Recaps

Shade traveled three hundred years into the past and found Director Kant trapped by the Demon's promise in the Hoy Manor treasure room. After learning why the Hoy Family had received their wealth, Shade restrained Kant and prepared to take him back to the present.

• Shade opened the Distorted Tree Hole and traveled to the night of the Hoy Manor fire in 1854.
• Shade found Director Kant weakened by the Time Curse in the treasure room and learned that the Demon had promised him a new life in the past.
• Director Kant explained that he had used the lantern's Kindling to ignite the manor before traveling through the trapdoor with a dead branch.
• Kant asked Shade to wait until the fire began so he could learn what the Demon had promised the Hoy Family, and Shade restrained him while investigating.
• Shade told Kant that the Demon had promised the Hoy Family they could travel three hundred years into the future and replace the family living in Hoy Manor.

Dorothy finished recording Shade’s tale about Greed as the household discussed plans for the Witches’ journey to Vesta Woodland. The chapter ended with Shade and Tifa sharing a private moment before the others finished washing up.

• Dorothy completed her story about Greed, and Luvia asked Shade about the trapdoor he had taken from Hoy Manor.
• Shade, Luvia, and Galina discussed lodging and travel plans for the weekend, including the Radiance Messenger and the Accordion Hotel.
• Shade explained which Witches would arrive and that Church, Academy, and Seer Association teams would help at Vesta Woodland.
• Luvia revealed that the Seer Association had discovered a terrifying possible future for Vesta Woodland while searching for the Fate Base.
• Shade, Galina, Luvia, and Dorothy decided to share the master bedroom, then went to wash up.
• Tifa entered the bedroom, kissed Shade, and climbed onto the bed with him while Little Mia complained from the windowsill.

Shade admired Flora’s fifth oil painting of the Silver Wolf and went into Vesta Woodland to find the Hoy Family’s hidden treasure. He uncovered chests of gold and account books showing the family had supported the Delinore Kingdom, but the source of their vast fortune remained unclear.

• Shade learned that Director Kant and his family had been arrested publicly on treason charges, though they faced other accusations as well.
• Flora showed Shade her fifth oil painting, depicting a fiery forest, a giant wolf beneath the moon, and a cloaked figure resembling Shade.
• Shade set out alone to search for the Hoy Family’s treasure, which they had hidden in a cave in the western forest.
• Shade used his abilities to bypass the cave’s traps, dispel its demonic fire and vengeful spirits, and open the stone door.
• Shade found chests filled with gold bars and account books, which revealed that the Hoy Family had supported the Delinore Kingdom during its conflict with Kassenric.
• Shade wondered how the Hoy Family had acquired so much gold.

Shade investigated the abandoned Slawen Mine after finding records that linked it to the Hoy Family’s silver ore trade. Guided by Vanessa’s ore-detecting Compass, he discovered an unmined vein and broke through into a vast underground cavern.

• Shade found entries for Slawen Mine in the ledger and used a map to locate the abandoned mine west of the city.
• Vanessa gave Shade an Alchemy Item that could detect Mithril ore, then invited him to lunch and showed him a script she had written with Dorothy.
• At Slawen Mine, Shade met Professor Yuke Wood, who described the miners’ strange accidents and the mine’s closure after reports of hallucinogenic gas.
• Shade entered the sealed mine with Laguerre’s Leap and followed the Compass through collapsed tunnels and past resentful spirits.
• Shade used Feliana’s Witch Light to dig toward the indicated ore and broke through into a vast underground cavern.

Shade discovered a hidden cavern beneath the Mithril mine filled with Paradox Worm eggs and encountered an active worm before escaping. He learned from Mr. Meloni that countless worms slept in the caves beneath Vesta Woodland, and Meloni began to explain the exception by showing him an illustrated booklet.

• Shade used the Youthful Immortality Leaf to reveal ancient roots and transparent sacs containing sleeping Paradox Worms beneath the mine.
• A Paradox Worm emerged through the White Fog, broke through Shade’s protective Thaumaturgy, and attacked him.
• Shade fought back with fire, escaped underground using the Calamity Cards Worm and Earth Movement Technique, then waited on the surface without the worm pursuing him.
• Shade rode a Luku Bird to Mi Ge Village and met Mr. Meloni at the Hermit Order’s settlement.
• Mr. Meloni explained that many Paradox Worms slept in caves beneath Vesta Woodland and that the Hermits planned to seek the Church’s aid if the forest could no longer contain them.
• Mr. Meloni returned with a booklet titled "Vesta Woodland Species Investigation," filled with pencil illustrations, to address Shade’s question about the active worm.

Shade learned from Mr. Meloni that Vesta Woodland’s ancient ruins formed part of a seal restraining a vast evil tree, though growing disturbances warned that the seal was weakening. After returning to town, Shade discussed the sleeping Paradox Worms, the watcher, and the tree’s roots with his companions, while Vanessa considered why Mithril ore lay near the worms.

• Mr. Meloni explained that the Hermits called the powerful, earth-controlling Paradox Worm the watcher and revealed that ancient churches across Vesta Woodland helped seal a vast evil tree beneath the forest.
• Mr. Meloni said the seal had become part of the forest, but the rise of Tree Hollows, strange creatures, and unusual regions showed that it was deteriorating; he also said the Hermits were prepared to resist the evil if it broke free.
• Mr. Meloni told Shade that the Church sought an Ancient Hero connected to Vesta Woodland for the Time War, and suggested Shade might stand alongside the ancient First People; he also noticed Shade seemed newly connected to the forest.
• Shade returned to the inn and told the women about the sleeping Paradox Worms, their underground tree roots, and the watcher; Flora wondered whether Emilia could resolve the danger as a Chosen One.
• Shade later told Luvia and Vanessa what had happened, and Vanessa focused on whether the Mithril ore near the worms’ resting place had a significant connection to them.

Shade and his companions discussed the ancient Paradox Worm “Watcher” and planned to confront it at Vesta Woodland, while Shade washed Little Mia and learned that Prince William Anjou had new leads on the royal illegitimate son. The chapter ended as the search’s next development reached Shade that same afternoon.

• Luvia proposed that the “Watcher” might be tied to one of the five chairs, and Vanessa argued that it could be the ancient Paradox Worm King despite being called an elite enemy.
• Vanessa said the group would leave for Vesta Woodland on Sunday to plan how to draw the worm out, while Siris would stay in Tobesk and arrive later.
• Shade spent the night with Vanessa, then washed Little Mia on Saturday after promising to do so before the First Snow.
• Flora told Shade that she had rented an entire floor of the Accordion Hotel and set up Counter-Reconnaissance Rituals in its rooms.
• Miss Bell reported that Princess Margaret had learned Prince William Anjou expected to confirm the royal illegitimate son's identity within a week, and Shade received intelligence that the man was about twenty-two and lived in Vesta City.
• Shade expected the illegitimate-son investigation to remain unrelated to him, but its follow-up reached him that afternoon.

Shade learned that William Anjou had publicly shot Constantine Kent, who was believed to be the king’s illegitimate son, in a conspiracy orchestrated by the Delin Orr Restorationists. The revelation connected Constantine’s adoptive parents to a couple Shade and Miss Danist had helped decades earlier, while Leisha later discussed the political fallout with Shade.

• Flora told Shade and Miss Danist that William Anjou had shot and killed Constantine Kent, a young legal adviser, during a visit to the Lumberjack Association.
• Flora explained that evidence found on Constantine identified him as the king’s illegitimate son, and she and Shade suspected the Delin Orr Restorationists had manipulated events to provoke the public shooting.
• Flora named Constantine’s adoptive parents as Marisa Kent and Farris Kent, and Shade recognized them as Marisa Trian and Farris Kent, the lovers he and Miss Danist had helped in 1821.
• News of William Anjou killing the king’s alleged son spread through Vesta City, and Shade anticipated that newspapers would publicize the scandal.
• Leisha visited Shade that evening and called the incident a bold political conspiracy, while Angelina listened briefly before going to play with Little Mia.

Angelina worried that she would fall behind Iluna and Emilia, so she began studying Thaumaturgy in earnest and bought a powerful Chaos technique. When she tried to speak to her maids, they could not see or hear her, leaving her facing a disturbing mystery.

• Leisha urged Angelina to prepare for the future, and Angelina and Shade discussed temperance during their Night Lesson.
• Angelina dreamed that Iluna and Emilia were pulling Shade away from her and that a barrier separated her from them.
• While the others were away, Angelina visited Black Raven Library and bought the Second Ring Thaumaturgy Disordered Energy.
• Angelina spent the morning studying and planning her training, then went into the corridor to ask Nina and Alalei for snacks.
• Nina and Alalei ignored Angelina, and she realized that something was wrong.

Leisha searched for Angelina and discovered that an unknown effect had made her invisible and erased people’s memories of her. Little Mia helped Leisha and Helen perceive Angelina again, though Angelina kept fading from sight; meanwhile, Shade’s group gathered at Yulun Lake beside the newly upgraded Radiance Messenger.

• Leisha searched Yodel Palace for Angelina, while her maids could not clearly remember whether Angelina had returned that morning.
• Leisha summoned Helen, who sensed traces of the Whisper Element in Angelina’s room, and then brought Shade’s cat, Little Mia, to help find her.
• Little Mia refused to sniff Angelina’s clothes, but it reacted to Angelina’s invisible presence and led Helen and Leisha to notice her.
• Leisha hugged Angelina after seeing her, but Angelina vanished from her sight again, so Helen said Little Mia would need to stay with her until they found a solution.
• At one-thirty, Shade’s group gathered at Yulun Lake, where the upgraded Radiance Messenger was disguised as an ordinary cruise ship.

Shade met Miss Illustrious aboard the upgraded Radiance Messenger, then investigated why Angelina was becoming invisible to everyone. He traced the problem to a hidden Whisper Element relic in a book, but its identity remained unknown.

• Miss Illustrious explained that the Radiance Messenger was her companion armament and that its upgrade could not yet advance her to the Thirteenth Ring.
• Leisha brought Angelina to Shade after the little Princess began disappearing from view, and Shade found that holding her hand let others see her.
• Shade learned Angelina had bought a book at the Black Raven Library, but his and Galina’s initial inspections found nothing unusual.
• Shade and Galina compared what they could perceive in the book and discovered a page bearing Angelina’s unspoken desires and fears, along with an unknown contract.
• Shade removed the page from the book, revealing dense Whisper Element and a relic of at least Sage Level, Level 2 danger.

Luvia identified Angelina’s condition as the effect of the Contract of Trembling, and Angelina chose to try overcoming her fear herself before accepting magical intervention. The group gathered in Vesta Woodland for a welcoming banquet, where Galina approached Flora beside Shade and thanked her for looking after him.

• Luvia identified the relic affecting Angelina as the Contract of Trembling and explained that she had seven days to fulfill its terms.
• Angelina asked to face her fear herself, and Galina gave her five days before they would seek Siris’s help.
• Leisha arranged for Angelina to stay aboard the Radiance Messenger in Vesta Woodland, while Galina planned to explain her absence from Tobesk as a cold.
• Shade escorted Leisha to the Tree Hollow, and Grace and Helen brought Grandma Cassandra, Miss Swift, and their group to Vesta Woodland.
• Flora hosted a welcoming banquet at the Accordion Hotel for the gathered Witches and their companions.
• Galina approached Flora beside Shade and thanked her for taking care of him.

At the banquet, Galina and Flora teased each other over their connection to Shade, while Shade discussed preparing Emilia for the growing danger in Vesta Woodland. Afterward, Shade and Luvia walked through Vesta City and agreed that Luvia would divine the meaning of the mysterious chair once he and Emilia returned from the forest.

• Galina reminded Flora that she had once denied wanting to steal Shade, and Flora admitted she had said it before sharing a drink with her.
• Shade praised Flora’s help in Vesta Woodland, and Flora asked Luvia to tell her more about Shade’s shy past.
• Shade told Luvia and Miss Danist that he would take Emilia into the forest the next morning to meet the Elf Girl and prepare her for the coming decisive battle.
• After the banquet, Shade asked Luvia to stay behind and walk with him through Vesta City while the others returned to the ship.
• Luvia told Shade that Iluna had arrived and was learning ways to fight the Paradox Worm, then agreed to divine what the mysterious chair represented after Shade and Emilia returned from the forest.

Shade and Luvia discussed protecting him from Time Exile, Emilia’s journey into the past, and plans to unite the elves and human kingdoms against the coming crisis. The next morning, Shade and Emilia prepared to meet Little Liana with Miss Danist.

• Luvia persuaded Shade to divine how he could gain absolute Time Resistance before investigating the monsters, and they discussed sending Emilia into the past and preparing Margaret and Leisha for greater power during the coming war.
• Shade slept aboard the Radiance Messenger, and the following morning he checked on Angelina while Emilia teased her about secretly kissing him.
• Aurora and Galina took the others into the forest to scout, while Cassandra and Miss Swift stayed aboard to prepare potions and Alchemy Weapons.
• Miss Danist arrived at Yulun Lake, met Shade and the others aboard the ship, and said Little Liana was waiting in the woods.
• Miss Danist called Shade and Emilia to go welcome Little Liana.

Shade brought Emilia and the others to the Forest Elf to transfer the qualifications represented by the umbilical cords to Emilia. The Forest Elf prepared a ritual beneath her tree and began setting it up, while Luvia’s separate qualification transfer was scheduled for Wednesday night.

• Shade invited Miss Danist to accompany him, Emilia, and Luvia to visit the Forest Elf, and Angelina joined them as well.
• Shade led the group through the confusing forest, where Emilia happily recognized the Luku Birds she had once fed.
• The Forest Elf greeted the group, and Angelina recognized her, while Emilia failed to recognize the elf despite trying to conceal her own identity.
• The Forest Elf explained that the umbilical cord qualifications could be transferred immediately, but Luvia’s qualifications would require a ritual on Wednesday night.
• Miss Danist agreed to give up the umbilical cords’ remaining power, and the Forest Elf led everyone to a pool beneath the tree to prepare the transfer ritual.

Shade and the others completed a ritual that brought Emilia to adulthood and awakened her powers over trees and time. After testing her new abilities, Angelina grew anxious about her own future height and asked Emilia how she had grown so tall.

• Emilia drank the potion, took the umbilical cord jar, and entered the pool as the ritual began.
• The Elf Girl used the longsword and Thaumaturgy to seal Emilia in crystal, then shattered it so the crystal dust entered Emilia and awakened her six-ring Destiny Ring.
• Emilia awoke as an adult elf with stronger tree control and the ability to glimpse the future of people and objects.
• Angelina realized Emilia's prediction meant she would grow very pretty but not necessarily taller, then privately asked Emilia for advice on growing tall.

Angelina’s future appeared completely unpredictable to the Forest Elf, while Shade reassured Sivie about their relationship and learned that the Church’s candidate had returned from the past as a Ninth Ring warlock. Angelina remained determined to solve her own relic-related problem, and Shade urged her to focus on growing stronger rather than changing who she was.

• Angelina asked the Forest Elf how to grow taller, and the elf saw Angelina’s future dissolve into chaotic, unknown colors.
• Shade collected a diamond-set nail clipper from the God’s Gift Box and received alchemy materials and two Lute’s Lament coins from Miss Aurora.
• Sivie told Shade she feared losing her place among the many people in his life, and he reassured her before agreeing to call her by her name.
• Angelina brought Shade news that the Church’s candidate had traveled to the past and returned after three hours, advancing from Sixth Ring to Ninth Ring.
• Shade asked Angelina whether she had solved her problem, and she said she wanted to prove she could change herself; he told her that she only needed to become stronger.

Shade and Luvia used divination to find a way for him to return quickly if he was exiled through time, and learned how the four creatures and the chairs beneath the Tree were connected. They identified the hidden being behind the ritual as a true Ancient One, setting the stage for their confrontation.

• Angelina told Shade she would take part in shipboard activities to feel needed, and he kissed her cheek before she left to put Little Mia down for a nap.
• Shade and Luvia reviewed the Church's report about its candidate traveling to the Sixth Epoch and agreed to ask Iluna for more information on Wednesday.
• After divination failed to find a way to prevent Time Exile, Shade suggested focusing on returning, and Luvia determined that his Return of Time Thaumaturgy could be strengthened using six anchors and a ritual involving his key and the Ocarina of Time.
• Luvia divined that the four chairs beneath the Tree were keys hiding the existence of the owner of the largest chair, and explained that returning the four creatures to their seats or killing them could reveal what was concealed.
• Luvia failed to divine the hidden being's identity and told Shade that their true opponent was a cautious Ancient One, more powerful than the Evil of Pantanal and the Seven-Tailed Player of Moon Bay.

Luvia’s divination revealed the World Tree’s remnants were tied to the Time Chosen Ones’ ritual, while Shade prepared for the coming battle and Emilia was attacked in Vesta City. Vanessa trapped the Clockmaker in her Mystic Lock as the Witches defended Emilia from the Tree Hole Association, but a sudden cold wind signaled a new danger.

• Luvia divined that the World Tree’s remnants were deeply connected to the Time Chosen Ones’ ritual and urged Shade to identify the remaining chairs and keep telling Emilia stories.
• Shade visited Miss Danist and Flora, then learned that Emilia had been attacked while she was in the city with Vanessa.
• Flora carried Shade to the forest near Old Town, where Vanessa fought the Clockmaker with two stone giants.
• Vanessa activated her Mystic Lock, “Ode to Glory Golden Stage,” and vanished with the Clockmaker inside it.
• Rebecca Herley led the Witch Followers in defending Emilia from the Tree Hole Association’s Ring Arcanists behind a barrier formed by the stone giants.
• Emilia summoned treants to the stone giants before a cold wind swept past and she sensed deadly danger.

Emilia was attacked by a halfling assassin who used shadows and the Power of Time, but Shade intervened and helped her escape. The group returned to the Accordion Hotel after Emilia warned that someone might be tracking her.

• Emilia escaped the halfling’s first attack with a Substitute Tree Seed, then used the Elven Royal Authority crown to force him out of space and summon treants.
• Shade arrived and defended Emilia from the halfling, who moved through shadows and wielded daggers empowered by the Power of Time.
• Shade stabilized space, tracked the assassin’s footprints, and detonated the forest, leaving a lake of lava before Vanessa arrived with the others.
• Vanessa sealed the damage by sending the lava underground, and the group left before the Church and academy teams reached the battlefield.
• Emilia said someone was tracking her, so Shade examined her and had her change clothes before the group returned to the Accordion Hotel.

After Emilia survived an assassination attempt, Shade and the others learned that a powerful halfling from the Fourth Epoch had helped the Clockmaker and that Emilia was marked so her attackers could find her again. The Countess blocked the tracking temporarily and proposed a way to disguise Emilia, while Shade hoped to use the mark to lure the assassins out.

• Shade, Vanessa, Flora, and Emilia discussed Emilia's fight with the Clockmaker's halfling assistant, whom Emilia sensed had come from the Fourth Epoch.
• Shade and the others worried that Emilia had been tracked through divination and took her to Moon Bay so the Countess could perform a divination.
• The Countess found that Emilia carried a mark that would let her attacker locate her, blocked its tracking until the next morning, and said removing it would take at least a week.
• The Countess offered to share Emilia's mark to confuse her pursuers, and Shade suggested using the trick to lure them out and defeat them.
• The Countess explained that Flora could transform into Emilia and carry the shared mark, giving the group a convincing decoy.

Shade arranged for Flora to impersonate Emilia so she could serve as bait against the Tree Hole Association, then went with Emilia and Miss Danist to meet the Academy team at the reopened Nightsong Elf settlement. The chapter ended as Shade arrived at the woodland camp and spotted a herd of unicorns.

• Flora transformed into an almost indistinguishable copy of Emilia, and only Miss Bell and Angelina correctly identified her during a test.
• Shade arranged a ritual using Emilia’s blood and hair to share her Hunting Beacon with Flora, and agreed that Emilia could remain involved in the plan.
• Miss Danist told Shade that Grandma Qishala had summoned him and Emilia to meet the Academy team in the woods.
• Shade and Miss Danist passed through the forest into the hidden Nightsong Elf settlement, where the Three Great Academies’ forces were camped.
• Shade saw more than twenty adult unicorns wandering through the camp.

Emilia presented the lost Elven Royal Authority to the leaders of the nine Elf Clans and accepted their challenge to become Elf King. The clans agreed to recognize her as their king if she became the Tree Father's inheritor, and Emilia left wearing the crown as she began that trial.

• Miss Danist brought Shade and Emilia to the elf camp, where Grandma Qishala and representatives of the nine Elf Clans were gathered.
• Emilia showed the elders the lost Elven Royal Authority and declared that the crown was in her care.
• The clan representatives said the crown alone was not enough to make Emilia Elf King, but agreed to recognize her if she became the Tree Father's inheritor.
• Grandma Qishala asked Emilia if she was willing to become Elf King, and Emilia agreed, saying she wanted to unite the elves against the Murmuring Chapters.
• The elders decorated Grandma Qishala's flower wreath with clan tokens, and Emilia put on the crown as proof that she was about to become king.

Shade and Miss Danist helped Emilia secure the elves’ support, then returned to the hotel, where Shade shared the plan to use Emilia and Flora as bait for the Tree Hole Association. The chapter ended with the group preparing for the operation the next day and Luvia noting that the elves’ power should be saved for the right moment.

• Grandma Qishala told the elf representatives that Shade would help keep Emilia safe as she pursued becoming the Tree Father’s heir.
• Shade, Emilia, and Miss Danist rode back to Vesta Woodland after the Unicorns finally released their Luku Birds.
• Miss Danist kissed Shade before sending him away to the Witch Council meeting, leaving him stunned in the corridor.
• Shade explained that Flora would transform into Emilia and join the real Emilia as bait for the Tree Hole Association the next day.
• Luvia agreed that the elves’ power should be held back until it could strike at the most suitable moment.

Shade and the Witches planned to protect Emilia from the Tree Hole Association’s assassin while keeping the operation secret. On Tuesday, the attack began in the forest, where a prepared defense shielded one Emilia as a cannon blast struck the attacking dragon.

• Vanessa revealed that she had recently advanced to the Thirteenth Order, and Shade rejected bringing in the Church and Academy to avoid exposing their plan.
• Shade said the group’s minimum goal was to protect Emilia and capture the assassin, while Luvia identified Emilia as the second candidate in the Time War.
• The group split up for the night, and Shade returned to the ship after performing a ritual before finding the Duchess waiting in his bed.
• On Tuesday, Emilia in the forest went herb-gathering with Tifa and Miss Swift, while the other Emilia visited the Local Black Market and Old Town with Miss Bell and Miss Hailey Aurora.
• A Jet-Black Dragon Beast attacked the forest cabin with Dragon Flame, but an obsidian shield protected Emilia and her companions.
• A rock giant struck the dragon, and a massive cannon fired from the distance, tearing apart the beast as rain washed its blood from the woodland.