Chapter Summaries

Alvitte’s group agreed to help a village threatened by bandits and brought messenger Eris along for the journey. After reaching Ying Shan, they learned that the bandit leader Vik was a wounded Seventh Stage warrior and began planning a night attack.

• Alvitte told the Law Knight that bandits had terrorized a nearby village and proposed attacking their hideout, and he agreed.
• Xiao Bei interrogated the captured bandits, who said they came from Ying Shan and followed a leader named Vik.
• Eris offered to travel with Alvitte’s group and share information about Vik, and Linsey agreed to let him join.
• The convoy traveled to Ying Shan and stopped two kilometers from the mountain to plan their attack.
• Eris explained that Vik followed the path of Rampage but had badly damaged arts after fleeing Law Knights, and the group discussed how to defeat him.

Alvitte, Eris, and Xiao Bei prepared to infiltrate the mountain and confront the wounded Vik, using a hidden tunnel found with Linsey’s map. Before they departed, Linsey secretly gave Alvitte a Sports Racing Module and prepared to guard the group left behind.

• The white parrot reported that the eastern road up the mountain was lightly guarded, and Alvitte identified it as an obvious trap.
• Alvitte consulted Linsey, who used his map to find a concealed cavern route through a ravine northwest of the mountain.
• Eris described Vik’s severe wound and the group shared their abilities and Source Material traits before planning the attack.
• Alvitte pretended to warn the restrained Linsey, who secretly gave her a Sports Racing Module lasting a full day.
• Alvitte, Eris, and Xiao Bei left the carriages and young Awakened in Linsey’s care as Linsey equipped the Eternal Imprint.

Linsey left the young Awakened in hiding and burrowed toward Ying Shan to find the mountain’s tunnels and rescue its enslaved people. Aboveground, Alvitte, Eris, and Xiao Bei reached Vik’s camp, where Alvitte began her attack on the wounded Seventh Stage warrior.

• Linsey reassured the young Awakened, built them a concealed cave with Iron Pickaxes for escape, and set off underground in disguise.
• Linsey scouted Ying Shan’s tunnels, discovered the slave quarters and escape routes, and decided to rescue the slaves while Alvitte’s group fought above.
• Alvitte, Eris, and Xiao Bei entered the mountain through a hidden passage, and Alvitte sensed Vik and his companions near the summit.
• Eris raised a rock prison around the battlefield, while Alvitte told Xiao Bei to hold the line as she attacked Vik herself.
• Vik unleashed his Seventh Stage source essence, and Alvitte charged through the wreckage and struck at him.

Alvitte fought Vik, a Seventh Stage Ravager Warrior, while Linsey sealed the escape passage and made his way toward the slave prison. He reached the cells and heard someone inside urging the captives to hold on.

• Alvitte broke through Vik’s aura with the Law Steel Sword, but Vik stopped her attack and demanded to know who she was.
• Vik used Fear Declaration to target Alvitte, while his bandits rushed to help him and the Messenger kept them trapped outside the battlefield.
• Linsey recognized Vik’s ability, checked in with Alvitte, and accepted her curt assurance that she could keep fighting.
• Linsey killed the guards along the escape route and sealed the passage with a thick wall of fused rock.
• Linsey reached the underground prison and found women and children suffering in the cells, then heard a voice offering them comfort and food.

Linsey freed the slaves in Ying Shan’s prison and discovered that the steadfast young woman among them was a Marked One with an endless lifespan. Her identity triggered a new quest to help her return to her homeland and correct a past mistake.

• Linsey made healing and lucid potions, opened the prisoners’ cells, and used music to bolster their courage.
• The freed slaves drank the potions, confirmed that Linsey had killed their guards, and began helping rescue the other prisoners.
• Linsey found the young woman whose voice had comforted the slaves and freed her from her cell.
• After seeing a white clue light, Linsey learned that the woman was a Marked One blessed with an endless lifespan.
• Linsey’s quest list revealed The Homecomer, which tasked him with helping the woman return to her homeland and offered the Stone Crown as a reward.

Alvitte used her Game Player abilities to overcome Vik’s defenses while Linsey freed the slaves underground. After Vik’s source essence vanished, the immortal girl recognized the aura of the Human Wisdom Codex on Linsey and confronted him about it.

• Xiao Bei killed the Sixth Stage craftsman but was too badly injured to help Alvitte further, while Eris maintained the rock prison.
• Alvitte activated her Sports Racing skills and struck Vik with the Law Steel Sword, exploiting his momentary lapse.
• Linsey spoke with the immortal girl underground as the freed slaves argued and panicked over Vik’s still-living presence.
• Linsey sensed Vik’s aura disappear and told the slaves that the Ravaging Warrior had been killed, prompting an uproar.
• The immortal girl asked Linsey why he carried the aura of the Human Wisdom Codex.

Linsey learned that Sufina was immortal and knew the Human Wisdom Codex had lost its power in the City of Law. He agreed to hear why she wanted to return there and introduced himself as he prepared to leave the group temporarily.

• Sufina revealed that she recognized Linsey's Human Wisdom Codex and knew the Royal City's copy was powerless.
• Linsey urged the freed slaves to prepare for rescue, then followed Sufina deeper into the tunnel as she introduced herself.
• Linsey realized Sufina had gained immortality through an external power and asked about her past and plans.
• Sufina explained that the Three Great King's Artifacts were needed to choose a New King and end the war, and admitted she wanted to return to the City of Law to correct her mistakes.
• Linsey told Alvitte he might leave the group temporarily, then revealed his name to Sufina.

After Linsey escaped with Sufina, they traveled together while he treated her with potions and she deduced how he had obtained his powers. Linsey pressed her to reveal her true identity, and Sufina admitted she was Princess Yanafeien, the former ruler of the City of Law’s descendant.

• Eris and Alvitte discovered that Linsey had escaped, but Alvitte insisted that delivering the young Awakened to the Royal City came first.
• Linsey crafted potions for Sufina as they traveled, then told her he was a Game Player rather than a craftsman.
• Sufina deduced that Linsey had awakened at thirteen and that the Human Wisdom Codex had transformed his arts.
• Sufina warned Linsey that taking the royal artifact from him could put him in danger, since it only needed to take part in the new king’s ritual.
• Linsey questioned Sufina about her knowledge, and she revealed that her real name was Yanafeien and that she descended from the previous ruler of the City of Law.

Yanafeien explained how she gave up the throne, fled the Royal City, and spent years unable to protect herself. She and Linsey were preparing to travel to City of Law, where she recognized his name from accounts of two people who had acted during major crises.

• Yanafeien told Linsey that Heart's Edge had searched for her, but the Human Wisdom Codex's silence and City of Law's defenses made her rescue impossible.
• Yanafeien admitted she had never awakened source essence and had been powerless when abducted and imprisoned.
• Yanafeien explained that her father had given her an endless lifespan and wanted her to govern City of Law, but she had avoided taking responsibility after he disappeared.
• Yanafeien said she escaped the Royal City during the upheaval caused by the Sword-Snatching War, when the White Steel Sword vanished and the Human Wisdom Codex lost its power.
• Yanafeien told Linsey that people with his name had twice stepped forward during major changes in City of Law's history.

Linsey and Yanafeien visited a village where she had once received kindness, only to find it ruined by bandits and its survivors hostile and wary. Leaving without answers, Yanafeien reflected on how her hardships had changed her understanding of ordinary people and those who live above them.

• Yanafeien remembered a village that had sheltered her and asked Linsey to help repay its kindness.
• Linsey sensed a faint smell of burning and warned Yanafeien that the village was in ruins, though some people remained alive.
• Linsey learned that bandits had looted the village and attacked it with abilities.
• The villagers reacted with hostility to Yanafeien, and the pair left without learning more about the attack.
• Yanafeien told Linsey that her experiences had made her consider how Awakened treat ordinary people and how difficult it is to climb from the bottom.

Linsey and Yanafeien traveled toward the Royal City, and their campfire conversation connected Linsey’s erased hometown to powers capable of erasing existence. Yanafeien planned to tell Lord Adrian the City of Law needed a new ruler, while Linsey learned more about her vanished father.

• Linsey and Yanafeien passed refugees fleeing after the Walker’s followers left their region, and Linsey advised them about finding water.
• At camp, Yanafeien asked Linsey why he was returning to the City of Law, and he told her he wanted to remove the Sinner’s Mark.
• Linsey asked Yanafeien whether the plain near the Forbidden Forest Mountain Range had been farmland ten years earlier, and she said it had never been developed.
• Linsey said he was born in an Agricultural Village there and had received the Human Wisdom Codex from Alvitte; Yanafeien concluded the village’s existence and history had been erased, likely by concept-devouring invaders or someone of the Ninth Stage.
• Yanafeien confirmed that Bargett was a Sixth Stage Law Knight and famous judge, then said she would tell Lord Adrian the City of Law needed a new ruler.
• Yanafeien described her father’s growing obsession, his failure to reach the Ninth Stage, and his disappearance after leaving a suicide note.

Linsey and Yanafeien reached the Royal City of the City of Law, where she planned to reunite with Adrian and help remove Linsey’s Sinner’s Mark. Yanafeien entered the city under her true name, and a Law Knight recognized her as the former Princess.

• Yanafeien told Linsey that she favored Lord Luo Rui as the next ruler of the City of Law.
• Linsey and Yanafeien reached a hill overlooking the Royal City, and Linsey arranged to stay in contact with her through the Friend Channel.
• Yanafeien promised to ask Adrian to help remove Linsey’s Sinner’s Mark and investigate his hometown.
• Yanafeien changed back to her original appearance and walked toward the city while Linsey followed underground.
• A Law Knight heard Yanafeien give her name, recognized her, and knelt before her in surprise.

Yanafeien returned to the City of Law and reunited with Meili, but she insisted on acting immediately to help those in need. She asked to see Adrian and learned that he was away and would not return soon.

• Yanafeien entered the City of Law under the escort of Law Knights while Linsey dug a tunnel beneath her route.
• The City of Law learned that Yanafeien had returned, and she was escorted through the city to the Royal City.
• Meili embraced Yanafeien and asked where she had been, and Yanafeien admitted she had run away ten years earlier under pressure.
• Yanafeien told Meili that she could not rest because the world and her companions needed help, then asked to see Adrian.
• Meili told Yanafeien that Adrian had gone out and would not return anytime soon.

While hiding beneath the City of Law, Linsey learned that Yanafeien could not safely arrange to remove his Sinner's Mark until Adrian returned, and asked her to research the shattered White Steel Sword. That night, he spotted several people sneaking toward Yanafeien at the Royal City’s peak and decided to investigate.

• Yanafeien warned Linsey that the Law Knights might imprison him if she tried to remove his Sinner's Mark while Adrian was away, so Linsey postponed the matter and asked her to question Adrian about the village beneath the Forbidden Forest Mountain Range.
• Linsey asked Yanafeien to search the Great Library for records on repairing the White Steel Sword, and she agreed to report anything she found.
• Linsey told Alvitte that Xiao Bei would still need to help remove his Sinner's Mark when his companions arrived, and Alvitte agreed to inform him.
• Linsey reinforced his damp underground shelter, set down his Plant Shop, and expanded the space into an underground refuge.
• Linsey noticed several Red Dots sneaking toward Yanafeien at the Royal City’s peak and decided to go take a look.

Yanafeien researched the three King's Artifacts in the Royal City's Great Library and learned how the White Steel Sword and Human Wisdom Codex worked. Linsey warned her that someone was sneaking up the mountain.

• Yanafeien entered the Great Library alone to research the King's Artifacts.
• Yanafeien read that the White Steel Sword repaired itself and returned to the true king, and she found a record that Nolan had gone to the End of the Universe.
• Yanafeien studied Celestial Rhythm and learned that the Human Wisdom Codex drew power from law, human hearts, and will.
• Yanafeien wondered how Alvitte had used the Human Wisdom Codex and White Steel Sword, and decided she might ask Bargett about her.
• Yanafeien began reading about the Thorned Necklace, but Linsey messaged her to warn that someone was sneaking up the mountain.

Linsey warned Yanafeien that masked intruders were climbing toward the castle at the summit of the City of Law, and Yanafeien sent Law Knights to intercept them. As the battle began, Linsey recognized a familiar power among the intruders and suspected they were believers of an evil god.

• Linsey sent Yanafeien a map showing intruders climbing toward the castle, and she organized the Law Knights to search the mountain defenses.
• Linsey warned Alvitte about the invasion, and she left her companions behind to hurry toward the City of Law.
• Yanafeien's Law Knights found the masked intruders and attacked them under the city's protective power.
• Linsey recognized a familiar power among the intruders and realized they were believers.

Yanafeien confronted the Black Robed Men who had attacked the Royal City, but one of them launched a Faith Weapon and sparked a battle with the Law Knights. Linsey secretly rescued a dying cultist and began interrogating him by pretending to judge his soul.

• Yanafeien approached the encircled Black Robed Men and offered to forgive them if they revealed who supported them and why they had attacked.
• A Black Robed Man hurled a black sword at Yanafeien, but a Law Knight blocked and shattered it with golden radiance.
• The Black Robed Men revealed their hostility toward Yanafeien and Heart's Edge, and the Law Knights attacked them.
• Linsey recognized the attackers as believers and slipped underground to abduct a cultist whom the Law Knights had cut down.
• Linsey revived the cultist with a healing potion and, exploiting the darkness, threatened to judge his soul unless he answered.

Linsey interrogated a believer who revealed that Mr. Prizm had urged him to target Yanafeien, then deduced where Prizm might be hiding. After Yanafeien reported the battle’s end, Linsey warned her that the attackers might be connected to the Feathered Serpent, an evil god from the Mythological Era, and went to investigate.

• Linsey frightened the believer into confessing that Mr. Prizm had told him killing Yanafeien could end the war.
• Linsey knocked the believer unconscious, staged a hallucinated interrogation, and returned him to the battlefield before following a clue to a residential house.
• Linsey received Yanafeien’s report that the attackers were refugees exploited by people with ulterior motives.
• Linsey told Yanafeien that the Feathered Serpent he had once slain was an evil god from the Mythological Era and warned that the attackers might be connected to it.
• Yanafeien considered Linsey’s warning, and Linsey said he would investigate the suspected connection.

Yanafeien decided not to accuse the believers without evidence or expose Linsey, and left the matter to him. Linsey entered Dark Street beneath the City of Law to investigate the suspected evil god, and was invited into a crowded residential complex.

• Yanafeien considered warning the Law Knights but decided she lacked evidence and would not reveal Linsey's existence.
• Linsey traveled underground to Dark Street and used gathered clues to learn how the slum had grown from an emergency refugee district into a dense maze of homes.
• Linsey followed his skill's guidance to a residential complex and found its occupants were mostly neutral rather than hostile.
• A child warned Linsey not to wander outside at night, and Linsey politely asked to enter and look around.
• The child consulted a thin adult, who told him to let Linsey in because he might be another poor soul.

Linsey entered a refuge for people like himself and posed as Robinson, claiming he was cursed so he could meet a powerful Awakened. He met Liz, who offered to examine him, leaving him about to have his supposed curse investigated.

• Linsey entered the black house and met Danny and the child A Fang, who had been keeping watch.
• Linsey told Danny he had been separated from his family for ten years and gave the false name Robinson.
• Linsey claimed he was cursed and asked about the Awakened, prompting Danny to offer to take him to someone who could help.
• Old Gao mocked Linsey's hope of lifting the curse, but Liz called down from above and offered to examine him.
• Linsey used his Scouting Skill to confirm that Liz was a powerful Awakened, then reached out his hand for her examination.