Chapter Summaries

Selwyn revealed that The Truth Society had already taken the Lagoven Family’s Rune Stone, while Li Wen proposed protecting the Cavendish Family’s stone. The group identified the potion as a True Soul Elixir, and Li Wen asked Marymana for another favor, prompting Bai Lu to step forward.

• Selwyn revealed that The Truth Society had infiltrated Artificer's Hand, and one intruder escaped after the group stole the Lagoven Family’s Torch Rune Stone.
• Marymana planned to warn her teacher, but Li Wen suggested that the group protect the Cavendish Family’s Rune Stone instead.
• Selwyn identified the Bone Setter as a profit-driven wanderer who had likely sold the potion to a Leicester black-market merchant.
• Marymana offered to have the potion examined, but Li Wen said it was a True Soul Elixir that could restore a person to life.
• Li Wen asked Marymana for another favor and nudged Bai Lu forward, making Bai Lu wonder why she had a role in the plot.

Li Wen revealed that she was not Miranda’s apprentice, and Marymana offered to teach Bai Lu in Miranda’s absence. After gathering the last material needed to advance, Li Wen went to Leicester’s ruined old city, where Moria was praying for the sick and wounded.

• Li Wen admitted to Marymana that she had only pretended to be Miranda’s apprentice and introduced Bai Lu as Miranda’s true apprentice.
• Marymana said she had suspected Li Wen’s identity and offered to teach Bai Lu while Miranda was away preparing to advance to Stage Five.
• Li Wen declined Marymana’s offer to become her apprentice and learned that she still needed Light of the Spirit Realm to advance to Stage Two.
• Selwyn provided Li Wen with a block of ice containing a burning flame, which she accepted as the missing material.
• Li Wen found Moria praying for Leicester’s victims, where he took on the sins and suffering of a young girl with advanced Rust Rot.

Moria healed Lucy but could not promise to find her missing father, then accompanied Li Wen as she prepared to advance along the Path of Light Chasing. He warned that the Temple would suppress her progress and erase her memories if she returned to Canaan, leaving Li Wen to consider the danger as they continued toward the ritual.

• Moria used Radiance to cure Lucy, but he could not tell her whether her missing father would return.
• Li Wen asked Moria to assist with her Stage Two advancement ritual, and he agreed to go with her.
• Moria told Li Wen that Nasha had been killed by Mr. Selwyn while trying to take Halik, who was likely now in The Truth Society's hands.
• Moria questioned whether Li Wen should continue along the Path of Light Chasing, warning that the Temple would not allow her to follow it and would reclaim her power and erase her memories if she returned to Canaan.

Li Wen began her advancement ritual for the Path of Light Chasing at Saint Floran’s monastery, using a fiery rite inspired by Etriel Abra. She swallowed the Light of the Spirit Realm and entered a deadly darkness, where a moth emerged from her eye and led her onward.

• Li Wen and Moria arrived at the monastery, and Li Wen went to the grassland behind it to prepare her advancement ritual.
• Li Wen drew the Twilight Hymn array with Dim Candle Blood and asked Moria to stand inside it.
• Li Wen ignited the array, explained Etriel Abra’s story to Moria, and swallowed the ice containing the Light of the Spirit Realm.
• Li Wen found herself in freezing darkness where her life drained away and Divine Prayer failed.
• A moth wreathed in flames flew from Li Wen’s eye and guided her along a trail of sparks through the darkness.

Li Wen completed her advancement after witnessing the sun fall in a vision, gaining the Candle Holder class ability and the Lost Moth trait. She returned to Moria and examined her new powers, still shaken by the vision’s effects.

• Li Wen followed the flaming moth to an ancient giant temple and watched it strike a massive stone bell thirty-three times.
• Dawn revealed the ruined sun temple, and Li Wen saw the sun descend toward the earth and set the world ablaze.
• Li Wen’s health fell to zero as the moth returned to her pupils, and she completed her Stage Two advancement as a Candle Holder.
• Li Wen regained her senses before Moria and told her the advancement had gone fairly smoothly.
• Li Wen read about Candle of Darkness and Lost Moth in The Final Codex and considered how her new abilities could work with Craving Light.

Li Wen completed her advancement to Candle Holder and assessed the powerful abilities and lasting Primal Fear status she had gained. Moria revealed that Great Blood was lost and planned to seek a diviner in Port Belen, where Li Wen recalled a mystery about a Soul Lord who had reached Stage Eight without an apparent right to ascend.

• Li Wen reviewed her new abilities, including Lost Moth, and considered the persistent Primal Fear status warning her not to stare at the sun.
• Li Wen recognized Moria as the absolute observer who had made her advancement ritual possible, and Moria congratulated her on completing it safely.
• Moria admitted that Great Blood had been lost and said he would travel to Port Belen to consult a magician skilled in divination before meeting Li Wen in Arthur within a month.
• Li Wen considered pursuing her own leads and recalled a rumor that a player had freed a sealed Soul Lord in Port Belen, who later reached Stage Eight.
• Li Wen questioned how the Soul Lord of the Decay Lineage could have advanced to Stage Eight without the Holy Temple's anointing or a king's coronation ritual.

Li Wen decided to travel with Moria to Port Belen to pursue clues about the Original Text of Lineage, then logged off and went to Tianhai First High School to request a long leave. She ran into Fu Qingyan in the elevator and confirmed that she was looking for their homeroom teacher, Teacher Yang.

• Li Wen concluded that the Soul Lord was likely connected to an Original Text and agreed to go with Moria to Port Belen.
• Moria proposed taking a ship from Leicester, and Li Wen left him to arrange the fare by asking Selwyn for help.
• Li Wen logged off, ate breakfast, and headed to school to request an extended leave without telling Li Xin about the apocalypse.
• At Tianhai First High School, Li Wen encountered Fu Qingyan in the elevator and said she had been sick at home.
• Fu Qingyan asked whether Li Wen was going to see Teacher Yang, and Li Wen confirmed that she was.

Li Wen secured an extended leave from school and searched for signs that the Soul Lord’s seal had been broken in Port Belen. In Leicester, she learned that Moria had arranged passage there on a merchant ship departing the next day, though the dangers of the sea remained unknown.

• Li Wen asked Fu Qingyan about World Tree, and she invited him to visit her in Leicester City in the game.
• Teacher Yang approved Li Wen’s leave after he demonstrated that he had mastered the high school curriculum.
• Li Wen searched the World Tree: Origins forum for information about Port Belen but found no sign that anyone had released the Soul Lord.
• Li Wen logged into the game, flew toward Middletown Academy, and encountered Moria leaving the school.
• Moria told Li Wen that Selwyn had arranged passage to Port Belen on a merchant ship departing at noon the following day.

Li Wen boarded the merchant ship Adventurer with Moria to travel to Port Belen, hoping for a quiet voyage while she practiced potion-making. At lunch, Captain Remington arrived with a blonde girl, drawing the attention of both Li Wen and Moria.

• Li Wen agreed with Moria on the ship’s departure arrangements and rented an inn room to practice brewing basic potions.
• Li Wen and Moria met Captain Bartholomew Remington aboard the Adventurer and accepted rooms for the voyage.
• Li Wen began making potions in her cabin, but the ship’s noisy departure ruined one batch before Moria called her to lunch.
• Li Wen and Moria joined the captain, officers, and other passengers for lunch in the upper dining room.
• Captain Remington arrived with a young blonde girl, and Li Wen and Moria both watched her.

Li Wen, Moria, and Princess Victoria sailed aboard the Adventurer as a storm gathered and the princess kept her journey secret. When Old Joey spotted the storm, he cried that the Two-tailed Mermaid had returned, and a sailor recounted how the creature had once vanished an entire crew.

• Captain Remington introduced Victoria as a noble from Leicester City traveling to Port Belen, and Li Wen asked to leave the ship.
• Victoria joined Li Wen and Moria, explained that her journey was confidential, and said their presence reassured her; Li Wen soon left to return to her potions.
• Moria suggested Victoria’s unreadable manner might make Li Wen uncomfortable, while Victoria quietly considered his explanation.
• As a violent storm darkened the sky, Old Joey pointed at the waves and shouted that the Two-tailed Mermaid’s curse had returned.
• A sailor explained that, thirty years earlier, Joey’s fleet had heard a beautiful song during a storm, after which more than thirty crew members disappeared and Joey was found alone aboard the ship.

Li Wen investigated an uncanny silence aboard the ship after the storm abruptly vanished, finding Moria missing and signs of an earlier fight. She and Princess Victoria reached the deserted deck, where Li Wen tossed an acorn into the still, dark sea.

• Li Wen finished learning to brew high-quality healing potions, then noticed the storm and waves had fallen silent.
• Li Wen considered whether Two-tailed Mermaids were responsible, but doubted they could control the weather and sea.
• Li Wen found Moria's room empty and saw that its window had recently been opened.
• Princess Victoria approached Li Wen and said she was looking for her and Moria, then followed Li Wen through the ship.
• Li Wen and Victoria found a bloodied glass shard among debris that suggested a fight had happened hours earlier.
• Li Wen stepped onto the deserted deck, studied the unnaturally calm sea, and threw an acorn into it.

Li Wen escaped an eerie alternate space with Victoria and discovered traces of an unknown sea creature aboard the Adventurer. A Kingdom Navy ship arrived, but Victoria was missing, and Li Wen set out to learn what had happened.

• Li Wen found sharp scales and dark, foul-smelling traces on the deck and mast, suggesting a large sea creature had climbed aboard.
• Victoria spotted a brightly lit vessel approaching, and Li Wen was blinded before finding herself back among the ship’s passengers and crew.
• A sailor identified the approaching vessel as a ship of the Kingdom Navy, and Captain Remington sent a signal and promised to explain events the next day.
• Li Wen asked Moria when he had last seen Victoria, then revealed that she could not find the Princess.
• Li Wen headed for the cabin and considered why she and Victoria alone had been drawn into the silent alternate space as Moria began recounting a dispute aboard the ship.

Li Wen found a Sea Calling Curse hidden beneath her cabin floor and realized her growing anxiety came from her Deep Fear reacting to the ocean. After learning Victoria was missing, she turned to Moria for a way to save the Princess.

• Li Wen learned that most passengers and crew had gathered during a fight, while she and Victoria had stayed in their rooms.
• Li Wen found a cursed black seashell pinned beneath a floorboard and identified it as the Sea Calling Curse, which could trap the living in nightmares.
• Moria confirmed that Victoria was missing and sensed darkness and decay within the shell.
• Li Wen traced her anxiety to her Deep Fear and the sound of the ocean, then steadied herself.
• Li Wen asked Moria where Victoria was, and he said he might know a way to save her.

Li Wen returned to the ship and learned that the curse mystery remained unresolved, then secretly overheard Captain Remington speaking with a Kingdom Navy officer about a fugitive pirate believed to be aboard. The officer ordered Remington to assemble everyone on deck for an investigation the next morning.

• Victoria returned safely, and Li Wen, Moria, and Victoria agreed to wait until dawn before searching for whoever cast the Sea Calling Curse.
• Li Wen left her room at night, reached the captain's quarters, and listened through the door using Retrograde in Shadow.
• A Kingdom Navy officer told Remington that a fugitive with powerful disguising abilities might be aboard the Adventurer.
• The officer identified the fugitive as Blood Hook Joseph Willbrard, a former subordinate of Roberts who was believed to be searching for something connected to his dead captain.
• The officer ordered Remington to provide a list of passengers and crew and bring everyone onto the deck the next morning for investigation.

Li Wen learned that Joseph Willbrard was a dangerous pirate and that the Kingdom Navy had encircled the ship to capture him. During the navy’s inspection, she avoided having her belongings searched, while Moria approached Colonel Grant.

• Li Wen overheard a naval officer explain that the Fourth Fleet had surrounded the waters to capture Joseph Willbrard, Roberts’s notorious first mate.
• Li Wen returned to her cabin, where Moria said he was watching for anyone acting strangely and then left without explaining his unusual behavior.
• The next morning, Captain Remington ordered the passengers to submit to inspection, and Colonel Grant announced that a dangerous fugitive was aboard.
• Li Wen noticed Grant watching Victoria and used Prayer Incantation to make the sailors abandon their search of her personal belongings.
• Moria approached Colonel Grant, who tensed and moved his hand toward his sword.

Moria gave Colonel Grant a shell found in their room and asked to join the operation against Joseph Willbrard, but Grant refused and told him to protect the passengers. After six people were found missing from the ship, Li Wen suspected Old Joey had disappeared too, and Moria urged Grant to focus on finding the missing people.

• Moria showed Colonel Grant the shell and asked to help capture Joseph Willbrard, but Grant refused because he feared Moria would be outmatched.
• Naval soldiers reported that six people listed on the crew roster were missing, and Captain Remington explained he had hired six young workers in Leicester.
• Li Wen suspected the missing workers were players who had logged out, while Grant appeared to believe they might be Joseph and his gang.
• Li Wen pointed out that Old Joey was also missing, and Remington insisted the old sailor could not be Joseph Willbrard.
• Grant questioned whether Old Joey was connected to Joseph, and Moria urged him to prioritize finding the missing people.

Li Wen searched Old Joey’s cabin for evidence linking him to the Sea Calling Curse and discovered a hidden compartment containing curse materials and an old ship’s log. The log described a voyage toward the Endless Sea and a mysterious search that had found nothing so far.

• Li Wen entered Old Joey’s cabin after the colonel and Remington finished searching it, and considered whether Old Joey had set the Sea Calling Curse.
• Li Wen used The Final Codex and Poem of Paradise to dispel magic in the room, then noticed seawater leaking through the ceiling.
• Li Wen entered Witch State, found a concealed ceiling compartment, and opened a box containing shells, iron nails, deep sea rock, and a ship’s log.
• Li Wen recognized the shells and nails as curse materials and determined that the deep sea rock had concealed the box from magical detection.
• Li Wen read selected log entries describing a voyage from Port Promi toward the Endless Sea, a captain’s warning that there was no turning back, and an unsuccessful search of the seabed.

Li Wen uncovered a hidden spell in Old Joey’s ship’s log, which showed the Two-tailed Mermaid statue and revealed itself to be dangerous. She suspected the spell could control the statue, the source of Old Joey’s curse and the strange space she and Victoria had entered.

• Li Wen read Old Joey’s deteriorating log and concluded that taking the Two-tailed Mermaid statue had driven him mad.
• Colonel Grant’s search found no trace of Old Joey, the suspected players, or the pirate Joseph, and he confined passengers to their rooms as a storm approached.
• Li Wen noticed later-added numbers in the log, rearranged the marked pages, and uncovered an image of the Two-tailed Mermaid.
• The image came alive and struck Li Wen with a curse, but she recovered by casting spells on herself.
• The image vanished and left behind a spell whose meaning and pronunciation entered Li Wen’s mind, leading her to suspect it could control the statue.

Li Wen entered the Two-tailed Mermaid’s domain by stabbing the Adventurer’s mast with the Crow Feather Dagger and searched the wreck for the statue and missing people. She found several young people under attack by Drowned Corpses and began fighting the creatures with Candle of Darkness.

• Li Wen read Old Joey’s diary, concluded that the Two-tailed Mermaid statue preyed on the weak, and went onto the deck as a storm approached.
• Li Wen stabbed the mast with the Crow Feather Dagger and was swept into a dark sea, where she awoke aboard a dilapidated, half-submerged ship.
• Li Wen explored the ship’s distorted, maze-like interior and used Candle of Darkness to search for living beings.
• Li Wen detected a target and found several young people fighting Drowned Corpses in a room.
• Li Wen used Candle of Darkness against the Drowned Corpses, whose bodies were struck by its unseen attack.

Li Wen rescued Fu Qingyan and her classmates from Drowned Corpses aboard a strange wreck. After Fu Qingyan tried to explain that they were sailors lost from the Adventurer, Li Wen recognized them as players and realized they were classmates from reality.

• Li Wen used the Candle of Darkness to destroy the Drowned Corpses and asked the stunned group if they were all right.
• Fu Qingyan recalled how her team had boarded the Adventurer to travel to Port Belen and investigate an underwater ruin marked on an old Sea Chart.
• Fu Qingyan and her classmates had questioned Old Joey about his curse and the Two-tailed Mermaid, then encountered him again after logging into a dark wreck.
• The group followed Old Joey through the wreck, where Drowned Corpses attacked them and extinguished their lights before Li Wen appeared.
• Fu Qingyan thanked Li Wen and asked how they could return to the Adventurer, but Li Wen identified them as players and recognized them as her classmates from reality.