Recaps

Jia Xiu competed in the Five-School Tournament while pursuing a way to use Blood Clan runes, and Belial’s Devils prepared to capture him. His modified Enlightenment Spell worked, earning him recognition as he headed toward the tournament’s next stage.

• Mia’s Growth Hormone trial left Arnold with dramatically increased strength and a severe side effect, so Mia reported the case to the Caster Association and the Ukmak researchers took over the project.
• Jia Xiu tested ultraviolet light on a vampire Derivative, then borrowed Gillianis’s Blood Clan notes and began developing a way to reproduce Blood Clan rune effects.
• Jia Xiu traveled with Saint Dero’s team to Thaldarian, where Gillianis hosted him and helped him study Blood Clan magic.
• At the tournament, Jia Xiu subdued a poisoned Hellhound by enlarging its tumor, and a judge ruled that he had completed the challenge within the rules.
• Jia Xiu and Gillianis forced a newspaper owner to correct false claims about him, while John’s Devils continued plotting to capture him.
• Jia Xiu, Mia, and Ram made a cliffhanger-filled phantom about a half-Elf mage, drawing crowds and catching Professor Tanshur’s interest.
• Belial ordered John to seize Jia Xiu when the competition ended, while Jia Xiu’s first attempt at a Blood Clan rune library was rejected for relying on his Magic Grimoire.
• Jia Xiu modified the Enlightenment Spell to grant access to Blood Clan runes, tested it successfully, and earned 1,150 experience points for submitting his work.

Jia Xiu won the tournament through rune research, teamwork, and unconventional tactics, then joined Jacob and his allies to repel Belial’s invasion of Thaldarian. With the Devils defeated and the tournament result confirmed, he set out to claim the replica Primordial Crystal.

• Jia Xiu’s rune research impressed Siloshak, who gave him the Fruit of Inspiration and marked his amulet, while Jia Xiu began working with Justina to raise her profile.
• Jia Xiu, Mia, and Ram dominated the undead trial, and Jia Xiu then scored a commanding lead in the rune competition before completing the Rune Node Excited State Inequality proof.
• Jia Xiu’s team used Guidance, enchanted bacteria, and Ram’s firepower to eliminate their rivals in the forest final, then outlasted Jacob’s team to win the championship.
• Belial’s Devils invaded Thaldarian, but the city’s defenders had prepared a barrier and allied forces, and Jia Xiu and Jacob fought the Devils after being teleported away from the tournament grounds.
• Jia Xiu helped Jacob battle the Pit Fiend with flashes of modified light, while Taco, Aurelius, Siloshak, and Justina arrived and subdued the attackers.
• Siloshak uncovered John’s hatred of Jia Xiu, Justina explained that the Church could resurrect Jacob, and Bubu defeated a Chain Devil before Arnold rescued it from another attack.
• Nico revealed that Jia Xiu’s unknowable future had made his tournament prophecy false, and the city’s allies defeated Belial and cleared the remaining Devils.
• Jia Xiu reunited with Margaret and Bubu, learned Arnold had field-tested the Biochemical Warrior armor, and set out to claim the replica Primordial Crystal after his championship was confirmed.

Jia Xiu developed and marketed new healing and Mage Armor products before taking an adventure mission to Csejthe Town. There, he infiltrated the Moon Mother Goddess Church and uncovered its plot to sacrifice adventurers, while tracing its supernatural power to a hidden source underground.

• Jia Xiu studied a replica Primordial Crystal, created modular Healing Spells, and submitted them for certification while the Caster Association granted him restricted-library access instead of the genuine crystal he had requested.
• Jia Xiu developed defenses against Vampires and, with Juan, secured Princess Emilia’s investment and support for Mage Armor, whose first batch quickly sold out.
• Jia Xiu prepared for a winter mission to Csejthe Town, gathered his companions and ultraviolet flash bombs, and accepted the town’s unfinished commissions despite Mia’s ominous prediction.
• Jia Xiu’s party encountered a Vampire spawn and Julia, a priestess whose staged intervention led Jia Xiu and Mia to suspect that the Moon Mother Goddess Church was using adventurers as bait.
• Jia Xiu’s party captured a cultist and learned that the church planned to sacrifice adventurers to awaken the Moon Mother Goddess in ten days, so Jia Xiu disguised himself as the priest Samantha and infiltrated the church.
• Jia Xiu attended the church’s tribunal and discovered its leaders had caused a road collapse to trap adventurers, while its doctrine promised women liberation from childbirth.
• When Vampire spawn attacked the church, the Mother Goddess statue empowered a female rogue to kill one, and Jia Xiu traced the blessing underground and identified Blood Clan runes on the church’s altar scales.