Chapter Summaries

After reviewing the battle, Benjamin chose the engineering spell Self-Growing Soil Creation as a way to project the Incense Divinity Path’s power into long-range attacks. As he began constructing its spell formation, a medium sent toward the Mushroom People Origin Plane reacted through the Fate System.

• Benjamin assessed his injuries and concluded that the Black Giant Legion needed a path to advance beyond Level 6.
• Benjamin decided that his offense needed a powerful long-range, wide-area attack and selected the Earth Element spell Self-Growing Soil Creation from the Great Dao Library.
• Benjamin planned to connect the spell’s formation to the Incense Divinity Path so he could draw on its accumulated power.
• Benjamin ordered materials through the Magic Network Terminal and directed the Black Giant Priests to build the formation.
• A medium Augusta had sent toward the Mushroom People Origin Plane produced a reaction in the Fate System.

Jack prepared to take his Graduation Trial in the dangerous world left behind by the Disaster Era, carrying his parents’ mysterious black metal pendant and joining Xi Ya on the journey. The students reached a mutated forest, where their teacher warned that they would need to survive on their own for five days.

• Jack woke from a recurring nightmare about the mutated beast that killed his parents and prepared for the Graduation Trial in his shabby home.
• Jack put on the black metal pendant left by his parents and left for school.
• Jack met Xi Ya and her father, then traveled with Xi Ya to school for the trial.
• Jack and his classmates boarded armored transport trucks and rode for four hours away from the city.
• The students arrived at a vast mutated forest, where their teacher warned them that the five-day trial would require them to find food, water, and shelter and face mutated beasts on their own.

During a deadly forest trial, Jack’s team was attacked by a powerful black figure that killed two students and fatally wounded Xi Ya. A black metal device revived Jack and then Xi Ya by consuming his life force, while Benjamin watched from afar and revealed that he had engineered the supposed system to manipulate Jack.

• The teacher warned the students that calling for rescue would halve their scores and might not save them, and Jack formed a team with Xi Ya and two classmates.
• Jack’s team hunted several Level 1 mutated beasts and made camp beside a stream for the night.
• A black figure attacked the camp, killed the two classmates, mortally wounded Xi Ya, and nearly cut Jack in half.
• The black metal on Jack’s chest activated, drained his life force, and repaired his injuries; Jack then used it to revive Xi Ya at the cost of further aging and weakness.
• Benjamin watched from his laboratory in the Purgatory Sulfur Plane and explained that the metal was a medium disguised as a system, designed to make Jack trust the hope of resurrection.

Benjamin reviewed how the Medium worked and concluded that its limited capacity restricted the help he could provide Jack, so he planned to have Jack gather materials for an upgrade. In the forest, Jack discovered that every emergency bracelet had stopped working, leaving him unable to call for help.

• Benjamin monitored Jack and reviewed the Medium’s design, which gathered hosts’ negative emotions and transmitted only a small amount of spiritual power.
• Benjamin explained that he had used Jack’s vitality to fuel the Alchemy that rebuilt Jack’s body and healed Xi Ya, nearly draining Jack in the process.
• Benjamin decided the Medium needed greater capacity and planned to persuade Jack to find materials for an upgrade.
• Jack watched over the still-unconscious Xi Ya and tried to contact help after recalling the attack.
• Jack found that his emergency bracelet and the bracelets belonging to Xi Ya and the other two classmates all failed to respond.

After the distress wristbands failed, Jack suspected an organized enemy operation and fled with the unconscious Xi Ya to a hidden hollow. He recharged the System with an Energy Crystal and a mutated beast horn, then learned it could strengthen living bodies and objects.

• Jack concluded that the wristband failures pointed to an organized operation and decided not to approach anyone claiming to be rescue personnel.
• Jack dismembered two corpses, altered the campsite to conceal signs of their presence, and carried Xi Ya and their packs deeper into the forest.
• Jack found a concealed hollow, set Xi Ya down, and discovered that the System could recharge with energy sources other than life force.
• Jack placed the broken wristband power unit and a mutated beast's broken horn beside the black metal piece and used the System's instructions to activate an energy-absorbing array.
• Benjamin used the absorbed energy to upgrade the Interspatial Psychic Transmission Array, while Jack recharged the System.
• Jack learned that the System could strengthen living bodies or objects and felt hopeful.

Jack underwent a basic physical enhancement through the system, gaining strength after consuming a large amount of food. He resolved to find the shadow and take revenge, while Benjamin decided to let Jack act on his own before gathering more information about his world.

• Jack chose to enhance his body, and Benjamin carefully rearranged the vitality in Jack’s tissues through the black Medium.
• The enhancement drained the system’s energy and left Jack ravenously hungry, so he devoured most of the food in his luggage.
• Jack discovered his body had grown stronger and estimated his physical strength had reached the level of a Level 5 Apprentice.
• Jack realized he still lacked a special ability, but vowed to gain more power, protect Xi Ya, and find the shadow to take revenge.
• Benjamin judged the enhancement sufficient for now and chose to let Jack proceed while he waited to learn more about the world.

After Xi Ya woke, Jack hid her and returned to the campsite to recover Energy Stones, using them to enhance his body again. When two armed pursuers found him, he killed them and fled gunfire, while a larger search party began hunting for him.

• Jack told Xi Ya to stay hidden in the mountain hollow while he erased their tracks and laid false ones.
• Jack returned to the campsite, took Energy Stones from the dead classmates' wristbands, and used them to enhance his body a second time.
• Jack heard two black-clad pursuers approaching and ambushed them, killing both with his short knife.
• A gunman fired at Jack, forcing him to flee through the forest as bullets pursued him.
• More than twenty armed searchers found the two bodies, and their leader ordered them to search in groups of five.

The Descent Faction prepared a sacrificial formation in the forest while planning to use the approaching beast tide to distract the military. After discovering the attack and the forged distress signals, the old commander ordered reserve forces into the forest to rescue the students and stop the formation.

• The black-clad leader ordered his forces to keep pursuing the escaped trainee and learned that the formation was eighty percent complete.
• The leader revealed that he had deliberately lured the military into the forest and intended to use the beast tide to keep it from interfering with the Descent Faction’s plan.
• The military commander learned that a mole had forged distress signals and helped the Descent Faction infiltrate the trial zone to prepare a spatial passage.
• The command post received reports that Camps Eleven and Twelve had gone silent and Camp Three was under attack.
• The old commander ordered all reserve units to enter the forest and move toward Camps Eleven, Twelve, and Three, despite the coming beast tide.

Jack used the system to strengthen his body, killed three black-clad pursuers, and discovered that food helped his body continue growing stronger. After enhancing his damaged knife, he encountered a wounded classmate being chased through the forest and wondered whether the pursuit was a trap.

• Jack charged the system with Energy Stones, strengthened his body, and discovered that his strength and senses had increased, though his special ability had not awakened.
• Jack evaded five armed pursuers, ambushed three black-clad men, deflected a bullet with his knife, and collected their supplies before fleeing.
• Jack ate an energy bar and realized his body continued growing stronger as it absorbed the earlier enhancements with sufficient nutrition.
• Jack used the system to enhance his damaged short knife, which was restored to better-than-new condition.
• Jack spotted the first person in their class to reach Level 5 Apprentice fleeing while a group of black-clad men pursued him, and questioned whether the scene was a trap.

Jack rescued Gavin by killing the black-clad pursuers and taking their weapons and Energy Stones, then led him toward the military as artillery sounded nearby. Jack stayed behind to face the next pursuers, hoping to collect more resources and test his enhanced strength.

• Jack realized the black-clad men had been pursuing Gavin, then ambushed and killed more than a dozen of them with his short blade while deflecting their bullets.
• Jack collected the pursuers’ Energy Stones, guns, rations, and other supplies, then escaped into the forest with Gavin.
• Gavin struggled to keep up with Jack and explained that the black-clad men had attacked him after he killed one of them.
• After hearing artillery and detecting more pursuers, Jack sent Gavin toward the military and stayed behind to confront the approaching men.

Jack slaughtered the men in black pursuing him, then killed their leader after discovering he was the man who had murdered Jack’s classmates and wounded Xi Ya. He reached a military camp under attack and saw a powerful old soldier fighting off dozens of Transcendents.

• Jack killed the pursuing men in black, unlocked simple system charging, and enhanced his body again.
• Jack recognized the black shadow as the man who had killed his classmates and struck Xi Ya, then attacked him and his two companions.
• Jack’s enhanced body resisted the Transcendents’ abilities, and he killed the black shadow and one companion while crippling another.
• Jack followed the black shadow’s call for help to a ruined military camp, where dozens of powerful men in black besieged an old soldier.
• Jack hid behind a tree and observed the old soldier fight back against the attackers.

Jack infiltrated the enemy camp during the old man's battle with the black-clad leader and used his system to absorb the energy powering the formation. The formation collapsed, freeing the old man from its suppression and leaving him ready to confront the leader.

• The old man fought the black-clad leader and learned that Jack had escaped and revealed the formation's location to the military.
• The black-clad leader explained that the formation suppressed the old man and that he intended to use the Tier 6 Transcendent as a sacrifice.
• Jack sneaked toward the metal tower while the old man drew the enemy's attention with a sudden assault.
• Jack killed the three guards, attached the black metal block to his knife, and stabbed the formation core while ordering the system to absorb its energy.
• The formation core drained and the tower collapsed, removing the dark-red suppression around the old man.
• The old man faced the black-clad leader and declared that it was time to settle the score.

Benjamin discovered that the men in black’s crude Spatial Passage Array used exceptionally advanced technology and was designed for ultra-long-range travel. After Augusta shared evidence of a separate civilization backing the Birdfolk’s Sky Cities, they agreed to delay entering the Plane Cluster until they could gather more support.

• Benjamin analyzed the Spatial Passage Array and found its core framework far more advanced than his own spatial knowledge.
• Benjamin contacted Augusta and shared his conclusion that the array could reach distant Plane Clusters or other structures of space and time.
• Augusta sent Benjamin reconnaissance data showing that the Birdfolk had primitive society but technologically advanced Sky Cities.
• Augusta explained that her Medium had been discovered and destroyed, and that the Birdfolk’s technology came from a source distinct from the array and the Wizard System.
• Benjamin and Augusta concluded that multiple advanced civilizations were secretly involved in the Plane Cluster and agreed to wait until Augusta could arrange support from Level 7 Wizards.

After surviving the Descent Faction’s attack, Jack and Gavin joined the military and became renowned recruits while Jack’s strength grew rapidly. Benjamin and Augusta discussed the plane’s resistance to outside powers and planned to recruit Mentor Clark to help establish a teleportation array.

• Jack learned that only twenty percent of the students in the forest had survived, and he and Gavin were specially recruited by the military.
• After months of training, Jack awakened his superpower and he and Gavin earned the nickname “Twin Stars.”
• Jack and Gavin discussed a new northern spatial passage and the growing threat from the Dinosaur-kin before Jack went to meet Xi Ya.
• Benjamin observed Jack’s progress and explained to Augusta that the plane’s active origin destroyed attempts to open a spatial passage with foreign power.
• Benjamin told Augusta that Jack would need to grow stronger before he could set up a teleportation array, and Augusta suggested recruiting Mentor Clark.
• Benjamin agreed to ask Mentor Clark to join their operation.

Benjamin assembled Clark, Castillo, Viola, and Augusta's allies for an investigation into a dangerous Plane Cluster, then continued studying Jack Plane's supernatural powers. Years later, Jack was conscripted with Gavin and other top Transcendents to investigate a new spatial passage threatening a vital Energy Crystal mine.

• Benjamin invited Clark and Castillo to join the mission, then secured Viola's agreement to accompany Augusta's group.
• Several years later, Jack reached Tier 6 at age twenty but worried that his progress had slowed, while Xi Ya encouraged him and told him to attend a military meeting.
• Jack reunited with Gavin, who described newly emerging races and the spread of spatial passages across the world.
• A lieutenant general ordered Jack, Gavin, and the city's top Transcendents to investigate a new passage near a vital Energy Crystal mine and stop any enemy actions under compulsory conscription.
• Jack and Gavin agreed to compete over who would kill more enemies.

After reaching rank eight, Jack returned to find Xi Ya near death from a sudden loss of vitality and suspected the system's past healing had left a lasting effect. As he turned to the black metal block for help, Benjamin sensed Xi Ya's condition through the Medium and reacted strangely.

• Jack learned that Gavin had been seriously injured and waited outside the treatment room, unable to see him.
• Months later, Jack recovered, became a rank-eight Transcendent, and learned that Gavin had left for a long-term assignment on the western front.
• Jack returned from an assignment in the eastern district and learned Xi Ya was near death because her vitality had suddenly weakened.
• Jack rushed to Xi Ya's hospital bedside and suspected her condition was a lingering aftereffect of the system healing her during the Graduation Trial.
• Benjamin detected Jack's heightened emotions through the Auxiliary Control Crystal, reviewed the recorded footage, and sensed Xi Ya's body through the Medium.

After Xi Ya recovered, Jack was betrayed and captured by officials who wanted his life-enhancing system, then learned they had allied with a Spirit Race being disguised as Gavin. Faced with their demand that he cooperate, Jack called out to an unseen observer for help.

• Jack used the system to restore Xi Ya's life force, and she woke up.
• A month later, Xi Ya watched Jack train before he collapsed and saw her cold expression as he lost consciousness.
• Jack woke restrained without the metal block and discovered officials had isolated the system and planned to use his power.
• The officials admitted they had tested their suspicions on Xi Ya and urged Jack to join their project, while Xi Ya also pressed him to cooperate.
• The officials revealed that the person who exposed Jack was a Spirit Race being wearing Gavin's body, and they proposed an alliance to strengthen humanity.
• Jack agreed that he could cooperate with another world, then shouted for the unseen observer to help him; Benjamin heard him and laughed.

Benjamin took control of Gavin’s body, freed Jack, and helped him kill the elders and Xi Ya while capturing the Sacred Spirit. After Jack confronted Benjamin about his identity as the system, Benjamin asked him to become his disciple.

• The Sacred Spirit tried to stop the elders from destroying the metal block, then attempted to flee when Benjamin took control of Gavin’s body.
• Benjamin transformed Gavin’s appearance, disabled Jack’s restraints, and killed the armed security personnel as the elders’ protections failed.
• Benjamin captured the Sacred Spirit and left Jack to decide how to deal with the elders and Xi Ya.
• Jack killed the elders and Xi Ya, then questioned Benjamin about his identity and admitted he had never trusted him.
• Benjamin revealed himself as Jack’s system and asked Jack to become his disciple, leaving Jack stunned.

Jack learned that Benjamin was a wizard who wanted him as a disciple, but a monster outbreak forced them to flee the base. Benjamin warned Jack that the world could still seal the Sacred Spirit’s spatial passage, though its situation would keep worsening and eventually require his help.

• Benjamin told Jack he was a wizard and offered to make him his disciple and ruler of the world.
• Benjamin sensed danger, grabbed Jack, and led him through a wall as tentacles flooded the base.
• Benjamin explained that the Sacred Spirit had prepared a spatial portal and intended to leave no one alive.
• A rune-covered tentacle attacked, and Benjamin teleported himself and Jack to an uninhabited wilderness a thousand miles away.
• Benjamin told Jack the portal could still be sealed at a cost, but warned that the world would need him as conditions worsened.

Benjamin told Jack that he planned to travel to the Northwestern Theater to establish a foothold and prepare a spatial passage, and Jack reluctantly agreed to go with him. Back in his laboratory, Benjamin shared intelligence about the world’s many invasions with the other wizards, who began planning for possible battles against powerful lifeforms.

• Benjamin warned Jack that the Sacred Spirit’s attack would draw the human strongest, then said he planned to head to the Northwestern Theater and open a spatial passage.
• Benjamin revealed that he had gathered intelligence showing twenty-seven invasion traces and at least fifteen higher civilizations behind them, and concluded that humanity’s survival depended on its Tier 18 strongest.
• Benjamin marked a possible human stronghold on a map and said he would raise Jack’s strength; Jack objected that he had not agreed, but ultimately agreed to go with him.
• Benjamin returned to his laboratory on the Purgatory Sulfur Plane and invited the wizards he had previously notified to a meeting.
• Benjamin presented the invasion intelligence, and Instructor Castillo, Clark, and Wizard Augusta discussed preparing cannon fodder and arranging support if Level 9 Lifeforms appeared.