Recaps

After the group split up, Dongguan hunted alone and improved his abilities while preparing for the coming shift from hunting to survival. He spent 400 points on a comprehensive assessment, and information flooded his mind.

• Bai Zaixin concluded that ten total exchanges caused a rank change, while Xiao Mu tested his strengthened Fire Magic without noticing a transformation.
• The group decided to split up, and Dongguan chose not to team up because he did not trust the others with knowledge of his Great Prophecy Technique.
• Dongguan hunted alone as monster density increased and accumulated 1,000 exchange points by dawn on the second day.
• Dongguan used Great Prophecy Technique to devise ways to kill two second-evolution forms but judged that hunting weaker monsters earned points more efficiently.
• Dongguan upgraded his eye esper ability and Great Prophecy Technique, then selected a comprehensive assessment that sent a stream of information flooding into his mind.

Dongguan learned how realm and power differed, then fought second-evolution creatures and reached Tier 2 by integrating his enhancements. Afterward, he enhanced his physique for the tenth time and discovered that the physique enhancement option had disappeared.

• Dongguan learned that reaching Tier 2 required integrating enhancements into a system, and that insight or life-and-death combat could help someone break through in realm.
• Dongguan decided to fight second-evolution creatures, combining combat with insight as he pursued a true Tier 2 breakthrough.
• Bai Zaixin left the city and fought monsters, killing a first-evolution creature and facing five second-evolution creatures.
• Dongguan checked his panel and found that his tier had changed to Tier 2, while his evaluation urged him to pursue Divine Will.
• Dongguan spent 1,024 points on his tenth physique enhancement, experienced a transformation reminiscent of becoming a martial artist, and saw physique enhancement disappear from the list.

Dongguan weighed whether to spend points on his abilities and decided he needed to leave the city before its growing monster population overwhelmed him. That night, the survivors watched a third evolution emerge, but it seemed weaker than expected, and Dongguan sensed hidden meaning in the patterns covering its body.

• Dongguan chose not to use Assessment, reasoned that the city would soon become too dangerous, and planned to leave.
• Eight survivors gathered in the northern wilderness; Dongguan observed their progress and learned how their different approaches affected their chances of reaching Tier 2.
• The moon turned crimson, and the group watched a second evolution transform into a third evolution marked with patterns.
• Jiao Xin and Bai Zaixin killed the third evolution together, earning Jiao Xin three hundred exchange points.
• Dongguan sensed that the patterns had a three-dimensional structure and seemed to convey information.

On the fourth day, the group discovered that Tier 3 monsters commanded organized armies, making them far harder to hunt. As night approached, Xiao Mu unlocked Space Anchor, a teleportation ability that might let them escape the city’s growing danger.

• Dongguan guessed that the patterns on the monsters suggested they could fuse, but Jiao Xin urged the group to keep hunting before the pillars of light vanished.
• The group learned that Tier 3 monsters organized other creatures into armies, with general types strengthening themselves and commander types controlling formations and distributing damage.
• Xiao Mu, Jiao Xin, Wu Hao, and the others joined forces to fight a commander-type formation, but the commander disappeared into its army after the moonlight indication vanished.
• The group searched for the two missing people and estimated that monster numbers had risen sharply, while fewer than ten Tier 3 monsters had been slain that day.
• Xiao Mu reached 10,000 points and demonstrated Space Anchor, explaining that two anchors enabled him to teleport between their locations.
• Bai Zaixin suggested the group could use Space Anchor to travel away from the city, as the sun set earlier than it had on the first day.

Dongguan reasoned that the survivors were nearing the end of the seven-day mission but had not yet reached Tier 3, while Tier 4 would appear on the seventh night. A Bewitching Youth reached Tier 4 and unleashed a blood-colored domain that engulfed the city and spread toward Dongguan, who found the youth standing before him.

• Dongguan reviewed how the monsters had evolved through the tiers and concluded that the survivors could not defeat Tier 3 monsters or escape the coming final test with ease.
• Dongguan reflected on his ability sublimations and sensed that Laser Eye might be the ability that could help him break through to Tier 3.
• In the rebuilt city square, a Bewitching Youth vowed to reach the summit of eternal night as the seventh-night evolution began.
• The Bewitching Youth became a Tier 4 monster and spread a blood-colored domain across the city and outward into the surrounding land.
• Dongguan saw the domain expanding from the city, sensed something was wrong, and found the Bewitching Youth standing before him.

Dongguan and Bai Zaixin fought to survive the sinister young man’s blood-moon domain, while Yang Chengyu hid underground as the danger spread. Dongguan was killed after resisting for hours, then awakened in Infinity Space.

• Dongguan escaped thousands of kilometers from the city, but discovered that the sinister young man had erased one of his spatial anchors.
• The sinister young man found Yang Chengyu underground and Bai Zaixin in the forest, while Bai Zaixin escaped after fighting him and having his Tiger Soul shattered.
• Dongguan realized the blood left behind after his escape had connected him to a curse, forcing him to use Full-Body Repair continuously beneath the blood moon.
• Dongguan left his cave to confront the sinister young man, combining Light Magic and Cloud Soaring Step to resist him for hours.
• The sinister young man overwhelmed Dongguan, who wished to see the dawn before his body shattered and he awoke in Infinity Space.

After the Rookie Trial, Si An explained how its rankings determined access to promotion missions, while Bai Zaixin wondered who the trial’s strongest participant was. Dongguan explored the Rookie Area and discovered that, with no Infinite Points, he could use almost none of Infinity Space’s services.

• Si An told the newcomers that they could not die in the Rookie Trial, explained their noble ranks, and said those ranks granted access to promotion missions.
• Si An privately spoke with Bai Zaixin, who recalled the trial boss claiming to be the second strongest and resolved to prepare for his first mission.
• Dongguan learned that the Rookie Area offered unrestricted items and abilities, though some equipment could not be taken into certain Plane Worlds.
• Dongguan discovered that nearly every service required Infinite Points, leaving him unable to enter a Personal Space or accept gifts with his balance of zero.
• A middle-aged man told Dongguan that the first use of some public services, including the Fate Library and Template Confirmation, required no Infinite Points.

Dongguan won the right to read the Thousand Autumn Talisman Canon, a legacy by the Talisman Dao Grandmaster Zuo Qianqiu, and explored its intricate supernatural system. He left the book stored in Infinity Space, eager to try other features before choosing his next mission.

• Dongguan used his Fate Library lottery and drew the Thousand Autumn Talisman Canon by Zuo Qianqiu.
• Dongguan considered entering the Heavenly Talisman Continent to learn Talisman Dao and possibly meet Zuo Qianqiu in a different branch of space-time.
• Dongguan discovered that Infinity Space's language comprehension translated the book but did not teach him its language or resolve cultural nuances.
• Dongguan learned that Zuo Qianqiu's legacy focused on secret talismans and rune deconstruction, a technical system that could lead to supernatural attainment.
• Dongguan closed the book and stored it, then decided to try other features of Infinity Space.

Dongguan reviewed his Infinity Space status and accepted Wu Hao’s invitation to a newcomer gathering, where organizations recruited new Space-Time Walkers and he learned about rank assessments. After returning to Blue Star, he reflected on how close he had come to earning a higher initial rank by completing more of the Rookie Trial’s missions.

• Dongguan checked his base template, learned how Infinity Points and higher-rank templates worked, and decided to return home.
• Wu Hao invited Dongguan to a newcomer gathering in Infinite Square, and Dongguan agreed to attend.
• At the gathering, Dongguan learned that organizations were recruiting newcomers and heard the Eternity Society’s explanation of matter’s influence on consciousness.
• Dongguan returned to his rented room in Lin City, where his Blue Star memories grew clearer as his Infinity Space memories faded.
• Dongguan considered how completing both main missions and defeating the final boss could have raised his initial rank from Viscount to Duke.

Dongguan considered his next mission, his finances, and whether to move back to his hometown after losing his job. His younger brother Dongming called to say he planned to stay with him, leaving Dongguan struggling to accept that he now had a brother in this Blue Star world.

• Dongguan decided to choose a code name and enter his next mission within ten days to benefit from rookie-level mission difficulty.
• Dongguan considered moving back to his hometown and using future information from Infinity Space to make modest stock-market profits.
• Dongming called Dongguan and said he planned to stay with him during his break, and Dongguan agreed.
• Dongguan recalled his parents’ deaths during the epidemic, their inheritance, and his agreement to split what remained with Dongming after his education.
• After the call, Dongguan wondered whether his new younger brother and life on Blue Star were real.