Chapter Summaries

Lincon demonstrated how his Reinforcement Rune strengthened an ordinary carving knife and explained the principles behind runes to Shen Congzhi and Su Yunqing. After revealing that he had created the runes and introducing the Purification and Infusion Runes, he left them eager to help develop the Rune System.

• Shen Congzhi showed Lincon the carving knife he had tested and asked whether runes were real.
• Lincon drew a Reinforcement Rune over Shen Congzhi's knife, which then cut through stone with ease.
• Su Yunqing used a Rune Stone to reinforce another knife and examined the unfamiliar rune.
• Lincon explained that runes carried and guided power, and Shen Congzhi and Su Yunqing began considering their possibilities.
• Lincon admitted that he had created the runes and showed them Rune Stones for Purification and Infusion.
• Lincon described his plans for the Rune Workshop, while Shen Congzhi and Su Yunqing resolved to help develop the Rune System.

Lincon continued developing Longwind Fortress while Zhou Qing brought a Sunlight Potato from the fortress to Chen Siwei in Black Iron City. Chen Siwei learned that a powerful plant-type ability user could grow food in corrupted soil, while Wen Yan began investigating Zhou Qing’s discovery and Hong Qi remained intent on taking the city lord’s position.

• Lincon helped build Longwind Fortress’s industries and led nightly efforts to clear nearby dark creatures as the Seed of Life consumed Sunlight.
• Zhou Qing returned to Black Iron City carrying a Sunlight Potato, and Wen Yan sent a subordinate to investigate what he had brought back.
• Hong Qi dismissed the potential of Longwind Fortress and said he planned to seize power from Chen Siwei when she was injured fighting the Black Tide.
• Zhou Qing presented the Sunlight Potato to Chen Siwei and explained that it could grow in dead soil and that its owner could summon special plants to fight.
• Chen Siwei asked whether Zhou Qing had invited the plant-type ability user to join Black Iron City, and Zhou Qing doubted the man would leave his growing force for an unstable city.

Zhou Qing told Chen Siwei about Lincon and Longwind Fortress, prompting her to arrange a trade for supplies and prepare to confront rivals in Black Iron City. Meanwhile, Lincon strengthened Longwind Fortress and reached level fifteen in both professions, where advancement required completing difficult missions.

• Zhou Qing reported Lincon’s strength and growing following to Chen Siwei, who ordered a search for the items on his exchange list and a study of one of them.
• Chen Siwei summoned Wen Yan and Hong Qi’s group, intending to confront those who had challenged her authority.
• Lincon’s Seed of Life domain accelerated plant growth as the Ancient Maple Guardian finished digging the canal through Longwind Fortress.
• Lincon cultivated defensive plants, including Sunlight Man-Eaters, Hunting Pea Pods, and Tentacle Thorns, to protect the fortress and its fields.
• Lincon reached level fifteen as a Longwind Fortress Guardian and Plant Cultivator, unlocking advancement missions that included hunting a C-Rank Weird Calamity and resisting a C-Rank Black Tide.

Lincon chose the hidden Ecological Architect advancement path, learning that he would face a trial in 48 hours and a C-Rank Black Tide in 15 days. He began planning how to strengthen Longwind Fortress and was summoned to the Rune Workshop after Shen Congzhi made a breakthrough.

• Lincon learned that his dual professions had pushed him to C-Rank and that advancing his Lord's Talent required him to hunt a C-Rank Weird Calamity alone.
• Lincon chose the Ecological Architect path, triggering a Trial Space countdown of 48 hours and a Black Tide countdown of 15 days.
• Lincon resolved to strengthen Longwind Fortress and considered seeking Sunlight by hunting the Pale Wraith or advancing rune research.
• Wang Bo told Lincon that Shen Congzhi had made a breakthrough in rune research and invited him to the Rune Workshop.
• Lincon agreed to let Zhang Rui arrange a new Lord's Manor after the Rune Workshop became a landmark of Longwind Fortress.

Lincon visited the Rune Workshop, where Su Yunqing and Shen Congzhi had developed a Resonance Rune that could link runes and rune arrays. After Lincon confirmed it worked, he told the researchers Longwind Fortress would face a C-Rank Black Tide in fifteen days.

• Su Yunqing explained that the researchers had derived a Resonance Rune to strengthen energy connections and synchronization between objects, but it had not yet been tested.
• Lincon inscribed the Resonance Rune on a stone and confirmed that it worked, envisioning ways to connect Shrines and fortress defenses.
• Lincon warned the workshop that a C-Rank Black Tide would strike Longwind Fortress in fifteen days and that the fortress might not survive.
• Shen Congzhi and Su Yunqing declared they would stay, while the two assistants reacted fearfully to the approaching Black Tide.

Lincon warned Longwind Fortress about an impending S Rank Black Tide and returned to Great Cang Village to investigate a dangerous Weird Child. After the child overpowered the Reed Assassin, Lincon entered the village to fight it himself and train for his advancement.

• Lincon told Zhang Rui that an S Rank Black Tide would strike in fifteen days and let him know residents could leave with Sunlight Potatoes.
• Zhang Rui vowed to remain loyal to Longwind Fortress and stand by Lincon as he spread the warning.
• Lincon left the fortress with the Ancient Maple Guardian and Reed Assassin and sent the Reed Assassin into Great Cang Village to scout.
• The Reed Assassin attacked a pale child that Lincon identified as a D-Rank Weird Calamity, but the child destroyed the Head Ghost and removed the Reed Assassin's head.
• Lincon entered Great Cang Village to fight the Weird Child and hone his skills for his advancement.

Lincon hunted Dark Creatures through the night, killed a D-Rank Weird Calamity, and restored the Reed Assassin. After returning toward Longwind Fortress, he encountered Wang Bo and other residents leaving with their belongings, and let them go without interference.

• Lincon crushed the Weird Child, burned it with Purifying Fire, and killed the D-Rank Weird Calamity.
• Lincon used Accelerated Growth to restore the Reed Assassin, then hunted Dark Creatures until dawn and raised his Sunlight to 570 before the Seed of Life deducted 50.
• Lincon met Wang Bo, who explained he had saved the bundle he carried and was leaving; Lincon let him pass without stopping him.
• On his way back, Lincon saw other residents leaving with packed belongings, while ashamed parents pulled their children away from him.

As the Black Tide approached, Lincon let residents leave Longwind Fortress with supplies and prepared to defend it using advanced plants and rune weapons. After building a purification array and resting, he woke to the announcement that the Ecological Trial had begun.

• Zhang Rui registered departing residents and warned them never to return or reveal the fortress's secrets, while more than four hundred people left on the first day.
• Lincon told Zhang Rui to let anyone leave with a few days of food and water, explaining that the fortress and its former residents owed each other nothing.
• Lincon spent the next day searching for advanced plants and hunting dark creatures while crafting rune weapons.
• Lincon completed a Sunlight Sunflower Stone Sculpture that strengthened the courtyard's purification array, then went to sleep after two days without rest.
• A voice announced that the Ecological Trial had begun and called for Plant Cultivators to prepare.

Lincon spent decades restoring a wasteland during the Ecological Trial, using sand barriers, drought-resistant plants, and scarce water to build a living ecosystem. He died just as rain and foxes arrived, and the trial declared the mission complete.

• Lincon entered the Ecological Trial and found himself alone in a vast, scorching wasteland with the mission to restore its ecology.
• Lincon drew on his mother's wasteland-management methods and spent ten years building Checkerboard Sand Barriers to stabilize the shifting sand.
• Lincon planted drought-resistant species, developed layered vegetation, and diverted water from an underground river over the following decades.
• Near the end of his life, Lincon planted a sunflower, but the trial's progress remained at 87% and he lacked the strength to continue.
• Rain fell, and a fox with its young appeared in the restored landscape as Lincon died beneath a tree.
• The trial panel reached 100% and announced that Lincon had completed the mission.

After completing the Ecological Trial, Lincon learned that only two days had passed in reality and returned to Longwind Fortress. He prepared to inspect Black Iron City’s offerings as representatives from Black Iron City and Flint City gathered in the conference hall, leaving the two factions facing one another under his watch.

• Lincon woke after the trial and discovered that the Ecological Trial had been marked complete despite his belief that he had fallen short.
• Lincon learned from Zhang Rui that Black Iron City had brought goods to trade for Sunlight Potatoes and that Flint City had arrived with plans to attack Longwind Fortress.
• Zhang Rui arranged for the Black Iron City and Flint City groups to stay near each other, restraining Flint City from acting rashly.
• Lincon summoned both groups to the conference hall and prepared to examine the items Black Iron City had brought.
• Zhou Qing presented Black Iron City’s goods as a gesture of friendship, while Lincon shifted his attention to the Flint City delegation.

Lincon confronted Flint City's delegation after they arrived at Longwind Fortress, and Wang Hu tested him by having an ally attack Zhang Rui. Lincon pinned the shadow with his Shadow Sword and incapacitated its user, leaving Flint City’s envoys wary of his strength.

• Wang Hu assessed Lincon’s power while Zhou Qing introduced the Flint City delegation as three C-Class Ability Users and their D-Class companions.
• Lincon admitted that he had killed Viper, angering Wang Hu and the other Flint City Ability Users.
• Wang Hu backed away from an immediate fight and asked why people were leaving Longwind Fortress, while Zhang Rui challenged his right to pry into the city’s affairs.
• A Flint City Ability User sent his shadow to attack Zhang Rui, and Lincon drew Shadow Sword and nailed the shadow to the ground.
• The shadow’s owner collapsed in pain, and Zhou Qing grew more wary of Lincon’s abilities.

Lincon drove Wang Hu and his men away from Longwind Fortress, then inspected a chest of gifts from the Lord of Black Iron City. Among the strange items, he discovered a Sunstone, a material needed to advance specific plants, and realized that the Seed Mark’s advancement materials truly existed.

• Lincon used the Shadow Sword to pin down the shadow ability user, and Wang Hu blamed his subordinate before retreating with his men.
• Outside the fortress, Wang Hu learned that people had left because a C-Rank Black Tide was expected, then decided to report the fortress and the warning to Lord Ye.
• Lincon recognized that the Shadow Sword had countered the shadow ability and saw Zhang Rui’s loyalty rise to 100.
• Zhou Qing presented Lincon with a chest of gifts from the Lord of Black Iron City, including a strange egg said to have come from the Dark Abyss.
• Lincon identified a fist-sized stone as a Sunstone and confirmed that it could advance specific plants.

Lincon learned that a Sunstone could help advance his Purifying Fire Sunlight Sunflower into a Solar Sunflower, then left negotiations over the stone to Zhang Rui. Needing more Sunlight for the coming Black Tide, he entered the dense forest alone to begin a dangerous class advancement mission.

• Lincon identified the Sunstone as a useful advancement material and learned that the Solar Sunflower required 1,000 Sunlight.
• Zhou Qing asked Longwind Fortress for three thousand tons of Sunlight Potatoes in exchange for the box, and Lincon left Zhang Rui to negotiate.
• Lincon decided to hunt a C-Rank Weird Calamity to complete his main class advancement mission and gathered Rune Stones, Rune Arrays, weapons, and armor.
• Lincon refused Li Zhouhai's offer to accompany him and left Guan Teng and the others to guard Longwind Fortress.
• Lincon lit the candle at the Shrine, entered the dense forest, and activated the mission to hunt one C-Rank Weird Calamity alone.

Lincon entered the forest to confront the Pale Wraith, but it invaded his memories and trapped him in an illusion of familiar enemies. After escaping, he was seized by the Wraith and left near death until the broken Shadow Sword rose to protect him.

• Lincon entered the forest with a lantern inscribed with a Purification Rune and placed a Shrine as he advanced.
• Lincon fought waves of familiar Dark Creatures and realized he had gained no Sunlight, revealing that his memories had been invaded.
• Lincon set himself alight with Purifying Fire and escaped the illusion, finding the Pale Wraith restraining him in the darkness.
• The Pale Wraith squeezed Lincon as its chill spread through his body, while his backpack and lantern remained out of reach.
• Lincon spotted his broken Shadow Sword, and its remaining half rose from the darkness to attack the Pale Wraith.

Lincon fought the Pale Wraith alone, using a Purification Shrine Rune Array and his qi to withstand its illusions and attacks. He detonated Rune Stones in the Purifying Fire to destroy the wraith and completed his class advancement mission, becoming a Longwind Lord.

• Lincon used Purifying Fire and a rune-enhanced dagger to draw the parasite from beneath his skin and cut it from his palm.
• When the Pale Wraith trapped Lincon in an illusion, he lit three Purification Shrines and formed a Rune Array with a Resonance Rune Stone.
• Lincon dragged the Pale Wraith into the Rune Array’s light and battered it with qi-powered punches, but its regeneration resisted the Purifying Fire.
• Lincon threw his Rune Stones into the Purifying Fire, triggering a Purifying Firestorm that burned away the Black Insects and overwhelmed the Pale Wraith.
• Lincon survived the blast and received the mission completion reward, advancing from Longwind Fortress Guardian to Longwind Lord.

After changing his main class to Longwind Lord, Lincon escaped the burning forest with the Shadow Sword and Pale Wraith remains, then continued hunting Dark Creatures to gather Sunlight. At Longwind Fortress, Luo Qian welcomed the early sunrise and sounded the gong to announce dawn.

• Lincon's class change strengthened his body, condensed an Energy Pellet, and granted him the Rule Edict ability.
• Lincon retrieved the still-living Shadow Sword, a Dark Matter Crystal, and the Pale Wraith's eyes before escaping the forest fire.
• Carrion Rats fled the burning forest, and Lincon killed several before heading back into the darkness to hunt for Sunlight.
• Luo Qian waited by the Shrine at Longwind Fortress and reflected on why he trusted the City Lord and the fortress.
• The sun rose early, and Luo Qian bowed to the Shrine before striking the gong to announce dawn.

Lincon reviewed the expanded territory and discovered he could spend Prestige to upgrade Shrines. After he upgraded one near Longwind Fortress, Zhou Qing and his companions witnessed it transform into a towering structure.

• Luo Qian greeted Lincon at the fortress gate and received a Purification Dagger, then Guan Teng asked whether he wanted to join the Defense Corps.
• Zhang Rui told Lincon that Black Iron City had agreed to trade for two hundred tons of Sunlight Potatoes and reported that 385 people remained in Longwind Fortress.
• Lincon inspected his changed Career Panel, saw that his territory covered more Shrines, and learned that every thousand Prestige granted a Shrine Upgrade Point.
• Lincon spent an Upgrade Point on a Shrine near the fortress, causing its marker on the map to grow.
• Zhou Qing and his companions saw the upgraded Shrine fuse with a rapidly growing plant, forming a double-helix tower crowned with a glowing fruit.

Lincon discovered that his upgraded Shrine could carry his spiritual projection and tested the limits of his Rule Edict, ultimately weakening Dark Creatures within Longwind Fortress ahead of the approaching Black Tide. With six days remaining, he began a ritual to revive a nearly charred sapling as an Ashen Flower.

• The Shrine fused with the ancient tree, and Zhou Qing saw Lincon's spiritual projection within it.
• Lincon tested Rule Edict and issued an order reducing the abilities of all Dark Creatures entering Longwind Fortress by 20% for thirty days.
• Zhang Rui reported that everyone in the fortress had heard a strange hum, and Lincon reassured him that it had been caused by an experiment.
• Zhou Qing left Longwind Fortress after Lincon claimed he had played a joke on the visitors near the Shrine.
• With six days left before the Black Tide, Lincon placed a Sunstone beside a charred sapling and invoked light to bless the Ashen Flower.

Lincon advanced the Ashen Purifying Sunflower into a Solar Sunflower, then planted it in Longwind Fortress’s flower field as the Black Tide drew near. With darkness descending, the fortress’s people gathered ready to fight, but Lincon warned them they would not be the battlefield’s protagonists.

• Lincon spent 1,000 Sunlight advancing the Ashen Purifying Sunflower into a Solar Sunflower that produced 50 Sunlight each day.
• The Solar Sunflower thanked Lincon and asked to return to its flower field, where it created a special resonance among the Sunlight Sunflowers.
• As the Black Tide countdown fell to three days, Lincon stayed in his courtyard preparing while the fortress’s population dwindled to 334.
• With 12 hours remaining, darkness and a foul smell spread across the region, and Zhang Rui and the others gathered outside Lincon’s courtyard.
• More than 300 Longwind Fortress residents assembled with weapons, and Lincon told them they were not the protagonists on the battlefield that night.

Lincon showed the people of Longwind Fortress how he had linked a Rune Array with an army of spirit plants to fight the Black Tide. As the fortress residents prepared their defenses, the Darkness Descending Countdown reached zero and the darkness began to gather outside.

• Lincon led Li Zhouhai, Su Yunqing, Zhang Rui, Guan Teng, and the others to the fortress gate to reveal his awakened spirit plants and the Rune Array beneath them.
• Su Yunqing recognized how the Rune Array empowered the plants, while Li Zhouhai and Guan Teng were stunned by the defenses surrounding the fortress.
• Zhang Rui asked to help defend Longwind Fortress, and Lincon agreed, assigning Li Zhouhai to organize personnel throughout the fortress.
• Li Zhouhai assigned adults to key positions, while women guarded the children near Purification Shrines and Guan Teng led the combat readiness team.
• The Darkness Descending Countdown reached zero, and viscous darkness began gathering beyond Longwind Fortress.