Chapter Summaries

Lin Yuan defeated Fei-ge by firing Explore the Sea twice, then fought Fei-ge’s remaining veteran-player allies. Above the Mobile Fortress, a spatial vortex formed as hidden watchers questioned whether they could still take advantage of the battle.

• Fei-ge’s all-A-rank Explore the Sea overpowered Lin Yuan’s full B-rank shot and struck him for five million damage.
• Lin Yuan used the Heart of Molten Fire to fire Explore the Sea again, killing Fei-ge before his underlings could attack.
• Fei-ge’s Explore the Sea vanished, and Yellow Hair rallied the others to avenge him.
• Lin Yuan fought Yellow Hair and the remaining veteran players with the Holy Hall Light Blade, intending to test his improved A-rank energy.
• A spatial vortex opened above the Mobile Fortress, where unseen watchers asked Foolish Old Man whether they could still swoop in and reap the rewards.

Lin Yuan defeated the Veteran Players and confronted the Supernova Alliance, demanding that they leave the instance rather than compete with him for first place. Foolish Old Man challenged his claim, and Lin Yuan said the upcoming Points Ranking would prove it.

• Lin Yuan killed Yellow Hair and the other Veteran Players while Foolish Old Man and the Supernova Alliance watched from hiding.
• Lin Yuan detected the observers and called on the Supernova Alliance to reveal themselves, prompting Foolish Old Man to appear through a pair of eyes formed by his spatial power.
• Foolish Old Man apologized and offered items worth 5,000 points, but Lin Yuan rejected the offer and demanded that the Supernova Alliance leave the instance.
• Foolish Old Man refused, warned Lin Yuan that his Fortress could withstand an attack, and explained that the instance would last thirty days with a final assault worth 10,000 points.
• Lin Yuan said the Supernova Alliance had no chance of taking first place and claimed the new Points Ranking, due shortly, would prove it.

After Ship Crew Zero's score secured its lead, Lin Yuan persuaded Foolish Old Man's alliance to withdraw before the final day. Lin Yuan survived the thirtieth Awakening Period, and the Heavenly Gate, the deepest Pollution Zone, opened to Players holding a Heavenly Gate Token.

• Foolish Old Man saw Ship Crew Zero's 130,000 points and agreed the Supernova Alliance would withdraw after settling its own rankings.
• Lin Yuan returned to his base and wondered whether Prince had encountered Pollution in the Instance or had already been contaminated.
• After the twenty-seventh day, the Supernova Alliance's scores stopped changing, indicating that its Ship Crews had left the Instance.
• On the thirtieth day, Battle Souls used War Authority to overwhelm the defenders, and Rose and the others left early while Lin Yuan held out until the Awakening Period ended.
• The system announced that the Heavenly Gate, the deepest Pollution Zone, had opened to Players holding a Heavenly Gate Token.

Lin Yuan reached the Sun-like Heavenly Gate, where strange pollution forced him to rely on the Fake Heavenly Gate Token. With Lilia’s help, he found an untouchable ball of light that prompted the Mysterious Little Box to react dramatically.

• The Instance viewpoint rose from the Ancient Battlefield planet to the Sun, which Lin Yuan realized was the Heavenly Gate.
• Strange energy invaded Lin Yuan, but the Fake Heavenly Gate Token stopped it; he found that he could not summon Bai Ling while relying on the token.
• Lilia emerged from her Coffin, remained unaffected by the pollution, and pointed Lin Yuan toward a blinking light she sensed nearby.
• Lin Yuan and Lilia found a ball of light that neither could touch, even with Lin Yuan’s A-rank energy.
• Lin Yuan connected to the Mysterious Little Box, which shuddered open and released intense seven-colored light.

Lin Yuan witnessed the Sanctum Founders’ failed battle against the Great Being repeating as the world collapsed, and learned that each cycle eroded his existence. As he shouted for the Founders to wait, they unexpectedly heard him and turned toward him.

• A white Token surrounded by a seven-colored halo entered Lin Yuan’s mind, and he was swept into a vision of the Founders charging into a singularity.
• Lin Yuan watched the singularity defeat the Founders, consume the planet, and transform it into a chaotic sea before the world shattered.
• The vision repeated, and a strange voice insisted that the Founders’ failure and the world’s destruction were the true history.
• Lin Yuan realized each collapse made him more transparent and threatened to erase his existence.
• Lin Yuan shouted for the Founders to wait, and the three strongest Founders turned toward him, asking who was speaking.

Lin Yuan escaped a world-spanning force after apparently intervening in actual history, then kept the time-travel incident secret from everyone except Lilia. The Ancient Battlefield Ruins instance ended, and Lin Yuan emerged as the tournament champion to claim first pick of the prizes.

• The Mysterious Little Box rescued Lin Yuan from an immense force after the three strongest figures sensed his paradox and spacetime aura and decided to wait for further instructions.
• Lin Yuan suspected he had changed actual history and resolved to keep his time travel secret because revealing it might bring catastrophe.
• Lilia detected that Lin Yuan had traveled through time, and he promised to take her along next time while telling her not to tell anyone.
• Lin Yuan found that Little Black had slept through the event and learned that the Little Box had stored the Heavenly Gate Token.
• The system announced that Lin Yuan had obtained the true Heavenly Gate Token and that the Ancient Battlefield Ruins instance had ended successfully.
• Lin Yuan, Lilia, and Lilia's Coffin were teleported to the Endless Sea, where the crowd celebrated him as champion and Rose and the others welcomed him onto the platform.

After Ship Crew Zero won the Instance Tournament, Lin Yuan claimed his championship rewards and chose three rare treasures. He left the prize ceremony after telling a reporter that Prince had been betrayed, killed, and revived, then resolved to grow stronger.

• Lin Yuan claimed the tournament’s fixed rewards, including equipment, materials, and ten Relics, and planned how to use or trade them.
• Lin Yuan selected an Abyssal Sea Deep Diving Modification Pack, an Eternal Compass, and a Blood Chest from the S-rank prize pool.
• Lin Yuan waited near the prize stage for Prince, then told a reporter that Prince’s Veteran Player allies had killed him before he revived and escaped the Instance.
• Lin Yuan left the platform and, aboard his Phantom, reflected on his growing responsibility and decided he needed to become stronger.

Lin Yuan headed to the Peaceful Sea to turn one hundred Abyssal Sea Fragments into A-rank Transcendent Cores and increase his strength. When Mei Qian and the Abyssal Sea Research Department failed to respond and their vessel vanished, Lin Yuan suspected they had evacuated in an emergency.

• Lin Yuan changed course for the Peaceful Sea after Mei Qian reported a breakthrough in converting Abyssal Sea Fragments into A-rank Transcendent Cores.
• Lin Yuan calculated that converting his one hundred fragments could raise his strength to somewhere between four-star and five-star S-rank.
• Lin Yuan recalled that Lilia's Blood Treasure Chest had yielded the fragments and contracts, and that Bai Ling's Spirit Contract let her share mental pollution with him.
• Lin Yuan found no reply from Mei Qian or Research Institute 3154 and discovered the Abyssal Sea Research Department's vessel was missing.
• Lin Yuan searched the seafloor for the vessel, then wondered whether Mei Qian and the others had made an emergency evacuation.

Lin Yuan investigated whether the Abyssal Sea Research Department had entered the Abyssal Sea, but found no evidence and learned that the Island Lords of all Ten Inner Seas had gone to the Central Sea. While searching the Deep Sea, he detected Great Being Pollution in the Shallow Sea and traced it to Prince’s disguised flagship, which appeared to be occupied by the Diving Club.

• Lin Yuan went to the Peaceful Island Lord’s Residence to ask about the Abyssal Sea Research Department, but learned the Island Lord had gone to the Central Sea with the other Island Lords of the Ten Inner Seas.
• Lin Yuan returned to the Research Department’s former location and searched the Deep Sea with Bai Ling, but they found nothing and received no replies from Mei Qian or Research Institute 3154.
• As Lin Yuan rose into the Shallow Sea, he sensed a faint trace of Great Being Pollution and followed it to an enormous ship.
• Lin Yuan recognized the disguised vessel as Prince’s flagship, though Prince and his former subordinates were not aboard.
• Lin Yuan approached the flagship under Mirage Mist and sensed strong Great Being Pollution that neither Lilia nor his Templar Badge detected.
• Lin Yuan concluded that the unfamiliar Players aboard the ship belonged to the Diving Club.

Lin Yuan raided Prince's Flagship, killed the Diving Club members aboard, and discovered a way to open a Space Channel to the Abyssal Sea Research Department. The channel led him straight to Prince, who had escaped the Instance and appeared to be alive.

• Lin Yuan was discovered aboard Prince's Flagship and killed the Diving Club members who attacked him.
• Lin Yuan killed a disguised Diving Club member posing as a kidnapped Player after sensing Pollution on him.
• Lin Yuan found two unusual parchments in the Captain's Quarters, including a half-burned painting of the Abyssal Sea Research Department.
• Lin Yuan threw the painting into the strange fireplace, causing the flames to form a spatial doorway to the Abyssal Sea Research Department.
• Lin Yuan and Prince recognized each other as Prince appeared on the other side of the doorway.

Lin Yuan survived Prince’s spatial gate explosion but became trapped in spatial turbulence with too little A-rank energy to find the Abyssal Sea Research Department. He used the Eternal Compass to locate Mei Qian and the other researchers hiding in a shelter, while Prince taunted them from outside.

• Prince feigned an attempt to close the spatial gate, then detonated it as Lin Yuan entered.
• Lin Yuan used A-rank energy to withstand the blast, but the explosion swept him into spatial turbulence.
• Lin Yuan’s attempts to open passages drained his energy without leading to the Abyssal Sea Research Department.
• Lin Yuan used the Eternal Compass to stabilize the turbulence and reveal fragments showing different locations.
• Lin Yuan found Mei Qian and the researchers hiding in a windowless shelter as Prince called from outside, saying no one was coming to save them.

Lin Yuan opened a small spatial portal to Mei Qian’s shelter and sent Abyssal Sea Fragments for conversion into A-rank Transcendent Cores. While Mei Qian’s team worked to prepare an escape, Prince waited outside to recover enough strength for a decisive attack.

• Lin Yuan failed to open a spatial hole at first, briefly weakening the shelter’s defenses, then succeeded and contacted Mei Qian.
• Lin Yuan asked Mei Qian to convert Abyssal Sea Fragments into A-rank Transcendent Cores, and Mei Qian began processing the hundred fragments Lin Yuan sent.
• Mei Qian explained that Prince was likely at the peak of S-rank Three-Star, far stronger than his own Two-Star S-rank strength.
• Prince stopped attacking and waited outside, realizing that a sufficiently powerful strike could overwhelm the shelter’s defenses once he recovered his strength.
• Mei Qian’s machines produced a mound of A-rank Transcendent Cores, and he wondered why Prince had gone quiet.

Lin Yuan converted the Abyssal Sea Fragments into enough energy to defeat Prince and rescue Mei Qian’s group. After killing Prince, Lin Yuan asked what had happened to the Abyssal Sea Research Department, and Mei Qian revealed that the research institute headquarters’ deputy director had defected.

• Mei Qian converted the Abyssal Sea Fragments into A-rank Cores, which Lin Yuan refined to raise his energy to about ten thousand points.
• Lin Yuan widened the Space Channel, then closed it and refused to flee when Prince broke through the shelter’s barrier.
• Lin Yuan fought Prince and killed him with a single slash of the Holy Hall Light Blade.
• Lin Yuan wondered whether fresh Pollution caused energy to annihilate and form an Energy Black Hole.
• Mei Qian told Lin Yuan that the Abyssal Sea Research Department was unharmed, but the research institute headquarters’ deputy director had defected.

Lin Yuan learned that Elder Zhao had defected and attacked Research Institute branches, while Prince had targeted the Abyssal Sea Research Department for its Abyssal Sea Fragment technology. Research Institute 3154 later revealed that Elder Zhao’s attacks had been searching for him, leaving Lin Yuan to wonder why he was the target.

• Mei Qian told Lin Yuan that Elder Zhao had destroyed much of the Research Institute Headquarters and escaped toward the Central Sea, while Elder Ma, the Director, and major Island Lords pursued him.
• Mei Qian explained that a traitor had helped Prince locate the Abyssal Sea Research Department, and Lin Yuan learned that Prince was likely after its Abyssal Sea Fragment technology.
• Mei Qian brought the department out of its shelter, and Lin Yuan received a message from Research Institute 3154 confirming that the institute had suffered heavy losses and Elder Zhao had escaped.
• Research Institute 3154 told Lin Yuan that the Humanity Alliance would be established soon and urged him to reach Six-Star S-rank before major events followed.
• Research Institute 3154 revealed that Elder Zhao’s attacks on institute branches had been intended to find him.

After learning that the Crawlers had targeted him, Lin Yuan left Peaceful Island for the Golden Sea to seek Abyssal Sea Fragments and grow stronger. The game then began its third stage, unveiling a main quest to find the Island of Beginning and End, which Lin Yuan’s Eternal Compass could locate once it appeared.

• Research Institute 3154 told Lin Yuan that Elder Zhao’s hasty rebellion had followed Prince’s exposure, and that Elder Zhao escaped while a Crawler Apostle was captured.
• Lin Yuan learned that the Crawlers’ higher-ups had put him on their radar, and he resolved to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
• After the Abyssal Sea Research Department resurfaced, Lin Yuan bid Mei Qian farewell and sailed from Peaceful Island toward the Golden Sea to seek Abyssal Sea Fragments.
• The system announced the third stage and its main quest, “Island of Beginning and End,” which would appear once specific conditions were met and could only be found once.
• Lin Yuan checked the Eternal Compass and realized it would point toward the island when it appeared, allowing him to bypass the search for clues.

Lin Yuan discovered he could copy the Eternal Compass’s hidden coordinates onto the Lookout Platform, allowing him to sell the artifact without losing its future use. Meanwhile, the Humanity Alliance launched a system faction, and Lin Yuan grew uneasy about humanity’s ability to modify the Game System.

• Lin Yuan asked Lilia whether he should sell or keep the Eternal Compass, and her gaze toward Bai Ling reminded him of the Lookout Platform’s coordinate-recording device.
• Bai Ling tested the Eternal Compass on the Lookout Platform and successfully copied its hidden coordinates.
• Lin Yuan decided he could sell the Eternal Compass and praised Lilia for helping him reach the decision.
• The system announced the Humanity Alliance faction, and Wind-Ear sent Players its leaders’ joint statement explaining the new feature.
• Lin Yuan learned that humanity’s leadership had added the faction functions to the system and worried that the system’s expanding loopholes might signal deeper problems.

Lin Yuan suspected Elder Zhao’s defection had given the Crawlers a major advantage in studying and influencing the Game System. When Lin Yuan arrived near Golden Island, the Consortium’s president met him, arranged protection against an Apostle, and identified the enemy targeting him as the Divine Artisan.

• Lin Yuan reasoned that Elder Zhao had likely discovered something while researching the Game System that led him to defect to the Crawlers.
• The manager told Lin Yuan that a Consortium big shot wanted to meet him and invited him to share his location.
• The Consortium’s president arrived with the manager, tested Lin Yuan’s physical attributes, and explained that he had placed protection on him against Apostle-level probing and attacks.
• The president warned Lin Yuan to avoid Instances for the time being and to stay away from waters beyond human Civilization and beneath the Abyssal Sea.
• Lin Yuan asked which Apostle had targeted him, and the president named the Divine Artisan, a traitor from the Artisan Academy.

Lin Yuan learned that the Divine Artisan, the traitor behind the Artisan Academy’s destruction, had targeted him, and the President warned him to flee if discovered. He then questioned the Consortium’s authority structure and sought a large, urgent supply of Abyssal Sea Fragments, but the manager said he would need something valuable enough to barter with powerful S-rank experts.

• The President identified the Divine Artisan as Lin Yuan’s target and said the injured Authority Holder was weak by their standards, but still far beyond an S-rank fighter.
• Lin Yuan suspected the Divine Artisan might be tracking his Divine Artisan Forge, while the President left a protective measure and instructed him to run if discovered.
• The manager explained that the Consortium’s President ranked below its Founder and Directors, prompting Lin Yuan to wonder whether the major organizations held top-level authorities.
• Lin Yuan asked the manager about acquiring Abyssal Sea Fragments, and the manager said the Consortium could arrange special handling but had to gather fragments from individual holders.
• The manager explained that powerful S-rank experts held more fragments but preferred barter, then asked whether Lin Yuan had anything valuable enough to trade.

Lin Yuan tried to sell the Eternal Compass through the Consortium, but learned that the next-day auction was already finalized and his item would have to wait for another event. He then asked Master Luo to appraise a mysterious pellet from Lilia, whose examination left the appraiser stunned.

• Lin Yuan told the manager he wanted to sell the Eternal Compass, and the manager recommended the Consortium's high-end auction.
• Lin Yuan agreed to submit the compass, but Master Luo rejected it because the auction catalog and schedule had already been finalized.
• Master Luo explained that the Eternal Compass would mainly appeal to Six-Star S-rank powerhouses and advised Lin Yuan to wait for a future auction.
• Lin Yuan presented Master Luo with the pellet Lilia had expelled after eating treasures, and Master Luo's eyes widened as he examined it.

Lin Yuan learned from Master Luo that the Ancient Era’s world had been whole because its Authorities fit together, while the present Endless Sea was a shattered world shaped by changed Authorities. After Lin Yuan thanked him, Master Luo said the Longevity Pill could make the Consortium reconsider its plans for the auction.

• Master Luo identified Lilia’s Sweat-Grime Pill as an ancient Longevity Pill and explained that its creation should be impossible under the present rules of life Authority.
• Master Luo told Lin Yuan that Authorities had changed since the Ancient Era, leaving the present world fragmented despite having more Authorities than before.
• Lin Yuan connected the changes in Authority to the Battle of the Heavenly Gate and privately formed theories about the Great Being, while keeping his knowledge of history to himself.
• Lin Yuan thanked Master Luo and prepared to leave, but Master Luo pointed out that the Longevity Pill, combined with the Eternal Compass, could make the Consortium alter its plans for tomorrow’s auction.