Recaps

The chapter described humanity’s limited progress into interstellar space despite ten thousand years of technological development, explaining that material science and human biology constrained long voyages. The Firmament Outlook had just left the Garden of Eden, carrying a research team tasked with investigating ancient mysteries and the roots of theology.

• Humanity’s grand plans for expanding through the Garden of Eden Galaxy remained incomplete after ten thousand years, despite establishing space cities and crossing the Lesser Garden of Eden Galaxy.
• The chapter explained how unresolved material problems and the risks of long-term hibernation limited spacecraft speed and voyage duration.
• Humanity relied on enormous spacecraft where generations could live and work together, since space jumps were impossible and hibernation alone could not sustain journeys lasting millions of years.
• The Firmament Outlook left the Garden of Eden with its crew gathered for a meeting before entering physiological hibernation.
• The research team aboard the Firmament Outlook set out to investigate the past and the roots of theology, with Norton praised as being worth his weight in gold.

Professor Jenny told her students that the Human Evolution Elixir came from excavated ancient remains and was discovered through research into ancient theology, rather than being artificially manufactured. The revelation left the research team questioning whether gods had truly existed.

• The chapter described how abundance after nuclear fusion led to widespread idleness, risky behavior, and violence among young people, prompting the Human Federation to restore a system that forced most people to work.
• Professor Jenny led a meeting on ancient theology and explained that the Human Evolution Elixir was extracted from ancient remains.
• The students reacted with surprise as Jenny revealed the Elixir’s origins, despite its long history as a hugely popular treatment that extended lifespans and granted some people special abilities.
• The chapter recounted how powerful awakened individuals such as Benny were classified and recruited into the military.
• The students wondered whether gods had existed in ancient times.

Professor Jenny explained the evidence for the Great Hibernation, when much of the Southern Continent fell asleep and died ten thousand years ago. She left the class with the revelation that the authorities had concealed other discoveries alongside Queen Maria’s corpse.

• Professor Jenny described historical accounts of the Great Hibernation, which began after the pope and vampire queen Maria fell asleep and spread across the Southern Continent.
• Professor Jenny showed old photographs of people collapsed across cities and explained how a deep-sea expedition later found vast deposits of human skeletons in the Yela Trench.
• Professor Jenny recounted how an excavation in AD 7002 uncovered Sak City and more than ten thousand bodies, confirming that the Great Hibernation had occurred.
• Professor Jenny said archaeological teams continued to uncover remains and revealed that Queen Maria’s identity matched the historical vampire queen.
• Professor Jenny told the class that the authorities had concealed other corpses discovered alongside Queen Maria.

Professor Jenny lectured her students about evidence for vampires, nonhuman species, and the theory that humanity was held captive on a planet marked by glass-like weld seams. An urgent message summoned her to a major archaeological discovery on the Southern Continent that might reveal the secrets of the gods.

• Professor Jenny showed footage of Queen Maria, whose dried body regained vitality where researchers dripped blood into her mouth.
• Professor Jenny explained that evidence of other humanoid species had inspired theories about humanity’s origins, including the widely trusted theory of captivity.
• Professor Jenny displayed Heaven Planet and described its equatorial weld seam, noting that more than eight hundred observed planets had similar glass-like seams.
• Professor Jenny received an urgent communication asking her to return to the Garden of Eden because excavators had uncovered a ten-thousand-year-old site on the Southern Continent.

Benny arrived at a newly uncovered ten-thousand-year-old ruin, where the restored vampire queen Maria and other unearthed creatures had baffled scientists and alarmed the Human Federation. He and his seven A-rank teammates prepared to secure the excavation, which might contain surviving monsters and lost technology.

• Reporters and crowds gathered around a deep excavation site after workers uncovered ancient ruins beneath a city road.
• Benny landed on and crushed a camera drone, drawing an excited response from the crowd and reporters.
• Benny's seven A-rank teammates arrived in a special operations vehicle to support the mission and deter possible ancient threats.
• Experiments showed that Queen Maria recovered after being soaked in blood despite lacking blood and active cells, while Pope Alexander and the other unearthed creatures showed similar traits.
• The Human Federation's leadership treated the excavation as a major operation because the ruins might hold ancient monsters or technological advances.

Benny and the Super Eight joined an expedition into ten-thousand-year-old ruins, where researchers prepared to breach a massive concrete wall. The opening revealed a chamber beyond as Professor Charles hoped to find clues to the Immortal Objects.

• Researchers deployed nanobots to map the cavern and check it for danger.
• Benny crashed into the cavern, asserted full authority, and waited for the scans while his seven teammates arrived.
• Professor Charles explained that the expedition sought ancient life-forms and clues to the indestructible Immortal Objects.
• The nanobot scan found no signs of life or movement, and soldiers began cutting through the thick concrete wall.
• Benny dismissed the threat of ancient life-forms as the nanocutter opened a passage, and drones revealed the space beyond.

Benny, Professor Charles, Professor Jenny, and their expedition entered a vast underground chamber filled with ancient black coffins bearing the Pale Holy See’s emblem. Benny nervously led the way as the group followed, recording the discovery for research.

• Professor Charles recognized the Pale Holy See’s emblem on the coffins and tried to rush into the chamber, but Professor Jenny stopped him.
• Benny stared at the seemingly endless rows of coffins and grew afraid of what might be inside.
• A drone startled Benny, and he jumped backward before pretending he had only meant to break the group’s silence.
• Benny steeled himself and walked into the chamber, prompting the others to praise him and follow.
• Professor Jenny confirmed that the expedition was being livestreamed as soldiers and AI robots guarded the group.

Benny and the professors explored an immense underground burial site and discovered Holy Lord City, an ancient city built as a gift to the Pale Holy See’s Holiness. The inscription at its entrance mentioned vampires and werewolves, but the expedition ignored its demand that visitors prostrate themselves and pray.

• Benny led the expedition through a forest of coffins bearing distressed messages, while Professor Charles and Professor Jenny examined them.
• Professor Charles identified the bodies in the coffins as Pale Holy See missionaries and noticed that their pointed teeth varied in position.
• The group found that the burial site opened into a vast underground palace, where an enormous city wall and Holy Lord City came into view.
• The professors discovered dried corpses set into the city walls and read an inscription naming Abraham as the city’s builder and forbidding lesser vampires and werewolves from entering.
• Professor Jenny was startled by the reference to werewolves, while Professor Charles wondered why they had been barred; the group ignored the inscription’s instructions to kneel and pray.

Benny led the group into Holy Lord City and climbed the immense silver throne, convinced he might be the reincarnation of the ancient god it awaited. He found a figure seated at the summit, whose golden eyes opened before Benny melted like black water.

• The group entered Holy Lord City and found its streets filled with posed corpses and a towering throne surrounded by gargoyle statues.
• Benny ignored the danger and climbed the throne while a professor translated Abraham’s inscription about the city being built to welcome His Eminence’s return.
• As Benny ascended, he began to believe he was the returning god and hurried toward the summit.
• Benny discovered a silver-haired figure seated on the throne as someone below asked whether it was another dried corpse.
• The figure opened its golden eyes, and Benny melted like black water.

When Benny climbed the platform, the Holy City fell into supernatural darkness, and the people below watched in horror as his face and body seemed to dissolve into black liquid. Norton, the Pale God, then declared that he had returned as the ancient dead awoke around him.

• The Holy City plunged into darkness, and John called for Benny while the Super Eight, soldiers, and professors gathered to face the platform.
• Black liquid dripped from above, revealed an eye, and flowed into a sheet of facial skin bearing Benny’s features.
• The crowd screamed and fled as gunfire, explosions, and the sounds of opening coffins erupted through the city.
• Norton declared himself the Pale God and announced his return while the dead hailed his arrival.

News of the revived god Norton and Benny’s defeat spread across the universe as the military placed Sak City under full combat readiness. Southern Continent commander Qienuofu prepared to face Norton with modern weapons, but ancient records of the god’s devastation left him uneasy.

• News reports announced that Norton had revived at the ruins in Sak City and that Benny had fallen after fighting him.
• The military evacuated Sak City and surrounded the ruins with soldiers, aircraft, robotic weapons, and a warship aiming its laser cannon at the entrance.
• Qienuofu watched the military buildup from the central command room and reasoned that modern technology should be able to defeat Norton.
• Qienuofu recalled historical accounts describing Norton absorbing bombs and causing devastation across the Southern Continent, which deepened his unease.
• Qienuofu concluded that the military had to act despite his fears.

Qienuofu’s attempt to negotiate with the Pale God Norton ended when Norton’s chained procession emerged from underground and crossed the city, demonstrating overwhelming power. Abraham, badly injured, crawled after the departing procession and remained loyal to Norton.

• Qienuofu addressed the ancient god through long-range audio equipment and urged him to accept the Human Federation’s authority.
• The ground split open, collapsing a skyscraper into the fissure, and the mothership’s Sinan Great Cannon vanished into the abyss without effect.
• Norton emerged on a towering silver throne hauled by enormous chained monsters, with First-Generation Vampires tethered behind it.
• Norton’s procession crushed buildings, vehicles, and military equipment as it passed through the city without acknowledging the humans.
• An injured Abraham crawled out of the fissure and chased after Norton’s procession.

Norton of Biyang advanced toward his Holy City on a throne pulled by giant monsters, indifferent to the destruction and deaths around him. When the Human Federation attacked with hundreds of motherships, Norton’s power dissolved them before they could harm him, leaving humanity seemingly powerless before the ancient god.

• Norton’s monster servants dragged his enormous throne through the city, crushing buildings and killing civilians as Abraham joined the procession.
• Abraham’s wounds healed, but his memories became confused with another version in which Norton had always been a god and Abraham had betrayed him.
• The Human Federation evacuated civilians and assembled its forces after the vampire procession’s destruction and killings provoked its retaliation.
• Hundreds of motherships fired thousands of laser beams at Norton’s throne, but the ships and their crews dissolved into black particles before reaching the ground.
• Norton continued toward his Holy City while his monsters pulled the throne through the devastated capital.

The Human Federation's Supreme Council argued over whether to fight the Pale God or seek contact after its motherships were destroyed. The debate ended when an emergency bulletin announced that Jacob had revived in his ice coffin.

• Qiernuofu demanded an attack on the Pale God, invoking Jacob's human-supremacist founding principles.
• A council member warned that the destruction of 123 motherships could trigger the Federation's collapse and urged caution.
• Another council member argued that the Federation should evacuate civilians, pause the conflict, and contact the Pale God to advance human technology.
• The council members received an emergency bulletin announcing that Jacob had revived within his ice coffin.

The Human Federation’s leaders remained paralyzed by debate while Norton used his concentrated power to bring his immense throne to the former site of the Holy City. Abraham and Elizabeth stood beside him, and Abraham struggled to understand Norton’s transformed, seemingly timeless existence.

• The Human Federation’s upper ranks repeatedly proposed and discarded plans after their defensive failure.
• Norton had his skyscraper-sized silver throne brought to the Southern Continent’s new metropolis, crushing people and property beneath it.
• Abraham and Elizabeth returned to human form and stood cautiously beside Norton, confused by altered memories of their past.
• Abraham recalled his supposed betrayal of Norton and suspected that Norton had already begun manipulating events after awakening.
• Abraham sensed that Norton no longer felt like a living person and seemed instead to merge with his surroundings and span different times.

Norton regained his human emotions and memories after returning to the Garden of Eden, but the memory of his existence beyond the universe terrified him. He realized that excavations in the Garden of Eden had anchored his soul and enabled his return, leaving him grateful to its people.

• Norton remembered the universe’s entire history and his lonely existence after its heat death, and feared losing his humanity again.
• Norton recognized that his fifth-stage ascension had transformed his body and soul into the universe, a godhood he had never wanted.
• Norton reasoned that the excavations of ancient ruins had stirred human souls in the Garden of Eden and created an anchor that drew his soul back.
• Norton concluded that God had cast out the essence of his soul while the Garden of Eden’s anchor let him return and form a new body.

Norton spoke with Abraham about the century after his departure and claimed that humanity allowed him to remain in the Garden of Eden. Abraham became increasingly convinced that Norton’s words were part of an elaborate scheme, leaving him terrified and unable to trust even his own suspicions.

• Norton casually asked Abraham what had happened before he went into slumber.
• Abraham described the cruelty of the people who ruled the Garden of Eden and expressed regret for betraying Norton.
• Norton said he had ascended to the Divine Stage and needed humanity to remain in the Garden of Eden.
• Abraham wondered whether Norton had roamed through countless trillions of years and warned himself not to fall for another deception.
• Abraham spiraled through layers of suspicion until he trembled in fear, while Norton returned to his indifferent state.

Norton reflected on becoming a god and realized his actions had helped set the universe on a course toward heat death, leaving him destined for eternal solitude. He explained how Shenyin, Kuba, and Jonah had tried to resist that fate, then fell silent after hinting at an exception.

• Norton lamented that becoming a god had brought emptiness and the prospect of existing alone after the universe's heat death.
• Norton told Abraham that the Garden of Eden's return to the universe had restarted the cycle of energy and souls, making the Big Freeze inevitable.
• Norton explained that Shenyin, Kuba, and Jonah had each used their powers to resist cosmic expansion and delay the end of the universe.
• Norton regretted releasing Kuba too early and admitted his ambition and schemes had helped undo the gods' efforts.
• Norton suggested there might be an exception to the universe's fate, then stopped speaking as Abraham suspected he was preparing another scheme.

Norton rebuilt a monastery on the former site of Holy Lord City while the Human Federation studied his powers and the transformed super soldier Benny. The researchers’ findings convinced them that their world and humanity had been created by a god, leaving several experts dead or broken by despair.

• Norton ordered First-Generation Vampires and Prince-class vampires to demolish skyscrapers and build a monastery on the former site of Holy Lord City.
• Norton dispelled the demolition dust with his power, and Human Federation researchers observed that their instruments detected no energy fluctuations.
• Professor Laolaide rejected the evidence that the world had been created by a god and detonated his brain-computer interface, killing himself.
• Biologists reported that Benny’s black liquid body contained a rapidly reproducing substance introduced by the ancient gene serum, which the Pale God could resonate with.
• A biology expert declared that humanity were pigs raised in a pen, then detonated himself as the other experts collapsed in despair.

The Human Federation assessed the destruction and biological effects caused by Pale God Norton and voted to seek negotiations rather than attack him. The vote ended with senators proposing that Norton be honored as pope and given support.

• Officials reported that Norton was destroying buildings in Polynya and that the Evolution Elixir might be mutating people under his influence.
• President Betty Alexander presented the Federation's thirty-eighth decision on Norton, citing signs of humanity in his behavior and his historical reputation for order and peace.
• The senators voted overwhelmingly to lay down their weapons and send negotiators to Norton.
• After the vote, senators proposed honoring Norton as pope and offering him support, and the proposal won broad approval.

In 9985, the Human Federation prepared to cooperate with the Pale God and planned to turn its leaders into vampires, while imprisoned founder Jacob warned them that the Pale God would control them. After the officials rejected his warnings, Jacob transformed into a monster but failed to break out of his cell.

• The Human Federation announced a livestreamed meeting with the Pale God and plans to choose a new pope.
• Jacob told Federation officials that becoming vampires would put them under the Pale God's control, but they argued that cooperation with him could help humanity face alien civilizations.
• The officials dismissed Jacob as a relic of the old era and said he would remain imprisoned until he understood modern civilization.
• Jacob broke down, then transformed into a huge monster and struck the floor of his cell.
• The nanotechnology cell remained intact, and the officials watched calmly as Jacob's attack injured him instead.

The Human Federation used publicity and historical accounts to turn public opinion in favor of the Pale God Norton and prepared a grand ceremony to welcome him and finalize a peace agreement. As crowds filled Holy Lord City for the live broadcast, officials and the Beisluoer Consortium planned a Mass-inspired procession and hoped to gain his favor.

• After Norton contacted the Human Federation, the government announced a peace agreement, and online coverage shifted from hostility to praise and anticipation.
• Creators circulated historical videos portraying Norton as a progressive ancient sage, while people debated his past and traveled to Holy Lord City to see him.
• On March 15, Year 9985, crowds and private aircraft packed Holy Lord City ahead of the Human Federation's live broadcast.
• The Beisluoer Consortium took charge of the ceremony's arrangements, with the government set to reimburse the expenses.
• The Human Federation prepared a petal-lined route, modern soldiers, banquets, and gifts to welcome Norton with a Mass-inspired ceremony.

Norton emerged from the monastery to a huge public welcome as the authorities staged a ceremony to mend relations with him. He accepted the children’s flowers and rode along the flower-strewn path, leaving Abraham surprised that he showed no aversion to the Church’s old rites.

• Crowds gathered around the monastery and the stone Gargoyle statues, discussing the Pale God’s return and the creatures’ transformation.
• At nine o’clock, Norton emerged from the monastery with Abraham and a beautiful woman, and the crowd praised his inhuman appearance.
• Two children presented Norton with flowers, and he accepted them with a rare smile.
• Norton let the children lead him to an open-topped vehicle and sat down, while Abraham worried that the ceremony’s old Church rites might offend him.

Norton rode through a flower-strewn road as his humanity and memories returned, then witnessed a grieving man die after attacking the procession. The chapter left Norton silent as officials apologized and soldiers dragged the man’s body away.

• Norton rode in the procession and recalled the familiar scenery from ten thousand years earlier.
• A boy and a girl gave Norton a Church-style reception, awakening his humanity and bringing back his memories.
• Norton reflected on desire and humanity, then decided that he would not abandon his desires or his identity as Norton.
• A grieving man threw a homemade bomb and demanded that the Pale God return his son, but soldiers shot him with lasers.
• The man died pleading for his son, while Norton watched in silence as officials apologized and soldiers removed the body.

Norton reflected on whether his growing indifference had cost him his humanity as protesters accused him of killing their families. When Abraham demanded that the protesters be executed, Norton intervened before the standoff could turn deadly.

• Norton watched the crowd’s unrest and wondered whether his actions had made him as cruel as the Church knights he once opposed.
• Federation troops subdued the protesters and began escorting them away as they continued to curse Norton.
• The official in charge apologized to Norton, while Abraham rushed over and called for the protesters to be executed.
• Bystanders began livestreaming Abraham’s demand, and the soldiers and official hesitated as the crowd watched.
• Norton finally moved and said, “Enough...”