Chapter Summaries

Lin Hao obtained a set of powerful dwarf-forged weapons and obsidian armor, then returned to the Settlement with the Dwarf King’s promise to recognize Plas City-State as a foreign-trade port. He planned to strengthen his swarm and pursue further power before seeking opportunities in the evacuation worlds.

• Lin Hao chose four gold weapons and discovered that the source-level Earth Breathing method drew energy into his body and aided his recovery.
• Gorin Flintrock forged Lin Hao a massive obsidian suit of armor using the Blood-Forging Method, and Lin Hao tested its defensive traits and dragon might.
• Gorin Flintrock declared Plas City-State a designated port for dwarf foreign trade, and Boffo Flintrock escorted Lin Hao to an evacuation point with his new equipment and a dwarf-forged cannon.
• Lin Hao returned to the Settlement, where Zhang Wen reported that trade partners were approaching, and Lin Hao invited Gong Zichun to help their operation.
• Lin Hao ordered future bug eggs to hatch as Winged Bugs, then traveled to Great Qi to transport supplies and considered reaching Epic or acquiring an Evacuation Item.

Plas City-State’s designation as the Dwarf Kingdom’s trading port drew neighboring powers seeking influence over the valuable firearms trade. At a tense meeting, Li Yanbing backed Plas’s position and ordered Baron Kieran Duffy to leave, while Baron Link remained absent.

• The Dwarf Kingdom’s announcement revived Plas City-State’s fortunes, and Viscount Wyatt Garrison arrived with Marcus to learn how the city had earned the trading-port designation.
• Wyatt learned that Plas had helped the Dwarves discover an insect swarm, which had forced them to reduce production as demand for firearms surged.
• Baron Kieran Duffy challenged Yin Saide and complained that Plas had not sent an authorized representative to meet the visiting powers.
• Baron Beck, Bellis, and Li Yanbing entered, and Beck declared that Li Yanbing could represent Baron Link and Plas City-State.
• After Kieran insulted Beck, Li Yanbing ordered him out and said merchants from the Red Maple Kingdom were no longer welcome in Plas.

Li Yanbing drove Kieran Duffy from the council meeting and revealed that she was a Great Hero, while Lin Hao killed Duffy after he challenged him to a Glory Duel. With the Dwarf Kingdom's backing, Li Yanbing pressed the neighboring city-states to join Plas City-State's system, and the chapter ended with Lin Hao reporting Duffy's death to the council.

• Li Yanbing struck Kieran Duffy through a window after he refused to leave, then took charge of the council meeting as the others realized she was a Great Hero.
• Kieran Duffy left the city in humiliation and encountered Lin Hao returning with Gong Zichun and a knight.
• Kieran Duffy challenged Lin Hao to a Glory Duel, and Lin Hao killed him with a Holy Light Slash.
• Lin Hao ordered Zhang Shuwen to charge the Red Maple Kingdom for the street damage and seize goods from its caravans.
• Li Yanbing offered the nearby city-states a place in Plas City-State's system; Oak Harbor and Schuster agreed, while Grant asked for time to consider.
• Lin Hao entered the council through the broken window and told the delegates that Kieran Duffy had challenged him and died.

Lin Hao and Li Yanbing consolidated Plas City-State’s position, discussed the dangers of Painkilling Water, and planned to lure the Thirteen Great Thieves into a trap. When the thieves demanded tribute and threatened the city, Lin Hao ordered a public manhunt and encouraged the city to defy them.

• Lin Hao’s victory and his and Li Yanbing’s Great Hero status spread, strengthening Plas City-State’s reputation and the Four-City Federation.
• Lin Hao and Li Yanbing discussed restricting Painkilling Water, raising funds for the Evacuation Item, and eliminating the nearby Thirteen Great Thieves with help from Elder Gong and Lin Hao’s godfather.
• Beck and Bellis brought Lin Hao a threatening letter demanding gold, protection payments, and the women in exchange for sparing Plas City-State.
• Lin Hao ordered a citywide search for the thief who delivered the letter and told Beck to make the city’s refusal public, while merchants and nobles worried that the provocation would invite disaster.

After the Plas City-State defied the Thirteen Great Thieves, Viscount Grant and nearby powers weighed the consequences while Daphne Carmen rushed from Red Maple City to intervene. Lin Hao’s forces defended their base as Li Minghuang led an elite cavalry troop into a deadly encirclement, where the Thieves’ leader planned to destroy them and plunder the city.

• Viscount Grant told a black-robed member of the Thirteen Great Thieves that Baron Link and his wife were Great Heroes, then concluded the Link family was in danger and considered profiting from their fall.
• Daphne Carmen learned that the Plas City-State had acted without consulting her, then set out overnight with a ceremonial sword and banner and ordered the Inquisition to be informed.
• Lin Hao and Li Yanbing prepared their villa defenses while the Great General sensed danger and turned back toward Purple Stone Fief.
• Li Minghuang led Yun Wuying and fifty elite riders through the countryside, avoiding the encirclement until Night Walker Mason’s riders blocked their route.
• Li Minghuang charged Mason, wounded him with a spear strike, and led the cavalry through the bandits’ line while Mason ordered his men to pursue.
• Greedy One-Eye Harvey Reed and his riders injected their horses with a stimulant and prepared to surround Li Minghuang’s force before plundering the Plas City-State that night.

Lin Hao arrived alone to rescue Li Minghuang and the exhausted Pulas Cavalry Regiment, then confronted the gathered Thirteen Great Thieves. He killed Shadow Fox and Greedy One-Eye, leaving the remaining ten great thieves facing him as the other Epic battlefield fell silent.

• Li Minghuang led the Pulas Cavalry Regiment through repeated interceptions until twelve of the Thirteen Great Thieves surrounded them.
• Lin Hao arrived alone, tore apart the pressure created by the thieves’ combined killing intent, and told Li Minghuang he had arrived in time.
• The twelve great thieves charged, and Lin Hao met Greedy One-Eye and Shadow Fox head-on, destroying Greedy One-Eye’s Mantis Heroic Spirit and killing Shadow Fox with twin dragon-shaped strikes.
• Greedy One-Eye attacked Lin Hao from behind, but Lin Hao fired his concealed cannon, shattered the Mantis Heroic Spirit again, and killed him with a follow-up assault.
• The dust cleared to reveal Lin Hao standing alone amid the devastated battlefield as the remaining ten great thieves reached the front and the other Epic battle fell silent.

Lin Hao annihilated the Thirteen Great Thieves and kept the full extent of his victory quiet while recovering their hidden wealth. As he prepared to investigate their Red Maple Kingdom base and its Evacuation Item, an important delegation from the Theocracy arrived.

• Lin Hao killed the remaining thieves and used his 20mm Autocannon to hunt down the fleeing mounted bandits, wiping out the Thirteen Great Thieves.
• Lin Hao ordered the heads kept so the group could claim the bounties later, and the cavalry regiment returned to Plas City-State with its victory concealed from the public.
• Lin Hao questioned the shadows of the dead Lord Tier thieves and learned that their scattered stashes held over two hundred thousand gold coins and other valuables.
• Lin Hao assigned Gong Zichun and Li Minghuang to lead teams to collect the caches and planned to visit the largest reserve in the Red Maple Kingdom, where an Evacuation Item was also located.
• Lin Hao learned that Count Carter and possibly the Red Maple Kingdom's royal family had used the thieves, then Yi Feng announced that an important party from the Theocracy had arrived.

Lin Hao welcomed Saintess Daphne Carmen, who came to support the Plas City-State against the Thirteen Great Thieves, and accepted an honorary title from the Church. After Daphne helped organize regional cooperation, Lin Hao joined her journey to the Red Maple Kingdom, where he questioned her about the Holy Sword and learned that its emergence could trigger the Fourth Snowland Calamity.

• Lin Hao recognized Daphne as the Death Crow who had previously investigated him, and she explained that she had traveled overnight to support the Plas City-State against the Thirteen Great Thieves.
• Daphne praised Lin Hao’s resistance to the thieves, promised patrols and Inquisition assistance, and granted him the Church Honorary Baron title.
• Daphne invited Lin Hao to accompany her to the Red Maple Kingdom, and she spent three days patrolling near Plas and rallying regional representatives to share intelligence against the thieves.
• Lin Hao decided to travel with Daphne while Li Yanbing stayed behind to guard the Plas City-State.
• On the journey, Lin Hao asked Daphne about the Holy Sword, and she told him it was bound in balance with the King of Ice and that its emergence could trigger the Fourth Snowland Calamity.

Lin Hao and Daphne’s party were confronted on the Aidan Plain by riders impersonating the Thirteen Great Thieves, who demanded Baron Link be handed over. After they withdrew, Lin Hao and Daphne exchanged promises of help, and Lin Hao left South Maple City with Zhang Shuwen and the others, expecting trouble.

• Daphne told Lin Hao that the Theocracy knew of three Legendary Yōma Kings and explained that their existence restrained other Yōma, while keeping their origins confidential.
• Lin Hao and Daphne detected more than two hundred mounted riders, including three Epic experts, who claimed to be the Thirteen Great Thieves and demanded Baron Link.
• Lin Hao and Daphne refused to yield, and the impostors withdrew after threatening them; Lin Hao suspected the Red Maple Kingdom had arranged the interception to drive Daphne away.
• Daphne gave Lin Hao a holy relic pendant that could sense her location and promised to come to his aid, while Lin Hao promised to help her in return.
• At South Maple City, Lin Hao parted from Daphne and rode into the night with Zhang Shuwen and the other two, warning them that trouble might follow.

Lin Hao fought off an ambush by Declan Hayes and three Theocracy retainers, killing all four and testing how his resolve-based abilities could pierce an Epic’s Heroic Spirit Soul. After collecting evidence from the bodies, he decided to head to South Maple City to help Daphne.

• Count Austin Carter and Declan Hayes learned that Lin Hao had left the Saintess’s procession and discussed killing him, while Carter went to welcome the Saintess in South Maple City.
• Lin Hao dismounted to let Yi Feng and the others escape as Declan Hayes and three retainers caught up with them on the road.
• Lin Hao used [Defiling Words] to expose the pursuers’ lost ideals, then activated [A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold] with [Edict] and cut through Declan Hayes’s Heroic Spirit Soul in one strike.
• Lin Hao killed the three remaining retainers almost instantly and reflected on how his abilities had concentrated his force and exploited openings in his enemies’ minds.
• Lin Hao took the seventh-tier Breath of the Saint and Declan Hayes’s recognizable spear, then decided to go to South Maple City to repay Daphne’s favor.

Lin Hao reunited with Daphne after defeating the Thirteen Great Thieves and revealed evidence that Count Carter and Declan Hayes had colluded with them. Daphne and Lin Hao confronted Count Carter at his castle, where they fought him and Baron Haiwei, killed Haiwei, and captured Carter alive.

• Daphne sensed Lin Hao’s call from the church cemetery and rushed to find him, fearing he was in danger.
• Lin Hao showed Daphne four severed heads, including Declan Hayes’s, and said he had destroyed the Thirteen Great Thieves with his allies.
• Daphne concluded Count Carter had worked with the thieves and asked Lin Hao to help confront him; they agreed to sneak into Carter’s castle.
• Daphne and Lin Hao challenged Count Carter and Baron Haiwei, who denied the accusations and summoned their forces.
• Daphne fought Carter and Haiwei while Lin Hao used his focused promise-bound power to kill Haiwei and capture Carter alive.

Lin Hao and Daphne defeated Count Carter and Baron Jess, then exposed Carter’s crimes through an overnight interrogation in South Maple City. As Daphne prepared to take Carter to Red Maple City for trial, Lin Hao secretly took Carter’s treasures and learned about potential Legendary targets; Carter later died by choking himself on a rib.

• Count Carter and Baron Jess fought Daphne, but Lin Hao quickly defeated them, leaving Jess dead and Carter captured with his limbs broken.
• Daphne accused Carter of colluding with the Thirteen Great Thieves, and Lin Hao pressured him into naming his trusted accomplices and confessing their crimes.
• Daphne’s party interrogated Carter and his associates through the night, recorded evidence of numerous crimes, and arranged to escort the prisoners to Red Maple City.
• Lin Hao searched Carter’s castle, took most of its treasure, and found records tracking Legendary experts and possible opportunities to seize a Legendary position.
• Carter gave Lin Hao intelligence about Legendary experts, then died at noon after deliberately choking on a rib.

Lin Hao reached Red Maple City after raiding the Thirteen Great Thieves' cache, where he found a contaminated Ice Spirit eye and letters implicating nobles in their dealings with the thieves. He located the Evacuation Item in the royal palace and waited for William VII to leave the city; when the Legendary Domain expert finally departed, Lin Hao recognized his chance to act.

• Lin Hao searched the Thirteen Great Thieves' hidden cache and found nearly a hundred thousand gold coins and the contaminated Ice Spirit Eye, whose traits included Spirit Vision, Spiritual Pressure, and Breath of Darkness · Source.
• Yi Feng found letters linking Count Carter and other nobles to the Thirteen Great Thieves, and Lin Hao took them to Daphne while leaving Zhang Shuwen, Yi Feng, and Mason to transport the treasure.
• Lin Hao traveled to Red Maple City, where he learned that Count Carter had committed suicide after his crimes were exposed, and sensed that the Evacuation Item was inside the Imperial Palace.
• Lin Hao waited in the Blazing Fire Tavern, met the elf Tairan, and learned about elves and their presence in the city.
• The aura of William VII rushed out of the city and receded, and Lin Hao concluded that the king had finally left.

Lin Hao infiltrated the Red Maple royal palace, stole William I's Crown, and escaped without alerting anyone besides Princess Tiffany. After evacuating a large haul of wealth and returning to the Settlement, he began preparing to break through to Epic.

• Lin Hao slipped into the palace, subdued Tiffany, and learned that the crown was being used as bait to attract a Transmigrator.
• With Tiffany's help, Lin Hao bypassed the crown's weight-sensitive alarm, replaced the display stand's weight, and took William I's Crown.
• Lin Hao knocked Tiffany unconscious, stole a necklace and hair clip, and escaped the city with the crown.
• Lin Hao and his companions gathered their treasure and supplies in Pulas, then evacuated through the Shallow Shoal Evacuation Point.
• Back at the Settlement, Lin Hao saw its expanded defenses, growing Swarm, and Winged Bugs, then left its development to his people and resumed training.
• Lin Hao shared advanced Breathing Method insights with Gong Zichun and Li Yanbing, distributed Seventh-Rank Breathing Methods, and used Wish Power to begin the work of constructing his Heroic Spirit Soul.

Lin Hao perfected the rapid activation of his three-headed, six-armed Heroic Spirit Soul and tested its devastating power, then prepared to visit the Dwarves and attend Great Qi’s Palace Examination. At the examination, he watched the Presented Scholars compete and wondered whether power and high office had changed him.

• Lin Hao used layered breathing and [Swarm Adaptation] to strengthen his body, then demonstrated that he could manifest parts of his Heroic Spirit Soul with precise control.
• Li Yanbing and Gong Zichun described their own Heroic Spirit Souls, and Lin Hao used [A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold] to activate his complete Heroic Spirit Mecha instantly.
• Lin Hao unleashed Martial Skills that smashed through a wooden wall and tore a clearing through the forest, shocking Li Yanbing, Gong Zichun, Yin Zhengchun, and the Great General.
• Lin Hao trained until he could construct his Heroic Spirit Soul in 0.5 seconds, then planned to visit the Dwarves, spar with Legendaries, and attend the Palace Examination.
• Lin Hao and Li Yanbing discussed the fleet’s discoveries before Lin Hao watched the Presented Scholars compete at the Great Qi Imperial Palace and questioned whether he was different from other people changed by power.

Lin Hao visited University Town, reviewed its industrial and pharmaceutical progress, and approved cautiously selling Great Qi medicines in Antares. Afterward, he agreed to investigate a nearby Lizardmen Tribe discovered by an exploration team.

• Lin Hao and Professor Shi inspected Great Qi's developing factories and discussed how industrial production could expand weapons manufacturing.
• Lin Hao agreed to visit University Town before traveling to the Second World, then arrived with Li Yanbing and addressed the assembled students.
• Professor Wang showed Lin Hao and Li Yanbing improved medicines made with modern techniques, and Lin Hao approved testing sales in Antares under his protection.
• Professor Shi told Lin Hao that explorers had discovered a Lizardmen Tribe, and Lin Hao agreed to go investigate it.

Lin Hao returned to the Plas City-State after crushing the Lizardmen tribe and spent time refining his Swarm Adaptation while considering the Mother of the Swarm’s possible connection to the Twelve Saints. He found merchants stirring up deposit-refund demands and ordered the loudest agitators refunded, expelled, and barred from future trade.

• Lin Hao witnessed the easy destruction of the Lizardmen tribe, learned that its Teleportation Point had disappeared, and withdrew with his allies.
• Lin Hao optimized the Midwife Bug and used Swarm Adaptation to improve his own abilities while preserving his human form.
• Lin Hao wondered whether the Mother of the Swarm was a fallen member of the Twelve Saints and decided to ask the Dwarf King after resolving affairs in the Plas City-State.
• Lin Hao returned to the Plas City-State and found merchants complaining about its new trade rules and demanding their deposits back.
• Lin Hao singled out the loudest merchants, ordered their deposits refunded, and declared them unwelcome guests whose identities and caravans would be recorded.

Lin Hao returned to Plas City-State, punished merchants who caused trouble, and negotiated firelance quotas with representatives of major powers. After revealing that the Thirteen Great Thieves had been killed, he strengthened Plas City-State’s standing, then heard Li Weika offer two nuclear warheads in exchange for help reconciling with another group of Transmigrators.

• Lin Hao cowed the protesting merchants, returned their deposits, and ordered their caravans removed from the commercial district.
• Lin Hao rejected Count Connor Sutton’s attempt to imply he knew Baron Link’s identity, then proposed prioritizing firelance quotas for the Northern Federation, the Mountain Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Lauren.
• Lin Hao dismissed the Red Maple Kingdom’s offer to guard Plas City-State and revealed the heads of the Thirteen Great Thieves, shocking the gathered representatives and securing promises of bounty payments.
• The representatives settled outstanding matters with Lin Hao, and Plas City-State’s standing rose after the Thirteen Great Thieves’ defeat became known.
• Li Weika asked Lin Hao to help pass on a reconciliation offer from the America Duchy, promising two nuclear warheads as compensation, and Lin Hao reconsidered refusing.

News of the Thirteen Great Thieves’ destruction spread Lin Hao’s reputation as he returned to Forgehold to seek the Dwarf Kingdom’s support, advice, and weapons. After learning more about the Sacred Beasts and sharing industrial blueprints, he tested his strength against Dwarven Legends and ended the chapter recognizing how difficult they would be to defeat once they used their speed.

• News of the Thirteen Great Thieves’ execution spread across the Antares Continent and brought Lin Hao growing fame.
• Lin Hao traveled to Forgehold, where Gorin Flintrock welcomed him and agreed to support his plans to sell medicine and obtain heavy weapons.
• Lin Hao asked Gorin Flintrock about the Lizardmen’s Sacred Beast and the Mother of the Swarm, and Gorin confirmed they were fused with Saints.
• Lin Hao gave Gorin Flintrock blueprints for a steam engine and a steelmaking blast furnace, then explained how the designs worked.
• Lin Hao sparred with the Dwarven Legends and, after Boffo’s defense broke his heroic spirit soul, reassembled it with Dragon Might for a final attack that shattered Boffo’s heroic spirit body.
• Lin Hao gained a second of fighting time but concluded that Dwarven Legends could avoid defeat by using their speed to outlast him.

On his way to the Evacuation Point, Lin Hao was intercepted by Cattiss, a Zerg Legendary who wanted to learn about his powers and recruit him against the sealed Mother. Lin Hao ambushed her and broke her Heroic Spirit Body, but she escaped through shedding; she eventually stopped and offered to join him, leaving Lin Hao startled by her sudden loyalty.

• Lin Hao reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of Mythic fighters and considered which Legendary groups he could safely target, while Zhang Shuwen suggested bringing a Radio Station to the Dwarf Kingdom.
• Lin Hao sensed a Zerg Legendary watching from a cliff and ordered Zhang Shuwen and the others to prepare their weapons as they rode toward the Evacuation Point.
• Cattiss flew after Lin Hao, confronted him, and demanded to know when he had been assimilated and why his permissions were so high.
• Lin Hao sent Cattiss a chaotic data packet, then attacked with his cannon and Heroic Spirit while Zhang Shuwen and the others fired explosive rounds, shattering her Heroic Spirit Body.
• Cattiss used shedding to escape her ruined shell, but Lin Hao pursued her and threatened her until she asked whether surrendering would let her retain her will.
• Cattiss agreed to cut ties with her mother and serve Lin Hao, calling him “Mommy” and leaving him taken aback.