Recaps

Hobart hired Philip as his probationary butler and prepared to inspect his territory. In Backlund, Jessica helped reshape a workers’ compensation bill despite facing arrest, but agents from the Special Operations Department and two Churches intervened to protect her during questioning.

• Hobart rewarded Shier, asked him to arrange Philip’s interview, and hired Philip as his butler for a two-month probationary period.
• Hobart gave Philip 80 Silver Suo to manage the Lord’s Manor finances, then left with Shier to inspect the territory.
• At the Council Hall, Gusata and four chamber of commerce representatives challenged Jessica’s right to attend, but Law Professors supported her seat.
• Jessica explained the workers’ concerns, prompting the Law Professors to shorten the compensation period from three months to three weeks and revise the bill.
• After Gusata called the police, Borgia and a Church representative intervened, and Military Intelligence Section 9 questioned Jessica with them present.

Jessica received a warning that mercenary teams were hunting Hobart and used his messenger to send him a letter and doughnuts. In Feneport, Hobart toured his impoverished territory and forced Grover Duke to recognize his authority, taking the knight’s white horse as a fine.

• Auston warned Jessica that three Mercenary Teams had gone to Feneport Kingdom to claim the bounty on Hobart’s head, and Jessica decided to summon Hobart’s messenger.
• Jessica found a letter intended for Hobart, then told Kelly about her day and performed the summoning ritual, giving the messenger the letter and three doughnuts.
• Shier showed Hobart Jeffrey Town and nearby villages, where residents treated him respectfully but remained wary, and Hobart learned that many missed Wright Viscount’s rule.
• Hobart confronted Grover Duke, ordered him to dismount, and threw him to the ground when he refused to recognize the new lord.
• Hobart used his Corrosion ability to turn the squires against one another, fined Grover Duke one white horse, and rode away with Shier.

Hobart settled into his territory, prepared to visit the bandits at the old church, and began using the Oil Painting to guard his room. After receiving warnings about mercenaries and an assassination plot, he wrote replies and realized he needed to travel to Feneport City to obtain doughnuts for his messenger.

• Shier led Hobart around the territory and warned him that reaching the villages beyond the mountains required passing the old church, where bandits lived; Hobart planned to visit them the next day.
• Hobart returned to the manor, found Philip had hired workers to clean and repair it, and ordered the servants to keep away from his courtyard overnight.
• Hobart brought out the Oil Painting and Two-Handed Sword, intending to have the painting guard his room while he slept.
• Jessica's messenger delivered her letter, and Hobart learned that Jessica had been questioned by the police and Military Intelligence Section 9, joined Barton’s Mercenary Team as its senior Lawyer, and received a warning from Auston.
• Hobart read letters from Selena and Harvey Hayden; Harvey warned him about three powerful Mercenary Teams and a planned assassination by Military Intelligence Section 9.
• Hobart wrote replies to Jessica, Selena, and Harvey, then realized he had no doughnuts to pay the messenger and would have to go to Feneport City.

Hobart settled into his fief, arranged the manor’s renovation and staff, and inspected the territory. At the former Earth Mother church, he confronted the Great Lord and ordered him to leave so the building could become a church again.

• Hobart visited Doffis in Backlund, exchanged news about Christine, and asked him to trade 700 pounds for Lire.
• Hobart sent a letter from Jeffrey Town, then told Philip to hire kitchen staff, build a Fire Dragon heating system, recruit workers from every village, and invite former servants back.
• Hobart set out to inspect the territory with Shier and Philip’s son Roy, and saw the fertile fields and mist-covered Full Moon Lake.
• Seven Subordinates of the Great Lord led Hobart to the former Earth Mother church, where the Great Lord greeted him cautiously after learning he was an Extraordinary.
• Hobart ordered the Great Lord and his followers to leave the church so he could restore it.

Hobart ordered the Great Lord and his men to leave, then attacked them when they resisted and killed the leaders and more than twenty followers. He made Shier kill a wounded bandit as his first test, but wondered whether the act had helped digest his Potion.

• Hobart ordered the Great Lord and his men to move out, then accused them of killing Wright Viscount.
• Hobart attacked the Second Lord, killed him, and pursued the Great Lord after learning the Second Lord was likely an Assassin from the Gnostic Society.
• The Great Lord used Open Door to escape through a wall, but Hobart caught up with him and killed him.
• Hobart cut down more than twenty people as the bandits outside hesitated to enter the hall.
• Hobart gave Shier a Two-Handed Sword and ordered him to kill a wounded bandit, whom Shier eventually stabbed through the heart.
• Hobart saw fear and excitement in Shier but noticed no clear signs that his Potion had been digested.

Hobart took control of the bandit-held church, gathered its spoils, and began establishing his rule over the territory. After arranging a public burning of the bandits and a proper reburial for Wright Viscount’s family, he continued inspecting the land and was welcomed by Louis Knight.

• Hobart killed several bandits with stones, sent Roy to summon Philip, and ordered Shier to search the church.
• Hobart released the abducted women and found the bandits’ storehouse, which held large supplies of grain and dried fruit but few valuables.
• Philip arrived with several dozen men, and Hobart ordered them to move the spoils, build temporary warehouses, and burn the bandits’ corpses in a public pyre.
• Hobart promised to rebury Wright Viscount’s family, and Philip told him where they had been buried.
• Hobart continued his inspection of the territory, and Louis Knight greeted him respectfully and presented him with two donkeys for his servants.

Hobart began establishing his rule over the territory and realized that fear-driven loyalty helped digest his Corrupted Baron Potion. After a beautiful woman arrived seeking a meeting, he suspected she was connected to the Gnostic Society and let her in.

• Hobart saw the blaze from the mountaintop, considered his next steps against the Gnostic Society, and decided to conduct a household registration.
• Viscount Teuton learned that Hobart had killed the previous Lords and the bandits, then said Hobart would have to flee, die, or become the Gnostic Society's dog.
• A peerlessly elegant lady asked another woman to approach Hobart and seek cooperation, warning that killing him was not an option.
• Hobart woke to find that the blaze had digested nearly one-third of his Potion, then realized that fear and repeated acknowledgment of his authority produced the loyalty needed for Acting.
• Philip told Hobart that a beautiful lady had requested a meeting, and Hobart admitted her while Shier quickly looked away after staring at her.

Hobart negotiated a limited cooperation with Helen while insisting that he alone control dealings in his territory. He then began reopening the town school and organized residents to prepare for a household registration census.

• Hobart asked Shier to leave and told Helen to stop using her Extraordinary Ability so they could discuss practical matters.
• Hobart offered Helen the Instigator and Apprentice Extraordinary Characteristics as a sign of cooperation, while forbidding her from bypassing him or infiltrating his territory.
• Helen said she would return the next day with her answer after Hobart proposed mutually beneficial dealings on his terms.
• Hobart summoned the three remaining local teachers and promised to reopen the school, with their wages starting immediately.
• Hobart assigned the teachers to recruit fifteen literate residents and train them to fill out a household registration census form.

Hobart warned Helen away from his bedroom after his cursed oil painting attacked her, then traveled with Alger to investigate a ruin. They arrived on an island encircled by a violent storm, where Alger recognized several Extraordinary creatures.

• Hobart used the cursed oil painting to attack Helen when she entered his bedroom, and she escaped with a Mirror Substitute.
• Hobart warned Helen that the painting had marked her and told her to seek help, while she reported that her elders had approved their cooperation and assigned her as liaison.
• Hobart traveled to Oravia Port and met Alger in a forest near a private port, then took him through the Spirit World toward the ruin.
• Hobart and Alger emerged on an unfamiliar island surrounded by towering storm clouds, fierce winds, lightning, and thunder.
• Alger recognized Storm Green-Winged Eagles, Blue Shadow Falcons, Dragon Eye Sea Eagles, Agate Jellyfish, and Blue-Eyed Electric Eels around the island.

Hobart and Alger hunted extraordinary creatures and plants on the island before discovering a distorted area that flattened objects into two dimensions. Hobart explained his theory of two-dimensional space, while Alger remained unsure what the fourth dimension was.

• Hobart killed a Blue Shadow Falcon with Holy Light and lured a Dragon Eye Sea Eagle back with Distortion before cutting off its head.
• Alger collected the creatures’ Extraordinary Characteristics and main ingredients while Hobart watched for the island’s reaction.
• Hobart and Alger explored the island together, gathering Sequence 7 and Sequence 8 ingredients and other Spirit Materials.
• They found a mirror-like area where the light, colors, and entire scenery swayed like a curtain.
• Hobart tested the area with a stone and a branch, discovering that it flattened objects into two dimensions, then explained the idea to Alger.

Hobart and Alger explored the ruins of an Elven Race temple and studied murals recounting the elves’ wars, persecution, and retreat to the island. The final mural showed an Elven Saint protecting the island from a raging sea before hearing a voice from the void.

• Hobart explained to Alger how higher and lower dimensions worked, and they skirted the two-dimensional spaces while avoiding the mist.
• Hobart and Alger reached the mountain at the island’s center, found a stream and Elven ruins, and explored a well-preserved temple.
• Hobart examined a strange crystalline statue and murals depicting the Elven King fighting dragons and the Ancient Sun God.
• Hobart and Alger saw murals showing humans hunting the elves, the elves cursing the Ancient Sun God, and the Church of Storms fighting the Elven Race.
• Hobart and Alger viewed a mural of an Elven Saint containing the sea’s fury around the island before hearing a voice from the void.

Hobart and Alger explored a hidden cavern beneath an Elven temple and discovered a headless elf who revealed that an Astral World power had cursed his people. The elf asked them to kill him and stop the power’s descent, but Hobart refused.

• Hobart and Alger examined murals showing the Elven Race changing its faith and performing a bloody sacrifice, then opened a Stone Door beneath the temple.
• Hobart and Alger found ranks of mummified elves gathered around an altar marked with the symbol of the Lord of Storms.
• Hobart and Alger entered a deeper cavern filled with skeletons bearing Extraordinary Characteristics and Mystical Items, then found a headless corpse surrounded by its severed organs.
• The headless elf explained that the elves had prayed to a voice from the distorted Spirit World, which had cursed their tribe and begun descending through him.
• The elf asked Hobart and Alger to kill him to stop the Astral World power, but Hobart refused.

Hobart deduced that the sealed corpse was an evil god and refused to help it descend, then tried to escape with Alger. They fled the corpse’s lightning attack, but a hurricane trapped them in the outer cave as Hobart considered using the Cursed Jade.

• Hobart identified the corpse as an evil god’s vessel and accused the Lord of Storms of sealing it inside the cave.
• Hobart and Alger tried to escape, but the evil god stopped Hobart’s Travel and attacked them with lightning.
• Hobart and Alger dodged the lightning and reached the outer cave, where the corpse could not follow.
• A hurricane blew Hobart and Alger back toward the corpse, and Hobart thought of the Cursed Jade he had taken from the Country of Disorder.

Hobart and Alger escaped the sealed cave after the Cursed Jade awakened the elven saint’s will, then entered a mist where the real world and Spirit World overlapped. As they pressed onward, an unexplained knocking sound approached them from behind.

• Hobart had Alger throw the Cursed Jade behind them, stopping the hurricane and awakening the elven saint’s will to suppress the evil god.
• Hobart and Alger escaped the cave, bowed respectfully to the dead elves, and continued fleeing through the temple.
• They discovered thick fog covering the ruins, and Hobart explained that the evil god’s spatial authority prevented him from using travel.
• Hobart and Alger entered a barren region where their compass could not find north, and Hobart urged them to keep moving.
• A knocking sound came from the mist behind them, growing closer as Hobart dimmed his cane’s light.

Hobart and Alger encountered a ghostly ship in the fog and learned from its Sailor that it was pursuing the legendary Trensoost Empire Ship. As a terrifying force awakened aboard the wreck, Hobart claimed they were messengers from the nearby seas and explained that a storm had opened a gap in the Underworld.

• Hobart and Alger followed the mysterious pounding through the fog and found a wrecked ship and a Sailor repairing its hull.
• The Sailor told Hobart and Alger that his ship was pursuing the Trensoost Empire Ship, which appeared amid lightning and clouds beyond the fog.
• Hobart recalled that the incident matched records about a trap intended for the Nether Emperor and the Night Emperor's fall.
• As a frightening presence awakened aboard the wreck, Hobart used the Spirituality Connection Wine Cup to appear undead and told the Sailor that a storm had opened a gap in the Underworld.

Hobart and Alger escaped the fog-bound island and divided their exploration spoils. They sacrificed one material to Mr. Fool to check for contamination, and transparent crystals emerged from both of them Above the Gray Fog.

• Hobart and Alger escaped the fog and returned from the Elven Race ruins to the beach, then traveled through the Spirit World to Olavie Island.
• Hobart and Alger divided the spoils, with Hobart taking the Mystical Item, Sequence 5 Extraordinary Characteristic, and ring, while Alger chose other materials.
• Hobart persuaded Alger to sacrifice the last material to Mr. Fool so He could examine their spirit bodies for contamination from the sealed evil god.
• Mr. Fool accepted the offering and pulled Hobart and Alger Above the Gray Fog, where a transparent crystal fell from each of their bodies.
• Alger recognized that the crystals resembled idols from the Elven Race temples.

Alger and Hobart returned from their encounter with an evil god’s avatar, and Mr. Fool destroyed the crystals that had recognized Him as “Mysteries.” The two agreed to share ownership of the island but avoid its cave and fog until they could safely deal with the threat; Hobart then returned to his fief and disinfected the items he had brought back.

• Mr. Fool’s Gray Fog crushed the two crystals as Hobart and Alger praised Him.
• Hobart told Alger that the Lord of Storms had sealed the evil god’s avatar in a cave, and Mr. Fool sent them back to the forest.
• Hobart and Alger agreed to share the island’s resources and stay away from its cave and fog until they could seal the evil god.
• Hobart traveled to Feneport City to buy clothes and bathe, then returned to his fief and arranged for Helen to stay at the Lord’s Manor under restrictions.
• Hobart activated the Oil Painting and sacrificed the pendant, Extraordinary Characteristic, and ring to the Country of Disorder for disinfection.

Hobart examined and named the spoils from his expedition, then concluded that the being behind the island’s two-dimensional spaces was likely the High-Dimensional Overseer. He suspected it had used the Spirit World to contaminate the Saint of the Elven Race.

• Hobart purified the Extraordinary Characteristics and planned to divide it into five portions, with Alger as a potential buyer for the Ocean Singer portion.
• Hobart identified the pendant’s powers and drawbacks, resealed it to reduce its negative effects, and named it the Ocean Pendant.
• Hobart named the other ring the Light Priest Ring and examined a golden ring bearing an image resembling Xuan Ming, which he set aside for possible future use.
• Hobart reviewed the expedition and reasoned that the island’s two-dimensional spaces pointed to the High-Dimensional Overseer’s authority over space and lower dimensions.
• Hobart speculated that the High-Dimensional Overseer had used the Spirit World to contaminate the Saint of the Elven Race.

Hobart considered how the High-Dimensional Overseer had corrupted the elves and speculated that the Trensoost Empire Ship lay somewhere in an unexplored part of the Stormy Sea. After Christine warned him that nobles were seeking marriage alliances with him, Hobart decided he needed a shield rather than a wife, but Philip reminded him that a baron was still missing a Baroness.

• Hobart reasoned that the High-Dimensional Overseer had used the Spirit World to corrupt the Elven Race's Saint and cause the island's spatial chaos.
• Hobart guessed that the Trensoost Empire Ship had been swept into an unexplored region where reality and the Spirit World merged.
• Helen flirted with Hobart over dinner, and he told her to ask the chef for whatever food she wanted.
• Hobart visited Christine, who offered to help with the secret organizations and warned that nobles wanted to marry their daughters to him for political advantage.
• Hobart returned to his fief and decided he needed a trustworthy shield and partner, not a wife.
• Philip told Hobart that, as a baron, he was still missing a Baroness.

Hobart organized his workers to mass-produce forms and considered asking Fors to become his cooperative Baroness. At the Tarot Club, Alger explained that Silver City’s leaders had deliberately allowed people to contact the exploration captain who later suffered Loss of Control.

• Hobart divided eighteen workers into two groups and nine tasks to produce three thousand forms, promising them double wages if they finished within two days.
• Hobart considered Audrey, Fors, and Xue as possible Baronesses, ruled Audrey out, and decided Fors seemed the most suitable candidate.
• Hobart attended the Tarot Club, where Alger exchanged three diary pages with The Fool and appeared excited afterward.
• Derrick told the Tarot Club that the former exploration captain had died after suffering Loss of Control.
• Alger reasoned that Silver City’s leaders had intentionally let people contact the captain and had monitored the resulting changes near the Round Tower.

Derrick recounted how Mr. Fool’s angel destroyed Amon’s avatar, and Hobart identified the worm Derrick coughed up as a Time Worm. The gathering ended with Hobart explaining its uses and warning against praying to Mr. Fool for power too soon.

• Alger warned Derrick that Silver City’s Chief might secretly monitor him after his encounter with Amon, and Derrick admitted that Amon had parasitized him.
• Derrick manifested the scenes of Amon’s parasitism and Mr. Fool’s angel destroying the avatar, shocking the Tarot Club members.
• Hobart identified Derrick’s translucent worm as a Time Worm and explained that demigods could use them to create avatars.
• Hobart said a dead Time Worm could serve as a Ritual or high-level charm ingredient, and cautioned against praying to Mr. Fool for power for the time being.

Hobart explained why Mr. Fool could not yet answer requests, while Alger helped Derrick devise a plan to expose corruption in Silver City and clear himself of suspicion. After Derrick prepared to repay part of his debt, The World asked Hobart for information about Mr. Door.

• Hobart told the Tarot Club that Mr. Fool could not respond to requests yet because He had more important matters to attend to, and Audrey inferred that His influence over reality was still growing.
• Derrick reported that Elder Loviya’s exploration team had returned from the Fallen Creator’s temple and that several members had changed; Alger identified them as corrupted by the True Creator.
• Alger advised Derrick to provoke an abnormal reaction from an exploration-team member, then explain the Time Worm as the remnant of a clash between Amon’s avatar and the True Creator’s corruption.
• The World offered Derrick a valuable item tainted by the Fallen Creator’s mental corruption, and Alger helped him finalize the plan; Derrick also planned to sacrifice seven Sequence 8 Main Ingredients to repay Hobart.
• The World asked Hobart what payment he wanted for his information about Mr. Door, and Hobart said he had gathered relatively comprehensive intelligence.

Hobart traded intelligence about Mr. Door, revealing that he was the Abraham Family’s ancestor and had been banished by the Goddess of the Night and the Lord of Storms. The trade continued with information about Mr. Door’s current state, leaving the members to learn that he had been sealed and banished after suffering contamination in the starry sky.

• Hobart offered three pieces of intelligence about Mr. Door, and Alger, Audrey, Fors, and Little Sun joined the trade alongside Klein.
• Hobart revealed that Mr. Door was the Abraham Family’s ancestor and had supported the Blood Emperor and the Tudor Empire during the Fourth Epoch.
• Hobart said the Goddess of the Night and the Lord of Storms had banished Mr. Door because they supported the Night Emperor’s Trensoost Empire.
• Audrey asked why the Night Emperor had not won, and Hobart said the answer was worth at least 5000 Pounds.
• Hobart began sharing Mr. Door’s current state, explaining that he had suffered contamination while roaming the starry sky and was sealed and banished after becoming a King of Angels.

Hobart explained that a Sequence 1 Beyonder who accommodated a Uniqueness or another Sequence 1 characteristic became a King of Angels, and warned the Tarot Club about a corrupted angel named Spike Antigonus. He also revealed that Mr. Door contacted the Abraham Family during the full moon, leaving Fors uneasy about the danger of his calls for help.

• Hobart explained that a Sequence 1 Beyonder who accommodated a Uniqueness or another Sequence 1 characteristic became a King of Angels.
• Hobart warned that learning detailed information about the being who corrupted Mr. Door could corrupt them, even though Mr. Fool protected them in the Giant Hall.
• Hobart recounted a document about Spike Antigonus, a Saint who advanced to Sequence 2 through Mr. Door's influence, was corrupted in the Astral World, and later returned to the real world.
• Audrey called Spike an emissary of an evil god, while Klein wondered whether Mr. Door had played a role in Rosell's fate.
• Hobart told Fors that Mr. Door became lucid during the full moon and tried to communicate with members of the Abraham Family.

At the Tarot Club, Hobart bought a Werewolf Extraordinary Characteristic from World and explained how those characteristics formed. The gathering ended with World seeking rare ingredients for advancement and Audrey reporting on a strange case in Backlund.

• World offered a Werewolf Extraordinary Characteristic, and Hobart agreed to buy it for 1,100 pounds.
• Hobart identified the Werewolf pathway as Prisoner and explained that Extraordinary Characteristics followed a law of conservation after Fors traded with Audrey for the information.
• World asked the members to look for a Thousand-Faced Hunter Mutated Pituitary Gland and Deep Sea Naga hair, and Klein bought five strands from Alger.
• Audrey said that two tarot cards, God of Death and Judgement, had appeared at a Backlund crime scene linked to a figure called the Emissary of Death.