Chapter Summaries

Ian chose to join the Dragon-Worshiping Cult’s delegation to explore the Pre-Epoch Civilization’s Xenobiology Research Institute, and Sheo eagerly agreed to accompany him. After arranging for Xiahui Territory to continue running in his absence, Ian completed another stage of his Steel Pioneer and set off for Nauman City.

• The Empire’s Alchemy Association and Elder Manyan offered Ian a place in the exploration, and Ian chose to register as a Dragon-Worshiping Cult member while requesting Imperial communication equipment.
• Ian explained that his territory was stable enough for him to leave, citing the reliable artificial souls, Azure Tide’s training camp oversight, and the territory’s improving finances and harvests.
• Elder Manyan suggested that Sheo accompany Ian, and Sheo gladly accepted so she could travel to Canaanmore and visit Anfa.
• Ian informed Xiahui Territory’s leaders of his plans and assigned them key responsibilities for the coming months.
• On May 25th, Terra Year 774, Ian completed the Earth-Vein Origin Furnace Core’s energy supply route, bringing the Steel Pioneer’s completion rate above 60% and reaching Third Energy Level.
• Ian left Xiahui Territory for Nauman City, where a ship from Canaanmore awaited him.

Ian persuaded Marquis Grant to let Kemit take part in his personality research, insisting that genuine self-choice must remain at its core. Afterward, Ian began preparing a cultural influence campaign to make people in the Blazing Flame Lands envy life in Silverpeak Domain.

• Ian argued that learning and experience could reshape people, while warning Marquis Grant that his technology must not implant a personality or remove a child's ability to choose.
• Marquis Grant agreed to Ian's experiment after seeing how Ian's power could compel obedience and understanding that Kemit would be allowed to think for himself.
• Ian told Kemit that he would ask him to explain his choices, and Kemit said he was willing to listen because Ian seemed kind and his smile looked nice.
• Ian concluded that persistence had to come from a person's own desires and saw self-directed reshaping as a path toward the Third Energy Level.
• Ian established the Public Opinion Legion to showcase Silverpeak Domain's products and culture in the Blazing Flame Lands, hoping people would wish they belonged to Silverpeak Domain.

Viscount Grant chose to stay out of the battle between Hilliard and Weges while preparing to defend Harrison Port and record the fight. As Hilliard’s strength waned despite his overwhelming advantage, Weges claimed that surviving the first ten minutes meant he had won.

• Viscount Grant learned that two peak Second Energy Level Ascenders were fighting in Lake Forest and ordered his men to avoid intervening, ready the Alchemical Cannons, and record the battle if Flowing Sound died.
• Ian noticed the battle and decided to move Elan somewhere safe, while Elan remained surrounded by dim crimson mist.
• The Great Shaman stopped the wounded Lord of Mountain Tides from joining the fight, saying the natives lacked the strength to challenge either side.
• Hilliard repelled another attack from Weges, but his Origin Matter aura continued to weaken even as Weges suffered severe wounds.
• Weges taunted Hilliard that he had lost if he could not kill him within the first ten minutes.

Azure Tide held back the aberrant beasts and Frost Moths long enough for Ian to arrive and drive them off. Ian treated Azure Tide with a regeneration potion, leaving the swordsman alive but overwhelmed by the bitter contrast with the medicine his father had lacked.

• Azure Tide fought through the ape beasts and drew the Frost Moths together so the fleet's cannons could destroy more than twenty of them.
• Wounded and outnumbered, Azure Tide urged the survivors to flee and offered to stay behind to hold the monsters back.
• Ian charged into the swarm with the Wave-Smashing Sword, forcing the monsters to retreat and opening a path through their ranks.
• Ian treated Azure Tide's internal injuries with an elite-grade regeneration potion and told him he would survive.
• Azure Tide realized the potion could have saved his father, then laughed and cried at the cruel contrast between his father's death and his own rescue.

The four Dragon Kings awakened because Terra’s world war and Ian’s warnings raised the threat of civilization-ending weapons and the Thousand-Stars Beast. They agreed to watch for those dangers, and Ian was granted authority to interrogate the Abyssal Dragon.

• The Floodtide Dragon King and Star-Quelling Dragon King awakened, joining the Gale and Trueflame Dragon Kings on Dragon Island.
• The Floodtide Dragon King described how war had disrupted one of its incarnations’ family, and Ian offered to help before it declined for the moment.
• Star-Quelling Dragon King challenged Ian to prove his influence could reach across Terra before receiving its inheritance, and Ian accepted.
• Ian warned the Dragon Kings that the Empire’s floating city, Pure White Sky-Piercing Tower, and Obsidian Key might relate to a planetary shield and the Thousand-Stars Beast, prompting them to monitor the threat.
• The Dragon Kings discussed forbidden technologies such as Ridgehold’s Apocalypse Armament and other crises across Terra, then decided to formally interrogate the Abyssal Dragon.
• The Gale Dragon King and Trueflame Dragon King granted Ian authority to question the Abyssal Dragon because he had reported it and fought it.

Ian and Light's Embrace uncovered the Cradle Project’s purpose: using the perpetual motion machine and the Thousand-Stars Beast to build vast habitable ringworlds that could shelter countless civilizations. Light’s Embrace asked Ian and his companions to search for the machine, and, after he agreed, offered to grant him its sensory ability.

• Ian questioned Light's Embrace about the Cradle and learned that Terra had been intended as the foundation for a much larger project.
• Isengard proposed that the Thousand-Stars Beast devoured energy and converted it into matter, and Ian connected it to the perpetual motion machine’s role in constructing worlds.
• Ian recognized the Cradle as a vast system of ringworlds or other solar-scale habitats built to protect and sustain life.
• Light's Embrace revealed that it wanted Ian to search the New Continent and other realms for the perpetual motion machine, and Ian agreed to help.
• Light's Embrace offered to help Ian develop his body and sensory organs, promising him its Trans-Temporal Perception and Precognition Interface.

Ian reached the monitoring room after repeatedly choosing the correct routes through the Subspace Labyrinth, and the Spirit Cognition Institute’s director ordered the release of a Nightmare Entity. As the Nightmare Spawn emerged before Ian, the researchers remained trapped behind the door.

• The director learned that Ian had nearly crossed the labyrinth by choosing every correct route and ordered the researchers to release the Nightmare Entity.
• The researchers questioned whether they should attack an Inspector Knight, but the director insisted Ian had come to kill them.
• Ian reached the monitoring room door and accused the Spirit Cognition Institute of silencing him and possibly committing treason through its experiments.
• The researchers tried to explain their cooperation with other parties, but a mass of black fog appeared and swallowed their voices.
• A Nightmare Spawn emerged from the fog before Ian, taking the form of a huge, many-eyed, winged Demonic Beast.

The Holy Spirit observed how Ian Silverpeak’s Arcane Path and Terra’s Heart could unite humanity while raising concerns about dependence on artificial guidance. After Ian named the Holy Spirit the Silent Dragon and sent it to guide Terra’s Heart, a boy comforted his grieving mother, and Ian turned his attention to a gathering storm in Ganterigum and the Azure Heaven Royal Court.

• The Holy Spirit saw a doctor urge anxious parents in Silverpeak Domain to treat their unborn child’s mutation and heard Azure Tide, Roland, and Isengard debate Terra’s Heart’s guidance of their children.
• The Holy Spirit explained that it had emerged from humanity’s faith in Ian, and Ian named it the Silent Dragon and sent it to sleep within Terra’s Heart.
• A mountainfolk boy returned late to his mother and younger brother, then reassured his mother that he loved her after realizing she feared losing him.
• Ian reflected on love, freedom, and the universe’s yearning for an ending, then watched a storm gather over Ganterigum and the Azure Heaven Royal Court.
• Ian prepared to give Terra’s people and powerful beings a future through a gift called Great Stillness.

After the survey ship escaped the sea beasts, Ian identified a sea-descended swordsman’s longsword and uncovered its hidden inscription. Master Gose then had Ian choose the ship’s course by tracing Origin Matter aura, and the chapter ended with the crew sailing southwest toward the Crystal Dragon.

• The captain, the sea-descended swordsman, and the crew fought off the sea beasts, allowing the survey ship to reach the open sea.
• Ian identified the longsword’s Wave-Driving inscription, and the swordsman demonstrated its power with a long underwater slash.
• Master Gose spoke privately with Isengard, who then gave the crew Underwater Breathing Potion and Fishskin Potion.
• Master Gose summoned Ian to examine the collected Origin Matter aura and decide which direction the ship should travel.
• Ian chose southwest, explaining how the South Sea’s currents and the Thunderhunter Jellyfish swarm ruled out other likely routes.
• Master Gose ordered the captain to follow Ian’s recommendation and sail southwest.

Ian learned that subspace demons were parasitic void spirits and reflected on whether the Church of Light's Embrace used related powers, then left Sheo with the Mountain King and returned to the Avude Tribe. He arranged a covert strike against the Blazing Flame Lands and departed for Xiahui Territory with Azure Tide, while spies across the Southern Ridge faced exposure.

• Ian studied what the Glimmer Cradle and Silver Chip said about subspace demons and considered whether the Church of Light's Embrace's rebirth of holy officials involved similar techniques.
• After Sheo remained under the Mountain King's care, Ian returned to the Avude Tribe, where Azure Tide reported finding eight people connected to Mo Ren and tested Ian's experimental mental network.
• Ian told Elder Manyan he would send elite units into the Midra Autonomous Region and asked him to draw rebel forces toward Frodo by publicizing Magnetic Storm Armor and allowing the enemy to capture a specially prepared suit.
• Elder Manyan agreed to use suspicious people to pilot the armor, and he told Ian that the Mountain King's True Dragon channels could provide rare Third Energy Level advancement materials.
• Ian left for Xiahui Territory with Azure Tide, pleased by the prospect of obtaining rare materials, as Blazing Flame Lands spies across the Southern Ridge came under pressure.

After the Vinebranch Division’s failed assassination attempt, Anfa learned why the Pillar Party had targeted her and discovered Ian was a Seer. The group headed for Emberlamp House, where Anfa revealed that it held a mysterious relic Ian might be able to decipher.

• Anfa’s guards arrived after Jegona fled, and Anfa reported the attack to her mother, Shialeta Emberlamp, who welcomed Ian and his companions as honored guests.
• Anfa told Ian that she had been created through her mother’s experiments, and Ian and Isengard comforted her while discussing the Emberlamp family’s strained relationships.
• The group set out for Emberlamp House, and Isengard left to report to Master Gose and Crown Prince Carlos.
• Anfa realized the Pillar Party had attacked her because her Dragon-Worshiping Cult expedition slot and Ian’s help could let them outpace Canaanmore’s official team.
• Ian revealed that he was a Seer, and Sheo confirmed it to Anfa through a direct exchange between their dragon souls.
• Anfa told Ian that Emberlamp House possessed an undeciphered wonder from the Xenobiology Research Institute ruins, and Ian agreed that deciphering it suited his abilities.

Ian returned to the floating island with Isengard and considered how Frost Prison Calamity Ash might relate to Hilliard and Inaga II, while deciding to bring City of Knowledge technology back to Silverpeak Domain. Three days later, the Psionic Development Conference began at the Seeking Spire, where Korizen recognized Ian’s true identity and said he was interested in Ian’s research.

• Ian told Isengard to send the scavenged technologies to the Empire so his other body could analyze them and adapt them for Silverpeak Domain.
• Ian wondered whether Frost Prison Calamity Ash could help resurrect Hilliard, then concluded that Inaga II’s corpse and the Obsidian Key might be central to the Empire’s interest in Ethan.
• Ian decided to prioritize finding the Frost Prison Spark and learning how to control Ice-Prison Floating Dust for precision manufacturing.
• Three days later, Ian and Isengard joined the envoys and Spire Lords at the Seeking Spire, where Korizen opened the Psionic Development Conference in the Void Realm.
• Korizen recognized Ian as Mahdi Hollow, also known as Ian Silverpeak, and assured him his disguise remained intact at a distance.
• Ian questioned Korizen about the conference and the City of Knowledge’s plans, but Korizen said he would learn more soon and expressed interest in Ian’s subject.

Ian rescued Isengard and Master Gose from the sea and headed for Patrick’s Aether Armor. As Patrick confronted Viscount Grant alongside the native giant eels, one eel broke away and pursued the armor, while Ian prepared to open it.

• Ian recovered the unconscious Master Gose and helped Isengard inject him with a regenerative potion.
• Ian wondered why Patrick would risk his life against Isengard, who Patrick had genuinely treated like a son.
• Ian brought Isengard and Master Gose to the armored suit, left them with Sha Sha, and used Precognitive Vision to find its opening switch.
• Viscount Grant confronted Patrick and two Surging Tide Giant Eels, believing he could handle the fight in the sea.
• One giant eel separated from the other and dove toward the armored suit, which was the natives’ true target.

Ian learned from the Gale Dragon King that demons arose from the resentment of fallen civilizations and that civilizations could ascend through psionics, Origin Matter, or machinery. The Gale Dragon King revealed that demon nests had formed across Terra’s star domain from the remnants of destroyed civilizations, and Ian realized these were the monsters dragonkind had long fought.

• Ian told the Gale Dragon King that demons had appeared in his territory through the fusion of psionics users and demons.
• The Gale Dragon King explained psionic ascension, the origins of demons, and how civilizations could transform into Abyssal Kingdoms.
• Ian asked whether Terra’s chaotic and violent nature could lead to demon growth, and the Gale Dragon King warned that a world war could cause an explosive increase.
• The Gale Dragon King revealed that dragonkind fought a curse within its own bloodline rather than seeking to eradicate demons.
• The Gale Dragon King showed Ian demon nests on the sun, Mercury, Aphro, Vesta, and around Deus, formed from the remains of fallen civilizations.
• Ian recognized the nests as the void demons dragonkind had been resisting.

Elder Pude explained why the Ellen Family’s young master and his teacher had come to Harrison Port, and Ian learned that they were likely tied to a much larger purpose. At Harrison Apothecary, Ian spotted two Second Energy Level visitors and realized they were waiting to watch his appraisal.

• Elder Pude told Ian that Isengard Ellen, the Ellen Family’s young master, had arrived in Harrison Port with his teacher despite the dangers of the region.
• Ian considered his limited merchant connections and asked Mr. Silverfang about the newly discovered sublimated plant.
• Mr. Silverfang explained that his adventurers had found a glowing plant that greatly accelerated injured Wood-Perching Winged Serpents’ regeneration and healed the adventurers’ wounds.
• Ian arrived at Harrison Apothecary and used Precognitive Vision to inspect the people inside.
• Ian recognized two Second Energy Level visitors and realized that the Ellen Family’s young master and his guardian were waiting to observe him.

In 773, a caravan from the Imperial Capital arrived in Harrison Port, bringing Ethan and his teacher to the thriving frontier city. Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Ian completed his first basic impact-resistant armor plate for Aether Armor in his workshop.

• A caravan from the Imperial Capital entered Harrison Port with alchemical supplies and trade goods, and Ethan marveled at the city while his uncle reminded him of the important task he carried.
• The caravan leader praised Aels for transforming Harrison Port and asked Ethan whether he could endure the journey away from home.
• As the wind and rain picked up, Ian shut the workshop window and returned to his workbench.
• Ian engraved a geometric pattern onto an armor plate and awakened it with pale blue light ink.
• Ian examined the strengthened plate and declared that he had completed a basic impact-resistant armor plate for Aether Armor.

Grant read Patrick’s letter and learned the tangled history behind the Ellen family, while Ian explained Patrick’s deductions to Isengard. Isengard was left confronting the possibility that his father had resented him and that Patrick had once been ordered to kill him.

• Grant read Patrick’s letter, which revealed that Klar was Aili’s child and that Wilde had agreed Klar could inherit if Isengard lost his rights or died.
• Grant cursed the imperial capital’s schemes, then told Lamar he would not get involved and grieved for Patrick in silence.
• Ian showed Isengard his relationship diagram and explained how Patrick, Aili, Grant, and Wilde had been childhood friends caught in a tragic tangle.
• Ian deduced that Aili had died in an accident tied to Axel’s plan and that Wilde likely blamed Isengard and his mother for her death.
• Isengard realized that his father’s absence from holidays might have stemmed from resentment, while Ian reflected that Patrick had pitied and cared for him.

Ian met Viscount Grant, received a brass pocket watch, and was officially registered as a legal Ascender after Grant entrusted Elder Pude with the White Folk’s basic Wave-Singer inheritance. On the way home, Pude revealed his Dwarf expertise in alchemy and inscriptions and decided to teach those arts to local craftsmen, with Ian invited to attend.

• Viscount Grant tested Ian’s Precognitive Vision, gave him a brass pocket watch, and entrusted Elder Pude with the Wave-Singer inheritance.
• Ian realized Grant’s bargain gave the White Folk access to a lost ascension inheritance in exchange for their future dependence on him.
• Viscount Grant registered Ian as a legal Ascender and discussed artillery preparations with Elder Pude before sending them away.
• Elder Pude told Ian that the White Folk were exiles and that his Dwarf heritage had let him protect them through his skills in alchemy and inscriptions.
• Elder Pude decided to teach inscription techniques to Harrison Port’s craftsmen each afternoon and invited Ian to join the classes.

Ian watched Sha Sha shed its skin and transform into a Steel-Armored Shark, then fed it and asked it to find a Glowfire Jellyfish. After retrieving the Deep Abyss Iron Sword to reinforce later, Ian sensed a shipborne alchemical furnace from the Nineteenth Legion’s South Sea Fleet nearby.

• Sha Sha shed its skin and advanced into a Steel-Armored Shark, with Ian realizing that wisdom had unlocked its transformation.
• Ian praised Sha Sha, fed it metal and precious-metal solutions, and planned to prepare an Aurora Titan Magic Potion for Scott.
• Ian asked Sha Sha to find and capture the largest Glowfire Jellyfish without damaging it too badly, and Sha Sha agreed.
• Ian recovered the Deep Abyss Iron Sword from Crystal Lake and decided to reinforce it with thorium and adamantine once his tools arrived.
• Ian sensed Origin Matter fluctuations from a shipborne alchemical furnace and recognized the Nineteenth Legion’s South Sea Fleet nearby.

Andor discovered that Ian had taken control of a newly hatched Crystal Dragon and helped him explore the Empire’s breeding grounds at Atlan Megacity. There, Ian recognized the undersea labyrinth as a fallen orbital city and saw a vision of the catastrophe that had destroyed the ancient world and defeated a giant dragon.

• Andor, a D-grade worker at the Mistveil Port breeding grounds, found the Crystal Dragon eggs hatched and fled when the newborn dragon fixed its eyes on him.
• Ian revealed that he was controlling the young dragon through a psychic technique, and Andor agreed to assist him.
• Andor explained his precarious status and inability to contact Master Gose, then took Ian around the breeding facility.
• Andor brought Ian out to the breeding grounds, where Ian recognized Atlan Megacity as a fallen orbital colony city and spotted a giant dragon’s skeleton.
• Ian’s Precognitive Vision showed a flash from space piercing Watching Moon, the orbital cities falling, and a wounded giant dragon failing to save them.