Chapter Summaries

After surviving a fatal wound with Temporary Undead Transformation, Jason escaped with the gravely injured Veronica and the old magician’s Interspatial Ring. He headed for Blue Lake Manor, while Veronica awoke distrustful of him and Jason discovered a Silver Dragon wing among the ring’s contents.

• Jason used Temporary Undead Transformation and a healing scroll to recover from the spear wound, then returned to the battlefield and found the angel and magician dead.
• Jason took the magician’s Interspatial Ring, collected the magician’s remains, and destroyed the scene with a fire scroll and undead.
• Jason found Veronica mutilated but alive, used his healing disc to treat her, and fled with her toward Blue Lake Manor.
• Veronica awoke and asked Jason whether he intended to use her, but he put off answering as they traveled.
• Jason examined the Interspatial Ring and found it packed with valuables, including what appeared to be a Saint-level Silver Dragon wing.

Jason brought the gravely injured Veronica to Blue Lake Manor, where Mo'ernazha treated her and helped them evade the Radiant Church. They fled into the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, while Inquisition knights outside the manor hesitated to confront the Rhine Clan.

• Jason used his Rhine Clan insignia to gain entry to Blue Lake Manor and introduced himself and Veronica to Mo'ernazha.
• Mo'ernazha sealed the manor, and Jason used a healing scroll to restore Veronica while explaining that the Radiant Church had attacked them.
• Mo'ernazha urged Jason to flee before the Radiant Church searched the manor and supplied him with maps, healing scrolls, and a message for Maisiji.
• Jason left Blue Lake Manor before dawn with Veronica on his back and entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts around seven in the morning.
• Jason told Veronica they would travel farther into the forest before talking, while Radiant Church Inquisition knights outside the manor decided to report to their chief inquisitor.

Jason told Veronica how Blue Heart Grass could help her activate the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline and explained that he was searching for Mist Valley. After locating a likely valley and entering it with Veronica, Jason killed a Red-Scaled Spotted Snake.

• Jason told Veronica that drinking dragon blood with Blue Heart Grass could activate her Dragonblood Warrior bloodline, and said the Silver Dragon's wing in her great-grandfather's Interspatial Ring could provide the blood.
• Jason searched the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts with Veronica and used Soul Probe to find a valley with unusually high elemental energy and many powerful magical beasts.
• Jason and Veronica circled the valley, identified its strongest elemental concentration near the southern center, and chose to enter from the northern end.
• Jason used a Levitation spell scroll to descend the cliff with Veronica, then killed a fifth-level Red-Scaled Spotted Snake that sprang from the rock wall.

Jason took Veronica into Mist Valley to find Blue Heart Grass, then gave her the grass and Silver Dragon blood to awaken her Dragonblood Warrior bloodline. Veronica began transforming, leaving Jason eager to see her powers and determined to keep up with her.

• Jason entered Mist Valley with Veronica and found that its magical beasts were mostly weak, though a griffon’s cry led him to suspect a flock ruled the valley.
• Jason explored the valley, learned that griffons dominated its varied wildlife, and spotted Blue Heart Grass.
• Jason sent Lumba’s skeletal leopard to retrieve Blue Heart Grass, then led Veronica back to a shallow cave near the valley entrance.
• Jason explained the bloodline awakening and removed the grass marked by the skeletal leopard’s teeth before Veronica ate the Blue Heart Grass and drank a flask of Silver Dragon blood.
• Veronica began to transform as silver scales appeared and her pupils glowed, while Jason watched and thought about sparring with her.

Jason and Veronica trained and discussed their path toward Saint-level power while living in Mist Valley, and Jason summoned undead to help Veronica practice. A Moonshadow Flame Cat watched them from nearby, drawn by the smell of Veronica’s cooking.

• Jason and Veronica sparred as she adjusted to her transformed strength, and they discussed her training and talents for fire and destruction.
• Veronica cooked rabbit stew while Jason prepared boar, and they agreed that his dual-sword skeleton could spar with her.
• Jason summoned undead to deepen their cave and began training in the Power of Death while Veronica fought the skeleton.
• A Moonshadow Flame Cat watched Veronica and the skeleton, curious about her transformation and tempted by the aroma of human-cooked food.

After Jason emerged from seclusion, he and Veronica accepted Linda, a Level Nine Moonshadow Flame Cat, as a new companion in exchange for cooking her a daily meal. They explored the valley and settled near Linda’s territory, where Jason planned to dig a cave and cultivate.

• Jason found Linda eating with Veronica and grew nervous until Linda formed an Equal Contract with Veronica, asking for cooked meals in return for help and protection.
• Veronica explained Linda’s history and the valley’s powerful magical beasts, including the two Ironback Gryphons and a Bladeback Earth Lizard.
• Jason, Veronica, and Linda traveled to Linda’s territory, and Jason sent Lumba back to the Netherworld because Lumba disliked the place and Linda disliked having an undead nearby.
• Jason saw Linda’s den, agreed to build a home nearby, and chose a dry rock face where he planned to have his undead dig a cave.

Jason and Veronica trained for five years in the valley while Linda watched their strength grow, then learned that a group of dragons was approaching. When the Ironback Gryphons fled at the sight of the dragon army, Jason, Veronica, and Linda ran too.

• Jason and Veronica buried Mikhail Baruch beside the Blue Heart Grass and kept the secret of activating the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline from the Baruch Clan.
• Jason trained to reach Saint-level while Veronica advanced to the peak of the seventh level and Jason reached the peak of the eighth level and comprehended force.
• Linda learned that Jason and Veronica could challenge powerful magical beasts and decided to train harder, then warned them that dragons were scouting the valley.
• Jason, Veronica, and Linda learned that a Black Dragon led more than fifty Flame Dragons and Green Dragons toward the valley.
• The Ironback Gryphons fled when the dragon army appeared, so Jason and Veronica grabbed Linda and ran.

Jason, Veronica, and Linda left Mist Valley and joined a caravan bound for the Rhine Empire, where Jason hoped to return home and learn about the Rhine Clan’s Holy Land. Along the way, Jason learned the Baruch Clan had collapsed and easily defeated the caravan’s strongest warrior in a sparring match.

• Jason invited Veronica and Linda to return with him to the Rhine Empire, and Linda agreed after hearing about the food and comforts there.
• At Blue Lake Manor, Jason learned from Mo'ernazha that the Baruch Clan had fallen into ruin and that the Radiant Church had been involved in its downfall.
• Jason, Veronica, and Linda joined a caravan heading for the royal capital, and Linda complained about the long journey through the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
• Ednaldo introduced himself to Jason and challenged him to exchange pointers, and Jason defeated him with a single slash.

Jason, Veronica, and Linda explored Yulan City, ate roadside barbecue, and attended an auction while looking for materials to forge new weapons. They left without buying anything and continued preparing for the easy road ahead.

• Jason, Veronica, and Linda ate barbecue on Yulan City's busy streets before Jason spotted an auction house and decided to visit.
• Jason and Veronica watched the auction and considered forging materials, but most of the offerings were unsuitable for their needs.
• Jason bid on a Level Nine Silver Dragon horn, but Veronica warned him that a Level Nine mage was bidding, so Jason stopped competing.
• Jason and Veronica left the auction empty-handed, bought clothes, and got their hair trimmed before leaving Yulan City.

Jason returned to Rhine City with Veronica after more than six years away and was brought to the palace to meet his family. He freed the empress’s maids and settled back into his courtyard, where Veronica surprised him by climbing onto his bed.

• Bannadini found Jason and Veronica at an inn and escorted Jason to the palace, reporting that Barek and Lucy’s rivalry was intensifying.
• Maisiji told Jason to stay out of Barek and Lucy’s conflict, visit his mother, and apologize to the empress; Jason introduced Veronica as his girlfriend.
• Aidem a confronted Jason about Lisa and Aisha, while Veronica said she could accept being his lover; the empress explained that both maids loved other men.
• Jason and Veronica returned to his courtyard, where Jason gave Lisa and Aisha their freedom and Linda went to sleep after eating.
• Jason planned to rest, seek out Bloodshadow Valley, find weapon materials, and study magic before Veronica entered his room and climbed onto him.

Jason and Veronica exchanged magical beast materials for weapons, then visited Jason’s sister and attended Emperor Maisiji’s birthday celebration. Maisiji ended the five-year contest for the throne by arranging Lucy’s marriage, while the reason for his urgency remained unclear to Jason.

• Jason and Veronica traded their accumulated magical beast corpses and other materials at the Rhine Clan’s treasury for supplies to forge one weapon each.
• Craftsmen made Veronica a fire-attribute longsword named Flame Scale and Jason a lightning-attribute saber named Leiming.
• Veronica refused Jason’s suggestion of marriage, so Jason decided to postpone it and visit his sister Yunika instead.
• Jason and Veronica stayed with Yunika for seven or eight days, then joined her family at Emperor Maisiji’s birthday celebration, where Jason saw Barek and Lucy again.
• A trusted aide told Jason that Maisiji wanted to end the contest for the throne, and Maisiji did so by arranging Lucy’s marriage to a childhood acquaintance.

Jason and Veronica agreed to enter Bloodshadow Valley after the Rhine Clan invited all members above level eight to cultivate there. At a family dinner, Barek revealed that the empire was under a state of emergency, leaving the siblings worried that a major crisis was approaching.

• Jason practiced Taiji in hopes of comprehending Profound Mysteries, while Veronica trained after reaching the Eighth level.
• Jason and Veronica decided to accept the invitation to Bloodshadow Valley and prepared to learn about the holy land and contact relatives.
• Prince Vittorio explained that the Rhine Clan's ancestors had created Bloodshadow Valley from a giant demon's corpse, and said the clan needed more fighting strength.
• Jason attended a family dinner with Veronica, where Lucy said she hoped to enter Bloodshadow Valley after reaching level eight and Yunika declined to cultivate.
• Barek told Jason, Lucy, and Yunika that the empire was in a state of emergency and the throne would not change hands while Maisiji remained alive.
• Maisiji urged Jason to work hard in Bloodshadow Valley and told Barek and Lucy to spend time with their families before they went.

Jason and Veronica settled into Bloodshadow Valley, where they began stabilizing their cultivation and training. Jason also visited the Netherworld, where Lumba had reached the seventh level and led an attack on a Corpse Dragon.

• Jason and the Rhine Clan members entered Bloodshadow Valley and learned that its runes, carved into a Deity-level monster’s skeleton, greatly increased elemental concentration.
• Jason and Veronica chose a room and decided to stabilize their cultivation before pursuing further breakthroughs, while Linda trained with them.
• Jason checked on Lumba in the Netherworld and found that he had reached the seventh level, awakened fire and earth magic, and gained new weapons.
• Lumba told Jason that a seventh-level undead Corpse Dragon was nearby, and Jason judged that his undead army could fight it.
• Jason kept his consciousness in the Netherworld until midnight, then complained that the Corpse Dragon had flown away during the fight.

A Saint-level expert introduced five Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiends from the Abyss as the Rhine Clan’s pureblooded relatives and invited the clansmen to spar with them. Prince Vittorio defeated one, while a conservative elder lost to another, and the Violet-Eyed Clan prepared to live nearby and train with the Rhine Clan.

• A Saint-level expert explained that the Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiends were the source of the Rhine Clan’s bloodline and said the five visitors wanted to spar.
• Prince Vittorio fought a level-nine Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend, whose Destruction Magic and combat instincts let it match him until its power waned and he won.
• A peak ninth-level water-attribute elder fought another Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend, remained on the defensive, and lost.
• A Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend tried to kill the defeated elder, but the Saint-level expert stopped it and urged both clans to spar and improve together.

Jason fought Ailin, a ninth-level Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend who had comprehended Force and Edicts, and the two proved evenly matched. After Ailin called the fight a draw, Edward Rhein and Dante watched and discussed Jason’s skill with a Profound Mystery.

• Prince Vittorio asked Jason to fight Ailin, and Jason followed him to the training grounds.
• Ailin introduced herself as a peak ninth-level fighter, and Jason reacted with surprise when she spoke.
• Jason and Ailin exchanged attacks, revealing that Ailin used destructive Edicts while Jason relied on the Water Element’s Profound Mystery of Roundness.
• Edward Rhein and Dante watched the fight, and Dante identified Ailin as his daughter while Edward praised Jason’s combat skill.
• As their battle-qi and magic power ran low, Ailin called the fight a draw, and Jason agreed.

After ten years of secluded training, Jason broke through to Saint-level and tested his abilities against Ailin, who had advanced three years earlier. He planned to enter Bloodshadow Valley’s forbidden area the next day to claim the reward reserved for newly advanced Saint-level clan members.

• Jason learned that his Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend bloodline did not greatly increase his Saint-level bottleneck, despite the race’s short lifespan and slower maturation on the Yulan Continent.
• Jason spent ten years in secluded training and reached Saint-level at age thirty-six.
• Jason fought Ailin, a Saint-level expert focused on the Edicts of Destruction and Laws of Death, and she defeated him in the arena.
• Jason and Ailin acknowledged each other as evenly matched friends after the fight.
• Ailin invited Jason to claim the reward for newly advanced Saint-level clan members in Bloodshadow Valley’s forbidden area, and Jason planned to apply the next day.

Jason visited the forbidden grounds of Bloodshadow Valley, where Bili explained the Violet-Eyed Family’s history and plans before giving him a Blue Jade Fruit and books on cultivation. After the fruit strengthened Jason’s soul, he studied the Four Edicts and the Seven Elements’ Profound Mysteries, leaving with their teachings memorized.

• Jason climbed into the divine beast’s remains and met Bili in an ice hut beside the Blue Jade Fruit trees.
• Bili told Jason that the Violet-Eyed Family came from the Abyss and that its patriarch planned to take the family’s Saints to a Higher Plane within two hundred years.
• Bili gave Jason a Blue Jade Fruit, which strengthened his soul from the early eighth rank to the early Saint level and also replenished Lumba through their soul contract.
• Bili directed Jason to books explaining the Four Edicts and the Seven Elements’ Profound Mysteries.
• Jason read the books, learned the recorded abilities and mysteries, then memorized their contents because copying them was forbidden.

After ten days in the forbidden area, Jason received a crystal ball for collecting souls and learned about Crescent Island, a training ground for Saints. He reunited with Veronica and married her at the Rhine imperial palace, while she chose to pursue Saint-level power through her own efforts.

• Jason gained an inkling of the Edicts of Destruction during his stay in the forbidden area, and Bili gave him an Interspatial Ring and a crystal ball that could be exchanged for a Blue Jade Fruit when filled with souls.
• Bili told Jason that Crescent Island served as a training ground for Saints and warned him not to cause mass deaths on the Yulan Continent while collecting souls.
• Jason returned to Veronica, who said she would stop using her dragonform and try to reach the Saint level through her own efforts, and Jason promised to wait for her.
• Jason and Veronica agreed to marry and held a wedding at the Rhine imperial palace, attended by Jason's relatives and a few high-ranking ministers.
• After the wedding, Jason bribed Linda the black cat with a roast rabbit, then embraced and kissed Veronica in their bridal chamber.

Jason delayed going to Crescent Island because he could not yet use his full Saint-level strength, and instead strengthened his undead army in the Netherworld. After capturing a Corpse Magus and a powerful Corpse Dragon, he left with a much stronger force despite heavy losses among the lower-rank undead.

• Jason explained that his Saint-level Battle-qi and magic were limited, then checked on his undead army and found that Lumba had reached the ninth rank.
• Jason’s undead army defeated a seventh-rank Corpse Magus, with Lumba taking control of its Soulfire and adding its followers to the force.
• Jason agreed with Lumba that undead losses were part of their nature and ordered an assault on a peak eighth-rank Corpse Dragon.
• Lumba led the ambush that crippled the Corpse Dragon’s wings, scattered its followers, and brought it down with help from Jason’s seventh-rank undead.
• Lumba claimed the Corpse Dragon’s Soulfire, and Jason’s army regrouped with a ninth-rank Lumba, an eighth-rank Corpse Dragon, an eighth-rank dual-sword skeleton, and more than four thousand lower-rank undead.

After two years of secluded cultivation, Jason reached a bottleneck and began sparring with Rhine Empire Saint-level experts to test his strength. Edward Rhein trained him in the Blazing Sun Desert, then pointed him toward possible sources of Life Magic and Fate Magic.

• Jason focused on the Profound Mysteries of death, water, and lightning, while leaving his other attributes to chance.
• Edward Rhein sought out Jason and offered to train him so Jason could eventually defeat Ailin.
• Edward’s death-attribute divine saber overwhelmed Jason in their first sparring exchange, sending him crashing to the ground.
• While recovering, Jason asked Edward where to find Life Magic and Fate Magic inheritances.
• Edward said the Radiant Church and Dark Forest possessed Fate Magic, while Life Magic could be found in the Yulan Empire or among scattered mages, and he suggested searching submerged ruins near Crescent Island.
• Edward flew back into the sky and resumed sparring with Jason.