Chapter Summaries

Linsey visited Qiao Er to deliver steel ingots, update his equipment plans, and commission a flintlock device. Before Linsey left, Iruier asked him to choose between breaking through Black Mountain and defending the town, leaving his answer pending.

• Anrui left for the mine after Linsey recounted what had happened there, while Linsey reassured Anna and headed into town.
• Linsey gave Qiao Er uniform steel ingots created by his skill and explained how they had been made.
• Linsey showed Qiao Er his upgraded equipment, prompting them to revise the production plan.
• Linsey commissioned Qiao Er to make a small flintlock device, and Qiao Er agreed to finish it in about a week.
• Iruier stopped Linsey before he left and asked whether he favored breaking through Black Mountain or standing firm in town.

Linsey argued with Iruier and Suo Mu Jin over whether Border Town should stay put or risk a desperate attempt to escape the Hidden Borderlands and face the Dragon Beast. He stood by searching for a solution before making a final choice, while Suo Mu Jin left to continue pursuing his radical approach.

• Linsey told Iruier that the Awakened should remain in town for now while searching the scholars’ records and the Hidden Borderlands for a way to deal with the Dragon Beast.
• Iruier dismissed Linsey’s proposals, and Linsey left the Artisan’s Cottage after their conversation ended.
• Linsey encountered Suo Mu Jin outside the Female Hunter’s home and learned the merchant had been looking for him because he supported breaking through Black Mountain.
• Suo Mu Jin challenged Linsey’s belief that the town had time to find another solution, but Linsey insisted that attempting escape should not amount to suicide.
• Suo Mu Jin accepted that Linsey would not be persuaded and walked toward the center of town.

Linsey searched the Border Annals and an expedition journal for clues about the Dragon Beast and the Hidden Borderlands. He learned that a Sixth Stage messenger had died trying to communicate with the beast, then discovered a deep fissure beside the Malro River that might lead somewhere below.

• Linsey fed Xuan Cao and made dinner before crafting a steady, safe oil lamp with the Synthesis Table and Resource Conversion.
• Linsey read Border Annals Eight and learned that Ein, a Sixth Stage messenger, died after his Word Spirit failed to overcome the Dragon Beast’s immense mental force.
• Linsey concluded that mental control was unlikely to work against the Dragon Beast and found no further useful records about it in the later annals.
• Linsey turned to Saika’s Expedition Map Draft and found an account of a deep fissure beside the Malro River that Miss Kayes believed connected to somewhere below.

After magical beasts surrounded the hunters’ cabin, Dan led the group into the forest and left their prey behind as bait. The beasts pursued them anyway, and Sissel reported webs blocking the way ahead.

• Dan heard magical beasts encircling the cabin and ordered the hunters to abandon their prey and flee.
• Dan assigned Sissel to lead the group and told the hunters to avoid fighting as they escaped.
• The hunters left bloodied prey in the cabin, drawing the magical beasts into a fight over the food.
• After half an hour, Dan heard beasts following them and shot one, which brought an even larger pursuit.
• Sissel warned Dan that webs blocked the path ahead.

Linsey discovered that the Task Bar offered three ways to resolve Border Town’s crisis, including helping its people escape the Hidden Borderlands, and he investigated whether the ruined Teleportation Array could be repaired. After finding a difficult crafting recipe for restoring it, he went hunting and spotted dangerous creatures pursuing friendly forces on his map.

• Linsey received the Escape the Predicament quest, whose rewards differed depending on whether he helped the town survive, helped its people escape, or killed the Dragon Beast.
• Linsey visited the abandoned Teleportation Array and learned that he could repair it with four broken fragments and several rare materials, including High-Rank Magical Beast Blood.
• Linsey quietly returned the fragment he had removed from the array and left without waking the guard.
• Linsey hunted in the southern forest and understood a rabbit’s warning about a giant spider.
• Linsey scouted with his map and saw a mass of dangerous Red Dots pursuing friendly green markers to the east.

Dan and the surviving members of the Distant Hunt party fled toward Border Town as magical beasts and Corrupted Poison Spiders pursued them. Linsey arrived to help, and the spiders withdrew when reinforcements approached.

• Dan led three surviving hunters toward Border Town while holding off pursuing beasts, after two hunters had died in an earlier attack.
• Dan ran low on arrows but continued fighting to protect her companions and return to her son.
• Linsey arrived and used his powerful bow and Armor-Piercing Arrows to kill pursuing Corrupted Poison Spiders.
• Linsey gave Dan arrows, and the two covered the party's retreat together as Dan explained how the Distant Hunt had been attacked.
• Near Border Town, Linsey blew the Wind Whistle, driving away ordinary beasts while the Corrupted Poison Spiders continued their pursuit.
• The Corrupted Poison Spiders retreated after Linsey saw green support markers approaching from two directions.

Linsey helped the exhausted hunters after the Corrupted Poison Spiders retreated, then welcomed Anrui and Suo Mu Jin’s reinforcements. Dan’s silence and departure exposed her divided loyalties, while Anrui revealed that the mines had also suffered a magical beast attack.

• Linsey confirmed the spiders had fled, claimed his completed rescue quest, and treated the hunters while they rested.
• Anrui and Suo Mu Jin arrived with separate groups of Awakened, and Linsey explained that the Distant Hunt party had been attacked and two hunters had died.
• Anrui and Suo Mu Jin disagreed over who would escort the survivors, so Suo Mu Jin urged Dan to leave by reminding her that Ju was waiting at home.
• Dan met Anrui’s gaze without speaking, then vanished into the forest, and Suo Mu Jin used her departure to accuse Anrui of provoking the spiders.
• Anrui rebuked Suo Mu Jin and revealed that magical beasts had also attacked the mines, warning him that the winter’s troubles were more serious than he understood.

After the hunters’ rescue, Linsey salvaged materials from the forest and planned to make an Alchemy Potion Workbench, which required glass. He gathered sand to produce glass and repair the Glass Greenhouse, then came up with an idea to ease the conflict in town and decided to discuss it with Uncle Anrui.

• The Awakened supporters of Anrui and Suo Mu Jin left town divided after each side had won one confrontation, leaving the town in a fragile stalemate.
• Linsey recovered his Armor-Piercing Arrows and spider materials, saved his quest experience, and discovered that a Spider Compound Eye could be used to make potions.
• Linsey crafted a Glass Furnace and planned to gather sand to make Glass Bottles and repair the Glass Greenhouse Finn had maintained.
• Linsey searched three streams, caught two Squirrels, and filled his Personal Baggage with sand from a river bend at the foot of a mountain.
• On his way home, Linsey considered how to ease the town’s internal conflict and decided to discuss his idea with Uncle Anrui.

Linsey proposed that Anrui unite Border Town against the Corrupted Poison Spider to ease the town’s internal divisions. Anrui agreed to support Linsey’s crop cultivation, while Linsey remained determined to help despite being caught between opposing sides.

• Linsey suggested making the Corrupted Poison Spider an external enemy so the townspeople would unite behind Anrui.
• Anrui praised Linsey and offered to make him the next administrator, but Linsey said he still planned to go home.
• Linsey told Anrui he opposed the radicals’ dangerous plans but believed the town needed to act against the cold and other threats.
• Anrui warned Linsey against remaining caught between the town’s opposing camps, but Linsey insisted on doing what he could.
• Linsey described his work cultivating Winter Wheat, cabbage, and potatoes, and Anrui promised to send people to collect wild plants for him.

Anrui organized a counteroffensive against magical beasts and began preparing Alan to succeed him as Lord of Border Town. He then visited Anna to ask her to change her future ascension technique.

• Anrui told Alan that magical beasts had attacked the mine and the Distant Hunt team after the early snowfall, suggesting the beasts had grown hostile.
• Anrui ordered Alan to notify the town’s fighting-capable Awakened so they could immediately purge magical beasts around the town.
• Anrui arranged weapons, medicines, and food for the offensive, then resolved to cultivate Alan as the next Lord because Linsey did not want to manage Border Town.
• Anrui considered that redirecting the town’s conflict toward the beasts would only delay the desire to break through Black Mountain.
• Anrui visited Anna and reminded her that she would become an Awakened at the next Harvest Day, then asked her to change her choice of future ascension technique.

Linsey prepared a spider-focused antidote, repaired the Glass Greenhouse, and crafted several glass items before organizing his full Personal Baggage. He headed back to the church to see Nun and help Red Moon after two hunters died on the Distant Hunt.

• Linsey used Finn’s plant samples to craft a Beginner Antidote that worked especially well against spider venom.
• Linsey repaired the Glass Greenhouse, gained beginner-level architecture skill, and went to sleep while considering more glass recipes.
• Linsey crafted a telescope, an Iron Ring Watch, and a Glass Lamp, then reorganized his packed Personal Baggage.
• Linsey left for the church to see Nun and support Red Moon after two hunters died, reflecting that they might have to be buried in Empty Graves.

Linsey prepared and attended an Empty Grave funeral for two hunters killed by magical beasts, while the town's factions continued to maneuver around a planned counterattack. After the funeral, Alan told Linsey that Lord Anrui would lead a counterattack in three days.

• Linsey asked Red Moon about the hunters' burial and learned that their clothes would replace their unrecovered bodies in the Empty Graves.
• Red Moon said she had rejected approaches from people in town and urged Linsey to treat matters involving death with caution.
• Linsey prepared the funeral, where the hunters' relatives placed their clothes in two coffins and around thirty people, including Lord Anrui and Suo Mu Jin, paid their respects.
• After the funeral, Suo Mu Jin questioned Linsey about visiting Lord Anrui, and Linsey said he had gone to discuss cold-resistant crops.
• Red Moon encouraged Linsey to focus on his more important work, and Alan told him that Lord Anrui would organize a counterattack against the magical beasts in three days.

Linsey searched the town for Die Liu Crystal Stones and Moon Elf Scale Powder, hoping to repair the Teleportation Array before the battle against the magical beasts. After learning the materials were unavailable in the Hidden Borderlands, he headed to the Lord's Manor to ask Uncle Anrui for help.

• Linsey learned from collector Kazoke that Iruier might know about Die Liu Crystal Stones, after his search for the rare materials failed elsewhere in town.
• Linsey recalled mining Molybdenite Ore and sixteen Explosive Burning Stones, then used his remaining preparation days to train and ask townspeople about the materials.
• Linsey visited Iruier and Qiao Er at the Artisan's Cottage while they prepared weapons and armor for the next day's battle.
• Iruier told Linsey that Die Liu Crystal Stones came from glacier crystal mines and Moon Elf Scale Powder came from Fifth Stage Moonlight Ash Moths, neither of which could be found in the Hidden Borderlands.
• Iruier said Linsey might obtain the materials by repairing the Teleportation Array and buying them in a major city, so Linsey went to ask Uncle Anrui for help.

On the day before the counterattack, Linsey learned that Hidden Borderlands lacked the materials needed to repair a Teleportation Array and accepted Anrui’s assignment to scout the dangerous southern forest. He left town to gather intelligence while the Awakened prepared a five-day plan to eliminate the magical beasts.

• Linsey asked Anrui about Die Liu Crystal Stone and Moon Elf Scale Powder, and learned that neither material was available in Hidden Borderlands.
• Anrui assigned Linsey to scout the southern forest and report the magical beasts’ locations, numbers, types, and activity without alerting them.
• Anrui outlined a five-day counterattack plan that began with clearing the east and separating the northern and southern beasts, then focused on the north before targeting the southern horde and Corrupted Poison Spiders.
• Linsey left town for the southern forest, where townspeople greeted him enthusiastically about the coming offensive.
• Linsey checked his Task Bar and found the task “First Strike,” which offered Silent Edge and Attribute/Skill Experience Points as rewards.

Linsey reconnoitered the Corrupted Poison Spiders and confirmed that they were guarding their territory rather than expanding outward. While continuing south to investigate the magical beasts, he heard two people arguing and found two friendly markers nearby.

• Linsey followed the Corrupted Poison Spiders' tracks, avoided their ambush, and climbed a Silver Fir to observe their nest with his telescope.
• Linsey watched the spiders for three hours and saw that they stayed within their territory, then questioned a rabbit that confirmed they had not moved outward.
• Linsey released the rabbit and continued south to investigate the magical beasts Anrui had mentioned.
• Linsey heard what sounded like two people arguing and spotted two friendly markers on his map, so he moved closer to investigate.

Ju and Suna monitored the magical beast horde while debating whether the town should keep resisting or risk a desperate attempt to escape its plight. Linsey discovered that the beasts were organized by species and returned to town to warn everyone before the planned attack.

• Ju reassured Suna that the town could defeat the magical beasts, then argued that the young Awakened needed to resist rather than wait for the town's elders to weaken.
• Linsey listened to Ju and Suna's disagreement without interrupting, then continued deeper into the forest to scout the horde.
• Linsey found hostile beast tracks and used his map to locate the magical beasts, but chose not to test whether the Treant Flower Crown could calm them.
• Linsey climbed a pine tree and saw that the beasts were peacefully organized into distinct groups by species, size, and habitat.
• Linsey told Ju and Suna what he had discovered and hurried back to town to warn them that the horde resembled an organized army.

Linsey warned Anrui that the magical beasts were orderly within their territory, despite the chaos at the outskirts, just as the town’s campaign was about to begin. Anrui chose to proceed with the attack on the eastern groups, rallied the townspeople, and sent two trusted men to watch for a southern surprise attack.

• Linsey reported that the magical beasts in the south were organized within their territory, and Anrui decided not to delay the campaign.
• Anrui told Alan to present the discovery as new scouting information while keeping the Awakened prepared and confident.
• Linsey said the plan remained feasible because Anrui could defeat the beasts, provided the others protected themselves.
• Anrui addressed the gathered Awakened, urging them to set aside their differences and defend their home together.
• The Awakened gathered supplies and set out to attack the magical beasts, while Anrui assigned two trusted men to watch the town for a southern attack.

Linsey cleared magical beasts along his assigned route and crafted a Snow Wolf Staff during the team’s successful first day of operations. As Anrui praised the Awakened at camp, Linsey wondered whether he could collect materials from prey killed by his companions.

• Linsey used his bow to kill Snow Wolves, gathered their materials, and crafted a Wolf Bone Pendant that increased his Strength and Agility.
• Linsey checked the map and confirmed that the Awakened were advancing east in Anrui’s organized formation without any major problems.
• Linsey encountered two Ice Badgers and continued clearing beasts as the team advanced throughout the day; no one was seriously injured or killed.
• At camp, Linsey used the day’s materials to craft a Snow Wolf Staff, discovered he had one summon slot, and chose not to test it among the resting Awakened.
• Anrui praised the team’s successful operation as food was distributed, and Linsey wondered whether he could collect materials from prey his companions had killed.

Linsey spotted Corrupted Poison Spiders scouting the clearing team's camp and warned Anrui, who prepared the Awakened for an attack. Linsey then discovered a much larger spider army approaching in force, making a battle unavoidable.

• Linsey failed to use Prey Material on prey handled by his companions and searched his memories for information about eagle-type magical beasts.
• Linsey spotted several Red Dots on his map moving toward the camp, alerted Anrui, and went to investigate.
• Linsey identified seven Corrupted Poison Spiders approaching from different directions like scouts gathering intelligence.
• Anrui ordered Linsey to keep watch while he woke the others and prepared to kill the approaching spiders.
• Linsey spotted a large spider army advancing through the forest and concluded that the spiders were staking everything on a desperate fight.

Linsey and Anrui led the Awakened in a nighttime attack on the Corrupted Poison Spiders, with Linsey picking off enemies from the trees and Anrui cutting through their ranks. The battle continued as Linsey saved the poisoned Alan by giving him an Antidote Potion.

• Linsey waited for Anrui’s signal before opening fire, killing the leading Corrupted Poison Spider with an Armor-Piercing Arrow as the Awakened charged.
• Linsey moved between trees and shot spiders while Anrui advanced into the enemy ranks, slaughtering them with his battle axe.
• Alan rescued a companion from a Corrupted Poison Spider but was bitten by a smaller spider and weakened by its venom.
• Linsey shot the spider attacking Alan, pulled him from beneath its corpse, and gave him an Antidote Potion.