Recaps

Sylutia settled into life at the manor as Lining introduced her to fine fabrics and taught her how the sunflower fields were cultivated. With Lady Falan away for a week, Sylutia began inspecting and tending the flowers herself.

• Lining showed Sylutia exceptional fabrics and prepared comfortable clothes for her, then served her a luxurious bath and dinner.
• Sylutia learned that Lady Falan had left on a journey and would be away for about a week, so she asked Lining to help her inspect the flower fields.
• Lining explained how Water-Absorbing Roots irrigated the sunflowers and how gardeners guided the flowers' Blazing Sun Aspect energy.
• Sylutia inspected the sunflowers, then pruned them the following day and grew more confident in her ability to cultivate them.

After two and a half months of study under Scholar Heide, Solin advanced to First Order and demonstrated how much Aspect Power strengthened him by defeating three classmates at once. Scholar Heide then outlined several advancement paths, leaving the students to consider which route suited them.

• Solin revealed that he had advanced to First Order by cultivating two Blood Law abilities, and Scholar Heide praised him.
• Solin sparred against three classmates together and defeated them with ease, while Sylutia explained the advantages of his advancement to Comia.
• Yero explained how Blood Law strengthened the physique and compared its advantages with Blazing Sun and Dragon Eye Aspect Powers.
• Scholar Heide described three paths to advancement: raising Breathing Technique to the third stage, cultivating two Blood Law abilities to the second stage, or using rare spiritual medicines or strange objects.
• Scholar Heide explained that those who chose the Royal Authority School could gain Castle Aspect Power through a lord's enfeoffment, reminding Sylutia of Captain Frien and Baron Holin.

Sylutia chose Emerald Nectar as her likely advancement path and shared her Blood Wine with her classmates, helping Mick and Ray break through to First Order Law. The chapter leaves Mick and Solin beginning a duel to test their strength after advancing along the Blood Law path.

• Sylutia told her friends she would probably choose Emerald Nectar and asked about their progress.
• Sylutia brought Blood Wine to share with Mick, Ray, and their companions so they could improve their Breathing Technique.
• Mick broke through to First Order Law on the fourth day, followed by Ray on the seventh day.
• Ray's breakthrough surprised the students and showed how much he had improved through practice and Sylutia's tutoring.
• Mick challenged Solin to a spar after adapting to his new rank, and the two charged at each other when the instructor began the match.

Mick defeated Solin in a fierce sword match after enduring Solin’s relentless attacks and exploiting his superior stamina. The instructor took both injured fighters to treat their wounds and review the match, while Tia resolved to keep working hard as she awaited Lady Falan’s return.

• Mick and Solin shattered their wooden swords, then resumed their match with unsharpened iron swords.
• Solin unleashed Strength Burst repeatedly, but Mick held his ground, and their dangerous fight left both fighters injured.
• As Solin tired from the strain of his abilities, Mick gained the advantage, knocked his sword away, and kicked him off the platform.
• The students applauded Mick and Solin, and the instructor praised them before taking them for treatment and a review of their performance.
• Comia asked Tia whether Mick could win, and Tia predicted his victory but warned he might be injured.
• Tia felt pleased with Mick’s progress and decided to work harder while wondering if Lady Falan would return soon.

Lady Falan guided Sylutia through the options for advancing and supervised her as she advanced to First Order with Emerald Nectar. Afterward, Lady Falan officially accepted Sylutia as her student, gave her new clothes, and entrusted her with a key to the underground storeroom.

• Lady Falan praised Sylutia's care of the flower fields and explained how she could combine the Dew Prayer Technique with the Branch Combing Technique to form the [Gardening Apprentice] Fate Card.
• Lady Falan told Sylutia to advance that night and promised to watch over the process.
• Sylutia infused [Sleeping Maiden] with Emerald Nectar Aspect Power, transforming it into [Maiden in the Flower Sea] and gaining enhanced Identification Pupil and Natural Perception.
• Sylutia tested her heightened senses and felt a faint power that seemed able to stimulate and guide plants.
• Lady Falan officially made Sylutia her student, gave her four outfits, and handed her a key to the underground storeroom.

Lady Falan took Sylutia to a garden gathering to introduce her to noblewomen as her newest student and likely heir. She presented Sylutia under the name Anloer, and the young woman gradually grew more comfortable among the guests.

• Lining dressed Sylutia in a yellow outing dress and helped her get used to walking in it.
• Lady Falan took Sylutia and Lining by carriage to the walled garden behind Viscount Xuefeng's castle.
• Lady Falan introduced Sylutia to the noblewomen as her newest student and possible heir.
• Lady Falan gave Sylutia the name Anloer and said she came from the Kingdom of Wind Chimes.
• The noblewomen questioned Anloer about her studies and interests, and she gradually relaxed as the gathering continued.

After Lady Falan introduced Sylutia to influential women in Scorched Stone City, she explained the local power structure and shared stories of her travels. Back at her residence, Lady Falan taught Sylutia the Branch Combing Technique, which Sylutia learned by the end of the afternoon.

• Sylutia said goodbye to the ladies and rode home with Lady Falan, who encouraged her to seek their support and socialize confidently.
• Lady Falan described Scorched Stone City's leading nobles and guild figures, then recounted how she had traveled widely to study plants and cultivation.
• Sylutia returned to Lady Falan's residence and joined her in the sunflower field for her first lesson as a student.
• Lady Falan explained and demonstrated the Branch Combing Technique, and Sylutia learned it by the end of the afternoon.

On her day off, Sylutia received visitors seeking Blazing Sun herbs for Baron Beto’s gravely ill wife. She gave them Sun Seed Oil in exchange for a White Stone Chess Piece, a First Order Castle item, and saw them off after accepting the gift.

• Sylutia tended her garden, practiced the Branch Combing Technique, and spent a quiet afternoon reading at Lady Falan’s estate.
• An old man arrived with a letter of recommendation and asked Sylutia, acting for the absent Lady Falan, for medicinal herbs to treat Baron Beto’s wife.
• After reviewing a physician’s report, Sylutia supplied the visitors with two bottles of Sun Seed Oil and explained how to preserve their Blazing Sun Power.
• The old man offered twenty gold coins, but Lining redirected the exchange, and he presented a White Stone Chess Piece bestowed by Baron Beto instead.
• Sylutia accepted the chess piece, and the old man departed, promising to return with Baron Beto’s wife after she recovered.

Sylutia learned how territory and loyalty shaped the Castle Aspect, then advanced in Emerald Nectar and reunited with her classmates. As they caught up with Iona, she worried that her lost advantage would cost her a chance to enter the Secret Forest and restore her family’s standing.

• Sylutia examined a rare Castle chess piece, and Lining explained how nobles bestowed Castle power on their followers through territory and status.
• Sylutia learned about the Royal Authority Ritual, which crowned a ruler through loyal oaths, castles, and laws, and returned the chess piece to the mansion’s storeroom.
• Sylutia met her classmates at Scholar Heide’s mansion and described Emerald Nectar as an Aspect focused more on cultivation and support than combat.
• More students advanced, and Viscount Xuefeng hosted a banquet and gave each student a set of winter clothes.
• Iona watched her classmates leave the Castle and feared that her slowing progress would cost her a place in the Secret Forest and prevent her from rescuing her father.

Sylutia and her friends discussed weapons and their future plans after she demonstrated her swordsmanship by deflecting thirty arrows. Sylutia decided that, after studying with Scholar Heide and her teacher, she would travel to the Secret Forest to explore its schools and advance her Aspect Power.

• Sylutia deflected all thirty training arrows, and Karen noted that her perception had improved after advancing to First Order Nectar.
• Mick asked Sylutia to spar, but she declined because she lacked a suitable weapon; the group then discussed replacing their weapons and the high cost of Black Steel.
• Comia suggested Ray pursue blacksmithing, and Ray decided to visit Stone-Forging City next year to see if he could learn the trade.
• Karen planned to become a hunter, Mick reconsidered adventuring, and Comia planned to learn useful skills before traveling.
• Sylutia decided to study with Scholar Heide and her teacher before traveling to the Secret Forest to seek broader knowledge and advance her Aspect Power.

Lady Falan agreed to help Sylutia prepare for the Secret Forest trials, while Mick returned to visit Jero and discovered signs that his mentor might be using Sun-Swaying Grass. The chapter leaves Jero asleep and Mick worried about him.

• Lady Falan accepted Sylutia's decision to pursue the Secret Forest trials and advised her to value the journey as well as its outcome.
• Lady Falan arranged for Lining to teach Sylutia combat techniques and promised to share her old notes and the Gardener's Inheritance Codex.
• Mick returned to the courtyard and told his friends he had advanced to First Order.
• Mick visited Jero, who was asleep amid scattered bottles, and quietly reflected on how Jero had taken him from his village and changed his life.
• Mick found roasted Sun-Swaying Grass on Jero's bed, worried that Jero might be using it, and left after tidying the room.

Lady Falan taught Sylutia the Blossom Method, a gardening art that amplifies a plant’s faint effects, and explained how it could help her cultivate flowers for defense. She also revealed why she had given Sylutia Swan Orchid seeds and recounted how Scholar Heide abandoned Secret Speech after being framed.

• Lady Falan demonstrated the Blossom Method by making a White Kapok bloom and explaining how the flower’s mild stimulating effect could be amplified.
• Sylutia realized the method could activate useful plant effects, and Lady Falan demonstrated how amplified heat could overwhelm even a Third Order Castle Knight.
• Lady Falan advised Sylutia to cultivate Fireglow Orchids for heat and White Camellias to dispel poison, and asked her to keep one Swan Orchid while she gave the other two to a friend for environmental purification.
• Lady Falan explained that Transcendents could change Aspects by advancing with a rare plant, though doing so could weaken abilities built around their former Aspect.
• Lady Falan told Sylutia how Scholar Heide was framed, imprisoned, and driven to abandon Secret Speech for the Castle Aspect, then gave Sylutia materials to study the Blossom Method.

Sylutia visited Mailin and Winnie during winter break, sharing a Swan Orchid with Mailin and learning about the Secret Forest selection from Winnie. Winnie’s account ended with the dangers of the Gale Vultures and the Vulture Festival.

• Sylutia visited the Adventurers Guild and gave Mailin a Swan Orchid she had grown as thanks for the seeds.
• Mailin’s coworkers gossiped about the valuable flower, and Mailin decided to teach the rumor-spreaders a lesson.
• Sylutia brought another Swan Orchid to Winnie’s home, where she talked with Winnie and Talia about pursuing the gardener path in the Secret Forest.
• Winnie explained that the next Secret Forest selection was expected in January or February and described its three objectives.
• Winnie recounted how she survived capturing a Red-Thorn Bee hive, then described the deadly First Order beast and Gale Vulture challenges.

Sylutia mastered the Blossom Method and tended the plants in her glass greenhouse. The next day, a merchant guild representative from Wind-Cliff City asked her to help supply medical potions for the nearby border battlefield.

• Sylutia learned about past Secret Forest trials from Sylutia and Talia after they returned from visiting Winnie.
• Sylutia synchronized with the Swan Orchid and successfully learned the Blossom Method.
• Sylutia tended her Fireglow Orchids, White Camellia, and Bubble Grass in the greenhouse.
• Sylutia received a representative from Wind-Cliff City, who requested her help supplying medical potions for the border battlefield.
• Sylutia considered which Aspects and plants could help treat battlefield injuries.

Sylutia negotiated with Albayou of the Copper Halberd Chamber of Commerce to sell Lady Falan’s Blazing Sun Sun Seed Oil, with Lady Cali assisting her. They agreed on the quantity and delivery terms, but the price remained disputed as they prepared to sign a contract.

• Albayou offered Sylutia a Firefly Grape Stone, Chiffon Pine Resin, and a Tree Jade Spirit Sword blueprint in exchange for Blazing Sun Sun Seed Oil.
• Sylutia agreed to sell three hundred bottles at four gold coins per bottle after Albayou accepted her quantity and price.
• Sylutia summoned Lady Cali, who identified Albayou as a representative buying materials for military use and challenged his proposed price.
• Cali and Albayou haggled over the oil’s value, but Albayou held firm at four gold coins per bottle.
• Sylutia agreed that Albayou’s workers would collect and inspect the oil at the manor and receive two extra bottles for every hundred purchased to cover losses.
• Albayou produced a tamper-resistant contract sheet as the parties prepared to sign.

Sylutia signed a contract with Albayou to sell Sun Seed Oil and asked him to find a ring engraved with a cornflower pattern. The next day, all 303 bottles were delivered and Albayou paid her 1,200 gold coins.

• Sylutia signed the contract with Albayou, and he sealed it with the chamber's stamp.
• Albayou explained that tensions in the Anti Kingdom were rising as nobles and royal heirs competed for power, making another war likely.
• Sylutia asked Albayou to commission a ring that could conceal her identity and gave him a drawing of a cornflower to engrave on it.
• Cali advised Sylutia that preserving a good business relationship could be more valuable than pressing for a higher price, then left.
• The next day, Cali and Albayou supervised the delivery of all 303 bottles of Sun Seed Oil, and Albayou gave Sylutia 1,200 gold coins.

Lady Falan arranged for Lining to teach Sylutia Garden Swordsmanship, and Sylutia quickly learned its basics while settling into her life at the estate. When Talia wanted to visit Linden Village, Sylutia decided to go with her and look for clues about where she had awakened; the two set off after buying winter supplies.

• Lady Falan told Sylutia to manage future trades herself, discussed a Tree Jade Spirit Sword, and asked Lining to teach her Garden Swordsmanship.
• Lining demonstrated the defensive style, and Sylutia began learning it with unusual speed.
• Sylutia considered Lining’s strength and learned that the maid had advanced sword skills and a Second Order Fate Card.
• Talia asked to visit Linden Village to see Grandpa and bring back winter supplies, and Sylutia agreed to accompany her.
• Sylutia and Talia bought supplies from the market and hired a carriage to travel to Linden Village.

Sylutia and Talia traveled to Talia’s village, where Talia reunited with her grandfather. Over dinner, he reminisced about meeting his late wife and building a life with her, leaving the family together in the warmth of his memories.

• Sylutia and Talia arrived in Talia’s village and walked to the village chief’s home as villagers welcomed Talia back.
• Talia’s grandfather embraced her, greeted Sylutia, and accepted the medicinal wine she brought.
• At dinner, Talia’s grandfather recalled how Scholar Heide had helped nearby villages and spread literacy when he was young.
• Talia’s grandfather told how he met her grandmother at a circus, won her affection, and watched her choose to stay with him.
• Talia’s grandfather described their wedding and their happy married life, which continued until Talia’s father was born.

Sylutia and Talia searched the mountains for the place where Sylutia had awakened, while Talia recounted her family’s losses and the possibility that her grandmother descended from witches. They found no clear destination yet, but Sylutia began connecting the stories of witches and forest illusions to her own mystery.

• Sylutia and Talia searched the mountains near Linden Village but returned without finding the place where Sylutia had awakened.
• On their second trip, Talia told Sylutia that her father had vanished in the mountains and that her grandmother later returned from searching badly injured before dying.
• Talia explained that powerful Aspect Power could corrupt ordinary people and that her grandmother may have encountered a powerful enemy.
• Talia said women in her family had a special sense of direction in the mountains and that her grandmother’s ancestors might have been witches.
• Talia described witches’ ties to the forest, fairies, and Lost Illusion Realms, and Sylutia pieced the clues together in her mind.

Sylutia crossed into a strange gray-and-white version of the mountains, where colorful areas contained rare mushrooms imbued with Aspect Power. She discovered that Emerald Nectar could protect her from the painful effects of the gray world and began exploring after learning its basic rules.

• Sylutia followed a strange sensation through a forest clearing and crossed into a different world, leaving Talia unable to reach or even call to her.
• Sylutia found that the changed landscape was mostly gray and white, with twisted trees and colorful mushrooms carrying powerful Aspect Powers.
• Sylutia tried to enter the gray-and-white area and felt an intense twisting pain, but Emerald Nectar eased it when she pulled back.
• Sylutia learned that Emerald Nectar could counteract the gray world's pain, though moving through it consumed her power.
• Sylutia tested the gray world for half an hour and discovered that her Emerald Nectar did not diminish while she stood still, then began exploring.

Sylutia crossed the gray-white world between colorful clearings, collected Aspect-bearing mushrooms, and fought a Fallen Leaf Monster whose Distortion power corrupted the surrounding tree and her sword. She realized the Twilight Sea held the remains of a war against Distortion and that more abominations were gestating beneath it.

• Sylutia gathered three Ring-Colored Mushrooms and crossed about 160 meters of the gray-white world to another colorful clearing.
• A Fallen Leaf Monster ambushed Sylutia, but her Natural Perception warned her in time to dodge and strike it away.
• Sylutia identified the monster's Aspect Power as Distortion and learned that it had once ravaged the world during the Seventh Era.
• The monster repeatedly tried to attack Sylutia from behind, and she eventually pinned it to a tree with her short sword.
• The monster's black, misty blood distorted the tree and bent Sylutia's forged blade.
• Sylutia recalled that the Twilight Sea was a graveyard of distorted monsters and that abominations were still gestating beneath it.

Sylutia reached a mountain cave inhabited by a Pitch-Dark Strange Cat, whose Distortion attack overwhelmed her after she tried to fight it. The attack shattered her [Blossom Method] card and began spreading toward [Gardening Apprentice Girl], threatening her life.

• Sylutia killed two more Fallen Leaf Monsters and cautiously circled a Knotted Tree, which revealed itself as Aibosi and recognized the aura of the Supreme One.
• Sylutia found evidence of earlier visitors near a cave on the route to the summit and decided she might have to pass the lurking monster.
• A Pitch-Dark Strange Cat emerged from the cave, followed Sylutia into the gray-white world, and forced her back into the colorful bubble.
• Sylutia wounded the cat with her sword, but it split open and engulfed her in black fog, revealing its true Distortion attack.
• The fog distorted Sylutia's body and Fate Disk, shattered [Blossom Method Lv.1], and began spreading toward [Gardening Apprentice Girl].

Sylutia survived the Strange Black Cat’s corruption when her Fate Card transformed into [Girl Under the Starry Sky], awakening the hidden [Alien Star] rank. After sealing the cat and gathering supplies, she set off toward the gray world, with one colorful bubble remaining before the mountain peak.

• Black fog corrupted Sylutia’s Fate Card and [Breathing Technique] until silver meteors scattered it and transformed [Gardening Apprentice Girl] into [Girl Under the Starry Sky].
• Sylutia woke free of corruption and discovered she had sealed the Strange Black Cat in a card with one use remaining.
• Sylutia realized that the [Stars] talent had made her an Alien Star, able to resist, purify, and seal Distortion.
• Sylutia searched the Strange Black Cat’s cave and collected coins, a Black Steel Shortsword, lamp oil, rusty daggers, and a silver spearhead.
• Sylutia headed toward the gray world, aiming for the last colorful bubble before the mountain peak.

Sylutia discovered the Sword Oath Technique in an ancient sword embedded in the mountain and rested in its protected domain. In a dream, she witnessed Sir Knight Holin's final battle and the oath that established the sword's power.

• Sylutia examined the Weathered Iron Sword and learned the Sword Oath Technique, though she could not use it.
• Sylutia rested beside the sword and dreamed of Sir Knight Holin leading the Fir Knights through the World of Shadows.
• Sir Knight Holin and his attendants pursued a powerful hag, but the hag's Black Serpent swallowed the attendants and grievously wounded Holin.
• Holin, nearly defeated, drove his greatsword into the rock and swore an oath to establish a kingdom and purge corruption from the mountains.
• Holin's fate flowed through the blade into the land, spreading radiance that pierced the clouds and illuminated the forgotten region.

Scholar Heide explained why the Secret Forest lay in the dangerous World of Shadows and recounted how his friend Jerry betrayed him after they pursued membership in Candle Keep. Yero chose to travel and investigate anyway, determined to pursue his own path without regret.

• Scholar Heide told Yero that the Secret Forest was located beneath the continent in the monster-filled World of Shadows, where rare resources and dangers awaited.
• Heide recalled how he and Jerry spent years collecting materials for Candle Keep, only to be denied membership because they had not reached Third Order: Secret Speech.
• Heide described how Jerry stole his work, had him imprisoned for decades, and was eventually exposed and exiled after the previous Viscount Xuefeng helped clear Heide's name.
• Heide asked Yero whether he still intended to travel and investigate, and Yero affirmed that he would pursue the work for himself rather than imitate his teacher.
• Yero explained that he wanted to give his ambitions everything he had so he would not live with regret, and Heide let him make his choice.