Recaps

Jia Xiu disguised himself as Cleric Samantha and chose Mia, Ram, and Bubu’s awkward Jia Xiu illusion as his believers for the Moon Mother Goddess Church’s trial. After revealing that the church’s scripture relied on fabricated claims and explaining his plan to Mia, he began putting it into action by accusing another priest of peeping with an Eye of Detection.

• Jia Xiu selected Mia, Ram, and Bubu’s Jia Xiu illusion as his believers, then told them to keep their cover in the dormitory.
• Mia read the church’s scripture and challenged its false claims about famous scholars and women’s contributions.
• Jia Xiu explained that failure in the trial could lead to becoming a sacrifice or being demoted, and told Mia he would demonstrate his practical approach the next day.
• At the morning lesson, Jia Xiu noticed the church’s Eyes of Detection and recognized that the monitoring system encouraged Clerics to report on one another.
• Jia Xiu accused a young male priest of using an Eye of Detection to peep at him, and the priest denied it.

Jia Xiu framed a young priest for peeping and exploited the cult’s absurd rules to have him and other believers sent to the confinement chamber. At lunch, he continued targeting people, and a warrior confessed when Jia Xiu accused him of misconduct.

• Jia Xiu, posing as Cleric Samantha, accused a young priest of peeping with the Eye of Detection and dismissed his evidence with loud, baseless claims.
• The High Priest condemned the priest for demanding an apology from a woman and ordered him dragged to the confinement chamber.
• Jia Xiu continued using false accusations throughout the morning to send several unlucky victims to the confinement chamber.
• Mia asked how Jia Xiu had become so practiced at this, and he replied that he had seen a lot.
• At lunch, Jia Xiu accused a warrior of committing misconduct, and the warrior knelt, confessed, and was told to write down his confession and report to the confinement chamber.

Jia Xiu and his companions investigated the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess after his tactics inspired a purge of male adventurers. They entered the castle’s underground sanctuary at night and found a scarlet glow beyond its door, leaving the artifact’s nature unrevealed.

• Jia Xiu’s actions inspired the priestesses to imitate his methods, and they arrested nearly all the male adventurers in Csejthe Town.
• The High Priestess praised Jia Xiu’s ruthless work and elevated him to the top of the promotion candidates.
• Jia Xiu, Mia, Ram, and Bubu planned to explore the underground and search for the cult’s holy artifact.
• Jia Xiu explained that the sanctuary lay beneath the main hall and that the cult’s records linked its holy artifact to the High Priestess’s authority.
• After bedtime, Jia Xiu’s group bypassed the guards, passed the crying prisoners, and reached the sanctuary door.
• Ram picked the door’s many locks, and Jia Xiu’s group opened it to reveal an altar glowing scarlet in the darkness.

Jia Xiu discovered that the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess used the sanctuary’s rune system and blood sacrifices to divert injuries from its blessed followers onto captives, who eventually became Vampire spawn. He planned to exploit the cult’s final ritual on Awakening Descent by linking the activated Guardian Inscription to a Sect Master’s spell.

• Jia Xiu inspected the damaged Legendary Blood-and-Moon Pedestal and found worn writing suggesting it could open a passage and bring disaster upon the world.
• Ram smelled blood in the sanctuary’s floor grooves, and Jia Xiu found dense runes leading from the stone coffins to the pedestal.
• Jia Xiu and Ram opened a coffin and found a corpse pierced by spikes, with blood channels and runes carved inside.
• Jia Xiu deciphered the coffin runes and concluded that they transferred injuries from the cult’s blessed followers to sacrificial victims, who became Vampire spawn when the damage overwhelmed them.
• Ram vowed to destroy the cult, and Jia Xiu proposed using the Guardian Inscription during the final ritual to trigger a Sect Master’s spell.

As the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess prepared its ritual, Jia Xiu learned that the high priest planned to sacrifice the adventurers and replace the cult’s aging progeny. Jia Xiu began carrying out a plan to disrupt the ceremony, but a Guardian Inscription unexpectedly caused a humanoid figure to appear in a pillar of light.

• The high priest told Jia Xiu, disguised as Priest Samantha, that she intended to train her as the next high priest and ordered her to activate all the progeny buried in the forest.
• Jia Xiu dug up the progeny and planned to restrain the high priest, make the believers bleed, and let the progeny attack them while keeping the adventurers safe.
• At the ritual, the high priest used the Mother Goddess’s Will-Revealing Scales and named Priest Samantha the best performer in the trial.
• As progeny climbed the castle walls, the high priest opened a portal to bring the pedestal to the ritual site, and the priests prepared to cut the sacrifices.
• A tiny Guardian Inscription triggered a brilliant pillar of light, revealing a humanoid figure and shocking the high priest, priests, adventurers, and believers.

Jia Xiu disrupted the Moon Mother Goddess cult’s sacrifice and revealed the High Priestess’s weakness, using a spell to make the cultists bleed and draw the spawn toward them. As the control spell ended, he struck the High Priestess with her own spiked staff, leaving her unable to command the derivatives as they attacked.

• The High Priestess realized that the supposed goddess in the light was Jia Xiu, who had infiltrated the cult disguised as Deacon Samantha.
• Jia Xiu immobilized the High Priestess, cultists, and spawn with the Descent Spell while Bubu escaped its bindings and freed the sacrifices.
• The High Priestess began to regain movement and threatened Jia Xiu, but he calmly cast an adjusted Basic Healing Spell on her and the deacons.
• Jia Xiu explained that his Hemorrhoid Growth Spell made the cultists bleed, exploiting the spawn’s instinct to bite anyone bleeding.
• As the Descent Spell’s control ended, Jia Xiu struck the High Priestess with her spiked staff, leaving her screaming and unable to direct the derivatives.
• The blood-maddened derivatives rushed toward the bleeding cultists.

Jia Xiu destroyed the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess’s ritual and used the aftermath to establish the Radiant Knight’s influence in Csejthe Town. As he questioned the surviving High Priestess about Bubu’s mark and the Primordial Vampire, a powerful presence awakened at the ancient castle, and the High Priestess declared that the Mother Goddess was real.

• Jia Xiu ordered Mia and Ram to cover the ritual site with Ultraviolet Flash Bombs, killing the Vampire spawn before they could attack anyone else.
• The townspeople and adventurers mistook Jia Xiu for a god or divine messenger, so he claimed to be a bishop of the Radiant Knight and ordered the town to abandon the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess.
• Jia Xiu advised the adventurers to rest and told the rogue who had received the cult’s blessing to have it examined by the Caster Association.
• Jia Xiu found the weakened but living High Priestess and asked whether she recognized Bubu’s mark or knew about the Primordial Vampire.
• A powerful surge of magic rose from the ancient castle, and the High Priestess declared that the Mother Goddess was real.

Jia Xiu summoned Gillianis and Justina to face the awakening Mother Goddess in the castle. When Justina unleashed her attack, the Mother Goddess abruptly knelt and surrendered.

• The High Priestess announced that the Mother Goddess was real as magic surged around the castle.
• Jia Xiu summoned Gillianis, who judged the threat too dangerous and advised retreating to contact the Caster Association.
• Jia Xiu called Justina, explaining that defeating the evil god could win the townspeople as her believers.
• The Mother Goddess emerged from the castle and began gathering magic after the group failed to understand her speech.
• Justina attacked with the Dragon-Ascending Sword, but the blood moon and magical effects vanished as the Mother Goddess dropped to her knees and surrendered.

Justina defeated the false Mother Goddess, but Jia Xiu discovered she was Elizabeth, a weakened primordial Blood Clan who had been guarding the Anka Gate. Her account connected the pedestal to the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess and raised new questions about the gate’s mission, while she ended by admitting she was hungry.

• The Radiant Knight sheathed her sword after Elizabeth surrendered, and the High Priestess died when her hopes collapsed.
• Justina and Jia Xiu failed to understand Elizabeth, so Jia Xiu used writing to communicate with her.
• Elizabeth identified herself as a primordial Blood Clan who had slept while guarding the Anka Gate, a planar transportation artifact.
• Jia Xiu learned that Elizabeth’s illusions had frightened the humans who became the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess, leading them to misunderstand her explanations.
• Elizabeth explained that the Anka Gate had become unstable and that she had used her magic to maintain it before falling asleep.
• When Jia Xiu asked what she had been repeating, Elizabeth blushed and wrote that she was hungry.

Jia Xiu helped Elizabeth satisfy her hunger so she could activate the Anka Gate, then learned more about the primordial Vampire’s mysterious mission and the portal’s purpose. Justina entered the portal to scout the other plane and returned badly injured, yet insisted it was fairly safe.

• Bubu offered Elizabeth an orange-flavored magic crystal, but Jia Xiu stopped her from trying to eat it and negotiated blood in exchange for activating the Anka Gate.
• Jia Xiu tested Elizabeth’s vulnerability to ultraviolet light, then gave her a small cup of his blood; Elizabeth struggled with her hunger before recovering enough to inspect the gate.
• Elizabeth activated the Anka Gate and explained that it could connect their world to the Haven of Peace Plane, while admitting that she did not know her assigned mission or all of the gate’s functions.
• Elizabeth identified Bubu’s mark as a tracking mark placed by another primordial Vampire and said it could help locate her kind after she recovered.
• Justina entered the newly formed portal to scout the other plane and returned about twenty minutes later scorched and coughing, but called it pretty safe.

Jia Xiu and his companions entered the dangerous, barren plane beyond the portal and explored its ruined city. They found no living inhabitants, and the chapter ended when Mia discovered murals and writing in a plaza.

• Justina described the plane’s spells, thin air, crushing pressure, and extreme heat, so Jia Xiu planned protections for an expedition.
• Jia Xiu’s companions prepared air supplies, Holy Light blessings, and a low-temperature barrier, while Elizabeth chose to join because she wanted to know the truth.
• Jia Xiu’s group crossed the portal and arrived in a red, desolate landscape near a vast city.
• The group reached the silent, ruined city, and the Radiant Knight grew furious when she found none of the believers she had hoped to save.
• Jia Xiu’s group explored deeper into the city, where Mia discovered murals and writing in a plaza.

Jia Xiu translated murals that revealed the history of the Elemental Tentacles, an underground race that built a magical civilization. The final murals showed that the Devil Race had brought a devastating disaster to their plane, leaving Jia Xiu to suspect that the Devils in the Northern Wasteland were only a small force.

• Mia wanted to take the valuable murals, but Jia Xiu warned that they might not be removable and recognized their writing as Elizabeth's language.
• Jia Xiu read how the Elemental Tentacles evolved from strange underground creatures, reached the surface, and built villages and civilization.
• The murals showed the Elemental Tentacles discovering magic and casting spells by storing elements in their bodies and working together.
• Jia Xiu reached the final chapter, which depicted the Elemental Tentacles resisting a sudden disaster caused by the Devil Race.
• Justina revealed that Devils had been found on other planes, and Jia Xiu wondered whether the Devils in the Northern Wasteland were only a vanguard or scouting force.

Jia Xiu's group discovered that the Elemental Tentacles had used the Anka Gate to spread a virus against the Devil Race, sacrificing themselves in a final attempt to make the Devils attack one another. As the group investigated how the virus worked, Jia Xiu realized it could explain the origin of Vampires, though not why they had ended up preying on humans.

• Jia Xiu noticed that the city's destruction did not fit the scale of a battle to the death and concluded that the Elemental Tentacles had carried out a different kind of final resistance.
• Jia Xiu found the Anka Research Institute by following Ram's intuition and led the group inside to search its books.
• Bubu found a booklet titled <Final Counterattack Plan—Feasibility of the Anka Gate Project>, and Jia Xiu learned that the Anka Gates were meant to spread a virus among the Devil Race.
• Jia Xiu read that the virus made Devils bloodthirsty and dependent on the blood of their own kind, then wondered why the resulting Vampires had preyed on humans instead.

Jia Xiu discovered how the Elemental Tentacles' Anka Gate plan created the Blood Clan and why it failed to wipe out the Devil Race. After finding a book on Bloodthirsty Converts spell principles, he followed Ram and the Radiant Knight to a heavily warded door whose runes triggered a barrage of research-value notifications.

• Jia Xiu read the Elemental Tentacles' test logs and learned that converted Devil Race members became much stronger, but the tests missed their vulnerability to sunlight.
• Jia Xiu found that the Anka Gate's trap converted Devil Race members, implanted commands and a language pack, and sent them back to be destroyed after they attacked nearby Devils.
• Jia Xiu inferred that the primordial vampires were the first captives of the trap and that the Anka Gate had drifted into Csejthe Town during planar travel.
• Gillianis brought Jia Xiu the Bloodthirsty Converts Spell Principles, which Detection Spell identified as having extremely high research value.
• Ram led Jia Xiu to a rune-covered door where the Radiant Knight was waiting, and Detection Spell began displaying a flood of research-value notifications.

Jia Xiu and his companions opened the Anka race’s sealed library and discovered its dictionaries, history, literature, and complete magical knowledge, preserved as a legacy for non-Devil races. At the back of the library, Jia Xiu answered a question about the Devil Race and revealed a dead Devil whose corpse had not returned to Hell.

• Jia Xiu deciphered the gate’s scan as a test for Devil Race connections and led his companions through it after the spells cleared them.
• Jia Xiu explained that powerful spells inside the gate were meant to destroy the Anka legacy if the Devil Race found it.
• Jia Xiu identified the library’s illustrated books as dictionaries, then found shelves of Anka history, art, science, literature, and magic.
• Jia Xiu asked Gillianis to use her spatial items to carry away the books.
• Jia Xiu answered the mirrored wall’s question about the Devil Race, causing it to turn transparent and reveal a dead Devil behind it.

Jia Xiu and his companions recovered a Devil corpse that had died without returning to Hell, along with the Anka Clan’s research records and final message. After they returned through the teleportation gate, the Sect Master announced the mission’s completion and unlocked the Little Dark Room spell function.

• Justina broke open the wall and exposed the dead Devil corpse.
• Gillianis stored the corpse, and Jia Xiu found the Anka Clan’s message and a book containing records about the specimen.
• Justina asked Jia Xiu to hide the corpse until she could assemble a trustworthy research team, and he agreed.
• Jia Xiu’s group returned safely through the teleportation gate.
• The Sect Master announced that the mission was complete, awarded 3,000 experience, and unlocked the Little Dark Room spell function.

Jia Xiu told Elizabeth the truth about the Anka Clan and the purpose of the Anka Gate, then persuaded her to join his research team by presenting a Mage Tower recruitment contract. Elizabeth signed it, unaware that it was actually a Sect Master contract that let Jia Xiu borrow her power.

• Jia Xiu considered the Little Black Room spell and postponed testing its experimental simulation function until he returned to school.
• Jia Xiu wrote Elizabeth the history of the Anka Clan and explained that the beings beyond the portal were gone, while omitting the destruction array.
• Elizabeth accepted that she no longer needed to guard the Anka Gate and asked Jia Xiu to take her to fight the Devil Race.
• Jia Xiu decided Elizabeth’s Blood Clan Magic knowledge and strength would help his research, then offered her a role at Aurelius’s Mage Tower.
• Jia Xiu and the Sect Master disguised a Deputy Sect Master Contract as a Mage Tower recruitment contract, and Elizabeth signed it for a monthly blood payment.

After signing Elizabeth’s contract, Jia Xiu examined her Vampire traits and discovered that the Bloodthirsty Conversion Prototype’s craving for blood came from mental influence rather than a physical need. He inherited her Transcendent Physique and began considering how to remove its drawbacks and develop a treatment for Vampires.

• Jia Xiu learned Elizabeth’s status and reviewed her traits, including Bat Avatar, Sunlight Dread, and Transcendent Physique.
• Elizabeth explained that Bat Avatar let her control each bat separately, though learning to do so had taken years.
• Jia Xiu questioned Elizabeth about her blood craving, then searched the Bloodthirsty Conversion Prototype documents for its cause.
• Jia Xiu found that the craving was a mental influence designed to make converted Vampires attack their own kind, and he began devising ways to weaken it.
• Jia Xiu inherited Transcendent Physique and tested his newly enhanced strength while the Radiant Knight watched in confusion.

Justina went to the Descent Festival at Yebulama to pray directly to the Holy Light for guidance on finding trustworthy researchers for the Devil corpse. The Holy Light answered by granting her the Demon-Piercing Eye and ordering her to protect Jia Xiu, leaving her puzzled about why he was the real priority.

• Justina disguised herself as a mortal and pushed through the Descent Festival crowds to reach the Holy Light Grand Cathedral.
• Justina worried that Devil Race spies had infiltrated every nation and organization, and decided only the Holy Light could be trusted to guide her.
• Justina prayed in a small room for help finding someone trustworthy, but the Holy Light did not answer at first.
• When Justina mentioned Jia Xiu, the Holy Light responded, granted her the Demon-Piercing Eye, and told her to protect him.
• Justina wondered whether Jia Xiu mattered more to the Holy Light than she did.

Jia Xiu collected payment for the Csejthe Town commissions and learned how difficult the Adventurer Association made refunds. After returning to Larven with his companions, he planned to bring Vampire consultant Elizabeth to the Mage Tower, but first took the group to a slaughterhouse to obtain blood for her and satisfy his own growing cravings.

• Jia Xiu collected 131 kroner for twenty-two completed commissions and discovered the Adventurer Association’s elaborate refund forms offered little chance of getting deposits back.
• Mia explained that the Association had improved on an even more chaotic commission system, and Jia Xiu decided not to report the tentacle monster before extracting its value.
• Elizabeth asked about badges, and Jia Xiu promised to arrange her a consultant position at the Mage Tower because of her expertise in Blood Clan Magic.
• After traveling back to Larven over the course of a week, Jia Xiu’s group prepared to visit the Mage Tower, while Elizabeth continued learning the common tongue.
• Jia Xiu redirected the group to a slaughterhouse to obtain animal blood for Elizabeth and to feed his own dreams and cravings for blood dishes.

Jia Xiu bought pig blood and offal, then returned to Aurelius's Mage Tower with Elizabeth, a powerful Vampire, as the laboratory's new consultant. Margaret welcomed Elizabeth and showed her around before joining Jia Xiu in the kitchen, where he used magic to prepare pig blood.

• Jia Xiu bought a pig's worth of blood, pig intestines, and pig stomach from a slaughterhouse, promising Ram he would make them delicious with spices.
• Margaret organized Blood Clan Magic research at Aurelius's Mage Tower until Jia Xiu returned with buckets of pig blood and offal.
• Jia Xiu introduced Elizabeth as the laboratory's new consultant, and Elizabeth transformed from a bat into a powerful Vampire.
• Margaret showed Elizabeth around the Mage Tower and helped her learn to suppress her dangerous aura.
• Margaret and Elizabeth found Jia Xiu cooking in the kitchen, where he explained that he had used a coagulation spell to make pig blood set.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Eleven decides to take a day off from her duties at the Hawkins National Laboratory.
• She sneaks out of the lab, leaving behind a note for Dr. Brenner.
• Eleven explores the town of Hawkins, experiencing everyday life for the first time.

Character Developments

• Eleven: She discovers the joy of simple pleasures like ice cream and playing with children. This chapter humanizes Eleven, showing her desire for a normal life beyond the lab.

Significant Themes

• Normalcy: Eleven's longing for a day off highlights the theme of normalcy, contrasting her isolated life in the lab with the everyday experiences of others.
• Freedom: The chapter explores the idea of freedom, with Eleven breaking away from her routine and the lab's control to experience the world on her own terms.

Character Interactions

• Eleven interacts with a group of children at the Hawkins Pool, playing with them and enjoying their company. This interaction shows Eleven's desire for connection and friendship.
• Eleven's note to Dr. Brenner hints at her growing independence and willingness to defy the lab's rules.

Jia Xiu asked Margaret for help stopping the mental spell that caused Vampire bloodlust, after studying it and testing its effects. Margaret suggested overwriting the spell with a different effect, leaving Jia Xiu to consider whether that could solve the problem.

• Margaret and Elizabeth eagerly ate Jia Xiu's sausage and pig's blood dishes while praising his cooking.
• Jia Xiu explained that eating pig's blood relieved his inherited thirst, but the craving could worsen until it overwhelmed his reason.
• Jia Xiu described his experiments with the Tentacle Monsters' spell and his failed attempts to block its influence on Vampires.
• Jia Xiu asked Margaret to help him stop the spell from causing bloodlust, and she became excited about the potential discoveries and papers.
• Margaret studied Jia Xiu's notes, was astonished that he had learned the spell in days, and suggested overwriting its bloodlust effect with another one.

Jia Xiu used Margaret’s advice to devise a way to overwrite the Blood Clan’s bloodthirst with a craving for harmless food, then tested the spell on Elizabeth. Elizabeth found human blood revolting afterward, and the chapter ended with the experiment appearing successful.

• Margaret explained that identical casting processes could let a new enchantment overwrite an old effect, and Jia Xiu realized he could use the method on vampires.
• Jia Xiu tested his plan in a simulated environment, then asked Elizabeth to replace her desire for human blood with a craving for other animals’ blood and organs.
• Jia Xiu cast the spell on Elizabeth in the Mage Tower’s testing ground while Margaret and Mia watched through the Eye of Detection.
• Jia Xiu offered Elizabeth human blood and pig stomach to see which she preferred, and Elizabeth tasted the blood first.
• Elizabeth recoiled from the blood’s rusty taste, suggesting that Jia Xiu’s spell had replaced her bloodthirst.

Jia Xiu arranged to patent a method for freeing vampires from bloodlust and brought Elizabeth to the black market bathhouse to recruit Carol’s vampires for the transformation. As Mia submitted the patent application, Caster Association representatives arrived seeking a collaboration with Jia Xiu.

• Jia Xiu assigned Mia to register the patent and planned to transform the Blood Clan members at Carol’s bathhouse with Elizabeth.
• Jia Xiu brought Elizabeth to meet Carol, whose vampire Derivatives could benefit from the treatment, and Elizabeth’s presence caused Carol to kneel and address her as an Ancient One.
• Jia Xiu told Carol that salvation from bloodlust would begin with her and her servants, and Carol saw the treatment as a way to extend her employees’ working hours.
• Mia submitted Jia Xiu’s patent application at the Caster Association with Ram and Bubu accompanying her.
• After the preliminary review, Association representatives approached Mia and said they wanted to discuss a collaboration with Jia Xiu about vampires.