Recaps

Lin Yuan learned that Moge had been the Artisan Academy’s Grand Dean before returning to Shattered Island with reserve warships. He found the island thriving under industrialized production, but Zhang Da warned that raw materials would soon run out.

• Steward Liu explained the Artisan Academy’s ranks and revealed that its Grand Dean, Moge, had once called himself a Disciple of the Mohists.
• Lin Yuan left East Pole Island towing several Deep Diving Modification warships behind the Phantom Lin Yuan and reached Shattered Island a day later.
• Lin Yuan saw that Shattered Island’s residents had embraced its new factories, turrets, and specialized work, with supplies and morale greatly improved.
• Zhang Da reported that food and Magical Items were abundant and more than a thousand Miniature Turrets had been produced.
• Zhang Da told Lin Yuan that the residents’ increased productivity had depleted raw materials, and production might stop within two days.

Lin Yuan returned to Shattered Island and arranged for its residents and supplies to move to East Pole Island, where they would help rebuild and form his first industrial workforce. As the relocation began, Chi Yu was still dealing with the resentment of the Artisans she had subdued when Lin Yuan arrived with a large group.

• Lin Yuan told Zhang Da that East Pole Island needed people and asked Shattered Island's residents to relocate there, but Zhang Da worried they would not know how to make a living.
• Lin Yuan explained that the residents would rebuild East Pole Island, continue their current work, and follow his arrangements, so Zhang Da agreed to move everyone.
• The next day, Zhang Da loaded the machines, finished goods, food, and tools onto the Giant Ship, and Lin Yuan took it beneath the surface with the Phantom Lin Yuan.
• Chi Yu oversaw construction on East Pole Island and learned that the important industrial-area buildings were complete, while the subdued Artisans remained resentful.
• A soldier reported that Lord Zero had arrived with a large group of people.

Lin Yuan challenged East Pole Island’s artisans to a contest against Shattered Island’s machine operators to make E-rank East Pole Sabers. The artisans quickly began forging by hand, while the machines started producing saber-shaped metal sheets and drew the crowd’s attention.

• Lin Yuan arrived at East Pole Island and criticized its artisans for producing few magical items and failing to make the most of their materials.
• Lin Yuan offered the artisans a chance to compete against Shattered Island residents using machines, with both sides making E-rank East Pole Sabers from half the materials.
• The old artisans accepted the contest, understanding that losing would mean submitting to Lin Yuan.
• Chi Yu began the contest, and the artisans and their apprentices worked together to forge a saber by hand as the crowd cheered.
• Zhang Da and the Shattered Island residents adjusted the unfamiliar machines, which first produced metal ingots and then hammered out saber-shaped sheets, quieting the crowd.

Lin Yuan’s machines overwhelmed the old Artisans in an East Pole Blade forging contest, forcing them to concede and join his side. The machines’ power came from the Divine Artisan Forge, which could usher in a new era of Artisan production across the Endless Sea.

• The old Artisans grew uneasy as Lin Yuan’s machines rapidly refined metal sheets into East Pole Blade parts.
• After the old Artisans made an excellent blade, Lin Yuan’s side completed its first satisfactory blade using the machines.
• The old Artisan rejected an apprentice’s suggestion to copy the machines’ division of labor and admitted that his side had lost.
• The old Artisans conceded to Zero and Chi Yu, offering to operate the machines themselves.
• Lin Yuan confirmed the machines could be mass-produced and recognized the Divine Artisan Forge as the key to their ability to wield Artisan Power.

Lin Yuan transformed East Pole Island into a thriving, industrialized fortress with help from its artisans and residents from other islands. With the island’s recovery underway and his next assignments still ahead, he began upgrading the Lin Yuan to hull level 5.

• Lin Yuan brought East Pole Island’s artisans and workers into his industrialization plans, and mass production improved residents’ access to everyday goods.
• Wuwei brought residents from other islands to East Pole Island, where their farming, medicine, hauling, and performance skills aided its development.
• After nearly a month, Lin Yuan surveyed the rebuilt island, now organized into districts and protected by thousands of turrets.
• Lin Yuan prepared to upgrade the Lin Yuan, using its improved keel and the hull components workers had manufactured.
• Lin Yuan summoned Little Black to begin the level 5 hull upgrade, which Little Black said would bring a greater improvement than previous upgrades.

Lin Yuan completed the Level Five Lava hull upgrade, gaining powerful new defensive and energy abilities. He then began upgrading all the ship’s rooms and equipment with supplies from East Pole Island.

• Little Black completed Lin Yuan’s Level Five hull, increasing its durability to ten million and adding Lava Armor and Heart of Molten Fire.
• Lava Armor and Dragon Armor fused into Flame Dragon Armor, which provided B-rank physical and transcendent defenses, retaliated against attackers, and stored energy to power up Reverse Scale.
• Lin Yuan tested Heart of Molten Fire and found he could spend durability to charge equipment, including generating a cannonball for Explore the Sea at the cost of one million health.
• Lin Yuan considered the future Level Six hull, whose incomplete designs would take Little Black much longer to finish.
• Lin Yuan directed Little Black to upgrade every room and piece of equipment aboard the Lin Yuan to Level Five using East Pole Island’s ample supplies.

Lin Yuan upgraded the Lin Yuan’s compartments and installed ten cannons, raising his strength to 25,000. He fed the Death Seed three million health to complete its evolution, then discovered it could summon Nether River tributaries and was ready for a further transformation.

• Lin Yuan upgraded the Production Workshop and converted the ram position into a Main Cannon Compartment, allowing him to install Explore the Sea there.
• Lin Yuan installed ten Iron Cannons in the Weapon Compartments, increasing his strength to 25,000.
• Lin Yuan poured three million health into the Death Seed, completing its evolution.
• Lin Yuan learned that the Death Seed could summon Nether River beings and tributaries, accumulate energy between new moons, and potentially bring forth a Nether River Monarch.
• Lin Yuan discovered he could summon Bai Ling without a time limit and that the Death Seed could break out of its shell after receiving enough transcendent power.

Lin Yuan prepared to enter the Abyssal Sea and tested his resistance to its pollution under Steward Liu’s supervision. He opened every pollution box without being affected, leaving Steward Liu stunned.

• Lin Yuan fed the Death Seed five points of A-rank Transcendent Energy, but it demanded more, so he stopped and returned to the Island Lord’s Residence.
• Steward Liu gave Lin Yuan a special patch for a brief Abyssal Sea dive and explained the sea’s unusual conditions and pollution risks.
• Steward Liu set out ten boxes to test how much Abyssal Sea pollution Lin Yuan could withstand, then protected himself behind a barrier.
• Lin Yuan opened all ten boxes without feeling any effects, mistakenly believing Steward Liu was impressed by his resistance.
• After the barrier vanished, Steward Liu explained that Lin Yuan was supposed to open each box one at a time and close it before opening the next.

Lin Yuan received the Starry Sky materials from Steward Liu and sent them to be forged into parts for the Lookout Platform. He then piloted the Phantom Lin Yuan into the Abyssal Sea, where he discovered that its waters held treasures in abundance.

• Steward Liu explained that the ten metal balls were Starry Sky materials that would fuse into a core of refined iron, and Lin Yuan collected them.
• Lin Yuan stored the core of refined iron and sent Little Black to forge it into Lookout Platform parts.
• Lin Yuan followed the East Pole Island Lord's map and piloted the Phantom Lin Yuan down through the sea to the Abyssal Sea.
• Lin Yuan applied Steward Liu's ointment, transformed the Phantom Lin Yuan's bubble shield into a cone, and drilled into the Abyssal Sea.
• Lin Yuan endured the Abyssal Sea's crushing pressure and saw that it was full of treasures.

Lin Yuan collected a deposit of Transcendent Cores in the Abyssal Sea and found the rare Seabed Lotus Life with Bai Ling's help. As he prepared to leave, an Abyssal Sea Entity appeared in the cave, leaving Lin Yuan to hope that the East Pole Island Lord's Token could protect him.

• Lin Yuan collected more than a hundred Transcendent Cores, refined enough to make another A-rank Core, and filled his Transcendent Energy reserves to 160/160.
• As the Phantom Lin Yuan descended, Lin Yuan considered the plentiful but difficult-to-harvest Abyssal Sea resources and followed Bai Ling's directions toward a cave.
• Lin Yuan found Seabed Lotus Life and carefully harvested it with a Wooden Knife, then stored it in a Jade Box.
• An Abyssal Sea Entity emerged from the cave wall and reacted with displeasure to the lotus's severed stem.
• Lin Yuan recognized the creature's danger and hoped the East Pole Island Lord's Token would be effective.

Lin Yuan used the East Pole Island Lord's Token to scare off Abyssal Sea Entities and spent a day harvesting mineral deposits in the upper Abyssal Sea. After increasing his A-rank energy capacity, he learned that Little Black had finished forging the Core of Refined Iron, allowing construction of the Lookout Platform to begin.

• Lin Yuan showed the East Pole Island Lord's Token, and the seal fled before he could finish harvesting the Seabed Lotus Life.
• Lin Yuan asked Bai Ling to search for Transcendent Core mineral deposits, and she explained that the Abyssal Sea limited her sensing range to about ten kilometers.
• Lin Yuan resolved to find a way to help Bai Ling grow stronger and began patrolling the Abyssal Sea with her.
• Bai Ling found several more deposits, and Lin Yuan drove off other Abyssal Sea Entities by displaying the Token.
• After a day, Lin Yuan had raised his A-rank energy capacity to 250 points and concluded he had exhausted the deposits in the area.
• Little Black sent Lin Yuan a mental message that the Core of Refined Iron was forged and construction of the Lookout Platform could begin.

Lin Yuan had Little Black build the Lookout Platform on the Phantom Lin Yuan, greatly extending Bai Ling’s directional sensing range. While testing it in the Abyssal Sea, Bai Ling sensed spatial distortion below and then spotted a huge temple-like ship carrying Crawlers nearby.

• Lin Yuan had Little Black build the Lookout Platform atop the Phantom Lin Yuan’s mainmast, and Bai Ling examined its tools and functions.
• Bai Ling reported that the platform’s telescope focused her Inspiration into a narrow scan, extending her detection distance from ten kilometers to a hundred kilometers.
• Lin Yuan ordered Bai Ling to use the platform while they resumed patrolling, and they found that observing the Abyssal Sea’s full spherical surroundings required adjusting the ship’s orientation.
• Bai Ling said the space beneath the Abyssal Sea felt distorted, and Lin Yuan returned the Phantom Lin Yuan to its normal orientation.
• Bai Ling spotted a huge temple-like ship just over twenty kilometers diagonally above them and reported that Crawlers stood aboard it.

Lin Yuan discovered the Crawlers’ headquarters in an Abyssal Sea cavern and learned that Red Anglerfish was probably still at the Behemoth Graveyard helping Sin of the Fallen return. He attacked the lightly guarded base, killing its remaining elder and leaving the other Crawlers terrified.

• Bai Ling told Lin Yuan that the derelict Giant Ship was the Crawlers’ headquarters, and Lin Yuan decided to investigate it.
• Lin Yuan approached the base under mirage mist and saw Crawlers worship a huge Cross and offer it sacrifices.
• A dark offering made the Cross shudder and send a beam of gray light away, while the Crawlers said Red Anglerfish’s work was progressing and Sin of the Fallen’s return was near.
• Lin Yuan concluded that Red Anglerfish and most of the elders were at the Behemoth Graveyard, then entered the hall to attack.
• Lin Yuan killed the two guards and the remaining Crawlers Elder, alarming the Crawlers inside.

Lin Yuan explored the Crawler Kin base after killing its remaining occupants and found the sleeping body of the Sin of the Fallen. He discovered a hidden chamber beneath the body’s chair, packed with books.

• Lin Yuan killed the remaining Crawler Kin while hidden in the Mirage Mist, then searched the base without disturbing the enormous cross.
• Lin Yuan used the elder’s key to enter a room marked with a goat’s head and found the sleeping body of the Sin of the Fallen.
• Lin Yuan considered destroying or moving the body but concluded he lacked the power to damage it and that moving it would not prevent the Sin of the Fallen from returning.
• Lin Yuan noticed the chair was fixed to the floor, rotated it, and opened a trapdoor to a secret chamber filled with books.

Lin Yuan discovered and collected ancient history books hidden in the Crawlers’ Secret Chamber, learning that the Four Pole Islands originated during humanity’s Golden Age and were vital to the human faction. He then found a series of stone tablets titled “The Identities of the Sanctum Founders Revealed.”

• Lin Yuan realized the damaged books recorded dangerous ancient history and decided to take them back to East Pole Island.
• Lin Yuan read the book titles and learned that the East Pole Sea had been named after East Pole Island, which arose during humanity’s Golden Age.
• Lin Yuan learned the Crawlers had attacked the Four Pole Islands after the Golden Age ended, but the islands sealed themselves off and defeated their attackers.
• Lin Yuan concluded that awakening the East Pole Island Lord was even more urgent, then stored the book and examined the final stone tablets.
• Lin Yuan found that the tablets belonged to a series titled “The Identities of the Sanctum Founders Revealed.”

Lin Yuan touched dangerous stone tablets about the Sanctum Founders and involuntarily learned that they had drawn the attention of a Great Being. Little Box saved him by suppressing the tablets in the Treasure Collection Room, leaving Lin Yuan shaken but with new knowledge about the Founders.

• Lin Yuan noticed the Crawlers had collected face-down stone tablets about the Sanctum Founders and decided not to read them because they could attract a Great Being's gaze.
• When Lin Yuan touched a tablet, its markings entered his mind, revealing that fifty-four Sanctum Founders had survived the Cataclysm and were ranked by how much they threatened the Great Being.
• Lin Yuan saw the Founders before an indescribable being and realized that the being was becoming clear enough to notice him.
• Lin Yuan called for Little Box, which opened in the Treasure Collection Room and filled his vision with rainbow light.
• After the light faded, Lin Yuan found the tablets suppressed in the Treasure Collection Room, where black pollution seeped from them, and concluded that the Founders had suffered terrible losses.

After discovering the Great Being’s presence in the Crawlers’ Headquarters, Lin Yuan left with ancient books and Crawler bones, then encountered Red Anglerfish. Lin Yuan killed him before he could escape, leaving the Great Being and Lord Sin of the Fallen as unresolved threats.

• Lin Yuan decided to postpone reading the polluted stone tablet until he was stronger and had removed its pollution.
• Lin Yuan left the Crawlers’ Headquarters with ancient books and Crawler bones, but sensed that the Great Being had noticed him.
• Red Anglerfish confronted Lin Yuan and attacked with the authority of his lamp.
• Lin Yuan used the Shell Pump to pursue Red Anglerfish while enduring the lamp’s attack.
• Red Anglerfish tried to escape along a path of light, but Lin Yuan severed it with his A-rank Transcendent Energy and killed him.

After killing Red Anglerfish, Lin Yuan’s Templar Badge advanced to gold-rank and summoned the Founder of his path. The Founder explained the difficult route Lin Yuan had chosen and urged him to build his health and transcendent energy, leaving Lin Yuan amused by the gap between his enormous health and current energy limit.

• Lin Yuan killed Red Anglerfish after spending 240 transcendent energy, and judged that his short burst of strength put him roughly on par with a one-star S-rank powerhouse.
• The Templar Badge advanced to gold-rank after Lin Yuan had defeated enough Crawlers, upgrading the Holy Hall Light Blade with new abilities.
• Lin Yuan responded to a summons from the badge and met the Founder of his Path of the Lost Sanctum in a cloud of white mist.
• The Founder offered Lin Yuan one final chance to take the normal route, but Lin Yuan refused because his nature as a ship made that route impossible.
• The Founder warned that Lin Yuan’s path would be long, explained that his future authority depended on accumulating transcendent energy, and said its capacity would not exceed his health.
• Lin Yuan compared his 10 million health with his 250 maximum transcendent energy and realized the Founder’s advice seemed aimed at the wrong limitation.

Lin Yuan learned that the Founder was the Nether River Monarch, who suppressed the Great Being’s ability to track him and warned him to avoid recklessly killing Crawlers or exploring history. The Monarch gave Lin Yuan something to support his Transcendent Energy and vanished after agreeing he could be summoned at ten times the usual cost, urging him to condense a powerful Authority soon.

• The Founder’s white-mist figure disappeared, then a dark figure appeared and identified himself as the Founder and the Nether River Monarch.
• The Nether River Monarch gave Lin Yuan Black Water to suppress the Great Being’s attention and warned that killing Crawlers and exploring history could reveal his location.
• The Monarch gave Lin Yuan a mass of black light to help with the natural replenishment of Transcendent Energy.
• The Monarch told Lin Yuan to follow the normal route and fight the tributary’s monarch to save his transformed friend, explaining that the monarch was an ordinary one.
• The Monarch agreed to help if Lin Yuan summoned the Nether River, but said his appearance would cost ten times as much as a normal monarch’s and urged Lin Yuan to condense a powerful Authority quickly.

Lin Yuan learned that the Founder’s gift was an Energy Collector upgrade blueprint and recovered the right half of the White Emperor’s body from Red Anglerfish’s corpse. When the body warned him that the Crawlers’ ritual at the Behemoth Graveyard was nearly complete, Lin Yuan rushed back to East Pole Island to awaken its lord.

• Lin Yuan examined the Founder’s gift and discovered it was an upgrade blueprint requiring relics, Steam Cores, and steel.
• Lin Yuan took the Greasy Old Lamp from Red Anglerfish’s corpse and found the right half of the White Emperor’s body in a pouch.
• Lin Yuan realized the recovered half held the East Pole Island Lord’s soul and wondered how Red Anglerfish had separated it from Sin of the Fallen.
• Lin Yuan and Bai Ling reached the Behemoth Graveyard, where turbulent currents and black light surrounded the Crawlers’ nearly completed ritual.
• The East Pole Island Lord’s half of the White Emperor’s body warned Lin Yuan to return to East Pole Island, so Lin Yuan hurried back to awaken him.

Lin Yuan and the others began awakening the East Pole Island Lord, but the Crawlers remotely interfered with the formation. Steward Liu sacrificed himself and his Authority to protect it, and the East Pole Island Lord awakened.

• Lin Yuan began the awakening formation, which slowly transferred the White Emperor's body into the East Pole Island Lord.
• Lin Yuan recognized that the formation resembled the Crawlers' techniques, and Steward Liu admitted he had obtained it from them.
• The Crawlers remotely tampered with the formation, halting the transfer.
• Steward Liu revealed he had given up his S-rank power to accommodate the Sacrifice Authority, then used it to dispel the interference and accelerate the formation.
• The White Emperor's body disappeared, and the East Pole Island Lord opened his eyes.

The East Pole Island Lord awakened, revived Steward Liu using the Seabed Lotus Life, and swiftly dealt with the Crawlers. He told Lin Yuan he could return to the Endless Sea ahead of the East Pole Sea, but the Four Pole Seas’ eventual return depended on how quickly Lin Yuan’s batch of players progressed through the main quest.

• The East Pole Island Lord used the Seabed Lotus Life to make a new body and retrieved Steward Liu’s soul from the Nether River, resurrecting him.
• The East Pole Island Lord sent Wuwei and Chi Yu to care for Steward Liu, then left to deal with Sin of the Fallen.
• Lin Yuan reflected on his growth and the time that had passed in the Endless Sea while waiting for Steward Liu to recover.
• The East Pole Island Lord told Lin Yuan that the Crawlers had been dealt with and offered to send him back to the Endless Sea ahead of the East Pole Sea.
• After Lin Yuan asked why the Four Pole Seas had not returned, the East Pole Island Lord explained that their return depended on how quickly Lin Yuan’s batch of players progressed through the main quest.

The East Pole Island Lord explained the game's later stages to Lin Yuan and arranged to send him back to the Endless Sea the next day. Lin Yuan declined to transfer Bai Ling's ownership to the Island Lord, then realized the Sunken Ones' resurrection might connect to Senior Moge's mind-uploading research.

• The East Pole Island Lord told Lin Yuan that the third stage concerned space, the fourth concerned time, and the fifth concerned history, and that each stage would eliminate players who failed to meet its requirements.
• The East Pole Island Lord promised to help Lin Yuan return to the Endless Sea and asked him to come back in a day for the journey.
• Lin Yuan asked the East Pole Island Lord to free Bai Ling, but declined when he learned she would then be bound to the East Pole Sea.
• The East Pole Island Lord advised Lin Yuan to prepare a vessel for Bai Ling and explained that Wuwei, Chi Yu, and the Sunken One soldiers had gained soul-transfer resurrection through experiments by the Grand Dean of the Artisan Academy.
• Lin Yuan connected the resurrection method to Senior Moge's mind-uploading research and wondered whether Moge could truly die when his golem was destroyed.

Lin Yuan discovered that the Divine Artisan Core contained Moge and the personalities of generations of loyal Artisan Academy artisans, who could awaken when supplied with Transcendent Energy. Moge warned that revealing them would invite a Crawler invasion, leaving Lin Yuan with a powerful resource to develop carefully.

• Lin Yuan injected fifty points of A-rank energy into the Divine Artisan Core, activating the Divine Artisan System and awakening Moge.
• Moge explained that his full personality required far more energy, but that many other Intelligent Entities were also dormant in the core.
• Moge revealed that he had used Personality Extraction Technology to preserve himself and the Artisan Academy’s capable, loyal artisans before a traitorous junior apprentice helped the Crawlers destroy the Academy.
• Lin Yuan realized the core could restore generations of artisans and provide technology to strengthen humanity, while Moge confirmed that pure Transcendent Energy could awaken them.
• Moge warned that bringing the artisans together would provoke a massive Crawler invasion and said they needed a Crawler-free stretch of sea where they could develop safely.

Lin Yuan helped Moge settle the Artisan Academy’s revival in the secluded East Pole Sea, then prepared to leave East Pole Island. The chapter ended with the East Pole Island Lord warning Lin Yuan that his journey would overturn everything he knew.

• Lin Yuan told Moge that the East Pole Sea had been cleared of Crawlers and was difficult for outsiders to enter, convincing him it was a safe place to rebuild the Artisan Academy.
• Moge asked Lin Yuan to leave the Academy’s Intelligence Core in the East Pole Sea, and Lin Yuan agreed after learning its removal would improve the Divine Artisan Forge’s efficiency.
• Lin Yuan had Little Black make Moge a golem body and introduced him to the East Pole Island Lord, who worked with Moge to plan the Academy’s development.
• At the harbor, Wuwei, Chi Yu, Steward Liu, and Moge thanked Lin Yuan and said farewell as he prepared to leave East Pole Island.
• The East Pole Island Lord asked Lin Yuan if he was ready and warned him that the journey ahead would overturn everything he knew.