Recaps

The players fought Blood Eagle traitors in Batassin as Lady Adele, Maxim, and other elite allies turned the night battle in their favor. Little Ashina then attempted her first solo Elite Hunt, revealing that the game offered her freedom from the limits of her real-life ALS.

• Meow Brother and the players held a street against the Blood Eagle traitors until Lady Adele and six vampire descendants joined the fight.
• Maxim and Raveno entered the battle, while Necessary Evil flew off to hunt stronger vampires and inspired Meow Brother to pursue a hidden weapon quest after his Black Iron Trial.
• Little Ashina ignored her companions’ warnings and shot a fleeing Black Iron-tier vampire with a special daylight round.
• Little Ashina jumped from the platform and ran to finish the wounded vampire, using Gloom Steps that Lumina had taught her.
• Lumina explained that Little Ashina had ALS and valued the game because it let her move and fight freely, so the girls went to watch over her.

Little Ashina fought and defeated an elite vampire to complete her Black Iron Trial, drawing on her memories of losing her ability to walk. Murphy arrived just in time to save her from another vampire and promised she could always return to True Otherworld before she passed out.

• Little Ashina used combat scrolls and prepared weapons to hunt the wounded elite vampire, then fought her with illusions, gunfire, and a final knife strike to remove her heart.
• Sister Pomegranate tried to intervene, but Orchid and Lumina stopped her so Little Ashina could finish her trial herself.
• As pain and exhaustion brought back memories of her ALS diagnosis, Little Ashina pushed herself up and killed the vampire with her last bullet and a boning knife.
• A second vampire attacked the exhausted Little Ashina, but Murphy swooped in and killed it before it could reach her.
• Little Ashina cried to Murphy that she loved the world and feared losing access to it, and Murphy promised she could keep enjoying it as long as he remained.
• Little Ashina made Murphy seal the promise with a pinky vow, then passed out; Murphy carried her to Sister Pomegranate and called her his warrior.

Meow Brother and the students learned that Little Ashina had earned the server’s first achievement by defeating an elite vampire with expensive ammunition. Meanwhile, Murphy captured the White Mountain Count, discovered he was Nordtov’s queen’s half-brother, and knocked him unconscious after deciding to use him as bait.

• Meow Brother saw the server-wide announcement that Ashina Female Sword Saint had completed the first achievement by defeating an elite, while the students learned she had spent heavily on Vampire’s Dirges to do it.
• Meow Shark praised Little Ashina’s marksmanship, and Meow Brother’s group decided to try hunting an elite ghoul or astral beast in the sewers.
• Maxim left Lady Adele to guard the prisoners and search Batassin City for more Blood Eagle traitors while she arranged for the city’s merchants to clean up before sunrise.
• Murphy questioned the White Mountain Count about the fighting in Batassin, and the count explained that Hettem had contacted the Thorn Clan while claiming the Blood Eagle elites had died in Cadman City.
• The White Mountain Count revealed that he was Andrei Alexei Romanov, the illegitimate half-brother of Nordtov’s queen, and tried to persuade Murphy to treat the conflict as a minor disagreement.
• Murphy declared that he would use Andrei as bait, then struck him unconscious and picked up his sword.

Murphy trained with Necessary Evil, learned that the traitors in Batasin City had been eliminated, and questioned a group of captured vampires. Mary revealed that Baroness Cecilia had led thousands of Blood Vulture defectors who helped destroy Cadman City, leaving Murphy to confront the connection between Cecilia and Femis.

• Murphy practiced swordsmanship against Necessary Evil with Frostfang and received Maxim's report that the traitors in Batasin City had been eliminated.
• Murphy learned that a captured vampire claimed to be an old friend's ally, then identified Count Andrei Alexei Romanov Torez and discovered that Su, the Winter Wolf God, had noticed him.
• Murphy met the imprisoned vampires in Batasin City and heard Mary explain that her lover, Mox, had once given him extra relief supplies.
• Mary told Murphy that at least three thousand Blood Vulture members had defected to the Wolfsbane Clan and shut down the Serenade Barrier before the astral disaster.
• Mary named Baroness Cecilia as the defectors' leader, and Murphy recognized her as Femis's mother.

Mary told Murphy about Cadman City's fall and revealed that a mysterious voice had promised he would save her, prompting him to suspect a connection to the Midnight Matriarch. Murphy sent Mary and the prisoners toward Scarlet Castle while he returned ahead, and Batashin awoke to a new order under Palien, who was negotiating a crucial grain deal.

• Mary recounted how Mox was killed during the betrayal in Cadman City and how Old Joel abused her and allied with the Thorn Clan.
• Murphy confronted Mary over omissions in her account, and she explained that a layered voice had told her he would rescue her.
• Murphy suspected the voice might be connected to the Midnight Matriarch and ordered Mary to return to Scarlet Castle for Triss and Femis to decide her fate.
• Murphy left Batashin with Reveno while Adele stayed to help Palien take control of the city.
• Batashin's residents learned that Murphy had executed Old Joel and purged his followers, while Palien gathered evidence and began forming a governing organization.
• Palien urged the five leading merchants to secure a grain deal, warning that failure could bring another massacre.

Ashina Sword Saint returned to the game with a Black Iron Body, new traits, and two quests from Murphy, then planned how to obtain Baroness Mirian’s special weapon blueprint. Meanwhile, Happy Stick and Cat Swordsman’s companions prepared to attempt the Black Iron Trial, while Cat Swordsman set his sights on learning Maxim’s sword technique.

• Ashina Sword Saint saw her improved attributes and new traits after passing the Black Iron Trial, and received Murphy’s Champion quest and a quest to view Baroness Morland’s Hammer Guard.
• Lanhuahua warned Ashina Sword Saint to keep Murphy’s champion-selection criteria secret and explained that she might need Friendly standing with Baroness Mirian to view the weapon.
• Ashina Sword Saint decided to ask Murphy to accompany her to Baroness Mirian, and Lanhuahua agreed the plan might work.
• After Lumina posted an account of Ashina Sword Saint’s trial, Happy Stick resolved to lure an elite ghoul into traps and pass his own trial that night.
• Cat Swordsman vowed to learn Maxim’s evasive sword technique, while Maxim sensed that something troublesome had its eyes on him.

Banzai Happy Stick used an oil-and-fire trap to defeat an elite ghoul and became the second player to pass the Black Iron trial. Murphy then ordered Vesta to tell the Thorn Clan that Count André had been captured and to find someone important enough to secure his rescue within three days.

• Banzai Happy Stick and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry prepared an oil trap in a sewer dead end for his solo Black Iron trial.
• Happy Stick lured the elite ghoul boss into the trap, ignited the oil, and fought it in the flames while his fire-resistant armor protected him.
• Murphy learned that Happy Stick had passed the trial and considered assigning him a heavy-shield defender class among the Tomb Guards.
• Murphy told Vesta to report Count André's capture to the Thorn Clan and bring back a high-status rescuer within three days.

Players returned from Batasin as their Black Iron Trial strategy drove demand for alchemical supplies, and Murphy persuaded Triss to train players to produce them. Triss then revealed what she had learned about the players and their world, and Murphy urged her to keep that knowledge private and avoid contact that might endanger them.

• Players returned to Scarlet Castle after witnessing the Batasin Massacre, while Happy Stick's strategy helped more veterans complete the Black Iron Trial and depleted Triss's stock of fire oil.
• Triss demanded that Murphy stop the players from overwhelming her Alchemy Hut, but Murphy proposed that she teach player apprentices to make fire oil and Vampire's Lament bullets.
• Triss gave Murphy a box she had prepared and warned him to study her psionic notes, then revealed that she had learned the players' language and understood that they called themselves players and the locals NPCs.
• Triss described her observations about the players' beliefs, education, and behavior, and said she was curious about their world and its history.
• Murphy warned Triss that the players' world possessed immense destructive power and asked her to keep observing them privately without initiating cultural exchanges.

Leading Pigeon organized players for an alchemy quest while Murphy received new weapons and planned for the coming player influx. At the Fortress of Krym, the Thorn Grand Duchess learned of Count Cadman’s request and ordered a visit to Scarlet Keep, while suspending the White Mountain faction until Andre proved himself.

• Leading Pigeon recruited players, including Lumina, to make Flame Gel and Burning Oil at Triss’s Alchemy Hut.
• Murphy examined Triss’s bladed whip, bound himself to the Frostfang Blade, and planned a Blood Eagle Clan welcome ceremony for players who passed the Black Iron Trial.
• Vesta reported to the Thorn Grand Duchess that Count Cadman had demanded a high-ranking Thorn Clan member within three days.
• The Thorn Grand Duchess ordered Vesta to accompany her to Scarlet Keep after nightfall and dissolved the White Mountain faction until Andre could prove he was fit to lead it.

Triss recruited players as alchemy apprentices and gave Lumina a hidden quest to bring her knowledge from another world. Meanwhile, Murphy prepared to expand his territory before winter, then met the Grand Duchess of Thorns, who asked him to take her to the man who had humiliated her.

• Triss praised the apprentices’ fire gel and burning oil, then recruited nine players into the Alchemy Apprentice class and assigned them potion-making tasks.
• Triss privately asked Lumina about a centrifuge, and Lumina’s explanation triggered a hidden quest to bring her knowledge from another world in exchange for treasury keys.
• Lumina told Triss about her world’s periodic table, and Triss described the Alchemical Sage’s Stone Tablet of twenty-eight elements.
• Murphy reviewed Lumina’s quest and the rapid rebuilding of the outer district, then found that seven villages and Batasin had earned him thirty provisional player slots.
• The Grand Duchess of Thorns arrived at the ruins, identified Murphy as Count Cadman, and asked him to take her to the man who had humiliated her.

Triss rescued Murphy from Grand Duchess Shani, who had come to seize him over her descendant, the White Mountain Earl. After Triss and Shani uncovered the history behind the Cold Moon Coup and Grand Duchess Sophie’s fate, they agreed to discuss urgent matters between their clans and kingdoms at the Blood Eagle Gallery.

• Triss answered Murphy’s urgent call and pulled him away from Shani’s attacks with a spatial psionic spell.
• Triss and Shani traded accusations, then Shani introduced herself as a descendant of Hero King Boris and explained her personal grudge against Murphy over the White Mountain Earl.
• Triss deduced that Shani had orchestrated the Cold Moon Coup and challenged her for bringing Nordtov under her control.
• Triss revealed that Sophie had loved the second ruler of the Rurik Dynasty, correcting Shani’s belief that Sophie’s male lovers had been her true partners.
• Murphy explained that the White Mountain Earl was safe and invited Shani to discuss business with the Blood Eagle Clan.
• Triss opened a portal to the Blood Eagle Gallery, and Shani accepted her invitation to stay; Murphy decided to use the visit to promote new player testing slots.

Grand Duchess Shani visited Scarlet Castle, where the players’ unruly attention earned them a temporary debuff before she met with Triss and Murphy. Shani demanded Transian territory in exchange for aid, but Murphy and Triss rejected her terms and warned that Transia would resist coercion.

• The players received a server-wide notice that Grand Duchess Shani had arrived at Scarlet Castle, and Kaqi Toni and Ni Geilu Dayou went to see her.
• Shani toured the Blood Eagle Corridor with Triss and Murphy, then used her power to briefly dizzy the players and give them a three-hour “Letch” debuff.
• Shani told Murphy that only four thousand of the six thousand captured blood thralls remained and questioned whether the Blood Eagles could manage their return.
• Murphy proposed a long-term food agreement with the Winterwolf Legion, offering southern Transia’s mining region as collateral and requesting the return of the blood thralls.
• Shani demanded control of the Gor Forest, Batasing, and the plain between Krium Fortress and the Filthy Swamp in return for food and warned that Nordtov could take the territory by force.
• Triss and Murphy refused Shani’s territorial demands, cited other powers that would oppose her expansion, and insisted that Transia would not be coerced.

Murphy demanded that Nordtov support Transia’s war against the Black Calamity, then argued that loans and trade would strengthen the Wolf Queen’s reforms and turn Nordtov’s factories into a powerful war economy. Shani returned from the negotiation unsettled, and Andre concluded that Murphy had won because Nordtov needed Transia as both a buffer and a market.

• Murphy rejected any negotiations over Transian territory and demanded the return of six thousand blood thralls, military supplies, continued trade, and his appointment as Governor-General.
• When Shani rejected his demands, Murphy proposed that Nordtov lend Transia money to buy its goods, explaining how orders and trade could strengthen the Wolf Queen’s reformers.
• Murphy insisted that Shani relay his terms to the Wolf Queen, and Shani returned to her lodgings still trying to find a flaw in his argument.
• Shani asked Andre to analyze the negotiation, and he said Murphy’s plan could help Nordtov’s industry but would eventually create pressure to find new markets through war.
• Andre warned that Nordtov needed Transia as a market and security buffer, and told Shani that she had lost the negotiation.

Murphy secured the Wolf Queen’s provisional approval of his four requests for Transia, but Shani gave him three months to defeat the gnoll bandits and bring most of the region under his rule. He accepted the challenge and arranged for Andre to remain in Transia, then asked Shani to stay and make a tour of his territory.

• Players bought the alchemy hut’s upgraded fire oil, while Mud Truck invited Rich Bro to join the camp’s administrative team and train against gnolls.
• Shani told Murphy that the Wolf Queen had approved his requests for Transia, including releasing blood thralls, supplying his army, arranging a loan, and assigning the Thorn Clan to the ore-for-food program.
• Shani set two conditions for Murphy to become governor: he had to eradicate Transia’s gnoll bandits and bring at least 60% of its population under his authority within three months.
• Murphy accepted the conditions and asked Shani’s son Andre and his retainers to remain in Transia and assist him.
• Murphy signed the treaty after reviewing it, then asked Shani to stay longer and tour his territory so his warriors could see the Wolf Queen’s authority represented.

Niu Niu considered leaving the Pioneer Legion camp to return to Transia, despite Amber urging him to abandon Murphy and join the Witch Hunters. Meanwhile, Little Ashina admired Mirian’s Iron Hammer Guard trench gun, but a call from East Prussia revealed that something had happened to the White Oak Warband.

• Sister Pomegranate advised Niu Niu to gather information in East Prussia, but he insisted he would return to Transia after one more day.
• Amber gave Niu Niu a Mind Microphone module that enabled two-way simultaneous translation and tried to persuade him not to return to Murphy.
• Old Porter summoned Amber and Niu Niu to Natalie’s barracks after something happened.
• Murphy accompanied Little Ashina to meet Mirian, where he also discussed a contract with the Kingdom of Nordtov.
• Little Ashina admired Mirian’s Iron Hammer Guard trench gun, and Mirian contacted Major Fraser to ask about its blueprints.
• Mirian ended the call and told Murphy that something seemed to have happened to the White Oak Warband.

General Loren told Major Fraser to report his suspicions about the Tower of Rings to King Louis privately, then asked him to help the White Oak Warband veterans escape before the psychics could take them. Fraser coordinated with Mirian and Murphy, who prepared to receive the veterans and confront the Tower of Rings.

• General Loren warned Fraser that his report's theory linking the Tower of Rings to the subspace rift could put him in danger and offered to tell King Louis privately.
• Loren revealed that the Tower of Rings planned to take custody of the White Oak Warband veterans and arranged for a staged rebellion to let them escape.
• Fraser contacted Mirian and asked her to shelter the Witch Hunters, while Murphy told him to release them before dusk and meet at the Andmar Hills border.
• Fraser spotted a Tower of Rings carriage outside the barracks as Murphy said the Blood Eagle Clan was ready to confront the psychics over the calamity.

Natalie led the surviving White Oak Warband to accept Murphy’s offer of refuge in Transia, while Murphy and the players prepared to escort them and fight the Tower of Rings. The chapter ended as the forces set out for the Andmar Hills and Murphy invited Grand Duchess Xiani to dance at the Crimson Ball.

• Major Fraser explained that the Tower of Rings planned to hunt the Witch Hunters, and urged them to flee to Transia with Murphy’s help.
• Natalie chose to lead the White Oak Warband to Transia, citing her father’s agreement with Murphy and the Avalon followers among his mountain warriors.
• Amber asked Major Fraser for 3,000 mind microphones, and he hinted that she could take them from the warehouse.
• Murphy rallied the players, and a quest appeared to escort the White Oak Warband and fight the Tower of Rings in the Andmar Hills.
• Murphy’s forces used Lady Triss’s teleportation array to head for the battlefield, and Grand Duchess Xiani accepted his invitation to dance at the Crimson Ball.

Niu Niu assembled a player group to escort Amber and the White Oak Warband toward Transia, while the Pioneer Legion quietly let the witch hunters depart. Murphy gathered reinforcements in the Andmar Hills and killed Tower of Rings riders who ordered his troops to withdraw, then faced Triss’s angry threat over his supposed romance with Shani.

• Niu Niu shared his hidden mission to escort the White Oak Warband and recruited a ten-person player group for its dangerous journey to Transia.
• Amber prepared to scout ahead with Niu Niu and fifty elite scouts, while Heru chose to defect from the Tower of Rings and join them.
• Natalie saw Amber off, and the Pioneer Legion’s quartermaster gave her a suit of armor as a farewell gift.
• Murphy gathered players, veterans, and Blood Eagle forces in the Andmar Hills despite Maxim’s concern that their presence might provoke the Tower of Rings.
• Triss seized and killed the Tower of Rings riders who ordered Murphy’s troops to withdraw, then threatened Murphy over his supposed courtship of Shani.

Tower of Rings psions tried to surround and destroy the White Oak Warband, while Murphy’s allies attacked their forces from the rear. The Warband split up to escape, and the chapter left the battlefield raging as Triss countered a legion-grade spell and Murphy’s force fought the psionic hunters.

• Lady Beli learned that three rear scout squads had gone silent and ordered the Fifth Company and several high-ranking psions to reinforce the threatened rear.
• Happy Stick’s nine-player squad wiped out a psionic hunter squad, reunited with Niu Niu and Amber, and learned that Natalie’s force was trapped inside the enemy perimeter.
• Happy Stick proposed splitting the White Oak Warband into five groups, and Natalie agreed while leading fifty fighters toward the psions to draw their forces away.
• Murphy, Triss, Maxim, and Adele engaged nearly two hundred psionic hunters near the Andmar Hills, and Triss silenced their dimensional meteor spell.
• Players including Moneypoor and Rich Bro fought through the chaotic battle, while Stinky Baby’s venomous ambushes helped Moneypoor claim kills.

Natalie led the remaining White Oak Warband hunters in a charge against the Tower of Rings, while Shani and Andre’s vampire forces ambushed the psionic mages. The assault shattered the Tower’s position as Natalie’s group broke through, and Shani killed Mage Bailey.

• Natalie rallied the fifty remaining White Oak Warband hunters and led them toward the Tower of Rings’ encirclement.
• Mother Marianne shot Mage Bailey’s adjutant, and Natalie raised the Great Oak Sacred Blade and ordered the hunters to charge.
• Shani and her allies attacked the psionic mages from the shadows as Andre and the Thorn Nightwalkers struck their rear position.
• Andre froze several Psionic Apprentices and challenged a high-ranking psionic mage while the Witch Hunters broke through the Wall of Stone.
• Shani overwhelmed Mage Bailey, mutilated her, and killed her as the battle turned into a slaughter.

The White Oak Warband fought through a psionic ambush that trapped two squads in a deadly fog. As Sister Pomegranate faced a commander and Niu Niu battled a psionicist, Murphy arrived to watch Niu Niu fight.

• Happy Stick rallied the Transian reinforcements to rescue Niu Niu and Sister Pomegranate's trapped squads, while Maxim flew Ashina and Lumina toward the battlefield.
• Sister Pomegranate defended a pregnant woman and child, but Tiger Fate rescued them after she was wounded; she then faced the Psionic Hunter Fourth Unit Commander and called her gargoyle into the fight.
• Niu Niu carried wounded scout Amber through the fog, and together they ambushed two guards and a psionicist trying to escape.
• Niu Niu shattered the psionicist's shield, wounded him with a winged blade and crossbow bolt, and continued fighting after the mage broke his own shield.
• Murphy arrived beside Amber and told her that Niu Niu could handle the psionicist without her help.

Meow Brother survived a crash in the war fog and discovered that his Oak Apprentice abilities became far stronger in his preferred terrain. He defeated four enemies, completed his Black Iron Trial, and received a quest from Avalon, leaving him eager to convert his brothers.

• Meow Brother and his companions rode Happy Stick’s green gargoyle into the fog, where psionic lightning struck it and sent them crashing into a thicket.
• After recovering, Meow Brother found three psionic cavalrymen and an injured psionic mage searching the thicket, then realized his preferred terrain greatly amplified his nature spells.
• Meow Brother used animated vines and his replica Avalon Sacred Blade to kill the three cavalrymen, gaining Warlike Nature, Wild Nature affinity, and the Bloodwood Cultivation skill.
• Meow Brother interrupted the psionic mage’s counterattack with a charged Sacred Blade, defeated her, and completed his Black Iron Trial.
• When his four great generals arrived, Meow Brother was praying to a tree and urged them to convert after Avalon gave him a quest.

Meow Brother received a hidden quest to help rebuild the Avalon Sanctuary and spread the natural faith, while Murphy’s forces defeated the Tower of Rings’ troops. After the battle, the Witch Hunters accepted Murphy as their protector, and he vowed to punish everyone responsible for Cadman City’s destruction.

• Meow Brother shared the quest to rebuild the Avalon Sanctuary with the Four Heavenly Kings and led them to hunt the fleeing Psionic Hunters.
• Meow Brother speculated that the missing Holy Blades and replicas could become rewards in the Avalon faction’s quests.
• Mother Marian killed her former comrade Pent for serving the Tower of Rings, then burned his body and reflected on finding peace in Transia.
• Old Eugene told Mother Marian that Avalon’s blessing had reached the players and declared Transia a new holy land for the Witch Hunters.
• Murphy learned that 1,000 Witch Hunters had survived and ordered Maxim to collect the heads of the fallen Psionic Hunters and psions.
• Murphy vowed revenge on the Tower of Rings, Wolfsbane, the Plantagenet Kingdom, and the Twilight for their roles in Cadman City’s destruction.

After the battle, Murphy helped Little Rich Guy learn that his rapidly growing astral scorpion lion would soon leave unless he completed the Black Iron Trial and formed a pact with it. He then welcomed Natalie and the surviving White Oak Warband into Transia as the Adventurers' Guild, while he and Triss returned home together.

• Murphy learned that only eighteen of the seventy little players had died, then discovered that Little Stinker had grown rapidly after eating hearts.
• Mother Marianne explained that the astral scorpion lion would mature and return to its world within seven days unless Little Rich Guy formed a pact with it, so he arranged rapid training with Meow Brother.
• Natalie asked Murphy whether his offer of refuge still stood, and he accepted the surviving Witch Hunters into Transia under the new name Adventurers' Guild, with Natalie as guildmaster.
• Murphy asked the guild to train his warriors, provide rewards and equipment for the players, supply two hundred warhorses, and retain its weapons to help investigate threats.
• Natalie thanked Murphy for his mercy, and Triss opened a portal home before teasing Murphy about his closeness with Shani and asking him to make a late-night snack.

Major Fraser learned that the Transians had left a bloody warning for the Tower of Rings, while Little Ashina and her friends made plans around weapons, trials, and vampirism. At the ruined church district, Old Eugene completed a wooden carving of Avalon and prayed, prompting the goddess’s protection to return to Transia as the first autumn rain fell.

• Major Fraser received a report that the battle had ended, then saw six hundred heads and a blood-carved message from the Scarlet Hand left at the border.
• Little Ashina celebrated receiving a Hammer Guard blueprint and arranged for Mother Mary Ann to craft the gun while her friends discussed their Black Iron Trials and plans.
• Little Ashina gave Orchid a sacred-oak shield bought from Meow Brother and announced that Water Lady might soon join them.
• Mother Jules showed Mother Mary Ann and Old Eugene the ruins where they would rebuild an Avalon sanctuary.
• Old Eugene finished carving a wooden image of Avalon, stripped off his weapons and armor, and prayed as green psionic energy gathered around the carving.
• Avalon’s protection returned to her believers, and rain fell over Transia for the first time that autumn.