Chapter Summaries

Qi Sheng and Guide explored the underground palace and uncovered Ice Blade’s memories of defending Emperor Zhao’s land until his death. Ice Blade revealed that he had prepared a store of energy for whoever inherited Emperor Zhao’s Will, leaving Qi Sheng to understand the purpose of his long wait.

• Qi Sheng followed Guide’s senses to the fifth subterranean level and found Ice Blade’s statue in a palace where Cavernfolk Warriors refined ore.
• Guide recognized Ice Blade and analyzed his remains, triggering memories of Ice Blade’s preparations for the future and his final battles against the evil spirits.
• Ice Blade refused to retreat from Emperor Zhao’s land, and after he died, his lingering will raised the broken bodies of his warriors to keep fighting.
• Ice Blade sensed Qi Sheng and Guide, addressed them as possible inheritors of Emperor Zhao’s Will, and revealed a golden crystal powered by refined ore.
• Qi Sheng realized Ice Blade had prepared the crystal as a gift for the next Emperor Zhao.

Qi Sheng investigated the Dark Cavern’s corrupted Domain Node and left its capture to the players because he lacked the Sacrificial Power to explore in Emperor Zhao’s body. In the cavern’s second level, the players discovered Taunt, a chained primordial monster whose ability excited the Gargoyle players, and rushed to attack it.

• Qi Sheng and Guide identified the Dark Cavern’s Domain Node, its corruption core, and the remains of Ice Blade’s people and soldiers.
• Qi Sheng decided not to retrieve Ice Blade’s energy crystal because concealing Emperor Zhao’s aura would quickly exhaust his Sacrificial Power, so he left the Domain Node for the players to capture.
• The players defeated Iron-Shelled Insects, refined their carapaces for Sacrificial Power, and explored the cavern’s second level.
• Li Zheng of the Hardcore Grinders Group threw a torch into a cave and revealed Taunt, a chained second-generation primordial with a Hunting Level of 29 and a power that drove targets into madness.
• Marble, Is This a Beaver, and Little Class Monitor discussed Taunt as a promising second life soul for Gargoyle players, and the players charged at the monster.

Qi Sheng watched players fall victim to Taunt’s emotion-manipulating psychic illusions, then heard Guide explain that Ice Blade had likely imprisoned Primordial Monsters for Emperor Zhao. After respawning, the players devised a ranged assault on Taunt, but their costly bombardment dragged on without killing him, leaving them desperate and unwilling to stop.

• Taunt lured the players into psychic illusions and devoured them, while Ultra-Dimensional extracted their life essence and Yan Ming sent them back to Emperor Tomb Village for Life Reforging.
• Guide told Qi Sheng that Ice Blade had likely imprisoned Taunt and other Primordial Monsters as gifts for the next Emperor Zhao.
• Respawned players discussed their illusions and decided to attack Taunt from outside the cave with ranged items.
• Players bought supplies, earning Qi Sheng 339 points of sacrificial power, and launched a sustained bombardment against Taunt.
• After half an hour of attacks and expensive potion use, Taunt remained alive, but the players kept fighting rather than accept their losses.

After players defeated Taunt, Qi Sheng gathered their suggestions for new game features and used a reconstructed player body to retrieve the Energy Crystal from the Dark Cavern, gaining over 13 million Sacrificial Power. His attempt to approach the Domain Node Crystal failed when the Dark Tide attacked, leaving its purification to the players.

• Players received 20,000 Sacrificial Power and a free Star Meridian Inlay slot after Taunt died, and they inspected Taunt's Life Soul.
• Qi Sheng decided to add a simulated Star Meridian function and an in-game forum, then asked Guide and Yan Ming to develop them.
• Qi Sheng used the Challenger System to control a reconstructed player's body and teleported it to the Dark Cavern's underground palace.
• Qi Sheng drained Ice Blade's Energy Crystal, adding more than 13 million Sacrificial Power to the pool beneath Emperor Tomb Village.
• A tendril from the Dark Tide's fleshy growth attacked and dissolved the controlled body before Qi Sheng could reach the Domain Node Crystal.

Qi Sheng used Ice Blade’s 13 million Sacrificial Power to recruit ten thousand new players, whose arrival transformed exploration of the Ancient Battlefield into a sweeping advance. After Yan Ming completed the Testing Space, Qi Sheng launched version 1.1 with a Testing Tower and Forum, leaving veteran players eager to simulate their growth paths.

• Qi Sheng opened the third recruitment round, and all ten thousand player slots were claimed in less than two hours.
• New players filled Emperor Tomb Village, tested the game’s realism, and set out to hunt Cursed Soldiers across the Ancient Battlefield.
• Players competed and fought over monster kills, while the new army’s numbers let it advance far more aggressively than the first batch had.
• Guide told Qi Sheng that Yan Ming had completed the Testing Space, and Yan Ming said he had added known Primordial Abilities to its database.
• Qi Sheng ordered a structure built in Emperor Tomb Village to connect players to the Testing Space.
• The game updated to version 1.1, adding the Testing Tower and Forum, and veteran players welcomed the chance to simulate Star Meridian Enhancement paths.

Qi Sheng browsed a popular Forum post where Long Night demonstrated three Star Meridian School combinations in the Testing Tower simulator. The builds inspired players to explore new growth paths, though most of their Life Souls remained undiscovered or uncontained.

• Qi Sheng opened Long Night’s post about Star Meridian combinations and watched a demonstration of the Unkillable Turret Build, which survived and killed 100 Blood Wolves.
• Long Night explained how the build combined Taunt, Petrification, healing, reflected damage, and lingering attacks to defeat enemies without moving.
• Long Night presented the Shadow Legion Build, which strengthened summoned Shadow Warriors, and the One-Hit Kill Build, which relied on damage over time to kill targets after a single strike.
• Players praised the builds, but they could use only eight Life Souls in the simulator and lacked access to most of the abilities shown.
• The post reached the top of the Forum rankings and encouraged players to experiment with builds while anticipating the discovery of more Primordial Abilities.

Ding Xiu investigated a suspicious link claiming to offer a cracked copy of the Eclipse Race’s game “Darklands” and found that neither human nor AI systems could trace its poster or access the download. Qi Sheng learned the Human Federation was monitoring the link but chose to let the recruitment of “Monster World” players continue, relying on Guide’s control of the Star Network.

• Ding Xiu reviewed a report about an unverified user named Perks Officer sharing a “Darklands” download link and found that Xiao A could not verify the user, trace the account, or access the link.
• Ding Xiu suspected the Eclipse Race had used its supreme network permissions to create the account, and he forwarded the report to group leader Yue Dong.
• Yue Dong told Ding Xiu that the federal master brain had confirmed the account was likely connected to a high-ranking Eclipse Race member, but it could not determine what was behind the link.
• Ding Xiu ordered Xiao A to submit download requests at high frequency so it could detect if the link’s permissions changed.
• Guide informed Qi Sheng that an intelligent AI was making high-frequency requests to the challenger system, and Qi Sheng decided not to respond.
• Qi Sheng trusted that Guide’s control of the Star Network would allow the number of “Monster World” players to keep growing despite the Human Federation’s attention.

Qi Sheng reviewed player feedback and planned updates to chat channels and monster rewards. When the Evil Moon began changing phase, he recognized that the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range was shifting to a waning crescent.

• Players discussed recruitment, requests for help, and complaints about kill stealing in the regional channel.
• A party of 17 players killed and contained the First-Generation Primordial Monster Duskshadow in the Ancient Battlefield.
• Qi Sheng reviewed player feedback and decided to add location-specific chat channels and award monster rewards to the party or player that dealt the most damage.
• Guide alerted Qi Sheng that the Evil Moon's phase was changing, and he saw the moon grow misty before glowing blood-red.
• The Dark Tide energy surged, the earth shook, and the surroundings began to distort as Qi Sheng recognized the shift to a waning crescent and issued a notification to all players.

The Emperor Tomb Mountain Range shifted from the Crescent Moon to the more dangerous Waning Crescent, overwhelming most players with stronger evil spirits. Qi Sheng and Guide recognized that the new phase also offered greater rewards, and the chapter left players to adapt to its harsher conditions.

• The moon phase changed, transforming the region’s terrain and replacing Crescent Moon evil spirits with large numbers of stronger Waning Crescent lifeforms.
• Blood Corpses and other evil spirits attacked players across the region, killing many and driving the online count below 1,000; players in the Dark Cavern remained safe.
• Qi Sheng explained that the moon phases were separate layers of space and that the region’s current players were not yet equipped to handle the Waning Crescent.
• Guide calculated that the Waning Crescent offered a 1.3-times-higher overall return than the Crescent Moon, and Qi Sheng agreed that players would adapt and bring him more Sacrificial Power.

Qin Ye patrolled the Cavern Trading Market, where he handled disputes and sought useful technology for the Human Federation. He paid a Green Goblin merchant for a Psionic Bomb so he could test its power before deciding whether to buy the technology.

• After dying in the game, Qin Ye transferred money to the squad captains who had given him finishing blows and left his home.
• Qin Ye entered the Cavern Trading Market, where a Stone Giant shoved him, then apologized after noticing Qin Ye's administrator badge.
• Qin Ye began patrolling District D and checked whether the Green Goblin merchant Old Black had been causing trouble.
• Old Black showed Qin Ye a Psionic Bomb and explained how it worked and that its technology was available for purchase.
• Qin Ye paid Old Black one hundred Earth Coins to test the Psionic Bomb before deciding whether to buy its technology.

Qin Ye tested the Psionic Bomb and bought its manufacturing technology from the Green Goblin Race merchant, but found that humans lacked the mental strength to use it. He then tried the technique in Darklands as an Eagle-Headed Demon, confirmed it could work, and died when his first attempt exploded.

• Qin Ye measured the Psionic Bomb's explosive power at 1228 in the Destruction Room, far above its initial reading of 10.92.
• Qin Ye bought the Psionic Bomb manufacturing technology from the Green Goblin Race merchant for seventy thousand Earth Coins after bargaining, while learning the merchant knew his technology purchasing limit.
• Qin Ye discovered that consciousness engraving left him too dizzy to finish making a Psionic Bomb, and decided to cover the purchase cost from his own savings.
• Qin Ye realized his Monster Forms might provide enough mental strength to use the technology in Darklands, then entered the game and bought five Level 1 Energy Stones.
• Qin Ye switched to his Eagle-Headed Demon form and tried engraving a Spirit Stone, but it exploded, killing him and costing him 13 points of sacrificial power for village repairs.
• Qin Ye concluded that the Psionic Bomb technology could work in Darklands and looked forward to trying again after his respawn cooldown.

Qi Sheng discovered that Qin Ye was experimenting with spirit stones to create Psionic Bombs, while Qin Ye shared the idea with the Sky Dome Technology Research Center and found a way to use the bombs in Darklands. After killing Blood Corpses with them, Qin Ye began building a Star Meridian School around sustained bombardment and considered how to avoid his own blasts.

• Qi Sheng reviewed Qin Ye’s spirit-stone experiment and learned that he was trying to make Psionic Bombs.
• Qin Ye emailed his findings to the Sky Dome Technology Research Center, then sent headquarters a pirated link to Darklands after learning it had no Game Access.
• Qin Ye used three level 1 Psionic Bombs to kill eight Blood Corpses and raise his Eagle-Headed Demon level to 10.
• Qin Ye tested Star Meridian combinations in the Testing Tower, choosing the sea stone life soul and other souls that supported mental power and recovery.
• Qin Ye identified friendly-fire as a major weakness and decided that long-distance throwing would be a better solution than building a heavily defensive combination.

Qin Ye learned that a spatial teleportation ability could keep him safe from his Psionic Bombs, but Guide could not tell him where to find one. Meanwhile, the Sky Dome Research Center’s Weapons Research Department gained access to Darklands and planned to build an in-game faction for weapon research and resource gathering.

• Qin Ye asked Guide how to avoid being caught in his own Psionic Bomb blasts, and Guide suggested finding a spatial teleportation ability but could not locate a monster that possessed one.
• Qin Ye received a notification about an important message in his virtual Game Pod and logged out to check it.
• The Sky Dome Research Center failed to download Qin Ye’s game files or secure official slots, so its senior management decided to monitor the download link.
• Yang Tianxuan failed to obtain a slot, then clicked Qin Ye’s link and successfully downloaded the game after Qi Sheng opened access for the Weapons Research Department.
• Yang Tianxuan urged his colleagues to download the game and planned to form a Technological Weapons Legion to gather resources and test weapons in combat.

Yang Tianxuan and the Weapons Research Department were amazed by the game’s realism and planned to develop spirit-energy firearms, but they lacked sacrificial power to buy materials. After learning that players were unwilling to sell their scarce currency, Yang Tianxuan asked Qin Ye how to earn it quickly, and Qin Ye recommended mining in the Dark Cavern.

• Yang Tianxuan and fifty-one Weapons Research Department members logged in at Emperor Tomb Village and tested the game’s realistic physics.
• Yang Tianxuan agreed to begin developing spirit-energy firearms because they required fewer resources than advanced technological weapons.
• The department discovered that it had no sacrificial power for materials, and Qin Ye had only 239 points to lend.
• Yang Tianxuan’s attempts to buy sacrificial power failed because players offered little for it and were reluctant to sell.
• Qin Ye told Yang Tianxuan that mining in the Dark Cavern was the best of three ways to earn sacrificial power at that stage.

Qi Sheng reviewed the Primordial Monsters in the Containment Wall and used player feedback to update the Challenger System to version 1.2. The update added party rewards, chat options, guilds, exploration rewards, and leaderboards, and players quickly formed guilds.

• Qi Sheng noted that Light Shield had joined the Containment Wall and calculated that his monster and player income could support thirty recruitment slots each day.
• Qi Sheng ordered the Guide to implement four changes based on player feedback, and the Guide launched the version 1.2 update.
• The update added shared party rewards, refined chat channels, guild creation, exploration rewards, and leaderboards.
• Players discussed the update on the Forum, praising the party reward changes and new guild functionality.
• The leaderboards named Li Zheng first in Monster Level, Blacksmith first in Star Meridian and Body Tempering levels, and So Poor I Eat Dirt first in Star Meridian Overall Rating.
• Players returned to Emperor Tomb Village and spent 100 Sacrificial Power to establish guilds with cross-regional communication channels.

Broken Star began his combat trial on the Blood Plains, where he fought hordes of evil creatures and attracted players eager to collect the dropped Evil Crystals. After he turned on the players, he discovered their stolen crystals vanished when they died, and one player offered to answer his question only after picking up another crystal.

• Broken Star emerged from his crashed Shuttlecraft and began the combat trial, drawing evil creatures toward him by crushing a black gem.
• Broken Star cut down the evil creatures and left a field of Evil Crystals, while curious players arrived and began collecting them.
• Broken Star redirected his attacks toward the players, who kept gathering crystals despite being killed and learned he was level 53.
• Broken Star realized the crystals carried by dead players disappeared, grabbed a player by the neck, and asked where the stolen crystals were.
• The player told Broken Star to let him collect one more crystal before he answered.

Broken Star tried to complete his Against the Tide Legion trial by killing Evil Spirits, but players repeatedly swarmed in to collect the Evil Crystals and disrupted his progress. After fleeing to the Ancient Battlefield and starting a new slaughter, he found the same players had tracked him down, and his anger reached a breaking point.

• Broken Star killed players who picked up Evil Crystals, but their deaths made the crystals vanish and left him unable to complete his trial.
• Players arrived in waves to collect the crystals, and Broken Star repeatedly abandoned his fight against the Evil Spirits to kill them.
• After repelling 87 waves of players, Broken Star lost his composure and flew toward the Ancient Battlefield.
• After resting, Broken Star crushed a Lure Crystal to draw Evil Spirits and resumed fighting.
• Players led by familiar figures found Broken Star and called others to join them, prompting him to clench his fists and declare, “You've gone too far!”

Players flocked to Broken Star’s Evil Spirit hunts to collect the Evil Crystals he left behind, and their pursuit drove him to exhaustion and despair. After finding his hidden cache emptied, Broken Star realized he had made no progress in the trial after five days and slumped beside the pit.

• Players tracked Broken Star’s smoke signals and gathered in groups to collect Evil Crystals, while a forum post documented his growing anger and despair.
• A forum user reported Broken Star’s location in the southern Blood Plains, and two players went there looking for him.
• The two players found a pit containing hundreds of Evil Crystals and took them.
• Broken Star returned an hour later with more Evil Crystals, discovered his cache was empty, and roared in fury.
• Broken Star reflected that five days had passed without progress in the Waning Crescent trial and sat beside the pit in despair.

An Evil Spirit Warrior attacked Broken Star in the Northern Blood Plains, and Broken Star fought it until he collapsed despite his Rune Battle Armor healing and empowering him. Players used their taunt abilities to divert the killing blow, and news that the God of Wealth was in danger sent players rushing to his coordinates.

• An Evil Spirit Warrior ignored the Eye of Insight’s warning and flew from the High Tower toward the Blood Plains to test the Against the Tide Legion.
• Broken Star confronted the Evil Spirit Warrior, but its superior skills and regeneration wore him down and left him badly injured.
• Broken Star’s Rune Battle Armor activated, healed his wounds, and raised his strength, but he still collapsed after an hour of combat.
• Players used Taunt and another provocation to redirect the Evil Spirit Warrior’s attacks, sacrificing themselves to keep it from finishing Broken Star.
• Players learned that the God of Wealth was near death and rushed toward his coordinates to protect him.

Players drove off the Evil Spirit Warrior and saved Broken Star, who learned through his armor’s recordings that they had risked their lives to protect him. He chose to abandon his trial and repay them someday, but then discovered his Shuttlecraft had vanished and suspected the players had taken it.

• Players surrounded the weakened Evil Spirit Warrior, kept it from reaching the God of Wealth, and watched it flee north.
• Broken Star relived memories of his father giving him his heart and promising to fight by his side whenever he turned the energy core.
• Players treated Broken Star with healing items, changing his status from dying to weakened before they withdrew.
• After waking, Broken Star watched his armor’s recordings, felt gratitude toward the players, and decided to abandon his trial and leave.
• Broken Star flew to his arrival crater and discovered that his Shuttlecraft was gone, then suspected the mysterious creatures had made it disappear.
• A player’s forum post revealed that someone had found a machine in a crater, offered it to the Sacrificial Altar, and received 38,000 Sacrificial Power.