Chapter Summaries

Veronica nearly kissed Xi Yan while he was recovering, but Ailiveer interrupted with news that the L-Gate had been found. Beta forced Xi Yan to rest, and he asked Veronica to take a walk with him.

• Veronica decided to comfort Xi Yan and leaned in to kiss him.
• Ailiveer burst into the bedroom and announced that the L-Gate had been found.
• Xi Yan tried to get up and investigate, but Beta’s robots restrained him and ordered him to rest for a week.
• Ailiveer offered to handle the Empire’s affairs while Xi Yan recovered, then hurried out under Veronica’s murderous glare.
• Beta allowed Xi Yan to take a walk, and he invited Veronica to join him.

Xi Yan went for a walk with Veronica and learned that an L-Gate had been discovered in M'tok Union territory. The chapter ended as it began explaining the L-Cluster’s history and the possible outcomes of opening an L-Gate.

• Xi Yan changed out of his marshal’s uniform and went out in disguise with Veronica.
• Veronica took Xi Yan’s hand as they walked through the Central District toward Memorial Square.
• Xi Yan asked Beta where Ailiveer had said an L-Gate was located, and Beta said it was in M'tok Union territory.
• Xi Yan reacted sharply to the discovery as the narration explained the Dessanu, the Nanites, and the history of the L-Cluster.

Xi Yan planned to seize the L-Cluster and its L-Gate, while Veronica, prompted by Beta, made an intimate move on him. As they arrived at their destination, Xi Yan tried to dismiss his physical reaction and focus on his goal of meeting Gray Tempest.

• Xi Yan reviewed the L-Cluster’s possible outcomes and decided he needed to claim it, planning to join forces with the Nier Guardians and Zirick Cooperative against the M'tok Union.
• Beta urged Veronica to act on her feelings for Xi Yan, and Veronica grabbed his hand and pulled him toward her.
• Xi Yan stumbled into Veronica, touched her breast, and was drawn into her embrace as she held him close.
• Xi Yan reminded himself that he wanted to meet Gray Tempest and tried to regain his composure while Veronica stayed pressed against him.
• Xi Yan announced that they had arrived and privately blamed his arousal on abstaining from masturbation.

Xi Yan questioned Beta about the Precursors and learned that many ancient civilizations had coexisted in a prosperous era before something erased their legacy. Troubled by the Vultaum’s discovery that their universe was supposedly artificial, Xi Yan eventually reached Memorial Square, where memories of Science Ship One overwhelmed him.

• Xi Yan asked Beta about the L-Gate, the L-Cluster, and several Precursor civilizations.
• Beta confirmed that the Precursors, including the Vultaum Star Council and Cybrex Alpha, had existed in the same prosperous era and described their histories.
• Xi Yan wondered whether the Vultaum had discovered that their world was a game and feared that he might be watched by players.
• Beta dismissed the Vultaum as lunatics and pointed out Xi Yan’s physical reaction to Veronica, who teased him as she held him close.
• Xi Yan and Veronica reached Memorial Square, where the Science Ship One monument brought back memories of the scientists’ deaths and left Xi Yan crouching in distress.

Xi Yan nearly collapsed from mental strain, and Beta urged Veronica to help him confront what was troubling him. Veronica confessed her love for Xi Yan, kissed him, and asked him to share what he truly thought so he would not have to bear his pressure alone.

• Xi Yan regained consciousness on a bench with Veronica supporting him, and Beta warned that his mental condition was serious.
• Beta left Xi Yan and Veronica alone, urging them to address his distress, while Veronica asked to call him Xi Yan.
• Veronica recounted how Xi Lie had raised her and Ailiveer, and explained how Xi Yan's courage and reforms made her fall in love with him.
• Veronica reassured Xi Yan that she saw him as a just and gentle person despite his violence, then kissed him and confessed that she wanted to stay by his side.
• Xi Yan admitted he liked Veronica too, and she asked him to tell her what he truly thought so he would not remain lonely under his pressure.

After Veronica confessed her love, Xi Yan revealed his guilt over the sacrifices required to protect the Empire and pursue his ideals. Her reassurance helped him regain his resolve, and he prepared to activate Crisis Ascension and fight the aliens.

• Veronica comforted Xi Yan after he admitted that his conflicting ideals and ruthless decisions had tormented him.
• Xi Yan told Veronica that he wanted the Empire’s citizens to live peacefully, but he had to kill threats and send people on deadly missions.
• Xi Yan confessed that he still grieved for the crew of Science Ship One and for everyone who had died because of his decisions.
• Veronica called Xi Yan a loving hero and told him that the people willingly shared his ideals and would fight alongside him.
• Xi Yan accepted that the Empire’s people supported him and resolved to lead humanity forward despite the sacrifices.
• Xi Yan declared that he would wipe out the aliens and activated Crisis Ascension.

After Veronica helped Xi Yan overcome his guilt over the Empire’s sacrifices, he felt the people’s hopes and ideals flowing into him and unexpectedly awakened psionic abilities. He tested his new power before tiring, while Beta prepared to discuss possible explanations.

• Xi Yan realized the Empire’s citizens willingly supported his choices and accepted sacrifice for their shared ideals.
• Xi Yan sensed the citizens’ wishes gathering into a powerful psychic force that flowed into him.
• Xi Yan awakened psionics, levitated the Wristband, and discovered he could sense his surroundings without opening his eyes.
• Beta noticed Xi Yan and Veronica embracing, learned they had resolved Xi Yan’s problem, and thanked him for agreeing to fight the Contingency and protect organics during the Calamity.
• Xi Yan experimented with his abilities until he became tired and rested against Veronica while she recounted what had happened to Beta.
• Beta said it had theories about Xi Yan’s psionic power and prepared to discuss them.

Beta explained that Xi Yan’s psionic awakening came from resolving his inner turmoil and receiving the shared wishes of the Empire’s people, then advised him on his future with Veronica. Xi Yan remained committed to serving the Empire, while Veronica accepted Beta’s recommendation that they stay together without marrying.

• Beta theorized that Xi Yan awakened his psionic power when resolving his psychological issues opened his mind to the wishes and psionic energy of the Empire’s citizens.
• Beta explained that Xi Yan’s loving emotions gave his psionic power a warm, happiness-inducing quality that affected nearby conscious beings, including Beta and Veronica.
• Beta urged Xi Yan to keep loving humanity and the Empire and to continue fighting for his people.
• Beta recommended that Xi Yan not marry Veronica, arguing that an unattached Marshal would better serve as the face of the Empire.
• Veronica said she would be satisfied as long as Xi Yan stayed by her side, and Xi Yan was deeply moved by her response.

Xi Yan worried that his long lifespan would separate him from Veronica, but Veronica proposed that he marry her sister Ailiveer as well. Xi Yan accepted the idea, and Beta began discussing preparations for their future children.

• Beta explained that Xi Yan’s psionic abilities could let him live for centuries while Veronica remained an ordinary human, and Xi Yan vowed to preserve her through hibernation until immortality technology existed.
• Veronica said Xi Yan would need someone else beside him and suggested her sister Ailiveer, with Beta agreeing that Ailiveer would suit him.
• Veronica asked whether Xi Yan liked Ailiveer, and after he admitted that he did, she declared that the sisters were entrusting themselves to him.
• Veronica promised to help manage Xi Yan’s harem, while Beta objected to their flirting and moved the conversation toward children and descendants.

Xi Yan considered how to secure the Empire’s future and learned that ascension could eventually make him immortal, though Beta proposed a painful interim measure. Meanwhile, Science Ship Two entered an unexplored system and detected an unidentified alien vessel.

• Xi Yan rejected hereditary rule, saying he trusted only himself and Little Gray to lead the Empire.
• Beta explained that ascension could grant Xi Yan an unlimited lifespan in the future and asked him to consider a painful method to endure until then; Xi Yan postponed the decision.
• Xi Yan resolved to honor those who had sacrificed themselves and continue striving for the Empire and its people.
• Svetlana Salazar ordered Science Ship Two to continue into an unexplored system despite sensors detecting an unknown alien entity.
• After the ship emerged from its ten-day Hyperlane journey, its sensors detected an unidentified alien vessel, and the crew began emergency evasive maneuvers.

Science Ship Two discovered hostile Space Amoebas near a Gas Giant and sent its data to the Ring World before escaping. Xi Yan ordered research into pacifying the creatures and studying their biology, then left the Academy with Veronica in high spirits.

• Svetlana spotted strange ships and Swarmers near a Gas Giant, and the Swarmers destroyed the Observation Probe and attacked the Science Ship.
• Svetlana ordered the Science Ship to evade and sent its photos, recordings, and sensor data to the Ring World.
• Beta explained Space Amoebas to Xi Yan and the scientists, and Xi Yan proposed studying their biology and finding a way to pacify them.
• Xi Yan assigned research into Space Amoeba tissue, flagella weapons, and Regenerative Hull Tissue, suspending other sociology research.
• Veronica met Xi Yan outside the Academy, and they walked together to the Administration Building as staff noticed his cheerful aura.

Xi Yan’s psychological problems had been resolved, and he and Veronica had begun a relationship. Veronica encouraged Ailiveer to confess her feelings to Xi Yan, and Ailiveer gathered her resolve to do so.

• Xi Yan and Veronica found Ailiveer asleep at her desk, and Veronica moved her to a sofa to rest.
• Xi Yan discussed his new psionic power with Veronica and Beta, and his changing emotions woke Ailiveer.
• Ailiveer was startled by Xi Yan’s cheerful smile, then learned that Veronica had confessed her feelings and become his partner.
• Ailiveer admitted she had feelings for Xi Yan but tried to leave, hurt and jealous.
• Veronica urged Ailiveer to confess if she was willing to share Xi Yan, and Ailiveer turned back and strode toward him.

Ailiveer and Veronica competed for Xi Yan’s affection in the Secretary of State’s office until Beta rescued him. Xi Yan escaped and decided to practice his psionic power while the Yan sisters stayed behind to argue.

• Ailiveer embraced Xi Yan and kissed him, while Veronica watched and teased her.
• Ailiveer began undressing, and Veronica tried to stop her, prompting the sisters to grapple over Xi Yan.
• Xi Yan called Beta for help, and Beta burst into the office, carried him away, and shut the door behind them.
• Ailiveer and Veronica argued over who had interrupted whom and who had become Xi Yan’s partner first.
• Beta told Xi Yan it had kept others from entering, and Xi Yan chose to practice his psionic power.

Xi Yan practiced using his newly awakened psionic power to communicate with Beta and the Yan sisters, then returned to his routine work for the Empire. At night, Veronica pulled him into his bedroom, where Ailiveer was waiting.

• Xi Yan learned to control his psionic power well enough to communicate telepathically with Beta.
• Xi Yan startled Ailiveer and Veronica by speaking directly into their minds, and the sisters stumbled into the office.
• Xi Yan teased Ailiveer about her earlier boldness, then sent both sisters back to work.
• Xi Yan used telepathy to detect Beta nearby despite Beta pretending to be silent, then resumed his Imperial duties.
• Veronica pulled Xi Yan into his bedroom that evening, where Ailiveer was already waiting on the bed.

In 2220, Xi Yan completed the Empire’s first ten-year plan and set its sights on military and industrial expansion, preparing for war with the M'tok Union. As the Empire strengthened its fleet and built alliances with the Nier Guardians and Zirick Cooperative, turmoil within the M'tok Union intensified.

• Xi Yan celebrated the Empire’s second National Day and completed a decade of exploration, expansion, and outpost construction across more than thirty star systems.
• Xi Yan launched a second ten-year plan focused on industry and military strength, and the Empire developed destroyers, Purple Lasers, starholds, and Cold Fusion Reactors.
• Xi Yan recognized the benefits of genetic and agricultural research as the Empire extended citizens’ lifespans, increased population growth, and cultivated Plant People and Stone People for food and rare crystals.
• Xi Yan deepened trade with Carls Charius and the Megacorporate Faction, building factories to produce e-cigarettes that Stone People eagerly bought.
• Xi Yan maintained friendly relations with the Nier Guardians and Zirick Cooperative, exchanging money, military theories, and technologies in preparation for a joint attack on the M'tok Union.
• The M'tok Union’s internal factions grew more hostile, with the Criminal Enterprise Faction demanding a transition as domestic struggles worsened.

Xi Yan played with Bubble at Cybrex Alpha Starhold while Ailiveer and Veronica watched, and he later prepared to meet a guest from the Shroudwalker Enclave. The chapter left him returning to the Ring World with the sisters ahead of the coming meeting.

• Xi Yan rode Bubble around the Starhold and recalled how she had joined the Empire, received citizenship, and been named Bubble.
• Xi Yan let Bubble fly freely between the Ring World and the Amaterro System, while Veronica envied his rides and Ailiveer plotted to make him suffer a defeat with an aphrodisiac.
• Xi Yan returned to the Starhold with Ailiveer and Veronica after his weekly playtime with Bubble.
• Xi Yan prepared to meet an important guest from the Shroudwalker Enclave, one of the few alien enclaves whose services he considered useful.

The Shroudwalker mentor [Teacher] sensed that a distant empire had produced a fate-chosen emperor whose mind could threaten the beings of the Shroud. He began seeking contact with the empire so the Shroudwalker Enclave could investigate the awakening.

• [Teacher] scolded a student for misunderstanding his comments about the gods and the Shroud.
• [Teacher] told another Shroudwalker that a weak but extraordinary emperor had awakened and that he would meet him personally.
• The chapter explained that a fate-chosen emperor emerged when an empire's shared aspirations focused its psionic power through a pure, gifted leader.
• [Teacher] connected a distant psionic fluctuation and warnings from the Shroud to the rise of an empire that could threaten the beings called gods.
• [Teacher] contacted nearby empires to seek a communication channel to the distant empire.

Xi Yan welcomed a Shroudwalker Enclave delegation to the Empire, hoping to learn from their psionic expertise and acquire their technology. He then joined an urgent private summit with the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians, where he learned a genocidal empire had appeared to their west.

• Xi Yan agreed to host the Shroudwalker Enclave after its leaders requested a visit to investigate the psionic fluctuation from his awakening.
• Senka Vanye summoned Xi Yan to an urgent private summit with Krogg to discuss a new border problem.
• Xi Yan entered the Zirick Cooperative's virtual meeting room and greeted Senka Vanye and Krogg.
• Senka Vanye revealed that a new empire had appeared to their west, and Xi Yan learned it was a Genocidal Empire.

The Zirick Cooperative made contact with the XT-489 Extermination Unit, which identified organics and then attacked a Zirick border system. Chief Coordinator Senka Vanye declared war and sought help from the Nier Guardians and the Interstellar Human Military Junta.

• The Zirick crew decoded the alien language and received the XT-489 Extermination Unit’s declaration that it had detected organics and terminated communication.
• The Zirick Cooperative raised an alert, closed its borders to the XT-489 Extermination Unit, and prepared its fleet to defend the border.
• A fleet of twenty torpedo ships, five destroyers, and fifteen corvettes entered Zirick territory and destroyed a border outpost with a surprise attack.
• Chief Coordinator Senka Vanye declared a state of war and sent the main fleet toward the enemy.
• Senka Vanye contacted the Nier Guardians and the Interstellar Human Military Junta to warn them about the XT-489 Extermination Unit.

Senka Vanye, Xi Yan, and Krogg agreed to coordinate against the XT-489 Extermination Unit while guarding against the M'tok Union. Their empires later signed a Mutual Defense Pact, but the Stone People were already nearing desperation.

• Senka Vanye told Xi Yan and Krogg that the XT-489 Extermination Unit had entered Zirick territory and asked them to keep the M'tok Union in check while his fleet engaged the enemy.
• Xi Yan and Vanye agreed that the Zirick Cooperative would hold the front while Xi Yan's fleet attacked the exterminators from the rear.
• Xi Yan and Vanye assigned Krogg and the Nier Guardians to guard against the M'tok Union while the other fleets were away.
• The Zirick Cooperative warned other organic empires about the exterminators, and Xi Yan accepted a technology offer from the United Nations of Earth.
• Xi Yan discussed the M'tok Union's behavior with Director Carls Charius, then the Zirick Cooperative, Nier Guardians, and Interstellar Human Military Junta signed a Mutual Defense Pact against the XT-489 Extermination Unit.
• The M'tok Union's Stone People grew increasingly desperate as the pact threatened the Criminal Enterprise Faction's influence.