Chapter Summaries

Patrick encountered Bishop White Mist while investigating the Brain-Eating Worms, and the bishop joined the battle against the Magic Beasts and Patrick. Master Gose realized the bishop was pushing the fighting away from the rift just as the rock shell threatened to collapse.

• Ian sensed two powerful newcomers approaching and recognized Patrick fighting Bishop White Mist, who was suppressing him.
• Patrick charged Bishop White Mist, but the bishop knocked aside his sword and declared he would arrest him under local law.
• Patrick fled toward the Magic Beasts, while Bishop White Mist briefly struck the Giant Metal Centipede and then joined the battle.
• Bishop White Mist attacked the Brain-Eating Insect Queen, the Crystal Dragon, and the other combatants, making the stalemate more chaotic.
• Master Gose realized Bishop White Mist was forcing the battlefield away from the rift and warned that the rock shell was about to collapse.

Ian expanded the Dragon-Worshiping Cult by teaching Magic Beasts the Arcane Path and demonstrating how meditation and Battle Aura could unlock their inherited powers. As the Illusory Sun Beast Kingdom's army arrived to destroy his faction, Ian prepared Crackle and Big Iron to face its first challenge.

• Dawn Harbor's governor, Yulan Avaritia, declined to interfere in the Magic Beasts' conflict and warned Ian to beware of the Illusory Sun Kingdom's extermination squad.
• The Void Mother ordered Afal to lead a team and wipe out the Magic Beasts in Ian's territory.
• Ian gathered the Dragon-Worshiping Cult's followers and explained that he wanted to unite different Magic Beasts through shared training and discipline.
• Crackle displayed Magnetic-Field Battle Aura, and Big Iron demonstrated Fervent Battle Aura, convincing the assembled Magic Beasts of the Arcane Path's power.
• Ian explained that his training methods activated the Magic Beasts' inherited abilities, then announced plans to bring Sha Sha and high-yield crops to the New Continent.
• When the Illusory Sun Beast Kingdom's army arrived, Ian summoned Crackle and Big Iron to meet the cult's first challenge.

Ian used pheromones to disrupt the three Magic Beast swarms attacking the Siren, turning the beasts against one another and easing the ship’s siege. Master Gravi recognized Ian’s abilities and agreed to work with him, while the pheromone-fueled chaos began spreading across the sea.

• Ian persuaded Master Gravi to help him use pheromones against the Drifting Giant Conches, Calamity Starfish, and Iron-Scaled Sea Serpents.
• Ian ordered the crew to capture one of each beast, then extracted their glands and rapidly refined pheromones for predation, mating, and frenzy.
• Master Gravi praised Ian’s alchemical skill and agreed that their research could produce results before he died.
• The first mate fired Ian’s pheromone shells into the sea beast swarms according to his instructions.
• The Drifting Giant Conches attacked the Calamity Starfish, while the Iron-Scaled Sea Serpents began mating, disrupting the assault on the Siren.

Ian uncovered how the Redwood People’s ancestors used Brain-Attaching Slugs to preserve knowledge, and how their Grand Elder’s bid for immortality created the Brood. When Redwood Base’s AI connected with Ian, the Silver Chip identified him as Pioneer and granted him the base’s highest authority.

• Ian deduced that the Redwood Natives descended from researchers who had sheltered inside Redwood Base after the Calamity of Falling Skies.
• Ian realized the Grand Elder had altered the brain slugs to create the Brood, while five elders had sacrificed themselves to shatter his control over the psychic network.
• Ian concluded that the Brain-Eating Worms had survived and that some later crisis had driven the natives from Redwood Base.
• Ian sat in the Central Nexus control seat and connected to the base’s systems as the AI began transferring maintenance authority to him.
• The Silver Chip stirred during the connection, and the AI recognized Ian as Director of the Federation Xenobiology Research Institute, codename “Pioneer,” granting him the highest authority over Redwood Base.

Ian used Blood Refinement to process a Crocodile Dragon brain-marrow crystal, hoping its Origin Matter would repair the damaged Ancient Dragon Core. The crystal shrank to a small amber core and golden blood jelly as Ian absorbed its pure earth-aspect Origin Matter into the Ancient Dragon Core.

• Ian realized the Ancient Dragon Core had begun activating in response to the brain-marrow crystal and inferred that Hilliard's core was damaged and needed repair.
• Ian sensed that the crystal could help restore the core and searched the Silver Chip for a way to absorb it.
• Ian recalled the Blood Refinement technique and cut his wrist to coat the crystal with his blood.
• Ian used the Silver Chip to manipulate his Origin Matter, turning his blood into a refining agent that corroded the crystal and released golden mist.
• Ian inhaled the pure earth-aspect Origin Matter and stored it in the Ancient Dragon Core as the crystal dwindled to a small core and golden blood jelly.

The Gale Dragon King witnessed Ian’s possible future, in which Xiahui Territory developed dragonkin, Mechanical Dragons, and lunar and interplanetary settlements while Terra descended into world war. The vision ended with a Mechanical Dragon vanishing beyond the Heavenly Prison Gate and warnings that the Light Calamity would reach Terra in five years.

• The Gale Dragon King watched Ian’s prophecy reveal Xiahui Territory’s rapid growth, including its expanding city, advanced research facilities, and Mountain Folk communities.
• Ian’s future territory created dragonkin and deployed a collective-piloted Dragon Titan to defeat an invasion by the Blazing Flame Lands.
• As world war and political conflicts spread across Terra, Ian’s followers sent Mechanical Dragons to the moon and nearby planets, then launched one toward the Star-Prison beyond the solar system.
• The Mechanical Dragon disappeared after reaching the Heavenly Prison Gate, and its monitoring stations detected abnormal spacetime curvature and an approaching gamma-ray burst.
• The prophecy revealed that the Light Calamity would reach Terra in five years and destroy everything.

Light's Embrace revived Lubek through a ritual and made him an official cleric, leaving Ian to suspect that its clerics shared souls and identities through a common psionic network. After rescuing Lubek, Sheo, and the stored souls, Ian concluded that the nine Soul-Binding Pillars formed the central storage chamber of the Avak Central Laboratory.

• Light's Embrace's ritual healed Lubek, revived him, and transformed him into an official cleric.
• Lubek greeted the rescue team and introduced himself to Ian as Red Blade, while Ian noticed how much his manner had changed.
• Ian suspected Light's Embrace created clerics through a form of Death of Rebirth that assimilated them into a shared psionic network.
• The rescue team equipped Lubek, and Ian gathered the soul crystals left in the Soul-Binding Pillars, including those holding Fairy souls.
• Ian deduced that the nine pillars stored souls from major categories of life and were likely part of the Avak Central Laboratory.

Ian learned that Dragon Island’s black hole slowed time for the Dragon Kings and imprisoned a fragment of the Demon of Terminus, whose escape could destroy Terra’s sun. The Gale Dragon King revealed that Ian might use the Creator’s Gift to help free True Dragons from their lifespan limits, and Ian realized that the Gift was a seed that could let every life become a Star God.

• Ian identified the black hole at Dragon Island’s center as a means for the Dragon Kings to extend their lives by experiencing time more slowly.
• The Gale Dragon King explained that Dragon Island needed four Fifth Energy Level successors to maintain the black hole and invited Ian to become a True Dragon.
• Ian asked whether becoming a True Dragon would still impose a five-hundred-year lifespan limit, then recognized that the Gale Dragon King hoped he could remove that limit.
• The Gale Dragon King revealed that Dragon Island’s black hole imprisoned a fragment of the Demon of Terminus and that the Dragon Kings served as its jailers.
• The Gale Dragon King told Ian that he possessed all the Creator’s Gifts, and Ian realized they could be a seed of ascension toward becoming a Star God.
• The Gale Dragon King explained that the Creator’s intent was for every life in every civilization to have the chance to become a unique Star God.

Ian discovered that Alos Ryan’s simulated psionic key granted him the Radiance of Tarnish Steel, an electromagnetic form of Life Psionics that advanced his plans for the Steel Lord inheritance. The simulation continued with an alternate Ian returning to Harrison Port amid war and rebellion, determined to kill Viscount Grant and seize the port.

• Ian recognized that Alos Ryan’s psionic key contained the Radiance of Tarnish Steel, which used electromagnetic force to strengthen, repair, and regenerate the body.
• Ian realized that the Steel Dragon Nest was designed to cultivate the Radiance of Tarnish Steel and that his inheritance research could now proceed to preliminary experiments.
• Ian observed that his simulated self had missed the Ellen Family and Awak Domain events, befriended the Phoenix Count, and reached the peak of the Second Energy Level.
• The simulated Ian awakened a Soul Light Body called Abyssal Flame before reaching the Third Energy Level.
• The simulated Ian returned alone to Harrison Port during the war and Southern Ridge Mountain Folk rebellion, intending to kill Viscount Grant and seize the port.

Ian sensed an unexplained black aura over Harrison Port and decided to warn Elder Pude and Viscount Grant to prepare for danger. Meanwhile, Sainan arrived at Platinum-Iridium Workshop and abruptly ended his cooperation, refusing to put to sea for at least a month.

• Ian assessed the black aura threatening Harrison Port and resolved to alert Elder Pude and Viscount Grant.
• Ian left his shop and set out to find Elder Pude.
• Sainan hurried through Nearshore Long Street and entered Platinum-Iridium Workshop.
• The workshop's lord asked Sainan whether the appraisal was complete, but Sainan said he was terminating their cooperation.
• Sainan returned the deposit and told the lord he would not put to sea for at least a month.

Ian escaped Axel’s attack by piloting the Dark Gold Dragon’s surviving head and spine into space, where Helm Donabervil and Dragon Island arrived to protect him. The Dragon King declared that Dragon Island would shelter Ian and that True Dragons would withdraw from the mortal world’s disputes.

• Ian reflected on how his gathered Extreme Domains and the Steel Pioneer were transforming him along a path toward Star Godification.
• Ga'er, Sasi Qingyue, Deathcaller, Golan, and others watched the Dark Gold Dragon emerge from the Subspace Labyrinth, while Yafda warned that Axel might see Ian as a threat to the Empire.
• Axel attacked the Dark Gold Dragon with devastating beams of light, and Ian used crystal armor and the dragon’s remaining organs to survive and accelerate upward.
• Ian turned the ruined dragon into a Dragon-Head Rocket with help from Isengard, Anfa, and Sheo, breaking through the atmosphere and escaping into space.
• Helm Donabervil arrived with Dragon Island, declared that it would protect Ian, and announced that True Dragons would withdraw from mortal disputes.

Ian successfully tested Cyclops, demonstrated its advanced weapons, and copied technology from other Aether Armors before Grand Duke Solin declared independence from the Empire. The emperor answered Solin’s declaration with a calm acknowledgment, leaving the Imperial Capital facing a new Fifth Energy Level power.

• Ian completed Cyclops’s test flight and showed the other pilots its charged-rifle weapon and advanced systems.
• Ian met the gathered pilots, inspected their Aether Armors, and copied the Northwest Military District’s combat-assistance artificial intelligence.
• A highest-level red alert sounded as Grand Duke Solin’s projection appeared over the Experimental Garden and announced his intention to create a New World.
• Grand Duke Solin declared independence from all human nations and challenged Axel, while a pure white force from the Imperial Capital suppressed his silver radiance.
• The emperor responded to Solin’s declaration with, “I know.”

Ian showed Hilliard the crystallized thymus he had taken from the Marsh Crocodile Dragon, and Hilliard explained how it could serve as the main ingredient in Ian’s future Magic Potion. As Hilliard prepared to store it, Ian noticed something wrong with his teacher’s face.

• Hilliard identified the crystallized flesh as the Marsh Crocodile Dragon’s thymus, and Ian explained how he had helped Viscount Grant drive the beast away by firing an Alchemical Cannon.
• Hilliard scolded Ian for risking his life, then praised the thymus as a valuable sublimation organ with a complete spiritual structure.
• Hilliard explained that the thymus could form the basis of Ian’s Magic Potion and give his Origin Matter an earth attribute, bringing both greater strength and environmental risks.
• Ian accepted the trade-off and agreed to let Hilliard handle the Crocodile Dragon material.
• Ian noticed the wrinkles on Hilliard’s face and called his teacher’s attention to them.

Ian and Teres's squad boarded a disc-shaped Floatstone Aircraft at the Imperial Capital's second military flight platform, where Ian learned about Terra's advanced military vehicles. The aircraft departed for the Avak Region with the group and two transport vehicles aboard.

• Ian brought the Fairy ladies and Teres's squad to the second military flight platform and was stunned by a huge disc-shaped aircraft.
• Ian noticed the craft's Inscribed Floatstones and realized its flight relied on Terra's supernatural technology rather than familiar physics.
• Teres explained that the aircraft was a new design from the Fifth-Generation Skyborne Armor Development Group and described the limits of Floatstone power units.
• Ian and the others boarded the craft, and Teres discussed Skyborne Armor, mobile fortresses, and a rumored transforming fighter armor.
• After confirming everyone and the supplies were aboard, the Floatstone Aircraft rose silently and sped toward the Avak Region.

Ian reflected on the distant possibility of cultivating through Origin Matter Structures, then returned to the Ellen House after working in the laboratory and sparring with Isengard. He was greeted by a birthday celebration.

• Ian concluded that Origin Matter cultivation would require technological advances beyond the era, though he remained hopeful about Terra Civilization's future.
• Ian shut down the laboratory and left after making no research breakthrough but improving his skills and creating the Ultra-Effective Potion.
• Ian reflected on Isengard's biological alchemy and combat abilities, and thought he should equip himself with more weapons and potions.
• Ian bought lime chocolate juice on his way back to the Ellen House.
• The Ellen House residents surprised Ian by cheering, "Happy birthday!"

Roland helped Ian use an experimental Artificial Soul Potion to save his father, Morda, whose mind had been damaged by depression and psychic influence. Morda’s recovery led Ian to glimpse Landkeeper Axel’s plan: research into souls and Echoes might be aimed at shaping thought across the Empire.

• Roland returned home and learned that Morda had fallen into delirium because he had clung to the illusion that had once comforted him.
• Ian told Roland he would take responsibility for keeping Morda alive, but Roland chose to help Adalbert inject the experimental potion into his father.
• Four days later, Morda awoke calm and clear-minded, then questioned whether the soul the potion had created was truly himself.
• Ian explained how body and soul could think differently before the Third Energy Level and realized Morda’s new soul was an Echo rather than a unified mirror image.
• Ian connected his discovery to Landkeeper Axel’s research and suspected Axel might be seeking a way to influence the thoughts of everyone in the Empire through Artificial Souls.

Ian attempted to break through to the Sixth Energy Level using the Photonic Furnace, drawing the Great Aetheric Current and revealing the possibility of becoming a Creator. As Terra’s Fifth Energy Level powerhouses converged on the Falling Star Sea, the End Fragment began emerging from Dragon Island’s damaged seal, and a skeletal hand reached from the Current to press down upon Dragon Island.

• Ian told the Fairy Queen he had discovered the path to the Sixth Energy Level and began his breakthrough inside the Photonic Furnace.
• Ian shared his theory of primordial extraordinary power and asked the Fairy Queen to entrust his plans to Light's Embrace and Elan if he died.
• The Fairy Queen left to help defend Ian as hostile powerhouses gathered, while Ian entered the Silver Sea and connected with the Great Aetheric Current.
• The Great Aetheric Current appeared above Terra, drawing more than thirty Fifth Energy Level beings to the Falling Star Sea as they watched Ian’s advancement.
• The Gale Dragon King discovered that the End Fragment was moving through Dragon Island’s wound and warned Terra that Ian must stop advancing.
• The Dragon Kings struggled to reinforce Dragon Island’s seal as the planet’s orbit shifted toward it, and Carlos Setar prepared to help before a skeletal hand emerged from the Current and pressed down on Dragon Island.

Ian seized Master Gose and Isengard’s alchemical shell attack to drive Patrick into the Brood, surviving the blast while Patrick was left unconscious and gravely injured. Ian rose amid the wreckage, with Patrick nearby and still alive.

• Master Gose connected his body’s alchemical machinery to the cannon and fired a shell at Patrick.
• Ian rushed Patrick, locked him in an embrace, and let the shell strike them both.
• The explosion hurled Ian and Patrick into the Brood, leaving a huge hole in its outer shell.
• Ian stood up, protected by Teacher Hilliard’s dragonhide vest, while Patrick lay unconscious and severely mutilated.
• Ian realized Patrick was still alive and would make a suitable test subject for Precognitive Vision.

Ian explored how the Cycle of Finality and the Origin of Creation related to his own powers, then prepared to improve the Spirit-Veneration Armament and travel to the City of Knowledge. The chapter ended with Marquis Ellen warning Isengard that the City of Knowledge was part of a conspiracy tied to his bloodline.

• Ian concluded that his Guiding Star followed the Cycle of Finality and that his Path Prophecy might embody the Origin of Creation.
• Mentor Gan Song, Mentor Frozen Fish, and Hua An urged Ian to remain in Fairyland, but Ian persuaded them to help him travel to the City of Knowledge and cooperate with their research.
• Ian and Mentor Gan Song modified the Spirit-Veneration Armament's Soul Crystal ports so Fairies could combine with him and enhance the armor.
• Ian learned that the City of Knowledge planned a Psionic Development Conference and sought an agreement restricting demon technology, then decided to contact Isengard with the information.
• Marquis Ellen told Isengard that he had found research materials in Atlan Megacity revealing the origin and objective of their bloodline, and warned him not to go to the City of Knowledge because it was a conspiracy.

Ian continued toward the edge of the Lake Forest while the old knight followed and wondered about the boy’s origins. After reaching the lakeshore, Ian dissected the bodies he had dragged there and recorded how Terran humans differed from Earth humans.

• Ian tied the forest leopard’s and native hunter’s corpses to his uncle and continued toward the edge of the Lake Forest.
• The old knight reflected on Ian’s origins as a White Folk from Harrison Port and decided that protecting the boy did not conflict with his mission.
• The old knight followed Ian through the forest and heard the boy cutting into the bodies.
• At the lakeshore, the old knight found Ian resting briefly before resuming his dissection work.
• Ian’s analysis found that Terran humans had unusually tough skin, reinforced ribs, powerful hearts, dense muscles, and a second stomach.