Chapter Summaries

Murphy oversaw the first tests of the Genesis Matrix, which began creating physical bodies for five players and explained the risks and options involved. Niu Niu chose a human template to preserve his chance of having children with Amber, then learned that players could revive their bodies by storing biomass.

• Murphy welcomed the fifty selected players and activated the Genesis Matrix’s scanning pods for the first five volunteers, including Giant Shark and Niu Niu.
• Eden explained that the Matrix used players’ genetic information for reproduction, could adapt their bodies to chosen templates, and could remove illnesses such as Little Amina’s.
• Niu Niu chose to base his body on his character’s appearance but switched his template from vampire to human after the agreement warned that vampires could not have children.
• The five players logged out as their Otherworldly Entities began forming in breeding pods, and Niu Niu learned from Giant Shark that an Otherworldly Entity’s death carried stricter revival rules.
• Niu Niu reread the agreement and discovered that storing enough biomass allowed a dead Otherworldly Entity to be recreated after a three-day penalty; he then teased Giant Shark about what he would do with his new body.

Murphy oversaw the creation of physical Otherworldly Entities for fifty players while preparing Sinfort and the expeditionary force for the coming war. When the first players awakened, they discovered the realities of their new bodies, and Ashina received the healthy body she would have had without her illness.

• Murphy coordinated new weapons and armor deployments, then learned from Mosna that ancient abominations were awakening and a major invasion was approaching.
• Murphy arranged for Ashina’s Otherworldly Entity to cure her illness, despite its higher biomass cost and harsher revival penalty.
• After the six-hour wait, Niu Niu and the first players awakened in physical bodies and experienced sensations and pain unlike those of their projections.
• Great Shark tested his Berserker Armor, while Madam Water covered herself with Holy Light Protection after the players emerged naked in their underwear.
• Sister Pomegranate recognized Ashina’s healthy adult appearance, and Madam Water told her that her parents were waiting to see her.

After receiving physical bodies, the players explored how those bodies changed combat and intimacy, while Giant Shark headed to Shadow City to meet his lover. The chapter ended with the players eager to attack the Life Greenhouse and unlock their own bodies.

• Giant Shark fought Banchang in the slave arena and discovered that his physical body made berserker combat and hunger feel intensely real.
• Madam Judy reunited with Little Ashina, whose new body showed the healthy adult she might have become, while Three to Five Dou went to receive a divine blessing.
• Meow Brother and his friends traveled to Shadow City to spy on Giant Shark and test the new 18+ feature, while Niu Niu sealed his tent with divine power to keep eavesdroppers out.
• Giant Shark visited the shadow elf proprietress, and Lady Rose disrupted the surveillance device after he entered her bedroom.
• Meow Brother and Old Qu concluded the 18+ feature was working and urged the players to attack the Life Greenhouse before the expedition began.

As Sinfort prepared to depart for the Land of Sacred Blood, Maxim warned Murphy that the insect swarm was adapting and growing more intelligent, while the players’ eagerness to obtain real bodies fueled their enthusiasm for the coming campaign. Shani gave Murphy the Thorn Slate for Andre and left to scout ahead, and Edward asked Murphy to hear a personal request.

• Earth Priests and silver dwarves rebuilt Sinfort’s defenses while upgraded third-generation Dragoons arrived through the astral portals.
• Maxim told Murphy that the swarm had developed new tactics, corrosive Poisonburst Insects, and more psychic creatures, and he warned that Chaos remained their true enemy.
• Murphy watched players demand access to the Life Greenhouse and took their enthusiasm as proof that the expeditionary force was ready to fight.
• Shani gave Murphy the Thorn Slate to pass to Andre, said she would no longer pursue her old grievances, and departed to scout the Land of Sacred Blood.
• Edward stood by the treatment-room window and told Murphy he had a request to discuss.
• Meow Brother and the other players found Great Shark exhausted after his encounter with the Shadow Elf proprietress, who let them take him away.

Murphy discussed the Wolfsbane Clan, Constance, and the coming journey to the Holy Blood Land with old Edward, who asked for a chance to persuade Constance to abandon her plans. Afterward, Murphy asked Eden to help devise a way to disrupt Constance’s resurrection in the Life Greenhouse.

• Murphy gave old Edward Creator’s Soda and told him Laura had been invited to represent the Wolfsbane Clan and had already recovered the Wolfsbane Tablet.
• Edward accepted Laura as his heir and asked Murphy and Paine to spare Constance, promising to try to change her mind.
• Murphy agreed to give Edward a chance but warned that he would stop Constance if she pursued her plans after reviving.
• Murphy left the Chaser for Sin Fortress and asked Eden to reconstruct the Life Greenhouse’s breeding program so they could place a controllable program in its pods.
• Eden said the task was impossible, but Murphy argued that Eden could exploit flaws in the code added by Revival and planned to enlist Rose’s help.

Lord Qin decided to use the Storm Spire to unleash a polar storm across the Locust Wall and destroy the swarm’s nearby hives, after its evolving tactics caused heavy losses at Abyss City. The Wolf Queen approved the plan, while Lord Qin’s declining experimental clone left him needing to reach Sin Fortress soon.

• The swarm shifted to elite units, spellcasters, and coordinated attacks at Abyss City, gravely wounding the King Without a Home and increasing the Faithful Army’s losses.
• Lord Qin concluded that the swarm was using the Locust Wall battles to accelerate the Scalefather’s evolution and resolved to destroy every hive in the region.
• Lord Qin asked the Wolf Queen to ready the Storm Spire within five days so it could blanket the Locust Wall theater in a polar storm.
• The Wolf Queen approved the deployment but warned that its climate change would be semi-permanent and could affect Gnoll lands.
• Lord Qin sent Murphy his decision, then suffered a sharp kidney pain as his experimental clone entered irreversible decline.

Little Ashina scouted Hive Zero’s vast Gray Desert territory while the expeditionary force planned its next moves. Murphy and the vampires decided to split forces for the Holy Blood Seal, where they hoped to recruit the Madblood Clan by finding its leader, Fato.

• Little Ashina mapped a fringe hive and returned to the Lightchaser after vampires burned it clean.
• Meow Brother and the others criticized Great White Shark for nearly letting a hive lord escape, then learned he was exhausted after nine encounters with the shadow elf boss lady.
• Murphy and Overlord Paine reviewed reconnaissance showing Hive Zero covered more than sixty percent of the Gray Desert and chose a direct route through the swarm.
• Paine proposed sending the vampires to the Holy Blood Seal while the Lightchaser continued toward Hive Zero, and Hathor explained that the bugs could not enter the sealed region.
• Edward revealed that his brother Fato was alive, and Paine explained that blood contracts originated with the Madblood Clan and that Fato could help bring them into the vampire coalition.

Murphy and the vampire expedition reached the Holy Blood Seal, where the Secretblood Clan presented him with the Dark Scabbard. Inside the sealed territory, Murphy discovered the Scarlet Dawn, the lost starship that had belonged to him before its crash a thousand years earlier.

• Murphy explained that the expedition would wait to attack Zero Hive until Operation Winter General drew away part of the swarm, while Lord Paine warned that Chaos might corrupt the Scaled Father.
• Murphy revealed that he could use the Creation Engine to restore the Gray Desert to primordial Order if the swarm fell to Chaos.
• Murphy told Triss and Adele that Lady Lily had warned him not to let Lord Paine enter the seal because Fato was seeking a successor, but he decided to proceed with precautions.
• Hathor opened the Holy Blood Seal and offered Murphy the Dark Scabbard, which he accepted as the vampire dukes and Lord Paine endorsed him as their future leader.
• Lord Paine entered the sealed territory ahead of Murphy, where they found the Scarlet Dawn and Lord Paine told Murphy to reclaim it.

Murphy and his allies reached the Scarlet Dawn, Salok’s ancient starship, and split up to confront the Blood-Maddened vampires and reach the bridge. Murphy opened the bridge with Salok’s key, where the first officer, Solma Lasombra, challenged them for control of the ship.

• Murphy learned the Scarlet Dawn’s history and saw the starship aground in the mountains, where Hathor identified it as the Blood-Maddened Clan’s base.
• The Lord sent Murphy, Triss, Adele, and Shani to the bridge while he led the others toward Fato; Blood-Maddened vampires attacked the group entering the lower deck.
• A Blood-Maddened crew member taunted Femis about Salok abandoning the crew and lunged at her, but Maxim knocked her away.
• Murphy and his companions flew through the ship’s palace-like corridors, noting that the Blood-Maddened vampires had maintained its interior and might have preserved their reason.
• Murphy used Salok’s pocket watch to open the bridge, where Solma Lasombra introduced himself as the first officer and demanded the activation key or a fight.

Murphy activated the Crimson Dawn and began taking command, but the authorization process triggered Losa’s final memory of Eden’s destruction and Fato’s choice to contain the Chaos corruption. After seeing the memory, Murphy ordered the ship to lead the group to the ecological dome so they could fulfill their promise to Fato.

• Triss restrained the weakened Sir Solmar, and Murphy inserted Salokdar’s ignition key to awaken the Crimson Dawn’s systems.
• Solmar ordered Juno to revoke the crew’s acting authority and recognized Murphy as the rightful captain because of Necessary Evil.
• Murphy began transferring command authorization, and the process pulled him and Shani into Losa’s final memory.
• In the memory, Fato urged Salokdar to imprison the Chaos-corrupted vampires, while Losa left Oksana and entrusted Solmar with leading the Blood Vulture forward.
• Murphy emerged from the memory and ordered Juno to lock up the Bloodfiends, open a route to the ecological dome, and guide Paine and the others there.

Murphy secured the Scarlet Dawn and guided Venerable Paien’s party toward Fato, while the vampires uncovered more questions about the Madblood Clan’s origins. The chapter ended with Fato awakening in the ecological dome as Paien and the others approached.

• Both factions rushed for the emergency hatch, but Old Edward, Grand Duke Wolfsbane, and the vampires forced their way aboard and sealed several hundred Madbloods inside.
• Murphy told Venerable Paien that he controlled the starship, had isolated the active Madbloods, and discovered that Fato had kept most of his clan in hibernation.
• Venerable Paien questioned whether Fato had escaped Chaos’s influence and whether the source blood used to create vampires was connected to the Madbloods’ transformation.
• Murphy asked Sister Cement to negotiate with the Explorers over a starship manual in exchange for their aid in the coming war against Chaos.
• Murphy urged Venerable Paien to take command on the bridge, but Paien refused and headed for the ecological dome to meet Fato.
• Fato rose from the blood pool and greeted Paien and Edward as his brothers.

Murphy and the others reached the Madblood cavern, where they discovered that the Origin Blood used by all seven vampire clans came from a pool guarded by the ancient vampire Fato. Fato revealed that Chaos was corrupting him and challenged the newcomers to fight over who would inherit the burden of controlling the Madbloods.

• The Scarlet Dawn's security machines suppressed the roaming Madbloods while Murphy's group advanced toward the ecological dome.
• Triss sensed a force in the dome that preyed on vampires, and Murphy used the Reflection of the Blood River to shield their minds.
• Venerable Paine led the group into the cavern, where Murphy's Long Night's Guard shattered a crimson illusion and revealed thousands of Madbloods worshipping a pool of Origin Blood.
• Venerable Paine called for Fato, who rose from the pool wielding a Chaos Greater Demon's bone greatsword.
• Fato and Venerable Paine discussed the deaths of their ancient kin and the Chaos corruption tied to the Origin Blood.
• Fato said he could no longer contain the corruption and challenged the group to fight, declaring that the survivor would inherit the curse and guard the Madbloods.

Murphy fought Fato and dove into the Sourceblood Pool to investigate the source of its pure blood. After purifying a corrupted civilization tablet, he witnessed a memory revealing that Fato had resisted Chaos’s forced transformation and awakened the Bloodmad Clan’s primal power.

• Fato attacked the Lord, old Edward, and the players while Murphy organized the defense and summoned reinforcements.
• The Lord joined old Edward against Fato, but Fato healed rapidly and overpowered them; the Lord then entered Murphy’s Warlord Armor.
• Murphy dove into the Sourceblood Pool as the Lord, old Edward, and Shani held Fato back, and Shani’s Corrupted Virtue inflicted severe damage on him.
• Murphy found a corrupted Bloodmad Clan civilization tablet at the pool’s bottom and began purifying it with Omega energy.
• Murphy witnessed a memory of Fato refusing a Chaos fiend’s attempt to transform the vampires, then claiming the transformation let him trace his bloodline to the most primal vampires.

Murphy learned that Fato created source blood while trying to control the blood-mad vampires, and concluded that Fato could only be killed by breaking their blood pact. He chose to pursue the Blood Ancestor’s power himself, then gathered the vampire clans’ shards to unify Midnight and overtake Fato.

• Murphy witnessed Fato devour a Chaos demon, use blood pacts to control the blood-mad vampires, and create source blood to ease their hunger.
• Murphy realized Fato’s immortality depended on the blood pact and that someone had to replace him as Lord of the Blood Pact; he decided to take the dangerous path himself rather than let the Lord risk corruption.
• Murphy emerged from the source-blood pool after purifying the shard of Wrath and explained that collecting every clan inheritance could let him reach the Blood Ancestor’s source before Fato.
• Triss and Hathor gave Murphy the Shards of Desire and Dominion, while Baburo, Andre, and Palanno supplied the shards of Greed, Envy, and Pride.
• Murphy took the Shard of Fear from Laura and sent her back to battle as he prepared to unify Midnight.

Murphy began gathering the vampire clans’ inheritances to reach the Blood Ancestor’s power before Fattor could, despite the risk of his bloodline collapsing. After Fattor granted him the final inheritance, Murphy entered a blood cocoon, poised to emerge as the Scarlet Lord.

• Murphy reassembled the seven Original Sin tablets, unleashing ancestral memories that disrupted the vampires and players around him.
• Murphy received the Secret Blood, Blood Pact, Wolfsbane, and Thorn inheritances, while the Midnight Twins’ power kept his unstable bloodline moving toward its source.
• Edward fought Fattor to buy Murphy time, and Claire gave Murphy the Blood Pact Embrace before Adele tossed her aside.
• Murphy witnessed memories of the Night of Godslaying and confronted Fattor, who recognized that Murphy understood the curse of the Blood Ancestor’s power.
• Murphy told Fattor that Oor was safe and missed him, prompting Fattor to remember his past and grant Murphy the final vampire inheritance.
• Murphy’s hemolysis overwhelmed his body, and the Midnight Twins enveloped him in a blood cocoon as he began his transformation.

Murphy transformed into a Blood Ancestor and relived the First Blood Ancestor’s memories of creating vampires, losing control of them, and dying. The First Blood Ancestor offered Murphy its inheritance if he promised to remain and guide the vampires, leaving him to decide whether to put that promise in writing.

• Murphy’s seven-clan inheritance unlocked the Primordial Regression route, began rebuilding his body, and identified him as a Blood Ancestor.
• Pipi Snake warned Murphy that High Justicar Steiner had returned and might disrupt his plans, then guarded Murphy’s cocoon as his transformation began.
• Murphy experienced the First Blood Ancestor’s memories of loneliness, the creation of its three children, and the wars that ended with its death and the vampires’ curse.
• The First Blood Ancestor asked Murphy whether he would repeat its failure to guide its descendants, and Murphy promised to teach and discipline them.
• The First Blood Ancestor offered Murphy the inheritance needed to become the second Blood Ancestor if he stayed in the growing cosmos, then asked him to put that commitment in writing.

Murphy completed his transformation into the Blood Ancestor as the reunited civilization slate landed in his hand. The vampires and players bowed under his overwhelming presence, and Murphy tried to get them back on their feet.

• The players guarded Murphy’s blood cocoon while Hathor explained that it resembled the Blood Ancestor’s Rebirth and that breaking it would be nearly impossible.
• Paine ordered Hathor to reveal and erase records of how to kill a Blood Ancestor, then questioned Fato about Murphy’s transformation and the old experiment involving Constance and Steiner.
• Fato revealed that Perona and the Department of Mysteries had used Lily as a trap against Paine, and said Lily and Luna had been infected by Chaos long before they became Madbloods.
• Fato warned that Lily’s self-destruction was near, then the civilization slate’s seven fragments joined together and called the vampires to reach for it.
• Murphy emerged from the cocoon, caught the restored civilization slate, and accidentally forced everyone nearby to the ground with his aura.
• Pipi Snake told Murphy to rein in his power, and Murphy ordered his subjects and consorts to rise.

Murphy learned that he had become the Blood Progenitor, gaining control over vampires and a unique bond to their strength. He welcomed the Madblood Clan, cleansed Farto of Original Sin’s corruption, and launched the vampires toward the coming war as the Midnight Twins ascended to godhood.

• Murphy inspected his new Blood Progenitor abilities and learned that his power would grow with the vampire civilization.
• Murphy told the Overlord that the Madblood Clan would rejoin the vampires, with Murphy guiding and protecting them.
• Murphy forgave Farto and promised to keep him alive until the Madblood army fought for the Order faction.
• Murphy cleansed Farto with the Omega Program and confronted Original Sin, which withdrew its corruption while warning that the war would spread to other worlds.
• Murphy ordered the vampires to set the Crimson Dawn sailing toward the Life Greenhouse, Hive Zero, the World's Heart, the Astral Plane, and the Warp.
• The Blood River’s reflection spread across the Holy Blood Seal as the Midnight Twins crossed the threshold to godhood.

Steiner persuaded the Scholar to let him offer the Scale-Father the Immortal Lord’s blessing, while the Scholar focused on restarting the Life Greenhouse. As the swarm mobilized toward the Holy Blood Seal, Murphy prepared the Crimson Dawn for takeoff and discovered that his new Blood Progenitor allure affected Shani.

• Steiner visited the Scholar, learned that most of his hosts were dead, and asked permission to approach the Scale-Father with an offer of help.
• The Scholar gave Steiner the key to Hive Zero, and Steiner left a cluster of the Immortal Lord’s strange lights beside the Scale-Father while warning it about Murphy and the Crimson Dawn.
• Steiner’s hint led the Scholar to set the Life Greenhouse parameter to 42, connecting a quarter of its core energy.
• Teacher Li and Niu Niu spotted the swarm flying toward the Holy Blood Seal, but Old Veteran told them to keep clearing hives as the Kallum vanguard headed toward Murphy’s group.
• Aboard the Crimson Dawn, Murphy offered Shani origin blood to free her, and she realized the Blood Progenitor’s allure was influencing her.

The swarm launched a three-dimensional assault on the Holy Blood Sealing Grounds, where the newly empowered vampires and awakened Madblood warriors fought to protect the Scarlet Dawn. As the starship prepared to launch, Prince Bai arrived with the kingly army of Callem to hold back the swarm.

• Big Potato warned the players that the swarm was attacking from the sky and underground, and the vampires used the Blood Ancestor’s blood moon blessings to defend the Sealing Grounds.
• The crew awakened the Madblood Clan and sent its warriors to protect the Scarlet Dawn; Maxim led three teams into a tunnel to fight the burrowing bugs.
• Farto ordered the Bloodbeasts released into the tunnels to wear down the swarm and be buried with the Madbloods’ past.
• Murphy received a call from Old Bai, who promised that his Western Frontier vanguard would buy time for the evacuation.
• Old Bai led dragonborn cavalry, terracotta soldiers, and Yin-Yang adepts against the swarm, crushing the bugs with wind, thunder, and lightning.