Chapter Summaries

On the way back to town, Linsey examined his hunting abilities and spoke with Dan about marriage, Ju, and the goal of crossing Black Mountain. After the Hunting Team returned safely, Linsey left the boar with Dan and went to check on a backpack he had ordered from Qiao Er.

• Linsey reviewed how his hunting skills, Trace Tracking, and Hunting Notes achievements helped him track and hunt prey.
• Dan offered to carry the wild boar and asked Linsey whether he had chosen a girl to marry, but he said he was still young.
• Dan told Linsey that Ju wanted to break through Black Mountain, and Linsey assured her that it would be crossed.
• Linsey and the Hunting Team returned safely to town, and he left the wild boar at Dan's house for processing.
• Linsey went to Qiao Er's home and asked whether his ordered backpack was ready.

Linsey collected a specially made backpack from Qiao Er and told him he planned to cross Black Mountain. Qiao Er promised to prepare more supplies for him in four days, then discovered a pheasant had mysteriously appeared alongside the extra rabbit Linsey left behind.

• Linsey gave Qiao Er two rabbits and received the bear-hide backpack Qiao Er had crafted for him.
• Qiao Er explained the backpack's weather-resistant design, carrying hooks, and foldable partitions that helped organize its contents.
• Qiao Er realized Linsey was preparing for more than hunting, and Linsey told him he wanted to cross Black Mountain.
• Qiao Er offered to prepare additional items for Linsey in about four days, and they agreed to meet again.
• After Linsey left, Qiao Er found another rabbit and a pheasant on the table and wondered where the pheasant had come from.

Linsey returned to the Graveyard Church and prepared long-lasting Meat Biscuit rations and other supplies for his expedition across worlds. After finishing his work, he went to sleep so he could visit the Lord's Manor the next day.

• Linsey transformed Qiao Er's backpack into Personal Baggage, gaining forty-eight slots and a One-Key Sort feature.
• Linsey collected Maple Syrup from the maple trees near the cemetery and returned to the Graveyard Church, where Red Moon had left him food.
• Linsey processed the game he had caught and boiled down the Maple Syrup to make Meat Biscuit dough.
• Linsey set the food brick outside to dry and counted the 443 Meat Biscuit slices and other emergency supplies he had prepared.
• Linsey finished boiling the syrup, left some for Red Moon, read for half an hour, and went to sleep before his trip to the Lord's Manor.

Linsey trained with Alan and discovered that his own skill-assisted swordsmanship could also create an Advantage Strike. Anna asked whether he had gathered fertilizer for her Beech Tree, and Anrui summoned them both to the manor to tell them something.

• Linsey arrived at the woodland clearing and learned that Alan had broken through to the Third Stage and awakened Martial Heart.
• Alan and Linsey sparred, and Linsey used subtle adjustments to his movements to gain an advantage despite lacking War School techniques.
• Anna met Linsey and asked whether he had gathered fertilizer for her Beech Tree, then worried when he said he had fought a wild boar.
• Linsey and Anna went to the manor for lunch, where Anrui called them both upstairs because he had something to tell them.

Anrui warned Linsey that Finn’s attempt to cultivate the Merchant’s Essence had likely cost the aging teacher his life. Linsey found Finn dead in his cabin, where Red Moon comforted him and told him Finn had left something for him in the Glass Greenhouse.

• Anrui told Linsey that extracting Essence from an Awakened person near death could be fatal after years of cultivation.
• Linsey rushed to Finn’s cabin and found Red Moon there with Finn’s lifeless body.
• Red Moon told Linsey that Finn had died and that his death had been his own choice, so Linsey should not blame himself.
• Red Moon told Linsey that Finn had left something for him in the Glass Greenhouse.

After Finn died, Linsey received the branch Finn had infused with his Essence and read a letter in which Finn left him his library and greenhouse. Linsey’s grief advanced his Will Source Material and Game Player level, though he could not bring himself to care about the changes.

• Linsey found Finn’s Essence-infused branch in the Glass Greenhouse and held it as Finn’s final blessing.
• Lord Anrui and Anna arrived, and Anna wept over Finn’s body.
• Anrui read Finn’s will to the townspeople, including his farewell and warning about the worsening cold.
• Red Moon gave Linsey Finn’s personal letter, which left Linsey his library and greenhouse and urged him to keep exploring.
• Linsey’s grief advanced his Will Source Material and raised Game Player from Newbie (Stage 1) to Game Enthusiast (Stage 2), adding a module slot.

Linsey oversaw Finn’s funeral and auctioned off his belongings according to town custom. He then began continuing Finn’s crop-breeding work in the greenhouse, where a sudden crash came from the front hall.

• Linsey kept vigil beside Finn’s coffin and gathered the townspeople to distribute Finn’s belongings according to his wishes.
• Ju told Linsey that the belongings had to be auctioned, so Linsey sold Finn’s household goods to the townspeople.
• Ju and Anna brought Linsey food and water after the auction, then helped him clean the house before leaving.
• Linsey sat beside Finn’s body, then went to the Glass Greenhouse and began planning how to breed Winter Wheat, cabbage, and potatoes.
• A sound of something falling came from the front hall while Linsey worked in the greenhouse.

Linsey subdued Finn's body after it became a Living Corpse and brought it to Red Moon at Graveyard Church. Red Moon said Finn’s body should not have animated naturally, so Linsey left to investigate possible external Essence interference.

• Linsey heard a sound in Finn’s cabin and found Finn’s body had become a Living Corpse.
• Linsey restrained the Living Corpse without harming Finn’s remains and carried it away from the town.
• Linsey brought Finn’s body to Red Moon, who used her ability to stop it from moving.
• Red Moon explained that Finn’s body should have been difficult to animate because he had put all his Essence into a branch before he died.
• Red Moon concluded that external Essence must have influenced the corpse, and Linsey left her to watch over Finn’s body while he investigated.

Linsey tracked the Ice Badgers that had reanimated Finn’s corpse and killed three of them, but failed to discover who was controlling them. Their deaths unlocked a new Game Player module, leaving Linsey with a new mystery to investigate.

• Linsey found Ice Badger tracks near Finn’s cabin and connected the beasts to the Living Corpse that had attacked him three years earlier.
• Linsey followed the fading tracks through the forest while his Trace Tracking skill drained his Essence.
• Linsey found three Ice Badgers and tried to follow them, hoping they would lead him to the mastermind behind Finn’s reanimation.
• After the Ice Badgers detected him, Linsey shot two and killed the third with a knife.
• Linsey discovered that killing the three Ice Badgers completed a task and unlocked the Simulation Management Module.

Linsey used Simulation Management to discover that the Ice Badgers’ corpses had unusual properties, confirming that something had changed them. After reporting the attack to Dan at Graveyard Church, he learned she intended to pursue the clues immediately.

• Linsey unlocked Simulation Management and used its Goods ability to inspect the Ice Badger corpses, which all showed signs of an unusual change.
• Linsey hunted an Emerald-tailed Snowy Owl and found its commodity description differed from the Ice Badgers’, confirming that something was wrong with them.
• Linsey returned to Graveyard Church, where Red Moon was praying over Finn’s body and Dan had gathered with nearby townspeople.
• Linsey told Dan that three Ice Badgers had animated Finn’s corpse and behaved strangely, then described where he had found them.
• Dan told Linsey to alert Anrui while she headed into the forest to follow the clues.

After an Ice Badger reanimated Finn’s corpse, Linsey alerted Anrui, who gathered the Hidden Borderlands’ Awakened to discuss the suspected mastermind. Dan returned from following the trail and announced that the culprit had been found far away, prompting the group to consider an expedition.

• Dan stopped Linsey from joining her investigation and sent him to inform Anrui.
• Linsey brought the Ice Badger to Anrui and explained that someone had directed it to reanimate Finn’s corpse.
• Anrui ordered the town’s Awakened to gather at Red Moon Lady’s church and summoned Anna.
• Anrui told the gathered Awakened that Finn’s remains had been reanimated as part of a conspiracy, and speculation about outsiders stirred unrest.
• Anrui calmed the gathering and urged them to identify the mastermind and their purpose.
• Dan returned to the church and announced that she had found the culprit far from town, suggesting an expedition.

After burying Finn, Linsey joined Dan’s expedition to pursue those responsible for the attacks, accepting a valuable Double Serpent Coin from Suo Mu Jin in exchange for information. Ju also insisted on joining, and Anrui overruled Dan’s objections, leaving her to accept that her son would go.

• Linsey held Finn’s funeral at the church, then told Red Moon he would join Anrui’s expedition to find the culprit.
• Suo Mu Jin gave Linsey a Double Serpent Coin in return for a truthful account of what he saw on the mission.
• At Anrui’s manor, Dan chose Linsey and Alan to accompany her on the investigation while Anrui stayed behind to protect the town.
• Ju asked to join the expedition, and Dan angrily objected to putting her son in danger.
• Anrui defended Ju’s choice to face danger, and Dan fell silent after he reminded her of Ke Er.

Linsey joined Dan, Alan, and Ju on a mission to track down the mastermind behind the Ice Badgers. Before they left town, Qiao Er gave Linsey handmade weapons and agreed to care for the plants in Finn’s cabin; the group then followed Dan’s trail southeast into the forest.

• Dan set a half-month limit for the pursuit party and told them to prioritize uncovering the truth and returning safely.
• As Linsey prepared to leave town, Qiao Er gave him a Long Dagger, three Stibnite Arrows, and an Oak Bow, then agreed to care for the plants in Finn’s cabin.
• Linsey caught up with Dan, Alan, and Ju, and they followed Dan’s trail to the site where Linsey had killed three Ice Badgers.
• Dan explained that her tracking ability came from her fourth skill sublimation and let her follow lingering scents left by animals and anyone who had contacted them.

After five days of tracking the Ice Badgers into the wilderness, Linsey's group encountered the beasts near their camp. Dan killed two, but warned that the enemy had likely noticed them, so the group needed to move faster.

• Linsey's group traveled for five days through the forest, hunting to conserve their supplies and relying on Linsey to cook.
• Dan stopped Linsey from lighting a breakfast fire after she sensed movement nearby, then slipped into the woods to investigate.
• Linsey sensed an approaching presence and readied his Oak Bow as Dan attacked a beast in the northeastern woods.
• Linsey fired three arrows, waking Alan and Ju, who prepared to fight before Linsey signaled that the danger had passed.
• Dan returned carrying two Ice Badger corpses and told the group their pursuit was going well, but the enemy had probably noticed them.

Linsey and the others ambushed an Ice Badger nest, only to learn it was a trap meant to mislead them. As Linsey gained a new Hunting Simulation skill, Dan ordered the team to flee.

• Dan led the group at full speed toward the enemy after they realized an Ice Badger might have been scouting them.
• At dusk, Dan directed Alan to charge into a cave while Linsey and Ju covered the entrance with their bows.
• Alan and Dan fought through the Ice Badgers as Linsey and Ju shot from outside, and the team quickly cleared the cave.
• Dan killed the Ice Badger cubs, completing Linsey's task and upgrading his Hunting Simulation module to Level 4 with the new skill Prey Material.
• Dan realized the Ice Badgers had not lived in the cave long and that the nest was a trap, then ordered everyone to get out.

Linsey and the others escaped the cave after Alan knocked a falling boulder off course, then fought a tree spirit outside. Linsey used Stibnite Arrows to disrupt the creature’s source essence and brought it down, while Dan remained injured.

• Alan charged into the boulder and opened a gap that let Linsey and Dan escape the cave.
• Linsey found Dan fighting a tree spirit and wounded its back with a Stibnite Arrow.
• The tree spirit lashed Dan into a fir tree and broke Linsey’s next arrow with its vines.
• Linsey dodged inside the tree spirit’s defenses and slashed its neck, but the wound began to heal.
• Linsey grappled with the tree spirit while another Stibnite Arrow struck its wounded back, disrupting its source essence and causing it to collapse.

Linsey and Dan defeated the treant and questioned it about its attack and control over the Ice Badgers. After learning that townspeople had eaten the treant’s seeds, Linsey prepared to kill it and test his new Prey Material ability.

• Linsey used his Life Source Material to ease his shoulder injuries while the treant lay helpless from its rampaging source material.
• Dan stopped Linsey from killing the treant so she could question it, and she used beast languages to establish communication.
• The treant explained that its seeds let it control Ice Badgers and that it had planned the attack for three years to eliminate human Awakened.
• Ju helped Alan out of the cave, and the group learned that some people in town had unknowingly eaten the treant’s seeds.
• After Dan finished questioning the treant, she allowed Linsey to kill it, and his Hunting Simulation ability Prey Material appeared.

Linsey killed the treant by striking its abdomen, then unlocked the RPG Module’s Map skill and reviewed his improved attributes. After helping the injured group return to the Ice Badgers’ cave, he harvested an Ivy Circlet from the treant.

• Linsey pierced the treant’s abdomen after Dan identified its weakness, killing it at last.
• Linsey’s RPG Module leveled up to Level 4 and unlocked a Map skill that displayed nearby terrain and marked people and creatures.
• Linsey checked his improved attributes and skills, while Ju worried that he was overwhelmed by emotion after taking revenge.
• Linsey treated Dan and Alan, and the injured group returned to the Ice Badgers’ cave for safety.
• Linsey processed the Ice Badgers and used Prey Material on the treant, obtaining an Ivy Circlet that could increase nature affinity.

Linsey collected materials from the Ice Badgers, earned a cold-resistance pendant, and talked with Dan about magical beasts and Awakened crafts while preparing dinner. He used Simulation Management to inspect the Vine Dryad’s corpse and learned that its most valuable part had already been taken.

• Linsey tested the Ivy Circlet, was struck by a beetle, and put it away before dragging the dryad’s corpse into the cave.
• He collected Ice Badger hides, fangs, and claws, unlocked the beginner magical-beast achievement, and received an Ice Badger Claw Pendant that resisted cold.
• Linsey cooked Ice Badger meat for the group while Ju guarded the cave entrance and Alan slept.
• Dan explained that ordinary magical-beast meat could not safely provide its source essence and that chef Awakened had limited prospects compared with hunters.
• Dan told Linsey that large cities such as Fortnix and Nal Kebandek had many more Awakened than small settlements.
• Linsey inspected the Vine Dryad’s corpse with Simulation Management and found that its most valuable part had already been removed.

After the tree spirit’s description made Linsey suspect that something from Black Mountain had driven it from its homeland, he decided to remain in the forest and investigate. Dan agreed to return to town with the others but made Linsey promise he would be back within a month.

• Linsey considered how the tree spirit’s flight conflicted with the Hidden Borderlands’ peaceful state and concluded that Black Mountain was the likely source of the danger.
• Linsey woke the next morning with his injuries improved, sent Ju to rest, gathered firewood, and cooked Ice Badger meat for breakfast.
• Dan woke to the smell of the meat, and Linsey told her he planned to stay in the forest for several more days to investigate and search for new crops.
• Dan realized Linsey had made up his mind and, after judging him capable of handling the forest’s dangers, asked him to return to town within a month.
• Linsey promised Dan he would be back within a month.