Chapter Summaries

Evan used witchcraft and the Storm Cape’s defenses to repel the Stedenburg’s attacks, but the enemy’s divine arts and secret treasure slowed the ships and set the Storm Cape’s sails ablaze. With escape impossible, Evan ordered his crew to prepare for boarding as the Stedenburg rammed their ship.

• Evan blocked the Flame Pterodactyl with a World Barrier, then attacked it with animated seawater while the Storm Cape’s cannons fired.
• Evan grew Wizard Flytraps across the deck, and they caught or weakened the enemy cannonballs as the Storm Cape and Endeavour maneuvered toward the Stedenburg’s stern.
• Stanley used a horn to create an opposing current that slowed the Storm Cape, and the Stedenburg and a frigate turned to pursue and board it.
• Reynolds Ban ordered Dean Edmund to unleash Divine Art: Flame Light Arrow, while the Flame Pterodactyl attacked the Storm Cape’s Wizard Flytraps and sails.
• The Storm Cape lost speed after its sails caught fire, so Evan rallied his crew to prepare for boarding as the Stedenburg rammed the ship.

Evan led the Storm Cape’s crew in boarding the Stedenburg, using sorcery and his Animated Beast Hide warriors to overcome Sirius’s numerical advantage. He then faced Colonel Reynolds Ban in a duel atop the ship’s mast, where Reynolds recognized Evan’s skill with a Swift Sword.

• Evan used Giant Vines to overturn the Stedenburg’s cannons, then fired on the circling cruiser to stop it from joining the fight.
• Evan gave the Thorned Gold Rose to Milan and led the Storm Cape’s crew onto the Stedenburg while Gary commanded the Animated Beast Hide warriors.
• Gary’s spearhead disrupted the Sirius formation, but Evan stopped Captain Colonel Stanley from landing a deadly sneak attack on Gary.
• Colonel Reynolds Ban confronted Evan, and the two Peak Knights exchanged blows before leaping onto the main mast to duel above the sea.
• Reynolds Ban noticed Evan’s swordsmanship and asked whether he also used a Swift Sword.

Evan fought Reynolds Ban, a Sirius fleet commander and master swordsman, while Milan used Treacherous Fate to disrupt the enemy forces with his sniper rifle. Reynolds Ban unveiled the Supreme Swordsmanship Truth Circle, leaving Evan facing his opponent’s strongest technique.

• Evan identified Reynolds Ban as a Peak Knight with half-step Master swordsmanship, and the two began fighting on the yardarm.
• Milan activated Treacherous Fate and shot down the first mate aboard the Stedenburg, then grazed Stanley while he fought Gary and Boris.
• Reynolds Ban tried to break away and stop Milan, but Evan used Esoteric Truth · Wave Leap to drive them both into the sea.
• Evan and Reynolds Ban continued their fierce duel underwater and across the sea’s surface, matching each other’s speed and swordsmanship.
• Reynolds Ban formed a two-meter sphere of cutting force with Supreme Swordsmanship Truth Circle, preparing to strike at Evan.

Evan used sorcery, swordsmanship, firearms, and poison to wound Reynolds Ban, but Reynolds fled toward the ships to support his allies. On the Stedenburg, the enemy’s extraordinary fighters fell, and Edmund began a sacrificial Divine Art that transformed him into a burning figure.

• Evan struck Reynolds Ban with Blood Reversal, then cut his ribs and fired four bullets after Reynolds’s immunity amulet weakened the spell.
• Evan threw High-Efficiency Voodoo Potion at Reynolds, who escaped underwater toward the ships; Evan pursued and ensnared his ankle with an Animated Rope.
• Milan, Boris, and Gary killed Stanley aboard the Stedenburg, leaving Edmund as its last surviving extraordinary fighter.
• Edmund cut his wrists and poured his Pious Blood into a brazier, completing the Divine Art: Sacrifice as Sirius Soldiers joined his prayer.
• Boris and Gary rushed to stop Edmund, but he emerged from the cabin transformed by flames and cried, “Burn! Burn! Burn!”

Evan poisoned Reynolds Ban, but Reynolds unleashed his life-burning Esoteric Truth and dragged Evan into the deep sea. On the Stedenburg, Milan brought down Edmund before his Faith Fire exploded, devastating both ships and leaving their surviving crews facing one another.

• Evan's poison weakened Reynolds Ban during their duel, but Reynolds activated Burning Ash and attacked Evan with overwhelming power.
• Reynolds Ban grappled Evan and dragged him toward the ocean floor, intending for them both to die underwater.
• Milan and Boris struggled against Edmund's lava-like form as it killed Faletis Soldiers and advanced across the Stedenburg.
• Milan used Doom Curse and her Alchemy Musket to topple Edmund and sever his support, sending him overboard.
• Edmund detonated, blasting the ships apart and incinerating everyone caught in the Faith Fire's reach.
• The surviving soldiers on both sides regrouped on the deck, and Sirius Soldiers began dropping their weapons.

Evan escaped Reynolds Ban in the deep sea, discovered and retrieved an ancient shipwreck, and returned to his fleet after their victory. He learned that more than a third of his crew had died, and the surviving ships began their return voyage after honoring the fallen.

• Evan freed himself from Reynolds Ban, tied him to a falling cannon, and showed him the Iron Cross Medal as the cannon dragged him into the depths.
• Evan escaped through the Shadow Realm with Kaka, but a distortion diverted their Shadow Jump and led them to an ancient shipwreck nearly six hundred meters below the surface.
• Kaka stored the wreck in its Shadow Vault, and Evan and Kaka returned to the surface after the Shadow Realm route cleared.
• Boris gave Evan the spoils list and the list of the dead, and Evan learned that First Mate Bogg and more than a third of the crew had not survived.
• The survivors fired twelve volleys, sank two damaged cruisers as sea burials, and began their return voyage.

Evan’s fleet repaired its damaged ships at the hidden Hatlafa Port while Evan received an award order and took command of captured Sirius warships. He used the Puppet Potion to make ordinary Sirius prisoners loyal to him and put them to work building the port.

• Evan’s crews hauled the Storm Cape and Stedenburg into Hatlafa Port’s drydock for repairs, though the Stedenburg’s damage would keep it out of action for months.
• Rear Admiral Damon Brand delivered Vice Admiral Gustav’s award order, which promoted Evan, Milan, Gary, and Boris, and left the captured warships under Evan’s command.
• Damon Brand took the enemy flags to display the victory and promised to replenish Evan’s lost personnel after returning.
• Evan walked through the planned residential area and saw Sirius prisoners eagerly carrying timber to build quarters for the fleet.
• Evan had secretly given the prisoners Puppet Potion brewed from mushrooms grown from Mallory and Moprati, making them loyal to his commands and putting them to work on Hatlafa Port.

Evan visited the wounded on the island and accepted Bogg’s decision to retire after losing his arm, promising to help him secure a safe future. He then prepared to travel with Boris to see Boris’s seriously ill son, Calvin, hoping to treat him and keep Boris from leaving the Storm Cape.

• Evan learned that the soldiers’ wounds had healed well thanks to his potions, and he visited Bogg in his bedroom.
• Bogg asked to retire, explaining that he was no longer suited to serve as first mate and wanted to step aside for someone more capable.
• Evan approved Bogg’s retirement and promised to arrange passage home and seek him a safe position in the Third Fleet.
• Evan inspected the other wounded soldiers, most of whom were expected to return to duty within days.
• Evan met Boris at the harbor and set off with him to visit Calvin, Boris’s seriously ill son.

Boris brought Evan to Far Sail Port to examine his son Calvin, whose progressive paralysis had left him unable to walk. Evan used Animated Aura to restore movement to Calvin’s legs and discovered that Calvin had the potential to become a wizard, leaving him thrilled by the prospect.

• Boris introduced Evan to Calvin, who recognized the naval captain as his idol and described his dream of becoming a captain.
• Boris explained that Calvin’s worsening paralysis had spread from his legs toward his waist, and Evan identified the illness as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
• Evan used Animated Aura on Calvin, causing his legs to move again, and advised regular care and exercise while warning that the spell’s effects were temporary.
• Evan tested Calvin with an enchanted crystal and discovered that he possessed wizard potential.
• Evan animated a chair to demonstrate magic, and Calvin’s eyes lit up at the prospect of becoming a wizard.

Evan helped Calvin begin recovering and gained Boris’s renewed commitment to the Storm Cape, then heard about Olivia Amore, the adventurous heir of Far Sail Territory. Boris’s description of Olivia as an adventurer left Evan stunned.

• Evan promised to guide Calvin in wizardry once his body had recovered, while Calvin relied on a seed infused with Animated Aura to keep his illness at bay.
• Evan and Boris walked through Far Sail City, and Boris agreed to apply for formal enlistment with the Storm Cape.
• Evan saw a notice offering a reward for Olivia’s whereabouts, and Boris explained that the Far Sail Marquis’s daughter often disappeared on explorations.
• Boris described Olivia’s accomplishments, her family’s wealthy territory, and how suitors hoped to marry her and gain influence over the estate.
• After boarding the East Lun Branch merchant ship, Boris called Olivia an adventurer at heart, and Evan froze at the description.

Sirius’s frontline forces struggled with supply shortages, winter conditions, and a stalled campaign near Potosi until orders arrived announcing General Trivier’s final offensive. Trivier sailed from Navidad Fort aboard the Styx Jellyfish and summoned its enormous sea monster, launching Operation Silver Blitz against Sack and Atlan.

• Major General Olcott and his officers discussed their stalled plans, missing reinforcements, strained supplies, and falling morale on Forward Island.
• An adjutant brought orders that General Trivier would take command at the front and begin the final offensive.
• General Trivier and Lieutenant General Adonis Auston set out from Navidad Fort aboard the Styx Jellyfish and Guard Commander to seize the Potosi Islands before spring.
• General Trivier blew the Kraken Horn, summoning the Underworld River Jellyfish, which seized both battleships and carried them away at eighteen knots.

Evan researched a way to suppress Adventurer's Blood by severing its influence on the brain and personality. After Milan showed him the salvaged wizard's shipwreck, Evan found an unusual oil painting among the recovered items.

• Evan analyzed Adventurer's Blood and developed a spell-based lock to isolate its bodily effects from his brain and soul.
• Evan joined Milan at the shipwreck salvage site, where Gary and Sirius Soldiers had recovered the cargo without casualties.
• Milan appraised the wreck's antiques and identified a glass sphere as an Oceanic Secret Treasure that forecast sea weather twelve hours ahead.
• Evan noticed an oil painting of a sinking sailing ship that had survived centuries underwater without damage.

Evan discovered that the antique painting from the wreck was a Cursed Object that had trapped Jeremy inside it. As Evan tried to force the painting’s hidden consciousness to respond, Kaka slipped into the canvas, where an old man cried out in a jumble of languages.

• Evan noticed the painting’s unnatural aura and learned that Jeremy had mysteriously disappeared.
• Milan suspected the painting was a Cursed Object, and he and Evan decided to return it to the ship and sink it.
• Jeremy appeared inside the painting as the fluyt sank beneath the painted water, and Evan tried to coax the painting’s consciousness out with a silver dagger.
• Kaka sprang from Evan’s shadow and entered the painting, stirring its images until an old man shouted at it in eight different languages.

After Storm Cape returned to service, Evan proposed converting the damaged Stedenburg into a Heavy Cruiser modeled on White Eagle’s Constitution. Walkley Jeffrey enthusiastically agreed to try the refit.

• Evan reviewed the island’s stalled front and kept the recovered soldiers occupied with construction and other work.
• Walkley Jeffrey oversaw Storm Cape’s repairs, and Evan judged the ship ready to sail again.
• Walkley explained that Stedenburg’s repairs had stalled because suitable timber was unavailable.
• Evan proposed turning Stedenburg into a Heavy Cruiser, drawing on the speed and firepower of Constitution.
• Walkley Jeffrey accepted Evan’s proposal and agreed to attempt the refit.

Evan used an alchemical ritual to transform the Stedenburg into a faster, lighter Heavy Cruiser, completing the refit in ten days. The newly named Morning Star stood ready as a model for future warships.

• Evan and Walkley Jeffrey led a team of craftsmen through repeated designs for refitting the Stedenburg.
• After completing his Adventurer's Blood suppression plan, Evan used Animated Dexterity to rapidly dismantle and rebuild the ship.
• Evan and Milan activated the ritual each night, letting enchanted force free the ship's planks and reshape its decks and hull.
• The refitted ship became a faster Heavy Cruiser with increased sail area, fewer crew, and a deck ritual that animated its rigging and sails.
• Evan accepted Walkley's suggestion and named the completed warship the Morning Star.

Evan listened to Sir Cattaraugus recount how the Renaissance ended the Dark Millennium and forced the True Gods to yield to the tide of the world. He wondered whether the Age of Exploration had likewise been driven by such a tide.

• Evan silenced the painting's threatening old-man personality with a Spiritual Barrier, then waited for Sir Cattaraugus to appear.
• Sir Cattaraugus explained that the painting held Simpson's soul, fused with the personalities of its former victims, and that its inhabitants took turns appearing.
• Sir Cattaraugus described how the Renaissance challenged the Seven Gods Church's rule and prompted a fierce campaign against wizards.
• Human faith and the changing era gave rise to numerous demigods, forcing the True Gods to accept religious reforms and the end of the Dark Millennium.
• Evan concluded that even the gods had to yield to the tide of the world and asked whether the Age of Exploration was another such trend.

Evan secured the cursed painting as a long-term treasure vault and sailed the newly modified Morning Star toward the conflict near Potosi. Rear Admiral Brand's order arrived, directing Evan and his crew to join an interdiction battle against Sirius at Forward Island.

• Evan ended his exchange with Katalov, who promised to give him a history of human navigation the next day.
• Evan covered and stored the painting, planning to find a way to locate Simpson's hidden treasures for the Animation School.
• Evan watched the Morning Star reach twelve knots while towing a merchant ship and discussed its speed and combat capabilities with Robert and Milan.
• Milan described how Sirius's forces had occupied two silver mountains at Potosi while Atlan and Sark seized the last, and how the arrival of the Glorious had left the standoff to conventional forces.
• A tern delivered Rear Admiral Brand's order for Evan to join the elite forces and force Sirius's conventional forces to withdraw from Forward Island.

Evan joined Hai Shizi and Wolf to plan an attack on Sirius’s supply depots on Forward Island, while secretly arranging for a returning group of soldiers to disrupt the garrison. As a blizzard approached, Evan prepared to rely on schemes rather than test the Morning Star in direct combat.

• Evan met Hai Shizi and Wolf through the eyes of White Gulls, and the three aliases agreed to divide up the supply-depot targets for the Interdiction Battle.
• Hai Shizi and Wolf assigned Evan one of the most dangerous inland warehouses, expecting him to draw the garrison’s attention while they completed their own missions and withdrew.
• A merchant vessel carrying six hundred survivors from the fleet attached to the Third-Rate Ship Stedenburg arrived at Forward Island, and Major General Olcott’s garrison settled them inside its defenses.
• Evan told Milan that they had brought the survivors to use them before the Puppet Potion wore off, and revealed that the Storm Bottle predicted a moderate blizzard at midnight.
• Milan suggested testing the Morning Star in combat, but Evan said he would rather use schemes than strength.

Atlan and Sac forces attacked Forward Island during a blizzard, setting several warehouses ablaze as their ships fled under pursuit. Hai Shizi revealed his Evil Fire Warlock abilities, while a new fire and uncontrollable laughter struck the island, leaving its defenders in chaos.

• Private Makazi spotted the burning warehouses and raised the alarm, sending Sirius Soldiers rushing into the snow.
• Atlan and Sac assault teams escaped to their warships after igniting four warehouses and fighting through the Sirius defenders.
• Major General Olcott pursued the fleeing ships, and Hai Shizi fired a Breaching Flame Bullet that set parts of a cruiser alight.
• The adjutant called Grand Knight Daos to command the defense, but an ammunition depot exploded near the remaining warehouses.
• People across the command center and half the island began laughing uncontrollably, including Daos.

Evan watched from the Morning Star as his puppet soldiers sabotaged Forward Island’s supplies and escaped with two ships. On the island, Grand Knight Daos succumbed to the Laughing Spores and died, fulfilling the curse of the Draper Tribe’s ancestors.

• Evan confirmed that his puppet force had completed its mission and canceled the planned bombing.
• Duerbert used Divine Art: Flame Immunity to extinguish a warehouse fire, but puppet soldiers poisoned the remaining supplies and forced him to choose between pursuing them and saving the stores.
• Evan’s soldiers withdrew without killing the incapacitated Sirius troops, then seized two Fifth-Rate Ships and sailed away as the last two Sirius cruisers capsized.
• Daos recognized the Draper Tribe elder’s curse as he laughed uncontrollably and died from the Laughing Spores.