Chapter Summaries

Colin summoned the special talent Doris Julius, a blindfolded Death Reaper with a large scythe and powerful combat abilities. Although Doris seemed cold and her manner made Colin worry about their compatibility, he discovered that her loyalty was already at 100%.

• Colin decided to use the Special Talent Summoning Card, hoping the new talent could help with the survivors’ needs before war broke out.
• Doris Julius appeared before Colin and Shana, introduced herself as the Death Reaper, and knelt in devotion.
• Colin examined Doris’s Stage One attributes and skills, noting her strength and her necromantic abilities.
• Colin worried that Doris’s cold manner and abilities might make her difficult to get along with, then checked her loyalty and found it was 100%.

Colin cautiously questioned Doris after summoning her and discovering her loyalty was already at one hundred percent. Suspecting she was connected to the God of Death, he decided to seek out the people associated with the God of Eternal Sleep, while Doris revealed she could handle healing and combat.

• Colin found that Doris had one hundred percent loyalty and wondered whether an unknown deity had sent her.
• Doris said she knew nothing about the circumstances of her arrival, accepted a sweet drink, and sat with Colin and Shana.
• Colin connected Doris's death-related abilities and corpse-like appearance to the God of Death and the Fallen Race serving the God of Eternal Sleep.
• Colin decided to contact the people who had previously encountered the Fallen Race when the system opened again.
• Colin learned that Doris had panoramic vision through her Reaper talent and could handle healing, combat, and other kinds of work.

Colin learned that Doris could summon the dead and borrow their abilities, while also making large batches of healing potions. Suspecting that the God of Eternal Sleep had arranged her arrival, he raised her strength to Stage Two and began the day's operation.

• Colin realized Doris could use the abilities of summoned souls, but only within the limits of her control.
• Doris offered to make healing potions, explaining that she could produce two to three hundred bottles every three to five days using readily available materials.
• Colin suspected that Doris's useful abilities, perfect loyalty, and blank past were signs of hidden manipulation by the God of Eternal Sleep.
• Shana brought juice, and Colin served Doris food before spending one thousand Mist Points to raise her strength to Stage Two.
• Colin, Shana, and Doris began the day's operation.

Colin brought Doris and his companions to the Sea-Kin island, where Barton reported that nearby Sea-Kin refused to submit. Colin ordered Barton to discreetly spread revolutionary ideas among the Fallen Races, preparing them for future conflict.

• Colin arrived on the island with Shana, Doris, and the others, and decided to keep Doris under his watch.
• Barton told Colin that the nearby Sea-Kin rejected his efforts to persuade them to follow Colin.
• Colin dismissed the Sea-Kin's faith in their gods and said they had cannons.
• Barton reported that his subordinates had returned to their racial territory and were organizing activities.
• Colin ordered Barton to secretly encourage oppressed Fallen Race members to reclaim their rights, take up arms, and prepare for change.

Colin headed to the trade fair to sell Holy Light Amulets, which he intended to use to gradually change the Fallen Races. After a ship jam delayed his arrival, he destroyed a Sea-Kin vessel and confronted the law enforcement ships sent to stop him.

• Colin told Barton to coordinate with Governor Roger as the Light Chasers spread the Holy Light’s influence among lower and middle ranks.
• Barton explained that the trade fair had moved to the third-ring island and that Lin Yilan and other Survivors would attend.
• Colin planned to sell Holy Light Amulets, whose repeated use would deepen the Fallen Races’ understanding of light and gradually change them.
• Colin’s ship became caught in a jam of thousands of vessels heading toward the trade fair.
• When Sea-Kin insulted them, Colin ordered his crew to destroy their ship, and the blast drew the attention of the law enforcement ships.
• Colin stepped onto the battleship’s bow, dispersed the gathering storm with a burst of light, and asked, “Who has something to say?”

Colin used the Source of Light to erase the filth and abnormal emotions around him, then continued through the trade fair island after forcing the law enforcement ships to clear his path. As his warship reached shore, Survivors discussed his influence and rumors that the Empire was preparing for a large-scale war.

• Colin noticed Lin Yilan’s wooden-looking mutation and suspected she had a connection to a powerful existence, though she was not a Descender.
• Colin stopped the law enforcement ships, and the Sea-Kin aboard agreed to move aside after seeing the destruction around them.
• Colin’s warship passed through the crowded waters without anyone daring to block its route.
• Survivors identified Colin as the top-ranked Leaderboard figure and discussed how the Power of Light had left his image in their subconscious.
• Two Survivors considered joining the Empire, and one shared a rumor that Colin would soon launch a large-scale war.
• Colin’s ship pulled up to shore, and he looked over the crowd gathered on land.

Colin arrived at the trade fair with Doris and the Little Girl, where Spirit Shaman Clan guides escorted him through the crowded market. He asked to enter the internal market and, as the Little Girl pleaded for a live animal, he noticed several stones floating beside a caged deer.

• Colin saw tens of thousands of Fallen Races gathered peacefully at the trade fair, while Doris remained unable to see the Little Girl.
• A Spirit Shaman Priest welcomed Colin and led him and his companions to the crowded outer trading area, where attendants stayed nearby to prevent trouble.
• Colin learned that the Spirit Shaman Clan likely organized the fair and asked whether he could enter its internal market.
• The Spirit Shaman Priest said Colin could enter but explained that preparations were not yet complete.
• The Little Girl pointed to a caged deer, and Colin noticed several stones floating beside it.

Colin traded five Holy Light Amulets to a Binder for a handful of Floating Stones. He then asked the Binder where the stones came from, seeking information on how to find more.

• Colin spotted Floating Stones at a Binder’s stall and asked what the Binder wanted in exchange.
• The Binder rejected Colin’s Holy Light Amulet at first, saying its power would harm him, but then offered to trade for more amulets.
• Colin haggled the Binder down from fifty amulets to five, and the Binder accepted.
• Colin examined the faintly glowing, leaf-veined stones and stored them in his Inventory.
• Colin declined the Binder’s other goods and asked where the Floating Stones had been found.

Colin traded with the Binder for directions to a remote region filled with Floating Stones, then browsed the island’s outer market with the Little Girl and Shana. After acquiring animals, minerals, and mysterious items, he followed the Witch Spirit Priest to the island’s internal trade fair.

• The Binder revealed that the Floating Stones lay beyond the Survivors’ explored regions and gave Colin a crude map in exchange for forty thousand.
• Colin refused the Binder’s damaged ritual tools, then agreed to buy the Little Girl a fawn.
• The Little Girl dragged the still-living fawn into her Shadow Space, and Colin noted that it could hold living creatures.
• Colin and his companions browsed thousands of stalls, buying wild animals, minerals, and mysterious items with Holy Light Amulets and explosives.
• A bell announced the internal trade fair, and the Witch Spirit Priest escorted Colin to a private box in a circular building.

Colin attended an auction where the first lot was a slave contract for 137 Children of Crimson, prompting him to reflect on the cruelty inflicted on controlled Survivors. He asked a Spirit Shaman Clan attendant to value his analyzed short sword so he could trade it for Red Leaf Forest copper coins.

• Colin spotted Lin Yilan’s puppet avatar in a private box and considered how he might find and kill her, though he questioned why he felt compelled to do so.
• A Spirit Shaman Clan auctioneer presented a contract for 137 trained Children of Crimson and described their abilities while offering them for a starting price of 100,000 Redleaf Coins or a suitable mysterious item.
• Colin recognized that the Children of Crimson had been mentally broken and thought of Survivors whom Fallen Races similarly controlled and abused.
• Colin showed a brainwashed Spirit Shaman Clan attendant his rusty short sword and explained its functions, drawbacks, and solutions.
• The attendant estimated that the sword could sell for 20,000 to 30,000 Red Leaf Forest copper coins as-is, or more than 70,000 after being fully analyzed.

Colin bought several auction items, including slaves from the Fallen Races, while planning not to pay for them. After noticing the Fallen Races had secretly brought in powerful items, he prepared for an imminent war and saw their actions as a convenient justification for attacking.

• Colin bought three auction items and spent much of the auction acquiring slaves from the Fallen Races.
• A Survivor questioned the expense, and Colin implied the sellers would never collect payment.
• A prompt revealed that two more powerful items had been brought to the auction, confirming Colin’s suspicions that the Fallen Races were preparing to act against Lin Yilan and the Survivors.
• Colin ordered his people to prepare for battle and welcomed the Fallen Races’ apparent betrayal as a legitimate reason for war.
• Colin considered taking the initiative to exploit the incident and rally the Survivors behind him.

Colin and Lin Yilan discussed the Fallen Race’s captured Survivors and agreed to coordinate a rescue. Colin gave Lin Yilan the enemy territories’ locations and sent Little Girl with her to aid the infiltration.

• Lin Yilan contacted Colin through a wooden head growing from the door and asked about the missing Survivors captured by the Fallen Race.
• Colin confirmed that hundreds to a thousand Survivors and Servants had been taken to the Fallen Race’s territories, where most were likely being held for later sacrifices.
• Lin Yilan said she could help the Survivors visiting the islands escape, while Colin offered to provide the territories’ locations so she could find or protect the captives.
• Lin Yilan accepted Colin’s proposal, and he told her to take Little Girl along for her ability to share the trait of being unknowable.
• Little Girl asked Lin Yilan whether she had a brain, and Colin introduced Little Girl’s abilities before the infiltration began.

Lin Yilan agreed to protect the people at the beginning of the battle while Colin promised to take control of the fighting. Meanwhile, the Fallen Race debated whether to attack, and the Spirit Shaman Clan’s Godchosen urged them to seize the chance and fight.

• Colin gave the Little Girl a special talisman, and Lin Yilan agreed to take her along and protect the people at the start of the battle.
• Colin said he could take full control of the war once Lin Yilan had protected those people.
• The Fallen Race hesitated over attacking because they feared Colin’s strength and recalled the devastation at Graveyard of Peaks.
• The Spirit Shaman Clan’s Godchosen argued that Colin was stronger than Lin Yilan but likely not overwhelmingly so.
• The Spirit Shaman Clan’s Godchosen proposed sacrificing several leaders to gain power and suppress Colin, and urged the Fallen Race to give the attack a try.

The Fallen Race leaders decided to attack the Outsiders, but fighting broke out at the harbor before they had finished planning. The Spirit Shaman Clan Godchosen ordered the leaders to surround the harbor and use four mysterious items to trap the newly arrived outsider and Lin Yilan.

• The Fallen Race leaders voted to go to war, hoping to gain a Godchosen and preserve the balance of power.
• An explosion erupted at the Outsiders’ harbor, where Sea-Kin and other Remnants were already fighting the Outsiders and their puppets.
• The Spirit Shaman Clan Godchosen accused the other leaders of starting the attack, while the elderly Sea-Kin denied acting alone.
• The Spirit Shaman Clan Godchosen ordered the leaders to surround the harbor, block escape routes, and activate four items against the newly arrived outsider and Lin Yilan.

Roger announced that the Fallen Race had betrayed the Empire, turning public anger into a war mobilization as Li Hang’s fleet raced toward the Red Leaf Forest Archipelago. The attack began at the harbor, where Sea-Kin ambushed the confused Survivors.

• A prepared announcement spread through the Empire-controlled channel, accusing the Fallen Race of using the trade fair as a conspiracy to hunt Survivors.
• Roger addressed a crowd of more than a thousand Survivors, described the danger facing Colin and Lin Yilan, and announced conscription and wartime mobilization.
• Li Hang ended the fleet’s drill, sacrificed captured Fallen Race members for the Sea God’s blessing, and ordered the warships toward the archipelago.
• Roger and Li Hang agreed that victory was essential to securing the Empire’s rear base and uniting its people.
• Survivors on the Third Ring Archipelago received confusing warnings as the harbor exploded and Sea-Kin attacked from all directions.

Colin’s preparations helped the Survivors rally against the Fallen Races, but a Spirit Shaman Clan Godchosen blocked the Light Chasers’ escape. At the trade fair, Colin’s group was trapped with a dangerous ash-filled urn and faced two leader-class monsters, and Colin responded to the Ghoul’s attack on Shana with a blinding strike.

• Colin’s imperial forces gathered the fleeing Survivors, while invitation letters turned into automatons that helped them fight.
• The Light Chasers blasted a path through the Fallen Races, but a Spirit Shaman Clan Godchosen raised a rune barrier and demanded the living sacrifices.
• Colin’s group found the trade fair sealed inside a gray-white space by an open urn whose drifting ashes threatened to contaminate reality and turn them into puppets.
• Colin recognized that a Ghoul and a werewolf were guarding the urn and preparing to stop them from closing it.
• The Ghoul sent black mist toward Shana, and Colin answered with a blinding light that pierced its defenses.

Colin killed the werewolf and the hyena-like humanoid, then acquired and sealed two dangerous mysterious items. After discovering a Godchosen was fighting at the harbor, he sent Shana and the others toward a safe zone and headed there to confront the enemy.

• Colin used a burst of light to kill the werewolf and retrieve the Madman's Leg Bone from its corpse.
• Colin examined the Leg Bone, learned it could grant power from above the stars at the cost of lifespan, and sealed it in his Inventory.
• Colin sealed the urn after assessing its area-locking effect and the danger of leaving it open too long.
• As the black-and-white aura faded, Colin sensed a Godchosen fighting at the harbor and another mysterious item battling Lin Yilan's puppet avatar.
• Colin ordered Shana, Doris, and the others to reach the safe zone, gave Shana Thorn Song (Volume One), and sped toward the harbor.

Colin arrived at Red Leaf Forest Three-Ring Island and used his shield to isolate himself and the Spirit Shaman Clan’s Godchosen in a fair battle, halting the storm and disrupting the enemy’s mystical power. The chapter left the two facing each other, unable to draw on their divine connection, as Colin made no move to attack.

• Number One led the Lamp Bearers in defending the Survivors against the Spirit Shaman Clan’s Godchosen, whose flesh-and-blood book fueled a violent gale and threatened them with its influence.
• The Spirit Shaman Clan’s coffin-lid item suppressed Lin Yilan’s puppets, while the gale battered the Lamp Bearers and hurled some of them into the air.
• Colin descended in a blinding Domain of Light, calming the storm and dissolving the runes that sealed the area.
• Colin requested a fair battle with the Godchosen using his shield, separating them from their surroundings and severing the Godchosen’s connection to his god.
• The Godchosen sensed that attacking would bring unavoidable harm, while Colin also refrained from striking.

Colin watched the Book of Flesh and Blood kill its Godchosen bearer and grow into a spreading tree of flesh that threatened to turn the Duel Arena into a regional disaster. As it began to overpower the Shield of Justice, Colin prepared to intervene, but the Shield called out that two duel rules remained.

• Colin declared that neither side could use mysterious items, and the book briefly fell closed before it began to stir again.
• The book seized and drained its Godchosen bearer, devoured him, and trapped his flaming dagger in a mass of flesh.
• The book grew into a tree of flesh and blood, and the Shield of Justice fought it while Colin remained unable to attack without suffering true damage.
• Colin realized the Duel Arena could break and the book could consume everyone nearby, so he prepared Recovery Cards to intervene.
• The Shield of Justice called out that two duel rules remained, and Colin understood it was seeking his help as the book's power threatened to overwhelm it.

Colin used the Shield of Justice to impose rules that crippled the Book of Flesh, then sealed it with a hunter’s dagger. He returned to the battlefield as the Fallen Race realized their Godchosen was gone, and his power weighed heavily on them.

• Colin vowed not to open his eyes or speak, forcing the Book of Flesh to obey the same rules as the Shield of Justice punished its attempts to grow mouths and eyes.
• The Shield of Justice and the dark dome weakened the Book of Flesh until it withered, and Colin used a flaming hunter’s dagger to seal it again.
• Colin put the Book of Flesh in his backpack as the Duel Arena vanished; the Shield of Justice warned that it could still summon a battlefield but could no longer grant three vows.
• Colin returned to find the battle outside in a stalemate, with Shana and the other Light Chasers gaining ground against the Fallen Race.
• The Fallen Race noticed that their Godchosen had vanished, and Colin released his power to weigh down the gathered enemies.