Noah Sterling, the Sterling clan's prodigy, awakened a Black Gold Core at thirteen. But a fire drained it, making him a "Dead Core" outcast. At his awakening test, his fiancée rejected him, his cousin crushed his pride, and he lost inheritance. Then his mother's ring awakened; Orion revealed half his core was stolen—the rest sealed the Eclipse Flame, a city-destroying blaze. Using that fire, Noah reforged his body, made elixirs, broke arrays, slew enemies. He rose against seven great houses, uncovering the truth about his parents and the usurped Star-Ash Throne.