Chapter Summaries

Lin Hao declined to join the City Lord’s campaign after mysterious Heroic Stage fighters killed Viscount Barlow, Baron Hawthorne, and their allies. Colin Baker’s forces marched against Viscount Finch, and after three days returned battered from a costly victory, leaving Baron Link’s estate the city-state’s foremost Grand Knight power.

• Lin Hao waited out Baron Hawthorne’s absence at their scheduled duel, then returned home after the crowd praised him and Sir Walker offered him a territory.
• A guard reported that two mysterious Heroic Stage fighters had stormed Viscount Barlow’s castle and killed Viscount Barlow, Baron Hawthorne, and the assembled nobles.
• Colin Baker and Sir Walker suspected the Red Maple faction had hired the killers, so they assembled the City Lord’s forces and marched on Viscount Finch’s territory.
• Lin Hao refused to join the campaign but promised to have his subordinates patrol Plas City-State, while Viscount Finch rallied his allies and sent a warning to Count Austin Carter.
• After three days and two nights, Colin Baker’s battered forces returned with spoils, and the losses left Baron Link’s estate with the city’s greatest concentration of Grand Knights.

Lin Hao learned that the Red Maple Kingdom might intervene in Plas after the deaths of its nobles, but chose to wait and see. Half a month later, the celebrated hero Miika Randall entered the city, and Lin Hao suspected he had come to involve himself in the city’s troubles.

• Yi Feng reported that the Baker Family had won the war at great cost, while Lin Hao’s reputation as a just and powerful knight spread through Plas.
• Lin Hao and Li Yanbing discussed turning Colin Baker into a Shadow Soldier and using him to gain control of Plas, while learning that Count Austin Carter might intervene on behalf of the dead nobles’ heirs.
• Lin Hao decided to wait for the Red Maple Kingdom’s response as he and Li Yanbing continued studying the Sixth-Tier Breathing Method.
• Li Yanbing sensed a hero entering the city, and Lin Hao sent Yi Feng to identify him.
• Yi Feng reported that the newcomer was Miika Randall, the famous Aidan the Ranger, whose arrival drew cheers from Plas’s residents.
• After hearing Celia praise Miika’s heroic reputation, Lin Hao suspected that the ranger had come to address the city’s disputes.

Miika Randall seized control of Plas City-State by accusing Colin Baker of conspiring with the Thirteen Great Thieves, then turned his suspicion toward Baron Link. When Nigel challenged Lin Hao to a duel, Lin Hao killed him with a single slash and prepared to face Miika.

• Miika Randall publicly accused Colin Baker of hiring the Thirteen Great Thieves, used a letter and Sir Walker's testimony to condemn him, and Colin collapsed after Miika took control of Plas City-State.
• Sir Walker and Nigel pledged themselves to Miika, while the crowd celebrated him as the new City Lord and bards spread songs vilifying the Baker family.
• Miika questioned Bellis and learned that Colin had wanted her to seduce Baron Link, then ordered that she be kept for further questioning.
• When Lin Hao and Li Yanbing arrived, Miika questioned Lin Hao about the alleged attack on Viscount Barlow and warned that he would investigate him.
• Nigel challenged Lin Hao to a duel, and Lin Hao killed him with one Holy Light Slash before pointing his sword at Miika.

Lin Hao revealed his Hero Domain strength, killed Miika Randall, exposed the ranger’s crimes, and restored Colin Baker while refusing the position of City Lord. As Lin Hao consolidated his standing in Plas City-State, Miika Randall’s shadow warned that an Epic thief might come to investigate and unleash a massacre.

• Lin Hao killed Nigel with a Holy Light Slash, then defeated Miika Randall in a short clash and pinned him to City Hall’s wall.
• Lin Hao stopped Sir Walker from fleeing, and Walker and Miika Randall’s bards exposed the forged evidence and Miika’s fabricated heroic reputation.
• The crowd hailed Lin Hao as a hero and urged him to become City Lord, but Lin Hao returned to Baker Castle and arranged for Colin Baker to be saved.
• Lin Hao announced that Lord Baker had survived, earning widespread praise while leaving the city’s administration to him and planning to appoint advisers.
• Miika Randall’s shadow told Lin Hao that he had worked with the Thirteen Great Thieves and that Gorek Shatterbone, an Epic expert, might come investigate Miika’s death and massacre the city.

Lin Hao lured Gorek Shatterbone, one of the Thirteen Great Thieves, into an ambush and used firearms, precise attacks, and his Spiritual Realm advantage to wear down the Epic fighter. The chapter ended with Lin Hao driving his spear into Gorek and destroying his internal organs.

• After learning Gorek Shatterbone might target the Plas City-State, Lin Hao arranged a meeting and prepared firearms for an ambush.
• Lin Hao left the city with Li Yanbing and his Hero Domain fighters, using Miika Randall to lure Gorek to a barren plain.
• Miika Randall detonated a Claymore Mine, and Lin Hao and his allies opened fire as Gorek tried to retreat.
• Gorek Shatterbone endured the gunfire and charged Lin Hao, but Lin Hao met his attack head-on and shattered his heroic spirit soul's weapon.
• Lin Hao and the others kept attacking, using spear techniques, Holy Light Slash, and precise rifle shots to prevent Gorek from recovering.
• With his heroic spirit soul broken and his defenses failing, Gorek Shatterbone was struck by Lin Hao's spear, which destroyed his internal organs.

Lin Hao recovered from his battle with Gorek Shatterbone, then helped Plas City-State stabilize and prepared to travel with Li Yanbing and Zhang Shuwen’s group. At the evacuation point, they encountered armed men posing as adventurers, and Lin Hao’s sudden attack revealed him as Baron Link.

• Lin Hao searched Gorek Shatterbone’s corpse and claimed his Purple-tier Butcher’s Boning Knife, while Li Yanbing brought him the other loot.
• Lin Hao let Zhang Shuwen and the students advise Plas City-State, which began recovering and held a celebration and forging competition.
• Lin Hao told Celia that he and Li Yanbing were leaving to travel, then took Zhang Shuwen’s group toward the evacuation point to deal with people watching it.
• Lin Hao’s party reached a riverside camp, where Zhang Shuwen challenged the armed lookouts and accused them of falsely claiming Viscount Dalton’s authority.
• The camp’s musketeers fired on Zhang Shuwen, and Lin Hao answered with a Holy Light Slash that cut through a wagon and crippled several men, prompting them to recognize Baron Link.

Lin Hao exposed Viscount Sterling Dalton’s mercenaries for attacking his party and pressured him into selling riverbank land near an evacuation point. After returning to the Settlement, Lin Hao began arranging an outpost and considered bringing livestock from the Second World.

• Lin Hao entered Oak Harbor with the injured Beast's Roar mercenaries and accused Sterling Dalton of employing bandits to attack him.
• Zhang Shuwen identified Lin Hao as Baron Link, and the mercenaries admitted that they had attacked his party.
• Lin Hao demanded riverbank land from Sterling Dalton and threatened a duel; Sterling agreed to sell part of his territory for five hundred gold coins, with Sowen Oakwood witnessing the agreement.
• Lin Hao copied Sowen Oakwood's shadow, then arranged for Yi Feng to supervise preparations for an outpost near the shallows.
• Lin Hao returned to the Settlement and told Wang Jiye to prepare a livestock pen for animals that might be brought over from the Second World.

Lin Hao and the others agreed to raise Insect Cattle in the Settlement while Earth Will domesticated them, and Lin Hao spent two months training and preparing for the second Blood Moon. The Blood Moon passed without casualties, but the Insect Cattle briefly triggered a warning from Earth Will, leaving Lin Hao and his allies on guard.

• Lin Hao discussed Great Qi’s growing income and warned Zhao Xiaowen and the others to conserve Wish Power.
• After Yi Feng reported Earth Will’s warning about Insect Cattle, Lin Hao and Li Yanbing consulted University Town and Great Qi’s officials, then agreed to raise the creatures under close watch until they were domesticated.
• Lin Hao trained for two months while University Town prepared new weapons and defenses for the second Blood Moon.
• Lin Hao and the others survived the second Blood Moon without casualties, and Lin Hao subdued a newly appeared Wish Power wolf.
• Lin Hao sensed a brief danger from the Insect Cattle, and Li Yanbing and Gong Zichun shared his alarm, so he told University Town to remain vigilant.

Lin Hao and the leaders of nearby settlements raced to stop a rapidly growing insect species after the Earth Will warned them of an imminent threat. Lin Hao destroyed the Insect Queen, ending the warning, but noticed a black glow of Wish Power on its remains.

• Lin Hao recognized that the Earth Will’s warning pointed to insects that had survived the meteorite’s destruction, and he ordered the survivors and University Town to attack immediately.
• Lin Hao, Li Yanbing, and Gong Zichun reached the impact site and found hundreds of giant insects rapidly feeding and breeding around the craters.
• Lin Hao and his companions fought through the insects and entered their underground nest, where newly hatched soldiers and lethal guards attacked them.
• Lin Hao found the Insect Queen and killed it while Li Yanbing, Gong Zichun, and the Shadow Soldiers held off its guards.
• Lin Hao sensed the Earth Will’s warning disappear, then noticed black Wish Power glowing on the Insect Queen’s remains.

After killing the Mother Bug, Lin Hao discovered that its Heart of the Swarm let him connect to the Swarm Network and control the nearby bugs. He stopped the attack, found a way to hatch a low-level Midwife Bug instead of another Mother Bug, and warned his bugs to dodge as fighting continued overhead.

• Lin Hao found the black Heart of the Swarm in the Mother Bug’s corpse and learned it gave him Swarm Adaptation and a connection to the Swarm Network.
• As Li Yanbing and Gong Zichun destroyed the eggs, Lin Hao used Swarm Will to connect to the network and realized he could control the nearby bugs and choose what the eggs hatched into.
• Lin Hao ordered the frenzied bugs to stop, then discussed the risks of hatching another Mother Bug with Li Yanbing and Gong Zichun.
• Lin Hao searched the network and found an obsolete Midwife Bug type that could lay eggs without becoming a Mother Bug, then began hatching one from an egg.
• Gong Zichun pointed out that Mumen’s people were still fighting above, so Lin Hao ordered the bugs to dodge and avoid being killed.

Lin Hao stopped the Zerg swarm’s attack, domesticated the surviving Logging Insects, and warned the others that only his insects were safe. He stayed to develop the swarm’s abilities and use the insects to strengthen the Settlement, where he showed Li Yanbing the growing breeding operation.

• Yin Zhengchun, Wang Yang, and the other experts fought the Logging Insects until Lin Hao emerged and said he had resolved the crisis and domesticated them.
• Lin Hao warned the group that only their own insects were safe, then arranged for the teams still on the way to turn back while the surviving insects returned with them.
• Lin Hao remained for half a month to train with [Swarm Adaptation] and oversee insect breeding, while Zhao Xiaowen avoided visiting the bugs.
• Lin Hao and Li Yanbing saw how Sapper Bugs were helping build roads and expand the Settlement’s Wooden Wall.
• Lin Hao showed Li Yanbing the Midwife Bug, its Guard Bugs, and Winged Bugs, and explained the swarm’s limited communication range and reliance on relays.

Lin Hao returned to the Plas City-State, where bandit attacks and Yōma incursions had worsened amid the city’s shortage of Grand Knights. As he began restoring order, Patrick Nolan of the Theocracy Inquisition arrived to demand eight people before the fifteenth day of the Longnight Moon, and Lin Hao prepared to meet him.

• Lin Hao entered the Plas City-State with Li Yanbing and summoned its leaders to discuss rising bandit attacks, Yōma activity, and the lack of powerful defenders.
• Lin Hao reassured the city’s leaders that he had brought four Grand Knights, while Beck revealed that the Theocracy Inquisition was displeased with the city and might send a commissioner.
• Lin Hao’s return and the arrival of Grand Knights lifted residents’ spirits as the city’s forces launched a campaign against nearby bandits.
• Patrick Nolan led twelve Inquisition Knights into the city, and Lin Hao decided to receive the Great Hero, hoping to learn about the Inquisition and the Legendary Path.
• Patrick Nolan told Beck that the city had to hand over at least eight people before the fifteenth day of the Longnight Moon, with no reward, and left after dismissing the bandit campaign as an excuse.

Lin Hao ambushed the Inquisition party, defeated Patrick Nolan, and killed the surviving adjutant after copying Patrick’s abilities. As Lin Hao returned toward the city, Patrick’s copied version revealed that reaching the Legendary Domain required a rare “Source of Life” and hinted that the continent’s highest powers might be tied to the ancient ten Saints.

• Lin Hao let Patrick Nolan leave town hall, then arranged an ambush on the road and shot down ten of the twelve knights.
• Lin Hao blocked Patrick Nolan’s strongest attack, overpowered him, copied his abilities, and killed him with a duplicate of Patrick.
• Lin Hao caught the Grand Knight adjutant, killed him, and burned the bodies before questioning Patrick’s copied version.
• Patrick’s copy explained that Epic fighters needed a “Source of Life” to pursue the Legendary path and named the powers believed to possess one.
• Patrick’s copy told Lin Hao that the Elf King and Dwarf King were probably among the ten Saints, leading Lin Hao to suspect the continent’s Sacred Domain powers descended from them.

Lin Hao dealt with Mrs. Beliss’s suspicions about Baron Beck by making her a witness to his visit, then staged hunts for Yōma while rumors of his heroism spread. A Death Crows operative investigated Patrick’s death, cleared Lin Hao, and left him and Li Yanbing suspecting she was the Saintess.

• Li Yanbing warned Lin Hao that Mrs. Beliss suspected something was wrong with Beck, so Lin Hao entertained her and ensured she left as a witness to his visit.
• Lin Hao and Li Yanbing hunted Yōma while nobles prepared to capture Transmigrators, and stories of Lin Hao’s romantic exploits and heroic deeds spread through the city.
• Lin Hao killed a flesh-shifting Yōma on a trade route and used Holy Light Slash to destroy its remains.
• A Death Crows operative revealed that Patrick was dead and questioned Lin Hao, who steered her suspicions toward the Thirteen Great Thieves and the America Duchy.
• The operative cleared Lin Hao and departed, while Lin Hao and Li Yanbing concluded she was likely the visiting Saintess.

Lin Hao traveled to Iron Furnace City in the Dwarf Kingdom to investigate the dormant Zerg beneath it and seek clues toward reaching the Legendary Domain. After sensing awake insects in the city, he discovered a group of cloaked travelers included a man controlled by a parasitic insect.

• Lin Hao learned that the Thieves' Guild and a Death Crow had separately asked questions about the Blood Armor Arbiter and Bellis, then planned to seek a path to Legendary in the Dwarf Kingdom.
• Lin Hao left Li Yanbing in Plas City-State and rode to Iron Furnace City with Zhang Wen, Ma Qijia, and Yi Feng.
• Lin Hao sensed dormant Zerg beneath Iron Furnace City and suspected the dwarves had built the city to suppress them.
• Lin Hao detected several awake insects inside the city and considered using them to contact the Zerg mother for clues about Legendary power.
• A group of cloaked travelers entered the Furnace Tavern, and Lin Hao recognized that one of them was being controlled by a corpse-controlling parasitic insect.

Lin Hao visited an archaeological excavation in Iron Furnace City, where he discovered that parasites were using the site to awaken an ancient insect swarm. He exposed one of the infected workers, and a severed head scuttled toward the pit before Zhang Wen pinned it down.

• Jeremy Knight introduced the Red Maple University excavation team and agreed to let Lin Hao visit the ruins beneath Iron Furnace City.
• Jeremy Knight explained the history of the ancient ages and said the excavation was funded by Marquis Ajax Stanton.
• Lin Hao sensed parasites at the dig site and realized they were trying to awaken an insect swarm buried underground.
• Lin Hao asked Jeremy Knight about the Hero Domain, then cut off the head of a parasite-hosting worker.
• The severed head sprouted slender legs and tried to flee into the pit, but Zhang Wen pinned it down with his sword.

Lin Hao uncovered Zerg Brain-Eaters infiltrating an archaeological dig in Iron Furnace City and warned Glo Steelhelm that the dwarves’ insect-repellent tests no longer worked. Glo took Lin Hao to Forgehold to alert the Dwarf King, where Lin Hao sensed a strange, restrained mother bug beneath the volcano and met Gorin Flintrock.

• Lin Hao exposed a Brain-Eater controlling a corpse, and the Zerg parasites attacked before he and the others killed them.
• Glo Steelhelm revealed that Brain-Eaters had infiltrated the dwarves over two hundred years earlier, and the infected archaeologists passed the dwarves’ repellent test.
• Lin Hao warned Glo that the Zerg had adapted to the medicine and might be infecting miners elsewhere, so Glo ordered mining halted and the old mines guarded.
• Glo took Lin Hao by Griffin to Forgehold, the Dwarf Kingdom’s capital, to report the threat to the Dwarf King.
• On the way to the smithing chamber, Lin Hao sensed a strange mother bug restrained beneath the volcano, then met Gorin Flintrock as he worked at an anvil.

Lin Hao joined Boffo and Dane to investigate the Zerg threat across the Dwarf Kingdom after the drugs suppressing the swarm stopped working. At Cinder City, they discovered tens of thousands of bugs tunneling toward Forgehold, and Lin Hao began countering the Brain-Eaters’ attempt to sabotage the city’s defenses.

• Gorin Flintrock ordered mining halted, asked Lin Hao to inspect the cities, and returned to guard the Mother of the Swarm beneath the volcano.
• Boffo and Dane accompanied Lin Hao toward Cinder City, where Boffo offered to teach him the dwarves’ source Breathing Method.
• At Cinder City, Lin Hao sensed an awakened swarm tunneling underground toward Forgehold, and Boffo confirmed the danger by listening for the bugs’ vibrations.
• Boffo and Dane entered the mine tunnel to hold off the approaching bugs while the dwarves prepared guards, gunpowder, and firearms.
• Lin Hao sensed Brain-Eater-parasitized dwarves targeting the gunpowder barrels and moved to stop their sabotage.

Lin Hao helped the dwarves of Cinder City hold back a Zerg swarm by killing Brain-Eaters and feeding false signals to the bugs, while Boffo and Dane fought on the front lines. The Legends drove off a hidden Zerg Legend, and Lin Hao ended the battle with her shed shell as a potential accessory, though she escaped.

• Lin Hao killed the Brain-Eaters among the dwarf miners, warned Brinden Stonefist to prepare, and helped the dwarves identify the Sicklebugs’ weak point as the swarm emerged.
• Boffo and Dane held the front line while the dwarf musketeers fired in ranks, and Lin Hao used a shadow-copied Brain-Eater to disrupt the swarm’s coordination and slow its advance.
• Lin Hao detected a concealed attacker on a mountainside and warned Boffo and Dane, who flew out on Griffins to confront the hidden Zerg Legend.
• As bugs broke through the defenses, Lin Hao and Brinden fought alongside the dwarf warriors until Boffo and Dane returned in their Qi-Blood Flames and swept the swarm away.
• Boffo said the Zerg Legend had escaped by shedding her shell, then offered Lin Hao the valuable Legendary Shell as equipment material.

Lin Hao helped the Dwarves suppress simultaneous Swarm outbreaks across several cities, then accepted Dwarf King Gorin Flintrock’s offer of a breathing method and custom equipment. After learning more about Transmigrators and seeing the Dwarven treasury, Lin Hao asked Gorin to forge him superheavy armor using an evil dragon’s remains.

• Lin Hao, Boffo, and Dane helped contain Swarm outbreaks in several cities, while Lin Hao found and killed the Brain-Eaters.
• The Dwarves reported that the attacks had killed one hundred thousand people, and Boffo thanked Lin Hao for warning them in time.
• Boffo agreed to help Lin Hao hunt Zerg legends but warned that their corrupted sources of life could enslave anyone who used them to advance.
• Gorin Flintrock offered Lin Hao the source of earth breathing, cultivation support, and custom equipment, then explained that the Theocracy sought Transmigrators because of the Slave Sword.
• Gorin revealed that he had Transmigrator permission and led Lin Hao to the treasury, where he offered to forge the remains of an evil dragon into equipment.
• Lin Hao requested roughly one-tonne superheavy armor that could withstand close-range explosions and ram enemies.