Chapter Summaries

Ron used the Dimensional Update Manual to add mysticism and potions to the world’s distant past, then charged its setting anchor with a magician’s attack and entered the resulting Potion Era. He arrived in a grimy cell, shackled as a prisoner.

• Ron rejected his teacher’s offer of admission to Noah Pharmaceuticals’ vocational school and revealed his plan to become Superpowered through a sequence potion.
• Ron recalled that his Dimensional Update Manual had rewritten history to create the Potion Era and that Introduction to Mysticism could be charged with supernatural energy.
• A magician confronted Ron in District D, accusing him of stealing the Forbidden Codex and threatening him with a zombie’s magic.
• Ron used his backpack to expose Introduction to Mysticism, which absorbed the zombie’s attack and reached full charge.
• Ron entered the Potion Era through the manual and found himself shackled in a prison cell.

Ron loaded Ashes of the Age of Gods in a prison from the Potion Era, then used Fantasy Dissolution to destroy a Corpse Shell after its mysticism nearly overwhelmed him. He found a Gravekeeper Potion formula and a finger bone ingredient, but as he prepared to leave, a zombie in the neighboring cell rose and asked how he had defeated the monster.

• Ron loaded Ashes of the Age of Gods, gained Magic Vision, and saw that the prison bars, shackles, and prisoners were formed from horrifying mystical creatures and effects.
• A Corpse Shell attacked Ron and nearly broke his sanity, so he unloaded Ashes of the Age of Gods and loaded Fantasy Dissolution to erase the monster, though the setting took 29% characteristic damage.
• Ron defeated the Corpse Shell, gained the Ignorant Servant setting, and found a black finger bone among its ashes.
• Ron opened his magic book and discovered a Sequence 9 Gravekeeper Potion formula that required a finger bone of a Wronged Dead and other ingredients.
• Ron decided to return to Ideal City before exploring further, but a zombie in the neighboring cell rose and asked how he had defeated the Corpse Shell.

Ron escaped the Corpse-Limb Prison and convinced Kurt Mendes that he was an Angel, gaining Kurt’s request to deliver a secret letter to Idrila. After discovering the letter’s wax seal was a consecrated item, Ron returned to Ideal City, where he faced the old magician and a Corpse Shell again.

• Ron used [Fantasy Dissolution] to destroy his cell door, and Kurt mistook his magic-free appearance and power for an Angel’s.
• Ron persuaded Kurt to reveal his mission: deliver a letter to Miss Idrila, the Evening Bell Saint, and tell her that the Truth Society would accept her.
• Kurt gave Ron the bloodstained letter and his cross, and Ron discovered that the letter’s book-patterned wax seal was a consecrated item.
• With [Fantasy Dissolution] nearly exhausted, Ron promised to deliver the letter, then returned to Ideal City by loading the [Superpowered Era] world save.
• Ron found himself facing the old magician and the Corpse Shell again, and prepared to use [Ignorant Servant].

Ron gained control of the Corpse Shell, killed the old magician, and discovered that the man’s ring connected to a magician association and a commission involving Noah Pharmaceuticals. After deciding to make the Gravekeeper Potion, Ron left the alley, while the Discipline Patrol identified him as a suspect in the killing.

• Ron used [Ignorant Servant] to take control of the Corpse Shell, which pinned down and killed the old magician before both bodies decayed into ash.
• Ron examined the Emerald Signet Ring, connected it to his brain-computer interface, and discovered its magic programs and the Necromancer School’s association forum.
• Ron found that the old magician had accepted a commission to investigate a supernatural riot at Noah Pharmaceuticals’ Ω8631 Laboratory.
• Ron decided to drink the Gravekeeper Potion that night and rode toward a shopping mall in District D to obtain its supplementary ingredients.
• A Discipline Patrol squad investigated the alley, classified the death as a Class B supernatural malicious incident, and used [Artemis] to identify Ron as a potential eyewitness and suspect.

Ron brewed the Gravekeeper potion, became a Sequence 9 Beyonder, and loaded the Superpowered profession and psychokinesis for Ideal City. Just as he tested his new ability, Discipline Patrol enforcement officer C01 arrived and demanded his cooperation in an investigation.

• Ron read a letter revealing that Father Suul planned to sacrifice Idrila and other prisoners in the upcoming Fire-Chasing Ritual, and he resolved to seek help from the Truth Society when he returned to the Potion Era.
• Ron used the consecrated sealing wax and the finger bone of the Wronged Dead to brew and drink the Gravekeeper potion.
• Ron survived the potion’s deathlike vision and became a Sequence 9 Gravekeeper, raising his player level to Lv.1.
• Ron loaded the Superpowered profession and gained Personal Reality and the psychokinesis ability model, then tested his new powers.
• Discipline Patrol enforcement officer C01 came to Ron’s door and told him that the patrol needed his cooperation with an investigation.

After C01 investigated the murder, Ron loaded the Potion Sequence profession and nearly succumbed to its contamination. He removed its loss-of-control setting, then applied that setting to his psychokinesis, creating a temporary ability that erased gravity throughout his apartment.

• C01 questioned Ron about the murder, searched his apartment, and recorded him as a suspected uninvolved party before leaving.
• Ron realized his weak psychokinesis would not help him succeed in the College Entrance Exam, so he loaded the Potion Sequence [Death] profession.
• Ron gained the Gravekeeper’s magic but began suffering severe contamination and loss of control.
• Ron unloaded the Beyonder Loss of Control setting, which cleared his mind but weakened his magic.
• Ron changed his class to Superpowered and loaded the loss-of-control setting, mutating psychokinesis into Vector Manipulation and removing gravity from the room.

Ron briefly activated the out-of-control Vector Manipulation ability, which overloaded his processing power and collapsed, but he saw a chance to use it to gain admission to one of the Three Great Academies. He spent his remaining student-loan funds on ability training, then learned from An Hui that a vicious killer was wanted in his neighborhood—apparently Ron himself.

• Ron tried to control the floating lab equipment with Vector Manipulation, but the ability overwhelmed him, shattering the glassware and causing a processing-power overload.
• Ron read the manual's warnings and realized the temporary ability might last longer if he strengthened his Personal Reality.
• Ron decided he could use Vector Manipulation during the College Entrance Exam to improve his ability rating, then spent his last 10,000 Credit Points on a tutoring program.
• An Hui called Ron and invited him to dinner the next evening to discuss his student-loan predicament.
• An Hui warned Ron that a superpowered murderer had killed an old scavenger and ground his bones to dust, and Ron realized the description sounded like him.

Ron went to an Ability Training Center in District C to strengthen his Personal Reality and met Kevin, a Moen University student who agreed to train him. When Ron’s simulated test of his supposed Telekinesis spiraled out of control and devastated the virtual arena, Kevin realized Ron’s ability was far beyond ordinary Telekinesis.

• Ron reflected on the Patrol Bureau’s wanted posters and decided to focus on raising his ability level before falling asleep.
• Ron traveled to District C for his booked training session and found the Ability Training Center locked.
• Kevin arrived, revealed he was a second-year physics student at Moen University, and offered to train Ron without charging extra.
• Ron told Kevin his ability was a mutated form of Telekinesis, and Kevin prepared Telekinesis data and a simulated training session.
• Ron activated his out-of-control Vector Manipulation in the simulation and accidentally wrecked the virtual arena.
• Kevin stared at Ron in disbelief and questioned whether Ron’s power could really be Telekinesis.

Deng Yin discovered that Ron’s supposedly weak Telekinesis was an extraordinarily powerful Vector Manipulation ability that threatened to overwhelm Ron’s Personal Reality. He offered to teach Ron how to control and develop it in exchange for Ron placing first in Moen University’s Physics Department.

• Kevin struggled to understand Ron’s complex Ability Model until Deng Yin arrived and chastised him for failing to call his teacher sooner.
• Deng Yin tested Ron’s [Vector Manipulation] in Simulated Reality and watched it crush a log into a diamond.
• Deng Yin identified Ron as a Raw Stone whose late-awakening, powerful Ability Model could overload his Personal Reality and eventually kill him.
• Deng Yin promised to teach Ron to control his ability, strengthen his Personal Reality, and pursue academic promotion if Ron helped him.
• Deng Yin asked Ron to enter Moen University’s Physics Department and take first place in the department rankings.

Ron began training with Deng Yin to control [Vector Manipulation] by using an Ability Limiter and Virtual Reality, then headed to dinner with An Hui. He arrived to find a hostile Moen University student who believed he was exploiting Huihui for money.

• Ron agreed to Deng Yin's goal of making him first in Moen University's physics department in exchange for learning to control his superpower.
• Deng Yin used an Ability Limiter and Virtual Reality to restrict Ron's [Vector Manipulation] until he could control a breeze without pain or dizziness.
• Deng Yin told Ron to train every afternoon to improve his Personal Reality and computational power for the entrance exam.
• Kevin encouraged Ron about his chances at Moen University, exchanged contact details with him, and saw him off to dinner.
• Ron arrived at the restaurant and found a Moen University student waiting for him; she accused him of trying to exploit An Hui and warned that Huihui could not pay his debts.

An Hui and Lin Shuyao arranged a part-time job to help Ron pay his student loans, but Kevin recognized Ron and said the arrangement would not work. The others still did not know Ron had awakened the Raw Stone ability.

• Ron realized Lin Shuyao had mistaken him for someone who would exploit a classmate admitted to a top academy, but An Hui interrupted their tense exchange.
• An Hui introduced Lin Shuyao and explained that she had recommended Ron for a part-time model fine-tuner job paying over ten thousand credit points a month.
• Ron tried to tell An Hui and Lin Shuyao that they did not need to worry, but Kevin arrived before he could explain.
• Kevin recognized Ron and realized the job referral concerned him, then said the arrangement would not work today.

Ron learned that Kevin considered him a gifted apprentice destined for Moen University, then reunited with An Hui and returned to District D. There, he discovered that the wanted criminal An Hui had warned him about was burning an elderly sanitation worker’s corpse.

• Kevin told Lin Shuyao and An Hui that Ron was his junior apprentice and Teacher’s chosen disciple, whose ability had only recently awakened.
• Lin Shuyao apologized to Ron for misunderstanding him and invited him to prove himself at Moen University.
• An Hui scolded Ron for hiding his awakening, then expressed relief and challenged him to compete against her.
• Ron and An Hui parted after she warned him about a murderer still loose in District D.
• Ron encountered a man in a Noah Pharmaceuticals uniform beating and burning an elderly sanitation worker, and realized the man was the wanted criminal.

Ron confronted the Lv.2 fire-wielding murderer who had killed an old sanitation worker, then contacted C01 and prepared to make him atone. Xia Zhi rushed to the scene but arrived as Ron effortlessly stopped the man’s attack and caused blood to burst from his face.

• Ron hid and watched a middle-aged man torment and burn an old sanitation worker, then decided to confront him and use the crime to implicate him in the magician’s death.
• Ron set the worker’s body burning with Necromantic Fire and challenged the murderer after the man insulted the dead.
• Ron messaged C01 to report that he had found the murderer, then prepared to fight as his Ability Limiter beeped.
• Xia Zhi learned that a mysterious team had taken over the investigation without pursuing the killer, then received Ron’s message and teleported to his location.
• Xia Zhi arrived as the murderer attacked Ron, but Ron stopped the man’s fist with one finger and redirected his flames.
• Ron said “Boom,” and blood burst from the murderer’s seven orifices.

Xia Zhi brought Ron to the District D Central Patrol Bureau after he killed a wanted criminal, where his newly awakened mutated Telekinesis was verified and his ability file was updated. As Xia Zhi took him to meet the bureau director to apply for a commendation reward and College Entrance Exam bonus points, Ron spotted a black-robed stranger wearing a ring identical to the old magician’s.

• Xia Zhi questioned Ron after seeing him kill the middle-aged wanted criminal, then accepted his explanation that he was a late-awakening Raw Stone with mutated Telekinesis.
• Xia Zhi teleported the criminal’s body and the sanitation worker’s ashes to the Patrol Bureau, then took Ron there to update his ability file and apply for a commendation reward.
• At the ability testing room, a pink-haired technician verified Ron’s identity and confirmed that his current ability had mutated from the Telekinesis recorded in his file.
• Ron declined Xia Zhi’s offer to consider Heavenly Listening University and reaffirmed that he planned to attend Moen University.
• Xia Zhi took Ron toward the bureau director’s office, where Ron noticed a black-robed stranger wearing a glowing ruby ring identical to the old magician’s ring.

Ron learned that the Patrol Bureau’s special task force included magicians and worried the Magician Association might investigate him, while Xia Zhi secured him a Good Citizen Medal. Ten days later, unable to advance his ability past Lv.1 because of a control failure, Ron decided to return to the Potion Era and seek help from the Saintess.

• Xia Zhi told Ron that magicians had taken over the serial-killer investigation, and Ron realized the Magician Association’s influence could threaten him over the old magician’s unfinished commission.
• Xia Zhi helped Ron apply for a Good Citizen Medal, then returned to the Patrol Bureau to finish closing the case.
• Xia Zhi learned that the latest killer’s remains showed the same unknown ability influence as before, and she suspected the case concealed another secret.
• After ten days of training, Ron’s Vector Manipulation had grown stronger, but Deng Yin could not raise its Ability Model restriction to ten percent without triggering a collapse.
• Ron connected his inability to advance with the rising Loss of Control of [Beyonder Loss of Control] and decided to visit the Potion Era to ask the Saintess for help.

Ron entered the Potion Era to reach the Evening Bell Saint and used corpse-servant mice to scout the tower prison. After discovering the War Puppet’s ambush, he prepared to confront it with [Vector Manipulation].

• Ron used [Create Corpse Servant] to turn mice into scouts equipped with cameras and speakers, then entered the Potion Era with the mice touching his body.
• Ron found that the prison held grotesque captives and that two armored guards at the spiral staircase muttered about the Fire-chasing Ritual.
• Ron played music through two corpse servants’ speakers to draw the guards away and let his remaining scout reach the top floor.
• Ron’s scout found the War Puppet, a corpse-made monster that killed and ate the mouse before its camera signal failed.
• Ron loaded [Superpowered], climbed to the top floor, spotted the War Puppet, and gathered pebbles to attack it with [Vector Manipulation].

Ron defeated the War Puppet and gained the ability to change his appearance, then found the Evening Bell Saint praying to become a Firebearer. His attempt to free her from the influence controlling her shattered [Fantasy Dissolution], leaving him facing her as she came to her senses.

• Ron trapped the wounded War Puppet in Necromantic Fire and burned it, then unlocked and extracted its [Thousand Faces] setting.
• Ron realized he could use [Thousand Faces] to impersonate the dead old magician and divert the Magician Association's attention from himself.
• Ron entered Idrila's room and discovered her praying to the Great Lord of War as part of the Fire-Chasing Ritual.
• Ron used [Ashes of the Age of Gods] and Magic Vision to detect a gray haze influencing Idrila, then struck her forehead with [Fantasy Dissolution].
• The haze formed a knight's lance and overwhelmed [Fantasy Dissolution], which suffered 100% damage, while Idrila stopped praying and raised her head blankly.

Ron delivered Chairman Elvis’s letter to Idrila and awakened her from the abnormal state imposed by Bishop Suul. After Idrila gave him a Consecrated Dewdrop, Ron used it to purify his Beyonder Loss of Control and advanced his Superpowered profession to Lv.2, just as the Flame-Chasing Knights closed in.

• Ron found Idrila in a muddled state and broke the force controlling her with a tap.
• Idrila read Chairman Elvis’s bloodstained letter, realized Father Suul had affected her, and asked Ron what he wanted in return.
• Ron claimed a hidden existence had sent him on a trial, and Idrila gave him a Consecrated Dewdrop that could ease Loss of Control.
• Idrila noticed the Flame-Chasing Knights approaching and warned Ron that Suul and his enhanced forces were coming.
• Ron entered the Superpowered Era world save, drank the dewdrop, reduced his Beyonder Loss of Control from 65% to 5%, and advanced to Lv.2.

Ron’s Personal Reality advanced to Lv.2, expanding his Vector Manipulation but overloading his Ability Limiter and revealing the dangerous Ability Overload Setting. After Deng Yin repaired the limiter, he told Ron that the College Entrance Exam had been reformed to emphasize combat.

• Ron’s Lv.2 Personal Reality strengthened Fantasy Dissolution and expanded the range of his Vector Manipulation, letting him manipulate forces and disrupt the electricity in his room.
• Ron’s Ability Limiter overloaded during his tests, triggering the Ability Overload Setting and leaving him unable to control his ability without suppressing the Setting.
• Ron saw a Sunshine Stationery advertisement promoting protective exam gear, then went to the Ability Training Center to meet Deng Yin.
• Deng Yin reset Ron’s limiter, raised his ability restriction to 11%, and estimated that Ron might approach Lv.3 at 35% control.
• Deng Yin told Ron that the College Entrance Exam had reduced the weight of academic subjects and turned the ability test into a combat-focused competition open to corporate investment.

Ron learned that the College Entrance Exam had been reformed into a combat competition, and that defeating Youan Hansen could help him gain control over his ability. Disguised as the old magician, he went to a Noah Pharmaceuticals laboratory commission and discovered that the company’s proposed assassination jobs included a contract on himself.

• Deng Yin told Ron that the exam reforms might be connected to a hidden problem in the Outer City and warned him that corporate-backed students would be formidable opponents.
• Deng Yin identified Youan Hansen as Ron’s main rival for first place in the Physics Department, explaining that the top ranking might help Ron remove the restrictions on his ability.
• Ron disguised himself as the old magician and arrived at Noah Pharmaceuticals’ sealed Ω8631 Laboratory, where a client and two other magicians were waiting.
• The client revealed that an administrator’s ritual had reanimated the corpses in the underground laboratory and offered further commissions to magicians who proved their loyalty to Noah Pharmaceuticals.
• Ron examined the additional files and discovered that the final assassination commission named him as its target.