Chapter Summaries

Ian negotiated a knowledge exchange with the Scholar Race by showing Grand Elder Kori the Arcane Grand Library and arranging for an ambassador to handle the deal. After preparing a Quantum Realm research team and giving the ambassador a Divine Artifact to value knowledge, Ian turned his attention to the approaching Time Game and the Empire’s future.

• Ian showed Grand Elder Kori the Arcane Grand Library and granted him partial access to its advanced books, convincing him that its knowledge was genuine.
• Ian and Kori agreed that the Arcane Empire and Scholar Race would exchange knowledge, and Ian rejected using the Akashic Records directly to mediate the deal.
• Ian told Luna he planned to use his greater access to the Akashic Records to obtain a Divine Artifact that could quantify knowledge and help the ambassador raise prices in negotiations.
• Ian and Luna returned to the Floating City, and Ian contacted his family before assembling a team to research the Quantum Realm.
• After more than a month of preparation, Ian sent off the expedition team, gave the ambassador the Divine Artifact, and began preparing for the Time Game and the Empire’s future.

Ian studied Cosmos and prepared for the coming Time Game while spending centuries mastering the Primordial Rune and pursuing a way past the Soul Limitation. As the Empire marked its centennial and prepared to open its borders to the Astral Realm, Ian learned that an infiltrator had helped a competitor reach the Ninth Tier and ordered the traitor detained.

• Ian sent information about Cosmos and his own secret identity to the Empire's Think Tank, then confirmed that Cosmos belonged to a local branch organization.
• Ian spent twenty years of outside time in seclusion, studying the Primordial Rune, working on the Soul Limitation, and governing the Empire.
• Ian emerged from seclusion and learned that Olivia planned to travel to other worlds to improve her command skills and develop better military training.
• Ian prepared for the Empire's centennial celebration and discussed opening the borders to the Astral Realm to address the Empire's resource shortage.
• Itachi reported that an infiltrator had helped a competitor reach the Ninth Tier, and Ian ordered the traitor detained for questioning.

Ian delivered a speech celebrating the Arcane Empire’s first century, then defended his rule in the Empire’s three-part election and won another hundred-year term. After the celebration, he prepared to meet Itachi about the anomaly discovered beforehand.

• Ian praised the Empire’s achievements and urged its citizens to continue exploring the universe, and the crowd answered, “May the Arcane Truth guide and protect us.”
• The Imperial Family paraded through the Empire, visited a shrine honoring Guznader, and watched performances by artists including Kapoor.
• Ian faced Orochimaru and other Arcanists in the election’s knowledge and crafting rounds, then defeated challengers including Naruto, Sasuke, Asta, Yuno, Kazuma, and Mereoleona in combat.
• Ian won the election and secured another hundred-year term, while citizens accepted that his descendants would have to prove themselves to claim the throne.
• Ian prepared to meet Itachi about the anomaly that had appeared before the celebration.

After the election, Ian and Amelia handled Imperial affairs, including proposed laws and a planned cleanup of Dark Star. Ian then investigated how the gods had breached the Empire’s defenses and learned that a detected energy spike had gone unreported; he was due to visit Chris about his research.

• Ian met with Amelia, who reported proposals to let people offset crimes with Arcane Merit and legalize slavery; they agreed to oppose both measures.
• Ian approved Amelia’s plan to expose supporters of the Merit-for-Crimes Act, outlaw slave-trading advocacy, and clean up Dark Star.
• Ian and Amelia discussed Susan’s journey to the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, and Amelia said she would stay in the Empire to oversee its affairs.
• Itachi told Ian that the gods had used a Divine Grade armament to breach the defenses and contact Chu, who exchanged information for a holy Grace and rose from the Fifth Tier to the Ninth Tier.
• Ian ordered a full investigation into what Chu had revealed and asked Itachi to expand the Empire’s spy network, while they discussed the difficulty of controlling believers tied to Ancient Gods.
• Morgana confirmed that officials had detected the energy spike but failed to report it, and Ian ordered the responsible person fired before learning that Chris had made progress in his research.

Ian reviewed Chris's Will Tempering Method, which used meditation and subconscious control to strengthen willpower, and helped plan its development toward confronting larger collective wills. Chris began work on making the method safer and recreating a Stellar-System Will.

• Ian visited Chris's laboratory, where Chris presented the mixed results of his earlier attempts to temper willpower through illusions, combat, and meditation.
• Chris explained that his new method let people explore and control their subconscious, deepening their understanding of the mind, the Self, and the soul while raising willpower.
• Ian learned that the method could currently raise most users to Level 5, while Chris had reached Level 6, and discussed the Planetary, Galactic, and Cosmic Wills with him.
• Ian confirmed that the Cosmic Will existed and said that Level 8 willpower could suppress it and force it to surrender control over the universe's fundamental laws.
• Ian advised Chris to develop the method in stages and establish safeguards against mental harm from contact with collective consciousness.
• Chris called his wife to say he would return home late, then began gathering research and refining the method.

Ian reviewed seven methods he had developed to overcome the Soul Limitation, with the Knowledge Ring offering a slow but genuine breakthrough. After testing Chris's Will Tempering Method, he concluded it could eventually raise his willpower to Level 9.

• Ian dismissed Divine Power, Soul Energy, Soul Essence Orbs, and Dream Nether Energy as impractical ways to break the Soul Limitation.
• Ian's experiments fusing purified souls from alternate universes and forcibly achieving Soul Apotheosis failed to provide a solution.
• Ian used the Wisdom Authority to create the Knowledge Ring, which nourished the Soul Flame and broke the Soul Limitation, but did so too slowly.
• Ian told Morgana to send Chris's research to the History Committee and confirmed his upcoming duties before departure.
• Ian used Chris's Will Tempering Method to confront his subconscious and concluded that it could eventually raise his willpower to Level 9.

After the Empire announced astral expansion, it established rules for exploration, contact with other planes, and taxation, while providing Arcanists with training and Astral Towers. The explorers signed contracts and set out, advancing the Empire’s effort to rule the universe.

• Ian announced that Sixth Tier Arcanists could purchase or rent Astral Towers to explore the Astral Realm.
• The Empire issued exploration guidelines, using the Arcane Plane as a fabricated origin to conceal the Arcanists’ true identities.
• The Empire outlined rules for contacting other civilizations, banning slavery in general and setting limits on dealings with dangerous species.
• The Empire set taxes for peaceful and violent exploration and offered rescue, resurrection, and other assistance in exchange for higher rates.
• A workshop taught Arcanists how to assess planes, handle Planar Wills, and conduct war and diplomacy.
• The Arcanists signed contracts, received Astral Towers, and began exploring other worlds.

Ian checked on the Empire’s projects and the infiltration of the Purple-Robed Daoist’s homeworld before setting out on his fourth voyage with Albion. He reached a universe where magic was suppressed, drew the Doctor to a restored Floating City, and came face to face with him.

• Ian confirmed that research, the Bones Council, and the spies infiltrating the Purple-Robed Daoist’s homeworld were progressing smoothly.
• Ian spent a night with Olivia, then entered [Netheril] with Morgana and brought Albion along, keeping the Dragon locked away.
• The Floating City was shaken by an impact in the Void but reached its destination: a universe with a Modern Earth where a powerful force repelled magic.
• Ian sent a signal across space-time, and a blue police box arrived less than a week later with the Doctor and a woman dressed in black.
• Ian restored the ruined Floating City, took the Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver, and introduced himself.

Ian captured the Doctor and Clara to use Clara as a guide to Gallifrey and obtain its temporal technology. The Doctor learned that Gallifrey had survived in a frozen pocket dimension, then agreed to help Ian while remaining wary of his motives.

• The Doctor and Clara confronted Ian, who took a blood sample from the Doctor and revealed that temporal energy was bound to his DNA and soul.
• Ian explained that Clara’s future echoes would guide him to Gallifrey, and the Doctor realized why he had encountered other versions of her across time.
• Ian told the Doctor that all twelve incarnations had saved Gallifrey by exiling it to a pocket dimension, relieving the Doctor of his guilt over the Time War.
• Ian said he needed Gallifrey’s temporal technology to save countless people, and the Doctor agreed to cooperate after Ian promised Clara would be safe.
• Ian returned the Sonic Screwdriver and entered the TARDIS with the Doctor while privately coordinating with Morgana, who had implanted spyware in the device.

Ian traveled in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Clara to study the Time Vortex and prepare a device to find Gallifrey. After the Doctor improved the device, Clara accepted Ian’s nanomachines for protection before the plan began.

• The Doctor took Ian and his city through the Time Vortex toward Ancient Greece, and Ian analyzed the Vortex’s structure and time energy.
• Ian asked the Doctor for a few days to study the Vortex, while the Doctor and Clara discussed whether they could trust him.
• Ian showed the Doctor a device that would use Clara as a medium to search her timeline for Gallifrey, and the Doctor improved its design.
• Ian insisted on precautions to protect Clara’s mind and body, offering nanomachines that the Doctor confirmed could make her nearly immortal.
• Clara agreed to receive the nanomachines so she could keep traveling with the Doctor, and he injected them before beginning to build the device.

Ian, the Doctor, and Clara traveled through the Time Vortex into Gallifrey’s frozen pocket dimension, where Ian gathered its technological data and TARDISes. The Doctor lifted the freeze but left the Time Lords imprisoned, and Ian departed to return to his own world.

• Ian and the Doctor used Clara’s connection to the Doctor’s timeline to navigate toward Gallifrey, with the TARDIS protecting Clara as they broke through the dimensional barrier.
• After arriving on frozen Gallifrey, Ian used his Time Authority to collect data from core databases and take every TARDIS from the museum.
• The Doctor spent more than a week deciding what to do, then lifted the freeze while choosing not to free the Time Lords from their prison.
• Ian said goodbye to Clara and the Doctor, urging the Doctor to stop running from his past and give River Song more than he had.
• Ian boarded Netheril and left Gallifrey, then prepared to inspect the spoils with Morgana.

Ian analyzed the universe’s Time Lord technology and biology, advancing his OMNI Gate Project and testing whether he could replicate Time Lord regeneration. After investigating several other races and stealing their technology and samples, he departed aboard his Floating City for his next destination.

• Ian studied Time Lord science, TARDIS engineering, and the Law of Time, then made progress on a Void Portal Fluid for his OMNI Gate Project.
• Ian and Morgana examined Time Lord biology and tested regeneration in clones, discovering that the universe’s faintly conscious time influenced souls and personalities.
• Ian decided to continue the regeneration experiments after leaving the universe because their materials had adapted to its local laws.
• Ian stole Dalek and Cybermen technology, collected samples of the Silence, and captured Weeping Angels to study their Quantum Locking.
• Ian boarded his Floating City and headed for his next destination.

Ian’s arrival in the DC Universe was disrupted by the ongoing Fusion of worlds, and his Floating City suffered damage before Amazons surrounded it. After learning that the DC Fusion was nearing its late stage and receiving an urgent message from Lord Merlin, Ian surrendered peacefully to Hippolyta’s warriors while his team began repairs.

• Ian and Morgana discovered that the universe was shifting and that the Floating City’s systems had been damaged as Amazons surrounded them.
• Ian learned from the Akashic Records that DC worlds were merging in a late-stage Fusion and Marvel worlds were undergoing an earlier stage.
• Ian received a message from Lord Merlin saying he was safe but urging Ian to grow stronger because time was short.
• Ian explained the situation to his team, ordered them to repair the city, and went out to negotiate with the Amazons.
• Hippolyta demanded Ian surrender, and he submitted to being bound by an Amazon warrior.

Ian was brought to Paradise Island as a prisoner, where Hippolyta and her advisers debated whether to kill him or seek his help repairing the island’s weakening magical barrier. Diana visited Ian at night to speak with him, leaving him asking what she wanted.

• Ian’s defensive magic shattered an Amazon’s spear and knocked her away after she jabbed him, prompting Hippolyta to ask what he was.
• Hippolyta freed Ian from his restraints and confined him to a guarded residence on Paradise Island.
• Ian considered how to use the Akashic Records’ coordinates to reach the timeline of the CW Flash at the right point in his development.
• Hippolyta’s advisers argued over whether Ian should be killed, while Selen proposed asking him to repair the island’s weakening barrier in exchange for his freedom.
• Hippolyta decided to test whether Ian could be trusted.
• Diana visited Ian in the middle of the night, and he asked what had brought her there.

Ian explained to Diana why he considered her an unusual Demigod and told her about the outside world and its coming wars. After Hippolyta tested him with the Lasso of Truth, Ian revealed he knew the Amazons needed help with their island’s protective barrier and sent them away until they were ready to speak as equals.

• Ian told Diana that she had inherited divine advantages without Zeus’s Authority or the Gods’ dependence on Faith Power.
• Diana asked about Man’s World, and Ian told her that World War I would begin in two years and that another world war would follow.
• Ian described his travels to Diana for several hours before she flew away at dawn.
• Amazons led by Hippolyta bound Ian with the Lasso of Truth and demanded to know who he was and why he had come to the island.
• Ian sealed the Lasso’s Divine Power, identified the Amazons’ need to repair their protective barrier, and teleported them out of his room.

Ian discovered that the world’s ongoing merger made his ship’s return coordinates impossible to navigate, so he began developing a new navigation system. After repairing the Amazons’ protective barrier and studying their artifacts, he sparred with Diana and introduced her to a virtual reality device for combat training.

• Ian told Queen Hippolyta he would repair the barrier if his ship could remain on the island and he could study the Amazons’ magical artifacts, especially the Lasso of Truth.
• Ian and Morgana discovered that the universe’s unstable, expanding spacetime made precise navigation impossible, prompting him to plan a new navigation system.
• Ian repaired the protective barrier by creating a device that let Diana power it with her Divine Power, then studied the Amazons’ artifacts while focusing on the Lasso.
• Ian sparred with Diana and told her that her combat skills were exceptional but that she lacked experience fighting powerful enemies for her life.
• Ian gave Diana a virtual reality helmet, and she tried it before asking whether her sisters could use it too.

Ian spent years developing a way to navigate the turbulent Multiverse while advising Diana not to intervene in humanity’s early wars. By 1925, he completed the system, gave Diana a magical bracelet, and set out with Morgana, promising to visit her again.

• Morgana told Ian that their ships and drones kept getting lost in other timelines, and Ian analyzed the data to improve his navigation system.
• Diana complained that Queen Hippolyta would not let her intervene in the growing war, and Ian explained that her appearance could intensify religious conflict and provoke governments to pursue her.
• Ian advised Diana to wait until humanity was better prepared to accept divine beings, and she returned home to think it over.
• Queen Hippolyta thanked Ian for helping Diana understand her concerns, and Ian suggested that she treat Diana more like an adult.
• By 1925, Ian had created an artificial Time Network that let the city navigate the Multiverse without being affected by the chaotic spacetime continuum.
• Ian gave Diana a bracelet that converted Divine Power into lightning and was linked to her Lasso, promised to visit her again, and departed with Morgana.

Ian and Morgana investigated the Speed Force in Flashpoint, experimenting on Wally West and observing Jay Garrick to learn how speedsters connected to it. Their research showed that the Speed Force was conscious, and Ian concluded that Barry was essential to accessing enough of its power to challenge the space-time continuum.

• Ian discovered that the team had arrived in the Flash's fourth year, then chose to travel to the Flashpoint reality and capture Wally West.
• Ian's experiments showed that a clone altered with Dark Matter had a weaker Speed Force connection than a clone made from Wally, while the original Wally remained far more powerful.
• Ian concluded that the Speed Force had consciousness and protected speedsters from outside attempts to read or control their minds.
• Ian secretly observed Jay Garrick on Earth-3 and found that Jay's connection to the Speed Force was stronger than those of Ian's test subjects but weaker than Wally's.
• Ian built a device to connect to the Speed Force, but it could not draw enough power to overcome the space-time continuum's limits, so he identified Barry as the key.
• Ian confronted The Thinker, studied his Dark Matter-mutated brain, and then prepared to meet Barry.

Ian Bones, an agent of the Superhuman Oversight Bureau, demanded that Team Flash accept government supervision, repay damages, or disband. While the team investigated him and debated its options, Ian secretly extracted information about the Speed Force from Caitlin and Cisco, then returned to the lab the next day.

• Ian introduced himself to Team Flash and presented a report claiming their activities had caused over $22 billion in government losses.
• Ian gave the team one day to choose between disbanding, repaying the damages, or accepting supervision, and warned Barry about the government's fears of speedsters changing history.
• Iris investigated Ian's credentials and found that he was a former special forces member; Barry then contacted Diggle for more information.
• Diggle told Team Flash that Ian had led the secretive Silent Diplomats and warned that he was a manipulative negotiator who used any means necessary.
• Ian and Morgana discussed their plan, and Ian secretly gathered information about the Speed Force from Caitlin and Cisco's thoughts.
• Ian returned to the lab the next day after compiling and analyzing the data.

Ian forced Team Flash to undergo government testing, citing the dangers of Flashpoint and the possibility of a controlled or corrupted Flash. After collecting extensive data, Ian secretly tried to investigate the Speed Force, but his clone died inside it.

• Ian told Team Flash that the government would document their abilities and prepare for possible threats, invoking Barry's Flashpoint actions to defend the need for contingency plans.
• Ian brought a large team into the laboratory, where Barry, Wally, Sisko, Caitlin, and Ralph underwent more than six hours of ability tests.
• After Ian left, Barry searched the building for bugs while Sisko found monitoring code in their systems, and the team went to Earth-19 to discuss it safely.
• Ian told Morgana that the tests had provided data on Barry and the Speed Force, but Morgana reported that Barry's tracking spell had vanished after he entered it.
• Ian sent a clone into the Speed Force to gather more data, but it died within seconds, and Ian retrieved the images recorded in its soul.