Chapter Summaries

Shade visited Professor Kansas Drake to learn about the Goddess in the Lake and discovered a cursed photograph containing a hostile woman. Professor Drake said the Goddess truly existed at a lake east of Huntington, though its location shifted and only certain people could reach it.

• Shade met Professor Kansas Drake, who tested him with questions about wishes, their costs, and killing the Goddess; Shade refused to risk a hidden price or murder for his own gain.
• Professor Drake showed Shade an old lakeshore photograph, and Shade sensed a Whisper Element and saw a cursed woman emerge from a shadow behind a tree.
• Shade realized the photograph carried a curse from a Relic Derivative, which targeted him before the First Fire suppressed it.
• Professor Drake explained that his research into the shrinking Pantanal Great Swamp led him to believe the Goddess in the Lake was real.
• Professor Drake told Shade that the lake lay east of Huntington, moved according to a pattern, and could be reached only by special people.

Shade inherited a curse from a photograph of the Swamp Witch while investigating Professor Drake’s mysterious missing legs and the Goddess in the Lake. Miss Sylvia identified the Relic and performed a ritual to remove the curse, but warned Shade to avoid western Huntington because the Swamp Witch might now target him.

• Professor Drake told Shade that he had found the Lake of Sages years ago, lost his memory, and returned with his legs missing below the knees; Shade touched them and sensed a faint Miracle.
• Shade bought the lake photograph and learned that viewing its depiction of the Swamp Witch had passed the Relic’s curse to him, causing a terrifying woman to appear at the edge of his vision.
• Shade contacted Miss Sylvia, who identified the photograph’s subject as the Sage Level Relic Swamp Witch and explained how its curse affected people who viewed records of it.
• Miss Sylvia burned the photograph and performed a ritual in the library basement that freed Shade from the hallucination, but warned that the curse’s traces could draw the Swamp Witch’s main body to him.
• Shade agreed to let Miss Sylvia keep the cursed ashes, and she refused payment while reminding him that they were friends.

Shade attended the Study Group, discussed his plans to attend Princess Margaret Anjou’s farewell dinner in Huntington, and agreed to Leisha’s prank on the Princess. The chapter left Shade and Leisha sharing a kiss in the carriage before his evening at the banquet.

• Shade visited Mr. Bernhardt and accepted his invitation to attend the farewell dinner at Rothschild Manor with him.
• Shade attended the Study Group, where Doctor Schneider discussed credits and the upcoming year-end examination, and Shade mentioned Miss Danist’s offer to help with his Practical Credit.
• Leisha, disguised as Dorothy, postponed Red Butterfly Day until the nineteenth of the Month of Frost's Descent and planned to meet Shade at Princess Mona Cavendish’s wedding banquet.
• Leisha gave Shade a note telling Princess Margaret Anjou that the purple cabbage was still delicious and explained its connection to the Wilundell Purple Cabbage Incident.
• Leisha warned Shade that Military Intelligence Section Six would likely be present at the Huntington banquet, then offered to arrange winter firewood for him.
• Leisha kissed Shade in the carriage after insisting that he let her help with his household needs.

Shade attended a royal farewell banquet in Huntington with Mr. Bernhardt, after receiving an invitation from Miss Sylvia. He entered the manor and noticed that many of the guests were Ring Arcanists, leaving him curious about the evening ahead.

• Shade explored White River Valley Vineyard while waiting for Mr. Bernhardt and considered asking Princess Margaret whether the estate was for sale because of its Hidden Wall.
• Mr. Bernhardt arrived, and he and Shade traveled to Rothschild Manor for Princess Margaret Anjou's farewell banquet before her delegation departed by airship.
• At the manor gate, Shade presented Miss Sylvia's Invitation Letter, and the Old Butler recognized him as a specially invited guest.
• Mr. Bernhardt was surprised that Miss Sylvia had invited Shade, and Shade said she valued his talents.
• Shade entered the banquet hall with Mr. Bernhardt and spotted several Ring Arcanists among the guests.

At a banquet in Rothschild Manor, Shade heard Bloodkin discuss Earl Sachia’s murder, the Heart of Pantanal, and the Truth Society’s arrival in Huntington. As Princess Margaret began her address, Miss Sylvia’s maid summoned Shade, and he left the hall to meet her.

• Shade joined Mr. Bernhardt’s Bloodkin acquaintances and listened as they shared news about Earl Sachia’s murder and a church arrest connected to Pantanal.
• Viscount Lamadi said Earl Sachia’s herbal business had obstructed a path tied to the Heart of Pantanal.
• Baron York revealed that three members of the Truth Society had arrived in Huntington with an illegal religious group’s clergyman and had bought banquet invitations.
• A local noblewoman gave Shade a handkerchief bearing her name and address, while Baron York teased him about her marriage prospects.
• Princess Margaret began her farewell address as Shade stood with the Bloodkin at the banquet.
• Miss Sylvia’s maid summoned Shade, and Mr. Bernhardt watched as Shade followed her away.

Shade met Miss Sylvia to learn what the Elixir of Immortality’s Poem Chapter Fragment revealed about the Chosen One of Wisdom and Knowledge. After discussing its five trials, they talked about their incomes, and Shade considered investing with Sylvia after she arrived in Tobesk.

• Miss Sylvia confirmed that the Elixir of Immortality contained a Poem Chapter Fragment and shared its two decoded sentences with Shade.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia concluded that the fragment concerned the Chosen One of Wisdom and Knowledge, who would face five riddles held by a Keeper of Secrets.
• Miss Sylvia offered to repay Shade for providing the intelligence, and Shade suggested they discuss it after she reached Tobesk.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia compared their earnings, and Sylvia explained that her research expenses made her seek additional income.
• Shade told Sylvia he was considering investing his money and said he would be interested in working with her on a promising venture.

Shade received a tarot reading from Miss Sylvia, then hid in her wardrobe when Princess Margaret arrived. Margaret found Shade’s prank note and mistook it for a clue about the Gray-headed Eagle, while Shade learned that Baron Lewis led a Gray Gloves team accompanying the delegation.

• Miss Sylvia divined that Shade’s answer might appear unexpectedly nearby, drawing the Unexpected Gift card.
• When Princess Margaret knocked, Shade hid in the wardrobe and left Leisha’s note on the carpet.
• Margaret found the note, recognized the phrase as connected to her past, and asked Miss Sylvia to divine its origin.
• Margaret interpreted the Numerology 6 and Gray-headed Eagle cards as signs that the Gray-headed Eagle had left the note and was active in Tobesk.
• Margaret revealed that she had arranged for Gray-headed Eagle to protect her, while Shade realized the order had not yet reached him.
• Shade learned that Baron Lewis was the Gray Gloves team leader and decided to keep the information from Military Intelligence Section Six for now.

Shade overheard Princess Margaret asking Miss Sylvia to take her as an apprentice, but Sylvia explained that a young, self-taught genius in Tobesk was a better successor. After Shade returned to the banquet, Margaret invited him to join a coin-tossing game, leaving him among seven contestants as the crowd gathered to watch.

• Princess Margaret asked Miss Sylvia to make her an apprentice, but Sylvia said Margaret lacked the spatial talent and mathematical ability she wanted in a successor.
• Miss Sylvia described a young, self-taught woman in Tobesk whose spatial abilities and mathematical insights made her an ideal apprentice, and Margaret accepted that Sylvia would not choose her.
• After Margaret left, Shade emerged from the wardrobe and told Miss Sylvia he would not meet the candidate in Tobesk; Sylvia said she would prevent it and wondered where the Fourth Chosen One's next stage of fate would appear.
• Shade returned to the banquet and found Mr. Bernhardt playing Rhodes Cards against Baron York, then went to keep watch on Princess Margaret.
• Princess Margaret invited Shade to join a banquet game in which blindfolded players tossed three gold coins into separate glasses for a prize of the coins and her earrings.
• Seven people entered the game, and the crowd gathered as Princess Margaret set up the tossing area.

Shade won the coin-tossing game at Princess Margaret’s banquet and danced with her, learning that she had invited him to win back a pair of earrings wagered by her cousin. Later, Shade noticed a Ring Arcanist at the ball and hoped the rest of the evening would pass peacefully.

• Mr. Helius, Baron Galar, and a duke’s grandson took turns tossing coins blindfolded, with mixed results.
• Shade tossed all three coins into the wineglasses and received the earrings and the gold coins from Princess Margaret.
• Mr. Helius objected to Margaret dancing with Shade, then backed down when Shade challenged him to Rhodes Cards.
• Shade danced with Margaret, who explained that her cousin Irene had wagered the earrings and arranged to retrieve them later.
• Mr. Bernhardt told Shade that a woman had won two special cards at Rhodes Cards, and Shade recognized her as a Ring Arcanist.

Shade and Mr. Bernhardt discovered that Princess Margaret had vanished during a covert operation at the banquet. After a Pantanal Voodoo Society Arcanist unleashed a monstrous snake from a relic, Shade fought it in a darkened corridor and struggled to understand why his attacks passed through it.

• Shade and Mr. Bernhardt discussed Moonlight Slash in the courtyard, where Mr. Bernhardt demonstrated a technique that transformed him into a crimson arc.
• A flash of light appeared behind the manor, and Shade and Mr. Bernhardt found the entrance sealed by a powerful lock.
• Shade opened the door with Door Key, and they learned Princess Margaret had been summoned away; the two split up to investigate.
• A Pantanal Voodoo Society Arcanist confronted Shade, admitted his group had been hired to search for an item, and swallowed the relic Undying Snake Skin.
• A giant Black Snake emerged from the Arcanist's corpse, grew stronger as the corridor darkened, and struck Shade while his Moonbeam Greatsword passed through it.

Shade defeated the snake-skin relic and found that Miss Sylvia was missing from her room. He entered a sealed subspace through an oil painting and reached an ancient temple chamber, where a horrifying plant-made statue stood on a stone platform.

• Shade used the Great Sin Chains to restrain the incorporeal snake, then stabilized space and killed it with the Moonbeam Greatsword.
• The snake’s corpse burned away, leaving a headless man’s body and the snake-skin relic, which Shade collected before restoring the damaged corridor.
• Shade found Miss Sylvia’s room empty and saw The Church fighting hired Pantanal Voodoo Society Arcanists in the dark garden.
• Shade sensed Miss Sylvia’s presence and Witch power in a strange oil painting, then pierced it with his yellow greatsword and entered the sealed subspace.
• Shade traversed an overgrown, decaying passage and reached a stone temple chamber with a horrifying statue made of plant remains.

Shade used First Fire to destroy the Pantanal Temple’s evil idol and free Miss Sylvia, then learned that Margaret was on Rothschild Manor’s rooftop. Miss Sylvia and Shade headed there to rescue her after the captured Arcanist revealed the Truth Society’s interest in the Heart of Pantanal.

• Miss Sylvia warned Shade that the Pantanal Temple’s vines suppressed power and asked him to burn its statue while she remained trapped with a hawk-nosed Nine-Ring Arcanist.
• Shade entered the temple, invoked the Primordial Fire, broke free of the vines, and burned the idol, briefly witnessing the terrifying Pantanal Evil.
• The temple vanished and Rothschild Manor’s corridor returned; Miss Sylvia killed the Arcanist and seized his soul, which revealed that Margaret was on the rooftop and that the Truth Society had sought the possible location of the Heart of Pantanal.
• Shade let the Arcanist’s damaged soul escape through a spatial rift, and Miss Sylvia changed their appearances before leading him toward the rooftop.

Shade and Miss Sylvia arrived on Rothschild Manor’s rooftop during a battle over Princess Margaret, where The Truth Society revealed it wanted something mysterious connected to her. The eyebrowless cultist opened the Angel Level Relic Wrath of Fury, and as it gathered a devastating storm above the rooftop, Shade reacted with wild delight.

• Miss Sylvia brought Shade to the rooftop, where Mr. Bernhardt, Viscount Lamadi, and a Peace Church priest defended Princess Margaret from three members of The Truth Society.
• Miss Pawo explained that the Blood Spirit School had divined Princess Margaret possessed something important, while insisting The Truth Society had only intended to question her.
• Miss Pawo revealed that the eyebrowless cultist carried Wrath of Fury, and he opened the relic as the clouds covered the moons.
• Wrath of Fury froze the rooftop’s occupants and summoned a storm that locked onto them, while the Nine-Ring professor fled with his companions.
• Emma Sylvia prepared to divert the coming Thunder, but Shade squeezed her hand and stared at the sky with wild delight.

Shade willingly took the full force of the Dark Black Thunder, surviving through the Youthful Immortality Leaf and discovering that the lightning carried the divinity of the evil god Raging Storm. As Huntington’s factions dealt with the aftermath, Shade left determined to pursue both newly revealed sources of divinity.

• Shade threw his coat to the Great Witch, swallowed the Youthful Immortality Leaf, and leaped into the storm to meet the Dark Black Thunder.
• The thunder struck Shade, dispersed the storm, and ended the rooftop battle; Miss Sylvia carried his apparently charred body away.
• Shade revived in Miss Sylvia’s room, recovered from his injuries, and learned that Wrath of Fury contained divinity likely belonging to Raging Storm.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia discussed The Truth Society’s attack on Princess Margaret and the unrest likely to follow in Huntington and Tobesk.
• Shade recognized that he had found clues to two sources of divinity and declared that he wanted both.

After the banquet, Shade learned that Karl Leipzig and other cultists would head to Tobesk in connection with Margaret Anjou, then prepared to use the Time Key for another trip into the past. He stepped through the fog door into the year 5177, hoping to avoid an encounter with an evil god.

• Shade returned from White River Valley Vineyard with copied materials, and Mr. Bernhardt joked about wishing for a good harvest.
• Shade showed Luvia the electric arcs he could produce after being struck by divine Thunder, then used the blue Dandelion Coin for her divination.
• Luvia learned that Karl Leipzig, a low-ring priest of Raging Storm, would travel with cultists to Tobesk after their failed operation in Huntington, arriving before the following weekend.
• Shade saved his remaining coins and told Luvia he planned to use the Time Key the next morning.
• On Sunday morning, Shade entered the fog door and traveled to the year 5177, at the end of the Fifth Epoch.

Shade entered the Time Corridor and was sent to Lost Lake to help a mortal visit a god and learn the secret of Eternal Beauty. After surviving the lake’s supernatural cold and mist, he was rescued by a group of Witches and learned that their leader was the Witch Emperor, Violet Marshall.

• Shade received the Ancient God of Time’s trial and was promised Ritual-Moonlight Water and Ritual-Sun Fire as a reward.
• Shade crossed Lost Lake using Water Surface Walking, but its freezing water and sedative mist threatened to assimilate him.
• Violet Marshall’s group used a rope and Shade’s Great Sin Chains to pull him safely onto Lake Heart Island.
• Shade met Violet Marshall, her niece Schultz Teresa, and six maids, and sensed a Good God inside the island’s tower.
• Violet Marshall identified herself as the Witch Emperor and the Ruler of Witton.

Shade met Violet Marshall and the Witches at their Lost Lake camp, where they tested him and explained their search for the lake’s god. After a terrifying creature struck the island, Shade learned that Violet sought eternal beauty while Theresa sought wisdom for her thesis.

• Shade greeted Violet Marshall, and she confirmed he was male before allowing him to handle the Fifth Epoch Night Watchman, whose blade reacted strongly to him.
• Shade told Violet and Theresa that he had come to ask a wise man why he was unusual, and they explained that Lost Lake held a god who answered one question every five hundred years.
• The Night Watchman shook, and a gigantic hairy limb descended through the fog onto Lake Heart Island, terrifying the gathered Witches before withdrawing.
• Violet warned Shade about the dangers hidden in Lost Lake, and Theresa said she hoped to seek the god’s wisdom for her graduation thesis.
• Violet revealed that she sought eternal, unchanging beauty rather than greater power, while Theresa quietly showed that she did not fully share Violet’s outlook.

Shade joined Miss Violet Marshall and Miss Schultz Teresa in seeking the God of the Lake’s wisdom, and proved his worth by displaying his unusual Mystic Locks. The group prepared to leave their camp for the tower, where they hoped to meet the god, though the Lost Lake’s dangers and the god’s influence remained obstacles.

• Shade reasoned that the God of the Lake required visitors to pass a trial before receiving answers, and proposed that he and the Witches cooperate.
• Shade offered Miss Violet Marshall Holy Water No. 4, but she considered it ordinary replenishment and asked him to demonstrate his powers instead.
• Shade summoned snow through a composite Mystic Lock, and Miss Violet recognized that his different Mystic Locks seemed like chapters of one story; she agreed he qualified to join them.
• Shade learned that the Lost Lake’s shifting paths, disorienting fog, and fogification made travel dangerous, while Miss Violet’s maids would remain to tend their bonfire camp.
• Miss Violet invited Shade to accompany her and Miss Schultz Teresa to the tower, and Shade agreed despite the risks of facing a god without divinity.

Shade, Miss Violet, and Miss Teresa reached the tower of the God of the Lake and asked for a trial to gain its wisdom. As the god’s presence began to overwhelm them, Shade addressed it as the Favored of the Recorder, and the god announced the first of three trials.

• Miss Violet led Shade and Miss Teresa through the mist to the tower, where the God of the Lake’s presence began to affect them.
• The three entered the tower and found the god’s saint seated at a desk on a mirror-still lake; Shade’s body became covered in fiery-red cracks and embers.
• Miss Teresa nearly collapsed under the god’s pressure, and Shade caught and steadied her.
• Miss Violet asked the God of the Lake to grant them a trial and the wisdom mortals could not touch.
• Shade asked how they could demonstrate their wisdom, and the god said they must complete three trials, beginning with bringing it their Crystallization of Wisdom.

Shade and the witches left the tower after failing to answer the god of the lake’s trial, agreeing to prepare a personal Crystallization of Wisdom and return. Shade departed through the fog, leaving Violet and Teresa to realize he matched an old Academy legend about a mysterious man who rescued witches.

• The god of the lake explained that a Crystallization of Wisdom could be an original creation or a difficult achievement, and Shade, Violet, and Teresa left to prepare their answers.
• Violet planned to improve a Fire Resistance Potion, Teresa began writing her thesis, and Shade decided to write a paper on Advanced Mathematics.
• Shade vanished into the White Fog, telling Violet and Teresa he would return with his paper and asking Violet to retrieve her hat.
• Violet touched the Night Watchman and received a battle memory of someone wielding it against an army of undead with Sunlight Ray.
• Violet told Teresa that Shade resembled the strange man in an old Academy legend and warned her not to record what happened.
• Violet and Teresa returned toward camp, and Violet wondered why they had never asked Shade his name.