Chapter Summaries

Lin Yuan led the players across the bridge toward the Crawlers' island, where the Crawler used a crystal tied to the Oathbreaker's power to summon Phantom Sea Beasts. The players defeated the first wave, but stronger C-rank beasts appeared, leaving Lin Yuan's group facing an uncertain battle.

• Lin Yuan led the players toward the Crawlers' island, impressing the organizational elites with his influence over the independent players.
• The Crawler raised a dazzling crystal and summoned Phantom Sea Beasts that charged at the bridge.
• Lin Yuan led the players against the first wave, cutting down the D-rank beasts as the group advanced.
• Lin Yuan recognized the crystal's power as a weakened manifestation of the Oathbreaker and expected a difficult fight.
• The Crawler summoned a larger wave of C-rank Phantom Sea Beasts, and the players prepared to fight while the elites below could only warn them.

Lin Yuan’s group advanced across the bridge until Retainer 9527 unleashed a horde of Phantom Sea Beasts, including the Horned King Whale. Lin Yuan defeated the Main Sea Overlord with overwhelming strength, and the players charged forward as Retainer 9527 and the watching elites were left stunned.

• Lin Yuan cut down the Phantom Sea Beasts in his group’s path as the puppets completed the bridge to the Crawlers’ island.
• Retainer 9527 revealed his trap and summoned hundreds of Phantom Sea Beasts, including the A-rank Horned King Whale.
• Lin Yuan confronted the Horned King Whale, broke its horn with a strike, then transformed his Light Blade into a club and smashed the phantom apart.
• Rock Bear and the other players charged into the remaining beasts as their morale surged, while Retainer 9527 wondered how Lin Yuan had grown so strong.
• The elites watching beneath the bridge saw Lin Yuan overpower the Horned King Whale and called him the overlord of overlords.

Lin Yuan fought through Retainer 9527’s endless Phantom Sea Beast summons as the players struggled to advance toward the island. Research Institute 3154 told Lin Yuan not to go alone and urged him to bring at least three players so they could get the system’s help.

• Lin Yuan defeated the Horned King Whale phantom and realized that Retainer 9527 could summon hundreds of Main Sea Overlord phantoms to delay the players until Paradise closed.
• Lin Yuan killed a jellyfish-like Main Sea Overlord phantom, but more waves appeared as the group advanced and the players behind him began to suffer injuries.
• Lin Yuan noticed that defeated phantoms were reforming inside the crystal and decided he needed to end the battle quickly.
• Wind-Ear called Lin Yuan over and handed him a conch telephone from Research Institute 3154.
• Research Institute 3154 warned Lin Yuan not to charge onto the island alone and recommended taking at least three other players to get the system’s help.

Lin Yuan learned from Research Institute 3154 that the Game System could punish Retainer 9527 by making him an Instance boss, but the group faced a dangerous fight against the Time-Void Prism and Oathbreaker. Lin Yuan led four players toward the island’s bridgehead, breaking through the Phantom Sea Beasts as Wind-Ear left to carry information away.

• Research Institute 3154 told Lin Yuan that five players would fulfill the condition for turning Retainer 9527 into an Instance boss and warned him that the Crawler wielded a Time-Void Prism.
• Lin Yuan told Research Institute 3154 that the newly ascended Angel was likely Oathbreaker, then passed the communication conch to Wind-Ear, who left to get the information out.
• Lin Yuan recruited Rose, Rock Bear, Crazy Tiger, and Howling Wolf to join him, while Bai Ling stayed behind to lead the other players.
• Retainer 9527 saw Lin Yuan's group approach and unleashed more Phantom Sea Beasts, but Lin Yuan charged through them to open a path toward the bridgehead.
• Lin Yuan endured the beasts' attacks and forced a bloody route through the encirclement as the four players followed close behind.

Lin Yuan and the others reached the island, triggering the Game System to turn it into an Instance and contain the Crawler’s Phantom Sea Beasts. Once the Instance began, Research Institute 3154 explained that the boss was a mark imprinted in the Time-Void Prism, leaving the players to repeatedly destroy its projection.

• Rose’s Charm slowed the Phantom Sea Beasts as Lin Yuan’s group fought across the bridge and reached the island.
• The Game System converted the island into an Instance, trapping the Crawler and dividing the beasts into rank-based zones.
• Bai Ling, the organizational elites, and the other players entered the safe zone before the Instance entrance closed.
• Research Institute 3154 told Lin Yuan that the institute’s neutrality was maintained for the Great Beings.
• The Game System named the Instance boss as the Mark of the Time-Ruin Prism, and Research Institute 3154 explained that the Crawler was its projection and could revive repeatedly.

Lin Yuan led the players into battle against the sea beast phantoms and discovered that slain phantoms became real corpses, giving the players valuable materials and equipment. Realizing the system had turned the Instance into a trial to help them face the Time-Void Prism Mark, he changed his plan and set his sights on the Main Sea Overlord phantoms for their Transcendent Cores.

• Lin Yuan dismissed Research Institute 3154's concerns and charged out of the safe zone, prompting the players and then Research Institute 3154 to join the fight.
• Lin Yuan fought through the outer rings and noticed that the central crystal replenished slain sea beast phantoms.
• A player alerted Lin Yuan that the phantoms had turned real, and he discovered that defeated phantoms left real corpses and valuable drops behind.
• Lin Yuan realized the system was giving players a way to grow stronger before facing Crawlers and the Time-Void Prism Mark.
• Lin Yuan abandoned his plan to attack Crawlers directly and targeted the Main Sea Overlord phantoms for their Transcendent Cores.

Lin Yuan found a reliable way to obtain Transcendent Cores by hunting Main Sea Overlords and used them to activate the Transcendent Core Chamber. As he refined cores and fought, his energy reserves and combat power continued to grow.

• Lin Yuan entered the Main Sea Overlord area and killed a giant lobster-like phantom, which dropped an E-Rank Transcendent Core.
• Lin Yuan refined the new core together with his Copy Penguin Core, gaining transcendent power that greatly strengthened his attacks with the Holy Hall Light Blade.
• Lin Yuan killed another Overlord phantom, refined its core, and discovered that the cores dropped by his prey could replenish the energy he spent fighting.
• Lin Yuan entered a cycle of hunting and refining cores, while the energy collector replenished and expanded the chamber's storage capacity.
• Lin Yuan realized his empowered attacks dealt both physical and transcendent damage, though he suspected the power had a greater strength he had yet to discover.

Lin Yuan discovered that his Lost Sanctum power could overwhelm ordinary transcendent skills, but special Main Sea Overlords resisted him with higher-ranked abilities. He compressed his stored energy into D-rank power and prepared to fight them for their cores while the Crawler remained nearby.

• Lin Yuan used his transcendent energy to smash through the Main Sea Overlord phantoms and realized the strength of the Lost Sanctum Knight path.
• The Crawler summoned additional phantoms after watching Lin Yuan defeat the others with ease.
• A seahorse-shaped phantom's fire and evasion skills resisted Lin Yuan's attacks, revealing that the newly summoned Main Sea Overlords had D-rank cores.
• Lin Yuan compressed his stored E-rank energy into D-rank energy, accepting that he would only be able to refine D-rank cores afterward.
• Lin Yuan prepared to attack the special Main Sea Overlords and claim their D-rank cores.

Lin Yuan slaughtered the special Main Sea Overlord phantoms and used their cores to expand his energy reserves, but the return of weaker phantoms made it difficult to sustain his attacks. After learning how to wear down the Crawler’s imprint, he agreed to rest and fight alongside Research Institute 3154 and the others, leaving them stunned by his claim that he was in his “weak phase.”

• Retainer 9527 kept summoning special Main Sea Overlord phantoms, but Lin Yuan quickly killed them and refined their D-Rank Transcendent Cores.
• Lin Yuan calculated that his D-rank energy tank held 300 units, then expanded its capacity to 500 by killing more special phantoms.
• Ordinary Main Sea Overlord phantoms began appearing, forcing Lin Yuan to conserve energy because his attacks each used five units.
• Lin Yuan asked Research Institute 3154 about the Time-Void Prism, and Research Institute 3154 explained that repeatedly killing the Crawler would weaken its imprint and power.
• Lin Yuan agreed to rest for half an hour and accept help from the other players before fighting the Crawler.
• The other players stared at the ruined phantom area after Lin Yuan called his current state his “weak phase.”

Lin Yuan prepared for the final showdown, overclocking the Divine Artisan Forge and receiving powerful Blessings from the major organizations. He reached the Crawler and destroyed its body with one strike, but the others knew the real battle had only just begun.

• Lin Yuan recovered, repaired his Shapeshifter Multi-Function Harpoon, and upgraded Explore the Sea before Little Black explained the Divine Artisan Forge’s Overclocked Forging ability and its severe side effects.
• Lin Yuan chose to overclock the forge, then led Research Institute 3154 and the others out of the safe zone as ordinary players wished them victory.
• The major organizations bestowed Blessings on Lin Yuan, helping him charge through the sea beast phantoms and defeat a Main Sea Overlord phantom without spending transcendent energy.
• Lin Yuan reached the Crawler and smashed through its wall of flesh and blood with the Sanctum Light Staff.
• Lin Yuan crushed the Crawler’s head with one strike, exciting the ordinary players while the others recognized that the real battle had only begun.

Lin Yuan repeatedly smashed the Crawler’s projection until the Time-Void Prism appeared to run out of power, while Bai Ling sensed that a terrible fate was approaching. The prism then replayed the players’ destruction of the ritual sites in reverse, restoring the rituals and bringing the Crawler back as he announced that they would start over.

• Lin Yuan kept shattering the Crawler’s projection before he could finish speaking, overpowering him while the other elites watched.
• Bai Ling divined with her damaged tortoise shell, realized she had found her certain death, and told Lilia that she had thought of a possible way to survive.
• Lin Yuan shattered the Crawler’s increasingly transparent projection, and no new projection appeared at first.
• The Time-Void Prism projected images of ritual sites across the Instance Boundary and reversed the players’ actions, restoring the rituals.
• The restored rituals resonated with the prism, which rematerialized the Crawler as he welcomed everyone back to the past.

Lin Yuan and the other players discovered that Crawlers could restore himself through save points in the Time-Void Prism, then sped up their attacks to wear away his imprint before time ran out. When Crawlers restored the depleted save points, a woman shouted that he had not used the power of time at all.

• Crawlers used the Time-Void Prism to restore himself through ritual-marked save points, and Research Institute 3154 said he knew no way to counter the power of time.
• Lin Yuan repeatedly fought Crawlers, testing attacks on the prism and realizing that striking it made the phantoms form faster.
• Lin Yuan rallied the other players to attack the prism, cutting the time needed to wear away Crawlers' imprint from an hour to ten minutes.
• After nearly half the save points were consumed, Crawlers restored them and claimed to have used the power of time.
• A woman called out that Crawlers had not used the power of time.

Bai Ling revealed that the Crawler had trapped the group inside the Time-Void Prism and used illusions to deceive them. After they found the prism’s weak points and prepared to escape, Lin Yuan proposed destroying the prism from within.

• Bai Ling explained that the Crawler’s supposed time powers and save points were illusions, and Lin Yuan killed the Crawler’s attacking projection before it could silence her.
• Bai Ling revealed that the group had been inside the Time-Void Prism since entering the Instance, and Research Institute 3154 confirmed the Crawler had used Spatial Distortion to trap them there.
• The Crawler created multiple illusions to attack, but Lin Yuan shattered them with the Sanctum Light Staff.
• Research Institute 3154 concluded that destroying the prism’s internal weak points could free the outsiders, and Bai Ling used glittering dust to reveal those points.
• The group attacked the weak points, and Lin Yuan asked whether they could destroy the Time-Void Prism from inside instead of merely escaping.

Lin Yuan and Research Institute 3154 tried to destroy the Time-Void Prism from within by striking its core, and Lin Yuan prepared Explore the Sea for a powerful shot. After upgrading his energy tank to match the cannon’s rank, he poured in all his energy and unleashed a dragon’s roar.

• Bai Ling identified the crystal at the island’s center as the Time-Void Prism’s core, and Research Institute 3154 explained how breaking it could make the temporal and spatial powers destroy the Prism.
• Lin Yuan revealed that Explore the Sea had been upgraded to balanced A+-rank using the Divine Artisan Forge, though it could maintain that state for only two hours.
• Research Institute 3154 combined everyone’s Sea Route Compasses to strike the core, but its shallow cracks began repairing themselves.
• Lin Yuan summoned Explore the Sea and sensed that its jiaolong-shaped shot had a fifty-fifty chance of shattering the core.
• Lin Yuan realized the cannon and his transcendent energy needed to be the same rank, compressed his energy tank to C-rank, and poured its energy into Explore the Sea.
• Explore the Sea fired with a deep, majestic dragon’s roar.

Lin Yuan and the players destroyed the crystal and won the Ruins of Time Instance, but a terrifying shadow emerged from its largest fragment and overwhelmed nearly everyone. The shadow praised Lin Yuan, Bai Ling, and Lilia, then shattered Lilia after she insulted it.

• The true dragon summoned by Explore the Sea swallowed the crystal, and a burst of white light erased the Crawlers, sea beast phantoms, and battle damage as the players won.
• The system announced the Instance had ended, opened the boundary, and warned that players had six hours to reach the Gate of Departure.
• Research Institute 3154 explained that Welcome Ships awaited the survivors and praised Lin Yuan and Bai Ling for their performance.
• Bai Ling sensed a terrifying presence in the crystal fragments, and a black shadow emerged, crushing most players with its pressure while Lin Yuan and Lilia remained standing.
• The shadow praised Bai Ling, Lin Yuan, and Lilia, but Lilia insulted it and was abruptly broken into pieces; the shadow then said it wanted to capture and study her.

Lin Yuan and the other players were overwhelmed by the Oathbreaker’s shadow attacks, but Lilia’s Coffin protected Lin Yuan from the worst of them. Lin Yuan realized the Oathbreaker’s power depended on the Time-Void Prism and devised a plan after learning its remaining fragments were slowly melting.

• The Oathbreaker unleashed shadow spikes that badly injured Lin Yuan and killed many players, while Lilia survived by repeatedly resurrecting.
• Lin Yuan found that his abilities and equipment could not stop the Oathbreaker’s attacks, and the Mysterious Little Box gave no response.
• Lilia blocked the Oathbreaker’s shadow sword with her Coffin, then Lin Yuan climbed inside as it shielded them from the returning spikes.
• The Oathbreaker killed Lilia outside the Coffin and continued attacking the other players, leaving Lin Yuan unable to protect everyone.
• Lin Yuan suspected the Oathbreaker’s power relied on the Time-Void Prism and sent Lilia to inspect the shattered fragments.
• Lilia reported that many fragments had disappeared and the remaining large pieces were melting slowly, prompting Lin Yuan to announce he had a plan.

Lin Yuan confirmed that the Oathbreaker’s power depended on the Time-Void Prism fragments and used Lilia’s Coffin to seize them and store them as Relics. The Oathbreaker then burned the remaining fragments to trap Lin Yuan and Lilia in a true Time Barrier, leaving them unable to move.

• Lin Yuan deduced that the Oathbreaker’s power used the Time-Void Prism fragments as fuel and could be suppressed by the Treasure Collection Room.
• Lilia used the Coffin as a projectile to reach the fragments, then she and Lin Yuan grabbed them through its side panel.
• Lin Yuan placed the largest fragment in the Treasure Collection Room and began storing the rest after confirming they were Relics.
• The Oathbreaker vanished with the Shadow Stingers and invoked a Time Barrier, using the melting fragments to strengthen it.
• Lin Yuan and Lilia became frozen in place as the Oathbreaker’s true power of time trapped them.

Lin Yuan remained trapped in the Time Barrier after the Oathbreaker was defeated, while the surviving players assessed the devastating cost of their victory. Research Institute 3154 and the others left for the Gate of Departure, unable to save Lin Yuan before Paradise closed.

• Lin Yuan remained conscious inside the frozen Coffin but could not make his thoughts reach his body.
• Research Institute 3154 woke and organized the survivors, discovering that nearly two hundred players had died in the Oathbreaker's attack.
• Research Institute 3154 and the manager mourned the losses and realized that Lin Yuan was likely doomed inside the Time Barrier.
• Dafu asked whether anyone could save Lin Yuan, but Research Institute 3154 said that only those who grasped time's true essence could escape its prison.
• Research Institute 3154 ordered one final search, then led the survivors off the island toward the Gate of Departure.

Trapped inside the Oathbreaker’s Time Barrier, Lin Yuan realized that his own thoughts—not the Mysterious Little Box—were blocked from reaching the Lin Yuan. After sensing and breaking through a weak mental barrier, he contacted the Little Box, which shattered the Time Barrier and freed him.

• Bai Ling’s cracked turtle shell broke and burned with green soulfire, which spread across the island’s corpses.
• Lin Yuan reasoned that the Little Box could suppress Time-Void Prism fragments, but he could not reach it because his thoughts were blocked from entering the Lin Yuan.
• After the soulfire consumed Bai Ling’s corpse, a crystal orb released white light, and the soulfire carried it skyward before splitting toward the three moons.
• Lin Yuan sensed a thick barrier between his thoughts and body and a thin one between his thoughts and the Lin Yuan, then broke through the thinner barrier.
• Lin Yuan reached the Treasure Collection Room, and the Little Box opened and sent out a streak of light that shattered the Time Barrier, allowing him to move again.

Lin Yuan escaped the Time Barrier and raced with Lilia toward the Gate of Departure as Paradise began to close. After the Shell Pump and Shapeshifter Harpoon failed, the gate shut before they could pass, and the sky began to crack and collapse.

• Lin Yuan escaped the Time Barrier with the Mysterious Little Box’s help and hurried with Lilia toward the Gate of Departure.
• Lin Yuan and Lilia rode the Coffin toward the gate, but its closing doors churned the sea into whirlpools and capsized them.
• Lin Yuan carried Lilia and the Coffin through the air with the Shell Pump, but the equipment exhausted itself near the gate.
• Lilia clung to Lin Yuan’s back as he swam and used the Sea Serpent Ram’s ice to resist the currents.
• Lin Yuan’s Grappling Claw caught the gate but broke before pulling him across, and the doors closed with him still inside Paradise.
• Lin Yuan struck the closed gate in vain as cracks spread across the sky and it collapsed.