Chapter Summaries

The Embers of the Burned Kingdom expanded its industry and flooded northern markets with cheap goods, weakening rival economies. George, a former serf who had become a First-Class Citizen and factory administrator, returned to the factory where he once worked.

• The kingdom used blueprints left by the Church of the Machine God players to develop factories, steam trains, and other industries in North Wind Fortress.
• The kingdom's trade caravans sold its goods across the North, while the Bosque Duchy's restrictions failed to stop smuggling and consumption.
• Factories and workshops in rival duchies went bankrupt, leaving workers jobless as the kingdom drew wealth from their economies.
• Jack told George that Viscount Da Tou had ordered everyone, including George, back to work for urgent orders.
• George dressed in his formal clothes, took a carriage to Food Processing Factory No. 4, and arrived as its administrator rather than as a worker.

George returned to the factory as a newly appointed administrator, while Grand Duke Leo confronted the growing economic influence of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom. Leo was left alarmed by how deeply its goods and trade had spread through Anzeta.

• George reunited with Howard at the factory, and Howard and the workers treated him as their new lord after he announced his appointment as administrator.
• George promised to distribute the workers’ performance bonuses and urged them to improve their work alongside him.
• Grand Duke Leo condemned merchants and commoners for buying goods from the Embers of the Burned Kingdom, while Count Trischka explained that its cheaper, higher-quality products made smuggling profitable.
• Trischka reported that smugglers had disguised 1,245 seized goods with the Bosk Family crest and that the duchy could no longer control such practices.
• Grand Duke Leo realized that the Embers of the Burned Kingdom had spread its influence across the North through trade and feared the prospect of open war.

Steamed Bun watched Erezege’s announcement that its open beta would begin in three days with Version 1.0, Northern Lands Feng Yun. The promotional video revealed the dangers and conflicts of the northern lands, ending with Keosius’s devastating dragonfire as Steamed Bun prepared to return to the game.

• Steamed Bun saw the official Erezege account announce that the open beta would begin in three days, while players’ comments showed that all fifty thousand beta slots had already been claimed.
• Steamed Bun watched a trailer introduce the Anzeta Great Wasteland and its harsh climate, varied creatures, and suffering serfs.
• The trailer showed Vampire Spawn and their duke slaughtering humans, Frost Giants pillaging the south, and demons emerging beneath the Fallen Giant’s throne.
• The narrator announced a rising new power as Wyvern Knights, players, factories, trains, mechs, and artillery appeared in scenes of conflict and change.
• The trailer ended with Keosius’s Red Dragon burning the battlefield during the Trill Battle, and Steamed Bun finished his meal, eager to return to the game.

Keosius reviewed forum guides that promoted his kingdom as the best faction for Erezege players and prepared for the open beta, including commissioning a Supreme Dragon Crown. Weeks later, Ji Ming secured an open beta slot, entered his game pod, and created his character, Lonely as Snow.

• Keosius read Singo's guide recommending North Wind Fortress and the Embers of the Burned Kingdom, along with boastful posts and player theories about his faction.
• Keosius concluded that his decade-long plan had made the kingdom central to the game's story and prepared his departments for the Starfallers' arrival.
• Lang Pu showed Keosius the preliminary blueprint for the Supreme Dragon Crown, which Keosius approved.
• Weeks later, Ji Ming won one of the fifty thousand open beta slots, showed off his game pod on the forum, and entered it.
• Ji Ming chose the nickname Lonely as Snow and saw that his character had above-average Strength, Constitution, and Charisma.

Lonely as Snow arrived at North Wind Fortress and followed S Da’s guide to look for beginner work, but Lucky Emperor persuaded him to visit the House of Dragon's Blessing instead. The chapter ended with Lucky Emperor insisting that Keosius's Secret Treasure was a launch-period reward, despite Lonely as Snow’s doubts.

• Lonely as Snow explored North Wind Fortress, chose mining as his planned early-game job, and passed crowds of new players and guild recruiters.
• Lonely as Snow found the Bottomless Mine and was stopped by Lucky Emperor, who claimed an Internal Beta friend had given him insider information.
• Lucky Emperor led Lonely as Snow to the House of Dragon's Blessing, where players had gathered around the Keosius's Secret Treasure event.
• Lonely as Snow warned that S Da’s guide called the treasure event a scam, but Lucky Emperor dismissed the guide and promised to prove the rewards were worthwhile.

Lucky Emperor and Lonely as Snow borrowed money from the Kingdom Bank to buy treasure boxes, despite warnings from a veteran player. As Lucky Emperor stepped up to open his boxes, the watching crowd began taking bets on whether he would get anything.

• Lucky Emperor borrowed four Newbie Dream Come True Funds from the Kingdom Bank, while Lonely as Snow borrowed one to buy treasure boxes.
• Charlotte, a level-five mage and Magic Coin Guild president, warned the two that the boxes could lead to despair, but they dismissed him and joined the line.
• The two watched most players leave with junk, and Lucky Emperor tried to reassure himself that Newbie protection would help him.
• When his turn came, Lucky Emperor announced that he would beat a record with a Grand Slam, drawing the crowd's attention.
• Players began betting on whether Lucky Emperor would win something from the boxes.

Lucky Emperor opened four chests and received only worthless kobold gear, leaving him devastated and deep in debt. Lonely as Snow then opened a chest and found rare Kingdom Adamantine Armor, while Lucky Emperor could only watch in disbelief.

• Lucky Emperor opened his first chest and found Kobold Leather Pants, drawing mockery from the players.
• Lucky Emperor opened two more chests and received a used Kobold Butcher's Leather Mask and a Failed-to-Hatch Kobold Egg.
• Lucky Emperor opened his final chest and found a Kobold's Wooden Spear, then collapsed to his knees in despair.
• Lonely as Snow opened a chest and found rare Kingdom Adamantine Armor, prompting the crowd to celebrate his luck.
• Lonely as Snow rejoiced over his drop while Lucky Emperor remained devastated and insisted he should have been next.

Lonely as Snow rejected Kingship Guild’s offers for his Adamantine Armor and joined Magic Coin with Lucky Emperor instead. In the royal palace, Keosius prepared to begin the war to conquer the North as Lord Mezhuolash arrived with important information.

• Feng Yun offered Lonely as Snow 200 Gold Coins, then 300, for the Adamantine Armor, but Lonely as Snow refused to sell it or join Kingship Guild on its terms.
• After Feng Yun threatened him and left, Charlotte invited Lonely as Snow and Lucky Emperor to join Magic Coin, and both newbies accepted.
• Charlotte privately planned to use Lonely as Snow as a tank and welcomed Lucky Emperor because he seemed even unluckier than himself.
• Keosius reviewed where the fifty thousand players had spawned and declared that the war to liberate the North was about to begin.
• A Tiefling Guard announced that Lord Mezhuolash had important information, and Keosius ordered him admitted.

Keosius learned that the Bosque Duchy had hired the legendary Crimson Edge to fight him and ordered Nocturne to keep the party under surveillance. The Crimson Edge arrived at Grand Duke Leo’s mansion, where Dex Flamegold demanded information about the Red Dragon.

• Mezhuolash told Keosius that the Crimson Edge had slain thirteen dragons, including a very old Red Dragon, and described the party’s known members.
• Keosius learned the party’s commission would cost at least 120,000 Gold Coins and suspected that other northern nations might aid him as compradors.
• Keosius ordered Mezhuolash to monitor the Crimson Edge and report any developments, then was interrupted by news that Lord Lang Pu requested an audience.
• Grand Duke Leo anxiously asked Trischka when the Crimson Edge would arrive after scouts spotted Keosius near the border.
• Dex Flamegold and the Crimson Edge entered the Duke’s Mansion through a Space Rift, and Dex demanded that Leo tell him about the Red Dragon.

Crimson Edge saw evidence of the red dragon’s overwhelming power and demanded more money to take the commission. Meanwhile, Keosius learned that the Harpers were gathering allies against him but remained determined to unite Anzeta.

• Dex, Lano, and Ingrid questioned Trischka’s report that a young adult red dragon could cast Ninth Circle Spells, and Grand Duke Leo vouched for the information.
• Trischka showed Crimson Edge Schroeder’s Magic Crystal footage of the dragon trapping an army in a vast firestorm at Trill Valley.
• Klein identified the dragon’s spell as an unusually powerful Control Weather and warned Dex that it might be an Aberrant Dragon.
• Dex told Grand Duke Leo that Crimson Edge needed more preparations and would charge more for the commission.
• Lang Pu informed Keosius that the Harpers had enlisted several potential allies, including the Melvord Clan and Ancient Silver Dragon Oszedro.
• Keosius acknowledged that the Harpers had found many backers but declared that no one, not even the gods, would stop him from unifying Anzeta.

Three months after the server opened, Charlotte accepted a quest to find the missing merchant Kruse in a labyrinth and assembled a team of guild members to tackle it. Flying Witch led the reluctant group as they set out for the Underground Labyrinth.

• A woman begged Charlotte to rescue her missing husband, merchant Kruse, and Charlotte accepted the labyrinth quest for the experience it offered.
• Charlotte recruited Flying Witch, Lonely as Snow, Lucky Emperor, and Jiu Li, assigning one experienced player to accompany three newcomers.
• Lonely as Snow arrived in heavy armor, while Lucky Emperor and Jiu Li joined as indebted, underleveled mages.
• Flying Witch promised the group that she would prove herself dependable, and the four-person party departed for the Underground Labyrinth.

Lonely as Snow led Flying Witch, Lucky Emperor, and Jiu Li into the maze, where Lucky Emperor’s search for coins drew a Minotaur’s attention. After they defeated the beast, Flying Witch accidentally transformed Lonely as Snow into a sheep, leaving him to wait for the spell to wear off.

• Lonely as Snow entered the maze with the three spellcasters, hoping to avoid fighting and finish the quest quietly.
• Lucky Emperor followed Silver Coins deeper into the maze and encountered a Minotaur, which Lonely as Snow shielded him from.
• Lonely as Snow used Defend Challenge to draw the Minotaur’s attacks while Flying Witch struck it with a fireball.
• Lucky Emperor and Jiu Li tried to hit the Minotaur with Fire Bolts but missed, so Flying Witch finished it with Aganazzar's Scorcher.
• Flying Witch accidentally transformed Lonely as Snow into a sheep and said the effect would wear off in two minutes.

Lonely as Snow and his teammates encountered the underground Shark Lizard Beast, and their chaotic attacks left him badly injured despite defeating it. The group was left with Lonely as Snow barely clinging to life after Flying Witch’s lightning struck both the beast and him.

• Lonely as Snow warned the group about shaking ground, and the Shark Lizard Beast burst out of the earth and attacked.
• Lonely as Snow blocked the beast’s pounce and used Guiding Divine Power to force it to fight him while his teammates attacked.
• Jiu Li’s Wizardry Arrow barely affected the beast, Lucky Emperor missed with Color Spray, and Flying Witch’s first Fireball spell produced butterflies and flower petals.
• Flying Witch struck the Shark Lizard Beast with a powerful Lightning Beam, but the beam also hit Lonely as Snow, who was embedded in the maze wall.
• The Shark Lizard Beast collapsed, while Lonely as Snow lay scorched and barely alive.

Spark incited the enslaved miners in the Carter Duchy to question the nobles’ authority and led them in an uprising against their overseer. After killing the overseer, Spark left Chai Gun with the first spark of hope that the slaves could fight back.

• Spark asked Chai Gun whether he hated the nobles and overseers who enslaved and abused them, but Chai Gun insisted they were naturally superior.
• Spark challenged the miners’ beliefs about noble status, and his questions planted doubts in Chai Gun’s mind.
• Spark ignored the overseer’s order to keep working, and the miners stopped with him.
• When the overseer whipped Spark, Spark caught the whip and the miners pinned the overseer down.
• Spark killed the overseer with his pickaxe, and the enraged miners attacked the corpse.
• Spark told Chai Gun that the nobles had never been superior to them, and Chai Gun felt a faint spark of hope.

Spark led the mine workers to continue their uprising, named their movement Kindling, and set out to liberate Valier Mine. The revolt became the Valier Riot, and as the rebels fled into the mountains, similar resistance groups spread across the North.

• Nick urged Spark to continue the uprising, and Spark called for the workers to liberate Valier Mine and kill the nobles’ lackeys.
• Spark rejected surrender, told the workers to seize weapons and supplies, and accepted Nick’s proposal to name their organization Kindling and call one another “comrade.”
• Spark led the workers out of the pit to liberate the entire mine, while Chai Gun and the others wondered what guns were.
• A few days later, more than a thousand workers revolted at Valier Mine, killed nearly a hundred overseers and an honorary Baron, and fled into the mountains as the Valier Riot.
• The Carter Duchy branded the rebels as devils and man-eaters, while resistance organizations sprang up across the North among the twenty thousand players.

After Kindling suffered severe losses fighting the Carter Duchy, Spark contacted Steel Frenzy to seek weapons from the Church of the Machine God. Lang Pu agreed to provide the kingdom’s obsolete firearms, leaving Steel Frenzy to deliver the news and lament being outsmarted by both guild members and NPCs.

• Spark and Nick discussed Kindling’s heavy casualties and concluded that they needed help against the duchy’s powerful knights.
• Spark contacted Steel Frenzy and asked the Church of the Machine God to sponsor weapons for Kindling.
• Steel Frenzy considered using the request to obtain funding for another mech suit, then reported it to Lang Pu.
• Lang Pu approved sending the army’s stored smoothbore guns and said the kingdom would support Kindling.
• Steel Frenzy agreed to inform Spark and complained that even the game’s NPCs kept outsmarting him.

Steamed Bun patrolled North Wind Fortress and caught a Bosque Duchy scout trying to escape through the crowded streets. He captured the scout with Noodles and cut off his arm when he tried to attack them in midair.

• Steamed Bun arrested Holy Light Bro for repeatedly exposing himself in public and took him to the kingdom prison.
• Steamed Bun spotted a Bosque Duchy scout while using aerial reconnaissance over the city.
• The scout released smoke and tried to escape, but Noodles's Dragon Roar Charge stunned the crowd and stopped him.
• Noodles seized the scout in its claws and carried him hundreds of meters into the air.
• The scout drew a Sleeve Arrow to attack Noodles, so Steamed Bun cut off his arm and demanded that he surrender.

Steamed Bun lost the chance to claim a spy-capture bounty when a wounded Bosque scout killed himself, then joined Singo, Born Battle Maniac, and Xia Ye Qiuyu at the Red Scale Garrison. Singo warned that a war with the Bosque Duchy could draw in powers across the continent, but believed the kingdom would ultimately unify the Anzeta Great Wasteland.

• A captured Bosque scout swallowed poison and died before Steamed Bun could claim the reward for bringing him in alive.
• Steamed Bun delivered the scout's corpse to Nocturne's headquarters in Lachmann Castle and collected a smaller reward for eliminating an enemy.
• Singo summoned Steamed Bun to the Red Scale Garrison, where Born Battle Maniac and Xia Ye Qiuyu also arrived, bringing their old four-person group together.
• Singo explained that Northern spies and Bosque scouts had appeared near the border and warned that war with the Bosque Duchy could involve the Northern United Kingdom and other continental powers.
• Singo predicted that the kingdom would win and unify the Anzeta Great Wasteland unless the developers intervened with an unlikely twist.

Grand Duke Leo Bosk gathered the Northern Nobles to confront the threat posed by the Embers of the Burned Kingdom and the Red Dragon. After executing nobles accused of collaborating with the kingdom, he urged the rest to unite against it, and the meeting ended in applause.

• Grand Duke Leo Bosk declared that the Red Dragon and the Embers of the Burned Kingdom threatened the North and the Scania People.
• Several nobles urged Leo to avoid war and continue appeasing the Red Dragon.
• Leo accused nobles of taking Gold Coin from the Embers of the Burned Kingdom, and soldiers seized several accused nobles.
• Leo had the captured nobles executed to warn the others against collaboration.
• Leo invoked the destruction of the Rackman Dynasty and called on the Northern Nobles to prepare against the Embers of the Burned Kingdom.
• The nobles applauded Leo's speech.

Grand Duke Leo and his allies formed a continent-wide alliance to oppose the Red Dragon Keosius, with the Ancient Silver Dragon Oszedro promising to confront him. The nobles celebrated their prospects, unaware that their campaign was only the beginning of a nightmare.

• Earl Nall questioned how the coalition could face Keosius, and the nobles worried their armies would be no match for him.
• Earl Trischka introduced the Ancient Silver Dragon Oszedro, who arrived through a magical gate.
• Oszedro examined the intelligence on Keosius and promised to confront the Red Dragon while the others handled his followers.
• A divine-blooded count, an Asmo, an elder druid, and more than a hundred other extraordinary beings joined the gathering, while Grand Duke Leo kept the Crimson Seam Rippers in reserve.
• Grand Duke Leo raised a toast, and the assembled forces formed the Anti-Red Dragon Alliance.