Recaps

Lu Yuan fought Priest Andrew after wounding the two Deacons, dodging his Scripture’s deadly Holy Light attacks with Time Bestower. When Andrew’s next beam threatened him, Mo Shui’s black barrier appeared and swallowed it, leaving Andrew to recognize the Knowledge Frontispiece.

• Lu Yuan shot and wounded the two Deacons, but Priest Andrew refused to back down and summoned the Scripture’s golden light.
• Andrew fired a Holy Light beam that destroyed the clinic door, and Lu Yuan used Time Bestower to evade it before returning fire.
• Andrew’s protective light screen stopped Lu Yuan’s bullets, while his Scripture launched more beams and drained Lu Yuan’s sanity as he dodged.
• Andrew sent a powerful beam at Lu Yuan, but Mo Shui’s black barrier appeared and swallowed it without a sound.
• Andrew recognized the barrier as the Knowledge Frontispiece and reacted with disbelief.

Mo Shui defeated Priest Andrew after he attacked Lu Yuan and tried to take a child, then destroyed the Silence Barrier and drew the Night Watchers’ attention. Eger confronted Andrew over violating their territory, while Mo Shui challenged the Church to bring its Angel in person.

• Mo Shui appeared at the clinic and attacked Priest Andrew with black runes, dismantling his Holy Shield and shattering his Scripture.
• Mo Shui broke the Silence Barrier, allowing the surrounding sounds to return and alerting the Night Watchers.
• Eger arrived with three Night Watchers and confronted the kneeling Priest Andrew about attacking inside their protected territory.
• Priest Andrew claimed he had acted on the Angel’s orders to take a child, and Mo Shui mocked him and challenged the Angel to come personally.
• Eger told Andrew that he was in Grim Port, not a church holy hall, and reminded him of the Night Watchers’ rules.

After Andrew attacked Lu Yuan’s clinic, Lu Yuan secured compensation and sent the Church party away under warning from Eger. Back at the clinic, Mo Shui revealed that an unknown force was slowly eroding Lu Yuan’s sanity.

• Lu Yuan demanded compensation from Andrew for breaking into his clinic, and Andrew gave him a Holy Water Cup and three Purification Potions.
• Eger warned Andrew that Grim Port was not Church territory, and Andrew left with his injured Deacons and Church Attendants.
• Eger promised to increase Night Watcher patrols near Lu Yuan’s clinic before departing with his team.
• Lu Yuan reassured Mina and Brent while an exhausted Mo Shui retreated into the black notebook to rest.
• Mo Shui told Lu Yuan she had detected an unfamiliar force slowly eroding his sanity, and Lu Yuan recognized it as Strange Dream.

Lu Yuan used the Holy Water Cup to make Low-grade Holy Water and taught Mina and Brent to identify medicinal herbs, discovering that Mina could hear the herbs’ properties. After drinking the Holy Water to restore his sanity, he went to sleep, leaving the Strange Dream to begin again.

• Lu Yuan told Mo Shui he would explain what he was hiding after dealing with the immediate trouble, and she warned him to ask for help before things became desperate.
• Lu Yuan converted water into Low-grade Holy Water and stored it for later, then invited Mina to learn medicinal herbs after she showed interest in helping people like her uncle.
• Mina heard Silverlight Grass describe its properties, revealing her Echo of All Things talent, and Lu Yuan asked Brent to study herbs with her.
• Lu Yuan taught Mina and Brent more than a dozen common medicinal herbs, and Mina remembered nearly all of them at once.
• Lu Yuan hired a carpenter to replace the clinic’s burned door with an Oak Door and added a wooden bolt for security.
• Lu Yuan drank the Holy Water, regained three sanity points, and fell asleep into the familiar Strange Dream.

Lu Yuan’s Strange Dream exposed him to a vast Deep Sea entity and nearly destroyed his sanity before Mo Shui helped him wake. After learning the dream might be treatable, he agreed to seek Old Morgan’s help, with Mo Shui accompanying him.

• Lu Yuan returned to the western beach in the Strange Dream and found gray-robed figures chanting at newly restored ruins.
• The robed figures summoned an enormous Deep Sea shadow, which detected Lu Yuan and drained his sanity as they tried to make him a sacrifice.
• Mo Shui’s black runes shielded Lu Yuan, allowing him to wake by striking his head against a rock.
• Lu Yuan awoke at the Clinic with his Sanity limit reduced and his Sanity Barrier severely damaged.
• Mo Shui confronted Lu Yuan about the Strange Dream infection and urged him to ask Old Morgan about treatment.
• Lu Yuan agreed to find Old Morgan, and he and Mo Shui left the Clinic together.

Lu Yuan confessed to Old Morgan that he had been infected with Strange Dream for two weeks and that his sanity and Sanity Barrier were deteriorating. Old Morgan explained that early treatment was possible through a Dream Weaver, but Lu Yuan’s infection had progressed too far for an easy cure, leaving his prospects uncertain.

• Lu Yuan visited Old Morgan at the Night Watcher base and admitted that he had caught Strange Dream from Laisen’s corpse.
• Old Morgan angrily confronted Lu Yuan for hiding the infection, while Mo Shui explained that she had noticed only recently.
• Lu Yuan revealed that his sanity had fallen badly and only one-third of his Sanity Barrier remained.
• Old Morgan told Lu Yuan that a Third Order Dream Weaver could enter dreams and sever Strange Dream’s connection, but the treatment worked best early.
• Old Morgan said Lu Yuan’s case was not completely hopeless, though it would require time, resources, and Lu Yuan’s cooperation.

Old Morgan explained the Iron Whale’s disappearance and connected Lu Yuan’s Strange Dream to the contaminated Ore and the Deep Sea Church. The chapter ended with Lu Yuan revealing that the Church’s ritual called for the city to be offered up.

• Old Morgan instructed Lu Yuan to take Holy Water daily, avoid Strange Dream-related things, and let Mo Shui monitor his mental state each night; he also planned to contact the Empire’s Dream Weavers.
• Lu Yuan described seeing the stranded Iron Whale, sacrificial ruins, gray-cloaked worshippers, and a vast shadow rising from the Deep Sea, so Old Morgan took him to the Archive Room.
• Old Morgan showed Lu Yuan records explaining that the Iron Whale’s crew found powerful, mentally contaminating Ore in unknown waters and later vanished during an expedition to investigate its source.
• Lu Yuan confirmed that his dream showed the Iron Whale stranded beside an island, while gray-cloaked figures prepared a ritual near an altar.
• Old Morgan suspected the Deep Sea Church had used the Ore to contaminate the crew and bring the contamination back to Grim Port; Lu Yuan revealed that the ritual included the words, “Offer up this city.”

Old Morgan prepared to seek the church and the Ascension Society’s help in rescuing the Iron Whale’s survivors, while warning Lu Yuan to rest and avoid triggers. At the clinic, Lausen revealed that he had gained Transcendent powers through his growing connection to Deep-Sea City and said he would soon have to answer its call or lose control.

• Old Morgan told Lu Yuan that he would unite the church and the Ascension Society to search for the Iron Whale and rescue its survivors.
• Old Morgan praised Lu Yuan for being honest and reminded him that the Night Watchers would not abandon their own.
• Lausen visited Lu Yuan at the clinic to say goodbye, explaining that his identity as a priest in Deep-Sea City had become increasingly stable.
• Lausen demonstrated his ability to gather and shape water, and Lu Yuan’s analysis confirmed that he had stepped into Transcendence.
• Lausen told Lu Yuan that Deep-Sea City was calling him and that he had only three to five days before he would have to answer or become a monster.

Lausen entrusted Lu Yuan with a letter for his daughter and warned him that the Deep Sea Church planned an operation against Grim Port. Before Lu Yuan could report the warning, a level-one alarm announced an enemy attack, and he rushed Brent and Mina toward the base.

• Lausen gave Lu Yuan a letter for Laurina, sixty-five Gold Shields, and asked him to prepare more Deep Sea Sedative before leaving for Deep-Sea City.
• Lausen told Lu Yuan that the Deep Sea Church planned to cause chaos in Grim Port within days and revealed that the Iron Whale had been given to the Deep Sea as nourishment.
• Lu Yuan made five bottles of sedative for Lausen, who warned that Grim Port might not hold out much longer.
• A Horn sounded, and a Hidden Sentry ordered Lu Yuan to evacuate to the base because unidentified enemies were approaching.
• Lu Yuan took his weapons, gathered Brent and Mina, and hurried with them toward the base.

Lu Yuan returned to the Night Watchers' base as the Deep Sea Church attacked, and Mary led the defenders into battle. The enemy's water powers and supernatural barrier turned the fight against them, leaving the Night Watchers relying on Mary's silver aura and sword.

• Lu Yuan brought Brent and Mina to the base, where Mary sent Brent and Mina to the safe room and explained that the Night Watchers were badly outnumbered.
• Mary led most of the Night Watchers to reinforce the front line, where gray-robed attackers used water curtains to block bullets and extinguish flames.
• A Night Watcher used mithril to burn several attackers, but a hunched figure chanted and spread a barrier that suppressed explosives, fire, and gunfire.
• The gray-robed attackers charged as the Night Watchers lost their firepower advantage, and Mary empowered the defenders with a silver aura before cutting down two attackers.

Lu Yuan joined the Night Watchers’ battle and killed the caster, but the caster’s death triggered a curse that transformed the gray-robed attackers into Deep-Sea Kin. As the Night Watchers’ line began to break, Captain Alice returned and helped turn the tide.

• Mary led the Night Watchers’ counterattack, but the gray-robed men strengthened themselves with the blessing of the Deep Sea and fought the defenders to a stalemate.
• Lu Yuan learned that Mo Shui was injured, left her to guard the hall, and charged into battle to kill the chanting caster.
• Mary opened a path for Lu Yuan, who shot the caster; the Deep-Sea Barrier disappeared, but the caster’s corpse released a curse that mutated the gray-robed men into Deep-Sea Kin.
• The transformed Kin tore into the Night Watchers’ defensive line, and Lu Yuan watched a fellow Night Watcher die as his sanity fell.
• Alice returned in a lightning-charged strike, halted the Kin’s charge, and joined Mary and the Night Watchers in a coordinated counterattack.

Lu Yuan and the Night Watchers repelled an assault on their base, but the Deep Sea Church also attacked the Ascension Society and Grim Port’s inner city. After Lausen’s warning that the attack was only the beginning, Old Morgan ordered the Night Watchers to recover and prepare for what came next.

• Lu Yuan used Time Bestower and his revolver to stop the familiars from feeding on unmutated cultists, while Alice killed a swollen familiar and the remaining creatures retreated.
• The Night Watchers counted five dead and twelve seriously injured, and Lu Yuan restored some of his depleted Sanity with the Holy Water Cup.
• Old Morgan returned bloodied and reported that the Ascension Society had also been attacked, its laboratory destroyed, and an alchemist ambushed.
• A Night Watcher reported that the inner city had been attacked and that Viscount had summoned Old Morgan to a meeting.
• Lu Yuan told Old Morgan that Lausen had become a Deep Sea Church priest and warned that the attack was only the beginning, adding that most people aboard the Iron Whale had become nourishment.
• Old Morgan ordered everyone to return to the base for treatment, told Alice to strengthen the guard and deploy every Hidden Sentry, and asked Mary to list the casualties before he went to Viscount.

After the battle, Lu Yuan told Old Morgan about his Strange Dream and Lausen’s warning that Grim Port might soon fall. As Old Morgan left for an emergency meeting, Mo Shui warned Lu Yuan that he might have to join an investigation at sea, while Lu Yuan worried that repeated Strange Dreams were draining his sanity.

• Old Morgan asked Lu Yuan to recount his Strange Dream in detail before heading to an emergency meeting with the Viscount and other major factions.
• Lu Yuan described the Strange Dream and revealed that Lausen had attained Transcendence, become a priest, and warned that the Iron Whale’s passengers would become nourishment and Grim Port might not hold out much longer.
• Old Morgan recorded the intelligence, warned Lu Yuan not to overdraw his sanity, and left to attend the meeting.
• Lu Yuan checked on Mina and Brent, then went to rest in a temporary room.
• Mo Shui told Lu Yuan she would accompany him if the meeting sent him to sea, but Lu Yuan refused because she had not recovered and Mina could not safely leave.
• Lu Yuan realized he would likely have to join the voyage because his Strange Dream had given him only one experience point while reducing his sanity limit by four.

The Viscount convened Grim Port’s factions to assess the Deep Sea Church’s attack and evidence of a ritual to awaken ancient beings. They agreed to investigate the island and the Iron Whale’s wreck, with the Abyssal Hunter departing at dawn under the Ascension Society’s lead.

• Old Morgan, Griffith, Samuel, and the military representative reported casualties from the Deep Sea Church’s simultaneous attacks.
• Old Morgan shared Lu Yuan’s intelligence about the Strange Dream island and Lausen’s warning, while Griffith linked the island to living ore from the Iron Whale.
• Samuel cited Church records of ancient beings sleeping in the Deep Sea and warned that the cultists might be preparing to awaken them.
• The Viscount ordered an investigation of the island and the waters where the Iron Whale sank, and said he would request the Holy Armor Army to secure Grim Port.
• Griffith offered the Abyssal Hunter and the Ascension Society’s main combat force, while the Night Watchers and Church agreed to provide support.
• The Viscount ordered the expedition to depart at dawn.

Lu Yuan agreed to join a dangerous maritime investigation to find the source of his Strange Dream, while Old Morgan and Alice arranged the expedition. After saying goodbye to Mina and Brent, Lu Yuan followed Old Morgan to the armory to prepare for the voyage.

• Old Morgan told Lu Yuan that the Night Watchers and the Ascension Society would investigate the Iron Whale wreck and a possibly ritual-linked island, leaving at dawn the next day.
• Lu Yuan volunteered for the expedition because the Strange Dream was eroding his sanity and its source was on the island.
• Alice took command of the Night Watcher team, while Old Morgan told Mary to remain at the base and recover.
• Lu Yuan warned Brent to stay at the base and promised Mina that he would return; Mo Shui told him to come back alive.
• Old Morgan brought Lu Yuan to the armory, where Alice was already selecting equipment.

Lu Yuan and Alice prepared for the voyage, receiving specialized weapons and explosives from Old Morgan before boarding the Ascension Society’s armored ship, the Abyssal Hunter. There, Lu Yuan assessed the Society’s heavily augmented leader and guards, including a formidable steel creation called the Judge.

• Lu Yuan and Alice selected supplies, and Old Morgan gave Lu Yuan two powerful Complete Exorcism Gunpowder spheres while warning him to throw them as soon as he activated them.
• Gray, Ed, and Leonard joined the group, collected their equipment, and traveled with Old Morgan and the others to the docks.
• Lu Yuan arrived at the Ascension Society’s armored steamship, the Abyssal Hunter, and watched assistants carry Mithril and other supplies aboard.
• On deck, Lu Yuan analyzed Marcus and three beak-masked mechanical augments, learning their traits and vulnerabilities.
• Lu Yuan examined the massive Judge, identified it as a high-grade alchemical creation, and saw that it was standing by on the ship.

The Abyssal Hunter carried the Night Watchers, Ascension Society, and church toward the island, while Lu Yuan suspected the Ascension Society already knew its location. A tense meeting set the factions’ duties, leaving the Night Watchers sidelined as the ship neared an increasingly polluted sea.

• Marcus warned the Night Watchers to retreat if they encountered an irresistible force, and Philip said the church would cooperate but reserved the right to withdraw.
• The three factions boarded the Abyssal Hunter, and Old Morgan saw them off as the ship departed Grim Port.
• Lu Yuan examined the Ascension Society’s precise chart and told Alice that it suggested they might already know the island’s location.
• Marcus assigned the Ascension Society to lead exploration, the Night Watchers to perimeter security, and the church to rear support and purification.
• Philip asked Alice whether Old Morgan had given her instructions, and she denied it before Philip remarked that Marcus’s arrangements seemed suitable.

Lu Yuan and the others traveled aboard the Abyssal Hunter toward an unnamed island, enduring the night under an alchemical protective array. The ship reached the island’s waters, where a high-tier Source of Pollution and large numbers of watching mutated creatures threatened them.

• After the meeting, Lu Yuan inspected the Ascension Society’s sea chart and noticed warnings of mutation in the surrounding waters, though his sanity remained unchanged.
• At night, Marcus activated the Abyssal Hunter’s protective array, and Lu Yuan slept through a quiet Strange Dream that reduced his sanity limit.
• The next day, Lu Yuan’s warnings detected a high-tier Source of Pollution ahead as the unnamed island appeared beneath dark clouds lit by eerie blue flashes.
• Marcus, Alice, Gray, and the church’s Deacons prepared as the ship approached the island and Lu Yuan recognized the oppressive aura from his Strange Dream.
• The Abyssal Hunter entered the island’s turbulent waters, where large shadows of mutated creatures lingered beneath the ship without attacking.

Lu Yuan and the others reached the wreck of the Iron Whale on a polluted island, where they encountered a corrosive slime creature carrying a human head. As the creature attacked, a Born charged in to confront it.

• Lu Yuan’s group found the wrecked Iron Whale and disembarked on an island whose pollution steadily drained sanity.
• Marcus sent Born to search the ship, while Lu Yuan and Gray entered the captain’s quarters.
• Lu Yuan spotted a mutated slime creature with a human head and warned Gray before it attacked.
• Lu Yuan’s bullet dissolved in the slime, and Gray’s sword was badly corroded as he defended Lu Yuan.
• The creature unleashed a Mental Shock, and a Born charged it despite the slime corroding his robe.

Lu Yuan and Born killed the Corrupted in the captain’s cabin, where Lu Yuan discovered evidence of Gao Wen and the Priest’s failed attempt to contain the contamination. The captain’s log revealed that creatures had crawled up from beneath the ship, and Lu Yuan realized Alice and the others were in danger below.

• Born burned the Corrupted while Lu Yuan shot the captain’s head, killing it; Lu Yuan recognized a scar on the remains and identified them as the Iron Whale’s captain.
• Lu Yuan gave Gray a silver dagger to replace his corroded sword, then searched the captain’s cabin while Gray stood guard.
• Lu Yuan found a destroyed sealing array made with Church and Night Watcher symbols, along with Gao Wen’s badge and a blood letter describing the failed plan and warning not to touch the ores.
• Lu Yuan found the captain’s log, which recorded the crew’s strange symptoms, the array’s destruction, and creatures crawling up from beneath the ship.
• Lu Yuan realized Alice and the others had gone below the ship and might be in danger.

Lu Yuan, Alice, and their allies broke through a Deep Sea Church barrier and found a blood-sacrifice ritual in progress. When they attacked the gray-robed ritualist, the hanging corpses began merging into a Flesh Aggregate, which was still forming as the chapter ended.

• Lu Yuan and Gray followed the blood stench and whispering to Alice, who was blocked from entering the lower-deck cabin by a barrier that absorbed Transcendence powers.
• Philip purified the Deep Sea Church barrier with Holy Light, allowing the group to enter the cabin.
• Lu Yuan and the others found twenty-three corpses arranged around a blood-filled ritual, while a gray-robed man chanted to the Great Mother.
• Alice and Born attacked the ritualist, but he animated the corpses and used their remains to form a Flesh Aggregate.
• The ritualist retreated behind a shield of flowing black blood as the merging corpses continued to assemble.

Lu Yuan and the others destroyed the Deep Aggregate, then pursued the gray-robed man onto the island. As they surrounded him, the beach began to writhe and the sand intervened to protect him from the Judge’s attack.

• Alice, the Born, the Deacons, and the others joined forces to destroy the Deep Aggregate, while Lu Yuan tried to shoot the gray-robed man.
• The gray-robed man fled through a hole in the cabin after a Born’s crossbow bolt knocked him down, and Alice, Lu Yuan, and Gray pursued him onto the island.
• Marcus ordered the group to capture the gray-robed man, but the sand surged around him and forced the Born back.
• The Judge fired a crimson beam at the gray-robed man, and the sand shifted him aside before the beam burned a charred hole through his body.

Lu Yuan and the others discovered that the island was alive and that its buried tendrils were spreading pollution. Despite the danger and the cannons’ overheating, the group decided to venture deeper toward the island’s core.

• The gray-robed man was swallowed by the sand, and Lu Yuan drank Intermediate Holy Water to restore his Sanity.
• Alice pulled Lu Yuan and the others aboard the Deep-Sea Hunter as something moved beneath the beach, searching for them.
• Marcus ordered the ship’s rune-inscribed cannons to bombard the island, exposing writhing tentacles identified as extensions of a hidden main body.
• Alice asked whether the group should turn back or continue, and Marcus chose to proceed to investigate the gray-robed man and the ore source.
• Philip agreed to continue because the Angel could not see the island, and Lu Yuan nodded in agreement.

Alice’s team advanced across the island toward a cave covered in tentacles while the church laid Purification Barriers. Philip told Lu Yuan that the Deep Blue Ore was connected to the Eerie, and the group reached the cave just as a familiar heartbeat-like roar sounded from within.

• Alice ordered the team to bring all remaining Holy Water and establish barriers along a retreat route, while Marcus kept one Born aboard the ship to provide fire support.
• Marcus led the Ascension Society at the front as the group advanced along the cannon-blasted path, with the Night Watchers in the middle and the church laying barriers behind them.
• Philip showed Lu Yuan a piece of Deep Blue and asked whether he had seen it in the Strange Dream; Lu Yuan recognized it as a contaminant, and Philip said it was connected to the Eerie.
• The group reached a cave surrounded by decaying wooden houses and dense red tentacles, and a roar from inside sounded like the heartbeat Lu Yuan had heard in the Strange Dream.

Lu Yuan and the others advanced into a living mine filled with Deep Blue, whose growing presence damaged his sanity and severed Philip’s connection to the Angel. They reached a vast, roofless chamber where the Ore-covered ground pulsed beneath their feet.

• Marcus led the group into the mine while Alice warned Lu Yuan to stay close and retreat without looking back if danger arose.
• Lu Yuan recognized the Deep Blue in the walls as Eerie secretion and felt his sanity deteriorate as the group went deeper.
• Marcus ordered the Alchemy Lamp extinguished when the Deep Blue grew bright enough to illuminate the mine by itself, and he showed excitement at the abundant reserves.
• Alice sensed danger everywhere, while Philip said the Angel’s gaze could not reach the mine.
• The group continued through increasingly thick tentacles and expanding passages until they reached a vast chamber with endless darkness overhead and a floor covered in pulsing Ore.