Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xu learned that his staged traces of Graz'zt had drawn the temples into an investigation, while he planned to raid Kuroze's treasure stash during a banquet. Lux explained that the awakened Godhead Fragment of Death gave him a limited chance to act freely, and Zhao Xu resolved to use it to build his reputation at the Mage Association.

• Freyll told Zhao Xu, Vivian, and Cerus that the temples had found traces of demons, and Zhao Xu privately recognized that his planted name of Graz'zt had provoked the search.
• Freyll confirmed Zhao Xu was safe, arranged for them to visit the Mage Association the next day, and invited him to a gathering of Alliance High-ranking Officials that evening.
• Zhao Xu briefed Vivian and Cerus on his plan to infiltrate Kuroze's treasure stash, while Vivian and Cerus warned that the gathering would be a matchmaking event attended by Miss Frey.
• After Vivian and Cerus went to bed, Zhao Xu examined his Character Card and asked Lux about the awakened Godhead Fragment of Death.
• Lux explained that Zhao Xu would lose the chance to become a god if he failed to obtain the other fragments soon, but could use his current power freely without exposing their identities.
• Zhao Xu resolved to make the name Midsummer shine at the Mage Association so he could gain the prestige and authority needed to become chairman.

After seeing a black shadow linked to divine power on Earth, Zhao Xu searched for similar reports and discovered that players had wrongly blamed Midsummer for destroying Blazing Red Lips. He spoke with Wang Ningwei about Earth’s possible transport to Arthur and proposed meeting her in person at the end of June.

• Zhao Xu saw a black shadow in his bathroom mirror and suspected divine power from Arthur had reached Earth through the connection between the worlds.
• He searched the forums for reports of strange phenomena, then found players accusing Midsummer of destroying Blazing Red Lips based on a bet and a chat screenshot.
• Zhao Xu messaged Wang Ningwei about a forum post imagining Earth’s transport to Arthur, and she said such a disaster would harm many people but urged everyone to face a new life together.
• After Wang Ningwei mentioned a meteor shower sending people to Arthur, Zhao Xu sent her a selfie, accidentally revealing that he was sitting on the toilet.
• Zhao Xu proposed that he and Wang Ningwei meet in person at the end of June, shortly before the transport.

After learning that the attack on Blazing Red Lips had sparked a citywide investigation and that a ritual there bore Graz'zt’s name, Zhao Xu worried Frey might be exposed to the demon lord. He used his Passage Staff to teleport to the leader’s residence to confront her.

• Freyll warned Zhao Xu that Auru City was under martial law and suggested he either visit the attack site or wait at the Mage Association division.
• Cerus asked about the demon trace, and Freyll said a ritual associated with Graz'zt had appeared where Kuroze died.
• Zhao Xu realized the ritual he had staged might connect Frey to Graz'zt and leave her vulnerable to the demon lord.
• After Freyll left, Zhao Xu took out his Passage Staff and recalled the leader’s residence from his previous life.
• Zhao Xu activated Greater Teleportation and appeared at the leader’s residence, where someone called out to him in surprise.

Zhao Xu infiltrated the Commander's Residence through a blind spot in its spell surveillance network and encountered Antinoa, who revealed that Graz'zt's power was embedded in the system. Antinoa explained her preparations against the demon lord and asked Zhao Xu how he had found the same infiltration point.

• Zhao Xu teleported into a watchtower basement blind spot, then tried to cast Swift Surge when he heard someone nearby.
• Antinoa counterspelled Zhao Xu, revealed herself, and praised his alertness before explaining advanced counterspell Feats.
• Antinoa told Zhao Xu that the surveillance network carried traces of Graz'zt's divine power, which could detect intruders protected by Mind Shield.
• Antinoa explained that she had come to investigate Tang De's connection to Graz'zt and prepare contingencies so Zhao Xu's soul would not be swept into the Abyss.
• Antinoa asked Zhao Xu how he had known the watchtower basement was an undetected entry point.

Zhao Xu told Antinoa about Frey’s past and her possible connection to Graz’zt, while Antinoa explained how demonic rituals form and revealed that Zhao Xu must fulfill a Scroll Scholar mission in the Dread Universe after reaching Legend. They set out to investigate Frey’s bedroom under Ultimate Invisibility.

• Antinoa warned Zhao Xu about the risks of teleporting without concealing himself, and he admitted he should have used Invisibility.
• Zhao Xu explained Frey’s revenge and his concern that invoking Graz’zt’s name might bring danger upon her.
• Antinoa judged that Frey’s killings were probably not a ritual and explained how repeated actions can attract a demon’s attention and become rituals.
• Antinoa revealed that reaching Legend would require Zhao Xu to visit the Dread Universe, stabilize the Ancient Curse Stone Slab, and record his knowledge upon it.
• Antinoa cast Ultimate Invisibility on Zhao Xu and proposed searching Frey’s bedroom first.

Zhao Xu and Antinoa infiltrated Frey's residence to investigate her possible connection to Tang De and discovered signs of a hidden demon altar beneath her bedroom. Antinoa revealed that she had traced the room's renovation through records and led Zhao Xu to the sealed passage, leaving them ready to reach the altar by magic.

• Antinoa cast Mind Shield and other protections on Zhao Xu before they secretly entered the governor's mansion.
• Zhao Xu and Antinoa searched Frey's room but found no useful clues until Antinoa sensed a stronger demonic aura there.
• Antinoa explained that Holy Water had been used to clean the room and its furniture, while Frey's dresses retained traces of the aura.
• Zhao Xu lifted the carpet and found that the brick floor concealed a sealed passage to an underground demon altar.
• Antinoa said she had identified the hidden passage by studying construction records and the fates of the renovation workers.

Zhao Xu and Antinoa uncovered a blood-fed altar beneath the Northern Alliance Commander-in-Chief’s Residence and learned it could summon Demons and potentially open a portal through slaughter. As demonic mist gathered, Graz'zt appeared in person and welcomed Antinoa to his domain.

• Zhao Xu and Antinoa emerged into a vast underground sinkhole and followed a channel fed by blood dripping through the rock.
• Zhao Xu identified the Corpse Blood Jade Coffin ritual and recalled finding the same altar during the Demon Sealing War in his Previous Life.
• Antinoa explained that the altar could summon a strengthened group of Demons and that their slaughter might fuel a portal for more Demons to enter Arthur.
• Zhao Xu and Antinoa reached a mist-filled chamber, where demonic voices and a threatening presence surrounded them.
• Graz'zt appeared behind Zhao Xu and Antinoa and welcomed Princess Antinoa to his domain.

Antinoa vanished when Graz'zt appeared, leaving Zhao Xu to face the Demon Lord alone. Protected by Elastic Sphere, Zhao Xu resisted Graz'zt’s attempts to manipulate and frighten him, then asked why it wanted his promise as Graz'zt began telling an old story.

• Antinoa warned Zhao Xu not to turn around, then disappeared as Graz'zt appeared.
• Zhao Xu cast Elastic Sphere to protect himself and refused to turn around or answer Graz'zt’s opening taunts.
• Graz'zt recalled Zhao Xu’s earlier interference and offered him power in exchange for a vague promise, but Zhao Xu rejected its moral dilemmas.
• Graz'zt claimed it had killed Antinoa, and Zhao Xu used Phantasmal Sound to imitate her voice and show that the threat did not persuade him.
• Zhao Xu asked why Graz'zt wanted a promise, and Graz'zt began telling him an old story.

Demon Lord Graz'zt explained how Zhao Xu’s use of Divine Intervention drew his attention and revealed a prophecy that shattered Graz'zt’s bid to unite the Abyss. He left Zhao Xu with the revelation that the prophecy had been misunderstood because an ancient Infernal word for Hell was mistaken for Abyss.

• Graz'zt recounted how Zhao Xu invoked Goddess of Magic Sislvina’s power to protect Frank and block Graz'zt’s attack.
• Graz'zt explained that he became interested in Zhao Xu after learning about his unusual connection to Sislvina and his awakening at Mystra’s Floating City.
• Graz'zt told Zhao Xu that Ernest’s prophecy concerned an ancient being bearing the World’s Nascent Consciousness, the River Styx flowing backward, and a new Blood War.
• Graz'zt said the prophecy drove ancient Demon Lords to resist him and destroyed his chance to unify the Abyss.
• Graz'zt revealed that the prophecy had been misheard: a young Lord mistook the ancient Infernal word for Hell as the word for Abyss.

Graz'zt explained how a misheard prophecy shattered his near-unification of the Abyss and tried to win Zhao Xu’s promise by offering him power and visions of possible futures. Zhao Xu refused, demanded to know where Antinoa had gone, then suddenly understood something and vanished.

• Graz'zt blamed Ernest for the prophecy that had destroyed his rule over the Abyss and explained that he had used his remaining divine power of fate to see Zhao Xu as a breaker of deadlocks.
• Graz'zt told Zhao Xu that Antinoa might hope to use him to bring Ernest back, even though the threads of fate showed Ernest could not return to Arthur.
• Graz'zt offered to help Zhao Xu become a lord of an Abyssal layer and showed him visions of powerful, triumphant possible futures.
• Zhao Xu rejected Graz'zt’s offer and asked where he had sent Antinoa.
• Zhao Xu suddenly realized something, turned around, and vanished.

Zhao Xu traveled a thousand years into the past after turning toward the manifestation of time’s power, and arrived in Mystra during the era before the Great Cataclysm. Seeking a way back and hoping to find Antinoa, he gained entry to Sislvina’s residence and discovered Antinoa was there with her.

• Zhao Xu turned around and witnessed memories of his Previous Life before being swept upstream through time to Mystra a thousand years earlier.
• Zhao Xu realized Dark Lord Graz'zt had used time-related divine power and that Antinoa had likely been sent to a different era.
• Zhao Xu took a carriage to Sislvina’s residence, hoping she could help him return to his own time or reach Antinoa.
• Zhao Xu claimed to have come under the Goddess’s command and entered the residence despite its servants initially turning visitors away.
• Sislvina’s maid admitted Zhao Xu to the reception room, where he recognized Antinoa and Sislvina from a thousand years earlier.

Zhao Xu met the younger Antinoa and Sislvina after being separated from his companions across time, and the two legendary mages deduced how Graz'zt had sent him to the past. They offered to help him stay and grow stronger, but he insisted on returning to his own time, leaving Sislvina to ask again whether he would stay.

• Antinoa and Sislvina examined Zhao Xu, dispelled and restored his Mind Shield, and inferred that Graz'zt had used time-divine power to isolate him from his companions.
• Zhao Xu asked the two mages for help, but Antinoa and Sislvina refused to send him back and offered to train him if he stayed.
• Zhao Xu declined, explaining that too much time could pass in his original world and that he believed he could become a Legendary Mage within ten years.
• Sislvina realized Zhao Xu had read a book she would write in the future and teased him that his actions might disrupt her fate as the future Goddess of Magic.
• Antinoa reassured Zhao Xu that fate could not be altered so easily, while Sislvina asked him once more to stay.

Zhao Xu refused Antinoa and Sisylvina’s offer to remain a thousand years in the past, and Antinoa from his own time arrived to take him back. As they departed through time, Sisylvina revealed that she had left Zhao Xu one chance to return to the past.

• Zhao Xu explained that his projected state and Earth’s time flow made staying in the past dangerous, but Antinoa and Sisylvina offered to bring his body to Arthur.
• Zhao Xu declined their offer, choosing to return to his own time and the Antinoa waiting for him.
• Present-day Antinoa arrived, and she and her thousand-years-younger self argued over how each had handled Graz'zt’s scheme and Zhao Xu’s safety.
• Present-day Antinoa took Zhao Xu’s hand and transported them away through the river of time.
• Sisylvina told Antinoa from the past that she had left Zhao Xu one chance to travel back a thousand years.

Zhao Xu and Antinoa discovered that Graz'zt’s altar was part of a hidden network preparing a demonic invasion of the Northern Lands, tied to Earth’s future transmigration site and a struggle for souls. Zhao Xu vowed to use Tang De as the key to uncover and eradicate the collaborators aiding the Abyss.

• Zhao Xu and Antinoa found Graz'zt gone and examined the altar, learning it would open a portal from the Abyss after summoned creatures made sacrifices.
• Zhao Xu connected the altar’s corpses to those he had seen in the Mutant Scorpion Lair, and Antinoa identified Tang De’s nephew as a likely agent of the hidden network.
• Antinoa explained that Hell and the Abyss were preparing to invade Arthur, with collaborators spread across the Northern Alliance and the Northern Lands.
• Zhao Xu asked whether the coming disaster was tied to Earth’s transmigration gathering place north of the Icefield Mountains, and Antinoa said the Purgatory Side had made plans to harvest souls there.
• Zhao Xu declared that he would eradicate the network around Tang De and rejected the collaborators’ excuse that they were sacrificing some people to preserve civilization.

Zhao Xu observed the banquet and watched Commander Tang De for signs that he knew about the demonic altar beneath Frey's residence. Freyll introduced Zhao Xu to Tang De, leaving Zhao Xu face-to-face with the Alliance commander.

• Noblewomen gossiped about Blazing Red Lips collapsing and Lord Chandler being beaten by his wife.
• Zhao Xu recalled that the searchers had questioned Cerus and Vivian, but the disturbance of Graz'zt’s altar had caused no visible reaction at the Commander's Residence.
• Zhao Xu and Antinoa decided to observe Tang De to uncover the forces behind the incident, and Zhao Xu used Cunning Gaze to read people’s motives.
• Freyll brought Zhao Xu before Tang De and introduced him as the man who had saved his life.
• Tang De welcomed Zhao Xu, and a second presence seemed to flicker in his eyes.

At Tang De’s banquet, he revealed that Divine Breath had ascended with the Palace of Aizhu and promised Alliance support for Midsummer to obtain it on its next descent. The celebration ended in crisis when Lady Ally and Frey were abducted by the Bandit Sisters of Six, and Midsummer recognized their hideout from his Previous Life.

• Midsummer introduced himself to Tang De as a Four-Ring Mage from the Mage Association, drawing the banquet guests’ attention.
• Tang De announced that the joint investigation had concluded Divine Breath was still inside the Palace of Aizhu, then promised the Alliance would help Midsummer obtain it when the Palace returned.
• Tang De publicly tied Midsummer to the Alliance’s plans, while Freyll prepared to reveal Midsummer’s position in the Mage Association.
• A guard reported that Lady Ally and Frey had vanished, their household staff had been killed, and the Bandit Sisters of Six had claimed responsibility.
• Midsummer gripped his scepter and recalled that he knew where the bandits’ hideout was.

The Six Sisters threatened to kill Frey and Lady Ally unless the Northern Alliance exchanged their hostage under strict conditions, and the leaders turned to Zhao Xu to escort him. Commander Tang De offered Zhao Xu the fief of Starfall Town if the hostages returned safely, placing the chance to become the first player lord before him.

• A guard reported that the Six Sisters demanded their captured younger brother in exchange for Frey and Lady Ally, with threats to send body parts if the Alliance resisted.
• Tang De summoned Archmage Nash, and the Alliance leaders discussed how the Six Sisters’ rules would prevent spellcasters and pursuers from intervening.
• The leaders looked to Zhao Xu as their best chance against the Six Sisters, and Nash formally introduced himself as a Nine-Ring Mage before Zhao Xu revealed he was a Four-Ring Mage and Starfall Town branch president.
• Tang De asked Zhao Xu to serve as the hostage escort and promised him the Alliance-administered fief of Starfall Town if Frey and Ally returned safely.
• Zhao Xu realized the offer could make him the first player to become an official lord.

Zhao Xu transported the imprisoned Oscar out of Auru City and confronted him about his murders and his demon-given method for gaining power. He revealed that Oscar’s soul would be harvested by the Abyss after death, then told him to cooperate in a coming performance.

• Zhao Xu escorted the shackled Oscar through the snowy trade road outside Auru City.
• Oscar asked why the Six Sisters wanted him dead despite his claim that he had not betrayed them in prison, and Zhao Xu condemned him for murdering people, including a girl who had shown him kindness.
• Zhao Xu used Detect Evil and found a persistent moderate Evil Aura on Oscar, nearly strong enough to reach the next level.
• Zhao Xu identified demoncraft as the source of Oscar’s rise beyond level 10, and Oscar admitted a demon had given him a folk remedy involving human hearts.
• Zhao Xu said Oscar would have to cooperate in a performance and warned that the remedy’s price was for his soul to be harvested into the Abyss after death.

Zhao Xu killed Oscar after explaining that the demonic ritual had doomed him to become a Prime Demon, then set out to rescue Frey and Lady Ally. An ambush in the Icefield Mountains revealed that a hidden force wanted the hostages kept from returning, and Zhao Xu continued toward the perilous Ice Crack Canyon, determined to claim Starfall Town.

• Zhao Xu executed Oscar and told him the ritual had traded his lifespan for power and would condemn his soul to become a Prime Demon.
• Zhao Xu considered Tang De's offer of Starfall Town and prioritized rescuing Frey and Lady Ally while planning the territory's future.
• Zhao Xu used Share Body on a snow rabbit and discovered Winter Wolves and Frost Giants waiting in ambush along the road.
• Zhao Xu fled toward the Icefield Mountains with the Winter Wolves pursuing him and realized the attackers were targeting Oscar and preventing the hostages' return.
• Zhao Xu concluded that a hidden force within the alliance was cooperating with the mountain attackers and redirected toward Ice Crack Canyon.

Zhao Xu drove a carriage pursued by Winter Wolves toward the deadly Ice Crack Canyon, then used magic to fly across it before mysterious winds sent him plummeting. As two siblings watched his apparent fall, a star-cloaked Wizard unexpectedly appeared inside their ice fortress.

• Zhao Xu drove his carriage toward Ice Crack Canyon while Winter Wolves and Frost Giants pursued him.
• A Sorcerer and her Paladin brother watched from an ice fortress and believed Zhao Xu could not survive the canyon crossing.
• Zhao Xu cast Fly and sent his warhorse and carriage over the canyon, but warped winds knocked them into a fall.
• The siblings thought Zhao Xu was doomed, and the Paladin returned inside the fortress.
• A Wizard in a shimmering, star-covered cloak appeared inside the ice sculpture and greeted the siblings.