Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and Nangong May fought the cultists and the Giant Brain summoned by their ritual. Hao Ren discovered that touching one of the monster’s tentacles made it freeze, and he prepared to exploit that weakness as the battle continued.

• The cult leader summoned a Giant Brain from a blood mist, and Hao Ren’s shot destroyed the altar but failed to stop its transformation.
• The Giant Brain attacked Hao Ren with mental shocks and spatially cutting tentacles, while Nangong May fought cultists who turned on her.
• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal concluded that the Giant Brain feared his sidearm, but repeated attacks left Hao Ren’s shield nearly depleted.
• Hao Ren noticed that the Giant Brain froze when he touched one of its tentacles and planned to shoot it during that pause.
• Hao Ren touched the tentacle again, briefly shut off his shield to strengthen the connection, and saw a series of illusions.

Hao Ren broke free of the Giant Brain’s mental attack after witnessing fragments of its memories, then returned to the ritual hall and saw Nangong May apparently killed by the cult leader. May regenerated by draining the cultists’ moisture, leaving her enemies dead and re-formed in the hall.

• Hao Ren entered the Giant Brain’s memories and witnessed red spheres rising from the sea, followed by visions of many species evolving and dying out.
• The Data Terminal helped Hao Ren regain control, and he shot the Giant Brain with the Examiner’s service pistol, causing it to crystallize and crumble to dust.
• Hao Ren turned back to find Nangong May surrounded by cultists while the cult leader attacked her and the child she was protecting.
• Nangong May seemed to surrender, but the cult leader drove his staff through her chest and her watery body spilled across the floor.
• Nangong May drained the cultists of their moisture, causing them to wither into ash, then re-formed and repeated her warning not to make her act.

Hao Ren and Nangong May rescued a girl from a cult hideout and found evidence linking the cult to the Radiant Church and Kingdom Knights. After returning to Leighton Town, they learned that Vivian and Lily had discovered a tentacle connected to the roots of the Twisted Woods.

• Hao Ren and Nangong May found the cultists dead, rescued a drugged little girl, and discovered that the cultists included a Kingdom Knight and a member of the Radiant Church.
• Hao Ren found and archived a booklet condemning the Radiant Church and praising a Goddess, then planned to give it to investigators in Leighton Town.
• Nangong May explained that she had used the water in the cultists' bodies to revive herself and described how her revivals could send her to a random watery location.
• Hao Ren and Nangong May used Spatial Teleportation to return to Leighton Town with the rescued girl, where Vivian and Izax's groups also came back.
• Vivian told Hao Ren that she, Lily, and the bats had fought a tentacle underground and confirmed that it belonged to the roots of the Twisted Woods.

Hao Ren’s group compared their discoveries about the Beinz Region, including the heretics’ summoned creature and the Stone Giants, but could not determine how the mysteries were connected. Hao Ren decided to inform Marshal Ofra and use her forces to stir up an investigation, and Ofra arrived before dawn.

• Becky and Izax reported that Stone Giants were gathering in the mountains without attacking, suggesting that someone might be controlling them.
• Hao Ren described the heretical ritual and the summoned brainlike creature, and Izax explained how Descent Summoning worked and why Hao Ren’s weapon had killed it permanently.
• Hao Ren and Vivian reviewed the tangled clues but could not establish how the heretics, the Stone Giants, the Twisted Woods, and the red world were connected.
• Hao Ren decided to tell Marshal Ofra what they had learned so she could mobilize her forces and stir up an investigation.
• Becky worried that cooperating with Ofra might cost her the chance to claim her estate and title, but she agreed to go along with the group.
• After the group rested until dawn, Marshal Ofra arrived to visit them.

Hao Ren told Marshal Ofra that heretics had infiltrated Beinz and presented evidence of their rituals near Beinz Blood Lake. As Ofra prepared to investigate the cave, a pillar of white light rose from the lake and alarm bells rang across Leighton Town.

• Ofra visited Hao Ren during a storm to discuss escorting four ascetics to the royal capital.
• Hao Ren revealed the heretics’ activities and showed Ofra evidence gathered during the previous night’s investigation.
• Ofra decided the orb should be taken to the royal capital and asked for the ritual cave to be investigated.
• Nangong May offered to guide Ofra to the cave after she criticized Hao Ren’s map.
• A deep rumble sounded, a pillar of white light rose near Beinz Blood Lake, and bells rang from Leighton Town’s clock tower.

After the Sacred Lake Church was swallowed by Beinz Blood Lake, Marshal Ofra led Hao Ren and her knights through the storm to investigate. They reached the lakeshore and found a gigantic vortex where the lake’s central island had been.

• A soldier reported that the Sacred Church had been swallowed by the lake, so Ofra assembled her forces to go to Sacred Lake.
• Hao Ren and his companions joined Ofra, while Nangong May took a squad of elite warriors toward the mountains to guard against the heretics.
• At the Twisted Woods, Ofra confronted a priest who tried to stop the kingdom’s knights, then led her force onward with Marshal Charge.
• Ofra’s knights crossed the forest at extraordinary speed and reached the shore of Beinz Blood Lake in less than an hour.
• Hao Ren saw a gigantic vortex in the center of the blood lake where its small island had once stood.

After a vast vortex swallowed the island sanctuary in the holy lake, Ofra led her knights to the survivors’ lakeside shelter and began assessing the disaster. Hao Ren suspected the hole beneath the vortex was connected to the disturbance he had caused underwater, leaving him and Vivian worried that they were responsible.

• The holy lake formed a gigantic vortex that swallowed the island and church, while Ofra and the knights prepared for a possible battle.
• The old man beside Ofra transformed into a Werewolf, and Lily excitedly recognized him as one of her kind.
• Ofra’s knights reached the lakeside shelter, where church survivors reported that the vortex had appeared after an earthquake and swallowed the sanctuary’s relics and texts.
• Hao Ren suspected his underwater work had caused the disaster, but he denied knowing anything when Ofra questioned him.
• Ofra planned to investigate the vortex after Diocesan Chief Geldon arrived, while Lily searched the shelter for Werewolves.
• Vivian privately asked Hao Ren whether the vortex was connected to their earlier work, and Hao Ren confirmed that the Data Terminal had found a huge hole where they had been working.

Hao Ren and Vivian concluded that the Great Vortex had formed when the lakebed collapsed around the vanished spaceship, and the group prepared to recover the Holy Coffin from the vortex. Big Beard revealed that the coffin contained the Goddess’s Life Progenitors and that their destination was a Divine Cave.

• Hao Ren blamed himself for the lakebed collapse, while Vivian reassured him that the damage had likely begun when the spaceship crashed.
• Diocesan Chief Geldon arrived, learned that the church and Holy Coffin had sunk into the Great Vortex, and asked Ofra to help recover the coffin.
• Ofra agreed to work with Geldon, and Hao Ren, Lily, Becky, and the others joined the expedition after Geldon promised a reward for their service.
• Big Beard told Hao Ren that the Holy Coffins held Life Progenitors created by the Goddess to preserve the world’s balance and restore life after great upheavals.
• Big Beard explained the history of the Life Progenitors and revealed that the group was heading to a Divine Cave.

Hao Ren learned that a three-thousand-year-old oracle predicted visitors from another world would open the Divine Cave beneath the Blood Lake. As the group reached the Great Vortex, Geldon stepped into it to investigate the cave entrance below.

• Big Beard told Hao Ren that the Goddess's oracle described the Chosen Spirits as visitors from beyond the world and that he had suspected Hao Ren's group fit the prophecy.
• The hoarse-voiced nun explained that only the popes and a few ascetics knew the Divine Cave's location, while Big Beard said the key to its core remained with the ascetics.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, Izax, and Becky debated whether the prophecy was trustworthy, and Hao Ren warned the group to stay alert and monitor May.
• The group crossed a path of magically controlled water to the Great Vortex, while Lily ate spicy strips and Becky worried about descending into it.
• Geldon and Ofra judged that the vortex might lead to a cave beneath the lake, and Geldon stepped into the vortex.

Hao Ren and the others entered the Great Vortex and reached a vast cavern beneath the blood lake, which Big Beard and his companions believed was the Divine Cave. Vivian discovered that the cavern’s detection array had been damaged by the spaceship explosion, meaning the supposed Chosen Spirits had not opened it as the group prepared to explore.

• Geldon entered the vortex, and a golden signal from below indicated that it was safe to follow.
• Ofra, Geldon, Hao Ren, Lily, Vivian, and the others plunged into the vortex and were swept into deep water.
• The group surfaced in a vast cavern beneath the blood lake, where Izax accidentally landed on Big Beard and injured his head.
• Hao Ren and the others reached shore and began exploring the cavern, while Big Beard and his companions became more convinced they were Chosen Spirits.
• Vivian identified a detection array on the cavern ceiling and concluded that the spaceship explosion had damaged it, rather than the array opening for the Chosen Spirits.
• Hao Ren asked Vivian to keep the truth from Big Beard and the others for the time being.

After the cave’s ceiling collapsed and revealed the Great Cavern, Hao Ren’s group learned that the church and holy coffin had likely been swept underground by the Great Vortex. Geldon and Ofra stayed to search for the coffin while Big Beard led the others toward the Divine Cave’s hidden core, choosing their route with a tossed stick.

• Lily teased Hao Ren about aliens ruining the cave’s ancient-myth atmosphere, while the believers mistook the blasted opening for proof of the Chosen Spirit’s power.
• Hao Ren used the Data Terminal to determine that the church had broken away from the island and fallen into the cavern during the Great Vortex.
• Ofra warned that the cavern might collapse, and Geldon and Ofra began searching the pool for the holy coffin while Geldon used divine power to part the water.
• Hao Ren and Big Beard claimed they would search nearby caves for an escape route, and Ofra sent Elson along to watch over them.
• At a fork among the caves, Big Beard prayed and tossed a small stick to choose the route toward the Divine Cave’s core.

Hao Ren's group explored the vast underground cave system with Elson Eben, who revealed that he had once adventured alongside Ofra and was known as General Cang Lang. Hao Ren realized Elson's unique family name connected him to werewolves on Earth, and the group reached a cavern that Lily identified as the tentacles' lair.

• Hao Ren scanned the underground passages as the group followed Elson through the winding caves, while Vivian sent bats to investigate side passages.
• Elson told Hao Ren and Lily about his past as a mercenary and adventurer alongside Ofra, and Becky recognized him as General Cang Lang.
• Becky explained Elson's reputation to Hao Ren and revealed his full name was Elson Eben.
• Hao Ren reacted to Elson's surname and learned that Elson was the last Eben werewolf in his world, suggesting a cross-world family connection.
• Lily reached the end of the cave, looked into the cavern ahead, and cried out that it was the tentacles' lair.

Hao Ren and his companions discovered a vast cavern filled with the Twisted Woods’ enormous roots and learned that the roots they had fought were only one kind. As they left, Hao Ren felt an unseen gaze watching him, raising the possibility that the roots were sentient.

• Lily’s cry led Hao Ren and the others to a cavern where colossal roots covered most of the ceiling and walls.
• Vivian confirmed that the roots matched the tentacles she and Lily had fought, and explained that the Twisted Woods likely had roots with different functions.
• Hao Ren told Big Beard and the ascetics about the heretics and their dangerous Giant Brain, and Big Beard agreed that they should deal with the threat together.
• The Data Terminal told Hao Ren that the roots extended deep beneath the Blood Lake, and Hao Ren recorded the cavern’s coordinates.
• As Hao Ren’s group left the cavern, he felt an invisible gaze from all directions and wondered whether the roots could think.

Hao Ren and his companions followed Big Beard through the root-filled Divine Cave and discovered an ancient teleportation gate. After Big Beard’s group sent Elson away through the gate, they continued deeper toward a bright, pulsing presence.

• Hao Ren sensed a vast consciousness watching the party, though the others felt nothing.
• Big Beard led the group through root-choked passages to an ancient teleportation gate and explained that it could separate travelers.
• Big Beard persuaded the party to enter, and Elson was teleported to a different cavern while Hao Ren and the others arrived together.
• Big Beard explained that the cave held divine inheritances intended for steadfast believers and Chosen Spirits from beyond the world.
• Hao Ren’s group reached the end of the cavern, where a brighter radiance and a heartbeat-like sound came from ahead.

Hao Ren and his companions discovered the Twisted Woods’ enormous, living heart and found an altar with a message left by the First Pope. The message began by revealing that its writers had come from the starry sky.

• Hao Ren and the others entered a vast cavern and saw the heart of the Twisted Woods, a colossal mass of roots and living tissue that pulsed like a heartbeat.
• The Radiant Church ascetics recognized the cavern from ancient records, while Vivian gave Hao Ren a little bat to keep safe in his portable space.
• A young nun collected some of the pool’s liquid, and the Data Terminal identified it as an independently living part of the Twisted Woods.
• A young monk found an altar beside the pool, where Big Beard discovered a black box containing ancient leather writings.
• Hao Ren and Big Beard deciphered the first line of the message: “We... came from the starry sky...”

Big Beard and the others read the First Pope’s message and learned that the world-ending catastrophe was an ecological disaster caused by the Ancient Magic Empire’s damage to the Primordial Seed. The message warned that the Life Progenitor was nearing the end of its three-thousand-year lifespan, and the young nun realized the legacy meant to prepare the world had been severed long ago.

• Big Beard read the ancient message aloud, and Hao Ren explained that life on the planet had originated from seeds scattered across the stars.
• The message revealed that the Ancient Magic Empire had damaged the Primordial Seed, awakening the Firstborn and unleashing the Thirdborn in an ecological catastrophe.
• The First Pope explained that a safety device now known as the Life Progenitor had stopped the Firstborn, but its remaining lifespan was three thousand years.
• The message warned that three Life Progenitors would fail in sequence, awakening three Firstborn, and said reinforcements from other planets would arrive aboard silver ships.
• The young nun realized that the legacy established to prepare the world had been severed long ago.

Hao Ren and his companions discovered that the Firstborn were ancient life-forms preparing to awaken and reshape the world, while the promised Chosen Spirit reinforcements had never arrived. With only two or three days before the Firstborn awoke, Hao Ren stayed behind to delay it as the others went to warn Ofra and Geldon.

• Big Beard and the other ascetic monks connected the lost church manuscripts to the truth about the Firstborn and the missing Chosen Spirit.
• Izax warned that the strange activity in the Dragon Ridge Mountains suggested the Firstborn were close to awakening.
• The heart began beating more forcefully, and the Data Terminal estimated that the Firstborn would awaken within two or three days.
• Hao Ren sent Big Beard and the other monks to warn Ofra and Geldon while he stayed to delay the Firstborn.
• Becky struggled to think of a way to fight the giant organism, and Hao Ren asked Vivian whether she had any neurotoxins.

Hao Ren and Vivian discovered that the Twisted Woods contained enormous, awakening organs and prepared traps before returning to Leighton Town. With the danger confirmed, Ofra and the Church began evacuating the region, while Hao Ren reunited with Nangong May and headed back to the guesthouse.

• Hao Ren ordered Vivian to prepare traps around the underground heart, and she set up blood-magic arrays beside it.
• Hao Ren and his group searched the underground caverns, where they found more hearts and Vivian set traps around seven of them.
• The group returned to Ofra and learned that Big Beard and Diocesan Chief Geldon had gone to town to organize an evacuation.
• Ofra used a teleportation stone to bring Hao Ren's group to Leighton Town, where the bells rang and Church members prepared to evacuate the residents.
• Ofra rode off to gather the Kingdom Knights and notify northern settlements, while Hao Ren reunited with Nangong May and led his group back to the guesthouse.

Beinz Diocese began evacuating after Geldon confirmed the Twisted Woods had become dangerously active, while Hao Ren and his companions prepared for the threat. The Firstborn’s roots erupted beneath Leighton Town ahead of schedule, and Izax, Hao Ren, and the others joined the fight as the town fell into panic.

• Geldon ordered a full evacuation of Beinz Diocese after investigators found dangerous energy and berserk monsters in the Twisted Woods.
• Hao Ren and his companions speculated that their spaceship or the Great Vortex had disrupted the Sacred Coffin’s lullaby, while Becky resolved to defend her homeland.
• Lily detected rumbling underground, and alarms sounded as flames rose in the distance.
• Hao Ren’s group ran toward the disturbance and found the Twisted Woods’ roots bursting through Leighton Town’s streets and attacking residents.
• Izax charged a tentacle and told the soldiers to alert Ofra and Geldon while Hao Ren drew his service pistol and led the others into battle.

Hao Ren and his companions fought tentacles erupting from beneath the town, including a mutated one that attacked their minds, until Ofra arrived and destroyed the remaining monsters. Her fighting style revealed that the Ancient Species of the Dream Plane resembled the Demon Hunters of the real world, leaving Hao Ren questioning what had happened on Earth as new monster warnings sounded across town.

• Hao Ren put away the Examiner's service pistol and fought the tentacles with an elven alloy spear while Lily, Hilda, and Becky battled nearby.
• The Data Terminal explained that the underground creature had begun stirring early, and the group continued fighting its ordinary tentacles.
• A purple-patterned tentacle hit Becky with a Mental Shock, but Ofra destroyed it with silver-white flames and rescued the group.
• Ofra teleported into the fight and burned away the remaining tentacles with her longsword while her knights held their positions.
• Vivian and Nangong May recognized Ofra's fighting style as that of a Demon Hunter, and Ofra said it was the innate swordsmanship of an Ancient Species.
• The underground monsters retreated, but new warnings of monsters appearing sounded across the town.