Chapter Summaries

Ian claimed the Dragon Divine Marrow and endured the curses of the civilizations carried within it before leading the group into the Xenobiology Research Institute’s fourth floor. There, they realized Campani’s Fifth Energy Level strike was imminent; as the beam devastated the ruins, Carlos and Aina faced certain death until Carlos called for the Sertal Empire’s power to save them.

• Anfa chose to become a dragon and warned Ian that the Dragon Crystal and Divine Marrow carried a dangerous curse, so Ian collected both before leaving the labyrinth.
• Ian absorbed the Dragon Divine Marrow, resisted its accumulated curses with the Silver Chip and Source Soul, and ordered the group deeper into the ruins.
• The group reached the institute’s fourth floor and discovered the Rust-Steel Dragon God’s corpse in a fortified crystal cavern; Ian deduced that Echo had prepared for a strike from Campani.
• Campani’s Fifth Energy Level attack descended on the Xenobiology Research Institute, and Carlos found Aina outside the deeper defenses and carried him toward the Imperial exploration team.
• Carlos’s mirrored shields failed against the beam, so he called on the Sertal Empire’s royal Sun God Bird bloodline and shouted for help as a sun rose near the Imperial capital.

Solin Grand Duke revealed Terra’s place in the star system and began explaining the Star-Prison that he believed had blocked the stars from view. He left Adalbert and Ian facing the possibility that the prison enclosed the entire star region and accounted for the disappearance of the stars.

• Solin Grand Duke said the Star-Prison threatened humanity’s final chance and explained that he was perfecting the Undead Monarch and the Spark of Spirit to preserve a chance of survival.
• Adalbert challenged Solin Grand Duke to explain the Star-Prison, the Calamity of Falling Skies, and the cruel plans involving Avak Laboratory.
• Solin Grand Duke showed Adalbert and Ian a star chart of the Terra Solar System and a model of Terra, describing its continents and shattered moon.
• Adalbert realized how small the Avak Viscountcy and humanity were compared with the planet, but demanded to know why Solin Grand Duke intended to use people as sacrifices.
• Solin Grand Duke covered the model of Terra in darkness to demonstrate a prison that blocked all light, then urged Adalbert to imagine it expanding around the entire star region and its stars.

Ian chose to strengthen his liver as the first step toward becoming an Evolved, and Hilliard guided him through condensing his Origin Seed. As the new Origin Seed took shape, Hilliard told Ian that Origin Seeds did not exist.

• Ian told Hilliard that he wanted strength to fulfill his wish and chose his liver as the first organ to evolve.
• Hilliard explained that the liver specialization favored vitality and endurance, and that it could lead toward the Stone Armor ability in the Immovable Fortress system.
• Hilliard examined Ian and guided him as he refined Origin Matter and began forming his own pale cyan Origin Seed.
• Hilliard urged Ian to keep condensing the Origin Seed while listening to him.
• Hilliard stunned Ian by declaring that Origin Seeds did not exist.

Ian used his new alchemical equipment to coat the Deep Abyss Iron Sword with mithril and adamantine, then inscribed it with an Aether Matter Conversion Inscription. The completed sword could be aetherized, and Ian prepared to leave Harrison Port as a new story arc approached.

• Ian compared the Ellen Family's Fairy magic potion formula with Hilliard's and planned to use spiritual solution as a backup ingredient.
• Ian decided to strengthen his Deep Abyss Iron Sword and add an inscription that would let him aetherize it.
• Ian used alchemical instruments to coat the sword in mithril and plate one edge with adamantine.
• Ian carved the Aether Matter Conversion Inscription into the sword's hilt and activated it with elemental light ink.
• The sword vanished except for its inscribed hilt, and Ian completed the aetherization inscription.

Ian erased Director Moze’s Omen Seal, searched the surveillance feeds for his missing friends, and found evidence that the Light-Embracing Rescue Team had suffered a casualty. He disguised himself and set out to help them, while Moze became intrigued by Ian and the unfolding events.

• Ian identified Director Moze’s Omen Seal and used his psionic power to erase it.
• Ian assessed the Subspace Labyrinth’s factions and searched the surveillance feeds with Frost Butterfly, but found no sign of Sheo or the fairies.
• Ian spotted a dead cat Demi-human bearing the Church of Light’s Embrace insignia and realized the rescue team had suffered losses.
• Director Moze learned that Ian had removed his mark and speculated about Ian’s identity, while welcoming the challenge.
• Ian changed his weapons and appearance, hid Frost Butterfly in his pouch, and headed out to help the Light-Embracing Rescue Team.

Ian fought the Magnetic Light Knight, whose power surged through Divine Power Transmission, and killed him with a trap using delayed-action alchemical agents and freezing Origin Matter. As Chris died, the force answering his prayers told him that his dream had reached its limit.

• The Magnetic Light Knight’s abilities dramatically increased, and Ian’s Silver Chip revealed that Divine Power Transmission was in progress.
• Ian inferred that Chris’s power was connected to the same kind of divine bestowal he had sensed from Bishop White Mist.
• Ian used freezing agents and alchemical preparations to disrupt Chris’s magnetic sand shield, then charged through it with the Deep Abyss Iron Sword.
• Chris begged for more power, but the voice answering him said his dream could go no further and that this was his limit.
• Ian pulled out his sword, and the mortally wounded Chris fell from the air and smashed to pieces.

Ian escaped his exploding armored suit and attacked the Crocodile Dragon underwater, using a supercavitating sword strike to pierce the Great Shaman’s fused imprint on its head. He followed up by launching himself into the wound, leaving the Crocodile Dragon gravely injured as its gathered mud shield dispersed.

• Ian overclocked the armored suit’s furnace core, escaped before it exploded, and drew the Deep Abyss Iron Sword.
• Ian used Fairy Wings and Wave-Singer to propel himself toward the Crocodile Dragon’s head and unleash his Supercavitating Torpedo Sword.
• The Crocodile Dragon formed a mud shield, but Ian released his sword and doubled its speed with Wave-Singer.
• Ian’s sword pierced the humanoid imprint where the Great Shaman had fused with the Crocodile Dragon, damaging its brain.
• Ian launched himself into the sword wound, and the Crocodile Dragon bled as its mud shield dispersed.

Ian entered the Photonic Furnace with the Fairy Queen and realized that its power, like his Arcane Path, pointed toward the qualities needed to become a Star God. Inside the Fairy Vortex, he discovered that the furnace joined fairy souls and pure aether across past, future, and parallel spacetimes, and began to grasp how it drew on them for nearly infinite energy.

• Ian compared the Spirit-Forging Engine with his Arcane Path and concluded that transcendence required a soul, body, skill, and quasi-infinite energy.
• Ian recognized the Photonic Furnace as a prophet artifact connected to the Great Aetheric Current, and he and the Fairy Queen discussed how prophets could glimpse past and future.
• The Fairy Queen led Ian into the Fairy Vortex, where he saw the Silver Sea of aether and merged fairy souls narrating events across different times and worlds.
• The Fairy Queen explained that the Photonic Furnace had become a road to parallel spacetimes after she forged it from the Heavenly Father's remains.
• Ian used the Star God's Gift, Guiding Star, and Precognitive Vision to investigate the furnace and inferred that its nearly infinite energy came from borrowing power across parallel spacetimes and time.

Ian asked Adalbert to resume researching artificial souls, explaining that he wanted everyone in his territory to have a soul rather than recreate the Undead Monarch. After demonstrating his growing power and promising to share his plans, Ian invited Adalbert to the Void Realm to show him what he had been researching.

• Ian visited the laboratory with Adalbert and learned that the research teams had made progress getting Rosy Radiance Grass seeds to bud in nutrient solution.
• Ian told Adalbert to research artificial souls so everyone in the territory could possess a soul, while rejecting Grand Duke Solin's approach of using souls as components for an Undead Monarch.
• Ian demonstrated his control over natural Origin Matter and revealed that he was close to reaching the Third Energy Level.
• Ian explained that he did not need the Undead Monarch's technology to advance, but believed souls would make people smarter and help his plans.
• Adalbert demanded to know Ian's full plan before agreeing to cooperate, and Ian invited him to the Void Realm to see his research.

As war between Harrison Port and the Redwood Forest natives intensified, Ian devoted himself to rigorous physical training and studies in alchemy, inscriptions, and sublimator knowledge. He completed the month-long crash course while the conflict remained unresolved, and the story left him settled into life on Terra on September 19th, Year 766.

• The Redwood Forest natives launched sudden attacks on fishing villages and border settlements, and Harrison Port retaliated with its guard and Alchemical Cannons.
• Ian followed an intense daily schedule of physical training, Origin Matter refinement, classes, household duties, and advanced lessons with Hilliard.
• Ian learned alchemy and inscriptions faster than his classmates, but restrained his displays of talent after sensing Viscount Grant's caution.
• The fighting intensified without threatening either side's core, as supplies reached Harrison Port and the natives maintained their rear areas.
• Other students were sent to the front after basic training, while Ian completed the entire month-long crash course by September 19th.

Ian returned home alone to confront a Redwood Native shaman who had come to meet Osena, while Hilliard waited outside and warned that Elan’s safety was uncertain. The shaman offered Ian a place as his new partner, leaving Ian to face the choice between cooperating and risking his brother’s life.

• Hilliard told Ian he could not guarantee Elan’s safety, and Ian said he would use preparations he had made in the house.
• Ian entered the house and found Redwood Native hunters hiding in the corridor and a shaman waiting in the sitting room.
• The shaman revealed that he had expected to meet Osena, learned that Osena had died, and identified Ian and Elan as sacrifices.
• Ian denied telling the guard force about the natives, explaining that doing so would put Elan in danger.
• The shaman invited Ian to replace Osena as the Bone Mountain Tribe’s partner and implied that Elan’s fate would depend on Ian’s choice.

Roland learned from Old Fal how the new civil service should prioritize the lord’s goals and residents’ livelihoods, then discovered that Fal was a former stargazer. After Ian recognized Fal’s exceptional exam performance and confirmed his stargazing knowledge, Fal asked to serve in Xiahui Territory so he could build an observatory.

• Old Fal advised Roland to keep impoverished residents working rather than drive them to death for unpaid taxes, explaining that civil servants should serve the lord’s broader aims.
• Old Fal told Roland that his family had been stargazers and that he had become a tax officer after the stars disappeared and their patrons stopped funding the work.
• Ian reviewed the examination papers, approved Roland for an interview about supervising the alchemy industrial park, and criticized Azure Tide’s political and moral answers.
• Ian found Fal’s paper nearly flawless and summoned him, then confirmed Fal’s identity as a true stargazer when he recited the names of vanished stars.
• Fal told Ian that he wanted to earn wealth and influence in Xiahui Territory so he could build an observatory, a dream he had held since childhood.

Ian visited Mo Feng at her residence in the Imperial Capital and won her over with a handwritten travelogue of his South Sea labyrinth adventure. As he joined Mo Feng, Hua An, and Frost Butterfly, talk turned to the Lone Mountain Conference.

• Ian walked through the Sinbil Family's Triangle Tower District and brought Mo Feng his handwritten South Sea Grand Labyrinth Travelogue.
• Ian arrived at Mo Feng's book-filled residence, where Mo Feng welcomed him and Hua An and Frost Butterfly were waiting.
• Ian gave Mo Feng the travelogue, and she happily agreed to lend him books to read at home.
• Ian relaxed with the fairies and listened in when their conversation mentioned the Lone Mountain Conference.

Ian realized the Redwood natives were attacking Viscount Grant’s residence and headed home as the storm’s violent aftermath approached Harrison Port. At the residence, Lamar organized its defense while Grant remained outside the city, unaware of the assault.

• Ian saw an explosion near the city center, deduced that the natives were targeting the viscount’s residence, and decided to return home before the storm hit.
• Lubek told his mercenaries to help defend the residence while he pursued a private grudge against Grant.
• Imur prepared the merchant guild guards to defend their headquarters and urged them to earn promotions and bonuses.
• Lamar fought off a native hunter, healed from a poisoned wound through his Red Folk regeneration, and ordered the guards to establish a defensive line upstairs.
• Lamar spotted native fighters occupying the surrounding buildings as Viscount Grant stared toward the southern sea and reacted to the approaching storm.

Ian helped Brin defeat the three native hunters, revealing the strength and pale blue light of his psionic power. After Brin was wounded in the fight, Ian helped him prepare to return to port.

• Brin was stabbed in the chest but escaped the knife-wielder’s grip, and Ian hurled a bucket of mud and seawater that broke the attacker’s arm and knocked him down.
• Ian charged the other hunters, blinded the archer with a mud ball, and killed him with a powerful kick.
• Brin distracted the blowgunner by throwing the knife from his chest, giving Ian the chance to kill the remaining hunter with sleep powder and a fatal strike to the eyes.
• Ian helped Brin rest against a tree root and said they would return to port, while Brin asked how Ian had so much strength.
• Ian answered that his strength came from psionic power.

Ian secretly followed a Blazing Flame Lands special operations unit through ancient underground caves and learned that three Machina Church priests had joined its mission. He suspected the group was pursuing something significant and continued tailing them to uncover their secrets.

• The Red Folk captain led his soldiers through the cave, ordering them to watch for venomous creatures despite the priests' instruments detecting no nearby life.
• Ian followed the unit from over a hundred meters behind and identified it as a Blazing Flame Lands team covertly supporting Southern Ridge natives against the Empire.
• Ian assessed the team as a formidable infiltration force, led by a veteran captain and accompanied by several powerful Forgers.
• Ian recognized the three priests as members of the Machina Church and considered the church's beliefs about Pre-Epoch technology and ascension.
• Ian suspected the priests had joined the mission to pursue something important and kept following the unit.

Ian met Hua An, a fairy who had followed him because she sensed him and Frost Butterfly. Hua An offered to help Ian awaken Frost Butterfly into a true fairy and led them toward a place to begin.

• Hua An approached Ian in the alchemy workshop hall, where no one else could see her, and introduced herself as Sweetflag.
• Ian released Frost Butterfly from her icebox, and Hua An recognized her as a native fairy junior.
• Ian examined Hua An and discovered that her body was made from rare, powerful materials.
• Hua An explained that she had come to help Ian conduct Spirit Awakening sublimation for Frost Butterfly, since Ian lacked the necessary shaping inheritance.
• Ian accepted Hua An's offer, and Hua An flew out of the hall and invited Ian and Frost Butterfly to follow her.

Hilliard awakened after the battle and realized he was nearing death, but found Ian still alive and in danger from the wine poison. As the Thunderhunter Jellyfish retreated from Hilliard’s overwhelming presence, he burned the last of his life and revealed a golden core and a silver chip, while a rainbow radiance appeared in Ian’s eyes.

• Hilliard regained consciousness on Sighing Cliff and saw that Weges was dead while Ian had survived the battle but was barely breathing.
• Hilliard realized his life had reached its end and moved Ian behind a rock to protect him from the lightning.
• Hilliard examined Ian and found that wine poison had spread through his body and threatened to leave him with permanent brain damage.
• The Thunderhunter Jellyfish gathered around Sighing Cliff but feared Hilliard’s presence and refused to approach.
• Hilliard burned the last of his life, tore open his abdominal wound, and removed a glowing golden core and a silver chip.
• Rainbow radiance appeared in Ian’s eyes as he lay unconscious.

Ian discovered that the Silver Chip could turn ownerless souls into computing units, which might help him miniaturize artificial intelligence and build exoskeleton power armor. After distributing food and stabilizing Layan City, he prepared its workers to make advanced equipment before the rebel mountain folk’s expected counterattack.

• Ian studied the Silver Chip’s spiritual computing module and connected its capabilities to the Undead Monarch, Spirit Spark, and artificial intelligence research inherited from earlier generations.
• Ian realized that Adalbert’s psychic research materials could help him develop psychic artificial intelligence and planned to use the computing module to advance construction of exoskeleton power armor.
• Gul secretly escorted troublesome former City Guard members out of Layan City, while Ian’s forces distributed food and punished residents who stole or tried to claim extra portions.
• Ian told Scott that a food caravan from the Great Plains would arrive from Nauman City, then instructed him to stabilize food prices and manage wartime opposition.
• Ian ordered Scott to take the workshop and smithy workers into custody so they could make advanced equipment, and warned that the rebel mountain folk’s main force could arrive within two weeks to a month.

Ian repelled the fifth energy level powerhouses who ambushed him, revealed that alliances could help them pursue the sixth energy level, and divided parts of his body among loved ones as he prepared to descend into the aether. Meanwhile, Aina delivered a silver ingot to an eerily empty Ridgehold, where it transformed into a humanoid terminal for Terra’s Heart and revealed a crowned monarch in the darkness.

• Ian wielded his sword to unleash a planetwide storm of will, scattering the attackers and demonstrating power that Azure Star recognized as a path toward the sixth energy level.
• Ian wounded Zheng Yinchuan, learned that he had attacked over Frontier Reach’s lack of influence in the perpetual motion machine vote, and explained that alliances were possible and that a true perpetual motion machine could support repeated attempts at advancement.
• Ian revealed that a perpetual motion machine and the sixth energy level could make many people’s hopes possible, while the Dragon Kings agreed to guard him and his friends accepted parts of his body as protective vessels and intermediaries for Terra’s Heart.
• Ian visited his parents’ and teacher’s graves through a rain-formed phantom, gave Elder Pude one of his bones to bury with them, and promised that his soul would remain with his family.
• Ian sat upon the Central Throne and began dissolving into the aether, telling Isengard that he would return even though he could not predict when.
• Aina delivered a silver ingot to the empty Ridgehold, where it broke into dust and formed an Ian Silverpeak-like terminal for Terra’s Heart, which entered the castle and addressed the crowned monarch within.