Recaps

Lin Yuan rescued four fishermen near Shattered Island and learned that the islanders were cut off from the wider sea by a Time Maze. He left the chapter puzzled by how a merchant caravan could reach the island despite that barrier.

• Lin Yuan and Doll Girl found four fishermen sinking beneath the sea and rescued them, bringing them to a nearby island.
• The fishermen told Lin Yuan that the archipelago was called Shattered Island and that they had lost their boat to a storm and a Transcendent Creature.
• Lin Yuan learned that the islanders knew almost nothing about players or the game, and that a Time Maze surrounded Shattered Island.
• The fishermen confirmed that the Time Maze still existed, leaving Lin Yuan wondering whether he had ended up in an unopened area of the game.
• Zhang Da told Lin Yuan that a caravan would arrive soon, and said it came from the sea beyond the island.

Lin Yuan learned that Sunken Folk merchants traded with the fishermen of Shattered Island, then discovered a Sea Beast Tide was approaching after a seaquake. The villagers feared thousands of Magical Creatures and at least one D-rank sea beast, but Lin Yuan found their idea of a major crisis surprisingly unimpressive.

• Lin Yuan questioned Zhang Da and the fishermen about human-turned Sunken Folk merchants and decided to wait and meet them himself.
• Lin Yuan carried Zhang Da and the other fishermen to their island aboard the Coffin, where their families welcomed them and mourned those who had not returned.
• Zhang Da learned that a seaquake had breached the barrier between the Shallow Sea and the Main Sea, putting the island in the path of a Sea Beast Tide.
• Zhang Da explained that the villagers' shared boat was damaged and warned that the tide could bring thousands of Magical Creatures, at least ten E-rank Transcendent Creatures, and possibly two D-rank sea beasts.
• Lin Yuan asked about the threat and wondered why the fishermen considered it a major crisis.

Lin Yuan single-handedly wiped out the sea beast tide threatening Shattered Island, including a D-rank creature, and asked Zhang Da about the southeast seaquakes and the Crawlers. After the fight, his Holy Hall Light Blade’s Sanctum Token reacted faintly, suggesting the sea beasts were connected to the Crawlers.

• Lin Yuan reassured Zhang Da and the islanders that he would handle the approaching beast tide, then waited at the island’s southeastern edge as the others watched from behind.
• Hundreds of Fishmen, Tooth Shells, Poison Octopuses, and other sea beasts reached the island, and Lin Yuan cut them down with his Holy Hall Light Blade.
• Lin Yuan killed an Overlord Crab and a D-rank Transcendent Creature with single slashes, leaving nearly every attacking beast dead and astonishing Zhang Da and the islanders.
• Lin Yuan told Zhang Da to do whatever he wanted with the sea beast corpses, then asked whether the seaquakes had always come from the southeast and whether he knew about Crawlers.
• After Zhang Da left, Lin Yuan noticed the Sanctum Token in his Holy Hall Light Blade had reacted during the battle and suspected a connection between the sea beasts and the Crawlers.

Lin Yuan investigated signs that a Crawler might be behind the Sea Beasts targeting Shattered Island, then learned that the islanders’ cured meat had unusual properties. The chapter ended with him questioning how meat made from D-rank Sea Beasts could be a C-rank ingredient.

• Lin Yuan suspected a Crawler was directing the Sea Beasts and decided to investigate the southeastern waters after his repairs.
• Lin Yuan left Lilia’s Coffin the next morning and dragged it into the village as more residents returned and greeted him respectfully.
• Zhang Da showed Lin Yuan Gem-Cured Meat made from the previous day’s Sea Beasts and offered him the courtyard’s supply in thanks for saving the island.
• Lin Yuan learned the cured meat could restore health, remove negative statuses, boost strength, and possibly grant abilities to biologically active Transcendent Equipment.
• Lin Yuan confirmed that the system still worked for Shattered Island’s residents, then asked Zhang Da why the cured meat was C-rank when the strongest Sea Beasts had been D-rank.

Lin Yuan learned that Shattered Island's secret curing methods could upgrade Sea Beast meat, then watched the Sunken Ones' caravan arrive and sought information about traveling to other islands. The chapter ended with a Sunken One vendor asking whether Lin Yuan was a Shattered Island resident.

• Zhang Da explained how Shattered Island cured different Sea Beast meats into Gem-Cured Meat, and Lin Yuan discovered that only three pieces were C-rank.
• Lin Yuan offered Zhang Da his Horned King Whale meat, and Zhang Da said he would consult ancestral manuals to find the best way to process it.
• The Sunken Ones' enormous caravan ship rose from the sea and docked at Shattered Island, where its crews set up orderly trading stalls.
• Lin Yuan noticed the Sunken Ones' military-like discipline and approached a special requests stall to ask about leaving Shattered Island for other islands.
• The Sunken One vendor asked Lin Yuan whether he was a resident of Shattered Island.

Lin Yuan met the Sunken One Merchant Group and learned that Shattered Island lay within the sealed-off East Pole Sea, which only Players could enter or leave. Wuwei said the injured Island Lord, a former Player now in a deep sleep, might know how Lin Yuan could escape the region.

• A stallholder recognized Lin Yuan as a Player and directed him to the Sunken One Merchant Group's leader, Wuwei.
• Wuwei asked Lin Yuan to punch him to gauge his strength, and Lin Yuan sent him flying into the sea.
• Wuwei praised Lin Yuan's power and revealed that the human Island Lord had once been a Player.
• Wuwei explained that Shattered Island belonged to the sealed-off East Pole Sea and that the Island Lord had fallen into a deep sleep after suffering grievous injuries.
• Wuwei said waking the Island Lord might give Lin Yuan a chance to leave the East Pole Sea.

Lin Yuan learned that the islands in the East Pole Sea Region were connected through the Deep Sea, where the Time Maze weakened, and arranged to obtain blueprints for modifying the Lin Yuan. As the Sunken One merchant group departed, a family’s encounter with a newly drowned relative raised more questions about the Sunken Ones and East Pole Island.

• Lin Yuan asked Wuwei how to reach East Pole Island, and Wuwei explained that ships could travel between the islands through the Deep Sea Passage.
• Wuwei said deep-sea travel required a hull modification whose blueprints were held by a supplies official on East Pole Island, and Lin Yuan arranged for Wuwei to bring them on his next visit.
• Lin Yuan asked to buy repair materials, but Wuwei gave him timber, steel, and other supplies for free because Lin Yuan might wake the island lord.
• After trading ended, several Shattered Island residents clung to a newly drowned Sunken One who coldly pulled away and returned to the ship.
• Wuwei began to reveal something about the Sunken Ones, but his subordinates stopped him, and he left without explaining further.

After learning that he had only a little over two months in the special region before he had to return to the Endless Sea, Lin Yuan realized Shattered Island could help him industrialize and accelerate his ship repairs. He planned to use his equipment and blueprints to organize local residents into production, leaving him better prepared for East Pole Island.

• The system announced a one-year Free Development Period, then warned Lin Yuan that time flowed five times faster in the Endless Sea and he had to return before the period ended.
• Lin Yuan calculated that his remaining time in the special region was tight because he still needed to visit East Pole Island, awaken its island lord, and repair and upgrade his ships.
• Zhang Da told Lin Yuan that his community could not afford a medium fishing boat after their shared boat sank and the small boats sold out.
• Lin Yuan realized Shattered Island had people, land, raw materials, and technology, so he could start small-scale industrial production to support ship repairs.
• Lin Yuan decided to use the Production Workshop and his blueprints to have island residents mass-produce useful magical items that were in demand on East Pole Island.

Lin Yuan revealed that he was an Artisan and offered Zhang Da’s people a way to earn a living by producing ship materials on Shattered Island. With Little Black’s machines, he began the operation while keeping control of its power supply.

• Lin Yuan proposed making production machines so Zhang Da and the others could produce materials instead of joining another fleet.
• Zhang Da and the villagers learned Lin Yuan was an Artisan and pledged to work for him.
• Lin Yuan realized Artisans were scarce in the East Pole Sea and decided to hide Little Black’s identity and potential.
• Little Black recovered, then made four basic wood- and metal-processing machines using 20 units of rubber.
• Lin Yuan installed power spheres in the machines and kept the Steam Core-powered charging machine in his Production Workshop, retaining control of the operation.

Lin Yuan used simple production machines and Shattered Island villagers to gather enough materials to fully repair the Phantom Lin Yuan. With the ship restored, he checked its equipment and reflected on his remaining lack of a reliable recovery method.

• Lin Yuan powered the production machines, and Zhang Da and the others began producing planks and metal parts from logs and metal materials.
• Shattered Island villagers saw the machines work and rushed to volunteer after Zhang Da explained they could keep surplus supplies by operating a machine and paying Lin Yuan a fixed daily amount.
• Over three days, Little Black built forty machines, and the villagers produced the materials needed to repair the Phantom Lin Yuan.
• Little Black repaired the Phantom Lin Yuan, restoring its durability to five hundred thousand, while Lin Yuan noted that his recovery abilities remained inadequate.
• The Production Workshop announced that all the ship equipment had been repaired, and Lin Yuan checked the results.

Lin Yuan repaired the Phantom Lin Yuan’s equipment and fed the Shell Pump a large quantity of C-rank Gem-Cured Meat. The Shell Pump recovered, evolved, and produced a blood-red pearl whose effects remained unknown.

• Little Black repaired Explore the Sea and the other damaged equipment, though Explore the Sea’s primary metal material remained ordinary grade.
• Lin Yuan reflected on the mysterious compatibility between his Transcendent Energy and Explore the Sea, then considered upgrading the Shapeshifter Harpoon and replacing the Sea Serpent Ram and ordinary cannon.
• Lin Yuan noted that the Shell Pump was still barely alive and could not be repaired with production machinery.
• Zhang Da delivered carts full of C-rank Gem-Cured Meat made from Horned King Whale ingredients.
• Lin Yuan fed all the cured meat to the Shell Pump, which recovered and changed into an evolving C-rank item that could form a special pearl when it advanced in rank.
• The Shell Pump spat out a blood-red pearl the size of a baseball.

Lin Yuan used the Shell Pump’s C-rank Blood Pearl to strengthen its abilities and arranged for villagers to pay for machine use with cured meat. When Shattered Island’s food shortage limited repairs, he decided to hunt in the dangerous Main Sea, where he believed the Crawlers were operating.

• Lin Yuan rejected using the Blood Pearl to modify his weapons and let the Shell Pump absorb it, granting it unlimited jets for a short time and a corrosive blood mist.
• Lin Yuan told Zhang Da that E-rank and B-rank Gem-Cured Meat would serve as payment for using the machines.
• Zhang Da explained that repair demand from Shattered Island’s roughly one hundred ships had reduced fishing, leaving too little food to make cured meat for about a week.
• Lin Yuan decided not to build more machines because rubber was limited and demand would fall once the ships were repaired.
• After Zhang Da warned him against entering the Main Sea, Lin Yuan said he would hunt there and attack the Crawlers responsible for the sea beast tides.

Lin Yuan sailed southeast from Shattered Island to find Crawlers, with Lilia sensing their presence before his Templar Badge did. After tracing the source deep beneath the sea, he found a strange vessel whose deck held a Magic Array and bizarre sculptures.

• Lin Yuan set out alone aboard the Phantom Lin Yuan and reflected on the people he had lost track of, including Never Skunked, Bai Ling, and Old Three.
• After searching for half a day without finding Crawlers, Lin Yuan wondered whether they were too deep for his bronze-grade Templar Badge to detect.
• Lilia sensed a disgusting smell several kilometers away and recognized it as resembling the power of the Oathbreaker.
• Lin Yuan reached the area, where his badge detected Crawlers below the surface, and used the Deep-Diving Bubble Shield to take the Phantom Lin Yuan underwater.
• Lin Yuan discovered a peculiar vessel with a flat deck, a Magic Array, and bizarre sculptures, and wondered if it was an altar.

Lin Yuan found a Crawler Elder on a weakened altar and attacked after the Elder tried to intimidate him. Though the Elder seemed unable to fight back, Lin Yuan remained convinced he was biding his time.

• Lin Yuan examined the altar and found the Elder lying motionless beneath a bone cross, with lifeless black mud covering the ship.
• Lin Yuan brought Lilia onto the altar, but she sensed nothing unusual before the Elder spoke and unleashed pressure that had no effect on either of them.
• The Elder warned Lin Yuan that he could briefly recover his peak strength, but Lin Yuan demanded a fight and struck him with the Holy Hall Light Blade.
• The Elder spat a tentacle at Lin Yuan, but the strike burst it into blood mist; Lin Yuan then knocked the Elder down with repeated blows.
• Lin Yuan kept attacking while waiting for the Elder to use a hidden power, certain that the Crawler was still biding his time.

Lin Yuan defeated the Crawlers Elder’s animated statues and ignored his attempt to take Lilia hostage. He killed the Elder, and Lilia revived from the scattered parts of her body.

• The Crawlers Elder collapsed into the black mud, and the cross on his back brought the altar’s statues to life.
• Lin Yuan beat the Black Knight and destroyed the other statues, while his Dragon Armor blocked the Slime Monster’s maggots.
• After Lin Yuan challenged him to reveal another backup plan, the Crawlers Elder emerged beside Lilia and bound her with tentacles.
• The Crawlers Elder threatened to kill Lilia, but Lin Yuan used the Shell Pump to rush him and smashed him into pulp, crushing Lilia as well.
• Lilia climbed out of her coffin again and revealed that she could revive.

Lin Yuan killed the weakened Crawler Elder and reflected on the limits of his strength. After collecting the Elder-level Retainer's Bone, he discovered the Treasure Collection Room's repulsive force was forcing black vapor out of it.

• Lilia resurrected after the Crawler Elder's final attack, and Lin Yuan smashed the Elder's remaining flesh when it began raving.
• The black mud and Altar crumbled, and the ruined ship fell apart after the Crawler Elder died.
• Lin Yuan assessed that the Elder had been severely weakened and considered his own combat strength and limited transcendent-energy reserves.
• Lin Yuan collected the corrupted Elder-level Retainer's Bone after Explore the Sea showed no reaction to it.
• The Treasure Collection Room pushed the bone into a corner, where Lin Yuan noticed black vapor being forced out of it.

Lin Yuan's Mysterious Little Box began removing contamination from the Retainer's Bone, and his Templar Badge advanced to Silver-rank after he killed a Crawler Elder. As the Phantom Lin Yuan surfaced, Lin Yuan wondered whether Wuwei and the people on East Pole Island knew about the Elder and the events behind the Seaquakes and Sea Beast Tide.

• The Mysterious Little Box absorbed the black vapor seeping from the Retainer's Bone, and Lin Yuan concluded it was removing the contamination.
• Lin Yuan returned to the Phantom Lin Yuan and found that the Crawler Elder had left behind only the Retainer's Bone, deepening his questions about the Seaquakes and Sea Beasts.
• Lin Yuan's Templar Badge advanced to Silver-rank, granting the Holy Hall Light Blade greater power, a vitality-fueled ability to counter Crawler regeneration and resurrection, and improved Crawler detection.
• Lin Yuan learned that reaching Gold-rank required killing ten Elders or one Priest, and he resolved to keep advancing and eventually kill the Crawlers.
• After the Phantom Lin Yuan surfaced, Lin Yuan wondered whether Wuwei and the people on East Pole Island knew about the Crawler Elder.

After the Crawlers Elder’s death, Lin Yuan discovered that the sea’s layered worlds around Shattered Island had fallen into chaos, bringing creatures from other depths into the Shallow Sea. He returned to the island with the Phantom Lin Yuan in disarray and began considering the need for a crew.

• Lin Yuan wondered whether Wuwei and the others had investigated the Crawlers Elder before, then felt the Phantom Lin Yuan shudder as a Big Black Shark attacked its hull.
• Lin Yuan killed the shark and began butchering it, then killed a second Big Black Shark drawn by the blood.
• Lin Yuan investigated underwater and found that the sea’s layers had shifted, overlapped, and tilted, possibly because the Crawlers Elder had died.
• Small sea creatures flooded the Phantom Lin Yuan’s deck, and a distant Horned King Whale flung even more aboard before vanishing into the changing layers.
• Lin Yuan returned to Shattered Island, dragged Lilia from her Coffin to help clean the deck, and considered finding a crew to operate and maintain the Phantom Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan returned to the Shattered Island archipelago and found sea beasts attacking the inhabited islands amid the underwater chaos. After saving the residents, he continued considering how to recruit a sailor crew and tested the Shell Pump’s new flying skill.

• Lin Yuan debated recruiting island residents, players, or Sunken Ones as sailors, but worried about their weakness, upkeep, and connection to East Pole Island.
• A D-rank sea beast interrupted Lin Yuan’s thoughts by charging onto Zhang Da’s island, and Lin Yuan killed it and the other sea beasts there.
• Zhang Da told Lin Yuan that sea beasts had appeared across the islands, causing destruction but no casualties, and that the neighboring islands were also in danger.
• Lin Yuan used the Shell Pump’s Burst skill to fly between the nearby islands and found their residents fleeing from rampaging sea beasts.
• Lin Yuan killed the attacking sea beasts, and the island residents cheered for Lord Zero.

Lin Yuan gathered the residents of the surrounding islands onto Zhang Da’s island and organized plans for food, work, and industrial production during the sea turmoil. He revealed that Little Black could mass-produce Miniature Turrets to defend the island and potentially strengthen his future battles.

• Lin Yuan told Zhang Da and the island leaders he could not guard every island, so they decided to relocate the residents to Zhang Da’s island.
• Zhang Da and the others brought residents from more than a dozen islands together, and Lin Yuan advised them to prepare for a prolonged crisis.
• Lin Yuan proposed a meat-curing factory and machine-based work so residents could exchange labor for food and receive priority access to the goods they produced.
• Island representatives identified nearby deposits of steel and rubber, and Lin Yuan promised to secure materials for more machines.
• Lin Yuan showed the leaders a Miniature Turret and explained that Little Black had devised a method to assemble one in thirty minutes, allowing the turrets to defend the island and support future battles.

Lin Yuan organized Shattered Island’s residents to build factories and produce Miniature Turrets, offering Shell Coins and promised Transcendent Equipment to motivate them. While using the Death Seed’s Skeleton Pirates as workers, he realized the next new moon was near, and the Death Seed began draining him as three enormous moons appeared.

• Lin Yuan showed the island leaders the Miniature Turret and asked them to select capable workers, then offered Shell Coins exchangeable for promised items to encourage production.
• Zhang Da reorganized Shattered Island, replacing houses with factories and building apartment blocks for residents.
• Lin Yuan sailed to uninhabited islands to gather resources and summoned Skeleton Pirates to help with the work.
• Lin Yuan decided to keep the Death Seed available for summoning skeleton sailors but suppress it in the Treasure Collection Room if it began summoning the Nether River.
• Lin Yuan realized that time passing in East Pole Sea meant the next new moon was nearly due, and the Death Seed suddenly began drawing in his life energy as three enormous moons appeared in the sky.

Lin Yuan was paralyzed while the Death Seed summoned the Nether River, where Lilia drew out the transformed Bai Ling. Bai Ling vanished with the river after asking Lin Yuan and Lilia to call her by name next time, and Lin Yuan planned to prepare for the next summoning so he could help her.

• The Death Seed drained Lin Yuan's blood and summoned the Nether River, where its undead broke free and turned hostile toward him.
• Lilia came to Lin Yuan's side, and the skeletons immediately looked away from her.
• Lilia pulled a faint green light from the Nether River, and it transformed into Banshee Bai Ling.
• Bai Ling recognized Lin Yuan and Lilia, then asked them to call her by name next time so she could remember who she was.
• The Nether River vanished with Bai Ling, and Lin Yuan promised Lilia he would do everything he could to help their companion.

Lin Yuan used the Skeleton Sailors to speed Shattered Island’s growth, while realizing that civilization might be at the heart of the conflict between East Pole Island and the Crawlers. He planned to ask Wuwei about the connection the next time they met.

• Lin Yuan discovered that the Skeleton Sailors could not learn new tasks and had to stay within two kilometers of the Death Seed, but he put their other useful abilities to work gathering resources.
• The residents of Shattered Island grew accustomed to the Skeleton Sailors as Lin Yuan’s phantom ship carried materials back to the Main Island.
• Shattered Island developed rapidly as turrets defended its shores, the Cured Meat Factory produced Gem-Cured Meat, residents operated machines, and others improved the island’s roads and land.
• Lin Yuan wondered whether Sea Beast Tides had been used to prevent Shattered Island’s civilization from developing and whether the Crawlers were behind them.
• Lin Yuan connected the dispute between East Pole Island and the Crawlers to the destruction of the Artisan Academy and decided to ask Wuwei about civilization’s role in their conflict.

Lin Yuan learned how Bai Ling had preserved her memories after becoming an Undead Banshee and agreed to keep summoning the Nether River to awaken her. As Wuwei arrived early with the Sunken One Merchant Group, he became lost in the chaotic waters around Shattered Island, while Lin Yuan noticed the disturbance and realized a Main Sea Overlord might be lost nearby.

• Bai Ling explained that she had transformed herself into an Undead Banshee and linked her name to her memories so someone could restore her sense of self, and Lin Yuan agreed to summon the Nether River regularly.
• Lin Yuan considered whether East Pole Island could offer a way to save Bai Ling and looked forward to Wuwei's return, planning to meet him outside Shattered Island.
• Wuwei led more than a dozen merchant ships toward Shattered Island after changing the trade route, but he encountered an ornamental fish and became confused about their location.
• Lin Yuan watched the moons and wondered about the relationship between the Nether River, undead creatures, and Sunken Ones.
• Lin Yuan observed recurring disturbances in the waters and concluded that a Main Sea Overlord was repeatedly getting lost around Shattered Island.
• Wuwei studied his nautical chart and wondered why the currents had not brought him to Shattered Island.

Lin Yuan reunited with Wuwei and his deputy Chi Yu when their merchant ship reached Shattered Island. He revealed that he had already killed the awakened Crawlers Elder, whose death had thrown the surrounding waters into chaos.

• Wuwei and the Sunken One Merchant Group surfaced near Shattered Island, realized where they were, and came ashore to meet Lin Yuan.
• Wuwei introduced his deputy, Chi Yu, and explained that the merchant group had been delayed by chaotic currents and disrupted water layers.
• Lin Yuan admitted that his actions underwater in the southeastern sea might have caused the disturbance, prompting Wuwei to warn him about the Crawlers Elder.
• Wuwei explained that East Pole Island had monitored the sleeping elder but avoided attacking because of the risks and the Crawlers’ broader arrangements.
• Chi Yu realized Lin Yuan had already dealt with the awakened elder, and Lin Yuan confirmed that he had killed him.