Chapter Summaries

Lynn, Ald, and Tina witnessed Ophiuchus use Cthulhu’s statue to draw out the King in Yellow’s power and destroy its manifestation, with Ithaqua appearing briefly to shield it. After sealing the statue and escaping the collapsing domain, Ophiuchus concluded that an unknown being had taken Ithaqua into the Nightmare Rift and planned to report the discovery to the Wizard Council.

• Lynn, Ald, and Tina protected themselves from the clash between Cthulhu’s water power and the King in Yellow’s frenzied wind authority.
• Ophiuchus released Cthulhu’s statue and sent a starry serpent through the clash to attack the weakened indigenous deity controlled by the King in Yellow.
• Ithaqua appeared in the freezing gale and briefly caught the serpent’s jaws, but the serpent shattered Ithaqua and swallowed the King in Yellow’s manifestation.
• Ophiuchus sealed Cthulhu’s statue, then led Lynn, Ald, and Tina out of the collapsing domain and back to the Spirit Eye Plane.
• Ophiuchus identified Ithaqua as the God of the Atmosphere under Hastur and deduced that a being at least as powerful as the King in Yellow had taken Ithaqua into the Nightmare Rift.
• Ophiuchus decided to return to the Wizard World and report his findings to the Wizard Council.

Lynn completed his transaction with Tina, exchanging a fragment of the Spirit Eye Plane’s origin for the Rogers Family’s secret rule-refining art. As the Life God Church’s armies advanced against the old gods’ territories, Lynn returned to his Wizard Tower to use the art to accelerate his cultivation and pursue the mid-fourth level.

• After Ald and Ophiuchus left, Lynn met Tina at a volcano and gave her a fragment of the Spirit Eye Plane’s origin in exchange for the complete secret rule-refining art.
• Tina asked to remain in the Spirit Eye Plane to refine the origin fragment, and Lynn agreed.
• The Lord of Life declared that the old gods were dead, and more than a million followers marched to conquer their territories.
• Astrid and Evelyn led Lynn’s wizard legions and alchemist armies as the Life God Church swept through the old gods’ lands without reinforcements or divine intervention.
• Lynn returned to his Wizard Tower and studied Tina’s secret art, discovering how it could accelerate the refinement and comprehension of life-type rules.
• Lynn summoned the captured Rogers Family wizard’s soul origin and prepared to use the art to advance his Creation Rule comprehension.

Lynn burned the captured Rampant Thorns wizard’s life-rule comprehension to advance his grasp of the Creation Rule, while the resulting rule fluctuations threatened the Hall of Life. Tina contained the overflow, and Lynn completed his cultivation with a faint Creation Rule field around him.

• Lynn extracted Rampant Thorns’s mental power and life-rule comprehension, then burned the comprehension to reveal the branches of the Rule of Life and study the Creation Rule.
• Rule fluctuations leaked from Lynn’s cultivation chamber, awakening dormant plants and threatening to force those in the Hall of Life into the instincts of reproduction and other life rules.
• Tina noticed the overflow, recognized that Lynn had begun cultivating the rule secret art, and confined the fluctuations around his Wizard Tower with a starlight barrier.
• Tina returned to Hedrey and said Lynn might soon become a figure whose power rivaled the Rogers Family’s Morning Star Extremity.
• Lynn ended his secluded cultivation with a faint Creation Rule field, and his panel showed his Meditation Method at 20000 / 20000 and his World Tree at Early Fourth Level, Creation Rule.

Lynn absorbed the Spirit of the Blue Sky’s accumulated faith power to raise his mental strength and break through to the middle stage of Level Four. After the Lord of Life conquered the Spirit Eye Plane and established a new order, Lynn completed his breakthrough by forming a Creation Rule field.

• Lynn reviewed his cultivation gains and concluded that Wizard Rampant Thorns still had enough unextracted rule comprehension to support his progress for a while.
• The Lord of Life’s church conquered the Spirit Eye Plane, took control of the Empire, and made Buma Duchy the new religious and political center.
• Lynn traveled to the Lord of Life’s island and took the Spirit of the Blue Sky, whose faith power had accumulated across the plane.
• Lynn converted the Spirit of the Blue Sky’s faith power into mental strength while the Lord of Life guarded his seclusion.
• Lynn’s mental strength merged with the Creation Rules, forming a rule field and advancing him from the early to the middle stage of Level Four.

After breaking through to mid-level Level 4, Lynn decided to join the Wizard Council’s operation at Nightmare Rift and prepared a way to retrieve the Spirit of the Blue Sky if danger arose. Deep within the rift, Shar suppressed Saier’s madness and gave him another chance to refine the Old One Ithaqua.

• Lynn considered how to advance his Morning Star cultivation and resolved to kill Iro for revenge and his life-rule comprehension.
• After receiving the Lord of Life’s message about the Wizard Council’s operation at Nightmare Rift, Lynn chose to participate rather than use his exemption.
• Lynn sent the Spirit of the Blue Sky to the Lord of Life and set up a Golden Balance anchor point so he could retrieve them if the battle went badly.
• The chapter revealed that Saier had lost control after absorbing an Ancient God creation and becoming corrupted by Ithaqua.
• Shar suppressed Saier with the Sea of Darkness and allowed him another chance to refine Ithaqua, warning that he would be discarded if he failed.

Shar discovered that the bearer of a Balance Remnant had visited the Nightmare Rift and decided to keep the rift intact until the person returned. As Saier struggled to suppress Ithaqua, the Wizard Council gathered for a new assault, with Lynn joining the force.

• Shar recognized the Balance Remnant's lingering aura in the Nightmare Rift and planned to wait there to seize its bearer.
• Dozens of Morning Star Wizards gathered to await Saier and discuss the Wizard Council's renewed preparations to attack.
• Iro confessed its role in the conflict with the humans, and Flet punished it by severing one arm and one leg before offering them to the Evil Wizard.
• The Evil Wizard sent Saier news of the Wizard Council's movements, and Saier passed the information to Shar while continuing to suppress Ithaqua.
• Morning Star Wizards descended over the Nightmare Rift, and Lynn joined them for the coming battle.

Lynn joined the Wizard Council’s elite Morning Star force outside the Nightmare Rift, where Light of Discipline granted them broad wartime authority and ordered them to destroy the Meteorite Council’s stronghold. The Golden Pen Sage then used a stroke of his quill to create a stable passage through the rift’s formations to its Core Area, and the force prepared to enter.

• Lynn surveyed the gathered Morning Star Wizards and reflected that he was only a pawn in a conflict involving Radiant Moon powers.
• Light of Discipline announced that the wizards could form teams or act alone, kill anyone who obstructed them, and destroy as much as possible inside the Nightmare Rift.
• The Golden Pen Sage compressed Lynn and the other Morning Star Wizards into a two-dimensional painting, making them feel that he could erase them from existence.
• Lynn sensed that his Golden Balance could help him escape if necessary, then watched the Golden Pen Sage’s quill descend over the painting.
• The Golden Pen Sage drew a line through the rift’s formations to the Core Area, creating a permanent passage while leaving the formations intact.

Lynn entered the Nightmare Rift and found that a strange darkness had swallowed the light around the City of Machinery. He discovered the city’s lower levels were abandoned, avoided contacting his monitored friends, and decided to reach Lori in the elven encampment.

• Lynn traveled alone toward the City of Machinery after the Morning Star Wizards identified the locations of the former ten great cities.
• Lynn illuminated the City of Machinery with law-infused light, landed on its outer deck, and confirmed that the darkness harmed even his powerful body.
• Lynn entered the deserted third level and found damage and bloodstains left from the Meteorite Council’s conquest.
• Lynn decided not to contact Daven, Martha, and Chris because the Meteorite Council was monitoring them, and chose to contact Lori instead.
• Lori left the elven territory on the seventh level with several attendants while Meteorite Council patrols watched without intervening.

Lynn met Lori and Lina in the abandoned third level of the City of Machinery, secretly learned information about the Iro Tree, and arranged for Lori to shelter his old friends. As Lynn prepared to confront his enemies, more than a dozen Morning Star Wizards attacked the city, unaware that its defenders were gone.

• Lori brought Lina to meet Lynn, who asked Lori to bring Daven, Martha, and Chris to the third level and keep them safe while he was away.
• Lynn used Lori and Lina’s emotional reactions to obtain information about the Iro Tree without questioning or searching them.
• Lynn left without revealing his plans or his Morning Star rank, intending to deal with the Puppet Wizard, the Iro Tree, and his old grudges.
• More than a dozen Morning Star Wizards from the Wizard Council arrived outside the City of Machinery, where the Meteorite Council’s Morning Star Wizards were absent.
• The attackers unleashed powerful law sorcery against the City of Machinery, shaking the city and collapsing buildings as its inhabitants mistook the assault for an energy failure.
• Lynn sensed the attack from the third level and realized the Morning Star Wizards had arrived.

Lynn infiltrated the besieged City of Machinery, killed Puppet Wizard, and freed the imprisoned Morning Star Wizards. He led them toward the seventh level to confront the elven wizard guarding the city, while the elves searched for Lori as Lord Iro remained in secluded recovery.

• Morning Star Wizards attacked the City of Machinery while Lynn slipped through its defenses and reached the energy core.
• Lynn killed Puppet Wizard with a spear formed from his mutated arm, then told the other imprisoned wizards he had come on a Wizard Council mission.
• Lynn destroyed the cage restrictions and freed the Morning Star Wizards, whose powers began to recover.
• Lynn persuaded the freed wizards to accompany him to the seventh level and attack the Meteorite Council wizard stationed there.
• Prince Alton asked where Lori was and ordered someone to bring her maidservant, as Lord Iro remained in secluded recovery.

Lynn led the rescued Morning Star Wizards to the seventh level, where they confronted the badly wounded Iro Tree. After revealing to Master Warhammer that he was the wizard Lynn his students had known, Lynn attacked Iro with the power of the Creation Rule, intending to avenge Spirit Eye Wizard and feed the World Tree.

• Alton learned that Lori had gone to the third level and set out to bring her back while the other elven wizards went to wait by Iro.
• As Lynn led the Morning Star Wizards upward, Master Warhammer recognized his resemblance to a wizard named Lynn and learned that Lynn was his former acquaintance.
• Lynn told Master Warhammer that Daven and Chris were safe on the third level and urged the group to prioritize defeating the elven Morning Star Wizard.
• Lynn and the other Morning Star Wizards reached the seventh level and suppressed the elven Level 3 Great Wizards gathered around the injured Iro Tree.
• Lynn resolved to avenge Spirit Eye Wizard and let the World Tree absorb Iro, then struck the Iro Tree with an attack formed from his mental power and the Creation Rule.

Lynn and the rescued Morning Star Wizards attacked the wounded Iro Tree together in the City of Machinery, overwhelming its defenses. Lynn transformed into a vast tree imbued with the Creation Rule and charged as Iro Tree struggled to withstand the assault.

• Lynn formed a giant sword from his spiritual power and the Creation Rule, then struck at the shield protecting the Iro Tree.
• Master Warhammer and the other Morning Star Wizards joined Lynn's attack, unleashing mechanical weapons and rule-based spells against the Iro Tree.
• Iro Tree woke in confusion, recognized the attackers as the imprisoned Morning Star Wizards, and tried to alert Flet as the City of Machinery shook.
• The combined attacks shattered Iro Tree's shield and wounded its canopy and roots, while lingering rule powers continued to torment it.
• Lynn taunted Iro Tree over its betrayal of Spirit Eye Wizard and challenged it to a supposedly fair fight as he transformed into a colossal tree and charged.

Lynn revealed that Ivgried and the Genesis Tree had fused into the gold-and-silver World Tree, then used its leaves and the Rogers Family’s rule secret art to attack Iro. The Mechanical Wizards kept Iro pinned down as Lynn’s leaves began stealing his rule comprehension.

• Lynn summoned the transformed World Tree, revealing his identity as a Nature Wizard and shocking Master Warhammer and the other Mechanical Wizards.
• Iro recognized Lynn as a Nature Wizard and charged at the World Tree in Tree Man form, demanding a fair fight.
• Lynn told the Mechanical Wizards to keep attacking, and their combined spells prevented Iro from reaching him.
• Lynn drew a soul origin from the azure crystal ball and combined the Rogers Family’s rule secret art with the World Tree’s gold-and-silver leaves.
• Iro blocked the incoming leaves with a shield made from his arms, but Lynn detonated them and activated the secret art, stealing Iro’s power of rule comprehension.

Lynn and the Mechanical Wizards defeated the Iro Tree in the City of Machinery, leaving him alive but unconscious and ripe for Lynn to harvest. Meanwhile, the Dark Goddess Shar answered the Wizard Council’s incursion by disguising her power as Saier’s and sending Morning Star Wizards to confront the intruders.

• Morning Star Wizards attacked the City of Machinery from outside while Lynn and his allies besieged its sole defender within.
• Duke Flet of Windshadow received a distress signal from the Iro Tree and warned the group that the Wizard Council had sent Morning Star Wizards into the Nightmare Rift.
• The Dark Goddess Shar responded to the Wizard Council’s operation while Saier remained suppressed by the Tide of Darkness, and she sent dark water toward Flet, the Evil Wizard, and the others.
• Lynn and the Mechanical Wizards continued attacking the gravely weakened Iro Tree until his will fell silent, then cautiously stopped their assault.
• Lynn sent the World Tree’s roots into the Iro Tree, intending to swallow his body and use it as the resources he needed before advancing to level five.
• The Mechanical Wizards returned to their former residences on the seventh level of the City of Machinery to recover.

Lynn contained the Iro Tree and learned that a powerful wind-element rule constrained its battle rules, leaving him uncertain about his future path to advancement. After the City of Machinery’s Guardian Arrays shut down, Master Warhammer and the other Mechanical Wizards restored its hidden reserves and unleashed its full firepower against the raging darkness, rescuing the besieged Morning Star Wizards.

• Lynn used the World Tree and the Rogers Family's secret rule technique to absorb the Iro Tree, then sensed that a sixth-level wind-element rule had suppressed its battle rules.
• Lynn considered relying on Maple Tree and the Lord of Life's faith power, but set aside his advancement plans to assess the Nightmare Rift.
• The City of Machinery's Guardian Arrays shut down, and the Morning Star Wizards outside received word that high-energy objects were approaching.
• The darkness surged around the Morning Star Wizards, forcing them to brace for its attack as Master Warhammer and the others regained control of the City of Machinery.
• Master Warhammer and the other Mechanical Wizards activated the city's hidden energy reserves and restored its Guardian Arrays and weapons.
• The City of Machinery tore a path through the darkness, sheltered the trapped Morning Star Wizards, and blasted the darkness back hundreds of miles.

The City of Machinery rescued the Morning Star Wizards from the dark tide, but the Nightmare Rift’s darkness grew more alive and cut off contact throughout the rift. Outside, the Wizard Council’s leaders gathered to respond while Saier’s allies expected him to emerge; the chapter ended with an unseen Radiant Moon Crown confronting the vanished Golden Pen Sage.

• The City of Machinery’s shields protected the rescued Morning Star Wizards as its cannons forced the dark tide back, and they realized Wizard Qing Lin had saved them by activating the city.
• The darkness in the Nightmare Rift developed a will, produced soul-affecting whispers and strange phenomena, and trapped the wizards inside the city.
• Meteorite Council and elf Morning Star Wizards watched from the dark, unable to attack the City of Machinery without risking their people inside, and relied on Saier’s promised return.
• The dark tide severed communication among the ten cities and cut off contact between the wizards inside the Nightmare Rift and the Council outside.
• At Furnace Stone’s island, Hercules, Aquila, Ophiuchus, and Sirius joined the expedition’s leaders while Green comforted Alice and told her the crisis had outgrown her earlier mistakes.
• Green and Alice wondered whether Furnace Stone’s Radiant Moon Crown had arrived, unaware that the Crown had come and gone to find the Golden Pen Sage; a coarse voice then challenged the Sage.

Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent discussed the disturbance in the Nightmare Rift and concluded that Dark Goddess Shar was likely searching for fragments of the Golden Balance, a Supreme Authority, within Wizard Civilization. They prepared to confront her, confident that their fellow Radiant Moon Crowns and the World-Patrolling Grand Array could support them.

• Golden Pen Sage watched more than a hundred Morning Star Wizards enter the Nightmare Rift while compressing reality into a two-dimensional scroll.
• Soaring Sky Baleful Intent arrived and challenged Golden Pen Sage to stop observing and retrieve the creature inside the rift.
• Soaring Sky Baleful Intent revealed that the clues pointed to Dark Goddess Shar as the true source behind the upheaval.
• Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent considered Shar's possible motives, including preventing Chauntea's resurrection and seeking the Supreme Authority called the Golden Balance.
• Soaring Sky Baleful Intent said they need not fear Shar's avatar because other Radiant Moon Crowns and the World-Patrolling Grand Array could aid them.

Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent suspected Saier was weakened and decided to send Morning Star Extremities into the Nightmare Rift to test him. Trapped inside the City of Machinery as the dark tide battered it, Lynn prepared to leave with the Golden Balance if the Wizard Council failed to act before the city ran out of energy.

• Golden Pen Sage concluded that Saier's dark tide was likely a counterattack and that Saier's condition was poor, while Soaring Sky Baleful Intent discussed the danger posed by Dark Goddess Shar and the Wizard Council's mission.
• Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent decided to lend power to the Morning Star Extremities and send them into the rift to test Saier's hidden strength.
• The dark tide battered the City of Machinery, where nearly twenty Morning Star Wizards gathered in a law domain and learned from Master Warhammer that the city might last only a little over a month.
• Lynn reached the energy level, assessed the failing city, and decided he would leave with the Golden Balance if the Wizard Council did not act before the dark tide overwhelmed them.
• Lynn settled in the energy level to meditate while he waited for the Wizard Council's next move.

Hercules and the other Morning Star Extremities used power lent by Radiant Moon Crowns to drive back the darkness and rescue several cities, while the City of Machinery came close to falling. In the Nightmare Rift, a strange primordial darkness awakened and an unseen voice announced that it had finally found what it sought, leaving Flet and the Evil Wizard unable to remember its words.

• Hercules summoned Soaring Sky Baleful Intent's purple flames into a stellar whale that carved a passage through the darkness to the City of Energy.
• Dimensional Ice Soul, Light of Discipline, and other Morning Star Extremities used their borrowed Radiant Moon power to restore several cities, while the dark tide overwhelmed the City of Machinery.
• Meteorite Council wizards gathered outside the City of Machinery as its shield cracked, and Lynn sensed the crisis but confirmed the Golden Balance kept him safe.
• Flet recognized the danger of borrowing Radiant Moon power and watched the Elven Morning Star Wizards charge into the rift while he and the Evil Wizard held back.
• A primordial power erupted from deep within the Nightmare Rift, and a seductive voice said it had finally found what it sought before its words were erased from Flet and the Evil Wizard's memories.

The City of Machinery fell to the black tide, and Lynn was seized by Dark Goddess Shar when he opened a portal using the Golden Balance. Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent lost their memories of their mission, then learned that the Radiant Sun Wizard had intervened and began sealing the Nightmare Rift.

• The Guardian Array shattered, and the black tide engulfed the City of Machinery, trapping Lynn beside the extinguished Great Sun.
• Lynn opened a portal to the Hall of Life with the Golden Balance, but Shar seized his consciousness and demanded the Balance of Exchange.
• Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent sensed Shar's power and tried to act, but their memories were abruptly erased.
• A transmission told Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent that the Radiant Sun Wizard had arrived, and they realized the mission was over.
• Golden Pen Sage and Soaring Sky Baleful Intent ordered the Wizard Council forces to seal the Nightmare Rift and block all entry and exit.