Chapter Summaries

After the Transcendents exposed the many undercover agents aboard the train, Ian listened to the interrogation and learned that the hijackers claimed to be from the Blazing Flame Lands. He met Teres, an Inspecting Knights Order operative, and realized Marquis Barton’s secret-letter assignment might have made others assume Ian was one of Barton’s trusted people.

• Ian watched the undercover agents awkwardly discover that many of their fellow passengers were also spies.
• Ian listened to the interrogation and heard that the hijackers claimed to come from the Blazing Flame Lands.
• Teres introduced himself to Ian as an Inspecting Knights Order operative and praised Ian’s supposed undercover work.
• Ian told Teres that he was not Marquis Barton’s subordinate and had only been delivering a secret letter for him.
• Ian concluded that Barton’s assignment could label him as one of the Marquis’s people, though he preferred to control his own affiliations.

Ian suspected the Blazing Flame Lands operation was engineered by powerful Imperial figures to pile credit onto him, so he decided to leave the train and avoid taking all the merit. Knight Teres understood Ian’s choice and gave him a token for horses at a relay station, sending him toward the Imperial Capital.

• Ian told Hua An and Frost Butterfly that the Earthvein Source Crystal was false bait and that powerful figures might be using the operation to elevate or test him.
• Ian decided to leave the train alone under the pretext of continuing Marquis Barton's confidential mission, preventing others from assigning him all the credit.
• Ian told Knight Teres he had to act alone and leave before the official report was made.
• Teres admitted he had overheard Ian's conversation and explained that he had considered claiming the operation's top merit with Ian.
• Teres gave Ian a token for two horses at the Shuanli Town relay station and told him to follow the tracks north to the Imperial Capital.

Ian learned from Mayor Ye Mo'er that Plains Town's residents feared an approaching inspection because many lacked temporary residence permits, which were required to live around the Imperial Capital. As Ian shared Aunt Julia's apple pie with Hua An and Frost Butterfly, a frantic knock at the door interrupted their meal.

• Mayor Ye Mo'er invited Ian to his home and explained that the town feared a biannual inspection because many residents lacked temporary residence permits.
• Mayor Ye Mo'er told Ian that entering the Imperial Capital required permits and that corruption and repeated inspections made them costly for ordinary people.
• Ian learned how Axel's postwar policies restricted citizens and relocated nobles to the Imperial Capital and its surrounding towns.
• Aunt Julia served apple pie, and Ian shared it with Hua An and Frost Butterfly.
• A frantic knock at the door interrupted the meal.

As Ian’s group approached the Imperial Capital, he used his psychic power to perceive its structure and discovered that the city was a colossal living machine connected to roots deep beneath the Quinoel Plains. The backlash briefly knocked him unconscious, but he recovered, and the group entered the City Beneath the Mountain.

• Ian saw that the Imperial Capital was ringed by enormous walls hundreds of meters tall and identified them as exposed foundations built into the geological strata.
• Ian perceived that the walls contained living biomass roots linking the city to a planetary shield generator, and realized the entire Imperial Capital was a Fifth Energy Level artificial lifeform.
• Ian’s psychic power backlashed, causing him to collapse and bleed as Hua An and Frost Butterfly rushed to protect him.
• Ian explained that he had fainted after observing the Imperial Capital and drank the healing potion Frost Butterfly brought him.
• Hua An checked Ian’s condition and scolded him for attempting to perceive the entire Imperial Capital, while Ian insisted the information was worth the risk.
• Ian’s group entered the City Beneath the Mountain surrounding the Imperial Capital.

Ian learned that Light's Embrace was a succession of evolving Broods who considered themselves Terrans' successors and humanity's final safeguard. The Brood explained that they waited for humans to overcome their nature, and saw Ian as proof that humanity still held hope.

• Ian reconsidered whether Light's Embrace could rightfully be called Terran, given its inheritance of human genes and its long protection of humanity.
• The Brood told Ian that it would shelter Terrans during the destructive war it expected within a century, and rebuild the race if humanity perished.
• The Brood explained that successive generations inherited the memories and convictions of earlier Broods, making them seem immortal despite their changing bodies.
• Ian understood that Light's Embrace shared its members' memories while preserving their individual self-awareness, and that its clergy offered their bodies through a sacred rite.
• The Brood said it admired humanity's capacity to rise above selfish instincts and told Ian that such people were the hope for which Light's Embrace waited.

After Ian and Scott survived the storm, Ian encouraged Scott to share credit for defeating the Crocodile Dragon and saw a green aura of friendliness around him. Ian then followed the creature’s sublimation traces and recovered a crystalline piece of flesh that awakened a powerful hunger in him.

• Ian asked Scott to tell the Viscount that they had worked together and to include the other guards in the account.
• Scott agreed to conceal some of Ian’s strength and seek more compensation for his comrades, and Ian saw a green aura around him.
• Scott headed toward the city center while Ian stayed behind to search for Crocodile Dragon materials.
• Ian followed the purple mist from the creature’s blood and found a dense crystalline fragment of flesh in the muddy water.
• Ian held the fragment and felt his body, especially his sublimating liver, respond with intense hunger.

Ian learned that Void Realm Mech-Gods were merging to fight demons that might originate from life beyond Terra, then returned to Xiahui Territory with the delegation and captured Dragon-Worshiping Cult members. Anfa invited him to join an international expedition to a Pre-Epoch biological research facility, whose name reminded Ian of his Silver Chip identity as the Federation Xenobiology Research Institute’s director, codename “Pioneer.”

• Ian reasoned that Void Realm demons in space could have arisen from intelligent life on other worlds and wondered whether soul activity alone could create demons.
• The Xiahui Territory delegation returned from Harrison Port with trade agreements, raw materials, and four Second Energy Level Dragon-Worshiping Cult captives.
• Ian handed the captives to Adalbert as experimental subjects, and Adalbert refused to treat them as consumables before Ian had them drugged and placed in the underground holding cells.
• Ian contacted Anfa, who arranged to retrieve Limor and told him that teams from the Empire, Canaanmore, and the Azure Heaven Royal Court would explore the Underground Xenobiology Research Institute.
• Ian recognized the institute’s name from his Silver Chip records, which identified him as the Federation Xenobiology Research Institute’s director, codename “Pioneer.”

Ian traveled across Terra with Hilliard, using his knowledge and influence to guide future heroes while seeking a way to revive every version of his teacher across infinite realities. After learning that he would need Torrent, a Great Inheritance, or the breaking of the Great Seal, Ian chose to advance every plan at once and declared the age of miracles begun.

• Ian posed as a bard in White Dove Town, captured six adventurers with Hilliard’s help, and bound them to him with a Brain Attachment so they could retrieve Ninazu Abyss’s core control authority.
• Ian and Hilliard traveled across Terra for seven or eight years before returning to Harrison Port, where Hilliard asked why Ian had sacrificed so much to save him.
• Ian told Hilliard that he wanted him to live with curiosity so he could enter Pioneer Space and help revive all the dead versions of Hilliard across time and space.
• At the Tavern at the End of the Universe, Ian learned that reviving everyone would require Torrent, a Great Inheritance, or breaking the Great Seal.
• Ian decided to awaken the Great Existences and break the Great Seal while pursuing his other plans, and called for the age of miracles to begin.

Ian uncovered that the rift was Redwood Base’s malfunctioning cooling exchange port and raced to destroy the Brood before the collapsing rock buried it. Bishop White Mist warned him that the Brood was only a tool of a prophetic disaster’s true will, and Ian’s Precognitive Vision revealed a living aura at the nest’s center.

• Ian realized that the rift had once housed Redwood Base’s cooling pipes and that the Brood had disrupted the heat-dissipation system.
• Ian set off with explosives to destroy the Brood while Bishop White Mist and the Crystal Dragon kept the Insect Queen occupied.
• Patrick abandoned the Dark Radiance Offshoot and slipped past Bishop White Mist to pursue Ian, while the armor entangled the bishop.
• Bishop White Mist used telepathy to tell Ian that a will inside the Brood—not the Insect Queen—was the true source of the disaster.
• Ian suspected that the will was an Echo of the Great Elder’s memories and saw a deep-blue mist at the center of the nest with his Precognitive Vision.

Ian explored the Imperial Capital Grand Library with Mo Feng and the other Fairies, studying alchemy and deciding to return to consult its historical records and designs. As they prepared to leave, Mo Feng ran into an acquaintance.

• Mo Feng guided Ian and the Fairy young ladies through the Imperial Capital Grand Library, where Ian admired its preservation inscriptions and modern book-search system.
• Ian selected alchemy books and secretly recorded dozens of volumes with the Silver Chip while reading with the Fairies.
• Ian learned that Terra’s alchemy encompassed fields ranging from potions and inscriptions to energy furnace cores and the elevation of life.
• Ian resolved to build a library in his territory and planned to return alone to study history books and armored suit designs.
• As Ian and the Fairies prepared to leave, Mo Feng ran into an acquaintance.

Ian identified Anfa’s artifact as a fragment of the Origin Matter Computing Chip and used Retrospective Vision to uncover the Pioneer’s despair after the Calamity of Falling Skies. The vision ended with the Pioneer deciding to leave behind echoes of himself and Terra Civilization.

• Ian recognized the fragment as an Origin Matter Computing Chip modeled on the Silver Chip, which he believed was the Star Gods’ gift.
• Anfa explained that her family had found the artifact beside a deep, ruined abyss in the Xenobiology Research Institute.
• Anfa asked Ian to determine the artifact’s importance, function, and cause of damage, then let him touch it using her Dragonblood to bypass its psychic barrier.
• Ian’s touch showed him the Pioneer lamenting that he would die before passing on his knowledge or preserving the Star God’s Gift.
• The Pioneer resolved to leave behind echoes of himself and Terra Civilization, and Ian reacted with shock at the idea.

Ian said farewell to Sister Reflected Light after helping investigate the disappearances in Layan Territory, and learned how Light's Embrace viewed its role in human affairs. He left for Nauman City with a warning that the city was in turmoil and the Dragon-Worshiping Cult might be involved, recalling Linda's altered prophecy.

• Sister Reflected Light thanked Ian for helping uncover the truth behind the disappearances, while Ian noted that the evidence could misdirect later investigators toward the Blazing Flame Lands or the Spirit Cognition Institute.
• Ian asked whether Light's Embrace would act against human oppression, and Sister Reflected Light explained the Church's preference for resolving underlying problems without ruling or forcing people.
• Ian inferred that Light's Embrace's independence might be connected to its Book of Prophecy and its ability to foresee disasters.
• Sister Reflected Light warned Ian that Nauman City was under martial law and that Archbishop Heavenly Flame, Marquis Barton, and several factions were caught up in chaotic reports.
• Ian left on his camel beast and, after hearing that the Dragon-Worshiping Cult might be involved, wondered whether Linda's prophecy had changed because of him.

Ian accelerated the growth of his Crystal Dragon body and began feeding it Magic Beasts to develop its powers. Andor returned to find the enormous dragon, while Ian asked him for backup fuel and an explanation of the emergency outside.

• Ian used his computational power and the breeding room’s supplies to rapidly grow the Crystal Dragon and develop its lightning and magnetic-field abilities.
• Ian flew out of the breeding room and hunted Magic Beasts with electrical and electromagnetic powers in the VIP breeding zone.
• The Crystal Dragon devoured the beasts and transformed its shell into durable metallic crystal scales as the breeders fled.
• Andor returned to the breeding grounds and recognized the abnormally large Crystal Dragon.
• Ian asked Andor for the Element Crystals in his armor and asked what was happening outside.

Ian borrowed Ganterigum’s Avogadro Deep-Space Shuttle and used it to send a protected satellite beyond the Terra Cradle, where he discovered that Cradles formed an Infinite Ring spanning parallel universes. Returning with a way to save Terra from Terminus, Ian declared that he would reshape the world by silencing its Fifth Energy Levels.

• Panros agreed to seek committee approval for Ian to use Pole Star Zenith after Ian explained that the Avogadro Deep-Space Shuttle was an Anywhere Door and promised to teach the Dwarves how to maintain it.
• Ian powered the shuttle, enclosed a prepared satellite in a Heavenly Prison barrier, and launched it toward the darkness beyond the Terra Cradle.
• Beyond the Cradle, Ian saw that countless Cradles formed an Infinite Ring across parallel space-times and realized the Star Gods were fighting outside their universe.
• Terminus detected Ian, who vanished after concluding that the Cradle was the universe itself and that leaving it offered a way to escape Terminus.
• Ian returned to Terra and told Panros that he had found a way to save the world and its people, but that he first needed to reshape the world by silencing the Fifth Energy Levels.

Ian explained to Elan how he used accusations against Fifth Energy Levels to claim moral superiority and attract votes for the Perpetual Motion Machine. When the Light-Wielding King moved to execute Ace, Ian intervened from afar and defeated the king with a single strike, warning him not to go farther.

• Ian taught Elan that he sought votes, not to win an argument, and would use his greater care for ordinary people to distinguish himself from other Fifth Energy Levels.
• Ian told Elan that Fifth Energy Level power had originated in the sacrifices and shared contributions of ordinary people, making the current rulers' protection of humanity a duty rather than a sacrifice.
• The Light-Wielding King accepted that Fifth Energy Level bloodlines would eventually be spread widely, but accused Ace of treason and declared that he must die.
• Ace called for Ian to save him, and Ian's distant strike shattered the Light-Wielding King's attack and forced him back.
• The Light-Wielding King demanded that Ian stop interfering in the Blazing Flame Lands, but Ian left a silent warning: “You may come this far, but no farther.”

Ga'er reflected on how Pioneer Space had advanced his cultivation before hearing its announcement of new virtual experiment and combat features and a public platform. While users across Terra considered the update, Hill and Abyss Star assessed Pioneer Space’s ambitions, and Ian Silverpeak worked with his companions to upgrade it, confident that users’ contributions would bring him more knowledge.

• Ga'er used Pioneer Space’s books and exams to strengthen his meditation skills, stabilize his Third Energy Level, and prepare to pursue the Fourth Energy Level.
• Ga'er heard Pioneer Space announce virtual biological test subjects, virtual combat opponents, and a public platform for selected users.
• Users across Terra, including Ga'er, Aina Sertal, Sister Reflected Light, and Golan, listened to the update announcement.
• Hill asked Abyss Star whether Pioneer Space was legitimate, and she told him it seemed trustworthy enough to use while warning him to prioritize his safety.
• Hill concluded that Pioneer Space’s creator sought the Perpetual Motion Machine, and Abyss Star gave him psionic armor and agreed he should take advantage of the platform under her protection.
• Ian Silverpeak worked with Isengard, Adalbert, Anfa, and Sheo to upgrade Pioneer Space and explained that users’ ideas would give him far more knowledge than he shared.

Terra's Heart claimed the Terra Dragon inheritance from the Grand Duke of Ridgehold, and Ian used it to activate the Imperial Capital's hidden Planetary Collapse Cannon and recover the method for making Spacetime Condensation Material. Ian then joined the Gale Dragon King on the way back to Terra and proposed building a new Terra Cradle if they could not repair the existing breach.

• Terra's Heart confirmed that Ian was with him, and the Grand Duke of Ridgehold explained that his inheritance was only part of the Terra Dragon's knowledge, with the rest held in the Imperial Capital.
• Ian activated the Imperial Capital's dormant systems, awakening the Heavenly Ladder Tree of Life and transforming the city into a towering Steel Flower while Carlos and Alegria watched.
• Ian reached the Imperial Capital's Dragon Heart Core, used its full power to fire a beam into space, and fused with his projection at Atlan Megacity to obtain the Terra Dragon's final inheritance.
• Ian learned how to create Spacetime Condensation Material and considered gathering Star God power from New Moon and the Terra Comet Cloud to repair the Cradle.
• Ian met the Gale Dragon King in warped subspace-time, explained that the True Dragons' deaths had been returns to the Great Aetheric Current, and asked him to help investigate the Cradle's breach.
• Ian told the Gale Dragon King that if they could not repair the breach, they would build another Terra Cradle by bringing the mountain to them.

Ian outlined his plans to guide Terra’s people toward building a Cradle Ark, developing a stable Arcane society, and discovering spiritual power, while Terra’s Heart persuaded Bokaon to aid the New Moon project. Bokaon awakened Apocalypse Armament and departed for New Moon as Silverpeak Domain introduced Spirit Crystals as a currency for Ascenders.

• Ian and the Gale Dragon King discussed moving Terra through the sun and beyond the Cradle Wall, using machinery and a Cradle Ark to explore outside the Cradle.
• Ian described guiding humanity to build a Material Lifeline and Cradle Production Site on New Moon, develop a stable sublimator society, and create a Cradle Satellite to investigate the universe beyond Terra.
• Terra’s Heart told the Grand Duke of Ridgehold that Bokaon could be released only by entering an environment without Aether, and recruited him to help build the Cradle Wall on New Moon.
• Bokaon accepted the task, revealed that he had died and reincarnated more than ninety thousand times, and activated Apocalypse Armament with Ridgehold’s citizens joined to it as pilots.
• Apocalypse Armament flew toward New Moon, while the empire’s emperors departed their posts and Silverpeak Domain announced Spirit Crystals, which supplied computing power and Origin Matter to Ascenders.

Ian witnessed the Imperial Capital Guard inspect Gal Town for expired or missing temporary residence permits, which put many residents at risk of expulsion. The Guard captain recognized Ian and saluted him, asking for orders.

• Aunt Julia explained that many Gal Town residents could not afford temporary residence permits and feared being taken away during the inspection.
• The mayor let several families hide in his house and sent Aunt Julia to conceal them in the basement.
• Ian watched a twenty-five-man Imperial Capital Guard unit inspect homes and detain residents without valid permits, while the guards avoided searching the block where he stood.
• A Guard member reported that people without permits had entered the mayor’s house, but the captain ordered him to stop pursuing them.
• The captain recognized Ian’s armor and Eye of the Sun emblem, saluted him, and introduced himself as Fasha Keynes before asking for orders.

Ian planned mass executions and life imprisonment for Blazing Flame Lands criminals while assigning Adalbert to spread the Arcane Path and Isengard to study the King of Embers’ thought model. He explained that his goal was to give ordinary people strength and wisdom to prevent everyday tragedies, while Fairy Ian and Chrysalis’ split soul entered the Tranquil Light Realm.

• Ian told Adalbert and Isengard that criminals with proven or mind-read evidence of capital crimes would be executed, while many others would receive life imprisonment on the New Continent.
• Ian proposed public trials before executions, and Adalbert agreed to help popularize the Arcane Path while Isengard received the King of Embers’ personality model to study.
• Isengard identified Ian’s interest in thought models as a way to improve human intelligence, and Ian explained that he wanted to give ordinary people the strength and wisdom to prevent common tragedies.
• After Adalbert and Isengard left to begin their tasks, Ian returned to his administrative work in the Blazing Flame Lands.
• Fairy Ian met Chrysalis’ split soul in the Tranquil Sea and produced the passage marks needed to enter the Light Realm.
• Fairy Ian and Chrysalis descended through the Void Realm into the Tranquil Light Realm.