Chapter Summaries

Wang Shui worried that the first-floor boss raid might diverge from the original events, but decided not to warn the group about the boss’s final weapon. The raid began successfully until Illfang the Kobold Lord drew a nodachi, and Kirito warned the players that an area attack was coming.

• Diabel organized the raid parties, explained the strategy guide’s advice, and scheduled a rehearsal before the boss fight.
• Wang Shui weighed whether to reveal that Illfang’s final-phase weapon differed from the guide, then decided to stay silent to preserve the plot while preventing a mass wipe.
• After a successful rehearsal, Diabel led the fifty-two-player raid into Illfang’s boss room and directed the parties through the opening fight.
• Kirito and Asuna helped contain an elite kobold sentinel while the raid steadily reduced Illfang’s HP.
• When Illfang entered its final phase, Diabel charged toward it as the players closed in around the boss.
• Illfang drew a nodachi, and Kirito shouted for everyone to retreat from its area attack.

Wang Shui, Kirito, Asuna, and the raid group defeated the Kobold Lord, but Diabel died during the battle. After Kibaou accused Kirito of withholding beta knowledge, Kirito claimed the name “Beater” and left to activate the second-floor teleport gate.

• The Kobold Lord used [Spinning Wheel] and a lethal [Ukifune] and [Hiougi] combo, killing Diabel as Wang Shui and Shino rushed into the fight.
• Wang Shui interrupted the BOSS, while Kirito and Asuna led the counterattack and Kirito directed the raid group to spread out and avoid area attacks.
• After Kirito misread [Gengetsu], Wang Shui interrupted the BOSS’s [Hiougi], giving Asuna time to evade and strike back.
• Agil and the purple-haired scythe wielder joined Kirito and Asuna at the front, and the four attackers defeated the Kobold Lord, with Kirito claiming the final hit and receiving the [Coat of Midnight].
• Kibaou accused Kirito of hiding BOSS information and causing Diabel’s death, but Kirito called himself a “Beater” and drew the raid group’s hostility toward himself.
• Kirito equipped the [Coat of Midnight] and strode toward the room’s small door to activate the second-floor teleport gate.

Shino and Wang Shui farmed hornets with Nepenthes Honey while discussing their conflicting feelings about life in SAO. Wang Shui gave Shino a wooden pistol and a paper-cartridge prototype, then explained his experiments with the Handicraft skill before Shino urged him back to work.

• Shino reached level fifteen while Wang Shui's honey disabled swarms of hornets, and she collected venom stingers from the drops.
• Wang Shui confessed that he felt anxious about becoming stronger in SAO only to return to reality unchanged, while Shino said she had come to enjoy life in the game.
• Wang Shui gave Shino a wooden pistol, and she embraced him tearfully after handling it without her usual distress.
• Wang Shui showed Shino a paper cartridge recognized by the system as a damaging consumable and explained how the Handicraft skill let him register handmade items and recipes.
• Wang Shui revealed that he had a special piece of equipment for learning and swapping extra skills, and Shino finally told him to gather the hornet drops; he feigned death again.

Wang Shui and Shino used saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal to produce black powder as they worked toward making firearms, but Akihiko Kayaba confronted Wang Shui and ordered him to stop the experiment. Wang Shui discovered that the [Autonomous Intelligent AI] might be guiding the world toward an industrial revolution, and Akihiko Kayaba confirmed his guess.

• Wang Shui bought all 242 stacks of saltpeter in Talan Village, then joined Shino in making and testing black powder.
• Wang Shui told Shino that they had made progress toward building guns, while noting that their next steps would take time.
• Wang Shui met Akihiko Kayaba outside the village, and Akihiko Kayaba told him to stop the experiment despite allowing him to continue farming hornets.
• Akihiko Kayaba revealed that he had inspected Wang Shui's data and found his plans for a scaled-down lead chamber.
• Wang Shui guessed that the [Autonomous Intelligent AI] was completing industrial production settings and guiding an industrial revolution, and Akihiko Kayaba nodded.

Wang Shui persuaded Akihiko Kayaba that industrialization could destabilize SAO and proposed guiding NPC development by changing the game’s systems and records. Kayaba hired him to help, gave him administrator access, and agreed to work on updates that could protect the players and preserve the world.

• Wang Shui deduced that shutting down the servers would kill the players and suggested limiting the effects of firearms and explosives through game mechanics.
• Wang Shui warned Akihiko Kayaba that NPC industrialization could upend society, defeat players, and threaten the game’s established order.
• Akihiko Kayaba explained that he had locked away the permissions to release players early, leaving the hundredth-floor boss as their only exit.
• Wang Shui proposed controlling industrial development through item and monster resistance data, historical records, and restrictions on NPC knowledge and beliefs.
• After finding that Kayaba would need hundreds of workdays to make the changes alone, Wang Shui applied to help with game data and NPC thought control.
• Akihiko Kayaba hired Wang Shui, gave him administrator privileges and development materials, and began preparing plans for the proposed updates.

Wang Shui left Shino to work with Akihiko Kayaba on developing SAO’s history and systems, while Shino accepted his supplies but demanded updates to confirm he was alive. After ten days of intense work, Wang Shui took leave to visit her, concerned that her growing frustration might put her in danger.

• Wang Shui told Shino he was leaving the front lines to focus on other work, and suggested she team up with Mito.
• Wang Shui transferred materials and 200,000 Cor to Shino, then teleported away and left their party.
• Wang Shui met Akihiko Kayaba in a hidden development room and began studying social-science material to create SAO’s lore.
• Wang Shui wrote a history depicting industrial progress, weapons, and the destruction of elven civilizations, while planning how NPCs would discover the documents.
• Wang Shui and Akihiko Kayaba spent more than ten days preparing lore and game systems, and Wang Shui took leave to check on Shino.

Wang Shui and Akihiko Kayaba released the [The Extinguished Spark] expansion while Wang Shui continued developing SAO and studying under Kayaba. As his work brought him closer to completing his mission, Wang Shui decided he would not return to the dangerous world he came from and would instead stay to learn and grow stronger.

• Wang Shui's black powder recipe spread through artisan NPCs, who began making crude bombs, prompting Kayaba to release the [The Extinguished Spark] update early.
• The expansion introduced firearms and [Sword Skills Blade Bullet], a system that let players charge bullets with sword skill energy and use them to enhance their weapons.
• Wang Shui met Shino for a meal, explained that he had been pulled into hard labor after the black powder incident, and listened to her stories from the front lines.
• Kayaba assigned Wang Shui the expansion's item-entry work while deploying bard-type advanced intelligent NPCs to spread new developments across the floors.
• Wang Shui realized he could create [The World Seed] and complete his mission, but decided he would not return to his old life and would stay in this world to learn everything he could.

Wang Shui and Akihiko Kayaba finalized a major update introducing firearms and blade bullets, then agreed to enter the game as players to test it. Wang Shui reunited with Shino in Zumfut and gave her the newly crafted Famed Gun: Blackwater, which she equipped alongside her silver revolver.

• Akihiko Kayaba completed the final hotfix, and Wang Shui reviewed his changing Awakened attributes and celebrated gaining Comprehensive Computing (Basic).
• Wang Shui persuaded Kayaba to create a level 35 player character named Heathcliff with limited administrator protections, while Wang Shui planned to return with immortality and a better weapon.
• Wang Shui traveled to Zumfut, invited Shino to his party, and asked her to help him complete the elf quest, level up, and repay what she owed him.
• Shino showed Wang Shui her ninth-floor boss drop, Mithril Whisper, and explained how she had become the assault team's only firearms user when she acquired it.
• Wang Shui presented Shino with Famed Gun: Blackwater, and she equipped it with Mithril Whisper to try dual-wielding guns.

After more than a year in SAO, Wang Shui completed research on the Mind Lock with Akihiko Kayaba and advanced his martial arts training before finishing the main storyline and returning to the safe city. The Dream System awarded him points, a transcendence level, and a gold item, then sent his weakened body to a recuperation pod.

• Wang Shui resumed martial arts and firearms training, then studied Fluctlight and artificial intelligence with Akihiko Kayaba.
• Wang Shui and Akihiko Kayaba completed the Mind Lock Computing Cloud Cluster, and Wang Shui saved its data package.
• Wang Shui mastered Foundation of Martial Arts (Beginner), said farewell to Shino and Akihiko Kayaba, and prepared to leave SAO.
• Wang Shui transferred The World Seed data, received confirmation that the main storyline was complete, and chose to return despite his low overall rating.
• The Dream System awarded Wang Shui 5,000 Dream Points, one transcendence level, and Hand of the Hermit (Gold), then placed him in a recuperation pod.

Wang Shui returned from the Sword Art Online mission with new skills, increased attributes, and gold equipment, then reunited with Brother Hei at the repair shop. Brother Hei offered him a lucrative delivery job that required him to meet the terrifying fifth-tier awakener Silvia at Rusty Sword Fortress.

• Wang Shui woke after fifteen days, assessed his gains from the mission, and headed back to the repair shop with the gold-quality Hermit's Hand in his awakener space.
• Wang Shui found Brother Hei drunk in his room, and they discussed his mission, new skills, and the discovery that sufficient attributes were needed to learn skills.
• Brother Hei offered to pay Wang Shui to deliver goods to Rusty Sword Fortress and personally hand them to Silvia.
• Wang Shui panicked when he learned Silvia was a fifth-tier leader of the Penumbra of Destruction, but Brother Hei insisted the delivery route was safe and offered a hundred thousand for the first trip.

Brother Hei assigned Wang Shui to transport valuable equipment to Rusty Sword Fortress, where Silvia’s hunting group was facing a supply blockade. Wang Shui prepared for the dangerous trip by buying armor and alchemy books, then sought an offensive weapon from Dong, who taught him to activate Mystic Cards and paid him for a large blood donation.

• Brother Hei explained that Silvia had been cleared after killing teammates who were colluding with the enemy, but other districts had blocked her hunting group’s supplies, and he ordered Wang Shui to deliver equipment to Rusty Sword Fortress.
• Wang Shui learned he had one week to prepare before transporting a repair bench and industrial printer, and Brother Hei promised advance payment and access to supplies.
• Wang Shui arranged to buy a tier-two Bharal mobile armor and a collection of introductory alchemy books and private notes.
• Wang Shui contacted Dong for a powerful attack option usable by a tier-zero awakener, and Dong taught him how to perceive and activate a Mystic Card despite his phobia.
• Dong gave Wang Shui the green Spell Card Deadly Flying Blades, then drew fifteen hundred milliliters of his blood with divine magic, leaving Wang Shui unconscious.

After recovering from selling blood, Wang Shui received his powered armor and alchemy books, studied modern alchemy, and carried out his first experiment. Puzzled by how his results differed from the books, he visited Old Moran, who asked whether he wanted to return the alchemy notebook.

• Wang Shui collected his powered armor and books, then used an old manual exoskeleton to carry them inside.
• Wang Shui read Old Moran's recommended books and learned the history, principles, and modern foundations of alchemy.
• Wang Shui drew a makeshift alchemical array and used his mental power to compress an alloy nut into a metal ball.
• Wang Shui recorded and compared his experiment with the books, then went to Moran Bookstore to meet Old Moran.
• Old Moran asked Wang Shui whether he had come to return the alchemy notebook.

Wang Shui visited Old Moran to ask about alchemy, and learned that a flawed array and his use of mental power had caused his first experiment to alter the metal. Old Moran explained the dangers and varieties of Knowers, identified Wang Shui as an Arrogant Knower, and lent him a rare book about them, which Wang Shui began reading.

• Wang Shui showed Old Moran his alchemy materials and asked why reshaping metal had changed its properties.
• Old Moran explained that mental power guided alchemy through observation and that Wang Shui’s array needed both ascending and descending triangles.
• Wang Shui successfully reshaped a metal ball into a rod with a complete array, and Old Moran realized he was a Knower.
• Old Moran described several Knower personalities, including the dangerous Hunger and Extreme Lust types, and explained the Dream System’s role in capturing Awakeners.
• Wang Shui asked whether Knower personalities came from the seven sins, and Old Moran lent him a rare book documenting Knowers.

Wang Shui tested the capabilities of his new Daylight · Bharal mobile armor and practiced piloting it in the alley. After ending his morning session, he returned to his workshop to begin physical labor and noticed a familiar iron box among the scrap.

• Wang Shui dressed in his hunting outfit and activated the Daylight · Bharal mobile armor outside his shop.
• Wang Shui connected a tier-three energy coin, checked the armor, and activated its energy shield, combat control, and super-mobility modules.
• Wang Shui dashed through the hundred-meter alley and confirmed the armor and its modules were operating normally.
• Wang Shui practiced maneuvers with video tutorials until his energy-threshold alert ended the session.
• Wang Shui ate nutritional food, put on his mechanical exoskeleton, and began preheating the workshop furnace.
• Wang Shui searched the scrap pile with mechanical tentacles and spotted a familiar iron box.

Wang Shui discovered the Silver Dragon Alloy hidden in Kazan’s lunchbox and studied metal alchemy so he could reshape it. After successfully analyzing the alloy, he transformed it into thirty identical throwing knives, but realized the blades might be too long.

• Wang Shui found the Silver Dragon Alloy engine fragment inside Kazan’s lunchbox and decided to borrow it to make self-defense tools.
• Wang Shui studied introductory alchemy books, consulted Old Moran, and prepared a targeted Reflection Array to analyze the alloy.
• Wang Shui used the Hermit's Hand to inspect the alloy, recorded its structure, and copied the array onto 108 cards.
• Wang Shui activated the array and used its reflected alchemical structure to reshape the alloy into thirty short swords.
• Wang Shui recovered enough to inspect one blade and worried that it was too long.

Wang Shui studied his magic, learned that the Sword Art Online world had disappeared, and prepared himself with new equipment for a supply run. At the eastern gate, he discovered that the mission was not a solo delivery: the Penumbra of Destruction hunting group would escort him to Rusty Sword Fortress.

• Wang Shui practiced controlling the Deadly Flying Blades spell and recreated a Blade Bullet System for his greatsword.
• Wang Shui learned that the Sword Art Online world had vanished after its branch storyline was merged into the fantasy world, leaving him troubled over Shino and Akihiko Kayaba.
• Wang Shui visited an alchemy workshop, where a high-level inscriber gave him the Annihilation Cycle array to strengthen his body and improve its internal functions.
• Wang Shui organized his equipment and prepared for the delivery, suspecting that Brother Hei had arranged for him to transport genuine goods.
• Wang Shui arrived at Iron Edge City's eastern gate and accepted the Simple Supply Transport mission to deliver goods to Silvia, Penumbra of the Moon.
• A tall, thin man told Wang Shui that the hunting group would escort him, though they would not enter Rusty Sword Fortress, and ordered him to drive.

Wang Shui traveled from Iron Edge City toward Rusty Sword Fortress with Brother Tu’s hunting group and his bodyguard, White Cat. When Mutants attacked during the night, the group fought them off and continued along the route, leaving Wang Shui to rest after witnessing his protectors’ abilities.

• Wang Shui confirmed the escort arrangements with Brother Hei, met White Cat, and accepted Brother Tu’s safer, longer route out of Iron Edge City.
• Wang Shui chatted with Brother Tu and the hunting group during the journey, learning that the roads beyond the cities’ limited control could be dangerous.
• After dark, White Cat warned the group of nearby Mutants, and Brother Tu ordered everyone to fight while Wang Shui stayed in the truck.
• White Cat cut down a Mutant, and Brother Tu returned in wolf form after the group defeated the first attackers and retrieved a mutated organ.
• Brother Tu struck the charging Mutants with a huge fist of vegetation as the convoy drove through them, then summoned plant guards so everyone could rest.

Wang Shui delivered supplies to Rusty Sword Fortress, where Lord Mengde attacked him and imprisoned him with Silvia, the captured queen of the Penumbra of the Moon. Wang Shui uncovered the hidden powered armor inside his mission card, but Silvia still faced a tier-five enemy outside and asked him to witness her final dance.

• Wang Shui talked with Brother Tu about his fear of battle and his lack of a class, then rested under the protection of plant sentries.
• White Cat killed a band of highway robbers as the convoy continued to Rusty Sword Fortress, where Wang Shui separated from Brother Tu and delivered the cargo.
• Lord Mengde lured Wang Shui into the castle and hurled him into a prison that prevented contact with the system and drained prisoners’ stamina.
• Wang Shui met Silvia, who explained that the hunting group had imprisoned her while waiting for supplies before fleeing the fortress ahead of a siege.
• Wang Shui realized the mission card contained a hidden item and swallowed it, revealing a backup suit of tier-five powered armor.
• Silvia dismissed the armor as insufficient to defeat the tier-five enemy and asked Wang Shui to witness her final dance.

Wang Shui escaped his hiding place and fought his way out of Rusty Sword Fortress as Silvia battled the invading forces. After Silvia unleashed her power to defeat the enemy’s strongest fighters, Wang Shui saw her fall from the sky.

• Wang Shui equipped his powered armor and left the underground shelter when the enemy attacked Rusty Sword Fortress.
• Silvia joined the battle in silver-gray armor and fought the black-armored enemy while Wang Shui helped kill an attacker and then continued toward the fortress’s outskirts.
• Wang Shui struggled through the shantytown as the battle intensified, and a black medium armor drove Silvia back with its cannon.
• Silvia revealed her face beneath the moonlight, destroyed the medium armor, killed its pilot, and struck down many enemies with pillars of moonlight.
• The surviving enemies fled, Silvia pursued them, and Wang Shui saw her falling from the sky.

After escaping the battlefield, Wang Shui found White Cat seemingly dead and revived her by removing the blade that had killed her. He then met the dying Silvia and copied her soul data into his biological brain before she vanished, leaving her fate uncertain.

• Wang Shui searched the battlefield for a vehicle and found Brother Tu and White Cat dead, then collected their belongings.
• Wang Shui removed the blade from White Cat's chest, causing her energy kittens to return to her and revive her; he carried her away in the armored vehicle.
• Wang Shui hid in the woods with the sleeping White Cat, then returned to where Silvia had fallen and learned that her deputy commander had betrayed her.
• Wang Shui offered Silvia a chance to preserve herself through his soul-conversion mechanism, and she put on the NerveGear.
• Wang Shui copied Silvia's soul data into his biological brain as her body disappeared, then left the battlefield.