Chapter Summaries

Gawain’s territory resumed work after the monster attack, while Hall, a spy in the 25th Brigade, tried to gather intelligence and send a report to his master. Rumors spread through the brigade until Amber heard a wildly distorted account of Cecil Territory.

• Gawain taught Rebecca and Heti useful knowledge while officials and workers planned the territory’s postwar production.
• Hall attended the 25th Brigade’s work meeting and reflected on his mission to spy on Cecil Territory.
• Hall chatted with fellow workers about the battle, then slipped into a restroom stall and wrote a secret letter to his master describing the attack and the territory’s growth.
• Hall concealed the letter and waited for a marked merchant from Carrol Territory to carry it out.
• The 25th Brigade’s members spread speculation and rumors about Cecil Territory as they exchanged information.
• Two Intelligence Bureau agents reported the brigade’s distorted rumors to Amber, who called the result a miracle born from nothing.

At Longwind Fortress, Duke Silas Loren assessed reports of monster attacks on both Typhon and Ansu and rejected his son Belk’s call to exploit damage to Winterwolf Fortress. He accepted that Gawain Cecil’s warning was real and recognized that the threat could change the balance between the neighboring kingdoms.

• Silas Loren heard that Typhon’s Winterwolf Fortress had fought monsters, suffered damage, and possibly taken heavy casualties.
• Belk urged Silas to attack while Winterwolf Fortress was weakened, but Silas explained the military risks and warned that an assault would mean total war.
• Silas told Belk that monsters from the Gondor Wasteland had also attacked New Cecil Territory and that news of the attack had arrived with merchants.
• Silas admitted that Gawain Cecil’s warning had been right and concluded that the monsters threatened both Ansu and Typhon, potentially changing the situation.

Amber reported to Gawain that the Intelligence Bureau’s agents had returned with personnel and intelligence, including signs of rising cult activity and the Holy Light Church’s growing influence across the kingdom. Meanwhile, Beltira told a gathering of cultists that the Ansu-Typhon war they had tried to provoke was nearing failure because unexpected changes had emerged in the Wasteland.

• Amber told Gawain that The End of All Things and The Sleeper cultists were becoming more active across the kingdom, while the Holy Light Church was increasing its efforts against them.
• Amber warned Gawain that a rumor praising the God of Holy Light over other gods was spreading near Count Hosman's Territory, and Gawain ordered continued vigilance.
• Amber described how Gepril, “Swiftfoot,” and Anton had succeeded in their field missions, and Gawain praised the agents’ work.
• Amber asked Gawain for extra wages, Boker wine, and time off as a reward for the agents’ success.
• Beltira entered an Underground Palace gathering and told the cultists that their plan to provoke an Ansu-Typhon war was failing because unexpected changes had appeared in the Wasteland.

Beltira reprimanded Archpriest Hitton for directing Aberrants toward Cecil Territory and Typhon, then ordered the church to activate plans in both nations and prepare the Dark Bridge in Typhon. In Cecil Territory, Camil finished examining a strange bone fragment and went with Amber to report to Gawain.

• Beltira questioned Hitton about the Aberrants that attacked Typhon's border and rebuked him for trying to destroy Cecil Territory without authorization.
• Beltira told Raina and Feilna to activate the church's contingency plan in Typhon and ordered Archpriest Clement to act in Ansu without alerting the Verde Family's she-wolf.
• Beltira sentenced Hitton to three days and three nights of sacrificial punishment, then ordered him to prepare the Dark Bridge in Typhon so she could contact their companions on the other side.
• Camil completed an experiment that disintegrated a black-red bone fragment and murmured that he had discovered what they had done.
• Amber startled Camil by appearing beside him, then told him Gawain wanted to discuss technical matters, and Camil agreed to go report to Gawain.

Camil spoke with Betty while waiting for Gawain and recalled his lost sister before reporting that the Aberrants came from the Defiance Plan. Gawain confirmed he had suspected as much and invited Camil to explain how he had discovered it.

• Camil waited in Gawain's study, where Betty repeatedly offered him tea before they talked about her life serving the Cecil family.
• Betty told Camil that Gawain had called the era cruel and wanted to build a New Order, prompting Camil to recall his younger sister and why he joined the Defiance Plan.
• Gawain returned with blueprints, and Camil told him that the Aberrants were products of the Defiance Plan.
• Camil explained that analysis of an Aberrant sample revealed a Type II Genetic Factor mutation matching the Godscions created by the Defiance Plan.
• Gawain admitted he had suspected the connection and asked Camil to sit down and explain further.

Camil discovered that Aberrants were mutated descendants of the godspawn created by the Defiance Plan, while Gawain concluded the plan had helped Gondor’s descendants survive the Magic Tide outside the imperial heartland. Gawain then showed Camil a design for an overloaded repulsion cannon and explained why industrial weapons should be treated as consumables rather than heirlooms.

• Camil examined a purified Aberrant fragment and concluded that the Magic Tide had mutated the godspawn Genetic Factor into monsters.
• Camil and Gawain reasoned that Gondor’s royal family had spread the godspawn trait through mass immunization and newborn screening, and Gawain recalled evidence of those programs near the end of the Starfire Era.
• Gawain explained that Gondor’s descendants survived the Magic Tide’s first and second impacts, while the Azure Well’s annual explosions may have catalyzed the mutations in the imperial heartland.
• Gawain and Camil discussed the unexplained ability of Aberrants to appear within chaotic magic fields, and Camil suggested that stolen divine power might account for it.
• Gawain gave Camil blueprints for a repulsion cannon with overloaded acceleration tracks, magic field receivers, load balancers, and self-propelled shells.
• Gawain argued that industrial devices should be designed for practical service lives and replacement, not made to endure for generations.

Gawain convinced Camil that mass-produced magical devices need not last for generations and asked him to optimize an elven spell array for ammunition using Rune Logic. As Cecil Territory prepared to expand its settlement before winter, Veronica watched the capital’s worshippers and prayed for the Holy Light to guide them.

• Gawain explained to Camil that industrial magical devices could have shorter service lives, and described tests showing red-copper Repulsion Generators could fire thousands of shells.
• Gawain asked Camil to use Rune Logic to simplify the elven Blessing of Wind array for shells, and Camil vowed to make it work while continuing his energy-weapon designs.
• Gawain watched the 25th Production and Construction Brigade and sixteen Typhon prisoners build a settlement on the northern bank, and considered the territory’s coming population growth and its neighbors’ response.
• Veronica stood atop the Holy Light Cathedral during the snowfall, watched worshippers enter the cathedral and the city’s filth reappear beneath melting snow, then prayed for the Holy Light to guide them.

Veronica attended a high-level Holy Light Church meeting after becoming a living saint, where the bishops discussed heretics, church funding, and missionary work. The church approved a new Atonement Gold charge for converts, while Veronica learned that a missionary had established a church in the far-southern Pioneer Territory.

• Pope Saint Ivan III confirmed Veronica's status as a living saint and announced that her formal celebration would take place that night.
• The bishops reported rising heretic activity and proposed raising church income to fund the Holy Army.
• Veronica opposed increasing offerings from established believers, but Bishop Talendis's proposal to charge new converts Atonement Gold won approval.
• The bishops reported that missionary work was advancing across Ansu, while Duke Silas Loren continued to restrict it in the Eastern Territory.
• Veronica asked Bishop Melyev about the far-southern Pioneer Territory and learned that a missionary had established a church there.

Veronica reaffirmed her commitment to Holy Light as Saint Ivan III warned that his death might interrupt their cause. Elsewhere, Gawain’s spiritual world reconnected to The Sleeper’s Mind Network, and he asked Amber to guard him while he slept.

• Saint Ivan III questioned Veronica about what she had seen and reminded her of the mission to make Holy Light the world’s only faith.
• Camil embraced calculus and ordered the Rune Research Institute’s assistants to study it, while Jenny worried they might flee.
• Gawain explained to Amber how intelligence operatives would join the Cecil Merchant Association’s commercial network.
• Gawain and Amber joked about old legends and Duke Franklin’s cooking until Gawain sensed a connection to The Sleeper’s Mind Network.
• Gawain told Amber he needed to sleep and asked her to stand guard.

Gawain entered the Sleeper's Mind Network to investigate a strange message recruiting computational power for Project Zero, but found that the project was highly classified and isolated from the network's accessible data. He then discovered a public warning about himself that portrayed him as more dangerous than the Gondor Wasteland.

• Gawain asked Amber to guard him while he entered a meditative state and connected to the Sleeper's Eternal Dreamscape.
• Gawain received a mass announcement calling mid- and high-level nodes to join Project Zero and searched for details in the Dream City.
• Gawain accessed a classified Project Zero catalog, but could not view its full contents because the project operated outside the Surface Consciousness Network.
• Gawain learned that the Mind Network had restarted days earlier and chose to ignore the recruitment message while searching for other information.
• Gawain found a public Sleeper warning against contacting the Outworld Wanderer, identified as Gawain Cecil, and was bewildered by how dangerous the cultists considered him.

Gawain discovered that the Sleepers had mistaken him for an Outworld Wanderer and publicly warned their members to observe him. He explored their newly operational Mind Network, found a flaw in its computing-power allocation, and built a concealed encrypted space to secretly use its resources.

• Gawain read the Sleepers’ intelligence report identifying him as an Outworld Wanderer and realized they had drawn that conclusion from his strange recordings.
• Gawain searched the Mind Network and found that the Sleepers had expanded it from a trial space into an active system for processing real cases.
• Gawain entered the network’s data-exchange layer and discovered that its computing-power allocation system lacked safeguards against nodes borrowing excessive resources.
• Gawain used the Sleepers’ magic and his own ideas to create a virtual space connected to the network’s data ports.
• Gawain encrypted and disguised the space’s connections so he could secretly draw computing power and storage from the Mind Network.

Gawain secretly built an encrypted laboratory inside The Sleeper’s virtual world and tested a simulated repulsion railgun there. He concluded the space could aid research despite its limitations, then returned to Dream City without the cultists noticing his intrusion.

• Gawain expanded and encrypted a hidden virtual space, adding experimental platforms and preset templates.
• Gawain tested simulated objects and found that a Rune Board worked, while a mobile phone could not function in the simulation.
• Gawain fired a shell from his repulsion railgun, but its aerodynamic runes failed and the acceleration rails warped under the force.
• Gawain assessed the virtual world as a valuable testing ground but could not find a way to use the Mind Network for direct mathematical calculations.
• Gawain left his secret laboratory and returned to Dream City, where the cultists remained unaware that he had occupied part of their network’s computing power.

Gawain explored the Eternal Dreamscape and met Patty Glan, a girl who said she lived with Sister Serina in the city center. After returning to the real world, he found Amber watching him and had to fend off her misunderstanding about his encounter.

• Gawain considered the Sleeper Cult’s brain-based Mind Network and sought a way to improve its technology without sacrificing people.
• Gawain met Patty Glan in a garden, and she said Sister Serina cared for her and lived in the city center.
• Patty left with the veiled Serina after introducing Gawain as Uncle Selci.
• Gawain disconnected from the Mind Network and found Amber watching him.
• Amber misinterpreted Gawain’s mention of a little girl and accused him of being attracted to children.

Gawain returned from the Mind Network and kept his work on it secret from Amber before resuming the Acceleration Track blueprints. At Cedar Town, Solderin Frostleaf learned that East Wolf Fortress had been attacked by a humanoid monster and realized martial law would block her passage.

• Gawain told Amber that his periods of hibernation were part of confidential work and asked her to bring him the Acceleration Track blueprints.
• Amber fetched the blueprints while grumbling about Gawain's habit of working himself to death.
• Solderin Frostleaf entered Cedar Town's tavern and silenced its leering patrons by planting and magically retrieving throwing knives.
• Solderin learned that East Wolf Fortress had imposed martial law after a humanoid monster attacked the fortress and damaged its walls.
• Solderin realized she could no longer bluff her way through the checkpoint disguised as a huntress.

Sordelin worried that the attack on Winterwolf Fortress could affect Typhon and Ansu’s path toward war, while seeking a way across the locked border to reach an elven observation station. He met Belna Lightwind, who offered to use her two-person travel permit to take him across.

• Sordelin considered how reports of Aberrant attacks might influence Typhon’s pro-war and anti-war factions.
• An adventurer told Sordelin that he could not guarantee him a travel permit, so Sordelin weighed other ways to cross the border.
• Belna Lightwind introduced herself to Sordelin and learned that he needed to reach the observation station in Typhon.
• Belna offered to bring Sordelin across the border with her two-person travel permit.

Sordelin accepted Belna’s invitation to travel together and learned about her druid background while keeping his connection to Cecil Territory secret. He left her at Gray Whistle Inn after arranging to meet the next day, while Belna watched him depart and murmured his name.

• Sordelin agreed to travel with Belna, hoping to solve his travel-permit problem and learn more about her.
• Belna brought Sordelin to her room at Gray Whistle Inn, where she explained her journey north and her training under Master Thornheart.
• Belna recognized the scent of Golden Double Grass Seeds and learned that Sordelin had stayed in Ansu.
• Belna asked Sordelin about Gawain Cecil and rumors of a war against southern Ansu’s nobles, but Sordelin dismissed the reports and changed the subject.
• Sordelin declined to share Belna’s room and arranged to meet her at the tavern at noon the next day.
• Belna watched Sordelin leave and murmured his name as the sound of vines and roots followed her across the room.

Camil’s researchers successfully tested an elven wind spell using a rune array, while Camil worried about finding enough assistants for his weapons research. He approached Santys, hoping the young Arcanist could help him find capable people among the mage circles in the royal capital.

• Camil and the Rune Research Institute’s Assistant Researchers successfully operated a rune array that produced the elven spell Blessing of Wind.
• Camil celebrated the researchers’ success and considered the next steps for the Magic Crystal Railgun and his Directed Energy Weapon project.
• Camil realized he lacked enough assistants and thought of Santys as a possible source of recruits.
• Santys finished teaching at Cecil General Academy and reflected on how much he enjoyed life and work in Cecil Territory.
• Camil approached Santys and asked whether he knew friends in the royal capital’s mage circles who could assist with an important magical project.

Camil persuaded Santys to seek talented, unconventional mages in the royal capital for the Cecil Territory. When Santys doubted he could lure them away from the capital, Camil offered his ancient knowledge and lost magic as an attraction, and Gawain warned that the visitors might find many old spells unusable.

• Camil asked Santys to use his royal capital acquaintances to find promising mages for the Cecil Territory, and Santys agreed to try.
• Gawain studied a map of Cecil's growing sphere of influence and said its strategic depth and potential population were still too limited.
• Camil and Santys told Gawain they hoped to recruit talented mages through Santys's connections, but Santys doubted his influence could convince anyone to leave the capital.
• Camil declared that his identity as an ancient Gandor Archmage and his knowledge of lost magic could attract mages to the territory.
• Gawain warned that many ancient spells could not be used in the present era, and Camil replied that disappointed mages could simply walk back.

Gawain planned to recruit mages from the royal capital while limiting how widely news of Cecil Territory’s ancient magic and Camil spread. He appointed Santys to lead the mission, and Santys arranged to bring his family to the territory before Gawain prepared to meditate again.

• Gawain asked Santys to guide recruitment in the royal capital and keep news of Cecil Territory’s resources within small mage circles.
• Amber suggested Witch Gepril and Pierce as assistants, and Gawain appointed Santys as his envoy, providing a public credential and a residence in the capital as his base.
• Gawain instructed Santys to screen recruits carefully with help from Intelligence Bureau agents and to arrange secret gatherings about Cecil Territory’s secrets.
• Santys asked to bring his parents, younger brother, and younger sister to Cecil Territory, and Gawain approved, noting that many other arrivals had also requested family reunification.
• Gawain told Amber that the requests showed the newcomers had put down roots, then asked her to keep watch while he meditated again.

Gawain infiltrated the Sleepers' Mind Network and probed the surface memories of its weaker members, finding a connection to an elderly mage named Daniel. In Daniel's tower, his apprentice Mary watched him react in terror to something unseen and say, “Stay right there. I've got you.”

• Gawain confirmed that his hidden testing ground still worked, then used the Node Crystal to search the Mind Network for information.
• Gawain traced weak Sleeper thoughts and cautiously read their surface memories, avoiding the powerful minds near Dream City's center.
• Gawain found memories of an isolated elderly mage and focused his attention on them.
• Mary returned to the Mage Tower with food and went to work on a monkey specimen while her mentor Daniel remained in a state of connection.
• Daniel suddenly looked terrified, thrust out his arm as if blocking something, and told it, “Stay right there. I've got you.”