Chapter Summaries

Merchant Klaf discovered a mysterious gate leading to the Inverse Realm, returned from an expedition with a warning and strange treasure, and made the gate famous. Over the next thousand years, more gates and Inverse Realms were discovered, reaching a total of 127 Klaft Gates.

• Klaf found a massive black gate blocking his caravan’s route and opened it despite his men’s objections.
• Klaf led an expedition through the gate, and three days later only he and one guard returned from the eleven-person group.
• Klaf ordered the gate closed and, two years later, wrote a warning describing the dangers and riches of the world beyond it.
• People continued to enter the gate after Klaf returned with a brilliant, lightweight substance that became known as devil’s treasure.
• Thirty-seven years later, people discovered a second Klaft Gate leading to a new Inverse Realm.
• A thousand years later, people had discovered 127 Klaft Gates.

Tianyang’s collection squad became trapped by Wanderers in the Inverse Realm, and Captain Qin Wu shot Tianyang to use him as bait while escaping. Tianyang forced the others to leave supplies behind, but the Wanderers reached the doorway as he lay injured and alone.

• Tianyang failed to contact the main team while Qin Wu and the squad argued over their mission and retreat.
• Tianyang spotted Wanderers approaching and Qin Wu demanded his rifle, then shot him in the leg as he tried to escape.
• Qin Wu explained that Tianyang’s torn suit would attract the Wanderers and fled through a window with Dong Yan and the other squad member.
• Tianyang threatened to kill himself with a hidden dagger unless Qin Wu left a first-aid kit and survival supplies, and the squad complied before escaping.
• The Wanderers reached the doorway while Tianyang lay injured, holding onto the hatred he felt for Qin Wu.

After escaping the Wanderers, Tianyang discovered Star Crystal Grass near an underground passage and found a glowing Star Marrow Pillar within. As strange sounds approached from above, he prepared to fight beside the source of his hope.

• Tianyang barricaded himself inside a room, treated his bullet wound, replenished his energy, and patched the breach in his protective suit.
• He saw Qin Wu and two others escape in the team's Coyote vehicle, while Wanderers gathered through the ruined city below.
• Tianyang noticed the Wanderers turning away from an intersection and went to investigate.
• He found Star Crystal Grass by an underground passage and realized a Star Marrow Pillar might be nearby.
• Tianyang descended into the tunnel and discovered a towering, glowing Star Marrow Pillar.
• When strange squeaking sounds came from above, Tianyang turned and readied his dagger for an approaching threat.

Tianyang encountered a Black-Mist Spreader attacking the Star Marrow Pillar, and it blinded and infected him before he fought back. As he lay beneath the pillar, he gripped one of its roots, and silver light seeped into his fingers.

• Tianyang recognized the woman-shaped creature as the Girl of a Hundred Mouths, or Black-Mist Spreader, and tried to flee.
• The Spreader caught Tianyang, pierced his visor, and stabbed his left eye with its mouthpart.
• Tianyang stabbed the Spreader's eye with his dagger, but it hurled him against the pillar and infected him with black mist.
• As the infection overwhelmed him, Tianyang clung to his desire for revenge and reached for the pillar's silver light.
• The Spreader resumed attacking the pillar while Tianyang gripped one of its roots, and silver glimmers sank into his fingers.

Tianyang encountered a vast cosmic will that used the Star Marrow Pillar’s silver radiance to purge the Spreader’s black mist and repair his body. After awakening with silver hair and starlight in his eye, he turned the Spreader’s attack aside with a barrier and left it powerless.

• Tianyang saw a colossal shadow reach through a river of stars and touch him, flooding his mind with information and whispers.
• The Spreader recoiled from the immense will and noticed Tianyang gripping a root of the Star Marrow Pillar.
• Silver radiance clashed with the black mist inside Tianyang while the will directed it to destroy the mist and repair his damaged body.
• A tiny black goat-skull symbol escaped the silver radiance, and the will completed its integration with Tianyang’s consciousness.
• Tianyang rose with silver hair and starlight in his eye, then raised a barrier that deflected and shattered the Spreader’s tendrils.

Tianyang killed the Transmitter after a mysterious power overwhelmed him, then woke to discover he had gained the previously unknown Avenger class. He realized becoming an Ascender could change his life and let him seek justice from Qin Wu.

• Tianyang appeared behind the Transmitter and pierced its body, but it escaped his grasp and attacked as a sphere of dark flame.
• Tianyang drew star marrow from the Star Pillar, formed a crystalline longsword, and split the Transmitter's will cage with a silver slash.
• The dying Transmitter sent Tianyang a signal calling him its apostle, and Tianyang collapsed as its body disintegrated.
• Tianyang woke with a new class emblem on his hand and learned that he was an Avenger, rank 1 Assassin, with the abilities Weakness Sense and One-Strike Annihilation.
• Tianyang realized he had become an Ascender and thought of improving his mother's life and demanding justice from Qin Wu.

Tianyang returned to Lighthouse Base after exploring the Inverse Realm, bringing back Wanderers, star crystal grass, and a map marking a Star Pillar. After earning 4,000 contribution points, he asked to meet the Nightwalker Commander because he had awakened an unlisted Ascender class.

• Wei Bo detected approaching Wanderers and spotted a car they were pulling toward Lighthouse Base.
• Tianyang contacted the base, requested entry, and asked the Experimentation Department to collect his live Wanderer specimens.
• Base personnel took the Wanderers and star crystal grass and recorded Tianyang's map to the Star Pillar, earning him 4,000 contribution points.
• A base officer advised Tianyang to visit the Medical Center and undergo a physical examination, but Tianyang asked to see the Nightwalker Commander.
• Tianyang told the officer he was an Ascender with an unlisted class, and the officer agreed to report his request to Nightwalker Headquarters.
• A vehicle carried Tianyang into Lighthouse Base, where he looked over the busy outpost and said, "I'm back."

After awakening the previously unknown Avenger class, Tianyang negotiated immediate Nightwalker membership and Upper Citizen status with Chief of Staff Ling Feng. Ling Feng granted his demands and moved to protect the secret of the new class, while Tianyang kept his revenge motive to himself.

• A physician told Tianyang that his left eye was irreparably damaged and would need to be removed, though he could seek an electronic prosthetic.
• Ling Feng examined Tianyang’s Avenger insignia and confirmed that channeling Star Essence activated the unfamiliar class.
• Tianyang demanded immediate Nightwalker membership and Upper Citizen status, warning that other organizations might recruit him if the Nightwalkers delayed.
• Ling Feng granted Tianyang membership and status, told him to conceal his class, and advised him to cover the insignia on his hand.
• Ling Feng recognized the Avenger as a potentially consequential tenth class and sent an encrypted message while ordering people who had met Tianyang to keep silent.

Tianyang confronted Qin Wu in the Black Bullet bar over the captain’s attempt to kill him, but Qin Wu threatened him and claimed the law could not protect a Lower Citizen. Tianyang revealed that he was an Ascender, killed Qin Wu under the Fortress’s Fundamental Laws, and sensed a change in his class information as he left.

• Tianyang used Ling Feng’s authority card to enter the Black Bullet bar and confronted Qin Wu about leaving him to die.
• Tianyang placed his helmet’s recording chip on the counter, but Qin Wu crushed it and threatened Tianyang and his mother.
• Qin Wu dismissed the Fortress’s laws as protections for Upper Citizens and drew a live handgun to stop Tianyang from leaving.
• Tianyang invoked the law protecting Ascenders, severed Qin Wu’s gun hand, and killed him with his dagger.
• As Tianyang left the bar, new data entered his mind and his class information subtly changed.

After killing Qin Wu, Tianyang discovered that his revenge had raised his Ascension progress, while Nightwalkers Chief of Staff Ling Feng recognized the killing as leverage in a power struggle. Back at the dormitory, Tianyang faced two teammates who had abandoned him, and they moved to attack him before someone interrupted.

• Ling Feng watched footage of Tianyang killing Qin Wu and explained to Lin Yang that the incident would uphold Ascenders’ standing in the Fortress.
• Tianyang returned to the dormitory, calmed himself, and discovered his Ascension progress had risen by eleven percentage points.
• Tianyang suspected that taking revenge had triggered the increase, possibly through a class-specific method.
• Dong Yan and another soldier confronted Tianyang about reporting their role in abandoning him, and he told them the higher-ups already knew.
• The two soldiers approached Tianyang threateningly, but someone opened the dormitory door and demanded to know what they were doing.

After Luo Hao forced Dong Yan and his companion to apologize, Lin Yang gave Tianyang his new identification card and arranged his return to Skyhold for medical treatment and rest. Tianyang crossed back through the Klaft Gate and rode toward his home in the lower district.

• Luo Hao stopped Dong Yan and his companion from confronting Tianyang, made them apologize, and had them taken into custody.
• Lin Yang gave Tianyang his new identification card and told him about an apartment application, an electronic eye procedure, and a reserved train seat back to the Fortress.
• Tianyang packed his belongings, passed through the Klaft Gate, and arrived at Skyhold’s transit platform.
• Tianyang boarded the Circumferential Train and watched the sea and Skyhold’s dome defenses as he traveled toward the middle and lower districts.

Tianyang returned to the Lower City and went to Volcano Bar to find his mother, Nanfei. After defending her from a customer who grabbed her, he faced her questions about his new status as an Ascender, his white hair, and his eyepatch.

• Tianyang walked from Shadow Street Station through the impoverished Lower City toward Volcano Bar.
• At Volcano Bar, Tianyang asked Kaidi where Nanfei was and explained that his eye surgery was scheduled for a few days later.
• Nanfei came out of the kitchen, and Iron Mountain grabbed her and demanded that she drink and sleep with him.
• Tianyang used his speed to pin Iron Mountain's hand to a table with a dagger and ordered him and his companion to leave.
• Nanfei asked Tianyang about his Ascender status, white hair, and eyepatch, and he began to explain.

Qin Jie learned that Qin Wu had died after attacking a Nightwalker Ascender and vowed nothing aloud, while Tianyang clashed with Nanfei over joining the Nightwalkers and stormed off. The chapter ended with Tianyang regretting his harsh words and deciding to apologize the next day.

• Qin Jie confronted the Gathering Team officers, and Lin Yang explained that Qin Wu had threatened a Nightwalker Ascender and committed other offenses before his death.
• Lin Yang warned Qin Jie to let the matter go, then left with the officers; Qin Jie smashed furniture as his wife urged him to avenge their son.
• Tianyang told Nanfei he had joined the Nightwalkers and planned a better living arrangement for them, but she demanded that he quit.
• Tianyang argued with Nanfei about his future and his unknown father, then stormed into his room after she slapped him.
• Tianyang reflected on his mother's sacrifices and regretted what he had said, resolving to apologize the next day.

After learning the privileges of his new Upper Citizen status, Tianyang discovered a storage receipt hidden behind a broken photograph and went to claim the item deposited seventeen years earlier. The storage house brought him a combination-lock case, which revealed a diary.

• Tianyang found his mother gone, saved the egg she had left for her, and swept the house before accidentally breaking a photograph of Nanfei holding him as a baby.
• A registration official told Tianyang that his Upper City household registration was complete, explained the rights of an Ascender, and gave him an electromagnetic unicycle.
• While repairing the broken photo frame, Tianyang found a receipt for an item anonymously deposited at the Upper City Storage House seventeen years earlier and suspected it might be connected to his father.
• Tianyang traveled to the storage house, where a worker recognized him as an Ascender and arranged for the item to be retrieved.
• The storage house placed a combination-lock case before Tianyang, and it contained a diary.

Tianyang read Su Lie’s diary and learned that Su Lie was likely his father, who had planned to marry Nanfei and named their unborn child Tianyang. The diary’s later pages were missing, so Tianyang sought help finding Jing Nan and returned home to find a Nightwalker waiting outside.

• Tianyang collected Su Lie’s notebook from the Storage Bank and read it in a nearby park.
• The diary revealed Su Lie’s relationship with Nanfei, his father’s opposition, and his plans to marry her and name their child Tianyang.
• Tianyang realized the diary’s later pages had been torn out and decided to ask Jing Nan what had happened.
• Tianyang applied to the Household Registration Office for help locating Jing Nan, but was told the records search would take at least a week.
• Tianyang returned home and found a man in a Nightwalkers’ uniform waiting outside.

Tianyang received his Nightwalker equipment and learned that a recorder would be installed during his electronic eye surgery in exchange for a special allowance. He was assigned to guide the Raven Squad on a mission to retrieve the Star Marrow Pillar, and was ordered to report to the Transfer Platform the morning after next.

• Yan Bing delivered Tianyang's equipment case and communicator, along with a message from Lin Yang.
• Lin Yang told Tianyang that his electronic eye surgery would include a class-data recorder and that he had been assigned a mission.
• Tianyang inspected his standard Nightwalker equipment and tried on his second lieutenant uniform before hiding it from Nanfei.
• Nanfei returned home, but put off Tianyang when he tried to speak with her, then left for work at the bar after dinner.
• Tianyang read the mission briefing and learned that Ling Feng had ordered him to guide Han Shu's Raven Squad in retrieving the Star Marrow Pillar.

After getting a Tactical Electronic Eye, Tianyang reported to Raven Squad and clashed with Cang Du over his killing of a former superior and his status as an Upper Citizen. Han Shu broke up their confrontation, ordered Tianyang to run sixty laps, and suspected Ling Feng had deliberately assigned him as a guide.

• Tianyang underwent surgery to have a Tactical Electronic Eye installed and left Nanfei a note saying he was going on a mission.
• Tianyang arrived at the Deck 7 rendezvous point and met Cang Du, who accused him of killing his former superior.
• Tianyang explained that the superior had shot him in the leg to use him as bait, then argued with Cang Du over the rights of Lower and Upper Citizens.
• Cang Du insulted Tianyang's mother, and Tianyang drew his saber before Han Shu punched Cang Du and stopped the fight.
• Han Shu ordered Tianyang to run sixty laps around Deck 7 and wondered whether Ling Feng had intentionally assigned him as a guide.

Tianyang joined the Raven Squad for a mission to recover a Star Pillar, and the team set out through the Klaft Gate toward Lighthouse Base. A temporary order added Chen Liu and the Storm Squad to the operation, while Chen Liu secretly pursued a plan to weaken the Nightwalkers’ standing and budget.

• Han Shu introduced Old Xu, Ji Yu, Cang Du, and the other Raven Squad members before briefing them on the joint Star Pillar recovery mission.
• Tianyang entered the Klaft Gate with the squad, and Chen Liu arrived with orders for himself and the Storm Squad to join the operation.
• Han Shu confirmed the temporary order with Nightwalker Headquarters, and the Raven Squad followed Chen Liu’s convoy through the gate.
• The Raven Squad boarded a high-speed train bound for Lighthouse Base, while Chen Liu avoided Han Shu and spoke privately with a Strategic Department general.
• Chen Liu told the general that he intended to prove ordinary soldiers could fight the Children of Darkness and help cut the Nightwalkers’ budget.

Han Shu trained Tianyang in combat aboard an empty carriage, teaching him to use an opponent’s expectations and weaknesses while conserving strength. After four hours of practice, Han Shu carried the exhausted and injured Tianyang to the Medical Team for treatment.

• Han Shu explained that Ling Feng had asked him to give Tianyang combat guidance, then challenged Tianyang to attack him with his Particle Warblade.
• Han Shu easily tripped and pinned Tianyang, and Tianyang identified how Han Shu had anticipated his attack and exploited his balance.
• Han Shu taught Tianyang to use every advantage, learn about his enemies, conserve strength, and avoid fighting opponents who were far stronger.
• Han Shu drilled Tianyang in techniques for breaking an enemy’s defenses, warning him to use them only against opponents near his level.
• After four hours, Han Shu carried the bruised and exhausted Tianyang and his warblade to the Medical Team to have his wounds treated.

After Xun bandaged Tianyang's wounds aboard the train, the train stopped because Wanderers blocked the tracks. Han Shu led Tianyang and the Raven Squad to clear them, and Cang Du struck first.

• Han Shu brought Tianyang to the Medical Team, where Luo Shan asked Xun to treat his wounds.
• The train braked suddenly, and Tianyang caught Xun as she fell against him.
• The conductor told Han Shu that Wanderers were blocking the tracks, so Han Shu and Tianyang left to investigate.
• Ji Yu reported that around seventy to a hundred Wanderers were crossing the tracks and could derail the train.
• Han Shu ordered the group to attack, and Cang Du charged forward, shattering the cages on several Wanderers.