Chapter Summaries

Ian witnessed Thorstner’s memories, learning how the Rust-Steel Dragon came to Terra and how he died defending his kingdom from the Ice-Mist Dragon. After inheriting the Glimmer Cradle’s knowledge, Ian stood before the Mountain Folk as the Dragon God’s Emissary, preparing to take up Thorstner’s unfinished legacy.

• Ian explored Thorstner’s ancient memories and learned that the True Dragons wondered about their origins and sought a way to become immortal.
• In Thorstner’s final days, Mingshan Xuanfeng reported a spreading blizzard, and Thorstner revealed that an aged dragon had come to seize his treasure.
• Thorstner rose to fight the Ice-Mist Dragon, leaving his kingdom and people as his greatest treasure and ending his life in the Dragon War.
• Ian received Thorstner’s inheritance and learned that the Glimmer Cradle could analyze and preserve the information in Sparks, including those in the South Sea Grand Labyrinth.
• Ian recognized the Cradle’s potential to advance biological research and improve his Inheritance, but resolved to stabilize his territory before pursuing that work.
• Ian descended to the summit’s edge and faced thousands of Mountain Folk who hailed him as the Dragon God’s Emissary.

Ian fought the Magnetic Light Knight from the air with Sky-Binding Armor and a barrage of alchemical weapons, while Purple Maple withdrew from the battle. As Ian prepared to test more ammunition, a scorching point of light appeared where Magnetic Light stood.

• Ian used Sky-Binding Armor and alchemical attacks to bombard Magnetic Light and Purple Maple from the sky.
• Magnetic Light dodged the attacks, raised a magnetic sand shield, and countered with wrist-mounted electromagnetic cannons.
• Ian evaded Magnetic Light’s powerful shot and continued attacking with high-pressure streams of water and fire.
• Purple Maple complained that Ian was stronger than expected, withdrew her transformed arm, and fled.
• Ian focused on Magnetic Light and reached for more alchemical ammunition, but a scorching point of light appeared where Magnetic Light stood.

Ian completed his work in Harrison Port and prepared to return to Xiahui Territory, while Frost Butterfly organized the Fairies to help manage the South Sea Grand Labyrinth and attract adventurers. After Elan demonstrated that he could use Thought Writing through the Crystal Dragon avatar, Ian registered him as a Psionics user and set out to perfect the Steel Lord using the secret of the Radiance of Tarnish Steel.

• Frost Butterfly explained the plan to guide adventurers toward treasure and magical beast nests, and told Sha Sha to stop ramming ships because the adventurers would become allies and customers.
• Ian praised Frost Butterfly and arranged Ascendant materials for her; Hua An said she would return to Paradise Township after Mentor Gan Song arrived to oversee the Fairy nest and guide Frost Butterfly.
• Ian confirmed that Elan could use Thought Writing while possessing the Crystal Dragon, allowing him to communicate with Andor, and encouraged Green Pupil to use its avatar to grow through the Empire's resources.
• Viscount Grant looked after Little Comete and registered Elan on the Empire's list of Psionics users, allowing Ian to finish his work in Harrison Port.
• Ian prepared to return to Xiahui Territory, eager to perfect the Steel Lord with the secret of the Radiance of Tarnish Steel.

Ian studied the origins of Terra’s Ascension Path and realized that he was beginning to condense a Soul Light Body through the Undead Monarch’s power and the Ancient Dragon Core’s Origin Matter. He reflected on the consensus needed to complete his own breakthrough, then left Black Soil Garden to rejoin Radiant Sword’s Light-Embracing Rescue Team and continue the expedition.

• Ian reconstructed how Terra’s modern Ascension Path had combined Soul Ascension with Body Ascension after the Calamity of Falling Skies.
• Ian identified Primordial Aether as the fusion of soul and bodily Origin Matter that gave rise to a Soul Light Body.
• Ian watched Primordial Aether gather within him, though he had not yet fully crossed the threshold to form his own Soul Light Body.
• Ian recognized that the dead souls’ shared resolve for revenge and rest gave them the consensus needed to form Soul Light Bodies.
• Ian heard that Radiant Sword’s Light-Embracing Rescue Team had finished resting and walked back to them to continue the adventure.

Sheo and Ethan guarded the dragon treasures as a battle above the ruins shook the Subspace Labyrinth and brought down five High Towers. The second-generation True Dragon’s remains then transported Sheo, Isengard, and the crystal cabinet, while Isengard heard the dying dragon declare him the Key of All Things and the End of Darkness.

• Sheo and Ethan defended the crystal cabinet and dragon bones from explorers and mutant beasts while Mercury Spring warned that communication was blocked and powerful forces were fighting above the ruins.
• A blazing sun appeared over the Subspace Labyrinth, then hypergravity and violent tremors tore open the ground and caused five sealing High Towers to fall.
• Sheo struggled to drag the crystal cabinet clear of the falling Red Tower, and Ethan’s blood resonated with her dragonblood, empowering her to save it.
• Sheo and Isengard questioned the origin of Ethan’s apparent True Dragon blood as the second-generation True Dragon’s skull and the crystal cabinet began glowing crimson-gold.
• The dragon skeleton transported Sheo, Isengard, and the crystal cabinet; Isengard found himself above a sea of dragon blood and heard the dying dragon call him the Key of All Things and the End of Darkness.

Ian revealed that the Perpetual Motion Machine could only be activated through a fair universal vote, then challenged Terra’s powerful beings to earn the people’s support. After defeating the Shadowmare King, he promised to build a New World and explained that he wanted people to learn and dream so they could understand his journey toward the stars.

• The Perpetual Motion Machine assessed Terra’s minds, found that voting could proceed once enough people recovered, and explained that activation required a universal vote and regional candidates.
• Ian told Terra that voters would choose who could control the machine, and urged powerful rulers to earn people’s support by giving them dignity, safety, and hope.
• The Shadowmare King attacked Ian in fury, but Ian struck it down with the Edge of the Falling Sun and split the land with his dimensional slash.
• Ian announced his candidacy, promised to create a New World through the Arcane Path, and declared that the new struggle for the machine had begun.
• After the white abyss vanished, Ian told those who questioned him that he would teach his people science, art, philosophy, and history so they could understand his wish to travel above the heavens toward the stars.

Ian defeated a mutant human whose body had been taken over by a mature parasitic organism. After examining the corpse, he identified the parasite as the complete form of one he had encountered before.

• The mutant human attacked Ian, but he detected it, countered its blows, and drove it from hiding with a rock and his High-Pressure Water Gun.
• Ian ignored the mutant human’s feigned plea for mercy and broke its defenses with his Deep Abyss Iron Sword.
• Ian pinned and killed the creature’s true body, revealing a gigantic reddish-brown tapeworm inside its chest.
• Ian scanned the corpse and learned that the tapeworm was the mature form of the pale-blue parasite he had previously seen.
• Ian examined the mutant human’s deformed body and determined that the parasite had replaced its brain and likely gained intelligence.

Ian appraised an unknown magic plant brought to Harrison Apothecary, using a Suspended Mist Vessel to study its Origin Matter and effects. He concluded that it was a newly evolved, life-extending ascended plant, not the regeneration plant Mr. Silverfang had been told it was.

• Ian examined the translucent cyan plant and judged that it could still grow toward the Second Energy Level.
• Ian placed the plant in a Suspended Mist Vessel and carefully tested its Origin Matter with his own.
• Pat mocked Ian's technique, but Ethan's teacher praised Ian's skill and urged the blond boy to study how he handled Origin Matter.
• Ian determined that the plant had beneficially mutated through accumulated growth and possessed pure life-source energy without aberrant proliferation.
• Ian realized the plant strengthened vitality, slowed aging, and repaired cellular damage rather than regrowing limbs or healing hidden internal injuries.

Ace defeated Radiant King Karlo Nemasas in a battle restricted to Second Energy Level power, demonstrating how the Arcane Path’s collective research had transformed the Spiritlight Swarm Bloodline. As the people celebrated Ace’s victory and the future he represented, the King of Embers, the Southern Ridge Grand Duke, and Ian Silverpeak arrived, and their auras collided above the city.

• Ian Silverpeak’s restriction prevented Radiant King Karlo Nemasas from using power above the Second Energy Level, and Ace challenged his father to fight him.
• Karlo attacked with the Spiritlight Swarm, but Ace used his immobile swarm to form a powerful defensive array and endured Karlo’s escalating assault.
• Ace refined his power and part of Karlo’s attack into a spiritlight blast, struck Karlo down, and won while the onlookers saw the potential of the bloodline he had spread.
• Ace explained that researchers and practitioners in Silverpeak Domain had developed the techniques he used through extensive study and shared combat data, while Karlo argued that bloodlines would eventually return as the foundation of inheritance.
• Karlo warned Ace that the King of Embers, the Southern Ridge Grand Duke, and Ian Silverpeak had arrived, and their auras tore open the sky as the people watched in anticipation.

Ian prepared to travel to the Avak Region under the pretext of forming a Special Incident Observation Squad, then drank the Rockforged Knight Magic Potion and completed his advancement. He stood in his laboratory as a Rockforged Knight, his body transformed and his Origin Matter powerful enough to make nearby objects tremble.

• Ian formed a Special Incident Observation Squad with Hua An, Mo Feng, and Frost Butterfly, and appointed Teres's squad to protect it.
• Ian gathered the materials for a Rockforged Knight Magic Potion, including the Rainbow Spear Plume, Voltage-Transforming Muscles, and Infernal Ice Wolf Crystal Core.
• Ian combined the ingredients into a metallic, crystal-latticed potion and drank it despite its scorching effects.
• Ian endured the painful transformation as silver-gray armor-like Origin Matter spread across his body and sank beneath his skin.
• After half an hour, Ian rose as a Rockforged Knight, causing the objects in his laboratory to tremble.

Ian used the Silver Chip to record and analyze the elaborate inscription structure of Isengard’s sapphire bracelet, while concealing how much he had learned. His claim that he could not analyze its second layer revealed that the bracelet had a hidden inscription no one else knew about, drawing attention from Master Gose and Patrick.

• Ian explained how the Silver Chip recorded inscriptions and helped him reproduce them, then used it to capture the bracelet’s structure.
• Ian analyzed Isengard’s sapphire bracelet, identifying its mithril base, twelve sapphire arrays, and fire-aligned Nature Psionics field.
• Ian demonstrated how to extract a cross-section of the bracelet’s psionic field, impressing Isengard with his precision.
• Ian described the bracelet’s materials and craftsmanship to Isengard, then claimed he could not analyze its second-layer inscription.
• Isengard revealed that his mother had given him the bracelet, Blue Flame, and Master Gose said it had no second layer when he examined it four years earlier.
• Master Gose and the others reacted with surprise, while Patrick looked at Ian with suspicion.

Ian reached the fifth level of the Imperial Capital and discovered that its middle district was a vast, natural-looking space-city built inside Lone Mountain. Teres brought him to the Inspecting Knights Order headquarters, where Ian went to the archives while awaiting the important figure who had sent Teres to fetch him.

• Ian and Teres left the cable car and traveled through Passage 5 to the Imperial Capital's fifth level.
• Ian saw the bustling streets, wildlife, and artificial sky of the level and concluded that each ring of the middle district was an experimental satellite colony.
• Ian gave Hua An money to take Frost Butterfly to a juice shop while he entered the Inspecting Knights Order headquarters with Teres.
• Teres led Ian to the archives and warned him that the important figure who had sent him to collect Ian would likely arrive soon.

Ace Nemasus publicly challenged the Radiant King and all powerful Sublimers over their neglect of ordinary people, while Ian used the confrontation to turn the accusation into a worldwide call to answer or oppose him. The chapter ended with Ian declaring his righteous cause as a war against all nations.

• The Radiant King learned that Ace had returned and watched him teach the Arcane Path and distribute details of the Soul Light Collective bloodline.
• The Radiant King entered the Void Realm and wondered whether Ian Silverpeak had solved the dangerous mental burdens of Fifth Energy Level bloodlines.
• Ian tested Elan during a walk, praised his use of Retrospective Vision, and told him he might one day inherit the Silver Chip.
• Ian showed Elan a recorded confrontation in which Ace accused the Radiant King and other powerful rulers of ignoring the common people despite having the means to improve their lives.
• Ace condemned Fourth and Fifth Energy Level beings for considering ordinary people beneath them, and Ian declared that the confrontation would be shared across the world.
• Ian challenged honest rulers to speak the truth and his enemies to fight him, calling his campaign a declaration of war against all nations under the banner of a righteous cause.

Ian trained his Precognitive Vision, learning its limits and considering how to control its range. While cooking lunch, he noticed Brin secretly watching his cottage and called him out in front of the street.

• Ian tested Precognitive Vision’s activation speed, stamina cost, range, and expanding radius, then added controlling it to his training plans.
• Ian decided his intense training required much more food and reflected on the size and value of Terra’s cattle.
• Ian spotted a suspicious figure repeatedly passing his cottage while using Precognitive Vision.
• Ian recognized the watcher as Brin, the herbalist who had tried to take his sleep powder.
• Ian opened the window and loudly asked Brin why he kept wandering in front of his house.

Ian uncovered the Blazing Flame Lands’ plan to use Rootrot Fungus and food shortages to weaken the Southern Ridge, and found that Rosy Radiance Grass in Layan Territory was their first target. He sent evidence and the heads of three enemy Ascended back toward Harrison Port, then pressed on toward his destination.

• Ian studied the report on Rootrot Fungus and concluded that the Blazing Flame Lands planned to undermine the Southern Ridge with crop failures and a food blockade.
• Ian suspected Grand Duke Solin had joined the Blazing Flame Lands and that compromised Southern Ridge officials might be hoarding food for profit.
• Ian found samples showing that Rootrot Fungus had spoiled Rosy Radiance Grass, the key ingredient he needed for his advancement potion.
• Ian decided to hurry to Layan Territory and kill Blazing Flame Lands special forces along the way to earn merit.
• Ian collected the heads of three Ascended and gave them, the documents, and instructions to the caravan manager to send them to Harrison Port.

Ian detonated explosives to collapse the hive as the White Mist Bishop and Aether Crystal Dragon defeated the Brain-Eating Insect Queen. The cooling interface restarted and unleashed its emergency flow, forcing Ian and the survivors to flee while the ancient mechanism consumed the hive and everything nearby.

• Ian placed explosives at the hive’s weakened support points, then returned to retrieve three dragon eggs.
• Isengard supported the exhausted Ian outside the hive, and Ian gave him Patrick’s mithril longsword as a keepsake from his uncle.
• The White Mist Bishop pinned the Brain-Eating Insect Queen while the Aether Crystal Dragon struck it with a charged blast.
• Ian’s explosives collapsed the hive onto the nearly defeated queen, and the cooling interface began restarting.
• Ian, Master Gose, and Isengard escaped with the Aether Crystal Dragon as the emergency cooling channel opened and engulfed the hive and nearby creatures.

Ian infiltrated the pirates’ ship to study its Canaanmore combat armor, copied its inscription structures, and secretly marked it with the Giant Clam’s Origin Matter before escaping. The Elf pirate found the mark and wondered why a Giant Clam had attacked alongside the Ironclad Shark.

• Ian examined the inactive armor and used the Silver Chip to record and reconstruct its components and inscription circuits.
• Ian decided not to steal the armor or reveal his full strength, and used the Giant Clam to spray Origin Matter onto it so the Silver Chip could track it later.
• Ian escaped through the breach, taking a piece of the living-wood hull as a clue for his report.
• The Elf pirate and his crew arrived, repaired the ship, and confirmed that the armor had not been damaged.
• The Elf pirate tasted the Origin Matter on the armor, recognized the scent of a Giant Clam, and wondered why it had joined the Ironclad Shark’s attack.

An echo of Terra civilization spoke with Doran, the Ice-Mist Dragon, who prepared a cultivation pod so the echo could someday gain a body and pursue its dream of becoming a fireseed. After seeing their memories, Ian reflected on forgotten lives and resolved to remember them as he continued forward.

• The echo told Doran it wanted to leave Terra, while Doran argued that modern Terra humans deserved to be called human.
• Doran rejected creating an echo of himself, explaining that life should be created as a blessing rather than a burden.
• Doran arranged for Thorstner to take the Bloodline Transcriber and cultivation pod as their wager, preparing the pod for the echo's future use.
• Thorstner revealed that Doran was still alive and asked the echo to tell his people that their Dragon God had returned; the echo promised, while insisting Doran had not lost.
• After leaving the ice dragon's nest, Ian reflected on forgotten histories and how his friends had helped him reach the Star-Extinguishing Path.
• Ian resolved to remember the forgotten and keep moving forward toward a path to success.

Ian saw golden-red mist streaming from Elan, with the gold signaling a rare fortune waiting at Lake Forest despite the danger there. He set out at night dragging Osena’s corpse, followed by a curious wisp of golden mist-light.

• Ian used Precognitive Vision to inspect the mist around Elan and judged that Lake Forest held both danger and extraordinary good fortune.
• Ian decided to go to Lake Forest, reasoning that he had little choice and might as well pursue the promising omen.
• Ian shut off Precognitive Vision and discovered that his awakened psionic power and full stomach had greatly increased his strength and sped his healing.
• Ian left the cottage with Osena’s corpse and looked out at Terra’s night sky, reflecting on his new world and hoping to return to Earth someday.
• Ian dragged Osena’s corpse toward Lake Forest as a curious wisp of golden mist-light followed him.

Ian completed his Second Energy Level transformation, gaining powerful physical abilities and precise control over his Origin Matter and body. He prepared to disguise himself, gather equipment, and set out on an adventure.

• Ian’s Eternal Physique, Silver-Scaled Bastion, and Lucid Source Crystal synergized with his existing organs, strengthening his stamina, defenses, attacks, and resistance to harmful conditions.
• Ian counted his sixteen Ascendant organs and concluded that he had no significant weaknesses within the Second Energy Level.
• Ian demonstrated that he could control a hair-thin strand of Origin Matter from twenty meters away and engrave his name on glass.
• Ian altered his facial appearance to resemble Isengard and realized he could create an independent alternate identity.
• Ian decided to test potions, practice disguising himself as a First Energy Level Ascendant, gather weapons and armor, and prepare to set out.