Chapter Summaries

Ian visited Sheo’s rebuilt dragon nest, discussed her recovery, and asked her to use an Alter Ego resembling him as a stand-in while he was away. He revealed that he was a seer and questioned Sheo about the Dragon of the Void Realm, leaving him to wonder what inheritance empowered the most formidable True Dragons.

• Ian inspected Sheo’s rebuilt dragon nest and considered her recovery, her work helping Roland survey the Gorge Mouth Lands, and the power of True Dragons.
• Ian found Sheo adjusting an Alter Ego modeled on his face and helped her match his hair and eye colors.
• Ian asked Sheo to impersonate him when needed, and she agreed to remain in his laboratory while he was away.
• Ian told Sheo he was a seer and had foreseen a glimpse of her future, shocking her and prompting her to recall her mother reclaiming the inheritance of Tianyu Lamillton, the Void Dragon.
• Ian wondered whether the Void Dragon’s inheritance explained the power of higher-generation True Dragons and recalled a giant dragon he had seen on the Spirit Calamity Path.

Ian and Weges fought to the brink of exhaustion, and Weges nearly pierced Ian’s heart before Dragonhide and Ian’s hardened body stopped the blow. With Hilliard near death and Weges’s mind reading making him difficult to defeat, Ian swallowed the poisonous Soma Wine Tree seed and faced him again.

• Ian and Weges traded sword strikes as both struggled to endure the fight.
• Weges read Ian’s instinctive intent and struck his chest, but Dragonhide and Ian’s Transcender-hardened body kept the blade from piercing his heart.
• Weges realized Hilliard had given Ian a True Steel Dragonhide cape and recognized how much Ian had trained to strengthen his body.
• Ian saw that he and Weges had both reached their limits and decided he had to keep fighting for Hilliard and Elan.
• Ian crushed and swallowed the last Soma Wine Tree seed, a poison that could turn him into an emotionless war machine, then raised his sword against Weges.

Blazing Flame Lands envoy Glaven negotiated with five rebel mountainfolk leaders, who demanded armored units and Elemental Crystal production technology in return for attacking Layan Territory. After headquarters agreed to provide production lines and ground armored units, Ian worried about Layan Territory’s shortage of Elemental Crystals and the need to build a production chain.

• Glaven urged the five tribal leaders to attack Layan Territory, but they resisted risking their forces without substantial benefits.
• The chieftains demanded armored units and the knowledge to produce Elemental Crystals, revealing they knew about the Blazing Flame Lands’ secret plan to deploy Construct Knights.
• The Jiamu chieftain warned Glaven that the mountainfolk could expose the Construct Knights to Marquis Barton and reconcile with the Empire if the Blazing Flame Lands failed to meet their demands.
• Glaven reported the negotiations, and Blazing Flame Lands headquarters agreed to send retired Elemental Crystal production lines and ground armored units.
• The rebel mountainfolk began gathering forces to attack the Agate Stone Plains, while Ian fretted over Layan Territory’s Elemental Crystal shortage and sought a way to establish production.

Ian revealed his psychic power to Brin, then searched the fallen native hunters and found Soma Tree fruit kernels, a dangerous stimulant carried for desperate combat. The pair prepared to leave with a surviving hunter as their prisoner, while Ian wondered why the natives were willing to fight to the death.

• Ian told Brin he had awakened psychic power and explained that survival mattered more than hiding his abilities.
• Ian brought the badly injured native knife fighter back to Brin, who agreed to carry him after treating his own wound.
• Ian searched the native hunters’ bodies and found a pouch of Soma Tree fruit kernels.
• Brin identified the kernels as a deadly stimulant that could make someone fight on after being poisoned.
• Ian divided the nine kernels with Brin, smashed the poisoned blow darts, and suspected the Great Shaman had sent the hunters to fight to the death.

Viscount Grant defended his estate from the native attack while Lubek hunted down and killed the chieftain who had taken his child. Hilliard returned after driving back the sea spirits and found Ian studying an unfamiliar piece of crystal flesh.

• Viscount Grant reassured Lamar that the attack was revenge for his father and him, then wondered who had fired the shot that turned the battle.
• Lubek ambushed a fleeing native chieftain and killed him and his remaining warriors, fulfilling his revenge and taking the chieftain's head to the bishop.
• Hilliard observed that the storm's abnormal whirlpools and lightning had ended after Surging Tide and Drumwave retreated, and he estimated the storm would stop by morning.
• Hilliard returned to Harrison Port and was surprised that the Grant family had held the viscount's estate against the bombardment.
• Ian showed Hilliard the crystal flesh he had found and asked him to identify its nature and use.

Azure Tide learned that Ian planned to create a new Practitioners' Civilization by spreading cultivation, education, and knowledge, and resolved to become his follower and help carry his ideas forward. As Ian's convoy traveled toward Harrison Port, Ian worried about the still-unhatched Aether Crystal Dragon egg in the South Sea Grand Labyrinth.

• Azure Tide asked Ian what civilization was, and Ian explained that civilizations were shaped by how groups acquired and distributed resources, while Terra belonged to a single Ascender Civilization.
• Ian revealed his plan to create a Practitioners' Civilization, with universal education and the aptitude to practice as its foundation, and explained the importance of artificial souls and the Spirit-Veneration Church.
• Azure Tide reflected on Ian as a future sage and decided to study hard, understand his ideas, and help carry his work forward.
• Ian told Azure Tide that he taught his companions so they could inherit his knowledge and continue his work if he died or left, calling the ideas and hopes they passed on the Spark.
• On March 25, year 774 of Terra, Azure Tide traveled with Ian's convoy toward Harrison Port and admired the changes Ian had brought to Xiahui Territory.
• Ian sensed that Sha Sha's Aether Crystal Dragon egg had cracked but remained intact and wondered why the living dragon had not emerged.

Viscount Grant used his water-controlling power to shield his troops as they marched toward Anmore Town, while native forces attacked Harrison Port. The northwest gate fell to berserkers, and the Mountain Tide Spirit smashed through the southwest gate and entered the city.

• Viscount Grant formed a water canopy around his troops and ordered them to pursue the native forces, though he worried that the High Shaman might have anticipated his plan.
• Captain Blackbeard ordered his northwest gate defenders to fire on fewer than thirty lightly clothed native warriors approaching with climbing hooks and short blades.
• The wounded natives charged on despite their injuries, climbed the wall, and slaughtered the defenders; a berserker killed Blackbeard as the northwest gate fell.
• The defenders at the southwest gate heard the battle cries and braced for an attack as the Mountain Tide Spirit approached through the storm.
• The Marsh Crocodile Dragon bit through the gate tower, crushing the southwest gate and entering Harrison Port.

Ian advised Isengard to rely on his mother and use the attempted murder to gain influence without exposing Ian, while Isengard arranged to claim Poyin Workshop authority and provide Ian with Fairy materials. At a funeral for those killed in the great storm, Viscount Grant blamed Blazing Flame Lands spies for the disaster.

• Ian told Isengard that Madam Afrina might truly love him and advised him to tell her the truth while withholding Ian’s involvement.
• Isengard planned to return to the imperial capital with his mother to seize Uncle Pat’s authority at Poyin Workshop and offered Ian Second Energy Level Fairy materials.
• Ian said he would keep cultivating and prepare for the Second Energy Level, Sha Sha’s advancement, the labyrinth, and his investiture.
• At a collective funeral on April 25, Viscount Grant declared that Blazing Flame Lands spies had caused the great storm.

Ian Silverpeak revealed how Terra's powers had joined the Dark Moon Turmoil against Inaga II, then connected Inaga's ambitions to his own plans for the Void Realm. After Ian turned the broadcast into a pitch for his project, Bokaon Elster offered him Inaga II's legacy if he came to Ridgehold.

• Ian explained that Ambide and Empress Kalan had rebelled because they suspected Inaga II had been changed by an echo and was pursuing dangerous plans, and that Terra's powers had helped them.
• Ian described why the Blazing Flame Lands, Ridgehold, the Seven Cities Alliance, imperial rebels, Farshore Island, the City of Knowledge, the Azure Heaven Royal Court, Frontier Reach, and Canaanmore had aided the turmoil.
• Ian recounted Inaga II's dreams and plans, including his efforts to prepare humanity for the future and his interest in the Light Realm and intelligent Magic Beasts.
• Ian announced that the Southern Ridge Grand Duchy's Silverpeak Domain would begin internal testing of its Void Realm World in half a year, prompting Terra's powerhouses to recognize his broadcast as a publicity campaign.
• Carlos Sertal questioned Bokaon Elster about approaching him, and Bokaon offered to give Ian Inaga II's legacy if Ian came to Ridgehold.

Ian reunited with Sainan, who brought him Glow Algae to appraise while hiding the real reason for his visit. Ian’s Silver Chip revealed the algae was a warning sign of major environmental upheaval and future deaths.

• Sainan visited Ian’s shop with a sack of Glow Algae, and the two reminisced about their past friendship.
• Ian noticed Sainan was unusually tense and suspected he had come on someone else’s behalf rather than simply seeking an appraisal.
• Ian took a strand of Glow Algae upstairs and used his Silver Chip to identify it as an advanced psychic plant mutant.
• The appraisal warned that large-scale growth of the algae could precede anomalies, natural disasters, or drastic geological upheavals.
• Ian realized the algae would be connected to several deaths and concluded that something serious was coming.

Ian discovered that a glowing giant fungus beneath the caverns was an extraterrestrial organism from the Obera Star Domain, while Isengard confirmed Master Gose’s parasites had been eradicated. The Blazing Flame Lands and Machina Church pursued Ian and Ethan, as Viscount Grant learned Bishop White Mist had entered the ruins alone.

• Ian found a giant fungus symbiotically carrying a Marsh Crocodile Dragon and identified the glowing organisms as Obera Giant Gold Fungi from another star domain.
• Isengard told Ian that Master Gose’s surgery had succeeded and the parasites in his body had been eradicated.
• The Blazing Flame Lands captain ordered his forces to pursue Ian and the Ellen Family’s young master, and the Machina Church agreed to help while prioritizing its own mission.
• A Watcher Knight traced the luminous footprints of Ian and the others, and the captain led the pursuit deeper into the caverns.
• Elder Pude told Viscount Grant that Bishop White Mist had entered the underground ruins alone, leaving Grant baffled about how much others knew of the secret site.

Ian tested how his newly acquired Molten-Iron Stomach Sac transformed food into energy and strengthened his body. Marquis Barton's envoy invited him to meet Canaanmore's envoy, but Ian exposed the envoy's surveillance, earning a different invitation from the General for dinner.

• Ian ate a great deal of food and observed his body digesting it and changing as the Molten-Iron Stomach Sac strengthened him.
• Silverfang told Ian that an envoy from Marquis Barton had come to see him.
• Marquis Barton's envoy invited Ian to a banquet at the Governor's Manor to meet Canaanmore's envoy.
• Ian identified the envoy's seven attempts to monitor and assess him, revealing that he had detected the surveillance.
• The envoy withdrew the Marquis's invitation and gave Ian a badge inviting him to dine with the General the following evening.

Ian altered Heartbane’s soul and sent him back to Blazing Flame Lands as a spy, using his reports to confirm the demon army’s plans and investigate a Greater Demon in the Void Realm. As the demon legion entered Southern Ridge, Ian used drone footage and public broadcasts to familiarize the population with the demons, while his attention remained on Dragon Island.

• Ian reshaped Heartbane’s soul, strengthening his desire to serve humanity, and Heartbane confessed his regrets over the lives he had taken.
• Heartbane contacted Blazing Flame Lands’ intelligence officers, who assigned him to charm key personnel in the Empire’s fortresses while Shadowmeld continued gathering intelligence in Rosy Glow City.
• Ian and Adalbert sent Heartbane back to the enemy camp and planned to use his position to learn whether the Greater Demon gestating in the Void Realm was an Abyssal Dragon born from a Spark.
• The demon legion, led by Death Knell, crossed the Western Border toward Southern Ridge and prepared to contaminate the region’s Void Realm and attack Silverpeak Domain.
• Death Knell destroyed a drone near Earthstorm Bridge, but Ian had already used recorded footage to broadcast the demon legion’s movements and supposed weaknesses across Southern Ridge’s cities.
• Ian watched the crowds learning about the demons and kept his main attention on Dragon Island.

Scott and Adalbert received advanced equipment Yafda sent to Xiahui Territory, while Ian returned from Canaanmore and was asked by the Empire to make a dire war prophecy. The Empire recognized Ian as Count Silverpeak and restored the Chehalorvo Family, leaving him to ponder Axel’s hidden plans for the imperial capital and the Immovable Fortress.

• Scott and Adalbert watched Yafda’s teleportation gateways deliver a terminal core production line, advanced alchemy components, and a World Tree Battleship model to Xiahui Territory.
• Ian left Canaanmore after saying goodbye to Anfa and met Spirit Cognition Institute officials aboard an airship, where he received his prophet’s certificate and Omen Staff.
• The officials asked Ian to prophesy that the Western Border and southwestern provinces would face a grave crisis, and Ian realized the plan was meant to rally the people with a later victory.
• Ian received an imperial decree restoring the Chehalorvo Family’s count title, lands, and research materials, and exonerating Teacher Hilliard so long as Mahdi stayed away.
• Ian was proclaimed Count Silverpeak and inferred that the Ancient Dragon Core, the Immovable Fortress, and the imperial capital were connected to Axel’s secret plan.

Ian infiltrated the Jiamu Tribe and discovered that its alchemy workshops were producing elemental crystals with a powerful condenser. He stole the condenser and prepared to strike the tribe’s sacrificial hall, leaving the Jiamu Tribe without its dragon guardians.

• Ian watched a Steelwing Dragon squad depart toward Xiahui Territory and sent Azure Tide a warning that the dragons had set out.
• Ian entered the Jiamu Tribe, saw its guards oppressing hired workers from other tribes, and recognized how the Blazing Flame Lands used the Jiamu Tribe to control the mountain folk.
• Ian used an aphrodisiac to drive the two Steelwing Dragons guarding the temple away from Jiamu Mountain.
• Ian infiltrated an alchemy workshop and discovered an Elemental Crystal Condenser refining Sky Crystal Mushrooms into elemental crystals.
• Ian froze the workshop, killed the resisting guards, stole the condenser, and ordered Azure Tide to escort it back to Xiahui Territory.
• Ian spotted powerful Origin Matter mists around the sacrificial hall and decided to attack it as well.

Over two months, Ian advanced his alchemy, healed a family injured in a carriage accident, and learned to brew two half-Magic Potions that could strengthen his skill and psychic control. He planned to consume them during an October expedition while pursuing research into whether Origin Matter structures could be replicated without Magic Potions.

• Wars resumed across the Terra Continent, while the Republic of Ganterigum revealed sixth-generation Skyborne Armor that destroyed an Azure Heaven Royal Court fleet and helped Mogu Jianchui cover his troops' retreat.
• Ian's potions healed the injured father from the carriage accident, and the grateful family gave him a prayer flag before leaving his laboratory.
• Ian mastered brewing the Rockforged Knight and Fairy Bloodline half-Magic Potions, but planned to wait until an October expedition to consume them and conceal his new power.
• Ian developed an Ultra-Effective Potion through research funded by the Ellen Family and the Platinum-Iridium Workshop, while using the laboratory to investigate Magic Potion principles.
• Ian considered whether Evolvers could reproduce Magic Beast Origin Matter structures through visualization, but concluded that the required precision and computational power approached the Fourth Energy Level.

Exploration teams battled hordes of mechanically modified beasts in Dusk Sanctuary, whose leaders could use human fighting techniques. Ian and his companions defeated the beasts in the south, where Ian discovered that their head modules were networked, while other teams continued exploring and gathering nearby.

• Aina Sertal and Ga'er led their teams against the beast horde, defeating a sword-wielding mantis and a judo-using land octopus with their martial arts and powers.
• Golan watched Aina and Ga'er's battle as her Ancestor urged her to exploit the rival teams, while Elge and the City of Knowledge team catalogued subdued beasts.
• Anfa's group stopped Sheo from eating the modified beasts, and Ethan found the unusual beast leader among the corpses Ian had frozen.
• Ian examined the muscular seal and removed a metal sphere from its head, discovering that the altered beasts were networked with one another.

Mahdi presented the Arcane Path, and the scholars accepted its potential to strengthen Ascenders and extend their lives despite its risk of deepening class divisions. After the presentation, Korizen Quest began his own talk by asking whether parallel universes existed.

• The Lord of Shadowbearer Tower warned Mahdi that the Arcane Path favored geniuses and could make class divisions more extreme, and Mahdi said he intended to accelerate the rise of a strongest being who could impose order.
• Mahdi explained that the Arcane Path and Origin Matter Furnace Core could extend Ascenders’ lives, and Korizen Quest shared his Fifth Energy Level data so Mahdi could estimate the benefit.
• Mahdi estimated that the Arcane Path could add about thirty years to a Fifth Energy Level Ascender’s life, prompting the scholars to test the meditation technique and Sangbo to form a basic Origin Matter Furnace Core.
• Sangbo praised the Arcane Path as epoch-making, and Mahdi ended his presentation as the hall applauded.
• Ian sensed an unusual radiance from something Korizen carried, and Korizen announced that he would present his own Path.
• Korizen asked whether parallel universes existed beyond their universe.

The Crocodile Dragon and the Great Shaman tore through Harrison Port as the defenders struggled to stop them. Viscount Grant arrived in repaired Aether Armor and charged the Great Shaman, beginning a battle between Second Energy Level Ascenders.

• Animu ordered the native forces to attack Harrison Port's cannon positions while the Crocodile Dragon advanced through the city.
• The Crocodile Dragon smashed a path from the southwestern gate to the Viscount's manor, leaving Lamar, Imur, and the other defenders stunned.
• Ian watched the monster from a second-floor window and wondered how powerful higher Energy Levels could become.
• The Great Shaman recognized a blue light in the sky as the supposedly broken armor of the knight who had defeated the Mist Nest Spirit.
• Viscount Grant arrived in repaired Aether Armor, drew his sword, and charged the Great Shaman and the Crocodile Dragon.
• Ian used Precognitive Vision to watch the encounter and was shocked by the powered armor.

Marquis Barton told Ian about the abrupt personality changes in Emperor Axel and the Sertal Royal Family, asking him to uncover their cause and share the answer if Barton was still alive. Later, Ian returned to the Southern Ridge and began a sweeping reform to collect regional population and production data, then set out for Xiahui Territory.

• Marquis Barton explained that Emperor Axel and several princes and princesses had transformed dramatically in a short time, and speculated that an ancient evil entity might have caused it.
• Ian considered whether Axel had altered his own soul and those of the royal children, but he could not determine the truth behind the changes.
• Marquis Barton admitted he had told Ian the secrets because he was curious, and Ian promised to tell him what he learned if Barton was still alive.
• In late July of Terra Year 774, Ian returned to the Southern Ridge and ordered nobles, merchants, and alchemical workshops to submit detailed population and production data.
• Ian arranged for the reports to be delivered to Xiahui Territory and departed Nauman City to return to his territory.