Recaps

Sylutia joined five Thetis Students to explore the four-star Gloomy Forest Secret Realm, where they advanced from its safer first level into the dangerous second level. After Sylutia spotted and drove off a concealed Fourth Order Hermit Spider, the group learned the beast was nearby but still hidden.

• A student explained the Gloomy Forest Secret Realm's dangers as Sylutia and the other Thetis Students entered it.
• The group crossed the first level, encountering low-value Second Order monsters and discussing the resources they could collect.
• On the second level, the students armed themselves and one member killed a Second Order Forest Boa with a Moon Blade.
• Sylutia sensed a huge shadow approaching the three students carrying the boa and used her time-acceleration ability to reach it.
• The shadowy figure vanished when Sylutia confronted it, and she identified it as a likely Fourth Order Hermit Spider with Mist Shadow Aspect Power.

Sylutia led the group through the Secret Realm, where they collected a Parasitic Snake Apple, captured a Shadow-Walking Beast, and fought Hunger-Eating Owls. After returning safely, Sylutia chose to leave the injured beast with the Mage Guild for treatment and boarding rather than sell it.

• The party found a Parasitic Snake Apple, and Laina froze it while another member removed and killed the snake inside without damaging the fruit.
• Sylutia used her silver threads to capture a Shadow-Walking Beast and knocked it unconscious with the Steel Shadow Demon Hand before locking it in a concealed cage.
• Muria and the others defeated eight Hunger-Eating Owls, collected a few gemstones from their nest, and then turned back as corruption deepened.
• Sylutia removed the ward from the cage on the return trip and brought the still-living Shadow-Walking Beast back to their base.
• The Mage Guild offered eight hundred gold coins for the beast, but Sylutia decided to leave it there for treatment and boarding.

Sylutia returned to the outpost, reclaimed the Shadow-Walking Beast, and began learning how to train it from Muke. After discovering a valuable beast-training book, she spent the next day studying and training, then heard other adventurers discuss the dangers of the Gloomy Forest while eating at the tavern.

• Sylutia collected the Shadow-Walking Beast from the outpost pens and hired Muke to teach her how to train it.
• Sylutia rented a small house and briefly dreamed of summer holidays and classmates whose names and faces she had forgotten.
• The next morning, Muke taught Sylutia the basics of beast training and gave her the book Herding and Walking to study.
• Sylutia read the book and discovered it contained Secret History Knowledge about Beast Tamer advancement, abilities, rituals, and training techniques.
• At the tavern, Sylutia overheard adventurers describe the Gloomy Forest's dangers before eating roast meat and crispy flatbread.

Sylutia continued her quiet life at the outpost, training beasts at the menagerie and keeping her Fourth-Tier power concealed. After outmaneuvering the Shadow-Walking Beast with the Lion Palace’s power, she finished its daily training and went to the tavern for lunch.

• Sylutia visited the animal pens, greeted Furball, and passed the Thunder Wolf and Black Savage Bulls before entering the Shadow-Walking Beast’s enclosure.
• The Shadow-Walking Beast attacked Sylutia twice, but she dodged its strikes and counted each failed attempt.
• The beast used its Shadow-Walking ability, so Sylutia summoned the Lion Palace’s power and knocked it out of shadow form with a roar.
• Sylutia tapped the dizzy beast on the head, then fed it and taught it simple commands as part of its daily training.
• Sylutia said goodbye to the old man and Furball, then went to the tavern and listened to patrons while waiting for her meal.

Noah, an injured Second Order Mage, returned from the Gloomy Forest and calculated that his herb-gathering profits still left him far short of the resources needed to advance. He invited Sylutia to join his next expedition, and she agreed after asking about his methods for avoiding dangerous magical creatures.

• Noah drank Blood Wine and used its Blood Law power to heal his wounds despite interference from his Gold Steam Aspect Power.
• While eating, Noah calculated that his latest expedition earned him about 57 gold coins in profit and estimated that advancing would cost around 4,000 gold coins.
• Noah reflected on the risks of gathering herbs, his dream of becoming a Third Order Mage, and his hope of helping his younger sister with her studies.
• Noah approached Sylutia and asked her to team up for an herb-gathering expedition, promising to teach her how he avoided dangerous creatures.
• Sylutia asked Noah about his technique and agreed to accompany him.

Noah took Sylutia into the Gloomy Forest to gather herbs, where her sharp eyes helped them avoid danger and her knowledge led to an abundant harvest. On their return, Noah explained why he had left his studies and pursued dangerous work rather than accept a slow, ordinary path to advancement, leaving Sylutia thoughtful about the obstacles faced by less gifted students.

• Noah guided Sylutia through the forest, explaining monster habits and showing her the bees he used to detect dangerous creatures.
• Noah planned their route and set land mines for their escape before leading Sylutia to a hollow where they found a concealed Emerald Nectar snake.
• Sylutia spotted the snake, and Noah killed it with his crossbow and knife before collecting its useful parts.
• Noah and Sylutia gathered herbs, and Sylutia collected more than three times as many as Noah without damaging them.
• On the way back, Noah described his studies, work, and determination to advance before age and routine drained his ambition.
• Sylutia listened and reflected on how limited resources, difficult studies, and poor guidance could hold ordinary students back.

Noah and Sylutia sold their unusually well-preserved herb harvest for a large profit, and Sylutia offered to teach Noah better harvesting techniques. That night, she brewed a potion to help control Blood Mania in beasts and planned to test her beast-cultivation knowledge on the Shadow-Walking Beast.

• Noah and Sylutia tallied their herbs, then received 402 gold coins from the Alchemist Guild for their exceptional quality.
• Noah treated Sylutia to dinner and asked her to join him on future expeditions, but she declined because she had other matters to attend to.
• Sylutia promised to bring Noah a harvesting guide at the tavern the next afternoon.
• Back at her laboratory, Sylutia used some of the herbs to brew two Purple Mustard Blood-Clearing Potions.
• Sylutia assessed the potions and decided to improve her brewing, then planned to apply her beast-cultivation knowledge to the Shadow-Walking Beast.

Sylutia trained and nourished the Shadow-Walking Beast, then used a ritual to establish Pulse Rhythm Synergy and fully tame it. A month later, she brought the grown beast to the Mage Guild and considered how it could help her guard her home and perform simple tasks.

• Sylutia fed the Shadow-Walking Beast Purple Mustard Blood-Clearing Potion and recorded its effects as its condition improved.
• Sylutia gave Noah her organized notes on gathering herbs, and he eagerly left to study them.
• Over the next month, Sylutia trained the Shadow-Walking Beast with secret arts and potions, strengthening it and teaching it complex instructions.
• Sylutia established Pulse Rhythm Synergy with the Shadow-Walking Beast and brought it, fully tamed, to the Mage Guild.
• Sylutia demonstrated how the Shadow-Walking Beast could hide in her shadow, astonishing the clerk, then reviewed its abilities and considered its future uses.

Sylutia tracked the Hermit Spider to its nest in the dangerous borderland between the Gloomy Forest and the Twilight Sea, then killed it with her Command Spell: Silver Declaration. She collected the spider’s remains and returned toward safety with a Spider Gem that Luca wanted to eat.

• Sylutia named the Shadow-Walking Beast Luca and set out alone to hunt the Hermit Spider.
• Sylutia spread silver-threaded birds through the forest, traced the spider’s recent activity, and followed its route to its nest beyond the third layer.
• Sylutia entered the nest, where the Hermit Spider revealed itself and attacked her with illusions and poison.
• Sylutia used Command Spell: Silver Declaration to overpower the spider’s mind, then killed it with a silver-patterned greatsword.
• Sylutia collected a Spider Gem, poison glands, and blood before escaping as the nest collapsed.
• Luca asked for the Spider Gem, but Sylutia refused and returned it to her shadow.

After killing the Hermit Spider, Sylutia returned to Thetis Academy as a catastrophic Wind Disaster swept across the Fourth Continent. The academy restricted travel and tasked its student chiefs with monitoring those sheltering on campus while the storm continued.

• Sylutia and the Shadow-Walking Beast struggled against the gale and managed to secure the door of her house.
• Three days later, Vekos told the students at Thetis Academy that they must remain on campus unless they received permission to leave.
• Vekos warned that the Wind Disaster had disrupted travel across the Mage Alliance and cut off its connection to the World of Shadows.
• Professors told Sylutia and the other student chiefs to take attendance, track students on campus, and report anything unusual.
• The professors gave each chief a Magic Orb for communication, and Sylutia left the auditorium beneath the still-raging storm.

During the Wind Disaster, Sylutia visited her classmates and helped Perin discover why her Spirit Blood Potions kept failing, then taught her how to brew three perfect ones. At the academy, students discussed the Vaulted Sky's surge and rumors that they would soon be sent north to help contain the disaster.

• Sylutia visited Perin, who explained that she was struggling to brew Spirit Blood Potions for her younger brother, a knight candidate.
• Sylutia identified that the stormy Gale Season had accelerated the potion's final reaction, causing Perin to boil it too long.
• Sylutia guided Perin through brewing the potion, and they made three perfect-quality Spirit Blood Potions.
• Sylutia visited students in the dormitory, where they discussed how the Vaulted Sky's surging aura boosted related powers and improved the quality of certain items.
• A student told Sylutia that the disaster had spread across the north and that academy students might soon be deployed; the students also heard distant trains rumbling.

Sylutia learned she had been appointed deputy leader of the Ninth Train’s relief team, bound for Kandra along the dangerous central route. She assembled her three hundred Inspection Department members as the train was armored and prepared for departure.

• A messenger bird summoned Sylutia to the Central Auditorium, where Refas announced that she would serve as deputy leader of the Ninth Train’s relief team.
• Refas explained that the ten trains would carry Blazing Sun Essence Crystals to Kandra and warned Sylutia about her responsibilities and inexperience.
• Sylutia went to the Inspection Department and assembled the three hundred people under her command by nine in the morning.
• Sylutia visited the Ninth Train’s assembly site as workers reinforced its armor, installed its Crystal-Splitting Cannon, and prepared it and its troops for the expedition.

Sylutia supervised preparations and boarded the Ninth Train, a heavily armed fortress carrying thousands of people and vital supplies to Kandra. After meeting the train’s leaders and inspecting the Blazing Sun Essence Crystals, she settled in for the journey, which left her considering the importance of Kandra’s North Wind Defense Line.

• Sylutia and the train crew finished loading 9,264 people, hundreds of thousands of supply crates, trained beasts, birds, and fuel aboard the Ninth Train.
• Master Ge Zhen introduced Sylutia, Novaton, Amisha, Kubo, and Tagus as the train’s key leaders and described their roles and backgrounds.
• The Ninth Train departed for Kandra, and Sylutia ate dinner before learning about the night-watch arrangements from Cheris.
• Sylutia toured the train and checked a crate of Blazing Sun Essence Crystals, the valuable cargo her team was tasked with protecting.
• Sylutia considered how the North Wind Defense Line protected the Mage Alliance’s northern farmland, then returned to her compartment and fell asleep.

Sylutia began the train journey to Kandra by inspecting the Blazing Sun Essence Crystals and learning how much of the Alliance’s alchemical industry their supply represented. The first day ended peacefully after she enjoyed an elaborate breakfast prepared by the train’s chefs.

• Sylutia woke at seven, met Cheris and the Inspection Department members, and confirmed that the night’s guard shift had gone smoothly.
• Sylutia inspected the Blazing Sun Essence Crystals with her team and asked a Sun Furnace Mage about their production and use in war machines.
• Sylutia calculated that the train’s crystal supply represented the output of about 1,200 workshops working for a year, highlighting the Alliance’s enormous resource demands.
• Sylutia ordered breakfast in the dining carriage, and the chefs prepared Steam Oat Bread and Amber Gold Egg Soup with great care.
• Sylutia ate the meal and thanked the train’s chefs as the first day of the journey to Kandra passed peacefully.

After learning that urgent track repairs in Woze District had delayed the Ninth Train, Sylutia and Novaton led separate teams from Helun to investigate. Sylutia’s team flew toward Woze District’s main city while Novaton followed in the Black Steel Spider.

• Sylutia inspected the damaged, rain-soaked countryside as the train traveled north toward Woze District.
• Master Ge Zhen told the group leaders that track repairs would force the train to stop in Helun, and Sylutia offered to investigate the main city with Novaton.
• Sylutia selected sixty team members and entrusted Cheris with guarding the Blazing Sun Essence Crystal aboard the train.
• At Helun station, Sylutia learned that the stationmaster knew little about the emergency and decided to head directly to the main city.
• Sylutia flew out with her team, while Novaton started the Black Steel Spider and set off with his engineers.

Sylutia investigated a riot in Woze District, where hunger and soaring food prices had driven citizens to attack the city’s merchants and railway. Just as repairs seemed close to completion, another explosion disrupted the work, leaving the unrest unresolved.

• Sylutia questioned Woze District guards and learned that starving citizens had rioted after food prices soared, with some destroying railway tracks to pressure the city lord and merchant guilds.
• Sylutia entered the city and saw the aftermath of the riot: burned areas, corpses, looted shops, and guards cleaning up the wreckage.
• A local officer led Sylutia to the damaged railway, where City Lord Gilson said repairs would restore traffic in two hours.
• An explosion erupted elsewhere in the city, prompting Gilson’s forces to rush toward it and leaving Sylutia doubtful that the train could proceed that night.
• Sylutia wondered who was organizing ordinary citizens well enough to challenge Woze District’s official forces.

Sylutia investigated the sabotage of Woze District’s railway and captured an attacker after using her silver birds to track him through the streets. The prisoner claimed he had an important warning about the district’s security, and Sylutia was ready to hear his explanation.

• Sylutia examined the blasted, melted railway while City Lord Gilson learned repairs would take four to five hours and promised to restore service quickly.
• Sylutia identified an unfamiliar engineer as suspicious; when the guards attacked him, he vanished in red and white flames, revealing a Phantom Flame decoy.
• A flaming spear delivered a scroll, and Sylutia gave Gilson four hours to reopen the railway before she would act on its contents.
• After another disturbance broke out, Sylutia sent agents to protect the repairs and used Silver Wing Flying Birds to search the district.
• Sylutia’s birds cornered a hooded attacker, and Inspection Department agents captured him and suppressed his abilities with restraints.
• Sylutia approached the prisoner, who surrendered and began explaining that his attack concerned Woze District’s stability and security.

Sylutia questioned Corsair, a Wilderness Ranger who had sabotaged the railway to oppose the city lord, but his Phantom Flame Fire Fox attacked and carried him away. Sylutia and the Inspection Department caught the weakened fox and froze it in a cage, with Corsair still trapped inside.

• Corsair admitted that he had blown up the railway with explosives he gathered from abandoned mines, hoping to undermine the city lord.
• Sylutia’s bird revealed a concealed attacker, who broke through the Inspection Department’s defenses and rescued Corsair in a burst of flame.
• The attacker revealed herself as a Fifth Order Phantom Flame Fire Fox and fled with Corsair while Sylutia pursued.
• Sylutia struck the fox with Anashi Impact, weakening her enough for silver birds to trap her in a rune-woven cage.
• The Inspection Department’s Winter Slumber Power froze the fox inside the cage, with Corsair still on her back.

Sylutia captured Corsair and investigated the rebels’ grievances, the city’s dwindling food reserves, and a hidden stockpile held by the Purple Silk Chamber of Commerce. Corsair exposed that City Lord Gilson had lied about transferring food, but Garrett arrived before Sylutia could press him further.

• Sylutia stopped the rebels and city guards from escalating, heard the rebels’ account of the famine, and ordered an inspection of the city’s food reserves.
• After the inspection found little food in the known warehouses, Corsair revealed a secret storehouse belonging to the Purple Silk Chamber of Commerce and admitted he had sought revenge for his old classmate Salan.
• Sylutia’s team uncovered the hidden warehouse, and its leader agreed to provide supplies for relief after Sylutia answered her questions about aid, compensation, and recognition.
• Sylutia arranged food distribution and returned to the tracks, where Corsair challenged Gilson to swear he had not transferred food elsewhere; an Inspection Department member confirmed that Gilson’s oath was false.
• Sylutia offered to suspend pursuit of the train delays if Gilson persuaded the other chambers to release their reserves, but Garrett arrived and asked her not to be too hard on Gilson.

Corsair accused City Lord Gilson of abducting talented young people and turning them into members of the Blood Clan, prompting Gilson to flee and transform his power through a forbidden ritual. Sylutia pursued him and fought off his steam-based attacks before revealing the Thunder Demon Eye above the clouds.

• Corsair reported that Gilson had arranged the disappearances of talented youths, including Corsair's friend Salan, and that the missing people had been taken north to join the Blood Clan.
• Garrett withdrew his support from Gilson as witnesses recalled Salan and other vanished classmates, while Gilson tried to arrest Corsair.
• Gilson fled using a blood-red Magic Orb and dropped bombs to destroy the tracks, but Novaton's Mechanical Spiders intercepted them.
• Sylutia pursued Gilson as he transformed his Castle Aspect Power into Blood Law and attacked her with a Steam Furnace and Heat Flow Spears.
• Sylutia used her clock-dial inscriptions, Swan Gate, and electric wings to withstand Gilson's attacks and analyze his machinery.
• After Gilson blasted away the clouds, he saw Sylutia hovering above him with the Thunder Demon Eye looming behind her.

Sylutia killed Gilson with the Thunder Demon Eye’s overwhelming lightning strike, then returned to the Ninth Train with Novaton and the captured Corsair as the train resumed its journey toward Kandra. On board, she learned about Kandra and the distant East from Silis and Amisha, and memories surfaced suggesting her own ties to the Eastern continent.

• Sylutia summoned the Thunder Demon Eye, whose Thunder Heaven Strike vaporized Gilson, leaving her to seek information through his residence and former aides.
• Master Ge Zhen and the crew watched the lightning fade, then Sylutia and Novaton returned to the Ninth Train with Corsair and his caged Phantom Flame Fire Fox.
• Master Ge Zhen ordered the train to depart, and Inspection Department members escorted Corsair to a guarded prison car.
• Silis joined Sylutia aboard the train and described Kandra’s North Wind Defense Line, its Grey-Mane Orcs, and possible business opportunities.
• Cheris warned Sylutia about the danger of pursuing Gilson, and Amisha ordered Sylutia a lavish meal in the dining car.
• Amisha described the Emerald Dragon and the Sixth Continent, prompting Sylutia to recall a fleet voyage to the East and her Eastern ancestry.

The Fourth Train came under attack from monsters as it crossed the Northwest Wilderness, then crashed after the tracks vanished beneath a lake. As the survivors faced monsters on every side, a Sixth Order Mud-Marsh Plesiosaur rose from the water and unleashed a wave over the train and its attackers.

• Shriek-Black Vultures and ground monsters attacked the Fourth Train, and the Red Sun Guards and soldiers fought them off.
• Cedric used silver stars to illuminate the flooded land ahead and saw that the tracks had disappeared beneath a lake.
• The Fourth Train braked too late, left the tracks, and overturned in the waterlogged grassland.
• The pursuing monsters and Shriek-Black Vultures attacked the people emerging from the wreckage.
• A Mud-Marsh Plesiosaur rose from the lake, roared, and sent murky waves surging over the train and the monsters.

As the Ninth Train encountered Frog Rain, Sylutia and the others discovered the frogs could be used to make Underwater Breathing potions. Meanwhile, the Second Train ran short of fuel in Babu District, and Master Heeden ordered soldiers to forcibly reclaim Charcoal Bricks from residents, leaving the city in turmoil.

• Sylutia opened a hatch and saw frogs falling from the sky during the storm, then identified them as ingredients for Underwater Breathing potions.
• Train crews and passengers caught frogs in the rain, easing the boredom and tension of the journey.
• The Second Train stopped in Babu District and learned that local officials had given its reserved Charcoal Bricks to residents facing a deadly cold snap.
• Master Heeden ordered the crews to recover the distributed fuel within two days, authorizing soldiers to execute anyone who resisted.
• Soldiers and city guards went door to door that night, forcibly taking back Charcoal Bricks as residents cried and fought.

Master Wenersha and the Third Train stopped in Hulan District, where Stella sought help for her starving people after the storm destroyed most of their livestock. The food distribution sparked deadly fighting, and the train departed without resolving the crisis, leaving the tribes to turn against one another.

• Wenersha arrived in Hulan District and learned from Stella that the tribes had lost most of their livestock and were running out of food.
• Wenersha urged Stella and the tribal elders to migrate toward the North Wind Defense Line, but the elders resisted leaving their ancestral pasture.
• The Third Train's crew distributed food, and desperate tribespeople fought over the supplies as tensions escalated into violence.
• Wenersha stopped the fighting with a chilling spell and mental Impact, after which soldiers treated the wounded and counted the dead.
• Wenersha ordered the Third Train to leave after loading Charcoal Brick, and tribespeople who tried to cling to the train froze in the wilderness.
• The surviving tribespeople began eyeing one another's food instead of working together to reach safety.

Kiran learned that delays and disasters threatened the Blazing Sun Essence Crystal shipments needed to activate the North Wind Defense Line. On the western route, the Seventh and Eighth Trains fought a Plesiosaur blocking the tracks, but the enraged dragon devastated their forces and trains.

• Kiran learned that the Fourth Train had vanished, the Second Train had been damaged by an explosion, and the Third Train was running late.
• Master Walsh found the wreckage of the Fourth Train in a marsh and discovered a Plesiosaur sleeping beneath the water.
• Master Walsh waited for the Eighth Train, then the crews prepared Crystal-Splitting Cannons to attack the Plesiosaur.
• The Plesiosaur surged from the lake, and the cannons wounded it before it melted one cannon with blue flame.
• Two Sixth Order masters deployed war machines as the trains’ crews attacked the Plesiosaur, which crushed the Purgatory Siege Beast and endured heavy fire.
• The Plesiosaur unleashed a roar that incapacitated many mages, then swept the battlefield with blue breath, cutting a train apart and vaporizing countless people.