Chapter Summaries

Linsey helped the Awakened repel the Corrupted Poison Spiders and hunted down those that fled. After the battle, he learned that Mis had died and gained the Spider Bane achievement item, the Miniature Spider Nest.

• Linsey used an Antidote Potion on Alan, then summoned a snow wolf with the Snow Wolf Staff to carry him to safety.
• Anrui's fighters killed many Corrupted Poison Spiders, and the beasts eventually fled; Anrui ordered Dan, Orui, and the others to pursue them.
• Linsey hunted the spiders fleeing in the opposite direction, testing the snow wolf's strength and abilities along the way.
• Linsey returned to help collect spider materials and learned that Mis had been poisoned to death during the battle.
• Linsey's Hunting Notes updated his title to Spider Bane and unlocked the Miniature Spider Nest.

After the Awakened defeated the magical beasts around the town, Anrui celebrated their victory and questioned Suo Mu Jin about how the spiders had learned of the campaign. The Jade Balance proved Suo Mu Jin was telling the truth, and the chapter ended with him reaching the Farmland boundary and calling out to Linsey.

• Anrui led the Awakened through the remaining battles, and they cleared the magical beasts from the town’s surroundings by the evening of the fourth day.
• Anrui returned to cheers from the townspeople, then rewarded the Awakened and held a celebration that eased tensions in the town.
• Anrui confronted Suo Mu Jin and asked whether he had informed the spiders about the campaign.
• Suo Mu Jin denied betraying humanity, and the Jade Balance confirmed that he was telling the truth.
• Suo Mu Jin left Anrui’s house and headed south; at the boundary between the town and the Farmland, he called out to Linsey.

Linsey received the Silent Edge enchantment and rewards from his magical beast hunts, then discovered that the missing merchant Suo Mu Jin had been searching the wilderness for cold-resistant crops. Unsure why Suo Mu Jin helped without asking for anything in return, Linsey decided to ask Nun about him.

• Linsey examined Silent Edge and considered using its soundless first attack for ambushes and hunting.
• Linsey stored the Verdant Earring and Frost Wind Earring, then equipped the Lucky Rabbit Foot.
• Suo Mu Jin visited Linsey and gave him five freshly dug wild plants, including winter wheat and potatoes.
• Suo Mu Jin said he had searched for crops to help secure the town's food supply and asked Linsey to cultivate cold-resistant crops.
• Linsey accepted the plants but remained puzzled by Suo Mu Jin's intentions and decided to visit Nun for answers.

Linsey visited the cemetery and discovered that Anna had joined the School of Death, then asked Red Moon about his suspicions that Suo Mu Jin had betrayed the town. Red Moon had no evidence against the merchant, so Linsey decided to watch him and wait for further clues.

• Linsey synthesized a Bat Staff and Gray Fur Rabbit Shoes before heading to the cemetery at night.
• Linsey found Anna patrolling in the School of Death's uniform and learned she had joined to take on responsibility for the town.
• Anna explained that her decision also supported her father’s efforts to reassure the townspeople after the recent conflict.
• Linsey told Red Moon that the Corrupted Poison Spiders seemed to know about the Awakeneds' operation and asked whether Suo Mu Jin might have leaked information.
• Red Moon said Suo Mu Jin had shown no signs of betraying humanity, and Linsey decided to keep a closer eye on him until more evidence appeared.

Linsey continued monitoring Suo Mu Jin and cultivating cold-resistant crops through the winter. After his crop-growing mission was completed, he confirmed that his potatoes and wheat had developed strong cold resistance and high yields, then began producing seeds and testing them under natural conditions.

• Linsey read the town's construction records and learned that Anrui and Finn had been assigned to manage the outpost near the World's Edge.
• Linsey heard from his summoned bat that Suo Mu Jin had behaved peacefully for more than two months.
• Linsey inspected the greenhouse and considered how to overcome Black Mountain's Dragon Beast blockade, which required strength beyond anyone in the Hidden Borderlands.
• Linsey's cold-resistant crop mission became completed, and he appraised the newly grown potatoes and wheat as cold-resistant, high-yield crops.
• Linsey harvested the crops, bred jars of seeds, and planted samples in untreated greenhouse soil to test their natural growth.

After successfully cultivating Winter Wheat and potatoes, Linsey unlocked Food Production and discovered that perfectly grilled meat granted powerful temporary boosts. Resting beneath Great Adventurer Polo’s statue, he found a new direction for breaking through Black Mountain World by considering the town’s past.

• Linsey claimed the reward for cultivating new cold-resistant crops, raising his Survival Construction Level to 3 and unlocking Food Production.
• Linsey cooked Beast Meat beneath Great Adventurer Polo’s statue, first making excellent grilled meat and then achieving a perfect result with the next piece.
• Linsey ate the perfect grilled meat, gaining stamina recovery and one point each in Strength, Agility, and Constitution for half an hour.
• After eating more perfect grilled meat, Linsey noticed his Cooking skill was only Proficient and questioned why the skill could not produce food of this quality on its own.
• While gazing at Great Adventurer Polo’s statue, Linsey realized that although nobody in town could defeat the Black Mountain Dragon Beast now, that had not always been true.

Linsey found the Expedition Team’s Ancestor Spirit Core at the lighthouse and discovered it could be crafted into powerful ammunition that might kill the Black Mountain Dragon Beast. After taking the core, he noticed the lighthouse stood farther from the World Border than the records said.

• Linsey recalled that the Expedition Team’s members were powerful and realized the lighthouse might hold something useful against the Dragon Beast.
• Linsey climbed the lighthouse and identified its crystal beacon as a dangerous Seventh Stage Ancestor Spirit Core.
• Linsey used the Eight-Claw Spider Silk Hook to retrieve the core, destroying the equipment in the process.
• Linsey found a crafting formula for ammunition made from the Ancestor Spirit Core and saw it as their best hope against the Dragon Beast.
• Linsey noticed that the World Border was more than two hundred meters from the lighthouse, contrary to records placing it a little over a hundred meters away.

Linsey investigated the strange World's Edge, then focused on gathering materials to craft Glorious Bullets for the Dragon Beast in Black Mountain World. A new task urged him to revive an ancestor spirit, but he postponed it, mastered Basic Swordsmanship, and prepared perfect food to bring to Agnes; while he slept, his Life Source Material entry began to change.

• Linsey searched the World's Edge and found only ordinary soil and stone, then abandoned the investigation to focus on the Dragon Beast.
• Linsey identified Agnes as the source of Advanced Gem powder and planned to visit her the next day.
• Linsey discovered the Ancestor Spirit Revival task but postponed reviving the spirit because he needed the core for Glorious Bullets.
• Linsey spent his experience on Basic Swordsmanship, advancing it to Master and gaining Desperate Blade.
• Linsey cooked perfect food as a gift for Agnes, stored a second batch, and fell asleep exhausted.
• While Linsey slept, his Life Source Material entry began to change after the perfect food repeatedly satisfied it.

Linsey’s Life Source Material advanced after he ate a perfect meal, giving him a powerful physical burst and revealing that he needed special Source Material items to advance further. He visited Agnes to learn instruments and ask for Advanced Gem powder, leaving her curious about why he wanted it.

• Linsey discovered that his Life Source Material had advanced to Sprout Breaking Ground, granting him a one-minute boost to his physical attributes at the cost of Source Material.
• Linsey realized his next advancement required absorbing Source Material from the outside world and considered special items as a faster alternative to waiting for Source Material Tides.
• Linsey went to Agnes’s home with food gifts and asked to learn instruments from her.
• Linsey asked Agnes whether she had any Advanced Gem powder, and she questioned what he needed it for.

Linsey negotiated with Agnes for Advanced Gem powder by agreeing to learn an instrument and perform for her within a month. He obtained the powder and confirmed it could be used to craft Glorious Bullets, leaving only a meteorite to find.

• Linsey told Agnes he needed Advanced Gem powder to prepare equipment for breaking through Black Mountain, while keeping his true plans secret.
• Agnes wagered that Linsey would receive her gem powder if he learned an instrument and performed a satisfying piece within a month.
• Linsey used reserve experience points to raise his short flute performance skill from Beginner to Proficient and performed for Agnes.
• Agnes gave Linsey the Advanced Gem powder, sheet music, and a wooden short flute.
• Linsey confirmed that the Azure Sea Powder met the requirements for crafting Glorious Bullets and recalled seeing meteorite records in the Hidden Borderlands calendar.

Linsey found an old record of a meteor that might be worth investigating, prepared to leave town, and asked Anna to care for his plants. Before setting out, he learned from Red Moon that Ancestral Spirits were forbidden beings whose discovery could provoke a crusade across worlds.

• Linsey confirmed that identical food buffs did not stack and found an old almanac entry describing a meteor that fell near town over a hundred years earlier.
• Linsey headed to the church and asked Anna to tend the Glass Greenhouse while he was away, giving her a Verdant Earring and food as thanks.
• Linsey asked Red Moon about Ancestral Spirits, prompting her to warn him that the subject was dangerous and forbidden in lands controlled by the Major City States.
• Red Moon explained that the Believers once created powerful beings of faith who enslaved worlds until heroes defeated them during the Hero Age.
• Red Moon said that Ancestral Spirits, Nature Spirits, or deities discovered today would be targeted by a joint crusade from every world.

Linsey traveled north through the wilderness in search of a meteorite and climbed a towering mountain range. At the summit, he spotted what appeared to be a meteor crater below.

• Linsey reflected on Red Moon's warning about believers producing gods, then set out from Border Town to search for the meteorite.
• He crossed forests and hills, collected rabbit fur, and camped beside a frozen swamp overlooking a snow-covered mountain range.
• Linsey crossed the frozen swamp and reached the mountain's foot in the afternoon.
• He climbed through deep snow and scaled the final black-rock cliff with a dagger, reaching the summit at sunset.
• From the summit, Linsey looked beyond the range and saw what appeared to be a meteor crater.

Linsey discovered a vast scorched crater on the mountain and found fiery red ore still burning deep inside it. After digging a spiral passage down to the ore, he realized his Iron Pickaxe could not mine it and decided to try breaking it by hand.

• Linsey found a thousand-meter-wide expanse of scorched earth and a deep crater, and wondered whether the meteorite’s impact reflected the Hidden Borderlands’ unusual rules.
• Linsey used his Commodity Skill to identify the scorched soil, then crossed the hot, jagged terrain to the crater’s edge.
• Linsey spotted fiery red stones burning in the darkness below and decided to descend into the crater to collect meteorites.
• Linsey abandoned his rope descent after using much of his supply, then crafted a Pickaxe and dug a spiraling passage down the crater wall.
• Linsey struck the fiery red ore with his Iron Pickaxe, found that it would not break, and decided to mine it with his own hands.

Linsey excavated Meteorites from the Meteor Crater, smelted them into ingots, and crafted a Meteorite Pickaxe to speed up his mining. He used fifteen Meteorites and an Ancestor Spirit Core to make a powerful Glorious Bullet, then faced a sudden burst of flames from the scorched earth.

• Linsey dug a Meteorite from the scorched earth and discovered he could smelt Meteorites into ingots for crafting equipment.
• Linsey crafted a Meteorite Pickaxe, which let him mine scorched earth and Meteorites much faster than his Iron Pickaxe.
• Linsey gathered fifteen Meteorites and used them with an Ancestor Spirit Core and other materials to craft the Ancestor Spirit's Death · Ascension · Splendor Bullet.
• Linsey learned the Glorious Bullet could kill anyone below the Seventh Stage and severely injure an Eighth Stage Awakened, and he saw it as a chance to kill the Dragon Beast.
• Fire suddenly erupted from the scorched earth in front of Linsey while the Glorious Bullet remained unharmed.

Linsey discovered that burning meteorites housed Meteor Fire Sprites, which pursued him after he disturbed one while mining. He used water to defeat them, earned a flame-infusing brooch by hunting more, and considered telling the town about the crater as a refuge from the spreading winter.

• A Meteor Fire Sprite attacked Linsey, but his physical strike passed through it, so he fled up the tunnel and saw many hostile red dots deeper in the Meteor Crater.
• Linsey splashed clear water on the pursuing sprite, making it vanish, then learned from his Hunting Notes that water countered the elemental creature.
• Linsey realized burning meteorites contained dormant Meteor Fire Sprites and used an Infinite Water Pool to defeat them while mining.
• After half a day of hunting, Linsey earned the Meteor Fire Sprite Killer title and a Meteor Fire Brooch, which let him coat his attacks in flames.
• Linsey considered telling the townspeople about the crater as a source of warmth if the Dragon Beast's winter continued spreading.

Linsey rested after a long mining session, then returned to the Meteor Crater to gather meteorites and test ways to defeat Meteor Fire Sprites. He discovered that an ice-enchanted strike could shatter a Sprite’s core, potentially allowing him to collect materials.

• Linsey camped on the mountain, summoned a Snow Wolf to keep watch, and slept through the night.
• After waking, Linsey Resource Converted his broken pocket watch so it could keep accurate time, then resumed mining meteorites.
• Linsey replaced the Snow Wolf with a bat to watch the crater entrance and continued mining as daylight returned.
• Linsey used advice in his Hunting Notes to plan tests against Meteor Fire Sprites, preparing a Corruption-inflicting bow and ice weapons.
• Linsey shot a Meteor Fire Sprite with the Iron Horn Great Bow, then struck it with the Ice Badger Mace and heard its core shatter.

Linsey gathered Flame Crystals in the Meteor Crater and crafted equipment and weapons to prepare for exploring its depths. He reached the crater bottom and began carving out a human-friendly space before approaching the powerful Elemental Creatures there.

• Linsey collected three Flame Crystals from Meteor Fire Sprites and crafted a Flame Mark that protected him from flames below 1200°C while draining his source essence when activated.
• Linsey spotted large meteorite fragments and clusters of unfamiliar Elemental Creatures at the crater bottom, and considered whether they might yield Blazing Flame Crystals.
• Linsey judged that the creatures might be too powerful to fight directly but decided to continue downward and assess them before giving up.
• Linsey crafted Flame Bullets and Flame Bombs, then reached the crater bottom while enduring its extreme heat.
• Linsey dug sideways to gather materials and create a space suitable for human activity before attempting to negotiate with the unknown Elemental Creatures.

Linsey discovered a vast hidden space beneath the Meteor Crater and received a quest to uncover the secrets of the Hidden Borderlands, but an Elemental Creature interrupted his work. He realized its tracking fireball followed heat and used a Flame Bomb to mislead it.

• Linsey finished clearing a large area inside the mountainside, created more than thirty Infinite Water Pools, and began planning escape tunnels.
• Linsey spotted an enormous underground hollow on his map and connected it to Saika’s account of a fissure leading to an unknown space where Living Wind flowed.
• Linsey received the quest “The World's True Face” but decided to focus first on informing Border Town about the Meteor Crater and dealing with the Dragon Beast from Black Mountain World.
• A hostile Fire Elemental Lifeform entered Linsey’s cave and attacked him with a heat-tracking fireball.
• Linsey threw a Flame Bomb, causing the fireball to detonate prematurely and confirming that it tracked its target by thermal sensing.

Linsey used his hunting skills to identify the hostile Magma Fire Monster as a Fifth Stage Elemental Lifeform and discovered that it was vulnerable to ultra-low temperatures. He trapped it with steam from his Infinite Water Pools, froze its core with a specialized arrow, and prepared to finish it off to unlock a new Game Module.

• The Magma Fire Monster pursued Linsey with increasingly powerful fireballs, while his flower crown failed to calm its hostility.
• Linsey switched to Hunting Simulation and used his skills to identify the creature, its explosive flame core, and its weakness to ultra-low temperatures.
• Linsey fired an arrow at the monster, but it dodged by sensing the arrow's temperature.
• Linsey led the monster's fireballs into more than thirty Infinite Water Pools, filling the cave with steam and closing the distance between them.
• Linsey shot a Frozen Stibnite Arrow through the steam, freezing the monster's core and stopping it from moving.
• Linsey stood over the struggling monster with a loaded Flintlock Gun and prepared to kill it to unlock a new Game Module.

Linsey defeated a Fifth-Stage Magma Fire Monster, but its core exploded after its death and left him badly injured. While recovering in darkness, he discovered major stat and skill improvements, unlocked the FPS module, and found its crosshair aimed at a gigantic eye nearby.

• Linsey used the Flame Flintlock Gun to strike the Frozen Stibnite Arrow lodged in the Magma Fire Monster's core, killing it and unlocking the FPS module.
• Linsey collected the Blazing Flame Crystal and the ruined Stibnite Arrowhead, then realized the monster's core was about to explode.
• Linsey surrounded himself with reinforced dirt blocks, but the blast destroyed his shelter and left him injured and briefly unconscious.
• Linsey spent his newly gained experience on constitution, then examined his increased attributes and upgraded movement technique.
• Linsey tested the FPS module's Crosshair with a torch and discovered it was aimed at a gigantic eye more than ten meters away.