Chapter Summaries

Ulasang read the Stone of Oblivion’s latest account of Tang Qi’s actions in Star Plum Town and panicked when he learned Tang Qi had led the townspeople in revolt against a noble. Geya suggested Tang Qi might be more than a poet from their academy.

• Ulasang began writing a new book of apologies when Geya interrupted him with news about the Stone of Oblivion.
• Ulasang read the Journal’s account of Tang Qi’s plan to lead three hundred people out of Star Plum Town and worried that the plan could not succeed.
• The Journal described how Tang Qi killed the noble’s steward and threatened the noble’s servants to break the townspeople’s servility.
• Ulasang feared the account would damage the academy if people learned one of its poets had led a revolt against a noble.
• Geya suggested Tang Qi might be more than simply a poet from the academy.

Ulasang discovered that the manuscript describing a daring bard was written by his former student Tang Qi Weinberg and panicked over the academy’s connection to him. While Ulasang burned the manuscript, Geya secretly copied it, and Tang Qi later praised Catherine’s thighs.

• Ulasang and Geya read Tang Qi Weinberg’s account of his ambitions and spectacular life, then recognized his name.
• Ulasang refused to believe that the capable, resourceful bard was his former student Tang Qi and worried that the manuscript would damage his position and the academy.
• Ulasang burned the manuscript and ordered Geya to destroy any earlier records; Geya said there were none and promised to keep the secret.
• After returning to her dorm, Geya copied the manuscript from memory into a magically locked notebook and wondered about Catherine’s thighs.
• Tang Qi straightened up from Catherine’s lap and said that her thighs really were soft.

Tang Qi led the migrants through the Twilight Forest toward Dragon Gold City and stopped at a clearing for an eight-hour rest. As the group settled in, Tang Qi reviewed his rewards and discovered he had acquired Verbal Abuse by insulting Melard throughout the journey.

• Tang Qi chose a clearing beside a stream for the migrants to camp and told them they would rest for eight hours before traveling again.
• Tang Qi gave the townspeople safety instructions and joked that he would shout for help if a beast attacked him.
• Catherine sold cups of Star Plum Wine for ten copper coins each, despite Old David complaining about the price.
• Gravel told Tang Qi that his insults had left Melard asleep and unwilling to face reality.
• Tang Qi checked his journal, found that he had acquired Verbal Abuse, and laughed at the rewards he had gained since meeting the Beastfolk.

Tang Qi examined the rewards from the Beastfolk Attack event, including improved saber skills, a rare protective ring, and abilities that could inspire and persuade commoners. He discovered that his latest reward was Verbal Abuse, a magical trick for hurling curses at enemies.

• Tang Qi received Proficient Saber and Snake Fang, finding that his combat skills had improved enough to make close combat less of a weakness.
• Tang Qi found that a ring identical to Catherine and Black Snake's pendants had appeared in his inventory with a powerful Protection Spell, and he considered how he might ask Catherine for her ring.
• Tang Qi reviewed Poet's Inspiration and Bearing · Commoner Hero, which had helped him encourage and persuade people during the journey from Star Plum Town.
• Tang Qi received Verbal Abuse, a trick that let him unleash magical insults capable of harming a visible living creature and affecting its next action.

Tang Qi challenged Gravel to a spar to gauge his adventuring ability and tested his new Verbal Abuse spell in the ring. The match began with Gravel's charge, and Tang Qi's spell made Gravel slip again as he tried to counterattack.

• Tang Qi insulted Gravel's height, provoking the Dwarf to kick him, but Gravel slipped into the splits while Tang Qi remained unharmed.
• Tang Qi revealed that his insults could work as a spell and proposed a spar to test it.
• Tang Qi, Gravel, and Kuru went to an open area, where Kuru marked out a ring and Tang Qi and Gravel agreed to a contest with a reasonable request as the prize.
• Gravel took a tower shield and charged Tang Qi, but [Alertness] warned Tang Qi in time for him to dodge.
• Tang Qi countered with Snake Kiss and Verbal Abuse, and Gravel slipped again just as he tried to block the blade.

Tang Qi tested his combat skills against Gravel, provoking the dwarf into destroying their sparring area before they settled their wager as a draw. As they prepared to leave, howling wolves appeared in the mist.

• Gravel used [Earthshaker] and [Shield Charge] against Tang Qi, while Tang Qi relied on [Verbal Abuse] to disrupt him and avoid serious injury.
• Tang Qi pointed out that Gravel had destroyed the marked arena, and they agreed to call their match a draw in exchange for a favor owed and drinks.
• Gravel asked Tang Qi about his rapid improvement, but Tang Qi gave a vague explanation and concealed his secrets.
• A wolf howled in the forest, and Kuru spotted several dark figures in the distant white mist.

Tang Qi and his companions killed a pack of dread wolves in the Twilight Forest, then met Malone, a hunter seeking his missing wolf. Malone revealed that he was cursed with lycanthropy, and Tang Qi and Gravel suspected he had once lived in Star Plum Town.

• Tang Qi, Gravel, and Kuru fought off eight dread wolves, with Gravel shielding the others while Kuru slowed the beasts and Tang Qi struck them down.
• Tang Qi noticed that one of the dead wolves had slimmer bones than the others, and Gravel skinned it before a man called out for his wolf.
• Tang Qi hid the wolf pelt and had Kuru bury the corpse as Malone approached, asking whether they had seen his little gray wolf.
• Malone explained that he had lost contact with his wolf and admitted he was a hunter cursed with lycanthropy.
• Tang Qi and Gravel recognized that Malone's former town might have been Star Plum Town.

Tang Qi and Gravel met a sane, wolf-like hunter searching for his companion, Wolf, then invited him to rest with the camp after he got lost in the mist. When the hunter removed his hood, Catherine and Anbi remained frightened, and he questioned why his story had failed to convince them.

• Tang Qi told the hunter that Star Plum Town had been attacked by Beastfolk and that Father Lynn was safe, while the hunter confirmed he was looking for his ordinary gray wolf, Wolf.
• After the hunter left, Tang Qi and the others secretly carried away and cooked the nine Dread Wolf corpses, sharing the meat with the townspeople.
• Anbi made Green Mushroom Sauce for the wolf meat, and Tang Qi praised her before she noticed that some skewers had burned.
• The hunter returned after getting lost in the mist and asked Tang Qi for a place to rest, so Tang Qi invited him into camp and offered him grilled meat.
• Catherine and Anbi grew more tense as Tang Qi explained the hunter's connection to Father Lynn, and the hunter removed his hood and asked whether his story had not been convincing.

Tang Qi confronted a disguised Spellcaster who had taken the form of Anbi’s father, a hunter who was already dead. After revealing his Transformation Spell, the Spellcaster claimed he had come to the camp to obtain something and asked Tang Qi for a head.

• Tang Qi stepped in front of Anbi and Catherine and challenged the hunter’s suspicious behavior.
• The hunter revealed that Anbi’s father was dead and admitted he had disguised himself to enter the camp.
• Anbi tried to attack the hunter, but Catherine restrained her while Tang Qi sent the civilians back to their tents.
• The hunter transformed into a gaunt, bald man and identified his disguise as a Second Ring Transformation Spell.
• The Spellcaster said he wanted something from the camp and asked Tang Qi to hand over a head.

Tang Qi confronted a necromancer who wanted Catherine’s head for his perfect human-body artwork. When he tried to negotiate her away, Catherine scarred her own face to destroy the perfection the necromancer coveted.

• The necromancer revealed that he had spent five years assembling a perfect body and had targeted Catherine as its final head, luring adventurers into the forest to find suitable parts.
• Tang Qi learned that the necromancer used Transformation and Suggestion spells to take people quietly, and that he offered compensation for body parts when possible.
• The necromancer offered Tang Qi six thousand gold coins for Catherine’s head, but Tang Qi refused and claimed he had promised to get her out safely.
• Catherine asked Tang Qi for Snake Kiss, then slashed her own face before the necromancer could stop her, declaring that her perfect face was gone.

Catherine tried to sacrifice her beauty to stop the Skeleton, but he used Restoration Gel to dismiss her threat and attacked Tang Qi’s group. Tang Qi’s song empowered Gravel to smash the Skeleton’s Shield Spell and crush his skull, though Gravel wondered why cursing Tang Qi made him stronger.

• Catherine threatened to ruin her face, but the Skeleton revealed he had brought Restoration Gel and refused to end the conflict.
• Gravel charged the Skeleton, but his Mage Armor blocked the impact and Electric Claw left him nearly paralyzed.
• The Skeleton summoned a giant hand with Grasp of Earth, while Tang Qi attacked it and Anbi carried Catherine to safety.
• Kuru’s Frozen Ray slowed the giant hand, and Gravel’s shield strike shook the ground and knocked the Skeleton down.
• Tang Qi’s song strengthened Gravel, who broke through the Skeleton’s Shield Spell and crushed his forehead with his mace.
• Gravel questioned why cursing Tang Qi made him stronger, and Tang Qi denied empowering him and told him to finish the Skeleton off.

Tang Qi used Poet’s Inspiration and battlefield knowledge to help Gravel pressure the Necromancer, who finally banished Gravel to escape. The exhausted Necromancer turned toward Tang Qi and Kuru, leaving Tang Qi to offer Wolf’s head in exchange for mercy.

• Tang Qi recognized that Poet’s Inspiration could amplify Gravel’s strength and urged him on by tracking the Necromancer’s remaining Spell Slots.
• The Necromancer targeted Tang Qi, but Gravel charged behind his tower shield while Kuru’s Silent Illusion made the Necromancer waste a Third Ring curse.
• Gravel battered the Necromancer’s Shield Spell, forcing him to spend his remaining Second Ring Spell Slots.
• The Necromancer cast Banishment and made Gravel vanish, then turned his attention to Kuru and Tang Qi.
• Kuru begged for mercy, and Tang Qi asked whether it was too late to hand over Wolf’s head.

Tang Qi used songs and insults to disrupt the Necromancer's concentration while protecting Catherine and Anbi, forcing the spellcaster to flee after his spells ran out. Gravel returned to the camp and helped Tang Qi fight the animated corpses, but the Necromancer escaped into the forest.

• Tang Qi's song roused Kuru, who struck the Necromancer with an ice shard, but the attack failed against a protective barrier.
• The Necromancer drained the life from Mercenaries in a tent, healed his wound, and raised two of them as undead to seize Catherine.
• The Necromancer's Death Knell incapacitated Kuru, while Tang Qi ordered Anbi to protect Catherine and used his insults to disrupt the spellcaster's concentration.
• Tang Qi used a Protection Spell to shield Catherine, and Anbi drew the undead away from her.
• The Necromancer summoned a Phantom Steed and fled after ordering the undead to stop Tang Qi.
• Gravel returned from Banishment, smashed one undead corpse, and learned that Tang Qi had driven off the Fourth Ring Spellcaster by insulting him.

After surviving a necromancer’s attack, Tang Qi persuaded Melard to help track the enemy through the misty forest. Guided by Anbi’s sense of smell and Melard’s Construct, the group reached a glowing grove that appeared to contain a temple.

• Tang Qi’s group tied up the resilient walking corpse, woke Melard, and convinced him to help find the attacker by promising he could become a hero.
• Tang Qi assigned Father Lynn to guard the camp and Old David to keep stabbing the corpse, then set out with Gravel, Catherine, Anbi, and Melard.
• Anbi followed the scent of the attacker while Melard controlled the Construct, whose eye led the riders through the disorienting mist.
• The group rode north for about two hours, following the Construct and avoiding further trouble in the forest.
• Anbi announced they had arrived at a glowing grove, and Tang Qi saw what looked like a temple ahead.

Tang Qi and his companions followed a trail to a ruined Temple, where they found no sign of the person they sought until Melard spotted a hidden mechanism. The mechanism began moving a glass pane in the ceiling, leaving them poised to discover what the Temple concealed.

• Tang Qi, Catherine, Anbi, Melard, Gravel, and Kuru reached a ruined Temple surrounded by glowing flowers, where Anbi's scent trail ended.
• Tang Qi and the others searched the Temple's rubble-strewn interior but found no living quarters or obvious secret doors.
• Tang Qi read the damaged inscription at the statue's feet as a reference to Losanda, the Lord of Dawn.
• Melard spotted something hidden on the ceiling, and Kuru's wand revealed concealed glass panes and compartments in the Temple's pillars.
• Tang Qi checked a bronze handle for traps and turned it, causing gears to scrape as Melard noticed one of the glass panes move.

Tang Qi and his companions used the temple’s glass panes to focus moonlight onto the broken statue’s “Dawn” inscription, revealing four sacred inscriptions on the pillars. After Tang Qi praised Dawn by reciting lines matching those inscriptions, his body vanished from his perception and he encountered a spectral soul that called him “Poet.”

• Tang Qi and his companions raised the glass panes in the pillars, with Kuru climbing onto Gravel so they could reach the mechanism.
• Tang Qi realized the panes could refract moonlight and, with the others’ help, directed a beam onto the “Dawn” inscription at the statue’s feet.
• Four inscriptions appeared on the pillars: “Actions Speak Louder Than Words,” “Fearless Challenge,” “Temper the Body,” and “Fortify the Soul.”
• Tang Qi alone heard a voice saying “Praise me” and inferred that the inscriptions guided what he should say to the statue.
• Tang Qi recited a line of praise for each inscription, then lost awareness of his physical body and saw a spectral soul call him “Poet.”

Tang Qi met [Dawn], the hero whose soul was preserved beneath the tomb, and learned that a necromancer was preparing the body of a false god whose seal was weakening. After Tang Qi agreed to clear the tomb in exchange for its buried treasures, [Dawn] opened the passage and gave him a way to summon her if needed.

• Tang Qi spoke with [Dawn], who explained that she had died fighting a false god and that her soul had been kept in the tomb to contain its remains.
• [Dawn] told Tang Qi that the tomb's entrance opened only when someone praised her, though she denied requesting the condition.
• Tang Qi learned that the necromancer's planned corpse was meant to complete the false god's body and that the seal was close to breaking.
• [Dawn] offered Tang Qi the treasures buried with her in exchange for dealing with the danger, and he agreed.
• [Dawn] taught Tang Qi an incantation to summon her, then the statue shifted aside to reveal a passage underground.

Deis recovered from psychic damage and prepared to rest in his corpse-filled tomb, hoping to master soul magic and find a soul. When Gravel triggered his alarm and charged in, Deis summoned a giant from the corpses to confront him.

• Deis drank a Pressure Potion to ease his psychic wounds, then inspected the headless body on his stone platform.
• Deis lay down among the corpses to sleep and recover his mental energy, dreaming of finding a soul through soul magic.
• An Alarm Spell woke Deis, who rushed to his workshop and grabbed an enormous skull after realizing he had forgotten his spells.
• Gravel charged into the tomb with his tower shield, and Deis hurled the skull among the corpses and chanted an incantation.
• The corpses began writhing as a gigantic mass of flesh rose, and Gravel's Shield Charge struck it and sent him flying backward.

Gravel, Tang Qi, Kuru, and Anbi fought Deis and his Zombie Meatball in the tomb, and Tang Qi summoned Aiyer Dawn to defeat them. Tang Qi then realized the ritual had been meant to bind Dawn’s soul, and confronted him as Dawn asked how he had discovered the truth.

• Gravel climbed the Zombie Meatball and smashed its skull, exposing Deis, while Tang Qi and Kuru tried to attack the necromancer.
• Deis began a ritual at the stone platform, but Anbi tackled him and interrupted his incantation.
• Tang Qi reached the broken sword and summoned Aiyer Dawn, whose radiant blade killed Deis and split the Zombie Meatball in two.
• Tang Qi attacked Dawn after realizing the ritual had targeted Dawn’s soul rather than a false god.
• Dawn blocked Tang Qi’s strike and asked how he had figured out the ritual’s true purpose.

Tang Qi uncovered Dawn’s true motive for luring him into the tomb: she wanted to be recorded on the Stone of Oblivion, not to take Catherine’s head. After Dawn swore she meant him no harm, Tang Qi agreed to discuss the matter later and asked her to cover her exposed body.

• Tang Qi explained that he had recognized Dawn’s deception because her supposed praise verse had not activated the magic circle through musical vibrations.
• Dawn defended her actions as a pursuit of glory and future atonement, and Tang Qi concluded that her goals made him relatively safe from her.
• Dawn refused Tang Qi’s offer to part ways, then clarified that she had wanted him brought to the tomb rather than Catherine.
• Dawn revealed that Tang Qi carried the aura of the Stone of Oblivion, and that she had hoped to have her achievements recorded on it.
• Dawn clasped Tang Qi’s hand and swore she had never intended to hurt him, while Tang Qi asked her to put on clothes.