Chapter Summaries

After agreeing to travel to Beinz Blood Lake with Becky, Hao Ren and his companions split up to investigate the town before their departure. They reunited at the town gate near noon, each having learned something about the unfamiliar world.

• Becky agreed to guide Hao Ren and his group to Beinz Blood Lake, and they arranged to meet outside the town at noon before setting out west.
• Hao Ren realized the group had no money and assigned everyone to explore different parts of town, telling Vivian to focus on the Rune of Leta and Lily to stay with him.
• Hao Ren let Doudou look outside from her kettle, but the newly hatched Little Merman seemed overwhelmed by the vast world and stayed inside.
• Lily told Hao Ren she had spotted a Werewolf near the intersection, and he scolded her for not mentioning it sooner.
• Hao Ren and Lily continued wandering through town, and the group reunited outside the town near noon with everyone but Hao Ren having learned something.

Hao Ren and his companions shared what they had learned about the Kingdom of Horleta and discovered that Izax had earned them money by selling weapons he made from Demon Stone. They also learned that their Dream Plane bodies were physical copies that still needed food and sleep, leaving Hao Ren with a clearer sense of how the Dream Plane worked.

• Vivian told Hao Ren and the others that Rune of Leta had been lost and that locals copied its symbols as charms without understanding them.
• Nangong May connected Rune of Leta to an ancient civilization inherited by the Kingdom of Horleta, and Izax said the kingdom might have inherited relics rather than descend directly from that civilization.
• Izax revealed a pouch of coins he had earned by selling Demon Stone short swords to a local weapon shop.
• Izax explained that he had learned to make money from human heroes who scavenged valuables in his territory.
• Lily asked Hao Ren to find food, and the Data Terminal explained that their Dream Plane bodies were physical copies that needed to eat and sleep.

Hao Ren and his companions left Lunber on horseback for Beinz Blood Lake, with Becky leading the journey west. Izax ran alongside them after the horses proved unable to carry him, and Hao Ren searched the grassland for the black wolves he wanted to find.

• Becky arrived with a horse-team owner and arranged five horses for the group to rent.
• Hao Ren paid for the horses, and everyone chose a mount; Izax’s weight and demonic aura frightened the horses, so he decided to run instead.
• The group rode west across the grassland toward a mountain-dweller village, with Izax keeping pace on foot.
• Becky wondered why the horses had reacted so badly to Izax, while Nangong May explained that he had mountain-dweller blood.
• After riding for over an hour, Hao Ren began looking for the black wolves he wanted to have fangs set into.

Hao Ren’s group traveled across the grassland, where Lily’s howling drew the black wolf pack to them. He reunited with the wolf king and said he had brought a doctor, leaving the group ready to treat the wolves who had lost their teeth.

• Hao Ren searched the grassland for the wolf pack so he could fulfill his promise to return their teeth.
• Vivian encouraged Lily to howl, and her cries alerted the local black wolves to the group’s presence.
• Lily lost control of her galloping horse, then stopped it by jumping off and knocking it unconscious.
• The wolf king and more than twenty black wolves arrived and recognized Hao Ren.
• Hao Ren told the wolf king, “I brought a doctor.”

Hao Ren and his companions met the Wolf King, and Nangong May healed the pack’s broken teeth before they continued toward Beinz Blood Lake. The Wolf King revealed that a tall, thin woman from another world had recently asked about large Space Gates and was heading to the lake, raising new questions about who she was.

• Hao Ren introduced Nangong May to the Wolf King, who summoned the black wolves whose teeth Hao Ren had broken.
• Lily chatted with the pack while everyone waited, and Becky urged the group not to linger too long.
• Nangong May used water magic to regrow the wolves’ teeth, including the Wolf King’s, and the pack lined up to ask her for other treatments.
• Hao Ren told the Wolf King that the group was traveling to Beinz Blood Lake, and the Wolf King said many people had recently gone there.
• The Wolf King told Hao Ren that a tall, thin woman from another world had asked about large Space Gates and was heading toward Beinz Blood Lake.

Hao Ren learned that a mysterious woman from another world had passed through a village west of the grasslands and headed toward Beinz Blood Lake. He and his companions continued toward the village, hoping to find her, as Becky grew more suspicious of the group.

• The Wolf King told Hao Ren that a thin, blond woman in white had claimed to come from another world and asked where space was most unstable.
• The Wolf King recalled that the woman’s homeland faced a disaster, that she had passed through a western mountain-dweller village, and that their conversation seemed to convey meaning before either finished speaking.
• Hao Ren decided the group should seek the woman near Beinz Blood Lake, while Becky suspected that Hao Ren and his companions were hiding something.
• The group resumed its journey, and Becky teased Hao Ren about the canteen he carried while Doudou watched the grasslands from inside it.
• At sunset, Hao Ren and his companions reached the mountain-dweller village on the border of the Kingdom of Horleta.

Becky guided Hao Ren and his companions to the mountain people's village, where they met the hospitable village chief and prepared to stay overnight before continuing toward Beinz Blood Lake. Vivian asked the chief whether a tall woman dressed in white had passed through two days earlier.

• Becky explained the Great Grassland's disputed borders and the mountain people's village as the group traveled there.
• Hao Ren and his companions entered the village, where the unusually tall residents welcomed them and Becky arranged for Zanaro to take their horses.
• Becky brought the group to the village chief, who warmly invited them inside for a meal and mistook Izax for a mountain person.
• Vivian asked the village chief whether a tall woman dressed in white had visited two days earlier.

Hao Ren and his companions learned that the mysterious woman had taken a route toward Beinz Blood Lake, then stopped by a river to care for Dodo. After Dodo jumped into the water and Hao Ren rescued her, a beam of light from a building across the river caught his attention.

• The village chief told Hao Ren that a mysterious woman had passed through recently, bought a horse with healing ointment, and asked for directions to Beinz Blood Lake.
• Hao Ren and his companions chose the route the woman had taken, while Dodo caused a commotion inside the water jug during their meal.
• Hao Ren went to the river to change Dodo's water and gave her a scrap of rune card to eat.
• Dodo jumped into the river, and Hao Ren pulled her out after discovering she was splashing in place beside him.
• Hao Ren noticed a beam of light shining across the river from a white stone-brick building.

Hao Ren secretly entered a little chapel across the river after seeing a strange beam of light, but found no source for it. He returned to the village and prepared to resume the journey, while the mural in the chapel continued to move in the moonlight.

• Hao Ren found the locked chapel and used the Data Terminal to teleport inside without opening its door.
• Hao Ren read the Radiant Church's scripture and noticed that it described the Goddess as a world-creating phenomenon without giving Her a physical form.
• Hao Ren searched the empty chapel for the light's source but found only a strange mural behind the pulpit.
• Hao Ren returned to the village chief's house, where Vivian and Lily questioned his wet pants, and he concealed that he had entered the chapel.
• The village chief explained that Priest Lunber held services in the chapel on the Secondary Moon's full moon, and Hao Ren went to rest for the next day's journey.
• After Hao Ren left, moonlight fell on the mural as its black and red forms churned and its bright colors dimmed.

After accepting the mountain people's farewell gifts, Hao Ren's group crossed the grasslands and reached the Dragon Ridge Mountains, where they took an ancient trail toward Beinz Blood Lake. Becky explained the range's origins and warned about its stone monsters just before a thunderous boom sounded from within the mountains.

• The mountain people sent Hao Ren's group off with dried food, and Becky explained that her friendship with them came from repaying kindness with kindness.
• The group traveled at full speed across the grasslands while Lily ran alongside the horses and raced her own mount.
• Lily told Hao Ren they were near the mountains, and the group reached the Dragon Ridge Mountains, a barrier on their way to Beinz Blood Lake.
• Becky led the group onto an ancient mountain trail and warned them about dangerous magical beasts in the area.
• Becky recounted how the Magic Emperor Eloken had created the mountain range and said his lingering Soul Fragments drove the stone monsters.
• A thunderous boom echoed from deep within the mountains, and Vivian's warning indicators began blaring.

Hao Ren and his companions encountered a group of mercenaries fighting three powerful rock monsters on the mountain road and joined the battle. Vivian’s lightning attack badly damaged one monster but failed to stop it, leaving the group to fight the creatures head-on.

• Hao Ren and his companions hurried along the dangerous ancient mountain road after hearing a distant boom.
• Vivian detected fresh blood ahead, and the group followed the sounds of battle to find injured mercenaries fighting three rock monsters.
• Izax charged in to help, while Vivian, Lily, and Hao Ren joined the fight and Nangong May stayed in a safe place with the daughter pot.
• Vivian blasted one rock monster with Lightning Shock, but it survived and chased Lily, revealing that the monsters resisted electricity and explosions.

Hao Ren and his companions struggled to defeat regenerating Stone Giants until they discovered the monsters died when kept away from the ground long enough. The team destroyed all three, leaving Hao Ren stunned by their unconventional methods.

• Lily’s blades could not cut the Stone Giant, but Hao Ren shielded her from being crushed against a cliff and helped her escape.
• Izax repeatedly smashed apart a Stone Giant, then discovered it crumbled when he held it off the ground.
• The mercenary captain remembered that an earlier Stone Giant had been lifted into the air by a druid’s poisonous vines.
• Lily carefully calculated her throw and kept a Stone Giant airborne long enough for its magic power to run out.
• Vivian carried the final Stone Giant off the ground as a swarm of bats until it broke apart, then collapsed from exhaustion.

After defeating the Stone Giants, Hao Ren and his companions rescued a battered mercenary party and discovered clues that the monsters had come from the western side of the Dragon Ridge Mountains. The chapter left Hao Ren and Vivian suspecting that this world lacked Sirens, despite having other supernatural races.

• Lily helped pull Hao Ren from the ground after he saved her from a Stone Giant, and the mercenary captain thanked them for rescuing his party.
• Nangong May used her healing mist to restore the wounded mercenaries, while Becky confirmed that Stone Giants had never been known on the mountain road.
• Izax and the others found fresh moss and vines on the Stone Giants' remains, suggesting the creatures had come from the western side of the Dragon Ridge Mountains near Beinz Blood Lake.
• Nangong May revealed that her healing came from being a Siren, but Becky had never heard of Sirens, so Hao Ren claimed they belonged to an isolated magical faction.
• Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged a look as they realized that this world had Werewolves, Vampires, and elves but apparently no Sirens.

Hao Ren’s group learned there were no Sirens in the Dream Plane, disappointing Nangong May, and continued toward Beinz Blood Lake despite warnings about the dangerous route. After parting with the rescued Iron Thorns mercenaries, Hao Ren reassured Becky that his group had secrets but meant no harm, and she agreed not to pry.

• Hao Ren and Vivian learned that the Dream Plane had no Sirens, leaving Nangong May disappointed about the chance to find her people.
• Hao Ren asked the mercenaries about the woman in white, and they said she had been seen heading toward Beinz Blood Lake two days earlier and would likely be stopped at the checkpoint.
• Hao Ren’s group declined to take a safer route, while the rescued mercenaries returned home and their captain, Constantine, gave Hao Ren a pendant as thanks.
• Lily introduced their team as the All the Good Names Are Taken by Dogs mercenary group, embarrassing Hao Ren in front of Constantine.
• Becky questioned the group’s claims about being mages, but accepted Hao Ren’s explanation that they had secrets and agreed not to ask about them.

Hao Ren's group reached the Dragon Ridge Mountains' western slope and saw Beinz Blood Lake and the dangerous Twisted Woods ahead. A fresh landslide revealed that more than four Stone Giants had broken free from the mountains, leaving Vivian alarmed by how many might exist.

• Lily led the group to the mountain pass, where Hao Ren saw the vast crimson Beinz Blood Lake and the purplish-red Twisted Woods.
• Becky explained that the Twisted Woods was one enormous plant and that the only alternative route to the lake passed through dangerous territory.
• Becky led the group down the western slope, where they spotted a recent landslide and Hao Ren recognized it as the source of the crash they had heard.
• Vivian sent a bat to investigate the collapsed cliff and found signs that more than four Stone Giants had emerged from the mountains.

After discovering that Stone Giants had emerged from the Dragon Ridge Mountains, Becky and her companions rushed to Leighton Town to warn the authorities. They found the town under martial law after a recent battle and were escorted to meet the Diocesan Chief.

• Izax sensed a force rising underground, and Becky concluded that more Stone Giants might be loose in the mountains.
• Becky ordered the group to hurry to Leighton Town and report the danger to the knights.
• The group reached Leighton Town and found the valley sealed by a defensive barrier, with Stone Giant remains and signs of battle outside.
• Becky told the sentry captain that they had an urgent report, and he arranged for them to enter the town.
• A robed mage escorted the group to meet the Diocesan Chief and warned them not to leave his sight during the Level 1 Alert.

Hao Ren and his companions crossed a tense, guarded Leighton Town and were brought to its church to meet Diocesan Chief Geldon. The chapter ended as Geldon paused his discussion with Lady Ofra to greet them.

• Hao Ren observed the town's defenses and considered how the Radiant Church's clergy and divine arts worked.
• Nangong May asked about the attack, but the black-robed priest refused to discuss local defense matters.
• Vivian led the group to the church, where Hao Ren's device analyzed the town's barrier as a simple repulsion wall without true divine properties.
• The black-robed priest brought the group to Diocesan Chief Geldon's study and warned them to show proper etiquette.
• Geldon discussed the unexplained anomalies with Lady Ofra, then stood to greet Hao Ren and his companions.

Becky and Hao Ren reported the Stone Giants’ emergence to Diocesan Chief Geldon and learned that the creatures had attacked the town twice. Kingdom Marshal Ofra argued that the attacks were part of a threat to Beinz Sacred Lake, and she agreed to arrange nighttime defenses before discussing the growing danger the next day.

• Becky told Geldon that Stone Giants had split off from a mountain peak and described how her group defeated three of them.
• Geldon explained that the Stone Giants had attacked the town twice, causing casualties before the defenders learned how to counter them.
• Ofra and Geldon connected the attacks to disturbances at Beinz Sacred Lake and debated whether the ancient Magic Emperors were challenging the Goddess.
• Geldon agreed to consider opening the sacred coffin after three months and asked Ofra to report the matter to the king.
• Becky recognized Ofra as the Kingdom Marshal, fainted, and then excitedly declared her admiration.
• Ofra assigned her knights to defend the town overnight and said they would discuss the monsters the next day.

After reporting the mountain collapse and nearby monsters, Hao Ren’s group received a travel permit to the Sacred Lake and prepared to continue searching for the mysterious woman. On the way to the Knights’ station, Becky explained that Marshal Ofra was a centuries-old descendant of the Ancient Species and a legendary warrior.

• Marshal Ofra left the Diocesan Chief’s room, and Hao Ren realized she was the kingdom’s young-looking military commander.
• Hao Ren warned the Diocesan Chief about stone people and monsters heading toward the grasslands, and the Church planned to investigate and strengthen security.
• Vivian asked for a travel permit to the Sacred Lake, and Hao Ren explained that the group also sought a mysterious woman who had recently passed through the region.
• The Diocesan Chief issued the group a permit and cautioned them that conditions near the Sacred Lake had become unstable.
• As the group headed to the Knights’ station, Becky explained that Marshal Ofra was several hundred years old and praised her legendary military career.

Hao Ren learned about Marshal Ofra’s legendary history and her centuries of service to Horleta. After leaving Leighton Town, the group headed toward Beinz Blood Lake and entered Twisted Woods.

• Becky told Hao Ren how Ofra rose from an adventurer to Horleta’s celebrated marshal alongside King Gadon III.
• Hao Ren considered Ofra’s long loyalty to the royal family and recalled her dispute with the Diocesan Chief over the Holy Church Orb.
• The group left Leighton Town the next morning, leaving their horses behind because the magic near Beinz Blood Lake unsettled them.
• Becky warned the group to avoid magic in Twisted Woods, then explained she was escorting them onward both to keep her word and to seek treasure.
• Vivian sent bats ahead to scout while Lily sniffed for danger, and the group entered Twisted Woods, where Hao Ren sensed a change in the atmosphere.