Chapter Summaries

Aaron learned that Sylvie was pregnant, while rumors about the child’s paternity spread through Sothoth Castle and fueled Colin’s jealousy and anger. Lady Sonia expected the Count to prevent Colin from ordering an abortifacient, while the pregnancy continued to threaten Colin’s peace of mind.

• Aaron reviewed his discoveries about the Unburnt and learned from Albert that Sylvie was pregnant, likely since the month of her wedding.
• Servants at Sothoth Castle spread rumors that Sylvie might have conceived while she was being carried off, and Colin overheard them.
• Colin asked Sylvie what she thought of Aaron, then accused her of carrying Aaron’s child and smashed a jug in anger.
• Sylvie swore the child was Colin’s and challenged him to use abortifacient tea if he did not believe her.
• Lady Sonia told Ginny that Colin would not order the tea because the Count needed the child, and she intended the pregnancy to keep reopening Colin’s humiliation.

Aaron watched Xiu become an Unburnt by enduring a ritual burn, while she planned to gain access to spells and free Aike. He tested the Black Flame Meditation Method himself, failed to connect with its spirituality, and wondered whether his identity as the Dream Creator had made him the source of spirituality in the other world.

• Aaron watched Xiu pass the red-flame trial and burn her hand during the Unburnt Ritual.
• Xiu reassured Lin about her injury and told Aike to keep pretending to worship the Black Sun until she could access spells and help him escape.
• Aaron wondered why the Black Sun and other entities had not influenced him, then speculated that their signals had weakened since their first appearance.
• Aaron tried the Black Flame Meditation Method with a brazier but could not endure the flames or make the meditation work.
• Aaron recorded his failure and theorized that the Scarlet Sun had given spirituality to people in the dream world, leading him to wonder whether he was the Dream Creator.

Aaron observed a Black Sun Church lesson on rituals and wondered how he could influence the world or attract believers, but realized he was trapped in a vicious cycle. Meanwhile, Xiu prepared to flee with Aike and Lin after recognizing that the church’s influence had begun changing her.

• Aaron listened as the High Priest taught the Unburnt how to perform a ritual for finding a way out and warned them about its requirements and dangers.
• Aaron reasoned that he could not reach potential believers or tell them his divine name, leaving him unable to influence the world.
• Aaron noticed that Xiu had awakened her spirituality and followed her home to Aike and Lin.
• Xiu packed their saved supplies and told the children they had to leave the Black Sun Cult.
• When Aike questioned whether they needed to go, Xiu realized the Black Sun’s influence had affected her and urged the children to escape the mysterious at once.

Xiu tried to escape the Black Sun cult with Lin, but the High Priest caught them and used Xiu and other captives as kindling in the Eclipse Ritual. He became a Dark Beast, while Lin mourned Xiu and thought she saw a tree of flesh and blood on the crimson moon.

• Xiu discovered the tattoo on Lin's arm and learned that Aike had betrayed them, so she fled town with Lin.
• The High Priest stopped Xiu at the gate, and she surrendered to protect Lin.
• Two days later, the High Priest sacrificed Xiu, Soren, and other captives in the Eclipse Ritual, which Aaron realized consumed the cultists' dark spirituality as kindling.
• The High Priest emerged from the flames as a Dark Beast with a dog's body and a human's head.
• That night, Lin mourned Xiu and her mother, then thought she saw a gigantic tree of flesh and blood on the crimson moon.

Aaron observed Lin’s hunger under the Crimson Moon, then watched the High Priest’s investigation expose her as a follower of a rival power. Lin escaped Black Sun Town, leaving a flesh puppet behind, and Aaron found her transformed into a young woman in a strange forest.

• Aaron saw Lin suppress her desire to devour Aike and suspected the Crimson Moon’s Mother Tree of Flesh had influenced her.
• Aike learned that intruders had attacked Black Sun Town while the High Priest remained in seclusion.
• Aaron observed the High Priest use a divination ritual to track the attackers to Aike’s cottage.
• The High Priest burned down the cottage and struck Lin, whose body turned out to be a flesh puppet.
• Lin fled into the forest before the High Priest arrived, and Aaron found her transformed into a young woman.

Lin fled the Black Sun Cult and prayed to an unknown being for help, unknowingly reaching Aaron. After Aaron purified the crimson corruption in her, they made a deal, and he promised to protect her.

• Lin hid in a cave, frightened, and performed an imperfect ritual asking an unknowable being for help.
• Aaron heard Lin's prayer, connected with her, and used his mysterious energy to cleanse the corruption that had driven her madness and transformation.
• Aaron introduced himself as the Spirit of Unknown Void, the Absolute Neutral Entity, the Silent Observer, and Lin explained that the Black Sun Cult was hunting her.
• Aaron offered to answer Lin's prayer in exchange for a sacrifice, and Lin offered her knowledge of Crimson.
• Aaron received Lin's Crimson knowledge and promised to protect her, warning her not to pray to the being on the moon.

Aaron helped Lin escape Black Sun’s mystical tracking, then tried to summon himself through a ritual using his own blood. He fainted before making contact and, still unable to access spirituality, considered studying herbs to strengthen himself for future rituals.

• Aaron realized he could wash away Black Sun’s mystical connection to Lin, and Lin thanked him before ending the ritual.
• Aaron studied the Spirit of Crimson and concluded that eating could awaken it quickly, then asked Daili to prepare ritual supplies.
• Aaron failed at a Pathfinding Ritual, then used his blood in a summoning ritual and fainted before he could establish a connection.
• Daili cleaned the ritual room, and Scholar Albert examined Aaron and advised him to eat more nutritious food and drink deer’s blood.
• Aaron concluded that he lacked the strength and spirituality to perform rituals, and decided to try studying herbs and making strengthening preparations.

Aaron took Ginny riding through his lands, showed her his improved farming methods, and searched the forest for herbs to make medicines and potions. After Ginny returned home, Aaron suspected her visit was meant to draw him into the Sothoth Family’s conflict and began testing a potion made from Blood Grass.

• Aaron showed Ginny the Curved-Shaft Plow and fertilizer he planned to use to improve his lands’ harvest.
• Aaron searched the forest for herbal substitutes and collected Blood Grass to test as an ingredient for a body-strengthening potion.
• Ginny spotted a rabbit and asked Aaron to have it for dinner.
• Aaron sent the sleeping Ginny home with Sir Alfred and suspected Lady Sonia had sent her to influence him against Colin.
• Aaron prepared a foul-smelling black potion from Blood Grass and decided to test it on small animals.

Aaron successfully made a body-strengthening potion, then returned to Sothoth Castle with spring wheat from his domain for his birthday. He learned that Sylvie had given birth to a boy but was in critical condition.

• Aaron finished making a potion and asked Albert about the domain, learning that his birthday was approaching and a gift had arrived from Sothoth Castle.
• Aaron decided to return to the castle and bring spring wheat from his first harvest as a gift.
• On the journey, Aaron used Danger Perception in his dreams and found that his instincts were growing sharper.
• Theodore welcomed Aaron and was impressed by the spring wheat harvest and its yield.
• Theodore told Aaron that Sylvie had given birth to a boy and proposed holding a tournament to celebrate the birth and Aaron's birthday.
• Aaron learned that Sylvie was in poor condition after giving birth and might soon die.

Aaron offered Theodore medicine to save Sylvie after she suffered a dangerous childbirth, then prepared allicin to help prevent infection. He left Sylvie’s fate unresolved while teaching Ginny how to make the garlic remedy.

• Theodore feared Sylvie would die in childbirth, and Aaron offered him medicine he claimed could stop bleeding.
• Aaron gave Theodore a hemostatic ointment and explained how to apply it before Theodore hurried to the birthing room.
• Lady Sonia warned Aaron that helping Sylvie could bring blame or little gratitude, while Aaron said he wanted to help and denied wanting to become earl.
• Aaron returned to his room and asked Ginny to bring wine and fresh garlic so he could prepare allicin to prevent Sylvie from developing an infection.
• Ginny questioned why Aaron was helping Sylvie, and Aaron explained that he helped because he wanted to; she tasted the allicin and ran out crying about its awful taste.

Aaron attended a tournament celebrating the birth of the new heir, then negotiated with Theodore at the banquet over farming methods and marriage. Theodore agreed to leave Aaron free to choose his spouse, and Aaron called Tia into his room.

• Murdoch defeated his opponent in the tournament, and Theodore named him the winner.
• Aaron learned that Sylvie was recovering well after giving birth, with no signs of complications.
• Theodore raised the prospect of Aaron’s marriage and granting him a noble title, then asked about Aaron’s improved farming methods and fertilizer.
• Aaron and Theodore struck a bargain: Aaron would share his farming techniques, and Theodore would let him choose whom to marry.
• Aaron returned to his room, felt relieved about his freedom to choose, and called Tia in.

Lin offered Crimson essence to the Spirit of Void, who accepted it and answered her prayer. Aaron approved her request to form a cult but postponed helping her rescue Aike, and Lin named the cult the Light of Redemption.

• Lin harvested Crimson essence from a three-headed monster and prayed at her hidden altar to the Spirit of Void.
• Aaron accepted Lin’s offering and sensed that its Crimson spirituality had affected him in an unexpected way.
• Lin asked Aaron to help rescue her brother Aike and purify him from the Black Sun Cult’s corruption, but Aaron said the time had not yet come.
• Lin blamed her weakness and asked permission to establish a cult devoted to Aaron, and he agreed.
• After Aaron ended their connection, Lin left the altar and decided to call the new cult the Light of Redemption.

After receiving crimson spirituality through Lin’s offering, Aaron discovered that it had awakened extraordinary strength and healing in his real-world body, while also intensifying his appetite and desires. By the next day, the influence had faded, leaving Aaron regretful that his world seemed to have no magic.

• Aaron returned to Blackstone Manor after Theodore granted him the empty title of Baron of Blackstone, while Xia Ya became an honorary lord and Colin received no title.
• Aaron sensed that the crimson essence offered in the dream world had entered his body and made him unusually energetic and lustful.
• Aaron ate rare veal and drank deer’s blood, realizing the crimson was influencing his appetite and possibly affecting Daili.
• Aaron trained with his Cross Sword and found that new strength rose within him as he neared exhaustion, while a cut on his arm quickly healed.
• Aaron concluded that the crimson spirituality was fading, and by the next day he watched Daili with calm regret over its disappearance.

Aaron failed to establish a complete supernatural connection to the real world and considered other ways to grow stronger. In Diat, Lin encountered survivors protected by Olivia, whose ritual saved them but left her suffering from corruption.

• Aaron snapped his quill after another attempt to summon himself in reality failed, then planned to explore other elemental paths and rituals.
• Lin searched the ruins of Diat for survivors, hoping to find people who could become believers and offer spiritual items to her Lord.
• Lin sensed a strange powder near a barricaded department store and prayed for help, while Aaron considered the limits of his connection with her.
• Aaron entered the store and watched Olivia use a ritual to summon bewildering dust and invisible threads that sliced the monsters outside into pieces.
• Olivia asked Aldo for a quiet room, then collapsed and writhed as corruption from her ritual overtook her.

Aaron sent Lin to save a soul inside the Department Store, but Aldo and the other survivors attacked Olivia before Lin could reach her. After Lin slaughtered them, she discovered a blood-fed cocoon in the room where Olivia had fallen.

• Aldo and the survivors plotted to kill Olivia and seize her mysterious powers, while Aaron sensed a soul in the Department Store that needed saving.
• Lin answered Aaron’s call and rushed toward the building, but Aldo’s group shot Olivia and left her gravely wounded.
• Lin arrived as the hunters threatened her, severed the burly man’s wrist, and used her blood-form to evade Aldo’s gunfire.
• Lin transformed her arms into cleavers and slaughtered the survivors who had prevented her from saving Olivia.
• Lin entered the room to bury Olivia and found a person-sized cocoon absorbing the dead hunters’ blood as its heartbeat grew louder.

Lin saved Olivia from transforming into a monster by praying to Aaron, and Olivia joined Lin’s Light of Redemption after learning about its mysterious Lord. Lin then declared the Department Store a sect branch, but Olivia learned the sect had only five members and wondered whether she could leave.

• Lin realized Olivia was transforming inside the cocoon and prayed to the Spirit of Void to save her.
• Aaron accepted Lin’s ritual and poured dream energy into the cocoon, restoring Olivia to human form.
• Olivia told Lin and Aaron about the Cocoon, its Chrysalis element, and the sect she had left, then asked to join the Light of Redemption.
• Lin welcomed Olivia into the sect and preached that its Lord was humanity’s only hope, while Aaron privately considered learning Olivia’s Secret Lore.
• Lin claimed the Department Store as a branch and admitted that the sect had five members, leaving Olivia to wonder if she could quit.

Aaron woke after receiving Olivia’s offering of Chrysalis spirituality and reflected on the abilities and risks it gave him. Knight Yiman arrived near Blackstone Territory with Monica to arrange a marriage alliance, while his disciple Mika secretly met with a Davis loyalist who opposed the Sothoth Family.

• Aaron tested his heightened senses, skin hardening, and silk threads, but found the threads too weak to hold.
• Aaron learned that Knight Yiman had come to visit and heard Albert describe him as a strong, benevolent lord who had shown goodwill toward the Sothoth Family.
• Knight Yiman halted his convoy near Blackstone Territory and ordered someone to announce their arrival.
• Mika slipped away from the convoy and met a Davis loyalist in a thicket.
• Mika told the loyalist that Yiman intended to side with the Sothoth Family and arrange a marriage alliance for Miss Monica.

Aaron welcomed Knight Yiman, Monica, and Mika to Blackstone Manor, then discovered an assassination plot among their retinue and killed Mika when he attacked. He spared Knight Yiman after judging him innocent and ordered his guards to search the servants for the other conspirators.

• Mika agreed to sow discord between the two sides and start a war so the Davis Family could reclaim Upper Green Forest.
• Aaron welcomed Knight Yiman, Monica, and Mika to Blackstone Manor and hosted them with refreshments before touring the grounds.
• Eight-Fingers and Sanchez reported that suspicious members of the retinue carried poisoned daggers, and Aaron accused Mika of plotting to assassinate him.
• Mika drew his sword, but Aaron struck first and pierced Mika's lung with his rapier.
• Knight Yiman swore he had known nothing of the plot and offered Aaron his sword; Aaron accepted his claim and ordered Eight-Fingers to escort Yiman and Monica to guest rooms and search the servants.

After an assassination attempt, Aaron used an occult ritual to locate the mastermind within his domain. He summoned Knight Yiman and asked him to help bring the culprit to justice, leaving the investigation poised to begin.

• Aaron and his advisers debated how to investigate the attack without provoking Sothoth Castle or turning the Upper Forest against them.
• Aaron performed a divination ritual with a pendulum and found the mastermind's location on a map of his domain.
• The ritual drained Aaron's spirituality, and he noticed that his pendulum seemed to have gained a faint trace of spirituality.
• Aaron recalled his advisers, announced that the mastermind was in the domain, and ordered them to bring Knight Yiman.
• Aaron asked Knight Yiman to help capture the culprit and prove his innocence, and Yiman agreed eagerly.

Knight Yiman and Eight-Fingers uncovered Jon Davis’s conspiracy, while Aaron avoided the danger and sent the matter to Sothoth Castle. In Diat, Aaron connected with the growing Order of the Light of Redemption, whose members then discovered that the Black Sun Cult had reached the area.

• Knight Yiman and Eight-Fingers searched a private residence, found a hidden cellar, and captured Jon Davis, a missing member of the Davis Family.
• Albert reported Jon’s confession and a list of conspirators to Aaron, who ordered Knight Yiman to execute Jon and send a report to Sothoth Castle.
• Aaron connected with Lin, Olivia, and the Order of the Light of Redemption, recognized their growing congregation, and approved a second permanent altar.
• Lin and Olivia discussed their faith and hoped Aaron would grant them a Path, while Aaron reflected on the mysterious energy and offerings.
• Barnard reported that black-robed followers of the Black Sun Cult had attacked the group, and the congregation found an unconscious believer covered in cold, black flame.