Chapter Summaries

Adele used the Star Crystals she had gathered to obtain the Earth Tyrant Elixir and underwent its painful transformation, awakening as a Child of the Earth Vein. With Adele’s family assessment set for the next morning, Ian turned to preparing for his own upcoming challenge.

• Adele returned with thirty-seven Star Crystals, having traded future Starlight Potion supply rights and sold family belongings to acquire them.
• Ian gave Adele instructions for taking the Earth Tyrant Elixir, and she declared she was ready to undergo the transformation before her assessment.
• Adele drank a Neutralizing Potion and then the Earth Tyrant Elixir in Ian’s earth vein guidance array, enduring intense pain as an ancient giant bear phantom appeared behind her.
• Adele’s Time Scar and earth vein bloodlines began to merge, awakening her ability to sense earth veins and greatly strengthening her body.
• Adele confirmed that she had succeeded, and Delia embraced her while she thanked Ian.
• Ian opened the case of Star Crystals and resolved to improve himself before the next morning’s family beast arena assessment, where he would face three late-stage Second Order magical beasts in succession.

Adele Juste faced a rigged practical assessment, but her earth-vein power let her kill the Blazing Fang Flame Bear with ease. As the arena prepared to release the second creature, Ian expected her to continue overcoming the hidden interference.

• Edmond and Rodney revealed that the three creatures had been drugged and targeted Adele’s bloodline, while Ian discovered a buried Hatred Guidance Array beneath the arena.
• Delia placed Ian’s large bet on Adele winning all three matches, and Adele entered the arena as the assessment began.
• Adele sensed the array and faced the charging Blazing Fang Flame Bear without retreating.
• Adele used her earth-vein transformation to punch the Flame Bear across the arena, then broke its neck and demanded the next opponent.
• Edmond and Adrian suspected Ian had empowered Adele with a rare potion, while Ian observed that her Child of the Earth Vein trait suppressed the array.
• The second gate began to rise, and the Thunder-marked Berserk Ape’s roar came from inside.

Adele defeated the Thunder-marked Berserk Ape and an illegally concealed Shadow Demon Wolf after Edmond’s scheme delayed the third round, winning the assessment and drawing attention from her family and powerful observers. Ian collected his winnings and began absorbing Star Crystals to advance his spiritual power, while the city’s dangerous intrigue continued.

• Adele killed the Thunder-marked Berserk Ape with her earth-vein defense and strength, then exposed Edmond’s attempt to delay the next round.
• Adele sensed the Shadow Demon Wolf hidden behind the eastern wall and killed it with her Shockwave, completing the assessment in under two minutes.
• Edmond, Edwin, and Adrian reacted to Adele’s victory with hostility and interest, while Aishia showed her support and Collins reconsidered his dealings with the Edwin brothers.
• Ian met Adele after the assessment, then collected Delia’s 3,000-magic-crystal winnings from the heavily favorable odds.
• Ian began absorbing thirty-seven Star Crystals in his laboratory to raise his spiritual power elementalization, with Gaga beside him.

After seven days of training, Ian strengthened his stellar magic and revealed that his stockpiled potions and Earth Tyrant Elixirs could help Adele withstand her brothers’ blockade. He set a one-month plan to build her forces, while Gaga waited for a chance to grow stronger and fight beside him.

• Ian completed seven days of cultivation, raising his Mental Power elementalization to 20.5% and strengthening his Gravity Collapse Ball.
• Delia reported that Adele’s nephew had been sent to the border Obsidian Mining Zone and that suppliers had halted deliveries of Essence Blood and potion materials.
• Ian revealed his stock of fifty Rock Bear Potions and two hundred Starlight Potions, enough to keep the workshop operating for a month.
• Ian showed Adele two Earth Tyrant Elixirs and told her to choose two loyal, promising candidates to become Rank Two combat core members.
• Ian assigned Delia to obtain Neutralizing Potion and warned her that Edwin and the others might target her.
• Ian laid out a one-month plan to stabilize Adele’s alliance and prepare to take the initiative, while Gaga asked to grow stronger and Ian promised they could fight together in two days.

Adele visited her comatose father, Tito Juste, with Ian, who discovered that an Abyssal seed was growing inside Tito’s soul. After warning Adele that someone in the family was harming him, Ian learned Tito had entered the family secret vault shortly before his health began to decline.

• Adele brought Ian to see Tito Juste and told her father she had passed the assessment and would win the inheritance.
• Ian probed Tito’s body and found dormant Abyssal Aura contamination, including a tendril growing from Tito’s soul core.
• Ian told Adele that Tito’s coma was not an ordinary bloodline curse and that someone with access to him was responsible.
• Adele said Tito’s condition worsened after he spent two days investigating something in the family secret vault.
• On the way back, Adele asked Ian whether he ever got bored, and Ian dismissed Gaga’s suspicion that she had something left unsaid.

Ian fused Second Order Shadow Leopard Blood Essence with Gale Falcon Blood Essence for Gaga, which entered a deep transformational hibernation. After Ian killed three assassins sent to attack his workshop, he found tokens linked to canceled Juste Family records and markings resembling Edwin's Thunderhawk Guard code, while the city’s suppression continued to escalate.

• Ian used [Primordial Blood Tracing] to fuse the Blood Essence and gave it to Gaga, whose body erupted in dark silver energy before it fell into a deep transformation sleep.
• Ian sensed three intruders approaching and trapped them in an earth-vein confinement array, then killed them with his Collapse Spheres.
• Ian recovered the assassins’ tokens, recognized them as canceled entries in the Juste Family’s Dark Division roster, and noticed markings resembling Edwin's Thunderhawk Guard code.
• Ian checked on Gaga as its shadow and silver patterns fused, then watched the mist draw back into its body as it began hibernating.
• Ian saw that the Star Crystals had been drained and sensed that suppression had escalated, while old Finn discovered a fresh scratch and a faint smell of blood in the courtyard.

Ian guided Gaga through a bloodline awakening that merged its Shadow Messenger heritage with the Ancient Shadow Nightjar, evolving its abilities and making it a true Second Order Shadow Messenger. After Gaga demonstrated its new powers, Old Finn arrived to report that Miss Adele had come with several people, leaving Ian hopeful for news.

• Ian used [Primordial Blood Tracing] to guide Gaga's bloodline resonance with the Ancient Shadow Nightjar.
• Gaga's Eye of Omen evolved to reveal possible shadow trajectories, its Wind Blade Storm became [Shadow Storm], and its Shadow Jump became [Shadow Traversal].
• Gaga manifested a Second Order Shadow Domain, then told Ian it was hungry and showed him it could grow to a maximum size of one hundred meters for about fifteen minutes of full-strength fighting.
• Ian sensed that Gaga could share its enhanced vision with him, and Gaga promised to help if assassins came again.
• Old Finn told Ian that Miss Adele had arrived with quite a few people, and Ian went to meet her.

Adele assembled her parents’ remaining supporters and, with Ian’s help, began building a covert intelligence network using powerful potions. As her brothers’ alliance emerged, Neisenge began distributing the first potions while Ian continued strengthening his elementalized Mental Power.

• Adele introduced Neisenge, two Rank Two wizards, and three stewards to Ian, then showed them a list of nearly a hundred people tied to her parents.
• Ian selected fifty people in key positions for an intelligence network and offered Rock Bear Potions and Starlight Potions to secure their loyalty.
• Adele learned that Edwin’s people had carried out the assassination attempt using Adrian’s Dark Division token, confirming that the two brothers had allied; she worried that Edmond’s silence concealed a scheme.
• Adele and Ian agreed to have Neisenge oversee the consumption of the fifty potions within three days and to choose recipients carefully for the two Earth Tyrant Elixirs.
• Three days later, Neisenge gave five young ore warehouse apprentices potions and instructed them to record activity and report through an old channel without knowing one another.
• Ian absorbed Star Crystals, raising his Mental Power elementalization to 21.7%, and found that his Gravity Collapse Ball had grown stronger.

Delia collected twenty First Order bloodline Neutralizing Potions for Adele, but Edwin and Adrian’s forces ambushed her as she left the shop. After fighting off their coordinated attacks and suffering severe injuries, she prepared to use her secret art before an unknown force halted the killing blow.

• Delia paid the Old City Potion Shop four hundred High-grade Magic Stones and collected twenty Neutralizing Potions.
• The shopkeeper warned Delia that several of his old channels had stopped taking orders, and she sensed danger on her way back.
• Seven Rank Two Wizards ambushed Delia, followed by Edwin’s Thunderhawk Guard captain and Adrian’s trusted curse wizard, who demanded the potions and ordered her to come with them.
• Delia shattered Adele’s communication rune to send a distress signal, then used Wind Assault: Ring Cut to wound two attackers and tried to break through the ambush.
• Delia blocked a barrage of nine spells with her Wings of Wind, but the attack left her badly wounded and drained most of her Magic Power.
• As Delia prepared to activate her secret art, an unseen force froze the captain’s lightning attack in midair, drawing the attackers’ attention to the end of the alley.

After Delia was attacked by Grover, Morris, and their men, Adele led her allies to the old eastern district alley and overwhelmed the attackers. Delia survived, while Grover and Morris escaped; Adele then declared that she would force their powerful backers to take notice.

• Adele learned that Delia had been attacked by nine Rank Two Wizards and summoned Neisenge, Carl, Crolinde, Roy, and Alyia to rescue her.
• Adele and her allies reached the alley, where the wounded Delia faced Grover, Morris, and seven other Wizards.
• Grover and Morris ordered a retreat after recognizing Carl and Crolinde's newly awakened bloodline power, but Adele and Neisenge killed several fleeing Wizards.
• Carl and Crolinde used Tremor Wave to injure Grover, who escaped with his Thunder Eagle using a blood-red Jade Tablet, while Adele wounded Morris as he fled with a secret art.
• Adele treated Delia, who confirmed she had retrieved the potion, and said it was time to make certain people wake up.
• A Gray Falcon carried news of the battle to watchers in the shadows as Adele Juste officially cast off her disguise.

After the ambush left five of Edwin's Wizards dead and Grover and Morris badly wounded, Edwin and Adrian moved toward an alliance against Adele. Adele reaffirmed her claim to the patriarch's position, then arrived at the Ancestral Shrine Council Hall as the elders summoned the ranked heirs.

• A young guard and an old captain surveyed the ambush site, where five bodies had been removed and curse traces still burned in the paving stones.
• Grover told Edwin that Adele had two Rank Two bloodline body-refining Wizards with bloodline fluctuations like hers, and Edwin ordered him to accept the third party's terms and join forces.
• Adrian treated Morris's chest wound, received Edwin's message proposing a meeting, and burned the letter after agreeing that Adele could not keep developing.
• Adele told Delia that exposing Carl and Crolinde had been necessary, declared she would reclaim her father's patriarchal position, and learned the elders had summoned all ranked heirs to the Ancestral Shrine Council Hall.
• Adele faced Edwin and Adrian at the council hall entrance, exchanged pointed remarks with them, and entered after an authoritative voice called them inside.

Adele presented evidence to the Elder Council that Edwin and Adrian had provoked the conflict, and the council punished all three heirs while postponing the relic assessment for two years. After leaving the council hall, Adele ordered Neisenge to watch Edmond and went to meet Ian in the laboratory.

• Edwin and Adrian blamed Adele for the deaths and destruction from the previous night, but Adele presented evidence of their forbidden techniques and the Hatred Guidance Array and Bloodrage Grass.
• The Elder Council ordered Edwin and Adrian to surrender one core industry each for a year and remain confined for three months, while Adele had to hand over the potions and pay for repairs.
• The council forbade casualties between ranked heirs and postponed the final relic assessment for two years, warning that any further incident would disqualify both sides from succession.
• Edwin and Adrian threatened Adele as they left, and Adele vowed to overcome every obstacle while Edmond departed without speaking to her.
• Neisenge told Adele that Edmond's estate had become unusually quiet, so Adele ordered him to keep watching.
• Gaga told Adele that Ian was waiting in the laboratory, and Adele decided to go meet him.

Adele planned to expand her faction with Ian’s help, but they lacked the materials and formula needed to safely brew Second Order potions. Three evenings later, Ian detected active Third-Level Abyssal contamination at Edmond’s manor and sent Gaga to investigate.

• Adele asked Ian to brew First Order potions so she could recruit families and strengthen her faction, and Ian showed her his remaining stock.
• Ian explained that the Earth Tyrant Elixir required Second Order magical beast Essence Blood and a Second Order Neutralizing Potion formula, which Adele could not access through the family vault.
• Ian suggested Adele seek help from Aishia, and Adele decided to find magic stones to buy Essence Blood.
• Three evenings later, Ian approached Edmond’s manor and detected active Third-Level Abyssal contamination matching the aura inside Patriarch Tito Juste.
• Ian asked Gaga to inspect Edmond’s manor for signs of the Abyss, and Gaga vanished into the shadows as Ian followed through their soul link.

Gaga infiltrated Edmond's manor and recorded him activating an Abyssal Altar, revealing his plan to merge Abyssal power with the Juste Family's Time Scar bloodline. Ian recognized the connection between Edmond's altar and the Abyss seed inside Clan Head Tito Juste, but decided to keep the recording secret and continue investigating.

• Gaga bypassed the manor's protective arrays and found a hidden chamber containing an Abyssal Altar's construction core.
• Gaga recorded Edmond pouring Abyss-contaminated Essence Blood onto the altar and declaring that he intended to fuse its power with the Time Scar bloodline to reach a new Path of the Morning Star.
• Gaga returned to Ian, who reviewed the recording and identified the liquid as Essence Blood refined from an Abyssal spawn.
• Ian concluded that Edmond had planted the Abyss seed inside Titu and recognized that their Abyssal auras shared the same origin.
• Ian refused to give Adele the recording, deciding to warn her of danger while keeping the evidence and secretly observing Edmond.

Ian learned that Tito Juste’s soul was being eroded by Abyssal contamination and began developing a potion to treat him. While studying the Juste family’s restricted texts, Ian uncovered an ancient warning about the family’s past contact with the Abyss, then brewed a first version of the Soul-Soothing Potion.

• Ian told Adele that her father’s soul was being consumed by an external corrosive energy and said he would develop a specialized purification potion.
• Adele gave Ian her family token and secured Third Order access to texts on abnormal energy and soul damage.
• Ian used the Status Panel to study the family texts and discovered encrypted notes describing a bloodline researcher’s failed attempt to fuse the Time Scar bloodline with Abyssal energy.
• The notes warned that all who attempted the fusion would be assimilated by the Abyss, and Ian suspected Edmond was repeating the family’s old mistake.
• Ian began brewing the Soul-Soothing Potion with Holy Light Fruits and a trace of purified Order Starforce.

Ian investigated a failed potion meant to treat Tito Juste’s hybrid contamination and concluded that he needed a more precise way to target Abyssal influence without harming the Patriarch’s bloodline. He prepared to research forbidden records and secretly designed a second formula powered by his unique Order Starforce, leaving its core imprint as the key to the potion’s special effect.

• Ian examined the failed potion and determined that its weak effect and poor recognition accuracy let the contamination overwhelm it.
• Ian decided to study forbidden records on hybrid rule contamination, especially cases involving extradimensional energy.
• Adele delivered a one-day pass to the Level Three forbidden reading section and agreed to seek the rare materials Ian requested.
• Ian tested his Order Starforce against a fragment of Abyssal rule residue and observed that it strongly detected and suppressed the residue.
• Ian drafted a second potion formula whose core imprint would embed his unique Order Starforce through the Status Panel and Starry Sky Rite.

Ian used Adele’s rare, contaminated materials and Holy Light Unicorn marrow to create a complete version of his potion, infused with Order Starforce. He sent it to Adele for testing on the clan chief, while the potion’s core imprint began flying toward an unknown destination.

• Adele delivered Sacred Radiance Crystals, Corroded Dawnflower petals, Order Metal, and Holy Light Unicorn marrow to Ian, explaining the risks and cost of obtaining them.
• Ian used the Status Panel to analyze the materials and found the unicorn marrow’s pure order rules closely resembled his Order Starforce.
• Ian combined the materials with Holy Light Fruits, Order Starforce, and his own blood to create a dark silver potion with a core imprint rune.
• Ian asked Gaga to deliver the potion to Adele and instructed her to test a one-fifth dose, observe the reaction time, and watch for starlight in the clan chief’s Mental Sea.
• After Gaga left, Ian sensed that the newly formed imprint rune was rapidly flying in a certain direction.

Ian entered Tito Juste’s Mental Sea through the potion’s imprint and used Order Starforce to slow the Abyssal Contamination consuming Tito’s core. The purification produced a faint sign of recovery in Tito, leaving Adele with renewed hope as Ian continued working from the laboratory.

• Ian discovered Level Four Abyssal Contamination in the imprint and entered Tito Juste’s Mental Sea, where an active Abyssal tentacle was draining the Crystallization Core.
• Ian formed a Starry Sky Rite rune and purified a small area near the core, clearing contamination and slowing its spread while the Status Panel recorded new information.
• Adele saw pale silver light emerge from Tito’s forehead after applying the potion, and sensed that his aura had grown slightly stronger.
• Adele cried with relief, remembered how Ian had repeatedly helped her, and resolved to keep searching for a way to wake her father.

Adele visited Ian to report that his Purification Potion had eased the contamination in her father, and he gave her another dose to test. As they spoke about Ian’s past friends, Adele struggled with jealousy and left after Ian described their relationship as a mutually beneficial partnership.

• Adele told Ian that one-fifth of the Purification Potion had improved her father's vitality, and Ian gave her a new dose to test.
• Adele revealed that the curse-breaking formula from her family's secret vault had been useless and suspected it was a ploy in the family-head contest.
• Ian told Adele about Malena, who had helped him on the East Coast, and Alivia, who had guided him in Potion Studies.
• Adele asked whether Ian's former friends admired him, and Ian said his cooperation with Adele was a mutually beneficial partnership.
• Gaga complimented Adele's appearance, and she hurried away with a faint smile while Ian continued working in the laboratory.

Ian discovered that a contaminated flesh fragment from the Rose Merchant Guild matched the source of the corruption in Titu Juste, and Adele ordered Neisenge to investigate the supply chain. Adele sent Ian to her hidden eastern-district laboratory, where he found a heavily isolated underground space that could serve as a secure base.

• Ian inspected Adele’s third batch of materials and found an active Abyssal-contaminated flesh fragment with a strong match to the corruption in Titu Juste.
• Ian identified Edmond in a vision linked to the fragment and sent Adele a report asking to see Neisenge.
• Adele confirmed the fragment’s connection to her father’s corruption and ordered Neisenge to investigate the Rose Merchant Guild and the supply chain by any means necessary.
• Adele gave Ian access to her private laboratory and asked him to analyze the fragment’s spiritual imprint to track its source.
• Delia and Neisenge escorted Ian to Number Seven, Wisteria Alley, where he entered the underground laboratory and confirmed it had a strong isolation array and no surveillance runes.