Recaps

Lin En launched a server-wide crowdfunding event to gather the faith points needed for fifty new players, prompting a huge rush of interest in the game. The first five players agreed to grind monsters for the new beta slots, while Lin En waited to see how quickly they could earn enough points.

• Lin En realized he lacked the 5,000 faith points required to recruit fifty players and decided to make the existing players fund the expansion by grinding monsters.
• Lu Ziye posted the first-beta players’ account of defeating an Elite Monster, drawing intense forum interest and pleas for access.
• The official website released a cinematic and announced the server-wide event Reforge the Ashen Portal, which would unlock fifty second-beta slots once progress reached 100%.
• Players urged Lu Ziye and the others to keep killing monsters, and Lu Ziye resolved to grind without sleep for the exclusive title and new companions.
• Lin En watched second-beta signups exceed one hundred thousand and expected the five players to earn the 5,000 faith points within a few days.

Ji Luo and the other first-test players built a concealed pit trap beside the Church to kill monsters more efficiently. Their trap wiped out a pack of Corrupted Villagers and a First-Tier Mutant Hound, earning them experience and Ash Coins.

• Ji Luo directed the group as they dug a pit and lined it with sharpened stakes beside the Church.
• Jiahao explained their plan to lure monsters into the pit and kill them as an assembly line.
• Ma Lou lured seven or eight Corrupted Villagers and a First-Tier Mutant Hound out of the Black Forest.
• Jiahao tripped the hound with Ashen Shaping, sending it into the concealed pit, and the villagers fell in after it.
• Ji Luo and the others attacked the trapped monsters until they all died, earning experience and Ash Coins.

Five players swept the outskirts of the Black Forest by luring monsters into a killing pit, earning Faith Points for Lin En and advancing the Ashen Portal’s construction. By nightfall, they had nearly wiped out the local monsters and all reached level 3.

• Ji Luo organized the five players into an assembly line that lured monsters into a pit and killed them for rewards.
• Sister Sivir watched the players’ slaughter from the Church and became even more awestruck and devoted to Lin En.
• Lin En’s Faith Points passed 2,000, and he used 15 points to make a visible Ashen Portal take shape outside the Church.
• Passing Pure-Love Warrior spotted the portal, and Ma Lou rushed back into the Black Forest to lure in more monsters.
• The players continued farming until they had nearly cleared the outskirts, killing 214 Zero Tier Corrupted Villagers and 12 First Tier Mutant Hounds.
• Ji Luo reported that the five players had all reached level 3 and each had earned more than 100 Ash Coins.

After the five veterans stopped grinding for the night, Ji Luo logged out and told his sister Ji Li about the game’s extraordinary realism. The chapter left Ji Luo anticipating the second beta and his chance to train the fifty new players.

• [Passing Pure-Love Warrior] urged the five veterans to keep hunting, but [Ji Luo] stopped him as night fell and warned about dangerous monsters and sanity loss.
• The five players logged out to rest and agreed to return at seven the next morning to finish the Portal and welcome the second-beta players.
• Ji Luo woke in his gaming pod, went downstairs hungry, and found Ji Li eating instant noodles while reading the game's forum.
• Ji Luo saw that registrations had passed three hundred thousand and the game's progress had exceeded fifty percent, then proudly told Ji Li how the veterans had built traps and fought monsters.
• Ji Li questioned whether the game was truly as realistic as people claimed, and Ji Luo insisted it was before boasting that he would instruct the fifty newcomers.

Ji Li tried to borrow Ji Luo’s gaming pod, while Wang begged Lu Ziye for access to Awakening of the Old Gods and learned the helmet might be bound to Lu Ziye. In the game world, Lin En planned for the second test as Sivir prayed to him and recounted the losses that had left her alone.

• Ji Li offered Ji Luo five thousand yuan to borrow his gaming pod, but he refused to risk losing his Ash Coins.
• Wang discovered Lu Ziye was the forum user Passing Pure-Love Warrior and begged to try the game, but Lu Ziye refused and directed him to register for the second-test lottery.
• Wang rushed to register for the lottery while Lu Ziye planned to repair the Portal and welcome fifty new players the next day.
• Lin En counted 3,634 Faith Points and planned a beginner’s guide and fees for weapons, resurrection, and titles when the second test began.
• Sivir prayed to Lin En, praised the summoned emissaries, and told him that Cultists had killed her parents and a monster had killed the old priest who protected her.

Lin En comforted Sivir and appointed her as the guide for the Ash Apostles who would arrive with the second beta. Sivir accepted the sacred duty and went to sleep hopeful, while Lin En planned to upgrade her and the ruined Church once he had enough faith points.

• Lin En answered Sivir’s prayers, acknowledged her suffering, and reassured her that the darkness would pass.
• Sivir praised the Ash Apostles’ fearlessness, and Lin En explained their strange behavior as a consequence of their damaged memories and immense power.
• Lin En told Sivir to guide new apostles, help them build a camp, and reward them with praise; he also instructed her to remain dignified and rebuke disrespectful players.
• Sivir accepted her role, practiced the greeting “May the ash bless you, undying warrior,” and fell asleep in the hut the players had built.
• Lin En watched Sivir embrace her new position and imagined using faith points to upgrade her and turn the Church into a fortress.

Winterhold’s archbishop refused to aid Fog Town and ordered trainee knights to wait until its barrier fell before claiming the survivors as slaves. The players returned to the Black Forest expecting another day of grinding, but discovered they had killed every nearby Corrupted Villager and that the world had no respawns.

• A knight reported that Fog Town was besieged and its Guardian Deity, [Weeping Madonna], was nearly out of divine power.
• The archbishop dismissed Fog Town’s plea and ordered trainee knights to wait for its fall, then seize the survivors as mine slaves.
• [Ji Luo], Ma Lou, and the other players logged in at seven and prepared to farm mobs at their slaughter trap.
• Ma Lou returned from the forest with no mobs, reporting that he could not find a single Corrupted Villager.
• [I'm Not Jiahao] explained that the creatures were real and did not respawn, and [Ji Luo] realized the group had exterminated them.

After exhausting the monsters around the Black Forest, Ji Luo and the other players entered the abandoned village to keep advancing the Portal’s progress. They discovered cultists preparing to attack the Lord of Ashes, and the chapter ended as a second-tier calamity entity began hatching.

• The five players realized they had killed or gathered every monster and herb near the Black Forest, leaving the Portal’s progress stalled.
• Ji Luo persuaded the group to enter the abandoned village, where they found bloodstained runes and followed the smell of blood to a priest’s residence.
• Ma Lou and the others spied on robed cultists performing a sacrifice around a mass of flesh.
• The cultist leader said they planned to summon a Devouring horror, destroy the Lord of Ashes’s Barrier, and corrupt him.
• The flesh mass began pulsing, and the players’ warning panels identified it as the hatching second-tier calamity entity Flesh Fusion.

Ji Luo and the other four players stormed the Priest's Residence to destroy the incubating second-tier Flesh Cocoon before it hatched. Their attack ruptured the cocoon, triggering a soul-piercing shriek and violent shaking as something began to emerge.

• Ji Luo rejected retreat and led the group to attack the Flesh Cocoon while it was still incubating.
• Passing Pure-Love Warrior killed a guarding Cultist, and the five players charged into the ritual hall.
• Ji Luo, Ma Lou, and Jiahao blasted the Cultists with Ashen Missiles while Ji Luo and Kindergarten Boss pushed toward the altar.
• Passing Pure-Love Warrior engaged the red-robed leader as Bossy Guy struck the Flesh Cocoon with his Stone Axe.
• The damaged cocoon shrieked, the Cultists fell to their knees, and the Priest's Residence began to shake violently.

Flesh Fusion emerged prematurely at peak first tier, devoured the cultists, and instantly wiped out the five players. After they respawned at the Ash Church, Lin En received a warning that the monster was leading a beast tide toward the Church, and the players watched the horde approach its barrier.

• Flesh Fusion burst from the damaged cocoon, and the players learned it had emerged at peak first tier.
• Flesh Fusion devoured the cultists, strengthening itself, then killed all five players with a storm of blood spikes.
• The five players respawned at the Ash Church, where Lin En received an emergency warning that Flesh Fusion was gathering monsters to attack the Church.
• The players saw a vast beast tide, led by Flesh Fusion, charging toward the Church's blue barrier.
• Ji Luo watched the approaching horde and let out a long breath despite his shock.

Lin En spent his Faith Points to give players unlimited free revivals during the defense of the Church, turning their desperate stand against the beast tide into a reckless counterattack. The barrier broke, and the players began fighting the monsters at the breach, with Lu Ziye already reviving to charge back into battle.

• Ji Luo warned that the beast tide included about a hundred monsters and an overpowered boss, while Kindergarten Boss feared the players would run out of Ash Coins and lose their ability to revive.
• Lin En used the system to announce the limited-time Defense of the Deity Hall event and grant participating players unlimited free revivals.
• Passing Pure-Love Warrior, Ma Lou, I'm Not Jiahao, Ji Luo, and Bossy Guy rushed to meet the monsters, and the beast tide broke through the Church's barrier.
• Ji Luo ordered the players to hold the breach, and Passing Pure-Love Warrior grappled a Mutant Hound so Ji Luo could spear them both and kill it.
• Lu Ziye revived at the Church and charged back to the breach, smashing a Corrupted Villager with a rock.

Five players used repeated deaths to hold back the Beast Tide at the Church breach, but the Flesh Fusion smashed through their defenses and began attacking them. It impaled Ma Lou and Jiahao while Ji Luo narrowly dodged its tentacles.

• Bossy Guy, Ma Lou, and Jiahao repeatedly died and respawned to fight monsters and restore their mana.
• The five players held the Beast Tide at the Church breach for half an hour, building a wall from monster corpses.
• Lin En watched the Flesh Fusion unleash a roar that shattered the weakened barrier with cracks.
• Flesh Fusion charged through the breach, crushed the corpse wall, and killed Passing Pure-Love Warrior and Bossy Guy.
• Ji Luo dodged a tentacle, but Flesh Fusion impaled Ma Lou and Jiahao and lifted them into the air.

The players discovered that Flesh Fusion’s exposed chest tumor was vulnerable to Ashen Missiles and used repeated respawns to interrupt its attacks. As the fight dragged on, Ma Lou noticed the monster had shrunk and slowed, suggesting it was running out of energy.

• Flesh Fusion drained Ma Lou and another player, while Lin En’s barrier weakened as the monster neared his statue.
• Passing Pure-Love Warrior clung to Flesh Fusion and bit into its flesh, while Jiahao struck its open chest tumor with an Ashen Missile.
• The players repeatedly attacked the tumor and sacrificed themselves to distract Flesh Fusion, interrupting its attempts to strike Lin En’s statue.
• Flesh Fusion smashed Ma Lou, Jiahao, and Ji Luo behind the pillars, but Ji Luo saw that the monster remained strong despite their attacks.
• Ma Lou noticed Flesh Fusion had shrunk and slowed, and Jiahao realized it was burning through its own energy after running out of corpses to devour.

The five-man team pierced Flesh Fusion's chest tumor, but the wounded monster survived and began devouring lesser monsters to recover and evolve. As its level surged toward the nightmare tier, Ji Luo ordered the team to interrupt its feeding while Lin En watched helplessly from the Divine Statue.

• Ji Luo coordinated Pure-Love Warrior and Bossy Guy's attack with Ash Spears while he blocked Flesh Fusion's corrosive acid, allowing them to stab its tumor.
• Flesh Fusion unleashed a devastating roar that killed Pure-Love Warrior and Bossy Guy, then revealed tentacles emerging from its wounds.
• Flesh Fusion devoured nearby lesser monsters and rapidly strengthened, triggering a system warning that it was approaching second-tier evolution.
• Ji Luo ordered the team to cut the tentacles and eliminate the lesser monsters, while Lin En searched the system for a way to intervene but found his powers limited.
• Ma Lou and Jiahao attacked the lesser monsters and used Ashen Shaping to create stumbling blocks as the team tried to stop Flesh Fusion from feeding.

Ji Luo and the fourth catastrophe’s fighters stopped Flesh Fusion from advancing by repeatedly disrupting its energy absorption, then killed it while the backlash left it severely weakened. The group won, though Ji Luo and the others were exhausted and their weapons were damaged.

• Ma Lou and Jiahao cleared out the lesser monsters while Pure-Love Warrior and Bossy Guy repeatedly attacked Flesh Fusion’s tentacles, dying and reviving to disrupt its energy absorption.
• Ji Luo noticed Flesh Fusion weakening and led the fighters to intensify their attacks until its forced advancement failed and a backlash reduced it to Lv.19.
• The group attacked the weakened monster, with Pure-Love Warrior cracking its head, Bossy Guy breaking its knee, and Ma Lou and Jiahao striking its chest tumor with Ashen Missiles.
• Ji Luo climbed onto Flesh Fusion and drove his spear into its chest tumor as all four allies used Ashen Shaping to enhance the strike.
• Flesh Fusion collapsed into sludge, and the exhausted fighters celebrated their victory.

After surviving the siege, the five players leveled up and found an epic Evil God Flesh Remnant while Lin En collected a fortune in Faith Points. Lin En completed the Ashen Portal, triggering a server-wide announcement that welcomed 50 new beta testers and announced the next version’s launch.

• The five players received experience and Ash Coins for defeating 166 mutants and the Flesh Fusion, and all reached level 7.
• Lin En gained 4,360 Faith Points from the battle, bringing his balance to 6,075.
• Ma Lou looted an epic-grade Evil God Flesh Remnant from the Flesh Fusion’s remains, and Ji Luo told him to keep it safe.
• Sivir praised Lin En and his apostles, earning Lin En 50 Faith Points through her devotion.
• Lin En activated the Ashen Portal, which became solid and opened a spatial vortex.
• The players received the exclusive Ash Guide title as a server-wide announcement revealed 50 new beta slots and the next version’s launch time.

After only fifty players received closed-beta invitations to Awakening of the Old Gods, the rejected players flooded the official forum to complain and bargain for access. Lu Ziye then appeared under his forum account, displaying his level and exclusive Ash Guide title.

• Fifty players received invitations to the closed beta, while Wang and hundreds of thousands of others were rejected.
• Wang lamented his rejection to Lu Ziye, then decided to post a bounty for a beta key.
• Rejected players crowded the official forum, where they argued over account transfers, the selection process, and whether the game was real.
• Even Monkeys Have Dignity claimed he had killed a powerful boss, prompting forum users to recognize him as Ma Lou and ask how he earned points.
• Lu Ziye logged into the forum as Passing Pure-Love Warrior, whose profile showed a gold Lv. 7 Ash Apostles badge and the title Ash Guide.

After the first-beta players celebrated their victory and attracted huge attention online, Lin En spent 5,000 Faith Points creating bodies for fifty new players. The milestone for exceeding fifty players unlocked the basic Ash Shop, and Lin En prepared to sell the newcomers robes and equipment.

• Lu Ziye posted that the first-beta squad had defeated an Evil God and invited the fifty new players to meet them at the Church.
• Ji Li raged after failing to win a beta spot, while Ji Luo refused to let her use his account.
• The five first-beta players celebrated their newfound fame and planned how to welcome the new players.
• Lin En paid 5,000 Faith Points to create Ash bodies for the fifty Second Beta Test players.
• The system awarded Lin En the Spark milestone and unlocked the basic Ash Shop, stocked with robes, weapons, and shields.

Lin En stocked his shop with equipment and a nighttime protection item, hoping to profit from the second beta players and eventually gain enough Faith Points to level up. At seven in the morning, fifty players arrived through the Portal and were stunned by the game's lifelike sensations.

• Lin En realized that the shop would reclaim Ash Coins and give him a 10% fee in Faith Points whenever players bought items.
• He listed basic equipment and promoted the Lord of Ashes' Blessing, which let players resist Darkmoon Mist Corruption for an hour at night.
• Lin En checked that reaching Lv.2 required 10,000 Faith Points and resolved to earn them from the incoming players.
• On Blue Star, the fifty chosen players spent the hours before launch posting about their experience, plans, and guild recruitment.
• At seven in the morning, the Portal opened and sent more than fifty players into the clearing before Ash Church.
• Who's Afraid of Me, the Grind King tested the mud's texture and taste, then shouted that the game felt like a second life.

Fifty new players arrived in the Wasteland and marveled at the game's realism, while the five first-test veterans presented themselves as powerful guides. Sivir greeted the newcomers, who immediately became infatuated with her.

• Fifty new players woke in the clearing, tested the world's sensations, and admired the ruined landscape and Church.
• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master tried to recruit players to the Undying Stars Guild and proposed capturing Fog Town.
• The five first-test veterans appeared in Ash Robes with Ash Guide titles, drawing the newcomers' awe with their Lv.7 levels.
• I'm Not Jiahao welcomed the newcomers and warned them to respect the darkness of the Wasteland.
• Sivir entered the Church, greeted the new players, and provoked a wave of excited declarations that she was their wife.

Sivir delivered the Lord of Ashes’ welcome and rallied fifty new players before assigning them a beginner trial in the Black Forest. Lin En planned to use the forest to level them up so they could eventually reinforce Fog Town, which was under siege by Cultists.

• Sivir scolded the unruly players, and a system warning threatened permanent bans if they angered her.
• Sivir welcomed the warriors and urged them to reclaim the wilderness in the name of the Lord of Ashes, stirring the new players’ enthusiasm.
• The five closed-beta players wondered why they had not received the same welcome speech, and [Ji Luo] guessed that the developers had changed the tutorial after their difficult boss fight.
• Lin En decided the new players needed to level up in the Black Forest before they could safely travel to Fog Town.
• Sivir gave the players a quest to hunt one zero-tier Mutant at the edge of the Black Forest for ten Ash Coins, and the crowd eagerly reacted to the reward.

Lin En warned the new players that the Black Forest was too dangerous to explore alone, prompting Ji Luo and the other veterans to organize them into five squads and lend them weapons for a share of their Ash Coins. The fifty-five-person group left the Sanctuary Barrier and reached the terrifying forest, where the veteran guides tried to hide their fear.

• Lin En sent a system warning advising beginners to form squads and cautioning that revival after their free attempts would cost Ash Coins.
• Ji Luo and the other first-test veterans decided to organize the newcomers into teams and take a share of their future earnings.
• Ji Luo, Even Monkeys Have Dignity, and I'm Not Jiahao offered weapons and guidance in exchange for thirty percent of the Ash Coins earned by each team.
• The fifty newbies joined five squads led by veterans, and the pioneering group set out from the Ash Church.
• After the group crossed the Sanctuary Barrier, the Black Forest's oppressive atmosphere frightened the veterans, while Ji Luo urged them to act confident in front of the newcomers.

Lu Ziye and the other veterans led fifty newbies into the Black Forest, where they taught them to hunt Corrupted Villagers and sold them replacement weapons. The newbies grew excited by the combat and kept fighting, unaware that the veterans were profiting from their work.

• The five veterans split the fifty newbies into squads and led them into different parts of the Black Forest.
• Lu Ziye showed Crazy Young Master and the others how to blind and topple two Zero-Tier Corrupted Villagers, then killed one with his Pimple Mace.
• The veterans directed the newbies through a morning of coordinated monster hunting, and the newcomers quickly adapted to the combat.
• Crazy Young Master's Flint Spear broke, so Lu Ziye sold him two replacement stone spears for two Ash Coins each.
• The newbies continued earning Ash Coins while paying protection fees and buying disposable weapons from the veterans.

As the players explored deeper into the Black Forest, they encountered new monsters and stumbled upon Knight Kyle being hunted by Fallen Cultists and Rift Ghouls. The players charged to protect him, leaving the cultists stunned by their reckless tactics.

• Lin En watched his Faith Points surge as five veteran-led teams leveled rookies across the Black Forest.
• Ma Lou's team encountered a Human-Faced Poison Spider and attacked it for its valuable materials.
• Lu Ziye's squad reached the foggy forest interior and found the wounded Knight Kyle pursued by three Fallen Cultists and two Rift Ghouls.
• The cultists released the Rift Ghouls, and Kuang Shao charged one instead of dodging.
• When the ghoul bit Kuang Shao's arm, Lu Ziye ordered the others to spear it, and they stabbed through Kuang Shao as well, turning him to ash.

Lu Ziye and the other players saved the wounded Knight Kyle from Cultists and Ghouls, then bewildered him with their strange behavior and apparent immortality. Kyle recognized them as Ash Apostles and begged them to save Fog Town from the Cultists.

• Lu Ziye blinded the Cultists with Ashen Missile, and the players defeated three Cultists and two Ghouls in a chaotic fight.
• The players crowded around the wounded Kyle, while Lu Ziye tried to trigger a quest and Kyle warned them about Fog Town and the Cultists.
• Lu Ziye ordered the players to feed Kyle Ghoul flesh, but Immortal Star Crazy Young Master returned from resurrection before they could force it on him.
• Kyle recognized Crazy Young Master as a man who had just died and become unharmed again, then asked Lu Ziye who the players were.
• Lu Ziye identified the players as Ash Apostles serving the Lord of Ashes, and Kyle pleaded with them to save Fog Town from the Cultists.