Chapter Summaries

Ian led the Light-Embracing Rescue Team through the Subspace Labyrinth, using the Undead Monarch’s power to defeat its phantoms and reach the exit. At the open doorway, Ian realized it was time to part ways.

• Ian guided the Light-Embracing Rescue Team through the labyrinth as his Undead Monarch powers turned dangerous routes safe and let him crush powerful phantom beasts.
• Ian tested his Wraith ability against an armored Razorclaw Tiger, evading its attack and killing it with one slash.
• Ian identified four Undead Monarch abilities and realized the inheritance protected the souls dwelling within its host rather than exploiting them.
• Ian wondered whether Grand Duke Solin’s research aimed to create a new social order, with one person serving as both nation and people.
• Ian brought the Light-Embracing Rescue Team to an empty hall and an open exit, then understood that it was time to part ways.

Ian killed Idema, took the laboratory’s core documents, and sent Teres the coordinates of Azure City Laboratory. As Teres’s squad destroyed the enemy outside, Ian began slaughtering the laboratory’s defenders and left the core control area with the documents.

• Ian removed Idema’s Brain Attachment, shattered his soul, and killed him before taking documents on Nightmare Fusion, Artificial Soul, and Brain Attachment cultivation.
• Mikael gave Ian permission to act freely and warned him to leave the Grand Duke’s territory unless he wanted to cooperate over Grand Duke Solin’s psionic legacy.
• Ian sent Teres the laboratory’s coordinates and ordered him to raid the target headquarters.
• Teres used the Azure Demon Bear Beast’s strength against it, fatally wounded its heart, and led his squad in destroying the enemies around Azure City.
• The deputy and guards entered the control room, where Ian killed them and took the organized documents.
• Ian fought through the laboratory’s defenders, using Fairy Wings and Sky-Binding Armor to spread freezing cold as he advanced.

Mikael learned that Axel’s plans involved the return of the Immovable Fortress and the rise of a new generation, while the Empire announced sweeping military reforms and an alliance with Canaanmore. Ian left the Imperial Capital for the troubled Southern Ridge, determined to pursue his own path and uncover what had taken the stars.

• Mikael questioned Axel about his plans, and Axel revealed that the Immovable Fortress had appeared again and that Hilliard’s successor, Mahdi, had met Split.
• Axel told Mikael that he wanted to change the world, while Mikael concluded that his father was allowing powerful rivals to emerge in order to create an opponent for the Empire.
• At the October 8 Imperial Capital Grand Council, the Empire announced full-scale confrontation with the Blazing Flame Lands, an alliance with Canaanmore, and major aerospace and army reforms.
• Ian rode toward the Southern Ridge as reports described unrest, resistance, and trouble among the Dragon-Worshiping Cult there.
• Ian looked toward the stars and said he knew what had taken them, then continued riding toward his future.

Ian explained to the souls that ending their suffering required addressing Terra’s national conflicts and reshaping society, though he had no immediate solution. The souls gave him their power and pledged to follow him as he set out to save the world.

• Ian told the souls that their suffering stemmed from conflicts between nations and described the challenges of unifying Terra and building a fair society.
• The souls realized Ian had seriously considered helping them, even though his plans went far beyond their request to destroy the laboratory and find its true culprit.
• The souls offered Ian their collective power, recounting the personal tragedies caused by the conflict between the Empire and the Blazing Flame Lands.
• Ian considered the suffering and deaths caused by the conflict, accepted the souls’ Torrent, and awakened as the Gloomvale Knight with scarlet light in his eyes.
• Ian asked the souls what they wanted him to do, then declared that he would use their strength to save the world, and they pledged to follow him.

Ian returned to Southern Ridge and found its people facing food shortages as Blazing Flame Lands' attacks disrupted crops and wartime production intensified. He learned that a Mountainfolk rebellion had engulfed several regions, and that Layan Territory had lost contact.

• Ian observed that Southern Ridge's towns were quieter, food prices had risen, and workshops were producing weapons and military supplies at full capacity.
• A pastry shop owner told Ian that crop yields had fallen to forty percent of normal after Blazing Flame Lands' attacks, leaving many foods scarce and expensive.
• Ian concluded that the biological warfare campaign was hitting the Mountainfolk and grain-producing regions especially hard, including Layan Territory.
• Ian returned to the pastry shop and found guard knights questioning its owner over suspected links to Blazing Flame Lands spies.
• Squad Leader Piman told Ian that a Mountainfolk rebellion had spread across several regions, with Mordor and Odor Colony already fallen.
• Piman reported that Layan Territory had lost contact.

Ian followed Frost Butterfly’s guidance through the Subspace Labyrinth while Central Laboratory staff reacted to his arrival and tried to direct him away from their enemy. The laboratory director explained that the trapped factions were struggling against the researcher who had become the Undead Monarch of Yore.

• Ian deduced that Central City Laboratory employees could control some Demonic Beasts and phantoms but lacked knowledge of the route to the Central Nexus.
• Ian used Frost Butterfly’s sense of what would benefit his goal to choose a direction, then took a Steel-Pattern Sword and continued through the labyrinth.
• The laboratory director’s staff reported that Zone C-13 had been wiped out and identified Ian as a Patrol Knight.
• The director ordered staff to contact Grand Duke Solin and, if Ian would not cooperate, lure him toward Fire Prison rather than let the monster gain his soul.
• The director recalled how the release of the test subjects’ souls had triggered the laboratory’s transformation into subspace and allowed the enemy to gather power.
• The director recognized that the enemy had achieved the psychic inheritance known as the Undead Monarch of Yore.

Ian read a recent memory of Miles, a survivor of Azure City whose mother died by suicide amid the city's destruction, and learned that Miles awakened psychic power. The discovery of unusual silver potential in Miles unsettled Ian, who resolved to control the anger he had accidentally revealed.

• Miles's mother killed herself as Azure City fell, and Miles awakened psychic power amid grief, hatred, and guilt.
• Ian finished sensing the memory and realized it belonged to Miles, who was still alive and had psychic potential.
• Ian detected unusual silver mist surrounding Miles and wondered whether it indicated access to a Fourth Energy Level benefit.
• Hua An noticed Ian had crushed his fountain pen, and Ian recognized that he had exposed his anger again.
• Ian reflected that his earlier calm came from not having witnessed such suffering firsthand and resolved to remain composed.

Grand Duke Solin revealed that the Star-Prison was closing around Terra’s solar system, threatening civilization, and explained that the Undead Monarch Project was meant to preserve his people. Ian realized the project’s intended refuge was a hell sustained inside a planet’s core.

• Grand Duke Solin showed Adalbert and Ian a model of the Star-Prison, which enclosed Terra’s solar system and was slowly sealing its crack.
• Solin explained that the prison would eventually cut off the stars and that humanity’s earlier plans to escape it had failed.
• Ian argued that civilization could not ignore the threat, then wondered whether the Undead Monarch Project was meant to preserve people through future catastrophes.
• Solin said he had given up on Terra’s future and would create a lasting refuge for the citizens of the Solin Grand Duchy.
• After recalling the song about eternal souls in a fire hell, Ian deduced that Solin planned to create that refuge in a planetary core.

Ian prepared Layan Territory’s workshops to produce powered Sublimation Armor for the coming Highlander attacks, but the lack of materials threatened his plans. Scott reminded him that the defeated Highlander leaders had left behind valuable weapons, and the chapter ended with the Thunderclap Sword’s capabilities revealed.

• Ian told Scott that Layan Territory’s people would support him only if his forces won, and he planned to conscript Marquis Barton’s escort soldiers as reinforcements.
• Ian ordered Amber to gather available workers and begin manufacturing powered Sublimation Armor, but Amber explained that the workshops lacked technicians, materials, and Radiant Chips.
• Ian considered how the armor could strengthen ordinary soldiers, while Amber warned that the workshop could not supply the required ammunition or Prism Ray components.
• Scott reminded Ian that Kari Shankou, Xisang Jiangu, and Martin Xuanfeng had left weapons behind, including the Dragon God Ring.
• Ian asked Amber whether the Highlander weapons could be recycled into materials, and the examined Thunderclap Sword was revealed to contain powerful lightning abilities and substantial Origin Matter.

Ian reached Sheo’s soul in the Dragon-Binding Soul Pillar, learned she was a malformed Titan-class cosmic lifeform, and awakened her. Sheo recognized Ian and agreed to keep his identity secret, though she remained confused about how she had been captured.

• Ian used Director Idema’s authority to communicate with Sheo through the Dragon-Binding Soul Pillar and saw her grotesquely malformed body.
• Ian examined Sheo’s soul and learned that Void poison had damaged her innate structure, leaving her extremely weak but granting her powerful psychic abilities.
• Ian urged Sheo to wake, and she recognized him as he told her he had come to rescue her.
• Ian reassured Sheo that he was not afraid of her, explained that her mother, Anfa, and Manyan should be in the Awak Domain, and asked her to say that Gloomvale Knight Mahdi had rescued her.
• Sheo agreed to use Ian’s alias but asked how she had been captured after being ambushed in the Western Border.

Ian confronted Grand Duke Solin, who recognized him as Hilliard’s inheritor and revealed that his forbidden work was meant to resist the destruction of Star-Prison. Solin insisted that risking evil was preferable to doing nothing, leaving Ian and Adalbert stunned by the threat he described.

• Grand Duke Solin used the Dead River Armament to form a silver moon and recognized Ian as Hilliard’s inheritor, the Rockforged Knight.
• Solin tested Ian with a swift arrow of light, which Ian blocked with Netherworld Armor and Silver-Scaled Bastion.
• Ian realized Solin may have helped conceal Hilliard’s identity, while Adalbert learned that Ian’s teacher had been the First Knight.
• Ian challenged Solin over controlling the Dead River Armament and violating taboos, hoping to draw out details of his plans.
• Solin admitted his actions were evil but said they were necessary to resist the destruction that would come with Star-Prison.

Ian led the Light-Embracing Rescue Team through weak phantoms to a terrarium containing eight active Soul-Binding Pillars. He found Sheo and Lubek imprisoned there, but the reason Lubek had a pillar of his own remained unclear.

• Redemptive Light questioned Ian about their target while she fought phantoms and Magic Beasts, and Ian said their objective was to rescue survivors.
• Ian guided the Light-Embracing Rescue Team through several terrariums, avoiding battles with weak but troublesome phantoms.
• Ian discovered that Viscount Avak had led his knights away with the guards from the Soul-Binding Pillars, and he headed down the path toward the pillars.
• Ian found Sheo's dragon soul and Lubek imprisoned among souls grouped by kind, including eleven fairy souls.
• Ian examined the pillars and realized that Lubek alone had been given a pillar despite not fitting any of the listed categories.

Ian foresaw a future in which he cultivated the Void Spawn through the spirit god system, destroyed Terra, and used the beast to carry humanity’s souls beyond Star-Prison. The plan failed to escape the prison, and a weary voice urged him to find another path before he returned to the Subspace Labyrinth.

• Ian realized that his future self had nurtured the Void Spawn by channeling the fear of all living beings through the Undead Monarch system, with Grand Duke Solin’s assistance.
• Ian understood that the Spirit Calamity intended to turn the planet-destroying Void Spawn into an ark that could carry everyone’s souls away from Terra.
• Ian compared the Spirit Calamity Path with the Swarm Path and considered whether his future self had missed crucial information or chosen a flawed plan.
• Ian foresaw the Void Spawn’s journey ending at Star-Prison, where azure patterns spread into a void and blocked its escape.
• A weary voice told Ian to find another path, and he returned from his foresight to the Subspace Labyrinth.

Ian secured an independent Armor squad and military support for reclaiming Layan Territory, while arranging aid and reinforcements from Harrison Port. The chapter ended with Scott’s White Folk squad reaching Nauman City as Ian received his Armor and welcomed his first team.

• Ian accepted Marquis Barton's assignment to reclaim Layan Territory, eliminate the rebels and Blazing Flame Lands agents, and hold near Loneflame Peak, receiving an independent Armor squad establishment and five hundred Taler.
• Ian contacted Viscount Grant and Elder Pude, who confirmed that Scott was bringing thirty White Folk warriors and that Azure Tide could serve as Ian’s deputy.
• Elder Pude shared coordinates for clues connected to the Foresight Twin Leaves, while Ian said he would act as soon as his Armor arrived.
• Scott led the White Folk squad across the quiet Agate Stone Plains toward Nauman City and found Ian’s imposing Cyclops Armor waiting by the city.
• On October 23rd, Terra Year 773, Scott and his squad entered Nauman City as Ian received his Armor and welcomed his team.

Ian entered the labyrinthized subspace beneath Avak Central Laboratory and defeated the monsters and ambushers waiting in its courtyard. After killing the only surviving employee, he used his seer abilities to locate the laboratory's Central Nexus control room and soul storage facility.

• Ian entered the Central Laboratory's subspace and drew his sword as more than thirty monsters and phantoms attacked him.
• Ian shattered a boulder thrown by a Demi-human phantom, then used his armor and Origin Matter greatsword to defeat three powerful attackers.
• Frost Butterfly blocked a dagger strike while Ian threw the attacker to the ground and hurled his sword through a hidden arrow and its archer.
• Ian seized the surviving laboratory employee and demanded the locations of the Central Nexus control room and soul storage facility.
• The employee claimed they were friendly forces and reached behind his back, but Ian crushed his head and said he had already found his destination.

Ian developed the Arcane Path by reshaping his soul into a computational structure, then asked Adalbert to help build artificial souls and artificial intelligence. He envisioned using their combined computing power to create Ascenders without Magic Potions and urged Adalbert to keep the system concealed, while reaffirming his aim of reaching Above the High Heavens.

• Ian found that restructuring his soul with a computing-unit pattern steadily increased his thinking speed and computing power.
• Ian brought Adalbert into the Void Realm, showed him a computing unit, and persuaded him to help develop the Arcane Path and artificial souls.
• Ian proposed linking residents' souls to artificial intelligence so it could support the territory and eventually reproduce Magic Potion structures to create Ascenders.
• Adalbert warned that an artificial intelligence controlled by Ian could make ascension depend on one ruler, but Ian argued that it should operate independently without an owner.
• Ian explained that inscriptions and Origin Matter structures might be programs created by a super-civilization, and called himself and Adalbert Pioneers for investigating their underlying principles.
• Ian proposed concealing the artificial intelligence's role so future generations would treat its rules as natural laws, and he said his ultimate purpose was to go Above the High Heavens.

Ian chose Silverpeak as his noble surname and asked Elder Pude to recruit reliable people, including Redwood People, for his territory. After reviewing Layan Territory’s population, finances, and farmland, Ian planned to boost industrial production and build hydroponic high-rises to expand Rosy Radiance Grass cultivation, while the story left the project awaiting development.

• Elder Pude advised Ian to abandon the Chehalorvo surname and use Silverpeak, with a crest showing a mountain peak encircled by a lake, and Ian agreed.
• Ian asked Elder Pude to recruit people with clean backgrounds and reliable ties, including some Redwood People, and Elder Pude agreed to send migrants to Layan Territory.
• Elder Pude reported that Elan’s psionic abilities were becoming clearer and that Sha Sha had rammed ships carrying Fairies and Elves investigating the South Sea Grand Labyrinth.
• Ian reviewed Layan Territory’s limited funds, uneven industrial structure, population, and farmland with his team, then ordered Scott to attract Western Border refugees and drifters.
• Adalbert reported progress on a hydroponic solution using Radiant Haze Lake water, and Ian proposed building high-rises to expand Rosy Radiance Grass production without needing more farmland.

After waking from his breakthrough injuries, Ian secured generous funding and armor units from Firestone to research Ultra-Effective Potions. He and Isengard discussed the Landkeeper plan and Isengard’s family troubles, then returned to find a group of Fairies waiting for Ian.

• Noble circles discussed Ian’s breakthrough to the Second Energy Level, and Baron Il visited him on Firestone’s behalf.
• Ian agreed to explore connecting Ultra-Effective Potions to armor and requested three fourth- or fifth-generation armor units for experiments.
• Isengard told Ian that Great-Aunt Alegria and other powerful nobles stood behind Firestone, while Ian urged him not to worry about helping him.
• Ian told Isengard about the Spirit Cognition Institute’s Echo research, and they discussed Landkeeper Axel’s plans and the worsening struggle within Isengard’s family.
• Ian promised to accompany Isengard to Ellen’s Domain when the chance came, and they returned to Isengard’s residence, where a group of Fairies awaited Ian.

After Grand Duke Solin advanced to the Fifth Energy Level and destroyed Silver Moon City, Ian discovered that his Precognitive Vision showed death surrounding him and people connected to him. He realized Princess Alegria’s interest in his armor work could lead the Landkeeper to expose his identity as the hidden disciple of the empire’s most wanted criminal.

• Grand Duke Solin’s contract sent Silver Moon City and its gathered subjects into the mantle, and rumors spread that he had sacrificed their souls to reach the Fifth Energy Level.
• Isengard told Ian that the empire’s nobles and royals had gathered in the capital, and that Princess Alegria was reviewing armor designs for the military.
• Ian used Precognitive Vision on Isengard, Hua An, and Frost Butterfly and saw black-red signs of certain death centered on his residence and extending to people he had encountered.
• Ian questioned Isengard about whether the royal family had been watching him, and Isengard confirmed Princess Alegria’s interest in his armor development.
• Ian concluded that the military’s armor-design solicitation could force him into the spotlight and reveal his connection to the empire’s most wanted criminal.

Ian defeated the Nightmare Spawn and confronted Director Honagar in the monitoring room, where he learned the laboratory’s purpose and the details of the mutation. He killed Honagar, and all surviving members of the Spirit Cognition Institute in Avak Central Laboratory were annihilated.

• Ian entered the monitoring room after defeating the Nightmare Spawn, shocking Director Honagar with his strength and regenerative ability.
• Ian learned that the Spirit Cognition Institute had captured Fairies for experiments and declared he could act without restraint because the subspace blocked information from reaching the outside.
• A guard accidentally fired, and Ian cut down the armed guards and researchers with a freezing blade of steam.
• Ian pressed Director Honagar for the laboratory’s purpose and the mutation’s details, and Honagar told him everything he knew.
• Ian crushed Director Honagar’s head, leaving no surviving members of the Spirit Cognition Institute in Avak Central Laboratory.