Chapter Summaries

After waking from a dream of the Iron Whale, Lu Yuan learned that the Night Watchers’ operation in the Slum District had failed and went to their base. He helped suppress a wounded Watcher’s contamination, received clearance to access the Archive Room, and found the Iron Whale’s special voyage record.

• Lu Yuan woke from a dream of the Iron Whale and saw that his sanity had reached a new threshold.
• An explosion and fire in the Slum District revealed that the Night Watchers’ extermination operation had failed.
• Lu Yuan used a mixture of Wormwood Ash, concentrated Holy Water, and Red Phosphorus Powder to halt a wounded Night Watcher’s mutation temporarily.
• Mary told Lu Yuan that the Night Watchers had driven a summoned creature back into the sewers at great cost and that Old Morgan had granted him broad base clearance.
• Lu Yuan entered the Archive Room and found the sealed file for the Iron Whale’s special voyage.

Lu Yuan discovered that the Deep Blue ore had caused the illness afflicting Laisen, but he still had no way to treat Strange Dream. Back at his clinic, he found a mechanical device replacing a patient’s kidney, then faced an armed group that burst through his door.

• Lu Yuan read the Iron Whale’s records and learned that the Deep Blue ore caused mass hysteria and that the ship had departed with the Night Watchers’ Fifth Elite Squad led by Gao Wen.
• Lu Yuan concluded that the Iron Whale had likely met with disaster, then returned to his clinic in the rain.
• A terrified man arrived at the clinic with a stitched abdomen, and Lu Yuan discovered a fused alchemical machine replacing his kidney.
• Lu Yuan stitched the man back up to keep him alive and learn who had implanted the device.
• Four or five masked figures in Gray Coats smashed through the clinic door, and Lu Yuan reached for his Revolver.

Lu Yuan used Time Bestower and his revolver to resist Gray-robed Men from the Ascension Society, but their augmented bodies overwhelmed the Night Watcher sentries. Old Morgan arrived and confronted the leader, revealing a dark silver sheen as the standoff escalated.

• Lu Yuan accelerated time to dodge the leader’s shot, while Hidden Sentries attacked the Gray-robed Men with alchemical crossbow bolts.
• The Gray-robed Men deflected the bolts with metallic skin, and Lu Yuan’s shots failed to stop their leader.
• The Gray-robed Men wounded one Hidden Sentry and knocked the other down before aiming a high-explosive round at Lu Yuan.
• Old Morgan entered the Clinic and ordered the intruders to lower their weapons, claiming Lu Yuan as Night Watcher property.
• The leader invoked the Empire’s authority, threatened Old Morgan, and demanded that the Society’s escaped asset and Lu Yuan be taken away.
• Old Morgan’s exposed skin turned dark silver, and an oppressive force swept through the Clinic.

Old Morgan drove off the Ascension Society’s attackers and explained his powerful but costly Structure Mastery ability to Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan preserved the black blood linked to the Iron Whale and the Deep Sea, then rested as morning came to Grim Port.

• Old Morgan used Structure Mastery to blow apart the Gray-robed Men’s guns, forcing the Ascension Society squad to retreat with their injured captive.
• Old Morgan warned Lu Yuan about the Ascension Society and explained that the group pursued mechanical modifications in its quest for perfect humans.
• Lu Yuan suspected the stone in the captive’s mechanical kidney came from the Iron Whale and noted Grim Port’s status had increased.
• Old Morgan told Lu Yuan that Structure Mastery was the Third Order Knowledge Path ability of a Deconstructor and that using it consumed substantial sanity.
• Lu Yuan sealed and hid gauze stained with the captive’s black blood, then lay down to rest before dawn.

Lu Yuan treated Mina’s spiritual rampage and learned that the Church was searching for gifted children in the slums. Brent begged him to shelter Mina from the priests, and Lu Yuan recognized that taking her in could benefit him and the Night Watcher.

• Brent brought Mina to Lu Yuan’s Clinic as she clawed at her ears and suffered from severe mental contamination.
• Lu Yuan used his Deep Study ability to devise a targeted suppressant and gave it to Mina, calming her and putting her to sleep.
• Lu Yuan warned Brent that the medicine would only suppress Mina’s symptoms temporarily and asked what had caused the sudden flare-up.
• Brent begged Lu Yuan to let Mina stay at the Clinic, explaining that Church priests were taking children they identified with a glowing Bible.
• Lu Yuan realized Mina had awakened a valuable talent and considered sheltering her under the Night Watcher’s protection.

Lu Yuan accepted Brent as an informant and learned about Grim Port’s major powers and hidden groups, though the city still held unknown secrets. He then went to the Night Watcher Library to study the Sanity Barrier, where Mo Shui returned the two books he had borrowed.

• Brent offered to pass along information, and Lu Yuan agreed to let him and Mina stay in the room next to his clinic.
• Brent described Grim Port’s Inner City, port gangs, Night Watchers, church, Ascension Society, Dock Black Market, and the Ferryman.
• Lu Yuan gained nine points of Grim Port Status from Brent’s account, leaving his score at 41 out of 50.
• Lu Yuan gave Brent a key and left him to care for Mina while he went to the Night Watcher base.
• Lu Yuan entered the Library and asked Mo Shui to return Basic Structure of the Sanity Barrier and Deep Sea Creature Illustrated Guide: From Fish Eggs to Adult Fish.

Lu Yuan studied a book on Sanity Barriers while Mo Shui sensed Mina’s Echo talent and asked him to arrange a meeting. Mo Shui offered secrets or help in exchange, but its rules prevented it from revealing anything about the Iron Whale files, leaving Lu Yuan to consider the limits of a Book Spirit’s forbidden knowledge.

• Lu Yuan wiped slime off the books Mo Shui had spat onto the table and began reading Basic Structure of Sanity Barrier.
• Mo Shui sniffed Lu Yuan, detected the scent of an Echo, and learned that Lu Yuan had recently met Mina, his new patient.
• Mo Shui explained that Mina’s Echo talent could provide it with an inexhaustible supply of knowledge and let it survive outside the Library.
• Mo Shui offered Lu Yuan secrets or assistance if he took it to meet Mina.
• Lu Yuan asked about the Iron Whale files and Deep Blue ore, but Mo Shui refused, warning that revealing Taboo knowledge would kill them both.

Lu Yuan got Old Morgan’s permission to take Mo Shui from the Library and brought her to Mina, whose dangerous condition Mo Shui could treat. Mo Shui settled Mina’s Spirituality and left her able to hear clearly, while Brent learned that his sister should be safe with Mo Shui nearby.

• Lu Yuan agreed to take Mo Shui with him, and Mo Shui explained that she had stayed in the Library because she could not leave and needed knowledge to survive.
• Lu Yuan asked Old Morgan for permission to take Mo Shui; Old Morgan agreed and gave him a Spirit Sealed Record to contain her.
• Mo Shui entered the notebook, and Lu Yuan carried it to the clinic when Mina’s medicine began wearing off and her symptoms returned.
• Lu Yuan released Mo Shui, who built Bookshelves within Mina’s consciousness, sorted the voices, and consumed the remaining noise.
• Mina’s pain and ringing stopped, and Lu Yuan confirmed that her Spirituality had settled; he told Brent that Mina should be fine while Mo Shui was with her.

Lu Yuan arranged for Mina and Brent to live beside his clinic, then asked Mo Shui to teach him the Sanity Barrier. Her knowledge infusion helped him construct the barrier and recover two points of sanity, though she was left dazed and weak.

• Lu Yuan told Brent that Mina would be registered with the Night Watchers and arranged for the siblings to move into the room next to his clinic.
• Lu Yuan brought Mina to the base, where Mary took her to complete registration while Lu Yuan returned to the clinic with Mo Shui.
• Lu Yuan gave Brent Silver Shields for meals and wages, insisting that his employees would not work hungry.
• Lu Yuan demanded that Mo Shui return the Basic Structure of Sanity Barrier book, and Mo Shui offered to teach him through a knowledge infusion.
• Lu Yuan formed a Sanity Barrier, gained two points of sanity, and realized that his sanity loss might be reversible.
• Lu Yuan asked Mo Shui about the limits of her knowledge infusion, but she appeared dazed and weak.

Lu Yuan refused Priest Andrew’s demand to hand over Mina, and Andrew used the Church’s power to isolate the Clinic and attack him. Lu Yuan shot down the two Deacons, leaving them crippled as Priest Andrew faced him.

• Mo Shui warned Lu Yuan that his Sanity was unusually difficult to mobilize after helping him construct a mental barrier.
• Mary brought Mina back to the Clinic, where she ate with Brent while Lu Yuan read.
• Priest Andrew arrived with two Deacons and demanded that Lu Yuan surrender a child whom Angel had sensed.
• Priest Andrew opened a Scripture and enveloped the Clinic in a Silence Barrier, then used Angel’s blessings to empower the Deacons.
• Lu Yuan activated his Pocket Watch’s Accelerate ability and shot the Deacons in their knees and wrists, crippling them.

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.