Chapter Summaries

Punk worried after the Legendary Red Dragon Aimoda-Flameclaw abruptly vanished from his divination surveillance, leaving him unsure whether the dragon had discovered the Interference Mechanism Transfer Mode or was planning revenge. Unable to learn Aimoda’s whereabouts, Punk put his research on hold and prepared to wait while staying ready for danger.

• Punk recalled that Aimoda-Flameclaw had vanished six months earlier, with all traces of the dragon suddenly blocked from his divination spells.
• Punk considered whether Aimoda’s disappearance was connected to the transferred Interference Mechanism inevitably returning to its original target, but he could not reach a firm conclusion.
• Punk reasoned that Aimoda’s complete concealment was conspicuous and worried the dragon might be plotting against him.
• Punk stopped his experimental research, entered meditation, and waited for developments while remaining prepared for combat.

Ganatika, Pandora, and Dice infiltrated Mosenkai Manor and found a massive iron gate where they had expected an underground grain warehouse. Pandora sensed a danger connected to Red Valley City and the Scott Imperial Nation, but Dice struck the gate before they could retreat.

• Ganatika, Pandora, and Dice slipped into Mosenkai Manor while their companions drew the guards into a fight at the front.
• Ganatika found the outer warehouses empty, and the three discovered a huge iron gate inside the manor.
• Pandora questioned why the gate had no magical defenses or nearby spellcasters and suspected the manor hid a dangerous secret.
• Pandora connected the manor's strange defenses to the wider troubles in Red Valley City and the Scott Imperial Nation, then tried to warn Ganatica.
• Dice ignored Pandora's warning, drew his blade, and struck the iron gate.

Dice cut through the iron door and revealed a strange gray crystal instead of the grain the group expected. Its soul-bewitching ripple overcame Ganatica and nearly captured Pandora, who recovered through a defensive spell and rushed to stop him as he approached the crystal.

• Pandora and Ganatica tried to stop Dice from striking the iron door, but he ignored their warnings and cut a large opening in it.
• Dice, Pandora, and Ganatica saw a massive gray crystal behind the door, and it began releasing an invisible ripple across Red Valley City.
• The crystal’s influence made Pandora believe it was beautiful and want to merge with it, but her emergency defense activated Ninoe's Soul Barrier and restored her awareness.
• Pandora realized the crystal had bewitched Ganatica and saw him walking toward it like a corpse.
• Pandora hurried toward Ganatica and pleaded with him to stop before he reached the crystal.

Pandora tried to protect Ganatica from the gray crystal’s soul-devouring fluctuations, but Dice entered its mist and was killed. As Ganatica’s soul began to leave his body, Pandora defied the warning against revealing the Interference Mechanism Transfer Plan and contacted her creator, Punk-Sean, for help.

• Pandora restrained Ganatica outside the iron door while Dice walked into the gray mist and dissolved into a twisted mass; his soul joined the faces inside the crystal.
• The crystal intensified its fluctuations and began pulling souls from creatures across Red Valley City, while Ganatica’s soul struggled to escape his body.
• Pandora recognized that Ganatica was nearing his limit and that she could not stop his soul from being taken by herself.
• A warning in Pandora’s mind advised her not to contact Punk-Sean because doing so could expose the Interference Mechanism Transfer Plan.
• Pandora silenced the warning and activated the Legendary Level communication spell in her virtual soul to seek Punk-Sean’s help.

Pandora contacted Punk for help after she and Ganatica discovered a strange crystal and everyone else died, while Ganatica faced a lethal threat. Punk opened a portal and shielded them with Psionic Barrier, but remained cautious and prepared to unleash Collapse Singularity if he sensed danger.

• Punk detected evil Legendary-tier Law energy coming through Pandora's message and activated the magic tower's defenses.
• Pandora repeatedly pleaded with Punk to save Ganatica, who was dying beside her, and realized she had developed desperate feelings for him.
• Punk rebuked Pandora, recognizing that the strange energy had affected her, and cast Psionic Barrier around her and Ganatica.
• Punk opened a portal and used Divination Spells to examine their surroundings while keeping himself on the other side.
• Punk held the casting material for Collapse Singularity, ready to attack if the situation proved dangerous.

After rescuing Ganatica, Punk examined the exposed gray crystal and discovered that it was a sophisticated component of a larger Legendary creation. He found Aimoda-Flameclaw missing from the Scott Imperial Nation and took the crystal, leaving the reason for the dragon’s disappearance unresolved.

• Pandora confirmed that the Psionic Barrier had intercepted the gray crystal’s fluctuations, then laid the unconscious Ganatica down and thanked Punk for saving them.
• Punk used Divination Spells to examine the gray crystal and concluded it was an incomplete component of a powerful Legendary alchemical creation.
• Punk recognized that Ganatica’s survival meant his Interference Mechanism was still operating, but he could not determine whether the situation was good or bad.
• Punk searched the Scott Imperial Nation with Legendary Divination Spells and found no trace of Aimoda-Flameclaw.
• Punk sealed the gray crystal and placed it in his storage ring while Aimoda-Flameclaw remained absent.

Punk learned from Pandora about the Scott Imperial Nation and discovered that the gray crystal was a Legendary component that collected souls and harmed living creatures. He chose not to search the nation for more components, leaving with the crystal and a theory about Aimoda-Flameclaw’s disappearance.

• Pandora reported on the Scott Imperial Nation and the Mutual Aid Society, then asked Punk about Ganatica’s condition.
• Punk made a Soul Stabilization Potion and told Pandora to give it to Ganatica later, keeping him unconscious for now.
• Punk decided against searching the Scott Imperial Nation for more Legendary components because he feared a trap and could not be sure more crystals existed.
• Punk tested the gray crystal and found that it was made from Legendary material and could absorb the souls of nearby intelligent creatures.
• Punk inferred that the crystal’s soul absorption caused weakness, shortened lifespans, sudden deaths, and the Scott Imperial Nation’s famine.

After Punk took the gray crystal and left, Pandora woke Ganatica and told him that the Mutual Aid Society’s members had died and that they might be the only survivors in Red Valley City. Ganatica was left overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his companions.

• Punk vanished through the teleportation gate with the gray crystal, leaving Pandora relieved that he had spared her.
• Pandora gave Ganatica the Soul Stabilization Potion and urged him to wake so they could leave Red Valley City.
• Ganatica awoke, realized the crystal and all signs of life around Mosenkai Manor had disappeared, and asked what had happened to his companions.
• Pandora told Ganatica that Dice, Leon, and the others were dead and that only the two of them might remain alive in Red Valley City.
• Ganatica was overwhelmed by grief, guilt, and regret over losing his companions.

The Scott Imperial Nation’s emperor and five great nobles panicked after one of the ten gray crystals entrusted to them by Aimoda Flameclaw went missing. An elderly noble steadied the gathering and began proposing a countermeasure, but the chapter ended before he revealed it.

• The emperor lamented that the missing gray crystal would bring Aimoda Flameclaw’s wrath when the dragon returned.
• A young noble complained that Aimoda had demanded the crystals be kept in populated areas while forbidding experts from approaching them.
• The nobles vented their fear and resentment, then turned to discussing how to survive.
• An elderly noble reminded the gathering of the missing crystal and urged them to act like nobles rather than surrender to despair.

The Five Great Nobles debated how to recover the missing gray crystal, but their divination efforts could not find it or Ganatica. Marquis Voss insisted that his family had contacted an important Mutual Aid Society member and promised they would capture Ganatica within three months.

• A middle-aged noble explained that the Master Level Mages had found no trace of the gray crystal and could only link the attack to the Mutual Aid Society.
• The nobles despaired as they realized they could not locate Ganatica, who was protected from divination while he stayed with Pandora.
• Marquis Voss proposed wiping out the Mutual Aid Society and sealing the borders to force Ganatica to reveal himself.
• Prince Muydalan and other nobles objected that a massacre would risk the Scott Imperial Nation's survival and leave too little time before the Molten Ripper returned.
• Marquis Voss dismissed their concerns and said his family had contacted an important Mutual Aid Society member who would help capture Ganatica within three months.

The Poor People's Mutual Aid Army, led by the injured Ganatica, struggled to survive as the Scott Imperial Nation's Orthodox Knight Order hunted them. Facing a starving, exhausted army and no way to stop the campaign, Ganatica questioned whether his decisions had caused their ruin.

• The largest branch of the Mutual Aid Army, numbering thirty thousand poor people, hid in a forest camp while fleeing the Orthodox Knight Order.
• The army's members grew numb with hunger, exhaustion, and despair as they tended to the wounded and prepared to flee again.
• Ganatika, still weakened by his injuries despite reaching Master Level, asked Pandora whether the gray crystal and his choices had caused the disaster.
• Ganatika recalled that the Mosenkai Manor Raid had destroyed most of the Society's fighting force, leaving only him and Pandora alive from Red Valley City.
• After more than a month of evasion, the poor people's armies ran out of food and Ganatica still had no practical plan to save them.

Ganatica struggled to recover from the effects of the gray crystal while Pandora cared for him and tried to ease his guilt. When he told her she was his only beloved and that he trusted her completely, Pandora realized he had confessed to her.

• Pandora reassured Ganatica that the tragedy in Red Valley City and their countrymen's deaths were not his fault, then fed him bitter medicinal herbs.
• Ganatica recalled their childhood and explained that the gray crystal's Law fluctuation had left his body seriously weakened despite his soul being healed.
• Ganatica said he hoped to recover quickly so the nobles would show restraint and the poor people following him could regain hope.
• Pandora pressed Ganatica back onto the bed and comforted him, hiding her guilt over deceiving him.
• Ganatica told Pandora she was his most trusted beloved and the only one, and Pandora recognized his words as a confession.

Pandora fled after Ganatica acknowledged her feelings, then tried to set aside her love and continue guarding the camp. Meanwhile, Akto secretly gathered the Mutual Aid Poor People's Army's professionals for a confidential meeting, leaving them waiting to hear his important proposal.

• Pandora blushed and stumbled through a response after Ganatica said he could feel her feelings and sadness.
• Pandora hurried out to patrol the camp, but kept Ganatica's tent within the range of her Legendary Level Divination Spell.
• While walking beneath the three moons, Pandora worried that a magical puppet like her was not qualified to love and decided to postpone thinking about it until the army's crisis ended.
• Pandora noticed Akto's tent was still lit late at night as she continued her patrol.
• Akto secretly hosted the army's professionals in his tent, where they ate and urged him to explain why he had summoned them.

Akto plotted to betray Ganatica in exchange for noble status and tried to persuade the Mutual Aid Army’s leaders to turn against their leader. His speech was interrupted when Tauno put a saber to his neck and demanded an explanation.

• Akto recalled how the man in black had offered him a noble title if he followed a plan to bring about Ganatica’s death.
• Akto gathered the Mutual Aid Army’s leaders and argued that their continued flight from the Scott Imperial Nation’s Knight Order left them without hope.
• Akto blamed Ganatica’s arbitrary decision to turn the Mutual Aid Society into the Mutual Aid Poor People’s Army for bringing the Empire’s suppression upon them.
• Tauno held a saber to Akto’s neck and accused him of betraying their leader and siding with the nobles.

Akto persuaded Tauno and the other leaders to support betraying Ganatica, then laid out a plan to lure him to Pearl City, where several Master Level experts would ambush him. The conspirators agreed to the scheme, with Axe insisting they would fight Ganatica if it was exposed.

• Akto argued that sacrificing Ganatica would serve the Greater Good, and Tauno reluctantly accepted the reasoning.
• Axe agreed to rebel against Ganatica, while the middle-aged city-state lord also supported the plan to avenge his ruined family.
• Akto proposed sending Ganatica false urgent messages to draw him to Pearl City while the Scott nobles made misleading moves.
• Teni asked what would happen if the scheme was exposed, and Axe said they would fight Ganatica together.

After overhearing Akto and the other leaders plot to betray and kill Ganatica, Pandora arranged for the weakened Ganatica to leave with a piece of her soul hidden in a gemstone. She sent him toward a secret treasure while she returned to Pearl City to face the trap herself, leaving him with her answer to his confession.

• Pandora helped Ganatica onto a Horned Dragon Beast and told him to retrieve the family's last treasure while she led the troops to rescue Tauno.
• Ganatica worried about the danger to Tauno, but trusted Pandora and accepted the command token and gemstone she gave him.
• Before Ganatica departed, Pandora told him she loved him, and he rode away as she watched.
• Pandora recalled overhearing Akto and the leaders agree to surrender to the nobles and kill Ganatica, while Punk refused her attempts to contact him.
• After three sleepless nights, Pandora devised a plan to send Ganatica away with part of her soul in the gemstone and return to Pearl City as cover for his escape.

Punk studied the gray crystal and discovered that it converted souls into evil psychic energy capable of stimulating bloodlines. Suspecting Aimoda-Flameclaw had taken the energy stored in it, Punk blocked Pandora’s distress signal and chose to conceal himself from the increasingly dangerous mystery.

• Punk reflected on his desire to leave his quiet life and pursue another adventure, but decided the time was not right.
• Punk examined the gray crystal and found that it transformed souls into evil psychic energy that could erode souls and artificially stimulate bloodlines.
• Punk suspected the crystal’s creator had devised a method that could awaken bloodline powers even in Legendary creatures.
• Punk concluded that Aimoda-Flameclaw had taken the energy originally stored in the crystal.
• After receiving Pandora’s second emergency distress signal, Punk blocked all communication from her and decided to hide his presence, judging Ganatica’s role in the affair no longer useful.

Pandora was captured after the Mutual Aid Society collapsed, but the nobles failed to learn where the gray crystal was. The chapter ended with Master Moraka warning that Pandora’s badly damaged soul could not withstand spells that might reveal her memories.

• Akto and the orthodox knights captured Pandora at Pearl City, while the Mutual Aid Society surrendered or was crushed.
• The Five Great Nobles and the King questioned Pandora in a secret chamber, hoping she could reveal the gray crystal’s whereabouts.
• Pandora ignored their questions and remained unresponsive despite their threats and inducements.
• Prince Muilanda lost his temper, but Marquis Voss stopped him and asked Master Moraka to examine Pandora’s memories and soul.
• Moraka revealed that a quarter of Pandora’s soul had vanished and that its near-collapse made memory-reading spells too dangerous.

After Moraka confirmed that Pandora’s memories could not reveal Ganatica’s location or the missing gray crystals, the nobles accepted that Aimoda would return within three days and punish them. Voss ordered the nobles to preserve appearances and feast while they waited, as Muilanda’s rage at Pandora gave way to despair.

• Moraka told the nobles that Pandora’s memories held no useful information and that Aimoda would return in no more than three days.
• Moraka left the secret chamber, believing that he and the other Master Level experts could not escape Aimoda’s search or wrath.
• Prince Muilanda rushed to Pandora’s cage and demanded that she reveal Ganatica’s whereabouts and the gray crystals’ location.
• Pandora sneered at Muilanda and regarded the nobles as enemies, hoping Ganatica had escaped using the divination-shielding magic array.
• Voss ordered that Pandora be beheaded and displayed on the city wall, then called for a banquet so the nobles could indulge themselves before Aimoda returned.

After reaching a remote city, Ganatica learned from a noble proclamation that the Mutual Aid Society had been destroyed and Pandora executed. Unable to believe the news or get a response from his companions, he turned back toward Pearl City to find them.

• Nobles across the Scott Imperial Nation posted proclamations claiming victory over the Mutual Aid Society and announcing Pandora's execution.
• Ganatica read the proclamation and was stunned by the news of the Society's destruction and Pandora's reported death.
• Ganatica tore down the notice and used his emergency communication plate to contact Brother Axe, Tauno, Akto, and other leaders, but none responded.
• Ganatica crushed the silent communication plate and turned his Horned Dragon Beast toward Pearl City, determined to find Pandora and save his companions.