Chapter Summaries

Soren hosted Jin, a cleric of the Lady of Fortune, who offered funds and resources in exchange for trade access and permission to establish a temple. Soren refused the full deal to protect the camp’s secrets and avoid provoking the Temple of the Sea, but kept Jin in place while Goria proposed using the rivalry between the churches to secure benefits.

• Jin praised Soren’s orderly settlement and gave him a Divine Gold Card worth one hundred thousand Gold Dalers as a gift.
• Jin offered the Church of Fortune’s financial and labor support in exchange for trade rights and permission to build a Temple of Wealth, but Soren refused the terms.
• Goria warned Soren that the camp’s connection to the Shadow Plane and its Wizard Tower had to remain secret, so Soren said he would consult the Temple of the Sea.
• Soren invited Jin to stay and suggested selling land near the port, which Jin interpreted as a chance for the Church of Fortune to establish a foothold there.
• Soren settled Jin’s followers near the South Gate under observation, while Goria sealed off the area connected to the Shadow Plane.
• Goria told Soren to let the two churches contend over part of the territory, and Soren agreed that they needed to proceed cautiously.

Soren led his subordinates to hunt Wyverns for Slaughter Experience and found five Dragon Eggs in the Pteranodons’ nest. He secured the eggs and ordered his men to finish off the guards.

• Soren set out with his subordinates to hunt Wyverns near the cliff and killed one with Icetail, earning 5,600 points of Slaughter Experience.
• A Wyvern’s pounce killed one of Soren’s subordinates, but Soren grounded the beast with a javelin and killed it with his scimitar.
• Soren led his group up the mountain path to the Pteranodons’ nest, where two Wyverns guarded five Dragon Eggs.
• Soren warned his subordinates not to damage the eggs, then collected all five while using his speed to get past the guarding Wyverns.
• Soren stabbed one of the Wyverns and ordered his subordinates to finish off the guards.

After defeating the Wyverns, Soren returned to camp with Dragon Eggs, where Vivian took one to raise and Goria gave him a deciphered copy of Melf's Minute Meteors. Soren struggled to learn the Spell overnight but mastered the Combat Casting Feat the next morning.

• Soren defeated the Wyverns, accepted four deaths and seven wounded among his men, and returned to camp with five Dragon Eggs.
• Vivian grabbed a Dragon Egg and ran off to raise it, while Goria reassured Soren that Vivian could handle a Draconic creature.
• Soren set aside an apparently lifeless Dragon Egg and planned to test whether the Drow would help tame the others.
• Goria gave Soren a copy of Melf's Minute Meteors, which she and Vivian had mostly deciphered, and explained that part of its Arcane Script remained unreadable.
• Soren spent the night copying and studying the Spell, then practiced his known Spells at dawn and mastered Combat Casting.

Soren mastered Combat Casting, advanced to Wizard Level 10, and considered which Metamagic Feat to pursue. He weighed the destructive power of Maximize Spell against the long path toward mastering Quicken Spell, but had not yet made his choice.

• Soren mastered Combat Casting and tested it by casting Magic Missile without an incantation.
• Soren spent his new skill points on Knowledge and Concentration and increased his Intelligence.
• Soren reviewed Maximize Spell, Silent Spell, and Quicken Spell, considering their benefits and requirements.
• Soren compared the different paths chosen by Eye of the North, Arendelle's eldest Princess, and Vivian.
• Soren struggled to decide whether to choose Maximize Spell for greater damage or Quicken Spell to pursue the strongest Wizards.

Soren refined his spell loadout around burst damage and continued developing his camp while war and religious negotiations spread across the region. Meanwhile, the Naga Priestess negotiated with the Church of Fortune, and the Vampire God Child defeated the Church of Fear's elite as the Hell Poet watched from hiding.

• Soren chose Maximize Spell, built a Magic Missile-focused spell formation, reserved his 5th-level slots for maximized Melf's Minute Meteors, and planned to pursue the Rogue Legendary Skill Shadow Domain.
• Soren reviewed his attributes and abilities as the camp continued to grow, while reports arrived of clashes between the Northern Orcs and the Southern Kingdom and rebel gains on the South Coast.
• Jin's followers investigated Soren's camp and discussed opening a trade route with the Temple of the Sea, while a young merchant questioned Soren's investment in farmland and docks.
• The Naga Priestess agreed to the Church of Fortune's trade expansion on condition that it let the Goddess of the Sea's faith spread among coastal fishermen.
• The Vampire God Child defeated the Church of Fear's elite and offered the Black-robed Priest a chance to serve him; the priest knelt as the hidden Hell Poet watched.

Soren oversaw new supplies, negotiations, armor production, and Saruman’s fertilizer research as his camp continued to grow. The chapter ended with Soren demanding that fertilizer output rise enough to support the farmland and become a trade good.

• Soren’s restricted waters around Serpent Island remained guarded by a Mutated Killer Whale, while Dark Blade-Andri worried that Soren was losing patience with the Drow and considered challenging the female Drow’s authority.
• Soren ordered One-Eyed to halve the supplies allocated to the Drow and use the remainder as rewards for the Eastern craftsmen, then read a message from the Temple of the Sea.
• Jin offered to buy nearly a third of the harbor’s valuable land for the City of Wealth, and Soren hesitated as she revealed that its fleet had already departed.
• The Half-Elf first mate showed Soren finished Wyvern Dragonhide Armor, which Soren approved for his subordinates despite being unable to wear armor himself as a Wizard.
• Soren visited Saruman’s laboratory, inspected the newly made fertilizer, and ordered Saruman to increase production so it could supply the farmland and become a commodity.

Vivian proudly introduced Soren to the newly hatched Wyvern she named Little Black, then later woke from a dream about Heath and asked whether she could bring him back to life. Soren comforted her but left the question unanswered as she grieved for the old dog.

• Soren saw Vivian leading the newly hatched Wyvern around the camp on a pink rope and agreed that Little Black looked majestic.
• Vivian took Little Black around the camp while the Catgirl fed him a bucket of fresh fish.
• Soren continued analyzing the Spell Formula for Melf's Minute Meteors late into the night.
• Vivian came to Soren in tears after dreaming about Heath and asked whether she could bring him back to life.
• Soren held and comforted Vivian but did not answer, and she began crying over Heath again.

Soren watched the Church of Fortune bring slaves and Golems to Port Nyanzaru, where the Golems began building a harbor. Their work reminded him of the still-unresolved War of Golems, and he considered whether its ruin’s destructive orders could be changed.

• Goria told Soren that Vivian had been asking about souls and the dangerous Epic Spell Wish, leaving him silent and concerned.
• Soren’s analysis of Melf’s Minute Meteors advanced as the Church of Fortune’s fleet arrived at Port Nyanzaru with supplies and 632 slaves.
• Soren ordered the slaves settled while Jin, the Golden Priest, prepared to begin work on the harbor.
• More than a dozen Clay and Stone Golems leveled the promised land and started laying foundations, with Jin estimating the harbor would be finished within half a month.
• Soren considered the Golem Legion sealed in the ruins and wondered whether the War of Golems could be prevented by changing its orders.

Soren tested the destructive power of Melf's Minute Meteors and continued developing Port Nyanzaru, but news arrived that Asroder had captured and burned Serpent Island. He rallied his pirate leaders and declared total war against Asroder.

• Soren finished the first network of irrigation trenches across nearly five thousand mu of reclaimed land and demonstrated the power of Melf's Minute Meteors.
• Soren tested the spell against armor and found that it shattered lighter protection but only dented half-plate.
• Soren inspected Port Nyanzaru's expanding port and learned from Scarface that Asroder and the Rosard Chamber of Commerce had captured and burned Serpent Island.
• Soren ordered the Golden Priest to restore Scarface and summoned his pirate leaders to the Council Hall.
• Soren assigned Adele - Isabella, One-Eyed, Kasa, Dark Blade - Andri, and the other leaders to mobilize forces, then declared total war against Asroder.

Soren prepared Port Nyanzaru for war against Pirate King Asroder, while Goria’s fallen mother, Corinna, arrived and offered to help in exchange for Soren changing her fate. The chapter ended after Corinna revealed she had made a deal with the Succubus Queen, provoking Goria’s fury.

• Soren ordered Port Nyanzaru to mobilize its pirates, supplies, and weapons for war against Asroder.
• The Golden Priest and a young woman discussed exploiting Soren’s possible defeat to take control of Port Nyanzaru.
• Soren told Goria she had to remain at the main base while he went to war, and Vivian volunteered to fight alongside Lulu.
• Goria sensed a visitor, and Corinna appeared, admitting she had fallen after making a deal with a powerful entity from the Lower Planes.
• Corinna asked Soren to change her doomed fate in exchange for everything she could offer, and revealed the Succubus Queen’s crest as proof of her deal.
• Goria angrily condemned her mother for making a bargain with the Succubus Queen, while Corinna insisted only the Queen could give her what she wanted.

Five Godsbane of Fear met in secret to discuss how to oppose Reinhard and considered recruiting Throat Cutter, whom they believed was the first and strongest of their kind. At the harbor, Soren displayed a dragon’s head and raised the Ghost Ship Speaker of the Dead to rally his pirates before setting out to fight Asroder.

• Five cloaked Godsbane of Fear formed a Round Table Council and discussed how Reinhard’s growing power threatened them.
• The scarred woman shared intelligence about Throat Cutter, and the council concluded that he might be the first and strongest Godsbane of Fear.
• Soren assembled his fleet and had an adult White Dragon’s head mounted on the Dragonhead Warship to inspire his pirates.
• Soren summoned the Ghost Ship Speaker of the Dead from beneath the sea, astonishing Golden Priest and the young woman beside her.
• Soren led the pirates in a repeated battle cry as war against Asroder began, while the other South Coast powers waited to see who would prevail.

After finding his former men hanged at Serpent Island, Soren discovered his dying Mutated Killer Whale and used his newly unlocked Divine Gift to restore and empower it. He left for Port Tyler as the whale began feeding and evolving into an Ocean Behemoth.

• Soren ordered Scarface to bury the hanged prisoners at Serpent Island and set course for Port Tyler.
• Soren heard a call beneath the sea and found his badly wounded Mutated Killer Whale near death among the shipwrecks.
• Soren learned he could use Divine Gift on a fanatically loyal creature, then bestowed 1 point of Divine Rank on the whale.
• The whale recovered, formed a mental bond with Soren, and began devouring nearby fish as it evolved toward becoming an Ocean Behemoth.
• Soren returned to the Dragonhead Warship and ordered the fleet to sail for Port Tyler.

Soren discovered that the Mutated Tiger Shark’s Slaughter Divinity let him gain experience when it killed, while his fleet prepared for a decisive battle against Pirate King Asroder without the Temple of the Sea’s support. He executed all 127 captured pirates at Port Tyler, and people began calling him Headhunter.

• The Mutated Tiger Shark regenerated, grew into a massive scaled Ocean Behemoth, and attacked a Deep Sea Squid in the deep sea.
• Soren received a notification that the Deep Sea Squid had been slain and gained Slaughter Experience, leading him to connect the kill to the Divinity he had given the shark.
• At Port Tyler, Soren learned that the Temple of the Sea would stay out of the conflict, while the Duchy of Rosado’s navy had deployed to Sand Fury Island for a decisive battle.
• Soren ordered the prisoners captured from Asroder’s strongholds brought before him and executed all 127, including Asroder’s half-brother.
• People began calling Soren Headhunter instead of Throat Cutter.

Soren gathered a fleet of more than a hundred pirate ships and received a one-shot strategic weapon from the Northern Witches Council before setting sail to attack Sand Fury Island. As his fleet advanced toward Asroder’s territory, the Ghost Ship and a huge sea creature also moved toward the coming battle.

• Soren’s first mate reported that 121 warships and 3,215 combat-ready pirates had answered his summons, and Soren ordered the fleet to leave for Sand Fury Island the next day.
• A Northern Witch delivered the Magical Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon Experimental Model I-1, which Goria had secured for Soren through Class A authorization.
• Soren accepted responsibility for the cannon and ordered his fleet to cover and protect it before setting sail from Port Tyler.
• More than a hundred pirate ships followed the Dragonhead Warship toward Sand Fury Island, Asroder’s stronghold.
• The hungry Ghost Ship, Speaker of the Dead, continued moving through the deep sea as a gigantic shadow rose from the ocean floor and headed toward its master’s call.

Soren’s fleet fought Asroder’s larger alliance near Sand Fury Island, facing Eastern Pirates and a draconic Three-Headed Sea Serpent. Soren unleashed Ocean Behemoth Hakaz and the Ghost Ship Speaker of the Dead, and the battle continued amid cannon fire and boarding attacks.

• Soren spotted the Duchy of Rosado’s navy and Eastern Pirate warships among Asroder’s forces, while Corinna warned that the Eastern Monks would be dangerous.
• A Three-Headed Sea Serpent overturned and sank one of Soren’s warships, prompting Corinna to identify it as an Ocean Behemoth.
• Soren summoned Ocean Behemoth Hakaz, which charged into the enemy’s right flank and sank a warship, restoring his fleet’s morale.
• As the enemy fleet attacked from the front and flanks, Soren entrusted command to the Half-Elf first mate and ran across the sea toward the battle’s center.
• The Ghost Ship Speaker of the Dead surfaced, fired its cannons to sink two enemy vessels, then vanished into fog while Soren attacked another ship with its Swivel Heavy Cannons.
• The Speaker of the Dead approached an enemy warship in the fog, seized its crew with animated rigging, and Soren shot one of the suspended enemies with his Elven War Bow.

Soren’s Ghost Ship survived Asroder’s concentrated cannon barrage by diving beneath the sea, while Vivian battled a Dragonblooded Sorcerer who attacked the ship. The woman was not the Red Dragon Duchess, and their fight began as Vivian’s Balor Whip absorbed her Dragon Breath.

• Vivian dispelled approaching Sorcerers’ Fly spells, sending them into the sea beneath the Ghost Ship.
• Asroder ordered hundreds of cannons to fire on Soren’s Ghost Ship, but Soren used Ghost Dive to evade the bombardment.
• The Ghost Ship resurfaced through the fog, while Asroder’s officer identified an opening in the enemy formation and sent for the Eastern Pirates.
• A cloaked Dragonblooded Sorcerer revealed her Dragon Wings, flew to the Ghost Ship, and struck its deck with a Fireball.
• Vivian manifested a Balor Whip and attacked the Dragonblooded Sorcerer, but Soren warned her that the woman was not the Red Dragon Duchess.
• The Dragonblooded Sorcerer breathed Dragon Breath at Vivian, whose Balor Whip absorbed the flames and burned more fiercely.

Soren killed Pirate King Asroder during the battle at Serpent Island, then escaped the Red Dragon Duchess’s attacks as Vivian and Corinna confronted her. The Dragonhead Warship’s experimental Magical Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon struck the Duchess through Time Stop, leaving her fate uncertain.

• Soren used maximized spells and his Slayer transformation to bombard Asroder’s warship, killing Asroder and several attendants.
• Soren fought an officer who transformed with an unfamiliar forbidden art, while the Red Dragon Duchess appeared and attacked Soren with spells.
• Soren resisted Hold Person and Power Word: Stun but was wounded by Vivisection, then used Shadow Jump to escape into the sea.
• Corinna attacked the Red Dragon Duchess with Mordenkainen’s Disjunction and Disintegrate as Vivian activated Time Stop and the Duchess’s contingency defenses triggered.
• The Dragonhead Warship’s Steel Golem fired the experimental Magical Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon, piercing the Duchess and destroying a distant city gate.

After Soren defeated Pirate King Asroder, the Red Dragon Duchess escaped death with the Epic Spell Life Hide, and a Naga Priestess unleashed a tsunami against the battlefield. The Goddess of the Sea appeared in an Avatar, stopped the wave, and sent the Three-Headed Sea Serpent to serve Soren.

• The Red Dragon Duchess vanished after using Life Hide, while Vivian recovered the equipment she left behind.
• With Asroder and the Red Dragon Duchess defeated, the enemy forces fled, but Soren stopped Vivian from pursuing them because Dragonblooded Sorcerers might still be nearby.
• A Naga Priestess ordered an Epic Spell Tsunami to destroy the fleets, while the Naga Priestess at the Temple of the Sea hesitated to intervene and considered summoning the Goddess of the Sea's Avatar.
• Soren and the others tried to save people with Fly, but the Goddess of the Sea appeared in an Avatar and dispersed the tsunami.
• The Goddess of the Sea looked approvingly at Soren, summoned the Three-Headed Sea Serpent, and sent it to lower its heads before him.

After Soren defeated Asroder, he considered the threats posed by the Naga Royal Family and the Duchy of Rosado, while the Naga Priestess realized the Goddess of the Sea valued Soren more than her. As the Time of Troubles approached, Soren held Vivian close and wondered whether a future battle with Lady of Silver Moon could be avoided.

• Soren worried that the Naga Royal Family and the Red Dragon Duchess of the Duchy of Rosado would retaliate after his victory over Asroder.
• The Naga Priestess realized the Goddess of the Sea considered Soren more useful than her and might disapprove of her efforts to restrain him.
• Soren watched the dimming stars and recognized that the Time of Troubles was drawing near.
• Vivian told Soren she had grown stronger and would stay by his side to help him.
• Soren held Vivian beneath the moonlight and wondered whether Destiny would make him fight Lady of Silver Moon.

Soren secured Sand Fury Island after defeating Asroder and began assigning crews to control the Eastern Route and his other ports. Among the Red Dragon Duchess’s spoils, he gave Vivian a legendary ring and had Corinna conceal the powerful Ring of the Lich +5, leaving its location protected for now.

• Soren imprisoned the surrendered pirates, secured Sand Fury Island’s warehouses and treasury, and planned to use much of the wealth to reward his men.
• Soren appointed the Half-Elf first mate to manage the Eastern Route, leaving Scarface and One-Eyed there to help suppress resistance.
• Soren prepared to promote elite pirates to fill vacancies at Port Tyler, Shipwreck Bay, and Port Nyanzaru.
• Soren gave Vivian the Ring of Wizardry [+1], which doubled her 1st-level Spell Slots.
• Soren identified the Ring of the Lich [+5] as exceptionally valuable and dangerous because its powerful Spell Aura could be tracked.
• Soren had Fallen Witch Corinna seal the ring’s Spell Aura to prevent others from locating it.