Chapter Summaries

Evan fought the Clockwork Man Billy Buddha to a near-draw, wounded him, and drove him to retreat when his Overload State was about to end. Afterward, Evan’s crew gathered a vast haul of gold, silver, and gems, which Evan stored in his Shadow Vault before ordering the return voyage.

• Evan and Billy Buddha fought across the rainforest, and Billy Buddha’s mechanical body endured Evan’s attacks despite a Doom Curse-induced malfunction.
• Evan slashed Billy Buddha’s head, prompting him to switch into Cheetah mode; the two then wounded each other in a final clash.
• Evan treated his chest wound as Billy Buddha regenerated, but Billy Buddha retreated when his Overload State neared its end.
• Evan collected Billy Buddha’s blood to investigate whether the Clockwork Man was connected to the lost second volume of the Animation School.
• Milan and the crew counted the spoils, including 50,000 Gold Lions’ worth of gold, an equivalent value in silver, and valuable gemstones, while Evan spared the surviving grooms.
• Evan stored the treasure in his Shadow Vault and ordered the crew to return and distribute the spoils.

News spread that Great Pirate 'White Knight' had raided Sirius's Golden Post Road, and the haul stirred pirates and nations across the Golden Sea. After Faletis's maritime court declared the treasure legal enemy property, White Knight announced a new crew, the Dragoon Pirate Crew.

• At Juniper Tavern, Sea Hunters discussed Dawn Jones's Kashina temple discovery before 'iron hook' Brano revealed that White Knight had plundered nearly one hundred thousand Gold Lions from Sirius's Golden Post Road.
• Brano displayed a Sirius-stamped gold bar, confirming the raid, while pirates mocked the Crown, Skull, Blood Drenched Scimitar faction as its members left the tavern.
• Pirates across the Golden Sea and Shipwreck Bay grew eager to join White Knight, while Admiral Trivier ordered Sirius's forces to find him and accelerate their raids.
• Evan released Sirius-stamped gold into circulation, confirming the raid and strengthening the Anti-Sirius Alliance and Tulip Alliance's pirate enterprise.
• Tulip's maritime court ruled White Knight's haul legal enemy property, and a recruitment notice announced his new crew, the Dragoon Pirate Crew.

Evan established the Dragoon Pirate Crew as a privateering force, organized its spoils and recruitment, and assembled three warships. He offered Animated Beast Hide as a path to advancement, then warned Baldwin about the danger of becoming a Skin-Wearing Person.

• Milan reminded Evan that the pirate crew still needed a name, and Evan chose the Dragoon Pirate Crew and its black-and-red dragon emblem.
• Evan finalized the crew's spoils-distribution system and made preliminary contact with Rudolph, Dead Bone, one of the Two Kings of the Golden Sea.
• The Dragoons recruited Arawak people, pirates, and seamen, and assembled the Morning Star, the Gladiator, and the Wrestler into three core warships.
• Evan offered Pirate Executives who passed his assessment Animated Beast Hide, which could turn them into Skin-Wearing People but carried a high risk of death or loss of control.
• After creating an extraordinary-grade Animated Beast Hide from a horn shark, Evan asked Baldwin whether he had considered the danger of the experiment.

Evan helped Baldwin endure the Animated Beast Hide’s transformation and became a shark-like Extraordinary Person. In the Spirit World, Evan faced four enormous Black Worm monsters armed with lightning weapons as he prepared to unleash Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship.

• Evan had Baldwin wear the Animated Beast Hide and endure its struggle for control in an enclosed lagoon.
• Evan sent two tiger fish to attack Baldwin, forcing him and the hide to unite against a shared threat.
• Baldwin appeared to master his new body, and Evan told Gary to bring him in the next day.
• Evan returned to the Spirit World after recovering and found the Black Worms had fused into four Peak Knight monsters.
• The four monsters wielded lightning weapons and closed in on Evan, who charged his blade with lightning and prepared to fight.

Evan fought four Black Worm demon creatures in Poseidia City and discovered that defeating their symbolic weapons granted him the Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship’s Esoteric Truths. As he battled the last creature, two octopus-headed beings approached the city, while the gemstone-like girl descended in Pyramid Forest.

• Evan charged the Lightning Spear Demon Creature, but its lightning-fast counterattack sent him skidding backward.
• Evan used Animated Plant to raise a forest of Black Thorns, then struck the Lightning Spear Demon Creature as it reassembled and severed its weapon arm.
• The creature dissolved into acidic black fluid, and its Lightning Spear became the Esoteric Truth Instant Flash, which entered Evan.
• Evan trapped the remaining three creatures with Giant Vines and cut off the Chain Scepter and Heavy Hammer Demon Creatures’ weapon arms, gaining two more Esoteric Truths.
• As Evan prepared to face the last Great Drum Demon Creature, two octopus-headed Humanoid Creatures floated toward Poseidia City, and the gemstone-like girl descended into Pyramid Forest.

Evan recovered from the battle that won him the complete Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship, then outwitted two Dream Cultists who tried to capture him. He unleashed Animated Aura · Hundred-Armed Giant against them.

• Akmen and Musani used Spiritual Divination to locate Evan in the unexplored core district of Lost City Poseidia.
• Evan survived the Thunder Pattern Drum creature’s attack and obtained the complete secret Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship of the Three-Eyed People.
• Akmen and Musani ambushed Evan with Delusional Heart Sound and mistook his feigned collapse for defeat.
• Evan expelled the corrupted seagulls he had used to fake the curse’s effects and returned to his clear, pristine form.
• Evan summoned enormous earthen hands with Animated Aura · Hundred-Armed Giant as the Dream Cultists moved in to bind him.

Evan defeated one of the two Dream Cultists who attacked him, while his neighbor Moonstone killed the other as he fled. The two survivors met in the spirit world, exchanged names, and recognized the mysterious connection between their Beacon Anchorages.

• Evan blocked Akmen’s Mind Blast with his Yellow Gem Pendant and crushed him beneath a wave of earthen-stone hands.
• Musani fled toward the Pyramid Forest, where Moonstone’s emerald kingfisher unleashed a golden attack that turned him to ash.
• Evan saw Moonstone at the edge of her jungle and sent a White Gull avatar to thank her for killing the intruder.
• Moonstone introduced herself, and Evan gave his wizard name, Red Iron Fir.
• Moonstone and Red Iron Fir considered the meanings of each other’s names and their linked Beacon Anchorages.

Evan reunited with the former pirate captain Alik, who joined the Dragoon Pirate Crew and challenged Baldwin at the training field. Alik used the abnormal face that had once belonged to Bassem, prompting Baldwin to recognize it and order the pirates to attack.

• Evan and Moonstone Miss formed a temporary alliance and agreed to meet at a fixed time in the Spirit World.
• Evan reflected on Moonstone Miss's warning about Dream Cultists and the danger of their worship of Hypnos.
• Evan learned that the first Formal Knight had joined his crew and went to practice his new swordsmanship.
• Evan recognized Alik, the former captain of the Demon Monkey, fighting Baldwin at the Grand Training Field.
• Alik used the face in his palm to cast Quicksand Attack, but Baldwin countered with White Wave Surge.
• Baldwin recognized the face as the abnormal limb once attached to Bassem and ordered the pirates to take Alik down.

Evan and Milan discovered that the Storm Glass could imbue similar bottles with limited weather-forecasting power, then used Clifford’s greed to help Kaka enter Simpson’s Shadow Vault. Kaka returned with a valuable hoard, including a bottle of Shadow Dragon Blood.

• Evan and Milan found that alchemical Weather Forecast Bottles beside the Storm Glass had gained the ability to predict weather.
• Milan used Spirit Detection and learned that up to fifteen artificial Storm Glasses could work for six months before needing to recharge beside the original.
• Evan summoned Clifford from the Cursed Painting and lured him into opening Simpson’s Shadow Vault by tossing him three Gold Lions.
• Kaka slipped into the vault while Clifford collected the coins, then returned with treasure for Evan to inspect.
• Evan found a crystal bottle of Shadow Dragon Blood in Kaka’s Shadow Vault.

Evan prepared his new Privateer Fleet to attack a Santa Babia Company slave convoy, explaining that the raid would support his plan to weaken Sirius by disrupting its wealth and inspiring more anti-Sirius privateers. The fleet approached its first major battle, expected to begin in about five hours.

• Evan celebrated obtaining Shadow Dragon Blood for Kaka’s future transformation, but the lizard hid in his shadow when it sensed danger.
• Orderly Base reported that the Santa Babia slave convoy had entered the designated area and that the fleets would engage in approximately five hours.
• Evan summoned the captains of the Iron Bone, Gladiator, and Wrestler to the Morning Star for a pre-battle meeting.
• Evan’s officers assembled, and he ordered Milan to brief them on the target and the convoy’s background.
• Milan explained that the convoy belonged to the royal-backed Santa Babia Company and carried enslaved people from the Southern Continent toward the Golden Sea.
• Evan explained that he had chosen the convoy to disrupt Sirius’s wealth and spur the spread of privateering against it.

Milan assessed the Santa Babia Company’s slave fleet as Evan and the Privateer Fleet prepared to attack. Captain Hobien’s confidence in the company’s protection collapsed when the approaching pirates opened fire.

• Milan used Mind Connection to show the commanders the slave ships and reported the enemy fleet’s strength against their own.
• Evan noticed a Spell Aura on the Saint Cruz Merchant’s bow figurehead as the Privateer Fleet approached.
• Aboard the Saint Cruz Merchant, Hobien urged Lambert to put the Santa Babia Company’s interests and wealth first.
• The alarm sounded, and Hobien ordered warnings sent to the slave ships before confronting the approaching Black Sail Pirate ships.
• Hobien threatened the pirates, but the Privateer Fleet closed within a kilometer and opened fire.

Evan’s fleet attacked the Saint Cruz Company’s slave ship convoy, but the Saint Cruz Merchant’s Figurehead Lucky Coin caused the Morning Star’s first volleys to miss. Evan adapted by closing to point-blank range and crippled the battleship, until Wizard Rice summoned a new threat with a flute and a jar.

• The Morning Star and three cruisers used their speed to break through the convoy, scattering the slave ships and damaging their masts.
• Evan noticed that the Saint Cruz Merchant’s figurehead was causing cannonballs to miss, and sent the Morning Star back to attack while the other cruisers continued the raid.
• The Iron Bone’s wolf-hide-equipped crew boarded the Yao Lu and overwhelmed its escort crewmen.
• Evan brought the Morning Star within fifty meters of the Saint Cruz Merchant and fired a broadside that pierced its hull and severed its foremast.
• Captain Hobien called on Wizard Rice, who played a gourd-shaped flute as foul blue-purple smoke poured from a ceramic jar.

Evan defended the Morning Star from a Black Wizard named Rice and his giant smoke serpent, then defeated them with his Thunder Mercury technique. The battle between the two ships continued as the serpent and wizard vanished beneath the waves.

• A Black Wizard from Cabral summoned a giant smoke serpent and rode it toward the Morning Star.
• Evan hurled a steel harpoon through the serpent’s head, stopping its charge, then ordered the Navigator to command the ship while he confronted the wizard.
• Rice attacked Evan with the serpent, but Evan used Instant Flash to dodge its tail and strike at the wizard.
• Rice’s Skull of Evil Thought shield blocked Evan’s first sword strike, so Evan unleashed Thunder Mercury in a second blow.
• Evan’s attack shattered the shield and sent Rice into the sea, while the uncontrolled smoke serpent disappeared.

After defeating the Black Wizard and sinking the Saint Cruz Merchant, Evan saw a path toward advancing his knightly abilities by combining bodily cultivation with control of the Life Magnetic Field. The Dragoon Pirate Crew completed its first collective raid, killing Captain Hobien and Lambert while sparing the other surrendered seamen.

• Evan reflected that the Three-Eyed People’s innate control of lightning might explain why he struggled to master the third form of Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship, and he saw a possible route forward through Knight’s Path training.
• Evan recovered the old wizard’s corpse, confirmed he was dead, and dissolved it with a High-Efficiency Voodoo Potion before the wizard’s remains could mutate.
• Evan’s crew sank the Saint Cruz Merchant, and he praised them for winning the battle between the flagships.
• Evan ordered Captain Hobien and Lambert drowned after Hobien protested that they had never been offered a chance to surrender, while Lambert’s claim to be Adonis Auston’s son failed to save him.
• Evan gathered the surviving crews from the slave ships and allowed those who had surrendered to depart in lifeboats as the Dragoon Pirate Crew sailed away.

Evan expanded and organized the Dragoon Pirate Crew while strengthening Hatlafa Port’s defenses, then planned to use his naval identity to dispose of the raid’s spoils. He arranged for the captured Anuma People to work under eight-year contracts and ended by reflecting on how profitable cooperation between officials and pirates could be.

• Hawkins arrived at Hatlafa Port with new recruits and asked when he could meet Lord White Knight.
• Evan tightened recruitment, established Fleet Command under Base, and expanded the seagull intelligence network as the Pirate Crew grew toward two thousand members.
• Evan, Milan, Base, and Calvin completed a mist-lock barrier that concealed Hatlafa Port from intruders and divination.
• Evan decided to lie low as a Naval Commodore while the Dragoon Pirate Crew cooled down and used hidden harbors to support its operations.
• Evan arranged eight-year contracts for the nearly 3,200 captured Anuma People and planned to sell their labor through his official channels.

Evan considered how to use the captured slaves and ships, then met the Marquis of Far Sail Territory to discuss shipbuilding support. He left the Marquis intrigued by his proposal for a new kind of privateer ship.

• Evan decided the captured two-masted slave transports could be refitted into fast privateer ships and considered finding skilled craftsmen to help.
• Evan entered Orange Leaf Castle and sensed that powerful Runic Arrays protected it.
• Evan met the Marquis of Far Sail Territory, who praised the growth of privateering and offered craftsmen and dock space for ship refits.
• Evan warned that Sirius would eventually respond to the attacks and that Tulip, Sack, and Atlan might bear the brunt.
• Evan asked whether the Marquis would be interested in a faster, stronger privateer ship, and clarified that he meant a design more significant to widespread privateering than the Garratt-class Cruiser.

Evan and Marquis Yuanfan agreed to establish a joint trading company to smuggle goods into Sirius Colony, build ships, and expand Far Sail Territory’s industry. After drafting the company proposal, they toasted their partnership.

• Evan showed Marquis Yuanfan plans for a fast brigantine-rigged privateer and proposed licensing the design for mass production.
• Marquis Yuanfan admitted that Far Sail Territory was desperately short of money after Evan saw the jeweled Duchess, whom Evan recognized as a powerful Gem Sorcery wizard.
• Evan proposed that their families and East Lun Branch establish a joint trading company, combining the ship design and Anuma People slaves with Far Sail Territory’s industry and privateer fleet.
• Evan recommended cotton textiles as the company’s first major product and outlined how the industry could spur Far Sail Territory’s broader industrial development.
• Evan and Marquis Yuanfan agreed to the partnership and drafted a proposal for Mercury United Trading Company, with their families each receiving forty percent of its shares and East Lun Branch twenty percent.

Evan warned Marquis Yuanfan that unchecked capital could challenge the ruling class, then returned to Hatlafa Port and prepared to create Tree of Life Totem Warriors. He began the first imprinting on Qinaluo, leaving Paka waiting to undergo the same procedure.

• Evan advised Marquis Yuanfan to guide industrial development and prevent capitalists and bankers from gaining unchecked political power.
• Evan sailed from Far Sail Port without meeting Olivia, but suspected she might be Moonstone Miss after meeting a wizard skilled in Gem Sorcery.
• Back at Hatlafa Port, Evan converted valuable slaves from the spoils into shares for himself and set aside personal funds to compensate his subordinates.
• Evan asked Qinaluo and Paka whether they would accept the Tree of Life Totem, and both agreed in hopes of gaining power to avenge their ancestors against the Sirius People.
• Evan explained that he had developed the Tree of Life Totem Warrior profession through experiments, and Qinaluo drank the emerald-green potion to begin the procedure.

Evan completed Qinaluo’s Tree of Life Totem Warrior transformation, then subdued him when lingering faith in the Arawak Clan’s orca totem made him briefly lose control. After confirming the new profession worked, Evan reflected on how his complete Branded Swordsman path could unite body and soul and give him supernatural power from within; he believed he was close to reaching the Third Order.

• Qinaluo completed his Second-Order transformation under Evan’s ritual, gaining a solid Tree of Life imprint and extraordinary physical power.
• Qinaluo awoke with red eyes and attacked Evan with lightning-enhanced strength, but Evan knocked him unconscious and reassured Paka that he would recover.
• Evan identified Qinaluo’s outburst as lingering faith in the orca totem and concluded that future candidates would need an Exorcism Ritual beforehand.
• Evan examined Qinaluo’s new abilities and decided the Tree of Life Totem Warrior had achieved its intended purpose, though he preferred to call the complete profession a Branded Swordsman.
• Evan considered how the inner and outer Tree of Life could unite body and soul, then clenched his fist and released lightning as he judged himself close to becoming a Third-Order Extraordinary Person.

Evan and Milan entered Hawkins’s deep dream to test him and uncover his memories. They found him working for the White Egret Merchant Guild, where Evan recognized Earl Wright Neilko.

• Hawkins fled two bird monsters through a vast castle until they trapped him in a weapons warehouse.
• Hawkins fought the monsters with a sword, then escaped through a hidden cellar hatch into deeper dream layers.
• The bird monsters stopped pursuing Hawkins, and Evan and Milan arrived at the hatch in their gray robes.
• Evan and Milan entered Hawkins’s deep dream and saw him sorting commercial contracts at the White Egret Merchant Guild.
• Evan recognized the guild and identified the passing noble as Wright Neilko, Earl.