Chapter Summaries

Ian took the Tree of Life fragment from Master Gravi and proposed cooperating on kin transformation and the Origin Matter Furnace Core. As the Siren faced an attack by sea beasts, Ian planned to help end the threat without fighting, by drugging them.

• Ian reasoned that Master Gravi's kin transformation research could be improved by combining it with the Origin Matter Furnace Core, which could help control mutations and reduce side effects.
• Ian offered to collaborate with Master Gravi and revealed that he had developed the Origin Matter Furnace Core himself.
• Master Gravi sensed the Furnace Core in Ian and recognized its potential to extend Ascenders' lifespans and stabilize kin transformation.
• An explosion and sea-beast roars interrupted Ian and Master Gravi's conversation as the Siren came under attack.
• Ian told Master Gravi that he would help Alden without resolving the conflict through violence, then said he would drug the sea beasts.

Ian warned Elder Pude that his future death from stomach cancer might stem from a mutation, then submitted a report about the maze to Viscount Grant. The viscount learned that Ian had become the Maze Lord and was stunned that he seemed to be the last person to know.

• Ian told Elder Pude that his stomach cancer might be connected to a mutation and suggested asking Bishop White Mist and Master Gose for help.
• Elder Pude agreed to speak with Bishop White Mist about his illness and Elan’s Transcendent studies, while warning Ian that becoming the Maze Lord would likely force him to leave Harrison Port.
• Viscount Grant returned to his estate after the fleets withdrew and his guards resolved a confrontation between the Surging Wave natives, the Azure Tide Exploration Fleet, and the Elf pirates.
• Viscount Grant read Ian’s report, learned about the Hive Mind and the Chehalorvo Family’s Fairy Bloodline, and reflected on Morin’s past disloyalty.
• Viscount Grant read that Ian had become the Maze Lord and exclaimed that he was the only one who knew nothing.

Mahdi revealed the second-generation Immovable Fortress and fought off the empowered young prodigies while Yafda sealed the Xenobiology Research Institute during the battle among the Fourth Energy Level powerhouses. When the Maze Lord arrived, Mahdi called for the humans to unite against it, leaving the Dark Gold Dragon to wonder if their infighting had been staged.

• Mahdi unveiled his Swarm Crystal Dragon Soul Light Body and the magnetic lightning core of the second-generation Immovable Fortress, forcing Golan and the other young prodigies to use their trump cards against him.
• At the Xenobiology Research Institute, Yafda sealed the spatial passages, prompting Carlos to learn from Aina that Mahdi had manifested a Crystal Insect Dragon Soul Light Body.
• Mahdi fought the empowered prodigies, while Campani recognized Hilliard's perfected inheritance and accused Mahdi of seeking the Source of Dragonblood for his teacher.
• The Subspace Labyrinth shook as the Fourth Energy Level powerhouses began fighting, and Campani discovered that Yafda's Silver Gate had sealed his State Domain with Mahdi's help.
• The Maze Lord arrived with a tide of modified beasts, and Mahdi urged the explorers to stop fighting one another and join forces against it.

Viscount Grant and Yam discussed the secret mission to find the South Sea Grand Ruins and agreed to keep their plans hidden while preventing the Imperial Capital from taking control of the frontier. After the great storm and the native coalition's attack devastated Harrison Port, the fighting ended and the city entered a fragile peace.

• Yam criticized Viscount Grant for killing a surviving guard, and Grant explained that Morin had tried to reveal the natives' holy land to the Church of Light's Embrace.
• Grant and Yam agreed to put their plan on hold because the Church of Light's Embrace clergy could not be trusted to conceal the truth from their order.
• Grant recalled that the late Emperor Inaga II had entrusted the Grant family with developing the southern frontier and preparing to explore the South Sea Grand Ruins.
• Grant resolved to keep the Redwood Forest natives from being wiped out and told Yam that he trusted no one else with the mission.
• On September 18, 766, a great storm struck the southern frontier as the native coalition attacked Harrison Port, Three Rivers City, and Anmore Town; Viscount Grant repelled them and wounded the Mountain Tide Spirit.
• After the storm passed on September 22, Harrison Port lay in ruins but had won its final victory and welcomed peace.

Ian discovered a surveillance creature and examined a Brain Attachment, then considered whether several factions’ soul-related technologies could make death a beginning. After returning to camp, he set out with the Inspector Knights toward the underground waterways in northern Azure City.

• Ian destroyed a hidden surveillance camera and identified the creature he recovered as a Brain Attachment.
• Mikael recognized the Brain Attachment’s psychic network and linked it to Grand Duke Solin’s interest.
• Ian wondered whether Andor was still alive and planned to ask Ethan about the Elf pirate captain.
• Hua An explained that souls could not survive indefinitely in the Void Realm without bodies or suitable energy, prompting Ian to consider the purpose of soul-related technologies.
• Ian returned to camp with the enemy’s location and the key to the Grand Duke’s technology, and the Inspector Knights set out for the underground waterways.

Ian decided he needed to leave the Imperial Capital and build a territory where he could carry out his plans, but the military classified his Ultra-Effective Potion research and offered him commissions instead of allowing him to seek investors. While studying the Silver Radiance Book, he uncovered its healing art and began to suspect the Calamity of Falling Skies had radically altered Terra; he then prepared to meet Isengard and a military visitor.

• Ian told Master Gose he needed a territory of his own to test new technologies and improve people's lives.
• Master Gose explained that the Imperial military had classified Ian's Ultra-Effective Potion paper, but that military orders could help develop Layan Territory.
• Ian studied the Silver Radiance Book and learned it preserved ancestral souls, advanced mountain-folk knowledge, and the Dragon God's Grace healing art sought to cure Sheo.
• Ian considered returning the Silver Radiance Book to the mountain folk and wondered whether he should establish a church to unite religious and political authority in his territory.
• Ian concluded that Terra's abundance of powerful life and Origin Matter might be a blessing caused by the Calamity of Falling Skies.
• Ian disguised himself as a frail patient when Isengard arrived with an unfamiliar Third Energy Level military figure.

Ian and his companions traveled north across the Quinoel Plains and saw the enormous city at the heart of the Sertal Empire. Recognizing the Imperial Capital as a planetary shield generator, Ian understood what his teacher had entrusted to him: the eternal, immovable fortress.

• Ian rode north through the Moonfire Grass fields with Hua An and Frost Butterfly beside him.
• A vast pillar of light appeared beyond the clouds, and Ian climbed a hill to see where it came from.
• Ian saw a colossal city built on a steel mountain at the center of the Quinoel Plains and wondered whether it was a planetary engine or shield generator.
• Ian watched trains and countless lights converge on the city and realized he was looking at the Imperial Capital.
• Ian recalled his teacher’s words and recognized the city as the eternal, immovable fortress.

Ian followed an Ironclad Shark to a school of Ironbone Swordfish and used the hunt to learn high-speed underwater movement with Fairy Wings. After bidding farewell to the shark, he saw black-red mist suddenly envelop it and wondered what danger had appeared.

• Ian recognized that the Ironclad Shark was drawn to the Sand Armor Apprentice's Origin Matter and decided to lead it to a school of Ironbone Swordfish.
• Ian tracked the swordfish school and used the hunt to practice underwater movement while the Ironclad Shark charged through the fish.
• Ian rapidly improved his swimming and maneuvering, smashed through the school, and caught its king for the Ironclad Shark.
• Ian thanked the Ironclad Shark, gave it the fish king, and said farewell as it headed away.
• Ian noticed black-red mist glowing around the Ironclad Shark and wondered what could threaten a peak First Energy Level Magic Beast.

Ian led the survivors out of the Ice Abyss with Frost Butterfly and brought them into a warm underground passage in the ruins. As the group recovered and explored their new surroundings, Ian found murals depicting the moon shattering and raining fragments down on the earth.

• Ian told Isengard that the Primordial Frost Fairy had chosen to follow him, and he named her Frost Butterfly.
• Ian killed an elf pirate who showed hostility toward him, then warned the others to obey his orders.
• Ian inspected the supplies, identified two Second Energy Level armor-piercing shells, and led the group out of the Ice Abyss.
• Ian guided the group through a fissure into a warm, illuminated underground passage, where the injured began recovering.
• Ian studied the passage’s totem murals and recognized a scene of the moon shattering above the earth.

Viscount Grant and Ian helped drive the wounded Crocodile Dragon from Harrison Port, but the beast escaped into the sea under the Great Shaman’s control. Ian and Scott fled the collapsing tower as a vast storm began to engulf the region.

• Viscount Grant struck the Crocodile Dragon’s injured left leg with a high-pressure Water Blade, leaving it badly wounded and declaring the battle won.
• The Great Shaman suppressed the Crocodile Dragon’s rage and forced it to retreat toward the sea, despite its desire to kill.
• Ian realized the Crocodile Dragon was escaping rather than attacking the tower, then urged Scott to flee as the tower began to collapse.
• Ian kicked Scott through a window and jumped after him into the mud before the tower fell and its gunpowder exploded.
• Ian and Scott struggled against powerful winds as lightning and torrential rain intensified, while a vast storm cloud advanced from the sea.

Viscount Grant blamed the Blazing Flame Lands for Harrison Port’s suffering and used the public spectacle to rally the people and honor Ian. After elevating Ian to knighthood, Grant asked whether he would consider becoming an Inspector Knight.

• Viscount Grant accused Blazing Flame Lands spies of causing the Great Storm, spreading plague, and disrupting the labyrinth, then presented captured agents and weapons as evidence.
• The crowd condemned Blazing Flame Lands, and Viscount Grant executed the prisoners in the square.
• Viscount Grant credited the guard squad, the Ellen Family survey team, and Ian with thwarting the conspiracy and ending the Great Storm.
• Viscount Grant made Ian a knight, drawing cheers from the gathered people.
• Viscount Grant privately asked Ian whether he had considered becoming an Inspector Knight.

Ian arrived in Yellow Wisteria Town, bought alchemical materials to prepare for Frost Butterfly’s advancement, and examined the region’s earth whirlwind. As he was about to leave for an inn, a beautiful girl approached him.

• Ian traveled to Yellow Wisteria Town and observed the Earth Whirlwind Cloud Pillar, reasoning that geothermal heat and underground water created the phenomenon and its rainfall.
• Ian entered an alchemy workshop and presented his knight's credentials and alchemist's certification to buy a large assortment of materials.
• While waiting, Ian read local newspaper listings and recognized an opportunity in organizing commissions, jobs, and bounties.
• Ian spent more than one hundred and forty-five Taler on two crates of materials and planned to prepare Frost Butterfly’s advancement potion at an inn.
• A soft female voice called to Ian, and he turned to see a breathtakingly beautiful girl approaching.

Ian discovered that the Central Nexus control hall contained maintenance instructions left for future generations and witnessed the final meeting of five people who planned to fight an enemy and preserve humanity’s knowledge. Their vision faded into the five mummified corpses before him, leaving Ian in the future they had hoped for.

• Ian recognized the crude statue in the Central Nexus hall as a figure wearing a radiation suit.
• Ian found maintenance instructions written across the hall’s walls and floor and realized they were manuals intended to teach future generations.
• Ian saw a vision of five people discussing a plan to use the administrator seats to upload their consciousnesses and defeat an enemy.
• The five people worried about the Brood, the contaminated gene bank, and whether humanity could preserve its population and knowledge.
• The five people resolved to believe in the future, and their phantoms faded into the corpses before Ian.

Ian and the mountain folk defeated the Blazing Flame Lands’ Construct Knights at Rust-Steel Mountain, and Ian copied their spirit-machinery technology before their self-destruction. As the Empire and the Blazing Flame Lands moved toward total war, Ian prepared to be crowned the mountain folk’s common lord and new Guide.

• Ian flew through the Construct Knights’ defenses as they self-destructed, copied their technology, and escaped the blast unharmed.
• The explosion toppled the Magnetic Storm Coil, but Ian recovered the Dust-Cleansing Dragon chest shell and celebrated the victory with Elder Manyan.
• The Empire recast the Rust-Steel Mountain Blockade Battle as a local incident, praised Ian, and began restructuring the mountain folk territories under Manyan’s interim supervision.
• Prince Asu’s assassination sparked escalating tensions between the Empire and the Blazing Flame Lands, and the Farflame Fortress Cluster declared independence as both sides prepared for war.
• On January 1, 774, Ian stood before the mountain folk chiefs, priests, and gathered people, preparing to declare himself their common lord and new Guide.

Ian questioned the captured Elf pirate, sent an emergency message to Viscount Grant, and led the group toward a confrontation with the native High Shaman’s Marsh Crocodile Dragon. The High Shaman moved to intercept them, seeking to capture his target and reclaim the Holy Land’s final key.

• Ian learned from the Elf pirate that his crew had been hired to kill Isengard and Ian, then obtained the pirate fleet’s communications password.
• Ian used the armored suit’s console to send Viscount Grant an emergency message and kept the pirate alive as evidence against Patrick.
• Ian warned Isengard that the High Shaman’s Marsh Crocodile Dragon was waiting ahead while a giant eel pursued them from behind.
• The High Shaman, connected to the other Totem Lords through a ritual, sought to capture his target and obtain the final key to the Holy Land.
• The High Shaman raised rocks and silt to block the armored suit, and Ian recognized that the wounded Marsh Crocodile Dragon remained powerful enough to threaten their survival.

Ian traveled with Hua An, a Fairy envoy from Elysium, to a quiet pool in the Golden Plains so she could help Frost Butterfly advance. Hua An revealed that she had come to investigate the great labyrinth near Harrison Port and recognized the South Sea Grand Labyrinth’s aura on Ian and Frost Butterfly.

• Hua An explained the origins of Fairy names as she and Ian traveled toward a secluded woodland pool.
• Hua An chose the pool as a suitable place to prepare for Frost Butterfly’s advancement, and Ian released Frost Butterfly.
• Ian wondered whether Hua An’s timely arrival was more than coincidence and asked whether helping them would interfere with her plans.
• Hua An said she had come as Elysium’s envoy to investigate the great labyrinth near Harrison Port and had sensed the South Sea Grand Labyrinth’s aura on Ian and Frost Butterfly.
• Hua An gave Ian an Awakening Potion to shape Frost Butterfly’s form and awaken her spirit.

Ian returned to Harrison Port with Brin and a captured native bladesman as refugees crowded the city gates. A message from the Redwood Forest revealed that the natives’ attacks were intended to gather victims for a blood sacrifice to awaken the Mountain Lord.

• Ian and Brin reached Harrison Port, where guards were screening injured refugees and offering them food and shelter.
• Elder Pude welcomed Ian, sent guards to find the White Folk survivors who had fled by boat, and took Brin and the captive for treatment and questioning.
• Ian refused to recount his ordeal, showed Elder Pude the glow in his eyes, and went home after the elder warned him about leaving the city alone.
• Ian watched refugees grieve for lost family members and wondered whether the attacks were connected to Teacher Hilliard.
• Viscount Grant received a message from his spies and learned that the natives sought victims for a blood sacrifice to awaken the Mountain Lord.

Ian discovered that a Brain-Eating Worm mother Brood had blocked Redwood Base’s reactor cooling ports, causing the Southern Sea Great Storm and the ruin’s abnormalities. After directing the Blazing Flame Lands exploration team toward the Brood, he left the control room with Andor to find Sha Sha and return to settle the remaining problems.

• Ian ordered a detailed system check and learned that blocked cooling interfaces had left several reactor cores overheating and contaminating the coolant.
• Ian traced the blockage to the Brain-Eating Worm mother Brood and used the base map to locate it near the water-cooling interface area.
• Ian spotted the Blazing Flame Lands exploration team approaching and opened a route that would lead them to the Brood.
• Ian finished recording Redwood Base’s information, told Andor to find Sha Sha with him, and declared that he would bring everything to an end.

Elder Manyan’s spies stole five Magnetic Storm Armors, but one exploded at the Blazing Flame Lands base, while Xiahui Territory repelled a Steelwing Dragon raid with its defenses and Sheo’s newly revealed power. Kede Jiamu reached the Steel Dragon Nest, where Ian awaited him beneath the storm as the Thunder-Striking Prophet.

• Elder Manyan learned that the rebels were moving around the Stagnant Sea and ordered his guard to eliminate the spies they had discovered.
• Blazing Flame Lands researchers examined the stolen Magnetic Storm Armor, triggered its hidden detonation, and destroyed the underground laboratory, blowing Captain Naimo and his office away.
• Scott’s forces blocked the Steelwing Dragons’ iron-meteor attack with electromagnetic shields, and the Prism Cannon shot down two lesser dragons.
• Sheo arrived and burned the great Steelwing Dragon with Void-Realm flames, forcing it to crash to the ground before she turned toward the Steel Dragon Nest.
• Kede Jiamu reached the Steel Dragon Nest and saw Ian standing amid the lightning and rain as the Thunder-Striking Prophet.

Ian and the other passengers were paralyzed by a psychic attack as impostors claiming to be the Dragon-Worshiping Cult demanded the Earthvein Tear. Ian resisted the control and learned from Hua An what the Lone Mountain Conference was, while the attackers began searching for the treasure.

• An explosion triggered a psychic shockwave that paralyzed most passengers, but Sheo's necklace protected Ian from its effects.
• A broadcast from people claiming to be the Dragon-Worshiping Cult demanded that the holder surrender the Earthvein Source Crystal, also called the Earthvein Tear.
• A knight resisted the paralysis and charged toward the locomotive's power core, but two hooded Evolvers stopped him and knocked him unconscious.
• Ian deduced that the explosion and the broadcast's sound sustained the psychic suppression, then told Hua An through psychic power to wait and watch.
• Hua An explained that the Lone Mountain Conference was a broad academic gathering, and the attackers began searching for the Earthvein Source Crystal.