Chapter Summaries

Ian and the others regrouped with Viscount Grant as the Surging Tide Giant Eel threatened them and more enemies approached. Ian revealed that he had slain the Mountain Tide Spirit, leaving the viscount stunned as the group prepared for the danger still ahead.

• Viscount Grant arrived in Wavebreaker, and the Surging Tide Giant Eel eased its attack and took a defensive stance.
• Grant greeted Master Gose, who warned him that Patrick might still be a threat and urged them to flee.
• Grant said he had wounded Patrick and challenged the giant eel, while the Spirit of Drumwave began moving to join it.
• Grant asked where the Crocodile Dragon was, and Ian revealed its brain crystal and said he had slain the Mountain Tide Spirit with the others' help.
• Master Gose backed up Ian's account, and Grant reacted with disbelief at the death of the foe he had fought for decades.
• Ian secured the brain crystal at his waist so he could move freely if they had to fight or flee.

Ian exposed a grain merchant association’s collusion with the Blazing Flame Lands, then explained to Azure Tide that he had made his movements conspicuous to build trust in the spies he planned to mislead. The grain convoy reached Rust-Steel Mountain, where Elder Manyan Avude waited for Ian.

• Ian recognized that the Yisu Grain Association was disguising its ties to Imperial collaborators and ordered Azure Tide to inspect its grain and seize its spies.
• Azure Tide captured two Blazing Flame Lands agents, and the Southern Ridge garrison arrested the shop owner after he confessed to colluding with the Blazing Flame Lands and mountain folk.
• Ian discussed the growing disruption caused by Blazing Flame Lands operations and considered funding Adalbert’s management-assistance AI sooner.
• Azure Tide questioned Ian’s high-profile actions, and Ian revealed that he wanted enemy spies to trust their information sources before he fed them false intelligence about a future attack on the Midra Autonomous Territory.
• Ian and the grain convoy arrived at Rust-Steel Mountain, where Elder Manyan Avude was waiting for him.

Ian dissected his uncle Osena’s corpse to study Terra humans’ anatomy and discovered a tough, pale-blue-haloed bone in the mutated leg. He buried no body yet, and explained to the old knight that curiosity and the need to understand human anatomy had driven him.

• Ian examined Osena’s corpse and concluded that Terra humans had exceptionally robust bodies, possibly shaped by advanced psionic or magical forces.
• Ian noticed a pale blue halo around Osena’s mutated right leg and extracted a heavy, unusually tough L-shaped bone from it.
• Ian reasoned that the bone could have developed into an iron-like limb capable of blocking bullets, and felt his questions about Terra human anatomy had been answered.
• Ian picked up a shovel to bury Osena’s corpse, and the old knight walked with him along the lakeshore.
• The old knight asked Ian why he had dissected Osena, and Ian answered that he had wanted to understand human anatomy because he was curious.

Ian repaired the Alchemical Cannon and used Precognitive Vision to find the Crocodile Dragon’s old wound, then fired a second shot into its vital point. The hit badly wounded the beast and broke the stalemate with Viscount Grant.

• Ian replaced the cannon’s faulty ignition inscription and learned that it used Translucent Crystal Sand to propel shells with high-pressure plasma.
• Ian used Precognitive Vision to locate Viscount Grant, the Great Shaman, and a weak area on the Crocodile Dragon’s side.
• Ian fired at the Crocodile Dragon, but his first shell only broke its mud shield and injured its left foreleg.
• Scott brought Ian another shell as the Crocodile Dragon charged toward the tower.
• Ian corrected his aim and hit the Crocodile Dragon’s old wound, tearing a massive hole in its side and breaking the stalemate.

Isengard deduced that Anfa was connected to a second-generation True Dragon and learned from Ian that the crystal case contained the dragon’s materialized soul and memories. The competing exploration teams fought over the case, and Ga'er recognized that the person disguised as Ian was not the real Ian.

• Isengard connected Anfa’s dragon blood to the skeleton and suspected that Yafda and Emberlamp House had worked together to create her.
• Ian told Isengard that the crystal case was a True Dragon organ and that its storage chips held a second-generation True Dragon’s memories.
• Aina tried to steal the crystal case, but its stasis field repelled the attacks and triggered a battle among the exploration teams.
• Ga'er fought through the chaos and challenged the disguised Sheo, who dodged while trying to preserve Ian’s persona.
• Ga'er realized Sheo was not Ian and demanded to know who she was and where the real Ian had gone.

Ian brought Elder Manyan and Azure Tide to Rust-Steel Mountain, where he sought to prove himself the Dragon God's emissary and unite the mountain folk. As Ian climbed the holy mountain, a radiant path appeared beneath his feet and its ancient sacrificial flame awakened, drawing the attention of mountain folk across the region.

• Ian summoned the Ritual Seal before Elder Manyan, who confirmed that Ian had inherited the Dragon God's priestly legacy and agreed to take him to Rust-Steel Mountain.
• Ian told Elder Manyan that he intended to relight the holy mountain's flame, become the Dragon God's emissary, and quell the turmoil among the mountain folk.
• Ian, Elder Manyan, and Azure Tide traveled to Rust-Steel Mountain, where Elder Manyan described the mountain folk's history and their lost unity.
• Ian climbed the mountain and declared that he would lead the mountain folk toward his vision of the future.
• Silver-gray inscriptions appeared beneath Ian's footsteps, forming a shining path to the summit as Rust-Steel Mountain began to tremble.
• Chief Kede Jiamu and mountain folk throughout the Bison Mountains saw the holy mountain's sacrificial flame relight and wondered if the rumored Dragon God's emissary was real.

Ian left Nauman City for the imperial capital, preparing for possible attacks as he crossed the Golden Plains and reflected on the region’s refugees and political unrest. Near the Nine-Spiral Abyss, he unexpectedly reunited with Sheo and Lubek, who were surprised to learn that Ian knew them both.

• Ian sent a cryptic message through Mr. Silverfang to the Dragon-Worshiping Cult and prepared potions and supplies before leaving Nauman City.
• Ian traveled north across the Golden Plains, considering three places where Magnetic Light and Purple Maple might ambush him and observing how refugees from the western region lived and worked.
• Ian wondered whether pressure from the Blazing Flame Lands and the Empire had driven Grand Duke Solin and the fortress groups toward rebellion.
• Ian passed the Worrystone mine without encountering Magnetic Light or Purple Maple, and Marquis Barton's secret guards watched him until he entered the Golden Plains.
• On June ninth, Ian sensed familiar auras near the Nine-Spiral Abyss, then recognized Sheo and Lubek as they rode up and discovered that they were surprised he knew them both.

Ian’s caravan traveled through Three Rivers City, where Ian arranged to buy alchemical materials, then reached Indigo Mountain Pass, the last checkpoint he would travel with the caravan. The chapter recounted the Rust-Steel Dragon’s history and the mountain folk’s belief that it would return.

• Ian and the caravan enjoyed a hearty meal of Shaman Smoked Cured Meat, and their fear after the monster attack faded.
• The caravan manager’s nephew and third younger brother rode back to Harrison Port with the captured mole, monster heads, and documents while Ian continued onward.
• At Three Rivers City, Ian met the local White Chamber Trading Company manager and gave him a list of alchemical materials to purchase using the Harrison Port public account.
• The caravan left Three Rivers City and arrived at Indigo Mountain Pass, where Ian’s journey alongside it would end.
• The account described how the Rust-Steel Dragon had once altered the mountains, helped end the Frostfrost Calamity, and vanished, while the mountain folk continued to guard its nest and await its return.

Animu completed a blood-ink ritual for thirty-two hunters and offered two hearts to the spirit beneath Redwood Marsh. In Harrison Port, Ian used Concentration Potion on Elan and himself, then studied his Origin Seed and its role in storing and refining Origin Matter.

• Animu marked thirty-two warrior-hunters with blood ink, awakening signs of the Mountain Tide Spirit as the totems and spirits cried out.
• Animu placed the two beating hearts in a jar and offered them to Redwood Marsh, where a vast shadow stirred beneath the mud and six scarlet lights appeared.
• Ian gave Elan Concentration Potion and applied its powdered dregs to his temples, then drank some himself and felt his fatigue ease.
• Ian sensed the Origin Matter flowing through his body and examined the structure of his virtual Origin Seed.
• Ian concluded that Origin Matter could temporarily boost strength, while ascenders ultimately used it to forge powerful ascended organs.

Ian and White Mist Bishop turned back a Blazing Flame Lands capture attempt, with Ian boarding the enemy warship and cutting through its crew. Ian left the Blazing Flame soldiers reeling as he continued his attack.

• Two Blazing Flame Lands warships approached Ian's ship to capture it, but Sha Sha forced one to stop.
• The Blazing Flame forces released venomous Anemone Spiders, and White Mist Bishop blocked them with an invisible wall before diving into the sea to find the armored attackers.
• Ian used Fairy Wings to run across the water and board the enemy warship.
• Ian slashed through the soldiers with a rain-driven strike, then slipped behind the marksmen and cut them down with their firearms.

Ian studied a communications crystal panel and understood its design well enough to reproduce and potentially improve it. He led Andor into a brilliant crystal corridor containing ancient creature specimens, while Sha Sha stayed behind to recover.

• Ian examined the communications crystal panel and used the Silver Chip to grasp its design, inscription arrays, and material ratios.
• Ian soothed the injured Sha Sha, then gave Andor a spinal bone to use as a crutch and brought him to the fallen metal door.
• Ian forced the metal door down, revealing a luminous passage through a vast crystal vein.
• Ian insisted Andor accompany him into the passage, while Sha Sha remained behind to rest.
• Ian discovered crystal displays of ancient creatures, including the ancestors of several present-day Magic Beasts.

Ian learned that the dragon eggs remained healthy but unhatched, and discovered Sha Sha was ramming ships that entered the labyrinth. Isengard asked Ian to join the Platinum-Iridium Workshop as his deputy and demonstrate his talent, and Ian accepted.

• Ian wondered whether the three flawed dragon eggs had been meant to fuse into one and used Redwood Base's authority to contact Sha Sha.
• Sha Sha told Ian it had been ramming ships belonging to people who entered the labyrinth, while the Crystal Dragon egg in its care remained healthy and unhatched.
• Isengard explained that he had grown more serious about understanding the world and taking control of his fate.
• Isengard asked Ian to become his deputy in the Platinum-Iridium Workshop and promised him a laboratory so he could show his near-master-level skill.
• Ian accepted Isengard's offer.

Ian met Isengard at the Ellen Family’s villa, where Isengard shared warnings about an approaching catastrophe and information about the Lone Mountain Conference. As Ian recounted his recent exploits and Isengard began investigating his own past, Hua An realized Ian’s affairs might involve dangerous imperial schemes.

• Isengard told Ian that prophets and astrologers had observed abnormalities in the Void, and the Church of Light’s Embrace had warned of an unprecedented catastrophe.
• Ian and Isengard visited the Ellen Family’s villa, where Hua An and Frost Butterfly examined the fairy-made waterlight lamps.
• Ian gave Isengard a revised account of his journey after leaving Harrison Port, including his Dragon-Worshiping Cult inheritance and the Magnetic Light Knight’s ambush.
• Isengard said he had been gathering information about the imperial capital, the Ellen Family, and himself, then brought Ian several dossiers.
• Hua An realized Ian was connected to the South Sea Grand Labyrinth mission and concluded that his dangerous affairs made things interesting.

Ian, Sister Reflected Light, and Steward Morda discovered the horrific contents of Ila’s room and learned how the boy had been abused as a replacement for a dead child. The chapter left Ila’s past at the moment his adoptive father tore out his green eye.

• Steward Morda broke free of the psychic brainwashing and agreed to guide Ian and Sister Reflected Light through the castle.
• Morda led them to Ila’s sealed room, and Reflected Light pried open the door with her crowbar.
• Ian and Reflected Light found human bones, skin paintings, and signs that Ila had been playing with and eating human remains.
• Morda recalled that Baron Layan had acquired Ila four years earlier under a false story about the deaths of his birth family.
• Ian’s psychic ability revealed that Ila had been bought by traffickers and raised as a dead child’s replacement, enduring abuse and being forced to imitate him.
• Ila’s adoptive father tore out his green eye and crushed it while Ila begged himself to survive.

Baron Ryan and his three psionic children began the ritual to resurrect his family, while Ian arrived and challenged him to stop the ritual. The chapter ended as Ian revealed his Second Energy Level water-element power and prepared to fight Ryan.

• Ila, Mo Qiu, and Linda told Baron Ryan they willingly planned to merge their bodies, souls, and memories with the spiritual body to become his true children.
• Baron Ryan accepted their choice, and the children began the resurrection ritual using his arm, their psionic power, and the spiritual body.
• Ian arrived at Loneflame Peak and confronted Baron Ryan, recounting how Ryan’s grief had led him to sacrifice innocent people and put his children at risk.
• Ryan admitted he would continue the ritual and begged Ian to defeat him without mercy; Ian said Ryan would have to stop him from achieving his purpose.
• Ian froze the rain with his Second Energy Level water-element power, drew his sword, and asked Ryan how he planned to stop him.

Mahdi and the young prodigies fought Echo, who controlled a Dark Gold Dragon body, while Ian searched for Echo’s hidden vessel. Mahdi survived the dragon’s devastating gravity-wave attack, and the others unleashed their trump cards as the dragon entered its weakened period.

• Mahdi and the prodigies exploited the Dark Gold Dragon’s unfamiliarity with its body, while Ian located Echo’s vessel in the stomach sac beneath the dragon’s heart.
• Ga’er warned that the dragon was rapidly learning combat, and it began refining primal aether for a devastating attack.
• Anfa offered to become a True Dragon, but Ian warned that she was not ready and told everyone to shelter behind him instead.
• The Dark Gold Dragon unleashed a gravity-wave attack, and Mahdi layered his defenses with protection from the others to withstand it.
• Mahdi blocked the attack despite suffering severe injuries, and the dragon weakened after exhausting its refined primal aether.
• The prodigies stepped out from behind Mahdi and activated their trump cards to attack the weakened dragon.

Ian persuaded Hilliard to become his guardian and teacher, offering his curiosity and desire for knowledge as the reason he had taken the risk of approaching him. Hilliard agreed to teach him, while shadowy figures later entered Ian’s home.

• Ian explained that he wanted a guardian and teacher who could help him learn about the world, and Hilliard helped him bury the corpses.
• Ian asked the old knight for his name and promised to begin exploring the future through the knowledge he taught.
• Hilliard introduced himself as Hilliard Lexi and agreed to teach Ian whatever he wished to learn.
• Hilliard reflected on Ian’s curiosity and decided to give him his knowledge and the key to the future if he met the conditions.
• Several shadowy figures arrived at Ian’s home in Harrison Port and entered through the door.

Ian discovered the damaged Nethercrystal Engine beneath Lake Layan and decided to keep the starship secret hidden while seeking out the hillfolk’s three holy lands. As Azure Tide brought reinforcements, Ian learned that the rebel hillfolk had bypassed his scouts and brought armor to Loneflame Peak.

• Ian uncovered the Nethercrystal Engine beneath Lake Layan, learned it came from the Sky-Fall Starship, and considered using the region’s rich Origin Matter to build vertical hydroponic farms.
• Ian concealed the engine’s existence from Scott and publicly blamed the lake’s disturbance on a Magic Beast.
• Ian learned that Radiant Haze Lake, Rust-Steel Mountain, and the Steel Dragon Nest were the hillfolk’s three ancient holy lands, and planned to visit them.
• By November 1, Ian had assembled the Magnetic Storm Armor and strengthened Layan Territory’s defenses while waiting for the hillfolk to act.
• Azure Tide arrived with mercenaries from Harrison Port, and a hillfolk scout reported that the rebels had bypassed the watch and brought armor to the Loneflame Peak gorge entrance.

Ian used Precognitive Vision to locate Andor’s underwater armor and guided Master Gose’s counterattack while helping Nearlight stay steady in the storm. Andor’s right arm was badly damaged, and Ian called out another weakness in the armor as the fight continued.

• Ian used Precognitive Vision to locate Andor’s armor underwater and warned Master Gose of its approach.
• Andor advanced toward Nearlight, planning to damage the ship’s hull and escape before the pirate fleet resumed its attack.
• Master Gose fired high-temperature wind beams at Andor, forcing him to dodge and revealing the armor’s underwater trail.
• Ian and another Wave Singer helped Nearlight maintain some stability, allowing Master Gose to leave the ship and attack Andor directly.
• Ian identified a flaw in the armor’s right-arm joint, and Master Gose’s attack damaged the arm despite Andor’s defensive shield.
• Andor reacted in disbelief as Ian called out a gap in the armor plating near the left abdomen.

Ian dismantled captured mountainfolk weapons to design an electromagnetic power-armor system and considered how future automation might reshape society. When the grain convoy arrived, a mountainfolk knight challenged Ian’s claim to Layan Territory, and Ian killed him instantly.

• Ian inspected the Thunderclap Sword, Swift Thunder Bow, Heavystone Longstaff, and Silver-Scaled Dragon Ring, then ordered Amber to reuse the weapons’ materials for new armor and an electromagnetic weapon system.
• Ian told Amber and Andor to build the armor and weapon system quickly, and Layan City’s alchemy workshop resumed limited operations as workers returned.
• Ian reflected on the upheaval that artificial intelligence could cause and considered creating an Arcane Path that would make Ascender power accessible through learning.
• Ian planned for the coming mountainfolk rebellion while the grain convoy arrived safely in Layan Territory, to the relief of the city’s people.
• A gray-haired mountainfolk knight challenged Ian’s claim to Layan Territory, and Ian seized his head and killed him before he could attack.