Recaps

Elliot discovered that Dream Entry still worked during Submergence and used Vanessa’s body to visit Dorothea before sending her to meet Lillian. Vanessa reached the Rose Cross, where Lillian revealed that the group knew little about Elliot’s past beyond the name “The Frostmoon Uprising.”

• Elliot found a Dream Memory card after killing the Lord of Dreams and realized that he and Vanessa could enter their own dream worlds during Submergence.
• Elliot used Vanessa’s card to make her visit Dorothea, who fed her breakfast, then directed her toward the Rose Cross.
• Vanessa followed a hotel doorman through a hidden route into the same suite she had visited with Dorothea, where she met Lillian.
• Vanessa identified herself as Elliot’s representative, and Lillian said the Rose Cross had heard of his deeds but knew little about them.
• Lillian told Vanessa that almost everyone involved had disappeared and that the only name they knew was the Frostmoon Uprising.

Elliot learned that his predecessor may have been connected to the Frostmoon Uprising and suspected someone had tried to implicate him. Through Vanessa, he met Lillian of the Rose Cross, who revealed the society’s mission and risked approaching him alone.

• Elliot reasoned that his confinement might have been intended to shield him from the Frostmoon Uprising and grew wary of the Rose Cross’s interest in him.
• Elliot told Lillian, through Vanessa, that he knew nothing about the uprising and wanted the matter kept secret.
• Lillian showed Vanessa the divide between the prosperous Riverside District and the Harbor District, then explained that the Rose Cross helped the forgotten and judged the unpunished.
• Elliot had Vanessa ask why the Rose Cross approached him, and Lillian said she had come alone because she would be the only one to die if they had misjudged him.

Vanessa met with Lillian and learned more about the Rose Cross, then persuaded Director Norman to reveal that the East District theater was built to host an important person. She left with a lead on the person she believed was responsible for the district’s suffering and her friend’s death.

• Lillian explained the Rose Cross’s ideals and activities, and Elliot decided to judge the organization by its actions.
• Elliot resolved the Rose Cross’s gaze event and sent Vanessa to visit Director Norman at the asylum.
• Vanessa urged Norman to act and asked him to tell her what he knew about the former director and the East District.
• Norman revealed that the theater was built for an important person who would attend its premiere and meet privately in a top-floor box.
• Vanessa left determined to see the important person for herself.

Elliot learned that the theater premiere would have no publicly announced important guests, while Vanessa planned to investigate the mysterious visitor but agreed to delay taking revenge after Dorothea and Allen urged caution. Vanessa then revealed she had enough supernatural materials to advance Dorothea and Allen to first rank.

• Elliot asked Conrad about the theater premiere and learned it was on March fifth, with no important people expected to attend.
• Elliot considered why Doctor Norman had mentioned an important person and decided to prepare for the possibility of a private, unannounced visit.
• Vanessa told Dorothea and Allen she wanted to enter the theater box and might attack the person responsible for Winnie's death and the plague.
• Dorothea urged Vanessa to wait for a safer opportunity, and Allen offered to take action himself; Vanessa agreed to investigate first.
• Vanessa revealed she had seven portions of supernatural materials and brought Dorothea and Allen to the basement so they could advance to first rank.

Allen advanced to the First Rank of the Supernatural and gained Flash Blade, which let him blink through space and slash. He struggled with dizziness and exhaustion after using it, while Elliot prepared to advance Dorothea next.

• Vanessa warned Allen and Dorothea about the risks of obtaining the Ritual materials, then let Allen go first.
• Elliot considered Allen's three advancement options and chose Flash Blade for him.
• Allen advanced to the First Rank and discovered that he could blink several meters before delivering a powerful slash.
• Allen vomited after his first use, and Elliot realized that Flash Blade caused dizziness and severe fatigue.
• Elliot noted that Allen's Vitality could help him recover and prepared to advance Dorothea next.

Elliot chose a lantern for Dorothea’s supernatural path, expecting a healing or support ability, but the Tree of the Supernatural instead gave her [Rationality +1]. The chapter left Elliot baffled by the result and still pondering the nature of sacrifice.

• Allen quickly regained enough strength to sit up after his [Vitality] ritual.
• Vanessa prepared Dorothea’s ritual and asked what kind of power she wanted.
• Dorothea described her faith in reason, careful planning, knowledge, and unwavering principles.
• Elliot considered Dorothea’s starting options and chose the lantern, hoping it would suit her medical work and her sister’s needs.
• The Tree of the Supernatural granted Dorothea [Rationality +1], leaving Elliot unable to understand the lantern’s connection to the attribute.

After Dorothea’s first sacrifice awakened [Rationality], she and Vanessa used her new analytical ability to study the Theater’s plans and prepare an infiltration route. Meanwhile, Elliot learned how the Difference Engine Core worked and discovered that the Mansion’s shared core had added [Deduction] to his desktop.

• Dorothea entered a state of perfect rationality, assessed Vanessa as a threat, and surrendered before realizing how absurd her response was.
• Elliot stopped Dorothea’s advancement so she could explore [Rationality], and she returned to the Medical School to test it through studying.
• Vanessa obtained the Theater’s design plans from Lawrence, and Dorothea identified vulnerable structures and likely hiding places.
• Allen used [Flash Blade] to infiltrate the Theater’s upper level and reported that its suspended ceiling could conceal them, helping Dorothea map a route for Vanessa and Allen.
• Elliot confirmed that Dean Chandler would not attend the Theater’s opening and learned that the Mansion’s two Difference Engines shared one core.
• After the new Difference Engine was installed, Elliot discovered a new [Deduction] card slot on his desktop.

Elliot discovered that the Difference Engine’s [Deduction] slot could forecast events and reveal how to use unfamiliar Cards, though its results took too long to be practical. As he explored Dream Worlds and considered how supernatural people advanced, Flora warned him that rising beyond First Rank ultimately required sacrificing oneself, while the theater’s approaching premiere left little time to gather strength.

• Elliot tested [Deduction] and found that it could predict events for a Character Card, but even short forecasts took hours or days to complete.
• Elliot used [Deduction] on [Dream Memory · Study] and learned that Dream Memories could be recalled within his own empty Dream World.
• Elliot explained how [Dream Entry] let Characters explore shared dreams and planned to use its limited opportunities to collect supernatural materials before the theater's premiere.
• Elliot calculated that advancing from First Rank to Second Rank required dozens of portions of supernatural materials and asked Flora how supernatural people could progress.
• Flora told Elliot that sacrificing external materials was inefficient, that advancement ultimately demanded sacrificing oneself, and that even this could only bring someone to Middle Rank.

Vanessa returned to the Clock Tower District with the orphans and found the Golden Tax Court forcibly evicting residents over unpaid taxes. She rushed back to Rosin Alley and discovered that her home had been ransacked, ending on the old man’s picture frame as she tried to make the soldiers stop.

• Vanessa took several orphans to the outskirts to catch stray dogs for Elliot’s plans.
• Vanessa noticed secret society members flooding the streets and learned that the Golden Tax Court’s red-uniformed soldiers had arrived.
• Golden Tax Court soldiers evicted residents and ransacked their homes, and one man was shot dead after firing his pistol.
• Vanessa raced to No. 37 Pine Resin Alley and found the house’s belongings scattered outside and its contents destroyed.
• Vanessa recognized the old man’s picture frame and pleaded with the soldiers to stop.

Vanessa could not stop the Golden Tax Court from seizing her home after officials demanded decades of unpaid property taxes she could not afford. Flora used her noble status to secure Vanessa one day to pack, and Vanessa asked her for a favor concerning Winnie’s grave.

• Vanessa offered the Golden Tax Court her savings, but the tax official demanded more than seven hundred pounds in back taxes and penalties.
• As soldiers searched the house, Vanessa realized Winnie’s grave and remains were there and tried to stop them.
• Flora arrived with several orphans, showed her certificate of lineage, and identified herself as a noble of the Mourning Poetry Society.
• Flora questioned the retroactive tax rules, but Vanessa asked for one day to pack and the tax official agreed to postpone the seizure.
• Vanessa began gathering Winnie’s bellflowers, refused Flora’s offer of a place to stay, then asked Flora for a favor.

After Winnie was reburied at the Mourning Poetry Society, Vanessa returned with Dorothea, Allen, and the orphans to spend one last night in their ruined home and announced her plan to assassinate an important person. As Dorothea gathered information for the operation, they learned a prince’s senior adjutant would attend a gathering at Miskatonic University tomorrow evening.

• Vanessa and the others dug up Winnie’s coffin and carried it through the city to the Mourning Poetry Society, where Flora presided over a second funeral.
• Vanessa refused Flora’s offer to stay and returned to the damaged house with Dorothea, Allen, and the orphans.
• Vanessa said she intended to assassinate an important person, and Dorothea, Allen, and Vanessa discussed how they might escape and survive.
• Dorothea encouraged the group to make a proper plan, and they gathered in the basement after settling the orphans upstairs.
• Dorothea reported that the banquet and reception had been canceled but a senior adjutant from another prince’s faction would visit Miskatonic University tomorrow evening.

Elliot advanced Dorothea’s abilities through sacrifices, giving her control over light and mirrors and then a monocle that let her deceive and blind Vanessa. With the Theater operation approaching, Elliot considered whether to strengthen Vanessa further or choose [Distortion].

• Vanessa, Allen, and Dorothea planned for Allen and Vanessa to hide inside the Theater while Dorothea attended the dinner and passed them information.
• The group found that their concealed basement entrance and supernatural materials had survived the Golden Tax Court’s search.
• Elliot chose the lantern node for Dorothea, and she gained [Rationality], which let her break out of the state instead of following Vanessa’s taunt to surrender.
• Dorothea discovered she could create blinding flashes, emit light, and manifest hovering mirrors.
• Elliot chose [Radiant Mirror] for Dorothea, who summoned a monocle and used it to vanish from Vanessa’s sight before dazzling her.
• After the sacrifices, Elliot weighed advancing Vanessa against choosing [Distortion].

Elliot used [Distortion] to give Vanessa the Formless Art [Secret Art · Overdraft], which briefly amplified her abilities and restored her finger at the cost of twenty years of her life. As the Theater’s premiere approached, Vanessa and Allen moved the orphans to safety, and Flora decided to attend the performance despite suspecting it would be dangerous.

• Elliot discovered that [Distortion] required shared Sacrifice Offerings, then used it on Vanessa and obtained [Secret Art · Overdraft].
• Vanessa’s power surged, healing her severed finger, but the five-minute effect left her physically aged and cost her twenty years of life.
• Vanessa and Dorothea learned that supernatural materials could offset some Formless Art costs, though they could not replace the life consumed by [Secret Art · Overdraft].
• At dawn, the tax officer found No. 37 Pine Resin Alley abandoned, while Allen and Vanessa brought the orphans to Flora and left them money.
• Flora suspected the group was heading into danger and asked Damian for a ticket to the Theater’s premiere, taking [Mourning Poems] with her.

Flora received a startling letter from Elliot before the premiere, while Dorothea left her dorm and spent the day collecting information at Miskatonic University. At an evening banquet, Dorothea finally saw the important person she had come to meet: Holly von Strauss, Prince Sidney’s special envoy.

• Flora read Elliot’s thin handwritten letter, trembled, and put it in a pocket before leaving the Mourning Poetry Society.
• Dorothea packed her correspondence with Elsa, left her medical kit and Gold Pounds on her bed, and departed campus without locking her dorm room.
• Dorothea returned to the university in formal clothes and questioned people across campus to gather clues.
• At the banquet, Dorothea learned that Prince Sidney’s trusted representative had arrived and watched the entrance.
• Randall introduced Holly von Strauss of the Royal Guard Knight Order as Prince Sidney’s special envoy, and Holly stepped into the center of the crowd.

Holly von Strauss promoted the Third Prince’s commitment to advancing talent regardless of bloodline, winning the interest of Miskatonic University students. Dorothea pretended to be drunk and left the banquet by another route, while the premiere was set to take place the next day.

• Holly told the banquet guests that the Third Prince would provide opportunities and protection to people of talent, regardless of their birth.
• Students gathered around Holly, and she said that more than half of the knights under the Third Prince were not nobles.
• Dorothea listened to Holly, then questioned Professor Randall about the Third Prince and expressed admiration for Holly.
• Randall told Dorothea that Holly would leave the university the next day and advised her to focus on the matters they had discussed.
• Dorothea claimed those matters were settled, left the banquet pretending to be unsteady, and went somewhere other than the dormitories.
• The next morning arrived, the day of the premiere.

Elliot was forced to receive Holly von Strauss, the Third Prince’s adjutant, while Vanessa waited in the Theater for the assassination operation and received no answer from her Lord. The chapter left Vanessa and Allen hiding as guards approached and searched the walls and ceiling for danger.

• Elliot planned his next moves at the Difference Engine until Conrad hurried in and ordered him to meet Holly von Strauss, who had arrived without warning.
• Conrad explained that Holly represented the Third Prince and that the Sterling Family could not openly refuse her, while Elliot worried about Vanessa facing the operation without his control.
• Elliot recognized his name on a Card at the Difference Engine and wondered how Vanessa and he would fare on separate battlefields.
• Vanessa waited in the Theater’s suspended ceiling, reflecting on her reliance on her Lord, but received no response when she prayed.
• Allen signaled Vanessa as armed guards approached with a man using iron rods to check the walls and ceiling, and Vanessa told Allen to escape by the planned route while she found her own way out.

Vanessa waited for her Lord to take control, but when he did not, she chose to remain hidden in a theater box as Dorothea watched over her. Meanwhile, a blind-seeming supernatural man named Sutton detected Dorothea, and Lillian began her performance with a plan to kill the nobles in the audience.

• Vanessa slipped into a box’s washroom and, after seeing Dorothea’s signal, chose to stay and face the situation herself.
• Dorothea used her Radiance Mirror to locate Vanessa, but Sutton detected her surveillance and made the mirrors vanish.
• Vanessa realized Dorothea had been discovered and waited in hiding, overhearing the box guests mention the Troy Society and the Third Prince.
• Flora read Mourning Poems in a theater washroom and found that it described her as standing on a stretch of ruins.
• Lillian danced onstage, thinking of the East District’s impoverished dead and resolving to spill noble blood, while wondering whether Elliot had come to watch.

Lillian’s dance set off a devastating inferno at the theater as a man leapt from the ruined box to confront the attackers. While Vanessa interrogated Garrett and the Troy Society steward, she learned the destruction had stemmed from a chain of misunderstandings and had achieved nothing, leaving her unsure whom to blame.

• Lillian danced amid the theater’s explosions and flames, then emerged from her burning body as the stage became a furnace.
• A man with blazing light in his eye sockets told Garrett to hide, then jumped from the damaged box toward the stage.
• Vanessa held Garrett at gunpoint and learned he had only casually mentioned building a gallery, while the Troy Society had built the theater without confirming anything with him.
• Garrett told Vanessa that neither the Eighth Prince nor Lady Holly had appeared, and that the Third Prince had only sent someone to inspect.
• Vanessa questioned the steward and confirmed the Troy Society had acted on Garrett’s offhand remark, while Garrett knew nothing of the princes’ plans.
• Realizing the destruction and deaths had accomplished nothing, Vanessa sank into bewilderment, unable to decide whom to strike.

Vanessa confronted Garrett over the deaths of Winnie and countless commoners, then killed him after realizing he treated their lives as things with prices. Her attacks failed at first because Garrett’s body resisted bullets and her [Secret Art · Trigger], but Sutton arrived too late to stop her final strike.

• Vanessa killed the Troy Society's manager but hesitated to shoot Garrett as she questioned what the sacrifices had been for.
• Garrett offered compensation at five pounds per dead commoner and revealed that he did not think their families deserved payment.
• Vanessa understood that Garrett valued commoners as objects and mocked him by tossing coins onto his shirt and naming a price for his life.
• Vanessa fired at Garrett, but the bullets bounced off him, and [Secret Art · Trigger] wounded him without killing him.
• Sutton charged into the private box, and Vanessa used all nine of her remaining fingers to strike Garrett with the Formless Art and kill him.

Vanessa used her last strength to help Allen escape and faced Sutton’s pursuers alone, then the Lord’s power manifested through her and overwhelmed everyone nearby. The Difference Engine recorded that Sutton had looked upon a great being and fallen into permanent madness, marking the first such descent since the Twilight of the Gods.

• Vanessa used [Secret Art · Overdraft] to flee Sutton, and Allen helped her escape through the Theater before collapsing from using [Flash Blade].
• Vanessa sent Allen to find Dorothea, then used [Secret Art · Overdraft] again and drew the pursuers away through the Theater.
• With her strength failing and the pursuers closing in, Vanessa prayed to the Lord and prepared to die, believing she had completed her revenge herself.
• When Sutton ordered a guard to remove Vanessa’s hood, her eyes shone with inhuman white light and [Spirituality Pressure] froze everyone around her; she then fell from a railing into the hall.
• At the Night Watch Bureau headquarters, the Difference Engine recorded that Sutton Trenchard had looked upon a great being and descended into permanent madness.

After escaping the East District Theater, Dorothea and Allen faced a Public Security Bureau cordon until Flora used a letter from Elliott Sterling to get them through. That evening, they left New Scandinavia in a carriage under the cover of a university expedition.

• Dorothea and Allen tried to leave the cordon, but officers stopped them and demanded their identification and an inspection of Dorothea’s suitcase.
• Flora arrived and claimed her noble status, then showed Elliott Sterling’s letter ordering the authorities to assist her.
• The chief ordered the officers to let Flora, Allen, and Dorothea pass, and Flora led the pair to a nearby alley before leaving them.
• Dorothea told Flora she already had arrangements and planned to leave the city, then she and Allen departed with the suitcase.
• That evening, Dorothea presented expedition documents at a checkpoint, and the carriage carrying her and Allen left New Scandinavia.

Elliot met Holly, who had come on behalf of the Third Prince to question him about the Poor Law and the Empire’s future. Their discussion ended with Elliot asking whether the powerful could become strong enough to disregard everyone else.

• The Old Butler told Elliot that the household would leave for the imperial capital the next morning.
• Holly told Elliot she had come on behalf of His Highness Sidney to ask him three questions.
• Elliot called the Poor Law good legislation because it acknowledged the poor as a group and recognized that a problem existed.
• Asked whether Parliament or the House of Nobles represented the Empire’s future, Elliot argued that the servants held power because they kept the Mansion running and could refuse to obey.
• Holly asked whether the powerful might be strong enough to defeat everyone else, and Elliot asked if anyone could become strong enough to disregard everyone else.

Holly summoned Elliot to answer questions and arranged for him to meet His Highness Sidney in the Imperial Capital, lifting his confinement. After learning Vanessa had killed Garrett, Elliot arranged to move the Difference Engine’s core and discovered from Conrad that the Seven Holy Bloodlines were the only true nobles, born supernatural and able to sacrifice others.

• Elliot argued to Holly that supernatural people could not simply overpower society, because true power depended on organizing collective force.
• Holly invited Elliot to the Imperial Capital to meet His Highness Sidney, and Conrad declared Elliot’s confinement lifted.
• Elliot took control of Vanessa and learned that she had killed Garrett to make nobles fear the consequences of trampling on commoners.
• Elliot asked Conrad to transport the Difference Engine’s core to the Imperial Capital and destroy its play history.
• Conrad told Elliot that all nobles were supernatural from birth, but only the Seven Holy Bloodlines were true nobility and could sacrifice others.

Dao Rugu reflected on the difficulties and regrets of writing the first volume, which served as the story’s setup in New Scandinavia, and outlined the original plans for Winnie and Old Razi. The volume ended with both leads freed from their restraints and arriving in a new city, where the main storyline was about to begin.

• Dao Rugu explained that New Scandinavia was meant to be a beginner village introducing the Sacrifice system and the world, but the setup stretched to 300,000 Chinese characters.
• Dao Rugu described struggling to keep the female lead’s progress in sync with the male lead’s while he remained confined and played games.
• Dao Rugu recalled that trying to speed up the plot tangled its pacing and groundwork, and said the story had finally moved beyond the Starting Plateau.
• Dao Rugu said Winnie’s planned thread centered on her two burials and Vanessa’s growth into a Cult Leader of the Esoteric Cult.
• Dao Rugu described Old Razi’s planned hidden thread, in which Vanessa would discover his and Lily’s remains and learn of his tragic life too late.
• Dao Rugu concluded that the leads had reached a new city, where they embraced freedom while willingly taking on new shackles.

Luke warned Eleanor that the theater disaster was being concealed and that their branch had been excluded from the investigation. After she found a blank-named wanted file numbered 003, Eleanor was promoted and transferred to the imperial capital, where she encountered her former school senior Dorothea.

• Luke told Eleanor that the Night Watch Bureau headquarters and Silent Sanctuary had jointly blamed the theater disaster on a gas explosion and barred the local branch from investigating.
• Luke and Eleanor boxed up messages from [The Thinker], and Eleanor discovered a wanted file numbered 003 describing a hooded humanoid with a blank name.
• Luke suspected the figure in the file was involved in the theater incident and ordered Eleanor to destroy the notice, despite its ordinary danger rating.
• Eleanor signed confidentiality agreements, received an exceptional promotion to full detective, and boarded a steamship for the imperial capital.
• Eleanor spotted her former school senior Dorothea aboard the ship and called out to her.