Recaps

After several townspeople were contaminated by pus, Lu Yuan found Old Hans’s two sons in the terminal stages of infection and concluded that a Source of Pollution existed in the desert. Old Hans burned his sons, and the strange smell from the fire reminded Lu Yuan of Grim Port, leaving him wondering what was behind the pollution.

• Herman told Lu Yuan that seven or eight people had been splashed with pus and that two were severely affected, while the mayor claimed to be unwell.
• Lu Yuan examined Old Hans’s two sons and saw that they had undergone irreversible mutations resembling the mutated Sandworm.
• Lu Yuan told Old Hans and the townspeople that his sons could not be saved and should be burned before they transformed further.
• Old Hans took Herman’s firestarter, scattered Sandworm powder through the window, and set the infected sons’ house on fire.
• Lu Yuan noticed the smoke carried a smell like one he had encountered in Grim Port and questioned who was behind the desert pollution.

Lu Yuan treated six early-stage Sandworm Town residents with a salve he formulated, then suspected the Sandworm’s mutation had been caused deliberately. After resting, his sanity and wound had improved, and Karl came to his door.

• Lu Yuan examined six mildly infected people and devised a Worm-Repelling Salve from Sandworm Oil and Worm-Repelling Herb.
• Lu Yuan treated all six residents, whose parasites died beneath the skin, and gained pharmacology experience.
• Lu Yuan noticed Red’s purple-tinged lumps and evasive answers about cleaning the Sandworm’s mouthparts, then warned him to watch for symptoms.
• Lu Yuan rejected payment, returned to Herman’s home, and reasoned that someone might have deliberately contaminated the Sandworms.
• Lu Yuan woke feeling better, saw that his sanity had risen to 71/120 and his wound had eased, then heard Karl knock.

After the mayor died from a parasite infection, Lu Yuan and Herman discovered the mayor’s secret Sandworm laboratory and evidence that an unknown man had guided his experiments. Lu Yuan kept the research notes, potion manual, and Bone Flute, then noticed Morris signaling him to follow into the darkness.

• Karl told Lu Yuan that the mayor had died at the warehouse, and Lu Yuan went there with him.
• Lu Yuan found parasites emerging from the mayor’s chest, and Herman ordered the corpse burned to prevent them from spreading.
• Lu Yuan and Herman searched the mayor’s underground laboratory, where Lu Yuan found polluted extract, experiment records, and a Sandworm potion manual.
• The records revealed that the mayor had tried to create a symbiote with help from an unnamed man, and Lu Yuan and Herman burned the laboratory.
• Herman gave Lu Yuan the mayor’s Bone Flute and hinted that someone had been behind the experiments.
• Morris appeared in the shadows, gestured for Lu Yuan to follow, and disappeared into the darkness.

Lu Yuan learned that Grego, the Ascension Society traitor behind the pollution and the mayor’s experiments, was hiding at the mayor’s house, and Morris planned a nighttime attack using a device that suppressed machinery. After returning to Herman’s home, Lu Yuan heard that Red had emerged and something was wrong with him.

• Lu Yuan warned Herman to check the warehouse materials for contamination, then met Morris, who identified Grego as the creator of the Source of Pollution.
• Morris showed Lu Yuan a single-use gear that could suppress machinery and lent him a ring that could share sanity; they planned to confront Grego at the mayor’s house that night.
• Lu Yuan explained that the mayor had been conducting a parasite-based symbiosis experiment with Grego’s help, and Morris assigned Lu Yuan to support the attack from the perimeter.
• Lu Yuan returned to the warehouse, where Herman and his workers inspected the stored materials, and Karl arrived shaken by a nightmare about bugs crawling from the mayor’s chest.
• On the way home, Lu Yuan learned that Red had shut himself away; that night, a shout outside reported that Red had come out and something was wrong with him.

Lu Yuan killed Red’s parasite larva and ordered Herman to search the town for more contamination. When Morris’s signal summoned him to the mayor’s house, Lu Yuan joined the Pathfinders as they confronted Grego, whose mechanical body was disabled by Gear.

• Lu Yuan shot Red, but a fast parasite larva burst from Red’s stomach and attacked a townsman.
• Herman burned the larva with help from Lu Yuan and the townspeople, and Lu Yuan ordered a search for suspicious places, especially near the warehouse.
• Lu Yuan rested at Herman’s home, watched the dark figures beyond the Light Domain, and then received a signal from Morris’s metal ring.
• Morris told Lu Yuan that Heller and Vincent were positioned around the mayor’s house and explained that the activated Sanity Ring would link their sanity.
• Morris, Heller, and Vincent fought Grego inside the mayor’s courtyard until Gear activated and disabled Grego’s mechanical parts.
• Lu Yuan entered the courtyard and saw Grego, half human and half machine, raging at the Pathfinders.

Lu Yuan used the Metal Ring to drain the Pathfinders’ Sanity, then unleashed the Time Bestower’s Deprivation ability against Grego and the Parasitic Broodmother. He killed the worm and destroyed Grego’s Mechanical Core, but the three Pathfinders were left near death after losing all their Sanity.

• Lu Yuan spotted the Parasitic Broodmother waiting in the yard and warned the others, but it struck Vincent and threw Heller aside while Grego seized Morris.
• Lu Yuan drew Sanity from Morris, Heller, and Vincent through the Metal Ring, leaving all three incapacitated and realizing he had taken all their Sanity.
• Lu Yuan used Deprivation on Grego and the Parasitic Broodmother, rapidly aging the worm until it died.
• Lu Yuan focused a second Deprivation attack on Grego’s Mechanical Core, which decayed and stopped, killing Grego.

Lu Yuan stabilized the three Pathfinders after defeating Grego, treating Vincent’s poisoned wound with their supplies. He discovered the Time Bestower had sprouted insect-like limbs and could now respond to his thoughts, then left Herman to arrange the aftermath and asked him to take him to Bronze City once he recovered.

• Lu Yuan shared sanity with Morris, Heller, and Vincent, then used their potions and medical supplies to treat them, especially Vincent’s severe wound.
• Lu Yuan saw the Time Bestower sprout antennae and insect legs that pierced his chest; afterward, he could activate the Pocket Watch with a thought.
• Herman arrived with Sandworm Town’s young men, and Lu Yuan identified Grego as a traitor of the Ascension Society who had created the Parasitic Broodmother.
• Lu Yuan explained the mayor’s connection to Grego’s experiments and asked Herman’s people to move the Pathfinders while preserving the remains.
• Herman thanked Lu Yuan and reflected on the mayor’s ambitions, while Lu Yuan asked him to take him to Bronze City after he recovered.

After recovering from the night’s battle, Lu Yuan concealed his role in draining Morris, Heller, and Vincent’s sanity while Morris remained suspicious. The group examined Grego’s corpse and belongings, uncovering his Symbiote research and a hidden clock badge that Lu Yuan kept.

• Lu Yuan woke after sleeping off some of his sanity loss, and Morris questioned him about the ring that had drained the group’s sanity; Lu Yuan blamed a possible malfunction.
• Morris gave Lu Yuan a sanity recovery potion, promised to report his contribution for merit points, and privately resolved to investigate him.
• Lu Yuan, Morris, and Heller examined Grego’s rapidly aged, rust-covered corpse, which Lu Yuan recognized as an effect of his use of Deprivation.
• The group searched Grego’s belongings, and Lu Yuan found research notes showing Grego had tried to control an increasingly intelligent Symbiote larva through symbiosis.
• Lu Yuan took several useful potions and discovered a thick copper badge with an engraved clock face and a sealed compartment, then kept it.

Lu Yuan tested his newly fused bond with Time Bestower, then watched Morris negotiate the Empire’s influence over Sandworm Town and receive a Pathfinder Consultant Badge. Morris and the other Pathfinders departed for the royal capital, while Lu Yuan planned to travel to Bronze City with Herman’s caravan.

• Lu Yuan found that he could prime Time Bestower’s power with a thought without consuming sanity, and wondered whether their connection was symbiosis.
• After three days of recovery, Morris decided the Pathfinders had to leave and negotiated with Herman to bring Sandworm Town under the Empire’s jurisdiction.
• Herman agreed to the Empire’s outpost, trade, and authority over matters involving Transcendence in exchange for support and autonomy over daily affairs.
• Morris gave Lu Yuan a Pathfinder Consultant Badge, explaining that it granted Pathfinder outpost access and also allowed the organization to monitor his movements.
• Morris told Lu Yuan to travel to Bronze City with Herman’s caravan and said Lu Yuan could return the ring the next time they met.

Lu Yuan spent his final days in Sandworm Town learning flute music from Karl and received Herman’s handwritten manual of ancient tunes, including the complete Song of the Sandworm. He then joined Herman’s caravan bound for Bronze City, leaving town with Karl’s farewell gift and a promise to return.

• After Morris departed without reclaiming the Sanity Ring, Herman told Lu Yuan the caravan would leave in two days and encouraged him to finish what he wanted to do.
• Lu Yuan learned flute basics from Karl, steadily improving his Ancient Music Theory and hearing that the Sandworms’ oldest tune was said to have originated with the Sandworms themselves.
• Lu Yuan practiced through the next day, and Herman gave him an old manual containing ancient flute tunes and the complete Song of the Sandworm.
• As the caravan prepared to leave, Karl hurried over with dried sandworm for Lu Yuan, who promised to return and finish learning the tune.
• Lu Yuan boarded Herman’s caravan and watched Sandworm Town recede as they set out for Bronze City.

Lu Yuan traveled with Herman’s caravan toward Bronze City and learned that the full version of Song of the Sandworm had killed a level-four musician. After the caravan camped near Stone Forest, Eerie entities gathered beyond the lamps’ light, then disappeared at dawn as the group set out again.

• Lu Yuan studied the Ancient Music Theory handbook and asked Herman why Karl could play Song of the Sandworm despite not reaching level one.
• Herman explained that Karl played a harmless simplified version and warned that the full version had killed a legendary level-four hunter who attempted it.
• The caravan camped near Stone Forest, where Lu Yuan practiced the Sandworm Bone Flute and increased his Ancient Music Theory experience.
• At night, dozens of charred Eerie entities gathered beyond the Sandworm Oil Lamps’ Light Domain while Herman explained that the lights kept them out.
• Lu Yuan slept through the night, regained sanity, and joined the caravan as it broke camp and headed toward Stone Forest.

Lu Yuan arrived in Bronze City with Herman’s caravan and headed to the Night Watcher outpost to report in. After hearing that people from the Tower of Erudition’s Alchemy Department had been disappearing, he worried that Laurina might be in danger, and waited while an officer checked his badge.

• Lu Yuan crossed the Eerie stone forest and the forest beyond it, following Herman’s warnings to keep his eyes ahead.
• Lu Yuan saw Bronze City’s rune-covered metal walls, and Herman explained that they repelled the Eerie but that the city’s factions made it dangerous.
• Lu Yuan parted ways with Herman in the Outer City and set off for the Night Watcher outpost, where Herman promised to send his payment.
• Lu Yuan overheard that people from the Tower of Erudition’s Alchemy Department had been disappearing and wondered whether Laurina was among them.
• Lu Yuan reached the Night Watcher outpost and presented his badge, and an officer took it inside to verify its number.

Lu Yuan arrived at Bronze City's Night Watcher outpost, where investigators discovered that his file and two others were missing key information and that more than thirty adjacent Night Watcher records had vanished. Unable to speak or gesture about Grim Port, Lu Yuan was assigned to logistics while Hogger and Klaus reported the anomalies to Headquarters and considered a possible link to the city's recent disappearances.

• A middle-aged Night Watcher verified Lu Yuan's badge and found his assigned outpost and mission records blank, while Lu Yuan could not answer questions about his past.
• Hogger and the middle-aged Night Watcher searched the archives and found that only the files for Lu Yuan, Valentin, and Alice remained among more than thirty adjacent serial numbers.
• Lu Yuan saw his own and the other two files showing Grim Port and their mission histories, but he could not tell Hogger where he had come from or what had happened.
• Hogger determined that Lu Yuan showed no signs of contamination and assigned him to logistics while reporting the file anomalies.
• Klaus ordered Hogger to report the missing records and search for Valentin and Alice, and told him to watch for a connection to the city's recent missing-person cases.

Lu Yuan reported to the Logistics Department, learned about the disappearances of Alchemy Department students, and treated two injured Night Watchers. He suspected the attacks near the Tower of Erudition might be connected to the disappearances and resolved to investigate further.

• Lu Yuan reported to Margaret at the Logistics Department and began sorting herbs and preparing standard potions.
• Margaret told Lu Yuan that three Alchemy Department students had disappeared from the Tower of Erudition, with the incidents occurring at increasingly shorter intervals.
• Lu Yuan decided to visit the Tower of Erudition soon to check on Laurina and repay Lausen's help.
• Four Night Watchers brought in two wounded men, and Lu Yuan treated a forearm fracture and an abdominal cut.
• The injured Night Watchers said a fast, powerful black shadow with a rotting smell had attacked them near the Tower of Erudition while they patrolled for the disappearance case.
• Lu Yuan connected the black shadow, the Alchemy Department students, and the Tower of Erudition, but concluded he needed more information.

Lu Yuan delivered medicinal ingredients to the Tower of Erudition and found Laurina in the Alchemy Department. He gave her an old letter addressed to her, and her expression changed as she examined it.

• Margaret asked Lu Yuan to deliver medicine to the Tower of Erudition and warned him that the Alchemy Department had been experiencing trouble.
• Lu Yuan traveled through the guarded city to the Tower of Erudition and delivered the ingredients to its infirmary.
• The infirmary worker said many Alchemy Department students were suffering from poor mental health and needed calming medicine and sedatives.
• Lu Yuan learned that Laurina worked in the Third Tower and found her in the Alchemy Department common area.
• Lu Yuan handed Laurina an old letter, and she studied its worn envelope with a complicated expression.

Lu Yuan delivered an old, unsigned letter to Laurina, who could not remember its writer but felt the letter was precious. After learning that students had gone missing and others were behaving strangely at the Tower of Erudition, Lu Yuan left and spotted a student suffering severe mental pollution.

• Laurina read the letter and, unable to remember who wrote it, thanked Lu Yuan and kept it safe.
• Laurina invited Lu Yuan to lunch in her private laboratory and told him she had completed her Alchemy Department courses and published new methods.
• Laurina told Lu Yuan that three Alchemy Department students had gone missing and that other students were staying awake late and seeking to change dormitories.
• Lu Yuan warned Laurina to be careful, then left the Tower of Erudition after deciding she was safe in her laboratory.
• Lu Yuan saw a student staring blankly from a Third Tower window and detected that the student's sanity was extremely low.

Lu Yuan was forced to join the Night Watchers’ urgent patrol after learning that a suspected murderer was behind the Tower of Erudition disappearance cases. He was assigned to Miller’s small group in the western dormitories, where the patrol began without incident.

• Lu Yuan tried to leave the Tower of Erudition, but an older Night Watcher requisitioned him for a patrol and told him a murderer had been discovered.
• Lu Yuan waited in the break room with other Night Watchers, checked his equipment, and took a Sanity Potion before nightfall.
• Hogger assembled the Night Watchers and assigned Lu Yuan to Miller’s group to patrol the western dormitories.
• Miller led Lu Yuan and three other Night Watchers into the western dormitory building.

During a patrol of the Tower of Erudition, Lu Yuan and the Night Watchers fought two missing students whose bodies had been infested with knowledge-born insects. Senior Night Watchers concealed the incident as part of a plan, and the chapter ended with Laurina knocking on Lu Yuan’s door.

• Miller led the Night Watchers through the dormitory floors while Lu Yuan detected signs of mental contamination on the eighth floor.
• Two bloodied students attacked the patrol, and Lu Yuan and Miller killed them, revealing swarms of insects inside their bodies.
• Lu Yuan found strange markings in one corpse’s skull and gained a small amount of Forbidden Studies—Seeker knowledge.
• A senior Night Watcher declared the students part of a plan, ordered the scene erased, and warned the patrol not to speak about it.
• After Hogger reported trouble in the East District and sent everyone to rest, Lu Yuan returned to his room and reloaded his revolver.
• Laurina knocked on Lu Yuan’s door as he was about to fall asleep.

Laurina sought refuge with Lu Yuan after witnessing worm-infested students and revealed that her mentor had continued a forbidden experiment using students as test subjects. Lu Yuan suspected the Night Watchers were deliberately spreading panic to flush out targets, and he sheltered Laurina through the night as a new day began.

• Laurina came to Lu Yuan’s room in fear and told him that she had seen Night Watchers chasing two students covered in Knowledge-Derived Worms.
• Laurina explained that she had helped with a failed alchemy project that created worms which consumed and produced knowledge, and suspected her mentor had resumed the research on students.
• Lu Yuan concluded that the Night Watchers had deliberately let the worm-infested students run loose to force possible targets to leave their hiding places.
• Laurina stayed in Lu Yuan’s room overnight, and he gave her the bed when she finally fell asleep near dawn.
• Lu Yuan woke with his sanity at 116/120 as the corridor grew active and the new day began.

Lu Yuan and Laurina went to the Main Tower to seek the principal’s help, but Lu Yuan’s warning system detected extreme danger inside. The principal told them the Tower of Erudition was compromised, gave Lu Yuan a medal to protect Laurina, and ordered them to wait at the edge until they could leave.

• A Night Watcher brought breakfast for Lu Yuan and Laurina and told Lu Yuan that Captain Hogger would summon him that afternoon instead of sending him on patrol.
• Laurina asked Lu Yuan to accompany her to the Main Tower to find the principal, and he agreed.
• Lu Yuan’s Gray-White Text warned him of an extreme-danger knowledge source in the Main Tower and deducted four points of Sanity as he and Laurina tried to leave.
• The principal appeared on the Spiral Staircase, said he had arranged for Mentor Varo to take Laurina away, and warned them that the Tower of Erudition was dangerous and compromised.
• The principal gave Lu Yuan a silver medal and told him to keep Laurina at the edge of the Tower until the Night Watchers could leave in a couple of days.

Lu Yuan stayed with Laurina under the Night Watchers’ protection while Hogger confirmed Lu Yuan’s identity and arranged their departure in two days. That night, Lu Yuan helped Hogger eliminate two Hive-infected students, then returned to tell Laurina they would leave for Headquarters together.

• Lu Yuan gave Laurina the headmaster’s silver badge and told her to remain in her room until he returned.
• Hogger confirmed Lu Yuan was a Night Watcher consultant and said he and Laurina could leave in two days if they went directly to Headquarters.
• Hogger recruited Lu Yuan for a cleanup mission and gave him refined silver powder to destroy aberrant remains.
• Hogger wounded two Hive-infected students in the Library, pursued them to a dormitory, and killed them while Lu Yuan burned their bodies and worms to ash.
• Lu Yuan returned before dawn and told Laurina she would leave with him for Headquarters once the transfer order was lifted.

Lu Yuan patrolled the Alchemy Department while signs of a spreading crisis and a detected mental pollution source deepened his suspicions about the mentors pursuing Laurina. He returned to find that an Alchemy Department mentor had tested their door, leaving Laurina frightened as they waited for a chance to escape.

• Lu Yuan learned his sanity had fully recovered, shared breakfast with Laurina, and warned her to stay in the room while he went on patrol.
• Lu Yuan joined two Night Watchers in patrolling the Alchemy Department, where he overheard mentors arguing about samples and detected a mental pollution source.
• Lu Yuan spotted a deep-blue-robed Alchemy Department mentor watching him, but the man fled before the patrol could catch him.
• Lu Yuan heard that seven people had been cleared out the previous night and that officials from the Empire's Headquarters would arrive the next day.
• Laurina told Lu Yuan that an Alchemy Department mentor had knocked on their door while he was away, and Lu Yuan realized their location was known.

Lu Yuan learned that Empire Headquarters would arrive the next day and that Calvin Morton, an Alchemy Department mentor under Knowledge Contamination, was probing for Laurina. Lu Yuan and Laurina left the outer area that night and discovered Night Watchers were quietly evacuating other students as well.

• Hogger told Lu Yuan that the cleanup mission had been canceled, Empire Headquarters would arrive at noon the next day, and loose patrols might let people leave that night.
• Calvin Morton confronted Lu Yuan, questioned him about missing Alchemy Department students, and warned that Laurina Caster could be recalled under Tower regulations.
• Lu Yuan used the headmaster's silver medal to deter Calvin while Night Watchers emerged and backed him up.
• Laurina told Lu Yuan that Calvin was her mentor's partner and had conducted experiments with him, leading them to suspect more Alchemy Department mentors were involved.
• Lu Yuan and Laurina prepared to escape and passed a Night Watcher patrol without being stopped.
• Lu Yuan noticed Night Watchers leading several other students toward the exit, revealing a wider evacuation of potential targets and witnesses.

Lu Yuan and Laurina encountered an Eerie-contaminated Alchemy Department instructor who tried to take her back, and Lu Yuan killed him with Deprivation after Laurina’s suppressant briefly disrupted his power. They escaped the Tower of Erudition by carriage, but Lu Yuan’s Sanity remained dangerously low and he expected more trouble when the Empire Headquarters arrived.

• An Eerie-contaminated Alchemy Department instructor confronted Lu Yuan and Laurina, rejected the principal’s authorization, and unleashed his Eerie power.
• Laurina threw an Eerie Suppressant that temporarily suppressed the instructor, then urged Lu Yuan to run.
• Lu Yuan used Deprivation to kill the instructor, losing Sanity in the process.
• Lu Yuan and Laurina left the Tower of Erudition by carriage while other Night Watchers and students remained surrounded.
• Lu Yuan drank a Sanity Potion, and Laurina explained that she had improved the suppressant’s original formula.
• Lu Yuan and Laurina continued through the rainy night as he anticipated the Empire Headquarters’ arrival and consequences for killing the instructor.

Lu Yuan escorted Laurina out of the Inner City and brought her to Night Watcher Headquarters, where they were assigned to work at an Alchemy Workshop. They settled into the workshop as the Tower of Erudition crisis paused, while Lu Yuan anticipated the Empire Headquarters’ arrival.

• A Night Watcher captain stopped Alchemy Department instructors from blocking Lu Yuan’s carriage, and Lu Yuan continued through the city gate with Laurina.
• Lu Yuan took Laurina to Night Watcher Headquarters, where a staff member assigned them to the Alchemy Workshop and gave Lu Yuan an order and a map.
• Lu Yuan and Laurina reached the workshop, and Laurina inspected its worn equipment before reviewing orders for basic potions.
• Lu Yuan told Laurina to rest before work began the next day, and she thanked him as they went upstairs.