Chapter Summaries

Iver and his companions entered the master’s chamber in Rock Cellar City, where a Troll Witch’s ritual was driving the petrification. Three ritualists attacked them, but Viennes bound them and disrupted their powers with Sin-Laden.

• Sherlock explained that the Parthian inscriptions were prayers and curses, while Iver suspected the Troll Witch had created the petrified displays and defenses.
• Iver warned Viennes to watch behind the door, then opened it and unleashed a murky-yellow storm from the chamber.
• Iver saw a Troll Witch chanting before a plaque marked “Adil’s Mercy,” with runes carved into his skin and chains piercing his body.
• Three ritualists emerged from the room’s corners and attacked Iver and his companions with sand, crystal spears, and a time-stealing pocket watch.
• Viennes used Sin-Laden to bind the ritualists and disperse the Path power they were gathering.

Iver used Sin-Laden to bind and torment three ritualists, whose crimes made them subject to its punishment. The act triggered a Path Resonance that empowered Night Demon and Iver, and Iver planned to turn the ritualists into demons and send them against the benevolent lord.

• Iver restrained the three ritualists with Sin-Laden, which punished those guilty of great sins.
• The chapter explained that the Fallen Angel had abandoned the Source River’s intended duties of punishing and purifying souls, while the Shadow Angel had also interpreted her duties according to her own preferences.
• Night Demon sensed a Path Resonance after punishing the wicked, and the power of Transcendence raised her level and strengthened Iver.
• Iver wondered what he had done to cause the resonance, then joked that the Serpent Father wanted him to kill the ritualists.
• Viennes asked how Iver would deal with the ritualists, and Iver ordered that they be tormented, turned into demons, and sent to attack the benevolent lord.

Iver realized Adil had bought troll witches to carry out a secret grand ritual while ensuring they could not reveal how it worked. After Viennes turned the three ritualists into demons, the surviving eye demons revealed that they worshiped Adil as the Savior.

• Iver recognized Adil's name and recalled that he had bought Fourth Level troll witches from the Southern Continent.
• Iver deduced that Adil had designed the ritual to make its practitioners burn themselves out and keep its secrets from being copied.
• Viennes transformed the three ritualists into two eye demons and a Slit-Mouthed Demon.
• The two eye demons pledged loyalty to Viennes and revealed that they regarded Adil as the Savior.
• Ligeia questioned the demons' claim, and Iver realized their loyalty came from fanatical worship of Adil.

Iver and Sherlock uncovered how Paradise City controlled trade, enslaved its population, and prepared to unify Parthia. Iver decided to challenge the hereditary rule of benevolent lords by becoming one himself, and ended the chapter confronting the lord of Rock Cellar City.

• The Evil Eye explained that slaves in Paradise City lived underground and faced collective execution if they stole vividly colored food.
• Sherlock and Iver deduced that Paradise City financed Rock Cellar City to control trade routes and isolate the other Parthian city-states.
• Iver concluded that Paradise City planned to unify Parthia and sell its destructive ritual while establishing control over the pass.
• Iver and the crow discussed how the desert’s benevolent lords controlled survival and how returning the Parthians to other lands would oppress those already living there.
• Iver proposed ending the hereditary monopoly on benevolent lordship by becoming a benevolent lord himself.
• Iver entered the benevolent lord of Rock Cellar City’s bedroom and asked why they should not become benevolent lords.

Iver halted his treatment of Afuxin to force the Benefactor of Rock Cellar City to bargain for his life and reveal how someone could become a Benefactor. Afuxin’s reactions led Iver to suspect that the knowledge depended on a limited Abyss Angel contract and might require someone to die before it could be passed on.

• Iver partially healed Afuxin, whose returning consciousness left him trapped in petrification and pleading for help.
• Afuxin offered Iver wealth and power, claiming his reputation as Honest Afuxin proved he always kept his word.
• Iver demanded the knowledge of how to become a Benefactor, and Afuxin reluctantly promised to teach him while asking to be saved.
• Iver identified himself as the Eternal Pope and said he could cure Afuxin after dispelling Adil of the Sixth Level’s curse.
• Afuxin insisted that Iver could not learn the art, and Iver used yes-or-no questions to infer that Benefactor knowledge involved an Abyss Angel contract and possibly someone’s death.

Iver touched Afuxin’s Good Lord emblem and discovered that his connection to Amber caused it to react, allowing him to take Afuxin’s status and inherit the forbidden knowledge behind the water-summoning contracts. The chapter leaves Iver hearing Abyss Angel’s original contract in a voice almost identical to his own.

• Iver realized that Good Lords inherited their water-summoning power through a life-costing technique and that killing one threatened the inheritance.
• Iver touched Afuxin’s sun-shaped emblem, causing it to glow and burn as Afuxin begged for mercy.
• Iver’s Clear Container trait changed into the gold trait Amber Mother, and he connected Amber’s story to the Sea Burial Grimoire and the first Reincarnation Angel.
• Iver pulled Afuxin’s emblem onto the back of his hand, taking the name and knowledge of a Good Lord, including the sacrifices required to summon water.
• Iver heard Abyss Angel’s original contract and recognized its cold, indifferent voice as almost exactly like his own.

Iver took over the Abyss Angel’s contract and explained to Sherlock and Ligeia why Good Lords inherited their power and why the recent Good Lord had drowned. He planned to use the coming Ouroboros Ring Ritual to bring down the Abyss Angel and make water abundant, and Sherlock agreed to help.

• Iver felt the Abyss Angel’s power through the mark on his hand while Sherlock and Ligeia arrived with the transformed ritualists.
• Sherlock determined that the Good Lord had drowned in the desert, and Iver revealed he had taken over the man’s contract with the Abyss Angel.
• Iver explained to Sherlock and Ligeia that Good Lords inherited their role one at a time, and Sherlock concluded that giving the power to a local would only create another slave owner.
• Iver said he intended to bring down the Abyss Angel through the Ouroboros Ring Ritual and use its arrival to provide the desert with abundant water.
• Sherlock recognized Iver’s plan as a way to overturn Parthia’s water-based economy and pledged to help.

Iver revealed his plan to free Parthian’s slaves and give them a taste of a better life, accepting the danger of making powerful enemies. Sherlock agreed to help him, and Iver set out to research the petrification curse while also pursuing revenge against the Curse Master who had killed his parents.

• Iver explained that he would turn slaves into Free People rather than try to persuade them to reject slavery, hoping their experience of freedom would make them pursue it.
• Ligeia reflected on how gaining a young, healthy body had made her cherish life and want to share its possibilities with others.
• Sherlock warned Iver that his plan could make him an enemy of Parthian and asked whether his resolve came from his own convictions rather than his Path.
• Iver affirmed his intentions, and Sherlock agreed to help him see the plan through.
• Iver asked Sherlock to help research how to lift the petrification curse, while Viennes sent the three demons to attack their former master as a warning to the Curse Master who had killed Iver’s parents.

Jabir and a group of refugees crossed the desert toward Paradise City, hoping to find safety under Generous Adil. The Slave Knights captured them outside the city, leaving Jabir to realize that the refugees could never reach the protection they sought.

• Jabir recalled how the Dried Water Army destroyed the city-state he had fled and how the survivors blamed his failed fortune-telling for their misfortune.
• The refugees traveled toward Paradise City, where they hoped to become Free People and live under Adil's protection.
• Jabir questioned how Adil could afford to treat everyone well when other Goodmasters could not.
• A Slave Catching Team charged out of the oasis, and the refugees mistook them for a welcoming party.
• The Slave Knights shackled the refugees, declared them slaves, and cut off the wealthy woman's fingers to take her rings.
• As the chains closed around him, Jabir understood that the refugees were captured before they could reach Paradise City.

A caravan of captives was being hauled toward Paradise City in Parthian Cages when Flame Fist Hassan and his riders confronted the Slave Knights. Hassan destroyed the knights and their blood ritual with a single fiery strike, then announced that the captives were safe.

• The Slave Knights transported the captives in iron Sand Cages while Soul Chains weakened them and kept them from resisting.
• Jabir spotted a masked group of riders approaching from the opposite direction, and the Slave Knights panicked at the sight of them.
• The Slave Knights' leader killed a captive woman, ordered his men to fight, and had seventeen low-value captives sacrificed to fuel a curse ritual.
• Flame Fist Hassan's blazing strike shattered the ritual and cut down every Slave Knight without harming the camels.
• Hassan rode up, introduced himself as Flame Fist Hassan, and told the captives they were safe.

Iver and the ritualists discovered how the signed Trading Stone Tablet kept the petrification curse active and used Sin Thorn to counter it. As black thorns spread through Rock Cellar City, the petrification began to melt away.

• Iver, Zhu Tang, and Ibn studied the interrupted ritual for two days and identified the Troll Witch and the signed Trading Stone Tablet as its two cores.
• Zhu Tang praised the Paradise City lord’s ingenious ritual, while Iver explained how the contract had let Amber’s power petrify the city without being reclaimed.
• Iver transformed into a Sin Beast and used Sin Thorn to create a ritual that would reach everyone in the city and dispel the curse without harming them.
• Black, shadow-like thorns spread across the petrified city as the dull yellow traces of petrification began to disappear.

Iver freed Rock Cellar City from petrification, but the Sin Thorns left the city without water and the citizens believed their future was over. Sherlock summoned fresh water, and Iver claimed the Benefactor’s Seal, naming himself Hope Iver and the city the City of Dawn.

• Iver used detoxified Sin Thorns to dissolve the petrification, while Lily recorded the citizens’ condition and helped identify hidden transcendents.
• The citizens gathered at the plaza, saw Afuxin’s body, and cursed Iver’s group as they feared the city’s collapse and their own deaths in the desert.
• Iver explained that the Sin Thorns had drained the city’s water, leaving the citizens unable to escape or survive.
• Sherlock summoned fountains of clear water, and the desperate citizens stopped fighting and praised him as their Benefactor.
• Iver showed the Benefactor’s Seal, declared himself Hope Iver, and renamed Rock Cellar City the City of Dawn.

Iver advertised Dawn City’s labor contracts and benefits across the desert, drawing attention to its offer of a path from slavery to freedom. The chapter left Dawn City positioned as a more credible alternative to Paradise City, with Iver’s gradual reforms beginning to challenge the slave society.

• The Desert Voice spread news that Dawn City had a new Benefactor and had restored its water supply.
• A Harpy messenger advertised Iver’s contracts, which offered Free People status, education, and support in exchange for years of labor.
• Desert residents compared Dawn City’s offer with Paradise City’s promise of free food and water and judged Iver’s proposal more realistic.
• Iver chose benefits that were generous but limited, believing that people in Parthia would distrust promises that seemed too perfect.
• Iver’s reforms introduced a capitalist system into Parthia’s slave society, giving Dawn City an advantage over other city-states.

Iver realized Rock Cellar City could be supplied with water from Antimony through underground pipelines, freeing the city from dependence on a benevolent lord and potentially allowing Sherlock to leave. As Dawn City attracted new residents, Iver arranged work and protection for former servants of Honest Afuxin and used the truth about the old society to encourage people to choose a better future.

• Iver calculated that supplies from Antimony could cheaply provide food and other necessities, and that sealed Alchemy Stone Slabs could protect underground water pipelines from the desert’s curse.
• Iver had Sherlock assess the pipeline plan, then contacted the Goblin Merchant Guild, which promised to send a guildmaster to Dawn City within three days.
• After Iver advertised through Desert Voice, hesitant people began arriving in Dawn City to sign contracts, which Ligeia handled under the protection of the Silver Crowned Dragon’s divine power.
• The private army of Honest Afuxin and his wives and concubines signed contracts with Iver, who gave the women jobs as guides for new immigrants.
• Iver recalled James’s words about truth and used the people’s own knowledge of Rock Cellar City’s abuses to help them decide to leave its old ways behind.

Iver met with Grandet Dead-Eye to arrange construction of a sewer from East Molo Water Station to Dawn City. Grandet agreed to begin work immediately and advised Iver against widening the waterway, then offered to share his own suggestion.

• Grandet Dead-Eye greeted Iver with a formal salute and reflected on how much Iver’s status and power had risen since their last meeting.
• Grandet reviewed Iver’s contract and said the Goblin Merchant Guild could build the sewer’s main body in three days, finishing the project within seven days if reinforcement was needed.
• Iver asked how long it would take to widen the waterway to 7.2 meters.
• Grandet explained that widening it would add construction and repair time and could cause sediment to accumulate, then offered to share his own suggestion.

Iver signed contracts with Grandet for a dam, hydroelectric power station, and above-ground boardwalks, then asked how Grandet would handle the rebellions at his troll plantations. Grandet revealed that the Parthian Benefactors had engineered the unrest to obtain cheap troll witches and promised retaliation, hinting at the story of Flame Fist Hassan.

• Grandet persuaded Iver to sign supplementary contracts for the Moro Dam, a hydroelectric power station, and above-ground safety and personnel passages, while Iver deferred the main waterway expansion.
• Iver asked Grandet how he planned to deal with rebellions at three troll plantations in the Southern Continent.
• Iver explained that Parthian Benefactors had secretly sponsored troll rebels to cause losses for the Goblin Merchant Guild and acquire troll slaves, especially witches for a petrification ritual.
• Grandet condemned the Benefactors for underestimating goblin merchants and said he would retaliate for their support of the rebellion.
• Grandet asked Iver whether he had heard the story of Flame Fist Hassan.

Iver learned how Flame Fist Hassan lost his family under Parthia’s brutal slave system and why he joined the Rebel Army. Grandet’s account ended with Hassan vowing to burn his oppressors to ashes.

• Iver asked Grandet about Flame Fist Hassan, the Rebel Army leader he had sponsored.
• Grandet explained that Hassan’s mother sacrificed the futures of four children to raise Niya, the sibling with the best chance of becoming a priest and escaping slavery.
• Niya reached the Snake People Temple’s standards, but her contractual master assaulted her and tried to scar her; after she fought back, the good master ordered her skinned alive.
• Hassan’s father, who was Niya’s contractual master, reported her out of jealousy and greed, then was hanged; his wife and son killed Hassan’s mother before they fell into slavery.
• Grandet said Hassan escaped, joined the Rebel Army, and swore to burn his oppressors to ashes.

Iver questioned Grandet about his past and his sponsorship of Flame Fist Hassan. Grandet explained how Hassan survived repeated setbacks, gained education and strength, and returned to face a decisive examination.

• Iver recognized Grandet as the goblin who had survived poisoning by hiding inside a horse, and Grandet recounted how his family was killed and his mother saved him.
• Grandet explained that his survival left him disfigured and made him vow to stay calm, hide weakness, and never spare an enemy.
• Grandet said he sponsored Hassan because they were both disfigured survivors who had lost their families, and Hassan accepted a dangerous dwarven procedure that fused him with a phantom.
• With Grandet’s support, Hassan assassinated a benefactor, burned an oasis, and inspired resistance before being captured after surviving eight manhunts.
• Grandet arranged for Hassan to study under a Mage Tower master in the Narcissus Principality, and Hassan returned ready for a once-in-a-lifetime examination.

Hassan reflected on the goblins’ influence and the Parthian Ancient Kingdom’s ruthless benevolent lords while accepting the danger of using the Geometric Angel Shard. He rejected Autolycus’s suggestion to burn Holy Spring City immediately and insisted they first seek clues about the Ouroboros Ring Ritual.

• Hassan recalled how Grandet’s motives for sending him to the Mage Tower had been strategic, but remained grateful for what he had learned.
• Hassan considered how the goblins controlled overseas trade and why their methods failed against the Parthian benevolent lords.
• Hassan recognized the cost of using the Geometric Angel Shard, which burned his prosthetic arm and was wielded through an illusion only he could see.
• Autolycus appeared as an enthusiastic red Lizardman and urged Hassan to turn Holy Spring City to ashes.
• Hassan refused to attack Holy Spring City yet and said they needed clues about the Ouroboros Ring Ritual before summoning the Abyss Angel.

Iver summoned Ruan Eternal, now an apostle, and learned that Lü Buwei had become the Merchant Angel through a fatal transaction to complete the Ouroboros Ring Ritual. Ruan warned that Morgan would soon ascend as the Clan Angel and likely face the same fate, then cautioned Iver that the Crown Lord was unwell.

• Iver sensed a New Angel's birth and summoned an apostle, who emerged as Ruan Eternal in a half-deer form.
• Ruan enjoyed returning to the Material Realm and explained that the New Angel was the Merchant Angel, Lü Buwei, a descendant of Jiang Ziya who had willingly sacrificed himself in a transaction.
• Ruan told Iver that the Merchant Angel's ascension helped complete the Ouroboros Ring Ritual and that he was likely doomed to be dragged down by the Ring Angel.
• Ruan revealed that Morgan would soon ascend as the Clan Angel through the Path of Authority and might suffer the same fate.
• Before returning to the Dream Realm, Ruan warned Iver that the Crown Lord seemed deranged and advised him to pray to them as little as possible.