Chapter Summaries

Linsey fought Stone Fist, a Sixth Stage warrior whose combat instincts and Destructive Force overwhelmed ordinary weapons. Linsey’s Annihilation Blade stopped Stone Fist’s decisive punch and pierced his chest.

• Linsey recognized Stone Fist’s combat instincts when the warrior anticipated his attack and struck back, damaging Law of Icing with Destructive Force.
• Linsey switched between weapons and relied on his speed and equipment-changing ability to withstand Stone Fist’s relentless attacks as his weapons broke.
• Linsey inferred that Stone Fist hunted for an opening to defeat him with one decisive blow.
• Stone Fist poured extra power into a punch, expecting to shatter Linsey’s weapon, but the Annihilation Blade withstood his Destructive Force.
• Linsey used Stone Fist’s overextended attack to slash the Annihilation Blade down into his chest.

Linsey turned the battle against Stone Fist by exploiting the soul damage inflicted by the Annihilation Blade, but Stone Fist unleashed an incomplete form of Martial Refinement that cost him his consciousness and devastated the mountain. After discovering the Annihilation Blade could still wound him, Linsey equipped the Plague Sword and charged into the next clash.

• The Annihilation Blade's soul damage weakened Stone Fist, allowing Linsey to evade his attacks and cut him repeatedly.
• Stone Fist spread Destructive Force across his body in an incomplete Martial Refinement, losing his self-awareness in exchange for greater power.
• Stone Fist's berserk attacks shattered the mountain as Linsey kept his distance and fought with the Annihilation Blade.
• Linsey recognized that Stone Fist's instincts preserved his combat skills and noticed the Annihilation Blade had wounded his arm despite his destructive aura.
• Linsey equipped the Plague Sword and charged at Stone Fist.

Sand Dune fought to protect his hunters, but Ai Lu died saving him, and Sand Dune retaliated by stabbing Gray Rhino and falling from the cliff with him. Linsey arrived in time to kill Squirrel and carry the defeated Stone Fist, leaving the battle against Green Swamp at a turning point.

• Sand Dune evaded Gray Rhino's attack, but Ai Lu shoved him clear and was crushed to death.
• As a distant mountain peak collapsed and a Sixth Stage aura shook the battlefield, Sand Dune stabbed Gray Rhino in the heart and fell off the cliff with him.
• Squirrel drained the life force from a hunter who rushed to help and blocked the remaining hunters from reaching Sand Dune.
• Linsey descended and cleaved Squirrel in two while carrying the unconscious Stone Fist, whose body was riddled with disease and whose soul was badly damaged.

After Linsey led the hunters through a deadly clash with Green Swamp Awakened, he promised to protect Forest City and treat Sand Dune’s shattered arms at the Insect Nest. On the journey back, Linsey claimed the Swift Boots reward, which increased the whole group’s marching speed.

• Linsey rescued Sand Dune after he and the hunters killed Gray Rhino, but two hunters died and six were injured.
• Linsey told the survivors that Green Swamp had attacked Forest City and promised they would strike back after the campaign against the Mutated Ones.
• Sand Dune prepared to give up leading the hunters because both his hands were broken, but Linsey assured him the Insect Nest’s Treatment Pod could heal him.
• Linsey’s group took the surviving Green Swamp Awakened, Eagle and Stone Fist, prisoner and headed northeast toward the Insect Nest.
• Linsey claimed the Swift Boots reward, equipped them, and increased the group’s marching speed by about twenty percent.

After the Insect Nest reached a population of three thousand, Linsey upgraded it to a new Civilization stage, which unlocked advanced buildings and raised his Real-Time Strategy Level. The chapter ended with Linsey wondering where he could find natural gas for the newly required High-Energy Gas.

• The three-thousandth insectoid emerged, and Linsey initiated the Insect Nest's upgrade, which would take a day.
• Linsey checked the Strategic Map and saw that Vivian and the others had repelled scattered Mutated Ones attacks while extending the road toward Forest City.
• Lamenter spoke with Linsey about the changes and admitted that the Insectfolk's growing prosperity felt like happiness.
• The Insect Nest's upgrade finished, revealing new structures including a Biochemical Laboratory, Advanced Hatchery, and High-Energy Gas Refining Room.
• Linsey learned that the new buildings required High-Energy Gas made from natural gas, then saw his Real-Time Strategy Level rise from 3 to 4.

Linsey built a Hero Altar at the Insect Nest and transformed Lamenter into its first Hero, granting him leveling and skill choices. After learning that Lamenter could eventually unlock more powerful abilities, Linsey approached the altar to undergo the transformation himself.

• Linsey decided to build a Hero Altar and summoned Lamenter to help oversee its construction.
• Linsey told Lamenter that he would become the Insect Nest’s first Hero and could choose another person for a future transformation slot.
• After the altar was completed, Lamenter entered it and emerged as a level-one Hero who could gain experience and choose among three skills.
• Lamenter described his available skills and revealed that he could eventually learn Locust Plague.
• Linsey approached the altar and touched its flesh buds, preparing to transform himself.

Linsey rejected the Insect Nest’s Hero modification because its choices included egg-laying, then built a different Hero Altar in Forest City. After Linsey became a Forest Hero, he offered Hilude the choice to accept the altar’s enhancement if she wanted to protect and continue creating the city’s story.

• Linsey abandoned the Insect Nest’s one-time Hero modification, then expanded the base and assigned Lamenter tasks.
• Linsey returned to Forest City, addressed its citizens, and built a Hero Altar among the black oaks.
• Hilude sensed that the altar could restore her strength, and Linsey asked whether she could destroy her own work.
• Linsey accepted the altar’s power and gained a Hero status panel with an inventory and four possible skills.
• Linsey offered Hilude the choice to accept the altar’s enhancement if she believed Forest City was worth protecting and continuing to create.

Hilude accepted the Hero Altar’s transformation and gained hero skills, including Heroic Aspiration, which revealed her hidden yearning for heroes. After learning she had regained her Fifth Stage Awakened arts and could examine the future at a cost, Linsey took her to question the captured Green Swamp warrior.

• Hilude asked Linsey to push her wheelchair onto the Hero Altar, and she underwent the hero transformation.
• Hilude discovered her skills: Unpredictable Fate, Writer Behind the Veil, Emotional Outburst, and the ultimate skill Heroic Aspiration.
• Linsey recognized that Heroic Aspiration revealed Hilude’s genuine longing for heroes, and she objected to him exposing her nature.
• Hilude told Linsey she had reached the Fifth Stage and regained the ability to draw out the Destiny Script and perceive the future at a cost.
• Linsey wheeled Hilude toward the prison to question the captured Green Swamp warrior about the faction and a missing explorer.

Linsey questioned the captured Stone Fist about Green Swamp, the state of nearby worlds, and the forces behind the attack on Forest City. He learned that Green Swamp was ruled by the mad Seventh Stage Invader Snake King and that reinforcements might come after a delay of at least six months.

• Linsey brought Hilude to Stone Fist’s cell, where Stone Fist asked what he had to do to keep his life.
• Hilude revealed that Stone Fist planned to escape and challenge Linsey again, then told him that his child was being trained by the Invincible King, Dan Jier.
• Stone Fist explained that he had traveled to Dust Road World ten years earlier and found its sky torn apart and its lands in darkness.
• Stone Fist said Green Swamp had sent the attackers to destroy Forest City after hearing that Yarrow Camp had risen from its ashes, and that it could take at least six months for Green Swamp to respond to their defeat.
• Stone Fist confirmed that Green Swamp’s ruler, Snake King, was a Seventh Stage Invader who had gone mad, but he had never heard of an adventurer’s exploits.

While Linsey led a new insect army north, Vivian and the other commanders defended the Underground Fortress from a major Mutated Ones attack. The defenders used the maze’s self-repair and poison-coated weapons to hold off the first wave, but a Fifth Stage threat emerged as a bone projectile killed an archer.

• Linsey set out north with the new insect army after confirming Stone Fist’s information, while the Task Bar showed no sign of trouble from Hilude.
• Linsey planned to give the remaining hero slots to Insectfolk and considered Vivian, Tie Yu, Sand Dune, and Levi, while Hammer and Ryan declined.
• In late August, a whistle from the Sixth Legion’s direction warned Vivian that multiple Fifth Stage Mutated Ones were approaching, so she called the commanders and ordered preparations for large-scale combat.
• The Mutated Ones blasted open the maze with Flesh Bombs, but the Labyrinth Repair building began sealing the breach as insect soldiers and poison-armed defenders attacked the first wave.
• As the defenders fell back through the maze, a pale bone projectile split the wall and impaled an archer, killing him.

Ancient Mutated Ones entered the Maze, where one learned from a slain warrior that Lord Linsey had created the city with an unfamiliar technique. As the Legion Commanders prepared to fight, Vivian urged them to wear down the enemy over time and save the strongest opponents for last.

• A calm-faced Ancient Mutated One used his bone power to breach the Maze and examined arrows coated in poison that restrained corruption.
• The Ancient Ones learned from a dead warrior’s memories that Lord Linsey had created the city with an unfamiliar ability and was not inside it.
• The Ancient Ones decided to send in newly advanced Fifth Stage Mutated Ones cautiously while Lord Phil was away in the City of Law.
• Red Stone and Na Rui told the Legion Commanders that the enemy might be an ancient being whose strength had not fully recovered.
• Vivian proposed using the Maze to divide the enemy, then prolonging the battle so insect swarms could weaken the Ancient Ones before the Legion confronted the strongest foes.

After two days of exhausting combat, Levi and Na Rui entered the Fourteenth Legion's silent territory and found an ancient Mutated One. Levi attacked, but the enemy regenerated after being cut in half and revealed that the missing humans had been taken to be assimilated.

• The Legion Commanders used hidden Maze tunnels to move toward the Fourteenth Legion's territory after taking down three Fifth Stage Mutated Ones.
• Levi told the exhausted others to rest, and Na Rui joined him to investigate the silent area.
• Levi and Na Rui found a blood-covered cavern with a lone figure holding a corpse and no sign of the Fourteenth Legion.
• Levi struck the ancient Mutated One with his flaming, poison-coated Meteorite Sword, but it regenerated by fusing its body with purple-black tentacles.
• Levi demanded to know where the people had gone, and the Mutated One said they had been taken to be assimilated.

Levi and Na Rui fought a Mutated One in the cave, but its regenerative powers and Sixth Stage Life Will Twist skill left the Awakened severely impaired. As the Mutated One prepared to kill them, a figure appeared at the southern end of the Maze passage and fired a silent arrow.

• Levi attacked the Mutated One while Na Rui used earth and wind skills to pin it down and wound it.
• The Mutated One struck Levi with a tentacle, but the other Legion Commanders emerged and drove back its next attack.
• The Mutated One unleashed Life Will Twist, infecting everyone in the cave with Corruption Poison and greatly limiting their movement.
• The Legion Commanders resisted complete transformation because they had consumed seeds of the Withered Overlord Flower left by Linsey.
• The Mutated One moved to attack the Awakened, but a figure appeared at the southern end of the Maze passage and shot a silent arrow at him.

Linsey arrived at the Underground Fortress in time to rescue the Legion Commanders and fought the Mutated One. After killing it and clearing out the summoned enemies, he sent his injured subordinates back to the city and prepared to deal with the remaining threats in the Maze.

• Linsey used his Strategic Map to reach the Underground Fortress, where he interrupted the Mutated One's attack with an explosive arrow.
• Linsey ordered Levi and the other Legion Commanders to retreat while he faced the weakened Mutated One.
• Linsey attacked with the Gem Swift Sword and cut the Mutated One into pieces, then pierced its head with the Annihilation Blade to destroy its consciousness.
• Linsey eliminated the low-level Mutated Ones that had flooded into the Maze tunnel.
• Linsey ordered the Legion Commanders to return to the city for treatment from Tie Yu and said he would handle the remaining threats.

Linsey cleared the Maze of Mutated Ones, gained the Healthy Body achievement and three Flesh Reconstitution Potions, then pursued the Fourteenth Legion’s abducted warriors. He defeated the Mutated One leading their captors and decided to take it alive for interrogation.

• Linsey and the insectoid soldiers wiped out scattered groups of Mutated Ones across the Maze, and his Hero level rose to 4 with three passive skills unlocked.
• Linsey earned Healthy Body, which increased his resistance to diseases, and collected three Flesh Reconstitution Potions that could cure ailments and restore damaged limbs.
• After confirming the Underground Fortress was safe, Linsey left the Maze alone to rescue the captured people of the Fourteenth Legion, tracking them with the Strategic Map.
• Linsey confronted the captors’ commander, who attacked with plague mist, but Linsey charged through the Corruption Poison and split him with Flame Blade.
• When the wounded Mutated One cried out about his soul, Linsey kicked his body back together and said he would not die there.

Linsey rescued the Fourteenth Legion, subdued the Mutated One that had escorted them, and helped secure the Underground Fortress after the attacks. Seeing how exhausted the soldiers were, he considered upgrading the base to raise morale.

• Linsey roasted the Mutated One until it could no longer act, then identified it to the rescued Fourteenth Legion soldiers as their captor.
• Linsey brought the Fourteenth Legion back to the Underground Fortress and reflected on how the strength of ancient Mutated Ones seemed to diminish farther north.
• The soldiers and Legion Commanders cleared the remaining enemies, and by the next day the city's battle had ended and the Maze's outer defenses had been repaired.
• Linsey found the soldiers' morale badly depleted, reassured Vivian that the Maze was clear, and told her stronger, new insect troops would soon arrive.
• Linsey told Vivian he planned to build a Hero Altar, then realized the Underground Fortress had met the requirement for a base upgrade and considered advancing its Civilization to lift morale.

Linsey built an Underground City Hero Altar and persuaded Vivian to accept its power, awakening her as a Hero with the powerful Demon King aura. He then called on Levi to undergo the transformation next.

• Linsey assigned Vivian to gather workers and built a Hero Altar east of the fortress.
• Linsey urged Vivian to accept the altar’s power, and she entered the skull to undergo the transformation.
• Vivian emerged with three skills to choose from and learned that her ultimate skill, Demon King, strengthened the attributes of everyone loyal to her regardless of distance.
• Linsey called Levi to the altar and told the Fifth Stage Awakened to accept its power.

After the Underground Fortress became an Underground City, Linsey saw that its new Demon King's Castle and buildings relied on souls and dark power. He assigned the city to serve as a base camp and planned to resume the northern expedition with insectfolk reinforcements in one week.

• Linsey learned that Levi's four skills suited his abilities, especially Vengeance Implosion, which strengthened his revenge against the Mutated Ones.
• After a day of work, the Underground Fortress completed its upgrade, becoming an Underground City with granite structures, basalt cavern walls, and fluorescent lighting.
• Linsey inspected the transformed Demon King's Castle and its new buildings, including structures that used souls to heal allies, create Dark Energy, summon undead, and call demons.
• Linsey told the city's warriors and commanders that their role would shift from subjugation and expeditions to maintaining the city.
• Levi asked whether the expedition would stop, and Linsey said he would head north with insectfolk reinforcements in a week, leaving the city as the base camp for the final subjugation.

Linsey led the Insect army toward the Mutated Ones’ northern stronghold, expecting a decisive battle after their enemies stopped resisting. Reconnaissance revealed the stronghold was nearly empty, and the Sky Compass detected a Hidden Space nearby.

• Levi asked Linsey to let him serve as the vanguard, but Linsey refused because Levi was pushing himself too hard and could endanger others.
• Linsey considered the requirements for advancing his settlements while leading the army through an unusually quiet stretch of tunnels.
• Linsey warned Levi that the Mutated Ones might be gathering their forces for a decisive battle, and Levi relayed the warning to the troops.
• Linsey reached the center of the northern world and scouted a vast cavern near the stronghold, finding only a few hostile forces and no army.
• The Sky Compass alerted Linsey that a Hidden Space was nearby.

Linsey found that the Mutated Ones had abandoned their underground city, then discovered a Flesh Lake they had built to break down and assimilate difficult targets. Suspecting a weakened lifeform lay within the Hidden Space, he prepared to drain the lake and jumped into it.

• Linsey and his group entered the underground city, where Levi killed the few low-level Mutated Ones they encountered.
• Linsey concluded the Mutated Ones had fled, sent Levi and the swarm to clear the city, and headed alone toward the Hidden Space.
• Linsey found a basin filled with severed limbs and Corruption Poison, and the Decryption Game identified it as a Flesh Lake built to assimilate difficult targets.
• Linsey ordered Levi to use Withered Overlord Flower seeds to drain the lake and realized its energy-supplying lifeform was near death.
• Linsey equipped the Eternal Imprint, activated Stone Skin, took the nautilus, and leaped into the Flesh Lake.