Chapter Summaries

After Fiona’s return became public, the Olyvendi and Alfred Families agreed to an examination and made her a territorial lord, using her as bait to deter attackers. On the eve of Fiona’s appointment, Anvis saw a fateful anomaly heralding the start of a heroic Epic.

• Duke Carlot and the Alfred Family investigated the leak about Fiona’s return but could not identify who had revealed it.
• The Olyvendi and Alfred Families agreed to let the Ninth Ranks of Innoc and the Aslaid Family examine Fiona under strict safeguards.
• Rumors spread across the Gloria Empire that Fiona’s examination had revealed information about breaking through to Legendary.
• Duke Carlot secured Fiona’s graduation from Pamir Academy and granted her a territory in western Carlas Province, while Ninth Rank Limit guardians prepared to protect her and ambush attackers.
• Anvis saw a vortex of destiny around a brilliant star above Moonrise Fortress and recognized it as the beginning of a heroic Epic on the eve of Fiona’s appointment as a lord.

Anvis secretly returned from Pamir Academy and persuaded Duke Carlot to let him serve as Fiona’s deputy, arguing that helping her govern would bring him Fate Feedback. He traveled with Fiona to Silver Gull City under the assumed identity of Leivin Bolley, a Fifth Rank Frost Sorcerer.

• Anvis visited Duke Carlot’s study in secret and revealed that an Avatar remained at Pamir Academy.
• Anvis asked to become Fiona’s deputy, and Duke Carlot questioned his reasons and warned that governing would distract him from cultivation.
• Anvis told Duke Carlot that helping Fiona govern would bring him immense Fate Feedback, and the Duke agreed to his request.
• Duke Carlot told Fiona that Anvis had returned to help her, reassuring her before she took up her post.
• Anvis told Fiona to conceal his identity and introduced himself as Leivin Bolley as they set out for Silver Gull City.

Fiona formally became lord of Star Territory, and Anvis used her growing fame to attract Players and develop the territory. Silver Gull City expanded as Players and Clubs invested, while Fiona left much of the daily governing to Anvis.

• Fiona arrived in Silver Gull City and displayed the Lord's Seal Ring, completing the transfer of authority over Star Territory.
• News of Fiona's appointment spread across the Empire, drawing attention from the public and a growing number of Players.
• Anvis paid Mysteries Society Club representatives to promote Fiona among Players, hoping to build support for her in a future civil war.
• After months of governing, Fiona lost interest in routine work and delegated daily affairs to Anvis while making public appearances and exploring the city with the two little ones.
• Anvis oversaw Silver Gull City's expansion as Players moved in, and Clubs began buying land and shops in hopes that the city would become a major center.

Fiona received a letter from Fourth Princess Oswelia Augustine requesting a meeting in Star Territory, and Anvis advised her to accept. After Fiona approved the preparations, Annie warned Anvis that she was watching his conduct.

• Fiona received Oswelia Augustine’s letter proposing a meeting seven days later to discuss territorial governance.
• Anvis described Oswelia’s influence and strength, and advised Fiona to prepare for the meeting.
• Fiona agreed to meet Oswelia and told Anvis to arrange the visit.
• Annie warned Fiona that Anvis had too much authority, but Fiona insisted he was trustworthy and ordered Annie not to raise the concern again.
• Annie confronted Anvis in the castle corridor and told him to remain vigilant and not make things difficult for Fiona.

Anvis tested Annie’s suspicions and warned her to consider her safety before acting against him. After Annie told Fiona about their conversation, Fiona gave her a powerful ring that could summon help or carry her into the Dream World.

• Anvis isolated Annie in the corridor and suggested he might have an agenda involving Fiona, while Annie secretly tried to send a distress signal.
• Annie prepared to defend herself, but Anvis ended the isolation spell and told her to think about how Fiona would feel if she died needlessly.
• Annie returned to Fiona and repeated what Anvis had said during their meeting.
• Fiona gave Annie a Silver Magic Ring that could summon an Eighth Rank being from the Dream World or help Annie escape into it.
• Fiona reassured Annie that she had several such rings and told her to protect herself.

Oswivia secretly investigated Silver Gull City before her scheduled meeting with Fiona, examining its public transport, diverse residents, and rapid development. Impressed by what she found, she arrived at the day of the meeting increasingly eager to speak with Fiona.

• Annie began secretly watching Anvis because she feared that Leivin Bolley's authority and Fiona's trust in him could endanger the territory, while Anvis used her surveillance to teach her how to manage it.
• Oswivia disguised herself and entered Silver Gull City ahead of her announced visit to see the territory as an ordinary traveler.
• Oswivia observed the city's clean streets, Construct Vehicles, diverse population, and signs of hope among its residents.
• Oswivia learned from residents that Fiona's rule had brought expansion, jobs, and reliable access to resources, and she recognized the Pigeon emblem on the city's Constructs as Anvis Olyvendi's trademark.
• Oswivia investigated the city for several days and grew more eager to meet Fiona when the scheduled meeting date arrived.

The Fourth Princess Oswivia arrived at the City Lord's Mansion to meet Fiona, and the two began speaking privately. Oswivia asked about Duke Carlot and whether Fiona needed help, but Fiona said her father was well and that she knew nothing about his intentions.

• Anvis and Annie welcomed Oswivia and her Rose Knights Order at the City Lord's Mansion.
• Anvis escorted Oswivia to the reception room, where Fiona greeted her formally.
• Oswivia and Fiona discussed their shared experience at Royal Pamir Academy and the Platinum High Tower.
• Oswivia asked Fiona about Duke Carlot and offered her assistance, but Fiona said her father was well and she could not guess at his will.

Oswivia questioned Fiona about the Star Territory’s governance and learned how Anvis was letting the Outsiders develop financial systems as part of a larger experiment. Fiona then offered Oswivia access to the territory’s rare resources, and the list revealed a crucial ingredient for Oswivia’s planned Ninth Rank breakthrough ritual.

• Oswivia asked Fiona about the unusual Magic Constructs and Outsiders in her territory, and Fiona credited Anvis and the Outsiders for them.
• At Fiona’s request, Anvis explained stocks and futures, prompting Oswivia to recognize their potential and warn about fraud and unrest.
• Anvis defended the Outsiders’ freedom and privately regarded their financial activity as an experiment that could transform the empire’s outdated economy.
• Fiona offered Oswivia discounted access to rare resources from the Deep Dream World, reserving the most precious items for the Star Territory’s allies.
• Oswivia saw a Time-Reversing Crystal Egg at the top of Fiona’s resource list and recognized it as a material she needed for her Ninth Rank breakthrough ritual.

After Fiona gifted resources to Fourth Princess Oswivia, Anvis explained how the rare Time-Reversing Crystal Egg and Oswivia’s acceptance signaled political support. He then tasked Annie with drafting a bill governing Outsiders’ rights, leaving her to complete it within seven days.

• Oswivia accepted Fiona’s offer to buy the listed resources, including the Time-Reversing Crystal Egg, and Anvis explained that the gift tested whether she would openly support Fiona.
• Fiona asked Anvis whether the egg was rare and whether she had negotiated well, and he praised her performance and said Oswivia had repaid part of the price with a favor.
• Fiona gave Anvis a writ to mobilize the City Guard, then left with Annie watching.
• Annie questioned why Anvis needed the writ, but he refused to explain his plans.
• Annie suggested creating laws to regulate Outsiders, so Anvis ordered her to draft a bill on their rights within seven days.

After the Star Praise Sect threatened to send three Apostles to seize Fiona, the Olyvendi and Alfred Families secretly recalled Ninth Ranks to protect her, weakening their forces at the front. Anvis arrived at the front line and asked Duke Carlot what secret Fiona was hiding.

• An Olyvendi guardian killed Spirit World Anthem, a Federation Ninth Rank, and destroyed the traced contingencies that could have allowed him to return.
• Duke Carlot accused Marquis Delaka and the other Marquises of conspiring with the Federation, while they denied the charge.
• The seven Marquises appeared on battlefields, forcing the Ninth Ranks of the two great families to confront them and escalating the Empire's war.
• The Star Praise Sect announced that three Apostles would come to Star Territory in seven days to take Fiona.
• The two great families secretly recalled one Ninth Rank each to protect Fiona, leaving their battlefield forces weaker as the Marquises paused their offensive.
• Anvis met Duke Carlot at the front-line command tent and asked what secret Fiona was hiding.

Duke Carlot revealed to Anvis the secret history of the Olyvendi and Alfred Families’ forbidden experiments to create a Legendary being. He explained that Fiona was their only successful subject, while Anvis’s balanced dual bloodlines had first given them hope that the experiment could work.

• Duke Carlot verified Anvis’s identity, isolated them within his Rule Domain, and warned him that learning Fiona’s secret would expose him to danger.
• Anvis convinced Duke Carlot that, as Fiona’s adjutant and an Olyvendi descendant, he needed to know the truth.
• Duke Carlot explained that the Olyvendi and Alfred founders had discovered two Legendary Bloodlines in an ancient High Elf research facility.
• After failing to reach Legendary, the families began the forbidden Create a Legend experiment, first using single bloodlines and then attempting to combine two.
• Duke Carlot said that Anvis’s balanced bloodlines had renewed the families’ hopes, and Fiona was the only successful subject created from the remaining Legendary blood.

Anvis learned that Fiona was created through a bloodline experiment intended to reach Legendary, and Duke Carlot explained the family’s competing plans for her and the Silver Key. When Carlot asked how Anvis would help the family’s predicament, Anvis revealed that he had joined the Circle of Truth.

• Duke Carlot confirmed that Fiona was the only successful subject of the Create a Legend project and explained that theories about reaching Legendary remained unproven.
• Carlot recounted how the Former Federal Speaker had tried to break through the world's Ceiling Wall and summon an Outer Deity, before the Circle of Truth stopped him.
• Carlot revealed that some family members, led by Pomona of Zero-Degree Ice Crystal, wanted to sacrifice Fiona using the Silver Key to summon a Great Existence and open a path to Legendary.
• Carlot asked Anvis how he would resolve the family's predicament, and Anvis said he had joined the Circle of Truth.
• Anvis explained that he had met the Circle of Truth's Mysterious Expert during the Construct Network disaster and had been accepted into the organization.

Anvis persuaded Duke Carlot to consider cooperating with the Circle of Truth against the marquises, and Carlot agreed to consult the Alfred Family. As Star Territory prepared for the Star Praise Sect’s attack on Fiona, the royal faction’s Ninth Ranks planned to delay their response and let the two families face the danger first.

• Anvis proposed using the Circle of Truth as an ally against the marquises, and Duke Carlot warned that the Circle would eventually oppose the Empire’s nobles.
• Anvis explained the Circle of Truth Leader’s plan to attack the marquises while their forces were occupied, and offered to negotiate on behalf of the Olyvendi Family.
• Duke Carlot agreed to discuss the proposed cooperation with the Alfred Family before giving Anvis an answer.
• Fiona anxiously awaited the Star Praise Sect’s attack, and Anvis reassured her that its Apostles might be weaker than ordinary Ninth Rank Experts.
• The royal faction’s Ninth Rank retainers chose to delay intervening, expecting the Olyvendi and Alfred Families to deal with the attackers themselves.

A Star Praise Sect Apostle attacked Silver Gull City with Green Flame, forcing the Olyvendi Family’s Ninth Rank defenders to confront an Outer Deity’s will through their Magic Array. As the battle began, Anvis reassured Fiona and spread the attacker’s identity among the Players, while the outcome remained unknown.

• Green flames struck toward the Lord’s Manor, killing several thousand citizens before the manor’s domain sealed off the city and resisted the attack.
• Alfred and the Olyvendi Family’s Family Guardian identified Green Flame’s power and adjusted the Magic Array to meet the Ninth Rank Apostle.
• The green flames collided with the domain, and the distorted sky enclosed them as the clash between the Rule Domain and the Outer Deity’s will began.
• Fiona worried about the defenders, but Anvis comforted her and predicted that the attack would fail; he had left only an Avatar at the manor while his true body returned to Pamir Academy.
• Anvis revealed through the Mysteries Society that the attacker was a Star Praise Sect Apostle, prompting shocked Players to discuss the battle and add the sect to their enemies.

The Marquises secretly chose Duke Carlot, known as Winter's Chill, as their target and arranged a three-Ninth-Rank ambush. Duke Carlot was trapped and overwhelmed, with his Twenty-Faced Ice Crystal dimming as he faced the likelihood of becoming the war's first fallen Ninth Rank.

• Marquis Vent reported that the Alfred and Olyvendi families had sent their Ninth Ranks to other battlefields, leaving Silver Star City and Leila City without Ninth-Rank protection.
• The Marquises voted to target Winter's Chill, Duke Carlot, over the Radiant Holy Sword, and Marquis Beihim enlisted Marquis Emeraldscape and Marquis Anlita to help kill him.
• A masked Priest of the Star Praise Sect concealed the three Marquises' fates before they secretly set out to attack Duke Carlot.
• Duke Carlot sensed an approaching attack and confronted Marquis Beihim, but two more Ninth Ranks joined the fight and sealed the battlefield with Alien Divine Power.
• The three attackers overwhelmed Duke Carlot's Rule Domain as his Twenty-Faced Ice Crystal dimmed, leaving him on the verge of defeat.

A mysterious Floating City intervened as three Marquises besieged Duke Carlot, destroying their plan and killing Marquis Emeraldscape and Marquis Beihim. The Floating City escaped into the Deep Dream World, leaving the continent reeling from the Marquises’ deaths.

• A massive unknown Sky City appeared over the battlefield, and Marquis Beihim used a replica of the Dead Sea Lantern to break through Duke Carlot’s Rule Domain.
• The Themis Colossus attacked Marquis Beihim, forcing him to flee and giving Carlot a chance to strengthen his defenses.
• Duke Carlot entangled his Rule Domain with Marquis Anlita’s and Marquis Emeraldscape’s, preventing them from easily disengaging.
• Sky City’s Moon of No Light annihilated Marquis Emeraldscape as he tried to escape.
• Marquis Anlita teleported away, while the Themis Colossus and Sky City’s Magic Array killed Marquis Beihim.
• The Floating City escaped into the Deep Dream World, and news of the two Marquises’ deaths shook the continent.

Anvis escaped into the Deep Dream World after destroying two marquises, while the Floating City hid there to deal with a mysterious spiritual mark. In the Gloria Empire, Gloria III vanished after apparently attempting a Legendary breakthrough, and Ferdinand’s bid to succeed him was unsettled by Oswivia’s rise to the Ninth Rank.

• Anvis shook off his pursuers in the Deep Dream World and concluded that Marquis Emeraldscape and Marquis Beihim had been destroyed, while Marquis Anlita escaped.
• Anvis learned that an ancient force had left a conceptual spiritual mark on the Floating City, so Sky City would remain hidden in the Deep Dream World while he sought a way to remove it.
• After the Floating City withdrew, the Empire’s civil war halted, and the imperial family sent a Ninth Rank to Gloria III’s secluded palace, only to find it empty.
• The imperial Ninth Ranks used the Eye of Destiny but could not locate Gloria III, whose disappearance resembled that of someone who had attempted a Legendary breakthrough.
• Ferdinand contacted imperial retainers and visited the three Royal Guardians to gauge their support for his succession, then heard that Fourth Princess Oswivia had reached the Ninth Rank.

Fourth Princess Oswivia reached the ninth rank, won Guardian of Stars's support, and forced a new power-sharing arrangement with First Prince Ferdinand while Emperor Gloria III remained missing. In Silver Star City, Anvis reviewed the casualties from the Star Praise Sect's attack and learned that Silver Storm Esvelle Olivenndi had died fighting an Apostle.

• Fourth Princess Oswivia visited the Royal Mausoleum, gained Guardian of Stars's favor, and left Ferdinand's failed attempt to intercept her behind.
• Ferdinand accepted that he could no longer secretly eliminate Oswivia and would have to compete through the strength of their factions and ninth-rank supporters.
• The princes and princesses formed a nine-member Upper House, with Ferdinand and Oswivia holding vetoes and the Guardians settling unresolved disputes.
• The Guardians set a three-year buffer period for Gloria III to return, after which the royal descendant judged to have performed best would become Emperor if he remained missing.
• Annie reported casualties and damage across Silver Star City, Forge Iron City, and Black Rock City to Anvis, who remained calm.
• During the Star Praise Sect's attack, an Apostle's Divine Descent overwhelmed the defenses before collapsing, while Esvelle Olivenndi died from the Apostle's flames.

After the war ended, Anvis learned that Rebel Army members had secretly remained active in the border cities and planned to investigate them himself. The Empire’s civil conflict paused, and Cold Crystal City began recovering as news spread of the Imperial Upper House’s establishment.

• The Star Praise Sect’s Apostles were driven out, while the Floating City escaped into the Deep Dream World and both sides suffered heavy losses.
• Rebel Army members briefly occupied border cities, looted resources, and fled, though some disguised members stayed behind in the cities.
• Anvis learned of unusual Rebel Army activity in the Federation and suspected the Glory Alliance and Holy Radiance Church were preparing moves against the Empire.
• Anvis studied a map of Carlas Province and decided to visit the cities where Rebel Army members were suspected to be operating.
• The Empire’s civil war paused as the royal family tried to mediate, and the Princes and Princesses established the Imperial Upper House.
• In Cold Crystal City, citizens returned to the streets and discussed the emperor’s disappearance and the new Upper House.

Anvis searched Cold Crystal City for the hidden Rebel Army and used a Coin of Destiny, which pointed him toward the City Lord's Mansion. There, Landon revealed that the Book of Yellow Robe had granted him the power to control the city's lord.

• A City Guard captain arrested a player merchant, but the merchant escaped with a smoke bomb, and the guards chased a wanted elf instead.
• Anvis reflected on how powerful Outsiders had taken over dangerous jobs such as guarding, then gave up searching the city by ordinary means.
• Anvis used a Coin of Destiny to locate the Rebel Army leader and received the City Lord's Mansion of Cold Crystal City as his answer.
• Landon recalled how the Book of Yellow Robe had appeared during the Heads of State Meeting and how Dark Raven helped him escape the Ninth Rank experts.
• Landon read the book's strange symbols, awakened a connection to it, and gained the Spell-like Ability Submission, which let him control the Lord of Cold Crystal City.