Chapter Summaries

After confirming he had transmigrated into the Coiling Dragon World as the overlooked second prince Jason Rhine, Jason tried to keep his new identity hidden while learning about palace life. He discovered that the Rhine clan would soon test its children in a secret realm, and his father said Jason would also receive an aptitude test.

• Jason learned that he was the eight-year-old second prince of the Rhine Empire and planned to wait for his magic aptitude test before choosing a path.
• Jason met his language teacher Faustino and went to the training ground to observe the warrior lessons he had missed.
• Jason spoke with his eldest sister Yunika, who reminded him to visit their father and their mother, Consort Aidema.
• Jason visited Emperor Maisiji and learned that the emperor had ordered Prince Vittorio to take the eligible children into the clan's secret realm for testing.
• Emperor Maisiji told Jason that he would have his aptitude tested in a few days.

Jason trained and studied diligently while considering his future cultivation, then traveled with the Rhine imperial children to Blood Blade Castle for tests of bloodline concentration and magic affinity. The test began with Jason nervous about what his magic affinity would mean for his path.

• Jason learned from his instructor that his warrior talent was average and was advised not to train beyond the morning Qi Accumulation Form.
• Jason focused on his studies and training, impressing those around him with his diligence and ability to learn.
• On the seventh day after his recovery, Jason joined twenty-six other imperial children and traveled with Prince Vittorio to Blood Blade Castle.
• A black-robed figure announced that the clan elders would test the children’s bloodline concentration and magic affinity, then ordered the test to begin.

Jason and the other children underwent bloodline and magic affinity tests at Blood Blade Castle, where Jason’s unusual six affinities prompted a separate examination. He returned to the group and traveled toward the royal capital, learning that Lucy had exceptional Dark and Death affinities.

• Yunika’s magic affinity test revealed high Destruction affinity and superlative Wind affinity.
• Jason’s test lit six crystals, and the mages took him aside to verify his affinities.
• After a potion induced deep meditation, a mage confirmed Jason had six affinities, with Death and Lightning strongest and Destruction and Life weaker.
• Jason rejoined the children, and they left for the royal capital without learning the bloodline test results.
• Lucy told Jason she had superlative Dark and Death affinities, but she did not want to become a necromancer.

Jason and six other children with an aptitude for death began learning Necromancy from Stutzman, who explained how necromancers drew on the Netherworld’s power through contracts with undead. After five days of meditation practice, the children entered the Netherworld for the first time.

• Stutzman told the children that Necromancy could summon undead, hasten death, concoct toxins, and extend lifespans, then silenced a child who questioned his lifespan claim with soul pressure.
• Stutzman assessed the seven children’s spiritual energy and found Jason’s was average but steady, while Lucy’s aptitude was exceptional.
• Over five days, Jason and the other children practiced meditation until they could enter a meditative state at will, with Jason sustaining it for three hours.
• Stutzman explained that humans below the Saint-level needed undead contracts to access the power of death, and that Saint-level humans could absorb the powers of the other Edicts directly.
• The children sat in prepared magic formations and entered the Netherworld; Jason’s consciousness sank into it as the formation lit up.

Jason repeatedly entered the Netherworld to find an undead creature willing to contract with him, but his first attempts failed. On his fourth visit, he formed a soul contract with a gifted third-rank Dark Warrior named Lumba.

• Jason entered the Netherworld as ghostfire and approached a powerful skeleton, which dispersed him when he tried to form a contract.
• Stutzman comforted Jason after he returned to his body and told him to rest before trying again.
• On his fourth visit, Jason found a third-rank Dark Warrior who could use fire and earth battle-qi.
• Jason waited until the Dark Warrior finished absorbing a defeated enemy, then asked to form a soul contract.
• The Dark Warrior agreed, and after the contract formed, he told Jason that his name was Lumba.

Jason began learning to build an undead army by directing his contracted black knight, Lumba, to hunt weaker undead in the Netherworld. Lumba followed Jason’s instructions and absorbed several soul fires, beginning to grow stronger.

• Stutzman confirmed Jason had contracted a level-three black knight and pointed out that Lucy had summoned a level-two zombie eagle with a natural advantage in flight.
• Jason meditated overnight to strengthen his spiritual power and share its benefits with Lumba, while Stutzman explained how contracted undead could subdue weaker undead.
• The next day, Stutzman taught the seven children to command their personal undead to build armies, and Jason assessed the nearby undead for Lumba.
• Jason directed Lumba to attack scattered undead first, then eventually subdue a zombie leopard to compensate for the black knight’s slow speed.
• Lumba killed a skeletal dog and a zombie turtle, absorbed their soul fires, and continued toward a skeletal bull as Jason guided him.

Jason trained Lumba in the Netherworld, where they subdued a zombie leopard and added it to their group. Back in the Yulan Continent, Jason spoke with Lucy about their undead and Barek’s strength, while Lucy tried to draw him into the competition for the throne.

• Jason directed level-four Lumba and level-two Brandon to capture a level-three zombie leopard.
• Lumba and Brandon broke the leopard’s spine, and Lumba took part of its soul flame before the leopard surrendered.
• Jason had Lumba and Brandon repair the leopard, which recovered as a weakened level-three undead.
• Jason returned to the Yulan Continent and learned that Lucy had trained several level-three undead.
• Lucy told Jason that Barek was a gifted level-six warrior who had volunteered to fight on the western front.
• Lucy asked Jason whether he wanted the throne, but Jason said he preferred a leisurely life and did not intend to compete.

Jason attended a gathering where Emperor Maisiji Rhine revealed that the Rhine Clan descended from a Deity-level Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend and urged its young members to train for the clan’s sacred ground. Prince Vittorio disclosed that their ancestor was a demon and that the bloodline limited its bearers’ lifespan unless they reached the Saint-level; Jason received his test results and judged the bloodline only slightly useful.

• After seven days of training, Stutzman announced that Jason and the other children had graduated and would transfer to new classes.
• Maisiji Rhine told the gathered children that their ancestor was a powerful Deity-level being whose Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend bloodline gave the Rhine Clan many necromancers and Destruction mages.
• Maisiji urged clan members to reach level nine and enter Bloodshadow Valley, where they could advance to the Saint-level.
• Prince Vittorio revealed that the ancestor came from the Abyss and was a demon, but argued that the Rhine Clan had protected the people of the Yulan Continent.
• Vittorio explained that members with the bloodline could live only three hundred years unless they reached the Saint-level, prompting the children to cheer for their bloodline.
• Jason compared his talent results with Yunika and Lucy, found that all three had medium bloodline concentrations, and decided his bloodline was only slightly useful.

Jason began cultivating Thunder Swift Lightning Battle Qi under Instructor Feidier and completed his first proper battle qi cycle. At a family dinner, the Rhine Emperor discussed Jason's future and ordered the empress to arrange a marriage for him, while Jason tried to put it off.

• Instructor Feidier recommended Thunder Swift Lightning Battle Qi to Jason and explained its relatively easy breakthroughs.
• Jason struggled through his first battle qi practice, completing a proper cycle after training from morning until after four in the afternoon.
• The Rhine Emperor invited Jason to a family dinner to see Barek off before his departure to the front.
• Barek teased Jason about his six affinities, while Lucy suggested Jason had a better chance of reaching the Saint-level than Barek.
• Jason told the Rhine Emperor he planned to focus on cultivation and later train in the Sunset Mountain Range.
• The Rhine Emperor told the empress to arrange a marriage for Jason, who asked to wait until he was an adult.

At eighteen, Jason became a seventh-level warrior and commissioned weapons and armor as he prepared to improve his combat skills and eventually travel. He considered searching for Mist Valley, but was not yet strong enough to venture beyond its outskirts.

• Jason celebrated reaching the seventh level after ten years of disciplined training and decided to learn practical combat before traveling.
• Jason chose four custom sabers and bought a shield and chainmail, while his siblings Barek, Lucy, and Yunika continued along their own paths.
• Jason tried on his new equipment and thought about obtaining an Interspatial Ring, but ruled out pursuing the Coiling Dragon Ring because it could draw Beirut's attention.
• Jason planned to search for Mist Valley during a future journey, judging that he could currently survive only on its outskirts.

Jason postponed his journey to train after a sparring instructor exposed how weak his combat skills were, but the empress then tried to arrange his marriage and sent two maids to his room. He escaped, packed his belongings, and left the imperial palace, intending to begin his travels.

• Jason sparred for half an hour with a Rhine Clan instructor, who advised him that he was not strong enough to travel through the Sunset Mountain Range.
• Jason told the empress and Imperial Consort Aidema that he would delay his departure for a year, and the empress urged him to marry and showed him six candidates.
• The empress had two maids restrain Jason and take him to a prepared room, but Jason used Soul Shock and a Petrification Spell scroll to escape.
• Jason left his jade pendant as a token for the maids, returned to his courtyard, and packed weapons, money, and survival scrolls.
• Jason left the imperial palace on the pretext of visiting a friend.

Jason trained in the Sunset Mountain Range, improving his combat skills while learning to survive in the wilderness. After thirteen days, he encountered a hostile group of adventurers and escaped their ambush with a poisonous smoke potion.

• Jason wrote to Yunika, asking her to protect the two maids and promising to marry when he returned from training.
• Jason practiced against a One-Horned Wild Boar, struggled to cook it, and then fought off a pack of Fang Wolves.
• After thirteen days of wilderness training, Jason headed toward the middle reaches of the Sunset Mountain Range.
• A group of six adventurers surrounded Jason after he killed a Bloodthirsty War Boar and demanded his magic core and saber.
• Jason dodged an arrow and threw a poisonous smoke potion at the adventurers, then hid in a tree as they stopped pursuing him.

Jason tracked a cautious adventurer party and ambushed them with two skeleton archers, using Soul Probe to target their level-six magic archer. After injuring several opponents, he withdrew when the level-six warrior returned, leaving with the magic archer’s bow.

• Jason used Soul Probe and a zombie bird to track the adventurer party, then summoned two level-four skeleton archers for the attack.
• Jason shot the level-six magic archer through his tent and clashed with the level-six warrior before charging into the camp.
• Jason broke a level-five warrior’s arm, and a skeleton archer killed another level-five warrior with an arrow.
• Jason attacked the remaining party members but retreated under cover of green smoke when the level-six warrior returned.
• Jason finished off the wounded magic archer as he fled and took the archer’s emerald-green bow.

Jason pursued Gibson after the adventuring party’s ambushes and the Wind Wolves devastated the group, while Gibson fled and hid to cultivate. Gibson broke through to level seven, but Jason had tracked him to his hiding place.

• Gibson’s party tried to escape the Wind Wolves, but the wolves and Jason’s arrows killed several members, including the mage and two warriors.
• Gibson abandoned the remaining party members and fled alone while Jason watched the wolves finish them off.
• Jason took supplies and valuables from the battlefield, then paid the wolf king with wind-attribute magic cores to leave.
• Gibson hid inside a giant tree and entered secluded cultivation, believing he was close to a breakthrough.
• Jason followed the zombie bird’s trail to Gibson’s hiding place, and Gibson emerged from the shattered tree hollow as a level-seven warrior.

Jason fought a sword-and-shield warrior until a Green-Striped Giant Python interrupted them and killed the warrior. Jason then defeated the python with Soul Shock and claimed its magicite core and other valuable parts.

• Jason and the sword-and-shield warrior traded attacks, but neither could break through the other's defenses.
• The Green-Striped Giant Python emerged, and Jason climbed a tree while it pursued the warrior.
• The python trapped the warrior in its coils and killed him, after which Jason remembered he could use magic.
• Jason fought the python, used Soul Shock to stun it, and stabbed the back of its neck before finishing it with arrows.
• Jason extracted the python's seventh-level magicite core, glands, fangs, and gallbladder, then took some meat for breakfast.

Jason secluded himself near the Sunset Mountain Range to pursue fifth-rank mage status and expand his undead squad in the Netherworld. After adding two unusual undead, he left the squad with nine members, including a skilled dual-sword skeleton who needed time to recover.

• Jason settled in a bear’s cave and entered the Netherworld, where he told Lumba he wanted to recruit two more undead.
• Lumba directed Jason toward a fifth-rank dual-sword skeleton he had seen before, whose swordsmanship had impressed him.
• Jason’s squad cornered the dual-sword skeleton; Lumba and the others overwhelmed him with a coordinated attack and added him to the squad.
• The squad replenished the dual-sword skeleton’s Soulfire, though he was badly damaged and would need about half a month to recover.
• Jason’s undead subdued the fifth-rank zombie archer Lumba had spotted, bringing the squad’s membership to nine.

After a year crossing the Sunset Mountain Range, Jason reached the Dark Alliance and prepared to travel to Fenlai City. At the Adventurers' Association, he chose a mission escorting a senior Dawson Chamber of Commerce member, hoping for a short journey and a chance to make contact with Yale’s family.

• Jason left Lucy a letter asking her to tell his parents he was safe, then spent a year traveling through the Sunset Mountain Range and reached the Dark Alliance.
• Jason advanced to the peak of the seventh level as a warrior and the peak of the fifth level in spiritual power, and he bought a contract scroll to prepare to contract a magical beast.
• Jason learned that the Yulan and Rhine Empires had made peace and regretted taking a year-long detour around their war.
• Jason visited the Adventurers' Association and asked for a mission to the Fenlai Kingdom.
• Jason chose to escort a senior Dawson Chamber of Commerce member to Fenlai City, and the receptionist gave him a letter of introduction.

Jason joined Svenge’s escort mission to Fenlai City, but Svenge’s party suspected him of hiding his strength and plotting against their employer. After Jason revealed his Rhine Clan identity, Svenge let him leave, and Jason continued toward Fenlai City alone.

• Jason joined Svenge and three other adventurers on the journey from the Dark Alliance to Fenlai City.
• Jason used soul probing to check Svenge and later detected a Shadowmouse near the carriage, while the party also fought a Bloodthirsty War Boar.
• In Grewenhaus City, Svenge’s coachman mistook Jason’s magical fluctuation for a signal, and Svenge’s party decided to confront him as a suspected seventh-rank warrior.
• Svenge demanded to know how Haniefei planned to ambush him, but Jason denied knowing Haniefei and showed his Rhine Clan emblem.
• Svenge let Jason go, and Jason paid for his horse before traveling alone toward Fenlai City and considering writing home.

Jason visited Wushan Town to see the Baruch Clan’s estate and learn about the clan’s decline. After hearing about Veronica, the patriarch’s impoverished niece, he decided to stay cautious and spend two days sightseeing.

• Jason arrived in Wushan Town and learned that the Baruch Clan still had a grand estate despite losing its Saint-level support.
• Jason asked about visiting the estate and whether dragons had sought revenge on the Baruch Clan, but the clerk knew of no such attacks.
• Jason reflected on the clan’s future decline and considered buying the saber Slaughterer or approaching the family as a member of the Rhine Clan.
• Jason heard that Veronica, the Baruch patriarch’s niece, had been reduced to working in town after her father died competing for the patriarch’s position.
• Jason watched Veronica leave with her meal, then decided not to approach her because the Baruch Clan could still defeat him.

Veronica accepted a chance to travel to the Holy City and attempt to awaken her Dragonblood Warrior bloodline, while Jason followed her and her escort. He witnessed an angel kill Mikhail, attack him and Veronica, and vanish after declaring Veronica would become a vessel for another angel.

• A woman sent by the pope offered to take Veronica to the Holy City and let her try the Baruch Clan’s dangerous bloodline-activation method, and Veronica agreed to leave secretly.
• Jason followed the woman and Veronica after sensing that the woman’s presence dispelled the death energy around him.
• Jason found Mikhail confronting the woman, who revealed that she was an angel serving the God of Light and accused the Radiant Church of using Baruch Clan members as vessels.
• The angel killed Mikhail despite his curse and pierced Jason with a spear of light.
• The angel tore apart Veronica’s limbs, sealed the wounds, and said she would make a suitable vessel before dissolving into starlight.