Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xu’s battle plan sent the Winter City players toward Starfall Town in a concentrated assault through a blizzard. The advance was shattered by a hidden barrage of boulders, and the players finally saw the Giants and monster forces waiting ahead.

• Cui Lu presented the battle plan, and the players prepared to break into Starfall Town before the next day.
• Zhang Qi led thirty players forward as Winter City’s forces advanced through the snow in coordinated formations.
• The players’ formations moved farther than before, but hidden catapults began hurling boulders at them, killing and scattering many.
• Fire Giants, Frost Giants, Hill Giants, and their accompanying monsters emerged through the blizzard and confronted the stunned players.

Zhao Xu revealed himself above the battlefield and used Miracle to expand the reach of more than ten spells across the plain before Falling Star Lake. Empowered players took to the air as the losing battle turned into an aerial war.

• Frost Giants, Winter Wolves, and Trolls overwhelmed the players, killing and wounding many despite their desperate resistance.
• Zhang Qi saw Du Nan struck down and Feng Ge killed, while alliance leaders realized a traitor had revealed their battle plan to the Mining Association.
• Lux warned Zhao Xu that the players were about to be crushed, and Zhao Xu decided to end the war.
• Zhao Xu flew over the battlefield and used Miracle to make his next spells affect the entire plain.
• Zhao Xu cast numerous mass spells, healing and strengthening the players, and Mass Fly sent countless players into the sky.

Zhao Xu helped the players turn the battle against the Frost Giants by giving them powerful spell enhancements, then located and absorbed the hidden portal to the Demiplane. Memories of his former home moved him to advance to Level 5.

• Thousands of players took flight after receiving spell enhancements and began attacking the Frost Giants and Winter Wolves.
• Zhao Xu fired a Fireball into the gathered enemies, and the players’ enhanced attacks soon overwhelmed them.
• Lux sensed powerful Life Energy flowing from the battlefield and located a portal inside a sealed house in town.
• Zhao Xu recognized the house as his home from his Previous Life and touched the portal so Lux could absorb it.
• Zhao Xu reflected on the memories tied to the house, and he advanced to Level 5.

Zhao Xu broke through to level 5 in the old house, gaining access to third-ring spells, then returned to Winter City to seek Archbishop Sosi. As Sosi came to meet him, news arrived that the players had defeated a massive force of giants and monsters after receiving the Goddess's blessings.

• Zhao Xu realized his foundation and memories of his previous life had helped him break through to level 5, gaining the potential to learn third-ring spells.
• Zhao Xu rejected Lux's suggestion to return to the battlefield and instead teleported to the Church of the Goddess of Magic in Winter City.
• Zhao Xu showed his holy symbol to the church staff and asked to see Archbishop Sosi; Somachi recognized Sosi's mark on it and escorted him to a guest room.
• A newsboy announced that the players had defeated Frost Giants, Winter Wolves, Troll troops, Hill Giants, and Fire Giants at Falling Star Lake.
• The newsboy explained that the players had received blessings from more than a dozen Divine Spells from the Goddess.

Zhao Xu arranged for Sosi to acquire a silver mine and hide a Mithril Crystal there while the players captured Starfall Town. The players then learned that Starry Reflection had reached level 5, leaving the crowd stunned as they prepared to enter the city.

• Wealthy merchants reacted to news of the Goddess’s intervention at Falling Star Lake, and Sosi escorted Zhao Xu to a VIP room.
• Zhao Xu declined Sosi’s offer of church troops and explained that he had used Miracle to affect everyone at Falling Star Lake with his spells.
• Zhao Xu asked Sosi to buy a silver vein at the mine reauction and place a Mithril Crystal at its bottom, trusting that Sosi would obey because he might believe the arrangement reflected the Goddess’s will.
• Players flying over Starfall Town’s walls cleared its defenders and opened the main gate as Zhang Qi and Cui Lu joined the crowd approaching the city.
• Du Nan told Zhang Qi that Starry Reflection had reached level 5, reactivating the Leapfrog Clause and stunning the players gathered at the gate.

Zhao Xu learned that a mysterious creature had taken control of the God of Death’s Demiplane, trapping Ningwei and Acevishi under rules that barred anyone above level 5. He volunteered to enter and search for them, and Antinoa agreed on the condition that he cast a Third-ring Spell before morning.

• Zhao Xu returned to the Floating City and found Antinoa studying a tome about the Demiplane of Divine Power.
• Antinoa revealed that Ningwei and Acevishi were trapped in the Demiplane, where their resurrection points were also locked, and the Association had sealed the site.
• Zhao Xu deduced that the rescue team had suffered severe losses, and Antinoa confirmed that the Demiplane had gained a new master and now punished anyone above level 5.
• Antinoa explained that two high-level Wizards had died inside and that even their souls had not returned, while the Demiplane suppressed Magic Items above Caster Level 5.
• Lux urged Zhao Xu to enter and pursue the God of Death Godhead Fragment, but Zhao Xu questioned the danger before volunteering to search for the trapped women.
• Antinoa agreed to let Zhao Xu enter if he cast a Third-ring Spell before morning and warned him to invoke her name if the Demiplane’s master threatened him again.

Zhao Xu followed Antinoa into the hidden depths of her Gate of Truth laboratory to perform a reverse-summoning ritual into the Final Scroll. After their spell slots were drained and they entered an anti-magic field, they climbed into Mysterious Golems, and Zhao Xu wondered whether the secret route had been built for succession.

• Antinoa led Zhao Xu through her laboratory to a costly steel gate that required two people to open.
• The gate drained both Antinoa's and Zhao Xu's spell slots, placing them in an anti-magic field and leaving Antinoa unusually vulnerable.
• Lux urged Zhao Xu to seize the chance to overpower Antinoa, but he rejected the idea.
• Antinoa opened the gate and revealed two Mysterious Golems inside a chamber covered in ritual arrays.
• Zhao Xu and Antinoa entered the golems' cockpits to withstand the arcane torrent required for the reverse-summoning ritual.
• Zhao Xu realized the golems protected them from the torrent and wondered whether the hidden route was meant to address succession.

Zhao Xu realized the Final Scroll’s difficult access methods were loopholes that tested who could best protect it, but Lux was blocked from revealing its deepest secrets. After discovering a Spell Truth Fragment, he was offered powerful abilities and had to choose one.

• Zhao Xu reasoned that the Final Scroll’s succession order favored those best at discovering and guarding its access loopholes.
• Lux began repeating herself when she tried to explain the Final Scroll’s greatest foundation, then revealed that the Archmage Throne’s contingency had prevented her from disclosing more.
• Zhao Xu copied and studied the projected space’s Third-ring Spells, then used Insightful Combat Method to detect an inconsistency and uncover a Spell Truth Fragment.
• Zhao Xu selected Transmutation, Abjuration, and Divination, which offered Simulate Supernatural Ability, Martial Arts Learning (Iron Heart Strength), and Arcane Mastery.
• Lux urged Zhao Xu to choose between the abilities, praising Simulate Supernatural Ability and Iron Heart Strength as top-tier powers.

Zhao Xu learned that he had discovered a rare Truth Fragment in the Final Scroll and examined the powerful Feats it revealed. Antinoa explained that Iron Heart Strength could end an Anti-magic Field affecting him, giving him a way to escape one even when he could not cast spells.

• Zhao Xu contacted Antinoa and told her about the Feats he had found, and she warned him to call her before taking such risks again.
• Antinoa explained that Zhao Xu had discovered a rare Truth Fragment, which could be found by noticing clues in the scroll or by entering a new passage.
• Antinoa said the Mage Association had no inheritance for the three Feats, and she explained that the Morin Stone Tablet could grant only three favors before binding someone to destiny.
• Zhao Xu learned that Simulate Supernatural Ability could let him use abilities of creatures he transformed into, while Martial Arts Learning could grant him the Nine Swords technique Iron Heart Strength.
• Antinoa explained that Iron Heart Strength could end ongoing spells or conditions, including an Anti-magic Field affecting Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu learned how the Nine Swords maneuver Iron Heart Strength could counter Anti-magic Field, but its prerequisites and the cost of multiclassing complicated his plans. After examining Arcane Mastery as another possible Feat, he asked Antinoa whether he could obtain all the options, and she said he could.

• Zhao Xu considered how Anti-magic Field could disable his defenses and learned that Iron Heart Strength could remove its effects.
• Antinoa explained that she knew the Nine Swords system because she had helped found the Eastern Land Empire and had sworn not to reveal its inheritance.
• Zhao Xu discovered that Iron Heart Strength required another Iron Heart maneuver and that learning it would require costly Feats and a Military Sword level.
• Zhao Xu weighed the multiclassing requirements for his planned Crimson Guard path against the delay to his spell progression.
• Zhao Xu considered Arcane Mastery, which made Spell Resistance checks predictable, and asked Antinoa if he could take every option; she said yes.

Zhao Xu entered a Historical Scene as a Wizard seeking revenge on a noble family and chose to use Command spells rather than kill the castle’s innocent servants and farmers. After adding a Blood Oath to ensure the family’s extermination, he matched the historical Wizard’s response and earned all three rewards.

• Zhao Xu decided to enter the Historical Scene after learning it would last no more than twelve hours, then copied Third-ring Spells in the Final Scroll space.
• Zhao Xu appeared in an inn as a pale middle-aged man and learned that he had to exterminate a noble family to avenge his destroyed village.
• Zhao Xu used Ethereal Form Spell to scout the castle and found that its many servants and tenant farmers were innocent, so he sought a way to target only the family.
• Zhao Xu cast Family Command Spell on a sleeping nobleman, ordering the family to exterminate itself, then added a Blood Oath at Lux’s suggestion.
• A prompt declared that Adventurer Midsummer’s response matched the historical Wizard’s and awarded Zhao Xu three rewards, ending the scene.

Zhao Xu rewound the Historical Scene to investigate its mechanics, then used chained Family Command Spell and Blood Oath on three members of the family to exceed the scene’s original response. The scene ended with four rewards, including a Mind Bottle Recipe, and Zhao Xu returned to the scroll space with new Feats and manuals available on his Character Card.

• Zhao Xu rewound the scene, canceled Family Command Spell, and used Wish Spell to remove the curse from the middle-aged man.
• Zhao Xu and Lux discussed how Blood Oath triggered the scene’s reward and why Family Command Spell alone might not clear it.
• Zhao Xu paralyzed the sleeping couple, searched the castle for clues, and brought two more men into the middle-aged man’s room while separating the maid.
• Zhao Xu cast chained Family Command Spell and chained Blood Oath on all three men, increasing the curse’s targets.
• The scene awarded Zhao Xu four rewards and ended, adding Feats and manuals to his Available Feats list and a Mind Bottle Recipe to his item list.

After learning how the Thought Bottle could preserve levels and spells, Zhao Xu joined his classmates’ celebration of the Falling Star Lake Battle and watched them debate the famous players Starry Reflection and Dongcheng Ling. When he suggested they might be the same person on the forum, his post was locked for lacking evidence.

• Zhao Xu learned that the Thought Bottle could store thoughts, memories, spells, and a copy of his level and experience for later restoration.
• Zhao Xu went to the cafeteria and joined Zhang Qi, Feng Ge, and their classmates at the victory banquet.
• Zhao Xu watched footage of the battle and heard Fang Xiyue report that the mine owners’ vaults contained fewer treasures than expected.
• Zhang Qi and the other players discussed Starry Reflection’s level, influence on the battle, and rising popularity on the forum.
• Zhao Xu posted that Starry Reflection and Dongcheng Ling could be the same person, but the moderator locked his post as spam.

Zhao Xu entered the Carrion Beast Den Demiplane without most of his magic items and found the cave entrance guarded by an encrypted incantation. After deciphering it, he entered the passage, where a shadow appeared ahead.

• The Association warned Zhao Xu that Mage Disjunction affected the Demiplane, restricted his magic items, and gave him a one-use teleportation key.
• Zhao Xu entrusted his magic items to Antinoa, brought Lux with him, and teleported into the forest outside the Carrion Beast Den.
• Following Lux’s directions, Zhao Xu crossed the forest and found a pit entrance covered in Mystic Incantations.
• Zhao Xu rejected Lux’s proposed encryption methods, deduced that the incantation used double encryption, and opened the sealed stone door.
• Zhao Xu stepped into the passage, the stone door closed behind him, and a shadow appeared at the far end.

Zhao Xu disguised himself as an undead creature and cautiously made his way through a corridor filled with shadows in the demiplane of death. He reached a nauseating mass of ghouls and ghasts, where Lux proposed a way to avoid them by climbing along the wall.

• Zhao Xu cast Undead Veil after spotting a shadow, and Lux explained the creature’s strength-draining attacks and ability to create spawn.
• Zhao Xu considered the loss and suppression of his stored spells, then decided to hurry onward to save Wang Ningwei and Acevishi and seek the fragment of the Godhead of Death.
• Zhao Xu disguised himself as a zombie and squeezed past more than a hundred shadows gathered around a three-way intersection.
• Zhao Xu cast Darkvision and found more than a hundred ghouls feeding in the corridor ahead, then failed a save against their stench and became nauseated.
• Lux identified the stench as a ghast ability and suggested Zhao Xu eat a spider so they could use Spider Climb to bypass the undead along the wall.

Zhao Xu used the spell Gecko Climb to cross a corridor wall above a mass of ghouls while avoiding the costly use of his third-ring spell slots. As shadows streamed past him toward a mysterious force, a funeral dirge echoed through the corridor, nearly making him fall.

• Lux suggested Zhao Xu use a third-ring Fly spell or spend a Potential Point, but he chose another way across the corridor.
• Zhao Xu cast Gecko Climb and gained a +20 enhancement to his Climb skill, allowing him to scale the wall without crossing the ghouls below.
• The shadows noticed Zhao Xu but initially mistook him for an unusual zombie and ignored him.
• A swarm of shadows suddenly rushed down the corridor toward something ahead, brushing past Zhao Xu as he clung to the wall.
• A low, sorrowful song sounded through the corridor, and Zhao Xu recognized it as a funeral dirge for the dead.

Zhao Xu followed a stampeding horde of ghouls out of a tunnel and discovered Anta, an ancient city of the dead merged into the Death God's Demiplane. As a procession carrying the Death God's divine spark appeared, he was paralyzed by a Demigod Mummy's Despair and realized his target was being escorted by legendary undead.

• Zhao Xu followed the ghouls through the tunnel and emerged above an ancient underground city as undead poured from openings in the cliff.
• Lux identified the city as Anta, the Land of the Sleeper, and explained that the Artificial God of Death had merged it with the Carrion Beast Den Demiplane to pursue the Death God's divine spark.
• The Song of the Dead intensified, and the undead across Anta knelt as an Amber Coffin crossed the sky, carried by chained Winged Night Shades and guarded by other undead.
• A Demigod Mummy's Despair paralyzed Zhao Xu, and Lux identified the mummy, the Night Shades, and the godspawn Atrophied accompanying the coffin as legendary dangers.
• Lux revealed that the Death God's divine spark was inside the Amber Coffin, confirming it as their target.

Zhao Xu learned that the undead were escorting a Godhead Fragment in the Amber Coffin and that the fused demiplane might still grant him the Iron Will Feat. After Lux admitted the Association had hidden the demiplane’s history, Zhao Xu learned it had been where Death God Naraka suffered torment and later became a god.

• Zhao Xu and Lux observed the abomination The Atrophied and discussed the immense power and divine nature of abominations.
• Zhao Xu realized the undead were honoring the Amber Coffin because it carried a fragment of the Death God’s Godhead, and Lux said they were taking it to the town’s Death God temple.
• Lux told Zhao Xu that he, Wang Ningwei, and Acevishi could receive the demiplane’s remaining Iron Will Feat essence if they survived and escaped.
• Zhao Xu deduced that the Association had given him no special means to evade the Artificial God of Death and questioned Lux about what she was withholding.
• Lux revealed that Carrion Beast Mine had been the Land of Divine Punishment, where Death God Naraka suffered torment, and later the Land of Becoming a God, where he completed his revenge and slaughter.

Lux explained how Death God Naraka was imprisoned in the Demiplane, killed a Legendary Mage, and left that mage's soul as its planar will. Zhao Xu learned how Lux could use the Godhead Fragment and divine power, then prepared to enter the town before the planes merged.

• Lux told Zhao Xu that the Sauron Empire had tortured Naraka for a secret, and that Naraka later killed the Legendary Mage Shiri and imprisoned his soul as the Demiplane's will.
• Lux explained that the Demiplanes would fuse in a few days, ending the mage's final anchor, and said Zhao Xu needed to leave before then; Wang Ningwei and Acevishi were hiding in the town below.
• Lux said she could draw divine power from the Amber Coffin and use the Godhead Fragment to grant a limited number of followers Divine Spells.
• Lux revealed that she could charge Zhao Xu's Legendary Necromancy Staff with divine power, giving it effectively unlimited energy.
• Zhao Xu decided to consider infiltrating the temple to reach the Amber Coffin, then turned toward the town and prepared to enter.

Zhao Xu and Lux climbed out of the ghoul-filled passage and discovered a vast grassland with a gigantic statue of Edmund, the God of Slaughter. When Zhao Xu touched the statue’s boot, it began to tremble.

• Zhao Xu reassured Lux that finding the Amber Coffin had clarified their objective, then decided they could climb the cliff instead of confronting the ghouls.
• Zhao Xu refreshed Gecko Climb and scaled the near-vertical cliff while Lux stayed alert and wondered what lay above.
• Zhao Xu reached the top and found a grassland dominated by a gigantic statue of Edmund, the God of Slaughter.
• Zhao Xu recognized that they had entered another dimension and approached the statue as Lux worried Edmund might have reached the Demiplane and claimed Death God Naraka’s godhead.
• Zhao Xu touched the statue’s boot, causing the entire statue to tremble.