Chapter Summaries

Su Wei arranged for Black to scent-anchor and name the puppies Kyle and Freya, then returned to his cabin to prepare the exhibition hall’s ecological landscaping. He began studying the water-circulation requirements for its miniature river, with the project due in five days.

• Black tucked cloth bearing Su Wei’s scent beneath two puppies and explained how the scent would help them recognize Su Wei as their pack leader.
• Su Wei named the solid-black male puppy Kyle and the multicolored female Freya before Black sent him away until the puppies were weaned.
• Su Wei drove back to his property through the snow, thinking about the exhibition hall project he had to complete within five days.
• At the cabin, Su Wei greeted Cotton Candy, put away his rifle, and went to his work area to study paludarium construction.
• Su Wei reviewed the planned river ecosystem’s filtration and circulation needs and calculated its required flow rate from a water volume of 5,000 liters.

Su Wei researched the equipment and natural materials needed to build a cold-zone woodland ecosystem, but the Crafting Module stalled at 99 percent. He realized the missing element was decomposers and began searching for the final part of the ecosystem’s energy cycle.

• Su Wei specified concealed filtration pipes, industrial water pumps, and a titanium-tube chiller for the aquatic landscape.
• He chose a natural peat, akadama, tree fern fiber, and bentonite mixture for the moss wall, along with cool-spectrum LED lighting.
• After three hours of research, Su Wei’s Crafting Module reached 99 percent and stopped.
• Su Wei realized the ecosystem needed to process organic waste and prevent soil acidification, so he identified decomposers as the missing link.
• Su Wei opened an academic database and searched for information to complete the ecosystem’s energy cycle.

Su Wei completed the theory needed to unlock Ecological Landscaping and gained Substrate Analysis, letting him inspect soil around his cabin. After testing the frozen ground and peat, he began cooking a meal with bear fat and eggs.

• Su Wei finished reading a paper on fungal symbiosis, completing the Crafting Module assessment and unlocking Ecological Landscaping LV1 and Substrate Analysis LV1.
• Su Wei used Substrate Analysis to scan the frozen soil and peat near his cabin, revealing their acidity, porosity, organic matter, and fungal activity.
• Su Wei felt hungry after concentrating on the research, and Cotton Candy followed him to the kitchen.
• Su Wei took eggs, bear back fat, and bread from storage, then began rendering the fat in a cast-iron pan.

After eating and sleeping in the cabin, Su Wei prepared to test his new Substrate Analysis skill on a small closed ecosystem. He found a glass jar and collected coarse sand and gravel from Emerald Lake for its drainage layer.

• Su Wei ate eggs and bread fried in bear fat, gaining a two-hour Heat Lock buff, then went to sleep on the sofa with Cotton Candy.
• After waking rested, Su Wei decided he needed a container for a small-scale test of his new skill.
• Su Wei found a twenty-liter glass jar in the storage room and cleaned it.
• Su Wei used Substrate Analysis to identify clean, porous coarse sand and gravel in Emerald Lake as suitable drainage material.
• Su Wei dug sand and gravel from the lakebed and filled the bottom of his bucket with a ten-centimeter layer.

Su Wei gathered soil and living moss around Emerald Lake and built a miniature polar forest in a glass jar. After misting the moss, he left the ecosystem’s first water cycle underway.

• Su Wei collected nutrient-rich lake humus and acidic conifer soil for the jar’s planting layer.
• Su Wei cut a piece of living polar star moss from a dead cedar log, preserving its soil and fungal threads.
• Su Wei assembled a drainage layer, a moss-fiber separation layer, and a sloped mixture of humus and conifer soil in the glass jar.
• Su Wei planted three pieces of polar star moss along the slope, creating the beginnings of a miniature forest.
• Su Wei sprayed purified water over the moss and soil, causing the moss leaves to unfurl.

Su Wei completed a miniature moss landscape that improved the air around his workbench, then identified a remote coastal shoal as a source of volcanic material for the exhibition hall. As he prepared to collect it, Matt warned him that KEA had rejected the hall’s expedited power connection, threatening the construction schedule.

• Su Wei finished the miniature moss landscape and discovered it slightly humidified and purified the air.
• Su Wei calculated the exhibition hall’s substrate needs and found a coastal shoal south of Pilan Creek that could supply porous basalt and volcanic pumice.
• Su Wei packed two folding shovels and food for Cotton Candy, then headed out into the snow.
• Matt told Su Wei that KEA had rejected the expedited main-grid connection because of winter weather risks and would delay a site survey for at least a month.

Su Wei arranged an off-grid power system for the exhibition hall so its ecological zones could keep running after the building was handed over. He then drove toward the beach downstream along Pilan Creek, where the icy, rough road put his truck at risk of sliding.

• Su Wei told Matt that conventional generators could not meet the exhibition hall’s power needs and asked him to build an independent off-grid system.
• Matt proposed a wind-and-solar hybrid microgrid with energy storage and a future connection to the KEA grid, and quoted a budget of $120,000.
• Su Wei approved the hybrid system and told Matt’s crew to clear construction debris while he took control of the hall’s landscaping.
• Matt left in his work vehicle, and Su Wei drove his Ford Raptor onto the wilderness road along Pilan Creek.
• Su Wei used his driving skills to cross frozen potholes, but the truck’s rear began sliding after a wheel hit hidden black ice.

Su Wei reached a volcanic shoreline on the North Pacific and used his analysis skill to find natural materials for an aquatic ecosystem. He collected porous basalt, black volcanic sand, pumice, and grooved stones before continuing his search along the coast.

• Su Wei stopped at the rocky coast near the mapped coordinates and identified an eroded extinct volcano.
• Su Wei used [Substrate Analysis LV1] to confirm that the porous basalt could serve as a top-grade filtration medium.
• Su Wei broke off a piece of basalt and packed it into a military sampling bag.
• Su Wei analyzed the black volcanic sand, dug up a supply, and stored it in another bag.
• Su Wei gathered rounded pumice and weathered stones with water-channel grooves for his miniature river landscape.

Su Wei transported volcanic rock and black crystal sand to his garage, then returned to his cabin exhausted from the cold and heavy lifting. He comforted Cotton Candy and began cooking a simple meal, while the bear-hide project awaited its next stage the following morning.

• Su Wei loaded five bags of raw stone into his truck and agreed to visit Old Hope the next day to continue work on the Kodiak brown bear hide and skeleton.
• Su Wei drove through the snow to his land and carried all five heavy bags of volcanic rock and black crystal sand into the garage.
• Cotton Candy greeted Su Wei when he entered the cabin, and he rubbed her neck and ears before turning to the kitchen.
• Su Wei boiled pasta and chopped tomatoes and red onion to prepare a quick meal.

Su Wei prepared for the difficult work of mounting the Kodiak bear king’s heavy hide at Old Hope’s processing plant. With his taxidermy skill guiding him, he lifted and rotated the hide onto the alloy frame, where it fit into place.

• Su Wei ate a quick meal, packed his tools for making the specimen, and went to bed as [Homestead Shelter] repaired his fatigue overnight.
• Su Wei left for Old Hope’s factory at 4:30 in the morning through heavy snowfall and arrived before six.
• Old Hope showed Su Wei the preserved Kodiak bear king’s hide and the large alloy frame, then assigned him to control the main lift.
• Su Wei activated [Basic Taxidermy LV1], identified the hide’s strongest load-bearing area, and ordered Old Hope to release a leg rope.
• Su Wei used the shifting weight to turn the hide 180 degrees, then lowered it neatly over the frame.

Su Wei worked with Old Hope to shape the giant brown bear mount, using his system abilities to recreate its muscles with lifelike force. After leveling up his taxidermy and crafting skills, he finished the bear’s muscular form, leaving Old Hope stunned by the result.

• Old Hope secured the bear hide to its frame and told Su Wei to fill the gaps with muscle compound.
• Su Wei used Touch of X-Ray Vision to map the bear’s underlying frame and pack the compound along its muscle groups.
• After hours of work, Su Wei leveled up Basic Taxidermy and Crafting Module and unlocked new effects and a hide-processing skill.
• Su Wei stepped back to reveal the bear’s newly formed, imposing body, and Old Hope stared at him in amazement.

Su Wei completed the final wax treatment on the Roosevelt elk king’s antlers, and the Crafting Module triggered rare blessings that made them a lasting, restorative centerpiece for his territory. The antlers gained exceptional resistance to aging, fading, and cracking.

• Old Hope entrusted Su Wei with applying the final beeswax seal to the elk king’s antlers.
• Su Wei carefully worked the wax into the antlers for forty minutes, preserving their patina and bringing out their natural sheen.
• The Crafting Module rated Su Wei’s work perfect and triggered the Woodland Call blessing, which would soothe people nearby and make harmless wild animals less skittish and more affectionate.
• The module unlocked Crown of the Years, increasing the antlers’ hardness and preventing their coloration and patina from fading or cracking.

Su Wei realized the elk king’s antlers had acquired valuable supernatural properties just as Harris warned him that the IRS had flagged the Northern Throne Club’s suspicious finances and unfinished building. Su Wei told Harris to calm the examiner, left to handle the crisis, and insisted that he would set the bear king specimen’s glass eyes himself.

• Su Wei considered how Woodland's Call could ease wealthy clients’ stress and how Crown of the Years would preserve the elk king’s antlers indefinitely.
• Old Hope praised Su Wei’s taxidermy work and said the antlers could win top awards at a North American exhibition.
• Harris told Su Wei that the IRS had blocked the club’s expedited approval and was investigating unusual transfers totaling five hundred thousand dollars and the unfinished exhibition hall.
• Su Wei warned Harris not to say more than necessary and asked him to reassure the examiner while Su Wei returned to his car.
• Su Wei told Old Hope he had to deal with a business problem and insisted on setting the bear king specimen’s glass eyes himself.

Su Wei explained how Northern Throne Club’s membership deposits could be justified to the IRS and promised Harris supporting documents. He then arrived at the exhibition hall on Pillar Mountain.

• Old Hope let Su Wei take charge of making a specimen from the king Roosevelt elk, warning him not to ruin it.
• Su Wei called Harris and rejected disguising the five hundred thousand dollars as a loan or mineral deposit.
• Su Wei told Harris to explain that Charles and Laurent had paid legitimate club membership fees for access to a strictly limited, exclusive wilderness experience.
• Harris asked Su Wei to provide the agreements, proof of the funds’ source, check photos, and a proposal, and Su Wei promised to send the documents after he got home.
• Su Wei drove through the snow to the exhibition hall at the foot of Pillar Mountain and got out in front of the cabin.

Su Wei explained to his agent Harris how the Northern Throne Club's exclusive rules and wilderness services justified its expensive membership fees. The chapter left Harris reviewing the club's offerings, including the right to commission preserved primordial behemoth specimens.

• Su Wei photographed Laurent's $200,000 check and Charles's $300,000 check, then sent the images to Harris.
• Harris warned that the IRS could interpret the payments as money laundering despite the signed checks and unrestricted funds.
• Su Wei sent Harris the draft of the Northern Throne Club charter, which capped membership at one hundred and reserved twelve nontransferable privilege numbers.
• Su Wei explained that Charles paid for the exclusive No. 1 position and its exemption from scrutiny and waiting lists.
• Harris read the club's wilderness services list, and Su Wei highlighted the right to commission perfectly preserved primordial behemoth specimens.

Su Wei and Harris devised a plan to justify the club’s large deposits by presenting its custom wildlife specimens as art and the club as a boost to Alaska’s economy. After Harris began preparing the official submissions, Su Wei ate venison and received a temporary buff that improved his cold resistance and recovery from mental exertion.

• Harris warned Su Wei that IRS examiners could challenge the claimed value of the club’s services and suspect fraud.
• Su Wei sent Harris a photograph of the Roosevelt elk king’s antlers, and Harris recognized their exceptional quality as evidence of bespoke wilderness art.
• Harris proposed a Northern High-End Ecotourism Stimulus Plan that would frame the club as an economic asset for Alaska and win support from the Kodiak Island Economic Development Bureau.
• Harris said he would fax the completed materials to the IRS Anomaly Monitoring Group and the bureau director’s office in three hours.
• Su Wei cooked venison for himself and Cotton Candy, then received a five-hour Heat Lock buff that increased cold resistance and sped his recovery from mental exertion.

Su Wei learned that the IRS had approved the club’s initial $500,000 after Kodiak Island officials intervened, though the approval required strict financial audits and operating reports. He rejected Charles’s blank check to preserve control of the club and focused on building it with the approved funds and his unique system abilities.

• Su Wei answered Harris’s call and learned the IRS had cleared the $500,000 and removed the company from high-risk monitoring after the Kodiak Island Economic Development Bureau contacted the review department.
• Harris explained that the approval required transparent financial audits and detailed reports every six months, with liquidation possible if the club failed to comply.
• Su Wei argued that government oversight would reassure wealthy prospective members that the club’s finances were legal, and Harris agreed the restrictions could build credibility.
• After Harris confirmed the funds would reach the corporate account within forty-eight hours, Su Wei considered Charles’s blank check but rejected it because cashing it would give Charles a stake and influence over the club.
• Su Wei locked the blank check in a moisture-proof box and looked toward the cedar-log building under construction, deciding the approved capital was enough for the current stage.

Su Wei inspected the exhibition hall’s completed structural and power systems and laid out plans for its wildlife exhibits and indoor ecosystems. He left Matt with detailed specifications for a central bear display, a circulating river, and five heavily reinforced ecological zones.

• Matt showed Su Wei the exhibition hall’s insulation, glass, and hybrid solar-wind microgrid, then said his crew could not handle the live plants, soil, and water features.
• Su Wei told Matt to reinforce the central platform for a stone fireplace, a six-hundred-kilogram brown bear, and the Red Deer King’s antlers above it.
• Su Wei ordered a twelve-meter indoor river channel with five thousand liters of water, industrial pumps, a chiller, and a thick polyurea waterproof coating.
• Su Wei assigned the other areas to sky, deer, and woodland ecosystems and required all five zones to support at least two tons per square meter.

Su Wei oversaw construction of an indoor river channel, using volcanic rock and forest soil to create a natural filtration system. The drainage layer was finished, and he began preparing the soil gathered from Emerald Lake and his woodland.

• Matt questioned Su Wei’s decision to build a real riverbed, and Su Wei ordered Ben and two workers to excavate a twelve-meter channel.
• Su Wei brought five bags of volcanic rock to the site and used his Substrate Analysis skill to inspect the material.
• The workers spread the rock too densely, so Su Wei stopped them and demonstrated how to preserve gaps for drainage and bacteria.
• After two hours, the workers completed the channel’s volcanic-rock drainage layer.
• Su Wei opened bins of conifer soil and lakeshore humus and had the workers dump the soil onto a tarp.

Su Wei prepared a layered soil bed and transplanted polar star moss, completing the first stage of a miniature ecological landscape. Its new Microclimate Intervention effect began freshening the air, leaving Matt stunned by the change.

• Su Wei corrected the soil mixture with bentonite, tree fern shavings, sand, and gravel until the system rated its condition perfect.
• Su Wei and the workers laid a moss-fiber barrier and nutrient soil over the volcanic rock, then shaped the soil into slopes and miniature hills.
• Su Wei cut a rooted piece of polar star moss from its rock and transplanted it across the riverbank slope.
• Su Wei misted the moss, and the system confirmed the ecological cycle and raised Ecological Landscaping to LV2, granting the zone the Microclimate Intervention effect.
• Matt smelled the air turn fresh and moist, then stared blankly at the cigarette in his hand.