Chapter Summaries

Richard discovered a hidden passage from Tangka's tomb and found that a group had taken the Blue Seal shortly before he arrived. Realizing the group likely needed his Blood-colored Seal to open the Ancient Ruins, he headed to the tavern to identify them.

• Richard copied an unclear inscription from the transparent pillar and inferred that the Blood-colored Seal and Blue Seal had to work together to open the Ancient Ruins.
• Richard used his precognitive ability to locate a hidden door, then followed the passage to a Red and Blue metal gate and opened it with the Blood-colored Seal.
• Richard emerged halfway up the mountain and found fresh footprints showing that a group had recently entered the tomb and taken the Blue Seal.
• Richard reasoned that the group likely knew about the Ancient Ruins and could benefit from cooperating with him.
• Richard recalled the bartender's account of a forceful group that had stayed at the tavern the previous night and hurried back to question him.

Richard returned to the tavern after finding Tangka Wizard's Tomb already looted and asked the bartender about the group that had searched for it. He learned the group had arrived from the north and left to pursue their trail.

• Richard told the bartender that someone had reached Tangka Wizard's Tomb before him and taken its contents.
• Richard asked where the group had gone after staying at the tavern, but the bartender admitted he did not know.
• The bartender said the group had come from the north, traveling by a forest path through Black Nail Town, Sandstone Town, Nox Baron Castle, and Greenwater River.
• Richard memorized the route and left the tavern, advising the bartender to change his beer-selling tactics.
• The bartender drank the beer and complained that its poor taste was the boss's fault.

Richard tracked down the group that had taken the Blue Seal and proposed cooperating with them because he had the matching Red Seal. The Long-haired Woman questioned his offer, then learned from him that words were engraved on the bottom of her seal.

• Richard left Gray Wood Town and pursued the group that had taken the Blue Seal.
• At midnight, Richard found the eight wizards resting north of town, and the group prepared to attack when they sensed him.
• Richard revealed that he knew they had visited the Tangka Wizard's Tomb and showed them his Red Seal.
• The Long-haired Woman compared the two seals and listened as Richard proposed cooperation.
• The Long-haired Woman admitted she had not noticed any words engraved on the bottom of her Blue Seal.

Richard and the Long-haired Woman argued over whether both seals were needed to open the Ancient Ruins, then agreed she would test her Blue Seal first and contact him within three days. After he disappeared, the White-haired Old Man warned that Richard might have learned the ruins’ location, so the group decided to leave immediately.

• The Long-haired Woman checked the seals’ colors and heard Richard argue that the Blue and Red Seals had to be used together to open the Ancient Ruins.
• The Long-haired Woman refused to cooperate at first, saying her group could explore without Richard, but agreed to test their Blue Seal before reconsidering.
• The Long-haired Woman gave Richard a magical handkerchief as a communication mark and promised to signal him within three days.
• Richard vanished, and the Thick-lipped Woman confirmed he had left the area.
• The White-haired Old Man warned that Richard might infer the ruins’ location from their meeting plans, prompting the Long-haired Woman to order her group to leave immediately.

Richard decided to wait for the Long-haired Woman's group to return and seek his cooperation, then visited Tinwood to inspect the factory producing weapons-grade nuclear material. After repairing the production lines, Richard considered increasing output, while Tinwood received an alarming message from a bloodied Gray Wolf.

• Richard concluded that the Ancient Ruins required both the Red Seal and the Blue Seal, so he chose to wait for the Long-haired Woman's group rather than search for the ruins or take the Blue Seal by force.
• Richard traveled into the forest and met Tinwood, asking whether he had damaged the factory machines; Tinwood admitted they had developed minor problems.
• A bloodied Gray Wolf returned to Tinwood and howled, causing Tinwood to look solemnly toward the direction it indicated.
• Richard entered the cave factory, inspected its three production lines, and repaired mechanical issues to keep at least one line running for the next three months.
• Richard left the factory and headed toward Tinwood while considering adding more production lines.

The Long-haired Woman and her group failed to open a sealed wall guarding the Ancient Ruins, and the white-haired old man warned that forcing it could destroy the ruins and kill them. She ordered the group to contact a mysterious person and cooperate with him, leaving them committed to sharing the ruins’ treasures to secure the indispensable Blood-colored Seal.

• The Strong Man used a Blue Seal on the stone wall, but it only opened a narrow crack that would not widen.
• The Long-haired Woman added her blood and struck the wall with purple energy, but the wall repelled her and left her injured.
• The white-haired old man warned that destroying the wall or entering elsewhere could collapse the underground space or strand the group inside the Ancient Ruins.
• The Long-haired Woman decided to contact the person who possessed the Blood-colored Seal and explore the ruins together.
• The Long-haired Woman overruled the group's objections and ordered everyone to cooperate, saying they could share some of the other treasures.

Richard found Tinwood treating an injured white wolf and offered to help with the Demonized Insects, but Tinwood insisted he was fine. Richard left to respond to a request for cooperation and explore some ruins, while Tinwood prepared for an imminent attack in the forest.

• Richard found Tinwood slowly healing a white wolf whose wounds had been inflicted by a Demonized Insect.
• Tinwood said the insects stayed beyond his Core Area and rejected Richard’s offer to help deal with them.
• Richard received a request to cooperate, decided to return to settle the matter and explore ruins, and reminded Tinwood to contact him if trouble arose.
• After Richard left, Tinwood told the injured white wolf that the planned attack would soon repay its enemy a thousandfold.
• A house-sized beehive split open, and a rhinoceros-sized beetle-like creature emerged as thousands of strange bees swarmed above it.

A strange beetle-like creature devoured a hive and the surrounding trees, then used a Fungal Mat to hatch successive batches of Weird Bees. As the exhausted beetle and its brood were vulnerable, a white wolf led a coordinated attack from the forest.

• The beetle ate a hive and felled trees around the clearing, then produced a Fungal Mat and dozens of Large Weird Bees.
• The Large Weird Bees swallowed trees, returned translucent crystals to the beetle, and enabled it to lay more than a hundred eggs.
• The Fungal Mat began hatching the second batch while the beetle rested and the bee swarm buzzed overhead.
• Wind blades burst from the forest, killing bees and striking the Large Weird Bees, the eggs, and the beetle.
• A powerful white wolf led a mass of Demonized Creatures into the clearing while the beetle and its brood were weakened or unable to fight.

The beetle sacrificed its incubating eggs to create blood-colored Strange Hounds, but its forces were overwhelmed by the Demonized Creatures led by the massive white wolf. The battle revealed a trap involving at least five beetles, and the wolf led a breakout as cries summoned creatures from across the forest, turning the secret conflict into a vast war.

• The beetle absorbed the fluid from more than a hundred eggs and used it to produce over thirty blood-colored eggs that hatched into nearly seventy Strange Hounds.
• The beetle’s bees, Large Weird Bees, and Strange Hounds fought the Demonized Creatures, but the attackers broke through and killed the beetle’s controlled creatures.
• The beetle blasted the massive white wolf and nearby beasts into the air, then flew up on eight pairs of wings as the Fungal Mat withered.
• The white wolf spotted swarms and several other black beetles closing in, revealing that the first beetle had been a decoy in a larger trap.
• The massive white wolf formed the Demonized Creatures into a wedge and charged toward a gap in the encirclement while howling for support.
• Demonized Creatures and beasts across the forest answered the wolf’s cries and rushed toward the battle, turning the confrontation into a vast war.

Richard met Molly and her seven companions at the Western Frontier Forest to negotiate cooperation in exploring the Ancient Ruins. Molly proposed an eight-to-one division of the spoils, but Richard demanded an equal share because each side held one of the two seals needed to enter, and Hulk challenged his claim.

• Molly introduced her companions, including One-Eye, Ice Block, Wood, Camel, Su, Mr. Xize, and Hulk, and said her own name was Molly.
• Richard introduced himself, and Molly began discussing how they would divide the benefits from exploring the Ancient Ruins.
• Molly proposed that her eight-person group take eight shares and Richard take one.
• Richard argued that the two seals were essential to opening the ruins and proposed that he and Molly's group split the spoils equally.
• Hulk objected to Richard's demand, saying his group had paid to find the ruins and that Richard would not know their location without them.

Richard negotiated with Molly’s group over the split of the Ancient Ruins’ gains and proposed a hide-and-seek game to prove his strength. After he vanished, the group began searching, but their first efforts failed to locate him.

• Richard rejected Molly’s offer of one-fifth and insisted on an equal share, arguing that he could also take their Blue Seal and explore alone.
• Hulk challenged Richard to prove his strength, but Richard avoided a direct fight and proposed that Molly’s group search for him for one minute.
• Molly consulted Xize, then accepted the game and agreed to Richard’s terms if her group failed to find him.
• Richard distorted and vanished, while Su used wind to search nearby and reported that he was not in the area.
• Molly sent One-Eye, Ice Block, Wood, and Camel in different directions as Su tracked them, while Xize tried to use a wooden stick to locate Richard.

Molly’s group failed to find their missing opponent and debated whether to honor their agreement to explore the Ancient Ruins and split the gains. As they prepared to bargain from a position of strength, they discovered Hulk had lost their Blue Seal, leaving Su and Xize searching for it.

• Su and Xize failed to locate the opponent, so Molly called back One-Eye, Ice Block, Wood, and Camel and said they would honor their bet if he returned.
• Su, Xize, and Hulk urged Molly to secure control of the Ancient Ruins and claim an important item there, but Molly questioned how they could make their opponent yield.
• Hulk reached for the Blue Seal he had been carrying and realized it was missing.
• Molly stopped Hulk from searching alone and ordered Su to use the wind to look nearby.
• Xize joined Su in the search, planting his small stick in the soil and making it spin as he chanted.

Xize’s spinning sticks led Richard to Molly’s group, where he revealed that he had obtained their Blue Seal and gained control over access to the Ancient Ruins. Richard offered to split the ruins’ proceeds equally, and Molly pressed him to explain how they would divide items of uncertain value.

• Xize snapped his spinning wooden stick in two, but the halves spun toward the same direction and flew at an invisible figure.
• Richard emerged from the air holding the Blue Seal, and Molly’s group realized he had both seals.
• Richard offered Molly an equal share of the ruins’ proceeds, saying he would otherwise seek the ruins without her group’s help.
• Molly agreed that the split was fair but asked how they would divide valuable or unappraisable items.
• Richard called the problem a simple two-person cake-cutting problem, and Molly regretted asking him to explain.

Richard explained fair methods for dividing gains to Molly, who agreed to cooperate with him in exploring the ruins. Meanwhile, Bi Bi arrived in Gray Wood Town to search for Richard and entered its tavern, where the bartender hoped for a customer he could swindle.

• Richard described cake-cutting, dice, auctions, and other fair ways to settle disputes over the ruins' gains.
• Molly agreed to work with Richard and led the way toward the ruins after he warned that delay could bring trouble.
• Molly asked whether Richard had overheard her team calling her Princess and discussing their debt, and he denied hearing anything.
• Bi Bi reached Gray Wood Town after spending months playing instead of searching for Richard, then followed a pigeon's clue to the town's tavern.
• The bartender lamented his failure to sell beer as Bi Bi peeked into the tavern.

Bi Bi asked a bartender to help her find someone, though she knew neither his appearance nor any identifying features. The bartender charged her for beer in exchange for recounting people he had seen, and after finishing two mugs, Bi Bi listened drunkenly as he offered to continue.

• Bi Bi told the bartender she was looking for someone but could not describe him or give any distinguishing features.
• The bartender proposed recounting everyone he had seen, and Bi Bi agreed after he demanded five copper coins for the information.
• Bi Bi paid for a mug of beer, drank it herself, and listened as the bartender described people he had seen seven days earlier.
• Bi Bi bought a second beer and quickly drank it while the bartender recounted people he had seen six days earlier.
• Bi Bi grew flushed and drowsy as she listened, and the bartender set out another beer and offered to tell her about five days earlier.

Bi Bi got drunk in the tavern, drank nearly a whole barrel of beer, and frightened everyone with her strange behavior. She eventually collapsed again, leaving the bartender too terrified to collect the money.

• Bi Bi paid the bartender to tell her what he had seen, but fell asleep before he finished.
• After waking, Bi Bi forgot why she had come and decided she wanted to drink, so the bartender served her more beer.
• Bi Bi drank three mugs, twisted her neck around, and frightened the tavern’s customers into fleeing.
• Bi Bi forced the bartender to keep pouring until she had nearly emptied a barrel, then collapsed.
• The bartender reached for Bi Bi’s clothes to recover the beer money, but she woke, grabbed him, and demanded to know what he was doing.
• Bi Bi threw the bartender, kicked over the counter, stomped a patch of grime, and collapsed again as the bartender vowed never to sell alcohol.

Bi Bi woke up buried in a Dirt Pit outside Gray Wood Town, blamed her missing memories on the target, and set off north to pursue him. Meanwhile, Richard and Molly reached an underground ruin entrance beneath a river, where they found a sealed stone wall that required both seals to open.

• Bi Bi dug herself out of the Dirt Pit and learned from a White Dove that her target had left town heading north.
• Bi Bi decided to chase the target, dismissed her uncertain memory of a warning to avoid him, and continued north.
• Molly led Richard and the others to a river, where Ice Block froze the water to reveal a hidden passage.
• Richard and the others descended into a vast underground space and found an azure stone wall covered in magical patterns.
• Richard recognized two holes in the wall as keyholes for the seals.

Richard and Molly opened the Ancient Ruins with their two seals and entered together, with Richard agreeing to follow Molly’s guidance as they explored. Molly warned the group about Black Poison Sand, and they went around it as Richard considered collecting some to study later.

• Richard inserted the red and blue seals into the stone wall, and Molly used her blood to make the entrance open fully.
• Molly explained that she had information about the ruins and asked Richard to follow her lead; Richard agreed but warned that he would stop trusting her if her information proved inaccurate.
• Richard entered the ruins with Molly’s group, where darkness limited their vision, and they passed the remains of collapsed buildings.
• Molly warned Richard that Black Poison Sand could harm the body from a distance and could not be removed by spells.
• Richard followed Molly around the Black Poison Sand and considered collecting some for study after they left.

Richard’s group navigated the Ancient Ruins along Molly’s carefully chosen route, avoiding hazardous substances and a vast mushroom field. After One-Eye explained the dangers of the mushrooms and the safety of Gray Mice, Richard connected Molly’s detailed knowledge and Hulk calling her “princess” to a possible link with Wizard Tangka.

• Molly warned Richard that green liquid on a wall could damage his magical source, and Richard suspected it might be connected to the Blood Energy Extraordinary Factor.
• Molly led the group through the ruins along a route marked by stones, pillars, stains, and pits, helping them avoid dangerous areas.
• Molly stopped before a huge mushroom field and warned that creatures might be feeding there.
• One-Eye caught a Gray Mouse and explained that Gray Mice were safe to eat, while some similar-looking mushrooms caused hallucinations.
• Richard recalled the group’s knowledge of the ruins and their connection to Tangka’s tomb, then remembered Hulk calling Molly “princess.”

Richard and Molly’s party crossed a dangerous mushroom field and reached a fissure beyond which Demonized Creatures were expected to attack. After crossing the bridge, they were surrounded by Weird Sandworms whose appearance reminded Richard of the legendary Mongolian Death Worm.

• Richard wondered whether Molly was secretly a princess from the Sika Kingdom or another realm.
• Wood fed a seed to the Gray Mouse and controlled it through the mushroom field to reveal a safe path.
• Molly led the party through the mushroom field, and they traveled nearly a thousand meters to a stone bridge over a deep fissure.
• Molly warned Richard that Demonized Creatures awaited beyond the bridge, then prepared her group for battle.
• Molly’s party crossed the bridge and was surrounded by numerous Weird Sandworms emerging from the darkness.