Chapter Summaries

Murphy arrived in the Great Reef Province as players flooded Azure Wave Town and the mermen prepared a large campaign against the Dagon Mermen. He reached the Great Reef Dragon Palace to discuss the coming Mad Fish Feast and promised that his undead warriors would secure victory.

• Murphy left the Genesis Vanguard to resupply and train for the Holy Blood Seal event, then traveled to the Great Reef Province to inspect preparations for the anniversary celebration.
• Players gathered in Azure Wave Town, taking quests and hunting merman bandits with such efficiency that Governor Hood's plan to use them against the Dagon Mermen became clear.
• Murphy and Adele followed Nikita underwater to the Great Reef Dragon Palace, where Nikita explained the planned campaign against several merman clans and bandit groups along the province's southern border.
• Nikita said the campaign depended on Murphy's undead warriors holding the vanguard against the mermen's counterattack.
• Murphy assured Nikita that his warriors would accomplish the campaign's objectives and promised a victory that would be remembered as a miracle.

Murphy met Prince Bai in Great Reef Province and learned that the Moon Capital contained a sealed Warp rift and a vast stronghold of Dagon’s forces. Prince Bai proposed that Murphy use the Scepter of God to destroy it, while Murphy left to consider the plan and confirmed the region’s immense demonic presence.

• Murphy arrived at Governor Hood’s estate, where Prince Bai outlined a steady defensive strategy for expanding into fishman territory.
• Prince Bai privately revealed that the Callum emperor had ordered him to support Murphy and had sent three golden god-lords to Great Reef Province.
• Murphy told Prince Bai about his plan to fight Dagon, and Prince Bai warned him that the Moon Capital was the heart of Dagon’s cult and contained a sealed Warp rift.
• Prince Bai suggested Murphy use the Scepter of God to destroy the Moon Capital’s demonic stronghold, freeing Callum and Atlan forces to join the wider war.
• Prince Bai asked Murphy to avoid harming his old acquaintance among the shadow elves, then resumed playing his game.
• Murphy checked a satellite view with Eden and saw that the Moon Capital and Tiancao Sea were saturated with demonic energy.

Sanwudou accompanied Catelyna to meet her family at the Great Reef Dragon Palace, where her strict mother challenged their relationship. Lady Biquoka ordered Sanwudou to stop seeing Catelyna, leaving their romance at an impasse.

• Callum sent three Golden Divine Generals to support Murphy's preparations as the Deepsea Festival and anniversary approached.
• Juno intercepted Catelyna and Sanwudou, brought them to the Dragon Palace, and introduced herself as Catelyna's eldest sister and a Tide Hunters commander.
• Nikita warned Murphy and Adele that Lady Biquoka was harsh and would likely disapprove of Catelyna dating without permission.
• Catelyna told Lady Biquoka about her recent achievements, then refused her mother's plan to send her to Moon Capital Province and pressure her sisters into public roles.
• Lady Biquoka offered Sanwudou her late husband's greatsword, but he refused it and asked her not to interfere with his relationship with Catelyna.
• Lady Biquoka said she could not trust that Sanwudou, a foreigner without flesh and blood, could give Catelyna his heart, ordered them to stop seeing each other, and told Juno to show him out.

After Madam Duanmu challenged Three-Five Dou over his relationship with Katerina, his friends debated the obstacles facing them and Happy Stick urged him not to give up. Three-Five Dou returned to the game to speak with Katerina, while staff continued monitoring players facing conflicts between their real and virtual lives.

• Three-Five Dou's friends discussed Madam Duanmu's objections, and Meow Brother warned him about the difficulties of marrying into Katerina's family and the risk of family conflict at home.
• The group rejected elopement as a dangerous move before the anniversary celebration, and Meow Brother suggested Three-Five Dou might win the Abyssal Venerable's favor by distinguishing himself at the event.
• Brother Bang found Three-Five Dou on the rooftop, mistook his attempt to get fresh air for a suicide attempt, and knocked him away from the edge before they fought.
• Three-Five Dou explained that he had not intended to jump, and Brother Bang encouraged him to keep pursuing Katerina and speak honestly with her in the game.
• A staff member reported to Loyalty Brother that Three-Five Dou was safe and that the Ashen Man remained estranged from his family; Loyalty Brother ordered continued monitoring.

Murphy planned to engineer a crisis that would make Bichouka appreciate Sanwudou, while he and Adele discussed the consequences of giving players physical bodies in the Otherworld. After learning that the construction worker was facing family trouble over his relationship with the Palien sisters, Murphy told Brother Loyalty that physical bodies were coming and hinted that marriage and reproduction systems might follow.

• As Murphy and Adele left the Great Reef Dragon Palace, he proposed staging a battlefield crisis so Sanwudou could earn Bichouka’s gratitude and approval.
• Murphy told Adele that Dagon’s Scions might be cultivated in Moon Capital, making the area a potential source of materials for the Creator’s Chosen project.
• Brother Loyalty asked Murphy whether the dev team planned to give players physical bodies in the Otherworld, citing concerns about real-world relationship problems and public criticism.
• Adele explained that the construction worker had left home after his parents confronted him about his relationship with the Palien sisters, and had been staying with Professor Chen.
• Murphy told Brother Loyalty that physical bodies in the Otherworld were coming, and suggested that future game features could include marriage and reproduction.

The players prepared for the anniversary event’s campaign against the murlocs and planned to help Sanwudou win respect among the merfolk after Katerina’s family insulted him. The chapter left Sanwudou with a new sword-and-shield set from Lady Adele and nearly ten thousand players ready to support him.

• Lord Qin and the Qing Dynasty Veteran briefed guild leaders on the five-stage murloc campaign, battle-point support, and a possible hidden event involving Dagon.
• Sister Maotu warned the guild leaders to treat the Tidal Warriors respectfully, while the players discussed how the later battles might involve an evil god.
• Meow Brother told the guild leaders about Sanwudou’s trouble with Katerina’s family, and players from several groups volunteered to help him earn fame among the merfolk.
• The players agreed to make Sanwudou a celebrated hero during the anniversary campaign, and Meow Brother promised to share the Big Bird Squad’s rewards with the assisting guilds.
• Lady Adele gave Sanwudou an Armored Rose sword-and-shield set as a personal gift from Lord Murphy and a reward from the Blood Eagle Clan.

Players assembled in Bibo Town for the underwater campaign at Gray Trench while Lord Qin prepared a new aircraft unit aboard the armed airships. Smoke Sang agreed to train pilots and test a Vulture plane, and set off to pick up Old Qu as his gunner.

• Players boarded giant sea turtles bound for Gray Trench as their guilds organized into battalions under commanders advised by military interns.
• Lord Qin and Five Pairs of Wheels inspected the wooden Vulture planes and discussed recruiting pilots, testing aircraft, and developing more advanced models.
• Lord Qin assigned Five Pairs of Wheels to recruit professionals from a test flight base in YL.
• Smoke Sang arrived at the hangar, volunteered to train pilots, and agreed to assess the Vulture plane for the Explorers' Guild and halfling mechanics.
• Smoke Sang prepared to fly the Vulture and messaged Old Qu to serve as his gunner, but Old Qu was still traveling with the main force on a giant turtle.

The Transian players and their merfolk allies advanced toward the fishmen of Dagon as the Sea Abyss Festival began. The event announcement introduced military merit rewards and a new Path system, and the forces prepared to meet the charging fishmen.

• Sanwudou prepared for battle as his friends promised to help him win the favor of the Sea Abyss Celestial Venerable and offered him alternative support from the Rain Princess Dragonkin faction.
• Taipal announced that more than a hundred thousand fishmen had counterattacked the Tidal Warriors, and ordered the war turtles to enter the fighting without regrouping.
• The players and merfolk advanced underwater as Potato Dad led the bards in performing "Holy War," granting the warriors powerful buffs.
• Great Shark called on Wam for a blessing, and Wam covered the warriors in crimson lightning and blood-red armor.
• Elf Deputy General Ma Guocheng spotted the fishmen ahead, and the Sea Abyss Festival announcement opened with objectives, rewards, and the new Path system.
• Great Shark and Niu Niu discussed the Path system as the fishmen charged toward them.

The Transian players joined the mermaids’ battle against a vast fishman force and rapidly overwhelmed the enemy through coordinated attacks and targeted commander kills. As Lady Beqiuka’s forces prepared to support their advance, she warned that the fishmen were only a minor part of the Abyssal Sea celebration and the real threat had yet to appear.

• The players wiped out the first fishmen they encountered, then rode the children of Triton toward the mermaids’ trench positions.
• The players attacked the fishmen surrounding the mermaids, while Old Master Niu charged a fishman commander and Sister Shiliu refused to intervene.
• The Transian forces advanced through the fishmen ranks as their elite players hunted enemy commanders, and Junuo reported their progress to Lady Beqiuka.
• Katerina defended the Transians’ courage and warned that Governor Murphy was a powerful Order faction leader whom Lady Beqiuka had angered.
• Lady Beqiuka sent clerics to clear the currents and ordered Junuo to prepare for the greater threat still approaching.

Lord Qin directed the players’ assault on the Dagon fishmen while the Sword of Cape arrived to support a secret mission targeting the Dagon saints. The operation began when a trapped saint emerged on a deserted island, where the Golden Peach Knight confronted it and called Fraser to join the fight.

• Lord Qin ordered the Riptide Knights’ second company to continue its rapid advance toward Beastfort despite concerns that it might become isolated.
• Serak Fenda sent Yansang in the newly built Crimson Wing to scout an unidentified airship, and Yansang identified it as Brigadier General Fraser’s Sword of Cape.
• Fraser told Lord Qin that the Sword of Cape was joining the war on a secret mission to capture Dagon saints, and Lord Qin gave him coordinates for an intercepted saint.
• Fraser and his Hunter squad waited as the fleeing Dagon saint and its stragglers reached a deserted island under fire from impact cannons.
• The Golden Peach Knight landed before the Dagon saint with the Holy Blade of Zhi Ge and called for Fraser to help kill it and recover its symbiotic crystal.

Governor Hood watched the Transian forces smash through the merman front far faster than expected, forcing Great Reef Province to confront the cost of their success. As the vanguard advanced on the Beast Fort, Hood and Ms. Dena began devising unusual rewards and revenue schemes for their allies.

• After ten hours of fighting, Nikita reported that the Transian vanguard had seized the Gray Trench and reached the merman clan’s core trench, while consuming enchanted ammunition at a startling rate.
• Governor Hood learned that the Transians tracked kills through the World Network and realized Great Reef Province might struggle to pay their military rewards, so she sent Nikita to seek emergency funds from Ms. Bichuika.
• A messenger reported that the Transians had broken through the central abyss and were assaulting the Beast Fort, while General Qin asked merfolk priestesses to help break the mermen’s protective currents.
• Governor Hood ordered Ms. Dena to release five small ghost ships as an extra reward for the Transians.
• Ms. Dena proposed opening Dragonbone Bay as a paid hunting dungeon, charging the Transians five hundred military merit per entry, and promised to plan the promotion with Little Katerina.

The players reached Beastfort and waited for the Giant Tortoise priests to break the fishfolk’s tidal-psionic defenses while Murphy considered how to defeat Dagon and free future fishfolk from Chaos. The priests opened a breach, and the players stormed the stronghold as its destruction began.

• Madam Shui and Little Ashina inspected Beastfort’s filthy defenses, while the players rested outside the city and awaited the Giant Tortoise priests.
• Murphy discussed the players’ slaughter and its meager spiritual yield with Adele, then ordered her to bring old Flynn to the Great Reef Dragon Palace to seek the White Prince’s help in obtaining symbiotic crystals.
• Murphy told Triton that killing Dagon and ending the corrupted fishfolk generation could eventually allow a pure new generation to emerge under the protection of the Lord of the Deep.
• The Giant Tortoise priests arrived and used vortex blades to dismantle Beastfort’s filthy currents, opening a gap in the city’s defenses.
• The Torrent Knights and other players charged through the breach, drove the fishfolk back into Beastfort, and began demolishing the stronghold with depth charges.

The players destroyed Beast Fort, while Taipal explained how tainted relics could unlock divine Paths and Old Man Niu revealed his remarkable progress toward his Silver Trial. In the southern trench, Biji, Brigadier General Fraser, and Knight Liwen discovered a Chaos-infected sea monster leading a vast fishman army and charged to meet them.

• The players broke Beast Fort's defenses, assassinated its Dagon Chosen chieftain, and destroyed its spawning grounds with explosives.
• Taipal told Old Man Niu that purified tainted relics could unlock divine Paths, and Old Man Niu revealed he had reached 85% Potential Release with five Ancestral Powers.
• Uncle Fuding summoned Taipal to reinforce Saint Lancer Marcus against Dagon cultist priests and investigate a possible quest involving Biji.
• Brigadier General Fraser sensed another Dagon Chosen nearby, and Knight Liwen warned that a powerful presence was approaching through the trench.
• A Chaos-infected sea dragon appeared with a huge fishman horde, prompting Colonel Ron to send a warning to Beast Fort.
• Biji, Knight Liwen, and Brigadier General Fraser charged the sea dragon and its advancing fishmen.

Uncle Qin organized a defense against a surprise Black Tide assault on Beastfort, using airships, deep-water bombs, players, merfolk, and power-armor knights to buy time. As the storm forced the airships to withdraw, Brigadier General Pablo arrived with the Blood Dread Fleet to take over the surface battle, leaving the pirates fighting the fishmen.

• After nearly two hundred thousand fishmen attacked near the Gray Trench, Uncle Qin ordered airships to bomb them, players to form a defensive line, and the merfolk to fall back while holding the trench.
• Players withdrew from Beastfort, and Taipal and the merfolk prepared to defend Great Reef Province as deep-water bombs struck the advancing fishmen.
• Fifty power-armor knights deployed to the seabed and fought the fishmen while Uncle Qin kept the airships bombing through the growing storm to give reinforcements time to arrive.
• Brigadier General Pablo appeared with the Plunderer and more than forty Blood Dread pirate ships, offering to take over the sea battle in exchange for help securing trade charters and royal favor.
• Uncle Qin agreed to act as an intermediary for the pirates and ordered the airships to climb as Pablo led the Blood Dread Fleet against the fishmen.

Murphy rallied the defenders at the Gray Trench as Nikita and the merfolk held their position against Dagon’s fishmen. Far behind the front, Fraser’s squad killed a corrupted sea dragon, but Fraser warned that Dagon was drawing near and that symbiote hosts could become its vanguard.

• Nikita ordered the merfolk to hold the Gray Trench and led the Tide Warriors against the advancing fishmen.
• Murphy arrived with Adele and his Hades Guard, and his presence inspired the players to push back the fishmen.
• Fraser, Golden Peach, Liwen, Ron, and Ironhand fought a corrupted sea dragon while their squad held off fishmen.
• Ron gave Fraser a spear fitted with Grey Knight blade fragments, and Fraser struck the sea dragon’s eye before Golden Peach finished it with Saint-Saboteur.
• Fraser said Dagon was nearing the material world and warned that symbiote hosts, possibly including himself, would serve as its vanguard.

Murphy’s forces and the merfolk won the battle outside Beastfort, while Lady Bichuca revealed the merfolk kingdom’s plans to reclaim Red Earth Province. Murphy then prepared a symbiote crystal enhancement experiment aboard the Murphy’s Hammer and invited Prince White to witness it, leaving the prince wary but curious about the project.

• Lady Bichuca summoned three whale sharks to help break the Dagon fishmen’s assault, and she told Murphy that the merfolk planned to reclaim Red Earth Province next.
• Murphy warned Lady Bichuca that her interference in Katerina and Sanwudou’s relationship had damaged her standing with the players, while Governor Hood watched the battle’s costs mount.
• Biki claimed the sea dragon as her hunting squad’s spoils and planned to make Liwen a whip from its sinew and use its other parts for armor.
• Murphy arranged to test symbiote crystal enhancements aboard the Murphy’s Hammer, proposed Bonnie as a candidate, and asked Triss to contact the Night Cantor.
• Triss updated Murphy on Transia, including the installation of Prince White’s city-defense matrix and the royal investigation into the merchants’ business in Kafhoka.
• Adele invited Prince White to the experiment and explained that Dagon’s crystals could be used against chaos, leaving him questioning Murphy’s plan but willing to hear more.

Murphy prepared to test purified symbiote crystals on Bonnie, Lina, and Dorothy while Prince Bai examined Brigadier General Fraser and weighed the risks of the enhancement. As the trials began, Murphy gave Fraser a vial of diluted primordial creation energy and started explaining how he should relate to his symbiote.

• Old Qin left Murphy's Hammer after Lord Murphy commandeered the airship, then continued directing the battle from Merchant Dynasty as the allied forces pushed back Dagon's fishmen.
• Old Flynn, Heru, Bonnie, Dorothy, and Lina arrived at the locked-down airship to take part in or oversee Murphy's symbiote enhancement trials.
• Murphy explained the three women's motives for undergoing enhancement and assured Dorothy she would remain under observation afterward.
• Prince Bai examined Fraser's symbiote, then agreed to observe the implantation process and requested that the enhanced hosts be tested against Dagon before Jadecloud Mountain was informed.
• Murphy reassured Fraser that his purified symbiote could not be controlled by Dagon and gave him a vial of diluted primordial creation energy as a limiter.
• Murphy began telling Fraser a story called “Invincible Venom and Its Timid Host” to explain how he should work with the symbiote.

Murphy oversaw symbiote implantations in three vampire women, with the Night-Singer’s divine power protecting and empowering them. The experiment succeeded, creating Midnight Chosen, while Murphy also asked Fraser to investigate Countess Margaret’s lineage and encouraged him to consider a divine bond to help control his own symbiote.

• Old Flynn began implanting symbiotes into Bonnie, Dragonflame, and Dorothy as Murphy advised Fraser to negotiate with the symbiote inside him rather than simply resist it.
• Murphy asked Fraser to use House Capet’s connections to investigate whether Countess Margaret was truly descended from House Lorraine, and gave him an encrypted computational orb for confidential communications.
• Murphy suggested Fraser consider devotion to a god to help control or strengthen his symbiote, then teased him about his feelings for Mirian and his lack of romantic scandals.
• Bonnie’s brain waves surged during the operation, but Murphy ordered the surgeons to continue, explaining that the Night-Singer was protecting the subjects’ minds.
• The Night-Singer’s power helped the three women recover from the operation, and black eye-shaped marks appeared on their foreheads as the symbiotes granted them enhanced abilities.
• The White Prince praised the experiment’s potential for creating powerful warriors and suspected Murphy meant to attract people from another world; afterward, he started playing a game on his computational orb.

Murphy assigned Bonnie, Dragonflame Lina, and Dorothy to Fraser’s Hunter Squad to test their symbiote powers in the war against Dagon’s cult, while Lady Lina considered leaving the Old Continent after the coming wars. At the Land of Origins, Murphy and the commanders awaited Kalem’s golden Divine Lords, and the first arrival appeared to be a Warlord-class Titan.

• Murphy assigned the three vampire women to Fraser’s Hunter Squad, and Bonnie demonstrated her symbiote’s freezing power while Dorothy shaped shadows into weapons and a cloak.
• Lady Lina told Murphy she might leave the Old Continent after the wars and join Princess Qiuqute in the Aztec Kingdom; Murphy agreed the plan could work.
• Adele told Murphy that three golden Divine Lords from Kalem would arrive at dawn, and Murphy arranged for Prince Bai, Old Qin, and other leaders to witness their arrival.
• Old Qin met Lord Ma and other commanders at the Land of Origins, where Lord Ma described the delays in building the solar ship Wyvern.
• Murphy flew to the coast and joined the waiting group as they speculated about the Divine Lords’ purpose and size.
• A blue passage opened in the desert, and a giant war machine emerged; Murphy recognized it as an apparent replica of a Warlord-class Titan.

Murphy inspected the Kallum Empire’s three Golden Deities and learned that heroic dragonkin spirits powered them. After discovering the Creator’s warning that the spirits could be erased, he promised to preserve them and let them continue guarding Kallum and the world.

• The White Prince brought three specialized Golden Deities through portals into the Land of Origins, impressing Murphy and the gathered observers with their immense size and weapons.
• The White Prince explained that the Golden Deities were ancient machines animated by the souls of fallen dragonkin and soldiers, serving as shrines to Kallum’s heroes.
• Murphy touched the Divine Hound and saw its specifications, including a warning that its spirit, Eleven, must not be formatted.
• Murphy realized the Dragon Emperor had placed the Golden Deities’ fate in his hands and promised Eleven that he would preserve the heroic spirits and their guardianship.