Recaps

Velin traveled with Xuemiyya, O'dor, Flora, and Elios to Belegard Floating City to meet Arcane Master Himoral. On the way, Elios explained how Himoral’s Magic Energy Mech Knights were constructed, while O'dor hinted that he knew more about Himoral’s methods than he revealed.

• Velin invited Elios to accompany him to the Orc Kingdom, and Elios accepted after Velin said he would not have to fight.
• Xuemiyya dressed Velin for the meeting with Himoral, and Flora praised his appearance before the group departed Ludris Floating City.
• Elios presented his identity token to the Mana Energy mechs patrolling Belegard Floating City, allowing the Floating Airship to pass.
• Velin asked whether Himoral’s eight hundred Magic Energy Mech Knights were for sale, and Elios explained how their bodies, souls, and consciousnesses were separated and hidden.
• O'dor suggested that Himoral had hunted extensively in the Abyss, then told Velin and Elios to remain silent as they approached Belegard Floating City.
• The five arrived in Belegard Floating City and saw mages hurrying through the streets in impeccable attire.

Velin and his companions visited Master Himoral at the central Mage Tower, where Xuemiyya discovered a collection of valuable arcane books. Himoral briefly met with them and allowed Xuemiyya to copy books before leaving, while the group remained in the room.

• Velosis escorted Velin and his companions to the central Mage Tower, where its guards saluted Velin as they entered.
• The group waited on the eighteenth floor, and Xuemiyya recognized a book by Castellion, whose writings were prized enough to be traded for Demigod Grade treasures.
• Master Himoral arrived, introduced himself as a friend of Saint Gerrard, and invited Velin to state his reason for visiting.
• Velin asked whether Xuemiyya could borrow or copy some books, and Himoral provided Legendary Demon skin paper for copying.
• Himoral left the room, telling the group they could depart whenever they wished.

Velin helped Xuemiyya copy the books in the central Mage Tower, with the Life Knight eventually completing the work. As they left, Velosis gave Velin a War Soul Banner whose mysterious origins left him wondering who had commissioned it.

• Xuemiyya studied and copied the Mage Tower’s books until Velin took over so she could rest.
• Velin copied one book, then summoned his incarnations; the Life Knight copied the remaining books while Velin slept beside Xuemiyya.
• Xuemiyya thanked Velin, and the group left the room after restoring and cleansing it.
• Velosis met the group at the tower entrance and gave Velin a War Soul Banner made from rare materials.
• Velin accepted the banner, considered possible benefactors, and stored it in the Book of Droy.

Velin arrived at West High Cedar Camp and found that discipline in the Orc army had collapsed under Olek Verandir. He gathered the officers and chieftains to witness the state of their general, then ordered Nobie to wake Olek.

• After receiving eighty Floating Airships, Velin traveled to the Orc Kingdom aboard the Star Moon Floating Airship.
• Velin and Hetherwelin found the orc guards at West High Cedar Camp lounging and sleeping instead of maintaining order.
• Velin led his knights and Dragon Person warriors into the camp, where the orcs surrendered without resistance.
• Nobie gathered the Orc Captains, officers, chieftains, and their sons, and brought them to the central tent.
• Velin found Olek Verandir drunk and asleep beside several orc women, then ordered Nobie to wake him.
• Nobie stomped on Olek, who awoke in pain and fear, then removed the women from the tent at Velin's command.

Velin Ex took command of the orc army and discovered its officers had falsified records of the army’s enormous supply consumption. He inspected the chaotic troop assembly and ordered the camp’s eight gates closed, leaving the orcs trapped on the drill ground.

• Velin Ex introduced himself as the orcs’ new general and ordered General Olek to assemble every warrior at the drill ground.
• Velin had an Orc Officer read the supply records and exposed the officer’s lie about the army consuming five tons of ordinary meat per day.
• Velin and Nobie went to the drill ground, where only about twenty thousand of the thirty thousand orcs had assembled in scattered ranks.
• Flora, O'dor, and Hetherwelin observed the disorderly army as Velin watched the late soldiers arrive.
• Velin ordered Nobie to close all eight entrances and exits, and the orcs fell silent as Dragon Person warriors guarded the gates.

Velin reorganized the Orc army into battalions, assigning Olek to form Olek Camp and selecting officers for Blackstone Camp through combat. After Blackstone Camp left to rest, Velin began reorganizing the Second Camp.

• Olek reported to Velin, who ordered him to organize the gathered Orcs and form Olek Camp with 5,600 warriors by sunrise or face an audit of his supply ledgers.
• Velin divided the Orc soldiers into formations and designated 4,000 of them to form Blackstone Camp, ordering them to surrender their weapons and armor.
• Velin appointed Blackstone as general and selected the battalion's other officers, then had the Orc soldiers fight to choose squad leaders and lower-ranking leaders.
• Velin completed Blackstone Camp's reorganization with 3,907 soldiers, marked them with white cloth strips, and sent them out to rest.
• Velin began organizing the Second Camp with gray cloth strips as Hetherwelin watched with interest.

Velin forced the remaining orc soldiers into brutal contests to choose messengers and commanders, then gave Olek one chance to learn how to organize his camp. When more than two hundred soldiers remained outside the ranks, Olek began executing them on Velin’s order.

• Velin made the orc soldiers fight until five hundred and thirteen survivors were chosen as messengers and the rest became war slaves.
• Velin ordered the eight Orc Officers and chieftains to fight for command positions, then assigned them to lead the messengers and war slaves.
• Olek brought 5,713 soldiers from Olek Camp to the training ground, but struggled to organize them during the two hours Velin allowed.
• Velin stopped Olek and ordered him to form ranks within thirty minutes, threatening to execute any stragglers and their officers or chieftains.
• More than two hundred soldiers remained outside the formations when time ran out, and Olek began cutting them down with a sword.

Velin reorganized and brutally trained the orc army at West Takasugi Camp, turning five battalions into a disciplined force. With the troops assembled, he prepared to attack the Pirate City-state and planned to transport the army through the Demiplane to end the war within two months.

• Velin executed disobedient soldiers, transferred Olek and more than 5,500 troops to a separate battalion, and divided the remaining forces by their intended roles.
• Velin explained his reorganization strategy to Hetherwelin and began training twenty thousand orcs in discipline, command structure, and siege warfare.
• Velin punished fleeing orcs and used harsh drills, while healing training injuries each night; after nearly three months, the five battalions met his standards with 18,553 soldiers remaining.
• Velin ordered Blackstone Camp to assemble, and the trained troops formed orderly ranks on the parade ground.
• Velin decided to transport the army through the Demiplane for an assault on the Pirate City-state, aiming to end the war within two months.

Velin planned to seize the Blue Ear Pirate City-state and decided to approach the Hoggs Tribe for help while keeping rival powers occupied. As the Sandora Floating Battleship reached the Gnoll territory, Hoggus Solstein received reports about the surrounding regions.

• Velin reviewed the Blue Ear Pirate City-state’s defenses and neighboring forces, then chose to negotiate with the Hoggs Tribe and keep the Black Thorn Pirate City-state from learning about Borne Moonst’s treasure.
• Xuemiyya offered to use a Mind Spell on the old Gnoll leader, but Velin said they would try negotiations first.
• The Sandora Floating Battleship reached the Chaos Region and traveled under an Invisibility Magic Shield toward the Hoggs tribes.
• In Hoggs Stone City, Hoggus Solstein heard reports that Blue Ear City had made few moves, the western Lizardmen had withdrawn troops, and Kobolds had mined 2,000 tons of Iron Ore.
• Hoggus ordered the Kobolds to mine 3,000 tons of Iron Ore in the coming half-year and heard that a Black Dragon was farming in a valley.

Velin arrived at Stone City aboard the Sandora Floating Battleship and used Xuemiyya’s illusion and his own magic to subdue Hoggus Solstein. He ordered the Gnoll chieftain to gather an army to attack Silent Fort and guard against the Black Thorn Pirate City-state, leaving Hoggus shocked by Velin’s apparent plans for the Blue Tassel Pirate City-state.

• Hoggus Solstein learned that a Floating Ship had landed nearby and sent Garstone to investigate.
• Velin stored the Sandora Floating Battleship in Cecilia’s Demiplane as his people disembarked, then had Xuemiyya frighten the approaching Gnolls with an illusion of charging dragons.
• Hoggus dismissed the illusion as a bluff and charged Velin, but Velin’s Mage Hand smashed him into the ground.
• Hoggus repaired his shattered body, submitted to Velin, and confirmed that he led the local Gnoll Tribal Alliance.
• Velin ordered Hoggus to gather an army within three days to attack Silent Fort and deploy forces against the Black Thorn Pirate City-state.
• Hoggus asked in shock whether Velin planned to raid the Blue Tassel Pirate City-state.

Velin threatened Hoggus into helping secure the region while he prepared to destroy Blue Tassel Pirate City-state. He recruited four hundred Snow Goose people warriors from the Bartos Tribe and brought them through the Demiplane passage to join his army.

• Velin told Hoggus he planned to destroy Blue Tassel Pirate City-state with troops borrowed from the Orc Kingdom, and warned the Gnolls against opposing him.
• Hoggus submitted to Velin, gathered his tribe’s forces, and ordered Kobold tribes to watch Black Thorn Pirate City-state.
• Velin had Xuemiyya open the Demiplane passage, and more than twenty-five thousand orc soldiers entered the area and set up camp.
• Velin visited Ice and Snow City, where Elder Belengal reported that the Bartos Tribe had grown to 3,183 people, including 1,683 adults.
• Velin ordered the Bartos Tribe to recruit four hundred Snow Goose people warriors, and Elder Belengal sent two Low-Gold mages to gather them.
• The next morning, the Snow Goose people mage led the assembled warriors through the Flowing Light Passage into Velin’s military camp.

Velin organized the Snow Goose warriors and received a chaotic force of ten thousand gnolls sent by Hoggus, who hoped Velin would use them as vanguard and kill Sokarn. After sending the gnolls east and training his mixed forces, Velin set out ten days later toward the Blue Tassel Pirate City-state.

• Belengar brought four hundred Snow Goose warriors to Velin, who ordered Mien to organize them into four companies.
• Hoggus assembled sixty thousand gnoll warriors and ordered Sokarn to lead ten thousand east to follow Velin's instructions.
• Velin agreed to consider Hoggus's request to use the gnolls as vanguard and kill Sokarn, then ordered orcs to gather and escort the disorganized gnolls east.
• Velin delayed his departure for ten days, trained the Snow Goose Middle Army and several Snowland Rangers, then marched with more than twenty thousand orc soldiers.
• Velin's four orc camps quickly outpaced the troops from Olek Camp and the War Slave Camp.

Velin’s Middle Army forced the Gnolls to march faster by executing stragglers, then ordered them to attack West Earth City. As the Gnolls charged the city, pirates and enslaved defenders prepared to resist or escape, while two captive brothers waited for a chance to flee.

• Velin ordered the Gnolls to speed up and had Orc Soldiers execute two hundred stragglers every three hours, prompting Sokarn to drive his forces onward.
• The army reached West Earth City, where a bald pirate commander recognized the disciplined Orcs as an unexpected threat and ordered the city prepared for defense.
• Velin ordered the Gnolls to attack and raised earthen slopes that connected the ground to the city walls, forcing Sokarn to command a charge.
• The bald pirate commander and several old pirates secretly prepared to flee, leaving young pirates and more than eight hundred slaves to defend the wall.
• Two captive brothers agreed to watch for a chance to escape and seek revenge after the city’s defense began to fail.

Velin’s forces seized West Earth City, defeated the pirates, and recruited surviving adventurers as they advanced through the region. Fifteen days later, they surrounded Eliudriel’s city, and the Red-haired Woman realized too late that her territory was about to fall.

• Gnolls and freed slaves overwhelmed West Earth City, while Velin ordered the Gnolls to loot before his Orc troops ambushed the pirates fleeing the city.
• Blackstone pursued the bald pirate commander, sacrificed an arm to kill him, and returned with the commander’s head and a bundle of Intermediate Magic Crystals.
• Velin healed Blackstone’s arm, awarded him the crystals, and ordered Mien to recruit willing adventurers from among the surviving slaves.
• Velin’s army captured the remaining towns, reduced the Gnoll population, defeated a relief force from Blue Ear City, and reached the city walls fifteen days later.
• Eliudriel learned that her mainland territory was under siege, angrily questioned the messenger, and then found herself looking at her own body from a rising viewpoint.

Eliudriel avenged the Blue-haired Woman by preparing to march on Blue Spike City, while the city came under attack from a massive army. The attackers breached the West City Gate in under an hour, leaving Velin surprised by how quickly the siege succeeded.

• Eliudriel ordered Lexia to gather the troops and led more than a thousand subordinates toward the mainland after mutilating the Blue-haired Woman's corpse.
• More than thirteen thousand soldiers assembled outside Blue Spike City, and Xuemiyya, Hetherwelin, and others watched from the Sandora Floating Battleship.
• The attackers began the siege, and the city's Magic Energy Cannons killed hundreds of charging orcs and gnolls.
• Sokarn ordered his gnolls to keep charging as the orcs threatened them from behind, and more than three thousand gnolls surged onto the city walls.
• The pirates fled in the face of the gnoll assault, and the West City Gate fell to Olek's forces in less than an hour.
• Velin expressed surprise that the attackers had breached the city so quickly.

Eliudriel crushed the pirates who tried to flee Blue Spike City and held the harbor while Velin’s army fought its way through the city. By dawn, Velin organized eight thousand orcs to advance on the beach, where Eliudriel and Lexia waited.

• Eliudriel summoned towering waves and seawater spears, killing thousands of pirates and forcing the survivors back into Blue Spike City.
• Eliudriel kept the pirates from escaping while her silver-armored troops waited at the harbor through the night.
• Velin committed the remaining orc and slave battalions to the battle, then entered the city after the fighting continued until dawn.
• Olek told Velin that the Red-haired Woman had defeated his force and driven him to use a treasured escape item.
• Velin ordered Blackstone to assemble the orcs and advance toward the beach in battle formation.
• Lexia watched the eight thousand orcs approach as Eliudriel calmly told her they could surrender if they could not win.

Eliudriel revealed her merfolk heritage and healed her troops as Velin’s army approached the Blue Ear Pirate City-state. Xuemiyya subdued Eliudriel in an Illusionary Realm, recruited her into the Ice Legion, and heard that Eliudriel wanted to introduce her unruly younger sister.

• Eliudriel ordered her troops into the sea and removed her disguise, revealing her mixed human and merfolk heritage.
• Eliudriel sang to the ocean, healing the bodies, souls, and minds of more than one thousand soldiers.
• Velin stopped the advancing army and let Xuemiyya face Eliudriel in the final battle.
• Xuemiyya pulled Eliudriel into an Illusionary Realm, restrained her, and wore down her hostility.
• Xuemiyya offered to bring Eliudriel and her subordinates into the Ice Legion, and Eliudriel agreed.
• Eliudriel offered to introduce her unruly younger sister to Xuemiyya.

Xuemiyya learned that Eliudriel had submitted and arranged for her and her loyal soldiers to join the Ice Legion, while Velin ordered the orc army to resume clearing Blue Sui City. Reflecting on the region’s history and the limits of its territory, Xuemiyya concluded that Ilia’s future might lie beyond the sea and reaffirmed her resolve to stay beside Velin.

• Xuemiyya questioned Eliudriel about her conflict with her younger sister, and Eliudriel confirmed that her sister had coveted her and sought to conquer Blue Sui Pirate City-State.
• Xuemiyya told Eliudriel she would join the Ice Legion, warned that she would lose her city property and pirates, and promised to deal with her younger sister if they captured her.
• Xuemiyya reported Eliudriel’s submission to Velin, who ordered Mien to send the orc army back to Blue Sui City to clear out the remaining pirates.
• Xuemiyya considered Ilia Kingdom’s history, its limited territory, and the possibility that its leaders intended to send their many Floating Battleships out to sea.
• Xuemiyya told Eliudriel to meet her aboard the Sandora Floating Battleship after handling her troops, then flew back to it.

Velin healed the Gnoll leader Sokarn after his younger brother pledged loyalty to him. Velin named the younger Gnoll Yellow Ear and ordered Mien to train him, while Sokarn left with the rest of the tribe.

• Velin allowed a group of Gnolls to approach the Governor's Mansion, where they asked him to save their injured elder brother, Sokarn.
• Velin offered to heal Sokarn if the Low-Gold Gnoll became his loyal servant, and the Gnoll accepted.
• Velin restored Sokarn's heart and limbs, then warned him to leave with his tribe or prepare to take over Hoggus's tribe if Hoggus died.
• Velin named the kneeling Gnoll Yellow Ear and sent Mien to clean him up and teach him the rules.
• Mien told Yellow Ear to learn the Common Tongue, choose a faith, and serve Velin loyally.

Velin learned that Avira’s army was approaching Blue Spike City and sent Eliudriel to confront it. Eliudriel met her younger sister in the field, where Avira’s obsession with her became clear, while Hetherwelin searched for Pirate King Borne Moonst’s treasure.

• Velin heard that more than two hundred thousand slaves had been gathered and ordered Dragon Worship Cult pirates handed over to the dragons.
• A Snowland Ranger reported Hoggus’s death and Silent Fort’s approaching army, so Velin sent surrendered pirates south to meet it and told the rangers to prioritize their survival.
• Eliudriel learned that Avira was leading Silent Fort’s army and took her troops south instead of returning to Doen Island.
• Avira marched toward Blue Spike City with more than two thousand Silent Ones and revealed her possessive obsession with Eliudriel.
• Eliudriel met Avira in the wilderness, declared that she had surrendered and would capture her, and called her a lunatic.
• Hetherwelin searched with her subordinates for Pirate King Borne Moonst’s treasure.

Hetherwelin found the entrance to Pirate King Borne Moonst’s treasure vault while Velin arranged for O'dor to retrieve a Legendary Spellcaster’s relics. Meanwhile, Eliudriel brought Avira to Xuemiyya, who trapped her in repeated illusions to correct her obsession with her elder sister.

• Hetherwelin located the hidden entrance to Borne Moonst’s treasure vault, while Nobie guarded the cave and Velin waited for his share of the Magic Crystals.
• Velin asked O'dor to retrieve the Legendary Spellcaster’s relics, and O'dor promised to return with them in three days.
• Eliudriel captured her younger sister Avira using a Mind Illusion and carried her back toward Blue Ear City.
• Eliudriel learned that Xuemiyya had gone to Doen Island, so she took Avira there and left her with Xuemiyya.
• Xuemiyya dispelled Avira’s illusion, pulled her into her mindscape, and subjected her to repeated illusions in which an obsessed younger sister imprisoned her.

Velin sent Avira into a thirty-year illusion to correct her feelings toward her sister, then traveled to the Black Mud Swamp to search for his missing uncle-in-law. After following traces of a battle for seven days, he was surrounded by seven Soul Intent Transcendents who demanded his surrender.

• Xuemiyya brought Avira to Velin, who placed her in a real illusion with accelerated time to correct her relationship with her older sister.
• Over the following month, the Gnoll Alliance divided, Xuemiyya emptied Silent Fort, and Velin left city affairs to Mien while he basked in the sun.
• After his uncle-in-law had been missing for three months, Velin assigned responsibilities to his companions and set out for the Black Mud Swamp.
• A Blue Flame Lizardman told Velin that powerful pursuers had chased a human south two months earlier and destroyed a neighboring tribe.
• Velin found his uncle-in-law's faint aura near a deep pit and followed the battle traces south, prompting nearby Monster Clans to relocate.
• Seven days later, seven Soul Intent Transcendents surrounded Velin at a massive crater, and a vampire marquis demanded that he surrender in Duke Kahom's name.

Velin defeated seven Soul Intent rank Transcendents and searched their souls for news of his uncle-in-law, learning that he had vanished into the Blackwood Plains while three Legends pursued him. Velin joined with the Life Knight and Death Knight through the Blood Knight, who took the three Legends’ destiny threads and set out to make them die by accident.

• Velin summoned the Life Knight and Death Knight to capture the seven Soul Intent rank Transcendents, then easily defeated the werewolf with Anansi’s Sword and shattered most of his soul.
• The Life Knight and Death Knight subdued the remaining six Transcendents, while Velin searched all seven captives’ souls and fed the souls he had no use for to the Death Knight’s followers.
• Velin learned that his uncle-in-law had disappeared into the Blackwood Plains after three Legends pursued him and sealed off the area.
• Velin summoned the Blood Knight and asked him to find his uncle-in-law and deal with the three Legends by making their deaths look accidental.
• The Blood Knight merged with the Life Knight and Death Knight, swallowed Velin, and reached Legendary Intermediate power.
• The Blood Knight entered the River of Destiny, extracted the destiny threads of Kahom Isolde, Lysander Tais, and Valerius Zoria, and left with them.

The Blood Knight fixed the fates of three legendary beings who had been waiting outside a Demiplane to capture a human. Lysander Tais was swallowed by a Void Nightmare Beast, while the Blood Knight set the deaths of Kahom Isolde and Valerius Zoria in motion and prepared their Demiplanes to migrate after they died.

• The Blood Knight wrote Lysander Tais’s fate, arranging for an Outer Space storm to sweep him into a Space Rift and a Void Nightmare Beast to devour him.
• Lysander Tais vanished in a Space Storm, and the King of Dire Wolves and Vampire Duke Kahom suspected each other before agreeing to divide the werewolf tribe.
• The Blood Knight fixed the fates of Kahom Isolde and Valerius Zoria, predicting their deaths within three days.
• The Blood Knight entered Outer Space, sent blood spears through three gates into the legendary beings’ Demiplanes, and prepared the Demiplanes to migrate after their owners died.

The Blood Knight explained to Velin that becoming a Legend was only one stage of his journey and that Velin could break the calamities gathering around his uncle. After the Blood Knight declared that he was Velin, O'dor woke healed, and Velin secretly kept a Memory Crystal Orb before returning to work on the Floating Battleship.

• The Blood Knight examined the Demiplane he had given O'dor and explained how he found it by tracing power on its outer layer.
• The Blood Knight told Velin that becoming a Legend was enough, and said O'dor had to walk his own road to break the cage.
• The Blood Knight revealed that Velin had already intervened in O'dor's fate, dispersing calamities that would eventually gather and peak, but assured Velin that he could break them.
• The Blood Knight said, "I am you," before his power faded and the Life Knight and Death Knight separated from him.
• Velin waited beside his sleeping uncle, then O'dor woke healed and thanked him.
• Velin secretly placed the Memory Crystal Orb in the Druid's Book and went to work on the Floating Battleship while O'dor chose not to question him.