Chapter Summaries

The players captured Plaguebane by defeating the Bonechewer King, earning stronghold rewards and Hall of Fame honors for six testers and the Scarlet Beasts. As the looming Black Calamity shaped plans and fears across Transia and its neighbors, Miss Picky set her sights on becoming a Hero of Transia.

• The players completed the Plaguebane instance after weakening the Bonechewer King with sunlight and received confirmation that the ruins had become Player Stronghold No. 003.
• The server announced the Hall of Fame inductees and rewards, including honors for six testers and guild benefits for the Scarlet Beasts.
• Lady Shui and her companions agreed to stop letting their questions about reality and illusion make them anxious, while Brother Bang rebuked his troops for complaining about the Hall of Fame selections.
• Brother Bang explained that the students had made the impossible victory possible and said he intended to earn his own place in the Hall of Fame through the coming war against the Black Calamity.
• Miss Picky, Knight Liwen, and Major Ron discussed the Transians' growing power and the dangers ahead, and Miss Picky declared her goal of becoming a Hero of Transia.

Niu Niu and the players discovered that the dying swamp serpent Ningjinanka could be saved by cleansing an astral wound, and they began searching for the ritual needed to heal it. Meanwhile, Murphy traced the injury to an astral creature and planned to seek it out, while he and Triss divided up the King of the Bone-Biters’ remains before Hogg arrived.

• Niu Niu returned the stolen stone egg to Ningjinanka, and Amber found that the serpent might survive if its strange wound was treated.
• Amber and the players accepted a quest to identify the wound’s cause, and Femis examined it and detected astral corruption.
• Mo Ni Qiong identified astral energy in the wound, so Femis sent the players to find Avalon Church priests who could cleanse it.
• Murphy considered tracking down the astral beast that injured Ningjinanka, but Triss warned him about the dangers of forming a contract with a powerful creature.
• Triss explained how the King of the Bone-Biters’ remains could be preserved, and Murphy planned to turn most of the bones into weapons and gifts.
• Bonnie announced Hogg’s arrival, and Murphy prepared to let him pay respects to his supposed great-grandfather.

After the victory at Plaguewood Town, Murphy rewarded Hogg with the Bonechewer King's skull and promised the Bloodclaw Clan room to expand through the swamp while recruiting kobolds to rebuild the town. Murphy and Mirian arranged for the Crimson Beast Corps to receive Wolf Castle and discussed diplomatic gifts and the upcoming Blood Festival, leaving Murphy and Triss considering what to send Venerable Lord Payin.

• Murphy gave Hogg the Bonechewer King's skull and said the Bloodclaw Clan could expand into the Filthy Swamp, though Plaguewood Town itself would become a base for Murphy's warriors.
• Hogg proposed using kobolds to repair Plaguewood Town, and Murphy agreed to provide food while Hogg gathered them from Smuggler's Wood.
• Murphy spoke with Mirian and approved transferring Wolf Castle to the Crimson Beast Corps, with the Bloodclaw Clan helping rebuild it and the Avalon Church receiving land for a woodland.
• Murphy asked Mirian to prepare diplomatic gifts for King Louis and the Wolf Queen and discussed plans for the Blood Festival and an expedition to Chardo Port.
• Triss described the Blood Festival's old traditions, and Murphy proposed turning it into a player-led event and sending Venerable Lord Payin an artistic gift to mark the victory.

After the Scarlet Beast Legion received Wolf's Keep, Niu Niu worried that his guild lacked the experience to manage it and considered recruiting administrators. Chieftain Hogg then offered a management contract, proposing to develop the Filthy Swamp into a trade route in exchange for control of the stronghold.

• The development team awarded Wolf's Keep to the Scarlet Beast Legion, while players celebrated and auctioned equipment recovered from Wendu Town.
• Niu Niu discussed loot distribution with his dormmates and worried that the Beast Legion could not manage its new stronghold without experienced administrators.
• Xiao Zhou refused Niu Niu's request for help and suggested sharing Stronghold 003's management with the Silver Moon Girls' Group.
• Niu Niu decided to recruit management students from other schools and build the Beast Legion's own logistics team.
• Hogg invited Niu Niu to discuss a deal, offering to manage Wolf's Keep and develop a road through the Filthy Swamp in return for administrative authority.
• Hogg gave Niu Niu a valuable voodoo dagger for Amber and offered to share the trade road's profits with the Scarlet Beast Legion.

Cheche and the other guildmates debated Hogg’s proposal to let the gnolls manage Blightwater Town, while kobolds cleared the ruins and discovered a chamber filled with phylacteries. Murphy offered the returning undead their phylacteries and a place at Scarlet Castle until they could be freed, and most stayed while some departed into the swamp.

• Cheche and the guildmates discussed Hogg’s offer, agreeing to consider the quest but arguing that the guild should negotiate for a larger share of the profits.
• Hogg sent Nash and the Bloodclaw Clan’s kobolds to clear Blightwater Town, where they found a hidden chamber inside the construct tower.
• Femis opened the chamber and found dozens of phylacteries, while Triss warned that destroying them without studying their magic could torment the bound souls further.
• Triss summoned the undead whose phylacteries had been found, and Murphy told them he would help free them after identifying the magic used to bind them.
• Murphy returned the phylacteries to the undead and offered them shelter in Scarlet Castle; several left, but most stayed because they had nowhere else to go.

Administrator Mirian oversaw Transia’s preparations for winter as the first snow fell, taking it as a sign that the land’s deeper rules remained intact. The chapter ended with Ash Plaster considering how to confess his feelings to the Palien sisters before they left for Chardo Port.

• Mirian received word that undead would move into Scarlet Castle and sent officials to prepare entry and household regulations.
• Mirian inspected the city’s full granaries as the first snow turned heavy, and vowed to keep everyone safe through winter.
• Ash Plaster and Bricklayer found that their experimental heating system barely warmed rooms, though its boilers supplied hot water.
• Bricklayer told Ash Plaster that his wife would soon join him in the game, then urged him to act on his feelings for the Palien sisters before they left for Chardo Port.
• Ash Plaster admitted he wanted both sisters and said he needed more time to decide how to tell them.

Murphy and Triss entered the Creator’s Swamp Ecological Zone Exhibition Hall, where the security system recognized Murphy as Administrator Alpha but barred Triss’s psionic abilities. After helping her recover at the entrance, Murphy went deeper to investigate what Tearmeat had stolen and drank a soda that promised an unknown enhancement.

• Murphy and Triss traveled through the forbidden swamp passage and found the Creator’s heavily secured exhibition hall.
• The hall’s security system recognized Murphy as Administrator Alpha and granted him temporary visitor access, while warning that visitors could not use psionics.
• Triss triggered the hall’s alarms when she tried to enter with her psionic items, then surrendered them and followed Murphy inside.
• The psionic-free zone caused Triss severe pain, so Murphy seated her in a life-support chair and left iron beetles to watch over her.
• Murphy passed the mechanical guards and used five achievement points to buy a can of Data-Deleted Leisure Soda from a vending machine.
• Murphy appraised the soda, read its promise of an unknown enhancement, and drank it as he headed toward the underground data terminal.

Murphy bound the Omnia Device at the Creator’s Land, resisted an attack from Original Sin, and gained curator access to the facility monitoring legendary creatures. A farewell letter revealed the facility’s Pre-Epoch history and named its former curator, prompting Murphy to ask Triss for the Madblood Grand Duke’s name.

• Murphy discovered warp resistance and detection enhancements after drinking the vending machine’s soda, then inspected the swamp reserves and a damaged cage-filled area.
• Murphy found signs that a Witch Café employee named Wally had lived in the facility and had tried to bind the Omnia Device before him.
• Murphy completed the Omnia Device’s binding, endured Original Sin’s attack, and restored the monitoring system to view several legendary creatures.
• The facility promoted Murphy to exhibition hall curator and acting reserve warden, unlocking a letter from former curator Vitto Fato Nosferatu about caring for the legendary creatures and the Eden District’s plans.
• Murphy asked Triss for the Madblood Grand Duke’s name, and she identified him as Vitto Fato Nosferatu.

Murphy discovered that the Eden District had created the Gnolls and that the Gnoll King had tried to seize control of the Swamp Ecological Zone. After appointing Triss as his assistant, he restored her psionic powers and left the facility’s vacant staff positions open for them to use.

• Murphy read the Eden District rules and learned about its engineered species, including the Gnolls, the missing Tide Fishfolk, and the Ningkinanka eggs.
• Murphy realized the Gnoll King may have entered the Swamp Forbidden Zone to claim curator authority and use its defenses to protect his forces.
• Murphy found that Ripmeat had wrecked the staff hall while trying to use the Omnia Device, and he retrieved a damaged authentication log showing the Gnoll King’s failed application.
• Murphy learned that all 36 staff positions were vacant and began appointing personnel to collect their allowances.
• Murphy appointed Triss as an Exhibition Hall Curator's Assistant, lifting the suppression effect of her psionic shackles.

Murphy uncovered evidence that the ancient Grand Dukes had lives in the pre-era world and learned that the Creation Engine ruins in the Sangha Empire might hold more answers. He then went to Wolf Castle and revealed that the wounded serpent Eur was the creature called Eul, whom he promised to take home and heal.

• Triss joined Murphy in a hover wheelchair, and he told her that Salokdar had been a pre-era chief navigator, Salokdar and Oksana were married, and Vite Fato had once curated the Creation Grounds.
• Murphy said the Creation Engine ruins in the Sangha Empire were their best lead, and he gave Triss a fizzy elixir that strengthened her resistance to the Warp.
• Murphy and Triss left the Creation Grounds to carry out his predecessor's task of taking little Eul home.
• At Wolf Castle, Murphy approached the wounded serpent Ningkinanka despite Mother Marianne's warning that it hated vampires.
• Murphy called the serpent Eul and promised to heal it, awaken its companions, and return it to the ecological zone the Creator had prepared.

Murphy learned that Ur was dying from an astral behemoth’s wound and decided to seek a cure, while also using the Creator’s incubator to prepare Ur’s egg to hatch. He realized the Creator’s technology could give him leverage to recruit warriors from another world and left the chapter newly embracing his role as a historian and explorer.

• Mother Marianne and Triss explained that an astral force was preventing Ur’s wound from healing, and Triss said venom from the behemoth that injured it could make a cure.
• Murphy decided to locate the astral behemoth despite the danger, and he planned to build a relationship with the swamp serpents in case the gnolls threatened his territory.
• Murphy used the Creator’s incubator to examine Ur’s rocky egg, learned it was a legendary draconic giant serpent named Ningishzida, and started its eight-hour incubation.
• Murphy realized the Creator’s technology could attract warriors from another world and give him leverage to negotiate for their help, so he and Triss discussed seeking more relics in the Land of Origin.
• Murphy awakened the other six swamp serpents and reflected that the Creator’s mission could give his immortal life purpose; he then acquired the Historian specialization and a hidden achievement.

Murphy reunited the newly hatched Cavendina with Orr, then used the Myriad Apparatus to track the astral behemoth that had wounded Orr. The creature found Murphy in the Astral Realm and revealed that it had eaten his warriors twice while trying to contact him.

• Murphy and Triss watched the awakened Ningkinankas roam the swamp, and Murphy described how they could serve as a defense against the gnolls and a nonlethal player challenge.
• Triss named the newly hatched serpent Cavendina and reunited it with Orr, who thanked Murphy and Triss for bringing its kin back.
• Players posted about Murphy taming a legendary creature, while Murphy prepared a secret summoning ritual with You're So Poor to find the behemoth that had injured Orr.
• Triss explained possible astral guardians to Murphy and You're So Poor as they set up the ritual and Murphy entered the Astral Realm through the Myriad Apparatus.
• A green star-serpent appeared through an astral rift, called Murphy Alpha, and said it had returned fragile orbs to his territory twice; Murphy realized it had eaten his warriors both times.

Murphy met Mannis, the Endless One, in the Astral Realm and learned that the serpent wanted his help to ascend to godhood. After Mannis returned Murphy to his body, Murphy refused its proposed pact, and Mannis threatened the hundred thousand mortals from Cadman City trapped in the Astral Realm.

• Triss tried to pull Murphy out of the Astral Realm, then summoned Tritan the Wayfarer, who refused to confront Mannis and urged her to seek help from Knight Liwen.
• Mannis transformed into a tiny Firstborn Serpent, hid in Murphy's shadow, and sent Murphy back to his body after Murphy grabbed and swung it by the tail.
• Murphy reestablished contact with Mannis and learned that its unstable Body of Time repeatedly changed it into earlier forms, while Mannis sought a path to godhood through the Creator's power.
• Mannis told Murphy to find the gods' Holy Grails for clues about the Frontier Pact and warned that Twilight threatened both the material world and the Astral Realm.
• Murphy rejected Mannis's offer of a summoning pact, and Mannis revealed that a hundred thousand mortals from Cadman City were trapped in the Astral Realm.

Murphy learned from Mannis that Cadman City’s missing residents were being used in the Warp’s plans and agreed to consider making the astral behemoth his guardian. He summoned Raven to draft a pact that would protect his freedom and leverage, leaving Raven to decide how to help.

• Mannis told Murphy that a hundred thousand people from Cadman City remained alive in the Astral Plane and revealed that the Bloodfear Calamity had created a hidden army of three hundred thousand Chaos soldiers.
• Murphy agreed to prepare a summoning pact with Mannis, and Mannis rescued Mo Ni Qiong from the Astral Plane after Triss and Knight Liwen returned.
• Knight Liwen warned Murphy about Mannis, while Murphy told Triss about the Warp’s plans and said he would accept Mannis’s proposal to help save the survivors.
• Murphy sent for Raven, who left Avalon’s sanctuary after arguing with Natalie and insisting that she attend counseling.
• Murphy asked Raven to draft a fair pact with Mannis that preserved his freedom, then appealed to Raven’s concern for Natalie and his legal skills.

Murphy signed an Astral Summoning contract with Mannis the Endless, despite discovering that the demigod was heavily weakened by the Astral Dragon's seals. Mannis shared what it knew about the Kadman remnants and the seals in the Dark Mountains, while Murphy gained time-based power that had already begun turning his hair white.

• Murphy brought Triss a massive contract drafted to protect his rights and explained that Mannis needed him more than he needed Mannis.
• Triss warned Murphy that contracting with an astral demigod would consume most of his summoning capacity and limit his ability to summon it directly.
• Murphy summoned Mannis and presented the contract, which Mannis read before agreeing to sign.
• After the contract bound them, Murphy discovered that seven emerald locks imposed by the Astral Dragon had reduced Mannis's power to a fraction of its former strength.
• Mannis transmitted what it knew about the Kadman remnants and revealed that Creation Power in the Dark Mountains could undo the seals; Murphy gave it the codename Rayquaza.
• Triss warned Murphy to master Mannis's power before his next battle, and Murphy saw that a streak of white had appeared in his hair.

After contracting with Manis the Endless, Murphy struggled to control the demigod’s time power and rescued George from Silver Wolf Herson’s pack. He tested his new skills on Maxim and discovered that Temporal Exile turned him into a baby.

• Murphy’s character card recorded his new Ouroboros summoner abilities, the limits on his summons, and the skills granted by Manis.
• Murphy summoned the wounded George to safety, and George killed the Silver Wolf’s child that had pursued him through the rift.
• Murphy transferred the dead wolf’s blood to George to help him recover, while Triss warned that Herson might retaliate.
• Murphy tested Celestial Acceleration and Starrealm Slow on Maxim, stripping away his armor in seconds.
• Murphy used Temporal Exile on Maxim and reverted him to infancy.

Murphy approved Maxim’s plan to advance through the Filthy Swamp and arranged to take in blood thralls as laborers rather than soldiers. At Wolf Castle, Triss’s antidote freed Orr from Mánnis’s temporal poison, and the grateful serpent beckoned Murphy and Triss to follow it.

• Murphy approved Maxim’s plan to march through the Filthy Swamp with Plantagenet forces, clear a route, and join the Blood Covenant Knights at Desolate Mountain.
• Murphy arranged for the armed blood thralls from Krim Fortress to be redeemed and sent to the Maginot Line for labor instead of combat duty.
• Triss brought an antidote made from Mánnis’s toxin, and Murphy, Triss, and Maxim teleported to Wolf Castle to treat Orr.
• Murphy had Heliu apply the diluted antidote to Orr’s wounds while Triss used water mist to work it in.
• Orr recovered as the temporal poison left its body, and the giant serpent appeared to thank Murphy and Triss by inviting them to follow it.

Murphy and his companions visited the giant serpents and discovered the ancient remains of the Bonechewer King's Hunting Guards in a hidden cavern. Murphy uncovered the legendary Skullsplitter, a three-mode powered weapon, and gave it to Maxim before they prepared to take the guards' equipment back to Transia.

• Orr returned to the forbidden zone, where the other giant serpents greeted it and celebrated the birth of Cavendina.
• Murphy promised the giant serpents he would help hatch their remaining eggs after the coming war, and Orr led him and his companions to a hidden cavern beneath the mountains.
• Maxim, Triss, and Hru identified about five hundred dead gnoll Hunting Guards and found a sealed chamber protected by a divine spell tied to the Lord of the Hunt.
• Murphy discovered the Bonechewer King's Skullsplitter, identified it as a three-mode powered weapon from the Eden Zone, and handed it to Maxim.
• Murphy decided to take the dead guards' armor and belongings back to reward the warriors who captured Wolfcastle, while leaving the other protected relics untouched.

Murphy, Triss, and Maxim explored the Creator’s site in the swamp and discovered advanced protective gear and weapons, while Triss speculated about Creator ruins across the continent. A customer-service system revealed the location of Wayfarer’s headquarters in the Dark Mountains, and Murphy prepared to bring the gear back to Scarlet Castle for the Blood Eagle Clan.

• Murphy left the Bonechewer King’s remaining treasures in the cavern and sent Maxim to escort Heru out of the forbidden zone with the Clan’s Eye staff.
• Triss theorized that the Bonechewer King had sought Creator ruins and that the Sangha Empire’s world tours were meant to find them; Murphy argued that the Sangha were imitators, like everyone else.
• Murphy used his curator’s authority to open the armory and found 48 sets of Wayfarer Type II protective gear, along with matching weapons and drones.
• Murphy contacted Wayfarer customer service, which marked its headquarters in the Eden Zone on a holographic map deep in the Dark Mountains near Hunger Mountain.
• Murphy tested the drones and thermal-melt sword, then ordered the gear taken to Scarlet Castle and renamed it T3—Black Fang for the Blood Eagle Clan.

Hogg was summoned in a vision by the Bone-Biting King, who urged him to reject the coming Black Calamity and destroy the Lord of the Hunt’s altar in Moss Valley. Hogg refused the King’s power but agreed to hear his demand, leaving his next move unresolved.

• Murphy named his thermal sword Firefang and spent the night in the Wanderer’s exhibition hall while Maxim returned the weapons and armor to the Blood Vulture treasury.
• Hogg worked to claim Wolf Fort and dismissed Nash’s fears that the Black Calamity would make the Filthy Swamp a battlefield.
• After seeing green eyes in the chest holding the Bone-Biting King’s skull, Hogg was drawn into a vision and confronted the giant gnoll king.
• Hogg denounced the Bone-Biting King’s leadership and argued that the gnolls could not win the Black Calamity through strength alone.
• The Bone-Biting King revealed that Meat-Ripper had severed his connection to the material world and asked Hogg to destroy the Lord of the Hunt’s altar in Moss Valley before it was born in the Warp.