Chapter Summaries

After surviving the attack at the port, Ian rested with Elan and Hilliard, disguised as Osena, in a house by the docks. The next day, Ian asked Hilliard to teach him how Ascenders gained and cultivated their power.

• Elder Pude blamed the fire on the natives and sent Ian and the others to rest in a house near the docks.
• Sainan led Ian and Elan to a repaired house by the shore, where Ian settled his brother and went to sleep.
• Ian used Precognitive Vision, then told Elan stories from memories of another life while watching the night sky.
• Ian woke at noon to find his injuries healed and exchanged jokes with Hilliard, who was disguised as Osena.
• Ian asked Hilliard about the source of an Ascender's power and how to become one, and Hilliard began to explain their cultivation.

Lubek learned that Light's Embrace would not stop him from opposing the Blazing Flame Lands and left to act on his own. Meanwhile, Ian collected potion ingredients at the Layan Territory workshop and discovered a personal letter from Afrina Ellen.

• Bishop White Mist told Lubek he could pursue what he believed was right, and Lubek left to retrieve his equipment and act.
• Bishop White Mist reviewed disaster reports, including the resolved parasitic nest mission that named Ian as having Fifth Energy Level potential and entering the Witnessing process.
• Ian delivered his introduction to Baron Ryan, then went to the Platinum-Iridium Workshop while waiting to be received.
• The workshop staff verified Ian's identity and gave him a snowglow crystal case containing materials for Second Energy Level fairy Magic Potions.
• Ian opened the case and found a letter from Afrina Ellen, Isengard's imperial-princess mother, leaving him wondering why she had written to him separately.

Night Snake arrived in Layan Territory and discovered that Baron Ryan’s experiments had been exposed by Reflected Light, while the crowd blamed the Blazing Flame Lands. He recalled how the Spirit Cognition Institute had manipulated Ryan and used his family and abducted refugees as subjects in research on Chosen Ones, souls, and resurrection.

• Night Snake found Layan City under martial law and saw Reflected Light and Morda gathered with the guards and civilians outside Baron Ryan’s castle.
• Reflected Light displayed evidence of human experiments, including preserved body parts and a specimen of Rosy Radiance Grass entwined with fungal filaments.
• The crowd condemned Baron Ryan and blamed the Blazing Flame Lands after Reflected Light identified the specimen as a weapon unique to that region.
• Night Snake recognized the abducted people as experimental subjects and recalled that the Spirit Cognition Institute had directed Ryan to capture them.
• Night Snake recalled that the Institute had engineered Ryan’s loss of his wife and child to study the Chosen One’s soul, while also exploiting refugees as experimental material.

Ian struck Patrick with a powerful sword technique, then used Fairy Wings to help Sha Sha escape the Surging Tide Giant Eel. As Patrick discovered that parasites were enhancing the eel’s movement, Ian noticed similar growths on Sha Sha and feared it had been infested.

• Ian used a forceful sword strike to blast Patrick into the Surging Tide Giant Eel.
• Ian used Fairy Wings to accelerate Sha Sha and escape with the pirate captain.
• Patrick realized the blue parasites were fusing with the eel’s nervous system and improving its reactions and speed.
• Patrick connected the parasites to the Redwood Natives and their Great Shaman inheritance.
• Ian spotted strange tumors on Sha Sha and wondered whether it had been infested.

Ian discovered that Primordial Frost Fairies had arisen from the corpses of a Frostveil Crystal Dragon and a Frost-Enticing Moth, and that they were still fighting the moths’ descendants. The Ancient Dragon Core’s reaction led him to suspect that the missing object it sensed was connected to the Deepsea Crystal Dragon.

• Ian examined the frozen Frostveil Crystal Dragon and Frost-Enticing Moth and realized they had died fighting after a variant ecosystem went out of control.
• Ian found a canopy flower drawing energy from the corpses and producing hundreds of Primordial Fairies within a powerful psychic field.
• Ian saw the Primordial Fairies battling the moths and understood that their ongoing war continued the ancient conflict between the Crystal Dragon and the Frostbound Moth.
• Ian decided the encampment could use the fighting as a chance to escape, but he avoided taking the Crystal Dragon’s corpse because the fairies treated it as their home.
• Ian traced the Ancient Dragon Core’s stirring to something missing from the Crystal Dragon’s corpse and suspected it was now with the Deepsea Crystal Dragon.

Ian learned that the Undead Monarch Project used the souls of an entire nation to create a powerful shelter and inheritance, then confronted Adalbert over his responsibility for the disaster in Awak Domain. When Viscount Avak revealed his Dead River Armament and threatened them, Ian broke through the fortress shield and attacked him.

• Adalbert explained that the Undead Monarch could preserve a nation's souls and use their combined power to protect them, and Ian deduced that Grand Duke Solin had turned much of his territory into a realm of the dead.
• Adalbert recounted how the Undead Monarch Project had spiraled out of control, killing the people of Awak Domain, and explained that dragon souls were independent of their bodies.
• Ian challenged Adalbert for taking too much blame, but Adalbert insisted that the project was his responsibility and said he intended to destroy the Subspace Labyrinth after defeating Viscount Avak.
• Viscount Avak appeared in crimson armor powered by Dead River and declared that he would kill Ian and Adalbert, reclaim the Undead Monarch's power, and restore the Grand Duke's plan.
• Ian denounced the people responsible for Awak Domain's deaths, found a weakness in the fortress shield, and shattered it with his sword before charging at Viscount Avak.

Ian used artificial lightning and Magnetic Storm Armor to ambush and scatter the mountainfolk army, then fought the elite forces led by Iron Dust and Shaking Boat. He crushed Iron Dust’s armor with the Cyclops, revealing the power of its combat potions, as Shaking Boat prepared a maximum-output counterattack.

• Snake Rock’s mountainfolk army was repeatedly struck by lightning guided by Thunderstrike Stone dust and ground lightning rods, throwing its formation into chaos.
• Ian and thirty Magnetic Storm Armor units attacked the weakened army, scattering most of the soldiers while Iron Dust and Shaking Boat led elite troops against them.
• Ian used the Cyclops to freeze and shatter Iron Dust’s armor arm, then crushed its cockpit and grievously injured Iron Dust when he emerged.
• Iron Dust recognized the smell of potions from Ian’s armor, while Shaking Boat fired her cannon and powered up the mudstone colossi for a deathmatch.

Ian met the golden-mist figure, an old knight who had been watching over him and killed the native hunter. After praising Ian’s actions, the knight warned that his goodwill could change, leaving Ian facing a sudden threat.

• The old knight killed the struggling native hunter and studied Ian, while Ian examined the knight’s sword, clothing, and scars.
• The old knight praised Ian for retaliating against his abuser, disposing of the corpse, and surviving the forest leopard and native hunter.
• Ian thanked the knight for helping him and asked his name, explaining that the hunter could have wounded him badly.
• The knight guessed that Ian had a psychic ability such as mind reading, emotional perception, or danger foresight.
• The knight warned Ian not to trust him and stepped forward as though he might seize him by the throat.

Captain Sainan refused the Platinum-Iridium Workshop’s far-seas mission after Ian warned him of danger, prompting Patrick Ellen and Isengard Ellen to infer that the luminous algae revealed a labyrinth calamity omen. Patrick left Isengard to handle the mission and considered visiting Aels, while Ian emerged from the Elders’ Hall.

• Sainan refused Patrick’s offer of another three hundred thalers and declined the mission, even though the Workshop threatened to endanger his future business.
• Isengard told Patrick that Sainan must have received a warning he trusted more than the Workshop’s assurances.
• Patrick and Isengard connected Sainan’s change of heart to the luminous algae’s appraisal and identified a labyrinth calamity omen.
• Isengard concluded that a coming labyrinth mutation explained why Sainan would not sail, and Patrick told him to handle the mission without his help.
• Isengard went to meet Teacher Gose, while Patrick considered visiting Aels and Ian emerged from the Elders’ Hall.

Master Gose moved the survey vessel’s departure forward, leaving Patrick behind as Ian and the others set sail into a storm. Patrick and Viscount Grant discussed their family’s succession and Patrick’s hidden child, while Ian sensed many lightning-aspect Magic Beasts in the stormy sea.

• Master Gose ordered Ian and the others to depart early, explaining that Patrick’s extra recruits were intended as a smokescreen and could include spies.
• Patrick watched the survey vessel leave and wondered whether Master Gose suspected him before preparing to contact the Elf pirates he had hired.
• Viscount Grant revealed that he had known about the early departure and discussed Isengard’s parentage and the Ellen family’s succession with Patrick.
• Patrick defended his decision to give up competing with his elder brother, and Viscount Grant startled him by asking if he already had a child.
• As a spring storm struck, Ian sensed numerous lightning-aspect Magic Beasts in the sea and anticipated a fruitful voyage.

Weges followed clues from the scars at Odell Reef and Harrison Port’s past to identify Ian as a gifted psionic child connected to his former master, Hilliard. He uncovered the remains of Ian’s uncle in Lake Forest, and Hilliard appeared behind him, confirming that Weges had found him.

• Weges examined the scars at Odell Reef and recognized them as evidence of Hilliard’s sword strike against two Surging Tide Giant Eels.
• Weges used his psionic power to connect events from two years earlier and concluded that Hilliard was living in Harrison Port under the identity of Ian’s uncle.
• Weges traveled to Lake Forest and used his earth-sensing abilities to locate and unearth the uncle’s incomplete skeleton.
• Weges recognized the remains as the body of Ian’s uncle and realized Hilliard had taken his place.
• Hilliard approached Weges and confirmed that he had found him.

Ian sensed that the New Continent’s regularly pulsing Origin Matter field might be connected to a signal that could activate something, strengthening his suspicion that it held clues to the perpetual motion machine. As Farshore Island’s fleet arrived at Dawn Harbor, he left it behind to seek information from the local Magic Beasts.

• Crackle and Big Iron watched the coast near Dawn Harbor and spotted a vast human fleet approaching.
• Crackle and Big Iron hurried off to report the fleet’s arrival to their general, hoping to earn a reward.
• Ian sensed regular pulses in the New Continent’s Origin Matter field and suspected they were an activation signal.
• Ian decided the Magic Beasts might know more about the land and swam toward an uninhabited coast to catch two and question them.

Viscount Grant held the South Sea Grand Ruins against fleets from three nations while worrying that Ian, Master Gose, and Isengard would be captured. When the labyrinth’s spiritual energy suddenly changed, the Blazing Flame Lands fleet prepared to attack, leaving the standoff on the brink of battle.

• Viscount Grant piloted Tidebreaker at the boundary of the Empire’s territorial waters as fleets from three nations surrounded the ruins cluster.
• Grant worried that Ian, Master Gose, and Isengard might be captured and lamented that he could not enter the ruins himself.
• Grant asked Pude how long it would take to build a new Aether Armor if Tidebreaker were destroyed, and Pude refused to promise he could do so.
• Grant hoped White Mist would bring everyone safely back to Harrison Port and then noticed a change near Odell Reef.
• A spiritual energy fluctuation spread through the sea as the labyrinth’s scorching presence vanished, and observers from the surrounding nations sensed the change.
• A Blazing Flame Lands naval lieutenant general ordered the naval guns prepared and commanded his fleet to destroy what the Empire had found.

Ian agreed to investigate whether the Avude Tribe’s lost Silver Radiance Book remained in the imperial capital, where Elder Manyan believed it might be held. He accepted Magic Beast materials as a deposit and prepared to inspect them before continuing his journey to the capital.

• Elder Manyan’s agitation stirred a gale at his residence, and Ian reassured him that he would look for the Dragon God’s ritual book in the imperial capital.
• Manyan explained that the Empire had taken the Silver Radiance Book two centuries earlier, along with other mountainfolk treasures, and that its loss had weakened their traditions.
• Manyan said the book might be in the Royal Library, Count Phoenix’s private library, or General Andis’s old collection, but his people had not discovered its location.
• Ian agreed to help locate the book, reasoning that his alchemical connections could grant him access and that the Silver Chip could copy it if necessary.
• Manyan cautioned Ian not to risk suspicion and said his assistants would handle matters if Ian confirmed the book’s location; then he led Ian to the requested Magic Beast materials.

Ian found adamantine in a maintenance hut and questioned the wounded pirate captain Andor, who offered his Glowfire Jellyfish inheritance, livingwood fishing-net techniques, and a crystal slate as reasons to spare him. Andor revealed the slate could contain chat records with his boss Patrick, leaving Ian with possible evidence of the pirate’s crimes.

• Ian found seven grains of adamantine in the maintenance hut and mapped the area around a passage to the ruin’s core sector.
• Ian returned to the riverbank and confronted Andor, granting him a chance to live because he had helped Sha Sha escape.
• Andor described his Glowfire Jellyfish inheritance and livingwood fishing-net techniques, which Ian planned to study.
• Andor gave Ian his communication crystal slate and explained that its chat records with Patrick could be extracted after it was recharged.

Ian discovered that the Blood-Red Courtyard’s Void Realm distortion came from a system manufacturing artificial souls, and the group identified the abyss as the likely entrance to its Subspace Labyrinth. Before they reached it, a powerful being impersonating Elge attacked them, and Ian’s Silver Chip identified it as a Thousand-Stars Beast derivative.

• Sheo and Ian determined that the Blood-Red Courtyard had nearly merged with the Void Realm, while Ian sensed that millions of souls had dissipated there despite no bodies being present.
• Ian theorized that Pre-Epoch Civilization machinery used a psionic field to create artificial souls and maintain the Subspace Labyrinth, whose entrance lay in the abyss where Anfa had found an Origin Matter Chip.
• Anfa led Ian, Sheo, Ethan, and Isengard through the third level, where Anfa and Isengard quickly defeated the remaining aberrant beasts and the group found no research chips.
• Sheo questioned why True Dragon blood had been used in human experiments, and Ian proposed that the research had helped True Dragons become living beings and enabled humans to develop Ascension.
• Ian detected an eavesdropper, and the group forced a tentacle-wielding figure disguised as Elge out of the Void Realm.
• The impostor questioned Ian’s inhuman body and soul, and Ian used his Silver Chip to identify it as a Thousand-Stars Beast derivative from the Origin Hive Spark.

Ian used an innovative alchemy technique to turn one set of ingredients into far more Damage Resistance Potions than expected, astonishing the alchemists judging the examination. After producing ten successful bottles and a failed eleventh, he left the masters eager to approach him.

• Master Alexei and Master Vana praised Ian's potential and urged Master Gose to teach him properly.
• Ian reused residue and recovered dispersed materials to catalyze additional Damage Resistance Potions, prompting the observers to identify his method as a new technique.
• The alchemists initially believed the lower-quality potions would not be worth as much as a Full Enhancement Potion, but Ian continued producing bottles with little raw material remaining.
• Ian completed ten bottles and failed to make an eleventh, while estimating that his technique might allow as many as thirteen under ideal conditions.
• Master Alexei admitted Ian's skill rivaled his own and carried Kalansir out of the meeting room, while Master Gose and Master Vana followed to keep Alexei from approaching Ian alone.

Hua An guided Ian through fairy meditation, pushing him past the safe depths of ordinary meditation and toward the soul’s original self. Ian followed despite recognizing the danger, and the chapter ended as Hua An urged him to trace his identity back beyond the flesh.

• Hua An explained that Ian’s unusual psychic power and soul might let him attempt fairy meditation, though she warned that failure was possible.
• Ian meditated in Isengard’s living room and descended into his mind, using his firm desire as an anchor.
• Hua An praised Ian for crossing the subconscious flood and urged him to dive deeper, warning that fairy meditation began where ordinary human meditation could not safely go.
• Hua An instructed Ian to cut off bodily sensations and imagine tracing his self beyond the flesh, back to the soul’s origin.

A moonlit man learned that Chris had been defeated and lamented that his companion had failed to surpass his limits. On the Golden Plains, imperial soldiers searched the battlefield, concealed the details of Chris’s death, and Ian continued toward the Bat Great Rift with Frost Butterfly.

• The platinum-haired man sensed that Chris had used his dream but had been defeated, and he mourned that Chris had not heeded his advice.
• A cavalry troop inspected the battlefield and found evidence that Chris had been overwhelmed after a powerful attack was disrupted.
• The company commander ordered his soldiers to erase the traces and delay reporting Chris’s disappearance to the general.
• Ian traveled across the Golden Plains on a pack beast and released Frost Butterfly from his armor to share the view of the distant Earth Whirlwind Cloud Pillar.

Ian inferred that a Redwood High Elder had tried to preserve his consciousness through the Brain-Eating Worms, causing a revolt and the abandonment of Redwood Base. While exploring, Ian found a worm-controlled humanoid trying to reach the Central Nexus Control Room, whose words suggested the High Elder had been opposed by someone else.

• Ian theorized that the High Elder had connected his thoughts to the Brain-Eating Worms and that his pursuit of immortality had triggered a revolt among the Redwood People.
• Ian considered how Inaga II had rejected immortality despite having the power and opportunity to transfer his soul.
• Ian used Precognitive Vision to check on Sha Sha and Andor, then explored the underground river while the others remained occupied.
• Ian followed rhythmic sounds to a ruined maintenance hut, where a humanoid relentlessly pounded on a sealed metal door and repeated that it had to return to the Central Nexus Control Room.
• Ian smashed the humanoid and discovered worms and larvae controlling its body; its remaining voice said it had to protect the First Ecological Laboratory and stop the High Elder from succeeding.
• Ian wondered why the worm-controlled humanoid had opposed the High Elder if the High Elder had been responsible for the parasites.