Chapter Summaries

Nuoyaji considered the unexpected arrival of an important noblewoman and wrote down the names of former comrades he hoped to find. As a knock sounded at his door, he had secured grain for Luoweida and begun planning to search for them.

• Black Owl left Fuyila in the stone house, and she decided to stay there a few more days instead of heading south.
• Dezi checked names as flood survivors moved through the receding waters, while miners waited to travel with him to the mine.
• Nuoyaji finished a carefully revised letter asking an important noblewoman for help and recalled her unusual question about his birth year.
• Nuoyaji wondered why the noblewoman had come to Stone Watchtower Town, but set aside his suspicions after securing grain for Luoweida.
• Nuoyaji wrote the names Kehulier, A Qiu, Chaluoke, and Lufuna on a sheet and tucked it into his pocket before someone knocked at the door.

Nuoyaji agreed to travel to the western mines after Heross asked him to investigate damage there under the duke’s order. He accepted the assignment to learn why the duke had chosen Luoweida, then left with Yimulei for the viscount’s vault and asked to send another letter.

• The butler summoned Nuoyaji to meet Heross, and Nuoyaji wore the Luopu mage’s robe that Heross had given him.
• Heross showed Nuoyaji the duke’s order to send someone to inspect damage at the western mines and explained that Luoweida was short-handed.
• Heross offered Nuoyaji anything from his vault as a reward, and Nuoyaji agreed to go because he wanted to learn what was happening at the mines.
• Heross told Yimulei to take Nuoyaji to the vault and let him choose whatever he wanted.
• As they walked to the vault, Nuoyaji told Yimulei that he wanted to send another letter.

Nuoyaji sent a letter to Meweiro in Stone Watchtower Town, hoping to gain her help, while Meweiro considered what his repeated letters meant. She investigated why imperial officials and the Mining Association were directing attention toward the western mines, determined to find out what was there.

• Nuoyaji asked Yimulei to arrange delivery of a letter to Lady Meweiro in Stone Watchtower Town, and Yimulei agreed.
• Meweiro received Nuoyaji's letter from an attendant and read it twice, then wondered whether he might be connected to someone from her past.
• Meweiro reviewed the Lord High Speaker's vague order to observe Stone Watchtower Town and suspected it had been meant to remove her from the capital.
• Meweiro noted that various powers were making discreet moves after the storm while she was cut off from her intelligence network.
• Meweiro read an Imperial Mining Association request to inspect the western mines and resolved to discover why the region had drawn such attention.

Nuoyaji left Luoweida City for the Western Mine while Yimulei stayed behind to manage the city. King Ghidorah wondered whether the mine was connected to Voraksa, then Black Owl departed as Fuyila watched.

• Nuoyaji set out west with five guards and mercenaries, leaving Yimulei to oversee Luoweida City.
• Yimulei returned to the viscount's residence and began processing the city's paperwork.
• King Ghidorah watched Nuoyaji's party leave and considered whether the Western Mine was connected to Voraksa's discovery.
• King Ghidorah noticed that work had resumed at Luoweida's mine, and Black Owl left the abandoned stone house while Fuyila ate her potato.

Black Owl explored a hidden space deep inside the mine, but his image suddenly vanished and King Ghidorah lost the avatar’s endpoint. Bewildered and furious, King Ghidorah concealed himself in a storm and flew toward the western mine.

• Black Owl passed the repaired mine entrance and crawled through a gap in a rubble-blocked dead end into a small space marked by ancient dark stains.
• Black Owl’s image abruptly vanished as he was about to step forward.
• King Ghidorah discovered that his link to Black Owl remained intact but the avatar’s endpoint no longer existed, and he failed to establish a new connection.
• King Ghidorah rose in anger, summoned a storm, and flew toward the western mine at high speed.

A monstrous, purple-crystal-covered creature awakened beneath the mine and rose from a vast pit as Dezi and the miners fled. Dezi and the miners were left staring at the creature, unsure whether it was a dragon.

• Purple light spread through the deep cave as something stirred and cracked the rock around it.
• Dezi felt the ground trembling at the mine and ordered the miners to run.
• The mine sank into a vast pit, and purple light shone from its depths.
• A huge, rock-scaled creature with purple crystals climbed out of the pit before Dezi and the miners.
• Dezi and the miners wondered whether the creature was a dragon.

A crystal-armored black behemoth named Valeria awakened in a world without gods and set out to find its main body. A storm-borne golden, three-headed creature caught up with Valeria and struck it with lightning.

• Valeria emerged from the pit, sensed that the gods were gone, and realized a small creature’s energy had awakened its body.
• Valeria decided to find its main body, also called Valeria, and flew west in search of it.
• Valeria spotted a huge black storm approaching from the east and tried to fly around it.
• A golden three-headed creature emerged from the storm and pursued Valeria as it fled across the sky.
• The golden creature fired a bolt of lightning at Valeria, and the chapter ended as the attack engulfed its vision.

King Ghidorah crippled Valeria’s stone-like avatar and demanded compensation for his intelligent agent. After Valeria refused to reveal where its true body was, King Ghidorah questioned the point of keeping it alive.

• King Ghidorah struck Valeria from the sky, vaporized its left wing, and crushed the left half of its body beneath his foot.
• King Ghidorah asked whether Valeria was a stone spirit, and Valeria said it was not.
• King Ghidorah demanded repayment for his intelligent agent, and Valeria recognized the little thing that had awakened it as the likely cause.
• Valeria claimed it had no way to compensate King Ghidorah because it was only an avatar.
• King Ghidorah dragged Valeria from the crater and demanded that it lead him to its true body.
• Valeria claimed not to know where its true body was, and King Ghidorah asked what use it was alive.

King Ghidorah spared Valeria on the condition that it work for him until its debt was repaid, and Valeria prepared a contract bound by the World Will. Apekus noticed the contract, quickly approved it, and returned to recuperating, relieved that it was not the one bound to King Ghidorah.

• King Ghidorah offered to spare Valeria if it worked for him until it repaid the value of the intelligent entity he had lost.
• Valeria accepted and addressed King Ghidorah as King, then summoned a contract diagram bound by the World Will.
• King Ghidorah examined the glowing runes as Valeria prepared the contract.
• Recovering in the abyss, Apekus sensed the contract and saw Valeria and King Ghidorah listed as its parties.
• Apekus swiftly approved the contract, then closed its eyes and resumed recuperating.

After King Ghidorah carried the badly damaged Valeria away from the Western Mine, Dezi led the miners back toward Luoweida City to report what they had seen. King Ghidorah headed west to find ore for Valeria, while the Silence Society investigated the pit where Voraksa had awakened.

• King Ghidorah seized Valeria and flew west through the storm as the stunned miners watched, and Dezi urged them to return to Luoweida City.
• A white-robed man confirmed that the golden beast was the one the Silence Society sought, while his companion said they could not identify the other creature without consulting the Scroll Keeper.
• Valeria told King Ghidorah that he needed ore to rebuild his damaged body, so King Ghidorah turned the storm toward the ore-rich western mountains.
• King Ghidorah told Valeria that another black dragon was working for him and said Valeria should join that coworker after recovering.
• White-robed members of the Silence Society descended into the Western Mine pit, with Kaidezi among them.

Kaidezi and the Silence Society’s captain investigated an underground site and found the bodies of several powerful figures, including Marquis Darkblood, the Chronicle Court’s head, and Grey Eye. They suspected an awakened god had killed them, while Duke Desolation had escaped, and the captain planned to find him before he revealed what he had seen.

• Kaidezi sensed ancient energy in the murals as the Silence Society’s team explored the underground passages.
• Kaidezi and the captain found Marquis Darkblood, the head of the Chronicle Court, and other powerful figures dead in a hall.
• The captain identified the dead black-robed man as Grey Eye, the hidden leader of the Destruction and Revelation Society, and found a drained crystal fragment beside him.
• Kaidezi and the captain concluded that an awakened god had likely killed Grey Eye and that Duke Desolation had probably escaped.
• The captain reasoned that the continent’s turmoil would delay investigations but identified Duke Desolation as the greatest threat because he might reveal the site.
• The captain led the team out, planning to contact Duke Desolation in the Far Wasteland before he could speak about what he had witnessed.

Kaidezi and the others fled as a supernatural storm reached the ruined mine, where King Ghidorah dropped Valeria into the pit to recover its body with ore. The storm had devastated Weierna, and a child sheltering in the flooded city spotted the black, lightning-filled clouds approaching.

• Kaidezi saw the storm spreading across the sky, and the captain ordered everyone to flee the mine.
• King Ghidorah hurled Valeria into the mine pit, then waited for it to recover by consuming the ore below.
• King Ghidorah surveyed the storm-damaged landscape and decided Valeria could help him find Voraksa once it recovered.
• The storm had flooded Weierna, leaving its poorest residents stranded in makeshift shelters while others escaped.
• A child looked through a gap in a boarded window and saw the black storm clouds glowing with golden lightning on the horizon.

Chaluoke woke to find another storm approaching the flooded city and worried about escaping with the child and the elderly neighbors. He confronted a group of Silence Society members near the ruins, but instead of explaining himself, he asked them for money, a boat, bread, and alcohol.

• The child woke Chaluoke and warned him that a storm was approaching, while worrying about the elderly couple next door.
• Chaluoke said he would fly them all to safety if necessary, then noticed someone approaching from the direction of the mine ruins.
• The Silence Society members stopped at a half-submerged building and discussed the unknown being they had seen emerge from the storm.
• Chaluoke stepped out of the building and made the Silence Society members wary with his powerful mana and battle-hardened presence.
• The captain tried to reassure Chaluoke that the group was only gathering information, but Chaluoke interrupted to ask whether they had money or could bring a boat, bread, and booze.

Chaluoke accepted money and food from the Silence Society and shared bread with the child before a huge golden creature fell from the storm near the mining ruins. King Ghidorah urged Valeria to emerge from underground, and Valeria stopped its recovery and moved.

• The captain gave Chaluoke a pouch of money, bread, and an offer of an escort, and Chaluoke thanked him before entering the building.
• Chaluoke shared the bread with the child and called the departing white-robed figures “good people.”
• A distant golden, many-necked silhouette crashed down near the mining ruins, and the child wondered if it was a dragon.
• King Ghidorah looked down at Valeria underground and asked whether it was done yet.
• Valeria withdrew its roots from the ore, gathered the remaining useful substances into its chest crystal, and moved.

Valeria emerged from the ground and accepted King Ghidorah’s order to find him a palace, recalling a possible site inside an extinct volcano. After Valeria left, King Ghidorah sensed Voraksa’s location and flew toward him, while Lufuna continued her work in Valerilus City.

• Valeria climbed out of the pit with its injuries still healing and told King Ghidorah it was ready to work.
• King Ghidorah ordered Valeria to find him a palace and mentioned Voraksa, whose name left Valeria visibly shaken.
• Valeria flew west toward its original’s former palace inside an extinct volcano, hoping it had survived.
• King Ghidorah sensed Voraksa deep in the continent and flew in that direction to find the old dragon.
• In Valerilus City, Lufuna carried the last stack of books toward the castle library after unloading the others.

Lufuna worked in Vagrian’s library while searching for a rare book to support her thesis on ancient history and legends. After learning the book could not be found, she reflected on her life in Vagrian and how she had left her family to pursue her studies.

• Lufuna finished sorting old books, and the librarian told her he could not find the book she needed for her thesis.
• Lufuna accepted the librarian’s answer and returned to writing in the journal she had kept since leaving home.
• Lufuna recalled how life in Vagrian differed from the Karelia Empire, where people with bestial features were marginalized.
• Lufuna remembered how her old professor had urged her to travel to Vagrian to study ancient documents and artifacts.
• Lufuna recalled how her parents opposed her scholarly ambitions, but she remained determined to leave home.
• Lufuna escaped over the family wall with her younger brother’s help, hurt her ankle, and departed by carriage at dawn.

Lufuna left the library in Vagrian, where she reflected on the Red Dragon Emperor Valerirus’s ancient rule and met a dragonborn girl who had brought her an old ore. After wondering whether the girl had been bullied, Lufuna noticed the sky had suddenly grown dark.

• Lufuna finished writing in her diary, left the library, and looked toward Valerirus’s vast palace.
• Lufuna met a dragonborn girl who gave her an ancient stone ore in exchange for three silver coins.
• Lufuna asked whether the girl had been beaten up, and the girl answered no after a brief hesitation.
• Lufuna considered offering help to the girl, then looked up as the sky seemed to grow dark.

A colossal black dragon arrived over Vagrian City and hurled the Red Dragon Emperor Valerirus into a mountain, devastating the city as scholar Lufuna tried to protect a little girl. At the palace, King Ghidorah inspected the building Voraksa had found for him.

• Lufuna recognized that the black dragon above Vagrian City was not the Red Dragon Emperor as it flew toward the palace.
• The black dragon seized Valerirus and flung him into a distant mountain, shattering its peak and sending deadly rocks raining down on the city.
• Lufuna shielded a little girl from the debris, then helped her toward the library as the black dragon's roar left her unable to hear.
• King Ghidorah examined the palace gates while Voraksa, with one wing only partly regrown, cowered behind him and called it a palace he had found for his lord.

King Ghidorah entered the Red Dragon Emperor’s palace and claimed it as his new home while Voraksa carried the badly injured Valerirus. After touring the palace and its treasure vault, King Ghidorah ordered Voraksa to heal Valerirus so he could question him, then noticed several things curled in a shadowed corner.

• King Ghidorah questioned Voraksa about who had lived in the palace before him, and Voraksa brought over the battered Red Dragon Emperor, Valerirus.
• King Ghidorah found that Valerirus could not speak and went to inspect the palace doors, so Voraksa pressed Valerirus’s head against their gap and made them open.
• King Ghidorah explored the palace, including its vast treasure chamber, bathing pool, and rooftop terrace overlooking Vagrian City.
• King Ghidorah told Voraksa to heal Valerirus because he wanted to question him, then sat on the throne and considered changes to the palace.
• King Ghidorah noticed several things curled up in the shadow of a pillar in the main hall.

Sangis watched a black dragon defeat the red dragon emperor, then saw the enormous three-headed King Ghidorah arrive at the palace. She led the palace staff out from hiding and introduced herself to him as the emperor’s former courtier.

• Sangis saw the black dragon knock the red dragon emperor into the mountains, where he crashed and caused an explosion.
• King Ghidorah emerged from the black storm, and Sangis judged that the empire’s ruler had changed.
• Sangis left the palace guards and attendants’ hiding place, deciding to approach the dragon rather than wait to be discovered.
• The attendants, guards, dragonkin, and half-dragons followed Sangis into the open hall.
• King Ghidorah examined Sangis and the gathered palace staff.
• Sangis greeted King Ghidorah and identified herself as the palace’s former administrator and trusted courtier.