Chapter Summaries

After Bronze City’s battle, Klaus arranged reconstruction and discussed the Empire’s support while Lu Yuan checked on Leike’s ongoing fusion with Hope. Klaus then planned for Lu Yuan to leave with the Blue Knight for the northern branch of the Knight Academy, where he could stay out of the Empire’s reach and learn more about his unusual Path.

• Klaus said the Empire would aid Bronze City’s reconstruction and reward it for surviving and defeating a Taboo, while the nobles had died beneath the collapsed Tower of Erudition.
• Archbishop Adrian arrived with Agnes and Church personnel, and Lu Yuan remembered his promise to help Agnes enter the Sea of Knowledge.
• Klaus and Lu Yuan checked on Leike, whose fusion with Hope’s golden roots was progressing smoothly.
• Klaus warned Lu Yuan that the Empire would eventually learn what happened in Bronze City and arranged for him to go to the northern Knight Academy with the Blue Knight.
• Klaus explained that the Knight Academy could shelter Lu Yuan, help him understand his unusual Path, and teach him about the Time Bestower.

After the battle in Bronze City, Lu Yuan told Klaus that he had reached Third Order and agreed to follow Klaus’s arrangements. As the city began rebuilding, Lu Yuan planned his next journey and waited to hear from Mo Shui.

• Klaus learned that Lu Yuan had reached Third Order and, reassured about his safety, asked what he wanted to do.
• Lu Yuan agreed to Klaus’s arrangements and reflected that he wanted to leave Bronze City, though he planned to wait a few more days for Mo Shui’s reply.
• Klaus lamented Guardian’s death and Leike’s condition, while Lu Yuan remembered Guardian’s leads about Forbidden Studies.
• Lu Yuan planned to visit the Knight Academy, investigate Forbidden Studies, and go to Night Watcher Headquarters to find Mo Shui and ask about Alice and Valentin.
• Oden woke and spoke with Lu Yuan before returning to sleep, exhausted from controlling his body.
• Bronze City began rebuilding, and Oak Forest City and nearby towns sent aid, including food and medicine.

As Bronze City was rebuilt, Lu Yuan collected three Leaves of Hope and learned that Leike remained in a stable but unfinished fusion while the Old Dean had awakened. The Old Dean rejected a new dean position and confessed his guilt over the children he had sent into danger.

• Bronze City’s residents, Church reinforcements, and Born cleared rubble and began rebuilding as the Flesh and Ghouls vanished underground.
• Hope dropped three golden leaves for Lu Yuan, and he stored them after the Gray-White Text identified them as Leaves of Hope.
• Lu Yuan visited the Old Dean after he awakened and saw that he was recovering, though dazed, while Leike remained motionless in fusion.
• Lu Yuan learned that Calvin Morton had survived the Tower of Erudition’s destruction, while Selina and many others had died.
• The Old Dean told Lu Yuan he would not become a dean again and said he felt he had wronged the children he had sent away.

Lu Yuan promised the Old Dean to carry on his conviction that the Empire should not sacrifice its people so coldly, while the Old Dean later disappeared. Lu Yuan then fulfilled his promise to Agnes by giving her a Forbidden Society badge and a damaged shell that could help her enter the Sea of Knowledge.

• The Old Dean urged Lu Yuan to keep opposing the Empire’s willingness to sacrifice people, and Lu Yuan agreed.
• The Old Dean said he did not know where he would go, then disappeared on the third day; Klaus let him leave after the search found no trace of him.
• Lu Yuan visited Agnes and apologized for taking so long to fulfill his promise.
• Lu Yuan gave Agnes a Forbidden Society badge and Knowledge's Male, explaining how they could help her enter the Sea of Knowledge and warning her of its dangers.
• Agnes did not explain why she wanted to enter the Sea of Knowledge, and Lu Yuan accepted her choice.

Lu Yuan bound Agnes to the Forbidden Society and prepared supplies for his trip to the Knight Academy while helping rebuild Bronze City. Oden became more active and revealed that he had been trapped in his statue since the Silver Empire ruled the world, more than a thousand years ago.

• Lu Yuan had Agnes recite the Forbidden Society's oath, and green chains appeared as she became bound to the society.
• Over the next two days, Lu Yuan checked on Leike, helped rebuild Bronze City, brewed Potions, and prepared supplies for the Knight Academy.
• Lu Yuan inventoried his belongings and noted that the other Worms of Knowledge had returned to their homeland while his own Worm had returned to his left eye.
• As reconstruction continued, vendors began selling food near the first new houses in eastern Bronze City.
• Oden woke more often, talked with Lu Yuan about the Born and their mechanical bodies, and said he had entered his statue when the Silver Empire still ruled the world.

Lu Yuan learned from Oden that the Forbidden Studies Hall of Knowledge had been purged by powerful beings and that its surviving members had endured as statues. He then found Margaret beside Hope, with several leaves and part of Hope's Root lying nearby.

• Lu Yuan asked Oden why the Forbidden Studies Hall of Knowledge was small and underground, and Oden explained that it had been purged by a force led by an existence beyond Taboo.
• Oden revealed that Fourth Orders survived by hanging on statues, while Fifth and Sixth Orders remained behind the Bronze Gate, and praised a gifted junior who had built and reinforced the underground structures.
• Oden recognized Forbidden Studies techniques in Bronze City, but told Lu Yuan that the damaged statue he had seen commemorated a much older patriarch whose consciousness had never gathered there.
• Oden returned to sleep, and Lu Yuan reflected on the purge before worrying about Margaret's recent silence and reckless fighting.
• Lu Yuan went to the branch and found Margaret beside Hope, with several leaves and a small section of Hope's Root on the ground.

Margaret used materials voluntarily shed by Hope to make a powerful potion that helped her recover, while Blue Knight prepared to return to Knight Academy with Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan received a letter from Mo Shui, who explained that Mina and Brent no longer remembered him and invited him to visit if he ever reached the main city.

• Margaret ground Hope's leaves and roots into powder, mixed them with Holy Water, and drank the resulting adaptive potion.
• Margaret hurried away after drinking the potion, while Hope watched in surprise.
• Blue Knight told Lu Yuan she would return to Knight Academy in two or three days after regaining control of her power.
• Lu Yuan received a letter from Mo Shui written in Book Spirit language, which he could understand like ancient Inscriptions.
• Mo Shui told Lu Yuan that Mina and Brent had forgotten him after Grim Port disappeared, and said he could visit her in the main city someday.

Lu Yuan read letters from Mo Shui and Karl, reflected on the people and places he had left behind, and prepared to travel north to the Knight Academy. He wrote back to Mo Shui, promising to come for him after pursuing answers about his Pathway.

• Lu Yuan read Mo Shui’s letter and decided he would visit Headquarters and try to take Mo Shui away when the time was right.
• Lu Yuan read Karl’s letter about Sandworm Town, played a passage on his Bone Flute, and resolved to resume studying Ancient Music Theory.
• Lu Yuan visited Leike in the hall, reassured Jurgen that Leike would wake, and said he would leave for the north in two or three days.
• Lu Yuan went to the branch and dictated a reply to Mo Shui, describing his plans and promising to come get him after the Knight Academy and his search for Pathway clues.

Lu Yuan sent letters to Mo Shui and Karl, then visited Klaus, who had submitted his resignation and planned to leave Bronze City to find his own path. Before leaving the next day, Lu Yuan stopped by the Logistics Department and found Margaret feeding Hope a potion.

• Lu Yuan sent a letter to Karl with a westbound merchant caravan and hoped his single-use letter to Mo Shui would reach its recipient.
• Klaus showed Lu Yuan his resignation letter and explained that Glock would take over as Deputy Chief.
• Klaus told Lu Yuan that he would leave Bronze City once its affairs were settled and promised to write through Knight Academy if he found a method or place to settle.
• Klaus told Lu Yuan to prepare to leave the next day, and Lu Yuan headed to the Logistics Department.
• Lu Yuan found Margaret feeding Hope a potion that she had mixed for the plant.

Lu Yuan said goodbye to the people he had met in Bronze City and departed north with the Blue Knight. After the convoy left, Leike’s insect body stirred faintly beneath The Tree, but no one noticed.

• Lu Yuan surveyed Bronze City’s reconstruction, saw Green in the square, and learned that the Pathfinder team had left with its aerial fortress.
• Boer, Dunn, and other Night Watchers held a farewell gathering for Lu Yuan, sharing food, wine, and patrol stories.
• Lu Yuan visited Leike and asked Jurgen to watch over him and have him write a letter when he woke.
• Lu Yuan arranged for Klaus to exchange incoming Sandworm Town materials for points, then left Bronze City with the Blue Knight and a convoy.
• After Lu Yuan departed, Leike’s insect body swayed slightly beneath The Tree, but Jurgen remained asleep and did not see it.

Lu Yuan and Blue Knight traveled north toward Knight Academy as more refugees headed south, and Lu Yuan learned about the academy’s vows and admission test. Oden warned that the academy might be connected to the vanished Four Knights Society and revealed that the Person on the Wall was linked to one of the Taboo entities involved in his advancement.

• Lu Yuan and Blue Knight traveled north, avoiding danger with Sandworm Oil Lamps, while large numbers of people fled south from the north.
• Blue Knight explained that Knight Academy began as a group bound by vows, and Oden told Lu Yuan that the Four Knights Society had failed to defeat four Taboo entities and disappeared.
• Lu Yuan realized he could control how much of his thoughts Oden heard and chose not to tell him about Grim Port.
• Blue Knight explained that Knight Academy’s entrance test measured whether something cherished or held in the heart resonated, and Oden said Lu Yuan would likely pass.
• Oden warned Lu Yuan not to get involved if Knight Academy was connected to the Four Knights Society, then said the Person on the Wall was connected to a Taboo entity tied to his advancement from Third Order to Fourth Order.

Lu Yuan and Blue Knight reached Black Well Town, a coal-mining settlement on their route to the Knight Academy’s northern branch. The local Night Watchers told them that a creature beneath the mine had been killing livestock and miners, and Lu Yuan was asked to help investigate.

• Oden explained to Lu Yuan that the Person on the Wall counted as half of the Taboos tied to the Knight Academy, while someone connected to it counted as one.
• Lu Yuan and Blue Knight arrived at Black Well Town, where Blue Knight explained its coal trade and the Academy’s routes to its remote northern branch.
• Lu Yuan and Blue Knight visited the town’s Night Watcher branch and met its anxious old captain.
• The old captain told them that livestock, guard dogs, and miners had disappeared, and that a creature beneath the mine could burrow through the ground like a mineral vein.
• The old captain explained that the mine was only half-sealed and asked Lu Yuan and Blue Knight to investigate.

Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight agreed to help Black Well Town deal with a huge, coal-like creature that emerged from the mine at night. After learning about its attacks and the town’s plight, they reached the mine entrance as night fell, where cold air and fresh frost made the shaft seem abnormal.

• The Blue Knight agreed to help Black Well Town, and Lu Yuan asked the old man about the creature’s appearance, habits, and origins.
• The old man explained that the creature had appeared after miners dug into a deeper layer, and that it attacked at night while growing larger.
• Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight ate dinner and rested before heading toward the mine with the old man and a young Night Watcher.
• Townspeople pleaded with Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight to stop the creature, and the old man assured them the reinforcements would act that night.
• The group reached the newly opened mine, where the guards opened a gap in the barricade and Lu Yuan noticed cold air and fresh frost at the entrance.

Lu Yuan, Blue Knight, and the old man descended into the mine to hunt the Eerie, following strict safety rules and finding signs that its tunnels had spread. They reached the abandoned worksite where the creature first appeared, but had yet to encounter it.

• The old man explained the rules for entering the mine, and Lu Yuan and Blue Knight followed him down the shaft.
• The group explored the mine’s preserved tunnels, passing abandoned equipment and discovering that the lamps farther underground had gone out.
• The old man showed them smooth holes bored into the coal walls and realized the Eerie’s activity had expanded since his last visit.
• Lu Yuan questioned Blue Knight and the old man about the creature, but neither had encountered anything like it before.
• The old man warned that gunfire could ignite gas and showed Lu Yuan his worn alchemical crossbow, which might not be powerful enough to harm the long-bodied Eerie.

Lu Yuan identified the mine’s Eerie as a newborn Heat Eater and lured it out by building a massive fire. Blue Knight killed it, ending the threat to the mine and the town.

• Lu Yuan recognized the Heat Eater in the mine and led the group back outside, saying he had a way to handle it.
• Lu Yuan ordered the Night Watchers and townspeople to gather coal and firewood to create a huge heat source at the mine entrance.
• Lu Yuan explained that the Heat Eater fed on warmth and that its attacks had caused the miners to disappear.
• The Heat Eater burst from the mine and lunged for the fire.
• Blue Knight pinned the Heat Eater to a rock wall and cut through its shell until it stopped moving.

Lu Yuan killed the Heat Eater threatening Black Well Town and discovered a rare Heat-Eater Thermal Core inside it. After ensuring no more creatures emerged, he taught the townspeople how to deal with Heat Eaters and joined them for a hot spring soak.

• Lu Yuan examined the dead Heat Eater, collected its shell, and found a warm black sphere containing a tiny flame inside its body.
• Gray-White Text identified the sphere as a rare Heat-Eater Thermal Core, and Lu Yuan kept it for future crafting.
• Lu Yuan reassured the townspeople that Heat Eaters were generally solitary and told them to keep the fire burning while they waited for another creature.
• After no second Heat Eater appeared, Lu Yuan had the creature's body burned and explained how the town could handle similar threats.
• The old man invited Lu Yuan and Blue Knight to Black Well Town's hot springs, where townspeople discussed travelers' reports of unrest in the north.

Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight left Black Well Town after learning that nearby cities were tightening inspections for Eerie power and increasing their purchases of coal. They set out toward the Boundary Mountains, facing a six- or seven-day journey before the next supply point.

• Lu Yuan heard that nearby cities were demanding more coal and inspecting medicinal herbs and travelers with stones that could detect Eerie power.
• Oden awoke briefly, told Lu Yuan he was fine but needed more sleep, and said he might return to the Hall of Knowledge.
• Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight finished their hot-spring visit, ate local food, and resumed their journey in the maintained carriage.
• The old Night Watcher offered Lu Yuan money, but Lu Yuan refused it and gave him potions; the old man then loaded supplies and Coldglow Stones onto the carriage.
• The Blue Knight drove Lu Yuan out of Black Well Town toward the Boundary Mountains, where they faced six or seven days of travel to the next supply point.

Lu Yuan and Blue Knight traveled through the snowy Northern Territory toward Snow Owl City, where Blue Knight planned to handle business before they continued to Knight Academy. Along the way, Lu Yuan learned that a music teacher at the academy might guide his Ancient Music Theory, while Oden quietly took in the unfamiliar world around him.

• Lu Yuan spent the journey training Guard II and practicing songs on the Sandworm Bone Flute, but made little progress in either skill.
• Blue Knight told Lu Yuan that a music teacher at Knight Academy fought using melodies and might know Ancient Music Theory techniques.
• Blue Knight advised Lu Yuan to seek Bards in the east or south if he wanted to continue studying music after the academy.
• Lu Yuan told Oden they would reach Snow Owl City in a day or two, and Oden listened while watching the fire, snow, and distant mountains.

Lu Yuan and Blue Knight reached Snow Owl City, a major northern center for mining and forging, and entered through its guarded gate. Blue Knight pulled the carriage over in the Inner City, where Lu Yuan had noticed the forges and workers were concentrated.

• Lu Yuan saw Snow Owl City spread across a mountainside and learned from Blue Knight that its unique local ore supported the north’s many forges.
• As they approached the city, Lu Yuan observed the severe cold and identified lightly dressed people as powerful Eerie or Alienated Transcendents.
• Lu Yuan recognized the gate guards as Snow Owl City Knights, Alienated Transcendents with keen sensitivity to contamination.
• Blue Knight showed her Knight Academy badge, and the knights saluted the pair and let their carriage enter without inspection.
• Lu Yuan noticed that the Outer City mixed shops with homes, while the forges and factories clustered closer to the Inner City; Blue Knight then stopped the carriage by the roadside.

Blue Knight told Lu Yuan to handle his errands in Snow Owl City before the Knight Academy transfer, then left him to find the Night Watcher branch. Lu Yuan arrived at the enormous branch and entered its hall, where he saw an assistance registration area.

• Blue Knight explained that she had to remain in Snow Owl City until all the Knight Academy students arrived and warned Lu Yuan not to overstay his time outside.
• Blue Knight gave Lu Yuan a map showing the Night Watcher branch and the academy’s temporary campus, then departed by carriage.
• Lu Yuan decided to exchange his Night Watcher points, withdraw money, and buy warmer clothes at the branch.
• Lu Yuan walked along the third road and reached Snow Owl City’s sprawling Night Watcher branch.
• Lu Yuan entered the branch hall and saw resting Night Watchers on one side and residents seeking help at the Assistance Registration counters on the other.