Chapter Summaries

Zong Shen examined several lottery rewards, including Pascal Contract's Big Pocket, which offered vast storage and useful support abilities, and Anna's Divination Coin, which could alter luck. He then began reviewing the 3,000-point rewards, collecting Denar, learning a tavern blueprint, and storing defensive equipment and a memory-erasing stone before taking out another lucky pouch.

• Zong Shen inspected Pascal Contract's Big Pocket, used its weekly gift to obtain a Fourth-Order Magic Energy Arrow Tower blueprint, and planned to use the bag to transport mine output.
• Zong Shen used the Money Bag of the Lord of Greed's Wealth Surprise and received 3,297 Denar, then discarded a broken sword and examined Anna's Divination Coin.
• Zong Shen opened a Lucky Coin Pouch for 7,972 Denar and learned the Two-Story Tavern Construction Blueprint.
• Zong Shen examined a Fourth-Order Defensive Scatter Crossbow and decided to store it for later placement atop the Lord's Fortress Castle Tower.
• Zong Shen examined and stored a Memory Erasure Stone, then took out the fifth item from the 3,000-point draw, a crescent-emblem lucky pouch.

Zong Shen opened several rewards, including Night Elf recruitment scrolls, a building replication stone, and an indestructible unknown beast egg. After discovering that Grand Duke Roland’s secret edict could lead him to a Khergit codex, he connected it to the mysteries of the previous era and planned to use a World Horn announcement to buy similar items from other lords.

• Zong Shen opened the Night Elf lucky bag and received two Night Huntress Recruitment Scrolls and two Third-Order Night Treant Recruitment Scrolls.
• Zong Shen set aside a Building Replication Stone (Purple) to copy a Magic Hall and struck the Unknown Peculiar Beast Egg with his hammer, but the shell suffered no damage.
• Zong Shen examined Grand Duke Roland's Personal Secret Edict and learned it could lead to the Devout Command Codex in the Khergit Royal Mausoleum.
• Zong Shen connected the secret edict to the founding treasures of earlier human kingdoms and considered how the Lord System might relate to the rise of the current lords.
• Zong Shen retrieved a World Horn and planned a global announcement offering to buy unusual items, but he still needed to devise a convincing pitch.

Zong Shen reviewed the rewards from his remaining draws and learned a Legendary technology that could reinforce territory walls, while collecting several useful defensive items. He planned to expand the territory’s defenses and save the sailing ship for future ocean exploration.

• Zong Shen decided to postpone his scavenging plan until a later stage of development and returned to the Lord’s Fortress to inspect his remaining rewards.
• Zong Shen learned the Legendary Armored City Wall Improvement Technology, which offered five levels of permanent wall reinforcement at increasing resource costs.
• Zong Shen inspected a Rare Grade sailing ship and a Fourth-Generation Magic Energy Cannon, noting their potential for future exploration and territorial defense.
• Zong Shen acquired a Taunting Stake that could draw nearby enemies’ attacks away from his troops.
• Zong Shen examined a Paralysis Vine Seed and planned to have Salome Forestspeech cultivate it before planting the vines around the territory.

Zong Shen finished examining the lottery rewards, setting aside a Wild Seed for Bajie and an advancement book for Tie Zhu while assessing a Lost Desert Token and a salt-well blueprint. He then ate the Special Strength Fruit, beginning the process of gaining 50 Strength at the cost of a painful two-hour side effect.

• Zong Shen decided to reserve the Wild Seed for Bajie, hoping it would advance him to Commander Grade and restore his usefulness as a mount.
• Zong Shen set aside a Nord Advancement Book for Tie Zhu and reflected on Tie Zhu’s role in his plans for Dinan Village and future expansion.
• Zong Shen examined the ancient Lost Desert Token, found no way to activate it, and stored it as a clue to hidden ruins.
• Zong Shen stored the Fourth-Order Deep Salt Well blueprint for Maryl to assess and considered passing it to his younger brother, Aze, if the territory could not use it.
• Zong Shen consulted the Strategy Guide, cut open the Special Strength Fruit, and ate its flesh to gain 50 Strength despite the coming side effects.

After gaining 50 Strength from the Special Strength Fruit, Zong Shen endured painful, uncontrolled muscle mutations and discovered he could concentrate his strength in different parts of his body. He rested before the Heatwave Challenge, while the Strategy Module warned him to protect Luna, whose secret hopes suggested she knew more about the coming fate than she had revealed.

• Zong Shen ate the Special Strength Fruit, gained 50 Strength, and endured hours of painful muscle swelling and loss of control before the effects ended.
• Zong Shen discovered he could voluntarily concentrate his strength in specific body parts, a process he called "charging," and then rested in the Hot Spring Cabin.
• Zong Shen urged Blood Wolf Gugat to train at the territory's training ground, and Gugat agreed to go there in armor and meet the warriors.
• Zong Shen examined Luna's attributes and received the Strategy Module's cryptic warning to protect her, then lay down beside her to sleep.
• After Zong Shen fell asleep, Luna revealed that she believed he could rewrite their doomed fate and that she and their companions would stay by his side.

Zong Shen woke to find Maryl had begun building his newly acquired structures and turned the Energy Spring’s fizzy water into an idea for magic-energy cola. He assigned development and military tasks to his people, then asked Clarissa to research a special potion, leaving its desired effects to be explained.

• Luna gave Zong Shen Energy Spring water, and its bubbles inspired him to have Clarissa try to recreate cola as a product for the lords.
• Zong Shen summoned Maryl, Vereesa, Colby, Favid, and the three newly recruited senior talents to assign them work.
• Zong Shen told Maryl to complete the Defense Towers, prepare a future agricultural area, and give Howie the Big Pocket to collect ore from the Mine.
• Zong Shen ordered Vereesa to retrieve the Lion Skeleton Knights by Goblin Airship with Tasia and coordinate with Eagle Sauce and the griffons.
• Zong Shen assigned Salome Forestspeech to cultivate Sweet Potato Vines and Paralysis Vines, and gave him the seeds and Vine Wood Box of Vitality.
• Zong Shen asked Clarissa Theresa to research a special potion, and she asked what effects he wanted.

Zong Shen assigned Clarissa to develop a stamina-restoring drink and tasked Ironhand Bucklen with researching augmentation gear and building an Evil Eye Gatling. After giving Maryl instructions for Howie and the mine, he turned to Colby and Favid to discuss their growing roles in the territory.

• Zong Shen ordered Clarissa to use Energy Spring Water to develop a fizzy, cinnamon-and-lemon-flavored drink that retained its stamina-restoring effect, and gave her a Communication Crystal to contact Maryl.
• Zong Shen told Ironhand Bucklen to assist Dwarf Uncle with Jet Augmentation Gear and showed him an Evil Eye, then explained a crank-driven rotary weapon powered by a core.
• Ironhand Bucklen examined the Evil Eyes and enthusiastically agreed to build an Evil Eye Gatling, while Zong Shen supplied more than a dozen eyes and a Communication Crystal.
• Zong Shen reminded Ironhand Bucklen to consider grafted equipment and told Maryl to have Howie record an image on a Large Illusion Projection Magic Disk for placement outside the mine.
• After Maryl and the senior talents left, Zong Shen told Colby and Favid they would take on greater roles in the territory.

Zong Shen raised Colby and Favid to hero-level talents and prepared to lead his troops out, but the Lord System abruptly canceled the Flame Demon Suppression Battle and announced a new Heatwave Treasure Hunt. The chapter ended as Zong Shen waited for the time stop to end and the new challenge details to be revealed.

• Zong Shen gave Colby and Favid Complete Purple Souls, Fourth Order Advancement Books, and Hero Emblems, and they advanced into Fourth Order warriors before completing their hero transformations.
• Blood Wolf Gugart returned from the Comprehensive Training Ground and told Zong Shen that the warriors there were weaker than he expected.
• Zong Shen inspected Colby's new hero attributes and skills as Luna, Doris, the ranged troops, and the Wolf Cavalry gathered outside the fortress.
• At noon, the Lord System canceled the Flame Demon Suppression Battle, awarded all lords 500 points as compensation, and announced that the Heatwave Treasure Hunt details would arrive in five minutes.

Zong Shen examined Favid’s new Hero skills and heard Colby and Favid reflect on their places in the territory before the Flame Demon challenge began. After learning the challenge rules, he organized squads to hunt Lesser Flame Demons and used six recruitment scrolls, leaving the strange, flame-wreathed Favored of the Wind God scroll’s arrival unresolved.

• Zong Shen checked Favid’s Hero skills and Lord-level passives, then told Favid and Colby to help organize the troops.
• Favid felt proud of becoming a Hero, while Colby returned to the Wolf Cavalry and ordered them to form up.
• The challenge announcement revealed that 100,000 level-35 Lesser Flame Demons would appear in each region, rewarding kills with points, experience, and Flame Demon Keys.
• Zong Shen planned to divide his warriors into temporary squads, send cavalry and heroes on patrol, and personally protect the squads while hunting demons.
• Zong Shen used six recruitment scrolls, and the Favored of the Wind God scroll formed a blazing gray-black cocoon that puzzled him.

Zong Shen welcomed several newly recruited units, including the Night Treants Yevette and Mavis, then witnessed the arrival of Lasma, a Legendary Necromancer God-Favored. Lasma’s revealed attributes and skills established her as a powerful Sixth-Order Archmage, leaving Zong Shen astonished by the strength she could bring to the territory.

• Zong Shen added a Wolf Cavalryman, two Night Huntresses, and two Night Treants to the territory’s forces.
• Yevette and Mavis swore loyalty to Zong Shen, who assigned them to Luna alongside the Night Huntresses.
• Zong Shen examined Mavis and her forest deer mount, learning that the Night Treants could heal, dispel magic, and attack with poisoned javelins.
• The God-Favored recruitment ritual ended, and Lasma emerged from the cocoon of light and greeted Zong Shen.
• Zong Shen examined Lasma’s attributes and discovered that she was a Legendary Sixth-Order Necromancer Archmage with a powerful God-Favored talent and numerous combat skills.

Zong Shen examined Lasma’s abilities, ordered her to accompany him, and began organizing the territory’s response after Lesser Flame Demons descended across the region. He flew north with Lasma and Blood Wolf Gugat to hunt demons, spotting several targets near the Land of Buried Bones.

• Zong Shen inspected Lasma’s powerful skills and unusual attributes, noting her low Loyalty and zero Charm.
• Meli greeted Lasma as a former superior, and Lasma initially resisted Zong Shen’s order to join him before agreeing to accompany him.
• Hundreds of thousands of fiery pillars brought Lesser Flame Demons to locations across the region, and every lord received a Special Flame Demon Chest.
• Zong Shen organized temporary Combat Squads and scouting teams, then headed northwest with Lasma and Blood Wolf Gugat on Flying Tiger.
• Flying Tiger carried the group north, where Zong Shen spotted three or four Lesser Flame Demons in the grassland and prepared to descend.

Zong Shen discovered that the Unknown Exotic Beast Egg could absorb Scorching Flame Demons, giving him an efficient way to earn experience and Flame Demon Keys. After setting out to hunt more demons, he left Luna and the other heroes organizing the territory’s temporary combat squads.

• Zong Shen used the Wind-Fire-Thunder Trident to test his strength against a Scorching Flame Demon, then threw the Unknown Exotic Beast Egg beside it.
• The beast egg absorbed the Scorching Flame Demon in seconds, earning Zong Shen experience and a Flame Demon Key.
• Flying Tiger, Lasma, and Gugat returned with their own Flame Demon Keys, and Zong Shen ordered Flying Tiger to carry them north toward more targets.
• Luna, assisted by Colby and Doris, coordinated temporary combat squads and sent them out in different directions to hunt Lesser Flame Demons.

Jiang Yi learned that more than two hundred southern lords planned to enter the Poison Mist Swamp, unaware that it was the lair of a black dragon, and warned Medina and Zong Shen. Zong Shen judged that the expedition would likely fail and continued hunting Lesser Flame Demons, while the lords’ intrusion threatened to disrupt his plans for the swamp.

• Jiang Yi received Medina’s invitation to join the southern lords’ expedition into the Poison Mist Swamp and recognized it as the black dragon’s lair.
• Jiang Yi warned Medina not to lead anyone into the swamp, then contacted Zong Shen to report the gathering and her concern that the lords would alert the black dragon.
• Zong Shen told Jiang Yi to monitor events in the south and reasoned that the lords lacked the strength and antidotes to defeat the black dragon, though their expedition might provoke it.
• Zong Shen continued hunting Lesser Flame Demons with Flying Tiger, Lasma, and Gugat, gaining 167 Flame Demon Keys and enough experience to reach LV31.
• Zong Shen noted that lords had begun excavating the Land of Buried Bones and resolved to explore the region’s ruins before their dangers grew.

Zong Shen discovered that the Goblin Tribe was building an evil-god altar to summon a powerful goblin hero, then launched an aerial bombing raid to destroy it and attack the tribe. The chapter ended as he dropped a Type IV Goblin Bomb onto the tribe’s domed wooden house while Flying Tiger evaded the goblins’ response.

• Zong Shen sent Gugat and Lasma to clear scattered small Flame Demons while he flew toward the Goblin Tribe to scout it.
• Zong Shen spotted goblins constructing an altar and learned from the Strategy Module that it would summon an evil-powered goblin hero to strengthen the tribe.
• Zong Shen realized the goblins had been attacking nearby settlements to gather sacrifices, then decided to destroy the altar before the tribe could complete it.
• Zong Shen and Flying Tiger dived low over the altar, and Zong Shen dropped a Type III Goblin Bomb that collapsed the pit, pillars, and unfinished platform.
• Zong Shen flew toward the domed wooden house as the goblins spotted Flying Tiger and began responding.
• Zong Shen dropped a Type IV Goblin Bomb onto the domed wooden house while Flying Tiger continued its dive.

Zong Shen bombed the Goblin Tribe from Flying Tiger, then learned from Jiang Yi that a black dragon had been enraged in the Poison Mist Swamp and flew south to respond. The chapter also revealed how a large gathering of Lords had entered the swamp, where the black dragon’s followers prepared to confront them.

• Zong Shen destroyed the Goblin Tribe’s domed house with goblin bombs and struck its center with a Fifth-Order Lightning Storm Spell Scroll, killing dozens of goblins.
• Jiang Yi told Zong Shen that the black dragon in the Poison Mist Swamp was fighting Lords and their forces, so he ordered her to keep her Legion under control and set off toward the swamp.
• Zong Shen regrouped with Lasma and Gugat, collected 35 Flame Demon Keys, returned the beast egg, and ordered Favid to assemble forces near Dinan Village.
• More than two hundred Lords entered the Poison Mist Swamp with roughly eighteen or nineteen hundred soldiers, while Gladstone and Ulysses readied their Lizardfolk and Redscale Kobolds without waking the sleeping black dragon.

More than two hundred lords entered the Poison Mist Swamp in search of treasure, but Red-Scaled Kobolds, Lizardman Warriors, and swamp crocodiles ambushed them from both sides. After a prolonged battle, battered survivors began retreating while Jiang Yi watched anxiously from outside.

• Zhang told Mutoto that the swamp held ruins and dangerous monsters, then led their group into the poisonous mist.
• The lords found ancient rubble and Lesser Flame Demons, but their scouts came under attack and the poorly coordinated force struggled to respond.
• Red-Scaled Kobolds and Lizardman Warriors struck from the front and rear, trapping the lords between walls of poisonous mist.
• The lords counterattacked with ranged weapons and area spells before their melee troops charged the swamp creatures.
• Jiang Yi watched from outside and waited with her Communication Crystal as the battle moved deeper into the swamp.
• After roughly an hour, several dozen battered lords escaped the swamp, and onlookers surrounded them, with some offering restorative potions.

Jiang Yi waited for the right moment to alert Zong Shen as reports from the Poison Mist Swamp revealed the lords’ costly advance and the black dragon’s arrival. The dragon’s devastating attacks broke the lords’ formation, and they fled as it began casting another spell.

• Jiang Yi heard that the lords had found treasure chests and faced powerful Kobold and Lizardman leaders, but she continued waiting for the black dragon to appear before contacting Zong Shen.
• Old Zhang and the scattered lords pushed deeper into the swamp, suffering heavy casualties while finding more treasure chests and ruins.
• Berlay Tobias Croady appeared above the swamp with Ulysses and Gladstone, declared the intruders would die, and launched an attack.
• The black dragon’s acid breath killed over a hundred warriors and several lords, while its followers charged the survivors.
• The lords fled toward the edge of the swamp as Berlay Tobias Croady finished chanting Poison Thorns Everywhere!

A young black dragon rampaged through the Poison Mist Swamp, slaughtering hundreds of Lords as Jiang Yi escaped and warned Zong Shen. Zong Shen arrived to confront the dragon, leaving the story with him landing near the swamp to challenge Black Handsome.

• The black dragon unleashed poisonous thorn vines in the swamp, then attacked the Lords gathered outside and crushed them with a dive that left a vast crater.
• Jiang Yi fled with the [Guide Legion], connected to Zong Shen through her Communication Crystal, and reported the black dragon’s attack.
• Zong Shen reached Dinan Village, gave Tie Zhu equipment and orders, and sent Favid’s knights toward the swamp while he flew ahead with Lasma, Gugat, and Canigia.
• Zong Shen saw the black dragon slaughtering scattered Lords, and Flying Tiger resisted approaching because of the dragon’s presence.
• Jiang Yi and the surviving Lords withdrew as reports spread that the black dragon had killed more than five or six hundred Lords.
• Zong Shen landed near a forest two kilometers from the swamp, intending to face Black Handsome.

Zong Shen pursued the rampaging Black Handsome and joined the fight with Gugat and Lasma, using his enhanced strength to pin the exhausted young dragon down. Black Handsome retaliated by smashing Gugat with its tail, leaving him dazed as the battle continued.

• Zong Shen caught up with Black Handsome, which had killed hundreds of lords and soldiers and left many wounds across its body.
• Zong Shen activated his Power Demon abilities and charged Black Handsome with Gugat, while Lasma prepared spells and Canigia followed behind.
• Gugat struck Black Handsome with a bladed disc, drawing the dragon's attention and prompting it to charge at him.
• Zong Shen leaped onto Black Handsome and drove his Dragon-Slaying Greatsword into the base of its wing, then restrained its head by gripping its horns.
• Lasma hit Black Handsome with four Necrotic Arrows, and Gugat stabbed its hind leg while the dragon struggled under Zong Shen.
• Black Handsome struck Gugat with its tail, sending him flying dozens of meters and leaving him dazed.

Zong Shen and his allies restrained the young black dragon Black Handsome after a fierce struggle, leaving Zong Shen poised to capture it. Meanwhile, fleeing Lords and Zong Shen’s forces converged near Dinan Village as Favid’s squad advanced toward the Bone Cage.

• Lasma trapped Black Handsome in a Bone Cage while Zong Shen bent its head back and bound it with steel wire and hemp rope.
• Gugat recovered with a potion, then fired an alloy Capture Net over Black Handsome’s head, further restraining it.
• Fleeing Lords watched the battle from a distance and continued escaping, while Zong Shen’s temporary Combat Squads gathered near Dinan Village under Tie Zhu’s lead.
• Favid led Lion Charge Knights and Lion Skeleton Knights through the bloodied battlefield toward the Bone Cage.
• Zong Shen pulled the Dragon-Slaying Greatsword from Black Handsome’s back as Canigia bound its head and neck with Wind Entanglement.
• Black Handsome’s struggles weakened, and it realized Zong Shen had overpowered it as a human capable of surpassing its strength.