Chapter Summaries

Princess Mary Dajia tested the Transcendent Pills, while their sale spread across the Western Continent and drew Prince Charlie back to Great Xia. After hearing her report, Charlie learned that Great Xia was preparing for the Transcendent Era.

• Princess Mary Dajia took the Transcendent Pills, resumed martial arts training, and confirmed that they strengthened her and helped overcome bottlenecks.
• Princess Mary Dajia received Prince Charlie’s order to gather information and items related to the Transcendent, then learned that Ambassador Jack had secured trial pills for the embassy.
• After confirming the pills’ effects, the Lionheart Kingdom ordered them in bulk, while Richard sold them to clients across the Western Continent.
• Prince Charlie traveled to Great Xia by plane in just over twenty days and told an attendant to investigate the cost of building an airport in his territory.
• Prince Charlie met Princess Mary Dajia, who reported that Great Xia had introduced several Transcendent items, more than ten kinds of medicine were circulating privately, and imperial research appeared to be shifting toward the Transcendent Era.

Prince Charlie and Princess Mary Dajia decided to strengthen their ties with Great Xia’s princes so they could gain transcendent power and secure their future. Jos arrived in Great Xia with a Lionheart Kingdom delegation and confidently called on his connections after finding the embassy unable to help them; a large group of people then rushed into the airport.

• Prince Charlie learned from Princess Mary Dajia that the Transcendent Research Institute was classified and managed by several of Great Xia’s princes.
• Prince Charlie told Princess Mary Dajia they had to seek transcendent power and keep pursuing the throne, and she began making contacts.
• Jos arrived in Great Xia by plane while the delegation, led by the weary Kruger, struggled after the flight.
• Jos said the delegation could bypass its embassy, then assured them he would arrange their lodging because he had graduated from Hadley University.
• Jos called someone from the airport waiting hall, and a large group of people soon came running into the airport.

Jos arrived in Great Xia with the Lionheart Kingdom delegation and received special treatment because of his connection to powerful friends there. Princess Mary Dajia met him privately and proposed that Haman support a constitutional monarchy.

• Jos identified himself to airport staff, who escorted him and the delegation to a hotel in Great Xia’s new district.
• Great Xia housed Jos in a presidential suite, while Kruger protested that the delegation’s leader had been discriminated against.
• Princess Mary Dajia visited Jos in his suite, and the two challenged each other over their loyalties and knowledge of Haman’s arrival.
• Mary admitted she had come to ask Jos to support her brother Prince Charlie’s claim to the throne, then proposed discussing a constitutional monarchy with Haman.

Princess Mary Dajia proposed that Prince Charlie’s nobles and Haman’s civilian elite share power under a constitutional monarchy, and she and Jos reached a verbal agreement to discuss cooperation. Jos returned to Great Xia to reconnect with Qin and Claire, who welcomed him at the palace garden.

• Princess Mary Dajia proposed a constitutional monarchy that would unite Prince Charlie’s noble supporters and Haman’s civilian elite, and Jos agreed to convey the idea to Haman.
• Jos and Princess Mary Dajia agreed in principle to cooperate on founding a new nation aligned with Great Xia, while leaving the details for future talks.
• Jos left before Kruger could speak with him and went to the imperial palace to reconnect with Qin and Claire.
• Qin learned about Jos’s meeting with Princess Mary Dajia, then invited Claire to meet him.
• Jos arrived at the garden and watched Elvis chase and ride a puppy before Qin and Claire welcomed him back to Great Xia.

Jos visited Claire and Qin, affirmed his loyalty to Great Xia, and proposed a gradual political transformation of the Western Continent. Claire promised to show him Great Xia’s power and sent him away with Transcendent Pills, while Kruger eagerly accepted a box of them.

• Jos recounted his recent experiences to Claire and Qin and asked about Great Xia’s strategy toward the Western Continent.
• Jos proposed supporting royal reformers and creating a Pan-Great Xia Federation, while Claire contrasted his outlook with Haman’s resistance to full integration.
• Jos declared that Great Xia’s knights would eventually crush Haman, and Claire offered to show him Great Xia’s strength.
• Elvis tried to feed the black dog, so Claire canceled his Transcendent Potion supply and ended Jos’s visit, but had pills sent with him.
• Jos returned to the hotel and gave Kruger a box of Transcendent Pills, easing Kruger’s anger and helping his mission to obtain more supplies.

Jos accepted Viscount Franz’s dinner invitation and attended with Kruger and several others, while Kruger reconsidered Jos after discovering his access to Transcendent Potion and influential contacts. At the dinner, Franz offered to show Jos around Great Xia, including its Transcendent Knights and Transcendent Armaments.

• Kruger tasted a pill from Jos’s box, recognized it as genuine Transcendent Potion, and began treating Jos warmly.
• A messenger invited Jos to a welcome dinner hosted by Viscount Franz, and Jos accepted and asked to bring companions.
• Jos told Kruger that he had met many Great Xia nobles and officials while studying at Hadley University, and Kruger believed him.
• Jos brought Kruger and several key people to Franz’s dinner, where Franz greeted him warmly and offered to show him Transcendent Knights or Transcendent Armaments.

Franz told Jos and the others that the Lionheart Queen’s investigators had been discovered by Ambassador Jack, leaving the embassy in turmoil and their mission stalled. Kruger tried to secure Jos’s help by offering a marriage alliance with his titled granddaughter, and Jos agreed to consider it.

• Franz revealed that Ambassador Jack had discovered the investigators sent by the Lionheart Queen, damaging morale at the embassy.
• Jos and the others realized they could not rely on the embassy or proceed openly without worsening the conflict with their homeland.
• Kruger told Jos their mission was in trouble and asked him to use his connections in the Great Xia Empire.
• Jos refused to involve his friends in international affairs without a reason to help.
• Kruger offered Jos a marriage alliance with his granddaughter, and Jos said he would think about it.

Jos decided to build his own power by cultivating ties with the Lionheart Kingdom’s old aristocratic families, even as he leaned toward the Great Xia Empire. Meanwhile, Ambassador Jack faced a crisis after embassy investigators from the homeland were caught spying, leaving him searching for a way to contain the fallout without killing them.

• Jos weighed cooperating with Haman and Prince Charlie against becoming dependent on the Great Xia Empire, then chose to seek influence among the Lionheart Kingdom’s old aristocrats.
• Ambassador Jack realized that news of the homeland’s investigation had spread through the embassy and weakened his control over its staff.
• Lionheart Kingdom embassy security officers caught a team of homeland investigators who had been monitoring the embassy and detained them in a rented house.
• The detained investigators debated contacting the homeland or taking their own lives, but feared the consequences of either choice.
• Ambassador Jack confronted the investigators, warned that their futures were ruined, and asked how they could break the deadlock without anyone else being dragged down.

Ambassador Jack arranged for the investigators to blame one of the Queen’s confidants, then sent their statements back to the Lionheart Kingdom. The Queen protected Jack’s position while making Carl take the blame, and Jack announced that the supposed mastermind had been caught.

• Ambassador Jack told the investigators to identify an enemy and let them select one of the Queen’s confidants as the scapegoat.
• Ambassador Jack accepted the investigators’ coordinated statements and ordered them watched before sending the reports home.
• Carl pleaded with the Lionheart Queen and accused Ambassador Jack of having serious problems.
• The Queen told Carl to make arrangements, then dismissed him from his post while delaying any action against Jack.
• Ambassador Jack announced at the Lionheart Embassy that the mastermind had been caught and order had been restored.

Jos toured Great Xia Empire’s military facilities and saw experimental Knight Mechs that revealed the vast gap between Great Xia and the Western nations. A Sky-Air Battleship appeared above the training base, and its Winged Mech pilot challenged the Transcendent Knights after they mocked its combat power.

• Franz guided Jos and the Lionheart Kingdom delegation to the Augusta Knight Order’s training base.
• Jos and Kruger watched Transcendent Knights test experimental Knight Mechs, including models capable of brief flight.
• Jos recognized that Great Xia’s military strength intimidated the delegation, while he used the visit to assess and win over its members.
• A Sky-Air Battleship passed over the base, startling the Transcendent Knights and prompting some to approach it in their mechs.
• A Winged Mech pilot jumped from the battleship, landed at high speed, and was promptly overwhelmed by the other knights.
• The Winged Mech pilot defended its flight-focused design and challenged the Transcendent Knights to fight in the sky.

Jos and the Lionheart Kingdom delegation witnessed the Winged Mech’s flight and devastating new weapon during their tour of Great Xia, prompting Kruger to reconsider his politics. A week later, Kruger offered Jos his family’s support in exchange for a marriage alliance with his granddaughter, leaving Jos stunned.

• The Winged Mech demonstrated independent flight, then used its steel-feather bow to blast the summit off a mountain.
• The Winged Mech Knight explained that the weapon used newly developed Transcendent Metal and that the Institute planned to standardize the first-generation mech.
• Franz withdrew from the knights, while Kruger recognized Great Xia’s strength and decided he needed to become a reformist.
• The Lionheart Kingdom delegation completed its tour of Great Xia and returned to its hotel a week later.
• Kruger told Jos his granddaughter was on her way and offered his family’s support for Jos’s ambitions in exchange for a marriage alliance.

Jos agreed to cooperate as an equal with Kruger, who urged him to seek power quickly by winning over Ambassador Jack and securing Great Xia’s support. At a banquet, Jack learned of Jos’s connection to Great Xia and approached him with renewed interest.

• Jos chose to join forces with Kruger as an equal, and Kruger advised him to raise a banner and gather support instead of waiting to build power slowly.
• Kruger proposed that Jos win over Ambassador Jack, secure diplomatic authority and overseas assets, and gain backing from Great Xia while Kruger recruited nobles.
• At a welcoming banquet, Ambassador Jack kept his distance from the delegation from home, whose members had grown confident after visiting Great Xia’s institutions with Jos.
• Jack overheard a delegation member discussing Great Xia’s Winged Mech and learned that Jos had connections to Great Xia.
• Jack approached Jos with a friendlier expression and recognized him as the kingdom’s first international student.

Jos used stories about his charity work to signal his ties to the Eldest Imperial Prince and Claire, winning Ambassador Jack’s confidence and opening the way to cooperation. After the banquet, Jos learned that Haman had arrived in Great Xia under a sensitive identity.

• Jos recounted his university charity work, and Ambassador Jack connected it to Claire’s past charity activities.
• Jos told Ambassador Jack to donate to Times Magazine for the Mutual Aid Society, signaling his connection to Claire and the royal family.
• Kruger criticized Carl and hinted that the kingdom needed change, while Ambassador Jack agreed to work with them.
• Kruger secured Jos an official embassy position, marking the start of cooperation with Ambassador Jack.
• Haman arrived in Great Xia after taking a long route, and several groups came to receive him.

Haman arrived in Great Xia and reunited with Jos, who brought him a proposal concerning cooperation between the Lionheart Kingdom’s factions. Haman saw the chance to advance the Freedom Revolutionary Army’s cause but asked for time to consider it, while the Investigation Bureau secretly recorded their conversation.

• Haman arrived in Great Xia, requested a visit to the Transcendent Knight mech, and chose a quiet estate for his stay.
• The liaison officer arranged Haman’s security and notified Jos and the Freedom Revolutionary Army personnel.
• Haman and Jos reunited at the estate and spoke privately, unaware that the Investigation Bureau was recording them with Transcendent surveillance equipment.
• Jos told Haman that Prince Charlie’s people had approached him with a proposal involving cooperation between factions of the Lionheart Kingdom.
• Haman weighed how political power and a constitutional monarchy might help the Freedom Revolutionary Army, along with the risks of compromising with nobles, and asked Jos for time to consider.

Derek piloted Angel, Great Xia’s first officially finalized Knight Mech, on its maiden flight into space and declared that he would forge a new heaven. After the successful test, Tru and the researchers collected data to continue improving Angel.

• Derek visited the Transcendent Research Institute, named the new Knight Mech Angel, and linked his mind to its golden Panel.
• Derek flew Angel from the institute at extreme speed and broke free of the planet’s gravity in less than ten minutes.
• Derek tested Angel’s movement and communications in space while Tru anxiously asked how he felt.
• Derek told Tru that God’s heaven had fallen and that he would forge his own heaven, inspiring Tru and the researchers to pledge their support.
• Derek returned to the institute, where Tru and the researchers collected data and examined Angel’s marks as its Transcendent Power replenished it.

Derek approved plans to build Heaven, a space-station-like outpost in extraterrestrial orbit, and increased resources for the Transcendent Research Institute. Meanwhile, Jos brought the Western Continent’s factions into closed-door negotiations, with Great Xia backing talks that could eventually lead to the continent becoming a federal state.

• Derek ordered the Transcendent Research Institute to prepare Heaven, and Tru said construction could begin after they gathered more information.
• Derek granted the institute more resources and Transcendent Medicine, then toured its laboratories and saw Davis’s work on an active Transcendent Neural Network.
• Davis asked to dissect Transcendent Knights, prompting Tru to restrain him and explain that researchers might instead create Transcendent-level experimental subjects through medicine.
• Derek told the Transcendent Knights to watch Davis and later reflected that the Transcendent Research Institute held too much power and might need to be divided in the future.
• Derek returned to the Imperial Palace with several Angel Mechas, while Jos brought the Western Continent’s factions together for closed-door negotiations with Great Xia’s support.

Fernandez I and Antoine entered their ancestral spaceship and discovered a preserved figure on a cross alongside a Bronze Book. The book warned them about the Federation and pointed to a signal generator, but neither knew where it was, and Fernandez I proposed studying the ship’s lost language and functions.

• Fernandez I and Antoine reopened the hidden entrance with the family heirloom sword and entered the ancestral grounds.
• They followed a corridor into the spaceship’s cockpit, where its walls lit up with unfamiliar characters and sounds.
• Antoine found a naked, dark-skinned man displayed on a cross inside a glass case, with an open Bronze Book nearby.
• Fernandez I read the book, which described the crucified man’s fury and warned future visitors to beware the Federation and press the signal generator.
• Fernandez I translated the message for Antoine, then suggested they study the lost language and wondered whether Derek had also found ancestral technology.

Derek oversaw the construction of Heaven, an orbital base built from spacecraft for the Great Xia Empire’s Transcendent Knights. After visiting the completed base, he ordered continued research toward landing on the moon within three years, while Jos returned to the Lionheart Kingdom.

• Derek set the Heaven Project in motion, and spacecraft carrying construction supplies rose into orbit under the protection of Knight Mechs.
• Transcendent Knights assembled Heaven from the spacecraft and their cargo, completing the base after about half a month.
• Derek entered Heaven in an Angel Mecha and toured the orbital base as Transcendent Knights installed its equipment.
• Tru told Derek that Heaven would expand to more than four levels and become large enough to house all Transcendent Knights.
• Derek ordered the researchers to continue their work so they could land on the moon within three years.
• Jos boarded a plane back to the Lionheart Kingdom.

Jos, Prince Charlie, and Haman returned to the Lionheart Kingdom with Great Xia's backing to seize royal power and begin reforms. The Queen prepared for their arrival, but the three entered the palace together despite the soldiers surrounding them.

• Jos returned by plane with Prince Charlie and Haman, and the three planned to use Great Xia's support to take control of the kingdom and push reforms.
• The Queen questioned Carl about the Freedom Revolutionary Army, then ordered her generals to prepare for a fight and sent Carl to prison.
• Prince Charlie arrived at the palace and declared his intention to take control, while Jos and Haman refused to leave him to enter alone.
• The three disarmed and entered the Royal Capital without obstruction as the Queen's soldiers watched them.

Prince Charlie challenged the Lionheart Queen to abdicate, then used Great Xia’s eight Angel-class Mecha Knights to crush the royal army and seize control of the kingdom. The Queen recognized her reign was over, while Charlie argued that cooperating with Great Xia was the only way to preserve the royal family’s position.

• Prince Charlie walked past the executioners, challenged the Lionheart Queen, and asked what it would take for her to abdicate in his favor.
• Haman declared that the kingdom belonged to its people as well as the King and nobles, while Jos urged Charlie to make the Queen’s side surrender.
• Prince Charlie activated a signal transmitter, and eight Angel-class Mecha Knights descended from a spacecraft to attack the palace and Royal Capital.
• The Mecha Knights crushed the army, dodged cannon fire, destroyed the artillery, and left the Queen and nobles helpless.
• The Lionheart Queen warned Charlie that Great Xia was no charity, but Charlie said cooperation was the best way to preserve the royal family’s rule.