Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yu, as Eric the Goblin Pyromancer, fought a party of adventurers in the arena alongside a fire elemental. After nearly killing the warrior with Flame Bomb Storm, he began casting the spell again as the battle continued.

• The hunters and mage argued over Eric's possible loot before Big Brother ordered the party into formation.
• A hunter drew the fire elemental away while Xiao Yu prepared Flame Bomb Storm against the rest of the party.
• Big Brother tried to interrupt the spell with Pummel, but Flame Bomb Storm blasted away his shield and left him near death.
• The priest saved Big Brother with Power Word: Shield, then healed him as the party attacked Xiao Yu.
• After trading spells and taking over 500 damage, Xiao Yu began casting Flame Bomb Storm again.

Xiao Yu defeated Big Brother’s adventurer party by combining Flame Bomb Storm with the fire elemental’s Flame Nova. After returning to the stands, he earned Black Rod’s approval and was offered a choice between two vacant dungeon posts.

• Big Brother had his party group together to share Flame Bomb Storm’s damage, but the priest’s mana dwindled as Xiao Yu kept attacking.
• Xiao Yu ordered the fire elemental to join the fight, and it cast Flame Nova while the party was grouped up against another Flame Bomb Storm.
• The adventurers panicked and scattered after both attacks left them at critical health, allowing Xiao Yu and the fire elemental to kill the priest and then the rest of the party.
• Xiao Yu collected the dropped equipment and left the arena as the monsters praised him.
• Black Rod judged Xiao Yu strong enough to guard a dungeon and offered him a choice between two vacancies.

Black Rod explained the Hidden Gold Vault and Defias Armory boss positions, and Xiao Yu chose to become the Hidden Gold Vault’s hidden boss. Black Rod brought him to the vault, introduced him to Ural, and showed him the final boss and the sealed cage that would serve as his post.

• Black Rod described the Hidden Gold Vault’s bosses and the Defias Armory’s bosses, including a new patrol position.
• Xiao Yu rejected the patrol role and accepted the hidden boss position in the Hidden Gold Vault.
• Black Rod led Xiao Yu to the vault and explained that adventurers used a purchasable key to enter and could win gold from chests.
• Xiao Yu met Ural, also known as Da Kui, the ogre boss guarding the entrance.
• Black Rod showed Xiao Yu the Treasure Guardian and led him to a sealed iron cage, assigning it as his post.

Xiao Yu learned how to enter and leave his hidden-boss cage, then met Da Kui in the dungeon control room. While they waited, a party cleared the first boss and began fighting the battle golem, whose unusual attack left the encounter unresolved.

• Xiao Yu received a key to the iron cage and learned that the dungeon control room password was 3570.
• Xiao Yu entered the control room, met Da Kui, and watched the dungeon through a magical silver basin.
• A party of adventurers defeated Ural and the four Defias guards, then looted a vault key and other items.
• The party opened the vault doors and attacked the Treasure Guardian, while Xiao Yu watched from the control room.
• The Treasure Guardian fired Arcane Rays from his eyes and spun his head, so the party captain ran clockwise to avoid the beams.

Xiao Yu’s Hidden Gold Vault earned a healthy profit from adventurer parties, but he decided that selling keys and letting players defeat him would betray what he loved about being a boss. When a party from Light of Dawn entered the dungeon, he recognized the guild and prepared to fight them.

• A five-player party defeated the battle golem, chose a wooden chest for its rewards, and left without opening the iron cage.
• Da Kui resurrected the bosses and reset the dungeon while Xiao Yu calculated that the party had earned him about 100 points in profit.
• More than a dozen parties ran the Hidden Gold Vault that afternoon, but none triggered its hidden boss by opening the cage.
• Xiao Yu considered how much he could earn by selling keys and letting adventurers defeat him, then rejected the idea because it went against his identity as a boss.
• An adventurer party bearing the Light of Dawn guild name entered the dungeon, and Xiao Yu decided to take out his old grudge on them.

Xiao Yu returned to the game and killed a Light of Dawn party after they opened his cage, then Da Kui explained why the dungeon should avoid wiping adventurers. The chapter left Da Kui describing the three dungeon types used in the Western Wilds.

• Da Kui let a well-equipped Light of Dawn party defeat the ogre boss and battle golem before they prepared to open a treasure chest.
• Xiao Yu returned to the iron cage and lured the adventurers into opening it by promising them a divine artifact.
• The warrior opened the cage, and Xiao Yu killed him instantly with Flame Bomb Storm before wiping out the rest of the party.
• Xiao Yu reached level 20, recovered two dropped pieces of equipment, and returned to the control room.
• Da Kui warned Xiao Yu that wiping parties could drive customers away, then explained how Dark Rod's three dungeon types catered to different players and made money.

Xiao Yu learned how Shadow Dynasty Studio used monster bosses to entertain paying players, and grew increasingly disgusted with its business. He stayed long enough to witness The Defiant’s completion, where Dark Rod announced a scouting mission to prepare for an attack on Stormwind City.

• Da Kui explained that the studio’s job was to let wealthy players defeat its bosses while providing an entertaining fight, and Xiao Yu decided not to seek out battles.
• Xiao Yu spent two days observing Shadow Dynasty Studio’s operations and became more convinced that its practices had turned the Western Wilds into an amusement park.
• Da Kui told Xiao Yu that The Defiant was finished and urged him to come to the Deadmines.
• Xiao Yu arrived at the crowded docks and watched The Defiant sail out with Dark Rod and Vanessa VanCleef aboard.
• Dark Rod announced that members would scout Stormwind City as the first step toward planning the ironclad’s attack.

Xiao Yu created a dwarf civilian character and explored Stormwind City while Dark Rod organized a scouting operation for the Defiant. In the Cathedral District, Xiao Yu discovered a statue of Long Ao Jiutian and encountered Light of Dawn players gathered around it.

• Xiao Yu told Dark Rod he would join the harbor scouting operation that afternoon, and Dark Rod welcomed his help.
• Xiao Yu created a dwarf civilian character in Stormwind City and wandered through the Dwarven District and nearby streets.
• Xiao Yu reached the Path of Glory and recognized a statue of Long Ao Jiutian, whose inscription described his victories and death in battle.
• Xiao Yu saw Light of Dawn players he had killed in the Hidden Gold Vault arrive with a level 45 warrior, who identified the statue as their former guild leader's.

Xiao Yu learned that Long Ao Jiutian’s resurrection ritual was beginning at Stormwind City’s Altar of Heroes. After seeing the ritual start, Xiao Yu left the game to check on Dark Rod’s plan to bombard the city.

• A warrior told newcomers how Long Ao Jiutian had died fighting Raglios and claimed the Balrog Lord had dropped the legendary Hammer of the Balrog.
• Phoenix led Light of Dawn members toward the cathedral, and Xiao Yu followed after realizing they were going to hold a resurrection ritual.
• Archbishop Benedictus began the ritual, and a system notice showed Long Ao Jiutian’s resurrection progress at one percent, with twenty-four hours remaining.
• Xiao Yu considered attacking the altar but recognized he was only a dwarf commoner and could not fight the guards and guild members.
• Xiao Yu decided to check Dark Rod’s reconnaissance for the planned bombardment of Stormwind City and logged out.

Xiao Yu learned that the Defias Brotherhood could not find a way to land at Stormwind City and attack it, leaving his plan to stop Long Ao Jiutian uncertain. An emergency message and a call from the hospital revealed that Xiao Yu had a brain tumor, with an expensive but highly effective treatment and a dangerous conventional alternative.

• Dark Rod reported that Stormwind City's harbor defenses made landing impossible, though the city itself had relatively few armed forces within its walls.
• Xiao Yu considered how difficult it would be to stop Long Ao Jiutian without the Defias Brotherhood's help when an emergency message arrived.
• Xiao Yu logged out and answered a call from the hospital about his test results.
• The doctor told Xiao Yu that he had a brain tumor in a difficult location, and Xiao Yu read the emailed report confirming it.
• Xiao Yu learned that nanotherapy cost three million yuan and had a 97 percent survival rate, while conventional surgery cost about 300,000 yuan and had only a 5 percent survival rate.

After learning that his brain tumor required costly treatment, Xiao Yu pinned his hopes on winning the Strongest Boss competition and sought another fortune-teller to verify Merlin’s prediction. At the Temple of Fate, Kara questioned what Xiao Yu expected from divination, then began telling him a story.

• Xiao Yu learned that surgery carried a five percent survival rate and that nanotherapy would cost three million, so he considered winning a prize in the Strongest Boss competition his best chance.
• Xiao Yu asked Merlin how he had predicted a calamity, and Merlin admitted he had learned divination online and had mistaken a debuff on Xiao Yu’s coat for possession by a dead soul.
• Merlin directed Xiao Yu to the Temple of Fate, where Xiao Yu registered and entered the Hall of Fate to seek a more reliable prediction.
• Xiao Yu told Kara about his brain tumor and his plan to compete, and asked whether divination’s predictions were guaranteed to come true.
• Kara challenged Xiao Yu to consider whether certainty about his fate would make him stop striving, then led him into her tent and began telling a story.

After Kara’s story about fate, Xiao Yu decided to trust his own efforts and pursue the Strongest Boss Competition without hesitation. As Eric, he returned to the Deadmines and proposed ways to cooperate with Dark Rod’s studio, revealing his identity as the former Flame Demon Lord Lagrios.

• Kara told Xiao Yu a story about three brothers whose beliefs in prophecy shaped how they fought, and Xiao Yu left the Temple of Fate resolved to make his own fate.
• Xiao Yu returned to the Deadmines as Eric and found Dark Rod preparing to bombard Stormwind City with the Defias Brotherhood.
• Eric warned Dark Rod that Stormwind’s harbor defenses were too strong without a way to draw defenders away, then offered to explain ways the studio could cooperate with him.
• Eric proposed becoming the Defias Brotherhood’s executive officer for a year in exchange for a three-million bonus and promised Shadow Studio a top-three boss ranking.
• After a tauren boss challenged him, Eric revealed that he had once been known as Lagrios, the Flame Demon Lord.
• Dark Rod acknowledged Eric’s qualifications but refused to hand him control of the studio, and Eric began to introduce a second way to cooperate.

Xiao Yu arranged with Dark Rod to infiltrate Stormwind City in disguise and cause a disturbance during the planned attack. He reached the cathedral square, where Long Ao Jiutian’s resurrection ritual was underway, and tried to avoid a patrol by approaching Phoenix.

• Xiao Yu persuaded Dark Rod to pay him 100,000 after he caused a disturbance in Stormwind City, and Dark Rod agreed to disguise him and arrange his entry.
• Xiao Yu entered Stormwind City disguised as a human civilian and went to the cathedral square to wait for the agreed time.
• The resurrection ritual reached 60%, and Long Ao Jiutian appeared above the Altar of Light as a translucent figure.
• Xiao Yu noticed a patrol with hounds approaching and moved toward the Light of Dawn members to avoid being detected.
• Xiao Yu greeted Phoenix and claimed they had met at a Qingyang Group business summit, leaving her puzzled as she tried to remember him.

Xiao Yu learned from Phoenix that Han Wei controlled the Light of Dawn and that she served as Long Ao Jiutian’s deputy. At nine o’clock, he began his attack by invoking the Flame Mark, summoning a towering flame demon before the altar.

• Xiao Yu praised Phoenix’s guild leadership and learned that she was Han Wei’s secretary, sent to serve as Long Ao Jiutian’s deputy.
• Phoenix explained that Han Wei had ordered the creation of the Light of Dawn and that Long Ao Jiutian, whose real name was Han Yufeng, had become its guild leader because he liked games.
• When the church bells rang nine times, Xiao Yu told Phoenix to turn on her camera sprite and headed for the altar.
• Phoenix ordered the Light of Dawn members to stop Xiao Yu, but he reached Long Ao Jiutian’s suspended phantom and greeted him with news from Lakrios.
• Xiao Yu activated the Flame Mark on his chest, and its power formed a magic circle and summoned a huge flame demon phantom.

Xiao Yu summoned Shadow of Galax during Long Ao Jiutian’s resurrection ritual, and the Balrog Lord realized the goblin had deceived him. Long Ao Jiutian’s orders sparked a fight that ended with Galax unleashing a massive fire spell across the cathedral square.

• Members of Light of Dawn mistook Shadow of Galax for Lagrios, while Phoenix recognized the name above the Balrog Lord’s head.
• Eric told Galax that Long Ao Jiutian’s soul was there for him, and Galax realized the goblin had failed his task and was trying to trick him.
• Long Ao Jiutian ordered Light of Dawn to attack, while Phoenix tried to stop them and preserve the resurrection ritual.
• Light of Dawn’s attacks hit Galax, and he fired a huge fireball at Eric, who survived with little health remaining.
• The Holy Light knights joined the battle, and Galax cast Super Fire Nova, engulfing the cathedral square in flames.

Dark Rod saw the fire and chaos Xiao Yu caused in Stormwind City as his chance to launch an attack from the Defiant. At the cathedral, the weakened Shadow of Galax disrupted the ritual, killed Long Ao Jiutian’s character, and left Xiao Yu watching the unfolding battle from a tower.

• Dark Rod saw flames rise above Stormwind City and ordered the Defiant to sail toward its harbor.
• The Light of Dawn discovered that the Shadow of Galax was much weaker than the true Galax, while the priests and archbishop struggled to withstand its fire.
• The high-ranking priests abandoned the ritual to heal themselves, and the fading pillar of light caused Long Ao Jiutian’s body to disappear.
• Long Ao Jiutian’s character died, and he exited the game in a rage, cursing the flame demon and goblin.
• Xiao Yu logged into his dwarf civilian character and watched the chaos from a tower while eating snacks.

The Shadow of Galax self-destructed after Phoenix struck him, killing hundreds and plunging the square into chaos. Phoenix then learned that the Defias Brotherhood had breached Stormwind City's walls, leaving her to lead her guild toward the harbor district as the city came under attack.

• The Shadow of Galax activated Body-Burning Blast, and Phoenix used Greater Divine Shield and Wings of Holy Light to attack him before he exploded.
• Phoenix survived the blast and received 275 reputation points, while two or three hundred soldiers and adventurers died.
• Players rushed to loot the fallen soldiers' equipment, sparking fights with surviving guards.
• A messenger told Phoenix that King's Harbor was under attack, and she led her guild toward the docks.
• Phoenix heard conflicting reports about the attackers before a system announcement confirmed that the Defias Brotherhood had breached Stormwind City's walls.

Dark Rod’s attack devastated Stormwind City and earned him the reputation and power to begin the epic Rise of the Brotherhood event, while Phoenix gained recognition for defending the city. After the battle, Xiao Yu logged out, ready to start a new journey.

• Phoenix and the Light of Dawn defeated a group of gnolls but continued toward the harbor as other players fought the monsters in the city.
• Dark Rod ordered The Defiant to keep bombarding King's Harbor until dawn, when it escaped after destroying harbor defenses and sinking several warships.
• The system awarded Dark Rod the title Destroyer of King's Harbor, made the Alliance his mortal enemy, triggered the Rise of the Brotherhood event, and advanced him to a skull-tier boss.
• Dark Rod learned that Eric had summoned an avatar of the Flame Demon Lord to draw away the harbor guards, and confirmed that Black Rod had paid Xiao Yu and recorded the attack.
• Phoenix received the title Guardian of Stormwind City and advanced to a three-star hero template after defending Stormwind City and killing the Flame Demon Lord's avatar.
• Xiao Yu looked over Stormwind City, decided it was time for a new journey, and logged out.

Xiao Yu bought a deluxe game pod and began choosing a new monster character for his ambition to become one of Sky World's top bosses. After narrowing his options, he asked Profiteer about the Seed of Elements and learned that a major game event had just been announced.

• Xiao Yu bought an Immortal 2000 Deluxe Game Pod and had it installed in his apartment.
• Xiao Yu reviewed monster templates and narrowed his choices to draconic creatures, void demons, celestial beings, undead creatures, and elemental creatures.
• Xiao Yu hesitated over choosing an elemental creature because he did not know what side effects the Seed of Elements might cause.
• Xiao Yu contacted Profiteer, who told him about the Seed of Death and said a major game event had been announced.

After reviewing the newly announced strongest boss and strongest hero contests, Xiao Yu decided to pursue the boss title as an elemental creature. He entered the game after turning down Mephisto’s offer to join a guild, leaving his competition for the top three ahead.

• Xiao Yu read about the strongest boss contest and the hero contest, which would judge applicants through recorded gameplay and audience votes.
• Xiao Yu browsed the forums, where players argued about the contests, shared monster guides, and posted recruitment notices for guilds and factions.
• Xiao Yu concluded that competition for the strongest boss title would intensify as studios, guilds, and solo players joined the race.
• Xiao Yu decided to choose an elemental creature, reasoning that fewer players used that type and that his experience and Seed of Elements suited it.
• Mephisto invited Xiao Yu to join a guild with Madman and Old E, but Xiao Yu declined and said he intended to place in the top three.
• Xiao Yu and Mephisto agreed that Mephisto would become Xiao Yu’s follower if Xiao Yu reached the top three, and Xiao Yu entered the game.