Chapter Summaries

Linsey saved the Root Elder from Red and rescued both of them when the cliff collapsed, then followed the Root Elder and a Rock Golem through the canyons to meet their leader. The chapter ended with the weakened stone creature greeting Linsey and proposing that they resolve their misunderstandings through sincere communication.

• Linsey caught Red’s Meteorite Spear, shattered the Rock Golem’s hands, and pulled the Root Elder to safety, persuading Red not to kill it because they shared an enemy.
• The cliff edge collapsed, and Linsey used clumps of earth he had converted into resources to make footholds and stop himself, Red, and the Root Elder from falling to their deaths.
• The Rock Golem climbed back up, agreed that it and the humans had a common enemy, and ordered the Root Elder to bring Linsey and Red to see it.
• Linsey, Red, and the Root Elder traveled through canyons and underground tunnels for a day before reaching a hidden cave the following morning.
• Linsey and Red entered an underground stone hall, where a weakened, illuminated-jointed stone creature greeted Linsey and proposed resolving their misunderstandings through sincere communication.

Linsey and Red met an earth-element Elemental Creature, which explained why it had summoned them and warned them about the Great Forest’s Tree Mother. Before the Elemental Creature’s end, it gave them Stone’s Breath and warned that the Dragon Beast’s envoy might pose a greater danger.

• Linsey recognized the Elemental Creature’s goodwill as a result of Sura Mo’s Mountain Blessing and signaled Red not to attack.
• The Elemental Creature explained that the Tree Mother controlled the Great Forest and would detect humans who entered it.
• Linsey inferred that the Elemental Creature had summoned them because it had resisted the Dragon Beast and needed their help.
• The Elemental Creature suggested the Dragon Beast might be advancing because of a threat posed by humans, then gave Linsey and Red two Stone’s Breath plaques.
• The Elemental Creature warned them that the Tree Mother had gone mad and that the Dragon Beast’s envoy might be more dangerous.

Linsey and Red crossed Starshine Forest while considering why the Dragon Beast had driven the Glacier Elementals so far away. After a strange attack on a bird drew their attention to a hill, Linsey found four neutral individuals ahead and led Red to investigate quietly.

• Linsey learned that the Mountain Stone Elemental and the Root Elder were the last survivors of the rebellion, and that the Mountain Stone Elemental was close to death.
• Linsey and Red entered Starshine Forest with the Stone's Breath artifact and spent a month navigating its difficult terrain while avoiding its creatures.
• Linsey and Red discussed why the Dragon Beast had sent the Glacier Elementals far away and wondered whether its actions might reveal a weakness.
• A distant attacker struck down a startled bird, and Red raised the Meteorite Spear before Linsey stopped her.
• Linsey spotted four rapidly moving yellow markers on the map and told Red they were neutral individuals who might provide useful information.

Linsey and Red watched fleeing Tree Spirits get cornered by a giant bear and Forest Wolves, then rescued them with a surprise attack. Linsey pursued the surviving wolves while Red guarded the Tree Spirits and studied the bear’s fatal wound.

• Linsey and Red followed the noise and found Tree Spirits eating a fallen bird before a giant creature approached.
• The Tree Spirits fled from the pursuing giant bear and its Forest Wolves, but were surrounded and trapped behind a thorn barricade.
• Linsey killed the Fifth Stage Jungle Giant Bear with an arrow and drove off the Forest Wolves with flaming spears.
• Linsey told Red to watch the Tree Spirits and pursued the fleeing wolves to keep their activities in the forest secret.
• Red checked that the wolves were dead, then examined the bear’s wound and imagined trying to dodge Linsey’s attack during training.

Linsey crafted a powerful cloak, rescued treants, and learned about the dangers ahead in Starshine Forest. He and Red continued east with a route around the Tree Mother’s territory, while Linsey promised he would act decisively if necessary.

• Linsey crafted the Hibernating Bear Cloak from the Forest Giant Bear Hide, gaining strength, constitution, and the ability to hibernate.
• Linsey questioned the rescued treants, who warned him that Thorn Valley was full of hostile kin and Banyan Grove was the Tree Mother’s domain.
• The treants advised Linsey and Red to bypass Banyan Grove from the south because a dangerous being in the north could command the Tree Mother.
• Linsey released the treants after learning that the Tree Mother might not notice the bear’s death for several dozen days, and he and Red resumed their journey.
• Linsey explained to Red that goodwill could help them overcome obstacles, then promised he would not hesitate if the situation demanded decisive action.

Linsey and Red reached Thorn Valley and spotted Tree Mother’s enormous banyan home, but Red stopped Linsey from rushing into a hopeless fight. Linsey then devised a plan to capture Tree Mother’s envoy and learn more about the Dragon Beast.

• Linsey and Red arrived at Thorn Valley and saw the dangerous valley and the vast banyan forest where Tree Mother dwelled.
• Linsey considered fighting Tree Mother to gain strength, but Red reminded him not to act impulsively, and he agreed to find another route.
• Linsey climbed a tree and used binoculars to survey the surrounding terrain, locating the woodland where Tree Mother’s envoy lived.
• Linsey explained that they could pursue the envoy instead of Tree Mother and extract information about the Dragon Beast.

Linsey and Red unleashed a swarm of Corrupted Poison Spiders in Thorn Valley to draw out the Tree Mother. After earning a crafting reward that revealed the final step toward making a Forest Brooch, they rushed toward the valley to act while the Tree Mother's attention was diverted.

• Linsey and Red observed Thorn Valley until the Hunting Notes revealed that treants weakened at night and in cold conditions.
• Linsey fired the Miniature Spider Nest into Thorn Valley, releasing a swarm of Corrupted Poison Spiders that attacked the treants and other creatures.
• Linsey claimed the Thornwood Bracers reward and discovered the crafting recipes for the Thorn Bracelet and Forest Brooch.
• The Tree Mother roared and moved toward Thorn Valley, so Linsey and Red charged toward the northern hill to take advantage of the distraction.

Linsey and Red lured the Tree Mother away from the Dragon Beast Envoy and searched its forest, where Linsey was ambushed by a Fairy Girl disguised as a buried treant. The Fairy Girl paralyzed him and began reading his memories, leaving him trapped as a powerless consciousness in a vision of his childhood.

• Linsey and Red raced to the Dragon Beast Envoy’s forest while the Tree Mother went to quell the disturbance in Thorn Valley.
• Red and Linsey split up to search the forest for the Dragon Beast Envoy before the Tree Mother could arrive.
• Linsey found a half-buried treant and woke it, revealing the Fairy Girl disguised within.
• The Fairy Girl poisoned Linsey with paralysis and other status effects, leaving him unconscious.
• Linsey regained awareness inside a vision of his childhood near Hidden Borderlands as the Fairy Girl explained that she was reading his memories.

Trapped in the Fairy Girl’s illusion, Linsey provoked her into revealing that the Dragon Beast was vulnerable to temperature changes and learned that humans beyond Black Mountain had threatened it into advancing. When the illusion faltered, Linsey switched out his Magma Crest, but the Fairy Girl realized he had been stalling.

• Linsey noticed he was trapped in the Fairy Girl’s memory-reading illusion and waited for a chance to escape.
• Linsey baited the Fairy Girl into confirming that temperature changes were the Dragon Beast’s weakness.
• Linsey stalled the Fairy Girl as she examined his memories, trying to keep her from discovering his Glorious Bullet.
• The Fairy Girl revealed that humans beyond Black Mountain had threatened the Dragon Beast, prompting it to advance and endanger the world.
• Linsey challenged the Fairy Girl over the Dragon Beast’s harm to the world, making her emotional and causing the illusion to waver.
• Linsey switched the Magma Crest during the disruption, and the Fairy Girl realized he had been stalling.

Red interrupted the Fairy Girl while she trapped Linsey in an illusion, and fought to rescue him as the Fairy Girl sought information about the Dragon Beast’s weakness. After Red caught Linsey and tried to retreat, the Fairy Girl reappeared behind them as a distant explosion signaled trouble in Thorn Valley.

• Red returned from searching the forest and found the Fairy Girl probing Linsey’s memories while he was trapped in an illusion.
• Red attacked the Fairy Girl with her Meteorite Spear and a kick, but the Fairy Girl repeatedly teleported away and used Linsey as a shield.
• The Fairy Girl learned that Linsey knew the Dragon Beast’s weakness, and Red used her hesitation to press the attack.
• The Fairy Girl threw Linsey down and vanished, and Red caught him as a roar and green explosion erupted from Thorn Valley.
• Red decided to carry Linsey away, but the bloodied Fairy Girl teleported behind them and blocked their escape.

Red killed the Fairy Girl after Linsey broke free of her illusion and helped her land the fatal blow. Linsey and Red escaped the poisonous mist but remained badly poisoned as the Tree Mother rushed toward them.

• Red deduced that the Fairy Girl appeared beside Linsey whenever she vanished, then struck her shoulder with a spear to disrupt the illusion.
• The Fairy Girl used Linsey as a shield and surrounded them with poisonous powder, but Red charged in despite her worsening poisoning.
• Linsey broke free enough to stab the Fairy Girl, allowing Red to pierce her head with the Meteorite Spear.
• Linsey caught the collapsing Red, carried her out of the poisonous mist, and gave them both Antidote Potions and converted Coca Leaves.
• Red warned Linsey that the Tree Mother was coming, and he saw it crashing through the forest toward them.

Linsey crafted a Flower Fairy Anklet and used it to cure Red's poison before finding a broken branch that could control the approaching Banyan Grove Tree Mother. After preparing and claiming a Flower Spirit reward, Linsey and Red set traps for the coming battle.

• Linsey looted a Fairy Flower from the Fairy Girl's corpse and crafted a Flower Fairy Anklet from materials in the forest.
• Linsey used the anklet to remove the poison from Red, then gave her a Frost Wind Earring in exchange for her help.
• Linsey found a Banyan Forest Broken Branch that could control the Tree Mother or badly injure her if destroyed.
• Red treated her wound while Linsey used the experience from the giant bear and Fairy Girl to raise his constitution by two points.
• Linsey claimed Nature Affinity as a Flower Spirit reward, then he and Red prepared traps for the approaching Tree Mother.

Linsey and Red tried to stop the maddened Tree Mother by destroying the Banyan Forest Broken Branch, but their strongest attacks could not pierce her Sixth Stage defenses. As the Tree Mother began repairing herself while still unable to move, Linsey decided to approach her and try something.

• The Tree Mother charged through the forest in a frenzy after losing contact with the Fairy Girl, and Linsey and Red prepared to face her.
• Linsey crushed the Banyan Forest Broken Branch and burned its core, causing the Tree Mother’s wooden armor to wither and collapse.
• Linsey and Red attacked the motionless Tree Mother with their strongest weapons, but neither their arrows nor Red’s Meteorite Spear injured her.
• Linsey recognized the other half of the Banyan Forest Broken Branch in the Tree Mother’s chest as green light and protective thorns began to appear.
• Linsey decided to go closer and try to stop the Tree Mother, though he admitted he was unsure whether he had anything that could work.

Linsey and Red fought through the Tree Mother’s thorns and Source Material storm so Linsey could pierce its chest with an Aetal Iron Dagger. The Tree Mother’s defenses collapsed, and Linsey’s Will Source Material and RPG Module advanced, leaving him wondering whether a Sixth Stage being’s life force was excessive.

• Linsey switched to the Ice Badger Mace to clear the Tree Mother’s rapidly multiplying thorns and push closer to it.
• The Tree Mother’s Source Material storm disrupted Linsey’s Life Source Material and left him struggling to advance.
• Red shielded Linsey from behind and helped him cross the final five meters to the Tree Mother.
• Linsey and Red used the Aetal Iron Dagger to pierce the Tree Mother’s chest, breaking through its defenses.
• Linsey’s Will Source Material advanced to the Second Stairway, and his RPG Module leveled up and gained Story Performance.
• Linsey noticed the Tree Mother’s life force was still excessive even after its defenses fell.

After reaching the Second Stairway, Linsey examined his enhanced attributes and new Story Performance ability. He and Red confirmed the Tree Mother’s death, declined Root Elder’s invitation to help Starshine Forest, and headed toward Thorn Valley to gather materials.

• Linsey discovered that reaching the Second Stairway had increased his attributes and changed his source material, while also unlocking the level 7 Story Performance ability.
• Linsey and Red saw a banyan sapling growing from the Tree Mother’s corpse as the Banyan Grove and its hill collapsed.
• Red proposed breaking off the sapling, but Linsey argued with her until Root Elder arrived and called it an ordinary plant.
• Root Elder explained that the Tree Mother’s death had returned Starshine Forest to nature’s laws and offered Linsey and Red a chance to help resist the Dragon Beast.
• Linsey collected Prey Material from the Tree Mother’s corpse, declined Root Elder’s invitation, and took Red south toward Thorn Valley to gather materials.

After Tree Mother’s death, Linsey and Red surveyed the destruction in Thorn Valley and collected its spoils. Linsey crafted and equipped a Forest Brooch, discovered a recipe for an Ecosystem Radar, and ended the chapter with two Hunting Notes rewards to claim.

• Linsey and Red returned to Thorn Valley, where Tree Mother’s Vines had crushed the Corrupted Poison Spiders and many other inhabitants.
• Linsey examined the Mad Wisdom Wood Core from Tree Mother’s corpse and began gathering materials from the valley.
• Red borrowed Linsey’s Steel Spear and went to explore the collapsed hill and Tree Mother’s nest.
• Linsey crafted a Thorn Bracelet and combined it with the Treant Crown and Flower Fairy Anklet to make a Forest Brooch.
• Linsey found that the Forest Brooch could be used to craft an Ecosystem Radar with a Surging Tide Conch and a Sky Compass, then equipped it.
• Linsey checked his Hunting Notes and found that the Kill Achievement had reached 57/100 and the Leader Kill Achievement had reached 1/1.

Linsey gathered rewards and materials after defeating the Tree Mother, then crafted an Ancient Tree Crest that let him transform into a treant. He tested his new form and considered whether other advanced crests could let him take on additional elemental forms.

• Linsey received a Blackberry and Carnivorous Flower Spores as achievement rewards, then crafted Vine Armor and a Vine Wood Whip.
• Linsey found Hardwood Seeds among the Tree Spirit corpses and gathered enough to craft a Flora Crest.
• Linsey hesitated over whether to use the Carnivorous Flower Spores to upgrade the Flora Crest, then went to find Red at the Tree Mother's former base.
• Red gave Linsey three Banyan Forest Seeds she had found in the ruins, and Linsey used one with the Flora Crest to craft an Ancient Tree Crest.
• Linsey activated the Ancient Tree Crest and transformed into a treant, discovering that the form increased his defense but made him slower.
• Linsey considered crafting other advanced crests to gain more forms, while Red asked him to make one for her too.

Linsey and Red continued through Starshine Forest, where Linsey killed an eagle and learned that the forest ahead was Thousand Mountains Stone Forest. They hurried toward it, unaware that the eagle’s death had drawn attention from beyond the mountains.

• Linsey and Red discussed how vast Starshine Forest was as they continued traveling more than a hundred days after the Tree Mother’s death.
• Linsey spotted an eagle, shot it down, and found that it was an ordinary Black Eagle with no useful crafting materials.
• Linsey checked the eagle’s information and learned that Thousand Mountains Stone Forest lay beyond the two Mountain Peaks and contained creatures reaching the Fourth Stage.
• Red eagerly dragged Linsey toward the mountains, glad that the stone forest would give her a change from the hot, humid woods.
• A sharp gaze turned toward Linsey and Red’s location, and countless wings began beating in the stone forest.

Linsey and Red encountered a flock of black eagles while leaving the gorge, and the Black Eagle King decided to capture them for questioning. The chapter ended as the eagles prepared to act, unaware that Linsey was tempted to hunt them for an eagle heart.

• The Black Eagle King explained that the Tree Mother’s declining sanity threatened the black eagle race, but urged his flock not to panic.
• Linsey noticed a crowd of mixed-attitude creatures near the gorge’s exit, and he and Red discussed whether they were resisting the Dragon Beasts.
• Linsey and Red spotted black eagles circling overhead and hid behind an oak tree.
• Red teased Linsey for considering an attack, while Linsey claimed he was only wondering whether the flock had come to investigate the black eagle he killed.
• The Black Eagle King spotted Linsey and Red, then ordered his guards to capture them and bring them to the nest.

Linsey and Red ambushed a flock of black eagles, killing several and forcing the rest to flee under the Black Eagle King’s command. They collected the spoils and brought one injured eagle back alive, leaving Linsey to decide what to do with it.

• Linsey and Red attacked the diving black eagles, killing two immediately and bringing down a third with an arrow.
• The Black Eagle King ordered its flock to retreat after Linsey and Red struck more eagles with arrows and javelins.
• Red captured the wounded black eagle alive and dragged it back after knocking it unconscious.
• Linsey gathered materials from the dead eagles, crafted a Hawk Beak Pendant, Black Feather Arrows, and a Hawk Eye Potion, and kept the eggs for dinner.
• Red dropped the captured eagle beside Linsey and asked whether he wanted to play with it.