Recaps

Shade spent the Year-End Festival in Tobesk, receiving a royal reward, visiting friends and honoring Detective Sparrow before sharing a festive dinner with Luvia. The evening ended with Leisha arriving at his home after escaping Yodel Palace, ready to spend the night with him and plan their New Year together.

• Shade received formal praise and a 1,000-pound bill of exchange from King Larus III, who hinted that Shade should maintain his relationship with Princess Margaret.
• Shade visited Detective Sparrow's grave, greeted Miss Galina and the Black-haired Maid, reunited with Old Dad John, and attended a church opera depicting his heroic deed.
• Shade shared a lavish Year-End Festival dinner with Luvia and Mia, exchanged gifts with Luvia, and kissed her as they celebrated the end of 1853.
• Leisha arrived at Shade's home in her princess gown after Angelina helped her leave Yodel Palace, and she asked whether Dorothy had arrived.
• Leisha told Shade she had arranged to spend the night with him and planned a New Year's outing, explaining that Miss Galina had agreed to cover for her at the palace.

Shade spent the Year-End Festival with Leisha, Dorothy, and Luvia, each of whom arrived at his home and shared an intimate moment with him. The three Sorceresses gathered with Shade in his bedroom, where they celebrated the holiday together.

• Leisha confessed that she loved Shade, kissed him, and went to the Side Bedroom to change.
• Dorothy arrived, drank wine with Shade, and kissed him before leading him to the Master Bedroom.
• Leisha entered the bedroom and embraced Shade while Dorothy hid in the wardrobe.
• Luvia arrived and teased Shade with a black lace ribbon, then invited him to enjoy the night with the three Sorceresses.
• Shade wished the young ladies a happy Year-End Festival as they drew the curtains and gathered around him.

Shade used Doctor Schneider’s Dream Entry Ritual to enter a dream shared by Leisha and Dorothy, where he learned that their closeness and connection with him had stabilized their Soul Fusion. The effect could delay the Fusion but not cure it, and Shade left the dream through another spiral door.

• Shade ignited the ritual candles beneath his bed and recited the Dream Eater Sprite incantation while Luvia slept against him.
• Shade entered a dream of Yodel Palace and found Leisha ruling as queen, with Dorothy and Mia in the study.
• Shade touched Leisha and Dorothy, revealing his presence and confirming that they shared the dream.
• Leisha and Dorothy spoke warmly to Shade before walking away together through the palace.
• Shade learned that his connection with Leisha and Dorothy helped stabilize their Soul Fusion but could only delay it, then he opened another black spiral door.

Shade explored Luvia’s dream, which recreated 6 Saint Derain Square as it had been after Detective Sparrow’s death and before Shade arrived. He followed a dreamlike version of Mia to the roof and discovered a ruined, apocalyptic Tobesk, with Saint Derain Square standing as its only Sanctuary.

• Shade woke in the abandoned version of his bedroom and recognized it as Detective Sparrow’s former room, complete with dust-covered furniture and sealed windows.
• Shade searched the living room and the Side Bedroom, finding the old Detective Agency layout and no trace of the room where he had lived.
• A dream version of Mia ran up the improvised stairs, and Shade followed her through the ruined third floor and attic toward the roof.
• Shade climbed onto the rooftop and saw a black Sun, a devastated Tobesk, and a smoking crater in the western city.
• Shade spotted tentacle-like smoke in the northeast and a storm-wrapped floating island in the sky, while Saint Derain Square appeared to be the only Sanctuary.

Shade encountered Luvia’s future self in a dream of a world-ending catastrophe and learned that a black-wood Dead Key in Randall River Valley could lead him to the present. After receiving Witch Echo Luvia and a wealth of knowledge, he left with a promise to find the key and uncover the truth.

• Shade found a more mature, grief-stricken Luvia sitting with a silver-eyed cat in a ruined world beneath a darkening sky.
• Luvia revealed that she was Luvia’s “Another Me” and could not explain what had caused the Doomsday or when it would occur.
• Luvia told Shade that a Dead Key made from black, withered wood in Stonemason City could return him to “now,” and warned him not to use divination to find it.
• Shade promised to find the key and change the future, then comforted Luvia as she asked him to warm her soul.
• Shade was cursed by touching Luvia’s soul, but the Father of Infinite Tree blocked the curse; the penalty delayed his next Time Key by two weeks.
• Shade gained Witch Echo Luvia and extensive Sixth Epoch knowledge as Luvia pointed him toward the answers at the end of his journey.

On the first day of 1854, Shade learned more about Luvia’s damaged soul and a mysterious gaze that had brushed against the truth of his identity, then spent Red Butterfly Day with Leisha and Dorothy. The day ended with Angelina giving Shade a handmade card and receiving his promise to help if she opposed her father’s plans for her engagement.

• Shade learned that Luvia Annette’s Another Me had an independent soul identical in essence to Luvia’s, and that the soul’s damage could be healed with the Special Coin and the Power of Fate.
• Shade sensed that an unknown gaze had touched the edge of the truth about him, but “she” assured him that the divinity within his soul protected him from being found through divination.
• Shade celebrated the first day of 1854 with Leisha and Dorothy, visiting city landmarks and attending the opera with Leisha’s family.
• Angelina gave Shade a handmade holiday card and told him her father might arrange her engagement after her birthday.
• Shade gave Angelina an Ice Crystal Flower and promised to help if she did not wish to marry her intended match.

Shade and the Doctor secretly entered Tobesk's Clock Tower, where they climbed toward its clock machinery while discussing their studies and the Academic Spy scandal. The chapter ended with them reaching the tower's top floor and facing its immense mechanisms.

• Shade received a suitcase from Priest Augustus, who arranged to meet him at the church entrance that night.
• Shade and the Doctor entered the Clock Tower, and Shade knocked out the elderly Tower Keeper with Laguerre's Leap.
• The two climbed the tower stairs, discussing their upcoming exams and the Doctor's struggles with Aether Mechanics.
• The Doctor told Shade that Legenes Presia had encountered Forbidden Knowledge, fled The Church, and triggered a battle in the Pantanal Great Swamp.
• Shade and the Doctor reached the top floor and saw the great gears and chains powering the Clock Tower.

Shade and Doctor Schneider performed a ritual to enhance Shade’s Time Perception using the Relic Time Reversal. Shade gained the Thaumaturgy “Contact Father of Infinite Tree” and learned that the current year was 1854, though his final observation suggested the world had passed through multiple epochs called the Past World Epoch.

• Doctor Schneider and Shade drew the Ritual Matrix and prepared the watches, hourglasses, and ritual materials for Shade’s enhancement.
• Shade revealed the hourglass Relic Time Reversal, which he had borrowed from Priest Augustus and Luvia, and placed it over his heart.
• Doctor Schneider activated the ritual, and Time Reversal sank into Shade as the watches ticked and the hourglasses’ sand rose upward.
• Shade encountered the shadow of Father of Infinite Tree and received the enhanced Thaumaturgy “Time Perception” and the new Thaumaturgy “Contact Father of Infinite Tree.”
• Shade used his enhanced ability to learn that it was 8:05 p.m. on Thursday, the second day of the Newborn Moon in Common Calendar 1854, and realized the world had undergone the Past World Epoch more than once.

Shade learns that the Past World Epoch has repeated six times and the present is the seventh Sixth Epoch, then gains enhanced time-based powers and resolves to change the cycle. On the Clock Tower with Doctor, he reflects on knowledge and civilization as a new year begins.

• Shade recovers after using Time Perception and explains that the Sixth Epoch has repeated six times before the current cycle.
• Shade and Doctor step onto the Clock Tower’s exterior walkway, where Shade reveals that he has found the truth he sought and is not afraid of it.
• Doctor describes knowledge and wisdom as the civilization built from the city’s lights, chimneys, and machinery, gaining a new Enlightenment Spirit Rune.
• Shade concludes that Luvia’s Another Me may be the Reborn One or Time Destroyer and receives major enhancements to his time-based powers.
• Shade vows that this will be the final Sixth Epoch and thanks Doctor for helping with the ritual.
• Shade tells Doctor that knowledge really is power as a dark-gold phantom book appears behind him and the new year begins.

Shade and his companions took their Winter Exams, with Shade completing seventeen subjects and Doctor Schneider passing Aether Mechanics. All five passed every exam, though Dorothy received only Pass evaluations in three required courses.

• Shade, Doctor Schneider, Luvia, Dorothy, and Priest Augustus gathered at 6 Saint Derain Square and prepared Room Two for their exams.
• Four Academy proctors appeared at nine and began the Winter Exams, with Shade taking seventeen subjects as he skipped ahead to the fourth year.
• Priest Augustus finished first, followed by Luvia, then Doctor Schneider and Dorothy; Shade submitted his final parchment near five in the afternoon.
• Luvia divined that someone would face a minor accident, leaving Dorothy uneasy as the group waited for the results.
• Professor Garcia announced that all five had passed every exam, including Doctor Schneider's Aether Mechanics course, while Dorothy earned Pass evaluations in three required subjects.

Saint Byrens announced the year-end evaluations and rewards for Bill Schneider’s group, with Shade receiving the Feliana Medal after breaking the Academy’s low-ring advancement record. The examinations ended with the Academy ordering Bill and Shade to report on their contact with academic spy Legenes Presia.

• Professor Garcia announced that Bill advanced to the sixth year with an Excellent evaluation and received the Outstanding Student title and academic rewards.
• Dorothy and Luvia advanced a year, while Luvia revealed she had reached the fifth ring and requested early access to the Canon of Sublimation.
• Priest Augustus received an Exceeded Expectations evaluation and a free Thaumaturgy for his academic work and contribution to the Middlesburg Incident.
• Professor Garcia announced that Shade advanced to the fourth year with an Excellent evaluation, broke the Academy’s low-ring advancement record, and would receive the Feliana Medal.
• Professor Garcia announced identity verification for correspondence students and ordered Bill and Shade to submit reports about their contact with Legenes Presia.

After exam week, Shade shared a powerful arrow with Priest Augustus and Doctor Schneider, gaining them new abilities and helping the Priest complete his two-ring Spirit Runes. Shade planned a trip to Randall River Valley and then prepared to travel with Mia to Saint Byrens by the contained Midnight Nightmare Carriage.

• Shade gave Priest Augustus and Doctor Schneider the dark gold arrow, which granted the Doctor a new Thaumaturgy and completed the Priest’s two-ring Spirit Runes.
• Shade said he expected to visit Randall River Valley, and Priest Augustus asked him to repay Father Murphy ten pence on his behalf.
• Shade celebrated the end of exam week with the Priest and Doctor at a tavern while Mia stayed home.
• Shade learned he would travel to Saint Byrens on the Midnight Nightmare Carriage and decided to bring Mia.
• At eight o’clock, Shade heard the carriage bell and told Mia they were leaving.

Shade traveled by a supernatural carriage to Saint Byrens Comprehensive College, where he was welcomed by a student and entered its ancient library. He met Miss Danist, Professor Garcia, and Professor Odias, who were waiting for him beneath the library’s armillary sphere.

• Shade and Little Mia rode a creaking carriage through a disorienting journey and arrived safely at Saint Byrens Comprehensive College.
• A fourth-year History College student welcomed Shade and showed him the Academy City beneath the starry northern sky.
• Shade entered the grand library with Little Mia and followed the student through its vast shelves.
• Shade reached the library’s meeting place and found Miss Danist, Professor Garcia, and Professor Odias waiting for him.

Shade received two Academy medals and agreed to remain in the History College while minoring in Library Management, with Miss Danist set to mentor him later. After revealing he had reached the Fifth Ring, he watched the Academy bring in the imprisoned, memory-stricken Legenes Presia, who recognized him and called him a fiend.

• Miss Danist awarded Shade the Outstanding Student Medal and the Feliana Medal, explaining their benefits and the honors they represented.
• Miss Danist arranged for Shade to remain in the History College and minor in Library Management, and Shade signed the supplementary agreement after reviewing it.
• Shade learned the details of his training plan and tuition reduction, then told the professors he had advanced to the Fifth Ring.
• Miss Danist explained that Saint Byron's had borrowed Legenes Presia from The Church to try to restore his memories.
• Legenes Presia spotted Shade, fought against his escorts, and shouted that Shade was a fiend from the Outer Realms.

Shade visited the Academy and met the mad Sir Legenes Presia, whose strange ravings included warnings directed at Shade and praise for Mia. Shade and Miss Danist then used the Source of Chaos with the Wordless Black Book, which revealed the complete information about the Silver Moon Library.

• Sir Legenes Presia raved, recognized Shade, and warned him that he would not meet a good end before mistaking Mia for the Sun and praising her.
• Miss Danist told Shade that the Academy had considered whether he was the God Summoner, but Presia’s reaction gave them no reason to suspect him.
• Shade and Miss Danist discussed Presia’s madness and his apparent access to knowledge beyond mortal understanding.
• Shade gave Miss Danist the bright yellow pearl and placed the Source of Chaos before the Wordless Black Book.
• The Black Book absorbed the Source of Chaos, and its pages projected the complete information about the Silver Moon Library.

Shade and Administrator Miss learned how to summon the Silver Moon Library Door and agreed to prepare the ritual at Shade’s home, while Shade postponed choosing his Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation. He later saw Miss Galina and Tifa off to Saladir County after a playful farewell in her private carriage.

• Administrator Miss explained that the Silver Moon Library ritual required a Moon Sanctuary, ritual materials, and one piece of the Moon Key, and Shade revealed that he had one of the key’s stone slabs.
• Shade and Administrator Miss agreed to perform the ritual at Shade’s home once she gathered the materials, a process expected to take half a month to a month.
• Shade chose Silver Moon for his eventual Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation but decided to wait until he reached the fifth ring and acquired two Spirit Runes before making a choice.
• Miss Danist offered to show Shade around the Academy library, and Shade planned to rest while under Tree Father’s punishment.
• Shade went to Tobesk train station, where Miss Galina invited him to demonstrate what he and Tifa had done in her bedroom before she departed for Saladir County.
• Tifa returned to the carriage and gently pushed Shade toward Miss Galina, and Shade waved goodbye as the train departed.

Shade spent the first half of Newborn Moon handling detective cases, receiving honors, and enjoying time with Dorothy, Helen, and Grace. By the fifteenth, he had returned to his peaceful life in Tobesk, where Leisha invited him and her sister to the opera.

• Shade investigated three cases, exposing murders and fraud, uncovering a centuries-spanning crime, and stopping thieves who planned to break into Yodel Palace.
• Shade received the Kingdom Special Contribution Award and a promotion to lieutenant colonel, while Captain Rades became a battalion commander.
• Dorothy won the Best Popular Literature Award and attended the ceremony banquet with Shade, where they spent the night together.
• Shade toured Tobesk with Helen and Grace, then introduced them to Luvia, who revealed herself as his lover.
• On the fifteenth of Newborn Moon, Leisha invited Shade and her younger sister to a private box at the Maria Empress Opera House.

Shade watched an opera with Leisha and Angelina, discussing money, trade, and the political situation surrounding Kasonlik’s naval expansion. He planned to resume his search for the Time Key in Randall River Valley City on Sunday, while the next Red Butterfly Day was postponed until Angelina’s birthday.

• Leisha offered Shade a broker’s commission, but he refused the money and explained that he had earned funds through detective work and antiques.
• Leisha told Shade that she and Angelina would invest in a trade venture using the Spring City–Randall River Valley City route, and Shade offered to help when he traveled there.
• Angelina explained that Margaret Anjou and William Anjou would attend the opening of Kasonlik’s Southern Second Shipyard amid political tensions over the Pantanar Area.
• Shade said he would use his Time Key on Sunday and seek the key hidden in Randall River Valley City.
• Leisha said the next Red Butterfly Day was postponed until Angelina’s birthday, and Angelina later asked her sister to include her if their group gathering needed another person.

Shade arranged to buy Oak's Lucky Potion from Old John, trading a sample of his desire-based perfume essence toward its cost. The next morning, Dorothy brought him a commission from Professor Martin, whom Shade met at Saint York College of Liberal Arts as the professor prepared to explain the case.

• Shade visited Old John's pawnshop and learned that Oak's Lucky Potion briefly increased luck but could lead to a visit to the Emerald Dream.
• Shade agreed to buy a bottle of the potion for 132 pounds and offered Old John a sample of perfume essence in a barter.
• Dorothy visited Shade and asked him to investigate a matter for Professor Martin, a friend of her father.
• Shade brought Mia to Saint York College of Liberal Arts and met Professor Martin, who said he needed the detective's help.

Shade investigated the disappearance of Herbert Martin, who had run away from home for Miss Norma, and traced her to an empty apartment. There, he found blood traces and a hidden compartment behind a strange painting, then an evil spirit seized his ankle.

• Professor Martin hired Shade to find his seventeen-year-old son Herbert and persuade him to return home discreetly.
• Shade learned that Herbert often visited the Good Gentleman Club and had recently discussed returning from the dead with his companions.
• Shade found Miss Norma's apartment unattended and entered after discovering that her mail had gone uncollected for several days.
• Shade used Blood Echo and found accumulated blood traces on the bedside table and the frame of a strange mountain painting.
• Shade removed the painting and uncovered a locked wall compartment; its inscription turned red, blood flowed from the frame, and an evil spirit grabbed his ankle.

Shade investigated Miss Norma’s disappearance and encountered an unusual spirit made of resentment tied to the earth. His search led him to Mr. Franco, who was wasting away after recurring nightmares, and Shade found the same strange earth in a potted plant in his bedroom.

• Shade drove off the spirit that rose from beneath Miss Norma’s floor, then used Echoes of the Past to hear her leave with an unfamiliar man.
• Shade found bloodstained objects in a hidden compartment, letters to several men, and a notebook bearing the phrase “I shall eventually merge with the earth.”
• Shade met Baron Lavend outside The Club and learned that Miss Norma had been missing for days and that Mr. Franco had recently fallen gravely ill.
• Shade visited Mr. Franco and learned that his illness began after a nightmare about a woman crawling out of the earth and dragging him underground.
• Shade searched Mr. Franco’s bedroom and found unnaturally cold soil in a potted plant that carried the same feeling as the spirit that had attacked him.

Shade investigated Miss Norma’s connection to the ailing Mr. Franco and learned that she had planned to return herself to the earth, while several of her other male acquaintances had vanished or become ill. He later ambushed the evil spirit emerging from her gifted flower pot, capturing its severed arm for further investigation.

• Shade questioned Mr. Franco, who confessed that he loved Miss Norma and revealed her plans to return herself to the earth when the time was right.
• Old Franco Mr. paid Shade to find Miss Norma or bring news of her death, and Shade continued visiting her other acquaintances.
• Shade learned that two of Miss Norma’s acquaintances had disappeared and that men with her potted plants were often dangerously ill.
• Shade returned to Mr. Franco’s home at night and waited for an evil spirit to emerge from the flower pot.
• Shade attacked the spirit with Imprisoning Halos, but it escaped, leaving its severed blackened arm in his hand.

Shade traced Miss Norma to an abandoned manor, where he found the three missing men and her evil spirit. After learning through Guiding Death that Norma had willingly chosen to be buried and join the land that had called to her since childhood, Shade left her secret revealed but the land’s nature unexplained.

• Shade used the Soul Cemetery to learn that Miss Norma’s soul could not be repaired from its severed arm and discovered where she had died.
• Shade traveled to the abandoned manor and found Mr. Martin and two other missing men camping there, with freshly turned earth beside them.
• Shade drew his revolver to stop the men, but Miss Norma’s evil spirit emerged from the earth and knocked them unconscious.
• Shade subdued Miss Norma with Moonbeam Greatswords and used Guiding Death to uncover her memories.
• Shade learned that Miss Norma had willingly chosen the three men to bury her so she could join the land that had called to her since childhood.

Shade learned that Miss Norma had sacrificed herself to suppress the madness in Ridgewich Field, then sent her soul to the afterlife after promising to investigate the land. He later told his companions what happened and planned to monitor the place while beginning a new course on Mizzle.

• Shade questioned Miss Norma's soul, learned she had offered blood and sacrificed herself to keep the land from going mad, and promised to address the danger.
• Shade opened a passage to the afterlife, and Miss Norma crossed through it, leaving behind a valuable Soul Tear Drop.
• Shade returned to Ridgewich Field and told the three young men that Miss Norma would not be resurrected; they broke down after learning the truth about her death.
• Shade recounted the case to his companions at Doctor Schneider's Clinic and said he would keep inspecting the land for signs of danger.
• Shade enrolled in Professor Garcia's Mizzle Basics Introduction course and agreed to work on a paper about Multiple Mizzle Nesting.

Luvia announced that she would travel to Randall River Valley for a month to seek Words of Sublimation, giving Shade a reason to follow her there. After preparing for the journey ahead, Shade planned to use the Time Key and begin another adventure.

• Miss Danist invited Shade to her Moonlight Spell elective, and she arranged to perform the Silver Moon Library ritual at his home next weekend.
• Luvia told the Study Group that she would leave for Randall River Valley next Monday to obtain Words of Sublimation with help from the local Seer Association.
• Shade kissed Luvia after the meeting and offered to help her pack, while keeping his own plan to travel to Randall River Valley secret from her.
• Shade traded pink essential oil to Old John for Oak's Lucky Potion, then took Dorothy to see the opera White Heart Empress.
• Dorothy told Shade that she had chosen Grey's Crystal Shoes for her Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation, and Shade offered to help her obtain the Spirit Rune Time.
• Shade decided that Saturday night was the time to use the Time Key he had acquired in Coldwater Port.