Chapter Summaries

Keosius received an update on the kingdom’s recovery and ordered Lang Pu to arrange spellcasting and etiquette lessons for Tinia. He inspected the completed Iron Dragon Wing Palace and used the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array to threaten Tinia with another century of confinement if she caused trouble.

• Lang Pu reported the recovered spells and dragon vein research, along with the kingdom’s improving economy, before Keosius told him to submit a written report.
• Keosius asked Lang Pu to teach Tinia practical spells and basic etiquette, so Lang Pu enlisted the kingdom’s spellcasters to train her.
• Lang Pu confirmed that the Iron Dragon Wing Palace was nearly complete, and Keosius flew there with Tinia to inspect it.
• Tinia recognized the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array that had once imprisoned her, and Keosius dragged her to it and warned that he would confine her again if she misbehaved.

Keosius reviewed the expanding kingdom’s administrative and security needs, then assigned Mezhuolash to lead Nocturne and build an intelligence network across the North. As he prepared to hear another visitor, Lord Freed arrived to request an audience.

• Keosius read Lang Pu’s report on the vast, sparsely populated territories and the challenges of governing the Embers of the Burned Kingdom.
• Mezhuolash reported that he had completed the handover and selected former victims of the Lakman Duchy’s oppression for the Nocturne unit.
• Keosius placed Nocturne under Mezhuolash’s command and ordered him to send trained Vampires across the North to gather intelligence on every nation within four years.
• Keosius authorized Mezhuolash to seek additional funding from the governing ministers.
• A Tiefling Guard announced that Lord Freed of the Dragon Oath Hall had arrived, and Keosius ordered him admitted.

As the Internal Beta ended, Steamed Bun and his companions gathered in North Wind Fortress and learned that the Church of the Machine God was busy handing its projects over to the kingdom. They discovered Keosius had arranged a five-Gold-Coin treasure lottery to drain players’ savings before the shutdown.

• Steamed Bun lamented leaving his Wyvern Noodles behind for four years in Erezege while Singo offered to share the expensive Fire Witch’s Kiss cocktail.
• Steamed Bun and Singo met Xia Ye Qiuyu, Born Battle Maniac, and Lang Li Bai Tiao, who explained that Steel Frenzy and the Church of the Machine God were working overtime to transfer their factories and projects to the kingdom.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu said Steel Frenzy had been caught using public funds to build private armor and was now buried in debt.
• Steamed Bun and his companions followed a crowd and found Yuan-ti women selling Keosius’s Secret Treasure chests for five Gold Coins each.
• The players recognized the chests as a gacha lottery offering a chance at common-to-rare Magic Equipment and eagerly began considering their purchases.

Keosius launched a lottery called Keosius's Secret Treasure, selling players boxes containing random equipment while watching their reactions from the royal palace. After most players drew disappointing items, Charlotte arrived and bought ten boxes at once.

• Keosius sold twelve hundred sealed treasure boxes for five Gold Coins each, while Black Night Poem's attempted theft was thwarted by the city's anti-theft protection.
• Born Battle Maniac bought a box and received uncommon Boots of Running and Jumping, prompting other players to begin buying eagerly.
• Most players drew ordinary junk, and their complaints made Keosius worry that the boxes would not sell out.
• Keosius noticed Charlotte among the buyers, and Charlotte announced that he would buy ten boxes.

Charlotte spent fifty Gold Coins on twenty boxes and received only worthless items, convincing players that Keosius's treasure was a scam. Flying Witch then opened a rare wand, leaving Charlotte devastated and Keosius's event unexpectedly rescued.

• Charlotte claimed the boxes were designed to fleece players and opened ten, receiving only worthless items.
• After spectators challenged him, Charlotte spent another fifty Gold Coins on ten more boxes, all of which contained junk.
• Keosius worried that Charlotte's terrible luck would ruin the treasure event, while other players also received only worthless items.
• Flying Witch bought a random box for five Gold Coins and found a rare Surprise Wand.
• Charlotte saw Flying Witch's rare wand and, crushed by his luck, told her not to call him president anymore.

Flying Witch won a rare cloak on her second single pull, vindicating her advice to Charlotte while his twenty straight losses left him unconscious. The jackpot triggered a player-wide spending frenzy, though Feng Yun recognized the boxes were a bad deal, and Keosius enjoyed the players’ excitement from his palace.

• Flying Witch spent her last five Gold Coins on a box she chose herself and won a rare Winged Cloak, her second prize in a row.
• Flying Witch told Charlotte that choosing a box herself had proved his theory, and Charlotte collapsed after remembering his twenty losses.
• Players rushed to buy more boxes, while Feng Yun persuaded Overlord to limit Kingship Guild’s purchase to ten after calculating that the lottery was a trap.
• Players posted their rare finds on the forums, and Kingship Guild began offering high prices for rare equipment.
• Keosius browsed the lively forums and smiled as players competed to spend their money, then noticed Tinia looking excited and thought her hopeless.

As the server closed, all the players vanished without a trace, leaving Keosius and the kingdom unable to explain their disappearance. Keosius set the mystery aside and prepared to meet Freed, who had brought twelve humans to the palace.

• Steamed Bun lamented his bad luck with Keosius's Secret Treasure while Singo mocked the event and Charlotte lay devastated after twenty consecutive white lights.
• Singo offered the group expensive wine, and Steamed Bun, Lang Li Bai Tiao, and the others celebrated during the players' final hours.
• When the countdown reached zero, every player vanished, leaving residents, factory trainees, and a manticore bewildered.
• Keosius learned from Lang Pu that experiments had revealed no clues about how the Starfallers disappeared, and he saw the Game System marked "Temporarily Closed."
• Keosius said his ancestral bloodline was nearing the point of triggering a volcanic eruption and that he would need to sleep within a month.
• A Tiefling Guard reported that Lord Freed had arrived with twelve humans, and Keosius ordered them admitted.

Anthony and the other first Dragon Oath Paladin candidates arrived at the royal palace to receive the Red Dragon’s blessing. As Anthony prepared to meet the king, he remembered how the Red Dragon’s forces had rescued him from Baron Solly and how Freed had given him a new name and purpose.

• Freed warned Anthony to follow proper etiquette and not faint during his first audience with His Majesty.
• Anthony walked toward the palace with eleven other candidates, awed and nervous at the prospect of meeting the Red Dragon.
• Anthony recalled how Baron Solly had bought him from his father and imprisoned him in a basement from age eight to thirteen.
• The Tiefling army rescued Anthony, and he saw the Red Dragon atop the city wall, an image he remembered as the start of a new life.
• Freed selected Anthony as a Dragon Oath Paladin Substitute, gave him his name, and trained him through demanding trials.
• Anthony reached the palace with the first group of candidates, ready to receive the Red Dragon’s blessing.

Freed brought twelve youths, including Anthony, before Keosius to receive the Dragon Lord’s blessing. After the ritual transformed them into Dragon Oath Paladins, Anthony alone remained conscious and knelt before Keosius, newly empowered and ready to leave his past behind.

• Freed led the youths into the steel main hall and presented them to Keosius, who recognized Anthony from the kingdom’s propaganda about his past.
• Keosius ordered Freed to begin the ritual, and the youths swore to extinguish their enemies’ hope, enforce order, and place the Dragon Lord above all.
• Keosius released bloodline fire-seeds that transformed all twelve youths into Dragon Oath Paladins.
• Anthony endured the transformation’s agony, imagining himself burning Baron Solly to ashes and vowing to gain power rather than be treated as livestock.
• The other eleven youths fell unconscious, while Anthony rose and knelt before Keosius, saying, “Dragon Lord.”

Keosius watched Freed and Anthony take charge of twelve newly created Dragonkin Paladins, then sensed a magical scrying spell near the palace and went to confront its source. In Kareba Mountain Forest, Harper Li Cha Xige and the elf Abier realized the Red Dragon had detected them and sealed the Weave around them.

• Keosius praised Freed for training twelve Dragonkin Paladins, and Anthony chose the honorific title Judgment as head of the Dragon Escort Knights.
• Freed and Anthony left with the unconscious paladins to begin their duties at the Dragon Oath Hall.
• Keosius prepared to begin another slumber, but sensed a divination spell and traced it to Kareba Mountain Forest.
• Li Cha Xige continued scrying on Keosius despite Abier's warning, claiming the spell scroll would conceal them.
• Li Cha realized Keosius had discovered them and that the Weave was being sealed, while Abier cursed him and readied her dagger.

Li Cha tried to escape with Abier from Keosius, a Red Dragon pursuing them, but the dragon’s Kingdom Domain extinguished his fairy power and exposed Abier. Keosius seized Abier and threatened to eat her, then offered Li Cha a chance to save her by revealing everything about them.

• Li Cha sensed a Red Dragon racing toward them and used Earth Walker to flee with Abier.
• Li Cha disguised Abier as a sapling with Elude Others and told her to take the map of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom back to the Harpers while he drew the dragon away.
• Keosius arrived, used his Kingdom Domain to extinguish Li Cha’s fairy power, and exposed Abier’s disguise.
• Keosius grabbed Abier and threatened to eat her as Li Cha watched helplessly.
• Keosius asked Li Cha whether he wanted Abier to live and offered to consider delaying his meal if Li Cha told him everything about them.

Keosius forced Li Cha to become a double agent for Embers of the Burned Kingdom by threatening Abier’s life. After arranging the spy’s return to the Harpers, Keosius prepared for his coming slumber and considered asking about an old acquaintance among the elves.

• Keosius broke Li Cha’s resistance by threatening to kill Abier and demanded that he return to the Harpers as a double agent.
• Li Cha agreed to report the Harpers’ intelligence each month in exchange for Abier’s safety, then was escorted toward Lang Pu’s Mage Tower.
• Lang Pu told Keosius that Li Cha carried power from the Supreme Fairy and suggested experimenting to steal it.
• Keosius ordered Lang Pu to keep Li Cha safe and prepare protective formations for his approaching slumber.
• Keosius reflected on the elves and considered asking about an old acquaintance.

Abier awoke captive in Keosius’s palace and resisted him, but he used a Magic Image of Li Cha agreeing to become the kingdom’s double agent to break her resolve. Keosius ended by demanding that Abier choose between survival and death.

• Abier woke without her dagger or cloak and tried to kill herself rather than submit to Keosius, but he trapped her in a magical claw.
• Keosius asked whether Abier wanted to live, and she refused, resolved not to reveal anything about the Harpers.
• Keosius showed Abier a Magic Image of Li Cha alive and agreeing to return to the Harpers as a double agent for the kingdom.
• Abier accused Keosius of bewitching Li Cha or creating a false image, but Keosius mocked her beliefs and challenged the Harpers’ claims to justice.
• Keosius asked Abier whether she chose survival or death.

Keosius questioned Abier about Rhea and learned that the Half-elf Paladin was serving as a general in Serenia. He ordered his agents to strengthen the kingdom’s intelligence network before he entered a years-long slumber.

• Keosius pressured Abier until she revealed that Rhea was in Serenia, serving as a general under the king.
• Keosius ordered the Tiefling Guards to keep Abier alive and sent her back to her cell.
• Keosius recalled his past encounter with Rhea and resolved to pursue her for both revenge and something he coveted.
• Mezhuolash reported that the Nocturne unit had uncovered twelve Harpers spies in the kingdom.
• Keosius ordered the spies interrogated and imprisoned, then told Mezhuolash to build a complete intelligence network before his slumber.

Keosius remembered the inevitable demon invasion and ordered Alger to investigate the Anstica Mountains for signs of demons. After Alger departed, Keosius prepared to finally sleep.

• Keosius recalled that demons would invade the North and said he planned to unify the Northern Kingdom in four years to resist them.
• Keosius summoned Alger and learned that only four Red Scale Conquerors remained in the garrison.
• Keosius ordered Alger to recruit more Red Scale Conquerors, promising sufficient funding.
• Alger reported that the Bosque Duchy had reduced its border activity and that the other northern nations seemed intimidated by Keosius.
• Keosius ordered Alger to patrol around the Anstica Mountains for demons, explaining that Lang Pu would cooperate and that Alger could use the Dimensional Door.
• Alger accepted the mission and departed on his Dragon Vein Giant Eagle, while Keosius said he could finally sleep.

Keosius entered a deep slumber in his cave, surrounded by a fiery cocoon formed from his overflowing energy. As the heat spread through the Iron Dragon Wing Palace, Lang Pu sent the mages away and watched over the sealed entrance, hoping Keosius would grow strong enough to surpass the gods.

• Keosius cleared space among his treasures and curled up in his cave, preparing to sleep.
• His excess fire energy formed a scorching protective membrane around him, and he fell into a deep slumber.
• Lang Pu supervised spellcasters as they filled the passage to Keosius's cave with traps, correcting their mistakes and berating one mage for replacing Diamond Powder with Bone Powder.
• The cave's rising heat revealed to Lang Pu that Keosius had entered slumber and was releasing the energy he had previously suppressed.
• Lang Pu opened a Space Rift and sent the spellcasters away, secretly noticing the mage who had cut corners.
• Lang Pu remained outside the sealed cave and prayed that Keosius would grow strong enough to surpass the gods.

During Keosius’s three-year hibernation, the Progenitor Dragon Bloodline transformed him and his leaked power reshaped the palace and warmed North Wind Fortress. The Embers of the Burned Kingdom grew stronger under Mezhuolash’s rule, while opposition from Duke Leo and rebellious nobles failed to gain ground.

• Keosius’s inherited memories and growing power caused increasingly severe environmental effects, including a lava eruption that killed twelve Tieflings.
• Mezhuolash moved the Tiefling guards away from the main hall and sent spellcasters to monitor the palace’s Weave.
• Keosius’s influence warmed North Wind Fortress, which became known as the City of No Winter and drew people seeking shelter from the cold.
• Duke Leo secretly tried to form an Anti-Red Dragon Alliance, but the kingdom’s intelligence department discovered his efforts and Nocturne disrupted them.
• The kingdom enforced the Kingdom Law and ended serfdom, prompting former nobles and landowners to rebel.
• Dolo’s Hobgoblin line infantry crushed the nobles’ rebellion, ending it before it could spread.

Over three years, the kingdom’s cities industrialized and its people adapted to a new social order, even as tensions between humans and monster kin persisted. The kingdom grew into a major power in the North, poised to unleash its strength while the Red Dragon slept.

• Factories expanded in North Wind Fortress and Troluo City, drawing freed serfs into urban work and supplying cheap food to poor residents.
• Former nobles resented the kingdom’s rule, while ordinary citizens pursued new careers and freed serfs gradually became loyal to the new order.
• Monster kin mistreated humans, and Lang Pu alternated between harsh punishments and cover-ups according to what he judged best for the kingdom.
• Kingdom armies developed tactics using their existing weapons, and Dolo studied On War with his commanders.
• After three years of growth, the kingdom became a formidable power awaiting an opportunity to unleash its strength.

Tinia and the Tiefling Guards were caught in a volcanic disaster caused by Keosius’s slumbering power. Keosius awakened and quelled the destruction, leaving Ekemon to realize that His Majesty had risen.

• Tinia celebrated her freedom but remembered that Master might punish her if she caused trouble, then pressed herself against the palace wall while longing for the sleeping Red Dragon.
• The palace surroundings erupted into fissures, magma, ash, and scorching heat, forcing Tinia and the Tiefling Guards to flee.
• Ekemon led the Tiefling Guards toward safety, but new ravines and ash blocked their escape.
• Keosius roared, and an expanding invisible field calmed the magical upheaval, cooled the ground, and cleared the ash.
• Ekemon survived and concluded that His Majesty had awakened.

Keosius awoke from his ten-year slumber transformed by the diluted Progenitor Dragon Bloodline and reached the legendary realm. After leaving the ruined Iron Dragon Wing Palace, he sensed a familiar scent in the clear sky.

• Keosius awoke to find his cave covered in lava and confirmed that North Wind Fortress had flourished during his slumber.
• Keosius discovered that his body had grown and changed, with a dragon crystal embedded in his chest and new heat-venting pores.
• Keosius learned that his caster level had risen to 17 and that he had gained the dangerous Primal Breath Weapon.
• Keosius tested an ordinary breath attack, melting rock with searing white flames, and realized his life level had reached the legendary realm.
• Keosius erased the spells protecting his cave, left the cramped and ruined Iron Dragon Wing Palace, and sensed a familiar scent.