Chapter Summaries

Xia Lin investigated a strange wail aboard the Tranquil and Peaceful and became suspicious of the neighboring leather ship, the Sea Serpent. He discovered evidence linking it to the Sialiche Empire, then noticed a familiar-looking crystal in a sailor’s hand.

• Xia Lin learned that the wail had plagued the Tranquil and Peaceful for months and often sounded during mealtimes.
• Xia Lin questioned a Sea Serpent sailor about leather trading and grew suspicious when he could not answer basic questions.
• Xia Lin appraised the Sea Serpent’s disciplined boatswain and noticed the ship’s missing figurehead and signs of inland-water travel.
• Xia Lin distracted the boatswain with Sera and secretly found a statue of Asmodeus beneath a tarp on the Sea Serpent.
• Xia Lin returned to the Tranquil and Peaceful as Sera warned him the boatswain was coming back, then saw the sailor tossing a familiar-looking crystal.

Emily Toremo took the Mage Tower’s assessment in hopes of becoming a First Circle Mage and earning a salary supplement. She passed with an unconventional answer to the final test and left with her new badge.

• Emily struggled through the rune identification and cantrip control tests, then faced Borog’s proposed physical challenge.
• Fitzna replaced Borog’s challenge with a test in which Emily had to identify a truth-teller and a liar by asking each one question.
• Emily asked the two apprentices for their Mana Card passwords, prompting the liar to expose himself and the truth-teller to admit his identity.
• The examiners laughed at Emily’s unusual solution and declared that she had passed.
• Emily left with her First Circle Mage Badge, looking forward to her increased allowance and a mushroom pie at the Dwarf Stew Pot.

Xia Lin and Sera discovered that the Sea Serpent was a Sialichean slave ship carrying children for devil worship rituals. As the ship prepared to escape, Xia Lin moved to delay it while Sera went to alert the city guard.

• Xia Lin recognized a crystal on a sailor as the one he had given a boy in Galt and suspected the ship was trafficking children.
• Sera sent her Abyssal Pseudo Dragon into the Sea Serpent to investigate its hold.
• Alva prayed in a hidden chapel, interpreted a series of omens as a warning that his crew had been exposed, and ordered the ship to sail immediately.
• Sera learned that the hold contained thirteen sedated children and two flayed bodies, which the crew had used to make devil contracts.
• Xia Lin ordered Sera to alert the city guard and seal the harbor entrance while he went to delay the Sea Serpent.

Xia Lin pursued the Sea Serpent, a slaver ship carrying kidnapped children, and used magic to trap it in a whirlpool. After terrifying its crew and rescuing the Boy from Galt from immediate danger, Xia Lin emerged on deck and gave the slavers a choice: jump overboard or be thrown in.

• Xia Lin borrowed Captain Reed’s Sailor’s Blessing Talisman and plunged into the harbor to catch the departing Sea Serpent.
• Xia Lin used a Fog Cloud scroll to create a whirlpool around the ship’s rudder and immobilize it.
• Alva Salvatore sent Rat and then Thomas to investigate the fog, and both men were dragged into the water by an unseen attacker.
• Alva brought the Boy from Galt onto the deck and threatened to kill him to force the attacker to appear.
• Xia Lin shot a sailor with an arrow, leapt from the fog onto the deck with a lightning-charged sword, and ordered the crew to jump overboard or be thrown in.

After finishing the Wrath of Justice DLC, the narrator imagined a Captain distributing loot to the party before setting off on a new adventure. The Good Buddy complained about being overlooked, while the cat secretly thought about how overpowered its build was.

• The Captain celebrated the party's victory and claimed the honor of distributing the loot.
• The Captain gave the Paladin loot as the party's tank and Empress.
• The Captain gave a weapon to the Elf Ranger and a Secret Treasure to the Witch.
• The Good Buddy protested that he had taken a knife for the Captain but received no reward.
• The Dwarf told the Good Buddy they could save the world by sleeping at camp.
• The Captain announced their departure, while the cat privately thought its build was ridiculously overpowered.

Xia Lin attacked Alva Salvatore and the sailors aboard the ship, rescuing the Boy and forcing the crew to flee into the river. After wounding Alva in their duel, Xia Lin drove him toward a desperate escape attempt toward the hatch where the children were held.

• Xia Lin snatched the Boy from Alva and used a glowing ring to send him safely to the opposite riverbank.
• Xia Lin revealed himself as a Magic Warrior, pierced Alva's shield, and killed three sailors with lightning.
• The surviving sailors jumped overboard, leaving Alva alone to face Xia Lin.
• Xia Lin wounded Alva in the abdomen and then charred his face during their duel.
• Alva used [Momentum Slash] to force Xia Lin back half a step, then charged toward the hatch leading to the children.

Eleven-year-old Toby survived captivity aboard a slavers’ ship by clinging to Mia’s promise that someone would save them. A mysterious swordsman killed their captors and freed the children, leaving Toby to realize Mia’s promise had come true.

• Toby learned the rules of survival from Mia, who was taken away and killed by the man who skinned children for their hides.
• Toby kept one of Mia’s finger bones and used it as a flute to signal for help, while the other children helped him hide the sound from the guards.
• After a new boy named Gal arrived, the ship stopped amid a commotion, and a guard dragged Gal away while trembling about the Sea Ghost.
• The children heard a fierce fight on deck, followed by screams, splashes, and the arrogant leader’s frightened voice.
• The bloodied man who had killed Mia entered the hold, but a swordsman with an electrically charged blade cut off his head before he could reach Toby.
• The swordsman told Toby that he and the other children were safe, and Toby wept with relief while clutching Mia’s bone.

After rescuing children from the Sea Serpent, Xia Lin and Sera dealt with New Stefan’s guards and accepted a reward for their help. As Xia Lin complained that the payment was too small, Sera’s Abyssal Pseudo Dragon revealed a valuable pocket watch it had found.

• City guards rescued the children from the Sea Serpent and arrested the surviving sailors.
• Sera criticized the guards’ slow response, and Xia Lin worried about the children’s ordeal.
• Gregory Vanderheim thanked Xia Lin and Sera, then asked them to keep the trafficking and devil worship secret while the city pursued the conspirators.
• Xia Lin agreed on the condition that the children received care and the culprits were caught, and Gregory offered a Bronze-rank commendation and fifty gold coins.
• Xia Lin complained that the reward did not cover his expenses, and the Abyssal Pseudo Dragon dropped a gold-and-platinum pocket watch into his hand.

Xia Lin examined a precision pocket watch from Numelia, then met Kade, who had grown stronger after his prayers. After hearing about the rescued children, Kade asked Xia Lin for money to pay the Temple of New Stefan’s fees, and the group headed to the Temple District before collecting their promised compensation.

• Xia Lin appraised a nonmagical pocket watch from Numelia and rewarded Little Shadow with jerky for its spoils.
• Xia Lin and Sera found Kade waiting outside the Adventurer's Guild in new Holy Light Armor, and Xia Lin appraised his improved paladin abilities.
• Xia Lin told Kade about the devil worshippers' slave ship and the rescued children, and Kade condemned the crime and urged the city to fund their care.
• Kade admitted that the Temple of New Stefan charged gold for prayers and other religious services, so he needed money.
• Xia Lin gave Kade two gold coins and proposed that the group visit the Temple District before collecting the fifty hush-money coins.

Xia Lin explored New Stefan’s extravagant Temple District, where temples sold blessings and religious services like attractions at a fair. At a neglected shrine to a forgotten deity, he appraised an ancient statue and encountered a mysterious old figure.

• Xia Lin, Kade, and Sera toured the Temple District and saw priests selling blessings, souvenirs, and services.
• Kade went into Iomedae’s cathedral to handle an offering matter while Xia Lin explored the other temples and Sera rested.
• Xia Lin bought several minor blessings and services, including a luck effect from the Goddess of Luck and a soul weighing at Farazma’s temple.
• Xia Lin discovered a dilapidated, unmarked shrine and used Item Appraisal on its statue, which was identified as an Ancient Stool belonging to a forgotten deity.
• An old, hunched figure carrying an elm staff and an empty birdcage asked Xia Lin if something was the matter.

Xia Lin visited a dilapidated temple and learned from its elderly Priest that it honored the nameless God of Possibility, also called the God of Fantasy. After the Priest lamented the loss of imagination among believers, he asked Xia Lin for a favor.

• Xia Lin appraised the elderly Priest and discovered that he was a level 3 Priest whose faith was unknown.
• The Priest explained that his god had no fixed name or form and took shape through each believer’s imagination.
• The Priest described how the temple’s believers had once imagined the god using mirrors, paper, or clay, but had stopped trusting their own imaginations.
• Xia Lin sarcastically suggested that the God of Fantasy had given up because the Priest’s believers lacked imagination, causing the Priest to grow agitated.
• As Xia Lin tried to leave, the Priest stopped him and asked him for a favor.

Xia Lin accepted a quest from an enigmatic Priest to find his missing Dream Weaver Bird in the sewers, taking a magical ring as an advance payment. After Xia Lin left, the Priest hinted that his arrival could alter a long-slumbering dream and reshape the future.

• The Priest asked Xia Lin to search for his missing Dream Weaver Bird and offered him Weaver's Caress as an advance payment.
• The Priest explained that the bird had fled into the sewers near the Temple District after being chased by a cat, and gave Xia Lin a drawing of it.
• Xia Lin questioned why the Priest had chosen him, then accepted the quest and learned that the sewer entrance was at the maintenance station to the east.
• After Xia Lin left, the Priest spoke of a forgotten chess piece, a splitting possibility, and a dream that might awaken.

Xia Lin reunited with Kade and Sera at the Iomedae Cathedral, where Kade’s popularity had earned him payment for handing out pamphlets. Xia Lin then told them about the Dream Weaver Bird and set the group to finding it before dark.

• Xia Lin reminded himself not to look down on small jobs or modest profits and headed for the Iomedae Cathedral.
• Xia Lin found Kade distributing religious pamphlets to a crowd of admirers, while Sera showed him a newspaper report that falsely described the Sea Serpent disaster as an accident.
• Xia Lin read the newspaper’s stories about the city, including gossip about the Sword Duke, before Kade joined him and handed him three gold coins he had earned at the temple.
• Xia Lin told Kade and Sera about the dilapidated temple and the Dream Weaver Bird, gave Sera the [Weaver's Caress] to hold, and proposed finding the bird before dark.

Xia Lin, Kade, and Sera followed sewer rats through New Stefan’s underground maze and discovered a hidden camp holding the Dream Weaver Bird and a mysterious cat. The group realized the masked camp’s altar and oversized cage pointed to a threat beyond animal smuggling.

• Xia Lin, Kade, and Sera entered the sewers through a twisted iron grate and found an immense maze of pipes and passages.
• Xia Lin used Ilyara’s Call of the Wild to communicate with sewer rats, and an older gray rat led them to a hidden entrance.
• Xia Lin opened a secret passage after Kade identified a blasphemous full moon symbol on its iron plate.
• The group reached a drained underground reservoir converted into a guarded camp occupied by people in black robes and blank bone masks.
• Xia Lin spotted the caged Dream Weaver Bird and a silver-marked white cat, while Kade drew attention to a ritual altar and a large empty cage meant for people.

Xia Lin, Sera, and Kade attacked a werewolf cult’s ritual camp after a masked swordswoman named Felicia Starlight intervened. They killed the Wolfblood High Priest and routed the cultists, but four Adamantine Gates suddenly sealed the camp.

• Xia Lin identified Jezelda’s altar and spotted the cultists preparing a blood ritual with captives nearby.
• Felicia Starlight leapt into the camp, revealed her swordsmanship, and fought the cult’s Warrior and Rogue as the Wolfblood High Priest transformed into a werewolf.
• Xia Lin, Sera, and Kade joined the battle, using spells and holy power to kill the High Priest and break the cultists’ formation.
• Felicia killed the last Rogue, introduced herself to Xia Lin and his companions, and began thanking them.
• Four Adamantine Gates crashed down around the camp, trapping everyone inside.

Xia Lin, Kade, Sera, and Moonshadow Mask were trapped behind an adamantine gate after clearing the cultists’ camp, but they rescued the Dream Weaver Bird and discovered a hidden passage. They identified Moonshadow Mask as an Odolai Family member and descended toward the unknown with the bird’s feathers guiding them.

• The adamantine gate sealed the camp, and Xia Lin and Moonshadow Mask failed to break through it.
• Xia Lin, Kade, and Moonshadow Mask introduced themselves, recovered the Dream Weaver Bird, and reunited Moonshadow Mask with her cat, Snowball.
• Xia Lin looted the cultists’ corpses for coins, weapons, alchemy tools, and potions, while Kade rejected the evil mace.
• Xia Lin and Kade moved the altar and found an empty base, where the Dream Weaver Bird revealed a clue about a passage.
• Kade cast a blessing over the base, opening a hidden staircase, and Xia Lin recognized Moonshadow Mask’s Odolai Family emblem.
• Kade led the group down the passage as the Dream Weaver Bird’s feathers glowed softly.

Xia Lin entered the strange door and was trapped in an illusion where he lived an ordinary office life, with familiar companions recast as coworkers and acquaintances. He recognized the false reality, broke it, and emerged in a white void facing the door to continue toward home.

• Xia Lin volunteered to enter the oak door after the group found its warning that entrants could be trapped forever.
• Xia Lin awoke at an office desk and spent his days working alongside people who appeared as Lila, Sera, Bo-ge, Kade, and others from his adventure.
• Xia Lin noticed unsettling echoes of danger in the false world, including stories of deaths, a horror broadcast, and a bird kept in a cage.
• Xia Lin saw a silver-haired newscaster challenge him to remember his preferred coffee flavor, and the bird's rainbow feathers triggered his memories of being an adventurer.
• Xia Lin rejected the office-life illusion, shattered it, and walked through the wooden door in the white void.

Xia Lin discovered that the corridor and trials had been a dream trap sustained by a mysterious casket, and the name Alethea entered his body when the casket, the Dream Weaver Bird, and his candle resonated. After the group awoke and left the cistern, Moonshadow Mask gave Xia Lin a hairpin and departed with Snowball.

• Xia Lin found the companions trapped in dreams and opened the glowing casket at the altar, where he read the name Alethea.
• The Dream Weaver Bird and Xia Lin's Mysterious Small Candle lit up with the name, which became a sigil and entered Xia Lin's chest.
• Sera, Kade, and Moonshadow Mask woke, and Xia Lin explained that the corridor and trials had been an illusion.
• The group gathered their spoils and prepared to leave the cistern, while Moonshadow Mask gave Xia Lin her Moonlight Butterfly Hairpin before departing with Snowball.
• Sera pinned the hairpin inside her robe, and Moonshadow Mask remarked from the sewer shadows that Xia Lin had impressed her before Snowball ran off.

After Xia Lin revealed Alethea’s true name to the old Priest, the forgotten god appeared in the ruined temple and blessed him, leaving him to search for the remaining fragments of the divine name. The group departed with a new mystery to pursue, while Xia Lin remembered he had forgotten to collect their promised reward.

• Xia Lin told Kade and Sera that saying Alethea’s name had awakened the candle’s ancient divine power and revealed an Unawakened Mythical Rank on his Attribute Panel.
• The restless Dream Weaver Bird drove the group to return to the ruined temple, where Xia Lin told the old Priest Alethea’s true name.
• The old Priest prayed to Alethea, whose apparition appeared above the shrine and blessed Xia Lin with a permanent two-point increase to Perception.
• The old Priest said Alethea’s name fragments were scattered across the world and urged Xia Lin to find them before disappearing into the darkness with the calm bird.
• Xia Lin realized he had forgotten to collect the fifty gold coins promised by the city guards, prompting Kade and Sera to react with exasperation.

At a royal banquet, Seraphina reunited with Leon and urged him to consider the fate of unbelievers after death. Leon affirmed his trust in his companions rather than prayer, and the chapter ended with Liana demanding an expensive ice pop to make up for his sentimental speech.

• Liana watched the banquet guests and desserts while privately mocking a count to Leon.
• Seraphina approached Leon, recalled their childhood, and told him she had prayed for his safe return.
• Seraphina warned Leon that unbelievers might serve as soul guides after death, but Leon said he would give lost mortals hope and trust the companions at his side.
• Leon told Liana through their mind link that he believed in her and her tangible power, making her blush.
• Seraphina accepted that Leon would not believe, promised to keep praying, and left.
• Liana demanded that Leon buy her the city's most expensive, biggest Rainbow Ice Pop, and he agreed.