Chapter Summaries

Naven met Keosius at the Istaria Great Altar to seek an alliance for Kassand, but Keosius refused and declared the Embers of the Burned Empire would remain neutral. Keosius revealed that Thrace had bought its weapons from the empire and offered to sell Kassand weapons as well, leaving Naven hopeful he could affect the war.

• Naven climbed to the Istaria Great Altar and met Keosius in human form.
• Keosius refused Otis's offer of an alliance and said the empire would stay neutral in Fadlan's wars for at least a year.
• Naven told Keosius that Kassand had found weapons like the empire's in the hands of the Thrace army.
• Keosius admitted the weapons had come from ordinary trade with Thrace, not military aid.
• Keosius offered to sell Kassand weapons, and Naven became excited by the possibility of changing the course of the war.

Navin Bessarius visited the Klaubo Wu Military Industrial Group to buy weapons for the Kassand Kingdom, and Battlefield Wheelchair Man showed him the Empire’s latest rifle. Navin left believing the new weapons could give Kassand an advantage over Thrace and change the war’s balance.

• Keosius opened a portal for Navin and said he supported Otis as Fadlan’s rightful heir, while inviting Navin to buy what he needed for enough Gold Coins.
• Battlefield Wheelchair Man welcomed Navin and led him through the Imperial Army firing range to the group’s product testing grounds.
• Navin explained that Kassand needed weapons capable of matching the Thrace army, which had inflicted losses with weapons bought from the group.
• Battlefield Wheelchair Man presented the Wyvern Flame-I rifle, claiming it outperformed the older Enemy Breaker Fire-III and had earned praise from Imperial Marshal Dolo.
• Navin was thrilled by the prospect of arming Kassand with the Empire’s most advanced weapons and listened closely to Battlefield Wheelchair Man’s sales pitch.

Battlefield Wheelchair Man persuaded Naven to buy weapons from the Klaubert Group, and Kassand placed an enormous order. As Kassand and Thrace escalated their war with Empire-supplied arms, the fighting devastated Fadlan and strengthened the power rising in the north.

• Battlefield Wheelchair Man demonstrated the Wyvern Flame-I rifle and Thunder Hammer-IV cannon, then offered Naven a discount for a large order paid for in Ginar.
• Naven agreed to consult Lord Otis, and Battlefield Wheelchair Man also pitched him a collector's pistol.
• Several days later, Kassand ordered four hundred thousand rifles, thirty-six thousand cannons, and vast quantities of ammunition and shells from Klaubert Group.
• Kassand and Thrace recruited civilians and equipped them with Empire-bought weapons as their war spread along their shared border.
• The war devastated Fadlan, while the bloodshed strengthened the monster in the north until its wings covered the continent.

Keosius reviewed the Empire’s arms-export strategy and considered how the changing world’s coming Dragon Scourge would unfold. Tinia’s attempt to seduce him ended with her thrown from the Istaria Great Altar, while Lang Pu blamed her behavior on a popular Starfaller novel.

• Lang Pu explained that the Empire’s outdated weapons would earn Gold Coins, fuel industrial growth, and let the Empire control ammunition supplies and the Three Great Kingdoms’ arms race.
• Keosius realized the arms sales could spread the Empire’s Ginar across Feanso and strengthen its industry before Version 2.0 began.
• Keosius reflected that he had changed the expected story by destroying Jezal Slack’s Abyss Nest, bringing Anzeta into his domain, and subduing the lich, leaving the Dragon Scourge as the main storyline.
• Tinia clung to Keosius’s leg and recited a line about eating and bathing before asking him to lay eggs with her.
• Keosius struck Tinia, sending her from the altar, and she transformed into a White Dragon and complained that he would not choose her over other dragons.
• Keosius confronted Lang Pu about Tinia’s behavior, and Lang Pu said she had learned the dialogue from a popular Starfaller romance novel.

Misha, now a powerful and devoted servant of Keosius, considered how to choose Dragon Pact Sorcerers from the Starfallers gathered at the Karma Fire Tower. She decided to give them a trial, while Xia Ye Qiuyu arrived determined to earn the class.

• Misha reprimanded the Fire Elemental Elder for interrupting her contemplation of Keosius’s gift and prayed for forgiveness.
• Misha inspected several hundred Starfallers through a Magic Image and questioned whether they deserved to become Dragon Pact Sorcerers.
• Misha decided that the Starfallers needed a real trial and summoned the Fire Elemental Elder, Afar, to accompany her.
• Several hundred Sorcerer players gathered outside Baras Volcano to pursue the Dragon Pact Sorcerer class.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu gazed at the Karma Fire Tower and vowed to become a Dragon Pact Sorcerer.

Xia Ye Qiuyu gathered her four-person team to attempt the Dragon Pact Sorcerer advancement trial at the Karma Fire Tower. After explaining the hazards of the Lava Cave, she led them toward the entrance as other players struggled through the burning conditions.

• Nearly three hundred players, including elite guild teams, gathered to compete for Dragon Pact Sorcerer advancement slots.
• Steamed Bun and Singo arrived on Wyverns with Xia Ye Qiuyu, while Born Battle Maniac struggled with Wyvern sickness before joining them.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu explained that the trial began with the Lava Cave's Burning Road, describing its extreme heat, poisonous gases, and dangerous monsters.
• Other players cried out as they entered the cave and suffered from its hazards, and Xia Ye Qiuyu cheerfully led her team toward the entrance.

Players struggled to cross the lava-filled Burning Road at the start of Misha’s Trial, and only a small group with strong abilities or specialized equipment made it through. Xia Ye Qiuyu spotted something moving in the lava as the survivors continued into the cave.

• Many independent players were eliminated by the heat, poisonous gases, and lava before the trial officially began.
• Steamed Bun and Singo rode Wyverns along the cave walls, Xia Ye Qiuyu used potions, and Born Battle Maniac leapt across the molten rock.
• The Church of the Machine God advanced inside its Fireproofer armor, while Kingship’s Paladins and Mages formed a protected moving fortress.
• Charlotte led Magic Coin in using flight, poison immunity, and fire protection spells to cross the Burning Road.
• Only a little over eighty of the three hundred players entered the trial, and Xia Ye Qiuyu noticed something moving in the lava.

Players fought through Steam Demon Bats and Lava Stone Monsters in the cavern, where the monsters’ lava cores became the key to defeating them. More than fifty players remained as the surviving groups began clearing the stone monsters.

• Steam Demon Bats emerged from the cavern walls and killed isolated players with swarms, steam, and obscuring fog.
• Singo, Steamed Bun, Xia Ye Qiuyu, Charlotte, and the Magic Coin players fought the bats while Church of the Machine God players charged through them in Arcane Armor.
• Lava Stone Monsters rose from the lava and attacked the players with explosive chunks of burning sulfur.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu identified the Lava Stone Monsters’ chest cores as their weakness, while guild players withheld the information long enough for many independent players to die.
• Born Battle Maniac and Singo destroyed Lava Stone Monsters by striking their cores, and the other players joined the attack.

Xia Ye Qiuyu and the other players cleared the Burning Road and reached the volcano’s summit, where they faced the Fire Elemental Elder, the next stage of Misha’s trial. The Elder overwhelmed their defenses, and the Church of the Machine God sacrificed an Arcane Armor in an explosive lightning attack whose effect remained uncertain.

• The players finished clearing Burning Road and reached the volcano’s summit, where the Karma Fire Tower stood beyond a lava pool.
• Fire and smoke gathered above the lava to form the Fire Elemental Elder, which declared that the trial-takers would meet their end.
• The Fire Elemental Elder attacked with blazing whips, killing players and breaking through the Paladin’s shield and the Church of the Machine God’s Fireproofer armor.
• The Church of the Machine God activated its final plan and sent an Arcane Armor charging at the Elder.
• The Arcane Armor exploded near the Fire Elemental Elder, releasing stored spherical lightning that engulfed its body.

The players’ combined attacks froze and wounded the Fire Elemental Elder, but he exploded, broke free, and rampaged through the group. Xia Ye Qiuyu concluded that the trial’s real objective was survival in extreme heat, and the chapter left the players facing the enraged Elder.

• Charlotte slowed the Fire Elemental Elder while Xia Ye Qiuyu and the other Mages attacked him with lightning and cold spells.
• Singo marked the Elder and fired a rare Ice Cone Arrow as Steamed Bun struck him with a frost-coated spear.
• The Elder exploded, killing Steamed Bun and his Wyvern, then unleashed a rain of fire and charged the players.
• Charlotte’s Monster Immobilization Spell failed, and he narrowly escaped the Elder’s flames after losing his protective shield.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu endured the heat and decided that the trial’s main objective was survival rather than killing the Fire Elemental Elder.

The surviving players passed the trial at Baras Volcano, but the mysterious female voice revealed that their place in the Karma Fire Tower depended on obeying her standards. As Afar led them onward, one player’s mockery got him eliminated and killed.

• The Fire Elemental Elder rampaged through Baras Volcano, killing more than fifty players as the remaining players dodged its attacks.
• Born Battle Maniac charged the Fire Elemental Elder and was swatted into the lava, while the survivors used spells and tricks to evade it.
• A mysterious female voice announced that the surviving players had passed the trial and ordered Afar to lead them to the Karma Fire Tower.
• When Afar resisted, the voice suppressed its power, and Afar meekly agreed to lead the players.
• A player mocked Afar, so the female voice declared him eliminated and Afar killed him with a single blow.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu warned the others to behave carefully, concluding that the quest NPC was extremely particular.

The players entered the Karma Fire Tower, hoping to advance into the hidden Dragon Pact Sorcerer class. At the tower’s summit, they discovered a room filled with Keosius’s statues, imperial paintings, and valuable treasure, while Xia Ye Qiuyu suspected the final trial was not what it seemed.

• The Fire Elemental Elder led the players across the lava and into the Karma Fire Tower.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu hoped to advance into the Dragon Pact Sorcerer class and suspected another trial awaited them.
• The Fire Elemental Elder guided the players through the tower to its top floor.
• The players entered a room displaying statues and paintings of Keosius alongside piles of gold and rare equipment.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu sensed an aura of loyalty in the room and wondered whether it was the final trial.

As the players argued over the offerings atop the Karma Fire Tower, Xia Ye Qiuyu realized the final trial tested loyalty to Keosius, not merely resistance to greed. Misha judged the players’ conduct and prepared to decide the fate of those who had passed without showing devotion.

• The Kingship Guild took the Fire Giant Noble's Ring and Gold Coins, provoking other players who wanted to share the loot.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu concluded that the final trial required absolute loyalty to Keosius and knelt before his statue; Art is Explosion followed her example.
• Misha watched the players and condemned those fighting over the offerings, while approving of Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind as potential Dragon Pact Sorcerers.
• Misha considered the other Starfallers who had neither taken offerings nor demonstrated loyalty, then recalled Teacher Lang Pu's lesson that loyalty that was not absolute was absolute disloyalty.

Misha punished the players who stole the Fire Giant Noble’s Ring, slaughtering the thieves in the Karma Fire Tower while Xia Ye Qiuyu watched in awe. One Royal Authority player escaped with the ring, but Misha pursued him through a Space Rift.

• Royal Authority players seized the Fire Giant Noble’s Ring, and Misha appeared, accusing them of stealing a sacrifice for Keosius.
• Misha sealed the tower entrance with Wall of Fire and killed players who tried to flee with fire spells.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu watched Misha’s power and decided she wanted to become a Dragon Pact Sorcerer.
• A Royal Authority player used a teleportation scroll to escape with the ring while his companions tried to cover him.
• Misha incinerated the remaining thieves without harming the innocent players, then opened a Space Rift to pursue the escaping player.

Misha punished a Kingship Guild player for stealing the Fire Giant Noble's Ring, then judged the remaining players on their loyalty to Keosius. She eliminated everyone except Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind, whom she took to meet Keosius.

• A Kingship Guild player celebrated finding the Fire Giant Noble's Ring, but Misha appeared and burned him to ashes for stealing it.
• Misha recovered the ring and explained that Dragon Pact Sorcerers served Keosius and needed absolute loyalty.
• Misha declared that only Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind had passed because they had respected Keosius's statue while the others watched the theft.
• The eliminated players tried to prove their loyalty by kneeling and praising Keosius, but Misha rejected them and sent them away.
• Misha invited the three successful players to follow her to meet Keosius.

Xia Ye Qiuyu and two other players completed the Karma Fire Tower trial and received rare Keosius's Contracts, making them Dragon Pact Sorcerers. Misha took them through a Flame Dimensional Door to the Istaria Great Altar, where they prepared to seek an audience with Keosius.

• Xia Ye Qiuyu completed the Trial-Taker of the Karma Fire Tower quest and received Keosius's Contract as her advancement item.
• Misha gave Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind scrolls that proved their status as Dragon Pact Sorcerers.
• Misha confirmed that Keosius had agreed to meet the three players in Istaria and opened a Flame Dimensional Door.
• The three players followed Misha through the rift to the elevated gardens and altar overlooking Istaria.
• Xia Ye Qiuyu and the others admired the view from the Istaria Great Altar while Love Dragons Like the Wind posted screenshots on the forums.

Keosius welcomed Misha and the three Starfallers to the altar, then demonstrated the destructive power he could grant to future Dragon Pact Sorcerers. He explained that war and disaster threatened the continent and asked the players if they were ready to become his agents.

• Misha greeted Keosius and climbed the altar steps with the three players following her.
• Keosius welcomed Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind, while Misha thanked him for her rapid progress.
• Keosius told the players they had passed the Karma Fire Tower trial and would receive the power of a True Dragon.
• Keosius conjured a vision of flames, meteors, and cities destroyed before making the devastation vanish.
• Keosius warned that war threatened the continent and asked the three Starfallers if they were ready to become Dragon Pact Sorcerers.

Keosius performed an imperial advancement ritual that bound Xia Ye Qiuyu and two other players to him as Dragon Pact Sorcerers. The ritual transformed their bodies and granted them the Dragon Overlord advancement path, while Xia Ye Qiuyu accepted the permanent faction and control risks without hesitation.

• Xia Ye Qiuyu realized the advancement quest might connect to the Empire's Main Storyline as Keosius hinted at future disasters and conflict.
• Misha began the refined Overlord Contract Ritual as Keosius summoned a massive phantom of his Red Dragon form, stirring Istaria into cheers and prayers.
• Keosius offered the three players his power, and Xia Ye Qiuyu accepted the Dragon Overlord contract despite its warnings about faction changes and the overlord's influence.
• The contracts transformed the players' blood vessels and hearts, while Xia Ye Qiuyu developed dragonlike features and gained Dragon Spell and Dragon Heart traits, increasing her Charm and Constitution.

Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind completed their advancement and were sent back to Baras Volcano, while Keosius learned how Misha had angered a Fire Giant Noble in the Elemental Plane. Keosius decided to travel to the Fire Elemental Plane himself.

• Xia Ye Qiuyu, Art is Explosion, and Love Dragons Like the Wind gained dragonlike features and pledged loyalty to Keosius.
• Love Dragons Like the Wind asked Keosius to reveal his true form, but Keosius teleported the players back to Baras Volcano.
• Keosius transformed back into his Red Dragon form and asked Misha whether she had met the Sultan of the City of Brass.
• Misha explained that a Fire Giant Noble had insulted her, the empire, and Keosius, so she cut off the noble's fingers and took his ring.
• Misha said the noble pursued her with an army that she defeated, and Keosius decided to visit the Fire Elemental Plane.

Keosius prepared to travel to the Fire Elemental Plane to confront the Fire Giants and secure resources for his growth. With Fire Dwarf Gelin Cardozo as his guide, he entered the interplanar portal, leaving the Istaria Great Altar behind.

• Lang Pu told Keosius that the route to the Fire Elemental Plane was ready and introduced Gelin Cardozo as his native guide.
• Gelin arrived through the magical contract, panicked at the sight of Keosius, and apologized after Lang Pu rebuked him.
• Keosius recognized the Fire Dwarves’ smithing skill and decided that dealing with the Fire Giants came first.
• Lang Pu and the Magic Department’s mages opened a large interplanar portal at the summit of the Istaria Great Altar.
• Keosius seized Gelin and plunged through the portal toward the Fire Elemental Plane.