Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren planned to remove Horleta’s two immature Firstborns and study them at a base in the Dream Plane, while the group learned that equipment for analyzing the Wrathful Spirit was ready. The chapter ended as the Data Terminal instructed them to pour the Wrathful Spirit into the prototype machine.

• The Data Terminal explained that Interfering Pheromone could disrupt a Firstborn’s judgment and potentially paralyze it, though its effects had not been tested on a living Firstborn.
• Hao Ren said he planned to extract Horleta’s two immature Firstborns intact and move them to a research base in the Dream Plane, and the Data Terminal warned against taking them to the Outer World.
• Hao Ren said he would report his plans to Raven and visit New Erem, exciting Little Elizabeth with the prospect of returning to the Demon King's City.
• The Data Terminal announced that a prototype for analyzing the Wrathful Spirit was ready, and the Nangong siblings eagerly asked to see it.
• The Data Terminal showed the group the machine and told them to pour the Wrathful Spirit into its central pit, leaving Hao Ren baffled by the instruction.

Hao Ren and the others used the device to analyze the captured wrath spirit, but the lab needed several days to develop a way to decode its memories. Back home, Hao Ren found Cat Girl waiting with a mouse she had caught for him.

• Hao Ren released the wrath spirit into the device, which charged and restrained it while the Data Terminal and analysis computer examined its information.
• The Data Terminal explained that the wrath spirit had instincts but no real thoughts, and that its memories might still reveal information about Nangong May's parents.
• The initial scan found no usable decoding rules, and the analysis computer could not estimate how long it would take to build new ones.
• Hao Ren instructed the Giant Turtle Rock Platform to continue analyzing the wrath spirit and begin producing Interfering Pheromone aimed at the Firstborn.
• Hao Ren returned home, found Cat Girl safely waiting, and learned that she had caught a mouse for him to eat.

Hao Ren discussed building a research station in the Dream Plane with Raven 12345, then learned that an old storage device held an astronomical log recorded just before the Firstborn's Calamity. The log's contents remained unknown as the chapter ended.

• Roll caught a live mouse and tried to give it to Hao Ren, who persuaded her to throw it away.
• Hao Ren asked Raven 12345 about building a Space Station in the Dream Plane, and she approved the plan and promised support and full reimbursement.
• Hao Ren returned to find Lily and Vivian examining a crystal storage device recovered from an observatory on Planet Tanagrus.
• The Data Terminal revealed that the device's final astronomical log had been recorded on the eve of the Firstborn's Calamity.

Hao Ren investigated an ancient observatory log describing Arcana First Star’s apparent supernova shortly before the Firstborn’s Calamity on Planet Tanagrus. After learning the star defied normal astronomical laws, he heard that the Radiant Church’s ancient texts contained a similar account.

• The Data Terminal translated an observatory diary that recorded Arcana First Star flaring and swelling shortly before the Firstborn’s first tentacle appeared on Tanagrus.
• Hao Ren accessed the Tanagrus database through the Third Sample Repository and found that Arcana First Star had baffled astronomers for millennia because its nature and distance could not be measured.
• Hao Ren concluded that the star’s supernatural qualities might connect it to the Firstborn’s Calamity and described his findings to Lily and Vivian.
• Big Beard returned with roasted rabbit, heard Hao Ren’s account, and said the Radiant Church’s ancient texts recorded a similar event.

Hao Ren connected the red supernova legends from Horleta and Tanagrus to the Creation Goddess and named the mysterious celestial body the Red Nova. After preparations were completed to confront the Firstborn, he set out for New Erem with his companions, and Roll joined them for the trip.

• Big Beard told Hao Ren the Horleta legend of the Manula Disaster Star, and Hao Ren and the Data Terminal linked it to the red supernova recorded on Tanagrus.
• Hao Ren considered whether the Red Nova was connected to the Creation Goddess, but he lacked enough observations to determine its location.
• Hao Ren named the celestial body the Red Nova, and the Data Terminal added it to their list of targets to investigate.
• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform reported that the Firstborn hypnotic pheromone and Sacred Coffin replica were ready, so Hao Ren prepared to return to New Erem with Elizabeth, Izax, Lily, and the Nangong siblings.
• Roll rushed into the basement as Hao Ren prepared to activate the portal, mistook his business trip for an outing, and asked him to take her along.

Hao Ren visited the Erem Kingdom with his companions and asked Hilda to organize an excavation operation on Horleta. He revealed that the team needed to remove two buried plants, each over a hundred kilometers wide, leaving Hilda stunned by the scale of the task.

• Hao Ren and his companions arrived at Hilda's palace through the teleporter, and Roll hid behind him when she realized she could not return home.
• Nangong Sanba urged May to hit on Hao Ren, so May transformed into her water-snake form and swung him through the air.
• Hilda showed Hao Ren the Erem Kingdom's growing coastal city and described its improving relations with Demon King's City.
• Hao Ren asked Hilda to organize experts and equipment to excavate two harmful plants buried about a hundred kilometers beneath Horleta's surface.
• Hilda was shocked when Hao Ren explained that the plants were over a hundred and two hundred kilometers in diameter.

Hao Ren arranged for Hilda and the Erem Elves to prepare machinery to excavate a dead Firstborn, then boarded an airship with his companions for Demon King's City. During the flight, they spotted the enormous Firstborn spaceship unexpectedly rising toward the top of the atmosphere.

• Hilda questioned the safety of digging up a Firstborn, and Hao Ren assured her that Xiling technology could keep it suppressed.
• Hao Ren and Hilda arranged for the Erem Elves to gather personnel and construction machinery, with Hao Ren offering to transport the equipment through his portable space.
• Hilda invited Hao Ren's group to fly to Demon King's City aboard the Royal Airship, and Elizabeth admired the guardian-beast carvings at the Royal Spire.
• Hao Ren found Roll beside Vym after the cat had climbed onto a roof at the Heavy Industry Research Institute and could not get down.
• Hao Ren's group boarded the airship, and they saw the enormous spaceship rising toward the top of the atmosphere despite having been parked on the southern coastline.

Hao Ren and Izax investigated a lifelike illusion of the Demon King's City floating near the edge of the atmosphere. They traced the anomaly to a signal coming from the city’s Firstborn-powered power furnace.

• Hao Ren’s group spotted an unshielded, silent Demon King's City in the upper atmosphere and learned from the patrol craft that it was an illusion.
• Hao Ren and the others reached the real Demon King's City, where Lanina reported that the city had seemed normal and denied any illusion research.
• Hao Ren called Raven 12345, who ruled out a natural phenomenon and advised them to inspect the city for a device causing the projection.
• Izax led the group to the power furnace, where a Spirit race technician reported that its core had been emitting a signal for the past hour.
• Izax concluded that the Firstborn remains used in the furnace had been unsafe to use.

Hao Ren and the others discovered that the Firstborn Seed powering the Demon King's City was causing a phantom projection, so they shut down its reactor and stored the suspicious spheres for study. With the immediate danger resolved, the group resumed exploring and catching up before Raven 12345 told Hao Ren that his construction module had arrived.

• Elizabeth and the Data Terminal detected strange signals from the Firstborn Seed, and Izax ordered the city switched to its older reactor.
• Lanina and the technicians shut down the new power furnace, causing the phantom Demon King's City above the atmosphere to disappear.
• Hao Ren and the others suspected the Firstborn Seeds were dangerous, and he stored two Red Spheres for future study.
• Izax, Elizabeth, and Lanina caught up while Nangong May went swimming and Roll explored the city.
• Raven 12345 messaged Hao Ren that his construction module had arrived and told him to pick it up at Heaven's reception room.

Hao Ren gathered his companions and returned to Earth, then went to Raven 12345 to collect an architectural module for building a research station. The module had exploded, so Raven 12345 offered to send an avatar to construct a divine vessel for binding Horleta’s eldest son.

• Hao Ren gathered his companions, including Roll, and brought them back to Earth after promising Roll she could visit the other world if she stopped roaming the streets alone.
• Raven 12345 admitted that the architectural module she had been meant to give Hao Ren had exploded while she was tinkering with it.
• Raven 12345 created an avatar and offered to help Hao Ren build the research station using mysterious-system techniques.
• Raven 12345 explained that a vessel with divinity would be safer for binding Horleta’s eldest son, and admitted the explosion was still the main reason she was helping.

Hao Ren coordinated the equipment, evacuations, and personnel for the Firstborn's final handling, then gathered the team at the spatial rift beneath Andre Ancient Castle. With the Erem Excavator Brigade ready to enter the other world, he summoned Raven 12345 to begin building a container for the Firstborn.

• Hao Ren opened three spacetime tunnels after receiving reports that the personnel and equipment were ready.
• Hao Ren brought Vivian, Big Beard, and the others to Andre Ancient Castle, where Igor welcomed Vivian and reported that his family had recovered from the Angry Spirit's influence.
• Hao Ren and the group reached the Dark Snowfield and checked the spatial rift and the equipment they had left there.
• Hilda confirmed the Erem Excavator Brigade was ready, while Becky reported that the Pope and his people were waiting in Horleta.
• Hao Ren recited Raven 12345's summoning passage, and Raven 12345 appeared after teasing him; she then prepared to build the Firstborn's container.
• Hao Ren told Hilda to begin transmitting the brigade in forty minutes, with Vivian guiding them through the rift to the Tanagrus transfer station.

Hao Ren and Raven 12345's thought-form clone built a massive orbital facility to contain the Firstborn, but her intervention nearly destabilized the Dream Plane. After Raven 12345 vanished, Hao Ren was left to finish the work alone and wondered what she meant by a terminally ill parasite.

• Hao Ren and Raven 12345 teleported to Tanagrus's orbit to build a prison for the Firstborn.
• Raven 12345 created a moon-sized crystalline research facility with an enormous containment chamber and adjusted its orbit to protect Tanagrus.
• Raven 12345 explained that her interference distorted the Dream Plane and that further intervention could destroy the universe.
• Raven 12345's thought-form clone disappeared, and the stars returned to normal.
• Hao Ren realized the universe had been a minute from doomsday and wondered what Raven 12345 meant by a terminally ill parasite.

Hao Ren brought Hilda and a team of Erem Elf technicians to Horleta to help investigate the Firstborn. After a chaotic arrival at Becky's manor, the group met Ofra and the Pope and prepared to begin work at the evacuated sites.

• Hao Ren received the crystal complex's structural diagram and activation instructions as it continued growing into a research base and prison.
• Hilda and the Erem Elf technicians arrived at the underground transfer station, where Lily directed them through the spatial rift to Alamanda.
• Hao Ren sent the elves through the teleporter in Becky's basement, and the large group emerged in a chaotic crush that damaged Becky's possessions and foot.
• Hao Ren introduced Hilda to Ofra and the Pope as the Queen of the Erem Elves, and revealed that he was the Sun King.
• Ofra confirmed that Horleta had evacuated residents and nearby wild animals from the sealed sites, and Hao Ren prepared to begin the project.

Hao Ren clarified that he would not interfere in Horleta’s wars, then led the Erem Elf crews as they prepared to excavate Sunset Volcano and the Giant Life Tree. The chapter ended with the alien machinery assembled and Hao Ren promising Ofra a demonstration of advanced excavator technology.

• Ofra questioned Hao Ren about his role and whether he would help Horleta fight its neighboring barbarians, and he said he would intervene only against extinction-level natural disasters.
• Hilda completed the technical handover and went to meet King Moron while Hao Ren took the Erem Elves to the work sites.
• Hao Ren divided the elven technicians into groups for Sunset Volcano and the Giant Life Tree and summoned enormous machines from another world.
• The Erem Elf crews boarded the Disintegration Cutters and operated their equipment as the pope and Ofra watched.
• Hao Ren told Ofra she was about to witness the aliens’ advanced excavator technology.

Hao Ren arrived at the Giant Life Tree with Ofra and the others, discovering that the tree was now a mountain-sized stump. Once the elven excavators arrived, their sensors revealed how the tree’s vast roots had formed a prison around the Firstborn underground.

• Hao Ren and his companions traveled with Ofra to the lush region around the Giant Life Tree while the elven excavators flew toward the site.
• Ofra pointed out that the strange, vegetation-covered mountain in the basin was all that remained of the Giant Life Tree.
• Dodo emerged from Hao Ren’s collar and caused confusion among the Horleta officials, who mistook her for an otherworlder’s clone.
• The elven engineering brigade arrived, and Hao Ren ordered the excavation work to begin.
• The elves scanned beneath the tree and revealed that its roots stretched nearly two hundred kilometers, wrapping around and imprisoning the sleeping Firstborn.

Hao Ren’s team tested the Lullaby device and began excavating the sleeping Firstborn together with the roots of the Giant Life Tree. The central pillar was cut free and began to tilt as gravity-towing spacecraft moved in to pull it out.

• Hao Ren and the others examined how Lorisa’s Giant Life Tree roots had fused with the Firstborn, and concluded that the tree had ultimately been destroyed by the Firstborn’s corruption.
• The team deployed the Messenger to place a Lullaby device near the Firstborn and temporarily blocked the Holy Coffin’s inhibitor to test it.
• After the Firstborn remained asleep through the test, Hao Ren ordered the engineers to excavate it without separating the tangled roots.
• The Disintegration Cutters carved away the surrounding underground rock, and patrol craft blasted apart the remaining connections beneath the central pillar.
• The pillar began tilting, and Hao Ren’s team ordered gravity-towing spacecraft to pull it out.

Hao Ren and the engineering teams lifted the Giant Life Tree and the entangled Firstborn from Horleta, then transferred both living specimens to Tanagrus's orbit. After the operation went smoothly, the group returned to the royal capital, where the King invited the visitors to a feast.

• Erem Elf engineers raised the Giant Life Tree, the Firstborn, and a massive pillar of rock from the basin while injecting the Firstborn with tranquilizer.
• Hao Ren learned that Hilda and Big Beard were helping Moron oversee the parallel operation in the Sunset Mountains.
• The engineering fleet positioned both specimens in orbit, and the Giant Turtle Rock Platform transported them inside spatial bubbles to Tanagrus's orbit.
• Hao Ren and the teams returned to Horleta's royal capital, where Hilda reported that her diplomatic visit had gone smoothly.
• Ofra invited Hao Ren and the others to the King's feast, and Hao Ren accepted for the free food.

At a state banquet honoring the visitors from another world, the Erem Elves stunned Horleta’s officials with their blunt efficiency and unusual customs. As the feast continued, an anxious Church Knight appeared, drawing Hao Ren’s attention with a suspicious aura.

• The guests gathered at Veshan Great Hall, where Vivian noticed that many apparent Horleta nobles were actually trained attendants concealing the limited attendance.
• Ofra joined Hao Ren’s table, where Doudou judged her armor too hard to crawl into and Hao Ren worried about finding a larger pool as she grew.
• Moron and the pope gave lengthy speeches until Hilda ended them with a brief invitation to eat.
• The Erem Elves finished their meal in minutes, and Hilda explained their tradition and said she had already transferred much of her authority to Vime.
• Lily fed Hao Ren roasted meat and suggested he and Vivian recreate it at home.
• A worried high-ranking Church Knight hurried toward the pope, and Hao Ren sensed something suspicious about him.

A disguised heretic attacked the royal banquet hall after announcing that the Pope had been summoned by the Lord. Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, and Izax stopped the monster and left it incapacitated, though Lily began tearing at it.

• A Church Knight delivered documents about the Return Sect to the Pope, then announced that the Pope had been summoned by the Lord.
• Moron ordered the guards to seize the knight, whose wounds revealed him as a monster that attacked the Royal Guards and threatened Moron.
• Vivian trapped the monster in a storm of bats, lightning, and ice, but it survived and charged at Hao Ren.
• Hao Ren kicked the monster away and ordered it taken alive, while Lily fought it and blocked its escape.
• Izax seized the monster and broke its limbs, but Lily then bit and tore at its arm.

Hao Ren and the others stopped a heretic’s attack at the banquet, but the Pope identified the attacker as a flesh-and-blood construct containing tormented souls, including the knight John. After the Pope explained the cult’s recent setbacks, Hao Ren examined the cursed scroll, which suddenly shrieked and shattered.

• Lily lost control and bit the defeated monster until Hao Ren pulled her away, while Vivian’s teasing made her vomit.
• The Pope recovered from the scroll’s soul attack and recognized the monster as a creation containing at least a dozen tormented souls, including John.
• Moron sealed the hall, and Ofra explained that the Return Sect’s peripheral groups had been badly hit and might be making a desperate last stand.
• Hao Ren asked Ofra for intelligence on the heretics and their summoned Giant Brain, and she agreed to discuss it after the banquet.
• Hao Ren opened the scroll while the Data Terminal monitored it, but it appeared blank before shrieking and bursting into pieces.