Chapter Summaries

Murphy prepared the ambush while Miss Femis planned to use his group as bait, prompting him to quietly arrange his own countermeasures. As the attack approached, Mirian helped the Witch Hunter prisoners prepare to escape and armed herself in case Murphy's plan failed.

• Miss Femis inspected Murphy's traps, ordered her hunters to conceal them, and planned to attack the convoy with forty-five Midnight Hunters while Murphy's group drew its guards away.
• Murphy suggested that Miss Femis summon more hunters, and she decided to raise their force to sixty for the operation.
• Murphy spoke with the little players, warned them that Meow Brother's wild berries caused diarrhea, and arranged for them to return the next evening for battle.
• The next day, Mirian secretly gave Natalie and Norman anesthetic devices, loosened their restraints, and showed Natalie the ambush plan and the location of two barrels of lamp oil.
• Mirian asked Maxim for a weapon so she could choose her own fate if Murphy's plan failed, and Maxim gave her his Dwarven hunting rifle.

As Lady Femis’s ambush collapsed, Natalie and the other captives escaped their vampire torturers and set fire to the camp to warn the Plantagenet convoy. The convoy prepared to fight the Blood Eagle attackers, while Murphy’s forces waited nearby and the supply carriage continued onward under escort.

• Murphy encouraged Banzai Happy Stick, who commanded the players lying in wait near the Smuggler's Woods.
• Natalie stabbed one vampire interrogator with a halfling anesthetic device, and Norman incapacitated the second before the captives escaped the wagon.
• Natalie and the other Witch Hunters set the camp ablaze, hoping the fire would warn the Plantagenet convoy of the planned ambush.
• Lady Femis spotted the fire and ordered the Midnight Hunters to attack head-on, while Adele took blood thralls to find Murphy and summon his support.
• A spirit mage in the Plantagenet convoy spotted at least sixty Blood Eagle attackers and ordered the soldiers to prepare for battle as the supply carriage moved ahead.

Murphy’s players ambushed a Plantagenet convoy in Smuggler’s Wood, but the attack brought them into conflict with Jopan Markich Gangrel, a vampire of the Wolfsbane Clan. Murphy intervened to save his group and challenged Jopan to a duel, drawing him away as the battlefield remained chaotic.

• Murphy sensed approaching riders and had Maxim impersonate him while the players prepared an ambush.
• Yang Hen shot a carriage horse, sending the carriage into the traps and a land mine, and the players attacked the scattered Plantagenet cavalry.
• Jopan emerged from the carriage, killed Mud Truck and Forklift Operator, and summoned two astral wolves against the players.
• Maxim identified himself to Jopan and fought him, holding him in place long enough for Murphy to attack from behind.
• Murphy introduced himself and challenged the wounded Jopan to a duel, then fled into the darkness as Jopan pursued him.

Happy Stick and the players defeated the astral wolves and went to help Murphy, who was being overpowered by Jopan Markich. Lady Adele’s blood weakened Jopan, and Murphy and the players attacked him with blades, bullets, and explosives, leaving his fate uncertain in the flames.

• Happy Stick helped Niu Niu and the students kill one astral wolf, then led them to rescue Meow Brother from the second wolf.
• Yang Hen fell from a tree and died, while the survivors regrouped and prepared to support Murphy; Happy Stick ordered the trapped cavalrymen shot in the legs.
• The players found Mirian, who told them Murphy had drawn Jopan toward the swamp, and Maxim sent her to repair the Hunter Crossbow.
• Jopan defeated Murphy and began draining his blood, but Lady Adele shot him and let him drink blood that made him nauseous and weak.
• Lady Adele and Murphy attacked Jopan as the players arrived with the Automatic Hunter Crossbow and explosive rounds, setting the area ablaze.

Murphy permanently killed Qiaopan and absorbed some of his Blood Essence, gaining a Rare template and new powers. After rewarding Maxim with the remaining essence, Murphy asked the players whether they should go help the young lady, and they chose to rescue her.

• Murphy tore out Qiaopan’s heart and drained his blood, ending the vampire’s life forever.
• Murphy absorbed Qiaopan’s Blood Essence, gained a Rare template, and acquired Sky Mastery and Astral Direwolf summoning.
• Murphy recondensed the unusable Blood Essence and gave it to Maxim to absorb after his first embrace.
• Murphy invited the players to decide whether to help the young lady, and Meow Brother announced that they would go to her aid.

Murphy led the players toward the battle between the Midnight Hunters and the Golden Lily Transport Team, then unlocked new game features after completing the fifth beginner guidance quest. He briefly enabled Deep Datafication, suffered a headache from the flood of information, and turned it off before a scream from Lady Femis interrupted him.

• Murphy led eleven armed players through Smugglers' Woodland toward the battlefield while Happy Stick examined the world’s unusual rifle technology.
• The players completed the fifth Beginner Guidance Quest with an outstanding rating, unlocking ten Test Invitation Codes, Deep Datafication, and tester-initiated login for up to six hours a day.
• Murphy received the final Beginner Guidance Quest, which required him to return to Cadman City, pass the Black Iron Body Trial of Strength, and obtain a territory.
• Murphy enabled Deep Datafication, saw the detailed statistics and traits in his character sheet, and collapsed as the information overwhelmed him.
• The players tried to revive Murphy, but he recovered after switching back to Simple Mode and considered how quickly they could grow stronger.
• Murphy heard Lady Femis scream ahead and turned toward the sound.

Commander Finoc Lawson reached the burning camp and rescued the surviving Witch Hunters before riding after the retreating Midnight Hunters. He revealed himself as the Oak Knight, a Gold-rank protector of the Old Church, and drove Miss Femis to flee.

• Lady Adele went alone to find Murphy while her five blood thralls attacked the four Witch Hunters at the burning camp.
• Porter, Norman, Natalie, and Amber killed the blood thralls, but all four Witch Hunters fell near death as the fire closed in.
• Finoc Lawson arrived, used seeds of life to revive Porter and Norman, and treated Natalie and Amber; he told Natalie that Swiftshadow had led him there.
• Finoc rode toward the vampire battlefield as his sacred white oak sword stirred the forest and helped him trap the retreating Midnight Hunters.
• Finoc cut down several vampires with his Oakwood Sacred Blade and identified himself as White Knight Commander Finoc Lawson, prompting Miss Femis to flee.

Femis was captured by Finok after his attack devastated the Midnight Hunters, but the Watcher unexpectedly refused to strike her. Finok gave her a strange seed, then left after hearing her vision of a blood tree; Murphy and the players found the injured Femis and carried her onward.

• Femis realized an infiltrator might have compromised the Blood Eagle Clan’s intelligence and that Cadman City could be the enemy’s target, but Finok’s attack brought her down before she escaped.
• Finok defeated Femis, bound her to a tree, and prepared to kill her, but the Watcher’s purifying fire faded and the blade refused to harm her.
• Finok made Femis swallow a black seed, questioned her about her vision, and heard her describe a leafless blood tree growing from an endless pool of blood.
• Finok released Femis and left, telling her to ask her father about her miserable future rather than claiming he had spared her.
• Murphy and the players found Femis, and Murphy appointed Niu Niu her personal knight and ordered him to carry her.

Murphy’s players scavenged the woodland where the Midnight Hunters had been wiped out, while White Knight Finoc escorted the surviving psionicists toward Transia. After promising the players a lasting connection to the world, Murphy learned that the convoy’s cargo included thousands of forbidden halfling psionic calculation orbs, putting them in grave danger.

• Murphy and the players found the Midnight Hunters’ battlefield, discovered the vampires had been reduced to ash, and collected psionic bags, weapons, ammunition, and packhorses before leaving with the unconscious young lady.
• White Knight Finoc refused to recover the convoy’s cargo and warned the surviving psionicist that the Blood Vultures might have infiltrated the Pioneer Legion.
• Finoc escorted the survivors toward Transia while Swiftshadow reported that a vampire apprentice and human blood thralls had come to clean up the battlefield.
• Murphy told the players that he had found a component for his summoning spell and promised they could remain connected to the world after one more day; he then sent them back to their own world.
• Maxim brought Murphy to inspect the opened cargo, where Mirian identified thousands of smuggled third-generation halfling psionic calculation orbs as forbidden military equipment.

Murphy discovered that the seized calculating orbs could form a military communications and command network, and learned that their shipment included a hidden upper-level node. Opening the safe revealed a fourth-generation prototype capable of reproducing a function of the Test Administrator System, bringing Murphy closer to giving players an interface.

• Mirian explained that psionic calculating orbs could handle calculations, communication, and military coordination, and that the Plantagenet Kingdom had used them to reform the Greeni Legion.
• Murphy identified the seized orbs as cracked versions and realized he needed to find their upper-level node to activate them.
• Murphy and Mirian searched the wagon and found an inert, binary-locked brass safe at the back.
• Murphy used Item Identification to learn the safe’s combination and opened it to retrieve the commander’s calculating orb.
• The system identified the orb as a fourth-generation prototype and offered Alpha the chance to reproduce one of its functions, giving Murphy hope of creating a player interface.

Murphy activated the stolen fourth-generation computing orb, which began copying administrator-system functions so he could equip thousands of players with interfaces. After securing the orbs and discussing Mirian’s future, he turned to the injured Lady Adele and prepared to use vampire power to counter the poison harming her.

• Murphy started the orb’s system-replication process and explained that its computing matrix could initialize the 3,000 confiscated orbs for his players.
• Mirian agreed to keep the stolen orbs secret and left, while Maxim urged Murphy to distrust her and make her a blood thrall; Murphy rejected that plan and entrusted Maxim with guarding the boxes.
• Murphy learned that Maxim had killed the cavalrymen in the pit and told him to keep the deaths from their softhearted warriors.
• Mirian explained that her limited psionic talent could not let her cast spells, then reported that Lady Adele was feverish and dehydrated from vampire poison while Femis had recovered her severed hand.
• Murphy woke Femis with a burst of psionic energy and declared that he would use one vampire’s power to fight another’s and reward Lady Adele for saving him.

Murphy agreed to perform the Embrace on Lady Adele to save her from the Wolfsbane toxin after Miss Femis dissolved their master-servant bond. As Murphy began the ritual, he sensed an unexpected woodland fragrance in Adele's blood and realized she had a quarter elf blood.

• Miss Femis woke after Murphy struck her with a Dark Psionic Blast, and Murphy explained that Lady Adele was dying from Wolfsbane malice.
• Miss Femis said she could not Embrace Adele herself, then dissolved their master-servant bond and ordered Murphy to save her.
• Murphy asked Maxim whether he objected to the Embrace, and Maxim agreed while postponing his own transformation until after completing the Black Iron Trial.
• Miss Femis explained the Embrace ritual, and Murphy began drinking Adele's blood as Mirian and Maxim watched.
• Murphy detected a woodland fragrance in Adele's blood and realized that she had a quarter elf blood.

Murphy completed Lady Adele’s Embrace, creating a powerful bloodline bond while gaining new abilities and suffering severe weakness. As he rested, the forum announced that the True Otherworld Alpha 1.0 test version would launch in 16 hours, with player login and major new features.

• Murphy drained and purified Lady Adele’s blood, chose the Rare inheritance template, and completed her Embrace as Bella Bernice Adele Lasombra.
• The Embrace created a profound bloodline contract between Murphy and Bella Bernice Adele Lasombra, granting Murphy new attributes, swordsmanship, and talents while leaving him weakened.
• Murphy returned to the campfire with Maxim and rested, thinking about Triss and his growing longing for home.
• Alpha announced that the True Otherworld Alpha 1.0 test version would launch in 16 hours and posted details about player login, the interface system, new content, and rewards.
• Forum users teased Meow King about his supposed special treatment, and he denied making any shady deal with the development team.

Murphy traveled toward Cadman City with Femis and the unconscious Lady Adele while preparing to test the players’ new manual login system. After the players returned and activated their computational orbs, Murphy recognized Meow King for an unknown contribution and prepared a special reward for him.

• Murphy left Smuggler's Woods with Femis, Lady Adele, Maxim, and Mirian, and learned that Adele had hidden elf blood and had been with Femis for twenty years.
• Murphy manually confirmed the players’ login prompt, and the players appeared beside him for the first time using manual login.
• Murphy distributed computational orbs to the players and activated them with his own orb, unlocking their interfaces and game functions.
• The players checked their attributes, and Niu Niu tackled Car after Car mocked his low Intellect score.
• Meow Brother asked Murphy about his forum reward, and Murphy said he did not know why but sensed Meow King had contributed to the grand plan before offering him something suitable.

Meow Brother received a holy blade from Murphy and accepted a hidden quest to investigate the Old Church and the god Avalon. As the players learned about their traits and prepared for the journey to Cadman City, Niu Niu discovered that Maxim’s swordsmanship training was brutally difficult.

• Murphy gave Meow Brother a replica of an Old Church holy blade and assigned him the hidden quest Shadow of the Old Church.
• Meow Brother accepted the quest, learned that Maxim taught Blood Vulture Swordsmanship, and gathered information about the convoy’s other NPCs and supplies.
• The players compared their character traits, and Niu Niu revealed that he had both Sports Master and Martial Artist.
• Mirian rang a bell to signal the convoy’s departure, and Meow Brother suggested the players take turns staying online during the three-day journey to Cadman City.
• Niu Niu challenged Maxim to teach him swordsmanship, but Maxim disarmed him for the seventh time and left him sore and discouraged.

General Loren learned that his cargo convoy had been destroyed by Blood Eagle vampires, but the attack also confirmed that the vampires had an informant inside the Pioneer Legion. With the Plantagenet Kingdom ending its advance and Nordtov invading the Bosia Confederacy, Loren ordered Major Fraser to launch Plan D against Cadman City.

• Major Fraser reported that the convoy had been ambushed near the Filthy Swamp, and General Loren learned that its defenders had killed the attackers but lost the cargo.
• Fraser explained that captured Witch Hunters had escaped and set fire to the vampires' rear camp, alerting the convoy, while reports pointed to a leak inside the Pioneer Legion.
• General Loren ordered compensation for the dead soldiers' families and declined to pursue the cargo, then told Fraser that the war was ending because Nordtov's Winterwolf Legion had invaded the Bosia Confederacy.
• General Loren revealed that the Plantagenet Kingdom and Nordtov had agreed to divide the Bosia Confederacy and said Transia's future would be settled by politicians.
• General Loren ordered Fraser to contact the Tower of Rings and the Wolfsbane Clan chief and launch Plan D against Cadman City.

Murphy's convoy approached Cadman City as he learned how to preserve the remains of summoned creatures and arranged for Adele to travel with him. Before he could return home, General Loren and Old Edward launched Plan D, unleashing an astral catastrophe that devastated most of the city.

• Murphy discussed the players' behavior and rapid swordsmanship training with Maxim as the convoy neared Cadman City.
• Murphy asked Mirian to keep the players' origins secret, and she agreed to describe them as northern mountain folk.
• Miss Femis explained that calamity cores could preserve a summoned creature's physical remains for up to a day and agreed to send Murphy instructions.
• Miss Femis consented to Adele going with Murphy, citing the Blood Vulture Clan's family rules.
• General Loren ordered Plan D, and Old Edward of the Wolfsbane Clan watched as an astral tear swallowed and tore apart most of Cadman City.

As Murphy and the players approached Cadman City, an astral catastrophe began tearing the city apart, and Murphy rushed toward it to save Triss. Trapped beneath the ruins, Triss believed Murphy had escaped and prepared to die as Cadman City was dragged toward the astral plane.

• Murphy warned the players about Cadman City's customs and said he would take them to meet Triss, activating a new-area quest.
• Femis sensed a rapidly gathering tide of psionic energy around Cadman City and flew ahead to investigate.
• A rift opened over the city, and black astral energy, dimensional meteors, and splitting ground began destroying Cadman City and swallowing its fleeing vampires.
• Murphy cut the horse free and rode toward the city, while the players watched him disappear into the astral gale and decided to follow.
• Triss, injured after killing two otherworldly beasts, took shelter in her ruined manor and assumed Murphy had escaped north.
• As the manor collapsed and every escape route closed, Triss toasted Cadman City and begged Murphy not to return.

Murphy entered Cadman City as the Astral Rift dragged it toward the Astral Plane, and organized a safe passage while searching for Triss. He found her badly wounded and carried her toward the escape route as the black snow intensified.

• Murphy fought off an astral leopard and used his core orb to tell Mirian and Maxim to establish a safe passage by the collapsed eastern wall.
• Murphy's main quest sent the players to help Maxim hold the passage while Mirian followed them outside the city.
• Lady Adele woke early, summoned an astral wolf, and ordered it to lead her to Triss.
• Triss lay weakened among the ruins after killing an astral creature and recalled finding Murphy as a starving young man.
• Murphy found Triss alive, covered her with his Midnight Cloak, and carried her toward the collapsed wall as she asked him for a drink.

As players fought the seemingly endless astral monsters at Cadman City's breach, they gained skill proficiency and received class options based on their abilities. Murphy arrived with Triss and nearly a hundred townspeople, then stayed behind with the players to fight while Mirian led the refugees to safety.

• Mirian shot an astral spider, but it changed shape and attacked again until Niu Niu and Car Car drove it off.
• Car Car reached level 3 and received a Swordsman class option, while Niu Niu was offered Shieldbearer; Meow Brother called them back and urged everyone to choose carefully.
• Meow Brother explained that class options reflected players' skills and strengths, and he discussed potential builds and ways to become vampires or visit the halflings.
• Happy Stick spotted Murphy approaching with Triss, a starry wolf, and frightened townspeople, so the players reinforced the breach and opened fire on the pursuing monsters.
• Murphy asked Mirian to lead the townspeople somewhere safe, then stayed with the players to fight and farm experience before Cadman City fell to the astral realm.