Plot: A seafaring vessel glides along the waters of the north-western coast and spots a shipwrecked pair of young men floating along a piece of wood and saves them. The pair turn out to be Novus and Neipas who were crashed against the elements of a storm and thus saved by the boat. However, when they awaken, Neipas acts coldly towards the crew while Novus tries to ease the tension. It isn’t long before the crew warms up to Novus and begins to tell him of a ghost tale involving the Flying Dutchman and Novus thinks of Cain. Within a few days, Novus and crew are back at the mainland, however, they are much farther north than expected as they see the town prepping for the oncoming winter.
Plot: Thanking the crew profusely, Novus and Neipas head into town to restock and find a Caravan leader who is willing to take them to the Monastery where the Grand Monk is and where Neipas’ letter specifies they must head to. After perusing the town, they only find one caravan willing since the road is infested with monsters and join. Soon enough, the crew of them are on the road and head out at dusk as the caravan leader seems to be in a rush. Novus pretends to fall asleep but is pulled to the dreamscape where he meets the faceless god that congratulates him on receiving one of the Origin Keys and tells him to collect more. Novus asks what purpose the keys hold but is rudely cut off as the faceless god tells him we don’t have enough time to talk. Being forcefully dragged away, Novus reawakens to the alarms of the Caravan signalling monsters once more.
Plot: Novus, Neipas and other players manage to repel the monsters and their named boss from the caravan with a little effort and Novus is amazed by the growth rate of the players with an odd flame symbol emblazed on their armor. Striking up a conversation afterwards, Novus learns that they are apart of a new guild that has the star -Novus- character in it that is at the top of the leaderboards in many different areas. Embarrassed by the praise they sing; Novus finally reopens his messages and sees updates from Percival on the guild he is building with Novus as the famed star. However, Novus quickly turns off the interface to reject the incoming call from Percival soon after appearing.
Plot: Later, Novus and the caravan get off at the entrance to the closest monastery town and begin their ascent up the thousand steps which are said to relive the sins of their life. As soon as Novus steps on the first step, his senses bring forth a heavy weighted feeling from all the killing and deeds done in his previous life and the loss of Adrianne. Meanwhile, Neipas struggles with the death of his father-like master.
Plot: The steps continue to haunt Novus as he suddenly hears the Grand Monk chanting words and walking down the steps. He takes Novus and Neipas and explains that as they are right now, they will never be able to climb those steps. However, he does relinquish any of the regrets that they have and set them forth to their next step in their journey after reading the letter that Neipas was sent to deliver from the late Sword Saint. With renewed vigor and a new goal, Novus and Neipas head to the Northern Grand Forest to seek out Yggdrasil.
Plot: As the crew heads their way north from the monastery and arrive at the Grand Northern Forest, they are greeted by the sound of a flute playing soothing music. Eventually, the duo arrives in time to see the bard riding & feeding a large, blindfolded goat with grapes in the bard’s foot as he plays his flute. Novus gets a vague sense that the flute player is familiar, but a mask covers the bard’s face and Novus is unable to be 100% sure. The wandering bard stops and wishes the two a happy travel as he pours out wine from the goat’s horns, but to watch out for any elven archers as they are an ‘uptight bunch’ to him when he ‘visits.’ Unable to say much in their conversation with the interrupting bard, the duo continues their journey before they are stopped by the flash of an arrow that inserts in front of the duo on their way inwards.
Plot: The elven archer yells from cover that the duo is not allowed in due to suspicions of being a part of the Hidden Shadow, but before he can continue his suspicions, the archer flees to help a few brethren and Novus and Neipas follow soon after. Arriving at the battle scene, Novus and Neipas help to defend against the Hidden Shadow troupe that are battling against the elves. After defeating the mid-boss of the group with combined teamwork, Novus discusses with the elves to let them approach the world tree, Yggdrasil. Thanks to Novus’ haggling skill and the help with combat, the group is taken to a higher advisor which has already expected their arrival and welcomes them to the elder elven village.
Plot: Novus and Neipas are amazed by the architecture that is found as they enter the area of the world tree. Cutting through the streets of people with the commander’s flying beast, the duo arrives at the grand chapel of the elves which worship the World Tree, Yggdrasil. The commander beckons the duo to enter, and the priest inside redirects the duo to a hidden room that holds a translucent branch extending from the ground. Upon contact with the branch, Novus’ senses turn hazy and within moments, his consciousness is dragged to a world full of vitality and atop a branch, a young lady was there that greets Novus.
Plot: Engaging in conversation with Yggdrasil, Novus learns: 1) He must head to the ancient Black Turtle in Death Valley, 2) Yggdrasil is one of the elder creations that preceded other creations by the gods and 3) the origin key of fate is hidden within the body of Yggdrasil. Being relinquished from his conversation with Yggdrasil, Novus returns to the physical world again lying on the floor of the translucent branch room. Meeting with Neipas on the outside, the commander either volunteers himself or another to lead Novus and Neipas to the infamous Death Valley.
Plot: The elven guide takes Novus and Neipas to Death Valley through winding passages and avoiding the HS wyverns that seem to be patrolling the air around the northern area. Finally, after a daring escape through passages that manage to shake off a few HS wyvern patrols, the crew manage to make it to Death Valley. However, upon making it to death valley, Novus is unsettled by the corrupted deathly aura surrounding the place.
Plot: Novus and Neipas begin to travel inwards with the elven guide following them as they face anything from evil spirits to undead skeletons. Along the way, the elven guide explains the origin of the HS patrols and the importance that they place on the northern areas for unknown reasons. As they battle monster after monster, Novus realizes that the swords cutting down the spirits seem to be purifying the souls that allows Favur to eat high-protein food. Intrigued by the odd purification ability, Novus grows curious of his two sword partners again.
Plot: Travelling further inwards, Novus and crew finally find the first named monster that is only able to be cut with mana-reinforced or soul attacks. However, Novus realizes that the twin swords, Glow and Cinders have an odd affinity for cutting through even the mana-form of the named Banshee. After unleashing a Fang Blade Strike upon the banshee, Novus realizes that the swords and Mino have an odd synergy that is quite powerful. Upon defeating the banshee, the group picks up something called a greater tomb key fragment and set out to collect the rest of the keys.
Plot: Novus separates from Neipas and the elven guide to help collect the scattered keys across the tomb after reading the description that it opens the path to the real Death Valley. Here, Novus is seen challenging various undead monsters and getting stronger with each battle until finally, after defeating a death knight, his named monster slayer levels up to the named monster slayer king. The new title surprises Novus as he can briefly inflict a restraining aura on common monsters. Finally, Neipas meets back with Novus via the elven scout and the duo are surprised when they see how many more fragments Novus has gathered. However, upon completing the key, they refocus and are now prepared to re-enter the deeper part of the Death Valley.
Plot: Stepping through the gate, the group arrive at the entrance to a ravine that stretches down and curves around a sandy mausoleum. However, as the party battle their way through the mausoleum, they encounter HS members and must defeat them while travelling deeper into the tomb. Eventually, they get to a point in which the corrupted power of water is also present in the form as death ice that threatens to freeze everything, including the HS members. Through the help of Favur’s soul flame purifying the way, Novus manages to take Neipas and the elven guide through to the deepest chambers where the HS Disciples of envy and gluttony are attempting to corrupt the black tortoise into becoming a pawn of theirs.
Plot: Battling against Gula, Neipas is seen trying to avenge his master’s death and is continually shaken by Gula’s twisted words. However, this instead pushes Neipas past his limits instead and Gula rapidly begins to lose against the enraged Neipas. Meanwhile, Novus is seen battling against Invidia who uses deadly serpents against Novus to try and kill him. However, through Novus’ own serpent, Aeon, his dragon prestige aura, and Named Monster Slayer King restraining aura, Novus manages to clash with the much stronger Invidia.
Plot: After realizing that the battle wasn’t going in their favor, Gula and Invidia corrupt the elven scout to fight against Neipas who slays her without hesitation and continues to go after them. However, a brief conflict with Novus of him trying to get him to not kill the elven scout enables Invidia to manage to corrupt the essence of death from the black tortoise’s snake tail and escapes with it through one of Mercury’s portals. As they leave the portal, Invidia mocks Novus’ terrible timing and lets it slip that all is not finished with them yet. Neipas tries to follow them but is frustrated when the portal closes right in front of him, and he soon faints afterwards from previously using a secret limit-breaking technique to try and kill Gula. Meanwhile, Novus rushes to the dying black tortoise and hears a voice ring out in his soul space.
Plot: The perspective of Xuanwu is soon told as they feel the life force gradually being corrupted and draining away their strength. The last thing Xuanwu can sense is Novus rushing to his body. In fragments, Xuanwu realize that Novus brings out his two weapons and finally stabs them into Xuanwu’s body. However, it isn’t death that ends up taking Xuanwu, but instead a power of rebirth that separates his godly powers from his power over water and the lost death power. Eventually, the perspective floats back to Novus accepting something as his new Soul Partner through the strength of the twin swords.
Plot: The perspective starts with Neipas awakening from the nightmare of killing the elven guide and awakens to see a passed out old man, Novus, and a small turtle with and blue, ancient, engraved shell lying beside him. Neipas awakening seems to set off a chain reaction as the old man awakens and eccentrically hits Novus’ lower gut (almost crotch shot) and forces him awake. Novus awakens with surprise and is ready to fight before he gets the lowdown from his two swords and the reborn divine creature of the north, Xuanwu. Novus is shocked further when the small turtle beside him begins to speak like an old man in his mind. Unable to explain the odd transformation upon near death, the group is in wonder as Xuanwu takes them out of the Death Valley. However, the turtle, that is now figured to be soul connected to Novus, and Xuanwu tell him that something isn’t right about the direction towards Yggdrasil. Novus also renames the turtle to something other than Xuanwu.
