Chapter Summaries

Little Countess Sharon learned that Dusk had orchestrated the destruction of Secco City and the return of her parents, then escaped the ruins with a mission to restore the winged cavalry. Murphy weighed the growing undead threat and sought urgent help from Lord Payn, using Dusk’s name to demand an immediate conversation.

• Earl and Countess Secomel warned Sharon that Dusk’s long-running plans were tied to the Black Calamity and urged her to rebuild the winged cavalry by renewing its pact with the spirits of the woods.
• Earl Secomel told Sharon to find the Holy Grail of the Woods in the family tomb, while Valand swore to protect her and her parents urged them to flee before losing control.
• Sharon left the ruins with the book of winged-cavalry designs and decided to seek Dorothy’s help and invite President Natalie and the Witch Hunters to witness the ritual.
• Murphy concluded that the undead armies in the Filthy Swamp and Secco City demanded outside help, and he chose to contact the Blood Oath Knights.
• Raynia said Lord Payn required an appointment, but Murphy insisted he would want to speak immediately and told her to give him the word Dusk.

Murphy told Lord Payen about Dusk’s undead forces in the Filthy Swamp and Xike City, then proposed bringing the Moon Priests to Transia to address the threat. Lord Payen agreed to send help and ordered a Moon Priest team to investigate, while Murphy prepared to move refugees from Xike territory.

• Lady Lainia left Murphy alone with the psychic device, and he contacted Lord Payen, who warned him about the dangers of astral summoning.
• Murphy described the gnoll warlock’s control over the dead and the undead army in Xike City, then explained his plans to advance toward the Dark Mountains through the Filthy Swamp.
• Murphy asked Lord Payen to use his influence to bring the Moon Priests to Transia, arguing that they should take responsibility for the deathly knowledge that had reached the gnolls.
• Lord Payen agreed to consider the request, warned Murphy not to provoke the undead in Xike City, and promised an answer within three days.
• After ending the call, Murphy planned to send players to find and relocate refugees from Xike territory to Count Cadman’s lands.
• Lord Payen confronted High Priest Bayek, who agreed to send Moon Priests to Transia within seven days, and Bayek ordered his talented disciple to join the mission.

Happy Bang and his team discussed their disastrous expedition into Xike City and their theories about player advancement before reaching the Blood Eagle Clan’s hidden southern armory. They discovered suspected Blood Eagle traitors looting a nearby destroyed village and prepared to attack them for the bounty.

• Happy Bang told Little Rich Guy that Xike City held a dangerous undead horde and that his team had been wiped out, though they had recovered some gold.
• Meow Brother suggested investing the gold in Old Huo’s village, and Little Rich Guy agreed to support the plan.
• Happy Bang and the others debated how Iron-ranked players could increase their potential and whether the unfinished player bloodline system explained their slow progress toward Silver.
• Yan Sang guided the gargoyle to a remote mountain area near the Saxon Woodlands, where he spotted a destroyed village and people hauling supplies from underground.
• The team suspected the looters were Blood Eagle traitors who knew the armory’s location, and Happy Bang rallied everyone to attack and claim the bounty.

Brother Bang’s team raided a Blood Eagle vault and uncovered a Wolfsbane plot to frame the Blood Eagle Clan during an ambush on a Capet convoy. Femis arrived, killed the captured Silver-rank vampire while searching his mind, and recruited the team to help stop the attack the next night.

• Brother Bang’s squad ambushed the vampires looting the secret vault, killed the surface guards, and sealed the entrance to trap the others inside.
• The captured female vampire revealed that Lady Cecilia had sent her group to retrieve weapons for Greeny Island and that Wolfsbane planned to frame the Blood Eagle Clan in a border ambush.
• Brother Bang reported the discovery to Lady Adele, and Femis arrived with Mary to question the vampire about Lady Cecilia.
• Femis opened the vault, killed the Silver-rank vampire swordsman while searching his mind, and offered the female captive a chance to return to the Blood Eagles by killing him.
• Femis told Brother Bang and Meow Brother that Wolfsbane would ambush a Capet family convoy the next night, and they agreed to help stop it.

Murphy prepared to rescue the Cape family's convoy from a Wolfsbane ambush, assigning Femis and Kudel to lead while arranging support from Marshal Loren and secretly joining the operation. As Murphy departed, Triss tracked Christine to Ice Bay and attacked her fortress with a blast of psychic lightning.

• Murphy learned that Wolfsbane vampires planned to ambush the Cape family's convoy and ordered Femis to work with Kudel rather than pursue Lady Cecilia alone.
• Murphy persuaded Marshal Loren to join the hunt and secured a promise that armed blood thralls and an artillery unit would be sent to Transia within a month.
• Triss advised Murphy to take Natalie, Eugene, and Marianne to help Femis, then confessed her fear of the Twilight and received comfort from Murphy.
• Triss contacted Christine, who taunted her and urged her to join the Twilight, but Triss refused and traced Christine's location to Ice Bay.
• Triss opened a rift, crossed to the sea cliffs, and blasted the upper third of Christine's fortress with psychic lightning.

Bikki’s convoy carried a firearms production line into Transia while Femis and her allies prepared to rescue it from a Wolfsbane ambush. When hidden vampire thralls attacked the convoy from within, the waiting force charged in with Loyal’s newly crafted firearms.

• Bikki rejected the Fire Fox Mercenary Corps captain’s offer to take over caravan security, while Liwen sensed danger ahead.
• Femis concealed her force near the border, where Kudell, Doris, Varand, players, and Winged Cavalry waited for the caravan.
• Loyal distributed prototype rifles and special goldflame ammunition, including a sniper rifle for Old Qu.
• Smoke spotted the caravan crossing into Transia and reported that its guards were attacking their own people.
• Femis identified the attackers as hidden vampire thralls, then joined Kudell in leading the charge toward the burning caravan.

Miss Biji led the Sivir knights against the ambush on the caravan, while Lord Cudell and Miss Femis joined the battle. After Cudell rescued Biji and confronted a Silver-rank vampire assassin, Femis sensed a mysterious invitation and hurried away, with Murphy following her.

• Knight Livwen warned the Sivir family knights that the caravan guards had revolted and vampires were attacking.
• Miss Biji burst from her destroyed carriage, rallied the Sivir lancers, and led a countercharge against the attackers.
• Lord Cudell and Miss Femis arrived, using their strength and battlefield-control spells to help turn the fight against the vampires and blood thralls.
• A Silver-rank vampire knocked Biji from her horse, but Cudell intervened and began attacking him while Femis prevented his escape.
• Biji recognized Cudell as her grandfather and told him she had brought her grandmother’s last love letter.
• Femis sensed a familiar psychic invitation and rushed into the night, while Murphy followed her from the battlefield.

Femis confronted her mother, Lady Cecilia, and learned that Twilight planned to use Triss in a path to godhood while claiming its ark could save them from the coming Age of Destruction. Murphy arrived as Cecilia’s forces tried to seize Femis, and Cecilia threatened that he would die that night.

• Femis entered the midnight barrier and met Lady Cecilia, who revealed that she had joined Twilight and wanted to take her daughter away to safety.
• Lady Cecilia tried to bind Femis, but Femis used Payen’s protective spell to repel her corrupted psychic power.
• Femis accused her mother of serving Chaos and demanded answers about Twilight, while Cecilia claimed she had sacrificed herself to protect Femis from the seed inside her.
• Lady Cecilia revealed that the abomination was stolen from her and Salokdar’s plan had been meant to give Femis power to survive the next age; she then summoned guards to take Femis by force.
• Murphy broke through the barrier and concluded that the Midnight Matriarch had been intended as Triss’s apotheosis relic, before Cecilia threatened him as her projection vanished.

Murphy used the Omega antivirus program’s purifying power to defeat four Chaos swordsmen, then collapsed after learning they were Gray Knights of the Old Church and encountering the Warp Shadow Original Sin. Femis carried Murphy away, while Meow Brother died after touching one of the swords.

• Murphy followed Femis and used his purifying power to destroy the four Chaos swordsmen, while Femis trapped Brother Bang and Meow King in a Maze spell.
• Murphy reached Master rank in Tombblade Guard swordsmanship, then identified one fallen enemy as Original Sin and failed a sanity check when the Warp Shadow watched him.
• Murphy told Femis to warn Natalie that the swordsmen were Gray Knights of the Old Church and not to tell Triss, then passed out.
• Femis carried Murphy and the four corpses away before Brother Bang and Meow Brother reached the wrecked camp.
• Meow Brother touched a Chaos sword, died from the Warp invasion, and warned Bro not to touch the weapons.

Happy Stick looted an abandoned camp, learned about the Old Church of Nature’s lost relics, and embraced the dying Melia Korando, binding her to his life force before he vanished. Winnie and Melia then faced “Razor” Dorothy, who recognized the Blood Eagle aura and realized someone had brought the Korando sisters into the clan.

• Happy Stick found Meow Brother’s gear beside a sword that killed anyone who touched it, then looted high-grade supplies and a booklet about the Old Church of Nature’s lost relics.
• Happy Stick and Meow Brother agreed to search for the relics together, but Happy Stick followed cries for help and found Winnie Korando with her dying sister, Melia Korando.
• Winnie told Happy Stick that her father, Korando, was dead and begged him to save Melia by renewing her bloodline contract with an elder’s embrace.
• Happy Stick embraced Melia with his crimson psychic energy, reviving her, but he immediately weakened, vanished in a ball of light, and left his equipment behind.
• Melia sensed that Happy Stick was still alive and far away, but “Razor” Dorothy arrived and prepared to attack the sisters until Winnie claimed they were now members of the Blood Eagle Clan.
• Dorothy sensed the sisters’ Blood Eagle aura and realized someone had violated the family code by bringing them into the clan.

After an unfinished vampire Embrace killed Brother Fa in the game, he dreamed the life of Melia Colando and learned that he and Meow Brother had disrupted the developers’ test area. Alpha suspended Brother Fa’s access for a week and arranged medical monitoring, while Brother Fa persuaded him to consider keeping Meow Brother offline too.

• Brother Fa woke in real life after his game character died during the Embrace, and he and Meow Brother speculated that they had crossed into an unfinished test area.
• Brother Fa dreamed through Melia Colando’s life and awoke convinced the experience had been more than an ordinary dream.
• Brother Fa complained to assistant Xiaocui, who explained that the unfinished Bloodline Pact had shared Melia’s AI-written memories through the helmet.
• Alpha told Brother Fa that his interference had contaminated a test and could force the developers to delete the Colando sisters and the Wolfsbane Remnants storyline.
• Alpha suspended Brother Fa’s login for a week and arranged monitoring; Brother Fa asked him to keep Meow Brother offline for the same period so he would have company.

After Murphy survived Cecilia’s Warp attack, he and Triss discussed Happy Stick’s accidental bloodline pact with Melia Colando and decided to monitor them before allowing player vampires to attempt the ritual. Back in the real world, Alpha Company sent medical staff to examine Happy Stick, while Loyalty and Border City Wanderer secretly watched, hoping the visit might open a path to cooperation with Alpha.

• Murphy recovered from the Warp’s contamination, sent Femis to check the caravan battlefield, and told Triss that Madam Cecilia was a vessel for a Warp shadow.
• Triss assured Murphy that Happy Stick’s dream of Melia Colando’s life would not harm his real body, and they agreed to observe the pair before making bloodline pacts available to other players.
• Triss explained that Happy Stick had used the symbolic blood given to vampire players to form a pact and save Melia, though he had died after giving her too much vitality.
• Happy Stick posted about the incident and his seven-day game suspension, then let Alpha Company medical specialists into his home for an examination.
• Loyalty and Border City Wanderer watched the examination through a hidden camera as Loyalty described it as a necessary response and a possible chance to establish cooperation with Alpha.

After learning that the powerful department had investigated the players, Murphy decided to reveal that he knew about their presence and sent them a message of goodwill through a quest. The officials debated the meaning of his message and planned to bring in specialists to determine whether Transia was real.

• Happy Stick and Meow Brother received home visits from the Alpha Medical Team, then agreed to spend their seven-day game suspension climbing Mount Lu.
• Murphy discovered that Happy Stick and Meow Brother had publicly described their game exploit, and warned Happy Stick that the Colando sisters' quests would become exclusive and difficult.
• Murphy inferred that a powerful department was monitoring the testers, summoned Lady Adele, and promised Kuder that Biji would be protected from vampires in Transia.
• Ziwei the Great, Jiewei Chike, and Paid Leave Skiver found a Blood Vulture key and triggered a quest message from the True Otherworld development team asking them to keep the virtual and real worlds separate.
• Loyal Brother and Rogue Brother interpreted the message as possible goodwill from the developers, and Loyal Brother decided to consult specialists about whether Transia was real.

Murphy learned that the fallen Chaos swordsmen had been Grey Knights, and Natalie explained how the church might weaken them with sacred relics. After the bodies were purified, Natalie agreed to pursue the recovery of holy blades and support reconciliation with the mountain folk, while the whereabouts of Avalon’s Holy Grail remained unknown.

• Old Eugene and Mother Marianne confirmed that the four Chaos swordsmen were fallen Grey Knights and described the order’s secret history and its vulnerability to corruption.
• Murphy asked how others could fight fallen Grey Knights, and Natalie explained that Avalon’s Holy Grail, holy blades, and the Grey Knights’ sword Arbiter could weaken or destroy them.
• Murphy said his warrior had found records of seven holy blades and that the Shadow Elves of the Eternal Rift were collecting them, and Natalie accepted responsibility for recovering the relics.
• Natalie burned the four corpses with Avalon’s purifying flames, and Old Eugene prayed farewell to the fallen Grey Knights.
• Murphy asked about Countess Sheryl’s reason for inviting Natalie to the mountain folk’s oath ceremony, and Natalie said she supported reconciliation between the mountain folk and the Avalon Church.
• Natalie said the Forest Holy Grail might help restore the church’s severed power structure and expressed hope that new White Knights would rise in Transia.

Murphy accompanied the caravan toward the Andmar Hills, where a new armory would be built, and spoke with Femis about her powers and plans for recruiting warriors. He then met Bikki and her childhood friend Liwen, learned that the Astral Dragon was watching through Liwen, and agreed to take Bikki to meet Mirian after his duties.

• Femis explained that using her Bloodstained Seed of Life made her hear Avalon, and said she would avoid the outing while she sorted through what she had learned from her mother.
• Murphy asked Femis to capture Wolfsbane remnants in the Andmar Hills so they could be recruited or used as gladiators, and she agreed while describing plans for her Transian Psychic Society.
• Murphy met Bikki and Liwen, whose jade-green eyes revealed her connection to the Astral Dragon, and learned that she had come to Transia to observe events for her god.
• Bikki asked to meet Mirian because her fiancé Fraser was smitten with her, and Murphy agreed to take her there after requiring her to leave weapons behind and behave respectfully.
• Bikki accidentally rendered Liwen unconscious while playfully pinning her, then gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as Liwen secretly signaled Murphy.

Frostfang, Dolores, and a group of players entered the ruined Sykemel family tomb to retrieve the Wooden Grail needed to renew the Winged Hussars’ pact with the ancestral forest. They found the grail and left the first Count’s treasures untouched for now, though the players began plotting how to return for them.

• Countess Sharon sent Dolores and Frostfang to recover the Wooden Grail from the tomb of the first Count Sykemel, while Murphy warned their player companions not to take anything else.
• Frostfang guided the group through the trapped, collapsed passage, where they found dead Plantagenet scouts and suspected a hidden faction in the Pioneer Legion had damaged the tomb.
• Dolores used Countess Sharon’s family crest to persuade five ghostly war dogs to let the group pass into the burial chamber.
• The group saw the first Count’s weapons and armor but heeded Frostfang’s warning not to loot them, then found the Wooden Grail of Avalon beside the coffin.
• Frostfang appraised the grail and learned it could let mountain folk seek the forest spirit’s blessing and could help qualified people become Grail Knights.
• As the group prepared to leave, members of the Big Bird Goes Round and Round crew discussed luring other players into the tomb to take the treasure while they avoided the blame.

Murphy and the mountain folk discovered that their Wooden Grail was an ancient sacred relic, and its ritual revealed a shared heritage between their faith and the Avalon Church. Natalie refused to drink from it, but Knight Varland took the Grail’s power by swearing to protect the mountain forests, leaving Murphy lamenting the wasted holy water.

• Dorothy and the Blood Rat Gang recovered the Wooden Grail from the first Earl’s tomb, and Murphy identified it as an Avalon relic tied to the Mother of the Forest.
• Natalie and the others discussed the Grail’s origins and Kudell recounted how a mysterious grail had healed him and made him a Sworn Guardian.
• The mountain folk performed their forest ritual, awakening the runes on an ancient stone and prompting Natalie’s great oak holy blade to resonate.
• Murphy urged Natalie to drink from the Wooden Grail and become a bridge between the faiths, but Natalie refused and passed it to Knight Varland instead.
• Knight Varland swore to defend the mountain forests and drank the Grail’s holy water, while Kudell revealed that one cup could have blessed ten people.

Natalie gave up becoming a Grail Knight so that Warland could receive the Mother of the Forest’s blessing and protect the mountain folk. Murphy accepted the Western Koli Woods as a territory but appointed Sharon to govern it, then learned that new residents in Batason had added to his population.

• Natalie chose to help Warland become a Grail Knight, and the Mother of the Forest’s holy water transformed him into the giant Woodland Saint Warland, Heart of the Woods.
• Kudell explained the shared powers of Grail Knights as Murphy inspected Warland’s new status and discussed Natalie’s choice with Mother Marianne and Old Eugene.
• Sharon presented Murphy with the mountain-folk registry, making the Ancestral Woods a Transian administrative unit with 72,454 residents and 146 settlements.
• Murphy returned the registry and appointed Sharon Leader of the Mountain Folk, while asking her to help resettle mountain-folk refugees from Sax.
• A notice reported 6,519 new residents in Batason, and Murphy celebrated the additional population.

Madam Water and the Silvermoon group planned to use the Batashin Merchant Guild to bring refugees back to Transia, while student players devised schemes to gather people from East Prussia and the Kato region for the census event. The groups set out with competing approaches to earning Construction Points and securing valuable black-market rewards.

• Madam Water received the Great Census event notice, which offered Construction Points and rewards for finding refugees and escorting them to Scarlet Castle.
• Little Ashina reported the black-market shop’s valuable goods, including rare weapons and manuals, and the group discussed the limits of searching West Creek themselves.
• Madam Water proposed asking Lady Palen and the Batashin Merchant Guild to help bring Transians living abroad back home, and she ordered the Silvermoon group to prepare for the trip.
• Niu Niu proposed leading students to East Prussia to recruit homeless people with food, while A-Cha suggested also targeting the Kato region and its Wolfsbane-controlled settlements.
• Border Town Wanderer planned to use gnoll brutes to stir up trouble and seize people, while Purple Star Master suggested invoking the Avalon Church and Jiewei Chike proposed hiring workers and provoking conflict between vampire clans.

Melia Corlando awoke blind and revealed to Murphy that she had dreamed of another world, sharing a mysterious connection with Happy Stick. Murphy spared her and Winnie under new identities, then left for Batashin City to manage a dangerous group of prisoners.

• Melia woke blind, embraced her sleeping sister Winnie, and deduced that Bixi belonged to the Sivelle family and was engaged to Lord Fraser of the Carpe family.
• Murphy admitted responsibility for the Corlando family's downfall and offered Melia and Winnie new identities if she told him about her dream.
• Melia confessed that she had seen another world through the perspective of a strange man, and Murphy warned her to keep their connection secret.
• Murphy ordered Dorothy to prepare the Bloodrat Gang to help Adele screen incoming refugees and instructed Sharon to watch over the Corlando sisters.
• Murphy flew with Kudell toward Batashin City, explaining that Nordtov had mixed dangerous prisoners into the arriving group and that he intended to give them a second chance under Transian rules.
• Murphy and Kudell discussed using force to restrain unruly prisoners, then Murphy complained that Maxim's secret relationship with Lady Leonia conflicted with the Blood Knight's rules.