Chapter Summaries

Jia Xiu learned that Juan’s Mage Armor products were barely selling because their advertising and sales channels were poorly chosen, while competitors were spreading rumors about them. He devised plans to recruit bards and publish academic papers to promote the products, then considered enlisting Margaret to help bring competitors into the business.

• Juan told Jia Xiu that the first batch of Mage Armor products had brought in only 8 Kroner, despite his promises to the Alchemy Workshops.
• Juan explained that newspapers and magic-device stores rejected or hid his advertisements, competitors slandered the membrane products, and his former colleagues were selling the toys to clients who preferred real partners.
• Jia Xiu realized the sales approach was wrong and proposed having bards promote the products to ordinary customers.
• Jia Xiu planned to make the products seem refined to wealthy customers by publishing papers on reproductive hygiene in academic journals, including papers by Mia and other scholars.
• Jia Xiu considered employing the competing sellers and looked to Margaret as a powerful supporter, prompting her to ask why he was staring at her.

Jia Xiu sought a powerful backer for the Mage Armor business, and Margaret refused to let him use the Capet family name. She introduced him to Princess Emilia instead, who offered to invest and help expand the business across the continent, while Jia Xiu asked for concrete details about her support.

• Jia Xiu asked Margaret to let the Mage Armor business use the Capet family name, but she refused because her family would not support the venture.
• Margaret recommended her friend Princess Emilia as a backer, and Jia Xiu, Juan, Bubu, and Ram visited Emilia's estate.
• Jia Xiu explained the revised Mage Armor and their business challenges to Emilia, who recognized the venture's commercial potential.
• Emilia offered to invest, provide funds and personnel, and help sell the products across the continent.
• Jia Xiu accepted the possibility of working with Emilia but asked how she would make good on her promise, while Emilia regarded him as shrewd.

Bubu impressed Quido with its swordsmanship, prompting Quido to teach it the baffling Supreme Shadow-Sun Sword. Meanwhile, Emilia agreed to finance and promote Jia Xiu and Juan’s magical products, then proposed features and marketing changes that revealed her own improper streak.

• Bubu used its invented White Crow Strike against Quido, who secretly downplayed Bubu’s progress before explaining that the technique came from a novel.
• Quido recognized Bubu’s talent for learning swordsmanship from illustrations and decided to teach it the Supreme Shadow-Sun Sword; Bubu began comprehending the advanced technique.
• Emilia offered to fund production and advertising, arrange partnerships with state-run brothels, and connect Jia Xiu and Juan with merchant networks.
• Juan admitted that their sales had been poor, and Jia Xiu outlined a promotional plan involving selectively published research and the royal family’s support.
• Emilia learned that Membrane Mage Armor could help prevent infectious diseases and ordered its promotion and production to begin quickly.
• Emilia suggested adding interchangeable illusions to the magical products and renaming their sizes large, extra-large, and super extra-large.

Paul failed to buy Membrane Mage Armor from a sold-out vending box, while Jia Xiu’s new product became a major success. Jia Xiu then tested defensive magic against Vampire spawn, leaving Margaret embarrassed after she misunderstood the experiment.

• Paul went to buy Membrane Mage Armor after Laila insisted on taking precautions, but he was too embarrassed to enter a Dwarf shop and used its unmanned vending box instead.
• Paul chose an extra-large size, but the vending box reported that the Mage Armor was sold out, and he cried out in frustration.
• Juan told Jia Xiu that the first batch of Mage Armor had sold out, especially through unmanned vending boxes, and reported about 800 Kroner in gross profit.
• Jia Xiu decided to spend some of the earnings on an experiment he had long delayed because of its cost.
• Margaret overheard Vampire spawn speaking suggestively as they entered Jia Xiu’s laboratory and assumed he was arranging an improper gathering.
• Margaret burst in and found Jia Xiu testing defensive counterattacks against charging Vampires in preparation for a winter adventure mission, then awkwardly explained that she had merely been checking on him.

Jia Xiu prepared stronger anti-Vampire weapons and investigated suspicious commissions linked to Csejthe Town. As he arranged to investigate the town, its inhabitants began a ritual to welcome new captives and servants.

• Jia Xiu tested an ultraviolet floodlight, a protective magic array, and Justina’s amplified Alternating-Current Spell against Vampire derivatives, then planned portable ultraviolet flash bombs.
• Jia Xiu commissioned the Fireforge Clan to make at least five hundred flash bombs, and its Dwarf artisans promised delivery within ten days.
• Jia Xiu searched a century of Csejthe Town commissions and found low-paying jobs posted in remote places, some specifically seeking female adventurers, with several new commissions already accepted.
• Jia Xiu contacted Gillianis to request Polymorph scrolls for his upcoming investigation of Csejthe Town.
• In Csejthe Town, a black-robed group with many women gathered in an ancient castle as their leader announced that the time had come to welcome new lambs and servants.

Jia Xiu assembled Mia, Ram, and Bubu for their first adventure in Csejthe Town, tested out of his remaining academy courses, and gathered old commission records for Mia to analyze. After registering their adventure party and taking every unfinished Csejthe commission, they heard Mia warn that her prophecy was not optimistic.

• Jia Xiu earned 96 on his final proficiency exam and challenged the senior student’s deduction of four points.
• Jia Xiu met Mia and Ram after they passed their exams, then gave Mia a century of Csejthe Town commission records to calculate their success rate.
• Jia Xiu, Mia, and Ram collected the excited Bubu and headed to the Adventurer Association with Da Huang and two thousand ultraviolet flash bombs.
• Jia Xiu accepted every unfinished commission in Csejthe Town and registered the party at cast-iron rank under a temporary name.
• Mia told Jia Xiu that her prophecy about the adventure did not look optimistic.

Jia Xiu and his companions traveled to Csejthe Town, where Mia's prophecy suggested the Vampire commission concealed a larger scheme. After nightfall, a Vampire spawn attacked another adventuring party in the woods as Jia Xiu's group arrived at the ominous, heavily barricaded town.

• A priestess ordered the town's followers to awaken the hounds and use an adventuring team to test them once the final adventurers arrived.
• A novice party searching the woods encountered an unusually powerful Vampire spawn, and their blessed garlic had no effect.
• Jia Xiu traveled toward Csejthe Town by ox cart while Mia calculated that the commission was likely bait for low-level adventurers.
• Jia Xiu secretly planted a Teleportation Anchor on the road as an escape precaution before reaching town after dark.
• Jia Xiu inspected the gloomy town and its reinforced houses, then heard someone cry that the Vampires had arrived.

Jia Xiu watched a staged Vampire attack in a remote town and suspected the black-robed Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess was behind it. After Julia, the group’s leader, drove off the spawn and treated the adventurers, Jia Xiu was left questioning why she planned to send them away instead of recruiting them.

• Jia Xiu held Bubu back and watched an unusually muscular Vampire spawn chase adventurers into town, concluding that someone was controlling it and making it hold back.
• The spawn knocked down the adventurers and nearly bit Mia’s Druid companion, but a bell from the ruined castle caused it to convulse in pain.
• Julia and a group of black-robed people arrived, chanted in an unfamiliar language, and drove the spawn away; Jia Xiu suspected Julia was a Vampire controlling it.
• Julia introduced herself as a priestess of the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess and healed the adventurers, claiming her power could repel but not kill Vampires.
• The adventurers urged Julia to post a higher-paying commission, and Julia agreed to send them away the next day, puzzling Jia Xiu.

Jia Xiu and his squad investigated the Moon Mother Goddess Cult’s Vampire scheme after Mia calculated that the cult might be feeding a powerful sleeping Vampire. Ram tracked a spawn into the forest, where the squad discovered a black-robed cultist preparing to bury it and offering the adventurers as a fresh sacrifice.

• Jia Xiu questioned why Julia had not recruited believers after her fake miracle, while Mia calculated that the adventurer commissions were a cult trap connected to Vampires.
• Mia proposed that the cult might be feeding a Vampire, and warned that a tiny chance remained that they were slowly awakening an ancient, overwhelmingly powerful one.
• Ram offered to track the escaped spawn by scent, so Jia Xiu led the squad into the forest that night.
• Ram sensed the spawn and another person nearby, and Jia Xiu had Bubu cast Invisibility so they could approach unseen.
• The squad found a black-robed cultist placing the spawn in a coffin and praying over it, and Jia Xiu realized the cult intended to sacrifice the adventurers.
• Jia Xiu planned to silence and interrogate the cultist, then use Gillianis's transformation scroll to infiltrate the cult.

Jia Xiu and his companions uncovered a monstrous Derivative and discovered that a cultist could survive lethal injuries through the Moon Mother Goddess’s blessing. The cultist revealed the cult’s plan to make sacrifices for the Goddess’s awakening, then summoned two living hand axes as Bubu prepared to fight.

• Jia Xiu examined the praying cultist, then attacked her from behind with a powerful lightning spell and burned her leg with a Flame Arrow after she appeared dead.
• Jia Xiu and Ram opened the coffin while Mia studied the sleeping Derivative and Bubu cast Speak with the Dead on the cultist.
• The cultist revived, healed her wound, and twisted her body back into shape; Jia Xiu’s flashbang failed to harm her.
• The cultist boasted that the Moon Mother Goddess would awaken soon and that adventurers would become sacrifices, but she offered little information about the Goddess’s blessing.
• The cultist summoned two grotesque hand axes, and Jia Xiu stepped back and called on Bubu to act.

Jia Xiu subdued cultist Samantha, used her as a test subject, and questioned her corpse to learn about the Moon Mother Goddess’s awakening and the cult’s plans. He transformed into Samantha to infiltrate the cult before its morning meeting, while Bubu and the others prepared to pose as adventurers and seek help for the ritual in ten days.

• Bubu defeated the blessed cultist repeatedly, and Jia Xiu studied its limited recovery before conducting experiments on it.
• Mia warned that the original spawned body might be discovered missing, so Jia Xiu fed it the cultist’s blood and restored it enough to hide in the coffin.
• Bubu used Speak with Dead, and Jia Xiu learned that the Moon Mother Goddess would awaken in ten days after the cult sacrificed heretics and faithless believers.
• The corpse identified itself as Samantha, a priest tasked with retrieving the spawned body and reporting to the High Priest at the morning meeting; Jia Xiu questioned it about her identity and the cult’s practices.
• Jia Xiu transformed into Samantha, left an illusion of himself with Bubu, and told his companions to pose as rookie adventurers while he went to the cult’s morning meeting.

Jia Xiu learned that the Moon Mother Goddess Church had deliberately trapped the departing adventurers so they would return desperate for shelter, while the adventurers’ escape attempt failed at a magical barrier. During scripture study, Jia Xiu discovered that the church’s beliefs centered on a strange prophecy about Female Heaven and women’s liberation, leaving him deeply shocked.

• The adventurers found the mountain road collapsed and argued over how to escape Csejthe Town.
• A warrior used the lone Flight spell scroll to cross the gap, but a blood-draining magical barrier struck him and blocked the way.
• The adventurers turned back toward town, hoping the Moon Mother Goddess Church would shelter them from the Vampires.
• At the church’s morning meeting, Jia Xiu learned that the priests had arranged the road collapse and planned to frighten the returning adventurers into joining.
• Jia Xiu read the Mother Goddess Bible and was stunned by its prophecy of Female Heaven and liberation from childbirth.

Jia Xiu studied the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess’s scripture to learn how to advance during his trial, while suspecting its goddess might not exist and that the High Priestess possessed a divine artifact. At a town tribunal, he saw Cleric Geli issue an extreme ruling against a husband who asked his unfaithful wife to apologize, and decided he would need to imitate the cult’s radical interpreters.

• Jia Xiu read the cult’s scripture and considered whether its miracles came from a divine artifact rather than an actual goddess.
• Jia Xiu learned that the High Priestess likely held the artifact and continued studying the cult’s doctrines to prepare for his trial.
• Cleric Geli summoned Jia Xiu, while posing as Cleric Samantha, to serve at the town tribunal.
• A husband told Cleric Geli that his wife had been intimate with another man and asked her to apologize.
• Cleric Geli ruled that the husband was at fault, ordered him to apologize and pay compensation, and Jia Xiu endorsed the judgment.
• Jia Xiu concluded that he needed to follow the cult’s most radical interpreters to advance within the organization.

The adventurers returned to Csejthe Town and sought help from the Moon Mother Goddess Church, where the High Priestess demanded their complete devotion in exchange for power. As Vampire spawn attacked the church, the desperate adventurers faced imminent death—until the Mother Goddess's statue burst into dazzling light.

• The battered adventurers returned to Csejthe Town and went to the church for help against the Vampires.
• The church guards brought the adventurers before the High Priestess, who told them they had to devote their faith, lives, and futures to the Mother Goddess to gain power.
• The adventurers argued over whether to join the church, while Jia Xiu and Mia stayed concealed among them.
• Several Vampire spawn broke through the church doors, and the High Priestess refused to help because the adventurers had rejected their supposed destiny.
• As a desperate adventurer finally agreed to join the faith, the Mother Goddess's sacred statue erupted with dazzling light.

Jia Xiu watched the Cult of the Moon Mother Goddess stage a vampire attack and discovered that its blessing came from underground rather than from the statue or the high priestess. As the high priestess began a trial to select worthy believers, Jia Xiu realized the scales were rigged and decided to win by undermining his competitors.

• Vampire spawn attacked the castle church, and the Mother Goddess statue’s light empowered a female rogue to kill one with a dagger.
• Jia Xiu determined that the blessing came from a source underground and resolved to investigate the cult’s hidden chamber and artifact.
• The rogue collapsed after using the blessing, and the high priestess urged the adventurers to serve and obey women chosen by the Mother Goddess.
• The high priestess announced a trial in which women would learn doctrine and men would obey, with the altar scales judging their worthiness.
• Jia Xiu recognized Blood Clan runes on the scales as a means of controlling their tilt and planned to disqualify his rivals through accusations and rumors.

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.