Chapter Summaries

Chen Mo, a transmigrator serving as a prospective apprentice at Black Crow Castle, struggled through menial work while learning necromancy and caring for his skeleton. After being assigned to a dangerous expedition for Archmage Black Crow’s birthday, he recognized that an official apprentice’s hostility toward him stemmed from their rivalry over Aili, a charming merchant’s daughter.

• Chen Mo recalled drowning after trying to save a child and waking in the Starry Continent, where guards brought him to Black Crow Castle.
• Chen Mo became a prospective apprentice, summoned a skeleton spearman, and spent most of his days cleaning undead creatures while training his magic.
• Chen Mo learned that the apprentices had to offer birthday gifts to Archmage Black Crow, and he was ordered to join a squad hunting a dark demonic tree in the Dark Forest.
• Chen Mo noticed that the squad leader, an official apprentice, treated him with hostility because Aili had shown him special attention.
• Chen Mo recognized Aili’s habit of cultivating promising admirers and recalled that a practice match had killed two prospective apprentices while costing the young master four gold coins and a reprimand.

Chen Mo risked a Bloodline Sacrifice to summon aid from his home world, entering a vast true-name incantation that stalled the altar. The story then shifted to Eastern Xia, where officials gathered to discuss pressure from the Bald Eagle Federation.

• Chen Mo cleaned Gaoshi’s buckethead zombie while enduring the other apprentices’ mockery and Aili’s attention.
• Chen Mo explained how mental power, true-name incantations, connections, and sacrifices determined the strength of a summoner’s summons.
• Chen Mo requested and received a mental power pill from Mage Jiuwei, with Gaoshi’s permission.
• Chen Mo swallowed the pill and attempted a Bloodline Sacrifice, directing the altar toward Republic of Eastern Xia through a long cosmic true-name incantation.
• The altar’s cross-realm transmission stalled as the scene shifted to a meeting at Changle Palace about the Bald Eagle Federation’s pressure on Eastern Xia.

Chen Mo received a supply package and a letter from Eastern Xia after the motherland answered his plea for help. Reassured by their support, he began reading the instructions and guidance they had sent.

• Chen Mo recovered from the strain of using his mental power and sensed that his summoning had succeeded.
• He opened the package sent through the altar, eager to receive the supplies from his motherland.
• Chen Mo read a letter addressed to him as a comrade, which urged him to protect himself and explained that the package included supplies, advice, and experimental procedures.
• The letter reminded Chen Mo that Eastern Xia’s more than one billion compatriots would support him through his difficulties.

Chen Mo received a weapons and survival package from Eastern Xia, along with a message asking locals to protect him, and was moved by his homeland’s support. Months before Archmage Black Crow’s birthday, Chen Mo’s team set out on its mission to the Demon Tree Jungle and reached Breeze Path, where it planned to make its final camp.

• Chen Mo inspected the supplies sent by Eastern Xia, including firearms, explosives, protective gear, medical supplies, and survival equipment.
• Chen Mo read Eastern Xia’s appeal to strangers to protect him and broke down in tears, grateful that his homeland had answered his plea.
• Chen Mo joined a team led by Young Master Zircon, whom he privately called Little Goldie, and traveled with Aili, scout Little Eleven, and the attendant he called Duo Gu.
• Little Eleven quietly warned Chen Mo to be careful as the team set out for the Demon Tree Jungle.
• The team reached Breeze Path and prepared to camp, leaving the relatively safe territory surrounding Black Raven Castle.

The team entered the Demon Tree Jungle and began fighting the Dark Demon Tree, while Chen Mo remained wary of the young blond captain who had threatened him. The battle started with the Dark Demon Tree summoning a pack of infected gray wolves, and the team’s summons engaged both the wolves and the tree.

• At the camp, the young blond captain mocked Chen Mo and threatened him, while Duo Gu kept watch through the night in case Chen Mo fled.
• At sunrise, the team crossed into the Demon Tree Jungle and followed Little Eleven’s guidance toward the Dark Demon Tree’s lair.
• Chen Mo struggled through the dense forest while helping Little White avoid tripping over hidden roots.
• At the clearing, Little Eleven positioned Chen Mo’s and Aili’s skeletons around the perimeter while the young blond sent his zombies to attack the Dark Demon Tree.
• The Dark Demon Tree summoned a pack of infected short-eared gray wolves, and Little White fought one while the blond’s zombies drew the tree’s attacks and chopped at its bark.

Chen Mo and Skeleton Xiaobai ambushed Little Goldie and Duo Gu with a hidden rifle, turning the demon-tree mission into a deadly fight. After the zombies were banished, Xiaobai moved in to finish off the wounded enemies while Chen Mo kept his distance.

• Little Goldie revealed that he planned to kill Chen Mo and turn his remains into a trophy, then bragged about his past victims.
• Chen Mo pretended to notice something in the forest, distracting Little Goldie and Duo Gu while Xiaobai secretly aimed his rifle.
• Xiaobai shot Duo Gu and Little Goldie in rapid succession, and both men fell.
• Chen Mo ordered Xiaobai to keep firing as they retreated from the charging zombies; Little Goldie's death caused the phantom altar to banish them.
• Chen Mo stayed back with his pistol ready while Xiaobai stabbed the wounded Duo Gu with his bone spear.

Chen Mo forced Aili and Little Eleven to guide him along the Breeze Path toward the Six-Leaf Woodland after killing Young Master Zircon. As the group traveled, Aili suddenly trapped Chen Mo in an ice cage with magic.

• Little White killed Young Master Zircon after the wounded noble used a binding spell.
• Chen Mo persuaded Aili and Little Eleven to accompany him toward the Six-Leaf Woodland, claiming he had acted in self-defense.
• Chen Mo gathered the Heart of the Magic Tree and set out with Little Eleven carrying Duo Gu's backpack.
• On the Breeze Path, Aili tried to convince Chen Mo to return, but he refused and told her they would part at the camp.
• Aili pretended to trip, then unleashed an ice spell that trapped Chen Mo in a crystalline cage.

Chen Mo was trapped by Aili’s binding spell as she fled to report him, but Little White shot her before she could escape. Little Eleven then attacked Chen Mo in a grief-fueled rage, and Chen Mo killed him before reflecting on how carelessly he had handled the danger.

• Aili bound Chen Mo and ran toward Black Crow Castle, determined to report the killing and protect herself.
• Little White shot Aili as she fled, and Little Eleven shot Chen Mo with a crossbow before charging at him with a knife.
• Little Eleven attacked Chen Mo over Aili’s death, while Chen Mo struggled free of the fading ice ring and realized Little White had dropped its rifle.
• Chen Mo shot Little Eleven repeatedly until the scout collapsed and died reaching toward Aili’s body.
• Chen Mo treated his wounds and recognized that his carelessness and failure to understand Little Eleven’s feelings had nearly cost him his life.

After killing four people, Chen Mo scavenged the battlefield and reached Six-Leaf Woodland with Little White. He hired Kajia as a guide, learned the camp rules, and entered the lively outpost, where Kajia drove off a rival trying to claim Chen Mo as a customer.

• Chen Mo collected money, Little Eleven’s crossbow, supplies, and sturdy boots from the battlefield, then left with Little White.
• Chen Mo arrived at Six-Leaf Woodland and paid Kajia a silver coin to guide him into the camp.
• Kajia explained the camp’s rules, warned Chen Mo about pickpockets, and recommended his uncle’s Hero’s Inn.
• Chen Mo entered the busy camp and saw its market stalls and residents greeting Kajia.
• Little Braids tried to take Chen Mo as his customer, but Kajia blocked him and sent him away.

Chen Mo was refused treatment by Witch Doctor Big Eye, who demanded an unaffordable fee and warned him to avoid the necromancer at Black Raven Castle. Kajia then remembered a northern adventuring party with a healer, while Commandery Princess Liushuang endured an etiquette lesson at her guarded woodland camp.

• Kajia brought Chen Mo to Witch Doctor Big Eye, who recognized his connection to Black Raven Castle and accused him of being a necromancer.
• Big Eye demanded ten gold coins to treat Chen Mo, so Chen Mo left without receiving treatment.
• Big Eye warned Chen Mo to stay away from the old necromancer at Black Raven Castle, and Kajia remembered a northern adventuring party that might include a healer.
• Kajia offered to take Chen Mo to find the adventurers, while the chapter shifted to Commandery Princess Liushuang studying audience etiquette under Lady Linda.

Kajia insisted that Princess Liushuang’s camp healer treat Chen Mo’s arrow wound, and the old healer Locke miraculously closed it with magic. Chen Mo left for the Hero’s Inn to recover, thanking Kajia and rewarding him with two silver coins.

• Princess Liushuang interrupted her etiquette lesson and agreed to let the camp healer treat Chen Mo.
• Guard Captain Peiwen warned Chen Mo that he would bear responsibility for any problems during treatment.
• Chen Mo accepted the terms and showed the arrow lodged in his shoulder.
• Peiwen pulled out the arrow, and Locke used magical powder and healing magic to mend Chen Mo’s wound.
• Chen Mo declined the centaurs’ party invitation and returned to the Hero’s Inn with Kajia.
• Chen Mo hugged Kajia, thanked him, and gave him two silver coins.

Chen Mo secured passage aboard the Cloudmist Territory airship by trading two intricately engraved gold pieces, then traveled south over the Dark Forest. He remained confined to the stern area and wondered about the isolated elves below.

• Chen Mo offered the gnome seventeen silver coins and his remaining copper, but the gnome refused to sell him a ticket because Cloudmist Territory had chartered the airship.
• Chen Mo asked Captain Peiwen to let him aboard, but Peiwen refused to take the risk of bringing along an unknown necromancer.
• Chen Mo offered two pressed gold pieces, and Old Locke examined their flawless five-clawed dragon designs before persuading Lady Liushuang and Lady Linda to let Chen Mo and Little White board.
• Captain Peiwen assigned Chen Mo a cabin at the stern and ordered him and Little White to stay away from the forward cabin.
• As the airship flew over the Dark Forest, Chen Mo stayed by the stern railing and listened to a mercenary describe the isolated elves living below.

Chen Mo bought wine for Luke and learned how mercenary work was controlled and subcontracted across the continent. Luke explained how independent mercenaries ended up with the worst jobs, including compulsory supply deliveries, leaving Chen Mo with a clearer picture of the risks behind registering as a mercenary.

• Chen Mo offered Luke wine in exchange for more information about life as a mercenary.
• Luke described the Silver Alliance’s wealth and contrasted it with the poverty and wars that drove people in the Mirror Lake Kingdom into mercenary work.
• Luke explained that guild inspectors controlled which jobs could be posted and that mercenary companies served the interests of the kingdoms.
• Luke told Chen Mo that independent mercenaries relied on companies to pass down jobs through successive subcontractors.
• Luke explained that mercenary companies had to meet annual supply-delivery quotas, so they pushed the exhausting, poorly paid work down to independent teams like his.

Chen Mo reached White Stone Outpost and obtained a temporary travel permit and carriage passage to White Stone City. Before departing, he let Commandery Princess Liushuang inspect Little White, received a rare healing medicine from her, and gave her a thermite grenade in return.

• Chen Mo followed Luke's advice and paid an outpost captain for a three-day temporary travel permit.
• Chen Mo bought a carriage ticket to White Stone City and stayed overnight at the outpost inn.
• Commandery Princess Liushuang asked Chen Mo to show her his skeleton, and she eagerly examined Little White while Captain Peiwen stood guard.
• Commandery Princess Liushuang gave Chen Mo a fifth-tier healing medicine, and Chen Mo gave her a thermite grenade.
• Chen Mo and Commandery Princess Liushuang said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Chen Mo realized the rider and carriage driver had arranged an ambush, prepared his weapons, and lured the attackers into range. He destroyed the Mountain Vine Squad with a grenade and finished off the survivors, leaving the road strewn with casualties.

• Chen Mo overheard the rider and driver exchange a suspicious coded conversation, then armed himself and watched for trouble.
• The driver steered the carriage off the main road and fled into the woods as four Mountain Vine Squad mercenaries charged toward Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo threw a defensive grenade at the attackers, killing or badly wounding the mercenaries and their horses.
• Little White fired the Type 95 to finish off the fallen mercenaries, then Chen Mo used his bone spear to deliver further finishing blows and put the wounded horses out of their misery.

Chen Mo killed the Mountain Vine adventurer party, learned from the coachman that they had accepted a job targeting him, and reached White Stone City. At the Old Hedgehog Tavern, he sought Old John while the patrons eyed him and Little White with suspicion; nearby, Josie was boasting about earning his advancement.

• Chen Mo found the coachman hiding in the woods, forced him to gather loot, and questioned him about the Mountain Vine party and the black market job targeting him.
• The coachman explained that the job could not be taken again until its guaranteed period expired, and Chen Mo ordered him to drive on to White Stone City.
• Chen Mo entered White Stone City with Little White, paid the entry fees, and gave the coachman copper coins before going to the Old Hedgehog Tavern.
• Chen Mo paid a waiter to identify Old John and headed toward the old musician on the tavern's platform as the drinkers watched him and Little White warily.
• Josie boasted to his companions about becoming a Bronze Pattern Warrior by completing the Mercenary Guild's advancement quest, which required killing six Shadow Demon Wolves and returning their crystals.

Chen Mo used the tavern chaos caused by Little White’s fall to establish a fabricated noble background and ask Old John for a mercenary identity. Old John agreed to help him register at the Mercenary Guild, while the one-eyed owner asked Chen Mo how he wanted to deal with Josie.

• Josie tried to trip Little White to impress his companions, but the skeleton fell and spilled bloodied weapons and armor across the tavern floor.
• The mercenaries feared Chen Mo after seeing the gruesome equipment, and the one-eyed owner restored calm by offering every table another bottle of liquor.
• The one-eyed owner brought Josie before Chen Mo and asked his name and origins, so Chen Mo claimed to come from a respectable family and recounted a carefully composed background.
• Chen Mo said he wanted a mercenary identity so he could study at a magic tower, and Old John promised to arrange it at the Mercenary Guild the next day.
• The one-eyed owner asked Chen Mo how to deal with Josie and hinted that Josie's father had once saved his life.

Chen Mo registered as a mercenary, sold his recovered equipment, and hired Josie and Little John to guide him to a mage tower. After securing his travel arrangements and temporarily blocking the black-market bounty against him, he reached the North Foothills Bay Radiance Mage Tower, whose immense magical power he sensed from afar.

• Old John helped Chen Mo obtain a zero-rank mercenary badge, and Chen Mo learned that war seemed likely as hardship drove people into mercenary work.
• One-Eye sold Chen Mo’s equipment and arranged Josie and Little John as guides; Chen Mo bought a carriage and paid to keep the black-market pursuit mission locked for half a year.
• Chen Mo departed White Stone City with Josie and Little John, whose fathers saw them off, and the group traveled smoothly toward the North Foothills River.
• After a week, Chen Mo reached the North Foothills Bay Radiance Mage Tower and sensed powerful streams of violet and blue magic within its stone walls.

Chen Mo was rejected by three mage towers and decided to focus on strengthening his mental power and learning Psionic Diversion, which could make his unusual summoning far more efficient. After recovering from his last Bloodline Sacrifice, he gathered items to send home and shut himself in an inn room to prepare for another sacrifice.

• The Radiance Mage Tower's gatekeeper turned Chen Mo away, and the next two mage towers rejected him as well, telling him to return during the spring apprenticeship season.
• Chen Mo reasoned that his summoning relied on his mother's help and technological creations from Eastern Xia, so his main limits were how often and how much the Bloodline Summoning Altar could transfer.
• Chen Mo set two goals: find a mage tower for training to increase his mental power and learn Psionic Diversion to split powerful spells into smaller, more frequent uses.
• After giving up on finding another mage tower for the moment, Chen Mo rested, shopped with Josie and Little John, and filled two bags with assorted goods to send home.
• Chen Mo booked adjoining rooms at an inn, ordered Josie and Little John to guard his door, and began preparing for another Bloodline Sacrifice as rumors about his skeleton spread around town.

Eastern Xia established a heavily secured team to monitor Chen Mo’s teleportation beacon and respond whenever it activated. When the beacon received a new transmission, the team recovered [Wanderer]’s letter and Starry Continent supplies, then sent the information and materials for analysis.

• Josie grew convinced that Little White was an ordinary skeleton spearman and that Chen Mo was the one to fear.
• After the beacon activated, Cangming recruited Lin Xiangdong for a permanent, closely monitored assignment and placed him with Chi Qiu and Zheng Ran on the Stargazing team.
• Cangming assigned the three to lead the Compassionate Voyage Project Office and gave them strict security rules for guarding the beacon.
• When the beacon activated again, Lin Xiangdong and Chi Qiu secured the chamber while Zheng Ran watched from the observation area.
• Lin Xiangdong recovered a package containing [Wanderer]’s detailed letter and Starry Continent specialties, and reported that the transmission window would last seventy-two to ninety-six hours.
• The Stargazing team sent the letter and supplies to the relevant translation, planning, analysis, and research teams, and the Eastern Radiance leader praised their work.