Recaps

Sylutia returned to Phantom Color Woodland for the Woodland Alliance’s Harvest Celebration and reunited with her old friend Dorothy. As Dorothy caught her up on the Alliance’s growth, she marveled at Sylutia’s rapid rise to the Fifth Order.

• Sylutia arrived at Phantom Color Woodland with Camilla, Vincent, and other Mages for the Harvest Celebration.
• Sylutia told Camilla that Hedra had been an alias and that she was a favored successor of the Woodland Alliance.
• Sylutia and Camilla met Dorothy, who sealed their meeting place with a soundproof barrier so they could talk privately.
• Dorothy described the Dark Mist Mountains’ new strongholds, resources, and rising members, including Rachel’s trial to enter the Fifth Order.
• Dorothy said she had reached the Fifth Order three years earlier, then expressed astonishment that Sylutia had done the same after only ten years of studying the Mage Dao Path.

Sylutia reunited with old companions in Phantom Color Woodland, prepared a Fifth Order Bright Flame Cornflower, and appeared at the Harvest Celebration under her own name. After delivering her speech to an admiring crowd, she left the stage and wondered whether she had completed her task properly.

• Sylutia reminisced with Camilla, Dorothy, Sophitina, Furi, Gran, and Elton about their time in the Dark Mist Mountains, and learned that Florella had left the region.
• Dorothy told Sylutia she would appear at the celebration as Sylutia, and Camilla agreed to help conceal her identity.
• Sylutia recreated the Witch School’s Pupil Vision of the Sun Flower and raised her Bright Flame Cornflower to Fifth Order.
• The Harvest Celebration began, and Mage Alliance visitors discussed the market and anticipated Sylutia’s appearance.
• Sylutia appeared in a floral disguise, introduced herself, and delivered celebratory remarks to the crowd.
• Sylutia left the stage to thunderous applause and wondered backstage whether she had completed her task properly.

After a year away, Sylutia returned to Regas and reunited with Queen Musa, Comia, Solin, Karen, and other old acquaintances. Their conversations revealed how the kingdoms had changed, and the chapter ended with Sylutia walking through White Cliff City's restored royal palace as its guards saluted her as “Your Highness Sylutia.”

• Over the year since Sylutia returned to The Woodland, railway construction spread across the Woodland Alliance, bringing workers, trade, and greater Alliance influence into the local kingdoms.
• Sylutia arrived at the Regas Kingdom's royal palace, where Queen Musa welcomed her alongside Solin, Karen, and Comia.
• Queen Musa told Sylutia how Regas had aided the Winter Kingdom against the Eagle-Scorpion Khanate and mountain barbarians, then joined the Knight Sanctuary covenant.
• Sylutia learned that Comia had become a Third Order Witch, Solin had joined the Crimsonblood Dragon Riders school, Yero had become a Fourth Order Castle and kingdom minister, and Ray had established a family and blacksmith shop.
• Comia gave Sylutia a letter from Scholar Heide, who had advanced to the Third Order, joined Candle Keep, and planned to study before traveling the continent.
• After the group talked through the night, Sylutia carried the exhausted Musa to bed and toured the palace, where guards recognized her and saluted her as “Your Highness Sylutia.”

Musa toured White Cliff City with Sylutia and reflected on her years as queen, her family, and her eventual succession. Sylutia offered to help Musa obtain a potion to preserve her youth when she chose to step down, and the two ended their walk looking over the city.

• Musa showed Sylutia Regas’s new institutions and then explored White Cliff City with her in disguise.
• Musa explained that she had prepared a private emergency list of potential successors and hoped to step down at a suitable time.
• Musa recalled her siblings and how the deaths of her father, Leon, and Jabs had left her to take the throne.
• Sylutia promised to help Musa obtain a youth-preserving potion so she could begin a new life after leaving the throne.
• Musa thanked Sylutia for helping her become queen and for saving Regas, and they reminisced together above the city.

A plague born from contaminated mushrooms devastated the area around Geli Forest, which the Woodland Alliance and covenant organizations burned and sealed as a Forbidden Zone. In the northern Mage Alliance, Mutton became the first known victim of the Flesh Plague, which was officially named two months later and began spreading through the region.

• A wild deer ate poisonous gray mushrooms in Geli Forest, and livestock and people around the forest later wasted away and died from an unknown plague.
• Physicians, Sharp Eye Hawks, and guards quarantined the affected region, where survivors were trapped before heavenly fire consumed the area and authorities designated it a Forbidden Zone.
• Mutton won thirty-six tavern fights before Mick defeated him in their thirty-seventh duel, but Mutton transformed into a Distortion-corroded monster and Mick killed him.
• Mages sealed the town and examined people who had visited the tavern, finding that many had developed symptoms like Mutton's.
• The strange disease spread through the northern Mage Alliance and was officially named the Flesh Plague two months later.

Oren, Luke, and Anali crossed a frozen wasteland to locate a secret experimental base hidden beneath the ice. Oren used the Heroic Poem secret art Parlance's Spear to open a shaft into the base, and the three descended inside.

• Oren led Luke and Anali across the ice field toward the base he had tracked down over two years.
• Luke discussed the Alliance's strongest young mages and admitted that Hedra and Falford seemed beyond his ability to defeat.
• Oren used a Star-Track Instrument to pinpoint the base, then told Anali to use her ghosts to scout and keep watch.
• Oren recited the ancient Heroic Poem and unleashed Parlance's Spear, blasting a deep shaft through the ice.
• Oren, Luke, and Anali descended into the shaft as panicked shouts and footsteps sounded from below.

Anali, Oren, and Luke attacked an underground Dark Mage stronghold, where they fought its defenders and powerful enemies. The battle continued as Luke struggled to get past a puppet master controlling regenerative Skin-Shedders.

• Anali descended into the underground hall and saw Dark Mages and Dark Wizards fleeing as Oren and Luke attacked.
• A Fifth Order Dark Wizard sent soul-draining serpents after Luke, but Anali slowed them with her bell, allowing Luke to escape and kill the Wizard.
• Oren fought an Orc squad and killed the warriors with a Thunder Orb, though the lightning left him blackened and his clothes in tatters.
• Anali strengthened her ghosts with Ghost Ember Sand while Luke battled a puppet master and four regenerative Skin-Shedders.
• Luke tried to reach the puppet master, but threads warned the enemy of his approach, and the fight continued with neither side gaining a decisive advantage.

Anali helped Luke and Oren defeat the puppeteer and his Skin-Shedders, but her sentries detected a far stronger Transcendent approaching. Oren opened the Hert Lineage's Original Canon of Poem of Heroes as a grotesque sixth-order figure named Slandor pursued them with more than twenty mutated monsters.

• Anali concealed her Ghosts, allowing them to distract the puppeteer so Luke could sever his body and attack.
• Oren used Sword of Akataish to burn a Skin-Shedder to ash, then joined Luke in killing the remaining Skin-Shedders and the puppeteer.
• Anali warned Luke and Oren that a Transcendent of sixth order or above was approaching after her sentry Ghosts lost perception.
• Oren revealed the Hert Lineage's Original Canon of Poem of Heroes and began reciting its account of Persibishi Hert and his companions.
• Slandor arrived with more than twenty mutated monsters, recognized that Miodo had failed, and followed the trail of Luke, Oren, and Anali.

Oren summoned the heroes recorded in the Poem of Heroes as he fought the powerful humanoid, but Luke and Anali were incapacitated by its blood-based secret arts. When Anali was about to be devoured, Oren completed his song and unleashed a storm of platinum flames that engulfed the tunnels and collapsed the vast pit.

• Oren's song called forth heroic figures from the Poem of Heroes, while the humanoid's immense spiritual power nearly overwhelmed Anali.
• Luke drew the humanoid's attention with illusions, but it synchronized his heartbeat with a heart in its palm and crushed it; Anali preserved his fading soul in a purplish-red Ruby.
• Oren's summoned heroes held back the monsters as he continued chanting, and he burned away one blood snake that threatened Anali.
• The humanoid released seven blood snakes, which broke through Oren's defenses and poisoned Anali before it lifted her toward its abdominal cavity.
• Oren sang Victory's Ode to the West Wind, releasing platinum flames that flooded the caverns and caused the snowy ground and enormous pit to collapse.

Anali rescued Oren after he and Slandor fought to the brink of death, and an unseen attacker killed Slandor before Anali reached them. Two weeks later, Luke, Oren, and Anali recovered at Sephonie Academy, where they discussed the enemy organization and Hedra’s expected return to help with the Flesh Plague.

• Anali revived herself with an antidote, preserved Luke’s corpse, and searched underground for Oren and their enemy.
• Slandor overpowered Oren and tortured him, but an unseen attacker struck Slandor with a series of blade arcs while Oren burned his remains with the Original Canon.
• Anali found Oren unconscious and severely injured, and she brought him to safety with the Soul-Summoning Lantern.
• Two weeks later at Sephonie Academy, Luke complained about reliving his death while Oren explained that the secret organization sought the Twin Snake Cult’s secrets of evolution and eternal life.
• Anali told Luke and Oren that Sister Hedra would return near the end of the year with representatives responding to the Flesh Plague.

Sylutia arrived in the Mage Alliance’s Council District with the Woodland delegation and drew attention from locals who recognized her name and reputation. After settling in, she told Master Zelalin she was going out and left to meet someone, while he and the others reflected on her ties to the Mage Alliance.

• Sylutia arrived by train in the Council District with the Woodland delegation, whose members were struck by the Mage Alliance’s modern city.
• A welcoming staff member learned that the silver-haired young woman was Sylutia and recalled her reputation as a Woodland genius who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Hedra.
• Sylutia visited Master Zelalin and asked to go out until the next day, giving him a pendant to contact her if needed.
• Master Zelalin cautioned Sylutia to be careful because of the complications surrounding her identity, then promised that The Woodland would support her if she ran into trouble.
• After Sylutia left, Master Zelalin and the White Scroll Herb Pot members discussed her long stay in the Mage Alliance and the possibility that she might choose to remain there.

Sylutia returned to Thetis Academy and met with Sage Aitos, who briefed her on the Alliance’s worsening crises during the Season of Sinking Fog. He explained that the Flesh Plague was driving infected people toward madness and cannibalism, leaving northern regions cut off and the situation on the brink of disaster.

• Sylutia took a steam locomotive to Thetis Academy and introduced herself to the driver by her real name.
• Sylutia visited Sage Aitos, clarified that Hedra had been a temporary identity, and told him about her two years in the Woodland.
• Aitos described food shortages, unemployment, rising crime, and the greater ease of learning Mist Shadow abilities during the Season of Sinking Fog.
• Aitos explained that investigators suspected the Flesh Plague came from the Abomination Nest Mother, an evil organization’s experiments, or both.
• Aitos said the plague caused extreme hunger, bodily mutations, and loss of reason, and that northern regions had cut off transport to contain it.

Sylutia met with Sage Aitos to discuss the plague and learned how Amelia had grown into her librarian role. She reunited with Amelia at the Central Grand Library, explained her identity as Sylutia, and promised they would meet again while she helped resolve the plague.

• Sylutia discussed the plague’s spread, containment, and possible historical links with Sage Aitos.
• Sage Aitos explained that Amelia worked as a librarian and would gradually gain experience before taking on greater responsibilities.
• Sylutia used a Magic Orb to summon Amelia after library staff turned her away at closing time.
• Amelia joyfully reunited with Sylutia, and Sylutia explained why she had returned under a different identity and asked Amelia to call her Tia.
• Sylutia and Amelia shared tea and caught up before Amelia carried Sylutia down through the library on her wings.

Sylutia joined physicians and Pharmacists from the Mage Alliance and The Woodland to investigate the Flesh Plague, learning that it was tied to the Abomination Nest Mother and the powers of Blood Law and Distortion. The team began developing treatments based on the Blazing Sun and Radiant Moon, while Sylutia gained valuable experience and insight from the research.

• Sylutia attended a reception with the visiting delegation and learned that the team planned to investigate the severe outbreak in Woze District.
• Sylutia and the other researchers studied plague materials and observed fully mutated victims imprisoned in an underground laboratory.
• Five days later, the team concluded that the plague was connected to Blood Law, Distortion, and the Abomination Nest Mother.
• The researchers identified eliminating infected individuals or developing medicines as possible solutions, with the Blazing Sun and Radiant Moon as promising sources of power.
• Physicians and Pharmacists from several organizations gathered to exchange ideas and conduct experiments, and Sylutia deepened her healing knowledge while studying with them.

Sylutia asked Abelid whether she could share the Silver Radiance Church’s plague-analysis techniques, but he warned her to keep them to herself. After she left, Abelid and the other elders discussed the worsening threat to their continent and resolved to begin preparations, leaving Sylutia and Amelia to carry on in their place.

• Sylutia visited Abelid to ask whether she should teach others the Silver Radiance Church’s secret techniques for analyzing plagues.
• Abelid first suggested Sylutia pass the techniques to the Origin Hourglass School, but then changed his mind and told her not to share them.
• Sylutia inferred that Abelid feared a danger he could not discuss and left the Hall more cautious.
• The three elders reappeared and discussed the Abomination Nest Mother’s growing encroachment and the lack of protection for their continent.
• The elders decided they could no longer wait and would begin preparations, entrusting the future to Sylutia and Amelia.

Sylutia traveled with a medical team to Woze District, where they investigated the Flesh Plague and witnessed the horrors inside the quarantined Lower District. After a month of urgent research, the physicians and Pharmacists began developing potions based on newly confirmed aspects of the plague.

• Sylutia’s airship bombarded migratory birds, and the team discovered that their carcasses carried plague pathogens.
• Sylutia entered Woze District in protective gear and saw its deserted streets and the heavily guarded Lower District.
• Master Zelalin restrained the mutated Qiao Sen, whose relatives explained how the plague, hunger, and violence had led to cannibalism and his escape from an iron cage.
• The four teams investigated the Lower District, collected samples, and agreed to intensify research into plague prevention and treatment.
• Over the following month, physicians and Pharmacists verified parts of the plague’s mechanisms and began producing promising targeted potions.

Xilutia helped develop potions that suppressed the flesh plague, but the researchers could not find a cure. She created a Blood Copper Potion that might render the virus inactive and left to test it.

• Master Zelalin praised Xilutia’s contributions as the researchers developed potions to fight the plague.
• The No. 29 Grey Rhino Moon Potion suppressed the virus to below 5%, but further trials only reduced it to 2%.
• The pharmacists concluded that even higher-order rhino horns would not eradicate the plague or provide enough medicine to save everyone.
• Xilutia developed a Blood Copper Potion intended to bind with the plague virus and turn it into an inactive metal complex precipitate.
• Xilutia kept the potion’s uncertain results to herself and headed toward the silent Lower District.

Sylutia tested her Blood Copper Potion on the gravely infected Abesha, reducing the plague in her body to 2% and giving the Lower District residents hope. The chapter ended with the underground gathering erupting in cheers as people celebrated Sylutia and her medicine.

• Sylutia used her Shadow-Walking Beast to find a strong Transcendent, and Jiaman agreed to take her to a concealed gathering point.
• Sylutia showed the gathered Transcendents her Bright Flame Flower Dew, then examined Abesha and learned that she and the children were infected.
• Sylutia injected Abesha with diluted Blood Copper Potion and repeatedly drained the resulting black blood, reducing the virus in her body to 2%.
• Sylutia gave Abesha recovery and suppressive potions, then told the gathered people that her treatment worked but was still being perfected.
• The residents celebrated the possibility of surviving the plague and lifted Sylutia into the air, chanting her name.

Sylutia’s Blood Copper Potion proved capable of curing the plague, and the Alliance organized its improved production and distribution. As Woze District recovered, Sylutia took a break and learned that survivors regarded her as a source of hope.

• Sylutia treated an infected person whose plague levels fell below 0.1%, though the physicians waited several days before confirming a cure.
• After three days of treatment, the infected person showed no detectable plague and his abnormal tissue growth stopped.
• The masters acknowledged the potion, and after weeks of experiments they improved its effectiveness, simplified its production, and reduced the required Blood Crystal tier.
• The Alliance Council approved funding and arranged production, while the trial potion had already cured most infected people in Woze District.
• Sylutia took leave, visited people by the Abesha River, and spoke with Jiaman, who told her how grateful survivors were.
• Sylutia credited the many people who had fought the plague, while Jiaman and others saw her as a reassuring source of hope.

Sylutia and Camilla traveled north by train to negotiate cooperation with the Sea Cliff Blood Clan over the Mage Alliance’s shortages of Blood Copper Potion ingredients and specialists. Camilla warned that her sister Katera would demand a punishing price, and the journey ended with the Ice Sea coming into view.

• Sylutia asked Camilla how Katera would respond to the proposed cooperation, and Camilla predicted that her sister would press for extreme concessions.
• Camilla recounted how their mother had fostered rivalry between the sisters and how her relationship with Katera had grown distant.
• Sylutia reflected on the harsh upbringing of Blood Clan royalty and the damage it had caused to rulers across generations.
• The train emerged from the storm and reached the Ice Sea, beyond which the Sea Cliff Blood Clan lived.

Hilutia, Camilla, and the Mage Alliance delegation traveled to the Blood Clan's Royal Court to request help obtaining materials for Hilutia's plague medicine. Queen Katera heard their appeal but gave no answer, telling them to stay in the palace for now.

• Camilla and Hilutia visited a restaurant in Windbreak Bay, where Camilla recalled surviving at sea after losing her power.
• Hialani told Hilutia and Camilla that the delegation would travel by airship to the Blood Clan's territory and questioned Camilla about the route to the Royal Court.
• Count Kohler recognized Camilla as Princess Camilla and helped the delegation travel through Blood Clan territory.
• The delegation reached the Royal Court and met Queen Katera, who looked almost identical to Camilla.
• Hialani explained the plague disaster and asked the Blood Clan to help provide scarce materials for Hilutia's medicine, and Katera told the delegation to stay in the palace.

Camilla told Sylutia about the Blood Clan royal curse, its effects, and its origins in the clan’s history of internal violence. In the palace rose garden, she revealed the tiny red rose mark on her neck as the sign of her blessing and curse.

• Camilla explained how the Blood Clan Queen, their mother, died after ending her life to avoid succumbing to the curse.
• Camilla described how the curse afflicted royal-blooded members, burned them in sunlight, and worsened as they approached the Seventh Order.
• Camilla dyed a Blood-Dropped Rose with her blood and told Sylutia about the clan’s dangerous tradition of proposing with blood-red roses.
• Camilla explained that the curse had once been called the Blessing of True Crimson Blood and had deterred nobles from killing kin to steal their power.
• Camilla showed Sylutia the tiny blood-red rose mark on her neck and identified it as the sign of her blessing and curse.

Sage Hialani, Xilutiya, and Camilla met Queen Katera to negotiate for Blood Clan blood crystals, but talks stalled when Katera demanded an Eighth Order Fire Seed. Xilutiya proposed finding another source of materials and began researching ways to improve Demon Blood Vine cultivation.

• After eight days of waiting, Queen Katera summoned Hialani, Xilutiya, and Camilla to discuss the Blood Clan’s blood crystals.
• Katera offered an initial batch of blood crystals in exchange for resources worth five times their market price and asked Xilutiya to research a potion that could suppress the Bloodline Curse.
• Katera demanded that the Mage Alliance’s three Named Ones hand over an Eighth Order Fire Seed, and Hialani refused.
• Camilla intervened, and Katera left the meeting without resolving the negotiations.
• Camilla explained that the Blood Clan had grown isolated and that Katera did not understand the Mage Alliance’s current strength and resources.
• Xilutiya suggested cultivating Demon Blood Vine as an alternative source of blood crystal materials and began researching ways to improve it.

Xilutiya met privately with Katera, explained how she had helped Camilla resist the awakening of her bloodline memories, and learned that the queen wanted to draw her into the Blood Clan’s camp. Katera secured Xilutiya’s agreement to bear the royal curse’s blessing and backlash as part of a blood crystal trade deal, while Camilla objected to the arrangement.

• Xilutiya studied the Blood Clan’s records and tested the royal curse with Camilla before Katera summoned her alone.
• Katera questioned Xilutiya about Camilla’s dreams, and Xilutiya revealed her dreamwalking and Moon Clock abilities.
• Katera and Xilutiya discussed their contrasting preferences over blood wine, and Katera later offered the delegation a broader blood crystal agreement if Xilutiya researched the curse.
• Katera demanded that Xilutiya receive the blessing of true crimson blood and suffer its side effects if she failed to resolve the curse, prompting Camilla to challenge her sister.
• Xilutiya accepted Katera’s condition, and the two sides concluded the agreement despite the sisters’ confrontation.
• Camilla offered to let Xilutiya receive her blood instead, but Katera refused because Camilla’s allegiance was uncertain.

Xilutiya remained in Blood Clan territory as the Mage Alliance and Blood Clan began trading blood crystals under a peace agreement. By May 2162, the flesh plague had been contained at a terrible cost, and Blood Clan nobles were profiting from the ongoing trade.

• Katera arranged for Blood Clan nobles to collect blood crystals in exchange for goods, and the Blood Clan agreed to punish its criminals operating in Mage Alliance territory.
• Hialani left Xilutiya a tower and protective items, and warned Katera that the Mage Alliance and Woodland Alliance would investigate if Xilutiya missed three days of contact.
• Xilutiya asked Camilla to look after her, and the two returned to the Royal Court together.
• The flesh plague infected about 160 million people and killed around 50 million before the Mage Alliance and its allies brought the outbreak under control with the Blood Copper Potion and other measures.
• In May 2162, the third Mage Alliance trade convoy arrived at Mandala Harbor, where a Blood Clan viscount celebrated the profits he made reselling imported goods.