Chapter Summaries

The Fairy Empress explained the Star God's legacy and offered to help Ian transform the Void Realm, while her account of the Heavenly Father helped Adalbert accept that humanity had to rely on itself. Ian showed them his plan for a Second World and agreed to travel to Falling Star City to study the Photonic Furnace and Void-Sea Ark; Final Defense ended by pitching Void Realm security software.

• The Fairy Empress told Ian that the Falling Star Sea held the Star God's remains, which the Fairies had turned into the Photonic Furnace and Void-Sea Ark, and offered to help him transform Terra's Void Realm.
• Ian agreed to cooperate with the Fairy Empress and asked to visit Falling Star City to see the artifacts and learn how to contact the Great Aetheric Current.
• The Fairy Empress told Ian and Adalbert that the Heavenly Father had died protecting Terra, and Adalbert concluded that people had to rely on themselves rather than wait for a savior.
• Ian showed the Fairy Empress and Final Defense his Heaven and his plans for Void Realm servers, public learning and combat functions, and a Second World for humanity.
• The Fairy Empress agreed to teach Ian about the Photonic Furnace, and Final Defense offered Ian the Void Realm Security Center as antivirus and security software.

Ian reflected on the immense cost of cultivating a transcendent as Hilliard refined the Reef-Eating Sea Otter’s crystal bone into a Sand Armor Apprentice Magic Potion. Hilliard gave Ian the finished potion, and Ian drank it, beginning the inheritance.

• Ian calculated that cultivating a First Energy Level transcendent cost at least 4,500 Taler and could reach nearly 7,000 Taler if the process failed.
• Hilliard extracted Origin Matter Structure from the Reef-Eating Sea Otter’s crystal bone using the stable psionic field at Sighing Cliff.
• Hilliard combined the extracted Origin Matter with auxiliary ingredients to create the Sand Armor Apprentice Magic Potion.
• Hilliard gave Ian the potion and instructed him to receive it with his Spring rather than drink it into his ordinary stomach.
• Ian accepted the potion and drank it, feeling a stream of blazing magma ignite within his body.

Ian discovered that a Brain-Eating Worm had replaced an aberrant human’s nervous system and brain, then realized his Precognitive Vision might be changing after exposure to the ancient ruins. He prepared to search for his companions, especially Sha Sha, and considered the Crocodile Dragon’s brain marrow crystal as a reserve.

• Ian examined the aberrant human and found a giant tapeworm-like Brain-Eating Worm had replaced its brain, spinal cord, and nervous system.
• Ian suspected the parasite might relate to the native Great Shaman merging with the Crocodile Dragon, but recorded the idea as uncertain before killing the worm.
• Ian concluded the aberrant human had emerged from a cultivation chamber and become infected after drinking from the Parasite River, so he decided to find his companions, especially Sha Sha.
• Ian activated Precognitive Vision and found that it cost several times more stamina than before, leading him to suspect his psychic ability was progressing.
• Ian anticipated that exploring the ruins might let Precognitive Vision reveal the past as well as the future, and noted that he could rely on potions, Origin Matter, and the Crocodile Dragon’s brain marrow crystal for stamina.

Ian discovered that his psionic sight revealed colored mists and ominous signs, confirming that his uncle planned to kill him and his younger brother. He resolved to kill his uncle that day, gathered household materials for traps, and approached a bowl of porridge surrounded by pale blue mist.

• Ian used psionics to see black-red mist and the phantom of an obsidian knife around his sleeping younger brother, while the black mist around himself had disappeared.
• Ian concluded that his uncle intended to kill them and decided to strike first that day.
• Ian searched the house and collected rope, vines, a hay fork, flour, skewers, knives, salted fish, and the stick that had injured him.
• Ian recalled that the bowl of porridge was surrounded by pale blue mist and leaned closer to inspect it.

Viscount Grant told Pude that Crendell was carrying his heir and discussed how Ian’s talent could take him beyond Harrison Port while still benefiting the town. At the Platinum-Iridium Workshop, Master Gose insisted Ian join the expedition, whose goal was to find the Deepsea Crystal Dragon, and ordered Patrick to investigate the danger facing Isengard.

• Viscount Grant told Pude that Crendell had cultivated the Abyssal Lizardwhale bloodline and was carrying a true heir to the Grant family.
• Viscount Grant and Pude agreed that Ian was beyond their control, and the viscount planned to seek him a formal knight identity in the Imperial Capital if he earned merit with the Ellen Family.
• At the Platinum-Iridium Workshop, Master Gose explained that Ian had detected the hidden inscription in the Blue Flame Bracelet and insisted that his talent justified bringing him on the mission.
• Master Gose accused the Ellen Family's internal competition of endangering Isengard and told Patrick to report the matter to the Marquis and Madam for investigation.
• Master Gose explained that the expedition aimed to find the high-ranking Magic Beast known as the Deepsea Crystal Dragon, which fed on Shimmering Element Crystal Clams.

Ian fought the Great Shaman’s flesh incarnation atop the Crocodile Dragon and defeated it with his Execution sword technique. He then plunged into the beast’s brain and emerged with its crystallized brain core.

• The Great Shaman’s flesh incarnation clamped Ian’s sword and attacked him with its tentacles and stone claws.
• Ian used his earth-aspect guardian inheritance to withstand the incarnation’s strike, then cleaved it in two with Execution.
• The Crocodile Dragon’s eyes rolled back as the Great Shaman’s incarnation was killed, leaving the beast temporarily without a soul.
• Ian spotted the Crocodile Dragon’s vulnerable area beneath him and thrust his sword into its brain.
• Ian emerged holding the Crocodile Dragon’s pale-golden crystallized brain core.

Ian dismantled a water-element fairy’s molted feather and brewed a half-potion using its Origin Matter Structure and other rare materials. After drinking it, he successfully formed new ganglia on his back, leaving him with a faint sensation of lift.

• Ian explained how fairies’ psionic bodies and likely propulsion made them difficult for humans to capture.
• Ian dismantled the Fairy's Molted Feather and extracted its Origin Matter Structure through precipitation with pure water.
• Ian prepared the Redwood Heartwood Sap and other ingredients, then used Precognitive Vision to check that the half-potion had formed successfully.
• Ian fused the materials into a sea-blue half-potion and drank it before its unstable components could separate.
• Ian recorded the potion’s structure with the Silver Chip, and mist and azure particles gathered around him as Origin Matter condensed into two ganglia on his back.

Adalbert stopped an infiltration team attacking the research institute, and Ian learned that his prophetic ability had not warned him because the raid caused no damage. Ian then traveled into the Great Redwood Forest to find the Foresight Twin Leaves and heard a mysterious invitation from them in a dream.

• Adalbert trapped the infiltrators in a blood-filled subspace and unleashed Wraith phantoms on them.
• Adalbert told Scott that the attackers had been captured, and Scott realized the researcher was far stronger than he appeared.
• Ian learned that the attackers had been defeated and confined in a hollow beneath the dragon nest, then approved Gu Ying's requested funding.
• Ian headed into the Great Redwood Forest, where he learned the Foresight Twin Leaves were tied to the moving Tree Sea Sacred Spring rather than Elephant Bone Mountain.
• Ian recalled hearing a voice in a dream that invited him to come and meet the Foresight Twin Leaves.

Ian examined a living mass of organs in an ancient cultivation chamber and suspected that aberrations might be related to teratomas. After noticing strange gusts and disappearing flesh, he waited in ambush and spotted a hair-covered humanoid creature approaching him.

• Ian read the cultivation chamber’s damaged inscriptions and saw a living humanoid mass of hair, teeth, bones, and organs inside.
• Ian identified the mass as resembling a teratoma and wondered whether aberrations, including Osena’s leg tumor and its malformed Steel Bone, shared the same origin.
• Ian heard a cold gust, noticed possible changes to the lizard corpses, and returned to the stone bridge to watch the hall.
• Ian held his breath and concealed his life signs while waiting for the strange presence to reveal itself.
• A hair-covered black humanoid glided between the pillars and reached toward Ian, mistaking him for prey.

Ian discovered through Hilliard’s telescope that Terra’s New Moon was shattered 1,665 years earlier, prompting him to vow to uncover what happened to the moon and the Pre-Epoch Civilization. He continued studying and training for four years, and the story moved forward to Terra Year 773.

• Ian gazed at the unusually clear night sky and used Hilliard’s telescope to examine the New Moon.
• Ian saw that the New Moon was a scorched, shattered moon and the Silver Chip identified its shattering as 1,665 years earlier.
• Ian compared the date with Terra’s recorded history and suspected the moon’s collapse had contributed to the Calamity of Falling Skies.
• Ian vowed to discover what had shattered the moon and destroyed the Pre-Epoch Civilization.
• Ian continued caring for Elan, studying, training, and developing his skills for four years, until April 9, Terra Year 773.

Ian and Hua An visited Mo Feng in the Void Realm, where Ian explored her collection of historical books before a powerful Mech-God appeared. Hua An safely guided Ian back to his body, while Mo Feng stayed to study the colossus.

• Mo Feng welcomed Hua An and Ian, praised Hua An for bringing a human into the Void Realm, and explained that other Fairies had gone west for grand banquets.
• Ian read Mo Feng’s books about history, legends, and the Pre-Epoch Civilization while the Fairies discussed the value of reading.
• A thunderous gateway opened, and the Endtime Colossus, Eraser Gigantes, emerged into the Void Realm.
• Mo Feng stayed behind to observe the Fourth Energy Level Mech-God for the Dream Institute, while Hua An took the tired Ian back.
• Ian watched the colossus clear debris from the Void Realm and realized the realm was a dangerous labyrinth before he and Hua An disappeared.

Viscount Grant tried to identify the force that attacked Ian, while Elder Pude suspected Ian had staged the ambush to pursue his own plans. In Nauman City, Marquis Barton received a report that the Dragon-Worshiping Cult had abducted Ian and demanded the release of captured cultists.

• Viscount Grant learned from Elder Manyan that Ian was safe but injured, then wondered who had attacked him and whether to summon him home.
• Viscount Grant decided to tell Elder Pude about Ian, unaware that Pude believed Ian had anticipated the ambush and was making a deliberate move.
• Elder Pude considered sending Azure Tide to help Ian, but decided Azure Tide would be more useful in Harrison Port while he pursued the Foresight Twin Leaves.
• Marquis Barton watched the sky from his residence in Nauman City as Magnetic Light Knight Chris reported that the attackers were linked to the Spirit Cognition Institute and might serve a powerful Imperial Capital figure.
• Chris told Marquis Barton that the Dragon-Worshiping Cult had abducted Ian and demanded the release of Canaanmore cultists captured days earlier.

Ian learned that the immortality method pursued by the Ascendants involved using other people as vessels, progressing from copying memories to duplicating thoughts and attempting to transfer the soul. He suspected Axel planned to take over Isengard's body, then asked Patrick why he had concealed the truth from Isengard.

• Ian explained that learning another person's memories created a Reverberation, not immortality, and reasoned that duplicating memories and thought algorithms could create an Echo.
• Ian concluded that the Ascendants wanted a Mirror, which required transferring the soul as well as memories and thoughts to achieve body-snatching.
• Ian suspected Axel intended to use Isengard's royal and Light-Eater Dragon bloodlines to take over his body and regain Fifth Energy Level strength.
• Ian recognized that these methods required human vessels and understood why the people of Redwood Base had called the Great Elder a demon.
• Ian confronted Patrick and asked why he had not told Isengard the truth and what his purpose was.

Ian and the Fairies left the devastated Awak Domain with the Inspecting Knights, while Ian arranged for Adalbert to hide in his Southern Ridge territory and then spotted survivors Miles and Cynthia. He sent them supplies from the air, but Skyflood King struck Avak Central Laboratory with lightning, and the blast’s refracted bolt hit Ian’s aircraft.

• Ian explained his five-tier genius classification to the Fairies, and Mikael advised him to act more like an arrogant young genius instead of pretending to be modest.
• The Light-Embracing Rescue Team and the Dragon-Worshiping Cult passed through checkpoints unchallenged, while Ian arranged for Adalbert to settle in his Southern Ridge territory.
• Ian and the Fairies boarded a levitating-stone aircraft and left the Inspecting Knights’ camp without Teres, who had been assigned to help capture a Mountain-Bearing Giant Turtle.
• Ian saw Miles and Cynthia leaving the ruins of Avak, recognized their need for supplies, and dropped them food, medicine, and tools from the aircraft.
• Skyflood King struck Avak Central Laboratory with a massive lightning bolt and declared that the Imperials would not win; a reflected bolt then hit Ian’s aircraft.

Ian explored the Aether Sea and concluded that Terminus was an unconscious, universe-ending force spreading through spacetime by turning stars into black holes. He resolved to leave the Cradle in search of primordial power, and the chapter ended with Ian, Terra's Heart, and the Pioneer accepting the Terra Dragon Legacy needed to repair it.

• Ian observed countless Paths and concluded that Terminus lacked self-awareness and acted through instinctive responses.
• Ian reasoned that Aether had disrupted Terminus's perfect knowledge, causing it to pursue Aether through spacetime and turn stars into black holes.
• Ian concluded that Terminus could eventually reach the Primordial Singularity and form a Black Hole Engine, while the Star Gods' retreat into Cradles only delayed its advance.
• Ian decided to leave the Cradle to seek primordial power and possibilities beyond the aether universe, believing that repairing the Cradle was the first requirement.
• The Grand Duke of Ridgehold gave Terra's Heart the Terra Dragon's Dragon Crystal Legacy, which contained the technology to repair the Cradle.
• Terra's Heart, Ian Silverpeak, and the Pioneer accepted the legacy, taking the first step toward the unknown.

Ian Silverpeak defeated Dastiel Abasalom and claimed the Lower Blazing Flame Land, then explained the King of Embers’ Flame Reincarnation plan and offered the Blazing Flame Lands’ Bloods of the Apex Seat to worthy successors. When Chrysalis asked about Ian’s own vision, Ian declared that he would repair the Cradle and build a Ringworld, and the gathered people bowed to him as their king.

• Ian Silverpeak emerged victorious from his three-day battle with Dastiel Abasalom and declared himself King of the Lower Blazing Flame Land.
• Chrysalis reflected that Ian’s strength surpassed the King of Embers’ and recognized that even the two of them together could not have defeated him.
• Ian explained Flame Reincarnation and revealed the King of Embers’ Bloods of the Apex Seat, promising them to exceptional Fourth Energy Level powerhouses from the Blazing Flame Lands.
• The Flame Abyss King realized he would need to submit to Ian and share his bloodline research to secure his people’s future.
• Chrysalis asked Ian to explain his dream, and Ian declared that he would repair the Cradle, build a Ringworld, and lead everyone into a new world.
• Ian descended to the people, who bowed and acclaimed him as their king.

Ian told the survivors he had found the ruin’s exit but planned to stay behind and destroy the Brain-Eating Worm nest before it could spread into Harrison Port. Master Gose agreed to accompany him after Ian warned that the danger could become another Dawn City disaster.

• Sha Sha devoured all the silver fish in the underground lake and began healing its wounds.
• Ian told the group he had found a way out but would not leave with them, then modified a pirate cannon into a portable shell launcher using a strand of Isengard’s hair in the binding rope.
• Master Gose questioned Ian’s decision to stay, and Ian explained that he planned to attack the Brain-Eating Worm nest at the ruin’s cooling water outlet.
• Ian warned that the parasites might spread into Harrison Port and that returning to the surface would make it difficult to reenter the ruin for weeks.
• Master Gose agreed to go with Ian, recalling how the Hundred-Armed Giant Vine had destroyed Dawn City and its surrounding settlements.

The Magic Beast lords debated how to survive humanity’s rising Arcane Path and feared another human might claim the Perpetual Motion Machine while Ian Silverpeak remained absent. Ian returned and activated the machine’s vote across Terra, beginning the final battle.

• Shadowmare urged the Magic Beast lords to protect their independence, while Wilderness, White Vortex, Bai Ji, and Furstie argued that humanity’s rise made integration the likeliest path to survival.
• Wilderness described how the Silverpeak Domain’s education and Arcane Path were transforming Naje City and spreading throughout human society.
• White Vortex proposed that Magic Beasts gradually take human forms, but Shadowmare feared humans would still reject them without a united front.
• Shadowmare worried that Ian Silverpeak might be dead and that another human would claim the Perpetual Motion Machine.
• Ian’s voice announced his return, and the Perpetual Motion Machine’s vote activated across Terra as he declared the old era would end.

Ian and his companions entered the Imperial Capital’s middle districts with Teres, who had been promoted to squad captain after his undercover service. As Ian studied the vast city and its strange living-looking shield structure, he considered the gulf between the people below and the sublimators who could live in the upper districts.

• Teres’s Inspecting Knights squad welcomed Ian, Hua An, and Frost Butterfly and escorted them toward the Imperial Capital.
• Inside a cable car, Ian learned that Teres had become a squad captain after his years undercover and the capture of Kate.
• Ian noticed that the Imperial Capital’s outer wall was covered in living-looking biomass and enormous inscription arrays that the Silver Chip identified as a planetary shield generator.
• From high above the lower districts, Ian watched their crowds and transport networks and thought that the people looked like ants.
• Ian looked toward Lone Mountain and learned that only sublimators could survive in the upper districts, though the Emperor’s palace was supposedly open to anyone.

Ian used his enhanced perception to trace the psychic imprint and pinpoint the traitorous knight near the Redwood Forest, prompting Hilliard to rush off. Meanwhile, Weges tried to force scouts to guide him to the Surging Wave Tribe, then used psychic power to discover that Viscount Grant was colluding with the natives.

• Ian saw the purple psychic threads spreading across Harrison Port and traced the enemy's location to the Redwood Forest near the native settlement.
• Hilliard vanished to pursue the target, while Ian warned Elan to stay inside and promised to bring him unusual plants.
• At a hidden camp in Purpleleaf Forest, Weges ordered seven scouts to lead him to the western coast to capture a Surging Wave Tribe prisoner.
• The scouts resisted Weges's threats, and he used psychic power to listen to one scout's thoughts.
• Weges accused Viscount Grant of colluding with the natives, shocking the scouts.