Wisdom, especially because he wanted the creature to incorporate magical plants.
• Big Cat pointed out that the Knight Secret Realm contained an incorporeal creature, and Lu PingAn asked whether ghost creatures could work.

Lu PingAn investigated Ghost materials and considered the demands on the Trading Ground while preparing to advance his profession. He bought Professor Wen’s Gardener advancement package and decided it was well worth the price.

• Lu PingAn considered whether the three newcomers might eventually join his staff, but chose to observe them longer.
• He sent the Ghost materials he had collected to the Logistics Department for testing to determine whether they showed signs of life.
• After returning the three girls to the villa, Lu PingAn sought Professor Wen’s guidance on advancing to Parasitic Tree.
• Professor Wen offered Lu PingAn a complete Gardener advancement package for three hundred thousand and explained why the profession’s advancement materials were unusually cheap.
• Lu PingAn opened the books, examined the package, and concluded that it was worth buying.

Lu PingAn studied the Parasitic Tree profession and its dangerous Self-Curses, which transformed the Professional toward plant life and enabled symbiosis with a magical plant. He learned that the chosen Natal Plant determined the profession’s abilities and upper limit, and he decided to keep reading rather than return the materials to Professor Wen.

• Lu PingAn compared plant parasitism with symbiosis and learned why turning a human body into plant matter was necessary for the profession.
• Lu PingAn reviewed the first Self-Curse, which lasted a week and could grant plant-like traits alongside many possible side effects.
• Lu PingAn learned that a Parasitic Tree had to permanently assimilate with a Natal Plant to gain a powerful plant-based half-body.
• Lu PingAn read that Professor Wen had chosen a Reticulated Banyan for its far-reaching root network and monitoring abilities.
• Lu PingAn remained interested in the profession and decided not to return the materials to Professor Wen.

Lu PingAn considered whether to take a Self-Curse to overcome his healing weakness and prepare for Tier 3 as a Gardener. He decided to begin with the first curse, build his magical-plant resources, and seek help from Fang Wen for a new combat companion.

• Lu PingAn reviewed how Self-Curse could transform him for higher-tier advancement, weighing its resilience against new vulnerabilities to fire, dryness, and Withering Art.
• Lu PingAn decided that a symbiotic magical plant should improve his integrated combat ability, though cultivating one himself would take too long before the duel.
• Lu PingAn asked Chris about the magical plants growing in the Courtyard and learned they needed more time to mature.
• Lu PingAn told Chris to work more with Professor Wen and seek access to high-tier Gardeners and rare magical plants.
• Lu PingAn judged that his current Gardener resources were insufficient for Tier 3, chose to start with the first Self-Curse, and asked Fang Wen how he had been.

Lu PingAn asked Fang Wen to help him use her mechanical expertise to develop a higher-intelligence magical pet, showing her the Life Illustrated Handbook and its appraisal results. Fang Wen agreed to investigate, unable to resist studying its ability to create living beings.

• Lu PingAn told Fang Wen he might consider releasing her once she no longer posed a threat, and she continued working to improve their relationship.
• Lu PingAn explained that he wanted metal capable of supporting higher intelligence for a magical pet and showed Fang Wen the Life Illustrated Handbook.
• Fang Wen became absorbed in the Handbook’s ability to create complete living beings and recognized it as a Quasi-Rules creation.
• Fang Wen asked to examine and touch Lu PingAn’s magical pet and requested details about his requirements and materials.
• Fang Wen accepted the task and told Lu PingAn she needed time and information to do her best.

Lu PingAn discussed the nature of mechanical intelligence with Fang Wen, who explained how pollution and the Life Encyclopedia might create lasting, intelligent lifeforms. The conversation led Fang Wen to suggest rebuilding her shattered creations, Black Plague and Despair Calamity Fire, from their fragments, and Lu PingAn agreed to investigate them.

• Lu PingAn asked Fang Wen how mechanical creatures could think without conventional artificial intelligence, and she explained that pollution could awaken souls within mechanical bodies.
• Fang Wen described several ways to awaken mechanical intelligence, including Sticky Golden Mead and the power of the Machine God, though their effects were limited or temporary.
• Fang Wen suggested that the Life Encyclopedia and its Core of Wisdom could give a created being both a suitable body and inherited intelligence.
• Fang Wen proposed using the fragments of Black Plague and Despair Calamity Fire as parts for new creations, and Lu PingAn said he would investigate what remained of them.

Lu PingAn and Xia Qin considered how to recover Fang Wen’s confiscated mechanical constructs without exposing Lu PingAn’s secrets. They decided Fang Wen would threaten the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs into returning its share through the Trading Ground, but Tie Zhenmei’s share remained a problem.

• Lu PingAn asked Xia Qin whether Liu Zibei and Tie Zhenmei had divided Fang Wen’s mechanical constructs after her defeat, and Xia Qin explained that Liu Zibei’s belongings had been confiscated and stored.
• Lu PingAn worried that requesting the constructs would draw suspicion to his interest in Mechanical Awakening and expose the Life Illustrated Handbook.
• Lu PingAn had Fang Wen write a threatening letter demanding that the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs return her belongings, and Xia Qin agreed that the Bureau might accept the deal to avoid further attacks.
• Lu PingAn proposed using the Trading Ground to arrange the exchange, and the group judged the plan plausible.
• Lu PingAn noted that Tie Zhenmei’s share was likely held by the Gourmet Association and wondered whether they would respond to a threat.

Lu PingAn met with the Gourmet Association to negotiate the return of items taken from Tie Zhenmei after his death. Director Liu demanded three Silver Taboo Items, and Lu PingAn recognized that the Association’s greed had made an agreement unlikely.

• Lu PingAn and Xia Qin were assigned by the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs to negotiate with the Gourmet Association over the belongings Fang Wen demanded back.
• Director Liu emphasized the Association’s wealth and influence before raising Tie Zhenmei’s lost possessions as bargaining chips.
• Director Liu claimed Tie Zhenmei had lost three Silver Taboo Items and demanded their return in exchange for the other belongings.
• Lu PingAn pointed out that Tie Zhenmei had only possessed two Silver items, but Director Liu insisted that three was a reasonable demand.
• Lu PingAn realized Director Liu’s greed had exceeded his expectations and that there was no room left to negotiate.

Lu PingAn arranged for Shui Yun to steal the Gourmet Association’s scrap materials and let the theft derail the negotiations, while the Association blamed Fang Wen for a much larger loss. After refusing Fang Wen’s request for some of the materials, Lu PingAn took Cat Cat to the Knight Secret Realm to train and gather more.

• Lu PingAn let negotiations with the Gourmet Association collapse after Director Liu learned that the warehouse’s key items had been stolen.
• Shui Yun revealed that she had infiltrated the warehouse and taken the scrap, while Lu PingAn praised her plan and told her to destroy her Fang Wen disguise.
• The Gourmet Association reported about twenty million worth of additional missing materials, and Lu PingAn suspected its members had profited from the theft.
• Fang Wen found that Despair Calamity Fire had been dismantled beyond repair and asked Lu PingAn for some materials, but he refused.
• Lu PingAn took Cat Cat to the Knight Secret Realm to train and gather materials.

Lu PingAn gathered materials to create a metal-bodied living armor with a Ghost essence and prepared combat experience and a Silver-Rank Ghost skill for it. As he completed the preparations, Lei Shui Yun’s rapid progress in combat brought her close to several class advancements.

• The Bureau of Anomalous Affairs finalized a contract with Fang Wen, who agreed to avoid causing trouble in Ancient City and to stay out of the region for three years after the deal.
• Lu PingAn used the remains of high-level mechanical constructs to prepare a Living Armor creature and found its innate combat experience was limited.
• Lu PingAn temporarily transformed into a Ghost to kill a Ghost creature and obtained a Silver Low Rank Poltergeist Phenomenon page.
• Lei Shui Yun improved her fighting style under Big Cat’s training, and Lu PingAn judged that her Runner and combat classes could advance to second tier.
• Lu PingAn gathered the remaining materials and supplies, then reached the point where he could give the new creature life.

Lu PingAn and Fang Wen used the Life Illustrated Handbook to create a new life from Ghostly Matter, mechanical components, and Living Armor. The Metal Giant awakened, transformed into a woman, and asked to choose her own name.

• Lu PingAn prepared an Unknown Array and materials for the new life, while Fang Wen added the heads and remains of Silver War, Black Plague, and Despair Calamity Fire.
• Lu PingAn activated the Life Illustrated Handbook, and the materials fused into a silver sphere that gestated for three days.
• The sphere became a towering Metal Giant, which awakened and asked Lu PingAn if he was its creator.
• The Metal Giant burst apart and reconfigured into a woman with a tower shield and warhammer.
• Lu PingAn proposed the name Little Tank, but she asked to name herself, and he agreed.

Lu PingAn examined Zhi Xi’s abilities and equipment, then let her choose skills from his cards. Zhi Xi demonstrated her Pure Silver Wisdom by learning a fighting technique, replacing its card, and retaining the movements; Lu PingAn realized he had found a valuable companion.

• Zhi Xi chose her name, and Lu PingAn reviewed her forms, abilities, and damaged weapons, including equipment that could counter life-type creatures.
• Fang Wen explained that Zhi Xi’s female form came from the all-girl samples in her Core of Wisdom, while Lu PingAn worried about her possession ability and Decay Aura.
• Zhi Xi asked to participate in choosing her skills, so Lu PingAn laid out his cards for her.
• Zhi Xi installed a Black Iron fighting-experience card and practiced its boxing techniques.
• Zhi Xi replaced the fighting card with the Silver Poltergeist Phenomenon card but retained the learned movements, impressing Lu PingAn with her Pure Silver Wisdom.

Lu PingAn recruited the newly created Zhi Xi, arranged for her to learn about the world, and confirmed that she was recognized as an independent life capable of advancing. He left her to study and planned to help her grow before testing whether his Rider route could work with Living Armor.

• Lu PingAn offered Zhi Xi pocket money, shopping reimbursements, and help finding puppet seeds, while Zhi Xi asked for knowledge and common sense before making judgments.
• Lu PingAn warned Zhi Xi to stay near the Trading Ground, placed her in Big Cat's care, and assigned Fang Wen repair and tactical-planning tasks while asking Cat Cat and Xia Qin to help guide her.
• Lu PingAn learned that creating Zhi Xi had left only one creature slot in the Life Illustrated Handbook and decided not to release either newborn for now.
• Lu PingAn gave Zhi Xi a card and confirmed that the Life Bank recognized her as an independent individual who could advance and take up a profession.
• Lu PingAn watched Zhi Xi study and postponed testing whether his Career Path, especially the Rider route, could work with her Living Armor form.

Lu PingAn helped Zhi Xi explore taste through Life Resonance, but her obsession with cooking produced dangerously extreme dishes. As he began teaching her to cook, they prepared to test their recently agreed cooperation and their merged abilities in Martial Arts Class.

• Zhi Xi tried Lu PingAn's bitter coffee through Life Sharing and ran off to brew another cup.
• Lu PingAn explained how Life Resonance let Zhi Xi share his senses, and how her attempts to cook had been poisoning him.
• Lu PingAn gave Zhi Xi monster bodies to possess, but their senses felt distant and numb to her.
• Zhi Xi decided she wanted to become a chef, while she and Lu PingAn reached a preliminary agreement to cooperate and observe the world through his perspective.
• Lu PingAn started teaching Zhi Xi to cook and stopped her from using dangerous ingredients and contaminated cookware.

Lu PingAn asked Lu Teacher for guidance on integrating his rapidly acquired professions, weapon skills, and equipment into a unified combat style. After hearing how much Lu PingAn had already developed, Lu Teacher decided to assess him in a fight against Zhi Xi.

• The combat instructors teased Lu PingAn over Zhi Xi’s strength and suspicious nature, while Lu PingAn passed her off as Living Armor.
• Zhi Xi objected when Lu PingAn touched her armor, leaving Lu Teacher doubtful that she was ordinary Living Armor.
• Lu PingAn explained his Rider and Heavy Armored Warrior professions, his weapon proficiencies, and his plans to control Living Weapons and combine several paths.
• Lu PingAn asked Lu Teacher for advice on his polearm specialization bottleneck, inherited martial art, and future Runner training.
• Lu Teacher asked for time to understand Lu PingAn’s abilities, then called for a serious fight using Zhi Xi.

Lu PingAn overwhelmed his instructor Lu Dechun in a supposedly controlled spar, prompting Lu Dechun to resolve to help him master his dangerous abilities. At an academy meeting, teachers discussed the Qualification Examination, and one teacher suggested that a first-year student might be ready to take it.

• Lu PingAn unleashed his Silver-tier equipment, demonic plants, and mounted beast against Lu Dechun, leaving the instructor badly injured after their private duel.
• Lu Dechun realized Lu PingAn’s powerful plants and beasts could become dangerous if they lost control, and decided to teach him properly.
• At an academy meeting, Lu Dechun asked Professor Lü Xiyi to train Lu PingAn, while colleagues whispered about the first-year student beating him.
• The meeting announced that the Qualification Examination would begin in half a month and invited instructors to recommend capable students.
• One teacher proposed that a first-year student could try the examination early.