Chapter Summaries

Meow and the players trapped and overwhelmed the Father of Scales, whose flawed evolution forced it to flee before Murphy’s awakened Necessary Evil helped bring it down. The chapter ended with players complaining that killing the Chaos God had earned them only 35 biomass.

• Meow prayed to the Father of Oaks, received divine power, and used it to bind the Father of Scales in a wooden cage.
• Great Shark and the other players buffed and attacked the trapped Father of Scales, exposing the weakness in its oversized heart and forcing it to evolve.
• The Father of Scales called on Shou for shields and Chaos reinforcements, then began another evolution to shrink, grow wings, and escape.
• The Father of Scales broke free and flew toward a warp rift, but Murphy’s attack severed its wings, and it crashed into the hive after colliding with Little Ashina’s space-destroying round.
• Mosna confronted the fallen Father of Scales as the sentinels closed in, while Murphy returned to the Crimson Dawn with his awakened sword Necessary Evil.
• A player protested on the world channel that the defeat of a Chaos God had rewarded the players with only 35 biomass.

The players killed the Scale Father in Zero Hive, then learned that the King of the Unmoored had died defending Abyss City. As the survivors mourned him, the Brass Dwarves accepted the city as their new home.

• The players destroyed the Scale Father's chaotic transformation, and Mosna burned away its remains with a purification-core flamethrower.
• The players complained about the meager biomass reward, then many left to hunt insects and gather enough biomass to keep their borrowed bodies.
• Madam Shui suggested handing the Scale Father's rare materials to the Transia People's Army, while Happy Stick left to return to Melia.
• Smoke Sang told the remaining players that the King of the Unmoored had died after killing four berserk dragon-armored insects in Abyss City.
• The King of the Unmoored urged the Brass Dwarves to protect their new home, then died after Oufge gave him mead.
• Oufge led the funeral, and Cheche and Yaogui helped set the King's body alight as the dwarves, players, and goatmen mourned him.

The defenders suppressed the swarm’s final frenzy after the Scale Father’s death, with Marshal Baldwin sacrificing the Wolf Lord to seal a breach in the locust wall. As the insects retreated, Lady Pailian learned King Louis would visit Crimson Castle, and the Pale King praised his daughter for helping the living protect their world.

• Marshal Baldwin ordered the damaged Wolf Lord to crash into a breach in the locust wall, blocking the advancing insects and leaving him unconscious.
• Old Qin ordered Princess Qiuqiute to summon the Feathered Serpent God’s avatar, and the gods joined the battle to stabilize the defenses and suppress the swarm’s frenzy.
• Crown Prince William joined the fighting after surgery and attacked the exhausted insects, determined to take part in the victory.
• Lady Pailian saw the swarm retreat from Batassin City and learned that King Louis would visit Crimson Castle within a week.
• King Louis considered using Transia’s grassroots organizing methods to rebuild his kingdom as he rested after the battle.
• The Pale King praised his daughter for helping the living handle the crisis, and she vowed that she and Ivey would protect the world and fight beside him.

Murphy reviewed the aftermath of the locust plague and warned that the final battle with Chaos still lay ahead, while his companions prepared to leave and he visited the fallen. In Shadowdeep City, the Outsiders celebrated their victory as Great Shark tried to expand his tavern business and use Murphy’s miracle potion to impress its proprietress.

• Adele told Murphy that the swarms were retreating but would persist and spread, while Murphy said the coming fight against Chaos would threaten both the Astral Realm and the material world.
• Adele and Triss departed on separate journeys, leaving Shani to keep Murphy company; Murphy gave Shani a developer’s computational orb and asked Femis to train her.
• Murphy instructed Solma to provide Edward with a hospitable planet and an interstellar shuttle, then traveled with Shani to honor the fallen and declined an invitation to the dragonkin’s feast.
• Murphy overheard Firebro lamenting that his wife had become a moon priestess and might be carrying a child from another world.
• Outsiders filled Shadowdeep City’s taverns, where Great Shark arranged for shadow-elf women to socialize with the players and pitched expanding the House of Shadows into a continent-wide business.
• Great Shark revealed that Murphy’s miracle potion had lowered Murphy’s favorability toward him, then prepared to use it to win over the shadow-elf proprietress.

Murphy brought the dying Fato back to the forbidden swamp, where he reunited with Orr after a thousand years apart. Fato died peacefully beside his daughter, and Orr slept beside him as Murphy’s promise was fulfilled.

• Murphy left Shadowdeep City after apologizing for the foreigners’ drunken misbehavior and returned to the forbidden swamp with Shani.
• Fato arrived by shuttle and refused to choose the next Madblood leader, while Murphy named First Mate Solma as his rival in a contest with no deaths allowed.
• Murphy and Fato entered the swamp, where Cavendina greeted them and Fato recalled leaving Orr behind when she was young.
• Fato whistled their old tune, and Orr recognized him, welcomed him home, and carried him around the swamp as it had when it was young.
• Two hours later, Murphy and Shani found Fato dead with a peaceful smile and Orr asleep beside him.

Murphy prepared to isolate the Gray Desert Ring, but Sister Cement brought him news that the other world had detected possible psionic activity and was planning to open True Otherworld to more players. Murphy met with the other world’s contact, offered technology for detecting psionic threats, and agreed to consider a larger open beta focused on professionals while reserving places for ordinary people.

• Murphy left Eul and Fato to their reunion, then entered the forbidden zone, where Fato’s echo explained why he would not reveal himself to Eul and urged Murphy to revive the Astral Realm soon.
• Murphy prepared to use the Creation Engine to reshape the terrain around the Gray Desert Ring and move the Life Greenhouse closer to the surface, but Sister Cement arrived with a proposal from the other world’s leaders.
• Sister Cement told Murphy that the other world had tasked her with studying psionic phenomena, leading Murphy to suspect that its world had begun showing signs of psionic activity.
• Murphy summoned the other world’s leaders and offered blueprints for instruments that could detect psionic energy, after the contact reported unusual energy signals and hauntings occurring in several regions.
• The contact requested that True Otherworld enter open beta so capable people could train in Transia, and Murphy proposed increasing professional player slots while keeping some places for ordinary people.

Murphy and Sister Cement planned the open beta with their otherworldly partners, balancing recruitment, security, and limited headset supplies. As preparations began for a joint expedition to the New Continent and the Heart of the World, Murphy reviewed Alpha Company’s promotional video and asked Shani to appear in it.

• Sister Cement told Murphy that their partners had quickly agreed to his proposal, and Murphy tasked her with coordinating research and sharing suitable anti-Chaos blueprints while warning against reckless projects.
• Murphy outlined the open-beta plan: their existing selection system would remain, while new recruits chosen by the partners would enter as Helldivers and prove themselves through trials on the New Continent.
• Murphy said headset supplies would soon reach one hundred thousand and might later rise to three hundred to five hundred thousand, with more capacity possible through the Creator’s system and copied game pods.
• Murphy planned a promotional campaign for Second Life and a faction-wide expedition to the New Continent, where the players could enter the Heart of the World and assist King Osiris’s forces.
• Sister Cement showed Murphy an AI-made promotional video presenting him and his associates as Alpha Company executives, but Murphy found it awkward and asked the Eden program to revise it.
• Shani questioned Murphy’s trust in their partners, and Murphy invited her to join the promotional video as Alpha Company’s brand ambassador.

The closed beta ended after Niu Niu spent its final days with Amber and his family set off for a trip to Callum. After logging out, Jusha watched a news report about the Second Life project and urgently called Niu Niu to tell him that Lord Murphy was on TV.

• Niu Niu saw the maintenance notice, while his family planned a trip to the Cloudmist Order monastery during the five-day shutdown.
• Niu Haicheng met Niu Niu, warned him to learn as much as he could, and accepted equipment and directions to the Summoning-the-Dead Sect.
• Niu Niu stayed with Amber until the closed beta was about to end, while the Big Bird Squad gathered in Shadowdeep City to say goodbye before logging out.
• Jusha logged out, watched a report about the Second Life project and Alpha Corporation, and called Niu Niu when he recognized Mrs. Shani on TV.

After Alpha Company’s official backing and open-day invitation stirred the players, A-Cha and Cheche sought advice from Crow Bro about their new business opportunity. Crow Bro revealed that worldwide supernatural incidents suggested a crisis was approaching, and the players’ cooperation with Transia might be needed to defend their own world.

• Cheche and the other players discussed Alpha Company’s sudden public endorsement and received invitations to its in-person open day.
• Little Rich Bro told A-Cha that Fire Bro was organizing a business network and arranged for a lawyer to advise him.
• A-Cha and Cheche visited Crow Bro, who advised them to consult the lawyer and showed them reports of recent supernatural incidents around the world.
• Crow Bro warned that the authorities were preparing for the danger seen in Transia and that the players might help defend their world.
• A-Cha concluded that the two worlds needed to face the coming crisis together, and Crow Bro urged them to attend the open day and prepare.

Niu Niu and the others attended Alpha Corporation’s public technology exhibition, where they saw new virtual-reality devices, gaming pods, batteries, and other technology adapted from the Creator system. The chapter left the group speculating that Transia and their world might one day be connected in both directions as the exhibition began.

• Niu Niu and the other students entered Alpha Corporation’s exhibition and helped staff prepare a virtual-reality martial-arts demonstration set in Transia.
• Cheche learned that the staff member overseeing the demonstration was a fellow player and agreed to perform for the crowd.
• Mengha showed Niu Niu and Sister Pomegranate a gaming pod modeled on Creator technology and described the Second Life initiative and other new products.
• Mengha recruited Sister Pomegranate and Niu Niu to demonstrate the gaming pod while the older visitors went to the top-floor lounge.
• Crow, Teacher Li, and Old Man Niu met Brother Huozi, Lady Judy, and Father Potato, then saw holographic projections of Murphy and Lady Triss.
• Teacher Li and Crow discussed whether people from Transia might someday come to their world, and Teacher Li said the two worlds were already bound together.

Murphy and Rose prepared to test imitation game devices that would let outsiders enter Transia as psionic projections, while Murphy accepted the risks of expanding access. At Alpha’s showcase, a concealed Chaos worshipper tried to plant a listening device on a server, but Mengha detected and exposed him.

• Rose told Murphy the imitation devices could let outsiders form psionic projections in the material world, with Murphy relaying their signals, and said testing could begin in two or three days.
• Murphy argued that they needed more reserve warriors before the coming war and accepted the danger of agents of Chaos acquiring the technology.
• At Alpha’s showcase, Cheche and Meow Shark discussed the virtual reality devices, while Meow Shark explained that the game pods could not load otherworldly bodies.
• A concealed agent of Chaos entered the central server room and planted a device intended to upload a listening program.
• Mengha detected abnormal readings and called for help, and the team used Genesis Energy-frequency sound waves to force the hidden intruder into view.
• Ziweig arrested the intruder, and Mengha confirmed that the server had not been breached and reported that the agents of Chaos had begun infiltrating them.

Murphy and Rose oversaw the first connection test using real-world logging pods, successfully sending twenty soldiers into Transia. A young girl also returned from a test delighted by her experience, while Old Huo used her success to urge her wealthy father to invest in the technology.

• Murphy and Rose discussed the beta preparations, the safety of the logging pods, and the threat posed by Chaos worshippers in the other world.
• At an underground military base, Lord Ma and Colonel Zhao prepared twenty soldiers for the first connection test, and the soldiers entered the pods.
• Murphy felt the soldiers' consciousnesses arrive and guided them into Transia, confirming that the connection worked with him as a relay.
• A young girl emerged from her game pod describing her visit to Crimson Castle, where she had felt healthy and ridden a griffin.
• Old Huo told the girl's father that Transia was a real world and offered to secure game helmets for him and his daughter in exchange for investing.

Murphy revealed the World-Tree Seed he had transformed to restore the shattered Astral Realm as a Land of Order, setting the stage for a major clash with Chaos. He then traveled to Mannys's lair to support his friend's attempt to become a god through the Frontier Pact.

• Murphy showed Shani the altered World-Tree Seed and learned that its use had raised his Pioneer level to four, unlocking new powers against Chaos.
• Murphy told Shani he would first confront the Arch-Priest at the Heart of the World, then plant the seed where Aphidashir's remains had fallen and defend the Astral Realm's rebirth.
• Shani told Murphy that Triss was returning from the Celestial Capital, then left to study planning skills with Femis.
• Murphy traveled through an Astral passage to Mannys's lair, where Mannys hosted a farewell gathering before going to the Warp to pursue godhood.
• Murphy asked Mannys whether he was ready to take on the Frontier Pact, and Mannys said he was eager but hoped Murphy would help him cheat.

Murphy arranged artificial divine cores and discussed the coming revival of the Astral Realm, while Mannis accepted Old Ao’s core and signed a Borderlands Pact to become the God of Time. Mannis’s ascension sent Murphy through a strange time shift, leaving him furious after discovering four hours had vanished.

• Murphy told the gathered demigods that the Sentinel Primarchs had reclaimed the Library Ship Daughter of Truth and that its equipment could produce more artificial divine cores.
• Liji pleaded to avoid receiving a core, and Murphy agreed to defer her selection while warning that the demigods would still have to defend the Astral Realm as its Astral Seed revived.
• Murphy proposed binding the demigods to the Astral Realm under revised Borderlands Pacts, and Mannis volunteered to take Old Ao’s artificial divine core.
• Mannis asked for annual paid and personal leave so he could see his child born, then chose to follow the rest of Old Ao’s pact and become a foundation of the cosmos.
• Mannis swallowed the core and ascended amid a storm of time that swept Murphy away; Murphy awoke in Scarlet Castle and realized Mannis had stolen four hours from him.

Murphy prepared for the players’ return and the expedition to the Sunset Continent while Mannis launched the new Echoes of the Past feature. The players received their new objectives and headed to Kulkulkan’s temple as Murphy met with the goddess to discuss the journey ahead.

• Murphy learned that Triss had returned early because she feared he would leave her, then Adele reported that fleets were ready to carry players to the new continent.
• The players returned to Transia and received an announcement unlocking the Sunset Continent, the new main story, and several new features, including Echoes of the Past and the Path to Godhood.
• A-Cha urged his friends to prepare for the new continent as a chance to find business opportunities, while Cheche discovered that Mannis’s time nodes let players revisit past timelines and choose different paths.
• Dragonkin Rain Princess, Tiger-Leopard Cavalry Soldier told the players to visit Kulkulkan’s temple to accept a quest and learn about guardian spirits linked to reaching Demigod tier.
• Murphy met Kulkulkan on the temple roof and asked her to prepare for the players’ arrival and take their coming trip to the new continent seriously.

Kukulkan recruited the Gray Expeditionary Force to help the Aztecs end their war on the Holy Spirit Plains in exchange for original Creator power armor, while Murphy watched the Order faction's fleets prepare to reach the New Continent. As the powers gathered there for their own purposes, Murphy resolved to leave for the continent and face the last problem before beginning a new journey.

• Kukulkan announced the Aztecs' request for help, and the Gray Expeditionary Force accepted a quest to end the war in exchange for original power armor.
• Little Rich Guy joined the expedition, intending to study the Aztecs' dream web for Lady Gooddream, while Belly Bro explained why the Aztecs might part with their armor.
• Murphy surveyed the Old Continent's preparations as the Plantagenets, Nordics, Songhai, elves, Capetians, and Kallum Empire arranged expeditions to the New Continent.
• Murphy and Adele discussed the powers' competing goals and the lands that would become contested after the Aztecs defeated the New Federal Union.
• E-girl promised to stay by Murphy's side, and Murphy declared that they would set out for the New Continent and face the beginning of the end.

King Osiris and the Aztec council prepared for the coming battle and negotiated how the Old World powers could help reclaim the Holy Spirit Plains without taking land beyond Eagle Gorge. Princess Chuchute returned to Feathered Serpent Fortress with Prince Khufu, leaving Osiris to greet her with joy and immediate suspicion of her companion.

• King Osiris told the Aztec council that the Feathered Serpent God had announced the Creator's successor would soon arrive and that Old World armies were sailing to the New World.
• The Earth Clan elder proposed allowing Old World nations to establish autonomous regions up to Eagle Gorge, while reserving the land nearer Feathered Serpent Fortress for the Ganotes.
• The council accepted the proposal, and King Osiris ordered the Earth Clan elder to negotiate with the Ganotes while he prepared to guide the Creator's successor to the Heart of the World.
• King Osiris told Chancellor Tadena to revise the standing army system so the Aztecs could deter Old World powers from taking more land.
• Princess Chuchute returned aboard the Millennium Quicksand, and King Osiris embraced her before noticing Prince Khufu beside her and worrying that he would win her affection.

Prince Khufu toured the sunship with King Osiris, while Chuchut persuaded her father to approve her deal to equip the godslayers with Aztec armor in exchange for their service and Astral Army places. The chapter ended with King Osiris revealing that the Songhai had proposed a marriage between Khufu and Chuchut, and urging them to spend time together.

• King Osiris watched the Songhai repair power armor and praised their knowledge, then invited Khufu and the delegation to Feathered Serpent Fortress and prepared a grander banquet for Murphy’s arrival.
• Chuchut told King Osiris that she had hired five thousand godslayers and promised each one a suit of the God of Craft’s armor, causing him to panic and summon a physician.
• Chuchut explained that the armor would equip the Astral Army and that the deal secured five hundred places for Aztecs, as well as the godslayers’ help in defending the Heart of the World.
• King Osiris accepted Chuchut’s decision after hearing her reasons and said he would discuss the matter with the court officials and elders.
• King Osiris told Khufu that the Songhai had proposed a marriage between him and Chuchut, and encouraged them to get to know each other.

Murphy and the Scarlet Dawn reached the Sunset Continent and discovered that Chaos had turned the Holy Spirit Plains into a vast battlefield filled with corrupted creatures. Murphy redirected incoming fleets and deployed reinforcements to Feathered Serpent Fortress, where he met King Osiris and pledged support for the Aztecs.

• Murphy, Triss, and Adele surveyed the Chaos-corrupted creatures across the Holy Spirit Plains and concluded that the region north of Eagle Gorge had to be reshaped before the decisive battle.
• Murphy ordered the players and Order faction soldiers to advance north from Feathered Serpent Fortress, sent Adele to redirect incoming fleets to the safer landing site north of Feathered Serpent Strait, and deployed five thousand Godslayers under Chuchute's command.
• King Osiris and the Aztec leaders watched the Scarlet Dawn land near Feathered Serpent Fortress as Chuchute explained that the Godslayers wanted their promised armor and would be paid after completing their mission.
• Murphy arrived at Feathered Serpent Fortress, accepted King Osiris's homage, and told him that the Artisan God had praised the Aztecs and blessed their kingdom.
• Murphy promised to help the Aztecs clear the Chaos servants and fight beside them, then left the journey to the Heart of the World in King Osiris's hands.

Ge Bao and the Godslayers cleared threats around Feathered Serpent Fortress while Murphy arranged with King Osiris to hunt fallen spirits and build an Astral Army. At dawn, Little Rich Brother prepared to enter the Sunset Continent’s dream net, explaining that players could claim purified spirits’ symbols to advance toward demigod rank.

• Ge Bao and Niu Niu fought off abominations while trading complaints about Ge Bao’s blind date, and the Godslayers cleared more sectors around Feathered Serpent Fortress.
• King Osiris explained the Holy Spirit Plains’ guardian spirits and how the White Devil’s assault had left many of them fallen into Chaos.
• Murphy asked King Osiris to provide guides for hunting fallen spirits and offered to share their purified symbolic power with Aztec warriors as part of an Astral Army.
• Little Rich Brother prepared to enter a dream in the cleared safe zone while Brother Bang questioned him about the new Spirit Blessing feature.
• Little Rich Brother explained that players could claim symbols from fallen creatures to pursue demigod rank, and that the Warp might provide more Archfiends to purify.