Chapter Summaries

Jiang Jie was resurrected in Nicholas Barov’s plague-infected body on an unfamiliar world, where his gaming pod gave him the Black Tortoise Longevity Art before entering a day-long sleep. After Arthas and Jaina rescued him from a funeral pyre and healed him, they argued over whether to continue to Hearthglen or return to Lordaeron for help.

• A gaming pod transported Jiang Jie beyond the Milky Way and resurrected him in Nicholas Barov’s body, whose memories revealed that a nobleman had stabbed him.
• The pod detected plague and a virus, gave Jiang Jie the Black Tortoise Longevity Art, and began cultivating internal energy before running out of power and entering sleep mode.
• Jiang Jie woke on a pyre among corpses and called for help, prompting Arthas to ask Jaina to rescue him with magic.
• Arthas recognized Jiang Jie as a man he had pulled from a river, then used Holy Light to cleanse the plague and heal his chest wound.
• Arthas announced that Kel’Thuzad had been slain but the plagued grain was headed to Hearthglen, and he ordered the soldiers to leave at once.
• Jaina urged Arthas to return to Lordaeron with Jiang Jie and request reinforcements, while Arthas insisted that the soldiers proceed to Hearthglen.

Jiang Jie woke in Azeroth as Nicholas Barov, learned that Prince Arthas had rescued him from Andorhal, and realized the Scourge’s rise was approaching. He concealed his Barov identity and asked a maid for food while trying to determine his next move.

• Jiang Jie woke weak and hungry in the body of Nicholas Barov, but the gaming pod in his mind did not respond.
• A young maid told Jiang Jie that Prince Arthas had brought him back from Andorhal and recited a famous speech by Terenas Menethil.
• Jiang Jie recognized Arthas and deduced that the plague had broken out in Andorhal, with Arthas’s purge of Stratholme and fall to Frostmourne still ahead.
• Jiang Jie recalled the Barov Family’s ties to the Scourge and hid his identity by introducing himself as Nicholas Jiang.
• The young maid went to find food, leaving Jiang Jie alone to consider his situation.

Jiang Jie discovered that the gaming pod had given him inner sight and the Black Tortoise Longevity Art, then ate a meal in the palace and refused the bat wings after learning what they were. As he lay thinking about the world and his plans, the young maid suddenly showed signs of poisoning.

• Jiang Jie used inner sight to inspect his internal energy and learned that the gaming pod had let him begin the Black Tortoise Longevity Art.
• Jiang Jie learned that the art advanced slowly but could extend his lifespan, and he worried that the world would descend into chaos before he could grow strong.
• The young maid brought Jiang Jie bread, Loch frenzy soup, and crispy bat wings, and he ate the soup and bread after discovering the wings were made from bats.
• The young maid hugged and kissed Jiang Jie before eating the wings he had left untouched, while calling him little brother.
• Jiang Jie lay back and wondered about Prince Arthas, Princess Jaina, the timeline, and his plans, then saw the maid clutching her throat with a pale face.

Jiang Jie saved a maid poisoned by crispy bat wings, then learned that Prince Arthas and Jaina Proudmoore suspected the poison was aimed at him because of what he knew about the plague. He pretended to know nothing, and Arthas left him under increased palace security while departing with Jaina for Hearthglen.

• Jiang Jie used his limited internal energy to treat the poisoned maid, then made her vomit much of the toxin before Arthas arrived and cleansed her with holy magic.
• Jiang Jie recognized Arthas and Jaina, and explained that the maid had been poisoned after he shared the crispy bat wings with her.
• Jaina reasoned that the poison was intended for Jiang Jie and might be connected to the Cult of the Damned and the plague in Andorhal.
• Jiang Jie claimed he knew nothing about the plague or why anyone would target him, and Jaina did not press him further.
• Arthas arranged for stronger patrols and security, declined to investigate the culprit, and left for Hearthglen with Jaina while guards took the maid away.

Jiang Jie sought a way to survive in Lordaeron by gaining class-holder status, but at the qualification trials he encountered Baron Soroson, the noble who had caused the plague in Andorhal. Soroson ordered Jiang Jie to become his son Dudley's follower, leaving Jiang Jie trapped in a dangerous position.

• Jiang Jie went to Lordaeron's monthly class qualification trials, hoping to gain the standing of a class holder and protect himself.
• He observed the demanding tests for the different classes, including the strength test for Warriors and the spellcasting test for mage candidates.
• Baron Soroson arrived with his son Dudley, and his guards drove commoners aside as the pair approached the mage recruitment station.
• Jiang Jie recognized Soroson as the noble who had spread the plague in Andorhal and tried to leave, but a guard forced him to turn back.
• Soroson asked Jiang Jie his name, and Jiang Jie identified himself as Nicholas Jiang, a commoner from Andorhal rather than a slave.
• Soroson told Jiang Jie that he would become Dudley's follower.

Jiang Jie rejected Baron Soroson's offer to make him Dudley's follower and insisted on taking a class trial to gain the protection of class-holder status. After ruling out most classes, he chose the rogue trial and faced Dudley's taunts as he prepared to cross the river on floating boards.

• Jiang Jie refused Baron Soroson's offer to join the Dursley Family as Dudley's follower, declaring that he would become a class holder instead.
• Baron Soroson took Dudley ahead of the commoners, and Dudley passed the mage trial by casting a spell that produced light.
• Jiang Jie observed the class trials and concluded that rogue was his only viable option.
• Jiang Jie watched the rogue trial participants attempt to run across floating boards on Lordaeron's inner river, where only a few passed the twenty-meter mark.
• Dudley mocked Jiang Jie for delaying, while Jiang Jie worried about his weakness and heard a voice only he could hear.

Jiang Jie trained in the gaming pod to learn Skimming over Water, repeatedly drowning and reviving before finally managing to run across the sea. After eating, he rejected the maid’s offer to help him escape Lordaeron and prepared to face the professional trial.

• Jiang Jie entered the gaming pod, where Xiao Feng recommended Skimming over Water and began his training on Surfing Beach.
• Jiang Jie repeatedly fell into the sea while practicing, then learned to run across its surface before exhausting his internal energy and drowning.
• Jiang Jie revived underwater with full health and mana, angrily struggled back to shore, and was sent out of the pod to eat.
• The young maid warned Jiang Jie that Baron Soroson could easily have him killed and urged him to flee to Stratholme.
• Jiang Jie insisted that becoming a professional would protect him from Soroson’s open retaliation, then lay down to rest before the trial.

Jiang Jie arrived just before the class qualification trial ended and impressed the spectators with his effortless first steps across the water. As he began the obstacle course, Baron Soroson watched for a chance to have him killed.

• The little maid woke Jiang Jie and hurried him to the trial grounds, where Baron Soroson had been waiting and plotting to kill him.
• Jiang Jie arrived before the trial ended, brushed off the crowd, and asked the examiner to restore the missing planks over the final thirty meters.
• The spectators learned that no one had ever completed the hundred-meter course, while Baron Soroson threatened Jiang Jie and a talented young trainee stood proud of his sixty-meter result.
• Jiang Jie started the trial by lightly stepping across the first planks, astonishing the crowd and making the examiner reconsider his abilities.

Jiang Jie astonished the rogue trial crowd by running across the water to the hundred-meter mark, earning the attention of the Lordaeron Royal Assassins. As Miles moved to recruit him, Baron Soroson left and resolved to arrange Jiang Jie’s death through underhanded means.

• Jiang Jie ran across the water past the previous records and reached the hundred-meter mark before his internal energy ran out.
• Jiang Jie stopped at the hundred-meter mark and returned to shore, leaving the crowd disappointed but amazed by his performance.
• Miles declared Jiang Jie a rare genius and ordered someone to notify Master Onias while he sought the best benefits and a chance to train him.
• Baron Soroson realized he could no longer attack Jiang Jie openly and decided to use underhanded methods against him.
• Baron Soroson took his son Dudley home as news of Jiang Jie’s achievement spread throughout Lordaeron.

Jiang Jie earned a perfect score in the rogue trial and joined the Lordaeron Royal Assassins as a trainee. Master Onias gave him the Blades of Cunning before leaving to join Prince Arthas’s campaign against the undead.

• Jiang Jie scored 100 meters in the rogue trial, impressing the onlookers and earning an invitation from Miles to join the Lordaeron Royal Assassins.
• Miles brought Jiang Jie to meet Master Onias, who said Arthas had ordered the assassins to hunt down the undead.
• Jiang Jie realized Arthas’s actions differed from the history he remembered and decided to focus on growing stronger rather than warn Lordaeron’s leaders.
• Onias placed Miles in charge of Jiang Jie’s training and reward, then gave Jiang Jie the Blades of Cunning as a personal gift.
• Onias sent Jiang Jie and Miles to arrange accommodations and prepare for training while she went to an operations meeting.

Jiang Jie asked Xiao Feng how to grow strong enough to survive the coming Scourge, and she explained how the gaming pod could scan materials and devise medicinal cultivation aids. She revealed that the pod needed more energy before it could help much, and pointed Jiang Jie toward Azeroth’s powerful magical energy sources.

• Ivan Coleman introduced himself as the son of a kingdom knight and vowed to surpass Jiang Jie.
• Jiang Jie worried that Baron Soroson and the Cult of the Damned would come after him, so he asked Xiao Feng how to improve his strength quickly.
• Xiao Feng said that medicinal meals, baths, and other treatments could accelerate cultivation, and explained that the gaming pod could scan materials and develop formulas.
• Jiang Jie learned that the gaming pod had almost no energy left and asked how to replenish it.
• Xiao Feng named the Well of Eternity, the Sunwell, the Nightwell, Moonwells, and Ley Line nodes as energy sources, estimating that the Well of Eternity could increase absorption by at least ten thousand times.

Jiang Jie learned that he could strengthen his gaming pod by absorbing energy from an inanimate object, then asked the young maid to buy mana potions and sell the Blade of Cunning. After judging his lodgings poorly protected, he decided to stay awake through the night—but first fell asleep to prepare for a possible attack.

• Jiang Jie ruled out the known wells and ley line nodes as inaccessible or too dangerous to reach.
• Xiao Feng explained that the gaming pod could absorb energy from any abundant source contained in an inanimate object incapable of resistance.
• Jiang Jie asked the young maid to borrow money, buy mana potions, and sell the Blade of Cunning, mentioning Master Onias to raise its value.
• The young maid agreed to help and silently planned to ask Princess Calia to protect Jiang Jie and reclaim the potions later.
• Jiang Jie inspected the guards and blind spots around his lodgings, decided not to sleep that night, and promptly fell asleep to rest beforehand.

Daphne brought Nicholas lesser mana potions and learned from Princess Calia that undead had cut off the road to Stratholme and Lordaeron was under curfew. After Calia sent guards to protect him, Nicholas used the potions to power his gaming pod and vanished inside it.

• Daphne complained about the cost of mana potions and met Princess Calia, who asked after her poisoning and Nicholas.
• Daphne told Calia that Nicholas had angered Baron Soroson and needed an escort to Stratholme, but Calia explained that undead had blocked the road and offered guards to protect him.
• Daphne delivered the potions to Nicholas and told him that Calia's guards would patrol outside his lodging.
• Nicholas drank the potions, learned from Xiao Feng that each one powered the gaming pod for an hour, and entered the pod.

Baron Soroson and Corno discussed how to deal with Nicholas Jiang after he joined the Lordaeron Royal Assassins, while Corno revealed that cultists had infiltrated the corps. Miles learned that a professional assassin was watching Nicholas’s room and realized Nicholas was in danger.

• Baron Soroson refused Corno’s offer to kill Nicholas Jiang and ordered him to focus on controlling Baron Rivendare.
• Corno said he would have Cult of the Damned members inside the Royal Assassins target Nicholas, then revealed that Dudley had been marked for necromancer training.
• Roand told Miles that Daphne had tried to sell Master Onias’s daggers and had visited Nicholas’s room.
• Roand reported seeing a highly skilled assassin lurking near Nicholas’s room, though Miles had not stationed anyone there.
• Miles remembered that Nicholas had angered Baron Soroson, suspected the corps had been infiltrated, and decided to go to Nicholas himself.

Jiang Jie trained in the Pegasus Meteor Finger to prepare for an assassination attempt, but struggled against Shaolin’s young monks in the virtual arena. He was defeated repeatedly and learned that even the weakest children had already mastered basic martial arts.

• Jiang Jie told Xiao Feng he expected an assassination attempt and needed a way to defend himself.
• Xiao Feng taught Jiang Jie the basics of Pegasus Meteor Finger and sent him to train in Shaolin’s Children’s Hall.
• Two young monks challenged Jiang Jie and defeated him by repeatedly striking his knees.
• Xiao Feng explained that the children were elite martial artists who had trained for years.
• Jiang Jie tried again, but a little monk sealed his numbing acupoint while Xiao Feng watched and drank orange juice.

Jiang Jie improved his martial skills through relentless training, then survived an assassin’s attempt on his life by using Pegasus Meteor Finger to disable her. After guards entered, poison on the rogue’s dagger incapacitated him, leaving him unconscious and furious about Lordaeron’s security.

• Jiang Jie spent eight hours fighting the little monks and learned to use Water Walking and Pegasus Meteor Finger more effectively.
• Jiang Jie prepared a decoy in his bed and hid beneath it, but a female rogue sneaked up behind him and used Sap.
• Jiang Jie resisted being knocked out, struck the rogue’s wrist with Pegasus Meteor Finger, disarmed her, and immobilized her.
• Jiang Jie questioned the rogue, searched her for equipment, and found poison bottles and twelve gold coins.
• Two guards entered, but Jiang Jie collapsed after the rogue’s paralyzing poison took effect, and he saw Miles as he lost consciousness.

Miles interrogated Melva after she tried to assassinate Jiang Jie, but an accomplice killed her inside the secret prison before she could reveal anything. Jiang Jie woke the next morning to learn Roand, who had bought the Blade of Cunning from Daphne, would be his trainer, and he worried Roand would make his training difficult.

• Miles tortured Melva for information and concluded she was Baron Soroson's agent, but she refused to talk.
• An unseen infiltrator slit Melva's throat in the secret prison, convincing Miles that Soroson had an accomplice among the assassins.
• At Soroson's manor, Corno reported that Melva had been captured and then killed; Soroson told him to focus on recruiting Baron Rivendare and said he would send Dudley to Scholomance within three days.
• Jiang Jie woke from the paralytic poison beside the concerned maid and met Roand, who introduced himself as Jiang Jie's new class trainer and said Daphne had sold him the Blade of Cunning.
• Jiang Jie worried that Roand resented him for selling the dagger and wondered whether he could ask Miles for another trainer.

Jiang Jie recovered from Melva’s assassination attempt and started training at the Assassin Corps headquarters, where Ivan Coleman challenged him. He left the challenge unanswered, still weakened by the numbing poison, while Princess Calia was expected to visit him.

• Roand returned the Blade of Cunning, and Jiang Jie let him keep the daggers in place of the ten-gold debt before accepting five gold coins from him.
• The little maid collected the five gold coins for Jiang Jie’s debt and told him Princess Calia wanted to see him.
• Jiang Jie went to the Assassin Corps training grounds after breakfast, still feeling dizzy and weak from the numbing poison.
• Ivan Coleman accused Jiang Jie of being late and challenged him to a duel for the title of number one genius.
• Jiang Jie said he was not interested and yawned instead of accepting Ivan’s challenge.

Jiang Jie ignored Ivan’s challenge and slept through Roand’s first rogue lesson, then asked Xiao Feng how he could earn money quickly. The chapter left Jiang Jie considering women’s and children’s products as a way to make money.

• Ivan called Jiang Jie a coward and demanded a duel, but Roand arrived and warned Ivan that he was no match for him.
• Jiang Jie said he could attend the lesson but was too tired to train, and Roand began explaining rogue abilities while Jiang Jie recorded the lecture and fell asleep.
• After Jiang Jie woke at noon, Roand ended the lesson and said he would check their progress in three days; Ivan boasted that he had already mastered several skills and vowed to prove himself.
• Jiang Jie teased Ivan about talent being more important than effort, then ignored his anger and asked Xiao Feng how to make money quickly.
• Xiao Feng suggested selling products aimed at women and children, especially perfume, cosmetics, designer clothes, and designer bags.

Jiang Jie decided to earn money by selling alchemical formulas to wealthy mages and persuaded Daphne to take him to buy herbs so he could brew mana potions. They reached Lordaeron’s Trade District and headed straight to an herb shop.

• Jiang Jie considered selling cosmetic formulas but concluded that class professionals, especially mage lords, were the better source of income.
• Jiang Jie asked Daphne to visit the Trade District, and she challenged him over the ten mana potions he had used and their cost.
• Jiang Jie told Daphne he had studied alchemy in Andorhal and could brew mana potions, then swore by the Holy Light to convince her.
• Daphne agreed to let Jiang Jie go, and they traveled to the bustling Trade District with twelve gold coins.
• Jiang Jie and Daphne went directly to an herb shop to buy ingredients.