Chapter Summaries

Linsey learned that the City of Law’s succession war was spreading to ordinary people and began building a home in Lookout Point City while testing his Shop Management skill and the Golden Rule’s influence on his luck. The chapter ended when Ke Saiwei Lait brought a Life Scholar seeking information about Black Mountain and a physician to treat Linsey.

• Linsey reflected on Alvitte giving him the Human Wisdom Codex and worried that Anville Village would be endangered if the City of Law’s war escalated.
• Linsey used his Shop Management skill to plan a business and bought discounted lumber after the Golden Rule seemed to bring him unusually good luck.
• Linsey began building his house, declined Ailini’s offer of help, and received fruit and goodwill from nearby residents.
• Linsey dug an Infinite Water Pool inside the new house and continued working on its interior.
• Ke Saiwei Lait arrived with the Life Scholar Kang Qi, who wanted to learn about Black Mountain, and the physician Ma Wei An, who had come to treat Linsey.

Ma Wei An found that Linsey's burns would heal on their own but could not treat the powerful death force in his left arm, and he suggested seeking help from Mr. Tang in Nine Bends City. As Linsey recovered and began building a plant-growing business in Lookout Point City, the surrounding forest began shaking violently for a second day in a row.

• Ma Wei An discovered that Linsey's left arm contained a deadly force he could not treat, but said Mr. Tang in Nine Bends City might be able to help.
• Ke Saiwei Lait told Linsey that support for the Hidden Borderlands was being organized, and Linsey planned to leave after recovering from his burns.
• The next morning, Linsey hired the Cha Luo Rabbit Person Rui Li to help outfit his wooden hut with racks for cultivated plants.
• Rui Li told Linsey that the city's population mainly consisted of gatherers, hunters, and Life Scholars, and that he had come because Ke Saiwei Lait had visited Linsey.
• The forest around Lookout Point City shook violently again, and Rui Li said he had never seen such disturbances happen two days in a row.

Linsey investigated the forest disturbance with Ailini and discovered that the forest's unrest had been caused by an attack on the Forest Veins. A Seventh Stage wizard calmed the forest, and Ailini reassured Linsey that the city was protected.

• Linsey left the city to investigate the forest disturbance, and Ailini caught up with him in her carriage.
• Ailini drove Linsey through the northern gate and warned him not to go deep into the forest.
• Linsey examined a twisted High-Crown Nut Tree with his Commodity Skill and learned that the Forest Veins had come under attack.
• Ailini said she knew about underground veins but did not know what the Forest Veins were, while Linsey decided to tell the old wizard about his discovery.
• A powerful source essence calmed the forest, and Linsey recognized the gentle intervention as the work of a Seventh Stage wizard.
• Ailini told Linsey that the wizard's presence would keep anyone with ill intentions from causing much trouble.

Linsey learned that the Life Scholars and Merchant Guild might target him because he was the only person from Black Mountain and knew the world best. After warning Linsey that greed could bring obstacles, Ke Saiwei Lait sent him away, and Ailini waited outside Linsey’s home beneath the moonlight.

• Linsey overheard Kang Qi and other Life Scholars discussing forest disturbances and their delayed plans to reach the Black Mountain World.
• Linsey returned home, praised Rui Li’s work on a water trough, and helped build the cottage with her.
• Linsey visited Ke Saiwei Lait and told him that someone had attacked the Forest Veins, causing the disturbance.
• Ke Saiwei Lait warned Linsey that others might target him for his knowledge of the Black Mountain World, even if he shared everything he knew.
• Linsey left Ke Saiwei Lait’s home and found Ailini waiting outside his door.

Linsey and Ailini discussed her mission, merchant philosophies, and Linsey’s plans to sell goods at the Courtyard in the Forest. Their conversation eased their distrust and ended with a business deal, leaving Linsey impressed by Ailini’s skill as a merchant.

• Linsey suspected Ailini might be a threat, but she quickly reassured him that she meant no harm and explained the risks of her mission.
• Linsey brought Ailini into his home, where she admitted she wanted to avoid damaging their relationship and hoped to cooperate with him.
• Ailini explained the difference between merchants who followed “Money is Everything” and those, like her, who followed “Value Transaction.”
• Ailini advised Linsey to open a shop in South City and offered to help him find seeds and Plant Samples, while Linsey said he planned to leave in about a month.
• Linsey and Ailini talked through the night, became more friendly, and made a business deal before he escorted her home.

Linsey ran his newly opened magical plant shop, welcomed Rui Li, and met a City Hall Life Scholar who asked him to help investigate Black Mountain. A sudden quake and twisting plants revealed that the Forest Veins had come under attack again.

• Linsey examined his Shop Management status and considered how upgrading the shop might unlock new abilities.
• Rui Li visited with a basket of longans, and Linsey shared freshly baked bread with her while tending his plants.
• A City Hall Life Scholar discussed Linsey's reduced tax rate and asked him to help investigate Black Mountain, clear out living corpses, and open a route through the Hidden Borderlands.
• Linsey declined the request, saying he had already told Kang Qi what he knew.
• The ground shook and the plants around Lookout Point City twisted, and Linsey realized the Forest Veins had been attacked again.

Life Scholars in Lookout Point City debated the forest’s repeated unrest and whether to send fewer people to explore the Black Mountain World. Kang Qi and a female scholar went to recruit Linsey, but found merchants gathered outside his Plant Shop.

• Yi Di reported that the forest was causing unrest again, and Kang Qi noted that it had happened three times in one week.
• The female scholar suspected Ke Saiwei Lait, but Kang Qi argued that the old wizard had no reason to disrupt the forest.
• Kang Qi proposed reducing the expedition’s manpower and contacting Linsey, who had crossed over from the Black Mountain World.
• Kang Qi and the female scholar discussed Linsey’s character and possible connection to Master Yang Ye’s lineage as they headed to his shop.
• The two scholars arrived at Linsey’s Plant Shop and found Kang Qi’s apprentice, several carriages, and merchants gathered outside.

Kuit offered to buy Linsey’s memories of the Black Mountain World with a powerful Double Serpent Coin, but the Trader’s Balance showed that the memories were worth far more. As Kang Qi and another Life Scholar arrived, the female scholar confronted Kuit.

• Outside Linsey's Plant Shop, a merchant tried to persuade Will to buy her wares at a discount.
• Kuit offered Linsey a Double Serpent Coin in exchange for his complete memories of the Black Mountain World, while Ailini explained the coin’s influence.
• Linsey refused to accept the coin as sufficient payment, and Kuit used the Trader's Balance to assess the value of their offers.
• The balance showed Linsey's memories outweighed the Double Serpent Coin, and Linsey cited witnessing the death of a Dragon Beast as one reason for their value.
• Kang Qi and another Life Scholar entered the shop with Will, and the female scholar demanded to know what Kuit was doing there.

Green Fir confronted Kuit over his dealings with Linsey, and Linsey stopped the two Sixth Stage Awakened from fighting in his home. Green Fir then asked whether Linsey had inherited the knowledge of Finn, Master Yang Ye’s apprentice.

• Green Fir warned Linsey that Kuit could manipulate the Golden Scales and demanded that he end their negotiations.
• Green Fir released her Life Force, causing plants and wood in the shop to flourish and speeding Linsey’s recovery.
• Linsey asked Green Fir and Kuit not to damage his home, and Green Fir withdrew her power after Kang Qi advised her to calm down.
• Kuit continued examining Linsey’s plants while Green Fir explained that she wanted his help exploring the Black Mountain World.
• Green Fir asked Linsey how Finn was doing and whether he had inherited Finn’s knowledge.

Green Fir learned that Finn had taught Linsey and tried to recruit him into Volcano City, but Linsey refused to change his path. A violent fourth forest disturbance forced Green Fir, Kang Qi, and Kuit to leave for the forest, while Linsey wondered whether he should move out early.

• Linsey told Green Fir that Finn had been his teacher and had passed botanical knowledge and the Volcano Codex to him; Green Fir mourned Finn’s death and urged Linsey to become a Life Scholar.
• Green Fir offered to help Linsey remove the disorderly source essence and join Volcano City’s scholarly ranks, but Linsey refused to abandon his chosen path.
• Kuit praised the Summer Bamboo’s resistance to pressure, interrupting Green Fir as she scolded Linsey.
• A fiercer fourth forest disturbance shook Lookout Point City, and Kang Qi and Green Fir decided to investigate after the wizard failed to return.
• Green Fir ordered Kuit to accompany them, and Kuit promised Linsey he would return with payment; Linsey considered moving out early.

Linsey repaired his shop, recorded Finn’s cultivation techniques for the Life Scholars, and prepared to leave Lookout Point City as the forest’s disturbance was calmed. He slipped out under a new identity, leaving the city and his shop behind.

• Linsey repaired the furniture damaged by Green Fir’s life arts and noted that his shop’s plants had grown more lush.
• Linsey bought bamboo paper and wrote down the cultivation techniques Finn had taught him to pass on to the Life Scholars.
• Linsey witnessed a Seventh Stage wizard and several Sixth Stage Awakened calm the forest by manipulating its source essence.
• Linsey remembered a synthesis formula for an explosive that required bamboo and decided he could make it in the Courtyard in the Forest.
• Linsey entrusted his manuscript to Rui Li, stored his house with his skill, and left a farewell note and food for her.
• Linsey changed his appearance, passed through the East City gate with departing residents, and left Lookout Point City behind.

Green Fir and Kuit nearly fought over Linsey’s disappearance until Han Si Ke stopped them with Linsey’s farewell letter. Meanwhile, Linsey met Ailini on the road out of Lookout Point City and traveled with her after selling her a little information.

• Green Fir and Kuit found Linsey’s house and shop gone, then fought as she accused him of arranging Linsey’s disappearance.
• Green Fir realized Kuit’s merchants had stirred up the townspeople against her, and Han Si Ke arrived and ordered them to stop after showing them Linsey’s farewell letter.
• Linsey left Lookout Point City alone and caught up with Ailini’s wagon by nightfall.
• Ailini explained that she had left the city to avoid danger, and Linsey joined her wagon for the journey.
• Linsey sold Ailini a limited amount of information for several gold coins and wondered whether the Golden Rule had taken effect again.

Two months after leaving Lookout Point City, Linsey continued traveling with Ailini and noticed signs that the forest’s will was gradually reviving. After explaining his discovery to her, he prepared to test his Fishing Master skill on their journey ahead.

• Linsey inspected a Rouge Tree and found that the forest’s will was reviving, then chopped down the valuable tree and stored it in his personal space.
• Ailini remarked on Linsey’s botanical knowledge and learned that Game Players could open personal storage spaces, which Linsey warned her to keep secret.
• Ailini explained that she had sold most of her goods in the remote villages and needed to reach a town or city to restock.
• Linsey told Ailini about the forest’s reviving will and gave her three Silver Coins to gather strong thread and other materials before they left in the morning.
• Linsey checked his skill panel and decided it was time to test his Fishing Master skill and Fishing Rod.

Linsey tested his newly unlocked Fishing Master skill by fishing in a forest river, but spent hours pulling up rubbish instead of fish. Ailini helped him catch an arapaima with a coin, and Linsey finally hooked a sealed chest, leaving them both baffled by his strange catch.

• Linsey made several ordinary fishing rods and chose one made from Peach Blossom Star Wood to test Fishing Master beside a tributary of the Nine Bends River.
• After more than an hour of fishing, Linsey pulled up weeds, a worn-out shoe, and rotten wood, but no fish.
• Ailini found Linsey fishing late at night and tossed a carved wooden coin into the river, causing a plump arapaima to leap onto the shore.
• Linsey explained that he had a reason to keep fishing, and Ailini guessed it was related to his Game Player ability.
• Linsey's next cast pulled a tightly sealed chest from the river, and he confidently told Ailini that it was exactly what he wanted.

Linsey fished through the night, collecting gear and materials that let him craft a Fishing Amulet, while Ailini woke to strange unrest in the forest. After the forest settled, they resumed their journey toward Nine Bends City, but their horse began breathing hoarsely.

• Linsey tore open a crate he had fished up, found a Fishing Chair and two Iron Ingots, and continued fishing through the night.
• Ailini woke to the forest twisting and rustling, calmed her frightened horse, and went to check on Linsey.
• Ailini found Linsey surrounded by fishing gear and opened crates; he said his skill had produced the items and that the forest unrest was not serious.
• Linsey crafted a Fishing Amulet and reviewed his fishing equipment and materials before making breakfast from a Pacu Fish.
• After the forest unrest was pacified, Linsey and Ailini packed up and continued their journey as their horse began breathing hoarsely.

After Ailini’s horse fell ill, Linsey proposed traveling by river and built a boat so they could continue toward Nine Bends City. Ailini rowed while Linsey fished from the bow, and the group sailed on with the horse aboard.

• Ailini’s horse Xiao Fang developed pneumonia, leaving Linsey and Ailini stranded on the road.
• Ailini suggested Linsey carry the horse, but Linsey proposed switching to river travel instead.
• Linsey felled a Green Sandalwood tree and quickly made a boat, an oar, and a sail.
• Ailini rowed the boat while Linsey sailed and fished, sometimes splashing her with his catches.
• Linsey, Ailini, and the sick horse continued down the river toward Nine Bends City.

Linsey and Ailini reached Nine Bends City after a long journey with Ailini’s sick horse, then parted ways at the Merchant Guild. Linsey set out alone to find Mr. Tang, the physician who had treated the organizer’s injuries.

• Linsey carried Ailini’s sick horse into Nine Bends City while Ailini handled their entry with the guards.
• Ailini helped Linsey enter the city and offered to arrange his identity there, warning him he would need to manage things himself in Remote Yue City.
• Linsey and Ailini said goodbye at the Merchant Guild, where Ailini began negotiating the horse’s sale.
• Linsey explored Nine Bends City and considered how its three rivers shaped the city.
• Linsey decided to ask at City Hall about Mr. Tang and thought he would likely need to pay for the physician’s help.

Linsey settled into Nine Bends City and spent the night fishing beside his shop, discovering that city waters could yield coins and unusual items. After sorting through what he had collected, he headed to the clinic in the north of the city to find a way to get treatment.

• Linsey obtained a riverside plot in Nine Bends City and set up his shop there.
• Linsey built a gazebo by the river and tested the concealment effect of his Fisherman Set.
• Linsey fished up coins and a thermometer, and realized that catches could depend on the fishing location.
• After fishing through the night, Linsey sorted his items, formed a plan, and walked toward the clinic in the north of the city.

Linsey visited a medical clinic in Nine Bends City to seek treatment for his left arm, which had been eroded by an enemy's Source Material. The apprentice doctor, unable to assess the dangerous power in his arm, went to fetch her teacher, Tang.

• Linsey entered the clinic and learned that patients were worried about a new disturbance in the forest and its miasma.
• A young attendant led Linsey to an apprentice doctor, who asked about his Source Material and gaming Skill.
• Linsey explained that his arm had been damaged by an enemy's Source Material and that Ma Wei An had been unable to treat it.
• The apprentice doctor touched Linsey's arm, recoiled in alarm, and sent away the people who came to investigate.
• The apprentice doctor said she would fetch Tang, and Linsey told her he was nineteen and a Third Stage Awakened named Linsey.

Linsey consulted Physician Tang about treating the source essence erosion in his arm, but the full treatment cost far more than he could afford. He traded a Banyan Forest Seed for Tang’s treatment method, and Tang began explaining why Lord Mu En had stayed in the Courtyard in the Forest.

• Physician Tang examined Linsey’s arm and said the Eighth Stage source essence erosion was too difficult for him to treat directly.
• Linsey told Tang that Lord Ke Saiwei Lait and Ma Wei An had referred him, prompting Tang to offer a treatment method for ten gold coins.
• Tang offered to accept Life Force-rich seeds toward the fee, and Linsey gave him one of his Banyan Forest Seeds.
• Tang recognized the seed’s exceptional value, called Linsey Mr. Linsey, and sent Lan to fetch his pack.
• Tang explained that Lord Mu En stayed in the Courtyard in the Forest because the border world had unique produce.