Chapter Summaries

The Magnetic Light Knight persuaded the Purple Maple Knight to help him target Ian, claiming Ian knew the location of the Dragon-Worshiping Cult’s Southern Ridge headquarters. Ian realized the Knight was concealing a larger scheme and sent a letter to Mr. Silverfang for delivery to the cult.

• The Magnetic Light Knight used the Marsh Crocodile Dragon materials and Ian’s meeting with Anfa to argue that Ian was tied to the Dragon-Worshiping Cult and could lead them to its secrets.
• The Purple Maple Knight questioned the Magnetic Light Knight’s reasoning, but agreed to ask Ian one question while he pursued him.
• The Magnetic Light Knight revealed that Marquis Barton was testing his loyalty and that he needed results to survive the test.
• The Magnetic Light Knight described Ian’s abilities and asked the Purple Maple Knight to help ensure Ian could not escape.
• Ian inferred that the Magnetic Light Knight and a Spirit Cognition Institute section chief were pursuing a major plan, then wrote Mr. Silverfang a letter to pass to the Dragon-Worshiping Cult.

Ian discovered that the Silver Chip had fused with his body and, while examining food, revealed its ability to identify objects and display extensive information about them. Seeing silver radiance in his own eyes, he realized Hilliard had possessed the same ability, leaving Ian with a new understanding of his legacy.

• Ian watched the rainbow light from Precognitive Vision fade as it fused into his body, then tested the improvements to his senses and considered what the Silver Chip could do.
• Ian questioned whether the Silver Chip came from the Pre-Epoch Civilization and reflected on Hilliard's limited knowledge of Inyaga's legacy.
• Ian went to prepare a meal, but noticed that he no longer needed as much food and paused over the venison and poultry.
• Ian saw the Silver Chip identify the dried venison and display its characteristics, processing method, and Origin Matter content.
• Ian looked at the salt-cured poultry and received a similar information display, then saw silver radiance in his eyes and understood that Hilliard had possessed the same ability.

Ian went about an ordinary day in Harrison Port’s expanding New City District while developing his alchemy skills. The day ended with him completing his first independently made Magic Potion, the Magic Potion of Wave-Singer's True Form.

• Harrison Port continued building workshops, mills, and public facilities in the New City District, improving residents’ lives.
• Ian waited for customers at the White Room General Store, then tidied his alchemical workspace upstairs.
• Ian reviewed his notes and materials in the workshop Viscount Grant had provided to support his alchemy studies.
• Ian closed the shop and headed home as the day ended without any major news.
• Ian completed his first independently made Magic Potion, the Magic Potion of Wave-Singer's True Form.

Ian fled through the Bison Mountains while concealing his true strength and deliberately making his injuries look worse. His pursuer struck him, but Sheo blocked the path and suggested they had reached private property, possibly the Dragon-Worshiping Cult’s base.

• The pursuit squads lost Ian and his attacker at the Aierbo River waterfall, then spotted signs that the battle continued deeper in the mountains.
• Ian identified his pursuer’s metal powers as electromagnetism and kept his Second Energy Level strength hidden so he could disappear without attracting attention.
• The shadow struggled to catch Ian and worried that using his full strength would expose his identity or put him in danger.
• The shadow’s metal blade struck Ian in the back, breaking more armor and slowing him, but Ian injected alchemical medicine and continued fleeing.
• Sheo confronted the shadow and told him the land ahead was private property, leading him to suspect they had entered the Dragon-Worshiping Cult’s base.

Ian explained the South Sea’s dangers and the urgent Deepsea Crystal Dragon mission to Isengard, who revealed that the capture had to happen during an approaching storm and before a labyrinth mutation. Isengard left after explaining Master Gose’s calling card, while Ian promised to visit Gose in the Imperial Capital after his studies.

• Isengard told Ian that the Deepsea Crystal Dragon was to be captured and bred in the Empire’s Mistveil Port labyrinth to produce high-level materials.
• Ian noticed that Isengard carried Master Gose’s protective inscription accessory and inferred that Gose suspected the people around him.
• Ian mapped the Harrison Port region for Isengard and warned that a labyrinth mutation would occur in twenty to thirty days, with an early-spring storm arriving in about three days.
• Isengard explained that the Deepsea Crystal Dragon became active during storms and might reach the Second Energy Level after the mutation, making the capture far harder.
• Isengard told Ian that Master Gose’s calling card gave him access to Imperial institutions and discounted potions, and Ian promised to visit Gose after completing his studies.

Priest Fioto chose to give Ian intelligence on the Jiamu Tribe in exchange for food and a chance to lead the Highwood Tribe’s children to safety. Ian then surveyed the Midra Autonomous Region, found evidence that the Jiamu Tribe had escaped the famine and discovered that Steelwing Dragons had arrived in the Bison Mountains.

• Priest Fioto fed the orphaned children thin porridge and considered whether to aid the Empire or continue enduring hardship under the Independent Mountain Folk Alliance.
• Ian revealed himself to Priest Fioto, promised food and refuge in Xiahui Territory, and asked for information about the Midra Autonomous Region.
• Priest Fioto agreed to cooperate, marked tribal positions and facilities on a map, and warned Ian about the Jiamu Tribe’s strength and vulnerable sacrificial hall.
• Ian concluded that food supplies could win the mountain folk’s support and traveled into the autonomous region to investigate the Jiamu Tribe’s alchemical workshops.
• Ian saw that the Jiamu Tribe’s farmland had escaped the biological attacks and spotted two Steelwing Dragons on its sacrificial platform.

Ian used his access to Redwood Base’s database and learned about the Silver Chip’s Pre-Epoch holder and the base’s research into the alien Obra Spark. He left with copies of the alien spacecraft’s warp-engine and Spark blueprints, though he could not yet understand them.

• Ian realized the Silver Chip had been held by someone in the Pre-Epoch Civilization, possibly the director of the Federation Xenobiology Research Institute codenamed Pioneer.
• Ian accessed Redwood Base’s database and learned that the base had studied alien ecosystems and that its ecosystem and most equipment had been destroyed.
• Ian read that the Obra Spark spacecraft had been found on the Watching Moon and that its warp engine and Aether Furnace used technology Terra could not reproduce.
• Ian learned that Aether, also called Origin Matter, came from the sun and gathered within ecosystems.
• Ian found the warp-engine and Spark blueprints in the database and told the Silver Chip to record them despite not understanding the technology.

Ian reviewed the powers and knowledge he had gained, then returned with his companions to the Xenobiology Research Institute and prepared a cover story that separated him from Mahdi. After surviving scrutiny from Axel and meeting Ga’er, Ian reached the rescue camp, where every major faction focused its attention on him as a young prophet.

• Ian assessed the Subspace Labyrinth's authority, the Light Body, the Dark Gold Dragon's body, and the Source Soul's abilities, including its protection against mental erosion.
• Ian told Anfa, Isengard, and Ethan how to describe his connection to Mahdi while keeping their account plausible and avoiding revealing that they were the same person.
• Ian and his companions returned to the third level of the Xenobiology Research Institute, where he considered how Terra's Fifth Energy Level powerhouses relied on powers from other civilizations.
• Axel scanned the group, showed concern for Isengard, and praised Ian for saving Carlos; Ian then warned Ethan to be careful about Axel's interest in his awakening bloodline.
• Anfa's rescue team arrived, and Ga’er Ximo’er asked Ian to tell Mahdi that he intended to surpass him, then left before Ian could respond.
• At the exploration party's gathering site, Ian found the Empire, Canaanmore, the City of Knowledge, and Frontier Reach watching him with intense interest as Hilliard's second disciple and the youngest prophet in three hundred years.

Ian used the Cyclops’s cannon barrel as a spear to destroy one Mudstone Colossus, then escaped its destruction and lured the mountainfolk leaders away from Layan City. He revealed his strength without an armored suit, killed Chieftain Shaking Boat, and turned toward Snake Rock.

• Ian reinforced the Cyclops’s cannon barrel and pierced a Mudstone Colossus, but Snake Rock ambushed the immobilized suit and drilled through its cockpit as Ian ejected.
• Ian fled toward Layan City while Snake Rock and Shaking Boat pursued him, and Iron Dust rallied the mountainfolk troops to attack the city.
• Scott prepared Layan City’s defenses after recognizing Ian’s signal and the mountainfolk forces’ disordered formation.
• Shaking Boat caught up to Ian near Layan Lake, where Ian revealed his power and froze the rainwater into an ice storm.
• Shaking Boat enlarged her suit into a mudstone giant, but Ian overpowered her and split both the giant and its cockpit in two with the Ship-Cleaving Blade.
• Ian turned toward Snake Rock, who realized he was doomed.

Patrick revealed that Emperor Axel had arranged for Isengard to face danger so he could grow stronger, while Ian confronted Patrick about Echo and the learning machine. Patrick explained that Echo and Mirror were forbidden technologies capable of copying a person’s thoughts and memories, calling them a method of immortality.

• Patrick told Isengard to fake his death in the South Sea and explained that Emperor Axel wanted him to grow stronger through experience.
• Ian identified Axel as the force behind the plan, and Isengard realized his grandfather needed him to meet certain requirements.
• Ian used the word “Echo,” prompting Patrick to connect Ian’s White Folk branch and the Chehalorvo Family to the ancient technology.
• Ian sent Isengard to get reinforcements, then demanded that Patrick explain Echo’s connection to the learning machine.
• Patrick described Echo and Mirror as technologies that replicated a person’s thoughts and memories, calling them the method of immortality.

Ian consumed the Sand Armor Apprentice's Magic Potion while Hilliard supervised, enduring painful changes as its Origin Matter fused with his body. Afterward, Ian gained heightened senses and the ability to control nearby sand and gravel, but using the power quickly exhausted him.

• Ian drank the Magic Potion and guided its Origin Matter toward his spine, thymus, and liver as its fusion caused him intense pain.
• Hilliard gave Ian the Mind-Focusing Potion, which calmed his thoughts and improved his control over Origin Matter.
• The pain subsided, and Ian's senses sharpened enough for him to perceive the surroundings and feel objects through the ground.
• Ian discovered he could control earth-attributed Origin Matter and drew sand and stones around himself like armor.
• Ian released control when the effort exhausted him and realized that his body was transforming.

Hilliard taught Ian that the Origin Seed was an imagined form of flowing Origin Matter, and that sublimation meant using such false forms to approach reality. Ian mastered dispersing and recondensing his Origin Seed in different parts of his body, beginning his sublimation and officially entering the path.

• Hilliard explained to Ian that the Origin Seed was not a fixed organ but a useful form created from moving Origin Matter.
• Ian grasped the principle of borrowing the false to reach the real and imagined his body as an ocean of Origin Matter with whirlpools throughout.
• Ian successfully condensed his own Origin Seed, then dispersed and recondensed it to improve its structure.
• Ian moved the Origin Seed to his liver and used Precognitive Vision to watch it gather and refine Origin Matter there.
• Hilliard congratulated Ian on officially beginning the path of sublimation.

Ian left the fish market with a rare salmon, then met Elder Pude, who gave him medicine and spoke about Ian’s parents while arranging a house for his family. The elder led Ian across Harrison Port and stopped with him at the western city wall.

• Ian left the fish market with a blue-mist salmon and resolved to help Sainan’s fishermen recognize the value of rare catches.
• Elder Pude met Ian in the rainy street, gave him Boria Concentration Herb, and instructed him to prepare it for himself and Elan.
• Elder Pude told Ian about his father Ernesto’s service and his mother Evelyn’s strength, then said the clan owed Ian’s family for its past neglect.
• Elder Pude said the coastal house would be given to Ian’s family and that Viscount Grant had provided the herbs.
• Elder Pude led Ian through Harrison Port, past the cathedral and the viscount’s residence, and arrived with him at the western city wall.

Weges reached Sighing Cliff and demanded the Emperor’s legacy from Hilliard, but Ian confronted him and revealed why he resented being the sole survivor among Hilliard’s followers. As Weges attacked, Ian baited him into raising his metal sword beneath a lightning strike, and the lightning engulfed him.

• Weges arrived at Sighing Cliff and demanded that Hilliard hand over His Majesty’s legacy.
• Ian stepped between Weges and Hilliard, then explained that Weges hated surviving when everyone else connected to Hilliard had died.
• Weges roared and attacked Ian, who deflected his sword while declaring he would kill Hilliard, destroy the nation, and inherit his dream or die trying.
• Ian threw down Hilliard’s greatsword and taunted Weges about waiting for lightning.
• Lightning struck Weges as he stood in metal armor with his sword raised, swallowing him in its light.

Ian used Precognitive Vision to uncover the Brain-Eating Worm Queen’s origins and discovered that the larva had Fourth Energy Level potential. The group then spotted Morien Steel growing against the queen’s nest, giving Ian a chance to obtain the rare material.

• Ian’s Precognitive Vision revealed that a human experimenter had transformed the harmless Brainstem Slug through mutations, and that the Brain-Eating Worms’ psychic network had later awakened and rebuilt its nest.
• Ian came out of the vision bleeding and exhausted after spending over 200 basic units of Origin Matter, then suppressed his bleeding and continued observing the queen.
• Master Gose and Isengard realized that the queen was still a larva despite its immense power and Fourth Energy Level potential.
• Isengard and Master Gose spotted a writhing substance where the queen’s carapace met the nest, and Master Gose identified it as Morien Living Steel.
• Ian recognized the living steel as a rare material he had hoped to acquire and judged that he had a good chance of obtaining it.

Ian set fire to the house and killed Feather Ring Shaman, escaping with Hilliard and the sleeping Elan. As the blaze consumed his old home, Ian declared that the end was also a new beginning.

• Ian ignited the oil-soaked house, using the flames to dazzle Feather Ring Shaman and conceal his attack.
• Ian trapped Feather Ring Shaman’s staff with his pitchfork, then exploited the shaman’s injured foot to knock his weapon aside.
• Ian threw sleeping powder into Feather Ring Shaman’s face and strangled him as the fire spread.
• Ian picked up the sleeping Elan and left the burning house to meet Hilliard, who had taken Osena’s appearance.
• Ian looked back at the blaze, told Hilliard it was over and a new beginning, then walked with them toward the moonlit street.

Ian used the money Hilliard left him to prepare for his training and went to Harrison Port’s fish market to buy nourishing seafood. There, he activated Precognitive Vision and spotted rare goods marked by blue mist.

• Elder Pude spotted Ian in the rain and wondered why he was in Harrison Port.
• Hilliard left Ian thirty-five Taler and went out to investigate clues related to his mission.
• Ian fed Elan, hid Hilliard’s conspicuously pristine coins in furnace ash, and decided to wait before attempting to condense an Origin Seed.
• Ian went to the fish market to buy seafood and considered how his Earthling physiology could help him adapt to an Origin Seed.
• Ian activated Precognitive Vision and spotted blue mist gathering around rare seafood products.

Ian woke from a recurring nightmare about the stars going dark, mourned the people he had killed, and reaffirmed his resolve to reach the stars despite the world’s darkness. After preparing for Frost Butterfly’s advancement, he continued toward the town near the bridge, carrying the energy-gathering shell he had taken from a Waterwing Butterfly.

• Ian woke from a dream of a comet vanishing and checked that the stars were still visible.
• Ian confided his grief and secrets to Frost Butterfly, then renewed his determination to keep moving toward the stars.
• Anfa and Pan Sha left with the Purple Maple Knight to return to the Bison Mountains and avoid the Marquis’s knights.
• Pan Sha told Ian about a beautiful young woman he had once hoped to marry, and Anfa revealed that she had been Sheo in disguise.
• Ian disposed of the Magnetic Light Knight’s corpse in the Nine-Spiral Abyss and used Precognitive Vision to find a Waterwing Butterfly.
• Ian took the Waterwing Butterfly’s energy-gathering shell to prepare for Frost Butterfly’s advancement and set out toward the town by the bridge.

Master Gravi woke aboard the Siren and agreed to exchange knowledge with Ian, who discovered that the Tree of Life Fragment was a fallen alien civilization’s Spark. Ian traced the origins of Terra’s Ascendant system to wars against invading Sparks, recognized Master Gravi’s plan to create a new kind of Ascender, and called himself a Pathfinder.

• Master Gravi woke in his room after Ian suppressed the divine tree changes in his body, and he proposed that they trade knowledge.
• As the Siren came under attack, Ian examined the Tree of Life Fragment and learned it was a Fifth Energy Level Spark created by the Laryel Civilization.
• Ian concluded that the first Ascendants had gained their power from defeated alien Sparks and that the Lost Epoch’s wars had reshaped Terra’s civilization.
• Master Gravi explained that some outer gods had joined Terra’s peoples, while others could not communicate with humanity and became enemies.
• Ian inferred that Master Gravi wanted to use a dead god’s remains to transform people into a new kind of Ascender, and Gravi was astonished that Ian had understood his purpose.
• Ian told Master Gravi to call him Pathfinder.

Ian secured Firestone Group’s promise of two hundred thousand Taler for his Alchemical Coating Agent research, then told Viscount Dikas that he wanted to revive his family and improve the world through technology. Dikas revealed signs of Divine Power Transmission and accused Ian of lying about his dream.

• Ian agreed to deliver results on the Alchemical Coating Agent within two months in exchange for two hundred thousand Taler from Firestone Group.
• After the other merchants left, Viscount Dikas praised Xiahui Territory’s development and asked Ian what his dream was.
• Ian recognized the deep-blue psychic glow in Dikas’s eyes as the same Divine Power Transmission he had seen in Magnetic Light Knight Chris.
• Ian concluded that Dikas and Chris were connected to the Eldest Prince, who was likely recruiting him through Dikas.
• Ian said he wanted to revive his family, develop Xiahui Territory, and spread technology to improve the world.
• Viscount Dikas spoke with an altered, imposing voice and told Ian that he was lying.