Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xu agreed to continue the Watchers Guild’s expedition in exchange for two items from the Mage Tower. On the third day, Frost Sword revealed that they had to find Mage Errol’s notebook in a stone chamber beneath a swamp before they could safely enter the tower, and Zhao Xu recognized its connection to the Errol Family’s departure from Mystra.

• Frost Sword considered whether to abandon the expedition after the goblins and trolls’ coordinated attack, but asked Zhao Xu if he would continue despite the danger.
• Zhao Xu agreed to proceed and negotiated the right to choose two items from the Mage Tower.
• The Watchers Guild salvaged equipment from the defeated enemies and continued through the jungle, reaching a swamp on the third day.
• Frost Sword revealed that the map led to a stone chamber beneath the swamp containing Mage Errol’s notebook, which described the Mage Tower’s construction and safeguards.
• Zhao Xu recalled the Errol name and realized the notebook had remained hidden because the Mage Errol had died during the turmoil a hundred years earlier, prompting his family to leave Mystra.

Zhao Xu helped Frost Sword’s party raise a hidden stone well from the mud and descend into a sealed chamber, where he removed a trap blocking the inner door. He then revealed that he was a Senior Investigator of the Rose Cross and opened an investigation connected to the secret temple, leaving the others wondering what larger mystery they had uncovered.

• Frost Sword’s party sent Rogues into the mud to locate the stone platform, and Zhao Xu enlarged Dao Zhi so he could reach and unlock it.
• A cylindrical stone well rose from the mud, and Frost Sword led a group, including Zhao Xu, down into a hidden chamber.
• Two Rogues failed to disable the trap on the chamber’s stone door, so Zhao Xu used Phantom Trap to transfer the mechanism onto his backpack.
• Zhao Xu identified himself as Whirlwind, Senior Investigator of the Rose Cross, and announced an investigation connected to the secret temple.

Zhao Xu joined Frost Sword’s party in exploring a hidden hall, where his knowledge of Phantom Trap earned the players’ trust. Detect Secret Door revealed a sealed cellar that required Errol family blood to open safely, leaving the group searching for a way past its magical protection.

• Zhao Xu identified the vanished lock trap as Phantom Trap and explained how casting another Phantom Trap could replace it.
• Two Rogues unlocked the stone door, and the party entered a large, empty hall to search for hidden passages.
• Zhao Xu and Chen Nuo detected a cellar beneath a floor tile, but Chen Nuo learned that only an Errol descendant’s blood could remove its seal safely.
• Chen Nuo warned that unevenly breaking the tile would trigger a mechanism and collapse the shaft behind them.
• The party considered spells and tools to open the cellar, but none seemed suitable, while Zhao Xu worried about explaining his unusual spell preparation.

Zhao Xu used Shatter Ground to uncover a hidden cellar containing a lead box and an ancient notebook about a Mage Tower. The notebook repeatedly escaped Frost Sword and flew to Zhao Xu, leaving everyone stunned as it seemed to recognize him as its owner.

• Zhao Xu cast Shatter Ground, pulverizing the stone floor and revealing a concealed cellar entrance.
• Two Rogues checked for traps and lifted a lead box containing a black-covered notebook.
• A Rogue read the warning on the box, and Frost Sword opened it and carried the notebook to Zhao Xu.
• The notebook broke free from Frost Sword and flew into Zhao Xu’s hands, though Zhao Xu denied using Mage Hand and returned it.
• The notebook escaped Frost Sword again and landed before Zhao Xu after forcibly dragging him toward it.

After the team found a notebook pointing to a Mage Tower beneath Mirror Moon Lake, Zhao Xu and Frost Sword debated who should carry it safely. Their argument was interrupted when the Soul Prisoner Demon detected weapons clashing in the forest ahead.

• The team sealed the notebook in a Lead Box, and Zhao Xu suspected it was drawn to his own notebook because his copy had become 2/7.
• Zhao Xu learned the Mage Tower lay beneath Mirror Moon Lake, a day's journey away near Sunset Peak Valley.
• Frost Sword asked Zhao Xu to carry the Lead Box, explaining that his survival would help keep the notebook from being lost if the guild leader died.
• Zhao Xu declined and explained that Corpse Preservation could delay Frost Sword's resurrection, but he remained unwilling to take the box.
• The Soul Prisoner Demon heard weapons clashing beyond the mugwort, and the group turned toward the sound.

Zhao Xu’s group rescued four players from goblins, but the newcomers later ambushed him to steal his Magic Items. Zhao Xu survived their attack and prepared a punishment that left the attackers unable to resurrect, prompting outrage across the forums.

• Frost Sword’s Watchers Guild defeated the goblins threatening a four-player party and told them they had gone the wrong way while searching for Moonlight Grass.
• The Bard captain recognized the Watchers Guild and asked to bring his party’s Wizard to Zhao Xu for help identifying a scroll.
• The Rogue revealed a dagger hidden in the scroll, and all four players attacked Zhao Xu in an attempt to steal his Magic Items.
• Zhao Xu cast Mirror Image with his instant-cast scepter, while Adventurers Guild members restrained the attackers.
• The Rogue admitted he had repeatedly ambushed novice Wizards and boasted that his Resurrection Stones would let him return after death.
• Zhao Xu asked Frost Sword to clear an area, and forum posts soon reported that the attackers had been killed and could not resurrect.

Zhao Xu used a Soul Prisoner Demon to kill the four players who had ambushed him and imprison their souls, then rejoined the Watchers Guild as they continued toward the Mage Tower. The guild members believed his revenge was incomplete, unaware that he had already destroyed the players’ souls.

• Zhao Xu cast Cloud Mist Spell to block the Watchers Guild’s view of the four captured players.
• Zhao Xu summoned the Soul Prisoner Demon to imprison the Rogue’s soul, preventing him from being resurrected.
• The Soul Prisoner Demon imprisoned the remaining three players and consumed their souls as it used its Spell-like Abilities.
• Zhao Xu looted the players’ equipment, destroyed their corpses, and returned to the Watchers Guild.
• Snow questioned Zhao Xu about his Undead Creature, while Frost Sword promised to pursue the attackers after they returned to Mystra.
• Zhao Xu said he had already taken revenge, and the guild members laughed without realizing the players’ souls had been destroyed.

Zhao Xu opened the third notebook and learned that its instructions for the Mage Tower were partly encoded, then returned to Earth and used Dongcheng Ling’s forum post to explain soul imprisonment and turn public opinion against the four players who had accused him. After mapping the sites connected to the notebooks and other discoveries, he noticed a pattern and realized how they were connected.

• Zhao Xu’s group read the third notebook and found that its instructions for entering the Mage Tower were clear, but its details were encrypted with a key hidden inside the tower.
• After logging off, Zhao Xu learned that four players unable to revive had blamed him on the forum, while Zhang Qi angrily complained about the game’s rules.
• Forty witnesses testified about the incident, but the debate over whether Arthur should allow such killings continued as influencers and high-level players weighed in.
• Zhao Xu published a post as Dongcheng Ling explaining ways souls could be imprisoned or destroyed and how players could escape some methods, calming the forum debate and boosting her account’s popularity.
• Zhao Xu marked the Mage Tower, the notebooks, and other related sites on a map, then recognized a connection among their locations.

Zhao Xu and the Watchers Guild traveled to Mirror Moon Lake to search for a Mage Tower, but a Dire Bear attacked as they approached. Zhao Xu set his Soul Prisoner Demon on the bear and prepared to use a spell to control it.

• The Watchers Guild set out for Mirror Moon Lake, where Zhao Xu planned to lead them underwater in search of a Mage Tower.
• Dao Zhi and Kelu asked Zhao Xu about his Soul Prisoner Demon, and he explained that spellcasters could control Undead Creatures based on their caster level.
• The guild reached Xifeng Valley and spotted a Dire Bear fleeing toward Mirror Moon Lake, so Frost Sword ordered the group to pursue and restrain it.
• The Wizards enlarged the Fighters and Barbarians, who managed to hold the Dire Bear until Zhao Xu sent his Soul Prisoner Demon to fight it for soul energy.
• Zhao Xu abandoned his plan to weaken the bear and began casting the second-ring necromancy spell Ghost Hand to control it.

Zhao Xu used Chill Touch to paralyze a dire bear, enabling the Soul Prisoner Demon to kill it and absorb its energy. After the group reached Mirror Moon Lake and prepared to log off, Zhao Xu noticed the white rabbit the Rogue had found and suspected something was wrong.

• Zhao Xu used Knowledge Piety and a Ghost Hand to deliver Chill Touch, reducing the dire bear's Dexterity to zero and paralyzing it.
• The Soul Prisoner Demon repeatedly attacked the helpless dire bear until it failed a save and died, gaining 60 points of energy from its soul.
• The Soul Prisoner Demon used some of its energy to cast True Sight on Zhao Xu, while Frost Sword's group salvaged valuable parts from the bear.
• Zhao Xu's group reached Mirror Moon Lake, where Frost Sword asked whether everyone should log off together to eat dinner; Zhao Xu agreed.
• A Rogue found a snow-white rabbit, and Zhao Xu scanned the surroundings before warning that wild rabbits did not have snow-white fur.

Zhao Xu warned the Watchers Guild that magical surveillance could expose their plans, then discovered a white rabbit was being used to spy on them. He began a countermeasure that let Frost Sword communicate without speaking, leaving the group to see how they could evade their watchers.

• After searching the lake’s surroundings, Frost Sword asked Zhao Xu to discuss the underwater expedition, and Zhao Xu warned that they might be under magical surveillance.
• Zhao Xu demonstrated his Ring of Invisibility and explained that enemies could use disguises, invisibility, or monitoring spells to spy on them.
• Zhao Xu detected lingering magic on the white rabbit and identified it as a likely target of the Share Body spell, used to listen through the animal’s senses.
• The group considered ways to communicate secretly, but Zhao Xu and Chen Nuo explained that spoken and written messages could still be understood through magic.
• Zhao Xu chanted over a length of copper wire, and Frost Sword’s voice reached the group’s minds without him speaking aloud.

Zhao Xu and the Watchers Guild searched Mirror Moon Lake repeatedly but failed to find the missing Mage Tower, and a Divination Spell warned that continuing would bring misfortune. Frost Sword decided to abandon the search and offered Zhao Xu the notebook and information, while Antinoa urged him to accept.

• Zhao Xu cast Water Breathing for the first group, but their search of the lakebed found no trace of the Mage Tower.
• Zhao Xu expanded the search to more guild members, yet repeated dives still found nothing.
• Frost Sword spent the guild's remaining Water Breathing scrolls on a final search, which also failed.
• The guild's Cleric used Divination Spell and revealed Misfortune, so Frost Sword decided to give up the search.
• Frost Sword offered Zhao Xu the Lead Box containing the notebook and the Mage Tower information, and Antinoa told him to agree.

Zhao Xu learned that Antinoa owned Xifeng Valley and had hidden Errol’s Mage Tower thirty kilometers beneath Mirror Moon Lake. After Antinoa confirmed Zhao Xu could claim the tower if he excavated it, she told him to return to Mystra, advance to level six, and prepare for the expedition.

• Zhao Xu paid Frost Sword and the Watchers Guild players to buy out their information about the Mage Tower, and they swore not to reveal the area’s secrets.
• Antinoa revealed that Xifeng Valley was her fief and explained that she had buried Errol’s Mage Tower thirty kilometers beneath the lake.
• Antinoa confirmed that Zhao Xu had theoretically acquired ownership of the tower by buying out the players who had received Errol’s descendant’s permission.
• Zhao Xu considered using a Teleportation Spell and Sol’s Stone-Walking to reach the tower, and Antinoa said it contained at least high-ring spell scrolls.
• Antinoa told Zhao Xu to return to Mystra, research the tower, reach level six, and take a teaching position before exploring; she pointed out that he already had the notebook needed to advance.

Zhao Xu researched Errol Lytton and the vanished Cloud Tower to prepare for teleporting to the Mage Tower, while weighing when to use his notebooks’ level-up effects. He learned that Lynch’s secret-treasure association had records about the tower, but Lynch demanded payment before lending them.

• Zhao Xu studied biographies in the Hall of Biographies to learn about the ninth-ring mage Errol Lytton and the history of his Mage Tower.
• Zhao Xu considered his plans to improve his Knowledge ranks and save the notebooks’ level-up effects for before transmigration.
• Lynch recognized Zhao Xu’s interest in the Cloud Tower and explained that it had belonged to Errol Lytton and crashed near Mystra a century earlier.
• Lynch revealed that he was vice president of the Mystra Lost Secret Treasure Search Association and that the group tracked the Cloud Tower’s crash site.
• Zhao Xu asked to borrow the association’s Cloud Tower records, and Lynch requested payment.

Zhao Xu visited Wizard Lynch, whose attitude shifted after he examined Zhao Xu’s Third-ring Mage badge, then joined Antinoa to observe the Mage Association activate a passage between Arthurian World and Earth. The ritual reached its seventh mithral panel before Zhao Xu’s connection to Arthurian World was severed.

• Zhao Xu showed Wizard Lynch his Mage Association badge, and Lynch became suddenly deferential after seeing that Zhao Xu was a Third-ring Mage.
• Lynch arranged for Zhao Xu to retrieve a file from the association the day after tomorrow and gave him his contact information and address.
• Antinoa brought Zhao Xu to a research hall beneath the Hall of Truth, where high-ranking wizards prepared a ritual to open a temporary passage to another multiverse.
• Antinoa explained that the ritual would materialize a passage using an existing Energy Channel between Arthurian World and Earth.
• The ritual lit the first seven mithral panels, and Zhao Xu’s connection to Arthurian World was severed.

Players across Arthur were abruptly disconnected, and Zhao Xu wondered whether his observation of the Earth Universe passage ritual had caused it. A pinned notice announced a forty-eight-hour shutdown, leaving Zhao Xu relieved and wondering what he would do if he transmigrated into Arthur as a commoner.

• Across Arthur, players blurred away and received messages saying their connection had been severed with a pending relogin cooldown.
• Zhao Xu found that he could not reconnect and watched forum posts fill with questions about the sudden shutdown.
• Zhao Xu discussed the disconnect with Wang Ningwei and Acevishi, who wondered whether Arthur was a real world and why the association seemed to be assessing Acevishi.
• Zhao Xu saw a pinned notice from Hall of Creation announcing that Arthur would shut down for forty-eight hours.
• Zhao Xu posted a forum question asking what people would do if they discovered they had transmigrated into Arthur as a commoner.

During Arthur’s shutdown, Zhao Xu attended a concert and reunited with Zheng Xinyun, whom he had known in his previous life. He gave her an Arthur activation code and a prayer incantation, and after she recited it, he felt a sudden shock as he walked away.

• Zhao Xu attended the concert and searched the crowd for Zheng Xinyun before finding her in the sports center’s backstage restroom.
• Zhao Xu struck up a conversation with Zheng Xinyun by naming her favorite songs and singing a lyric they both loved.
• Zhao Xu predicted the next song, gave Zheng Xinyun an Arthur activation code with a prayer incantation, and disappeared into the crowd.
• Zheng Xinyun heard the predicted song, scanned the incantation, and silently recited the Common Tongue prayer.
• Zhao Xu felt as though electricity had shocked him but kept walking without turning around.

Zhao Xu reflected on his growing ability to connect Arthur and Earth, then published a guide explaining why Magic Items could not make Fighters equal to Wizards. After returning to his dorm, he discovered that his login countdown had reached zero and he could reconnect to Arthur ahead of other players.

• Zhao Xu sensed a powerful connection with Zheng Xinyun when she recited his Prayer Incantation, and he became certain she would eventually enter Arthur.
• On the subway, Zhao Xu listened to two players argue about whether Fighters with enough Magic Items could defeat Wizards, then drafted a forum post explaining the limits of Magic Items.
• Zhao Xu published his guide under his forum identity, Dongcheng Ling, just as the arguing players proposed asking Dongcheng Ling to settle their dispute.
• Zhao Xu returned to his dorm, ate, and went to bed while Arthur remained offline until the connection cooldown ended.
• Zhao Xu put on his helmet and saw that his login countdown read 00:00:00, allowing him to connect directly to Arthur.

Zhao Xu logged back into Arthur after the Energy Channel partially recovered, becoming the sole online player and drawing attention across the forums. At the Mysterious Research Facility, Antinoa explained that his psychic items had destabilized the channel and that a resonance tied to Zheng Xinyun’s prayer had restarted it.

• Zhao Xu decided to log in despite suspecting that the Energy Channel had been cut off because of his presence and unusual power.
• His login changed the player count from zero to one, and players noticed the count on the login screen and flooded the forums with screenshots.
• Zhao Xu regained consciousness at the Mysterious Research Facility, where Antinoa and the other researchers had gathered to investigate the channel’s recovery.
• Antinoa told Zhao Xu that his Time Rewind Amulet and Energy Suppression Hide had destabilized the channel, and that researchers had patched the flaw while giving him special access.
• Antinoa warned Zhao Xu that abusing the channel to bring his projection to Earth could leave him unable to return to Arthur.
• Zhao Xu realized the channel had begun resonating at the same time Zheng Xinyun recited a prayer that stirred the divine power within him.

After leaving the research site, Zhao Xu returned to the Obelisk Tower, where Antinoa assigned him three staggered teaching posts and hinted at the larger responsibilities he would face. He asked what would happen if the players’ channel never reopened, and Antinoa promised to find him; meanwhile, players on the forums speculated that an epic quest had triggered a version update.

• Zhao Xu and Antinoa left the stalled research and returned to the Obelisk Tower.
• Antinoa gave Zhao Xu teaching posts at the Floating City, the Church of the Goddess, and the Civilian Academy, explaining that they would connect him with Mystra’s middle strata.
• Zhao Xu considered whether Antinoa’s assignments prepared him for leadership or brought him closer to divinity, and Antinoa confirmed both intentions.
• Zhao Xu asked what would happen if the channel connecting players to the game could not reopen, and Antinoa said she would come find him and set Legendary status or helping her seize a layer of the Abyss as graduation.
• Players on the forums noticed that the online user count was one and speculated that a player’s epic storyline quest had triggered a version update.