Recaps

Xia Nan and Blackwood Squad learned that Horako’s convoy was traveling to Ram Horn Town to investigate the newly discovered Pastel Gemstones. Horako showed them one, and Xia Nan sensed it affecting his attention as Horako’s possessive demeanor emerged.

• Horako praised Xia Nan’s rings and offered to share his jewelry, but Xia Nan politely refused.
• Horako explained that his real purpose in traveling to Ram Horn Town was to investigate reports of Pastel Gemstones, while the convoy’s ordinary cargo served as a backup business plan.
• Xia Nan decided he would complete the guard mission and continue toward the Southern Islands rather than stay to investigate the gemstones.
• Horako asked Xia Nan and Blackwood Squad to help investigate after reaching Ram Horn Town; Xia Nan refused, while Margaret and Solding asked for time to decide.
• Horako revealed a fingernail-sized Pastel Gemstone, briefly drawing Xia Nan’s attention before he closed the box and guarded it possessively.

Xia Nan arrived in Ram Horn Town with Horako’s caravan and began investigating the unusual Pastel Gemstone that had made the merchant hesitant to part with it. After the innkeeper offered him Honey Tangerines, Xia Nan raised the rumors about strange minerals, and the innkeeper denied that anything unusual had happened in town.

• Xia Nan completed the fifteen-day journey to Ram Horn Town, training his [Gravity Control] and anticipating the chance to travel alone after leaving the caravan.
• Horako arranged rooms for the caravan and hurried off to investigate the Pastel Gemstone, while Xia Nan decided to gather information in town before continuing his journey.
• Xia Nan checked into the Cashmere Rusty Nail and went downstairs to speak with the innkeeper while Margaret and Solding remained in their rooms.
• The innkeeper welcomed Xia Nan with lemon water and Honey Tangerines, which Xia Nan found exceptionally sweet.
• Xia Nan asked about strange events and the rumored special minerals, and the innkeeper stiffened before insisting that no such thing had happened in Ram Horn Town.

Xia Nan and Oathkeeper Blackwood Squad agreed to look into the rumored Pastel Gemstone mine, but their investigation was interrupted when Horako clashed with a blacksmith. As the blacksmith raised his hammer, Xia Nan intervened and told him to calm down.

• Xia Nan noticed that the tavern owner's attitude turned cold when he asked about the Pastel Gemstone, deepening his suspicions about the gemstone and its possible mine.
• Margaret and Solding decided to help Horako investigate for the money and their interest in the gemstone, while Xia Nan said he would wait two days and asked them to share what they discovered.
• The caravan's second-in-command rushed into the tavern and reported that Horako had argued with someone at the blacksmith shop, so Xia Nan and the others went to investigate.
• Xia Nan found Horako confronting a hostile blacksmith amid a silent, unfriendly crowd; Horako claimed the gemstone's seller had said it came from the blacksmith.
• When the blacksmith began lifting his forging hammer, Xia Nan pressed it down and told him to calm down.

Xia Nan and the other Adventurers stopped a confrontation between Horako and a blacksmith in Ram Horn Town, then questioned Horako’s steward about the merchant’s unusual trip. Xia Nan suspected the town’s strange behavior was connected to Horako’s Pastel Gemstone and prepared to tell Margaret what he had discovered.

• Xia Nan, Solding, and Margaret intervened as Horako argued with a blacksmith, calming both men and dispersing the tense crowd.
• Horako explained that the blacksmith had refused to discuss a gemstone deposit, then left to rest at the inn.
• Xia Nan questioned A-Fu and learned that Horako rarely traveled in person, had little commercial reason to investigate a gemstone mine, and kept his motives secret.
• After A-Fu left, Xia Nan concluded that Ram Horn Town had a problem and suspected Horako’s Pastel Gemstone could influence people’s minds.
• Margaret asked Xia Nan whether he had discovered something as he prepared to share his suspicions.

Xia Nan and Blackwood Squad suspected that the Pastel Gemstone was influencing the minds of Ram Horn Town’s residents and Horako. After Horako reluctantly handed it over for inspection, Xia Nan used the Dreamweaver Corridor ring to absorb energy from it.

• Xia Nan, Margaret, and Solding considered whether the Pastel Gemstone had already affected them and decided to explain their suspicions to Horako.
• Xia Nan told Horako that the gemstone might control people’s minds and insisted on inspecting it for the caravan’s safety.
• Horako resisted giving up the gemstone but eventually handed its box to Xia Nan, whose companions witnessed his intense distress.
• Xia Nan opened the box, and Solding, Margaret, and Horako reacted to the gemstone’s beauty and tried to look at or reclaim it.
• Xia Nan touched the Pastel Gemstone with the Silver Ring, and the Dreamweaver Corridor detected it as a charging substance and replenished its energy from 2% to 2.0003%.

Xia Nan discovered that the Pastel Gemstone charged Dreamweaver Corridor and that its influence over people vanished after the ring absorbed a small amount of its energy. While Horako and Blackwood Squad planned to leave Ram Horn Town, Xia Nan decided to investigate the rumored gemstone mine and the town’s strange condition.

• Xia Nan touched the Pastel Gemstone and saw that Dreamweaver Corridor had absorbed 0.0003% energy from it.
• The gemstone’s mind-control effect disappeared, leaving Horako and Solding confused and restoring Horako’s ability to think clearly.
• Horako canceled the Investigation Quest and announced that the caravan would leave Ram Horn Town after delivering its goods and resupplying.
• Xia Nan chose to remain in town and investigate the gemstones and rumored mine, while keeping his plan from Horako and Blackwood Squad.
• That night, Xia Nan watched the town from his inn window, planned how to question the townspeople, and noticed a distinctive church building.

Xia Nan tried to learn about Ram Horn Town’s hidden mineral sources by questioning the tavern owner and a blacksmith, but both became guarded and refused to talk. After his failed attempts at persuasion, he reached the town square and focused on the church’s rose-and-sun Holy Symbol.

• Xia Nan trained before dawn, then questioned the tavern owner about the town’s quiet life and Honey Tangerines, but the man grew suspicious and offered little information.
• Xia Nan asked the town blacksmith to maintain his dagger, then tried to steer their conversation toward the source of the shop’s iron and coal.
• The blacksmith reacted coldly to Xia Nan’s question about the materials’ source and returned to forging, ending the conversation.
• Xia Nan reflected on his failed Persuasion attempts as he reached the central square and examined the church’s rose-and-sun Holy Symbol.

Xia Nan learned that Ram Horn Town’s respected priest, Moen, had served the community for nearly forty years, but the townspeople reacted uneasily when he asked why the church was closed. After Moen used divine magic to settle a children’s dispute, he introduced himself to Xia Nan and asked about the doubts on his mind.

• Xia Nan recognized the church’s Holy Symbol as belonging to Chauntea and approached local farmwives to learn about the town.
• The women praised Moen for guiding the town and sharing the church’s grain during a poor harvest.
• When Xia Nan asked why the church was closed, the women nervously claimed it needed repairs, making him suspect a connection between the church and the Pastel Gemstone.
• Moen restored life to a stick the children were fighting over and taught them to share its gift.
• Moen introduced himself to Xia Nan as Chauntea’s only priest in town and asked what was troubling him.

Xia Nan questioned Priest Moen about Horako’s plans and the closed church, growing suspicious of the priest’s connection to the mind-controlling gemstones in Ram Horn Town. After comparing notes with Horako, Xia Nan remained unsure whether Moen knew the truth as Margaret and Solding joined them at the inn.

• Priest Moen recognized Xia Nan as a traveler with Horako’s caravan and learned that it planned to leave Ram Horn Town soon.
• Moen explained that the church was closed for repairs, but Xia Nan suspected the closure was connected to the strange gemstones and planned to investigate later.
• Xia Nan recalled that Horako had met Moen before the merchant broke free of the gemstone’s Mind Control and wondered whether the priest would notice the changed plans.
• Horako told Xia Nan that he had discussed staying in town with Moen while under Mind Control, but had not spoken to him since breaking free.
• Margaret and the Dwarf Solding came downstairs as Xia Nan prepared to question Horako further.

Xia Nan and Margaret investigated Ram Horn Town’s gemstone influence and visited an orange grove to question a local young woman about Priest Moen. She began recounting how Moen had helped her survive a deadly fever during a harsh winter, but the chapter ended before she explained what happened.

• Xia Nan told Margaret, Solding, and Horako that the Pastel Gemstone appeared to be influencing people across Ram Horn Town.
• Margaret urged Horako to leave town as soon as the caravan had replenished its supplies, and Horako insisted that he would not abandon his caravan.
• Xia Nan and Margaret went to an orange grove on the outskirts of town while Solding stayed behind to protect Horako.
• Margaret befriended the young woman tending the grove and steered their conversation toward the town and Priest Moen.
• The young woman praised Moen and began describing how he had helped her when she was a young child with a high fever during a bitterly cold winter.

Horako refused the tavern owner's offer to delay his departure for news about the Pastel Gemstone, prompting the owner to hurry to the church and report to Priest Moen. At the Orange Orchard, a young woman recounted how Moen had saved her life through grafting, while Xia Nan remained uncertain whether the revered priest was involved in the town's events.

• Solding and Horako discussed the difficulty of trading ores from The Mountains, while Horako barely touched his ale.
• The tavern owner told Horako he had news about the Pastel Gemstone and urged him to stay, but Horako refused and said the caravan would leave soon.
• After Horako refused, the tavern owner left the tavern in a hurry.
• At the Orange Orchard, a young woman told Xia Nan and Margaret how Priest Moen had grafted a branch onto an orange tree to help her recover from a childhood fever.
• Xia Nan examined the graft's scar and wondered whether Moen could still be behind the events in town.
• The tavern owner whispered a report to Priest Moen at the church, and Moen remained kneeling in shadow before the goddess's statue.

Xia Nan and Margaret investigated the Pastel Gemstone’s influence over Ram Horn Town and suspected Priest Moen had been affected, while the innkeeper tested Horako and later tried to kill him. Xia Nan stopped the attack, but the innkeeper triggered the gemstone’s power, and a pink light erupted from the direction of the church.

• Xia Nan and Margaret confirmed that Ram Horn Town’s residents reacted with hostility whenever they discussed the Pastel Gemstone and learned that Priest Moen had served the town for forty years.
• Margaret suspected that the gemstone had rewritten Moen’s cognition, while Xia Nan remained unsure because the gemstone seemed to have limited influence over Professionals.
• Solding and Horako told Xia Nan and Margaret that the innkeeper had changed his attitude and might have been testing whether Horako had escaped the gemstone’s control.
• The innkeeper entered Horako’s room at night and tried to stab him, but Xia Nan sprang from hiding and knocked him into the corridor as Solding and Margaret rushed in.
• The innkeeper drove his dagger into the Pastel Gemstone beneath his shirt, sending pink energy through the room; Xia Nan resisted its influence, and a brilliant pink light erupted from the church.

Priest Moen shattered the Pastel Gemstone in the church, creating a pink light dome over Ram Horn Town. After the innkeeper attacked Xia Nan’s party and died, Xia Nan found the inn and town apparently empty and planned to test the dome and investigate the church.

• Priest Moen prayed with the Pastel Gemstone, then broke it and unleashed a pink beam that spread into a dome over Ram Horn Town.
• Xia Nan stopped the innkeeper’s attack, but the man shattered the Pastel Gemstone embedded in his chest and died after confirming Xia Nan was unaffected by its energy.
• Xia Nan’s party saw the light dome cover the town and gathered the caravan members in the inn’s hall.
• Xia Nan and A-Fu discovered that no other guests or residents were in the inn, and the streets outside were deserted.
• Xia Nan proposed testing whether they could escape through the dome, while Margaret suggested searching a house and Solding urged them to investigate the church.

Xia Nan and Blackwood Squad investigated the deserted Ram Horn Town and discovered that its residents were controlled by Pastel Gemstones. After the pink barrier resisted their attempts to break through, they turned toward the giant beam of light at the town’s center as their remaining lead.

• Xia Nan, Margaret, and Solding left the caravan at the inn and searched a nearby house, where they found a resident with a Pastel Gemstone embedded in his chest.
• Xia Nan touched the gemstone and absorbed some of its energy, freeing the man from its control, though he remained panicked and unable to explain what had happened.
• The group found more residents in the same condition, brought the people they had awakened to the inn, and decided not to search the entire town for energy.
• At the town’s edge, Solding, Margaret, and Xia Nan tried striking the pink barrier with a hammer, a sword technique, and Gravity Etching, but none broke through.
• The three turned toward the enormous beam of light in the depths of Ram Horn Town.

Xia Nan, Margaret, and Solding failed to break through the barrier around Ram Horn Town and headed for the pillar of light at its center to find the source of the disturbance. On the way, the Bald Blacksmith ambushed them, and Solding charged him as the battle began.

• Xia Nan failed to absorb energy from the light barrier, and Solding could not break through it with his Prism Hammer.
• Margaret argued that the group needed to investigate the source of the barrier, so the three returned to the inn to check on Horako, A-Fu, and the caravan before setting out for town center.
• Xia Nan, Margaret, and Solding speculated that the Pastel Gemstone's mind control grew stronger over time and that Adventurers might have stolen gemstones from the townspeople.
• Xia Nan sensed an attack from behind and blocked a thrown iron plate with his arm shield.
• The Bald Blacksmith emerged from his shop with a Pastel Gemstone embedded in his chest, and Solding charged at him while Margaret moved to the side.

Xia Nan, Solding, and Margaret defeated a gemstone-enhanced blacksmith and discovered that the Pastel Gemstone’s influence could grant victims powerful defenses. They reached the town square and found the Church was the source of the enormous pink pillar of light, preparing to face what lay inside.

• Solding drew the blacksmith’s attack and blocked his hammer strike, while Margaret’s sword wound was stopped by crystalline particles coating his skin.
• Xia Nan used gravity to expose the blacksmith’s neck and killed him with [Whirlwind Slash].
• Xia Nan found that the crystalline particles lost their defensive strength after the blacksmith died, then absorbed a small amount of energy from the Pastel Gemstone in his chest.
• Margaret suspected that victims who remained mobile and partly aware had been more deeply affected by the gemstones, and Xia Nan warned that hundreds of such enemies could overwhelm them.
• The three proceeded cautiously to the central square without meeting more attackers and saw the pink pillar of light rising from the Church.
• Xia Nan asked his companions if they were ready as they faced the Church, which Solding believed was the end.

Xia Nan, Margaret, and Solding discovered that the Church’s worshippers had been transformed by the Pastel Gemstone and fought them in Ram Horn Town’s square. Solding held off fifteen attackers while Margaret used [Double Whirlwind Slash] to cut through their defenses, and Xia Nan attacked elsewhere as the battle continued.

• Solding, Margaret, and Xia Nan entered the Church and saw Priest Moen and more than twenty gemstone-covered believers worshiping in pink light.
• The Crystal People turned on the trio, and Solding was blasted out of the Church before taking position at the front of the team.
• Margaret ordered Solding to use Taunt and hold the enemies while she and Xia Nan fought.
• Solding activated [Fearless Guardian], drawing fifteen Crystal People into pounding his light shield.
• Margaret used [Double Whirlwind Slash] to exploit a wound and split a Crystal Person in two.
• Xia Nan fought nearby as blood sprayed and several Crystal People’s heads fell.

Xia Nan drew seven Crystal People away from the main fight, weakened the crystals on their necks, and killed them with a gravity-assisted [Whirlwind Slash]. He then supported Solding, and the group defeated all twenty-seven Crystal People in the town square within ten minutes.

• Xia Nan lured seven Crystal People away from Blackwood Squad and tested their crystal-covered defenses with repeated sword strikes to their necks.
• Xia Nan used [Gravity Control] to lift the seven attackers and killed six with [Whirlwind Slash], then beheaded the last one.
• Xia Nan checked Margaret's condition, judged that she could manage her five opponents, and rushed to help the exhausted Solding hold back fifteen Crystal People.
• Solding drank a stamina potion and returned to the fight while Xia Nan disrupted the Crystal People around him.
• Xia Nan killed the final Crystal Person, ending the battle after ten minutes.

Xia Nan, Margaret, and Solding defeated the Crystal People and confronted Priest Moen inside the church. Moen released a wave of pink energy that charged Xia Nan’s Neural Terminal and knocked down his companions.

• Xia Nan killed the last Crystal Person, and the group confirmed they had only suffered light injuries.
• Margaret mourned the damage to her Longsword as the party finished searching the battlefield and found no reason to take the Pastel Gemstones.
• Xia Nan questioned why Priest Moen had not joined the fight, and the three Adventurers prepared to enter the church.
• The party entered the church and saw Moen praying beneath the goddess statue amid the pink light.
• Moen turned toward them, gripped a large Pastel Gemstone, and released a wave of pink energy that charged Xia Nan’s Neural Terminal and knocked down two companions.

Xia Nan confronted Priest Moen in the Church and learned that Moen had helped use the Pastel Gemstone to charm Ram Horn Town, claiming it was salvation. Xia Nan attacked, but Moen’s gemstone barrier repelled his strike, leaving their fight unresolved.

• The pink energy incapacitated Margaret and Solding, while the Silver Ring absorbed the energy that reached Xia Nan.
• Moen recognized Xia Nan as the person who freed Horako from Mind Control and admitted to helping cause the events in town.
• Moen claimed he had charmed the townspeople to spare them suffering, but evaded Xia Nan’s question about whether Chauntea had commanded it.
• Xia Nan charged Moen, enduring [Radiant Prayer] and blocking [Light-Guided Arrow] with his equipment before resisting [Hold Person].
• Xia Nan reached Moen and swung [Whirlwind Slash], but Moen expanded a pink barrier that struck Xia Nan and sent him flying.

Xia Nan fought Priest Moen in the Church, endured his rapid spells, and used gravity to disrupt a spell that exploded into Holy Flame. Though Moen was gravely burned and disarmed, he implanted the pink gemstone in his chest, leaving Xia Nan facing a dangerous new threat.

• Xia Nan's strike rebounded off Moen's pink barrier, and he landed safely while observing the Priest's weakening defenses.
• Moen withdrew the barrier and began casting a powerful spell, so Xia Nan used [Heart's Sight] and gravity to pull his staff arm off balance.
• Moen's disrupted spell spiraled out of control and exploded, engulfing him in Holy Flame and destroying much of his left arm and Magic Staff.
• Xia Nan rushed in to finish Moen but leapt back when Perception warned him of danger from the gemstone.
• Moen, still burning and unable to speak, forced the pink gemstone into his chest as the Goddess Statue stood silent behind him.

Xia Nan fought Moen after the Priest transformed into a powerful crystal-covered form. He discovered that [Gravity Etching] could break through Moen’s defenses, leaving him seeking one more opening to strike the Priest’s neck.

• Moen absorbed the gem and transformed into a pink Crystal Person, while Xia Nan prepared to interrupt him.
• Xia Nan tested Moen’s strength with [Tooth Hunt] and [Whirlwind Slash], but Moen blocked the strike and charged Xia Nan with overwhelming force.
• Moen fired a powerful beam from the gem in his chest, and Xia Nan dodged it before launching another attack.
• Xia Nan used [Gravity Etching] with [Whirlwind Slash] to shatter the crystal on Moen’s neck and wound the flesh beneath it.
• Xia Nan retreated and realized that one more strike to Moen’s neck could end the battle.

Xia Nan’s battle with Moen turned against him when the priest awakened the Pink Crystal power within the Goddess Statue, healing himself and gaining enough strength to injure Xia Nan. Xia Nan deliberately wounded himself to trigger a hidden power, leaving Moen confronted by the first signs of its awakening.

• Moen used a Pink Energy Barrier to repel Xia Nan’s attack, and the Goddess Statue began shedding its stone shell as the Church resonated with Moen’s cries.
• The exposed statue released a surge of pink energy that healed Moen, strengthened him, and rapidly replenished Xia Nan’s [Dreamweaver Corridor].
• Moen overcame Xia Nan’s brief stiffness and struck him, breaking through his defenses and leaving him with broken ribs, chest injuries, and internal bleeding.
• As Moen ranted about his faith and his supposed miracle, Xia Nan ignored him and stabbed himself in the abdomen to lower his Life Force.
• Moen’s muttering stopped as Xia Nan’s clothes began to burn, and ashes and crimson sparks drifted from him.

Xia Nan activated [Ember Echo] and used its brief surge of power to wound Moen, but the Priest kept healing behind his barrier. With the burst nearly over, Xia Nan gambled on a narrow opening and [Copper Sinew Iron Bone]’s chance to nullify a physical blow; the chapter ended as a coin flipped into the air.

• Xia Nan activated [Ember Echo], healing his wounds and empowering his body and [Emberfall] for sixty seconds.
• Xia Nan struck Moen with Emberfire, burning through much of the crystal protecting his arm, but retreated when Moen’s barrier expanded.
• Xia Nan realized Moen’s barrier had to complete an expansion-and-contraction cycle before it could activate again, giving him a chance to use [Gravity Etching].
• As his Ember state dwindled, Xia Nan launched a slash at Moen’s neck and refused to retreat when the barrier began expanding.
• Moen punched Xia Nan, but [Copper Sinew Iron Bone] nullified the physical damage, and a brass-colored coin flipped into the air.

Xia Nan used the Fate Coin’s effects and a split-second opening to kill Priest Moen with a Honey Tangerine empowered by Gravity Etching. Afterward, he successfully entered the dynamic password for the Dreamweaver Corridor’s Neural Roaming Terminal.

• Xia Nan tossed the Fate Coin and used Bronze Sinew, Iron Bone to survive Moen’s punch, then softened the crystals on Moen’s neck with Emberfire.
• The Fate Coin landed front side up, while Xia Nan’s waist pouch spilled its contents and a Honey Tangerine bounced into his reach.
• Xia Nan grabbed the Honey Tangerine, let his sword fly, and hurled the fruit at Moen as the barrier retracted.
• Gravity Etching detonated on Moen’s weakened neck, destroying most of his neck and part of his head and killing him.
• Xia Nan entered the final character of the dynamic password before the Fate Coin hit the ground, and the Dreamweaver Corridor verified it and opened the Neural Roaming Terminal.