Chapter Summaries

The Redwood Natives blamed the Empire’s people for Shaman Achetu’s death and prepared to demand vengeance while maintaining their ritual. As the natives moved toward Harrison Port, White Folk Elder Pude hurried to Viscount Grant’s residence.

• The chapter described the Empire’s conflict with the Redwood Natives and the uneasy boundaries separating their territories around Harrison Port.
• A hunter told the gathered natives that three more hunters had died and that the Empire’s people had not explained what happened to Shaman Achetu.
• The scaled-crown hunter said he had arranged substitute sacrifices and ordered the natives to demand the culprit from the Empire’s lord.
• The scaled-crown hunter declared that Osena and his nephews belonged to the tribe and ordered the hunters to find, kill, and sacrifice them.
• Some Redwood Natives headed toward Harrison Port as White Folk Elder Pude hurried to Viscount Grant’s residence.

Ian faced the King of Embers, who discovered the Reincarnation Flame and unleashed a devastating attack. Ian countered with the sword Awakening, defeated him, and used the Precognitive Vision to show him the future before he died.

• Ian explained that the King of Embers’ flames had endured across countless eras, sustaining Flame Reincarnation for two hundred million years.
• The King of Embers broke through to a new understanding of immortality and combined the Reincarnation Flame with the Ember Flame for a final attack.
• Ian summoned Awakening from the Silverpeak Domain and used it to split the King of Embers’ powers and collapse his cycle formation.
• The King of Embers began to crumble and asked Ian what happened in the future he had foreseen.
• Ian plunged Awakening into the King of Embers’ chest and activated the Precognitive Vision at full power to show him the future.

Ian brewed a high-quality Perception-Enhancing Potion with Hilliard’s help and used Precognitive Vision to optimize the process. Despite Hilliard’s concern about rushing, Ian drank the potion to prepare for the coming confrontation over Weges.

• Ian explained the potion’s uses and how his alchemy knowledge and Precognitive Vision helped him brew it.
• Hilliard purified the potion’s liquid, removing impurities and producing a fluorescent Perception-Enhancing Potion.
• Hilliard praised the potion’s quality, and Ian credited his psychic power and Precognitive Vision.
• Hilliard urged Ian to wait while he investigated Weges, but Ian insisted that delaying would surrender the initiative.
• Ian drank the still-hot potion, and pale cyan light appeared at his temples as psychic radiance intensified in his eyes.

Ian arrived during the Blazing Flame Lands squad’s attack and, with Isengard’s help, killed the soldiers. Afterward, Ian examined the wounded Master Gose and promised he would keep him alive.

• Ian surprised the Blazing Flame Lands squad with a water lance and sword, deflecting their gunfire with swirling water currents.
• Isengard attacked the squad leader with Erosion Flame while Ian stopped the knight’s spear thrust and killed him.
• Ian charged the remaining soldiers and killed them, leaving only himself and Isengard alive and able to speak.
• Ian found that most of the ordinary people had died from the soldiers’ gunfire and examined the paralyzed Master Gose.
• Ian used green radiance to treat Master Gose’s spreading parasitic lesions and promised he would not die.

Ian used the orbital kinetic weapon system Wrath of the Prophet to annihilate more than seventy percent of the demon army, then addressed the Southern Ridge while fighting Death Knell. Death Knell revealed his dragon-winged final form, and Ian faced him as their final battle began.

• Ian's Unmelting-Ice meteors shattered the demons' shields and destroyed more than seventy percent of the invading army.
• The surviving demons were counterattacked as Ian received reports that Sheo had repelled attacks on towns and Azure Tide had destroyed the beast-demon incubation pools.
• Ian entered Terra Mode, fought Death Knell, and broadcast a speech calling the Southern Ridge to counterattack and oppose traitors.
• Ian declared that Death Knell and the fused demons were destined to lose, while people across the Southern Ridge watched the battle on screens.
• Death Knell unleashed his final trump card, transforming into a dragon-winged demon who incinerated an incoming meteor.
• Ian raised his ice-forged longsword against Death Knell as the final battle began.

Ian used the destruction of Isa Domain as a fabricated broadcast to unite the Southern Ridge against the demon invasion, while Adalbert gathered the people’s shared resolve in the Void Realm. Their collective will began forming the Giant of Light, forcing the demon army to choose between its strike and the Nineteenth Legion’s artillery.

• Ian’s unmanned Isa Domain fortress battered the demon army with Silverpeak Heavy Cannons, and the demon commanders sent Phantom Demons and Shadowstalker Leopards to destroy its Crystal Tower.
• The infiltrators planted explosives beside the Crystal Tower, but Ian ordered the tower and its alchemical furnaces to self-destruct, killing the Phantom Demon squad.
• Ian broadcast fabricated footage of Isa Domain’s destruction and urged Southern Ridge residents to support the soldiers and workers defending their homeland.
• The residents saluted and voiced their resolve, allowing Adalbert’s Collective Heart to gather their shared thoughts into a powerful tide.
• The Giant of Light began taking shape beside the silver sun, forcing the demons to choose between facing its attack in the Void Realm or returning to confront the Nineteenth Legion.

Ian feigned serious injuries after reaching the Second Energy Level, giving him time to lie low in the Imperial Capital while war tensions rose. He told Master Gose that he planned to take control of Layan Territory and build a personal armor to establish his authority there.

• Ian woke in Master Gose's laboratory, where he explained that his grave injuries were an act concealing his successful breakthrough to the Second Energy Level.
• Hua An, Mo Feng, Frost Butterfly, Isengard, Teres, Mikael, and others visited Ian while Master Gose maintained the story of his treatment.
• Ian read reports of escalating propaganda, border clashes, rising food prices, and growing tension between the Empire and Blazing Flame Lands.
• Ian told Master Gose that he planned to unify Layan Territory, expand into the Bison Mountains, and take in Western Border refugees.
• Ian proposed building a personal armor to project strength in the Southern Ridge, and Master Gose warned him that governing well required more than strength and technical skill.

Ian assessed his three sublimation organs and prepared ways to trap the powerful inspector knight, then spotted a promising location on Hilliard’s map. Meanwhile, near Orde Reef, the knight found signs of Hilliard and declared that he had found his teacher.

• Ian reviewed how his Heart of Fertile Soil, Pure Rock Crystal Bone, and Sand Armor Rock Core strengthened him and granted control over sand and soil.
• Ian considered how sublimation organs could be combined and judged the Sand Armor Apprentice inheritance powerful for its four First Energy Level organs.
• Ian decided he needed traps capable of injuring or killing the Second Energy Level inspector knight and inventoried his poisons, explosives, knife, potions, and other supplies.
• Ian studied Hilliard’s map, found a place suited to his plans, and smiled at the idea.
• Near Orde Reef, the black-haired knight examined old marks on the reefs and said he had found Hilliard.

Ian staged his injury and apparent collapse so Sheo and Anfa would come to his aid, while a shadowy attacker withdrew after Sheo confronted it. Anfa identified Ian as having Ancient Crystal Dragon blood, healed his wound, and took him toward the Avude Tribe to teach him how to conceal his blood.

• Ian deliberately let the shadowy figure stab him, then kept running while Sheo intervened and blocked the attacker.
• Ian sensed Anfa ahead, staged a collapse, and pretended to lose consciousness.
• Sheo and the shadowy figure exchanged half-hearted blows before the attacker withdrew.
• Anfa tested Ian's wound with Sheo's hair and identified his blood as that of an Ancient Crystal Dragon from the Dragon King's lineage.
• Anfa healed Ian's external wound and took him with Sheo toward the Avude Tribe to teach him how to hide his blood.

Ian recognized that the Aether Crystal Dragon was an artificial war lifeform carrying a Spark, then used the battle around the Brood to find a chance to disrupt the Insect Queen’s control of the giant eel. His cannon shot struck the eel’s weakness, freeing it temporarily and allowing the Crystal Dragon and Insect Queen to escape its grip.

• Ian examined the Silver Chip’s assessment and learned that the Aether Crystal Dragon was a Transcendent Species and an artificial weapon carrying a Spark.
• Ian prepared to demolish the Brood, but Isengard questioned the plan while the Crystal Dragon and Insect Queen fought.
• The giant eel awoke under the Insect Queen’s psychic control and joined the fight, pinning both combatants with its body.
• Ian, Master Gose, and Isengard set up the cannon, and Ian used Precognitive Vision and the Silver Chip to aim at the eel’s weakness.
• Ian fired at the giant eel’s head, disrupting the Insect Queen’s control and freeing the Crystal Dragon and the Insect Queen from its grasp.

Blazing Flame Lands launched a devastating summer offensive against the Empire, using disciplined artificial demons to invade the Western Border and corrupt the Void Realm. As the Imp Legion spread slaughter and despair, Death Knell watched the Abyssal Dragon begin to rise, while another sun observed from the south.

• Blazing Flame Lands' attacks devastated Southern Ridge cities and villages, while secretive local nobles had helped open the way.
• At the Lost-Soul Mistwood, an Imperial scout and an old soldier saw ripples in the mist; the old soldier fled with him as a crimson Void Realm portal opened.
• Death Knell led the disciplined Imp Legion through the portal and ordered the artificial demons to spread fear, death, and despair so they could become true demons.
• On June 1, Terra Year 775, Blazing Flame Lands began its summer offensive, codenamed Scorched Earth, and the Imp Legion cut Western Border supply lines before clashing with the Empire's Twenty-Third Legion.
• Imperial military psionics users found that black resentment and hatred had corrupted the Western Border's Void Realm, where a Void Realm Mech-God began to take shape.
• Death Knell named the emerging giant the Abyssal Dragon as its scarlet eyes and black wings appeared, while another sun watched from the south.

Ian and Isengard arrived at the Royal Alchemy Association to take Ian’s assessment, but Waldo and Kalansir told them the day’s slots were full. Isengard decided to use his privilege to get Ian admitted anyway, and Waldo and Kalansir stayed to see how Ian would perform.

• Ian and Isengard arrived at the Royal Alchemy Association and encountered Waldo and Kalansir outside.
• Isengard traded barbs with Waldo and introduced him and Kalansir to Ian, describing Kalansir as his alchemical rival and a gifted alchemist.
• Waldo and Kalansir said the day’s assessment slots were full, and Kalansir warned Ian that his rural experience might not prepare him for the test.
• Isengard said the examiners would add Ian to the assessment, and Ian invited Waldo and Kalansir to watch his performance.

Ian investigated the Silver Chip and discovered that it supplied extensive information while drawing energy from the Ancient Dragon Core. He realized the chip could transfer Origin Matter Structures, revealing a new function that might let him use the dormant core’s power.

• Ian recalled how Hilliard had displayed extraordinary perception and alchemical skill, and concluded that the Silver Chip had guided him.
• Ian tested the Silver Chip and learned that it provided observations, stored information, and details about Origin Matter, though it did not assess his physical attributes.
• Ian used the chip and Precognitive Vision to estimate how much Origin Matter ordinary foods and ascended materials contained, then bought high-quality ingredients at the market.
• Ian discovered that Hilliard’s Ancient Dragon Core held more than five hundred standard units of Origin Matter and could store his excess reserves, while the Silver Chip consumed Origin Matter from it.
• Ian observed the chip imprinting and transferring Origin Matter Structures along a rainbow-colored band of light.

Weges confronted his former mentor Hilliard, demanding answers about the Empire’s turmoil and the deaths and purges that had shaped his life. He revealed that he believed Hilliard possessed the Black King's Legacy, the divine treasure said to have helped the late Emperor restore the Empire.

• Weges attacked Hilliard with a swift sword strike, but Hilliard blocked it, and the two recognized one another.
• Hilliard questioned why Weges had tracked him down, and Weges said he wanted to understand the Empire’s hidden past.
• Weges demanded explanations for the late Emperor’s death, Hilliard’s betrayal, the Crown Prince’s death, and the purge of the Inspecting Knights Order.
• The two knights’ Origin Matter transformed the landscape and formed powerful armor around them as Weges explained his struggles to advance beyond Condensed Radiance.
• Weges accused Hilliard of possessing the Black King's Legacy and claimed the treasure had enabled the late Emperor’s rise to power.

Ian resonated with the dead souls of Spirit Cognition Institute test subjects and listened to one woman recount how disease, poverty, and the Institute’s experiments destroyed her life and family. The souls asked Ian to save them, but he admitted that he was neither a hero nor a savior and could not save them.

• The resentful souls recognized Ian as the one who had killed the Spirit Cognition Institute researchers and called him their Undead Monarch.
• A dead woman described her happy childhood, her family, and her carpentry apprenticeship before her master died in a biological-warfare attack.
• After her father fell ill and her family lost its livelihood, the woman turned to prostitution to support them.
• The woman joined a human experiment for money and discovered that the Spirit Cognition Institute, the Blazing Flame Lands, and the Grand Duke were involved in biological and plague research.
• The souls gathered around Ian and asked him to save them, but he said he was no hero or savior and could not save them.

Ian realized that Redwood Base had studied alien ecosystems and that many Southern Ridge and South Sea Magic Beasts might have originated from them. He suspected the Calamity of Falling Skies and the destruction of New Moon were tied to a greater disaster, and resolved to obtain the base’s records before Master Gose woke.

• Ian learned that Giant Gold Fungi produced a calorie-rich liquid containing hallucinogens and sedatives to attract creatures into symbiosis.
• Ian connected the fungi and nearby metallic Magic Beasts to an Obera Star Domain ecosystem delivered to Terra by a vessel called Spark.
• Ian theorized that Terra had received multiple alien ecosystems and that these ecosystems helped drive the development of arts of sublimation.
• Ian wondered whether the Calamity of Falling Skies was a deliberate attack connected to Spark and the shattered moon New Moon.
• Ian vowed to uncover Redwood Base’s records about the Obera ecosystem and Spark, then heard Master Gose coughing as he awoke.

Ian and his companions entered the Xenobiology Research Institute, explored its first level, and learned that dragon blood grants access to deeper sections. When Ian used the entrance scanner, the Silver Chip identified him as a high-intelligence experimental subject and granted him high-level access.

• Ian warned the Mountain King and the others that the ruin might contain a powerful dragon-blooded creature, and the team descended into the underground cavity.
• Ian's group reached the institute's outer wall, entered through a breach made by a fragment of the Watching Moon, and registered their communications devices at the advance team's station.
• Sheo caught a fluffy fish, and Ian recognized it as a biological brush that had evolved into a living creature.
• Ian and his companions passed the Shelter School ruins and arrived at the forward base, where they watched Ga'er Ximore fight through the second level.
• Anfa used her dragon blood to open the elevator passage to the second level, and Ian discovered that the Silver Chip classified him as a high-intelligence experimental subject and granted him high-level access.

Timothair and other Fifth Energy Level powers reacted to Ian and the Fairy Empress’s work at the Photonic Furnace, while Ian explained its connection to infinite parallel universes and discovered the final step of the Sixth Energy Level. When his Precognitive Vision failed, Ian embraced the unknown and stepped forward as a Pioneer.

• Timothair flew toward Falling Star City to protect the Fairy Empress and Ian, while Yuan Xingnuo · Gloomlight and Lord Everfrost Furstie challenged his intervention and Aviliwen Qingye and Hell Moon Split Solin shielded Ian’s allies.
• The Fairy Empress asked Ian to explain the Photonic Furnace, and he said it borrowed energy from infinite parallel spacetime through its connection to the Great Aetheric Current.
• Ian explained that the Photonic Furnace and other Stellar God creations depended on the will and convictions of intelligent life, then recognized eternal conviction as a further stage of immortality.
• Ian realized that the Arcane Path’s final step involved extending immortality across parallel versions of himself to form a Ring of Infinity, and saw that his Guiding Star already represented an incomplete ring.
• Ian tried to use Precognitive Vision to examine what would happen if he resonated with the Photonic Furnace, but his vision of the future failed.
• Ian accepted that he could no longer rely on prophecy, stepped forward, and touched the Silver Sea as he embraced the unknown future.

Imperial inspector Weges of Flowing Sound used psychic marks to listen across Harrison Port, judged the port stable, and approved it in his report. Ian warned Hilliard that a Second Energy Level sublimator was monitoring them, and Hilliard realized the inspector had come to find him.

• Weges listened to voices across Harrison Port and assessed its stability, shortages, corruption, alchemical skill, and sugarcane cultivation.
• Weges heard about Ian and Elan, praised Ian’s diligence, and decided Harrison Port passed inspection.
• Weges searched for his mentor, while Hilliard noticed Ian’s warning signal when he returned home late.
• Ian told Hilliard a psychic sublimator was monitoring them and proposed a cover story to avoid suspicion.
• Hilliard said the inspector was an acquaintance from his past who had come to Harrison Port in pursuit of him.
• Ian reasoned that they could delay the inspector until his work ended and he left.

Ian completed preparations to leave Harrison Port, received news that Sha Sha had caught the Glowfire Jellyfish needed for his Fairy Bloodline, and discussed training and knowledge with Scott and Azure Tide. He left Azure Tide considering why learning and systematic thought mattered for reaching the Second Energy Level.

• Ian demonstrated how he could aetherize and restore the Deep Abyss Iron Sword, making it easier to carry.
• Sha Sha told Ian that she had caught the Glowfire Jellyfish for his fourth Fairy Bloodline organ.
• Ian encouraged Scott to train his joints with a Breath Guidance Technique and said it could help him meet the standard for an ascendant apprentice.
• Ian gave Azure Tide the Wind-Shifting Longsword as collateral for unpaid wages, while Scott declined it because he used firearms.
• Ian explained to Scott and Azure Tide that knowledge and systematic learning helped practitioners reach the Second Energy Level, and that nobles benefited from knowledge passed down through their families.