Recaps

Jia Xiu explained to Minister Odysseus that a sophisticated spell concealed an entire plane by checking mana fluctuations and diverting failed attempts into another stretch of void. He concluded that sampling made the spell’s password a range of possible fluctuations, leaving exhaustive search as a potential way through, and proposed seeking the Empire’s cooperation.

• Odysseus worried that studying the encryption might expose the hidden plane to the Devil Race, but Jia Xiu said he would test the barrier without destroying the spell.
• Jia Xiu explained that the spell combined encryption, concealment, spatial transfer, and visual manipulation, while failed mana checks sent intruders into a different stretch of void.
• Jia Xiu said sampling made multiple mana fluctuations produce the same result, so they could search a range of possible inputs rather than find one exact password.
• Jia Xiu planned to study the sampling precision and conversion algorithm so computers could search more quickly, but Odysseus warned the Empire might have a backdoor in its passage device.
• Jia Xiu proposed telling the Emperor about their research and cooperating openly with the Empire.

Jia Xiu and Odysseus sought the Caster Association president’s approval to investigate the encrypted hidden plane, and the president ordered them to make their efforts conspicuous to test the Empire’s response. After the Empire’s emperor arrived in person, he asked to meet the lead researchers and promised to explain everything.

• Jia Xiu planned computer-simulated and brute-force methods to crack the plane’s encryption, while preparing to copy more spell fragments from the void.
• Odysseus brought Jia Xiu to the Caster Association president, who approved the investigation and ordered them to make their activity obvious to the Empire.
• Jia Xiu used Space Maintenance Department personnel to amplify the mana fluctuations from opening the passage, and the team prepared to test both cracking methods with the coming Unit Two prototype.
• The Empire’s emperor arrived without prior notice and asked to meet the primary researchers so he could explain the hidden plane.

The emperor of the Ukmak Empire revealed that his consciousness combined with one inherited from the Ukemak Plane, and explained that he had come to this world to fight the Devil Race and find his homeland. Jia Xiu told him the Ukemak Plane appeared to be hidden rather than destroyed, and the emperor demanded to know whether the association could reach it.

• The emperor explained that generations of Ukmak emperors had fused their consciousness with his inherited consciousness from another plane and that he had established the empire to defeat the Devil Race.
• The emperor described the Ukemak people’s long war against the Devil Race and said their homeland had disappeared from detection after their people were betrayed and lost contact with it.
• The emperor confirmed that his homeland was called Ukemak and described its magic as specializing in combining spells with living creatures.
• The chairman asked Jia Xiu to explain what he knew about the Ukemak Plane, and Jia Xiu said a hidden plane still existed at its coordinates.
• The emperor struck the table when the chairman said the association would explore the plane and asked him to explain the betrayal that had divided the Ukemak people.

The president questioned the Imperial Emperor about the Ukemak people, the Kamara people, and their war against the Devil Race, while Jia Xiu realized Paula might be a Kamara. After the emperor left, Jia Xiu urged the association to enter the Ukemak Plane and pursue a weapon that could potentially wipe out the Devil Race.

• The Imperial Emperor described how the Ukemak and Kamara people had once cooperated, then said the Kamara people had fled during a stalemate with the Devil Race; his account revealed that the Ukemak people had segregated and exploited them.
• The emperor said Kamara magic represented spells with long strings of numbers, and Jia Xiu connected that technique to Paula, whom he had encountered in Gawad, while hiding his suspicion that she was Kamara.
• The president asked whether Kamara people remained on Ukemak and what technology the Ukemak people used against the Devil Race; the emperor described Demon-Eating Microbes that harmed and weakened Devils.
• The emperor declined to accompany the association to Ukemak, explaining that he could not remain impartial about his homeland and could not leave his war-torn empire.
• After the emperor left, Jia Xiu argued that they had to visit Ukemak because the microbes could enable a healing-based weapon, and he told the president it might have a ten percent chance of wiping out the Devil Race.

Jia Xiu’s plan to kill large numbers of Devil Race members with healing magic won the Caster Association’s approval, shifting its priority from reclaiming the Northern Wasteland to pursuing the Devil Race’s complete eradication. The Association assembled an elite team to enter the Ukemak Plane and find the Demon-Eating Microbes, and the group stood ready to depart.

• Jia Xiu demonstrated his method on one Devil Race member and estimated that a strike might kill tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand under ideal conditions.
• Master Larven endorsed the plan, and the Caster Association approved committing its resources to testing it and investigating the Ukemak Plane.
• The Association decided to send a streamlined mission team through the planar passage and hired four prime Legends from the Adventurer Association to protect the navigators and passage.
• The mission team selected Jia Xiu, Master Larven, Director Odysseus, Aurelius, Gillianis, President Nico, and Justina to search for the Demon-Eating Microbes.
• The assembled team prepared to leave for the Ukemak Plane.

Jia Xiu and his team tested Unit Two, then used it to crack the Ukemak Plane’s encryption spell while studying the surviving records and preparing for exploration. After days of waiting, Unit Two breached the encryption, leaving the team ready to investigate the hidden plane.

• Jia Xiu started Unit Two and oversaw two days of tests, which showed that it exceeded its performance goals and that its biological-consciousness golem grew more proficient with use.
• Jia Xiu connected Unit Two to the planar passage and began using it to crack the Ukemak Plane’s encryption spell.
• Jia Xiu studied the emperor’s records about the Ukemak people while Gillianis completed a translation spell based on the emperor’s dictionary.
• The computer team received a message announcing that the encryption had been breached.

Jia Xiu led the expedition through the Ukemak Plane’s crystal wall and onto a habitable planet, where the team established a passageway back to the Association. The explorers then discovered a party of human-like people preparing to enter a ruin, and Jia Xiu realized they were talking about a hero battling a dragon.

• Larven generated verification mana fluctuations, allowing the team to pass through the encrypted spell and the crystal wall.
• Odysseus used Justina’s mana to teleport the team to a forest, where they confirmed the environment was safe.
• Jia Xiu assigned the adventurers to scout while the rest of the team surveyed the area and established a fixed passageway to Association headquarters.
• Nico detected people near a collapsed ruin, and the team teleported to observe them from a distance.
• Jia Xiu used the Rune Eye to understand the people’s conversation and heard one call another a Brave Hero who would conquer an evil ruin.

Jia Xiu’s group incapacitated a Hero party in the ruins and learned that the Ukemak Plane had countless Heroes who fought a recurring Demon King. Jia Xiu suspected a god was manipulating the plane like a game, and planned to investigate a city and possibly pose as a Hero while searching for the Demon-Eating Microbe.

• Jia Xiu’s group followed the Hero party into the ruins invisibly and watched them defeat monsters and find a treasure chest that seemed deliberately placed.
• Master Larven put the Hero party and their magical creatures to sleep, while Dean Nico and Gillianis began studying their memories and language.
• Jia Xiu inspected the treasure and defeated monsters, finding clues that suggested the ruins and perhaps the entire Ukemak Plane had been arranged like a game by a god.
• Gillianis adapted a spell to let the group communicate in the local language, and Dean Nico learned that many Heroes pulled a Hero’s Sword and set out to defeat a Demon King resembling a Pit Fiend.
• Jia Xiu decided the group would enter a major city to investigate records and the Demon King, and said he might obtain a Hero identity to join the local parties.

Jia Xiu’s group split up to investigate the Demon King and the city while searching for clues about the Demon-Eating Microbe. In the city, Jia Xiu discovered that the Hero selection sword used a random-number spell, and he realized he might be able to alter the odds of someone drawing it.

• Jia Xiu divided the team, sending Master Larven, Aurelius, and Minister Odysseus toward the Demon King’s castle while he, Justina, Gillianis, and President Nico entered the city in disguise.
• Jia Xiu’s group learned that the locals treated Demon King subjugations as routine entertainment because Heroes had defeated sixty-six Demon Kings in succession, and Jia Xiu connected the system’s start to the Imperial Emperor’s arrival on the Mainland Plane.
• Jia Xiu’s group went to observe the Hero testing ceremony, where a sword was set in a stone on a wooden platform.
• President Nico found magic on the stone, and Jia Xiu recognized its spell format as related to the plane’s encryption magic.
• Jia Xiu analyzed the spell and concluded that it generated a random number to choose Heroes, then realized he might be able to change the range that determined whether the sword could be drawn.

Jia Xiu altered the sword-in-the-stone spell to create a hero and discovered that prayer here generated faith without connecting it to a god, even as a divine-like blessing followed. After learning the hero’s quest might lead to the Demon-Eating Microbes, he and his companions considered bypassing the required trials and going straight to the treasure vault.

• Jia Xiu explained that the sword-in-the-stone test used a random number to select heroes and decided to observe what happened when someone succeeded.
• Jia Xiu secretly modified the stone’s spell so the next person to try would become a hero, and a determined man pulled out the sword.
• Justina told Jia Xiu that the new hero’s prayer generated faith without establishing a connection to any god, though a divine-like blessing soon descended on him.
• Jia Xiu concluded that the Ukemak Plane might allow faith to be wielded without a god as intermediary and decided to investigate that after pursuing the Demon-Eating Microbes.
• Jia Xiu read the Hero’s Book, learned that the hero had to earn medals by defeating beasts before opening a treasure vault, and shared the information with his companions.
• Justina suggested going directly to the vault, and the group noted that they had not entered the plane by the proper means of opening its door.

Jia Xiu’s squad found the hidden treasury by using Dean Nico’s calculations, bypassed its protected entrance, and recovered a bottle containing the suspected Demon-Eating Microbe. Jia Xiu sent the bottle back to camp for analysis and searched the altar for clues about how the weapon was replenished.

• Dean Nico mapped the landmarks and calculated the treasury’s location, leading Jia Xiu’s squad to its entrance in the desert.
• Jia Xiu examined the medal slots and traced the door’s control spell to an unprotected node inside the rock.
• Gillianis transformed Jia Xiu into an earth elemental, allowing him to reach the node and open the massive stone door from within.
• Jia Xiu’s squad crossed the treasury and found a bottle matching the weapon depicted in its mural.
• Jia Xiu examined a drop of the bottle’s liquid under a microscope, saw microorganisms, and ordered Dean Nico to teleport the bottle to camp for the Association.
• Jia Xiu searched the altar for signs of how the bottle had been placed there and replenished.

Jia Xiu and the others discovered that a living, mechanical tube carried fresh Demon-Eating Microbe bottles from deep underground, so they descended to investigate its source. There, Justina found beetle-like workers in a vast production area, while the squad learned that Ukemak’s fake Demon King and heroic campaigns were part of a planned system.

• Jia Xiu triggered the vault door again, and Principal Nico found that a new bottle rose through a writhing tube beneath the altar rather than arriving by teleportation.
• Jia Xiu, Principal Nico, Gillianis, and Justina descended into the Abyss, while Gillianis flew down and Justina jumped without spell protection.
• Master Larven reported that the Demon King was a modified organism with a powerful second phase, and that illusions made heroes believe they had defeated it and ascended while they were actually transported underground.
• After learning that the Demon King’s transport passage also led underground, Jia Xiu’s group continued down the tube, and Odysseus’s group decided to jump after them.
• Justina reached a vast underground area and saw beetle-like creatures working without noticing her; she and Jia Xiu suspected they were being used to produce Demon-Eating Microbe.

Jia Xiu explored the underground Demon-Eating Microbe facility, collected insects and ore for research, and discovered that someone was still developing a stronger weapon against the Devil Race. He teleported toward the researcher's location, where he met Master Larven and found a massive door opening onto white light, apparently leading to the one and only god of the Ukemak Plane.

• Jia Xiu learned from Gillianis that the underground facility contained no people or corpses, then examined the furnace-like structure that supplied the Demon-Eating Microbe.
• Jia Xiu and Justina investigated the insect workers and found that small insects were closely associated with the ore and the microbe's production.
• Jia Xiu arranged for the Association to take samples of three insect types and one type of ore, and learned that the microbe could badly wound Devils and Demons of every rank.
• Jia Xiu followed the magical fluctuations to research rooms and found records showing that someone was trying to develop a much stronger Demon-Eating Microbe.
• Jia Xiu persuaded Principal Nico and the others to use a fixed-point teleportation spell, where they found Master Larven and heard a huge door open toward a field of white light.

Jia Xiu’s group entered the underground laboratory and met Mother Goddess, an aggregate of the Ukemak Plane’s gods. As Mother Goddess recalled how the Ukemak and Kamara people turned against each other, Jia Xiu realized that its account of their relationship sounded like an abusive family dynamic.

• Jia Xiu and Master Larven compared their findings about the Demon King and the Demon-Eating Microbes before agreeing to enter the open door.
• Jia Xiu’s group chose to investigate the god despite having completed their mission, then discovered a vast laboratory containing a familiar insect resembling a Quaternary Insect.
• The group met an apparently ordinary young man who called himself Mother and asked how they had found the plane.
• Jia Xiu explained that his group had come for Demon-Eating Microbes to use against the Devil Race, and Mother Goddess learned that the outsiders were still fighting them.
• Mother Goddess recalled teaching knowledge to the Ukemak and Kamara brothers, and Jia Xiu concluded that its account framed the Kamara people’s departure from an oppressive arrangement as a rebellion against their original family.

Jia Xiu questioned the Mother Goddess about the Ukemak Plane’s frozen civilization, its staged Demon King battles, and her rejection of divine authority. He struck a deal to resolve the Devil Race in exchange for her method of letting believers use divine power freely, then left with his group as Justina asked what would become of the Mainland Plane’s gods.

• Jia Xiu told the Mother Goddess that the Ukemak and Kamara people had survived and developed on other planes.
• The Mother Goddess explained that she had restricted the Ukemak people’s development and created the Demon King as a continuing goal to protect the race and give it hope.
• The Mother Goddess revealed that gods had relinquished divine authority so believers could draw power from it directly, and that the gods survived by taking over successive bodies.
• Jia Xiu offered to eliminate the Devil Race in exchange for the technique of stripping away divine authority, and the Mother Goddess agreed.
• Jia Xiu’s group left the Ukemak Plane, and Justina asked Jia Xiu what would happen to the Mainland Plane’s gods.

Jia Xiu briefed the Ukmak emperor on the Ukemak Plane and led the Association’s effort to recreate Demon-Eating Microbes and develop the Fat Man Plan against the Devil Race. Meanwhile, Justina reconsidered why she had become a god and realized she had never wanted to become one.

• Jia Xiu and Master Larven explained to the Ukmak emperor that the Ukemak Plane’s people were trapped in a cycle imposed by the Mother Goddess, who was also researching Demon-Eating Microbes to fight the Devil Race.
• The emperor promised unconditional support for research targeting the Devil Race, and Jia Xiu said the Association was collecting samples to replicate Demon-Eating Microbe production.
• Jia Xiu organized the Association’s work on the Fat Man Plan, dividing it among teams responsible for mass production, dispersal, anti-teleportation, delivery, and the healing spell’s calculations.
• Justina worried that Jia Xiu might strip gods of their divine authority, and Jia Xiu asked her why she had wanted to become a god.
• After thinking for several days in Jia Xiu’s laboratory, Justina concluded that she had never wanted to become a god in the first place.

Jia Xiu and Justina discussed whether gods needed to exist, and Justina said she could relinquish her divine authority if it served a more meaningful purpose. Meanwhile, Jia Xiu’s project to build “Fatty,” a weapon against the Devil Race, reached its first assembly stage, though its restraint system remained unfinished.

• Justina told Jia Xiu she had never particularly wanted to become a god and could give up her divine authority if it could be used for something better.
• Jia Xiu estimated that testing the Mother Goddess’s method and negotiating over divine authority would take at least a few years, so Justina would remain the God of Papers for now.
• Jia Xiu developed a system dividing known Devil Race species and ranks into sixteen healing tiers, allowing shared spell parameters for members in each tier.
• The Demon-Eating Microbe team presented a spore-like dispersal system that could cover a two-kilometer radius, while another team reported progress on long-range spell deployment.
• Jia Xiu proposed assembling the completed modules for an experiment despite the unfinished restraint system, and the president questioned why he called it blowing the weapon up.

Jia Xiu and the Association conducted the first large-scale “Fatty” spell experiment, using Demon-Eating Microbes and healing magic against more than two hundred devils. The experiment killed nearly all targets but exposed weaknesses against burrowing devils and extreme magical defenses, and Jia Xiu proposed using a spell called Descent to control the devils.

• The Association prepared a remote experimental field with devils in varied locations and under different protective conditions.
• The team teleported Unit Two and a massive package of Demon-Eating Microbes into the sky above the target area, then released the microbes and programmed healing fluctuations.
• Observers reported that all devils in the central area and at the one-hundred-meter range had died, and nearly all other targets were also killed.
• The researchers found that the microbes affected buried devils less effectively, while only a few devils with extreme layers of magical protection survived.
• Jia Xiu noted that the Magic-Energy Computer needed protection and proposed the spell Descent as a way to control the devils.

Jia Xiu inspected the results of the Demon-Eating Microbe and healing-spell experiment, confirming that it devastated most Devil Race specimens while revealing weaknesses against underground targets and internal defenses. He then directed the control-spell team to adapt the Sect Master's Descent spell into a wide-area burst of light to keep Devil Race targets from escaping, and the team agreed to produce it within one to two weeks.

• Jia Xiu and the developers inspected the testing ground and confirmed that nearly all Devil Race specimens within five hundred meters had died or been rendered unable to move.
• Jia Xiu concluded that underground specimens survived because the Demon-Eating Microbes could not reach them quickly, while heavily protected specimens still suffered serious internal injuries.
• The casters discussed ways to drive the microbes underground and began competing to improve microbial attacks and protective spells.
• Jia Xiu told the control-spell team that its task was only to prevent the Devil Race from fleeing or teleporting during the spell's opening seconds.
• Jia Xiu proposed adapting the Sect Master's Descent spell into a powerful, wide-area light that would draw nearby Devil Race toward it, and he rejected requests to make the plan more perfect.
• The control-spell team agreed to produce an amplified version within one to two weeks.

Jia Xiu’s team completed a successful test of the “Fat Man” weapon, which used blinding control magic and Demon-Eating Microbes to kill Devil Race targets, including those underground. The Association approved combat verification at Bronze Fortress, though the allied forces might capture it before the weapon was ready.

• Jia Xiu observed the modified Descent spell’s intense light control Devil Race targets and conceal the Magic-Energy Computer during the second full test.
• The team used miniature earth elementals to carry Demon-Eating Microbes underground, killing every Devil Race target placed there, though they could not overcome one target’s extensive protective spells.
• Master Dain and the researchers declared “Fat Man” a success after it met its expected objectives.
• Jia Xiu submitted the final report to the Association President, who approved combat verification on the northern battlefield.
• The President named Bronze Fortress as the target, and Jia Xiu estimated his team would need ten to fifteen days to prepare.
• The President explained that the allied forces had nearly reached Bronze Fortress, so the Association wanted the test conducted quickly before they captured it.

Baier prepared to abandon Bronze Fortress and turn his defeat into a legend, but the allied forces attacked with blinding magic and Demon-Eating Microbes. A healing spell then intensified his agony, leaving him unable to understand what the attackers had done.

• Baier assessed the allied forces’ victories and decided Bronze Fortress could not hold out for long.
• Baier planned to flee or self-destruct when the battle turned against him, hoping to build a reputation among Devils.
• A vast magic array appeared above Bronze Fortress, followed by a brilliant light that Baier could not escape.
• Demon-Eating Microbes attacked Baier, causing torment he recognized from his past.
• An unknown healing spell struck Baier and magnified his pain until he could no longer think clearly.

Arnold’s squad escorted Association researchers into Bronze Fortress to assess the effects of Fatty, finding that the Demon-Eating Microbes had killed every Devil Race member there, including Devil Archduke Baier. Back at the Association, Jia Xiu and the team confirmed the plan had exceeded its goals and turned to planning how to reach the Devil Race’s original plane.

• Arnold led his squad and the Association researchers into Bronze Fortress after a scout reported no living Devil Race members nearby.
• The group searched the silent city, collected remains, and confirmed that Demon-Eating Microbes had killed a wide range of Devil Race species.
• Arnold’s squad broke into Devil Archduke Baier’s room and found that Baier had turned entirely into sulfur, with his crown and Sawtoothed Hellfire Blade confirming his identity.
• The researchers reported Baier’s death to the Association in Larven, where Jia Xiu and the leadership celebrated Fatty’s success.
• The president called a meeting to discuss breaking through the gods of Hell and the Abyss so their strike could reach the Devil Race’s original plane.

The Caster Association gathered to find a way into Hell after realizing the Devil Race’s sealed home planes might not be completely inaccessible. After ordinary teleportation spells failed against Hell’s crystal wall, Jia Xiu proposed modifying Any Door to reverse its entrance and exit endpoints.

• The Association opened a passage to Hell and tested several teleportation spells against its crystal wall, but each attempt failed.
• Minister Odysseus reported that the crystal wall allowed mana and spell fluctuations through but obstructed the completion of teleportation structures.
• A Dwarf master suggested using leftover Gates of Hell in the Northern Wasteland, but the president explained that the gates might be closed or leave the travelers stranded.
• Jia Xiu proposed opening an Any Door from inside Hell to outside and showed a modified spell that switched the spell’s entrance and exit declarations.

Jia Xiu’s modified Any Door let the Association breach Hell’s crystal wall, and Master Larven’s detection spells revealed Hell’s desolate landscape. The Association confirmed it could enter Hell and began planning a coordinated attack on the Devils.

• Jia Xiu presented a reversed Any Door spell, but the Association’s veteran spellcasters struggled to learn how to cast it.
• Minister Odysseus successfully cast the modified spell against Hell’s crystal wall, then tried to enter the passage before Master Larven paralyzed him.
• Master Larven sent detection spells through the Any Door and showed the Association images of Hell’s vast, barren wasteland.
• Master Larven ordered the Association not to open passages to Hell without permission and said it would coordinate with other Mainland nations before attacking.
• The Association held an internal meeting to plan how to kill as many Devils as possible while minimizing losses.

The Association planned a cautious campaign to strike Devil strongholds across the Nine Hells using long-range attacks from the Mainland Plane. Jia Xiu proposed a remote teleportation system that could send strike resources into Hell and return them without exposing key personnel, and the Association settled on the plan to present to the nations.

• The Association President rejected rushing people into Hell, and the meeting agreed to prioritize long-range strikes with “Fat Man” before sending troops to clear the fortresses.
• Minister Odysseus proposed mapping the Nine Hells by opening passages at regular intervals and using Reverse Anywhere Door and detection spells to identify each layer.
• The President asked Jia Xiu to proceduralize Reverse Anywhere Door if spellcasters could not learn it quickly, and Jia Xiu said he could complete the work in under a week.
• Master Larven proposed detecting magic fluctuations to locate Devil population centers and asked Jia Xiu to expand the passage capacity of Reverse Anywhere Door.
• Jia Xiu proposed using a large teleportation array to send strike resources from the Mainland Plane into Hell and bring them back, keeping key personnel and Magic-Energy Computers safe.
• The Association accepted the plan’s overall direction and began preparing to present it to representatives of every nation.