Recaps

Shade met Professor Brownell at a tavern, helped him seek guards, and asked him to identify a fountain pen connected to Shade’s search. He then won a rare Rhodes Card from a Traveling Merchant and began looking through the merchant’s goods.

• Shade spoke with Professor Brownell, who explained that he was conducting a geological survey and wanted temporary guards while exploring Delarion territory.
• Shade showed Brownell a rusted fountain pen bearing the name Durut Giles, and Brownell agreed to ask his colleagues in Wilundell about it.
• A Traveling Merchant offered to wager a rare Peace Dove Mountain Talks card, and Shade joined the card game after the other interested patrons backed out.
• Shade won the card, gave the merchant his five-pound stake anyway, and accepted the merchant’s offer to choose one item from his goods.
• The Traveling Merchant bought drinks for Shade and the two other men, and Shade began inspecting the goods.

Shade found eight unusual metal pieces, helped Professor Brownell’s group through a tavern confrontation, and later learned the pieces were derivatives of an Angel Level Relic. He discovered their limited ability to change shape and color, then left with plans to pass them on.

• Shade found eight tiny metal pieces with faint elemental fluctuations among a Traveling Merchant’s goods.
• Shade drove off two sailors who had insulted Professor Brownell and his students, then escorted them to Captain Rades.
• Shade took Little Mia to the Seer Association and Old John’s pawnshop, where Old John identified the pieces as derivatives of the Angel Level Relic Feynman’s Vault.
• Shade resonated with the pieces and transformed them into a metal rose, then decided he did not need the derivative.

Shade and Doctor Schneider’s team took custody of Nameless One’s Remains, an Angel Level Relic whose coffin had to remain sealed, and set out to guard it until sunrise. The relic’s power then caused Tobesk’s streets to overlap with a moonlit forest, leaving the team to confront the breach on the road.

• At Tobesk train station, Doctor Schneider explained the relic’s history, its containment rules, and the threats facing the team.
• Shade touched the black coffin and sensed a heartbeat and Whisper; the previous escort handed over a containment crystal and a bag of refined salt.
• The team loaded the coffin into a carriage, with Doctor Schneider driving, Priest Augustus beside him, and Shade and Dorothy in the rear; Luvia followed separately on a Bone Horse.
• As the carriage traveled through Tobesk’s fog, Shade and Dorothy discussed the coming lunar eclipse and their plans for the occasion.
• The city streets transformed into a dim forest path as the relic’s power leaked out, and Shade warned Doctor Schneider that their surroundings had changed.

Shade, Dorothy, Doctor Schneider, and Priest Augustus transported a coffin through Tobesk while fighting a relic’s power leakage and evading scrutiny. Near their destination, a Sixth Ring Arcanist ambushed Shade with a forced spatial transfer, but Shade struck him first.

• Dorothy scattered salt across the coffin’s badge while Shade and the Match Girl fought off black wolves during a relic power leak.
• Shade and Dorothy combined their thaumaturgies to freeze a giant wolf, then Shade destroyed it with Sunlight Ray as Dorothy ended the anomaly.
• At a police checkpoint, Doctor Schneider used forged documents to conceal the coffin, and the group learned that a Kassenric baron had shot himself after meeting an unidentified Tobesk noble.
• Doctor Schneider explained that Ring Arcanists could track the relic during power leaks, and the carriage continued through the West District toward the prepared warehouse.
• Black vine-like patterns triggered a forced spatial transfer that separated Shade from the carriage, and Shade’s sword pierced the attacking Sixth Ring Arcanist.
• The Arcanist tried to strike Shade with a Venomous Spirit Rune, but Shade blocked the attack and detonated the Heaton Seal against him.

Shade defeated a Ring Arcanist who attacked the coffin convoy, then reunited with Doctor Schneider, Luvia, Priest Augustus, and Dorothy at a Warehouse to guard the relic. While Shade and the Doctor discussed the First Demon, the coffin’s power transformed their surroundings into a desert, leaving them facing a distant sandstorm.

• Shade wounded the Sixth-Ring Arcanist, learned that three attackers and another theft group were involved, and accepted Adamantine ore before the man escaped with the Wind King Sword.
• Doctor Schneider and Shade defeated the Seventh Ring Arcanist’s duplicates, and Luvia petrified her before recovering a shield-shaped relic.
• Shade and his companions moved the coffin to a Warehouse, prepared a ritual and Traveler’s Camp, and took turns guarding the relic.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider discussed the group’s changes and the Doctor revealed that the First Demon likely originated in the First Epoch.
• The coffin’s power changed the Warehouse District into a moonlit desert, separating Shade and Doctor Schneider from the others as they watched a distant sandstorm.

Shade and his companions endured successive relic disturbances while guarding the coffin, until a cemetery caused its contents to awaken and the Academy advised using a special cat or crow to suppress it. Shade went to retrieve Mia and met Princess Leisha at Yodel Palace, then returned toward the warehouse with the cat.

• Doctor Schneider summoned the power of demons within himself to kill a giant sand worm during the desert disturbance.
• Priest Augustus destroyed a crowd of Water Ghosts during a later disturbance on an island.
• Military Intelligence Section Six's wounded target, an attendant to a Delarion nobleman, killed himself with poison before they could capture him.
• The coffin began shaking violently during a cemetery disturbance, and Shade, Dorothy, and their summoned companions suppressed it while Doctor Schneider fought a winged corpse.
• The Academy advised placing a cat or Black Crow on the coffin, so Shade went to retrieve Mia.
• Leisha brought Mia to Shade at Yodel Palace, kissed him, and showed him her maid dress before he headed back toward the warehouse.

Shade returned to the warehouse as the coffin’s Angel Level Relic broke free, exposing him to the Void and forcing the group to suppress it. After Shade and Mia helped contain the relic, the survivors escaped the collapsing warehouse in a Pumpkin Carriage.

• Shade arrived at the warehouse and gave Luvia the Yggdrasil Staff while he and Mia helped Priest Augustus cover the coffin with salt.
• Luvia, Doctor Schneider, and Dorothy fought two Eighth Ring Arcanists until the Sleeping Princess felled one, while the other invoked the Nonexistent Void and blew open the coffin.
• The bandage-wrapped corpse rose and erased whatever it saw, meeting Shade’s gaze and exposing him to Whisper, Indifference, and Void.
• Doctor Schneider, Priest Augustus, and Luvia attacked the corpse, and the Yggdrasil Staff struck it back into the coffin as Shade closed the lid with Night Watchman.
• Shade transformed into a silver cat, and he and Mia calmed the coffin while Dorothy summoned a Pumpkin Carriage and Priest Augustus drove the group away.

The Witch Council finalized plans for the Green Lake Region operation, where Audrey Edwardz had encountered a capable helper who helped her escape the Invisible Man. After the meeting, Galina Cavendish and Emma Sylvia discussed Shade, Galina’s growing power, and the possibility that she could reach Thirteenth Order.

• Isabella assigned Vanessa Benanis and Galina Cavendish to travel to Green Lake under their current identities, while Sivie Aurora and Grandma Cassandra waited and Emma Sylvia planned to go secretly later.
• Galina Cavendish protested that the meeting had lasted until five in the morning, and Isabella adjourned it after checking on Audrey Edwardz’s recovery.
• Audrey Edwardz told Galina Cavendish that a mid-ring helper had helped her escape the Invisible Man, and said she would explain the situation in Green Lake.
• Audrey Edwardz left, and Galina Cavendish confirmed to Emma Sylvia that the helper was Shade and that Shade and Luvia Annette suspected the Edwardz family of being connected to the Chosen One of Space.
• Emma Sylvia noted that Galina Cavendish’s power had risen rapidly, and Galina said the ice crystal the Demigod Witch gave Shade might help her reach Thirteenth Order.

After containing the Nameless One’s Remains, Shade and his companions handed the relic over to Aisha Eisberg, the Winter Singer, and learned that someone had deliberately caused its rampage in Tobesk. Aisha departed with the coffin, while Shade’s unanswered question about the Winter Hymn Choir remained for later.

• On the cargo boat, Shade and his companions welcomed Aisha Eisberg, a Thirteenth Ring Arcanist who had come to collect the relic for Saint Byrens.
• Aisha inspected the black coffin, confirmed the relic was contained, and sealed it in ice before taking charge of its transport.
• Shade and the others described how the remains had sat up during the rampage, and Aisha explained that its gaze sent everything it saw into the Void.
• Aisha concluded that the attack had aimed to cause the relic to lose control in Tobesk, rather than steal it, and said she would report the matter to Saint Byrens.
• Shade hesitated to ask Aisha about Myriad Aspects of Impermanence, so she promised that someone would contact him later; she then left with the coffin.
• The Doctor arranged to distribute the mission reward the next day, and the group parted after a night without further injuries.

Iluna investigated the warehouse aftermath and encountered If, an Unknown Level Relic that forced her into a future-simulation game. The first simulation ended with her death at Shade’s house, leading Iluna to realize that the imagined future contained no Shade.

• Iluna used her Dark Gold Scales to sense the warehouse’s lingering power and identified traces of a powerful void relic.
• Iluna met the blond stranger If in an alley and learned that he wanted to play three games with her.
• Iluna refused to trust If or play, but he said she could not leave and began simulating a future in which she went to Shade’s home.
• Iluna watched the simulation describe her meeting Sparrow Hamilton’s soul at 6 Saint Derain Square and dying after the Guardian of Doomsday attacked her.
• Iluna concluded that If’s simulated future was one in which Shade did not exist.

Iluna learned from If that the Sixth Epoch had been reset repeatedly and that Shade’s presence was new, then sought him out to learn how to reach the Goddess in the Lake. After spending lunch with Shade and Dorothy, she resolved to protect the people she cherished and keep their story from ending in tragedy.

• Iluna questioned If and deduced that the Sixth Epoch had undergone multiple resets, but If withheld what had happened in the earlier versions and warned that she might be able to save someone she cherished.
• If vanished after telling Iluna to conceal their meeting and reminding her that two games remained.
• Shade and Dorothy woke at noon, and Iluna visited Shade to ask how to reach the Goddess in the Lake for a story she was planning.
• Shade worried about Iluna, reassured her that he and Luvia would help her, and invited her to lunch with Dorothy.
• Iluna and Dorothy enjoyed lunch together and exchanged business cards before Iluna left by carriage.
• Iluna decided to hold on to the people she loved and prevent the new story from becoming a tragedy, while Shade wondered at the ominous words he heard about the meal.

Shade investigated the Grave Robbers who had visited Green Lake Central Island and learned that all but one had died or gone mad. He obtained the surviving Grave Robber’s address and planned to investigate Rotten Eye Barry’s casino after sunset, then headed toward the Duin River slums.

• Shade told Luvia about Iluna’s troubled visit, and Luvia urged him to avoid relics that could stir negative emotions for a week.
• Shade visited Rotten Eye Barry’s Rhodes Cards Casino and received a file saying the Grave Robbers were dead except for one mentally disturbed survivor.
• Rotten Eye Barry tried to recruit Shade for another job, but Shade refused and left after invoking Captain Rades’s name.
• Shade questioned a beaten man outside the casino and learned that Rotten Eye Barry had arrived in Green Lake City over twenty years earlier and might pray in a hidden room.
• Shade decided to inspect the casino’s innermost room after sunset and went to the surviving Grave Robber’s address beside the Duin River.

Shade questioned the dying grave robber Jack Sibir about the expedition to Green Lake Central Island and uncovered clues linking it to water ghosts, Durut Giles, and Hader Ferrero. After promising help for Jack’s family, Shade watched Rotten Eye Barry investigate the house and left wondering whether Barry was connected to the island’s secrets.

• Shade visited Jack Sibir at his home on Pudding Lane and used holy water and the Confusion Thaumaturgy to restore Jack’s clarity briefly.
• Jack told Shade that two finger bones had been sold to a merchant in Kassenric, while a similar bone fragment had gone to Hader Ferrero.
• Jack explained that the grave robbers had returned from Central Island with erased memories, worsening nightmares, and a curse that drove them mad; he also revealed where he had buried the stolen objects.
• Jack identified Durut Giles as the expedition’s mysterious leader and recalled that water monsters attacked the escaping boats, leaving only two of the original three to reach shore.
• Shade gave Jack’s wife five pounds for the family and left, then watched Rotten Eye Barry arrive with two subordinates to question the household.
• Shade concluded that Barry’s visit might connect him to the water ghosts or the stolen objects, then returned to human form and headed toward the riverside.

Shade recovered a Deathbringer Angel bone fragment from Hader Ferrero’s grave and discovered that Rotten Eye Barry was a follower of the God of Drowning in the Deep Sea. He left Barry’s secret prayer room without alerting him and returned to the Green Lake Inn to contact Megan.

• Shade dug up Hader Ferrero’s grave and found a weak Deathbringer Angel bone fragment among the burial objects.
• Shade entered the casino at night and infiltrated a hidden prayer chamber beside Rotten Eye Barry’s office.
• Shade used Echoes of the Past to hear Barry pray to the God of Drowning in the Deep Sea and identified him as a Drowning Order cultist.
• Shade left the casino without alerting Barry and returned to the Green Lake Inn to ask Soren Green to contact Megan.

Shade investigated the mysterious fountain pen owner, Durut Giles, and learned he was a history lecturer at Saint Fabri Academy in Weilun Dai'er City. After traveling to Mikella Blast Furnace City, Shade infiltrated city hall to observe the arms-export negotiations for Leisha.

• Shade wrote Megan a letter asking for information about the Water Ghost, the Grave Robbers, and Rotten Eye Barry, and Mr. Green agreed to send it through her messenger.
• Professor Brownell informed Shade that Durut Giles had arrived in Mikella Blast Furnace City three years earlier and lectured at Saint Fabri Academy in Weilun Dai'er City.
• Shade crossed into Mikella Blast Furnace City, witnessed a border soldier remove a young man who challenged his special treatment, and passed a political parade without reacting.
• Shade entered Glass City's city hall by hiding beneath a carriage, used Puppet Manipulation to control a stranger, and disguised himself as a conference attendee.
• Shade reached the 404 Conference Room and determined that about ten people sat at the negotiating table while more than twenty watched from the walls.

Shade infiltrated a negotiation session to memorize confidential documents, then recruited the Follen Brothers to gather more by revealing their ancestor’s identity and warning them about the Church. The chapter left Shade considering the Edwardz family’s prophecy and the Space Chosen One’s possible Two-in-One nature as he threw the Crystal Shoes.

• Shade sat unnoticed in the conference room, memorized negotiation documents, and left after the session ended.
• Shade warned the Follen Brothers that the Mirror Society’s Invisible Man had arrived and discussed their family prophecy and possible reunion with a surviving relative.
• Shade revealed that their ancestor, Laplace Klein Howard, had been a Twelfth Ring Diviner who betrayed the Seer Association, and Eric agreed to collect confidential meeting documents in exchange for protection.
• Shade warned the brothers that the Church might trace their identities and urged them to stay away from Green Lake Central Island.
• Shade discussed the Space Chosen One’s Two-in-One trait with “she” and threw the Crystal Shoes.

Shade returned home exhausted after using the Crystal Shoes, then joined the Study Group as the Doctor distributed their mission rewards and relics. Luvia claimed the Nether Iron Coins, Dorothy asked to borrow them for an experiment that night, and Priest Augustus took the Sage Level Divine Favor shield badge, with payment to be settled later.

• Shade arrived in the attic at home nearly drained, and Dorothy helped him recover before he printed the documents he had copied for Leisha.
• Shade and Dorothy rode to Doctor Schneider's Clinic, where Dorothy asked about arranging special spring activities with Leisha for the next Celebration Day.
• The Doctor announced the group's mission rewards, including a bonus, an academic evaluation increase, the Mind Peering Mirror, and a pair of Nether Iron Coins.
• Luvia claimed the Nether Iron Coins, while Dorothy asked to borrow them that night to experience her soul leaving her body for story inspiration.
• After the group declined the Sage Level Divine Favor shield badge, Priest Augustus agreed to keep it and settle the others' shares later.

After the group divided the spoils from their mission, Shade discussed his dangerous plans for Green Lake with Priest Augustus. That evening, Dorothy began an experiment using Nether Iron Coins to experience her soul leaving her body.

• The group distributed its relics and other spoils, donating the dangerous fingernail relic to the Academy and leaving the wooden blowpipe to Dorothy.
• Luvia said she had reached the Sixth Ring, and Shade confirmed the Academy had arranged a Summer Exams test that could advance him from fourth year to sixth year.
• Shade gave Priest Augustus a bone fragment from the Grave Robbers’ grave and said he planned to return to Green Lake Island as early as the following Tuesday.
• Shade and Priest Augustus witnessed police confronting two students suspected of being Kasonlik spies, and gunfire struck one of the students as he fled into the lake.
• Dorothy insisted on testing the Nether Iron Coins, and Luvia placed one over each of Dorothy’s closed eyes as Shade prepared to time her soul’s departure.

Dorothy and Leisha risked exchanging souls while Dorothy was temporarily dead, forcing Shade to use a dangerous miracle to save them. After confirming both were alive, he confronted Leisha and left her to rest, still angry about their reckless experiment.

• Dorothy’s soul left her body, and Leisha’s soul rose from it as the sisters attempted to exchange places, leaving their souls overlapped and unable to separate.
• Shade used False Immortality and Sleeping Princess to pull Dorothy and Leisha back from death, sacrificing his Library Retrieval sorcery.
• Shade struck the overlapping souls with Soul Whiplash, separating them so Dorothy returned to her body and Leisha vanished back to Yodel Palace.
• Dorothy awoke with the new Spirit Rune Whisper—Dead, while Shade left for Yodel Palace after telling Luvia to watch over her.
• Shade checked that Leisha was alive and learned that the sisters’ tendency to Fuse had intensified; he told Leisha to rest and meet him at Galina’s with Angelina the next day.

Shade rescued Dorothy and Leisha after their souls were restored, then confronted them about making dangerous decisions without telling him. Dorothy apologized and asked him to punish her another way, leaving Shade and Luvia flustered as the night took an unexpected turn.

• Shade escaped Yodel Palace, then stopped Director Anlos's pursuers by killing two attackers and knocking out the third.
• Director Anlos said the attackers might be part of a third-party force and hinted that a Prince could be involved.
• Shade returned home and reassured Luvia that Princess Leisha was safe but needed to rest.
• Dorothy apologized for her and Leisha's actions, and Shade required them to promise to consult him before future decisions concerning themselves.
• Dorothy asked Shade to punish her in another way, and Luvia offered to stay while insisting she would not be punished.

Shade spent a spring Sunday at Galina Manor, reconciling with Leisha and discussing Angelina’s future before enjoying a date with Galina. When Galina was summoned to the palace, Tifa led Shade to her room and made her intentions clear.

• Galina asked Leisha and Angelina whether they wanted to accompany her to the Green Lake Region, and Shade arrived with roses and a metal rose gift.
• Leisha apologized to Shade for her reckless actions, and he embraced her after she promised to explain herself if she ever faced a similar choice again.
• Galina, Leisha, and Shade discussed Angelina’s wish to become a Witch, the lack of a suitable Great Witch mentor, and her possible enrollment at Zaras Academy of Literature or correspondence study in Tobesk.
• Galina sent Leisha and Angelina back to the city, then spent the day with Shade riding, picnicking, reading, and planning their Green Lake Region operations.
• Iluna joined Shade and Galina for lessons and spellcaster sparring, but a royal letter summoned Galina to see the King.
• After Galina left, Tifa took Shade to her room and locked the door while beginning to unbutton her collar.

Shade returned to the Green Lake Region in the rain, where Megan Edwards shared new information about the Invisible Man and the Edwards family’s ancestor. They decided to return to the island soon, before powerful Church and Seer Association forces arrived.

• Shade drew a Nether Iron Coin from God's Gift Box and received a weekly task to record his expenses on at least two days.
• On his way to Green Lake Inn, Shade left food, warm clothing, an umbrella, and canvas in John’s trash bin and planned to ask Galina to arrange shelter for him.
• Shade met Megan Edwards at the inn, and his badge reacted to the Witch’s power as Audrey Edwards’s soul appeared within her.
• Megan told Shade that Laplace Klein Howard, the Edwards family’s first-generation lord, had been a traitorous Thirteenth Ring Diviner of the Seer Association.
• Megan reported that the Church and Seer Association were sending more powerful people to the Green Lake Region, so she and Shade planned to return to the island soon.

Shade finished describing his investigation into the Grave Robbers, then joined Megan Edwards to investigate Rotten Eye Barry’s businesses while Barry was occupied with Kasonlik Merchants. At Barry’s warehouse in Green Lake City, Megan arranged for rival gangsters to attack first, and she and Shade entered after her Followers confirmed the site was clear.

• Shade told the Witches that only two Grave Robbers remained alive and that most of Lust Edwardz’s stolen Burial Objects had been sold or buried near Green Lake Town.
• Megan invited Shade to investigate Rotten Eye Barry’s lairs, explaining that Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals had arranged for Kasonlik Merchants to keep him busy.
• Megan and Shade reviewed five suspicious locations and chose Barry’s warehouse on Roggett Avenue as their first stop.
• Megan arranged for nearly twenty men in black to storm the warehouse, where they killed Barry’s trusted subordinates before departing.
• Two of Megan’s six-ring Followers entered the warehouse and signaled that it was safe for Megan and Shade to go inside.

Shade and Megan discovered that Rotten Eye Barry’s gang was raising Water Ghosts for the Drowning Order, then traveled to its territory on Goloje Street to investigate without attracting attention. Megan revealed she had recovered enough to use ordinary sixth-ring power and prepared to enter the gang’s district with Shade.

• Shade led the group to a hidden cavern beneath the freight depot, where they found coffins containing corpses transforming into Water Ghosts.
• Megan identified the Water Ghost cultivation chamber and connected its rituals to the Drowning Order, while Shade learned that most of the victims had been homeless people.
• The group destroyed the corpses and ritual matrix, sealed the cavern, and left before Rotten Eye Barry could learn of their discovery.
• Shade and Megan traveled to Goloje Street, the core territory of Rotten Eye Barry’s gang, intending to investigate its roughly forty combat-capable members discreetly.
• Megan used a transparent force field to shield herself and Shade from the rain, then removed the book-shaped Pendant from her neck.

Shade and Megan searched Rotten Eye Barry’s lair and found Human Transmutation research linked to the Edwards Family, raising questions about Megan’s ancestry and her father, Alphons Edwards. They uncovered a hidden safe containing a living heart and documents.

• Megan showed Shade the Angel Level Relic Tome of Yearning and used its stored Thaumaturgy, No Man’s Land, to put the slum gang members to sleep.
• Megan retrieved a flawless Black Pearl from Barry’s black-market shop, while Shade refused to take the gang’s money and suggested donating it to the poor.
• Shade and Megan found Barry’s laboratory and learned he had been experimenting on Corpses with material describing Human Transmutation.
• Megan identified the Human Transmutation papers as coming from the Edwards Family and wondered whether Alphons Edwards had been a test subject; Shade offered to verify her lineage using her blood.
• Shade and Megan discovered a concealed safe beneath the laboratory floor and found a living heart in a jar alongside letters and documents.