Chapter Summaries

Ian and Adalbert discussed the Void Sea, demons, and the Dead River Armament before Ian assigned Adalbert research into a psionic network for departed souls. Adalbert recognized that Ian’s Blood Hunter biotechnology could support a new path for ordinary people to become Ascenders, while Ian prepared for the operation against Midra Territory.

• Adalbert explained that the Void Realm was a bubble in the Void Sea and described how the Blood Demon arose from fear and hatred after the Karin's Flower Incident.
• Ian and Adalbert discussed the Dead River Armament, the danger of creating demons, and whether positive emotions could give rise to angels.
• Ian asked Adalbert to investigate using the psionic network to communicate with departed souls and then turned to preparations against Midra Territory.
• Adalbert studied Ian’s Blood Hunter documents and realized their inexpensive biological modifications could help create a new humanity capable of wielding Origin Matter and pursuing Ascension.
• Ian praised Adalbert’s insight, considered the Blood Hunter a basis for mutual cooperation with Swarm Ian, and left to continue planning the attack.

After Blazing Flame Lands warnings failed to deter Layan Territory’s rival Mountainfolk factions, Ian led an armored force toward Layan City and ordered every leadership group eliminated. As Martin Xuanfeng’s faction clashed with the independent Mountainfolk, Ian’s force arrived and began its assault.

• Naimo warned Blazing Flame Lands operatives that a powerful psychic had exposed their covert network, while Mountainfolk leaders in Layan Territory dismissed warnings of an Imperial attack.
• Martin Xuanfeng planned to use the coming conflict to raise his faction’s standing, while Kari Shankou’s independent Mountainfolk and the Xuanfeng Tribe pursued competing claims to Layan Territory.
• Ian learned from a captured Mountainfolk that Martin Xuanfeng’s faction intended to reclaim Layan City, and he ordered his troops to destroy the leadership groups of every faction.
• Steward Morda heard Martin Xuanfeng accuse the Empire of framing Baron Layan, while Mountain Pass Tribe and Firm Valley Tribe warriors called for the traitors’ destruction.
• Ian’s force reached Layan City on October 24, Year 773 of Terra, killed a patrol captain before he could raise the alarm, and began the siege.

Ian entered the Jiamu Tribe’s hidden vault, took valuable materials including a Dust-Cleansing Dragon’s Heart-Guard Shell, and found a diary exposing the chieftain’s self-justifications. The diary revealed that a Construct Knight squad was hidden in the Southern Ridge, leaving Ian startled by the discovery.

• Ian found the Jiamu Tribe’s priests had left the sacrificial hall, then used the Silver Chip to disable its traps and open the secret vault.
• Ian discovered valuable materials in the vault, including a Dust-Cleansing Dragon’s Heart-Guard Shell that could repair the Ancient Dragon Core and support his future plans.
• Ian took the Heart-Guard Shell and a Molten-Earth Snake vertebra, which he intended to give to Isengard.
• Ian searched the Jiamu chieftain’s residence and read a diary in which the chieftain portrayed his oppression of other mountain tribes as benevolence.
• Ian reached the diary’s final pages and discovered that a Construct Knight squad was hidden in the Southern Ridge.

At an armor testing complex, veteran pilot Anna Tecumseh watched an experimental heavy armor reveal that it could fly and fire highly accurate, powerful beams. The white-haired pilot judged the Prometheus Prism successful, though the Cyclops Core still needed a stronger power system.

• Anna Tecumseh reviewed several armor tests at the Spiral Spire District testing complex and approved an application from the Ellen Family’s Poyin Workshop.
• The Cyclops Armor arrived as a heavily modified ground-combat unit, and Anna noticed its unusual armor, observation system, and Origin Matter conduits.
• The Cyclops Armor used a levistone reaction and jet propulsion to fly, while Anna realized its new system amplified the pilot’s Fairy Bloodline ability.
• The Cyclops Armor fired a focused beam that melted half a sand dune, then sustained irradiation that cut a circle into the ground.
• The Cyclops Armor struck all twenty moving targets with rapid beam bursts, and Anna recognized it as sniper armor.
• Inside the Cyclops Armor, the white-haired pilot confirmed that the Prometheus Prism worked as expected and said the Cyclops Core’s power system still needed strengthening.

After Skyflood King Kador’s attack, Ian was brought back to the Imperial Capital under the cover story that he had suffered a dangerous breakthrough. The Empire and the Blazing Flame Lands traded accusations and mobilized for war, and Ian awakened as the world teetered toward conflict.

• Hua An contacted Master Gose and the Ellen Family, while Ian let others believe he was unconscious and severely injured.
• Master Gose and Isengard rushed to the Awak Domain, retrieved Ian, and returned with him to the Imperial Capital.
• The Empire blamed the Blazing Flame Lands for the Western Border disaster, and Mikael declared full war readiness in the Western Border and Southern Ridge.
• The Blazing Flame Lands rejected the Empire’s accusations and declared four regions ready for war, while other powers issued statements and adjusted their positions.
• The Empire and the Blazing Flame Lands reinforced their border fortresses, and the Seven Cities Alliance formed an alliance with the Empire.
• On September 23, Ian awakened in the Imperial Capital as tensions continued to rise.

Skyflood King struck the Awak Domain with a Fourth Energy Level lightning attack, destroying Avak Laboratory and bringing down Ian’s floatstone aircraft. Ian secretly used a Second Energy Level Fairy potion while pretending to be gravely injured, then left Hua An and Mo Feng to contact Master Gose and Isengard as he pursued his plan to reveal his strength.

• Skyflood King fired a lightning attack at the Awak Domain, destroying Avak Laboratory and its surroundings.
• Ian realized the aircraft’s passengers were in danger and chose to protect Frost Butterfly without exposing his strength.
• After the lightning pierced the aircraft, Ian drank a Fairy potion, feigned serious injuries, and shielded Frost Butterfly as the group fell.
• Hua An and Mo Feng survived the crash and treated Ian, while Ian told them to contact Master Gose and Isengard.
• Ian let himself lose consciousness after deciding he needed to reveal his Second Energy Level and accelerate his plans for Layan Territory.

Blue Lightning delivered Element Crystals to Layan Territory, where Ian demonstrated the Magnetic Storm Coil and recruited the lightning-aspect ascended to help test its technology. Afterward, Ian learned of a possible monster at Layan Lake.

• Blue Lightning escorted the Element Crystal convoy to Layan Territory and saw the Magnetic Storm Armor under construction at the castle.
• Ian showed Blue Lightning the Magnetic Storm Coil, which destroyed rock and wooden targets but took more than twenty seconds to recharge.
• Blue Lightning charged the Coil with his own electricity, speeding up its next attack and increasing its power.
• Ian recruited Blue Lightning as a specially appointed tester for the alchemical workshop, and Blue Lightning accepted.
• Scott told Ian that a citizen had reported seeing a monster at Layan Lake.

Ian rallied his soldiers with a speech, then revealed he had used a potion to intensify their fervor before equipping them with powerful Charged Rifles. He led the newly armed force toward Layan Territory, while a Blazing Flame Lands psychic wondered who had eliminated his infiltrators.

• Ian stirred the White Folk soldiers into a battle frenzy and declared that he would lead them to reclaim their foundation from the mountain bandits.
• Ian told Scott that he had dispersed Frenzy Potion and a hallucinogenic solution through the Cyclops to influence the soldiers, and Scott agreed to serve under him.
• Ian collected seven prototype Charged Rifles from Mira's workshop, and Scott and six soldiers tested the weapons successfully.
• Ian and Scott planned a surprise assault using small teams, Charged Rifles, and the armored suit while prioritizing the soldiers' survival.
• On October 23, 773, Ian led his newly equipped troops on warhorses toward Layan Territory.
• At the Blazing Flame Lands' Southern Ridge Special Warfare Headquarters, a psychic discovered that his infiltrators and hidden agents had been eliminated and wondered who was responsible.

Ian and the Light-Embracing Rescue Team fought through the Undead Monarch’s phantoms after Ian realized they were only meant to delay them. He led the team toward the dragon and the Fairies, hoping to rescue them before the enemy’s main force could strike.

• Redemptive Light, Reflected Light, and Radiant Sword agreed to rescue Sheo Mirisga and the Fairies without interfering in the wider conflict.
• Ian taught the team how to identify parasitic and shapeshifting monsters before detecting a large force of phantoms near the laboratory’s central entrance.
• The Undead Monarch’s phantoms attacked the rescue team, but the archers, Redemptive Light, and Radiant Sword’s fighters held them off.
• Ian realized the phantoms were stalling the team while the Undead Monarch’s main force attacked the researchers near Grand Duke Solin.
• Ian led the rescue team in an assault through the phantoms and chose a route toward the dragon and the Fairies.

Grand Duke Solin defended his decision to use Artificial Souls and the Undead Monarch legacy, while Adalbert condemned the suffering it caused. Ian challenged Solin for giving up on reaching Star-Prison and demanded a share of Inaga II's legacy, leaving with Solin's permission and Adalbert fired.

• Adalbert accused Grand Duke Solin of believing that resurrection could undo the pain and lives lost through his experiments.
• Grand Duke Solin defended his choices as the path that would cause the fewest deaths and challenged Adalbert to propose a better plan.
• Ian told Grand Duke Solin that he had given up too early on reaching Star-Prison and demanded a share of Inaga II's legacy.
• Grand Duke Solin agreed that Ian was right and gave him permission to take a share of the legacy.
• Grand Duke Solin ordered Adalbert to follow Ian and fired him for opposing his decisions without offering a better solution.

Ian prepared Layan City for the mountain folk invasion, using intelligence from Nauman City to set up defenses and plan a rain-assisted attack. As the three-tribe army reached the outskirts, rain began falling while Chief Snake Rock believed his forces held the advantage.

• Ian reviewed his advancement options and focused on defending Layan City and its buried Nethercrystal Engine.
• Ian organized city fortifications, ordered alchemical catalysts produced, and received the mountain folk’s attack plans from Colonel Mayowa.
• Ian’s workers laid Lightningglow Stone powder, magnetic silver wires, and disguised lightning attractors along the enemy’s likely route.
• Ian assigned Azure Tide to harass the enemy supply lines and told Scott to use Rainfall Shells to bring on rain.
• The allied mountain folk forces marched toward Layan City, and Chief Snake Rock ordered them to establish a camp near the city.
• Rain began falling as Chief Snake Rock considered his force of nearly fifteen hundred against Layan City’s roughly three hundred fighters.

Ian and Azure Tide scouted the rebel mountainfolk’s camp at Loneflame Peak and discovered a large, well-trained force preparing to attack Layan City. Ian returned with a plan to exploit artificial rainfall and the Magnetic Storm Coils, while Adalbert’s arrival also advanced the workshop’s armor and alchemy projects.

• Ian and Azure Tide infiltrated the area near Loneflame Peak and counted 1,354 mountainfolk, three armored units, five Magic Beasts, and three core Second Energy Level Ascenders in the camps of the Iron Dust Tribe, Snake Rock Tribe, and Shaking Boat Tribe.
• Ian decided the enemy’s position could not be defeated by attacking the terrain and planned to use the stormy weather to create an advantage for Layan City’s forces.
• Ian and Azure Tide returned to Layan City, where Amber reported that Gu Ying, Adalbert in disguise, had solved the workshop’s high-energy crop culture medium problem.
• Amber told Ian that the Magnetic Storm Armor was ready for combat and that its cooperation with the Magnetic Storm Coils had been preliminarily completed.
• Ian’s team assessed its severe numerical disadvantage and decided to cut off the mountainfolk’s supplies while preparing to use artificial rainfall against them.
• Ian explained that a downpour could help the Magnetic Storm Coils and Magnetic Storm Armor, then suggested that favorable conditions might let them bring down lightning on the attacking army.

Ian and Azure Tide traveled with a grain convoy to Indigo Mountain Pass, where Ian discovered that the merchant meant to supply them was connected to the rebel mountain folk. The chapter ended with Ian inspecting the grain shop while seeking evidence against its owner.

• Ian and Azure Tide arrived at Indigo Mountain Pass with a convoy carrying supplies and intelligence for the Dragon-Worshiping Cult.
• Ian and Azure Tide sampled local mountain folk food and discussed the dangers of poisonous mushrooms and seafood.
• The convoy's leader told Ian that their arranged grain merchant had failed to deliver and that they needed to find another supplier.
• Ian recognized the replacement grain shop's owner as a Blazing Flame Lands spy or supporter of the rebel mountain folk, and Azure Tide prepared to act.
• Ian entered the grain shop and looked around for evidence while the owner returned to his work.

Ian fought Kede Jiamu atop the Steel Dragon Nest to test the strength of his new Origin Matter techniques, holding his own against the Third Energy Level chieftain. The battle remained unresolved until the True Dragon Mountain King and the Steelwing Dragon King were drawn away by their renewed clash, leaving Ian confident that his greater number of dragons would decide the fight.

• Kede Jiamu confronted Ian alone on the Steel Dragon Nest, and Ian accepted his challenge despite being at the Second Energy Level.
• Kede attacked with the Purifying Soul Tree and his twin blades, while Ian used Silver-Scaled Bastion, Turbulent Tide Sword, and his compressed Origin Matter to withstand and study him.
• Kede unleashed the Soul-Severing Strike, but Ian condensed his Origin Matter and broke through its force to counterattack.
• The Steelwing Dragon King arrived, and Ian revealed that he had summoned the True Dragon Mountain King as well.
• The two dragons began fighting in the distance, preventing either from supporting their side, and Ian told Kede that he would lose because his side had too few people and Ian had more dragons.

Ian’s forces routed the mountain folk army, securing his rule over Layan Territory and capturing a vast haul of weapons, cannons, armor, and Element Crystals. As Layan City celebrated, Ian began planning the territory’s development and administration, while the chapter ended by turning toward the Blazing Flame Lands, where the defeat brought grief.

• Ian’s Magnetic Storm Armor unit and loyal troops defeated the mountain folk army, losing only one soldier and rescuing their captive.
• Ian ordered the recovery of abandoned supplies and captured enough equipment to arm more than five hundred men, including five Alchemical Cannons and twelve field guns.
• Azure Tide returned with two chests of Element Crystals, prompting Ian to suspect the mountain folk had an unexplained source of the valuable fuel.
• Ian returned to cheering residents and considered plans for new agriculture, Leyline Furnaces, artificial intelligence, and reclaiming the Loneflame Peak pass.
• Ian appointed Scott chief steward, assigned Gu Ying to oversee the alchemical workshops, and let Azure Tide choose to lead his personal guard.
• Adalbert persuaded Ian to stop working and join the victory celebration, where Ian promised free food and rewards for participating militiamen.

Ian outlined plans to secure Layan Territory’s finances, train its soldiers, and build education around agricultural and industrial development. He revealed that he wanted to create a fairer society, asking his companions to join him in trying to build a heaven.

• Ian explained how publicizing his supposed dragon blood could blur his identity and weaken accusations that he was an outsider.
• Ian called for soldier training based on combat experience and proposed hiring veteran mercenaries as instructors.
• Ian said he would remove Baron Layan’s tax officials and bring taxation under reliable control before conducting a census and reforming agriculture.
• Ian laid out plans for adult technical education and eventual compulsory education, linking learning to stable employment and advancement.
• Ian asked Adalbert, Azure Tide, and Scott to imagine a better order, then proposed that they try to build a heaven.

A war widow mourned her husband and feared the future as Ian rallied the mountain folk to unite and rebuild their civilization. While the crowd embraced his vow that they would not lose again, she prayed to protect her child from further pain, and Ian resolved to use the mountain folk’s suffering and hopes to create a New World.

• A mountain woman married a herbalist, raised a son with him, and planted a Fifty-Year Orchid while expecting their second child.
• War took her husband, and he returned in a coffin; after victory, the chieftain brought home wounded survivors and the woman struggled with grief and hatred.
• The chieftain led the woman and other mountain folk to Holy Rust-Steel Mountain, where Ian warned them that the Blazing Flame Lands had exploited their divisions and that more suffering lay ahead.
• Ian urged the mountain folk to unite, rebuild the fallen High Tower, and face future enemies together, and the crowd answered, “We will not lose!”
• The woman feared that her son would follow his father into battle and prayed to the Dragon God for a way to preserve their happiness.
• Ian acknowledged that he would use the mountain folk’s pain and dreams to pursue his goal of creating a New World, even if that made him a devil.

Miles awakened a powerful psychic ability while protecting his coworkers from the Mud Swamp Viper, and Azure Tide arrived in time to defeat the beast. Ian and Adalbert recognized Miles and Cynthia as living Artificial Soul holders from Azure City, giving their research a path toward practical testing.

• Miles's crimson psychic power redirected the Mud Swamp Viper's attack onto him, and he survived with a broken arm.
• Azure Tide struck down the Mud Swamp Viper with his Tide-Cleaving Sword and discovered that Miles was a psychic user.
• Ian and Adalbert sensed Miles's psychic power and hurried to the settlement, where Ian identified Miles and Cynthia as the last survivors of Azure City and living Artificial Soul holders.
• Miles recognized Ian as the sublimator who had once given him supplies, and Ian welcomed Miles and Cynthia to Xiahui Territory.
• Ian realized Miles's psychic power could inform the Sanctuary system and Artificial Soul research, while Adalbert promised the siblings a safe new life.
• On February 28, Azure Tide slew the Mud Swamp Viper, and on March 14, the experimental Xiahui Territory Artificial Soul was completed.

Gamma, a Blazing Flame Lands spy in Xiahui Territory, was exposed and coerced into serving Ian, while Ian’s purge strengthened his control of the territory. The Blazing Flame Lands acted on Gamma’s planted intelligence and prepared a raid just as Ian prepared his own surprise operation.

• Gamma watched the Lord’s guards arrest residents and learned that Fal and Scott had come to take him in, forcing him to cooperate to protect his son and grandson.
• Ian announced that spies and corrupt officials had sabotaged food supplies, and Xiahui Territory cheered as hundreds were arrested, sentenced to hard labor, or executed.
• Fal ordered Gamma to feed the Blazing Flame Lands false intelligence about new alchemical workshops in the western camp in exchange for his crimes being forgiven.
• Captain Naimo interpreted Gamma’s report as evidence that Xiahui Territory would not intervene in the mountainfolk conflict and arranged for the dragon flock to raid it.
• Ian finished organizing Xiahui Territory and prepared to launch his own surprise operation.

Ian damaged the Jiamu Tribe’s ceremonial hall and activated the Steel Dragon Nest, summoning a storm and prompting Sheo to head for Xiahui Territory. As Kede Jiamu learned of the attack and the Nest’s awakening, he decided to return to the mountains before the decisive battle.

• Ian learned that Construct Knights might be deployed, then attacked the Jiamu Tribe’s ceremonial hall to draw Kede back toward the Steel Dragon Nest.
• Nuo'an watched the temple platform collapse, while Ian left for the Steel Dragon Nest and activated its ancient inscription arrays with his dragon blood.
• The Steel Dragon Nest’s awakening stirred Rust-Steel Mountain, and Sheo restored her true body before flying toward Xiahui Territory to help Ian.
• Colonel Mayowa recognized the disturbance and sent word to Marquis Barton and the Azure Cloud Knights that the time might have come.
• Kede learned that his tribe had been attacked and that the Steel Dragon Nest was reacting, then chose to return and investigate before the decisive battle.