Chapter Summaries

Brando and his companions opened a primordial barrier and found themselves in the Arena of Destiny, where they had to face individual challenges to claim the Rune Dwarves’ Silver Legacy. The chapter ended with Brando reassuring Qian that he could attempt an extra challenge to rescue her if she failed.

• Brando recognized the writing on the iron door as Dwarven and concluded that the door marked a primordial sanctuary barrier.
• Brando opened the barrier by focusing on the meaning of an entrance, transporting the group from the tunnel into a brightly lit arena.
• Brando identified the place as the Arena of Destiny, and Medisa recognized the Sword of Earth - Harangya as the Rune Dwarves’ Silver Legacy.
• Brando explained that each qualified visitor had to face the challenge alone and would become a stone statue upon failure.
• Brando told Qian that he could take an additional challenge to rescue her if she failed hers.

Brando arranged the order of challenges in the Arena of Destiny while Yuta and others watched from cages, then sent Qian to face an infernal hellhound. After Qian surrendered, Kuran entered the arena and recognized Brando as a member of the Tobus family.

• The arena’s voice welcomed the challengers and announced that they would face their fates.
• Brando assigned Qian and the miner to go first, but the arena revealed cages holding Yuta, Kowen, and Joka’s group, whom Brando could not yet risk rescuing.
• Qian entered the arena with the unconscious miner and faced a chained infernal hellhound.
• Qian surrendered before the hellhound could break free, and she was sent to a cage beside Yuta.
• Kuran strode into the arena and told Brando he would demonstrate true swordsmanship to the arrogant brat from the Tobus family.

Kuran defeated the Hellhound in the arena, revealing overwhelming power despite his injuries, then faced Evarien, a heavily armored Gray Dwarf lord whose stamina and magic armor put him at a disadvantage. As Evarien unleashed a fiery attack, Kuran was cornered and the youths watching began to fear their hope of rescue was failing.

• Kuran used a powerful burst of sword aura to hurl the Hellhound into a wall, then killed it with a series of attacks despite being burned by its flames.
• Yuta and the other youths watched Kuran's victory, while Qian observed that he was injured and Joka and Kowen worried whether anyone would rescue them.
• Brando learned from Medisa that Kuran had dodged her Thousand Man Charge but had been caught in its airflow and injured in the resulting crash.
• Kuran requested another challenge, and Evarien, a Gray Dwarf lord represented by an illusion, entered the arena with a flame-producing warhammer.
• Evarien drove Kuran into a corner with his stamina and Magic Armor, then unleashed a powerful flaming sweep with Rageflame.

Kuran defeated Evarien but was badly injured, then freed Joka and Maher while leaving the other youths captive. Brando learned that his grandfather had been a powerful swordsman who once commanded Kuran, and Brando and Medisa entered the arena together, leaving the youths to misunderstand Brando’s strength.

• Kuran used a Wind Bullet to disarm Evarien, then killed him with a slash and a thrust, though Evarien’s blow left Kuran gravely injured.
• Kuran freed Joka and Maher, refused the next challenge, and lent Brando his sword while revealing that he had once served under Brando’s grandfather.
• Brando reconsidered the mysteries surrounding his family and the matching rings he and Kuran wore.
• Brando and Medisa entered the arena together, prompting Kuran to recognize Medisa as a spirit hero and the captive youths to assume Brando was weak.

Brando’s awakened Elemental Power overwhelmed the hellhound and let Medisa kill it, after which he tested his fading control against Evarien. The test ended with Brando striking the Gray Dwarf lord down, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Brando’s aura of stillness and stability pinned the hellhound to the ground, and Medisa killed it with her spear.
• Brando realized he could manipulate space or time to restrain the hellhound and accepted the arena’s next challenge.
• Brando faced Evarien, sensing that his control over the Elements was weakening and deciding to test it himself.
• Brando moved through Evarien’s defenses and pierced his throat, then withdrew his sword as the Gray Dwarf fell.

After defeating the dwarf, Brando awakened a manifestation of the space Element and accepted the arena’s next challenge. As more than thirty Silver Peak mechanical cavalry emerged, he summoned over two hundred Wind Spirit Spiders, leaving the battle poised to begin.

• Brando defeated the dwarf and briefly approached a deeper understanding of the Elemental Laws, manifesting space power in his sword.
• Brando freed Yuta and accepted the next challenge, while Medisa explained that Space Elements had been exceptionally rare in her era.
• A squad of more than thirty Hazel Type IV Cavalry Hunters entered the arena, and Brando warned Medisa about their weapons and shifting runes.
• Brando snapped his fingers and summoned more than two hundred Wind Spirit Spiders above the arena.

Brando used the holy swords and Medisa’s protection to defeat the Type IV Cavalry Hunters in the Arena of Destiny. After completing three challenges, he unlocked an additional reward and found that his Spellweaver class offered a new reward interface.

• Medisa shielded Brando from the Type IV Cavalry Hunters’ gunfire with her Wings of Spirit.
• Brando commanded the holy swords to rain pillars of light onto the hunters, melting them and their rock defenses.
• Kuran, Yuta, Kowen, Joka, and Maher watched Brando’s overwhelming power with shock and fear.
• The Arena of Destiny announced that Brando had completed three challenges and earned an additional reward.
• Brando selected the Spellweaver Interface, and the reward screen changed.

Brando examined the Spellweaver card roulette and won a Fireclaw Spearman card instead of the resource card he wanted. He chose to continue the arena challenge for the Sword of Earth, and a dragon emerged inside a cage.

• Brando reviewed his limited cards and dwindling elemental resources, then selected a card from the roulette wheel.
• The roulette awarded Brando a Fireclaw Spearman card, which he added to his deck despite its high costs.
• Brando told Medisa that he would continue the challenge and pursue the Sword of Earth.
• Brando accepted the advanced challenge, and a huge caged dragon rose from the arena floor.

Brando faced a Gold Rank Wind Dragon Adra, whose speed and immunity to Air Magic threatened his Wind Spirit Spiders. He sent Medisa and her Unicorn to intercept the dragon, but Medisa was wounded, leaving the aerial fight unresolved.

• Brando recognized the Wind Dragon Adra as a Gold Rank predator and realized its Air Magic immunity made it a dangerous counter to his Wind Spirit Spiders.
• The Wind Dragon Adra tore through Brando’s Sword of Light formation and dodged most of the beams he fired at it.
• Brando ordered Medisa to summon the Unicorn and intercept the dragon before it reached another group of Wind Spirit Spiders.
• Medisa and the Wind Dragon Adra clashed in the air, and the dragon knocked aside her lance and wounded her with cutting currents of air.

Brando and Medisa defeated Wind Dragon Adra in the arena through coordinated attacks, with Brando reaching Gold Mid-rank and severing the dragon’s wings. He drew the Gemstone Plains card and prepared for the final challenge.

• Brando summoned the Silver Warhorse and joined Medisa in attacking Wind Dragon Adra, but the dragon evaded their strikes and counterattacked.
• Brando used the Wind Spirit Spiders’ beams to halt Adra’s dive, giving Medisa an opening to pierce the dragon’s spine with Thousand Man Charge.
• Brando linked his strength with Medisa’s using Side-by-Side Charge, then unleashed a sword strike that cut off Adra’s wings and sent it crashing into the arena.
• Brando drew the Gemstone Plains card and told Medisa to prepare for the final challenge.

Audum and Roman sneaked into Shafrund Mine but were discovered by a patrol, who told Audum that monsters had escaped after a disturbance and earthquake. Brando and Medisa returned to the arena floor, where Kuran called out to Brando.

• Roman hit her forehead in Audum’s low tunnel, then teased him for boasting about dwarves enduring blows.
• A patrol found Audum and Roman in the woods, and Audum claimed Roman was his relative.
• The patrol told Audum that monsters had escaped into the mine’s lower levels after a disturbance and earthquake, and that Augins wanted his help.
• Brando warned Medisa to listen carefully to the rules for their next field battle and explained that his knowledge came from Buga of the Silver Alliance.
• Brando and Medisa landed in the arena, where Kuran ran up to the barrier and called to Brando.

Brando continued the challenge and entered the Nightmare Arena, where the rules reduced both fighters to ordinary strength and allowed only swordsmanship. He found himself facing four figures from his past, including his grandfather Tobus, while Kuran's questions about Brando's Imprint Soul remained unanswered.

• Kuran asked Brando who his Imprint Soul was, but Brando did not understand the question and postponed answering when the arena called him to continue.
• The arena announced the Nightmare Arena and explained that participants would have their strength and other abilities nullified, leaving swordsmanship as their only skill.
• Kowen concluded that Brando wanted the sword on the central stele, and said he would try to persuade Brando by making a deal.
• The arena stripped Brando and his companions of their abilities and transported him to a granite battlefield.
• Brando recognized Buga, White Knight Abelton, Viscount Test, and his grandfather Tobus among the figures appearing in the arena, realizing he might have to face all four.

Brando fought four formidable opponents in the Arena of Destiny, using a risky counterattack to turn the battle against them before Tobus intervened. He survived Tobus’s strike, but his attacks had achieved little and the fight remained unresolved.

• Brando deflected Viscount Test’s ambush and knocked him away, but Abelton and Buga immediately closed in on him.
• Brando drew a second sword to block Buga’s attack, then used Frontal Breakthrough and Power Burst to smash through Abelton’s defense.
• Brando feinted against Abelton and baited Buga into a Wind Slash, then leaped over Buga to prepare a decisive strike.
• Tobus attacked Brando from behind, forcing him to abandon his attack on Buga and block the blow before being sent flying.
• Brando realized his opponents seemed weaker because he had never fought most of them in a life-or-death battle, and he acknowledged that his attacks had only drained his stamina.

Brando fought four swordsmen in the arena and unexpectedly used the Flash Sword Technique without relying on a Soul Imprint. As his grandfather’s blade closed in from behind, Kuran revealed that the Wind Queen Ring was real and belonged to Brando’s grandfather.

• Brando struggled to withstand the coordinated, measured attacks of his grandfather, Buga, Teste, and Abelton as they steadily cornered him.
• Brando unconsciously used the Flash Sword Technique to block a series of attacks, astonishing Kuran, who recognized it as an ancient dragon inheritance.
• Brando’s grandfather and Abelton fell back while Buga and Teste resumed their relay assault, pushing Brando toward the arena’s air wall.
• Kuran urged Brando to focus on his ring and told him the Wind Queen Ring was real and had belonged to his grandfather.
• Brando turned after Kuran warned him, seeing his grandfather’s sword thrusting toward his back.

Brando awakened the Soul of the Holy Seal within the Wind Queen Ring, and its mysterious female spirit possessed him and granted him access to powerful sword classes and skills. As his enemies regrouped, Brando chose to face them himself while Kuran watched from beyond the wall of air.

• Brando was about to be struck down when a blue female Ghost appeared, exchanged ten blows with Tobus, and broke his sword.
• The woman identified herself as Brando’s Soul of the Holy Seal and possessed him, telling him to focus on the ring.
• Brando discovered the Wind Queen Ring displayed a Soul of the Holy Seal Awakening State and that his skill panel now included Swordsman, Swordmaster, and Seal Knight classes.
• The woman told Brando the Holy Seal’s power represented an inheritance she was forcibly transferring to him, but said their state would last only briefly.
• As the four enemies surrounded Brando again, he declined the woman’s offer of help and prepared to fight using the skills he had gained.
• Kuran recognized the awakening and admired Brando’s composure, unaware that Brando’s system had absorbed the strain of the information flooding his mind.

Brando used the sword techniques he had just learned to fend off four opponents, then broke through their formation and killed Teste. He uncovered his grandfather’s extraordinary skill, but struck down Buga before the old man could stop him.

• Brando ignored Kuran’s advice and chose Wind Spirit swordsmanship to face his grandfather, Teste, Buga, and Abelton.
• Brando used Wind Dance to meet all four opponents’ attacks at once, surprising Kuran with his speed and combat experience.
• The four swordsmen resumed their assault, and Brando’s grandfather led them in a steady effort to keep Brando under pressure.
• Brando switched to Tehasian Assault Swordsmanship, bypassed the formation, and killed Teste with a thrust to the throat.
• Brando’s grandfather blocked Brando’s three-part attack with exceptional skill, revealing that he was far more powerful than Brando had believed.
• Brando killed Buga before his grandfather’s warning could reach him.

Brando defeated the arena’s projections of Abelton, the White Knight, and his grandfather, then learned that the voice in the Wind Queen Ring belonged to Otales, a heroic spirit and one of the Twenty-Four Knights. Otales explained the Soul Seal’s purpose and revealed she had saved Brando during the fire in Buchi, leaving him shaken by how close he had come to dying.

• Brando defeated the projection of his grandfather in a sword fight, and the old man praised him before vanishing.
• The arena’s barriers disappeared, and Otales praised Brando’s swordsmanship before revealing her name and identity as one of the Twenty-Four Knights.
• Otales explained that the Soul Seal housed heroic spirits in the Wind Queen Ring to train talented people and preserve civilization.
• Brando learned that Otales could teach him swordsmanship but could not simply lend him her power again.
• Otales reminded Brando that she had saved him during the fire in Buchi, and he realized he might have died in the Red Pine Forest without the Wind Queen Ring.

Audum took Roman down into the mine, where she unexpectedly produced light from her palm. Elsewhere, Otales told Brando she had saved his life and revealed that his grandfather had obtained one of four rings, while Brando faced a prompt to choose his reward before the next arena challenge.

• Audum rode the elevator into the mine with Roman after the soldiers stayed behind.
• Roman's palm began glowing when she wished for light, and Audum wondered whether her family had magical blood.
• Otales confirmed that she had healed Brando after the undead attack at Buchi's old manor.
• Otales explained that she was a Soul of the Holy Seal with limited power and said Brando's grandfather had obtained one of four rings through an old favor.
• Brando received a prompt to choose his reward as Medisa and the others awaited his next arena challenge.

Brando accepted a reward instead of attempting the next trial, receiving the Myriad Manifestations card and learning how it could empower the Rubis Mercenaries. After passing the trial, he claimed the sword from the stone, and the Rune Dwarves hailed him as a king.

• Brando chose the Myriad Manifestations card, which added three equipment counters to a qualifying Dwarf or Cruzian creature.
• Charles and Medisa explained that each Bronze equipment counter raised a summoned creature's natural level by about five, and that Tiger Sparrow qualified as the main card for the Rubis Mercenaries.
• Brando realized the card could greatly strengthen the Rubis Mercenaries, though he set aside questions about the strange Fate Cards for later.
• The trial voice declared that Brando had passed, and the sword flew from the stone stele into his hand.
• The Rune Dwarves chanted "Z'roe," which Medisa explained was the name of their first emperor and a title for kings above emperors.

Brando inspected the Sword of Earth and discovered that its Stone Nest could produce and eventually upgrade Rock Leopards. When Kowen offered him a rare Fate Card, Brando hesitated over whether to accept the arena’s sixth challenge, leaving the decision unresolved.

• Brando read the Sword of Earth’s Ancient Language inscription and examined its powerful attributes, including the creature-producing Stone Nest.
• Brando considered the rare materials needed to upgrade the nest as the arena called on him to face the next challenge.
• Brando refused Kowen’s apparent plea for help, but stopped when Kowen said he wanted to make a deal instead.
• Kowen offered Brando a Fireclaw Lord Fate Card, which could strengthen Fireclaw creatures and support Brando’s Fireclaw Spearman.
• Medisa pointed out that the Silver Card was numbered I and likely served as the Fire Tribe’s core card, leaving Brando torn over whether to attempt the sixth challenge.