Chapter Summaries

Meow Brother prepared Blood Banner Heights with nature-based defenses and led the First Battle Group in a boosted assault that wiped out a gnoll probing force. Afterward, Bobok decided the Filthclaw clan needed a mutiny and planned to prove his loyalty to Marshal Hurley by helping bring down the chieftain.

• Happy Stick and his surviving brothers returned to Blackflame Pass as heroes, while Grand Duchess Triss met Lord Heather.
• Meow Brother distributed seeds and arranged for Madam Shui and other Avalon followers to use divine arts to transform Blood Banner Heights and strengthen the defenses.
• When the Filthclaw gnolls sent about three hundred fighters to probe the heights, Meow Brother and his group used terrain, vines, beasts, buffs, and Hunting Phantasm to overwhelm them.
• Bobok reported that the probing force had been wiped out, but the Filthclaw Chieftain dismissed his warnings and prepared for a more decisive attack.
• Bobok left the chieftain's tent resolved to help Marshal Hurley, considering a mutiny and the chieftain's sudden death.

Meow Brother's First Battle Group was nearly wiped out when the gnolls launched a War Meteor spell at the Blood Banner Heights. Yan Sang survived and raised the blood flag amid the ruins, provoking Filthy Claw into a furious charge as the gnoll chieftain collapsed coughing blood.

• Meow Brother prepared the highland defenses while Bobok was ordered to lead a thousand expendable gnolls as bait for the Rendclaw priests' meteor attack.
• Filthy Claw conspired with Yuan to awaken the undead beneath Blackflame Pass using the despair and corpses gathered at the Blood Banner Heights.
• Meow Brother and Yansang fought the charging gnolls, unaware that Rendclaw priests were summoning a War Meteor spell against the battlefield.
• Triss rescued Doris and two subordinates as five meteors struck, destroying the highland and killing nearly all of Meow Brother's First Battle Group and the gnoll cannon fodder.
• Yan Sang survived by transferring the damage to nearby vampire vines, then raised the blood flag over the crater as Filthy Claw's troops approached.
• Filthy Claw ordered his gnolls to charge and tried to rush toward Yan Sang, but he suddenly coughed up blood.

After a meteor strike devastated the defenders at Blood Banner Heights, Natalie and Giant Shark turned the battle against the gnolls with divine power. The survivors joined the counterattack as Murphy and Triss watched the unlikely rise of two new Chosen.

• Shang Yan inherited command after the First Warband commander died, and Natalie used 3,000 support points to arrive on the battlefield.
• Natalie synchronized with the Watcher's Holy Blade, mounted Maple, and burned through the gnoll ranks with a massive sweep of purifying flames.
• Little Ashina ordered the survivors to avenge Meow Brother, and Giant Shark recovered Meow Brother's Vam Headsplitter and equipment.
• Vam empowered Giant Shark, changed his class to Vam Berserker, and gave him a quest to kill ninety-nine enemies within seven days.
• Giant Shark led the players in a charge against the gnolls while Murphy and Triss discussed how Natalie and Giant Shark had become Chosen.

Natalie and the Transian survivors broke the Filthclaw attack, and Vam the Headsman killed the Filthclaw chieftain after Bobok stabbed it. Bobok claimed the chieftain’s head and Vam’s axe, while fresh Transian troops formed up beneath the restored Bloodbanner.

• The Filthclaw chieftain rallied its gnolls and charged, while Yansang spent the remaining support points to summon winged cavalry.
• Little Ashina and the surviving vampires launched a desperate assault to clear a path for Natalie, and Yansang joined them after handing the battle standard to Qin Ye.
• The vampires’ self-detonations shattered the gnoll formation, allowing Natalie to reach the Filthclaw chieftain and cut down its voodoo battle standard, though the chieftain teleported away.
• Bobok stabbed the weakened chieftain with a venom-coated blade, and Vam the Headsman descended and killed it with his battle axe.
• The giant shark detonated in a final blast, and Nash told Bobok to take the chieftain’s head and axe before warning him that the axe would draw the Transians’ revenge.

Warlord Hurley absorbed the defeated Filthy Claw clan and prepared a meteor assault on Blood Banner Pit, while Nash brought Popok to Hogg, who urged him to help bring about Hurley’s downfall. As the Transians faced an overwhelming attack, Happy Stick offered Old Qin a way to receive the Third Battle Group’s support points and substitutes if they gave up competing.

• Warlord Hurley praised Popok for retrieving Varm, reinstated him as a warlord, and ordered him to guard the defeated clans in camp.
• Popok told Nash that his father’s contribution of twenty-five hundred Blackeye clan elites would cripple their clan, and Nash led him to meet Hogg.
• Hogg gave Nash the Bloodclaw clan’s chieftain’s scepter and declared him the clan’s qualified leader.
• Hogg appealed to Popok’s ambition and told him to help push Hurley toward its inevitable downfall.
• Old Qin saw the Whiptail army forming for a meteor assault on Blood Banner Pit, while Bulldozer Man Attack warned him of the psionic buildup.
• Happy Stick told Old Qin that the Third Battle Group could transfer support points and send substitutes to the Second Battle Group if they gave up competing.

Happy Stick and the First Regiment withdrew from the Deathmatch and transferred their support points to Master Qin’s Second Regiment, which summoned Turner and Murphy to face the Whiptail Clan’s vanguard. Murphy flew to the battlefield after Triss mocked his inflated summoning cost, while Triss and Lord Heather wagered on whether he could help Old Qin’s forces survive and defeat the gnoll warlord.

• Happy Stick offered the First Regiment’s remaining support points in exchange for eighty percent of the champion’s reward, and Master Qin’s commanders voted to accept.
• Meng Haha and Madam Shui advised Master Qin to summon Turner and Murphy instead of Triss and Kudel, and Master Qin used the points to bring them to the battlefield.
• Murphy was astonished to learn he had been summoned, and Triss laughed at him for making his summoning cost look like that of a Gold-rank fighter.
• Murphy insisted he could help Transia’s warriors and flew toward the battlefield as Triss and Lord Heather prepared to watch.
• Triss and Lord Heather bet on whether Old Qin’s battle group would retain at least five hundred people by dawn and defeat the gnoll warlord; Triss wagered a bottle of Heather’s blood.

Murphy arrived at Blood Flag Hill and activated ancient matrix shield generators just as Hurley’s gnoll army unleashed three War Meteors. The meteors stopped above the defenders, and Murphy told Turner to give them a small push toward the gnolls.

• The Second Regiment waited for reinforcements while Turner, Teacher Li, Master Yang, Pomegranate, and Cat Brother prepared to defend Blood Flag Hill.
• Murphy arrived with George, a griffon, and the Bloodglow War Banner, then set up two matrix shield generators powered by energy cubes.
• As the War Meteors descended, Murphy ordered Old Qin to gather all one thousand players within the generators’ range.
• The kinetic neutralization field stopped all three meteors in midair, stunning the Transians and gnolls alike.
• Hurley ordered the gnoll vanguard to retreat or scatter, while Murphy asked Turner to push the suspended meteors toward the gnoll army.

Murphy used the matrix obelisks to stop a meteor spell, then led the Transians in a charge that routed the gnolls. As Lord Hysher and Triss blocked the enemy’s retreat and the battle turned against the Whiptail Clan, Murphy spared Boboak and ordered him to leave.

• Murphy and Turner redirected a meteorite toward the gnoll formation, scattering the enemy and breaking its morale.
• Murphy rallied the Transians, and Turner led the charge under the North Wind God’s blessings.
• Murphy asked Triss to have Lord Hysher block the gnolls’ retreat, then joined the fighting and used blood magic to cut through the enemy.
• Murphy unleashed an empowered warhammer strike and a chain of attacks that devastated the gnoll ranks.
• Triss and Lord Hysher trapped Grand Warlord Hurley’s forces, while the Whiptail Clan began to lose heart and flee.
• Murphy recognized Boboak as a follower of the Wise Wolf and let him go, warning him to leave the hunting grounds.

Popok watched Grand Warlord Hurley rally his forces, while the Transian players received battlefield aid from Avalon, the God of the North Wind, and the Berserker Vam. The players overwhelmed Hurley’s army and surrounded him, with Qin demanding that he surrender the stolen battle-axe.

• Popok spotted Hurley’s war banner advancing and hoped the grand warlord would break through the Transian front line.
• Hurley rallied the routed gnolls beneath the Whiptail Clan’s banner, forcing the players to retreat as Young Miss Femis awakened Meow Brother’s man-eating flowers.
• Avalon empowered Femis to summon healing rain, treants, and nature buffs for the players, while Turner called wolf spirits to fight beside them.
• Vam learned that the otherworlders’ lord was Alpha and granted the players a third layer of war-power enhancement.
• Hurley’s vanguard and central force collapsed, and Qin and the 671 surviving players surrounded Hurley and his remaining guards.
• Qin demanded that Hurley put down the battle-axe, calling him a gnoll thief.

The three gods withdrew their blessings after the Transians routed the gnolls, and Murphy challenged Grand Marshal Hurley over Vam’s Head-Taker. Old Qin chose a series of five-player teams to fight Hurley, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved as the Berserker praised the warriors and Murphy welcomed Vam’s legacy into Transia.

• The three gods ended their enhancements after the players broke the gnoll lines, and Peachy and Knight Liwen reflected on the battle and the gods’ motives.
• Murphy confronted Hurley, who refused to be treated as a gladiator and demanded a battlefield fight against the people of Transia.
• Murphy offered Hurley a forty-kill challenge for Vam’s Head-Taker, and Old Qin chose to send players in teams of five.
• Old Qin led the first team into the arena, where the players used explosives, Victory Wine, and Last Stand Contracts to wound Hurley before they were killed.
• A second team led by Brother Stick entered the arena as Hurley realized the players intended to fight to the death; Vam praised their resolve, and Murphy welcomed his legacy into Transia.

The players and Transian forces defeated Hurley and wiped out the Tailwhip Clan’s elite army after an eighteen-day battle. As Bobok carried the battle standard back to the gnolls, Murphy and Triss prepared a game update and weighed the looming conflict between Transia and the Plantagenet Kingdom.

• Meow Brother and the surviving players killed Hurley, then Lord Hester and the Transian forces routed the gnoll elites, ending the deathmatch.
• Chenlong urged his guild to join the game, while Paid Fishing and his brothers planned to recommend it as a realistic training ground.
• Happy Rod agreed to help Lord Qin investigate the world and protect the Maginot Line, and Lord Qin told him not to involve the Silvermoon Regiment.
• Triss gave Bobok the Tailwhip Clan battle standard and urged him to lead the surviving gnolls away from Blackflame Pass.
• Murphy told Triss that a version update was planned for seven days later and discussed expanding the player base and the risk of war with the Plantagenet Kingdom.

After the players’ victory at Blood Banner Heights, Murphy and Triss negotiated privileges and future missions for Transian warriors at Blackflame Pass. Lady Heather agreed to build Courage Fort on the battlefield, while Murphy prepared to summon the final eight hundred players before the coming war.

• Most players logged off to recover after the seventeen-day Deathmatch, while the Blood Banner was displayed at Blackflame Pass.
• Murphy and Triss negotiated with Lady Heather for a Transian position, access to armories and supplies, and dangerous missions with suitable rewards; Heather requested at least fifteen hundred foreigners.
• Lady Heather proposed building Courage Fort on Blood Banner Heights, and Murphy secured Transian participation, commemorative statues, and future player defense missions there.
• Murphy and Triss discussed the likely fall of Blackflame Pass and decided to summon the remaining eight hundred players the following night before the version update.
• Old Qin logged back in, learned he had been promoted to major and earned the honorary title “Meat Grinder,” and joined Lady Heather’s discussion about the Blood Banner.

Players received their Deathmatch honors and rewards, while the Second Corps celebrated its victory and the Weapon-Fighting Tough Guys entered the Hall of Fame. The chapter ended with an announcement that True Otherworld would update to beta 1.0 in six days, followed by a three-day server shutdown and recruitment of 800 more testers.

• Cheche and other players received Honor System ranks, while Pomegranate chose to register as a Guerrilla Captain rather than command a squad.
• The Second Corps was named Deathmatch champion and received gold, equipment, discounts, and the Vanguard of Courage title; all three corps unlocked Blackflame Pass and Bloodclan reputation tracks and new quests.
• Doorman Qin, Banzai Happy Stick, Meow King, Smoke, and other players entered the Player Hall of Fame, and the Weapon-Fighting Tough Guys guild received special recruitment slots and other benefits.
• Cat Bro and his guildmates discussed their Hall of Fame induction, possible recruitment plans, and returning weapons to Pomegranate and Meow Brother.
• The development team announced that the game would update from Alpha 3.1 to beta 1.0 in six days, with servers down for three days, and that 800 new tester slots would be filled.

After learning that Transia was real, Cat Brother agreed to give Master Qin access to his guild’s unscreened recruitment slots. Meow Brother handed Wam’s Headsman to Great Shark in exchange for an Avalon relic, and Great Shark’s preaching drew several martial artists toward the Berserker path.

• Master Qin told Cat Brother that Transia was real and asked to requisition his guild’s unscreened recruitment slots; Cat Brother agreed to provide most of them for a token payment.
• Cat Brother’s friends delivered Cold Night to Lumina for Sister Pomegranate and brought Wam’s Headsman to Meow Brother.
• Meow Brother gave Wam’s Headsman to Great Shark on the condition that Great Shark find him an Avalon sacred blade before the Black Calamity ended.
• Great Shark agreed to join the Big Bird Squad as an associate member and promised to help Meow Brother obtain an Avalon relic.
• Great Shark preached Wam’s faith, attracting the martial artists, who decided to pursue the Berserker class and its Fury Warrior advancement.

Miss Peachy helped the commanders sort and sell the gnoll spoils, then arranged a major armor order from her family’s workshops while preparing to lead the Riptide Knights into the Black Calamity war. Murphy used the last six hundred closed-beta slots to summon a new wave of battle-hungry players, whose arrival marked the next phase of Transia’s preparations for war.

• Miss Peachy presented the commanders with the valuable spoils, proposed selling the junk equipment to the People's Army, and offered Herley's warlord gear in exchange for Seville family armor.
• Brother Stick ordered a hundred sets of plate armor and three hundred sets of chain mail, while Meow Brother and Master Qin arranged additional armor purchases for their groups.
• Brother Stick gave Meow Brother the Overlord-tier axe Borut the Butcher, and Meow Brother agreed to negotiate a share with the Second Battle Group.
• Liwen praised Peachy for the Seville family order and told her that the Riptide Knights had assembled in Shadowvale; Peachy set out to begin her journey in the Dark Mountains.
• Murphy summoned six hundred selected players in the Midnight Chamber and welcomed them as the Black Calamity war expanded.

Brother Loyal oversaw Transia’s expanding arsenal as it supplied Mosin-Nagant rifles to the front and debated its next weapons upgrade. He pushed the furious engineers to produce a cheap, crude automatic gun, arguing that Transia needed affordable firepower more than advanced designs.

• New players were sent to the Maginot Line and a military town behind it, where they would join the wartime effort and take crafting and logistics assignments.
• Brother Loyal’s arsenal expanded with new workshops and workers, while Night Terror Bat Puppet inspected a shipment of Mosin-Nagant rifles bound for the Maginot Line.
• Night Terror Bat Puppet explained to Multi-Turret that the arsenal would follow a Russian weapons path and could later adapt the Mosin-Nagant production line to make PPShs.
• Brother Loyal’s technicians rejected his proposed cheap automatic weapon and accused him of endangering the soldiers who would use it.
• Brother Loyal defended the design as the most cost-effective way to give Transia automatic firepower with limited time and supplies, and insisted Lord Murphy would support the plan.

Loyalist Bro showed Taipal the armory’s improvised weapons, including a crude Sten gun, and asked him to recruit workers to increase production for the Black Calamity. Meanwhile, Muddy Sauce and Pink Pear tested Transia’s first coal-powered truck, which accelerated out of control and exploded.

• Loyalist Bro explained Transia’s ammunition shortage and showed Taipal the new entrenching tools and barbed wire being made for the front.
• Many-Turret presented an unreliable, pipe-shaped Sten gun, and Loyalist Bro asked Taipal to recruit temporary workers to help produce more.
• Taipal agreed to help but said the Rapidstream Knights would keep using bolt-action rifles.
• Muddy Sauce fired up the coal-powered truck while Pink Pear drove it on a test run near Mistral Island.
• The truck’s brakes failed, and Muddy Sauce and Pink Pear yelled at each other as it sped out of control and exploded.

Niojiang proposed using railways and armored trains to give Transia a military advantage over the Plantagenet Kingdom, while Murphy considered the risks and approved funding for Meng Haha’s secure communications research. The chapter ended with Murphy exposing Meng Haha’s staged telegraph demonstration, though she insisted she could build a working device within two months.

• After Niojiang’s vehicle prototype crashed, he accepted that flexible vehicles required internal-combustion engines and secured an order to build a railway and steam locomotive for Misty Isle.
• Niojiang developed a plan to build armored trains, seize Kahovka, and exploit the Plantagenet Kingdom’s railway network, then submitted it to Administrator Alpha.
• Alpha agreed to forward Niojiang’s proposal to the strategy team and urged him to discuss it with General Maxim.
• Murphy considered the danger of armored trains provoking the Plantagenet Kingdom and decided he should visit the halfling airship near Scarlet Keep.
• Meng Haha demonstrated a prototype Morse-code telegraph to Murphy and requested funding for a secure communications project.
• Murphy approved funding but revealed that Meng Haha and Little Ashina had faked the demonstration; Meng Haha promised to deliver a working device within two months.

Murphy recognized the danger of relying on halfling-controlled computing orbs and went to inspect the airship Lucky, hoping to hire its captain for a job. Captain Paula rejected his attempts to make amends for her past suffering in Transia, but First Mate Claire arrived and revealed her long friendship with Paula.

• After Murphy left, Menghaha told little Ashina she had blueprints for military radios and warned that halflings could use computing orbs to control the continent’s intelligence network.
• Murphy decided Transia needed secure communications and considered upgrading its technology after the Black Calamity, then flew to inspect the halfling airship Lucky.
• A crewman told Murphy that Captain Paula kept the crew aboard because she blamed Transians for her previous ship’s destruction and her injuries.
• Murphy offered Paula triple pay and compensation for her losses, but she refused to be bought off and insisted she only stayed in Transia because of her contract with Hoffman Mining.
• First Mate Claire interrupted Paula, explained that she had known Paula and her family for generations, and urged them to become friends.

Murphy negotiated with Captain Paula to secure armed airships for Transia by offering tax exemptions, access to decrypted calculating orbs, and a share of war spoils. Captain Babro then revealed that the Bloodfear Clan faced a grave impending disaster and claimed Murphy could save them, but withheld details until Murphy agreed to repay a favor.

• Claire and Babro helped Murphy reconcile with Paula by revealing their families' shared history and pressing Paula to accept his apology.
• Murphy offered Paula a ten-year tax exemption and a share of battle spoils if she brought airships that could be converted for Transia's war effort.
• Paula learned Murphy had thirty-six thousand decrypted calculating orbs and agreed to consider the dangerous arrangement while bringing ordered supplies and showing Transia's commanders her airship.
• After Paula left, Babro told Murphy that the Bloodfear Clan was in serious trouble and that he and Claire had sought guidance from an imperial astrologer in the Far East.
• Babro said the Bloodfear Clan would help Murphy win the war if he promised to repay a favor, then claimed Murphy could save them without explaining their crisis.