Progression Time

Book Recap

Defiance of the Fall

Book 1 Recap· Released

TL;DR

Zac Atwood is alone in a forest when the System integrates Earth. He lands on an island beside a Torrid Demon Incursion, picks the Hatchetman class, wins a three-way fight over the Fruits of Ascension, and ends the Incursion by making a deal with its leader Ogras. Together they found Port Atwood and then hold it through two monster Hordes. Zac ends the book a Lord in the making, around level 54, with three Dao Seeds and a growing town.

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Jump Points

Key Scene Jump Points

  1. Hatchetman Class Awakening

    Book · Chapter 25

    Zac picks the Rare class Hatchetman and feels its fractal imprint across his whole body. From here every level gives him seven stat points instead of two.

  2. Alea and the Fiend Wolf / Seed of Sharpness

    Book · Chapter 93

    In the last wave of the first Horde, a lone E-grade Fiend Wolf nearly kills Zac. Alea saves him, he saves her, and he forms the Dao Seed of Sharpness mid-fight.

I · The Main Plot

Where We Start

Zac is alone in the middle of a forest when the world changes, with little more than a hatchet. After a personalized System initiation that boosts him to level 16 and hands him eight titles, he is dropped on a large island in an archipelago, right next to an Incursion of Torrid Demons and their beasts. He gets four quests straight away: reach level 25, kill ten higher-level demons, kill the five Incursion leaders, then defend his outpost for three months.

Major Plot Points & Spoilers

  1. Zac sets up an outpost and meets Abby (Veth-Abarak), a Star Gazer administrator the System assigns to him. She learns he is a Defier and pushes him to close the Incursion within the month.
  2. He spends the first weeks hunting Demonic Beasts, buying gravity arrays and his first skill (Eye of Discernment), and learning to use Cosmic Energy. He kills the Herald Vul around Day 29, hits level 25 and unlocks classes.
  3. He picks the Rare class Hatchetman (Day 32), earns the titles Full of Class, Rarified Being and Trailblazer, and gets skill quests for Axe Mastery, Chop and Forester's Constitution. Completing them gives him his first Dao Visions and the Dao Seeds of Heaviness and Trees.
  4. The Torrid Demon general Ogras Azh'Rezak, whose clan sent the Incursion, is boxed in. In the fight over the Tree of Ascension's Fruits of Ascension, Ogras betrays and kills his clan rival and second-in-command Rydel. He then reaches an accord with Zac.
  5. Zac closes the Incursion and is rewarded with an E-grade Iliex Shipyard. He founds Port Atwood, buys the Thayer Consortium's headquarters (Calrin Thayer's firm is fleeing the Tsarun Clan) and finds a Nexus Crystal mine under the island.
  6. Alea and Alyn Azh'Rezak join the cast. Alyn teaches Zac about the Multiverse, and Alea saves his life while he saves hers in a fight with a lone E-grade Fiend Wolf.
  7. The Incursion Master quest, which doubles as his Lordship quest, starts the World Ladder. It shows Zac his sister Kenzie is alive, and introduces Thea Marshall, Billy Trask Jr and Thomas Fischer. The first Horde, 720 waves of wolves, earns him the Butcher title, first place on the contribution ladder, the Seed of Sharpness, and level 50.
  8. Human refugees arrive, including Megan and the old fisherman Sap Trang. Zac rescues Emily Larkin and takes her on as a mascot-disciple, and makes his first teleport trip off the island to help an Ishiate village.
  9. The second Horde, the Ayn Hivebeasts, is farmed for eleven days and finished on the twelfth. Zac gains three more levels.

Where the Book Leaves Off

Port Atwood has survived two Hordes and Zac is a strong early-F-grade Lord with a mine, a shipyard and a growing population. The Lordship quest is still running, his sister is only a name on the Ladder, and his home town, father and the rest of the world are still out of reach. The next book starts with the trip to find them.

II · Characters & Personal Progression

Romantic & Personal Status

Zac is effectively single. His girlfriend of a few months before Integration, Hannah, from the prologue, has not turned up yet. Alea Azh'Rezak flirts with him openly, and the wiki says the feelings look genuine rather than strategic. Nothing is formalized.

Inner Circle Check-In

  • Ogras Azh'Rezak: Former enemy general and now Zac's closest partner and advisor. He turns on his own clan's heir, Rydel, to side with Zac, and the two fight side by side in both Hordes.
  • Alea Azh'Rezak: Ogras's poison-class general. She openly pursues Zac, and the two save each other's lives against the Fiend Wolf.
  • Abby (Veth-Abarak): The System's Star Gazer administrator for Zac's territory. Helpful, but she misled him about the penalties for failing the Incursion quest to improve her own odds of a promotion.
  • Sap Trang: A 72-year-old Vietnamese fisherman who arrives as a refugee. He becomes Zac's first human follower.
  • Emily Larkin: A young girl Zac rescues and takes on as a mascot-disciple. She is out for revenge on the man who killed her parents.

Key New Faces & Factions

Ogras Azh'Rezakally

Leader of the Torrid Demon Incursion. He is sidelined by his own clan and makes a deal with Zac rather than die for it.

Rydel Azh'Rezakenemy

A main-branch heir of the Azh'Rezak Clan, sent to take control of the Incursion. Ogras kills him.

Alyn Azh'Rezakally

A demon healer-scholar who teaches Zac how the Multiverse works.

Calrin Thayerally

Chairman of the failing Thayer Consortia. He sells his firm's headquarters to Port Atwood while fleeing the Tsarun Clan.

Kenzie, Thea Marshall, Billy Trask Jrunknown

Only names on the World Ladder at this point. Zac learns his sister Kenzie is alive but has not reached her.

III · End-of-Book Stats & Power Gains

Current Rank / Grade

F-grade, Hatchetman (Rare), around level 54. The status sheet shows level 54 at Book 1 Ch 110, and the Ayn Horde added three levels near the end.

Dao / Path / Class Evolution

Zac has three Dao Seeds: Heaviness, Trees and Sharpness. Heaviness comes from Axe Mastery, Trees from Forester's Constitution, and Sharpness mid-battle against the Fiend Wolf. He is a Defier, a mortal on the cultivation path.

Major Skill & Body Gains

  • Class Hatchetman with skills Axe Mastery, Chop and Forester's Constitution, plus the Loamwalker skill quest.
  • Eye of Discernment and Book of Babel (bought, so he can talk to demons), plus the spirit axe Verun's Bite from the contribution store.
  • Titles including Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500, One Against Many, Planetary Aegis and Butcher.
  • Over 200 Strength and over 100 Dexterity. Wins a Fruit of Ascension, with the status sheet showing the race at E-grade after the Tree of Ascension fight (Ch 64).
  • Over 10 million Nexus Coins, the first time he has crossed both 1 and 10 million.

IV · Extras: Empire, Gear & World State

Territory & Faction Upgrades

Port Atwood, a town on Zac's island in the archipelago. It has an E-grade Iliex Shipyard, the Thayer Consortia headquarters, a Nexus Crystal mine, the old Torrid Demon base and a small human refugee community.

Signature Gear & Vessels

  • Verun's Bite, an F-grade spirit axe bought from the contribution store.
  • A robe from the System with a rechargeable shield charge, and his first proper axes.
  • Gravity arrays and Cosmic Water, used for training.

Ticking Clocks

  • The Incursion Master and Lordship quest is still running, and more Hordes are expected.
  • Zac's family is unaccounted for: his sister Kenzie is on the Ladder, and his father and home town are unknown.
  • Other Incursions are still active on Earth, and the blurb for Book 2 says natives and aliens alike want his throne.