Chapter Summaries

Six players transformed into the Treant Aggregate, assigning themselves its head, torso, and limbs before joining into a complete body. After discovering they could communicate and coordinate through shared thoughts, they charged toward the enemy.

• [Clear Soup Master], [Zhongde], [Do Some Farm Work], [Great Wei Boxing Champion], and [Howling Pothos] claimed the head, arms, and legs, leaving [Good Times Don't Last] to form the torso.
• [Good Times Don't Last] and the others rapidly mutated, losing most of their senses as their bodies became log-like forms with plant tentacles.
• [Zhongde] connected to [Good Times Don't Last], and the other limbs joined the torso as the Treant Aggregate took human shape.
• [Clear Soup Master] became an enormous head and connected it to the body, completing the Treant Aggregate with all six players inside it.
• The players discovered they could communicate through shared thoughts, coordinated their movements, and began charging toward the enemy.

Howard and the Holy Crusaders attacked the Treant Aggregate, but [Howling Pothos] took control in time to save it and turn the fight against them. The Treant Aggregate killed one Crusader and began collecting his body as the others witnessed the violence.

• Howard charged the Treant Aggregate and knocked it down, then leaped to strike its lower back with his poleaxe.
• [Howling Pothos] took control of the Treant Aggregate and dodged Howard’s attack, shattering the poleaxe against the ground.
• The Holy Crusaders attacked the Treant Aggregate’s joints with axes as it rose to its feet.
• [Howling Pothos] grabbed a Crusader around the waist and hurled him into the wall, killing him in a burst of blood.
• The other Holy Crusaders stared at the blood mist as roots spread across the ground to collect the dead soldier.

The Treant Aggregate overpowered Howard and pinned him down, leaving him at the players’ mercy. When [Great Wei Boxing Champion] questioned him about Mick, Kyle, and Borg, Howard reacted with shock and refused to answer.

• [Howling Pothos] attacked Howard with the Treant Aggregate, and their clash damaged Howard’s hands and broke several tendons.
• The Treant Aggregate battered Howard until a kick sent him tumbling across the ground.
• [Howling Pothos] pinned the injured Howard down while [Great Wei Boxing Champion] took control of the treant’s mouth and questioned him.
• Howard reacted with shock when [Great Wei Boxing Champion] asked whether he knew Mick, Kyle, and Borg, then turned away without answering.
• [Howling Pothos] drove a spike from the Treant Aggregate’s palm into Howard, pinning him to the ground.

[Great Wei Boxing Champion] and his companions tortured Howard until he revealed that Antiya Lisi had ordered the experiments and that the recipients of the subjects had bestial traits. Ed rewarded [Clear Soup Master] and expanded the investigation into the Starlight Empire, the Bone Alliance, and the source of the Tree Worship Church’s base bodies.

• The Treant Aggregate pinned Howard to the wall and threatened him until he confessed that Antiya Lisi had ordered the experiments and that the recipients had bestial traits.
• Howard said the Starlight Empire and the Bone Alliance were the only factions on the continent known for bestial transformation, and that the Church also received base bodies from the Holy City.
• [Clear Soup Master] decided to report Howard’s testimony to Ed, and the players left the cathedral after the remaining soldiers and clerics let them pass.
• Ed paid [Clear Soup Master] part of the reward and added two branches to the hidden side quest: investigate the Starlight Empire and Bone Alliance’s role, and find the source of the Tree Worship Church’s base bodies.
• [Clear Soup Master] reunited with his five companions, and they discussed continuing the investigation with [Dark Archmage].

[Great Wei Boxing Champion] connected the Tree Worship Church’s numbered test subjects to the term “base bodies,” while Ed prepared Fir City’s cathedral and defenses for the next stage of his plan. The city was set to leave wartime status as Duma took charge of its first defensive line.

• [Great Wei Boxing Champion] explained that Ed had once been called “Number Three,” like other numbered Tree Worship Church test subjects, and [Howling Pothos] identified them as “base bodies.”
• [Clear Soup Master] worked out that the Church had sourced base bodies from Fir City and then the Holy City, prompting [Great Wei Boxing Champion] to assign the group the task of discovering where the Holy City’s subjects came from.
• Ed reviewed [Clear Soup Master]’s team clearing the cathedral dungeon and planned additional mechanics to make its bosses harder.
• Ed concluded that the Second Holy See had absorbed Fir City and its surrounding territory, and prepared to move on to the next stage of his plan.
• Ed told Duma that Fir City would lift its wartime status and become the first line of defense, with the Holy Crusaders Knight Order withdrawing to Blue Gum Town and local recruits and Soul Returners helping defend the city.

Ed returned from Fir City to Valhalla and prepared to meet Gray, an old friend, and Gray’s wife, Nora. Their meeting began with Nora seeing Ed’s crown of verdant branches and understanding why he was called the Son of God.

• Ed told Duma to focus on resisting the Tree Worship Church’s coming counterattack and gave him a bracelet for Duolin.
• Ed left Fir City and returned his consciousness to Valhalla.
• Number Seven told Gray that Ed had returned and invited Gray and his family to visit.
• Gray told Nora that the Grand Foundry Master had personally approved his plans and advised her not to lie to Ed.
• Ed met Gray and Nora in his study, where Nora saw the branches forming a crown around Ed’s eye.

Gray told Ed and Nora how his plant-based modifications had changed him and the Antasia, prompting Graycast Corridor to seek wooden components for its machinery. He also described his progress toward becoming Grand Foundry Master, though roughly ten thousand candidates remained.

• Gray explained that trade runs between Graycast Corridor and the Great Labyrinth City would now take place monthly.
• Gray said plant-based components had become part of his body and helped the Antasia's Blood Corpses stay fed, so Graycast Corridor wanted to test wooden machinery parts.
• Ed learned from Nora that Graycast Corridor had no distinct seasons and that its poor soil produced crops tainted by metal.
• Gray said he had passed the preliminary selection for Grand Foundry Master after returning to the Great Labyrinth City with envoys, a modified fortress, and a new trade route.
• Gray told Ed that about ten thousand candidates remained in the selection.

Ed learned that Gray expected to advance in the Grand Foundry Master assessment and inspected the mechanical arms Gray had brought for trade. Gray revealed that, with [Lion Hidden in the Eyes]'s help, the Graycast Corridor had adapted replacement-type implants for enhancement-type use.

• Gray explained that the next assessment stage judged candidates by their long-term contributions to the Graycast Corridor, and he expected to pass with support from master craftsmen.
• Ed asked what goods Gray had brought, and Gray invited him to inspect the cargo aboard the Antasia with Nora.
• Gray showed Ed a mechanical enhancement implant that could be attached with bone pins or worn as an armguard.
• Nora used a clockwork nail gun to implant three bone pins in Gray's arm, and Gray explained that his wooden structure and regenerative abilities made the procedure painless.
• Gray introduced a sturdier replacement-type mechanical arm and said the Graycast Corridor had developed a way to use it for enhancement-type modifications with [Lion Hidden in the Eyes]'s voluntary help.

Ed approved Gray’s plan to sell mechanical arms to the Second Holy See’s Soul Returners after explaining that they could combine multiple power systems. Gray had brought two thousand arms to sell, and Ed began to hint at the size of the potential market.

• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] showed off his mechanical arm by juggling beanbags, drawing a crowd of excited players.
• Ed told Gray that Soul Returners could combine plant abilities with mechanical modifications and gave him permission to sell the mechanical arms.
• Gray explained that [Shit Appraisal Master] had arranged for [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] to publicize the arms around Valhalla.
• Gray said he had brought a thousand enhanced mechanical arms and a thousand replacement arms, and Ed asked how many Soul Returners the Second Holy See had grown to.

Ed arranged for Gray and Nora to sell mechanical arms to the Soul Returners in Valhalla, and the players bought out the Antasia’s stock within two hours. Most buyers left without surgery, leaving the players to figure out how to install the arms themselves.

• Ed told Gray there were fifty thousand Soul Returners in Aduolin Province and asked about the risks of mechanical-arm surgery.
• Nora said she was the best mechanic in the southern district, and Ed entrusted her with replacing the Soul Returners’ arms while allowing them to buy arms for private installation.
• Gray and Nora opened the Antasia’s cargo hold as a cyberware shop after Ed left.
• Lion Hidden in the Eyes directed players to the shop, and they rushed in and bought all the mechanical arms within two hours.
• Nora performed only a dozen or so procedures, while most players left with arms they planned to install themselves.
• Gray and Nora counted their earnings as players across Valhalla spent the night trying to attach their new arms.

Players celebrated obtaining mechanical arms, while [Evergreen Tree] and his students struggled to understand how the devices worked. An abnormal bodily-damage alert forced [Evergreen Tree] out of the game, and he was flown with [Dawn Ah] and [Backstabbing Expert] to respond to an emergency.

• Players with mechanical arms celebrated and began planning experiments to attach extra limbs.
• [Backstabbing Expert] brought two mechanical arms to the Steady and Sure Biology Laboratory, where [Evergreen Tree] and [Dawn Ah] examined them.
• An alert detected abnormal bodily damage and ejected [Evergreen Tree] from the game.
• [Evergreen Tree] woke in a room of sleeping players, and a young man in black told him an emergency response unit needed his help.
• [Dawn Ah] and [Backstabbing Expert] also woke, and they boarded a helicopter with [Evergreen Tree] and the man in black, who ordered the pilot to fly to the airport.

Lü Yang, Li Yu, and the professor were brought to investigate sheep infected by a contagious mutation, and they found signs resembling Blood Corpses. Lü Yang noticed that one infected sheep had mutated less severely and questioned whether it differed from the others.

• Lü Yang, Li Yu, and the professor watched footage of a sheep attacking and eating a sheepdog, and learned that the infection had spread to more sheep at the ranch.
• The captain assigned the three experts to help decide whether to capture or kill the sheep, study them, and share information with influential allies in the World of Disorder.
• Lü Yang learned that the authorities considered his potion research experience sufficient to help advise on the crisis, though he would not make decisions alone.
• The group arrived at the sealed-off pasture and reviewed drone footage of the sheep pen.
• Li Yu identified features of the original infected sheep as resembling a Blood Corpse, and Lü Yang pointed out that another sheep seemed less mutated and asked what made it different.

The investigators discovered that the sheep’s infection symptoms weakened in later waves and began testing whether infected sheep could transmit the disease. Their experiment was interrupted when an aurora appeared outside.

• The professor’s team found that Sheep Number 48 had been infected by Number 22 and showed milder symptoms.
• The herdsman explained that Number 48 had been isolated in a corner pen because it had indigestion, and the team traced its infection through earlier waves.
• The professor’s team moved Number 48 into a cage and prepared uninfected sheep for experiments.
• Number 48 bit Number 1, and the observers watched Number 1 begin showing abnormal movements as they timed the infection.
• The video’s brightness changed suddenly, and a staff member entered the tent to tell the man in black that an aurora had appeared outside.

Li Yu sensed the real-world aurora’s psionic energy rapidly fading, and the professor compared its rise and fall to the tides. After the professor sent Li Yu to check the World of Disorder, Ed woke at dawn and sensed a conspicuous large-scale flow of psionic energy.

• The professor asked Li Yu and Lü Yang whether they felt anything unusual, then had Li Yu try to sense psionic energy.
• Li Yu entered a meditative state and felt unusually dense psionic energy surrounding him.
• Li Yu sensed the psionic energy rapidly dissipating and told the professor the aurora should have ended.
• The professor told Li Yu to check the World of Disorder, while Lü Yang stayed to record Sheep No. 1’s mutation.
• Ed woke in the World of Disorder and sensed psionic energy flowing on a conspicuously large scale.

Ed and Willow investigated violent psionic fluctuations coming from due east of Valhalla and suspected that one of the Twin Kings was fighting a powerful enemy. A strange aurora appeared after a deafening psionic shock, and Willow concluded that the High Tier being who had absorbed the energy had died.

• Ed sensed a distant vortex devouring the world's psionic energy and discussed the disturbance with Willow.
• Willow judged that the fluctuations came from a High Tier being, while Ed suspected one of the Twin Kings was involved.
• Willow guessed that the Twin Kings might have caught a grand duke and worried aloud that Wens could be their prisoner.
• A violent ringing struck Ed and Willow, and a blue-green aurora stretched across the sky.
• Willow, bleeding from her ears and nose, told Ed that the High Tier being who had absorbed the psionic energy was dead.

The Dragon-Hunting Expedition fought a blue dragon in the Demon Realm for seven days, but its resurrection strategy faltered when the dragon used psionic energy to freeze and seal its warriors. Xilǐ'er realized the gulf between his low tier and the dragon’s high tier when a single tail sweep killed him and Radish.

• The blue dragon adapted to the Eternal Domain warriors’ resurrections by freezing them in place with psionic energy.
• Xilǐ'er asked a warlock to kill him before the freezing took hold, then resurrected and returned to the fight.
• The expedition’s captain ordered everyone still able to move to hold the blue dragon off for one minute, while a middle-tier knight knelt and activated the Eternal Domain’s mark.
• Xilǐ'er charged the blue dragon on Radish, but its tail severed them both, and he understood that the dragon had barely noticed him before.

As Xilǐ'er slowly revived, he watched a powerful knight gather the living metal and psionic staves of the expedition into a gigantic dragon-slaying sword. The knight wounded the blue dragon and severed its tail, then continued attacking as the dragon amassed psionic energy for a final strike.

• Xilǐ'er sensed an immense surge of psionic energy and saw the knight approach the blue dragon on foot.
• The knight called on the others to lend him part of their lives, and their living metal and staves formed an enormous longsword in his hand.
• The blue dragon unleashed nearly a hundred psionic attacks, but the knight's sword dispelled their light as he leaped forward.
• The knight cut open the blue dragon's abdomen and severed half its tail, then ignored the dragon's speech and readied another attack.
• The blue dragon drew in psionic energy from across the Demon Realm while the knight attacked along its neck and back, leaving a long wound.

Xilǐ'er watched the knight empowered by the Twin Kings battle the Blue Dragon, realizing the knight had knowingly accepted a fatal fate. As the dragon tried to flee into the sky, Xilǐ'er and Radish helped cripple its wing, allowing the knight to bring it crashing down.

• Xilǐ'er understood that the knight had known the Twin Kings' borrowed power would kill him when he led the Dragon-Hunting Expedition.
• Xilǐ'er urged his revival to hurry while the knight gained the upper hand against the Blue Dragon.
• The Blue Dragon took to the air, but the knight stabbed its ankle and another knight leaped from a cliff toward it.
• Xilǐ'er and Radish fell from the air after Xilǐ'er sliced through the Blue Dragon's wing membrane.
• The knight attacked the Blue Dragon's back and wing with twin blades until it crashed to the ground, its wing bones breaking through the membrane.

The Dragon-Hunting Expedition killed the blue dragon, but Xilǐ'er collapsed after being drenched in its blood, and the commander died permanently after the battle. In Valhalla and the City of Dusk, the others sensed the battle’s aftermath and mourned the end of the blue dragon bloodline.

• The knight beheaded the blue dragon, and Xilǐ'er passed out after its blood caused waves of heat and cold in his body.
• The commander learned that sixteen middle-tier knights, forty low-tier knights, and half the mage corps had been lost, then ordered the survivors to bring Xilǐ'er and the fallen comrades’ belongings to the City of Dusk.
• The commander explained that the dragon egg fragment was the juvenile dragon’s eggshell, then dissolved into motes of light and left behind his helmet.
• Ed, Willow, and Seraphina watched the aurora fade in Valhalla, and Ed asked Seraphina what she thought of the fluctuation.
• The Twin Kings discussed the expedition’s success, and a sigh was heard across the world as the blue dragon bloodline was declared extinct.

Seraphina told Ed and Willow that the last Blue Dragon had died, explaining how dragons sensed the extinction of their kind and how a dragon’s death could unleash phenomena tied to its authority. The chapter left the Amber Dragon’s fate uncertain, with Seraphina offering several reasons she might not have sensed its death.

• Seraphina explained that dragons sensed the extinction of an entire kind and mourned it, even though they might still fight other dragons.
• She confirmed that the sky-spanning aurora came from the dead Blue Dragon’s released psionic energy and said a stronger adult Blue Dragon could trigger a small Demonic Tide.
• Seraphina told Ed that Blue Dragons wielded psionic energy and frost, while other dragon kinds had their own distinct authorities.
• Ed asked why Seraphina had not sensed the Amber Dragon’s supposed death, and she said it might have survived, been defeated rather than killed, or escaped her notice while she suppressed her perception during the Demonic Tide.