Chapter Summaries

Imina and Tang Zheng were confronted by three Workers, but a powerful gray-robed woman killed them before they could attack. The woman revealed herself as Lainas and came to seek Tang Zheng’s guidance, while he sent Imina to remove the bodies.

• Imina prepared to defend Tang Zheng from three intruders who demanded that he come with them.
• A gray-robed woman intervened and killed two intruders with overwhelming speed and force.
• The gray-robed woman killed the last surviving intruder after Tang Zheng declined to question him about their employer.
• The woman revealed herself as Lainas and said she wanted Tang Zheng’s guidance.
• Tang Zheng thanked Lainas and asked Imina to deal with the bodies, and Imina dragged one away.

Tang Zheng tested a Regeneration Potion on Lainas, whose Cursed Knight curse had rotted half her face, and discovered he could learn her Dark Wave skill. He learned it in private and gained the High-tier Class Cursed Knight.

• Lainas showed Tang Zheng her rotting cheek and poured his Regeneration Potion over it; the cheek briefly healed before the curse made it rot again.
• Tang Zheng recognized that Lainas’s injury came from a curse tied to her class and asked her to demonstrate her power.
• Lainas released Dark Wave, and Tang Zheng’s panel showed that he could learn the skill by spending 6 Skill Points.
• Tang Zheng told Lainas he needed time to consider her situation and offered her and Imina unused rooms in his residence.
• Tang Zheng learned Dark Wave, spent 6 Skill Points, and gained the High-tier Class Cursed Knight.

Tang Zheng tested the curse power granted by his [Cursed Knight] class and used it to alter the Orb of Death, stripping away most of its abilities. The next morning, he met Lainas and Imina and told them he had found two methods.

• Tang Zheng summoned curse energy and found he could control it freely without suffering the facial rot Lainas had.
• Tang Zheng cast Undead Mind and summoned the Orb of Death, but its voices initially continued unaffected.
• Tang Zheng discovered that his Restless trait activated only when he used curse abilities, then eroded the Orb of Death with curse power.
• Tang Zheng infused the Orb of Death with curse power overnight, reducing its energy capacity and leaving it with only Negative Energy Absorption and Bone Dragon Summoning.
• The next morning, Lainas and Imina waited for Tang Zheng, who told them there were two methods.

Tang Zheng explained two ways to remove the Curse on Lainas’s face: learn to control her power or die and be revived. His blunt suggestion sparked a brief fight between Imina and Lainas before he clarified what he meant.

• Tang Zheng told Lainas that mastering her Cursed Knight power would make the Curse on her face disappear.
• Tang Zheng suggested that Lainas could die once and be revived to remove the Curse, prompting Imina to attack her.
• Lainas defended herself with her Black Lancer, and Imina fired an arrow before Tang Zheng summoned a Flame Archangel to stop their clash.
• Tang Zheng dismissed the Flame Archangel and explained that Resurrection of the Dead could remove the Curse at the cost of losing levels.
• Lainas hesitated over the dangerous resurrection method, while Imina teased Tang Zheng for suggesting that a beautiful woman die.

Tang Zheng persuaded Lainas to return to the Rockbruise Family territory to investigate the source of her curse, and the two traveled to the Great Marsh. They flew into the dangerous marsh on Flame Archangels, where a Marsh Shark attacked them.

• Tang Zheng offered to take Lainas to the place where she was first cursed, and she reluctantly agreed to leave at once.
• Tang Zheng told Imina to watch his residence and care for Blackie while he and Lainas secretly left the Imperial Capital.
• Three days later, Tang Zheng and Lainas reached the Great Marsh in the Rockbruise Family territory, where Lainas said the monster that cursed her had come from deeper within.
• Tang Zheng summoned two Flame Archangels, and he and Lainas rode them across the marsh toward its depths.
• A Marsh Shark burst from the swamp and attacked, but a Flame Archangel cut it in half, and creatures below devoured its remains.

Tang Zheng and Lainas ventured into the swamp, where his Flame Archangels fought Carrion Worms and a Purple Worm. A Swamp Greatjaw then emerged and struck one of the summons, leaving Lainas to warn Tang Zheng of the level-60 threat.

• Tang Zheng and Lainas landed in the swamp as the Flame Archangels expired, and Tang Zheng summoned two more.
• The Flame Archangels killed Carrion Worms while Lainas warned Tang Zheng that Purple Worms might be nearby.
• A Purple Worm burst from the ground, but Lainas pinned its jaws with her Black Lancer and an Flame Archangel killed it.
• A huge tail struck a Flame Archangel and sent it flying across the swamp.
• A Swamp Greatjaw emerged from the mud, and Lainas retreated beside Tang Zheng and identified it as a difficulty-60 monster.

Tang Zheng and Lainas fought their way deeper into the swamp, where strange monsters stirred their Curse Power. After they killed three Manticores, Lainas’s curse spread across more of her face, and Tang Zheng realized they had both absorbed the curse energy.

• Tang Zheng directed the Flame Archangels to blind the Swamp Greatjaw and kill it, earning 3103 experience.
• Lainas questioned Tang Zheng’s strength, and he jokingly identified himself as a Copper Rank adventurer before they continued into the swamp.
• As fog gathered, Tang Zheng and Lainas descended into the forest, where the Curse Power in their bodies became restless.
• Three Manticores attacked, and Lainas fought one while Tang Zheng’s Flame Archangels killed the other two.
• Tang Zheng sensed Curse Power leaving the Manticores and entering his body, then saw Lainas’s curse spread across more of her face.

Tang Zheng and Lainas traced her Curse to a strange humanoid creature that could cast powerful magic and transform into a Petrifying Lizard. As the lizard charged them, Tang Zheng summoned a giant Angel that struck it down, leaving Lainas wondering who he really was.

• Tang Zheng used a Regeneration Potion to suppress the Curse spreading across Lainas's face, and they sensed cursed power in the surrounding area.
• Lainas threw a dagger at a suspicious stump, which transformed into a small humanoid creature that attacked them with Charm Species: Human, Blood Boil, and Rapid Bleeding.
• Tang Zheng drove the creature back with two Flame Archangels and used his Attribute Panel to identify its Mental Spellcaster abilities and Wild Shape skill.
• The creature transformed into a huge Petrifying Lizard and destroyed both Flame Archangels with a single strike.
• Tang Zheng summoned a giant Angel that smashed the Petrifying Lizard's head into the ground, and he told Lainas he was the Copper Rank adventurer Free Will.

Tang Zheng pursued the Petrifying Lizard into the forest after sending the wounded Lainas back to the swamp, hoping to learn about the Curse affecting the area. When the creature attacked him, he froze it with Dark Wave.

• Tang Zheng summoned an Observer Dominion, which blocked the Petrifying Lizard's attacks and struck its head with a hammer.
• The Petrifying Lizard used a Petrification Ray that had no effect on the Observer Dominion, then fled toward the forest.
• Tang Zheng sent the Flame Archangel to carry the badly wounded Lainas back to the swamp and pursued the Petrifying Lizard alone.
• Tang Zheng used Forest Traversal and Tracking to follow the creature through the forest and catch up to it.
• When Tang Zheng asked about the Curse, the Petrifying Lizard became enraged, charged, and clamped its legs around the Observer Dominion's arm.
• The Petrifying Lizard lunged at Tang Zheng, who used Dark Wave to freeze it in place.

Tang Zheng fought the Rotting Curse-covered humanoid monster, whose spells summoned and empowered a swarm of insects, but his Flame Archangels overwhelmed them. The creature’s Shrink ability let it evade his attacks and escape his reach, so Tang Zheng learned Shrink himself.

• Tang Zheng struck the Petrifying Lizard with Dark Wave’s double-damage effect, causing it to revert to its humanoid form while his iron sword broke.
• The humanoid monster revealed Rotting Curse spots, called insect allies, and empowered them with Blood Boil.
• Tang Zheng summoned ten Flame Archangels to attack the swarm, then tried to hit the humanoid monster with Mana Slash and close-range sword attacks.
• The humanoid monster used Shrink to evade Tang Zheng’s attacks, doubled its speed, and cast Plant Entanglement, which Forest Traversal blocked.
• Tang Zheng learned the Shrink skill after seeing it on the Attribute Panel.

Tang Zheng used Shrink to catch and subdue a hostile humanoid, then learned it was Dugan Stone Lizard, a Forest Gnome searching for someone named Pasha. After Dugan became distraught over his tribe, Tang Zheng knocked him unconscious and sent Flame Archangels to search the forest; at night, Dugan suddenly woke and cried Pasha’s name.

• Tang Zheng activated Shrink, caught the fleeing humanoid, and cut its limbs with Fourfold Slash of Light.
• After healing the humanoid’s wounds, Tang Zheng learned it was Dugan Stone Lizard, a Forest Gnome whose ability came from a tribal Magic Ritual.
• Dugan reacted emotionally when Tang Zheng mentioned a Demi-Human Species who had entered human territory, identifying him as Pasha and asking if he was safe.
• Dugan became frantic while talking about his dead tribe, so Tang Zheng knocked him unconscious and ordered the Flame Archangels to search for similar creatures.
• Tang Zheng spent the evening infusing mana into the Orb of Death, and Dugan suddenly woke beside the campfire, shouting Pasha’s name.

Tang Zheng learned from Duo Gan that the Forest Gnome Tribe had been destroyed after something went wrong inside the Abyss, a deep gorge where poisonous monsters emerged. The two traveled toward the valley to investigate, reaching the edge of the forest’s deepest region.

• Duo Gan woke beside Tang Zheng’s campfire and warned him that the forest’s animals and monsters were poisoned by the curse.
• Duo Gan asked about Pasha, and Tang Zheng told him that Pasha was alive in the human Empire.
• Duo Gan revealed that his tribe had been destroyed and said something had gone wrong inside the Abyss.
• Duo Gan asked Tang Zheng to take him to the Abyss, and Tang Zheng agreed.
• Tang Zheng and Duo Gan traveled through the forest and reached the edge of the bottomless valley.

Tang Zheng and Duo Gan descended into a deep valley where the power of Curse grew stronger, finding a passage littered with bones and a nest of rotting Petrifying Lizards. After Duo Gan succumbed to the Curse’s influence, Tang Zheng knocked him unconscious and prepared to fight the horde.

• Duo Gan explained that the valley’s Curse had made him lose control before, but staying near Tang Zheng had suppressed it, then transformed and led Tang Zheng down the cliff.
• Tang Zheng and Duo Gan reached the dark valley floor, where they found a bone-strewn passage and felt the Curse intensifying.
• A rotting Petrifying Lizard ambushed Tang Zheng, and more than a dozen corrupted Petrifying Lizards emerged from the cliff walls.
• Duo Gan began ranting about a heart and a ritual as his body rotted, so Tang Zheng knocked him unconscious.
• Tang Zheng used Dark Wave to freeze the approaching Petrifying Lizards and readied himself to kill them.

Tang Zheng slaughtered the petrified and rotting monsters in the valley while carrying the badly injured Duo Gan, then found a hidden cavern containing a mysterious scale that was the source of the curse power. Absorbing its energy raised his Cursed Knight class from level one to level three, revealing a new way to advance certain classes.

• Tang Zheng used Dark Wave to immobilize the Petrifying Lizards and killed more than a dozen, gaining enough experience to level up.
• Tang Zheng picked up unconscious Duo Gan, whose skin was rotting, and continued deeper into the valley with two Flame Archangels clearing the way.
• Tang Zheng found a concealed opening high in a cliff wall and followed a tunnel into a cavern filled with curse power.
• Tang Zheng discovered an enormous black scale beside an old human skeleton and found that Item Appraisal could not identify it.
• Tang Zheng touched the Mysterious Scale and absorbed its curse power, advancing his Cursed Knight class from level one to level three.

Tang Zheng discovered that the Mysterious Scale had caused the curse that destroyed the Forest Gnome Tribe, while Duo Gan explained the tribe’s Magic Ritual before dying. Tang Zheng buried him with the ritual scroll and reviewed his abilities, including his increased Cursed Knight level.

• Tang Zheng found that the Mysterious Scale had absorbed the curse power and raised his Cursed Knight level by two, then stored it in his Item Box.
• Tang Zheng told the dying Duo Gan that a cursed undead creature had been sealed in the rock wall and that Petrifying Lizards had caused the curse to leak out.
• Duo Gan explained that the Forest Gnome Tribe’s Magic Ritual let Wild Shape users gain a monster’s power and transform into it by eating its heart.
• Duo Gan revealed that he had shared a Petrifying Lizard’s corpse with tribe members before the curse destroyed the tribe, then gave Tang Zheng the ritual scroll for Pasha and died.
• Tang Zheng buried Duo Gan and examined his Attribute Panel, which showed his Cursed Knight class at level three.

Tang Zheng returned from the Great Marsh and used Curse Power to remove the decay on Lainas’s face, stabilizing her Cursed Knight class. After waking and seeing her restored face, Lainas asked whether Tang Zheng’s adventurer party was recruiting.

• Tang Zheng summoned thirteen Flame Archangels to hunt magical creatures while he studied Duo Gan’s Magic Ritual parchment and infused the Orb of Death with mana.
• Lainas waited two days at the edge of the Great Marsh, worried that Tang Zheng had not returned.
• Tang Zheng told Lainas he had figured out some things about her Curse and gave her a potion that made her unconscious.
• Tang Zheng infused Lainas with controlled Curse Power, guiding the Curse inside her body until the decay on her face disappeared.
• Lainas woke, saw her restored face in a mirror, thanked Tang Zheng, and asked whether his adventurer party was recruiting.

Tang Zheng returned to the Imperial Capital without Lainas and learned that his absence had brought invitations, business inquiries, and trouble with powerful figures. Imina revealed that rumors and restrictions tied to “Martial Lord” Go Gin were disrupting Tang Zheng’s supply of Ogres, while the palace still had not contacted him about the Immortal profession.

• Tang Zheng refused Lainas’s request to recruit people, offered two thousand gold coins as payment, and watched her leave without explaining herself.
• Tang Zheng returned to the Imperial Capital on August 31st, and Imina reported the visitors and requests she had turned away while he was gone.
• Imina showed Tang Zheng an overdue banquet invitation from Osk, the Imperial Capital’s largest merchant and organizer of the Imperial Arena.
• Tang Zheng asked whether anyone from the palace had visited, but Imina said no one had contacted him.
• Imina told Tang Zheng that a noble’s captured Ogre had been turned back halfway, apparently because of “Martial Lord” Go Gin’s influence.
• Imina explained that rumors blamed Go Gin for Tang Zheng’s halt in selling Ogre-blood potions and likely for the difficulty of obtaining Ogres.

Tang Zheng’s limited Regeneration Potions made him famous as a Black-Haired Genius Alchemist while rumors spread that Lainas had destroyed the Rockbruise and Iminst families. Lainas arrived at Tang Zheng’s courtyard and swore a Knight’s Oath of loyalty to him.

• Tang Zheng told Imina to sell five Regeneration Potions each day through the Adventurer’s Guild for one gold coin, and the potion’s black-market price soared.
• Rumors spread that the Rockbruise and Iminst families had been wiped out, while Tang Zheng stored magic power in the Orb of Death.
• Tang Zheng offered Imina five additional potions to sell on the black market, where their price had risen to five hundred gold coins.
• Lainas appeared at Tang Zheng’s courtyard with five thousand gold coins and admitted she had killed many people to erase her humiliation.
• Lainas knelt and swore a Knight’s Oath of loyalty to Tang Zheng, who promised to help make the Rockbruise surname great again.

Tang Zheng decided to build a national-scale force and sent Lainas and Imina to the Re-Estize Kingdom to pursue separate plans. He stayed behind in the Baharuth Empire to handle other matters before meeting them in the Royal Capital.

• Imina explained that the Empire’s early attack had devastated the Re-Estize Kingdom’s border garrisons.
• Tang Zheng warned Lainas that the extermination of two noble families would soon draw suspicion and possibly a wanted order from the Blood Emperor.
• Tang Zheng invited Imina on a major overseas venture, and she accepted.
• Tang Zheng ordered Lainas to travel conspicuously to the Royal Capital, reveal her identity, and seek a fight with Gazef.
• Tang Zheng told Imina to conceal her connection to Lainas and investigate Eight Fingers, giving her a Mithril Dagger to attract attention.
• Tang Zheng stayed in the Imperial Capital while Lainas and Imina prepared to leave for the Royal Capital.

Tang Zheng’s potion sales drew the Blood Emperor Jircniv’s suspicion, and Tang realized his attempt to obtain the Immortal class had failed. As he prepared to leave the Empire, the Martial Lord Go Gin arrived at his estate.

• Tang Zheng considered using Leinas’s arrival in the Kingdom to gain influence there and weighed which royal heir might be useful.
• The Blood Emperor Jircniv ordered Leinas arrested, rejected the Ministry of Magic’s request to invite Tang, and ordered Tang watched after reviewing his movements.
• Tang Zheng negotiated with the Adventurer’s Guild, increased his publicly offered Regeneration Potions to five per day, and rose from Copper Rank to Gold Rank.
• Tang Zheng noticed soldiers watching him and concluded that Jircniv’s wariness had ruined his plan to obtain the Immortal class, so he decided to leave the Empire.
• Go Gin pounded on Tang Zheng’s gates, and Tang recognized the Martial Lord as he turned to meet him.