Chapter Summaries

Archbishop Garcia returned to Corland and was killed as nobles and clergy fought for control. Grand Duke Gailan emerged as the kingdom’s dominant power while Sven expanded the Dawn Believers’ influence, and Ryan began planning how to shape Corland’s future through its prosperity and his own name.

• Archbishop Garcia returned to Corland, where Grand Duke Gailan’s forces, magic, and the Shadow Vanguard defeated and killed him.
• After Garcia’s death intensified the kingdom’s unrest, Grand Duke Gailan gained support by suppressing conflicts while young nobles and clergy rallied for war.
• Sven secretly joined forces with the King, who appointed Grand Duke Gailan supreme commander for a three-day battle that killed more than six hundred clergymen and many noble heirs.
• The Corland Kingdom restricted the Church of Dawn’s military power, while Sven’s influence grew as Dawn Believers spread throughout the kingdom.
• Ryan learned that Corland had run out of options and planned to use rivalries between Gailan and the King, along with economic growth, to control the kingdom and establish himself as its dawn.

Ryan established Ryan's Vault to gain influence in the Corland Kingdom by lending money to struggling nobles and tying their financing to political and economic cooperation. With the King and Grand Duke Gailan joined as partners, Ryan secured a foothold and planned to reshape the lives of everyone in the kingdom.

• Ryan decided to create Ryan's Vault and borrowed Gold Coins from allies, nobles, the Emperor, and Prince Volvo to fund it.
• Ryan put Higni in charge of collecting repayments and sent Beard to establish Ryan's Vault in the Corland Kingdom.
• Beard introduced an aptitude system that prioritized nobles by their ability to repay, while Grand Duke Gailan endorsed the vault and the King granted it land in the royal city.
• Ryan's Vault offered financing in exchange for doubled repayment over time, with Ryan threatening severe recovery measures for nobles who defaulted.
• Ryan formed the Northern Kingdom's Braveheart Guild with the King and Grand Duke Gailan, giving each a stake while Frozen Earth Territory supplied its weapons.
• Ryan told Kemon Gerald that his financial alliances had given him influence over most Corland policies and promised a further plan to permanently change the kingdom's people.

Ryan entered the Corland Kingdom in disguise and explained to Kemon Gerald how war, trade, and the replacement of nobles had driven the kingdom into a new era. He revealed his ambition to spread his power across the world, then offered Grand Duke Gailan a bargain: Ryan would grant him legendary power in exchange for a price.

• Ryan’s influence and Imperial goods transformed Corland’s markets and drew commoners into adventuring, while the Eight Knights offered a path to protect their wealth.
• Ryan told Kemon Gerald that the Empire and The Church had forced the Corland Kingdom to change, and admitted he had killed stubborn nobles to install rulers who would accept the new era.
• Ryan declared that his students would carry his will throughout the world, and Kemon asked whether Ryan’s role in the changes could earn him a Legendary Boon.
• Ryan confessed to Grand Duke Gailan that he had killed the Corland Kingdom’s clergy and nobles, then threatened to kill the grand duke and conceal the crime.
• Ryan offered to turn one of Gailan’s Saint Domain experts into a Legend if Gailan could pay, promising that this power would secure his position as regent grand duke.

Ryan learned that Isabella, a Demigod seeking Frost Specter Crystals, had appeared and hurried to Archbishop Adriana for protection. He persuaded her to accompany him to the Frozen Earth Territory, where Isabella had already arrived and Avril feared her power.

• Lian led three new adventurers north to hunt buffalo, but a beast, illness, and bandits killed or separated his companions until he alone returned with part of the carcass.
• Ryan rewarded Lian for completing his mission by granting him Spirituality Blessing, then continued his plans to recruit noble bloodlines in the Corland Kingdom.
• The Mage Association received a House of Rodriguez request to buy Northlands Magic Crystals, but Mage Lyman warned that Ryan would not sell them cheaply.
• Isabella attacked Mage Lyman, then Ryan turned back toward the Northlands after realizing the Demigod posed a danger to him.
• Ryan asked Archbishop Adriana to accompany him to the Frozen Earth Territory, and she agreed to help purify a disaster in another world.
• Isabella arrived at Rhino Horn Mountain, where Avril felt the supernatural beings of the Frozen Earth Territory were suppressed by her presence.

Ryan brought Isabella, a Demigod Dragon Chosen, to Svafnir’s world and demanded that she trade for the Frost Ghost source she needed. After she agreed to a contract with Adriana, Isabella found spirituality in the ancient remains and prayed to Ryan, leaving him to realize that he alone could provide it to her.

• Ryan showed Isabella the Frost Specter Crystal, and she identified its ancient divine source and demanded to know where he had found it.
• Ryan took Isabella and Adriana through the Planar Gate to Svafnir’s world, where Isabella found countless Frost Ghosts and tried to seize their source.
• Ryan returned with Adriana and later confronted Isabella, warning that she could not leave Svafnir and insisting that she trade for its resources.
• Isabella agreed to a contract with Adriana that required her to provide Ryan with an endless supply of Frost Ghost source crystals in exchange for what she needed.
• Isabella entered the bone field and found ancient Divine Essence and World Tree veins, then prayed to the master of spirituality.
• Ryan saw the Dragon Spirit return the spirituality he had fed it and realized Isabella had obtained that power, making him the only source capable of sustaining her.

Ryan gained a Frost Ghost Tree seed from Isabella as Svafnir neared the Eternal Kingdom, then recruited Mage Lyman and negotiated with Archbishop Adriana to expand Dawn’s influence in the eastern lands. He began planning to exploit regional turmoil and redirect the faith power there before the Pope returned.

• Adriana purified Svafnir while Isabella failed to advance to godhood, then gave Ryan a Spiritual Plant seed that could produce Frost Specter Crystals.
• Ryan recognized that Isabella had lost her humanity and left behind only a weightless dragon-skin form before he and Adriana departed Svafnir.
• Ryan summoned Mage Lyman and offered him a long-term share of Ryan's Vault's profits to create panic in the eastern lands.
• Ryan planned to use the resulting suffering to strengthen Dawn’s faith and asked Adriana to help him expand its influence.
• Adriana rejected Ryan’s proposed payment and asked him to send more nuns so she could restore their faith to the Lord of Dawn.

Ryan oversaw Northwind Province’s growing harvest, road network, and Northern Great Wall while planning to recruit a peak Saint Domain expert to help defend it. At Thundercloud Mountain, Shaya learned that Chrysus and Grand Duke Mayers planned to sacrifice Northwind Province and refused to help them.

• Professional agricultural advisors left Baron Saren’s territory after helping increase grain production across Northwind Province by seventy to eighty percent.
• Ryan reviewed the Swampland’s abundant harvest and the progress of roads and the Northern Great Wall, then ordered the roads to continue without rushing at the cost of more lives.
• Aethelred reported that Headmaster Ross had become a Golden Knight and sought dragon blood while preparing the Great Wall Fortress to resist legendary enemies.
• Ryan decided to announce that he could provide a chance to become a legend, hoping to recruit a peak Saint Domain expert.
• Shaya confronted Chrysus about the Mayers Family’s plans, and Chrysus admitted they wanted to sacrifice Northwind Province.
• Shaya refused to help, insisting that sacrificing the land would destroy her child’s honor as Marquis of Northwind.

Chrysus tried to secure Mayers’ future by taking Northwind Province from Ryan Clayton, but Shaya warned that his political scheme would fail. Mayers publicly accused Ryan of misconduct, and Ryan answered with a counterproposal that exposed his peak Saint Domain strength; Grand Duke Mayers accepted that the family had become his enemy.

• Chrysus told Shaya that the Mayers bloodline was declining and that the family planned to strengthen its Nightmare Knights and reclaim Northwind Province before Ryan’s influence grew further.
• Chrysus revealed that Ryan had offered a way for a peak Saint Domain expert to advance to Legend, prompting him to suspect Ryan possessed the Godbone Potion.
• Chrysus asked Shaya to help damage Ryan’s standing among nobles, but she refused to speak publicly and warned that the scheme would not hinder Ryan or Floyd.
• Mayers publicly accused Ryan of shameful conduct toward Shaya, and Floyd responded by announcing his marriage to Diana Rodriguez.
• Ryan proposed marrying Shaya and making her the second Baroness of Frozen Earth Territory, while revealing that he was a peak Saint Domain expert under twenty-five.
• Chrysus recognized that Mayers’ plan had failed in part because he had overlooked Ryan’s Clayton Bloodline, while Grand Duke Mayers accepted that the family might now be openly opposed to Ryan.

Ryan investigated why Meyers wanted Northwind Province and learned that the Nightmare Knights had once ravaged the region without claiming its land. After surviving a nightmare attack, Ryan concluded that Meyers was trying to bring the Nightmare Knights back and ordered Higni to return.

• Ryan questioned Shaya about Meyers's intentions, but she denied knowing anything and said the conflict could end only if he gave up Northwind Province.
• Ryan asked Grand Mage Macken why Meyers coveted the province, then wrote to Count Soron and other old nobles to learn what happened when Meyers conquered it thirty-five years earlier.
• Ryan gathered accounts of the Nightmare Knights slaughtering Northwind's forces through nightmares, and learned they had vanished without taking any land because they could not walk normally in sunlight.
• Ryan fought Nightmare Knights in a dream on Rhino Horn Mountain, then discovered the nightmare had continued as a disguised knight attacked him through Avril and Queen Leta.
• Ryan burned the Nightmare Knight to ash, woke beside Avril, and ordered Appia to tell Higni to return.

After Grand Duke Mayers denied responsibility for the attacks, Ryan faced another nightmare that killed a maid and frightened Avril. He ordered Higni and the Shadow Vanguard to target Mayers's allies, and Higni began the campaign by killing Viscount Katon and carving Mayers's name into his heart.

• Ryan sent the Empire a declaration of war against Grand Duke Mayers, prompting nobles to urge restraint while Mayers blamed Holy Mountain for the nightmare attacks.
• Ryan destroyed another nightmare dragon, then learned that a maid had died in a nightmare and that Avril had also been attacked.
• Ryan and Avril suspected a medium was letting the Nightmare Knights target people at Rhino Horn Mountain, and Ryan decided to make Mayers's allies fear him.
• Ryan gave Higni a bloodline chart and ordered the Shadow Vanguard to kill Mayers's relatives and allies, while warning her to protect the Vanguard and leave Mayers's name behind.
• Higni traveled to Volga Province, killed Viscount Katon, carved Mayers into his heart, and set the room ablaze before continuing her killings.

Viscount Katon and Count Ferguson were gruesomely killed, and clues pointed investigators toward the Northlands, causing nobles to suspect Ryan. Grand Duke Mayers blamed Ryan and ordered a counterattack against him and the Northern Kingdom’s Braveheart Guild.

• Viscount Katon’s household was exterminated, and the Meyers surname was found carved into the victims’ hearts, prompting nobles to suspect the Mayers family and Baron Ryan.
• Count Ferguson was killed in a similarly horrific manner, and young Grand Dukes Russell and Fleming accused the Church of Dawn’s Black Swan Assassins.
• The Imperial investigation team captured Shadow Vanguard members and learned from the legendary Void Immortal that the assassins had come from the north.
• Ryan privately urged Grand Duke Mayers to support a search through the Northern Kingdom’s Braveheart Guild, warning that the deaths would stain the Meyers surname.
• Grand Duke Mayers told Chrysus he believed Ryan was responsible and ordered false evidence to be manufactured against him.
• Grand Duke Mayers sent transcendent beings and knights to Northwind Province to slaughter adventurers, and ordered his forces to kill anyone from Frozen Earth Territory who entered southern lands.

Ryan retaliated against Meyers’s trade blockade by using the Northlands’ defenses and new exports to attract merchants and knights. The chapter ended with Ryan inviting Meyers to join the search for the Black Swan Assassins.

• Meyers’s superhuman teams entered the Northlands and were killed by the Stag Legion in a blizzard.
• Arryris awoke, learned that Ryan had helped Isabella recover, and flew back to sleep.
• Brock unveiled the Legendary Snow Dragon’s Roar greatsword, which Ryan put up for auction to draw trade north.
• Ryan introduced Dragon Elephant Armor, and Zero Crossing City’s economy prospered despite Meyers’s blockade.
• Ryan revealed the Frozen Earth Territory’s Northern Warhorses, highlighting Grand Mage Macken’s success.
• Ryan again invited Meyers to support the Braveheart Guild’s search for Black Swan Assassins in the Northlands.

Ryan revealed Frozen Earth Territory’s military strength and defended his faith before the Empire’s nobles, while Grand Duke Mayers shifted from attacking Ryan’s reputation to preparing to conquer Northwind Province. At a crowded auction in Zero Crossing City, Ryan became the Dawn Godfather, manifested a Legendary Boon, and announced a new order for selecting retainers from the Northlands’ slaves.

• Ryan let nobles investigate Frozen Earth Territory and presented its resources and army as proof of his strength, while Mayers recognized him as a difficult opponent.
• Ryan displayed the Eternal Divinity at a legendary weapon auction and asserted that Light favored him; Sven then led Dawn Believers in proclaiming Ryan their Dawn Godfather, and Ryan blessed them.
• Ryan challenged Mayers over his control of nightmare power, but Mayers rejected the accusation and decided to pursue Northwind Province by force instead of trading attacks on Ryan’s reputation.
• Ryan auctioned the legendary longsword Dragon’s Chant and celebrated Northwind before a crowd in Zero Crossing City, where observers recognized his Legendary Boon.
• Ryan announced that he would choose thirty-two Eight Knights’ Retainers from among the Northlands’ slaves.

After becoming Legendary, Ryan faced a Nightmare Lord’s invasion of Northwind Province and suspected Grand Duke Meyers was laying a path for the Nightmare Knight Legion. He used the Thunder Giant’s heart to create small giant-like monsters that drove the nightmare devils together at Crimsonwing Plains.

• Ryan became Legendary, and Zero Crossing City celebrated his rise while he assured the nobles that Meyers would fail.
• A Nightmare Lord invaded Northwind Province, but the Florian Empire drove it from the skies; Ryan then called on Count Soron and Count Winter to help purge its devils.
• Ryan saw that nightmare flames were turning the land into a realm within the human world and concluded that Meyers was creating a route for the Nightmare Knight Legion.
• Ryan learned from Lord Ivy Anla that nightmares instinctively feared Giants, then persuaded Count Soron to hand over the Thunder Giant’s preserved heart.
• Grand Mage Macken used the heart to make more than a hundred miniature thunder stone monsters, which Brandt’s knights deployed to gather the nightmare devils at Crimsonwing Plains.

Grand Duke Mayers sent ten thousand Nightmare Knights through the realm of nightmares to invade Northwind Province. On Crimsonwing Plains, the Nightmare Knight Legion met Brandt’s Stag Legion in a brutal, repeated cavalry charge that left both armies devastated.

• Grand Duke Mayers ordered the Nightmare Knights to cross the Empire through the nightmare realm, determined to act before the Emperor could stop him.
• The Nightmare Knights appeared in Northwind Province, where nobles watched their advance toward Crimsonwing Plains with alarm.
• Brandt and the Stag Legion faced the Nightmare Knights across the plains, and both armies charged as golden sunlight briefly broke through the clouds.
• The two legions fought at close quarters, while Armored Bears and their warriors tore into the Nightmare Knights and suffered heavy losses themselves.
• Brandt turned the Stag Legion for a second charge, and fallen soldiers from both sides were trampled beneath the advancing cavalry.

Mikaela and the Stag Legion fought through the Nightmare Knight Legion’s attacks on the Crimsonwing Plains while Ryan shattered a legendary nightmare and unleashed Dragon Warriors. Grand Duke Meyers sent in more Nightmare Knights, whose fallen soldiers transformed into flying Nightmares and escalated the battle.

• Mikaela rallied the Stag Attendants and fought his way out of a crater before charging toward Brandt’s forces.
• Ryan and Grand Duke Meyers watched the costly battle as Meyers unleashed abyssal mist that began forming a legendary nightmare over the Crimsonwing Plains.
• Ryan used the Gram Scabbard to destroy the nightmare, and Brandt led the Stag Legion into another charge.
• Meyers sent several thousand more Nightmare Knights into Northwind Province, and Ryan released Dragon Warriors and Feral Dragon Nightmares to meet them.
• Meyers summoned the Nightmare Knight Legion’s second form, as fallen Nightmare Knights became flying spirit soldiers called Nightmares and attacked the Stag Attendants and Dragon Warriors.

Ryan intervened as the Stag Legion struggled against the Nightmares, using alchemical machines and summoning Surtr to destroy the Nightmare force before facing Grand Duke Mayers. The conflict ended without either man explaining its cause, and the Empire returned to ordinary life while the nobles speculated.

• The Stag Attendant killed a Nightmare by striking its core, but the Stag Legion fell behind until Ryan sent alchemical metal monsters whose purple flames weakened the spirits.
• Ryan shot a Sky-tier Nightmare Knight with a crystal arrow, ignited the battlefield, and summoned Surtr, who crushed the Nightmare Knights and devoured the Nightmare Realm's aura.
• Grand Duke Mayers watched Ryan's display and reconsidered whether to force the dispute into a fight to the death; the Nightmare Knights then retreated as the realm collapsed.
• Ryan saluted Grand Duke Mayers, rode back toward the Frozen Earth Territory, and left the nobles to find the ruined Crimsonwing Plains and speculate about what had happened.
• Grand Duke Mayers and Ryan both denied that they had fought, and trade resumed as the Empire settled into an uneasy calm.
• Ryan remained unable to work out what Grand Duke Mayers had wanted with Northwind Province, though Mayers had learned the cost of targeting it.

Ryan toured Frozen Earth Territory during a leisurely winter after Emperor Florian ended further supply deliveries for the Northern Great Wall. His visit showcased the territory’s prosperity and devotion, and he left Winter City after witnessing a gladiator become a lion-like berserker.

• Knight Haines told Ryan that the Emperor’s latest supply delivery was the last because materials were needed to build a Light Church City for the Divine Grace Festival, and Ryan accepted the decision.
• Ryan returned to his study, noted that his strength had surged to the peak of the Saint Realm despite his Legendary Boon remaining unfinished, and spent time with Daina Azur.
• Ryan rode through Frozen Earth Territory, observed its clean roads and growing settlements, and reminded his servant to protect the ancient trees.
• In Winter City, Ryan blessed his believers and gave a pelt to a gladiator selected to become the year’s new Child of Doomsday.
• Ryan watched a hundred gladiators battle until one remained, and the victor used the pelt to transform into a lion-like berserker before Ryan continued north.

Granville and the people of the Frozen Earth Territory shared an ordinary winter day as Ryan visited their fortress before continuing toward the Northern Great Wall. Ryan’s procession encountered a group of workers clearing snow on the road under orders from Lord Kruger.

• Granville, Flo, and Max hunted two horned deer in the Mountain Forest while Granville’s son practiced archery back at the fortress.
• The hunters returned, and the community gathered around a bonfire to eat; Ryan and Legion Commander Brandt arrived, and Ryan shared roasted venison with the children before departing for the Northern Great Wall.
• The commoners discussed making a blanket for Ryan, and Max returned home after leaving Granville and Flo to stand watch.
• Ryan’s brightly lit carriage traveled through the Thorny Jungle as the knights restrained their hungry Northern Warhorses.
• A knight challenged people on the road, and they knelt and explained that Lord Kruger had ordered them to clear the snow before they could sleep.

Payne seized on Ryan’s promise that slaves could enter the attendant selection and began training while clearing snow at the Great Wall Fortress. After returning to Rhino Horn Mountain, Ryan asserted his authority over his territory and displayed legendary power by transforming a snowstorm into a fiery spectacle.

• Ryan ordered the slaves to clear the road and told Kruger to keep them from freezing to death.
• Payne remembered Ryan’s promise that slaves could enter the attendant selection and argued that becoming an attendant could offer a path out of slavery.
• Payne worked harder than the other slaves to build his strength, and Kruger let his group bathe after they cleared a large stretch of road.
• Ryan surveyed his territory from Rhino Horn Mountain and declared it his kingdom.
• Ryan summoned a blizzard, sat on an ice throne, and turned its deadly shards into flames as he demonstrated the power of his Legendary Boon.